Today we ask ourselves why music isn't as good as it used to be - watch the video showdown now

We were just thinking last night that music before was way better than music now, and for today's post decided to put that theory to the test.  The best way to do this is obvious: arbitrarily pick a shit song from today and a brilliant song from before and post them in some kind of EPIC THROWDOWN FOR THE AGES.   



 VERSUS



Case closed. 

Monica isn't as irrelevant as we thought - watch the new video from her surprisingly high-selling album now!

I don't think anyone expected this Monica resurgence to actually work out.  Even the marketing and the promotion had a distinct "this sounded better when we were high and watching a VHS of the VH1 pop up video of 'The Boy Is Mine' " feel to it.  But sometimes a MOR ballad and a flaccid press campaign can produce a winner, apparently, as Monica's new album 'Still Standing' is on track to sell 165,000 - 180,000 copies this week.  If anybody told you they were expecting that they are lying or are Monica's immediate family.

Amid that bit of surprisingly good news, the singer has debuted the video for above-mentioned MOR single, 'Everything To Me,' and it is about as shocking as the song.  Even so, well done, Monica.  Your new stuff may bore the hell out of us but it's still nice to see you back. 

That Christina Aguilera thing we told you about is this:

Yeah.  That's all.  

The new single will premiere next week or something but we stopped caring when she baited us for days all for a photograph with some words on it.  But if the song is amazing we'll totally love her again.  Because we're fickle.  And that's ok.

Sophie Ellis-Bextor is 'Bittersweet' in new video - watch the video premiere now!

A few days ago we went on and on about how wonderful the new Sophie Ellis-Bextor track is and then gave you a link to the song with a static, but still rather lovely, photographic image of Sophie. Apparently with the idea that "if an unmoving photograph looks so wonderful with my song, I bet MOVING images would look even better," Miss Bextor has done a thing called a music video.

They used to be on TV. Ask your parents.

Anyway, it has dancing and feathers and compliments the song excellently. Best of all, there's no dodgy Gaga-Beyonce dialogue :-/



"Striking."

Dragonette make it look 'Easy' in new video - watch the masterpiece now!

What to do with Dragonette?  The brilliant band has tried and tried again to break through, but while their output keeps inexplicably getting better, the response always seems to be a resounding 'meh' from the pop masses.  We posted a live version of 'Easy' the other day, and mentioned that it's not likely to turn around the band's chart fortunes, but in true good-spirited fashion Dragonette have given their small but devoted legion of fans the gift of a video for the track.  Needless to say, it is quite good.


Dragonette:  EASY music video

Dragonette | MySpace Music Videos

Now for the next album they'll probably work with RedOne and 3OH!3 and become huge :(

In like a day and 2 hours Christina Aguilera is going to announce something...does anyone care?

Our guess is she's going to reveal details of her forthcoming single 'Glam,' and a sponsorship deal with Mystic Tan.  We'll let you know.

Trina is a 'Million Dollar Girl' in new video - watch now!

Trina (pictured above, seconds after being interrupted while doing a shit) isn't someone we think of when someone mentions the word 'pop,' and this new track probably won't do anything to change that.  It's sort of R&B/rap-lite, albeit with a nice hook.  The most notable thing about the song is its video, though probably not for any of the reasons intended.  The whole thing feels like a clip from another era - you remember, when rappers shouted things in front of a fish-eye lens and threw money at the screen.  The bigger the car, the bigger the man, and 'bling' became a word for some reason.  With that slice of classic history in mind, it's really no surprise this mess came from that era's biggest offender, the GOD-LIKE GENIUS that is Diddy or Doody or Dingus or whatever the hell his name is these days.  Now, however, in this hipster-chic recession-bound world, everyone is paring things down, and while the visual effects might admittedly get more expensive, the flaunting of wealth in front of the screen has become a bit passe.  Hell, Britney even stopped buying expensive wigs.   So this whole Trina 'I have a plane and you do not' business comes off as a bit crass and dated but we're probably just hungover and bitter so watch and decide for yourself.



No.  No, we were right.

Sophie Ellis Bextor is officially back and brilliant with 'Bittersweet' - listen to the premiere now!

A while back we brought you the Freemasons' mix of Sophie Ellis Bextor's brand new track 'Bittersweet.'  Needless to say, it was very good.  Now the original has finally come out, and even though we didn't think it possible, it is A BILLION TIMES BETTER.  It has a proper verse and a proper chorus and then it does both those things again and then there is a skippy bit where a producer has done something very neat. 

Hopefully its chart fortunes will be better than her last single, which although it hung around the top 40 for ages and ended up being quite a sizable hit, only ever managed to peak in the top 20.  If Sophie's good at anything it's flinging good songs into the top ten without the buzz and drama that her pop diva compatriots employ.  Let's hope this continues the trend.



Out May 2.  Buy it because it must be huge.