Pop singer Katy Perry released her latest single “Roar” on the very same day Lady Gaga unveiled her song “Applause” three weeks ago and both stars have been under constant comparison ever since. While Perry’s song is about female empowerment and standing up for yourself, Gaga’s seems to be more about telling her fans how loud to cheer for her. Gaga premiered the video for her first song in two years last week with her singing, dancing, and in alien form. Her performance at the 2013 Video Music Awards was just as interesting as she opened the show with a close view of her face with her eyes closed followed by numerous on stage costume changes. And just this past weekend, Mother Monster re-tweeted a hysterical fan made video which recreated her performance. Her latest record titled “ArtPOP” is set to debut in November and fans have been highly anticipating her return to form ever since undergoing hip replacement surgery last winter. Meanwhile, Perry performed the first single off of her new album “Prism” at the very end of the awards show in a boxing ring under the Brooklyn Bridge. Her record is set to debut in October and has already been given the green light for the second single to be released titled “Dark Horse.”
Up and coming British singer songwriter Jessie J debuts a catchy techno track just in time for the start of summer that allows fans to hear a different side of the singer with a little help. The song echoes the similarly titled “Firework,” which was sang two summers ago by the American doppelgänger of the singer: Katy Perry. French DJ David Guetta is featured on the track which is a change of pace from the singer’s previous top ten hits. This is the sixth single off of Jessie J’s debut album “Who You Are.” The song “showcases a completely different side of Jessie, with David Guetta’s club beats providing the perfect background for Jessie’s vocals to soar, similar to Guetta’s previous productions with Kelly Rowland’s number-one single on the UK Singles Chart with “When Love Takes Over.” While the music video was recently released, the song has yet to premiere in America but is set for next month.
Pop-Rock band Hot Chelle Rae strings another hit with “I Like It Like That,” the second single off their new album “Whatever,” which was released on November 29, 2011. The song has peaked at number twenty-nine on the Billboard Hot 100 and features hip-hop group New Boyz rapping throughout the song. The music video that was released with the single in October features a behind the scenes look at what’s happening while the band is on tour, partying and looking very hipster in their tight jeans and Ray Bans.
The group formed in Nashville, Tennessee, in 2005 and includes Ryan Follesé, Nash Overstreet, Ian Keaggy and Jamie Follesé. The band, which was originally named “Miracle Drug,” got the idea for their name after a MySpace stalker provided the group with entertaining online activity until her false identity was discovered and brought to light. While Follesé are brothers, Overstreet is the son of country music singer-songwriter Paul Overstreet and the brother of “Glee” actor Chord Overstreet, who was also featured in a music video.
Their debut album, “Lovesick Electric,” was released on October 27, 2009, but it wasn’t until last summer when the band gained widespread attention for the single “Tonight Tonight” that Hot Chelle Rae was made a household name. Fueled with catchy one-liners and a fun, fresh beat, the song peaked at number seven on the Billboard Hot 100 and it’s been a blast ever since.
The Script’s choice for their second single off the album “Science & Faith” displayed how to get over someone and it rang true to its fans. The song is about a man who gets drunk, calls a girl to tell her how he feels and she says nothing; hence the song title. “Nothing” peaked at number 32 on the Bilboard Hot 100 and is one of the best songs from the Irish rock band to date.
9) “Best Thing I Never Had” by Beyonce
Beyonce’s fourth album, appropriately titled “4,” debuted during the summer with the feminist single “Run the World (Girls),” which quickly fizzled out of radio play. However, her second single “Best Thing I Never Had” was about moving on from a breakup and was matched with a wedding themed music video. Too bad the rest of her album wasn’t as good as this song; after releasing six music videos within a two month period, “4” was deemed a failure.
8) “Yeah 3X “ by Chris Brown
Chris Brown finally delivered a song and music video that almost made us forget he physically assaulted ex-girlfriend Rihanna until his freak out on “The Today Show” back in January. He followed this hit with the remixed single “She Ain’t You,” which might have been a better song had it not been for all the bad press and lack of radio play.
7) “Tonight Tonight” by Hot Chelle Rae
Little known band Hot Chelle Rae got their big break with this summer hit. “Tonight Tonight” peaked at number seven on the Billboard Hot 100 and even had a “Glee” star show up in the music video. The band is a callback to a genre previously known as “Emo” and currently has another hit on their hands titled “I Like it Like That.”
6) “Hold It Against Me” by Britney Spears
It’s Britney, Bitch. Britney Spears made a triumphant albeit somewhat dazed return to the dance floor with an all techno-inspired record. The music video for “Hold It Against Me” symbolized her career’s ups, downs and eventual comeback. The pop princess followed this with the immensely popular “Till the World Ends,” but lost credit when a “dance double” was revealed on the blogospheres.
