I'm off to Austin to visit friends, so have a great weekend! Here's a pic of Adam Lambert and Ke$ha with Max Martin and Dr. Luke, who shared Songwriter Of The Year honors on Wednesday at the ASCAP Pop Music Awards.
Max and Luke won jointly for their work on Katy Perry's "California Gurls" and "Teenage Dream," and also Taio Cruz's "Dynamite." Max was also recognized for Lambert's "Whataya Want From Me" and Usher's "DJ Got Us Fallin' In Love Again," while Miley Cyrus' "Party In The U.S.A." and Ke$ha's "Tik Tok" factored into Luke's win.
Katy Perry's "E.T." jumps to #1 on the Hot 100 this week, thus becoming her fourth consecutive chart-topping single off Teenage Dream, and fifth song to reach the peak on the chart overall. (Yes, folks, Katy Perry has had more #1s than Lady Gaga. And Pink. And Britney Spears.)
"E.T." also gives Swedish songwriter/producer Max Martin an 11th chart-topping hit in the U.S., and his first since Weaveney's "Hold It Against Me"debuted at #1 in January. Katy's latest addictive slice of trash was co-produced by Dr. Luke and Ammo, and one can't help but wonder if Max and Luke have reached the point of complete over-saturation in the pop market at this point? You really can't throw a wadded up gum wrapper at the chart without hitting a "Raise Your Glass" here, a "Dynamite" there or a "Price Tag" up Jessie J's thong.
Oh, well, speaking of Wigney, Dr. Luke and Max Martin, "Till The World Ends" makes a slight rebound and moves up one position to #22 in its third week on the Hot 100. And outside the Top 40, soul legend Rebecca Black climbs from #72 to #58 with her instant funk classic "Friday."
Over on the Top 200 album chart, Duran Duran's All You Need Is Now re-enters at #29 after the release of the physical CD, and marks the British band's highest-charting album since Astronaut reached #17 in 2004.
1. "E.T." - Katy Perry feat. Kanye West*1 week* 2. "S&M" - Rihanna 3. "Fuck You" - Cee Lo Green 4. "Born This Way" - Lady Gaga 5. "Just Can't Get Enough"- The Black Eyed Peas 6. "No Sleep" - Wiz Khalifa *new* 7. "Look At Me Now"- Chris Brown feat. Lil Wayne & Busta Rhymes 8. "Fuckin' Perfect" - Pink 9. "Down On Me"- Jeremih feat. 50 Cent 10. "On The Floor"- Jennifer Lopez feat. Pitbull
Here's Weaveney's next single "Till The End Of The World," which Entertainment Weekly notes is said to be produced by Max Martin and Dr. Luke and co-written by Ke$ha, and sounds, well, like a Ke$ha song...
...only with a bit more warmth. And isn't it funny when, by comparison, Robotney sounds more warm than Ke$ha?
"I'll be visiting @RyanSeacrest & @1027KIISFM tmw morning to play the FINAL version of Till The World Ends for everyone," The Wig tweeted a few minutes ago.
See the sunlight? We ain't stoppin'! Not bad, Brit$ha. Not bad at all.
Okay, between the 14 teasers for the "Hold It Against Me" video and the 10-second snippet of new song "Inside Out," this bullshit marketing tactic being used for Wigney's Femme Fatale album (out March 29) needs to stop!
But, until it does...here's the 20-second clip of new jam "I Wanna Go" that Dr. Luke tweeted out last night:
Luke says it's produced by Max Martin and Shellback (who did Pink's recent hits "Raise Your Glass" and "Fuckin' Perfect," as well as Usher's "DJ Got Us Fallin' In Love" and Weaveney's "If U Seek Amy" and "3").
Oooh, whistling. Has someone been listening to Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros' "Home"? I'd point out that Robotney sounds more like an Auto-Tuned machine than ever here, but—business as usual!
For an excellent read detailing the disturbing/creepy factor that Pattyhearstney herself hasn't uttered one single word publicly since the "Hold It Against Me"/Femme Fatale era kicked off in January, check out The Prophet's post from this past Friday.
