Taylor & Zendaya on Fallon
Taylor Swift and Zendaya may seem like an odd pair of popstars to be collaborating on a song, an urban song at that, but the two have had quite the success with their latest release, 'Gunshots'- a song about being weak and fearsome until you build up the courage and fiong nd in the strength in yourelf to overcome it. Ironically the song wasn't written by Zendaya nor Swift at first. It wasn't until Swift re-wrote some of the song that she got a writing credit on the track. "Gunshots was a song that I'd heard about through a friend. I knew who Zendaya was of course and I'd always been a fan of her. She's incredibly talented. The way she gets up there on stage and gives it her everything is one of the reasons I was so interested in the track. If it'd been anyone else on the track I wouldn't have even spent the time writing my own version of it. She has this talent of capturing the essence and mood of a song so perfectly. I feel as if we both have that and together on a song as good as Gunshots, that we really kind of put out something really good." Swift spoke in her Jimmmy Fallon interview where Zendaya joined her. "This song is really personal for Taylor and I because we went through what the song talks about, which can be interpreted in many ways, too. No matter if it's a relationship or if life just gets you down, we've all went through it." About the Angel Haze remix, Zendaya responded as Swift listened closely. "Angel Haze is perhaps my favorite female rapper in the rap game right now. Everything about her kind of forceful. Her image, her voice, when you're around her she's kind of intimidating almost. But when you talk to her she's the sweetest person. I was really grateful we got to get in the studio with her and record the remix because I think she really did a really great job with it." About Taylor's upcoming studio album that's set to be released in a month or so, Swift gushed. "The album is somewhat near finished. I keep having this constant urge to change directions but I think... I THINK I've finally stuck to one sound. I can't tell you what it is but I think it's going to be really cool and will fit the summer perfectly. The lyrics too, I think you guys and radio will have fun with this next album. It's quite different and contrasting to what you're hearing now out on the radio by me. And everyone I think. It's a modern throwback in a way, if that makes sense." Taylor and Zendaya then would get stage to perform 'Gunshots' with just two microphone stands. The two girls wore faded sweaters, Taylor's red and Zendaya's green, with a pair of white tight Alexander Wang jeans that stopped at their angles. The two then finished off the look with a pair of Jimmy Choo heels, serving city chic tea. Their vocals were on point as the girl gave the Late Show some of the best ratings in the past few years.
Sunday, June 29th Promotion DANITY KANE & TYGA PERFORM AT THE 2014 BET AWARDS
Having just dropped “Lemonade” on iTunes this morning, Danity Kane was ready to bring out the early big guns to promote the song. And in a surprise twist, their collaborator Tyga, would join them on stage to assist with the performance. And the best part - it was never announced. The performance was a total surprise, shocking viewers all over the nation and the DediKated Crew themselves. With the song just being released, it is already #1 on the R&B/Soul chart, however it took a little slip to #3 on US iTunes Overall now. However, with this performance Danity Kane was looking to make huge waves with Tyga in the Urban markets, where they originated. After being introduced by Tinashe, the lights blacked out and the performance began.
The stage turned yellow with lights flashing everywhere, while an electronic introduction played. Smoke was cluttering the entire stage as many dancers would creep on and get into position. There were three huge glass staircases leading to glass platforms. Aubrey then shouted: "BET! You thirsty? Hit that **** Dawn!" and the instrumental began to play. Dawn, who stood on the top of the center platform/staircase began to rap her introductory verse. Some of the dancers below started to clear the smoke, as they performed some basic choreography. As soon as the "Coup DeVille" lyric came up, everybody was in a squatting position popping their ******* and dicks like there was no tomorrow, which caused the crowd to go in a frenzy. And on the back wall of the stage, the lyric video was playing to the song. The first chorus kicked in, with Shannon and Aubrey being shown with spotlights on their platforms/staircases. They all flailed there arms across, and then shook their hips twice, while doing the Nae Nae afterwards. They then crossed their arms over each other (ala Ariana Grande's "Problem") and then held out their hands in the form of cups.
