Chris Brown (Singer)

Ten Potential X-Factor Replacement Judges

The list of former judges on FOX's The X-Factor reads like the attendance list at a Passages Malibu: Addiction Cure Center for celebrities obsessed with proving their talent (Nicole Scherzinger, 2011 and Demi Lovato, 2012), relevancy (Cheryl Cole, 2011 and LA. Reid, 2011-12), sanity (Britney Spears, ... More >>

Dirt Candy's Amanda Cohen Gets Down With Vegetables in the East Village

Dirty Pleasure

The Very Intentional Self-Destruction of Justin Bieber

Unlike many a male performer before him who created an epic legacy through their unique musical talents and tragic deaths (SHOUT OUT to Jimi Hendrix, John Lennon, Bob Marley, Freddie Mercury, Kurt Cobain, Tupac Shakur, and Hugo Chavez!), Justin Bieber has chosen a different path towards earning res ... More >>

Frank Ocean, the Weeknd, Miguel: Who Will Be the Token Black Guy on Year-End Best of Lists?

There's an intense race going on right now. A race not a lot of you may know about. A race that even the people involved may not know they're a part of. But it's a race, and it's happening: the race to see which r & b singer will end up on most critics' top-ten lists at the end of the year. It's a ... More >>

Live: Busta Rhymes Pauses Conversation With Bun B To Perform At Angie Martinez's BBQ

Angie Martinez's Backyard BBQ The Garden At Studio Square Saturday, August 18 Better than: Getting lost coming home from Queens. CBS sitcoms, Tom Wolfe and Republicans alike have all painted New York City as a noisy, grimy nightmare, a melting pot of sex and kvetching, guns and soupy hot dogs, wh ... More >>

What's So Funny About A Little Bump N' Grind? R. Kelly, Frank Ocean, And The "Right" Kind Of R&B

In case you haven't yet gotten your fill, over the past couple of years, of artists beating Aaliyah samples into a flavorless pulp, not to worry—Yeasayer frontman Chris Keating has got your back. In a Rolling Stone interview published this week, Keating recalls being struck by watching high sc ... More >>

Radio Hits One: Kelly Clarkson, Lionel Richie And Countrified Pop Tunes

After Kelly Clarkson went to No. 1 on Billboard's Country Songs chart last year with the Jason Aldean duet "Don't You Wanna Stay," I wondered hopefully if the Texas-born pop star would finally go country with her next album. So I was a little disappointed a few months later, when she debuted the bla ... More >>

Radio Hits One: Drake, Lil Wayne, Nicki Minaj, Katy Perry, And The Era Of The Hit Bonus Track

Superstar pals and Young Money labelmates Lil Wayne and Drake released two of the biggest albums of 2011—Tha Carter IV and Take Care—and both are still spinning off hits well into 2012. But a look at the singles charts reveals something odd: the biggest current hits off both albums aren' ... More >>

Rihanna And Chris Brown Together Again: Ugh

​Three years after he brutally attacked her in a way that made international headlines, Chris Brown sings on a new Rihanna remix, and she returns the favor by crooning on one of his. Could you just cry?

In Defense Of Dave Grohl

Dave Grohl had a good time at the Grammys on Sunday. The Foo Fighters won pretty much every rock-oriented award possible, he reminded everyone that he's got the power-ballad game on lock, and he even got to show off his sweet Slayer T-shirt. Once again, everything came up Grohl. The most likable man ... More >>

Live: Romeo Santos Summons Usher And Prince Royce To Madison Square Garden

Romeo Santos Madison Square Garden Saturday, February 11 Better than: Coming home and hearing about Whitney. I lived in the Bronx during the 23 weeks when Aventura's The Last reigned over the Billboard Latin chart, and the local quartet's music was everywhere. From all-night dance clubs to family ... More >>

Oddsmaker: Do Beyoncé And André 3000 Have Enough Swagu To Beat Kanye And His Dozens Of Friends At The Grammys?

​The Grammys created the awkwardly named Best Rap/Sung Collaboration category ten years ago, around the time Ja Rule's various "thug love" duets were dominating the airwaves. The award recognized a growing sector of popular music that didn't quite fit into the preexisting rap, R&B or pop song ... More >>

Is Nothing Sacred? Dolly Parton and Queen Latifah, Sullied, in Joyful Noise

53 More Great Songs From 2011

Earlier today, Maura offered a list of the 47 songs on her "2011 Awesomeness" Spotify playlist; to complement that, here are the 53 songs from my less cleverly named playlist, "2011." As is the usually the case with these mega-lists, I compiled mine a bit haphazardly, throwing together a substantial ... More >>

The 11 Most Infuriating Songs Of 2011, No. 5: Rihanna, "S&M"

The Song: Rihanna, "S&M" The Crimes: Dressing a bloodless ode to kink up by saying it's actually about the media? Na na na na na na, come on, girl. Pop stars need their personas as much as they need the songs that take them to the top of the charts—and lest you think that need exists in a va ... More >>

