Until fairly recently, Canada’s was probably best known for moose, Mounties and Bryan Adams. However, it seems the US’s quieter northern neighbour is now seeking to corner the market in pop exports. Ontario-born Justin Beiber already has the world at his tiny feet and it looks as like his compatriot Alyssa Reid is well on her way to emulating him.
Another resident of Ontario, Reid’s story shares a few more features with that of the Bieb’s. Like him she was discovered via videos posted on YouTube, specifically a gender-swapped take on his hit ‘One Less Lonely Girl’ (cheekily re-titled ‘One More Lonely Boy’).
‘Alone Again’ pulls a similar trick. It takes elements of ‘Alone’ – the 1987 smash hit from big-in-Canada lady rockers Heart – and reworks them into an emotional, rap-embellished piano ballad perfectly designed to get lighters in the air from Alberta to Albuquerque.
“I was just sitting in my bedroom, writing a completely different song called ‘Again’,” she told Canadian Interviews of the track’s genesis. “I wanted to send it to my label to see what they thought of the song, but I didn’t write a chorus yet. The chord progression from Heart’s song ‘Alone’ was the exact same progression, and I love Heart, so I knew the song. So I sang that overtop, just as a filler-chorus almost, just so they could see the song as a whole, and I absolutely fell in love with it. I was like, ‘we have to get the rights to this song!’”
Judging by the response, this Heart transplant was the right move. The single and Reid’s debut album ‘The Game’ have gone on shift in massive quantities, both in her native Canada and elsewhere. Looks like Bieber had better watch his back.
As birthday presents go, getting a guest spot on a Jay-Z track has to be one of the most exclusive. Of course, when your dad is the Hova himself, you’re going to expect something pretty special. With this tribute to his newly born daughter, Jay-Z has set the bar fairly high.
With a legitimate claim to being the world’s most famous baby, Blue Ivy Carter can undoubtedly look forward to a life simply overflowing with swag. Dad’s already staged an elaborate themed party to commemorate her birth at his 40/40 Club in New York, where guests were reportedly treated to a golden champagne tower and buffalo wings with ‘Blue Ivy’ cheese sauce. Which is nice. But given Jay-Z’s well-documented taste for bling and braggadocio, ‘Glory’ is a surprisingly heartfelt celebration of the joys of fatherhood.
There’s little doubt that the new arrival has turned his world upside down: “The most amazing feeling I feel/Words can’t describe what I’m feeling for real/Baby I paint the sky blue/My greatest creation was you..” Awww. It’s enough to put a lump in the throat of even of even the flintiest cynic. At the very least, it’s a far cry from “99 problems but a bitch ain’t one.”
Blue Ivy herself makes an appearance towards the end of the track. Her vocal contribution could probably use some autotune, but there’s plenty of time to work on that. A final fact that might be a little upsetting to aspiring singers out there: the tot’s performance has resulted in her being the youngest ever artist to make the Billboard Top 100. All this before she’s even a month old. It makes you wonder what mum and dad are going to come up with for her first birthday.
The Big Pink – British duo Robbie Furze and Milo Cordell – have released their long awaited sophomore album ‘Future This’ on 4AD.
The band – whose origins and mythology frequently made the headlines before their music – changed tack for the new record, moving from the fuzzy, distorted lo-fi productions they became best known for towards larger, grander songs.
“Although I love the first record, it was generally quite a down record,” Furze told Hit. “The gigs had quite a sombre feel, too, so we wanted to create a different type of energy on this record.” He elaborated on “wanting to take everything to excess in different realms; getting high is just one side of it. Making the songs exciting, creating amazing shows, being better at what we do – taking everything to excess. Both of us are functional junkies to life, not to drugs.”
Furze and Cordell formed The Big Pink in 2007, and signed to British label 4AD in 2009. In the same year they won the award for best new act at the NME Awards, and released their debut album ‘A Brief History Of Love’. The duo produced the album themselves, and it was recorded at the infamous Electric Lady Studios in New York. After releasing the album, the band embarked on a number of global tours, but went back into the studio in 2011 to work on Future This.
The duo say they took a more serious approach to making Future This. “We got a little nerdy for this record. I took singing lessons and Milo developed our music abilities with our instruments,” Furze told Hit. “We wanted to take everything to the next level and sharpen our tools. We fell into The Big Pink – we were just a couple of mates making music together. But we both decided, ‘We’re in it now, let’s do the best we can and really go for it’.”
Never one to shy away from controversy, American rapper and artist Santigold has taken on some of pop’s biggest names in the video for her new track, Big Mouth.
