Friday, February 11, 2011
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Beyonce Headlining Glastonbury Festival
Beyonce has been confirmed as a headliner at this year's Glastonbury Festival, which will take place from June 22-26 in South West England. The R&B/pop star, who is currently working with producers like Sean Garrett on her fourth album, will perform a 90-minute set on the final day of the fest.
Beyonce -- who is nominated for two Grammy awards this year -- was last seen on stage supporting her 2008 album, "I Am... Sasha Fierce," during her "I Am... World Tour," which ended last February. Rumors spread earlier this week that the singer would be headlining Glastonbury alongside U2 and Coldplay, although no other performers have been confirmed yet.
"This really is the biggest festival in the world and I cannot wait to perform there. Everyone who attends is really appreciative of music and is in such a good mood that entire weekend," says Beyonce in a statement. "I'm pumped just thinking about that huge audience and soaking up their energy."
Beyonce was last seen at Glastonbury Festival in 2008, watching her husband, Jay-Z, perform a headlining set. The festival, which expects an audience of 200,000 this year, featured Gorillaz, Muse and Stevie Wonder as headliners last June.
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Lady Gaga, Christina Aguilera Win Virgin Media Music Awards
This year the Virgin Media Music Awards were all about the ladies, with pop stars like Lady Gaga, Christina Aguilera and Kylie Minogue taking top prizes. According to the awards' website, more than 6 million votes were cast by fans in the U.K., taking some of music's fiercest females to the top of the nominee pack.
Minogue took home the prize for Best Album for her 2010 release Aphrodite. She also won Best Single for her track "All the Lovers."
Following her national anthem slip-up at the Super Bowl last weekend, Christina Aguilera was showered with love by fans who named her Best Comeback. Aguilera will have a chance to further redeem herself when she performs at Sunday's Grammy Awards.
Lady Gaga took home the prize for Best Collaboration for her epic dance track "Telephone" featuring fellow diva Beyoncé. The song and video placed second in two categories, Best Single and Best Video. Gaga also placed second in the Best Live Act category. John Lennon won the honor for Legend of the Year, but Gaga came in second, further solidifying her pop icon status.
Muse took home the prize for Best Group and Best Live Act, Marina and the Diamonds nabbed the Best Newcomer trophy and Shakira won Best Solo Female. And while her solo album was received as well stateside, Miley Cyrus' "Can't Be Tamed" video nabbed the teen star Best Video.
Brits James Blunt and Pixie Lott were named Hottest Male and Hottest Female. Plan B took home the award for Best Solo Male.
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Lady Gaga and Target Partner on Exclusive Deluxe Edition of ‘Born This Way’
Lady Gaga has partnered with Target to offer fans an exclusive deluxe edition of her new album Born This Way, due out in May. The edition includes three additional studio songs and five remixes and will be available for pre-order at target.com/gaga beginning at 8 a.m. CST on Friday, February 11th through Saturday, February 26th.
“We’re excited to be working with Target,” said Steve Berman, vice chairman of Interscope Geffen A&M. “We always have a tremendously successful relationship when we get together on something like this. Target provides us with the perfect platform to really turn the spotlight on the incredible album that Lady Gaga has made.”
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Kanye West "Doesn't Use A Mobile Phone"
Kanye West may be a superstar rapper, but according to pint-sized popstar Justin Bieber, Yeezy doesn't own a mobile phone.
The Baby hitmaker, who worked with Kanye on a remix of his tune Runaway Love, claims he was shocked to find out that the Power rapper doesn't have a cell.
Speaking of Yeezy to our US Team, the 16-year old singer revealed: "It's funny, because he doesn't even use a phone, he just sends email."
Bieber continued: "It's so crazy. I'm like, 'How can you not use a phone?'"
Justin, who premiered his new 3D movie Never Say Never in LA last night, also shed some light on what it is like working with Kanye, revealing that West is "really laid back."
The Pray singer explained: "He reproduced the 'Runaway' joint, and I'm really excited. It was amazing. He's such a cool guy, and he's just really laid back and just nice, and at the end of the day, he's just a nice person."
