Music Reviews

Billboard Update

2011-11-19T13:51:00.002+08:00

Rihanna's sixth studio album Talk That Talk leaked the past week, but the lead single We Found Love has managed to collect another week atop the Hot 100, while Bruno Mars rockets into the Top 10 at #9 with It Will Rain, trailed closely by Taylor Swift's new tracks If This Was a Movie at #10, Ours at #13 and Superman at #26 while Katy Perry's The One That Got Away rises up to a new peak of #15. Christina Perri's A Thousand Years is also on the move up, moving up to #46. Jessie J's Domino moves up to #58 while Glee's Uptown Girl debuts at #68. Rihanna is genuinely the queen of the Hot 100 right now, with her new single You Da One arriving at #73 while Adele's Set Fire To The Rain re-enters at #89.

Mac Miller is at #1 on the albums chart while Michael Buble's annual album chart fest is in full swing with his Christmas album collects the Greatest Gainer Title and flies up to #2. The unstoppable Adele is a non-mover at #5 while Mariah Carey's Merry Christmas II You re-enters at the other side of the chart at #194.

One Direction - What Makes You Beautiful + Gotta Be You live @ Children In Need

2011-11-19T13:42:00.002+08:00

One Direction have gotten everything right so far. They brushed up their looks, and genuinely improved since their shitty X Factor days when they were literally the worst boyband then, with no clear musical direction whatsoever. They decided to avoid the clubby/pop/dance genre dominated by JLS, and the straight up pop that The Wanted have nailed, and gone for a pop/rock sound, although a lot more pop than rock.

What Makes You Beautiful was ridiculously catchy enough to warrant the attention of casual buyers to make it become the fastest selling single in the UK this year. With Gotta Be You, it seems Rihanna has stolen their #1 lead when the latest midweek chart prediction came in. And thankfully she's done that because Gotta Be You is rather dire, especially the studio version.

Nevertheless, One Direction got to open the Children In Need show and failing to do as spectacularly as Cheryl Cole did last year, with What Makes You Beautiful and returning with Gotta Be You. Liam and Harry in particular sounded spectacular, Zayn was okay, Louis and Niall were disposable as always. You didn't even hear them at all.

But we saw that coming anyway.

The Saturdays - My Heart Takes Over live @ Children In Need

2011-11-19T13:30:00.002+08:00

It's release week of My Heart Takes Over for The Saturdays, which is sitting at #13 on the midweek chart, and if it remains there, it would be their first single to miss the Top 10 since the fabulous Work in June 2009. So to drum up some sales, The Sats dropped by Children In Need to give a showing of the new single with Frankie present. She missed out on promotions for the single when they did Daybreak and Loose Women. My Heart Takes Over might look like it's a disaster for The Saturdays, breaking their Top 10 streak, but bear in mind their upcoming fourth album On Your Radar drops next week, so most casual buyers would be holding out to get the album. Furthermore, Westlife's lead single to what seems like their very last album, ever, Lighthouse is doing even worse than My Heart Takes Over. And when you're a boyband that's been around since forever and what could be your last single does even worse than a girl group that hasn't had a fraction of your sales, suddenly things don't look so bad.

But back to the Children In Need performance. Those dresses didn't flatter the girls, I'll have to admit. But since the One Direction boys got to open the show and performed two songs, I feel a bit miffed for The Sats. They should've knocked out All Fired Up to get the crowd going. In fact, that would've been a perfect opening to the show. Pfft. Boybands always have it easier.

Anyway, check out more of their recent live performances of My Heart Takes Over below. Their new album is good too. Apart from the singles, check out Faster, Get Ready Get Set, The Way You Watch Me (feat. Travie McCoy), Do What You Want With Me, White Lies and Last Call. Oh and if you don't like My Heart Takes Over, replace the album version with the Rokstone Mix. It's MUCH better.

Rihanna - We Found Love live @ The X Factor USA

2011-11-19T13:24:00.003+08:00

Rihanna's We Found Love is genuinely SLAYING everywhere, what with snatching a #1 single away from boybands The Wanted (Lightning), JLS (Take a Chance on Me), and One Direction (Gotta Be You) if the latest midweek chart prediction holds true on the UK Singles Chart, while in the US she literally has no chart competition with Adele's Someone Like You starting to fall down the chart.

And she only just started promotions for the single.

The Bajan megastar took to The X Factor US stage to give the very first live showing of We Found Love. Coupled with a loud backing track and an oddly puffier face (not in a 'SHE GREW FAT'! way, mind), Rihanna jumped around like how you would at a rave when We Found Love starts blasting through the speakers.

Overall, it was an alright performance, rather messy at points, but for the first live showing of the song, it was good.

Selena Gomez - Hit The Lights [Music Video Premiere]

2011-11-17T15:15:00.002+08:00

I'll admit, I don't really like Selena Gomez' latest album When the Sun Goes Down because it is what it is, a bunch of songs bigger pop artists rejected. Who Says was fine till she destroyed it with the awful live performances, Love You Like a Love Song was overrated and too robotic, but I'm afraid I'm quite liking the THIRD single Hit the Lights. It's remarkable because Hollywood Records tends to give up on an album after its second single, and promotion for the second single is usually rubbish so it flops (see: Hilary Duff's Stranger and Miley Cyrus' Who Owns My Heart). But Selena's fanbase has taken very well to Love You.. and sent the song to become another hit.

So Hollywood Records have finally started acting like an actual record label and released a third single. It's a move further into electro/pop territory and the further she ventures into this subgenre, the more I like it. Hit the Lights is very much a carefree number about living your life etc. without coming across cheesy to the point where its cringeworthy. And as with every Gomez video, there's always one look where she looks flawless and the rest I'm not too fond of. But overall, I don't like some of the camera angles and the behind the scenes video of the disco ball in the forest and the flashlights party in the middle of the road showed that they could've looked a lot better than those scenes actually did in the video.

Now if only Demi would hurry up with a second single already. All Night Long please.

Katy Perry - The One That Got Away [Music Video Premiere]

2011-11-13T13:54:00.002+08:00

Katy Perry, after a successful 5 singles run of which all got to #1 in the US, and 2 of them, namely E.T. and Last Friday Night had Katy underhandedly bringing on rent-a-rappers to the tracks to help push the songs to #1. Ever since the overplayed disaster that is Firework, I've been terribly sick of anything Katy Perry, but what she has done, is excel at putting out truly stellar music videos to ease the pain our ears went through the many many times we turned on the radio to hear it playing Firework.

And with The One That Got Away, Katy's genuinely wrapping up the Teenage Dream era. The video, however, is very much Thinking of You 2.0, of which Thinking of You is by far better than anything she's done. And the tacky beat in The One That Got Away certainly doesn't help. But her stripped down performance of the track on The X Factor UK has made this song incredible, and just behind E.T. as her best single from this album era.

The video is painfully dramatic, but while Thinking of You was brutally sad, The One That Got Away tries its best and comes across second rate compared to Thinking of You. The only unexpected moment of the video came when "the one" drove off a cliff (anyone notice how the boulders in the road were perfectly placed RIGHT SMACK in the middle of the road?), and I would've started tearing if I didn't predict he'd die somehow or if I was a 13 year old girl. This video, much like Britney's Criminal, tries too hard to be overly dramatic to the point where all emotion is stripped away.

Also, someone needs to get rid of that cheap beat in the song.

Big News: MRAs 2011 polls open!

2011-11-11T18:29:00.004+08:00

It's time to get voting! The polls for MRAs 2011 are up!

Billboard Update

2011-11-11T17:07:00.002+08:00

Rihanna's We Found Love snags another week at #1 on the Hot 100, without even properly promoting the track and she's got a new single along the way. #SinglesQueen Bruno Mars collects the Digital Gainer title and rockets up to #12 with It Will Rain, while Kelly Clarkson falls five spots down to #15 with Mr. Know It All. With the music video imminent, Katy Perry is fiercely gaining serious ground, vaulting up to #18 from #34 with her new track The One That Got Away. Christina Perri is also flying up the chart, with delicate ballad A Thousand Years moving up to #59 while Colbie Caillat inches up to #62 with Brighter Than the Sun. Jessie J's new Stateside single is also on its way up to #67 with Domino. With Glee's return to television screens after a short break, it also marks a return to the charts, with Last Friday Night making its way to #72. Daughtry's new by the numbers track Crawling Back To You moves up to #87 while Scotty McCreery's new single The Trouble With Girls re-enters at #98.

The slew of new entries on the album chart including Justin Bieber's Christmas album, Wale, Miranda Lambert, Susan Boyle and Florence + The Machine spell bad news for other chart entries with Coldplay tumbling six spots to #7 while Kelly Clarkson's Stronger falls eight spots to #10.

The Wanted - Warzone [Music Video Premiere]

2011-11-11T16:53:00.002+08:00

If The Wanted weren't a boyband with an army of fangirls and their music was shit, they'd be screwed by now.

The Wanted told press that their previous single Lightning was a "filler" single, and I'm sorry, but which pop act says they put out a "filler" single? Especially since Lightning wasn't released too long ago and the interest for the song would naturally diminish and the song would plummet down the chart. Not to mention they said they had plans to re-issue their upcoming album Battleground with one of the tracks as a duet with an American female recording star. Their album is out now and apparently has started falling down the iTunes chart.

~~LET ME MANAGE THEM.~~

Nevertheless, The Wanted have trotted out a new music video when Lightning was released not too long ago, and it's for the new single Warzone, set to be released.... (wait for it).... In January next year. This is a tactic most British pop artists use, except the norm is a month between video release and digital release, but The Wanted have gone for about two months. Fine. Let's hope anticipation for Warzone doesn't die by the time we reach January.

Thankfully, Warzone ticks all the right boxes, and besides being the group's best single lifted off this project, it's also the clear standout song on the album. And let's admit, The Wanted's worse song beats JLS' best song by a clear mile, so you can be reassured Warzone is typical quality The Wanted stuff.

The tune is a moody ballad about being cheated on, with Nathan sounding like sex to your ears on the first verse while Max storms the first chorus. Jay leads the second verse before it becomes a Max/Nathan fest again, which I'd be quite worried for Tom. Being one of the group's more prominent vocalist, and perhaps second vocalist behind Max during their first album era, we don't see or hear much of Tom on Warzone. Even Siva gets more screen time in the clip. And the clip is actually rather simple. From the same director that gave you Glad You Came, Warzone follows their previous two videos in having a scene where the boys are intimate with their girls, which just comes off as a bit sleazy, especially in the Glad You Came video, but in Warzone, it's a quite a good fit and you wouldn't struggle to see why. The video starts off with Nathan seeing the "girl of my dreams cheating on me" with another man and as the video progresses, it leads to the boys catching their lovers red-handed in bed with another lover, and being all dramatic.

Simple, clean, but it works. Now if only they'd let me manage them.

The Saturdays - My Heart Takes Over live @ Alan Carr

2011-11-09T14:58:00.003+08:00

Pop girl group The Saturdays are looking to cash in the Christmas holiday season, releasing their fourth album On Your Radar November 21st, the same week as Rihanna, One Direction, Kate Bush, and possibly the last Westlife release ever. Tough competition, not to mention the fact earlier weeks see Pixie Lott, The Wanted, JLS and Susan Boyle trotting out new albums.

However, judging by the album teaser, On Your Radar sounds massive, with the girls turning to electro/pop and stepping it up in terms of production, where their previous hits like Higher, Up and Just Can't Get Enough get exposed for being such basic pop tracks that they are. So even though they're still the biggest girlband in the UK by default, their music's starting to improve too.

But with The Saturdays, their fanbase is always able to clinch good first week sales, then the girls just plummet down the charts the weeks after, and is evident by the album's first two singles Notorious and All Fired Up which have just sunk further and further down the charts, which is a shame because their music's far better than the likes of JLS and Jessie J, so here's hoping On Your Radar makes them massive again like how Chasing Lights managed to make the girls the most exciting new girlband back in 2008.

Of course, nothing sells albums like a good ballad, so the girls have decided to go for a big ballad in the form of the Steve Mac/Ina Wroldsen-penned ballad My Heart Takes Over. To drum up anticipation, the girls dropped by Alan Carr: Chatty Man to perform a remixed version of My Heart Takes Over, which no worries, is FAR better than the remix they did of Missing You on Alan's show last year. The girls had some help on the chorus, but you could still hear Vanessa which is always a good thing.

One Direction - Gotta Be You [Music Video Premiere]

2011-11-09T14:50:00.003+08:00

English boyband One Direction have had it pretty easy, with the catchy What Makes You Beautiful introducing the boys to the boyband crowd but doing power pop and pop/rock intead of the club/dance genre JLS have embraced or the straight up pop that The Wanted are excellent at doing.

Gotta Be You follows What Makes You Beautiful and is set for release in November along with their debut album Up All Night. The video for Gotta Be You has the boys outdoors again, and while they look good, there's an overdose of dreary fall/winter fashion like the coats which honestly doesn't suit them as much and too much Liam. Clearly Niall and Louis are the Frankie Sandford and Mollie King of this band.

The song itself is alright, isn't half as interesting as What Makes You Beautiful but they could release Rebecca Black's Friday and steal a hit with it.

~~Boybands just have it ten times easier.~~

Billboard Update

2011-11-04T16:35:00.003+08:00

Predictably, Rihanna and her Calvin Harris collaboration We Found Love has sailed to the top of the Hot 100, marking it Rihanna's 11th #1 hit, and I will cry when she beats Mariah's record of 18 #1s, which will happen soon. ~~Get on with some hits, Mariah!~~ Rihanna's sail to the top also means Adele's Someone Like You has been pushed down to #2. Meanwhile, Kelly Clarkson sees a massive resurgence for Mr. Know It All, which we all thought was going to flop seeing its massive drop down the chart in its second week. However, the soulful pop/rock midtempo has bounced back up nine spots to #10. Being one of the massive pop superstars on the planet right now means everyone will be ringing you up, and Coldplay did that with RiRi, and their duet on Princess of China arrives at #20 on the chart this week. Also seeing a resurgence is Bruno Mars' It Will Rain, which has risen to a new peak of #21, while Katy Perry's sixth(!) single off Teenage Dream, The One That Got Away, has shot up to #34. Obvious album standout What Doesn't Kill You (Stronger) off Kelly Clarkson's new album Stronger, crashes the chart at #64 while Colbie Caillat's Brighter Than The Sun follows right behind at #65. Jessie J's new American single Domino is also on the rise, moving up to #81 while Christina Perri's A Thousand Years plummets to #91.

