Pink’s newest music video is just as beautiful as her last one.
I’m still not sure why she starts out singing this song in Regina Spektor’s vocal style, but I can roll with it. The single is hypnotizing, and Pink continues to be one of the pop artists still doing it who can make a music video feel artistic without veering into “Too Weird To Function” territory. I also love that her husband Carey Hart gets featured as the lead male.
Fall Out Boy returns with “My Songs Know What You Did in the Dark” and a Kanye-flavored video
I can never claim to have been a Fall Out Boy fan when it all started. I boarded that train when “Sugar, We’re Going Down” started making waves just like a lot of people. Still, between 2005 and 2009 I burned a lot of miles and dollars going to their shows, supporting their music, and hollering in pits with friends. I missed Fall Out Boy when they went on hiatus. Also, I was 14 when NSYNC was big and then disappeared, and to me “hiatus” means break-up, because obviously teenage betrayal feels like the end of the world. (God damn you, Justin Timberlake. I love your solo music, too, but also damn you.)
So, I lost my head when I woke up to confirmation that Fall Out Boy are actually coming back. Not only are they coming back, but they’ve got a single ready now, an album release date, tour dates, and a music video inexplicably featuring rapper 2 Chainz burning all their memorabilia.
2 Chainz was also real upset about Fall Out Boy’s hiatus apparently. Me and 2 Chainz — comrades.
One thing about the Manti Te’o story is clear: Shut up, Donald Trump
Yesterday, Deadspin broke a fake girlfriend story that lit sports news and the Internet gossip machine on fire. Notre Dame football player Manti Te’o has received a lot of attention and support this season for playing well despite the very tragic death of his girlfriend, Lennay Kekua. She was 22. She had Leukemia. She was a beautiful person.
She never existed.
Both online and broadcast television news outlets have bent over backwards to report and speculate about Deadspin’s findings. Was Te’o the victim of a hoax? Is he lying? Has he seen the documentary Catfish before?
There are still a lot of questions that need to be answered and rumors that need to be spread. However, two absolute truths stick out to me so far: 1) Donald Trump will never waste an opportunity to make sure people know he’s paying attention and has an opinion on everything. 2) People still don’t care about what Donald Trump thinks. Especially Deadspin.
(Source: Twitter)
LOL. It’s great when Deadspin occasionally hits journalistic pay dirt, but there’s no doubt they’ll be back to embarrassing players like Patrick Kane in a tag dedicated to his hijinks for partying in no time now that the NHL is back. They don’t want anybody to make the mistake of thinking they’ve prettied up their operation.
This is pop culture commentator Funky Dineva‘s latest review for the ABC primetime drama “Scandal”:
My introduction to Funky Dineva was during the media hubbub about Olympic gold medalist Gabrielle Douglas and her hair. Nobody could doubt her abilities when it came to gymnastics, so people thought clowning a teenager’s hair was the next best thing. (Yeah, we got her on her ponytail! Take that you successful, black girl setting national records… oh.) Funky Dineva didn’t exactly come to Gabby’s defense on the subject, but she did give Gabby her propers for great work and all the criticisms were lighthearted and hilariously delivered. I remained a fan of Gabby and became a fan of Funky Dineva.
“Scandal,” a primetime political drama on ABC, was my favorite new show of 2012, hands down. When Dineva tuned in for the season 2 premiere and then published a review — “My Hair is Layed Like Olivia Pope” — I rejoiced and watched it with a co-worker who shares both my “Scandal” and Dineva obsessions. I lost my ever-loving mind when Kerry Washington and other cast members started praising Dineva on Twitter. And last fans like myself witnessed this latest review for the show’s mid-season premiere, recorded belatedly at the demand of none other than Shonda Rhimes, the creator and show runner for “Scandal.”
