TAYLOR SWIFT CHANNELS MERYL STREEP AND LORDE WITH 'WILDEST DREAMS'

Taylor Swift is unstoppable with her excellent 1989 album and Wildest Dreams, the album's fifth single, is sure to continue its chart domination. I always thought this song sounded like a Lorde song, which makes sense because Lorde and Taylor are besties, so influence is bound to happen. The video finds TayTay serving Meryl Streep realness from La Streep's movie Out of Africa and even has a little tribute to Cecil the lion. Sweet! Wildest Dreams appeared briefly before its official release on the Hot 100 when 1989 first came out, hitting #76. Expect a MUCH higher position next week. Watch below. By the way, as it states at the end of the video, "All of Taylor's proceeds form this video will be donated to wild animal conservation efforts through the African Parks Foundation of America."

PERFECT KATY PERRY/TAYLOR SWIFT MASHUP: WIDE AWAKE FROM THIS LOVE

Andy Wu Musicland brings us the most dreamy, perfect mashup one of my fave Katy Perry songs, Wide Awake, and my fave of Taylor Swift's from 1989, This Love. The mashup genius puts the two songs seamlessly together and I can't stop listening to the awesomeness. I shall pass it forward. You're welcome.

MADONNA'S POSTER/TEASER FOR VIDEO OF 'BITCH, I'M MADONNA' IS EPIC!!

You're not the only one with friends, Taylor Swift!! ha. Madonna has unveiled the poster and a teaser for her upcoming video for next single Bitch, I'm Madonna on her Twitter and Instagram accounts, and bitch, a lot of people are coming to this party. In addition to the Queen the video will feature Nicki Minaj, Beyoncé, Katy Perry, Miley Cyrus and Rita Ora (?). As you see from the tweet below, the video is almost ready, but Madonna is a perfectionist. Can't wait for this one!!!! Rebel Heart is on iTunes now, in case you didn't know.

Video coming soon! Just tryin to make it perfect for all of you❤️😄❤️😓❤️😁 we are hard werking bitches! #bitchimmadonna pic.twitter.com/BCPuVK5lHJ

— Madonna (@Madonna) June 16, 2015

💘#bitchimmadonna 💘. Video Premieres on Tuesday!!! We@Go Hard or We Go Home! ❤️#rebelheartBitches

A video posted by Madonna (@madonna) on Jun 12, 2015 at 12:56pm PDT

TAYLOR SWIFT ANNOUNCES NEXT SINGLE ON INSTAGRAM

And it looks like it's going to be quite a production. Taylor announced via her Instagram account that Bad Blood will be the next single released from her über-successful album 1989. The song is supposedly a dis track written about her one-time friend Katy Perry, but Tay's lips are sealed. I mean, except for the song she is singing about it. Seems from the pic that we can expect a story video where Taylor plays a character named 'Catastrophe' and music video master Joseph Kahn (everyone's video) is directing. Look for it May 17th at the Billboard Music Awards.

Meet Catastrophe. #BadBloodMusicVideo

A photo posted by Taylor Swift (@taylorswift) on May 7, 2015 at 5:12am PDT

MADONNA & TAYLOR SWIFT PERFORM GHOSTTOWN AT THE iHEARTRADIO AWARDS

Nailing it!! Love this. Queen of Pop Madonna is joined on stage by fan and fellow pop royalty Taylor Swift for a stirring rendition of her latest single Ghosttown. Taylor does not take a star treatment either, she simply strums her guitar and basks in the glow of Our Lady. She also rocks some matching thigh-high stockings with Madonna. Adorbs. Watch below and love it. Rebel Heart and Taylor's 1989 are both amazing and out now. Check it out.

HUMPDAY SEXY SONG: STYLE - TAYLOR SWIFT

We don't get to see Taylor Swift's sexy side too often, so this is a real treat!! It must be what all those men see from her in private before she dumps their asses. Here is the latest single off of Swift's massively successful album 1989, Style. Written by Taylor, Max Martin, Ali Payami and Shellback, the brooding number and it's gorgeous video are currently sitting at #6 on the Hot 100. I wonder if it will become Taylor's third #1 from 1989? Wait and see. Until then, hump your best outfit and listen to today's Humpday Sexy Song, Taylor Swift's Style.

