We previously wrote about how Xtina's new track was a bit 'Sexyback-lite,' and went on to say generally not positive things about it. There are of course some brilliant bits, and she's got a mighty nice set of pipes, but the deafening buildup to the track rendered it nearly impossible to appreciate on its own merits. Luckily the video has surfaced, and gives us a few shiny new praises to heap upon Ms Aguilera's already over - Bedazzled heap of comeback press.
It's pretty, futuristic in a sort of retro sense, and it also sort of is a blatant ripoff of Madonna's 1989 'Express Yourself' clip in the way that people run out of ideas and then decide to fix it all by "paying tribute" to some creation that nobody doubts would be better off left alone.
All in all, though, it's the best Christina has looked in years (read: ever) and she certainly pulls off the whole glossy shebang with the ease and style of a true professional.
"Well done."
Out for download now in the US, and available May 2 in the UK.
Alphabeat are the current leaders in 90's dancefloor nostalgia. While others are still toying around with 80's synth sounds and Dynasty shoulderpads, Alphabeat have pioneered the next logical step for pop. Full on, 'Rick Dees and the Weekly Top Forty playing an Expose-dance-mix' 90's jams. Amazing? Amazing.
The video for their new single is equally as brilliant as their music manifesto, but in case you don't believe us here are some of the more important points:
1. There are GIANT LP RECORDS in it that SPIN AS PEOPLE STAND ON THEM
2. There is a lot of neon
That's really all you need to know going in, actually.
Out May 31, from the re-released/retitled "The Beat Is..." album.
It would be surprising and a bit troubling to meet any person on this Earth who has not heard every track from Lady Gaga's debut album(s) at least several times. For the Gaga machine this is both a good thing and a bad thing. We're sure everyone is pleased as punch that her songs are so ubiquitous the world over, but with the star gearing up for a tour there's no chance for any new material to keep listeners interested anytime soon. In this age of "out of sight, out of mind," this is a problem. The solution? Foist a dodgy remix album on everyone, of course.
Yes, following in the glorious and BEST-SELLING (read: hit number 6 in Belgium) footsteps of 'B In The Mix' and 'J To Tha L-O,' Gaga is taking a bunch of reworked version of old material and packaging it as something new.
Don't fret, though. There are the standard rave-up, poppers-o-clock club versions of course, but some actual gems as well. Take a listen to the sampler (featuring the UK-exclusive track listing) and see for yourself:
The album is out in Japan now, and drops May 3 (10th in the UK) everywhere else that matters except the US. For those of us Stateside, it's amazon.co.uk time.
A long long while ago we blogged about Marina and the Diamonds and their brand new single 'I Am Not A Robot.' There was a video and a press campaign and performances and then NOTHING HAPPENED. A year or so later, Marina has actually managed to make a dent in the charts with followup singles 'Mowgli's Road' and 'Hollywood,' and her "people" have to decide what to do next. Apparently of the opinion that Marina has only ever written three good songs, her team have decided that the CLEAR ANSWER is to chuck out a song that already has proven to be an epic failure, and leave everything the exact same as before.
So here's the video that you already saw a year ago, for a song that is now suddenly new again for no reason. On the upside, it's still a pretty damn great tune.
Hurts were impressive when they were stripped down and super emo on their last single 'Blood, Tears and Gold.' Apparently being impressive was not enough, as the guys have upped their game on the follow-up. When we say they upped their game we mean they handily won the match, killed all the other players and then did some sort of "scorched earth" maneuver so that the battlefield would not even be usable for generations to come. We tend to use the word "amazing" quite a bit, but we super really mean it this time. For real.
The single is out May 17, with the album following in August. We suggest you buy both.
The Cilmi train keeps on rolling, following on from the top ten 'Woman On A Mission' with a brand new track that is less immediate, but absolutely brilliant in a subtle campy Bee Gees kind of way. It's by Xenomania so it's already incredible, and is one of those rare tracks that has a verse that is almost better than the chorus. Gabriella is also very easy on the eyes, but we all know that doesn't matter in music these days because everyone just focuses on an individual's raw talent and personality.
Yes, very nice.
