Katy Perry Inspires And Explodes In "Firework"

Showing her care and concern for fans, the newly married singer Katy Perry has not only unveiled the video for her single "Firework," but also wanted her new video to inspire people and she even dedicated it to the "It Gets Better" campaign, because she feels "everyone has the spark to be a firework." This inspirational dance jam is the third single from her sophomore effort, "Teenage Dream." The video is part of a huge cross-promotional deal with European telecommunications group Deutsche Telekom, who hosted a series of competitions for fans to win the opportunity to feature in the video.
The amazing Perry told Billboard magazine that the inspiration for the song came from an unlikely source. "Basically I have this very morbid idea... when I pass, I want to be put into a firework and shot across the sky over the Santa Barbara Ocean as my last hurrah," she said. "I want to be a firework, both living and dead. My boyfriend(now husband) showed me a paragraph out of Jack Kerouac's book On The Road, about people that are buzzing and fizzing and full of life and never say a commonplace thing. They shoot across the sky like a firework and make people go, 'Ahhh.' I guess that making people go 'ahhh' is kind of like my motto."
That certainly is an explosive video by the newly wedded Mrs. Brand. Perry's most recent tweet states that her grandmother is her firework: "The firework in my life is my grandmother. She raised me and taught me everything about life. She is one extraordinary woman." Perry said "Firework" is her favorite song on "Teenage Dream." She expressed that: "People are coming back and almost adopting it as their own anthem, and it's hard, I think, to write an anthem that's not cheesy, and I hope that this could be something in that category. I hope this could be one of those things where it's like, 'Yeah, I want to put my fist up and feel proud and feel strong. But I also don't want to be cheesy, it's a fine line, and I think 'Firework' would be like the opus or my one song, if I had to pick a song to play, 'cause it has a great beat. But it also has a fantastic message."
The pop superstar spreads love to her fans in a joyous dance party to empower youths and make them comfortable in their own skin. It's a straight up self-empowerment anthem wrapped in a Coldplay-on-poppers club banger from the Stargate team. The video opens with the camera panning in the beautiful city of Budapest in Hungary before Perry emerges in a lavender gown, standing on a balcony singing. Soon, it is intercut with stories of people who need to find their inner firework. with Perry in the center of the action, belting out the song's inspiring message as fireworks explode around them all. Perry is sending a message: empower yourself and embrace your inner firework. As always, Perry's songs are instantly catchy, and we support such a positive message, and we kind of need it nowadays.

Alexandra Burke Re-released Her "The Silence"

UK R&B songstress Alexandra Burke has finally come to her senses and premiered the music video for the colossal-sized ballad track "The Silence" via MSN Videos UK on early Wednesday. Burke revealed via her official twitter page that "The Silence" will serve as the fifth commercial single from her upcoming the re-release of Burke's Platinum selling debut "Overcome," due in stores November 29.
Fresh from her UK chart-topping single "Start Without You," the latest X-Factor winner returns with this stunning re-recording of her album track, "The Silence," as the final single she plans to release this year. Apparently the song is re worked for the single release. It has some differences compared to the original version, new adlibs, high notes, and choir in final choruses. The re-recorded version song really lace Burke's delivery with a fresh layer of emotion and conviction. Putting that aside, "The Silence" is one of the strongest songs from her very underwhelming debut album and it shows that producer RedOne isn't just a one trick pony when it comes to producing certain songs for certain artists.
As an X Factor contestant, Burke proved more than capable of handling a power ballad. Yet after 4 pop-tastic singles, not including her winner's single "Hallelujah," "The Silence" is the first in which she truly gets to demonstrate her vocal prowess. "The Silence," a gargantuan power ballad bridging the gap between Bonnie Tyler and Beyoncé, fully demonstrates the rich, emotive vocals which refuse to play second fiddle to the roll-call of producers du jour.
The video for the RedOne-produced ballad track is a tasteful black and white affair involving Burke in various stylish outfits, and doing a photo shoot and getting all emotional. Burke passes on the all the cliched elements of a power ballad video. In some scenes, she's just sitting there behind a fake set of tower blocks, belting away and putting on her best faux-emotional facial expressions. The visual lacks any type of storyline and was clearly on that recession special. It fits the strong ballad song's vibe - probably the best example of a simple, elegant, yet potently effective but good! Burke will be performing on the seventh series of The X Factor.

Will.i.am & Nicki Minaj Debut "Check It Out" Clip

Nicki Minaj and Will.i.am have finally given their fans a full look into the official music video for their new single "Check It Out," the latest collaboration that was conceived as a joint project but Will.i.am also appear, at least as a bonus track, on Minaj's upcoming debut CD "Pink Friday," which hits shelves on November 22, one day earlier than the original release date. The Harajuku-inspired clip, which captures both stars getting animated, was premiered on the Black Eyed Peas frontman's media blog Dipdive on Monday night.
The 'Your Love' raptress Minaj jokes about her multiple personalities, but in the new video for "Check It Out," she proves their existence by paying tribute to futuristic Japanese culture in the video for "Check It Out," which samples the 1979 hit single, "Video Killed the Radio Star" by The Buggles, is a pop-driven mind boggler. Joined by their clones, the hip hop superstars take things to the next level in the video, with an all-out assault on the eyes and ears.
The video was shot over the weekend of September 26 in a studio in Los Angeles director Rich Lee. "We're doing an ode almost to Japanese anime," Minaj told MTV News last month of the video. "I'm obviously a big fan, and I've joined forces with the only boy that I know that's able to capture that culture." The clip starts with the duo's song blasting through the speakers of a boombox. The pair go from phoning in their performance for a supremely uninterested audience to pulling off some tricks and stunts that would wow most people. It filled with plenty of Japanese/Korean inspired fashion and words floating on the screen. Minaj, known as the "Harajuku Barbie," puts her love for the culture on full display with Will.i.am providing the extra random effects we've grown to love from him with the Black Eyed Peas.
Lee said the video had a "weird, futuristic Korean TV show" theme. Along with the Black Eyed Peas member, the 25-year-old performs the track in a futuristic Korean TV show in front of a small audience. As the two continue to deliver their lines, Korean characters pop up according to the lyrics of the song. Will.i.am previously told MTV News, "The subject matter of the song is check out whatever it is you try and let fools know. This is like, 'check my style out,' so we like rocking crazy different styles in the video performance." He added that Minaj, who was just named the No.6 Hottest MC in the Game, inspired him to push himself when he recorded "Check It Out." "I was like, I got to take it to the next level now. 'Cause usually you mess with cats and there is no next level, because they don't inspire the next level." No matter how confused we are with everything Minaj does, expect her album "Pink Friday" to still be a hot item next month.

Kanye West' "Runaway" Is Dark Twisted Fantasy

Kanye West's highly anticipated debut film, "Runaway," finally arrived and proved to be the 'ambitious' effort that fans who previewed the short have been raving about for weeks. "Runaway" is the third single from Chicago rappe's upcoming fifth studio album, "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy." The film features Victoria's Secret model Selita Ebanks as the main character and Nicki Minaj as the film’s narrator. The 35-minute film features West expressing himself in a new way that is much more grandiose than anything he has attempted before.
West debuted the song on September 12, and performed "Runaway" featuring rapper Pusha T of Clipse, at the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards. He said the song was about having remorse for being a fool then rapped about toasting those who are douche-bags, scumbags and jerk-offs. Afterwards the Chicago MC dedicated his performance to his late mother. Shortly after the performance, West revealed he was working on a 35-minute short film based around the song. "Runaway" might be loaded with deeper meaning but essentially it's just another way of getting people talking about "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy," his guest-heavy fifth LP.
The 35-minute abstract musical short is inspired by other music-related short films such as Purple Rain, Pink Floyd The Wall and Michael Jackson's Thriller and painters Picasso and Matisse. It was filmed in Prague over the period of four days during the summer. The script, a carefully modulated art-film made by a man on a mission, was written by West, Vanessa Beecroft and Jonathan Lia. West describes the video as an "overall representation of what [he dreams]" and a parallel to his music career. Speaking to MTV News, West said he wanted women in his life, including his mother and ex-girlfriends, represented in the video, and for them to "connect with the different emotions". According to Ebanks, who co-stars in the video, the moral of the video is, "the world doesn't accept, or they try to change, what is different, instead of trying to understand it." The film was inspired by directors Federico Fellini and Stanley Kubrick as well as fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld.
The film is implementation of the nine West songs, which are totally making us crave his album even more. The promo is based on the life of the mythical phoenix, which West admits relates to his own career. He told New York Magazine: "It's the story of a phoenix fallen to Earth and I make her my girlfriend. And people discriminate against her and eventually she has to burn herself alive and go back to her world. I've been feeling the idea of the phoenix. It's been in my heart for a while." West added, referring to the controversial incident when he stage-crushed Taylor Swift during her acceptance speech at last year's VMAs: "It's maybe parallel to my career. I threw a Molotov cocktail on my career last year, in a way, and I had to come back as a better person."

