Today's Pick

Bad Meets Evil have released a music video for "Lighters," the second single from Detroit hip hop duo's debut EP, "Hell: The Sequel," which has been in stores since June. When old friends and former collaborators Eminem and Royce Da 5'9" reunited to form Bad Meets Evil, it seemed like a no-brainer. But what did cause at least some trepidation was the Bruno Mars-featuring "Lighters." The song, though, seems to be doing fairly well on the Billboard Hot 100, so the success train continues onward with a video for the power anthem.
This soft-hop track, which has been said by critics to incorporate soul music with influences of synthpop, features Mars and was produced by his production team The Smeezingtons along with Eminem and Battle Roy. Mars' refrain gives the tune similar dynamics to his collaboration with B.O.B., "Nothin' on You." Royce's verse finds him recalling his dad hanging up his postal carrier uniform. "I cried plenty tears, my daddy gotta bad back," he rap-sings. "So it's only right, that I write till he can march right/In to that post office and tell 'em to hang it up." Royce explained to The Boombox: "It was always a goal of mine to hopefully retire my father someday."
The Rich Lee-directed video opens with frustrated Eminem lounging on a messy room while attempting to write lyrics. Feeling trapped, he climbs down a ladder to an underground tunnel in hopes to escape his frustration. The same goes with his partner Royce. The Slaughterhouse is locked down somewhere behind bars counting down the day when he will finally be free again. He gets his hope up when finding a secret portal and taking a chance to explore it. At the end of their dark path, both of them find a clearing with thousands of floating lanterns lighting up the sky.
While the Detroit rappers get cinematic scene of finding a path to escape their troubles, Mars simply sits behind a piano playing it and crooning the hook. The Grammy-winning singer once told MTV that the video has an underlying message which will "leave fans inspired." As Mars sings the bridge, the two rappers find their way out of the tunnels and finally get their sky full of lighters after going through a long, dark path. The video was met with positive reception for its positive and inspirational message: leave the dark and negative behind and move toward the glowing and positive.

Nicki Minaj and Rihanna survive a plane crash, battle ninjas and evolve with their surroundings in their long-overdue clip for "Fly," premiered during VMA pre-show on Sunday night. The slow and tickling number is the last cut from 28-year-old Trinidadian hip hop queen's debut project "Pink Friday," has its inspirational feeling, and is set to be released to US rhythmic radio today and officially released on September 11.
The New York MC talked more in depth about the song: "'FLY' is one of my absolute faves. I wanted to work with Rihanna for a long time. I'm very proud of her accomplishments; especially since she was born on an island like me. This song is a female empowerment song. But then again, its not specific to just women. It speaks about flying, soaring high in the face of every single solitary adversity that comes your way. I speak about how the media has attempted to box me in and how that has made me feel suffocated. After years of being dragged thru the mud, I've mustered up the courage to re-define myself. I believe that I represent an entire generation. My fans have become my family; and together we have become a movement. Get ready for it. We came to win."
The song is inspired by the emotion of soaring above and overcoming all stereotypes and negativity, only to have come out victorious. Even though her roots are elsewhere, Minaj sounds better on the "Pink Friday" tracks that are more squarely in the club R&B vein, which she almost always spikes with enough rap to remind anyone that she isn't another Beyoncé or even Sasha Fierce, not by any stretch. "Fly" makes good work out of its Rihanna cameo, while the dark glamour bird soars, Minaj skitters around her with her vulnerable but choppy rhymes, equal parts tough woman and big softie. The inspirational tone has her charismatically colorful, larger-than-life personality all over them.
The pair of beauties are going to save the world in more ways than one with this gloomy Sanaa Hamri-directed clip, which was shot back in early January, and it ironically starts out with ominous footage of a downed airplane. It opens with Minaj pulling up to the wreckage in a very luxurious ride. Rihanna eventually shows up to provide angelic vocals while the two walk through the smoking, apocalyptic wreck. A crew of mysterious ninjas shows up to assault our rapping beauty, as Minaj defeats the powerful ninjas with her moves, the world begins to revive itself as flowers are seen growing around them. The sun shines down on everyone as the video closes.

Beyoncé has rush-released a new video for her promotional single, "1+1" on Friday and in the video, the singer dons a garter belt and is shown tearing-up while singing about the one she loves. Serving as the opener for the 29-year-old Grammy-winner's upcoming fourth solo album "4," the down-tempo power ballad draws from the genres of contemporary R&B and soul music. Beyoncé leaves choreography behind as she becomes the sole focus of the clip.
The piano-driven heartfelt ballad finds Beyoncé as the female protagonist expressing her endless love to her interest. The lyrics make sweeping statements about the power of her relationship. "I don't know much about algebra but one plus one is two," she croons, revealing she does know something about arithmetic. "He ain't got nothing but love. Darling, you got enough for the both of us. Make love when my days look low, pull me in close." The Texan songstress debuted the tune on the season 10 finale of American Idol on May 25. She introduced it as her "favorite" song, and sang it in a purple dress with red lights.
The song features "a soft, almost non-existent" backing beat, and makes use of guitar and piano as its foundation, while wind chimes and funk-influenced bass instrumentation is also present. "1+1" generally demonstrates the raw vocals of Beyoncé, presenting a side of her voice she told Billboard magazine she wanted to use more of on her then forthcoming album, "4:" "I used a lot of the brassiness and grittiness in my voice that people hear in my live performances, but not necessarily on my records." The low-key instrumentation allows Beyoncé' voice to display all the emotional points, in a way similar to that of Whitney Houston.
Beyoncé's all oiled up, shedding tears and having her hair blown around with a light show that accentuates her every diva pose dancing across her in herself directed video. The footage was a different direction for Beyoncé because it was far from the heavy dance routines for which she is known for. The whole thing may be rather simple, but it's hard to take your eyes off it. It experiments with psychedelic visual effects and innovative lighting, which altogether give it a cinematic feel. The video was generally met with positive reception from music critics, who stated it "sell sex as art" and it will be remembered as one of Beyoncé's most iconic visual work.

