Rihanna

What You Missed This Weekend (June 8-10)

Friday Rap-Up

Friday Rap-Up: Maestro Jeff Hughes, Snoop Dogg, Diddy, Kanye West

Over the Weekend... Kanye West, Rihanna, N.E.R.D. and Lupe Fiasco @ Pepsi Center

Over the Weekend...Graffiti in the Gardens, Kanye West, Local Hip-Hop, and the Art of the Early Show!

Top Ten Pop Songs of 2008

Over the next couple of weeks, Backbeat will feature some Top Ten lists from around the Village Voice Media chain. Click here for previous year-in-review coverage from Backbeat and VVM.Pop music often gets a bad rap for being disposable or vapid, and in many cases that's true. (Katy Perry, Danity Ka ... More >>

'Tween Spirit

Over the next couple of weeks, Backbeat will feature some Top Ten lists from around the Village Voice Media chain. Click here for previous year-in-review coverage from Backbeat and VVM.Pop music often gets a bad rap for being disposable or vapid, and in many cases that's true. (Katy Perry, Danity Ka ... More >>

Sound Bites

HorrorPops|Doomriders|Greg Osby|Messer Chups|The Kingsbury Manx|The Posies|Rihanna

Memphis Bleek

534 (Roc-A-Fella)

Lady Gaga top seller at Independent Records

​Lady Gaga's Fame Monster, released last week on Interscope, nabbed the top spot at Independent Records for the week ending November 29. Birdman's Priceless, released last week on Cash Money, and Tech N9NE's K.O.D. came in second and third, while 50 Cent's Before I Self Destruct and Blakroc's self ... More >>

R. Kelly top seller at Independent Records

​R. Kelly's ninth album Untitled, released last week on Jive, grabbed the top spot at Independent Records for the week ending December 6. New-Orleans-based rapper Juvenile came in second with his latest effort, Cocky and Confident, while Birdman's Priceless took the third slot. 50 Cent's Before I ... More >>

Heavy Rotation, our top spins for the week of February 1, 2010

​As music critics -- and people who generally think about, talk about, listen to and make music -- the most common question we get asked (and ask each other, for that matter) is, "What are you listening to right now?" The pervasiveness of this query is precisely what inspired Heavy Rotation. ... More >>

Moving Units: New releases from Album Leaf, Lil Wayne and Vampire Weekend top local sales charts

Vampire Weekend's Contra claimed the top spot at Twist & Shout last week.​Although Spoon has dominated the local charts over the past few weeks, there were no clear winners across the board for the week ending February 7. New releases from Album Leaf and Lil Wayne -- his ill advised rock album ... More >>

Poptimystic: Taio Cruz did what?!?

Taio Cruz is a British dude who wrote and produced for A-listers until 2008, when he stepped in front of a mike. Now, two years later, he has broken a Hot 100 record by having the Ludacris-assisted remix of his single "Break Your Heart" enter the chart last week at 53 and make the ridiculous climb ... More >>

Rihanna's "Rude Boy" video: lions and neon and sneers, oh my!

Rihanna's "Rude Boy" is the number one song in the country. Its accompanying video, meanwhile, is a hot mess, and we have officially never used that expression more accurately. Because we probably like Rihanna more than we should, given that she can't actually sing, and because there's a blind ... More >>

Who'd have thought Justin Bieber's My World 2.0 would prove an accurate title?

There you have it: Fourteen-year-old Bieber's debut full-length is on top of the Billboard album chart. His debut EP, meanwhile, is at number five. That one's called My World (get it?) -- can't argue with either title. This makes him the youngest chart-topper since Stevie Wonder, yet something te ... More >>

This Just In: Vans Warped Tour, Rihanna, Broken Bells shows announced

Pennywise is one of the many bands at this year's Vans Warped Tour​While the Mile High Music Festival was announced yesterday, the Vans Warped Tour is also coming to town. Alkaline Trio, Andrew W.K., Bring Me the Horizon, Dillinger Escape Plan, Every Time I Die, Reel Big Fish, Anti-Flag, Face ... More >>

Hearsay bits: VAUX ahead of its time, Lockerpartners create spots to Flip for and Ali Pierre writes tunes for Rhianna and Britney Spears

Screen grab from an observant fellow VAUX fan who spied this before us.​ After all the work that went into compiling this year's Westword Music Showcase ballot, we needed a break last weekend. A break that involved watching Pretty in Pink, a flick we hadn't seen in a dozen years or more, on V ... More >>

B.o.B. (sort of) wins the week

As expected, B.o.B.'s Adventures of Bobby Ray is the number one album in the country this week. Of course, it only needed to sell 84,000 copies to do it. As Billboard notes, this is the first three-week run of no albums breaking 100,000 since February of last year. Cue alarm bells, death of The I ... More >>

Pitchfork loves Pictureplane, George&Caplin album art/info, I am the Dot cassette release

​Pictureplane (aka Travis Egedy) got some more love from indie bible Pitchfork last week. The new media titan called Egedy a "Denver house music mastermind" while pimping his latest free mix, a 41-minute mix which includes selections from Crystal Castles and Rihanna and serves as an intro of ... More >>

Drake's "Fireworks," Thank Me Later's latest leak: Does it live up to its name?

