Like a moth to a flame that burns by the fire, our love for Janet Jackson is blind, can’t you see our desire — to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Janet with another Twitter re-listening party. Yes, you read that right, Janet turns the big 2-0 on Saturday (May 18). Instead of wallowing in the fact that the infamous choreography to “If” is now two decades old, we’re going to celebrate the chart-topping album that brought us timeless hits like “That’s The Way Love Goes” “Anytime, Anyplace” and “Because Of Love” the best way we know how: by listening to it again with all of you. Head below for details on how to join in the virtual loft party.

Monday, May 20 at 4 p.m. ET, join us on Twitter using the hashtag #IdolatorBacktracking and chime in with your favorite memories of Ms. Jackson’s fifth studio album.

We’ll see you all at exactly 4pm as we press “Play” together.

Like one of Stefon’s favorite New York hotspots, Jennifer Lopez and Pitbull‘s upcoming video for “Live It Up” has everything! Fierce boots! A beach party! People getting sprayed down with alcohol! Ferocious choreography! J.Lo rocking a fierce orange lip! Pitbull in a robin’s egg blue suit! Actual pitbulls!

(Except that one. There are no actual pitbulls in the video. Although there probably should be.)

The quick clip of the video basically serves as a highlights reel for what to expect when the actual thing drops, but it looks like a lot of fun, so good work, everyone. Live your life and stay out on the floor, or whatever. (Sorry, wrong song.)

Watch up top.

Are you excited for the new clip? Let us know in the comments below, or on Twitter or Facebook.

Well, as brand-sponsored novelties go, this is one of the cooler ones I’ve seen: Ginger-haired guitar-strumming unicorn Ed Sheeran made an appearance in New York a few weeks back, where he performed his heartbreaker “Lego House” at The Box (which is a teeny, tiny little venue) for Nokia’s Lumia phone. The performance was recorded on a bunch of Lumia devices and then cut together, and it looks pretty good for video recorded on a cell phone! Sincerely. Genuinely. Not just saying that. 

The performance is typically heart-wrenching, and the reactions from his special fans are touching, so, y’know, this is a pleaser for Ed Sheeran fans. Or they’ll be super jealous of those girls being serenaded at unusually close proximity to Sheeran. Or both. Either way, enjoy it.

Watch up top.

Beyonce is pregnant again, according to E! Online (not the New York Post, who reported it earlier this week but are no longer even remotely credible, which is pretty grim if you think about it).

As is par for the course, the Internet was quick to respond (cue the think pieces!) with thoughts on Kanye West, that surrogacy issue and Bey’s pop contemporaries: Here are some of the best (read: shadiest) tweets from some Twitter funny people.

Kanye is going to announce his pregnancy tomorrow.

— Saeed Jones (@theferocity) May 17, 2013

keri hilson announces new album “childless and fully dedicated to my career”

— steven j. horowitz (@speriod) May 17, 2013

congrats on your 101st problem jay-z — lauren ashley bishop (@sbellelauren) May 17, 2013

Beyoncé heard “Ooh La La,” grabbed a pillow and called E! Online. — Bradley Stern (@MuuMuse) May 17, 2013

I wonder how Beyonce found out about the pregnancy! Like did the surrogate call or text?

— Michelle Collins (@michcoll) May 17, 2013

hope she bought a sturdier pillow

— Jonno E. (@CiaraVEVO) May 17, 2013

Jessica Simpson is also pregnant

— Caroline (@socarolinesays) May 17, 2013

c’man y’all. beyonce’s not really pregnant. she wouldn’t overshadow her girl kim’s pregna

— Rembert Browne (@rembert) May 17, 2013

Thoughts on Beyonce’s pregnancy? Sound off in the comments, then hit us up on Facebook and Twitter.

Earlier this week, MS MR released Secondhand Rapture, a lovely debut album full of enigmatic alt-pop, and last night (May 16) they made their network television debut to celebrate the release. The duo of Lizzy Plapinger and Max Hershenow (plus two extra live band-mates) performed “Hurricane” on the Late Show with David Letterman (sans blue and red body paint). Lizzy’s voice has an even smokier cabaret feel live, and combined with the more front-loaded synths, there’s a nice fog/neon juxtaposition that isn’t as apparent on the studio version.

