Big News: Listen to Allison Iraheta's new material!
Being at the KIIS FM's Idol viewing party gave American Idol Season 8 Top 4 finalist Allison Iraheta an opportunity to debut the new material she's described as grittier and darker compared to the songs on her debut album Just Like You. Video footage has now surfaced and I think she sounds kick ass on both original tracks - Love and Tonight. In fact, Tonight sounds like it'd fit in with what pop music's been all about lately - letting go and being free. Allison obviously slayed both tracks vocally but she definitely needs a good producer to really bring these tracks to life.
Adele has gotten herself another week at #1 with Rolling In The Deep with the Airplay Gainer Title. Jennifer Lopez slips back into the Top 5 with On The Floor while Britney Spears' Till The World Ends moves up to #7. Gaga's new promo single Hair debuts two spots outside of the Top 10 while current single The Edge of Glory dives from #3 last week to the rim of the Top 20 at #19. Shooting up the charts is OneRepublic with Good Life vaulting to a new peak of #28 this week. After some promotion, Beyonce's Run The World (Girls) still flops but returns to the Top 50.. right at #50. Glee's Pure Imagination debuts at #59, Back To Black at #82 and My Man at #94. This week sees two new arrivals with Nicole Scherzinger and Rihanna's Right There and California King Bed respectively debuting at #77 and #80. Taylor Swift's new single The Story of Us moves up to #88 while Jason DeRulo's Don't Wanna Go Home arrives at #92.
Adele manages to secure herself another week atop the Billboard 200 Albums Chart while JLo's Love? falls out of the Top 10 at #12 this week. Christina Perri's debut album Lovestrong is a further 2 spots away at #14 in it's second week out.
Jason DeRulo - Don't Wanna Go Home [Music Video Premiere]
I'm still not totally convinced on this song, but Jason DeRulo has definitely brought an entertainer to life within that body of his and stepped up his game with the video for his new single Don't Wanna Go Home. But while I was watching this video, I just couldn't help but think of Ciara, especially when he started to dance with the demale lead in the first set and scene of the video and was just thinking how hot a collab between Jason and Ciara would be. Mmmmm.. Kinda like how Ciara's Turn It Up with Usher could've turned out, huh?
Remember how there were many official reports circulating that The Saturdays were to release Higher in Germany, possibly being their breakthrough single in Europe? It appears those plans have been scrapped, and the girls are charging forward with their new single Notorious to crack Europe as well. And thank god for that as well, because Notorious makes Higher sound passe. In a new interview with Digital Spy, the girls seemed reluctant to tackle the States, "We'll kind of get there, when we get there," Frankie said.
They debuted a performance of Notorious on So You Think You Can Dance, but when questioned about whether they've got more promo lined up, Rochelle said that there'll be more promo when the actual physical copy of the single is released on June 27th which seems like an awful long time away from now, but I'm sure Notorious has the steam to keep steady till then and not peak too early. Good thing then, Notorious is only at #5 on the Midweeks Chart. But this seems to be a new promotional strategy for the group, as they usually had the album release really close to the release of the lead single before the album just fizzled out before that. Even Britain's best pop star Cheryl Cole had this previous tactic for the Messy Little Raindrops era as well. Perhaps with the length of the time having Notorious as their single out, it'll keep sales steady for both the single and the album.
Their upcoming album released later this year precedes their arena tour, so let's hope that their arena tour will include Europe, and for the girls to head to Europe to do promo as well.
But with regards to their forthcoming album, Rochelle said that Notorious isn't indicative of the entire album's direction, so the entire album isn't a recoord about frivolour partying then. Mollie, meanwhile, said that all the girls are "starting to write a lot more. We've been doing this for a good few years so we have a lot to say! We haven't finished the album yet so we're still experimenting."
David Cook - The Last Goodbye [Music Video Premiere]
Previously, David Cook debuted his music video for current single The Last Goodbye on iTunes and it has finally made its way to YouTube. The video for The Last Goodbye isn't exactly something you'd expect, but it is at the same time.
