Carly Rae Jepsen, you can’t shake this bitch. Her mega pop hit ‘Call Me Maybe’ continues to reign on the Australian and UK singles chart, beating down heavyweights like Delta Goodrem and Florence + The Machine.
New albums by Kate Miller-Heidke, Jason Mraz and Monica blow up the Australian, UK and US charts.
We trace the first imprints of The Voice Australia‘s impact on our ARIA Top 100 and look ahead to new releases from Reece Mastin, Maroon 5 and Alexandra Burke.
There is cause for much celebration in our Chart Feed this week.
Nicki Minaj is cockblocked from the #1 spot again, Jason Donovan is back in the Top 40 and there’s a new girl storming the charts and she goes by the name of Carly Rae Jepsen. Who?
Find out more in this week’s Chart Feed.
There’s probably still a wet patch on my seat from the first time I watched this video and lost control of them basic bodily functions. I’m glad no one paid me any mind in the office on Wednesday when I exploded with excitement, watching the full ‘It All Belongs To Me’ video. Please remember, some of us waited 14 years for this reunion.
I am well aware that I’m the only bitch up in my friendship group – better make that even in my extended networks – to be wild about Monica and Brandy‘s reunion duet ‘It All Belongs To Me’. I have previously waxed lyrical about why this grown ass woman song might fall on deaf ears, but I hope that after viewing the stylish video, some of y’all might bend over and start picking up some sense.
Some folks are only here for ‘The Boy Is Mine (Part II)’, but believe me when I say, this song fits Brandy and Monica circa 2012 better than any kind of Glee cover-ready pop single you might have in mind. So with that out of the way, can we all just fast forward to the eleganza these 90s R&B queens are serving?
“It’s all been loaned to me…”
I read on some fashion Tumblr blog somewhere that a certain designer silk blouse Brandy was rubbing carpet in for this video costs north of $1200. Bitch, don’t even pretend to sign that cheque you already know is gonna bounce. I am living for both of their deluxe diva looks here – the designer gowns, the leather and heels, and the sophisticatedly styled weaves.
It was very satisfying to see both Brandy and Monica looking so classy and impeccably styled – pitching them on the same wavelength as great modern soul artistes like Mary J. Blige and Jennifer Hudson.
Honestly, I’m glad that their label RCA has pumped some proper funds into this video – everything from the stunning visual presentation through to the video concept and of course, explosives – helped create a buzz that definitely wasn’t there before.
Top shelf music video director Chris Robinson - who did Alicia Keys‘ ‘You Don’t Know My Name’ and Monica‘s own ‘Anything (To Find You)’ – has definitely fulfilled the brief to present these ladies at their finest in this hour.
You mad? Stay mad.
I can’t wait to see Tumblr spout off a thousand Brandy and Monica “U MAD?!” gifs for the above.
Y’know, they could’ve played this out as some nine-minute mini-movie extravaganza with multiple scenes and dialogues. Trust me, the drama and sass served in ‘It All Belongs To Me’ could build whole seasons of the Real Housewives - but it’s just not necessary to go through all that when the story’s already told so effectively in song.
For songs with so much vocal excellence on display like ‘It All Belongs To Me’, you don’t need complex choreography and mind-bending visual effects to drive the project. In fact, you don’t want to do anything to detract focus from the song and the singer’s performance. Simple sheer elegance is enough.
Watch Monica and Brandy’s ‘It All Belongs To Me’ music video:
Did the video upgrade your appreciation for the song?
Footnotes:
‘It All Belongs To Me’ continues to climb the US Billboard R&B/Hip Hop song chart, peaking at #41 in its third week. The single will be included on Monica‘s New Life, which is due 10 April in the States, and Brandy‘s long awaited album Two Eleven, which is slated for a June drop date.
‘It All Belongs To Me’ is yet to be released in Australia.
Don’t nobody call this the sequel to the career-defining ‘Boy Is Mine’ because we’re not dealing with girls fighting over some scrub no more. This is some grown ass women business right here.
Brandy and Monica have finally reunited for their first duet in 14 years and naturally what we’re all looking for is another massive, radio-ready smash to recapture some commercial grounds.
