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Day in Pop Report for 05/20/2015


Kelly Clarkson Performs On The Voice Season Finale
(popmusiclife) Kelly Clarkson joined finalist Koryn Hawthorne for a duet of the blues classic, "I'd Rather Go Blind", on the season 8 finale of NBC's The Voice on Tuesday.

Clarkson was one of several guests on the 2-hour show, which also featured performances by Ed Sheeran, Meghan Trainor, Sheryl Crow, Luke Bryan John Fogerty and more.

Hawthorne finished in fourth while Sawyer Fredericks claimed the season 8 title. On Sunday, Clarkson delivered the debut live performance of her latest single, "Invincible", at the 2015 Billboard Music Awards in Las Vegas.

The tune, from her 7th album, "Piece By Piece", follows the project's lead single, "Heartbeat Song", which peaked at No. 21 on the US Billboard Hot 100.

Clarkson will launch her Piece By Piece tour in Hershey, PA on July 11 with guests Pentatonix and Eric Hutchinson. Watch Kelly's performance on The Voice here.

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Jay Z Collaborator Marina Abramovic Feels Used By Rapper
(Radio.com) In 2013, Jay Z and renowned artist Marina Abramovic collaborated on a new version of her 2010 art piece The Artist Is Present: the "Picasso Baby" video.

According to Abramovic, working with the rapper was done under the condition that Jay would help her institute, which she claims that he hasn't. "He just completely used me. And that wasn't fair," Abramovic told Spike Art Magazine, not going as far as saying she regretted working with Jay, but adding that she would never do it again, likening it to a business transaction where only half of those involved got what they were promised.

"I was really naive in this kind of world," Abramovic said. "It was really new to me, and I had no idea that this would happen. It's so cruel, it's incredible. I will stay away from it for sure."

Jay Z has not responded to these accusations. Watch the video they worked on here.

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Luke Bryan Announces New Album And Debuts 'Kick the Dust Up'
(Radio.com) Luke Bryan's followup to Crash My Party is finally nearly here. Appearing on Ellen on Tuesday, the country singer announced that new album Kill the Lights is due out in August.

The announcement accompanies the release of the album's first single "Kick the Dust Up," which hit YouTube and was sent to country radio on Tuesday, May 19.

"Kick the Dust Up" is fairly typical Bryan, with a chorus commanding listeners to "back it on up/ fill your cup up/ let's tear it up (up), kick the dust up."

'We've been performing the new song on tour this spring, using it to open the shows," Bryan said. 'We love the crowd reaction to it and I cannot wait to be able to share more new music this summer. It's been two years since we've had a new album and I don't think I've been this eager yet to get it out to the fans." Read more and listen to the new track here.

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Florence And The Machine Stream New Song 'Delilah'
(popmusiclife) Florence And The Machine have released an online stream of the song "Delilah", a track from their forthcoming third album, "How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful."

Due June 2 in North America, the follow-up to 2011's "Ceremonials" was recorded throughout 2014 and produced by Markus Dravs (Bj�rk, Arcade Fire, Coldplay) with contributions from Paul Epworth, Kid Harpoon and John Hill.

"Delilah" is the fourth track issued in advance of the project's release, following "St. Jude", "What Kind Of Man" and "Ship To Wreck." Following their recent appearance on Saturday Night Live, Florence And The Machine will begin a summer tour at New York's Governors Ball on June 5. Check out the new song stream here.

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Carrie Underwood, Florida Georgia Line Lead CMT Awards Performances
(Radio.com) Country Music Television is set to roll out its 2015 CMT Music Awards show on June 10 at Nashville's Bridgestone Arena and has announced its first round of performers. As is the case with country music award shows, the lineup is already pretty stacked.

Appearing will be country music heavyweights Carrie Underwood, Florida Georgia Line, Jason Aldean, Keith Urban, Kenny Chesney, Lady Antebellum and Luke Bryan, with many more expected to be announced in the coming weeks.

