[WGO] Mixtape Set on Random

• I'm not quite sure how, but Katy Perry's "California Gurls" has gained its sixth week at #1 on the Hot 100. So...there's that. It's also #1 at Top 40 radio, and Hot AC radio. Yes, Hot AC. It makes no sense to me either.
  
  
• Newbie Mike Posner's "Cooler Than Me" is making a surprising sneak attack up the Top 40 Radio mountainside to #4 (however, to be fair, it is just edging out Usher's "OMG"), but the real song to beat currently is Eminem's duet with Rihanna, "Love The Way You Lie." My guilty pleasure sweetheart Enrique Iglesias and "I Like It" land at #15. And, the boys in Maroon 5 are back with "Misery" at #23.
  
  Despite it still being summer, a lot of what's popular at pop radio seems to be old news. B.O.B's pair of hits (although they are goodies) "Airplanes" and "Nothin' On You", sit at #2 and #17 respectively. La Roux's ages old at this point "Bulletproof" is at #6. Gaga's "Alejandro" is #13 and Taio Cruz's "Break Your Heart" sits just behind her. Paramore's third single from Brand New Eyes, "The Only Exception", which seems to have been out for a few months already, continues its slow accent at #19. David Guetta's re-cut of "Gettin' Over You" with Fergie and LMFAO (glare at the re-dub -- I don't want to talk about it), already a #1 smash in the UK, is #20 stateside. Timbaland's "If We Ever Meet Again" seemed to gain new life thanks to its collab partner in Katy Perry, and resurfaces at #43.
  
  And still no sign of Christina Aguilera. Sigh.
  
  
• Miley Cyrus is certainly getting a lot of flack for her most recent album, Can't Be Tamed, chiefly because it isn't getting 'Hannah Montana'-style numbers. The lead single also plummeted to #42 (from #26) this past week at radio, losing over 1500 spins in a week. Guess we need to look for a new Teen Queen, eh America? (I joke -- the album is surprisingly good for ANY synth act. It's a bummer people here in the US are so stubborn and stodgey when it comes to change, no?)
  
  
• Quick question, what in the heck happened to Taylor Swift? Am I the only one who feels like she all but dissappeared overnight? Not to say it wasn't a well-deserved vacation...
  
  
• M.I.A.'s recently released new record, Maya (because I'm not typing all of them slashes and dashes, darn it), is now available and after an honest attempt at perusal, I must say that I miss her days of "taking [our] mun-eh" and asking where da "Boyz" at. I'm sure its because I'm just not smart enough to understand her atonal noise. I think.
  
  
• There is a new Amy Winehouse record on docket set for expected release in the next few months, and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't intrigued. Back to Black was an incredible record, and if we can expect anything close to that, I will be a happy camper.
  
  
• I've yet to post much about them here, but new Brit boy band The Wanted recently opened up for my girls in The Saturdays. They should do some kind of cheesy Euro-pop collabo that involves the words "Wanted" and "Saturday" in its lyrics. (I should be an A&R woman, yes I know.)
  
  
• Twitter has been a bit agog at the news spreading like wildfire that Ace of Base is reuniting. I should be clear when I say they are not reuniting -- their male half is with two brand new singers. It's a bit like ABBA reuniting except without Agnetha or Anni-Frid. It just not the same. Sorry.
  
  
• After setting my iTunes on random the other day, I launched into a mini Red Blooded Women marathon and began to wonder what was going on with my naughty lil' trio. Updates are sparse or completely barren on their MySpace and Twitter accounts, until I posed the question to the Twitterverse and got this response back from the girls themselves. In case you were also a curious kitty like moi.
  
  
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  Darin has a brand new single from his upcoming album. Its the uber dramatic midtempo "Love Killer", and it is predictably amazing and epic. Note to Rihanna, this is how you do heavy and pop at the same time. It's not quite as instantly, iconically adherable to the ears as his last album was, but it is still very very very good.