Did You Know?

:: After getting punk’d by Justin Bieber, Miley Cyrus is now the one doing the punking. Miley set up her boyfriend, Hunger Games actor Liam Hemsworth, by planning two naked people to hop into their SUV. See how Liam reacted in the preview above, and catch the full prank this Thursday May 17 on MTV. [ONTD]

:: Katy Perry will perform her new single “Wide Awake” at the 2012 Billboard Music Awards, airing this Sunday on ABC. [Billboard]

:: OneRepublic drummer Edward Ray Fisher was arrested in Denver, CO for going into “a destructive rage”, and was booked for destruction of private property, disturbing the peace and assault. [Pop Crush]

:: Rye Rye discusses her close friendship with M.I.A., Channing Tatum‘s dance skills, and dealing with tragedy while creating her debut album Go! Pop! Bang! in a new interview. [Vulture]

:: Rihanna is an golden goddess — literally, she’s covered in gold face paint — while performing at the 22nd Annual Robin Hood Foundation Benefit in NYC. [Just Jared]

After the jump, find out which music acts will be hitting the tube today.

Music on TV:

:: Late Show with David Letterman (CBS) — Best Coast
:: Tonight Show with Jay Leno (NBC) — Bobby Brown
:: Ellen DeGeneres (ABC) —  Bobby Brown
:: Late Night With Jimmy Fallon (NBC) —
:: Last Call with Carson Daly (NBC) — Dr. Dog

It was a star-studded America’s Got Talent finale last night, as Tony Bennett and Queen Latifah took to the stage to perform their Duets II tune “Who Can I Turn To (When Nobody Needs Me),” Cobra Starship and Sabi gave a shaky performance of their hit “You Make Me Feel…” and OneRepublic mashed up their hits “Secrets” and “Good Life.” Incidentally, 36-year-old crooner Landau Eugene Murphy Jr. emerged as the AGT winner this season. Watch the musical happenings on the show below.

Tony Bennett & Queen Latifah — ”Who Can I Turn To (When Nobody Needs Me)” (on America’s Got Talent)

Cobra Starship & Sabi — “You Make Me Feel…” (on America’s Got Talent)

OneRepublic — “Secrets” / “Good Life” (on America’s Got Talent)

AGT winner Landau Eugene Murphy Jr. sings Frank Sinatra’s “My Way”

Which was your favorite musical performance on the finale? Let us know below!

Alright, grab the box of Kleenex. For four years, Good Morning America has been asking viewers to express their thoughts or inspirational messages in small bite-sized phrases via its “Your 3 Words” segment. The morning show capped it all off today by airing a live event wherein cameras showed GMA staff in New York and people around the country — from Boston to Chicago to Phoenix to Orlando — holding up signs containing their personal mantras, while OneRepublic performed their upbeat jam “Good Life” live in the program’s Times Square studio. Our three words: watch it below.

Teens, you’ve chosen well — at least, as far as performers go (we won’t weigh in on any Twilight-related victories). Already the red carpet has been rolled out and the surfboards are lined up to reward adolescent favorites like The Vampire Diaries, Taylor Swift, and Harry Potter. (Check out our Teen Choice preview for more info on the nominees.) But even better than all that is the chance to see live performances from Selena Gomez & the Scene, will.i.am, OneRepublic, and Jason Derulo. First up, Selena Gomez — then we’ll updating this post every time a new performance appears online, so keep checking back as the night progresses!

Selena Gomez & The Scene – “Love You Like A Love Song”

Jason Derulo – “Don’t Wanna Go Home”

OneRepublic – “Good Life”

Ashton Kutcher – “Teenage Dream”

When it comes to choices, teens make plenty. Which colleges to apply to? Whose house to tell Mom I’m sleeping over at? And, most crucially of all, Team Edward or Team Jacob? That last Major Life Decision is prominently on display as Taylor Lautner and Robert Pattinson face-off for a number of prizes, including Choice Male Hottie — against stiff competition like Homme Fatale Joe Jonas and supposedly-on-hiatus Justin Bieber. And naturally, no choice a teen will ever make is as paramount a decision as which pop idols to worship. Thus many of our faves are represented tonight as nominees and performers. Head below to see what to expect this evening!

Last year’s Teen Choice Awards saw live performances from the likes of Katy Perry, Justin Bieber, Jason Derulo, Bruno Mars, Travie McCoy, and Diddy-Dirty Money. This year’s roster of musical guests is no slimmer — we’ll see Selena Gomez & the Scene, will.i.am, OneRepublic, Demi Lovato, and Jason Derulo again (and if there are any more performers, they’re being saved as surprises).

This year’s ceremony is hosted by The Big Bang Theory‘s Kaley Cuoco (really? do that many teens watch CBS?), and since Selena Gomez is performing, we know we’ll see Justin Bieber in attendance! (He is nominated for five choice “surfboards,” after all.) There’s also a lot of love for Selena as an award nominee, along with The Black Eyed Peas, Taylor Swift, Bruno Mars, and more.

The Biebs will duke it out with Mars, Derulo, Cee Lo, and Enrique Iglesias for Choice Male Artist (we’re predicting a landslide victory for Chris Brown’s lady-loving pal). As for female artist, Swift goes up against heavy hitters like Adele, Rihanna, Katy Perry, and Lady Gaga (curiously absent: Britney Spears?). We predict either Taylor or Katy for the win.

