Today's Pick

British boy band Rixton are the latest recording artists to emerge from major YouTube success into the pop music big leagues. Rixton are known for creating strong cover versions of everything from Chris Brown's "Don't Wake Me Up" to Taylor Swift's "I Knew You Were Trouble." After grabbing everyone's attention and promoting the first buzz single "Make Out," a guitar-driven, hook-laced party anthem last October, the guys are back with their engaging sound to American audiences with the brand new sultry "Me and My Broken Heart."
Inspired by the soulful pop sounds of Maroon 5 and Bruno Mars, The Manchester-based boyband offer up a wealth of addictive pop/rock/R&B built on their own brand of songwriting, instrumentation, and vocal harmonies. Working with pop producer Benny Blanco, the ridiculously-catchy "Me And My Broken Heart" sounds like the old-school Maroon 5 on a very good day with its soulful vocal, funk-heavy bass and playful guitars. The sing-a-long chorus doesn't hurt either.
"Me and My Broken Heart" kicks off simply with piano and the lead vocals of Jake Roche. The sound is appealing, but it will take some maturation for Roche to match the voice of Maroon 5's Adam Levine. He remains one of the most technically skilled of vocalists in mainstream pop today. The vocals here are not his match in resonance or range. Another Maroon 5 echo is evident as the reggae-inflected beat of "Me and My Broken Heart," is highly reminiscent of that animating Maroon 5's massive No.1 hit "One More Night." The overall sound here goes down very easy, but it lacks originality.
The lyrics of "Me and My Broken Heart" match the pleading lead vocals quite well. The hook, "I'm hoping it might kick start me and my broken heart," is memorable. Rixton has shot a music video for "Me and My Broken Heart" with Cameron Duddy. In the 'Lock, Stock'-esque clip, we see the foursome (Jake Roche, Danny Wilkin, Charley Bagnell and Lewi Morgan) hit the boxing ring, playing poker and all fall victim for the tricks to a group of attractive female con artists and stuff, and later making a run for it with bags of cash in hand.

After the huge disappointment that was the 2013 Eurovision Song Contest for them, German-British dance music act Cascada and her lead vocalist Natalie Horler are back and ready to burn the dancefloor again with a new single from what is hopefully a new album. The EDM-ready "Blink" was released on iTunes on March 28th via Zooland Records alongside the same day premiere of the music video. This is the first single from the band since the release of its fourth compilation album "The Best of Cascada," a year ago.

The track is a cover of the original song recorded by English dance-pop duo U.V.U.K. and released in 2012. However due to the song not being commercially successful, it was therefore given to Cascada for release a few years later. The new version was produced by DJ Manuel "Manian" Reuter and Yann "Yanou" Peifer, who managed the dance project since its inception, and it's confirmed as the lead single taken from the upcoming fifth studio album, planned to be released this summer.

As always, Cascada brings the party, glamour, and heavy bass beats. With the premier of "Blink," that trend continues. The infectious backing track makes for another dance-floor staple. This dance song is in tru Cascada style, features slick beats, massive dance and juiced up production, your regular dose of up-lifting lyrics, and, of course, Horler's infectious charm and powerhouse vocals. The lyrics are fairly simple, and the message is relatable: there are some moments in life that are so nice yet so sudden that they can be gone in the blink of an eye. So living every second of your life to the fullest, and 'to the fullest' means that you don't even have time to blink! Live, live, live it up!

The video starts off with Horler singing to the screen in numerous positions mainly using lots of hand gestures. The scene eventually goes with Horler inside a box like small area where she swings around slowing whilst singing the song. During the chorus, Horler is pulling off her famous moves and hand gestures whilst over dancers break-dance behind a futuristic wall reminiscent to the Pyromania video. Throughout the song, Horler is seen to be lying on the ground, in the box area, in the futuristic area dancing with other dancers whilst singing. Watch its simple, yet "energy-infusing" visual below.