The single is out soon, but the parent album 'Ten' is available now in the UK
Weep for pop, dear friends. For this...THIS...will be the shining example of pop genius that the beacon of the English speaking world will foist upon millions of unsuspecting Eurotrash come May 29th. Witness, if you dare, the full-on studio recording of 'That Sounds Good To Me,' the Stock/Waterman-penned crime against humanity, sung by a young man who has unwittingly become the ACTUAL ANTICHRIST, leading the demonic charge across the pop skies.
Josh Dubovie, the singer, is from Essex - the British New Jersey - and despite being rather easy on the eye doesn't exactly fill the stage with his Gaga-like presence. Still, millions (read: a few hundred of his mother's friends) voted him as the VOICE OF A NATION on the UK Eurovision "talent" competition, so he inexplicably will be going on to represent the country in Oslo this year.
We've all come to expect very laid back, by the book video clips from Sia by now. She continues that great tradition by appearing as a series of TERRIFYING MUPPETS in her new video. The song is predictably great, but we can't help thinking that Miss S's attempt at creating a happy-go-lucky clip went horribly awry. If anything, the singer's sheer joy throughout the whole thing makes it that much more horrific. But still, good job and all that. We're going to go cry ourselves to sleep in a corner.
"Clap Your Hands" is taken from Sia's forthcoming album "We Are Born," which is out June 7 on Monkey Puzzle records.
Yesterday Kylie's people baited us with the news that there would be a BIG IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT this morning about Miss Minogue. Never ones to disappoint - except for during that whole X debacle - Camp Kylie has plastered this video up in every outlet of social media known to man. Be warned, it contains 30 seconds of a NICELY DONE SONG.
So let's recap then: New single June 28 - All The Lovers. New album out July 5 - Aphrodite.
Very good then. Now let's get summer underway shall we...
Let's take a listen to a new leaked track from the album sessions, confirmed by the producer Biffco, who said "Just an idea we played around with..." Still, if this is the unfinished crap that didn't get included, we have a very, very good album to look forward to.
The Robyn PR machine is in full swing, with new album 'Body Talk Pt I' out June 14. Ahead of its release there are a few buzz tracks floating out in the interwebs. One of the best is 'Fembots,' which the Swedish songstress performed live on some nordic TV show the other day. I think we can all agree it is very good.
Some highlights:
1. EVERYTHING
The end.
The album, the first of three (!!), will be released June 14 (15 in the USA). No word yet on the release of the other 2, but they're slated for 2010 as well. The first official single is 'Dancing On My Own,' but that isn't out until June 7. Look for a video and some performances of that jam coming up soon.
Lolene is an artist based in the US but hailing from the UK, in the first wave of what is sure to be a genre-mashing hybrid factory of British R&B/electro and US assemblyline pop. Now that Estelle, Lily Allen, Taio Cruz and the like have made Brit culture, attitude and style trendy in mainstream US music, a growth industry has popped up. It makes sense - US audiences get a hint of the exotic and get to pretend they know what Ribena is, and UK artists - once confined to the limey shores of their homeland by their unique slang and cultural references - have become exotic imports.
Lolene is one of the forerunners leading the new British invasion, bringing her quirky style and sassiness to some very listenable pop tunes. In a kind of warning shot to the music world, she has put out this preview video, highlighting tracks from her forthcoming album in a kind of cool way. Check it out below - the acting is terrible but the men are hot and tattoed so it's ok.
With her buzz track 'Sexy People' already a top 5 dance hit in the US, and first official single 'Rich (Fake It Til You Make It)' ready for release next week, our guess is we will be hearing a lot more from this girl.
'Rich' is out Tuesday, with the album to come this summer
We brought you Katie Melua's new, William Orbit-produced single a few days ago, and now a shiny new video has surfaced for the track. ScopiSat has a bit of a weird relationship with this song, as we're in love with the first half and then completely indifferent about the rest, so hopes were high that the video could knock this over into the 'epic win' column.
To be fair, Katie tried her hardest to please us...there are big shiny lights and mostly naked men - but there just seems to be something a little '80's budget production' about the whole thing. Which is fine...it's not like Miss Melua is a HUGE VIDEO ARTIST or anything. The clip is at the least passable and at the most enjoyable, and that's really all anyone can ask of a video that isn't Lady Gaga these days.
