Today's Pick

After a nearly yearlong wait for his fans, Canadian rapper Drake has released his highly anticipated video on Vevo today for his first single "Over" off his upcoming debut album "Thank Me Later," to hit stores on June 15. The song "Over" touches on Drake reaction to fame and stardom. Drake has been one of the most talked about rappers for the last couple years, especially since at the time, he was still on the mixtape circuit and had not signed a deal with any label. He became the subject of a bidding war, but eventually signed with rapper Lil' Wayne's Young Money label nearly a year ago and has already worked with some of rap music's vets and heavyweights, including Lil' Wayne, Eminem, Kanye West and Jay-Z.
The Anthony Mandler-directed video was shot on March 12 in Los Angeles. "I'm shooting with somebody I really look up to and respect...Anthony Mandler", the 23-year-old Toronto native told MTV on the set of the video for "Over," "We talked colors, we talked epic, emotion-evoking visuals". "I've shot a lot of videos before", Drake continued, "but this is my first attempt to establish myself as Drake the artist. Shooting the other videos I've done has been great. I really don't care what other people think about them, they were great experiences for me. I've learned a lot from them". About the concept of the video, Drake said: "It's sort of a love story in the video, it has a lot to do with the album. The album is about finding love, feeling 'Have I sold my soul' as far as 'Will I ever be able to gain the trust of a woman? Will I only be able to be around the dark, evil women? Will I ever find that pure love?' Those elements are in the video". The director Mandler, said about the video: "I can tell you that it's not gonna be what you expect. Drake and I were very conscious about trying to push the limits and trying to push things forward. He came to me because he wanted to throw away the conventions of a medium, and take chances and be daring and take certain themes that are relevant to him and try to visualize them in not the obvious way."
The Canadian rapper has a wild vision in this new video, which starts off with Drake, dressed in white, sitting in a room on a bed, reflecting on his life these days. Images of explosions and time-lapsed cityscapes are projected on him and the wall of the room. From there, he launches into a heavy performance. Toward the end of the video, it looks like Drake has to choose between two beautiful women. One, played by Roc Nation singer Rita Ora, appears to be a more wholesome girl, while the other lady looks more dangerous as she dances provocatively in the background. the Young Money franchise player said of the video last week on the opening night of his Away From Home Tour: "The video really reflects that. It's a struggle between the purities of my past life and what this new life has to offer. Even in the video, you see me looking back and forth between the two and deciding. At the end of the video I don't necessarily make a decision, but when you get the album, you'll see what choice I make."

Australian singer Kate Miller-Heidke has premiered a gorgeous new video for her third haunting new single "The Last Day On Earth" from her critically-acclaimed sophomore album "Curiouser," which has released in the US on March 16. Had never heard of Miller-Heidke before hearing a ten second sound bite of the song "The Last Day on Earth" on a TV commercial promoting some upcoming funeral scene or something in "Neighbours" (an Australian soapie show). The song has a poignant melody line and fragile vocals, the kind of thing that works wonders for a tear jerking TV drama finale.
Miller-Heidke is one of the rising stars in the Australian music scene, and has achieved gold status. Although classically trained as an opera singer, Miller-Heidke has followed a career in quirky alternative pop music. She uses her voice to reach high notes the other artists would rely on instruments to convey the same effects. There's still instruments in the songs but her voice is by far the leading one. She has been nominated for five Australian ARIA Awards including Best Female, Best Pop Release, Best Video for "The Last Day On Earth" and Single of The Year at the 2009 ARIA Awards.
"The Last Day on Earth" is Miller-Heidke's first ever Top 5 hit and first platinum-selling single. Although "The Last Day on Earth" was never initially released as an official single, and was used in promo advertisements for television series "Neighbours," but it has since reached No.3 on the Australian ARIA Singles Chart. The song was used for promotions for the block of episodes from the Australian soap opera "Neighbours," which surrounded the death of Bridget Parker in early July 2009. This in turn caused high sales of the song from her "Curiouser" album. Due to the high demand for the song, a physical single was quickly produced, and was released on July 14, 2009. The song ended up becoming her first top ten single.
The best song now has a lovely and heartwrenching video, which starts in a dark house decorated for Christmas. We then see Miller-Heidke in a Peach-coloured dress singing in numerous locations in her house including her living room and a fishtank. The outdoor Christmas decorations light up and Miller-Heidke walks outside and sings toward the camera as the video ends. Miller-Heidke is an absolute delight to watch live. If you find yourself in the US and unable to obtain a copy of the Live at the Chapel video concert, check single's official site, you're truly missing out. By the way, she's currently touring the US throughout the spring.

Modern soul has a new name. Widely tipped as one to watch in 2010, UK singer and new urban kid on the block McLean (aka Digga) has just premiered a brand new video on McLean's YouTube channel for his first electro-pop ballad single "My Name" via Asylum Records, and taken from his upcoming debut album. Once again McLean has impressed with another high quality video. I absolutely love the synths in this track and combined with McLean's amazing voice.
The track is a relaxed dance-pop/R&B record and a great follow-up to his last years magical and soulful debut single "Broken" which has since amassed 5 Million YouTube views and 20 Million views across Myspace. "My Name" showcases this voice, prompting a host of media to predict that McLean will be a major breakthrough act this year. It has been remixed by many other British artists. It thought that the producer of the song is Fraser T. Smith, but was also originally produced by Slick and Magic in London.
The song was completed in Los Angeles by Dylan "3D" Dresdow, the mix engineer that also mixed every Will.I.Am or Black Eyed Peas' record since "Elephunk."BBC chart blog's Fraser McAlpine states about song: "Interesting how they really layer on that autotune at the crucial moment, the bit where he claims to want to give you, the most important person in his life and therefore his most precious love, his name. I wonder if that's so the song can't be considered to be legally binding, should McLean's actual girlfriend sue him for non-delivery of ring and promise in the event of his becoming famous with a song in which he promises to marry her."
Hailing from Dagenham, emerging British crooner McLean has fought his way up through the UK urban scene working with Chase & Status, Tinie Tempah, Ironik, Tinchy Stryder and N-Dubz along the way. McLean's voice is uniquely soulful and producer Fraser T Smith describes him as: "The modern day Marvin Gaye," leading to a plethora of premiership producers working in the studio with McLean on his debut album. "My Name" is an ultra-catchy ditty that you can file right next to Jay Sean, Jason DeRulo and Trey Songz. McLean has some savvy songwriters who know perfectly how to match his warming soul timbre with a polished, radio-ready melody. I really hope this one gets enough exposure and he continues to do great things for UK urban music.

2-time Grammy winner, Colbie Caillat has released a new music video on Vh1's Top 20 Countdown for her latest single, "I Never Told You," just in time before she heads out on tour with the lovely ladies of "Lilith Fair!" "I Never Told You" is the second single, and is the follow-up to the singer's equally-lovey-dovey Top 20 hit "Fallin' For You." Both singles are featured on her sophomore album "Breakthrough," which earned a 2010 Grammy Nomination for Best Pop Vocal Album.
The power pop ballad song was released in February 01, to coincide with the Valentine's Day. In "I Never Told You," Caillat reveals she still has feelings for a previous love and misses him. Caillat originally penned this song whilst touring Europe in her hotel bathroom. She told Starpulse.com: "I wrote it about someone I had broken up with that I was missing at the time." Later on the song was completed during a three week "writing camp" in Hawaii that Caillat organized with fellow singer/songwriter Jason Reeves and American Idol judge Kara DioGuardi. The song has been already a moderate success on the Adult Pop Songs, staying for seven weeks, and reaching thirteen, so far.
There is no naughtiness in Caillat's "I Never Told You" Video. There's nary a pink Lamborghini, girl-on-girl prison yard scene, high-heeled balancing act on the toilet, traipse through a looney bin or dude with a second mouth on his throat to be found in Caillat's music video for "I Never Told You." Instead what you get is an earnest, straightforward glimpse at three couples who nearly lose out on love, but manage to salvage their relationships. Head below to watch Caillat's little bit of sweet amidst of music video world full of so much naughty.

R&B upstart Iyaz has already scored a chart-topping smash with the sunny, Caribbean-flecked flashback ditty "Replay;" now he seems poised to do the same with new single "Solo." The song's melody is sampled from Janet Jackson's 1993 single "Again" without directly sampling either the main hook or re-upping the lyrics directly. The official music video for "Solo" was shot in Tortola, British Virgin Islands and it features the singer strolling down the street during a sunny day with beautiful scenery from the beach captured along the way.
The new single "Solo" is the second single and produced by J. R. Rotem, off his upcoming album titled "My Life" which is due to arrive in the US stores on April 27. The new single "Solo" already has millions of hits on YouTube since it was posted on January 26, and is expected to be released in the UK on May 2. The track is aimed to follow up the album's lead single "Replay" which peaked at No. 2 on Billboard Hot 100 and ruled the UK Singles chart for two weeks in a row.
Countless hooks in R&B and hip-hop are built, of course, on borrowing; you could say Iyaz is just aiming to compete a land of Jason Derulos and Jay-Zs. And maybe it feels unfair to call him out for not taking enough of the song to make it more than just naggingly familiar. When asked what he wants to achieve, Iyaz said, "I don't want the fame. Just put me in the studio and let me do me. Let me do what everybody fell in love with, which is make good quality music for people to listen to - feel good music."
Iyaz's publicity openly acknowledges the connection, but it still feels a little squirrelly, especially considering many of the 22-year-old singer's young fans probably aren't familiar with Jackson's nearly two-decade-old hit. Undoubtedly, the song will put some residuals cash in Janet's jumpsuit pocket, and also very likely save Iyaz from one-hit-wonderdom forever. So in the end, it mostly comes down to the listener.

American rapper and hip-hop singer Rasheeda has released a new video for her fifth single, "Don't Let Him Get Away" taken off her latest fifth studio album "Certified Hot Chick." It features R&B girlgroup Cherish of whom we haven't seen since 2008.
Motown hip-hop artist Rasheeda has been bubbling under the radar for many years now, but I think she is comfortable being under the radar. Rasheeda is ready to fill the void of strong female voices that Hip-Hop seems to be lacking right now and she is hitting the hammer on the head with hot anthems like "Don't Let Him Get Away." I have been following Rasheeda since she stepped in the scene with her starting group Da Kaperz and she has grown so much since then. With this "Certified Hot Chick" album, she made it very fun to listen to and every track has it's own meaning and something anybody can relate to.
Rasheeda has been making southern-fried hip hop, more popularly known as crunk music, for years. She is ready to release her fifth album when many of her hip hop peers have either slowed down after two albums or stopped rapping altogether, the Queen of Crunk is ready to take her place at the forefront of the music scene and prove to the world that she is just Certified Hot Chick.
As Rasheeda furthers her journey, she says she has no plans to stray from her course, and she knows it is now her time to rule the hip hop kingdom and she plans to do it her way. "I'm distinctive, I have my own sound," she says, "and I put out my own music. I don't feel like I sound like anybody or look like any other female. I don't try to mock anything, I just try to go out here and do what Rasheedaa does. When you come out as an artist you're also a person that people look at. I want people to see me for just what I am — not for something that I have to put on." Rasheeda is definitely making waves as an unstoppable female MC. Glad to see all the female MC's emerging again!

Grammy Award nominated Contemporary Christian musician Matthew West debut the new music video for his current chart topping radio single, "Save A Place For Me" from his latest "Something To Say" project on RANSOM.tv, a ministry of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, provides a place for youth and young adults to land and grow in their spiritual walk. RANSOM.tv is excited about working with West. His heart and passion to minister to the lost and hurting will appeal to RANSOM.tv users.
"Save a Place for Me" is a track that touches the hearts of those who have lost someone close to them. The video for song was filmed in Nashville, portrays both the burden of loss as well as joy found in the hope of Heaven. West explains, "I wanted the video to tell the story beyond my own personal experience of losing a loved one. One setting in particular captures the sentiment of the song so well. There is a memorial wall, and all these different people are walking up to the wall, placing pictures on the wall, leaving flowers, saying a prayer, and remembering someone they've lost. I get chills just writing about it. I hope the video and the story it tells will enhance the emotion of the song when people see it, both the sadness and the hope of Heaven."
The song has additionally prompted a "Save a Place for Me" Memorial Wall web site where fans can share memories of lost loved ones. "We have been so moved by all the emails that we have received about "Save a Place for Me" that we have built an online memorial wall to serve as a place for people to remember loved ones lost." So visit the page, upload a picture and share a memory. Let's all celebrate the lives of loved ones lost and be reminded of the promise of Heaven. We'll see them soon!