5) “Party Rock Anthem” by LMFAO
LMFAO debuted this song over the winter, but it wasn’t until the summer began that “Party Rock Anthem” became the song of the season. This single, off the group’s second album “Sorry for Party Rocking,” sat at the top of the charts for five consecutive weeks. It was followed by the catchy gym song “Sexy and I know it,” which saw similar success.
4) “Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)” by Katy Perry
Katy Perry had quite the year stringing five number one hits off her 2010 album “Teenage Dream.” Although “The One That Got Away” is a great song lyrically, nothing beats watching the ridiculous music video for “Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.),” which is an eighties montage with numerous special guests. Although the song may have gotten played out on the radio, nothing beats watching Perry party with Kenny G, Corey Feldman and the cast of “Glee.”
3) “Someone Like You” by Adele
Adele has gone from “Chasing Pavements” on the sidewalks of VH1 to singing in the streets of superstardom and everyone seems to agree. The ultimate break up song of 2011 was delivered to the world when she chose “Someone Like You” as her follow up to “Rolling in the Deep.” The video, which was shot entirely in black and white, followed Adele on a stroll through Paris while singing of an old flame.
2)” On the Floor” by Jennifer Lopez
Fueled by her career-reviving stint as a judge on “American Idol,” Jennifer Lopez made her triumphant return into pop music with her first single “On the Floor” featuring Pitbull. This song stayed at the top of the charts for nine weeks and was followed by a sultry beach-themed music video for “I’m Into You.” Lopez is currently going through a divorce and spends her free time driving around Brooklyn in her Fiat.
1) “We Found Love” by Rihanna
Pop princess Rihanna has become the youngest person to launch eleven number one hits at the tender age of twenty-three. Her first single off her latest album “Talk That Talk” debuted in September and takes the cake as the best song of the year. Although her summer hit “Cheers (Drink to that)” was a catchy tune, this techno romp shot to the top of the list with its accompanying drug-infused music video.
With nearly half of its third season underway, musical dramedy “Glee” has finally revealed a glimpse of why viewers fell in love with the show in the first place with the latest episode “Mash Off.” After heavily relying much of senior year on the school production of “West Side Story,” the high school drama prevails by returning to its original formula of incorporating music that has to do with what’s happening to the show’s stars.
FOX’s “Glee” centers on a group of very different high school students who form a singing group with the help of their Spanish teacher, Will Schuester. With a variety of characters in the ensemble cast, many episodes reveal dramatic characteristics about each star including relationships, sexuality, and social issues that result in song. This was shown in last week’s episode, which saw cheerleader Santana Lopez being exposed as a lesbian on television, which prompted her to sing her heart out to Adele’s “Someone Like You.”
After creator Ryan Murphy was criticized for the second season of the hit show, which depended on big guest stars like Gwyneth Paltrow and heavily themed episodes, he vowed to return to a more character-driven storyline. But the season thus far has left much of the show’s best characters like Guidance Counselor Emma Pillsbury in the dark and has given ex-cheerleader Quinn Fabray an odd baby-stealing storyline.
Murphy even went as far as to write off fan-favorite Lauren Zizes and give Sam Evans the boot, but has thankfully welcomed back the ladder who will return in the season’s eleventh episode. But the third season hasn’t been all bad: some highlights include Kurt Hummel’s campaign for Class President; Mercedes Jones’ rival choir group “The Troubletones,” and who could forget Mike Chang’s heartbreaking dance episode.
But was there really anything wrong with “Glee’s” second season to begin with? Viewers don’t seem to think so with last season being its highest rated to date, including a superbowl episode watched by nearly thirty million people. While the second season normally saw upwards of ten million viewers per episode, viewership continues to decline for its third season averaging nearly nine million people.
The FOX show also has an amazing merchandise line that includes soundtracks, concerts, and last summer’s 3-D film. But with the departure set for show stars Rachel Barry, Finn Hudson, and Kurt Hummel, will “Glee” survive another plot change or will the introduction of new cast members drive viewers away? Maybe they won’t have to: “Rumour Has It” many departing characters will be featured in a spin-off.
Pop princess Rihanna delivers a controversial music video with a message attached to her former flame for her techno song “We Found Love.” This is the distressed singer’s first single off her sixth album “Talk That Talk,” which hit stores this week.
The music video was shot in County Down, Northern Ireland in late September and depicted Rihanna in an abusive relationship with a blonde black man. The video not only paints ex-boyfriend Chris Brown in a negative light, but also shows Rihanna drinking, smoking, and attempting suicide.
