Alexandra Burke talks dream collaborations, fancying Rihanna and breaking America!
I have loads of shows across the country, I am travelling a lot. I have been so busy so my brain is just on overload at the moment! I managed to get a break in Miami which I surprised my sister with but I had to have some very exciting meetings over there, that’s why I took her over with me.
There seems to be a lot of support growing for you in America – will you be trying to break the American market?
My American fans are really getting behind me, I will be going over there, I can promise you and I will break America! It is happening but in God’s time. It has to be in God’s time. I cannot rush it.
Who would you love to collaborate with?
When I do go to the States I would like to work with Usher, Beyoncé, Rihanna and Chris Brown. I was hanging with Usher last time he was in the UK!
Do you ever listen to your own music?
I love all of my songs but I could never listen to them! The only times I can do that is on the stage or in the studio. Actually, I heard a couple of my tracks in Superdrug not long ago and I started walking around listening.
When it comes to image, the words “compete” and “competition” are not in my vocabulary. There is enough room for everyone in this industry because we all are so diverse. I like to be me, I do like my curves, I like my hips and I love my booty and it ain’t going nowhere, EVER!!
What advice would you give to Little Mix?
If I could tell everyone one thing it would be that they are unique and they are special, there is nobody out there who looks like you or is anything like you. Once you find what you love to do in terms of music then stick to it because if you’re loving it and the fans are loving it then you will have no regrets!
Finally, do you have a celebrity crush at the moment?
The only person I have my eye on is Rihanna. No men, just Rihanna. She is SMOKING HOT.
Indeed, she is. Thank you, Alexandra!
Thank you!!
Alexandra will perform in Les Misérables as part of Children in Need’s POP Goes the Musical on 18 September. Blue, Geri Halliwell and Stooshe are also appearing in West End musicals in October and November. Details and tickets!
Five things about Tulisa’s ‘Live It Up’
‘Live It Up’ is released on 9 September.
JLS: album #4 – five things we have learned!
JLS are one of those groups who seem like complete work-a-holics… it feels like just yesterday they announced their previous album and now here we are in September 2012 with ANOTHER one on the way already. Still, we’re not complaining if the music stays as poptastic as it always has been!
JLS have had more number ones in the UK than any other X Factor act and have sold out over ten nights at London’s O2 Arena, a record matched only by pop icons Take That and the Spice Girls! But that’s old news, you want to find out what’s NEW on the good ship JLS, right? Right. So here it is:
Album #4 is called Evolution
It will be released on 5 November 5 and the lads chose the title because it explains their new sound. This will be their fourth album since graduating from The X Factor in 2008. An album per year! Wowzers.
Their new material is “very grown up”
JB, Aston, Oritise and Marvin describe the first single as being a sleek, modern club song which takes the group out of pop territory. Hang on a second – out of pop territory? Will we need our passports?!
The single? It’s called… ‘The Hottest Girl In The World’
…and according to the lads themselves, they “go in” on the high notes. Well, it just wouldn’t be a JLS track without a few acrobatic vocals thrown in for good measure, would it?!
They’ve worked with some pretty BIG producers…
‘The Hottest Girl In The World’ was produced by Bangladesh, who has worked with Beyoncé and Usher! That’s quite a pop pedigree. Other producers on the album include Rodney Jerkins (Michael Jackson, Justin Bieber, Britney Spears) and The Runners (Chris Brown, Rihanna)
A deluxe version of the album will be released too!
It will include bonus tracks and previously unreleased tracks! Rumour has it some acoustic versions of your favourite JLS hits might be on there too.
Stay tuned to Maximum Pop! as we bring you ALL the JLS news as we get it.
Are you excited for Evolution or do you think JLS should take a break? Have YOUR say in our comments box below or on Twitter @maximumpop
Do Marvin and the boys still make you wanna OH OH OH OH OH OH?
Alarm Pop! Austin Mahone: ‘Say Somethin’ – is he the new Biebs?!?
Musical fact: one great pop song a day keeps the doctor away. Old, new or exclusive – a song worthy of a place on your iPod that deserves at least one listen for every 10 repeat plays of ‘What Makes You Beautiful’. This is ALARM POP!
Excuse us if we raise a cynical eyebrow at the phrase “YouTube sensation”. There’s a sense of “been there, done that, ordered the t-shirt off the artist’s major-label-sponsored web store”. Another day, another “bedroom star”.
But hang on a minute, guys – this new American boy is ACTUALLY QUITE GOOD. Austin Mahone caused a bit of a stir last year when his version of Canadian rival Justin Bieber’s ‘Mistletoe’ gathered more views than Justin’s original! Could young Mr Mahone be a challenger for Bieber’s pop prince crown?
