Mikky Ekko Living In The Moment With "Smile"

We haven't heard much from Mikky Ekko since his "Stay" duet with Rihanna and his indie pop tune "Kids," but the singer, born John Stephen Suddath, seems poised for a pretty big breakthrough, thanks to a combination of buzz, genuine talent and the sort of expectations a Grammy nomination can set up. He's back with a new folk-pop single, "Smile." The lead single, off his upcoming debut album "Time," has an accompanying summery video that is the perfect summer send-off, sees Ekko and his on-screen girlfriend lying on a field, just passing the day smiling and cuddling and going back home on their roofless car at night time.
Discussing this gleaming soul-pop song "Smile," the Nashville-based electronic-pop/soul songster told SPIN that he was looking to capture "that moment when you're a teenager and you lose somebody for the first time and you don't know what to do about it," while marching forward to a stomp-along beat. In keeping with the onslaught of contradictory feelings that can grip a person in a time of loss, its big, buoyant chorus revolves around what is perhaps one of the most cynical-sounding lines he's ever pegged: "Smile, the worst is yet to come."
"Time will eventually knock on my door," Ekko sings, "and tell me I'm not needed around anymore." Foreboding! Filled with positive lyrics, the "Smile" clip had to go in line with this mood. Director Sarah Chatfield creates a similar feeling of emotional whiplash, tells a juxtaposed story, tossing and turning between idyllic scenes of Ekko snuggling up with a female love interest on a grassy hill and an ominous police scene. The bittersweet clip, both good and foreboding fresh.

As we see Ekko and his special lady friend in reverse chronological order through a pleasant, lazy day, with some ominous shots of the aftermath of a train-related car accident interspersed along the way. There are scenes too where Ekko is locked up in a windowless somber room and belts out the song chorus. He even "attempts" to cry. I guess this symbolizes the powerful love he feels for his girlfriend. How will it end? Will Ekko and his gal make it?! You've got to watch below to find out.

Tove Lo is"Not On Drugs" but in good kind of love

This March, after a few years penning songs for artists like Icona Pop, Cher Lloyd and Girls Aloud, Swedish rising star Tove Lo unleashed her debut EP "Truth Serum," a six-song collection featuring the rising, gold-certified "Habits (Stay High)." Thanks to that success, her debut full-length, "Queen of the Clouds," will be released September 30th in the U.S. on Island Records. Now, the 26-year-old pop singer is back with another stunner, one that flips the substance abuse script of "Habits," the album's second single, "Not on Drugs."

Lo insists, she's back on her feet and reaching for the stars—she's not on drugs, she's just in love, and she has the post-Icona Pop beat drop to prove it. "I'm up with the kites in a dream so blue," she sings. "I live in the sky/ You come live here, too." There's a crushing weight to the song's chorus that roughly approximates the overwhelming, brain-altering infatuation Lo's singing about: if love hit you with this much force, you'd probably seem high too. It's probably better for your health to keep this one on replay, and after hearing it once you won't complain. "Not On Drugs" is so good, it's addictive. It's an epic pop song, no matter how you ingest it.
With "Not on Drugs," she's basking in love's mind-melting glow rather than using to escape its aftermath. "'Not On Drugs' is - like many of my songs so far - about love," Stockholm's Lo told MTV UK. "At least it's about the happy kind of love where you feel like there's nothing that can get you higher than the person you're with and have these feelings for. I guess the best way to listen to it is when you're in that state of mind; I think if you're heartbroken it might be a bit hard to relate to it. So if you've just met someone you love you should listen to it then... On repeat!"
The Kaleidoscopic backgrounds, warped images and fluorescent smoke make the video feel anything but trippy. It finds the Scandi babe dancing in a white room that is filled with both computerized animation and colorful, real-life smoke bombs. "I choked on the paint, the smoke made me half blind and here is my three-minute trip that shows the intensity and weirdness I feel when falling in love," Lo told Rolling Stone, via e-mail. "The main theme we had in mind while making this video was 'What just happened?' It was quite amazing making something with the happy piece of my heart this time! There's always the happy part before the broken heart. Here's mine, about the good kind. Come join me in my little love trip."

BANKS makes narcissism stylish for "Drowning"

