I couldn't name you one song Jesse McCartney does -- and in fact, has anyone ever seen him in the same room with Ryan Cabrera, who also has an album out this summer? Anyway, here's the cover art for his new LP, Departure, due May 20.
Jesse co-wrote Leona Lewis' "Bleeding Love" with OneRepublic's Ryan Tedder, who worked on Blake Lewis' album. That's just way too much blond, Anglo testosterone to contemplate, and hopefully somewhere along the way, one of their c***s ended up in one of the other's mouths, otherwise who gives a flying fuck about these geeks anyway?
Tomorrow, George Michael's 236th greatest hits package, Twenty Five, gets a U.S. release a whole year-and-a-half after coming out in Europe. You may recall mine and MoogaBoo's rather mind-blowing banterview we did on George -- "Dissing A Fool" -- when Twenty Five dropped in England.
The British crooner is also embarking on his first U.S. tour in 17 years this summer. (XO London posted the dates last week.) But I don't know if I wanna go see this crunked-out old daddy live...I mean, what if he falls asleep, instead of the audience, while singing his old chestnuts?
Here's what George had to say to Entertainment Weekly in a small interview running in the current issue:
"I have no real intention of reawakening my career in America. I'm coming over to play because there are a million people in America that stood by me. I'm there to say thank you, then slink off. I want to divorce myself from pretty much everything public after the tour. In the future, I don't want to be making and releasing physical CDs, and I don't think I want to be charging people for my new music."
Hooker, I got charged 99 cents this past weekend when I downloaded your 1986 jam "Take Me To The Edge Of Heaven" from the Wham! days. Why the hell isn't that one on Twenty Five, instead of these six new songs no one cares about? People want the hits, George -- the hits!!
P.S. I was floored to read on Wikipedia recently that the broad singing the Patrice Rushen/"Forget Me Nots" bit at the end of "Fastlove" is none other than an uncredited Siobhan Fahey, of Bananarama and Shakespear's Sister fame. Never knew that.
Congrats to 24-year-old blue-eyed-soul crooner Sam Sparro, whose electro number "Black And Gold" jumps up from #23 to #4 on the official U.K. singles chart. I discussed Sam the other day in my weekly Towleroad music column, and in the process went off on one of my pop conspiracy theories -- this time about how the "Black And Gold" video resembles the original "Opportunities" video by Pet Shop Boys. Check it out yourself and see if I'm onto something or just hittin' the paint thinner again. (Likely the latter.)
Madonna's "4 Minutes" inches up a bit this week to #5, but in the U.K., the CD5 is still a somewhat major determinant in a single's ultimate peak position. So far "4 Minutes" is charting impressively on paid downloads alone, and the CD single isn't scheduled to be released till April 21.
Speaking of which, kudos should be given to Kylie Minogue, whose single "Wow" -- this week at #25 -- has managed to hang around within the Top 30 since late December. A long stretch of that was due to strong early download sales prior to the official release of "Wow." As mentioned yesterday, we in the States will finally see Kylie do some promotional TV appearances to coincide with the release of X this week.
On a final note, Britney Spears' "Break The Ice" modestly slips into the Top 40 at #36.
The U.K. Top 10:
1. "American Boy" - Estelle Feat. Kanye West*2 weeks* 2. "Low" - Flo Rida Feat. T-Pain 3."Mercy" - Duffy 4. "Black And Gold" - Sam Sparro 5. "4 Minutes" - Madonna Feat. Justin Timberlake 6. "Better In Time/Footprints In The Sand" - Leona Lewis 7. "Rockstar" - Nickelback 8. "With You" - Chris Brown 9. "Stop And Stare" - OneRepublic 10. "Fascination" - Alphabeat
That's right, pop chyldren! The singing budgie will grace us with her presence by doing a few television appearances over the next few days.
Kylie Minogue's X finally sees a proper U.S. release on Tuesday, and to promote it, she's being interviewed by Matt Lauer on NBC's The Today Show Monday morning, and then she's schlepping her ample rump onto Dancing With The Stars the following day to perform "All I See."
