Posts Tagged ‘A Lil’ Odd’

By: Rob Brayl
For BiggerThanBeyonce.Com

Hey y’all, Miley’s got news for ya: she’s no longer a tween wearing a bad wig. She’s a big girl now, who is a full-feathered peacock!

I’m only playing…kinda sorta. I’m a fan of Miley and I have no shame in saying that but when I first watched this video I literally said: WTF? The approach for the video was taken extremely literal as Miley emerges as Avis Cyrus (a diva-like cockatoo). And of course, she’s in a damn cage since the song is Can’t Be Tamed! Get it?! A bird in a cage since the song is about being tamed?! How clever. It’s such a thought-provoking piece of breathtaking art.

NOT.

But what it is though, is pure entertainment. And this is mainstream pop we’re talking about, so thought-provoking can be thrown out the window. The video is fun nonetheless and definitely interesting with great choreography.

What are your thoughts on Miley’s new video? Is it age appropriate? Do you love it? Hate it? Think it should be in a cage hidden in the mountains of Southeast Asia? Sound off!

Check out Avis Cyrus in full wingspread glory, below.

By: Rob Brayl
For BiggerThanBeyonce.Com

This made me cry like a baby!

Yes, cry. I said it! I think anyone who has ever been criticized/bullied for being different can relate to this young man’s story of triumph. In many ways, the kid’s a hero.

Lin Yu Chun is a name you may not recognize, but his chubby body meshed with his pudding-bowl haircut and his one of a kind voice has become instantly recognizable. After his performance of I Will Always Love You on the Taiwanese version of American Idol, he has shot to fame, gaining the (much deserved) attention of the world.

Since his rise, the 24-year-old has been compared to Susan Boyle, who was also judged critically by her age and appearence when she stepped into the spotlight on Britain’s Got Talent last year. Now, despite not winning the show, the singer who confessed that she had never been kissed released a record-breaking album and has made well over $2 million dollars.

I think the same could be in store for Chun. He deserves it! It’s about time people start seeing beyond the shallow lens of judgement and instead take a look at what lies behind the curtains.

Check out Chun on Ellen, below.

By: Rob Brayl
For BiggerThanBeyonce.Com

You may believe she was the ruin behind Kurt Cobain. You may think she’s trash. You might even call her evil. But there’s no denying that Courtney Love is truly a raw & fascinating person.

“Courtney Love is dead,” said the Hole singer (via Us Magazine), who now apparently wants to be known only as Courtney Michelle. Michelle is Love’s middle name.

Says Courtney Michelle: “We’ve all decided we don’t like her (Courtney Love) anymore. We love her when she goes onstage, but I don’t need her in the rest of my life.”

Love’s new album with Hole is the first record the singer has recorded while sober.

The rocker who is known for being in sticky hot messes said: “Courtney Love is a way to oppress me,” and has determined a new name will deliver a new-and-improved Love.

Here’s to hoping!

Check out a very FASCINATING (and believe it or not, endearing) interview with Love (via Amazon), below.

By: Caitlin Hoffman
For BiggerThanBeyonce.Com

Since I heard the news of its release, I’ve been outrageously excited about Gorillaz and their new album, Plastic Beach. Call it a guilty pleasure, or a sign of good taste, but I can’t help but love them. Awesome, psychedelic music fronted by quirky cartoon characters…where can you go wrong there?

All the oddly appealing characters of the virtual band were created by Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett, and considering they’re fictitious, it’s impressive what kind of a fanbase they’ve attracted. This makes it clear that there’s something going on behind those imaginative creations; there’s the power of the genre-blending music they represent, the charge in the sweet tunes that are shelled out album after album. The fact that their music is a collaboration of tons of various musicians only adds further to the intrigue and enjoyment of the concept they create.

When I listen to Gorillaz, I’m expecting music that is either delightfully chill-worthy, or an endorphin release trigger with a hypnotic edge that demands dancing. The Gorillaz create beats that sink into you, command you to move with their rippling sonic waves. Plastic Beach meets those expectations, and so much more. Honestly, it’s nothing but a smooth sailing, fancy coloured tripfest. Whether the songs are bending more towards the electro, brit-pop, or rap sides of the ocean of genres that the Gorillaz take inspiration from, they all have an instant hook. While listening to the album, I couldn’t help but keep thinking, “There’s something impressive here”. With songs that feature artists from the legendary Lou Reed to the rhyme-dropping Snoop Dogg, this album definitely has something for anyone who wants to have their senses overwhelmed and their ears dipped in honey.

It’s all dazzle, all the time, and a perfect highway to escapism. Just like the characters live in a world of imagination, their music can also bring us to a similar mind-set. Even the album name, Plastic Beach, helps paint the image of where the music can take us to: a fictitious, paper-thin place that we’d love to escape to, even if the atmosphere is light and superficial; a world where fantasies abound and strangeness seldom differs.

