Just when you thought everyone in America bought Adele's21 CD, she goes and has her best sales week ever! Thanks to her six Grammy awards last weekend, Adele sold 730,000 albums this week. Which coincidentally happens to be her 21st week at #1. That is the longest a female artist has ever been at #1 on the Album Chart with one CD, breaking the old record of 20 weeks held by Whitney Houston's The Bodyguard Soundtrack.
Justin Beiber is putting another book out this September. "Justin Beiber: Just Getting Started" will be the second official photographic book from the Beeb's.
Nicki Minaj is taking another page out of the Lady Gaga playbook by planning to launch her own Foundation. Nicki's foundation, which still exists only in her mind so far, is intended to empower and nurture young girls by stressing the importance of education and safe sex.
Greedy much? Paula Abdul has been ordered to pay $900,000 to Jill Khol, a woman who tripped, fell and injured herself in Paula's driveway during the filming of her Reality Show "Hey Paula". Ms. Kohl said the driveway was in "a dangerous and defective condition". Not sure which bothers me more, the fact that this woman filed a lawsuit for tripping in someone's driveway or the fact that Paul Abdul actually had a Reality Show.
It was another big night for Adele tonight at the Brit Awards across the pond. She won 2 awards at the UK version of the Grammys tonight, but it was not a sweep for her like it was last weekend at our Grammys. She won Best British Female and Album Of The Year, but did not win British Single. That award went to boy band One Direction and their song "What Makes You Beautiful." One Direction has had a huge 2011 in the UK, and will attempt to recreate their success here in the US this year. If you want to hear the song that beat out Adele, I've got it up on the Hot New Music Page.
Other winners at the Brit Awards included Rihanna for International Female, Bruno Mars for International Male, and Coldplay for British Group. Lana Del Rey, taking some flack here in the US for her awkward Saturday Night Live appearance last month, won International Breakthrough Act (Best New Artist).
The Wanted was also nominated in the British Single category with their hit "Glad You Came." It did not win, but it will be one of the songs sung on tonight's episode of Glee! Kelly Clarkson's smash "Stronger (What Doesn't Kill You)" is also on the list for tonight.
Bet you didn't see this coming! Chris Brown and Rihanna have just released not 1 but 2 remixes featuring each other. Only 3 years after he laid the beat down on her, now they're laying the beats down together. We had heard Rihanna was dropping a remix of the "Birthday Cake" song from her Talk That Talk CD, but did not realize her ex was joining her on the track. On the CD, "Cake" is more of just a sexy interlude, but the remix is a definitely steamy full song. Then Ri returned the favor and is featured on the remix to Chris' current single "Turn Up The Music," from his new CD Fortune due out March 16.
Adele is either very humble or an extremely poor judge of popularity. She claims she didn't prepare any acceptance speeches for the Grammys because "I didn't think I had any chance." Right. Adele is back at it this weekend at the Brit Awards (the UK version of the Grammys) where she's nominated for Album Of The Year, British Single, and British Female Solo Artist. Do I smell another sweep?
If you didn't hear Mercedes' version of Whitney Houston's "I Will Always Love You" on Glee Tuesday night, do yourself a favor and give this a listen. I think she did an amazing job with it!
Now some more interesting Whitney Houston news. She's going to be in a movie due out this August entitled Sparkle. Whitney plays the mother of 3 girls who become a successful girl group (one of the daughters is played by former American Idol Jordin Sparks). As their mom, she guides them through the challenges that comes with their new stardom, including some drug issues. How's that for eery? Whitney even sings a couple of songs in the movie, which also stars Cee-lo Green and Mike Epps.
Diddy is headed down under for the first time to perform at Supafest, a 4-day traveling urban music festival held in 4 different cities in Australia in April. Lupe Fiasco, Kelly Rowland, Trey Songz and others are also on the bill. Distant places such as Australia often hold big festivals such as this to lure many big name artists to their corner of the world that may not have been otherwise inclined to travel such a long distance.
Green Day began work on their new CD yesterday according to a tweet from lead singer Billie Joe Armstrong. No further details on the album at this point.
