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Above, please find the official bracket for EW.com’s Music Mix Search for the Greatest Guilty Pleasure Act of All Time Tournament Poll Challenge Thing, now updated for the FINALS, which will commence here tomorrow. We certainly hope your favorite advanced.
Check out the matchups, print out the bracket so you can play at home, tweeter your friends to get on board, leave your comments after the beep. GIve a hoot; don’t pollute. And please: no wagering.
Sean Kingston has a problem: he can’t stop making hit singles. The 19-year-old delivered the summer jam of 2007 with “Beautiful Girls,” and owned summer ’09 with the smash hit “Fire Burning.” He stopped by to talk to us about his just-released album, Tomorrow, why he’d like to collaborate with Kanye and Taylor Swift, and what he listens to when he hangs with his mom.
Entertainment Weekly: So in addition to your own stuff, you’ve been writing songs for other people lately.
Sean Kingston: Yeah, Rihanna has an album coming out and I submitted three songs. The people over there, everybody liked the songs, so we’ll see where it goes. I’m just trying to write for everybody right now.
EW: When you write for someone else do you try to fit your songs to their sound?
SK: Definitely, I start listening to their old records, what they’ve done before, and I say, “Okay, this record could be for her, or this is what she needs.”
EW: Anyone you would love to write for?
SK: Beyonce. I love Beyonce. She’s dope so I think that would be great to write for her. She’s put out a lot of work, hit after hit after hit, album after album after album, she’s a trendsetter. Great performer, great fashion-sense.
EW: If you worked with Taylor Swift, would you try a country sound?
SK: Yeah, I love country. I think country has the biggest melodies ever. And they’re so melodic and that’s what I love to do. So if I did something with her, I’d like to do something like that.
An album featuring previously unreleased material by John Phillips and his daughter Mackenzie will be released at the beginning of next year, according to attorney Jeffrey A. Greenberg, who represents John Phillips’ estate. In the years since Phillips’ 2001 death, Greenberg has overseen the release of a number of albums by the Mamas & the Papas star and says that the new collection was in the works long before today’s allegation by Mackenzie that she and her father had a sexual relationship.
The material was recorded in the ’80s, when John Phillips reformed the Mamas & the Papas with Mackenzie, original band member Denny Doherty, and Elaine “Spanky” McFarlane. “They’re great,” says Greenberg of the tunes. “It’s a lot of songs no one’s heard yet. All four of them trade leads. They also redo some Mamas & Papas material and some of John’s solo material.” The lawyer added the material may be released under the name “Papa John and Friends” or “Many Mamas, Many Papas.”
Greenberg declined to comment on Mackenzie’s accusation, but he says that some individual tracks might be released sooner because of the renewed interest in John and Mackenzie that the controversy has prompted. “Obviously, he’s not around now to speak to any of this,” says Greenberg. “People will make up their own minds. I was a huge fan of his and my object is to hopefully make people aware of John’s music and his talent. In a perverse way, I guess, if there is a way to make lemonade out of the lemons, that would be good.”
What do you think Music Mixers? Have the events of today piqued your interest in an album of John and Mackenzie Phillips tunes? Or made it a must-not-have?
More on John and Mackenzie Phillips:
Mackenzie Phillips claims she had sex with her father: Will you boycott John Phillips’ music?
Mackenzie Phillips on ‘Oprah’
Mackenzie Phillips details drug use and incest in new memoir
More from EW’s Music Mix
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame nominees
Glee’s version of ‘Somebody to Love’: Awe-capella!
‘New Moon’ soundtrack: Hurricane Bells singer explains how he got the gig
Jay-Z tops the albums chart again
Photo credit: Neal Preston/Corbis
The Germans are coming! Kraut-pop juggernaut Tokio Hotel have a new album, Humanoid, due October 6 — and as twins Bill and Tom Kaulitz themselves recently told EW, they never expected the level of success they’ve found internationally (“We came from a small village … It was a lot of happy and lucky moments for us, and we are totally happy that we got the chance to do all this.”)
Listen to an exclusive snippet of the song “NOISE,” from Humanoid, below. and see if makes you feel happy and lucky:
A little background on the track: Producer David Jost tells us: “Bill and Tom had the initial ideas for ‘NOISE.’ They roughly captured their ideas in their home studio in Germany and then sent them over to me and my partners in LA. A few days later Bill stood in front of the mic in our old recording studio in Hamburg. We could see him on a big screen in our LA studio, while we recorded him in real time.”
