mixtape maestro (2.0)

Even with Katy Perry‘s 2008 breakout album, One of the Boys, managing to strike platinum and peel off four Top 30 US hits (two of which-“I Kissed A Girl” and “Hot n Cold”-we’ll most certainly be hearing at least once a week for the rest of time), it’s huge success never really solidified the idea of the shtick-reliant singer being necessary beyond it.

If anything else, Perry seemed to be one of those flash-in-the-pan types who would fade away back into obscurity, only to make re-appearances in I Love The ’00‘s-type pop culture retrospectives or future “What ever happened to her?” coffee table conversations concerning the year-long time she somewhat ruled the pop roost.

That being said, it’s not only surprising that Katy would re-emerge with a new record on par with the sugary irresistibility of her biggest cuts and that it would speed it’s way to a spot on the top of the pop charts (and plenty of people’s current summertime guilty pleasure lists), but-and here’s the main shocker-that we would actually be welcome to her return.

Yearning for an explanation? Well, to put it simply: The past year has produced so many forgettable one(and sometimes two)-hit wonder plastic-pop sensations, it’s kinda of nice to have an “established” act of the genre around. Yeah, if you found Katy annoying before (whether because of all the overly-cutesy stage persona tics or her odd, caterwaul vocals), you probably still won’t have much tolerance for her, but if not having her back means more pop radio space for lesser-forgivable entries from the Ke$ha’s, 3OH!3′s and Jason DeRulo’s of the world, than we say “hurrah” for “California Gurl”‘s existence.

Besides, if you look past the titular’s awful spelling of “girls”, the lame Snoop feature, the lyrics’ lazy (and/or awkward) “Cali is the place to be” signifiers and…hell, it’s overall corniness (the West Coast answer to “Empire State of Mind”,as it has been proposed, this surely is not), the track’s effervescent disco-ish sparkle can work wonders on a bad day.

Catch “California Gurl”‘s Candyland-inspired clip below, then afterward grab The White Panda crew’s mash-up of it with Trey Songz’ “Say Ahh”.

DL: The White Panda “Ahh California (Katy Perry x Trey Songz)” (alt)

Never Shout Never is 19-year-old mop-topped singer-songwriter Christofer Drew Ingle, a sort-of emo-coustic alternative to Justin Bieber, and for whatever reason, the mostly “M”-free MTV has been pushing the guy hard in their early-morning block of music video programming AMTV; so hard, that after catching multiple peepings of the video to his super-sugary, super-sincere single “Can’t Stand It”, we’ve kinda come around to liking the ditty (Um, blame insomnia…?).

A puppy love sing-along featuring a couple curse words tossed in the lyrics to try to convince the listener that the person behind the prepubescent vocals is of age (“Everything you do is super fucking cute”, Ingle giggles at one point), “Can’t Stand It” can best be described as what happens when a Hot Topic-obsessed teen comes across his parents’ Beatles collection…which may sound either slightly intriguing to you, or just plain Hell-ish.

Since we haven’t been able to get it’s happy-go-lucky melody out of our heads, we’ve learned to just embrace it as our newest guilty pleasure.

From NSN’s newest release, What Is Love?.

Denmark-born newcomer Nabiha makes a strong first impression with her debut single “Deep Sleep”, a spunky ditty about (no kidding!) trying, and failing, to get some good rest.

“BLAM!/ Who’s knocking on my door?/ The pounding is so raw/ It’s hurting my head,” she growls, her vocal packing such a soulful wallop, you fear for what unfortunate fate awaits the person waiting on the other side of the door if she so chooses to answer the rap.

Yeah, the lightweight topic makes for a curious choice for one’s premiere to the world, but A) it’s something we can all relate to, and B) it beats the bazillionth slant on over-tired “matters of the heart” themes (something we’ll surely get plenty of doses of once the album arrives). Plus, it’s damn near impossible to resist the sugary contagiousness captured in the song’s Gnarls Barkley-gone-bubblegum production bop, especially when it’s being topped by punchy pipes such as hers (and not the needle-thin peep of some waif-sized teenybopper, the type of artist tracks like these usually support).

We’re still not entirely sure it’s a good idea for Amy Winehouse to be helming a label right now (since A: we’d rather have her focusing all her energy on shaping up and recording another album, and B: well, would you want her as a boss?), but then again, what do we know. Her Lioness Records imprint is set to be launched this Fall and it’s first order of business is in releasing the debut album by her 13-year-old goddaughter Dionne Bromfield.