TAYLOR SWIFT RELEASES SEXY NEW VIDEO: STYLE

Taylor Swift has released my fave song from 1989, Style!!! It's about time, girl. The video for the third single from the album is very artsy and sexy, but some are complaining it's boring. WHAT? What did you expect? Taylor jilling-off while sitting a giant picture of Zac Efron's face? Actually that sounds kind of awesome, but replace Taylor with Zack Efron on his own picture. That's the boner-maker. Amiright, ladies? Anyway, here is the sexy new video for Style. Enjoy.

TAYLOR SWIFT OVERWHELMED BY MADONNA CROWNING HER A "PRINCESS OF POP"

Taylor knows an honor when she receives one!! In a recent interview with Australian presenter Richard Wilkins Madonna was asked about the current crop of up-and-coming pop ladies and, Madonna being the Queen of course, he asked her opinion about several of them including Katy Perry, Rihanna, Taylor Swift and others. Madonna's reply?

"It's good to have princesses [of pop]. It means there's lots of pretty dresses around. I like Taylor Swift. I think she writes some really catchy pop songs. I can't get them out of my head."

Well Swift got wind of the conversation and apparently was very happy. She tumblr'd up a storm and was as adorable as you would expect. She quoted Madonna and added, "Thanks now I'm dead". Ha!! And added the hashtags #HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO DEAL WITH THIS #BE COOL TAYLOR STOP BEING EMBARRASSING. It's good to see a princess that appreciates her Queen. Here is a totally random mashup of Madonna's Celebration and Taylor's Love Story. Kinda cute, y'all! Listen.

SIXTH ANNUAL AMAZY MUSIC AWARDS: TOP 10 ALBUMS

What a year, right. I know that every song or album we listen to affects us in different ways, so here are the albums this year  that made me laugh, cry, find my joy, express my pain or simply sit and contemplate. The purpose of music, in my opinion, is to move one emotionally, whether to elevate a current mood or to facilitate healing. These artists and their music have put a smile on my face, brought a tear to my eye and a couple of them even turned out to be pretty good sex music. See, music can do anything. So can you. Enjoy all of these albums, have a happy holiday season and a wonderful new year. Bring it, 2015.

10. AM Static - fDeluxe. The old group is back again. The follow up to their stellar 2011 comeback album Gaslight, fDeluxe dips into the past for this excellent cover album of funk and rock from the 70s. The former Family keep consistent with their sound while updating all these classics from Eric Carmen's All By Myself to Come Together, the Beatles classic. This is a cohesive, excellent album by a group steeped in Minneapolis funk.

9. It's The Girls - Bette Midler. The Divine Ms. M doesn't miss a step with her covers the girl group goodies that made an impact on not only her, but American music as a whole. Taking on The Supremes, the Andrews Sisters and, yes, TLC, Bette hits all the right notes with her signature take on classic songs. The real standout here is her melancholy cover of TLC's Waterfalls. Bring a tissue, cuz you are gonna jizz cry for sure.

8. I'm Not Bossy, I'm The Boss - Sinead O'Connor. After years of uneven releases, Sinead comes back with her most honest, hard hitting and pop-friendly record since her 90s heyday. I'm Not Bossy, I'm The Boss drips with confessional freedom from one of the most troubled, forthright artists of the modern pop generation. Take Me To Church is perhaps her poppiest song ever and 8 Good Reasons belongs in the pantheon of her greatest songs like Black Boys on Mopeds and Mandinka. A true return to form from the queen of brutal honesty.

7. Sheezus - Lily Allen. Never one to hold back, Lily Allen made the bold move to mock Kanye by calling her album Sheezus. Lily still kept her same sarcastic bite on songs like Hard Out Here and the excellent Insincerely Yours, but also expressed her softer side singing about love on As Long As I Got You and loss on Take My Place. Luckily deciding to record again after a self-imposed break, Lily's sound continues to evolve and I'm glad we have her back.

