Conor Maynard ‘Turn Around’ video: Pop Diary
What: Conor Maynard is announcing details of video for third single ‘Turn Around’ later today
When: 14.00 today, Friday 07 Septemeber 2012
Where: His twitter
This event has been listed in our Pop Diary. Hit ‘like’ below if you’ll be watching
Conor Maynard talks girlfriends, Rita Ora, Nando’s and America!
I’m only 19 but I am old enough to go out to clubs and to have fun, but ‘Can’t Say No’ is tongue-in-cheek. It’s not really a representation of me. It’s just easy to sing along to and makes you want to dance.
Do you get annoyed when people compare you to Justin Bieber?
Comparisons come early in your career and it’s always better when people get to make their own opinions. I think it’s best to get further along and let people decide for themselves.
How difficult was it filming the music video to ‘Vegas Girl’ where you chat up lots of ladies?
The video was such a surreal situation. To have to walk up to a girl and ask for her number is just something I would never do. The conversation with the director where we were choosing what to say went on for ages, I thought it had to be realistic. The director suggested I said ‘Oh hey you’re really beautiful, can I have your number?’ but I would never say that so we stuck with ‘Hey can I have your number? I know some good massage techniques!’ and another line was ‘Can I have your insurance number, because I think you’ve broken my heart!’
Pretty cheesy. If there was one girl who you couldn’t say no to, who would it be?
There is a collaboration with Rita Ora on the album so if I had to choose one girl I can’t say no to it would have to be Rita – though I may have to fight off Rob Kardashian first! I would probably do a runner, I’ve never met him but he is a bit bigger than me. But I saw an episode of Keeping Up With The Kardashians where he did a charity boxing match and got destroyed and I was like “oh my goodness!”
Who else would you love to collaborate with?
Out of anyone, dead or alive, I would have to choose Michael Jackson to collaborate with. No competition.
We hear you have an exclusive Black Card from Nando’s – has it had much abuse yet?
Yes! I think I’ve used it every day.
I came up with the tequila line. It was around halfway through the song and I thought it hadn’t really shown off my vocals yet so I wanted to do something different and it just happened the tequila line was just before it so we stuck with that.
What would you say to Simon Cowell if you were stuck in a lift with him?
I would ask him if he would put me through on The X Factor or not because it would be interesting to know. He would probably say no and then I would cry.
Where would you take a girl on a date?
I would have to choose the beach, it is just such a romantic place. I mean, I come from Brighton where we have pebble beaches so it’s probably worse and much more painful.
What do you look for in a girl?
I don’t really know because if I look at past relationships I have been in and they have all been lots of different types of girls. I have only had one long term relationship but I have had lots of mini ones too.
‘Vegas Girl’ has appeared on the Billboard Pop Chart – do you want to break America? One Direction, The Wanted, Ed Sheeran and Cher Lloyd are all having a lot of success over there.
I do want to break America! It’s quite scary, it is a big place to try and break. It’s an amazing place, but for me I don’t think I could live anywhere other than the UK, I love my home too much but then again I am only 19 so I haven’t really been able to experience America properly.
What’s been your top highlight of the past 12 months?
The highlight of the last year for me would be the people I have been working in the studio with from Pharrell to Ne-Yo to Rita Ora and other amazing names. I have learnt so much from people that are legendary in the industry.
Thank you very much, Conor!
Thanks, Maximum Pop!
‘Turn Around’ is the next single from Conor’s album Contrast, which is out now!
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!
The week ahead on Planet Pop: Pop Diary
Having trouble planning your week in pop? Look no further!
Here are some of the best events happening this week, as listed in our Pop Diary!
EVENTS
- Scouting For Girls (Putney)
- Lady Gaga (Twickenham) will be performing live in the UK this week.
- Ed Sheeran will be playing the iTunes Festival
- Olly Murs will be playing the iTunes Festival
- Plan B will be playing the iTunes Festival
- Emeli Sandé will be playing the iTunes Festival
- JLS will be playing the iTunes Festival
- Conor Maynard will be playing the iTunes Festival
- The Vaccines will be signing copies of their new album ‘Come of Age’ at HMV Manchester.
NEW RELEASES
- Scouting For Girls release their album ‘The Light Between Us’
- The Vaccines release their album ‘Come of Age’
- The Script ft. Will.i.am – ‘Hall of Fame’
- Smiler ft. Tawiah & Professor Green – ‘Top of the World’
- Pink – ‘Blow Me (One Last Kiss)’
- Ne-Yo – ‘Let Me Love You (Until You Learn To Love Yourself)’
- Cheryl – ‘Under The Sun’
TV / RADIO
- One Direction, Taylor Swift, Rihanna and Pink will perform at The MTV Video Awards 2012 will be broadcast live, with performances from (1am, MTV, Friday 7th September).
- Little Mix will be appearing on Daybreak (6am, ITV1, Monday 3rd September)
- Joe McElderry & Stacey Solomon will be chatting to the Loose Women (12.30pm, ITV1, Wednesday 5th September).
- The Vaccines will be taking over BBC Radio 1 Live Lounge (10am, BBC Radio 1, Monday 3rd September).
Rita ROCs the Scala!
Rita Ora brought the house down at London’s Scala last night, in her first headline show in the capital. Amongst the packed crowd of fans and media were some of the singer’s celeb pals including Rizzle Kicks and poster boy Conor Maynard. The party continued well into the night as Rita and friends headed to hotspot Mahiki for aftershow festivities!
