Rapper, entrepreneur, philanthropist, and social media kingpin 50 Cent recently weighed in on Obama’s backing of same sex marriages. In an interview with XXLMag, 50 Cent stated that he supported the President’s decision, saying, “I think everyone should be happy. You know, I think a fool is going to go against same sex marriage at this point.”

50 joins a growing list of rappers including T.I., Jay-Z, and Nicki Minaj who have all condemned opposition to same sex lifestyles. “What people do in their own homes is their business and you can choose to love whoever you love. That’s their business,” Hova said in an interview with CNN. “[It] is no different than discriminating against blacks. It’s discrimination plain and simple.”

The reaction to Obama’s comments would appear to follow a trend in hip-hop of more openness and anti-homophobia. Blog-hyped rapper Lil B made waves in April of 2011 with the announcement of his full length LP “I’m Gay (I’m Happy).” Up and comer A$AP Rocky also made his stance on homosexuality clear in a piece from Complex Magazine, saying, “I used to be fucking homophobic. That shit is ignorant. You will lose a lot of time and friendship being homophobic.” Rappers stating indifference to homosexuality is one thing. But hip-hop’s historically homophobic image makes recent comments from rappers like these all the more remarkable.

Watch the full clip of 50 Cent talking to XXLMag below.

Gays and lesbians have come a long way in entertainment since the days when George Michael had to have faith and pretend to want a woman in the “Father Figure” video to sell millions of albums. Although there’s no telling whether Queen would have been as successful in the ’70s and early ’80s had Freddie Mercury definitively outed himself as a lower-case queen, for the most part, today’s closeted male superstars don’t have to wait until they are about to succumb to an AIDS-related illness to publicly acknowledge their sexuality (like Rock Hudson did)—or not (like Liberace and, well, Mercury).

That doesn’t mean coming out of the closet still won’t have a negative effect on the bankability of gay music stars. This is why most of them still choose to wait until they don’t have too much to lose. Elton John, Ricky Martin, Clay Aiken, Savage Garden’s Darren Hayes and Michael all did it after their blockbuster days were over.

Though Hayes continues to release solo records that earn critical raves, it’s been years since he was A-list on the charts. John is a superstar for life, but his most notable post-coming out success (the 33 million-selling worldwide No. 1 single “Candle in the Wind ’97″) was with a song he sang to a dearly departed princess. How gay! Rufus Wainwright, despite critical plaudits, has never had gold album in the US.

Then there is Adam Lambert, the perfect example of how to be an out and gay pop star. He has a vociferous fan base, but his commercial performance isn’t commensurate with his level of fan devotion. He should be selling as many singles as Justin Bieber, but his last one, “Better Than I Know Myself,” was a chart dud (No. 76 on Billboard’s Hot 100), resulting in Trespassing, his sophomore album, being pushed back from March to a May 15 release date. Do we blame it on a weak single, or a pop constituency that’s still skittish about fully embracing a proudly out singer? Continue reading ‘Sound and Vision: Wanted: An Out and Proud Gay Or Lesbian Chart Phenomenon!’

Up until Superbowl Sunday, Juliet Simms was known solely in the underground modern rock scene as the vocal powerhouse of  pop punk band Automatic Loveletter. On stage, she was a charismatic performer, earning her stripes on the Warped Tour circuit and on club tours with bands like Secondhand Serenade and Cute Is What We Aim For. But behind the scenes, Simms struggled to find a label to call home and was constantly battling those who believed a woman simply couldn’t hang in the male-centric world of rock music. Simms’ tight-knit fan community were by her side, but she couldn’t seem to break into the mainstream the way she wanted to.

OS: What was your audition process for The Voice? What made you decide to sing “Oh! Darling” for your audition?

JS: I’ve never really been one for covering songs. I’ve always just done originals. However I grew up singing The Beatles and just felt if I was going to do this show, I was going to do it my way and represent the music I so much believe in.

