Today's Pick

Longtime friends and collaborators Jason Reeves and Colbie Caillat have finally teamed up for their duet track "No Lies" from Reeves's new album "The Lovesick," which features an "edgier" sound that showcases Reeves's unique blend of modern folk and pop sensibilities. Reeves has crafted an elegantly entrancing pop masterpiece that's as hypnotic as it is heartbreaking. Reeves pens songs with a mastery a la Bob Dylan and a sense of wonder reminiscent of Coldplay. He's made an incredible, infectious opus that anyone can feel after just one listen.
Much like the rest of the songs on "The Lovesick," "No Lies" combines folk-style guitars and Pop/Hip-Hop undertones, is one of those quintessential songs of devotion, which Reeves sings with a yearning ease. Shot in the scenic hills of Malibu and Santa Barbara, the Nathanael Matanik-directed video is a tasty-sweet ending to one long summer. It features the two pop darlings writing love notes to each other across a rocky beach landscape in separate scenes, with Reeves sitting under a tree in an empty valley while Caillat appears on a beach, each writing letters to one another. The two ultimately collide on the same beach, where they exchange their letters and read them side by side, with the final frame focusing in on the duo's matching foot tattoos.
"This is the first music video Colbie and I have shot together after all these years of writing and singing together and I'm very excited about that! We went back to the places along the California coast where we wrote our first songs and used to hang out when I had just moved there from Iowa," Reeves told AOL Music. "This song has that perfect tension that makes a duet work and I love that the video is in a way a confrontation. She is my lost-girl sister and there will never be somebody with a voice quite like hers again."
"'No Lies' is my favorite song of his," Caillat also tells AOL Music. "The realness in this song opened my eyes with a wake-up call, a beautiful wake-up call. Every person has felt this way before, and should always remember to live honestly. This song even helped inspire my album title 'All Of You.' Shooting this video in my home town of Malibu, Calif. with my lost-boy brother was such a fun day. Waking up before sunrise to start shooting, eating breakfast at our favorite beach, getting in trouble by security guards... felt like kids again."

There's a reason this blond beauty was named ACM Entertainer of the Year. She puts on one heck of a show! Taylor Swift's new "Sparks Fly" video would be rather hum-drum if one didn't know the footage was captured from four dates on her 'Speak Now' Tour, which just surpassed Paul McCartney's summer tour for most tickets sold. The magic and theatrics she's able to capture on stage rival what almost anyone else is able to dream up for a more Hollywood-like "produced" music video, and and you might be in it!
This is the oldest song on "Speak Now" and Swift first performed the song live back in 2008. The chorus remains the same since its original outing, but some of the verses have been changed. Swift sings in this song of an attraction to a guy who is "a bad idea." She explained the lyrics on her website: "'Sparks Fly' is about falling for someone who you maybe shouldn't fall for, but you can't stop yourself because there's such a connection and chemistry. This is a song I wrote a few years ago and I have been working on it ever since. It's been awesome to see it change over the years. The fans have heard it before in concert, but there have been some really cool changes that I am very proud of."
Capturing the essence of a live show normally isn't a tall task for an artist. A Swift concert is more Broadway production than typical country concert, however. The 21-yesr-old the singer is giving millions of loyal fans a front-row seat to her show. One imagines this video's editor pulling his hair out at the roots trying to deciding what footage should be left on the cutting room floor. It seems like there is enough going on to justify a two-hour television event. Sadly we only get four minutes, a montage of explosive highlights from her international tour.
Much like the video is a thank-you letter to her fans, the tour also served as a way for Swift to show some love to her loyal followers. The country music cutie gives her devotees a tour experience in the clip by compiling footage from her ongoing traveling show across the US. The Christian Lamb-directed video perfectly encapsulates the tour's high-octane energy including theatrical set changes, dancers, aerialists, fireworks, pyrotechnics, costume changes and the occasional rainstorm. Still, all eyes are on Swift who is strutting her stuff, wiping her blonde hair and twirling around the stage in high spirit.

