Jewel 'Stay Here Forever' From 'Valentine's Day'

When it comes to relationships, there's one singer out there that has had her thumb on the heartbeat of love and heartbreak over the years. Dominating the charts with hits like "Foolish Games," "You Were Meant For Me," "Pieces of You," and "Who Will Save Your Soul," the country crossover artist Jewel is ready to add a new song to her collection of hits. The latest from the country superstar is an upbeat celebration of love just in time for St. Valentine and the new film "Valentine's Day." Jewel just released the official music video for her first country chart single "Stay Here Forever," a lighthearted dedication to romance serves as the lead soundtrack for the new romantic comedy "Valentine's Day," as well as the lead-off single to Jewel's upcoming second country album with Valory Music Group, which the Nashville and Texas vibes have found their way into the music for sure, and will likely be out in June.
It's so nice to have Jewel back. She has received three Grammy Award nominations and has sold more than 27 million albums in her career, which began in 1995. Jewel came out in 2008 with her own brand of country music and while it didn't deviate much from what she's always done, Jewel didn't become as big a star on the country charts as many suspected she would. If people are familiar at all with producer Nathan Chapman, they'll recognize the similarity of this song to something that might have been on a Taylor Swift record sonically. Lyrically the song follows a romantic path that is pretty obvious from the title alone. The melody is purely out of the Taylor Swift songbook but that vocal is completely chock full-o-charm and at times I hear some Pam Tillis in this cute and playful romantic romp. In other words, this song could very well be Jewel's big mainstream country break while also being perfectly suited to be featured in a rom-com.
"Stay Here Forever" is a country ballad, backed primarily by percussion with occasional fiddle fills. Jewel talked to EW about her new single she contributed to the mix. "I heard the soundtrack folks were looking for one more song, and I submitted this one and they fell in love with it and made it the lead single," Jewel says. "That's pretty cool. I wrote it for my husband, Ty, and used how I feel for him as inspiration. It's about being in love and how going on a great adventure is fun, but sometimes staying home with the one you love is even better."
Jewel portrays a florist in Peter Zavadil-directed music video for "Stay Here Forever", while she is singing and arranging flowers, scenes of the various couples from the highly publicized and anticipated romantic comedy "Valentine's Day," features a star-studded line-up, has more stars in one movie than any I've seen in years, hit theaters Friday for St.Valentine's Day weekend, and has already topping the box office. Happy Saint Valentine's Day!

Linkin Park Releases "Not Alone" Video For Haiti

American rock band Linkin Park was among the first artists to respond to the devastating earthquake that struck Haiti last month, heading up a charity album, "Download to Donate for Haiti," within a week. Now the rock giants are giving you an intimate look at the creation of their song to help Haiti, and released a special new video for "Not Alone," the previously unreleased song they gave to the compilation. It's a stark, mostly black-and-white clip that switches between images of the immense destruction in Haiti, some of them fairly graphic, and footage of Linkin Park recording "Not Alone" in a studio. The stunning video features studio performance footage interspersed with stark images of the Haitian devastation. The clip is being premiered exclusively at www.myspacemusic.com beginning today.
The new song "Not Alone" is currently playing on AOL Radio's New Alternative First station, is an unfinished demo from 2007's 'Minutes to Midnight,' with vocals recorded by Mike Shinoda and Chester Bennington just over the weekend to complete the track and released On January 19.
"Download to Donate for Haiti" is a compilation album and a star-studded recovery effort by Music for Relief, a non-profit organization established by Linkin Park in 2005, following the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, to help victims of natural disasters to help prevent such disasters. The special album provides fans with the opportunity to download a collection of exclusive songs along with many other unreleased by their favorite artists, such as All American Rejects, Hoobastank, Alanis Morisette, Slash, Enrique Iglesias, Peter Gabriel and more, and then donate funds on a purely voluntary basis. Each download is a donation. Fans can download the unreleased songs at www.musicforrelief.org and via the websites of each participating artist.
One of the most unique aspects of "Download To Donate For Haiti" is its community element. On musicforrelief.org, songs are downloaded via an embeddable widget and fans are encouraged to embed the widget on their own social network pages to help spread the word. "We ask that everyone donate, but if all you can afford is to spread the word, embed the widget, share it on Facebook, Twitter, whatever, then that'll be good enough," says Linkin Park vocalist Mike Shinoda. "It all helps."
Linkin Park are currently in the studio recording the long awaited fourth album, which will be released in 2010, with the aim for it to be "genre-busting."

