Today's Pick

Mylène Farmer, often referred to as "the French Madonna," has just premiered a music video for another RedOne collabo and dancefloor pleaser, "Lonely Lisa." The electro-dance cut serves as the third single to be lifted from her 3x Platinum eighth record "Bleu Noir," in France and although I have no idea what the song's all about, it does sound the most rhythmic and catchy hits by Farmer. I may not understand everything that Farmer says, but the song is a wonderful dance pop affair, and I just love the video and enjoy her music nonetheless!
"Lonely Lisa" was written by French diva with the music composed by RedOne. Musically, the song has electro-oritented and dance sonorities. "Lonely Lisa" is by far the catchiest song on "Blue Noir." It's whirling synths, pulsing electronic basslines and huge catchy melodies take it to a level of perfection only a true pop icon can reach. It was generally praised in the media with a dynamic, rhythmic piece, and simple but catchy chorus. A potentially summer hit!
The Canadian born French singer is known for her creative output, both musically and visually. She gained fame with songs featuring shocking yet poetic lyrics, and explicit music videos. By the turn of the decade Farmer was a full blown superstar in France. The album seems to have surpassed even Farmer's standards of success. Despite being released in December it was one of the top ten biggest sellers of the year, and the formula of Farmer collaborating with big hitters Moby and RedOne seems to be a winning combination. With a record 11 number one singles in France so far, and the two previous songs from "Bleu Noir," and it will be interesting to see if this makes it 12.
The promo is surreal, but actually very tame for Farmer, who has a long history of crazy-looking clips. Shot in May, the video for "Lonely Lisa" was directed by Roy Raz, will no doubt spark the Lady Gaga comparisons. While the debate will rage, some no doubt saying Gaga was influenced by Farmer and borrowed her ideas, or that Farmer is borrowing some of Gaga's style to boost her career, what's certain is that Gaga's international success has probably made it easier for female artists to be heard, and ones with ideas like Farmer can certainly make the most of the opportunity. The video certainly keeps up Farmer's reputation for making videos that are an essential element of her art.

Kenny Chesney has jst released the music video during this weekend on CMT for "You and Tequila," the fourth single from his latest fourteenth album, "Hemingway's Whiskey." Written by Matraca Berg and Deana Carter, the ballad is closer to contemporary Americana than anything coming from the Nashville mainstream and a duet with the loamy vocals of alt-country singer Grace Potter, the leading vocalist of soulful, folk-rock band, Grace Potter and the Nocturnals.
When Chesney was on tour in 2003 with Deana Carter, he heard the "Strawberry Wine" singer perform her song titled "You and Tequila" night after night. When it came time for Chesney to put together songs for his latest album, "Hemingway's Whiskey," he felt the urge to record the tune, asking Potter to duet with him on the song. "['You and Tequila'] is a struggle song," Chesney says. "There are some commonalities about getting someone out of your mind and drinking and trying to quit." It's a great track because it's a very poetic and acoustic way to describe how your favorite sins are the ones that do you in.
"You and Tequila" lives up to its expectations, without a doubt. It settles nicely into the acoustic vibe that Chesney has excelled in before, but still offers a little more than that. With a bit more color to his voice than usual, he convincingly sings about the struggles and temptations of wanting to see that one girl who drives him crazy. The lyrics are straightforward and direct, eschewing cute turns of phrase for understated simplicity. Potter's backing vocals give the feel of her echoing the same torturous sentiments, adding a wonderful amount of reciprocation.
The pair shot the video with director Shaun Silva mostly in Malibu, California. "That's the essence of the song, a very romantic setting. And the house where we shot it really lent itself to the song," Potter said. The video is just like the song, light, with a hint of sadness. The storyline has Chesney and Potter as ex's who have gone their separate ways, but still think about each other. The video is set up with shots of the pair having fun on the beach, on a hill overlooking the city, and drinking tequila together. Then, there are shots of them at separate times going back to those locations alone to reminisce about the relationship.

Leaving a relationship is hard, we all know that. Sunny Sweeney's "Staying's Worse Than Leaving" video does not even try and sugarcoat that fact or soften the blow. What appears to be the breakup of a fractured relationship unfolds before our eyes, as Sweeney and her partner are hanging out separately in different parts of their well-decorated home, deep in thought, sporting long faces.
Follow-up to her recent successful Top 10 debut hit, "From a Table Away." Confronted by the end of a long-term romance, Sweeney steps forward to call it quits on "Staying's Worse Than Leaving," the second single from her upcoming self-titled sophomore studio album. The moderate-tempo ballad song's female narrator describes being in a failed relationship that has gone on for quite some time, because she felt like staying was easier. Although she acknowledges that the best option she can do at this point is walk away, because she knows that "staying's worse than leaving."
Sweeney's songs often carry an emotional heft and insight into that little thing called heartache. At the outset of the song, after an ominous guitar lick signals trouble ahead, Texan Country artist admits this is just the beginning of her healing process. With a voice that recalls Natalie Maines of the Dixie Chicks, Sweeney takes a melodically tasty and moody ballad in "Staying's Worse Than Leaving" and spins a yarn of a story about a couple that tried as hard as possible to stick together and as the narrator, Sweeney realizes that staying together is doing nothing but hurting both her and the man she's trying to let go of.
Directed by Roman White, the music video is a refined but beautiful visual to this emotion-packed song. In the video, Sweeney and her husband are shown walking around their spacious home separately, both appearing distraught; Sweeney tears up, and the man frequently wrings his hands. At the end of the video, the two finally come together to sleep in the same bed. Whoever said parting is such sweet sorrow should choke on those words. Though the thought of goodbye has whipped her into a tailspin, she's composed herself to make the final break. Her voice, bending and curling around these bitter words, shines a sharp glow on the painful truths of human relationships.

After releasing his seventh record "And If Our God Is For Us..." last November, contemporary Christian artist Chris Tomlin partnered up with iTunes to release his brand new music video (His first in five years) for his inspirational "I Lift My Hands," the latest single off the new album, which is a major seller in the Christian genre. Be prepared for an emotional viewing experience, as the stories portrayed in this video are incredibly touching!
Co-written by Tomlin, Matt Maher and Louie Giglio, "I Lift My Hands" is a typical title one would expect on a worship album, Tomlin clarified that these lyrics were coming from a different place. "I think the song is really saying that it's one thing to lift our hands in celebration and lift our hands in the triumph and in the victory." The influential worship leader pointed out one of the main phrases in the song, "let faith arise," and described, "Let faith arise in us as we lift our hands to God, as we stretch out our hands to God in hope, as we cry out to Him."
Following the first hit single "I Will Follow," "I Lift My Hands" has been on the radio for just a few weeks now, and has already been picked up by over 54 stations, climbing the top 20 on the National Christian Audience Chart. Ten years since the debut of his first album, the world renowned songwriter has plenty more to be thankful for, with two gold albums, three Grammy nominations, and 16 Dove Awards under his belt, and now with his latest album garnering much buzz. Explaining the significance of album's title, the 39-year-old said, "The dot dot dot is pretty important to me because it kind of leaves the sentence open-ended. What I want people to see [is] that if that's true, then everything is possible."
The new video for "I Lift My Hands,"is already topping the iTunes charts, currently ranked fourth out of 100, above Jennifer Lopez's "On The Floor" and Justin Bieber's "That Should Be Me." I hope it encourages you in the triumphs and victory of life and even more so in the midst of the pain and struggles. Having recently wrapped up a largely sold-out spring tour, the successful Texas native will soon be on the road for the summer festival circuit. Additionally, this fall, Tomlin and Giglio will return to the "And If Our God Is For Us..." Tour for an extended season of 18 shows.

In a worldwide exclusive, MTV's giving you the chance to catch the premiere of the American rock band Linkin Park's explosive clip "Iridescent," the third tune that band has contributed to the giant robot franchise. Fitting in with the thunderous, world-is-ending, intense, high-action vibe that revolves around the world of the "Transformers" films, the bizarre sci-fi clip for "Iridescent" has an otherworldly, post-apocalyptic vibe.
"Iridescent" is the band's fourth single from their fourth studio album, "A Thousand Suns," which was released last September. The new mix begins with a slow piano intro, leading to a pulsing beat and lyrics about alienation and hopelessness. Frontman Chester Bennington told MTV News that "this mid-tempo ballad is one of his favorite tracks on the record. I just think they're really beautiful. They're different. I like the way 'Iridescent' builds and climaxes." The track builds steadily, adding in electric guitar, potent live drums and a chorus of voices to back up Bennington over a climactic final refrain.
Keeping up with what seems to have become a great movie/music partnership, "Transformers" director Michael Bay has once again enlisted Linkin Park to contribute a song to the film's soundtrack. "Iridescent" marks the third pairing of Linkin Park and the "Transformers" franchise and will serve as the theme song for the upcoming film "Transformers: Dark of the Moon," continuing the streak of the band's songs being the theme songs of the "Transformers" films. The new film explodes into theaters on July 1.
Directed by the band's turntablist Joe Hahn, the video features singer Mike Shinoda seated on a throne with a snake curled around his neck in between shots from the highly anticipated film. It is entirely in black-and-white, seems to take place on another planet, in another world entirely, with a sense of weightlessness, combined with shadowy, translucent images of either a futuristic or lost civilization. There is also a bit of religious imagery, with a shot of the band in a "Last Supper"-like scenario at one point. Naturally, there are scenes from "Dark of the Moon" interspersed throughout, but there aren't so many robots that they distract from the song or the band.

