Haim gets down in "If I Could Change Your Mind"

HAIM is back with their third single off the critically acclaimed killer "Days Are Gone" album with “If I Could Change Your Mind." The new clip for their latest track finds the L.A. sister act (Danielle, Este and Alana) juicing its once-scrappy stage show with the kind of coordinated dance routine not often seen in the grungy rock clubs HAIM came up playing. From disco shoulders to a 'Soul Train' backdrop, the sisters live out their own fantasy. It is a far cry from their more indie inspired "The Wire" and "Don't Save Me" videos.
"If I Could Change Your Mind," is about ending relationships. Este Haim told NME: "You think back to the decision that you made to not be with someone any more and whether it was really the right one. It's kinda a weird thing, especially in my case. I'm 27 now and I'm not old but I think the relationships that you have you think about longevity. So when you do break up with someone there's always a thing in your head of, What if that was the one and you said goodbye?" The song is one of the catchiest on the album and it bears all the hallmarks of good dance-rock: sweeping synth lines, Nile Rodgers-like guitars, clattering drum machine and lyrics about misunderstood love.
Although the song is more dance driven, there are peaks and valleys. Este's vocals stand out with their soft yet stern attack to the song, with lyrics like "If I could change your mind/ I would hit the ground running/ It took time to realize/ and I never saw it coming." And because it's not too heavy-handed, the Jewish sister rocker trio only add to it with their wind-milling arm dances, tight circle of clapping and Charlie's Angels-esque silhouette breaks throughout the video. They know that changing minds is always a lot easier when everyone is having fun.
Directed by Warren Fu, the performance video sees the HAIM sisters in a variety of settings from the trio being circled by the camera playing their instruments, to act out corny, melodramatic, fun dance routines with only a dash of irony on a backdrop that's equal parts American Bandstand and a vintage Calvin Klein cologne ad inspired stage, completed with "HAIM" in bright neon behind them. Later, the stage turns to a darker shade, while they girls pick up their instruments and play. Not only credible vocalists and musicians, but their dancing is very well choreographed too. The HAIM juggernaut continues!

Paloma Faith feels jealous in 'Can't Rely On You'

Only a year and a half after the release of her sophomore album "Fall to Grace," Paloma Faith has come back swinging with funky new single "Can't Rely On You," serves as the lead single off the English soul siren's upcoming third studio album "A Perfect Contradiction," due out on March 3. As is always the case with the 'New York' maestra, she puts the music at the forefront of cause with the release of "Can't Rely on You," which is intriguing both musically and visually. The accompanying video is as visually sumptuous as we've come to expect from Faith.
Produced and co-written with former N.E.R.D.-boy Pharrell Williams, "Can't Rely On You" is funky pop jam and swings with a funky fresh groove that throws back to the '70s and filled with references to classic soul that effortlessly mixes Williams's trademark beats with Faith's always soulful distinctive vocals. It's a striking departure from the big, sweeping ballads of her last album, but a welcomed one as well. The song serves major throwback vibes, yet sounds undeniably fresh - A bold comeback! Top that with Faith's soul-shouter vocals and you've got a winner.
The 32-year-old Londoner laments feeling jealous of her lover in the funk-soul track "Can't Rely On You." The beat is so similar melody to Robin Thicke's ubiquitous "Blurred Lines." Williams clearly tried to disguise it all that he could, but in the end, it was inevitable for the "Blurred Lines" sound to surface. The intro in particular makes you think you've played Thicke's song by mistake. The accompanying "Blurred Lines"-esque video video, directed by Paul Gore, is a dazzlingly weird and left-of-center period piece that executes its high concept with impeccable attention to detail, contrasting the retro flavor of the song with lushly anachronistic visuals.
The clip begins with a French female voiceover about moving on from the end of a relationship, and the fiery red-headed, lingerie-clad Faith in bed with a lover. From there, Gore takes us on a bizarro-world ride filled with images of milk baths, a topless Faith wearing a white mask, women in religious-looking gowns, a stunned mustachioed gent, a black horse, and a chauffeured-driven vintage Mercedes that becomes driverless when he bails, leaving Faith in the backseat to fend for herself. It ends with the French narrator returning to inform us that "This is just a beginning." You've been warned.

