Lana Del Rey

The next big thing, erm, according to some. But her song Video Games, which catapulted her to the fore, sure is a thing of beauty. I’ve been listening to it on a loop for a good while now, and what a gorgeously haunting song it is. My pick for Best Song of 2011. Her sort of debut album, Born to Die, was released into the world last week and has already shot to No.1 in 13 countries. Sounds peachy? Far from it; she’s got tongues lashing wagging, read on to know Why This Kolaveri Di for Lana Del Rey.

Okay, take a deep breath. She was born as Elizabeth Grant in 1986 to *minted parents* (her dad’s a millionaire, just saying) in New York City, and grew up in another rich men’s playground Lake Placid, New York. While studying metaphysics (which is working out whether it’s possible to mathematically prove God’s existence, if you didn’t know!) at Fordham University in NYC, she trawled bars in Brooklyn for a singing gig. Persistence pays as they say, ‘cos she bagged a recording contract with New York indie label 5 Points Records. Under her own name, Lizzy Grant, she released an EP titled Kill, Kill in October, 2008 and a full-length album in *January, 2010* titled Lana Del Ray, both of which tanked. In *March, 2010*, bizarrely, that album, along with footage/recordings/anything to do with Lizzy Grant, was scrubbed from the Internet. That is, there was no trace of Lizzy Grant to be found in the virtual world, and she even decamped… to London.

Lana Del Rey

Skip to July, 2011, and enters Lana Del Rey, the pillow-lipped pouty, sultry, seductive version of Lizzy Grant to be known as of now, to sign a recording contract with Interscope Records (did daddy bribe the record execs?). Suspiciously, that deal was not made public.

Then, the supposedly self-made video for Video Games surfaced on the internet, and, just like that, it went on to become crazily viral (did Interscope seed and viralize it? Cynical git you’re for thinking so…), making her the poster child for indie kids along the way.

Lizzy Grant (photo courtesy | HipsterRunoff.com)

In September, 2011, noted indie music and meme interpreter Carles, of Hipster Runoff, posted a bunch of old photos of Lizzy Grant LDR in which she had smaller lips, and with it started the storm about her authenticity altogether. Then in an attempt to refute allegations of cosmetic surgery through an interview with Complex, she accidentally (ha!) muddled with her cushty background: “I haven’t had anything done at all. Anyone who’s known me will tell you that. I’m sorry, but I was living in a trailer park for a few years. I didn’t even have enough money to buy Cocoa Puffs. ”

All very petty and irrelevant, I know. But can she actually sing ‒ live? Her TV debut, on 11^th October, 2011, at Britain’s Later… with Jools Holland implied that, erm, she couldn’t. She made a few more live performances and unfortunately, none of them suggested otherwise.

But what really opened the floodgates was her performance on her U.S. television debut at Saturday Night Live on 14^th January, 2012, which, in all honesty, was shambles. Somewhere amidst it all ‒ and adding fuel to the fire ‒ Billboard confirmed the rumoured Interscope deal, and that her album would be coming out in early 2012. Which it did on 31^st of January ‒ to mixed reviews.

So, yeah, some people feel victims of an immense confidence trick: far from being an organic wunderkind, her transformation from Lizzy to Lana was plotted all along by shrewd record execs ‒ and backed by her wealthy father. Is she actually talented; if so, why didn’t she take off when she was Lizzy Grant? SO, friends, would you give LDR a listen; or, has her spot of airbrushing the past backstory made you all too sceptical to give her any credibility as an artist? I’m yet to listen to the whole album but the three songs that I’ve heard so far, the misanthropic me loved ‒ think I’ll go for it.

Sean Kingston

It’s Jamaican-American singer, Sean Kingston’s, 22nd birthday and what better way to celebrate then by listening to some of his biggest hits!

Beautiful Girls
Kingston’s first single was an epic hit that was stuck in everyone’s head. Whether you liked the song or not you knew all the words when it released.

Take You There
Kingston’s third single, Take You There, from his self-titled debut album, went platinum soon after its release in 2007. Shot in Miami, the video was supposed to depict Kingston’s home – Jamaica.

Fire Burning
This super-hit dance song was the first single from Kingston’s second album – Tomorrow. The song has been used in multiple films and T.V. shows, and was the opening track at Miss Universe 2009.

Eenie Meenie
Justin Bieber came out to collaborate with Kingston, for the song Eenie Meenie, which was an immediate hit.

Letting Go (Dutty Love) Featuring Nicki Minaj
Shot in Jamaica, the video for Letting Go (Dutty Love), featured Trinidadian Nicki Minaj and sampled Rihanna’s Te Amo. The song is part of Kingston’s third studio album which is yet to be titled.

Team MissMalini wishes Sean Kingston a very Happy Birthday!

P.S. Have you guys seen the Bollywood Girls version of Sean Kingston’s Beautiful Girls? Check it out!

