Taylor Swift unveiled "I Knew You Were Trouble"

To celebrate her 23rd birthday, Taylor Swift unveiled her 23rd video on MTV channel to show the world her edgy side for the loopy break-up upbeat track, "I Knew You Were Trouble," the third promotional single from the Country-Pop songstress latest fourth studio album, "Red," which has already achieved multi-platinum status since it was released in October. The track offers more insight into her relationship with the bad boy, and the clip features a pink-haired Swift trying to pick up the pieces after bad boy has left her.
Inspired by the British band One Direction member Harry Styles, the dubstep-inspired bass breakdown "I Knew You Were Trouble," breaks the singer out of Nashville and touches on all genres of music with moments of straight-up Top 40 pop, country and even dance, with its grinding effects, especially on the bumping chorus. It's a peppy, uber-catchy pop, a far cry from traditional country, and its mainstream appeal yet noted Swift's experimentation with dubstep as relatively limited. Swift is try at dropping the bass ultimately gets absorbed into the artist's own aesthetic.
Musically, the way the song bounces around musical genres, was one of Swift's intentions. Speaking the song "is about not trusting your own instincts and ignoring all the red flags." Swift admitted to having gone into a relationship knowing it was the wrong thing to do. "It's a song that's one of my favorite songs on the album because it sounds just as chaotic as the feeling was when I wrote it. It's a song about kind of being frustrated with yourself because you have your heart broken and you knew when you first saw that person you saw all these red flags and you just went for it anyway," she explained. "So, shame on me."
Filmed in Los Angeles by Anthony Mandler, the dark-themed clip is looking distinctively different from the country music sweetheart's previous music videos. It find grimy-looking Swift either passed out or sleeping on the ground in the middle of a field covered with trash, likely after a party. She looks around her, confused and incredulous at where she has landed. She slowly stands up as black and white clips of her fans cheering at a concert cuts in and out. The edgy video then follows her really toxic relationship with 'Spider-Man' star Reeve Carney as her co-star, and it definitely delves depths she's never explored before.

Read More

Icona Pop show touring life in 'We Got the World'

Swedish electro-pop duo Icona Pop continues their quest for global domination with their new video for the incredibly catchy latest single, "We Got The World." Although the duo has yet to release a full-length album in North America, the video comes on the heels of the release of their debut self-titled LP in Sweden, and features Caroline Hjelt and Aino Jawo, the duo behind Swede club, doing what they do best: slaying crowds, partying, larking around and raging hard.
Icona Pop really really like to party and make feel-good club beats with electro house music, punk and indie pop influences. While it seemed like they couldn't get any more poppy with their feel-good anthems, they've pushed that sugary sound even further into the red with some of the most popped out anthems of the past couple of years. Being in a band is a lot of work but it can also be a lot of fun. If you were to look for an analogue for where Icona Pop fits into the music world, you'd probably start with Robyn, but with a certain X-Factor that places them on the cool-kid side of the cafeteria.
"We Got The World," is an uptempo dance track with pummeling house beats that has shades of Calvin Harris, plus Robyn at her most euphorically carefree. The girls sing over a coruscating house track. It's an explosive creddy pop single knock you over the head confection has a strong dash of EDM that shows why these Swedes are one of the most hotly tipped new groups of the year. Icona Pop don't suffer from the inherent strain and tedious nature of life on the road in their new clip, if anything, they have the most when they're not rockin' out.
Documenting their touring life, the Fredrik Etoall-directed clip dials up both sides of the pop/punk-rock dialectic to 11, and has Icona Pop seizing the day like the lyrics promise all over the place: crashing in hotels, making out with strangers at a burlesque club, spin in front of huge crowds and, riding topless through the desert, and looking too hip for life, you name it, they're doing it. If there's anything we can take away from this video, it's that Icona Pop's touring life is just as loud, catchy, stylish, fast-paced, and naked as their music would indicate. Enjoy the pair's wild ways when you watch below.

