Dr. Luke Makes Cody Simpson Even More Awesome

Australia's most relevant pop star has done it again! Cody Simpson continues to raise the bar for quality teen pop with his (relatively) new single "Wish U Were Here". The slick Dr. Luke production almost passed me by until I heard it in a club last night and suddenly realised it's the 15-year-old's finest contribution to the modern art. Yet. In all seriousness, this is one hell of a song. The perky synths lift the Gold Coast expat's voice to new...

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Lordtina Is Now The Patron Saint Of Toilet Sex: 'Your Body' - Video Review

It's finally here! Christina Aguilera's "Your Body" visual dropped this morning and I'm still reeling from its brilliance. First things first. The preview was misleading. I thought Xtina was going to spend most of the clip guzzling beer in a trailer park like Beyoncé in "Party" but that's just a tiny piece of the puzzle. The always-edgy music legend actually plays a horny femme fatale who goes on an extremely colourful murder spree. In an unusual...

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A Visual Representation Of Ricki-Lee's 'Fear & Freedom' Chart Run

Shame. I really like "Never Let Go" and "Raining Diamond...

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Lana Takes Us To Paradise This November

We're nearing the end of September and Lana Del Rey's Born To Die is still my favourite album of the year. I'm sure Ke$ha's Warrior will give the gloomy masterpiece a run for its money but expect a photo finish. 2012 has been an amazing year for the doomed diva. She has sold 2.5 million albums - without a sizeable hit - and firmly established herself as an A List celebrity with saturation media coverage. Not bad when you consider how many people...

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A*M*E* & The Best Debut Single Of 2012

A couple of months ago Idolator asked me to pull together a list of women on the cusp of pop stardom and the inclusion of A*M*E (pronounced Amy) felt like a no-brainer. The 17-year-old Sierra Leone-born, South London-based diva already has an army of die-hard fans thanks to killer buzz singles like "Find A Boy" and "City Lights" but even I wasn't expecting her official debut to be this good. In fact, it's no exaggeration to call "Play The Game Boy"...

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Lena Sparkles With Stardust

I haven't posted any German pop music for a while, mostly because I haven't heard anything good in months. But the drought is over. Lena's new single is the best thing the 2010 Eurovision winner has ever recorded. Yes - even better than her international breakthrough "Satellite". The first thing you notice about "Stardust" is how far the 21-year-old has come in the past two years. I used to find Lena's quirkiness forced and off-putting but her current...

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Ke$ha Unveils Era-Defining 'Die Young' Lyric Video

Flawless pop deity Ke$ha is officially back! This will be a short post because I'm crying and shaking uncontrollably. "Die Young" kicks off what will probably be the most important and influential era in popular music since Elvis picked up a guitar. Bask in the glory of a master at the very peak of her powers and get ready to download this modern masterpiece from iTunes in the next few hours. Number one is inevitab...

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Kylie Gets It Right With Flower - Video Review

Now this is the kind of bar-raising brilliance I expect from the woman I've idolised since childhood! It's no secret - pun intended - that I've been suffering from Kylie fatigue lately. "Time Bomb" was a dreadful single and I struggled to muster much enthusiasm for her orchestral album. The former was beneath her and The Abbey Road Sessions struck me as completely unnecessary. I might have to rethink my opinion of the latter after hearing the finished...

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Zoë Badwi Returns With 'Shoot Me Down'

Hot on the heels of her top 10 club hit "A Million Lights", comes the first taste of Zoë Badwi's sophomore album. I'm biased when it comes to my fellow cheesy nugget connoisseur but Australia's reigning dance diva has outdone herself with "Shoot Me Down". The glamorous pop star first talked about the track way back in April when she graced the Pop Panel with her presence. Almost six months have passed but it was worth the wait. American hitmakers...

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New Luciana - Calling All The Lovers

Dance legend Luciana is back with her latest floorfiller - this time a collaboration with American dance outfit Manufactured Superstars. You might remember them as the masterminds behind Paris Hilton's "Drunk Text" but don't let that put you off. "Calling All The Lovers" is another incredibly strong dance anthem from the Queen of Clubs. In fact, it's one of her best yet. There's something more restrained and understated about this classy effort that...

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Beyoncé Interviews Britney & Rihanna - The Best Video I Have EVER Seen

Put your life on hold and watch this video! I haven't laughed this much since Keri Hilson performed for free in that Walmart carpark. "Bayonse's Quens Of Flop" is an animated talk show hosted by the legendary Beyoncé Knowles. It perfectly captures Bey's superiority to everyone else on the planet and pretty much leaves the rest of the game wigless and crying in a corner. In this episode, 'Bayonse' interviews Rihanna ('Rhenna') and Britney ('Brinty'). The quips about Rihanna's "tens of fans" and X Factor keeping Britney "off the pills" were perfection....

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Lolene Is Back To Blow Up Your Radio!