Check it out up top.

Alright, everyone. The rumors are apparently (supposedly!) true: Beyonce is with child once more.

E! Online confirms via “multiple sources” that the singer (and mother to 25-year-old baby Blue Ivy Carter) is pregnant, after speculation began swirling over some fairly innocuous stuff — she wore a dress with a high waist to the Met Gala (pregnant!) and then canceled a concert over “dehydration and exhaustion” (pregnant!).

In all fairness, this does explain why her latest album era has completely failed to launch in any meaningful way, and she’s just been making us salivate while she films endless commercials and doesn’t release anything to iTunes. It all makes sense now, doesn’t it?

Said Beyonce’s unborn baby in a statement: “I’m more powerful than my mind can even digest.”

Said the people who mortgaged their homes for seats to the Mrs. Carter Show World Tour, which will now likely be canceled or rescheduled: “Shit.”

[via E! Online]

Perpetual adolescent Avril Lavigne has finally begun to make some promotional rounds for her uncommonly good new single “Here’s To Never Growing Up,” and she stopped by The Today Show to chat with Matt Lauer about the song (not that his questions were particularly great) before delivering a live rendition. 

Lavigne certainly has the petulant teenager act down — she seems even less mature than I remembered her, somehow — and that likable brattiness came through in the performance, which was engagingly scratchy. At this point, I would have preferred a performance of her new song “17″ — when is that debuting, anyway? — but this should (hopefully) help give “Growing” a little push on the charts. (Currently it’s at #30.)

Watch up top.

What do you think of Avril’s performance? Let us know in the comments below, or on Twitter or Facebook.

American Idol‘s 12th season wrapped up last night (May 16) with a finale that provided a solid ending to the latest run. The star wattage was impressive, with performances from Mariah Carey, Jennifer Lopez and Adam Lambert to name a few, all leading up to some real emotions when Candice Glover rightfully took the Idol throne. Welp, it turns out Americans didn’t want to be bothered by any of it!

According to Reuters, Thursday’s finale brought in 14.2 million US viewers, which is a whopping 31% drop from last year’s then-record low of 21.5 million. The show lost the ratings battle to The Big Bang Theory‘s season-ender, and this was the first time an Idol finale didn’t eclipse the 20 million mark. To put this into context, Idol’s ratings peaked with over 30 million viewers six years ago, so more than half the audience has bailed since then. This is looking like it’s the type of problem that can’t be fixed merely by shuffling in a few new judges.

Did you tune into the American Idol season 12 finale on Thursday? Let us know below, or by hitting us up on Facebook and Twitter!

Maybe we’ve all just grown accustomed to seeing Britney Spears pushing boundaries, but the pop provocateur is playing it safe on her Smurfs 2 soundtrack cut “Ooh La La” — and the critics have taken note. While they complimented the song’s sound, nobody seemed particularly floored by it — then again, nobody hated it, either, which is a good thing.

Head below to see how opinions varied.

:: Our friends at Spin liked it, more or less: “[I]t’s peppy, guitar-bursting dance-pop that shouldn’t overly upset Papa Smurf. After the ‘Britney, bitch’ swagger of ‘Scream & Shout,’ this one is decidedly PG-13, beckoning us to ‘come with me and be my ooh la la.’ Spears will still dance with us if we don’t wear ‘designer clothes,’ she promises.”

:: E! Online praised the track’s production for evoking classic Brit: “The catchy ditty layers Brit-Brit’s whimsical vocals atop upbeat electro bangers, while a rollicking guitar strums in and out. Consider it vintage Britney…with an oddly folksy pop-tart twist.”

:: Vulture compared it to Spears’ contemporary Ke$ha: “‘Ooh La La’ is undeniably reminiscent of ‘I Wanna Go,’ with a little Ke$ha influence thrown in there. She raps! Well, actually, she speaks: ‘Turn it up till the speakers pop.’