Read More

Skylar Grey asks Eminem "C'mon Let Me Ride"

Taking aim at the hyper-sexualized culture of youth in America today, Skylar Grey has released a pretty funny sarcastic visual for her just-released catchy single, "C'mon Let Me Ride," the lead single from Grey's upcoming major-label debut album, "Don't Look Down," which rapper Eminem executive produced and scheduled to drop next spring. It looks like an old school Eminem video, which is fitting considering he makes a guest appearance on his trusty bicycle with all the zaniness going on.
The colorful and quirky "C'mon Let Me Ride," is a girl's plea for her crush to let her ride his bicycle. Only this boy and his two-wheel choice of transportation lives in the trailer park. Grey's grunge, edgy vibe causes her to stick out like a sore thumb from the other girls in the neighborhood with their faux tans and skimpy bikinis. Since Grey sings about wanting to ride a man's bicycle, the video also features several customized bicycles. Climbing on top of her crush makes him think she wants to seduce him, and she does, according to the lyrics. Instead she takes the cash. Chicks in bikinis continue to run through the 'hood.
Eminem has certainly mastered the art of parody and Grey takes a chapter from his book with visuals that are intended to poke fun at America's overly sexualized society and beyond. As she serves up some revenge and turns up the jokes in this trailer park-inspired clip. That sarcasm comes through pretty song as the video shows a scene of her playing Dr. Grey, a shady plastic surgeon whose results are only slightly exaggerated from what can be seen around Hollywood. To get her man's eyes off the models in his magazines, Grey offers them free tans that turn them orange and plastic surgery that results in face transplants that she conducts, ever so delicately, with a chainsaw.
As for Eminem, who brings high-wattage star power, drops a guest rap and the auto-tuned refrain from Queen's 1978 song "Bicycle Race," and trying to pedal away on his lowrider tricycle that's attached to a packed kiddie pool. Grey simply laughed at its absurdity. She explains to MTV News, "I'm poking fun at the overtly sexualized aspect of everything in this world today. The video is a combined effort between director Isaac Rentz, me and Eminem, and we just wanted to make sure it was very clear that it's a sarcastic song."

Read More

Rita Ora Gets Futuristic World In "Radioactive"

Following her performance at London's O2 Arena this past weekend for the Jingle Bell Ball, and overlooks the recent Twitter slander, Rita Ora hasn't it let slow up her pace with the release of her new sci-fi-inspired promo in visual-form for her fierce song, "Radioactive," third US single, and fourth overall from her debut album, "ORA," to be released in the US in early 2013. Well that's one way to draw attention away from her personal life.
Despite having notched up three consecutive UK No.1's, the 22-year-old Roc Nation star shows no signs of slowing with the push for her debut LP "ORA." While Ora is yet to confirm or deny the accusations, the singer recently said she understands the interest in her personal life as it comes with the job. "If you want to do my job, you have to suck it up, because it goes hand-in-hand with what you're doing. At the end of the day, the media are helping you - they're what you need," the songstress explained.
The record title represents more than just the singer's last name, as it also means "time" in her country of birth, Kosovo, and it took Ora a long time to get the LP completed. "The name of the album made sense because it's taken two and a half years to record," she said. Like Guetta-style dancefloor mode, the upbeat tempo of the track "Radioactive," is matched with an equally fetching promo, which sees the blonde Brit heads to different galaxies and turns into a robotic femme fatale and dwells in a futuristic wasteland surrounded by people in gas masks.
Ora goes "Radioactive" and shows off an array of colorful and eye-catching costumes throughout and even has her face attached to a robotic headpiece during one scene. She's unfazed by the harsh conditions though, as she sings about unity in the Syndrome-directed outer-space themed clip. The intense animation and graphics give a 3D feel as the British pop star takes you into her world of mind-blowing robotics and futuristic fashions. So put your palms to the sky and rock with Ora.

Read More

David Guetta Unveils "Just One Last Time"

David Guetta has revealed the new Sci-Fi visual for his smash banger, "Just One Last Time," which was released as the second single and ninth single overall from 45-year-ild French superstar deejay's latest compilation of works, "Nothing but the Beat, 2.0," a re-release of his fifth studio album, "Nothing But The Beat," featuring six new tracks, including previous single, "She Wolf (Falling To Pieces)." It will be given an official release on New Year's Eve.
Guetta never stops and he has created timeless house and dance tracks that didn't need to be riddled with crappy rhymes. The trailblazing Frenchmen, who recently nabbed the first-ever American Music Award for EDM, has an exasperated new video for his haunting balled-anthem cut, "Just One Last Time," features vocals from Swedish alternative pop duo Taped Rai, and marks duo's debut release into the international market.
Filmed in Los Angeles by director Colin Tilley, the accompanying music video for for "Just One Last Time" is on fire, literally! Along with a touching love story as this intense and emotional rescue mission unfolds. The video begins with a man entering a bedroom. On the bed there is a burned note which reads, "Without your love I would die." He lays down in bed and a machine plugs into his head which causes him to go back in time. He wakes up in the same bed, but instead of being alone his girlfriend is sleeping next to him.
He sneaking out of house to go and play a game of shoot pool with Guetta at the pool hall, before he gets a call and learned that the house is on fire. The girlfriend that he left at home asleep remains in the inferno, and so Guetta drives him rush back home and he runs into the burning house to find his girlfriend, who is still in their bedroom. He picks her up and jumps out the window. After the fall, she survives but he gets killed in the process. The video is perfect for such an upbeat song and it even has Guetta spinning at this super cool deck, while flames are rising behind him. The cinematography and the effects on this video are on point.

