Posts By Zara Golden

September 13th, 2012 | 1:21 pm by Zara Golden (@zaragolden)

Kanye West And R. Kelly Introduce Cruel Summer “To The World”

Last night while he and his beau Kim Kardashian were out and about making New York Fashion Week rounds, Kanye West‘s long dreamed of, often delayed and highly anticipated G.O.O.D. Music compilation Cruel Summer found its way onto the internet. So, if you were looking for something more substantial than those preview-snippets and are good with Google, now’s the time to go forth to Cruel Summer! If otherwise, the album’s soaring opening track, “To The World,” featuring Kanye and his fellow Chicagoan R. Kelly, should be enough to keep you lifted until the album hits shelves next Tuesday.

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September 13th, 2012 | 11:37 am by Zara Golden (@zaragolden)

“I Don’t Usually Email You:” Did You Get Beyoncé’s Email For Obama?


Did you get this email? The November election only ever getting closer, the Obama reelection machine has been churning out the fundraising emails. Ask anyone subscribed about the campaign’s many appeals, and they’ll probably tell you that the subject lines skew intimate (“If you’re ready” or “Hey again”) and that they are often signed-off by “Barack” himself. They will also probably tell you that, with the clip they come in, they just delete most of them. The email that landed in inboxes this morning looked a little different, though, and it’s got those that didn’t get it feeling pretty left out.

“I usually don’t email you,” the message begins. Beyoncé has taken over email duty, and she has “an amazing invitation to share.” Do tell!

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September 12th, 2012 | 4:12 pm by Zara Golden (@zaragolden)

Rihanna Has A New Album On The Way

The Rihanna Navy’s sails caught a nice windfall today: word has it that the Cpt. Rihanna is readying a seventh studio album for release this November, continuing with her run of eleventh month releases that extends back to 2009′s Rated R were also all released in the eleventh month. And according to a tweet from Def Jam France, the first single is due out as soon as Monday, September 17th. Def Jam France deleted the tweet and sent out a new one promising that more information will be available tomorrow. Sails up! Read more…

September 12th, 2012 | 1:19 pm by Zara Golden (@zaragolden)

P!nk and Eminem Get The Party Started Early With “Here Comes The Weekend”

When P!nk first teased this Eminem collaboration, she recalled that she had previously worked together with Marshall on the stormy “Won’t Back Down,” off of Em’s Recovery, and said that joining forces for a second time was an obvious move. “I said, ‘Do you want to do a song with me?’ and he said, ‘F*** yeah!’ Handshake. Nothing signed. Done,” she said. And so, here we have the two trouble makers together again, this time for “Here Comes The Weekend,” a feisty ode to the week’s end and yet another pre-release leak from P!nk’s The Truth About Love. Like they say, f*** yeah!

In this so-called “alternative club banger,” Pink and Em are gunning for the weekend, which they take very seriously. “I just want to play,” sings P!nk, “so get out of my way if you know what’s better for you.” Lipstick and leather tights, high heels and cherry wine, she’s not “wasting any time” in her quest for the best weekend (until next weekend). And Eminem’s right there with her, albeit in a style all his own. “Nothing high-class in my glass, only bottles I pop,” he raps, tongue twisting, before going on to toss Diddy a few knocks (“I’m not Puffy, but I’ma run the city tonight/When I hit it, I might act like a friggin’ idiot”) and say something about feeling like a “mixture of Stiffler and Urkel.” All the days between now and the weekend, consider this your warning!

Pink Feat. Eminem – “Here Comes The Weekend” [Karen Civil]

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September 12th, 2012 | 12:00 pm by Zara Golden (@zaragolden)

You Oughta Know Live: Walk The Moon Rattle And Rock “Anna Sun”

September’s You Oughta Know artists Walk The Moon got a little sweaty during their You Oughta Know Live session. It’s hard work to make music so high energy and fun, and these four boys from Cincinnati throw themselves fully into it. During their session, they played a number of songs from their self-titled debut album (“Shiver Shiver,” “Anna Sun,” and “Tightrope”) and one cover (coming soon!), whipping the sweat from their brows between songs but never tiring. Because, really, the best way to insure that the ghost towns get thoroughly rattled is to rock extra hard.

We kept their Neverland-inspired anthem “Anna Sun” on loop all summer, its sunny synths and calls of freedom charging the warm months and long days. Now that fall has crept in on us and school bells are back ringing, we’ll keep listening, but now for new and maybe collegiate notes.

“‘Anna Sun’ is very much a product of the post-college,” Walk The Moon lead singer/keyboardist Nicholas Petricca told us before their Live taping. “I loved college, and I think we all had an awesome experience around that time of our lives, and I was feeling a lot of nostalgia and sadness and also excitement, of course, because it’s the beginning of who knows what. And so this song is very much about that in between space, and feeling like I am a kid but I am supposed to be an adult and how can I be both.”

So, here’s to lingering summers and looking towards fall! Watch their rattling performance of “Anna Sun” above, and then check out the rest of their You Oughta Know Live set here.

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September 12th, 2012 | 10:19 am by Zara Golden (@zaragolden)

Get Excited With These Cruel Summer Previews And Official Tracklist


One of the fall season’s most anticipated releases, G.O.O.D. Music’s Cruel Summer is just a few days away, ready to drop on September 18. Already, the all-star compilation’s lead singles, “Mercy,” “New God Flow,” “Cold” and “Clique”, have our G.O.O.D. music fever burning hot. The star-studded tracklist suggests that we’ve only known the beginning of it, because Kanye West is readying to drop another monster of an album on us. In the mix are G.O.O.D. Music men Big Sean, Pusha T, 2 Chainz, D’Banj, Cyhi the Prynce, Kid Cudi and John Legend, G.O.O.D. Music’s first lady Teyana Taylor, as well as a handful of unexpected others summonsed from Kanye’s thick rolodex, like Jay-Z, Ghostface Killah, The-Dream and Ma$e. No big deal, you know?

Can’t wait until Tuesday to hear all that new G.O.O.D. Music? Check out a preview now below or via iTunes. First up? The biggest R. Kelly hook calling on you to put your middle finger up. Okay! Until Tuesday, we leave you with that typically climactic, middle finger-flicking R.Kelly hook on the opening track, “To the World.” Read more…

September 11th, 2012 | 6:18 pm by Zara Golden (@zaragolden)

Rick Ross Gets “Presidential,” And Obama Gets Lots Of Love From Hip Hop’s Heavyweights

Rick Ross may conflate “royalty” and “chief of state” in the God Forgives, I Don’t cut “Presidential,” but the the song’s new video shows that Rozay has got an eye for politics, too. The song itself is mostly about boss things like “Billie Jean thumping” babes and gold watches, but the video begins anyways with a sample from the speech President Obama gave at last week’s Democratic National Convention. “America, I never said this journey would be easy,” booms the President, assuring then, before “Presidential”‘s Pharrell beat kicks in, that, “Yes our path is harder, but it leads to a better place.” Obama might not have considered “weed crumbs on the cruise ship” when he imagined “a better place,” but there’s no denying that Ross believes that said ship is a marked improvement from “3rd floor projects, feel my point of view.” And so to at least on that point, big Bawse Rick Ross and big Boss Obama can see eye to eye, strictly presidential.

Ross wasn’t the only hip hop heavyweight to show love to President Obama this week. It’s only Tuesday, and already he has won the efforts and affections of some of hip hop’s biggest characters. Who else is feeling the blue this week? Let’s have a look: Read more…

September 11th, 2012 | 3:43 pm by Zara Golden (@zaragolden)

Green Day Just Rock Hard For “Nuclear Family”

“Nuclear Family” opens Green Day‘s upcoming ¡Uno!, and though the guys have been mostly insistent that their upcoming trilogy of albums will be a departure from their past, this song and accompanying video again recall a certain Green Day of old. Back are the quick tempo and hammering drums, the lyrical references to angel’s piss gargled and warnings that “it won’t be long ’til I detonate,” and most of all that punchy spirit that united much of their earlier stuff.

If “Nuclear Family” were actually cut from Dookie, which it almost could be, this video would have been shot in Dirnt’s parent’s garage. But Dookie is nearly 20-years-old now, those little punks have grown, and Dirnt’s parent’s garage this is not. In their standard uniform of dark-lined eyes and patched-up military jackets, they go hard in a professional looking rehearsal space with professional looking instruments (a drum kit emblazoned with their album cover). And if you listen closely, you’ll even catch a classic rock yelp or two from Mr. Armstrong. Because nine albums later, they know for sure that — – punk rock or balladry, on big bikes or flanked by hot models — they always sound good so long as they rock hard.

Yahoo! Video Premier: Green Day ‘Nuclear Family’ [Yahoo!] Read more…

September 11th, 2012 | 1:21 pm by Zara Golden (@zaragolden)

Frank Ocean Is Bringing His “Bro” John Mayer To Saturday Night Live

Those turning into opening night of Saturday Night Live‘s this weekend will be treated to a performance from scheduled musical guest Frank Ocean, and today Ocean shares that he’s bringing a guest of his own with him: his “bro” John Mayer. Mayer is supposed to be taking it easy after throat surgery, but has already forgone the doctor’s orders to play with Walk The Moon pre-VMAs, and we are happy to see him doing it again to help Ocean kick-off this 38th season of SNL.

Ocean tweeted the good news this morning, writing “SNL this weekend. Me and the bro John Mayer.” And though nothing has been officially confirmed, he’s got the internet alight with possibilities. Maybe Ocean and his “bro” will do something with “White,” that smooth grooving Channel Orange interlude. Perhaps more likely, the two will perform Ocean’s 10-minute ode to strippers, “Pyramids,” which ends with an uncredited Mayer guitar solo. Otherwise, Mayer could probably do some good to “Thinking About You,” which Ocean played acoustic at VMAs; or maybe he could bring his maybe-girlfriend Katy Perry along for the “Sweet Life”/”California Gurls” medley that we just realized we need. Because — not sugar-free — mango, peaches and whipped cream bras, wouldn’t that be something?

Frank Ocean to perform with John Mayer of Saturday Night Live [COS]

September 11th, 2012 | 11:51 am by Zara Golden (@zaragolden)

Britney Spears Dances “Gangnam Style” With PSY On Ellen

The internet  is doing it, Big Morning Buzz is doing it, and now Britney Spears is doing it, too. Brit always did have moves.

Last week, Britney tweeted her love for PSY‘s giddy-up “Gangnam Style” dance, suggesting that, “I should possibly learn the choreography. Anybody wanna teach me?! haha.” Ellen DeGeneres saw real brilliance in the thought, and took the opportunity of Britney’s visit to Ellen yesterday to turn that dream to reality.

“Oh!” Britney twanged, when Ellen surprised her with a lesson from the man most up to the task, PSY himself. Now signed to Scooter Braun’s Schoolboy records, he made sure to introduce himself properly before moving onto the lesson. Hands soft, he instructed, and bounce like you’re riding a horse. Britney seemed a little confused that they asked her to go off program, but when the music hit, she nailed the dance like the pro she is — high heels and tight dress and all. As PSY insists, “dress classy and dance cheesy.”

Who will be next to go Gangnam? Mr. Romney, we say it’s your move. Everybody is doing it!

Watch PSY Give Britney Spears A “Gangnam Style” Dance Lesson On Ellen [Prefix] Read more…