Day in Pop Report for 05/21/2015
He was driving down the interstate when he saw the man crash, and gave him fruit and chocolate to normalize his blood sugar, Gawker reports. He wrote a statement about the incident on his Instagram. "Dear Lord, thank you for your mercy, grace and forgiveness for 2nd chances," he wrote. "We just witnessed a man 24 years old driving super erratically from Casper Wyoming to Riverton Wyoming. We thought he was a drunk doing 60mph when he spun out of control and did a complete 180"� degrees, Thank God he didn't flip he was 30 ft in front of us. Turns out after we stopped to check on him he was having a diabetic shock. Thanks to the EMS on the scene that happens to be driving right behind us from Indiana and the cute old couple in the RV for the apples and oranges we gave him. My heart is still racing. "Again, thank you Jahovah [sic] for protecting this young man and thanks that we didn't have to witness the worse. @TONYBFBG WHEW now let's do this show. Be safe people Layzie loves ya." Read more here.
But, as this is a McCartney passion project, the Beatles' great is working on songs for the movie, with Deadline reporting that McCartney has seven or eight new songs set for the film, and will even voice one of the characters, according to Rolling Stone. One of the songs in the movie will reportedly be a collaboration between McCartney and Lady Gaga, and Pearl Jam guitarist Mike McCready is also said to be involved. No release date for either the film or the soundtrack is yet announced, but it seems likely to be in 2016. Read more here.
"It's beginning to look like I'm not going to get The Tonight Show," Letterman quips during his opening monologue. It was a great opening, but then the show--as promised--also featured some special guests. Just a few. Ok�a lot. Meaning, if you thought the list of folks who've been appearing in the week's leading up to the final episode The Late Show was impressive, wait until you find out who stopped by on Letterman's final night. The night's Top 10 list was a celebrity fun fest. The topic at hand was the 'final things I would like to say to David Letterman." An impressive roster of "frequent guests" and "friends" took the stage to present each item on the list, including Jerry Seinfeld, Peyton Manning, Steve Martin, Jim Carrey, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Chris Rock, Alec Baldwin, Tina Fey, Bill Murray and Barbara Walters. Earlier, the Simpsons also made an appearance in an animated clip. The show was filled with clips from Letterman's past achievements, including hilarious interviews with kids, a stint working the drive-through at Taco Bell and 'classic' appearances by guests such as Andy Kaufman. Letterman also gave sincere thanks to his staff and crew behind the scenes, the show's writers, his family, CBS CEO Les Moonves (whom he emphasized has been more than "patient" with him over the years) and of course the band, most notably his sidekick Paul Shaffer. And of course, as rumored, the Foo Fighters were Letterman's final musical guest. Read more here.
In it, she imagines Britney Spears, Cher, Lady Gaga, Miley Cyrus, Sia and Shakira as judges on The Voice (of course, Shakira had kept Xtina's seat warm when she took a brief sabbatical from the show).. Of course, it's not her first time doing impressions of Brit Brit, Cher and Shakira; she mimicked their voices while playing with the "Musical Impressions Generator" with Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show back in February. This time, however, she had the aid of a costume department, and instead of copying their singing voices, she had fun by parodying their personalities. Miley Cyrus for instance promises that she'll teach her team to twerk, Cher complains about her moving chair ("I have an Oscar for God's sake, an Emmy, a Tony!") and hasn't heard of the other coaches ("Adam Levine? Is that my accountant?"), Lady Gaga wants to change the color of her chair ("Can we make it mirrors? Can we throw bacon on it?"). She also apes Shakira's accent and talks at great length. Sia of course, doesn't speak at all, communicating through a miniature version of herself. The harshest parody, though, was reserved for her former Mickey Mouse Club-mate, Britney Spears. "How do the singers know that you've turned around if everybody's blind?" Later, she looks at the question mark on the monitor on the back of her chair and says, "Hey, my name's spelled wrong." Watch it here.
However, Migos' Yung Rich Nation clothing line, which was scheduled for the same day, will still drop on June 16 at YungRichNation.com, with an in-store date set for July 15. The delay may be due to member Offset's continued time spent in jail following an arrest for gun and drug possession in April. The rest of the group has since met bail, but Offset has since found more charges due to an alleged jail fight earlier this month. To tide over fans, the group debuted a new music video today for "Origin." Read more here.
"Hey, men - do me and yourselves a favour, and don't underestimate my skill," she wrote, before sending out another tweet that said, "Yes, i'm a young lass, but i'm also making the best decisions for me each day. #stayeducated " So what sparked these fightin' words from Lorde? Perhaps it had something to do with her firing her longtime manager, Scott Maclachlan. No reason was given for the split, but maybe this gives a few clues? "yes, i'm a young lass, but i'm also making the best decisions for me each day. #stayeducated ��- Lorde (@lordemusic) May 20, 2015" Read more here.