GLORY BE!!! I’M SCREAMING MY HEAD OFF OVER THIS. Between this and a majority of the “Scandal” cast halting a panel discussion to talk about and praise Funky Dineva’s reviews this week, I am a hot mess hollering half naked in the streets. Nothing pleases me more than sincere expressions of love between creators/talent and their fans. In a lot of ways, I think fandoms still treated like a bunch of weirdos too invested in creative media to function, but whether some of us are writing in month-old underwear or not, I generally don’t see anything wrong with loving something a lot — book, TV show, album, whatever it may be.
Funky Dineva is an extremely engaging video blogger, and it thrills me to see someone I’ve been excited about get the same attention and love from the people who make the content that’s motivating Dineva to review. Claps all around for everybody involved, and I can’t wait to see what Dineva thinks of tonight’s new episode. I’m sure Shonda can’t wait either.
“Scandal” airs Thursdays at 10/9C on ABC. Previously aired episodes available to stream at ABC.com.
Song of the day: Kitty Pryde featuring Lakutis – ‘Ay Shawty’
Thank god Kitty Pryde is getting it together.
Kitty Pryde is a young white girl from Daytona Beach who raps about things like her obsession with Justin Bieber, but in a creepy way that I get into because praise potentially dangerous outright violent infautation-style music has mostly been reserved for male artists, but Kitty’s getting blog attention. Ke$ha’s been representing for the unabashedly raunchy and sometimes Lothario-like ladies in pop and now Azealia Banks does the same for some sections of hip hop, but there’s still no real Odd Future equivalent ladies making big Internet waves. Pryde might come the closest.
A friend introduced me to Kitty Pryde last year. At the time I was intrigued by her approach but thought her delivery and presence needed some more time to develop. There’s a difference between awkward on purpose and awkward because an artist genuinely doesn’t quite have the bravado a performer needs to sell his or her image, and unintentional weirdos just make everyone feel kind of skeevy.
Less than a year later, Kitty Pryde’s latest track, “Ay Shawty,” proves that Kitty’s really settling into herself:
The track features Greedhead’s Lakutis and, according to Nylon, is a leak from her upcoming EP, “Daisy R.A.G.E.” Lakutis’ faster flow provides an almost surprising complement to Pryde’s lazier rhythm.
If Pryde’s entire EP sounds just as well-executed as this song and her single, “Dead Island,” then maybe 2013 will be the year writers stop using the completely dumb phrase “Tumbler-wave” to describe her and just admit this teenager’s a legitimate hip hop artist.
Justin Timberlake releases “Suit & Tie,” featuring Jay-Z
It was supposed to be released at 12AM, Eastern Time, but it looks like iTunes got the Justin Timberlake party started a little earlier than planned. Justin Timberlake’s new single, “Suit & Tie,” makes good on the rumors that he was creating music with Jay-Z and is the first single from JT since he stopped promoting 2006′s “FutureSex/LoveSounds.”
Timbaland returns as the producer of the track. Jay-Z appropriately takes place of The Clipse on rap duties since the aim seems to be about achieving grown and sexy rather than young and raunchy. It’s got a much smoother groove than “SexyBack,” but it may have a similar slow burn when it comes to winning over listeners.
If “Suit & Tie” sets the tone for what 2013-era Timberlake pop will sound like, then we’re all in for an even mellower ride than 2006.
You can buy “Suit & Tie” on iTunes.
Listen to “Suit & Tie”:
Cover Corner: Gallant – “Die Young” (Ke$ha cover)
My favorite covers are those that take completely flip the feel of a familiar track. Ke$ha’s version of “Die Young” already has the kind of jubilant chorus perfect for backing reckless chaos. Gallant’s version doesn’t totally erase that vibe; it slows it down and makes the triumph sexy. It’s perfect for feeling like a king even if you’re just lounging in a room with your favorite person.
Follow Gallant (@SoGallant) on Twitter, and then look for his EP “Zebra” this Spring.
I adore all opportunities to make a new playlist. Whether good songs to sing during a shower or a really complicated tracklist for an apocalyptic universe and story I dabble with whenever I’m bored, I’ve created it. And I forget about these playlists as often as I make them, which means every few months I’ll go back through my iTunes and Spotify playlists and re-discover some compilation I cared about intensely in the spring.
