Britney Spears "3" (new single mp3). Who's up for a threesome?

This, ladies and gentlemen, is 3,  Britney's new single, off her Singles Collection (out Nov. 24). It's clearly no Womanizer or Gimme More, but it's not bad either. It's just over-autotuned. The lyrics are basically about having a threesome, so we're safe, Brit's still as classy as ever.

Download the song here (updated with studio version!)

One really good song for a Thursday night, by Ellie Goulding

This, ladies and gents, is the lovely Ellie Goulding. I won't be able to tell you much more, cause you know, she doesn't even have a Wikipedia page yet. I assume she's quite young and British and that's sufficient for the time being! She has a pretty awesome song floating around, and frankly I've been listening to it an awful lot these past few days (along with some other new golden things I'll write about later). It's some sort of smooth and addictive electro ballad with some magic added by none other than Frankmusik. I can't find whose voice Ellie's remind me of, but when I do I'll twitt it! For now, good night, and enjoy Wish I Stayed below.

Screw you Italian TV, say "The Muse"

While promoting their banging new single Uprising on Italian TV, Muse members Matt (singer) and Dominic (drummer) decided to trick the cheesy show and host by trading places. They wanted to protest cause they had been asked to lipsynch their performance, which is not really a thing they usually do... The funniest part is that the show host doesn't even realise, and call them "The Muse". Wait for Dom's little speach at the end, when he calls Matt "our drummer". Good one, guys.

At least she's flexible

Jade Ewen on the shoot of the Babes' (4.0) new video for About A Girl, just one day after it was announced that Keisha was not in the band anymore.

Well, I don't know where it's heading, but at least they look good together...

Here is the single's cover. So appearantly it's still "Sugababes"... Well... Ok.

Sugadrama is Sugaland : the end of Sugababes ?

This wonderfully-executed picture should help you understand if you're not familiar with the story of the UK's most screwed-up yet best girlband of the recent years (with Girls Aloud of course), Sugababes.

The facts:

- Founding member Keisha Buchanan was kicked out of the band she founded eleven years ago, by bandmates Heidi Range and Amelle Berrabah, who respectively joined the band in 2000 and 2005, replacing leaving original members Siobhan Donaghy and Mutya Buena.

- British singer and 2008 Eurovision entry Jade Ewen is replacing Keisha (for real).

- Jade's first single was released this week. Here's the video for My Man. Great timing, everyone!

- The band's forthcoming album Sweet 7 is currently being re-recorded to feature Jade and will be released on november 23rd..

- Keisha remains an Island Records artist, but with a solo contract.

- Amelle was said to be leaving the band, but the truth is a major girlband trick.

- The original Sugababes could now reform. That would be amazing, since Siobhan and Mutya are not really up to anything, despite having both released amazing solo records.

- What the fuuuuck ?????!!!!!

- If the band can survive as Heidi-Amelle-Jade remains to be seen. Let's face it, chances are they won't.

- Let's say that only the music counts.

- I guess the future will tell us how the new line-up will do when they release their next single About A Girl, which I told you about last week.

What all this inspires me is that once more pop music will be mocked for its superficiality, and the fact that Sugababes weren't really a band since any member could leave and be replaced as if nothing happened. But what should not be forgotten is that "the band" (and by that I mean the three line-ups) have released some of the finest pop songs of the 21st century, period. They will remain as a great pop act whatever their future is.

Finally let's see what Mutya Buena has to say, through her Twitter account. Pretty clever.

"It all started so innocently...a love for music and a dream...look what its become. RIP x
I will say this publicly...shame on Heidi for not following Keisha out. But doesn't surprise me a bit. x"

(well I hope this is not a fake account, otherwise I'm doing a bad BAD job;) )

New member Jade Ewen, bigger.

Cheryl Cole - Fight For This Love (Video Premiere)

The video for Cheryl Cole's first solo single Fight For This Love premiered late last night. It is a nice popstar video with some dancing (WTF is that leopard thing??!), nice visual effects, alot of costumes, and a very VERY beautiful popstar in it. It makes the song even more likeable. Good job, Miss Cole.