The unhappy couple is shown engaging in sex while disturbing images flash across the screen including drugs, various pills, and dilated pupils. The love-hate relationship ends when Rihanna walks out the door of her “hopeless place” and is seen huddled in a corner, crying at the end of the music video.
The music video generated controversy for its depiction of violence and drug use, as well as when Rihanna took her clothes off during filming, which led to one local farmer famously telling the Barbadian that she needs to “find God.” It was also described as a “disgrace” by an anti-rape campaigner and was not what some fans had in mind when listening to the upbeat song.
“We Found Love” debuted at number sixteen on the Billboard Hot 100 and reached number one in its sixth week on the chart, giving Rihanna the record for an artist to have twenty top-ten singles in the shortest amount of time. With the song becoming the singer’s eleventh number one single, the twenty-three year old singer is tied with fifty-three year old Madonna.
This seems to be just the beginning of a flourishing career for Rihanna, who has been non-stop since the debut of her first break-out hit “Umbrella” back in 2006. Throughout the years it seems the singer’s taste in music has changed just as quickly as her hair, which was last seen a firey-red not two months ago.
Both of her last albums, “Rated R” and “Loud ,”debuted in November of 2010 and 2009, respectively, and while they spawned several hits, the singer seems to not take a break from recording or the spotlight. Although critics have said that the latest album is a departure from the dark theme of her previous two records following Chris Brown’s assault, her video says otherwise.
Pop sensation Katy Perry might have another hit on her hands as the pink-haired singer unveiled her latest song “The One That Got Away” off her album “Teenage Dream.” This is the sixth single off her second album, which debuted at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in August of last year.
The song is a mid-tempo pop ballad about a lost love from Perry’s past during the “summer after high school.” The song goes on to describe how she misses her relationship with her first love expressing that she “never planned that one day I’d be losing you.” The single was released on the radio last week debuting at number ninety-four on the Billboard Hot 100 with Perry filming the music video at the beginning of this month.
Perry was ironically born to Christian pastor parents in Santa Barbara, California, where she grew up listening to only gospel music and singing in her local church. After an unsuccessful try in 2001 as Katy Hudson, the gospel singer, Perry found her moment to shine with “I Kissed a Girl” in 2008 off her first mainstream album “One of the Boys.”
The singer’s second album, “Teenage Dream,” has produced such number one singles as “California Gurls,” “Teenage Dream,” “Firework,” “E.T.,” and “Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.).” Perry became the first artist in history to spend fifty-two consecutive weeks in the top ten of the Billboard Hot 100 and the first female artist to get five hits on the charts in one year.
“The One” is bittersweet and although most of Perry’s songs tend to get played out on the radio, it’s always nice to hear them when they first come out.
Little known country music group “The Band Perry” just became breakout stars as the group makes the jump into mainstream radio with their song “If I Die Young.” The song, which was written by front woman Kimberly Perry (no relation to Katy Perry), has been playing on country stations for nearly a year but was only recently given airplay on FM radio.
The trio of siblings was born in Greeneville, Tennessee with backup vocal and guitar playing brothers Reid and Neil Perry rounding out the rest of the band. At first listen, the group sounds like Taylor Swift, but after a look at the music video it becomes clear that “The Band Perry” is quite reminiscent of “The Dixie Chicks.” The group has released four singles off their self-titled debut album, which arrived in stores on October 12, 2010.
“If I Die Young” reached number one on the Country Music Charts and number fourteen on the Billboard Hot 100. The band recently won Breakthrough Video of the Year along with The Nationwide Insurance On Your Side Award for the same song at the 2011 CMT Awards.
The video shows a bleach blonde Kimberly eerily singing into the camera about dying with the line “green as the ring on my little cold finger.”And while it’s clear that her brothers need some serious haircuts, the ending of this music video makes no sense; but hey it’s country music. The song is dark yet beautiful, tragic yet poetic, and has been on replay ever since its first listen.
New-found indie rock band “Foster the People” brings the hypnotic pop back to life this summer with their hit “Pumped Up Kicks.” The band, which formed in 2009 in Los Angeles, California, definitely has a synthetic feel similar to “MGMT.”
“Pumped Up Kicks” reached number one on Billboard’s Alternative Songs chart and number three on the Billboard Hot 100. The Band was also nominated for Best New Artist at the 2011 MTV Video Music Awards, but lost to some idiot who rapped about hookers and brought his entire extended family on stage to thank God for inspiring the song.
The follow up single off the album “Torches” is titled “Helena Beat” and can be purchased on iTunes or stolen on FrostWire. The video for the song seems to be an edgy rendition of the movie “Terminator: Salvation” or just some random, odd, everyday occurrence. The band’s website is even more trippy, with artwork that definitely reminds me of a friend or two of mine from college.
What Jason Watches 