Katy Perry somehow manages to stay another week at #1 with E.T., holding off Adele and Britney Spears, with Rolling In The Deep getting the Airplay Gainer title and at #2 while Britney gets the Digital Gainer title with Till The World Ends at #3. Bruno Mars vaults into the Top 5 with The Lazy Song moving up a spot to #5. Jennifer Lopez remains strong at #7 with On The Floor while Lady Gaga's Judas has slipped to #20 this week. Glee's slew of debuts this week is led by I Feel Pretty/Unpretty at #22, followed by Somewhere Only We Know at #42, Born This Way at #44 and As If We Never Said Goodbye at #80. For the first time, Jessie J's Price Tag has headed downwards to #25 this week after making a peak at #23 last week. Beyonce has slipped to #48 in its second week of release with Run The World (Girls) while OneRepublic has shot up to #66 with Good Life. Colbie Caillat's on the way up again as I Do rises to #75. Adele's Turning Tables, however, has fallen to #85, but that's not all too bad considering the mournful ballad hasn't even been released as a single yet.
Adele has lodged herself another week on top the Billboard 200 Albums Chart with 21 while Britney Spears' Femme Fatale has returned to the Top 4 at #4 this week. Jessie J's Who You Are has fallen to #51 in just its third week of release. After the American Idol stint, Crystal Bowersox managed to re-enter the albums chart with Farmer's Daughter coming in at #184.
Britney Spears is back and is showing other pop princess just how it's done, selling 411, 000 copies of Hold It Against Me and debuting right atop the Hot 100, pushing the overplayed Bruno Mars and Katy Perry tracks Grenade and Firework to #2 and #3 respectively. Avril Lavigne also returns to the Hot 100 with What The Hell debuting at #13 thanks to 168, 000 digital sales in its first week. Christina Perri's Jar of Hearts isn't heading anywhere but up, hitting an all new peak of #28. Also seeing some happy news is P!nk as F**kin' Perfect shoots up to #30.
Over on the albums chart, Cake and Cage The Elephant take #1 and #2, pushing Taylor Swift down to #3 with Speak Now while Bruno Mars falls just one spot away from the peak spot of #3 for Doo-Wops & Hooligans. Crystal Bowersox falls a couple spots down to #54 with debut album Farmer's Daughter while Lee DeWyze moves up to #122 with Live It Up.
We're still going into 2011 boringly, with Katy Perry taking the top spot again on the Billboard Hot 100, pushing Bruno Mars' Grenade to #2 while Ke$ha rounds out the Top 3 with We R Who We R. Rihanna and P!nk also stay intact with What's My Name? and Raise Your Glass maintaining their positions at #4 and #5 respectively. After a one spot slip last week, Taylor Swift moves up two spots to #25 this week. In an incredibly weird week, Swift has collected the Airplay Gainer title for Mine, the lead single from her Speak Now album that was released ages ago. Christina Perri's also on her way up with Jar of Hearts at #41 this week. Carrie Underwood's also not doing too shabbily, with Mama's Song sneaking back into the Top 60, moving three spots up to #60 this week. Selena Gomez & The Scene, however, are headed the other way as A Year Without Rain falls two spots to #77. The Glee effect still isn't wearing off for Bruno Mars yet, as Marry You moves up to a new peak of #85. It's kinda obvious this might be the third single..
Over on the Billboard 200 Albums Chart, Taylor Swift reigns at #1 while Eminem and Rihanna leap back into the Top 3 with Eminem's Recovery and Rihanna's Loud at #2 and #3 respectively. Bruno Mars has also skyrocketed back into the Top 10, flying from #20 last week to #7. Ke$ha's also seeing good signs with Cannibal jumping exactly 20 spots to #19 this week. Poor Susan Boyle though, after battling with Taylor Swift the past couple weeks, The Gift has fallen hard, dropping to a disappointing #31 after coming in second last week. Crystal Bowersox is also falling, with Farmer's Daughter placing #62 this week. Still, she's still doing better than eventual American Idol winner Lee DeWyze whose post-Idol debut Live It Up is at #170 this week.