To the Teen Choice Awards’ credit, they’ve also got a couple novel categories like “Choice Love Song” and “Choice Break-Up Song,” both featuring Taylor Swift and Bruno Mars for two different tracks. “Choice Red Carpet Fashion Icon” sees the always-outrageous Lady Gaga competing with slightly more conservative fashionistas like Taylor Swift, Jennifer Lopez, Vanessa Hudgens, and Miley Cyrus, while the category’s male competition sees Chris Colfer up against Justin Timberlake and, of course, Justin Bieber.

The Biebs is also up for “Choice TV Villain” and “Choice Twit” — not as mean as it sounds, since it honors teens’ favorite tweeter.

See the full list of music nominees below:

Choice Music: Male Artist
Justin Bieber
Jason Derülo
Cee Lo Green
Enrique Iglesias
Bruno Mars

Choice Music: Female Artist
Adele
Lady Gaga
Katy Perry
Rihanna
Taylor Swift

Choice Music: Group
Black Eyed Peas
Far East Movement
Glee cast
Selena Gomez & The Scene
The Script

Choice Music: R&B/Hip-Hop Artist
Eminem
Lupe Fiasco
Nicki Minaj
Pitbull
Kanye West

Choice Music: R&B/Hip-Hop Track
“Run the World (Girls),” Beyoncé
“Just Can’t Get Enough,” The Black Eyed Peas
“Don’t Wanna Go Home,” Jason Derülo
“I Need A Doctor,” Dr. Dre featuring Eminem and Skylar Grey
“All Of The Lights,” Kanye West

Choice Music: Single
“The Time (Dirty Bit),” The Black Eyed Peas
“Who Says,” Selena Gomez & The Scene
“Born This Way,” Lady Gaga
“Firework,” Katy Perry
“Give Me Everything,” Pitbull featuring Ne-Yo

Choice Music: Male Country Artist
Jason Aldean
Luke Bryan
Brad Paisley
Blake Shelton
Keith Urban

Choice Music: Female Country Artist
Miranda Lambert
Jennette McCurdy
Kellie Pickler
Taylor Swift
Carrie Underwood

Choice Music: Country Single
“If I Die Young,” The Band Perry
“Country Girl (Shake It for Me),” Luke Bryan
“Just A Kiss,” Lady Antebellum
“Honey Bee,” Blake Shelton
“Mean,” Taylor Swift

Choice Music: Country Group
Lady Antebellum
The Band Perry
Rascal Flatts
Steel Magnolia
Little Big Town

Choice Music: Rock Group
30 Seconds to Mars
Foo Fighters
Linkin Park
OneRepublic
Paramore

Choice Music: Rock Track
“Rope,” Foo Fighters
“Waiting for the End,” Linkin Park
“Sing,” My Chemical Romance
“Good Life,” OneRepublic
“Monster,” Paramore

Choice Love Song
“Come Down With Love,” Allstar Weekend
“Love You Like A Love Song,” Selena Gomez
“Just The Way You Are,” Bruno Mars
“Teenage Dream,” Katy Perry
“Mine,” Taylor Swift

Choice Break-Up Song
“Rolling in the Deep,” Adele
“Forget You,” Cee Lo Green
“See No More,” Joe Jonas
“Grenade,” Bruno Mars
“Back to December,” Taylor Swift

Choice Red Carpet Fashion Icon: Female
Miley Cyrus
Vanessa Hudgens
Lady Gaga
Jennifer Lopez
Taylor Swift

Choice Red Carpet Fashion Icon: Male
Justin Bieber
Chris Colfer
Zac Efron
Jaden Smith
Justin Timberlake

Who are you hoping to see take surfboards home? And which of the nominees is your favorite Love and Beak-Up track? Tell us below!

The Teen Choice Awards air tonight on Fox starting at 8 PM EST.

Though electro-hop collective Far East Movement is busy prepping for its upcoming Up In The Air tour, the hard-partying “Fly Like A G6″ squad is also screaming down the runway toward the release of its new album, Free Wired. Their latest move: shooting a video for new single “Rocketeer”. The track—penned by FM, The Stereotypes and “Nothin’ On You” crooner Bruno Mars—is a collaboration with prolific hitmaker and Kelly Clarkson on-again-off-again buddy Ryan Tedder. Check out this exclusive shot of the OneRepublic-an tickling the ivories as part of his cameo role in the vid.

While we discover most of our favorite new songs on the Interwebz, we do still find that a song will stick in our head if it’s used at just the right moment in a TV show. And that’s exactly what happened last year when we heard Tamar Kaprelian’s “New Day” on MTV’s The Hills as the show bid a final farewell to its big star, Lauren Conrad.

Now we know where Tamar learned to create such honest-but-catchy choruses — she was weaned on the classic, anthemic pop of Paul McCartney, Billy Joel and The Sound Of Music. Since then, she’s been honing her songwriting and paying her dues (she wrote “New Day” partly about overcoming setbacks in both life and the music biz, she says). We’re thrilled to be able to unveil the cover of her debut album, Sinner Or A Saint, and to introduce a talent you need to know.

“New Day” will be the first single from Sinner Or A Saint — because, and we know this is going to sound crazy, not everyone watches The Hills. We’re also crushing on the hopscotch pop of “Delicate Soul”, which you can hear on her MySpace. (Check her acoustic version at Vevo).

