Bruno Mars sees you

Credit: AP Photo

Bruno Mars makes it three in a row as “Just the Way You Are” stays atop the Billboard Hot 100 for another week.  His debut album, “Doo Wops & Hooligans,” streeted on Tuesday and is poised to come in around No. 3.

Gaining fast on Mars is Far*East Movement’s “Like a G6,” which flies 6-2. The song knocks “Just the Way You Are” out of the top spot on the Hot Digital Songs chart and increased radio play earns it the Airplay Gainer tag.

As we already wrote here, in many ways this week’s chart belongs to “Glee.”  This is the week in music history when the “Glee” cast earns the dubious distinction of surpassing the Beatles for the non-solo act with the most songs on the Hot 100. “Glee” has six songs on this week’s chart, ratcheting its overall tally up to 75, which tops the Beatles’ 71.

Also benefiting from “Glee” is Paramore, whose song “The Only Exception” was performed on the Sept. 28 episode. The “Glee” version debuts at No. 26 on the Hot 100, while the original leaps 57-25 on the Digital Songs chart.

Were it not for “Glee’s” six debuts on the Hot 100, Lil Wayne would be the leader this week as four tunes from “I Am Not a Human Being” bow this week. None can match the No. 2 bow for the album on the Billboard 200, but the unappetizingly-titled “Gonorrhea” hits No. 17 on the Hot 100.  A round of applause to Lil Wayne and a dose of penicillin.

It’s way to early to call it any kind of comeback for alternative rock-- which is generally missing from the upper reaches of the Hot 100 lately--but Neon Tree’s “Animal” hits No. 20 on Hot 100. According to Billboard, this makes it the first song to do so since Linkin Park’s “New Divide” in June 2009.

"Glee"

Credit: FOX

This week, the cast of “Glee” surpasses the Beatles for the most songs on Billboard Hot 100 by a non-solo act. Let’s let that take a minute to sink in. “Glee,” which is a TV show with fictional characters, has just topped the Fab Four, the most exalted act in pop music history.

The “Glee” cast debuts six new songs on Billboard’s Hot 100 that comes out Thursday (the chart date is 10/16, for chart watchers) giving the cast a total of 75 entries on the Hot 100. That tops the Beatles’ 71. Not only does “Glee” move ahead (and will continue to move ahead decisively), it only took “Glee” about 16 months or so what it took the Beatles 32 years to accomplish.

Of course, “Glee’s” format is structured so that multiple songs are available  on iTunes immediately following an episode and the digital sales are what drive the songs up the chart, so it’s a little like comparing tennis players who played with wood rackets  to ones who play with graphite. The mechanisms to deliver and purchase music have changed drastically as to make such comparisons not really valid. That’s not to take anything away from the phenomenon of “Glee,” of course.

“Glee” owes a big shout out to Britney Spears because five of the six songs that bow on this week’s chart--and enable “Glee” to topple the Beatles-- are Spears’ remakes, following the Britney-themed Sept. 28 episode. The other charting tune?  a cover of Paramore’s “The Only Exception.”

Still ahead of “Glee” are Elvis Presley, the all-time leader with 108 charted tunes, and James Brown with 91.

Pink's "Raise Your Glass"

Why does everything sound like me to Katy Perry these days?  Pink’s new “Raise Your Glass,” one of two new cuts on her forthcoming greatest hits, echoes the bouncy chorus of “California Gurls.”

With impossibly stupid lyrics like “What’s the dealio” and Don’t be fancy/Just get dancy” and “Don’t be fizzy/just get dizzy” and “If you’re too school for cool” (no, we didn’t mistype that), “Raise Your Glass”  may feature some of the worst lyrics we’ve ever heard... and we know that’s saying a lot.

Guess what. We don’t care.

All my criticisms aside, it’s nearly impossible to hear the song and not want to pogo around your apartment, dorm room or office. So we’re forgetting about the verses (which is scary easy, as it turns out) and just focusing on the chorus...and trying to figure out how to type as we dance and raise our glass.

Produced by long-time Pink collaborator Max Martin and co-written by Pink (I’m not so sure I’d be proud of that),  the song stands in the Party Pink vein of such songs as “Get the Party Started” and “So What” as opposed to her more serious side, exhibited in such songs as “Sober” or “Don’t Let Me Get Me.” Move over Ke$ha. Your 15 minutes are up. Pink is back to grab the tacky title.

Listen for yourself here, you dirty little freaks (Pink's words, not ours)  and let us know what you think. Other than wishing it were Friday already and you were somewhere dancing to this.