The video starts off all emo, which fits the song's theme, then it pans to Cook at the beach and a scene where he goes towards the water. But it's only after that do things start to get interesting. After that, Cook opens a newspaper with a headline: David Cook Feared Drowned while he remains oblivious to everything else around him. As his love interest calls the cops, his band hears of the news, before Cook suddenly jumps up and everything is all an illusion.
Inception? At least it's entertaining though I see no chance of this becoming a hit on the chart whatsoever.
Taylor Swift - The Story Of Us [Music Video Premiere]
After releasing a video for country single Mean, Taylor Swift has a new one out called The Story Of Us and the video's set in a school library but doesn't look cheap and has a pretty nice story line I'm sure many can relate to - which is one of Swift's major selling points anyway. The Story Of Us should go on to be another moderate hit on the charts but single-wise, I wouldn't have gone with Mean or The Story of Us, and would definitely like to see the catchier songs like Haunted, Speak Now or Innocent get the single treatment instead.
But then again, this'll probably sell on its believability alone and Swift shouldn't be too worried about shifting another million copies or two of album Speak Now.
Big News: Listen to The Wanted's new single "Glad You Came"!
UK pop acts are known to take really short breaks in between albums and The Wanted are no exception. The five lads premiered their new single Glad You Came which made it to the Trending Topics on Twitter worldwide yesterday ahead of its radio premiere. The track's music video, will be "harder" and more "club-influenced" than the band's previous videos and it was shot in Ibiza. A remix by Italian house DJ Alex Gaudino will also be released alongside the single while the single itself will be released on July 10.
Hmmmm. I'm not too feeling this one. Nothing, after all, can touch the pop classic that is All Time Low and Glad You Came sounds like a bit of a disappointment. But it's a tad better than Gold Forever which sounded like a B side rather than a Top 3 single. Even the new song they premiered at their debut UK headlining Behind Bars Tour was a little motonous. But it has plenty of time to grow on me. I'm just not entirely sure if their new album will be as great as their first.
Big News: Leona Lewis mashes Better In Time & Rihanna's Man Down + new music news!
British songbird Leona Lewis was on Radio 1 Live Lounge to perform but instead of the traditional cover of another popular song at the moment, she did a mash up of Rihanna's upcoming urban single Man Down and her hit from '08 Better In Time. The mashup brought a Carribean vibe to Better In Time and it was all in all pretty nice. She also did a stunning cover of Labrinth's Let The Sun Shine which you can check out below.
Speaking to Metro, Lewis has expressed an interest in doing a duet with the incredibly successful fellow Brit Adele. It appears Leona has confirmed that she has been "invited" to perform on The X Factor USA when it launches later this year.
"What came into my head was a duet with Adele," the 25-year-old told the paper. "I think she is incredible. I met her a little while ago. We did VH1 Divas together and I just think she's awesome. She's done so well and her music speaks for itself. That's what it is - just talent."
But she also spoke out about her new music and that she'd been working with producers from Europe and in the States. "It's fresh and it's all coming together with a different sound," she speaks of it.
In another interview with the Hackney Citizen, she stated that the music is "definitely more progressive, it's more eclectic. After being on my tour, my cousin, who is a producer, remixed a lot of my songs to be a bit more uptempo, a bit darker. I really wanted to take that into the next album."
Which basically means all the roboticness of Echo except with hotter beats and a darker sound. Ugh. Please pleasantly surprise me, Leona. At least get one ballad that will blow everyone away.
After wrongly losing out to Taylor Hicks on the 5th season of American Idol, Katharine McPhee put out a pop/R&B debut album which I thought was completely flawless and timeless. I actually still listen to songs from that '07 CD till this day. It had so many amazing songs like Everywhere I Go, Neglected, Dangerous, Open Toes, Not Ur Girl, and it's two singles Over It and Love Story. But the album flopped due to RCA's terrible way of promoting her, but was quickly picked up again by Adult Contemporary label Verve Forecast, where she released two Hot AC albums Unbroken and her first Christmas album Christmas Is The Time To Say I Love You to varying degress of success.