:: Our very own MuuMuse liked the track enough, but scaled back on his usual hyperbole: “It’s a shimmering, summery guitar-led track with a punchy pulse, very similar to Madonna‘s ‘Superstar’ off of MDNA (‘Ooh la la, you’re my superstar!’).”

:: Popdust noted comparisons to Katy Perry: “Word on the web is that ‘Ooh La La’ sounds exactly like a Katy Perry song, and while we wouldn’t exactly dispute that—it was written by Bonnie McKee, who penned some of Perry’s biggest hits—it does have an appropriately sugary take on EDM. No grime this time for Britney, and no Perry-style double-entendres either; this is a song from a kids’ movie, and it shows.”

:: Metro offered another idea for Britney to tackle (maybe on the next record): “So what’s ‘Ooh La La’ like? It’s a moody, stripped down little acoustic number, in which Britney meditates on ego and mortality amidst avant-garde instrumentation reminiscent of Bon Iver. Ha, no, it’s a bouncy summer pop song with agreeably nonsensical lyrics like ‘Baby, come with me and be my ooh la la.’ But wouldn’t my version be amazing?”

What do you think of the critics’ take? Tell us in the comments below, or hit us up on Facebook and Twitter!

After a night of major anticipation and live-tweeting, there is finally a new American Idol winner! The season 12 finale was jam-packed with stellar performances from Idol alums Jennifer Hudson and Adam Lambert, tons of glitter (thanks, Mariah Carey) and of course a sad farewell to Randy Jackson.

Candice Glover, who has auditioned for the show three times in a row, was crowned the first female AI winner since Jordin Sparks in 2007, and you can already hear the studio version of her new single, “I Am Beautiful.” We thought it was a satisfying end to the season, but what did the rest of the Web have to say? Check out our roundup of reviews below.

:: Rolling Stone kept it blunt, noting the finale ”was a rewarding ending for fans and, undoubtedly, the producers, who hoped that a woman would take the title after five years of white men with guitars winning.”

:: Crushable poked fun at the show’s infamous musical chairs of judges: “So last night Candice Glover won the 12th season of American Idol. Which not only ensures her at least 24 full hours of fame, but also the knowledge that she’s now going to be the answer to a trivia question at a bar night approximately 13 years from now. You know, when the American Idol judges get completely replaced by robots, Madame Tussaud’s wax statues and a dancing dog who made it to the final rounds of America’s Got Talent.”

:: Hollywood Reporter raved about Jordin Sparks, especially her clever jab at that other singing competition show: “The best zinger in the package came at the end, when the season six victor advised the boys to cheer up, as ‘Idol leftovers have been doing really well on The Voice.’ Snap!”

:: Many thought Candice Glover was the right choice, including The Los Angeles Times: ”At times, she seemed to want the win more than anyone else in the contest, to be willing to fight for it with performances that blew the competition away and to roll with the punches when things didn’t go her way.”

:: According to New York Daily News, the endless beef between Nicki Minaj and Mariah Carey led to major karma: “the judges’ preening and squabbling may have drowned out the singers, but it appears they’ll suffer for it in the end. Randy Jackson has already announced his departure at the end of this season, and Us Magazine reports Minaj will ankle as well.”

:: Mariah Carey‘s diva-tastic medley performance got everyone talking, including Pop On And On: “I loved everything about Carey’s Idol medley performance, the singer put the d-i-v-a in diva and here’s why — Her vocals were absolutely flawless. Her mic and stand were bedazzled as usual. She performed surrounded by a gathering of fans with signs that praised her Godly presence. She never moved the bottom half of her body more than an inch at a time, your fave could never.”

:: Carey’s longtime rival Jennifer Lopez didn’t get as much love from Zap 2 It: “Well, we thought we were going to get out of here without a J-Lo performance, but no such luck. She’s there with Pitbull to sing and dance — and cackle in a weirdly maniacal way. Also, what’s with J-Lo and the dancers in those babydoll Greek superhero get-ups? Hmm.”

What are your thoughts on the American Idol finale? Let us know below, or by hitting us up on Facebook and Twitter!

