The video for Mika’s glamtastic “We Are Golden” has the singer trying on the old “shirtless guy dancing around his bedroom” routine, I guess so he can trick people in the States into liking him by thinking that he’s actually the star of “Single Man Dances To ‘Single Ladies’ “? The song’s still pretty stompily great, don’t get me wrong, but I can’t help but think that there’s a weird sort of reversal-of-fame trajectory going on here with Mika’s attempt to show that despite his major-label backing, all he wants to be is a YouTube success story. Clip after the jump. More »
Popjustice has an important update on the Miley Cyrus song that leaked yesterday, and that has a verse talking about hearing Jay-Z on the radio: “The version you have heard is the Demo and in the final cut [she] references ‘Kanye’ instead of ‘Jay-z.’ ” See, Jay? This is what happens when you talk about your songs not being made for pop radio! [Twitter / Popjustice] More »
Last night I ventured to New York’s Hiro Ballroom for the 16th birthday party of Taylor Momsen, who stars on the cult-beloved TV show Gossip Girl and who fancies herself a rocker chick in the Sassy cover girl mold. (Note this recent quote from her Teen Vogue cover story: “I would eat a boy my age alive.”) The “party” wasn’t a meet-and-greet affair as much as it was an opportunity for her band, the Pretty Reckless, to perform in front of a crowd of radio-station contest winners, assorted VIPs (including some video-camera-wielding family members), and co-stars. (Who, it should be noted, I didn’t see at all, due to them presumably being ensconced in the club’s roped-off upstairs area.) More »
Last night’s Late Night With Jimmy Fallon featured multiple appearances from Diddy, including him assisting Fallon on “Slow Jam The News” (top) and an interview in which Diddy forgot first what show he was on, and then which late-night host named Jimmy he was talking to. After the jump, Diddy’s chat with Fallon, which swings from awkward to awkwardly self-promotional and back again. Watch how discussion of his delayed Last Train To Paris takes a, for lack of a better term, back seat to discussion of the entrepreneur’s other ventures, including his nascent mixological adventures. (I’m not going to lie: The cocktail he’s talking about, which brings together the Diddy-endorsed vodka Ciroc and grapes and lemonade, sounds quite refreshing.) More »
Nine Inch Nails’ main man Trent Reznor quit the microblogging service Twitter and deleted his account two weeks ago, but already people have rushed in to fill his void—including “Ternt Reznor,” who proclaims that “A one line bio could not possibly contain the greatness that is me” and is not afraid to impersonate Arthur Fonzarelli in 140 characters or less. Who knows, this superegomanaical version of Reznor could actually be the man himself having a laugh at his own expense! Weirder things have happened on the Internet for sure. [Twitter via Courtney Love, who may or may not think that “Ternt” = “Trent”] More »
Songwriter-for-hire Ryan Tedder responded to allegations that he Xeroxed himself when writing Beyoncé’s “Halo” and Kelly Clarkson’s “Already Gone” on his MySpace blog—or at least he did, as the post has since been deleted. But thanks to the fast cut-and-paste fingers of the Idol blogger known as MJ, it lives on in cyberspace! More »
Creation Records founder/Guardian music scribe Alan McGee thinks that Bon Jovi should be among New Jersey’s musical/cultural ambassadors to the world. Well, Bon Jovi is better than The Sopranos, by which I mean Bon Jovi has given us more emotional/historical signposts to cling to than Tony et al. But Bon Jovi is hardly the emblematic New Jersey band of the ’80s, let alone the one that should continue to represent the state into the new millennium. Because the greatest New Jersey bands of the last few decades have worked in an idiom laid down by the quartet that made art from the Garden State’s late 20th-century ability to turn anything into junk food: the Misfits. More »
The R. Kelly-penned title track from Whitney Houston’s comeback effort I Look To You has been offered up as a download from the big-voiced singer’s official site, for the price of an e-mail address. Also coming along with the track is the news that the album will now be out a day earlier than originally planned: It’s coming out on Monday, Aug. 31, just in time for it to be eligible for next year’s Grammys. (Recall that they’re now closing their eligibility period for next February’s ceremony on that absurdly early date.) Here’s the song, for those of you who can’t wait to get your e-mail from whitneyhouston@arista.com: More »
Want to hear the early-1990s incarnation of Madonna whisper dirty sexy nothings to a paramour? Have a lot of money just hanging around, collecting interest? Well, if you’d like to part with at least $25,000 of your financial reserves, you can own a couple of microcassettes that are filled with hot messages from Madge to her ex-paramour Jim Albright. Or you could, y’know, save your money by just listening to “Justify My Love” until you’re blue in the face. [NYDN / Dailymotion] More »
