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+ Though on hiatus, The Killers continue to make an annual holiday charity single. Today they drop "The Cowboys' Christmas Ball" on iTunes. It benefits RED, which seeks to eradicate AIDS in Africa. Listen here. (Idolator)

+ Nicki Minaj, Jay-Z, Kanye West and Maroon 5 were the live soundtrack to last night's broadcasted 2011 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show. Check out their performances here. (Neon Limelight)

+ Jennifer Lopez will release a greatest hits album, vocal producer Kuk Harrell tells MTV News. Harrell says, "I'm just waiting for them to put on the schedule [and] let me know what songs we're actually cutting." (MTV News)

+ The Roots have been one busy band, serving as Jimmy Fallon's nightly house band and readying their 13th album, Undun. It drops Dec. 6, but you can stream the album now. (NPR)

+ Drake's "The Motto," a bonus track from Take Care, gets some remix love. It features Snoop Dogg, Nipsey Hussle and YG. Check it here. (Rap-Up)

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Tags Buzz Bites, Drake, Jay-Z, Jennifer Lopez, Kanye West, Maroon 5, Nicki Minaj, Nipsey Hussle, Snoop Dogg, The Roots, The-Killers, YG

(Credit: Splash News)

Last week we hipped you to the existence of a new Coldplay song, "Christmas Lights," one of several new musical gifts some of today's biggest artists--Rihanna, The Killers and more--were leaving under our collective Christmas trees. Well, never ones to gift and run, the boys in Coldplay have now doubled our pleasure with the accompanying video for "Christmas Lights."

Directed by Mat Whitecross, the "Christmas Lights" video is an inventive and charming affair, which is typical for Coldplay. The clip is made up of a series of dizzying tracking shots that follow the band as they perform the song in what appears to be a school auditorium. Soon, though, it's revealed to be a much more magical setting--something approximating a winter wonderland.

All the razzle-dazzle of the video might distract from the rather melancholy tone of the song. Chris Martin wistfully sings, "When you're still waiting for the snow to fall, it doesn't feel like Christmas at all," as he chronicles the holiday disintegration of a relationship.

Maybe you won't be singing this one around the fireplace this Christmas, but it's a beautiful tune and striking video just the same. Check out Coldplay's "Christmas Lights" video below.

Tags Coldplay, Rihanna, The-Killers, video

Let me set the scene, my little elves. You're home for Christmas, staring blankly into the televised Yule Log, absentmindedly pawing at the abomination of a sweater you're being forced to wear by some overzealous family member or another ("your aunt worked very hard on that!"), listening to the 303rd playing of Bing Crosby's "White Christmas," regretting that you couldn't make one late addition to your wish list: "Dear Santa, please bring me some NEW Christmas music!"

Well, I ain't Santa. But I do have some new Christmas music for you to add to your "Egg Noggin' Beats" playlist. Here are a few newish, Christmas-themed tracks, sure to spice up your holidays.

1.) Coldplay, "Christmas Lights"
Viva La Santa! This one is sort of depressing ("Christmas night, another fight"), but then again, so are the holidays! Yay! Besides, like most Coldplay songs, "Christmas Lights" features a rousing chorus that you can sing around the piano with family and friends.

2.) The Killers, "Boots"
The latest in The Killers' annual Christmas single series, "Boots," is a shuffling, gorgeous mid-tempo track about pain, loss, cinnamon candles and snowball fights. The song has a great video, directed by Jared Hess ("Napoleon Dynamite"), that echoes the Jimmy Stewart Christmas institution "It's A Wonderful Life."

3.) Rihanna, "A Child Is Born"
You know what everyone stowed away in some snowy, frigid metropolis really wants for Christmas? To go to the islands! Well this Rihanna track, taken from NOW (That's What I Call Christmas), Vol. 4 is the next best thing to a plane ticket. Rihanna's rendition of the Christmas classic is peppered with island flavor, featuring a reggae-tinged guitar and rhythm.

4.) Hurts, "All I Want For Christmas Is New Year's Day"
Manchester duo Hurts have taken the Brit music press by storm this year. And one listen to their morose, literate and romantic "All I Want For Christmas Is New Year's Day" (and its attendant video, set at a funeral) and you'll see why. This is Pet Shop Boys pop done right, right in time for the holidays.

5.) Summer Camp, "Christmas Wrapping"
An obscure new band covering an obscure Christmas classic? Sure! Here we have the delightful U.K. band who try their hand at this underrated Christmas classic by the '80s band The Waitresses. It's the perfect combination of sincerity and depression, complete with lo-fi keyboards made to sound like the inside of a department store on Dec. 20.