Unfortunately, this sassy semi-dated soul ballad screams more “track nine” than headlining single. ‘It All Belongs To Me’ is not here to deliver the same soap opera stuff that made ’Boy Is Mine’ so addictive and fun to lip synch to with your gay best friend.
This feels more like a recitation from the same chapter and verse of Beyoncé‘s ‘Irreplaceable’ with both Brandy and Monica dismissing their men and insisting that he leaves behind all the luxuries he’s been provided with.
“I know you’re mad, can’t take no more. But put that back, that ain’t yours. Have a fit, slam the door. But leave the bags on the floor, that sh*t belongs to me!”
Producer Rico Love – who has hemmed some proper hits for the likes of Kelly Rowland and Usher – really didn’t bother with an adequate and modern backdrop for this eagerly awaited comeback duet.
You shouldn’t have to play this after ‘Boy Is Mine’ and find that Darkchild‘s production some 14 years ago still sounds more cutting edge than ‘It All Belongs To Me’.
Having said that, there’s undeniable delight in my loins to hear these two fabulous 90s R&B divas sharing a warble once again. It’s clear to the ears that these two women have simply gotten better with age as vocalists and emotive artists whose selling points are music from the heart. [Editor's note: gagging at that cheesy description, Limoncé.]
Listen to Brandy and Monica‘s ‘It Belongs To Me’:
Footnotes:
‘It Belongs To Me’ will be released digitally on 13 February in the States and will impact rhythmic and urban contemporary stations on 21 February.
The song will appear on Monica‘s forthcoming album New Life, which arrives in April, and Brandy‘s as-yet-untitled comeback album, which has been pushed back to later this year.
Reece Mastin‘s ‘Good Night’ checks off its second week on top of our ARIA singles chart, now clocking over 70,000 sales to become one of the fastest selling singles here this year. ‘Good Night’ is unsurprisingly also the biggest gainer on our Aussie airplay chart (between 24 to 30 November), rising to #23.
Guy Sebastian‘s ‘Don’t Worry Be Happy’ improves on last week’s debut, now rising to #4 on the ARIA chart in its second week. Probably thanks to some decent radio rotation too. ‘Don’t Worry Be Happy’ leaps from #54 to #27 on the Australian airplay chart.
Adele has the biggest selling music DVD in Australia this week with Live at Royal Albert Hall debuting on top of the charts, beating off two other new tour DVD releases: Lady Gaga‘s Monster Ball Tour (#2) and Kylie‘s Aphrodite Les Folies (#3). I suppose someone should mention that Britney‘s Femme Fatale tour DVD arrived at #8? Such a non-factor.
Over in the UK, Kylie‘s Aphrodite Les Folies Live in London debuts at #72 on the album charts. It should show up on the DVD charts next week.
Watch Adele performing ‘Turning Tables’ live at The Royal Albert Hall:
Hilltop Hoods featuring Sia‘s ‘I Love It’ is the biggest new single in Australia this week, debuting at #18. It is also the second most added new song to local radios. This is now Sia‘s second appearance in the ARIA Top 20 this year, following her other smash guest appearance ‘Titanium’ with David Guetta.
Jessica Mauboy and Stan Walker‘s redundant ballad ‘Galaxy’ sits at #20 on the ARIA Top 50 and registers the biggest drop on the Australian airplay chart in the last week, sinking from #17 to #31. The song has strangely appeared on the UK release schedule with a tentative 12 December launch date. Meanwhile, Stan‘s new album Let The Music Play worringly drops from #18 to #27 in its second week here.
Kelly Clarkson‘s ‘What Doesn’t Kill You (Stronger)’ leaps to #44 on our ARIA singles chart this week, while its predecessor ‘Mr Know It All’ falls to #29. All these lesser songs need to take note and move out of the way too. Kelly‘s hit album Stronger falls to #20 in its sixth week here.
Lana Del Rey‘s ‘Video Games’ breaks into a new peak of #56 on our ARIA charts. The gospel of Del Rey continues to spread across Europe – in fact, ‘Video Games’ is currently reigning in the iTunes Top 10 in Germany, Austria and the Netherlands.
Watch Lana perform ‘Blue Jeans’ – a track featured on her ‘Video Games’ EP:
One Direction has the biggest selling new album in Australia this week with Up All Night making a strong debut at #5, simultaneously certifying gold sales of 35,000 copies shipped.
Olly Murs finally gets a UK #1 album with In Case You Didn’t Know debuting on top, selling 148,000 copies in its first week. His first album Olly Murs arrived at roughly the same time last year but only managed to sell 108,000 copies to debut at #2. Well done, you.
Take That’s Progress Live album enters at #12 in the UK this week, making sure Gary Barlow‘s not left penniless this Christmas while his X Factor cohorts all manage chart appearances. Progress Live remains as the biggest selling music DVD in the UK for the second week in a row, keeping Adele‘s Live At Royal Hall from claiming the throne.
Watch Take That performing one of my faves ‘Kidz’ live on their Progress tour:
Joe McElderry‘s Classic Christmas album debuts at #15 in the UK this week. This time next year, Craig Colton will be doing the same.
N-Dubz‘s Greatest Hits debuts at a humble #38 this week. It was such a pointless cash grab to coincide with Tulisa‘s X Factor gig and Dappy’s recent solo success. Tulisa‘s own solo album’s not slated for release until the first quarter of next year.
Kelly Rowland‘s Here I Am (International Version) cops a red-faced flop in the UK this week, entering at #56 despite all the promo she’s put in during the week including a mini concert for BBC 1Xtra – which was an utter hot mess, by the way. The album turns up at #23 on the UK digital charts, which doesn’t look too bad I guess. Kelendria‘s current single ‘Down For Whatever’ drops to #9 there while the sexy American urban smash ‘Lay It On Me’ starts charting at #81 in the UK.
Here I Am has a slight chance of faring better in its second week, especially after today’s X Factor performance. Look, I really don’t think it’s gonna significantly turn fortunes around for the diva but kudos for trying anyway.
Watch Ms Kelly turn out a medley performance of ‘When Love Takes Over/Down For Whatever’ on UK X Factor:
The Saturdays‘ On Your Radar sinks from its disappointing #23 debut to #53 this week. It’s officially a success of Sweet 7 proportions now, am I right – guys? The pop quintet has just kicked off their All Fired Up tour so with any luck, this should support sales a little.
X Factor Finalists‘ woeful charity single ‘Wishing On A Star’ did go #1 after all, making this the fourth consecutive year where the show has slapped a benefit release on top of the charts.
Jessie J‘s defining ballad ‘Who You Are’ races from #37 to #8 this week, thanks to her performance on the UK X Factor and not to mention a complimentary warble by axed contestant Misha B.
Rebecca Ferguson‘s debut album Heaven arrives in UK storefronts today and it’ll be interesting to see where it ends up given the lukewarm chart response to ‘Nothing’s Real But Love’. The slow-burning single does a death drop from #10 to #30 this week.
Emeli Sandé‘s second solo single ‘Daddy’ debuts at #21 this week, obviously gonna be a hard match for ‘Heaven’s peak at #2. The flawless singer/songwriter will drop her debut album Our Version of Events on 6 February.
Watch Emeli‘s video for ‘Daddy’:
Beyoncé‘s ‘Love On Top’ flies to #28 in the UK this week, making this Queen Bey‘s 19th solo Top 30 smash in the country. The last closest reach she had was with ‘Countdown’ just a few weeks ago, peaking at #35.
Michael Buble‘s Christmas album squeezes to the #1 spot on the US Billboard 200 with a marginal 0.18% lead over Nickelback‘s Here and Now, which debuted at #2. This is said to be the closest race to the top since November 2007.
Christmas is Buble‘s third US #1 album and with 227,000 copies sold, this is actually the biggest weekly sales he’s ever clocked. I’m thinking he’s gonna be doing seasonal records more often now. Interestingly enough with Justin Bieber‘s Under The Mistletoe and Michael Buble‘s Christmas going #1, 2011 is now the first year to yield two US #1 Christmas albums since 1957, when Elvis and Bing Crosby scaled such heights.
Watch Michael Buble recording ‘All I Want For Christmas Is You’:
Nickelback‘s Here and Now is the band’s third consecutive album to make the US top two. Although, the opening week sales don’t quite match that of 2005′s All The Right Reasons (325,000) and 2008′s Dark Horse (326,000).