Want a vacation from reality? Be sure to watch the whacky video for Stylo, the first single off the album, below.

By: Rob Brayl
For BiggerThanBeyonce.Com

Laaaid back, wit mah mind on mah money and mah money on mah mind.

Larry King upped his street cred recently as the legendary host took rapper D-O-double G out for a spin in this mustard colored converitble. The only thing missing was some gold teeth.

Snoop Dogg is scheduled to appear on Larry King Live on Friday.

If there’s one photo I thought I’d never see in my life, this may be one of them. It’s pretty funny, almost as funny as the “Attention Fail” video from the infamous Fail Blog, I ran into yesterday. For some reason, this made me laugh til’ I almost cried. So awesome.

Check it!

By: Maria Ciezak
For BiggerThanBeyonce.Com

On April 13th I will get a little jump in my step as the sophomore release from MGMT hits the shelves, Congratulations. For the follow-up to the unexpectedly riotously popular Oracular Spectacular, there will be no singles released for the album. This could be a glass half-full situation, for the weight of the hype won’t suffocate this before it comes out. For the album will be a cohesive whole, all for one, and one for all. The lead off track, entitled, “It’s Working”, sums up their career choices, indeed. The boys have taken up hobbies such as surfing while recording in Malibu, which has provided tons of stimulation for the lyrics, as well as listening to Lady Gaga. Strange ways, here we come!!!

Trippy surfing tunes with an electronic beat? Sounds like a formula for a dazed, head-banging batch of enormity, which is why I think MGMT’s Congratulations will be one of the key music classics of 2010. As far as I’m concerned, a second batch of twirly sunglass psych-pop is way overdue. Bring on the strange, for it’s the new black.

By: Rob Brayl
For BiggerThanBeyonce.Com

This video is just too cool for school.

It’s also weird but the cinematography is hypnotic and fashion forward.

Coming from Manchester, UK, Delphic is an alternative dance band fusing an indie sound with electronica. The BBC has named the band as one of the top acts to look out for in 2010.

Check out the music video to DOUBT, by Delphic, below.

By: Rob Brayl
For BiggerThanBeyonce.Com

This made my day!

+

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An explosion to the ears.

By: Rob Brayl
For BiggerThanBeyonce.Com

Not really.

But she is working with Bret Michaels of Poison. Cyrus, recently revealed a track she is currently working on, and, well, it’s definitely unexpected.

Says Miley: “Every Rose is a classic and one of my favorites. Bret Michaels and Poison was my very first concert and introduced me to rock and roll. I recently heard the song play and everyone around me starting singing along. It’s a song that everyone knows and loves. I feel like the way the music industry is today really shelters kids and they aren’t exposed to songs as honest and real as this one. Bret and I had a great time in the studio together just hanging out and making music. It was so surreal to have him sit down with his acoustic guitar and walk me through Every Rose and then give me the opportunity to add my own flare and edge to it. Bret is so passionate about music and it shows. I think it is such a rad collaboration because it shows that two artists that seem so different on the outside can come together and organically create something that we are both proud of. I look forward to finishing the song with Bret and John Shanks who is producing.”

Every rose has its thorn and we’re about to get pricked! I kid, I kid.

I genuinely like Miley’s music and I will definitely be seeing her upcoming film, The Last Song, based off the novel by Nicholas Sparks when it is released in April of 2010. The movie was filmed on Tybee Island, near Savannah, Georgia this past summer. You can watch the theatrical trailer, below.

By: Rob Brayl
For BiggerThanBeyonce.Com

How Alicia Keys kept a straight face during this is beyond me.

Wearing a hoodie with facial expressions only he can manage, Colbert appeared during Alicia’s performance on The Colbert Report and dropped the following lines:

“Shoppin’ mall is close, my community is gated/ My shorties are all private-school educated/ Home theater system, 60-inch plasma. Clean suburban air, much better for my asthma/ Still hit the city, Times Square, keep it real/ Hard Rock Cafe for the appetizer deal/ M&M Store, Disney Store, I’m in heaven/ I own this town from 41st to 47/ Take you to ‘The Lion King,’ that show is fantastic/ Leave half an hour early so I can beat the traffic/ I can get home really fast, driver rocks an E-Z Pass/ Land of cheaper gas and the upper middle class.” <--HA!

Check out the always lovely Alicia Keys performing the New York anthem (with Stephen Colbert), below.

