BEST TRACKS: will.i.am's "#Willpower"

Much like Timbaland, will.i.am is a better producer than rapper/singer, but he does have two gems on his latest album that I'd recommend downloading.

The first is "Geekin'," which is basically a geek anthem. If he could get enough technological innovators and recent news-making young nerds, like Spelling Bee champ Arvind Mahankali to be in the video, it could be his first hit single off the album. Innovative videos like the one he did for his first single "This is Love" with Eva Simons could be his bread-and-butter. Especially since shelling out dough for crappy collaborations with Britney Spears ("Scream and Shout") and Justin Bieber ("#thatPower") isn't doing him any favors. He'll learn that for sure after his next single, "Fall Down," featuring Miley Cyrus, hits the airwaves.

My favorite part of "Geekin'" is when he says:

I’m so pay, my friends call me Pay Pal
I make a lot of chips, now they call me Intel
*Intel jingle*

The second song, "Bang Bang," is criminally a bonus track on the deluxe edition. It's an old-timey, 20s flapper tune, complete with scatting, that would seem impossible to modernize, but he manages it by dropping the base right before the chorus for a fist-pumping beat. It would make a great award show performance with a pop star known for her dance skills, like Britney Spears. Her incentive? Proving she's still got it. If she could pull off the 15-second, tap-dancing break towards the end, she'd get a standing ovation. In fact, why not bring out all the pop stars who've been milking throwbacks (Justin Timberlake and Bruno Mars) to join them? That would bring down the house.

MUSIC TOPIC: Is MTV Exploiting the Drake-Chris-Brown-Rihanna Love Triangle Controversy to Promote the 2012 VMAs?

Twitter is all aflutter with news that Rihanna is up for not one but two Video of the Year nominations at MTV's 2012 Video Music Awards for "Take Care" and "We Found Love." I realize that most award shows are rigged to sell commercials, but I've always been particularly annoyed by the VMAs because they rarely award, or even nominate, the right videos.

In 2007, Rihanna won Video of the Year for her breakout single "Umbrella." She beat Amy Winehouse's lounging video for "Rehab," Beyonce's breakup video for "Irreplaceable," Kanye West's hi-tech revival video for "Stronger," Justin Timberlake's revenge video for "What Goes Around…Comes Around," which starred several actors, including Scarlett Johansson, and Justice's innovative animated-meets-live-action graphic design-heavy video for "D.A.N.C.E."

"Umbrella." The video where it rains sparks, CGI water splashes around, she struts like a ballerina, and does a silver homage to Goldfinger. That video.

Yes it's true. That song is a bonafide earworm. Even if you haven't heard it in the last 5 years, you can still hear it echoing in your head right now. Ella ella eh eh. But not only was Beyonce's song better written and sung, but Justice's video was ten times more impressive. So if it were in MTV's interest to award the Best Video of the Year, they would've given it to Justice. Instead, they chose the new girl who photographs well.

Now, five years later, amidst new controversy concerning her exes Drake and Chris Brown, Drake's video for "Take Care," featuring Rihanna on the chorus, has been nominated four times (Video of the Year, Best Male Video, Best Art Direction, and Best Cinematography). Maybe they're trying to stir up controversy to get as many eyeballs on the live airing as possible, or maybe they actually think an existential video featuring a mountain, a bull, a bird, a fish, a coy, half-dressed, constantly-caressed Rihanna going in slow motion is worthy of going up against Katy Perry's fairytale video for the regret-filled "Wide Awake" and M.I.A.'s feminist Middle Eastern revolution video for "Bad Girls." How about this? If either one of them can explain what any of those things has to do with the song, they deserve the award? How's that?

If MTV wanted to acknowledge Drake for one of his videos on a grand scale, I would've went with his video for "HYFR (Hell Yeah Fucking Right)" feat. Lil Wayne. It starts off with real footage from his bar mitzvah and then goes into a present day hip-hop bar mitzvah that's far more raucous and debauched. It's clever and worthy of more than just a Best Hip Hop Video nomination (a category that includes Childish Gambino's "Heartbeat," but should actually include his far more controversial and surprising "Bonfire"). And instead of the ass-tastic Nicki Minaj video for "Beez in the Trap" feat. 2 Chainz, they should've nominated Odd Future's "Oldie." I don't even like Odd Future, they're way too aggressive for me, but the video is ten minutes long and it takes place during a Terry Richardson photo shoot for XXL magazine. Tyler, The Creator basically tells Terry to fuck off and each member goes through their verse in a makeshift moshpit. It was bold and unexpected, and that's what the best videos are supposed to be.

Following those standards, I wholeheartedly approve of Carly Rae Jepsen's "Call Me Maybe" video being nominated for Best New Artist. Yes, it's as vapid and earworm-y as Rihanna's "Umbrella," but the narrative plays out like a Farrelly brothers movie. Girl crushes on boy-next-door, girl washes her car attempting to look sexy, boy-next-door finally comes over to watch her band play, boy-next-door starts crushing on male band mate. Burn! That's hilarious. Even her popstar-filled lip synch video featuring Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez deserves respect. It's refreshing to see any of those kids act normal, even when it's orchestrated. I'd gladly award her over One Direction's beach jaunt in "What Makes You Beautiful" or The Wanted's euro-bash in "Glad You Came." And I'd even get behind Rihanna's other Video of the Year nomination "We Found Love," a video that features a guy who is a Chris Brown lookalike, and "Where Have You Been," which was nominated for Best Choreography. But "Take Care" was just straight famewhoring on MTV's part.

There are some amazing videos out there and they're going unnoticed. I realize MTV is no longer interested in music, but couldn't they change their name and leave the slot open for a channel that does. 

Check out my list of 2011's Best Music Videos.

BEST TRACK: Jason Mraz's "I Won't Give Up"

My favorite track off of Jason Mraz's fifth album in ten years, Love is a Four Letter Word, is "I Won't Give Up," the second single off the album. It's actually the only track I enjoyed off his latest EP. It's the most like his previous hits that have been endlessly used in commercials, youtube videos, TV shows, and movies, because they describe love as we imagined it would be. He's really good at capturing that.

ALBUM REVIEW: Emeli Sandé's "Our Version of Events"

Emeli Sandé is a 25-year-old soul R&B singer, who is not only likened to Adele for her powerful and inspiring vocals, but because Adele is actually her first name. There's worst company one could keep.

In Emeli's debut album, Our Version of Events, she does not disappoint in the vocal department. I think what I love most about her sound is the drama, the buildup, and the depth. She sounds like she rips every note from within, and it's not just some studio-shopped mashup of a few good takes.

My favorite track is her second single, "Daddy," released last November. It's about betrayal and infidelity and backsliding into an emotionally abusive relationship, and best of all, it's rife with melodrama, laying on the violins and bells. In the most recent single off the album, "My Kind of Love" she changes it up and defends herself against accusations of infidelity. My second favorite track is the third single, "Next to Me," released around Valentine's Day--perfect for the ladies laying claim to their good men. In "Where I Sleep," a track she wrote all by herself, she beautifully professes her love even further. Last, but not least, there's the upbeat track "Wonder," which is a refreshing break from the endless amount of intense ballads on the album. It's an inspirational immediate crowd-pleaser that should bring audiences to their feet.

Expect to hear more from Emeli, if not directly then through other artists, since she's not only writing for Alicia Keys's upcoming album, but for artists signed to Simon Cowell's record label.

ALBUM REVIEW: B.O.B.'s "Strange Clouds"

Here are the top 3 tracks off of B.O.B.'s sophomore album:

3. "Circles"
There's a nursery-school song theme throughout the track as he reminisces about his childhood crush, using the rhythm of "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands" and singing the first two lines of "Miss Mary Mac" in the chorus. It reminds me of when Jay-Z sampled "It's a Hard Knock Life" from the Annie musical in his 90s hit "Hard Knock Life"...except not as epic.

2. "Castles" feat. Trey Songz
For some reason Trey sounds like the long lost member of One Direction, but it's a sweet radio-friendly summer song.

1. "Out of My Mind" feat. Nicki Minaj
Whenever rappers get into lyrical battles, I pray they use my favorite type of diss: when they quote their opponent's most popular song and use it to mock them. Not only did Nicki do that on this track using "Airplanes" lyrics, but she got paid to. Ha!

I aslo love the parts in the song where he drops the beat and just starts talking as if he's not mid-rhyme. It's one of the best produced tracks on the album.

ALBUM REVIEW: Justin Bieber's "Believe"

Justin Bieber just released his third album (not counting his Christmas album) in three years and I'm kind of hoping Bieber-fatigue will cause fans not to go easy on him this time. In the past, the only songs worth listening to were the ones he released. And it appears that that's still the case.

Bieber is a B-grade singer, but his appeal lies in his charm not his talent. It's his personality that sells singles and albums, not his songs. What he shares most with Justin Timberlake, an artist he's often compared to, is that his personality is designed for Hollywood. He would be a great actor slash self-promoter. But much like his girlfriend Selena Gomez, his songs don't say much. So he should voluntarily get out of the game before they kick him out.

On the album Believe, undoubtedly a nod to his fans who call themselves Beliebers, there are four collaborations, all from rap artists: Ludacris, Big Sean, Drake, and Nicki Minaj. This is Bieber's official attempt to gradually crossover into rap as his often-mentioned "alter-ego" Swaggy. "All Around the World" features Ludacris, doing his usual dramatic enunciation (that I secretly love). It's a decent dance song that could've easily been churned out by the powerhouse that is David Guetta. On "As Long as You Love Me," Bieber delves deeper into The Wanted-type techno dance music while Big Sean never really finds the rhythm and continuously and awkwardly says the word "you" and the letter "U" throughout his entire verse. "Right Here" is very Drake: slow-jammed R&B, punctuated by smooth, seductive, albeit PG, rap lyrics. It's easy to bop your head to, but considering all of Drake's other collaborations, it was best left on the cutting room floor. Lastly, "Beauty and the Beat" is a generic video-game-tones-heavy party song where Nicki Minaj runs through every word she can think of that rhymes with "beat" and implies she's going to steal Bieber away from Selena. Zzzz (If you're looking for real scandal, you might enjoy the bonus track "Maria," where he sings about—and to—the woman who accused him of fathering her child. It sounds so "Billy Jean" it hurts.)

Bieber's best rap effort is actually "Boyfriend," a song that was co-written by rapper Mike Posner. It has the perfect mix of R&B crooner and rap player with a swagger-drenched beat. But he has a while before he becomes as convincing as Chris Brown, who managed to showcase rhyming skills last year on "Look At Me Now" without asking permission to or making a big deal about it. He'll take even longer if he keeps burying songs where he really goes for it, like the hidden track "Hey Girl," where he attempts a fast-paced rhythm, and on a Swedish bonus track, "Fairytale," where he and his bff Jaden Smith channel Drake while seducing the listener.

The other types of songs on the album are ballads ("Fall"), old school R&B ("Catching Feelings"), 80s disco (bonus track "Just Like Him"), and Michael Jackson meets Bruno Mars-type Motown ("Die In Your Arms")—the last of which is the second best track on the album, because it really isolates his voice and reminds the fans why he was signed in the first place. I'd recommend downloading those two and chucking the rest. Career-wise, I'd recommend that Bieber try to be the featured rapper on tracks for other pop singers. I'm sure his tour-mate Carly Rae Jepsen, his bff's little sis Willow Smith, his fellow teen-girl-magnets One Direction, and even his girlfriend wouldn't mind a verse or two. Make it happen.

VIDEO: M.I.A.'s "Bad Girls"

SEE! This is what I'm talking about. This is M.I.A. Girl power and utter defiance. Not this.

MUSIC TOPIC: Madonna's "Give Me All Your Luvin'" Video Featuring M.I.A. & Nicki Minaj

Madonna is staging a major comeback. She took a little hiatus after her last album, Hard Candy (2008), to direct a passion project, W.E., and now she's back to reclaim her Pop Queen status. I'm assuming she figured Beyonce and Pink would be busy with their newborns, and Katy Perry with her divorce (cause we all saw that coming), so she'd just swoop right on in and get comfy.

The thing is though that three years in music time is like a decade. Listeners have developed other interests, different standards, and new obsessions. The current multitude is gyrating to Rihanna, copying Beyonce's dance moves from the trillion videos she dropped before popping out a mini-B, karaokeing the hell out of every Adele song they can get their hands on, and recording themselves rapping as fast and dramatically as Nicki Minaj. So it's understandable that Madonna would try to mooch off of one of those artists' current fame and get a subliminal cosign by their mere presence. And it's even more understandable that women like Nicki Minaj and M.I.A., who no doubt grew up watching the greatness that was Madonnna, would be intensely honored to be featured on one of her tracks.

I get it. I have no qualms with living the dream. The problem I have is with 1) the song they chose to sellout on and 2) the simple fact that they did indeed sellout!

Let's pretend for a solid 60 seconds that Nicki Minaj, the self-proclaimed Barbie, who's 80% façade and 20% hood, has integrity. Let's pretend that she hasn't manufactured a personality fit for commerce. And let's pretend that she is the greatest female MC of our generation with lyrical genius that Biggie himself would tip his Yankee cap to. Why in God's name did she override everything she's worked towards as a respected rap artist for 13 seconds on a shit song? I'm surprised she didn't end her rhyme with "Yes massa!"

I won't knock Minaj too much though. At least she didn't compromise on her aesthetic, like Lady Gaga did for Beyonce in '09 for "Video Phone," or like M.I.A. did in this video. I'm sorry. Did pregnancy fry her brain? She's wearing lace and performing sexualized choreography. Not only is that out of character, it's embarrassing. The only thing that could redeem her is if she only did it to meet Minaj, and this summer they plan to release a scathing rap collaboration that'll take over the radio waves. Then and only then could I get her Rihanna-esque dirty wind out of my damn head.

As for Madonna, I'm slightly impressed that she still looks fit at 53. But that's grounds for a workout video not a comeback. She has nothing new to say and no new way to say it. She used to return with a whole new persona, but it seems like the only reinvention she can muster these days is regression, looking and acting like a 20something tart.

In case you couldn't gather by my scathing criticism, this video is horrible. It involves football players and cheerleaders, who obviously have nothing to do with the song, because she's doing the Super Bowl. The rest, the spandex, the lace, the plastic baby(?), are homages to other incarnations of herself throughout her career, as if to remind people who she is. But maybe someone should remind her. At this point, I'd rather watch Lana Del Ray during half-time. At least then, I'll know the spectacle will be intentional.

BEST OF 2011 MUSIC: Best Videos of 2011

Here are the best videos of the year by category. Click on the photos to watch the videos:

BEST ACID TRIP: Ke$ha's "Blow"
90s heartthrob (for some) James Van Der Beek + unicorns that bleed rainbows = Somebody's gotta be high.

BEST BIBLICAL REFERENCE: Magnetic Man's "Getting Nowhere" feat. John Legend
The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse as hooded bikers.

BEST CAMEOS: Chris Brown's "Beautiful People"
Many videos with celeb cameos look orchestrated and excessive, but this video actually made it look organic. List of notable cameos: Swizz Beatz, The Game, Tyga, Estelle, Lil Bow Wow, P. Diddy, Pharrell Williams, Brandy, Timbaland, and T-Pain.

BEST CHOREOGRAPHY: Beyoncé's "Run the World"
Honestly, she makes every other popstar's attempt to "dance" in a video seem pathetic. Look around. There's no one else who can do it better. Britney gave up the throne years ago.

BEST COMEDY: Sara Bareilles's "Gonna Get Over You"
At first this video seemed...kind of racist. It's not often that you see a white girl dancing around with a bunch of cholos, but then the ending delivers an extremely funny and unexpected twist that explains it all. Who knew Sara had a sense of humor? Or that she'd let Jonah Hill take the director's chair?

BEST CONCERT MIX: Lupe Fiasco's "The Show Goes On"
Concert videos are lazy and boring and completely unappreciated. Fiasco's, however, doesn't seem like a quick-and-dirty afterthought. There's impressive cinematography, fluid transitions, and even a sense that his journey to the stage is a culmination of everything he's worked towards as it flips from the young Fiasco to the present day Fiasco.

BEST DRESS-UP: Jessie J's "Who's Laughing Now"
A young Jessie J rages against her two-faced, middle school bullies, while the present day Jessie J plays dress up and is utterly unrecognizable.

BEST LOVE STORY: James Morrison's "I Won't Let You Go"
It goes from him laying down with her in solidarity to everyone who's watching laying down too. It gives this odd feeling of national unity.

BEST POLITICAL MESSAGE: Lupe Fiasco's "Words I Never Said"
The video shows a world muzzled by the government, who brainwashes and censors the public.

BEST REHEARSAL: Beyonce's "Love on Top"
Leave it to Beyonce to make boy bands look uncoordinated.

BEST REMAKE: Cults's "Go Outside"
This video starring Emma Roberts and Dave Franco reminded me of the 1987 rom-com Mannequin, except instead of being a plastic doll, Roberts' character climbs out of a film and falls in love with an amateur filmmaker, only to return to her world and break his heart.

BEST SEQUEL: Beastie Boys's "Make Some Noise"
Seth Green, Danny McBride, and Elijah Wood play the young versions of those veteran rappers so that they can continue the saga of the greatest party ever recorded. Later on, Maya Rudolph, Kirsten Dunst, John C. Reilly, Jack Black, Will Ferrell, and several actors join them.

BEST SOLO: The Black Keys's "Lonely Boy"
So, the band got this black dude to basically dance throughout their entire song. Just him. It looks like it takes place in the 70s, but no, it's 2011. So simple. Yet endlessly entertaining.

BEST THROWBACK: Chris Brown's "Look at Me Now" feat. Busta Rhymes and Lil Wayne
This is your average ghetto rave dance party in an abandoned warehouse. (You've been to one of those before, right?) What makes it cool though are the vibrant neon colors and the throwback homage to Busta Rhymes' 90s video for "Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Could See," where he use to get a lot more creative then his rap equals, distorting visuals and playing dress up.

BEST TRAGEDY: Best Coast's "Our Deal"
It's a modern day Romeo & Juliet, a mix of West Side Story and Grease, directed by Drew Barrymore and starring Chloe Moretz, Tyler Posey, Alia Shawkat, Miranda Cosgrove, Shailene Woodley, and Donald Glover. It's only four minutes long but it managed to sum up the story quite well. And in place of dialogue, there are written and spray-painted notes. It was cleverly adapted.

BEST TRANSFORMATION: Katy Perry's "Last Friday Night"
Katy never ceases to amaze me when it comes to not taking herself seriously.

BEST TWIST: Childish Gambino's "Bonfire"
Donald Glover stars in his own horror music video where he plays a man who barely escapes a lynching when his rope is cut. He looks for help and discovers a bonfire of young people who are unaware that a man is coming to lynch one of them. He runs and screams to save them only to discover they can't see him and that he's actually a character in their horror story. Then he ends up back where he was, noose around his neck, freshly cut down, like he's damned to repeat the nightmare over and over. That's one way not to dance around the issue. 

BEST VIRAL VIDEO: Beyonce's "Move Your Body"
Beyonce had a "try to make kids lose weight" campaign this year, remixing one of her old beats and making a dance to it. It swept the internet, and schools and kids everywhere were all too pleased to remake it. It's adorable.

BEST VISUALS: The Strokes's "Taken for a Fool"
They illustrated the vibrations of their music with dancing drops of colorful liquid and multiple incarnations of themselves. This is what it feels like on the inside when I listen to music.

BEST OF 2011 MUSIC: Best Album Covers

These album covers were chosen for their unique and artistic design.

   

   

   

   

Bayside Killing Time That astronaut is straight flossing. Chevelle Hat Off to the Bull Nice mid-action shot. Funeral for a Friend Welcome Home Armageddon An awesomely morbid, (literally) nuclear family. In Flames Sounds of a Playground Fading That's a very interesting way of depicting death. Not just a crow, but a cloaked crow of death. Raphael Saadiq Stone Rollin' It's cool that the cover projects the audience he's aiming for. The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus Am I the Enemy The gas mask stencil is a great way to symbolize the dichotomy between good and evil in the listener. Simple Plan Get Your Heart On It's cool how they designed so many different band posters with styles from different decades. Speed of Darkness Flogging Molly The title may be disturbing, but the pinwheel sketch of a guy wrestling a skeleton looks cool. The Lonely Island Turtleneck and Chain They look ridiculous, but they've perfectly captured the overly confident cool of the 90s--both for boy bands and rap groups. The Antlers Burst Apart From afar it looks like a stain of something that splattered on the floor, but the more I stare at it the more it looks like the glittery entrance into an enchanted forest. Intentional or not, it looks beautiful. The Roots Undun This band has always been true to their name, never straying from their roots, and this black and white photo of black kids finding an unorthodox way of having fun is a perfect homage to a ghetto childhood. Wale Ambition My brother told me that an artist actually drew this (and that she didn't get to finish before they released it). I didn't even realize it was drawn. It really does look like him, which is rare with album portraits.

VIDEO: Lady Gaga's "Marry the Night"

Gaga made a mini-movie for her latest single "Marry the Night." I know she was trying to be artistic with the self-aware narrator and the fame-hungry hospital patient, who I think was a self-mutilating ex-dancer who "got back on the horse" and never gave up??? Not sure, but that's not what I'm posting about. Watch the video and see what looks like Gaga dressed as Madonna circa Desperately Seeking Susan:

MUSIC VIDEO: "Only Wanna Give It To You" - Elle Varner feat. J. Cole

Elle Varner is a 22-year-old L.A. native and a recent NYU grad of the Clive Davis Program of Recorded Music. This summer she released her first single off her upcoming album Perfectly Imperfect, which is stuck in development hell due to her contract's transference from the recently disbanded J Records to RCA Records. After hearing her Estelle-meets-Macy-Gray voice, however, I know that her soulful R&B-Pop sound won't soon go unheard. This first single features the ever-so-smooth J.Cole. Hopefully his cosign will encourage other artists to boost her street credit with more collaborations. For now though, get addicted to the sultry sounds of Elle Varner:

ALBUM REVIEW: Rihanna's "Talk That Talk"

Six years and six albums in, Rihanna has truly mastered dance Pop (despite the fact that she's never shown a talent for dancing on stage, apart from gyrating). On the M.I.A.-like "You Da One," she takes you back to her island roots with reggae-baked beats, and taps into the electric bass of techno with the first single "We Found Love," "Where Have You Been," and "We All Want Love"—the last of which will be a stadium pleaser for sure.

