Xposition - October 2013

Attention!!!

October was also not such an eventful month. But still the hype was building up to the much anticipated 2013 YouTube Awards and 2013 American Music Awards. The nominations were announced for the the YouTube Awards and the hip-hop duo Macklemore and Ryan Lewis were nominated for 4 while PSY were nominated for 3 and Rihanna and Taylow Swift each nominated for 2. 

The nominees for the American Music Awards 2013 were also announced by Will.I.Am and Kelly Clarkson and once again Macklemore and Ryan Lewis lead the nominations with 6 while Taylor Swift and Justin Timberlake each have been nominated for 5. Miley Cyrus, Lady Gaga, One Direction, Imagine Dragons and Florida Georgia Line are all to perform at the show. 

It was announced that Jonas Brothers the immensely successful US boy band is splitting up. The band cancelled their tour and announced that the members are going their separate ways due to creative differences. The band was to release their fifth studio album this year. 

Lou Reed, the guitarist, vocalist and principal songwriter of Velvet Underground and then as a solo artiste known for his hit Walk on the Wild Side died on 27th October 2013 aged 71. Many artists including Lenny Kravitz, Iggy Pop, David Bowie and Patti Smith paid tribute to Reed.

In a surprising turn of events for all Kanye West proposed to Kim Kardashian in San Francisco and an orchestra played while the center field scoreboard of the AT&T Park displayed the proposal "Please Marry Me". American sweetheart and the first winner of American Idol, Kelly Clarkson married music manager Brandon Blackstock at Blackberry Farms in Tennessee. 

The top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100 is pretty much unsurprising as Miley Cyrus' Wrecking Ball was dethroned after the first week as Lorde's Royals climbed to No.1 as predicted and remained there for the rest of the month. The only new song into the top ten was Ylvis's The Fox which entered the top 10 and peaked at No.6. 

In the UK there has been major activity. OneRepublic's Counting Stars finally peaked in the first week of October after many weeks of spending in the top 3. However, Miley Cyrus' Wrecking Ball smashed its way through as both her single and her album Bangerz debuted at No.1 in the UK, which is no easy feat. Counting Stars did manage to reclaim the top spot but this was short-lived as Lorde's Royals too debuted at No.1 in the last week. Eminem's Berzerk debuted at No.2 but it failed to match up against the giants that kept debuting at No.1. 

In the US Albums chart Justin Timberlake's The 20/20 Experience (2 of 2) and Pearl Jam's Lightning Bolt all peaked while John Newman's Tribute and Haim's Days are Gone peaked in the UK while Katy Perry's Prism and Miley Cyrus' Bangerz peaked both in the US and UK.

Some of the other songs worth checking out which came out in October are:

1. The Vamps - Can we dance
2. The Saturdays - Disco love
3. James Blunt - Bonfire heart
4. John Newman - Cheating
5. Lawson - Juliet
6. Eminem - Rap God
7. Iggy Azalea ft. T.I. - Change your life
8. James Arthur - You're nobody 'til somebody loves you

Till the next chord…

At Ease!!!

Xposition - July 2013

Attention!!!

It's time for the second Xposition. This time there's news about albums, songs and chart performance as well as some interesting news. 

First of all the much awaited album of Lady Gaga Artpop is to be released in November. The first single "Applause" is to be released on the 19th of August and there is I believe more than enough hype about the single. Although Gaga's first two albums The Fame and The Fame Monster were awesome Born this Way fell short of what was expected of the diva. It is now understood that Gaga has her own fan base and not all of us belong to this niche.  

Selena Gomez's album Stars Dance will top the Billboard 200 Album Chart next week as it will dethrone Jay-Z with his Magna Carta... Holy Grail. Details of Katy Perry's new album and its release date came out in a most amusing way as a gold truck with the words Katy Perry - Prism - 10-22-13 passed through Los Angeles. We will have to wait till the 22nd of October to see and hear what the pandemonium is about.

It was creativity at its peak in Boom, Belgium as the electronic artistes took centre stage in Tomorrowland 2013. Our favourite DJs such as David Guetta, Tiesto, Knife Party and Nicky Romero and a host of others were the headliners at the festival. It was crazy for the organizers as the passes were sold out in 35 minutes and the rest of the tickets in an hour. 

"I like you, I want you, I want you to be mine", said DJ Khaled as he proposed to Nicki Minaj with a 10 Karat Rock on the 25th of July. He also dropped a new song "I wanna be with you" which was clearly intended for Nicki and it also features her, Future and Rick Ross. 

Lindsay Lohan is out of rehab after three months of court mandated treatment as part of a plea deal in a traffic case. Her new movie The Canyons is to premiere in August and she will also be the subject of an exclusive eight-episode documentary series done by Oprah Winfrey's network. 

On July 24, 2013 former Nickelodean star Amanda Bynes was hospitalized under a mental health evaluation hold after allegedly starting a small fire in the driveway of a stranger's house. After the initial 3 day involuntary hold expired her parents requested a California judge to extend their daughter's hospitalization for two more weeks which was granted.

It has been an interesting month with I Love It by Icona Pop ft. Charlie XCX topping the UK Singles Chart in the first week. The song was anyway a hit in the US and it has a different type of catchy rhythm quite distinct from the usual electropop tracks nowadays.

This was followed by John Newman's Love me Again in the second week which was dethroned by Robin Thicke's Blurred Lines again. The latter does not seem to give up its hold at the top so easily. One Direction's Best Song Ever, which is as annoying as their other songs could not amazingly surpass the popularity of Avicci's Wake Me Up which stormed the charts in the third week and it appears that it will remain in this position in the first week of August as well. 

Some of the other new songs worth mentioning that came out in July in the UK are:

1. Wanted - Walks like Rihanna

2. Saturdays - Gentleman

3. Jay-Z ft. Justin Timberlake - Holy Grail

4. Selena Gomez - Come and Get it

5. Avril Lavigne - Here's to never growing up

In the US the Billboard Hot 100 not much movement was recorded with Blurred Lines ruling the scene alongside Miley Cyrus's We Can't Stop, Daft Punk's Get Lucky and Imagine Dragons' Radioactive. However, Jay-Z's Holy Grail seems to be performing much better in the US than in the UK with the track climbing the chart to No. 7. In the US too One Direction failed to grab the No.1 slot with their Best Song Ever as it debuted at No.2. However, we will have to see if they will peak in the US and UK in the coming weeks. 

Til the next beat...

At ease!!!