American rock band Kings of Leon have just released a new music video for their song "Back Down South." Directed by Casey McGrath, the video intersperses footage of the band playing outside for a group of local teenagers and members of the 'Use Somebody' band fan club with short clips depicting the fans making their way to the concert. The slide guitar-driven track is the fourth single lifted from the Southern rockers' critically wayward fifth studio album "Come Around Sundown" which debuted at No.2 on Billboard Hot 200 when it was released in the U.S. last October via RCA.
Frontman Caleb Followill discussed with the NME about this gently-paced acoustic country tribute to the band's southern roots: "That song came from Matt messing around on a little lap steel. He played the melody to me and the first lyrics that came to mind were 'Come on down and dance, if you get the chance.' I think because we recorded the album in New York, we somehow rediscovered a bit of our country side, whereas if we'd been in Nashville, where you're surrounded by country music, that would've never happened But we were like, let's get a bit of fiddle on there, let's have the pizza delivery guy in the studio singing the chorus with us. We wanted it to have that kind of rootsy feel."
The four-piece southern-rock band return to a familiar refrain and pay homage to their Southern roots and wayward youths in new video. It's a chilled-out summer breeze of a song with some plaintive fiddle and the Followill brothers singing "I'm gonna go back down south now" over and over again through the chorus. As great as "Sex On Fire" and "Use Somebody" are, it's wonderful to see what these boys can do when they write songs that aim to just fill the living room rather than fill the arena. The men of Kings Of Leon traveled below the Mason-Dixon line and hit the back woods of Tennessee to capture the nostalgia and down home feel of the south.
The clip was shot in May an hour south of Nashville, it is a simple, traditional, embeddable, and perfectly captures the spirit of the song as an homage to the south lifestyle, and the warm feeling of returning home with their melancholy vocals. It features the band performing live outdoors in a rural setting in front of their fans club local teenagers. The live footage is interspersed with vignettes depicting teenagers in the American south who all converge at an outdoor party the band is hosting. Staying true to the song, the video gives a mood of celebratory, reflective and nostalgic. It's a dusty, sun-drenched look at Kings Of Leon as good-old Southern boys instead of one of the biggest rock acts in America.

Rihanna guns down a man in a dark, and emotional music video for her latest single "Man Down," is her fifth single lifted from her latest multi-platinum album "Loud." Rihanna is still going strong with her album "Loud," which was released over a year ago. The song was chosen as a single based on an online poll she had to determine her next offering. The West Indian beauty has always loved reggae and decided to tap into Jamaican culture as she filmed the video "Man Down" in the land of reggae music.
Barbadian singer embraces her island roots on this reggae-tinged track. She told Spin magazine: "The vibe is Jamaican and West Indian. That's something that's close to me." The song features siren noises and violent lyrics about shooting a man, however Rihanna said they shouldn't be taken literally. "The song is about breaking a certain man's heart and ending his hopes and causing pain, which is like a gun shot," she explained. "It's a very cleverly written song and what I love about it is that it's not a lyric you'd normally hear a female singing."
Rihanna's fellow Barbadian Shontelle wrote this reggae-flavored song. The 'Impossible' singer told Sound-Savvy that she hopes their collaboration will put a stop to the talk that the two Bajan stars don't get on. One moment can change your entire life. Rihanna learns this in this hardest possible way in the gripping and gritty Anthony Mandler-directed video for "Man Down." "Very strong underlying message for girls like me!" Rihanna once tweeted about the premise of the gritty visuals. Anthony, meanwhile, said the video has all elements that will capture viewers right from the beginning, saying "It's dramatic and shocking and intense and emotional and uplifting and enlightening."
In this clip, the Bajan songstress is originally a carefree island girl who is full of love, spirit and joy, but then an unthinkable moment happens and changes her entire life. She gets raped by a man she met at a party, and turns into a cold-blooded killer to seek revenge on him. With a look of fiery hatred on her face, shooting a man down in a crowded transit station. As the video continues, we're transported back a day earlier to see why Rihanna turned into a murder. As powerful as the storyline is, it's Rihanna's acting that really sells it. The look of fear on her face as she's attacked looks all too authentic. It's impossible not to get chills while watching.