I got the announcement last week that we would be getting a brand new Mariah Carey song this morning. If you made me bet on whether or not it I thought it would be a good song, I probably would have put my money on NO. Nothing personal against her of course, I enjoyed many many Mariah tunes back in the 90s. It's just that lately her songs haven't really brought anything new or interesting to the table. Her last two "first singles" from new CD's were 2009's "Obsessed," and "Touch My Body" from the previous year. While both of these songs were theoretically "hits," as in, they peaked in the Top 10 at the time, good look hearing either of those songs on the radio today, just a few years later. They have long since been demoted to the annals of pop music history.
That brings us to today, and my NO vote. Did I mention the song has a hashtag in the title? Well, it does. Something else it has is Miguel. Technically the song "features" Miguel, but listening to the song, it feels more appropriate like it should be listed as Miguel featuring Mariah, seeing that she doesn't really come in until the 2nd verse, well over a minute into the song. From the first few licks of the guitar in the beginning, you know this isn't going to be any ordinary Mariah Carey song. It has a bluesy feel to it. They talk about hopping on a motorcycle and speeding down the road. Sounds like summer fun to me. One more thing that occured to me is how this is yet another iteration of this year's surprisingly popular boy/girl duets. But unlike Rihanna & Mikky Ekko and Pink & Nate Ruess' chart topping duets, Mariah & Miguel are sexy and playful in their song. Yes, you could say that of Ariana Grande & Mac Miller's "The Way," but #Beautiful is more grown up, more real. You can almost see them on their bike zooming past you down the road.
At the end of the day, Mariah and Miguel needed each other, on a professional level of course. Miguel puts instant credibility with the younger set on a Mariah track, whereas Miguel, who certainly does have a growing number of fans, and has had good looks in recent months on SNL and The Grammys, still hasn't had that one hit to familiarize his name with the masses. This will be that song. I for one am excited to hear it many, many times on The End this spring and summer. In my opinion, this is the best song Mariah has put out in over a decade, another contribution to what is shaping up to be one of the best summers for music in a while. Thank you Mariah Carey for proving me wrong!
Here's all my random thoughts from the Grammys last night which I was posting on Facebook. Easier to see them here all in one spot I think. Enjoy!
*I say this every year, but may I again express my displeasure to CBS for treating us on the West Coast like 2nd class citizens and making us wait 3 hours to watch the Grammys, just so you can show it to us in "prime time." It's an instant world now, CBS, and by choosing to do this you're forcing those of us who wish to watch it unfold as it happened avoid things like Twitter and such. Please let this be the last year you do this to us! *Ed + Elton. That was really nice. Even though Ed stays pretty low key talkin about stuff usually, when I interviewed him on Friday I could tell he was really excited about the performance. Great rendition of a great song. *Adele didn't win enough last year? *Carry On could be my favorite song from one of the best albums of last year in my opinion. I hope fun. wins at least a few awards tonight! *Wiz Khalifa giving out a country music award?? hahaha This should be awkward. *I bet Mumford & Sons must be exhausted after every performance. They always turn it up a few notches. Love the energy! *Who needs Glenn Miller when you have Justin Timberlake & His Orchestra! haha Really curious to see how his whole CD sounds when it comes out next month. *Adam Levine did his hair real nice for the Grammys. *I assume Frank Ocean and Chris Brown weren't sitting close to each other?? *Dear Rihanna: you looked amazing tonight. I know you don't care what people think of you, but wearing a nice classy dress looks better than your hooch outfits any day of the week. *Seeing Sting sing "Your sex takes me to paradise" seemed strange to me. That aside, BRUNO AND STING KILLED IT! Almost too much talent for one stage! *Good to see Katy Perry making the most of her 15 seconds on stage as presenter. She was funny and looked great (duh)! Nice Bon Iver reference :) haha *And for the first time in 5 years, the Best New Artist Grammy goes to... someone we've actually heard of!! Way to go FUN! *I don't know why, but for some reason I didn't think Gotye would actually be there tonight. I'm glad he was, he definitely deserved Record Of The Year.
And way to go Prince for evidently being too cool to say anything other than "the nominess are" and "the Grammy goes to"! haha *Yo Frank Ocean, hold up hold up, I'm gonna let you finish and all, but you know Flo Rida had one of the best Whistles of all time! *Mumford & Sons wins Album Of The Year. Time to take up the banjo, kids! :) *Alright, this last performance could be fierce. Let's do this.
Grammy-nominated artist Ed Sheeran took a minute to chat with me today before his show in San Francisco today! We chat about his Grammy performance with Elton John this Sunday, songwriting for One Direction, the Taylor Swfit tour, his tats, and so much more! Hope you enjoy it :)
It's my 3rd annual Guess the Grammy Winners game! Pick the winners in these 6 categories, and whoever gets the most correct will win a 6-pack of CD's from me. You must have your guesses in to my Facebook page by 12 noon on Sunday 2/10. I will not count entries that have been edited. Good luck!
1. RECORD OF THE YEAR
Stronger KELLY CLARKSON
We Are Young FUN.
Somebody That I Used To Know GOTYE
Thinkin Bout You FRANK OCEAN
We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together TAYLOR SWIFT
Lonely Boy BLACK KEYS
2. SONG OF THE YEAR
The A Team ED SHEERAN
Adorn MIGUEL
Call Me Maybe CARLY RAE JEPSEN
Stronger KELLY CLARKSON
We Are Young FUN.
3. BEST NEW ARTIST
Alabama Shakes
Fun.
Hunter Hayes
The Lumineers
Frank Ocean
4. POP SOLO PERFORMANCE
Set Fire To The Rain ADELE
Call Me Maybe CARLY RAE JEPSEN
Wide Awake KATY PERRY
Stronger KELLY CLARKSON
Where Have You Been RIHANNA
5. POP DUO/GROUP PERFORMANCE
We Are Young FUN.
Somebody That I Used To Know GOTYE
Sexy And I Know It LMFAO
Paypyone MAROON 5 & WIZ KHALIFA
Shake It Out FLORENCE & THE MACHINE
6. BEST RAP SONG
Mercy KANYE WEST/BIG SEAN/PUSHA t/2 CHAINZ
The Motto DRAKE/LIL WAYNE
Lotus Flower Bomb WALE/MIGUEL
N***** In Paris JAY-Z/KANYE WEST
Young, Wile & Free SNOOP DOGG/WIZ KHALIFA/BRUNO MARS
Daughters NAS
These are The End's most popular songs of the year, as I counted down on New Year's Eve. Rankings are based on 107.9 airplay for the year, listener requests, local downloads, and national chart positions. You can listen to any or all of the songs HERE!
Trying to make the best of a horrific situation, we can all do our small part to make our world a better place. Here's what I said on the radio about the Connecticut shootings today, please give it a listen. Hit me up on my Twitter if you have any comments. God bless :)
Fresh off his Saturday Night Live appearance last weekend, Bruno Mars called in today and we talked about his new CD coming out in December, some behind the scenes scoop from SNL, and about how he got started into music as a kid. Listen to the whole interview here!
Cher LLoyd will be on the Today Show August 30th promoting her CD Sticks and Stones which is due out October 4th. She has a different cover for the US version of the CD, which is a good thing, because her UK cover was well, you get the idea!
Justin Bieber will appear on this season of The X Factor as a celebrity mentor. He's reportedly teaming up with L.A. Reid's team to give advice to contestants after the top 16 acts are chosen.
Demi Lovato will warm up the VMA crowd prior to the main attraction with a performance of her hit "Give Your Heart a Break" during the hour-long VMA pre-show which will air live on September 6 from 7 p.m.
Word on the street is Russell Brand has found a new girl he's smitten with--Ginger Spice , or Geri Halliwell. These two met at the Summer Olympics closing ceremony rehearsels and have been on several dates since. They had met several times in the past, but really got to know each other during the Olympics. People thought Russell was joking at the time when he said he had a crush on Geri all over again, but it was true.
Katy Perry has turned down American Idol not once but twice! They offered her $17million and then $20million but she refuses saying it's not about the money. She believes it's just not the right career move for her right now.
Christina Aguilera will be performing a new song on The Voice September 17th. It will be called "Your Body", from a new CD which she is calling a rebirth for her, since so much has changed in her life since her last CD in 2010.
Nicki Minaj will be heading abroad for some tour dates in the UK and Ireland starting in late October and then heading down under to Austrailia and New Zealand in late November into December. Her label-mate Tyga will be opening up for her.
Carly Rae Jepsen's "Call Me Maybe" will be #1 for the 7th week in a row on the Billboard Hot 100 next week, making it the longest run on top ever by a Canadian female, beating the old record of 6 weeks set by Nelly Furtado and Celine Dion. Pretty crazy!
No doubt, just released their first new song in nine years will be making the rounds on T.V. Catch them onight on Jimmy Falson and tomorrow morning on Good Morning America's summer concert series. Their new CD Push and Shove comes out Sept 25th!
I'm so excited the Olympics are here! Opening Ceremonies are tomorrow night, and not to get ahead of ourselves but, the Closing Ceremonies on Aug 12th will feature performances by One Direction, The Who, Ed Sheeran, Take That, Queen, The Spice Girls, Russell Brand and a number of supermodels including Kate Moss.
Grouplove who has the super catchy summer hit "Tongue Tied" will be performing this Saturday night in Sacramento at the Launch festival. Go to launchsacramento.com for more information.
The guys of Hot Chelle Rae returned to Sac last night for the first time since EndFest 2011 with a show at the State Fair. I got to hang with the guys for a few minutes before they took the stage, and they wanted me to tell all of you that you'll be hearing some new music from them soon, maybe as early as September! They're very close to having the final versions ready for about 4 songs, and can't wait for everyone to hear them. We also discussed our shared love of Anchorman, spurred on by Jamie's very manly and very fake moustache I tried to convince him to wear on stage!
