MTV Buzzworthy Blog › Jack's Mannequin

Welcome to Buzzworthy's The Week In Pop, where we round up new album releases, talk show musical guests and appearances, TV appearances by your favorite pop stars and more (so you don't have to).

Die Antwoord releases their 'Tension' album, Katharine McPhee stars in 'Smash' and The Fray release their new album.

Hopefully y'all are recovered from your chicken wing overload (or your group clap-along to Madonna's "Like A Prayer" during the halftime show), but there's a ton of music happenings to pay attention to this week! So listen up! The Fray's back with their third studio album, Scars & Stories, Die Antwoord is hitting nighttime TV (I'm scared), the NBC show "Smash" FINALLY premieres and HELLLOOOOOO, THE GRAMMYS ARE SUNDAY!

Check out this week's album releases and talk show music guests below, and tune in to MTV tonight for the exclusive premiere of the the Black Keys "Gold On The Ceiling" video, followed by a 30-minute interview with the band on MTV.com.

NEW ALBUM RELEASES
Tuesday, Feb. 7
+ A Place To Bury Strangers, Onwards To The Wall: The "loudest band in New York" is back with their special blend of noise rock, featuring the single "So Far Away."
+ Die Antwoord, Tension: The South African Zef lords are more than ready to terrify you again with their second LP, Tension, released on their own label, featuring "I Fink U Freaky."
+ The Fray, + Scars & Stories: The brooding piano rockers drop their third studio album, Scars & Stories. Check out their lead single, "Heartbreak."

Check out more new album releases and upcoming TV appearances and performances after the jump.
Read more...

Related Content Follow Buzzworthy On Twitter

Tags 50 Cent, A Place To Bury Strangers, Alabama Shakes, Andy Grammer, Anthony Hamilton, boyz-ii-men, Bruce Springsteen, Bruno Mars, Cee-Lo Green, Coldplay, Die Antwoord, Dierks Bentley, Estelle, Far East Movement, Jaci Velasquez, Jack's Mannequin, Jessie Baylin, Katharine McPhee, Katy Perry, Kelly Clarkson, Kelly Rowland, LeAnn-Rimes, Miguel, Miley Cyrus, Nicki Minaj, Pitbull, Primus, Rihanna, Shaggy, Sharon Van Etten, Taylor Swift, The Band Perry, The Black Keys, The Cranberries, The Darkness, The Fray, The Kills, The Wanted, The Week In Pop, Tony Bennett, Van Halen, Wale, Walk The Moon, Weird Al Yankovic, Ziggy Marley

2011 was full of HUGE music moments, many of which we hilariously recapped in our Year In Pop Music GIFs roundup (you're quite welcome)! But some of our favorite musical memories of the year took place live on an MTV stage. We wanted some extra help when narrowing down the top 10 live MTV performances of 2011, so we asked you guys to weigh in. In the end, it was a knock-down, drag-out fight between Paramore's "Brick By Boring Brick" at the Fueled By Ramen 15th Anniversary show -- Paramore's performance landed at No. 2 -- and 30 Seconds To Mars' unforgettable "MTV Unplugged" performance of "Hurricane." This is also why we let you guys pick -- we couldn't!

MTV let fans vote for their favorite 2011 MTV live performance, and the results are as varied as you guys are. Internet faves Odd Future came in at No. 10 with their WTF-inducing performance of "Sandwitches" at the mtvU Woodie Awards, while Jack's Mannequin's stripped-down rendition of "Release Me" for his intimate "Buzzworthy Live" session came in at No. 8. The belly rub that almost broke Twitter -- Beyoncé at the VMAs -- got a spot in the top five, and Mac Miller's fans made sure his feel-good track "Knock Knock" got a spot in the top three after dude shut it down during his Chicago performance earlier this year.

But it was 30 Seconds To Mars' Echelon that got the band's performance of "MTV Unplugged" performance of "Hurricane" that earned them the No. 1 spot. And if you understand even a small percentage of the dedication of the band's fanbase, than this should come as no surprise to you. Watch 30 Seconds To Mars accept their award for Best Live MTV Performance Of 2011 in the video below, congrats to 30STM, but perhaps even more congrats to the Echelon. You cannot be stopped.

+ All this week, MTV will reveal the best artists, songs and movies of the year. Come to MTV News each day to see more big reveals, and check out more of MTV's Best of 2011 music, TV, movies and news coverage.