Hailing from Texas (like Beyoncé, one of the greatest popstars of all time), sporting a baseball cap (like Conor Maynard, one of the cutest boys in pop) and singing the kind of cheekily flirtatious lyrics that wouldn’t sound at all out of place on the next One Direction album (like, er, One Direction), Austin’s achieved over 4 million views on YouTube of ‘Say Somethin’, which comes with a chorus that refuses to leave your head!
Basically, it’s a “will you go out with me?” song, and that is one of our favourite genres of song.
Let’s take a look at the lyric video for ‘Say Somethin’:
Is Austin Mahone the next big teen idol? Don’t forget to have your say in the comments below or tweet us @maximumpop!
Little Mix talk ‘Wings’, Tulisa, Beyoncé and impersonating Cowell!
They were the first group to win The X Factor. They sold 400,000 copies of their debut single, ‘Cannonball’. Their album is one of the most anticipated pop records of the year. Today they are number one with ‘Wings’. Maximum Pop! talk to Little Mix.
Perrie: We always try to have fun and make each other laugh! We are all totally nutty and our lives are just so crazy now so that’s how we keep our friendship fresh, really. Besides, when we do have work to do we all try to make it as fun as possible.
What sort of things do you do to calm the nerves before going on stage?
Jesy: We do accents all the time, or we will act out films. We have never done a Simon Cowell impression though… maybe we could try it out tonight if we pull our trousers up?!
If you could be any other popstar for the day, who would you choose and why?
Leigh-Anne: If we could be any other popstar for the day we would probably all choose Beyoncé! She is all round amazing. She’s our idol!
Perrie, Jesy and Jade: Yeah, Beyoncé!
Will you be doing any collaborations for your album?
Perrie: There are no collaborations on the album YET but there might be some to come… wait and see!
Jade: We tried to make our album as versatile as possible so there will be elements of every girlband in there but there is quite a Destiny’s Child vibe to it.
How do you deal with people being bitchy or rude on Twitter?
Jesy: When it comes to people being nasty to us on Twitter you have just got to ignore it. You are always gonna get it, and it is why we have got each other, it keeps us strong!!
Are you still in touch with Tulisa?
Perrie: When we spotted her at T4 on the Beach she was getting dragged one way and we were getting told to go another so we didn’t get to chat, which was a shame – but we are still really close to her and she’s a great mentor.
Jade: We LOVE ‘Young’ so much – it’s our favourite song of the year!
You’re number one in the singles chart – everyone is loving ‘Wings’! How does that feel?
Jesy: Our new single has been our baby for so long so it’s amazing that the reaction has been so great! It was a bit odd when we performed it for the first time as nobody knew it but our die-hard fans had already memorized the lyrics!
Well everybody knows it now! Thank you very much, Little Mix.
All: Thank you!!
Little Mix’s debut album is due in November. We can’t wait!
New Carly Rae Jepsen!
Justin Bieber’s protege Carly Rae Jepsen is ready to release her debut album Kiss, and we’ve got all the goss for you!
After ‘Call Me Maybe’ sold an astonishing 1 million copies in the UK alone and spent 8 weeks at number one in America, the follow up, ‘Good Time’ (with Owl City), has had over 6m views on VEVO!
Carly Rae has been collaborating with a team of her “dream producers” including Max Martin (Britney Spears, P!nk), Dallas Austin (Sugababes), Toby Gad (Beyoncé) and Redfoo from LMFAO. She says of Kiss, “these are lyric and song ideas that I have been collecting over the years. The record is pop. It’s inspired by Robyn, The Cars, Madonna, and believe it or not, James Taylor. I can’t wait to share it with everyone!”
Ms Jepsen will be supporting Bieber on tour in the US and Canada, and hopes to make her way over to the UK soon. We can’t wait to hear this album!
MTV VMA nominations announced – 1D, Bieber, The Wanted & Rihanna!
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The nominations for the 2012 MTV Video Music Awards have been announced, and it looks like it’s going to be Rihanna’s year! The Bajan superstar is nominated for five moonman gongs.
While Justin Bieber has been pitted against mentor Usher for the Best Male award, The Wanted and One Direction will be fighting it out in the Best New Artist category – if either boyband win, it’ll top off a great year for British pop in America.
The awards take place on September 6 in LA and One Direction have already confirmed that they will be performing on the night!