Over on the album chart, the unstoppable Coldplay fights off competition from pop heavyweight Kelly Clarkson and pop/jazz crooner Michael Buble to land at #1 with Mylo Xyloto while Stronger lands at #2 while Buble's Christmas album sits at #3. American Idol Season 10 winner Scotty McCreery's Clear as Day seems to have some serious holding power (not Adele terms of holding power, but you get what I mean), as the album stays strong at #7. The runner-up of the same season Lauren Alaina doesn't seem to have as much luck, with her debut album Wildflower falling to #24 despite being released a week after Scotty's album.

Jason DeRulo - Breathing [Music Video Premiere]

2011-11-04T16:25:00.002+08:00

Over time, Jason DeRulo has proven himself to be quite reliable to give us some good tunes, some occasionally horribly trashy tracks (Don't Wanna Go Home, Whatcha Say, Ridin' Solo), but this is from the man that gave us In My Head, so he is somewhat forgiven. That said, for his second album Future History, he hasn't been able to produce a hit as massive as In My Head yet, and has already released two singles off the album - the clubby Don't Wanna Go Home and the by the numbers Bruno Mars type of song with It Girl, except without the raw gutsy vocal of Bruno.

Both ultimately forgettable numbers. Now he's on his third single, titled Breathing. Yes, Breathing is another one for the clubs, now that that's out of the way, by mainstream club tracks standard, this is actually decent. There's always the fear of the song going to shit thanks to cheap, generic production ala Nicole Scherzinger's new tune Try With Me, but it just never does. It just gets terribly worryingly close to it. The video for the track itself seems like Jason's a little over four days late for Halloween with the Halloween-themed clip.

Eh, it's no In My Head, but it'll do.

Matt Cardle - Starlight [Music Video Premiere]

2011-11-02T18:41:00.002+08:00

I wouldn't blame you if you hated Matt Cardle. After all, for a man who does a lot of talking about how he's credible and has put down The X Factor, the show that was his launching pad, numerous times, yet released a totally generic by the numbers pop/rock single Run For Your Life, co-written by Gary Barlow, with the song showing off the wrong sides of Matt's voice.

Of course, there's the pressure to not become another Leon Jackson or any other male winner of The X Factor, to be dropped as soon as a new X Factor winner comes along. However, seeing the way Run For Your Life has plummeted down the chart, his label are rushing out a new single. Smart move. And it appears to be the markedly better Starlight. But that's not anything to go by because Run For Your Life was really terrible, so anything after that would be an improvement. That said, it's still quite a forgettable tune. But at least it's a likeable forgettable tune. The music video doesn't have much going on either, but if you haven't heard it yet, there you go.

Big News: MRAs 2011 nominations!

2011-11-02T16:13:00.003+08:00

Well it's that time of the year again, where the nominations for MRAs are out for the year! This year, I'm revamping some categories, scrapping Comeback Album of the Year, introducing Band/Group of the Year and Summer Anthem of the Year! Check out the nominations below and as usual, the polls will be up around mid-November.

Best Newcomer:
Scotty McCreery
One Direction
Cher Lloyd
Katy B
Ed Sheeran
Christina Perri

Tour of the Year:
Rihanna - Loud Tour
Katy Perry - California Dreams Tour
The Saturdays - Headlines! Tour
Britney Spears - Femme Fatale Tour

Live Performance Of the Year:
Bruno Mars - Runaway Baby (The X Factor UK)
Jennifer Lopez - On The Floor ft. Pitbull (American Idol)
The Wanted - Lightning (Strictly Come Dancing)
Demi Lovato - Skyscraper (America's Got Talent)
Adele - Someone Like You (BRIT Awards)

Song Of The Year:
Adele - Rolling in the Deep
Demi Lovato - Skyscraper
Britney Spears - Till The World Ends
Ke$ha - Blow
The Saturdays - All Fired Up
One Direction - What Makes You Beautiful
Kelly Rowland - Motivation
Lady Gaga - Judas

Summer Anthem of the Year:
The Wanted - Glad You Came
Jennifer Lopez - On the Floor ft. Pitbull
The Saturdays - Notorious
Katy Perry - Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)
Nicola Roberts - Beat of My Drum
Maroon 5- Moves Like Jagger ft. Christina Aguilera

Debut Album Of The Year:
Lauren Alaina - Wildflower
Scotty McCreery - Clear as Day
Jessie J - Who You Are
Katy B - On A Mission
Matt Cardle - Letters
Nicola Roberts - Cinderella's Eyes

Album Of The Year:
Lady Antebellum - Own The Night
Kelly Clarkson - Stronger
Adele - 21
Britney Spears - Femme Fatale
Lady Gaga - Born This Way

Music Video Of The Year:
Rihanna - We Found Love
The Saturdays - Notorious
Pixie Lott - What Do You Take Me For? ft. Pusha T
Jennifer Lopez - I'm Into You ft. Lil Wayne
Katy Perry - Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)
Britney Spears - I Wanna Go
Rihanna - Man Down
Ke$ha - Blow

Artist Of the Year:
Rihanna
Jennifer Lopez
Katy Perry
Adele
Kelly Clarkson
Demi Lovato

Band/Group of the Year:
The Saturdays
The Wanted
One Direction
Lady Antebellum

Thoughts?

David Cook - Fade Into Me [Music Video Premiere]

2011-11-02T15:37:00.003+08:00

RCA Records are really pissing away David Cook's This Loud Morning album campaign aren't they? They first kicked off the campaign with The Last Goodbye which was not radio-friendly and hardly had any crossover appeal which helped him get hits from his platinum-selling debut album such as Light On and Come Back To Me. Furthermore, with the dance trend taking over the charts, artists like David Cook have it even tougher to break onto the charts.

After The Last Goodbye underperformed, RCA have decided to release the completely forgettable and album-filler track Fade Into Me. The video itself is one of those "tour memories" kind of videos with clips of David on tour between clips of just David singing. It's obviously a low budget affair, but the good thing is it doesn't look it. Nevertheless, I would rather RCA release Circadian than this standard, generic, MOR rock midtempo.

Big News: The Wanted premiere "Warzone"!

2011-11-02T14:44:00.004+08:00

It's pretty full on for Britain's boybands, with JLS releasing their summer #1 She Makes Me Wanna in July and now on their Bruno Mars-aping second single Take A Chance On Me, while teen heart throbs One Direction had their first single clocking in the highest first week sales of 2011 with What Makes You Beautiful effortlessly sailing to #1 and have moved on to their second single Gotta Be You, wintery like The Saturdays' My Heart Takes Over, while The Wanted also hit the #1 spot back in July with the club banger Glad You Came, then with just performed the second album Battleground's second single Lightning on The X Factor and Strictly Come Dancing, The Wanted boys have premiered their new single Warzone on radio.

I disliked Glad You Came for being everything I didn't want a Wanted track to be - clubby. Then they were back in my good books with the anthemic Lightning, with Warzone continuing this streak of good songs. Both Lightning and Warzone sound like more mature takes on the songs tackled on their #4 debut album released last year. Warzone is a moody ballad with Nathan and Max sounding incredible on it.

If you still, however, haven't tired of Lightning, check out the boys donning yellow contacts to perform a "Halloween-themed" version of the single on Strictly Come Dancing and an acoustic version below it.

JoJo - Disaster [Music Video Premiere]

2011-11-02T13:08:00.002+08:00

After ten years, JoJo has finally released the music video for her new pop/rock/R&B-tinged single Disaster which has only just been released to radio. The song debuted at #87 on the Billboard Hot 100 for a week, before quickly disappearing, but let's hope with this, the girl will be on her way up again, back into the upper reaches of the Top 10 where she truly deserves. (Whether that can happen in 2011 is another story altogether though)

The video for Disaster is relatively simple, with JoJo in a dysfunctional relationship, playing her guitar to drown on her partner's shouting, and singing her wee little heart out with her band. Typical JoJo video then.

Nothing groundbreaking, but here's hoping somehow or another, this becomes a MASSIVE hit.

Nicole Scherzinger on Alan Carr + Try With Me [Music Video Premiere]

2011-11-02T12:46:00.002+08:00

Well apparently miracles do happen. Remember how Nicole Scherzinger was on The Graham Norton sometime back, one of the funniest British talkshows EVER, and she managed to be completely boring to the point where it'd be more interesting to watch paint dry for 40-odd minutes? And then I started disliking her intensely after Cheryl-gate.

But imagine my surprise when I watched her interview with Alan Carr. Nicole actually showed personality by the bucketload, and is one of her interviews I actually laughed along with. Part of it could be due to Alan himself, but even he couldn't make Jessie J's interview half interesting. This interview brought me back to PCD days where I actually liked her, and quite a big deal too. So check out Nicole returning to old Nicole in the interview above, where Nicole does a spot-on Britney imitation and then teaching Alan how to yodel.

But the real reason why she jetted off to the UK amidst being a mentor on the US series of X Factor, is that she's got a new single out called Try With Me. The music video premiered some days back, and was shot in a rainforest in Mexico, where the song opens as a beautiful ballad, with Nicole singing angelically over the lush track.. Right before the trashy and cheap dance beats kick in and everything goes to hell. Eh. It should've stayed a ballad, or should've been better produced. It's not a great track either. But Try With Me is the lead single off the re-release of her debut album Killer Love.

Of course, Nicole had to do some singing while in the UK. She hit the X Factor UK to do some singing, where my issue with the song being a ballad for the entire song still stands. It's not embeddable, so check out Nicole still doing a better job of Cher Lloyd singing live on the stage here.

But just the track wise, With Ur Love >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Try With Me

Christina Perri - A Thousand Years [Music Video Premiere]

2011-10-27T19:34:00.003+08:00

Two of the world's biggest singer/songwriters at the minute, Jar of Hearts singer Christina Perri and Grenade crooner Bruno Mars, are each contributing to the soundtrack of the upcoming Twilight film - Breaking Dawn Part I. Bruno was the first to charge ahead with moody ballad It Will Rain but the music video is delayed, which means Christina Perri's similarly moody ballad will go first. Titled A Thousand Years, this fits Christina perfectly, and I remember saying when she first debuted, her music was so appropriate for moody and dramatic shows like The Vampire Diaries and Twilight.

Hey ho, fast forward to October 2011, here we are. A Thousand Years isn't as good as It Will Rain, but Christina has had a few vocal issues lately so she probably doesn't want to strain it on this track. The clip itself is pretty simple with Christina with candles all around whenever scenes from Breaking Dawn aren't playing.

It's no The Lonely, but it'll do.

The Wanted - Lightning [Music Video Premiere]

2011-10-23T01:13:00.002+08:00

I know I'm late to the party but it's because I forgot to post it. Anyway, UK boyband The Wanted are onto their sophomore album Battleground's second single Lightning which follows the massively successful #1 lead single Glad You Came. (No I don't consider the Comic Relief Single Gold Forever a proper single off Battleground.) If you hated The Wanted's shift into the clubby Ibiza rave-vibe, have no fear as Lightning harks back to classic The Wanted territory with the song marrying electro, pop and a slice of pop/rock as well, before the anthemic chorus erupts and all is good in the world.

The video doesn't exactly do much for me, it's just the boys standing around looking pretty while Nathan blows up a car, but it sounds a lot better than the disastrous radio rip which sounded like an unfinished demo. The song's #2 on the UK Chart midweeks, overtaken by Rihanna's We Found Love (thanks to that incredible video), but it should go on to become a winner for them.

Billboard Update

2011-10-23T00:44:00.003+08:00

Adele's monster ballad Someone Like You is still unstoppable, reigning at #1 on the Hot 100 for yet another week. Rihanna picks up the Airplay Gainer title and rises up to #6, and hopefully after that amazing music video, she'll be heading further upwards. Kelly Clarkson's Mr. Know It All seems to be seeing a resurgence, rising back up to #24 this week while Bruno Mars' It Will Rain vaults up to #47 this week. Also heading up is Colbie Caillat, as Brighter Than the Sun floats up to #65. After dropping the music video, Britney Spears' Criminal makes a debut at #92 on the Hot 100 while fellow pop tarts Katy Perry and Jessie J's latest tunes The One That Got Away and Domino arrive at #94 and #96.

Over on the albums chart, Evanescence' self-titled album debut at #1 while Adele's 21 holds at #2. American Idol Season 10 finalists Scotty McCreery and Lauren Alaina see their debut studio albums Clear as Day and Wildflower at #4 and #5 respectively.

Rihanna - We Found Love [Music Video Premiere]

2011-10-20T16:56:00.002+08:00

In four and a half minutes, Rihanna has explored every bit of love, from the fights, the sex, the club raves, the drugs, the unhappiness, and the utter bliss, and has delivered basically the best pop video of the year. The clip for We Found Love starts off slow and introspective, with a very Skins UK ring to it, with a narrator saying "It’s like screaming, but no one can hear. You almost feel ashamed that some one could be that important, that without them, you feel like nothing. No one will ever understand how much it hurts. You feel hopeless, like nothing can save you. But when it’s over, and it’s gone, you almost wish that you could have all that bad stuff back, so that you could have the good."

Before the song starts in a surprising, almost celebratory element to the video, where Rihanna and her lover go through different phases of the relationship. Both sad and fun at the same time.

RiRi's landed herself another winner.

Britney Spears - Criminal [Music Video Premiere]

2011-10-18T13:34:00.002+08:00

Oh Britney. As a whole, the Femme Fatale has been a hit and miss for me. The styling of the entire era was a bit generic, the album itself left me cold, but it did bring us the fabulous bonus tracks Up N Down and Scary. Britney's already easily scored three other top 10 hits with Femme Fatale and now onto her fourth single Criminal, Brit Brit dropped by London to film the unnecessarily dramatic music video.

The clip starts off with Socialite Spears getting bullied by her English husband, before getting slapped by him with real life beau Jason Trawick stepping in as Mr. Criminal to save her. Then the unnecessary drama starts, with B shoplifting and a whole lot of sex scenes and running off with Mr. Criminal and the police fail to catch them.

