RECAP: NEW MUSIC & VIDEOS THIS WEEK

Just to put it all in one place for ya. There was a lot of new music/videos happening this week. I gave it to ya once, and now I've givin' it to you ALL at once. Here is No Doubt, Rihanna, Kylie, Ke$ha, Lana Del Rey and Christina Aguilera belting out the songs you'll be hearing for the next couple of months. Enjoy and have a great weekend, peeps!

NEW CHRISTINA AGUILERA VIDEO: YOUR BODY

Okay then. Christina Aguilera is a man-eater, well, man-killer in her new video Your Body. It's all in good fun. The song is growing on me and the video is a colorful romp a la Natural Born Killers, but cutesy. Just watch it.

MADONNA FRIDAY: EROTICA, LIVE CONFESSIONS TOUR PERFORMANCE

Madonna surprised fans on her 2006 Confessions Tour by performing her 1992 hit Erotica. Not necessarily because she doesn't perform it much, but because she used the original, unreleased version that was called You Thrill Me for the most part. The sexy, pumped up version of Erotica has a more disco beat, equally suggestive lyrics and Madonna performed a steamy tango to accompany it. The original demo of the song was leaked on the internet in 2008. I have always loved the song Erotica and the album Erotica, as far as I'm concerned, is a pop masterpiece unsurpassed by any other Madonna album. Yes. I said it. It was a statement about the sexualization of our culture in the 1990s and a statement by Madonna about the press being obsessed with her sex life. She just laid it all out for them, fantasies and all. Some critics and fans were put off by the sexual undertones of Erotica and the Sex book that accompanied its release, but I thought it was absolute pop culture perfection. Still do. So here is your Madonna Friday treat, the live version of Erotica from the amazing Confessions Tour. Enjoy.

DEEE-LITE'S LADY MISS KIER STUMPS FOR OBAMA: VOTE, BABY, VOTE

Lady Miss Kier, of Deee-lite, has decided to throw her support behind President Obama and made a video to prove it. First released of their 1992 album Infinity Within, Vote, Baby, Vote is a little song about....well....voting. Duh. Here Ms. Kier updates the song with a not-so-subtle chant in favor of Obama. Enjoy and don't forget to vote.....for Obama, otherwise, forget.

NEW MUSIC: RIHANNA - DIAMONDS

It's been about 20 minutes since Rihanna released her last album (Talk That Talk was released November 2011), so naturally she's gearing up for the next one!! Diamonds is the first single from Rihanna's upcoming, as-yet-untitled album. Written by Sia, Benny Blanco and Stargate, the song is a mid-tempo, atmostpheric tune with a catchy "shine bright like a diamond" refrain. I like it. Rihanna may need to take a break eventually, but I have to say for someone who puts out an album every nine months, she is really able to find great songs and great people to write for her. Check out Diamonds by clicking this link: Diamonds

HUMPDAY SEXY SONG: I TOUCH MYSELF - DIVINYLS

Released in January 1991, the Divinyls' I Touch Myself caused quite a stir. The sexy, saucy lyrics were pretty controversial at the time, but despite that the song reached #4 on the Billboard Hot 100. Take that, prudes!!! The song was written by band members Christina Amphlett and Mark McEntee with powerhouse songwriting team Tom Kelly and Billy Steinberg. Kelly and Steinberg wrote such hits as Like a Virgin, True Colors, I'll Stand By You, and So Emotional among others. Christina came across an entry in their notebook with lyric ideas for I Touch Myself, loved it, and they all completed the song together. Thus, sexy song history was made. The song was famously used in the first Austin Powers movie to great effect. So shut off the lights and listen to the Divinyls' I Touch Myself, you big perv.

R.I.P. ANDY WILLIAMS. MOON RIVER SINGER DEAD AT 84

NEW LANA DEL REY: RIDE

Lana Del Rey had a big year in music. Her debut album, Born to Die, was an international hit and she (for better or worse) appeared on SNL. Her album is being re-released with eight new tracks in November and will be called The Paradise Edition. Swanky! Ride is the first single off of that expanded edition, and it's another dreamy affair from Ms. Del Rey. It's got that sleepy voice, the strings, the build to excitement that we've come to expect from our girl. If this is any indication of the new music to come, I think we're in for a treat. Here is Ride.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, OLIVIA NEWTON-JOHN

The first woman I ever worshiped (besides my Mom of course) is turning 64 today!! Yes, Olivia Newton-John, Sandy!, is 64. I have watched Grease about a thousand times and Xanadu more than I can count. I have spent hours and hours dancing around my room to Physical, Make a Move on Me, You're the One That I Want, Twist of Fate, Xanadu, Heart Attack, Magic, and (my fave) A Little More Love (among others), and not just as a child, I was doing it last week!!! Olivia started off as a country cutie, actually winning an American Country Music award in 1973 as Most Promising Female Vocalist and a Grammy Award for Best Female Country Vocal Performance, and then turned to pop after doing Grease and realizing she had a whole other, sexified woman living inside her. Her pop hits culminated in her having THE biggest song of the 80s with Physical and, according to Billboard Magazine itself, that song is the SIXTH among all the songs on the Hot 100 in its 50 year history! Can I get a what-what? She is still recording. She's an actress, and entrepreneur, a philanthropist and a mother (daughter in her belly in the video for Soul Kiss below). Olivia's career is far from over and she is looking as beautiful as ever (the pic I posted in recent). Here are a few videos to enjoy today from ONJ. Celebrate her, bitches!

NEW KE$HA: DIE YOUNG

YAY!! Ke$ha is back with more glitter-covered tunes for our earholes. Die Young is not reinventing the wheel for Ke$ha, AND THAT'S A GREAT THING! Catchy tune, fun lyrics, party anthem: check, check, check. A touch of claps and acoustic guitar are thrown in just for good measure here too. Similar in theme to the song Ke$ha penned for Britney's Femme Fatale, the irresistible Til the World Ends, Die Young is sure to close out many-a-party this fall. Ke$ha's new album, Warrior, is due December 4th. In the meantime, enjoy....

NEW VIDEO: NO DOUBT - PUSH AND SHOVE FT. BUSY SIGNAL AND MAJOR LAZER

First of all, can we talk about the fact that Gwen Stefani looks possibly younger than last time we saw her!!! She's gorgeous! Push and Shove, the first single from No Doubt's new album of the same name (out today) is classic No Doubt: A little ska, a little pop, a lot of style. Gwen and company take to the streets with guest rappers Busy Signal and Major Lazer (I CAN'T with those names) and the whole affair is shot with a hand-held. Glamour! Enjoy the video for Push and Shove and go buy the new No Doubt album today!

NEW KYLIE MINOGUE: FLOWER. WATCH THE VIDEO

Kylie Minogue has many, many unreleased fan fave songs and Flower is somewhere at the top of that list for most. Flower is a simple, beautiful song written during the sessions for Kylie's album X with Steve Anderson.  Now it's getting a proper release during Kylie's 25th anniversary celebration. Here is the gorgeous Kylie with a pretty black & white video for Flower, which  she directed all by her little self!! Flower is included on her upcoming Oct. 29th release of The Abbey Road Sessions. Enjoy!

MADONNA PERFORMS LOVE SPENT FOR THE FANS IN CHICAGO

When she normally sings a slowed-down version of Like a Virgin in her MDNA concert, Madonna switched things up in Chicago and gave her fans a performance of a standout track from MDNA, Love Spent. IT'S AMAZING!!! I kinda wish I'd seen this song. Check it out below.

NEW MUSIC: LANA DEL REY - BLUE VELVET

Lana Del Rey is the new face of H&M and for the ad campaign the singer recorded a cover of the 1950s classic Blue Velvet. The song was originally performed by Ray Mason in 1950 but more famously by Tony Bennet in 1951 and Bobby Vinton in 1963. This is a lovely, lush cover of the song, but we don't get the full cut. This is a commercial after all. A girl's gotta make a buck. Here is the loveliness of Lana and Blue Velvet.

MADONNA FRIDAY: KEEP IT TOGETHER

The 6th and final single off of the Like a Prayer album, Keep It Together was the very first Madonna single of the 1990s. Now that's something to hang your hat on, girls. The song talks about the importance of family, and despite Madonna's confessional stance at the time that her childhood was less than peachy-keen as far as relationships with her family, she expresses that they did in fact help make her who she was and that bond cannot be broken. Keep It Together returned Madonna to the top 10, peaking at #8, after Oh Father was her first since Holiday to miss that mark (#20). However, in Australia the song was released as a Double-A side with Vogue, resulting in a #1 hit Down Under. It also reached #1 on the Hot Dance Club Play charts in the U.S. There was no official video for Keep It Together, but upon the release of Madonna's documentary Truth or Dare, video chanels began playing her performance from the Blond Ambition Tour, which was the final encore of the show. Based on A Clockwork Orange, the number used Fosse-style choreography as depicted Madonna and her dancers as a tight-knit clan. Enjoy the clip of Keep It Together below. Happy Madonna Friday!!!

AIMEE MANN "FORCED" TO RECREATE FAMOUS 80S TIL TUESDAY VIDEO. HILARIOUS!

Aimee Mann hasn't always been an angsty solo artist. During the 80s she was the lead singer for an angsty band, 'Til Tuesday. They had a MEGA-hit with Voices Carry (or as my husband thought it said, This Is Scary). Well, that 1985 hit is now the inspiration for the "director" of her new video for her catchy single Labrador. The "director" here is played by Jon Hamm in a hilarious mustache and he tricked Aimee into a shot-for-shot remake of the video for Voices Carry. Brills!! Here is the video for Labrador, and for comparison, Voices Carry. Enjoy!

JUST BECAUSE: HAPPY BIRTHDAY, PRINCE HARRY!!

LADY GAGA FAME: A FILM BY STEVEN KLEIN

I have no idea what's going on in this film, but it's beautiful and I'm enthralled. What do you think it's about?

MADONNA FRIDAY: PAPA DON'T PREACH

In the very beginning Madonna was the ragamuffin girl with the bow in her hair, the piles of bright makeup and the torn tights. Much to the surprise of everyone in the music industry, Madonna did the very first of her MAJOR image changes when she popped up on screen with a pixie haircut and a very lean physique. Papa Don't Preach was the first official single from her smash hit album True Blue (Live to Tell was out before the album as a track from the film At Close Range). The song caused controversy for it's "keeping my baby" stance and, for the first time, parents were praising Madonna for a pro-life message, while some women's organizations condemned Madonna for encouraging teen pregnancy. It's a story in a song! Madonna told the New York Times, "Papa Don't Preach is a message song that everyone is going to take the wrong way. Immediately they're going to say I am advising every young girl to go out and get pregnant. When I first heard the song, I thought it was silly. But then I thought, wait a minute, this song is really about a girl who is making a decision in her life. She has a very close relationship with her father and wants to maintain that closeness. To me it's a celebration of life. It says, 'I love you, father, and I love this man and this child that is growing inside me'. Of course, who knows how it will end? But at least it starts off positive." The song reached #1 on the Hot 100, becoming Madonna's fourth song to top the charts. The song, along with the music video, are among Madonna's most memorable and important. Truly a classic by any standards, here is Madonna's giant hit from the summer of 1986, Papa Don't Preach.

NEW MUSIC: P!NK (FT. LILY ROSE COOPER) - TRUE LOVE

THIS IS AMAZY!!! Love this song. When I heard that hard-ass Pink was going to be recording a song with my fave British lass Lily (Allen) Rose Cooper I was all aflutter. Well True Love doesn't disappoint. While Lily only shows up on a short bridge, it's the sweet little break we need right in the middle of the song. So good!!! Our beloved Lily wrote the song with Pink and her own current collaborator Greg Kurstin and it certainly has her feel to it. Anyhoo, take a listen and bop along to the love/hate song for yourself. I know Lily is back in the studio recording and I CANNOT WAIT for her next album. This will go a long way in helping me during that wait. Here's True Love. Pink's new album, The Truth About Love, comes out September 18th (next week). To stream even more tracks from the album go to Pink's VEVO page and have at it.