Such is the case with Ohio Taylor Swift fan Ronnie Brower, who used "Shake It Off" and other Taylor Swift songs as anthems for him to literally shake off hundreds of pounds of excess weight, dropping from 675 pounds to 250 over the last couple years. To commemorate his long journey, Brower's friend made a video about his accomplishment as a message to Swift, to make her 1989 tour Cleveland stop a special one for one of her biggest fans. Brower's keys to losing weight: diet, a ton of exercise, and a strict listening regime to Taylor, Taylor, and more Taylor. Watch the video here.
His mixtapes are like stars in the sky, and songs are like grains of sand on a beach--and now he's dropped a new one, without warning: King Gucci.It was premiered by XXL, and features an impressive lineup of guests. Riff Raff shows up on a scintillating TM 88 production called "I'm Too Much." Fetty Wap, PeeWee Longway, Young Scooter and Migos also make appearances. Chief Keef's name is on the bill, but not as a rapper: he produced "Smart Mouth," one of the best beats on the tape. Burbling synth runs are layered over flighty keys and splurts of 808 percussion. The rest of the beats come from familiar Atlanta heavyweights like Metro Boomin, TM88, FKi, and Zaytoven. Gucci recently wrote a letter from jail, addressing his fans and his 10-year career. He's also teased a collaborative album with Diplo, so expect even more new material soon. Stream it here.
"The more people see of me, the more they'll realize all I'm good for is making music," Winehouse says in a clip from an interview. The trailer jets between live performance footage, including her very early career; childhood footage of the young Winehouse; interview footage from her career; award show footage; and paparazzi footage that pushes a visual of her overwhelming fame. "The thing is, I don't think I'm going to be at all famous," Winehouse says in a voice over. "I'm not a girl trying to be a star." Amy is in theaters on July 23. Watch the trailer here.
The extras are dressed in Mad Max post-apocalyptic inspired states of near-nudity but with lots of color and embellishments, like feathers, scarves and neon face paint that the rebels in Mad Max would never have been able to get their hands on. Nicki Minaj shows up occasionally as a ever-present deity kind of character who glitches in and out for the chorus. Afrojack and Bebe Rexha, who are also credited on the track, do not manage to make it out of the Thunderdome. Read more and watch it here.
The radio friendly track showcases Pickler's airy vocals alongside steel and slide guitar. "What you're doing right now is sunshine and midnight," she sings on the track. "Feeling Tonight" was written by Sarah Buxton, Josh Osborne and Jimmy Robbins, and produced by Pickler's husband, Kyle Jacobs. In an interview with Entertainment Tonight in April, she teased her new music. "I will say that it is up-tempo and I hope that it will be this year's summer anthem," she said. "Represent the girls and have fun. It's sassy, and fun." In addition to releasing new music, Pickler will have her own reality show on CMT tentatively called I Love Kellie Pickler. Read more and check out the song here.
Frontman Ezra Koenig is fully aware of that, but unfortunately he's not in a rush to deliver the fourth album. 'Right now we're definitely gearing up to start working on another album but, we're not in a zone of like getting in there everyday or anything," Koenig told the No Effects Podcast. 'There have been discussions, of course there's' in some ways, you know, we're always working." That much is true. Over the past year or so, Koenig has worked with iLoveMakonnen, Karen O and Major Lazer. Rostam Batmanglij has produced and co-written for The Walkmen and Charli XCX, and collaborated with Ed Droste and Ty Dolla $ign. Meanwhile Chris Baio is plotting solo releases on his new label Glassnote Records. The long break between Vampire Weekend albums has better prepared the band to come up with a new sound, in Koenig's mind. 'In some ways those three albums was like kind of one massive period of obsessing, making music, touring, all those things," he said. "And I think now for the first time in a long time I kinda feel like, a little bit more relaxed like, 'Yeah, we'll definitely make a fourth album.' I'm not in a rush to dive into making an album because I feel like I want the next album to kinda feel like a new era anyway, so I've been kind of enjoying this time just chilling." Read more here.
For most of the song Rocky is singing, and he sounds great, like a more abstract, intoxicated version of Frank Ocean, almost. "Love, sex, dreams," he croons. "Can you feel it?" The video pays direct homage to Gaspar Noe's Enter the Void, a druggy journey down the rabbit hole set in neon-drenched Tokyo. Colors swirl and shift, signs flash, the camera floats around on its own terms and objects mutate and expand. We dive into a fluorescent cup of water; a lantern dissolves in a haze of gold and red. All in all, the song and video are a strong new direction for A$AP Rocky--closer to straightforward pop music than anything he's done before, without leaving behind his warped sensibility. Watch the video here.
In other words, to say that David Letterman was Jimmy Kimmel's idol would be an understatement. "I wanted to be an artist as a kid," began Kimmel in his opening monologue (watch above). "I loved to draw. Every night after my parents went to bed I would sit at my desk in my room and draw, until it was very late, and while I was doing that I would watch a television show that is very important to me as you can tell [chokes up]. It was called Late Night with David Letterman." Jimmy went on to explain that what attracted him to the show was that "it was weird." Even though it looked like every other talk show, it wasn't. It was totally original." "Watching Late Night, not only did I learn how to do everything from Dave, the reason I have this show is because the executive at ABC saw me when I was a guest on Dave's show and hired me to host this show. So, I want to thank Dave and his writers and producers�." Read more and watch it here.
