In The Meantime... What Happened in August?

Let's continue with the recap of the biggest music news to have occurred during my bloggeritis. Welcome to August 2011! August has one major popular music moment and that's the VMAs, and with such an awards show comes quite a lot to blog about. Here's what we (or rather I) missed.

August 19: On the evening of August 18th, blogs all over America (and some Billboard aficionados from across the globe) were wondering if Katy would do it. What would "it" be, you might be wondering? Well "it" is the only album other than Michael Jackson's Bad to score five Billboard Hot 100 number ones. Come the next day, it was officially confirmed when Katy Perry's "Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)" rose to the summit to take the honor as the fifth number one from Teenage Dream and the first time in Billboard history for a female's album to secure five chart-toppers. Would Ms. Perry break the record?

Rip Off Alert: Cascada's "San Francisco" vs. Katy Perry's "California Gurls"

In what may be the most criminal rip-off the year, Cascada's "San Francisco" deserves a big fat copyright infringement lawsuit as the song is almost thematically and melodically identical to Katy Perry's "California Gurls." If Cascada is thinking this song will not face scathing criticism for not only mimicking a song but one of the biggest global hits of 2010, then they've lost it.

This is not the first time the group has been accused of unintentionally recreating a big hit. Their 2009 hit single "Evacuate the Dance Floor" has drawn distinct comparisons to Lady Gaga's "Just Dance" and it seemed to have worked successfully. Fortunately for that song, the similarities were not too overwhelming to make it sound desperate - remember all songs in 2009 (much like now) seemed to revolve around dancing. However, a song about California from a German dance group that sounds exactly like another California song from a Golden Coast native seems outrageously desperate.

Listen to the track below and you decide:

And My Favorite Single Cover Goes To...

...Katy Perry and the hilarious single cover for her fifth single "Last Friday (TGIF)." The single cover (at least for the remixes) features the 2010 Maxim sexy singer sporting bottle cap glasses, aesthetically unpleasant braces, and the classic turtle neck. For once, an artist that doesn't take him/herself too seriously.

Listen to the track below.

A Third the Way Through: How's 2011 Been?

At the end of 2010, Katy Perry was atop the singles charts in America and several other national charts, while Susan Boyle capitalized on what worked with her debut album as she secured her reign atop the album charts around the world for a second holiday season. But exactly how the first few months of 2011 would shape out would surely be an interesting ride.

The big story thus far this year has been Adele's enormous success. Having the strongest first week sales of any album this year and being the first album of 2011 to cross the platinum barrier, Adele's 21 has officially confirmed that her transatlantic journey proved to be successful. Add to that the growing momentum of her lead single "Rolling in the Deep," she may be the first British female with a number one album and single since Leona Lewis accomplished that feat in 2008.

Another major story was Britney Spears's return to music. Her lead single "Hold It Against Me" would preform quite well on the charts, debuting at number one on the Hot 100 with over 400,000 copies sold in its first seven days on digital music media. Unfortunately, the song strong entrance on the charts would be short-lived as the song rapidly fell off the charts (largely because of the absence of any promotion). March would prove to be far better as the album debuted at number one, her sixth chart-topper and the youngest artist to do so.

Katy Perry's 5th Week at Number One; "Judas" & "Girls" Tumble

Katy Perry' "E.T." spends a fifth week at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 after selling another 300,000 copies this week. This is the fourth week the song has pushed 300k or more and its seventh week atop the Hot Digital Songs chart. Equally impressive is the song has spent a second week atop the Radio Songs chart, making it even less likely that the song will be overtaken atop these charts anytime soon.

Although Perry's reign atop the charts is impressive, a charging late-bloomer is rapidly catapulting up the charts in the form of Adele's "Rolling in the Deep." Although the song was released in late November, the song has steadily risen up the charts. This week the song, who undersold "E.T." by just a few hundred copies, rises to number two on the charts.

Interestingly enough, some of the most highly anticipated songs have not performed as many might have expected. Lady Gaga's controversial "Judas" falls out of the top ten Digital Songs chart from 9-16 (81,000), while Beyonce's lead single from her upcoming fourth album falls 23-39 with 47,000 sold. Their exact spots on the Billboard Hot 100 will be released tomorrow.

Check out the rest of the top five on the Hot 100 below.

Katy Perry Covers Gaga "Born This Way"

Katy Perry is one of those performers whose voice works best against stripped acoustic instrumentals. This is no more evident than with her recent performance of Lady Gaga's number one hit, "Born This Way."

Katy Perry's Single Artwork for "E.T."

Picture Source 

Katy Perry has three number one songs under her belt with her sophomore album Teenage Dream. If that isn't a direct refutation to the "sophomore slump" trend that plagues many artists, than I don't what is! Regardless, her fourth single is the first song leaked before from her most recent LP, which is titled "E.T.," and yes, it stands for extraterrestrial.

Listen to the song below:

Katy Perry Releases California Dreams Tour Details

Katy Perry has released tour details about her upcoming California Dreams summer concert series in support of her number one album Teenage Dream. The 95-date tour includes 39 North American dates, including her opening show in America at Atlanta's Gwinnett Center on June 7th as well as two shows in her hometown of Santa Barbara, CA on 13th and 14th of August.

53rd Annual Grammy Awards Predictions

It is January and that means Grammy prediction time! The nominations, which were revealed last month, have been dominated by Eminem's staggering 10 nods, followed by Bruno Mars at seven, Jay-Z, Lady Antebellum, and Lady Gaga with six, while B.o.B and John Legend share five nominations each. With so many big names in music competing against each other, it will be very interesting to see who ends up the big winner of 2011. But until February 13th arrives, here are some predictions of mine for the winners of the upcoming ceremony.

Record of the Year

Nothin' On You - B.o.B featuring Bruno Mars

Love The Way You Lie - Eminem featuring Rihanna

F*** You - Cee-Lo Green

Empire State of Mind - Jay-Z featuring Alicia Keys

Need You Now - Lady Antebellum

U.S. Billboard 200 Chart Update

The thing about releasing a holiday album is that although it may dominate sales during the holiday season, it will inevitably spiral down the charts after Christmas, something most evident in this week's Billboard 200 chart. Some of last week's strong chart players have tumbled down the charts, such as Susan Boyle's The Gift, which loses 92 percent of last week's sales and free-falls from number 2 to number 31 with 19,000. Jackie Evancho's O Holy Night has 89 percent of last week's shaved off to fall from number 4 to number 34, while the Glee Christmas album collapses from number 3 to leaving the top 100 at number 108, a sales hit of 96 percent.

52nd Grammy Awards 2010 Predictions

Today marks one of the biggest days in international music as the biggest stars on radio, iPods, iPhones, MP3 players, and music software convene to honor the winners (and not the nominees) of the 52nd Grammy Awards ceremony at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. Whereas previous ceremonies have been dominated by critically acclaimed but commercially mediocre artists, some of the most successful artists in music have garnered substantial nominations, from Kanye West to Taylor Swift, Beyonce to Lady Gaga, Rihanna to Jay-Z, and Kings of Leon to Metallica. With any awards show, a little predictive input is always some fun!


Below is a list of a few of the major categories and MY winner predictions and the reasoning behind such predictions.

Record of the Year
Halo - Beyonce
I Gotta Feeling - The Black Eyed Peas
Use Somebody - Kings of Leon
Poker Face - Lady Gaga
You Belong with Me - Taylor Swift

PREDICTION: "Poker Face" by Lady Gaga. Arguably the most critically praised and commercially successful song of the past year, "Poker Face" is Lady Gaga's pièce de résistance, solidifying dance-pop's domination on radio and in the record stores, while lyrically ambiguous enough to garner varying interpretations as to the song's meaning. However, "You Belong with Me" would not be a surprising upset in this category.

Album of the Year
I Am... Sasha Fierce - Beyonce
The E.N.D. - The Black Eyed Peas
The Fame - Lady Gaga
Big Whiskey and the Groogrux King - Dave Matthews Band
Fearless - Taylor Swift

PREDICTION: Big Whiskey and the Groogrux King. This particular album has received very favorable reviews from critics and has been a particularly strong album contender for this cateogory for quite sometime. In particular, this category often goes to an album that has received substantial praise from the critics and public, while also retaining an ability to be likable across different cohorts of listeners. Fearless by Taylor Swift is once again a close second for this category.

Song of the Year
Poker Face - Lady Gaga
Pretty Wings - Maxwell
Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It) - Beyonce
Use Somebody - Kings of Leon
You Belong With Me - Taylor Swift

PREDICTION: Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It) by Beyonce. This is a songwriters' award but since Beyonce has songwriting credits, she will be a receiver of this award, should she win (which I think she will). This song far exceeded expectations and, coupled with the widespread popularity of the music video, became a pop culture phenomenon. I find it hard to believe that this song, with its substantial cultural impact, would be denied the honor of Song of the Year. However, a close second in this category is "Use Somebody" by Kings of Leon.

Best New Artist
Zac Brown Band
Keri Hilson
MGMT
Silversun Pickups
The Ting Tings

PREDICTION: The Ting Tings. While The Ting Tings have not achieved the success here as they have in their native UK, they managed to score two songs on the top 30 songs on pop radio, with "That's Not My Name" reaching 39 on the Billboard Hot 100, an impressive feat for a group that had virtually no promotion in the US for any of the singles (with the NOTABLE exception, of course, of the use of "Shut Up and Let Me Go" on an iPod commercial over a year ago). This category is a little tricky, with a potential upset coming with Keri Hilson or MGMT in this category.

Best Female Pop Vocal Performance
Hometown Glory - Adele
Halo - Beyonce
Hot N Cold - Katy Perry
Sober - Pink
You Belong with Me - Taylor Swift

PREDICTION: "You Belong with Me" by Taylor Swift. This song has become one of country music's most successful songs in the past decade, peaking just shy of the peak spot on the Billboard Hot 100 at #2. Furthermore, it has become Swift's breakthrough song in pop and adult contemporary radio formats, while attracting critical appeal and fan jubilation. "Hometown Glory" is a very likely candidate for this award as well, as she did take two awards last year, even at the young age of 20 just one year after her debut album was released in the UK. This would not be a surprising victory for this Brit at all.

Best Male Pop Vocal Performance
This Time - John Legend
Love You - Maxwell
Make it Mine - Jason Mraz
If You Don't Know Me By Now - Seal
All About the Love Again - Stevie Wonder

PREDICTION: "All About the Love Again" by Stevie Wonder. Stevie Wonder has always been a Grammy favorite and this song will likely be no exception, giving the R&B/Rock/Pop musician another award to fill his already (rightfully) crowded mantle of golden gramophones. A close second is possible with Maxwell's "Love You."

More award predictions will be added shortly as we near showtime Sunday evening!