Kylie joins the short list of other decent pop acts who've done Dancing With The Stars, like Scissor Sisters and Pet Shop Boys.
Meanwhile, you might be shocked to check out U.S. iTunes and find that the videos for "2 Hearts," "In My Arms" and "Wow" are available for purchase. Then again, what could be more surprising than Matt Lauer interviewing Kylie?
Hmmm. Maybe if she did The View and straddled Whoopi's mouth...?
I was obsessing over this all goddamn day; I mean, how mindboggling that it's really been 21 years since a solo female artist from the U.K. -- Kim Wilde, with "You Keep Me Hangin' On" -- topped the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart! And thanks to all the cats who chipped in their two cents on the previous post today about this, even the Leo-tards.
Anyway, in said post, I mentioned Nicki French and Donna Lewis both just missed hitting #1 here, peaking in the runner-up position in 1995 and 1996, respectively. So here are some other pop babes from Old Blighty who've sprung to mind since this morning, whose jams came close.
* Lisa Stansfield (pictured above), "All Around The World": How I loved Lisa and her kiss-curl so! I bought this cassette single one frosty Friday night in January while hanging out at the mall. I was 15-going-on-16, and completely mesmerized with Lisa's androgynous image. My friends were just getting their driver's licenses, and this track was one of the many radio hits providing a soundtrack to those weekend nights of aimlessly driving around our suburban Pennsylvania hometown. (#3, January 1990)
*Cathy Dennis, "Touch Me (All Night Long)": I wasn't monogomously- enamored with Lisa Stansfield, and I soon replaced her with Cathy Dennis. Long before Leona Lewis was featured on The Oprah Winfrey Show, I recall rushing home from classes one weekday in 11th grade to videotape Cathy's performance on the talk show. (#2, May 1991)
* Des'ree, "You Gotta Be": This F-ing song! I swear, I heard this for about two years solid every time I turned the radio on in the mid-'90s. I do have some good memories of dating this one hot piece for about five minutes when "You Gotta Be" first came out, and always seeing the video on VH1 at about 1 a.m. when I'd stay over at his apartment on the edge of our college campus. (#5, December 1994)
I guess we can include Natasha Bedingfield's "Unwritten," from two years ago (#5), but that's all I got. Can anyone think of more?
You know, on the morning of Christmas Eve 2006, I distinctly remember sitting in a mom and pop coffee shop up in the mountains of Idyllwild, California -- the only coffee shop in that town, and, incidentally, the only place there that offers wireless Internet service -- and typing up the post about the U.K. chart that week. I believe it was eloquently titled "X Factor Ho Leona Lewis Unwraps A Christmas #1." And I remember thinking, That's nice, luv, but you'll never, ever happen here in the States.
Of course, my thinking was for no other reason than the fact that for one week earlier that year, James Blunt narrowly became the first U.K. artist to top Billboard's Hot 100 since Elton John's re-re-vamped "Candle In The Wind" Princess Diana tribute dominated the chart during the latter months of 1997. And, as the title of this gem pronounces, it was June 1987 when we last saw a U.K. female hit #1 here -- Kim Wilde's Hi-NRG cover of The Supremes' "You Keep Me Hangin' On."
Sure, some broads came close; Nicki French's even higher-NRG cover of "Total Eclipse Of The Heart" peaked at #2 in June 1995, and Welsh-born Donna Lewis reached the same position the following summer with "I Love You Always Forever" (where it sat for nine weeks, held back by the tragic, hypnotic dominance of "Macarena"!). But it wasn't till this week that a British dame truly stole Kim Wilde's thunder.
It looks like Leona Lewis may even match the short, one-week stay at the top Kim had. "Bleeding Love" is this week's new #1 on the Billboard chart, but Mariah Carey has already knocked the single off the peak of the iTunes chart, and is looking to do the same on Billboard next week.
