As for the Hot 100, Magic!’s ‘Rude’ still holds the #1 spot. Meghan Trainor shoots up from 8-4 with ‘All About That Bass’ looking to dethrone Magic! As for new appearances on the Hot 100, Charlie XCXs ‘Boom Clap’.
There’s a lot of albums coming out this fall so here are dates that have been confirmed thus far:
Maroon 5 is gearing up to release their 5th studio album, V, in September and the artwork and track listing has been revealed. The album features a track with Gwen Stefani which was written by Sia titled, ‘My Heart Is Open’. There are three bonus tracks as well. ‘ShootLove’ is Adam’s track from the movie, “Begin Again.” Check out the track listing below:
1. “Maps”
2. “Animals”
3. “It Was Always You”
4. “Unkiss Me”
5. “Sugar”
6. “Leaving California”
7. “In Your Pocket”
8. “New Love”
9. “Coming Back for You”
10. “Feelings”
11. “My Heart Is Open” ft. Gwen Stefani
B-Side:
1. “ShootLove”
2. “Sex and Candy”
3. “Lost Stars”
I’m still in love with the song and I didn’t even know that a video had been released and although it’s been roughly a week since it’s release (7.3.14), I thought that I’d still give my review.
I love the song and I love the video concept, the two just don’t match. Well I wouldn’t say that the concept doesn’t match because in a way it does, it’s more so the music doesn’t match the intensity of the concept.
Instantly when watching the video you can see that something is wrong as Adam Levine rushes into the hospital asking where the emergency room is. Excuse me, the fucking emergency room. He races around and finds his girlfriend bloodied and heavily bruised in a hospital bed which looks like she’s been in a car accident based off the injuries. Time to backtrack in the video. Flashback to Adam dangerously weaving through cars as he arrives to the hospital. Flip the screen to his girlfriend.She’s walking down the street with a tear stained face, when a drunk tries to touch and she pushes him off she stumbles into the street getting hit by a car. It’s clear to see she died instantly by the way her head violently hit the ground; very graphic.
Now switch back to how it all began, Adam went to a party with his girlfriend and they instantly get separated as soon as they come in. Insert members of Maroon 5. They’re both off talking to whoever when Adam heads to the kitchen, takes some shots, a girl feels all over him, and as she’s doing that of course his girlfriend would walk in and see it. As she leaves the house, Adam attempts to go after her yet he’s stopped by a friend.
The video ends with clips of all the scenes coming together, chronologically. It’s clear that a serious approach was taken with this one which I can appreciate because story lines in videos are hard to come by. I see where they were going with this, I guess I just wasn’t expecting something so drastic as such.
With Adam’s movie debut, Begin Again, in theaters (7.11.14) this video was a great marketing way to show he could be serious and act. I’m interested in seeing the movie (but of course). The video overall was a great visual just it seemed a little too upbeat for the concept.
First, let me just give a round of applause to one of my favorite bands of all time, Maroon 5. I remember the first time I heard Maroon 5. I was listening to it on a CD which for the life of my I can’t remember. I do remember that I kept switching between ‘Harder to Breathe’ and Jet, ‘Are You Gonna Be My Girl. Still I wasn’t sure who this band was until I saw ‘This Love’ as one of the morning videos on MTV. Then came the release and video for my favorite Maroon 5 song of ALL TIME, ‘She Will Be Loved’.
Still I didn’t know much about Maroon 5 and then I heard Songs About Jane (2002) which by the time I had heard it, it was two years old. The entire vibe with Adam’s voice was just amazing. I became a fan instantly and couldn’t wait to hear more. To date the album has sold over 5 million copies.
As time went on with Maroon 5, Adam Levine became more AND MORE attractive. I think that his sex appeal really took off by the second album, It Won’t Be Soon Before Long (2007).That album featured ‘Won’t Go Home Without You’ and radio smashes ‘Makes Me Wonder’ and ‘If I Never See Your Face Again’. What really took that album to the next level was the remix/collab with Rihanna of ‘If I Never See Your Face Again’. That video showed off just how HOT both Adam and Rihanna were. I love that version more than the original and after seeing them perform it live on FNMTV (Friday Night MTV) I could only anticipate that they would collab again (still waiting).
Next up came Hands All Over (2010) which had two of my favorites ‘Misery’ and “Never Gonna Leave This Bed’. It wasn’t until its rerelease that the album got real buzz and took Maroon 5 to the next level. They had officially become rock stars. The album was rereleased in June of 2011 and featured the mega smash hit and song of the summer ‘Moves Like Jagger’ featuring Christina Aguilera. The song was all over the radio and it was hard not to sing along. The collab was first performed live on The Voice as Levine and Aguilera were judges on the show. With a platform like that there was no denying that the song would take off. Aside from The Voice it was also performed at the American Music Awards and at the 2011 Victoria Secret Fashion Show as Adam held hands and walked down the catwalk with his girlfriend, now fiancé, Behati Prensloo.
I went to their concert at Jones Beach Theater in July of 2011 where they co-headlined with Train and it was AWESOME! I was close enough to the stage to see Adam’s face and the atmosphere of the crowd when this song came on was amazing. They ended their set and the show with ‘She Will Be Loved’ where the fans sang along as he pointed to the right and the left having each side sing something different. Awesome concert!
As Adam’s popularity skyrocketed due to the success of The Voice his sex appeal sky rocketed as well. He was always a good looking guy, but as time has gone on he’s gotten HOTTER and HOTTER! Hence why he’s became People’s, Sexiest Man Alive.