Two new songs by Madonna

Revolver

 It's So Cool

To go along with the awful artwork of her upcoming Celebration Greatest-Hits-super-CD-thing, Madonna decided it would be a good idea to include an awfully ridiculous "urban" song called Revolver. And God it's not her best work. It's more Incredible-from-Hard-Candy than Nothing-Really-Matters-from-Ray-Of-Light. She should stop trying to sound "relevant" with dated R'n'B tracks and focus on what she's good at: pop and  dance. And who's vomit-inducing idea was it to feature Lil' Wayne on the track?

Anyway, there's a second new track from the queen of pop. It's called It's So Cool, and to be fair, it's "pretty" cool. Actually it is a song from the American Life sessions reworked by Paul Oakenfold for the purpose of the greatest hits. It will appear on the i-Tunes version of the album.

Well, I'm wondering. Is all this crappy marketing campaign surrounding Madge these days a way of Warner to get back at her for leaving the company? Just saying!

Erik Hassle: because he's worth it

I can't believe I haven't written about Erik Hassle's eponymous first album yet. What a shame. Well, to be totally honest there are lots of other artists/songs/albums I have yet to feature on this humble blog. Whatever.
As for a little biography I can say that Erik is Swedish, ginger-haired, and very very talented.
Hassle, his first album, is full of that high-quality, modern, relevant and exciting powerpop his fellow Swedish Robyn is praised for. It's just a little more masculine. With the clever production and songwriting in display on this twelve-track record, it appears as quite obvious that Erik Hassle is insanely talented and aware of what a good pop song is. Don't Bring Flowers might not be the most efficient track to launch the album, but still, its in-your-face lyrics, strong production and killer chorus make for a really enjoyable pop music listening experience. Hurtful is just the example of the perfect not-boring, powerful and moving ballad, while more up-tempo tracks such as Isn't It Obvious (amazing), Wanna Be Loved (brilliant) or Love Me To Pieces (brillazing) just showcase that Erik is definitely at ease with an edgier sound too. Other highlights include the epic Back To Bed, Bitter End and All That I Wanted Was You, which, each one in its way, is as catchy as well-built.
The main strength of this record is that it doesn't contain a bad or even an average song. In fact, it's a pretty impressive debut album, which introduces a confident, clever and gifted artist. Whatever the (bad) chart placements, he truly deserves all the good things you might have read about him, including this article!

Hurtful
Don't Bring Flowers
I Wanna Be Loved

When the Princess of Pop covers the Kings of Pop: Kylie does Abba's Super Trouper

The title of this post pretty much sums it up. Yesterday, Saint Kylie Minogue, one of the only true popstars in this world, took part in a giant concert in London's Hyde Park celebrating Swedish popmasters ABBA. Kylie covered one of their most amazing songs, Super Trouper as well as All Has Been Said And Done with Beny Andersson from aformentioned band. The result is as good as you might imagine of course, but maybe my judgement is a little biased. Whatever. Here it is, to stream or download, thanks to Love Kylie, a pretty good blog if you like the tiny lady.

Super Trouper

Download Link (both songs + pictures)

Single round-up: some related videos

Here are links to the videos of some of the songs I wrote about in the previous post. You definitely must check the vid for Natalie Imbruglia's massive comeback single Want. It's steamy! The vids for the other tracks should premiere in the coming weeks.
 Ci-dessous vous trouverez les liens vers les clips de certaines des chansons dont j'ai parlé dans le post précédent. Regardez en particulier celui de Want, l'énorme single de Natalie Imbruglia. Chaud ! Les clips des autres chansons arriveront ces prochaines semaines.

NEW!! Alexandra Burke - Bad Boys (FIERCE!!)

NEW!! Alphabeat - The Spell

Natalie Imbruglia - Want

Dragonette - Pick Up The Phone

Jordin Sparks - SOS (Let The Music Play)

Nicole Holness - Epic

Bananarama - Love Comes

New pop singles round-up: 10 good-to-amazing Fall jams

Maybe you've heard them all already, maybe not. I'm pretty late for some of them, others are just out of the oven. Anyway here are some tunes you might find yourself dancing and singing along to these coming weeks... Enjoy!
Vous en connaissez sans doute certains, ou pas. C'est vrai que pour quelques uns je ne suis pas hyper précurseur, mais d'autres sont encore tout chauds. Quoiqu'il en soit voici dix titres qui devraient vous faire danser et chanter dans les semaines à venir !

