Today's Pick

Miley Cyrus debuted the new music video for her hit single "Party in the U.S.A." last week, which was inspired by her favorite movie "Grease" and wanted to pay tribute to her parents' courting days. Once again the young Disney star is under scrutiny.
The song "Party in the U.S.A." is a mid-tempo song and has prominent pop rock characteristics. It was written by Lukasz Gottwald, Claude Kelly and Jessica Cornish, produced by Gottwald and released as the lead single from Cyrus' second extended play "The Time of Our Lives," it served as promotion for her Wal-Mart clothing line with Max Azria. The song garnered generally positive reviews from critics. Bill Lamb of About.com called it a "lyrically engaging song" and noted that "One of the unique aspects of Miley Cyrus' performance style among current pop artists is that she retains a country edge to her voice when she is performing straightforward pop songs." The song reached at No.2 in the Billboard Hot 100, due to strong digital sales that placed it at No.1 on 'Hot Digital Songs.'
The Grease-inspired music video, directed by Chris Applebaum, and premiered in ABC's music lounge on September 23. The video commences in a defunct drive-in theater, named the Corral Drive-In after the location of one of Tish and Billy Ray Cyrus' first dates. Cyrus arrives at the theater in a black 1979 Pontiac Trans Am. Cyrus wears shorts, a black tank top, cowboy boots, and a vest. As she exits the car she is joined by four of her friends. Other teenagers continue to arrive in vintage cars. Cyrus sings while standing in the back of a pick-up truck with a microphone in her hand and dancing with her friends. The video proceeds to Cyrus leaning against a wall which reads "Corral Drive-In". As the video progresses in both settings, an American flag unravels before a single wall in a vacant landscape and, afterward, Cyrus performs before it while being sprinkled with glitter. The video then features shots of Cyrus and background dancers at night in the theater, balancing on swings in a jungle gym. In the conclusion of the music video, Cyrus and her friends perform the song on a stage while the a projection of the the American flag and the letters "USA" flash behind them.

Bruce Willis’ latest film "Surrogates" wanderings into the sci-fi realms had a rough first weekend. It took in only $15 million and fails to steal the crown for a distant 2nd place. However the film support band, Breaking Benjamin is about begin their business with releasing new album today. The American rock band was formed in 1998 by vocalist Benjamin Burnley and quickly garnered a strong local following in their home state of Pennsylvania. Their music is most often classed as alternative rock or post-grunge, and have also been classified as alternative metal. They have released three albums, and are set to release their upcoming 4th studio album "Dear Agony" today.
The first single "I Will Not Bow" from new album was released for sale on September 1. It was released to the radio and the band's MySpace page on August 11, instead of the planned date, August 17 due to a leak by their hometown radio station, WBSX. This single is also be featured on the soundtrack for the Bruce Willi's new film "Surrogates" with the music video containing scenes from the movie. The song was not written specifically for the film, but according to drummer Chad Szeliga, "Ben sent a few songs to our record label, Hollywood Records," which is owned by Disney, who then decided they "wanted a Breaking Benjamin song for this movie." The song has also reached No.5 on Billboard Rock Songs chart.
The music video for "I Will Not Bow" was released to the band's Myspace on August 21. The video was shot at the World Trade Center building 7, but has no connection or significant meaning having to do with the 9/11 events as stated by Aaron Fink in his Point interview on August 13. The video was directed by Rich Lee who has also directed for Evanescence. Lee chose the location feeling it was an eerie location to film. The video features several shots of singer Ben Burnley walking down a hallway singing into a microphone, as well as shots of the band performing together, and scenes from the movie. There is also a girl who goes onto an elevator, and comes up to the same floor the band is on. She sits down on a couch in front of a set of TVs, all of them either showing scenes from the movie, or the band playing. Towards the end of the video, the members of the band collapse, dropping their instruments, as does the girl. The video then goes to Burnley strapped into one of the chairs from the movie, during which he sits up and takes his mask off.

Marié Digby's brand new sophomore album "Breathing Underwater" comes out today, and available exclusively at Amazon MP3 for the low price of $2.99 today only! It was released in Japan on June 24, and will be released on September 15 everywhere. If you live in the Los Angeles area, there's her album release party/show at the Roxy on Sunset Boulevard on Sept 22nd. The new album includes 13 tracks and 4 bonus tracks for Japan. Its first single is "Avalanche" and was released in US on iTunes on April 28. Its second single is "Symphony" and was released in US on iTunes on June 2. A music video for "Feel" is being aired in Japan and was released by Hollywood Records Japanese distributer, Avex Trax. One critic in Japan said Digby's voice, "delivers the wind of the spring."
Marié Digby was born April 16, 1983, whose mother is Japanese and father is Irish American. She began writing songs during high school in Los Angeles. After completing her sophomore year as a philosophy major at the UC Berkeley, she came out into the public eye when she won the 2004 Pantene Pro-Voice competition with her song "Miss Invisible". She is perhaps best known for her acoustic cover version of Rihanna's No. 1 hit "Umbrella", which attracted attention on YouTube in 2007. The song was subsequently played on the radio station STAR 98.7, was featured on the third season opening episode of the MTV show The Hills. Digby has released three studio albums, including one Japanese cover album. These albums have spawned seven singles overall.
Digby is recognized on YouTube for her simple popular music covers, which include Linkin Park, The Game, Rihanna, Maroon 5, and Nelly Furtado, as well as her original compositions. She has over 170,000 subscribers and her channel has been viewed over 4 million times. As of May 2009, she is the 11th most subscribed musician on YouTube, ahead of names like Chris Brown, Taylor Swift and Tay Zonday.

Demetria "Demi" Lovato was born born August 20, 1992 in Texas. "Don't Forget" is the 3rd and final single released from her debut studio album of the same name. The moderate pop-rock song is Demi's best-performing song so far from album, and it's currently her highest performance on the chart to date.
The official music video (directed by Robert Hales) was shot in Griffith Park in LA. The video begins in a tour bus where Demi's band can be seen. She is then shown sitting next to a window, and precedes to sing the first few lines. As the song progresses, she walks in the rain holding an umbrella, where she continues to sing. Demi is then shown in front of a carousel, still holding her umbrella. When the song reaches the bridge, Demi and her band perform in the rain with the water changing colors in the background. As the last verse approaches she is shown back on the tour bus where the video began. When the song finishes a single tear rolls down her cheek.
I know Demi from the movie "Camp Rock" and also like her singles: "A Place In This World", "This Is Me" and "On The Line".