Well, well, well. Colour me surprised. Or not. Crystal Bowersox has sold about 57, 804 copies of her debut album Farmer's Daughter, which is a respectable number, at least more respectable than Lee DeWyze managed to with 39, 000 with his post-Idol debut set. Nevertheless, promo hasn't come to a stop yet, as Bowersox was on Chelsea Lately and sat down for a little chat. They didn't talk much, except about the marriage, the album, and the gigging she used to do.
Katy Perry's Firework remains at the top of the Hot 100 while getting the Airplay Gainer title. Expectedly, Bruno Mars is trailing right behind with Grenade hitting a new peak of #2. Taylor Swift's also on the move up with Back To December rising to #26 this week. Also moving up is Christina Perri with Jar of Hearts inching closer and closer to its peak of #34 at #46 this week. She must be doing something right.. P!nk's new single F**kin' Perfect has made its debut at #86 this week. Glee's Baby, It's Cold Outside falls to #99 this week while Mariah Carey's Oh Santa! has finally arrived at #100. Let's hope it doesn't just debut and disappear like Up Out My Face..
Taylor Swift's Speak Now has taken over on the Billboard 200 Albums Chart after Susan Boyle's reign on top with The Gift for a couple of weeks. Despite how utterly WRONG this is, Michael Jackson's posthumous album Michael has debuted at #3. Doing better than the American Idol Season 9 winner Lee DeWyze, fellow runner up Crystal Bowersox' Farmer's Daughter arrives at #28. Surprise, surprise. Lee DeWyze himself isn't doing TOO badly.. Live It Up has actually moved up to #119.
Crystal Bowersox - Farmer's Daughter [Music Video Premiere]
Crystal Bowersox has been a busy bee! With promo all in one week, Bowersox is aiming for first week numbers and that might be it if Farmer's Daughter doesn't catch on. The autobiographical first single has just premiered and tells a story of young Bowersox wanting her mother to be there for her, then ending with a full circle when we see her hugging her son. It's a decent video. Even if the track isn't a surefire hit.
Crystal Bowersox - Farmer's Daughter live on Ellen
Continuing her media promo tour for her newly released debut album Farmer's Daughter, country-lite pop singer/songwriter Crystal Bowersox is set to have first week sales of 45K to 50K, which was better than Lee DeWyze' prediction with 40K to 45K. Oh well. Well, get all you can right now, because I'm not sure Bowersox is ever going to have record-breaking sales and will be dropped by Jive soon. It's a good thing by the way, she's better off with a less greedy label. Also, look at the way they've messed up the careers of Allison Iraheta, David Archuleta and Ciara. Pah. Anyone who's not Britney Spears or Justin Timberlake will never have the focus of Jive Records.
Crystal Bowersox - Farmer's Daughter live on Live With Regis And Kelly Show
The talented Crystal Bowersox has an album out, but few know about it, so Bowersox has kicked off promotion for her debut album Farmer's Daughter. She recently appeared on The Tonight Show With Jay Leno and here's another performance of Farmer's Daughter on Live With Regis And Kelly. I like the lyrics, but I'm still not really enjoying the song as a whole. Sometimes, you have to let yourself be manufactured a bit to get your name out there Crystal, or you might end up with the same fate as Nadine Coyle and Tesco.
Crystal Bowersox - Farmer's Daughter live on The Tonight Show With Jay Leno
American Idol Season 9 runner up Crystal Bowersox has finally kicked off promotion for her debut album Farmer's Daughter and its first single of the same name. Crystal and Jive (her label) got off to a rocky start as she fought for the release of something she'd penned. By that time, I didn't know if Jive was going to give in. After a few Twitter rants here and there, Bowersox finally got her wish. If I'm being totally honest, I don't expect her to do really well and I actually think she's going to get dropped. But maybe if she can get at least one hit, she could stay on like Kris Allen. Nevertheless, check out the performance of Farmer's Daughter above on The Tonight Show With Jay Leno.
Big News: Listen to clips of Crystal Bowersox' new tracks!
Lee DeWyze isn't the only contestant from American Idol's Season 9 who landed a major label recording deal. Fellow runner up Crystal Bowersox ended up signing with Jive and her debut album Farmer's Daughter will be released on the 14th of December. Take a listen to clips of Hold On, Farmers Daughter and Lonely Won't Come Around (it's listed as Lonely on Wikipedia).