Last night Britney Spears and musical puppet master/Femme Fatale co-executive producer Dr. Luke tweeted out a link to a 10-second SoundCloud of new song "Inside Out." Maybe Weaveney's camp was sensing the overall lack of enthusiasm for the "Hold It Against Me" video and wanted to get folks excited about this broad again?
Well, it's hard to judge a tune by a 10-second snippet, but this already sounds way more "up" and happy than "Hold It Against Me."
Meanwhile, will.i.am posted this photo of he and Wigney in the studio together on Thursday. When did she turn into a 48-year-old cougar? And why are tracks still being recorded for Femme Fatale when the album is due out in five weeks?
And so Jessie J's acclaimed reign continues, as the 22-year-old BRIT Awards fave sees her new Dr. Luke-produced single "Price Tag" debut at #1 in the UK. This gives her two jams in the Top 10 three weeks before her LP Who You Are arrives. And I'm still on the fence about her much-hyped output so far.
But let's all raise a glass of class to Kylie Minogue, who has landed her first Top 10 Brit hit since "All The Lovers" last spring with her "featuring" credit on Taio Cruz's "Higher." I really need to give that one a second chance.
Meanwhile, Wigney Spears continues to plummet, falling from #8 to #18 with "Hold It Against Me." Bitch better get that damn video out sooner than February 17 if she knows what's good for her.
Adele's 21 continues to dominate the album chart, and I'm off to watch my hometown team in the Super Bowl.
The UK Top 10:
1."Price Tag" - Jessie J feat. B.o.B *new *1 week* 2. "Grenade" - Bruno Mars 3. "We R Who We R" - Ke$ha 4. "Rolling In The Deep" - Adele 5. "Tonight (I'm Lovin' You)" - Enrique Iglesias ft. Ludacris *new* 6. "Coming Home" - Diddy - Dirty Money feat. Skylar Grey 7. "Do It Like A Dude" - Jessie J 8. "Higher" - Taio Cruz feat. Kylie Minogue 9. "Yeah 3X" - Chris Brown 10. "Blind Faith" - Chase & Status feat. Liam Bailey
The release date for Weaveney Spears' upcoming seventh studio album—whatever the hell it's called—has now been confirmed (via Billboard via MTV News via leaked info from Jive) as March 15. That's good news, since The Weaved One's latest single "Hold It Against Me" dropped from #1 to #6 on the Hot 100 this week, and quite frankly, her rabid fans could use some cheering up.
Says the leaked one-sheet:
"Back with multiple songs to add to their track record with Britney are Max Martin and Dr. Luke ('Hold It Against Me'). The album also features tracks/production by proven hitmakers Rodney Jerkins, Stargate, Fraser T. Smith, and Bloodshy & Avant, to name a few."
Know why this is effing rad news? Because Rodney Jerkins only did the greatest Britney album track EVER:
Plus, maybe Bloodshy & Avant will make Britney sound more like Miike Snow than "Radar"? (Though, "Radar" is, like, the jam.)
Britney Spears' "Hold It Against Me" has leaked a day ahead of its official release date, and as was evident from the demo that surfaced last week, it's a highly Euro-influenced dance-pop jam that, musically, is minimalist on the verses, leaving the payoff to be delivered by the chorus.
It's kind of the same tactic that was taken with "Womanizer" off Circus, and sadly I'm not really feeling the second coming of Jesus Christ with this one. That said, I'm sure "Hold It Against Me" will fly up the iTunes chart once it's added around midnight tonight and then debut at #1 on the Hot 100 next week.
Don't get me wrong—I think Weaveney herself delivers on the song. But given that Max Martin and Dr. Luke are in charge of her whole album, I expected a bit more in the way of melodic fireworks. Guess I'll play it 47 times in a row until I force myself to love it (for a week).
Like Britney sings in the middle eight here, "Give me something good!"
God, there's really nothing better than a good ol' Photoshopped-to-all-hell Britney Spears single sleeve image, is there? Well, yes there is—nearly naked photos of hot piece of tailAdam Levine, for instance.
Anyway, Weaveney tweeted the above pic today. And while her version of her new single "Hold It Against Me" has yet to arrive, the demo leaked, featuring, some kidz are saying, songwriter Bonnie McKee ("Teenage Dream", "Party In The USA") on session vocals.
