Posts Tagged ‘Breakup’

By: Rob Brayl
For BiggerThanBeyonce.Com

New York City, we have a problem!

I cannot, for the life of me, stop playing this freakin’ song. It’s peanut butter. It’s jelly. Hell, it’s the whole wheat toasted crustless bread! It’s pure pop perfection and I’m addicted. It’s beautiful and bittersweet comfort food.

Listen to the just-released ‘Disaster’ below.

About time! I’ve been campaigning for a new JoJo record since 1884.

Thank you, Interscope! Please buy this song on iTunes and support JoJo!

By: Rob Brayl
For BiggerThanBeyonce.Com

Puhlease? With a cherry on top?

Also, never shut down your Southern Hospitality restaurant because A. I like to get fat here on the weekends (hello, Southern fried goodness — it tastes like home!) and B. the “Mason Dixon” Red Velvet Cheesecake is better than sex. K? Thanks.

NSFW comedy + two recent NYC appearances (including a surprise performance at the above-mentioned Southern Hospitality in Hell’s Kitchen) following.

By: Rob Brayl
For BiggerThanBeyonce.Com

So now that we’ve experienced a hurricane and an earthquake, Kelly Clarkson has decided to step out of the stormy shadows by releasing a new single. Finally! Hell has officially frozen over! (I kid.)

And yup, this is not a leak or a demo but a legit single…

To be blunt, Mr. Know It All plays in safe in the arena of adult contemporary pop. And that isn’t a bad thing; the track is solid. My only beef is I feel as if the instrumentation on the track makes the listener feel as if there will be an explosion, a buildup of sorts and there’s no resolution or obvious climax. The song remains chill throughout, fizzling without the expected bang. With that being said, I do enjoy the song and I feel it will make an impact on AC radio.

Mr. Know It All will be available on iTunes Sept. 5 and will also appear on Kelly’s upcoming album Stronger.

Listen.

[Oh! And BTW, the pic above is Kelly on the set of the music video shoot for the song with Aben, the husband of Ashley Arrison.]

By: Rob Brayl
For BiggerThanBeyonce.Com

[All photos via Getty Images]

Ok, Gaga makes one creepy old man! Adele’s WTF face in the audience was priceless and my thoughts exactly. But what else is new? Same ridiculous crap.

Nicki Minaj’s outfit is epic…epically HORRENDOUS. Gurl bye.

Pitbull… Get it, papi! Latinos always bring the heat!

Adele’s performance, with nothing but a microphone and a piano, has exposed the sham that is 90% of the other acts that have performed so far tonight. The woman knows real music, heartbreak, and what true beauty is all about. Gorgeous!

Get More: 2011 VMA, Music, Adele

Ok, not to sound mean but I definitely think Taylor Lautner has tasted the rainbow!

SOUTHERN PRIDE! GO BRITNEY & BEYONCE!

Amy Winehouse, RIP.

OMGOMGOMG DRAKE, my baby daddy!!!

Get More: Music News

Lil Wayne, for the love of God! Please pull your pants up!

By: Rob Brayl
For BiggerThanBeyonce.Com

So yeah, there was an earthquake today in New York City…

Honestly, I thought these types of things only happened to those stupid enough to live in LA. Right? Earthquakes in New York, really? What’s next? Sunshine in Seattle?!

The only way I’d ever be ok with earthquakes is if Jake Gyllenhaal is by my side protecting me from the elements like in The Day After Tomorrow! If there’s any way to go, it would be helpful to have a real, genuine, loving, non-douchey ball of scruff by your side.

On a serious note, my company was located in the Twin Towers on 9/11 before moving to Brooklyn after the attack. So you can imagine how some of the people were feeling in the office when the ground started to shake. Hearing those people talk about that day on 9/11, how they managed to get out of the towers was terrifying but beautiful. Most spoke of how they thought it was an earthquake as well. It certainly left a yearning in the pit of my stomach and made me want to pick up the phone and spill my heart to a few people.

Read between the cracked earthquake lines with a little Pixie…

Heart first / dancefloor second.

By: Rob Brayl
For BiggerThanBeyonce.Com

I’ve been diagnosed!

“My music is solely happy at some points, but there’s always a dark kind of thing running through my songs. I am just kind of a dark person. There’s always a place in my head I go to to write songs, and the darker it is, the more genuine it feels to me. Everyone’s different, but I’m just one of those. I think a lot. I think too much, even when I’m really happy.”

