Patrick Stump Delivers Futuristic Album Cover

So, while I unfortunately was too lazy to take my free tickets to go see Patrick Stump and the flawless pop star Wynter Gordon last month when they came to Philadelphia...I rather like Patrick. His voice was always one of the main draws of Fall Out Boy, and I think he has a nice way about him. I quite like his single with Lupe Fiasco as well. But other than that, I haven't thought much about him. But now he has delivered the cover for his new album Soul Punk, and it looks pretty amazing in my opinion. Looks like what I wish Brandon Flowers would do. If his music is half as cool as his album cover, I might just have myself a new LP to jam to!

Dev is pregnant. I do not care.

It's just like...who cares? You're a barely there popstar with a mostly shit album who has been featured on a couple of cute dance songs. Oh, and btw? Getting pregnant as your debut album is coming out? Not very smart. You have one decent hit as your first single, and the other hit-worthy songs on the album are dance tracks...how are you going to promote them? You are not MIA. The about-to-burst-but-still-performing gag has been done, and it was obnoxious when she did it, too. You know who else you aren't? Beyonce. She can still sell albums despite having to slow down her promo. You? No. You can't. Buh-bye Dev...it has been mildly nice sometimes seeing you. Maybe next time you will take some fucking birth control.

God Gave Us Blake Shelton

Now, I am a huge fan of Blake Shelton and was thrilled when he was put on The Voice, and even more thrilled with his ensuing popularity outside of the country music market. The first single off of his current album, Honey Bee, did much better than expected, and is one of my favorite songs of the year. He has finally moved on to the second single, and it is a beautiful song. God Gave Me You is Blake's ode to his new wife, country superstar Miranda Lambert, and is a sweet, country ballad, with an adorable video to go with it. I suggest everyone watch it and go buy Blake's album if you haven't already!

Embedding was blocked so go here to watch the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCf2PoTuh4Q&ob=av2n

Weezy Sells 1 Million Copies of Carter IV

Despite putting out a basically shit album, Lil Wayne has done it again. Tha Carter IV has sold an estimated 1,000,690 copies in its first week according to Hits Daily Double. He previously sold 1,005,545 with Tha Carter III back in 2008. This marks Wayne's 3rd #1 album in the US. What people see in him, I will honestly never know, but either way this is an impressive feat in 2011, so congratulations are still in order.


UPDATE: HDD overshot their prediction by a lil bit and Wayne actually only sold about 964,000 in its first week, according to Billboard. I am going to just go ahead and assume that he didn't hit the mark because of my personal opinion.

Anderson Will Be Interviewing Amy Winehouse's Family

Questionably gay CNN news reporter extraordinaire, Anderson Cooper, is set to take Oprah's place in the daytime talk show spotlight on September 12. Though in reality there is no replacing the sheer size of Oprah's ego and body mass, I think this is a great choice. Now we will have a second gay running the conservative housewives' lives (Ellen being the second one), and Anderson is known to be a funny and professional figure in American news. Today he announced his first guests, and it is Amy Winehouse's family in their first interview about the tragedy. I think Anderson will handle this with care while getting them to open up about the trainwreck that Amy became. Either way, I will be DVRing Anderson's show for sure!

Lady GaGa Covers September Bazaar

Lady GaGa appears on the cover of Bazaar this month looking stripped down not just in her appearance, but also in presentation. This is, in fact, the first black and white cover for the fashion magazine in 20 years, and GaGa certainly has allowed herself to look like someone from that time period. I personally love the cover! You can also catch the story over on Bazaar's website.

Leona Lewis Talks New Album

Leona Lewis is readying the release of her 3rd album, Glassheart, on November 28th, and I think this one might be a make-or-break for her. Being the only X-Factor UK winner who has made it big outside of the country, Leona has been one of my favorite vocalists of this generation. Her first album, Spirti, was just a bit above the standard Idol/XFactor debut album, filled with sappy ballads and likeable if boring mid-tempos. But it is in her live performances and quiet and gracious personality that has always sold me. Her follow-up, Echo, garnered very little success for her and did nothing to disspell people's opinion of her being a boring version of Mariah Carey. Personally, I thought there were some fantastic tracks on the album, but it was overstuffed with the wrong kind of material.

So, that brings us to the present. I think that if Ms. Lewis comes with another boring LP, she will find herself in a position not much better than her fellow XFactor and Idol winners (most of them have been dropped from their label and have failed to find a new one.) However, I have a good feeling about it. Collide, the first single on the album, may not be the best dance jam of the year, but it has Avicii's strong signature sound to it, and her voice sounds as angelic as it always has. And she recently sat down with DigitalSpy to discuss the album, its direction, and some other goodies about the upcoming era...and I have to say I am happy about most of it! Catch some of the highlights below:

 The album finally has a title - what can you tell us about Glassheart? 

"So the album is such a eclectic mix. I've really got to delve into every kind of music that I love, really try everything and make the best of everything. Because I love so many different genres, it's kind of hard to just pick one thing to do, so I just did everything!"

There's a lot of buzz about a track called 'Trouble' right now. Is this going to be the track to launch the album?

"Yes, I think 'Trouble' will be the second single. I can't wait for everyone to hear it. I'm really excited about it. It's one that I really love."

It's received comparisons to Massive Attack from the few who have heard it...

"It's got an element of that in it. A bit of trip-hop, a bit of flavor - I've just never heard anything like it, which is why I was like, 'This is very cool'."

Have you finalized the album tracklist?

"Not yet, but I'm almost there. I want to make a ten-track album. It's difficult to do that, but I think we're going to accomplish it. I want the strongest [tracks] and that's it - no fillers or anything. I want the strongest songs and I think we have them."

How has recording Glassheart compared to your experiences on Spirit and Echo?

"It's been a bit different because I have gone on tour, had time off, had different things happening and I was just at a different place when I was doing this album. I was given a bit of free range to do it."

Do you really enjoy getting on stage and changing up the tracks for the live performances?

"Definitely! Obviously you want to keep the essence of it, but it's nice to change it up once in a while. We did that with quite a few of the songs on tour."

Has this has any effect on the new album?

"Well, when I was on tour, we mixed a lot of dancer beats on it - my cousin actually reproduced a lot of the ballads. I've taken more of that sound into the album; we've got a lot of piano and live instrumentation. I've a song called 'Fireflies' which I really, really love and hope we get to do as a single. it's a really good one. And it's got a guy on it!"

So it's a collaboration with someone we know?

"Yes! But I'm not saying who! [laughs]"

How important is chart success, in particular in America, to you?

"Obviously everyone wants to be successful because they want to continue doing music, continuing to do what they love. It's important, but it's not everything. I just want to give people what they want to hear, the best of me, and great songs. That's all that matters. I just want to connect with people everywhere."

You were due to head to the US to tour with Christina Aguilera. It must have been disappointing to see those plans scrapped.

"I was really sad when that didn't happen! Obviously we'd planned a lot; to do the Christina one, Europe in between - and then Europe couldn't happen because the American one didn't happen. It really upset us. I just wanted to continue being on the road. I hope next year I'll be able to get back on."