Tamar Kaprelian - New Day

Tamar’s big break came after she entered a contest to see who could record the best rendition of OneRepublic’s smash “Apologize”. (She had actually planned to post her own cover of the song on YouTube anyway as a way to build buzz, at the advice of her producer, Xandy Barry). Tamar won the contest — with this — and soon landed herself a contract with OneRepublic’s label. (Ryan Tedder and songwriter Butch Walker both contributed to Tamar’s album).

Sinner Or A Saint will be out July 13. But here’s your first look at Tamar’s album cover.

Anyone else see just a hint of Tapestry here? (And what a fine place to look for inspiration too.) What do you think of Tamar’s sound?

Humoring the often incoherent ramblings of Kathy Lee Gifford on the Today Show is a difficult task that early in the morning, but Ryan Tedder managed to make it through a conversation with the host without either bursting out laughing or just giving up midway through. You’re a better man than us, Ryan.

Tedder and OneRepublic performed their single “All The Right Moves,” which is slowly creeping its way up the Hot 100 (it’s currently holding steady at #18). Check out their early morning performance below.

OneRepublic – “All The Right Moves”

We know the 2010 Winter Olympics are so last week, but we just received this neat lil’ video postcard in the mail from OneRepublic, who were nice enough to take a brief break from prancing around Vancouver and performing for the masses to answer a few questions while warming themselves up by the fire. Jump below to check out Ryan Tedder and his mates as they talk about the recording of Waking Up and weigh in on Glee, Shaun White and going for the gold:

Music critics have praised the band for venturing past the safety of the pop-rock conventions from their debut, Dreaming Out Loud, which of course included the monster hit “Apologize.” On the new Waking Up, the band internalized “a lot of the things that made ["Apologize" collaborator] Timbaland such a compelling producer — that good sounds are paramount, songs should move in odd directions and many different ideas can constitute a hook.” But the the biggest musical experiment that Ryan and the gang attempted this time around, the band tells us, was “recording it in a house. Usually you do albums in a recording studio that is designed for sound. But we just used the different rooms and wood carpet and everything else the house had to record all the live instruments.”

Tedder also mentions that, contrary to belief, he did not write a song for Glee, but last time we spoke with him one-on-one, he confirmed, “I’m gonna be doing at least one song for the next season that’s original.” We’re just crossing our fingers Tedder’s tune doesn’t require Matthew Morrison to rap ever again.

It’s been one hell of a year for Ryan Tedder. In addition to his band OneRepublic releasing sophomore album Waking Up last month, the singer-songwriter is also reveling in the fact that “Halo,” which he co-wrote with Beyonce (as well as co-produced), has been nominated for a Record Of The Year Grammy. Additionally, Beyonce’s full LP containing “Halo,” I Am… Sasha Fierce, is also up for Album Of The Year.

But with “Halo” came controversy after Kelly Clarkson basically accused him of using the same melody for her own Ryan Tedder song, “Already Gone.” And then in the fall, while tackling a break-neck pace of work that saw him crafting music with everyone from Adam Lambert and Natasha Bedingfield to Adele and Leona Lewis, Tedder says he came down with H1N1: “It nearly killed me. I was sick for three weeks.”

But, hey, why not add more work to the schedule—Tedder also says  he’s been asked to contribute material to a forthcoming episode of Glee that’s set to contain original music for a change.

Hop below the jump to read our interview with possibly the busiest man in music at the moment, OneRepublic frontman and 2010 Grammy nominee Ryan Tedder.

RD: First off, congratulations on the Grammy nomination for “Halo.”
RT: Thank you. I was definitely not counting on it, because the Grammys are notorious for disappointing, but it was exciting. What I didn’t count on was [that Beyonce] also got nominated for Album Of The Year, so I could end up potentially walking away with two that night. If that happened I would probably freak out, or put at least one of them up on eBay.

Did you watch the episode of Glee where the cast sings “Halo” as a mashup with “Walking On Sunshine”?
I did! Glee is actually my new addiction. I download every episode. They actually just approached me. Adam Anders, the guy who does all the music, approached me about two weeks ago to do original music for the next season. So I’m gonna be doing at least one song for the next season that’s original.

OneRepublic has had songs in two movies by German filmmaker Til Schweiger, Keinohrhasen and the one currently out now, Zweiohrküken. What’s the history there?
Til literally is probably our most vehement fan. He got an early pre-release copy of our first album before it came out and picked “Apologize.” He didn’t think we were going to approve it for the movie originally. German budgets are not the same as an American movie. A guy that works at our label is from Germany and he knew how big of a deal Til Schweiger is. In Germany, Til Schweiger is like Mel Gibson plus Brad Pitt. He produces, directs, writes and stars in the biggest movies in Germany. None of us had any concept of any of that. It really took another German telling us, ‘You really need to take this seriously,’ and [to] do whatever needs to be done with Til Schweiger.

