Last week, we had our hearts occupied by Garbage, Aaliyah, and fun. and Janelle Monae’s “We Are Young.” This week, our Hype Index finds us all abuzz about a Playboy cover, a would-be X Factor host, and a certain American Idol contestant whose criminal behavior isn’t limited to being pitchy. Plus, as you may have guessed, we’re still pretty jazzed about South By Southwest. To see who made our hearts go all a-flutter this week and who broke them, head below!

To see exactly how these artists entered the hype index, check below.

• Idolator’s 2012 South By Southwest Coverage
• American Idol Contestant Jermaine Jones Kicked Off For Lying About Criminal Past
• Bruce Springsteen’s Wrecking Ball Demolishes Adele’s Run At #1
• Bruno Mars Covers Playboy Magazine
• Justin Bieber’s New Single “Boyfriend” Draws Justin Timberlake Comparisons
  
• Azealia Banks On Nicki Minaj And Her “Ugly Wigs And Ugly Costumes”
• Madonna’s MDNA Track “Superstar”: Hear A Snippet
  
• Darren Criss Offered (And Turned Down) Hosting Gig On The X Factor
  
• Miley Cyrus Heats Up The Hunger Games Premiere
  
• Nicki Minaj Is A Bikini Babe For “Starships” Shoot
  

How did this week’s chart stack up for you? Let us know on Facebook, Twitter or in the comments.

A mass of pop’s most faithful gathered late last night at the PureVolume House in Austin to Pray For Pop along with us at our annual South By Southwest showcase. Dynamic DJ dueo The Jane Doze started off by filling the dancefloor with their clever mixes and mashups, and then British sensation Cher Lloyd took the stage to rock her first-ever live US performance — and an incredibly cheeky one at that. Our recent Popping Up artist Penguin Prison kept the party in full swing, and Cali natives Wallpaper. turned blew the roof off with their energetic set. Check out all the highlights from deep in the heart of Texas, and don’t miss our Pray For Pop recap with video of Cher’s set.

Though the doors to Idolator’s South By Southwest Pray For Pop party at the PureVolume House in Austin didn’t open until midnight last night, getting a good night’s sleep was the farthest thing from the minds of the stretched line of music fans waiting to get in. The eager crowd was first greeted by Robyn and Rihanna remixes being spun by irresistibly cute New York DJ duo The Jane Doze, who got the night warmed up ahead of the very first US performance by UK pop singer Cher Lloyd, and gigs by Penguin Prison and Wallpaper.

The tiny but magnetic Cher stepped onto the stage at 1 a.m. wearing a striped vest, red short shorts and boots. The crowd ate up her sassy pop set, which included her UK Top 10 smash “With Ur Love” and the Neneh Cherry “Buffalo Stance”-sampling “Playa Boi”. It didn’t really matter that Lloyd was performing in America for the very first time, or that she has yet to release release an album here — as Adele, The Wanted and One Direction have proved, us Yanks are primed for yet another full-on British invasion! Even Epic Records chairman/X Factor judge L.A. Reid was in the house watching Cher perform.

Here’s a fan-made video of Cher rocking her hit “Want U Back” at the show:

Next up was Penguin Prison (aka New Yorker Chris Glover, who we highlighted with a Popping Up feature in January). Chris hit the stage with his band at 1:55 a.m. and tore through electro-pop jams from his self-titled album like “A Funny Thing”, “Multi-Millionaire” and the addictive, synthy throwback “Don’t Fuck With My Money”. Glover leaned into the mic twice and asked if the bouncing crowd was having a good time, and the collective answer was a deafening “Yes”!

Finally, at 3 a.m., rowdy and melodic Oakland, California quartet Wallpaper. burst onto the stage and whipped the Pray For Pop audience into full-on party mode. Frontman Ricky Reed and the band (Arjun Singh and energetic vocalist/dancer/style inspiration Novena Carmel) ripped through crowd-pleasers like “Fucking Best Song Ever”, “2 Pair Of Shades” and “Shotgun”, and even debuted a new track that playfully borrowed from the “this shit is bananas” refrain in Gwen Stefani’s 2005 hit “Hollaback Girl”. And it was b-a-n-a-n-a-s until the very end, when Reed leapt off the stage to crowd surf before returning to the stage, saying farewell and advising the audience to use condoms. The Black Eyed Peas may be on hiatus, but after this showing, we think this crew could just be worthy replacements.

Once the party finally wound down, we headed back to our beds just a few hours before the sun came up, our heads still spinning from the dazzling array of performers at our second annual showcase. We hope y’all enjoyed it — and at least a lucky few of you who couldn’t attend in person will soon have personalized postcards to mark the occasion.

We owe huge heaping thanks to The Jane Doze, Cher Lloyd, Penguin Prison and Wallpaper., to our whole production crew, and all the pop faithful who came out to show love. Thank you.

