Tag: "lmfao"

Summer and songs. They fit together like Santa and snow, like sex and the city, like Coldplay and Rihanna in the “Princess of China” single and video, which both acts no doubt are hoping will be the song of the summer of 2012. (And if it’s not, Rihanna’s got another shot anyway, with “Where Have You Been,” the fifth single from her Talk That Talk album.)

But the songs of summer aren’t just about the latest, greatest hits when warm weather starts to roll around. If they were, we all would have been stuck with Adele’s “Rolling in the Deep,” Nicki Minaj’s “Super Bass” and LMFAO’s “Party Rock Anthem” on an endless beach loop last summer (and certainly some of us were). The hottest season has been figuring prominently into pop since the beginning of time, regardless of the temperature outside.

This year, it will be no different. So while the rest of the world is sweating it out to Rihanna and Coldplay, or Rihanna on her own, or brand new music from Justin Bieber, Usher, Chris Brown, or Fiona Apple (my personal beach pick), feel free to pad your summer mix with these ten entries, some of the best “summer’ songs ever.

Continue reading ‘Sound and Vision: Songs of the Season — 10 Great “Summer” Singles’

DaCav5

Prepare to “sweat your weaves out,” people. Coming straight outta the city of brotherly love is DaCav5, an electro-pop band armed with its own party rock anthems. Like LMFAO, DaCav5 specializes in crazed, pitch-bent beats that burrow down into your brain and command your body to move. “Dirty Style” has a whiff of “Party Rock Anthem,” kicking off with a big, fat, bassy beat. Add defiant mantras like “I don’t care what people say, Ima party anyway,” with a sexy female refrain and you’ve got yourself a hit. David Guetta, eat your heart out. “Party Started” does exactly what it proposes to do. The track gets underway with orchestral pulses and edgy vocal stylings. “Bitch get back, you know the kid got swag.” The kid definitely has swag. Make that all five kids. Now if you’ll excuse us, we have some partying to do.

YouTube and music have gone hand in hand for a while now, helping break new stars (Gotye), and giving music lovers one more place to stream poor quality versions of their favorite songs. But perhaps YouTube’s greatest contribution to the music industry all started with the Chinese Backstreet Boys and their hilarious rendition of “I Want It That Way,” the video that spawned a sensation.

Six and a half years later, YouTube is no longer just a teenager, but hilarious lip syncing videos can still win over the crowd. Another sports team has lip synced another top 40 gem and have become mini-superstars themselves.

We did a little round up of some of the best/funniest/most clever music-centric vids on the web, read on for the rest:

Continue reading ‘I Can Feel The Music In Memes: Songs As Internet Video Sensations’

Remember the days when R&B and hip hop was the sound of pop? From the ‘90s to the mid ‘00s, music’s most dependable hitmakers—Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston, Toni Braxton, Boyz II Men, R. Kelly, Usher, Brandy, Monica, Alicia Keys, Destiny’s Child and Beyoncé, among them—specialized in “crossover” soul, climbing both the R&B charts and the Hot 100 in tandem.

But lately, something strange has been happening on Billboard’s R&B /Hip-Hop Songs chart: A hit is no longer necessarily a hit. Just because a song is big in the R&B sphere doesn’t mean it’s big anywhere else. For the week ending April 7, 2012, only one song in the R&B/Hip-Hop Top 10—Tyga’s “Rack City”—had managed a comparable placing on the Hot 100.

The song at No. 1, Beyoncé’s “Love on Top,” which had been there for multiple weeks, was way down at No. 54 on the Hot 100. (It briefly entered the Top 40 last September, debuting and peaking at No. 20 after Beyoncé performed it at the MTV Video Music Awards.) Meanwhile, there wasn’t a single R&B diva in the Top 40 aside from Janelle Monae, who got there by guest-singing on rock band fun.’s No. 1 hit “We Are Young.”

What happened to pop’s soul? There’s a disconnect between the pop and R&B charts that hasn’t been so pronounced since the days when Michael Jackson’s label, CBS Records, threatened to pull all of its artists from MTV if the then-fledgling network didn’t play Jackson’s “Billie Jean” video.

Continue reading ‘Sound and Vision: The Fall of R&B: How Pop Is Selling Its Soul for a Dance Beat’

In a recent interview with Billboard, DJ Afrojack revealed that he and Shakira have been working together in the studio.

“She’s really nice and that’s why we started working together,” says the DJ. “She has a unique voice and really loves the new dance thing. Like when a beat drops, she makes this like… face. She’s feeling it.”

This sheds some additional light on Shakira’s recent announcement that she has returned to the studio to work on a new album. Other sources have revealed that she will also collaborate with LMFAO, Akon and RedOne, but whether or not her tracks with Afrojack will be on the album is still unsure. “I never want to put a name tag on something,” says Afrojack. “I wanna just see what happens, but probably. We’ll see.”

During the early weeks of the year, 2012 sounded a lot like 2011, as Adele continued to rule Billboard’s Top 200 album and Hot 100 singles charts with 21, one year into the album’s life span. For all of her ongoing success, by February, the tops of the pops finally began to welcome some much-needed counterprogramming to The Adele Show, featuring rotating regular guest stars Katy Perry, Rihanna and Bruno Mars.

For several weeks, the late Whitney Houston became the chart force in death that she hadn’t been in life for more than a decade (“I Will Always Love You,” her signature No. 1 hit, re-charted and rose to No. 3, and one week, she had three albums in the Top 10), while a number of vets and newcomers arrived on the singles scene looking for a hit. They all came out swinging, but not everyone scored. Although the night—er, the year—is still young, look who’s winning (and losing) now.

Continue reading ‘Sound and Vision: Pop’s Singles Scene — the Scores and Strikes of 2012 (So Far)’

Miami has always been a hot spot for rising Latin talent. Most recently, the city has produced top acts such as LMFAO, Pitbull and Sean Kingston. It’s also the hometown of more than a few El Headliner winners, including Grupo Legacy, the Grand Prize Winner of February’s El Headliner Competition.

The duo grabbed the coveted promo-prize with their track “Grupo Legacy Vuelo en el viento”. We’ll have the exclusive scoop on their features from Tr3s in the coming weeks. For now, make sure to check out January winner Mateo’s features, fresh from Tr3s.

Lo Que Te Pica

Continue reading ‘Grupo Legacy Wins February El Headliner – January Winner Mateo Gets Featured On Tr3s’