MADONNA BY THE NUMBERS:

50                         Number 1’s Pre-orders for Madonna’s MDNA album on iTunes (biggest one day pre- order in ITunes (biggest one day pre-order in iTunes history) hit the top spot at iTunes store in 50 countries!

11,000,000+      YouTube downloads of new Madonna video…and counting.  The most searched subject on YouTube and Google during the Super Bowl

13                         Madonna’s new single catapults to the #13 spot on Billboard’s Hot 100 Chart

56                         “Give Me All Your Luvin’” marks Madonna’s 56th appearance on the Hot 100 according to Billboard’s Keith Caulfield

117.8 Million Peak audience viewership during Madonna’s halftime performance – largest in Super Bowl history – up 4.7 million from last year – surpasses Michael Jackson’s 1993 halftime performance

47.1 Million        Households saw Madonna’s Super Bowl Performance

#6                  Trending at No. 6 on European Airplay Charts

#2                iTunes Single, jumped from previous spot 11 after the Super Bowl

2500              Spins in less than 48 hours at Top 40 radio

25              “Give Me All Your Luvin’” single’s chart debut

51                  Global Tour Dates Announced by Live Nation

1600                  Clear Channel Digital Billboards Around the Globe aired Madonna’s “Give Me All Your Luvin’”

 More…

SUPER BOWL BY THE NUMBERS:

320                    Hours of rehearsal prior to performance

750                        Hours to create and complete the Givenchy gold cape Madonna arrived in

4                    Special guests: Nicki Minaj, M.I.A., LMFAO and Cee Lo Green

1                    Slackliner

20                Dancing Dolls

17                    Core Dancers

200                  Members of Gospel Choirs from Indianapolis area

150                  Gladiators carried Madonna onto the stadium with 280 feet of custom made 3 inch rope.

1200                    lbs. – weight of Madonna’s golden throne designed by Madonna and Jimmie Martin in London. Throne included 2 specially designed specially designed sphinx heads covered in Swarovski crystals.

100                    Members of Drumline

250                    Volunteers who assembled and took down stage during half time in 6 minutes (go Hoosiers!)

27                    Carts which carried the stage were wheeled in by the volunteers

36                  Projectors hung from ceiling of stadium to create light show

120                  Individual lashes applied to each of Madonna’s eyelids per eye

18k                  Rose gold ground down and added to Madonna’s eye shadow and lips by makeup artist Gina Brooke

200                    Pairs of black briefs provided by Calvin Klein for the Gladiators (they got to wear them home)

MADONNA BY THE LETTERS:

MDNA              Title of Madonna’s upcoming CD (scheduled for March 26th release)

W.E.                  Title of just released film directed and co-written by Madonna

L.U.V.                    Madonna

Y.O.U.                  You Wanna?

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• Madonna Invasion!!! iTunes Can Barely Handle Her!! (perezhilton.com)
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We just got a press release with all the details on Madonna’s new single from her album MDNA. Here are the tidbits: “Madonna will be releasing her new single “Give Me All Your Luvin’” featuring Nicki Minaj & M.I.A. on February 3rd, three days before her highly anticipated Bridgestone Super Bowl halftime performance, it was officially confirmed by Interscope Records.  “Give Me All Your Luvin’” is the first single from Madonna’s upcoming album MDNA , her 12th studio album and follow up to 2008’s Hard Candy which debuted at No. 1 in 37 countries. The song was written by Madonna, Martin Solveig, Nicki Minaj and M.I.A, composed by Martin Solveig and Michael Tordjman and produced by Madonna and Martin Solveig.

iTunes will offer an exclusive global pre-order of an 18 track Deluxe Edition of MDNA including one exclusive remix from Madonna’s new album.  The bonus remix will be available from Friday February 3rd through Monday February 6th only.  During this time period the album will be available for $9.99 and fans will also receive the digital single “Give Me All Your Luvin’” immediately. This single is also exclusive to iTunes during this limited time.   At launch, the offer can be found at www.iTunes.com/Madonna

The video for “Give Me All Your Luvin,” directed by Megaforce, is football and cheerleader themed – inspired by her upcoming Super Bowl appearance. In an AMERICAN IDOL exclusive, Madonna will world preview the video for her new single “Give Me All Your Luvin,” featuring Nicki Minaj and M.I.A., during IDOL Thursday, Feb. 2 (8:00-9:00 PM ET/PT) on FOX. The full video for “Give Me All Your Luvin’” will premiere on Madonna’s YouTube channel on February 3rd at 9am EST/6am PST.  www.youtube.com/Madonna

MDNA, recorded in New York and LA, reunites Madonna with former collaborator William Orbit (“Ray of Light”) who co wrote and co produced several cuts on the new album.  Other co producers include Martin Solveig, The Demolition Crew, Marco “Benny” Benassi and Alessandro “Alle” Benassi, Hardy “Indiigo” Muanza, Michael Malih and Madonna.

