July 27th, 2012 | 5:49 pm by Mark Graham (@unclegrambo)

Last Lap: The US Olympic Swim Team Performs Their Own Lip Dub Of “Call Me Maybe”

AXL ROBES
We’re not exactly sure where this picture of Axl Rose wearing a Missoni robe came from, or who his galpal is, but one thing we are sure of is that this picture sort of gives us the creeps. [Dangerous Minds]

YOUR CARLY RAE OF THE DAY
Your favorite US Olympian swimmers (Michael Phelps, Ryan Lochte, etc.) are the latest squad of athletes to go cray for Carly Rae Jepsen (who, we should point out, is Canadian). We’ll overlook their lack of patriotism this time around. [Vulture]

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November 23rd, 2011 | 1:00 pm by Kat George (@kat_george)

Taylor Swift Performed With Selena Gomez And James Taylor Last Night (Proving All Our Awesome Predictions Wrong)

With the ghost of Biggie nowhere to be seen, Taylor Swift still managed to invite some incredibly impressive guests to join her on stage last night at her Madison Square Garden show. When Taylor welcomed BFF Selena Gomez to the stage to sing with her, we were half hoping the two would cover Nicki Minaj‘s “Super Bass” after their fan-girl display at the AMAs. Unfortunately, we had no such luck, but we were just as delighted with their adorable performance of “Who Says.” Taylor also performed with legendary singer/songwriter James Taylor (who she was named after). Describing the circumstances as “magical,” Taylor played “Fire And Rain” and “Fifteen” (video below) with her namesake, and proved that “magical” was somewhat of an understatement.

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November 20th, 2011 | 8:20 pm by Mark Graham (@unclegrambo)

2011 American Music Awards: Taylor Swift and Selena Gomez Know All The Words To “Super Bass”

The American Music Awards are to the Grammy Awards what the Golden Globes are to the Oscars — they’re slightly looser, filled with more frivolity and slightly less consequential in the grand scheme of things. However, when it comes to generating viral moments, score one for the producers of the AMAs.

Tonight’s show opened with Nicki Minaj performing her a medley of her song with David Guetta, “Turn Me On,” and her 2011 Song Of The Summer contender, “Super Bass.” While she was performing, someone in the truck noticed that Taylor Swift and Selena Gomez were rapping along to the song in the crowd and wisely cut to that shot, which we have for you above courtesy of @mattchew03.

Of course, this isn’t the first time that T-Swizzle has publicly professed her love for the Queen of the Barbies. Back in February, she rapped a few bars of “Super Bass” during a trip to a Los Angeles area radio station, and Nicki returned the favor by duetting with Taylor at a concert over the summer.

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September 20th, 2011 | 11:25 am by Nick Minichino

Tuned In: Selena Gomez Returns To The Tonight Show In Fine Form



Selena Gomez and the Scene‘s second When The Sun Goes Down single “Love You Like a Love Song” may have been released over three months ago (appearing briefly on our Song Of The Summer charts in July), but Gomez and band proved it’s still got promotional legs yesterday on The Tonight Show With Jay Leno. After the performed self-absorption that was Simon Cowell‘s guest interview (featuring a reiteration of his on-camera grievances with Paula Abdul and Nicole Scherzinger for the benefit of the Tonight Show audience) the electro-pop throwback (a friend of mine likened it to a lost Olivia Newton-John single) was quite refreshing. Though the limitations of television make the song’s appeal feel more rooted in the talents of teenpop songwriters-of-the-moment Rock Mafia, Gomez nevertheless acquits herself well.

Elsewhere on late night…
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August 17th, 2011 | 1:30 pm by Nick Minichino

VMA Rumors: Britney Tribute To Feature Katy Perry, Ke$ha, And…Janet Jackson?

This morning’s announcement of Lady Gaga as a performer at this year’s Video Music Awards is the latest sort-of confirmation of a big VMA rumor that’s been going around since reality-TV production coordinator Johnathan Woodbeck tweeted it the day after the Britney Spears VMA promo, above, premiered. According to Woodbeck’s tweet, the show will contain a star-studded tribute medley with one song from each of Britney’s albums, followed by the presentation of a Lifetime Achievement Award (presumably the Video Vanguard Award?) by none other than Madonna. The rumored performance lineup (via Lainey Gossip):
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July 11th, 2011 | 1:53 pm by Mark Graham (@unclegrambo)

Song Of The Summer Countdown: Katy Perry Stakes Her Claim To Another S.O.T.S. Crown


[Click here for a larger image]

You know the moment when, near the end of horror movies, the seemingly-dead killer pops back to life, only to be shot/stabbed/poked-in-the-eye-with-a-wire-clothes-hanger by the protagonist? Well, if the Song of the Summer Countdown were a horror movie –this analogy is admittedly a stretch, but just follow us here for a sec– and Katy Perry were the doe-eyed Final Girl, then Adele would have to be the villain of our race.

Last week, after being unseated the week prior by “Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.),” “Rolling In The Deep” came back from the grave to make one final (?) run at the #1 position. However, on this week’s just-updated Song of the Summer countdown, Katy Perry once again asserted her dominance as the Queen of the Summer Songs to claim the top spot back from the British songbird. However, the race is nowhere near over yet.

Pitbull and Ne-Yo’s ode to joys of pre-apocalyptic nookie, “Give Me Everything,” continues to climb its way up the charts; its third-place position this week marks the song’s best performance on the charts to date. LMFAO‘s “Party Rock Anthem” is currently sitting atop the Billboard and iTunes charts, and OneRepublic‘s “Good Life” burst into the Top 10 in its first week on this chart, no doubt propelled by Ryan Tedder’s recent appearances on NBC/Universal linear properties, The Voice, Platinum Hit and the Today Show (corporate synergy at its finest!). It’s entirely possible that the zeitgeist could blow in the direction of any of these songs and put some serious wind behind their sails (and sales), but at this point, it sure seems like Katy is once again the girl to beat!

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July 5th, 2011 | 6:00 pm by Mark Graham (@unclegrambo)

Song Of The Summer Countdown: Adele, America Can’t Quit You


[Click here for a larger image.]

Well, for those of you who thought you had heard the last of Adele‘s “Rolling In The Deep” after it was bested by Katy Perry‘s “Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)” in last week’s Song Of The Summer Countdown, Adele will have you know that she’s not the type to go out quietly. Adele’s composite S.O.T.S. score slipped by one point from last week, but thanks to Katy Perry’s slippage of four points, we have ourselves the first ever tie in this here humble countdown!

In other chart insights, the summer of Pitbull continues to roll along nicely. “Give Me Everything,” which features Ne-Yo, Afrojack and Nayer, just hit #1 on the Billboard Hot 100, which factors both sales and radio airplay in its formula. The song seems unescapable at the moment; Pitbull and Ne-Yo performed it both on the Today Show and The Voice last week alone, continuing to give it some much needed momentum as we begin to approach the dog days. But as huge as this song is in its current incarnation, we can’t help but wonder how big it would’ve gotten if Shakira had sang the hook (as she was originally supposed to)?

One other interesting factoid for you S.O.T.S. watchers out there. If you check out the Top 100 songs on Metrolyrics, a site that is solely dedicated to helping readers find out what some of their favorite vocalists are actually singing, their current number one is “Super Bass” by Nicki Minaj (which seems to be making a nice run of its own right now). If we were to take a guess as to why this song is popping over the rest, we would have to say that the speed at which Nicki raps probably confuses a lot of her listeners, so getting a helping hand with the lyrics really comes in handy when, like Taylor Swift and Selena Gomez, someone asks you to start spontaneously rapping!

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