The "We Are Young" song by the band fun. that I posted on the Hot New Music Page last week is the most downloaded song in Sacramento this week. Kelly Clarkson steps down to #2 with "Stronger" and Whitney Houston's death over the weekend spurred her song "I Will Always Love You" into the #3 spot. Adele got a Grammys bump as all three of her popular songs moved back into the Top 10 this week. The rest of the Top 10 features Tyga at #5 with "Rack City," "Sexy and I Know It" is still #6, "Young, Wild & Free" drops to #8 and the new Madonna song moves up to #10.
Jason Mraz announced that his new CD will be called Love Is A Four Letter Word and will be released on April 17.
B.o.B will be releasing a new single very soon entitled "So Good," which was produced by Ryan Tedder. I'll be posting it next week on the Hot New Music Page, and am really looking forward to hearing it! His 2nd CD, Strange Clouds, is due out May 1.
Tonight is a Valentines-themed episode of Glee, and one of the songs on the list for tonight is "I Will Always Love" by Whitney Houston. Pretty crazy seeing that the episode was filmed weeks ago. I've heard Merecedes' version of it, and I must say, she does the song justice.
If you haven't heard, Rihanna will be making her big screen debut this summer in the movie Battleship. Yes, a movie based on the board game. You know, "You sunk my battleship!" Except that somehow there are aliens involved in the movie adaptation. I guess watching two people going back and forth calling out "B6" and "Miss" wasn't riveting enough. The movie is due out May 18.
Maroon 5 lead man Adam Levine is starting his own record label, 222 Records. His first signing is Matthew Morrison, none other than Mr. Schuster from Glee. Adam says, "I am excited for everyone to hear Matthew's forthcoming album. Great things are in store for him with this release."
You'll never guess who will be taking the stage with Maroon 5 and Foster The People at the Grammys this weekend? The Beach Boys! Wow. In honor of the 50th anniversary of their forming in 1962, California's most famous beach rockers will be reuinting for this notable collaboration. Gotta say I'm kind of looking forward to this.
The rumored LMFAO tour date in Sacramento in May is still on hold. More info when I get it!
Speaking of local tour dates, Bon Iver, fresh off their appearance on SNL this weekend, will be performing at Freeborn Hall at UC Davis on April 17. The eclectic band is nominated for Best New Artist among other awards at the Grammys this weekend. Tickets go on sale this Sunday.
Katy Perry, in her divorce papers which she filed on Tuesday, says she wants to go back to her maiden name. Does she actually think anyone ever called her Katy Brand? She also drew a smiley face at the bottom of the page. Interesting.
Vanessa Hudgens is on Jimmy Falon tonight. My DVR can't wait. Not really.
Also, it has been confirmed that Chris Brown will be performing at the Grammys. The rumor mill is now speculating that he may join Rihanna on stage. Of course we all remember they had to cancel their scheduled performance together three years ago due to a certain incident that we don't need to rehash.
Former collaborators Missy Elliot and Timbaland will both be releasing solo albums in June. Missy's CD Block Party will be her first release in seven years. Timbalands CD creativitly titled Shock Value III is rumored to feature Justin Timberlake(again) , Bruno Mars, and Chris Brown.
Here's someone we haven't heard from in a while. Boyz II Men are back. They hit the road tomorrow night to promote their new CD Twenty. The closest they are coming to our area is San Mateo, CA on June 12 at the San Mateo County Fairgrounds.
Train announced today that their new CD, California 37, will be released on April 17.
Tonight, Ricky Martin guest stars on Glee as a night school Spanish teacher than lends Schuster a helping hand. While he's at it, Ricky will sing an interesting Spanglish version of "Sexy And I Know It" and then a duet with Santana of Madonna's 80's hit "La Isla Bonita."
Nicki Minaj will be performing a new song called "Roman Holiday" at the Grammys on Sunday. It will be from her Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded CD due out April 3 Nicki is nominated for Best New Artist (still trying to figure that one out!) among other things.