The Golden Globe Award winning song “Masterpiece” from the Madonna directed Weinstein Company film “W.E.” which opens in February is also included on MDNA as well as on W.E. – Music From the Soundtrack  which is scheduled to be released on January 31st at digital retailers on Interscope as well.  The Compact Disc version of the soundtrack is scheduled to be released exclusively at Amazon.com  on February 14th.  The score was composed, orchestrated and produced by Abel Korzeniowski.”

Related articles

• Madonna Reveals “Give Me All Your Luvin” Artwork (ohlalamag.com)
• First Look: Madonna Releases The Single Cover Artwork For ‘Gimme All Your Luvin’ (pinkisthenewblog.com)
• The Material Girl is Back on the Dance Floor (prnewswire.com)
• Cover Art for Madonna’s Give Me All Your Lovin Released (shoppingblog.com)
• Madonna To Debut ‘Luvin’ Teaser On ‘American Idol’ (mtv.com)
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• FIRST LOOK: Madonna’s New Video W/Nicki Minaj and MIA + “Give Me All Your Luvin’” Cover Art! (923now.radio.com)
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Now that they took down Megaupload, it’s time for action. We’re all here having a good time posting, reposting, sharing, tweeting, emailing, uploading, retweeting and rejoicing. But, the corporate demagogues are out to get the people again. Read more here about the dirty world of internet censorship and help keep the world wide web a place for freedom to run wild. Click here. 

Cocknbullkid was supposed to be working hard on her upcoming sophomore album after she made some waves with Adulthood. But, she has all these tracks under her belt and felt it right to give it our to all of us at once. Yes, the new release is aptly titled Adolescence and its made available for free by the singer herself! Get it and pick from it! Click here to download it! 

This could be one of the best days of 2011! Ani DiFranco’s seventeenth (Yes, 17th!) studio album has been released to the public and made its way online. This marks the longest hiatus Ani DiFranco has taken in her prolific career. This one is called ¿Which Side Are You On?. We are already on the 3rd track and loving every bit. Of course we spend a lot of time on YouTube scavenging live sets, so we know some of the songs. But, we could already tell she is concentrating on the melodic side of this more on this one. Click here to visit an unaffiliated website to investigate the leak. As Ani DiFranco would say: “Unauthorized reproduction, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing.”

The amazing visual architecture behind Lana Del Rey’s imaging is the sole purpose this singer is going to conquer the airwaves in 2012! Lana is unlike any other, she is a pop signer that sings slow haunting tracks with lazy vocals and an old hollywood charm.

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Whatever she is doing, she is tapping on the right spot. What the world now needs is not an overproduced artist, but a stripped-down young-in with a great voice and 21st century mysticism that lacks in today’s popstar. Also, it helps if you look atrociously hot.

Lady Gaga’s new 13 minute music video for “Marry The Night” – the next single from Born This Way – has leaked in full on Twitter. Unfortunately, the YouTube version is not out so we will forward you to one of our favorite blogs run by our friend. About the video, high-drama, pushing too many ideas in at once and fire. Typical.

Click here to view the “Marry The Night” video!

Regina Spektor is back with a set of new songs to be releases sometimes May 2012. The new album is called What We Saw From The Cheap Seats. She explained on Facebook: ”I’m very excited to say that this summer I recorded a new record with Mike Elizondo in L.A. It’s been finished for a little while, but I had no idea when it would be out in the world until now. We’re trying to get everything ready for it to come out in May (but I will share some stuff before then for sure!).”

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The uploader has made this video not available in my country because apparently they are so eager to break the Kuwaiti market when they get to it, or they just lump up everyone not from where they are or not a huge market for western music like the US and the UK. Nonetheless, we love the band, so we want to give the chance to some of our international readers to see it. Tell us how it goes.

Let’s hope for more and better stuff.

Posthumously, Amy Winehouse is still rocking! This is a new song from the quickly put-together album of unreleased material called Lioness: Hidden Treasures. The song sounds like a cut from the Back To Black era. It’s all taken from snippets of her previous videos and then some still to zoom into. It looks like a VH-1 Behind The Music documentary. Let’s hope the unleash some unseen footage next time around.

