Tag: R&B (61-70 of 397)

Dec 13 2012 08:09 AM ET

Bruce Springsteen, the Who, Billy Joel, and Beatlevana: On the scene at 12-12-12

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Image Credit: Kevin Mazur/WireImage

Wednesday night’s 12-12-12 benefit concert for Sandy relief was an unqualified success: Before even a single note was played on stage at New York’s Madison Square Garden, more than $30 million had already been raised for the Robin Hood Foundation through ticket sales, merchandise, and corporate pledges.

As a charity event, 12-12-12 was a slam dunk. As a musical entertainment endeavor, it was more of a mixed bag, full of plenty of glorious, triumphant moments for sure, but also bloated with curious choices and inexplicable performances.

Bruce Springsteen had the honor of kicking the show off, beginning his band’s brief set with “Land of Hope and Dreams.” As Jersey’s greatest ambassador for well over three decades, Springsteen sweated and howled through the opener’s anthemic refrain, only to raise the stakes on “Wrecking Ball,” a defiant anthem of hope from the album of the same name.

“Wrecking Ball” started a running theme of transformation through out the night: Familiar songs became re-packaged and recontextualized, and themes of renewal and rebirth crept up during the finest performances. READ FULL STORY »

Dec 6 2012 10:35 AM ET

Rod Stewart, John Travolta, Cee Lo Green, and the best (and best-worst) of the season's new Christmas music

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ROD-STEWART

Image Credit: Stephen Lovekin/Getty Images

For some of you, the focus on Christmas shifted roughly 20 minutes after swallowing the last bite of Thanksgiving pie and you set out to find the best spot for your Black Friday tent.

One of the great joys (or, depending on who you are, nightmares) of the holiday commerce season is the never-ending stream of Christmas music filling in all the empty airspace in your local shopping malls and department stores. But what if you’re shopping online, and somehow avoiding every other vestige of public-space holiday-music inundation?

To help you, here’s a rundown of some of the new stuff added to the yearly snowpile of Yuletide releases (and at the end of this post, a Spotify playlist to let you try out the wares like so many Costco samples.)

Rod Stewart, Merry Christmas, Baby
The undisputed champ of this season’s holiday music bonanza is Stewart, whose first holiday album is currently doing big business (it narrowly missed preventing Alicia Keys from being the top album in the country this week). His approach is very much “Over-Eggnogged Uncle Croons Hugs ‘Round the Tree,” but it’s still Rod-ily charming, and his original composition “Red Suited Super Man” will be an alternate-universe hit next Yuletide season.

Cee Lo Green, Cee Lo’s Magic Moment
The music world was half-expecting a new album from Green’s old hip-hop group Goodie Mob this holiday season, but instead we got The Voice favorite’s blast of red-velvet funk (and that’s red velvet like Santa’s suit, not the sexy cake kind). Its Motown bounce recalls all the great Stevie Wonder Christmas tracks of yesteryear, and the inclusion of the Muppets (on “All I Need Is Love”) is never not awesome. READ FULL STORY »

Dec 5 2012 11:42 AM ET

Beyonce prepping new music for Super Bowl, says The-Dream

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Image Credit: Kevin Winter/Getty Images

If you’re a betting person, The-Dream has a hot Super Bowl tip for you: put your money on Beyoncé.

During a chat with Billboard, the producer also known as Terius Nash assured fans and onlookers that Bey would “definitely” have new music ready to go in time for her Super Bowl halftime performance, which will take place on Feb. 3 in New Orleans.

“She’s already gearing up to get ready to put stuff out,” he said. “I’m sure there will probably be a couple records you hear before the Super Bowl gets here.” READ FULL STORY »

Nov 29 2012 05:35 PM ET

Sia does 'Diamonds,' which she wrote for Rihanna: Watch the video here

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Rihanna is having a solid week, which means Sia Furler is too.

As you probably know, the Australian singer and songsmith actually wrote and produced Rihanna’s top Unapologetic single “Diamonds,” and now she’s actually singing the thing herself. She, along with Stargate, performed the No. 1 song at yesterday’s Norweigan-American Achievement Award ceremony in New York. (Stargate, it should be noted, was the night’s honoree.)

Sia, of course, has been on quite the streak lately, lending her talents to successful singles like Flo Rida’s “Whistle” and David Guetta’s “Titanium,” both of which also made the top ten of Billboard’s Hot 100.

Take a listen to Sia’s “Diamonds” rendition in the video below and let us know how you think it compares to Rihanna’s: READ FULL STORY »

Nov 28 2012 11:32 AM ET

Album sales: Rihanna wins her first No. 1 with 'Unapologetic,' Adele hits 10 million

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Image Credit: Simone Joyner/WireImage

Maybe all those topless tweets are working?

The first-week sales figures for Rihanna latest record are in, and the news is good: Billboard reports that Unapologetic has landed at No. 1 this week, a career first. The album — her seventh in seven years — brought the singer her strongest sales week ever, with 238,000 copies sold.

This breaks Rihanna’s streak of having the most No. 1 hit songs without a No. 1 album. (Last week, her latest single “Diamonds” became her 12th to top the Hot 100, passing Whitney Houston to become the artist with the fourth-most top singles.)