Is anyone else worried that she's just going to go into full on Sarah Brightman mode after this? We are :(
The single is out May 17 with the album 'The House' a week later
The entire pop community (read: the gays) has been on edge since Kylie tweeted that there will be a new single in June. Since then absolutely nothing has happened.
The end.
In the absence of any concrete information, speculation has been running wild. The 'going theory' at the moment seems to be that the single will be 'Better Than Today,' which she premiered on her American tour. Let's take a look:
"VERY GOOD."
Fans (read: obsessed gays) have noted that Kylie also debuted 'Can't Get You Out Of My Head' while on tour, prior to releasing it as the lead single from her 'Fever' album. Apparently that means something. Or not.
So that's that then.
Oh and she went shopping in Paris with an attractive gentleman today. Here is a picture.
We're totally on board with this Toni Braxton comeback thing. Having said that, her weepy ballad tracks she chucked out a couple months ago left us a bit cold. While both were moderate successes on the R&B charts, the songs apparently had the same effect on the record buying public at large - they both failed to impact the mainstream.
One imagines that in recent weeks much shuffling of papers and consulting of consultants has occurred in the Atlantic Records offices, trying to figure out how to drum up support for Braxton's new album before it arrives May 4. In ScopiSat's opinion they made the right choice, and decided to release an upbeat, catchy track with a spunky-but-not-too-edgy-for-middle-America video.
It really ticks all the boxes for a BIG POP COMEBACK - it shows viewers the comeback star still looks great, includes some 'progressive' dance moves, and features a dodgy catsuit outfit that will divide the pop world and create blood feuds between the 'love it' and 'hate it' camps. Marketing WIN.
ScopiSat reader Ryan asked this morning "what are these low mumblings of a Vengaboys comeback?" We, being the cynical assholes we are, prepared to write a fun and bitchy article about the band - who we naturally assumed was not coming back - with the expected backhanded compliments and throwbacks to the 90's. Imagine our surprise, then, when we began contacting our sources (Wikipedia) and found that there ACTUALLY IS A COMEBACK SINGLE BEING READIED FOR RELEASE.
Let's all sit and think for just a moment about how LITERALLY AMAZING that is. God, life can be good to us pop fans sometimes, no?
Anyhoodle, because this was all starting to sound a bit too good to be true, and because we are SERIOUS JOURNALISTS, we were not content with the recklessly thrown about statements of a few industry insiders. So, we dug deeper. So deep in fact that we hit the Vengaboys Twitter account, and were honestly more than a little surprised to find a recent update saying "So excited! Shooting the new video this week..."
Granted, there are a number of things that this could be referring to, so in the name of due diligence we parsed out some of the options, ranked from most likely to least likely:
1. A Vengaboys sex tape (AMAZING)
2. Some sort of nature documentary like "Vengaboys Live With Vengabadgers" or something (MORE AMAZING)
3. A home video of one of the Vengachildren learning to walk or speak or eat udon noodles or something (TOTAL SHIT)
4. An actual music video for an actual new song (AMAZING)
To sum up then, either we're going to see Vengasex in a porn called (rather brilliantly, we might add) "Rocket To Uranus," or we might actually get what we have all wished for lo these 9 years of Vengasilence - A NEW VENGABOYS SINGLE.
Swirling with excitement but still not content with our research and reasoning skills, we checked the Vengaboys' official website (which is actually a little amazing, by the way), which basically confirmed everything we had found. Checking the official page probably would have been a much easier and time efficient way to find out what was really going on but whatever, hindsight is 20/20 and all that bullhockey. The site did have these extra tidbits, however:
- the single will be released in May in the UK, with other territories' release dates pending
- the video will have a cameo by a top 10 pop artist
- the video will also have a cameo by a notorious media personality who BETTER NOT BE PEREZ HILTON OR WE WILL START A FACEBOOK PAGE IN PROTEST
The site says it's too early to reveal the title but says the single is about 'personal freedom and interplanetary travel' (no we're not making that up) so "Rocket To Uranus" is probably a safe bet. We of course will keep you posted of any and all new developments as soon as we get them, but in the interim we'd like to remind you just what kind of stakes we're talking here:
The 'Glee' Madonna episode just gets better and better, as pictures have leaked of none other than Sue Sylvester recreating the iconic imagery of 1990's 'Vogue.' What do you readers think of how 'Sue C's It'?
