Day in Pop Report for 10/31/2014
According to the Associated Press (via Yahoo), the men allegedly took the pap's camera in Beverly Hills, CA, on Sept. 5. This was about a week and a half after Knight was shot and wounded at an MTV Video Music Awards pre-party hosted by Chris Brown. The incident remains under investigation by Beverly Hills police, but TMZ posted a video with the alleged victim who retold the story of the incident telling cops a girl grabbed her by the neck while Williams ran off with her camera. The woman expressed concern over her personal info, telling the cop, "Suge Knight is a dangerous person, you know what I'm saying?" Read more here.
Brooks made the announcement in an email sent out early Thursday morning (Oct. 30). He noted that the idea came about after a GhostTunes employee asked if he'd be willing to speak over each of the songs from the new record as a snippet of the songs played. Starting at midnight, the album teasers will be available for a full 24 hours, ending once Halloween is over. Brooks also announced in the email that the two shows in Lexington, Ky., on Halloween will be the final shows where he honors his late sister Betsy on his guitar. His sister died on Halloween a year ago, and since then Brooks has placed a "B13″ on his guitars. Read more here.
The two went their separate ways, each becoming the biggest pop stars in the world. But now, someone has brought them together once again for a mashup of Bey's "XO" and Tay's "Out of the Woods" making everyone's dream come true. Let's just hope it doesn't break the internet. Beyonc� takes the lead over Jack Antonoff's beat for an even more triumphant dedication to the Beyhive. What if this happened for real, though? Think about it. Check it out here.
And, it seems that the courts agree that at least there is cause to the claim, as a California judge has ruled that the Gaye family has shown sufficiently that "Blurred Lines" might be substantially similar to "Got to Give It Up" (via Billboard). This is not a verdict, but simply a declaration by the judge that there is a case here, and that it should proceed. The judge's decision points to "genuine issues of material fact existing as to the substantial similarity of signature phrases, hooks, bass lines, keyboard chords, harmonic structures and vocal melodies of the two songs." Read more here.
He's filed a lawsuit against Pebe Sebert for defamation and "tortious interference" with Kesha's contract, according to Rolling Stone. It's nearly identical to the lawsuit he filed against Kesha earlier this month for defamation and breach of contract. It's a preemptive measure to make sure that, should the original lawsuit that Dr. Luke (real name Lukasz Gottwald) filed in New York fall through - because Sebert doesn't live there - the new one filed in Tennessee, where she does business, will stick. Read more here.
"She gave me a piece of music to finish and at first I didn't know if I'd failed the audition as I didn't hear back from her," he said, adding that when Adele did get back to him, she blamed her new motherhood as an excuse for keeping him on hold. "She said, 'No, no, I'm moving house and the baby's taking up a lot of my time, I'm not actually doing anything at the moment,'" he recalled. But after reports surfaced that Adele's next album was in fact in the works, Collins got frustrated. Read what he had to say here.
The crowd expressed their appreciation very vocally, with shrieks and squeals of delight, as captured on the fan video above. Sheeran stepped into the duet part usually taken by Mary J. Blige. Smith captured the moment on Instagram, posting a photo of the two singing together after the show. "So amazing to have this KING @teddysphotos on stage with me tonight," reads a caption on the photo. "Such a wise and true friend to have. Love ya brother x" Watch it here.
"I wanted to share a new record here at you guy's launch thing, because this is the type of field that I'm in," Nas said, by way of introducing the track. "What [Run the Jewels] are doing, I like to say I'm doing that type of thing." It was a mere snippet of the song, but already it's obvious the song uses a fairly soulful sample. "Ayo, it's love for Detroit, Motown," he raps over blaring horns. "Season" was produced by J. Dilla. Nas's previous 2012 album, Life is Good, was released on Def Jam. No title or release date for a new Nas album has been announced, but many read this as an indication that it could come at any time. Listen here.
Before he was escorted off the stage by security, he had time to show off a few very unique dance moves much to Lady A's surprise. In an interview with Radio.com the day after the show, the band said they knew the stage crasher but were very secretive of what occurred. "We've had only one other time that a fan has run onstage and it was this summer at an amphitheater," Hillary Scott told Radio.com. "It was the end of our show. Our last song before the encore is 'We Own the Night,' and we have a confetti can that goes off. All of this confetti is falling down and I saw this girl come up to me, and it scared the crap out of me. This [time] we knew him. We didn't know he was going to do that, but we know him." Meanwhile, bandmates Charles Kelley and Dave Haywood hinted that this won't be the last time we hear from this individual. "There might be something coming from this," Haywood said. "We did not know he was going to jump up on that stage that night. That was kind of fun," Kelley said. "It is a bit of a tease but that's why we didn't just immediately push him off stage." In their latest video for "Freestyle," we discover that the man onstage is Keith Apicary, real name Nathan Barnatt, who is an actor, comedian, dancer and filmmaker. In the video, he brings Lady Antebellum's new single "Freestyle" to life during a day in New York. Watch here.