The camera then focused on Aubrey, who then started her verse. As she did, Dawn strutted down the staircase showing, "Ay!" to the beat lightly so Aubrey's vocals could stun. Her vocal was on-point with the studio version, defeating many critics over the years who have claimed that she could not sing and was only in the group because of her appearance and dance ability. Well, she served the whole package. She spun around twice and shouted, "Yo Shannon, go!" as Shannon hit her pre-chorus while Aubrey slowly walked down the stairs. Shannon was doing contemporary choreography and snapping her fingers to the beat, as did the fifteen dancers below while making intricate poses connecting to each other. Everybody was on the stage floor now, and they spread out to spell 'DK3' from an aerial view, which the camera showcased. Everybody went in on the choreography, for the second verse. And each girl stepped up closer to the edge of the stage to belt out the "lemonade, lemonade" lyric in a higher octave than the other girls, creating an amazing harmony and showcasing the strength of the girls individually.
Dawn then hit her second verse of the song, where she took off her sunglasses and bent down to one of the dancers checking for his dick; unfortunately, it appeared she couldn't find it. As the audience laughed, she stepped up to the front as Aubrey and Shannon approached behind. They rolled their hips in a left-right-stay, middle-right- left manner, while flipping their hair and getting themselves pumped. Shannon came to the center of it all, as the dancers cleared the path just a bit for the three girls to really shine as they snapped their poses. Once again, that chorus hit and everyone was booming.
Suddenly, the music transitioned to a more laid back instrumental, like an interlude. The dancers formed a circle around Danity Kane as Dawn shouted: "BET. Are you READY for your King?" and then Tyga came into the audiences' view, shocking the audience as he was right on top of Dawn's center platform while everyone was on the floor. "Yeah, yeah, yeah - hit it boy," he said calmly and the "Lemonade" instrumental played from his verse. He began to rap, as everyone circled around Danity Kane, who entered a dance breakdown and completely slayed the stage. One by one, the backup dancers would switch into the center of the circle, doing some type of breakdance move, and assisting each other in acrobatics/gymnastics-esque move that just made the crowd go absolutely wild. Tyga rapped his verse with ease, taking off his shades and throwing them into the crowd as he began to come down the stairs. He paused at the middle of the flight while Danity Kane went in with all of the dancers in a pyramid formation in the final chorus. They switched up the choreography, making it more collaborative with their partners and really mixing it up. At the end, the girls harmonized with their "ah"s while Tyga finished walking down the stairs, and came up to where Danity Kane was. Smoke shot in the back of the stage, where the backup dancers faded off camera and it was just the four of them. "Lemonade... DK," the girls whispered as they ended the song. They told the crowd to give it up for Tyga, as they all bowed. Then they exited the stage, as their performance would catch them fire for a big week this week.
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Zedd premieres "Slay" on On Air with Ryan Seacrest
On Monday, Zedd was interviewed by Ryan Seacrest on his morning show. He also premiered his new single, "Slay."
Zedd, who is on a busy promo circuit, stopped by the show's studio to promote his latest single. The interview is below:
Seacrest: We have a very special guest with us today. He's produced numerous songs for other artists, including Lady Gaga, Ariana Grande, and Rihanna. He also has a number-eight-peaking hit on the Billboard Hot 100 which is certified Platinum, as well as a song that is currently number one on iTunes! It's Zedd! Welcome to the show.
Zedd: Great to be here, Ryan.
Seacrest: Now, I understand you're running everywhere to promote this song?
Zedd: Yes, I need to be flying out to New York for The Tonight Show.
Seacrest: That must be exciting!
Zedd: Yes, it's my first time on the show. I have appeared on Jimmy Fallon's Late Night, though.
Seacrest: I see. Now about your new single. It's called "Slay," and it is definitely doing that right now!