Eliza Doolittle is an up-and-coming British singer being tipped by all "the blogs" and such. She does a cute little blend of pop and folk and singer-songwritery stuff and it's pretty listenable by any standard. Eliza is the daughter of West End/Broadway institution Frances Ruffelle (who drama club geeks will remember as the voice of Eponine on both the London and Broadway 'Les Miserables' soundracks) and some theater director guy we couldn't be bothered to Wikipedia.
Eliza's got the pedigree and the talent, so it will be interesting to see how this debut single fares. As for the song itself, Doolittle says it's: "a funny scenario if you didn’t like someone, if they were really annoying, but you had a good time under the sheets."
On April 20th something VERY AMAZING will happen. It doesn't sound as good to break it down - essentially some adults playing children will be singing the songs of a woman who is old enough to be their grandmother but dresses like she is 19. See, not as good right. But still, Gleeks rejoice, as we witness the sampler of the Glee kids singing Madonna's repertoire of some of the best pop hits of all time.
The episode will get its own album (conveniently available on for preorder on iTunes), but here are clips of the highlights:
It is a thinly-veiled truth that ScopiSat wishes it was still 1993. Not because we'd be young and carefree, but because we would be surrounded by really good music ALL THE TIME. In a vain but oddly fulfilling attempt to relive that golden period, here is a video by Don Henley and Patty Smyth.
Rarely can a single sentence sum up an entire song, but somehow one of our like-minded readers has done it: This song is amazing. Anyone who says different is clearly a spy and must be "dealt with."
The duo released this gem in 1992 and we think it goes without saying that it is FAR SUPERIOR to the duets we get these days. 'Telephone' isn't exactly the best offering from Gaga or Beyonce, and the less we say about Ke$ha's mess with 3OH!3 the better.
Interesting (read: interesting to only 3 people, two of whom are Patty Smyth and Don Henley) fact - the song spent six weeks at number 2 on the Hot 100, behind Boyz II Men's "End of the Road."
We love Tegan and Sara. We're indifferent about Tiesto. But put the two together and something magical happens, apparently. T&S's alt-folk-rock thing lives in a place worlds away from the land of the laser-soaked dance floor. For some reason, though, Tiesto's bleeps and blips mesh perfectly with the duo's close harmonies and indie sensibility and the whole creates something far greater than the sum of its parts. We never thought we'd say it, but if the Canadians/lesbians/identical twins want to add a balls-to-the-wall dance album to their discography, we'd be totally on board.
The girls have never managed a top 20 album in the States, though their last two LP's went top five in their home of Canada. Maybe a full-scale collaboration could be just the thing to push them into the mainstream, and then there will be arena tours and reality shows and museum retrospectives and everyone will realize they are better than Justin Beiber and there will be no war or starvation or Michael Bay movies.
ScopiSat has always had a soft spot for Weezer. Iconic pop masterpieces like 'Buddy Holly' and 'El Scorcho' were the soundtrack to our teens - those flannel-clad years spent angsting in a corner with a pen and paper jotting down lots of flowery but dark adjectives for "the haters" - and though the band has clearly had some growing pains they remain pretty damn great. Much has been made of the band's turn to a more 'sell out' pop sound, and this semi-backlash has hurt the current album's sales. 'Raditude' is Weezer's lowest charting album in 14 years, but a dedicated fan base still revolves around the guys. This new video, 'I'm Your Daddy,' is kind of a thank-you card to that lot, featuring fan art, cheering concert patrons, and insane screaming girls who probably think Justin Beiber is playing or something... it's a nice video for a nice song but nothing that is going to change the world. So that's that and here's the video.
Things are all kind of crazy over in camp Rihanna - the album isn't doing great so there seems to be a general feeling of 'what the holy hell do we do now?' amongst the marketing drones. Just last week 'Te Amo' was announced as the next single, but then RiRi goes and performs 'Rockstar 101' on Idol. It was a fine performance but it's one of our least favorite tracks on the album, and we don't know about you but we're getting a bit sick of DARK BROODING Rihanna. You're from an island where the sun shines ALL THE TIME. Smile a bit.