OS: Before you auditioned, did you have a first choice for which coach you’d want to work with? How did it feel when three out of four coaches turned their chairs around for you?

JS: I walked onto the blind audition stage just hoping one would turn around for me. When I saw that three had turned for me I was dumbfounded. Cee- Lo spoke from his heart and I could hear the loyalty in his words. I knew he was the right coach to go with!

OS:  What has life been like for you since the show ended? Do you have any immediate plans of things you’d like to start working on?

JS: Life has been drunk…[laughs] no, just kidding. Being out in the wilderness again is taking some getting used to. I’m pretty much just resting…I was and still am pretty sick so I’m trying to get better. My plans are to take immediate action in making an album.

Continue reading ‘Exclusive Q and A: Juliet Simms Takes Us Behind The Scenes of ‘The Voice’’

Brittany Campbell

You want untapped, gutsy, street cool? You go to Brooklyn. And if you’re lucky, you just might find an artist half as interesting as Brittany Campbell. The singer-songwriter/producer/guitarist cross-pollinates doo-wop, Motown, new wave and pop rock for a completely fresh and revelatory sound. Like Amy Winehouse, Debbie Harry and Santigold, Campbell’s an original. On “Call Me Baby,” vintage guitars strut against a beat while Campbell summons the soulful angst of a 1950s teen, singing “There’ll be no mercy now / Wherever you are is where I’ll be.” “Nerd,” with its handclaps, 8-bit synths and bouncing beat is instantly infectious even as the singer delivers dubious lines like, “Guess you haven’t heard / God, I’m such a nerd.” As if. “Goody Goody” is the track you’ll want to put on repeat. New wave synths, surf guitars and Campbell’s powerful voice make for a smart and sexy rocker with a vintage edge. Have mercy.

Let’s face it, sometimes the past should stay dead. But when an awesome musical artist fades from popularity, their fans later wonder, “Where are they now?”  You may not know it, but many artists you loved in the past are still hard at work writing new albums or preparing to tour once more.  Fortunately, you now have “Second Coming” to reintroduce you to some of your favorite acts of the last few decades and give you the scoop on what you can expect from them in the future!

THEN: Before the Spice Girls and the bubblegum pop princesses of the late 90s, Gwen Stefani was serving up her own brand of girl power. As lead vocalist of the ska band No Doubt, she brought her fearless fashion sense and formidable vocal ability to the world of pop. The band’s traditional ska sound on their debut album failed to deliver commercially, but the more polished sound of their 1995 record Tragic Kingdom was applauded by critics and fans alike. The GRAMMY-nominated record spawned monster singles like “Just A Girl,” “Don’t Speak” and “Spiderwebs,” placing No Doubt in the sweet spot of achieving mainstream success, while still staying true to their roots. The band followed up Kingdom with another GRAMMY-nominated record, Return of Saturn, which piggybacked off its predecessor in terms of sound. Just one year later, No Doubt released Rock Steady, which showed a sharp turn of musical direction with its dancehall and reggaeton-infused tunes. The album was a mega pop success, churning out the ubiquitous “Hey Baby,” “Hella Good” and “Underneath It All.”

Continue reading ‘The Second Coming of No Doubt’

Life is full of surprises, and sometimes, so is pop music. In recent weeks, it’s recovered its long-dormant ability to shock, or at least catch us off guard with the unlikely hit, or the unexpected comeback.

Several months ago, I never dreamed I would ever ask the question that is the title of this article. It had been more than twenty-five years since Lionel Richie’s commercial heyday, and on the charts, he had been succeeded by younger romantic leads in pop and R&B many times over (Babyface, Usher, Ne-Yo, among others).

Then came one of those surprise developments seldom seen in pop anymore: On Billboard magazine’s Top 200 album chart for the week following the March 26 release of Tuskegee, Richie’s first studio album since 2009’s Just Go (which didn’t make the US Top 20 and failed to go gold), he debuted at No. 2 with first-week sales of 199,000 copies, right behind Madonna’s latest, MDNA.