–EG

[Related Post: Ellie Goulding Covers Rihanna]

BTW, the beautiful song you’re about to hear is an unreleased demo.

By: Rob Brayl
For BiggerThanBeyonce.Com

As I mentioned in a previous post last month, Pia Toscano is pretty much prettier than errbody. I mean, let’s be real. And even though I missed most of Idol last season, I could still appreciate her debut single, This Time, without feeling a close connection to her persona on stage.

But…

(Yes, there’s a but.)

Besides her stunning looks, the song is nothing we haven’t heard before. And that’s ok — because clearly she’s trying to make a dent onto commercial radio, and we all know commercial radio isn’t the most groundbreaking outlet for musical artistry. What is new though, is the fact that Pia has the looks and the pipes that most female pop stars lack today. Overall, the track is a good commercial pop effort.

With that being said, the video was just released and it’s beautiful.

I friggin’ love it!

Watch the music vid + a recent live performance following.

By: Rob Brayl
For BiggerThanBeyonce.Com

This past Saturday was stained with a horrible residue. The temperature in New York City was over one hundred degrees and everything seemed a bit too sticky for comfort. Yet what stuck the most was not produced by the sun, it came forth digitally through a Facebook post, one that hurt to read: AMY WINEHOUSE DIED?

Thinking of recent death hoaxes, I quickly searched Google to find an answer. I found nothing. But then, minutes later, a confirmation popped onto the computer screen by CNN, and I felt a laser of grief pass through my veins. How tragic, I thought. How incredibly tragic. I had recalled how just the night before, I was walking across the Brooklyn Bridge talking about her style and music with my friend Sheilah. It felt eerie, as if somehow light years away, our frequencies as human beings might have crossed.

I began to break and tears soon bubbled over my eyes. Having dealt with addictive behavior in my own life and addiction in the roots of my family, I felt Amy’s pain. In an attempt to remember the artist who brought us the beauty of Back to Black, I, like millions of other fans, took to YouTube to find clips, interviews, and to re-watch her previous music videos.

While searching, I stumbled upon one of her last performances and my heart shattered. Her eyes were that of a lost, hurt child, and suddenly an overwhelming feeling came over me — I wanted to give her a hug, a big fuzzy teddy bear hug and look her into the eyes and tell her that she is worthy of love and that everything would be alright.

Once upon a time, Janis Joplin proclaimed that she made love to 25,000 people at her live concerts, but went home alone. That statement to me represents the type of yearning for love and acceptance that is felt by addicts, that deep but unmet need for connection that pushes the drive for fame and the aching pain of addiction, which could be the reason why it’s common among the famous, why the two often feed off each other. The reason why it fed and ultimately starved Amy.

I want to end this piece by saying that no one will ever be able to replace Amy Winehouse in this life. She was a one-of-a-kind performer and artist. You can’t fake that kind of raw talent and you certainly can manufacture REAL music.

And to all of you making light of this situation, I ask that you have respect. Addiction is not a light switch you can just turn on and off. Celebrities have hearts and souls like the rest of us. Please show some compassion, because I can guarantee that there’s someone in your life who has fought or is fighting with addiction issues right now who could use it.

To anyone reading this who might be struggling, my heart is with you.

An early interview + performance of a much happier time below.

RIP.

By: Rob Brayl
For BiggerThanBeyonce.Com

As always, I’ll be honest. I missed 98% of this past season of American Idol. Not because I’ve lost interest in the show, but because I gotz a life. Hello.

That’s pretty much it. I was a little too busy to catch the show every week and I don’t DRV.

Anyways, that’s useless information. I simply wanted to state that I missed the season so I can’t really put my two cents in with regards to Pia performing live during the season as a whole, but from what I’ve seen, the girl has a wonderful set of pipes. And on top of that, she’s prettier than a freakin’ pile of roses!

The season ten finalist recently released her debut single, the tender This Time on iTunes. The song deals with the issue of a bitter breakup — what else is new?

Pia is currently traveling the country on the the American Idols Live! 2011 tour and recently announced her deal with Interscope Records.

Listen to the track in full below.

By: Rob Brayl
For BiggerThanBeyonce.Com

I live for songs, for videos, for music like this. Music so visceral and real it almost leaves a sting like a papercut. Music like Skyscraper from Demi Lovato.