The country band's performance will kick off the inaugural College Football Playoff national championship game, which takes place near AT&T Stadium in Arlington. Additional acts will be added to the lineup in coming weeks. This will mark Zac Brown Band's first show of 2015, barring any additions before then. While it may be a while before fans can see the band live, the group will be releasing their Greatest Hits So Far� compilation on Nov. 10. Read more here.
Both albums, originally released in 1988 and 1990 respectively, will come with a second disc of bonus material, as well as original essays by The Roots' drummer Questlove and Wax Poetics magazine's Andre Torres. The bonus discs are packed with alternate mixes and instrumental takes, while It Takes a Nation� comes with a DVD version of the long out-of-print VHS film, Fight the Power� Live. Read more here.
A day after dropping the collaborative track, "Paper," with Gucci Mane off his new album, Back From the Dead 2, Keef and Mane have unveiled a joint album, titled Big Gucci Sosa. Both albums are available today, while the latter is ready to stream right now. Note that "Paper" will be featured on both releases. Which album will get the most love from the hip-hop community remains to be seen. Check it out, along with the track list here.
On the first single, the young Simmons proclaims, "I'ma do what your boyfriend ain't 'bout to do." The DJ Mustard-produced "Ain't Bout to Do" tries to set himself apart from the rest of guys in the nearly four-minute track where he sings, raps and boasts. "What I ain't tryna do is having you messing with a lame n***a, we ain't the same type of dude," he rhymes. It's tall talk for a newcomer, but his message is bolstered by French Montana, who comes in with a verse that shouts out Iggy Azalea and Nicki Minaj: "I might pull up with Iggy/ I might pull up with Nicki." Listen here.
Titled Talking Is Hard, the four-piece band's sophomore full-length was produced by Tim Pagnotta (Neon Trees, Matthew Koma) and mixed by Neal Avron (Switchfoot, New Found Glory, Fall Out Boy, Weezer). The band has already released the first single, "Shut Up and Dance," an oddball love song with big synths and drums, which the band recently performed on Late Night with Seth Meyers. Upon its release, it hit and stayed at No. 1 on the Spotify viral top 50 US chart for two weeks. "We wanted to come out with something that was in-your-face and staying true to our quirky indie rock pop selves," frontman Nicholas Petricca told Radio.com about the record. "But we really explored the far corners of WALK THE MOON on this record. We pretty much tried everything. We tried playing super hard and weird and dreamy and soft, everything. So the album is a lot more ferocious, and then a lot more tender in some moments. Read more here.
In the clip, Elvis Costello plays band leader to the New Basement Tapes, which includes Marcus Mumford of Mumford & Sons, Rhiannon Giddens of Carolina Chocolate Drops and Taylor Goldsmith of Dawes, along with producer T Bone Burnett, while they record a rollocking take on the track, "Six Months in Kansas City (Liberty Street)." This project sees the supergroup taking on Bob Dylan's lyrics from the Basement Tapes, setting them to fresh music. The documentary, set to accompany the album's release, will give a behind the scenes look into the recording process. Watch the video here.
Timbaland supplies the beat; it's a freewheeling synth-driven anthem, with the kind of scale Rozay's voice demands.The song's about a troubled love affair between forbidden lovers: "I'm from a troubled home, she from a loving home," mutters Ross. "What we doin' wrong, but it feels right." K. Michelle agrees, crooning her two cents on the hook: "This is so all bad, nothing good can come from this." Listen here.
He sounds energized as ever, negating the ever-present haters who might make the claim that "Ludacris is done." "I've sprayed my whole vehicle with broke n***a repellant," he raps. "Hollywood, hollywood n***a, but still rappin' like I just got out the 'hood, n***a." Ludacris will release his Burning Bridges EP in late December. Following that will be his long awaited ninth-studio album Ludaversal, in stores on March 31. You can also watch a video compilation of his recent Ludaverses here.
The album ranges across several song archetypes. "Gone Bad" is a classic "good girl gone bad" story of a girl "from a stable home" who ends up "sniffing blow" and leaving home. Boosie also tells the story of a guy who, despite doing well in school, comes from an unstable home and ends up "chasing paper" to his ruin. "Cruisin," meanwhile, is a classic gothic Southern track featuring Yo Gotti, and Trey Songz lends his golden croon to "Facetime," a rap/R&B hybrid over a low-key instrumental. Listen here.
