Meeting Katy Perry

Last Wednesday was quite something. Katy Perry is the subject of this month’s MSN Xclusives, so I was dispatched to Claridges to spend an hour in her company.

Yes, I know, but someone had to do it.

So anyway, La Perry was fashionably late. In fairness, she was only half an hour behind the newly revised schedule. The problem was that this had been emailed to me overnight and I’d not seen it, meaning I was two hours early. Ah well, some people are worth waiting for, even if you’ve not had any lunch. Even if you’re starving and the reason you’re hanging around a hotel lobby is because they’re having lunch.

I found some complimentary biscuits to keep me going so I was on a bit of a sugar rush when she finally arrived and apologised rather charmingly for her ‘tardiness’. Not a word you hear every day. I was also reeling from my discovery that Claridges charge £75 for room service scrambled eggs. How the other half live, eh?

Once Katy had put her radio mic up her dress (causing everyone else in the room to look away out of politeness, only to discover that she could be seen even more clearly in the mirror), she sat down and was charm itself; funny, self-deprecating, and generally the total opposite of a diva.

You can see the results here.

Then I had to run off to interview Robbie Williams. Told you it was quite a day.

The Greatest Show on Earth? Eminem and Jay-Z do Detroit

Guest Blogger: Tina Hart

I did ask if I could go but unfortunately the budget wouldn’t stretch to fly me Stateside for Eminem and Jay-Z’s series of joint live shows this month.

Tonight this holy joining of Hip Hop royalty kicks off the ‘Home and Home tour’ in Eminem’s hometown of Detroit for a couple of nights before moving on Jay-Z’s stomping ground in New York ten days later.

Snooping around online, I’ve found that some clever bods have been hanging around Comerica Park listening to soundcheck, trying to unveil secrets regarding superstar guest appearances and set lists.

Alicia Keys and Rihanna have been heard in rehearsals, Tony Yayo has been going on about 50 Cent and G Unit being in the venue, and a few hours ago B.o.B revealed he has a 30-minute long opening set at each of the four shows. I was fortunate enough to catch Bobby Ray at a one-off date in London and wow… he is a true talent and a great performer. I can’t wait to see the footage if him and Em do Airplanes part 2, I cannot tell you how much I adore that version of the song.

Aside from the people taking part, there is a load of jointly branded merchandise for the special occasions and the staging is looking pretty neat too.

It’s going to be massive in so many ways as over 80,000 will pack out the stadium tonight, I just wish I was one of them… We need an equivalent gig in the UK but who could team up to such epic proportions? Suggestions on an e-postcard please…

Kano @ Bush Hall – 01/09/2010

Guest Blogger: Tina Hart

East London Grime scene veteran Kano travelled across town to West London’s intimate Bush Hall to showcase his new album Method to the Maadness (that’s not a typo by the way) alongside a few choice favourites from his back catalogue.

We arrived to hear MC Ghetts aka Ghetto warming up the crowd with Sing For Me. After bringing attention to those in the audience not getting involved enough, the crowd went mad for what is a soundtrack to the genre, Grime Daily, prompting aerial gun fingers and brapping all around, creating a buzzing atmosphere for the main man of the night to grace the stage.

Opening with tracks off the new album, 2 Left: Topic of Discussion and Get Wild (which features the Godfather of Grime, Wiley) gave the speakers a battering, as Kano sauntered around the stage kitted out in his Boxfresh garms and delivered that deliberate swagger-laden, steady flow and punchy lyrics that we all know him so well for. 

A signature dubstep sound came through on Chase and Status-produced Spaceship and current single Upside had Michelle Breeze join Kano on stage with her distinctive vocals on the chorus.

Having a chat with his crowd of noticeably dedicated fans (‘Most people in here know Kano from day’) who tirelessly sang back lyrics for most of the night, Kano apologised for taking his time ‘Sorry the new album took so f*ckin long’. I guess good things come to those who wait though, right?!

The place exploded upon the first few notes of P’s and Q’s off Kano’s 2005 record Home Sweet Home and continued to be hyped up, reliving some of his older tracks including Hustler and Typical Me which saw Ghetts return to the stage.

He hung around for his featuring part on Lady Killer, one of two Hot Chip productions on the album and featuring my favourite funny lyric of the night ‘I made her say oh yes like Churchill’. Keeping things up tempo from the new album came courtesy of German producer Boys Noize’s Crazy.

Bringing the pace down for a bit, Michelle Breeze came back on stage for Slaves and K A told us that he’s ‘Stronger than steel they can’t shape or mould me’ on Dark Days.

Ending the night on an energetic note with Shy FX’s nod to old school clubbing, Raver had everyone skanking out with Donae’o bringing his verse to life on stage.

A far cry from 2002’s Boys Love Girls, it is evident that former Nasty crew member Kano has deviated away from his Grime roots on this album, in a good way, mixing up the sound with production lending from multiple genres: Dance – Boys Noize, Urban Pop – Fraser T Smith, Electro – Hot Chip, in addition to Chase and Status, Craigie Dodds and Diplo.