6. Nostalgia - Annie Lennox. The third and final cover album on my list, Ms. Lennox washes her luscious alto over every song she chose from the Great American Songbook to create a truly stunning work with Nostalgia. Her take on classics like I Put A Spell On You and Summertime will leave you with chills and her rendition of Strange Fruit is drenched in heartbreak for what is unfortunately a still-timely song. Every single track is made better by one of the truly great artists of our time.

5. ART OFFICIAL AGE/PLECTRUMELECTRUM - Prince/Prince and 3rd EYE GIRL. Prince never went away, as far as I'm concerned. Sure, he stopped writing radio hits, but he is still a genius of the highest degree. This year he had so much new music, including new jams with his band 3rd EYE GIRL, that he put out two albums at once. One, ART OFFICIAL AGE, a throwback to his 80s pop domination, and two PLECTRUMELECTRUM, a full-on rocker worthy of Purple Rain. I decided to count them as one because it's just not fair to everyone else to have to compete.

4. Morning Phase - Beck. To say that Beck's Morning Phase is a dreamy masterpiece would be a huge understatement. Every chord on this album drips with a melancholy California dewdrop. Waking Light is one of the most stunning works of the year and Morning will make you weep tears of joy. The songs evoke the psychedelic 70s with strings, guitars and Beck's subtle delivery lending itself to beautiful effect.

3. 1989 - Taylor Swift. Girl, you got me again. Songs so catchy and so poppy, how could you not love them? 1989 opens with Welcome to New York, Swift's ode to her new hometown, and from there on it delivers beat after infectious beat. Not so much a replica of the year Taylor was born as a reference point, songs like Style, Blank Space, All You Had To Do Was Stay and This Love prove you are not listening to your mom's older sister's Taylor Swift. Her sound is more full, sophisticated and her experience is broader. I'm loving the new Taylor and 1989 is a perfect aural demonstration of person growing up in front of us.

2. Food - Kelis. Sexy, funky and full of spicy lyrics. Kelis has always combined these things in her work, from the R&B of Tasty  to the EDM/club bangers on her last album Flesh Tone, but arguably it has never come together in such a fully satisfying way as it does on the retro-groove of Food. Influenced by her Harlem upbringing and her love of food, Food is soulful and introspective on tracks like Rumble and Breakfast, soft and sexy on Dreamer and funky as hell on Jerk Ribs. You'll listen from beginning to end and go back for seconds for Food.

1. Ultraviolence - Lana Del Rey. Nothing really came close to Lana's Ultraviolence this year. Lana's debut album and its extension Born to Die: The Paradise Edition, was moody, pouty and offbeat and Ultraviolence keeps most of that and adds some truly amazing production and lyrics that draw you into her story and build on it with each song on the record. Lana's voice coos over first single, the 70s inspired West Coast and longingly hurts over the fantastic title track. As a whole, the album is a cornucopia of dreamy emotion. It's consistent, beautiful, naughty, dichotomous and beyond the scope of all other albums I enjoyed this year. My #1 album of 2014.

BETTE MIDLER POSTS HIGHEST DEBUT EVER ON BILLBOARD 200 WITH 'IT'S THE GIRLS'

Bette Midler may be in her sixth decade of making the charts, but her new album, It's The Girls, is officially her highest debuting set ever!!! 'Girls' lands at #3 on the Billboard 200 chart this week behind the compilation Now 52 (#2) and the unstoppable juggernaut of Taylor Swift's 1989, which sold an additional 402,000 copies this week, the second highest weekly total behind it's own 1.287 million last week. It's The Girls brought in a modest-in-comparison 40,000, but shutever!! Bette's still got it. Believe it or not, It's the Girls is also Midler's second highest placement on the chart ever as well, behind only the soundtrack to Beaches which hit #2 in 1988. Midler has never had a #1 album. GASP!!!!

TAYLOR SWIFT DOES THE IMPOSSIBLE, SELLS RECORDS. A LOT OF THEM.

