These songs are pretty much all I want to listen to this week

"Part of Me" - Katy Perry

When this song originally leaked back in 2010, shortly after the "California Gurls" and "E.T." leaks, I immediately fell in love with it. The song sounded like a dark version of Teenage Dream's lead single "California Gurls," but it really shows off Katy Perry's vocals amazingly. "This is the part of me that you're never gonna ever take away from me," she exclaims in the explosive chorus. The song was re-written in order to fit better with Miss Perry's current emotional struggle: her divorce with comedian Russel Brand. "You can keep your diamond ring," she bitterly sings to Brand. If this song is an omen to her future offerings, we might have ourselves a new, more radio-friendly Adele.

Listen to Katy Perry's new single here.

"Starships" - Nicki Minaj

Ok here's the deal with this song: it's actually three different songs. There's the beginning which is very "let's go to the beach" and kind of makes one think of Selena Gomez & The Scene's "Summer's Not Hot" but for adults. Then there's that little Jamaican-esque part that's really like a cheap rip-off of Rihanna's "Man Down" except not about killing people. And those are both rubbish. There's a part in between all that junk that's actually good. Very good actually. The RedOne produced track boasts a monstrous dance breakdown that is just so good you must hear it for yourself. Imagine Lady GaGa's "Bloody Mary" mixed with Kat DeLuna's "Everybody Dance." Yeah.

Listen to Nicki Minaj's new single here. 

Ellie Goulding and Fernando Garibay unleash beautiful video for beautiful remix of "Lights"

Above is Ellie Goulding, a British songstress I can't seem to ever get enough of. Her album Lights is a pop masterpiece. Her single "Lights" is also amazing. But even more amazing than the original song is the Fernando Garibay remix. 

Garibay is responsible for many of Lady GaGa's hits as well as some great offerings from the Sugababes.

The Fernando Garibay remix of "Lights" is some of the man's best work. While the original "Lights" was drastic electronica, this remix is more like a trance production with seriously fat bass. It's gettin' bigga! The synthesizers are like candy in my ears. It's almost like a Tiesto production, if you think about it.

Accompanying this is the music video for the remix, which is merely a re-worked version of the original video. Nevertheless, it's beautiful eye-candy to accompany the ear-candy. Ellie + Fernando = pure suga!

What do you think of Ellie Goulding's remix? Comments greatly appreciated!

SMASH Music Review: "Pilot" - 2/6

Last night was the premier of the new NBC TV show SMASH. The musical drama is beyond amazing, I highly recommend it, but alas this is not a TV blog, but it is a music blog. So here is the review of the songs from last night's episode, "Pilot."

"Over The Rainbow" (Cover) - Katharine McPhee

McPhee's character Karen Cartwright sings this song during one of her auditions. Regardless to say, this piano ballad was beautiful, but nothing out of the ordinary. 6/10

"Never Give All The Heart" (Original) - Megan Hilty

Hilty's character Ivy Lynn sings this with the songwriters of the musical-in-works Marilyn. The song is a beautiful ballad inspired by Miss Monroe herself (seriously she's everywhere!) and introduces Hilty's voice to the small screen. Her rich, full voice is a treat to the ears and will no doubt be great competition for McPhee on this show. 8/10

"The National Pastime" (Original) - Megan Hilty

This song is one giant bucket of innuendos if there ever was one. The song is sung by Hilty's character as Monroe as she prances around with a bunch of baseball players that are little too overzealous in their attempts to get with her.The suggestive dance is hilarious, the suggestive lyrics are cute, and this song, even though it's very Broadway-driven, still works well on the small screen and on your iPod. 9/10

"Beautiful" (Cover) - Katharine McPhee

This song is also sung by McPhee's character at an audition, but this audition is much better. Not only does McPhee do this song, but she redoes it. The melody is different, the piano instrumentation is new, and the vocals are off the hook. They may not be as powerful as Aguilera's, but they really are better. 10/10

"Let Me Be Your Star" (Original) - Megan Hilty and Katharine McPhee

The girls sing this song together (but in the show they sing it separately) in an amazing, Broadway tune that is so perfect it could be the show's theme song. The powerful vocals both girls contribute remind me of Hairspray's "Good Morning Baltimore" but taken into a 21st century NYC scene. Such talent in one song has not been seen since "Lady Marmalade"! 10/10

What did you think of SMASH? Will you be keeping up with the show? Will you be downloading the songs on iTunes? Comments greatly appreciated! 

