Obsessively blogging about pop music, pop videos, pop stars, and pop culture from inside the MTV headquarters in Times Square. We also have a slight Jonas Brothers problem. And a little fixation with Tokio Hotel.
You may remember Catlin Crosby's face from such shows as Malcolm In The Middle, That's So Raven and That '70s Show, but it's her voice that you should really be getting to know. The Hollywood pop princess is so good, she's already worked with Babyface, Robin Thicke and even Beach Boys legend Brian Wilson.
Her self-titled debut album is loaded with the kind of Regina Spektor / Feist-y ditties we've come to expect in the backgrounds of iPod commercials and big-screen teenage romances. In the whimsical video for first single, "Still Have My Heart," Caitlin bops around an animated scratch-paper backdrop, dealing with a string of doofus blind dates, including one with a dentist! And yes, those dates are really Zach Levi, from Chuck, Albert Reed of Dancing With The Stars, House's Jesse Spencer, and Robert Hoffman, from Step Up To The Streets.
Watch this little charmer, keep an eye out for Caitlin Crosby in upcoming Danny DeVito movie, House Broken, and check out Caitlin's side-project site, loveyourflawz.com, where "imperfect is the new perfect."
I've been super into Via Tania lately: the Chicago-by-way-of-Australia singer-songwriter just released her second album, Moon Sweet Moon, and it's full of dreamy-yet-substantial, bliss-and-wonder-filled tracks -- "The Beginning" is an absolute gem -- with some guilt-free disco thrown in to marvelous effect. Fans of Kate Nash, Feist, and even Kerli, start downloading.
But, most interestingly, it's obvious that Via Tania (born Tania Bowers) has been visiting Natasha Khan's Bat For Lashes School of Beauty, right down to the feathers and penchant for primary colors.
+ Watch Via Tania's "Wonder Stranger" video, and find out more about Bat For Lashes' new album, Two Suns.
Company Of Thieves is a band out of Chicago made up of Genevieve Schatz on vocals, Marc Walloch on the guitar, and Mike Ortiz playing drums. Their sound is kinda Feist-y. Soft, throaty melodic vocals over jagged, bluesy riffs and rhythms. Just a pinch of attitude.
But before you get to all that, you're much more likely to hear of Company Of Thieves as the band behind "Oscar Wilde," basically a musical remake of Rushmore with the band cast in all the leading roles. Lady-in-chief Genevieve Schatz plays Max the choirmaster, JV boys' basketball manager and kung-fu yellow belt, to name a few. The video is so engrossingly true to Wes Anderson's quirky masterpiece that you'll have to watch it twice before you even hear the song. Why don't you go ahead and do that right now?
It's pretty much black and white outside -- white, snowy sky, black everything else in Times Square that isn't covered in snow yet -- which serendipitously matches Plain White T's brand-new video, "1, 2, 3, 4," to a T. (Sorry.)
Check out Plain White T's unbelievably heartwarming, Valentine's Day-appropriate new video, shot in and around Chicago by Michael Venezia, who also directed "Making A Memory." I guarantee you'll fall for "1, 2, 3, 4" as fast and hard as you fell for a girl named Delilah.
That sweet "I'm just a little bit caught in the middle/ Life is a maze and love is a riddle" coming-of-age/ soundtrack-of-self-discovery song you've heard on all those Ugly Betty promos and in commercials for Old Navy? That's Lenka. Her song "Don't Let Me Fall" was in the premiere episode of the new 90210 (it's like Gossip Girl, but less OMG-ier!) And if there were a Sara Bareilles/ Yael Naim/ Emily Haines school of songwriting, the Aussie singer-songwriter would its fourth member. (The former Decoder Ring singer's also a deadringer for Rose McGowan, except Lenka is really cute and not frightening.)
+ According to Ron Sexsmith, rumors of Feist writing "Brandy Alexander" by herself are greatly exaggerated. (Stereogum)
+ Coldplay admits their upcoming new video could be a "disaster." (NME)
+ After a couple years of no spontaneous name-changes, Diddy decides to revert back to being "Puff Daddy." (Usmagazine.com)
+ And finally, a new leaked video shows Amy Winehouse and a friend singing "a racist version of 'Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes'" (???????) and pleasuring her husband. Unfortunately. (NYDN)
Despite the fact that the second word in the song's title is "nose" and that a giant white nose makes an appearance in N.E.R.D.'s new "Everyone Nose" video -- the first single off their new album, Seeing Sounds, which drops next week -- N.E.R.D. claims the track is not about cocaine, which could've fooled us. I mean, "White Horse" isn't about horses either, but we all know what it means.
We've seen references to the song as an anti-drug anthem, and in our estimation, the video and its mascara-smeared anti-heroine don't exactly make us wanna blow rails. But still, in the video, nose candy and sensory overload loom larger than the 800-pound gorilla in the club.
Watch the new video here, and check out our exclusive interview with N.E.R.D to see what Pharrell has to say about the track, the new album's influences and what it's like touring with Kanye. Plus, references to Fall Out Boy and Feist!
Yael Naim is a little Cat Power, slightly Feist, vaguely Regina Spektor and a bit Beirut. And the Parisian/Israeli singer-songwriter is also currently the biggest little artist you haven't heard of but probably know.
Like Feist, Yael Naim became an Apple darling when Steve Jobs himself selected her lovely, lilting single, "New Soul" to helm the TV spot for the MacBook Air (that name always makes us think of old-school Jordans or something) -- trust us, you've seen that commercial and heard that song. That ubiquitous commercial spot also earned her a top 10 spot on the Billboard Hot 100, (apparently Apple's got "impact!"), and now she's planning a U.S. tour to coincide with the release of her first U.S. album this March.
Fergie was amongst the short list of musicians who rose with the dawn this morning to announce the 50th Annual Grammy Award nominees. Fergie herself received one nomination -- Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for "Big Girls Don't Cry." And even though the show's nearly two months away (it airs Sunday, Feb. 10), we think the real winner is Spyro Gyra, the Susan Lucci of the music industry with 10 nominations, zero wins.
But seriously, can SOMEONE just give Kanye West another damn Grammy already? We think he's actually earned it with Graduation, but you know he's gonna try to hijack the mic, so he might as well walk off the stage with some metal.
