Dr. Blackwell's BLOG

Britney Spears’ follow-up to “Hold Against Me” has leaked. Entitled, “Till the World Ends,” the song is VERY unique for Spears. With the increasing use of vocal synthesizers, it is apparent that the success of Ke$ha (named 2010 Artist of the Year by Billboard magazine) is having reverberating effects in pop music. Take a listen to the new single (while you can) below:

The Princess of Pop herself has released a new video for her single “Hold It Against Me” the first single off her upcoming (March 2011) album. The single was Spears’ 18th single to debut at #1. Only Madonna, with 25 #1 debut singles, tops Spears as the female artist with more debut #1 singles. Last week when Lady GaGa released “Born This Way” Britney was knocked out of the top spot. GaGa also crushed Spears record-selling digital downloads. “Hold It Against Me” was downloaded 411,000+ times when it released but “Born This Way” reached over 460,000 downloads in just 3 days! Watch the fun and poppy video for “Hold It Against Me” by following the URL below. Britney obviously had a lot of fun recording this one and she looks as HOTT as ever! If this song is any indication, her upcoming album should be great! Follow the Link to watch the video: Britney Spears’ “Hold It Against Me” Video Released

The internationally successful pop-synth duo Erasure headed to Vince Clark’s studio in Maine today to begin laying down tracks they’ve been working on for over 3 years! Erasure’s last album (2007’s Light at the End of the World) was a major success and was followed-up by an international tour that sold-out practically every city in which it played. The Light at the End of the World Tour played a sold-out Hard Rock Live in Orlando on July 8th 2007. Erasure has a few 2011 tour dates booked (including a March 25th performance in Miami as part of the Ultra Music Festival) but has already announced a world tour that will embark at the end of 2011 after the release of their album. Below, Erasure’s Vince Clark is pictured with one of the producers of the album Vincent Frank (of Frankmusik). You can follow Erasure’s progress in the Cabin Studio by accessing their Web Cam: http://www.vinceclarkemusic.com/studiocam/index.html.

Lady GaGa’s new single “Born This Way” released on Friday has already been downloaded more times on iTunes than any other single in history–in over 21 countries! But, if that wasn’t enough–the pop superstar won the Grammy Award on Sunday for Pop Album of the Year for The Fame Monster. Just minutes before, she gave an incredible live performance of the new single. Congratulations to Lady GaGa for her Grammy win! Take a look at her performance below:

  From TDR: Roxette’s perfomance this weekend on the German television program “Wetten, das…?” was a high-energy medley of “She’s Got the Look,” “It Must Have Been Love,” and the new single “She’s Got Nothing On (But the Radio).” The set designer had Roxette performing in an open tunnel lit mostly with blue spotlights. In the audience shots, several fans could be seen wearing “Charm School Girl” t-shirts, complete with graduation caps at the end. The host said “Welcome back!” to Roxette and presented Marie with a bouquet of sunflowers and yellow roses. Per said the show went “very, very well.” Take a look at their great performance below:

 After going over a decade without any new material, Sweden’s rock-pop duo Roxette are back! This week, the first single “She’s Got Nothing On (But the Radio)” from their upcoming album Charm School was released internationally. Take a listen to the track below. Charm School releases internationally from EMI Records on February 11th. No US release date has been announced. “She’s Got Nothing On (But the Radio)” will be available as an import single on Amazon.com on February 15th.

10 years ago, Roxette, the Swedish pop-rock sensation released Room Service, what many thought would be their last album ever. After launching a worldwide tour to promote the album and selling-out stadiums and arenas across the globe, leading lady Marie Fredriksson was diagnosed with a near-lethal brain tumor. She underwent months of chemotherapy, radiation treatments, and finally had to undergo open-cranial surgery to have the tumor excised. Roxette’s other member Per Gessle toured Europe for the next decade while Marie stayed largely out of the limelight.

Then, in 2007, Roxette released The Collection of Roxette Hits and recorded two new songs for the album. They also quietly began making plans to record a new album and made a few public appearances performing in such Swedish events as Night at the Proms. Well, after 10 years, Roxette has recorded a new album! Titled Charm School, the album will release on February 11th (US date yet to be announced) and consists of twelve songs in a style that’s best described as “updated classic Roxette”, from the initial power pop fireworks of “Way Out” to the bittersweet closer “Sitting On Top Of The World”. “Sitting On Top Of The World” is the first single and will release on January 10th.

Pet Shop Boys released a snippet of their forthcoming new song “Together” from their upcoming greatest hits album Ultimate (releases November 1st). Take a listen below:

Complete with some pretty cool lighting effects and some ripped-up background dancers, Kylie Minogue has released the video for the second single (“Get Outta My Way”) from her new album Aphrodite. Take a look below. And if you missed it, scroll down a little on the BLOGBOARD and see Kylie’s live performance of the song on last week’s America’s Got Talent. NOTE: The video has been disabled so you’ll need to click on the YouTube Link to see the video:

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHGaW8lBlSk

Kylie Minogue performed the second single “Get Outta My Way” from Aphrodite last night on America’s Got Talent. She gave a great performance and the surrounding guys and gals certainly aren’t hard on the eyes. Take a look: