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Day in Pop Report for 03/16/2015


Kendrick Lamar's To Pimp a Butterfly Album Released Early
Fans won't have to wait for Kendrick Lamar's new album "To Pimp a Butterfly" as it was released on iTunes and Spotify this weekend, ahead of its official release date on March 23rd.

While iTunes still lists a March 23rd release date for the explicit version and March 31st for the clean version, the digital music retailer began selling both versions this weekend.

iTunes is selling the full 16 track album, plus a digital booklet, for $14.99 and all but the album's final track, the 12 minute and 7 second "Mortal Man" are being sold individually for $1.29. Fans can also stream the new album via Spotify here.

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Did Pharrell's 'Happy' Borrow From A Marvin Gaye Song?
On the heels of the family of Marvin Gaye winning a $7.3 million verdict over Robin Thicke and Pharrell's "Blurred Lines," Gaye's daughter says that Pharrell's mega-hit "Happy" sounds like another one of her father's songs.

Nona Gaye made the comments during an interview following the verdict where a jury found that "Blurred Lines" borrowed from Gaye's "Got to Give It Up", according to CBS News (via Radio.com).

"I'm not going to lie. I do think they sound alike," Nona said of Pharrell's 2014 mega-hit solo track "Happy" and her father's 1965 song "Ain't That Peculiar."

Despite the family finding the similarities in the songs, Marvin Gaye's ex-wife Janis Gaye doesn't anticipate that they will take legal action. "We're not in that space. We're just in the moment today and we're satisfied."

Read the Radio.com report here.

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Taylor Swift Tops Red With 1989
Taylor Swift's move from country music to pop seems to be paying off as her pop debut "1989" has now surpassed her two latest blockbuster country albums in sales.

Swift's latest album, "1989", has already sold 4.505 million copies which puts it ahead of both 2012's "Red" which has 4.160 million in sales and 2010's "Speak Now," which has sold 4.480 million copies, according to ABC.

Despite the robust sales of "1989", Swift has still not topped her personal best selling albums: her 2006 debut (5.492 million) and 2008's "Fearless" (6.909 million).

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Iggy Azalea Explains Great Escape Tour Delay
Iggy Azalea gave an interview last week where she offered an explanation for the reasons behind her decision to postpone her Great Escape tour from this spring until next fall.

Azalea spoke with Los Angeles radio station 97.1 AMP and explained that the tour was postponed due to wanting to deliver a bigger experience to concert goers, in part due to low record sales.

"We're doing a custom stage and a custom build. When you're building a stage and things like that it takes about six months in advance," she said. "My tour would have been April but we have not started building.

"So to get this stage built in time I would be making a lot of sacrifices and cuts and changes. Compromises would have had to be made to get this thing done in time."

Azalea also explained her need to have a bigger show, "Nowadays with record sales the way it is, it's our bread and butter. I don't want to have one arena tour that people were like, 'It was alright, but I don't want to go back.' That's not the standard I'm trying to set. I want to raise the bar."


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The Story So Far Reveal First Song From New Album and Tour Dates
The Story So Far are streaming a song from their new self-titled studio album, which they will release on May 19th and they have revealed the dates for a North American headlining tour in support of the album.

The new album was produced by Sam Pura at his Fremont, CA based The Panda and the band is giving fans their first taste of the album with a stream of the new song "Nerve" here.

The group will also be launching their new North American headline tour on May 1st in Santa Ana, CA at The Observatory. The trek will feature support from Four Year Strong, Terror and Souvenirs. See the tour dates here.

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Luke Bryan Used To Help Two-Year-Old With Leukemia
(Radio.com) The power of music goes a long way. And in one young girl's case, specifically the sounds of Luke Bryan. Two-year-old Lyanna Flynn is suffering from leukemia.

According to Taste of Country, Flynn was diagnosed in February. In between chemotherapy and taking pills she doesn't like, Bryan's music helps her get through it.

'Luke Bryan's music is her medicine," her father, Chad Flynn told Taste of Country. Appreciative of Bryan's music during his family's difficult time, Chad took a video of his daughter in the hospital. As she urges Lyanna to take her medicine he promises her, "After you take your medicine you can listen to your music."

Once she's done chewing the medicine, he tells her to press the button on her phone. A big smile comes across her face as she hits the button to hear Bryan's "That's My Kind of Night." Read more and watch the video here.

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Lil Wayne Storms Off Stage After DJ Mess Up
(Radio.com) Lil Wayne didn't exactly have the best week in Florida. The rapper stormed off stage after a DJ messed up his song transitions during a performance at Nova Southeastern University on Thursday.

According to TMZ, Wayne performed seven songs before the DJ made his fatal mistake: he accidentally dropped the original version of 'CoCo." Wayne was gearing up for the instrumental version, so that he could perform his remix of the song off his recent Sorry 4 The Wait 2 mixtape. As soon as he heard O.T. Genasis' voice, Wayne launched his mic right at the DJ booth and stormed off the stage.

Earlier in the week, the rapper was the victim of swatting, with police swarming his Miami Beach home after a call to police reported that four people had been shot inside. It ended up being a hoax. Watch video of the DJ incident here.

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Sam Hunt Releases Intense 'Take Your Time' Video
(Radio.com) Sam Hunt just celebrated his second consecutive No. 1 on Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart with his latest single "Take Your Time," and while the song, which he cowrote with Shane McAnally and Josh Osbourne, tells the tale of him talking to a girl the video for the song takes a more serious turn.

