Adam Lambert’s new music video for Ghost Town was directed by the legendary Hype Williams (Beyoncé’s Drunk In Love and Kanye’s Gold Digger videos), and features the director’s trademark strobing editing. The dancing is quite incredible – we’ve replayed it a few times just to take it all in. Lambert describes it as “Coachella gone goth”.
“A lot of the people that we hired for the video are friends of mine. It was really fun on set. It was kind of a party, which made it a very relaxed shoot – I’ve never shot a video like that before, that felt like a house party.” The 33-year-old was ultimately creating a group that “represents real parts of my life, ’cause I wanted it to feel like a piece of me.”
As a coincidence the title of the song is the same as Madonna’s recent single. Lambert admits he was shocked when he found this out. “This was done, it was mixed, we had already decided that it was the first single and then December rolled around and I opened up my laptop and looked on iTunes and there was another ‘Ghosttown,'” he says. “It was funny to me because I’m a huge Madonna fan and have been following her career ever since I was a kid and maybe there’s something in the universe going on, I don’t know. Maybe our writers all drank the same Kool-Aid. I don’t know what it was, but it was amazing.”
Ghost Town is the first single to be lifted from Lambert’s upcoming album The Original High, due for a June 15 release.
Ricky Martin teams up with Mr Worldwide for a raunchy, upbeat disco-flavored jam, Mr. Put It Down. With Pitbull spitting out his signature licks and Ricky’s falsetto versus they make a great pair!
In one of the best lyric videos we’ve seen this year, all the action takes place in a tattoo parlour. Pitbull starts off by boasting about how good he is with the ladies and then Ricky joins in – “Who has a lifetime, baby? We’ve got the night right now. When you see what I’m planning, you’re gonna call me Mr. Put It Down.”
Ricky released his 10th studio album, A Quien Quiera Escuchar – a completely Spanish album, back in mid February and now we have the first single from album number 11. The new album is more of an international affair with all the tracks being in English and is scheduled to be released later this year via Sony Music Latin.
For Conor Maynard’s last single, Talking About, he teamed up with Craig David, for this new single, Royalty, he joined forces with Labrinth. “He knew exactly what he wanted to create, in such detail that it took us three hours to record the first verse,” Maynard said on working with Labrinth.
“I had to sing in a swing/jazz style, which I never imagined I’d even attempt. Royalty really does sound like nothing else out there, which is such a rare quality in pop.”
Conor Maynard burst onto the music scene just four years ago as a YouTube sensation. He performed covers of well-known songs and they were so good that his viewing figures rose exponentially. Conor was especially happy when Timberlake – one of his favourite artists – watched his cover of Senorita and approved.
It didn’t take long before he was approached by record companies and in 2012 he collaborated with Pharrell Williams on his first album Contrast and found success in the UK and the US. This highly successful first album had an incredible four top 10 singles – Can’t Say No, Vegas Girl, Turn Around, and Animal. He now has nearly 700,000 subscribers on his YouTube channel and the first single from his upcoming album, Talking About, got 800,000 views in under a month.
Royalty is released on July 5 through Parlophone Records.
Puerto Rican reggaetón singer, music producer, actor and Latin Grammy winner Don Omar has an irresistibly catchy summer single on his hands with Perdido En Tus Ojos. Featuring his long time collaborator Dominican singer Natti Natasha the song is full of grab-a-partner-and-dance beats and is surging up the charts.
The song tells the story of a love sick man who is basically lost in the eyes of the woman he loves. The single is the second cut from Don Omar’s upcoming album The Last Don 2 scheduled to be released this summer.
The album features more collaborations with other latin stars like Plan B and Daddy Yankee. If the rest of the album is as good as this track, the King of Latin Urban Music, or El Rey, looks set to hold onto his throne.
37 year old Don Omar has sold more than 15 million records worldwide.
Beloved British pop star Jessie J has released a new music video for her uplifting single Flashlight, written by Sam Smith and Sia. Besides appearing on the soundtrack to Pitch Perfect 2, Flashlight is also featured in the movie as the finale in a breathtaking moonlit concert.