He Is We brought us some intimate moments last time we caught up with their acoustic set of "And Run." The duo has recently teamed up with electro-pop artist adored by all "youngins," Owl City on guest vocals for a re-imagining of their song, "All About Us," and now the musicians have released a super romantic video on their Facebook to go along with it.
He Is We is an indie pop band from Tacoma, Washington. The band is made up of Rachel Taylor and Trevor Kelly. They each realized that the other had talent and began to play small gigs as He Is We was getting their roots out to the world in 2008. This led to their signing with Universal Motown Records. Compared to the likes Eisley and She & Him, He Is We were the No.1 unsigned artist on Purevolume.com last year.
"All About Us" originally appears on the duo's debut album, "My Forever," which hit No.6 on Billboard's Heatseekers Album Charts. But Adam Young has helped bring out the magical qualities of the tune. Talking about what inspired "All About Us," Taylor explained: "I had a boyfriend that hid me from his family because they all liked his ex more. I was ok with it for a whole, then one day woke up, realized how awful it was and wrote this song. Love is something to be celebrated, not hidden."
In true form, the band created a music video in which love always prevails. The beautiful clip for "All About Us" focuses on a couple whose love is so strong that it can withstand anything. "Josh (the director) is a friend of a friend and very talented dude. We wanted to work on some kind of project together. We sent some ideas and he came back to us with this video and We were totally floored. It's so touching and special. Completely embodies the song." The duo is now set out to hit the road with All Time Low for a U.S. tour beginning October 25th at The Paramount Theater in Huntington, NY.

Bad Meets Evil have released a music video for "Lighters," the second single from Detroit hip hop duo's debut EP, "Hell: The Sequel," which has been in stores since June. When old friends and former collaborators Eminem and Royce Da 5'9" reunited to form Bad Meets Evil, it seemed like a no-brainer. But what did cause at least some trepidation was the Bruno Mars-featuring "Lighters." The song, though, seems to be doing fairly well on the Billboard Hot 100, so the success train continues onward with a video for the power anthem.
This soft-hop track, which has been said by critics to incorporate soul music with influences of synthpop, features Mars and was produced by his production team The Smeezingtons along with Eminem and Battle Roy. Mars' refrain gives the tune similar dynamics to his collaboration with B.O.B., "Nothin' on You." Royce's verse finds him recalling his dad hanging up his postal carrier uniform. "I cried plenty tears, my daddy gotta bad back," he rap-sings. "So it's only right, that I write till he can march right/In to that post office and tell 'em to hang it up." Royce explained to The Boombox: "It was always a goal of mine to hopefully retire my father someday."
The Rich Lee-directed video opens with frustrated Eminem lounging on a messy room while attempting to write lyrics. Feeling trapped, he climbs down a ladder to an underground tunnel in hopes to escape his frustration. The same goes with his partner Royce. The Slaughterhouse is locked down somewhere behind bars counting down the day when he will finally be free again. He gets his hope up when finding a secret portal and taking a chance to explore it. At the end of their dark path, both of them find a clearing with thousands of floating lanterns lighting up the sky.
While the Detroit rappers get cinematic scene of finding a path to escape their troubles, Mars simply sits behind a piano playing it and crooning the hook. The Grammy-winning singer once told MTV that the video has an underlying message which will "leave fans inspired." As Mars sings the bridge, the two rappers find their way out of the tunnels and finally get their sky full of lighters after going through a long, dark path. The video was met with positive reception for its positive and inspirational message: leave the dark and negative behind and move toward the glowing and positive.

Nicki Minaj and Rihanna survive a plane crash, battle ninjas and evolve with their surroundings in their long-overdue clip for "Fly," premiered during VMA pre-show on Sunday night. The slow and tickling number is the last cut from 28-year-old Trinidadian hip hop queen's debut project "Pink Friday," has its inspirational feeling, and is set to be released to US rhythmic radio today and officially released on September 11.
The New York MC talked more in depth about the song: "'FLY' is one of my absolute faves. I wanted to work with Rihanna for a long time. I'm very proud of her accomplishments; especially since she was born on an island like me. This song is a female empowerment song. But then again, its not specific to just women. It speaks about flying, soaring high in the face of every single solitary adversity that comes your way. I speak about how the media has attempted to box me in and how that has made me feel suffocated. After years of being dragged thru the mud, I've mustered up the courage to re-define myself. I believe that I represent an entire generation. My fans have become my family; and together we have become a movement. Get ready for it. We came to win."
The song is inspired by the emotion of soaring above and overcoming all stereotypes and negativity, only to have come out victorious. Even though her roots are elsewhere, Minaj sounds better on the "Pink Friday" tracks that are more squarely in the club R&B vein, which she almost always spikes with enough rap to remind anyone that she isn't another Beyoncé or even Sasha Fierce, not by any stretch. "Fly" makes good work out of its Rihanna cameo, while the dark glamour bird soars, Minaj skitters around her with her vulnerable but choppy rhymes, equal parts tough woman and big softie. The inspirational tone has her charismatically colorful, larger-than-life personality all over them.
The pair of beauties are going to save the world in more ways than one with this gloomy Sanaa Hamri-directed clip, which was shot back in early January, and it ironically starts out with ominous footage of a downed airplane. It opens with Minaj pulling up to the wreckage in a very luxurious ride. Rihanna eventually shows up to provide angelic vocals while the two walk through the smoking, apocalyptic wreck. A crew of mysterious ninjas shows up to assault our rapping beauty, as Minaj defeats the powerful ninjas with her moves, the world begins to revive itself as flowers are seen growing around them. The sun shines down on everyone as the video closes.