But there seems to be too clashing themes on this album: one that heralds love as the be-all-and-end-all and another that champions sex as her reason-for-waking-up-in-the-morning. The Bahamian diva is actually credited on a few tracks as Robyn Fenty. And "We All Want Love" is interestingly one of the tracks she didn't co-write, presumably suggesting that she's not one of the collective "all." She's also absent on "Drunk on Love," where she proclaims that it's all that she needs. So it would seem that love isn't really on her agenda. No, Ms. Fenty seems far more interested in sex.

The most intensely sexual track on the album is "Cockiness (Love It)," which starts off:

Suck my COCKiness / Lick my PUSSuasion / Eat my poison / and swallow your pride down down / place my wants and needs / over your resistance / and then you come around / you come around / you come around / I want you to be my sex slave

and is later followed by her repeating "I love it when you eat it" about...a million times. I....pretty much just stopped listening after that. A tamer track is "Birthday Cake," which I can tolerate mainly because it's 1 minute and 20 seconds long and she says "Imma make you my bitch," which cracks me up. The theme continues with her request to have her legs in the clouds on "Roc Me Out," and with a list of all the places she plans to do it until her lipstick comes off on "Watch n' Learn."

However, not every song is worth talking about. The title track, which features Jay-Z and samples The Notorious B.I.G.'s "I Got a Story to Tell," fails to recapture the buzz of "Umbrella" or "Run This Town." And the only true ballad on the album, "Farewell," lacks the anguish required for the lyrics.

Ultimately, I would recommend buying this album if you're in need of a bombastic sex playlist OR a hardcore Rihanna fan, because this isn't for the faint of heart.

>>MORE ALBUM REVIEWS<<

Rihanna's Loud

Nicki Minaj's Pink Friday

Robyn's Body Talk Pt. 1

   

BEST TRACK: Big Time Rush's "No Idea"

If you're in need of a boy-band fix, but the rose-colored glasses of how awesome they once were has been lifted, I'd suggest you download this track off of Big Time Rush's new album Elevate. It has all the elements of a perfect boy band song—anguish, romance, and sweet vocals—without the juvenile antics and the nonsensical lyrics.

MUSIC: Raphael Saadiq's "Stone Rollin"

Raphael Saadiq, a 45-year-old Oakland-bred soul singer, has got a non-blues lover like myself getting lost in this sexy track, the third single off his 5th album, Stone Rollin. The song actually hit the airwaves in March. My favorite line is "You'd make a blind man walk away from a home." Clever. Take a listen:

ALBUM REVIEW: Jessie J's "Who You Are"

 The 23-year-old British import, who's written songs for Chris Brown and Miley Cyrus, has a shockingly fresh 90s R&B rhythm despite her gothic appearance. On tracks like "Abracadabra" and "Who's Laughing Now" she reminds me of Lauryn Hill and fellow Brit Estelle. She even delves into reggae-tinged rhythms on "Price Tag" and "L.O.V.E." My favorites on the album though are the songs where she puts her vocal chords to the test. On "Nobody's Perfect," "Who You Are" (below), and the rock-infused ballad "I Need," she sounds like she's aching through every bar.

ALBUM REVIEW: Kelly Clarkson's "Stronger"

The first single off the album, "Mr. Know It All," reminds me of one of Bruno Mars's smooth tracks with a dose of Clarkson's signature rebellious streak. But I think Sara Bareilles' version of the classic tell-off song: "King of Anything," is much better. Of the songs that Clarkson wrote herself, "You Love Me" has an enjoyable 80s feel, and "You Can't Win" puts a danceable beat to a filibuster against the peer pressure of Hollywood. Skip "Einstein" and its freshman lyrics with lines like "Dumb plus dumb equals you," the snoozers "Standing in Front of You" and "Hello," and the song that lives up to its title production-wise: "Let Me Down." The Darkchild-produced "I Forgive You," on the other hand, which she didn't write, is very Avril Lavigne with an interesting, clubby undercurrent. 