NEW MUSIC/VIDEO: ROBBIE WILLIAMS - CANDY

One of the members of my (imaginary) celebrity harem, Robbie Williams, is back in solo territory after a brief reunion with Take That. Here is his new single and video, Candy. The video is classic cheeky Williams. Robbie is the guardian angel to a pretty lady who keeps putting herself in harm's way. Guess who takes the beating.....adorably of course. I like the song. It has a retro feel to it and is fun and catchy. I also always like gawking at Robbie. So cute!!! Robbie's new album, Take the Crown, will be released in the UK on November 5th

THE SCISSOR SISTERS HAVE A KIKI, LIVE ON WENDY WILLIAMS

WERQ! Here are the fantabulous Scissor Sisters performing their summer smach Let's Have a Kiki on The Wendy Williams Show. I gotta say, they did a fun job getting rid of the profanity in the song. Never heard "Mother Trucker" sound so good. Ha. And how hot is Jake Shears??? WOOO!!! Watch and have a kiki with someone you love today.

HUMPDAY SEXY SONG(S): VANITY 6 & APOLLONIA 6

During the early 80s Prince was writing so much music he had to create groups to perform them to keep his desire to put out that music satisfied. Did you follow that? I'm not changing it. There are many legendary Minneapolis bands that were created for Prince's musical happiness, but perhaps the most fun, and definitely the sluttiest are two forever-connected, campy girl groups: Vanity 6 and Apollonia 6. Since it's Humpday and all, why not feature four women that many, manychildren of the 80s humped to back in the day. The initial incarnation of the group was put together by Prince and was called The Hookers. Once Prince met Canadian B-movie actress and "model" Denise Matthews at the American Music Awards in 1982, he became enamored, renamed her Vanity and centered the girl group around her, calling it Vanity 6. The "6" was for the number of breasts in the group. Way to keep it classy, Prince. The other members of the group were "bad girl" Brenda Bennett, who had served as Prince's "wardrobe mistress"(I put that in quotes because that's how Wikipedia has it. Don't know what it means), and "innocent girl" Susan Moonsie, Prince's high school girlfriend. Vanity 6 only put out one self-titled album and had one classic hit with Nasty Girl before Vanity quit that bitch -- in the middle of pre-production for her starring role in Purple Rain -- and decided to embark on a solo career with Motown records. She went on to star in a few films, most notably 1985's The Last Dragon, and had minor success as a solo artist. She had the most success at posing for Playboy several times, but gave everything up after battling addiction to crack and became a born-again Christian. She is now an evangelist. Didn't see that coming, did ya? After her departure a nation-wide search ensued and Prince found model/actress Patricia Kotero, renamed her Apollonia, gave her the lead in the Purple Rain and put her front and center in the newly dubbed Apollonia 6 with Brenda and Susan. I guess they all still had two breasts. Vanity had already started laying down tracks for the follow up album, so her vocals were simply erased and re-recorded by Apollonia. Like Vanity 6, Apollonia 6 also only had one self-titled album and one classic hit with Sex Shooter before Apollonia decided to move on to television, most notably Falcon Crest, and a solo CD in 1988 to minor success. Both of these albums, in my humble opinion, are important parts of the early Prince/Minneapolis sound and, although both are raunchy and campy, are very different in tone and sound. Vanity 6 is more raw and seedy sounding. There is a lot more talk-singing on their album. Vanity takes the lead on 4 tracks, Susan on 2 and Brenda on 1. Apollonia 6 has a more polished, pop sound to it, much like Purple Rain. Apollonia sings lead on 3 tracks (one is a spoken-word track in Spanish), Brenda on 3 and Susan on 1. I think Brenda really shines on the Apollonia 6 album, giving by far the best vocal performances (Blue Limousine, A Million Miles and Some Kind of Lover) on either album. I think she is truly the only real "singer" of the four. Susan's songs, however, are probably the most fun, although she only talk-sings them (Drive Me Wild, Make-Up, Ooo She She Wa Wa). But of course, Vanity and Apollonia are given the real zingers on these records (Nasty Girl and Sex Shooter, respectively). That being said, all of the songs are, of course, fun and catchy as hell. They are classic Prince; dirty, sexy, funny and hooky. Below I have split them up to highlight the best clips by each band member. I don't know if anyone my age even knew who these ladies were. I was really WAY too young to be listening to them at the time (don't tell my Mom what she unwittinly bought me) and I certainly didn't understand all of the lyrics at that age, but I liked them for the same reason I like my friends and mostly why I married my husband: They are slutty and they make me happy. Enjoy Humpday with Vanity 6 and Apollonia 6. You're welcome. Oh, some of the Apollonia 6 videos come from a never-released short film that is a rough, unedited cut. Showed up on youtube a few years ago. If you would like to watch that whole film just click HERE for Part 1 and HERE for Part 2. Have fun.