50 Cent is definitely riding off the positive momentum that his records have been getting. Sensing the connection between his just-released "Smoke," and the people, 50 Cent again, wastes absolutely no time getting out an accompanying visual to pair with a recent song's release. Produced by Dr Dre, "Smoke" will feature on the 38-year-old New York rapper's upcoming first indie full-length, "Animal Ambition," which 50 Cent said that he has shot 13 videos for, is slated to drop on June 3rd with some heat for the summer.
Call this the return of 50 Cent. On his new single, the Queens boss teams up with Trey Songz as they get everyone down to the dance floors to inhale their vibes. The Dr. Dre-produced high-powered dance track starts with a familiar-but-updated Dre thump. Frantic, striking piano meets a pounding drum track before Songz sets things off. "Somebody pull the fire alarm/ girl where ya from?/ 'Cause you got this club on fire/ and outside I bet all they smell is smoke," he sings on the hook to 50 Cent's new single.
50 Cent is no stranger to setting the club on fire; it's a topic he's visited with songs like 2005's "Disco Inferno." This cut finds the G-Unit MC capo paying tribute to a woman who's more intoxicating than a great big lungful of Smoke as he attacks the beat with his usual charm. Songz enhances the record's already-prodigious pop appeal with a smooth guest hook. "She hood and in the mood, when I'm in the mood/ Erotic, so exotic, I'm psychotic about it," he spits with his eye on the object of his thug affection. It's no secret 50 Cent has been on a roll with "Animal Ambition" releases thus far, but "Smoke" is easily a stand out amongst the other musical offerings he has given us.
Ring the alarm. 50 Cent goes missing in the Eif Rivera-directed action-packed video. When the rap mogul can't be found, the police chief sends his top agent to track him down, fighting off everyone in sight to come to his rescue. The voluptuous cop fights off bad guys before discovering 50 Cent in the trunk of a car in the to-be-continued film. Like always, 50 Cent turns the club record into one helluva cliffhanger of a story. Watch the search party hunt down Curtis Jackson and stay tuned for part two...

After releasing her excellent "Crying for No Reason," UK pop performer Katy B has unveiled another emotional music video for her brand new single, "Still," the third official single from Katy's fantastic sophomore album "Little Red," which launched back in February via Rinse/Columbia. The minimalist clip features the UK singer-songwriter performing the track in a white room surrounded by bright light, sitting a glowing table, and dressed in all white. The star has also released both "5AM" and "Crying For No Reason" from the record, and will kick off a new UK tour in October this year.
Four years ago, a fresh-faced graduate of the famed BRIT School brazenly stamped her name on the music scene with a ferocious dubstep track aptly titled "Katy On A Mission." Since then, Katy has firmly secured herself as a talented negotiator between niche UK dance scenes and pop, Katy has burrowed into the rhythms of adulthood. She's been living on her own for the first time, taking cooking classes, and partying much less in recent months. It seems a bit silly, certainly, to pine for youth at 23, but the transitions are making Katy more emotional than she'd expected.
This epic breakup song finds Katy singing about grieving when a relationship crumbles. She penned the track with Fraser T Smith, who is best known for producing and co-writing Adele's "Set Fire to the Rain." Katy joked to Q magazine: "Writing that track helped me get over an ex, but maybe I shouldn't have done it because now everyone is going to ask me who he is." The moving ballad "Still," is not the most obvious choice, given that another electro slow-burner, "Crying For No Reason," preceded this. Plus, the album is chock full of up-tempo tracks that the world simply must hear. Still, a Katy ballad is worth more than a lot of other folks' output, especially in this fine era of hers.
The clip offers more than just a little red, finds Katy emoting dramatically and looking right anguished, as she and her flame-colored striking red hair are bathed in glorious white light while she's adorned in all white, often in front of a white background. Elsewhere, she thoughtfully sings the song at a dining table, from a couch, in a forest and in a giant empty loft. While Katy's last video paired her against a dark background that eventually exploded with lights and colors, the new "Still" is all stark white and glowing light. They're almost complete opposites, but in both cases Katy's iconic red hair pops against the setting, and her performance is absolutely gripping. Watch it below.

Pitbull takes girl band G.R.L on tour through the Playboy Mansion in Los Angeles and the Vizcaya Mansion in Miami in the Playboy inspired new music video for his upbeat hit "Wild Wild Love," the newest single off Cuban-American rapper's "Meltdown" EP. Pitbull continues to impress us with all of his hard work as the Miami MC's follow-up single to his global No.1 smash hit "Timber" with Ke$ha, is another blend of rap, EDM and country.
This time, Pitbull teams up with 5 newcomers: Emmalyn Estrada, Simone Battle, Paula Van Oppen, Lauren Bennett and Natasha Slayton, who were formed by choreographer Robin Antin. They were originally intended to to be the new line up of The Pussycat Dolls following their disbandment in 2010. Artin later reformed the quintet as a brand-new group with a different name. One of the G.R.L members, Lauren Bennett, previously featured on LMAFO's smash hit "Party Rock Anthem."
Pitbull, isn't playing this era, who co-wrote this folktronica tune with Dr. Luke, "Wild Wild Love" follows the winning formula of his last cut - incorporating acoustic elements and a lovely vocal from rising girl band G.R.L. The addictive anthem begins with the folk-tinged chorus before Pitbull launches into his rap. He spits rhymes about the usual things, but injects enough humor into the song to overlook the questionable lyrics. Mr. Worldwide is clearly taking one for the team as he surrounds himself with the quintet as a way to introduce them to the world.
The 'wealthy'-themed music video opens at the Playboy mansion, though Hugh Hefner is nowhere in sight. As we see Pitbull channeling Playboy's Hefner while at the Playboy Mansion, and trying to close a business with the G.R.L ladies as as the girls are dressed as playboy bunny business women in some kind of hilarious effort to make the members of G.R.L seem intelligent, who join Pitbull on an exploratory business trip, traveling from the Playboy Mansion to Mr.305's own hometown of Miami, provocatively dancing and singing the whole time! Could G.R.L follow in the footsteps of Pussy Cat Dolls as the next group of fantasy girls to lure us on the dance floor? Only time will tell.