I still am a great fan of McPhee, so imagine my excitement when I found out she landed a role on NBC's new show Smash. She had previous acting gigs on The House Bunny and Community, but none had McPhee sing and act - Glee style. Well it appears Smash is doing just that. The plot is about McPhee going up against an experienced veteran played by Megan Hilty vying for a lead role in a Broadway musical.
I'm not expecting Smash to be as big as Glee, but I hope it helps McPhee return to the spotlight and.. Maybe it's too much to ask, return to pop/R&B and get back on the charts.
The Saturdays - Notorious live at So You Think You Can Dance
On Firday, The Saturdays taped their first live performance on television for new single Notorious on So You Think You Can Dance which aired on Saturday. The Saturdays have been known to not really have massive choreography for their tracks, but they outdid themselves on this one. Sure, it wasn't the kind that would threaten The Pussycat Dolls, but they definitely stepped it up a notch. Previously, they'd just have some simple choreography in the chorus and just running around during the verses but they actually made an effort to dance here. And they still sounded pretty good live. They can move. They can.
Big News: Selena Gomez & The Scene premiere new album cover!
Uhuh. Selena Gomez has released the artwork for her upcoming third disc When the Sun Goes Down. I'm quite digging this album title but judging by that picture, you'd think Kelly Clarkson handed her her leaked Cleopatra demo.
However, Britney has given the Disney starlet some Femme Fatale leftovers. Well, she seems to be the Disney star getting all the leftovers. Which explains just why her albums are all terrible: Filler, filler, filler.
Wahey. Adele's lodged another week at #1 on the Hot 100 with Rolling In The Deep getting the Airplay Gainer Title, while Katy Perry stays strong at #2 with E.T.. After the not exactly embarrassing flop that was Judas, Gaga's official third single The Edge of Glory Top 3 debut seems more by Gaga's usual standards. Jennifer Lopez slips three spots to #6 with On The Floor. Glee's cover of this week's #1 Rolling In The Deep enters at #29, while the rest of this week's covers follow suit with Friday at #34, Jar of Hearts at #49, Isn't She Lovely at #65, I'm Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How To Dance at #72 and Dancing Queen at #74. OneRepublic's slow burner of a single Good Life rises to a new peak of #44. Jordin Sparks' new single I Am Woman debuts at #82 thanks to that performance on American Idol. Jennifer Lopez' I'm Into You falls to #91 in its second week out. Adele's Turning Tables has reappeared on the Hot 100 at #96 while Taylor Swift debuts with her new pop single The Story of Us at #98.
Adele's 21 spends yet another week at the top of the Billboard 200 Albums Chart while the talented balladeer Christina Perri's debut set Lovestrong debuts at #4. After a top 5 debut with comeback album Love?, JLo's record has fallen to #9 this week.
Avril Lavigne has premiered the video for her second single Smile lifted from latest disc Goodbye Lullaby and if you missed the old Avril Lavigne, here she is.
The video starts off with Lavigne playing around with spray paint before jumping around in a white room (a set she personally decorated), the set reminiscent of Lavigne's videos of the past. Of course, it quickly got boring and she moved on to another set (which looks like the set of the video for The Saturdays' Higher) where she picked up the broken fragments of the lives of random people along the street.
In other words, the entire video was quite the snoozefest but Lavigne looked incredible in the black and white scenes. Simple but stunning. Still could've been more interesting though.
Beyonce - Run the World (Girls) [Music Video Premiere]
Well, who would've thought? With Run The World (Girls) sliding down the chart really quickly, Beyonce has released the video for the track. Hmmm.
The video starts wth a newly blonde Bey riding on a horse to a battlefield (sorta). Then runs in an army of men who try to stop Bey's all-female army, who tries to threaten them back with some silly, but I'll admit, killer dance moves. Their are points in the video where it gets cringeworthy, simply for the fact the video is hardly realistic, and obviously someone will shout some comment about putting her in front of the army to pussy pop in front of her enemies. Eh.