Each of the performers named has multiple nominations at the award show, with Underwood leading all nominees with five nominations and Chesney and Lady Antebellum each following with four nominations. Read more here.

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Mariah Carey Performs Two Songs On Jimmy Kimmel Live
(popmusiclife) Mariah Carey was a featured guest and musical performer on ABC TV's Jimmy Kimmel Live on Monday night where she sat for an interview and performed two songs.

Carey was on hand to promote her newly-released greatest hits compilation, "#1 To Infinity", which features all 18 of the singer's No. 1 hits on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart - more than any solo artist in history.

The No. 1 chart hits on "#1 To Infinity" range from 1990's "Vision of Love" and "Love Takes Time" through to 2008's "Touch My Body." She also discussed her recently-launched Las Vegas residency at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace, where she performs her 18 number ones and new single, "Infinity", during the show.

Carey then took to the live stage to deliver performances of "Vision Of Love" and "Infinity." Watch the interview and the song performances here.

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Ed Sheeran Performs Photograph On The Voice Finale
(popmusiclife) Ed Sheeran performed his latest single, "Photograph", on the season 8 finale of NBC's The Voice on Tuesday. The UK singer/songwriter recently debuted the video for the fifth and final single from his "X" album; the clip features home movie-style footage of Sheeran through the years, from infancy to today.

Sheeran's second release, the project delivered the UK singer/songwriter his first No. 1 US album in 2014 with opening week sales of 210,000. His sophomore record is the follow-up to the smash 2011 debut, "+", which peaked at No. 5 on the US chart.

Sheeran is currently playing dates across North America with shows on the continent booked into early July; he'll perform 5 stadium shows in his native UK in July before launching another North American run in the fall. Watch his Voice performance here.

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iPhone's Siri Morphed Into Kanye West
(Radio.com) Kanye West doesn't answer to anyone these days, but with this new app, he might start listening to you. A new app, created by San Francisco Facebook employees Sid Kandan and Carlos Roque, pits Dr. West in the position of essentially being your own little cyber buddy.

Ye.i, the 'perfect app to inspire your creative genius, and remind you that we are all gods," turns an illustrated Kanye into a tiny avatar (called Little Ye) that spouts out classic Yeezy interview quotes and lyrics, and reacts when you click on his head or hands.

And, like the Kanye we love-hate, he'll get pissed off if you hassle him too much and exit the screen with some choice words for you. To create the program, Kandan and Roque separated 250 choice rated-G "snippets" and filtered them into different categories of emotions (i.e. frustration, happiness, etc.), so that when you interact with Little Ye in a certain way, he responds appropriately. Read more here.

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Meghan Trainor Performs On The Season Finale Of The Voice
(popmusiclife) Meghan Trainor performed a stripped-down version of her hit single, "Dear Future Husband", on the season 8 finale of NBC's The Voice on Tuesday night.

Won by finalist Sawyer Fredericks, the 2-hour season finale also featured appearances by Kelly Clarkson, Ed Sheeran and others. The third single from Trainor's major label debut, "Title", "Dear Future Husband" peaked at No. 16 on the US Billboard Hot 100 on its way to selling more than a million copies in the States alone.

The tune followed the smash success of the No. 1 US hit, "All About That Bass", and the Top 5 track "Lips Are Movin'". Trainor begins a series of European dates in Denmark on May 26 and will open a US summer tour in Altantic City on July 3. Watch her Voice performance here.

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Trey Songz Releases New Song 'About You'
(Radio.com) It's been almost a year since Trey Songz released his sixth album Trigga and the R&B crooner is nearly ready to release it again. Yesday he released a teaser that Trigga: Reloaded, a reissue of the album with new material, will be arriving June 23 and, along with it, a new track called "About You."

Like Jordin Sparks and 2 Chainz's "Double Tap," the song is a post-social media ode to narcissism, and packaged with a collage of selfies, a celebration of self-love.

