Day in Pop Report for 04/13/2015
Billboard reports the song - which features Bruno Mars on vocals - has tied for the second-longest amount of weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 single chart. With 14 weeks on top, "Uptown Funk" ties six other songs for second place as it closes in on the chart record of 16 weeks held by Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men's 1995 hit, "One Sweet Day." Read more here.
Jensen has been working on the follow-up to 2012's "Kiss" with collaborators like Rami Yacoub (One Direction, Nicki Minaj), Dev Hynes (Blood Orange), Jack Antonoff (fun., Taylor Swift), Ariel Rechtshaid (Charli XCX, Haim), Tegan and Sara, Vampire Weekend's Rostam Batmanglij, Greg Kurstin (Sia) and 2015 Grammy winning Producer of the Year Max Martin. The project features the lead single, "I Really Like You", which is currently sitting at No. 80 on the US Billboard Hot 100. The popular video for the tune stars Tom Hanks lip-syncing Jepsen's vocals as he goes through his daily routine. here.
And now, she's making it clear there is no bad blood between her and bestie Lorde, no matter what the tabloids may say. In one, swift tweet, Taylor shot down anyone who wants to make a buck off stories that her and her cooking buddy are on the outs because their voices don't "mesh well together." "Media, when you say "Lorde & Taylor are fighting"-by fighting do you mean 'FaceTiming constantly from US to NZ and LOLing at you?'" she wrote, ending it with the perfect sign off. "Thnx bye." Read more here.
All that changed Saturday night (April 11) with Mumford's most recent trip to Saturday Night Live, performing two new songs from new album Wilder Mind. And if you're here trying to figure out what happened to the kick drum? You should probably get used to that drummer, that electric guitar and probably Winston Marshall's flowing locks of hair. The band kicked things off with "The Wolf," their newly released single debuted earlier this week. Make no mistake: though the song begins with and maintains a frenetic energy whereas many earlier Mumford tracks follow more of a crescendo, frontman Marcus Mumford ramped up his vocal by song's end, really going for it on the final chorus, his voice straining, visibly out of breath as they went to commercial break. They followed with "Believe," which lacked the pulse of its predecessor but again showed off stadium-ready guitar, while Mumford presented a rare scene: a guitar-less frontman, Mumford handing off his electric toward the end to straddle the microphone, for once lacking an instrument. All kinds of changes tonight, for real. Watch the videos here.
After postponing a show in Portland earlier last week, due to feeling "very ill and run down," Ezra released an official statement detailing the extent of his illness and scuttled shows: "Hey, you've probably realised I've had to cancel a few shows this week ands I'm gutted to say I'm having to cancel my performance today at Coachella. The doctor has told me I have viral laryngitis." Read more here.
At least that's the fan's story: he told police that a member of DMX's entourage pulled a gun on him after he approached the rapper in a parking lot. Now DMX has responded to the claims in a new interview captured by TMZ. "I do not recall the incident you are referring to," he remarks with a wry grin, before going to elaborate on what he considers to be the incident's divine overtones. "The harder the devil works to try and destroy me, it's because I'm special to God," he claims. "No weapon against me shall prosper," he adds, quoting the bible. Watch it here.
"It's a little bit of a bullfight, but we take turns. He knows that he's walking into a room with a person with a strong point of view, and I do too," she says of working with the rapper on her track "Illuminati." "I listen to what he has to say, take it in, and he listens to what I say and takes it in. We didn't agree on everything, but he has good ideas." Read more and see of the covers and more here.
An official song list and release date are to be announced. The album is expected to coincide with the launch of Carey's Las Vegas residency at The Colosseum at Caesars Palance, which begins May 6. "I'm going to do my first ever residency in Vegas at Caesars," Carey told Ellen DeGeneres recently. "This is a special event for me. And again, I have to hope that the fans will enjoy this cause I'm gonna be performing, which was kind of inspired by my album #1's, and this is now the updated version with eighteen of them. "Hopefully other people will enjoy this. I've never done this before. It's a new chapter for me and I'm just excited about it." Check out the cover art PLUS the tweet which morphs #1's cover into #1 To Infinity cover here.
'There seems to be some needless provoking going on," Naughty Boy told Heat. "[Louis] was deliberately adding to the provoking. I don't think that's fair. Especially on Zayn, that's not fair. Right now, there needs to be calm. He could have said that to me privately. Doing it openly is another act of provocation that's not needed." He added that Malik had been under pressure with the band, which was the reason he left the tour in the first place. 'I've been his friend. He needs one. Just because we were seen at my studio-you [don't] necessarily just make music," he said. "People seem to forget that he's under so much stress. Which is why he left the tour." Read more here.
Luger's beat is as titanic as you'd expect, a waterfall of crashing 808s and towering keys. Ross doesn't need to do anything more or less than yelling about his pants and pockets. "Stones in my pocket, stonewashed jeans, labeled a mastermind, my elaborate schemes," he spits. "They say I'm eclectic 'cause I got it perfected, take 200 racks just to 'HUH' on your record." Check it out here.
Which makes Rocky's new turn on his latest track "M'$" all the more surprising. He's still flaunting his bank account, all of the "M's" inside it, but Rocky seems more in awe of his success on the Honorable C-Note- and Mike Dean-produced track. "Remember when I had no home/ Now I got a penthouse and a beach home�I like to thank myself because I made myself the man," he raps. There's still no release date for A.L.L.A. but Rocky has said that he hopes to have it out by this summer. Read more and listen here.