In getting ready to release her highly-anticipated debut LP "Goddess" on September 9, Los Angeles-bred, British-based singer-songwriter Jillian Banks, simply known as BANKS has premiered a string of stunning tracks and videos that have generated significant internet buzz. Her stylish new video for latest single "Drowning" is no exception. Currently ruling the world from her dark and sexy hall of mirrors, it doesn't look as if she'll be slowing any time soon! For all those drowning: let BANKS give you a reason to swim.
BANKS has been bewitching the world with her siren-like voice and brilliant beats since she broke onto the music scene last year and exists on that distinctly London present-day point where pop and R&B and experimental, architectural bass music all overlap, and "Drowning" is a fine example of what she can do and she once again shows her smooth vocals played over a irresistible instrumental. With honest lyrics and more soul than heaven, let yourself fall for the sultry songstress and super babe in her brand spanking new music video for "Drowning."
BANKS recently teamed up with i-D fashion Magazine to advance her broody, witchy aesthetic. In this new video from the publication's Chart series, filmmaker Mike Piscitelli takes "Drowning" and gives it life. The video is hypnotic enough to, well, drown in. Trapped in one of those Yayoi Kusama-inspired infinity mirrored rooms and enveloped by an army of mirror images of herself as she weighs in on an ungrateful lover while reflecting on a hopeless relationship. The mirrors and smart Lorde-like suit-and-crop-top combo give the video a polished fashion element, and fashion means drama, obviously.
wearing exactly the same outfit in her signature colors of black, white, and red in a dimly-lit room of seemingly endless mirrors, a sultry and ethereal BANKS writhes center-stage, sleekly styled, reflected ever after and slinks through a room full of mirrors and lightbulbs, making very intense eyes at the camera. She gracefully moves across the refracted panes, noting all the times she apparently made soup for the special someone, she finally realizes "you are not deserving." The video marks the third installment of i-D's style-meets-music series and this latest one is decidedly the most straightforward of the bunch, but it's in no way less dynamic.

MS MR perform "Think of You" in a retro TV show

MS MR have returned to the small screen via their media-critiquing brilliant VHS-themed video for "Think of You," the latest cut to be lifted from the alt-pop group's debut album, "Secondhand Rapture." The promotional cycle behind Brooklyn pop group MS MR's "Secondhand Rapture" apparently started many years ago on public access television, at least according to the retro-styled "Think of You" video, which seems to have a particularly intense effect on a little boy who is watching. MS MR are definitely spoiling their fans with such an unbeatable flow of impressive releases - this time.
The love-spurned New Yorkers' dark, entrancing debut album, "Secondhand Rapture," had its share of deceptively epic moments, but the chorus on the get-over-him track "Think Of You" may be the album's most grand pop gesture. Now the song has gotten the video treatment, and while it's not as unsettling as the videos for duo's previous singles, "Hurricane" and "Fantasy," it's just as visually arresting and off-kilter. "Think Of You," finds some middle ground between the bizarre and the nostalgic: public access television has never looked so neon.
Directed by BRTHR, the accompanying music video that starts off pretty tame and transitions into a colorful splash of vintage madness and it includes one flaming keyboard, one creepy little kid, and one guy with a TV for a head smashing a TV. The clip finds a young boy spending his afternoon in front of a dial-driven TV set, peeping pastiches to Bob Ross's The Joy of Painting, spandex-heavy fitness programs and even a headbanging send-up of Wayne's World. Also on the menu is a televised performance of MS MR's new, or is it old, single.
We're brought back to old-school public TV as they perform on what looks like an 80's VHS-era game show. vocalist Lizzy Plapinger and producer Max Hershenow performing the venom-spewing kiss-off tune on a retro television's fictional talk show. The young boy watches from his living room before he's literally sucked into the TV to enjoy the song in the flesh, becoming one with the colorful, trippy, VHS-like short. The whole thing has a David Lynch-meets-Tim and Eric feel. If you've been missing the old days, you'll be pleased. Watch the video below to see how well the song and setup actually work together. You can give it a peep down below.

Lana Del Rey driving Jaguar in "Burning Desire"

The Queen of sultry pop Lana Del Rey has a new rival. It is a sleek red Jaguar F-Type which competes for attention with the singer in her new music video for her latest sexy ballad, "Burning Desire," the only iTunes track off of 26-year-old indie pop star's third EP, "Born to Die: Paradise Edition," is also being used as the title track to a special promotional film for the new 2014 British automotive Jaguar sports car model F-Type, called "Desire."
The song was written and composed by Del Rey, who literally wrote "Burning Desire" for what will probably be an extended Jaguar commercial dressed up as cinema, and the song is about driving to a booty call, breaking the speed limit in order to get to the object of your desire, even touching yourself in the car. It's got a sensual trip-hop beat, Del Rey's signature impossibly-low growl, an addictive six-note piano hook, and a sultry chorus. It's almost like it was written to be a sex song.
The melody is quite catchy in conjunction with lyrics about riding, cruising, and driving fast with the wind in your hair. "Making art means making tough decisions. I do believe you create your own life path and that you will be rewarded for following your passions and sticking to it. It's just good to know now, with people like Jaguar and working with them, that I'm not the only one out there with such strident, creative beliefs," Del Rey explained.
Del Rey is her usual sultry self in the video, which is basically tastefully done, with the singer taking center stage and performing the song in a historic theater Rivoli Ballroom, looking sultry as she sings behind a microphone stand in her slinky elegant white silk dress in front of red velvet curtains. Shots of the new luxury sports car cruising along flash by as she metaphorically sings about her desire for her man that used a lot of car and driving references. The distinctive venue's eclectic mix of neon-classical, deco style perfectly complements Del Rey's original style which make the overall clip all the more chic and stylish.