"It's your favorite song, when they put it on/ Girl I know you know it's all about you," Songz sings above the lackadaisical beat. Fittingly, Songz riffs off the prototype of songs about narcissism, Carly Simon's 1972 hit "You're So Vain," singing, "I bet you think this song is about you." Check it out here.

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EDM Movie 'We Are Your Friends' Trailer Released
(Radio.com) Hollywood will always be playing catch up with youth trends du jour, until the sun burns out: thus, it's a surprise to approximately no one that a major EDM movie will hit theaters this summer--and the trailer is now here.

Called We Are Your Friends, it charts the rise of Cole Carter, an aspiring DJ played by Zac Efron. Carter is a dreamer who's trying to figure out that big song that will help him rise to EDM and Ultra superstardom. Enter an older DJ, played by Wes Bentley, who shows him the ropes.

In the trailer, Cole rises from playing awkward daytime parties to headlining a massive festival. Along the way expect tears, cheers, fat bass drops and a whole lot of heartache, as Cole falls for his mentor's girlfriend. It's a parable for modern times. Watch the trailer here.

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Craig Campbell Releases New Song 'Tomorrow Tonight'
(Radio.com) Craig Campbell is already planning out his tomorrow. The country singer has released his feel good new single "Tomorrow Tonight," where he promises a girl, "I'm going to change your tomorrow tonight."

"It encompasses all of what I love about country music right now," Campbell said of the song in a press release. "It has a balance of what you think of as more traditional, and also more modern sounds. I really believe in finding a way to meet in the middle--it lets me be proud of the music I make and am writing."

"Tomorrow Tonight" is the country singer's first release on Red Bow Records. It is the first single off his upcoming third album, the follow-up to 2013's Never Regret, which produced the Top 20 hit "Keep Them Kisses Comin'" as well as "Outta My Head." Check out the new song here.

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Bill Murray Makes Memorable Final David Letterman Appearance
(Radio.com) Bill Murray was the very first guest on The Late Show with David Letterman back in 1993. And this week he became the last. (Well, at least he last announced guest.)

To celebrate, Murray didn't just walk out on stage. Instead, he jumped. Out of a cake. Dressed in a blue jumpsuit and goggles, and covered head-to-toe in white cream icing, Murray then marched up to Letterman and gave him a big bear hug. Suit now smeared with cream, Letterman nonetheless didn't bat an eye but instead was left just grinning.
The antics all unfolded to the sounds of Paul Shaffer and the CBS Orchestra dishing out a blustery version of the Band's "Chest Fever." Murray also gave the audience a taste of what Dave got before taking his seat. And yes, smearing the upholstery as well.

After chatting about Caddyshack and other topics, Letterman then aired a montage of Murray's many appearances on the show, which included cooking, drinking, getting beat up, more drinking and dressing as Liberace. "You're the best," Letterman (suit still smeared) said at the conclusion.

Then they drank some vodka. Murray then exited the building and gathered a bunch of fans outside on the street and led them in a chant of "more Worldwide Pants" to the tune of "Give Peace a Chance." Yes, he was still smeared with cake frosting. Check it out here.

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Stevie Wonder, Imagine Dragons, Kendrick Lamar Lead Life Is Beautiful
(Radio.com) Stevie Wonder, hometown heroes Imagine Dragons and Kendrick Lamar lead a stacked lineup coming to this year's Life Is Beautiful Festival in Las Vegas.

The fest, held Sept. 25-27 in downtown Las Vegas, is also planning a rundown that includes Duran Duran, Weezer, Hozier, Death Cab for Cutie, local boy Brandon Flowers and many more.

Accompanying the festival lineup's announcement, tickets for Life Is Beautiful are on sale via the fest's website, with three-day general admission passes currently starting at $195 and jumping to $255 by its end. VIP passes are also available, ranging from $545-595.

See the full Life Is Beautiful 2015 Lineup here.