Before the concert you get to see Jessie J looking like one of the students in Barden University (aka the UCLA campus), rocking some leather overalls and belting out the beautiful track in the university gardens. Directed by Hannah Lux Davies, the video also shows a lot of unseen footage from the upcoming movie.
Jessie J premiered the video exclusively with ET online before uploading to Vevo the next day. In the interview with ET she talked about the song’s meaning: “I guess the ultimate feel behind the video and the concept is about giving someone something happy, you’re my flashlight,” she says. “Having someone that gives you light in moments of darkness.”
Slim Shady and his protégé Yelawolf pay tribute to the Father, Son and Holy Ghost in their soulful new music video for Best Friend. The track is the lead cut from Yelawolf’s second studio album, Love Story, which is currently soaring up the Billboard album charts heading for a top 10 debut this week.
Directed by Spidy, the video is a simple and powerful visual which sees the rappers delivering their verses inside an empty church with sunlight pouring through the stained glass windows. Yelawolf keeps it fairly calm whilst Eminem aggressively delivers more than 16 bars, as per usual.
Best Friend is the only track on Love Story that features a guest collaboration, and it marks Eminem’s first musical release this year. “There’s one feature on this album, and that’s Eminem,” Yelawolf told Complex. “Why am I gonna get such-and-such? For what? Hype? I’m just trying to make a good record.”
In a recent interview with MTV Yelawolf said that Best Friend was a perfect fit for Eminem. “The song was already really strong, and I knew that I was touching on something that was serious — or, to me, it was. The melody in the song, it came together, and I just thought, If Marshall, if he gets on this and understands this concept, that it would be outta here. So I just crossed my fingers and sent it to him. Luckily, he understood it perfectly, and obviously killed it.”
Most fans seem to be in agreement that the song is amazing. Nearly all the YouTube comments are positive – we rather liked the one: “Even though im an atheist I still love this song, both Em and Yelas part.” and this one: “God speaks in amazing ways. Through many people. ”
Sunday Sessions this week comes from the heart of Arizona, USA, where the all-American, 5-man alternative rock band, The Maine, are making waves and claiming their space in the industry. We have an awesome playlist from them this week! The Maine is John O’Callaghan (vocals), Pat Kirch (percusion), Kennedy Brock (guitar, vox), Garrett Nickelsen (guitar) and Jared Monaco (guitar).
The Maine are now in their eighth year together. They have 4 full-length albums under their belt including their major label debut album Black & White, released in 2010. They dabble in many areas of the music industry having recorded and produced their own EP Imaginary Numbers in 2013.
Their 5th studio album – American Candy – was released at the end of March via 8123 and it’s a collection of tight, catchy songs that will remind fans why they fell in love with The Maine in the first place. Frontman John O’Callaghan said of the album: “A sort of innocence resounds throughout it that to me is reminiscent of our headspace in years past. We set out to bounce things a bit more sonically and produce a record that has an energy throughout. I believe this record has birthed a rejuvenated and optimistic outlook on life that we can only hope is evident and contagious within the 8123 family.”
The lead single from American Candy is English Girls – check it out below:
The band have been plane hopping across the globe performing as headliners and support roles for the likes of Taking Back Sunday, Anberlin, A Rocket To The Moon and Augustana to name a few. The band has made numerous festival appearances including The Vans Warped Tour, Bamboozle and SXSW. They are currently on their American Candy Tour which finishes May 16 in Orlando, Florida.
The fiery five are recognised within the industry for the close relationship they maintain with their fans – many of whom are now college age and have grown up alongside the band. Their loyal and tight knit fan base is a sure indicator of a fruitful career.
John O’Callaghan chose our Sunday Sessions this week:
1-Beach Slang – American Girls & French Kisses
“Occasionally a band will come along and make me fall madly in love with music all over again. Beach Slang has done just that and has been consistently spinning since I discovered them. I need their new full length to be out now!”