Related Content Calvin Harris & Kaskade Among MTV's Best EDM Artists Of 2011!, The Year In Pop Music In AWESOME Animated GIFs!, Buzzworthy's Favorite Breakthrough Bands Of 2011, The Best EDM Artists Of 2011, The Funniest Music Videos Of 2011, The Biggest Pop Music Trends Of 2011, Follow Buzzworthy On Twitter

Tags 30 Seconds To Mars, Adele, Best Of 2011, Beyonce, Chris Brown, Jack's Mannequin, Lil Wayne, Mac Miller, Odd Future, Two Door Cinema Club

The year 2011 featured unforgettable MTV musical performances, from big nights that included Beyonce's belly-rubbing big reveal, Jay-Z and Kanye West's surprise performance of "Otis," the five unforgettable minutes of Adele's soulful "Someone Like You" solo at the 2011 MTV VMAs to Odd Future's unhinged utter mayhem at the 2011 mtvU Woodie Awards. And then there were the concerts -- Paramore at the "Fueled By Ramen 15th Anniversary Concert: Paramore Live" and Mac Miller's crowd-killing performance of "Knock Knock" at "Mac Miller: Live In Chicago" -- and the intimate MTV-exclusive experiences like Thirty Seconds To Mars near-holy "MTV Unplugged" performance and Jack's Mannequin's Buzzworthy Live rooftop rendition of "Release Me." Looking back at MTV's year in music, there was practically an MTV live performance for every day of the year.

As 2011 draws to a close, the music experts at MTV News, MTV.com and Buzzworthy have narrowed down hundreds of MTV live musical performances from 2011 to a carefully curated list of the 16 best performances. And it's up to you to vote and decide on the best MTV live performance of 2011.

VOTING IS NOW CLOSED! Check out the nominees for the best 2011 MTV live performances after the jump, watch highlights from the best MTV live performances of 2011, and go to MTV and MTV.com on Tuesday, Dec. 13 for the results!

Starting on Monday, Dec. 12, MTV will reveal the best artists, songs and movies of the year. Come to MTV News each day to see more big reveals and check out more of MTV's Best of 2011 music, TV, movies, and news coverage.

Related Content The Funniest Music Videos Of 2011, The Biggest Pop Music Trends Of 2011, Follow Buzzworthy On Twitter

Tags Adele, Best Of 2011, Beyonce, Chris Brown, Foster The People, Jack's Mannequin, Jay-Z, Kanye West, Lil Wayne, Lupe Fiasco, Mac Miller, Ne-Yo, Paramore, Pitbull, Robyn, Thirty Seconds to Mars, Two Door Cinema Club, video, Wiz Khalifa

Prolific post-punk/emo-pop pioneer and thinking man's piano-pop songwriter Andrew McMahon (the Bruce Springsteen of the piano, if you will) just released People And Things, his third album as Jack's Mannequin.

"My last record, The Glass Passenger, was a pretty heavy record as far as the content. Life and death stuff," he explained when he stopped by MTV to perform a stripped-down version of "Release Me" for "Buzzworthy Live," Buzzworthy's intimate in-house performance series.

"With this record, I realized there was a lot of stuff I'd overlooked during the last album. I got married -- I've been married five years now -- and a lot of this record ended up being about that experience of those first few years and acclimating into a house with two people when you're used to being a satellite and doing your own thing. It's about figuring out a relationship that's that deep and that constant."

If The Glass Passenger was about his anxiety, acceptance and fearlessness in the face of his acute lymphoblastic leukemia diagnosis, treatment and recovery, People And Things, which debuted at No. 1 on Billboard's Alternative Albums Chart, is the Jack's Mannequin album about growing up, settling down, reflecting back and moving ahead, which is particularly evident on "Release Me."

"'Release Me" was the last song I wrote for People And Things. It's very much about my experience doing what I do for a living and how long I've been doing it. You get to these moments at the end of records where you want them to come out already, you want people to hear it... it's about the place I was in my life when I was wrapping the album up and feeling a little exhausted."

In his "Buzzworthy Live" version of "Release Me" -- yes, Something Corporate/Jack's and "Twilight" fans, Andrew's just as kind in person as you've always heard -- he transforms the sunny yet deceptively dark song into a charmingly lo-fi take on professional and personal pressure, replete with his cautiously sanguine outlook on what the future holds.

+ Watch Andrew McMahon of Jack's Mannequin's "Buzzworthy Live" performance of "Release Me."

Related Content 'My Racing Thoughts' Video, Follow Buzzworthy On Twitter

Tags Andrew McMahon, Buzzworthy Exclusive, Buzzworthy Live, Jack's Mannequin, video

After detailing his battle with leukemia and subsequent treatment on 2008's The Glass Passenger and the documentary Dear Jack, Jack's Mannequin frontman Andrew McMahon has shifted his gaze to relationships for the band's upcoming third album, People and Things. We've got the lead single and lyric video, "My Racing Thoughts," for you below -- a poetic pop track that sounds like classic Bruce Springsteen filtered through John Mayer's "No Such Thing."

While writing People and Things, McMahon had some clear lyrical ideas: "My goal with many of the songs was to strip away the flowery language and sentiment attached to newer love and replace it with starker, less-blinded language about more binding love," McMahon said. "Marriage is a bit of a beast to tackle in a pop record, but when I wrote 'My Racing Thoughts,' it became clear how powerful and loaded a subject this kind of love is and somewhere in that moment I began to lock into the broad concept for the writing sessions to come."

Starker indeed. While the music remains true to the band's pop background, McMahon sings, "So I'm hiring a DJ/For the eve of our destruction/It was midnight I was mixed up/When she found me on the beach." It's a refreshing dichotomy that showcases a wry yet still powerful side of McMahon.

