Susan Boyle stays at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 one more week
Can Ke$ha end her reign?
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Susan Boyle
Credit: Shizuo Kambayashi/AP
Can Ke$ha stop Susan Boyle? The party girl seems to be the only hope in the foreseeable future for knocking the “Britain’s Got Talent” winner out of the No. 1 spot on the Billboard 200.
For the sixth consecutive row, Boyle’s “I Dreamed a Dream” stays at the pinnacle, although her post-Christmas numbers drop dramatically to 136,000 copies. However, her six-week talent is an astonishing 3.1 million copies and that’s just in the U.S. alone. As you may have heard, her end-of-the-year surge in the U.K. propelled her past Lady Gaga’s “The Game” as the year’s top-seller. In the U.S., Taylor Swift’s “Fearless” retained that title, but only by a very slim margin.
So now it’s up to Ke$ha and her debut, “Animal,” which came out Jan. 5 to take down Boyle. But if she can’t, Boyle’s reign will end soon anyway with new releases coming from the likes of Omarion, Lady Antebellum and others this month.
In case you didn’t know if from all the dead Christmas tree carcasses lining the streets, the holidays are really over. Further proof: Andrea Bocelli’s “My Christmas,” which was second only to Boyle in terms of soaring December sales, falls out of the top 10. Instead, we see chart standbys like Lady GaGa’s “The Fame” and Swift’s “Fearless” hang out in the Top 5 (“The Fame” jumps back to No.2), and family friendly fare like the soundtrack to “Alvin & the Chipmunks: the Squeakquel,” which scampers from No. 20 to No. 7.
Thom Yorke pens three new songs for Tibetian documentary
Radiohead singer is joined by Damien Rice and Philip Glass
Thom Yorke
Credit: AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Jim Ross
Radiohead’s Thom York, singer/songwriter Damien Rice and composer Philip Glass has all written songs for a new documentary about Tibet. “When the Dragon Swallowed the Sun,” a film about Tibet and China’s troubled relationship directed by Dirk Simon.
Yorke penned three songs for the project, according to a posting by Simon on the film’s website. U.K. newspaper, The Guardian, further reports that the soundtrack will include previously released material from such acts as Bjork, DJ Spooky, Eric Clapton and Massive Attack’s Rob Del Naja.
The film also includes interviews with the Dalai Lama as well as long-time Tibetan supporter Richard Gere and Desmond Tutu.
New Taylor Swift music on 'Valentine's Day' soundtrack
Swift also stars in the film, along with Taylor Lautner, Julia Roberts, Bradley Cooper and Patrick Dempsey
Taylor Swift
Credit: Evan Agostini/AP
No word yet on when we’ll get a follow-up to Taylor Swift’s “Fearless,” the top-selling album of 2009, but we will get new song from Swift on the soundtrack to “Valentine’s Day,” out Feb. 9. The movie, which features Swift, as well as Taylor Lautner, Bradley Cooper, Julia Roberts, Joe Jonas, Queen Latifah, Patrick Dempsey and many more, opens Feb. 12.
Swift’s song, “Today was a Fairy Tale,” is one of two new tracks on the set; Jewel’s “Stay Here Forever” will be the first single, according to Music Row.
Valentine’s Day track list:
1. Taylor Swift – “Today Was A Fairytale”
2. Michael Franti & Spearhead – “Say Hey (I Love You)”
3. Jools Holland and Jamiroquai – “I’m In The Mood For Love”
4. Willie Nelson – “On The Street Where You Live”
5. Sausalito Foxtrot – “Everyday”
6. Jewel – “Stay Here Forever”
7. Ben E. King – “Amor”
8. Amy Winehouse – “Cupid”
9. Maroon 5 – “The Way You Look Tonight”
10. Joss Stone – “4 and 20″
11. Diane Birch – “Valentino”
12. Nat King Cole – “Te Quiero Dijeste”
13. Taylor Swift – “Jump Then Fall”
14. Black Gold – “Shine”
15. Steel Magnolia – “Keep On Lovin’ You”
16. Leighton Meester featuring Robin Thicke – “Somebody To Love”
17. the bird and the bee – “I’m Into Something Good”
18. Anju Ramapriyam – “Signed Sealed Delivered I’m Yours”
1. Taylor Swift – “Today Was A Fairytale”
2. Michael Franti & Spearhead – “Say Hey (I Love You)”
3. Jools Holland and Jamiroquai – “I’m In The Mood For Love”
4. Willie Nelson – “On The Street Where You Live”
5. Sausalito Foxtrot – “Everyday”
6. Jewel – “Stay Here Forever”
7. Ben E. King – “Amor”
8. Amy Winehouse – “Cupid”
9. Maroon 5 – “The Way You Look Tonight”
10. Joss Stone – “4 and 20″
11. Diane Birch – “Valentino”
12. Nat King Cole – “Te Quiero Dijeste”
13. Taylor Swift – “Jump Then Fall”
14. Black Gold – “Shine”
15. Steel Magnolia – “Keep On Lovin’ You”
16. Leighton Meester featuring Robin Thicke – “Somebody To Love”
17. the bird and the bee – “I’m Into Something Good”
18. Anju Ramapriyam – “Signed Sealed Delivered I’m Yours”
BEP, Lady GaGa, Kings of Leon, Taylor Swift and more on Grammys CD
Set benefits two charities run by The Recording Academy
Lady Gaga
Credit: AP Photo/Axel Heimken
Catch up on the top tracks of 2009 with the “2010 Grammy Nominees,” out Jan. 19 on EMI Records.
