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Pop Rock Nation

Category: News

music-news-from-breakups-to-the-lastest-buzz

  • New Music In Stores & Online: 8/12/08: Jonas Brothers, “American Mall”, NKOTB and More!!!!

    It’s another quiet week on the music front…why do I feel like I’ve been doing nothing but repeating myself for the last three or four weeks? At any rate, unlike last week, there’s at least one release guaranteed to do big numbers, and that release is…drumroll please…

    The cover of the new album by the Jonas Brothers, entitled \"A Little Bit Longer\".

    1) The Jonas Brothers “A Little Bit Longer”
    Website

    Honestly? I always got the Jonas Brothers and the Naked Brothers Band confused until the lead singer did a face plant at the American Music Awards last year and jumped right back up like a trouper. The only one of the brothers whose name I even know is Joe Jonas, because, well, how can you forget a name like Joe Jonas? If anyone else my age knows any more information than this about the New Jersey-based teen band, then you either a) have a teenage daughter or b) should be waiting for the feds to come in and seize your computer. Anyhow, this album has gotten surprisingly good reviews from the likes of Blender & Entertainment Weekly, and the brothers recently landed the cover of Rolling Stone. Not bad. Expect this album to lead next week’s chart by quite a large margin.

    More new releases after the jump…

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  • Music To Synchronize Swim To: Music for Team USA

    So, if you’re like me and you’re completely bored with just about everything on TV, you’re probably watching at least some of the Olympics. While ordinarily things like gymnastics and diving wouldn’t turn my crank, I guess I can take it once every four years. Plus, it’s always nice to see a team like the U.S. Men’s Basketball team either annihilate everyone in their presence or get upset by some ragtag team (take THAT, spoiled Yankee athletes!!)

    Anyway, the folks at AT&T have joined forces with some of today’s hottest musical artists to put together a soundtrack for Team USA. Much like Olympic-related albums in the past, these songs are largely inspirational anthems. Unlike most Olympic-related albums in the past, these songs are only available through AT&T wireless phones OR this site:

    www.att.net/TEAMUSA

    Among the artists featured are Colbie Caillat, Queen Latifah, 3 Doors Down, Nelly, Chris Brown, Lady Antebellum and the Goo Goo Dolls. Here’s a little teaser/sampler of some of the music you can get.

  • “Lost One” Lauryn Hill: 10 Years Since “Miseducation”…Where’s The Follow-Up?

    A decade ago (has it really been that long?), Lauryn Hill was on top of the world. Blessed with the rare double talent of being able to sing beautifully and rap skillfully-I dare you to name a better female MC EVER-she had superstar juice all over her. After initially gaining notoriety as an actress (“Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit” and “As the World Turns”), Lauryn broke through for real as the most talented third of the Fugees, a group that smashed together hip-hop, R&B and Caribbean flavors and scored the most left-field hit of 1996 with “The Score”. This album turned out to be the biggest hip-hop seller of the year, not a small feat during the year in which we lost Tupac.

    Lauryn Hill performing live. Photo by Lisa Liang.
    Lauryn Hill performing live. Photo by Lisa Liang.

    There had been some internal drama within the group for some time. The rumor mill had Lauryn and bandmate Wyclef Jean dating (something that’s been confirmed by Wyclef’s wife, although both Wyclef himself and Lauryn have more or less stayed mum on the topic), while Lauryn was immediately singled out for her beauty and talent, which led to some discontent on the behalf of Wyclef and third member Pras, the Andrew Ridgeley of the group. ‘Clef struck first, reaching Platinum status with his album “The Carnival”, but Lauryn struck best, releasing her stunning record “The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill” on 8/25/98. Despite A-list support from the likes of D’Angelo and Mary J. Blige, “Miseducation” was all about Lauryn. The album sold 7 million copies, registered the highest first week totals for a female artist at the time, became the first hip-hop record to win the Grammy for Album of the Year, and was arguably the best R&B record of the entire decade. Lauryn was the entire music world’s “it” girl. Gorgeous, brainy, talented, and seemingly grounded. (more…)