The video is a psychedelic cartoon trip which at one points shows a cartoon version of Lady Gaga being eaten by a tiger at the bottom of the ocean (yes, you heard us right. Must be that well known mythical creature, the mer-tiger). Then we travel up into the atmosphere, where a cartoon version of Katy Perry (wearing blue hair, heels, and pretty much nothing else) – sits on a cloud, blah blah blah-ing into a cell phone. Meow!
The single comes from Santi’s forthcoming album ‘Master Of My Make Believe’, which is due to be released this spring on Downtown/Atlantic (date TBC) and has some pretty big name collaborators – Switch, Dave Sitek and Nick Zinner have all worked on it. Though the album was initially slated for release in late 2011, the delay reaffirms Santi’s perfectionist nature and her desire to make ‘real’ music (as opposed to the bland pop she pokes fun at in Big Mouth).
“I wanted it to feel dynamic and powerful,” she told Billboard last year about her forthcoming record. “I still have the songs that sound very electronic and clubby, but I have a couple ballads on this one — my own type of ballads, where they just sound big, like the way some old Kate Bush or Peter Gabriel songs were”.
Santigold – real name Santi White – first hit the international music scene in 2007 with her single ‘Creator’. Her debut album ‘Santogold’ was released in 2008 to critical acclaim, and featured production from the likes of Diplo and Switch. She changed her artist moniker from Santigold to Santogold after being threatened with legal action.
Legendary singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen was in London this week to promote his latest record ‘Old Ideas’, offering a full album playback for the press, followed by a conversation with Pulp’s front man Jarvis Cocker and a Q&A session.
During the session, Cohen flaunted great sense of humour; unpretentious manners and the eloquence of a master, kindly refusing to overintellectualize the meaning of his songs. The artist gave some fascinating insight about his writing process; the influence of classic poets such as Yeats and Lorca on his work and the way he phrases words and his experience living in London (Hampstead) at the time he was writing his first novel, among many other subjects. He also joked about how writing helped building up his reputation as a ladies man.
‘Old Ideas’ is his twelfth studio album. It puts an end to an eight years recording hiatus during which Cohen hit the road again on a rapturously received tour; his classic ‘Hallelujah’ was covered by X Factor winner Alexandra Burke, helping a new generation to discover his timeless work and, more recently, he was honoured in Spain with the much coveted Prince Of Asturias Literary Prize. On a first impression, ‘Old Ideas’ is easily his most inspired opus since his acclaimed classic from the 80′s, ‘I’m Your Man’. It deals with the same intimate and spiritual matters that have been a fixture through the Canadian’s career. Regular collaborator Patrick Leonard, of ‘Like A Virgin’’ fame, is once more on production duties.
A few songs from the record have already been unveiled, before Christmas it came ‘Show Me The Place’, followed by the bluesy “Darkness” and at the moment ‘Going Home’ can be streamed here.
‘Old Ideas’ is released via Columbia Records on January the 31st.
Have your Shazam App at the ready for Sunday’s Big Game, the halftime show and Shazam-enabled TV Ads!
Tune in for the chance to win cars, get free music downloads, receive gift cards, donate to charity and enter sweepstakes for other great giveaways!
Here are some specifics, so you know what to be ready for:
The Big Game
Use Shazam during the Big Game and get the score, stats, polling & more – brought to you by FedEx!
Halftime Show
Experience more with Shazam on Big Game Day! This year’s Bridgestone Super Bowl Halftime Show will be Shazam-enabled through a partnership with Bud Light. Use Shazam to tag the performance, and you can unlock exclusive content and experience more by Interscope artists performing. Shazam makes it easy for you to get more involved than ever before! http://www.facebook.com/BudLight
Shazam-enabled TV Ads!
Be sure to look for the Shazam logo on screen or listen for a prompt from an announcer and start tagging.
Toyota is running a sweepstakes. See details at www.toyota.com/camryeffect for a chance to win oneCamry for yourself and one for a friend! You’ll make a friend for life!
Watch out for Pepsi’s new TV ad during the Big Game which features Melanie Amaro – the winner of The X FACTORTM! Unlock a fee music video when you use Shazam to tag the ad!
Cars.com will donate $1.00 to one of seven charities, up to a maximum of $100,000, when you use Shazam to tag their TV Ad – it’s never been so easy to do good!
Best BuyUse Shazam at any point during the Best Buy Big Game TV Ad to reserve your $50 gift card toward a mobile phone purchase when you upgrade! Also, be sure to check out 2 of Shazam’s 4 founders in the Best Buy TV Ad
Teleflora is going to provide a special offer to anyone who uses Shazam to tag their TV ad during the Big Game. Do something nice for someone you love – and that may just be yourself!
Experience more with Shazam at the Big Game, Feb 5th!
