A lot of people have been calling "Gunshots" the next big song in America, and with this amount of promotion that this song is getting, it seems that their predictions might end up becoming real. The next place that Zendaya and Taylor stop by is the popular Ellen DeGeneres Show, and they have been asked to perform on Ellen's show by Ellen herself, since she is a good friend with Taylor Swift. With their performance on this show, these girls just one again proved the fact that they are definitely stellar performers. However, this time, this rare girl duo decided to show another side of themselves - more emotional and calm side. With an acoustic performance of their current single "Gunshots", Taylor and Zendaya showed their ability to strip down (vocally, basically) and serve a slow performance that really shows off their amazing voices and how perfectly they fit each other. And acoustic performances is a bit of unusual thing for both of these girls, since they almost everytime do big performances with a lot of choreography and dancing. But of course, not this time, and during their Ellen performance, they really served more calm, more vulnerable and emotional vocals. After their performance, both of them sat down with Ellen to talk about their new releases, upcoming plans and even more.
Ellen: You girls know each other for about two or three weeks now, but you seem to be really close to each other. How did you become friends? And what made you literally become so close?
Zendaya: Well, let me tell you the whole story, which isn't that long. Basically, we me each other for the first time two weeks ago, in the studio, in which we were recording stuff for our individual projects. And then I offered her a collaboration, she agreed, and I've decided to rerelease our song. So, since then, we have been spending a lot of time together, you know, we have been promoting our collaborative single a lot, we have been travelling a lot, we have been staying in the same hotels, we have shot music video together, and, I don't know, suddenly, it happened, we started talking while travelling and doing stuff, we started sharing our stories together, and boom, we became good friends.
Ellen: Zendaya, you started your music career a year ago when you released your debut self-titled album, but you didn't receive that much attention. Why do you think you've been noticed only now, not a year ago, with your previous project?
Zendaya: I don't know, I guess it's just because the whole project wasn't really there, it was more like all over the place, because my debut single, "Replay", lasted for a year, I was in a difficult situation with my previous label, Hollywood Records, and everything just was all over the place, it wasn't organized or planned or whatever. And I didn't get any oppurtunity to promote. But with "Gunshots", I'm getting a lot of oppurtunities to promote my single all over America and even outside of it, and one of the biggest artists out there at the moment is featured on it, so I guess that's why it is doing that good.
Ellen: So, on what are you working at the moment?
Zendaya: I'm basically working on my music at the moment, it's my main priority, and I think the biggest mistake I did with my first attempt to become a successful artist was that I was all over the place as well, since I was doing acting, singing and dancing and even writing and even designing at the same time, which basically made my schedule even more crazy than it is right now, and I wasn't able to truly focus on music. But, now I'm focused on music, I've cancelled any plans that aren't music related, now I'm getting ready to release my album, I'm doing a lot of meetings with my label, I'm visiting recording studios lately, and that's just it. Oh, and I also did one more exciting collaboration with one of my favorite artists at the moment, but I can't really say who that artist is, because we want to make a surprise. But the song that we did together is really dope and cool, it's pop, it's fun, and I think it's a potential hit, but we'll see about what. Oh, and besides all of that, I helped Rihanna write her current single, "Juicy Cakes", alongside with Rihanna herself, Britney Spears, Danity Kane and Kelly Clarkson. I literally can't get over the fact that I actually worked with those girls, because honestly, they're so so so cool and awesome and they all inspire me, and it was just surreal to work with them on something. I mean, wow, I worked with Britney, Rihanna, Danity Kane, Kelly... Just damn. I never thought about working with these amazing artists, and look, I co-wrote a song for Rihanna for them. That's... amazing. Honestly. I'm still getting nervous just talking about this experience, it's amazing. Those artists have a huge influence on my music, so it was a pleasure.
Kesha has unveiled an exclusive peak at the promo shoot for her latest single 'Beautiful Mess'
The shoot sees Kesha with platinum blonde hair and sexy looks.
