Day in Pop Report for 07/03/2014
STLtoday.com reports that St. Louis Christian rappers Flame have filed suit against Perry for, they claim, lifting "Dark Horse"'s beat - particularly, the song's unmistakable synth line - from their 2008 track "Joyful Noise." In the lawsuit, Flame also claim that their track has been "irreparably tarnished by its association with the witchcraft, paganism, black magic, and Illuminati imagery evoked by the same music in 'Dark Horse.'" Juicy J, along with producers Dr. Luke, Max Martin and Cirkut, songwriter Sarah Hudson and Capitol Records are named in the lawsuit. One of Flame's attorneys, Erica Kayira revealed that the performers built their case after seeing comparisons of the song online. When "Joyful Noise" was released in 2008, Flame took home a Gospel Music Association Dove Award for the song, while the album it's from, Our World: Redeemed, won the Grammy for best rock or rap gospel album. So did "Dark Horse" rip off "Joyful Noise"? Listen to the two tracks above and decide for yourself here.
Sheeran's new album, X (pronounced multiply), sold 210,000 copies during its first week of release in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan's tracking. The U.K. popstar celebrated his stateside victory on Twitter. He tweeted fans, "Had my first #1 album in America this week. Thanks for everyone supporting it, that's mental x."
Allen pulls no punches lyrically, caustically ripping into bloggers who exist "at home in [their] parents' basement" and dream of someday writing for Vice. Singing from the blogger's perspective, she paints a grim picture of someone obsessed with assumed arbiters and symbols of cool that include websites, magazines, clothing labels and such artists as Tyler, the Creator, the xx and Kanye West. The singer truly exacts her revenge in the video, showing up in their bedrooms where she turns them into rainbow-colored digital smears with her withering gaze. Watch the video here.
The singer/rapper took to her Twitter to get her voice heard after multiple outlets reported on Minaj's apparent mocking of the Australian rapper, whose "Fancy" currently tops the Billboard Hot 100. While Azalea performed, Minaj was seen mimicking her dance moves and, when she later won over Azalea for best female hip-hop artist, said, "When Nicki Minaj spits, Nicki Minaj wrote it," supposedly insinuating that Azalea doesn't write her own music. On her Twitter, Minaj seemed to quash any sort of beef there might be between the two, but she didn't exactly back down from her comments, either, continuing to stress that she believes women should continue to write because "our voices have to be heard." She continued that she believed women are "smart enough to write down our own thoughts and perspective, just like the men do. I've been saying this for 5 YEARS." She added that she "fell in love" with Lauryn Hill because of her songwriting, as well as Missy Elliott - and that "women MUST aspire for more." Finally getting to Azalea, she noted that she had "congratulated Iggy on the success of Fancy, publicly. She should be very proud of that� that will never change my desire to motivate women to write. Our voices have to be heard. I hope I inspire up & coming females to do that. More including her full tweets.
Although very little is known about the production, the DJ/producer, who claims hits with Britney spears, Katy Perry, Beyonce and Jennifer Lopez, revealed to Brazilian website Heliosa Tolipan that he wrote seven songs with the Queen of Pop - and one track in particular may raise some eyebrows. "I do not usually feel pressured to write hits, but when an artist is of this caliber, it's obvious that I want to push the boundaries a little further and surpass myself," Diplo said via Google translation from the Brazilian website. "One of the songs we wrote is very cool. It's called "B-h, I am Madonna" ["B---h, I'm Madonna"]." more on this story
Bennett was a confirmed performer at the festival in Montreal. Already in town for an ArtRave concert in Montreal yesterday (July 2), Gaga decided to take the stage with Bennett to perform several songs off their upcoming jazz collaboration release Cheek to Cheek. The music, off an oft-delayed album that's purportedly coming later this year, certainly fit in well both in the festival's wheelhouse and in Bennett's. Meanwhile, for Gaga, jazz may not be the first genre that comes to mind when thinking of the pop star, but the shoe fits fairly snugly on the just-debuted tracks. Listen as Bennett and Gaga perform "But Beautiful" and "Lush Life" from the concert here.
