Day in Pop Report for 10/07/2014
The modest "Don't Let Nickel Back" asks for a mere $1,000 goal, which will be donated to charity. However, each donation will allow for an email to be created on the donator's behalf to Nickelback's management - with a more explicit email with a larger donation. An mp3 of one of the band's songs will come attached - "This way," creator Craig Mandall stated, "the band will hear their own music, and likely retire immediately, thereby ensuring the success of our campaign." "With your help, we can ensure that the band do not schedule any gigs here, do not attempt to come here - nor even phone here," Mandall claimed. "Just imagine, thousands - perhaps tens of thousands of music lovers - all not witnessing an exclusive concert by Nickelback in London. It will be glorious." Read more here.
The concert runs as part of the duo's Cheek to Cheek collaborative album, which marks Gaga's initial foray into jazz on a full-length - and does so with Bennett on his newest record of duets. The album shot to No. 1 upon its release, marking Gaga's third chart-topping Billboard 200 record. Meanwhile, it became Bennett's first No. 1 since 2011's Duets II, which featured Gaga in addition to Willie Nelson, John Mayer, Michael Buble and more. Read more here.
Perry showed up to join the ESPN crew on "The Grove," the legendary tailgating area on the University of Mississippi campus before the Ole Miss Rebels took on hated rivals, the Alabama Crimson Tide, on Saturday (Oct.4). She made the most of her moment, riling up the massive crowd of fans surrounding the set and making some scarily accurate predictions for the college football games of the day. Before the "Dark Horse" singer went to game, where she cheered for Rebels from the home team's sideline, Perry was a nonstop whirlwind of fun, inside jokes and more. Check out a quick rundown of six of her most entertaining moments on the show here.
The show itself will take place 25 years later as well, according to the minute-long teaser video. After a clip from the show's season two ending, the video zooms in on a city limits sign for Twin Peaks, all the while teasing a 2016 release on Showtime. According to The Verge, Lynch will direct the series' third season, which will reportedly be a limited run. He'll share writing duties with Frost. Read more here.
Last night, following a Breaking Bad marathon, a music video promoting the new show was premiered. The song follows the typical small-time, crook lawyer storylines we are likely to see on the new show, performed by Junior Brown, and featuring his trademarked "guitar steel," which is half guitar, half pedal steel. Well, some are typical. Others tread the line of the macabre, possibly alluding to some of the more sinister activities the title character has to face. The song was composed by Dave Porter, with lyrics written by series creator Vince Gilligan and writer Peter Gould. Watch the video here.
They commissioned a pair of Kimye dolls from a company called Celine's Dolls, based in Brooklyn. Khloe Kardashian posted the photo of the dolls sitting in front of a "North" name puzzle. In an Instagram caption, the designers noted that they'd specifically included certain lifelike details of the couple, down to their shoes : "Mini Kanye is wearing a faux mink vest and slightly shiny distressed faux leather pants," they explained. Read more here.
Harris' latest will of course include his song "Summer," and his latest single "Blame," which features John Newman on lead vocals but it also includes tracks with Ellie Goulding, Gwen Stefani, Big Sean, Tinashe and Haim. The album will also feature guest spots from Alesso, All About She, Firebeatx, Ummet Ozcan, R3hab and Hurts. Harris is currently on tour, with plans to performing in the Bermuda Triangle this Halloween alongside Goulding and Kendrick Lamar. Check out the tracklist for Harris' new album here.
"I know the Grand Ole Opry is very important to y'all, because this is the first place you guys played together as a group in 1999," McEntire said after her impromptu collaboration with the band on "Pontoon." "I have been asked to ask y'all, Little Big Town, would y'all like to be a member of the Grand Ole Opry?" Once the entire group hugged McEntire and accepted their invitation with a collective "yes," McEntire left parting words for the audience. "Special moments like this - they're priceless," she said. On Oct. 17, Little Big Town will be formally inducted by Opry member Vince Gill. Read more here.
Where STN MTN was a free download and stream, Kauai is a Spotify stream for users of the service, with an iTunes download available as well. The seven-track EP includes "Sober," a song he released late last month that finds him drawing from Michael Jackson and '80s R&B. The tracklist also includes a remix of "3005" from his album Because the Internet, plus two songs with Jaden Smith as a featured performer (billed as "The Boy")and his younger brother, Steve Glover, on one track. Stream the album in full here.