For a bit of a throwback, here are the vids for Kim Wilde and Donna Lewis, both of which are bringing back some great, D'luvvly memories:
Elsewhere, after six months, Timbaland and OneRepublic's "Apologize" finally drops out of the Top 10, and Danity Kane's fun pop number "Damaged" makes a crazy jump from #64 to #27.
Also, Madonna and Justin Timberlake's "4 Minutes" debuts at #68, and my next boyfriend, Ferras, enters at #84 with "Hollywood's Not America."
The U.S. Top 10:
1. "Bleeding Love" - Leona Lewis *1 week* *sales gainer* 2. "Love In This Club" - Usher Feat. Young Jeezy*airplay gainer* 3. "Sexy Can I" - Ray J & Young Berg 4. "With You" - Chris Brown 5."Love Song" - Sara Bareilles 6. "No Air" - Jordin Sparks Duet With Chris Brown 7. "Low" - Flo Rida Feat. T-Pain 8. "Don't Stop The Music" - Rihanna 9. "Lollipop" - Lil Wayne Feat. Static Major 10. "Shawty Get Loose" - Lil Mama Feat. Chris Brown & T-Pain
Hot! The Los Angeles Times tracked down Rick Astley using "assists from RCA Records, the webmaster of Astley’s U.K. fan site, and his manager at Sony BMG" for an interview about the internet phenomenon known as Rickrolling that's popped up this past year. You can read this epic meeting of the minds, as well as listen to audio clips from the interview.
Personally, I think it's pretty classy that they bothered poor ol' Rick at home for this trash, as if his career began and peaked with "Never Gonna Give You Up." Hello!? He totally did backing vocals on the 1994 Elton JohnLion King songs -- where his name is misspelled in the liner notes -- along with Gary Barlow! At any rate, Rick comes across as being pretty embarrassed about the whole thing.
He even manages to toss out a zinger at Debbie Gibson, when trying to state how cheesy he thinks "Never Gonna Give You Up" is now in retrospect: “For me it’s a good example of what some of the ’80s were about in that pop sort of music way. A bit like you could say Debbie Gibson was absolutely massive, but if you look back at it now ... do you know what I mean?”
I agree, Rick. Everyone knows "Together Forever" was the true hands-down masterpiece. (followed closely by "Take Me To Your Heart"!)
This really is the best day ever -- there's new music from mondo-diva Heidi Montag, in the form of her single, "No More"! After this hit, available now on iTunes, Heidi will surely join the ranks of pop's soul powerhouses of recent decades, like Samantha Fox, Willa Ford and Traci Lords.
In the second clip above, Mariah Carey is asked a series of spellbinding questions during last night's premiere of Heidi Montag's trash program, The Hills. Mimi's really going to any length to promote "Touch My Body."
I was personally let down that Mariah and Heidi didn't duet together, but maybe the blonde Hills party slut didn't want to show up The Songbird with her own 12-octave range.
Gosh, it makes you wonder what Heidi must gargle to keep her pipes sounding so pristine?
Timbaland! No!! Put down the old woman with the bad English accent! Those aren't Chips Ahoy -- they're just the dark circles around her eyes!
Madonna and Mariah Carey are set to slug it out this week on U.S. iTunes, as both the pop dames' lead singles off each of their forthcoming LPs became available. Mariah got the upper hand, as "Touch My Body" was thrown onto the online music store sometime Monday afternoon (along with pre-orders of E=MC²), while Madge's "4 Minutes" went up shortly before midnight, as did pre-orders of Hard Candy.
After so many listens to Mimi's piano jam, I'm kind of over it. But "4 Minutes" is still giving me downstairs sparkle.
Meanwhile, is it just me, or does Timbaland have Nelly Furtado, Justin Timberlake, TweetandMissy shoved up his T-shirt in that pic?
I couldn't name you one song Jesse McCartney does -- and in fact, has anyone ever seen him in the same room with Ryan Cabrera, who also has an album out this summer? Anyway, here's the cover art for his new LP, Departure, due May 20.