The Civil Wars feel lonesome in "Dust to Dust"

The Civil Wars used lost footage from their trip to Paris in March 2011 for "Dust to Dust," the third single off their self-titled sophomore album released last August. The song was used in the 2013 horror/drama remake "Carrie," as well as the ABC Family TV Show, "Ravenswood." In their new video, the defunct folk duo Joy Williams and John Paul White take to the streets of Paris, where we find White alone in a cafe, sipping espresso and penning a letter he ultimately hesitates to send once at the mailbox. His former bandmate Williams is also alone with her thoughts, sipping wine at a bar.
But they're not kept apart for long. Much of the video intersperses shots of the two in the studio together with scenes of them roaming the Paris streets. And for a moment, they look to be in perfect harmony. Even the most romantic city in the world can feel lonesome and uninviting, as you can see in The Civil Wars' latest video, "Dust to Dust." Set in Paris on a drab winter day, the embattled bandmates go about their separate yet hopelessly-intertwined lives, all the while pining for something more.The folk band duo wrote this anthem for the lonely late one night in Birmingham, England. "Sometimes you come across somebody who thinks they are hiding their pain, but if we are all honest, nobody is very good at it," Williams explained. "You're like a mirror, reflecting me / Takes one to know one, so take it from me." According to Williams, when she penned this song with White, they "decided to change the pronoun at the end of the song. We wanted to represent that we all experience loneliness in our lives."
The video's footage was filmed in Paris by Becky Fluke in March 2011 and at The Art House studio by 1504 Pictures in September 2012. Sung in a near-whisper and backed by a tiptoeing combination of guitar and drums, the two characters in the song seem almost afraid to let their guard down. Since the duo announced their abrupt hiatus in the middle of their European tour last November, that tension probably didn't require a lot of acting. "When we re-discovered what we'd once thought to be lost footage from two years ago, these forgotten images from a trip to Paris strangely seemed fitting for the feel of 'Dust To Dust,' says Williams. "For me, it's like stepping back in time."

Avril Lavigne plonks tragic piano in "Let Me Go"

Avril Lavigne shows her dramatic side in a haunting new music video for her piano-tinged pop-rock ballad, "Let Me Go," the third single from her upcoming self-titled fifth studio album, which was pushed back from its original September release date, and will hits stores November 5th via Epic. It's no secret that "Let Me Go," Lavigne's duet with husband Chad Kroeger of Nickelback, is an emotional blackout waiting to happen. It's got weepy synths, haunting harmonies, poignant lyrics, and now, an equally sob-inducing music video!
After dropping "Here's To Never Growing Up" and "Rock N Roll," the 29-year-old newlywed Canadian singer-songwriter is giving fans another taste of her upcoming record. The sad love song is a a piano-driven power ballad with elements of pop rock and alternative rock. Its instrumentation features a piano, a string section, an acoustic drum kit, and electric guitars and bass. The punk princess premiered the new track on MYFM Monday morning, and although the duet is with her man, the track is surprisingly a breakup ballad.
Lavigne painfully reminiscing over a failed love, sings: "I'm breaking free from these memories / Gotta let it go, just let it go / I've said goodbye, set it all on fire / gotta let it go, just let it go." Kroeger is featured in the song's second verse, where he sings, "You came back to find I was gone / And that place is empty, like the hole that was left in me." The ironic heartbreak tune with a lush, high drama ballad is reminiscent of many of Lavigne's biggest power ballad hits, including "Losing Grip," "Nobody's Home" and "Keep Holding On."
The newlywed rockers show their softer sides in the dramatic, Chris Sims-directed clip, as Lavigne takes on an old Hollywood glam look with golden curls and a little black dress, as she roams the halls of an abandoned mansion, where she plays the piano and rests on a regal couch, with Kroeger who's playing an ex-lover she's trying to get over as his appearance being channeled through an elderly yardman, only to be seen as his true self through mirrored and tablet-assisted images, and both strum an acoustic guitar in apparent despair. Thy appear together during the song's final chorus.

Bruno Mars turns up the heat in "Gorilla"

Bruno Mars doubles as a seedy strip-club singer in his just-released visual via Facebook for his banging tune "Gorilla" the fourth single from the 14-time Grammy nominee's platinum sophomore studio album, "Unorthodox Jukebox," which reached No.1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart in March. The 28-year-old Mars has been deemed family-friendly enough to headline the upcoming Super Bowl halftime extravaganza, but the pop crooner sports a more R-rated side in the music video for the 'making sex like animals'-themed "Gorilla."

"Gorilla" an absolutely arena-sized sex jam, is a mid-tempo rock, soft rock and quiet storm song, where Mars sings about making love like animals and that he's feeling like he is high off of cocaine and drunk off of liquor and he feels great. Mars said that it was "the first song we wrote for this album and it really set the tone for the entire project and it kind of became the mascot," stating that it was the reason why there's a gorilla on the cover of the album. Musically, the song received mixed to positive reviews from music critics who praised its early 80's arena rock tendencies fused with power pop hooks, though "Gorilla" has been bashed for its explicit lyrical content.
Co-directed by the Hawaiian crooner and his longtime collaborator Cameron Buddy, the visuals follow the boundary-pushing nature of the track's lyrics, offering a raunchy video, which opens with two women speaking in Spanish while applying lipstick backstage at a gentleman's club called La Jungla. Actor Luis Guzman cameos as the club's seriously sleazy owner, and Mars and his mates serve as the house band performing the epic "Unorthodox Jukebox" cut, and practically every frame of the video drips with both sweat and sex, which, again, is probably the point.
After an introduction by Guzmán, Mars kicks things into gear and "Slumdog Millionaire" star Freida Pinto, an exotic dancer, begins pulling off some gravity-defying spins on the stripper pole with her entire sexual being. As his band bangs out some mid-tempo steamy soft-rock piano stabs, Mars pushes practically everything to the max, mugs at her intensely, singing "You and me baby making love like gorillas," as she disrobes and sparks fall from the ceiling. Then it cuts to the two of them heating up with in the backseat of a steamy car. The video ends somewhat ambiguously, with the woman setting the guitar on fire and Mars merely singing as if nothing is happening.

