Megan Nicole’s latest production Escape and accompanying video was presented via the 2015 YouTube Music Awards. Directed by Young Astronauts, it follows her in princess-like dresses as she escapes to the enchanted forests and waterfalls in some beautiful countryside. It get’s very Snow White and Cinderella-ish when the woodland creatures start befriending her – wolves, grizzly bears, birds and bunny rabbits alike.
Megan comments “I got to work with a great team of people and a bunch of amazing and cute critters! Hope you like it :)”
The video has gained almost 3 million views since it’s launch last week and her online fan base are in love with the Disney, magical feel to her new sound and visuals. So are we! The song is the title track from her debut album Escape, which was released last October and is available on iTunes.
Megan posted her very first video to YouTube in 2009 and she now has over 3 million subscribers – check out her channel here.
Fifth Harmony have premiered their latest music video for Worth It in honour of Saturday Night’s Kids’ Choice Awards in which they took home the award for Favourite New Artist. The girls sure know how to rock the stage. Watch them flaunt their sexuality in killer outfits whilst being a BOSS in the workplace.
The song, featuring Kid Ink is from their debut album Reflection, which was released late January 2015 and peaked at N°5 on the US Billboard 200 Chart. The 5 X Factor USA finalists keep bringing the heat, and with more collaborations like this one they’ll be getting N°1 hits in no time.
The 2nd iHeartRadio Music Awards were held yesterday (March 29) at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles and were hosted by Jamie Foxx, who not only brought plenty of laughs but also gave a great performance of You Changed Me with Chris Brown. (Scroll to the end of the post to watch the performances). Taylor Swift was the big winner of the night, taking home 3 awards and Justin Timberlake received the Innovator Award.
Rather than boring you with a huge story about the event, we present the ‘Unforgettable Moments’:
Rihanna’s first performance ever of her brand new single Bitch Better Have My Money and she steps out of a helicopter! And she was dressed head to toe in green Versace – stunning!
Jennifer Hudson sexually frisks Iggy Azalea during their performance of hit new song Trouble.
Taylor Swift and the legendary Madonna join each other on stage for an acoustic rendition of the Queen of Pop’s new single Ghosttown.
Taylor get’s down to Snoop Dogg’s solo stage time and sexual-inuendo-filled new rap track Peaches N Cream.
Nick Jonas is brought out in massive chains by two intimidating female officer body-builders… to perform his song Chains.
Oh! And the whole stage is basically on fire while Jason Aldean slays his country song Burnin’ It Down.
Last but not least, the Left Shark from Katy Perry’s Superbowl performance makes an appearance and has a dance challenge. It doesn’t get better than that…
Now for the awards:
The soon-to-be Dad Justin Timberlake, breaks down in tears during his acceptance of his Innovator Award. Aww!
He then emotionally pretends to accept Taylor Swift’s award for Best Lyrics, and nobody can stop laughing!
Of course, Taylor won Artist of the Year AND song of the year for Shake It Off. The Best Lyrics Award was for Blank Space.
The Best Collaboration award unsurprisingly went to Jessie J, Ariana Grande and Nicki Minaj for their highly energetic party track Bang Bang.
Sam Smith won Best New Artist. Woo!
Jason Aldean snagged the Country Song of the Year for Burnin’ It Down which he performed that evening.
The Hip Hop/R&B genre Song of the Year went to Jeremih featuring YG for Don’t Tell ‘Em.
Calvin Harris received the Dance Song of the Year award for his summer anthem track Summer.
The sombre and powerful Take Me To Church by Hozier took the prize for the Aternative Rock Song of the Year.
Best Fan Army went to 5SOSFAM – 5 Seconds of Summer
and the Renegade Award was won by Brantley Gilbert.
Will Young’s got a new single out, and soon to have a new album out too. Love Revolution was premiered on Chris Evans’ BBC 2 radio show at the weekend, and though the sound is happy clappy, the lyrics are deep and introspective. The soul searching track samples Tomcraft’s 2003 dance anthem Loneliness. It’s great to be hearing it again!