Tags Coldplay, Hurts, Rihanna, Song You Need To Know, Summer Camp, The-Killers

Welcome back to my round-up of all the cool things all the cool kids are watching and listening to this week! And a one, and a two, and a...

1.) Worst attempt at word invention ever? Rapper Yung Humma has ingeniously combined "smash" and "bang" in his soon-to-be hit single "Lemme Smang It," a sultry ditty describing--what else?--doing it. His dance moves will make you really uncomfortable. (Refinery29)

2.) Glad to see the Glee team taking some creative leaps: For their "Rocky Horror Picture Show" Halloween tribute episode airing tomorrow, Lea Michele's goody-two-shoes character Rachel Berry takes the stage as Rocky goody-two-shoes Janet, and Kevin McHale's wheelchair-bound Artie plays wheelchair-bound Dr. Scott. Watch a sneak peek of Glee's "Rocky Horror Picture Show" episode. (Ace Showbiz)

3.) Kanye West premiered his first film "Runaway" Saturday on MTV. It's an epic tale of a man and his really pretty, nearly naked phoenix, with the dopest soundtrack ever and also some ballerinas. Lucky for you, you can watch Kanye's "Runaway" online. (MTV)

4.) Daft Punk surprised all the hip francophile New Yorkers last week when they joined Phoenix on stage at Madison Square Garden during CMJ. No, it's true! There are pictures. I had tickets to that show and bailed last minute. Life of regret. True story. (Metromix)

5.) Simon Rex has been a lot of things: a porn star, an MTV VJ, a network drama bit player. Of course the next step in his career was to become a rapper. (Now there's an idea, Kurt Loder!) Flavorwire did the hard work and tracked down nine more MTV VJ alumni to see what they're up to now. (Flavorwire)

6.) Baby monkey riding on a baby pig: the viral video sensation now with hilarious original soundtrack! (YouTube)

7.) We here at Buzzworthy love kittens. Seriously, who doesn't love kittens? So by logical extension, we love the band KITTEN, who sound like The Killers and Florence + The Machine rolled into one adorable fuzzy package. OK, not really, but they do sound like that. (MySpace)

8.) Do you consider yourself an accomplished meme entrepreneur? (Meaning, can you make stuff go viral really fast?) Our friends at BuzzFeed are hosting Viral Wars, an online competition to see who can score the most clicks in one week. DO IT! Start being viral! (BuzzFeed)

9.) A computer science student embedded the lyrics to Rick Astley's reborn-by-way-of-the-Internet single Never Gonna Give You Up to create the first ever SUBLIMINAL RICK ROLL! Click through to see the original video. (Gizmodo)

10.) What if the sweet, sweet musings of American rapper 50 Cent were translated into the Queen's English? Well, you would have @English50Cent. (Twitter)

Tags 10 Things To Know Now, Daft Punk, Florence and the Machine, Glee, Kanye West, Kitten, LOL, Phoenix, Rick Astley, Runaway film, The-Killers, Yung Humma

(Credit: Dave M. Benett/Getty Images)

The curious case of Brandon Flowers rolls on. We've now heard three songs (including "Crossfire" and "Swallow It"), from his upcoming debut solo album, Flamingo. And all of Brandon Flowers' solo music suggests that we're in for a wordy and restrained piece of pop, abandoning the arena rock and new wave flourishes of his band, The Killers.

This is the music Brandon Flowers obviously feels like making at the moment. And while the voice is the same and some of the melodies are familiar, this represents an obvious break from The Killers' admittedly awesome bombast.

Take, as the latest piece of evidence, this latest leak, "Magdalena," which premiered on British radio this past weekend. Despite the presence of some anthemic "whoa-oh's" in the beginning of the track, this is a much calmer animal than your average Killers song. Certain moments of "Magdalena" will remind you of the Mexican border imagery and Springsteen influences found on part of The Killers' album Sam's Town. But both lyrically and musically, this is all Flowers, stretching himself lyrically and finding a quieter space to make music in.

Check out the song below. Flamingo is out September 14.

+ Listen to Brandon Flowers' "Magdalena."

Tags Brandon Flowers, Bruce Springsteen, Song You Need To Know, The-Killers

(Credit: Andy Sheppard/Redferns)

The Brandon Flowers solo train makes another stop with the provocatively titled "Swallow It." Don't worry, it's far, far more tame than the Eazy-E song its title calls to mind (I suppose that goes without saying), but it's sort of a weird track, nonetheless.

Taken from his upcoming solo debut, Flamingo, "Swallow It" is even more restrained and delicate than the previous Flowers single, "Crossfire." Flowers' band The Killers are known for their cathartic, metaphysical  moments, the "I got soul, but I'm not a soldier" moments, if you will. But so far, what we've heard from Flowers' solo material is much more meditative.