Kate Nash explores her wild side in 'Death Proof'

The re-invention of Kate Nash continues apace. Taking a step back last year, Nash began focusing on new ways of making music. Gradually becoming more aware of Feminism and the legacy of Riot Grrrl, the 25-year-old British songstress  is back and she's wilder and crazier than ever, as strayed a long way from her sugary pop roots and debuted her new direction earlier this year, and now she's gone full-blown indie pop with her new video for the titular cut, "Death Proof," the lead single and title track from her most recent venture and fresh five-track EP.
Nash' new EP is an upbeat, snarky attitude and blunt lyrics are still there, but something raw and melancholy underlies. Each track is a step along the path of heartache, following her trail of loneliness after escaping a bad relationship that was driving her into the ground. The diverse range in this small collection demonstrates heavy experimentation outside of her British pop genre. It also finds Nash embracing an entirely new mode, her piano having been replaced for the time being by a bass guitar.
"Death Proof," a song metaphorically about heartache, is a complete 180, exchanging catchy pop hooks for a new rawer 'rock n roll' sound with a fun garage punk sound with a heavy bass riff leads back up to Nash' scratchy voice. This is about walking away from a situation with as little damage as possible. In every relationship, we leave behind a piece of our heart, but the trick is getting out of it before we lose everything, because who has time for that? The song mixes urgent bass and minimal surf licks with a tuneful chorus that could have been ripped straight out of the K Records or Slumberland catalogs.
As for the new Aram Rappaport-directed clip, inspired by Quentin Tarantino's signature aesthetic film, Nash fuses vintage imagery with circus grandeur and sideshow novelty, performs in a flashy outfit while surrounded by different entertainers, and gets a little brash and bloody in the medical tent. "I wanted 'Death Proof' to have a Tarantino feel," Nash explained. "But I also love this movie called Freaks so a lot of the inspiration came from that as well: old Bettie Page pictures, traveling circus people, and freak shows."

Jason Reeves debuts "More In Love With You"

ASCAP award-winning singer-songwriter Jason Reeves is back with a beautiful music video for his duet with Nelly Joy, "More In Love With You," the first official single from his newest third full-length album, "Songs Are Silent Films," which is out since June 12th. The record will be available through the artist's own abeautifularmyoftrees label both digitally and physically.
Reeves started on piano at the age of five, took up drums for awhile, and taught himself to play guitar when he was a teenager. Grounded in the music of great songwriters like Bob Dylan and James Taylor, he has since won an ASCAP award as a songwriter himself. He has an incredible voice for slow and folk music. Famous for singles such as "Skydive," "Save My Heart," and tracks featuring Colbie Caillat, "Droplets and No Lies," he is now becoming famous at age 28, not bad for a guy who self-produced album while finishing high school in Iowa.
With his newest solo release, "Songs Are Silent Films," Reeves returns to a stripped-down approach to his songwriting. Each song intertwines acoustic guitars with piano to create unforgettable melodies that form the album's eleven tracks. "I wanted to go back to the basics," affirms Reeves. "Each song becomes its own little movie that you can imagine seeing. There's not necessarily an overarching story per se, but all of these songs are written about falling in love."
Written with frequent collaborator Danelle Leverett of the JaneDear Girls and featuring her alter ego Nelly Joy on vocals, the sun-soaked ballad, "More in Love with You," is a classic love story and it echoes the best of classic Nashville finger-picked guitar with a modern touch of soulful harmonies and lyrics for which Reeves has become known. The video was directed by Nathanael Matanick, and was shot in the hills of Tennessee on the brink of spring.

Norah Jones Gets Her Revenge In "Miriam"

The dewy sweet girl next door Norah Jones that fans fell in love with in 2002 has been scorned and she wants you to know about it in her new music video for her exquisitely angry "Little Broken Hearts" ballad, "Miriam." As fans of Jones' new summer album already know, the song “Miriam,” is the most chilling she has ever recorded, and the onetime soft-jazz wunderkind throws us another curveball and takes one of her Danger Mouse-produced album's creepiest, most unsettling songs and gives it a full noir treatment.
The deceptively soft-spoken singer has always been known as somewhat quirky and mysterious, both musically and personally. Now it's Jones who is out for revenge and shows dark, twisted side in new album, where she dispatches with the calm niceties and unleashes a vengeful rage and fury few knew she had within her, after her boyfriend's infidelity sent her back into the recording studio. The spooky murder ballad "Miriam" describes the way she murdered her cheating boyfriend and his other woman respectively. Jones starts with what appears to be a nice stroll through the pond, but ends up taking a very dark turn.
"Obviously I care a little bit about what people think, but I try not to," Jones told Exclaim! Magazine "I feel pretty secure in who I think I am and what I know I do. It's not like I do anything crazily different [on 'Little Broken Hearts'], just a couple of songs were a little mean. It's not like I'm such a bad girl. I'm an adult. I'm not a little kid... It's not like I'm pulling one over on people. I am a nice person." The line between quietly soothing and disgustingly creepy has always been a thin one in popular music. A good music video can certainly help such a song over the borderline, as Jones' new clip does here.
Adding grim visuals to the already dark lyrics, the Phil Andelman-directed clip is the perfect visual marriage to the song. The camera moves slowly paced melodies create an uncomfortable sensation and snake-like, producing a video that provides a couple of shocking reveals and a juicy coda feel that song produces. It finds Jones, as a scorned '50s housewife, floats alone in a boat with a blood-speckled oar at her feet. The crime of passion, by a jealous lover, is deliberately laid out, though we never know for sure the method. However, the video solves that mystery.

Kimbra Finds Love In "Two Way Street" Video

Kimbra, the female voice in "Somebody That I Used to Know" stands on her own and takes a giant leap toward stardom by premiering New Zealand songstress's first music video aimed at the American market, for shimmery track "Two Way Street." The jazzy pop record was released as the fifth single from her excellent debut studio album, "Vows," which she describes as "an eclectic mix of songs and explores the themes surrounding the making of promises and the breaking of them."
The just-released light and breezy track is proof that Kimbra is a pretty face with a killer instinct for style and sound. In fact, this song is actually pretty innovative. It combines all the catchy fun of the over-synthed tween-clubby music that dominates the radio with gentle lyricism and a distinctly lo-fi vibe. It's the kind of track that could be equally useful on a reflective Sunday afternoon and at a bumping, dimly lit house party.
Kimbra signed a management contract with a company in Melbourne when she was 17 and began working on her album then. The 22-year-old singer started receiving attention on a global scale after she was featured on Gotye's smash single, "Somebody That I Used to Know," making her the first New Zealander to hit No.1 on the Billboard Hot 100 since 1977. So does love really prove to be a two-way street for the the diminutive Kiwi singer and the object of her affection?
The magical dreamy clip was directed by Matthew Rolston, and it's an eye-popping dazzlefest. Vaguely reminiscent of Katy Perry's "Wide Awake," Kimbra finds herself alone in an enchanted forest. Naturally, she's decked in her signature corset and ball gown skirt, and as she stumbles alone through an empty forest until she finds herself in front of a magical red door. Along the way, she is being pursued by a man in a suit through movie theaters and forests, just as she jumps into her own reflection. Very Disney-esque, indeed.

Aiden Grimshaw Unveils "Curtain Call" video

Aiden Grimshaw and his fit hair are back to brighten up your summer with a brand new video for his forthcoming single, "Curtain Call," the second track released off his upcoming debut studio album, "Misty Eye," which he said "is out in August so its just all about gearing up for that really. I'll be doing a collection of gigs around the UK within the same sort of time period, the live thing is really important to us and I really want fans to see the album live and at its best."
The 20-year-old British singer-songwriter shot to fame on The X Factor in 2010, the same series that saw Cher Lloyd, One Direction, Rebecca Ferguson and winner Matt Cardle compete in the final. The three runners-up have all gone on to have success in the UK and the US, whilst Cardle has parted ways with his label. The former X Factor contestant flexes his vocal muscles on the new proper tune, a stirring ballad about love and romance that swells to a joyful, whimsical crescendo.
Speaking about the album, Grimshaw recently revealed: "It's pretty freaky, especially because we delivered the album a couple of months ago, so I've had a lot of time to just sit with it. It's like my little baby. I'm happy with it though. When we were making it, I was constantly relating it back to my friends and stuff. They're all pretty outspoken fellas and they seemed to like it. I think I've made honest music, that I like, as well."
The accompanying new clip captures the tender emotion of the song, showing young lovers reveling in the sunshine and breaking into empty swimming pools for romantic swims. It follows a handful of couples and a group of friends seeking thrills by racing motorbikes, shooting fireworks, jumping into swimming pools and enjoying an adventurous summer evening with each other. The visual also sees Grimshaw performing the track while strolling down the bank of the River Thames and sitting on a bus. Grimshaw, on the other hand, wanders the streets alone looking sad and unloved.