The Colbert Report	Mon – Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Alicia Keys – Empire State of Mind (Part II) Broken Down
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor U.S. Speedskating

By: Rob Brayl
For BiggerThanBeyonce.Com

THANK YOU FOR BEING A FRIEND, CLICKING ON MY SITE EVERY NOW & THEN…YOUR HEART IS TRUE, YOU’RE A PAL AND A BALLER. AND IF YOU THREW A PARTY, INVITED T-PAIN & LIL WAYNE & EVERY HIP HOP STAR UNDER THE MOON, YOU WOULD SEE THE BIGGEST BLING WOULD BE FROM ME, AND THE CARD ATTACHED WOULD SAY, THANK YOU FOR BEING A FRIEND.

If you’re having a bad day–be thankful that you didn’t make the mistake of having four senior citizens permanenty inked near your babymaker!

The Golden Girls is, without a doubt, one of my all-time favorite television shows, but DAMN, I am speechless. Who does this? Eh, I guess it’s better than this for a tattoo.

Thank you for supporting BTB. Cheesecake on the lanai? It’s on me!

By: Rob Brayl
For BiggerThanBeyonce.Com

Rated-R? I prefer PG-13.

I’m a bit torn by how I view this statement. Actually I’m not torn. To be honest, I find it violent and unnecessary. I think the entire record, properly titled RATED-R, was developed around an entire theme: to stir, to shock in a dark & twisted way. I get it, I’m just already over it. Yes, it’s my opinion and I have that choice, I just personally could do without the overuse of violence and sex to get an audience’s attention.

Rihanna is beautiful & a survivor, and although it might be considered less entertaining to most, I think she could’ve released a track of complete and utter empowerment without this idea of triggers from a gun. But, hey, this is the world of entertainment, where shock value and oversexualizing “art” sells–so once again the formula will do the trick and radio and fans will swoon.

Perhaps Rihanna will make a video that will give the song more of an empowering justice. Until then, you can check out the first single, RUSSIAN ROULETTE (co-written by Ne-Yo), below.

DUDE! What is up with that barb wire? Not a fan. Not a fan.

By: Rob Brayl
For BiggerThanBeyonce.Com

Facebook’s movie (properly titled The Social Network) is set to begin filming this fall. Does anyone else think this sounds as boring as bologna (yes, I just said bologna)?! What’s next? MYSPACE, THE MUSICAL?! <--Hey, I said it here first. I claim first rights.

Nah, in all seriousness, the film may turn out to be quite the catch. It will be directed by DAVID FINCHER (Fight Club, Curious Case of Benjamin Button) after all and will star Justin Timberlake.

Until the film is released, check out this hilarious skit poking fun of the social network, below.

By: Rob Brayl
For BiggerThanBeyonce.Com

Yo Kanye, it’s called karma.

The Kanye West / Lady GaGa FAME KILLS Tour is officially dead. <--Go ahead West, eat a piece of the humble pie. It won't hurt you, my friend.

When I first heard that it was official that West & GaGa were planning a tour together (of course with the word FAME in the title, since that’s all they both seem to be obsessed with), I immediately thought it was a bad idea. At the core, Kanye West & Lady GaGa have two very distinct fan bases. I respect and admire the idea of trying to do something different but in the world of mainstream music, the idea of different isn’t generally well received. These are commercial artists acting as if their contributions to music is on an artistic level with that of someone like Bjork. I have mad respect for artists who are passionate about what they do and this is one thing that I actually admire about West & GaGa, but at the end of the day, what is just as important is a personality behind the passion that isn’t warped, drenched in ego, or douchetastic. And as we all know, Kanye has had a hard time of proving to the world that he’s a “good guy” (as Lady GaGa referred to him recently, claiming he felt horrible about his rude plea for attention when he shit on Taylor Swift’s VMA moment).

According to Rolling Stone, speculation of poor sales may be the reason for the tour’s cancellation.

I think Kanye is an incredible lyricist (that is undeniable) but perhaps this will be a lesson to the rapper–don’t kill someone else’s ego just to blow up your own, because what goes around, comes back around. And in this case, FAME (when it goes to your head) DEFINITELY KILLS.

By: Rob Brayl
For BiggerThanBeyonce.Com

With influences including PJ Harvey, Patti Smith, The Distillers, & Nirvana, one may have a WTF moment upon hearing that Marina also quotes Madonna & Britney as being two of her biggest influences. When listening to I Am Not A Robot (see video below) I immediately thought Shakira should be included in this list as Marina’s voice definitely spews a tinge of chick fire. Ya know, heart & passion, sultry tales of lost love, an exotic appeal, etc.

What’s more important though is her risk of being unafraid of doing something a bit out of the box. With her black glittered face & red rhinestone lips, one might quickly place Marina in the obscure box by her image alone — one that would never be considered commercial enough to be marketed to the pop music masses. But with the right buzz and PR, Marina could be exposed to radio and hey, if not, she can always blow up your iPod. It’s clear, that Marina is more about the art of music, instead of the art of being a mainstream success, especially if she has to contrive an image sexualizing her body to sell records.

Have a visual feast for dinner.

Check out I Am Not A Robot below.