The first single from American Idol third-place finisher Danny Gokey premiered on a Wisconsin country-music station this morning, and it’s probably not going to come as much of a surprise to people who followed him during his long American Idol journey. The track, “It’s Only,” is an inspirational ditty that’s clearly channeling “Jesus, Take The Wheel,” and his breathy voice is nearly drowned out by a super-mournful slide guitar at various moments. (The phrase Chicken Soup For The Ears bubbled into my brain at more than one point.) I don’t foresee hearing this in my dentist’s office, but I think it’ll perform well thanks to its holiday-season release timing and heart-filled message. [MJ] MORE »
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Danny Gokey’s First Single The Latest Sign That He Wants To Be Your Inspiration
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Hey, Everybody: Backstreet’s Back With Max Martin
“Bigger” is the first collaboration between the turn-of-the-millennium boy band and the man who co-wrote “I Want It That Way” for them since 2005, and it’s pretty awesome in an effervescent way; it opens with some delicate guitar strumming, then opens up into a chorus that floats along on a string of rapidfire “la la la la la”-ing. And there’s a guitar solo! I wonder when we can declare those officially “back”? Uh, no pun intended. Clip after the jump. MORE »
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Róisín Murphy Has A Hunger
Irish dance diva/ Lady GaGa inspiration Róisín Murphy’s new single “Orally Fixated” is, lyrically, about as subtle as a hot fudge sundae topped with chocolate-covered pretzels and peanut butter and whipped cream, but oh does it sound good. It’s glitchy and giddy, with Murphy’s voice imperiously gliding over the proceedings, admonishing a greedy lover—although if my first few listens are to be trusted, this track will only get better the more I gorge on it. (Also, I was really not expecting one of the best guitar solos of recent memory to emanate from this particular corner of the pop-music world, but then again, the solo is becoming something of a lost art in music generally these days.) [MySpace] MORE »
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Alicia Keys Fashions Herself As One Of The Beautiful Ones
Friend-of-Idolator Michaelangelo Matos has a pretty spot-on review of Alicia Keys’ snoozy first single from her forthcoming pushed-back album The Elements Of Freedom in The Stranger; in the writeup he writes about how his sister saw the deadly serious arteeeste Keys in concert in 2001, and how she was then flogging her over-the-top cover of Prince’s “How Come U Don’t Call Me Anymore.” Well, Keys’ Prince mimickry continues on her new single, “Sleeping With A Broken Heart,” which is an even less subtle attempt to channel the Purple One. This time out she’s channeling his breathier side, and the results are certainly better than before—but they still have that sort of oppressive Seriousness As An Artist that so many of Keys’ efforts, from her piano-etude-turned-pop-tune “Fallin’” on, seem to contain. Clip after the jump. MORE »
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Someone Decided That The Sugababes Needed A Kingston Feature
Yesterday, a six-track sampler of the original take on the Sugababes’ made-for-American-audiences Sweet 7 leaked—the difference between this record and the soon-to-be-released album is the presence of Keisha Buchanan, who last month was unceremoniously booted from the girl group and replaced with Eurovision-tested singer Jade Ewen. The sampler contains the already-released (and underwhelming) “Get Sexy” and “About A Girl,” as well as one track that made me chuckle mirthlessly over just how badly the group’s handlers wanted to try and break the girls in the States. MORE »
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Justin Bieber Puts On A Cardigan, Stretches It Out
If you thought that what this day needed was a smooshing-together of the verses from Akon’s “Beautiful,” the robot-stomp beat that characterizes inescapable pop jams like “So What” and “I Kissed A Girl,” and the chorus to the Cardigans’ “Lovefool” that’s been reworked so it involves a 15-year-old singing the line “oh-how-you-doooo-me”… well, Canadian heartthrob Justin Bieber’s new single, “Love Me,” is the song for you. And if it’s not, well, be warned that it’s apparently the song for a lot of young ladies, as it was just released to iTunes and it’s already No. 15 on that store’s chart. So, yeah. Wow. Clip after the jump. MORE »
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Usher Falls Victim To The RedOne Menace
Usher’s “cutting you loose via legal document” comeback single “Papers” was pretty awesome, an incendiary throw-down that was right back in Confessions mode. Unfortunately, for the follow-up single, he’s enlisted the knob-twiddler RedOne, who is fresh off assisting in the ruination of the Sugababes—and, well, the results are predictably ugh-worthy. “Rock Band,” which unfortunately does use the ever-stale “rock” as a verb describing his bedroom technique (over and over and over again) feels like a step back to the worst parts of his previous album, the sorta-floppy Here I Stand, with its inert production and cliched lyrics that compare his prowess to the stylings of Jimmy Page (”on the guitar”) and Mick Jagger (”on the mic”). Not to mention—if you’re going to talk about your oral technique in big-name musician terms, shouldn’t you be comparing yourself to Gene Simmons? [RedOne] MORE »
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Lil Wayne Keeps Himself Busy
You think Lil Wayne has just been sitting around worrying about whether or not his upcoming prison term will cost him his hair? Think again. Apparently he has a new mixtape, No Ceilings, set to come out this week; one track that’s leaked from it so far is his freestyle over Jay-Z’s Rihanna/Kanye collab “Run This Town,” which is after the jump. MORE »
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Adam Lambert’s First Single Gets Kicked Online A Little Bit Early
American Idol runner-up Adam Lambert’s debut recording “Time For Miracles”—which is supposed to debut on the soundtrack to the forthcoming slice of apocalyporn 2012—has made its way onto the Internet thanks to someone at the iTunes Store’s Italy branch getting a bit overexcited about the prospect of it existing. And oh boy, is it a doozy: It’s a megasized ballad that puts previous destructoflick tie-in songs like “I Don’t Want To Miss A Thing” to shame, with strings glopped all over it and Lambert showing off every octave that he can. I guess the ’90s revival had to extend to supersized soundtrack ballads that were tailor-made for… being overperformed by hopefuls attending American Idol auditions. Hey, wait a second! Clip after the jump. MORE »
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Looks Like Epic Figured Out A Way To Make The Shakira Record America-Friendly
Yesterday I mentioned that the new Shakira album She Wolf was irresistible to me because of its twisty, dancey strangeness, although figuring out a way to fit its globally minded disco into the American market was clearly seen as a tough task by her label—after “She Wolf” stalled on the Hot 100 it was summarily given a pushed-back release date, which is now slated for sometime next month. (Note that her promotional appearances on high-profile American TV shows—Dancing With The Stars, Saturday Night Live—are slated for this week.) However! If the new song from the soon-to-be-released American version of the album is any indication, Shakira’s label Epic is seriously going into Code Red mode when it comes to making this thing break both America and even. Ladies and gents, I give you “Give It Up To Me” by Shakira and Timbaland and Lil Wayne! MORE »