"Take Your Time" was filmed in Nashville last month and directed by Tim Mattia of London Alley Production. The video begins with a fight breaking out and it isn't clear who is punching who. As the video continues, we see Hunt walking down a street alone.

Multiple story lines flush out that show Hunt observing a beautiful girl in a laundromat and at his open mic night but she has big problems at home. The young mother is in an abusive relationship and as the video develops we see she's planning her escape. As she does, things go terribly wrong, but luckily for her, Hunt comes to her rescue. Watch the video here.

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Britney Spears' New Album Is 'Not a Priority' For The Pop Star
(Radio.com) It's been more than a year since Britney Spears released her last album, the commercially disappointing Britney Jean. But fans waiting for the follow-up may have to wait a little longer, according to an interview the entertainer recently did with Billboard.

She's making lots of money lately with her extremely successful Las Vegas residency at Planet Hollywood; Billboard speculates that she makes an average of $310,000 per show (although they note that they could not confirm that figure). Motherhood also keeps her busy, and upcoming projects include working on a new line of lingerie.

But as for new music? She tells Billboard she is "slowly but surely" recording her ninth album. "I'm going to try to do my best to do an amazing album," she said. "But it's not my full priority right now." Read more here.

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Prince Surprises Fans With New Song 'What If'
(Radio.com) Prince released a surprise song on Friday morning (March 13). Before playing four shows this weekend in Louisville, Kentucky, Prince let a local radio station premiere his latest song "What If" with his band 3RDEYEGIRL.

The dreamy track features Prince and his all-female band going back and forth wondering, "What if there's more?" Stick around until the end to hear Prince gently whisper sweet nothings in your ear.

This new song follows his release of not one, but two new albums, PlectrumElectrum and Art Official Age, last year. Prince kicked off his Hit & Run Tour in Kentucky in honor of 3RDEYEGIRL member Hannah Welton, a Louisville native. Read more here.

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Rihanna Talks Home On Morning TV
(Radio.com) Rihanna turned up at the crack of dawn on Good Morning America on Friday morning, to promote her new movie Home, which will be in theaters starting March 27.

Dressed in matching pink, she sat next to her co-stars Steve Martin and Jim Parsons and discussed her role as a young girl named Tip in the Dreamworks animated film.

'I tried to give her a little bit of my personality," Rihanna explained. 'A little sweet, a little innocent, but she is sassy and she is vibrant, and that's what I think really connects with the fans. They kinda identify with her. They feel like they recognize her. She's a little familiar and even the accent comes out a lot of the time as well."

At one point, Rihanna was asked where she considers home. 'Barbados will always be home to me, of course," she noted. "But I pretty much feel like anywhere I could fall asleep." Read more here.

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Modern Family's Sofia Vergara Addresses Wedding Delay Rumors
(Extra) "Extra's" Renee Bargh caught up with Sofia Vergara at the Paley Fest panel for her hit show "Modern Family." The actress, who has been engaged to Joe Manganiello since his Christmas proposal in Hawaii, laughed off rumors that their wedding has been postponed due to their busy works schedules.

She said, "I don't know, how can something be postponed when it has never been set? It's really funny." While the date may not be set, she is enjoying making the plans. Sofia said, "It's always a lot of fun for girls to plan the wedding."

Vergara also confirmed that friend and "Hot Pursuit" co-star Reese Witherspoon is helping with the planning, "Yes all of my friends are planning." Read more here.

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Diddy Dances With Daughters In New Online Video
(Radio.com) Sean Combs is a busy guy these days. Besides running his own television network, Revolt, he's also been reported to be producing for Kanye West, The Weeknd and Pusha T of late.

But this doesn't mean that Diddy doesn't have time for his most important job: daddy. On Friday, the rapper posted a video to Instagram of him dancing with his twin daughters, Jessie James and D'Lila Star. And, not surprisingly, the moves are both impressive and endearing.

"I thought this morning I would start your day with a little bit of some morning silly!" Diddy writes. "When you're with your kids it's important to bring out your inner child and get on their level. It's important sometimes to just be silly.

"And it is very important if you have GIRLS to dance with them. Because when they grow up, every time they dance they will have you in the back of their head's acting silly and they won't go home with no boys and do anything bad ! Lol but seriously it's worth a shot. So be silly with your kids today. And laugh with them. Dance with them. #love" Watch the video here.

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Tupac's Video Mother Recalls 'Dear Mama' Video Shoot
(Radio.com) Tupac Shakur's third album Me Against The World was released 20 years ago, while he was serving a prison sentence. The album debuted at No. 1 and spawned several smash singles, most notably its platinum-rated first single, 'Dear Mama," an emotional ode to his mother Afeni Shakur.

Accompanying the song was a video that was filmed while Tupac was in prison. In it, his mother looks through photo albums and flashes back to their past relationship.

Model and magazine editor Tracii McGregor played Afeni in the video; WatchLOUD asked her to share memories of Tupac and describe what it was like playing his mother.

"For this role I looked like Afeni, I looked close enough," she explained. "So they hired me for the role. [Afeni] came over and said hi and she was just marveling at how much I looked like her, couldn't believe the casting. We got to watch the parts where she was looking through the photos and it just made it more real and there was more pressure to get it right and not make it contrived."

MacGregor described an intense shoot. "The one thing I remember, and I still don't know to this day if they did this on purpose, but I didn't eat the whole day," she recalled. "They didn't feed me! And I don't know if they did that to get me in character but it was an intense day. One minute I'm going to a graveyard with my kids and the next minute I'm partying and smoking." Read more here.

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