Kesha in the promo shoot for 'Beautiful Mess'
The pictures were shot by Elliott Morgan, a very talented photographer. The pictures see Kesha looking at us seductively and she looks absolutely stunning. She looks healthy, happy and this is one of her best looks to date! Now let us hope her new apparant boo Josh Hutcherson thinks the same.
Kesha's new single, 'Beautiful Mess', is out now on Itunes, Amazon and physical copies are available at your local supermarket.
So like I won't be able to post any promo for the rest of the week until Sunday
because I'm going over to my sisters... And they're struggling with those bills
Slaying the Top 20 with 7 articles this week
Earlier today, Zendaya and Taylor both visited KIIS FM radio station studios in Los Angeles, California, where they performed their new collaborative single "Gunshots" and also gave an interview as well. Both of them arrived in the studios together at the same time, but before they entered the studios, both girls posed a little bit for the photographers togther and also interacted with their fans by taking some pictures with them. Speaking of their devoted fans, they actually mobbed them right infront of KIIS FM studios, although they both reacted pretty much calmly, remained with smiles on their faces and posed with everyone who asked for a picture, and signed a lot of autographs as well. Overall, they've spent about an hour just interacting with fans and posing for photographers, and because of that, they were a little bit late to their appearance. But of course, security got involved pretty much soon and then they entered the studios shortly after. Both of them performed an acoustic version of "Gunshots" at the radio station studios, and after the performance, they also sat down with Ryan Seacrest to do an interview. Zendaya talked about her current plans, and Taylor also talked about her latest EP "Coven 13" and more.
Ryan: So, today we have special guests today visiting us today! These girls are currently break music industry with their new single "Gunshots"; one of them is a Grammy-winning recording artist, who has sold a lot of records in America, as well as the whole world - it's Taylor Swift! And the other one is a person who is slowly shaping to be the next big thing in the music industry - she might end up being the next Rihanna, or Beyonce - she's Zendaya! Well, girls, let me just start off by saying that you did it. You probably just created a song that is shaping to becoming one of the biggest songs this year.
Zendaya: Thank you for predicting a great future for this song!
Ryan: I swear, this song is so relatable, I sometimes even think that this song is literally about me and what I'm dealing sometimes, you know? It's just so relatable! Explain, what this song is about.
Zendaya: Well basically this song has a strong message about standing up for yourself. For example, if you're fearing of something, if someone's taking advantage of you, if you are avoiding someone or something, and then one day you just screw it all and stand up for yourself - and this song is all about that, it's about getting over your fears, or dealing with someone that is taking advantage of you, that is using you. Anyone, like seriously, anyone can relate to this song somehow, because I'm pretty sure that all of us had that kind of moment in our life. And, if anyone's dealing with this kind of situation at the moment, then I hope that this song will inspire them to stand up for themselves, for their opinion, their work and literally everything.
Ryan: This is exactly why I love this song, anyonce can relate to it. So, I've heard that you girls shot a music video for this song not too much ago, and we can't honestly wait for it. What's the video about?
Zendaya: I personally love this video, but I think that some people might not like it because, well, it's a little bit controversial, and I also think that this is my own way to part my ways with Disney, since I used to be a Disney girl not too long ago. This video is really good, it's high budget, the plot is very well written, thanks to Taylor, and this video is just... wow. I have no idea how to describe it, you know. This video will be relatable in some way as well, I guess, since it's really connected to the song. It has two meanings, honestly - when you think this video is about love, then you might see another scene and you will change your opinion about this whole video instantly and you will think it's completely about something else, not about love. So it's just relatable, I mean, someone will want to see this video as a video about love, and someone else will want to see this video completely differently, about something else. I know it's hard to understand now, because it was hard for me to understand what this video is about when we I first read the script, but when we started shooting and when I saw the final version, and actually I suddenly realized the topics of this video. It's an amazing video. You guys will be speechless, hands down.
Ryan: What are you current plans?
Zendaya: I'm getting ready to release my sophomore album, and I'm launching it in about few weeks, so stay tuned for more information, and plus, I have another collaboration coming out really soon, I can't really announce it or say with who I worked, because we want to keep it as a secret for now, but just watch out for something really exciting. And I also worked with amazing group of girls for Rihanna's new single, I've worked with Britney Spears, Danity Kane, Kelly Clarkson and Rihanna herself, we all wrote her new single and it was unbelievable experience to work with all of them, since they have such a huge influence on my fashion choices, on my music, everything, literally, because I grew up listening to these artists... And yeah, basically that's it, album's coming out, a little surprise collaboration is coming out pretty soon, I'll be releasing another single from my album sometime soon as well, so... everything's just coming up, and you all just need to watch out for more exciting news and announcements!
It was announced just minutes ago that the new EP, full of remixed versions of "Gunshots", has been released on iTunes via Republic Records. But it wasn't that of surprise, since Zendaya already announced that "Gunshots: Remixes" will be released on iTunes during her appearance on The Voice music competition yesterday, when she was there with Taylor Swift to promote this track. Besides announcing the release of this EP, they also kind of previewed one of the remixes during their performance there when they played Afrojack's version of this song right after the bridge. To make that whole "remix" part more interesting during their performance, they did a heavy choreography during that part, which made everyone literally stop for a moment and take a look at them for a moment, since they've been doing simple performances all over and over again, and during this one, they took a risk and did something different from what they've been doing everyday for a whole week now. This remixes EP consists of seven different versions of "Gunshots" - there are six different remixes on there, and also, one acoustic version is included as well. All of the biggest deejays out there at the moment, like Dreamtrak, Diplo, Afrojack and others all remixed this song and made their own version, and to be honest, all of those versions sound really good. Also, after its sudden release on iTunes, the EP became available on Spotify and Amazon as well, so more people could listen to all those remixes and that acoustic version.
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay-Part 1: Trailer #1 Released
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Gimme Your Best featured on trailer, first song revealed on soundtrack
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The first TV spot for the highly anticipated continuation to the Hunger Games series was released today. The TV spot isn’t too long, only lasting a decent 55 seconds. It is being heavily promoted on all major TV stations as the beginning to a huge upcoming promotional campaign for part one of the two part finale to “The Hunger Games”. In the new film, Katniss Everdeen reluctantly becomes the symbol of a mass rebellion against the autocratic Capitol. Scheduled for release on November 21st 2014, Mockingjay Part 1 has been named the most anticipated film of the year by Fandango. In turn, the first official trailer recently released will be heavily promoted to keep the momentum going.
The trailer is with a few audible lines from Katniss and other unknown characters (if you only watch the movies). For about 30 seconds of the trailer, the very familiar chorus to “Gimme Your Best” plays to a montage of rebellions and fights that occur in Panem throughout the course of Mockingjay Part 1.
It has been officially revealed that “Gimme Your Best” is the first song the new Hunger Games soundtrack for Mockingjay Part 1. An unusual song choice, Lionsgate defended their decision by stating “it is a sure-fire hit song, it is very up-beat and an interesting choice for this movie.. but we are not interested in only having somber music in Mockingjay, Britney’s song will bring a lightened mood to the movie in parts which focus on Katniss’ decision between Peeta and Gale.”
The TV spot for Mockingjay Part 1 will be played for the next few weeks on all major TV channels as the beginning to an extensive promotional came for the film.
A big fan of Azealia Banks, the president of the United States, Barack Obama, had Azealia perform for him and his family at a televised presidential event. Reportedly, Mr.President texted Azealia and said "We're throwing a party that will be broadcasted on CNN. Why don't you perform your new song Vibes? My family and I would love it." Obviously, Azealia said yes and ended up performing at the event.
Broadcasted on CNN for over a million viewers, Azealia performed last night for the president. At the start of the performance, Azealia was laying on her back with her arms spread and legs closed, resembling a cross. Laying on top of a bed of purple flowers with her hair in a high pony tail, Azealia had her eyes closed and with the camera zoomed in on her face, you could see the intricate details put in on her face. With her eyelids painted with a purple swoosh look, Azealia looked like a goddess with glitter at the edge of her face. On top of Azealia, live butterflies layed on top of her. Purple and black with wings flapping as Azealia laid with her eyes closed. As the bass of the song began, wires raised Azealia up to standing position and the hundreds of butterflies on Azealia flew off of her and into the audience. After the butterflies flew off, Azealia was revealed to be wearing a dress made of purple hydrangeas and a headpiece resembling a large glittery butterly preparing to take flight. As Azealia pranced to the mic as the beat banged, with each step a chime was made to give a peaceful sound. Making it to the mic, Azealia began to sing Vibes with the audience capitvated with each word that came out of Azealia's mouth. Behind her, two men wearing all white were climbing and doing a cirque-di-souli performance on fabric and ropes behind her.
After the performance, Azealia crouched down as the butterflies flew back to her and perched on her arm as the chimes played softly. With a roar of applause, the performance was over. The president tweeted about the performance saying it was "a work of art". The performance has since been uploaded on Vevo and has gained seven hundred thousand views. The placement of Vibes was also effected by the performance, greatly, and managed to increase its hold in the top 5.
The July 3rd edition of TMZ featured a leaked song by Marina & The Diamonds titled "**** Is Good For The Soul". The song isn't listed on the tracklist for her upcoming EP The Money, so could this be a track from a new album? Here's the transcript of the songs segment:
Quote:
"Alright so we all have heard Marina & The Diamond's single 'Where The Diamonds Grow', but something nobody has heard is this new demo called '**** Is Good For The Soul'" Says one of the TMZ writers.
"Wait, this girl wrote a song about... ****?" Another writer responded.
"Not just that! In the song she talks about calling an Ex to have phone sex" The writer responds. "This is quite a departure from her new single. The other thing is, this isn't on her EP. It's lead online forums to believe it's a demo from a new album from Marina."
The lyrics are very different from some of the stuff shes put out. It seems like Marina's version of Lana Del Rey's hit 'Cola' has finally arrived.
Quote:
I'd rather go home
And watch ****o
On my own
I've got a big collection
A really huge selection
And if I'm really desperate
I'll call up my ex
And have sex on the phone
It beats orgasming alone
**** is good for the soul
But that doesn't mean a thing invariable
Unless you own a good *****
But then I bet you think I'm a *****
Sex is a drug
So throw me a bone
It's so innocent
That why I'm always phone home, phone home
Cuz I'm acting ashamed
That I feel like a boy
Oh women are meant to act coy
That's why we've got all these toys
**** is good for the soul
But it doesn't always leave you feeling whole
Unless you own a good *****
But then I bet you think I'm a *****
Reba McEntire known as a country music legend has received a nod of support from the National Rifle Association who will be using an alternative version of her latest single, “Tears of Yesterday”. This upbeat variation will be run during both radio and television spots and has created a little bit of a controversy for Reba.
With gun rights a heated debate, some have found it shocking that a woman of Reba’s caliber would partner up with the aggressive organization. However, there seems to be a noticeable spike in sales, thanks to the extra support.
Reba herself is no stranger to using a gun. Growing up in Oklahoma on a ranch, you can bet that she has fired one or two in her life. But the sophisticated songstress does devote her time to movies and acting at this point.
Make sure you keep an eye out for her promotional spots from the NRA and download her latest single, “Tears of Yesterday” which can be found on iTunes now.
NIGHT 3
Taylor Swift played the third night of her Electric Princess Tour , in Osaka, Japan. To a sold out crowd of 46,982 people, Taylor gave a show full of stunning visuals, video montages, and performances of songs of songs in her six album discography. Every song on her 'Coven 13: The EP' was performed, some serving as interludes rather than full performances but every song was included in the set. The tour follows the evolution of a girl who has been dubbed as "insane" or "crazy" and is sent to a mental hospital where she is rather tortured than helped. She begins to reminisce before being sent to the hospital, thinking back to the events that led up to her getting sent to the hospital. More downtempo songs like 'Losing Touch', and the collab 'Gunshots' are performed here, along with a cover of Beyoncé and Jay Z's ' On The Run'. She then comes back to reality, facing the truth of what is wrong in her life with songs like "I Knew You Were Trouble", 'Girl With the Red Lipstick" and a few more. The final act is 'The Electric Princess', which is the last of the act of the show. Taylor instead of getting better hast turned into a egotistical monster aka The Electric Princess. The biggest hit of Swift's career 'Swarovski' closes the show as Swift is coronated as the 'Electric Princess'.
City:Osaka Country: Japan Venue: Osaka Dome Percentage: 100% Tickets Sold: 46,982 Gross: $5,755,385
Receipts
Tokyo Dome, Tokyo (100%) (49,525/49,525) ($7,548,187)
Tokyo Dome, Tokyo (100%) (50,524/50,524) ($8,968,019)
Osaka Dome, Osaka (100%) (46,982/48,982) ($5,755,385)
Britney Spears Kills It At NRJ Awards ------------
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Britney Spears took to the stage at todays NRJ Awards in France. Britney is quite popular in France and after stopping by England and Korea earlier this week, it seems like she planned another trip abroad.
Britney closed the show and was the surprise performer of the night. The performance began with a backdrop flashing a warning sign.
Then a robotic voice started counting down"10..9..8..7..6..5..4..3..2..1", as the voice was counting down smoke covered the stage and Britney rose up from a platform underneath.
Britney then stood center stage with a vast amount of smoke around her as "Gimme Your Best" began to play, her ladies came from behind the stage and they lined up in a formation that resembled two sides of a triangle with Britney at the highest point. They went into a dance break for the chorus, doing twirls splits and leg kicks all in synch.
The girls then began to grab and touch one another, almost kissing in between sensual dance moves. Suddenly a huge group of guys came to the stage attempting to take the girls, especially Britney. Britney pushed the guys away as they surrounded her in a circle. Britney moved her hands to the side of her body and they all fell down like dominoes. A ring of fire came out of the stage as Britney did a dance break on stage all by herself as the fire intensified. She shouted into the mic "sometimes these boys give it their all, but they're just not good enough... wooh!" "you don't need a man to fulfill your needs ladies, we can do it on our own"
Britney and the girls then started dancing to an urban beat while stomping their feet on the ground. They pushed the boys off stage and kept dancing on their own as Gimme Your Best was coming to a close. Water then started to poor down on all the girls and they all did full splits and began rubbing their bodies on the ground. They got up for one final dance break as Britney did a back handspring to the final line of Gimme Your Best. The song and performance ended as smoke surrounded the stage once more.
Britney sang most of the song live while also giving it her all in the dancing department, this should be appreciated by her French fans.
Kelly Clarkson spent the day performing on several MSNBC television shows today, in an effort to gain exposure for her latest single, “You Don’t Need Me”. For each hour on the hour, the singer performed a live version of the song, accompanied by random people over the day including, Sting, Paul McCartney, Jessica Simpson, Garth Brooks and Britney Spears.
Performances from the day were then posted to her VEVO page where fans were asked to vote for their favorite version of the song. Ultimately, Britney Spears won hands down which comes as no surprise considering the legends adore each other.
Kelly is ramping up the last leg of her promotional efforts over the next couple of days. Stay tuned for more breaking Kelly Clarkson news and make sure you take the time to download her latest single, “You Don’t Need Me” which is available on iTunes today.
Receipts
