Day in Pop Report for 07/01/2014
For his new song with Busta Rhymes, it's more of the same. The new song, teased last week via Busta's Twitter, features a refrain instructing an unnamed entity to "calm down," but with rhymes like these, it's easy to do anything but. "Calm Down" begins with a sample of Bob & Earl's "Harlem Shuffle," brought to prominence as the main horn blares at the beginning of House of Pain's "Jump Around." Here, the sample's right in the mix at almost all times, flanked by a drum machine. The song's cover artwork depicts the two rappers locked in a comic book-esque battle, and that's sort of the feel represented throughout the entire song. "Calm Down" is like a battle rap between the duo, though Busta gets the brunt of the attention - it is his song, after all; Eminem's just along for the ride. But at the halfway point of the six-minute tune, Shady takes over with his own brand of rapid rhyming, matching Busta's pace like it ain't no thing. Check out the song here.
According to Pollstar, Beyonce played 95 shows, which brought in an average of $2.4 million per date. Additionally, her single "Drunk in Love" has gone platinum and sold more than 1 million copies. That's not all, though. Queen Bey's empire extends from music into fashion and soft drinks, as she has endorsed H&M and Pepsi as well as released a line of fragrances. All of these ventures and her clothing company House of Dereon have earned her $115 million between June 1, 2013, and June 1, 2014, Forbes reports. more on this story
The R&B singer, fresh off an appearance at last night's BET Awards, debuted the new song Monday (June 30) - and rather than relying on his own star power, Brown's sure to get everyone talking with a pair of guest spots on the song. The synthed-out slow burner is at first a Brown tune that recalls some of Usher's vast discography. That, it turns out, is no coincidence - on the second verse, Usher himself appears to drop his vocal on the track, echoing Brown's sentiments about this new girl that neither wants to let go. To cap it off, Rick Ross storms in with a rap on the song's bridge, throwing out enough New York Yankees and baseball references to stock an entire album. "Baby I'm a boss, I'm talking George Steinbrenner," Ross raps, with mentions of Yogi Berra and Derek Jeter as well. Brown and Usher harmonize fairly seamlessly on "New Flame" and its chorus as the repetitive-but-catchy synth line bounces about in the background. Listen here.
On Friday (June 27), Badu spotted Pix11 reporter Mario Diaz filming a live report about Shia LaBeouf's arrest on Broadway. Badu, who had performed at Radio City Music Hall with Dave Chappelle over the weekend, jumped on camera behind the reporter and attempted to give him a kiss. Diaz appeared not to recognize Badu and shoved her off, literally. He can be seen in the video pushing Badu off him when she goes in for the smooch. As the video went viral on social networks, Badu originally denied being the woman on camera via Twitter. She has since recanted and continues a joking conversation with Diaz in tweets. Badu tweeted "What street u gone be on today ? :-) "@MarioPIX11: Just another Monday right @fatbellybella ?" Watch the video here.
In an interview with NPR, music supervisor Mary Ramos said she flew to Wisconsin to screen a rough-cut of the film for Vernon and his brother Nate. After the movie was done, Vernon and his brother started talking about the relationship between Braff's character and his brother, played by Josh Gad, and their relationship with their father. "All the while Justin kept distractedly humming," Ramos said. "Eventually, he sang out the words 'heavenly father.' Before I even left their house, Justin was recording the first version of the song in his downstairs studio. His inspiration was that immediate." more on this story
During a press conference at Glastonbury on Sunday (June 29), Parton was presented with a plaque that commemorated her RIAA-certified sales achievement. The presentation was made by BBC2 Radio's Lauren Laverne, Dolly Records President Danny Nozell and Glastonbury owner Michael Eavis. "I've been so busy making records for the past several decades, I didn't realize I had racked up so many sales. What a great honor to know that I have so many fans that have supported me through the years. Thanks to the RIAA for the acknowledgment and the plaque I feel very honored and proud," says Dolly Parton. According to the Telegraph, when Parton took the stage Sunday afternoon (June 29), "everyone came out for Dolly, leaving the other stages bereft of audiences." The Guardian agreed regarding the show's popularity, calling Parton's performance an undisputed "crowdpleaser" packed with sing-along moments on such hits as "Jolene," "Coat of Many Colors" and "9 to 5." She "had 200,000 people in the palm of her manicured, rhinestone-studded hand," the Guardian reported. "She said it best herself: it was corny, but it was fun." more on this story
