Today's Pick

British urban pop starlet Katy B is back, takes to the streets and giving us a lesson in the brand new gloomy music video for her stand-along rave-pop track, "What Love Is Made Of," the lead single to come from Katy's soon to be announced second album, which is expected for release in October via Rinse/Columbia. The mellow house-pop track is out on July 8, and it's also the follow-up to the 24-year-old singer's 2011 debut album "On A Mission." Apparently it's made of street racing and dancing which is exactly what I thought!
Back in March, Katy revealed that she had nearly completed work on her sophomore studio album. "Everything is great," she said of the record. "I've basically got some great tracks and I think I'll just keep writing until the end. A lot of stuff is getting mixed and mastered at the moment, so you just never know when you can just write something special at the last minute." Katy also revealed that there were more tracks which "you can imagine me singing in my bedroom rather than in the middle of a dance floor", and went on to add: "Where I am in my life at the moment, and with my age group as well, I think reality has kind of kicked in."
Katy blew us away earlier this month with her scorching potential song-of-summer, "What Love Is Made Of." Seriously though Katy delivers an infectious synth-pop/trance track that makes you move your head without even realizing it. The upbeat number showcases an undeniably pop-heavy sound that is sure to warrant significant radio spin. Katy's vocals are so ethereal and flawlessness. If she is to be believed, love is made of catchy-as-hell hooks and bouncy synths that make you want to dance like school just let out for summer break.
The accompanying visuals is quite the butch affair, directed by Emil Nava who's taking inspiration from the movies, or, more specifically, the "Fast And Furious" franchise. The video features the "Aaliyah" singer in the middle of a melee of London boy racers, as Katy sings and scowls over the hot house/alt-disco beat and surveys all sorts of tricked-out rides with lights, glitter, and custom paint jobs. Katy not only gets involved in the world of underground of street racing, but she falls hard for a new and potentially dangerous love interest. Back away slowly, girl... this might not end well.

Despite the controversy, Nicki Minaj isn't planning to slow down this summer. She goes home and parades down the streets of her native Trinidad in her latest Carnivàle-themed colorful video for the pop-leaning song, "Pound the Alarm." The RedOne-produced dance number serves as the second mainstream single and fourth single overall from the 29-year-old Rapper's platinum selling, "Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded."
"Pound the Alarm" is a techno, electronic dance and rave influenced song, and sonically edgier. "It's got the pop element, but it's got some hard-core elements, some dance underground elements," RedOne told MTV News. The "let's get wasted at the club" fist-pumper finds Minaj singing about filling her "glass up a little more" before getting up and burning "this floor" as a preliminary to a one-night stand. The perfect trunk rattler to blast from your pink Barbie Bentley, with booming synths that build to a brain-numbing epiphany.
Directed by Benny Boom who did an excellent job capturing Trinidad's energy and colorful landscape, the bouncy and brightly-colored affair is infectious that brings Minaj to her native Trinidad with a full compliment of confetti canons and features a festive carnival theme. Sporting a gang of platinum blond spirals and a black, red, and white bejeweled Carnival outfit replete with crimson plumes, Minaj makes her homeland pride known. The femcee leads a posse of similarly decked-out dancers through the streets of St. James to a raucous outdoor bash reminiscent of the world-famous Trinidad and Tobago Carnival.
In between spitting lines about being a "bad bitch," the rapper reclaims her spot on the dance floor, thanks to the song's beat-heavy production. The shimmering, summery vibe of the video perfectly complements the bouncy track. When the sun sets and night falls on Trinidad, the fireworks explode and the party isn't even close to ending. But when the dust settles, Minaj is left cleaning up the mess her crew left behind. As she walks through the rubble of the bash, her silhouette, up against the moonlight, proves that she is the baddest in all of Trinidad.