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DC Comics Upset With Rihanna Magazine Title
(Radio.com) FACT Magazine reports that Rihanna wants to start a new digital magazine called Robyn, which is her given first name. The only problem: DC Comics feels that the name is too similar to Robin, Batman's ever-ready sidekick.

Now the comic book titan is attempting to block Rihanna's trademark application for the name, arguing that Rihanna's magazine concept is "identical and/or highly related" to Robin.

It's an odd move--DC Comics argues that a digital magazine called Robyn "is likely to cause confusion, cause mistakes, or to deceive the public." Read more here.

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Rachel Platten Releases 'Fight Song' Video
(Radio.com) Even though Rachel Platten's "Fight Song" has been set to a handful of visuals, from a scene in Pretty Little Liars to the trailer for Supergirl, it has yet to receive a proper video--until now.

Today (May 19) the up-and-coming Massachusetts-born pop singer released the video for her hit song, and while the aspirational lyrics could work for a handful of occasions, in the video, the song is about Platten breaking into the music industry.

In the video, set in Los Angeles, you get a sense of the emotional energy Platten has put into her career, from seeing her deal with writer's block to playing for a barely filled room.

"I don't care if anyone else leaves because I still got a lot of fight left in me," she sings. "I believe there is power in sharing the personal battles that we are fighting to overcome-it shows us all that we aren't alone," she wrote on her website.

She's overcoming quite a bit so far, including others on the Billboard Hot 100: "Fight Song" has peaked so far at No. 50, plus at No. 11 on the Adult Top 40 chart. Watch the video here.

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A$AP Rocky Teases New Album
(Radio.com) ASAP Rocky's been in the studio for several years, cooking up his next project At. Long Last. ASAP. Many have wondered what it will sound like: would Rocky double down on the cloud-rap-meets-Houston-screw style of his debut? Would he go pop? Go grime? Croon in Auto-Tune like everyone else? Danger Mouse, seriously?

Now we've finally got a taste. After months of holding it close to the vest, Rocky's camp has dropped a short video leak of an unnamed track, released via GQ. The visual is shot by Daniel Arsham and the snippet of the track is produced by Danger Mouse.

The 40-second clip finds Rocky in a dimly lit room, smoking a blunt, spinning around and rapping in a psychedelic sing-song about "another lost soul in a city of lost hope" over a creeping instrumental. Check out the preview here.

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Meghan Linsey Of 'The Voice' Releases 'Change My Mind' Video
(Radio.com) Meghan Linsey laid it all out on the table Monday night (May 18) on the next to last episode of The Voice. The country singer premiered a new song of hers--which will be her coronation song--on the episode, and has also debuted a music video of the track, "Change My Mind."

Linsey, best known as a former member of country duo Steel Magnolia, co-wrote the song. A powerful soulful ballad where she sings of an ex wanting her to change who she is, the song showcases her poignant vocals that are part country, part gospel.

The singer told her coach, Blake Shelton, that the song was written during a bad relationship. 'I gotta hand it to you, you guys wrote the hell out of that song," Shelton told Linsey. 'That hook is so strong, so powerful."

Watch the video here.

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Jason Derulo Reveals Song With Stevie Wonder and Keith Urban
(Radio.com) Jason Derulo, Stevie Wonder and Keith Urban walk into a bar. Nah, this isn't the start to a joke: it's Derulo's new song "Broke" and its featured guest list. And boy, is it a weird one.

Not that weird, in this case, is a bad thing, but it's certainly unlike anything Derulo's released from his upcoming new album so far. Think of "Broke" as a mashup between Derulo's usual pop-inflected R&B, the post-chorus melody usually supplied by something like a trumpet or saxophone replaced by a harmonica--that's where Wonder comes in, adding a quick solo toward the end.

As for the Urban element? Along with what sounds to be backing vocals, there's underlying banjo and acoustic guitar that gives "Broke" the country music touch.