The best week for pop music since the 1989 continues with the very welcome return of Lolene. It's funny. I was only ranting about the underground electro-pop icon on Twitter last week. Basically, it pains me that someone this talented and interesting got the boot from her label while non-entities like Dev and Natalia Kills continue to rape our ears. It's particularly galling when you consider how brilliant her unreleased debut album is. I cherish...

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Lady Gaga Copies Xtina. Again.

Lady Gaga has gone all Single White Female on Christina Aguilera. Again. It's bad enough that Mother Monster based her entire career on the dirrty diva's 2008 electro-smash "Keeps Gettin' Better" but now she's basically morphing into Xtina. First she went blonde and then she copied her idol's female impersonator chic. I should have known that Gaga would turn to the new Adele now that her career has hit the skids but binging on burgers to imitate...

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Nelly Furtado's Parking Lot - Single/Video Review

Nelly Furtado's eagerly-anticipated (by me) fifth album was released last week to very little fanfare. The Spirit Indestructible didn't even dent the top 100 on Australian iTunes. It's a sad fate when you consider the Canadian diva's last English-language opus Loose went to #1 in nine countries and sold more than 10 million copies worldwide. The problem hasn't been the quality - I loved "Big Hoops (Bigger The Better)" and grew to appreciate "Spirit...

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Solange Is Back - Her Three Fans Rejoice!

This week just gets better and better. The latest icon to unveil new music is Solange - AKA the Dannii of the Knowles family. And like the Queen of Clubs, Beyoncé's younger sister is severely underrated. Sol-Angel and the Hadley St. Dreams is one of my all-time favourite albums thanks to genre-bending cuts like "Sandcastle Disco" and "I Decided". It deserved much wider recognition but won the diva a loyal cult following, which should reap dividends...

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Lana Del Rey Makes Selling Out Credible

My love for Lana Del Rey grows by the day. The pioneer of sadcore is picking up where Lady Gaga left off (before completely losing the plot) - by creating the most convincing fake persona in popular music. She's now using her doomed '50s beauty queen look to promote H&M in Europe. Any other credible musician would balk at the gig but the 26-year-old makes selling out cool by paying tribute to David Lynch's 1986 cult classic Blue Velvet. Lana...

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Ke$ha Is A Warrior

How flawless is this? Ke$ha continues to raise the bar for pop divas with the album cover of the year. The psychedelic colours, stunning fonts and glamorous styling make this a work of art that should be hanging in a museum. I can't get over how hot our girl looks. While your fave is falling to pieces, K$ is bringing sexy back! Take a stadium full of seats. Warrior is released in Australia on November 30 and will be released in the following formats:Standard...

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Shakira Strikes Back

A couple of days ago I was ready to get a pretentious haircut and start writing an indie music blog. Pop, I ranted, had jumped the shark. Since then we've had era-defining new tunes from Ke$ha, Christina Aguilera and Shakira. So excuse me while I wipe the egg off my face. I love all three ladies for different reasons but I'm particularly excited about the Colombian diva's comeback. She is the biggest star on the planet in South America and much of...

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Ke$ha's Revolutionary New Anthem

The moment every human-being with taste has been waiting for is finally here. Ke$ha is back to heal the world with her life-affirming lyrics and soulful vocals! I was lucky enough to hear "Die Young" over the phone last night and it changed my life. It was hard to pay attention while crying and shaking and touching myself but the sizzling Dr Luke production takes God$ha to the next level. There's an awesome acoustic-y intro that showcases the diva's...

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Christina Aguilera Previews Your Body

Christina Aguilera's quest to snatch Adele's crown as the most popular plus-sized diva in pop continues with the first peek at "Your Body". And I'm completely sold. Not only is the song a total smash - top 10 and climbing on US iTunes - but the visual looks like a return to form. For starters, the malicious tranny that styled "Not Myself Tonight" did not get a call back. Xtina looks female again and she's not making an fool of herself in bizarre...

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Hanson - Live In Sydney

I vaguely remember being into Hanson for like five minutes in 1997. Middle of Nowhere was a great album but my heart belonged to quality entertainers like Whigfield, Aqua and Dannii. 15 years passed and I finally got to see the boys perform live. It turned out to be surprisingly entertaining. But to be honest, I didn't have very high expectations. These retro tours can be a disaster (Vengaboys, I'm looking at you!) but Hanson ticked all the boxes....

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Use This Pistol On My Heart

I'm in a weird mood. With the exception of Alicia Keys' new single and Rita Ora's surprisingly good album (review coming soon), pop music isn't really doing it for me at the moment. So I'm broadening my horizons. One of my new obsessions is Mia Dyson. She's been around for the best part of a decade but her latest album has transformed me from casual listener to loyal fan. So who is this stunning chanteuse? I guess Mia is best-described as Australia's...

