Texas darling Kelly Clarkson turns up the heat on the Cowboys’ new anthem, “Get Up.” Pepsi approached the ‘Idol’ champ about recording the song, and she was so excited that she penned the catchy tune the same night. She poses with DeMarco Murray for the promo photos. Read More
Elle Varner played at New York City’s Highline Ballroom to celebrate the release of her debut album, Perfectly Imperfect. She performed singles from the album, including “Refill” and “I Don’t Care,” along with a cover of Brandy’s debut single, “I Wanna Be Down.” Read More
Melanie Fiona covered Alanis Morissette’s classic song, “Ironic,” as part of Billboard’s Candid Covers. The soulful songbird says the not-so-ironic song helped her pay attention to the art of storytelling.
“[It] is just a great song (‘Ironic’) that just really cut through in pop culture when I was a kid,” Fiona said. ”No matter what type of music you listened to, no matter where you grew up, you know that song.”
She also performed her latest single, “Wrong Side of a Love Song” and participated in a short Q&A. Read More
Emeli Sandé currently serves as the opening act on Coldplay’s North American “Mylo Xyloto” tour. What better way to show appreciation to the world-renowned band than by covering one of their hits? Emeli does just that for VEVO’s “1 Mic 1 Take” series.
The “My Kind of Love” soulstress stripped the British band’s “Every Teardrop Is a Waterfall” for an exquisite acoustic rendition. She also performed “Abide With Me,” which was penned by fellow Scottish writer Henry Francis Lyte, as part of the series. Read More
Brooke Valentine held a release party in support of her latest single, “Don’t Wanna Be In Love” at RnB Live in Studio City, CA (July 18). She played a 20-minute set featuring old, (“As Long As You Come Home”) and new (“Rub It In”) material. Though she didn’t perform her signature song, “Girlfright,” she covered Lauryn Hill’s “Ex-Factor,” and did fairly well. Read More
Usher’s “Climax” is brilliant for a few reasons: one being the actually meaning behind the proactive title; another being the subtle sensitivity of the delivery.
Jessie J didn’t keep the latter in mind when covering the hit single at the Barclaycard Wireless Festival in London. She allowed her commanding vocals and bothersome vibrato to strip the song of its simplicity.
The “Nobody’s Perfect” singer added an impromptu jam session in her set, which compensated for the lackluster “Climax” cover. Read More
Joss Stone reiterates the Chi-Lites’ soulful PSA, “(For God’s Sake) Give More Power To The People.” It’s one of many covers from her upcoming album The Soul Sessions Vol. 2, due out July 31 via Stone’d/S-Curve Records. Read More
Usher channeled his inner rock star while covering Foster the People’s “Pumped Up Kicks” as part of his Live Lounge session on BBC Radio 1. The “Climax” singer released his seventh album, Looking 4 Myself, this week, and it’s expected to debut at No. 1 with sales of 120-130K. Read More