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.

The Maine Want To Be "Inside Of You"

Remember the hilarious joke song called "Inside Of You" from Forgetting Sarah Marshall? Phoenix pop-punkers The Maine have released their own version on MTV, the first and promotional single off their major-label debut album "Black & White," which dropped last Tuesday. Watch the band leave their black and white world behind to enter the crazy, colorful imagination of a young boy via his kaleidoscope.
The track "Inside Of You" is a classic The Maine song, with heartfelt lyrics and a catchy, passionate chorus. It's not quite as catchy as the Infinite Sorrow version but MTV hearts it, declaring it an "Instant Classic" via twitter. Arizona alt-rockers was basically made two videos in one here. There's a performance aspect, shot in crisp black and white, as the band rocks out in a stark white room on a black-and-white tiled floor. Alternatively, there's a narrative aspect. Shot in blurry black-and-white bordering on sepia tones, we follow a young boy as he navigates his way through a wake for an old man who one assumes is his grandfather. The old man "visits" the boy, giving him a magical telescope. When the boy looks through the scope, he sees a world full of magical colors and characters. Pretty beautiful and meaningful, too.
You're the type that knows what music is all about. The careful melodies, the heartfelt lyrics, the catchy hooks and vocal harmony. To you, it doesn't matter whether a band wears matching t-shirts or whether they take the stage sporting the latest trend. It's all about the music. And that's a good thing, because The Maine feels the very same way.
Hailing from Tempe, Arizona, The Maine throw their hearts and souls into making genuinely good music, no matter the image. Noted for their fun, fresh rock and their smart mix of originality and polished talent, The Maine creates the type of music you want to play with the windows rolled down, the wind through your hair and the warm sun on your face. With down-to-earth lyrics and a bright energy, it's no surprise that success has come quickly for the rock quintet who forged their identity as a band before some members had even finished high school. Now already juggling music video shoots, recording sessions and concerts, The Maine actually had the ink dry on their record contract before it dries on their diploma.

Taio Cruz Teases Massive Fireworks In Dynamite

Shifting modes of transportation from sports car to speedboat to race-ready motorcycle, British dance/pop singer Taio Cruz revs up his engine and plans to take fans along to a fiery junkyard fete with the new video for his the second US hit single "Dynamite," from his sophomore album "Rokstarr." You will find dozens of models outfitted in mechanic uniforms and boasting scantily-clad women, fast bikes, and fireworks on the Sun Valley of California.
Cruz is following up on his Luda-assisted smash debut "Break Your Heart"s massive US success with ease, "Dynamite" further solidies his reputation as one of the planet's rare, sure-bet chart toppers. If you look for slick, catchy and dancefloor-ready pop, Cruz delivers every single time. "Dynamite" is guilty pleasure pop of the finest kind. And that should really come as no surprise. The track was written by Cruz in collaboration with Dr. Luke and Swedish pop genius Max Martin. "The song 'Dynamite' itself is about when you go to the club and when you go to a party and when you're just going out... you got to feel like, 'I'm just gonna explode,'" Cruz explained. "Basically, we are going to represent that with just massive, massive, fireworks in the sky!"
It's been said that "insanity" can be defined as performing the same activity over and over and expecting a different result. This particular Cruz cut "Dynamite," though, has a slightly more robotic, relaxed feel to it, which should help get the attention of those who haven't yet had the pleasure of hearing the UK pop star sing about breaking poor girls' hearts. If Cruz's edgy production and Seal-like vocals don't have you hooked by the first verse, then maybe he'll be reeling you out of the water by the song's end.
Cruz takes state-of-the-art cyborg pop to a stylistic extreme, layering ultra-processed vocals over computer-born beats that often suggest the pumping of pistons. His dependence on new-jack software doesn't mean he lacks an appreciation for old-school tunecraft: up-tempo club jams like "Break Your Heart," and "Dynamite," sport melodies sturdy enough to support all the digital detailing. Cruz may be a robot, but he knows that his market is made up of humans. With even more surprises planned down the road, 27-year-old British R&B artist has no plans of stopping. He is indeed living the musical dream and is just getting started.

