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Heavy Lies the Crown: Clarkson Still Tops, But Slim Shady Is Poised to Pounce
Fri Feb 6 2009 by Chris Molanphy
Maura and I have already taken a victory lap about our fulfilled prediction that Kelly Clarkson would vault to the top of Billboard’s Hot 100. Clarkson’s “My Life Would Suck Without You” dominates the list again this week, thanks to commanding sales and fast-rising radio airplay.
How long will she stay there? Nothing in the Top 10 looks like a threat. The few songs that are on the rise, including Kanye West’s “Heartless” and All-American Rejects’ “Gives You Hell,” appear to be losing momentum. The Fray’s “You Found Me” will likely get a boost from the release of their album this week, but probably not enough to take over the penthouse.
If anything’s going to dethrone Clarkson, it will come from outside the winners’ circle. “Prom Queen,” the ill-advised rock single from Lil Wayne, makes an impressive debut at No. 17, the highest start so far this year. You’d think that would give him the edge.
But the more likely scenario involves someone doing to Kelly what Kelly did to Lady GaGa two weeks ago: an outside ambush that vaults from the bottom to the top in one fell swoop. And the probable ambusher is making an even bigger chart comeback this year than Clarkson.
Katy Perry And The Pussycat Dolls Continue To Warp The Minds Of America’s Youth
Fri Feb 6 2009 by Maura
There are some days when I feel like Sinéad O’Connor, because I wish people would fight the real enemy, and not things like making live music on TV sound halfway decent. Take the nominees for the Nickelodeon-sponsored Kids’ Choice Awards, which are being handed out next month. Katy Perry’s Girls Gone Wild Gone Radio-Ready “I Kissed A Girl” for Favorite Song? The bumping and grinding and whining Pussycat Dolls for Favorite Music Group? I weep for the youth, especially since in the latter category two of the three alternatives presented to them are Daughtry and Linkin Park. (The third is the Jonas Brothers, who yeah are probably shoe-ins anyway, but still! Principles!) A rundown of all four music-related categories after the jump.
Jazmine Sullivan Is Clicking Her Heels
Thu Jan 29 2009 by Maura
Philly R & B singer Jazmine Sullivan is something of a bad-ass, and her new single, “Lions, Tigers, and Bears” is a string-laden belter about being afraid of love that also happens to be Ne-Yo’s favorite jam of right now. The video (after the jump) kinda-predictably takes the “follow the CGI’d yellow brick road” tack, but the song is definitely worth your time. If only there was some Good Witch Of The Radio Programming North who could get this track on the airwaves instead of that putrid Pussycat Dolls ballad…
“Suck” Blows (Up): Clarkson’s Comeback Could Make It To The Top Of The Pops
Fri Jan 23 2009 by Chris Molanphy
The most interesting news on Billboard’s Hot 100 isn’t at the summit, where the entire Top Five has been static for the last couple of weeks. It’s in the basement, where a flotilla of new songs—many by established acts—debuts.
We could talk about the return of Eminem to the Hot 100, for the first time in nearly three years, with his 50 and Dre-supported “Crack the Bottle,” at No. 76.
Or the third single and first ballad from the omnipresent Katy Perry, one notch below. (More on her in a minute.)
Or a couple of all-star duets—mellow twosome Jason Mraz and Colbie Caillat (“Lucky,” No. 84) or smoove pair Jamie Foxx and T-Pain (“Blame It,” No. 98).
But all of these budding hits are overshadowed by the single that debuts quietly at No. 97—a song that could well be the chart’s next No. 1 and finally put some distance between Kelly Clarkson and the other American Idol finalists who’ve been chipping away at her crown all these years.
Fights That We All Lose
Fri Jan 23 2009 by Maura
From a report on a Lady Gaga/Pussycat Dolls show… More »
Girls Aloud Take A Visit To The Pet Shop
Thu Jan 15 2009 by Maura
The latest single from Girls Aloud’s Out Of Control is the Pet Shop Boys-penned “The Loving Kind,” a sumptuous piece of pop that’s all gigantic featherbeds of synths and wistful “I still want you back” lyrics. Its video has the Girls, appropriately enough, existing in a matrix of flashbulbs and mirrors, smashing wine bottles and throwing bouquets of flowers as they gaze pensively away from the camera. Clip after the jump, and while you click, please think about how cruel it is that the UK gets to plaster gorgeous tracks like this all over its pop-radio playlists while we in the States are stuck with numerous attempts to make the populace care about the Pussycat Dolls again.
Girls Aloud Embrace The Triumph Of Hope Over Experience
Mon Jan 12 2009 by Mike Barthel
British pop group Girls Aloud has always been an unlikely success story, from surviving a reality show to ditching their manager to landing in the tabloids more than is really healthy. But now, despite the fact that none of their fantastic songs have gotten any recognition in the U.S. outside of music critics, breakout Girl Cheryl Cole is trying to make it in the States. “Simon Cowell is said to be taking her to America as his next protegee,” says an excellent Guardian article that nicely summarizes the Girls’ appeal and dynamic. The writer, Hadley Freeman, brings up Destiny’s Child as a best-case scenario for Cheryl’s success, but a more useful comparison might be the Pussycat Dolls. Where that group churns out forgettable pop hits with a seemingly interchangeable cast of singers with no character or chemistry, the Girls seem to have (or have created) a genuine music group, with members fans might take an interest in and personalities that come through in the music.
Lady GaGa Dances To No. 1 As iTunes’ Beat Gets A Little Bit Slower
Fri Jan 9 2009 by Chris Molanphy
Over the holidays, Billboard’s song charts were, at least on the surface, pretty sleepy. On the Hot 100, most of the songs that were hot late last fall—Beyoncé’s “Single Ladies” and “If I Were a Boy,” T.I. and Rihanna’s “Live Your Life,” Kanye’s “Love Lockdown” and “Heartless,” Taylor Swift’s “Love Story,” the unkillable Katy Perry’s “Hot N Cold”—continued bumping around the Top 10 like lazy molecules.
But below the surface, a ton of music was being consumed. In particular, one song benefited massively from the annual iPod-filling digital megasale that hits iTunes every Christmas—and that song, Lady GaGa’s “Just Dance,” reaches No. 1 the very week Apple’s music store removes digital-rights management restrictions on all of its songs, making them freely copyable.
Does this mean we’re in for even more Lady GaGa than we’re enduring now, as kids trade their iTunes purchases like baseball cards? Unlikely: those who “share” music probably figured out their DRM workarounds years ago.
But the official start of the post-DRM era—and, more important, the changes to song pricing—could have some interesting effects on digital song sales, and the charts that track them.
Nine Reasons That Pop Music Might Get Better This Year (No, Really!)
Thu Jan 1 2009 by Maura
As 2008 recedes in our collective rearview mirror, the headlines trumpeting bad news are still there: record sales are lousier than ever, the economy sucks, record executives are still trying to flog the Pussycat Dolls. But there are still reasons to be excited by what’s to come in the probably contracting, definitely shapeshifting world of pop music. Nine things to look forward to today and in the 364 days that follow after the jump!
