Since being discovered by American rapper Lil’ Wayne, Nicki Minaj has become a commercial success after the release of her latest album Pink Friday. Not only has she peaked atop the U.S. Billboard 200 and was certified platinum by the RIAA, Minaj also became the first artist ever to have seven songs within the Billboard Hot 100 at the same time. “Your Love” was Minaj’s first single released off of Pink Friday and peaked at #14 on the Billboard Hot 100, 7 on the Hot R&B/Hip Hop Songs chart and topped the Rap Songs chart. “Moment 4 Life” and “Right Thru Me” followed and also had massive success on the charts as well.

“I just kinda do what I feel. I never knew what lane I would fill, [or that] I would fill a lane at all. I didn’t even really contemplate that far down the road. I just started having fun, and a lot of that came from me seeing Wayne dare to be different, and I started feeling like I can be a multifaceted rapper. I don’t have to be a one-dimensional female rapper. Once I put that in perspective, it was like everything just got easier for me, because I no longer wanted to fit in anybody’s box… I just wanted to be Nicki.”

Nicki Minaj has also collaborated with many successful artists such as: Ludacris, Jay Sean, Trey Songz, Eminem, will.i.am, Drake, Kanye West, Young Money, Jay-Z, Robin Thicke, and many more. She is currently on the radio for her latest single “Super Bass,” and the remix of Britney Spears’, ” Till the World Ends,” along side singer Ke$ha.

“I don’t know where I fit in the spectrum of rap yet. I think now I’m kind of proving myself, but before, people thought I was more of a sex symbol or wannabe sex symbol. Now they’re seeing. That’s why I make the goofiest faces, I don’t want people to think I’m up here trying to be cute. I’m trying to entertain and entertaining is more than exuding sex appeal. I don’t think that’s fun. I don’t find it fun watching someone trying to be sexy. It’s whack. I’m trying to just show my true personality and I think that means more than anything else. I think when personality is at the forefront, its not about male or female. Its just about who is this weird character?”

- Nicki Minaj

Check Out Nicki’s latest video for her new single,”Super Bass.”

Nicki Minaj-Super Bass

The Internet has opened a door for the discovery of new music and new artists around the world. There are millions of artists, songs and genres that create traffic and noise around the Internet. People like to find what they are looking for on one or three websites, and if they need to look further they give up and turn off the computer. There are websites that allow you to find new music in an easier way and have become popular. These websites are:

Pandora

Pandora is an Internet radio website that provides playlists that are based on similarities between the song, genre, or artists selected with others. The “Music Genome Program” breaks down songs into small components, through the use of mathematical logarithms. It matches these components according to their similarities. As people listen to the playlists, they can “like” or “dislike” a song. With the use of these the program eliminates the song disliked as well as songs that are similar to that song. There are around 700,000 tracks in the Pandora database and is growing daily.

• Advantages: This program can be easily accessed through the Pandora website or downloaded as an application for smart phone, video game consoles (Wii, PS3, XBOX) and Internet connected TVs. It also allows access to direct retailers to purchase a song. There is no need to access a different website to purchase a song.
• Disadvantages: Pandora allows 6 skips every hour, and 12 skips every 24 hours. It does not allow the listener to go back and listen to a song again.
• Membership: It has 3 types of memberships. Free membership that allows the listener to play music for 40 hours a month, a membership that costs 99 cents a month &allows unlimited listening hours or Pandora One, which is $36 a year and allows unlimited listening hours and does not contain any advertisements.

We Are Hunted

We Are Hunted is an online music chart based on the popularity of songs and artists on the Internet. Its popularity depends on the number of hits and mentions song have though blogs and music charts managed by We Are Hunted. We Are Hunted can be accessed online or downloaded as a music application for smart phones or smart tablets. There are three main charts the website manages, which are “Popular” (main stream music), “Emerging” (new indie artists and songs)  and finally “Remixes” (popular or emerging songs remixed with others). Anyone can access this website and stream songs from each music chart. These songs can be shared to social media outlets such as Twitter and Facebook, or they can be purchased on the website. There is also an option to become a member of the website for free. The advantage of becoming a member is the ability to create a music chart and share it with the rest of the website members as well as your friends. Members can comment on each other’s chart and blog about them through We Are Hunted. The charts are changed every week allowing an entrance for new music.

Pitchfork

Pitchfork does not only concentrate on tracks, but it introduces music news and music reviews. It presents a description of how the music was created, the ideas behind the music, and  ratings by Pitchfork experts. There is a section in the website called “Playlist” where all the featured tracks are available to stream online. Although there is no membership to this website, listeners can follow Pitchfork on Twitter and Facebook in order to access the information on their phones.