Hope Calls On Jason Mraz For "Love Love Love"

Atlantic Records newcomer Hope snagged guitar virtuoso Jason Mraz for her sparkling first single - lucky lass. "Love Love Love" gives the world a first glimpse of Hope, and will be featured on her upcoming charming self-titled debut album, which is a revival of acoustic and soul. It bravely explores emotional boundaries, helping to bring her angelic voice and real lyrics to life. Each song carries a different message of love and positivity while maintaining a strong sense of social awareness.
For Hope, her name pretty much says it all. She's a gifted performer with an angelic voice and a naturally sunny disposition. She's a lyricist for whom the word "love" comes easily. Armed with a message as she readies for her major label debut, the radio dial is about to be infused with Hope. Coming from a musical background (Mom singer, dad music director), Hope plans to bless the world with "Love, Love, Love," while drawing attention to other social issues. Sounding like a little bit of Colbie Caillat mixed with a little bit Sara Bareilles, Hope's crystalline voice floats through this sunny, island-tinged tune while Mraz happily strums his guitar. The song's message is just as uplifting as the music: Hope has said, "It's about feeling so much excitement and anticipation that you don't know what to do with yourself. When I listen to my record, I'm so ecstatic to finally be able to share my songs with the world."
The island-inflected tune is an ode to the dizzying experience of a new infatuation, but it also describes Hope's outlook as she nears the release of her album. She said, "It's about feeling so much excitement and anticipation that you don't know what to do with yourself. When I listen to my record, I'm so ecstatic to finally be able to share my songs with the world." The motivation behind the song? She says: "'Love, Love, Love' was a song that wasn't part of a bunch songs we had recorded for the album. And I felt that something was missing. And we needed to have something that people could listen to and feel really good. So, I sat down with Michael Blue and we just started playing and wrote the song."
The track has also a reggae tinge in the background as the two featherweight voices float and mingle. Hope and Mraz are intoxicated lovers, obsessed with the thought of being in love: "Your love's a permanent distraction, a perfect interaction, a feeling so extreme, lost my appetite to eat, I barely get to sleep, cause you're even in my dreams." Even starvation and insomnia don't sound so bad under this bout of love sickness. For now, though, Hope is poised and ready for the release of her much-anticipated debut. "I feel really grateful and emotional all at once. I'm just loving this time and not taking it for granted."

Tamar Kaprelian "Should Have Known Better"

