Thank GOD for
Twitter. It's a great way to keep up with the latest happenings and news in the music world. It does get harder to pin down news the more people you are following (I am following over 1,500 people) but you learn how to sift through all of the fluff and pick out the bits that are important to you.
'This & That' is something new I'm trying on the blog, an excuse to not let all of these little tidbits and musical morsels go to waste. Some of them come from
Twitter, some from other music blogs I follow, all of them juicy (not always good juicy). Enjoy a little bit of
'This & That.' Rebecca Ferguson, runner up on the last season of
X-Factor has landed a deal with
Epic Records. The talented singer from Liverpool may have come in 2nd but she was first in my book. New label mate
Paloma Faith congratulated Ferguson
via Twitter: "
@beccaxferguson should I be officially welcoming you? Tell me tell me? I'm so excited!" Ferguson
replied:
@ hi I'm really excited! , couldn't have asked for better people to work with ill probably c u soon ;) xxx"
Cher Lloyd has been spotted meeting with mega-producer and hitmaker
RedOne (
Lady Gaga,
Enrique Iglesias,
Sugababes) in America. It's assumed that they were discussing plans for the young pop star's forthcoming debut album. While it's uncertain at this point which record label signed Lloyd, she did sign a contract with
Syco (along with
Matt Cardle,
Rebecca Ferguson and
One Direction).
RedOne + Cher Lloyd? Yes please. {
SOURCE}
Speaking of
One Direction, the third-place finishing boy band from last season of the
X-Factor appears to be moving in the right direction as far as their burgeoning pop careers are concerned. The first step? A proper band logo. The logo is fairly straight forward, featuring a black background with a white number "1" and a D with an arrow inside. Next to the "1 D" is "One Direction" spelled out in red letters. So are they "One Direction" or "1 Direction?" A bit confusing, no? {
SOURCE}
Katrina Darrell (AKA '
Bikini Girl' from
American Idol Season 8) has released a
TERRIBLE version of "
Big Spender." In the accompanying video, Darrell frolics around the beach, on a boat and in the club with a bevvy of half naked men and women. While the vocals are weak, the video is actually pretty slick. "
Big Spender" was originally written by
Cy Coleman and
Dorothy Fields for the musical
Sweet Charity. The song has been covered by many but most famously by
Peggy Lee and
Dame Shirley Bassey.{
SOURCE}
R&B singer
JoJo is reportedly hard at work on her long-delayed 3rd studio album for
Da Family/
Blackground/
Interscope Records. While the New York Post
reports that the songs for the new album are all "mastered & ready to go," JoJo Tweeted on Friday about a forthcoming collaboration with R&B megaproducer
Rodney 'Darkchild' Jerkins (
Destiny's Child,
Jennifer Lopez), saying:
"Grateful 4the wisdom, talent, spirituality + humbleness that makes @ the brilliant mind he is . Loving what we're cookin up...." Hmm. Interesting. In September JoJo released her first mix-tape exclusively to
Rap-Up.com and if that material is any indication of what JoJo is working on then we have a lot to look forward to.
14-year old
Dionne Bromfield is getting to release a new single. The British singer, who is signed to Godmother
Amy Winehouse's
Lioness Records, released her debut album in 2009. The album peaked at #33 on the UK Album Charts and her debut single, a cover of
The Shirelles' "
Mama Said" peaked at #43. While her first album was a compilation of
Motown cover songs, the new record features original material. First single, "
Yeah Right" features
Atlantic Recording
Artist Rapper (and son of of
Joseph "Rev Run" Simmons, one of the founding members of influential hip hop group
Run–D.M.C.)
Diggy Simmons. According to Bromfield (
via Twitter) they shot the video for the single last Friday. Expect it to premiere before the single is released on
March 20th.
Anyone remember the boy band
O-Town? Here's a quick refresher...the band released two albums in the early 2000s (the first of which reached #5 on the
Billboard 200) and 2 top ten singles ("
Liquid Dreams" and "
All Or Nothing"). After their second album failed to make an impression on the charts they were dropped by
J Records and the boys went their separate ways.
Ashley Parker Angel went on to have a semi successful solo career, while the other band members faded into relative obscurity...until now. According to
TMZ 4 of the 5 original
O-Town members (minus Parker Angel) have gotten back together and are in the process of recording the first new O-Town album since 2002's
O2. Hey I think they have a shot.
Take That did alright without
Robbie Williams right? {
SOURCE}
I love Mashups, especially when done well. Case in point,
check out one of my favorites featuring
La Roux,
Robyn,
Whitney Houston and
Taylor Swift. Now for my latest obsession. Leave it to
Perez Hilton to find a brilliant bit of pop fun like this. Not sure who created this Mashup but it's awesome. The mashup uses
Britney Spears' "
Hold It Against Me,"
Kat Graham's "
Sassy" and
Adele's "
Rolling In The Deep." In one word...Amazing. {
SOURCE}
I have always loved me some
Blake Lewis and this new video featuring Lewis with buddy and collaborator
BT further solidifies his place in my list of favorite Idol Alums. To hear Lewis in his beatboxin' element, check out this new video for his original song, "
She Loves The Way," produced by
BT. Lewis first performed "
She Loves The Way" on the
American Idols Live! Tour back in 2007 becoming the first Idol alum to sing an original song on the Idol tour. This video is set to the
Beatbox Stutter Edit Mix of the song and was made using a
MacBook Pro,
"the iSight, BT's Stutter Edit plugin, Loop Pedals, a Kaoss Pad and KJ Sawka on drums." Brilliant! According to Lewis on his
YouTube channel,
"3 live takes at London Bridge studios in Seattle, Washington is all it took for BT to take my song and make a kickass example of how Stutter Edit can be used with video." Watch the video
HERE.