Kano tweeted this morning ‘Bush hall got smashed yesterday’ and I predict that whatever method he has lent to his maadness will mean his album will certainly see him smash the charts this week.

Method to the Maadness is out now

So we dance… in French

Guest Blogger: Tina Hart

Screw language barriers.

My little brother recently returned from getting tomatoes thrown at him at an annual festival in Spain (each to their own) and came back bitten by the bug of Rwandan/Belgian gentleman Stromae’s pan-European anthem Alors On Danse.

Yolanda Be Cool vs D Cup hit the number one spot earlier this Summer with We No Speak Americano (albeit with minimal lyrics), now Alors On Danse is the latest monster foreign language dance hit about to land in the UK after going to number one in 11 countries across the continent.

Having created a massive online following partly due to his quirky ‘lessons in how to make a hit’, talented fellow Stromae, known to his Mum as Paul, rather humbly wrote and produced the track at home (and directed the video). With a musical background in hip hop and rap, he infuses Alors On Danse with a healthy dose of lyrical substance and wordplay whilst keeping the visual fun through the video. Admittedly, my GCSE in French didn’t stretch to understanding it all upon first listen but the translation is awesome and the beat is scandalously catchy.

The inverted maestro has a global hit on his hands and it will be gracing UK shores, airwaves and earwaves very soon as it’s due for release on September 6.

Scouting For Girls get their Choppers out

Guest blogger: Phill Outhen

The cheery popsters famous for upbeat numbers She’s So Lovely, Heartbeat and Elvis Ain’t Dead prove that not all bands sit on tour buses playing Wii and drinking their body-weight in alcohol by embarking on a 60-mile sponsored bike ride from London to Brighton.

And to add a touch of silliness to an otherwise excellent exercise in humility – the band will be raising money for the Wellchild charity – the trio will be riding Choppers.

The band set off from Wandsworth Park in London at 10am on Saturday 29th August, and expect to arrive at The Grand Hotel, Brighton on Sunday 30th August at approximately 3pm; an intimate gig at Brighton’s Komedia venue will be played later that evening.

http://shop.wellchild.org.uk/sfc/index.php

http://www.scoutingforgirls.com/gb/home/

Loick ‘n’ Lab

Guest Blogger: Tina Hart

So, we’ve been introduced to Tinie Tempah who’s spawned the biggest selling single by a UK artist this year with Pass Out, produced and guest-vocalled by his talented mate Labrinth. Labrinth caught the eye of Simon Cowell and was subsequently signed as a solo artist to his record label Syco which is part of Sony. Super-producer Labrinth worked his magic on Sony label mate Loick Essien’s new single, and here we have a recipe for sure-fire upcoming smash hits graced by more new (to the mainstream at least) UK urban superstars.

Loick Essien

No stranger to the entertainment industry, 19-year-old Loick has been involved in it for years having been a singer/dancer/performer/presenter since he was an even wee-er lad. It’s like he was born ready! Having provided guest vocals for buddies Sway, Bashy and Chipmunk he’s now making his biggest solo break courtesy of the infectious Love Drunk which is destined to infiltrate the mainstream chart, I predict top 10 at the very least. It’s all over the radio, the video’s been out for a week, and it’s finally going to drop on September 12.

An album from Loick is also in the offing and having recorded with some local and international heavyweight producers we can expect a musical masterpiece from Mr Essien later this year.

Labrinth

Gaining a lot of attention from helping Tinie Tempah Pass Out and get Frisky (not in a dodgy way) everyone’s talking about multi-talented Labrinth. He recently worked with Professor Green (who he briefly appeared alongside at V festival last weekend), Ellie Goulding, JLS, Pixie Lott and Gorillaz to name a few and is now bringing his happy hippy debut solo single Let the Sun Shine to the masses a couple of weeks after Loick brings his, on September 26.

Currently swanning around LA filming for his new video, there’s a rumour floating around that when Labrinth returns we might even see him on X Factor thanks to the man he calls Uncle Simon…

Robbie/Gary Shame Video Premiere

Guest Blogger: Tina Hart

‘What a shame we never listened, I told you through the television… I got busy throwing everybody underneath the bus’ are just some of the lyrics from the highly-anticipated duet between former Frenemies, Take Thatters Robbie Williams and Gary Barlow.

Like the guitar-fuelled love/regret song, the video follows this theme with Robbie and Gary sort of falling for each other in a hazy ‘bromance’ as they so elegantly coined it on his website this morning. The brain behind the vid is a gent called Vaughan Arnell who’s responsible for some of Robbie’s most iconic solo video efforts.

It’s a good little pop song with a well-needed dose of tongue-in-cheekness which saves the video, and the song, from being a cringe-y cheese fest . Nice one guys.

This tune introduces us to Robbie’s new greatest hits album before the original Take That five-piece are finally reunited towards the end of 2010, after a decade and a half apart.

Get over the old Kanye with the gift of ‘Good Fridays’

Guest Blogger: Tina Hart

Well and truly out of hiding now, infamous rapper Kanye West is in full promo swing in the lead up to his album release.