Here’s a summary of nominations for the top awards:
Video of the Year
Drake feat. Rihanna – ‘Take Care’
Gotye – ‘Somebody That I Used To Know’
Katy Perry – ‘Wide Awake’
M.I.A. – ‘Bad Girls’
Rihanna – ‘We Found Love’
Best Pop Video
fun. feat. Janelle Monáe – ‘We Are Young’
Justin Bieber – ‘Boyfriend’
Maroon 5 feat. Wiz Khalifa – ‘Payphone’
One Direction – ‘What Makes You Beautiful’
Rihanna – ‘We Found Love’
Best New Artist
Carly Rae Jepsen – ‘Call Me Maybe’
Frank Ocean – ‘Swim Good’
fun. feat. Janelle Monáe – ‘We Are Young’
One Direction – ‘What Makes You Beautiful’
The Wanted – ‘Glad You Came’
Best Female Video
Beyoncé – ‘Love On Top’
Katy Perry – ‘Part Of Me’
Nicki Minaj – ‘Starships’
Rihanna – ‘We Found Love’
Selena Gomez & The Scene – ‘Love You Like A Love Song’
Best Male Video
Chris Brown – Turn Up The Music
Drake feat. Rihanna – ‘Take Care’
Frank Ocean – ‘Swim Good’
Justin Bieber – ‘Boyfriend’
Usher – ‘Climax’
Best Choreography
Avicii – ‘Levels’
Beyoncé – ‘Countdown’
Chris Brown – ‘Turn Up The Music’
Jennifer Lopez feat. Pitbull – ‘Dance Again’
Rihanna – ‘Where Have You Been’
MP! chats to Will Best!
*ringgggg!!* ooh that’s the MP! phone – and the lovely Will Best is on the line…
Hello, Will! Are you looking forward to T4 On The Beach on Sunday?
I’m nervous but getting more excited every day. We had a big meeting about it this morning to go through ideas and the games we’re going to be playing. I think it’s gonna be bloody hilarious!
What can we expect to see?
T4 is about popstars, music and playing ridiculous games. Every week we play a game with a really tenuously punned title, to get either us or the popstar to look stupid! That’s going to be a big part of T4 On The Beach so we’ll have popstars firing things into the crowd from giant catapults and popping balloons between each other’s chests. I may be dressed up as a dog.
What kind of dog?
Oh, just a general dog costume! Pudsey and Ashleigh are going to be there. When I was little I used to do dog agility courses so I may be competing against a real dog while dressed as a dog myself.
So is this T4′s Got Talent?
Exactly! Pudsey’s Got Talent and then T4 Has Zero Talent.
Will Pretends To Have Talent?
Yeah, exactly. Matt might be dressed in S&M gear…
Wow. Moving on, which of the acts are you looking forward to seeing?
Labrinth because he’s amazing live, he runs around playing five instruments at the same time! I’m a big fan of Rita Ora. She’s a lovely girl, very nice to talk to and to look at(!) and I think she’ll do an amazing performance.
Rita is signed with Jay-Z’s label in America. Do you reckon Jay and Beyoncé might turn up?
They’ll probably be backstage. I’ve invited them and they’re certainly gonna try and pop down, sure. We get on pretty well!
Perhaps Beyoncé will serve ice creams.
Yeah, well she’s gonna bring the baby and they’ll just be hanging out. Most of those sorts of big names will be hanging out backstage but they just won’t want to be on the stage. It’s about letting the Brits shine on the stage but backstage of course Kanye will be there with Kim Kardashian, Jay-Z and Beyoncé. Just our mates, basically, you know?
The line-up is pleasingly British: Rizzle Kicks, Stooshe, Conor Maynard, Tulisa, Little Mix… what does this say about UK pop in 2012?
We don’t need American acts because British pop is just so strong. Look at The Wanted going off and absolutely smashing it in America!
Cover Drive promised MP! they would bring the Barbadian sunshine to the beach.
Well they’ve been told that if they don’t then they can’t play! That’s a condition for them.
That’s in their contract?
Yeah!
Edward Jedward famously broke his leg on the T4 On The Beach stage. Which popstar is most likely to end up with an injury this year?
Jamelia did herself an injury one year and chipped her tooth backstage with Olly Murs, and Peter Andre injured himself on stage as well, so it literally could be anyone!
We hear that yesterday you were talking balls with Adam Lambert. Care to explain?
Yeah, we were talking about fanclubs. Adam’s fanclub are called the Glamberts. I have a fanclub called the Besticles, but there’s only two of them and you know, they’re always hanging around. It was that kind of “hilarious” testicle-based banter.
Well as long as the Besticles keep you warm at night, Will.
I keep them warm! It’s a hands-on job.
Haha! So what else are you up to?
I’m very busy! It’s a bit surreal. The Crush is a monthly show on 4Music that I guest-present with a different popstar each time. The Love Shaft is a dating show for E4 that is set in a lift. That’s going really well. I get loads of tweets saying things like, “Will, this is the worst thing I’ve ever seen but I bloody love it.”