Tamar Kaprelian has released another video from her sessions at Jack Johnson's Solar Powered Plastic Plant in Los Angeles, CA. This time, the 23-year-old singer/songwriter performs "Should Have Known Better" off of her stunningly beautiful debut studio album "Sinner or a Saint," came out August. The track is darker in their approach, bringing string sections into the mix. Kaprelian veers darker in "Should Have Known Better," which is definitely about someone who did me wrong and led me in the wrong direction," Kaprelian explains. "Had I not gone through that experience, I wouldn't have written the record that I wrote."
Kaprelian was born in Scottsdale, Arizona and brought up in both Georgia and California by Armenian parents, surrounded by love and great music. Tender at First Blush, but With a Tough and Feisty Core. Kaprelian was discovered in the modern way: winning a cover contest on YouTube, piggybacked onto someone else's success. The song was "Apologize," by OneRepublic, one of the more vaporous pop hits in recent memory. Her version, a delicate little slice of piano soul, cuts through some of the original's haze, its wounded tenderness purposeful, not accidental.
The ten songs on Kaprelian's debut album are full of dashed hopes, fierce renewal, and proud vulnerability. It's a coming-of-age record that chronicles her life, relationships, and her utter determination to create an album that is real and true to Kaprelian, both personally and artistically. Mainly, her album reflects the conundrum facing young female singer-songwriters in the age of Lady Gaga: barring the embrace of the extreme, there appear to be a decreasing number of options for success. "Should Have Known Better" is an unexpected and not wholly unpleasant hybrid of Billy Joel and Demi Lovato. That Kaprelian can pull off most of these styles well demonstrates her flexibility, if not her maturity. At 23 she's still young, though, and also a little feistier than her songs. She was definitely the only one wearing leopard-print heels at this club, which favors acoustic, earthy singers.
It's a winning, if sometimes naive, record, full of songs that sound frail at first, thanks largely to Kaprelian's genteel voice, but are in fact sturdy and alluring: the stuff of shampoo commercials, dramas on ABC Family and the Lilith Fair revival. Growing up, Kaprelian gravitated toward the rock classics her musician father schooled her in. Listeners new to Kaprelian will find that there's a little vocal similarity to Paramore's Hayley Williams at times, along with hints of a possible Ben Folds influence here and there. In a world of pop music dominated by girls trying too hard to come off as sleazy and edgy, it's refreshing to hear a pop album that sounds genuine.

Nelly Furtado Makes A Splash With "Fuerte" Clip

After the multi-platinum success of her fourth Spanish-language studio album "Mi Plan," Nelly Furtado is back! She looks hotter than ever in her brand new music video for "Fuerte"(English: Strong) featuring Spanish jazz singer Concha Buika. The hot new track is the lead single off her forthcoming English-language album which is tentatively called "Lifestyle," out in 2011. Before that she'll also release an eclectic collection of remixes of her greatest hits compilation "The Best of Nelly Furtado" out on November 15.
The music video for "Fuerte" was directed by Richard Bernardin, Robacho Buika and Aaron A. It is basically just a series of beautiful glamor shots of Furtado posing around a giant house. She really looks absolutely stunning though. Perhaps the best she's ever looked. Fashion-wise, her style is incredible and gorgeous. She's shown in various elegant dresses wondering around a lavishly decorated shadowy mansion while she sings to the thumping, bass-drum beat, ultimately cooling off in her private indoor swimming pool and sitting under a mirror in another scene and illuminated by moody lighting as the chorus begins. During the second and third choruses, Concha Buika also features, though appearing separately from Furtado, standing at the bottom of a staircase in a more modern-day building.
Furtado, the Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter, is known for experimenting with different instruments, sounds, genres, languages, and vocal styles. This diversity has been influenced by her wide-ranging musical taste and her interest in different cultures. Her last album "Mi Plan" (My plan) reflects once again her artistry, diversity and the uniqueness of everything which she writes. It filled with fresh, enthusiastic, fun, freeing, unique, strong and passionate songs that reflect the great moment that Nelly is currently experiencing.
"I'm a little bit picky, so I'm kind of going through all kinds of material, and I think it's a fun thing to celebrate," the Canadian singer/songwriter recently told Billboard. "There's new material I'm writing and old material that's very good and hasn't been re-approached. For me it's about sharing moments of my songs with fans, so whatever are the best moments will end up on the album, I think there's a little bit more of an alternative influence on this new album, kind of how my first album [Whoa, Nelly!] was definitely inspired an partially influenced by 'alternative' music," Furtado said. "It's definitely inspired a lot of the new music that's coming out right now."