For the first time in nearly five years, Fiona Apple performed outside of Los Angeles as the songstress took the stage at NPR’s showcase at SXSW last night. Considering that the 34-year-old siren falls on both our Must-See Pop Acts Of SXSW and Artists We Demand New Music From lists, to say we’re anxious to see Fiona live would be the understatement of the decade. Technical difficulties didn’t stop the Grammy winner from performing old favorites like “Fast As You Can” and teasing the crowd with three of her new tracks, “Anything We Want”, “Valentine”, and “Every Single Night” from her 23-word titled upcoming album. Click through to get up close at Fiona’s set (or catch a clip of her live performance here) and tell us below (or on Facebook and Twitter) if she was worth the wait.

Even a few songs into her feverishly anticipated SXSW performance, Fiona Apple seemed somewhat surprised to actually find herself performing a real, publicly advertised show. “I started spacing out,” she told the crowd jokingly. “You’re imaginary. You’re not real!” At times, though, it felt like it was Apple herself who was the illusion.

The question hanging over the first of her two performances at Austin’s annual music festival: would Apple, a Grammy-winning singer who patented dusky-voiced confessional pop when Lana Del Rey was still in elementary school, really return as fans remembered her? And would her agonizingly-delayed new music set her on the comeback trail? Sort of, and maybe.

Apple emerged to raucous applause as she stepped on stage at National Public Radio’s evening showcase at South By Southwest, waving to the crowd before launching into “Fast As You Can”, off her sophomore LP (which like her new one, has a hilariously lengthy album title). Wearing a black dress and a pink tank top (and her hair in a shaggy ponytail), she shook, swayed and stomped at the microphone stand as if trying to physically expel her songs from her body. Her set included songs from all three of her albums, including the title track to 2005′s Extraordinary Machine.

She treated fans to three new tunes, “Anything We Want,” “Valentine,” and “Every Single Night.” And Apple seemed excited to share them, as you’d expect considering much of her new material has, in her words, “been done for a fucking year”.

For the marching “Anything We Want”, Apple played a hand percussion instrument made from pipe, and sang of a hopeful getaway with a lover. It didn’t sound like too great a leap from anything she’s done before, but it also didn’t sound like it could possibly come from anyone other than Fiona Apple.

(Thanks to Stereogum for the video).

But her performance was clouded by audio trouble that left her vocals either muddy or inaudible at certain points; during others, she sang with such force that she veered to screeching (perhaps to overcome the sound problems, perhaps not). A crew member brought her a cup of hot tea as she coaxed her voice through the last few songs. Apple closed with her Grammy-winning “Criminal”, singing with her hands on her hips. She skipped the song apparently intended as her encore — at least, according to the setlist — a cover of the Beatles’ “Across The Universe”.

It may not have been the home-run performance fans might’ve hoped for from Apple’s first performance outside of Los Angeles in roughly five years. But it was enough to prove that Apple remains a fierce and fascinating pop singer, even after years away from the spotlight.

Neon Hitch kept true to the saying “Everything is bigger in Texas” as she took the stage at La Zona Rosa Tuesday night (Mar. 13), opening The Warner Sound at SXSW showcase dressed in a Chinese dynasty-meets-Mayan war queen headdress. Her red hair tightly wound in intricate knots, the fiery British songstress writhed, wriggled and posed in a skintight black leotard and silver glitter boots as she performed “Bad Dog”, “Ass Back Home” — minus Gym Class Heroes — and the song about the ex that “broke your heart”, “Love U Betta”. By the end of the third (and final) song, the Pray For Pop alumna hitched a ride on the shoulders of her two warpaint-smudged drummers and, spread-eagle, grabbed her crotch — a jaw-dropping final image that sent the men in the audience into a photographic frenzy.

Popping Up is our recurring look at new artists making noise on the music landscape. Because, hey — Madonna and Britney were once unknown, too.

If Adele’s reign at #1 has proved anything over the past year, it’s that the pop charts love a good sad song. Elizabeth Harper, who performs as electro-pop pin-up Class Actress, knows this — but she’s not content to let you just cry along to her music. She wants you to dance, too.

If this isn’t the first you’ve heard of Class Actress, we wouldn’t be surprised. After learning the ins-and-outs of songwriting on an electric guitar, Harper hooked up with producers Mark Richardson and Scott Rosenthal to produce the five-track 2010 EP Journal Of Ardency. The record introduced the world to her new-but-old sound, a blend of dreamy vocals, confessional lyrics and icy synths straight out of the 1980s. The New York Press called her “Brooklyn’s very own Madonna,” and yes, you can hear the Material Girl’s influence in Harper’s breathy falsetto, as well as shades of Depeche Mode and Soft Cell in the electronic drums and pulsing bass.

