Archive: November 2009 (51-60 of 119)

Nov 17 2009 12:23 PM ET

Robert Pattinson thinks 'Twilight' mania is 'perhaps close' to what the Beatles went through

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Categories: About Last Night, Let's Argue!, Movies, New Stuff, The Beatles

Oh, there’s no business like quote business. Last night, swoopy-haired Twilight star Robert Pattinson spoke to EW’s Carrie Bell at the New Moon premiere in Los Angeles—and linked the name of his vampire franchise with arguably the biggest four-pronged pop landmark of the last 50 years: John, Paul, George, and Ringo.

“You can’t prepare for this. It is just insane,” he said of the well-documented, culture-saturating Twi-frenzy. “I don’t know how the Beatles felt, but I imagine it was perhaps close to this. I think very few human beings will ever get to experience the same feelings and love we feel at Twilight events.”

Though his undoubtedly innocent (and not without merit) comparison is guaranteed to be reduced to breathless “Rob P sayz Twilight = Beatles OMGEEE!!” pull quotes out there in the LOL-osphere, it’s good to remember that John Lennon himself once got into pretty hot soup (record burnings, show cancellations, even death threats) for his infamous “We’re more popular than Jesus” quote back in 1966, at the height of Beatlemania.

Like nearly all pop cultural phenomena, the reign of Edward and Bella et al. will surely wane eventually, though not before a few more sequels—and a few million references in press outlets (this one included). But does it saturate our media and engage young people in part because there’s a dearth of that kind of lightning-rod star power in music now, or even the type of pop-radio mono-culture to support it?

Can a Beyonce or Lady Gaga, let alone a four-piece rock band, ever hope to be as culturally paramount as the Fab Four were (and one could argue, continue to be), and Twilight is today? And years from now, how will the Twi-team be judged by history—Pet Rock or Beatles-level monolith?

(Follow the Music Mix on Twitter: @EWMusicMix.)

More from EW.com’s Music Mix:
New Lady Gaga, ‘Telephone’: Stream it here
Mariah Carey’s ‘I Want to Know What Love Is’ video: Play ball!
Rihanna’s violent, disturbing ‘Russian Roulette’ video: How dark is too dark?
Chris Brown’s “Crawl” video: He feels remorseful about a lost love. Do you care?
‘Glee: The Music, Vol. 2′ track listing revealed!
Solange covers the Dirty Projectors, delivers a little bit of awesome

Nov 17 2009 11:54 AM ET

Lady Gaga can't win a Best New Artist Grammy, so who should?

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Categories: Awards Shows, Lady Gaga

The Grammy Award for Best New Artist is notorious for using a fuzzy definition of the word “new.” Officially, nominees have to have released “the first recording which establishes the[ir] public identity” in the eligibility window — even if their actual debut came out years earlier, which can lead to some confusion. But it turns out the Best New Artist category does enforce certain rules. As Variety points out, this year’s biggest breakout act, Lady Gaga, won’t even get a shot at the award, since her hit “Just Dance” was already nominated for Best Dance Recording last year. Other rules disqualify Kid Cudi and Phoenix. So if none of those artists can even be nominated, who should?

Variety picked out a few possibilities, including Keri Hilson, Owl City, Kevin Rudolf, Diane Birch, and others. With the exception of Keri Hilson, none of those choices quite thrill me, to be honest. How about, say, Grizzly Bear? (Yes, Veckatimest is their third album, but it’s the one that likely put them on Grammy voters’ radar for the first time. They could be this year’s Feist.) Or the Dead Weather, who had an actual debut album that made it into the Billboard 200′s Top 10? Or, taking things in a poppier direction, Jeremih? I can’t be the only person who thinks the genius of “Birthday Sex” deserves to be noted in the Recording Academy’s historical record — or then again, maybe I can.

You must have some even better suggestions, so have at it. Who should get a Best New Artist nomination this year? The nominees will be announced in a live telecast on Dec. 2, so you still have a couple of weeks to sway the Academy’s voters…

(Follow the Music Mix on Twitter: @EWMusicMix.)

More from EW.com’s Music Mix:
New Lady Gaga, ‘Telephone’: Stream it here
Mariah Carey’s ‘I Want to Know What Love Is’ video: Play ball!
Chris Brown’s “Crawl” video: He feels remorseful about a lost love. Do you care?
‘Glee: The Music, Vol. 2′ track listing revealed!