Imagine Dragons're mystic travelers in "It's Time"

Imagine Dragons have been waiting three years for this day, they finally premiered their first video for "It's Time," the breakout single off of the fast-rising Las Vegas band's latest EP, "Continued Silence." The clip represents the first fruits of their new deal with Interscope Records, and, for a band that has taken its time to get to this point, well, they're definitely enjoying the moment.
Any time I hear music, I also see visuals in my mind," says Imagine Dragons' frontman Dan Reynolds of the video, which was shot on a dry lake bed in Barstow, CA. "'It's Time' is an emotional song that was written at a very transitional period of my life. I've always loved conceptual videos that leave room for the viewer room to interpret it in a way that is most personal to them. That is what we tried to do with this video. The director had a great vision for representing the song’s meaning in a subtle way. We wanted the video to be cinematic and true to the song."
If you were stuck in the middle of the desert after some kind of postapocalyptic shipwreck with your bandmates, what's the one thing you have left to do? Put yourself in infinitely more danger, of course! Imagine Dragons take their cheery, indie-pop tune "It's Time" in a decidedly darker direction in their new video for the track, which opens with the Las Vegas foursome headed out across an eerie desert landscape. Despite the impending thunderstorm, the band is on a quest to find resources. The video doesn't exactly fit the song but it really works.
The clip is basically an updated take on the old "Jack and the Beanstalk" tale, with the band starring as mystic travelers in a very dark world, carrying a very special parcel. Since forming in Vegas in 2009, Imagine Dragons have been on one long voyage, one that's certainly had its share of ups and downs along the way. So with their first proper video out in the world, and plans to begin work on their full-length debut already in the works, Imagine Dragons continue to march on. And in that regard, things are still the same as they've ever been.

Louise Burns Unveils "Drop Names Not Bombs"

Vancouver songbird Louise Burns is excited to unleash her new music video to her single "Drop Names Not Bombs," the second single off 26-year-old Canadian singer-songwriter's solo debut full-length, "Mellow Drama," which is beautifully nostalgic in its sound and utterly modern in its sensibility, and culminated in its inclusion on the long list for Canada's Polaris Music Prize.
Burns, formerly a member of the band Lillix, has been building quite a buzz up in Canada for her sweet, country-tinged alt-pop. "Mellow Drama" is a well-crafted, precise record filled with tracks that both communicate the very singular experience of a thoughtful songwriter while also transcending the personal entirely. With a warm, strong, clear voice-like Patsy Cline's almost, but with less sadness, Burns writes songs about love, loneliness and most importantly, her own experience. Her debut record has classic feel combined with the fact that Burns played nearly all the instruments.
Directed by Catherine Lutes, the video centers around a creepy drunken karaoke party gone spooky featuring Burns' close pals in her current city of residence Toronto. It reminds us of many a night out except a lot less sloppy. The clip was shot under the guise of "getting her friends drunk and doing karaoke," but that's not to say "Drop Names Not Bombs" is isn't without its darker edges. Burns notes the video's underlying creepiness, saying that "the contrast between brightness and creepiness unintentionally reflects the song as well, which sounds like a happy pop jam but was actually written from a pretty dark place."
"We liked the idea of doing a 'fun' video, as in getting our friends drunk and doing karaoke, but also tapping into a darker side; where something feels a bit off, kind of like the little girl in Poltergeist watching static on her TV," Burns explains. "In our case, there's a poltergeist in the karaoke video in the form of me (haha). The contrast between brightness and creepiness unintentionally reflects the song as well, which sounds like a happy pop jam but was actually written from a pretty dark place."

Slow Moving Millie Debuts "Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want"

Slow Moving Millie has revealed the music video for her cover version of The Smiths 1984 classic B-Side "Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want," as a Digital download from her upcoming debut studio album "Renditions," is due for December 12th. The song that illustrates a melody and dynamics that make Slow Moving Millie shine. As part of an amazing album, "Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want" lyrics will satisfy your music cravings, was also elected to be the theme song to this year's John Lewis Christmas Commercial.
At age 29, the London-born singer - real name Amelia Warner, is known as Slow Moving Millie, a name friends gave her because she took so long to get her music career started. She predictably, loves the Christmas advertisements. "It's really simple, quiet and restrained. At this time of year everything is so shiny and loud and bright, and everything on television is just wacked up to this kind of screechy, crazy hysteria. It's nice to have a little serenity."
Only seconds into the song, you immediately realize why the song was chosen - Warner's delicate voice is delicate, soft, and moving as it dances upon the gentle piano notes. She takes an already familiar favorite and transforms it into something timeless and beautiful. Another thing to add to her list of feats? She now resides in Confusion's heart, between Lindsay Lohan and Lykke Li. That screenshot above is the moment Con knew he loved her.
"I haven't been spat at by Smiths fans in the street," smiles the beautiful and demure Warner. Covering such a classic song isn't easy, especially one that has been covered so extensively over the years. Warner's take modernizes the song with soft piano that compliments her quiet tone. The video is shot outside during the strikingly appropriate season of fall, which makes the song resonate even more. While it doesn't take huge leaps from the original in terms of instrumentals, the female vocals almost make one forget that the song ever belonged to Morrissey.