Apollonia & Vanity


Susan Moonsie (skip to 1:28 on 1st video)



Brenda Bennett (skip to 4:48 on first video)

KYIE MINOGUE PERFORMS AT LONDON'S PROMS IN THE PARK

Don't have to say much about this except Kylie nailed some reworked songs for the Proms on the Park performance in London's Hyde Park. I think it's safe to assume these are close to the versions we'll be hearing upon release of Minogue's upcoming Abbey Road Sessions cd out October 29th. AND she looks F-L-A-W-L-E-S-S. Watch.

MADONNA FRIDAY: MDNA TOUR REVIEW, SINGLES AND VIDEOS

AHHH!! I finally saw Madonna's MDNA tour last night at Yankee Stadium. It was EVERYTHING! The girl knows how to put on a show!!! From the opening of Girl Gone Wild to the finale of Celebration, I was enthralled! I think it was one of her most spirited, inspired tours she's ever done. I was mostly smiling and moving my hips for the whole show. AH-MAH-ZING! My fave parts? Oh would say the floating drum line in Give Me All Your Luvin', the Nicki Minaj cameo during I Don't Give A, and the fan fave off MDNA, I'm Addicted. Of course it was packed with a ton of hits we all know like Vogue, Like a Prayer and Papa Don't Preach. I also REALLY loved her mashup of Express Yourself and Born This Way, by Lady Gaga. Awesome!!! The show also made me REALLY appreciate her commitment to continuing the art of making great pop music, which brings us to today's post. MDNA has been GROSSLY under appreciated since its release last March and it's a damn shame. Madonna put together a fierce collection of pop songs that range from dark and scary to joyful to sexy to beautiful pop balladry. Some truly brilliant moments on this disc. If you haven't checked it out yet (c'mon!), do it and thank me later. Today I'm gonna give you a 1,2,3 punch of MDNA singles and videos with Give Me All Your Luvin', Girl Gone Wild and Turn Up the Radio.

KYLIE ANNOUNCES NEW ALBUM FOR OCTOBER: THE ABBEY ROAD SESSIONS

To celebrate her 25th year in the music biz, Kylie Minogue will release an album of some of her most beloved songs radically reworked and re-recorded on October 29th. The set was recorded at the legendary Abbey Road Studios in London with a full orchestra and will feature 16 classic Kylie songs. ALSO, lucky fans will see Kylie perform the songs with the BBC Symphony Orchestra for Proms in the Park on September 8th. FUN!!! Looking forward to hearing these songs reworked by Ms. Minogue! Here is the track list:

ALL THE LOVERS

ON A NIGHT LIKE THIS

BETTER THE DEVIL YOU KNOW

HAND ON YOUR HEART

I BELIEVE IN YOU

COME INTO MY WORLD

FINER FEELINGS

CONFIDE IN ME

SLOW

THE LOCOMOTION

CAN’T GET YOU OUT OF MY HEAD

WHERE THE WILD ROSES GROW

FLOWER

I SHOULD BE SO LUCKY

LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT

NEVER TOO LATE