Nikki Yanofsky Shares Dream "For Another Day"

Canadian jazz-pop singer Nikki Yanofsky just dropped a new video for her latest stunning original compositions "For Another Day" off her new self-titled debut album "Nikki," which was produced by the Grammy-winning pair of Phil Ramone and Jesse Harris, Yanofsky puts her own spin on newly-arranged standards and includes sophisticated originals reflecting her passion for jazz, blues, R&B, soul, and traditional pop.
Montreal-born Yanofsky is a 16-year-old musical prodigy with an extraordinary gift - a magical voice and velvety tone. Singing since she could speak, and as her passion for music grew, so did her voice. Full of pep, playful enthusiasm and an inability to contain herself since her debut at the 2006 Montreal International Jazz Festival, where she won the hearts of the 100,000+ audience, Yanofsky has never looked back. She made a name for herself at the young age of 12, earning her first No.1 hit single in Canada with "I Believe." The hit making her the youngest Canadian artist to achieve that level of success.
Yanofsky stepped on center stage to perform at the 2010 Winter Olympics, her nerves did a curious thing: They vanished. She gave the audience chills with the caliber of her voice. "I never get nervous and I was so nervous for that one," she says. "But I walked out and all my nerves went away. That's how I knew that [performing] is really what I'm supposed to be doing." Sure, not every burgeoning singer gets the chance to gauge whether she's chosen the right career path by belting out a number in front of a captive worldwide audience. But this jazz-inspired Quebec native has never had a problem with shooting for the moon.
Yanofsky co-wrote the languid acoustic ballad "For Another Day," and she shared about the video: "We wanted to tell a story with the video. The song has to deal with dreaming so the whole idea was that I'm in a dream. All these strange things are happening. There's a guy that appears and disappears. He hands me a flower and then I wake up and the flower is actually there."
Her new album "Nikki" pursues a similar agenda of maximum exposure, and all feature Yanofsky's mature and versatile vocals, which seem to channel jazz greats like Ella Fitzgerald through a pop/R&B sensibility. her relationship to jazz is at once evocative and evasive. She says. "Jazz is definitely my first love and I will always want to sing it, but I also love to sing pop, R&B, blues, and everything else, and 'Nikki' definitely reflects that." The music industry is buzzing, to say the least. There is already intense international interest. Her calendar is filling up rapidly and more great things are on the horizon. We all look forward to watching Yanofsky's growth, both as a burgeoning talent, and as a young woman with a radiating, warm and infectious personality.

Daughtry's "September" Is Most Personal To Him

Chris Daughtry, one of the most successful Idol graduates in the show's history, and his band have debuted the music video Friday night on Vevo for their third single "September" from their platinum-selling sophomore album "Leave This Town." The single that Daughtry has said is the most personal to him and the album's title comes from a line in this song. You may also remember that song from when Daughtry performed it this on American Idol Season 9's Top 4 results show on May 12.
Penned by Daughtry with his guitarist Josh Steely, the mid-tempo bittersweet ballad is inspired by Daughtry' childhood memories growing up with his brother in a small town of 100 people in North Carolina, but knowing that someday he'd have to leave to make something of himself. "Every time I hear that song it takes me back to my summers in Lasker," Daughtry says. "I loved growing up there, but I knew I'd have leave to make something of my life." The song's lines, "Yeah, We knew we had to leave this town, But we never knew when and we never knew how, We would up here the way we are" inspired the title of the band's latest album "Leave This Town," which "explores the different paths we take in our search for transcendence." Said Daughtry: "A lot of it is about how leaps of faith can set us free or tie us down, and how we often find heartache when we run from something and redemption when we run toward something."
The video was directed by Chris Sims, and shot in an empty theater, with the band performing on stage in front of home movies of Daughtry and his family earlier this month in North Carolina. He did a creditable job, growling out the lyrics to "September," a reflective song that showed more maturity and vulnerable side of Daughtry, not as hard-charging, and waxing a bit nostalgic. Like many American Idol finalists, Daughtry had a long run as an amateur musician.
Daughtry made it to the Top 4 of American Idol season 5 and was shockingly eliminated after delivering incredible performances throughout the season, but his appearance in the final did earn him a contract with RCA, who then formed a band for him to front. Just a few months later, they released self-titled debut album. It topped the Billboard 200, and was No.1 of the Billboard Top Rock Albums chart for 14 weeks. The album was certified triple platinum (3 million copies) in just seven months, making it one of the fastest-selling debut rock albums ever. And now Daughtry's "Leave This Town" is a solid follow-up to his hit debut album and featured more of his signature back-to-basics modern rock sounds.