Mateo Is On A Quest For Love In "Say Its So"

Newcomer R&B singer Mateo, who dropped his "Love & Stadiums" R&B mixtape earlier this year, has released a visual for his Alicia Keys and Swizz Beatz-featuring first single, "Say Its So," from his forthcoming EP "Love & Stadiums II," is slated to be released on December 6. It's just Mateo though in the video as he brings the lyrics to life opposite a beautiful female lead and throughout some glamorous visuals of New York City.
The 26-year-old Cincinnati native inspired many last year with his soulful re-working of a modern classic. and now hooked up with two of the biggest hitmakers, the Rising R&B star's new melody jam "Say Its So" has a real emotional story to tell, is a bluesy-R&B tune where he seeks confirmation and validation from his lover. The emotionally-charge ballad is perfect for a long drive or elevator trip.
The track itself was produced by Keys' longtime collaborator Kerry "Krucial" Brothers, and Mateo's lyrics about the bittersweet leftovers of a broken relationship are neatly captured in the video. Mateo said the song deals with how "you go through a break-up and a relationship and you hope that that person is hurting as bad as you are. It's kind of warped in a way but it's the truth. You want the person to be hurt just like you and I'm really saying I know this don't sound right, but I hope you're hurt like me. Then I know that you feel something or that our relationship meant something."
Love escapes Mateo, who reflect on his lost love in the concrete-and-glass canyons of New York in the David "Dahveed" Telles helmed video, singing his sorrows away at his piano and wandering the streets of NYC, as he stares out from a window alternately ponders the skyline, rides the subway and plays an old upright piano, searching for his lost love. Mateo ultimately meets his girl on the Brooklyn Bridge, but inexplicably keeps walking past, defiantly brandishing his Metallica patch. Will he find what he's looking for?

Grove Gets Revenge In "This Little Girl" Video

Emerging pop singer-songwriter Cady Groves has premiered the music video for her sassy single "This Little Girl," the first single off her upcoming debut major label release, which is due out in early 2012. The country star and 'The Voice' coach Blake Shelton makes an appearance as a tow truck driver in the video, as Groves getting revenge on a cheating boyfriend in all kinds of ways.
"Every girl is capable of murder if you hurt her. Watch out, you don't push me any further. You're not the only one walkin' 'round with a loaded gun. This little girl is capable of murder 'cause you hurt her," warns 21-year-old on her debut RCA Records single "This Little Girl." It's an upbeat, edgy pop jam that, aside from it brimming over with the Oklahoma-bred songstress' sass and bite, comes packed with solid production work by Kristian Lundin. It's no wonder that Groves has a way with words when writing about relationships.
"No other girl could sing these songs, because they're my life experiences," Groves says about the material she's recorded for her debut record. "That's what I wanted. The album reeks of heartache; it's about a girl just trying to figure out life." With enough lyrical vitriol to have Kelly Clarkson shining up her rifle and just the right kind of synth-pop pulsations in between the song's punchy production to set Ellie Goulding's heart a-flutter, this little girl is definitely capable of murder-not to mention a ridiculously promising career. Just don't stand in her way!
The up-and-coming singer shot her video in Los Angeles last month with famous director Nathan Cox. The frustrated Groves sets out to find evidence that her boyfriend is cheating. She catches him red-handed. Shelton is determined to get 'this little girl' off the street, but the singer is lying in wait in the shadows in the backseat of the car. "I was dating someone who I genuinely thought I was going to spend the rest of my life with," Groves explaining the back story for single. "He ended up having a whole separate life apart from me that I still can't even digest to this day." But as we know, revenge can sometimes be very, very sweet.

Jason Reeves Debuts "No Lies" Ft. Colbie Caillat

Longtime friends and collaborators Jason Reeves and Colbie Caillat have finally teamed up for their duet track "No Lies" from Reeves's new album "The Lovesick," which features an "edgier" sound that showcases Reeves's unique blend of modern folk and pop sensibilities. Reeves has crafted an elegantly entrancing pop masterpiece that's as hypnotic as it is heartbreaking. Reeves pens songs with a mastery a la Bob Dylan and a sense of wonder reminiscent of Coldplay. He's made an incredible, infectious opus that anyone can feel after just one listen.
Much like the rest of the songs on "The Lovesick," "No Lies" combines folk-style guitars and Pop/Hip-Hop undertones, is one of those quintessential songs of devotion, which Reeves sings with a yearning ease. Shot in the scenic hills of Malibu and Santa Barbara, the Nathanael Matanik-directed video is a tasty-sweet ending to one long summer. It features the two pop darlings writing love notes to each other across a rocky beach landscape in separate scenes, with Reeves sitting under a tree in an empty valley while Caillat appears on a beach, each writing letters to one another. The two ultimately collide on the same beach, where they exchange their letters and read them side by side, with the final frame focusing in on the duo's matching foot tattoos.
"This is the first music video Colbie and I have shot together after all these years of writing and singing together and I'm very excited about that! We went back to the places along the California coast where we wrote our first songs and used to hang out when I had just moved there from Iowa," Reeves told AOL Music. "This song has that perfect tension that makes a duet work and I love that the video is in a way a confrontation. She is my lost-girl sister and there will never be somebody with a voice quite like hers again."
"'No Lies' is my favorite song of his," Caillat also tells AOL Music. "The realness in this song opened my eyes with a wake-up call, a beautiful wake-up call. Every person has felt this way before, and should always remember to live honestly. This song even helped inspire my album title 'All Of You.' Shooting this video in my home town of Malibu, Calif. with my lost-boy brother was such a fun day. Waking up before sunrise to start shooting, eating breakfast at our favorite beach, getting in trouble by security guards... felt like kids again."