Rihanna Debuts The Colorful Clip For "Rude Boy"

It was time to turn to some bright hues, Barbadian R&B superstar Rihanna has exclusive premiered an anticipated videoclip for her Stargate-produced third single entitled "Rude Boy," follows "Russian Roulette" and "Hard," from her 2009 effort "Rated R" album on VEVO yesterday, a few hours earlier than scheduled. "Rude Boy" is "about the kind of street, bad boy that girls sometimes like. There's a danger and a swagger there." It exploits Rihanna's most appealing vocal style, a sulky, icy, monotone – uniquely among the pantheon of showboating R&B divas. The video for song goes in a completely different direction from her latest videos in that instead of a dark and grungy tone, this particular vibrant video is fun and is very colorful.
Harsh vibes Rihanna has been giving off recently, and stated previously that she was taking it back to her earlier Island days for the new clip, and she meant it! From the very bright colors, animals, the creative graphics, the sexy dances, the hot looks, the interaction with the guys, to the scenery and imagination, Rihanna is letting everyone know where she comes from. On this colorful video, directed by Melina Matsoukas, who also directed the video for "Hard", was clearly trying to express herself with eclectic visuals instead of the standard boring video's. She is also reminiscent of the vibrant 80s, and of Rihanna's Caribbean origin. The whole concept of the music video is very colorful and retro-ish.
Yes, she's back to her island roots' feeling and looks with attention grabbing pop art that explodes off the screen. The video features Rihanna shaking and twisting herself in front of colorful backgrounds, opens up a box of Crayola crayons, got a little edgy and seated atop a lion and a zebra, shimmering in Gold and shifting to the beat of the flirty single. Rihanna described the video as "completely different from any other video I've shot before. A lot of my videos are really dark and edgy and tough. 'Rude Boy' is more playing along the lines from my roots. We used a lot of color, but also the costumes were very Jamaican dance-hall queen type." Jamaican dancehall is the central theme surrounding the video. Many different styles and genres of fashion and music have been fused together to make a seamlessly perfect production. This video screams "Music of The Sun" déjà vu!

The Fray Premieres New Video For "Syndicate"

Denver-based piano rock band The Fray team up with Yahoo! to premiere a music video in support of their latest single "Syndicate", the third single appearing in the band's self-titled studio project "The Fray," which was released on February 3 through Epic Records. Following the success of lead single "You Found Me," the album the album debuted at No.1 on the Billboard Hot 200 chart, and was also nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Pop Vocal Album in 2010, but it lost to "The E.N.D." by the Black Eyed Peas.
The Fray, a foursome whose melodic pop-rock songs and soaring vocals resonate with sprawling tapestries and tales of hopefulness and heartache. Formed in 2002 by Isaac Slade (vocals, piano) and Joe King (guitar, vocals), The Fray earned a loyal grassroots following through impressive area gigs and the support of local radio which led a listener-driven campaign to get the band a record contract.
The Colorado band’s been nominated for two Grammys, though they were initially dogged with comparisons to Coldplay, piano-rock band The Fray have since found platinum-selling success in their own right. "The Fray" album captures what The Fray are truly about. They exploded into worldwide success with that album, have captured the skilled songwriting that broke them and, with the help of acclaimed producers Mike Flynn and Aaron Johnson, created a set of songs sure to make them household names. The whole album is full of great songs that really pull at your heart.
The song "Syndicate" was released on January 12 for radio airplay, and the video for song is essentially one long, gorgeous, visual effect and very entrancing. Two days after the "Syndicate" music video arrives, a clip showing the filming process will be put forward for viewing pleasure. The four-piece band will join forces with AOL Today to treat fans with a behind-the-scenes look at the video shoot.
The quartet one of the biggest new bands to explode onto the pop-rock scene in the last few years. They are also the one of the bands who contribute to the Haitian relief effort. Most recently, their frontman Isaac Slade joined over 75 other big stars, including Joel Madden, Celine Dion, will.i.am and T-Pain, at Jim Hensen Studios in Hollywood, California to record "We Are the World" remake.

Patty Loveless Goes Back In Time For "Busted"

American country star Patty Loveless just exclusively released her brand new music video for her newest single "Busted" on Yahoo!'s Music Premier Page as the top feature last Friday. "Busted" is the lead-off single off latest sixteenth studio album "Mountain Soul II," followed up 2001's "Mountain Soul" on the Suguaro Road imprint. Unlike its predecessor, "Mountain Soul II" contained classic country, mountain, and bluegrass songs, as well as original material instead of strictly bluegrass tunes. There, music served as a source of comfort, a shield against the impossible demands of that world, and she paints the pitch-perfect scene with her pure twangy alto. It tops for 'U.S. Billboard Top Bluegrass Albums' chart.
Loveless tackles the Harlan Howard' 1962 classic "Busted" on her "Mountain Soul II" album and makes it her own using traditional bluegrass instrumentation. After growing up in Kentucky, those mournful sounds and her voice now seem made for each other. Her video finds a confused waitress who appears to stumble back in time to a strange moving picture parlor. Filled with men who ravenously crank away at their personal viewing machines including Buddy Apple, loyal sideman to Doyle & Debbie. She gives one a try and sees Loveless in the viewfinder. Unfortunately, the waitress remains confused, but since she's got a job, at least she's not "busted."
Kentucky-born Loveless has been one of the most popular female country singers of the new traditionalist movement since the 1990s. She rose to stardom thanks to her mix-blend of honky tonk and emotive country ballad styles. At 53, Loveless is hardly a doddering old maid, but it's been more than a decade since she was deemed too mature for country radio. With her chart-topping days done, she wedded herself to the cause of traditional roots music. On the long-awaited sequel, Loveless starts with a stirring version of Harlan Howard's "Busted." With much of Music Row relying on slick packaging and trite themes, Loveless is a standard bearer for her craft, a living testament to how the sweetest triumphs can rise from the deepest sorrows. What's lifted Loveless above her peers is the rare ability to channel heartache into moments of transcendence and hard-won truth. There's also proof that present-day Nashville can balance emotional heft with melodic hooks.

