Day in Pop Report for 04/24/2015
The couple claims that the confidentiality agreement he signed barred him from posting footage online and that he is now liable for "claims of fraud and unjust enrichment" for doing so. According to Billboard, the couple's lawyers claim in court documents that Hurley's new venture was not doing well so he posted the video on MixBit, "which provided it with significant publicity, and he did so within hours of leaving the event." "A jury may reasonably infer fraudulent intent from these circumstances," the documents state. Hurley argues that the confidentiality agreement he signed may have been binding to YouTube, but was not binding to his new website, MixBit, where he posted footage of the Lana Del Rey-assisted proposal from 2013. Hurley's lawyer said in court that Hurley's First Amendment and free speech rights protected posting the video on his site. Read more here.
The new full-length effort will feature a heavy dose of collaborations, including tracks with St. Vincent, Beck, Q-Tip, and Cate Le Bon, according to CoS. Our first taste of the new record, which follows 2010's Further and 2011's OST to Hanna, is "Sometimes I Feel So Deserted," and unlike what is being teased with the rest of the album, doesn't feature any collaborations of note. You know, except for the collaboration between Tom Rowlands and Ed Simons that happens on all Chemical Brothers songs. Check out the album's first single, "Sometimes I Feel So Deserted," here.
Ever since, 50 has periodically mocked Floyd on social media; he's made jokes about everything from Nelly's involvement with Mayweather's ex-girlfriend to challenging his literacy by asking him to read a page from Harry Potter. It looks like they may have patched things up, though, if an Instagram 50 Cent posted Thursday morning is any indication. 50 Cent shared a friendly picture of the two of them standing together, with the caption, "THE original MONEY Team." He also offered Mayweather support in his forthcoming showdown against Manny Pacquiao on May 2. See the post here.
The honor has been initiated in order to celebrate a songwriter-artist who has attained an iconic status in pop culture. Lady Gaga's resume includes three consecutive Number One albums on the Billboard 200, six Grammy Awards, 13 MTV Video Music Awards, named one of "The World's 100 Most Powerful Women" four years in a row by financial magazine Forbes - all on the way to selling 28 million albums and 140 million singles around the world. "It could be said that this honor was created with Lady Gaga in mind," says SHOF President & CEO Linda Moran. "She has enjoyed monumental popularity on the charts, on radio, TV and the Internet, not to mention the continuous press coverage she has generated. "She is a consistent hit maker who has surprised everyone by proving to be as adept with the great standards as she is with her own songs. We at SHOF are particularly proud that Lady Gaga performed at one of our songwriter showcases when she was still known as Stefani Germanotta." Read more here.
"I'm on my laptop on a little four-day vacation in Mexico," Lambert tells Billboard, "and I open up my iTunes, I'm searching through, and I'm like, Oh, Madonna's music is out! I love Madonna! I've always loved Madonna -- she's an icon, she's an amazing entertainer. And I see on the track listing a song called 'Ghosttown.' And I thought, What are the chances? What is the hell is going on here?" At first, Lambert panicked a little. "My reaction was so complicated," he says, "because I think I texted my management, like, 'Did you see this? Did you see this? What are we gonna do?' And they said, 'You know, it's fine because the songs are so different.' "Hers is like a post-apocalyptic love song, mid-tempo, and mine's like an existential dance goth rave thing. So they're two different songs - they just share a title." Read more and watch videos for both songs here.
In the sexy clip for Klum's lingerie line, Heidi Klum Intimates, she bares a little skin. And even more importantly, she gets to do a little free movement behind a set of curtains. She did enlist Sia's music for the ad, so how could she resist doing a bit of light choreography. Curtains and sheets also set the scene for some rather sexy make-out sessions that we're sure were also very well choreographed. While Sia goes unseen, Klum does pay homage to the singer for letting her use the 1,000 Forms of Fear track, donning Sia's signature blonde wig near the very end. Of course, she's wearing it to burn down a house. Check it out here.
This latest song is the third track to be issued from Duff's forthcoming 5th album, due this summer; it follows "Chasing The Sun" and "All About You." Produced by Bloodshy and written by Swedish electro artist Tove Lo, "Sparks" was also recently featured in the trailer for Duff's new TVLand series, Younger, which premiered on March 31. Check out the video here.