James Blunt trips motorcycle in "Bonfire Heart"

James Blunt traveling across America on a motorbike taking photos of everyday citizens in the music video for his new single "Bonfire Heart," the lead single from his upcoming fourth studio album, "Moon Landing," will be released on October 21. "There's just something romantic, old-school and lonely about the moon landings," Blunt said of his new project. "A nostalgic memory of something huge that we can hardly believe we once achieved, and for some sad reason, can't achieve again - like first love." He added: "This is a much more personal album, and also quite back to basics. It's about me and Tom [Rothrock], the producer, finding where the story all started and where we are now."
Okay, are you feeling all warm and fuzzy inside? Because you should be. Blunt has stolen our hearts in the past with unmistakable and unforgettable lyrics to his breakout hit "You're Beautiful" and this new song is no exception. Wrote with OneRepublic's frontman Ryan Tedder, the 39-year-old singer returned with a soft sound, and as a summer breeze relaxes you as you're enjoying. "Bonfire Heart" is a perfect blend of Jason Mraz, Train and Capital Cities. Having been through a number of relationships where the flame eventually burnt out, Blunt sings here of finally meeting a girl whom he believes will keep the fire in his heart alive.
"The song is about love, life, fear and hope," said the singer when sending out a link to the song stream to fans that belong to his email list, "and more than anything, you and me." At first listen, you'd think you're hearing some amazing acoustically driven, feet stomping Mumford track, but Blunt's tender boyish voice gives the charade away. "Bonfire Heart," a light hearted, sentimental look on life and finding the spark that ignites that lovely little thing called love, not only showcases that the British singer-songwriter has what it takes to be a relevant artist in the present of 2013, but has also reached a new maturity through his lyrics.
Blunt explained back-story of the video: "Shot throughout Wyoming and Idaho over two days using real characters, and the final scene took place in the car park of a bar, where everyone we'd met on the journey would meet up and we planned to film a wrap party. What we didn't know was that in the bar, a wedding was taking place, and when they saw us arrive, the entire wedding piled out and joined us. I played them all "You’re Beautiful" in the car park on my guitar, with the bride and groom pushed to the front by the 80-strong crowd, and then we lit fires and sparklers, put on 'Bonfire Heart,' and the bride and groom had their first dance to it. So if you think the girl looks happy at the end, you'll know, she's not acting." It's an emotional journey you won't likely forget. So here's to you and your blazing bonfire heart.

The Script spends time like they're "Millionaires"

Irish pop-rock band The Script reflect on the riotous evening of some young Irish drunkards in their brand new music video to their brilliant single, "Millionaires," the fourth single to be lifted from the Irish soft rock band's third studio album, aptly called "#3," which topped the Irish charts and is available to download right now. The Irish boys just finished their Asian leg for their "#3" World Tour last March and are set to perform back in Europe for the following weeks.
Following lead single "Hall of Fame," which features Black Eyed Peas' leader and record producer will.i.am, this Country style ballad "Millionaires," is the closing track of "#3" and it ends the album on an upbeat note as the frontman Danny O'Donogue sings of those precious moments spent with the one you love. "Walking these streets like they're paved with gold," he croons. "Any old excuses not to go. Neither of us wants to take that taxi home. Singing our hearts out. Standing on chairs. Spending our time like we are millionaires."
The Script's biggest problem here is that it sounds like plagiarism and there's no escaping it. Just when you think the similarities are going to stop, the chorus ends with a repeated 'aires' in a moment that will either make you laugh or drop your jaw with indignation. The only real difference between the two is O'Donogue's preference for stadium-friendly guitar licks, but that can't redeem that's being dogged by its own identity crisis. "Millionaires" is not an all-out belter like the previous singles, but this ode to youth and living on a shoe-string is a sure to be a anthem for the summer.
Known for their relatable and heartfelt lyrics, the video, set on an estate in London, features less of the band and rather focuses on two young lovebirds enjoying a night out with their group of friends as they wander around the streets of London making the best of what they can – yes, quite reminiscent of our sleepless nights and reckless youth. Armed with nothing more than a little ingenuity and light-fingered hands, the group manage to have a lot of fun, hit the pub to basically just to hang out, have a laugh and launch flares, as the trio sing along to the tune and roll out some pretty good lyrics.

