Today's Pick

Avril Lavigne is typically a tough, punk rock chic who doesn't let anyone or anything get her down. But in her newly released video for "Wish You Were Here," my favorite singer let out her tears and shows her vulnerable side. Written by Lavigne along with producers Max Martin and Shellback, the jangling power ballad serve as the third and possibly last single from Canadian singer's latest CD "Goodbye Lullaby."
"Wish You Were Here" is one of the tracks where Lavigne actually manages to communicate some real sentiment. As the title implies, the mid-tempo ballad, which sings the story of missing a love, features Lavigne lamenting that her beloved isn't around. The 26-year-old explained that this is a song that talks about, "Missing somebody for a day, for a week, for a month. Somebody you've had a falling out with, there's so many different circumstances in life that we all go through when we do truly miss somebody."
The pop-punk princess is overcome with raw emotion as she wails about missing someone dearly and has no problem breaking down her tough-girl wall and letting the waterworks flow and her mascara run in the Marc Webb-directed clip. Lavigne expresses her dismay by rolling around on a dirty floor in what looks like an abandoned room, save a perfect Gerbera daisy, a bathtub and a lighter. It takes a minimalist approach as most of the shots include Lavigne crying, sitting in a bathtubs, and on one occasion setting a flower on fire.
The video begins with Lavigne lying on a wooden floor, surrounded by leaves. She rises, and begins to sing. Lavigne picks up a red flower and begins picking off the petals. She sets the flower on fire, and waves it in the air. As she continues singing, she starts to cry. Towards the bridge, Lavigne is shown lying in a bathtub. She submerges herself, then suddenly bursts out of the tub, as if having made a resolution. Lavigne gets out, and continues singing. It then fades out with her stepping towards the window.

Maintaining a low profile "Invisible" for a few years, Holly Brook Hafermann, better known by her stage name Skylar Grey returned to the public attention when she was a guest vocalist on a couple of hit singles, such as Dr Dre's "I Need a Doctor" and Diddy-Dirty Money's "Coming Home." She also received a Grammy nomination for writing the chorus to Eminem's hit single with Rihanna, "Love The Way You Lie." The 25-year-old just unveiled the dramatic Jay Martin-directed clip, which features the Women About To Pop-featured artist steps onto a steel beam suspended over a city street, walks into traffic and then ultimately sets herself ablaze with a lighter.
Grey feels "Invisible" in her new video, even as she goes to great lengths to be seen - the singer dangles from a construction beam hundreds of feet in the air and eventually lights herself on fire. "I wanted it to be Peter Parker by day meets Spiderman by night. An everyday kid, who isn't really that cool but there's something else going on, that people don't know about," Grey said in a statement while explaining "Invisible," which she wrote while living in the Oregon wilderness. "That's kind of the journey that I went on. I discovered that my insecurities and my flaws were things that I actually need to embrace, and I let them become my superpowers."
"Invisible" is the first single and title track from her major-label debut album, under her Skylar Grey moniker. The song finds her crooning about being unnoticed and ignored. The album's title is a portmanteau of "invisible" and "invincible", an idea that was given to her by her influence Marilyn Manson. Grey has said that the album is to be a complete departure from any of her previous work, and its sound is commercial, yet avant-garde with cinematic beats and atmospheric hooks, and sonically I can tell you that every song sounds different and it's really diverse, kind of going from cinematic to fun to dark. Alex(Producer) and I really push each other creatively."
Grey told Billboard magazine why she chose to release this vulnerable track as the lead single from her "Invinsible" album. "It's the very beginning of the story that I'm telling on this album, so chronologically, it makes sense to release that part of my story first" she explained. "I was depressed and broke and had nobody around and was feeling invisible to the world. That's what that song's about, that very first step… and so, within the album, you go on that journey of how I became invincible, and I think it's gonna be a story that a lot of people can relate to."

The Broadway star and Country newcomer Kristin Chenoweth is returning to her Oklahoma roots with a low-budget music video for "Lessons Learned," the title track from her first country album "Some Lessons Learned," due next Tuesday, is comprised of 13 songs that cast the pint-sized blonde into a musical genre that makes perfect sense for her signature high pitch voice, which flows through different country factions effortlessly.
Consider it one of the lessons she's learned, the new track may sound a tad familiar since it was included on Carrie Underwood's debut album, "Some Hearts." The 43-year-old star delivers everything she has on the cover rendition. It's about what we learn and how we learn and what we do with it. The Tony and Emmy award winning star is crooning about "some pages turned, some bridges burned, but there were lessons learned."
Throughout the soulful new video, her country-inflected performance of Diane Warren-penned ballad is blended with video footage in fields much like the ones near her hometown of Broken Arrow. Back in the recording studio, it's obvious that Chenoweth isn't ready to be chalked up as a passing train. She gives "Lessons Learned" all of the power and conviction you'd expect from someone who really had to be taught a thing or two. If there's one thing she has going for her, it's that she knows not to waste any time when it comes to getting country music to country fans.
Speaking of her album, Chenoweth says this record offers both the "good and frustrating, hard and wonderful" teachable moments she's had. "Look at my recording career and it's kind of funny. It's all so different!" says Chenoweth. "This album is more along the lines of what I grew up singing, like the music I sang in church in Oklahoma. When I was hired at nineteen to sing at Opryland in Nashville, that's what I wanted to do. I never anticipated my career going in all these great directions — which I'm grateful for! I'm finally getting to do what I want."

Canadian Pop punk band Marianas Trench have recently released a music video for "Haven't Had Enough," the first single off of their upcoming album, "Ever After," which is expected to be released sometime in early fall, and according to bassist Mike Ayley says is a preview of the theme of the band's new album, and it's this dark fairy tale Tim Burton kind of story. TheMagazine.ca called the song "somewhat different from their previous material, though it still has the 'Marianas Trench feel'."
Marianas Trench have yet to crack the worldwide or U.S. markets, but their music pops like few other bands' thanks to their combination of a pop-punk lyrical aesthetic, dance-rock synths and beats, a theatrical sensibility complete with searing charismatic vocals, and songwriting that exhibits a talent for knowing exactly how to keep the listener's attention. Their last full length release, "Masterpiece Theatre" caught much attention.
"Haven't Had Enough" tempers the rock guitars of "Masterpiece Theatre" in favor of a cross between Maroon 5 and Foxy Shazam. The lyrics speak of a couple who "got the start wrong;" despite this, the narrator insists that "you haven't had enough," and that "you must admit you want it" again. The song is circular in nature, beginning negatively and ending positively. You can almost hear lead singer Josh Ramsay wrongly convincing himself of this fact as he rips through the song and it's entrancing. This is pop music that pops.
The video for track tells the story of a guy chasing his love through time, and nothing will stop him, not pirates, pharaohs, or zombies! "Haven't Had Enough" was filmed in Vancouver and dressed in various costumes to be extras in the video. Ramsay is trapped in a magically evil toy world ruled by a Wicked Princess, populated by her life-sized toy-like minions and he just doesn't know it yet until the end, when it's too late and she manages to turn him into one of her life-size toys as well.

The X Factor is back, last year's winner Matt Cardle has premiered his new single "Run For Your Life" and given us the video at the same time. The X Factor winner secured overnight success last December after his debut song rocketed to No.1 follow his triumph on the reality show. The new track had its first radio play yesterday, is the second single and the first single from Cardle's debut 13-track LP, "Letters," which is set to be released on October 17.
There is no-frills, no silly backing dancers and just his amaze-balls voice, the emotional and powerful ballad is the only track Cardle did not co-write for his debut album. It was penned by new X Factor judge Gary Barlow, so it's no surprise to discover it's a crooning ballard with uplifting lyrics about starting afresh and going on a journey to find a new love interest. Cardle told The Sun: "I'd been trying to write a song like that for a long, long time, probably five or six years. As soon as I heard it I just felt the song was mine. Lyrically it's about not being good enough for the person you're with. I know exactly what that's like. I was nearly in tears recording the vocals."
The 28-year-old sings his heart out, telling the girl of his dreams to flee from her painful past and start fresh with him in the new promo, which features he staring all doe-eyed into the camera and crooning meaningfully about being deserving of more in love and stuff in front of footage of a pretty redhead running away on a screen behind him. He convinces his object of affection to wipe away the tears and move on with him.
In the video, Cardle is dressed in a very ordinary pair of jeans and shirt that look as though they may be left over from his painter and decorator days. As he powers out the song, telling a redhead to 'run for her life' from a doomed relationship, she is then seen darting through various backdrops. The boho beauty is projected on an enormous screen pacing through a forest and later frolicking on a beach in a monokini. But lonely Cardle cannot reach her as he is singing in real time and she is only a vision. However, their fairytale ending comes true at the end and she steps out of the screen and embraces him.

Canadian synthpop outfit LIGHTS is officially back with a brand new video for her little synth number "Toes," the lead single off her upcoming sophomore album "Siberia," due out October 4th. LIGHTS is shown playing with her band in a brightly lit room. She then gets out of a taxi and goes to a skate park and a subway. Afterwards LIGHTS goes back to the brightly lit room to play with her band. The video ends with a shot of LIGHTS walking away on a sidewalk.
LIGHTS very often does both with her pure power sugar emo-pop. If you're familiar with her, this makes perfect sense; the track's like Sophie Ellis-Bextor's "Starlight" set slightly lower in the atmosphere. If you're not, just think pretty, sparkly synthpop as light as its vocals. The gorgeous little synth number is a lot more mainstream-friendly with electronic, 80's-era production and poetic lyrics about trying to decipher an elusive love interest. LIGHTS leaves her voice unfiltered and natural in "Toes," singing with a sweetly coquettish delivery that really brings the charming lyrics to life.
A career trajectory that goes from "Owl City pal and Myspace keyboardist" to "featuring Holy Fuck and Shad" is a career trajectory that would be impossible to guess had Canadian artist LIGHTS not done it with promotional single "Everybody Breaks a Glass," While that fuzzy quasi-experimental song was heavier and darker than what we've seen from LIGHTS before, "Toes" is a bit more like the rest of her work, and serves a more familiar sound reminiscent of her debut album "The Listening."
LIGHTS, a 24-year-old fairly small-sized Canadian girl who makes intergalactic-electro music, is prepping for her second album and has started to release new material, going a little harder and in a different tone in her synths. In her debut and acoustic albums, LIGHTS has proven that she is an artist to be reckoned. She is still upbeat and makes you want to dance, but has added an edge to her music that was never there before. Her latest, "Toes," is a sweet love song that has an unescapable hook and infectious bouncey feeling.

Australian band Boy & Bear has premiered their new video for "Feeding Line," the lead single off of their full-length debut album "Moonfire." The band has a nice polished sound with a folk/indie rock vibe and this shining favorite track contains a beautiful set of guitar rhythms and harmonious vocals, that help keep a very true essence of folk-ness in this rising indie rock band. And with its recording leading back to Nashville, Tennessee, this is no wonder.
A natural progression from their stripped back, folksy roots, "Feeding Line" oozes with driving beats and soaring melodies. Facing the prospect of redundancy as the music industry shuffles towards a shuffling-induced torpor, the Sydney five-piece's confident take on the folk rock movement, and have responded with a hearteningly traditional move. Rather than prostitute their ethos to the fickle popular imagination, frontman Dave Hosking and his mates have gone and penned yet another solid track in "Feeding Line."
"Feeding Line" sees the boys take a new lyrical tack, exploring first-person narration to surprisingly successful effect. Storytelling is almost inevitably easier when you don't have to engage in the sorts of strenuous introspection that personal narratives demand. As a single it doesn't necessarily have the same instantly identifiable choral riff that made their earlier work alternative cool and mainstream embraced at once but it is in sacrificing perhaps the more populist elements of folk, the easy drum beat, the compulsive whistling, the banjo that "Feeding Line" really represents a step forward for the band.
With their own take on indie-folk and impeccable harmonies. Their film clips are always original, and manage to stir nostalgic feelings in the viewer. The new video for "Feeding Line" doesn't let this reputation down. Set across the countryside in corn fields, forests and snow-covered plains, the video follows an apparent love story, is a scenic escape to the past with all the folks taking place in what feels like Colonial times. The characters are decked out in period costumes which just add to the charming nature of the clip.