Says Brit on Twitter, "If u think that's good, wait til you hear the real one Tuesday."
Assessment so far: that chorus is so damn Euro—from the melody to the under-used-in-the-USA word "paradise" in the chorus—I'm having flashbacks to the hazy Long Island iced tea days of 1995.
The monotonous, throbbing beat/synths during the verses comes off a bit dull, but overall "Hold It Against Me" is sounding (so far) miles ahead of previous first singles from The Weaved One like "Womanizer" and "Me Against The Music."
Bravo, Max Martin and Dr. Luke! And, Jesus—get this shit on iTunes, already. It's a hit.
So, the two things that gays and fans of all things pop (same thing, really) are looking forward to: Lady Gaga's "big" announcement tomorrow night and the premiere of Britney Spears' new song "Hold It Against Me" a week later, on January 7.
The program director for New York's Z100 radio station told Entertainment Weekly this trash:
"It’s produced by Dr. Luke and Max Martin, and the beat that they give her is really unique compared to other artists — this infectious bass beat beneath the song.”
Well, let's face it—Britney's masterpiece was her 2007 album Blackout, which she made when she was cracked out of her gourd. (Her upcoming album is due out in March 2011.) If "Hold It Against Me" is half as classy "Radar" or "Break The Ice", then it might be worth it.
It's a post-Gaga world, and expectations are high. I don't think all that lip-sycing shit's gonna fly too well this time around, so hopefully Britney's tuned her robot pipes.
There's no stopping New Queen Of Soul Ke$ha! The classiest gal on Planet Pop not only covers the November issue of Seventeen, she was also nominated for three American Music Awards yesterday and is readying an eight-song mini album titled Cannibal (out November 22).
And thank God, too—it's about time we get to hear some real music this year! The broad's first single off the set will be "We R Who We R," and it's being issued to radio (i.e. it'll be leaking all over the place like Ke$ha's thong when she sees a keg of Schlitz in the distance) tomorrow!
Says MTV News, the eight new songs will be produced by Max Martin, Benny Blanco and Bangladesh, and there'll be a remix included on Cannibal. (Odd that the site doesn't mention Dr. Luke, who we already know is involved after his Billboard interview last month).
It will also be offered up in a deluxe repackaging of Animal titled Animal + Cannibal. That's Ke$ha for you—such an clever smarty pants.
Okay, okay—this Billboard cover story on Dr. Luke is two weeks old, but I just got around to reading it on Sunday.
Here's all the info on Ke$ha's Animal re-release, which is being served up in time for the holidays (so Grandma can throw glitter down her red-and-green vinyl thong on Christmas Day, one would assume):
"Lukasz Gottwald—the writer/producer better-known to the explosive-chorus-loving world as Dr. Luke—has booked all three rooms at Conway for the entire month of September. He’s told his manager to cancel all meetings, and you might have to excuse him if your call goes to voice mail. The deadline task at hand: Coming up with enough new songs for his protégée, Ke$ha, to get a deluxe repackaging of her debut album out in time for the holiday buying season.
"Nothing is remotely done yet, and Ke$ha is only available for a three-week stretch, so he and fellow producers Benny Blanco and Ammo are hard at work coming up with rough tracks for the singer to put her stamp on. How many songs are they planning on adding to the Animal reissue?
"'I’d like as many as eight, if possible,' Gottwald says. 'But I’ll be happy if I got four or five great ones. And a lot depends on the next two weeks. She has a single right now, ‘Take It Off,’ which is doing pretty well.'
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"In the coming months, Gottwald will co-executive produce Britney Spears’ 2011 project, alongside [Max] Martin. For his own label, Kemosabe, whose sole release so far is Ke$ha’s Animal, he’ll be working with his latest signings, female singers Sabi and Sophia Black. Meanwhile, taking off his executive hat, he’s still involved in plenty of production one-offs, like an upcoming single for British powerhouse vocalist Jessie J (who co-wrote 'Party in the U.S.A.' for herself before sacrificing it to [Miley] Cyrus).