Now that American Idol finished up season 12, it’s time for everyone’s favorite pastime: speculating about next season’s Idol  lineup. We already know Randy Jackson is leaving, and if the rumors are to be believed, so are the remaining three judges. Before the next wave of rumors hits, though, it’s worth noting how competing competitive singing show The Voice has managed to implement a more structured off-season game of musical chairs.

Deadline reports that Christina Aguilera and Cee Lo Green will return to the NBC show for season five in the fall, while Usher and Shakira rotate out, just as originally planned. Then for season six in the spring of 2014, the plan is for Ursh and Shakira to return to the spinning chairs. Adam Levine and Blake Shelton are set to stay on throughout both seasons. See how simple that was, FOX?

So I spent the evening with Fifth Harmony earlier this week — the night after their wild meet-and-greet at Topshop, where they were mobbed by fans — and it was memorable, to say the very least.

Next week, expect to see several exclusive videos with the girls — including some very special acoustic covers! — but for now, let me just leave you with a little message they wanted to share with their fans. No doubt you’ll forgive them for gushing a little bit. After all, their Harmonizers are amazing.

Watch up top.

Do you love 5H? Tell us in the comments below, or hit us up on Facebook and Twitter!

The most talked-about producer on the planet right now isn’t one of the many crafting new material for Britney Spears, Beyonce and Justin Timberlake. It’s Giorgio Moroder, the 73-year-old Italian musician whose synth-heavy work influenced more artists than you can fill on a sheet of paper and soundtracked at least two generations.

Giorgio’s longtime collaborator and close friend Donna Summer passed away one year ago today, at the age of 63. The disco queen kept her battle with lung cancer private, but it’s Summer’s enduring legacy of revered songs like “I Feel Love,” “Last Dance,” “MacArthur Park” and “Bad Girls” that lives on. To commemorate the first year since the passing of Summer and celebrate the extensive work of Moroder, we reached out to the producer, who turned out to be as thoughtful as he is candid.

“The thing I miss most about Donna is the vitality with which she surrounded herself,” Moroder reflects. “She was always ready for a joke, even in the last months, never indicating that she was suffering. She even tried to convince me to lose weight with the special diet [she was on].”

Rest assured, Giorgio is a man whose calendar in 2013 is getting busier by the week. Still, he offered many insights regarding the classic tracks he produced throughout the ’70s and ’80s — not to mention a certain song recently recorded for Daft Punk‘s upcoming LP Random Access Memories. Head below as Debbie Harry and Blondie‘s Chris Stein, Terri Nunn of Berlin and Moroder reminisce about the music of Donna Summer and some of Giorgio’s biggest milestones.

1. “I Feel Love” by Donna Summer (1977)
You can trace the origins of any number of dance genres (Italo disco, Hi-NRG, techno, electro) back to this one lusty, pulsating track, released as the second single off Donna Summer’s 1977 I Remember Yesterday album. Though she would go on to become a disco icon by the end of the decade, up to this point, Summer had only attained moderate success, with one sole Top 40 hit to her credit (1975′s “Love To Love You Baby”).

The other-worldly “I Feel Love”  kicked the budding singer’s career into high gear. And by opting for a fully electronic bed of sound rather than using live strings, Giorgio Moroder set the wheels in motion for a universal overhaul for the sound of the dancefloor.

“Nobody, including me, was thinking it could become such a hit and revolutionize the use of synthesizer in the electronic dance world,” Moroder admits.

Blondie’s Chris Stein adds, “[Giorgio] told me he had the idea for ‘I Feel Love’ in the ‘60s, but he just couldn’t pull it off with anybody because it was too weirdly ahead of its time.”

Well hey, it’s a new tune from Britney Spears! It’s not a new single from a new album (for that, fans have to wait for Will.i.am to turn on his sonic trash compactor), but it is a very delicious little nugget from the soundtrack for The Smurfs 2, a buoyant pop track titled “Ooh La La.”