Justin Bieber and Drake were both nominated for Juno Awards today (the Canadian version of the Grammys). The Biebs Christmas CD was nominated for Album Of The Year, while Drizzy was nominated for Artist Of The Year.
Looks like Katy Perry could be coming to the Big Screen in 3D! The star is in talks with Paramount, the same studio that released Justin Beiber's movie Never Say Never, to produce a documentary-style concert movie about her life and transformation from preacher's daughter to sex symbol.
Madonna's Super Bowl halftime performance was viewed by 114 million people yesterday, making it the most viewed television moment EVER!
Sean Kingston in trouble financially? The IRS is said to be going after the singer for failing to pay an estimated $131,000 in taxes for 2009. A lean has been placed on his property in NYC, so if he doesn't pay up, he'll lose his pad!
M.I.A. is getting alot of notoriety for her middle finger which she showed all of us during the Halftime performance yesterday. NBC and NFL have both apologized for the gesture and evidently M.I.A. signed some sort of an agreement clearing the NFL in case of a fine from the FCC. This means M.I.A. could get stuck with the bill if the FCC feels that a fine is necessary.
Following up last weeks post about Drake being sued by Ericka Lee, the woman featured in Marvins Room. His lawyers have responded by saying " This claim is entirely without merit and our client has not engaged in any wrongful conduct". If and when this goes to court, I will keep you posted with results.
Last week Michael Jackson, this week Ricky Martin on GLEE! Not a tribute to his music, but the man himself. Ricky Martin will play the role of David Martinez- a spanish teacher and will also perform a duet of Madonna's " La isla bonita" with Santana.
Lady Gaga in the food industry? Lady Gaga's parents had a grand opening for their new Restaurant Joanne in New York recently, but Lady Gaga was a no-show to the disappointment of all the fans that showed up with hopes of getting a chance to see her. So if you're ever in the Big Apple stop by and say Hello! - Mr. & Mrs Gaga
American Idol will be showing a preview of Madonna's new video tonight. The End will be premiering the entire song, "Give Me All Your Lovin'," which features Nicki Minaj and M.I.A. tomorrow morning shortly after 7am with the Wake Up Call. Madonna also promises to leave her clothes on (thankfully, she is 53 after all) during her Super Bowl halftime performance this weekend. "Great attention has been paid to my wardrobe. There will be no malfunctions."
You won't be able to escape LMFAO during the Super Bowl either. They will be seen in 2 separate commercials during the game, one for a beer, and the other for a candy. But apparently they will also be taking the stage with Madonna at halftime. Party Rock, indeed.
British boy band One Direction will now release their debut CD on March 13, a week sooner than originally planned. Their single "What Makes You Beautiful" will be available on iTunes beginning 2/14, or you can listen to it on the Hot New Music Page now. They will also be opening up for Big Time Rush on a few dates of their tour, but unfortunately not the show here in Sac.
It's been a few years since we've heard from the Pussycat Dolls, but that's about to change. A totally new group of Dolls will be starring in a Go Daddy commercial during the Super Bowl this weekend. One of the new Dolls is Lauren Bennett, who sang the hook on Party Rock Anthem with LMFAO. There will presumably be new PCD music out this year. Think they will take Nicole Scherzinger back now that she is fired from X-Factor?
The All-American Rejects will be performing tonight on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. Set your DVR!
Another day, another Grammy performance confirmed! Today we found out that Katy Perry will be performing on February 12th. For a list of everyone else performing, check out yesterday's blog.
Speaking of the Grammys, very happy that Rihanna has something positive to be doing after the award show this year (we all remember what happened to her after the Grammys 3 years ago). Rihanna will be performing at a $1000-a-ticket charity concert at the House Of Blues in LA with Calvin Harris (who produced her single "We Found Love," also his own new song is posted on the Hot New Music Page). All proceeds will benefit the Children's Hospital of Los Angeles. Thumbs up on this, Rihanna!
It had been reported that Taylor Swift was set to perform the role of Eponine in the upcoming movie version of Les Miserables. But today we learned that the role is going to British actress Samantha Barks. I guess Taylor will have to wait a little big longer for her big screen big break.