Alexandra Burke - Bad Boys feat. Flo-Rida

X Factor 08 winner is finally dropping her very anticipated first single. It's fair to say it's a great massive pop/r&b track full of attitude and energy, but clever enough not to be too scary for a general audience.

La gagnante du X Factor 08 sort enfin son premier et très attendu single. C'est une bombe pop/r&b, énergique et stylé, mais suffisamment malin pour pouvoir plaire au grand public. Un tube assuré.

8/10

Alphabeat - The Spell

My favourite Danish band is returning with an amazing solid gold pop track, in the vein of those of their amazing first album. A killer chorus, a perfect production and great vocals: Alphabeat are back with a bang!

Mon groupe Danois préféré revient enfin avec un titre pop quasi parfait, dans un style proche de celui du premier excellent album. Un refrain énorme, une production sans faute et des voix nickel : Alphabeat sont de retour au top !

8.5/10

Sugababes - About A Girl
The Babes' second single off their new album Sweet 7 is an awesome electro-pop track produced by RedOne (who doesn't have a song produced by him these days??!). It's catchy as hell, their vocals are great and it's got sexiness and the touch of class Get Sexy was lacking.
Le deuxième extrait de Sweet 7, le 7ème album du trio est un excellent titre électro-pop made in RedOne, l'homme qui produit comme il respire. Là où Get Sexy manquait un peu de classe, About A Girl montre un groupe sur de lui, sexy et au chant toujours aussi bon. Yep!
8.5/10

Natalie Imbruglia - Want
If everything she wrote with Chris Martin is as good as this, then it might be one of the best albums of the year! This deliciously electro-sounding pop track is simply excellent and deserves to be a hit. And wait till you've seen the jawdroppingly hot video. Score!
Si tout ce que Nat a écrit avec Chris Martin est aussi bon que Want, l'album s'annonce comme un des meilleurs de l'année ! Cette délicieuse tranche de pop électro est juste à tomber, et mérite de devenir un tube. Et encore, vous n'avez pas vu le clip, splendide. Retour gagnant !
8.5/10

Leona Lewis - Happy
The long-awaited new Leona single is good, but a little disappointing. Thing is, it's nowhere near Bleeding Love or Beyoncé's Halo (all three songs were produced by Ryan Tedder). Leona's voice is still incredible, and will probably make this grower of a song an Autumn hit.
Le nouveau single de Leona est bien, mais un peu décevant. En fait, il ne s'approche pas vraiment de Bleeding Love ou du Halo de Beyoncé, les trois chansons ayant été produites par Ryan Tedder. La voix de Leona est quant à elle toujours hallucinante et fera sans doute du titre un tube automnal bien mérité.
6.5/10

Nicole Holness - Epic
Canadian newcomer Nicole has a hit in her bag. That slick, sexy and catchy pop-r&b tune starts of pretty smoothly and turns into one of those songs you can't get off your mind. Well done!
Cette nouvelle chanteuse venue du Canada tient un tube, c'est sûr. Sexy, malin, et ultra-accrocheur, le titre fait partie de ces chansons que l'on s'enlève difficilement de la tête, malgré leur apparente simplicité. Bravo !
7.5/10

Dragonette - Pick Up The Phone
The awesome Canadians are already offering a new, brilliant single. Less electro than Fixin To Thrill it showcases a softer side of the band, with its lead singer giving a great performance with soulful vocals and fierce attitude. One again, a smash!
Voici déjà un nouveau single de la part de nos (mes) canadiens favoris. Un peu moins électro que Fixin To Thrill, le titre présente le groupe sous un jour plus simple, grâce à la voix sensuelle et délicieuse de Martina. Encore une fois, un sans-faute.
7,5/10


Jordin Sparks - SOS (Let The Music Play)
I must admit I'm pretty impressed with Jordin on this one. I didn't think the former American Idol winner could pull off a joyful & uptempo pop track like this one. It's not the most original you'll hear this year, but still, it's enjoyable enough to deserve a thumb up!
J'avoue que sur ce coup là, l'ancienne gagnante d'American Idol m'impressionne. Jamais je ne l'aurais crue capable de nous sortir une petite bombe pop qui bouge de derrière les fagots. Clairement, ce n'est pas la chanson la plus originale de l'année, mais elle mérite certainement toute votre attention!
7/10