Their fourth album, Overexposed (2012).Click here for my initial review. I gave the album a 3.5/5 and here it is two years later and I can say that it’s still my least favorite Maroon 5 album and my favorite song off the entire album is ‘Love Somebody’. I don’t know with this album I just wasn’t really into it, but they had smashes on the radio such as ‘Love Somebody’, ‘Payphone’, ‘One More Night’, and ‘Daylight’. I’m so glad they stopped playing the Wiz Khalifa feature on the radio, then again they never really played it to begin with.
Now they’re back with a new track and count down to their fifth album, V, which is to have a feature Gwen Stefani. Their new track ‘Maps’ is a nice segue back to the radio airwaves and as the first single I like it so much better than that of ‘Payphone’ from Overexposed. Take a listen below.
I’m amazed with the success of Maroon 5 and the commercial success is really owed to that of the success of Adam Levine. He’s become like this sex symbol and there’s a whole bunch of ‘Maroon 5’ fans when it reality they’re just there for Adam. That’s fine, whatever takes the group to the next level I suppose. I just know that there are a lot of people claiming to be Maroon 5 fans. It’s ok, they’re really infatuated with Adam.
Collectively, Maroon 5 hasn’t done too shabby during their 12 year span as they’ve won three American Music Awards, four Billboard Music Awards and three Grammy’s. I can’t wait to see how their album pans out. Fingers crossed it’s a smash. It all comes down to, did Maroon 5’s sound REALLY change? I wouldn’t say drastically, but with time a sound would change as artists take chances and experiment more. To me that’s not change, that’s growth. As for my favorite Maroon 5 album, Songs About Jane.
The iHeart Radio Awards air LIVE on NBC on May 1st and I’ve discussed 3 categories so far: Best Lyrics. Hip Hop/R&B Song of the Year, and Best Collaboration. This week I will be talking about the bigger categories: Artist of the Year, Best New Artist, and Song of the Year. Today is all about Artist of the Year. Here were the 10 nominees:
Bruno Mars
RiHanna
Maroon 5
Macklemore & Ryan Lewis
Justin Timberlake
P!ink
Imagine Drag
Katy Perry
Taylor Swift
Robin Thicke
Here are the 5 finalists:
Newcomers Macklemore & Ryan Lewis along with Imagine Dragons are in great company in this category. This category isn’t hard for me to choose a winner simply because I’m basing it off of domination in 2013. Rihanna was on the Diamonds World Tour majority of the year from her AMAZING 7th studio album, Unapologetic. That album spawned hits ‘Diamonds’, ‘Pour It Up’, and the ballad ‘Stay.’ Maroon 5’s lead Adam Levine might have been getting more attention than the group overall in 2013 due to his judging position on The Voice, but the group as a whole was not to be silenced in 2013. They had huge radio hits ‘Love Somebody’ and ‘Daylight’ from their 4th studio album, Overexposed. Then there was Mr. Surprise, yet not so much of a surprise comeback in Justin Timberlake. In 2013 he released both parts of The 20/20 Experience. Pt. 1 is definitely my favorite of the two. He’s had two smash hits ‘Suit & Tie’ and ‘Mirrors’ both of which are nominated in other categories.
Then there are the newcomers Macklemore & Ryan Lewis and Imagine Dragons. Macklemore & Ryan Lewis became a household name after their hit debut song ‘Thrift Shop’ surged the radio airwaves. They followed that with ‘Can’t Hold Us’ and then topped it all off with the beautiful track ‘Same Love.’ This pair is the definition of hard work pays off being that they are independent. They are now independent Grammy winning artists. Macklemore & Ryan Lewis are not to shadow over Imagine Dragons as they are a Grammy Winning group as well. This group also debuted with hits ‘Radioactive’, ‘It’s Time’, and ‘Demons.’ They also broke Billboard Hot 100 record with ‘Radioactive’ spending 77 weeks on the chart.
When it comes down to who to vote for it’s hard because each artist puts so much time and effort into their work and making music for their fans. It’s hard to say one artist was better than the other or that one artist worked harder than another. I’m basing my decision on DOMINATION in 2013 and my pick has to go to Macklemore & Ryan Lewis. I love the other 4 artists and Imagine Dragons has become one of my favorite bands, but as far as Artist of the Year based on 2013 it goes to Macklemore & Ryan Lewis for me.
Click here to vote. Voting is through Twitter & Facebook. Voting is not limited & you can vote every day!
Check out my favorite songs from the 5 nominees below:
Insert the instrumental of Ludacris’ Money Maker. Music’s richest, highest paid musicians of the past year, has been released in a recent Billboard article. The ranking is based off:
…is based on the artist’s share of revenue as opposed to total dollars generated by each artist in the ranking
To learn more about the current ranking, click here.
So, who tops thus years list? Ms. Taylor Swift. Taylor Swift ranks #1 with $39.6 million and this isn’t her first year doing so. In 2012 she topped the list with $35.7 million.
Here’s who else made the top 10.
2. Kenny Chesney | $32.9 mil.
3. Justin Timberlake | 31.4 mil.
4. Bon Jovi | 29.4 mil.
5. The Rolling Stones | 26. 2 mil.
6. Beyonce | $24.4 mil.
7. Maroon 5 } $22.2 mil.
8. Luke Bryan } $22.1 mil.
9. P!nk | $20 mil.
10. Fleetwood Mac | 19.1 mil.
Country artists have sure dominated this list with 3 of the artists being in the top 10. Swift along with Beyonce, P!nk, and Rihanna (#20) are the only female solo acts to have made the list this year. Although not many ladies rank, they have been topping the list for the past 5 years:
There’s a lot of albums coming out this fall so here are dates that have been confirmed thus far:
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