Leila Steinberg, Tupac's first manager, unearthed the prose and gave it to Noisey to share with the Internet. Photo scans of each poem accompanied the article. The poems depict a fragile and introspective youth, with the harsh glare of the spotlight still in his future. One poem is called "Things That Make Hearts Break," check it out here.
In her video for the song, which debuted Thursday (Oct. 30) on CMT, Presley brings the track, which is a protest song about the struggle coal mining communities face with prescription medication, hauntingly to life. In the three-minute clip we see Presley act out the way pain pills harm lives, whether it's death, robberies or dishonesty. In an interview promoting her new album, Presley talked at great lengths with Radio.com on how the song came to be. "I started [that song] as I was on my way home from a funeral," she told Radio.com. "A friend of mine from high school OD'd [and] at the funeral the mom was walking in going, 'Oh they had a heart problem. It was a heart issue.' We knew what was going on. This is when I realized, this is starting to become a problem." Read more here.
When the Prince comparison is offered to him in this interview, he was flattered to hear it, and he agreed. That's because he's recently been altering his life performance style to have less choreographed moves and more spontaneity. Not that he isn't dancing anymore, but as he tells Radio.com, "There is an expectation for me to dance. But when I do it in a way where I feel like I'm lifted to do it, it feels better for the audience and for me." He uses the terms "connection" and "communicate" often when describing his ambitions for his performances, and he cites a few rock artists as influences. Indeed, after the interview officially ended, we chatted briefly about his performance with rock band the Afghan Whigs at last year's SXSW; we then informed him that the band was playing New York City later that week. He seemed unaware of that, but ended up showing up at their gig; perhaps it was another example of his newfound spontaneity. During our interview, we spoke a lot about performing, as he is about to kick off his UR Experience tour his long-awaited upcoming album, his prot�g�e Justin Bieber and his upcoming role as Sugar Ray Leonard in Hands of Stone, the Roberto Duran biopic. I know that discipline is a big thing for you. A lot of artists in the pop realm are concerned about being the biggest. I've always thought that you have always been dedicated to being the best. Being the best at this point in my life is being committed to [performing]. There's no doubt about it: I don't have to prove anything. I've been doing this for twenty years, this will be my eighth album. I'm naturally a hard worker: anything I do, I go after it to be the best. To be as connected as much as possible. In the past, when working on videos, tours� I think there was a laser focus in getting the dance moves right and getting the choreography right, and the vocals. But after a few things have happened in my life, I realized that perfection is how you feel. It's being able to check in and out of your dance and performance, and having it be effortless; that's what makes it a performance incredible. Having a real connection with your audience. If you're so focused on your dance [moves] and being perfect, you can't be in the moment. There might be a moment between you and an audience member that you miss, because you didn't come out of the choreography. There's a time to dance, and there are times where I just ask my audience, "Hey, do you mind if I just dance for a minute," and I'll put my mic down. Or, I might pick up an instrument, I might play drums, I might just sing. I might just stand there! I might have a conversation. Make it conversational. That's where I am in terms of performance. It's just about creating a balance. Because I'm so comfortable, and I've been dancing for so long, I don't have to prove to the audience that I can dance. I don't have to prove to the audience that I can sing! I just have to show up and have a great time and make it a moment to remember. I'm not coming out there to sell you a song. I've actually already performed [these songs] and they were hit records, so now we just have to enjoy it, together. If I feel like dancing, then I'm gonna dance. But that connection is so raw. That's why I wanted my UR Experience [tour] to be so loose� well, not "loose," but live. Raw. I wanted it to feel as if it's happening in the moment, every night. Yeah, sure, there will be some moments where we lock in, because there is some production associated with what we're doing, but it's really 70% a connection with my band. It seems like you're hitting your "Prince moment." These days, he kind of does what he wants to do, when he wants to do it. He's a great guitarist, but he recently did a gig where he didn't play any guitar at all. I am so happy that you chose to use Prince as an example because he is someone who has always had a very eclectic style. And while playing instruments might be more his thing and dancing is more my thing, there is an expectation for me to dance. But when I do it in a way where I feel like I'm lifted to do it, it feels better for the audience and for me. That's what being a performer for me is about for me now. I don't have anything to prove. I'm just going out an enjoying myself. It's performers like Bruce Springsteen and Bono that opened [my mind] up to a different style. The Dave Matthews Band. Or Empire of the Sun, looking at their huge theatrical movement going on, but yet they're connected to the audience. That's a different type of band. Jamiroquai - he's a great vocalist, but he also dances. It's cool, it's unique. Read the rest of the interview here.
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