While the goss rags salivated over the Taylor2 sighting at KIIS FM’s annual Jingle Ball show this weekend, we managed to snag some time with Los Angeles radio station fest’s biggest acts—The Ting Tings, Jason Derulo, Orianthi, and Jay Sean all dropped by to dish on their hits and the latest music news, including Grammy reactions, Gaga’s wardrobe dysfunction and the last days of Michael Jackson. Our pre-performance chit-chats with the artists after the jump: More »
First up, we couldn’t resist that horrible headline. Now on to the news: Jay-Z has signed the Ting Tings to his Roc Nation label, and as a welcome gift, he wants to collaborate with the U.K. duo on their next album. More »
The UK pop-gossip newsletter Popbitch did a survey of artists’ tour riders for its latest edition, and it found something sort of sad: The demands of bands were kind of boring! “Even Lady GaGa… is entirely happy with whatever brand of water she’s given,” the Popbitches lament, a trend that would seem to go hand-in-hand with the increasingly stripped-down riders that have been posted to the unsealed-documents site The Smoking Gun lately. So what were the highlights of Popbitch’s findings? Here’s a hint (and a sign of how sorta-dull things are in the backstage world): Expect to find lots of pureed chickpeas. More »
Maura and I have already taken a victory lap about our fulfilled prediction that Kelly Clarkson would vault to the top of Billboard‘s Hot 100. Clarkson’s “My Life Would Suck Without You” dominates the list again this week, thanks to commanding sales and fast-rising radio airplay.
How long will she stay there? Nothing in the Top 10 looks like a threat. The few songs that are on the rise, including Kanye West’s “Heartless” and All-American Rejects’ “Gives You Hell,” appear to be losing momentum. The Fray’s “You Found Me” will likely get a boost from the release of their album this week, but probably not enough to take over the penthouse.
If anything’s going to dethrone Clarkson, it will come from outside the winners’ circle. “Prom Queen,” the ill-advised rock single from Lil Wayne, makes an impressive debut at No. 17, the highest start so far this year. You’d think that would give him the edge.
But the more likely scenario involves someone doing to Kelly what Kelly did to Lady GaGa two weeks ago: an outside ambush that vaults from the bottom to the top in one fell swoop. And the probable ambusher is making an even bigger chart comeback this year than Clarkson.
Many people find it hard to tell the great from the godawful when it comes to 21st-century mainstream rock. To help figure out which is which, here’s “Corporate Rock Still Sells,” where Al “GovernmentNames” Shipley examines what’s good, bad, and ugly in the world of rock and roll. This time around, he notes that rock radio has actually started playing songs sung by women after a long drought. (No, really!)