Reeve Carney Debuts "Rise Above 1" Feat. U2

"Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark" star Reeve Carney was already a film actor and singer-songwriter when he took on the stage role of Peter Parker in the Broadway musical. Now the 28-year-old has just released video features U2's Bono and The Edge for "Rise Above 1," the lead single from the spider-ific Broadway production soundtrack, and while the video itself is not as mind-blowing as the trailer for the new upcoming big screen adaptation, we give U2 and the "Spider-Man" cast brownie points for trying to keep this musical afloat and in the press.
Directed by Aaron Platt and Joseph Toma and shot in New York City, the video gives fans a peek into the making of the Broadway musical, as Carney also is seen rehearsing with cast members and flying from the rafters of the Foxwoods Theatre. As expected, Carney and "Spider-Man" composers Bono share vocals with the Edge on guitar, while we get splices of behind-the-scenes footage of dance rehearsals, fighting scenes, and studio appearances mixed in with skyscraper shots and what appears to be a igloo makeshift with punctured holes emitting sunlight. The video was a bit sentimental, but that's about it.
With music and lyrics by Bono and The Edge and a book by Glen Berger, Julie Taymor and Glen Berger, the Broadway musical "Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark" is inspired by over 40 years of Marvel comic books. It follows the story of teenager Peter Parker (Carney), whose unremarkable life is turned upside-down when he's bitten by a genetically altered spider and wakes up the next morning clinging to his bedroom ceiling. This bullied science-geek suddenly endowed with incredible powers soon learns, however, that with great power comes great responsibility as villains put both his physical strength and strength of character to the test.
One of the most striking things about "Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark," is the visual punch it packs into every corner of the stage. Critics have written about the show's "stunning costumes" and called it a hybrid of a circus, pop concert and video game. The $75-million musical, which holds the record as one of the most ambitious projects - both in cost and creativity - ever to arrive on Broadway, is still hanging in there, with box office grosses from last week totaling about $1.8 million. The Broadway musical got a music video, which you can admit doesn't ever really happen these days. Maybe they will set a new trend?

Noah And The Whale Unveil "Life Is Life" Video

Folk rockers Noah and the Whale have premiered a music video in support of their latest single "Life Is Life," which is the third single from the British alternative indie folk band's successful recent third album, "Last Night on Earth." The record's title is a nod towards Charles Bukowski's poetry collection 'The Last Night of the Earth.' Lead singer Charlie Fink explained he was attracted to the sense of "loser's pride" in Bukowski's work. "In my head," he said, "there is a link between Lou Reed's Berlin, and Bukowski's poetry."
The Twickenham band's latest album "Last Night On Earth" has seen the quintet pull a remarkable U-turn from the bleak break-up songs of their first record, as now they're soaring euphorically towards a mountain top, with new single "Life Is Life," which is set for release on August 8th, representing their touchdown on the summit. "Life Is Life" is just too familiar, both conceptually and sonically. The synth and drum-machine Noah and the Whale have inexplicably adopted make the song sound like a mash-up of Kraftwerk's "Autobahn" and The Knife's "Heartbeats."
This song's title is another Bukowski reference, tipping a hat to his poem The Laughing Heart - a verse whose final lines seem to sum up the record: "Your life is your life. Know it while you have it. You are marvelous. The Gods wait to delight in you." "I think its best that I don't say too much about this and just let your imaginations run wild. Either way I don't think I'm overstating things when I tell you that the new video we have shot for 'Life Is Life' is going to be THE GREATEST THING EVER," they said. "We shot it with Autumn De Wilde who, amongst many, many things, is responsible for all the photography for 'Last Night On Earth'."
Noah and the Whale bring their uplifting "Life Is Life" to the screen and want their fans just let their 'imaginations run wild' in the video for "Life Is Life" they worked with Autumn De Wilde. The video follows a young girl full of running, and daydreaming of being free and floating to the sky in a blimp. The band, meanwhile, are playing on the field with some cheerleaders, and front man Charlie Fink busting some impressive moves. The video upgrades the band's folk-indie sound with a dash of Lou Reed-esque vocals and a smattering of electro-pop.