Bananarama – Love Comes
It’s always good to get a reminder that the 80s aren’t dead! Now signed to Girls Aloud & Saturdays label Fascination, Bananarama are back with a single their label mates themselves wouldn’t refuse. It’s a joyful electro-pop track that deserves to do well. The oldies have still got it!
Il est toujours bon de se souvenir que les années 80 ne sont pas mortes ! Désormais voisines de label avec les Girls Aloud et les Saturdays chez Fascination, les Bananarama sont de retour en duo avec un titre que les groupes sus cités ne refuseraient sans doute pas. Love Comes est un titre pop-électro festif qui mérite une belle carrière. Comme quoi les mamans du girlbanding savent encore y faire !
7/10


Cheryl Cole – Fight For this Love
IT IS HERE! Cheryl-from-Girls-Aloud-Cole’s first solo single debuted on the radio last Monday, preceded by all sorts of expectations. Cheryl being one of the UK’s most talked about celebrity, almost a national treasure, it’s true that she wasn’t really allowed to disappoint. Especially given the quality of the tracks she had previously released with her band mates. SO, how is Fight For This Love, then?! Well, it’s good. It’s not Untouchable or Biology good, but it’s a clever move from GA pure pop style. It’s a little more R&B sounding, without the edge that would have made it completely amazing. It’s more of a grower, with a great chorus. Cheryl’s vocals are good, though she’ll never match those of Nadine Coyle or Sarah Harding anyway. All in all it’s enough to take the pressure off Cheryl’s shoulder and give her a number one straight after she performs the song on the X Factor. If the album is in the same vein, I guess her GA-hiatus year won’t be a quiet one.
IL EST ARRIVE !! Le premier single solo de Cheryl Cole-des-Girls-Aloud a été diffusé pour la première fois lundi dernier, après des jours de spéculations et d’attente. En tant que nouveau joyau de la couronne Britannique, il est vrai que Cheryl n’avait pas vraiment le choix : elle ne pouvait pas décevoir. Surtout par rapport à la qualité des titres de son groupe. Alors, que dire de Fight For This Love ??! Ben, ça va. C’est pas Untouchable ou Biology, mais c’est intelligemment assez différent de tout ce qu’ont pu sortir les Girls Aloud. La chanson est une bonne fusion de pop et de R&B, mais à laquelle il manque un petit quelque chose pour être totalement géniale. L’impact se fait plus grand à chaque écoute, et le refrain claque bien. La voix de Cheryl est satisfaisante même si de toutes façons elle ne sera jamais aussi bonne que celle de ses copines Nadine et Sarah. Mais bon, tout ça est suffisant pour enlever un peu de pression à Mrs. Cole et lui offrir son premier numéro 1 en solo, après la première performance de la chanson dans l’émission X Factor, dans laquelle elle occupe un poste de juge depuis un an. Si l’album est dans le même ton, son année off des Girls Aloud risque d’être bien remplie !
7,5/10
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Provided they are, Arctic Monkeys shouldn't be worried about not being awesome

Arctic Monkeys are probably one of the best UK bands of the 00s. In fact there aren't many other rock acts that automatically come to my mind when I think about "the best". When I first heard I Bet You Look Good On the Dancefloor back in 2005 I remember thinking "hum, they'd better enjoy it now, cause they'll never do a better song than that". I guess I was pretty wrong. Their sound kept maturing with an excellent second album, and hasn't stopped with the release of their third one, Humbug. I've had it for more than a month now, listened to it about a hundred times but am only writing about it now because I know my words can definitely not match the quality of the songs.

This album is probably one of the very best collections of songs I've heard in 2009, and also maybe in 2008. The first thing that strikes you when you hear Humbug, is a feeling you have witnessed a band grow up. For real. With their first record, the Monkeys were still cheeky and incredibly talented teenagers with short, funny and very immediate songs. Their second album was showing more maturity with both post-punk songs in the veins of their debut, but also with a deeper print both lyrically and musically.

