DISPATCHES FROM THE POP SCENE...MINUS THE CORN SYRUP.
Sunday, January 29, 2012
UK Chart Roundup: Cover Drive Talk That Talk At #1 With "Twilight"
At first, with Barbadian quartet Cover Drive, I was all like, who's this Rihanna knockoff ho. Then with their second single "Twilight," I was all, way to throw every popular search word at the wall and see if it sticks.
Turns out that the jam has completely grown on me. Sure, it's basically a 2.0 of "What's My Name" — but is that such a bad thing to aspire to? Not when it takes you to the top of the UK chart.
Meanwhile, kudos to Sia for managing to score two Top 10 singles at the same time, courtesy of her features on David Guetta's "Titanium" (which is up to #2) and Flo Rida's "Wild Ones" (new in at #5).
The UK Top 10:
1."Twilight" - Cover Drive *new* *1 week*
2. "Titanium" - David Guetta feat. Sia
3. "Domino" - Jessie J
4. "Mama Do The Hump" - Rizzle Kicks
5. "Wild Ones" - Flo Rida feat. Sia *new*
6. "Antidote" - Swedish House Mafia feat. Knifeparty 7. "Somebody That I Used To Know" - Gotye feat. Kimbra
8. "Stronger" - Kelly Clarkson
9. "Good Feeling" - Flo Rida 10. "International Love" - Pitbull feat. Chris Brown
Madonna's "Give Me All Your Luvin'" Single Art & 'MDNA' Album Details Revealed
Pop fanatics, it's a new dawn for our fair maiden Madonna, and if you thought the Lady Gaga PR onslaught was relentless last year, prepare for the Madonnapocalypse.
It was announced today that her Nicki Minaj- and M.I.A.-featuring single "Give Me All Your Luvin'", which was produced by Martin Solveig and Madge, will be available on iTunes this coming Friday, February 3. Ahead of that, the music video will be previewed during Thursday night's episode of American Idol. (Note: Idol is still in the pre-recorded auditions phase — so the video preview will perhaps air during the credits, or, I guess get shoehorned somewhere in the middle.)
Like the single, Demonna's full video will then premiere on Friday (i.e. the same day W.E. hits theaters, and two days before M's Super Bowl halftime performance).
Meanwhile, Her Madgesty's 12th studio album MDNA will be released on March 26 via her new label deal with Interscope. Here's more info, via a press release:
iTunes will offer an exclusive global pre-order of an 18 track Deluxe Edition of MDNA including one exclusive remix from Madonna's new album. The bonus remix will be available from Friday, February 3rd through Monday, February 6th only. During this time period the album will be available for $9.99 and fans will also receive the digital single "Give Me All Your Luvin'" immediately. This single is also exclusive to iTunes during this limited time. At launch, the offer can be found at www.iTunes.com/Madonna.
In addition to Solveig, producers on MDNA, which will contain her Golden Globe-winning W.E. song "Masterpiece," include William Orbit (thank god), The Demolition Crew, Marco "Benny" Benassi and Alessandro "Alle" Benassi, Hardy "Indiigo" Muanza, Michael Malih and Madonna.
Let's hope the broad knocks it out of the park with this one, Ray Of Light and Confessions style, kids.
US Chart Roundup: Adele's "Set Fire To The Rain" Is Her Third #1 Single
Adele's "Set Fire To The Rain" topples Rihanna's "We Found Love" on the Hot 100, and it marks the London-based singer's third consecutive #1 single off 21. "Set Fire To The Rain" has been my jam off that album from day one, so I'm happy to see it finally doing so well. Incidentally, 21 was released exactly one year ago this week in the UK.
Over on the Top 200, 21 has now surpassed the Titanic soundtrack's 16-week run in the album chart's peak position. The last LP to spend more time at #1 was the soundtrack to The Bodyguard, which racked up 20 weeks on top between 1992 and 1993.
Back on the Hot 100, Kelly Clarkson earns her second Top 10 hit off Stronger with the album's Greg Kurstin-produced title song, which is up to #8. Who knew that endorsing a Republican presidential candidate who flopped would give her such a career boost? This is the first time since Kelly's 2004 Breakaway album that she's landed back-to-back Top 10 hits.
Jessie J now has her first Top 10 US hit with "Domino" (#10), her current UK chart-topper. Billboard points out that the song is now Max Martin's 36th Top 10 single and Dr. Luke's 29th as writers. Cha-ching!