Somewhat un-surprisingly, the London-born Bromfield has been groomed to be a Winehouse mini-me. She may not be crowned with a ratty, on-the-verge-of-collapsing-at-all-times bee hive or look disturbingly under-fed, but she’s definitely presented as a precocious soundalike to her God-mama, down to the beyond-her-years soul pipes and penchant for remaking old R&B/ girl group material (her premiere long-player, Introducing Dionne Bromfield, is an all covers set featuring takes on “Tell Him”, “He’s So Fine” and “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough”, amongst other cherished oldies).

The project’s first single is a remake of The Shirelles’ 1963 Top Ten hit “Foolish Little Girl” and, as is the case with a majority of Winehouse’s stuff, it’s impossible not to appreciate. Yeah, it makes for an odd fit as a solo performance (part of the campy charm of the original was the way it was set of as a conversation between friends, the different members of the Shirelles’ trading off leads to play both the song’s jealous ex-girlfriend main role and that character’s well-meaning pals), but that can be overlooked with Bromfield having such sturdy, self-assured vocals and the track rocking this adorable lil’ reggae-for-beginners trot we could listen to over and over for hours.

It’s a decent jump-off for the Lioness label (maybe Amy knows what she’s doing after all!!!), but we gotta admit, we’re more interested in hearing what original stuff Bromfield will be serving up for the follow-up album.

Introducing Dionne Bromfield is due October 12th in the UK.

Remember when Chris Brown was first starting out? You know, when he was winning over both young’uns and adults left and right with a debut album that birthed a string of infectious tweeny-bop R&B entries and crazy choreographed stage performances that gave older cats Usher and Justin Timberlake pause? Back when you couldn’t get through a single article about him without some writer pulling out the old “new young MJ” tag? Back before you realized what a angry lil’ sucker he was, and then listening to his music made you feel all uncomfortable inside?

That’s the only thing we can think of every time we hear “Just A Kiss”, the slowly chart-climbing single by 16-year-old R&B singer/ actor Mishon, and one that nicely taps into that early Chris Brown “Run It”/ “Yo (Excuse Me Miss)” sensibility with a lil’ Ne-Yo-esque melodicism bite to boot.

As twinkly keyboards and whooshing, backward-routed synths serve a winning R&B-for-the-playground production, Mishon uses his tender, mid-pubesceent tenor to coax some young shawty to “play a little game”; one that, refreshingly, stops just short of “going all the way” by being nothing more than an extended lip-locking session, though that may be just because the girl repeatedly makes it known that she’s not comfortable with doing anything further.

Whatever, we respect it’s realistic portrayal of what it’s like to be a horny teen in 2009, but more importantly, we’re just happy to see another cat give us some satisfying teen romance R&B that doesn’t make us feel like we should donate to some domestic abuse charity because we happened to enjoy it.

We’ll be expecting the obligatory Soulja Boy remix in 5..4..3..2..

Part of what really made Brandy and Monica’s catty 1998 hit “The Boy Is Mine” work (aside from producer Rodney Jerkins’ catchy strings n’ funk beat) was that most people actually thought that these two R&B/ Pop starlets had some beef with eachother. Throw in the fact that the two ladies were operating on opposite ends of the spectrum persona-wise (with Brandy as the bubbly “America’s Sweetheart” and Monica as a sassy, wise-beyond-her-years mini soul diva) and you had this great soapy set-up, helping give their tug-o-war over a two-timing beau a lot more dramatic weight.

In the remaking hands of J-Pop successes Beni and Tynisha Keli (God, has it really been ELEVEN YEARS since this record first premiered), “The Boy Is Mine” simply feels one-dimensional and high school talent show, with the production and the duo’s respective vocal performances being nothing more than a note-for-note mimicking of the original (even down to the single cover’s artwork). Borrrrring.

Maybe Brandy and Monica could re-team over some kind of “Boy Is Mine” sequel of sorts (under the title “Not This Bitch Again” or something) and show these two teenyboppers how you’re really supposed to get down when trying to claim your man.