Journal won her the affections of many an indie music critic, while Harper’s model looks and penchant for vintage designer clothing earned her a following in the fashion blogs. With showcases lined up at next week’s South By Southwest Music Festival in Austin, Class Actress is poised for a mainstream breakthrough with her October 2011 full-length release Rapprocher. The title is French for “come closer,” and the record, in all its seductive splendor, is designed to make you do exactly that.

FULL NAME: Elizabeth Harper, with producers Mark Richardson and Scott Rosenthal

HOMETOWN: These days, the Southern California native calls Brooklyn, New York home.

SOUNDS LIKE: Dancefloor torch songs for the generation that grew up spinning early Madonna and Morrissey (or recording them on a cassette tape). See also: Emowave, Goth prep, Playboy pop. (These are genres that don’t exist outside of Class Actress’s world.) Harper describes the music as “white wine pop.”

DREAM COLLABORATION: Kanye West — or Drake, for sure.

ARTIST SHE’D LOVE TO COVER: “I don’t know if you’re allowed to cover Prince? It’d be so challenging.”

BUSTING THE COFFEEHOUSE MYTH: Somewhere in Class Actress’s early press came the notion that Harper started her music career performing acoustic folk jams in coffeehouses. “That part of the story always baffles me,” Harper says. “It was an electric guitar, it wasn’t an acoustic. I never played in a coffeehouse.”

There was a guitar nonetheless, and she quickly taught herself how to play and write music at a time when she was young and just starting to find herself. “I thought, ‘OK, the song has to pass this campfire test where it has to sound good on the guitar first.” In 2004, UK label Angular Records put out her self-titled debut, which featured a sound Harper describes as being heavily influenced by The Smiths, really intricate songs so sad and mellow they would bum her out just performing them. “I was really into that kind of jangly guitar sound, but it just wasn’t working for me.”

BECOMING CLASS ACTRESS: Harper’s days as a strummer were numbered when a bandmate helped her realize she was entering a new phase of her life, musically. “I had a drummer that said to me, ‘I think you’re looking for a sound I can’t do,’” she recalls. “And really, he was right because I wanted electronic drums.” She fired that drummer, of course, and reached out to Philadelphia-based producer Mark Richardson, who’d remixed one of the songs from her debut years before. “We started sampling drums, and I was like ‘Oh, duh, this is how it works, this is how you make tech music.” The sweetly bubbling “Let Me Take You Out” was the first track to come from the new union and the rest of Journal of Ardency quickly followed. Harper tells The Owl Mag she chose the moniker Class Actress because she liked the “double s’s.”

Class Actress, “Journal Of Ardency”

MAKING DANCE MUSIC FOR THE “EMOTIONALLY IMPAIRED”: If there’s one major recurring theme in all of Class Actress’s songs it’s one of doomed romance, of love withheld, if not entirely unrequited — and being OK with finding yourself on the painful side of that relationship. On “Keep You”, Rapprocher‘s opening track, Harper begs, “Do you want to call me, do you want it, I want it, do you want it all?” She says that the song came to her, literally, while she was dancing around her apartment in her underwear: “I like that idea of this free feeling, being able to say ‘This is how I really feel’, and having an unabashed desire and minor obsessiveness … being overly dramatic and not giving a shit about what anybody thinks of you ever.”

MADONNA AND THE PERFECT “WEEKEND”: Madonna’s influence is not only evident in Class Actress’s sound, but in her videos as well. Take for example the romantically lo-fi video for “Weekend”. In it, Harper and her lover spend quality time exploring (what looks to be) Brooklyn when they’re not rolling around in the sheets. On casting the role opposite her, Harper says, “I wanted the guy to look like Basquiat because of all those Brooklyn Madonna things, and I thought, ‘Well, let’s make a little pun on that.’” [Basquiat was a bad-boy artist and fixture of the burgeoning New York art and music scene in the Warhol-dominated 1980s, and briefly dated Madonna before his untimely death in 1988. She once said of him, "He was one of the few people I was truly envious of."]

The video illustrates precisely what Harper considers to be the perfect weekend. “Spent under the covers ordering room service with someone you don’t want to go outside with because you don’t need to… Where the conversation and the laughter and the ‘intimacy’ — I want to make sure I use that word in quotes — is so off the charts every part of you is stimulated and everything else is an afterthought.”

Class Actress, “Weekend”

WHAT’S NEXT: The trio is playing small clubs through the rest of March, including a bunch of shows at SXSW in Austin. As for the next record, Harper isn’t exactly sure that she’ll have a new outlook on love to inform the writing process — but she’s not giving up the search. “I keep thinking the next record is going to be about letting love into your life,” she says. “I’m looking for somebody that is an equal, someone that’s going to make me laugh. Really, at the end of the day, isn’t that what we really want? Good sex and to laugh a lot.”

— Photo by Amanda Zackem

Will you be adding Class Actress to the next mixtape you make for your crush? Tell us in the comments, or on Facebook and Twitter.