How did the OneRepublic song “Marchin’ On” get selected to be on Timbaland’s Shock Value II—albeit on the “deluxe” edition?
That’s really interesting. It was actually not finished. “Marchin’ On” was the last song that made the album, and it came about as an accident. I didn’t know that the album was even being made, and then all of a sudden I find out it’s being made and it’s gotta be finished in three weeks and Timbaland needs a song from you. So we did a song that we really liked that we were considering saving for our next record, and Tim heard it and he liked it but he thought it was too happy. He wanted something a little bit more somber. I just kind of kept beating my head against the wall, and tried four or five different ideas for songs. A few of them were great. I tend to not finish songs if I don’t think that they’re gonna be great. So I had four unfinished song ideas, and on the fifth one I just decided to do something really, really simple. I came up with a verse and chorus to “Marchin’ On,” I think I was in Minneapolis in some studio, and then sent it to Tim and he freaked out on it. He [had] asked me for a “Halo.” He was making all these references. I was like, I’m not gonna do that. I’m not gonna hand in something that sounds like “Apologize, Part II.” I don’t really believe in trying to rip yourself off.

Why go back there, anyway?
Yeah, it’s not worth going back. That territory, for better or worse, was conquered. So, nevertheless, I wanted to give him something that had tempo, that was four-on-the-floor, that could almost be a dance song. The funny part is it was only supposed to be on his album. Our album was done. We had ten songs. Originally our album was only gonna be nine songs, and the album title for the longest time was 9. We even had artwork and everything, but we had to scrap that because two different movies and a book and all this crap was coming out called 9. So we literally added a tenth song.

You said “Marchin’ On” wasn’t finished?
What happened was there was a miscommunication and the label thought we were putting “Marchin’ On” on our album as well as Timbaland’s album. And so they printed every single album sleeve with “Marchin’ On.” But the problem was, with the Timbaland version I only did half of a song. I did a verse and a chorus. So I find out literally the evening before the whole album was being mastered, it’s being mastered in 12 hours—and I’d just finished a show—and my manager says, “You’ve got to gotta go into a studio tonight and finish ‘Marchin’ On.’” I was like, hell no! It’s not supposed to be finished. Timbaland finished it. He was like, “No, we need a OneRepublic version now, because wires got crossed and everything’s been printed with ‘Marchin’ On.’” So that’s how that song ended up on the album. That song went from a verse-chorus to a full song literally in an hour and 45 minutes.

It’s got to be wearing on you at this point, trying to balance the songwriting for other artists as well as your own career with OneRepublic.
It really is, man. It really is. And that’s kinda the thing I’m trying to figure out. I was just talking to Max Martin the other day—he was an idol of mine, and so now he and I have developed a friendly relationship. The single greatest email I ever got in my life was Max Martin emailed me about a year-and-a-half ago and said, “There are only two songs ever written that I’ve told anybody I wish I’d written.” And he said, “You wrote both of them.” I saved the email! I was like, are you kidding me?  I wrote back and said, “You have about five.” He just emailed me yesterday, actually, and was like, “I don’t know how you do it,” because I was just venting to him, saying things are busy, it’s crazy. And I’m the kind of person that, in anything I’m doing—if it’s exercise, if it’s running, if it’s sports, whatever it is—I tend to see how far I can push myself. It’s almost like self-torture. I wanna know what my threshold is. And so this past fall was probably the most intense—we were rehearsing, shooting a video, I was wrapping Adam Lambert’s album, handing in mixes for Leona [Lewis] and writing with Natasha [Bedingfield] while finishing our record, all simultaneously.

Were you trying to set some kind of record?
It nearly killed me. I got H1N1. I was sick for three weeks. I was like, okay, that’s my threshold. So now I’ve kind of backed off it a little bit. I have the uber-drive like the Energizer bunny that just makes me just go, go, go. And I wanna do it all. But the problem is, I’m realizing, in trying to do that you can just kill yourself. And it’s like once you reach whatever that level is, the thought of maintaining it is just nauseating. It’s like trying to pull a Madonna or something. I like Lady Gaga, but when I think about her life I literally have to go take a nap. Thinking about her life makes me tired, because I’m thinking, you really should have taken about eight years to get to where you are. I can say this because I’ve done it—not on her level, but I’ve been doing this for a long time. When you start at that velocity—I mean, that’s what happened to Panic! At the Disco, and now, I don’t know if they’re done, but pretty much. When you start at that maximum velocity, crazy level, maintaining it is ten times worse than getting there.

How do you give the brush-off to other artists wanting a Ryan Tedder track on their album?
Now I just balance it out. I’m only working on stuff that I absolutely love now. I get hit up for songs every day, probably four or five times a day. And they’re all  huge artists, so it’s really hard to pass on a lot of them. But now I say if inspiration hits me and something absolutely magnificent raises its head, then I’ll do something. But what I’m not gonna do is hand in a B+ song just for the sake of handing one in.

So who’s getting your “A” material these days?
I’m working with Adele right now, who’s inspiring me like crazy. I hadn’t written a song in about a month, literally, until yesterday. The less I write, the better the songs are. When “Halo” came about, I hadn’t written a song in two months. Then two months after that I wrote “Battlefield,” and two months after that was “Already Gone.” When I don’t do a ton of writing, then typically the quality of the song is a lot better.