Queen Rapper Nicki Minaj

Nicki Minaj has been dominating the music scene the past few weeks with her video Stupid Hoe breaking Vevo records, her song Turn Me On with David Guetta topping charts and her upcoming collaboration with Madonna.

Stupid Hoe became the first single video on Vevo to hit 4.8 million views in 24 hours! Unfortunately, not everyone thinks the video is appropriate and music channels like BET have banned it from airing.

David Guetta’s Turn Me On featuring Minaj is topping the charts while the video just released last week. In the video Guetta plays a mad scientist trying to build his own Nicki Minaj.

The highly anticipated music video of the year Give Me All Your Luvin’ sung by Madonna and featuring Nicki Minaj & M.I.A will debut tonight in the U.S during American Idol. While snippets of the song have leaked online the official song will only be available from tomorrow.

With everything Minaj is involved with I wonder what she’ll come up with next!

Happy Birthday A.R. Rahman!

Today is The Mozart of Madras and musical pride of India, A.R. Rahman’s 46th birthday! In celebration, let’s take a look at a few milestones in the maestro’s career.

Taking on the Tamil Film Industry

Mani Ratnam approached Rahman in 1992 to compose the music for his Tamil film Roja. The music was a critical and commercial success in both Tamil and the dubbed Hindi version and won Rahman a National Award for the soundtrack.

Hello Bollywood!

Rahman’s foray into the Hindi Film industry began with Ram Gopal Varma’s Rangeela, which is no doubt one of his most memorable scores. Post the success of Rangeela, Rahman was unstoppable in Bollywood with films like Bombay, Dil Se, Taal, Lagaan and many others.

Independent Albums

Besides composing music for films Rahman, has often collaborated with other artists to create path-breaking music. Rahman’s Vande Mataram is till date the largest selling non-film album in India. Rahman is also a part of the musical group Superheavy – remember we told you about their first song Miracle Worker?

Hollywood Calling!

Rahman became the first Indian to win two Academy Awards for the film Slumdog Millionaire in 2009, bringing home the awards for Best Original Music Score & Best Original Song for Jai Ho. Rahman later went on to compose the music for his first Hollywood film Couples Retreat and he recently announced his completion of Steven Speilberg’s film Welcome to People.

Future Plans

Rahman has done a tremendous job balancing his Hollywood projects while continuing to create music for his audience back home. While 2011 saw the songs of Rockstar take over the charts, the songs of the upcoming film Ekk Dewana Tha are already catching on.

Team MissMalini wishes A.R. Rahman a very happy birthday! We can’t wait to see what he creates in 2012!

Naach Radio put together this cute “Confession Couch” video as their way of wishing you a Happy New Year! What better way than this to get to know the faces and people behind those voices you listen to on the radio? :)

Naach Radio

And speaking of voices on the radio, you can catch MissMalini live on www.naachradio.com every Monday, 10:15am Toronto time and 8:45pm India time. She’ll be giving you all the Bollywood gossip on The Weekday Shakedown; keep an eye ear out for it! :)

Happy New Year's Eve! | photo courtesy: Villa Farotto

Planning a New Year’s Eve party with friends and don’t know what music to add to your playlist? Don’t worry, here’s a look at 10 songs from 2011 that’ll be sure to get everyone on the dance-floor and rock your party.

Pitbull – Give Me Everything ft. Ne-Yo, Afrojack, Nayer

LMFAO – Party Rock Anthem ft. Lauren Bennett, GoonRock

Jennifer Lopez – On The Floor ft. Pitbull

Maroon 5 – Moves Like Jagger ft. Christina Aguilera

David Guetta – Where Them Girls At ft. Nicki Minaj, Flo Rida

Enrique Iglesias – Tonight (I’m Lovin’ You)

DEV – In The Dark

Britney Spears – Till The World Ends

Rihanna – We Found Love ft. Calvin Harris

Lady Gaga – Marry The Night

Have a great New Year’s Eve, see you all in 2012!

Happy Birthday Flo Rida!

American rapper and songwriter Flo Rida turns 33 today and in celebration of his birthday let’s take a look at some of his biggest hits.

Low (featuring T-Pain)

Low was Flo Rida’s debut single was certified platinum six times in the U.S and was the most downloaded single of the 2000s decade. The song was also featured in the soundtrack for the film Step Up 2: The Streets.

Right Round (featuring Ke$ha)

Thought critics trashed this song from Flo Rida’s sophomore album it was commercially successful and the video was nominated for an MTV Music Video Award.

Club Can’t Handle Me (featuring David Guetta)

This chart-topper was the first collaboration between Flo Rida & David Guetta, the song was featured on the soundtrack for Step Up 3D film. The Step Up franchise really likes Flo Rida don’t they?

Turn Around (5, 4, 3, 2, 1)

Even though the video was termed controversial and degrading towards women one can’t deny the success of the song which led to a sequel featuring Pitbull.