He recently aired a funky kind of non-video video for Power, is reportedly performing at this year’s MTV VMAs, possibly with Taylor Swift (the innocent country pop singer whose acceptance speech he royally ruined at last year’s ceremony), is making a film in relation to his new album, continues with his Twitter overdrive, and now plans to treat/annoy the world further by releasing a new track every Friday until Christmas.

Mr West took to Twitter this weekend to inform us of this weekly wonderment: ‘I know y’all need the music so I’m dropping 1 new song every weekend until Xmas. It may be my song it may be a new Jay song etc… I’m calling it good Fridays. Y’all know every Friday y’all gone have a new joint from our family.’

Smart move methinks as Kanye has been trying hard to win people over again since his show of bad manners during the TS incident (pictured) in 2009. I’m not denying it was a stupid stunt to pull but people are still giving him crap over it. To them I say: It’s old news, no one’s perfect, get over it!

Just been in Chase and Status’ new video… you can be in it too

Guest Blogger: Tina Hart

I do like it when people try something a bit different with music videos and have come across a clever little online thingamajig which resulted in me appearing in the one for the new Chase and Status single Let You Go featuring Mali (which they rocked the LoveBox festival mainstage with last month).

Earlier this year I appeared in B.o.B’s Nothin On You and a couple years back in The Script’s The Man Who Can’t Be Moved via an online tool that integrates your uploaded photo image into parts of the music video. Jolly good fun they were too.

The clever little online thingamajig for the Let You Go video, however, takes advantage of connecting with a well-known social networking website that means you and some of your ‘friends’ will appear in the vid with very little effort on your part. Result.

Your star appearances may not be as obvious as you think, so be sure to pay attention to detail. Search for ‘The Patrick Chase Show’ and give it a go…

Please note the video is not suitable for under 18s

X Factor, ready?! Yes. American Idol, ready?! No..

Guest Blogger: Tina Hart

It’s that time of year again, the Summer is fading and we’re about to become a nation of Innies (I mean going out less, not belly button shape) as reality television ‘singing competitions’ return to our screens.

X Factor will be back this weekend complete with our two favourite grumps, Louis and Simon, and a host of guest judge hotties including: Katy Perry, Natalie Imbruglia, Geri Halliwell, Pixie Lott and Nicole Scherzinger. Rumours are that Geri and Natalie got a pretty hostile reception from crowds, ‘Scherzy’ was so impressive at bootcamp stage that she may be partaking in the judges’ houses round, and Chezza’s roping in her new bloke. Lovely jublee.

Not resting on any laurels, the show is being remixed a little this year. Thank goodness, Simon has said that they’re toning down the sob stories (they were getting tiresome many a series ago), banning songs that he’s sick of being murdered during auditions, and contestants are being put through their paces via dance guru Brian Friedman. I guess when you have former contestants like Alexandra Burke and JLS cooking up a multi-talented storm globally, a sweet lil singing voice just doesn’t cut the mustard anymore. Good! I’m certainly fed up of the static ballad-fests.

On the other side of the Atlantic, our US counterparts aren’t dealing so smoothly with changes at American Idol. They need to get their stuff together as the judges selection is turning into a bit of a circus. There’s a bit more time to deal with the mess as the programme is back on screens in January but the whole thing is farcical at the moment.

It has been said that this season’s Idol, it’s tenth, will ‘refocus on its talent’. Erm… so what on earth was it supposed to be focussing on before?

Simon Cowell has jumped ship, Ellen DeGeneres packed it in after a year, no one’s told Kara DioGuardi anything (as her Dad kindly informed everyone on US TV), and I’ve heard nothing about Randy Jackson who said that ‘the only sure thing for season 10 right now is Ryan Seacrest’. What’s up with that, dawg?!

Steven Tyler of Aerosmith fame and Jennifer Lopez were rumoured to have bagged the coveted panel slots but reports say that Diva La Lopez has apparently shot herself in the foot with a too-demanding attitude that’s gotten her the boot. Dear, oh dear. This may have cleared the way for Shania Twain, who was a good laugh during her guest judge stint on the show last season.

With falling ratings they’ve called in So You Think You Can Dance and Pop Idol god, Nigel Lythgoe, to help out behind the scenes and the judging panel debacle is hopefully going to be solved by mid-September. In the meantime, we’ll all ‘focus’ on last year’s winner… can you even remember who it was?

Anyhoo, thankfully the UK has got it sorted. May we bask in our weekend night-in glory, knowing that X Factor is ready to go. Make sure the takeaway is on speed dial and the drinks are chilled as you put your feet up and become the fourth or fifth (depending on what week it is) most knowledgeable music talent judge in the land and the weekly battle commences…

I forgot to mention, if you get bored of X Factor there’s Must Be the Music on Sky featuring Dizzee Rascal, Jamie Cullum and Sharleen Spiteri which is priding itself on being about ‘real music’ but I only have Freeview so that’s the end of that one for me 😦