Rihanna‘s Talk That Talk debuts at #3 in the US, nabbing 197,000 first week sales. Last year’s blockbuster album Loud managed to debut at #2 with 207,000 copies sold. Over at the singles bar, ‘We Found Love’ continues to reign on top of the US Billboard Hot 100 while ‘Talk That Talk’ becomes the biggest new single in the country, debuting at #31. Elsewhere, ‘You Da One’ drops from #14 to #22 while ‘Where Have You Been’ cracks the Top 100 at #65.
In the UK, Talk That Talk drops to #3 in its second week. The pull downwards is also reflected on the singles chart with ‘We Found Love’ slipping to #3 and ‘You Da One’ dipping one spot to #40. The more drastic drops were felt by album tracks: ‘Talk That Talk’ (#25 to #47) and ‘Where Have You Been’ (#61 to #94).
Here in Australia, ’We Found Love’ is still securely seated in the ARIA Top 5 while its predecessor ‘You Da One’ ascends to a new peak of #31. Its other sister tracks ‘Where Have You Been’ and ‘Talk That Talk’ drop to #63 and #73 respectively, while the new album slides to #7 in its second week. Talk That Talk has now been certified gold sales for shipments of 35,000 copies in Australia.
Listen to Rihanna‘s fierce as fuck ‘Cockiness (Love It)’:
Lady Gaga‘s Monster Ball Tour at Madison Square Garden is the biggest selling music DVD in the US, debuting straight at #1 ahead of two other major titles out in the same week: Britney‘s The Femme Fatale Tour (#2) and Beyoncé‘s Live at Roseland (#3).
A Very Gaga Holiday EP debuts at #52 on the US Billboard 200 while Born This Way – The Remix enters at a lowly #105. Over at the singles chart, ‘You and I’ sits at #29 while ‘Marry The Night’ ascends from #97 to #59.
In the UK, Born This Way – The Remix debuts at #77 while ’Marry The Night’ edges to a new peak of #16. Here in Australia, Born This Way – The Remix debuts at #62 on our ARIA charts but ’Marry The Night’ has yet to return to our ARIA Top 100.
Watch the hilarious Cooking with Gaga segment on Alan Carr‘s Chatty Man:
will.i.am‘s new single ‘T.H.E. (The Hardest Ever)’ featuring Mick Jagger and Jennifer Lopez debuts at #36 on the US Billboard Hot 100, selling 70,000 first week downloads. Meanwhile here in Australia, ‘T.H.E.’ enters our ARIA charts at #68. The Black Eyed Peas frontman’s last solo hit here was last year’s ‘Check It Out’ (featuring Nicki Minaj), which made #21.
Monica‘s new ballad ‘Until It’s Gone’ moves up to a new peak of #26 on the US R&B/Hip Hop charts. There hasn’t been as much of a buzz with this new era for Mo so let’s hope things pick up in the new year. Her seventh studio album New Life is slated for a 21 February release in the States.
Selena Gomez & The Scene‘s ‘Love You Like A Love Song’ finally tops the US Billboard Dance/Club play charts with Beyoncé‘s ‘Countdown’ closing in at #2. Shout out to these key risers: Wynter Gordon‘s amazing ‘Buy My Love’ (#7), Nervo‘s ‘We’re All No One’ (#8) and Katy Perry‘s ‘The One That Got Away’ (#13).
LMFAO has the biggest selling single in Australia this week with the charming and timeless jam ‘Sexy and I Know It’. The American dance duo managed to dethrone Kelly Clarkson after her one-week reign on top with ‘Mr Know It All’. This is LMFAO’s second #1 hit here following the massive ‘Party Rock Anthem’. Fun fact: ‘Party Rock Anthem’ is the second longest running #1 single Australia has had in this century – reigning for 10 whole weeks. The longest staying #1 single we’ve had since 2000 is still Eminem‘s ‘Lose Control’, clocking 12 weeks. That’s the one to beat.
Beyoncé‘s ‘Love On Top’ rises to a new peak of #21 in Australia this week. We remain as the only territory to have picked up this track and run with it. Over in the US, ‘Love On Top’ makes its way back up to #82 on the US Billboard R&B/ Hip Hop charts. Other Bey singles to be making waves right now include ‘Party’ (featuring André 3000) – cracking the US Billboard Hot 100 at #93 and seeing this success naturally reflected on the R&B/Hip Hop charts, where it rose to #9 – and ‘Countdown’, her third official single, rising to #66 on the American R&B charts. Over in the UK, ‘Countdown’ leaps from #171 to #77.