Beyonce introduced the rapper by her real name, Onika, to the 80,000 fans at Paris' Stade de France venue. Minaj cut a striking figure in her Versus Versace catsuit, gold chain print matching Beyonce's similarly colorful garment. The word "Curvalicious" appeared on a screen behind them as Nicki stated the obvious: "This every hood n-a dream, fantasizing about Nicki and Bey." After the show, Nicki discussed her sentiments about the appearance, Rap-Up reported: "It was just very emotional for me to be there because I know it was a big show," explained Nicki. "It was the last bit of shows for Beyonc� and Jay Z, so I was very honored to be a part of it." Watch the video clip here.
Fans that pre-order Sucker are awarded free instant downloads of previously released singles "Break the Rules" and Boom Clap." Originally slated for Oct. 21, Neon Gold/Atlantic Records pushed back the album's release date to to Dec. 16 in order to allow "Boom Clap" to run its course. Currently at No. 11 on the Billboard Hot 100, the song's unexpected success began after radio programmers heard it in The Fault In Our Stars' film score and began adding the song to their playlists, quickly shooting it up the charts. "I feel like I was doubted for a really long time and also kind of underrated," the 22-year-old told Rolling Stone of her recent success. Check out the new song here.
The song is a skyscraper, Ware's towering vocals resting on crushing swells of strings and stadium drums. If the whole thing reminds you of Lana Del Rey's Born To Die, blame Emilie Haynes. As the guy who produced most of the latter he's responsible for its epic scope and romantic poise, and he brings those same elements to the table here. Ware matches the cinematic soundscape with a powerful ballad of love and loss, describing breakups as important steps on the long road to self discovery. "I have to shatter to pieces and maybe reveal myself," she belts. "If you no longer need them, give them to someone else." Listen to the new song here.
American Middle Class is an album that Presley has said is her autobiography. During an interview this summer with Radio.com, she explains how the record took over seven years to make. After multiple visits with different producers who weren't able to capture her sound and labels who weren't sure how to market it, Presley decided to produce the album herself with her husband Jordan Powell's help. "I had to go join a girl band and get a Gold record and break down a door to gain access to putting my own music out, which sounds crazy but it is what it is," she told Radio.com. Presley admitted the decision to produce her album was "really scary" at first. Read what she had to say about grab the album stream here.
Now in its ninth year, the three-day festival is set for April 24-26, 2015, and takes place as it has in years past at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, Calif. Located near Palm Springs, it's the same location that traditionally hosts Coachella earlier in the same same month. In addition to McGraw, Lambert and Shelton (who headline Friday, Saturday and Sunday night performances respectively), the lineup features a huge range of country music. Artists announced today include Jake Owen, The Band Perry, Dierks Bentley, Jerrod Niemann, Eli Young Band, Kacey Musgraves, Kip Moore, ZZ Top, Merle Haggard, Sturgill Simpson, Parmalee and Justin Moore (see the full lineup listed below). As they've done in previous festivals, Stagecoach mixes roots, indie and Americana artists into the mix as well. This year features such veteran artists as Mickey Gilley, the Oak Ridge Boys and "In the Ghetto" songwriter Mac Davis as well as the Handsome Family, the Lone Bellow, Lydia Loveless, Nikki Lane and Chatham County Line. Check out the full lineup here.
In celebration, this past weekend the city in California unveiled the first section of what will be the Johnny Cash Trail and Overpass. According to The Sacramento Bee, the $3.8 million overpass starts at Folsom Lake Crossing Road and East Natoma Street. The pedestrian and bike bridge will span a 2.5-mile trail, which will extend through the prison property and link with current trails near Folsom Lake and City Hall. The project has only just begun, as another $3 million is to be raised to pay for infrastructure for a two-acre park alongside the bridge as well as art installations along the trail which will include a 40-foot steel statue of Johnny Cash. Read more here.
Porter Robinson, Flume, Phantogram and Flux Pavilion are also on the bill, with Minneapolis rap stalwarts Atmosphere bringing their live hip-hop show to the proceedings as well. The three-day event is set for Dec. 29-31, giving it the rare distinction of being a mid-week music festival in order to end on the last day of the year. It will be held on the Lake Tahoe Community College campus, and tickets are already on sale. Advance three-day GA passes are going for $169 (plus $21.07 in fees), while advance VIP passes will run $349 (plus $31.47 in fees). More acts to be announced at a later date but you can see the current lineup here.