With Austin’s annual South By Southwest (SXSW) Music Festival just around the corner, we thought we would help you streamline your hectic concert-going schedule by selecting our 11 must-see acts. The event transforms Texas into a week-long mecca for indie bands and alt-rockers, but there is no shortage of expert pop practitioners in the bumper lineup. From enigmatic ’90s singer-songwriter Fiona Apple to the groove-smothered, synthy hip-hop leanings of Penguin Prison, there is something for everyone this year. Make sure you drop by our second annual Pray For Pop party on March 14, where a number of these not-to-be-missed acts will be working their musical magic on stage. (And if you can’t make it to Austin, you can still win a postcard from a pop star).

1. Wallpaper. (US)

When: March 14
Where: PureVolume House (Idolator’s Pray For Pop Party)
Why: The genre-defying beatmaster is making huge waves on the underground music scene with his pop culture-skewering party jams and clever re-imaginings of popular songs. Wallpaper. first came to our attention with his blog-beloved remix of Das Racist’s “Pizza Hut And Taco Bell” and showed that he can do satirical pop better than just about anyone on the bone-rattling club-banger “#STUPiDFACEDD”. That song will get the SXSW crowd jumping, but we really hope the Bay Area MC throws in his NSFW interpretation of Adele’s “Rumour Has It”, which is surely in the running for cover of the year.

2. Marit Larsen (Norway)

When: March 14, 10:00pm-10:40pm
Where: Beale Street Tavern
Why: The Norwegian songstress is perhaps best remembered by American pop fans as one half of the mildly successful Scandinavian duo M2M. Their perky contribution to the Pokémon soundtrack “Don’t Say You Love Me” reached #21 on the Hot 100 in 2000, and they followed that up with a much lower-charting single called “Mirror Mirror”. Since those heady bubblegum-pop days, Marit has reinvented herself as an introspective singer-songwriter and sold a lot of records in Norway. We can’t wait to hear her irresistibly cute 2009 single “If A Song Could Get Me You”, which proved to be her international breakthrough — topping the charts around Europe and establishing her as one of the continent’s must-hear pop acts.

3. Kimbra (New Zealand)

When: March 14, 12:00am-12:40am
Where: Haven
Why: One of our Popping Up artists makes her SXSW debut in 2012. Kimbra is currently sitting pretty in the iTunes top 10 as the female voice of reason on Gotye’s bitter breakup anthem “Somebody That I Used To Know”. It will be interesting to see if she tackles that number without her Australian duet partner, but even if she skips it, which is very unlikely, the 21-year-old has plenty of other tricks in her bag. Such as her jazzy international debut “Settle Down” and its disco-tinged follow-up “Cameo Lover”. Kimbra has the talent to match the hype, so make a point to fit her into your SXSW schedule.

4. The Jane Doze (US)

When: March 14
Where: PureVolume House (Idolator’s Pray For Pop Party)
Why: Revelers at our very own Idolator SXSW Party will be warmed up for an evening of top-shelf pop by this pair of New York City-based female DJs. The ladies first appeared on our radar with their brilliant mash-up “Forever 27″, which spliced together an eclectic range of songs from artists who died at the age of 27, including Amy Winehouse, Kurt Cobain, Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix. To get better acquainted with the duo before SXSW, make sure you download their free mixtape. It was played 31,000 times in just 24 hours!

5. Lights (Canada)

When: March 17
Where: Elysium
Why: Lights is to Canada what Robyn is to Sweden. The critically adored 24-year-old has won a small legion of fans, both at home and internationally, with her unique brand of icy electro-pop. And while she has yet to dent the charts here, both of her albums reached the top 10 in Canada. Her latest single, “Toes”, with its crisp synths and infectious chorus, has generated major blog love around the world. It’s only a matter of time before Valerie Anne Poxleitner — her real name — makes a commercial breakthrough, so you might as well get on board now and say you saw her perform at SXSW on the way up!

6. Cher Lloyd (UK)

When: March 14
Where: PureVolume House (Idolator’s Pray For Pop Party)
Why: Since rocketing to fame on the seventh season of The X Factor (she came in fourth place), Cher Lloyd has conquered the UK charts with her massive #1 hit “Swagger Jagger”, hooked up with the always cool Mike Posner on the duet “With Ur Love”, and cemented her status as one of pop’s brightest new talents with her latest single “Want U Back”. The 18-year-old now has her sights set on America.

7. Emma Louise (Australia)

When: March 14, 9:45pm-10:25pm
Where: The Stage on Sixth
Why: Emma Louise is part of the new wave of Australian pop currently being embraced around the world. The Brisbane-based singer-songwriter has been likened to artists such as Sia, Lanie Lane and Kimbra due to the power of her voice and intricacy of her lyrics. But unlike those other girls — with perhaps the exception of the all-conquering Sia — the pixie-faced songstress isn’t afraid of a big pop chorus or avalanche of synths. Check out her dark and brooding breakthrough single “Jungle” for proof. No doubt the seething electro-ballad will be one of the many highlights of her debut SXSW appearance.