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Beyoncé Scores 7th Hit From 4

Beyoncé's to-do list for 2012 looks a little something like this:1. Have baby 2. Watch a couple of Jay-Z concerts 3. Make Rita Ora happen 4. Reach a billion people on World Humanitarian Day 5. Release a random R&B smash Yes, bitches. King B debuts at #100 on the Billboard chart this week with "Dance For You" - the 7th single from 4 to achieve the feat. It's also #13 with a bullet on the R&B chart. Imagine what damage...

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Nicole's Desperate New Low

What's going on with Nicole Scherzinger? The poor bitch can't take a trick. I thought Killer Love was going to be her ticket to the B List but it got shelved in the US and forced her to flee to the UK like a refugee in the night. She's now a failed Australian dance show away from being Kelly Rowland!If that's not bad enough, the Hawaiian beauty has been reduced to singing - one verse - on the latest buzz single from will.i.am's new album. I beg your...

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Medina Is Still Happening... In Germany

It's not easy being a Medina fan. And I'm not talking about her unusually depressing approach to dance music. The gloomy Dane is burdened with being big in Germany, which is great for her bank balance (because they still have a viable record industry) but hard for international fans due to the dim view German labels have of YouTube. Their view is - if you want the video, you can buy it from iTunes. As a result Medina's music doesn't get shared on...

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Megan and Liz, Really Not Bad For Me. At All.

I'm so obsessed with US teen pop at the moment. There's definitely a revival going on. It started with Selena and Demi releasing two of last year's best albums and has gained momentum with newcomers like the amazing Bridgit Mendler. Another couple of names to watch out for are 19-year-old twin sisters Megan and Liz. The new millennium's Mel and Kim have steadily built a following via YouTube - they have 750,000+ subscribers - and now have their sights...

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Alicia Keys - Girl On Fire - Review

The R&B baton has been passed to Alicia Keys while Beyoncé works on her next game-changing masterpiece and she clearly means business. I thought buzz single "New Day" was a minor triumph but "Girl On Fire" is some next level shit. Released in three different formats (pared-back ballad, mid-tempo pop song and urban radio-friendly club banger), the Jeff Bhasker/Salaam Remi-produced anthem should usher in another record-breaking era for Alicia....

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Kylie Unveils Orchestral Album Cover & Tracklist

MAGs will no doubt stampede JB Hi-Fi on October 29 to get their wrinkly hands on a copy of Kylie's long-threatened orchestral album. I wish I could feign more excitement for The Abbey Road Sessions but I really don't give a shit. She looks gorgeous on the cover and I'm sure Steve Anderson's arrangements are beautiful but I need a rest from the employed Minogue's used and abused back catalogue. The Queen of pop needs to release another studio album...

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Elen Levon's Viral Video

Elen Levon (AKA Australia's next big thing) has just dropped a cute viral video for her new single "Dancing To The Same Song". The official video will be filmed in Japan in late September but this is a definitely worth checking out in the meantime. Sydney's hottest 18-year-old takes it easy in the clip - surfing and playing with her manager's kids. It's nice to see India's adorable children on screen and Elen's bikini body is insane. Most importantly, the soundtrack is brilliant. "Dancing To The Same Song" has been added across the board on Austereo...

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The Queen's Annual Birthday Post: Remembering "Work It Out"

31 years ago God decided he was sick of hearing shit on the radio and created Beyoncé to remedy the situation. To celebrate the birth of the music's leading lady, I thought it would be appropriate to revisit Bey's first single. Given the era-defining brilliance and chart slayage of "Crazy In Love" in 2003, it's easy to forget that the Queen tested the muddy waters of solo stardom a year earlier with "Work It Out". And fell flat on her face.The Neptunes-produced,...

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Why Christina Aguilera Is A Legend

I'm here for the return of Christina Aguilera. The popular music needs her to release another huge album if only to annoy the haters. New single "Your Body" leaked a couple of weeks ago and it sounded like a pretty generic dance track to my ears but I'm sure it's a grower and let's face it - she can't really do any worse than "Keeps Gettin' Better". To celebrate Xtina's impending slayage I thought I'd post the stunning cover (above), which I assume...

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This Kills Me

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Cosmo Jarvis On His Dick, Why Hip Hop Sux & Selling Out (But Not Really)

I was reading on Twitter that the airline lost your bags. Welcome to Australia!I brought a guitar with me. I brought two laptops, five hard-drives to edit some footage while I was here and a domestic bag. A few items of clothing. My insulin. My mandolin. All my leads... all that shit and it was just gone. They didn’t tell us until we touched down in Sydney but they lost it in Abu Dhabi. I hope they’ve given some kind of financial contribution because...

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Michael Jackson's Bad - 25th Anniversary Review

Michael Jackson's Bad turned 25 on Friday. While the album will always stand in the shadow of the pop icon's all-conquering Thriller, its achievements are staggering: - An estimated 45 million copies sold (the 5th highest ever)- 5 US number one singles- 10 singles (7 in the US, two worldwide and one promotional)- 9 music videos- The highest grossing concert tour ever  Idolator asked me to revisit the album in celebration of its 25th anniversary...

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