DL: “The Boy Is Mine (Brandy & Monica Cover)” (alt)

Given props waaaayy back at the beginning of the year as a guilty pleasure crush we just knew was going to dominate the Spring, “Delirious”, by Atlanta teen duo Vistoso Bosses, unfortunately never really managed to catch fire beyond a few blog-world hypes. So we subsequently forgot about it…that is until they decided to bless the people with a recently unearthed new vid for the Soulja Boy-featured remix.

And while we wish they could have linked up with someone like Drake (imagine the tender melodies he could’ve lain here) rather than Mr. “Turn My Swag On”, who has the nerve here to claim to be like “Hov back in ’96″ (he wishes), we can’t help but A: admit how much this perfectly compliments Soulja Boy’s equally charming bubblegum-rap tune “Kiss Me Thru The Phone” and B: just be so highly stoked that “Delirious” actually has a second shot at smash hit-dom now, even if it is only because of the groan-worthy teen-rapper’s presence.

DL: “Delirious (Remix)” (alt)

Raising “Kiss Me Thru The Phone”‘s bubblegum level of a couple more notches, this uni-sex remix sees seventeen-year-old R&B singer Karina Pasian (fresh from last year’s surprising Best Contemporary R&B Album Grammy nomination) more than eager to send smooches back to Soulja Boy through her cell phone screen.

“It’s crazy how I cannot be without your loving/ And when we’re far apart the distance’s got me buggin’”, she replies (probably) Tweets back, her silky, young woman pipes a perfect fit with the track’s nursery rhyme bounce. Aww, puppy love. Back then, being separated from a boy- or girlfriend really did seem like the end of the world, didn’t it?

Is it bad, though, that we wish this could have been her own solo song from the get-go, so that we wouldn’t have to admit to admiring another Soulja Boy record?

DL: “Kiss Me Thru The Phone (Remix)” (alt)

There may be “dark times ahead”, as frontwoman Ali Howard so delicately coos at the beginning of “Woah Billy”, but not even her edge-of-suicidal, teenybopper longing for the titular heartthrob can disrupt the sugar-high that this new Lucky Soul single produces.

The track’s glammy stomp and handclap-laden girl group giddiness damn near emits rays of sunshine through the speakers, showing little compassion for Howard’s depressed diary entries (“I’m like a flower in the shade,” goes one whine); throw in a sudden gear shift when the production makes a pit-stop at the Studio 54 and briefly get it’s “Hustle” on, sending disco lasers every which way, and you’ve got yourself one of the best pop confections of the year.

It’s only too bad that we’ll have to wait all the way until October to snatch up the rest of these London lads’ much-anticipated sophomore collection.

DL: “Woah Billy” (alt)

Tween pop siblings closely affiliated with the Mouse and The Man Above, Aly & AJ make a Duff-like bid for the mainstream world on their catchy, quirksome new single, “The Potential Break-Up Song”. It’s the kind of song you feel obliged to hate but for some reason gets up under your skin as a near-perfect pop entry.

Anchored in a speedy wave of vocoder-inflected sass and nerdy new wave synths alongside other electro-pop skirmishes, it’s hard to fully digest the fireworks display of sound the first time around. But that killer opening line (“It took too long for you to call back/ And normally I would just forget that/ Except for the fact it was my birthday/ My stupid birthday”) revs you up for a the kind of slightly dumb/ secretly clever tune you wish every pop song could be.

A White Chicks version of “Irreplaceable” or anything the ladies of En Vogue have done, “Potential Break-Up Song” aches to be a rallying female anthem, managing to strum up major drama out of that single thoughtless incident in order to justify kicking boyfriend to the curb. As disparate melodies fly all over the place (this is almost like four songs in one!), the meta-hook brings it all together in a way that would make Fall Out Boy proud (“This is the potential break-up song/ Our album needs just one”).

The only thing keeping this from being a bonafide winner is the fact that Aly & AJ don’t have the cojones to rough their voices up a bit or really lay on the guitars (Disney doesn’t want to scare the kiddies away too bad it seems). But with Kelly Clarkson’s deeper venture into rock leaving “Since U Been Gone” fans (and her record company) feeling a little cold, “Break-Up Song” conveniently fills the void for upbeat power-pop “I can do better all by myself”-type songs to pogo to. One pinky toe out the door from their ultra squeaky clean past, my bet is they’re only one album away from hooking up with Timbaland or BT and attempting some awkward, Pussycat Doll-influenced belly dancing in their videos.