My favorite track off the album is actually the defiant, self-esteem booster "Stronger." I've already thought of the perfect video. Since the overall lyrics refer to people standing strong in the absence of a significant other who brought them down, I'd propose gathering every famous face in Hollywood who's experienced a public breakup that they were not responsible for, i.e. Rihanna, Sandra Bullock, Jennifer Lopez, Eva Longoria, Demi Lovato, etc. And because the chorus repeats "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger," she could also sprinkle in a few "survivors" of cancer, amputations, bullying, etc. All of them would just be generally standing against colored backgrounds, kind of like Miley Cyrus's "Seven Things" video. It'd be a montage of girl power.

VIDEO: Sara Bareilles Channels Zooey Deschanel in "Gonna Get Over You"

After getting to see what Sara Bareilles is like via NBC's a capella competition series "The Sing Off"—spirited, saucy, and sweet—I started to like her more. Although for the record, I liked her just fine before, because she always doles out some incredibly soulful music that I play all year round, long after they've dropped off the Hot 100. But having got to know her better, I was a little shocked by this super weird video. In it, she knocks Mexicans down and they get back up dressed like they're in the movie Grease, then your basic dancing-in-a-grocery-store video proceeds, something I thought she may have borrowed from Bublé. And just when you think it's over, because of the confetti climax, you discover she's been daydreaming the whole thing. Wait! She wasn't dreaming about pushing immigrants. She just happened to be in a Mexican neighborhood and everyone around her melted into her fantasy of not just dancing well but singing well. I swear, the minute the music dropped out and she started wailing like Sugar in "Glee" and it was obvious all of the Mexican customers thought she was crazy, I immediately thought: "JESS!" That is so a thing that Zooey Deschanel's character on her new FOX series "The New Girl" would do. Check it out. It's hilarious:

VIDEO: Drew Barrymore Directs Best Coast's "Our Deal" with Star-Studded Cast

I was watching MTV tonight, waiting for the encore presentation of "Awkward," when I saw a quick clip of Chloe Moretz (Kick-Ass), Miranda Cosgrove ("iCarly"), Donald Glover ("Community") and Tyler Posey ("Teen Wolf") in a music video. Naturally, I was miffed.

What sort of Twilight Zone had I tapped into where a 27-year-old comedian was hanging out with two accomplished teen actresses and an up-and-coming teen heartthrob? So after a few seconds of googling, I discovered that the video in question was for the indie rock band Best Coast, it was directed by the ever-surprising hipster queen Drew Barrymore, and it also stars Alia Shawkat (Whip It) and Shailene Woodley ("The Secret Life of the American Teenager"), who is unrecognizable in the video.

What impressed me the most about it wasn't the star-studded cast though, but the concept. When I first read that it was a modern day Romeo & Juliet, a mix of West Side Story and Grease, I thought it would just be another half-baked rehash. But in this version, Moretz and Cosgrove play members of the Night Creepers gang, which is led by Shawkat, and Glover and Posey are members of the Day Trotters gang, which is led by Woodley. Moretz and Cosgrove get caught on Day Trotters' territory. Cosgrove gets beat up, and Moretz meets Posey and falls in love. She asks him to run away with her, and he responds by spray-painting the words "I Can't" on the wall. At the end of the video, we discover that she ran away in disappointment before she was able to read the rest of his message written around the corner, which was an acceptance of her request. Unfortunately, a tragedy occurs before she figures this out. So just like in Romeo & Juliet, a case of misunderstanding destroys any chance of destined lovers, initially at odds, ever being together. Not bad Barrymore.

Get More: MTV Supervideo, Music, Best Coast

VIDEO: Lauryn Hill's "Doo Wop (That Thing)" on Jimmy Fallon

I miss Lauryn Hill. I realize motherhood is time-consuming, especially when you're the mother of five with another one on the way, and that in this industry whoring yourself goes hand-in-hand with creating art, so making a comeback isn't that enticing, but I really really miss her.

And as it turns out, a sped-up version of 1998's "That Thing" sounds awesome!: