Usher

Credit: Chris Pizzello/AP

Usher’s “Looking 4 Myself” should handily come in at No. 1 on next week's Billboard 200 as it’s poised to be the only title that will surpass the 100,000 mark.

The R&B superstar’s album is one of five new releases that will come into the Top 10. Rush’s “Clockwork Angels” will just miss the 100,000, as it is projected to come in at No 2 with sales of 90,000-95,000, according to Hits Daily Double.

British singer/songwriter Ed Sheeran’s “+” will land at No. 4 with a tally of between 45,000-50,000. Country singer Josh Turner’s “Punching Bag” will land at No. 6 with 40,000-45,000 and rapper Waka Flocka Flame’s “Triple F Life” looks good at No. 8, with sales of up to 32,000.

The rest of the Top 10 shakes out with Adele’s “21” falling from No 1 to No. 3, One Direction’s “Up All Night” will be at No. 5 (unless it can’t head off a charge by Turner). Alan Jackson’s “Thirty Miles West” goes from No. 2 to No. 7. John Mayer’s former No. 1, “Born and Raised” goes to No. 9 and Carrie Underwood’s “Blown Away” lands at No. 10.



 

Whitney Houston in 2010

Earlier this week, The Recording Academy debuted “A Death in the Family: The Show Must Go On.”  The 26-minute documentary details how the 54th annual Grammy Awards put together a tribute to Whitney Houston for the telecast 24 hours following her death.

I was out of town and couldn’t attend the June 11 premiere and Q&A in Hollywood, but the short film is available for viewing on Grammy.com and will also be part of the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles.

The documentary is decidedly and deliberately non-showy: small talking heads often appear in a corner of a shot of an artist performing before expanding to the full screen. There’s a certain low-tech, news story approach to the whole enterprise.

The piece doesn’t go into any of the back story behind’s Houston’s death, instead staying focused on its mission: What happens when one of music’s top names dies 24 hours before the Grammys? With the show locked, how quickly can everything change and how does a show pay homage without seeming exploitative? Producer Ken Ehrlich, show writer David Wild, exec producer Terry Lickona, and Recording Academy head Neil Portnow are among those detailing how the Feb. 12 telecast was updated practically minute-by-minute following Houston’s death. Host LL Cool J also chronicles how he approached Houston’s death and his highly unusual decision to insert a prayer in his opening monologue.

Everyone speaks totally with one voice, as if there was never any debate at all as to how to honor Whitney, while taking care not to turn the program into the Houston show. That could be because they don’t want to show any possible dissension or  there was never any discussion at all over how to honor Houston after Ehrlich thought of  having Jennifer Hudson, who did a remarkable job, pay tribute or because the train had already left the station so there was no time for discussion, just execution.

The doc’s title is a bit of a misnomer: Houston’s death didn’t happen in a vacuum with the rest of the show totally locked and loaded: With less than 48 hours to go, Paul McCartney decided that he wanted to change his show closer from “Nineteen Hundred and Eighty Five” to the much smarter “Abbey Road” medley that includes “Golden Slumbers,” “Carry That Weight” and “The End.” Not only was the Beatle changing his tune, literally, he now wanted Dave Grohl, Joe Walsh and Bruce Springsteen to join him. It would have been interesting to know how the producers dealt with the extra time needed for both Houston's tribute and the longer McCartney number.

While the emotional appeal of calling the documentary “ A Death in the Family”  is understandable, the documentary is just as much about the McCartney performance as the Houston addition. Plus, the McCartney portion provides some of the most glowing commentary. Where else will you hear Springsteen raving like a fan boy about playing with McCartney, the fulfillment of a wish he’s had since 1964? Or hear Grohl say he felt like he was standing next to Mt. Rushmore as he looked over at McCartney, Walsh and Springsteen?

The documentary works well on face value, but it has a very important additional role here that has nothing to do with educating the Grammy-watching public: The Grammys are using the film as a way to reach out to Emmy voters, and it is none too subtle.  Part of Portnow’s main role in the film is to brag about the team that produces the show and really stress the exceptional way the Grammys, every year, not just this one, come together.

Remarkably, the Grammys have never won an Emmy for best program, as Gold Derby points out, and if it’s going to happen, this is the time. Not only did the Grammys score their second highest ratings ever, drawing 39 million viewers,  they tied this year’s Oscar ratings and beat the 2011 Oscars, even though the Oscars are traditionally considered the much “bigger” show and the Grammys have always suffered a little in the Academy Awards’ shadow.

In case all the talking heads haven’t made their points persuasively enough, the documentary ends, as Springsteen’s Grammy-opening number “We Take Care Of Own” plays, with a montage of the 20 or so extremely diverse performances that took place during the 3-hour telecast...as if to say to voters, “C’mon. Is there really any other show that deals with as much technical switch-ups as we do? Really?” It’s as subtle as a sledge hammer, but very effective and impressive.

Whether you want to view “A Death in the Family” as a documentary or as a marketing tool, it’s a compelling look behind the curtain of how the “biggest night in music,” as the Grammys have self-proclaimed their evening to be, comes together under unbelievably challenging circumstances...even when “one of their own,” as LL Cool J called Houston, doesn’t die on the eve of the show.

Julianne Hough with Russell Brand and Alec Baldwin in "Rock of Ages"

Julianne Hough wasn’t born until 1988, a year after “Rock of Ages” takes place, but she seems the perfect choice to play the naive, hopeful Sherrie Christian in the movie, which opens today.

With her all-American looks and her sweet voice, Hough personifies the girl who arrives on a bus from the midwest and with a gee-whiz, can-do attitude chases her dreams along the Sunset Strip.

The movie, unlike the play, tells its story through Sherrie’s eyes as she experiences all of Hollywood’s excesses for the first time. Though Hough, who was introduced to audiences through “Dancing With the Stars,” has appeared in other movies, such as “Burlesque” and “Footloose,” “Rock Of Ages” was the first to pair her with such megastars as Tom Cruise, Mary J. Blige, Catherine Zeta Jones and Alec Baldwin.

Playing the ingenue who temporarily captures the attentions of Stacee Jaxx (played by Cruise) was a blast, Hough says, who jokes that she didn’t have to act when her character is starstruck by Jaxx.  However, as much as she loved playing opposite Cruise, her favorite scenes took place in the strip club, and with her love interest, Drew, played by Diego Boneta. “We had so many fun scenes,” she says. “All the strip club stuff was fun. I really love the love montage we did because that was Drew and Sherrie falling in love. They were all these short little scenes and they were setting the tone of the movie. That was the most fun for me.”

Though she is an extraordinary dancer, Hough says she was in awe of the talents displayed by the “pole specialists” in the movie. “ They’ve got some ripped bodies, that’s for sure,” she says.  

Hough also enjoyed developing a friendship with Blige, who plays the strip club proprietor who takes Sherrie under her wing.  She was struck by Blige’s humility as the Grammy-winning singer continues, like Hough, to develop her acting skills. “She’s one of the most influential women in music and yet she doesn’t know it,” Hough says. “I’d be like, ‘That’s amazing!,” and she’d be like, ‘Really? You really thought that was okay? I’m not sure about it.’  The fact that she’s that humble and she’s who she is is just a testament how there are so many people in this world we put in pedestals and they’re just human beings, you know.”

With each new movie, Hough, who is also signed to Mercury Nashville as a recording artist,  says her faith in her abilities grows. “I just keep getting more confident and more secure,” she says. “Also, because I learn so much from each movie and a lot of technical things: how a movie is made and the process, so I know how to use my stamina, you know what I mean, and be top energy all day long. That’s a hard part.”

Hough went straight from promoting “Rock of Ages” to filming “Safe Haven,” a romantic drama starring Josh Duhamel based on the Nicholas Sparks novel of the same name. It will be one of Hough’s first non-singing roles. She admits she’s nervous about not having singing and dancing to fall back on, but also excited. “I love having a challenge and I think that’s what makes me better as a performer, as an actress, or whatever I may be pursuing, but I think the most nerve wracking part is I’m literally having to leave the press tour of ‘Rock of Ages’ to start shooting right away. I’ve always had a lot of prep time for movies so... that will be a little different, but I love different. I get bored if I’m doing the same thing long.”

 Glen Campbell

Queens of the Stone Age singer/guitarist Josh Homme helps pay tribute to Glen Campbell in the legend’s farewell video, “A Better Place.”

The song, featured on Campbell’s final album, last year’s excellent “Ghost on the Canvas” (and my album of the year), addresses his Alzheimer’s Disease diagnosis on the song, singing “Some days I’m so confused, Lord/My past gets in the way/I need the ones I love, Lord/More and more each day.” The album also includes contributions from Jakob Dylan and Paul Westerberg.

[More after the jump...]

As you know, Green Day plans to drop three albums between September and January. Today, we got the cover art for “Uno,”  the first release in the trilogy.

The below trailer doesn’t give away much, but at least we get to hear a little music, which is more than we got to hear in this other teaser when the trio talked about the trio of sets and run down their past album titles.  Green Day has also announced that one of its few 2012 live dates will be at New Orleans' Voodoo Music Experience in October.

[More after the jump...]

Carly Rae Jepsen

Credit: AP Photo

After hanging out at No. 2 behind Goyte’s long-running “Somebody That I Used To Know,” Carly Rae Jepsen’s “Call Me Maybe” hits No. 1 definitely on the Billboard Hot 100 chart this week.

In doing so, Jepsen becomes the first solo female to send her first Hot 100 entry to No. 1 since Ke$ha did so with  “Tik Tok” in January 2010, according to Billboard. The song, which has been on the Hot 100 chart for 16 weeks, has already sold more than 3.3 million downloads.

There’s only one new entry into the Billboard Hot 100 Top 10 and that also belongs to a solo female: Katy Perry’s “Wide Awake” zooms 19-9 to become Perry’s 11th career top 10.

The rest of the Top 10 remains fairly static:  “Somebody That I Used To Know” featuring Kimbra slips to No. 2 after eight weeks at No. 1, while Maroon 5’s “Payphone” featuring Wiz Khalifa and fun’s “We Are Young” featuring Janelle Monae stay at No. 3 and No. 4 respectively.

One Direction’s “What Makes You Beautiful” and Nicki Minaj’s “Starships” swap places with “Beautiful” rising one to No. 5 and “Starships” dropping one to No. 6. Flo Rida’s “Wild Ones” featuring Sia remains at No. 7.

Rihanna’s “Where Have You Been,” the singer’s 22nd Hot 100 Top 10 hit, rises one spot to No. 8 this week, while Justin Bieber’s “Boyfriend” drops two spaces to No. 10. However, the news isn’t all bad for Bieber:  “All Around The World”  featuring Ludacris, another track from “Believe,” bows at No. 22, earning it Hot Shot Debut honors.

Usher in "Scream"

For the video for “Scream,” the second single from Usher’s excellent new album, “Looking 4 Myself,” the singer joined the cast of “Fuerza Bruta: Look Up,” a multimedia off-Broadway production that combines music, aerial imagery and other non-linear theatrical elements.

Usher played the part of the Running Man for two April performances and used the occasion to debut some of the new material. The result is a video that is far more interesting in conception and for the creativity of the pairing than in the actual watching.

[More after the jump...]

 Kenny Chesney

Credit: AP Photo

Kenny Chesney will perform a free concert on June 20  at the beach in Wildwood, N.J. The show, directed by Jonathan Demme, will live stream over Vevo, and YouTube, as well as other sites.

Chesney, whose latest album, “Welcome to the Fishbowl,” comes out June 19, is the tenth artist to be part of the American Express “Unstaged” series, which pairs acts with well-known directors/actors for the 75-minute concert. For example, Jack White recently paired with Gary Oldman for an “Unstaged” episode.

[More after the jump...]

Can you blame Ne-Yo? Who on earth would want to take on his other responsibilities when he’s got a lovely lady at the ready at home, who’s eager to wrap her legs around him, making him “fall victim to that lazy love.”

[More after the jump...]

Usher

Credit: AP Photo

Usher may be “Looking 4 Myself,” as his new album’s title indicates, but he certainly isn’t at a loss when he’s searching for musical styles. On his most adventurous album yet, Usher takes styles that have worked for him in the past, whether it was his smooth swagger or his dance leanings and turns them on their head.  “Looking 4 Myself” is not so much a reinvention as an exploration of different styles by a confident artist secure enough to abandon past formulas.

The result is an inventive, stylish album, out June 12, that could be heavily rewarded come Grammy time.