British pop wunderkind Sheeran, Superwoman and David Hasselhoff don't immediately seem to have anything in common--until now, when they can all say that they've eaten quesadillas made with a clothes iron. In a new video, chef duo Brothers Green got the chance to make haggis--a traditional Scottish dish made of sheep liver and lungs--for Sheeran and the others. They wrap the meat up in a tortilla, wrap it in tin foil, and then heat it up with a clothes iron. Sheeran is unfazed--"Yes, this will get eaten," he says after taking a bite. When asked if he likes to cook, Sheeran notes that he's "a big sauce man," before immediately unwrapping the bottle of hot sauce. Also in the video, Sheeran performs a version of last year's hit "Sing" complete with bagpipes. Watch up here.
OGZay features eight tracks of piano loops, flute tones and synth stabs courtesy of Zaytoven, whose signature sound hasn't deviated much over the years. These beats could have come out anytime between the present day and the early 2000s, and that's a good thing. For his part, OG Maco has an elastic, variable flow: on some tracks he's clear, on other he's mumbling like Gucci Mane, who he shouts out as an influence on "OG Mac." Read more and check it out here.
In addition to his own hits, Jonas covered Rihanna's new single "B-- Better Have My Money" and put his own soulful spin on the track. Later in the night he covered OutKast's well-known hit from 2004 "Roses" and the crowd sang along with him word for word. Jonas certainly has had a penchant for covers on his tours behind his first solo album. Here's hoping they continue even after he's put out the sequel. Read more here.
The Texas-born Lambert says this look reflects what she's like at home, where she doesn't wear much makeup outside of "some tinted moisturizer and sunscreen and mascara. And lip gloss! It's kind of an addiction." Lambert keeps a glam squad on call for red carpet events, but does her own hair and makeup on tour. "I have a product bag the size of Texas-just makeup and hair stuff and curling irons," Lambert said. Fans who want to see her handiwork can catch Miranda on tour now, with a performance at the Stagecoach Festival this weekend, and then picking back up for a jaunt around the South and Midwest starting on May 23. See it here.
Backed by nothing more than a somber piano and a string section, Kristofferson gives the song a new melancholy tone, via Rolling Stone. In the video, we see Kristofferson performing the song in a studio, intersperesed with clips of battles and other scenes from the show. Kristofferson was a wise choice for the miniseries, which will tell the story of Texas's fight for independence during the era after the Alamo fell. Kristofferson will also be joining the cast: he'll portray none other than President Andrew Jackson. At the end of the clip you can get a grief glimpse of Kristofferson looking very much like an early 19th century president in his full Andrew Jackson costume. Texas Rising will hit the silver screen starting May 25th at 9 p.m. ET/PT on the History Channel. Check out the video here.
Now we know partly why: Mother Monster has fixing up her homestead. For Gaga, that means installing a chicken coop, which follows up the expansive vegetable garden she teased last week. She took to Instagram to post a picture of the coop, which she captioned with "Time to lay eggs in the Kinney's Coop! fresh eggs all summer we built a beautiful spacious coop to house these happy young chickens!" Read more here.
Joining a slate that has already included a legend (Prince), pop pedigree (Ariana Grande, Sia, One Direction), rock institutions (Mumford & Sons, Alabama Shakes), country stars (Zac Brown Band, Blake Shelton) and critical sensations (D'Angelo, Kendrick Lamar), will be Wiz Khalifa on May 2, Florence + the Machine on May 9 and Rihanna for the season finale on May 16. Khalifa will surely be performing the number one song in the country "See You Again" (perhaps with Charlie Puth) while the others will be supporting upcoming albums, one of which (Rihanna's) still doesn't have a release date. Maybe this booking is an indication it will be sooner rather than later. Read more here.
But Fifty Shades Darker, the second film in the series, which currently not in production while stars Dakota Fanning and Jamie Dornan negotiate their salaries, has secured a new screenwriter: THR reports it's none other than EL James' husband, Niall Leonard. Leonard is a TV script writer, with credits on the UK series Wire in the Blood and Monarch in the Glen, and the author of the Crusher book series. "Niall is an outstanding writer in his own right, with multiple established credits, and we are lucky to have him join Team Fifty," producer Michael De Luca told THR in a press statement. Read more here.