 

KT Tunstall

Credit: EMI

Some people ask WWJD--What Would Jesus Do-- as a guide to their actions. KT Tunstall has WWPSD and WWCHD? That would be What Would Patti Smith Do and What Would Chrissie Hynde Do?

The rock legends represent her tent poles as to how the Scottish singer/songwriter wants to guide her own career. And it’s serving her just fine so far,TYVM (thank you very much).

Tunstall’s  third album, “Tiger Suit,” come out on Virgin Records today and it’s a Tigger-sized bounce forward for the artist. She combines her largely acoustic instrumentation with dance and electronic textures for a sound she calls “nature techno.” Works for us. Read our review here.

The mainly upbeat album is fronted by first single, “Fade Like a Shadow,” a bouncy uplifting track about a sad subject matter---moving on from a love. It is easily as catchy as her previous hits “Black Horse and the Cherry Tree” and “Suddenly I See.”

The album title comes from a recurring dream that Tunstall had as a child where she would go outside and fearlessly play with a tiger in her yard. She realized that maybe she was a tiger too. Putting on her “Tiger Suit,” now, as Tunstall puts it, is “about the cojones” to do what you believe.  It also described the “metaphorical suit” she puts on stage.

As she grew more successful--her debut album, “Eye to the Telescope,” sold 1.3 million in the U.S.-- Tunstall realized she was wearing the suit all the time, even when she needed to be vulnerable, such as when she was writing. “My psychologist friend calls it ‘zippering up your aura.’ It means you’re not letting anyone damage you, but you’re also not letting too much of yourself let go,” even when you need too. Now, she’s learned to take off her aura and tiger suit and strip herself bare when she’s writing. “That’s done at home with a cardigan with a shot of whiskey,” she says. “I go way Hemingway when I write.”

For “Tiger Suit,” she unzipped herself and wrote songs that had her “fired up,” when it came time to get back into the studio. She also paired with such writers as Linda Perry, best known for her work with Christina Aguilera and Pink, and Greg Kurstin, who was Grammy nominated for his work with Lily Allen. She also worked with past collaborators Martin Terefe and Jimmy Hogarth. “Most of the singles you’ve had in the U.S. are all songs I’ve written on my own,” she says. “I’m very proud of that, but at the same time, I’ve realized the richness of writing with someone else. It really takes you to places you’d never go on your own.”

One place Tunstall will never go--on her own or with others-- is to prance around scantily clad like many other female artists. in fact, Tunstall recently found herself embroiled in a mini-scandal when she told Britain’s Daily Record that Shakira’s explicit, sexual video for “She Wolf,” “shocked me and I am not easily shocked...It is shocking, but it seems they need to shock to get attention.”

She plays down the riff a few months later, as she talks to Hitfix. She says she’s never been pushed by her label to sex up her image like it seems so many current female artists are.  “I think they know better than to bother trying,” she says. “They knew what they were getting when they signed me. I was 27 when I was signed. I was less malleable.”
Tunstall followed up “Eye of the Telescope” with 2007’s “Drastic Fantastic,” which failed so capture as large an audience. But Tunstall doesn’t measure her success by album sales. In a statement sure to make her label blanch, she says, “If I never sold another record, but could still play gigs, I’d be happy.”

She goes one step further: “If someone said to me you can make music and record music for as long as you want, but never be able to play music for people again, I don’t know if I’d do it...A song isn’t finished for me until I share it.”

 

Brandon Flowers

We’re not so crazy about the song, but we love Brandon Flowers’ new video for “Only the Young" from his solo album, "Flamingo."

The clip features The Killers’ Flowers in a tuxedo as he gets transported from scene to scene. At one moment, he’s in a ring of fire, next he seems to have stepped into a ghostly Cirque du Soleil production. He often looks very afraid, rightfully so. (Ah, we see at the production credits at the end that the Sophie Mueller-directed video was filmed at Le Reve at the Wynn in Las Vegas. Very fitting for this Vegas-based boy.)

Other times, he’s in the middle of a kaleidoscope or about to be transported off into a parallel universe where lead singers of successful bands determined to also have solo careers get whisked away to live happily with each other and play Mick Jagger’s " Wandering Spirit" over and over.

It's a gorgeous, sumptuous clip that feels dreamy in all the right ways.

Justin Bieber

Credit: Evan Agostini/AP

Justin Bieber will soon become even more of a fixture on MTV as a deal to revitalize “Punk’d,” with the Bieb as host, is in its final stages.

“Punk’d,” as you may recall, is the brainchild of Ashton Kutcher and his partner Jason Goldberg, and it featured celebrities getting pranked all captured on film... sort of like a modern day “Candid Camera.” The original went off the air in 2008 after running four years.

The new show, according to Deadline.com which broke the news, has been in discussions with Bieber as host since this summer, with a probable launch next year.

We contacted MTV, who issued a “no comment,” which, as you know, is not a denial, In  fact, from what we understand from our sources, in this case, it's pretty close to a confirmation that this is happening.

Is it a good move for the Bieb?  Why not?  His fans will love his puckish little sense of humor and we bet all the pranks are G-rated and fairly good spirited. We living in the days where such a show does nothing to hurt his music career and everything to boost his Q rating. More as it develops.
 

Taylor Swift

Credit: AP

Take Taylor Swift’s “You Belong With Me” and age everyone 10 years or so and you’re got “Speak Now.”  Thematically, that is.

“Speak Now,” the title track to Swift’s Oct. 25 album, debuted on iTunes today, as one song from the album will for the next three weeks. Hear it here.

“Speak Now,” like “You Belong With Me,” carries on the story of a girl who knows the boy of her dreams should be with her instead of the shrew he’s chosen. But this time, instead of her boy squiring  the other girl to a school dance or Halloween carnival, he’s meeting her at the end of a church aisle.

Taking a page from the ending of “The Graduate,” Swift interrupts the nuptials, although it may all be a fantasy. 

Musically, the song is a departure for Swift’s other singles, in that it features a stripped down production through the first verse with the focus on her voice, which sounds pretty good here (and returns to the guitar accompaniment throughout the song). There’s nothing remotely country about the mid-tempo track, although we have a feeling country radio will eat it up. Swift wrote all the songs on “Speak Now” by herself, unlike on her previous two albums. The tune shows she clearly needs no help with lyrics, but she musically she could use some help diversifying. Her songs tend to stay in the same mid-tempo pocket with each striking a similar sound.

We also see a not-so- sweet side of America’s sweetheart when she sings, “I sneak in and see your friends and her snotty little family all dressed in pastel and she is yelling at a bridesmaid somewhere back inside a room in a gown shaped like a pastry.” OK, regardless of what you think about Tay Tay, that’s a pretty good line. We can't wait to see her claws come out more.

We can’t quite figure out if she’s starting to work a bit of a stalker streak into her songs, but she’s beginning to sound a little bit like the girl who lives in her own fantasy world with lots of cats and stuffed animals, each of which she calls by name. We’re sure the video will explain it all.

As we've reported before, each song on "Speak Now" is about an event in Swift's life. Swift tells Glamour, "Everything that happens to me gets put into a song," Swift explained. "For some reason, I'm really comfortable talking about my personal life in songs. There, I don't hold back: names, dates, times, expressions on people's faces, exactly where we were and how it felt, what I wish I would have said to them in the moment."

 

KT Tunstall's "Tiger Suit"

Credit: EMI

Scottish singer/songwriter  KT Tunstall remains best known in the U.S. for her hits, “Black Horse and the Cherry Tree” and “Suddenly I See” from her multi-platinum debut, 2004’s “Eye to the Telescope.” But that could change with “Tiger Suit,” her third album, out Oct. 4.

“Tiger Suit,” so named after a recurring childhood dream of Tunstall’s about seeing a tiger in her garden, blends her established acoustic roots with dance textures for an overall upbeat throbbing album. Though it may be a bid to make her sound more contemporary (especially after her second album stalled in the U.S.), the surprise is it works in a totally organic way. 

First single, “Fade Like a Shadow” a bouncy track about the end of a relationship, is climbing Billboard’s Triple A chart. It stands as the catchiest song on “Tiger Suit,” but is far from its only top tapper.

Tunstall announces that there’s a new girl in town with album opener,  “Uummannaq Song,” which pulses with world music rhythms and backing vocals (The singalong backing vocals return on the aggressive "Madame Trudeaux"). From there, she propels into “Glamour Puss,” a track that wouldn’t sound out of place on an Adele or Duffy record (or Peter, Bjorn and John, given all the whistling). She also bares a striking resemblance to ingrid Michaelson on a number of cuts.

Tunstall turned to Linda Perry and The Bird & The Bee’s Greg Kurstin (also known for his work with Lily Allen) to co-write with her for “Tiger Suit” and they’ve kept her work tight and punchy.  Producer Jim Abbiss, who has worked with Adele and Arctic Monkey, among others,  focuses on Tunstall’s lilting soprano in a way that hasn’t always been evident in past albums, especially on the mid-tempo “Difficulty,” which is a awash with synthesizers.

The album’s most endearing track has to be “(Still a) Weirdo,” the first single in the U.K., in which Tunstall declares, in a gently swaying way, that she’s still a weirdo after all these years.  Thank goodness for that.
 