You’re very tight with Simon Cowell and you work with all the artists coming out of American Idol. Were you asked to be a replacement judge when Paula left at any point?
[Laughs] You know, yeah, as like a joke in a passing conversation with Simon. I was like, “So Paula’s leaving?” He was like, “Yeah, you wanna replace her?” I was like, “Uh, no.” I’ve known Randy Jackson for years. I actually know Paula pretty well. My wife’s best friend was her roommate and personal assistant for the last few years. It’s a really small world in Hollywood, which is partly why I left. But I can’t say that at some point I won’t do something like that, because I love every aspect of music and I love evaluating music. I love listening and just taking stuff apart—not necessarily critically, but from a songwriter-artist perspective.  Those shows are amazing. What I like about those shows, X Factor and American Idol, it’s gotten the whole country obsessed with music. That makes me happy. I always loved Star Search. I never understood why that show got taken off the air. I think once X Factor starts [here in the U.S.], Simon’s going to—he’s extremely competitive—and I think he’s going to attempt an overthrow of the American Idol paradigm. He’s gonna shift it to X Factor. I’m pretty sure that’s gonna happen.

One of the best albums you had a hand in was Blake Lewis’ first one, Audio Day Dream. It had to be disappointing that it didn’t take off like it should have.
I loved that album. I was actually with Blake about a week-and-a-half ago. He pops up random places. We were in Vegas and Seattle, and somehow he always just manages to pop up. He’s still bummed about it and confused about it. He’s moving forward and doing his own thing, as he should. But something weird happened on that project, and I can’t really go on the record saying exactly what it is. I have my suspicions. I feel like the label was in a transitional period when that album came out. They were switching heads of state, more or less, and that was one of those albums that had singles, I think, for days. I know it did. I know for a fact, because they researched the crap out of that album, and there were five songs that tested Top 10—which is astronomical, as far as research goes.  His album was maybe a little too eclectic. And frankly, when the first single didn’t just explode, they shifted their attention to Jordin and thought, well, let’s work Jordin’s record. And that’s really what happened.

The year’s almost over. Have you made amends with Kelly Clarkson after the whole “Halo”/”Already Gone” drama?
Man, I haven’t talked to her, to be honest, since that went down. She has my email. Her attorney or somebody from her camp told somebody from my camp that she’s willing to work with me again. I was like, oh, thank you. I mean, I’m looking at your song right now and it’s #1 for the fourth week on Hot AC, so I’m sorry that I helped with that. I was absolutely livid when that whole thing came out because she had no idea what she was talking about when she said that. Somebody got up in her ear, and she got a bug in her ear. It was how she said it and how she worded it. If I was going around and selling the same track to the biggest artists in the world, how long would my career last? It’s ludicrous. And she knows me well enough to know I’m not an idiot. I’m not the kinda guy who’s gonna bust my ass for ten years to try and pull a fast one on Beyonce or Kelly. I’m no longer mad about the situation at all. “Already Gone” has just about done as well in America as “Halo” did. She literally wanted to sabotage the song. I’m happy that it saw the light of day, because I actually liked “Already Gone” more than “Halo.” I connect with it more. It gave me goose bumps. I’ve watched girls I’ve played the song for cry. It’s just an emotional, heartbreaking breakup song. I always liked it more than “Halo.”

Would you consider working with her again, then?
As far as working with her in the future, I would—but I don’t know, man. It really is tough to say. I like Kelly a lot. I have nothing but amazing stuff to say about her. Her album just got nominated for Pop Album Of The Year, and I like to think I contributed somewhat with that. She’s the easiest person to work with in the studio, and all these other great superlatives. But having said that, it’s like, fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me. And I just don’t know that I wanna venture—I don’t wanna get some crazy-ass backlash or get my head snapped off for writing a hit song. I do wish her the best, and if we work together in the future, then I will be a happy camper about it and let bygones be bygones.

Hot on the heels of Ryan Tedder fending off self-plagiarizing accusations by eagle-eared listeners who picked up the similarities between his compositions for Kelly Clarkson and Beyoncé, the OneRepublic main main/inexplicably in-demand songwriter is seemingly copying himself again. After the jump, hear the new OneRepublic single “All The Right Moves” and Leona Lewis’ latest single “Happy”—both of which were penned by Tedder—and tell me if I’m crazy for hearing the same damn song, albeit at slightly different speeds.

Leona Lewis, “Happy”

OneRepublic, “All The Right Moves”

Right? Right? Tedder, for his part, is claiming that he was inspired solely by Lewis’ vocal prowess:

I’m also pleased to announce Leona Lewis’ 1st single off her upcoming album. The song is called “Happy” and I honestly feel it is the most beautiful song I’ve ever been a part of. My goal when I started working on Leona’s new album was to “NOT” chase or be influenced by any of her previous hits- or any songs i’ve ever done with anyone else- including Bleeding Love. True artists do not look back to previous successes they look forward to creating new moments and songs the world can connect with in a different way. And that is what Leona has done with “Happy”. I hope u like it as much as we do, and I hope the lyrics hit u as hard as they hit me.

So I have to ask: Am I projecting my still-lingering annoyance over the whole Clarkson kerfuffle onto these two songs, which were for some bizarre reason debuted nearly simultaneously? I mean, I found myself singing the OneRepublic vocal melody along with the Lewis tune, and vice versa. My question: How long will it be before Lewis pulls a Kelly and totally switches up the track in a live setting so those cell-phone-static keyboards that seem to be a hallmark of Tedder’s non-”Apologize” tracks get yanked from the arrangement?