Last.fm

Last.fm works similar to Pandora. It is an online radio station that provides playlists based on similarities according to genre, style, and artists through a method called Scrobbling.“Scrobbling helps us tell you what songs you play most often, which songs you like the most, how much you’ve played an artist over a certain amount of time, which of your friends have similar tastes… all kinds of stuff. By focusing on the music you already play we can help you discover more music” (via Last.fm). Last.fm is a free service to listen to music and discover new music online. You are allowed to buy the songs that you like, or comment on songs on the artist/ song profile page.

Stereomood

Stereomood provides listeners with a different way to look at music. Listeners are allowed to find music according to the mood they are in. Stereomood provides the audience with around 100 moods that someone can possibly be in, then the listener chooses a mood. Stereomood creates a playlist with around 100 songs according to the selected mood. Also, in each mood’s side bar it presents featured artists whose music is inside the chosen playlist and gives information about the artists. Similar to the rest of the websites, the listeners are allowed to purchase the songs that they enjoy as well as share them on Twitter or Facebook.

These are just 5 of the most popular websites that people use  to stumble upon new music everyday.

Music Beta by Google (“A better way to play your music”), allows the listeners to upload their music collection online in order to listen to their library and manage it from anywhere. Listeners can access their music on their personal computers, other people’s computers, Android powered smart phones or Android powered tablets. Music can be accessed and managed online, as well as listening to recently played music offline (on an airplane, for example). Listeners are able to upload their entire music collection into a single collection, even if all of their music is scattered around different devices. This helps people avoid carrying around cables, CDs, multiple music devices (IPod or other MP3 devices). It also saves storage place, because all of the music files are uploaded to the google cloud, instead of the same information being saved into the computer, the phone and/or tablet.  The last interesting feature Music Beta has is “Instant Mix”. It allows the listener to choose a song and Music Beta automatically creates a play-list with songs that are similar to the song chosen.

Unfortunately, Music Beta is not available for everyone yet. The system started working in May 2011, and is still going through some system maintenance. The biggest issue is the influx of music files from consumers. In order to solve this issue, users are put on a wait list in order to upload all their music.

To get started the listeners have to:

1. Request a Music Beta invite on music.google.com
2. Upload music files & start managing music
3. Download the Android application

Having music in one place that can be accessed at any time will change the way people listen to music.

“The vision is of me in an endless journey. I am a vehicle. I am a vehicle for all of the ideas. And I’m not riding away or towards anything, I’m just in endless state of creativity”.

-Lady Gaga, on her new upcoming album “Born This Way”.

Two years after the release of “The Fame Monster”, Lady Gaga will release her latest album “Born This Way” on May 23rd. So far four singles from this album have been officially released, and the UK already had a taste of Gaga after she streamed the entire album on Metro.co.uk. on May 18th.

“Born This Way” is expected world wide, due to the large amounts of promotion online and through Gaga’s image. From the arrival to the 53rd Grammy’s inside a translucent egg to her over the top face makeup, her image has grown and evolved as the date of the release approaches.

The fourteen track album will be in stores May 23rd, 2011. The complete tracklist and all available lyrics are as follows:

1.     Marry The Night

2.     Born This Way

3.     Government Hooker

4.     Judas

5.     Americano

6.     Hair

7.     Scheiße

8.     Bloody Mary

9.     Bad Kids

10.  Highway Unicorn (Road to Love)

11.  Heavy Metal Lover

12.  Electric Chapel

13.  You and I

14.  The Edge of Glory

After a year raising a hype for this album, it is finally here. Will the world go gaga for Gaga once again?

For more information about Lady Gaga and “Born This Way” visit: www.ladygaga.com

Civil Twilight is a three-piece rock band from Cape Town, South Africa. Relocating to Los Angeles in August, 2005,  brothers Steve (singer/bass/piano) and Andrew McKellar (guitar), and Richard Wouters (drums) established a significant following on the west coast.  The band’s notoriety has grown organically sharing the stage with acts that have included Evanescence, The Bravery, Amos Lee, The Fratellis and Los Lobos, among others.  The trio recently relocated to Nashville, and has begun touring extensively east of the Mississippi, building a legend as they have in South Africa and Southern California.

Civil Twilight released their self-titled debut album on April 6, 2010 on Wind-up Records.  In early 2009, Wind-up released the album digitally with 11 tracks.  The band recorded an additional three songs for the album to hit stores this spring.  The 14-track album includes their hit single “Soldier” and the iTunes Single of the Week “Letters from the Sky,” which was added to the soundtrack for the 2011 movie ” I am Number Four.”

Civil Twilight’s immersive repertoire is becoming a favorite among music licensing executives and television producers.  Their track “Human” appeared on the post-Super Bowl special episode of House on Fox and on CBS’ Without a Trace.  Additionally, “Letters From The Sky” was featured as the audio-bed for the season finale promo of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles on FOX.  Their songs have also been placed on One Tree Hill, Harper’s Island and across a variety of VH1/MTV shows including Celebrity Rehab.

“There are so many levels to this band and so many bits of their brilliance that draw you into each song individually and don’t let go.”

– Hybrid Magazine

I recently got the privilege to have an interview with band member Richard Wouters:

What is the origin and the significance of your band name Civil Twilight?

We have always been fascinated with flying and aviation imagery. When we were looking for a band name we decided to look through some aviation terminology and we came across the term Civil Twilight. I guess we just liked the sound of it and the imagery attached to it. The idea of being suspended between night and day, not quite dark and not quite light. It happens at dawn and dusk, when the sun is just below the horizon. The beginning of day, or the beginning of night.

 What inspired you all to form the band and make music together/ who are your major music influences?

We started playing together when we were kids back in Cape Town. We weren’t really a band back then but we all knew each other when we started and began writing songs together at an early age. Back then our inspiration was mostly British and American rock bands like Oasis, Radiohead, The Verve, Doves, Muse, The Strokes, Nirvana,The White Stripes and some pop and R&B like Michael Jackson and Lauryn Hill, even some old school jazz. More recently our tastes have broadened to include a more American folk, hip hop, R&B and electronica.

 What has been your favorite show/or favorite venue Civil Twilight has performed at?

I really like performing at the 9:30 club in DC and the TLA in Philadelphia. We always have good shows at those places. Also, the Grand Ballroom and the Fillmore in NYC are great ones.

 Describe the writing process for your music/ do you write your own songs?

Yes, we write our own songs. Steve, our singer, writes some of them on his own and some are more collaborative, where we’ll all get together in a room and play off each other and throw ideas around.

 How has your music evolved since you first started playing together?

Hopefully it’s matured and the lyrics have got better I think. We’re about to make a second album so we shall see. I think the songs will be shorter than on the first album!

 What has been your biggest challenge as a band?

It seems like we’ve had many. Coming to America was a big one. I think staying together is always a challenge for any band, even though we get along pretty well, it’s still challenging working so closely with other people and having to learn to respect everyone’s opinions and ideas even when they differ from your own.

 What is your ultimate direction for the band/ do you have any goals?

Our main goal has always been to make the best music we can and do everything to the best of our ability. We got into this for the love of creating and playing music and we strive to keep that passion alive and bring it to every show. In terms of musical direction, we don’t really have any set ideas… Just keep ourselves excited about what we are creating and believe in what we are saying and doing.

 What advice do you have for people who want to form their own bands?

Make sure you really love playing music. Find others who are equally as passionate and focus on making music that excites you. Make the music that you want to hear, not what you think other people want to hear.

 Anything you would like to say to your fans?

We think we have amazing fans, we really do. We just finished our first headlining tour of the US and were overwhelmed by the response and appreciation of our fans. So, thank you.

www.civiltwilightband.com

www.myspace.com/civiltwilightband

Letters from the Sky (Official Video)

This photo originally appeared on www.deadat2am.com

From her very first 1999 hit, “Baby One More Time,” Britney Spears has appeared in as many headlines as she has top music charts. Over the past few years, there has been nothing but bad news associated with Spears. With two failed marriages, a very bad haircut, legal issues involving her children, and various hospitalizations, it seemed the pop princess had hit rock bottom. The general assumption was that all the years of fame were finally catching up to her, causing a mental breakdown and possible insanity. Despite all the negativity, Britney Spears has made the best out of a bad situation; picking up the pieces, moving on, and growing from her mistakes. She is back and better than ever, proving herself with the release of her new album, ‘Femme Fatale,’ released on March 29.

As artists such as Katy Perry and Lady Gaga relentlessly campaign their latest hits, Spears is allowing her music to speak for itself. Her new album was given four out of five stars from Rolling Stone because, critic Jody Rosen clarifies, “the beats on the record are incredible throughout. All of the songs are very strong. It’s one of those rare pop-diva records that consistently, top to bottom, has strong songs.”

Britney’s name has recently disappeared from the gossip headlines, and instead has taken center stage in a positive light. It seems the 29-year-old diva has matured with time, as she is realizing the importance of separating her life from her career. “I think it’s easier to let people in when you’re younger, but when I became a mother I wanted more privacy for myself and my children. A life away from my life,” Spears admits to V magazine.

