Both Diana Ross and Whitney Houston‘s estate paid tribute to the beloved songwriter. More »
Plus: Nicki Minaj teases a Nike collaboration, and Nile Rodgers tells a legendary story about Diana Ross. Be sure to also see which artists are performing on TV today. More »
Nile Rodgers has shed some light on Chic‘s first LP in 23 years. It’s About Time could feature collaborations with pop heavyweights Miley Cyrus, Diana Ross, Janelle Monae and Elton John. More »
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Today marks Lady Gaga’s 25th birthday, and it’s hard to fathom all that she’s already accomplished her her short life: five Grammys, three #1 hits on the Hot 100, 15 million album sales, 51 million single sales, nine million Twitter followers and one heck of a collection of clothing in her closet (catch her wildest looks at Celebuzz). But believe it or not, there once was a time when “gaga” was simply known as baby talk. Flip through our gallery to see what was going on in both pop culture and the news when the “Born This Way” singer—known then as simply Stefani Joanne Germanotta—was welcomed into the world. More »
One of the many things disco did to the pop mainstream was to help sharpen its body-consciousness. Take the above video clip for Miquel Brown’s “So Many Men, So Little Time,” a 1983 hit that, according to the voluminous notes provided by the song’s producer, Ian Levine (who has his own extensively curated YouTube hub), was “The first pioneering record of the whole High Energy scene.” The song was a huge European hit, but the video is striking for its glimpse into muscle-man culture. Not that this was altogether new in pop. Below, we present a selective history of bodybuilding in pop video from the period.
We knew last week that Beyoncé’s “If I Were a Boy” was poised to make a big leap on Billboard‘s Hot 100. The only question was, how big?
Just a year ago, a 65-space jump to No. 3 would have been enough to make our eyes pop. When Britney Spears did it in early October 2007 with “Gimme More,” it was considered something of a triumph—especially as she was at the height of her meltdown phase and coming off a tragic performance at the 2007 Video Music Awards.
Now, we’re a little harder to impress. In its third week on the charts, “Boy” makes the exact same move from No. 68 to No. 3–and chart geeks yawn. That’s because the last two months have brought three straight leaps all the way to No. 1 from below No. 70. (The most recent was by Spears herself, whose “Womanizer” bested “Gimme More” by shooting from No. 96 to the penthouse.)
Still, Beyoncé’s got nothing to be ashamed of: her gender-flip of Prince’s “If I Was Your Girlfriend” (well, I like to think of it that way) is her ninth career Top 10 single and sold almost 190,000 digital downloads. And it brings her one hit away from matching the career chart record of the group she ditched four years ago.
Welcome to On The Shelf, Idolator’s weekly look at the records hitting store shelves every Tuesday. After a brief hiatus occasioned by holidays and woeful new-release rosters, we’re back; after the jump, we look at new releases from America, Stacie Orrico, Diana Ross, and Stars of Track and Field.
