Posts tagged as Pop Music
Madonna, "Give Me All Your Luvin' (Feat. M.I.A. and Nicki Minaj)"
This new Madonna video, in which M.I.A. appears (and doesn't do much, along with Nicki Minaj), is not as good as M.I.A.'s new video, "Bad Girls." Considering this, and also the great video Jay-Z and Kanye West made for their song "Otis" last summer, it seems that the Bay Area hip-hop subculture known as "hyphy," which peaked four or five years ago, is having its most lasting cultural impact in the phenomena of the dangerous-looking car tricks known as "ghost riding."
"An Epic Match-Up Among the 64 Best Pop Songs Released Since 1981"
This competition, The Ultimate Pop Song Tournament, fills me with terror-rage just looking at its
Selling Herself Short: The Miscontexualization of Nicki Minaj
Nicki Minaj was six years old in 1990, when Island Records released Lin Que's first album, "Rebel Soul." Lin herself was then only 18. She was a member of the Black Nationalist group X Clan and was known as Isis. Just a year removed from high school, she traveled the world, meeting celebrities like Prince and Diana Ross. “I got bit by that bug, you know?” Lin told me on the phone last spring. “I’m a teenager and I want to be a star—but I don’t know shit.” READ MORE
Kanye West With Pusha T, "Runaway"
I'm assuming you've seen the performance from Sunday night's VMA award show already, so here's the recorded version of Kanye West's new song, "Runaway." What's to say? It's great. Most of the music we've heard in the past few months, as Kanye has emerged from his quiet year of repentance after making an ass of himself at last year's VMAs, has been great. It stands with rest of his catalogue, and his catalogue stands with that of any other artist currently working on his level. And well above most of them. But more than that, he understands that to be on that level-the big giant world-stage let-me-hear-you-scream level-he needs to be thinking about way more than just music. Clearly, he does. (How much time he must spend choosing his outfits!) He goes for the big show, the big statement, pretty much always. And pretty much always pulls off something special. XXL has a nice round-up of the big TV performances of Kanye's career. READ MORE
I'm Not Even Going To Fight Willow Smith
I'm a little obsessed/afraid of Willow Smith! Yes, she is 9, and she has a hot single and it's... sort of appealing? She did Ryan Seacrest's show this morning and it was kind of awesome? This feels weird because I don't like rich progeny and the easy jump-off and Will Smith, I've never been a fan-but listen we just have to accept this and roll with it. (Also she is very smart and for a 9-year-old, incredibly well-spoken. And NO, I actually did not just call her "articulate.") Listen. YOU CANNOT FIGHT THE FUTURE. Just let Willow be Willow. Points of view: "Lyrically, there's mention of getting one's 'swag on' and 'just tryin' have fun so keep the party jumpin'.' We're assuming that's jumping up and down on a bouncy castle with all your other nine-year-old friends buzzing off too much Dr Pepper, right?" Yes, sure. Other points of view: "I love it. I love whipping my dog's ears back and forth to the beat. I love the 34-year-old session singer who's playing the part of 'Willow Smith.'"
Raekwon Records Verse That Fits The Criteria For Kanye West's Remix Of Justin Bieber Song
Kanye West has organized an unexpected musical collaboration, recruiting Wu-Tang Clan's Raekwon the Chef to rhyme on a remix of Justin Bieber's "Runaway Love." Bieber is 16 years old, the age at which Raekwon started smoking the crack-laced marijuana cigarettes called "woolies." But Rae told MTV's Shaheem Reid that the verse he recorded for the track is age-appropriate for Bieber's presumably less experienced tween audience. "I can go basic when I want to. I can go rated R, I can go rated PG. I definitely didn't give him anything that I thought was too hot to be spoken on by a 16-year-old... One thing people gotta recognize about me, I'm the Chef. I know how to make spicy food, I know how to make food that ain't spicy. I made something that fit the criteria." Certainly, that's good. But if the world had a better sense of humor, Bieber would be sitting in a bathtub of milk for the video, sucking his thumb. READ MORE
Weezer's New Single is Worse than Nickelback's New Single
This is "Memories," Weezer's recently released first single from their upcoming album Hurley. (YES: THAT HURLEY, who graces the cover.) The album has been the subject of some buzz lately, because many fans quietly hoped that Weezer's switch to Epitaph would improve the band's sound, maybe make it a bit more grounded than their last release, Raditude. Well... the song is better than the first single off Raditude, "(If You're Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To." READ MORE
Fame and Fortune! Tokyo Girl Group Star Exchanges Schoolgirl Outfit for Nudity
AKB48, the 48-girl pop group named after Tokyo's legendary nerd quarter, Akihabara, is big in Japan. Like, ridiculously huge, Justin Bieber in a Miley-Cyrus-Taylor Momsen sandwich big. READ MORE
England Pollutes! (With Hideous Last-Place Eurovision Finish)
As if we needed one more reason to hate England and their current ruling monarch, the Empress of British Petroleum! They also inflicted 19-year-old Josh Dubovie on the Eurovision Song Contest, the most important global cultural event ever. He finished in... last place. Reasonably. Germany's unexpected first place though... Hmm. Lena Meyer-Landrut. Basically, Simon Cowell would stab her. READ MORE