​ With close to six months of postponed release dates under its belt, two official videos already out in advance of its supposed release on June 15, and almost every one of its tracks leaked all over the internet, Drake's much anticipated first full-length, Thank Me Later, has generated a ton ... More >>

Chris Brown, the saddest Michael Jackson impersonator

Chris Brown is sad, and it's not because he cried at the BET awards on Sunday. While performing a tribute to Michael Jackson, the singer and alleged Rihanna-beater broke down and wept during a rendition of Jackson's "Man in the Mirror," leading many, as noted in the CBS report above, to wonder if ... More >>

U2 reschedules its prevously postponed Denver date, Rihanna cancels show this Thursday

​A few weeks before U2 was slated to come to the States for another leg of its 360° tour, Bono injured his back while preparing for the dates and had to have emergency surgery, which resulted in the postponement of a number of US dates, including the June 12 show at Invesco Field. Live Nati ... More >>

Dave Aude at Beta

​A few weeks before U2 was slated to come to the States for another leg of its 360° tour, Bono injured his back while preparing for the dates and had to have emergency surgery, which resulted in the postponement of a number of US dates, including the June 12 show at Invesco Field. Live Nati ... More >>

Rihanna is a Singles Lady if there ever was one

​Last week in Poptimystic, we talked about Taylor Swift and her unparalleled ability to sell albums in the current music industry wasteland. But the album is not what it once was, and the ability to sell singles may actually be a better litmus test of an artist's influence. It remains the un ... More >>

Bruce Springsteen, Cee-Lo, Rihanna top sellers

​Kid Cudi's Man On The Moon II: The Legend of Mr. Rager might have dominated last week's charts, but this week, it's disappeared from the top ten at Albums on the Hill and Twist & Shout and moved down to the number four at Independent Records.

Next Big Sound: Billboard's new "Social 50" chart powered by Boulder music startup

​In October, we profiled the Boulder start-up Next Big Sound, which seemed poised to shake the struggling music industry by using social media sites like MySpace, Facebook and Twitter to discover break-out bands. Now that Billboard has unveiled its new "Social 50" chart powered by Next Big Sou ... More >>

Rihanna's S&M video and the hypocrisy of top 40

​Rihanna released her video for "S&M" this week and suddenly everyone has decided it's smut. The video is being met with widespread blushing, including an "inappropriate" flag on Youtube and a potential re-edit from MTV. But, as Rihanna herself pointed out, she's actually less naked in this vi ... More >>

All Of The Lights video: Is Kanye West actually going small?

​Either the third or fourth (depends if you count the leaked but never released "Monster" monstrosity) video from Kanye West's My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy came out over the weekend, for current single "All of the Lights." And after all the billionaire, art house, heaven-and-hell enormity ... More >>

Hey, is that Dave Grohl?: Ten awesome celebrity photobombs

Dude, Dave. Chill!Last week, NPR asked listeners to share photos of themselves with favorite musicians. That's a swell idea and all, but we thought that taking the angle of the photobomber would be a more entertaining way to look at pictures of famous people with non-famous people. While there have ... More >>

Upcoming M.I.A.-Chris Brown collaboration proves opposites attract

Dude, Dave. Chill!Last week, NPR asked listeners to share photos of themselves with favorite musicians. That's a swell idea and all, but we thought that taking the angle of the photobomber would be a more entertaining way to look at pictures of famous people with non-famous people. While there have ... More >>

The Night of Fire and Thunder will melt your face off

​Thank goodness the rain has finally stopped. It was really starting to weigh on our usual summer activities, like texting by the icy waters of our friend's apartment complex pool and wandering various farmer's markets looking for raw honey and other stuff white people like. Anyway, the nice w ... More >>

Rihanna's "Man Down" video opens fire on the subject of rape and gets blasted by detractors

​There's been a lot of talk about Rhianna's controversial new video for the song "Man Down." If you haven't seen it, Rihanna shoots a man who is shown to be her rapist with a gun she calls "Peggy Sue." The scene opens in a crowded area with a shot of her assailant-turned-victim, and Rihanna, w ... More >>

Download Sole's Nuclear Winter Volume 2 with Pictureplane, Greencarpetedstairs and more

​Apparently it's the summer of Sole, because the dude is just not letting up. With Hello Cruel Worldjust released earlier this month, we missed the Nuclear Winter Volume 2 mix tape, which is available as a free download from Circle Into Square. All you need is an email address and you'll get a ... More >>

Reader: Chris Brown shouldn't still be defined by attack on Rihanna two years later

Chris & Evrod.​This week, CBS4 removed a photo from its website featuring new anchor Evrod Cassimy arm-in-arm with Chris Brown, the singer convicted of assaulting his then-girlfriend Rihanna in 2009. Our post on the subject has generated a wide variety of comments, including many defenses of B ... More >>