Keeping Up With The Charlies: "Tickin' Like A Bomb" in filming

As you all know The Charlies are quite a favorite around this blog. Here's some stuff that they're up to, for those of you who love them as much as I.

Their new single "Tickin' Like A Bomb" is getting the video treatment this week! Listen to the song below.

We don't have much in sneak-peek material yet (ahem, girls you can e-mail me a sneak-peek anytime at popisabloodsport@gmail.com or hit me up on twitter!) except for this:

I can't get over the fact that the index finger is actually a bomb. Like her finger is literally tickin' like a bomb...'cuz it is a bomb!

The girls have not revealed what the video will be about, but I'm totally gonna take a wild shot on: lots of explosives, some fire, a man, a broken super 8 camera, and a half-eaten banana. But that's just me. Also: girls this video is not filmed yet, is it too late to through the half-eaten banana in there? Yes? No?

What do you think about The Charlies? Is their song "Tickin' Like a Bomb" going to be playing on your iPod? Comments greatly appreciated! Also: what random objects do you predict will appear in The Charlies' new video?

Download The Charlies' free mixtape Start A Fire here!

Jessie & the ToyBoys get killer on "This Is How Rumors Start" mini-series

Meet Jessie & the ToyBoys.

The band is fronted by Jessie Malakouti, the incredible pop chanteuse behind "Trash Me" (which Heidi Montag later flawlessly covered) and "Outsider." The ToyBoys? They're mannequins that come to life live!

After the release of the band's first two singles "Push It" and "Let's Get Naughty" they revealed that their debut album This Is How Rumors Start would be released this year. But while we wait, they've taken the effort to give us a little something to chew on.

Above is episode one of the This Is How Rumors Start mini-series. I don't want to give too much away, but there is blood and conspiracy among other elements.

It's all a bit Natalia Kills' Love Kills except it's a lot brighter and a little more on the silly side. The way Jessie works her songs into the series is less than innovative, but it's still extremely fun to watch and gives us something to help out the wait. 

Jessie just wants to cut her demo, but her producer is giving her a hard time. He wants to get all up on her, if you know what I'm saying. She refuses once and again. She's about to leave and take her music with her, but the bastard won't let her. He even threatens her. Oh hell no. So Jessie does something about it. Exactly what? See for yourself...

(episode 2 below)

What do you think about Jessie and the ToyBoys' mini-series? What do you think about their music? Comments greatly appreciated!

Pop Is A Bloodsport Introduces: Gin Wigmore

Meet Gin Wigmore. I won't give you the how-do-you-not-know-her schpiel I did yesterday with The Charlies, because I just discovered Gin Wigmore about thirty minutes ago thanks to my friend Hannah ( imnosoldier.tumblr.com ) who opened me up to her magnificent music.
Wigmore is from New Zealand and was formerly a soap opera star...but no one really cares about the background, do we? We wanna hear the music! Here it goes.
It's like Amy Winehouse's instrumentation with Duffy's voice and Hailey Reinhart's growls.
"Too Late For Lovers" is from her first album "Holy Smoke." The track starts out with some soft guitar riffs and sounds kind of like a soft ballad until Wigmore's vocals invade the track. Her Duffy-esque singing sings "Oh it's too late for lovers. Save me, why won't you save me?" in the song's amazing chorus. Her voice gets a certain rasp at certain points during the song that add so much depth to the track it's amazing.


"Hey Ho" is also from "Holy Smoke." No she's say saying "hey" to a whore, it's more along the lines of "hey, ho, nobody knows you're not coming home" as she sings in the chorus. The track deals with the desire Gin has to cause some serious harm to her ex-boyfriend. Don't mess with this girl! "Believe me baby, you won't come back again" she says oh so nonchalantly. The song's music video is great too, forget Lady GaGa.