Danish artists Electric Lady Lab are paying homage to their neighbors. The band’s newest video for their single “Touch Me” is an ode to Norwegian rockers A-ha, with all the pencil-sketching inspired by synth-pop relic, “Take On Me.” The song, however, is not as great as their previous offerings, but we will give them the benefit of the doubt.

Fatima Al Qadiri is doing more music and this is her latest video. The YouTube description explains: “Hip Hop Spa posits an uncanny parallel between the luxurious solitary confinement of a spa experience and the introspective image of prison solitary confinement often presented in contemporary, genre specific, Hip Hop cultural product. Solitary subconscious is the experience of virtual age Hip Hop culture. The track expands the lexicon of the genre, while questioning the general public’s consumption of rap and hip hop aesthetics.”

Soko tweeted her disapproval of a singer named Lana Del Rey on twitter and we couldn’t help but YouTube her. What we found is an unsurpassed beauty with great pipes and haunting lyrics administrated with lazy vocals. A potent and somewhat new formula for her kind a music – a fusion between old-hollywood glamor with a strong jazz sensibility. After listening to “Yayo” and “Video Games” we have fallen in love with this lovely singer. She carries herself with poise and is not afraid to challenge the ideals of vocal rules with her sound. Genre cross-breads rarely sound so scrumptious and when they do they break new ground in the pop world, like what Amy Winehouse did. We look forward to hearing from Lizzy Grant, her real name.

Is it just us or is this purely horrid. This is a hot mess. We expected more from The Ting Tings who delivered a great debut album. But, the two tracks that we got from them (“Hands” and “Hang It Up”) are just not up to par. So sad to see We Started Nothing followed by this balderdash.

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We are not the biggest fans of Kelly Clarkson, but we think she has some strong numbers. Upon recommendation from our fellow bloggers we gave her new leaked album a stream or two and we have to say it isn’t so bad after all. We like “Stronger,” it’ll probably be the next single.

1. Greetings from Kuwait! Loft965.com picked “Pop Song” as a “Sexy Track” of 2011! How do you feel about that and what do you think the rest of the year holds for you?

 I am happy to hear that, thank you. I have to say I didn’t realize it was such a sexy song,  I thought it was just honest.  I think I  will be busy writing and recording my third album for the rest of the year. I will be releasing it in 2012. 

2. We are excited about the new album. What will it be called?

 I am still writing songs for the album so I haven’t decided on a name for it yet. I usually don’t name my albums until all the songs are ready.

3. What musical direction are you taking for your new album?

 At the moment it sounds like it’s going to be a pop album with a country and folky twist.  But that could change before the album is finished.

4. Are you going on tour? What will be your next single?

I won’t be going on tour until after christmas, but I hope to travel to lots of different places to play my new songs next year.  I don’t know what song will be my next single but I have two songs that are strong candidates. One about a scary house close to where I live and another about a very lucky boy.

5. We love quotes, what is your favorite quote or motto?

We have a lot of old sayings here in Iceland and some of them seem very strange, especially when they have been translated. One of my favorites is “Ég kalla nú ekki allt ömmu mína”  it translates as  “I don’t call just anything my grandmother .”  It means I don’t get scared easily.

Click here to purchase Hafdis Huld’s album.

Click here to visit Hafdis Huld’s official website. 

Ceremonials, Florence And The Machine’s second eagerly-awaited album, has landed. This is the first single and the first video. It looks like that “Amadeus” video from the 80s’. This looks like a promising start and is quiet lovely, we must say. It’s not that far of a stretch from Lungs, though.

Up until this point, J.Viewz has released new songs, music videos, and remixes piecemeal to fans without actively promoting them to the music press. Yet through word of mouth the songs and videos surrounding rivers and homes. have been listened to and viewed hundreds of thousands of times, with the J.Viewz Youtube channel registering over 700,000 views on its own. A drop in the bucket for Lady Gaga, but a grand accomplishment for a project that has had no outside promotion.

J.Viewz sound alternately combines elements of soft breakbeat, hazy nostalgia, glitchy chillout, and strong vocal performances. The album vacillates between the high energy pop of “far too close” to calming expansive dreamscapes like “building a home”, but is pulled together cohesively by Dagan’s deft aesthetic vision.

rivers and homes. originated as an idea Dagan dubbed “Work In Progress” that he began developing in the Spring of 2010. The plan was to make an album available for pre-order, and then record and release tracks gradually over the course of a year to fans that subscribed to the process. In many ways this approach ran contrary to today’s current model, which usually sees artists offering their music up for free in the hopes people will deem it worthy of purchase. But from early on the quality of J.Viewz output drew subscribers in, and allowed the project to flourish. For Dagan this approach was positive on a few different levels. One of them was the immediacy of the process. Each song was recorded and released in the same weather, mindset, and period-in-life in which it had been conceived, giving fans an intimate real time look at the artistic evolution of the album. Another was the motivation that came with people paying for his album in advance. That fans were subscribing to his output gave Dagan reason as well as an obligation to fully realize material he might have otherwise left unfinished.

