We at Idolator are true believers in the power of love, not to mention the romance of Valentine’s Day! We'd never allow the cynical musings of certain pop stars (we’re looking at you, Ms. “The truth about love is it's all a lie” Pink ) or the lingering memory of a terrible Garry Marshall movie take that away from us. However, we do concede that a day of L-U-V can go to H-E-LL if one doesn't plan their Valentine's Day playlist accordingly. After all, V-Day isn’t necessarily an easy date to pull off : romantic dinners, [...]
Scoring a Grammy nod doesn’t necessarily make a song good, although it seems like the biggest music award of them all should help dictate which tracks will become pop classics. Alas, as it turns out, a lot of zeitgeist-y hits from the past few decades years didn’t win a statue on Grammy night, even though a few did score nominations. It might seem weird that “Umbrella” didn’t sweep all the record categories and No Doubt's "Don't Speak" wasn't lauded at all. But those, of course, aren't the only major pop hits lacking a statue. We rounded [...]
Looking back on the album releases of 2012, we have to admit that it was a good year. A few newcomers hit the scene and made a lasting mark, and some of our favorite artists returned with new classics. Carly Rae Jepsen ’s kiss is still lingering on our minds; Frank Ocean made orange one of our favorite colors; Pink showed us the undeniable truth about love; we envied Rihanna ’s unapologetic badassness; and Adam Lambert had us trespassing in Funky Town. We rounded up a list [...]
It's a known fact: pop music isn't all about having the right sound, it's also about having the right look. As we say goodbye to 2012 and usher in the new year, we look back on the stars who made the year in music look good. These pop stars have mastered the art of making their images as compelling as their music. They dominate the red carpet and magazine covers with their fierce fashions while simultaneously dominating the charts. Here are 5 of our favorite pop stars who made music look good in 2012.
Throughout December, Idolator's editors have rounded up what they deemed to be the best albums and best EPs of 2012 , and even reviewed the year's #1 singles (in one word) — as well as summed up the entire past 12 months ( in Post-It notes ). So what's left to cover? Well, we can think of 12 more things, some of which we never got around to writing about here on the site, but all of which made an impression on us in 2012. So before you slap on your party hat [...]
There was no getting away from EDM in 2012. While the three-letter hashtag has certainly caused buzz among radio stations and indie blogosphere alike, it's been a big year for dance on and off of the pop charts. Regional styles like footwork, juke, and Jersey club went through genre-bending booms, electronic trap instrumentals filtered their way into the rap charts and warehouse clubs, dubstep visited Cuba and Taylor Swift, and house stalwarts kept right on chugging along. We revisited every nook and cranny of the year in dance music and pulled together our 30 favorite tracks. Read [...]
As 2012 comes to a close and we all start fondly looking back at the best music that the year had to offer, we must also remember the biggest beefs of the past 12 months. From rappers to pop tarts to boy banders, 2012 was chock full of feuds. Thankfully for us, most of them were just as entertaining as they were petty. But not all cat fights were created equal, so here we present to you the top five juiciest, naughtiest and beefiest pop feuds of the year. Clench your fists and head below! [...]
Before we bring you our picks for the best albums of the past year, we've got a few more lists for y'all. Today, we're highlighting our favorite remixes of 2012. If you have been paying close attention, you have no doubt noticed that we have shared a TON of remixes, reworks, edits, etc... in the past 12 months. You can thank a slew of DJs, producers, and rappers for that, as everyone from Kanye West to Ryan Hemsworth to SBTRKT boosted their profiles in the past year by way of the remix. [...]
Ask anyone who the top artist of 2012 was, and their answers would probably span a wide gamut: Artists as varied as Adele , Flo Rida and Gotye had blockbuster #1 hits this year. But at the 2012 American Music Awards , airing this Sunday (November 18), the Artist of the Year award is more than just a measure of sales or chart success — it's also about the overall gestalt, the artist who made the biggest impact this year in music on all fronts. In [...]
Fasten your seatbelts, pop fans: Pop's fierce ruling princess (and quite possibly the hardest working woman in showbiz) Rihanna is set to begin an unprecedented promo blitz for her new album, the intriguingly-titled Unapologetic . The centerpiece of this international media blowout will be the week-long, seven-country 777 Tour , commemorating seven years of the "SOS" starlet's international pop dominance . That's an exhausting travel schedule even for notorious workhorse Rihanna, but we're all for sticking to a numerical theme! We just hope she takes seven days [...]