We open with a shot of Jaden in a parking garage, kneeling in front of a car. He continues on a night-time walk through the city, jumping, spinning and rolling around on the ground. All the while he's rapping in a double time flow over a spare drum track. Intriguingly, he tweeted the song announcement at Kylie Jenner. In one verse he mentions that he's "sleep[ing] with the girl of my dreams during the week, so when I sleep I see my reality"; could the Jenner scion be his muse? Watch the video here.
Released just two days earlier, Gravity is also the duo's first album on their new record label Big & Rich Records. 'Big Kenny' Alphin and his longtime bandmate John Rich had no problem meeting up at Johnny Utah's-it turns out they were already very familiar with the place. As they described it, the club is their favorite place "to get in trouble" when they're in New York. Me, I simply figured it would be a good place to sit down and chat about Gravity, have a beer and perhaps, if all went well, learn how to two-step. I had high hopes that these two outgoing, fun-loving country stars might be game to teach me. "It's really the closest thing to a straight-up country bar you can get," Rich explains of Johnny Utah's, after he and Kenny sit down with me at a table in the bar's back room. "They play country music, there's a [mechanical] bull, there's normally live bands in here." According to Rich, the last time he was at Johnny Utah's he was with Sugar Ray's Mark McGrath. "It was right after Celebrity Apprentice, and I dragged him down here. We had a good time." Rich, who won the 2011 season of Celebrity Apprentice (McGrath was a participant as well), admits that he and McGrath even took over the band that night. McGrath sang "Every Morning" while Rich did "Save a Horse." Throughout our chat the guys were very animated, often finishing each other's sentences. And they weren't shy about singing a few songs from Gravity, including new single "Look at You," "Lovin' Lately" and "That Kind of Town," a song Rich says includes some of his favorite lyrics. "Show me where the Bible says dreaming's a sin/Around here you're supposed to die in the town you're born in," they sing. "If you cheat, if you fight, if you get knocked up/Lord they'll pin you down and never let you back up." "That's a hardcore lyric," Rich says. "That's not a lyric you're going to see on a lot of modern-day country records, but it's real. It's the real stuff." The ability to include "hardcore lyrics" like that is one of the benefits of releasing Gravity on their own. "It's a lot to gamble when you do it by yourself because you lose the leverage from a big label," Rich said of releasing the new album independently. "But I would rather lose the leverage and have that freedom than the other way around." And freedom is treating Big & Rich very well. During the band's record release show at Brooklyn Bowl the previous Tuesday (Sept. 23), fans were already singing along to many of the new songs. And that isn't something the two artists take lightly. "You never get over the buzz and the rush of being onstage, singing a new song and hearing thousands of people singing it back to you," Rich says. Read more here.
When I sat down to write "Brighter Days" with my co-writer Lincoln Parrish, we had a blast and a pretty easy time sorting this one out. This was the first time we'd written together and sometimes that can be shaky but we knocked this one out in a morning session! The real story behind this song came down to the recording of the song. When Lincoln and I wrote the song, we had a very energetic work tape, which always seems to help when sitting down with a producer and figuring out direction and energy of a song! When we sat down to record, somehow in the first few sessions of tracking and laying down "base layers" of instruments, the song lost its energy. Suddenly it felt a little sluggish and underwhelming. I knew the song had more potential, but when you start a recording on the wrong foot, every other over dub you're putting on the track is working to "fix" that instead of serve the song. You have to remember that I'm an independent artist working with a tight budget and that doesn't offer a lot of wiggle room in the studio. So, instead of spending more time on the song or completely starting over on the recording, I decided to can it and record "My Heart Says Go" instead. A few weeks later, I was sitting with a different writer/producer friend of mine. The thought crossed my mind�"Hey, you should play the work tape of 'Brighter Days' for him and see if he's got any ideas or direction on a recording." As soon as I played it for him, he was in! "Yes," he said, "let's do this!" So, I trusted him and we spent two days recording a new version of the song, and that is what you hear on my new album. And, that's how I ended up with 11 songs on the album! 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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