EUROPEAN CHARTS

AUSTRIA, CZECH REPUBLIC, SWITZERLAND AND NORWAY

"Do you know what Tacatá is?" That is the first verse of "Tacatá", a song by Italian duo Tacabro, featuring Cuban singer Martínez Rodríguez. The result, which became a smash hits in several countries, is a eletro-tribal-dance sound, something quite pitbull-anian. "Tacatá" is on the top of Switzerland, besides being among the 10+ in Czech Republic and Austria.

Speaking of Áustria, it is the Swedish singer Loreen that holds the first position there with "Euphoria", an euro dance ballad that is also on the top of Norway and is among the favorites in Czech Republic too. 

 

Charts in Czech Republic is full of international artists with few exceptions like the duet  "Ležím v tvé blizkosti", by rapper Lipoand the female singer Debbi. Lipo sings his rapin Czech  and Debbi sings the chorus in English. It resembles "Airplanes", duet by BOB with Hayley Williams. Among others, the TOP 10 has names like the aforementioned Tacabro, Pitbull, Flo Rida e Gotye. The first position lays on Carly Rae Jepsen with the worldwide hit "Call me Maybe".

"Kde Si" by Elán is another highlight in Czech Republic, where it holds the 13º position. It is a lovely ballad a la Simon & Garfunkel.

The Swiss chart, besides having brazilian singer Gustavo Lima on number 2 with his ever lasting "Balada", presents the comeback of German punk rock band Die Toten Hosen with the beautiful "Tage Wie Diese" something like "We are Young", by Fun. Still, on 20º there is the group Müslüm with "Süpervitamin", a reggae-hip hop beat with a very funny video. Think of Sacha Baron Cohen in Bruno.

In Norway, apart th internation domain, the TOP 10 counts with the eletro dance  "E Vil Bara Dans" by Norwegian group Sirkus Eliassen Og Ben Kinx. On 10º, there is Swedish female singer Alina Devecerski with "Flytta Pa Dig". Justin Bieber has 3 song among the TOP 20, and Brazilian Michel Teló keeps a strong audience, holding the 11º position.

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FROM LANA, TO JACKIE, WITH ELEGANCE

After broadcasting a trailler of her new video yesterday, american singer Lana Del Rey released today the full video of "National Anthem", featuring rapper A$ap Rocky, an open admirer of her. The music video is a trip into Kennedy era, and also an invitation for Lana Del Rey's young fans into a History class. Just like she does in her music, Lana works once more with a revival of the last century, of which she has not known too much, but seems willing to get in touch with it more and more.

What connects Lana Del Rey to Jacqueline Onassi? Besides the classic elegance, Lana performs the role of the most charismatic American first lady in her new music video, "National Anthem", released today by the singer. John Kennedy's role was in charge of rapper A$ap Rocky. It is a kind of a short film with around 8 minutes, filled with intimate moments of Kennedy and Jackie, performed passionately by Rocky and Lana. The video carries tha amateur tone that Lana's music videos usually have; though, it has a gorgeous black and white photography and a careful art direction. The first minute is the video's highlight, with Lana Del Rey, sensual and classy as ever, singing "Happy Birthday" for Kennedy, who stares at her with pure passion and desire. The nostalgic atmosphere gets a modern look with the choice for a black rapper to incorporate John Kennedy, who was white. Maybe a reference to Obama. Maybe just a joke? Lana doesn't look like the sort of girl who jokes while working. In fact, she seems to know exactly the image she wants to show in public, that is, a sexy XXI century young woman who did not lose the XX century elegance and classic beauty. Watch the video below. Draw your own conclusions.
 de uma jovem sexy do século XXI que não perdeu a elegância e a classe do século XX. Veja o vídeo abaixo. Tirem suas próprias conclusões.

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LET'S GO TO THE BEACH WITH NICKI MINAJ

Suddenly at a beach there it comes a black woman with a massive hot body in a tiny bikini and a blond wig. She shakes her body like crazy and sings things like "bad bitches like me it's hard to come by". That is the video of "Starships" and that woman is Nicki Minaj - singer, songwriter, rapper, and so much more. A girl that likes to party with absolute no sign of shyness. The good thing is that, for her, party doesn't mean sex scandals. Party means just party!

Onika Tanya Maraj, now known simply by Nicki Minaj, was born in Trinidad and Tobago, 1982, moving to New York at the age of 5. During her childhood, Nicki showed that she was an artist - she used to sing, to play the clarinet, and to perform as an actress. It seems that since then, she learned a lot of new stuff and put everything together in her music, which is funny, saucy, eclectic, and so much more. Nicki has already recorded with a bunch of people like David Guetta, Rihanna, Chris Brown, Britney Spears, and Eminem. Nothing bad for whom is in the beginning. Musically, Nicki explores a wide variety of styles from hip hop to euro dance, passing by dance-pop, r&b and disco. Visually, she is a comic mixture of Beyonce, Katy Perry and Lady Gaga, with a tip of brazilian carnival women. But besides this crazy recipe with so many ingredients, there is something that makes Nicki quite more interesting than celebrities like Lady Gaga: differently from Gaga, Nicki doesn't have a heavy sexual approach. Her lack of clothes and her absolute colourful and extravagant costumes are intended to cause a visual impact rather than sexual polemics. And her looks go with her music, that is also colourful, full of surprises. Nicki's last record was Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded, released last April. With 19 songs, it is even richer and more ecletic than Pink Friday, her debut album, released in 2010. Roman Reloaded has already spawned smash hits like the hip hop "Beez in the Trap" and the delicious eletro-dance-pop "Starships", probably her greatest hit yet. Definetely, she is something that is worth checking out, even because it is impossible for Nicki Minaj to go blank with a body like that, a voice like that, and looks like that. Check below "Starships".

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MDNA TOUR: BOOBS, ASS, AND LADY GAGA

Madonna always liked being polemic, that’s not a secret. Among ups and downs in her new tour, polemic wouldn’t be left out, that’s a fact. On the first chapters of the novel entitled MDNA TOUR, Madonna has already accused Lady Gaga of plagiarism (again), showed a boob (again), kissed a female dancer (again), abused of religious issues (again) and caused some embarrassment in the Middle East. And if we are talking about Madonna, that’s for sure just the beginning. It’s a pity that there is nothing new among all that. Madonna has become repetitive. And that’s a pity…again.

Madonna started her MDNA TOUR LAST May 31, in Israel. And strategic countries were chosen to continue her new odyssey, places in which sex and religion are still themes strongly delicate. And it worked beautifully. If she wanted polemic – doubts? – her mission was accomplished successfully. Madonna shocked the public in the Arab Emirates with religious messages, and, also, she kissed a female dancer. In Turkey, Madonna showed a boob while she sang “Human Nature” and in Italy she showed her ass. Not yet satisfied, Madonna is also pointing Lady Gaga as her copy once more. In a certain moment of the show, Madonna sings “Express Yourself” followed by Gaga’s “Born this way”, finishing with “She’s not me”. Lady Gaga already showed that she didn’t like it. That is, Madonna got what she wanted – reactions, good or bad, whatever. But causing polemic with religious and sex and Lady Gaga is something made by her several times before. Madonna is living over her past as she notices that maybe she doesn’t have something new to offer other than polemics. But in the past this type of attitude put Maddona as a revolutionary woman, now a days such acts sound more like a woman who doesn’t know to anything other than that, other than causing polemics of whatever type, in a desperate act to be alive. And, except for such controversial moments, there is not too much to expect from this Tour. Madonna simply amplified her SuperBowl Show – the essence of the MDNA TOUR was already there. And what was good and exciting in 11 minutes got boring and repetitive in 2 hours that didn’t bring great surprises, in which Madonna didn’t show anything really new, apart all the visual structure, which is quite impacting, either the scenarios or the costumes, everything impeccable. Talking about music – remember, she is a singer – Madonna fails in several aspects. Her voice didn’t sound any good, even with a playback helping; her body didn’t respond to dance as it did before – moments in which she dances like in other previous tours are rare; and the set list counts with just few hits that cause people to jump and get excited. In a nutshell, watching Madonna’s MDNA TOUR is like watching a very good action movie, with scenes visually amazing, with a script, though, with no further meanings.

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ADELE, BY DION

It is becoming pretty common artists covering other artists during their shows . And nice and curious versions come up from such moments just like last Saturday, when Celine Dion sang Adele’s “Rolling in the Deep”, in Las Vegas. “Adele is amazing”, said Celine before showing that she is confident enough to risk whatever it is in her voice. Full of breath, Celine put on quite an intense version of Adele’s hit. Interesting would be a duet between them – the encounter of Sex and the City and Desperate Housewives. Maybe one day. Who knows? As Butthead used to say, “That would be cool!”

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A SAD FAREWELL TO MRS. MCCLUSKEY…IN REAL LIFE!

Here a case in which art imitated life and life imitated art. Those who watched Desperate Housewives until the end saw in the last episode the death of the sweet-annoying-intriguing Karen McCluskey because of a cancer. In fact, her interpreter Kathryn Joosten, 72, was also struggling against a cancer, lung cancer, and passed away last Saturday, around two weeks after the end of the series. Marc Cherry, Desperate Housewives’ creator, may follow his way with a feeling that he made his part.  – Mrs. McCluskey was strongly honored in the final series’ episodes. And the fictional tears are now real tears. Kathryn Joosten began her career as an actress in the end of the 80s, after working as a nurse during many years. Among several performances, Joosten got famous not only for her work in Desperate Housewives, but also because of the character Dolores Landingham in the NBC series The West Wing, broadcast in between 1999 and 2006. Joosten was a long time smoker and was fighting against cancer since 2001. Here it is the end of the fight. Peace be waiting for her wherever she is.  

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LADY GAGA’S BORN THIS WAY: ONE YEAR LATER

On March 23, 2011, Born This Way was released. Lady Gaga said it would be one of the best records of the decade, pointing that she had given her best to produce the album. In fact, it was a great commercial bomb, selling more than a million copies in its first week in the United States, and being one of the best selling albums of the year 2011. But, was it really what Gaga said it would be, that is, the greatest album of her career?

Born This Way was heavily anticipated by a huge success of its homonymous first single, which spent five weeks atop Billboard Hot 100. With pro gay lyrics that incorporate religious references, Gaga created a brand new gay anthem. It was enough to promote the album and make it one of the best selling albums of 2011, with more than 8 million copies sold around the globe. But, although being quite a commercial success, Born This Way failed to be what Gaga called one of the best records of the decade. In fact, the album doesn’t do justice to Gaga’s previous records – The Fame and The Fame Monster – which were both innovative, rich and intense. Apart its five singles, all of which reached the top 10 in several countries, Born This Way doesn’t have any other really relevant moment. The songs are in general repetitive, with very similar and obvious beatings and lyrics. “Bloody Mary” brings verses that seem to exist only to create easy religious controversies, while “Americano” and “Judas” are desperate copies of “Alejandro” and “Bad Romance”, respectively. Lady Gaga was a victim of its own marketing. Expectations around Born This Way were extremely high, and they were not well satisfied upon its release. Lady Gaga was a victim of its own marketing. Something to learn and not to repeat on next releases.

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