This week? That example is a playlist called “Hello, Brother,” which is undoubtedly something I put together while devoting a lot of brain power to the relationship between Damon and Stefan Salvatore of “The Vampire Brothers.” Everyone who interacts with me for more than a day will inevitably hear about my TVD obsession, and the fractured, intense familial and romantic struggles between the Salvatores is at the heart of it.
They hate each other! They love each other! I’m forever making online playlists about it, wishing I worked with their music supervisor. (His name is Chris Mollere, by the way. Follow him on twitter: @cmollere.)
Will “Take Me Home” give the One Direction infection to a whole new group of people?
Jam alert, you guys. One Direction has a song on their new album called “They Don’t Know About Us,” and it’s been stuck in my head all week.
I haven’t been sleeping on One Direction this whole time or anything. It’d be super difficult to go on about my life without them on my radar, not just because they’re topping charts and amassing hundreds of new Twitter followers every day. More important that all of that, I come from people who were huge fans of New Kids on the Block during the 90s, and then NSYNC and Backstreet Boys in their glory days. Once those boy band senses are sharpened, it’s basically impossible not to at least pick up on new generations of bouncy pop and teenage love songs.
So I know about One Direction, but I’d managed not to be sucked in by them since they started making waves after forming during the UK’s 2010 season of “The X Factor.” I may not be long for this world, though. My days among the casually acquainted are drying up fast, because both singles from their upcoming sophomore album have eaten at my brain. I know the choruses. I hum the melodies. I was also out sick on Monday and Tuesday a couple weeks ago. I’m not entirely unconvinced these things are unrelated. And now, this song.
Jay-Z, Pharrell, and Frank Ocean record a track together; I die
In case anyone needs to get in touch with me, I’ll be undead, chilling in my burial plot until whatever Jay-Z, Pharrell, and Frank Ocean recorded together is available for listening.
Yessur, in the studio with @s_c_ and @frank_ocean. twitter.com/Pharrell/statu…
— Pharrell Williams (@Pharrell) October 9, 2012
Pharrell posted this to Twitter yesterday. I didn’t see it until this morning, but now I’m a sloppy mess over knowing there’s music with these three out there that I haven’t heard yet.
In addition to still being addicted to the beats Pharrell produces, I’m just constantly intrigued by the storytelling from these three. I think they all try for interesting narratives in their music in different ways, and even though I know what’s come of different pairs within this trio, I’m super curious about what they might bring out in each other while all in the studio at the same time. Pharrell hasn’t dropped any hints about what sounds like yet, but hopefully it won’t take too long. I mean, this grave I’m typing from right now is only so comfortable and my computer battery will only hold out for a few hours.
Political thrillers are my jam these days. Maybe it has something to do with me working on more news this year and, thus, following the 2012 presidential election fairly closely. Maybe my mid-twenties were always destined to be when I stopped saying “one day I’ll really pay attention to politics and diplomacy.” Maybe I’m just getting sucked up in Hollywood’s renewed penchant for greenlighting these kinds projects. I haven’t been able to pinpoint the exact reason, but what’s undeniable is that the words “a new political action thriller from Ben Affleck” made me click faster than me from a couple years ago ever would have.
Music video of the week: Alt-J – Breezeblocks
I spend a fair amount of time bemoaning the lack of music videos with a really solid narrative in my life anymore. I think, obviously, it’s a lot easier to make a video that looks good but doesn’t necessarily have a through-line. I also get that having a story isn’t always the purpose for some people, but I’d be a liar if I said that that wasn’t usually what I hoped for, so coming across something like Alt-J’s video for “Breezeblocks” helps me scratch an ongoing itch.
The best part about this video is that playing it in reverse even manages to enhance the story rather than just seem like a cool way to drag out a super short scene. I kept trying to guess at what caused the beginning of the video as it moved back, but everything I guessed was upset within the next few moments. Clever plays on perception always get me, and it doesn’t hurt that the song is eerily infectious.