Earlier: Nobody Is Happy About Kelly Clarkson’s “Already Gone”

Former Soundgarden frontman/renegade “Billie Jean” reworker Chris Cornell has been reduced to making cameos in videos by OneFreakin’Republic. [MTV]

ARTIST: OneRepublic feat. Busta Rhymes
TITLE: “Apologize (Remix)”
WEB DEBUT: Feb. 20, 2008

ONE-LISTEN VERDICT: You already know how you feel about wuss rockers (and now charting R&B stars) OneRepublic and their remorseless, Timbaland-produced smash. (And possibly unintended Phil Collins tribute.) Unsurprisingly, a ragga-tinged rapper best known for growling like a dungeon dragon sounds pretty silly-assed (and not in the good way) dropping broken-hearted rhymes over Timbaland’s milquetoast piano. (Not to mention this world-class groaner: “As sweet as a cup of peppermint tea can be, it can still taste bitter.” Someone give the dear a hug, already.) But perhaps this wackness is the unfortunate result of Busta picking the wrong backing track on which to bare his soul? For his next mixtape, we suggest the newly emotional Mr. Rhymes let rip over the intro to a truly deserving song, a classic recognized by sensitive dudes of all stripes:

WHERE TO FIND IT: Nah Right, who probably wants everyone to know he’s just doing his job.

Tonight, Maura and I will be at Madison Square Garden for New York pop station Z100′s annual Jingle Ball, taking in the cream of Billboard‘s crop: Fall Out Boy! Alicia Keys! Avril Lavigne! The Jonas Brothers! Jordin Sparks! Colbie Caillat! Backstreet Boys! Boys Like Girls! Timbaland! With OneRepublic! And Keri Hilson! Is pop music really dead? Probably, but we’ll find out for sure tonight. As a friend put it, it’s going to be awfsome! But which iTunes bestseller is going to put on the most awfsome performance tonight? For the answer to that, we turn to the crystal ball of our handy poll software.

Gawker Media polls require Javascript; if you’re viewing this in an RSS reader, click through to view in your Javascript-enabled web browser.

2007 Jingle Ball [Z100]

“Apologize” by OneRepublic and Timbaland: It’s still inescapable. But last night, while being subjected to it for the 8,439th time this month, I hit on the formula that no doubt led to it blanketing radio stations in this drained-of-true-adult-contemporary-hits era! Let’s think of it in mathematical terms. To wit:

“Apologize” X (oomph factor) + an honest-to-God big hook =

Next up: Timbaland tries to resuscitate Nicole Scherzinger’s career with a “political” song that’s basically just a watery version of “Land Of Confusion,” complete with Nicole-in-puppet-form video. You heard it here first!

Take Me Home Music Video [YouTube]I

If you have never heard OneRepublic, the bland rock band that enjoys the minor distinction of being shepherded by Timbaland, that’s probably because you no longer listen to the radio. And if you no longer listen to the radio it’s probably because of formatting decisions like playing OneRepublic’s hit “Apologize” 10,240 times last week, over 100 times on certain stations in a seven-day stretch, setting a record for “for the most plays of a song on the nation’s Top 40 stations.” At this point, we’re all very familiar with stations overplaying a handful of songs, making this bleak New York Times report the horse’s mouth confirmation of something disgruntled former listeners already know: that radio has dealt with a world where the “audience fragments and rival entertainment choices abound” by adopting a bunker mentality built around the Billboard Top 10. And the process has sped up dramatically over the past five years.

But many pop radio programmers appear keen to repeat the biggest hits as much as — or more than — ever. “Apologize” surpassed a record that had been set only in July by Fergie’s “Big Girls Don’t Cry,” according to the data. Of the 10 songs that have notched the most plays in one week, 8 joined the list in the last three years. And the oldest of the 10, Avril Lavigne’s “Complicated,” dates only to 2002. (The all-time most-played song across all radio formats is Santana’s “Smooth,” with more than 1.1 million total plays since it was released in 1999.)

And so the radio execs and station directors interviewed by the Times are quick to point out by way of explanation for this trend the cross-platform appeal of these songs, changes in the way radio spins are measured, basic listener demand, and the “busy lives” of today’s modern consumers, which apparently requires that stations “make sure [listeners] hear their favorite song in that 15 minutes” they might be listening. But not every industry insider feels radio is being honest with itself for its real reasons for playing one song 10k times in a week.

“What most of these folks do is retreat to a more safe position, and in radio, the safer position is to play fewer songs more often,” said Mike Henry, chief executive of Paragon Media Strategies, a consulting firm in Denver. Mr. Henry, whose firm helped develop a wide-ranging radio format known as Jack FM in the United States three years ago, added that the increase in plays of songs reflected “a fear-based response. That will only take you so far.”
While, “there will always be people who are just fine taking what they’re given,” Mr. Henry said, more and more people will be enticed by “programming their own media.”

That’s a bit rich coming from a guy who helped pioneer a format that specialized in hammering listeners with the same kitschy, feel-good hits over and over again, but Henry’s argument, that pop radio is catering to the shrinking portion of its audience that’s less than technologically adroit, points to the probable reason for the inevitable burn-out of this “fear-based approach” to securing ad sales: Even if the bulk of radio listeners aren’t ready to program their own Internet stations, you do have to wonder, aside from being stuck in a car, who would tune into the radio for 15 minutes just on the off chance they might hear that one special song, or stick around for 50 minutes just to hear it again, rather than queue it up on an iPod and hit repeat. Pre-programmed playlists trying to cater to the mercurial desires of individual listeners in an instant-hit world is a big ol’ losing battle.