Zedd: [chuckles] Yeah, it's been number one almost since its release.
Seacrest: It took only 29 minutes to get there, right?
Zedd: Right. It beat Ariana Grande's record of 37 minutes with Problem.
Seacrest: Looks like she now has one more problem!
[Both chuckle.]
Zedd: Anyway, Ariana's happy about this. She's proud of what I did.
Seacrest: So, about your collaboration with Rihanna on her new album. What's it called?
Zedd: "Drowning."
Seacrest: Ah, yes. Is it going to be a single?
Zedd: Not that I know of. It's up to her to release it. It's not going to be the next single, however.
Seacrest: I wanna hear more about "Slay." What was the inspiration of it?
Zedd: Gaga, actually. I wrote it for her originally, but she didn't want vocals on the track. So I decided to put it on my new album!
Seacrest: I see. About your new album, is "Break Free" going to be on it?
Zedd: At this point, yes. This could change before the album release.
Seacrest: Alright everyone, Zedd has to go now, but make sure you catch him tonight on The Tonight Show! Here is is latest single, "Slay!"
Listen to Zedd's new single on YouTube!
"Slay" is now available on Spotify, iTunes, and Google Play.
Vh1 Storytellers
As the end of the charting period for the week begins to close, so is the promotion for Taylor Swift's latest single 'Gunshots' - in which Taylor Swift features on for seventeen year old Zendaya who is preparing the launch of her sophomore album (which has yet to be titled). The collaboration came about after Taylor expressed interest to be apart of the song in some way. Taylor and Zendaya managed to make contact with each other through their labels and they set up a recording session on day last week and did the brand new take of the song in one single night. "It was kind of really fast and natural. The song came out way better than I expected. We made it work" Taylor Swift told Billboard magazine earlier this week in which she's this months covergirl. With the release of her brand new EP, 'Coven 13', which also released this week, there's no surprise Taylor Swift has been busy with promotion (as she always is when it comes to releasing). The singer has been all over television, the internet and the radio waves, but the singer made her final television appearance for the week on a special episode of VH1 Storytellers where she got her very own hour long session, doubling the standard time for regular episodes that last thirty minutes or half an hour. It marks Swift's third time doing Vh1 Storytellers, Swift first doing it with her album 'Red' and her last album 'Coven 13'. Swift sang six songs for her episode sounding absolutely flawless as she did every song acoustically and even gave background or a little speech about every song.
Before The Worst:
"I've never sang this song on television before but I think it's time I did. I don't really speak much of this song because it's kind of one of those songs that always makes you cry. This one is definitely it. When I wrote this song, I believe it was the middle of February when I did, I felt the worst I had in awhile. I'd just lost what was the light of my life and things were just beginning to get really really bad. And things between me and this person weren't all the way done. Not just yet. But I had some hope that things would work but I also had some doubt. And this song is kind of about that optimism and pessimitism you have before the end of a relationship. You know you try to make it out before everything goes wrong or... before the worst."
Losing Touch:
"This song travels along the same lines as 'Before The Worst'. It's all about the final breaths of a relationship. It's probably the worst part. It's probably worst than when it's all over. Because you know it's ending and that there's little to nothing you can do about it. Everything you ever had with that person, everything you made... it's going to waste. I feel as if that's just the worst part of love at all. A connection so strong ends and you just... lose touch."
Begin Again:
"This song is one of my favorite songs I've ever written. It's so somber and beautiful at the same time. I probably love it so much because I can relate to it now. But you know when a relationship ends, you're at time left feeling hopeless and that love is kind of pointless. I felt this way years ago for about eight months. I was so frightened of falling again because when I fell I had fell hard for the guy I'd just been with. Things between us had been intense. There was jealousy, lust, anger, and greed. When you get out of something like that you're never the same. I didn't look for love after and I think that was a good thing because if there's anything I've learned about love is that you don't look for it, love finds you. This is 'Begin Again'."
Red:
"This next song I haven't sang in quite awhile. I do love it though. It's about love. No surprise there. The relationship I was in when I wrote this song or actually the relationship I'd just been in, it was intense. And I feel like if there's a color that is eptitome of intensity. It's red. Red is such an interesting color to correlate with emotion, because it's on both ends of the spectrum. On one end you have happiness, falling in love, infatuation with someone, passion, all that. On the other end, you've got obsession, jealousy, danger, fear, anger and frustration."
Psycho:
"This song doesn't even need an explanation."
Gunshots
"This is my last and final song. This song is uplifting and I absolutely love singing it acoustic. You know in life we face obstacles, no matter what they may be... and sometimes they make us afraid or knock us down. Sometimes so hard that you fall and struggle to regain ground beneath your feet. But you know sometimes you just have to have courage and heart to just get up again and fight back. This song is about that. This is 'Gunshots'.
After breaking up with Diddy's contract in late-2008, Danity Kane has fallen off the map of the Urban market instantly. However, with Dawn Richard staying true to her R&B roots while maintaing a solo career, she's still quite respected in the Hip-Hop Community. In fact, she's been on the Breakfast Club a few times during her solo career, which is how they were able to get booked pretty easily. Although the girls were nervous, the studio welcomed them with arms wide open. In a brief interview, they received much praise from callers, and from the host on their electrifying performance with Tyga last night at the 2014 BET Awards. Dawn did most of the talking during the interview, as she commented: "Basically, our inspiration was Tyga for this performance. His schedule's extremely filled, so this may be the only time we get to perform the song together in quite some time. We knew he liked really innovative, and entertaining details - but not anything too crazy. And we wanted him to have an amazing entrance, so that's how we came up with the glass staircases and platforms. And we showed him the original choreography, but he helped us make changes here and there and wanted to add loads of dancers for some parts, but have them back off and let us shine on other parts," when asked about who and how the performance was put together. After their short interview, they headed to a room to performance "Lemonade". The sound of their voices were broadcasted on the air while a video of their performance was uploaded to their website. For the performance, they had darker clothing on than normal, mimicing their TRL performance from last week. They still killed the performance, as the Urban market was starting to open up to them again. And with radio deal that's now in effect, things could only get better. The trio said goodbye to the staff as "Lemonade" played on the air upon their exit. "Lemonade" remained #1 on the R&B/Soul charts and Top Three overall in the US on iTunes.
Hollywood Reporter Magazine
Taylor Swift has been dubbed as one of the most influential and powerful women in the music industry today. Alongside this impact comes the massive success the superstar has in all three areas, the singles, albums, and touring department. With her five consecutive number one singles within a year, and her massive tours (Red Tour, All At Once Tour, WItching Hour Tour) there seems to be no stopping the singer. In this month's latest issue of The Hollywood Reporter Magazine Swift dishes about her success along with her blossoming film career. And also about that seventh studio album everyone has been dying to hear. And what she told The Hollywood Reporter, you don't want to miss.
About her success:
"Success is really something that you can ofteno take for granted. Even if you don't mean too. I can honestly say at times I've taken it for granted but recently I've been really reflecting on myself and have tried to be morethankful for all the success I've been having in my musical and film career." About her spute with Paige Elliot:
"You know sometimes things or let's say friendships don't work out. It isn't like that with me and Paige. Paige and I are like sisters. We love each other dearly and will always be there for each otehr but sometimes sisters have problems too. You know things between me and Paige for ahwile have been really tense. Her alcohol use has gotten really out of control and you know that night in New York City I knew I had to do something about it because it wasn't affecting just her but those around her. Things escalated and unfortunately it got to the point where it got violent and I wish it hadn't. Me and Paige are going through a rough patch and currently we aren't speaking but I can say sometime in the future we will. How soon that is I don't know."