Through the subscription process Dagan was also able to fund the recording of new songs and remixes each month, as well as produce videos for select tracks. For their pre-order of the album/subscription fee, fans gained access to any recordings Dagan made as they were released, special remixes, access to song stems in order to make their own remixes, discounted tickets to shows, first looks at music videos, and now that it is complete, they have all been sent their own copy of the beautiful 26 page Booklet/CD rivers and homes.

We went out on the town last night and heard from a fellow toriphile that Tori Amos’s eagerly-awaited, highly-anticipated new album Night Of Hunters has leaked in full online. Of course, we couldn’t sleep until we listened to the whole thing, so we settled for YouTube. At any rate, the album’s out and it surely will impress. Click here to be forwarded to another unaffiliated blog to investigate the leak! 

For 25-year-old Malaysian singer/songwriter Zee Avi, “Swell Window” is the gorgeous track that started the journey and also the opening track of her second album, Ghostbird. “It’s a song about seizing the moment,” she says, “and for me, a new direction and a new voice came and stayed.”

In the two years since her self-titled debut was joint-released on Jack Johnson’s Brushfire Records and Ian Montone’s Monotone Label, Avi’s very free spirit has wandered from major music festivals (SXSW, Outside Lands, Bonnaroo) to huge tours (Lilith Fair) back to her homeland of Sarawak, Borneo Island, where she recently picked up an International Youth Icon Award. For a little perspective, just four years ago, Avi was a former art student in Kuala Lumpur who posted a song on YouTube to catch up with a friend and was quite surprised to find herself the toast of the Internet when thousands of strangers discovered her effortlessly stunning voice. Literal overnight success can easily poison young minds, but Avi is no ordinary mind — while critics were comparing her chilled-out, jazzy, ukulele-based songs to Billie Holiday and Cat Power she was continuing to make visual art and remaining her buoyant, whimsical self. “I’m 25 going on 12 and a half on a good day,” she laughs, flipping through a notebook filled with colorful drawings and lengthy notes.

Avi started writing ghostbird in her Brooklyn kitchen last summer, but followed the wind to the balmy waters of the Florida Everglades where she found endless musings, “with absolute silence and calmness.” In March, she took her fresh batch of tunes to Johnson’s Solar Powered Plastic Plant studios and got down to business with producer Mario Caldato, Jr., best known for his work with the Beastie Boys and beloved Brazilian artists like Bebel Gilberto. It only took two weeks for them to lay down the 11 tracks on Ghostbird (it means “Burung Hantu” which means owl in Avi’s native language), including the closing number on the album, “Stay In The Clouds,” a new addition that was written on the last day of recording.

This album lead Avi to new ideas. “Siboh Kitak Nangis” which translates to “Don’t You Cry,” is the first song in Avi’s dialect on an international album and the poppy groove of “The Book of Morris Johnson” is the first time she has written new music to accompany someone else’s words. “Morris Johnson” was inspired by a Floridian folk artist whose paintings of animals and accompanying text about their instinctual lives “capture naiveté and innocence and enthusiasm,” Avi says. After buying a few of his pieces at an art show, Avi called him up and said, “Morris, I’m ready to be your disciple, I’m ready to turn your words into a song.” (Morris was thrilled — his daughter’s a huge fan.)

The track “Anchor” is one of the handful of songs that made the album from Avi’s New York writing sessions and also what Zee refers to as a “premonition track,” and another NYC track, “Concrete Wall,” is a striking a cappella that features contributions from beloved turntable god Cut Chemist. And yes, she is well aware June has 30 days rather than 31 (the song “31 Days” was inspired by a couch-surfing friend who lamented, ” ‘I was homeless for 31 days in June.’ “) Every song has a different mood, every song is a different voice, every song is a different story,” Avi explains. But the idea of the ghostbird unites the album, and Avi has tucked an owl call into a few tracks on the disc, “So it’s a little scavenger hunt when you listen to it.”

After the album arrives on August 30th, 2011 Avi is itching to get back on tour and show off her live skills. “I want people to feel like they’re being hugged,” she says of the soothingly beautiful ghostbird. “I think this is my swell window right now.”