Ed Sheeran‘s ‘The A Team’ debuts at #32, becoming the highest charting new entry on our ARIA Top 50 this week. Elsewhere, major pick up from the following three singles who all managed to crack the Top 50 in their second week – Simple Plan ‘Can’t Keep My Hands Off You’ (#45), Katy Perry ‘The One That Got Away’ (#48) and Nicole Scherzinger ‘Wet’ (#49).
Watch Katy Perry performing an acoustic run down of ‘The One That Got Away’ on X Factor:
Cody Simpson‘s ‘On My Mind’ enters at #51 in Australia this week. It must really irk his minders to not see this at least crack the Top 50 after all the promo and Skyping he’s had to endure in the last seven days. On the plus side, the blonde teen’s album Coast to Coast rises ten spots to #16. I suppose he is winning after all.
Speaking of winning Aussies, Vanessa Amorosi‘s ‘Amazing’ finally cracks the Top 100 at #83 this week – no doubt thanks to the X Factor performance last week. Meanwhile, other Australian pop new releases like Natalie Bassingthwaighte‘s ‘All We Have’ and Stan Walker‘s ‘Light It Up’ have yet to show up in the ARIA Top 100. Change might be coming Nat Bass’ way, though. ‘All We Have’ suddenly enjoys some radio pick up, becoming the fifth most added new song to our airwaves this week. Shannon Noll‘s ‘Switch Me On’ plummets to #71 this week. People probably stopped buying it because they knew the album was coming [Editor's note: in fact, A Million Suns as it is called came out on Friday].
Wynter Gordon‘s stunning ‘Buy My Love’ finally cracks the ARIA Top 100 at #77 after what has seemed like an eternity since the single was first issued to radios. I am not sure what’s inspiring the sudden pick up of late, but I’m sure glad it’s happening. It would be great to see this go Top 20 eventually just like its predecessors ‘Til Death’ (certified gold sales) and ‘Dirty Talk’ (last summer’s #1 which went on to be certified four times platinum sales). The album With The Music I Die shamefully remains well outside our Top 100.
Watch Wynter Gordon‘s ‘Buy My Love’ video:
360‘s debut album Falling & Flying tumbles to #10 in its second week. Meanwhile, over on the ARIA Top 100 – two of his tracks surface: ‘Boys Like You’ featuring Melbourne singer Gossling (#81) and his current single ‘Killer’ (#88).
Lana Del Rey‘s eagerly anticipated breakthrough single ‘Video Games’ debuts straight in at #98 this week. We all kinda saw this doing well ever since it started appearing on the iTunes charts based on pre-orders alone. ‘Video Games’ comes out in the UK this week, so check back next Monday to see where she lands on the British charts. LDR really is one of the best discoveries 2011 has brought to date. You can peruse reviews and pick up so many great descriptors of her style (eg. “gangster Nancy Sinatra“) but the package is probably best first experienced by watching the ‘Video Games’ video.
Here it is, in case you haven’t already been clued in on the Lana Del Rey movement:
Gotye‘s Making Mirrors remain as the biggest selling Australian album out there right now – sitting at #4 this week with a shiny new double platinum accreditation. The ‘Somebody That I Used To Know’ warbler has earned seven 2011 ARIA Awards nominations including Single of The Year, Best Male Artist and Highest Selling Single for the aforementioned track with Kimbra. Gotye has also been confirmed to perform at the award ceremony on 27 November. Looking on the UK release schedule, I was surprised to find ‘Easy Way Out’ etched in for a 28 November release. Dude, this song is like less than two minutes long.
Sneaky Sound System‘s From Here to Anywhere debuts at #11 in Australia this week – becoming the third biggest new entry here. Other debuts ahead of the Aussie duo include Chris Isaak‘s new one Beyond The Sun coming in at #3 and Evanescence‘s much-touted self-titled comeback at #5. Meanwhile, the Sneaky’s current smash single ’Big’ moves to a new peak of #58. It’s actually the second week in the row that the song has jumped ten places up the chart. At this rate, they should be well in the ARIA Top 50 by this time next week – right?