“We are so proud and happy to deliver Rihanna her first #1 album in the U.S.,” Island Def Jam president Steve Bartels said in a statement. “Taking an unusually short runway and turning it to an advantage — like the unprecedented 777 Tour — is a testament to the teamwork, ingenuity, ethic, and belief in the legacy of this artist that showed in every single hand that touched this project.”

READ FULL STORY »

Nov 26 2012 02:17 PM ET

HBO gives 'intimate' Beyonce documentary a 2013 air date

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Game of Thrones, meet Throne of Bey.

News broke today that Beyoncé’s self-directed documentary about her own life and times has found a home on HBO. The “intimate feature-length” movie, which first came to light over a year ago, is set to air on Feb. 13, 2013. That puts it just ahead of Valentine’s Day and, probably not coincidentally, a mere ten days after her slated Super Bowl performance.

“HBO has a history of pushing every boundary with class and authenticity,” Beyonce said in a press release from HBO. “Some of my favorite shows are on HBO, so I am excited that my film will be part of its bold programming. This film was so personal to me, it had to have the right home.”

Nov 26 2012 01:23 PM ET

Cee Lo Green and the Muppets party with Santa in 'All I Need Is Love' video: Watch it here

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As we noted in our Christmas in October roundup, the Muppets helped Cee Lo Green’s intergalactically groovy Magic Moment album earn an impressive rating of 3 1/2 trees. Now their collaboration, titled “All I Need Is Love,” has a fancy music video with fun guests of its own.

In the festive new clip, Cee Lo rings his ol’ play’s Kermit’s doorbell after his Rolls Royce convertible breaks down during his drive to Hotlanta. (Bear with us.) Kerm invites him in, where they and the rest of the gang enjoy an evening full singing, mistletoe kissing, and gift opening. And lo, who should show up but Santa himself, played here by The Office‘s Craig Robinson. This leads Walter, the new Muppet from the movie, to say, “So Santa’s my homie!”

Watch the action yourself in the video below, and be sure to stick around to the end for one of Statler and Waldorf’s classic quips:

READ FULL STORY »

Nov 20 2012 03:38 PM ET

Rihanna apologizes to press for her mutiny-plagued 777 'round-the-world media tour

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Image Credit: Kevin Mazur/WireImage

Rihanna’s strange, eventfully eventless 777 tour — seven cities in seven days with a plane full of fans and reporters — comes to an end today, culminating with a show in New York tonight.

And as the plane unloads its unhappy hostages, horror stories from the journey are emerging at breakneck speed. Endless waits on buses and tarmacs and in windowless holding pens, nude on-board mutinies, bad food, too much alcohol and too little Rihanna. Even Third Reich detention centers came (distastefully) into play. “Bedlam,” it seems, is the most common word used to describe the experience overall.

The most notable incident, of course, was that streaker — Australian DJ Tim Dormer, willing to sacrifice his dignity for the sake of giving the bored, exhausted journalists something, anything to write about. He’ll no doubt become a mini-meme (a fake Rihanna Plane Streaker Twitter, perhaps?), and has already become the subject of press interviews. You can watch the video of the event below:

READ FULL STORY »

Nov 20 2012 01:22 PM ET

R. Kelly's 'Trapped in the Closet' premiere: On the scene

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Image Credit: David E. Steele/IFC

Last night, R. Kelly introduced the new chapters of Trapped in the Closet wearing bright red leather gloves. Why? Because he can.

But that’s part of Kels’ draw as an artist: Most of the time, it’s impossible to tell his motivations for anything. Kelly is the rare artist who seems to exist completely outside of the realm of irony, thus making his motivations almost entirely mysterious. When it comes to one of his albums or the never ending fountain of joy and weirdness that is Trapped in the Closet, it’s best to just let it wash over you.

Such was the case Monday night at New York’s Landmark Sunshine Cinemas, where Kelly pulled back the curtain on the newest chapters of Trapped in the Closet (which air this Friday, November 23, at 9 PM on IFC). In front of a theater full of people eager to cast their eyeballs on a fresh batch of insanity, Kelly introduced the program by once again calling it “an alien,” as though the ideas visit him from another plane of existence. “I’m glad to be one of the astronauts to take this trip to a place unknown,” he told the rapt crowd.

After thanking everyone for coming out and apologizing for the five year gap between episodes of Trapped in the Closet (“I had to save up my money! A dollar a day!” he joked), he unveiled the new chapters. READ FULL STORY »

Nov 19 2012 11:13 AM ET

Rihanna and Eminem get 'Numb': Hear the leak here

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Let the Unapologetic era begin.

Now that Rihanna’s seventh album in seven years is hitting streets, people are getting a jump on assessing the record’s other, non-Chris Brown collaborations — particularly the Eminem track, “Numb.”

Fans expecting something in the vein of “Love the Way You Lie” will likely be disappointed. The trippy track is built around a syrupy, slowed-and-throwed beat and a distorted vocal sample from Kanye West’s oldie-but-goodie hit “Can’t Tell Me Nothing.” The song trudges along for two-plus warped minutes before Eminem jumps in, spiking the cut with a quick but effectively weird verse.

Give “Numb” a listen below and let us know what you think: READ FULL STORY »

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