Fans got their first taste when Chesney released lead single "American Kids" just two weeks ago, and today he unveiled a new music video for the song. That's big news, but it doesn't stop there. The country superstar also chose Monday (June 30) to unveil the title of his new album, The Big Revival, and to announce that the collection will drop on Sept. 23. "The whole point of taking the time to get to a really creative place was to have the room to look at not what we'd done, but where we wanted to go," Chesney said in a press release about the album. "After all this time, if I can't push myself and give the fans something that inspires them, that gets them pumped up, there's no reason to just make a record to make a record." The Big Revival is coproduced by Chesney and his longtime producer Buddy Cannon. Willie Nelson fans will also recognize Cannon's name, as he produced Nelson's recently released Band of Brothers and cowrote nine of the album's songs with Nelson. Chesney's 11-song album The Big Revival promises to feature uptempo rockers as well as ballads and also includes guest appearances by Alison Krauss, Dan Tyminski and Grace Potter (who previously sang a duet with Chesney, "You and Tequila"). "I think in anyone's life, there are times when you just need to shake things up, really push yourself and find the thrill of what you do again," Chesney continued. "I went to dirt floor church revivals with my grandma as a little kid, and that power is electric. Scared me to death, but it shows you what it means to be alive. I think bringing that sort of passion to how you live your life is everything - and it's so easy to lose touch with." more on this story
Big Sean will show up on the song "Best Mistake," while the rapper also known as Donald Glover will make an appearance on "Break Your Heart Right Back." In keeping with the R&B and hip-hop theme, A$AP Ferg pops up on "Hands On Me," while "Love Me Harder" includes The Weeknd. Norwegian producer/DJ Cashmere Cat, meanwhile, is the featured artist on "Be My Baby." They join Iggy Azalea, who contributed a verse to Grande's No. 2 Billboard Hot 100 hit "Problem," and Zedd, who produced the to-be-released single "Break Free." more on this story
This will be Khalifa's fifth album and third on a major label. It's set to contain his hit single "We Dem Boyz" - which is itself a taste of what to expect but Khalifa's Twitter account has its own revelations as well. He recently revealed he's got "way more songs" than he thought and admitted that his longtime girlfriend Amber Rose thinks he works too hard. He tweeted " Man I got waaaay more songs than I thought I had." Khalifa will headlining The Under the Influence Tour to promote the album, kicking off on July 24. The tour also features Jeezy, Tyga, Ty Dolla $ign, Sage the Gemini, Rich Homie Quan, Mack Wilds, Iamsu! and DJ Drama. Details here.
According to MLive, Brian Alan Brockette was volunteering at an outside vendor when he was stricken with a medical emergency just after 11 p.m. on the final night of the four-day festival (June 29). Electric Forest organizers released the following statement regarding the incident: "On Sunday night, the festival's health and safety team was alerted to a medical emergency involving an outside vendor's volunteer. Event medical personnel responded along side Michigan State Police troopers. "The man was then transported to a local hospital. We later learned that, unfortunately, he passed away. This festival was created to celebrate life and to enjoy music in a magical setting. This has deeply affected everyone involved with the event. Our heartfelt sympathy goes out to his family and friends." more on this story
In now-standard Keef style, he's delivered another sluggish rap on top of trap production paired with a video shot in some generic apartment - possibly the one he's moved into after being reportedly evicted from his last home. The visual disconnect of the less than bourgeois location and clothing make it clear: this is really a Gucci Mane shout-out track - from the dragging, unclear delivery that apes Mane's own style to the chorus, which isn't a shout-out to the brand that has fallen out of favor with hip hop. It's a chant for Gucci Mane. Check out the song here.
The hilarious new clip follows the recent news that Chromeo are now partners with the Canadian company, which positions itself as a "budget-conscious alternative the upwardly mobile American traveler." The video is made in conjunction with Funny or Die, so potential flyers should take such travel tips as "in case of emergency, disco floor lights will illuminate the way," and "in the event of water landing, cocktails will be served atop the aircraft" with a grain of salt. Chromeo's foray into producing in-flight safety videos with a good beat that you can dance to comes as the band is rocking across North America on the extensive and aptly-titled Frequent Flyer tour, which includes stops at a mess of festivals including Outside Lands and Lollapalooza as well as a headlining date at the Central Park Summer Stage on Sept.12 with special guest Big Freedia. Watch the video here.