In case you couldn't tell from our previous countdown of supernatural pop moments , we here at Idolator are really into all things spooky! So when the season of trick-or-treaters, pumpkin-scented everything and Halloween party playlists rolls around, we’re in our element. As a matter of fact, we wish some pioneering pop artist would write a song designed specifically to scare the bejeezus out of us on the dancefloor. (As opposed to the music that scares us OFF the dancefloor , which is a totally different story.) Until such a thing exists, rounding up a playlist [...]
Surprise! The highest-paid women in the entertainment industry are pretty much the ones that you'd expect: the big-time superstars with massive endorsement deals, global tours and record sales. At the top of the list? Britney Spears and Taylor Swift , with Rihanna in close pursuit. Forbes' annual list , which went live yesterday (October 1), is fairly by-the-book. As per usual, Oprah Winfrey reigns supreme with an astonishing $165 million haul last year, but [...]
Saturday Night Live ended its 37th season by tearfully saying goodbye to Kristin Wiig, and now the show is losing another key player. Fake rapper/ Nicolas Cage impersonator Andy Samberg has confirmed that he won't be returning to SNL next season. Though his comedy group The Lonely Island (also made up of Jorma Taccone and Akiva Schaffer) may still contribute Digital Shorts, this is the end of their regular involvement with the show. It's too bad, as [...]
For whatever reason, British rock journal NME has painstakingly compiled a list of the 100 Best Tracks Of The '00s, a good two-to-three years after many other sites and magazines did the same. Perhaps there's something to be said for letting the dust settle on a decade before tackling the raddest tunes it produced? At any rate, the publication singled out "Crazy In Love", the 2003 solo breakout smash from the world's most beautiful woman , Beyonce , as its top pick from the previous decade. [...]
By Brendan Klinkenberg & Mike Washington Summer's here. That means that there are going to be more barbecues, outdoor parties, rooftop hangouts, backyard get-togethers and a lot of sitting on stoops or fire escapes. A common theme of P&P readers (and writers) is that we're probably all the kind of people who like to be in charge of the iPod when there's music playing out loud. That upsets people who just want to hear the big hit singles that they know really well. The solution to any kind of [...]
Time has rolled out it's annual roundup of the 100 Most Influential People In The World, and, music-wise, Grammy-dominating diva Adele , chart queen Rihanna and R&B singer/producer Raphael Saadiq all made the cut. The publication notes that its list is made up of the "people who inspire us, entertain us, challenge us and change our world," and brands them as "breakouts, pioneers, moguls, leaders and icons." Catch just why these artists were included, and which of their peers did [...]
As thorough as we try to be with daily content and our end of year recaps , with so much good music readily available, there are bound to be the ones that we miss. Instead of being shy about it, we'll come right out and say it - we kind of dropped the ball on these guys. Keeping in step with the rest of Quit Mumbling, these selections range from hip-hop and electronic to throwback alt-rock, and everything in between. Here are ten that we missed in a year overshadowed by tUnE-yArds , Kurt Vile [...]
Intro by Gotty™ They know exactly who they are and what they're doing. They're members of a small set of celebrity women who just ooze promiscuity. Whether they're whoring for [...]
Adele may have ruled 2011 with the top album and single and Kanye West may be watching the throne , but it's Rihanna who's actually sitting on the throne, as far as digital tracks are concerned. The "You Da One" pop minx has captured the title of best-selling digital artist of all time, thanks to a whopping 47.5 million paid downloads of hits like "Umbrella", "Rude Boy" and "We Found Love" . Other artists have been in the game longer — such as [...]
Because there were so many music videos to emerge in 2011, we have to give props where props are due. As it would be impossible to simply call one music video the "Best Music Video of 2011," for the first time ever, we're naming winners in a bunch of categories based on the major themes we saw in this year's crop of clips. So, instead of one best music video of 2011, we've arrived at nine! See which videos really made a mark on 2011 below. Best Music Video About A [...]
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You’ve GOT to Hear This: “Enemies”
Prince ensaya con “Even Flow” de Pearl Jam