Elsewhere, my jam "Blackout" by Breathe Carolina (#32) finally cracks the Top 40, The Wanted's debut US single "Glad You Came" leaps up 21 positions to #64 and Foster The People's "Don't Stop (Color On The Walls)" holds steady way down at #97 for a second week.
The U.S. Top 10:
1. "Set Fire To The Rain"- Adele*1 week*
2. "We Found Love" - Rihanna feat. Calvin Harris
3. "Good Feeling"- Flo Rida
4. "Turn Me On"- David Guetta feat. Nicki Minaj
5. "The One That Got Away"- Katy Perry
6. "It Will Rain" - Bruno Mars
7. "Sexy And I Know It" - LMFAO
8. "Stronger (What Doesn't Kill You)"- Kelly Clarkson
9. "Ni**as In Paris"- Jay-Z & Kanye West
10. "Domino"- Jessie J
New Saint Etienne music is always a good thing, and new free Saint Etienne music is even better! The British trio have offered up their bouncy new dance-pop single "Tonight" as a price-free download ahead of its March 5 release. Listen below, and download here.
"Tonight" was produced by ex-Xenomania cog Tim Powell (who also whipped up Pet Shop Boys single "Together"), mixed by Richard X, and will presumably appear on the Et's upcoming LP Words And Music By Saint Etinne.
SE member Bob Stanley had this to say to Pitchfork about "Tonight":
"[It's] about the anticipation of going to see your favourite artist. For some
reason, I imagine this show is at the Forum in Kentish Town. The whole
album is about the power of pop, how it affects and shapes your
life. People talk about the problem of landfill indie, but there's so
much landfill pop around at the moment — we're trying to do something
about it."
Anyway, if you need to get hold of me tonight, I'll be over there in the distance, playing "Tonight" on repeat about 46 times.
Ladies and gentleman, behold —the new Fast & Furious poster! Oh, j/k, everyone. J/k. It's the cover art for Adam Lambert's sophomore LP Trespassing, which is due out March 20. Visually, it's miles ahead in sophistication than his debut, and kind of the perfect representation of right where he should be now.
Adam tweeted that Lee Cherry, who he's worked with before, did the photography and art directing. Lambert himself served as executive producer and creative director.
Songwriters and producers Adam worked with include Dr. Luke, Benny Blanco, Sam Sparro, Nile Rodgers, Bruno Mars and Pharrell Williams.
Chart Rigger Turns 7 Today, So Here Are 7 Questions For You To Answer
Ah, 2005 — what a different pop landscape it was seven years ago, when Chart Rigger first went online. In fact, 2005 marked the shift back toward actual pop — and, subsequently, dance — music, stateside, after both had been pretty much absent on the charts in the first half of the first decade of the new millennium. Above you'll see a visual timeline of the #1 singles on the Hot 100 this very week every year since 2005.
One could say my work here is done, and, yes, I take full credit for it. Oh, I jest. But sometimes I do wonder if it's time for me to get an actual life and leave the pop trash-talking behind. Then I realize, well, I'd probably just be shooting up smack in an alleyway downtown in place of blogging, so...
Anyway, this blogiversary always creeps up on me, and I never quite know what to write about. That said, I found it much more interesting to hear about you this time last year. So once again, let's get to know each other a little better. (Yes, I'm talking to YOU.) And we'll make it 7-themed.
Here, I'll show you mine first. Then you show me yours...in the comments.
1. I turned 7 years old in ___, a year that was memorable because _________.
1981. It was the year MTV first hit the airwaves (though we didn't get it in my house till 1982).
2. Looking at the above 7 chart-topping singles, I can't believe ____ is sill around.
Flo Rida. His songs seem to me like they could have any interchangeable rapper thrown in for vocals. They also come across like one-hit wonder type singles. Then again, that probably just proves he's adaptable, and likely explains why we're still talking about him. Or maybe he's given all the right people handjobs?
3. Who released the best seventh single of their career out of these artists: • Rihanna, "Umbrella" • Britney Spears, "Lucky" • Madonna, "Material Girl" • Beyonce, "Check On It" • Katy Perry, "Firework"
It's a toss-up between Madonna and Rihanna for me. Two vastly different pop singles from two vastly different eras. I flipped a coin and it came up RiRi, but I can't truly pick one over the other.
