Idolator: Don't Forget the Lyrics

Akon Is Really Taking His "Best Internet Act" Award Seriously

Maura Johnston — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 09:30:00 EST

The five most ridiculous "no, see, the Internet is actually a bunch of references to sex" lyrics in Akon's new single "MP3 U Me," which attempts to do for the online world what R. Kelly's "The Zoo" did for the animal kingdom:

5. "Straight from your hard drive / Into your software / Gotta let you know I care" OK, maybe every person with a computer and a connection to YouPorn has made the "hard drive" joke at least once. That doesn't excuse it.

4. "I won't take off your MP3 address / Until you tell me yes / That you received my text / Now you've got the sex" That first lyric could actually be a reference to a dress that's made of MP3s. Maybe. I mean, I guess it doesn't make much of a difference.

3. "Girl step into my chat room / Every time you think of me / And I'll get right back to you / So expeditiously" What, Akon, you won't be waiting for her? In your own chat room? Tsk, tsk.

2. "Pushin' on your keys / Touchin' on your mouse / Imagine you and me / Runnin' through your house" In which the paramour is turned into a bunch of bits and some household vermin.

1. "I'm on your laptop / Goin' to download, baby" This one wins the prize if only because everyone knows that you can't download a baby.

There's actually more, which is something of an amazing feat because the track clocks in under 2:30.

Akon - MP3 U Me [YouTube]

"Don't Forget The Lyrics" Has A Billy Vera Moment

Maura Johnston — Thu, 08 May 2008 23:30:00 EDT

One reason I love Google Trends: It allows me to keep up with Don't Forget The Lyrics while not having to watch the show, thanks to the many searches for strings like "thriller lyrics" and "hit the road jack lyrics" and "movin on up lyrics" (sadly not for the awesome Primal Scream song). No. 7 on the list at this moment is, uh, "At This Moment" by Billy Vera and the Beaters, a song that I have a probably disproportional affection for thanks for a) the way it's kind of the perfect slow-dance song and b) its introduction to the American populace via Family Ties, which was one of my favorite shows as a young lass and which I actually credit with a few personal musical epiphanies. I mean, do you remember when Nick wanted "Lola" as his wedding song? Once those Raincoats reissues came out I liked to think that he actually wanted their cover of the Kinks song playing, and not the original.

This is so much more Nick than the Kinks version. Ayy.

Raincoats - Lola [Songza]
YouTube]

Bret Michaels' Version Of "Cum On Feel Tha Noize" Is Out Of Time (But It Makes Some Money Anyway)

Maura Johnston — Fri, 02 May 2008 08:55:00 EDT

Last night, Bret Michaels continued his run of TV exposure with an appearance on Don't Forget The Lyrics, a show that, I admit, I would probably completely suck on because I am the queen of making syllables up to fit the words of certain songs. He gave up after being tripped up by the pre-chorus to Slade's "Cum On Feel Tha Noize," a song which he claims he can get right when he's in his car. But can he get the melody right? Because there was a run of pretty rough notes there at the beginning. Cleanse your ears with Kevin DuBrow's interpretation of the track, which is after the jump.

Quiet Riot - Cum On Feel Tha Noize [YouTube]
Bret Michaels On Don't Forget The Lyrics Part 2 [RedLasso]

"Don't Forget The Lyrics" Flexes Its Soundscan Muscle

Maura Johnston — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 14:30:56 EST

The top tier of this week's album chart was pretty grim, thanks to a post-Grammy hangover that resulted in people promptly forgetting that they could easily buy albums by the likes of Jack Johnson (No. 1, off 42%), Alicia Keys (No. 2, off 51%) and Amy Winehouse (No. 3, off 55%). But lurking in its middle reaches was yet another testament to the power of televised music: Boyz II Men's Motown: A Journey Through Hitsville USA shot up from No. 182 to No. 62 on a 157-percent sales gain, one derived in large part from the group's appearance Thursday night on the Fox game show Don't Forget The Lyrics, which featured them performing songs from the new album. Oh, if only music programming wasn't such a ratings disaster, the music industry would be able to fix itself but good!