Young’s anticipated forthcoming album 85% Proof is due out May 25 and will make it his 6th studio collection. All of his previous albums have been certified platinum or higher, and he is considered one of the most successful male artists from a reality competition in the UK.
Chart Facts: Will Young has scored 13 UK Top 40 singles with Anything Is Possible/Evergreen, Light My Fire, The Long And Winding Road/Suspicious Minds (with Gareth Gates), and Leave Right Now hitting Nº1.
Good Old War is an indie band from Philadelphia, PA and is made up of Keith Goodwin and Dan Schwartz. The band’s name comes from the last names of the three founding members; Goodwin for “Good,” Arnold (former member Tim) for “Old,” and Schwartz for “War.”
The duo have earned the loyalty of an ever-expanding fan base thanks to their captivating live shows touring along side a diverse group of artists including Alison Krauss, Guster, Brandi Carlisle and Dr. Dog. They will release their 4th studio album and first on Nettwerk Records, Broken Into Better Shape. Produced by Jason Lehning (Mat Kearney, Dolly Parton), and featuring lead single Tell Me What You Want From Me, it follows critically acclaimed Come Back As Rain, which debuted at Nº1 on Billboard’s Heatseekers, and led to national TV performances on Jimmy Kimmel Live! & Conan.
Good Old War have chosen some silky smooth sounds for this Sunday:
Keith’s choices:
1-Patricia – Ry Cooder & Manuel Galban
“This sweet Cuban groove and amazing verbed out guitar makes you feel like you are on vacation.”
2-The Velvet Underground & Nico – Sunday Morning
“Doesn’t get much more chill than this.”
3-Beastie Boys – I Don’t Know
“People think of the Beastie Boys and think Brass Monkey, but they also produce these mellow psychedelic jams to fall in love with.”
Dan’s choices:
1- Graham Nash – Simple Man (1971)
“I’ve always been a big Crosby Stills and Nash fan. It wasn’t until later that I discovered their solo work. They even put out a bunch of albums in various combinations of the members. My favourite is Graham Nash’s first solo album, Songs For Beginners. The combination of his heartfelt lyrics, beautifully understated piano, and that unmistakable voice just slays me.”
2-Herb Alpert’s Tijuana Brass – LadyFingers
“The first time I heard this song, we were driving in Palm Springs and it just made the whole world seem to slow down. I love to put it on whenever I’m in a crowded place. It has this quality that makes me think of warm weather and sets my mind at ease.”
3-Punch Brothers – Julep
“Punch Brothers are my favorite band. Everything they do they do masterfully. Phosphorescent Blues, their newest album is so good that I get chills every time I listen to it. This song is an example of how well they marry lyrics to melody and use their virtuosity to set the vibe without letting it be a distraction.”
Creation 5 users: you will find this playlist in the app under Playlists >> Sunday Sessions
Jennifer Lopez gave a mesmerising performance of Feel The Light on American Idol last week. Wearing the biggest ball gown we’ve ever seen, over 6 meters in diameter, we were transfixed as the dress changed colours, showed us scenes from the movie and moved in time with the song.
Jennifer’s costume designer, Mariel Haenn, told Hollywood Life: “A lot of things made this dress special, particularly it’s an idea that we’ve had for a very long time that we were just waiting for the right time to execute it. The white dress on it’s own was an idea that Jennifer had for a performance, but then when we were working on the creatives for the Home music video, we talked about using the dress as a canvas to project stuff onto it, and incorporate the movie into her dress, which is something I’ve never seen before. It felt really special.”
“[Projection] is something that Jennifer has always wanted to do, and when she was working on this song and we were working on the creatives for the video, she thought that this was the perfect place for it all to happen,” she added.
About two years ago London producers James David and Ollie Dickinson, aka Snakehips, released an excellent instrumental called Forever. They’ve now turned it into a full-length song with the help of the smooth, soulful vocals of Kaleem Taylor. The sun-soaked, soulful vibes of Forever (Pt. II) sounds like a summer hit to us.
