Fridays can be overwhelming for pop fans. Every week you're bombarded with a glut of new music, which can lead to ear candy falling through the cracks. I'm hoping to circumvent that tragic scenario with The Drop — a cheat sheet (of sorts) to get you through New Music Friday. By now, you’ve probably heard Marina and the Diamonds & Clean Bandit's surprise collaboration "Disconnect" and possibly checked...

The world of pop music moves fast, especially for those who enjoy the sounds of the East and the West. Keeping up with the Hot 100 is hard enough, let alone knowing what’s going on in Japan and the blink-and-you’ll-miss-it K-Pop scene. To help you stay on top of Asia’s hottest pop music, I’ve put together East Beat — a handy guide of the best K-Pop and J-Pop (and beyond!) songs of the week....

Well, that didn't take long! Adam Lambert only revealed that he was releasing new music yesterday (June 22) and we already have the title, cover and live performance. Co-written with Ferras, Sarah Hudson, Big Taste and Trey Campbell, "Two Fux" is a defiant pop/rock anthem about living life on your own terms. "If you think what I'm doing how I live's too much, I don't really give two fux," he sings...

If you believe Stan Twitter, Katy Perry is in full career meltdown. In reality, she has the number one album in the country, the year's highest first-week sales tally for a female artist and just made history by picking up her third Diamond Song Award from RIAA. Which bop passed the magical 10 million (sales and streams) mark? Her 2013 mega-hit "Roar" – an anthem that spent 8 non-consecutive weeks...

"Sua Cara" is the summery, exotic highlight of Major Lazer's Know No Better EP and, quite clearly, their next single. Featuring Anitta (the star of Iggy Azalea's "Switch") and Pabllo Vittar (who is hailed as Brazil's number one drag queen), the catchy banger is getting a big-budget video set in the Sahara Desert. The collaborators have been sharing stills from the shoot on social media and they are...

The pop landscape was thrown for a loop when Lorde rode in from New Zealand on a wave of frosty synths, armed with a chilling critique of the excesses of fame. At a time when her peers were soaring high on those very excesses, she exposed some of the darkness that remains when the lights come up in the club. The teen and her velvety voice served as the counterweight to the traditional pop star, and...

Hell just froze over and pigs are soaring through the skies! Azealia Banks extended an olive branch to Iggy Azalea on Twitter, suggesting they collaborate together on her new single. "What if Igloo was on Anna Wintour?" the controversial rapper pondered. "The headlines would be everything tho. The song would be a #1 all over Europe PLUS, we'd probably get a Grammy for it... Just because it's us. And...

And the next single from Katy Perry's Witness is... "Save As Draft." At least at adult pop radio. The electro-ballad, which was co-written by DJ Mustard and Noonie Bao, will hit the airwaves wherever polite bops for Gen X-ers are played on June 26. It's not my favorite mid-tempo on the album (that would be "Miss You More"), but the subject matter is relatable and the track should satisfy fans/radio...

In this franchise, we look back on songs that deserved a little more love and attention.Selena Gomez & The Scene were on a roll in 2011/2012, landing mega-hits with "Who Says" and enduring karaoke classic "Love You Like A Love Song." When it came to rolling out the third single from When The Sun Goes Down, "Hit The Lights" seemed like a safe bet. A bright and bubbly synth-pop anthem about seizing the...

Years from now, pop historians will look back on Katy Perry's Witness era and wonder what the hell happened. It started uneventfully enough. The diva kicked things off with catchy, reggae-tinged bop "Chained To The Rhythm" and promised to usher in an age of woke-pop. That was met with a certain amount of eye-rolling, but the song was a hit and everything seemed to be going as planned. But then she...

Shawn Mendes embarks on an international adventure with a love interest in the video for "There's Nothing Holdin' Me Back." Shot while on the road for his European tour, the Jay Martin-directed visual finds the pop star and his girlfriend (played by Ellie Bamber) exploring big cities and gorgeous pastoral scenes across Paris, Amsterdam, and the UK. Through it all Bamber is constantly by his side, cheering...

Selena Gomez promoted her "Bad Liar" visual as a mini-film and that seems warranted given the elaborate narrative. The pop star plays an unpopular, sporty school girl in the Jesse Peretz-directed clip, which takes place in the 1970s. She unexpectedly develops a crush on her (female) PE teacher, who just happens to be Selena in a blond Farrah Fawcett wig! But the 24-year-old's acting duties don't end...