In second place is the YMCMB crew, who decorate (or rather, crowd up) the background of 75 percent of the shots). Tied for third are Rich Homie Quan, who guests on the third verse and clowns for the camera, and Birdman, who is the CEO of set dressing. With so few other people actually on the track, it's hard to imagine what makes it Rich Gang and not simply Young Thug's song. His star turn in the video is as captive as his distinctive voice. He's got a watchable quality and doesn't look like your average hip hop guy - his eyes are a little crazier, his accessories a little more unique - which makes him engaging even while he's going through the motions of all the usual hip hop video clich�s. The video, directed by Be El Be, is full of scenes that go nowhere. Why are there a dozen young women all dressed in red swimsuits on what looks to be a hotel bed? It looks less like a sexual scene and more like someone didn't get clearance from the Hyatt to shoot at their pool and so improvised. Where is Young Thug going in that flashy red car? He never appears to go anywhere, simply drives to show off. Why do all of the YMCMB crew go from a private plane to a yacht? Where are we - Miami? Catalina? The Atlantic Ocean? It's hard to be impressed with the luxury when even the location is unclear. The major visual take away is that the impact of Kanye West is real. These guys may be rapping about the terrible things they've done to live in the lap of luxury, but they're all doing it with exotic face tattoos and eccentric, loud clothes. A decade ago, it would have been sports jerseys. The storylines may not go anywhere, or even exist, but the fashion has pushed itself forward. Watch it here.
From Pharrell Williams bringing out a very special guest, not to mention trying out a new hat, to Nicki Minaj debuting her latest single "Pills n Potions" for the first time live to Robin Thicke continuing his get the girl back campaign at another live show to Chris Brown's big post-jail return. Not to mention, Bey & Jay's sexy finale, this year showed hip-hop is where it's at. Oh, and about those awards. Bey took home Best Female R&B/Pop Artist, along with the prize for Best Collaboration for "Drunk In Love" with her hubby. Pharrell won Best Make R&B/Pop Artist and Best Music Video of the Year for "Happy." Drake won Best Male Hip-Hop Artist, while Minaj took home the Best Female Hip-Hop artist for the fifth time. In her speech she let the crowd know, "If you hear Nicki Minaj singing, Nicki Minaj wrote it." Pharrell kicked off the night with a performance of "Come Get It Bae." While Miley Cyrus appears on the track, she wouldn't make it to the show (too busy working on a shrine to her recently deceased dog, Floyd), but Pharrell did treat the crowd to a surprise appearance from Missy Elliott, who performed a verse from her 2003 single "Pass the Dutch." And even if her mic was a little low, we were just happy to see Missy back doing what she does best. On the back of a motorcycle, Nicki Minaj started off her performance with a little bit of "Chi-Raq" before launching into a Alice in Wonderful-inspired version of "Pills n Potions." Don't miss Nicki stealing a kiss from a person in a bunny costume. Robin Thicke is still on the apology train, performing yet another song aimed at getting his wife, Paula Patton back. On this night he performed, "Forever Love." John Legend his song "You & I" and then he got behind his piano and helped Jhen� Aiko play her track "The Worst." The awards show paid tribute to Lionel Richie by giving him the Lifetime Achievement Award and the singer treated the crowd to his hits "Easy Like Sunday Morning" and "All Night Long," which got Nicki Minaj dancing in the front row. Iggy Azalea joined T.I. onstage for his latest track "No Mediocre" before launching into "Fancy." Chris Brown returned to the stage to show off his dances moves in a performance of his song "Loyal" featuring Lil Wayne and Travis Barker. Wayne also hit the stage solo to perform Tha Carter V tracks "Krazy" and "Believe Me," minus Drake. Beyonc� and Jay Z closed out the show with a remix of "Partition" that had Jay shouting out Kanye West's favorite designer, Riccardo Tisci, Versace and TMZ, while Bey did a little sexy shadow dancing. Watch the performances here.
The video is set on a beach, showing Chesney strumming a guitar as a group of young folks kicks up sand dancing around a colorful school bus that's a clear throwback to Ken Kesey's famous bus Further. We're not sure how much of fan Chesney is of Kesey and his Merry Pranksters, but the "American Kids" lyrics are certainly sympathetic to the crazy-fun energy of being young and eager to cut loose, bust a few rules and see where life takes you. Chesney's attitude is playful and upbeat as he sings of growing up in Anywhere, U.S.A. ("trailer park truck stop, faded little map dots New York to L.A."), maybe without much money ("MTV on the RCA, no A/C in the vents") but still brimming with the thrill of possibilities ("We were teenage dreamin', front seat leanin', baby, come give me a kiss"). The kids in Chesney's song might be "a little messed up" at times, but in the long run they're "all alright." The energy in the song and video is positive and upbeat, showing Chesney's affection for youth culture (especially that of the 1960s, if the psychedelic bus and long-haired dancers are any indication) and the spirit that often leads down the line to great things. Watch the video here.