At least, if you're the voice of Olaf the snowman. Last week (April 8), Josh Gad, was determined to join in James Corden's monologue on The Late Late Show, and sang his way into the role. When Corden announced that Gad was a guest, the camera cut to his dressing room, where he was nowhere to be found. Instead, Gad was sitting in the audience, and confessed to the host that he always wanted to have his own talk show. But really, he just wanted to be part of Corden's monologue. Watch the cuteness and hilarity in the video here.
"Holiday" was the third single from Madonna's 1983 self-titled debut album. The song peaked at No. 16 on the US Billboard Hot 100 while the album hit No. 8 on the Billboard 200 on its way to selling more than 5 million copies in the States alone. Madonna appeared on The Tonight Show to promote her latest album, "Rebel Heart." Her thirteenth studio release currently sits at No. 57 on the Billboard 200 after 4 weeks on the chart. Watch the Fallon performance here.
Instead, the 2015 ACM Best New Artist nominee is already moving his music in new directions, in advance of what will only be his second album, due later this summer. "I've been just so inspired by so many different things that I wanted to explore a different side of my voice, a more soul-filled side of my songwriting," he tells Radio.com. It's a bold move for a relatively new artist to shake things up, but then again, it's bold artists who tend to be the most exciting--and enduring. The first hint of this new sound comes via Rhett's brand-new radio single, "Crash and Burn," which dropped this week. "It's the most different single I've ever put out," says Rhett, "very throwback to the '50s and '60s." Indeed, while it's a song about dealing with heartbreak, melodically it's actually very upbeat, with a killer hook, a snappy beat and an arrangement that nods strongly in the direction of Motown. "The first time I heard the demo of 'Crash and Burn' I was like, 'I gotta have this song,'" says Rhett. One listen and you can hear why, even though heartbreak isn't a subject he's dabbled in much up to this point--or, actually, at all. "I have never released a heartbreak song," he admits. "I didn't even have a heartbreak song on my whole first record." The new album is still in process, and the song list isn't finalized yet. In fact, there may still be some last-minute surprises. "I feel like that's the hardest part of making a record," he says. "When people know you're finishing your record, they're constantly sending you their best songs and their newest songs." While he admits being enamored right now with this soul-based sound from half a century back, he also notes that the album will include "a huge variety of songs." Perhaps even, he hints, a song cowritten with Eric Church--an experience he calls "one of the coolest moments of my life." Rhett filled Radio.com in on the story behind his new single "Crash and Burn," how dancing with his grandma helped inspire his new music and where he is in the process of finalizing his new album. Read the full interview here.
In a preview of the episode, Aguilera is playing to a sold-out crowd, not unlike her own career as a pop diva. The pop singer plays Jade St. John, a pop star who wants to release a country album. After some resistance from her label, a 40-second preview clip she tweeted out looks like she has some history with record executive Jeff Fordham who might help her make that goal a reality. She tweeted, "Here's a sneak peek of me on @Nashville_ABC. My first episode premieres next Wed 15th! XoXtina" Check it out here.
"When the Stars Come Out," written by Stapleton and Dan Wilson, is off Stapleton's solo debut and showcases the singer's voice at the forefront with country production including pedal steel. 'Being a solo artist is a slightly uncomfortable thing," Stapleton explained to Radio.com, 'because I've been in bands in the past, and it's never your name on the front of things. There's a bit of pressure internally, because when you put your name on the cover of something it's like, 'This is me.' It's more of an eye on you sort of thing than being in a band." Read more and listen to the new track here.
In the "Sound of a Woman" clip, Kiesza is presented in many forms: as a silhouette, in her bedroom wear and as a projection of herself on herself. This all provides the background for the singer to get emotional and direct; running, swimming, crawling and, always, singing. Kiesza is touring this spring with Betty Who and has a much anticipated set coming this weekend at Coachella. Sound of a Woman is out now on Island Records. Watch the new video here.
Set to the tune of The Pointer Sisters' iconic "I'm So Excited," the Tonight Show team has cut all the characters from the hit series saying the lyrics. All your favorites are there, from Tyrion Lannister saying "think I" to Littlefinger finishing the thought with "like it." It's all good fun, and a nod to Fallon's other favorite TV show, Saved by the Bell, which featured Jessie Spano having a caffeine pill meltdown while also reciting the song lyrics. Watch it here.
That's exactly what happened shortly into the run time of Henson's SNL hosting debut as she and cast members did their best impressions for a faux making-of trailer of Home 2, the purported sequel to Dreamworks' Home starring Jim Parsons and Rihanna. Cast member Sasheer Zamata does her own Minaj but was relegated to a Rihanna rendition instead while Henson attempted her Nicki Minaj, calling attention-as many Minaj impressions do-to the juxtaposition between the rapper's quiet and more harrowing styles. Also involved? Kendrick Lamar, Missy Elliott, Rick Ross and even Die Antwoord. Watch it here.
In a photo posted to Twitter using the hashtag #WhereIs Jared and #SuicideSquad, the director reveals that Leto is no longer blonde. His Joker, like so many Jokers before him, does have green hair. Of course, Leto has to make it all the more mysterious by holding a camera to his face in this still. But, hey, we'll take it. Leto's hair has been a topic of conversation with fans chronicling the extreme change that went from cutting his Jesus-like locks to a short crop to dying it platinum blonde. See the photo here.
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