People and Things is due out Oct. 4 on Sire Records.

+ Watch Jack's Mannequin's "My Racing Thoughts" video.

Related Content Follow Buzzworthy on Twitter

Tags Jack's Mannequin

Jack's Mannequin's "Swim," off The Glass Passenger, is a cold-water shock of an anthem about keeping your grasping hope tightly, pulling it toward you, and not letting it go in spite of personal demons. "Swim" is a lifeboat and a life jacket guiding you back to the shore, even if the shore's still away from the light at the end of the tunnel.

The first version of the "Swim" video was a performance piece. But recently Jack's Mannequin released a brand-new "Swim" video, which features friends and fans of all ages, and moving montages of art and animations, all centered on the concept of hope and healing expressed in "Swim."

"Swim" part two was directed by Steven Murashige. Get your high-brow culture fix for the day and watch it, and then check out behind-the-scenes footage from the video and interviews with Andrew McMahon after the jump.

Read more...

Related Content Five Things You Need To Know About The Glass Passenger, Five Things Andrew McMahon's Obsessed With

Tags Andrew McMahon, Jack's Mannequin, video

"Swim" is Jack's Mannequin's most compelling song yet. Clearly there's no shortage of bands whose choruses scream their heads off about feelings right now. Believe me. I see all of their videos. But very few of their bleeding hearts come through the music as genuinely as Andrew McMahon's does.

Listening to "Swim," the frustration of the former Something Corporate frontman invades your guts, tingles in your intestines, snakes up your esophagus, pushes out from behind your solar plexus and bursts out of your mouth as something new. Something hopeful. It feels like McMahon himself is grabbing you by the back of the neck and dragging you forward, no matter what obstacles you've dreamed up to hold yourself back. "Swim" is downright inspiring.

"Swim" is the second single from Jack's Mannequin's The Glass Passenger. The brand-new video is just below. Let it roll.

Related Content How Glass Passenger came to be, Andrew McMahon LOVES South Park

Tags Andrew McMahon, Jack's Mannequin, Something Corporate

Last week, Jack's Mannequin mastermind Andrew McMahon rattled off five of his personal obsessions. We learned about his dog Doris, his Polaroid fetish and his unhealthy relationship with Eric Cartman.

This week, we invite Andrew back to Buzzworthy for another round of "The 5," -- and this time the focus is on his latest album, The Glass Passenger.

Though it's been in circulation since September, McMahon is still basking in the afterglow of his second record. A downright herculean effort, Passenger took a year and a half to record, and generated enough frustration to drive McMahon out of town. Literally. Halfway through the recording process, on a routine work trip to Vegas, the piano man got the travel bug and just kept driving. Two weeks later he'd crossed the United States, and had listened to his work-in-progress about 10,000 times. What did he learn on his odyssey? The record wasn't finished.

To find out what happened when he got home, and get more insight into The Glass Passenger's theme of fragility and mortality, watch the exclusive Buzzworthy interview below. After that, keep an eye out for next Jack's Mannequin single, "Swim," and track down California Choke, an original short film that comes with The Glass Passenger!

Tags Andrew McMahon, Jack's Mannequin, The 5

Great news here for the fellas: according to Andrew McMahon of Jack's Mannequin it's totally possible to watch multiple episodes of South Park every night and convince a woman to marry you! The very minor downside is that you may or may not have to be a major rock star to pull it off. So, uhh, stick to those recorder lessons, eh?

Aside from revealing the fact that he's a big dirty joke junkie, McMahon's interview on "The 5" makes him sound like the perfect gentleman. He's starting a clothing line called River Apparel that donates half its profits to charity, he loves his dog Doris, plays the piano, and he's always looking for new ways to make art.

Get the scoop on five of the former Something Corporate frontman's biggest obsessions in the video below. And if that's not enough dirt for you, McMahon suggests that you scour the lyrics of his latest album, The Glass Passenger. It's very personal. Watch "The Resolution." You'll see.

Read more...

Tags Andrew McMahon, Jack's Mannequin, Something Corporate, The 5

So-Cal pop-pranksters Phantom Planet go through identities like most bands go through groupies vans. First they were the band with dude from Rushmore on the drums (before he graduated to Coconut Records) and Ashton Kutcher look-alike Alex Greenwald handling vocals. Then they were the band who sang The O.C. theme song ("Californiaaaaa!").

Right now Phantom Planet is going through a very Buzzworthy phase. The band who take their name from a '60s sci-fi flick spent last summer touring the country with the likes of Panic! At The Disco, Motion City Soundtrack, Paramore and Jack's Mannequin, where they found that -- even though they've been around a while -- their sarcastic tweaker-pop is right at home on the new rock circuit.

Watch "Dropped," their hilarious new video that asks the simple question, "I love you, do you love me?"

+ Plus: Exclusive Phantom Planet photos!

Tags Alex Greenwald, Jack’s Mannequin, Jason Schwartzman, Motion-City-Soundtrack, Panic At The Disco, Paramore, Phantom Planet