4. When I was 17, I was dating a (guy/girl) whose first name was _____.
I wasn't. Ages 17 through 19 marked a very "single" time period for me. I don't think I was really comfortable in my own skin then.
5. Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman star in a movie called Seven, which I saw _____.
Opening weekend, in the movie theater while on a first — and last — date. Guy was creepy, much like the movie. Whatever, I got a free meal at the Italian Oven on the edge of my university's campus out of it.
6. I'm still reading this trashy blog seven years later because _______.
Well, I'm still writing this blog seven years later because I think I'm obsessed with Britney's lopsided weave and Beyonce's attempts at still trying to have a pop career. Normal concerns for a healthy adult...right?
7. My birthday is ____.
February 7. See? It's related to the theme!
Now it's your turn. Hit me up below, and thanks for reading all these years later!
Rihanna's "We Found Love" is #1 for a 10th week on the Billboard Hot 100, which means she and Calvin Harris have now had the longest run at the top of the chart since The Black Eyed Peas' "I Gotta Feeling" spent 13 weeks in the peak position in 2009. RiRi is also the first female solo artist to rack up 10 weeks at #1 since Beyonce did so with "Irreplaceable" five years ago.
Let's move on to another controversial lady of pop. Lana Del Rey, in case you've been on a coke bender for the past week, gave a performance on Saturday Night Live that has pretty much divided the Internet into two camps: those who hated it and those who think all the resulting chatter will only help boost sales of her debut LP Born To Die once it arrives.
Lana Del Rey — "Video Games" on SNL
Lana Del Rey — "Blue Jeans" on SNL
The haters really need to get over it. Vocally, I found her performance to be just fine. People are up in arms over her seemingly odd, guttural delivery, but it's like, look, that's how the broad sings. This ain't no Britney Spears tit fest designed to have some lip-syncing ho with a robot snatch pry kiddies' cash out of their hands so they can sit on mom's Rabbit and one day hit the pole at 14.
NO! This is Lana Del Rey, hookers. True, she needs to work on the whole stage presence thing. And she could have benefited from some sort of prop to give her fidgety hands something to do — possibly a scarf to twirl around, or perhaps a microphone stand or a riding crop?
But, come on. The chick was probably nerved up and out of her mind from doing her first big TV performance (in the States). She's got The Ellen DeGeneres Show coming up on February 2, and the Late Show With David Letterman at some point after that. She'll get there, Brian Williams, you smug, ugly douche. Her performances on The Jonathan Ross Show and at London's Corinthia Hotel the week prior were just fine.
Try this: hit play on one of the videos above then go make a sandwich while listening and not watching. There really is nothing wrong with her vocals.
At any rate, Del Rey's four-song EP rose to #2 on iTunes immediately after SNL aired, and is still hanging in at #7 on the digital stores album roundup nearly a week later. On the Billboard Top 200, Del Rey's EP debuts at #20, while "Video Games" cracks the Hot 100 at #91.
1. "We Found Love" - Rihanna feat. Calvin Harris*10 weeks*
2. "Set Fire To The Rain"- Adele
3. "Good Feeling"- Flo Rida
4. "It Will Rain" - Bruno Mars
5. "Sexy And I Know It" - LMFAO
6. "The One That Got Away"- Katy Perry
7. "Ni**as In Paris"- Jay-Z & Kanye West
8. "Rack City"- Tyga
9. "Young, Wild & Free"- Snoop Dogg & Wiz Khalifa
10. "Turn Me On"- David Guetta feat. Nicki Minaj
BRIT Award-nominated singer Emeli Sande's "Next To Me" sounded like a cross between Adele's "Rolling In The Deep" and Dolly Parton's "9 To 5" to me (which, really, isn't a bad combo to go for) when I first heard it. It's the third single lifted from her upcoming debut LP Our Version Of Events, which is out in the UK on February 13 and in the States sometime in June.
The video is a bit of a shoestring-budget deal, but, you know — recession and all.
Adam Lambert Does "Better Than I Know Myself" On The 'Tonight Show'
Adam Lambert gave the first late night talk show performance of his lead Trespassing single "Better Than I Know Myself" on the Tonight Show With Jay Leno last night.
At first, something made me think the whole thing was going to be somewhat understated — maybe it was the fact that this was the first time we were hearing the slick pop jam in a live setting. But then Adam hauled out his powerhouse vocals toward the end, and the audience's knickers collectively dropped to the floor.
Who knows — maybe people will actually start downloading this song now?