"He's young, he's going to make mistakes," Dupri said. "I think people started realizing that� when everybody's young they make mistakes. People were looking at him like he was grown." Then, he added a very lofty compliment: saying Brown will at least meet Tupac in popularity - perhaps even surpass him. "He's a star, though," Dupri continued. "I told people when he came out of jail, he's going to be Tupac. He's an R&B singer. An R&B singer's music is supposed to go farther than rap. And, it stretches over different boundaries. To me, he's going to be more famous than Tupac. I mean, it is what it is. He's a star, and I can't front on it." On Sunday (June 29), Brown performed at the BET Awards, singing his song "Loyal" featuring Lil Wayne and Travis Barker, which marked his first post-jail television appearance. more on this story
"I'm still kind of amazed," Pergolizzi told Radio.com over the phone about her commercial success, "because I feel like the song was a bit covered up in it. You hear the song, but it's not even the chorus of the song. I was just like, 'Hm, I don't know if I saw the commercial, I'd run and Google it.'" But run and Google it they did, which Pergolizzi says still boggles her mind. "I mean, who the hell has time for that?" It's not that Pergolizzi isn't grateful that people took a liking to the few second snippet of her song in a commercial that seems to run at least once every hour on all basic cable channels. Though, she herself only saw it once or twice. "I usually watch recorded TV," she said. It just seems too easy. Born and raised in New York, Pergolizzi had been working as a songwriter since 2007 when she wrote "Love Will Keep You Up All Night" for the Backstreet Boys. Since then she's written hits for Christina Aguilera, Kelly Clarkson, Cher, reality star Heidi Montag, Rihanna and Rita Ora, who ended up recording the track, "Shine Ya Light," after Rihanna turned it down. "She cut it and then didn't want it on the album," Pergolizzi explained. "She went back to it twice, but Rita Ora cut it and it did well, especially in Europe." According to Pergolizzi, this scenario happens much more often than one might expect. "It makes my head spin," she said. "I have songs that are put aside by really big artists and they never use them." She even had to steal her latest single, "Night Like This," back from Shakira when she feared it would get stuck in limbo. "I stole that s-t" she laughed, before explaining that actually Shakira just decided to go in a different direction on her latest release. "I think she decided to do more dance stuff," Pergolizzi said. "I'm definitely glad I took it back." Being a songwriter for hire certainly isn't easy, but it's managed to help Pergolizzi pay the bills. Something her lawyer father never thought was possible and made very clear, telling her as a kid that you "can't make any money in entertainment." But after the death of her mother when she was a teenager, Pergolizzi made the decision that life was too short to have a job you hate. And it seems to have paid off. "I haven't worked a normal job in over ten years." This leads to the question, why would Pergolizzi move away from a reasonably stable writing gig to try her hand at becoming a pop star? Especially when she's tried it more than once before. A lot more.
"Calling All Galaxies" was quite an emotional song for me to sing. The lyrics are a dialog I'm having with both the heavens and the spirit of my father Joe Resta who passed away in June 1997. My dad was a very deep thinker. We were good buds. We used to stare at the stars for a very long time talking about things like how odd it was that the light from the stars we were just seeing took millions of light years to arrive. So long that those very same stars no longer existed. We just knew that our sun and our tiny planet could not possibly be the only inhabited place in the infinite night sky. So in the song I sing to him for answers. "Calling all galaxies" looking for a response of any kind from the vast somethingness and struggling with the possibility of nothingness. Energy cannot be created or destroyed it only changes form Stay tuned ...earthlings:) The music actually came together first on this one during the making of a cartoon band project I was producing called "Madthemartian" We never got back to it as and that album already had 13 tracks so.... I asked Madthemartian if the co-writer of my solo record (Greg Ansin )and I could write the lyrics and melodies and they agreed. We recorded it at both Paramount recording Studios in Hollywood and Bopnique studios in New England. Karyadi Sutedja did a brilliant mix on this... I just love the lack of hype it has. The Instrumentation is: Beatbox, drums, percussion, guitars , synth bass, harmonica and multimoog. The video is directed by Tracey Gylnn and will be out July 2nd for the album release date. Hearing is believing. Now that you know the story behind the song, listen for yourself here and learn more about the album right here!
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