There’s likely to be more celebrations this weekend as Rita is on course to top the charts with her newly released debut album ORA (clever title!) – if she makes it, the album will be her 4th number one, following the smash successes of her first three singles.
Sounds like a great excuse for a big old party (and bullsh*t, and party, and…) to us!
Luminites cover Conor Maynard’s Vegas Girl
Scary-talented MP! Ones to Watch 2012 Luminites continue to do amazing things, with their latest acoustic cover of Conor Maynard’s ‘Vegas Girls’ hitting over 75,000 views in less than a month, and being endorsed by the hat-loving crooner himself on twitter. Watch below to see a streamlined Luminites - R-tizt, Steph, JJ and Corey – combine beatboxing, acoustic guitar and some bloody good singing to breathe new life into the Top 5 hit.
Download or Ditch? Luminites 'Vegas Girl' - leave us a comment!
BBC Radio 1 Teen Awards 2012: Pop Diary
What: BBC Radio 1 Teen Awards 2012 headlined by One Direction, and including performances by Conor Maynard, Taylor Swift & Little Mix
Where: Wembley Arena, London
When: 7th October 2012
Price: Free (+ £5.50 transaction fee)
Full details: BBC website
CLOSED: Win! One of 5 copies of Contrast by Conor Maynard
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Congratulations Gemma Stoner, Steven Hughes, Jennifer Gables, Ashir Khan and Porter Robinson who all won themselves a copy of Conor’s debut album. Everyone else, new Comp of the Day starting *very* soon.
Giveeeeeee away time. To celebrate Conor Maynard’s album reaching the top of the charts, and Conor becoming a Proper Popstar In His Own Right, we’ve got 5 copies of the Brighton lad’s debut to give away in today’s MP! Comp of the Day.
THIS COMPETITION IS NOW CLOSED
Five amazing things about the Conor Maynard album
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Conor Maynard’s debut album Contrast, released on Monday (July 30), is very good. We’re not going to lie and say that every single song is a masterpiece, but on the whole we are very impressed. Conor’s brilliant personality seeps through on every song, the tracklisting is a nice mix between songs that are a breath of fresh air and those that are just intended to be good fun, and… Actually, you know what? Let’s break it down to the essentials…
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Alternate covers! If the main cover art is not to your liking, don’t panic. The sleeve notes come complete with not one but TWO alternatives. Feel free to push against the mainstream (etc etc) by choosing either “cheeky, pensieve Conor in bright orange trainers” or “innocent-yet-mischievous Conor in an untucked shirt and tie”. Amazing. - A Frank Ocean song! Frank Ocean is very “in” at the moment, and it’s not just because he was a decent enough human being to tell the world his first love was male. It’s also because he’s a rather talented musician. And, guess what – he’s co-written a song for Contrast. It’s called ‘Pictures’, and it’s so good that even the hard-to-please critics from broadsheet newspapers are wetting their knickers over it.
- The lyrics to ‘Another One’! People quick to attack Conor have taken great pleasure in criticising the lyrics of ‘Can’t Say No’ – and the great news is that he unapologetically pushes the flirtatiousness up another notch on ‘Another One’. Our favourite lyric on the whole album, let alone this one song, is “Said she wanna peel my banana-na-na”, closely followed by “Voulez-vous… you know the rest. ‘Merci beaucoup’, she said, and got undressed.”
- Ne-Yo, Pharrell AND Rita! OK, we’re not going to sugar-coat it: We’re a bit disappointed with Rita Ora collabo ‘Better Than You’. But the fact two of the UK’s coolest up-and-comers have even collaborated at all is amazing, and the Ne-Yo and Pharrell duets are both wicked. We particularly love the former’s appearance on ‘Turn Around’.
- Realising you’re an unapologetic Mayniac! Despite its occasional flaws, Contrast has been an album we’ve been looking forward to for quite a while. Conor’s earlier YouTube covers were what first drew us to him, his friendliness and grounded personality in interviews is what has kept our focus, and his original tunes are the icing on the cake. Contrast won’t get nominated for the Mercury Music Prize any time soon, but just the excitement of seeing a young hotshot becoming a Proper Popstar In His Own Right is enough for us.
Don’t fight it, everyone. Just pick up your copy.
NEW: Loyal MP!er? Earn MP! Badges
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MP!ers THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING. If you spend more time on MP! then with your friends and family, if you’ve got a bigger and more-carefully organised One Direction photo album than Harry’s mum, if you know you’d be a grade-A student in Pop School – we’ve got something for you. To reward our most loyal and dedicated of visitors, the ones who know Conor Mayanrd’s height and got a reply to their The Wanted fanmail, the ones that pay our bloomin’ bills… allow us to introduce you to *wait for it* *drum roll* *are you ready for this jelly*? MP! Badges – gotta collect them all.
You can earn MP! Badges by visiting your favourite pop site regularly, leaving and replying to comments on articles, and tweeting and liking your favourite content. Think of it as gold stars for good behaviour, a pat on the back, a THANK YOU FROM THE BOTTOM OF OUR POP LOVING HEARTS. And a way to feel good about yourself for at least 30 second. And if you don’t give it a go? It’s the naughty corner and a 10-
minute time out for you. To get involved simply hit the badges tab on the bottom of the page which looks a bit like this ->
