Search Results for: every time i die

You might think that after parting ways with a major label, Jimmy Eat World would take the opportunity to further indulge in the thoughtful experimentation that marked 1999’s Clarity, their second and final release on Capitol. After all, no label means no more A&R guys frowning at songs like Clarity’s 16-minute-plus “Goodbye Sky Harbor,” with its drum-loop buildup and crescendo of overlapping, programmed vocals. But left to their own devices, Mesa, Arizona’s favorite sons made their most straight-up pop record to date – Bleed American, which hit stores Tuesday. “Things still got pretty gnarly in the studio as far as… Read more »

When they were making Celebrity, ‘NSYNC weren’t fretting about how to follow up a sales record – they were too busy staking out a new sound to carry them into a future far beyond first-week figures, says Justin Timberlake. And besides, he said, it’s just the economy that’s to blame if the album’s opening week comes shy of the 2.4 million copies No Strings Attached sold last year in its first week on shelves. “People probably don’t think we think about this kind of stuff, but if you really wanna get technical about it, the whole country, the economy, is… Read more »

With their ubiquitous hit “Drops of Jupiter” continuing to rain down at pop and rock radio, Train show no signs of losing steam anytime soon. Drops of Jupiter, the band’s second album, has been firmly planted in the top 20 on the Billboard 200 albums chart since its March 27 release, climbing from #18 to #15 this week. Two more music videos are scheduled to hit the air soon, and a tour with Matchbox Twenty kicks off next week. “It’s really incredible,” guitarist Jimmy Stafford said from his San Francisco home shortly after returning from a tour of Europe. “From… Read more »

“She’s Kobe, and I’m Shaq,” Kurupt said of himself and his fiancée, Blaque’s Natina Reed, on the heels of the Lakers’ championship series win last month. The lovebirds can currently be caught trading verses, Crip-walking and courting each other in the video for Kurupt’s “It’s Over.” The L.A. by way of Philly rapper may be on to something – their duet helped him debut at #10 on the latest Billboard 200 albums chart with Space Boogie: Smoke Oddessey. It was just a year ago that the longtime buddies fell in love. As to who made the first move, we’ll probably… Read more »

It is a visual overload, this PopOdyssey tour starring the reigning champs of the pop music marketplace, ‘N Sync. There are films and explosions and dancers and mechanical bulls and more costumes than songs – it looks exhausting for performer and young viewer alike. It’s a feast of production values, a sign that every dime went into something the audience can see and, taken collectively, the show is a better marketing tool than a dozen videos. PopOdyssey is flat-out a vehicle to expose new songs to their hard-core audience and give a dynamic and visceral association to the bulk of… Read more »

Radio airplay is and has been the primary driver of retail record sales in the United States. Some estimate that nearly 90 percent of sales is the direct result of an artist being exposed on radio. But today, radio is joined by an array of other media choices: MTV, BET, and VH1, digital downloads, and streamed audio. Consumers borrow friend’s CDs and tapes, and see live performance. Any record label or promoter would be remiss by ignoring any one of these outlets since they all help to sell music. In the first-ever project of its kind, James Schureck at Jeff… Read more »

Alicia Keys says her expectations for her debut album, “Songs in A Minor,” never had anything to do with how well it sold. “Being connected with people, that’s what I hope for,” the 20-year-old Manhattan native says. “Numbers I leave for everyone else to count and calculate.” Well, everyone else has had a lot of calculating to do. The album debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard chart after its release June 26. “We were stunned by the sales,” said Clive Davis, the music-industry veteran who heads up Keys’ label, J records. “Stunned” pretty much sums up the music world’s… Read more »

Those awaiting a new Limp Bizkit album will have to wait a little longer. Fresh from directing the debut video for Puddle of Mudd, the new act on his Interscope imprint Flawless, Bizkit frontman Fred Durst has gotten the green light from Intermedia Films to direct his first feature film, “Wanna-Be,” the story of teenage mobsters in New York. “I was stuck in a room for two days,” Durst tells Billboard.com. “It was this test to see if I can withstand [the filmmaking process]. Everyone at the company had these poker faces, so I left not knowing what was going… Read more »

Macy Gray picked up more than postcards and passport stamps during her world tour supporting On How Life Is – she also brought home inspiration for her second album, The Id. The charismatic songstress says her world travels supporting her 1999 breakthrough exposed her to an eclectic mix of styles and sounds that inspired her to get wild in the studio. “You go to France and African rhythms are really big over there and then you go to Germany and you’ve got like German hip-hop,” Gray said Wednesday. “And then there’s all kinds of techno clubs and drum’n’bass and jungle… Read more »

Hollywood recording artists 3Gs and Lil J have been added to the Levi’s 1st Stage of the MTV TRL tour, a blockbuster package featuring Destiny’s Child, Nelly, Eve, Dream and 3LW. Both 3Gs and Lil J will appear on the Levi’s 1st Stage when the tour began on July 19 at the Meadows Center in Hartford, Connecticut. Kristi, Anapau and Amy – better known as 3Gs – will be giving audiences a preview of their highly anticipated Hollywood Records debut, due for release in early 2002. The trio’s first single, “One More Second Chance,” is going to radio at the… Read more »