For Humbug, the guys got away to the US to work with Queen Of The Stone Age leaser Josh Homme, after Arctic frontman Alex Turner recorded an almost masterpiece with The Last Shadow Puppets last year. The result? A darker, soulful and heavier-sounding rock record which leaves their competitors far behind. The will to improve their sound and mature it is obvious, as is Turners's voice quality. He can now make the songs sound better and even sexier thanks to a much more controlled vocal range.

Every song on Humbug can be considered a high point, but if I were to point out my favourites, I'd have to go for the super-efficient My Propeller, Crying Lightning, Pretty Visitors and Dangerous Animals. Secret Door and Cornerstone certainly are among the best the Monkeys have ever recorded, while the rest makes its way to your ear more easily than a Scissor Sister track at a Gay Pride festival. All in all it's an extremely solid album which will undoubtedly install Arctic Monkeys as one of the few rock bands which have the potential to keep building an ambitious and consistant career. They have a long and exciting road ahead of them, that's for sure!

My Propeller

Crying Lightning

Pretty Visitors

************************************************************************************

Je ne m'avance pas trop en disant qu'Arctic Monkeys est l'un des meilleurs groupes des années 2000. Sauf bien sûr si vous êtes un(e) de Tokyo Hotel, auquel cas on ne peut pas se comprendre. Lorsque j'ai entendu leur tout premier single I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor, fin 2005, je me souviens avoir été impresionné et surtout m'être dit qu'ils auraient du mal à faire mieux. Bien évidemment, j'avais tort, idiot que je suis. Avec leur second album, le groupe a muri et a continué dans cette voie avec le troisième, Humbug. Bien que cet album fût en ma possession depuis plus d'un mois et que le nombre d'écoute avoisine la centaine, j'avoue avoir eu du mal à écrire quelque chose dessus. C'est dur d'être à la hauteur d'Alex Turner !
Le disque est sans aucun doute l'un des meilleurs qu'il m'ait été donné d'entendre cette année, voire depuis l'année précédente. Ce qui frappe à l'écoute d'Humbug, c'est cette impression d'avoir assisté à la maturation d'un groupe. A l'époque du premeir album, on avait affaire à un groupe de grands ados surdoués mais pas très matures. Le deuxième album a très clairement entamé une évolution, enrichissant le son post-punk et survitaminé de moments plus sombres et profonds tant au nivau des paroles que de la musique.
Pour Humbug, nos singes de l'artique se sont exilés aux States, chez Josh Homme, le leader des Queen Of The Stone Age, après l'escapade d'Alex Turner et son excellentissime projet parallèle The Last Shadow Puppets. Le résultat de ce voyage ? Un disque rock profond, habité et d'une intelligence qui laisse toute tentative de concurrence bien loin derrière. La volonté du groupe de progresser et de donner à leur son un aspect plus couillu apparaît évident, tout comme les progrès vocaux d'Alex Turner. Sa voix, plus controlée et sensuelle que par le passé rend chaque morceau plus intense voire emprunt d'une réelle tension sexuelle.
Il est difficile de dire quelle chanson est la meilleure, tant chacune mérite ce titre. Ceci dit j'avoue que My Propeller, Crying Lightning, Pretty Visitors et Dangerous Animals, de par leur immédiateté, s'imposent facilement. Secret Door et Cornerstone font quant à elles sans doute déjà partie des meilleurs enregistrement des Monkeys, alors que les autres titres s'insinuent dans les oreilles aussi facilement qu'une pub pour le 118-218. en résumé, Humbug est un excellent album, qui va sans doute faire d'Arctic Monkeys l'un des quelques groupes de rock capables de ocnstruire une carrière ambitieuse et cohérente. Quoiqu'il en soit leur route est longue et dégagée.

Robbie Williams - Bodies : YEP HE'S BACK !!

This, ladies and gentlemen, is Robbie Williams' new single, called Bodies. It's pretty good, isn't it. It's no Rock DJ though, which tends to prove there can't be two rock DJs. Anyway, his new album Reality Killed The Video Star (love the title!) is released sometimes in October, with the single being available on Oct 15. Welcome back, Rob.