Photo credit: Meeno

Nov 16 2009 06:49 PM ET

Shakira video feat. Lil Wayne, 'Give It Up to Me': Shak goes fly girl

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Categories: New Stuff, Shakira, Video Gaga

La Loba, she makes a lot of videos. Only days after the premiere of She Wolf‘s latest clip, the bedroom Cirque du Soleil/steamroom romp “Did It Again,” Shakira’s back with the Weezy pair-up “Give It Up to Me”:

I’m kind of feeling the whole early ’90s round-the-way-girl fashion vibes, plus classic C+C Music Factory dance moves (group caterpillar at 1:19, win!); less sure about the page ripped from Madonna’s “yay India” Kali goddess phase. Overall, I likey, but maybe no lovey; a solid B+. Disagree? Give it up to the comments section below.

More from EW.com’s Music Mix:
New Lady Gaga, ‘Telephone’: Stream it here
Mariah Carey’s ‘I Want to Know What Love Is’ video: Play ball!
Rihanna’s violent, disturbing ‘Russian Roulette’ video: How dark is too dark?
Chris Brown’s “Crawl” video: He feels remorseful about a lost love. Do you care?
‘Glee: The Music, Vol. 2′ track listing revealed!
Solange covers the Dirty Projectors, delivers a little bit of awesome

Nov 16 2009 06:01 PM ET

Bob Dylan's 'Must Be Santa': New Christmas classic, or 'Animaniacs' homage?

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Categories: Bob Dylan, Things That Sound A Whole Lot Like Other Things

So, while reveling in the supreme weirdness that is Bob Dylan’s “Must Be Santa” — the video is non-embeddable, but you can watch it if you click on these pretty colored words right here — we somehow managed to overlook the creepy basement rec room and the fact that Dylan has decided to start sporting “The Rachel,” and instead focused in on one peculiar fact: Uh, why does this old Hal Moore and Bill Fredricks carol suddenly sound like an Animaniacs song?

Here is Dylan’s take on “Must Be Santa”:

Here is the International Friendship Song, a.k.a. “Schnitzelbank,” from Animaniacs:

What do you think, Mixers? Did the folks behind Animaniacs totally rip off this Christmas chestnut and we didn’t notice until now, or is it just the crazy-making tempo that sounds so similar? You tell us in the comments. And: Which do you like better? (Me, I’m going Wakko.)

Follow the Music Mix on Twitter: @EWMusicMix.

More from EW.com’s Music Mix:
New Lady Gaga, ‘Telephone’: Stream it here
Mariah Carey’s ‘I Want to Know What Love Is’ video: Play ball!
Rihanna’s violent, disturbing ‘Russian Roulette’ video: How dark is too dark?
Chris Brown’s “Crawl” video: He feels remorseful about a lost love. Do you care?
‘Glee: The Music, Vol. 2′ track listing revealed!
Solange covers the Dirty Projectors, delivers a little bit of awesome

Nov 16 2009 03:42 PM ET

New Lady Gaga, 'Telephone': Stream it here

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Categories: Beyonce, Divas!, Lady Gaga, Let's Argue!, New Stuff

Will someone give Gaga a Kit-Kat break already? She’s touring. She’s Gossip Girl-ing. She’s twirling with the Bolshoi Ballet. The Pantsless Wonder even gets her communication technology both ways, avec Beyoncé: first via “Video Phone,” and now “Telephone.” (Coming soon: “Baby Monitor!”)

Take the aforementioned “Telephone,” the just-leaked track from November 23′s deluxe reissue The Fame Monster. Personally, methinks the Lady doth spread herself too thin; it’s perfectly decent, club-ready Gaga, but nothing so poppin’ fresh it can’t be forgotten until the inevitable bizzonkers video moves us to reconsider. But do judge for yourself:

What do you think, Music Mixers? Would it have been any better or worse in the hands of Britney Spears, the artist for whom the song was reportedly originally written by Gaga and producer Rodney “Darkchild” Jerkins? Or is the Gagoncé pairing your combo supreme?

Nov 16 2009 12:08 PM ET

Movie theme songs: What are the best and worst of all time?

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Categories: Leona Lewis, Let's Argue!, Listmania!, Movies

The BBC reports today that Leona Lewis has been tapped to sing the theme song to James Cameron’s upcoming I-see-blue-people sci-fi epic Avatar, with the help of James Horner and Simon Franglen, the team who blessed/bedeviled the world with Celine Dion’s deathless chest-pounder “My Heart Will Go On” for Cameron’s Titanic back in 1997.