Like I said, unnecessarily dramatic, especially since Britney isn't the finest actress we've seen around doubling as massive popstars, and overall, the clip doesn't do much for me.

Still, I would like to see this become a hit since it's one of the songs I immediately liked from Femme Fatale.

Billboard Update

2011-10-15T19:07:00.002+08:00

Adele's Someone Like You still reigns over the Hot 100 while Rihanna moves up to #7 with new single We Found Love. Kelly Clarkson's Mr. Know It All is finally seeing a small resurgence, moving up to #27 from #30 last week. Daughtry's new single Crawling Back To You makes an entrance at #41 amidst Glee's entries this week with Fix You starting off at #53, and Run The World (Girls) at #91. Bruno Mars' contribution to the Twilight movie Breaking Dawn Part 1 takes a massive tumble to #64 after it's debut at #28 last week while Colbie Caillat stays fixed at a sexually suggestive #69 with Brighter Than The Sun. This week also sees Beyonce's Party debut at #95 and Jennifer Lopez' Papi making an appearance at #96.

The tenth American Idol Scotty McCreery has broken a record for being the youngest male artist in history to debut atop the Billboard 200 Albums Chart in terms of debut albums, and the first country act to debut at #1 with their first studio album. And as usual, Adele holds strong right behind at #2.

Olly Murs - Dance With Me Tonight [Music Video Premiere]

2011-10-15T18:28:00.002+08:00

British pop singer/songwriter Olly Murs has done pretty well for himself post The X Factor, spinning out a far more successful pop career compared to winner Joe McElderry who's found success in Opera-styled music (the lad has a really good voice, so if you're bored with nothing to do, YouTube him). Last year, Olly picked up a #1 single and his self-titled debut album went double platinum. This year, he scored yet another #1 with his upcoming second album In Case You Didn't Know's lead single Heart Skips a Beat. With a new job on the X Factor as the Xtra Factor host, it's full speed ahead and will release his new single Dance With Me Tonight in November.

As usual with British artists, the music videos are unveiled a month before the single release, so now that we're in the middle of October, here we have Olly in the video for Dance With Me Tonight. The clip starts off with Olly getting sent to jail. "SAY WHAT OLLY HAS BECOME A BAD BOY?" Unfortunately, it's not exactly shaving his head and attacking the paparazzi with an umbrella. In a romantic gesture, Olly took a car for a spin, to show up at a girl's house inviting her to dance with him, what with fireworks and all. Of course, it's in the night, so the poor Granny next door can't take all that noise, calling the police in. Hey ho, Olly's in jail.

"Help! Someone help! We can't breathe!" - Olly Murs' testicles in his tight pants.

The Saturdays - My Heart Takes Over [Music Video Premiere]

2011-10-13T01:51:00.002+08:00

Usually when it comes to proper anthemic ballads, filming a music video, especially one for a girl group has a pretty standard fomula, chuck the girls into a pretty country with a pretty backdrop as scenery while they look wistfully into the camera drowning their sorrows in song.

And it's exactly what The Saturdays have done for the music video for their brand new single My Heart Takes Over which will be released a week before their upcoming fourth album On Your Radar will hit stores. The song by itself is strong, but a little bland and forgettable, but the video is absolutely stunning and suits the song very well, with Vanessa emoting really well while the other girls look either stunning (Una, Mollie) or in pain from the harsh weather (Frankie, Rochelle). Nevertheless, Queen Vanessa owns the entire clip and song.

Amazing.

Billboard Update

2011-10-07T20:51:00.004+08:00

After the release of the music video for Someone Like You a while back, it's put the Adele track right atop the Hot 100 once again, pushing Maroon 5 and Moves Like Jagger to #2. Thanks to Airplay Gains, Rihanna vaults straight into the Top 10 at #9 this week with We Found Love after its debut at #16 last week. Jason DeRulo sneaks into the Top 20 with It Girl moving up to #18 this week while Bruno Mars' new track It Will Rain for the Twilight film debuts at #28 with Kelly Clarkson's Mr. Know It All two places behind at the rim of the Top 30. Colbie Caillat's Brighter Than The Sun moves to a new peak of #69 this week, then there's the weekly Glee chart invasion with Somewhere at #75.

Over on the albums chart, J. Cole runs to #1 with Adele sitting at #3 behind the new Blink 182 album. Demi Lovato's Unbroken takes a ten spot slip to #14.

Pixie Lott - What Do You Take Me For [Music Video Premiere]

2011-10-07T15:29:00.002+08:00

This week saw Pixie Lott premiere the music video for her new single What Do You Take Me For which features Pusha T and comes after her UK chart-topping but totally generic All About Tonight. What Do You Take Me For takes things into a more soulful direction, dabbling with a bit dubstep without being desperate (Sugababes' Freedom) and is completely snazzy and all sorts of amazing. I'm even liking the album title of Young Foolish Happy now. Girl just needs to use a different picture for the album cover.

Nevertheless, the music video sees Pixie sometimes rather awkwardly trying to pussy pop and everything, but she still looks hot. Well, when she's not looking awkward. The music video as itself is quite stylish, with some part looking like high fashion photoshoots rather than a new music from one of Britain's most talked about female pop artists.

It's a good video, yes. It's an even better song, yes. However, I can't help but think all the personality and soul has been sucked out of her. What happened to the 2009 Pixie Lott?

Big News: Listen to Kelly Clarkson's "What Doesn't Kill You"!

2011-10-07T14:59:00.002+08:00

When people were anticipating, Kelly Clarkson's comeback, everyone was hoping she'd return with another manbashing tune ala Since U Been Gone or a ginormous pop song with a stadium sized chorus in the vein of My Life Would Suck Without You. And with reports the first single to be released off her fifth studio album Stronger was called Mr. Know It All, speculation hit the roof.

However, with the soulful sounds of Mr. Know It All being instant radio food and a slow grower, the single has so far done a peak at #18 on the Hot 100 in its debut week and has started to shuffle down the charts. People started to turn away from softly sassy Kelly, but Kelly has recently uploaded album cut What Doesn't Kill You (Stronger) to her YouTube channel, saying a lot of variations of this song has been leaked online and wanted everyone to hear the real one - basically what she's saying is this is the real one, it's the new single, now listen to it.

And it's good. It's not as outrightly pop/rock as Since U Been Gone or Never Again, though it may start out like it could, once it hits the chorus, it takes a more pop lane right smack into P!nk territory.

If people didn't like Mr. Know It All, they might warm right back to Kelly with this. Take a listen below.

Big News: The Saturdays unveil album title + tracklisting!

2011-10-02T02:50:00.002+08:00

The Saturdays are getting bigger and bigger with each release, as evident by the first week sales of their last track All Fired Up which managed to shift about 70, 000 copies, landing at #3 on the UK Singles Chart behind Pixie Lott's 88K-selling #1 All About Tonight and Hot 100 #1 Maroon 5's Moves Like Jagger. Clearly, their label are trying to place the girls in the competitive chart release weeks so when they finally get a #1, it will actually mean something unlike some of JLS' mindless tunes that nab top spot easily.

The girls have announced the album title for their fourth album, which takes a line from All Fired Up, and is officially called On Your Radar. Personally, it's a bit of a meh title, it doesn't hit hard like Chasing Lights, Wordshaker or Headlines!. Personally, if they were going to take the title from a lyric, then in my opinion, Against The Speakers would be slightly better. But no worries.

The Sats have also unveiled the album's tracklisting which you can take a look below:
1. All Fired Up (Xenomania and Space Cowboy)
2. Notorious (Ina Wroldsen and Steve Mac)
3. Faster (Ina Wroldsen and Steve Mac)
4. My Heart Takes Over (Ina Wroldsen and Steve Mac)
5. White Lies (Ina Wroldsen, Carl Falk and Rami Yacoub)
6. For Myself (TBA)
7. The Way You Watch Me - Tanya Lacey and Lucas Secon
8. Do What You Want With Me - (Jaz Rogers and Bryn Christopher)
9. Promise Me - (The Saturdays, Steve Daly, Jon Keep and Ali Tennant)
10. Wish I Didn't Know (The Saturdays, Steve Daly, Jon Keep and Ali Tennant)
11. Get Ready, Get Set (TBA)
12. Last Call (Una, Lucie Silvas and Chris Holmes)
13. I Say Ok (The Saturdays, David Eriksen and Nina Woodford)

A lot of "me, myself, and I" going on here. Eh?

Nevertheless, the girls will be releasing the album on November 21st, a week after third single My Heart Takes Over gets released, where the album will face competition from JLS and Pixie Lott the week before, then One Direction and Westlife on the release week itself. Hopefully The Saturdays know what they're doing because that massive competition could spell danger for the album's chart run.

The album cover should be unveiled any time soon, but meanwhile, check out the girls blasting Forever Is Over for Ireland's Arthur's Day.

Billboard Update

2011-10-02T02:49:00.001+08:00

The Christina Aguilera-assisted single Moves Like Jagger may be still on top of the Hot 100, but come next week, Adele and Rihanna could overthrow Maroon 5 and Xtina, especially with Adele's Someone Like You collecting the Airplay Gainer Title while staying firmly at #2. Rihanna's new single We Found Love makes a Top 20 appearance, debuting at #16 this week while Jason DeRulo's new track It Girl rises to #24. Kelly Clarkson's Mr. Know It All takes a three spot slip down to #38. Disney starlets Demi Lovato and Selena Gomez move up the chart with Demi's Skyscraper standing at #55 while Selena's tune Love You Like A Love Song is right behind with #56. Glee is back for a new season and so are its tunes, with It's Not Unusual debuting at #65, You Can't Stop The Beat at #67 and We Got The Beat at #83. It's the release weeks of Demi Lovato's Unbroken album, and album cuts Fix A Heart and title track Unbroken land on the chart at #69 and #98 respectively.

Over on the albums chart, Tony Bennett's Duets II album opens at #1, trailed by Lady Antebellum's Own The Night, Adele's 21 and Demi Lovato's third studio album Unbroken in that order to #4.

Big News: Diana Vickers co-writes new Enrique Iglesias single!

2011-09-30T18:28:00.002+08:00

Moments ago on Twitter, British singer Diana Vickers tweeted some exciting news - she co-wrote Enrique Iglesias' new single Mouth2Mouth featuring Jennifer Lopez!

It's a big deal considering Diana's status. The pop darling rose to fame on The X Factor, finishing fourth, before putting out her debut #1 album and single Songs From The Tainted Cherrytree and Once respectively. Unfortunately, the campaign took a beating when follow-up single The Boy Who Murdered Love fell short of the album and first single's success, stalling at #36 on the UK Singles Chart. Then back into the studio Diana went, before releasing My Wicked Heart, the first single released off a revamped version of Songs From The Tainted Cherrytree. However, despite landing a massive gig on The X Factor, the poor girl only made #13 on the UK Singles Chart. Then, the reworked album was scrapped, and Diana "parted ways" with RCA Records, which basically means she was dropped.

Cue tears.

Since then, Miss Vickers has kept herself busy, working on some new music in LA with various writers and producers to be released on an EP due out either later this year on early next year.

However, with Diana Vickers landing a songwriting cut on Enrique Iglesias' new single, will record labels start to be interested again? It's encouraging a pop artist like Diana herself is starting over again by building up her name writing for other artists. Not something you'd catch Rihanna or Selena Gomez doing. In a way, the pop industry needs people like Diana, pop artists that know what a good pop track should be about.

Get 'dem songwriting royalties Diana.

Take a listen to Enrique Iglesias' Mouth2Mouth featuring Jennifer Lopez below, and then ~~some~~ all of Diana's ace singles of her own.

Also, if you've missed Diana's speaking voice, you can take a listen to Diana confirming the Enrique co-write.

Adele - Someone Like You [Music Video Premiere]

2011-09-30T18:22:00.002+08:00

No colour, half a year late, shot in Paris. Really, what else were you expecting?

Big News: The Saturdays unveil new single "My Heart Takes Over"!

2011-09-29T16:48:00.006+08:00

At a Polydor record label meeting, The Saturdays' upcoming third single was mentioned and rumours started flying, with the title supposedly being Heart Takes Over, before The Saturdays confirmed yesterday that the official title is My Heart Takes Over. Everyone was hoping Mollie would land an angelic middle eight, and that the girls would get themselves their own Girls Aloud's Call The Shots/Pussycat Dolls' I Hate This Part. However, the girls premiered their single on Radio 1 just moments ago, with Mollie phoning in herself to premiere the track.

And hey ho. What everyone thought it was, isn't. I always thought Missing You was their I Hate This Part/Call The Shots, and their new single isn't exactly Issues Part II either, it bites a lot harder than the tender, singalong track that Issues was, with Vanessa starting things off with an amazingly angelic verse, before the anthemic chorus hits you in the face like a ton of bricks with all five girls singing in perfect harmony. Rochelle starts the second verse, before the POWEERRRRRR chorus again, then we have Vanessa on the bridge again, before some belting and we launch into the final chorus.

I can't deal with how good Vanessa sounds on this. ~~Let's hope she doesn't disappoint live~~.

The girls are flying to Iceland for this week to shoot the video, so expect a Christmassy video, much like Blue's Breathe Easy clip.

Peep the full track and official single cover below.

They're really not letting Pixie off with snatching their #1 earlier this month are they, with Pixie just premiering her new single and The Saturdays stealing her thunder now with this.

Also, the girls have squashed rumours they'll be taking a break with Una being pregnant. #SLAY

Big News: Pixie Lott unveils new single "What Do You Take Me For"!

2011-09-27T18:02:00.002+08:00

Apart from being a little sore Pixie Lott beat the likes of The Saturdays and Leona Lewis from getting the UK #1 spot on the Singles Chart, especially since All Fired Up and Collide >>>>>>>>>>>> All About Tonight, and with things being a little quiet over at Sats camp and Leona pushing the release of her album till early next year with Collide doing unexpectedly rather badly by Leona's standards, Pixie has unleashed her new single on us.

The next single isn't out till November 6th, but like how she released the video for All About Tonight ten years before its release, What Do You Take Me For looks set to do the same. Radio 1 premiered the track and honestly, I actually do quite like this one. I loved Pixie to bits when she was on her first album era, then she just milked Turn It Up all she could, shoving ten average to terrible songs onto the tracklisting to make a Turn It Up Louder. All About Tonight also didn't deserve the #1, but What Do You Take Me For is jazzy and sassy. All that I didn't like about the track is that never needed those features, and her voice sounds overly gruff when the chorus comes along.

~~Still, The Sats + Leona >>>> Pixie 2011~~

Kelly Clarkson - Mr. Know It All [Music Video Premiere]

2011-09-27T17:50:00.002+08:00

Kelly Clarkson premiered the video for the official music video for her new soulful tune out battling with the likes of Rihanna and Katy Perry on radio called Mr. Know It All. Promotion is already underway and following a few live performances, the video is finally here. The simple video shows Kelly singing in front of a "wall of doubt" which has the usual negative Kelly headlines ("Too fat", "still single" etc.) before we see her tearing them all down to walk towards a brighter future. It's a nice enough video, and she looks uber hot, but damn, couldn't they at least have filmed another scene with something happening instead of Kelly standing there looking pretty in front of a green screen?

Billboard Update

2011-09-23T19:05:00.002+08:00

Maroon 5's Moves Like Jagger collaboration with Christina Aguilera is still dominating the Hot 100, trailed by Adele and Someone Like You at #2, picking up the Airplay Gainer Title. Rihanna just premiered her new single We Found Love, but last single from previous album Loud, Cheers (Drink To That) has just risen to a new peak of #8. Jason DeRulo's It Girl has gone up 8 spots to hit a new peak of #30. Kelly Clarkson's new single Mr. Know It All has fallen off the rails a little, dropping to #35 this week after a debut at #18. Hopefully with promotions in full swing, Kelly's single heads up next week. Colbie Caillat's Brighter Than The Sun is inching its way up, with the summery track hitting #71 this week while Adele's Set Fire To The Rain stays put at #72.

Lady Antebellum's Own The Night sits comfortably atop the Album Charts, while Adele's 21 holds strong at #2.

Big News: Rihanna premieres "We Found Love"

2011-09-23T18:47:00.004+08:00

She may have only dropped Cheers (Drink To That), the last single off her last studio album Loud, but one of the world's biggest popstars Rihanna is back with a new lead single. In between going on a world tour and single releases, Rihanna found the time to record a whole new album full of songs and is going ahead with the Calvin Harris produced We Found Love to lead into the new album era.

On first listen, We Found Love is underwhelming, but it's noticeably more dance than all the fusion of dance/pop at the moment. But it's not TOO house that radio would snub it. On repeated listens, it does get better, but there's no sugar rush ala Only Girl (In The World), and this song's longevity on the charts might suffer because of that.

It's a pleasant song, but I'm just tired of this type of sound dominating the charts.

Sara Bareilles - Gonna Get Over You [Music Video Premiere]

2011-09-23T15:45:00.004+08:00

Things have been on the quiet side for jazzy singer/songwriter Sara Bareilles, who even though released a #1 album last year with Kaleidoscope Heart with a big hit of a lead single, the smart and snazzy King of Anything, has been laying low ever since her last single Uncharted flopped due to its terribly lazy music video.

However, hoping to revive the album, Bareilles and her label have decided to breathe some life into the project, releasing a third single from the album called Gonna Get Over You and putting it out on iTunes with OneRepublic frontman Ryan Tedder whom she's collaborated with before on the achingly beautiful Come Home.

But back to Gonna Get Over You, Sara has dropped the video for it hoping to get people interested again, with the lovesick but positive Sara crooning about getting over someone soon, spreading joy and positivity throughout a grocery store with her hair up in a ponytail, heavy eye make up and leather jacket completing her fierce look.

Brilliant.

Kelly Clarkson - Mr. Know It All + Since U Been Gone live @ Ellen

2011-09-23T15:25:00.003+08:00

Promotions for Kelly Clarkson's most recent Top 20 hit Mr. Know It All kicked off recently with the soulful songstress hitting up the Tonight Show with Jay Leno and it appears Kelly's continuing the talkshow rounds, this time dropping by The Ellen DeGeneres Show to perform Mr. Know It All and specially for the Internet viewers and studio audience, a blast back to past with her massive hit Since U Been Gone. It's clear to see Kelly's voice isn't as great as it used to be, and she definitely can't sustain notes for such a long time now, but she looks gorgeous and is still an engaging performer.

Also, check out a teaser for the Mr. Know It All video which drops Monday.

Nicola Roberts - BBC Breakfast Show Interview

2011-09-21T16:12:00.002+08:00

Nicola Robert's interviews have been pretty much the same lately, with the British singer being asked "how was it like stepping out of Girls Aloud? Were you nervous?" etc. and Nicola hasn't really had the chance to talk about just herself and her solo music. However, on Nicola's recent visit to BBC's Breakfast Show, sticks + stones' lyric video was played and they spent half the time properly getting into the song's personal subject matter of being called "ugly", which she spoke about openly so it's an interesting insight into Nicola's world.

Then there's her totally cute interview at The Crush earlier this week.

Kelly Clarkson - Mr. Know It All live @ Tonight Show with Jay Leno

2011-09-21T15:58:00.002+08:00

It appears the promotional campaign for Kelly Clarkson's new single Mr. Know It All has finally kicked off with the American Idol alum debuting the soulful single on television for the first time last night on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Unfortunately, while Mr. Know It All is amazing as a track by itself, but it doesn't really work live. Perhaps it was just Kelly debuting herself again with a new album era, but it wasn't as confident as some of Kelly's better performances but hopefully after a few more performances with Mr. Know it All live, Kelly will start properly rocking the stage again.

Jennifer Lopez - Papi [Music Video Premiere]

2011-09-20T17:38:00.002+08:00

J.Lo may have hit the big ol' 40, but the Latina is still stopping traffic and the object of desire of many men in her new video for Papi and in real life. The video starts off with Jenny taking a bite out of a love cookie, before heading out the next day to be chased by every heterosexual male that sets eyes on her, and Jenny has the impossible task of running away from the group of guys in her white Fiat, before being dragged out of her car and having a dance breakdown with the guys.

However, I could've dealt with another high fashion, full of lens flare, exotic theme to the Papi video, but it was already utilised for the I'm Into You video. So unfortunately, Team Jenny have run out of a few ideas and pulled this one instead, which felt like a long running 5 minute commercial for Fiat than a new music video for Jennifer. Make no mistake, the video had it's entertaining moments, but it's not a great MUSIC video.

Demi Lovato - Skyscraper live @ ALMA Awards

2011-09-17T16:41:00.002+08:00

You may have heard Demi Lovato perform her Top 10 single Skyscraper before, but she's never performed it like this before. The interesting thing about Demi is how her growth as a performer is staggering, when she used to stand and flick her hair to the music. These days, it seems the teen starlet is actually putting some effort in making each performance a special one. Her first televised performance at the Do Something Awards had her rising from the stage, and the second at America's Got Talent played around with fire, and now, we've got Demi performing the second verse and chorus of the song in Spanish, bringing out a choir and then rising "like a skyscraper" at the end of the performance.

Brilliant. Oh, and Demi's album has leaked. Nothing exceptional minus Skyscraper and All Night Long. It might need some time to grow on me.

Billboard Update

2011-09-16T20:48:00.002+08:00

It seems the MTV VMAs can only do so much. Maroon 5 and Christina Aguilera's Moves Like Jagger dethrones Adele's Someone Like You from the #1 spot after only one week with Maroon 5 and co. picking up the Digital Gainer title while Adele settles for #2. Rihanna just sneaks into the top 10 of the Hot 100 with her bland new single Cheers (Drink To That) at #10, making it upteenth Top 10 single on the Hot 100. Despite RCA screwing her over and over, time and again, Kelly Clarkson powers through as her new single Mr. Know It All debuts at #18 on the chart this week. Jason DeRulo's It Girl is really leaping up the chart, vaulting up to #38 up from #61. Demi Lovato is still continuing on a upward trend as Skyscraper rises to #60. Poor Beyonce. It seems being pregnant only gets you so much press, and Love On Top plummets half the spots of the Hot 100, falling from #20 to #70 this week. Adele's got another track round the corner as Set Fire To The Train makes a new peak of #72. Colbie Caillat's latest Brighter Than The Sun moves up to #82 while American Idol winner Scotty McCreery lands himself at #84 with The Trouble With Girls. After a multiple year of absence on the Hot 100, everyone's favourite childhood pop star JoJo has finally made a return with the pop/rock stomper Disaster debuting at #87.

Over on the albums chart, Lil Wayne holds strong with Tha Carter IV hogging the top spot, closely followed by Brit sensation Adele at #2.

Big News: Demi Lovato debuts All Night Long

2011-09-15T17:42:00.001+08:00

Skyscraper may be just picking up those radio spins, but Demi Lovato's moving on soon. The Disney starlet promised she'd be doing some hawt R&B/Pop/Dance in the vein of Rihanna and Keri Hilson. Then she laid a smackdown on us with the most sincere ballad from an American artist released this year with Skyscraper.

Now though, she's actually bringing the R&B/Dance fusion with her upcoming album Unbroken's lead single All Night Long. The song is a bratty track that isn't actually dancey, but it's bold and different from anything Demi's done before. The chorus subtly hits but you know when it hits, and the repetitive "all night long" hook keeps the song stuck in your head. In true R&B fashion, Demi's got a rent-a-rapper on board, with Missy Elliot sounding more like Lil Wayne than herself on the track.

It's a good track, but overall, a little messy. Looks like we're getting half of Demi's musical tastes from her previous work (Skyscraper), and keeping up with the trends with All Night Long for her upcoming album. Also, besides the fact that Alexandra Burke has a single with the same title, it actually sounds very Alexandra Burke-ish. Something I see her doing for her next album era.

You can check out the track in all its medium quality glory below.

Big News: The Wanted premiere "Lightning"!

2011-09-15T16:38:00.002+08:00

When boyband The Wanted went on their headlining theatre Behind Bars Tour earlier this year, they debuted a new song called Lightning which had an interesting sound to it - where it had a little rocky sound to it and had an amazing chorus that seemed to stop time. They continued playing the song at subsequent gigs. And above is Lightning receiving its radio debut. While I was head over heels for their live version, I'm not jumping about for this track in the studio version.

The verses seem very clogged up with haphazard production beats, and it's only when the beats and production clear up at the chorus that the song starts to shine. It might need some time to grow on me.

But to remind you this song is actually half decent, you can watch their performance of the same song on the iTunes Festival this year that sounds a billion times better than the radio rip.

Big News: Nicola Roberts unveils "sticks + stones"

2011-09-15T15:07:00.003+08:00

Firework. Raise Your Glass. Born This Way. Who Says. All of those songs above were released by Katy Perry (ridiculously successful pop artist with a gorgeous face and a lovely pair of tits); P!nk (an outspoken pop rebel that's scored with the masses); Lady Gaga (2009's breakout pop artist that have people believing she's a God); Selena Gomez (produced by the Disney machine and selling by the millions to little girls across the world). Then you have Nicola Roberts. Now, while Nicola's music and voice combined beats all those pop tarts I just mentioned, she hasn't exactly found success as a solo act, away from Girls Aloud.

But just yesterday, Nicola premiered a ballad called sticks + stones off her upcoming debut solo album Cinderella's Eyes. First single Beat of My Drum didn't go down well with British audiences, stalling at #27, and as for her upcoming second single Lucky Day, no one really knows how it's going to do.

But this is different. See, while Katy may be screeching BAABBYY YOU'RE A FIIIIIIIRRRREEEWOOOOOOOOORK off the top of a castle in Europe, Selena Gomez running around the streets telling her little fans "Who says you're not perfect?" etc., Nicola's telling the tale as the one getting taunted. And it's not that difficult to see why, since Nicola's always got a bit of a reputation as the "ugly one", "quiet one", "angsty one" in Girls Aloud, and has experienced this massive criticism in the public eye.

But through this album cut, Nicola tells the tale through her eyes. The simple piano-backed ballad has lyrics directly referencing to those comments such as:

Couldn't you tell lies to me? / Couldn't you say I'm pretty?
Sticks and stones hurt just a little
With all the mean words they're ugly / Starting to see I'm lucky
How funny that I was too young for so many things / Yet you thought I'd cope with being told I'm ugly / Over and over I'd read it, believe it
I am pretty in my mirror, easy to pretend

Then there's the line that directly reference to joining Girls Aloud and winning Popstars: The Rivals when she was 17 with:

17 and I thought I'd won the jackpot / Seems I didn't read between the lines of this one

~~I'm still gobsmacked by this brutal honesty, tbh~~

Billboard Update

2011-09-11T16:38:00.003+08:00

After landing a slot at the Video Music Awards, Adele soared straight to the top of the iTunes Chart and is now standing proudly at #1 on the Hot 100 as well, pushing last week's #1 Maroon 5's Moves Like Jagger to #2. Rihanna remains entrenched outside the Top 10 at #11 with Cheers (Drink To That). Also after a VMAs slot and the use of her pregnancy as publicity, Beyonce's Love on Top debuts at #20 while Lady Antebellum's promo single Dancin' Away With My Heart enters the chart at #50. Another Adele track is picking up speed as Set Fire To The Rain rises up to #80.

Lil Wayne tops the Billboard 200 Albums Chart with his latest Tha Carter IV selling close to a million records while Adele and Beyonce enjoy some sales resurgence after the VMAs with Adele staying strong at #3 and picking up the Greatest Gainer Title and Beyonce's 4 pulling up to #7. Jessie J's debut album Who You Are makes a re-entrance at #79.

Nicola Roberts - Lucky Day live @ Sainsbury Super Saturday

2011-09-11T15:10:00.002+08:00

Growing in confidence with each live performance is Nicola Roberts, who's moved on from her tanked debut single Beat of My Drum to the safer in comparison second single Lucky Day. The summery pop tune was televised live for the first time at Sainsbury Super Saturday where Nicola turned in one of her better live performance, with much emphasis placed on her vocals, sung along to a backing track that doesn't get too loud, since Nicola tends to get ahead of herself and let her warbling opera-tic vocals run amok.

Also, I'm slayed by that intro. And my Ginger Princess is really looking gorgeous now.

The Saturdays - Jonathan Ross Interview

2011-09-11T15:06:00.003+08:00

British girl group The Saturdays still have about a day left to claim the #1 spot away from Pixie Lott and her generic single All About Tonight, so on Saturday night, the girls dropped by The Jonathan Ross Show for a little chat and they're starting to really up the fashion stakes and look amazing now. Apart from looking pretty, the girls also discussed Rochelle's keen sense of smell with Jonathan. Ha.

Although who are we kidding, a #2 or #3 spot is more likely now.

Big News: Leona Lewis talks upcoming album 'Glassheart'

2011-09-10T00:39:00.004+08:00

Just over a week ago, pretty much everyone thought Leona Lewis was going to bag the #1 by the end of the week with the anthemic club banger Collide to be debuted on Simon Cowell's new show Red or Black? which attracted millions of viewers, easily beating out Pixie Lott's new single All About Tonight and The Saturdays' new tune All Fired Up. However, when all three singles hit iTunes, The Saturdays pulled ahead quickly, making mincemeat of Pixie Lott and especially Leona Lewis. However, after hitting #1 on iTunes, The Saturdays took a dip, overtaken by Pixie Lott while Leona Lewis took her own sweet time to crack the upper reaches of the Top 10 on iTunes. However, over on the Irish Singles Chart, Leona beat Pixie and The Saturdays, landing at #3 while The Sats arrived at #6 and Pixie at #10.

Nevertheless, Leona Lewis had a chat with Digital Spy and we've learnt a few things about her upcoming third studio album Glassheart to be released at the end of the year and upcoming single promotions.

1. Leona will be heading overseas to promote Collide.
For Collide, Leona will be dropping by "Japan, Australia and maybe Germany; just travelling and taking it week by week", no sign of the States there then?

2. The much buzzed about title track off the album is another Tedder tune.
Ryan Tedder may have given her her best work so far in the form of Bleeding Love, but there's no excuse for the terrible Happy. So to see Leona's booking studio time with the OneRepublic frontman is very much an ugh thought. Nevertheless, the title track, "we wrote, I remember, when I was a little bit down. I went to Denver to hang out with Ryan - to see him and his family - and see if we could come up with something nice. I remember just not wanting to sing a ballad or anything that would make me more sad. I was like, 'Can you give me a song where I can just dance and jump around?', and he was like, 'What about this?' - he played this beat and it was really hypnotic. So I was like, 'Yes! We have to do this'." As for the track itself, you can take a listen to it below when Leona premiered it performing at G-A-Y.

3. A track called Trouble might be the next single.
"Yes, I think 'Trouble' will be the second single. I can't wait for everyone to hear it. I'm really excited about it. It's one that I really love."

4. Glassheart will have only ten tracks on it.
When an album has only ten tracks, it might seem like a rip-off as it'll probably be priced at the same cost as the album sitting next to it on the shelf with two, three, maybe four more tracks. But, Leona wants Glassheart to be a strong body of work. "I want the strongest [tracks] and that's it - no fillers or anything. I want the strongest songs and I think we have them." No fillers? Leona, I'm holding you to your word.

5. There will be at least one collaboration on the album.
"I've a song called 'Fireflies' which I really, really love and hope we get to do as a single. it's a really good one. And it's got a guy on it!"

So it's a collaboration with someone we know?
"Yes! But I'm not saying who! [laughs]"" Hmm.

6. Contrary to reports, she didn't actually work with British duo Hurts.
"Not yet! I love them so much. I'm obsessed with them. I love their album and their sound. And I want to meet them!" So no gothic diva then?

Read the full interview here.

Avril Lavigne - Wish You Were Here [Music Video Premiere]

2011-09-10T00:15:00.003+08:00

Pop rebel Avril Lavigne has always released at least one slow ballad as a single during every album campaign and for her latest moderately successful fourth album Goodbye Lullaby, the acoustic album standout Wish You Were Here has been lifted as the album's third single following the happy-go-lucky lead single What The Hell and pop/rock anthem second single Smile. Of course, it's not going to set the charts on fire, but I think this song'll stick around on the charts a longer time than Smile ever could, and could be on heavy rotation on radio, picking up those Hot AC spins.

The Saturdays - All Fired Up live @ Alan Titchmarsh Show + Pixie Lott - All About Tonight live @ Red or Black

2011-09-05T23:59:00.003+08:00

It's single release week for The Saturdays and they're battling it out with Pixie Lott's All About Tonight and Leona Lewis' Collide on iTunes at the minute. So hoping they can overtake Pixie Lott on the iTunes Chart, the girl group dropped by the Alan Titchmarsh Show to perform the Xenomania-produced club banger. It's pretty much the same as their performance on British breakfast show This Morning, with the same pre-recorded vocals except in black dresses this time. So they sounded good, looked the part, and when they hit the final chorus, there was a surge in energy and volume as well. Brilliant.

Then we arrive at Pixie Lott's performance of All About Tonight on that new Simon Cowell gameshow to keep his reign over British telly and a slot where his favourite acts can pimp their new singles. If The Saturdays don't land an X Factor promotional slot, I will cut him. Nevertheless, Pixie managed to land herself this performance slot a night after Leona Lewis debuted Collide, and it's unfortunate Pixie didn't do great with this performance.

The whole performance was rather cheesy, starting off with Pixie standing in the middle of four other Pixie holograms, and lip-syncing her way through the performance until she left her holograms and walked out towards the crowd. Shame. Then there was that shameless dubstep dance breakdown a la Cheryl Cole where Pixie tried to show she could dance as well. No, it wasn't impressive. It came off as contrived.

Overall, it was a bland performance. I want Mama Do and Boys And Girls Pixie Lott back. And since she keeps harping on the fact her upcoming sophomore album will be more soulful, I'm going to take her word for it. Or else she'll be lost in the shuffle of generic British pop stars.

Matt Cardle - Run For Your Life [Music Video Premiere]

2011-09-05T23:19:00.002+08:00

When a person wins a reality tv singing competition watched by millions every week, it's quite a scary step to take when you release your first single outside of the hype machine. Particularly when you're Matt Cardle. The former painter in his late 20s falls into what I'd call "the perfect X Factor winner" stereotype. He appeals to a different kind of audience. The older demographic that's less iTunes-savvy, more "oh this lad's got a lovely voice, I think I'll vote for him", but this fanbase isn't a strong fanbase to fall back on.

Also, while you may have heard of Leona Lewis or Alexandra Burke who've all gone on to do rather well for themselves, you have the male winners who've all been screwed over by Simon's label and either faded into the darkness (everyone minus Joe McElderry and Shayne Ward) or found other ventures to go into (Joe McElderry - opera singing. The boy's got a good voice, you can't deny that).

So who's to say this bearded chubby guy with a rather bland personality (if I'm being totally honest) will do otherwise?

Introducing Run For Your Life, the first single lifted off his debut album Letters. The Gary Barlow-penned track talks about not being good enough for the one you're with. Perfect if you're lovesick and having messy emotions then. But the track itself feels more like a theme to a movie like Twilight or the kind of song that gets played in the background on The Vampire Diaries. It's a good song, but it's not great. But for those that thoroughly enjoyed his X Factor coronation single When We Collide and wanted more mushy big ballads from the mushy big guy, they've gotten their wish.

Adele - Turning Tables live on The Jonathan Ross Show

2011-09-04T13:29:00.004+08:00

British talkshow host Jonathan Ross returned to British television screens yesterday with a new studio and a star-studded line up including Hollywood actress Sarah Jessica Parker, Formula 1 racing driver Lewis Hamilton and British breakout star Adele. Adele has had a massively successful year, but she hasn't done much promo recently, but dropped by The Jonathan Ross Show to perform Turning Tables and have a little chat. She came down with a flu, but still soldiered on, performed and confirmed during her chat she'll be hitting the recording studio to do a one-off song for a theme, which Internet readers have said to be for the upcoming James Bond movie.

With her trademark black dress and big, coiffed up hair, she also talked about being at the VMAs where she felt out of place and wished she was "at home with my girlfriends", which was visible during the ceremony even though she performed her new US single Someone Like You. She seems most at home in the UK, definitely.

Next week, The Jonathan Ross Show will have The Saturdays on, but he mentioned in the clip above Red Hot Chilli Peppers would be performing. So no performance of All Fired Up then?

Leona Lewis - Collide live @ Red or Black

2011-09-04T12:48:00.002+08:00

It's single release week for Leona Lewis, Pixie Lott and The Saturdays so it's promo promo promo for the race to get Sunday's #1. So here we are with Leona Lewis performing her new single Collide on Red or Black. Beats me, I've never heard of the show either.

Nevertheless, it's clear to see Leona was a bit nervous performing the anthemic Kelly Rowland-esque dance number on a big stage, her vocals were a little shaky and hey ho, she almost couldn't catch her breath at certain points. But overall, she nailed the big chorus and brought some life and energy to the stage, something we could never say when she performed the rather dreary Happy.

Collide, All About Tonight or All Fired Up for #1? I'm rooting for The Saturdays right now but things could turn around by the time Sunday comes.

Big News: Leona Lewis unveils Glassheart album cover!

2011-09-03T13:14:00.002+08:00

It looks like British singing sensation Leona Lewis has gone for a retro look for her new album artwork for upcoming third disc Glassheart to be released later this year on the 28th of November. This artwork follows the single cover for Collide which also has a vintage feel to it.

Interesting. And if you haven't seen it already, the video for Collide has premiered. Nothing groundbreaking, but she looks good.

Billboard Update

2011-09-02T22:23:00.002+08:00

Maroon 5 and Christina Aguilera launch to the top of the Hot 100 with Moves Like Jagger and they have nothing but The Voice to thank. They're trailed by Party Rock Anthem following closely at #2 while last week's #1 Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.), Katy Perry's own summer anthem, takes a tumble to #5. OneRepublic hit a new peak of #8 with Good Life. Rihanna picks up the Digital Gainer Title for her new single Cheers (Drink To That) and sits comfortably outside the Top 10 with the track hitting an all time high so far. Lady Gaga and Adele both see bumps to the Top 20, with Gaga's You And I flying from #35 to #16 while Adele's ballad Someone Like You vaults from #34 to #19. Demi Lovato is slowly rising again with Skyscraper rising a few notches to #60 this week. David Guetta's promo single with Jennifer Hudson Night of Your Life debuts at #81 while Colbie Caillat follows closely behind at #82 with Brighter Than The Sun. Adele's anthemic track Set Fire To The Rain re-enters the Hot 100 at #92 while singer/songwriter Christina Perri's Arms re-enters as well at #97.

Over on the Billboard Albums Chart, Game's The R.E.D. Album bows at the top with Adele at #3. Rihanna's Loud picks up the Greatest Gainer Title and rockets to #20 up from #38.

The Saturdays - All Fired Up live @ This Morning

2011-09-01T23:03:00.002+08:00

It's release week for The Saturdays and that means nothing but promotion. The British girlband hit Radio 1 over the weekend for a little interview, but dropped by British breakfast television show This Morning to perform All Fired Up. While it might seem weird to hear a club track blaring on a breakfast television show, the girls actually stayed really in tune. Backing track? Obviously, the choreography wasn't mindblowing but they did well with what they had.

You can watch their pitch-perfect performance above and interview below.

Big News: Britney's new single to be Criminal!

2011-08-30T15:08:00.002+08:00

Britney Spears has had a relatively successful album era for seventh disc Femme Fatale, collecting her third Top 10 single from the album with I Wanna Go, picking up 2 MTV VMAs, and now ready to launch her third single to follow #1 hit Hold It Against Me, Top 3 hit Till The World Ends and the aforementioned Top 10 I Wanna Go. Previously, she got her fans to vote for what they wanted to see as the next single, but then came rumours that Trouble For Me was to be the next single, rendering the earlier poll meaningless.

However, Britney herself confirmed the ballad/midtempo Criminal would be the upcoming single. Take a listen for yourself below, I've got a feeling this could be shaping up to a new twist to the Femme Fatale era.

Omgzzzz! A new ballad from Brit Brit?! Omggggg!!!!!!!!11!1!111!

Big News: JoJo returns with Disaster!

2011-08-30T14:20:00.002+08:00

It's been a long time coming. Messy label problems aside, JoJo has given us an insight to what her next album era could be like, flipping Drake's Marvin's Room to a female perspective and cursing up a storm while doing so, singing about making love in the paint with Travis Garland, crooning about being someone's lover only in the bedroom with The Other Chick and releasing the "edgy" mixtape that was Can't Take That Away From Me last year.

Now, however, JoJo has returned to her roots with her angsty breakup song to smash JoJo back into the charts and into the ears of the new dance/pop music loving generation. Disaster has been described as reminiscent to her smash single Too Little Too Late back in 2006, and it's true. It's guitar-driven and has a huge swept up production sweeping the chorus in the same way Joe Jonas' See No More does too.

Queen JoJo's back and better than ever.

Billboard Update

2011-08-26T20:42:00.002+08:00

Yes yes let's just get this part out of the way, Katy Perry's Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.) is still #1 on the Hot 100, followed by LMFAO's Party Shit Anthem at #2. Now for the more interesting part, Christina Aguilera and Maroon 5 have collected the Airplay Gainer title for their collaboration on Moves Like Jagger, standing strongly at #4. Britney's I Wanna Go rounds out the Top 10 at #10. Rihanna shoots up to #17 with latest single Cheers (Drink To That) while the single is still rising up the ranks on the iTunes chart. Lady Gaga picks up the Digital Gainer Title and You And I skyrockets to #35 on the Hot 100. Lady Antebellum's rather bland single We Owned The Night debuts at #47 while Jason Aldean and Kelly Clarkson's Don't You Wanna Stay re-enters at #50. Demi Lovato's ballad Skyscraper is starting to make its way up again, rising to #76 this week. They keep tryna make this girl happen: Nicole Scherzinger's new US single Don't Hold Your Breath did really well in the UK, but now being plastered all over VEVO, Scherzinger's landed at #86 on the Hot 100. Colbie Caillat's Brighter Than The Sun finally makes an appearance on the Hot 100, arriving at #90 this week.

Jay Z and Kanye West's collaboration album ~~Battle of the Egos~~ Watch The Throne is still #1 on the Billboard 200, but Adele's 21 picks up the Greatest Gainer at #2 and holds firmly at #2.

