Another Year In Pop: 36

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

For once there's a reasonable number of new entries this week, phew. Who'd have thought we'd be nostalgic for the turbulent charts of the early 2000s? But are any of these fresh new hits good enough to quench the pop thirst we developed over the summer drought?

[Poll #1255714]
Rest of chart news: Katy Perry's still at number one, and look - what's this? Paper Planes has popped up at no.69! About blimmin' time if you ask me.

Congratulations are also in order to THE TING TINGS who won this year's Lex 20p Indie Prize by a clear margin of 5 whole votes. Why not go and watch their most recent video? I think it's pretty good!

UHHHH Kanye wants to be an R&B singer now???

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

Seriously?

Kanye West - Love Lockdown [2008 MTV VMAs]
Uploaded by soopah256

I...this...what? You know, I'm actually just in total awe of his sheer gumption right now. And also wondering just how many singing lessons he must have had to get through that without disgracing himself...like, it's obvious he's no singer, but his voice is more than palatable, and he doesn't hold back on some of those notes. The song is totally bare-bones minimal, but I think I love its brooding intensity, the lack of melodic variation ends up really hypnotic and compelling.

Also: DRUMS.

Other things that happened at the VMAs (I can't watch highlights as that would mean active exposure to Russell Brand, ugh): Jordin Sparks was a div on stage, and T-Pain turned up ON AN ELEPHANT:



EDIT ugh the picture of the elephant has inexplicably disappeared. It is here: http://concreteloop.com/2008/09/events-2008-mtv-video-music-awards/t-pain-arrives-on-an-elephant/