Gym Class Heroes frontman Travis McCoy, now officially “Travie”, premiered his debut solo single “Billionaire” via MTV.com earlier today.

“Billionaire” uses a lot of live instrumentation so it has the same kind of alternative and organic Hip-Hop sound that you’d expect from Travie, but it also throws in a summery Island vibe to create a feel-good fusion of rap, pop, rock and reggae.

The song also features vocals from newcomer Bruno Mars, who’s recently received a lot of attention for singing the hook on B.o.B.’s soon-to-be smash “Nothin’ On You”.

“‘Billionaire’ is basically about, you know, like ‘Brewster’s Millions,’” Travie tells MTV. “It’s me talking about what would happen if I would somehow manage to become a billionaire. What would I do with the money? Don’t get it wrong, I’m far from a billionaire. I think I just made it out the ‘thousandaire’ category. So it’s about what I would do with the money and, the same time, it opens up the question, if you were in a position to do something with a decent chunk of money, what would you do?”

Travie’s debut solo album Lazarus is due to drop on June 8th, and will feature contributions from T-Pain, the Smeezingtons (B.o.B, Sugababes), Detail (Akon, Lady Gaga), the Stereotypes (Danity Kane, Melanie Fiona), Evan “Kidd” Bogart (Adam Lambert, Beyonce), and Josh Abraham (Velvet Revolver, 30 Seconds To Mars) & Oligee (Flo Rida, Leighton Meester).

Adam Lambert decided to give his new single “Whataya Want From Me” a rest last night on Jay Leno, instead deciding to perform the Ryan Tedder produced Battlefield “Sleepwalker” from his debut album For Your Entertainment.

This was another one in a long line of fantastic performances for Glambert, proving that his disastrous AMA’s fiasco really was just a one-off mistake.

Another thing that makes his performances so good is that he’s always singing something new instead of rehashing the same old songs all the time. The fact that he’s showcased a lot of material from his album on shows like Oprah and AOL Sessions has probably helped contribute to the strong sales of For Your Entertainment, which has no sold about 550k and been certified Gold.

Glambert’s current single “Whataya Want From Me” is currently climbing the Hot 100, reaching a new peak this week of #28. Next up for the single treatment is the Max Martin produced “If I Had You”.

Here’s my most listened to songs and artists of the past week. Make sure you tell me yours to in the comment section!

Top Artists
1. Khia
2. Ke$ha
3. Crookers
4. Janet Jackson
5. Miranda Lambert

Top Songs
1. Khia – Been a Bad Girl
2. Ke$ha – Blah Blah Blah
3. Kate Nash – I Just Love You More
4. Kate Nash – Doo Wah Do
5. Maria Kanellis – Fantasy

Now that the classy Queen Khia has made her triumphant return to the scene she’s also found her way back onto my most played list, so I’ve been listening to the soothing sounds of the Thug Misses all week. I’m also loving Kate Nash’s new music, and I”ve been blasting “Fantasy”  by Maria of the WWE because it’s such trash!

What have you been listening to lately?

The Cheeky Girls Sugababes have been very busy lately causing havoc, performing around the world, fending off lawsuits and much more so I thought I’d cram it all into one post so everyone can be up to date with what the tawdry trio are up to.

First off the Babes are finally dishing the dirt on Keisha Buchanan’s departure from the group, painting a very poor picture of the last original Sugababe in the process.

Amelle admits: “Bullying is a strong word. It sounds bad. But no one likes to be treated horribly. I was being singled out every day and I didn’t like the way I was being treated. I dreaded going in to work even though I had worked so hard to get here.

“I didn’t have a voice, Heidi didn’t have a voice and the people who worked around her didn’t have a voice. Even people who worked with us threatened to quit because they couldn’t take it. I took a lot of s*** from her as did Heidi and the rest of the team.

“Morally, you can only allow yourself to be treated a certain way for so long. It got to a point where we couldn’t do it anymore. I still respect Keisha. I would never speak badly about her or go into detail but we tried for a long time to make things work and it just got worse and worse.

“I used to be bubbly and outgoing but I became quiet. People told me I would never speak in interviews. I was paranoid that I would get the eye. I would let her carry on and live my life quietly.” {source}

You read the full interview over at the Daily Mail by clicking here, which goes into more detail about their beef with Keisha and how Jade came into the group, but the overall gist of it basically imply’s that Keisha was a big bossy boots who thought she ran the group. Is that really surprising though?

The juicy interview comes only a few days after the Sunday Mirror reported that Keisha is seeking legal action against the group to get them to either change their name or to pay her juicy one-off sum of cash.

I find the lawsuit a little hard to believe since Keisha is still signed to the same label as the Sugababes, Island Records, where she is working on her own album after being offered a solo deal after getting the boot from the band, but I hope it’s true just for the fact that I don’t think they should be allowed to use the name. It’s nothing personal.

The girls also just had their third Sweet 7 single “Wear My Kiss” debut on the official UK charts at #7, which isn’t too shabby at all but still isn’t the top five that they recently said that they were aiming for.

Last and definitely least is a new performance by the trio in Poland where they sung “About a Girl”. Check it below.

[Listen Here]

My fave Prince exclusively premiered a new song today titled “Cause and Effect” on an independent Minnesota radio station 89.3 as a gesture of support to independent radio.

The song is typical Prince funk but throws in a few other things on top like some wild electric guitar solos and an acoustic interlude, turning it all into one crazy, messy rock anthem.

Although the purple one hasn’t announced a new album yet it’s a well known fact that he’s constantly working on music around the clock, so we’ll just have to wait and see what his next move is.

If you thought that the ridiculously hot Shakira was for some reason going to be less sexy in the video for new single, the organic sounding “Gypsy, then you’re completely wrong.

The simple video basically just consists of Shakira (looking like a walking wet dream) wandering around in a barely-there dress canoodling with Spanish tennis pro Rafael Nadal, before later changing into a slinky little gold number to do a toned-down version of her mesmerizing hip rolls and booty shakes.

“Gypsy” is the third international single (fourth overall) from Shakira’s latest album She Wolf which has yet to even reach a Gold certification in the US. An Argentinian magazine reported a while back that a video for “Men In This Town” may be released at some stage, so the She Wolf project could still have some juice left in it yet.

Italian production duo Crookers are due to release their debut album Tons of Friends on March 8, but before you get your hands on it you’ll need to check out their third single “Remedy” which features band Miike Snow, who are made up of production team Bloodshy & Avant and another member.

The reason that Miike Snow is listed as a feature on “Remedy” is because the song heavily samples a tune from the band called “In Search Of” which appears on Miike Snow’s 2009 self-titled debut.

As I mentioned before Miike Snow consist of Bloodshy & Avant, who are arguably best known for producing a number of songs for Britney Spears. One of the many songs the pair worked on with Britney is a trancey dance-ballad called “Unusual You” from her 2008 Circus LP, which also happens to share some similarities to “In Search Of”.

Now we’re left with three different songs that all have very similar instrumentals. Who do you think did the best? I like Miike Snow’s version the best, but if Britney had put her vocals over the “In Search Of” beat it would’ve been the perfect song.

Check them out below.

Here is my weekly post of my most listened to artists and songs of the past seven days, as compiled by my iPod and Last.Fm account. Make sure you tell me yours to!

Top Artists
1. Paula Abdul
2. Heidi Montag
3. Janet Jackson
4. Prince
5. Vanity

Top Songs
1. Rihanna – Rude Boy
2. Paula Abdul – Cold Hearted
3. Paula Abdul – Knocked Out
4. Miranda Lambert – The House That Built Me
5. Heidi Montag – Overdosin’

I’ve been blasting a ton of People magazines “Most Wanted Woman” of 1990 Paula Abdul, listening to all the hits from her first two albums on repeat. It got me into a real 80’s mood so I’ve also been playing all my old favorites from Janet, Prince and Vanity.

I loved Rihanna’s “Rude Boy” video and it got me back into the song that I love, and of course I can’t forget my fave flop Heidi and her multi-cardboard certified smash “Overdosin’”!

To celebrate the brilliance of poor Paula here is her fierce video to “Cold Hearted”, one of my favorite Paula classics. I love the X-Rated choreography at the end!

Beyonce’s mouthy little sister Solange is back up to her trademark antics again, this time making some thinly veiled comments towards someone who seems to be Rihanna for copying the concept of her video “I Decided” for her latest hit “Rude Boy”. It should also be noted that both video’s were shot by the same director Melina.

It’s flattering and frustrating when somebody does things u did before way later. Well….. It’s actually kind of funny.

I think there’s emotion behind it because if you have been considered, “weird, kooky,”ect. scince u were a lil kid, & made fun of terribly, and then u see folk who hopped on the “weird train” now that it’s pop culture to be “different”…it’s innnteeerrreesttting!

Truth is everyone has been inspired by SOMEONE. That’s life.

Solange isn’t the only one popping off on Twitter over the “Rude Boy” video, with producer Diplo yesterday taking some friendly shots at Rihanna claiming that she copied M.I.A.’s “Boyz” video.

What Rihanna did for the “Rude Boy” has definitely been done before several times, but I hardly think Solange should be pointing the finger at anybody.

First Solange verbally ridiculed and discredited a journalist who reported that she had been dropped from Interscope (which was true even though Solange and Mathew lied about it), then recently she complained on Twitter that Beyonce wasn’t getting enough attention for her Grammy sweep whilst implying that a certain someone *cough*Taylor Swift*cough* was getting too much press, and now she seems to be accusing Rihanna of doing something that she herself copied from M.I.A.

I try not to put too much opinion on this blog anymore because it just comes across as pompous and annoying sometimes, but to me Solange seems like a spoiled brat with a major sense of entitlement.

Anyways check out Solange and M.I.A.’s videos below the cut and let me know your thoughts on the whole swagga jacking thing.

Read more »

You’ve probably forgotten by now (or just never knew in the first place), but Heroes actress Hayden Panettiere also moonlights as a pop star in her spare time, and now after a huge long gap of complete nothingness she’s finally decided that she’s ready to give her music career another shot.

“I’d like to focus on music,’ she tells Now. I’ve been singing for almost as long as I’ve been acting and I love it. It’s just a different way of expressing myself and getting to be me, not having to play anyone else.”

The 20-year-old wants to make sure her LP is perfect before she releases it.

“I’ve been working on my album for about three years,” she reveals. It’s all about finding the time, though, which is crazy. And it’s hard to get people to accept me as a singer because they see me as an actor.” {source}

In addition to countless appearances on various Disney soundtracks, the Hollywood Records signee released her first single “Wake Up Call” back in 2008. The song was a complete rip-off of Paris Hilton’s one and only hit “Stars are Blind”, but it was still quite catchy even though it failed to chart.

Hayden actually strikes me as reasonably intelligent and sensible, so hopefully she doesn’t release something boring in a desperate effort to prove to us that she’s a “real” singer.