While Lewis prepares to bust her wing span on whatever the outer-space equivalent is of a ship’s prow, we’re compelled to take a look at the good, the bad and the ugly in movie theme songs, including—cue coyote flute— soundtrack king Ennio Morricone’s actual theme song for the 1966 Clint Eastwood spaghetti-western classic The Good, The Bad and the Ugly.

There’s great schlock (Whitney’s Bodyguard epic “I Will Always Love You”; Phil Collins’ “Against All Odds,” for the 1984 movie of the same name; Bill Medley and Jennifer Warnes’ Dirty Dancing duet, “(I’ve Had) the Time of My Life”;), and schlock schlock (Aerosmith’s execrable Armageddon smash “Don’t Wanna Miss a Thing,” Bryan Adams’ Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves mom-slayer “(Everything I Do) I Do It For You”). READ FULL STORY »

Nov 14 2009 11:27 AM ET

Mariah Carey's 'I Want to Know What Love Is' video: Play ball!

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Categories: Mariah Carey, Music

Generally, the only time I use the words “sports” and “Mariah Carey” in the same sentence is when I’m asking someone to turn down the former so I can listen to the latter. But Mimi’s new video for her cover of Foreigner’s I Want to Know What Love Is (the second vid off her new album Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel) brings the two together with interesting—if not exactly harmonious—results.

The CG-heavy clip takes place in an anonymous baseball diamond, where a particularly lanky-looking Mariah sings into an old-school mic atop a giant butterfly emblem in the field. (Did someone decide the pitcher’s mound would be too butch?) This is intercut with shots of couples—lovers, families, friends—admiring her with reverent, slo-mo gazes. Then more Mariah, then an out-of-nowhere gospel choir (Why ask why?), a couple high notes, and…. fade out.

Huh. I was kind of hoping MC would work the baseball angle a little more, but I guess fielding a fly ball might put her nails in danger. And those thigh-high boots aren’t made for walking, let alone running the bases. Oh well. Check out the video below and let us know what you think: Home run? Foul ball? Foot fault? No, wait. That’s tennis, right?

(Follow the Music Mix on Twitter: @EWMusicMix.)

More from EW.com’s Music Mix:
Rihanna’s violent, disturbing ‘Russian Roulette’ video: How dark is too dark?
Chris Brown’s “Crawl” video: He feels remorseful about a lost love. Do you care?
‘Glee: The Music, Vol. 2′ track listing revealed!
Solange covers the Dirty Projectors, delivers a little bit of awesome
Timbaland on Miley Cyrus: She’s the next Justin Timberlake

Nov 14 2009 10:41 AM ET

Rihanna's violent, disturbing 'Russian Roulette' video: How dark is too dark?

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Categories: Music Videos, Rihanna

What, you thought Rihanna was going to give “Russian Roulette” a video full of sunshine and rainbows and peppy choreography? Her first single from Rated R is a song about violence. The video, which 20/20 premiered last night, is about the darkest piece of promotional material I’ve ever seen from a pop star.

The requisite shots of Rihanna and a man playing with a pistol aren’t the half of it. The video also features Rihanna writhing on the floor of a prison cell while menacing guards look on; staring down a speeding car on a dark highway; and twisting and turning underwater as bullets fly past. Director Anthony Mandler gives the clip an arty feel with creative camera angles and speed-up/slow-down effects. It’s the logical extension of previous Mandler-Rihanna collabs like “Disturbia” — which, like this clip, owed a heavy debt to the work of “Closer”/“99 Problems” auteur Mark Romanek. Perhaps needless to say, “Russian Roulette” is also an infinitely more worthwhile production than the pandering schlock that Rihanna’s abusive ex is putting out these days.

Of course, good art isn’t always good business. This is an extremely creepy video. I’m not sure how much MTV play it’ll get (during the few hours they still play videos), and more importantly, I wonder how many potential Rated R buyers will find this imagery to be a turn-off. Watch the video below, then you tell me: Do you think this is too dark for a pop video? And do you like this clip as much as I do?

(Follow the Music Mix on Twitter: @EWMusicMix.)