Jason Reeves Unveils Fairytale "Helium Hearts"

In the past few years, Iowa native Jason Reeves has worked his way from college dropout to accomplished one of the top indie singer-songwriters. Reeves is now getting ready for the release of his follow-up album, "The Lovesick," which features tracks co-written by Kara DioGuardi and is due out this winter. The first solo single, "Helium Hearts," was made available by digital retailers on August 17 and will impact radio on September 20. The "Helium Hearts" Tour begins August 26 in Seattle, and will stop in more than 30 cities across the States.
The 26-year-old Iowa native explained the inside story of the latest single: "This song is a fairytale set on fire. It is a daydream lit by the brightest sunbeam on earth. And I was madly in love with at least the idea of love when I wrote it, seen hiding in the eyes of the ghost of a gorgeous girl. I always write when I'm burning alive. Whether it's in pain or bliss or bewildered confusion. The idea of having helium hearts is a very simple but hopefully powerful metaphor for the way falling in love seems to lift us up and away from the madness of this world. To a place where everything is as surreal and mysterious as it ever could be. It's as if we're floating up into the sky away from a city that is being engulfed in silence by flames."
"This song was stumbled upon like almost all of my songs, like a secret golden pond found just over a hidden hill when I'm dying of thirst in an endless desert, and its light was caught and reflected from the pure and joyous exuberant bliss of real life potential love," Reeves continues. "I never set out to write songs like this -- they come like rare miracles through my brightest emotions. This is a song about wildfire love, written at its brink. And the video is intended to capture that feeling, even if only in the form of a glimmer." The video for "Helium Hearts" is as lighthearted as the song. It opens with Reeves greeting his girlfriend with a bundle of heart-shaped balloons, and the pair then wanders all over Los Angeles distributing them to strangers. The lyrics to "Helium Hearts" are also reflected in the video, with the young lovers wanting to share their joy with as many people as possible.
When a teenage Reeves encountered the works of Bob Dylan and James Taylor, it set off a chain of events. First he began working on his own songwriting, combining the classic singer/songwriter style with more modern influences like Radiohead and Sufjan Stevens. He then dropped out of college and moved from his native Iowa, eventually landing in California. The second person he met upon arrival was future pop star Colbie Caillat. The two hit it off immediately and it didn't take long for their friendship to turn into a songwriting partnership. Reeves is one of the most sought-after new co-writers around. Yet Reeves is also an artist in his own right, with a fresh honest approach that is rapidly winning fans everywhere. He is one of the best singer/songwriters out there with an incomparable knack for hooky melodies and profound lyrics.

Secondhand Serenade Debuts "Something More"

For anyone who has ever entered a hotel room and wondered to themselves who else had spent a random night in the same room, have we got a video for you! Behold, the premiere of Secondhand Serenade's "Something More," the first single from its upcoming third album "Hear Me Now," due out in August 3. "Something More" is a perfectly typical Secondhand Serenade song. Directed by Declan Whitebloom, the video matches the track's gorgeously depressing sound as we follow a series of temporary residents, caught between stations as they wander through their lives.
Much like Five for Fighting or Dashboard Confessional both musically and in theory, the acoustic rock band Secondhand Serenade is the vehicle for a solo artist John Vesely uses to get his songs out into the world. With the help of producer Aaron Johnson (from The Fray), Vesely makes somber, intimate pop rock, full of quiet, contemplative moments. The 28-year-old has the vocal range of an 80s hair band, and looks to rival Elvis, wandered through life. Raised in the San Francisco Bay Area in a musical family, Vesely spent a number of dues-paying years become a lead acoustic guitar over strummed chords. he claims that the inspiration for the band name 'Secondhand Serenade' is the fact that all of his autobiographical songs are directed first and foremost to his wife, thereby making the audience mere bystanders to their pas de deux.
Driven by a piano melody and mid-tempo percussion, the ballad "Secondhand Serenade" is focused on Vesely's vocals, as he wails about self-revelation and purpose in life. In "Secondhand Serenade," Vesely has penned some of his most honest, relatable and mature lyrics yet. The hypnotic ballad opens with an ominous piano chord as Vesely reflects on learning how to forgive and move on from a shattered relationship. "There must be something more/Do we know what we're fighting for?" Vesely belts on the chorus, which blends the electronic pop of "Owl City" with the sweeping melancholy of OneRepublic. As Vesely sings of the internal strife that a breakup can cause, he powerfully conveys the very human message that everyone makes mistakes. A no-brainer for top 40 and hot AC radio formats, "Something More" is sure to saturate the summer airwaves.
With the heat of summer in full swing, the next stage of Secondhand Serenade's saga is gearing up for release. Those familiar with the words of Vesely, have lived through his picturesque stories of life's ups and downs. Fans have gravitated to Vesely's heart-on-his sleeve approach and are consistently moved by his tales of life, love and loss that foster universal understanding. Along this journey, he spawned the platinum-certified 2008 hit, my favorite "Fall For You." With the upcoming August release of "Hear Me Now," he gives a more in-depth look inside a man coming to terms with his shortcomings and moving forward with that understanding.