Where Them Girls At (David Guetta featuring Flo Rida and Nicki Minaj)

This song is one of the biggest songs of 2011 and if you haven’t added it to New Year’s Eve playlist I highly suggest you do!

Happy Birthday Jay-Z!

Rap star, record producer, entrepreneur & father to be Jay-Z turns 42 today and boy does he have a lot to celebrate! Beyonce is pregnant with their first child and his album with Kanye West Watch The Throne just got nominated for a Grammy. While Jay-Z is also known for his multiple business ventures (including his fashion line Rocawear & the 40/40 club) along with his philanthropy, let’s take a look at what made him who he is, his music!

Jay-Z’s first album Reasonable Doubt released in 1996 and went platinum in 2002. The album is featured on Blender’s 500 CDs You Must Own Before You Die & Rolling Stone ranked it at 248 on their list of 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.

Jay-Z’s third studio album Vol.2 Hard Knock Life was what made him a household name and put him on par with the superstar rappers of that time including Tupac & Notorious B.I.G.The album won Jay-Z a Grammy Award for best Rap Album in 1999. The song Can I Get A…is one of Jay-Z’s most commercially successful songs of all time while Hard Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem) was his first song to become popular outside the U.S.

Jay-Z was unstoppable after his third album and kept churning out one platinum selling album after another from Vol.3 Life and Times of S. Carter to The Dynasty: Roc La Familia and The Blueprint.

Jay-Z is also responsible for the careers of other very succesful artists on the scene including Kanye West who first gained recognition for his work as a producer on the album The Blueprint where he also produced the soulful song, Young Forever.

Beyonce and Jay-Z first collaborated in the 2002 song Bonnie & Clyde which is when they reportedely started dating as well. Since then they have created many hit singles together including Crazy In Love, That’s How You Like It, Deja Vu and others.

In 2004 Jay-Z took his song Dirt off Your Shoulder and combined it with Linkin Park’s song Lying From You creating an epic song which they released in the album Collision Course by both artists.

While Jay-Z was CEO of Def Jam Recordings he was responsible for launching Kanye West, Rihanna & Ne-yo, he has continuously collaborated with these three artists throughout the years.

Jay-Z continues to enthrall audiences with his music and we hope he that if he ever decides to retire again he just comes back. My personal favorite Jay-Z song is Empire State of Mind which gives me goosebumps each time I listen to it. Team MissMalini wishes Jay-Z a very very Happy Birthday!

To watch more Jay-Z videos check out his Vevo Channel on YouTube. I warn you, you may start adding “izzle” to everything you say after watching more.

P.S: My personal story about Jay Z goes like this. My friends and I had signed up to be ushers at a Jay-Z concert in LA to raise funds for an organization in college but when we reached they had of course overbooked volunteers since Jay-Z had announced his retirement. Since we were so desperate to watch him perform we snuck into the auditorium, we did not regret it! :)

Happy Birthday Britney & Nelly!

Today marks the birthday of two divas, Britney Spears & Nelly Furtado. Britney and Nelly both started their careers in the music industry around the same time but have had very different paths and sound. Let’s take a look at some of the epic songs these ladies have given us throughout the years.

First Album, First Hits!

Britney’s first album …Baby One More Time, which released in 1999 received a 14-times platinum certificate from the RIAA for selling 14 million copies! Nelly’s first album Whoa, Nelly! didn’t too shabbily either, it was more critically acclaimed and hit double platinum status after it’s release in 2000.

Rising Popularity

Both Britney and Nelly grew in terms of their sound from their first album. From Britney breaking loose in I’m A Slave 4 U and Nelly experimenting with an R&B and hip hop sound in her third studio album Loose.

Collaborations

Britney’s most famous collaboration till date has been with Madonna for the song Me Against The Music while Nelly’s multiple collaborations with Timbaland have proven successful time after time.

Desi Connection

Nelly has always had a fascination for Indian music and has been collaborating with the Montreal based duo Josh for many of her remixes. Britney too previously made a Bollywood remix of Me Against The Music and most recently tied up with Culture Shock to produce a Desi version of Till The World Ends.

Latest Sound

Britney and Nelly have many many more years of music ahead of them and thank god for that! Here’s a look at their latest projects, Team MissMalini wishes them a very Happy Birthday!

Naach Radio

Waseem Shaikh

That’s right kids! I’ll be giving you your Bollywood gossip LIVE on www.naachradio.com starting today (every Monday) at 10:15am Toronto time on The Weekday Shakedown with Waseem Shaikh (isn’t he cute?!) Listen online (India time 8:45pm) xoxo
Psst! I love the logo, don’t you? Oh and if you’re wondering, my Twitter DP today is Little MissMalini for Children’s Day, wanna see? :)

naachradio.com

@MissMalini