In this age of illegal downloads and digital singles, Taylor Swift has once again done the impossible: she sold over 1.287 million copies of her latest album 1989 in one week.  WOW! Seriously, NO ONE has sold a million records with their sales combined in this entire year. Taylor just surpassed every artist for the entire year in one week!!! The only album that has sold more is the Frozen Soundtrack, which was released last year, and this year has sold 3.2 million copies. Little girls buy fucking records, guys!!! I was definitely one of the 1.297 million who bough Taylor's album and if you don't like it you can suck it. It's good, y'all! Taylor's last two albums also sold over a million copies in their first week. 2010's Speak Now sold 1.047 million and 2012's Red sold 1.21 million. This makes Swift the first artist ever to have three albums sell over a million copies in one week. Damn!! She did not, however, break the record for the most albums sold in a week by a female artist. That record is still held by Britney Spears' Oops....I Did It Again, which sold 1.3 million in 2000. "It IS Britney, bitch" says Spears. Taylor's new single, the second from 1989, Blank Space is set to impact radio November 10th.

REVIEW: TAYLOR SWIFT - 1989

Taylor Swift has officially gone pop. I mean, come on. Wasn't she always pop? Sure, a country twang snuck in, but the thing that strikes me is that the songwriting on 1989 is the same as her other albums, they are just to a different beat. And that's a good thing!!! 1989 is the year this bitch was born, y'all!! And just barely: December 23, 1989. We are all old! There is definitely some 80s influence on this album, especially with album opener, the excellent and anthemic Welcome to New York, but this is not a retro album. What this album IS is confessional. Taylor always writes about her life and, frankly, that is what makes her music so popular and entertaining. There are juicy songs about relationship troubles like the synth-soaked Out of the Woods; the biting Bad Blood, a song supposedly about her feud with Katy Perry; and even songs about hopeless romanticism like Blank Space. Taylor writes with some pretty heavy weight pop names here: Max Martin (Britney, Pink, Katy Perry), Shellback (Pink, Britney, Usher) , Ryan Tedder (U2, Adele, Beyonce), singer/songwriter Imogen Heap, and Fun's Jack Antonoff. This makes for an album of many influences, but surprising cohesiveness. The possibility for singles is staggering; the pulsing Style is a definite highlight and the gorgeous All You Had To Do Was Stay is a genius title and continuation of Taylor's personal stories of love and heartbreak. This is not just an experiment of some country girl playing in the pop world, this is a genuinely inspired pop record. Of course, first single Shake It Off already hit #1 and she hasn't even had to officially release a second single yet. Interestingly there are a couple of obvious modern influences, like the Lana Del Rey whisper of Wildest Dreams, which finds Swift crooning and scooping her notes so perfectly that I had to check if Lana wrote the song. She didn't. This, again, is not a complaint. The results are quite lovely. There is also influence from another young singer that is a friend of Taylor's, Lorde. I Know Places is VERY Lorde and could easily fit on Heroine, her debut. Of course it would be easy to label Swift a copy cat, but to dream that artists are not inspired or influenced by their contemporaries is ludicrous. Another highlight would have to be the absolutely breathtaking This Love, written solely by Swift. Soft, floating and airy, This Love has GOT to be a single, y'all. The album closes with the Imogen Heap assisted Clean, a song heavily influenced by the singer and it features Heap on backup vocals. It's a dramatic end the first album in a new era for Taylor Swift. 1989 delivers exactly what was promised, a more pop Swift.

TAYLOR SWIFT PERFORMS 'OUT OF THE WOODS' ON JIMMY KIMMEL LIVE

Taylor Swift's new album 1989 comes out Monday. Here is her live performance of the addictive Out of the Woods on Jimmy Kimmel Live.

TAYLOR SWIFT'S TWO PREVIEW SONGS FOR 1989 ARE NAILING IT

Taylor Swift got me with her last album, Red. It was catchy, smart and full of interesting songs. I thought that would be it, but I don't know how to quit you, Taylor Swift. While I did not like first single Shake It Off, I have to say that the second song to be released in full (though not an official single) Out of the Woods and now the preview for Welcome to New York have me all aflutter for Tay's new album!!! She's left country far behind and is sounding very 80s new wave on these tracks. Are you excited? Check them out below. 1989 is out October 27th, so you only have a week to go!!! We can make it.

5th ANNUAL AMAZING MUSIC AWARDS: SINGLES 15-11

The ladies are nailing it in this round. Only one newcomer and then some, by comparison, musical veterans with pretty varied styles. A 16-year-old Kiwi, a country music superstar gone solo, the Princess of Pop, a crossover queen and a comeback from a British Broad. The videos are exciting too! Sisters are doing it for themselves today, y'all!! Dive into my top 20 countdown and take in numbers 15 through 11. Enjoy!

15. Royals - Lorde
14. Without You - Natalie Maines

13. Work Bitch - Britney Spears

12. Red - Taylor Swift

11. Hard Out Here - Lily Allen

TAYLOR SWIFT SINGS IN THE NEW YEAR ON DICK CLARK'S NEW YEAR'S ROCKIN' EVE

Country princess Taylor Swift swooped in on Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve to perform hits for the crowds freezing their asses off in Times Square. The one-woman Match.com sang her new single I Knew You Were Trouble and her smash We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together much to the joy of her fans. It's also reported that Taylor shared a midnight kiss with One Direction's Harry Styles, who is her December 2012 boyfriend. I think this may be the one that lasts. (side-eye)The show, by the way, won Monday night's battle of the countdown shows conquering coverage on the other networks. I'm sure Taylor helped with that. Anyway, here is some T-Swizz for your work day.

AMAZY MUSIC AWARDS 2012: TOP 20 SINGLES; 10 THROUGH 6

Oh, boy. We are getting close now!! Top 10, people. Here are my #10 through 6 fave songs of 2012. We have not just ladies this time...THERE'S A LADY-BOY TOO!! Along with the legend, a famous sibling, a pop princess and a country princess as well! Watch and agree. In case you missed, here are Part I and II.
10. Glamazon - RuPaul

9. Turn Up The Radio - Madonna

8. Losing You - Solange
7. Wide Awake - Katy Perry

6. We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together - Taylor Swift

4th ANNUAL AMAZY MUSIC AWARDS: TOP 10 ALBUMS OF 2012

I can't believe it's been four years since I started doing my little blog. What a fun time it's been and what fun I've had sharing my musings with all the little people in the world. Music has always been very, very important to me. Growing up it was my only escape out of my little Texas town into the life that I knew I wanted one day. Pop culture and music are my jam, y'all!!! Now, onward with my faves of 2012. It hasn't been a stellar year in albums, as far as I'm concerned, but when it was good, it was really good. These are the albums that caught and kept my attention this year from 10 to 1.  I tried to give my reasons, as best I could, why these albums made it to the top of my worlds this year. I hope they are well stated. Read it. My list, as usual, is pretty heavy with ladies, but it's an eclectic group of ladies at least! Right? I guess. Hope you enjoyed some of them too. If you didn't I guess you have a lot to learn about music, so pay attention. ;)

10. A Million Lights - Cheryl Cole. The British babe kicked it back up a notch from her 2010 effort Messy Little Raindrops and delivered an album full of potenial (yet inexplicabley unreleased) hits. Her voice seemed to improve, her choice of songs VASTLY imporoved and she even delivered one song, Mechanics of the Heart, that will be on my playlist for years to come. Release that song! Give us the happy ending we need, Cheryl! The first single, Call My Name, was the fastest selling UK single of 2012. Not too bad, Cheryl. Under the Sun, the title track and the Lana Del Rey penned Ghetto Baby were all standout tracks on the A Million Lights. Cole is currently back with Girls Aloud (who you might hear about later on in the month on this blog) touring, but hopefully we'll get another great album next year. Keep 'em coming, chippy!

9. The Truth About Love - Pink. Kicking off with a #1 song in Blow Me (One Last Kiss) and becoming Pink's first album to hit #1 in the US, The Truth About Love is definitely one of the most charasmatic, entertaining, balls-to-the-wall albums of the year. Pink hasn't always been an album artist to me (with the exception of the spectacular Missundaztood) but The Truth About Love is chock full of catchy hooks and great lyrics that keep you listening from start to finish. The remarkable Try, with its absolutely stunning video, and the fun True Love (ft. Lily Rose Cooper) are classic pop songs and sure to be staples of her shows from now on. Pink is back and she is more bad-ass and better than ever.