In an interview with Ryan Seacrest in early March, Spears explains how she lives a very quiet life now, partaking in simple things such as working out, watching movies, and taking walks. “We’re really normal,” she explains to Seacrest, referring to her life with low-key boyfriend, Jason Trawick, and her two sons.

When compared with more recent artists, such as Rihanna, Ke$ha, Gaga, and Katy Perry, Britney can still hold her own and then some. E!’s news reporter Ken Baker explains, “Britney is not only a contemporary performer, she is a legacy performer. If she wanted to be like Celine Dion and play Caesars every night, she could sell out a show every time. Lady Gaga and Katy Perry are contemporary acts. They’ve only been on the scene a short time. I’m not saying Britney is a more gifted singer or dancer. She’s just proved over a long period of time that she can bring it.” After overcoming so many obstacles, Britney Spears remains a musical/dance sensation. Her legacy continues, only this time around its the fans that are saying, “Baby One More Time,” begging her for more.

USA Today

Beat of the Week

Let’s first get to this unbelievable banger. Been around for a minute, but if you haven’t gotten into this yet, you will be soon. Song is straight BONER TIME. Dom Mazzetti knows what I’m talking about. This is the extended mix. An absolute must download. Pretty sure this will get you ready for any night.

Mischa Daniels feat. J-Son – Where You Wanna Go (Extended Mix)

Video of the Week

“DO YOU WANT TO DANCE WITH DOM MAZZETTI?!” These videos are going to be huge. It’s just a matter of time before they blow up. See them first here!

Cults – Go Outside

Cults – Oh My God

As an avid Perez Hilton reader, I first discovered this new band in February of 2011. I quickly became addicted and wanted to spread their infectious music with anyone who would be willing to listen. After what was deemed a chance of fate, this New York bound duo has now turned into the “simplistic pop charm,” and “60′s girl tween indie pop” sounds of what has formed: Cults.  Forest Family Records was looking for an undiscovered new band to launch their label, meanwhile Brian Oblivian and Madeline Follin were spending time writing and singing together. In February of 2010 Brian and Madeline posted their recordings on Bandcamp which ultimately led to their discovery by Forest Family Records. In April 2010 Cults released their first single “Go Outside” which sold out before copies even went to print. A few more tracks would be relased over the next couple months that would evangelize new listeners nationwide. After a few stand-out performances Cults took the next step and signed with a bigger label, newly created Sony Imprint -In The Name Of /Columbia Records.Cults will head out on their first headlining tour this April, alongside with their new album releasing in May 2011. The music video for “Go Outside” has recently been released by MTV starring Emma Roberts and Dave Franco. And as for why the band chose the name Cults:

“A lot of our songs are about what we’re going through right now – the fear of growing up and facing adult responsibility. And in a way that fear is what makes people join cults in the first place – wanting to escape competition and success and be a part of something bigger, communal. We also want to live our own lives with our own schedules and expectations, so in a way this band has become our own cult.”

-Brian Oblivian

Yellowcard has finally returned from a two year hiatus with the release of seventh album, When You’re Through Thinking, Say Yes since the band’s July 2007  Paper Walls album. With bands continuing to go on hiatus and eventually break up through press statements, hearing rumors of the Florida Native band’s permanent breakup began to diminish the hope of good Rock bands still existing. The Band’s seventh album is a clear example of what the band has always been about and will continue to be about–the music.

From the first guitar riff on ‘The Sound of You And Me’ the reflection of a earlier Yellowcard begins to surface and by the time ‘For You and Your Denial’  begins with a majestic violin solo from violinist Sean Mackin, the 2003 Ocean Avenue Yellowcard has returned. The transitions from Longineu Parsons III’s upbeat quick drumming style to violin driven ballad songs is precisely what loyal fans have been searching for in the band’s music and has no doubt been delivered throughout this entire album. ‘Sing for Me’ and ‘Be the Young’ slow the usual quick pace to demonstrate how ridicously good Lead singer William Ryan Key’s voice continues to be.

 In a music industry where Justin Bieber’s ‘Never Say Never’ and Rebecca Black’s ‘Friday’ are the topping the song charts; Yellowcard’s lastest album proves that the underdog can still triumph in the end.When You’re Through Thinking, Say Yes has silenced the doubts that Yellowcard isn’t the same band it used to be before and reintroduces a mature musical enriched group. Welcome Back YC the world has waiting and you’ve delivered. The band kicks off a 6-week tour today in Philadelphia. Tour dates can be found here: http://yellowcardrock.com/tour