There's no spoiler alerts, other than what we already gleaned: the a cappella group takes on Beyonce's "Run the World (Girls)." For their performance at the worldwide competition they entered, the group put their impressive spin on Bey's female empowerment anthem; if you listened to the clip blindly, you might not have been able to tell their performance was solely a cappella. There's so many textures happening in the beat, you have to image they could win for that alone. Even more impressive, the Barden Bellas' seamlessly weaved Pat Benetar's "We Belong" and David Guetta's "Where Them Girls At" into the song. Plus, Anna Kendrick comes in with the most iconic line from "Lady Marmalade." Not to mention, the choreography is on point. Check it out The film is out May 15.Read more here.
Having crossed the $1 billion mark less in less than three weeks after its opening as well as claiming the 7th highest grossing films of all time, Universal Pictures likely hopes to continue Furious 7's impressive momentum right into the release of Furious 8. In a gesture to Paul Walker, his on-screen brother-in-law and real-life best friend, Diesel told the CinemaCon audience, "I swear to you and to my brother upstairs, we are going to make the best movie you've ever seen." Moments before Diesel's announcement, the audience was shown the final scene from Furious 7, reports Variety. Read more here.
"The love of music is louder than words," West tweeted, along with a link to Jay Z's streaming service, in which the rapper, like all of the other high profile artists who attended its launch, is an investor. His statement could easily apply to his love of Tidal, if he's referencing the absence of his tweets supporting the company. Yesterday, we noticed that Kanye had deleted all of his previous tweets about Tidal and replaced his Twitter avatar which was once the company logo with the George Condo My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy-era icon of himself. Read more here.
No word yet on who Common will play in the film. Though, we'll be interested to see a photo of him in character. Not as excited as seeing a pic of Leto's new hair--but excited in a different way. The movie, directed by David Ayer, will feature Leto as the Joker, Will Smith as Deadshot, Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn, along with actors Joel Kinnaman, Cara Delevingne, Viola Davis and Scott Eastwood. Read more here.
Since the rise of social media, pop stars have used it to become more accessible to their fans, which has become one of the best ways major label teams can sell music. From hashtag campaigns to the never-ending pop thinkpiece machine, a pop star's social cachet is the perfect sleight of hand gambit. It allows major labels to run a business behind a front-facing brand. There will be no cries of 'sellout" when there is already a confluence of corporate culture and selfies--marketing plans and emojis--that proliferate our feeds every day. It is all one big torrent of interaction, and most fans think the pop stars are in complete control. Except when you put everyone's face on stage at once and you see how absurd that idea is. The now infamous Tidal Press Conference was this wacky stunt a few weeks ago where a cabal of the biggest artists in the world were trotted on stage to stand there and performatively sign a Declaration of Real Artistry or some such and tout a new streaming service as the "future of music." Jason Aldean represented country, Arcade Fire laughably represented "indie," Madonna represented the days of pop's past, Daft Punk represented robots, everyone was there, like a musical Cobb salad. It had all the huckster salesmanship of a CES keynote address and the pried-open smiles of a red carpet step-and-repeat. Now, Tidal is off to a pretty bad start. Its debut in the Apple Store has bottomed out, its CEO was ousted--just about every avenue where Tidal should be succeeding, it is not. The next rumored move is for Tidal to exclusively release a joint Jay Z/Beyonce album. Jay Z's done this before, and all anyone has to say is good luck with all that. I don't blame the press conference for this anemic start. There's no direct correlation between a warren of ultra recognizable music brands on stage and a poorly thought-out business plan (though they are indeed intertwined). I also don't see 'The Illuminati" on stage; in fact it is really anything but. For Jay Z, it was a numbers game: If each one of these artists had the support of their millions of fans on social media, then that would equate to a good percentage of click-through traffic. It's the same idea of celebrity and pop star journalism. It's direct marketing in the form of live-stream PR blast. Because of that, the hubris of Tidal's press conference was, in part, a key into the background machinations of all of these stars. For Jay Z to assemble the people he did, it wasn't just one individual musician vying for the artist in the unprofitable world of streaming. The aim of the conference wasn't to try to convince other artists that Tidal was viable way to make a living selling music in this terrifying streaming climate. It was an impersonal business blitzkrieg, the kind of event that traded the face of the celebrity but in reality, when seen as a whole, relies on the business behind it. That day, an automaton of pop stars as businessmen and women lumbered to life to sell you a product. Read more here.
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