Nicki Minaj

Nicki Minaj was the big winner at the BET Hip Hop Awards on Saturday. The show, which will air Oct. 12 at 8 p.m., honors the biggest acts in Hip Hop through a variety of often oddly-named awards.

For example, even though she has yet to release a full album, Minaj took home Rookie of the year award, as well as the People’s Champ award and the Made You Look Award which is given to the most fashion forward artist. She deserves that one for her wigs alone. Minaj’s debut album, “Pink Friday,” comes out Nov. 23.

Perhaps forgetting the women who have come before her, such as Missy Elliott, Lil Kim and Queen Latifah, Minaj said, “I’m paving the way for girls,” according to MTV. “I want to thank all the girls of hip hop.” To be fair, we have been in a tremendously fallow period for women in the genre, so we’re hoping that Minaj’s success ushers in a new era. Minaj’s “Your Love” was the first song by an unaccompanied female solo artist to top the Billboard Rap Songs chart in eight years.

The night’s other big winner at the Atlanta ceremony was Jay-Z, who won three awards: He and Alicia Keys shared the Perfect Combo award for “Empire State of Mind,” which he captured CD of the year for “The Blueprint 3” and best live performer.

Other key winners included Rick Ross, Swizz Beatz, Diddy and DJ Khaled.  Salt-N-Pepa won the I Am Hip-Hop award.


 

David Archuleta's "The Other Side of Down"

Credit: 19/Jive

New albums from  an “American Idol,”  a country superstar, a group composed of three well-known solo artists, and a star in the making are Oct. 5’s top offerings. David Archuleta tries his hand at pop radio again as Toby Keith, Fistful of Mercy and Bruno Mars all release new efforts. Joining the release-week fun are the Avett Bros., with a live set,  Travis’s Fran Healy and guitar god Joe Satriani.

David Archuleta, “The Other Side of Down” (19/Jive):  “American Idol” finalist comes back and shows off his songwriting chops: the 19-year old penned 10 of the 12 songs on the pop effort. Read more here.

Avett Brothers, “Live, Vol. 3” (American/Columbia): North Carolina band of brothers (okay, two brothers) turns in a live set full of vibrant, roots rock American, recorded during a 2009 show in Charlotte, N.C., down the road from their hometown of Concord.

Finger Eleven, “Life Turns Electric” (Wind-Up): Rock band follow ups 2007  “Them vs. You vs. Me” with a 10-track set recorded in New York. First single, “Living in a Dream,” is No. 20 on Billboard’s Alternative Songs chart and rising.

Fistful of Mercy, “As I Call You Down” (Hot/Vagrant):  New group composed of Joseph Arthur, Ben Harper and Dhani Harrison comes together for  a folk-based set with soothing harmonies.

Guster, “Easy Wonderful” (Aware/Universal):  Boston rockers release their sixth album full of easy-going, shimmering melodies. Plus, they perform in their long underwear in the video for delicious, ringing first single, “Do You Love Me?” What’s not to love?

Fran Healy, “Wreckorder” (Ryko):  Travis frontman gets some pretty nifty guests on his latest solo project: Paul McCartney and Neko Case.

Toby Keith, “Bullets in the Gun” (Show Dog Nashville/Universal): Country superstar unloads another set of tunes about what it means to be country, including the tongue-in-cheek salute to life in the trailer park, first single “Trailerhood.”

Leland Sundries, “The Apothecary EP” (L’Echiquier):  Brooklyn indie act’s debut recalls Lou Reed or Leonard Cohen fronting a lo-fi Americana band complete with smart, literate lyrics.

Bruno Mars, “Doo-Wops & Hooligans” (Elektra): First he had success producing other folks, then appearing as a featured artist on such records as B.o.B.’s “Nothin‘ On You”  and now (drug charges aside), Mars seems poised to unhitch his wagon to other people’s dreams and make his own come true if first single, the smooth No. 1 smash “Just the Way You Are” is any indication.

Joe Satriani, “Black Swans and Wormhole Wizards” (Epic): Guitarist extraordinaire, who is now part of Chickenfoot, along with Sammy Hagar, returns to his solo roots for his 14th studio album.

The Corin Tucker Band, “1,000 Years” (Kill Rock Stars): Slater-Kinney’s co-founder, Corin Tucker, steps out for for a solo record with a little help from Unwound’s  Sara Lund and Golden Bears’ Seth Lorinczi. Tucker described the music  as a “middle-aged mom record.” We just call it rawwwk.

KT Tunstall, “Tiger Suit” (Virgin): Scottish lass’s third album combines her familiar acoustic rock with some electronic textures for a completely contemporary sounds. She also gets some help in the songwriting department from Linda Perry and The Bird & The Bee’s Greg Kurstin.