Britney Spears

Credit: AP Photo

It takes a lot to put together a Britney Spears’ tour, y’all. You can get a glimpse of what goes on behind the scenes with this snippet from her forthcoming concert special, “Britney Spears Live: The Femme Fatale Tour,” which airs on Epix Nov. 12. 

Her show designers talk about using Spears’ acting skills as part of the backdrop to developing the little vignettes featured in each song.

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T-Pain

Like Adele’s new video for “Someone Like You,” the new video for T-Pain,” “5 O’Clock” featuring Lily Allen and Wiz Khalifa shows the artist meandering through the streets of a beautiful European city. For Adele, the locale is Paris. For T-Pain, it’s Amsterday. That’s where any similarities end.

T-Pain’s tune, which is built around the dreamy, adult lullaby-like sample from Allen’s 2009 tune "Who'd Have Known,"  features the autotuned rapper strolled through the Amsterdam streets, including the famed Red Light District, which is proving to be a distraction, as his lady waits and waits.

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Adele performs 'Someone Like You' at the VMAs

Credit: AP Photo/Matt Sayles

Though Adele’s  “Someone Like You” has already hit the summit on Billboard’s Hot 100, the label released the video for the track today to try to satiate the endless thirst for all things Adele...and extend the life of the song, the second single from “21.”

The black and white video, directed by Jake Nava, consists of one extended shot of Adele walking along the Seine in Paris, lipsyncing (badly in parts) the song.  The camera stays tight on her face for much of the clip, breaking away only occasionally to show her from behind or to show the River.

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Katy Perry

Today, Lady Gaga announced that “Marry The Night” will be the fifth single from “Born This Way.” The club thumper was originally supposed to be the third single from the set, according to Entertainment Weekly, but got pushed aside for “Edge Of Glory.”

Rihanna and Katy Perry both went six deep on their current albums. Contrast that with Perry pushing four singles from “One of the Boys,” while Rihanna’s “Rated R” also had a quartet of singles (five if you count “promotional” single, “Wait Your Turn.” Lady Gaga’s “The Fame Monster” had three singles. Lil Wayne has already released six singles (not all to the same formats) from “The Carter IV,” and that album only came out a month ago.

What’s going on? Some random, totally unscientific, thoughts:

*If an album has success with first single, such as Perry did with “California Gurls” from “Teenage Dreams,” and the next few singles fly up the charts as well, there’s little reason to stop the momentum. Perry’s sixth single had different reasoning behind it: she’s trying to set the record for a septet of No. 1 tracks from one album, but even without that agenda, we still think we may have seen this move.

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Adam Levine of Maroon 5

Credit: AP Photo

Maroon 5's mega hit, “Moves Like Jagger” featuring Christina Aguilera, spends a fourth week at No 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song shows no sign of weakening, as it gains strength in both radio play and sales, according to Billboard.com.

However, it may soon face challenges from two rapid movers: “Sexy and I Know It,” LMFAO’s follow up the song of the summer, former chart topper  “Party Rock Anthem,” surges 25-10, while Rihanna’s “We Found Love,” featuring Calvin Harris bullets onto the chart at No. 16. The track is the first single from her new album, coming Nov. 21. Ri Ri is not letting any air exist between tracks: “Cheers (I’ll Drink To That)” remains in the Top 10 at No. 7.

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Justin Bieber

Credit: AP Photo

Maybe Lil Wayne would have liked some nice candlesticks or a new car, but instead Justin Bieber decided to give Weezy a very special homemade present...sort of like when you’d make your mom an imprint of your own hand.

Early this morning, the day after  Lil Wayne’s 29th  birthday,  The Bieb tweeted his cover of the rapper’s Top 5 hit, “How To Love” with the message “Trying to sleep. Until then happy birthday.”

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John Fogerty

Credit: Johnfogerty.com

John Fogerty will play the Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Cosmo’s Factory” and “Green River”  in their entirely during a two-night run at New York’s Beacon Theater, Nov. 17-18.

Fogerty buffs will recognize the “hell freezes over” significance of this moment.

The two albums, first released in 1969 and 1970 respectively, included such now classic rock tunes as “Bad Moon Rising, “ “Green River,”  “Who’ll Stop The Rain,” and  “Up Around the Bend.” But as CCR fans know,  a young and naive Fogerty signed away his publishing to Fantasy Records head Saul Zaentz.

Then, in one of the strangest moments in rock history,  after Fogerty had moved on to Warner Bros., Zantz  sued Fogerty, accusing him of plagiarizing himself. For years, Fogerty was so devastated by the fight that he refused to play any Creedence songs.

Fogerty re-incorporated CCR material years ago, but this will mark the first time he’s playing these albums front-to-back. In an even sweeter twist, Concord, for whom Fogerty recorded for briefly six years ago, purchased Fantasy and, in a great faith move, offered to pay Fogerty artist royalties on his CCR material.

In addition to performing the albums, he will play a bonus set of hits. Opening both shows for the Rock & Roll Hall of Famer will be Delta Spirit.

James Durbin

 

Credit: FOX

We know that “American Idol” Season Ten finalist James Durbin signed to Wind-Up, home of acts like Evanescence and O.A.R., but now we’re getting more info about his debut album.

“Memories of a Beautiful Disaster” will come out Nov. 21, according to a Durbin tweet on Tuesday.  He explained the title thusly: “Means looking back on events in my life, to see the beauty in the pain.”

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Ann and Nancy Wilson of Heart attend "VH1 Divas Salute the Troops" in San Diego, CA

Credit: AP Photo/Matt Sayles

Is the boys’ club otherwise known as the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame about to shift to ladies’ night?

This year’s potential class of 15, announced Sept. 27,  includes five female or female-fronted acts, including first time nominees Joan Jett, Heart and Chaka Khan (as leader of Rufus), and returnees Donna Summer and Laura Nyro.

If three of the women make the final cut, it will mark the first time more than two female acts have been inducted in the same year.

For trivia buffs, the first woman inducted in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame was Aretha Franklin, in 1987. There have been some years when no women have been among the final five, and a handful of years when more than one female has been inducted, especially if one includes acts who aren’t led by a woman, but have a female member like the Talking Heads. Counting only solo female acts, like Joni Mitchell, or female-fronted bands, like Blondie, 20 of the 125 acts inducted over the past 25 years are women.

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Life is complicated. That’s not a new revelation, of course, but it’s the guiding theme on Switchfoot’s new album,  the cleverly titled “Vice Verses,” out today.

For every blessing, as lead singer Jon Foreman sings on the gentle, contemplative title track, there are curses. While we’re busy navigating life’s land mines, there’s beauty and sorrow going on, usually simultaneously.

The album’s second track, the propulsive, psychedelic “The Original,” sounds quite unlike anything the band has ever done before. And maybe that’s the point of “Vice Verses.” The album is all over the map musically, touching on every corner of the rock spectrum.

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