Continue reading ‘Sound and Vision: Why Is the World So Obsessed with Lionel Richie Right Now?’

Moving at the speed of hype, 17-year-old Daytona Beach, FL native Kitty Pryde has been taking over the internet at a breakneck pace. Taking her name from a character from the X-Men comics, Pryde is the latest in a string of female MCs who have come to prominence in the past few months including Azealia Banks, Iggy Azalea, and Kreayshawn. The “jail bait Hailey Williams of Rap,” Pryde has also drawn comparisons to hipster songbird Lana Del Rey; both seemingly came out of nowhere and have built buzz with the tumblr crowd thanks to a handful of woozy youtube videos.

Pryde’s output has been scant so far. That said, having a lone EP, The Lizzie McGuire Experience, and two singles to her name hasn’t gotten in the way of her rise in popularity. With write-ups in The Fader, Vice, Pretty Much Amazing, Idolator, and many more in the past two days alone, her ascent has been dizzyingly fast.

Watch the video for her latest single “Okay Cupid” and see what all the fuss is about.

Taylor Swift has yet to top Billboard’s Hot 100, but who needs a No. 1 pop single when you’ve sold more than 20 million albums (as of March of 2011), been named Entertainer of the Year twice in a row by the Academy of Country Music (in 2011 and 2012), been awarded the 2010 Hal David Starlight Award by the Songwriters Hall of Fame (an honor previously bestowed upon John Mayer and Alicia Keys) and won an Album of the Year GRAMMY (in 2010, for Fearless, her second album)? She makes every princess of pop this side of Adele seem like an underachiever.

At the age of twenty-two, Swift has accomplished what it takes some icons entire careers and then some to achieve. (Neither Bruce Springsteen, nor the Rolling Stones, nor Aretha Franklin, nor Madonna, nor Eminem, has yet to win an Album of the Year GRAMMY.) But it’s Swift’s latest honor, being the frontrunner for the role of Joni Mitchell in the upcoming film Girls Like Us, a biopic based on Sheila Weller’s book about the lives of Mitchell, Carly Simon and Carole King in the late ’60s, that has her detractors—and some fans even—protesting “Too soon!” and wondering “Who? Her?“  Continue reading ‘Sound and Vision: Can Taylor Swift Do Joni Mitchell Justice?’

Lately, it seems that we are hearing more and more from new and unexpected partnerships between artists of different genres. This is why, through Superlatones, we are creating our very own directory—a musical wish-list, if you will—of artists who have yet to join the collaborative bandwagon.

This week, we feature two artists who credit their popularity just as much to their music as to the persona they command.  With their distinct style, sultry voices and mysterious airs, these women would have been the perfect leading ladies to the film noir era of the ’40’s. Are you ready to solve a mystery? Then follow us into the lives of this week’s femme fatales…

The Dynamic Duo:
Lana Del Rey and Paloma Faith

New York’s Lana Del Rey, born Elizabeth Woolridge Grant, began her career under the moniker Lizzy Grant. The singer-songwriter later changed her name to Lana Del Ray for the release of her single “Video Games,” which became an instant success.  Her latest album Born To Die was released early this year with mixed reviews from critics and fans alike.

Continue reading ‘Superlatones: The Femme Fatale’

Champagne Morning

Champagne Morning seems to have it all figured out. The band, based in Kiev, spends part of their time creating euphoric indie pop, and when they’re not doing that, they drink champagne. It might explain the mix of revelry, chaos and camaraderie that permeates their music. Take, for example, “Miracle,” a psychedelic mash of jaunty piano, guitars and drums that bounce along, feckless and free. “Fly High” keeps the party going with a neo-soul/rock groove, blissed-out female backup singers and an American rapper by the name of Fanamonon who somehow ended up in the Ukraine just in time to spit some lyrics on the track. Even “Pain Plane,” which starts off as a moony solo number, bursts into a crescendo of joyful noise at the end. Like the best drunken nights, you can only brood for so long before your friends show up to shake you out of it.