Katie Melua Finds "A Happy Place" In New Video

British-Georgian singer Katie Melua is out with the new video to her new single "A Happy Place," the second release off her latest Chart Topping fourth album "The House," which is a real leap forward lyrically, musically and vocally. With lyrics expressing her dismay at the overwhelming pressures of 21st century life over strident strings and military percussion, The single "A Happy Place" is perfect evidence of the more mature Melua who is now, it sees Melua push on from her familiar sound to establish herself as an intelligent pop chanteuse. The new album "The House," is also adding plenty of stylistic strings to her bow.
"A Happy Place," isn't quite the modern masterpiece its predecessor "The Flood" was but the William Orbit produced track is definitely much better than "Nine Million Bicycles." What also stands out is the track's wonderful video. The bright and attention-grabbing outfit works wonderfully well with the dark undertones of the song. The video itself was filmed in a paternoster lift, which is constantly moving and as there are no doors, you just walk in and hop off when you want. The constant movement and one's inability to actually stop it represents the constant flow of life, don'tchaknow. Melua explains to the Sun: "It was about finding peace within yourself no matter how much life is flowing in the right or wrong direction." Melua definitely uses her creative juices for her music videos these days.
Plucked from music school obscurity by songwriter/producer Mike Batt, who'd been looking for a vocalist capable in both jazz and blues styles, Melua is already a hit in UK, and she's also made a dent in the European and Australian record charts, but hasn't yet had much of an impact in America. She hasn't yet felt the need to exploit her youth by showing off her lean and healthy frame. The sexiest thing about this young lady is still her smooth, sultry voice, and we don't expect to be seeing her writhing around in a music video displaying fresh breast implants any time soon. What I like most about Melua's new style is that she has simply evolved her music into something more grand and less irritating, not changing it and abandoning her old fans. And also she manages the all important feat of doing it while keeping her clothes on.
Dark, beautiful and grown-up it's the moment Melua starts being taken seriously. In what has to be one of the biggest musical turnarounds in recent history, Melua has quickly gone from being a snooze-worthy, low-key singer songwriter with vaguely annoying, sleepy songs to one of the most arty, interesting popstars of 2010. Whether the 25-year-old has finally grasped creative control of her work or her record company have realized quirky is really in these days, I'm certainly loving the new direction she's taken with album "The House."

Ne-Yo's 'Beautiful Monster' & 'Champagne Life'

American R&B singer-songwriter Ne-Yo took over BET's "106 & Park" on Wednesday evening, premiered the dual story-driven videos, "Beautiful Monster" and "Champagne Life." The first time that "106 & Park" has ever hosted a double video premiere of such lengthy clips. 3-time Grammy Award-winning superstar's movie career over the past five years has had a profound effect on his work as a composer revealed in the cinematic story-line of his upcoming fourth album, "Libra Scale," dropping on September 21 and would form part of a larger overall visual narrative.
Ne-Yo collaborates once again with producers Stargate for "Beautiful Monster," the first single from new album, is an uptempo dance song, containing new rave, Eurodisco, Europop, and Ibiza influences, featuring Ne-Yo's R&B vocals over "strobing dancefloor beats." After a sizzling performance of "Beautiful Monster" on FOX's So You Think You Can Dance on July 1, Ne-Yo traveled to London to preview tracks at the swanky Hospital venue one week later. Tastemakers had a chance to sample the album's narrative, threading through each of the songs, as explained by Ne-Yo, who takes on superhero powers in two new clips.
The R&B gentleman gets a taste of the good life in the video for "Champagne Life," but the story takes a dangerous turn in "Beautiful Monster." "'Beautiful Monster' is one piece of a very long and intricate story," Ne-Yo revealed. "When you see the first video, make sure that you're paying attention because all of the videos tell a story. So pay attention — you don't want to miss nothing." In "Beautiful Monster," Ne-Yo is portrayed as a disheveled superhero, à la Will Smith in "Hancock," who must battle his former flame Princess Sinclair in order to save the world from danger. Fans later learn in the "Champagne Life" video that Ne-Yo's superhero and Sinclair were once romantically involved. As a result, she assumed some of Ne-Yo's powers, but in adverse fashion. The transfer turned Sinclair into Diamond Eye, a "crazy, psycho mass-murderer," as Short's character describes her.
Ne-Yo began his career as a songwriter writing for boyband Youngstown and Mario. The track he wrote for Mario, "Let Me Love You", was a huge success and spent two months at the top of the Billboard chart. He has subsequently written tracks for a host of performers, including Whitney Houston and Britney Spears. His own releases have done as well, his debut album "In My Own Words" went straight to No.1 on the Billboard Top 200 and was nominated for Best Contemporary R&B Album at The Grammys, while the follow-up "Because Of You" sold over one million copies and has also received award nominations.