As summer is getting close to the end, Leona Lewis is invited to enjoy the last few moments of it with a brand new video for her surprisingly upbeat new single "Collide," the first track to be taken from British singer's upcoming third studio album, "Glass Heart." The pretty faced, strong voiced British songstress spends all day long on the beach and enjoys the warm weather with some friends one last time, as she belts "Crash into me, we can collide!"
The dance tune "Collide" is a departure from the anthemic ballads that made Lewis famous. It features an instrumental from Swedish DJ Avicii's a club track "Penguin." When the song first came out, Lewis was accused of illegal sampling. After exchanging words of accusation and denial with the disc jokey, Lewis and Avicii eventually reached an agreement and the single was released as a collaboration under both artists' names before the case was due to be heard at the high court in London. Lewis belts out her new single "Collide" with her soaring diva vocals from the sandy shore of a Malibu beach. We're not used to such an upbeat song from the usually very serious and sultry former X Factor contestant, but it seems as though she has jumped on the dance wagon with this Avicii inspired number. The dance-pop anthem finds her taking a more dance pop route than on her previous material. The "Happy" star said, "I'm excited for people to see a different side to my music. I'm a fan of so many different genres and styles. For me this song has all the great ingredients of a summer anthem."
In the Ethan Lader-directed California coast-shot video, Lewis isn't attempting to make any sort of grand statement. Instead, she parks herself at the beach with pals, basking in the sun and pondering not much more than how beautiful the waves look as they break on the shore. The 26-year-old, in her blue polka dot bikini, is splashing around, sitting in a convertible and laughing throughout. With her heavy bangs and captivating stare, the camera pans in on plenty of shots of Lewis singing, since she is easy on the eyes.

Rihanna gets buddy Avril Lavigne on board in the just-released video for her celebratory tune "Cheers (Drink to That)," serves as the seventh overall single from 23-year-old Barbadian's fifth studio album, "Loud." This grungy party-drinking anthem dedicated to a night on the town is a wise, world-weary paean from a gal at the bar who's seen some stuff, has moved on and wants to buy everybody a round of fruity shots. The video is about letting loose and toasting to the weekend.
Bet you didn't think Avril Lavigne would be sampled anytime soon, but this track samples Lavigne's 2002 ballad "I'm With You," with incorporates the element of dancehall, dance-pop, pop rock, and R&B. About why the decision was made to sample Lavigne, rather than getting the Canadian pop singer to come in and re-record the vocal for the song. "I asked the same thing, but when I heard the track, it was already embedded in the music, so the producers already had it that way," she explained. "But it wouldn't have made a difference. It would have sounded the same. But I'm just glad that we could use her sample, because it became such a huge part of the instrumental that if it were not to be in the song, it would change the whole vibe of the song."
Rihanna told MTV News about this tune: "I love that song. That is one of my favorite songs on the album. It makes you feel like celebrating. It gives you a great feeling inside like you want to go out and have a drink. People can't wait for the weekend." Rihanna also told Spin magazine: "It's a song you would hear in a bar but I think you could also hear it all over pop radio. It's really grungy and melodic and catchy. And the way the producers sampled Avril — it's like she's an instrument. It's really cool how they combined [the song] with her vocals."
There are no special effects, storylines or no chance of lawsuits. The music video shows footage and behind-the-scenes from her concert experiences and performing on tour to her every day life as well as various different activities she did during her homecoming trip to Barbados. It also finds Rihanna in an appropriately celebratory mood and it's mostly a lot of shots of her partying backstage with friends and celebrities. This is probably the most candid and loose we've seen Rihanna as she goes bar hopping and slices open a coconut. Again, that video fit the song, as is the case here.

Florence and the Machine have debuted a brand new video for track "What the Water Gave Me" during a show in Berkeley, California. The indie-pop collective fronted by Florence Welch give fans first taste of what they can expect on their forthcoming still-untitled sophomore disc, due in November. The soaring, chiming, epically massive new track is imbued with a gospel choir and Welch's epic pipes, and seems destined to rule the festival circuit for the foreseeable future.
The 24-year-old British songstress elaborated on the title and meaning of the song: "It's a song for the water, because in music and art what I'm really interested in are the things that are overwhelming," Welch said. "The ocean seems to me to be nature's great overwhelmer. When I was writing this song I was thinking a lot about all those people who've lost their lives in vain attempts to save their loved ones from drowning. "It's about water in all forms and all bodies. It's about a lot of things; Virginia Woolf creeps into it, and of course Frieda Kahlo, whose painfully beautiful painting gave me the title."
The new single has a lofty premise, but never collapses under the weight of its own drama. It's a cliche that usually involves a reference to Marmite, but Florence and the Machine divide opinion. Because of Welch's voice, an instrument that can flit between tremulous and strident in an instant. With a title taken from a Frida Kahlo painting and a lyric referencing Virginia Woolf, it's a lofty premise for a pop song. Welch mixing images of suicide with declarations of undying love over fluttering harp and robust guitar. This delicate balance gives the song its edge.
It begins clothed in the kind of gravity-defying 80s goth. Vocally, the track is a lesson in restraint for the singer, who's known for her clarion-like vocals. It's not until the closing moments that she goes for it full pelt. Up until that point, she's trying out her new, softly-softly vocal style. The track builds into the kind of re-affirming epic that anyone would be proud of. The ethereal video depicts various clips of Florence and the Machine in a recording session at Abbey Road Studios in London as Welch gets giddy in the studio laboring over some lyrics, but eventually, the creative muses come together, and the images and music burst into a joyful cacophony.

He's known for his deep messages and thought out lyrics, but Lil Wayne has outdone himself with his latest video, "How to Love" on MTV Jams as "Jam of the Week." The R&B ballad tune is third single from rapper's upcoming ninth album "Tha Carter IV." The song features a slow stripped down based largely around the sounds of an acoustic guitar and drums. It chronicles the life of a troubled woman who never learned how to love, and was influenced by Wayne's love interest, Dhea. The five-minute tragic clip tugs at heartstrings with depictions of abuse, molestation and prostitution.
It's hard to find true love when you're a rich and famous rapper, but in his new stripped down acoustic song, Wayne teaches the lesson of "How to Love" — proving that he's got a lot of heart himself. He pinpoints that this broken girl's insecurities stem from bad bruises in the past, but stresses that he finds her beautiful because she's one of a kind in his eyes. We haven't heard Young Wayne like this before, but if this new side of him is a result of his new lady friend, we welcome it with open arms. Not that we want the rap master to go all singer-songwriter on us, but this gem shows that even the hardest of exteriors can have a gooey center.
Wayne said his new single gives him "goose bumps" and that he has "never had a single like it." The song's producer, Detail, told MTV that the new video would shock viewers. "Wayne wrote every scene: He told me scene by scene by scene," the producer said. The lyrics of Wayne's ballad "How to Love" are probably best described as romantically tragic, but after Wayne premiered the video online Wednesday, the song took on a more dire meaning. The Chris Robinson-directed clip tells the story of an abused mother, who unintentionally leads her daughter to relive her own vicious cycle.
The video clearly shows that this woman had a troubling upbringing with parents who fought and a dad who was in jail. She grows up into a stripper, whose activities lead her to a sad fate. But, the video also explores what would have happened if her life had gone in a very different direction. Wayne is almost in the background of his own video, singing all his lyrics from one scene in a tunnel. The cautionary clip is heavy in its message and not necessarily easy to watch. It wasn't easy to film, either; "That was a harsh scene; it was difficult for us to shoot," the director said. "It was necessary, because these are the things that happen in real life. And you can see the trajectory of where that took her."

Tyler Blackburn from 'Pretty Little Liars' made his singing debut with a music video for "Save Me." It's the kicks off single with the theme from the upcoming web series "Wendy," which will have twice weekly episodes on Tuesdays and Thursdays beginning September 15th for five weeks. Blackburn was born in Burbank, California, and has been working in television and film since 2005.
The 24-year-old actor stars of "Pretty Little Liars," to reveal his musical side: He's starring a sexy, rocker version of Peter Pan in the upcoming series, "Wendy," a modern day interpretation of the classic "Peter Pan" tale. Everyone knows the classic "Peter Pan" story about a dude who lives in Neverland, tortures Captain Hook and never wants to grow up. But what's always been appealing to us about the tale is the exceptionally creative "Wendy." It looks magical.
The Facebook series follows a girl (Meaghan Martin) who mush choose between the boy she loves and the boy of her dreams. But this sure-to-be tween favorite won't be showing on network television or cable stations - it's set for a September premiere on the internet. "Save Me" features Blackburn proving that he's more than just a hunky actor, and his soaring vocals and winsome persona are the perfect segue into his character Pete on the forthcoming Alloy Entertainment show.
You've fallen in love with him on "Pretty Little Liars" and now Blackburn is belting it out in this music video for his new web series, "Wendy!" And we're all kinds of attracted to him while he's singing this jam, "Save Me," and serenading his co-star Martin. The song "Save Me" is pretty darn catchy and if this video is any indication of what the series will be like, consider us just as gitty as we were the first time we caught the Disney flick.

Sara Evans released a new music video for her twangy cover of Rod Stewart's "My Heart Can't Tell You No," with three alternate endings on CMT, iTunes and VEVO. The track served as the second single from her sixth studio album, "Stronger," is her twangy cover of British pop-rock artist Rod Stewart's 1988 classic, and Evans does a fine job recreating the moment. In her own version, Evans depicts a heartbreaking love triangle.
The reemergence of Evans gave life not only to her career, but to millions of women who were kicked around and given up on by the same people who once said "I love you." She seemed to truly find strength after taking a few years off to handle personal issues. The recent chart-topper "A Little Bit Stronger" was the start of a great comeback story. Her new single "My Heart Can't Tell You No," a gentle, regretful cover, feels like a sudden bout of insecurity. Evans's vocals are free of impurities, although she does revert her early tendency to hold impossible notes for measures at a time.
In the new video for her worthwhile cover, the incredibly fit Evans finds herself involved in an emotionally murky plot. Her knockout figure almost feels like another "character" in the video. "I am so excited about releasing this video," said the 40-year-old RCA Nashville artist. "It's a different kind of video than anything I've ever done before. We had SO many wardrobe changes and the plot is so full of drama! I can't wait for my fans to see it!"
Helmed by director Peter Zavadil, Evans plays an apartment dweller who watches the unpleasant goings on between a young, good-looking couple across the hall in video. She goes to enter her unit and sees the sad-eyed blond girl looking reluctant to let her 'boyfriend' into her apartment. Evans gives off a knowing look, which suggests that she is either a part of this triangle somehow or that she is simply a witness who has been made aware of what's going behind the girl's back. Whatever the case, it's not a fun position to be in.

Britain Pop belter Jessie J channels her past on the newest music video for her pop-infused self empowerment "Who's Laughing Now," the fourth UK single from her debut studio album, "Who You Are," which does serve as one of her most personal tracks and one with a message that anyone who's experienced bullying can relate to and find strength in. The songstress goes back to her school days where she was portrayed as an outcast, and she was really out to prove people wrong.
Despite having grown into a confident and successful 23-year-old, Jessie was often taunted and teased by her schoolmates as a kid for everything from a skin discolouration resulting from a health condition to her 'Bugs Bunny' teeth. Having experienced such treatment on behalf of her peers, she wrote "Who's Laughing Now." Speaking of the track, she said: "Music is about making a change but also being able to laugh at yourself. I think this song tells a story a lot of people have been through and I hope it will raise awareness to the serious issue of bullying."
This bitter song finds Jessie taking pride in her achievements in the music industry and having the last laugh at the scoffers in her younger days who doubted she could be successful. She told The Sun: "This song always makes me laugh. I have had so many supporters but also many non-believers and this track is my 'haha' to them. As I say: 'Let the haters hate, they're like way too late!'" The track offers a little insight, but it's via her grind and career rather than who Jessie actually is. The brilliant revenge song aimed at playground bullies is such a tart kiss-off, you can almost hear Jessie's neck swiveling.
Jessie gets the last laugh in the Emil Nava-directed clip, which filmed at King's College School, Wimbledon, is set in a primary school, where an actress (Adrianna Bertola) plays younger Jessie being bullied and taunted by preppy girls, while Jessie plays a school teacher, janitor, and lunch lady during the four minutes in the tongue-in-cheek visual. Eventually, the young popstress-to-be finds her groove, sasses her hot mess of a lunch lady in the school cafeteria and hoses down her tormenters with a fire extinguisher.

Iyaz, the soulful singer from the British Virgin Islands who made a name for himself when his iPod was stuck on "Replay," has just released a new music video for his single "Pretty Girls," the official first single from Iyaz's forthcoming sophomore album, tentatively set to drop in late summer. Iyaz holds street auditions to find his perfect match 'cause he's trying 'to pick the right one' out of bunch of pretty girls!
The laid-back, R&B-tinged pop song with romance-themed Caribbean-pop verses is about all the "Pretty Girls" he sees, and it features a cameo from rapper/Gym Class Heroes front-man Travie McCoy, who raps about the kinds of girls that turn him on. Iyaz belts out over the JR Rotem-produced track. It's hard to tell whether the song is a celebration of beautiful women, or more of an arrogant declaration that Iyaz thinks he can have any girl he wants. We'll give him the benefit of the doubt on this one.
Life is tough for the chronically indecisive; whether you're vacillating between several equally appealing items on a lunch menu or weighing the relative pros and cons of kicking it in the front versus the back seat, it seems like the pressure's always on. Thus, it's hard not to feel sorry for Virgin Island-bred pop heavyweight Iyaz. when he laments that he's surrounded by so many 'Pretty Girls' that it's gonna take forever to pick the right one.
Shot in the sunny locale of Miami, the video sees 24-year-old crooner brings along rhymer McCoy in a quest to find ladies that catch their eye. The twosome brings along a lot of pretty faces indeed. While Iyazz grabs his camera for a graffiti-themed photo shoot, McCoy simply chills out with the babes in a summer breezy set. As for the inspiration behind the clip, Iyaz explains that he wanted to highlight the plethora of women he comes across during his travels. "There are pretty girls all over the world... To me they come in all shapes and sizes."

The Band Perry, one of Nashville's newest sensations, is composed of siblings: two brothers, Reid and Neil, and big sister Kimberly appear as a vagabond troupe endlessly searching for a love in their just-released video for "All Your Life," the fourth single off their self-titled album that was released last October and turned gold four months later. This nearing-four-minute-long ballad is the first that fails to find a unique spot amongst the others on country radio.
"All Your Life" sounds like a song a dozen different artists could have cut, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. When you live on the edges, as this sibling trio has through three singles now, it's sometimes a good idea to play it safe. The song is a little less haunting than their 2nd single "If I Die Young," but still maintains that The Band Perry edge which seems to harness a vibe with one foot in our modern world and the other in a world of the past.
Playing a fictional group called the Purveyors of Performance, the Perrys shot the cinematic video directed by David McClister on their manager's 750-acre farm outside Nashville. Set during the "Grapes of Wrath" era, according to Kimberly, all three are in search of everlasting love. The video features a storyline of vaudeville-esque characters which adds a whimsical element to an otherwise serious tone. "This is our very first video with the three of us with love interests," Kimberly revealed during a behind-the-scenes clip. Kimberly is wooed by a Medicine Man, while Neil fancies a Snake Charmer and Reid a Palm Reader.
For one hot summer day in the simmering South, The Band Perry became a traveling band of gypsy musicians. They 'bleed the red blood of American music,' that's how sister Kimberly describes their passion for their music. The release of the video comes on the heels of The Band Perry's announcement of their first tour, which kicked off August 15th! These days it's rare to get four singles off an album, especially a debut album, so "All Your Life" will do nothing to harm The Band Perry's reputation as innovators. Hopefully they find their edge when it comes time to record the next album.

Michelle Branch has just premiered the video for her first single "Loud Music" from her upcoming third studio album "West Coast Time." due out in September. It's her first pop music single in 6 years and the first solo album in 8 years, as well. But it's what she does best, so she couldn't stay away forever and her brand new single, "Loud Music," is no exception. The clip tells two simultaneous stories: the literal one, in which Branch and her band goof off on tour, listening to and performing loud music, and the figurative one, told out of chronological order, in which Branch meets-cute in a record store and she and the dude make loud music together.
The up-beat pop-rock track was co-written and produced by British team Jim Irvin and Julian Emery, who are best known for their collaborations with American singer-songwriter Lissie. Branch explained on an Ustream chat: "I had been listening to the Lissie record, and her song, 'When I'm Alone' is one of my favorite songs out right now. I found out that Jim and Julian were responsible for it, so I wanted to work with them."
"Loud Music," finds her singing about a rocker beau and referencing Led Zeppelin and Jimi Hendrix, is definitely the kind of song that sounds best, well, loud, with its '80s pop flavor and heavy-on-the-guitar back-track. Branch first introduced herself to the pop world as a teenager, before (temporarily) going country. The country inflections are still there in Branch's voice, but they sound even more like the quirks she brought with her from the start.
Without the constant hard-rock callouts, "Loud Music" is a perfect hybrid between the folkie Branch we've come to love and the more mature, rocker Branch that we think is dying to break through. Branch's vocals far lower and matter-of-fact than the content calls for. With multiple mentions of classic rock bands and a drive to shake the roof off the place, it's clear Branch is a rock 'n' roll star at heart. If this new single is any indication of where Branch is headed, we plan to follow. The 28-year-old Grammy-award winning artist is back!

Keith Urban has released the new summer anthem video for his current single "Long Hot Summer," the third single Urban has offered up from his 2010 album "Get Closer," following "Put You In A Song" and "Without You." Jump in, the water's fine. Before we say goodbye to summer, the country music crooner celebrates all the hallmarks of a good summer: surf, sand, sea, sun and the open road, and is giving us one last longing look at what we'll miss for the next several months.
Urban penned this summer tune with pop star Richard Marx, who recorded a succession of hits in the late '80s and early '90s including "Right Here Waiting" and "Hazard." Urban told The Boot that the track was a feel-good song meant to be listened to on the road: "I like to have at least one good summer song on a record. I love radio songs, and there are certain songs that I write specifically trying to hear them on the radio or just in the car. That's the place I usually have in mind when I write. I still love hearing music in a car more than anywhere."
Urban wrote on his blog concerning this collaboration with Marx: "We hadn't written a lot in the last year or two. I really loved writing with him. We wrote 'Better Life' on the last record and 'Everybody' on the last album as well. I just really wanted to write with him again. He came to Nashville and we did a typical sort of drum machine and little loop groove. I like the drive and the edgier sort of thing." The 43-year-old New-Zealand born, Australian-raised star known for his closet full of awards, his unusual-for-a-country-singer roots and his marriage to actress Nicole Kidman.
Celebrate summer love and sand between your toes, Urban and his band turn the beach into a stage during a warm day for their latest video, which was filmed in Malibu, and was directed by Trey Fanjoy, who also directed Urban's music videos for "Somebody Like You" and "Sweet Thing." The video intersperses footage of Urban and his band onstage along with a narrative of a group of young ladies on a road trip - fitting, given the inspiration behind the song. "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles" actress Summer Glau also stars in the video, playing a girl in convertible.

Lady Gaga doesn’t go by the rules, especially when it comes to video premieres. The videos from the sold-a-million-in-a-week "Born This Way" have fallen somewhere in between, but her latest "Yoü and I," which just premiered on Perez Hilton even though it was supposed to be unveiled on MTV on Thursday night, might finally be the epic that everybody has been waiting for this time around. The thrilling storyline would be about the "torture" of being away from the one you love, feels like the strongest and most striking of any of the clips from "Born This Way."
The album's thirteenth track and fourth single, "Yoü and I," is a rock and roll ballad with tendencies of rock music and country music, and samples "We Will Rock You" (1977) by British rock band Queen. The moderato-tempo song also features Brian May on the electric guitar. On her Twitter, the New York star described "Yoü and I" as a "new song... written in NY on the piano I grew up on." Gaga described the song to her audience as a bit of a "rock-and-roll tune." She went on to say that it will probably never be used as one of her singles, but the song is very dear to her heart.
The song finds Gaga singing about a passionate love affair with a "Nebraska guy" whilst the lyric sheet features umlauts over every letter "u." The 25-year-old revealed in an interview with US Weekly that she finds it hard to perform this track as it is about her relationship with her on-and-off boyfriend, Luc Carl. The tune is about getting back together with a former love and Gaga penned the tune after getting back together with Carl, having previously split up with him. However, the singer broke up with him again shortly before the release of "Born This Way" and she admitted that she now gets upset when singing the tune.
The "I would walk 500 miles" theme video was shot in Springfield, Nebraska, finds the Mother Monster tapping into her various alter-egos, from male "greaser" counterpart Jo Calderone to Yuyi the Mermaid. Gaga explained the video's concept: "The premise of the video is that I've walked all the way from New York City to Nebraska to get [my boyfriend] back. And the [video is about the] idea that when you're away from someone you love, it's torture," she continued. "I knew I wanted the video to be about me sprinting back and walking hundreds of thousands of miles to get him back."

Noted for his club-destined efforts, the Beluga Heights artist Jason Derülo slows the tempo down just a bit with the music video for "It Girl," the official second single from his upcoming sophomore album "Future History," which is the follow up to the party-pleasing song "Don't Wanna Go Home." The catchy mid-tempo pop/R&B song comes dangerously close to being just another bland, cookie cutter R&B-pop experience, but lucky for him, that whistle gimmick in the chorus makes it a somewhat enjoyable. It will impact on American radios today!
"It-girl"' is a term for a young woman who possess the quality "It," drawing men with an magnetic attraction. The original It Girl was the flawed-yet-flawless Clara Bow. The concept first arose in a Rudyard Kipling short story, Mrs. Bathurst where he wrote, "It isn't beauty, so to speak, nor good talk necessarily. It's just 'It.'" The expression reached global attention in 1927 with the Bow starring silent movie It, where 'It' was the word used in billings to describe Bow's vivacious sex appeal. Bow's spectacular performance resulted in the term entering the cultural lexicon and the silent star herself became known as the "It Girl." The term has since been applied by the media to party girls and supposed sex symbols.
The Colin Tilley-directed video harks back to Clara Bow's era taking place in a picturesque mansion sitting on a cliff overlooking the Pacific. "For the video, I wanted it to be an open book," Derülo told MTV News. "I wanted it to be almost like a photo album, so every single scene is kind of like a picture that you're kind of looking into our relationship. So it is a 1920s vibe, it's black and white, very high fashion — you know, you'll see me very dapper in 1920s, Frank Sinatra-ish. So you'll see the cars from that era, you'll definitely feel the vibe of the house having that 1920s vibe as well."
The 21-year-old Haitian-American dream machine has finally found his "It Girl" in his latest video. Featuring Tika Sumpter from Gossip Girl, the video gives a kaleidoscopic view between Derülo's beachfront paradise, an assortment of edgy suits and a little bit of pillow talk with his new real-life "It Girl." And now Derülo's catchy new single "It Girl" has him putting his lips together and blowing as he waxes poetic about his number one gal. This also puts Derülo in a challenging spot for his upcoming second album, but you can't say he's not trying to distinguish himself or at least recap his career.

Things are been rather quiet on the Oh Land front for a while now, but she has returned with a bang with this new video for "White Nights," off her self-titled sophomore album. Nanna Øland Fabricius is Oh Land, who builds her craft heavily in the Pop genre, but somehow seems to defy it at the very same time. "The way I write melodies and lyrics are very organic and inspired from something very original that I find in tribal music and native music."
The American-based Danish ballet dancer-turned-experimental-pop-artist is a peculiar new cinematic electropop Dane who recently sailed across the sea to the artistic haven of Brooklyn, NY. With an opera singer for a mother, a theater organist for a father and Björk's Homogenic on constant rotation, Oh Land was enraptured by the combination of experimental and classical arts. "My goal is to sound like I'm from 2050, but still feel really classic, like the music is an old friend," said the 26-year-old.
Oh Land wakes up to an adventourous-filled world in her zany new clip for "White Nights." The CANADA-directed trippy video sees her dreaming about lots of rather odd scenarios like jumping off cliffs, morphing into animals and doing ballet with strangers, and throughout the clip, our Danish doll keeps waking up in various scenarios, looking as confused as we are. There's geometric dance parties; the pop star riding on a horse with a unicorn horn on her head; soft-shoeing on a sound stage; and cliff-diving in her undies.
With her dreams as the template, the video for "White Nights" is a reconstruction of the world in her mind; one that blends the natural and the technical. Oh Land herself gives us more details on the shoot. "In this video I explore these two opposite worlds in my dream and my imagination and I start mixing them together so they in the end become my world of oh land. It was very intense and fun to use dance in a whole other way. One of the things about this video that I'm proud of is how everything you see is actually happening."

Without further ado, Kanye West and Jay-Z share their brand new video for "Otis," the first official leak off the duo's joint highly-anticipated project "Watch the Throne" is now available on iTunes. The mid-tempo hip-hop song pays tribute to the soulful legend utilizing cuts from Otis Redding's classic 1966 tune, "Try a Little Tenderness." The soulful tune, which features the dynamic hip-hop duo spitting 'luxury raps,' is officially the hottest rap song of the summer.
Both rappers trade off verses and never pause for a chorus. The iconic duo are probably the only two who could afford to clear the sample and this is just the kind of track needed to really crank up the anticipation for their collaborative LP. The track begins with the sample of classic tune as we hear the late soul crooner wail, "It makes it easier to bare, you won't regret it." Then comes in the tickling piano, a flourishing bass line and a thunderous beat produced by West. The back-and-forth banter between the rap kings is endearing, and they offer plenty of fantastic one-liners too. Overall, "Otis" is a triumphant song that will garner repeat listens just for the one-liners alone.
The Spike-Jonze directed video, which just debuted on MTV, is an on-screen bromance, complete with a souped-up Maybach, fireworks, and a guest appearance by Aziz Ansari. It eschews the narrative spazzouts and stoner-boggling tricks of previous Jonze video, preferring instead to luxuriate in the icon status of its two principals. We get fireworks, fist bumps, a fast car, and general larger-than-life camaraderie rather than, say, guys on fire running in slow-motion. It's like "The Expendables," if that movie only starred two guys, and both of them were rappers who didn't do any onscreen fighting.
The video begins in crisp colors with the duo torching a Maybach in a large, empty warehouse yard. They tear that car apart and create some sort of makeshift convertible, which they then drive around the lot aimlessly in circles, with four young girls riding high in the back. The video has a real light, soft quality to it. West and Jay-Z amble around almost in slow-motion, talking down to the camera all giddy-like. It climaxes with the duo laughing maniacally as sparks shoot up all around them. It makes you think, as Jonze always does, this is what a music video should be.

Mary J. Blige has been through many trials and tribulations in her storied career, some of them documented and others well hid behind the scenes. The New York native draws upon such experiences to be the motivational force behind the song and video for "The Living Proof," which serves as the theme track to the dramatic comedy "The Help," opened in theatres last night.
Based on the No.1 New York Times best-selling novel of the same name by Kathryn Stockett, the new Disney's drama is set in the Civil Rights-era South and tells the story of a white woman and two black maids who form a bond while working on a secret writing project together that puts them all at risk. When Blige saw film, she was so moved that a song began pouring out of her soul. "I wanted to be involved with this film, because I think we need to encourage each other more, we are here to tell a story. The beautiful thing about these women is that they were very smart. To speak to so many women with this song means a lot to me," Grammy-winning singer said.
Produced by the Underdogs, the bold R&B/Soul chanteuse belts out in her soulful tone, and channels her inner strength to sing about letting go and moving forward. Blige has endured a long, long journey, but she continues to carry on with her latest release "The Living Proof." She reassures listeners that she is 'living proof' that even if life seems painful at times there is a reason to smile. Confident that her best days are right in front of her, Blige knows where she is going because of where she has been. Soulfully connected to the emotional lyrics, she admits that nothing about her life has been easy but she is ready to carry on.
The Queen of R&B sings her heart out in this new video for "The Living Proof," which features shots of Blige belting out the song's inspirational lyrics interspersed with clips from the movie. In the visuals, Blige, dressed in a coral blouse and white blazer, is featured singing the song, - written for the movie's character Aibileen Clark, a maid living in Jackson, Miss., in the '60s - in front of a microphone while a man gingerly taps away at the piano keys behind her. Throughout the clip, scenes from the film, which stars Viola Davis as Aibileen, are also showcased. Becoming a powerful black woman isn't easy, and Ms. Blige is living proof of that.

After her shock early elimination, Pia Toscano has joined her fellow former season 10 'American Idol' contestants, runner-up Lauren Alaina and winner Scotty McCreery, in dropping debut music videos this week, premiering the simple-yet-sexy video for her debut single, "This Time," a belty ballad that showcases just why Toscano's early "Idol" dismissal outraged so many viewers.
The sultry raven-hared balladeer may have finished in ninth place on American Idol last season, but with the amount of promotion she's gotten since the show wrapped, you would almost think she'd won the whole contest. Considered to be a frontrunner in the competition, some viewers and media outlets described Toscano's departure as one of the most shocking eliminations in American Idol history. 'Idol' observers praised the 22-year-old's star power, and she needs every ounce of it for this video because, aside from a few distant figures in the background, she's the only person who appears in it.
The lack of bells and whistles puts the attention on the lyrics and on Toscano's powerful voice. The song has received positive to mixed reviews by critics. Entertainment Weekly says "it's the kind of song we can expect to hear Rachel Berry singing the next time Finn screws up: sad, relatable, and a touch awe-inspiring. Los Angeles Times gave the song a more negative review, saying Pia "sings the hell out of it, of course;" he calls the song itself "a compendium of comeback cliches that almost reads like a parody of the whole I-will-survive genre." Billboard say "Lyrically, Toscano finds her strength - from what sounds to be an emotionally or even physically abusive relationship - on the midtempo pop ballad."
Toscano looks graceful and slightly angelic in the her debut video for "This Time." As she nurses her shattered heart, and is determined not to let it get in her way to find a true happiness since the song is about breaking away from a guy who plays too many games and heading out to live life on her own. The music video for the song — like most Idol videos that are shot while the kids are on tour — is pretty straightforward. It features Toscano singing her song in a series of unrelated locations: a car, a field, the beach, a meadow, a beach, a convertible, and a city street. The lighting is a major focus of the video, with sunlight, sunsets and street lights in most of the shots.

Grammy winners rock group Maroon 5 and Christina Aguilera are taking viewers on a nostalgic romp through the '70s in their new video for "Moves Like Jagger," which debuted Tuesday, takes place at the historic L.A. Theatre and, as the song title suggests, features a lot of people trying to move like Rolling Stone rocker Mick Jagger. Maroon 5 frontman Adam Levine eventually takes center stage to start singing wearing nothing but snug-fitting polyester pants and his colorful tattoos.
This electro-pop track with elements of rock and soul, is billed as "Maroon 5 featuring Aguilera," though the latter actually does very little, only coming in at the bridge after two minutes. The song's lyrics refer to the narrator's ability to impress a female with his dance moves, which he compares to those of legendary Rolling Stones rocker Mick Jagger. The song is bound to appeal to lot of people. The music video just increases the appeal, because whatever one thinks about Mick Jagger, the clip brings back many memories of the rock n roll icon.
Levine told MTV News why he likes to move like the veteran Stones' frontman: "I've been a student at the Jagger School of Interesting Movement for 17 years. I'm graduating next fall, with honors," he said. "[His moves are] a very carefully calculated, but slightly spastic, incredible rhythmic experience, in which all of your limbs and every bone in your body is moving at completely different times, and it's impossible to re-create. Nobody has moves like Jagger, that's kind of the point. That's why the song is so fun, it's fun to try."
The Jonas Åkerlund-directed clip opens with black-and-white footage of the theater, shots of work crews assembling lighting and equipment onstage and groups of extras getting into costume, warming up for a shoot. This is followed by classic footage of Jagger, during which a reporter asks the iconic Rolling Stones frontman how long he plans to make music. When Aguilera makes her brief appearance, she fits right into the retro feel with mascara-heavy lashes and a floppy hat. For Levine and his bandmates, the song and video are all about exposing a new generation to the rock legend.

American Idol winner Scotty McCreery debuted the bare-bones clip for his coronation song "I Love You This Big" on his website on Monday night, and it finds him earnestly singing the midtempo tune as his band sets up behind him in a Los Angeles park. This sweeping country ballad is his debut single, and was sung as his coronation song during the finale of the 10th season of American Idol. The perfect summer country tune is about being young and falling in love, and was released immediately after the show's finale.
McCreery's run on Idol was indeed ballad heavy, but luckily his uptempo numbers were sprinkled throughout this Idol compilation. The youngest male "Idol" winner McCreery told MTV News the song is a perfect fit for him. McCreery makes a statement about who he is by not making a love connection of his own in his debut music video for "I Love You This Big," which features the North Carolina teen belting out the song in a crowded park on a beautiful day, as everyone around smiles, waves, holds hands, braids hair and generally basks in the glow of the love that is all around in front of a firework-lit summer-night sky.
"This is pretty insane," the Mercury Nashville artist said of how he felt about having his first-ever music video. "All the hard work has been put into this and now I'm sitting here doing my first music video. It's just a really cool thing to finally be here." Talking about what to expect from the clip, he gushed, "This is going to be kind of a nice little chill, summertime barbecue, kind of like a community thing on the Fourth of July. It's just a really fun thing that we're all just kind of chilling - that's the word for this music video - 'chilling'."
In fact, the Shane Drake-directed video concept doesn't stray far from the crooner's country heart, as all of the ladies quickly find men in the audience. When they connect, fireworks start to crackle behind McCreery on the stage, illuminating the show and giving the music video a true summer feel. The trademark head-tilt, squinted eyes and big voice that made fans vote for him in drones haven't gone anywhere. The 17-year-old deep-voiced country crooner hopes to follow in the footsteps of past Idol winners.