The minute I watched this clip, I felt charged, as if something inside of me had been pumped with emotional electricity. As Frou Frou once pointed out, there’s beauty in the breakdown, and well, let’s just say Lovato’s breakdown tune is beyond stunning.

Directed by Mark Pellington, Lovato keeps it simple, belting from the barren terrain of the Bonneville Salt Flats. No gimmicks, no over the top costumes or headgear, no backup dancers or pyrotechnics — just Lovato, and the years of scar tissue from her struggles.

I don’t know about you, but I am so proud to have Demi on our radar, to have a star as huge as she is scatter her issues out in front of us, in such an honest and genuine manner because there’s thousands of girls watching, who will now undoubtedly feel less alone. And who knows, might even take the step to get the help they need.

Rihanna could learn a thing or two from this girl.

Watch the breathtaking video for Skyscraper + Demi’s exclusive interview with Ryan Seacrest (regarding the story behind the song) following.

LOVE IS LOUDER.

By: Rob Brayl
For BiggerThanBeyonce.Com

…that you’re drinking from.

That thing is humongous!

I digress.

Check out JoJo (and her vase/cup) covering The Script’s Breakeven below.

As usual, her vocals are goosebump-worthy.

[Related Post: Newly Leaked JoJo - 'Limbo' AKA Prepare To Be Blown]

By: Rob Brayl
For BiggerThanBeyonce.Com

As an update to my Can Joe Jonas Fill JT’s Pop Shoes post, below you’ll find the just-released music video for Joe’s blazing debut single as a solo artist, the burnt and broken See No More.

Get ready for some major hot flashes!

Sizzling. Sleek. Sexy.

Volcano Joe has officially erupted!

By: Rob Brayl
For BiggerThanBeyonce.Com

With perhaps the exception of Jessie J, the newly leaked Limbo by JoJo proves that the 20-year-old singer’s voice is better than any female singer on mainstream radio. This track is fire! Explosive, blue-hot fire.

Currently, the Too Little Too Late singer is revving up for a future release of new album Jumping Trains. The maturity, control, and overall aesthetic of this track is pure pop perfection. It’s stunning.

And for the record, I need to vent:

IF I DON’T GET A NEW JOJO ALBUM ASAP, I’M GOING TO GO POSTAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sorry, got a little excited there.

Check out the incredible Limbo below to see what all the fuss’s about.

By: Rob Brayl
For BiggerThanBeyonce.Com

Beyonce’s new album 4 drops today!

Yup, today is my birthday. It’s a sign!

If you have not heard the record, get on it. The album is Beyonce’s bottle of wine, polished in a mature and chill way that’s never been showcased on previous efforts.

Rolling Stone said it best:

“Beyonce’s new album 4 is a change of pace for the R&B queen. While her first three solo albums were full of blockbuster jams, 4 is a more relaxed, personal set that emphasizes ballads over bangers and showcases the singer’s nuances; it’s very much the sort of album a pop star makes when she doesn’t feel like she has anything to prove.”

Watch a recent performance below.

*Note: This is a clip from BK’s recent Glastonbury show that aired on BET.

As usual, she murders.

By: Maria Ciezak
For BiggerThanBeyonce.Com

We Are Augustines have recently swept me away to almost the point of no return. The boys that volley from Brooklyn have an astoundingly early 80’s sound, with passionate vocals throughout. Track Headlong Into the Abyss showcases not only snare drums and piano arpeggios, but it will grab you from the chief sparkling notes until the last strum. A song that can take you to that raw emotional core is worthy of being spun. I can’t wait to hear their debut album, Rise Ye Sunken Ships in full, for this sample track appetizer has left me with a full blown appetite.

I have a trivial feeling this album will have a very distinct and well deserved place on a lot of year-end lists – certainly my own.

The album was mostly inspired by traumatic experiences in lead vocalist/guitarist Billy McCarthy‘s life. At 19, his mother, who was diagnosed as schizophrenic, committed suicide, and his younger brother James, also schizophrenic, hung himself while at a psychiatric hospital in 2009.

According to McCarthy: “Society at large would rather not think about the topics of homelessness and mental illness. But people who have lived through it are forced to find a place internally to store it in.”

The duo’s debut album is expected to drop August 23rd, but until then, check out the spectacular music video for lead single, Chapel Song.