Radio’s Newest Strategy: Play A Hit, Again And Again [NY Times]

Ed. note: Chris “dennisobell” Molanphy, our resident chart guru, looks at the upward, downward, and lack of movement on the Billboard Hot 100 in the latest installment of “100 And Single”:

For the first time in its three-month chart life, Alicia Keys’ “No One” sells fewer digital singles than it did the week before. But that’s no problem, as her continued radio dominance means she’s still tops on Billboard‘s Hot 100–even as one song given up for dead starts to make a comeback.

Radio to Timba – All Apologies: At No. 2 for the second time in its chart run, “Apologize” by Timbaland and underperforming chart debutantes OneRepublic earns a belated bullet thanks to radio, which hasn’t given up on the squishy ballad yet. “Apologize” set two consecutive records for total weekly plays on Top 40 radio; in the most recent week, it was spun more than 10,200 times by stations in that format. With only a few hundred totally pure Top 40 stations in the whole country, that’s a buttload of airplay.

So will “Apologize” finally reach No. 1? The problem for Timba and 1R–as we’ve chronicled here before–is that practically no other format is playing the song (no R&B/hip-hop, no modern rock), which means “Apologize” is charting with one hand and several other limbs tied behind its back. Actually, there is one format catching on: the ever-late-blooming adult-contemporary, where the song resides just outside the Top 20. Trouble is, AC is rapidly becoming an all-holiday format right now, so the song’s airplay boost is modest. The song posts a small increase in sales, which helps a bit, but ranked third among all digital sellers behind Alicia’s smash and Flo Rida’s “Low,” “Apologize” is still down 40-50,000 copies on the competition.

Bottom line: with “Low” seeming to slow down and “Apologize” having a tough fight to go the last mile, Alicia Keys will probably be sitting pretty through much of the holiday season. Which is appropriate, in a year where the ladies mostly dominated the gents on the singles charts.

That Was the Year That Was: We’ve spent most of this week debating the year-end album lists that have materialized from music rags. But while most critics still have a chance over the next month to make last-minute tweaks to their ballots, as far as Billboard‘s concerned, 2007 has been over since around Thanksgiving.

For decades now, Billboard has defined the “chart year” differently from the calendar year: it runs from the previous December 1 to the current November 30. (That’s so they can run a big year-end issue the week before Christmas, before everybody disappears from their offices for the holiday.) This weird temporal skew means a couple of things for chart geeks.

First, based on what we already know, we can start predicting what the No. 1 song of the year will be before Billboard makes it official in about three weeks.

Second, the timing means bad news for songs that peaked in the summer or later, and good news for songs that peaked as much as a year ago.

For some context, here’s a list of Billboard‘s No. 1 song of each year for the last 20 years, followed by the date the song actually peaked on the Hot 100:

1987: Bangles, “Walk Like an Egyptian” (20 Dec 1986)
1988: George Michael, “Faith” (12 Dec 1987)
1989: Chicago, “Look Away” (10 Dec 1988)
1990: Wilson Phillips, “Hold On” (9 June 1990)
1991: Bryan Adams, “(Everything I Do) I Do It for You” (27 July 1991)
1992: Boyz II Men, “End of the Road” (15 Aug 1992)
1993: Whitney Houston, “I Will Always Love You” (28 Nov 1992)
1994: Ace of Base, “The Sign” (12 Mar 1994)
1995: Coolio feat. L.V., “Gangsta’s Paradise” (9 Sep 1995)
1996: Los Del Rio, “Macarena (Bayside Boys mix)” (3 Aug 1996)
1997: Elton John, “Candle in the Wind 1997″/”Something About the Way You Look Tonight” (11 Oct 1997)
1998: Next, “Too Close” (25 Apr 1998)
1999: Cher, “Believe” (13 Mar 1999)
2000: Faith Hill, “Breathe” (22 Apr 2000)
2001: Lifehouse, “Hanging by a Moment” (16 June 2001)
2002: Nickelback, “How You Remind Me” (22 Dec 2001)
2003: 50 Cent, “In da Club” (8 Mar 2003)
2004: Usher feat. Lil Jon and Ludacris, “Yeah!” (28 Feb 2004)
2005: Mariah Carey, “We Belong Together” (4 June 2005)
2006: Daniel Powter, “Bad Day” (8 Apr 2006)

Notice anything? (Besides the overwhelming suckitude. I mean, Chicago in 1989? What was up with that? Ewwwww.) Fully 60% of these year-demolishing songs peaked before June 1, the midpoint of Billboard‘s chart year; in fact, a sizeable minority (five, or 25%) peaked before the prior year was even over. And out of the remaining eight that peaked after June 1, half had started scaling the Hot 100 by at least late winter or early spring. (Of the outliers, three–by Bryan Adams, Boyz II Men and Coolio–exploded late and fast thanks to their inclusion in hit summer movies. The major outlier, Elton John’s Princess Di-fueled 1997 monster, is an exception to chart history on so many levels it’s barely worth discussing here.)

The less obvious pattern–the kind of thing nerds like me only notice after years of chart-following–is that the big year-end winners tend not to be the sudden exploders but the slow-growers. A long stay at No. 1 helps, certainly (six of the above songs stayed in the penthouse for a double-digit number of weeks). But it’s not essential. Just over half of the above spent five weeks or less at the top, and two of them (by Faith Hill and Lifehouse) never went to No. 1 for even a single week.

So, combine all of the above information, and as far as 2007 is concerned, you’re looking for a smash hit that: grew steadily on the way up; peaked as early in the year as possible (last December-February would be best); and dithered on its way back down. Here are the likely candidates, and they’re almost all by women:

• Beyoncé, “Irreplaceable”: The 800-booty gorilla. Spent 10 weeks on top of the charts, racking up not just huge sales but positively massive airplay totals. To us, this old-ass song is solidly ’06 material, but to Billboard, its timing for the ’07 charts was near-flawless, as it just started its long run at No. 1 by mid-December. It wasn’t a longevity champ or anything, but it definitely took its time coming down. The presumptive favorite.

• Avril Lavigne, “Girlfriend”: The Energizer Bunny. Materialized in the Top 10 in March and then–as Matos noted in one of his fun “Project X” family polls–stayed there for some five months, a staggering run in the winner’s circle. Only spent a single week at No. 1 but was just so consistent week to week.

• Gwen Stefani feat. Akon, “The Sweet Escape”: All about timing. It never went to No. 1, but it peaked at No. 2 in a long, ideally timed chart run starting in late winter, cresting in April and still holding as late as September. Amassed big sales points and consistent airplay throughout its run. And let’s face it, it’s your drugstore-checkout-line fungus of the year: “OOH-ooh…WHEEEEE!!-ooh…”

• Rihanna feat. Jay-Z, “Umbrella”: The consensus pop song of the year. A seven-week Hot 100 champ, but more challenged than it might appear. Sales were huge and airplay was very strong, but it exploded too quickly, shooting to No. 1 from outside the Top 40 in a single week thanks almost entirely to its iTunes debut. Airplay peaked later than sales and ended up quite strong. But don’t be surprised if this places lower in the year-end survey than you expect.

• T-Pain feat. Yung Joc, “Buy U a Drank (Shawty Snappin’)”: Apres moi, le deluge. For all his featured-vocal credits, the Painmeister’s biggest 2007 hit was his own, and like Avril’s hit, it hung around the chart’s upper reaches forever. Its run up the chart was a little slower than the fall back down, but it was well-timed and fueled by both Top 40 and heavy R&B airplay.

• Plain White T’s, “Hey There Delilah”: The stealth bomb. Positively crawled up the list most of the winter and spring before finally emerging as a mid-summer smash, and its iTunes sales and adult-contemporary airplay can’t have hurt. Big hits by earnest white boys have pulled major upsets before (Lifehouse, Nickelback), and this one has real potential to do the same.

• Fergie, “Big Girls Don’t Cry”: The hit that wouldn’t die. Fergie’s had a huge year on the Hot 100 in general, but most of her hits have been short-lived (e.g., “Glamorous,” which went to No. 1 last March–I defy anyone to hum a few bars to me now). “Girls,” however, with its big crossover to A/C radio, is the major exception, and its relatively slow rise and slow-back-down chart run is textbook for a year-end favorite. Only its late-spring-through-fall timing might keep it from the crown. Hell, take a look below–it’s still clinging to the bottom of the Top 20 as we speak.

Stuff to Watch: Staying focused on yearly charts instead of weekly ones, here’s one last, and slightly depressing, piece of advice–take a good look at what’s leading the Hot 100 this week. You think you’re sick of “No One” and “Apologize” now? We’ll be talking about them a year hence–they’ll probably be among the top Billboard hits of 2008. Talk about a meal that repeats on you…

This week’s top 20, with last week’s position and total weeks charted in parentheses:
1. Alicia Keys, “No One” (LW No. 1, 12 weeks)
2. Timbaland feat. OneRepublic, “Apologize” (LW No. 3, 17 weeks)
3. Chris Brown feat. T-Pain, “Kiss Kiss” (LW No. 2, 11 weeks)
4. Flo Rida feat. T-Pain, “Low” (LW No. 4, 5 weeks)
5. Soulja Boy, “Crank That (Soulja Boy), Soulja Boy Tell’em” (LW No. 6, 20 weeks)
6. Colbie Caillat, “Bubbly” (LW No. 5, 22 weeks)
7. Fergie, “Clumsy” (LW No. 8, 7 weeks)
8. Kanye West feat. T-Pain, “Good Life” (LW No. 7, 11 weeks)
9. Rihanna feat. Ne-Yo, “Hate That I Love You” (LW No. 12, 13 weeks)
10. Baby Bash feat. T-Pain, “Cyclone” (LW No. 9, 18 weeks)
11. Finger Eleven, “Paralyzer” (LW No. 11, 25 weeks)
12. Jordin Sparks, “Tattoo” (LW No. 16, 9 weeks)
13. Kanye West, “Stronger” (LW No. 10, 18 weeks)
14. Timbaland feat. Keri Hilson & D.O.E., “The Way I Are” (LW No. 13, 26 weeks)
15. matchbox twenty, “How Far We’ve Come” (LW No. 15, 13 weeks)
16. J. Holiday, “Bed” (LW No. 14, 19 weeks)
17. Playaz Circle feat. Lil Wayne, “Duffle Bag Boy ” (LW No. 22, 10 weeks)
18. Daughtry, “Over You” (LW No. 19, 16 weeks)
19. The-Dream, “Shawty is a 10″ (LW No. 18, 12 weeks)
20. Fergie, “Big Girls Don’t Cry” (LW No. 17, 32 weeks)