Nevertheless, while it's not groundbreaking, it definitely proves that Jordin really needs to up her game by a lot if she wants to still be mentioned in the same breath as Beyonce for the music video for her latest single I Am Woman.
After five video snippets (with Vanessa having the best one), countless lyric teasers, shots of the girls shooting the video getting leaked, the anticipation for this track is boiling over for a fan of The Saturdays. That would include me.
So here it finally is. The video for Notorious. The clip starts of with The Sats being all boring office workers while do some mundane job like answering calls and doing paper work. Then it's time to knock off and as the girls enter the lift, a miraculous change takes place. The girls let their hair down, show a little more skin, and as the lift door opens, lo and behold, it's The Saturdays at their hottest.
They enter a club and start dancing around. It's the usual, and would've definitely preferred some more scenes with the girls dancing in other parts of the club, and not just a little gathering around the dance floor.
This video is good. But it could've been fiercer, it could've been more fun, it also could've been longer. It could be epic. Except it's not. But it's a nice little ditty and whether or not this track gets their first #1 in the UK doesn't bother me much.
The girls will be performing Notorious on Dancing With The Stars which will be taped on Friday and aired on Saturday.
Well it would appear that the babes of The Saturdays took over T4 to do some guest hosting to help promote their new TV show The Saturdays: What Goes On Tour. However, T4 got their hands on some exclusive unseen footage of the music video of the girls' new upcoming single Notorious which comes out later this month so we can expect to see the video in full soon.
From the clip, the girls look pretty hot, but pretty autotuned as well. And I'm still not a fan of Vanessa's new blonde highlights. Still, I'm holding on with bated breath to hear Notorious.
Big News: David Cook announces The Quiet Night EP!
A slew of new David Cook news today - starting with the announcement of This Quiet Morning an EP of acoustic performances of songs from his upcoming sophomore album This Loud Morning. Nice play on words. The cover for the EP can be seen above. The EP already comes with the fan edition of This Loud Morning and is included in all of the different versions of the This Loud Morning pre-order at David’s Official Music Store.
In other Cook news, VH1 got on the set of Cook's music video for current single The Last Goodbye. Looks set to be pretty alright. I'm just afraid this entire era will flop seeing The Last Goodbye is hardly doing anything on the charts. Thank god we've got a month or so before the actual album release for something to save the album.
After bringing us the frankly quite terrible Born This Way, Lady Gaga followed this up with the bloody fantastic Judas, and we've unfortunately slipped into mediocre territory now. Well at least, mediocre for someone of Gaga's calibre. The Edge of Glory is the first iTunes promo single, jumping on a trend Carrie Underwood jumpstarted (or at least restarted) for her Play On album back in November in 2009, then adopted by many other pop stars such as Taylor Swift, Christina Perri, Ke$ha and most recently, Jennifer Lopez.
The Edge of Glory is another one of those ballads, albeit a rather forgettable one. But I'm still loving all these single covers with the big hair (bar the Born This Way album cover, that just looks terrible), and I'm definitely looking forward to next week's release Hair. Mmmmm.
Download Link: HERE Download Link 2: HERE Download Link 3: HERE
Big News: There's still hope for The Saturdays' Notorious yet..
Remember how a couple posts earlier, I said I didn't like anything I've seen or heard for The Saturdays' new single Notorious? Well, turns out the folks at Popjustice have gotten their hands on the full track, and have released a little snippet of the song on their site which you can head on over here to take a listen.
It's.. ONLY BLOODY AMAZING.
That was what I was hoping for, and that 12 seconds is giving me life right now. Vanessa's voice sounds strong on this pre-chorus (I think it's the pre-chorus) and it's just oh my lord. It's addictive and I LOVE IT. It's everything I need in a good pop track, one big fat banger of a chorus/pre-chorus. Which is good because Popjustice said the Amazon 30 second sample was the most boring part of the song. Which would be all the verses then.