Adds Bill Kaulitz (pictured): “Two weeks later, Tom and I took a flight to LA, where we all finished the track together. When the song was done Tom was so pumped! Actually, the track almost became our first single.”
What do you think, readers — how does it compare to official first single “Automatic”?
More from EW’s Music Mix:
Michael Jackson’s new song and album release
Glee’s version of ‘Somebody to Love’: Awe-capella!
‘New Moon’ soundtrack: Hurricane Bells singer explains how he got the gig
Jay-Z tops the albums chart again
Today Bruce Springsteen turns 60. I think the man deserves a word or two of birthday gratitude, so here goes: Thanks, Boss. Thanks for Darkness on the Edge of Town and The River and Born to Run and Born in the U.S.A. and all the other classic albums too numerous to list here. Thanks for that part at the end of “We Are the World” where you trade lines with Stevie Wonder. Thanks for the best minute of High Fidelity. Most of all, thanks for not giving up — for continuing to make vital music, rock out on stage, and speak out for your principles well after you passed the half-century mark.
I grew up knowing Springsteen’s hits as well as any child of the ’80s, and I remained a casual-to-moderate fan throughout the ’90s, but it was only in college that my girlfriend, a true devotee, helped induct me fully into the Cult of Brooooooce. Lucky for me, that was right when he was hitting his stride with the reunited E Street Band. If Springsteen had retired for good by that point, I would have been stuck combing through his amazing catalog of decades-old material. (Not the worst fate in the world by a long shot.) Instead, he was out there as a middle-aged guy doing some of the best work of his career. I’m happy to say he shows no signs of slowing down any time soon now that he’s hit 60.
Next week, I’ll be seeing Springsteen and the E Street Band live in concert yet again, an experience that never gets old, even if the band’s individual members might. Anyone else planning to attend this tour? ‘Til then, join me in sharing your birthday wishes for Bruce Springsteen in the comments below.
More from EW’s Music Mix:
Bruce Springsteen to play full Born to Run album in concert
Michael Jackson’s new song and album release
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame nominees announced: Kiss, Red Hot Chili Peppers, LL Cool J…
Jay-Z tops the albums chart again
Photo credit: Tony Nelson/Retna Ltd
The list of possible inductees at next year’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ceremony has been announced and includes LL Cool J, the Chili Peppers, Kiss, ABBA, Genesis, the Stooges, and reggae icon Jimmy Cliff. Rounding out the list of a dozen music stars are the Hollies, Donna Summer, Darlene Love, the Chantels, and Laura Nyro. Five of the nominees will actually be inducted at the ceremony, which takes place on March 15 in New York.
At first glance that list seems to me a little on the weak side, though there is no doubting the influence of the Stooges and LL Cool J, nor the enduring popularity of the Chili Peppers and ABBA. It’s also good to see the Hall being un-snobbish about Kiss, a band that has always unashamedly been more interested in lunch box sales than critical plaudits. (I also feel that you can’t have too much fire-breathing at an awards ceremony.) There is also, of course, the possibility that an irritated-not-to-be-nominated Kanye West will ruin someone’s acceptance speech with a tirade (“Genesis, congratulations, but….”), even though he isn’t actually eligible yet for Hall of Fame-dom.
Are there any fans of Kiss, LL or the Chili Peppers that are desperate to see them granted HoF status? And what fave act of yours does the Hall continue to ignore?
More from EW’s Music Mix:
Michael Jackson’s new song and album release:
Mackenzie Phillips claims she had sex with her father: Will you boycott John Phillips’ music?
Glee’s version of ‘Somebody to Love’: Awe-capella!
Miranda Lambert sings you a ‘Love Song’: It’s an EW exclusive video!
Photo credit: Kiss: Glenn LeFerman/Everett Collection; LL: Rafael Macia/Retna Ltd
Last week was a big one for the hip-hop hype machine, with the long-awaited debut album from Kid Cudi as well as an EP from Drake hitting stores. Turns out neither one of them sold quite as well as their elder Jay-Z, who moved a hefty 298,000 additional units of his week-old The Blueprint 3, according to Nielsen SoundScan, securing a second week at No. 1 on the Billboard 200.
Much of the movement elsewhere on this week’s chart resulted from choice TV appearances. Whitney Houston’s two-part interview with Oprah Winfrey helped boost flagging returns for her album I Look to You, propelling her back up to No. 2 with 156,000 in new sales. The MTV Video Music Awards, meanwhile, reaped rewards throughout the week for several artists who performed during the Sept. 13 broadcast. Jay-Z’s VMAs turn (as well as his Jay Leno performance) no doubt helped him stay at No. 1. Muse debuted at No. 3 with 128,000 copies sold of The Resistance. Taylor Swift hopped up two spots to No. 8 with 46,000 sold, a 37 percent increase on the previous week. Lady Gaga did even better, vaulting from No. 23 to No. 12 with 33,000 sold, a 76 percent improvement. And Kanye West? Well, his 808s and Heartbreak, which came out around the same time as Swift’s Fearless, hadn’t sold enough copies to appear on the Billboard 200 last week, and the VMAs did not change that situation this week.
Sony Music announced today that it will release a new Michael Jackson song, “This Is It,” on October 12, two weeks before the concert documentary of the same name makes its limited run in theaters.
The track will appear on a two-disc album; according to the press release, “Disc one will feature the original album masters of some of Michael’s biggest hits arranged in the same sequence as they appear in the film. The disc ends with two versions of the never-released ‘This Is It.’ This song is featured in the film’s closing sequence and includes backing vocals by Michael’s brothers, the Jacksons.”
As for disc two? It will offer “previously unreleased versions” of some of the Jackson’s classic songs, plus “a touching spoken word poem from Michael Jackson entitled ‘Planet Earth’ that has never been heard before,” and a 36-page commemorative booklet featuring “exclusive photos of Michael from his last rehearsal.”
In one sense, this feels inevitable; the enormous bump in album sales since his death (his greatest-hits comp Number Ones appears on track to be 2009′s best-selling album, overtaking Taylor Swift’s Fearless, according to Nielsen SoundScan), combined with his reported debts and the inborn capitalist (and capitalizing) nature of the music business almost guarantees it.
Still, does anyone else feel kind of … icky? The King of Pop already has multiple greatest-hits materials available (heck, Thriller is its own greatest hits), comps, and remasters, as well as an upcoming Michael Jackson: The Remix Suite; where does honoring a late legend become mere milking of a cash cow?
More from EW’s Music Mix
Mackenzie Phillips claims she had sex with her father: Will you boycott John Phillips’ music?
Glee’s version of ‘Somebody to Love’: Awe-capella!
Miranda Lambert sings you a ‘Love Song’: It’s an EW exclusive video!
New T-Pain track, ‘Dope’: Auto-Tuneless?
‘New Moon’ soundtrack: Hurricane Bells singer explains how he got the gig
Mackenzie Phillips is claiming in her new book, High on Arrival, that on the eve of her 1979 wedding she slept with her musician father, John Phillips. “My father was not a man with boundaries,” writes the actress, who is appearing on Oprah this afternoon. “He was full of love, and he was sick with drugs. I woke up that night from a blackout to find myself having sex with my own father.”
Singer-songwriter Phillips was, of course, the founder of the Mamas and the Papas who enjoyed an extraordinary run of hits in the late ’60s, including “California Dreamin’,” “Monday, Monday,” and “Dedicated to the One I Love.” He also co-wrote the 1988 Beach Boys hit “Kokomo.” But Phillips had a number of addiction issues which undoubtedly contributed to the patchiness of his post-Mamas solo career and, ultimately, to his demise in 2001 at the age of 65.
Two questions immediately spring to mind: Given that John Phillips is not around to refute this accusation from his own, much troubled, daughter, do you believe her? And, if so, will you ever be able to happily listen to “California Dreamin’” ever again?
More on Mackenzie Phillips’ book:
Mackenzie Phillips details drug use and incest in new memoir
More from EW’s Music Mix
Glee’s version of ‘Somebody to Love’: Awe-capella!
Miranda Lambert sings you a ‘Love Song’: It’s an EW exclusive video!
New T-Pain track, ‘Dope’: Auto-Tuneless?
‘New Moon’ soundtrack: Hurricane Bells singer explains how he got the gig
Photo credit: John:Ralph Dominguez/Globe Photos; Mackenzie: Richard Drew/AP Images
Expansive Danish rockers Mew, who recently unleashed their fifth release, a record entitled No More Stories Are Told Today, Sorry, actually do have another story to tell: A very spooky-cool update on the whole Euro-mansion disurbia video genre (see Bonnie Tyler, Thomas Dolby).
Watch the recent Nine Inch Nails tourmates‘ new clip for the single “Repeaterbeater” here after the jump.