8. Halcyon - Ellie Goulding. It took about a year for her first US single Lights to reach the top 10, but Ellie Goulding didn't wanna wait to release new music. Halcyon is spirited, dark, moody, weird and wonderful. Her angelic voice, which I could easily mistake for Dolly Parton in its upper register, is glorious on the single Anything Could Happen, the album highlight Only You, and pretty much any other song you happen to drop into on this record. She's not afraid to sound different from what's on the radio these days, and it pays off. Halcyon deserves a lot of praise and hopefully a lot of sales too. Here's to the next Annie Lennox!

7. Dedicated - Wilson Phillips. Some things just get better with age. This is proven in two ways on the excellent album Dedicated by Wilson Phillips. Chynna, Wendy and Carnie, those singing starlets of the early 90s, are getting better and the songs of their parents, The Mamas & The Papas and The Beach Boys, are aging better than Sharon Stone.... AND THAT IS SOME FINE AGING THERE, GURL!! Stunning harmonies, great arrangements and that wonderful sound they make when they sing together blend for a magical bit of nostalgia and glee. Their acapella take on Good Vibrations alone is enough to make you buy this record, and it's just the tip of the iceberg. Don't EVEN get me started on God Only Knows. Just don't. The ol' gals still got it.

6. True EP - Solange. I love surprises!! When I saw that Solange, Beyonce's little sister, had a new EP coming out I really thought nothing of it. Then I saw the video for Losing You, the first single. I loved the video but was OBSESSED with the song. I immediately got the EP and the rest is, as they say, history. Solange mentioned she was inspired by Janet Jackson's 80s and 90s albums with Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, and it shows. The sweet harmonies, a la Janet's Come Back To Me or That's the Way Love Goes, abound on this seven song set. It's cooler than cool and right up there with the best of her big sister. Check out my fave track, Don't Let Me Down, if you get a chance. It's a killer! One of the smoothest sets of 2012. And watch your be-ack, Beyonce!

5. Magic Hour - Scissor Sisters. The Scissor Sisters haven't really hit the nail on the head, album-wise, since their debut in 2004. Not that they don't know how to write a tune. They are arguably some of the best purveyors of pop working. Their whole game changed this year with the amazingly poppy Magic Hour. Jake Shears and company served up some straight up, mainstream fare along with some underground club gems that had the masses dancing and even showed up on Glee! Only the Horses, Keep Your Shoes On and Let's Have a Kiki are killer dance tracks, and Inevitable and Year of Living Dangerously are hauntingly gorgeous, lush songs that will keep you swooning along to their luxurious grooves. I would say that the Sisters are revving up for a resurgence, but they did just announce they were going on a haitus. Not for too long, fellas! Let's keep it going while it's hot! Cuz we're coming over.

4. Warrior - Ke$ha. Irresistabley brash, rude and fun is the only way to sum up both Ke$ha and her sophmore album Warrior. From the clubbified opening title track to the trashy glam of Gold Trans Am, Ke$ha hits all the right notes to keep you partying. Even the most subdued songs on the album, Thinking of You and Warrior, rock in their own way. Her dutet with punk legend Iggy Pop, Dirty Love, NEEDS a video, y'all! First single, Die Young, is currently sitting at #3 on the Hot 100 behind snoozer Diamonds by Rihanna (Spoiler alert: Rihanna is not on this list) and second single C'mon is on it's way up the charts now. Here is hoping that possibly the best Ke$ha track ever, Supernatural, gets a release. Things are off to a slow start supposedly for this album, but I seee an up-tick in the future. Rock on, Ke$ha!

3. Red - Taylor Swift. Another surprise! I have never, ever (pun intended) bought a Taylor Swift album before, but the pure joy of first single We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together made me a believer. Turns out, the girl can write a tune or two. Red is one of the most even, enjoyable albums of the year delivering hook after hook and is so fat with hits it's ridunculous! Taylor's many past relationships (cough...slut...cough) have given her tons of ammo for funny, thoughtful and sometimes biting lyrics. The title song is pure magic and 22 reminds us that, yes, Taylor, you are 22. Bitch. Since I am apparently the last person on the planet to jump on the Taylor Swift bandwagon I won't bore you with any more details about the album except that I love it. There. I said it. Now shut up.