-------------------------------
"He fires up a track they’ve already worked on with Ke$ha. As usual for her, it’s an all-synth sound... There’s an unfinished chorus on this new track, in which Gottwald is singing through such distorted Auto-Tune, it’s impossible to tell what he’s saying-which is deliberate, so he won’t unduly influence Ke$ha when she comes up with her own lyrics.
"Meanwhile, she's already laid down spoken-word sections on the verses. Gottwald is laughingly unsure whether to call it "rap" or just "her white-girl thing." It's very much in line with her chosen persona-and very much irresistible-but apparently, she's not as sure about it as her producer is. The words: 'I'm in love all right/With my crazy beautiful life/With the parties, the disasters/With my friends all pretty and plastered/I've been through my sketchy phases/Been a shitty waitress/But I'm not now, guess it worked out/Got here by running my mouth.'
"'She can second-guess that,' Gottwald says, pausing the Pro Tools, 'but I like that. I think it's real. Maybe the chorus will tie it together. Who knows? And if it's not good enough, it won't go on the record.'"
Sounds dreamy. Ke$ha recently became only the 11th solo female in the history of the Billboard Hot 100 to land four Top 10 singles off their debut album. The first was Cyndi Lauper in 1984. Madonna and Britney—not on there.
Here's the full list:
1. Cyndi Lauper, She's So Unusual (1984) 2. Whitney Houston, Whitney Houston (1985-1986) 3. Debbie Gibson, Out Of The Blue (1987-1988) 4. Taylor Dayne, Tell It To My Heart (1988) 5. Paula Abdul, Forever Your Girl (1989-1990) 6. Mariah Carey, Mariah Carey (1990-1991) 7. Christina Aguilera, Christina Aguilera (1999-2000) 8. Beyonce, Dangerously In Love (2003-2004) 9. Fergie, The Dutchess (2006-2007) 10. Lady Gaga, The Fame (2009) 11. Ke$ha, Animal (2009-2010)
First of all: radio programmers of America, get your heads out of your ASSES and start playing Kelly Rowland's "Rose Colored Glasses" already!
It's Dr. Luke's umpteenth single from the past few months, and since he's been currently clogging the Top 10 of Billboard's Hot 100 with jams by Katy Perry, B.o.B, Taio Cruz and Ke$ha, there's no why reason Miss Kelly can't be a part of that, too.
The music video for "Rose Colored Glasses" premiered today, and has not only a nice shot of Kelly's fine booty...
...but also Lady Rowland getting violent.
Ass and smashing things—two of my favorite things. Enjoy!
Ke$ha's "Take It Off," one of my fave jams off her trashy fun Animal, climbs to #10 of Billboard's Hot 100 this week, becoming her fourth straight Top 10 hit off the album. And it's clear now that the New Queen Of Soul truly has become the voice of this generation, her angelic pipes being undeniable to a nation that craves raw talent. Sorry Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey—Ke$ha is The Ultimate True Voice.
This marks five singles now in the Top 10 that either have a Dr. Luke or Max Martin credit (and in the case of "Teenage Dream," "Dynamite" and "California Gurls" it's both). Speaking of which, Adam Lambert's "If I Had You" holds steady at #32 for a second week.
But the ultimate triumph this week is the "Bed Intruder Song" by the Gregory Brothers, Antoine and Kelly Dodson. After initially debuting two weeks ago at #89, the viral Auto-Tuned masterpiece dropped off the chart last week. This week it re-enters at #92.
You know, come to think of it, maybe Antoine Dodson is actually the New Queen Of Soul?
The U.S. Top 10:
1. "Love The Way You Lie" - Eminem feat. Rihanna*7 weeks* 2. "Teenage Dream" - Katy Perry 3. "Dynamite" - Taio Cruz 4. "I Like It" - Enrique Iglesias feat. Pitbull 5. "DJ Got Us Fallin' In Love" - Usher feat. Pitbull 6. "Just The Way You Are" - Bruno Mars 7. "California Gurls" - Katy Perry feat. Snoop Dogg 8. "Cooler Than Me" - Mike Posner 9. "Mine" - Taylor Swift 10. "Take It Off" - Ke$ha
I probably should have saved the Max Martin lovefest for this week's chart post, as he (and, of course, Dr. Luke) now have four songs in the Top 10 of Billboard's Hot 100. Jason Derulo's "Ridin' Solo" and Drake's "Find Your Love" drop out, making room for Usher's "DJ Got Us Fallin' In Love" (#9) and Katy Perry's "Teenage Dream" (#7).