More from EW.com’s Music Mix:
Rihanna’s dark, daring new single: “Russian Roulette”
Chris Brown’s “Crawl” video: He feels remorseful about a lost love. Do you care?
‘Glee: The Music, Vol. 2′ track listing revealed!
Solange covers the Dirty Projectors, delivers a little bit of awesome
Timbaland on Miley Cyrus: She’s the next Justin Timberlake

Nov 13 2009 06:06 PM ET

Peter Gabriel covers Arcade Fire, Radiohead, Regina Spektor: When rock worlds collide

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Categories: Arcade Fire, Covers, Music, Radiohead, Regina Spektor, Things That Are Strange, What the...?

Although we haven’t heard any songs from Peter Gabriel‘s upcoming album, Scratch My Back, we’re already fixated on how bizarre and potentially great it could be. The Genesis co-founder just confirmed the track list for his eclectic all-covers record—which includes Arcade Fire, Radiohead, and Bon Iver—though not, sadly, the Vampire Weekend cover he did with Hot Chip:

Scratch Your Back, due in January 2010, isn’t your typical covers album—Gabriel is reinterpreting an array of bands with orchestral re-imaginings. The will be the usual tributes to established icons—David Bowie, Talking Heads, the aforementioned Radiohead—but he also proves he’s been keeping up on groundbreaking music even though his last full-length came out in 2002. The Arcade Fire, the Magnetic Fields, Bon Iver, Elbow and Regina Spektor will all get the orchestral treatment by the man who wants to be your Sledgehammer.

Don’t relax those raised eyebrows yet—apparently, the artists Gabriel reinterprets will be returning the compliment by doing a song of his at some undisclosed point. Maybe the Magnetic Fields will give us droll version of “Solsbury Hill”? We can dream…

We got to thinking about our other favorite crossover moments between indie artists and classic rockers, including some of the above-mentioned artists. Remember when the Thin White Duke performed “Wake Up” with the Arcade Fire? Or more recently, when blue-eyed soul legend Michael McDonald appeared with art-rockers Grizzly Bear (not that we didn’t all see that one coming). And of course, there was the time Daryl Hall had the electro-pop/cheese-funk duo Chromeo over to his house for a jam session.

Any other couplings between established acts and up-and-comers that—in your eyes—we forgot to mention?

More from EW.com’s Music Mix:
‘Say Anything’ turns 20: Cameron Crowe’s crazy story behind ‘In Your Eyes’
New Grizzly Bear video ‘Ready, Able’: Viva la claymation!
Solange covers the Dirty Projectors, delivers a little bit of awesome
‘American Dad’ to welcome My Morning Jacket: Two-Tone Tommy gives us the scoop!
The Killers’ Brandon Flowers on live albums, vampires, and Sinatra: A Music Mix Q&A

Nov 13 2009 02:59 PM ET

Chris Brown's 'Crawl' video: He's feeling remorseful about a lost love. Do you care?

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Categories: Chris Brown, Music Videos, Things That Make Us Uncomfortable

The video for Chris Brown’s “Crawl” has hit the Web after premiering on The Wendy Williams Show this morning. Filled with shots of a bespectacled Brown looking remorseful as he sings about a lost love, it’s the second promotional clip he’s released in advance of Grafitti, due Dec. 8.

By centering this clip on an ex he can’t stop thinking about (played by Cassie), Brown is practically begging for us to read it as a statement on his former relationship with Rihanna — you know, the relationship he hastened to an end by brutally assaulting her in February. So what, if anything, is he actually saying with this clip?

Mostly, just that he feels sorry for himself. “Everybody says we’re through/I hope you haven’t said it too,” Brown complains. “So where do we go from here?” I’m pretty sure a roadside trash pick-up site and an anger-management counseling session are where you’re supposed to be going, Chris. We see none of that — the real aftermath of his breakup — in this video, of course. Instead we get Brown moping around a hotel room, a snowy street, and, finally, a CGI desert, mouthing self-help platitudes about crawling before you fly. Excuse me if I’m not ready to sing along just yet.

Do you find Brown’s latest video as uncomfortable to watch as I do, or am I being too harsh? Check out “Crawl” below, then let us know what you think.

(Follow the Music Mix on Twitter: @EWMusicMix.)

More from EW.com’s Music Mix:
Chris Brown, “I Can Transform Ya” video: Too soon?
‘Glee: The Music, Vol. 2′ track listing revealed!
Solange covers the Dirty Projectors, delivers a little bit of awesome
Timbaland on Miley Cyrus: She’s the next Justin Timberlake

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