8. Fiona Apple (US)

When: March 15, 8:00pm-9:00pm
Where: Central Presbyterian Church
Why: To hear songs from her seven-years-in-the-making fourth album! It’s a bit of an understatement to call Fiona Apple an enigma. The velvet-voiced singer won a Grammy for Best Pop Vocal for “Criminal” in 1997 at the age of 19 and sold three million copies of her debut album before being caught up in a web of record company politics and perfectionism that has made the now 34-year-old only slightly more prolific than Kate Bush. On the bright side, L.A. Reid has confirmed that a new album will be released this year, and she’s gearing up for a spring 2012 tour. Fiona’s SXSW showcase is sure to be event because, quite simply, it may be another seven years before you have another chance to see the moody iconoclast live!

9. Cosmo Jarvis (UK)

When: TBA
Where: TBA
Why: Writing a sea shanty about gay lovers isn’t the usual path most heterosexual men take to pop stardom, but it worked for Cosmo Jarvis. The 22-year-old Brit became an overnight sensation when his 2011 single “Gay Pirates” went viral. He followed it up by playing a Justin Bieber-obsessed priest in his “Sure As Hell Not Jesus” video and earned additional admiration from pop fans by covering Kylie Minogue’s “Spinning Around”. This will be Cosmo’s third SXSW appearance, and, if his eclectic musical style and outrageous videos are any indication, expect the unexpected.

10. Penguin Prison (US)

When: March 14
Where: PureVolume House (Idolator’s Pray For Pop Party)
Why: We featured the New York-based remixer/rising hip-hop sensation as one of our Popping Up artists in January and have invited the multi-talented 28-year-old to perform at our SXSW Party. Chris Glover, as he was originally known, scored a major breakthrough last year when his groove-heavy song “Don’t F*** With My Money” became the unofficial anthem for the Occupy Wall Street movement. In addition to that crowd-pleaser, we’re also hoping to hear the Holy Ghost!-assisted “Golden Train” as well as getting sneak peek at the rest of his album. How about it, Chris?

11. Class Actress (US)

When: March 15, 11:00pm – 11:40pm
Where: 512 Rooftop, 408 E 6th St
Why: The self-described “goth/prep” dance outfit perfectly bridges the gap between the indie and pop music worlds. Class Actress is really Elizabeth Harper, a Brooklynite by way of California, who transformed from Smith-y singer-songwriter into an icy synth siren after hooking up with producers Mark Richardson and Scott Rosenthal for the 2010 EP Journal of Ardency. The vintage electro-dance vibe that resulted recalls so many of the ’80s acts that mattered, from early Madonna to gloomy Depeche Mode. Rapprocher, the band’s first full-length album quickly followed last October and has so far spawned two romance-filled videos: “Weekend” and “Bienvenue”. The indie blogs are already keen on Harper’s live show, which we hear can be as risqué as her lyrics are confessional, which is to say, this girl wears her heart on her vintage sleeve — until she takes it off.

Follow Idolator on Facebook and Twitter as we bring you on-the-ground coverage live from SXSW 2012 in Austin, Texas next week.

Even if you won’t be in the deep in the heart of Texas for SXSW 2012, you can still get a piece of the action. Idolator’s got a chance for you to win a signed postcard from one of our Pray For Pop showcase artists. So if you’d like Wallpaper., Penguin Prison, Cher Lloyd or The Jane Doze to personally drop you a line from Austin, jump below and find out how to enter. Good luck, partner!

HOW TO ENTER:

• Tweet the following phrase: “I want (@your [artist’s Twitter name here – e.g. @cherlloyd, @wallpaper, @thejanedoze, @penguinprison] to send me a postcard from the @idolator showcase at #SXSW! http://bit.ly/ykcaXf”
• Then email us (idolatordotcom(at)gmail.com) your full name, direct link to your tweet and the mailing address for your postcard, should you win. Be sure to put “SXSW – YOUR ARTIST’S NAME” in the subject heading.
• You must tweet *AND* email us by Sunday, March 11 at 6pm Pacific time.
• Five lucky winners will be selected at random — one winner per artist. Winners will be contacted via email on Monday, March 12.
• The rest is all taken care of by your friendly neighborhood postman!

RULES: Contestants must be at least 13 years of age or older as of date of entry. Prizes subject to artist approval.

Idolator will venture out to Austin’s South By Southwest Music Festival for our second annual Pray For Pop party on Wednesday, March 14, and today we’re thrilled to announce our showcase lineup. In addition to DJ sets by the Jane Doze, who paid tribute to Amy Winehouse and other fallen musicians last summer via their “Forever 27″ mashup, we’ll be hosting performances by “Swagger Jagger” songstress Cher Lloyd, “Don’t F*ck With My Money” singer Penguin Prison and innovative remixer/“Best Song Ever” hitmakers Wallpaper.

