First up, we couldn’t resist that horrible headline. Now on to the news: Jay-Z has signed the Ting Tings to his Roc Nation label, and as a welcome gift, he wants to collaborate with the U.K. duo on their next album. MORE »
Posts Tagged ‘ting tings’
collaborations
Jay-Z Has a Thing Thing for the Ting Tings
it's the economy?
Riders 2009: Where Have All The Demands For Brown M&Ms Gone?
The UK pop-gossip newsletter Popbitch did a survey of artists’ tour riders for its latest edition, and it found something sort of sad: The demands of bands were kind of boring! “Even Lady GaGa… is entirely happy with whatever brand of water she’s given,” the Popbitches lament, a trend that would seem to go hand-in-hand with the increasingly stripped-down riders that have been posted to the unsealed-documents site The Smoking Gun lately. So what were the highlights of Popbitch’s findings? Here’s a hint (and a sign of how sorta-dull things are in the backstage world): Expect to find lots of pureed chickpeas. MORE »
100 and single
Heavy Lies the Crown: Clarkson Still Tops, But Slim Shady Is Poised to Pounce
Maura and I have already taken a victory lap about our fulfilled prediction that Kelly Clarkson would vault to the top of Billboard’s Hot 100. Clarkson’s “My Life Would Suck Without You” dominates the list again this week, thanks to commanding sales and fast-rising radio airplay.
How long will she stay there? Nothing in the Top 10 looks like a threat. The few songs that are on the rise, including Kanye West’s “Heartless” and All-American Rejects’ “Gives You Hell,” appear to be losing momentum. The Fray’s “You Found Me” will likely get a boost from the release of their album this week, but probably not enough to take over the penthouse.
If anything’s going to dethrone Clarkson, it will come from outside the winners’ circle. “Prom Queen,” the ill-advised rock single from Lil Wayne, makes an impressive debut at No. 17, the highest start so far this year. You’d think that would give him the edge.
But the more likely scenario involves someone doing to Kelly what Kelly did to Lady GaGa two weeks ago: an outside ambush that vaults from the bottom to the top in one fell swoop. And the probable ambusher is making an even bigger chart comeback this year than Clarkson. MORE »
corporate rock still sells
Girl-On-Girl Action Breaks Up The Modern Rock Sausage Party
Many people find it hard to tell the great from the godawful when it comes to 21st-century mainstream rock. To help figure out which is which, here’s “Corporate Rock Still Sells,” where Al “GovernmentNames” Shipley examines what’s good, bad, and ugly in the world of rock and roll. This time around, he notes that rock radio has actually started playing songs sung by women after a long drought. (No, really!) MORE »
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Just Go Ahead And Give The Best New Artist Grammy To Duffy Already
Todd Martens of the Los Angeles Times is taking a midseason look at the contenders for the Grammy Awards’ fourth or fifth most prestigious award: Best New Artist, which has been given in the past to such luminaries as Paula Cole, Arrested Development, and A Taste Of Honey. Looking at all the exciting music produced by those who qualify for the award, it’s really anyone’s guess who will take home the prize next February. No wait, the winner’s definitely going to be Duffy, isn’t it? MORE »
Would You Like To Know What “The Ting Tings” Are?
If you’ve scrolled through the festival line-ups we’ve been posting of late, you may have noticed the words “The Ting Tings” a few times and said to yourself, “my, I wonder what kind of people would think to name themselves The Ting Tings?” only to be distracted by a leak from some popular band you don’t even like. I know have! The Ting Tings are a male-drummer/female-everything else duo from England that may be the next big iPod ad sensation or Britain’s very own Boomkat. MORE »