With her sixth straight week on top of the Billboard Hot 100, "Fancy" is now the longest-reigning No. 1 single by a female rapper. Ever. The previous record holder? None other than Lil Kim for her role in the all-star cover of Patti LaBelle's "Lady Marmalade". That means that the previous record holder wasn't even the main artist on the song, instead sharing top billing with others (in this case Mya, Pink and Christina Aguilera). more on this story
Now she may have another possibility, and although the song is different on the surface, it has every potential to be just as big as its predecessor, thanks to an all-star assist in Zedd. "Break Free," Grande's second single from her upcoming album My Everything, pits the singer against a monstrous EDM beat supplied by the man behind last year's "Clarity." "This is the part where I break free / Because I can't resist no more," she sings, liberated, as the song crescendos into club-ready bliss. The song premiered as part of Grande's one-night resurrection of MTV's TRL. Find out where she will be performing the song live on TV here.
The release, Trey Songz's day-old Trigga, doesn't even feature the NYC rapper on it, but the two recently collaborated on 50′s song "Smoke" earlier this year, solidifying a friendship that has now resulted in very public gestures of musical adoration. The meaning of the gesture? Attention, humor and supporting the arts, it seems. XXL points to Instagram evidence of the lavish spending spree. See it here.
Allen is spending the summer performing at various music festivals across Europe and Australia and will be launching a North American tour in September, but Miley Cyrus' camp announced that Allen will be the special guest as several dates on Cyrus's Bangerz Tour in early August. Lily Allen is hitting the road in support of her new studio album, Sheezus, and she will be joining Cyrus's Bangerz Tour for stops in Uniondale, NY on August 1st, Philadelphia on the 2nd, Pittsburgh on the 4th, Charlotte on the 6th, Nashville on the 7th, Louisville on the 9th and St Louis on the 10th. Back in May, Lily Allen revealed the plans for her first North American tour in five years. Allen's headlining run will be kicking off on September 9th in Miami and wrapping up on October 10th in Los Angeles. more on this story
If you answered, "making a video with a bunch of little kids singing my song," then you may actually be Robin Thicke. In a move absolutely no one would have predicted, that is exactly what Thicke has done for "Still Madly Crazy." On the one hand, little kids lip synching (which includes such things as "strained singing face," "swirling our skirts around in circles" and perhaps most devilishly "cake fight") is adorable. There's simply no way not to laugh at the antics here and there. Watch the video here.
If they are, in fact, doing a new album, it will be their first since founding bass player Peter Hook left the band in 2011 (New Order's most recent album, Lost Sirens, was actually recorded in about 10 years earlier, but wasn't released until 2013). "Plastic" has the classic sound of their late '80s material, but - at least in the fan-shot video below - the bass isn't as prominent as in many of the band's most well-known hits. The song does feature loud synths, which is perhaps influenced by the fact that founding keyboardist Gillian Gilbert returned to the band in 2011. Check it out.
Wayne told MTV Tuesday (July 1) on the set of his new video "Krazy," that he thinks LeBron is leaving the Miami Heat for his old team, the Cleveland Cavaliers. "I think Bron going back home," Wayne said of James, who is a Ohio native. "Especially with Kyrie [Irving] signing that extension." For those thinking Wayne is crazy, you might be interested to know that Irving - currently considered to be the team's best player - agreed to a contract extension, probably within the same few hours that Wayne gave his prediction. Yeah, this guy's good. Wayne also shared his thoughts on where current New York Knick forward, Carmelo Anthony is headed. "I think everybody know Melo going to Chicago," Wayne said confidently. "Said and done." more on this story
She first posted a blurred shot of a lyric-less music sheet for the track, letting fans know the song was "Coming soon��..#promise #keep#sorceress#deep." Three hours later, Madonna then posted a snippet of "Messiah" featuring a string second playing just a few seconds of the song. With the clip she wrote, "Magic makes the people come together yaaaaaaaasssssssssss. #messiah." Madonna has been quietly giving away secrets of her upcoming album via Instagram. Madge posted a photo of her and Diplo in the studio recently, adding in the caption that the producer "got me working all hours of the night in the studio." Back in March, she also posted shots of herself and Avicii, saying they'd been working together for the week. Listen here.
"We are now at our best and so Death Grips is over," the message starts. "We have officially stopped." The post notes that, while all currently scheduled concerts are now canceled as a result, the group's upcoming double album titled The Powers That B will be released "later this year via Harvest/Third Worlds Records." "Death Grips was and always has been a conceptual art exhibition anchored by sound and vision," the group concluded. "Above and beyond a 'band.' To our truest fans, please stay legend." more on this story
Last week, musician and producer Ben Folds made a passionate plea via an open letter that RCA Studio A, which is allegedly about to be sold, is worth preserving. Such legendary artists as Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan, Dolly Parton, Waylon Jennings and and Willie Nelson all recorded in the space, which is larger than it's better-known cousin RCA Studio B (the latter is now part of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum). Folds has been a tenant at the RCA Studio A space for the past decade. According to Folds, the asking price for the building is $4.4 million. The potential buyer is Bravo Development, which develops commercial and residential buildings in nearby Brentwood. The building's owners, though, feel differently. And one of the owners, Harold Bradley, just wrote an open letter of his own. "What makes a place historic?" writes Bradley. "The architecture of the Nashville sound was never brick and mortar. Certainly, there are old studio spaces that, in our imaginations, ring with sonic magic; but in truth, it's not the room; it's the music." Note that Bradley is not just a property owner. Now in his 80s, he's a veteran studio guitarist who was one of the original founders of the famed RCA studio-and, in fact, of the entire Nashville Sound of the late 1950s and '60s. He and his brother, legendary producer Owen Bradley, built the famous Quonset Hut studio on Music Row in the 1950s, where artists such as Patsy Cline, Johnny Cash and Brenda Lee recorded. Later, Harold Bradley teamed with RCA executive and producer Chet Atkins to found the RCA Building, which included the studio now in question. "Music city isn't about a perfect room, or hanging just the right baffling," Bradley continued. "Turns out, the architecture of Nashville's evolving sound is a synergy of creative energy. That's still here, and it has nothing to do with this building." More including Ben Folds response.
Rolling Stone reports that among those interviewed are "Arsenio Hall, Gobi Rahimi, who directed Shakur's '2 of Amerikaz Most Wanted' clip and was with the rapper on the night of his death and Malcolm Greenridge, a member of the Tupac-affiliated group Outlawz." Arsenio Hall tags the unsolved murder on race, saying, "I believe that if Justin Bieber had gotten shot in Tupac's car, we'd know more." Rahimi echoes the sentiment; "Law enforcement around the country weren't big Tupac fans. I'm absolutely positive they know what happened. This is America. We found Bin Laden." more on this story
The track builds on the diva vocals and lose yourself-beat that made "Hideaway" a success, while the lyrics tackle the aftermath of a breakup. Its video, on the other hand, is a definite departure from the visual clip for "Hideaway." The "Giant in My Heart" video follows around a New Yorker who's not exactly a daytime person. At first they seem like just another disgruntled 9-5er whose day is marred by the annoyances of working an unsatisfying office job, but then we find out that they lead a very freeing, second life at nighttime. All the while, Kiesza gives us another great dance sequence in theme with the song's '90s vibes. Watch the video here.
"From that first performance that we did at this club night, we all knew it was something we wanted to do," Chatto told Radio.com during release week of their debut album, New Eyes. "It was such an electric atmosphere at the gig and it was really exciting." New Eyes begins with the tongue-in-cheek "Mozart's House," where Love Ssega asks, "So you think electronic music is boring? You think it's stupid? You think it's repetitive? Well it is repetitive." A bold statement, right? "'Mozart's House' was the first time the sound of the band was discovered," Amin-Smith said. "Before that, the tracks were more hip-hop based [with] hip-hop instrumentals. 'Mozart's House' was the first foray into dance music that's now what we do." Meanwhile, Patterson said the statement of how electronic music is repetitive has since been taken as a manifesto, unbeknownst to them. "It was more flippant and more of a joke," he explained. "Then it stuck and then it made sense to have 'Mozart's House' at the beginning of the album. We didn't want to take that off because we were attached to it." more on this story
The first two verses' lyrics came to me fast. I figured the idea would be: we've been through a lot together and individually and we're still here. We're still standing. For example, "I've taken all that I can take and gotten back up for the standing 8" used the boxing metaphor of someone getting back up from a knockdown and receiving the required standing 8 second count from the referee before they can continue again. (I don't really even like boxing, but I loved Mike Tyson's Punch Out.) The third verse took many tries. I tried different ideas out at different live shows until coming up with the idea to flip the meaning of the title a bit. In the third verse, I'm telling someone else, I know you've been through similar sh*t and maybe everyone "ran for the windows and the fire escapes" but don't count me out... I'm here for you. Dani and I went back and forth over the bridge which is usually the case in most songs. Dani is brutal on bridges. Her basic rule is "If a bridge isn't as a good as the one in 'Everybody Wants To Rule The World' then it shouldn't be in there". That's a high bar but we settled on this version after cutting it down from a longer bridge idea. Lyrically, it plays off the title by counting down 5,4,3,2,1... We were excited about this song and have been opening a lot of our shows with it to get people shouting and singing along early. Hearing is believing. Now that you know the story behind the song, listen for yourself and learn more about the album right here!
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