Beyoncé has rush-released a new video for her promotional single, "1+1" on Friday and in the video, the singer dons a garter belt and is shown tearing-up while singing about the one she loves. Serving as the opener for the 29-year-old Grammy-winner's upcoming fourth solo album "4," the down-tempo power ballad draws from the genres of contemporary R&B and soul music. Beyoncé leaves choreography behind as she becomes the sole focus of the clip.
The piano-driven heartfelt ballad finds Beyoncé as the female protagonist expressing her endless love to her interest. The lyrics make sweeping statements about the power of her relationship. "I don't know much about algebra but one plus one is two," she croons, revealing she does know something about arithmetic. "He ain't got nothing but love. Darling, you got enough for the both of us. Make love when my days look low, pull me in close." The Texan songstress debuted the tune on the season 10 finale of American Idol on May 25. She introduced it as her "favorite" song, and sang it in a purple dress with red lights.
The song features "a soft, almost non-existent" backing beat, and makes use of guitar and piano as its foundation, while wind chimes and funk-influenced bass instrumentation is also present. "1+1" generally demonstrates the raw vocals of Beyoncé, presenting a side of her voice she told Billboard magazine she wanted to use more of on her then forthcoming album, "4:" "I used a lot of the brassiness and grittiness in my voice that people hear in my live performances, but not necessarily on my records." The low-key instrumentation allows Beyoncé' voice to display all the emotional points, in a way similar to that of Whitney Houston.
Beyoncé's all oiled up, shedding tears and having her hair blown around with a light show that accentuates her every diva pose dancing across her in herself directed video. The footage was a different direction for Beyoncé because it was far from the heavy dance routines for which she is known for. The whole thing may be rather simple, but it's hard to take your eyes off it. It experiments with psychedelic visual effects and innovative lighting, which altogether give it a cinematic feel. The video was generally met with positive reception from music critics, who stated it "sell sex as art" and it will be remembered as one of Beyoncé's most iconic visual work.

As summer is getting close to the end, Leona Lewis is invited to enjoy the last few moments of it with a brand new video for her surprisingly upbeat new single "Collide," the first track to be taken from British singer's upcoming third studio album, "Glass Heart." The pretty faced, strong voiced British songstress spends all day long on the beach and enjoys the warm weather with some friends one last time, as she belts "Crash into me, we can collide!"
The dance tune "Collide" is a departure from the anthemic ballads that made Lewis famous. It features an instrumental from Swedish DJ Avicii's a club track "Penguin." When the song first came out, Lewis was accused of illegal sampling. After exchanging words of accusation and denial with the disc jokey, Lewis and Avicii eventually reached an agreement and the single was released as a collaboration under both artists' names before the case was due to be heard at the high court in London. Lewis belts out her new single "Collide" with her soaring diva vocals from the sandy shore of a Malibu beach. We're not used to such an upbeat song from the usually very serious and sultry former X Factor contestant, but it seems as though she has jumped on the dance wagon with this Avicii inspired number. The dance-pop anthem finds her taking a more dance pop route than on her previous material. The "Happy" star said, "I'm excited for people to see a different side to my music. I'm a fan of so many different genres and styles. For me this song has all the great ingredients of a summer anthem."
In the Ethan Lader-directed California coast-shot video, Lewis isn't attempting to make any sort of grand statement. Instead, she parks herself at the beach with pals, basking in the sun and pondering not much more than how beautiful the waves look as they break on the shore. The 26-year-old, in her blue polka dot bikini, is splashing around, sitting in a convertible and laughing throughout. With her heavy bangs and captivating stare, the camera pans in on plenty of shots of Lewis singing, since she is easy on the eyes.