Technically, our party kick kicks off at midnight on Wednesday and runs till 4 a.m., so down some caffeine (or, hell, bring your pillow if you want, sleepyhead) and head on over to the PureVolume House (at 340 E. 2nd, which is at 2nd and Trinity in Austin) for a guaranteed eye-opening experience.

The first thing you’ll want to do is RSVP at the PureVolume House site. Following that, you’ll receive an email with information on how to obtain a PureVolume House wristband in Austin at a specified time. Note that there will be an open bar at our Pray For Pop party, which is a 21-and-over event.

You can also hit up the PureVolume House site to see when similar events by sites such as Stereogum, Absolute Punk, Buzznet and PureVolume are being held during SXSW. See you there!

Santigold has joined T.I., Norah Jones and Nas on the long list of musical acts making the trek down to Austin next month for the South by Southwest Music Festival. The “Disparate Youth” singer will show off her “Big Mouth” on stage, in the presence of previously announced performers Miike Snow, who will be making a stop at the five-day festival during their 2012 US tour. There are more exciting SXSW announcements to come — especially ’round these parts — so don’t wander too far off, if you catch our drift. [via Stereogum]

We’re still recovering from SXSW 2011, but before we hang up our cowboy hats until next March, we want to thank everyone who Pray-ed For Pop along with us in Austin and across the globe — specifically the fans who entered our postcard contest. Below are the personal notes to our five lucky winners from Crystal Bowersox, Neon Hitch, Miguel, Oh Land and Eliza Doolittle. Their sentiments are the same as ours: wish you were there! Thanks to everyone who entered, and we hope to see y’all down in Texas next year!

Crystal Bowersox to fan Jami:

Oh Land to fan Nayeli:

Miguel to fan Kendra:

Neon Hitch to fan Marc:

Eliza Doolittle to fan Celine:

Our Pray For Pop party at the Pure Volume House at South By Southwest was almost an all-female affair, but we had the XY chromosome represented impeccably well by the likes of sultry crooner Miguel. The “Sure Thing” singer brought his smooth, silky blend of R&B, pop and rock to the stage — as well as one totally funkadelic mic stand. Jump below to watch Miguel make the crowd melt by performing tunes from his debut LP, All I Want Is You.

“All I Want Is You”

“Quickie”

Besides staring at Miguel throughout his set, fans couldn’t keep their eyes off his glowing mic stand — check out the neat-o effect it had over at Pure Volume House’s SXSW gallery! Trippy!

After marinating in Miguel’s smooth groove, take a gander at all the photos of our Pray For Pop artists, as well as performances by Crystal Bowersox, Eliza Doolittle and Neon Hitch.

Did You Hear?

:: Jay-Z joined up with Kanye West and his G.O.O.D. Music compadres to close out South By Southwest with an epic set, mostly made up of Yeezy’s tracks from My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. (Kanye West SXSW photos here). [Spinner]

:: Miley Cyrus parents have called off their divorce. [Pink Is The New Blog]

:: Katy Perry found a new dancing partner while on tour in London. [MTV Buzzworthy]

:: Did Lady Gaga lift the music from another song for “Born This Way”? We mean, another song other than “Express Yourself”? [PopEater]

After the jump, find out which music acts are performing on the tube today.

Music On TV:
:: Late Show with David Letterman (CBS) — British Sea Power
:: Tonight Show with Jay Leno (NBC) — Raphael Saadiq
:: Jimmy Kimmel Live (ABC) — Brett Dennen
:: Late Night with Jimmy Fallon (NBC) — Little Dragon
:: Chelsea Lately (E!) — Avril Lavigne
:: Lopez Tonight (TBS) — 30 Seconds to Mars
:: Last Call with Carson Daly (NBC) — Black Rebel Motorcycle Club (repeat)
:: Live with Regis and Kelly (ABC) — Cher
:: Ellen DeGeneres (ABC) — Chord Overstreet
:: Gayle King Show (OWN) — Jennifer Hudson

When Kanye West rolls into South By Southwest and takes the stage at the Vevo Power Station this Saturday night at 11:59 p.m., he’ll be joined by a bunch of his G.O.O.D. Music family members — John Legend, Common, Kid Cudi, Pusha T, Mr. Hudson, Cyhi The Prynce, Big Sean, and Mos Def will also make appearances at the inevitably overcrowded show. If you can’t get in, don’t sweat it too much — the all-star performance will be broadcast on Vevo on April 22, which, of course, is Good Friday.