Maroon 5 debut "Daylight (Playing for Change)"

Last September, Maroon 5 reached out to fans to help film their music video for "Daylight." People from all over the world came together for what they came to call "The Daylight Project." The American pop rock band took things one step further now, and partnering with Playing for Change, a multimedia movement created to "inspire, connect, and ring peace to the world through music," the collective re-purpose Maroon 5's single "Daylight."
"Daylight," a soft rock ballad about realizing that someone has to move on from an old relationship, is the third single lifted off Maroon 5's latest fourth studio installment "Overexposed." The band's frontman Adam Levine once said of the music video, "As different as we all are, there are common themes that bring us together, inspire and show everyone what is important today. With this video, we'll present the world today and beyond, creating more than just a music video."
Filming several female singers throughout numerous locations around the world, the video for "Daylight (Playing For Change)" features Maroon 5 and Playing For Change musicians collaborating together to perform "Daylight" as a song around the world. All Playing For Change performers where recorded and filmed live outside and this musical journey takes us from the streets to the stage to the hearts of the people. Playing For Change is a movement uniting people everywhere through music.

The Levine-fronted band are seen performing live while mixing the female vocalists into the backing harmonies. Most of the scenes are packed with real-footage of musicians from singers, drummers, guitarists, didgeridoo players, tribal drummers and more, performing on the streets to support the project. It manages to blend many unique instruments unlikely found on any Maroon 5 record including an accordion, tribal drums and a didgeridoo. All profits raised from the release will go towards building music schools for children around the world.

Maroon 5 Illuminates Us All Through "Daylight"

Maroon 5 have dropped the soul-shatteringly sweet video project for their third "Overexposed" single "Daylight," and it's a doozy and isn't your typical band music video, because Maroon 5 asked their fans to contribute to its making resulting in a powerful nearly 10-minute-long motivational supercut of fan-submitted footage. The album title itself is further evidence that on this underwhelming record, the band are aiming to be a band whose music will be inescapable.
Co-written by frontman Adam Levine and Swedish hitmaker Max Martin, "Daylight" is a bittersweet tale of a lover who, for some reason, has to creep away in the morning. The slow-building, rousing anthem is about the difficulties of growing up and moving on. This uplifting is watery and uninteresting, a pop song walled in by clichéd optimistic meanderings and finds Maroon 5 in their soft rock wheelhouse, and show off their newfound melodic prowess, Levine's vocals has a Coldplay inspiration in the end of the chorus.
Lyrically, it's a simple song, with Levine singing that since his relationship is about to end, he wants to savor the last night with his special someone. Levine never explains exactly why he has to leave, but we can infer that trouble has been brewing for some time. "Daylight" doesn't blow us away immediately, but its endearingly bittersweet lyrics and catchy "whoa-oh" chants make this a song that will probably get better with each repeated listen.
While the song sends the message that you don't want to leave someone's side at the break of dawn, the Jonas Akerlund directed clip for "Daylight," like the title suggests, seeks to illuminate us all through song coupled with personal footage from these random fans and contributors from around the globe. Nowhere in it does it feature Levine and his band mates, aside from the audio track, but all from fans who sharing their own struggles, what's important to them, and expressing things they're thankful for and also what they hate. Fans singing along to the track, are the stars of this crowd-sourced clip.

Paloma Faith Choice To Strip Off In "Just Be"

London chanteuse Paloma Faith has released the video to her stunning new slushy ballad, "Just Be," the fourth single from her sophomore studio album, "Fall to Grace," which has enjoyed incredible success debuting a No.2 in the Official Charts. The 27-year-old British sensation looks to land softly in the States this fall with powerful ballads about lost love and heartbreak tend to do not too shabby in these parts lately.
However when she came to pen her sophomore set, Faith found herself in a settled relationship and needed to take a different angle. Faith went on to talk about her own lovelife as inspiration for the clip, especially as she split from her long-term boyfriend last year. She told the Mail: "What you have a tendency to do is believe that unless you're heartbroken you won't be able to produce anything of any value. But I feel lucky because these new songs may be more interesting than singing and wailing about being dejected or deserted. They're about how difficult it can be to put up with someone you're in a relationship with."
For Faith, "Just Be" is the album's crown jewel. She has described the song as showing her at her most vulnerable, as it is bare bones in being just her vocals accompanied by a piano and the more honest than other love songs, which are about staying in love forever while this one focuses on how annoying someone else can be. "It's supposed to be a realistic love song for real lovers," she explains. "It's saying, 'He gets on my nerves, but I love him.' I find that more endearing than, 'There's no one out there but him.' That seems naive. I have a lot of admiration for people who've been in relationships a long time, married for years. This is a more knowing take on romance."
Faith continues to do absolutely no wrong with this new gorgeous clip for an equally gorgeous tune that are packed to the brim with old glamour. She is no stranger to odd antics, so her choice to strip off and sit on a bare wood floor in her latest video is definitely one of the least strange things she's done. The video sees the eccentric star embroiled in a love affair in New York City, while other scenes see her singing the track interspersed with a story about two fighting lovers, while sat discreetly on a floor naked in an empty room. It all gets a bit heated.