Unfortunately, they've also said the song ends more abruptly than expected. Which probably means you're in store for another David Cook The Last Goodbye kind of track. Oh well.
But they've also mentioned that Notorious makes Higher sound old fashioned. Exactly what I wanted. But it really wasn't a tall order.
And it's apparently as good as Katy Perry's Firework. Which means you'll like it for a while, but after 5 weeks, it'll make you want to tear your ears out. But the reason that happened was because of the non-stop airplay. And where I'm from is not where The Sats' music is eaten up so I think I'll be fine.
Let's just hope the rest of the track is more this snippet, and less of that Amazon sample.
Rihanna - California King Bed [Music Video Premiere]
Rihanna has certainly come a long way from her Music of the Sun era. 10 #1s into her career on the Hot 100 and Rihanna has premiered the music video of her new single California King Bed which sees Rih walking around like a supermodel, and that's okay because she looks drop dead stunning in this video. The understated, elegant look matches the song and while the song doesn't have much of a plot, it's easy to see past that thanks to the star of this video - Rihanna herself.
My only gripe is that her promotional team are kind of.. A huge mess right now. See, California King Bed has been promoted on Idol and at the Academy of Country Music Awards preceding the premiere of the music video, and all of a sudden, they're pushing the release of the song towards the end of the month while they go with the release of Man Down, her single sent to urban radio, right now when promotion for California King Bed is well underway.
If they're not careful with this sticky situation they're caught in, Rih might miss out on her career's next #1.. And whisper it, she might even flop with California King Bed. Though I pray with my hardest it doesn't.
Katy Perry somehow manages to stay another week at #1 with E.T., holding off Adele and Britney Spears, with Rolling In The Deep getting the Airplay Gainer title and at #2 while Britney gets the Digital Gainer title with Till The World Ends at #3. Bruno Mars vaults into the Top 5 with The Lazy Song moving up a spot to #5. Jennifer Lopez remains strong at #7 with On The Floor while Lady Gaga's Judas has slipped to #20 this week. Glee's slew of debuts this week is led by I Feel Pretty/Unpretty at #22, followed by Somewhere Only We Know at #42, Born This Way at #44 and As If We Never Said Goodbye at #80. For the first time, Jessie J's Price Tag has headed downwards to #25 this week after making a peak at #23 last week. Beyonce has slipped to #48 in its second week of release with Run The World (Girls) while OneRepublic has shot up to #66 with Good Life. Colbie Caillat's on the way up again as I Do rises to #75. Adele's Turning Tables, however, has fallen to #85, but that's not all too bad considering the mournful ballad hasn't even been released as a single yet.
Adele has lodged herself another week on top the Billboard 200 Albums Chart with 21 while Britney Spears' Femme Fatale has returned to the Top 4 at #4 this week. Jessie J's Who You Are has fallen to #51 in just its third week of release. After the American Idol stint, Crystal Bowersox managed to re-enter the albums chart with Farmer's Daughter coming in at #184.
Taylor Swift has enjoyed some massive success in her Speak Now era, and is set to continue this success with the release of third single Mean. The song itself is nice enough but she turned the video into one of those self-empowering anthems which I did not enjoy. Still, it's bound to be a hit with fans.
Big News: Listen to a snippet of The Saturdays' Notorious!
British babes The Saturdays have enjoyed some massive success in the UK with 8 Top 10 singles. The Sats will be making their way to Germany this May with the release of Higher, their last UK Top 10 hit but they definitely haven't forgotten the UK. The girls have a new single Notorious in the pipeline and have just released a 30 second snippet which you can take a listen below.
Unfortunately, The Sats have ditched the radio-friendly pop sound and gone for an edgier, clubbier sound which I am not a fan of. However, this is only a 30 second snippet, I'll definitely need to hear the chorus and the song in full.
Below, you can check out the single cover for Nototrious which looks tacky and cheap. This coming from a major fan of the girls. I really want to like this so the girls better bring it in the video and the full track.