Read More

Kerli Reminds Us We Are "The Lucky Ones"

Known for her more fantasy-driven visuals, the Estonian pop singer Kerli takes a different turn with a contemporary look for her latest up-tempo yet heartfelt song, “The Lucky Ones.” The inspirational dance jam will serve as the lead single from her upcoming sophomore studio album, "Utopia," dropping in 2013. The 25-year-old fashion forward songstress has said that her new album would celebrate life's light and dark sides.
Kerli's best known for combining pop, dance, elements of goth, and electronic music, and her latest track is no different, adding yet another irresistible song to her "Bubblegoth" genre. "The Lucky Ones" is an electropop song, and its synthesizer influenced production contains electronic dance and trance beats, and the song proved a fitting bridge for a truly visionary presence on the trendsetting side of pop. The song's lyrics were inspired by a friend of Kerli's miraculously finding the cure and overcoming his cancer and encourage people to be thankful for what they have in life.
"The message of the song is for us to never ever forget that we are the lucky ones. That fact that we get to sit here right now and be healthy. It's definitely the most meaning song I've ever written," Kerli said in a live chat back in September. "The Lucky Ones" takes a page out of Kerli's underground anthem "Zero Gravity" book, charging forward with pumping electro dance synths and trance-like beats. But while the high-octane vibe may be out of this world, Kerli's heartfelt lyrics and powerfully belts bring the song down to Earth.
It's a celebration of life, love and living in the moment. Accordingly, Kerli is acid, grunge, early 90's inspired in the moment more than ever in her new promo, which was directed by Ethan Chancer. The clip portrays the colorful singer in black and white with slow-motion close-ups of her face as she dancing and walking down the streets of Los Angeles, running her hand against a wall while singing the song, mixed with clips of speeding traffic that emphasize the hyper energy of the song. Apparently, Kerli wanted to give her fans something more gritty and real this time that hopefully inspires them the way they have inspired her.

Read More

Leona Lewis Breaks Free From "Lovebird" Cage

Sometimes you have to break free from the bounds of dysfunctional love to feel liberated and in control of your life once more! As a melancholic Leona Lewis finds her inner-spirit while imprisoned in a birdcage with the stunning new visual for "Lovebird," the second single pulled from her critically acclaimed third emotional LP, "Glassheart," which has yet to be released in the United States. Unsurprisingly the 27-year-old complete with her trademark long ponytail the X Factor winner looks positively at home in the virtual prison.
After a host of dance-infused upbeat numbers, Lewis has gone back to her familiar territory roots with this big power ballad, "Lovebird," which allows her to show off her vocal range to full effect. While it's not the most inspiring or original effort you'll hear this year, it should certainly please the singer's fans. Full of pleading looks, colorful outfits and, perhaps unsurprisingly, dark moody lights and a bird cage, Lewis' latest offering is a sweet midtempo ballad which starts off with a organ-based introduction, similar to that used in Lewis' debut single "Bleeding Love," and is then layered with piano melodies in the chorus which critics compared to those used in her single "Better in Time."
What a catchy, passionate ballad, and it's the perfect tune to blast when feeling stuck or suffocated in a relationship. Although perhaps not an advert for feminism Lewis looks classically beautiful, the British diva looks positively mournful in an ivory sleeved dress and floats in a wrapped ensemble as she finds the strength and courage to set herself free. It gave the video a definite dark side, which suited the "Bleeding Love" singer down to a tee. The liberated flying bird was predictable but it nicely cemented the concept.
Given that the title of the song is "Lovebird," there's a metaphorical theme to this video as Lewis, clad in a long flowing dress and ruffled cape, is seen singing inside a giant cage in a large shadowy room. It's not all doom and gloom though since the caged monochromatic Lewis is intercut with shots of the singer in a bright pink floaty number and jeweled eye decorations. This goes on for quite some time until the Lewis in the cage realizes she isn’t locked in after all, and makes her bid for freedom as a dove soars into the air. All very meaningful, we're sure.

Read More