Hold On
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Hold On is the first single and I think it's pretty good, actually. While it's not immediately a hit song at first impressions, the song does grow on you and in fact, it sounds very Lee DeWyze-esque. Heh.
Farmers Daughter
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To call any Crystal Bowersox track "overproduced" is a little ridiculous, but I think Farmers Daughter sounded a lot better stripped down and acoustic.
Lonely Won't Come Around
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Lonely Won't Come Around is easily the best song out of the three from what you can hear at least. It's catchy and has a feelgood vibe which is always good if an artist wants some airplay.
Head over to mjsbigblog.com to listen to the clips if you can't listen to 'em above.
Overall, you can hear a little country, folk/pop influences which I think affirms the fact that she'll never find an audience with the pop mainstream audience, which is a good thing. I think she's in the right lane and she could be a kind of.. Indie-about-to-be-mainstream-hit kind of artist.
Check out the official album cover for Famers Daughter below. Very Carrie Underwood Some Hearts-ish, no?
Side note: The poll for the best album of September/October is now up! Nominees include Taylor Swift, Sara Bareilles, Emily Osment, David Archuleta and Selena Gomez & The Scene. The winner for previous poll "Best Album of August" is Katy Perry with Teenage Dream!
After a less than stellar season 9, American Idol is looking to spice things up for the next Season. But most of all, what Idol needs ultimately is fresh talent. I think I've seen quite enough of male singers with a guitar in hand. Oh. In some Idol news, it appears that the rumour mill has started again with Steven Tyler an apparent done deal for Idol (Urgh..) and J.Lo has also signed on (Oh ho, will Mariah & Kara be so ever disappointed..) to judge the new Season of talent. Nothing much has really surrounded Randy Jackson's position on the judging table so I assume he's resuming his role on the panel. But however, while the Top 3 of Season 9 have all secured recording deals with major labels, the rest.. Well. We'll see. Well, now that the tour is officially over, it means Michael Lynche, Tim Urban, Siobhan Magnus and Andrew Garcia are probably going to end up as Idol rejects while the others still have a bit of chance to make it big in the industry. Make no mistake, I love those 4, but do we really see them making it big in the industry? Michael Lynche? Err.. Nope. Tim? Needs more substance. Siobhan? Where oh where can she possibly fit in the industry? Andrew? One of a billion YouTube stars. Just a tad too bland for my liking.
Now, watch 17 year old Katie Stevens strut her stuff on Christina Aguilera's Fighter. Or headbanding on Demi Lovato's Here We Go Again.
Someone sign her, please. Please. And most importantly, give her good advice.
Well it American Idol's current crop of Top 10 finalists have kicked off the tour and the full setlists have been revealed, along with a couple of reviews.
Didi Benami - Finishing the competition in tenth place means this singer-songwriter got the honour to open the show, with Kyler England's Lay It On Me as her opening song.
"Thank you all so much!" she says over the audience's cheers. "I was little bit terrified before I came out here, to see all these faces, but I just realized that I'm among family.
And of course, delivers the crowd favourite Terrified, the stunning Katharine McPhee song she delivered with great emotion in Hollywood Week where she first started to steal hearts.
Andrew Garcia is second, and starts with his acoustic guitar and his well-known cover of Paula Abdul's Straight Up, yet another song that stole America's hearts back in Hollywood Week. He then plays Maroon 5's Sunday Morning.
Next up is 17 year old Katie Stevens, who kicks off her set with Demi Lovato's Here We Go Again and concludes with Christina Aguilera's Fighter, the song the Top 12 girls sang with Christina Aguilera herself. Adam Graham of The Detroit News called her "the evening's most current performer" while Brian Mansfield of USA Today said she looked like a less-hyper Lovato during her performance of Here We Go Again but closed his article saying, "Katie rarely rocked this hard on the show -- it's a much better direction for her than the older songs and ballads she favored on the show." The show meaning American Idol of course.
Heartthrob Tim Urban was next, gaining "applause" that "gets a little louder and last a little longer than any of the previous contestants." Nevertheless, he kicked off his set with The Goo Goo Dolls' Better Days and ending his with Coldplay's Viva La Vida. Brian Mansfield noted that though "Tim had his best moments on TV with smaller, less ambitious melodies -- a pretty good choice for Tim (and one he sang during Hollywood Week, though it wasn't never shown). When he closes his eyes and tilts his head back just so on the chorus, he looks and sounds perfectly at home singing it. And the girls get into it, too, waving their hands and singing along."
Then on comes Season 9's screamer. Siobhan Magnus' set starts with The Rolling Stones' Paint It Black while she "emerges amid billowing smoke and purple and white lights." After that it's No Doubt's Spiderwebs and then Muse' Stockholm Syndrome, where Brian Mansfield who says she "stretches it for all its worth, ending on her knees with an impressive scream."
On a completely different note, a very young Aaron Kelly was "the evening's most pleasant surprise" according to Adam Graham of The Detroit News, who opens with Keith Urban's Somebody Like You who "roams the stage like a pro" according to Brian Mansfield and then launches into Marc Cohn's Walking in Memphis. His closing song is Rascal Flatt's Fast Cars And Freedom and Brian Mansfield makes a big statement saying, "On the show, he often sounded like a promising kid who liked to sing ballads. Tonight, he sounds like a young guy that's ready for the big time. Both he and Siobhan have made strong cases that they should have placed higher than they did."
Then came the first group song, Miley Cyrus' The Climb. Andrew Garcia, Tim Urban and Didi Benami start first, sitting on stools, strumming their acoustic guitars and then are joined by Aaron Kelly, Siobhan Magnus and Katie Stevens.
Michael Lynche starts the second half with This Woman's Work, and then India.Arie's Ready For Love, arguably his most memorable performance on Idol. Brian Mansfield described his set as "sexy ballads" as Lynche's closing number is Justin Timberlake and T.I.'s My Love which causes Adam Graham to state the song choice as the "riskiest song choice of the evening" and that Lynche seemed "worn out by its close".
Casey James' set is described as "inconsistent" by Adam Graham and that James' is a "better guitarist than singer." His set consisted of I Got Mine by the Black Keys, Don't! by country/pop darling Shania Twain, It's All Over Now, and Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman? with Michael Lynche originally by Bryan Adams.
Then, runner-up Crystal Bowersox strolls on stage, earning a standing ovation from the crowd. She perform's What's Up by 4 Non Blondes, a song she apparently tried to do on Idol. Her next song is Melissa Etheridge's Come To My Window, who she mentions is her new "good friend". She then proceeds with her Idol coronation single, Patty Griffin's Up To The Mountain and closes her set with her Idol audition song, Janis Joplin's Piece Of My Heart.
Next up? Winner Lee DeWyze of course! He takes the stage to perform Beautiful Day, his Idol winning anthem, but of course, he switches things up and transforms the song into an acoustic rock number. Think Kris Allen's version of Heartless on his self-titled album and you get the drift. Next is his take on Elton John's Rocket Man. He also shakes up the arrangement for Hallelujah and Treat Her Like A Lady, songs he did on the show before closing with the Kings of Leon's Use Somebody.
And of course, there's the last group number of the evening, as the whole Top 10 launches into Kelly Clarkson's #1 hit My Life Would Suck Without You.
Katy Perry takes over the Hot 100 with her new summer jam California Gurls featuring Snoop Dogg, not surprising since a) she's Katy Perry b) California Gurls is a summer song (read: will never sound dated). Usher's OMG falls to #2. Ke$ha stays put at #4 with Your Love Is My Drug while The Black Eyed Peas hit the Top 10 at #9 with Rock Your Body. Miley Cyrus' Can't Be Tamed falls again, dropping to #22 this week. Carrie Underwood's latest single Undo It stays put at #25 and so does Alicia Keys with Un-Thinkable (I'm Ready) at #29. Colbie Caillat's rises again with I Never Told You peaking at #62 this week. Lee DeWyze is dropping like a rock as Beautiful Day, Hallelujah, Falling Slowly (with Crystal Bowersox) dips to #72, #76 and #80 respectively while there is absolutely no sign of Crystal on the Hot 100. P!nk's Glitter In The Air returns to the Hot 100 at #92.
Jack Johnson's To The Sea debuts at #1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart, trailed by Justin Bieber's My World 2.0. Ke$ha's Animal moves up to #10 up from #17 the previous week. Miranda Cosgrove's debut Sparks Fly moves back up to #37. Charice's self-titled debut set sits right outside the Top 80 at #81 this week. In anticipation of Bionic, Christina Aguilera's Keeps Gettin' Better: A Decade of Hits re-enters the chart at #130.
According to Nielsen Soundscan, the numbers for the American Idol Top 12 of Season 9 have been released, with winner Lee DeWyze leading the pack with 274, 000 downloads, of which 95, 000 downloads went to his Idol coronation single Beautiful Day. Runner-up Crystal Bowersox was second again in terms of the number of downloads she sold, a figure amounting to 112, 000, of which 49, 000 went to Up To The Mountain, her Idol coronation single.
Here are the standings in terms of the number of downloads they sold: • Lee DeWyze: 274,000 downloads (Beautiful Day: 95,000) • Crystal Bowersox: 112,000 (Up to the Mountain: 49,000) • Lee/Crystal Falling Slowly duet: 44,000 • Casey James: 14,000 • Siobhan Magnus: 5,000 • Katie Stevens: 3,000 • Michael Lynche: 3,000 • Casey/Michael Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman? duet: 3,000 • Didi Benami: 2,000 • Aaron Kelly: 2,000 • Tim Urban: 2,000 • Andrew Garcia: 1,000 • Lacey Brown: 1,000 • Paige Miles: less than 1,000
Usher continues to storm the Hot 100 with the will.i.am collaboration OMG at #1 for yet another week, trailed behind by Katy Perry's collaboration with Snoop Dogg California Gurls. Ke$ha has been in Japan recently promoting her music there while Your Love Is My Drug becomes her second single to hit the top 5 on the Hot 100, peaking at #4 this week. Lady Gaga stays put at #6 with Alejandro. The Black Eyed Peas' Rock That Body moves up and peaks at #16 this week. Miley Cyrus' Can't Be Tamed falls 10 places to #18 this week, but with more promotion, I'm sure Cyrus' single will start climbing again. Lee DeWyze's coronation single Beautiful Day, a cover of the U2 classic, lands him at #24, noticeably much lower compared to last season's winner Kris Allen with his coronation song No Boundaries which peaked at #11 last year. He also places a cover of Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah at #44 and The Boxer at #88. Carrie Underwood's Undo It shoots up to #25 up from #59 last week thanks to that performance on the American Idol Grand Finale. Crystal Bowersox' Idol coronation single Up To The Mountain makes a debut at #57 while Lee's duet with Crystal on Falling Slowly debuts at #66. Christina Aguilera's Not Myself Tonight holds unsteadily at #95.
The Glee cast holds the top spot on Billboard's 200 albums chart in a second consecutive week. The Sex And The City 2 Soundtrack debuts at #13. Carrie Underwood's Play On moves up 11 spots to #24 this week. Miranda Cosgrove's debut album Sparks Fly isn't falling as fast as I thought it initially would, dropping just 2 places from last week to #45 this week. We Are The Fallen's Tear the World Down falls to #160 in its third week, thanks to hardly any promotion.
As previously posted, Crystal Bowersox lost to Lee DeWyze at the American Idol Grand Finals. But nevertheless, you can expect her to be signed too. I'll go out on a limb and say Lee ink a deal with RCA and Jive will pick up Crystal. (Update: I was right! Crystal's with Jive and Lee's with RCA. Oh gosh, I'm a genius!) Nevertheless, here's her Idol single, Up To The Mountain. Enjoy!
We review the latest in 21st century. Mostly we do pop, but it doesn't really matter, along with new music premieres, video premieres, album premieres. If the links don't work, please notify me in the cbox right below and I will post a new link in the cbox. Thanks.
Artist Of The Month. (November 2011)
The Power Rangers of British pop, The Saturdays, are returning this year with a more mature sound and image, with the girlband taking a stab at the pop/dance wave with their fourth album On Your Radar's first single Notorious being a total flip in direction in their sound, and was noticeably more clubby compared to their previous singles and albums. They then took things a level further with the complete rave-tastic All Fired Up, which is without a doubt their best single release, not surprising since the track was produced by production powerhouse Xenomania, the machine behind pretty much all of Girls Aloud's discography. The pop five-piece are charging forward with the Christmassy ballad My Heart Takes Over before their album On Your Radar drops November 21st!