British soul crooner Sam Smith highlights unrequited love in the sparse video for his deeply satisfying new single, the gospel-inflected ballad "Stay With Me," the third single from his upcoming debut LP, "In the Lonely Hour," drops this May 26th on Capitol. British newcomer truly broke out in 2012 with his vocals on Disclosure's "Latch," and ever since, Smith has been spent the bulk of last year recording his debut album with Eg White and Fraser T, two songwriters whose résumés include Adele - one vocalist to whom Smith frequently draws comparisons.
Voice of an angel? Second coming of Adele? The best male voice to emerge out of England since Rick Astley? Well, regardless of which label best fits Smith, he's certainly making a splash stateside. With his pair-up with Naughty Boy, "La La La," steadily climbing the American charts, Smith struck out on his own with a bold showing on Saturday Night Live this past weekend. A darkly-clad Smith hit the stage and wowed the audience with two straightforward but powerful soul performances with  "Stay With Me" and "Lay Me Down." Between the two songs and their emphasis on his powerful voice, Smith made the most of his high-profile opportunity to draw in a wider U.S. audience.
Have you ever fallen for someone who just didn’t feel the same way? "In the Lonely Hour" finds Smith tackling his unsuccessful love life, and "Stay With Me" that best encapsulates the soulful nature of Smith's music finds him singing about a person he fell for one night, but who doesn't return the same sentiment, as he describes the devastating unfulfillment that can linger the night after a one-night stand, blending his powerhouse vocals together with the London-based Enchorus gospel choir for a song so breathtaking, it deserves those Adele comparisons. He told Rolling Stone: "I deal with all the different aspects of loneliness."
In the new clip, the 21-year-old singer coming out of a house and strolling forlornly through London streets and mixing it up with the song's gospel choir after an evening of love-gone-wrong. "Guess it's true, I'm not good at a one-night stand," he belts on the track over gospel piano, miming the lyrics to the camera, "But I still need love 'cause I'm just a man." The song builds from that quiet melancholy to a resilient chorus, and the video gets equally cathartic as Smith stumbles upon a massive choir in a nondescript church beaming with light that add more feelings to the already emotional song.

Following a two-year hiatus since the release of her debut album, the British bombshell Rita Ora comes back strong on the music scene with a one-two punch, dropping a new single in the morning and an accompanying music video in the afternoon for the sumptuous pop track "I Will Never Let You Down," the kick off single from Ora's upcoming sophomore studio album. The sweet, fun and sexy video re-imagines the carefree rabble-rouser from the "How We Do (Party)" clip as an elegant model, complete with black-and-white poses, glittering gloves and luscious red lipstick that truly lets her personality shine.
Written and produced by real-life boyfriend Calvin Harris, the uptempo feel-good pop song features Ora singing sweetly about love as her vocals, with its EDM edges smoothed out, perfectly blend over Harris' up-lifting electro-pop big beats, a repetitive lyrical construction and creating a song and a sound that's a perfect lead-in for the upcoming summer months. When asked by Nick Grimshaw on his BBC Radio 1 Breakfast Show what it was like working with her man, she confessed: "Honestly, it was so natural. I wouldn't have done it if it didn't make any sense."
"I think this is the perfect song to launch my new album because I wanted to be as personal as possible and honest as possible and I'm happy right now, I'm in a really good place," revealing details of the stylish spring jam to Dave Berry and Lisa Snowdon on Heart FM, Ora said. "I really wanted people to see how I felt and how I want other people to feel when they listen to my music - happy - so I love the fact that this is such an uplifting love song... it has such a positive message."
Ora brought what she described as a "good, energetic love song," to life in the 80s themed visuals. With a bit of an '80s theme, the video, which was directed by Francesco Carrozzini, feels like a high-fashion photo shoot as it fully encompasses the fun vibe of the song. The clip flip-flops between black-and-white shots and color scenes, as we see the 23-year-old Kosovo pop princess striking several glamorous poses and choreographies around in an array of revealing neon outfits and show off her playful side, her dance moves, her runway walk and her love for fashion.