Hot Video Alert: The Motherload

Rather than doing a whole string of individual posts with music videos, I thought I'd kill a few birds with one stone, so to speak, and post a BUNCH of recently released music videos from some of my favorite artists...and some of my least favorite ones as well.  Here we go!

I've had my eye on Shontelle ever since "T-Shirt" was released back in 2008 off of her debut album, Shontelligence. While I liked the song, I lived for the club remixes, so my love for new single "Perfect Nightmare" should come as no surprise. The Darkchild-produced track starts out as your run-of-the-mill R&B ballad but as soon as the song hits the 1:15 mark it's turned into a full-on club banger. Work Shontelle! Work. This is a hot song. Vocally she's not THAT impressive on this track but after releasing a power ballad like "Impossible" it's TIME for Shontelle to have a little fun and do something more up-tempo. The Colin Tilley-directed video was shot in both black & white and in color, seemingly telling the story of a former lover. The single is lifted off of Shontelle's sophomore album, No Gravity which so far has peaked at #81 on the Billboard 200.

Check out Shontelle on the web:

Official Site//MySpace//Facebook//Twitter//VEVO

Just for the record, I DO NOT have "Bieber Fever." That being said, you can't deny that Justin Bieber is talented. He's got the voice (for the time being). He has the industry hook ups (HELLO! Usher?). He's got the crazed fans worldwide. "U Smile," the latest single to be released from My World 2.0, was written by Bieber, Jerry Duplessis, Arden Altino, and Dan August Rigo, and produced by Duplessis and Altino. The Colin Tilley-directed video for the ballad features Bieber on piano belting out the lyrics, all the while wooing a pretty blond girl, whom he met as he was bombarded by a group of autograph-seeking fan girls.  The video makes me feel bad for Bieber.  How can he ever have a normal life again? Every time he steps out anywhere he's probably facing a raging mob of teenage girls.  Released back in March as a digital single, "U Smile" peaked at #27 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

Check out Justin Bieber on the web:

Official Site//MySpace//Facebook//Twitter//VEVO

Recovery might very well be Eminem's most commercial album to date.  While Eminem is no stranger to collaborations, this album seems like it's FULL of them.  Rihanna, P!nk...even his most recent Lil Wayne-assisted single "No Love" is a bit commercial sounding, thanks in part to the sample of Haddaway's "What Is Love" that appears throughout the track.  Produced by Just Blaze, "No Love" will serve as the third single off of Recovery with a video directed by Chris Robinson.  The video seems to tackle bullying  A (likely heavily edited) version of the single will be released to radio on October 5th. So far the single has peaked at #23 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Check out Eminem on the web:

Official Site//MySpace//Facebook//Twitter//VEVO

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ArjanWrites Touts VV Brown & Paloma Faith as 'new hot talent'

Last post of the night...just a few odds and ends. First off, I've always loved Arjan's blog ArjanWrites. Recently he's been spot lighting a couple of my favorite UK acts, touting them as the next big things. This makes me happy! First up...

VV Brown

I can't believe I didn't hear about this, but apparently Arjan nominated VV for the MTV Logo ArjanWrites.com Award for an international artist with "crossover potential." I couldn't agree more with his assessment. As I've said over and over and over again - this girl is going to be huge! Check out Arjan's blog and download VV's lastest UK single, "Shark In The Water" GUILT-FREE. According to Arjan, it's a thank you for all of those fans that voted! I'm still hoping and praying for a U.S. release. The debut album from VV Brown, Travelling Like The Light, is released in the UK this next Monday.

Paloma Faith

Another artist I'm blogged about before is UK stunner/former burlesque performer Paloma Faith. I purchased a remix promo for her debut single "Stone Cold Sober," with hot remixes from Cicada and now I'm eagerly awaiting the release of her new single "New York," a video for which has recently been shot. Her first video was directed by the great Sophie Muller. The new video, per Paloma's blog is being directed by Vaughan Arnell. Paloma's debut album, Do You Want The Truth or Something Beautiful comes out in the UK on September 21st. Way too long to wait, if you ask me! Check out what Arjan has to say about the Paloma HERE.

