Janelle Monáe & Erykah Badu are "Q.U.E.E.N."

Janelle Monáe is back and spotlighting her hyper-stylish in her new tasty black-and-white schemed video for the equally impressive single, "Q.U.E.E.N." the first single from Monáe's upcoming sophomore effort, "The Electric Lady," expected for a fall release. Channeling the retro swagger of Elvis's "Jailhouse Rock" video, the 27-year-old soul-funk pioneer jams while surrounded by six dancing ladies rocking bold black-striped looks in this old school soul feeds new school funk.
The powerful Erykah Badu-assisted jam, "Q.U.E.E.N.," is an irresistible art-funk strut, and also, is terrific - a punk cabaret groover that drops back on Badu's verse to highlight an incredible, funky bass lick and then makes a string-heavy transition into Monáe's unexpectedly relentless rap. It's exactly the type of stylishly futuristic and playfully absurd aesthetic we've come to expect from Monáe, and the dystopian intro perfectly sets the tone for the defiant and quirky jam that follows. Its sexy, slinky, impossibly funky grooves demanded a next-level video, and the forward-thinking Monáe has certainly delivered.
Directed by Alan Ferguson, "Q.U.E.E.N." and takes place in an alternate future, the clip depicts Monáe and Erykah as frozen human sculptures in what could easily pass for an interactive Soho pop-up art gallery. As "Q.U.E.E.N."'s funk-tinged bass line kicks in, the sculptures flicker to life with Monáe twerking in her chair and singing about haters and their snap judgements: "I can't believe all of the things they say about me/ Walk in the room they throwing shade left to right." The clip gives off a very artistic, grown woman, sophisticated fun type of feeling.
The funky Alan Ferguson-directed clip, an absolutely deadly early-'60s mod mook, and explores a witty concept, sees hipster artist Monáe teams with Badu where the two star as a museum exhibit comes to life. Instead of her predictable black-and-white tuxedo, Monáe throws on some Givenchy heels and shows off her shapely figure and  some crispy dance steps while claiming her QUEEN-status. Backed by an aesthetically stunning bevy of mod '60s dancers, Monáe finally sidles up to a sexy look Badu, who's looking terribly regal in all white and gold. Together, they sing about female equality and loving oneself despite social pressure.

Green Day's Bloody Disco Mess in "Kill The DJ"

Green Day have been pretty generous with their new material lately, and dropped another brand new video for their follow-up tune, "Kill The DJ," the second single from the punk rock band's forthcoming ninth daredevil LP release, "¡Uno!" the first of three album trilogy, which the Green Day singer-guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong admitted: "We're not going with the big Marshall-amp thing. We wanted something punchier, more power pop - somewhere between AC/DC and the early Beatles."
"Kill the DJ" is a dance-punk song with a somewhat sinister feel that takes influences from dance music, something that Green Day have never done before, and is close to straight-up dance music and four-on-the-floor rhythm. It strictly for basement dancefloors everywhere. The fun and funky track shows us a bright new direction for the band, with a catchy melody and an even more infectious chorus. The band have proven time and again, even back in the days of "Warning" and "Nimrod," that they're quite capable of slipping into different genres and experimenting with different sounds to great success.
Green Day don't actually want you to kill any DJs. It's not literal. It's more of a metaphor for information overload, and a point so obvious it feels almost gauche to point out, but given the recent relentless pace of depressing headlines, it seems important to explain these things slowly. "This is close to a floor filler, something the Californian punksters have only briefly dabbled with in the past. "This song is sort of a left turn, kind of going into something more of a four-on-the-floor dance groove," Armstrong told MTV News.
Green Day apparently isn't taking kindly to the expansion of electronic dance music in the Sam Bayer-directed new promo, which starts with black-and-white imagery of the pop-punk trio riding their dirt bikes through the desert on motorbikes before showing the band entertaining the revelers at a seedy discotheque where plenty of blood and rock 'n' roll credibility gets spilled. Once inside, the band perform in front of a packed crowd and continue playing despite a fight breaking out between two women in the crowd, who both end up with bloody noses.

Patrick Stump Sends Love Letter To "This City"

Fall Out Boy frontman Patrick Stump released the music video for "This City," the lead single from his solo debut album, "Soul Punk," will hit US stores on October 18. Featuring his fellow Chicagoan rapper Lupe Fiasco, and the duo have made their statement on their home city of Chicago, it also sees snippets of the rocker wandering around a bustling metropolis. While the 'Superstar' rapper spits his verse in a hoodie, Stump dances around in a tuxedo as they sing praises of Chicago in video.
Stump not only lost a bunch of weight during the indefinite break of the rock band, but he also took that time to work on his much-desired solo debut. The 27-year-old is best-known as the main creative force behind '00s pop-punk standard-bearers Fall Out Boy, but the R&B and hip-hop influences that have long been part of his music come to the foreground on his upcoming album, "Soul Punk." "This City" is equal parts love letter to the Windy City and dance song, steered by Stump's high, slightly feminine melodic vocals, set against club beats, and Fiasco's hard hitting rap verse, upping the song's rhythmic quotient.
The catchy tune with full-on R&B mode and pop-synth explosion, is more soul than punk. Stump said the track's poppy slickness is representative of the album, "It sounds kind of like it makes sense on the radio but at the same time doesn't at all. It's very me." The song also caused Stump to change the course of the entire "Soul Punk" album. He explained to Billboard magazine: "I had written a while draft of the album and then at the 11th hour came up with 'This City.' I really loved the song but felt like, conceptually, it didn't fit on the album. I had to go back and make an album for that song because I loved it so much."
The Ken Koller-directed video is a decidedly minimal affair, and it features Stump singing whilst various images and lights are projected on the walls. Stump told to MTV News why instead of filling the screen of shots of city life he went with an artfully abstract way to present the song: "The song's called 'This City,' and it describes a lot of these images in a city, and I feel like those images are already there; it would be kind of redundant to take a camera into a city; it's almost like the colors and the lights and the images that are going to be around this are going to be representing the life in a city."