Kelis' new track has been banging around for months now, but it seems that all her efforts (ie showing up at a club or two) have paid off, as she finally gets to hear MUSIC LEGEND JIMMY KIMMEL say that she has a "number one dance single." *confetti*
Then she performs. And it is good. But we can't help fearing that this single performance may usher back in the era of happy-hardcore and glowsticks and lasers and neon and ecstasy and candy necklaces (necklaci?) that was SO GOOD when it happened the first time but SO BAD the morning after and EVEN WORSE each and every morning after that.
Aside from being hellbent on ushering in a pop culture era of doom, Kelis has turned into quite the little performer, hasn't she?
Kimberly Wyatt, pictured here at a busted weave competition, left the Pussycat Dolls back when they were actually relevant, and has since done....nothing. Her publicist would have you believe that's all set to change this year, though, as Ms. Wyatt is prepping to release her debut solo album, and leads what will probably be a half-assed media blitz (we're looking at you, 'The Bonnie Hunt Show') with new track 'Candy.' It's not really HER song, but after essentially being Nicole Scherzinger's backup dancer for a few years, Kim is more than used to playing second fiddle. The main artist is actually something called Agros Santos and we can't be bothered to look up anymore about him so that's all we're going to say about that.
In any case it's a catchily addictive, if a little repetitive, dance floor filler that ticks all the boxes without ever really blowing your socks off.
Janelle Monae is a Grammy nominated singer that no one has ever heard of. She made a few waves (and some awards noise) with her debut EP back in '07, but hasn't done a whole lot since. Now Miss Monae is gearing up for a full on album attack, with her LP 'The Arch Android' slated for a May 18 release, and the lead single is what we like to call VERY GOOD. It's a bit Outkast-y, which is unsurprising as it features Big Boi, but isn't as annoying as we found much of their stuff. The video, for its part, is pretty much what 'Shutter Island' should have been. Seriously.
'The Arch Android' is out May 18 on Bad Boy Records
It's springtime, and nothing says "gays in booty shorts" like a nice electronic pop jam. Cue new band Monarchy, a London-based duo whom little else is known about. Mysterious? Yes. Brilliant? Also yes.
It's certainly not going to change the world, but it sure makes it a better place to live in.
Katie Melua never really knocked our socks off, to be honest. It was all a bit whiny guitar pop but without the bite of greats like Brandi Carlisle or Ani Difranco. Enter William Orbit, the guy who is probably most famous for being the man behind Madonna's 'Ray of Light,' and suddenly we are very very interested in what Melua's new album will bring. If this lead single is anything to go by, the project is going to go down as a raging success - at least artistically. As great as this song is, it's certainly not screaming 'radio-friendly,' at least to our ears. Still, it is very very good and starts off as a moody Bond theme and ends as a disco-y Bond theme.
Janet Jackson hasn't had an actual hit in a very long time. This new track could change that, though, as it's a quite listenable ballad that wouldn't seem too out of place in the early 90's and therefore makes ScopiSat very happy. 'Nothing' is from Jackson's new movie, 'Why Did I Get Married Too' and features AMAZING LOW BUDGET EFFECTS along with some random clips from the film. Again, early 90's. Ah, the good old days...
In any case, it's pretty much 'Again' mk II, and really doesn't break any new ground whatsoever. Still, it's nice and has a good little hook. Chalk this one up as a win.
Also there are shoulderpads. Epic, epic shoulderpads.
Mini Viva burst onto the scene with the brilliant top 10 UK hit 'Left My Heart In Tokyo.' Insanely catchy and pushing the boundaries of novelty, it crashed the charts at number 7 and put the Viva name on the map. For the next single, the girls' keepers chucked out 'I Wish,' a lower energy techno ballad thing that, in our opinion, charted about as high as it deserved. At 73. It's back to the proven formula with Mini's third single, thankfully, and 'One Touch' is a delightful little slice of pop perfection. It may not reach the heights of the band's debut, but it will at least keep us interested until their album hits later this year.
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