JB's manager Scooter Braun also admitted that Bieber and West are collaborating on some new material for Justin's next album, stating: "Justin is working on new music. He and Kanye had a call the other day about a song they're trying to work on together."
He added: "Kanye wants to produce a bunch of new songs for the new album."
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Nicki Minaj Has "Toned Down" Her Sexy Image
Nicki Minaj has claimed that she has "toned down" her sexy image despite protests from her record label, Young Money.
Speaking to NME, the Moment 4 Life rapper revealed that she wanted to take on a less saucy character, because she wanted to be know for her music and not just her looks.
The 26-year old explained: "If you listen to my album, compared to my early mixtapes, a lot has changed. I mean, I really toned down the sexual stuff."
She continued: "There was no need for me to do it. I feel like in the past females have kinda relied on that because they feel like that’s all they have to offer."
As for making the change against Young Money's wishes, the star - who signed with Lil Wayne's label in 2009 - added: "I was around people who were telling me, 'This is what you should be doing'."
"When you're young and impressionable you feel like 'Okay, you know best'."
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Nightwish reveal concept for their next album
In the midst of recording a new album, Nightwish has been preparing a movie.
"Imaginarium" is a music fantasy - film based on the forthcoming Nightwish album of the same title and its 13 songs.
The protagonist of the film is a songwriter with an otherworldly imagination. He is an old man who still thinks he`s a young boy. While asleep he travels into his distant past where his dreams of old come back to him mixed to the young boy`s world of fantasy and music.
In his dreams the old man fights to find the memories most important to him.
This never-done-before project originates to more than two years in the past when Tuomas first introduced his ambitious idea of the Imaginarium - concept to the fellow band members and to Mr. Stobe Harju, the director behind "The Islander" - music video. He will be the director of this full-length feature. The film will be produced by Solar Films Inc. together with Nightwish.
The shootings for "Imaginarium" will begin this spring, it will have its premiere in 2012 and the album it`s based on will be released in an undefined point in time.
Nightwish will hold a press conference related to this project at the end of February.
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Joe Jonas: "The Dance Element Is Where My Heart Is"
Joe Jonas has been busy working on the studio on his solo album.
Make sure to pick up the new issue of Entertainment Weekly for a sneak peek of what Joe’s been working on. Don’t worry, Joe isn’t moving too far from the roots of the music you’ve grown to love from him.
He shares, “It’s not a cheesy pop record. Most of the songs are love-related, but I put responsibility on myself to grab their ears again.”
So what is the sound? Joe says, “The dance element is where my heart is.”
For even more, make sure to pick up the issue of EW which is on newsstands in NYC and LA today and everywhere on Friday.
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Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Nicki Minaj Hits No. 1 on Billboard 200, Crosses 1 Million Sales
Nicki Minaj crowns the Billboard 200 albums chart for the first time, as her "Pink Friday" set steps 3-1 in its 11th week on the list (45,000; up 18% per Nielsen SoundScan). "Pink" also pushes past the 1 million total sales mark this week -- 1,035,000 total since its Nov. 22, 2010 release.
"Pink Friday" initially debuted at No. 2 and has since spent its entire chart life in the top 10.
Minaj's patient wait for her turn at No. 1 is a rare sight. For the most part, an album is only No. 1 because it debuted there. It's unusual for a set to climb to the top. Case in point: in 2010, there were 30 albums that hit No. 1, but just one -- Lil Wayne's "I Am Not A Human Being" -- actually rose to the top. Wayne debuted at No. 2 off of just downloads, then fell to No. 16 the next week, only to reach No. 1 the next once the CD version of the album dropped.
Before "Friday's" ascent to the top, the last album to take longer to rise to No. 1 was way back on the chart dated March 5, 2005, when Ray Charles' "Genius Loves Company" finally hit No. 1 in its 25th week. It zoomed 15-1 with 224,000 (up 202%) following its Grammy win for album of the year.
Minaj's 18% sales gain could be attributed to sustained impact from her "Saturday Night Live" guest turn on Jan. 30, in addition to some surprising viral love from confessed fans Taylor Swift and Selena Gomez. The latter ladies can be found -- separately -- on YouTube rapping to the "Pink Friday" cut "Super Bass." The two most popular clips have racked up more than 2 million views in the five days they've been online.