The 10 worst smelling rock star-branded perfumes or colognes

Now you can smell like a teen girl in love with Justin Bieber.​Smelling like a rock star wasn't always considered a good thing. But now that The Strokes' Julian Casablancas is the face and inspiration of Azzaro's new perfume, Decibel, and Prince has to pay $4 million to a company over his fail ... More >>

Rihanna finds love in Calvin Harris, plus a breakdown of this week's charts

​In a weird twist of unexpected collaborations, Rihanna just released her newest single, "We Found Love," which features Calvin Harris on production, last week. Somehow it manages to sound both like a Rihanna song and a Calvin Harris song, and both in their own merit. Could Harris be the new D ... More >>

Ten best Steve Jobs tributes (1955 - 2011)

Businessweek​10. Bloomberg Businessweek On Friday, Bloomberg Businessweek revealed its tribute to Steve Jobs. With a photo essay, an incredibly thorough biography and first-person input from Eric Schmidt, John Sculley and Steve Jurvetson, it's impressive in scope and quality. But it's just ... More >>

Gym Class Heroes enters top ten with Adam Levine's help, plus a look at this week's charts

Travie McCoy of Gym Class Heroes has the number four single in the country right now​When did Adam Levine become such a pop god? Really? Throw the Maroon 5 singer's vocal on any track, and watch it hit the top ten right now. Case in point: "Stereo Hearts." It isn't the strongest Gym Class Hero ... More >>

Love, drugs and Rihanna collide on "We Found Love," plus a breakdown of this week's charts

Rihanna in "We Found Love"​In less than a week (four days, to be exact), Rihanna has racked up over eight million views with her "We Found Love" video. And deservedly so. The song is catchy as hell, and the video, like the others the pop star has produced recently, is thought provoking. Rihann ... More >>

2012 Grammy Nominations: Kanye West and Adele clean up, Katy Perry earns pair of nods

​Grammy nominations for 2012 were announced last night during the Grammys Nomination Concert -- which was, oddly, just that: a concert, not a nominations show. Nominations in four major categories were announced, plus performances by major players in mainstream music like Lady Gaga, who perfor ... More >>

When pop goes dubstep: Six pop songs propelled by the undeniable whomp of the wobbly bass

Britney loves some bass​With dubstep's surging (and some might say waning) popularity, it's not surprising to hear explosive dubstep breakdowns bleeding into pop. Turn on Top 40 radio today, and there's a great chance you'll hear dubstep elements borrowed in one form or another to create a hoo ... More >>

"Marry the Night," Lady Gaga's new video, registers eleven million views and counting

Lady Gaga won't let a face full of cereal stop her from being the biggest pop star yet.​"Marry The Night," Lady Gaga's new video has racked up eleven million views and counting since debuting this past Friday. The most surprising part isn't how many views the clip has registered as much as the ... More >>

Michael Buble's Christmas raises the bar for all holiday tracks, plus a breakdown of the charts

It's going to be a holly, jolly Christmas with Michael Buble's new collection of holiday classics.​Michael Buble put out a killer Christmas record, and it could not have come at a better time. While the charts are currently flooded with dance-pop beats, synthesizers-laden hooks and auto-tuned ... More >>

Happy New Year: Mi Pueblo's crazy Ken-doll confection takes the cake

BEEFCAKE!​The Mi Pueblo Market at 125 Knox Court in the Barnum neighborhood might be the best grocery store in the entire world. On any given day, the clean and brightly decorated market is warmly bumping a reggaeton Rihanna remix as shoppers peruse cascading bins of fresh avocados, bananas an ... More >>

Scissor Sisters share a "Shady Love" with Azealia Banks, plus a breakdown of the charts

"Shady Love": the grimiest, dirtiest pop song yet of 2012. And it's by the Scissor Sisters.​The Scissor Sisters have two incarnations: campy, carefree guitar-driven band, as was the case for early cuts like "Take Your Mama" and "I Don't Feel Like Dancin'," and a new, more hedonistic synth band ... More >>

Look out, Gaga: Madonna's back to get all the "Luvin'" with a potent new drug called M.D.N.A.

Madonna could push Lady Gaga to the backburner this year, with a new album called M.D.N.A.​Forget Tim Tebow. From now until at least the day after the Superbowl, everyone's going to be talking about another figure in pop culture who had the religion thing down pat long before Tebow did: Madonn ... More >>

Chris Brown does his best LMFAO impression with "Turn Up The Music"

Chris Brown is better when he's not trying to be LMFAO.​Chris Brown singles have always come in two flavors: Sexy & Braggadocious and Song & Dance -- songs that are either about busting a nut or busting a move, regardless of production or tempo. Edgier singles from his catalog like "Look At Me ... More >>

The 54th Grammys: who will win (Adele) and who won't (Lady Gaga)

Anticipate Adele to sweep the Grammys this year, leaving Lady Gaga and Katy Perry in her wake.​From power pop to power ballads, rock anthems to rap staples, the nominees of the 54th Grammy Awards, which airs this Sunday night, sees no dearth of great music. There's little doubt that it will be ... More >>