Lauren Alaina has just premiered video for her debut single and potential coronation song "Like My Mother Does" Monday on CMT. It features her sitting on the porch of a beautiful Southern-style house and flashes pictures from her childhood which shows her journey from then until what she becomes now. The uplifting ode to maternal love and strength is the first offering from Alaina's upcoming first studio album which is yet to be titled. "I cannot wait for my album to come out and I can't wait for my fans to know when it's coming," she gushed.
She was the runner-up on Season 10 of American Idol, where her strong vocal performances earned comparisons to the genre's premier vocalists, Carrie Underwood and Martina McBride. It was during Idol that she first heard "Like My Mother Does." "When they started playing it for me, I started crying because I went through this whole crazy journey and the only person who was there for me every step of the way was my mom. She didn't get any praises for it and I got all of the attention. I thought the song would be a great way to say thank you for her for all that she does for me. When she came in and heard it, she cried. It was a sign. Everybody was crying, even the piano player."
From Rossville, Georgia, Alaina is ready to take the music world by storm. Or at least by sweet, sentimental melody. The 16-year-old tells her journey from childhood to stardom, and shows who the person she thanks the most is in Shaun Silva-directed clip. "The video is all about my mom and it has footage from my childhood and pictures of me and my family while I was growing up," says Alaina. "It's all projected on this beautiful Southern-style house. It's really great. It shows my life, so people will know more about me after they see it."
She's now recording her debut album with Nashville producer Byron Gallimore (Faith Hill, Tim McGraw). "It's definitely going to be country," she says. "I like singing uptempo, but I also like a good ballad every now and then. Country music has a way of telling a story that you automatically connect with when you hear it," adds Alaina. Her debut album will showcase a voice that is mature and powerful beyond its teen years. Alaina embarks on this next chapter with a newfound confidence and a polished set of performing skills.

The N-Duz star Dappy has revealed the video for his debut solo single "No Regrets." The single is the first to be taken from his as-yet-untitled debut solo effort, out September 19 and the album is expected later in the year. The hat-loving rapper has now decided to pursue a solo career while bandmate and his cousin Tulisa taking on a new role as 'The X Factor' judge and Fazer embarking on his producing career. So Dappy is the first band member to release his own track.
"No Regrets" has all the essential ingredients required for a huge hit, including a killer key change and a gospel choir. "It's all about me as a person and explains why I've been so crazy and spontaneous," he told the Daily Star. In "No Regrets," the N-Dubz star namechecks celebs as diverse as Kurt Cobain, Chris Brown, Michael Caine and Richard Branson. And he even has a cheeky pop at the Royal newlyweds. The multi-talented Londoner writes, raps and sings his own songs, and with a song like this, his solo chart bid should be taken very seriously indeed.
The video, was filmed in Los Angeles earlier this year and shot by music video legendary director Benny Boom (Nicki Minaj, 50 Cent, R Kelly, and Snoop Dogg), is all high production value, posturing, side storylines and rooftops aka a really nice attempt to get some fans stateside. It has Dappy singing outside weatherboard houses and on top of LA skyscraper, and shows the story of a single mum turning her life around by training as a nurse and a boxer training to win a match.
The flight to LA must have been a lonely one as the 24-year-old UK rapper embarked on his solo journey, shooting the video for his debut single "No Regrets." You don't expect a conceptual, mini movie style video with Dappy and so for actors to play out the lyrics, It's a bit of a pleasant surprise. The lyrics are perfectly portrayed in a suitably emphatic video, nothing ground breaking about the visuals but it won't hinder the process of Dappy taking the top spot on the charts.

As a member of the Pussycat Dolls, Jessica Sutta was part of the most successful female dance music group of all time. Now, the talented singer/actress/dance music innovator goes solo. After releasing her first promo ear bleeding buzz-track "I Wanna Be Bad," she inked a record deal with Hollywood Records. Now she's back with her first official solo single, "Show Me." which was described as an explosive shuffle-inspired dance track.
The former Pussycat Doll has just premiered a brand new video on ABC Family Saturday for her infectious new tune, "Show Me," the lead single from her upcoming debut solo album, "Sutta Pop." It will be featured in the ABC Family original movie "Teen Spirit" airs tonight at 7pm! Since bursting on the global pop scene with the Pussycat Dolls in 2003, Sutta built a reputation as a dance music favorite. "As an artist I grow every day," she says. "I'm trying to bring out new sounds and fun lyrics, to be a part of the dance world where people can feel sexy. My music shows who I am inside."
"Show Me" is a pop and dance-influenced tune that has Sutta asking her significant other to prove their love for her. One listen and you'll be ready to turn it out on the dancefloor thanks to the club-worthy beat and catchy hook. The dance-pop jam "Show Me" was written and produced by Busbee, who has also penned tracks for Timbaland, Katy Perry and Lady Antebellum. "Love is not a gimme gimme, if you're really with me, gotta show me, show me, show me, show me love," Sutta sings on the energetic, club-ready single.
The 29-year-old Hawaii-native beauty was always our favorite Pussycat Doll. She's got a playful, naughty side that comes out in her dancing. Sutta establishes her status as the new Queen of the Clubs in the clip for her Hollywood Records debut, ripping off all your favorite music videos and snatching every wig in the game in the process. The ex-Pussycat Doll gives us a little of JLo's "On the Floor," some Britney "Till the World Ends," and even some of Janet's "All Nite (Don't Stop)."

BRIT Award-winning British singer-songwriter James Morrison has just released a music video to support his new single "I Won't Let You Go." The song made its debut on BBC Radio 1 Thursday morning, August 4, and will be released on September 19. lyrically the song is about letting a lover know that no matter what, highlighted via her chorus "if your sky is burning, take my hand and hold it, you don't have to be alone, I won't let you go."
Morrison wrote this mid tempo ballad about Gill, his long term girlfriend and the mother of his daughter, Elsie. The song was released as the lead single from the singer-songwriter's upcoming third album "The Awakening," is due to release on September 26. Talking about the title of next studio installment, Morrison once said, "I want to write about this idea of an awakening of some kind. I've written a song with that title, which I'm really happy with. There's some funky digeridoo going on."
The 26-year-old continued: "Working with producer Bernard Butler on this album has brought a whole new dimension to the songs. For me this album combines influences stemming from my deep love for classic soul. Making the album coincided with some very big changes in my life and I think it’s very evident from the music that this is the album I not only wanted to make but that I actually had to make right now."
The video was shot at Wimbledon Studios, and directed by Phil Griffin. In the clip, the Husky Brit-crooner wakes up to an empty bed, while somewhere in the city, his loved one is lying alone in the middle of the street. When he runs into her, he quickly offers his comfort. The "Broken Strings" crooner lies beside the woman he loves, holds her hands, and promises to stay by her side no matter what happens.