Music Blogs

Kings of Leon (Photo: Jon Kopaloff)First the country musicians sprang to the aid of tornado-devastated Oklahoma, and now it's the rockers' turn to lend a helping hand. Native Oklahomans Kings of Leon and the Flaming Lips are heading up a benefit that will also feature Jackson Browne, Built to Spill and special guests.

The concert will take place July 23 at Oklahoma City's Chesapeake Energy Arena. All proceeds will be earmarked for central Oklahoma community organizations and charities.

Is Mayer's new song about Swift? (Photo: Dimitrios Kambouris)You've got to hand it to John Mayer. He and his marketing team are friggin' geniuses. Rather than just release a lyric video with some groovy background designs for his new single, "Paper Doll," they've enlisted viral Internet sensation Joanna Rohrback, the woman behind the "Prancercise" fad, who does her thing to Mayer's new tune as the lyrics scroll.

If that wasn't enough of a pop culture convergence to make your head explode, get this: The song appears to be about Mayer's one-time girlfriend Taylor Swift, with the chorus, "You're like 22 girls in one / And none of them know what they're running from / Was it just too far to fall / For a little paper doll."

Photo: Brendon ThorneThe video for Chris Brown's new single, "Don't Think They Know," features an unlikely star – a hologram of late singer Aaliyah. The highly stylized clip shows Brown as a member in two different gangs –presumably the Bloods and the Crips – and dancing flanked by Aaliyah holograms.

Throughout the video for the mid-tempo jam, Brown rides around the streets of Los Angeles with his fellow "gang members," and at the end of the video he appears to bring both sides together and sings surrounded by school children.

The heavy-handed clip begins with the words: "Every two hours in America today a child dies of a gunshot wound." It then continues with a quote from Brown himself: "Unity is what we are afraid of so fear is insanity, lets love each other." The quote is attributed to "Not CB, just Christopher."

Did he or didn't he? That is the question. Lil Wayne took to Twitter early this morning to say that he didn't step on the American flag on purpose while shooting his latest video, "God Bless Amerika," but not everyone is buying it.

If you take a look at some of the lyrics to the song Weezy was performing, it only adds fuel to the fire. Wayne raps, "My country 'tis of thee / sweet land of kill 'em all and let 'em die / God bless Amerika / This so godless Amerika…the stars on the flag are never shining."

Will Adam Levine's prediction that Danielle will win come true?Monday night on "The Voice," on the final competitive episode of Season 4, Team Blake's country contenders Danielle Bradbery and the Swon Brothers faced off against Team Usher's quirky girl Michelle Chamuel. Each of the contestants did three songs: one new number, one reprise of a "defining moment" from earlier in the season, and one duet with his/her/their coach. And by the end of the night, it was looking like Blake Shelton was on his way to a third consecutive "Voice" victory, thanks to his golden child/chosen one, Danielle. Even Adam Levine predicted Danielle would win.

How exciting could one weekend be for music fans?

The world-famous “Bonnaroo” took place—an exciting pop festival in the tradition of Woodstock, only held many years later for those who missed it! It rained, there was mud, it cost money, it was streamed online!

Then lovable rap star Kanye West and his affable soulmate Kim Kardashian—who’s apparently quite popular!—unexpectedly gave birth to a baby girl! Who even knew she was pregnant?

Finally, affable rapper Jay-Z, long thought to be living in poverty in a Thai monastery, announced his new album would be available for free to all users of the Samsung Galaxy Smartphone! Who even knew they made smartphones?

As a result, everybody stopped talking about Kanye and his new baby!

Heck, I thought they were pals!

Empire Of The Sun: Ice On The Dune (Astralwerks) Every year there is typically one album that announces itself as maybe the year’s best purely because you simply can’t stop playing it! So it is with the latest from Australia’s Empire