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Posted 7/18/11 2:15 pm ET by Jenna Hally Rubenstein in Celebrity, Music
Credit: PictureGroup
OK, this is a little bizarre, but the new Ke$ha leak, "Shots On The Hood Of My Car," sounds a little bit like Owl City. Ke$ha's ode to throwing a few back while perched atop her vehicle begins with the same twinkling synth that defined the hit "Fireflies." We know, kinda weirdsies.
But never fear! This is a Ke$ha song, so you can bet your last swig of whiskey that the track quickly breaks out into an addictive dance beat. She sings, "Sometimes I think about if the world was about to end/I call the people who have been there though the thick and thin/I buy a bottle of the finest scotch there ever was/And we can watch it blow into oblivion." And in typical hitmaker fashion, the chorus bursts out into a hooky melody while Ke$ha tells us how she'd like to be remembered if the whole world ended -- drinking top-shelf liquor and a possible citation for public intoxication. Aka, "going down doing shots on the hood of my car."
While the subject matter of the song may be a tad morbid, "Shots On The Hood Of My Car" is definitely catchy, and we love that it makes light of a rather unavoidable calamity. Theme song for Rapture Watch 2012?
+ Listen To Ke$ha's "Shots On The Hood Of My Car."
Posted 4/11/11 5:36 pm ET by Nicole James in Celebrity, Music

So maybe you heard Britney Spears' "Till The World Ends" about 100 million times this weekend because most of the country can finally open their windows and you happen to live down the hall from a couple of Britney-obsessed boys. (That can't just be applicable to me.) But before you switch back to repeated listening of the rest of Femme Fatale, give this "Till The World Ends" remix by The Morning Benders a listen.
There's something here for everyone, even you less-zealous Britney Spears fans (do those exist?). The Morning Benders, an indie rock group out of New York, slowed down the notoriously dance-y "Till The World Ends" quite a few notches. Britney's vocals are still featured, but The Morning Benders stripped away some of the pounding beats and added their own laid-back, electro-pop instrumentals to the track -- Owl City and Hellogoodbye fans, make room on your iPods ASAP.
If Britney Spears' "Till The World Ends" is Red Bull, The Morning Benders' remix is the chamomile tea version, and that's totally a compliment. Slowing a track down while keeping the essential basics intact is tough, but The Morning Benders managed to do it, and they did it well.
+ Listen to The Morning Benders remix of Britney Spears' "Till The World Ends" here, and watch Britney's "Till The World End" video and The Morning Benders' "All Day Day Light" video.
Posted 5/26/10 2:32 pm ET by Chris Ryan in Celebrity, Music, Videos

If I told you that Soulja Boy and Justin Bieber had teamed up for a song I bet the following would happen: First, your head would explode. Then, after months of rehabilitation and therapy, you'd think, 'Man, this Soulja-Bieber collabo is likely swagtastic."
Right? I mean Soulja Boy hops up out his bed, and turns his swag on. That's like his every day. And Bieber! Bieber had an actual swagger coach. So there's a lot of swagger going on here, right?
Wrong! Oh, it's got a dope beat that struts a little. But with the kinda emo keyboard melody and Bieber's sad-boy chorus, this song has more in common with Owl City than it does "Turn My Swag On."
Which is just fine, really. The song is pretty delightful and shows off Bieber's undeniable charm (he can make a verse about who is going to pay the bill on a date sound great). It's just that Bieber sounds so ... bummed.
Check out the track below.
+ Listen to Soulja Boy and Justin Bieber, "Rich Girl."
Posted 5/6/10 11:24 am ET by Chris Ryan in Buzz Bites, Celebrity, Music