Cobra Starship Debut "You Make Me Feel..."

New York-based fun times electro-rock group Cobra Starship are back with a video for their catchy new song "You Make Me Feel...," featuring guest vocals by singer/actress turned rapper Sabi, and it's a very welcome summer jam for those of us who prefer dark clubs to sunny beaches. "You Make Me Feel...," is the first single from pop punk/synthpop band's upcoming fourth album, "Night Shades," is set in the decadent world of downtown New York nightlife. Cobra Starship try to contain their pop antics to a photo booth in their Sabi-assisted new video.
Backed up by a simple beat and minimal synth arrangement, charismatic frontman Gabe Saporta sings about finding the girl he's been missing. "Obviously, some of my personal drama was about feeling alone, and feeling like I was searching the world for the right person," said the frontman. "And one of the things we want for this song and this record even though it has personal stuff in it, is to be something everyone can relate to, and I think that the concept of people trying to find the right person is something that's universal."
Saporta explains how a magic photo booth tells a universal story: "It's a song about a guy and a girl, and the concept is, at the beginning of the video, I find one of Sabi's photos, and she's feeling the same way that I'm feeling, which is incomplete without each other," he said. "We're sharing feelings, and that's what I realize, so I'm like, 'Wow, I want to find this girl.' So I look all over the world for her, and our world is the nightclub. The video is about the photo booth. It's just not any photo booth; it's a photo booth that tells you how you're really feeling. That's the main star of the video."
But it's not all dance floor gyrations and poppin' bottles with models. The Kai Regan-directed clip finds the synth-pop group lounging around a club and taking breaks from sipping neon-colored drinks to visit a photo booth, and our hero, Saporta must track down a beautiful mystery woman, played by the extremely cute and talented Britney collaborator Sabi, who also sings on the track, without whom he will never feel complete! What ensues involves internet stalking, the taking of photo booth photos which is always fun, and lots of dancing and merrymaking. Will Saporta dance his way into his fair maiden's heart?

Patrick Stump Shines In 'Spotlight (Oh Nostalgia)'

For those of you who want to see people celebrating their individuality in a music video without being subjected to intergalactic vaginal births, Ex-Fall Out Boy rocker Patrick Stump has the solution. The singer dropped his first video as a solo artist, "Spotlight (Oh Nostalgia)," from his 6-song digital debut EP, "Truant Wave." The 26-year-old gets positive, grabs the spotlight for himself. His new video is most certainly a departure from everything he did in his former band, about expressing your individuality and loving who you are!
Since Fall Out Boy went on hiatus a while back, the former band mates have all been off doing their own things. Most decidedly creative, however, is the solo project that crooning front man Stump has undertaken. Fall Out Boy proved to be a powerhouse of a pop-punk band, and having had the privilege of working with them in the past I can tell you they were quite the musical force to be reckoned with. While Stump has given up Fall Out Boy, he certainly hasn't given up on his talent. He may be soft-spoken, but the Chicago native has some serious pipes (but this we already knew).
"Spotlight (Oh Nostalgia)" is an irresistibly hooky track with a chorus encouraging people to reach their own greatness. What better way to illustrate said message than to present a parade of people showing off their talents like skateboarding, pogo-stick-flipping, and extending their tongues way out? The track is also an uplifting singer-songwritery bit that sounds more like Coldplay than Fall Out Boy, but the video is amazing enough to win over even Stump's pop-punk fanbase. Last week, Stump told MTV News that his brand-new "Truant Wave" EP wasn't "Take This to Your Grave, Part II," and if the 23rd-century pop&B sonics of the thing weren't enough to convince you of that fact, well, then perhaps his "Spotlight (Oh Nostalgia)" video will.
Ordinary people doing amazing things in the slow motion, low-budget video, directed by Joe Wein, captures Stump as he interacts with people (and animals) doing extraordinary things and showcasing their unique talents. Throughout the video, Stump appears to be experiencing the same posi-vibes as the kids he's surrounded by. It's an up-beat song about overcoming your obstacles and being your own spotlight, because everyone is a star in their own right. The clip features dozens of people showing off what they do best, whether that thing is skateboarding, cup-flipping, yo-yoing or swingin' nunchucks. And Stump, being the good sport, attempts some of these activities as well to various degrees of success.