In other Sats news, they have a new show called The Saturdays: What Goes On Tour that will debut on Channel 4 Sat 14 May, 10am and the girls have asked fans what songs they'd like to see the girls tape for the show in a similar fashion to how their first show The Saturdays: 24/7 was like.
After random single releases such as Pyromania and Night Nurse, German eurodance pop trio Cascada are back with a new lead single San Francisco. Unfortunately, San Francisco sounds all too generic, and lacks the usual oomph of Cascada's best tracks such as Evacuate The Dancefloor and Pyromania. It's still catchy and fun, but lacks originality and the video isn't great either.
But you can probably see Natalie Horler has gotten rid of the brunette streaks in her hair. Perhaps they thought it was time for a new cleaner, less spunky image? Either way, I need the grit in Evacuate The Dancefloor which is sorely missing from this California Gurls-esque track.
After her last album Battlefield underperformed on the charts and on the sales front, Jordin Sparks is back with her new single - an empowering female anthem all too similar to Beyonce's Run The World (Girls). I can't get myself to like Beyonce's track, and I'm not too crazy about Jordin's I Am Woman either. Both songs are simply too alike to ignore, and it's crazy just how much the both songs are all coming out at around the same time. Of course, I won't call I Am Woman a total rip-off of Run The World (Girls), as Jordin must've been working on it for a while now.
Jordin's charming girl next door image on her debut self-titled album was edged out on Battlefield and she takes things a step further on I Am Woman. But unlike Battlefield, I Am Woman isn't an amazing underrated pop masterpiece, and for now, I'm only half-liking this new soung for Jordin.
I am, however, excited to see the visual for the music video. Jordin's growing up and maturing so I'm not surprised that she's gone for such a sound. Maybe the new era will be filled with empowering, sexy dance floor anthems. She definitely has the voice to pull off anything and for now, is a natural progression in her career.
Download Link: HERE Download Link 2: HERE Download Link 3: HERE
Jennifer Lopez - I'm Into You [Music Video Premiere]
Apart from Nicole Scherzinger, Jennifer Lopez is also gunning for another What's My Name-esque smash hit with her new single I'm Into You. I'm Into You hasn't done anything chart-wise while On The Floor storms charts worldwide, but with this music video, let's hope the song gets a boost up the charts. The video is another one of your romantic videos by the beach, and the dance break in the bridge with J. Lo dancing to Papi which totally didn't fit at all makes this video an ultimately boring one.
Don't get me wrong, Jennifer doesn't look anything but stunning as usual, but without a proper plot or storyline, I'm not entirely sure this video will help this song race up the charts. Boo to that, then.
Nicole Scherzinger - Right There [Music Video Premiere]
Nicole Scherzinger is now armed with 2 Top 3 solo UK chart hits and a Top 10 solo debut album under her belt and is ready to go again with the release of this third single Right There which also serves as the first single to head into the US. Right There is a total and utter Rihanna What's My Name knock-off, but the thing is, Nicole can dance, which means she can easily outperform Rihanna.
Right There is subtly catchy, but I don't think the video is anything amazing and the 50 Cent feature is so unnecessary.
We review the latest in 21st century. Mostly we do pop, but it doesn't really matter, along with new music premieres, video premieres, album premieres. If the links don't work, please notify me in the cbox right below and I will post a new link in the cbox. Thanks.
Artist Of The Month. (November 2011)
The Power Rangers of British pop, The Saturdays, are returning this year with a more mature sound and image, with the girlband taking a stab at the pop/dance wave with their fourth album On Your Radar's first single Notorious being a total flip in direction in their sound, and was noticeably more clubby compared to their previous singles and albums. They then took things a level further with the complete rave-tastic All Fired Up, which is without a doubt their best single release, not surprising since the track was produced by production powerhouse Xenomania, the machine behind pretty much all of Girls Aloud's discography. The pop five-piece are charging forward with the Christmassy ballad My Heart Takes Over before their album On Your Radar drops November 21st!