One Direction Gets Sappy on "Little Things"

One Direction went on a different direction from their usually upbeat and settled down for a studio session and shows off their more soulful side in a brand-new minimalist video for their super-sappy ballad, "Little Things," the second cut to be lifted from the British-Irish boy band's upcoming sophomore studio album, "Take Me Home," which will hit the shelves in the UK on November 12 and a day later in the US.
The slow and sentimental ballad, "Little Things" is a song about what a guy loves everything about his girl even the silliest things. This acoustic ballad is one of two songs penned by Ed Sheeran when he was in his teens and they were inspired by a relationship he was in at the time. He revealed to MTV News: "The great thing about it is I wrote that song with a girl called Fiona Bevan when I was 17 and we lost the song. I've kept in touch with Fiona, we've done gigs and stuff and about two months ago she sent me the tune."
One Direction have a few "Little Things" that they want to share in their brand-new video, and most of those little things add up to the fact that they think you are perfect, no matter how you perceive yourself. It's a sweet and subdued, dramatic black-and-white stripped down clip that suits the acoustic ballad perfectly, with nothing flashy - just the fivesome singing, playing instruments, and jamming out together in the studio recording the swoon-worthy track, while each moment is captured by a Polaroid picture.
Taking a stylistic break from their earlier videos, "Little Things" has a far more minimalist vibe and features the boys in the recording studio, gazing into the camera, adjusting sound levels, singing gently into the microphone, and pensively strumming their guitars. The quiet tone of the clip complements the ballad's sentimental lyrics. Needless to say, it's a far cry from the inflatable bananas and Monkees antics of their "Live While We're Young" video, but shows the low key side of all the One Direction group members.

Andy Grammer Finds Life In "Miss Me"

Andy Grammer has premiered his new music video exclusively on VH1 for his new track, "Miss Me," third single comes from Grammer's self-titled debut album which has released last summer, and hit No.1 on the Heatseekers chart. We all know the moment. You know, when an epiphany comes floating into your consciousness and you realize it's time to exit stage left of a relationship. The lights come on, and boom, your hand is forced and the decision is pretty much made for you.
Regular people who have been cheated on or experienced adversity in life take strength from the metaphorical healing power of glowsticks in Grammer's new video "Miss Me." The video opens with a shot of the 28-year-old singer and a distraught woman, played by actress Briana Evigan, seemingly reaching the end of their relationship. As Grammer walks away, he breaks an extra-large glowstick over his knee, which lights up the space around him. The warm glow of the light seems to serve as a symbol for strength and resilience, and he soldiers on.
As Grammer continues singing the track, a woman arrives home to find the love of her life kissing another woman. Heartbroken, she breaks a glowstick. Other people fighting with their significant others carry their own light and walk towards the roof of a building, which emits a bright green glow. When they reach the roof, they find Grammer and his band performing the song while hundreds of glowstick-wielding onlookers cheer and sing along, proving there is life after a breakup. Grammer and the woman who caught her husband cheating end up trading smiles as the video fades out, leaving the impression that perhaps they'll get together.
Grammer applies a strong visual to a universal event most humans know all too well: the break-up. Using just-lit green glow-sticks to signify the termination of romances depicted in the clip, Grammer illustrates that even after heartbreaking infidelity, arguements, and served divorce papers, there is light at the end of the tunnel. As each of the video's characters navigate their respective splits with a partner, the neon green light of their independence glow-stick leads them to a rockin' rooftop party where, in newly-single solidarity, others like them are celebrating the fact that their exes will most assuredly regret doing them wrong, and ultimately, miss them.

Norah Jones Gets Revenge In "Happy Pills"

Alt-jazz songstress Norah Jones has released a video for "Happy Pills," the chugging first single off her forthcoming fifth Danger Mouse-produced breakup LP, "...Little Broken Hearts," is due for a May 1st release. Featuring Jones singing in various '50s-themed outfits and surroundings, the video tracks the middle and seemingly infidelity-induced end of a relationship. It's the perfect backdrop for Jones's retro, pleading croon, "Will you please just let me go now?"
"Happy Pills" depicts a relationship gone wrong, and it shows off what might be an unexpected side of the soft-spoken singer-songwriter. The '50s-influenced breakup track features Jones doing what she does best—musing with a sensual vocal performance, and deals conclusively with a philandering boyfriend. The song hints at the breadth of new sounds that Jones and producer Mouse (real name: Brian Burton) conjured for "...Little Broken Hearts," with the pair handling the majority of the instrumentals.
The 33-year-old Grammy-winning singer teamed up with the producer after she contributed vocals to his Rome project with Daniele Luppi. The song surprised Jones and Burton from the moment they wrote it. "We both were like 'Oh my God, this is awesome' at first and then went away and listened over the weekend, explained Jones. "We didn't know if it fit on the record. But I couldn't stop singing it, and neither could Brian. Eventually we decided it was too much fun, it had to be there." Jones looks absolutely luminescent throughout the video. She's downright dewy as her younger self and aging does nothing to dim her radiant beauty.
Jones isn't kidding when she says she wants you out of her life in the video for "Happy Pills." The Isaiah Seret-directed clip starts in the past - the late '50s or early '60s, and goes forward and back in time as she lives out a revenge fantasy against her cheating beau. She has it out for both the boyfriend and his girlfriend in the Hitchcockian tale, although, the video is a little hard to follow at times as various scenarios play out and time moves ahead. However, the ending is crystal clear as a cold, blue lake as an older Jones rides her horse through the woods back to the scene of the crime that she has kept secret for decades or not.