Radio Hits One: Hot 100 Peaks Only Tell Half The Story For Cee Lo, Britney Spears, And Other Year-End Winners

One of the most frustrating things about discussing the Billboard singles charts is how a song's peak position—the highest spot it occupied on a chart during its run—is almost universally regarded as the permanent measurement of its success or popularity. Any song that reaches No. 1 is e ... More >>

Underwhelmed And Overstimulated, Part III: Occupying The Year Of The Woman Cliché In Hopes Of Blowing It Up

Kanye West at Occupy Wall Street; confused woman. ​Sound of the City's year-end roundtable, with contributions from Tom Ewing, Eric Harvey, Maura Johnston, Nick Murray, and Katherine St. Asaph, continues. Follow along here. ... More >>

Will Bon Iver Be The Arcade Fire Of 2012? And Other Pre-Grammy Nomination Show Questions

Tonight's Grammy nomination concert, airing at 10 p.m. on CBS, will not only jam-pack a bunch of performances by the likes of Lady Gaga and Jason Aldean into its 60 minutes, it'll also let us know which artists will be prostrating themselves in front of the globe and thanking their families and God ... More >>

Radio Hits One: T-Pain Escapes Lead Single Purgatory

The Revolver cover.​On Thursday Jive Records announced that T-Pain's fourth album rEVOLVEr would be out on December 6. That same day, the rappa ternt sanga's single "5 O'Clock" reached a new Hot 100 peak of No. 25 . The timing wasn't exactly coincidental. The track, on which T-Pain is supporte ... More >>

Radio Hits One: VH1 Takes On The '00s Pop Canon

VH1 spent last week counting down what the channel, and its panel of celebrities and "experts," consider The 100 Greatest Songs of The '00s. They certainly haven't been the first to assemble such a list—Rolling Stone and Pitchfork and every blog under the sun had their say about two years ago, ... More >>

Why Is Bill O'Reilly Not Calling Out Mike Huckabee's Gangster Glorification?

​"You may remember a couple years ago that Pepsi hired gansta (sic) rapper Ludacris as a commercial pitchman. [I] objected, saying major American corporations have an obligation not to reward people who harmed society...Unlike Ozzy Osbourne, who curses, or Britney Spears, who's an immature ex ... More >>

Radio Hits One: The Long, Long Legs Of Nicki Minaj's Pink Friday

​A few weeks ago, my colleague Chris Molanphy broke down how "Super Bass," the late-breaking crossover smash from Nicki Minaj's Pink Friday, presented a rare example of a hit album taking months to yield a top 10 single after moving major units out of the gate. But at the time, I was patiently ... More >>

The Video Music Awards' Nominations Play To The Internet (Again)

​Last night MTV announced the nominees for this year's installment of their annual pseudo-event extravaganza, the 2011 Video Music Awards, and once again, the nominees for Video Of The Year have three pop picks ("Rolling In The Deep," "Firework," "Grenade"), one sop to the olds in the crowd wh ... More >>

What The Lineup For Clear Channel's iHeartRadio Music Festival Says About Radio Formats In 2011

Lady Gaga.​Today the radio behemoth Clear Channel announced a festival celebrating the relaunch of its online service iHeartRadio, which currently allows listeners to tune into the chain's terrestrial-radio outlets from all over the country (as well as about 150 digital-only stations) and whic ... More >>

The Top Ten Failed First Singles Off The Game's The R.E.D. Album

​This list began as a joke, but the longer I contemplated it, the more depressing its basic concept became. Consider: not only could I easily string together ten of Game's fruitless attempts to force label executives to release The R.E.D. Album, his followup to 2008's LAX; I had to make decisi ... More >>

Big Sean Heads Into the Spotlight

With an assist from Kanye, the rapper is Finally Famous

Live: Diddy Has A Family Reunion At The Hammerstein Ballroom

Diddy-Dirty Money, Tyga, Lloyd Hammerstein Ballroom Friday, April 22 Better Than: That time Diddy's son took Nicki Minaj to his 16th birthday party. "Diddy's not so much my thing," said a friend as we waited amid hundreds of fans and at least ten gigantic spinning cardboard cutouts of Ciroc bott ... More >>

The 10 Best Post-Prison Lil Wayne Songs (Plus the Other 16!)

