Today's Pick

The punk girl who never grows Avril Lavigne lets her love affair for the beloved Japanese mascot go wild in the music video for the brand new Japanese single "Hello Kitty," the fourth single from the pop/rock singer's self-titled fifth album. Canadian-French singer didn't turn up to be the successful album all Lavigne fans hoped to be, but at least it spawned one Top 20 US hit and made Lavigne play sold-out tours in Asia, and Latin America. However, the new video as a whole is unfortunate and its unlike anything we've seen from the singer-but not necessarily in a good way. It will leave you sad and confused.
Clearly she's been body-snatched for "Hello Kitty," a sugar-coated dance jam that was inspired by a fictional female white Japanese bobtail cat with a red bow that was created in 1974 by the Japanese company Sanrio, is about an "aggressive" love with the fictional character, where it includes Lavigne commenting on slumber parties, loving the kitty, having fun and eating. It's a strong electro-pop and pseudo-dubstep song that is heavily influenced by hard rock and pop punk, while it features a dub-step influenced drop. The song is noted as Lavigne's first electronic experimental track in her career to-date.
Lavigne penned this experimental electronic dubstep track about the cute Japanese line that seems to acknowledge its own tokenism by adopting a "J-Pop American Funtime Now!" sheen. "I love Hello Kitty so much there's a song on the record called Hello Kitty. Pink is my favorite color... I'm really excited about this song," she gushed to Ryan Seacrest. "I'm obsessed with Hello Kitty and it's really fun and the sound is different." Not only is this song about Lavigne's love of the Japanese brand but also has a double meaning. "Obviously it's flirtatious and somewhat sexual," she told Digital Spy lyrically, "but it's genuinely about my love for Hello Kitty as well!"
Self-infantalization has always been a mainstay of Lavigne's personal brand, but as she starts creeping towards 30 she's decided to take a page from Gwen Stefani's book and insert herself in a culture that absolutely reveres that sort of thing: hello, Japan! In a candy-colored clip Lavigne shows her love for the distant country as she is flanked by Japanese doll-looking background dancers and attempts to do a choreography around in cute candy stores, eats yummy sushi, and takes photographs like a touring while walking the streets of Tokyo. Mrs. Nickelback is clearly having more fun than any of us on the track. Get ready to be slayed!

Ke$ha has been threatening to rawk out for quite a while, so with the help of some elusive (to her) electric guitars and Stooges icon Iggy Pop, the pop singer finally gets to show off her snarl with the newly leaked "Warrior" track, "Dirty Love." And just before 2013 ended, might as well start off the new year with a nasty bang, the LA-born singer premiered the filtered grainy video for "Dirty Love" ("my favorite on the record," she's said) on YouTube. According to Ke$ha's track-by-track commentary, she loves this song "because we're just screaming about sex."
Pop's 1977 debut solo long player, "The Idiot," was cited by Ke$ha as one of "Warrior"'s main musical influences when she was constructing the album's sound, so it's not a major surprise that she ended up collaborating with the veteran rocker on this track. "Dirty Love" was inspired by Pop's music and draws from garage rock and punk rock and celebrates the lack of fancy things in favor of something more raw. It finds Ke$ha sporting a rockier tone to her vocals, influenced by her love of '70s music. Whilst the "TiK ToK" singer's previous records were dominated by synth sounds and the use of Auto-Tune and incorporate more guitar-based songs on "Warrior."
In a recent Billboard cover story, she said she was so adamant about proving herself that she first contemplated making "Warrior" a rock album. Speaking with UK radio station Capital FM, the singer described the experience of recording with Iggy as "insane." She continued: "It was amazing because, for me, saying something nice about someone, that's being polite. But to actually [work]... with someone that's putting both of your names and making a piece of art together, and you kind of have to respect one another for that. So I obviously respect the hell out of him, but for him to respect me enough to actually put his name on something and collaborate with me was incredibly flattering as an artist."
The song is a gnarly rocker with lots of distortion and Ke$ha's "out-there" visual is death by glitter, which is the the 26-year-old singer's directorial debut as she acting a fool, rocking garter belts, rainbow-colored hair and writhing around on the floor, plays a stripper, ripping her clothes off, shows off her hot booty to the masses. She also gets doused in champagne, which she spits at the camera, as well as dancing with a pair of transvestite dancers, as the mighty rock beat takes over her. Dirty, indeed. Yes, it's Ke$ha through and through. The clip closes with sound bytes from a news cast about smut peddlers!

Ke$ha returned to her over-the-top roots and sporting cornrow hair extensions, huge platform sneakers and huge gold rimmed glasses in the promo for her electronic rap song, "Crazy Kids," the third single from her sophomore studio album, "Warrior," features a guest verse by will.i.am, who co-penned the original solo version of the song. Neither crazy nor kids, the reigning Queen and King of Auto-Tune, Ke$ha and will.i.am have paired up for a scientifically formulated dance-pop song ready to pair with vodka bombs at your local sketchy club that smells funny.
Featuring whistling, "Crazy Kids," is of the techno-pop genre with traces of pop rap. And lyrically, the song was said to establish dualistic personalities for Ke$ha, and were inspired by a birthday party of Ke$ha's, which she described as, "one crazy night." This whistle-laden live-for-the moment tune finds the 26-year-old "Die Young" singer reverting back to the irreverent Pop-Rap style of her debut release, "Animal." The queen of the white-trash outcasts does not pull any punches as she spits nonchalant cuss-filled rhymes.
The glitter-loving pop star explained in her official track-by-track commentary: "'Crazy Kids' is an anthem for people like me, my animals and many people in the world who are crazy and not afraid to show it, and actually proud of it." And Ke$ha, always adept at live-for-tonight choruses, belts out a catchy one here for everyone who's dancin' on the dance floor or drinkin' by the bar. We've come to expect a certain kind of craziness from Ke$ha and the outspoken pop star hasn't let us down in her new video for "Crazy Kids," which displayed Ke$ha at her most take-it-or-leave it and the beats grimy.
The Darren Craig-directed video has Ke$ha rocking a new look in typical Ke$ha style, everything in the clip is over-the-top, from will.i.am appearing as a pinball-playing astronaut, to the inclusion of a mini horse, various shirtless, bearded old men, and throwing a hellacious house party that's sure to get the neighbors up in arms. Ke$ha clearly enjoys what she's doing - she looks like she's having an absolute blast throughout the video, whether she's mean-mugging for the camera or dropping it low in a series of scandalous dance sequences. Of course, she didn't hold back when it came to the crazy.