Betty Who’s “You’re In Love” Video: Betty Takes New York & It’s Magical

May 20th, 2013 // Leave a Comment
Betty Who You're In Love Video
We Are! We Really Are!

Betty Who, the candidate likeliest to save pop music, has returned with a new music video from her staggeringly great The Movement EP — and, like the song, the video for “You’re In Love” is sort of happy but sort of heartbreaking, following Betty and her beau as they drive a fancy car through the countryside and explore New York City and roll around, perfectly in love. (Every other day, that is.)

It’s a slightly more polished look than Betty’s “Somebody Loves You” video — it still feels sort of unfathomable that she’s pulling this off without a label, although it wouldn’t come as a surprise if that changed rather soon — but you don’t need a huge budget when the vision is this clear. More »

Cassadee Pope’s “Wasting All These Tears”: Hear Her (Amazing) New Single

May 20th, 2013 // Leave a Comment

The Voice has proven more consistently entertaining than its competition, but the show has yet to produce any huge stars from its winners’ roster; am I wrong for thinking all that might change with Cassadee Pope? The Season 3 winner’s new single has just been released, and “Wasting All These Tears” is an instantaneous monster of a pop-country midtempo ballad, delivering shades of Avril Lavigne‘s “I’m With You” with the melodramatic production of Carrie Underwood‘s “Two Black Cadillacs.” Lyrically, it’s magic — the details are finely wrought (“Tried to find you at the bottom of a bottle / Laying down on the bathroom floor,” she sings by way of an opening) and the chorus melody (“Standing on the corner crying / Feeling like a fool for trying”) soars majestically. More »

Billboard Music Awards 2013: The 10 Best & Worst Moments

May 20th, 2013 // 5 Comments

Well! It was a dreary night at the 2013 Billboard Music Awards, wasn’t it? There were forty performances each from Pitbull and Will.i.am! They only gave out three awards! Justin Bieber talked at length about his craft! Host Tracy Morgan sputtered all of his lines and could barely read the teleprompter! Yes, it was one for the books, folks. One for the books.

That said, there were still some highlights — a handful of exceptional performances and some nice moments of shade-throwing from various members of the pop glitterati — and, well, some lowlights. (Remember when Miguel almost killed somebody? Yeah. That was a bummer.) Let’s recap! (And if you missed any performances, you can watch them all here.) More »

Daft Punk & 7 Other Great French House Acts: From Dmitri From Paris To Justice

May 20th, 2013 // Leave a Comment
Daft Punk's Videos
daft punk music video one more time prime time of your life around the world
The duo's five most groundbreaking clips. Read More »

With all the fanfare surrounding their comeback smash “Get Lucky” and this week’s release of Random Access Memories, it’s easy to forget that French house ambassadors Daft Punk have been around for nearly two decades. Thanks to a sound that’s always been ahead of the curve (and robot helmets to mask any wrinkles), the duo of Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo and Thomas Bangalter seem positively ageless more than 15 years after they first wowed us with their debut, Homework. That they’re still managing to surprise and influence the international pop scene is a testament to their distinctive retro-futuristic groove!

That groove, however, wasn’t created by Daft Punk alone. French House (or French Touch, as the sexy call it) has its roots in the clubs of Paris, where DJs and dance music disciples found inspiration in old Europop and space-disco records and mashed them up with state-of-the-art beats. Basically, when it came to making booties bounce along the Champs Elysee, Daft Punk didn’t act alone! So get your Gallic groove on and pay tribute to the forebears of French Funk with our terribly chic playlist below. Tout le monde danse maintenant! More »

Janet Jackson’s ‘janet.’ Turns 20: Backtracking

May 20th, 2013 // Leave a Comment
Bad Turns 25
Michael Jackson Bad
We look back at MJ's legendary album. Read More »
Erotica At 20
Madonna Erotica album cover
Looking back at Madonna's saucy fifth album. Read More »
Spice Turns 15
The Spice Girls forged a path for other girls groups' success. Read More »
Ray Of Light Turns 15
A look back at Madonna's spiritual 1998 release. Read More »

Backtracking is our recurring look back at the pop music that shaped our lives. Friends may come and go, but we’ll be spinning our favorite albums forever.

“We had the kind of night where morning comes too soon…” So goes the seductive spoken intro that launched Janet Jackson’s fifth album, janet. — that’s a little j with an emphatic period — released on May 18, 1993. Following the social consciousness of her previous blockbuster, 1989’s Rhythm Nation 1814, Jackson returned with a fresh sound and look, and free-spirited confidence. The new music was everything from pure pop to candles-in-the-bedroom grooves, balancing the sweet, the erotic and the playful.

To celebrate the 20th anniversary of the album that launched nine singles, Idolator spoke to Jimmy Jam, one-half of Jackson’s legendary production team, Jam and [Terry] Lewis. Looking back on the recording today, Jam feels the muse is obvious.

“Janet was in love. My partner [Lewis] was with someone who he was very much in love with at the time, and I was with someone I was very much in love with,” Jam says. “Love was in the air… when we did Rhythm Nation, everybody called it the ‘What’s Going On’ album, and then they called janet. the ‘Let’s Get It On’ album.” More »

Billboard Music Awards 2013: Watch The Performances

May 19th, 2013 // 1 Comment
BBMA 2013: Winners
Billboard Winners List GFX
The full list of Billboard Music Awards winners. Read More »

The red jacket. Those moves. That hair. Is it just us, or was Bruno Mars looking a little extra Michael Jackson-esque, circa Off The Wall and Thriller, as he tore through “Treasure” at the Billboard Music Awards on Sunday (May 19) night? Oh, it’s just us? Sorry — too much boxed wine at dinner time.

Bruno and his band kicked off the Billboard awards at Las Vegas’ MGM Grand Garden Arena , amid a disco ball-strewn set that looked straight out of a 1981 episode of Solid Gold. Then Selena Gomez twirled through her “Come & Get It” Indian schtick in all gold. And Chris Brown sounded terrible and looked crazy while knocking of better artists’ dance moves.

Watch these magical moments and many, many more below! More »

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