Heard the rumor that Kanye West would take a break from the studio to make a special appearance at South By Southwest? Us too (and this cryptic video sure stoked the fire). Well let’s have a toast: we can now exclusively report that it’s true — Kanye will be taking the stage at SXSW on March 19 at midnight at the VEVO Power Station. The good news came via a new video montage of Kanye’s videos, various appearances and interviews. Watch it below and prepare to see him turn on all of the lights (at a 1950s-era power plant in Austin, no less) this Saturday!

This isn’t the first time Yeezy has headed to Austin for the music fest — in 2009, West performed at the Fader Fort venue alongside special guests Consequence, Mr. Hudson and Big Sean.

Kanye’s special guests this time around haven’t been announced yet, but our fingers are crossed for pretty much anyone featured on My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. (Can’t you just picture Nicki Minaj rocking a hot pink cowboy hat?)

So for all you party people who will be at SXSW on Saturday night, better show up waaay earlier than midnight to nab a spot for the big show. And don’t forget to come hang with us at Idolator’s Pray For Pop party at The PureVolume House on Thursday from 2 to 8 p.m.!

Polarizing TV chef Rachael Ray is having another party at South By Southwest this year; it’ll take place Saturday March 21, and last all day, and probably be ridiculously hard to get into once again. And yes, there will be food (like, um, seven layer sliders, the ingredient list of which gives me stomach cramps). And drink! And bands: The Hold Steady, The New York Dolls, Bob Schneider, The Airborne Toxic Event, Ra Ra Riot, Semi Precious Weapons, Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros, The Thermals ,and John Pringle. Also The Cringe, a.k.a. her husband’s band. There is a flyer, but I kind of like the one that Christopher R. Weingarten and I brainstormed a little better. [RachaelRay.com]

The extremely polarizing TV chef/daytime host/magazine editor/lifestyle brand Rachael Ray will once again host a showcase at Austin’s South By Southwest Festival, the sequel to a 2008 concert that featured the Raveonettes and band-whose-name-you-can’t-say-on-TV Holy Fuck. No artists have been confirmed yet, although rumors floated by MTV claim that barroom standbys the Hold Steady and the Pitchfork-disliked, NBC-beloved Airborne Toxic Event may be on the bill. There’s a warmup party at Andrew WK’s New York City club Santos Party House scheduled for late February, although alas, Mr. WK is not on the bill for that yet. (Maybe he’ll be Rachael’s sous chef for the evening instead? We can all hope!) [MTV]

The first batch of bands for this year’s installment of the South By Southwest Music Festival has been announced, which means that we can finally put festival programmer Darin Klein’s claims about just how bands are selected for Austin’s annual Shiner-and-short sets fest to the test. (Aww, the lede of Lucas’ piece mentions free Sparks. How sad.) Among the highlights on the list, which is after the jump: Ida Maria, Ebony Bones, St. Vincent. And Primal Scream, hey!