Last week's No. 1, Amos Lee's "Mission Bell," falls way down to No. 26 with 15,000 (down 62%). That's a larger positional drop than the one experienced by Cake's "Showroom of Compassion," which collapsed 1-25 three weeks ago.
Rock band Red debuts in the runner-up slot this week with its "Until We Have Faces" set, and at No. 1 on the Christian Albums chart. It bows with 43,000 -- a bigger start than the 39,000 that greeted its second album, 2009's "Innocence & Instinct," upon its No. 15 entry on the Billboard 200.
Ricky Martin returns to the Billboard 200 with the mostly-Spanish studio set "Musica + Alma + Sexo" starting at No. 3 with 32,000. His last effort, 2005's "Life," began at No. 6 with 73,000. "Musica" is his first Spanish studio offering since "Almas Del Silencio" in 2003, which launched at No. 12 with 65,000. "Musica" is the highest charting primarily-Spanish language set since Selena's No. 1 album "Dreaming Of You" spent its first three chart weeks lodged in the top three (Aug. 5 through Aug. 19, 1995).
At No. 4, Bruno Mars' "Doo-Wops & Hooligans" rises one slot (just under 32,000; down 3%) while Rihanna's "Loud" rallies 13-5 (29,000; up 15%). "Kidz Bop 19" is up three to No. 6 (28,000; down 7%), Jason Aldean's "My Kinda Party" skips 12-7 (27,000; up 5%) and Taylor Swift's "Speak Now" falls one to No. 8 (also with almost 27,000; down 13%). Closing out the top 10 albums are P!nk's "Greatest Hits ... So Far!!!" up two to No. 9 (25,000; down 6%) and Eminem's "Recovery" ascends 16-10 (just under 25,000; up 18%). It's a tight top 10 -- Nos. 3-10 are separated by just 6,696 units.
Over on the Digital Songs chart, Dr. Dre bows at No. 1 with "I Need a Doctor" (featuring Eminem and Skylar Grey), selling 226,000 downloads. "Doctor" follows Dre's "Kush," which premiered at No. 36 in December with just 45,000; earning its best week in the following stanza, with 67,000 at No. 22.
Wiz Khalifa's "Black and Yellow" earns a 6% gain -- no doubt spurred on by Super Bowl action -- while holding at No. 2 with 198,000 while P!nk's "F**kin' Perfect" falls from 1-3 with 187,000 (down 22%).
Chris Brown's "Look At Me Now" (featuring Lil Wayne and Busta Rhymes) starts at No. 4 with 158,000. It's the best sales week for Brown since his "No Air" duet with Jordin Sparks shifted 153,000 in April of 2008. "Look At Me Now" is also Brown's first top 10 hit on the Digital Songs chart his 2008 Summer Olympics song "Dreamer" debuted at No. 5 in August of that year.
Mars' "Grenade" slips 3-5 (141,000; down 15%), Enrique Iglesias' "Tonight (I'm Lovin' You)" falls 5-6 (124,000; down 13%) and Katy Perry's "Firework" drops 6-7 (121,000; down 10%). Far*East Movement's "Rocketeer" holds at No. 8 (117,000; down 7%), Pitbull's "Hey Baby" falls 4-9 (116,000; down 7%) and Diddy Dirty Money's "Coming Home" (featuring Grey) slides 7-10 (112,000; down 14%).
Overall album sales in this past chart week (ending Feb. 6) totaled 5.5 million units, up 4% compared to the sum last week (5.3 million) and down 18% compared to the comparable sales week of 2010 (6.7 million). Year to date album sales stand at 26.3 million, down 14% compared to the same total at this point last year (30.7 million).
Digital track sales this past week totaled 24.6 million downloads, down less than 1% compared to last week (24.7 million) and up 2% stacked next to the comparable week of 2010 (24.1 million). Year to date track sales are at 132.9 million, up 4% compared to the same total at this point last year (128.1 million).
Next week's Billboard 200 competes with the same week in 2010 when: Sade's "Soldier of Love" marched in at No. 1 with a whopping 502,000. Lady Antebellum's "Need You Now" slid from the top slot to No. 2 with 208,000 (down 1%).
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