Bjork‘s Biophilia enters at a humble #48 this week in Australia and #21 in the UK – making this the lowest charting positions ever for her in both territories (I am, of course, only comparing this with her other studio albums – not greatest hits package, remix albums etc). Biophilia wound up with only 9,872 first week sales in the UK. I’ve come to expect a bit more from Bjork given all the publicity and attention she has garnered for this project’s multimedia elements. The experimental artiste definitely has more of a cult following, which usually means heavy first week sales, then you fall off the charts. If this is as good as it gets for the first week then we might be in trouble.
Watch the video for Bjork‘s newest single ‘Moon’:
Steps scores a comeback #1 album with their Ultimate Steps collection scorching up the UK charts this week, meaning the band can now proudly say they’ve had a #1 album in every one of the last three decades. But before we start toasting, Ultimate Steps pulled a humble 34,200 first week sales to go #1 – making it the second lowest selling #1 in the UK this year. Back in their hey day, Steps managed three million-selling albums – Step One (1.39 million, even though it never actually made #1), Steptacular (1.28 million) and Gold: The Greatest Hits (1.11 million). Could the Ultimate Steps collection gather enough momentum to reach those heights come their April reunion shows?
Evanescence‘s self-titled third album looked so certain to go #1 in the UK when the midweeks came in but by the week’s end, it finished the race at #4 with a total of 26,221 copies sold.
Adele is still canceling every other ho in the game here. The British soul siren is on course to become the first artist to score both biggest selling album and single in both the US and UK since The Beatles did it in 1964. Over in the US, ’Rolling In The Deep’ is still unmatched as the biggest selling single of the year so far. ’Someone Like You’ is hands down the biggest selling single of the year so far in the UK – clocking over 1.2 million copies. Y’know, at this rate, I don’t even think this year’s British X Factor winner has a chance of outdoing that come the finals in December. If you wanna compare, last year’s series winner Matt Cardle managed 810,000 copies to go #1.
Looking on the album charts, Adele has not only got the biggest selling album in UK this year with 21 (hitting 3.1 million sales), she’s also got the second biggest in its predecessor: 19. The third biggest selling album in the UK so far in 2011 is Bruno Mars‘ Doo-Wops & Hooligans. Rihanna‘s mega hit album Loud and Lady Gaga‘s Born This Way rank at fourth and fifth place respectively.
Watch Gaga getting caught up in a little ‘Bill Romance’ just for Bill Clinton’s Decade of Difference Concert:
Rihanna‘s ‘We Found Love’ surprisingly holds on to the #1 spot for its second consecutive week. This is basically the first time since July that we’ve had a single stay longer than a week at #1. The Brits are going hard for RiRi. ‘We Found Love’ registered at 20% sales increase in its second week, taking home over 106,553 sales. Meanwhile, Maroon 5 and Christina Aguilera‘s ‘Moves Like Jagger’ clocks its seventh week at #2. Apparently this is only the second single in history to have spent seven weeks at #2 (and never go #1). The last one was All-4-One‘s ‘I Swear’ back in 1994.
Gym Class Heroes and Adam Levine have the highest selling new single in the UK this week with ‘Stereo Hearts’ debuting at #3 with 68,287 first week sales. This is Gym Class Heroes‘ highest charting position there since their breakout single ‘Cupid’s Chokehold’ in 2006. That one also made #3.
X Factor winner Matt Cardle didn’t go stomping into #1 after all. His new single ‘Run For Your Life’ – which was written by Gary Barlow – debuted at #6, selling 39,633 copies to become the second biggest new release on the charts. Consider this, the previous year’s winner Joe McElderry also clocked #6 with his first original single ‘Ambitions’.
Watch Matt Cardle performing his next single ‘Starlight’ at an album showcase gig:
One Direction sees their hit single ‘What Makes You Beautiful’ drop to #10 in its fifth week. The X Factor formed boy band is primed to launch their second single ‘Got To Be You’ on 14 November in the UK, a week before their debut album Up All Night arrives. The album features a track titled ‘Tell Me A Lie’ which was reportedly co-written by Kelly Clarkson. There’s also a RedOne produced track called ‘Save You Tonight’.
This year’s UK X Factor finalists will release their charity single – a cover of ‘Wishing On A Star’ – on 21 November. These charity records have all gone #1 and traditionally sold quite generously as well. The very first one, a cover of Mariah Carey‘s ‘Hero’ recorded by the 2008 finalists, went double platinum in the UK.