Andy Grammer Just Have Fun In "Fine By Me"

Named one of Billboard's 2011 Artists to Watch, and amid the strong start to the year, Andy Grammer, the 27-year-old pop-rock artist has released the video for his newest track "Fine By Me," the second single from his 2011 self-titled debut album. The track is the follow up to his debut hit single, "Keep Your Head Up," which was released as an interactive video and featured Rainn Wilson of the Office.
The upbeat country jam "Fine By Me," has cruised into the Top 20 at Adult Pop Radio. With its intimate lyrics, sparkling pop melody and funky undertow, "Fine By Me" is on target to surpass the success of Grammer's debut single. Known for his vibrant pop/rock/soul mix and free-flowing vocal delivery, With his continued rise up the charts, Grammer still remembers where he came from and has remained grateful and humble. Grammer is thankful for his street(of Santa Monica, CA) performing journey as it's mentally prepared him for anything. "You gain a level of fearlessness, performing when no one's there to see you," Grammer said.
His debut album sounded like a mash-up of Jason Mraz, Michael Bublé, and John Legend. It's all easily listenable, if scarcely original. When asked about the album, Grammer had this to say: "My ultimate goal is to try to be real. It just so happens that I'm usually more happy than sad when I'm writing. And in general I think that life is pretty great, and it's cool to be here, so that comes through in my music. I don't have a dismal outlook, but I don't aim to make positive music. It's just what I am."The music lightly borrows from hip-hop music and has a rap music influence. Grammer's music leans toward a female audience, usually directing himself to a significant other and singing words of encouragement and affection. Filmed in Los Angeles with director Mark Staubach, the new video features Grammer just trying to have fun with the swimsuit model Dominique Piek as his love interest, and playfully looks at the ups-and-downs of relationships.

Katharine McPhee Debuts SMASH "Beautiful"

If you've been watching NBC lately, you may have noticed that as midseason approaches, they've been promoting their upcoming new musical drama series SMASH, an emotionally stirring drama, chronicling what it takes to get a new Broadway musical off the ground. NBC has released the first official music video from the series, featuring Katharine McPhee covering Christina Aguilera's cello-driven, classically-flavored ballad "Beautiful."
SMASH celebrates the beauty and heartbreak of the Broadway theater as it follows a cross-section of dreamers and schemers who all have one common desire - to be a 'Smash hit.' The series is set to premiere on February 6, 2012. The plot will follow an out-of-town tryout of a Broadway musical, and centers on a group of people putting together to create a Broadway musical based on the life of Marilyn Monroe, written by the successful songwriting duo of Tom and Julia.
The 27-year-old American Idol veteran, shows off her "Beautiful" voice, is headed to the Great White Way in NBC's upcoming Broadway-centric series. McPhee plays Karen Cartwright, a young girl from Iowa with a dream of making it on Broadway who lands a successful audition and becomes the favorite for the role of Marilyn and blows everyone away. On top of McPhee's shimmering rendition of the song, the video also includes sneak peeks of the series, which is a backstage look at a Broadway musical.
The new SMASH cast clip in what appears to be an audition scene, follows McPhee's character's journey as her parents send her off from her hometown to the bright lights of New York City. It has the full version of the song as sung extremely well by McPhee, and includes glimpses of the new series. The song that vaults Karen onto the producer's shortlist. At its core, SMASH is about two actor's drive to succeed: A rivalry soon forms for the lead role between a youthful, inexperienced Midwestern beauty Karen and stage veteran Ivy. They spend the bulk of the pilot singing their hearts out.

Bruno Mars Loses His Sunlight In "It Will Rain"

Follow up Christina Perri's video for "A Thousand Years," Bruno Mars has finally unveiled his delayed video on MTV for "It Will Rain," which opens with a pivotal scene from "Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1" movie soundtrack. The new clip feels more like a denim brand's lookbook than a peek at the vampire franchise's fourth film. Mars taps his songwriting skills to win his girl back after they go through a lot of drama, but there's no sunlight for the ballad singer in the video as it appears his on-screen love life is shattered.
"It Will Rain" has the dated feel of a song from the '80s, perhaps because of the drum track. Speaking to Billboard magazine, Mars explained that "the Twilight movies, "for me [are] a love story. But it's a dark love story. And I think the best way to describe the song is: it's the darker side of love. I think that pretty much sums it up. 'It Will Rain' started off with me and the guitar, and I just had this melody in my head and basically laid it down after I saw the film." Rolling Stone saying Mars' clean-cut looks and gently scuffed croon make him an ideal nonthreatening crush with its desperately yearning melody. It sounds a little bit like "Wild Horses," and a lot like Mars' next radio juggernaut.
The Phil Pinto-directed clip displays the emotional quality of the song. Mars deals with the subject of love gone awry and all of the positive and negatives that come along with being in a serious relationship that eventually self destructs. Both love and division coexist. It's an emotional tug of war in the tortured love song with a few clips from the movie sprinkled in. After the opening sequence with Bella and Edward getting married in front of their friends and family, the video cuts to a love story between Mars and his lovely leading lady. The couple experience the many joys, trials and tribulations of being in a relationship. And as is often the case in real life, things starts out cute; every little moment and snuggle is more romantic than the one before.
But at some point, the pair begin to fight, though Mars isn't going to let her go that easily: He uses his songwriting skills to persuade her to stay with him. The heartbreak expressed on the track is mirrored in solo shots of Mars standing around looking sullen. As the video closes out, we see that the song Mars wrote while his lady was asleep turned out to be romantic enough to win her back. However, at the very end, he is all alone standing in front of a rainy window, and this scene reflects his true loneliness. Mars does a great job of conveying the lyrics of "It Will Rain" in a visual form, giving us glimpses of deep pain and joy.

Britney Spears Plays "Criminal" In Her New Clip

Britney Spears certainly had everyone talking when she dropped her steamy and already deemed controversial video for her new single "Criminal," the fourth official single from her worldwide smash "Femme Fatale" album. The 29-year-old pop princess and her real-life boyfriend Jason Trawick play a modern Bonnie and Clyde-style duo who play out their passions with little inhibition. It is guilty of being really racy, and more like a sizzling fantasy than just another music video.
Considered the only ballad of the album, "Criminal" is a guitar-driven midtempo track which incorporates a flute riff and a killer melodic chorus. This Max Martin and Shellback produced dark, downbeat tune finds Spears sings about being in love with an outlaw and pleads to her mother to understand why she's in love with a shady character and not worry about their relationship. It's influenced by the works of ABBA and Madonna, and the subject matter is similar to another disapproving parent-tune, Madonna's "Papa Don't Preach."
The accompanying porno for the song was filmed in Stoke Newington district of London and directed by Chris Marrs Piliero. It is set to follow the relationship between a woman in upper society and her lover. While the story line get moderately violent and steamy, the engaging film-like plot is too good for such a dreary song. The idea to include Trawick in the video was all Spears's, but director Piliero wasn't sure he was so into it. Now, the Bonnie and Clyde-themed visual has been officially released, and gun violence is just the tip of the iceberg.
As Spears and her abusive beau make their way out of the upscale party, with him yelling at her for standing up for herself as he flirted with other girls, they come across Trawick, who is playing one really hot bad guy with a heart of gold. The boyfriend slaps Spears, and he comes to her rescue Spears from an abusive relationship, then leads Spears on a crime spree that's, naturally, frequently interrupted so the two setting into motion their very hot and very naked love affair that some critics consider extreme, even by Spears' standards.

Avril Lavigne Cries Out In "Wish You Were Here"

Avril Lavigne is typically a tough, punk rock chic who doesn't let anyone or anything get her down. But in her newly released video for "Wish You Were Here," my favorite singer let out her tears and shows her vulnerable side. Written by Lavigne along with producers Max Martin and Shellback, the jangling power ballad serve as the third and possibly last single from Canadian singer's latest CD "Goodbye Lullaby."
"Wish You Were Here" is one of the tracks where Lavigne actually manages to communicate some real sentiment. As the title implies, the mid-tempo ballad, which sings the story of missing a love, features Lavigne lamenting that her beloved isn't around. The 26-year-old explained that this is a song that talks about, "Missing somebody for a day, for a week, for a month. Somebody you've had a falling out with, there's so many different circumstances in life that we all go through when we do truly miss somebody."
The pop-punk princess is overcome with raw emotion as she wails about missing someone dearly and has no problem breaking down her tough-girl wall and letting the waterworks flow and her mascara run in the Marc Webb-directed clip. Lavigne expresses her dismay by rolling around on a dirty floor in what looks like an abandoned room, save a perfect Gerbera daisy, a bathtub and a lighter. It takes a minimalist approach as most of the shots include Lavigne crying, sitting in a bathtubs, and on one occasion setting a flower on fire.
The video begins with Lavigne lying on a wooden floor, surrounded by leaves. She rises, and begins to sing. Lavigne picks up a red flower and begins picking off the petals. She sets the flower on fire, and waves it in the air. As she continues singing, she starts to cry. Towards the bridge, Lavigne is shown lying in a bathtub. She submerges herself, then suddenly bursts out of the tub, as if having made a resolution. Lavigne gets out, and continues singing. It then fades out with her stepping towards the window.