Biggest Debuts: The latest installment in the Kidz Bop series—Kidz Bop 13, which has covers of the Shop Boyz, Fergie, and Colbie Caillat, among others—entered the chart at No. 4, selling 49,000 copies. Coming in at No. 8 and selling 37,000 copies was Chris Cagle's My Life's Been A Country Song, and entering the chart at No. 19 was Jim Jones' Harlem's American Gangster, which sold 25,000 copies.

Notable Jumps: Another interesting gainer lurking in the lower reaches of this week's charts: the soundtrack for Once, which was honored with an Oscar on Sunday night and which actually dropped 2% in overall sales. But contrast that dip with the album's 82% gain on the digital-sales chart; its week-to-week digital sales went up by about 5,000 copies, while "Falling Slowly," the track that won Oscar gold, also made a reappearance on the digital-tracks chart at No. 103, selling 14,000 copies and shooting up 359%.

Given that two weeks ago, Herbie Hancock and Amy Winehouse experienced impressive digital gains in the few hours after the Grammys—which were followed by both albums shooting up the big chart thanks to people reaching their brick-and-mortar stores during the week—one could think that the digital-sales chart of the week immediately following a Sunday-night awards ceremony now serves as a sort of leading indicator for sales leaps on the big chart in the week after.

Dropping Off: Let's just say that it was another bad week for the record business, with overall sales dropping 18.5% week-to-week and off 13.1% from this week last year.

Nickelback Award For Inexplicable Durability: That Sara Bareilles—what a cutie! Well, to people who aren't me; they're still buying her album Little Voice in relative droves, and she was the only member of the top 20 to experience a sales increase this week. (She's up 9% to 37,000 sold; that tally propelled her from No. 21 to No. 7.)

The top 20, with sales totals in parentheses:
1. Jack Johnson, Sleep Through The Static (105,000)
2. Alicia Keys, As I Am (53,000)
3. Amy Winehouse, Back To Black (52,000)
4. Kidz Bop 13 (49,000)
5. Step Up 2: The Streets soundtrack (43,000)
6. Juno Soundtrack (38,000)
7. Sara Bareilles, Little Voice (37,000)
8. Chris Cagle, My Life's Been A Country Song (37,000)
9. Mary J. Blige, Growing Pains (35,000)
10. Taylor Swift (33,000)
11. Sheryl Crow, Detours (33,000)
12. Keyshia Cole, Just Like You (30,000)
13. Chris Brown, Exclusive (29,000)
14. Hannah Montana 2: Meet Miley Cyrus (29,000)
15. Alvin & The Chipmunks soundtrack (26,000)
16. Herbie Hancock, River: The Joni Letters (26,000)
17. 2008 Grammy Nominees (25,000)
18. Daughtry 25,000)
19. Jim Jones, Harlem's American Gangster (25,000)
20. Across The Universe soundtrack (deluxe edition) (23,000)

"Don't Forget The Lyrics" Brings In Ringers

Maura Johnston — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 09:30:04 EST

I noted during last night's Idol eliminations that the harmonizers of Boyz II Men would be on Don't Forget The Lyrics, the song-remembering game show that sends its viewers rushing to Google during its commercial breaks. While searching for clips from the show, I came across the news that other "celebrities" would be on the show in future weeks, including Poison's Bret Michaels, REO Speedwagon's Kevin Cronin, and former Idol contestant Kimberley Locke. It's like going to a state fair from the comfort of your own couch, and with a much messier process for procuring a fried Oreo! [TVCrunch]

Googlers Want To Know: "Why Is That Boy With The Weird Glasses Singing About Superman?"

mjohnston — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 08:53:30 EST

Google's year-end wrapup of search trends—the Google Zeitgeist—came out last night, and in addition to finding out that Hannah Montana fans are much more likely to use search engines than Rolling Stones fans and that people were more interested in learning about emo than about gout, the search engine compiled its list of the 10 most popular lyrics searches this year:

1. umbrella lyrics (rihanna)
2. soulja boy lyrics
3. bubbly lyrics (colbie caillat)
4. paramore lyrics
5. lil wayne lyrics
6. taylor swift lyrics
7. apologize lyrics (timbaland)
8. hannah montana lyrics
9. girlfriend lyrics (avril lavigne)
10. avril lavigne lyrics

I'm going to guess that Lil Wayne is up there just because of the sheer volume of music he put out this year. But Soulja Boy at No. 2? Is it just that people wanted to sing and do the dance at the same time, or are they trying to winnow down the exact meaning of the verb "to superman"?

