Today's Pick

G.R.L., the rising American-British-Canadian five-piece girl group has gotten some shine by collaborating with Pitbull on their hit "Wild Wild Love," but now, the quintet has a deeply enjoyable single of its own to flaunt. The girls just released their very first music video for the stomping single, "Ugly Heart," a radio-friendly, ukulele-tinged and Dr. Luke-produced track. Pretty boys (and possibly gals), if you have an ugly heart, you might want to stay away from G.R.L.! Or probably stay away from the girl group and tattoo parlors because it could get UGLY! At least, that's how it initially seems in their brand new video.
The girls are back with a fresh ukelele country-folk style. Smooth production with an ambitious summer feeling. After committing a crime, the give G.R.L. girls are arrested and taken into custody. At the police station, the girl band will perform a choreography on top of the policeman's desks and will do the same at the mug shot / identification parade room. The girls will wrap up the music video in the corniest way possible. Ah! That ending was so corny. Still, pretty much flawless music video.
The accompanying and long awaited clip was directed by Chris Marrs Piliero (Black Keys, Britney Spears, Ke$ha) and was filmed in downtown Los Angeles, capturing the girls - Lauren Bennett, Paula Van Oppen, Natasha Slayton, Simone Battle, and Emmalyn Estrada - in full force girl power mode, bonding together and seeking revenge against a "pretty man" with an "Ugly Heart," who has clearly done them wrong. It's a really fun visual and the ladies look absolutely amazing. It's definitely not too shabby of a music video! Their HAWT dance moves and stellar vocals definitely make us wanna get up and dance!
As we see the girls get carted out of a tattoo parlor by the po-po, booked at the police station and thrown right into the slammer - all while delivering heaps of hair flips, mean muggin' and ample shimmying, of course. These girls have gone wild! But by the end of the video, as the ladies strut their stuff into the line-up room and deliver a mini-dance breakdown, we discover their true crime: Defacing a hot dude with a bunch of "Ugly" tattoos all over his face. "Now your face is like your heart," Simone sasses in the clip's final few seconds. Check out the epic dance-happy music video below.

Maroon 5 is back on the map with a brand new music video on MTV for their catchy pop-rock song, "Maps," the lead single from Maroon 5's upcoming new fifth studio album "V," which is due September 2nd. It's been two years since a new Maroon 5 song has blasted out of our radios after releasing their hit album "Overexposed" in 2012. Although the teary new video may break our hearts a little more, "Maps" will have you falling back in love with the group in no time! "Maps" is an up-tempo pop/pop rock track, with a breezy guitar lick. It marks Maroon 5's departure from the funkier sound for which the band was originally known.
Lyrically, the song is about the search for love, particularly a love that has been lost and needs to be found. As Adam Levine singing about retaining hope for a relationship despite his girl abandoning him when he was going through a tough time. Levine told Ryan Seacrest the song is about not giving up on a relationship after its been derailed and getting it back on track. "People go through a lot of things and get stepped on and step on others and we all make mistakes," he explained. "It's kind of more about not giving up on something, even though maybe you should."
Not all roads lead to a happy ending despite carefully guided "Maps." Maroon 5 and its frontman had to learn this lesson the hard way in their new cinematic clip, which features select dialogue and sound effects over the actual single itself, features the tale of Levine gone astray, as he retraces his footsteps in a disastrous night that has a life changing (and deadly) side effect and ends in a hospital emergency room. The clip follows a backwards narrative format, beginning a bloody, battered woman in a hospital bed in critical condition, with Levine rushing desperately through the hospital to get to her, fighting off doctors and nurses on his path.
And once he starts retracing the night, it all gets that much darker. A series of flashbacks reveal that the woman is, obviously, no other than Levine's beloved. The duo started off the night getting ready for a soiree of sorts, happily picking out outfits for each other and cuddling. However, as the tequila and beer flows at the seedy house party, Levine's eye begins to wander and he finds the comfort in the arms (and lips) of another brunette babe, which his girlfriend sees from across the room. She leaves the party in a rush, with Levine in tow... but her night has a deadly consequence. The lesson learned?

FKA twigs (literally, "Formerly Known As Twigs") may just be the coolest, most mysterious "it" girl of this year. And after her "Water Me" video had piqued our curiosity in 2013, the music lovers want to know more. Lucky for us, the Jessie J's former backing dancer has just released the music video for "Two Weeks," the first single from Tahliah Barnett's upcoming first full-length, "LP1," due out on August 12. The song is a sighing, soaring bit of electronic pop with her breathy falsetto and magnetic presence, and its lush slow-motion video matches the song's regal, ethereal beauty.
“Two Weeks” a beguilingly straight-laced cut of silken R&B, is a commanding blast of raw sexual power. It captures everything that her unapologetically sexual music is about. "My thighs are apart for when you're ready to breathe in," she declares on the compelling, ecstatically filthy "Two Weeks." This is a song purely about lust, sex, and ecstasy delivered with the subtlety of a dime-store romance novel and it's enough to make you melt. Thankfully, "Two Weeks" is a new age sex jam that even luddites like us can comprehend. Filthy as sin and wholly aware of its own pomposity, it's a bawdy taster of FKA twigs' upcoming "LP1," and she is set to reign over the changing attitudes toward sex.
Of course, this isn't the first time Tahliah Barnett has luxuriated in the realm of carnal pleasures. "Water Me," "Papa Pacify" and "Weak Spot" are all pretty much concerned with doing the nasty, and by that we do mean the nasty. FKA twigs isn't much concerned with love. Lust and vulnerability are her songwriting vices, and on "Two Weeks" she exploits them with slow percussive intent. Falsetto sighs are rolled on top of rasping snare fills in extravagantly brash fashion so that you can't help but gurn along.
And FKA twigs' new video for "Two Weeks," directed by Nabil, is the same way, starting off with a simple focus on the British singer and then panning out to see that she is an empress looking over other small, little twigs dancing beneath her. As we see FKA twigs herself takes a seat on a throne to star as a Hindu goddess who can shoot water from the tip of her finger. The intensely choreographed video mirrors the disjointed otherworldliness of the track itself. The audience is not meant to feel bad for her, but rather be intimidated. It reminded me of certain Björk videos from the Vespertine era: an era of self-actualization through sexual experimentation.

Capital Cities are back and get philosophical with a sorrow and joy collided new music video for their track "One Minute More," the first taken from the American indie alt-dance group's recently re-released deluxe edition of debut LP "In A Tidal Wave Of Mystery." The new song features some classic Capital Cities vocals and a piano sample worthy of RAC, himself. "I can't wait one minute more, the sun does shine" is the chant that echoes over sunny synths and tinkling keys. "One Minute More," is another stellar dance-pop tune with an effervescent chorus that rivals breakthrough smash "Safe And Sound."
In an interview thr band said about song: "'One Minute More' is a song that we had written a while back, it was going to end up on the album as well, it was one of the contenders, but we hadn't really completed it exactly to our standards, I guess, so we put out the album. As time passed we kept revisiting the song and we felt like it was a strong song and this felt like a good opportunity to finish it up and include it on a deluxe version of the album alongside some other cool tracks and remixes as well."
The video begins with the quote from Lebanese poet Khalil Gibran, "Joy and Sorrow are inseparable... Together they come and when one sits alone with you... Remember that the other is asleep upon your bed." Don't worry the song is quite the opposite of the visual message. If you've been following the video follies of Capital Cities and director Brewer then you know their collaboration can't possible just be a floating dock performance for the hottest Lake Havasu Spring Breakers ever. And it's not.
The video is something much more figurative. And the imagined party ends as quickly as a crying jag. As our favorite electro-pop duo explaied: "The video is really interesting and juxtaposes this very sad woman who is basically going through the process of a divorce. That sadness is contrasted by this group of twenty-somethings having a party on a lake with a bunch of watercraft. It is kind of a typical Capital Cities video where we try to show the dichotomy of a human existence: the good, the bad and the contract what defines the good and the bad."

Owl City is finally back and is ready to bring back the electro-smooth in our lives. As far as inescapable hits go, Owl City has a knack for writing especially uplifting ones. His Carly Rae Jepsen collab "Good Time" helped The Midsummer Station go double platinum, reaching the Top 10 in a handful of countries around the globe. Now, he's returning with a whimsical music video through Rolling Stone for his new single "Beautiful Times," the lead single taken from his new four-track EP, "Ultraviolet," which was just released yesterday, June 27 via Universal Music.
Not long after Owl City, the one-man synth-pop act known offstage as Adam Young's "Fireflies" breakout, he broke down the origin of his music's dreamy edge: "About two years ago I was working at a Coca-Cola warehouse all day. It allowed me to sort of dream up these projects. One wound up being Owl City. I thought through how I wanted it to sound, how I wanted the records to look, everything. Sometimes working in a monotonous environment can really free up your imagination."
According to Young, "Beautiful Times," features American violinist and composer Lindsey Stirling, "is a slow-and-steady stream of music that deeply subjective and personal, it has a dark beauty I find compelling and the essence of the track offers the idea that life is wonderful despite the burdens and afflictions that seek us out. It is an anthem for those who search for strength to rise above hardship. I was honored to work with yet another of my favorite artists, Lindsey Stirling, who was kind enough to grant me the honor of featuring her. I hope you enjoy this song as much as I enjoyed creating it."
In an interview with Rolling Stone, Young says about the optimism in the upbeat song and the magical video was mirrored on the set, "It was a blast shooting 'Beautiful Times' because the film crew was such a fun bunch of people to be around. I've been on a few sets where everyone is on edge and it throws the whole thing off. A positive atmosphere really makes all the difference in the world." Directed by Everdream, its whimsical music video depicts a young boy sleeping in his bedroom when his toys and room suddenly comes to life, thanks to a magical little star that comes and turns his bedroom upside down.

The queens of Country music stars Miranda Lambert and Carrie Underwood amp up the sex appeal and wowed us with their stunningly dark appearances in their newest rowdy video for their first-ever girl-power duet, "Somethin' Bad," the second single off Lambert's newly released fifth studio album, "Platinum," which dropped June 3rd. The duo sport a variety of steaming looks including brunette hair as they team up to rob a bank, play high stakes poker and ultimately, get arrested.
"I'd wanted to record a song with Carrie for awhile but I just couldn't find the right one. 'Somethin' Bad' was originally written as a guy-girl duet but when I heard it I knew it was the perfect song. It's a meshing of our style," Lambert told Us Weekly of the hit, which is heating things up online, much as the single has done on country radio - not surprising given the individual firepower of the two country stars.
Lambert has said she pitched the song to Underwood by email, even though she was incredibly nervous about asking her to sing on it. No need to worry, though. Underwood readily agreed. In press materials for "Platinum," Lambert stated, "I'm a huge fan of Carrie Underwood. She's such a badass singer... To me, this song meshes our styles, you know? It gives her time to be 'Before He Cheats' Carrie, and it gives me time to take off running and jump to hit some of those high notes." It's been 9 years since Lambert set fire to her cheating boyfriend's house in "Kerosene," and it's been 8 years since Underwood swung a baseball bat at her boyfriend's car in "Before He Cheats." The country queens teamed up for "Somethin' Bad," and they're still causing trouble!
Set in a prison, the Trey Fanjoy-directed video sees Lambert, 30, plays Belle Boyd, and Underwood, 31, plays Priscilla Parker, a couple of jewel-thieving, poker-playing, motorcycle-riding troublemakers, as they go on a Thelma and Louise-like bad-girl escapade involving a bank caper, a high-stakes card game and a side-by-side motorcycle ride out of town. Throughout the 2:53-long music video, the blonds stand side by side wearing slightly different smoky eye looks, and model a variety of disguises to pull off the jewel heist.

Demi Lovato take over Los Angeles' Gay Pride Parade, celebrating with the crowd and sending a clear message to all the haters with her powerful pop-anthem, "Really Don't Care," and brought it to life by sing with the crowd, party with her friends and brush off all those haters. The LGBTQ-friendly clip features a number of celebrity cameos, including the singer's boyfriend Wilmer Valderrama, Perez Hilton, Kat Graham, Shane Bitney Cone and British pop singer Cher Lloyd, who lends her vocals and spitting out her sassy verse to the track.
The uptempo dance-pop breakup song, the fourth single off her self titled fourth album "Demi," finds Lovato sending a message of defiance with her "angsty" and "overpowering pipes" vocals to a former lover that their split is for good and she won't change her mind. "For me it was just about a breakup a while ago," Lovato explained. "And now it's just an overall of thinking and not giving a s--t about what people say or what people think about you and your beliefs." The pair met when Lloyd, who was a finalist on the UK's 2010 X Factor performed on the American version of the show, where Lovato is a judge.
"When I originally wrote it, it was a breakup song," the pop performer told E! News. "But now I have sung it so many times that it kind of no longer has a significance in that sort of way. When I sing it, I always want to inspire and empower." After thinking more about the song she wanted it to have "a deeper message" since she stands for much more than that. "I thought what other people could relate to really not caring what people think. I thought of bullies and the LGBT community who are constantly scrutinized. What better place is there than L.A. Pride to celebrate who you are and not really caring what people think?"
Shot at L.A.'s gay pride festival, where Lovato served as the Grand Marshall and performed, the video opens with Lovato telling the crowd that a protester at the parade "has a burn in hell poster' and that "you don't have to hate because my Jesus loves all." The pop star, dressed in leather with rainbow hair, then opens with her song as she marches down the parade on a float as LGBT supporters surround her dancing, celebrating and proudly belting out the lyrics. "And it felt amazing to sing with other people in their faces and sing "I really don't care," Lovato told MTV News.