High praise indeed.
It’s the sort of show that’s made by the contestants. Some incredible people have taken part! We had a girl on there who didn’t know what a sandwich was. She didn’t understand the concept of a sandwich!
Are you still doing any modelling?
When you say “still”, er, I’ve not really done modelling! I worked in the Abercrombie & Fitch shop for a brief period. I have, bizarrely, been signed to Premier Models, in their ‘Special Division’, which is for people who could in no way actually be models but because they’re on telly somebody might want to take a picture of them.
So if the weather’s nice on Sunday will you be whipping your top off on the T4 stage?
I really hope not.
What about letting the Besticles get some sunshine?
Haha! I will be wearing a mankini but it’ll be a very small one so there’ll be one Besticle each side of the main thong.
Might we even see the love shaft?
Hahaha! If you’re very, very lucky. Only people right at the front would be able to see the love shaft, unfortunately.
If you were going to show the love shaft to any popstar on the T4OTB bill, who would it be?
Most of them have already seen the love shaft. Maybe I’d show it to Dappy and say, “what do you think? How do I measure up?” I’ve spent hours on photoshop trying to recreate the Dappy photo on myself. It’s actually harder than it looks…
Maybe try the stretch effect. It’s great to see newcomers on the T4 On The Beach bill, like Josh Osho, Lawson and Lonsdale Boys Club.
We’re here to help at T4. We start careers… and then end careers with serious injuries!
Edward Jedward is still psychologically recovering.
In that case we’ll get Jedward back and injure them again. We’ve done a lot of polls on the T4 website but I couldn’t find “which popstar would you like to seriously injure?” for some reason.
Probably for the best! Any other goss?
Not really, we’ve talked about my balls and my general crotch area. I think that’s pretty much everything we had to cover, right?
Right! Thank you very much, Will. We had the Best time talking to you!
T4 On The Beach takes place this Sunday 1st July in Weston-super-Mare. Tickets are on sale now. Visit www.channel4.com/t4.
Maximum Pop!’s Best Dance Routines In Music Videos
Our mates over at Muzu.TV, the massive music video website, recently employed our incomparable research skills in order to come up with the definitive guide to the best dance routines in pop music videos – and below is the original article, ready for you to get swotting up on. What are you waiting for?
All right, all right, settle down everyone. You at the back, spit out your gum. Textbooks out and turn to page 167 please. Today’s lesson is the official Maximum Pop! Guide to the Best Dance Routines in Music Videos.
Dance routines have been an integral part of pop music videos ever since Beyoncé’s mother watched her twerking inside the womb during an ultrasound, and over the years we’ve seen our fair share of mind-blowing choreography. Remember to make notes on the following examples, because you will be expected to reference them in your exam.
EXHIBIT A: Beyoncé – ‘Single Ladies’
Up until the release of this video, a dance routine usually meant waving your arms around in time to the music and praying it looked okay. But Beyoncé changed the way we thought about moving our bodies with this simple, yet impressive video. Rumour has it that it only 5 people in the entire world can actually do it properly and if one of those people dies, Beyoncé personally teaches someone else to make sure the legacy keeps going. Note: notice the way she points to her hand when she sings the line “If you like it, then you shoulda put a ring on it” – so clever! (more…)
Jessie J and JLS set for Sport Relief, Simon wants Katy Perry for X Factor, Blue Ivy causes a stir and Marina announces new single – gossip!
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Little baby Blue Ivy is only weeks old but is already creating quite an impression. In fact, so much so that her parents Beyoncé & Jay-Z have apparently filed an application with the US Patent and Trademark Office to protect her name for future branding opportunities. Watch out for official Blue Ivy pencil cases, coming to a House of Dereon near you soon.
Marina And The Diamonds has announced the details of her brand new, upcoming single. ‘Primadonna’ is reportedly produced by Dr Luke and will be released in April. It’s the second single (or ‘first official single’ if you’re taking her word for it) to be taken from Marina’s forthcoming album Electra Heart. Confused? Us too. But we’re excited to hear it nonetheless.
Both Jessie J and JLS have been lined up as guest performers on this year’s Let’s Dance For Sport Relief. The show, in aid of Sport Relief is set to begin next month and will feature celebrity contestants such as DJ Tony Blackburn and Ulrika Johnson. Couldn’t they just have JLS competing against each other?
Katy Perry could be joining The X Factor USA if rumours are to be believed. In an interview with US show Extra, Simon Cowell described her as ‘fun and feisty’ and the ideal candidate for a judging role. The singer is no stranger to this, after guest judging on UK X Factor – and she provided so much entertainment (read as: pretending to feel up Cheryl Cole) we’d love to see her as a permanent fixture.