2-Miguel – Coffee
“I really dug Kaleidoscope Dream, and I’ve been fervently anticipating the next LP Miguel will release this year (hopefully). He has released 3 tunes via SoundCloud, and “Coffee” has me thinking that whatever is to come, whenever it comes, will be well worth the wait.”
3-The Japanese House – Still
“Many of my religious visits to the hypemachine blog rarely leave me with tracks that move me like “Still” has. I know nothing about this group other than the fact that google-ing them won’t get you anywhere and they write great songs. Can’t wait to hear what’s to come from The Japanese House and thanks to them I now know what suburban housing looks like in Japan.”
Korean Broadcasting System (KBS) have lifted their ban on Dal Shabet‘s new title track Joker. The reason they banned it is surprising – it’s not the sexy dancing or the sexy outfits, it was the lyrics that caused KBS to deem the video inappropriate, and they really were inappropriate.
In Korean “Joker” is pronounced as “joh-kuh” which is emphasized in Dal Shabet’s song as like “jot”, which means dick or cock. “Kuh” means big, so they were essentially singing about big cocks:
“Fill my heart from top to bottom, I wanna, gimmie wanna baby, gimmie wanna baby, big cock, big cock, I wanna, show me wanna baby, show me wanna baby, big cock, big cock.”
So now you understand the problem! Happy Face Entertainment, the agency that looks after the 6-piece girl group Dal Shabet, re-submitted a modified version of the song with several of the lines changed and KBS lifted the ban. With the lifted ban and modified lyrics the group are set to perform their comeback stage tonight (April 24) on Music Bank.
The track comes from the girls 8th ‘mini’ album Joker is Alive and blends a retro-sounding horn section with some Britney-esque crooning and a beat that would get most people onto the dance floor.
With a title like Wet Dreamz and the explicit lyrics that make you blush you would expect the music video to be soft porn – but this is so much better! J Cole has been very creative with his latest music video. The song tells the story of all the fears and doubts that run through a guys mind in the run up to losing his virginity. But instead of using human actors the Ryan Staake directed visual uses a German Shepherd and Cocker Spaniel puppy to act out the emotional story. The result is clever, funny and completely adorable – plus you can play it in public without worrying!
J Cole’s fans seem to love t too, as can be seen from the plethora of positive comments on YouTube:
– Pretty funny actually, did not expect dogs telling the story of him getting laid 🙂
– I laughed throughout the entire damn video. Well-made. A great metaphor for how love encompasses the entire damn animal kingdom, and it’s simply told through his dog’s eyes but the video still ends with J.Cole (shot at his and his girl’s feet on the bed). Any video that brings about multiple interpretations is a good damn video.
– Oh, this was adorable and well done. I love a well told story and using dogs perspective was highly entertaining – had me blushing…
This is the 4th music video taken from Cole’s third studio album Forest Hills Drive (2014) which went to Nº1 on the Billboard album charts – moving 375,000 units in the week ending Dec. 14, according to Nielsen Music. It’s Cole’s third Nº1 album.
Today Sia shared her new music video for Fire Meet Gasoline from her latest album 1000 Forms Of Fear (2014). It’s the first video from the album that doesn’t star Maddie Zeigler – but to make up for that Sia has enlisted German top model and TV Personality Heidi Klum and Chilean-American actor Pedro Pascal, who portrayed Oberyn Martell on HBO’s hit series Game of Thrones. The last time we saw Pascal on screen he met his horrific eye-popping demise – so you’ll be pleased to know that his face is back to normal in this visual!
Directed by Francesco Carrozzini the video shows the steamy love affair between the pair. One can only guess at what has happened and our guess is that Pascal’s character has killed someone inside their house – he reveals a bloody rock to Klum – so they burn the whole house down to destroy the evidence. Whatever did happen, one thing is for sure, they get along like Fire and Gasoline.
Refreshingly, there are no Beats headphones in this music video, but there is still plenty of product placement in the form of Heidi Klum’s exclusive range of lingerie. Better than headphones, right?
As usual Sia never appears in the visual but her blonde wig does – you get a glimpse of it right at the end of the video.