It involves flying cars and lots of pyramids, though iPhones apparently remain the same. The visual is centered around a film showing for "California Roll," where a vintage audience packs into a theater and is greeted by a robot called Canubis 420 before being treated to a simulator ride, complete with Snoop Dogg's weed smoke wafting out of the screen. The gold-tinted video shows Pharrell and Snoop Dogg rapping atop a pyramid, between takes of Snoop and Wonder casually drifting through the clouds in a flying car. Check it here.
Sia performed in her now-trademark face-obscuring wig and a pinstriped suit along with choreographed dancing, a la her GRAMMYs performance. The Hough siblings took one side of a mirror image set, while their doppelgangers as children were on the other half. The four dancers performed a routine that was at times complementary and in sync, creating something visually so unusual that it has to be seen to be understood. The choreography finds them swinging from pieces of the set, flinging each other around in mock fights and breaking windows, all while Sia watches on. Check it out here.
"Back On the Backroads" is a song off Pardi's new EP The B Sides, which was released yesterday (May 19). The EP features six unreleased tracks from the country singer that were originally recorded for his 2014 debut album Write You a Song. Pardi co-produced and co-wrote all of the songs on The B Sides. A followup to Write You a Song, released in January 2014, has not yet been announced. The album hit No. 3 on the Country Albums chart in the U.S. upon its release. Watch the video here.
Pepa, as in Salt-n-Pepa, was tasked with lip synching the hit from Perry's 2010 album Teenage Dream when she contended on the Spike TV show, and she didn't disappoint. The MC also known as Sandra Denton went into full-on diva mode, rocking skyscraper heels, a tiny dress, and long locks. Denton even worked the stage like Perry, with ace hand gestures. Hosts Chrissy Teigen and LL Cool J obviously approved of her performance, judging by their own dance moves. Check out the clip here.
Foxx's version of the earworm--go ahead to 2:43 to see his take--is a soulful, piano-filled ode to the millions of toys the chain store has for you to play with. Foxx later showed off his Mick Jagger impression singing The Lion King's "Hakuna Matata," which was less singing and more strutting. We were pretty impressed by his Jennifer Hudson singing "On Top of Spaghetti" that was very Dreamgirls. Seriously, the loss of a meatball never sounded so empowering. Fallon got to do a Barry Gibb impression, which we have to say, seems a little but like cheating, but his Bruce Springsteen singing the America's Funniest Home Videos theme song was pretty epic. Watch it here.
Khalifa stepped out of his car and on to the red carpet where he immediately sparked a blunt, Complex reports. He didn't spy the nearby cop, who popped up into his grill. Photographer Jeff Kravitz was there, and shared the story he witnessed on his Facebook page."A police officer told him keep that s- off his carpet or he'd have to arrest him," said Kravitz. "It might be legal for medical in Vegas, but the cops don't have the tolerance they do in LA." Khalifa confirmed that the incident occurred with a winking post on his Instagram. He shared a picture of him up close and personal with the cop, who's wearing wraparound sunglasses and looks stern and serious. Read more here.
Competing with a tiny Macey Hensley, in a red cowgirl top, Bryan gets fooled into a game of trivia about U.S. presidents and history, a subject that Hensley happens to be an expert. At one point, Bryan calls out Hensley for not raising her hand, to which DeGeneres responds, "she doesn't have to," unwilling to let Bryan call foul when he is clearly getting schooled. Maybe best is the confidence and smile that Hensley dons for the entire segment, knowing she is going to win against an adult regardless of whether that adult is a country music superstar or not. At the end, DeGeneres is convinced that Hensley will be President herself one day, and it is hard to think she might not be right. Watch it here.
Upon hearing these allegations, 'Picasso Baby" producer and art gallery owner Jeanne Greenberg Rohatyn reportedly presented Artnet with a receipt of a substantial donation from Jay Z to the Institute, seemingly disproving Abramovic's claims. So what gives? Now, the Marina Abramovic Institute is taking responsibility for the miscommunication, issuing an apology to both Abramović and Jay Z, claiming that the artist was never notified of Jay Z's donation. Read more here.
While some of us may be wondering why she posted this transfixing 15-second clip--though most probably aren't, we know--the caption says it all: "This song makes me happy." And what makes Bey happy makes the world happy. And for right now, cha cha-ing makes her very happy. D.R.A.M. dropped his debut project#1EPICSUMMER last fall, but Bey's trying to make it a summer thing. Watch the clip here.
"It was this girl�she had this amazing collection of vintage dresses," Presley explains. "She sent me a bunch, she sort of did the thing that stylists do but I did it on Etsy because I think it's great that I could do it with someone who is just this normal person. On the red carpet I was like, 'I got this on Etsy!'" Presley says she's a huge fan of upcycling, good vintage deals and going retro. "[Retro style is] what I tend to love and lean to, not because I'm stylish or anything but it's because I thought, 'What can I do that's going to be still okay when I'm an old hag?' Which I'm slowly approaching,"Presley says with a self-deprecating laugh. "I thought, 'You know those little pin-up girls, I can get away with that for a long time.'" Read more here.
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