The 16 annual collection rotates between labels and proceeds from the set benefit the Grammy Foundation and the MusiCares Foundation, two charities overseen by Grammy parent, The Recording Academy.
The set includes 20 tracks, all of them from Grammy nominees and covers pop, country, and rock fields as well as nominees in the four big categories: record of the year, song of the year, album of the year and best new artist. It’s oddly light on R&B artists this year.
Below is the track listing and the categories in which each song is nominated.
1. the black eyed peas
"I Gotta Feeling"
Record Of The Year
Album Of The Year
Best Pop Vocal Album
2. LADY GAGA
"Poker Face"
Record Of The Year
Album Of The Year
3. KINGS OF LEON
"Use Somebody"
Record Of The Year
Best Rock Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals
4. DAVE MATTHEWS BAND
"You & Me"
Album Of The Year
5. Taylor SWIFT
"You Belong With Me"
Record Of The Year
Album Of The Year
Best Female Pop Vocal Performance
6. COLBIE CAILLAT
"Fallin' For You"
Best Pop Vocal Album
7. the fray
"You Found Me"
Best Pop Vocal Album
8. P!nk
"Sober"
Best Pop Vocal Album
Best Female Pop Vocal Performance
9. kelly clarkson
"My Life Would Suck Without You"
Best Pop Vocal Album
10. Katy Perry
"Hot N Cold"
Best Female Pop Vocal Performance
11. beyoncé
"Halo"
Record Of The Year
Album Of The Year
Best Female Pop Vocal Performance
12. Adele
"Hometown Glory"
Best Female Pop Vocal Performance
13. zac brown band
"Chicken Fried"
Best Country Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals
14. Sugarland
"It Happens"
Best Country Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals
15. lady antebellum
"I Run To You"
Best Country Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals
16. rascal Flatts
"Here Comes Goodbye"
Best Country Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals
17. green day
"21 Guns"
Best Rock Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals
18. Coldplay
"Life In Technicolor ii"
Best Rock Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals
19. U2
"I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight"
Best Rock Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals
20. Eric Clapton And steve Winwood
"Can't Find My Way Home"
Best Rock Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals
Watch: Big Boi's video for 'Shine Blockas'
See how Gucci Mane magically appears...sort of
Big boi employs some big time special effects for his last music video.
Oh sure, you can watch the video for Big Boi’s “Shine Blockas,” which raced with the far superior Jay-Z clip for “On to the Next One,” to be the first video of 2010, but the only reason to is if you’re missing Gucci Mane since his unfortunate incarceration or just to hear the song, which is infinitely more interesting than the video. You’ll also learn that a Big Boi is Falcons fan, no surprise there given his Atlanta roots.
After an amusing intro filmed at a Wal-Mart (where he’s looking for footies), the clip, basically turns into a collage of Outkast’s Big Boi in various street scenes with lots of graffiti behind him. Mane, who’s incarcerated and clearly couldn’t get a day pass for the video shoot, is represented by still photos somewhat randomly inserted. The clip randomly goes between black & white and color. If there’s an artistic statement there, it’s lost on us.
But let’s talk about the song. It’s a beguiling blend of old school (courtesy of the sample from Harold Melvin & the Bluenotes’ “I Miss You”), nice, insinuating southern funk, and Mane’s smoothly delivered choruses. The track is from “Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty,” which still doesn’t have a release date. Maybe LaFace is waiting for a title that makes sense.
Surprise: Lil Wayne's 'Rebirth' is delayed...again
Long-delayed set is pushed back until June
The continuing delays surrounding LIl Wayne's "Rebirth" are almost becoming comical.
Credit: AP Photo
We’re beginning to wonder if Lil Wayne’s “Rebirth” is ever going to come out.
“Rebirth,” Lil Wayne’s rock record, which was originally slated to come out last decade (okay, that’s a cheap shot, we admit it) has been delayed for the sixth time or so—although we’re not sure anyone is still counting. Now we’re rooting for it to beat Guns N’ Roses’ “Chinese Democracy,” which took years to come out.
In December, it was announced that the album wouldn’t make it out by year’s end and would instead by pushed to February. However, Wal-Mart has now switched the release date on its schedule to June, according to www.allhiphop.com. That’s smack dab in the middle of Lil Wayne’s one-year jail sentence for gun possession. He’s slated to start serving his term on Feb. 9. Unless he’s busy shooting videos and doing interviews now, we’re going to go out on a limb and predict that the album will get shuttled again until after he’s released so he can promote it.
UPDATE: Lil Wayne's publicist tells Billboard that the album is still slated for a Feb. 2 release.
Are you losing interest in Lil Wayne? Post your thoughts below.