Google Zeitgeist 2007 [Google]

Dude from New Zealand Idol, you are no Wayne ...

mjohnston — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 09:15:07 EST

Dude from New Zealand Idol, you are no Wayne Brady (although the fact that I can't remember your name even though I've been watching your show for the past few weeks is probably an even greater indication of that): "[Friday night's] time-slot premiere of Don't Forget the Lyrics! Friday (6.3 million) nearly doubled its weak lead-in from Next Great American Band (2.6 million)." [USA Today]

"Don't Forget The Lyrics" Really Needs To Come Out With A Home Game Soon

mjohnston — Fri, 28 Sep 2007 10:01:29 EDT

From Google Trends at around 10 p.m. ET last night, or right after Don't Forget The Lyrics aired on the East Coast. Not sure about that No. 1 entry, though—is that a Radiohead b-side that somehow snuck into the show? Oh, Fox, you scamps!

Don't Forget The Lyrics [Fox]
Earlier: Music Industry Thrilled By Recent Trend Of Inane "Karaoke For Dummies" Game Shows

Music Industry Thrilled By Recent Trend Of Inane "Karaoke For Dummies" Game Shows

mjohnston — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 08:53:37 EDT

Don't Forget The Lyrics and The Singing Bee—both of which, after summer runs that garnered ratings even better than 'Til Death reruns, are returning this fall—have given an unexpected boon to the record industry, apparently because being reminded of a song inspires at least a few people to actually shell out the 99 cents required to put it on their hard drives:

Just two months earlier, Creedence Clearwater Revival was on the receiving end of a feature on the show. For the week ending July 22, after contestant Luke Adams sang "Fortunate Son" on his way to a $350,000 prize, downloads of the CCR track jumped 45 percent to 3,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

Not quite enough to get the track back into the digital charts, but hey, that's a big $2,970 payout right there! Which is a good thing given that the shows don't pay licensing fees for using bands' songs:

"Bee" and "Lyrics" do not pay licensing fees because they use live bands versus original recordings. They do, however, pay synchronization fees to publishers and public performance fees.

Given the state of record sales, ASCAP's Brabec said, the shows' impact as a source of income for writers is significant, here and abroad.

Ah, the publishing business. They really are the only ones making money these days, aren't they? Well, aside from the people who will be getting paid to record the inevitable Singing Bee Christmas album:

During the fall season, "Bee" is planning to have guest artists make surprise appearances and perform their own songs. In addition, negotiations are in progress to secure a label to release a Ray Chew & the Groove Christmas album. The hope, Gurin said, is that it will be the first in a long franchise of cover albums of pop hits.

We're sure that Joey Fatone is already lobbying for one song to be included within.

"Bee," "Lyrics" strike a chord with fans, industry [Reuters]

Fox's spin on The Singing Bee, the Wayne ...

mjohnston — Fri, 03 Aug 2007 15:05:05 EDT

Fox's spin on The Singing Bee, the Wayne Brady-hosted Don't Forget The Lyrics, gets picked up for the fall schedule thanks to a strong showing in the ratings. All Idolator readers should try out for this show. Seriously. [Ad Age]

Remember To Not Forget To Remember To Don't Forget The Lyrics

jharv — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 14:20:55 EDT

Who would have possibly guessed that Fox would have the classier of the season's two "can you remember the words to this famous song?" game shows? Watching Don't Forget the Lyrics last night, I was amazed by how restrained it all was, from affable stump of a host Wayne Brady to its Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?-esque "lifelines" to the fact that the contestant could actually kinda, sorta sing. Compared to the gaudy, eye- and ear-harassing cattle call that is NBC's Singing Bee, it was positively ... subdued. Which means it shouldn't have a prayer against a show that has both Joey Fatone and Europe's "The Final Countdown," but apparently Fox was ratings champ last night (by a scant .8 million viewers). Surely some of that is down to the success of So You Think You Can Dance? (go Lacey), but as long as Fox keeps Dance as Lyrics' lead-in, it looks like we're looking at the summer of the battling tuneless d-bags.

"Dance," "Lyrics" Combine for Ratings Victory [Zap2It]