About her film career:
"I've always been passionate about acting. I did some small roles before my last two albums but never nothing really major. I want to sort of invest my entire soul into a role for me to play a main character and I hadn't really connected with a character until recently. You know I've been filming some amazing films as of late. I'm going to be in a film called 'Kin' which is directed by the talented Steve McQueen. I start filming in a week from now and I've definitely been working at preparing myself for the role. I have a really weird way of getting into a role. I think of things Ive went through in life that would make me feel the way that character did and when I connect it's when I really put on my best acting. I'm so excited for what's to come film wise. Especially for a film that's coming fast and right in time."
About her upcoming seventh studio album:
"I've like recorded two albums since Coven 13. Both of them are completely different genres and I can say I'm proud of both but I don't think either of them will ever be released. Because as of late I've gotten a source of inspiration. One I don't think I'll abandon for another. I've been in the studio as of late with some great producers. Giorgio Moroder is one of the producers I've been in the studio with. We're not producing disco records but we're producing some songs that are really innovative and fresh sounding. The album is going really well so far and I can say that it's probably going to be the best record of my discography. The sound of it is just very new wave and dance-rock. It's almost like a modern Blondie album in a way."
The music video for Zedd's new single "Slay" was released on Tuesday at noon on Zedd's VEVO channel. It gained over 20 million views, breaking the record set by Miley Cyrus' "Wrecking Ball." As of this writing, it is VEVO-certified with 109 million views.
The video starts with an empty beauty pageant stage. As the music's intensity increases, the contestants walk out onto the stage until they're all there. They strike a pose.
The video then cuts to the judges' table. We see Zedd there!
The pageant continues as the pace of the song slows, but then a bearded criminal shows up to the pageant! He tells everyone to get to the ground. He happens to walk in front of the stage, when two of the contestants tackle him! They pull him backstage, and dress him up as a contestant, with the women promising not to turn him in if he goes through with it. They make him look like Conchita Wurst, the winner of 2014's Eurovision music competition.
He goes through with the whole thing, looking uncomfortable, but still slaying. Despite this, the crowd loves his performance and the judges crown him as the winner. He swears to the two women who dressed him up that he won't ever commit a crime again. Too late, they say, because they already called the cops, who had already arrived.
The final 15 seconds of the video have the whole place partying, with a surprise guest appearance by RuPaul and the real Conchita Wurst.
Listen to Zedd's latest single!
"Slay" is now available on Spotify, iTunes, and Google Play.
Zedd has announced a promotion with Subway to promote his singles and albums.
Zedd had this to say on the matter: "This deal with Subway will allow me to gain more exposure in the American market. Fans, this means better success on the charts! "
Subway's comment? "Zedd is a very talented musician. We are honored to help him promote his latest works."
The deal includes advertisements and a sandwich made by Zedd himself.
Listen to Zedd's latest single!
"Slay" is now available on Spotify, iTunes, and Google Play.
Zedd has created a lot of controversy with his latest music video for his single "Slay."
It revolves around a beauty pageant invaded by a criminal. The criminal is captured by two of the contestants and made up as a contestant, under the pretense that he won't be turned in. The criminal ultimately wins, but the contestants who captured had already called the police, who are there to arrest him.
Zedd has been accused of appropriating drag culture in his new music video. One Tumblr user stated, "Zedd is abusing and making fun of drag culture. This is disgusting and he must be stopped immediately! NO ONE buy his music!" The blog post has gained 2452 reblogs and 11042 likes.
The complaints aren't only coming from internet communities, however. Conservative America also has an issue with the fact that drag culture is shown in the video, but for a different reason: they don't want to see it at all! One Facebook commenter stated that "This is disgusting. Men should never wear dresses."
People such as RuPaul, Lady Gaga, Conchita Wurst, and Miley Cyrus have come to support Zedd. This controversy seems to have calmed a bit since it started, but could resurge soon.
Listen to Zedd's latest single!
"Slay" is now available on Spotify, iTunes, and Google Play.
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