With production credits from Bonnie McKee and Dr. Luke, the song arrives with the same pedigree as “Hold It Against Me,” but where that track’s popstep sound felt fairly robust, “Ooh La La” is featherweight, all bright synths and a light, spunky guitar riff with a nice electro break. It sits somewhere between Cassie and DJ Komori‘s “Sound of Love” and Madonna‘s “Superstar,” sweet and sprightly without ever feeling like it’s trying too hard. 

It’s not the grand return of Godney, by any means, but for this sort of thing — a soundtrack cut from a kids’ movie — it’s about as pristine as anyone could expect. Listen to the new song below.

Britney Spears — “Ooh La La”

What do you think of the new song?  Tell us in the comments below, or hit us up on Facebook and Twitter!

Lauryn Hill may be getting all the headlines right now, but her former Fugees band-mate Wyclef Jean is the one making waves in the music world once again, having just released his 33-track April Showers mixtape as a lead-up to his next album, The Carnival Begins. We chatted with Clef about the new projects in his New York City studio, where he says he’s been holed up “for literally six months,” churning out some 200-300 tracks. The first taste of what he’s calling his “Frankenstein project” is the sprawling mixtape, which includes everything from trap to dancehall to acoustic ballads.

“The best way I can explain to you how I do music is the way an author gets a bug in the middle of the night and he gets up with the ink and just starts to write,” Wyclef told us. “He can never stop writing until the book is complete. So I’m inspired right now, I’m doing all this music and I’m like, ‘I gave you 33 records, man I can give you 33 more tomorrow.’”

As  for that proper sequel/prequel to The Carnival, Clef said it will be crazy. “It may have a lot of surprises. There’s a record with Pitbull. This is big because it’s Haiti and Cuba. Just the two generations getting together, it’s historic for both countries.” Clef also teased “Small Town Girls,” his collab with 2 Chainz that “fuses original dub with electro dub.” Watch up top for six more things you need to know about Clef’s comeback, including how  Missy Elliott and Timbaland‘s proto-dubstep beats influenced him.

Are you ready or not for Wyclef’s next album? Tell us below, or hit us up on Facebook and Twitter!

Miley Cyrus earlier this month hinted that she’d unveil her new single during the Billboard Music Awards. Well, the show is just a couple days away, and now she has made it official. The single is called “We Can’t Stop” and it’ll premiere during Sunday’s BBMA broadcast. The song is presumably off her new album, which arrives later this year. After all the teases about collaborations we can’t believe we’re finally going to hear new, Snoop Lion-free Miley. Head below to see Miley’s tweet with the announcement.

#WECANTSTOP @billboard twitter.com/MileyCyrus/sta…

— Miley Ray Cyrus (@MileyCyrus) May 17, 2013

Our favorite part of American Idol is always that final moment when the winner is all verklempt and overwhelmed and forced to sing his or her (finally, this year, her!) winning song live under completely surreal circumstances. That’s the best part of the season, isn’t it? It’s why we let them put us through so much bloated programming leading up to that moment. So last night (May 16), Candice Glover was crowned our newest winner of Idol, and we got to see the her smile and cry her way through her coronation song, “I Am Beautiful.”

But as warm as that made us feel inside, we wanted to hear the real track, and now we’ve got it! The studio version of Glover’s official single doesn’t offer up any surprises — her vocals soar over the clean production — but it’s a solid showcase of the newest Idol’s talents. Hear the empowering track below.

Candice Glover — “I Am Beautiful”

The song is off Glover’s forthcoming debut album, Music Speaks, out July 16 on 19 Recordings/Interscope Records.

Do you think Candice has a smash on her hands with her new single? Let us know below, or by hitting us up on Facebook and Twitter!

The Weeknd has premiered the title track from his forthcoming album Kiss Land, and it is an absolute monster. Clocking in at 7:41, “Kiss Land” takes Abel Tesfaye‘s sinister lothario thing to absurd new heights — lyrically, of course, but also because the beat uses a looped female scream. Combined with the creepy funhouse chimes, the whole first half of the song feels like the neon single artwork is advertising a seedy amusement park for groupies.