2. Born to Die: Paradise Edition - Lana Del Rey. Because of, or perhaps despite, all the hype I bought Lana Del Rey's album Born to Die. I subsequently listened to it almost every day for this entire year. Born to Die and its Paradise Edition are full of smart, sassy, gorgeous songs. Has she proven herself as a performer yet? No, not really. BUT she has more than proven herself as a singer/songwriter with a unique sound and point of view, not afraid of controversy. There is simply not even one throw-away track on this entire album. The strings, the audible pout, the self-proclaimed "Gangster Nancy Sinatra" has made her mark on teh music business in a very short period of time. Now what will she do with that foot hold? That remains to be seen, but 2012 was a stellar start.

1. MDNA - Madonna. DUH! Let's face facts. Madonna was, is and will always be the Queen of Pop. Her track record speaks for itself and this, her 12th studio album, is no exception when it comes to pop perfection. Madonna worked once again with William Orbit and newcomers Martin Solveig and Benny Benassi to create some of the best dance tunes she's done since Confessions on a Dance Floor and some of her most thought provoking lyrics since Ray of Light. If only Addicted had been released as a single it would have been my favorite single of 2012 BY FAR! The album did deliver the Madonna video we have been waiting for since Vogue, Girl Gone Wild. Back was the naughty, man-eating Madge we all crave and worship. Turn Up the Radio is Madonna's brightest single since Cherish and Falling Free is her most intimate moment since Nothing Fails. Of course, there is plenty of sass to distribute, including the HBIC song with Nicki Minaj I Don't Give A and the darkest song the Queen has ever made, Gang Bang. That shit is D-A-R-K, y'all! There is not any sign of a slow down from our lady and her tour more than showed evidence of that. MDNA is as addictive as the drug it psudeo-takes its name from and that is why it's my #1 album of 2012. I have spoken.

Stay tuned for the three-part run down of the top 15 singles of 2012 coming next soon.

AND THE GRAMMY NOMINEES ARE...

....eh. I am underwhelmed by the crop this year, quite frankly. I own ONE of the album of the year nominees. How is that possible? Anyhoo, here is the list of categories I give a crap about (my picks in italics) and for the full list go HERE.

Album of the Year
Black Keys, El Camino
Fun., Some Nights
Mumford & Sons, Babel
Frank Ocean, Channel Orange
Jack White, Blunderbuss

Song of the Year
Ed Sheeran, The A Team
Carly Rae Jepsen, Call Me Maybe
Miguel, Adorn
Kelly Clarkson, Stronger (What Doesn’t Kill You)
Fun. feat. Janelle Monae, We Are Young

Record of the Year
Black Keys, Lonely Boy
Kelly Clarkson, Stronger (What Doesn’t Kill You)
Fun. feat. Janelle Monae, We Are Young
Gotye feat. Kimbra, Somebody That I Used to Know
Frank Ocean, Thinkin Bout You
Taylor Swift, We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together

Best New Artist
Alabama Shakes
Fun.
Hunter Hayes
The Lumineers
Frank Ocean

Pop Vocal Album
Kelly Clarkson, Stronger
Florence + the Machine, Ceremonials
Fun., Some Nights
Maroon 5, Overexposed
P!nk, The Truth About Love

Best Dance/Electronica Album
Steve Aoki, Wonderland
The Chemical Brothers, Don’t Think
Deadmau5, Album Title Goes Here
Kaskade, Fire & Ice
Skrillex, Bangarang

DARREN CRISS COVERS MADONNA FOR FASHION'S NIGHT OUT AD

It's the best of all worlds!! Glee hottie Darren Criss covers Madonna's 1984 hit Dress You Up in an ad for Fashion's Night Out 2012! The event, which takes place on September 6th all over the world, also sells one-of-a-kind t-shirts benefiting the New York AIDS Fund. The ad also features Taylor Swift, Usher, Julie Bowen, Michael Kors, Kristen Wiig, Justin Beiber, Marc Jacobs, Coco Rocha, Victoria Beckham and many, many more. So go shopping Sept. 6 as late as you want and celebrity spot while you're at it! OH, and please let somebody release Darren's version of Dress You Up as a single!!!!!