Upcoming Remixes:

In other news...here are some upcoming remixes that I'm looking forward to in the coming months.

Bananarama - Love Comes - Remixes

While I'm not a long time fan of Bananarama, these remixes for their upcoming new single sound very promising.

1. Wideboys Club Mix
2. Riffs & Rays Club Mix
3. Ian Mastersons Extended Mix

4. Wideboys Dub
5. Riffs & Rays Radio Edit
6. Wideboys Club Edit

7. Wideboys A Mix
8. Radio Edit
9. Album Version

Britney Spears - Radar - Remixes

Love you Britney. Not so much loving the

new single though, as I've already mentioned. Remixed, "Radar" could grow on me.

1. Radio Edit
2. Manhattan Clique Mix
3. Tonal Club Mix
4. Bloodyshy & Avant Mix
5. Manhattan Clique Radio Edit

6. Tonal Radio Edit

Ciara feat. Missy Elliott - Work - Remixes

I do love me some Ciara remixes. "1,2 Step" got a nice re-work by FORD. I think that these Pokerface mixes could be pretty dope.

1. Pokerface Radio Edit
2. Pokerface Club Mix

Pink - Funhouse - Remixes

I've always loved Pink. No doubt. This track is definitely one of my favorites off of Pink's new album and hearing about these Digital Dog mixes is seriously making me salivate.

1. Digital Dog Radio Edit
2. Digital Dog Clean Radio Edit
3. Digital Club Remix

4. Digital Dog Dub

Naturi Naughton - Fame - Remixes

I'm so excited about this new Fame movie that's coming out. The preview made me tear up, actually. I think I really just miss performing and that's why shows like "Glee," (premiering on Fox in the Fall) and now "Fame" (in theaters September 25th) are making me so emotional. Naturi Naughton, formerly of the R&B group 3LW has a starring role in this film and I'm sure she's going to go far. Check out the film's trailer HERE to hear a bit of the song.

1. Bimbo Jones Radio Edit
2. Bimbo Jones Club Mix
3. Chris Cox Radio Edit
4. Chris Cox Club Mix
5. Paul Oakenfold Mix
6. Paul Oakenfold Instrumental
7. Marc JB Mix

Upcoming Single Releases

(UK & US):

These dates are from Radio 1's website and I believe they represent the dates when these singles are serviced to radio stations, not when they are released digitally. As I mentioned in a recent post, Shakira's song will available for download starting next week. Hmm...anyone know what these dates on the Radio 1 site represent? Anyway, check out some of my most anticipated single releases.

July 13th*

Alina – When You Leave (Numa Numa)

Square1 feat Siobhan Donaghy – Styfling

July 14th

U2 - I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight

July 20th*

Frankmusik - Confusion Girl

MSTRKRFT feat John Legend – Heartbreaker

July 21st

Kristinia Debarge - Future Love

Shakira - She Wolf

July 27th*

Dolly Rockers – Gold Digger

Ausust 3rd*

Little Boots – Remedy

Tinchy Stryder feat Amelle Berrabah - Never Leave You

Pink – Funhouse

Ausust 10th*

Booty Luv - Say It

Calvin Harris feat Mary Pearce - Ready For The Weekend

Flo Rida feat Nelly Furtado – Jump

Preston – Dressed To Kill

Steve Appleton – City Won’t Sleep

Zarif – Over

Ausust 17th*

Daniel Merriweather – Impossible

Esmee Denters - Outta Here

Ausust 24th*

Kelly Clarkson - Already Gone

Lily Allen – 22

Noisettes – Every Now And Then

Remi Nicole - Standing Tears Apart

Ausust 31st*

Gossip – Love Long Distance

Pixie Lott – Boys And Girls

* Indicates UK Release Dates

Does 'Takin' Back My Love' Have International Hit Potential?