8Ball & MJG (Memphis, TN)
Akron/Family (Williamsport, PA)
Al Kapone (Memphis, TN)
Alina Simone (Brooklyn, NY)
Amanda Blank (Philadelphia, PA)
Amber Smith (Budapest, HUNGARY)
Angry vs The Bear (Essex, ENGLAND)
Anthony Snape (Sydney, AUSTRALIA)
ARABROT (Oslo, NORWAY)
Arc Angels (Austin, TX)
Asher Roth (Morrisville, PA)
Asobi Seksu (Brooklyn, NY)
Astrid Williamson (Shetland Islands, SCOTLAND)
B.o.B. (Atlanta, GA)
Banda de Turistas (Buenos Aires, Argentina)
Bar-Kays (Memphis, TN)
Bavu Blakes (Austin, TX)
Ben Kweller (Austin, TX)
Benny Gallagher (West Wickham, ENGLAND)
Black Cherry (London, ENGLAND)
BLACK SKIES (Chapel Hill, NC)
Blaqstarr (Baltimore, MD)
Blue Scholars (Seattle, WA)
Bomba Estereo (Bogota, Columbia)
Brick Bandits (Philadelphia, PA)
Buck 65 (Halifax, NS)
Buraka Som Sistema (Lisbon, Portugal)
Candy Coated Killahz (Toronto, CANADA)
Cashier No.9 (Belfast, IRELAND)
Casiokids (Bergen, NORWAY)
Charles Hamilton (New York, NY)
Choc Quib Town (Bogota, Columbia)
CHOO-CHOO (Bern, SWITZERLAND)
Chris T-T (Brighton, ENGLAND)
Come On Gang! (Edinburgh, SCOTLAND)
Crystal Method (Los Angeles, CA)
Crystal Stilts (New York, NY)
Damero (Berlin, Germany)
Dananananaykroyd (Glasgow, Scotland)
Dave Alvin (Los Angeles, CA)
David Garza (Austin, TX)
Dead Prez (New York, NY)
Dekadens (Bucharest, ROMANIA)
Dirtblonde (Liverpool, ENGLAND)
Division Miniscula (Matamoros, Mexico)
Doctor Krapula (Bogota, Columbia)
EBONY BONES! (London, ENGLAND)
Ella (Bristol, ENGLAND)
Empire ISIS (Montreal, CANADA)
Explosions in the Sky (Austin, TX)
Flood of Red (Glasgow, SCOTLAND)
Franki Chan (Los Angeles, CA)
Free Sol (Memphis, TN)
Futumomo Satisfaction (Tokyo, Japan)
Gabi Almedia (Sao Paolo, Brazil)
Gary Clark Jr. (Austin, TX)
Grimy Styles (Austin, TX)
Hacienda (San Antonio, TX)
Hickoids (Austin, TX)
Ida Maria (Stockholm, Sweden)
Insite (Mexicali, Mexico)
Invincible (Detroit, MI)
Jokers of the Scene (Ottawa, ON)
Kap Bambino (Bordeaux, France)
Kid Sister (Chicago, IL)
Killer Mike (Atlanta, GA)
LA Riots (Los Angeles, CA)
Los Fancy Free (Mexico City, Mexico)
Madi Diaz (Nashville, TN)
Manana (Basil, SWITZERLAND)
Mandi Perkins (Los Angeles, CA)
Mexican Institute of Sound (Mexico City, Mexico)
Micachu (London, ENGLAND)
Midnight Youth (Auckland, NEW ZEALAND)
Mika Miko (Los Angeles, CA)
Mike Badger (Liverpool, ENGLAND)
Mistah FAB (Oakland, CA)
Monokino (Amsterdam, THE NETHERLANDS)
Moriarty (Montreuil, FRANCE)
Motel (Mexico City, Mexico)
Mundo Livre Sa (Recife, Brazil)
My Crew Be Unruly (Baltimore, MD)
My Federation (Hove, ENGLAND)
Nacho Vegas (Gijon, Spain)
Nacional (Glasgow, SCOTLAND)
NAVEL (Erschwil, SWITZERLAND)
Outasight (New York, NY)
P.O.S. (Minneapolis, MN)
Pato Machete (Monterrey, Mexico)
Peter Bjorn & John (Stockholm, Sweden)
Peter Rosenberg (New York, NY)
Port O’Brien (Cambria, CA)
Primal Scream (Glasgow, Scotland)
Reflection Eternal (Ohio/New York)
Rob Quest (Houston, TX)
Sage Francis (Providence, RI)
San Quinn (San Francisco, CA)
Scribe (Christchurch, NZ)
Shad (London, Ontario)
Shawn David McMillen (Austin, TX)
Simplifires (Mexico City, Mexico)
Soulico (Tel Aviv, Israel)
St. Vincent (Dallas, TX)
Suzy & Los Quattro (Barcelona, Spain)
T Bird & The Breaks (Austin, TX)
Tanya Morgan (Brooklyn, NY)
Temposhark (London, ENGLAND)
The Beat Poets (Belfast, IRELAND)
The Carrivick Sisters (Devon, ENGLAND)
The Courteneers (Manchester, UK)
The deBretts (London, ENGLAND)
The Deep Dark Woods (Saskatoon, CANADA)
the Devil Wears Prada (Dayton, OH)
The Everyday Visuals (Boston, MA)
The Knux (New Orleans, LA)
THE MOOG (Budapest, HUNGARY)
The Pepper Pots (Girona, Spain)
The Sonics (Seattle, WA)
The Temper Trap (Nth Fitzroy, AUSTRALIA)
thecocknbullkid (London, ENGLAND)
Thee Oh See’s (San Francisco, CA)
This Bike Is A Pipe Bomb (Pensacola, FL)
Tittsworth (Washington, DC)
Tommy Tee (Oslo, Norway)
Toy Horses (Barry, WALES)
Twilight Hotel (Winnipeg, CANADA)
Virgin Passages (London, ENGLAND)
Volodja Balzalorsky (Ljubljana, SLOVENIA)
WAZ (Los Angeles, CA)
We Have Band (London, ENGLAND)
We Should Be Dead (Limerick, IRELAND)
White Lies (London, ENGLAND)
Whitechapel (Knoxville, TN)
Willem Maker (Turkey Heaven, AL)
Willy Joy (Chicago, IL)
Yarah Bravo (New York, NY)

SXSW Music [Official site]
Earlier: In Case You’re Thinking Of A Last-Minute Application, Here’s How Bands Get Picked For SXSW

Adding to the “I’m missing everything” feeling provided by the fact that during SXSW every bar with 10 square feet of space turns itself into a temporary music venue is the ever-growing number of day parties, which are hosted by PR companies, blogs, hair products, and anyone else who wants to promote themselves along with the music they love. In the photos below, Andy Beta takes us through his final days at the festival, where he navigates long bathroom lines, celebrity spottings, and the strangely muffling racks of spangly cotton at American Apparel.