"Swallow It" reads like an advice letter, full of flowery language about being an "advocate of joy," as the song's narrator suggest that we all slow down and take things as they come. The track, musically, is a prancing piece of synth-string-laden, mid-tempo pop.

Check out Brandon Flowers' new song, "Swallow It," below. Flamingo is out September 6th.

+ Listen to Brandon Flowers' "Swallow It," here.

Tags Brandon Flowers, Charlize Theron, Song You Need To Know, The-Killers, video

Here we have Brandon Flowers' debut solo video for his debut solo single, "Crossfire," taken from his debut solo album Flamingo. My debut thought on the song can be read here. (SPOILER ALERT: It's a very pretty track that won't shock or surprise anyone who calls themselves a Killers fan.)

As for the video, well, it's another kettle of kettle corn, my friends. Initially, everything looks familiar: Brandon Flowers rocking an anachronistic shirt (much like in the "When You Were Young" clip). But as director Nash Edgerton's camera pulls back, we're pulled into quite a scene.

Flowers is tied to a chair, mournfully mouthing the words to his song, when suddenly a flaming ninja flies by and Charlize Theron storms into the room, looking like she just stepped out of a Lara Croft salon.

This sort of repeats itself, like some kind of "Ninja Assassin" version of "Groundhog Day," until the end, when we get a sense that things are not so perfect between our man Brando and his savior Charlize. This is understandable; who wants to have to kill a bunch of ninjas every time they want to hang with their BF ?

Flamingo is due out in September.

Tags Brandon Flowers, Charlize Theron, The-Killers, video

+ Katy Perry allegedly talked some serious smack about Miley Cyrus at the MuchMusic Awards, comparing the "Party In The USA" singer to Britney Spears in an unflattering way. Dramz! (LimeLife)

+ The only person who can get The Killers to come out of hiatus is President Barack Obama. (Idolator)

+ When he's not rapping, Fat Joe acts as an unofficial emissary of the New York Knicks. (MTV News)

+ Tom and Bill Kaulitz from Tokio Hotel checked out Prince, live in concert. (JustJared)

+ U.K. pop star, former Girls Aloud singer and "X-Factor" judge Cheryl Tweedy (aka Cheryl Cole) has malaria. (TheFabLife)

Tags Barack Obama, Bill Kaulitz, Britney Spears, Cheryl Cole, Fat Joe, Girls Aloud, Katy Perry, Miley Cyrus, Prince, The-Killers, Tokio Hotel, tom kaulitz

When Brandon Flowers announced his intention to record a solo album, as well as his intention to name said album Flamingo, many fans of The Killers might have raised an eyebrow. Was the voice of the band choosing to sing a different tune? Would Flamingo go off on some unwelcome artistic tangent? Would it be avant-garde electronica? Balkan folk? A concept album about the wildlife of Florida's Everglades?

Well, now that we have our first piece of fruit from Flowers' solo labor, all can rest assured that the dude isn't going off the rails. "Crossfire" will be welcome listening to any Killers fan.

If anything, "Crossfire" is a slightly more mellow affair, missing the raucous rhythm section and careening guitars of his band. It's a little bit older, a little bit colder, to quote one of the man's own lyrics.

Check out "Crossfire," below.  Flamingo is due out in September.

+ Listen to Brandon Flowers, "Crossfire," here

Tags Brandon Flowers, Song You Need To Know, The-Killers, video

These days it's pretty hard to differentiate between what constitutes "pop" and what constitutes "dance." With acts such as Lady Gaga, Christina Aguilera, Madonna, Miley Cyrus and even rock acts such as The Killers appropriating the "untz-untz" beats, the lush synths and inherent sexiness of club music, you could say dance is pop.

Possibly no one artist has been more responsible for this shift than Kylie Minogue. The veteran singer bravely broke with pop tradition, recasting herself as a dance diva in 2001 with one of the greatest songs of that decade, "Can't Get You Out Of My Head." Since then, many have followed her lead, with pop acts now regularly working with dance producers. But still, nobody does it better than Kylie.

Which is all a way of saying: NEW KYLIE SINGLE! "All The Lovers" is classic Kylie; slow-building, adding layers of subtle electronic instrumentation, all moving toward the ecstatic, breathtaking chorus.

"All The Lovers" is taken from Minogue's hotly anticipated new album, Aphrodite, which drops July 6. Check out the video below. And as a bonus, revisit "Can't Get You Out Of My Head."

Tags Christina Aguilera, Kylie-Minogue, Lady Gaga, Madonna, Miley Cyrus, Song You Need To Know, The-Killers, video