The Script Premiered "For The First Time" Video

The Script are back with a super-Irish video for their super-cheesy comeback single "For The First Time," the first single from the Irish alternative rocker's sophomore studio album "Science & Faith," which will be released in the United States on January 18. The new heartfelt tune pretty much falls in line with the trio's mega-hit "Breakeven," in that it's all broken hearts and power-balladry mixed with Coldplay-esque chords. Seeing as how The Script hail from Ireland and perform majestic pop-rock songs with soaring melodies.
For the past few years, the world has proven an extremely difficult place to live. The economy is in a downward spiral and unemployment rates seem to be climbing everyday. So after coming off of their international tour, Irish rockers had a difficult time being able to celebrate their success. In order to demonstrate their empathy towards people who are struggling to survive, The Script wrote the song "For the First Time." Although the heart-wreching song has a somber essence, the band wanted their song to end on a more positive note. "We needed a message of hope, as people are being stripped of all these things, they're realising what's really important," Frontman Danny O'Donoghue explained. "It's all about going back to basics, drinking cheap wine, eating your dinner off the floor. That's when you meet each other for the first time, when you have nothing."
The music video follows an Irish couple who have emigrated to United States in hope to get a better life but lives a hard life in New York, so decides to return to their homeland. The band's performance scene is also inserted in between the narrative footage. They actually cast U2 frontman Bono's daughter, Eve Hewson, as the lead in the video. "We were looking for a girl and we heard about her having just done a movie with Sean Penn and we took a look at the reel," said 'O'Donoghue. "She was perfect, quite young and had gone to America. She just fit the bill."
Over pulsing, electric rhythm guitar, O'Donoghue sings about getting through the tumultuous recession, and the effect it has on their lives, and relationships. The hopeful message from all this, is that sometimes these events can bring people closer together. A lot of popular music is influenced by the singer/band's own lives and experiences, which can often mean it takes time for an new album because, as Avril Lavigne's would say, she "needs to live in order to get inspiration for my lyrics." The Script's album was influenced by "recession-struck Ireland" than the actual song itself. They make such great music but the question is whether they’ll last or fade into oblivion like many other alternative acts that crossed over into mainstream for a short time.

Jordin Sparks Remakes "Beauty And The Beast"

Jordin Sparks is teaming with Walt Disney Studios and recorded her cover version of the theme song "Beauty and the Beast" and filmed an accompanying princess-themed music video with director Philip Andelman, to support the 2010 DVD/Blu-Ray re-release diamond edition of the No.1 most requested Disney animated favorite classic movie. Sparks submerges herself in a fairytale in her brand-new video and her beautiful velvet voice for new version give this classic record a resfreshingly new cheesy pop feel.
The Academy Award winner song is a ballad about the love developing between Belle and the Beast. It was written by composer Alan Menken and late lyricist Howard Ashman. It was very successful on the charts around the world, becoming Céline Dion's first international hit. Both Angela Lansbury and Céline Dion belted out the title song in Disney's 1991 hit "Beauty and the Beast." Now, American Idol champ is taking a crack at the classic. "'We didn't change the song too much, but it is poppier," Sparks says. "I wanted it to be different, so people aren't like, 'Oh, she's trying to be Céline.'" Sparks is a great fit for Disney as the edgiest attempt from the young beauty was performing a duet with Chris Brown. The gorgeous, voluptuous singer/songwriter has made it her purpose to shy away from any attribute that would tarnish her sweet, bubbly persona.
It has been nothing short of a whirlwind: The youngest contestant to ever win 'American Idol,' Sparks was just 17 years old when she won the coveted title. In reflection, it was the best training ground she could have ever had. In the three years that have followed, Sparks has released two albums on 19 Recordings/Jive Records. Her self-titled debut went platinum, selling over 2 million copies worldwide. So with domination of popular music checked off her bucket list, what was Sparks going to do next? The Glendale-based 'American Idol' winner is currently making her Broadway debut in "In the Heights." Sparks has indeed made a difference in people's lives.
With her headlining tour, upcoming Broadway debut, big city living, charity work and more, it's hard to believe she hasn't even turned 21, something that's coming up on her agenda at the end of this year (December 22nd). With everything she has achieved, what does Sparks think about turning twenty-one? She laughs, "It's weird for me to even think about! Time is going by so fast. I could go to a club if I wanted to, but I still can't rent a car! I take things day by day. I just want to keep learning and growing and trying new things. Right now, I am good right where I am."