Other big movers include New Queen Of Soul Ke$ha, whose latest, "Take It Off," flies up 40 positions to #52. You can watch the video for that trash jam here. Adam Lambert's "If I Had You" also begins to make some headway, as it moves up 13 positions to #56.
And way down at the lower end of the chart, Rihanna debuts at #99 with "Rockstar 101." Oh, Ri Ri—you can just stay right there with that slice of ear death.
Over on the Dance/Club Play Songs roundup, Kylie Minogue's "All The Lovers" hops up from #3 to #1.
The U.S. Top 10:
1. "Love The Way You Lie" - Eminem feat. Rihanna*3 weeks* 2. "California Gurls" - Katy Perry feat. Snoop Dogg 3. "Dynamite" - Taio Cruz 4. "Airplanes" - B.o.B feat. Hayley Williams 5. "I Like It" - Enrique Iglesias feat. Pitbull 6. "Cooler Than Me" - Mike Posner 7. "Teenage Dream" - Katy Perry 8. "Billionaire" - Travie McCoy feat. Bruno Mars 9. "DJ Got Us Fallin' In Love" - Usher feat. Pitbull 10. "OMG" - Usher feat. will.i.am
I should have posted Ke$ha's music video for "Take It Off" when it premiered yesterday, but 1.) I'm undertaking a maddening project of condensing my CD library and filing it all into a better storage system, and 6.) even though it's my favorite song on the Animal album, it's still her fourth single—i.e. not a priority.
Will be interesting to see how the public's patience is wearing at this point for another Ke$ha tune on the radio. The video doesn't convey the highest of concepts, but it's sort of interesting if you like watching dirty, skanky-looking hipsters exploding into disco sand in the pool of a shitty motel.
I'm was kind of officially over Katy Perry's "California Gurls"—now at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for a fifth week—after about four plays back in May. And if you ask me, there are far better "Songs Of The Summer" out there, i.e. tracks that aren't necessarily the best ones around, but likely the lesser of the evils you're going to hear relentlessly played on the radio till you want to stab someone through the skull with a beach umbrella.
One such jam would be Taio Cruz's "Dynamite," which was co-written by Max Martin and produced by Dr. Luke and Benny Blanco. With Ke$ha's "Your Love Is My Drug" and Lady Gaga's "Alejandro" dropping out of the Top 10, there's room for Taio's upbeat single to hop in at #7. Pure pop.
The next one wore me down much slower. I almost feel ashamed to own up to the fact that I like Enrique Iglesias' "I Like It" (for now), for the sheer fact that it's somewhat tied in to MTV's bumpit-wound trainwreck series Jersey Shore. Alas, it's grown on me like Russell Brand's bed monster snaking up Katy Perry's thigh at 7 a.m.
At any rate, I'm starting to warm to "I Like It" with each listen, and this week the song jumps up to #18, thereby becoming Iglesias' highest charting single on the Hot 100 since "Escape" reached #12 back in 2002. Over on iTunes "I Like It" moved up to #4, where it's been sitting for the past few days. So expect it to probably start threatening the Top 10 next week.
I just wish there was a version available sans Pitbull.
The U.S. Top 10:
1. "California Gurls" - Katy Perry feat. Snoop Dogg *5 weeks* 2. "Love The Way You Lie" - Eminem feat. Rihanna 3. "OMG" - Usher feat. will.i.am 4. "Airplanes" - B.o.B feat. Hayley Williams 5. "Billionaire" - Travie McCoy feat. Bruno Mars 6. "Cooler Than Me" - Mike Posner 7. "Dynamite" - Taio Cruz 8. "Find Your Love" - Drake 9. "Ridin' Solo" - Jason Derulo 10. "Not Afraid" - Eminem