Alkaline Trio Returns With "This Addiction"

The Chicago-based punk rock band Alkaline Trio is back, and just as good as ever. They have released their new music video online for the lead single and title track taken from their forthcoming long awaited seventh studio album "This Addiction," the inaugural release via Epitaph, which is due for release in February 23. "The song takes heroin addiction as a metaphor for love," said lead vocalist Matt Skiba.
Set in the mountainous fields of Ventura County, California, the visually stunning video for the metaphorical rock anthem "This Addiction" paints a rare glimpse of Alkaline Trio as they perform on an open battlefield where two sides of the heart collide in a vibrant burst of color. The video also shows a very emo looking Matt Skiba and shows kids playing out a metaphorical skit of what the song has to say is about as the kids show the duality within a person.
It's been a long, strange trip for Matt Skiba, a punk-rock kid from Chicago. After a brief stint with Epic Records for the release of 2008's "Agony & Irony," Rock artist trio are still capitalizing on that whole cliched punk kids vs. square kids thing that made much of the 1990s so totally clique-oriented and, well, segregated for youth growing up in that period. Bands strive their entire careers to find a unique sound, one which defines them and only them.
Now, pop-punk stalwarts are anxious to get Alkaline Trio back on the road after all. Skiba and his bandmates have teamed up with iconic California punk label Epitaph Records to form their own imprint, Heart & Skull, with their new album, "The Addiction." Written and recorded in their native Chicago, "The Addiction" is a throwback to the bands earlier material, influenced by fellow Chicagoans Screeching Weasel and Pegboy. Described as a return to the band's punk rock roots, The album draws lyrical inspiration from the band members' personal lives, addressing themes such as love, addiction, death, divorce, grief, suicide, politics, and war. From what we hear in the progression of the single, looks to be like the Chicago trio's aim of returning to classic form.

Agnes's Dance Beats "I Need You Now" Video

Swedish pop princess Agnes Carlsson is back and made a nice video for her second single "I Need You Now" in the UK, the follow-up to her last summer top three and breakthrough international hit "Release Me," dominating the airwaves and dancefloors for months. It's another pop/dance offering taken from her third album, "Dance Love Pop."
The new single "I Need You Now" was written by Anders Hansson and Sharon Vaughn. It was released as the album's fourth single in Sweden, and as Agnes' second single in the UK in a remixed form. The song has been re-recorded and completely reproduced over the last summer and premiered on November 16, 2009. Sticking to the classier end of the Europop spectrum, 'I Need You Now' marries soothing strings and unimposing dance beats before building into a heartfelt chorus that neatly showcases Agnes's powerful set of pipes. Agnes commented to The Sun on the song: "It's simple and direct, you can relate to it and I love the lyrics. The first time I heard it, I thought this is me. This is my life."
Agnes has been in the music game since 17 and is now 21. She won the Swedish Pop Idol competition in 2005 and the MTV Europe Awards "Best Swedish Act," she finally conquers Europe. The CEO of Interscope Records, Ron Fair says "She has it all. She is an amazing singer, looks good, is fearless and humble." He also described the former Idol winner as "a mix of Alanis Morissette, Gwen Stefani and Christina Aguilera". Agnes is now ready to capitalize on the success of "Release Me" with her second single "I Need You Now."
The music video was shot in the Mojave desert at the El Mirage dry lake bed outside Los Angeles on October 4, 2009. It was directed by Paul Boyd. It contains Agnes driving the futuristic Aptera electric vehicle arrives in the middle of nowhere. Agnes steps out wearing a big black boots, a silver suit and carrying some high-tech binocular-style device, and then her concentration is broken by a Native American Indian who arrives on horseback probably looking for Agnes. In the end, the Indian finally sees her and allows her to ride atop his horse like the perfect gentleman he is and they ride on off into the sunset.