​It's been almost 5 months, or 141 days, or 3384 hours, or 203,040 minutes since Lil Wayne got out of jail. And in that time, by our count, he's made 26 new musical appearances. A few of these might have been recorded before he went to jail (pre-probation-Wayne's maniacally hoarse voice genera ... More >>

Love vs. Money: The Weeknd, Frank Ocean, and R&B's Future Shock

As the Weeknd says, "XO till we overdose.."​Two days ago, r&b changed again. On Sunday night, a Canadian collective called the Weeknd released their nine-song mixtape, House of Balloons, on their web site. Though they were quick to deny the direct involvement of Drake's sonic architect, Noah " ... More >>

Rihanna's "S&M" Video: NYC Sex-Shop Employees (Including A Former Dominatrix) Weigh In

Delicious and nutritious ​ There comes a time in a foreign country's life when it has to stand up and say, "No, Rihanna, we do not want to see you deep-throat that banana." That time was last week, when 11 countries banned the pop star's new bubblegum-colored, bondage-laden music video for h ... More >>

GOOD Friday: Kanye West Begrudgingly Drops "Christian Dior Denim Flow," Preps for SNL

​Kanye West was not himself this week. Online, at least, where West has enjoyed repeated recent successes, he was frustrated and felt betrayed by the leak of an unauthorized, unfinished track called "Lost in the World." "It would have seemed like since I give free music every week even the low ... More >>

The Bieber Bowl: The 2010 MTV Video Music Awards Live Blog

Just how awkward will the awkwardly staged moment between Kanye West and Taylor Swift be? Will Eminem deign to smile? Which uncomfortable pop star will B.o.B choose to bring up on stage with him? And how will your hosts, Pitchfork's Ryan Dombal and eMusic's Sean Fennessey, make it to midnight withou ... More >>

Last Night: Rihanna Incites Children, Self to Violence at Her Sold-Out Show at Madison Square Garden

Rihanna Madison Square Garden Thursday, August 12 During her lone moment of banter last night, Rihanna took deep breath, sat down on the edge of the stage and said, "Thank you for making my dream come true." Which sounds kind of boilerplate. It is. But she wasn't just referring to selling out Mad ... More >>

Bad Girls Gone Worse: Rihanna, Mariah Carey, and Lady Gaga

While they seethe and snarl, Taylor Swift emasculates with a smile

GLAAD Backs GMA For Dropping Adam Lambert

​Let's do a quick recap: Adam Lambert indulged in gay shenanigans on his now legendary American Music Awards performance. Everyone I knew was loving it, but not Good Morning America, which promptly canceled Lambert's scheduled appearance. Gay activists were furious, especially since the show w ... More >>

Thanksgiving Playlist 2009: 100-Plus Songs Better Than Your Grandma's Lumpy Squash

Two years ago, William Bowers compiled this playlist. Any further additions? This holiday's abstract mandate can be sorta barren for us patriotically-challenged atheist vegetarians who maintain cosmic equidistance from our bloodkin. The term for it is even weird: "Thanksgiving" is a syntactical c ... More >>

Sympathy for Lady Vengeance: Rihanna's Rated R

Her new album is as angry and profoundly uncomfortable as you might have suspected

Chris Brown Sentenced to Five Years! (Probation!) Also, Fine, Fees, Etc.

For his ungentlemanly behavior toward Rihanna, Chris Brown has been sentenced to five years -- probation! He also has to take domestic violence counseling and pay $400 for the privilege. And he has to turn in his guns (oh, man!) And he gets 180 days of community labor, and has to pay a "restituti ... More >>

Cheek, in Review: 7 Days of Runnin' Scared

  Twitpic by tedsink. Last weekend's Siren Festival left many of us groggy, and a good thing too, as the week that followed was best seen in soft focus. President Obama and Henry Louis Gates were the comedy team of the week. Mayor Bloomberg, angry about the way mayoral school control ... More >>

Jackson Memorial Worthy of a Master Showman

The Michael Jackson all-star memorial concert at the Staples Center was so riveting I expected Michael to pop out of the shiny, silver coffin and do one last moonwalk. Janet and LaToya really turned it out fashionwise (and dignity-wise); old-time Motown legends like Berry Gordy, Stevie Wonder, and S ... More >>

The-Dream's Logic

How his pop megahits are like iPhones, or maybe like swinging belts

Not Quite Bill O'Reilly, Is He? Mike Huckabee vs. Russell Simmons on FOX News

Ah, Russell. I suppose this is him accepting Bill O'Reilly's invitation to appear on FOX News "in response" to his "blog"--fall out from the Jeezy debacle in January. Or not. Simmons is vigorously pushing his website (currently offering $100,000 for photos of Chris Brown and Rihanna together! Hip- ... More >>

The Shifting Republic of K'Naan

A deft Somali rapper, now ensconced in Canada, prepares his American invasion

Grammys Fawn over Coldplay and Plant/Krauss, Set Race Relations Back 20 Years

Good for you. As any self-respecting Grammy live blog will have told you by now, the highlight of last night's occasionally lively fiasco was undoubtedly the "Rap Pack" black-and-white "Swagga Like Us" blowout, ostensibly starring Jay-Z/Kanye/Wayne/T.I. but dominated by a stupendously pregnant M ... More >>

Lil Mama's VYP: Voice of the Young People

Yes, it's finally out

Michael Jackson's Nigh-Unstoppable Thriller Gets the 25th-Anniversary Treatment

Provincializm #16: Thank-Rock Playlist

The BET Awards: A Running Diary

The Grammy Awards: A Running Diary

Big With the Kids

Corporate Rock-Hack Bands Nobody Over 20 Ever Heard of Rule America