"I'm still gonna get stoned, so you can go ahead and break your bones/ 'Cause all I've ever been told, mo' money mo' problems so I'd rather be broke," comes a group vocal on the chorus. Check it out here.

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Gloriana Releasing New Album 'Three' Next Month
(Radio.com) Gloriana have spent the past two years working on a follow-up to 2012's A Thousand Miles Left Behind and this summer all that hard work will see the light of day.

Produced by Matt Serletic, their third album, aptly titled Three, will be available on June 2. In an interview with Radio.com, the band discussed their "fun" new sound. The trio spent two years on the road recording the record in different cities, and Mike Gossin said that the band's time there has helped shape the energy of the album, current single 'Trouble" being no exception.

'It's cool to see the crowd's response to the new songs," he said. 'And that gives us a good idea also of which ones are really connecting. We see the response by the end of the claps."

Meanwhile, brother Tom Gossin said playing live has dictated much of the sound of the record. Before they even started writing, they figured out how the song would be played live. Read more here.

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Sam Smith Received 'Actual Harry Potter Wands' For His Birthday
(Radio.com) While Sam Smith recovers from vocal cord surgery, his 23rd birthday happened to fall within the bounds of his recovery period. To celebrate, his sisters sent him something very, very British.

In a post on his Instagram, Smith revealed that he received none other than "authentic" Harry Potter wands for his big day. "My sisters are actually the f-ing BEST," he wrote. "They got me authentic Harry Potter wands!!!!!!!!!! Best present EVERRRRRRR."

Of course, what does "authentic" mean? Real wands from the set of the film series, kind of like how Jay Z bought Beyonce one of the real dragon eggs from the Game of Thrones set? Or does the Smith family know something about Harry Potter and the real world of which we're not aware? We're gonna go with the former. Read more and see the post here.

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Singled Out: Imam Baildi's Argosvineis Moni
Today Lysandros Falireas from Imam Baildi tells us about the song "Argosvineis Moni" from their forthcoming album "Imam Baildi III" which will be released on June 16th. Here is the story:

You Fade Away Alone. This is what Argosvinis Moni means in Greek. This 1947 song is about a girl who wanders through life and is hurt and betrayed by love. A classic setting by the legendary composer Vassilis Tsitsanis, who would often have fragile girls in his songs saved by a man's love, as this probably fulfilled his own fantasies and appealed to both his male and female audience. Albeit typical, the song is a masterpiece and very moving, and it got us hooked into remixing it the moment we heard it.

Our approach was a bit cinematic, in the sense that we pictured the song played by a Mariachi band. Early on in production, we tried the melodies with a trumpet instead of the bouzouki & accordion instrumentals of the original version, and it fitted very well. But the key moment, which complemented the Mariachi idea, was when we thought about Willy Deville's version of Hey Joe, and started experimenting with how we could make Argosvinis sound like that. This led to the acoustic guitar parts, the cha - cha percussion pattern, and the violin answers to the basic melodic line.

It was the first remix we didn't use drums or electronic beats in, which made it sound much more acoustic and blended well with the samples from the original 78rpm version. Actually, to listeners not familiar with the original track, it is not even apparent that this is a remix.

Following this idea, the production flowed easily. We kept the original vocals, recorded the ac. guitar and percussion, and went on with the trumpets. We had the same player overdub the exact melodic lines many times to give it more volume and make the trumpets sound like a band rather than a solo instrument, and wrote a few new parts, mainly the violin parts and a new ending for the song, which we intentionally made a bit grandiose.

It's one of the songs we love the most from our last album and for some reason a track that works very well with non-Greek audiences in our shows. We figured this means that it communicates the fun part of our cultural identity to people who don't know us, which is more or less the concept of the music video for Argosvinis - to be released this month.

So if it feels like you were swept off your feet by love, put on 'Argosvinis Moni', you'll be saved in the end.

Hearing is believing. Now that you know the story behind the song, listen for yourself as you watch the video here and learn more about the band, find album preorder info and more right here!

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