The Weeknd is no stranger to doing a long, two-in-one song (see: “House of Balloons/Glass Table Girls” or “The Party & After Party”), but the transition halfway through this Silkky Johnson-produced track is a real stunner, the serrated beat that follows making for a “Pyramids”-level switch-up. And like that Frank Ocean suite, there’s talk of stripping here (“She grind hard for tuition”). The song closes out with the “this ain’t nothing to relate to” hook we first heard in Tesfaye’s “John Carpenter” teaser video. Take a tour through “Kiss Land” below.

What do you think of The Weeknd’s new song? Let us know below, or by hitting us up on Facebook and Twitter!

We’re just a day away from watching Kanye West properly debut new material on the season finale of Saturday Night Live on May 18. No more Vine videos or shaky Hudson Mohawke footage. But first, the man who claims he’s no celebrity has the very celebrity-like duty of appearing in a string of SNL promos along with host Ben Affleck and cast-member Fred Armisen.

For the first one of the bunch, Yeezy is wearing a giant bandage on his forehead, which it isn’t there later, so he’s at least being a good sport about that whole paparazzi pratfall from earlier this week. The clips have an overall feeling like everyone’s trying to get out of the studio as soon as possible, so they’re either really uninspired or really impressive in their sense of forced awkwardness. Check them out up top.

Are you excited to watch Kanye on SNL? Let us know below, or by hitting us up on Facebook and Twitter!

This week was all about singing competitions — Candice Glover won American Idol while Randy Jackson announced he’ll be leaving the show, while Christina Aguilera and Cee-Lo Green announced plans to reclaim their judge’s seats on The Voice.

In the world of LP drama, Demi Lovato‘s new album, Demi, was met with mixed reviews — while Daft Punk mania reached an all-time high as the French house duo released a live stream of Random Access Memories on iTunes. As always, our reliable readers had a lot to say about the latest pop news.

Check out some of this week’s best comments below!

:: Keith sounded off on the Candice Glover/Jennifer Hudson Duet: “I did not like the Candice/Jhud duet at all. It was a shouting match.”

:: Ross CMR raved about Daft Punk’s new album: ”No one can really get mad at Daft Punk. in the End eveyone loves their stuff. I agree with Fat Boy slim on this one. Its about time someone opened up the flood gates on the EDM scene. Plus their release of this vinyl gives me even more hope that physical music is not dead.”

:: Cindy, on the other hand, completely disagreed: “A big departure from the DP sound even the robot singing sucked. I pre-ordered from Itunes and canceled it too. I still love Daft Punk just not feeling this record. p.s. the drums were annoying…”

:: Many viewers were anxious about Adam Lambert’s big performance on AI‘s finale, including beab: “About time we see Adam perform, to bad he can’t do a solo. Remember when he sang the finale with Queen and blew Chris off the map ? Now THAT was when A.I. was at its greatest !!!”

:: Diplo added his two cents into Daft Punk’s new album and shut up wes was not feeling it, saying “It’s just a smokescreen to cover up the fact that no one gives a flying eff about that new Major Lazer album he just put out. Asshat.”

:: Niwimi shared his excitement over Kelly Rowland’s “Dirty Laundry”: “Where do I Pre-Order!!!!? YES KELLY! Though I Stan for Bey, this is the first time in a while I’ve fallen in love with a song based off of lyrical content. YAAAAAAAAAASSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!”

:: Jay gave a well-rounded review of Demi Lovato’s new record: “This album, much like Unbroken, is very disappointing. She titled her album Demi complete with such a striking image on the cover (much like Christina Aguilera’s Stripped did) but it’s just another lightweight pop album. People make such a big deal about her, but why? Because she has survived personal demons? While thats commendable, on the music front she’s never really been a force to be dealt with. There’s not really anything here that really reveals who she is as a person…it sounds like just any other wannabe pop artist only with a decent voice and well-known producers.”

:: Finally, drew liked that Danity Kane is reuniting but didn’t want Dawn Richard to lose focus: “Cool, but I sincerely hope this doesn’t deter Dawn from working on her next album (BlackHeart)…. because she’s on a whole other level than these girls.”

Have something to say about our daily pop coverage? Be sure to chime in with your comments on each post, and follow us on Facebook and Twitter while you’re at it, music addicts!