+ Justin Bieber, responding to the passionate outcry from his fans, has taken to Twitter to reassure everyone that he's not dating Kim Kardashian, who was apparently receiving threats over her joke affair with the young singer. (PopEater)
+ Owl City, which is basically the work of one man, Adam Young, has somehow spawned a side project called Sky Sailing. Under the different moniker, Young relies on guitars instead of keyboards. (Idolator)
+ Kristen Stewart is on the cover of the June Elle magazine, and she's opening up about her public persona and her loss of privacy. (JustJared)
+ Rihanna's Los Angeles Dodger boyfriend, Matt Kemp, is hoping the "Rude Boy" songstress can start attending a few more of his baseball games. (LimeLife)
+ Taylor Swift is currently working on the follow-up to Fearless. It will cover her two favorite topics: "boys and love." (I'm Not Obsessed)
Posted 5/5/10 3:23 pm ET by Chris Ryan in Celebrity, Music, Videos
Like any candy or confection, mashups are to be ingested responsibly; pig out on 'em and you're liable to get pretty sick of the taste. But if you save them for a special occasion (it is Cinco de Mayo, after all), they can really brighten your day.
Which is a roundabout way of saying: Look, everyone! A mashup of Drake and John Mellencamp (spotted via Pigeons & Planes). Take the instrumental for Mellencamp's classic "Jack & Diane," (from back when he had the cool or dorky fake middle name "Cougar") and the vocal from Drake's recent club anthem "Over," and you got yourself some juxtaposed joy.
The mashup comes courtesy of White Panda, who previously caught our ear with their mix of Owl City and Yung Joc ("Fireflies Going Down").
+ Listen to White Panda's "Drake & Diane (Drake vs. John Mellencamp)" (NSFW!)
Posted 3/25/10 1:00 pm ET by Chris Ryan in Celebrity, Music, Videos
Seems like it was only yesterday we watched Adam Young, aka Owl City, chilling in his bedroom alone, messing around with some keys and synths and making electro-pop goodness in the form of his video for "Fireflies." Now dude's gone big time.
In Owl City's new clip for "Vanilla Twilight," taken from the album Ocean Eyes, Young is still hunched over a keyboard, but that's about all that remains from his humble beginnings. "Vanilla Twilight" features a cast of, well, dozens, all experiencing some kind of epiphany as they stare up to the sky.
Featured in that cast of dozens, and acting as a kind of symbol for Owl City's phenomenal success, is Shaquille O'Neal. I'm going to write that out again, just to make sure I'm not crazy. Shaquille O'Neal is in the Owl City video. Yeah, it doesn't look any more normal the second time, either.
Shaq, along with a collection of assorted citizens, gazes at a gorgeous natural light show taking place in the heavens. Is it northern lights? God? Aliens? Probably not aliens. But it is ambiguous! As is the reason behind why the Cavs' starting center is in this video!
Posted 2/5/10 3:07 pm ET by Chris Ryan in Celebrity, Music, Videos
Mash-ups may have run their course as a pop culture phenomenon, but every once in a while one of them comes along and catches your ear, reminding you of the original thrill the first time you heard "Stroke Of Genius" (the legendary Strokes/Christina Aguilera combo).
Here we have a track from the DJ duo The White Panda, made up of Procrast and DJ Griffi, who got the rather inspired idea to throw together the backing track of analog-emo favorites, Owl City's "Fireflies" with the a cappella version of Yung Joc's '06 banger, "It's Goin' Down."
The result is deceptively awesome. Yung Joc calling out, "MEET ME IN THE MALL," over the bubbling keyboards of Owl City's smash hit. You wouldn't expect the two tracks to go together, but then, that's the whole point of mash-ups, right?
Hat tip to the always excellent Pigeons & Planes for pointing this out.
+ Listen to The White Panda's Owl City vs. Yung Joc mash-up, "Fireflies Goin' Down," here.
Posted 1/27/10 5:27 pm ET by Chris Ryan in Celebrity, Music
The idea of Tim Burton directing a version of Alice In Wonderland, with appearances from Johnny Depp (The Mad Hatter), Helena Bonham Carter (The Red Queen) and Anne Hathaway (The White Queen), kind of sells itself. But it's nice to see that the Alice... soundtrack will give the film even more appeal.
The deets of the soundtrack's track list were released a little more than a week ago, with songs from the likes Owl City, All Time Low, Tokio Hotel and Kerli, Motion City Soundtrack and more making appearances (it's like they were reading Buzzworthy or something!).
Now, courtesy of the fine folks at the delicately named We Are Pop Slags, we get a chance to hear some of the music; namely in the form of a radio rip of Avril Lavigne's "Alice (Underground)."
On first listen, "Alice," is a step away from Avril's usual sugar-coated pop-punk; it's operatic (!), atmospheric and, yeah, cinematic.
+ Listen to Avril Lavigne's "Alice (Underground)" here.
Posted 11/6/09 1:50 pm ET by Chris Ryan in Celebrity, Music, Videos
When you type "Owl City Sound Like Postal Service" into that magic little Google contraption you get 280,000 results. Now, I'm sure some are about owls. Some are about cities. And I bet a bunch are about the mail.
But even if you siphon off some of the results, this is clearly a hot-button issue. I, personally can't believe that 60 Minutes hasn't jumped on this already, but we'll take it on here at BW.
Owl City is, more or less, Minnesotan musician Adam Young; he tours with a more fleshed-out band, but he does all the heavy lifting in the studio. They are incredibly popular. Their jam, "Fireflies" is a top 10 hit. It also sounds A LOT like Ben Gibbard (main man of Death Cab For Cutie) and Jimmy Tamborello's electronic-pop duo The Postal Service.
A LOT.
So, the question is this: does that matter? I don't personally think so. While I never encourage full-on biting of another artist's style, one would have to point at the Postal-Service-shaped void left in our pop landscape right now. The Postal Service haven't delivered (hawhaw) anything 2003's Give Up. Now, I'm not a math major, but that feels a lot like six years to me.
So if Postal Service aren't really a going concern, and Owl City make a very pleasant version of Postal-Servicey pop, should we not enjoy it for what it is?
I mean, if your mailman stopped coming for six years, and then a new dude showed up and was equally reliable and nice, would you not take his mail because he's not the same dude? Of course not! So why should it be that much different when it comes to pop?
Marinate on it and feel free to agree or disagree in the comments. And if you need a Cliff's Notes version of the two bands, watch Owl City's "Fireflies" and The Postal Service's "Such Great Heights" below.
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Posted 2/16/12
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