Snakehips have been gaining plenty of attention recently with their smooth contemporary house sounds and their most recent release – the exquisite Forever Pt. II EP is outstanding. It features four tracks – I’m Gone featuring Syd from The Internet, an uptempo R&B track Overtime featuring Sasha Keable, a ballad Poison featuring the amazing Daniella T.A.O.L and this summer-is-here-already track Forever (Pt. II).
Snakehips are taking their brand of electro-soul on a North American tour which starts on May 20 in Denver and finishes on June 27 in Washington.
He’s back! The long-awaited first trailer for Spectre dropped yesterday (March 27) and every time we watch it we get chills and goosebumps – it’s so dark and creepy! It reveals that Bond has a personal secret that someone is onto. We see him in the Austrian Alps, at a funeral attended by Monica Belucci’s Bond woman and attending a private meeting headed by Christoph Waltz’s character, who you only see in shadow.
So… Bond is disturbed by a cryptic message from his past whilst the all-evil terrorist organisation SPECTRE (Special Executive for Counter-intelligence, Terrorism, Revenge and Extortion) starts to rear it’s head as a global threat.
There are hints about the involvement of the iconic villain Ernst Stavro Blofeld who was the head of the organisation in the Sean Connery days and also appeared in George Lazenby’s On Her Majesty’s Secret Service.Bond fans have speculated that Waltz will be playing the new version of Blofeld.
Spectre also co-stars Naomie Harris, Ralph Fiennes, Ben Whishaw, Andrew Scott, and Dave Bautista. Directed by Sam Mendes this 24th instalment of the Bond franchise was filmed in Mexico City, Morocco and Austria and opens in theatres November 6. Get the Martini’s ready!
London’s sweetheart and international mega pop star Jessie J turns 27 today (March 27)! Her impressive talent, boldness and English accent has taken her places most people only dream about going. For this special occasion we’ve compiled an exclusive Jessie playlist with all of her smash hits and more!
Her solo songs, albums and collabs have racked up millions of views, downloads and sales. She’s been radio queen with each and every single release and it seems wherever you go, you’ll hear her track come on at some point.
Last year was an incredible year for Jessie, especially in the US where she spent a significant amount of time on the Top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100. Her third studio album, Sweet Talker, debuted at Nº10 on the Billboard Album charts selling more than 25,000 copies in it’s first week! We’re looking forward to her remake of Monica & Brandy’s hit The Boy is Mine – another collab with Ariana Grande – promised for later this year.
Entertainment Weekly’s music critic Adam Markovitz said of Jessie as she was starting out: “The 23-year-old Brit has all the tools, from a monster voice to an ear for hooks — and a manic persona that’s equal parts Katy Perry, Kristin Chenoweth, and Alice Cooper.”
Jessie J calls her fans “heartbeats”, after her Heartbeat Tour. “They’re amazing … They support me and buy my albums and singles, and they stand outside hotels, and they come to shows, and they get tattoos of my lyrics and they cut their hair like me. You have to love your fans. That’s why I call them my Heartbeats, because without them I wouldn’t be here.”
Jessica Ellen Cornish is a great example of how passion, talent and drive can get you everywhere in life. Happy Birthday Jessie J!
Creation 5 users – you will find this playlist under Playlists >> More >> Jessie J
Don’t have Creation 5? Download it from the App Store!
LunchMoney Lewis recently released his video for his debut single Bills, and it’s pretty true to life and hilarious. Though be warned, once you listen to it you won’t be able to get it out of your head! It’s already gone to Nº1 in Australia and has amassed 2 million views on YouTube since it’s release just a month ago.
The video takes a light hearted approach to the usual struggles most of us face in our daily life, and the upbeat track is a constant quick tempo to which we need to get shit done. Literally. By the end of it all he’s yelping in a neck-deep pile of bills, responsibilities and eviction notices. You can’t help but laugh, and it’s the perfect song to keep you going when you’re ready to tap out.
Lewis came up in the scene after he was featured on Nicki Minaj’s sexy dance track Trini Dem Girls off her latest album The Pinkprint. He also co-wrote Burnin’ Up for Jessie J and Bo$$ for Fifth Harmony. We expect and hope to be seeing a lot more of him this year, we’re rooting for you Lewis! You’ve got mouths to feed after all.