Karen O and Carter Burwell declared ineligible for Oscar score consideration
Yeah Yeah Yeahs' singer denied by Academy
in another perplexing Oscar music move, Karen O's score for "Where the Wild Things" are was disqualified by the Academy.
Credit: AP Photo
The Yeah Yeah Yeah’s Karen O can stop shopping for an Oscar dress now. The Academy’s music branch has declared her score for “Where the Wild Things Are,” composed with Carter Burwell, ineligible for contention, according to The Wrap.
It seems that the music branch felt that the score contained either tracked themes or pre-existing music or predominant use of songs, all of which would make it ineligible.
The score remains nominated for a Golden Globe for best original score-motion picture.
Don’t look for scores from two other Oscar contenders, “Crazy Heart” or “The Lovely Bones,” to show up either as neither score was submitted. That makes sense in the case of the “Crazy Heart” score, composed by T Bone Burnett and Stephen Bruton, which is more songs than score. Brian Eno, who composed the score for “The Lovely Bones,” didn’t have the time to submit the paperwork, the film’s representative told the trade website. It sounds easy, but it’s a fairly rigorous process. Plus, as the piece points out, rockers have been excluded before for borrowing too much either from songs in the film that find their way into the score, or, as in the case with Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood, for including pre-existing music in his score for “There Will Be Blood.” Eno’s “Bones” score included some of his older music.
The Oscars may not show Karen O any love, but she got lucky with the Grammys. As we previously reported, after Miley Cyrus’s “The Climb” was deemed ineligible for a Grammy for Best song written for a motion picture, television or other visual media because it had been shopped around prior to its placement in the “Hannah Montana” movie, Karen O and the Kids’ “All is Love” moved into that slot.
The Oscar nominations will be announced Feb. 2. The Oscars will air March 7.
Christina Aguilera's new set, 'Bionic,' hits stores in March
Album includes contributions from Sia, MIA, Goldfrapp and Santigold
Christina Aguilera
Credit: AP Photo
Is Christina Aguilera channeling Lindsey Wagner with her fourth studio album, “Bionic, out in March? Or maybe she’s just talking about what a woman has to be to juggle a career, marriage and motherhood.
As we mentioned earlier, the project, her first album of new material since 2006’s two-CD set, “Back to Basics,” includes collaborations with Santigold, Goldfrapp and MIA. One of her biggest partners in crime was Sia, with whom she co-wrote three ballads. Among the pair’s songs are “Lullaby” and the title track. Aguilera describes the song “Glam” as Madonna-era “Vogue.” Aguilera, revealed all to Marie Claire, on which she appears on the cover of the February issue, according to Idolator. Given the nature of those collaborators, it sounds like the songs will be much slicker and electronic than some of the tracks on the Linda Perry-produced “Back to Basics,” which contained one disc of fairly stripped down material.
We last heard from Aguilera, who took some time off to have a child, with a greatest hits set, available last year exclusively through Target.
Wilco extends tour with new March dates
Shows, billed as 'An Evening with Wilco' precedes Japan swing
Wilco
Wilco has extended its spring tour with an East coast swing that starts March 22. The shows, billed as “An Evening with Wilco,” begin at the Fillmore in Miami Beach, Fla. and multiple nights at Montclair, N.J’s Wellmont Theater before wrapping at Carnegie Music Hall in Pittsburgh. Following the U.S. dates, Wilco will head for an already announced swing through Japan, Australia and New Zealand.
Tickets for the new dates go on sale Jan. 6 through wilcoworld.net.
Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy is also producing an album for Mavis Staples for Anti- Records, as well as working on the band’s new album, according to Billboard.
Phish's Trey Anastasio returns to the stage
Backed by Classic Tab, guitarist performs from his eight solo sets
Trey Anastasio
Fresh off of Phish’s sold-out 2009 tour, the band’s singer/guitarist Trey Anastasio is hitting the road again for three weeks of dates. This time, he’ll be backed by the wonderfully named Classic Tab, the outfit that has played with him on previous solo projects.
The shows will draw primarily from Anastasio’s eight solo albums, including last year’s “Time Turns Elastic.”
The tour kicks off Feb. 8 with a benefit concert at Charlottesville, Va.’s Jefferson Theater. Proceeds will go to the Kristine Anastasio Manning Memorial Fund, which the money donated to causes supported by Anastasio’s late sister.
2/8 Charlottesville, VA Jefferson Theatre
2/9 Washington, DC 9:30 Club
2/11 Philadelphia, PA Electric Factory
2/12 Boston, MA House of Blues
2/13 Wallingford, CT Toyota Presents the Oakdale Theatre
2/14 Red Bank, NJ Count Basie Theatre
2/16 New York, NY Terminal 5
2/18 Milwaukee, WI The Pabst Theater
2/19 Chicago, IL Riviera Theatre
2/20 Minneapolis, MN State Theatre
2/21 Kansas City, MO Uptown Theatre
2/23 St. Louis, MO The Pageant
2/25 Nashville, TN Ryman Auditorium
2/26 Charlotte, NC The Fillmore
2/27 Atlanta, GA Tabernacle
2/28 Knoxville, TN Tennessee Theatre
