Now this is a story all about how British boy band One Direction‘s US invasion has turned upside down, with the fivesome kicking off their first stateside tour Tuesday night (May 22) at Mohegan Sun casino in Uncasville, CT. To eardrum-bursting shrieks, 1D knocked out the singles from their eponymous debut album, including “What Makes You Beautiful,” then padded the show with a few unexpected covers — notably Will Smith‘s Fresh Prince of Bel-Air theme rap, a little ditty that predates One Direction’s oldest member (Louis Tomlinson) by almost two years.

Jump below to see the boys do a roundtable singalong of The Black Eyed Peas “I Gotta Feelin”, Gym Class Heroes‘ “Stereo Hearts”, Amy Winehouse‘s “Valerie” and Natalie Imbruglia‘s “Torn”.

If One Direction are taking requests on tour, what songs do you want to see them cover live? Tell us in the comments below or on Facebook and Twitter.

Haven’t done one of these in a while, and I figure the night that I’m about to run out to the R. Kelly show in New York (yessss) is as good a time as any to do so. Also, I am currently in something of a (relative) listening rut, alternating between the Shakira record, my “2009 awesomeness” playlist (now at 32 songs! new additions include Alphabeat and Natalie Imbruglia!), and isolated listens to the new songs/albums that cross my transom. And not much else! So, feel free to plug your favorite music of right now here—there’s no limit on how old or new it is, obviously,

It’s been a long time since I did a post that just recommended a bunch of songs, no? Well, three wonderful slices of glossy, bouncy pop await you after the jump.


Australia’s inadvertent alt-pop poster girl Natalie Imbruglia’s comeback single “Want,” which I’ve praised in this space before but which now has a narcissism-of-the-Webcam-era-probing video:



And Kanye West protege Mr. Hudson’s “White Lies,” which friend-of-Idolator Michaela Drapes tipped me off to by saying, “It should be a Robbie Williams song. I was worried that his new one was so dated … but if there’s still stuff like this on the UK charts, he’s golden. Yay!”



And finally, here’s Annie’s “Songs Remind Me Of You,” which will be the lead single from the reworked version of her long-delayed album Don’t Stop. It’s produced by the always-reliable studio mastermind Richard X, and it absolutely slays. (Michaela also let me know about this video.)

It’s been 12 years since Natalie Imbruglia made the transition from Australian soap star to pop star with the hot-AC staple “Torn,” and her fourth studio album Come To Life is scheduled to come out in October. “Want,” the first single from the album, is a dreamy, sheeny dancepop tune that’s pretty irresistible, even though it owes an obvious debt to her fellow Aussie Kylie Minogue. (Although it’s apparently a co-write with none other than Coldplay frontman Chris Martin?! Oh man, could you imagine if this is a hint at Coldplay releases to come?) A radio rip of the track is after the jump.





Natalie Imbruglia – Want [YouTube via HardCandy]
[Pic via NatalieImbruglia.com]