Scotty McCreery – the latest American Idol winner – has made history in his own way, y’all. The 18-year old’s debut album Clear As Day enters at #1 on the US Billboard 200, making him the youngest man to have a debut album enter at #1. The last record holder was R&B singer Omarion who saw his first album O debut at #1 in 2005 when he was aged 20.
Amazingly enough, Scotty is also the first American Idol winner since 2003 to have a debut album enter at #1. Clear As Day sold a meek 197,000 copies to top the charts. The last Idol winner to have an album debut at #1 – Ruben Stannard – pulled off 417,000 first-week sales. Just saying.
Gloria Estefan‘s comeback album Miss Little Havana made something of a death drop, y’all. After debuting at #28 – selling something like 17,000 first week copies – the Latin dance/pop album sank to #129 in its second week. I mean, damn. It’s almost enough to make a girl vow to never dance again. I love how the forums are crying murder now, blaming the album’s “Target exclusive” deal for the commercial floppage. Basically, if she had done a Walmart exclusive – which a lot of stars manage – instead of a Target one, things wouldn’t have looked this dismal. There are reportedly over 4,700 Walmart stores around the US and only 1,800 Target branches. There you go. Less Mami Gloria CDs to go around. Meanwhile, looking on the US dance/club charts, Gloria’s current single ‘Wepa’ tumbles from #1 to #7.
Watch Gloria going on The View to promote the new record and perform ‘Wepa’:
Taio Cruz‘s new single ‘Hangover’ (featuring Flo Rida) debuts at #62 on the US Billboard Hot 100. Meanwhile, further down, J.Lo‘s ‘Papi’ returns at #96 – possibly pushed by stronger club plays? The ‘Papi’ remixes move up to #3 on the US Billboard Dance/Club charts. Speaking of dance hits, Nervo‘s debut recording artist single ‘We’re All No One’ moves up to #31 on the US Billboard Dance/Club charts.
Monica‘s new single ‘Until It’s Gone’ makes a surprising leap in its second week to #55 on the US R&B/ Hip Hop charts. Its superb predecessor ‘Anything (To Find You)’ has done pretty well for a buzz single to reach #25 there. Old Mo’s seventh studio album New Life will drop on 29 November in the US.
Kelly Rowland‘s ‘Lay It On Me’ drops a few place back to #47 on the US Billboard R&B/Hip Hop. Wait a minute, shouldn’t it be moving up and not the other way? Here I Am [International Version] is slated for a UK release on 7 November, a week after the dance/pop single ‘Down For Whatever’ drops. Make what you will of this “international version”. She told That Grape Juice that it’ll be a revised tracklisting with more dance-oriented material but who knows, there hasn’t been any more information teased.
Mo is bringing her A-game with some serious 90′s R&B throwbacks here – both visually and sonically.
There’s something so refreshing about hearing melody and groove-driven R&B again. I think dance has asserted its influence on the urban sphere for good too many minutes now that some R&B artists feel like they can’t stay relevant without caving in to Europop, synth-driven beats. For every act that crosses over and gives in to RedOne, comes another who stands tall to deliver timeless soul.
Monica‘s brand new single ‘Anything (To Find You)’ instantly takes you back to ye olde 90′s hip hop mix tapes – thanks to Missy Elliott‘s skillful production and interpolation of Biggie‘s ‘Who Shot Ya?’. It rekindles the magic of Mary J. Blige pre-No More Drama. Something about this song just feels good and right.
In terms of the video and Mo’s styling here – it’s another square shot at pure class, with bold colours evocative of the 90′s. Video director Chris Robinson – the man behind quality clips like Amerie‘s ’1 Thing’ and Alicia Keys‘ ‘You Don’t Know My Name’ – even brought in some appropriately styled dancers for the production. Y’all clock the high-waisted rainbow coloured tights? Don’t say you never owned a pair in the 90′s.
Take a look:
Footnotes:
Monica‘s ‘Anything (To Find You)’ has to date peaked at #25 on the US Billboard R&B/Hip Hop charts. The single serves as our first taste of her forthcoming seventh studio album New Life, which drops in the US on 29 November.