Well this is unexpected. Swedish electro-pop Goddess
Robyn is releasing a new single off of her fabulous, critically acclaimed
Body Talk album. Co-penned by Robyn and
Klas Åhlundm, "
Call Your Girlfriend" will be released as the follow up to Robyn's last single, "
Indestructible," which peaked at #4 on the Swedish singles charts. According to Robyn, fans can expect the accompanying video will be released in
"probably February or March." Can't wait for some new Robyn! Robyn's "
Dancing On My Own" was nominated for a '
Best Dance Recording'
Grammy so look out to see if she wins when the Grammy's air on
February 13th. {
SOURCE}
You may remember when
Travis Garland performed his debut solo single, the
Danja-produced "
Believe" on
American Idol in May of last year. Prior to his solo debut Garland was the lead singer of
NLT, an American boy band that also featured
Kevin McHale, now of
Glee fame. The band released 4 singles and were scheduled to release their debut album however it never materialized on the group disbanded. Promoted heavily be
Perez Hilton, Garland's Idol performance was supposed to be the catalyst Garland needed to launch him into solo stardom but that never happened. Signed to
Interscope/
Geffen Records the singer/songwriter is supposedly working on his debut album, due out sometime this year, although details are sketchy at best. As of
January 11th, fans can download a free 5-track EP called
Last Man Standing. Get that
HERE. It's a nice place holder while we await Garland's next move.
Looks like
Ke$ha's next single off of
Cannibal has been selected. Fans can expect to hear "
Blow" on the radio starting
February 8th. The
Dr. Luke/
Max Martin/
Benny Blanco-produced electro-stomper is typical Ke$ha in that her voice is auto-tuned to shit. The jury's still out on whether or not this single's any good.
The Prophet appropriately labels it "Take it Off" Part 2 and I can't say that I disagree. Ke$ha's latest release, the mini album
Cannibal peaked at #15 on the
Billboard 200 chart. First single, the infectiously catchy "
We R Who We R" peaked at #1 on the
Billboard Hot 100. "Blow" entered the
Billboard Hot 100 at #97 as a result of it's early promotional release.{
SOURCE}
Up & coming singer/songwriter/producer/Duke-graduate
Mike Posner has announced his third single and it's one of my favorites off of his debut album,
31 Minutes To Takeoff. Produced by
The Smeezingtons (
Sugababes,
Travie McCoy,
Justin Bieber) "
Bow Chicka Wow Wow" is the perfect choice for a third single in that it's a sonic departure from previous two singles "
Cooler Than Me" and "
Please Don't Go." The closest thing Posner has to a ballad on the album, "
Bow Chicka Wow Wow" is a sexy surprise from Posner. Can't wait to see the video for this one. The single was sent to U.S. radio outlets on
January 18th. Posner's first single, "
Cooler Than Me" peaked at #6 on the
Billboard Hot 100 while follow up "
Please Don't Go" fared less successfully, peaking at #16. "Please Don't Go" will be released as Posner's second UK single on
March 13th. {
SOURCE 1,
2)
What's this about
Joe Jonas going electro for his upcoming solo album? Sounds...interesting? Dare I admit that I'm intrigued? This could make me start caring about the
Jonas Brothers...err...at least about one of the Jonas Brothers. Jonas, who's working with
Danja (
Madonna,
Usher,
Britney Spears) on a new project, revealed to
MTV News that he wants his new sound to be reminiscent of
Daft Punk. Looks like Jonas is planning on riding the dance/pop wave straight onto the charts with this new album. I'm interested to see if he can pull it off. According to Jonas,
"I listen to a bunch of stuff you dance to, kind of electro-based." Also working with Jonas on his debut? None other than
Music Is My King Size Bed-favorite
Frankmusik.
AMAZING. {
SOURCE 1, 2}
Another pop star going dance-crazy? How about American R&B singer
Mya. The "
Case of the Ex" singer has recorded a single called "
Love Is The Answer" and it was produced by Miami-based DJ, Remixer and Producer
Cedric Gervais. Wow. Can't wait for this one! Mya, who was runner up on the U.S. reality TV series Dancing With The Stars during it's ninth season, promises lots of dancing in the upcoming music video for the song. According to Mya in an interview with
E! Online,
"There is a lot of dancing in this video, but it's nothing like what I did on Dancing With The Stars. It's way more Madonna than ballroom." "
Love Is The Answer" is out on
February 8th. Listen to a clip
HERE. {
SOURCE 1, 2)