Photos from Sarah Connor, Enrique Iglesias & Ciara's Official Sites

We're all under the assumption that record labels know what sells in different international markets. They must have analysts in their payroll that study the international music charts and radio play statistics. Sometimes the labels take calculated risks at releasing an album that does well in one country, into another country. It either pays off or it doesn't.

Photos from Natasha Bedingfield's Official Site & Kelly Clarkson's Official MySpace

Take Kelly Clarkson for instance. The first American Idol winner. While her debut album wasn't initially released in the UK, her follow up album was, banking on the strength of the first single "Since U Been Gone." That risk payed off and now Clarkson is an international superstar. Same with UK artist Natasha Bedingfield, who had solid albums with solid sales in the UK. Her success continued with her U.S. release (although it started out rocky).

Photos from Sarah Connor's Official Site & Emma Bunton's Official MySpace

On the opposite end of the spectrum, look at former Spice Girl Emma Bunton (Baby Spice) or German pop singer Sarah Connor. Both artists had relatively high amounts of success in their respective countries, but when they released their debut U.S. albums, both floundered. While there's something to be said for promotion, it was a calculated risk to release these international albums stateside. There's always a hope that a foreign artist will have crossover success in the international market but that's not always the case.

Single Artwork Courtesy of Coverlandia

Enrique Iglesias - Takin' Back My Love

This is when labels get creative. Take international pop star Enrique Iglesias, who released his English language Greatest Hits album in November. The album contains 14 of the artists big singles as well as 3 new tracks. "Takin' Back My Love" is one of those new tracks and is the second single off the album. To succeed internationally, the label recorded multiple versions of the track to appeal to different audiences. American R&B singer Ciara recorded vocals for the single's U.S. release, while German singer Sarah Connor recorded vocals (in English) for the German release of the single.

Overall, both vocalists do alright in their respective versions. Ciara, not known for her impressive vocal range adequately sings throughout the track, oozing sex appeal the whole way through. Sarah Connor, known for having a more power voice, takes things down a notch to match the song's up-tempo electro-pop beats. The Red One-produced song isn't anything new or different, but it's certainly growing on me the more I listen to it. I just find this international re-tooling interesting and something worth exploring.

New Album Artwork

Coverlandia is a great resource if you are in search of new or recent album artwork from your favorite artists. The talented crew of the Coverlandia blog posts official and fanmade artwork for top artists from all over the music charts! Here is some of my favorite official sleeve artwork from the past couple of weeks. What's your favorite? - Via Coverlandia

Still don't think I've heard this song all the way through. Love this album art though. Beautiful!

So glad Melinda Doolittle is back! Loved her on Idol, and while I though Jordin Sparks was more Top 40 material, Melinda had tons of talent, no question! Single artwork is on top, album art below.

I think Daniel Powter (of "Bad Day" fame) looks sexy here.

I love the campaign they are using for Lily's new record! She looks amazing! This is the single (top) and album (bottom) artwork.

Love the vintage look of this. Katy is gorgeous.

Beautiful and festive.

Not 100% sure this is official or not, but regardless. I'm SO excited that Kelly is back with some new material! Word is we can expect to hear this in mid-late January.

Danny Saucedo was a contestant on the Swedish version of American Idol. This is his new single off his new album.

Not sure if Ciara could ever come up with a better set of singles than she had with her last album. "Goodies" and "1-2 Step" were hot! Ts artwork is fun. Love the comic book inspiration!

I guess Beyonce is releasing two singles at a time now? I'm still stuck on "Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It)" and "Diva" isn't really doing it for me. Perhaps it will grow on me. "Halo" is gorgeous, no doubt.

Love Anastacia. Still need to pick up her new album. Perhaps I'll wait to see if it gets released in the U.S. This is her new European single and the sleeve art is virtually identical to that of her first single, "I Can Feel You." The only difference is Anastacia is facing the camera. Her first single's sleeve had an off the shoulder shot. She's stunning! Kind of miss her sunglasses though.

This is the debut single from Alexandra Burke - the new X-Factor winner for 2008! It's a cover of "Hallelujah," most famously sung by the late Jeff Buckley.