Rihanna - Cheers (Drink To That) [Music Video Premiere]

2011-08-26T20:39:00.002+08:00

Rihanna's on tour. She also has a new single. Therefore she's done of those tour music videos thing that looks more like a fanmade documentary than anything.

*Yawn*

"OOH AVRIL LAVIGNE!" Oh wait, she's gone now.

Big News: Listen to The Saturdays' new B Side "Ladykiller"!

2011-08-25T21:10:00.003+08:00

The Saturdays' All Fired Up isn't due till September 4th, which will contain a new song called Ladykiller which serves as the single's b side. But lo and behold, Amazon screwed up and released All Fired Up a little early and now we've got Ladykiller on our hands. The Saturdays mentioned before that their new album will have a lot of "man bashing", and so we've got the girls here singing of a dangerous man, but still can't help but falling prey to this charming man.

In true Sats fashion, Ladykiller sounds like something that could've been on their last album, but more progressed and with a bit more sass, very much like all the material we've heard this new album era, first with Notorious, it's b side Not That Kinda Girl, the rave club stomper All Fired Up, and now this brilliant tune.

Check it out below.

~~Admittedly, I do goddamn miss Vanessa's powerful lungs. But her voice needs rest now. So it's Una's turn to flex her range on this song.~~

Big News: Nicola Roberts unveils album cover + tracklisting!

2011-08-25T20:57:00.002+08:00

Let's be real. Out of all of the Girls Aloud solo projects, Nicola has the highest quality music. But since her debut single Beat of My Drum tanked on the chart, a lot is riding on her second single Lucky Day, released on the 18th of September. Nevertheless, the Ginger Queen revealed the artwork for debut album Cinderella's Eyes, out September 4th. The cover is flawless obviously, but I didn't expect anything less than perfect, much unlike Cheryl Cole's cheap looking Messy Little Raindrops album sleeve.

Sophisticated, classy, gorgeous. But will anyone actually buy it? Fingers crossed the album does well and sells on quality alone, and Nicola becomes everyone's favourite indie/mainstream pop singer.

Check out the track listing below:

1. Beat Of My Drum
2. Lucky Day
3. Yo-Yo
4. Cinderella’s Eyes
5. Porcelain Heart
6. i
7. Everybody’s Got To Learn Sometime
8. Say It Out Loud
9. Gladiator
10. Fish Out Of Water
11. Take A Bite
12. sticks + stones

Looks like the flawless Girls Aloud-esque Beat of My Drum b side Porcelain Heart has made the final tracklisting! It's a good day, y'all.

Demi Lovato - Skyscraper live @ America's Got Talent + Album news!

2011-08-25T20:36:00.002+08:00

After strong digital sales, Demi Lovato's career resurgence went into full swing as Skyscraper became the highest charting single of her career in the United States, peaking at #10 so far. The single so far has been plummeting down the Hot 100, but radio has only just started to really eat the song up and Demi's only just started doing promotional rounds. She first performed the empowering ballad on VH1's Do Something Awards, but has taken things up an entirely new level for her most recent visit to America's Got Talent. She emerged out of a scrap heap, before setting the stage on fire, playing the piano during the song's bridge, and truly taking the song by the neck and absolutely reigning over it. Sure, there was a moment where she got a little caught up in the moment and her vocals slipped a bit after effortlessly hitting that high note, but she got herself back together again and truly proved why she's still the most vocally talented starlet to have ever been associated with the Disney machine.

And if you haven't seen it yet, Demi unveiled the cover of her album and the tracklisting which you can check out both below.

1. All Night Long (Featuring Missy Elliott & Timbaland)
2. Who’s That Boy (Featuring Dev)
3. You’re My Only Shorty (Featuring Iyaz)
4. Together (Featuring Jason Derulo)
5. Lightweight
6. Unbroken
7. Fix a Heart
8. Hold Up
9. Mistake
10. Give Your Heart a Break
11. Skyscraper
12. In Real Life
13. My Love is Like a Star
14. For The Love of a Daughter
15. Skyscraper (Wizz Dumb Remix)

I'm just sayin', it sounds like All Night Long's gonna be one hot collaboration. Oh, and has anyone realised For The Love Of A Daughter, a song she didn't put on her last album as it was too personal and a little out of reach for her tween fans, is actually on this album? Sounds like Demi's finally grown up and is more about being an artist now.

Big News: Matt Cardle announces debut album 'Letters'!

2011-08-19T23:41:00.002+08:00

Remember Matt Cardle? Oh you know, the painter that hit the big time after he won The X Factor in the UK last year? Fast forward a year, Simon's brought the show to the States, humiliating Cheryl Cole in the process, revamping The X Factor UK with three quarters of the judging panel completely replaced by Take That's Gary Barlow, N Dubz' ~~Cheryl Cole~~ Tulisa, and pop/R&B songstress Kelly Rowland.

Nevertheless, along with his fellow X Factor contestants Cher Lloyd, Rebecca Ferguson One Direction, Matt has been hard at work on his debut album, now announced to be titled Letters released October 17th. Above is the album cover, which I absolutely love. The first single to be released is Run For Your Life, described as "reminiscent of Snow Patrol's biggest hits", and that it's the only song on Letters Matt didn't co-write on. In fact, the song was written by Gary Barlow, the Gary Barlow that's on The X Factor UK panel.

Songwriter Guy Chambers whom Matt worked with on Letters, said that Matt is powerful and emotive, a cross between "Coldplay, Travis and Snow Patrol".

I'm interested to see how his career will take off from here, and I sincerely hope his album is what songwriters are claiming it is.

And is it just me, or is Rebecca Ferguson taking an awful long time to give us some new music? Hmmm.

Billboard Update

2011-08-19T21:37:00.002+08:00

After a billion desperate attempts to hit #1 on the Hot 100 and make chart history, Katy Perry has finally gone and done it. Last Friday Night (TGIF) finally dethrones LMFAO's overrated Party Rock Anthem, shoving it to #2 while Maroon 5's Christina Aguilera-assisted Moves Like Jagger vaults to #3 getting the Airplay Gainer Title. Carrie Underwood and Brad Paisley's duet on Remind Me rise a spot to #17 while Rihanna leaps up 25 stops to #25 with latest single Cheers (Drink To That). Jason DeRulo's new single It Girl makes its way to #39 this week. Adele's Someone Like You continues its upward crawl, sitting just outside the Top 50 at #51 this week. Avril Lavigne's Smile has started to fall, after peaking at a measly #68 last week, the pop/rock number has taken a tumble to #73 this week. After plummeting down the chart since its top 10 debut last month, Demi Lovato's Skyscraper finally makes a move up to #82 while Taylor Swift's new single Sparks Fly re-enters at #84. Lady Gaga's You And I re-enters at #96 as well.

The world's two biggest egos Jay Z and Kanye West have teamed up and their album Watch The Throne bows at #1 over on the Billboard 200 Albums Chart. On the opposite spectrum of the chart, David Cook's close to falling out of the chart as This Loud Morning holds unsteadily at #188.

Demi Lovato - Skyscraper - live VH1 Do Something Awards

2011-08-19T20:16:00.002+08:00

Ever since its debut, Demi Lovato's Skyscraper had a music video and countless amateur YouTube stars taking to their channel to do their own take on the song, but we never had Demi herself sing the empowering ballad live. However, Demi made her first televised live performance of the song on the VH1 Do Something Awards.

It wasn't anything to shout home about, with a relatively simple stage setup, before virtually rising above the smoke and the stage "like a skyscraper" during the final chorus. Demi effortlessly slayed the high note in the bridge, proving she's still one of the best pop vocalists out there.

Lovato will be releasing her third studio album Unbroken on September 20th.

Big News: JoJo to return with "Disaster"!

2011-08-18T16:58:00.003+08:00

JoJo has been keeping under the radar ever since her record company ran into financial problems, and she demanded to be released from her contract, quickly being signed again under a new deal with Blackground/Interscope Records. Ever since then, she dropped a mixtape Can't Take That Away From Me and changed the title of her forthcoming third disc from All I Want Is Everything to Jumping Trains.

Nevertheless, JoJo sneaked a new single The Other Chick to iTunes which flopped. Not surprising, considering no one knew JoJo had a new single, and the single was much too dated for 2011 pop radio.

But now, we finally have something concrete: JoJo herself tweeted, ""DISASTER" - 1ST OFFICIAL SINGLE FROM JUMPING TRAINS. Can't Wait For You All to Hear It. #TWEETUrFaveRadioStation #MoreDetailsComingSoon" I assume since they're starting to build up hype for it, it's actually going to happen.

Apparently, American radio station 933FLZ has heard the song, and tweeted to a JoJo fansite that Disaster "sounds similar to "Too Little Too Late." Pure pop and really good! Coming to 93.3 FLZ and pop radio soon."

Meanwhile while you're hyperventilating over new JoJo music that's actually going to see our favourite childhood pop star return to slay Katy Perry, Rihanna, Lady Gaga and all the other ridiculous pop tarts that think they can stand in the way of The JoJo, you can check out her uber sexy collaboration with close friend Travis Garland on Paint, a song off his mixtape.

I just wanna do you in the paint, I wanna make love to you in the place I I, rollin' around in the mess that we made, brushin' and strokin' the best sex we made. And imma put it in your hair, and you're rubbin' it on everywhere. I just wanna do you in the paint oh oh.. Boy don't be shy I know you ain't..

Big News: Kelly Clarkson announces "Mr. Know It All"!

2011-08-18T16:44:00.004+08:00

After what seems like forever, Kelly Clarkson has has announced her comeback single Mr. Know It All. From the title, it seems Kelly still has got her teeth sunken deep in her scum boyfriends even after the anthemic Since You Been Gone, gritty Never Again etc. The unveiling of the title of her first official single (oh, it's not the bloody brilliant Let Me Down then) comes with the announcement of her new album - Stronger. Cliched, you might say. Well yes, but I'm sure Kelly's a lot stronger as a person after taking all the shit from RCA Records.

Nevertheless, you can check out the single cover below.

Big News: Simon Cowell and Leona Lewis end 'Collide' publicity stunt

2011-08-18T16:19:00.003+08:00

Well here's something we all saw coming. Earlier last month, British crooner Leona Lewis gave fans her new single Collide which was to be released on the 4th of September, facing stiff competition from Pixie Lott's All About Tonight and The Saturdays' rave club banger All Fired Up. Regardless, shortly after releasing Collide to her VEVO page, Leona got sued for a plagiarism case by DJ no one's really heard of outside of the club circuit - Avicii.

A lot of drama on Twitter happened, and with all the bitching and sniping, it was hard to tell what was really going on behind the scenes. To me, it sounded like another one of the manipulative Simon Cowell's publicity stunts to get people buzzing about Leona again, especially since Lewis' second album Echo underwhelmed compared to brilliant debut album Spirit.

And as predicted, the publicity stunt and all it's fakeness and drawn to a close, with an official press release saying Leona and Avicii have decided to "work together" aka "this was all just a lie and now you know who Avicii is and heard about Collide" benefitting both parties. Above on the single cover of Collide, you can see both Leona and Avicii's names on it.

Bullshit. Utter bullshit. I've lost all respect for Simon Cowell, never had any for Avicii (since I never knew of his existence till now), and like Leona a little less now.

The Saturdays - All Fired Up live @ Tonight's The Night + Higher

2011-08-14T11:42:00.003+08:00

While the Sugababes have been struggling to get views on YouTube for their Freedom video, The Saturdays have amassed more than 200, 000 views since it's premiere earlier this week. Since then, the girls went on a "mini-break" (well, not really) and have been prepping for their first televised performance of All Fired Up. Their latest tune and club banger will be released September 4th, and will have to battle it out with the likes of Pixie Lott's All About Tonight and Leona Lewis' Collide, if Leona's plagiarism court case doesn't delay the release date that is.

Nevertheless, the girls performed All Fired Up at a Summer gig but dropped by Tonight's The Night to give the audience a proper showing of the dance floor-filling anthem. You can check that out above and a performance with Connie Nash on one of their earlier but still recent hit Higher where Connie sort of fit in with The Saturdays. Surprisingly decent. For interests' sake, you can peep that one below.

Billboard Update

2011-08-13T12:42:00.003+08:00

LMFAO's rubbish Party Rock Anthem is still on top, reigning at #1 on the Hot 100 again while Katy Perry's Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.) is still entrenched at #2. Hell Meets Evil's Bruno Mars assisted second single Lighter vaults to #5, notching up the Airplay Gainer Title. Britney Spears' third Top 10 single from #1 album Femme Fatale, I Wanna Go, rises up to a new peak of #7 while Maroon 5 and Christina Aguilera's collaboration on Moves Like Jagger lands the Digital Gainer Title and shoots up to its original peak position of #8 when it debuted on the chart earlier up from #25 last week. Jennifer Lopez' I'm Into You is just beginning to gain some serious momentum, rising to #41 this week. Rihanna's new single Cheers (Drink To That) enters the top half of the Hot 100 for the first time, skyrocketing to #50 up from #91 last week. Adele's Someone Like You is finally getting exposure in the US, vaulting up to #57. Avril Lavigne may have announced that she's shot the video for third single Wish You Were Here from the underperforming Goodbye Lullaby album, but second single Smile is still making its way up the chart, hitting a new peak of #68. After making a US edition of song Starry Eyed, it seems the American audience has finally warmed up to Ellie Goulding as her most recent UK single Lights debuts at #85 on the Hot 100.

Adele reclaims her #1 spot on the Billboard 200 Albums Chart while Kelly Rowland takes a ten spot tumble down to #13 with Here I Am. David Cook's sophomore album This Loud Morning stands at #142 this week while Avril Lavigne's Goodbye Lullaby rises two spots up to #160. Ellie Goulding's debut album Lights re-enters at #200 this week.

Nicola Roberts - Lucky Day [Music Video Premiere]

2011-08-12T18:52:00.002+08:00

Even while flashing her knickers at us, Nicola Roberts looks bored. You may have beat to her drum before, but that was a hard hitting electronica number that failed to catch on in the UK, peaking only at a measly #27 on the UK Singles Chart. However, there's hope in Nicola as Beat of My Drum and it's B-sides Porcelain Heart and Disco, Blisters And A Comedown were absolutely flawless.

The edit of the music video for Lucky Day without the special effects leaked earlier, but with the special effects, it's not a dramatic change. In fact, I was kind of hoping for effects seen in Cher Lloyd's video for the so bad it's good debut single Swagger Jagger, mixed with the effects used in Allison Iraheta's effing flawless pop video Friday I'll Be Over U. Instead, all we get are some lame lighting effects following the motion of Nicola's hands. Meh.

Still, the song fits that kind of lazy summer song where you're not too lazy to go listen to a ballad, but one where you're home, tired, and would like to put on a feel good record. And that's exactly what Lucky Day is.

Jessie J - Who's Laughing Now [Music Video Premiere] + performance on Alan Carr

2011-08-11T16:42:00.002+08:00

Just because you've got a broken leg and just so happens to be Britain's "pop star of the year" doesn't mean you don't go to work. Jessie J may have fallen off a stage during a summer gig, landing her foot in a cast and all, but she most recently filmed the video for fourth UK single Who's Laughing Now and did a performance on Alan Carr.

The music video shows a young Jessica Cornish in school getting bullied and taunted by the pretty girls in pink. But by the time the first chorus starts, lil' Jessie's had enough and goes all bad ass on us, wrecking some of the school property in the most innocent 8 year old manner you can think of. Well, you know, when you were 8 and not actual 8 year old monsters these days. Jessie herself appears as a cleaner, lunch lady and a teacher, watching lil' Jessie turn herself into a gangsta brat, before joining young Jessie for the final chorus.

Hoping to land herself another hit, Jessie hit up Alan Carr: Chatty Man recently to talk about her injury, the message behind Who's Laughing Now etc., before taking the stage to perform Who's Laughing Now. By Jessie standards, it was another flawless vocal performance, unlike her performance of the same song at Radio 1's Big Weekend, where I suppose she could barely hear herself, and ended up catching herself in the wrong key almost the entire way through, making the performance almost unbearable. Check all of them out below.

The Saturdays - All Fired Up [Music Video Premiere]

2011-08-10T18:22:00.002+08:00

Pop trio Sugababes may have just premiered their rather boring video for their "edgy" new single Freedom, but it appears The Saturdays are here to steal the show again. Both girl groups have gone for a simple black and white theme, but while the Sugababes did nothing but stand in front of a wind machine in a make shift club, The Saturdays have brought to mind Glee's cover of Singing In The Rain/Umbrella, combining black and white, glitter and water together. The back up dancers look fierce too, whipping their hair along with the girls while dancing in the water.

But y'all know it's all about Queen Vanessa in here.

Lauren Alaina - Like My Mother Does [Music Video Premiere]

2011-08-10T02:15:00.003+08:00

Country powerhouse Lauren Alaina may have lost to fellow Country artist Scotty McCreery on the tenth season of American Idol, but she hammers through her debut single and coronation single Like My Mother Does effortlessly. The youngster's rich tone to her voice is as melodic as ever.

Now it's time to wipe those tears, get out the steel guitars, and get her hair a little messy to a manbashing song ala Carrie Underwood.

Maroon 5 - Moves Like Jagger (ft. Christina Aguilera) [Music Video Premiere]

2011-08-09T21:43:00.004+08:00

To make themselves relevant again, judges of hit reality TV singing competition The Voice, Adam Levine of Maroon 5 and Christina Aguilera of.. Well, Christina Aguilera, have joined forces to create a summery pop jam that is Moves Like Jagger. It's already been a decent chart success, debuting at #8 on the Hot 100 before plummeting down the chart, only to start gradually rising again.

The video itself is a tribute to rock legend Mick Jagger, with the clip seeing many auditionees trying to imitate Jagger while Adam and Christina take the vocals. The scenes cut between Adam and his band and the random auditionees gave me a massive headache, before Christina the Diva stepped in, took control of the mic stand, and overall, saved the day.

#TeamChristina #TeamMovesLikeJagger

Scotty McCreery - I Love You This Big [Music Video Premiere]

2011-08-09T21:33:00.002+08:00

Eighth place finisher Pia Toscano might have just released her debut music video, but eventual American Idol Season 10 winner isn't about to let the big voiced balladeer steal the spotlight. McCreery has also released the music video for his average coronation single I Love You This Big, which despite what naysayers like me might say, has managed to stick around the chart for a while, something Pia has had to enjoy.

The video comes as a surprise as Idol winners don't usually film music videos for their coronation singles, and the most prominent one would have to be Kelly Clarkson's A Moment Like This, which was unfortunately destroyed by short clips from Idol, making it seem more like a way to keep people talking about the song while spending $5 on the music video instead of doing a proper clip.

Thank god Scotty hasn't done that though. The deep voiced country singer has shot a video that includes a summer barbecue, something close to home for him. It's a nice clip, now bring on Lauren Alaina's.

Pia Toscano - This Time [Music Video Premiere]

2011-08-09T21:20:00.002+08:00

"I'm mad as hell, and I can't take it no more" hollers American Idol Season 10 finalist Pia Toscano on her debut single This Time's opening line. The big voiced American/Italian may have placed a shocker eighth position, but she might prove to be the most exciting one to watch out of Idol's current crop of Season 10 talents. Of course, being the first to release new material is always a nerve-wracking one, especially since This Time hasn't actually done anything yet on the charts.

However, the crooner's hoping the release of the music video might help boost some meagre sales of the single so far. There isn't much going round in the clip, but Pia looks stunning and for a debut, it is decent. The song's penned by Ester Dean, who helped co-write Rihanna's timeless pop classic What's My Name? so the song, lyrically, fares pretty well.

We haven't had a big voiced diva take over the pop world since Leona Lewis so let's see if Pia can rise to fill that role.

Nicole Scherzinger - Wet [Music Video Premiere]

2011-08-08T20:15:00.003+08:00

The music video for ~~The Pussycat Dolls'~~ Nicole Scherzinger's new single Wet has just premiered. The clip is nothing spectacular, with the Hawaiian native donning leather outfits and whipping her hair to her latest club banger Wet. The fact that she brought about one quarter of a normal sized army of back up dancers Cheryl Cole usually has along with her shoots out nothing but Pussycat Dolls vibes.

As much as I'd like to hate her, she's making decent single choices with an average album.

~~Jessica Sutta's new tune Show Me puts this to shame though.~~

Jessica Sutta - Show Me [Music Video Premiere]

2011-08-06T13:51:00.003+08:00

America's best girl group of recent years - The Pussycat Dolls - have all split up and pursued different solo careers. Nicole and Kimberley have managed to make a dent on the UK charts with Scherzinger stealing Cheryl Cole's job on the X Factor US while Wyatt has gone all La Roux on us, teaming up with a DJ to form her own duo Her Majesty And The Wolves. Melody, also known as the small girl with the big voice, recently released some studio demos that sound alright but nothing worth shouting about. Ashley hasn't done anything much but Resident Redhead Jessica Sutta tried to gun for a solo career with the trashy I Wanna Be Bad.

Obviously, it's easy to say Nicole is the most successful, but she's as interesting as a piece of cardboard and has average material handed to her while she trods out mindless choreography, barely keeping anything interesting. We've got a new chick on the block though. Jessica might have released the trashy I Wanna Be Bad, but she got picked up by Hollywood Records (Lord knows why), and has transformed into a slick, leather-wielding dance floor diva.

She's got a new track Show Me and an equally sexy music video. I do wish she had a dance break but she's looking all glamorous so let's not complain. Baby steps..

Billboard Update

2011-08-05T23:02:00.003+08:00

LMFAO's terrible Party Rock Anthem is still reigning at #1 on the Hot 100, ~~showing how shit American pop music is right now~~, while Katy Perry's still right on their tails with Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.) landing the Airplay Gainer Title. The Bruno Mars-assisted track Lighters has made a new peak at #7, while Britney's I Wanna Go launches into the Top 10 at #9 this week. Beyonce's new single Best Thing I Never Had, a supposedly emotional song devoid of emotion moves up three spots to #16. Maroon 5's summery pop brilliance that is Moves Like Jagger featuring Christina Aguilera vaults into the Top #25 at #25 this week. Jennifer Lopez' I'm Into You moves up to #49 this week. Clearly this diva doesn't even need to try. Two other tracks moving up are Adele's Someone Like You and Avril Lavigne's new tune Smile, shifting up to #73 and #75 respectively. Demi Lovato's Skyscraper takes another large tumble down to #80 this week. Another Adele track on the Hot 100 that's not Rolling in the Deep is her most recent UK single Set Fire To The Rain, re-entering the chart at #84, while 21 album cut Rumour Has It arrives on the Hot 100 at #96. Rihanna's new single Cheers (Drink to That) debuts at #91 this week.

Over on the Albums Chart, Country star Eric Church has landed the top spot with his album Chief while Adele follows closely behind with 21. Surprisingly, Kelly Rowland has notched up a Top 3 charting album with her latest set Here I Am. Colbie Caillat's All of You slips two spots down to #17. David Cook's sophomore album This Loud Morning clings onto the rim of the Top 100, standing at #93 this week.

Introducing: Katy B + Witches Brew [Music Video Premiere]

2011-08-05T22:15:00.003+08:00

It seems as if all the interesting pop music acts are all British at the moment. I've had my eye on this relatively new artist - Katy B - for a while. Her music is a fusion of dubstep, electronica and some hard hitting beats that's definitely for the clubs. But her success isn't just defined by the clubs, as her debut set On A Mission managed to peak at #2 on the UK Albums Chart. Since then, she's released an array of hits, the most recent being the incredible Easy Please Me. However, that seems a little too underground for summer, so the single only managed to hit #25 on the UK Singles Chart. But it's fine because Katy's got a new single on the way.

Witches Brew, another catchy number that's not as brooding as previous singles Katy on a Mission or Easy Please Me, but it's obvious with every single release, she's growing and looking more and more like a full fledged pop star.

Big News: The Saturdays unveil All Fired Up video teaser

2011-08-05T22:07:00.004+08:00

The Saturdays have found themselves in an icky situation. Their upcoming single All Fired Up has lost them some fans of the old straight up pop sound they used to have, and their new single goes head to head with comeback singles Collide introducing Leona Lewis back into the music industry, while Pixie Lott launches herself and her new look with All About Tonight. I'll cover my chart predictions for that hectic release week when September 4th gets closer but for now, The Saturdays have unveiled a teaser of their video for All Fired Up.

Personally, I would've gone for a full-on rave in a club full of partygoers, instead of what we see here with the girls donning high street clothes and touching and whipping their air, with some glitter thrown in too. For this video, I will need choreography, I will need dancers, and I will need this to be epic, thanks.

Billboard Update

2011-07-29T22:06:00.002+08:00

LMFAO's Party Rock Anthem is still reigning at #1 on the Hot 100, but Katy Perry is really gaining some serious ground with latest single Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.), peaking at #2 this week with the Airplay Gainer Title. Bad Meets Evil aka Eminem and Royce da 5'9" have a new single out featuring Bruno Mars called Lighters which hops on the trend of singers singing on rapper's tracks at enters the Top 10 at #10 thanks to the Digital Gainer Title. Britney's new tune I Wanna Go is also inching closer to the Top 10, landing just outside at #11 this week. Beyonce's dreary and completely dull ballad Best Thing I Never Had moves up to #19 this week, the first time any of Bey's songs from the 4 era has made it into the Top 20. Rihanna's summer ballad California King Bed shoots up ten spots to #37 this week while Nicole Scherzinger stays firmly at #39 with Right There. Selena Gomez & The Scene's Love You Like A Love Song continues free falling down the chart, landing at #44 this week. But I guess this week's biggest faller is Demi Lovato's Skyscraper. Despite the pop ballad becoming Lovato's highest charting song on the Hot 100 to date at #10, it's slipped all the way to #51 this week. Oof. But it's not all bleak in the pop world as Jennifer Lopez' I'm Into You rises further to #55 despite not having any proper promotion in the States. Avril Lavigne's Smile is entrenched at #80 this week. Making its way up is Adele's Someone Like You, inching up to #85 this week.

Parent album 21 has also regained top spot over on the Billboard 200 Albums Chart. Since her untimely death, Amy Winehouse has seen a massive resurgence in terms of album and single sales, and second album Back to Black re-enters the chart at #9 while first album Frank debuts at #57, actually marking a new peak for the album. Falling out of the Top 10 and at #15 this week is Colbie Caillat's third disc All of You. Christina Perri's debut set Lovestrong skyrockets up the chart at #54 up from #90 the previous week. David Cook continues plummeting down the chart as This Loud Morning falls to #73 this week.

Jessica Mauboy - Inescapable [Music Video Premiere]

2011-07-24T17:37:00.003+08:00

So it appears Get 'Em Girls isn't dead yet. Aussie pop diva Jessica Mauboy enjoyed some massive success with her debut album's six successful singles which firmly placed her as Aussie's Stars To Watch. Then she recorded and released the ghetto Beyonce-esque single Get 'Em Girls which was Jessica going all 'look guys, I can really do the urban/dance sexy style of music too!'. But the music video got it all wrong and she fell off the tracks. Quickly, she hopped onto the dance/pop trend and managed to score a Aussie Top 10 hit Saturday Night which eventually went Platinum, then closing the entire album era with album stunner What Happened To Us featuring Jay Sean.

All in all, still underwhelming by Jessica's standards.

But then there were plans to release a new single Inescapable. A brand new album seemed too quick but we're all enlightened now. Jess and her label are planning to relaunch the flop album by injecting some new songs and throwaway remixes we've all heard before. They seemed to have gotten a couple things right so far.

First the single cover for Inescapable, showing off a clean and simple yet sophisticated look. And this continues with the deluxe edition of the Get 'Em Girls album cover below.

Top marks in my books. However, the premiere of the music video for Inescapable is where Jessica faltered again.

It's the kind of track you'd bop along nicely to on the radio when it comes on, but not good enough to make you want to find out what song is playing. Also, even though the video for Inescapable is hardly the train wreck that Get 'Em Girls was, it's way too childish and amateur for me. The track itself is too on some levels in terms of production.

Mmmm, Jess? I'll really need you to get your shit together and release the effing amazing track Dance It Off that leaked earlier this year, thanks.

Big News: Listen to The Saturdays' new single All Fired Up

2011-07-23T21:14:00.002+08:00

British pop princesses The Saturdays have always been the reigning girl group ever since uber successful girl group icons Girls Aloud took a break in 2009, and have won over audiences with their radio-friendly pop sing-a-long big choruses which have earned them eight Top 10 UK singles. Then, Parade and Wonderland, two new girl groups came along with Parade doing the exact same music The Saturdays were doing except they looked more hipster while Wonderland did your not-so-typical girl group sound of Hot AC.

With The Saturdays being Queens of the British girlband throne, they had to switch up their sound and took things a notch, kicking their songs into overdrive and the new sound was indicated by Notorious, one of the first pop groups to employ the On Air/On Sale way of selling their single, their fanbase still managed to pull the group to another Top 10 spot of #8, but it plummeted down the Top 40 Singles Chart due to its drastic change in sound which left many diehard fans stunned.

Now that Notorious is trying to stay afloat, hovering around the #20+ spots on the UK Singles Chart, The Saturdays have premiered their brand new single All Fired Up which follows their new sound of being clubbier. But while Notorious was a bold club stomper, All Fired Up is a little more Europop and sounds more like something you'd rave to.

And it is coincidentally, sounding like it could be their best single so far. While UK pop bands are all following their particular formula, The Saturdays are breaking out and showing many different sides, slaying almost everybody in the pop game.

Unfortunately, the girls will have to perform this live someday, debuting at a summer festival today in fact, and I somehow can't see them pulling off this crazily paced dancefloor-filling number which would require frenetic choreography, and we all know they're not exactly the best dancers..

Still, now that we're used to The Saturdays slaying the clubs now, let's hope this one sticks around more than Notorious could.

Billboard Update

2011-07-22T18:14:00.003+08:00

Party Rock Anthem and Pitbull's Give Me Everything have both maintained their first two spots on the Hot 100, but Katy Perry's gaining serious momentum now with Last Friday Night racking up the Airplay Gainer Title. OneRepublic have also stayed dead on at #8 while Demi Lovato's knocks out her highest debut on the Hot 100 so far as Skyscraper arrives at #10. On its way up is I Wanna Go, the third single lifted off Britney's latest disc Femme Fatale, peaking at #13 this week. After peaking at #35 last week, Selena Gomez' lulzy new single Love You Like A Love Song has slipped two spots down to #37 while Nicole Scherzinger's not unpleasant midtempo number Right There rises to #39 this week. The Kelly Clarkson assisted track Don't You Wanna Stay by Jason Aldean has re-arrived at #48. The currently single Jennifer Lopez' current single I'm Into You moves up to #66. Colbie Caillat's album All of You has dropped and album cut What If debuts at #77 while Avril Lavigne's current single Smile rises to a new peak of #80 this week. Adele, fresh off the back of her 7 VMA nominations, has got a new song on the Hot 100 that's not Rolling In The Deep. It's her most recent UK #1 - Someone Like You, re-entering the Hot 100 at #97 after a brief one week stay the week 21 was released.

Blake Shelton's new album Red River Blue bows at #1 over on the Billboard 200 Album Chart while Colbie Caillat's new disc All Of You debuts at #6, mostly due to little hype around the project. Selena Gomez & the Scene's third album When The Sun Goes Down falls to #10 this week. Scotty McCreery's sure got a loyal fanbase with his American Idol Season 10 Highlights disc attaining the Greatest Gainer Title at #20 this week. America really needed a Country American Idol again after all. In its third week out, David Cook's This Loud Morning is plummeting down the chart at #57 this week. This man really needs a mega crossover hit right now, though nothing on This Loud Morning would do it for him though. Adele's iTunes Festival EP has debuted at #62 this week. Avril Lavigne's Goodbye Lullaby album has risen exactly twenty spot to #149 this week.

What Cheryl Cole should do next.

2011-07-22T17:59:00.002+08:00

Simply because the pop music scene is rather painfully slow at the minute. Here's what Britain's best pop star Cheryl Cole should do next.

1. Severe all ties with The X Factor. On the other side of the drama, we saw headlines of The X Factor US and FOX bosses ripping Cheryl to shreds firing her, and then replacing her with the rather, rather dull and emotionless Nicole Scherzinger. Of course, it's not the first time The X Factor has made use of her and thrown her under the bus. She did come under fire with X Factor UK reject Gamu and she was only on The X Factor UK because she'd be the reason millions tuned in to watch Simon Cowell's manipulative reality tv singing competition The X Factor. It's time to axe The X Factor out of your life, Chez.

2. Get together with Girls Aloud. And I don't mean a permanent reunion, no. Nicola Roberts' solo material, Cheryl's performing skills and Girls Aloud's image as British girl group icons is more than enough for me. Furthermore, there's only room for one British girl group giant, currently held by The Saturdays, and some rookie girl groups - Parade, Wonderland, Belle Amie etc. at any one point. Girls Aloud needs to get together for a one off reunion at the Olympics 2012 Ceremony London will be hosting, and to make it their biggest and best live performance ever. I'm hoping for a medley including The Promise, Sound of the Underground, Sexy! No No No.. and Something Kinda Ooooh. A couple of arena dates for a reunion tour could work as well if the Olympics gig doesn't happen.

3. Record better solo material. We all know Cheryl knows very well how to work a crowd, bringing in fierce choreography, confidence that would shake Nicola Roberts to the core, and a nice outfit that would have every straight man in the world sit up. But her albums are shit. No, no, her singles are fine, namely the pop classics Fight For This Love, Parachute, and 3 Words (the album) cut Stand Up. But we all know her albums as a whole underwhelm and overall are just really terrible. She's already started work on her third album and has been recording in LA, so let's hope she's landing some better material this time round, not some Britney rejects.

4. Perform her comeback single at the London Olympics. Yes I do want Cheryl/Girls Aloud to be involved at the Olympics somehow. It's only right. She's Britain's biggest popstar and Girls Aloud are.. Girls Aloud. This performance shall be on the same level as her Fight For This Love performance at the 2010 Brit Awards and slay everyone watching.

Then she'll have the world at her feet in minutes. Sounds like a good plan. Get to work Cheryl.

Billboard Update

2011-07-17T00:53:00.002+08:00

The annoying Party Rock Anthem has found its way to the top of the Hot 100, trailed behind by Pitbull's Give Me Everything. Katy Perry seems unable to move past #4 with her latest single Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.). But it appears OneRepublic is on track to score their first mega hit since Apologize went to #2 a couple years back, with latest single Good Life vaulting into the Top 10, collecting the Digital Gainer Title standing at #8 this week. Jason DeRulo and Britney Spears are also both heading upwards this week, with Don't Wanna Go Home moving up to #16 and I Wanna Go rising to #17. Beyonce could very well get her first proper hit this era with Best Thing I Never Had rising to #23. Putting two mega country stars together often means big sales, and Brad Paisley's collaboration with Carrie Underwood on Remind Me seems to be doing a neat job for itself, hitting a new peak of #27 with virtually no promotion. And this streak of moving upwards is even affecting Disney darling Selena Gomez and her hypnotically robotic new single Love You Like A Love Song leaping from #66 to #35 this week. Rihanna's summer ballad California King Bed is also inching its way to the top, moving to #47 this week. You thought you'd never see this day coming, but Nicole Scherzinger's Right There seems to be rubbing American audiences the right way, peaking at #52 this week while fellow reality TV singing competition judge Jennifer Lopez, amidst her divorce with husband Marc Anthony, moves up the chart with I'm Into You at an all time high of #72. Avril Lavigne's new single Smile has finally arrived on the Hot 100, debuting at #94.

Over on the Albums Chart, Beyonce and Adele are non-movers with 4 and 21 holding the top two positions on the chart in that order while Selena Gomez & Her Virtual Band's new disc When The Sun Goes Down rises a spot to #3 after debuting at #4 last week. David Cook, however, has taken a little tumble as This Loud Morning falls from #7 to #26 this week. For reasons no one knows, the soundtrack to Christina Aguilera's debut film Burlesque scoops the Greatest Gainer Award as the album shoots up to #68 up from #147. British pop artist Ellie Goulding has found her way back to the chart as Lights re-enters at #127.

Pixie Lott - All About Tonight [Music Video Premiere]

2011-07-15T19:02:00.004+08:00

British pop/soul songstress Pixie Lott has decided to ditch her blonde locks for a new shorter look the same way Dianna Agron has, and along with the new look comes some new music. She's had some delightful hits such as the sassy Mama Do and the zingy Boys and Girls, but All About Tonight sees Pixie embracing the clubbier side of pop music, infusing it with some europop sensibilities.

I'm not completely sold on the song just yet - the chorus isn't big enough, the production isn't banging and the vocals aren't showstopping. But it might just grow on me so we'll see.

Big News: Leona Lewis to return with new single 'Collide'

2011-07-15T18:41:00.003+08:00

British pop princess Leona Lewis enjoyed colossal success by the millions when her first album Spirit dropped where she was hailed as the British Mariah Carey, mesmerising listeners with her angelic voice. However, her career took a slight detour when Leona was replaced by Leonabot on sophomore album Echo which though sold a decent number of copies in the UK, pretty much everywhere else, no one was really into it.

After two not entirely successful singles, Leona ditched the album and headed to record her upcoming third album, now with a tentative November release date. Previous reports said her upcoming album will be "darker, fiercer, and edgier", and that it would follow the pop/dance trend, and it might even include dubstep.

It appears Leona will be returning to prove herself once again for her make or break third album era, with the new single Collide which she's described as having "all the great ingredients of a summer anthem" and to be released September 4th and the dance/pop track is built around a staccato piano riff and was written by Autumn Rowe while production was placed in the hands of by acclaimed hitmaker Sandy Vee.

Combining all that we know about her album and single news so far, I'm guessing Leona's Collide will go head to head with British girl group's Sugababes new single Freedom, which coincidentally the girls have described as more dark and edgy while the song includes dubstep. Leona may say it could be a summer anthem, but I think it means something like The Saturdays' Notorious, bit more clubby than summery.

British pop music blog Popjustice have tweeted out that Collide is "amazing", and "dancey but not in a crap Guetta sort of way".

Alright then.

UPDATE: Leona's single has premiered and I think I'm just alright with what I'm hearing. Maybe it'll grow on me.

Introducing: Olly Murs + Heart Skips A Beat [Music Video Premiere]

2011-07-15T18:24:00.003+08:00

If you haven't got an inkling who Olly Murs, it's time you do. The British reggae-pop artist lost to Joe McElderry on The X Factor (UK) two seasons ago, which I wouldn't blame you if you've scoffed at that since Joe's most recent accomplishment is winning the honestly dreadful Popstar to Operastar rubbish after Simon Cowell dropped Joe from his label a while back after debut single Ambitions, follow-up single Someone Wake Me Up, though tagged to the last instalment of Chronicles of Narnia, and first album Wide Awake all tanked in the UK charts. Although reports say he has landed a new record deal with Universal's Decca Records after winning Popstar to Operastar. Meh, we'll see how he does.

However, without being tagged to a ginormous movie, Olly Murs has kept things simple, fusing reggae with pop and bringing the most delightfully summery tracks. Think a male version of Colbie Caillat. His hits from double platinum selling self-titled debut album include UK #1 Please Don't Let Me Go, UK #4 Thinking of Me, and latter two singles Heart on My Sleeve and Busy which peaked at #20 and #45 respectively. I blame this one on terrible promotion.

Nevertheless, Olly Murs was released last year and it's time to move on to another album era. The Wanted's Glad You Came may be leading the UK Midweeks Chart at the minute, but Olly's got his eye on this summer's British pop anthem as well with his newest single Heart Skips A Beat, one that grows on you much like his previous efforts and doesn't try to hard to be anything but Olly.

You can check out the music video for Heart Skips A Beat below.

Demi Lovato - Skyscraper [Music Video Premiere]

2011-07-14T17:20:00.003+08:00

The seriously sexy Demi Lovato has decided to return to the music industry with a ballad about overcoming one's fears and insecurities and rising above the ground like a "skyscraper" despite describing her upcoming album which she says will be ready very very soon, dancier and more fun. I'd suppose this means she's going to trade some Kelly Clarkson riffs for Rihanna-esque beats.

Either way, it's all about putting herself out there right now and we have Lovato's video premiere for Skyscraper. The video isn't much, as we just see Lovato walking around a desert barefoot and letting it all out emotionally.

The video and song's just alright, but obviously with such a simple video, this is just for us to get ready for Demi's takeover with a harder sound hopefully soon.

Nicola Roberts - Beat of My Drum live @ Daybreak

2011-07-13T17:30:00.002+08:00

Nicola Roberts has been stepping up her act as a solo pop act over the various live performances. Without Cheryl's fierce dancing, Nadine's never failing vocals, Kimberley's bum (lol I had to), and Sarah's boisterous loudness, Nicola has to rely on herself to really sell her performances now. When she first stepped out to deliver her live performances, she was awkward, timid, terrified and way too shy for a song this big (in performance level).

However, after some live performances done, Nicola dropped by British breakfast television show Daybreak to turn in one of her best performances ever, smiling and finally being confident on stage again.

Nicola's finally gonna be a threat, y'all.

Big News: The X Factor releases teaser

2011-07-13T15:39:00.003+08:00

Simon Cowell and co. have decided it's time to start promotions for his American version of The X Factor, starting with using Cheryl Cole for publicity and to rile up UK audiences even though it's going to be American now, to releasing some teasers like you see in the one above.

While Cheryl's out and about with fellow Girls Aloud member Kimberley Walsh taking a break, it's work work work for Simon, Paula, Nicole and L.A. Reid. However, this teaser wasn't exactly what I was gunning for.

I hated the fact the judges on American Idol's most recent and tenth season were ridiculously nice even if the performances were utter crap. I hated that even I could drink a bowl of alphabet soup and shit out a better commentary than they did most of the time. But what The X Factor US shows me in this teaser is that Simon's being a bitter old hag again. And I can't get over how he said "it's not about me, it's about them [the contestants] this time" and the main star of the clip is without a doubt centered around the harsh British judge. But as he says in the clip, "what else did you expect?"

This teaser doesn't make me want to watch the show for it seems too overly negative, except for Nicole shedding crocodile tears for being "moved". So X Factor has rubbed me the wrong way in more ways than one, the Idol judges were a puddle of mush, but rookie show The Voice seemed more genuine to me and nailed the being contructive part instead of being downright annoying and obnoxious.

Right then.