Hi Readers...

If we still have any...

We are moving to http://unapologeticallypop.tumblr.com/.

This blog is changing. As you can probably tell, we update haphazardly because we're busy, we don't care, and/or we just want to watch the Real Housewives. We will not be doing the right thing. We will not try to build an online community as we used to. If you'd like to follow us, follow us. If you don't, well, we don't really check our Twitter, anyhow. If you're looking for a consistent read, look elsewhere. We just want a place to post what we want to post when we want to post it, whether it's an image or a ten page essay. We don't want to review your single that you made in your parents' basement yesterday, nor do we want to kiss any record executive's ass. I'm so over feeling guilty when I can't be bothered to care about a song you wrote on your guitar last week. I'm SO SO over PR firms and record companies happily sending us press releases or new material, only to go awol when we truthfully say WE DON'T LIKE IT. We'd rather just have fun and be honest. We don't want to be politically correct or worry about hurting artists' feelings by calling them out on their jerk-ish behavior. Most of the ones we write about are millionaires, anyway...they can go drown their bruised egos in a new Maserati. We don't blog to network our way up an industry ladder; our blog is a creative outlet. That is all.

Thanks for reading if you still do.

xo,

Barry/Gregory

'90s Sunday is just the way it is...

Today, I felt inspired to post the best song by my first DIVA-love (a.k.a. Celine). I always wondered why I adore this tune oh so much, and now I know...it was written and produced by the same team behind all of the Y2K-era Backstreet Boys / N'Sync / Britney hits. I can totally imagine Nick Carter belting this out. Though the video is SOOO turn-of-the-century, the song still qualifies as a '90s POPster, as it was released in November of '99. Ahhhhhhh, Celine, how I do love thee...

Unapologetically,

Barry Gregory

P.S. Enjoy the Golden Globes (& Downtown Abbey for all you Americans)!

The funny thing about twitter feuds is that they benefit absolutelyeveryone EXCEPT those of us who have to listen to them - until now?

Our lovely new year is being rung in by old tricks - that is, what Idolator aptly titled the Twitterpocalypse: an unnecessary internet feud between ever-so-bashful Azealia Banks & up-and-coming rapper Angel Haze.  But this time - steady yourselves - something productive has actually been done with all the hot air: a diss track! Wow!! Could it be that Azealia, Queen of the Twitter Feud (translation: Queen of 21st Century Music Promotion), has been one-upped???(???)??  Doubtful... Listen below:



Well, that was certainly something, wasn't it? This is no sophomore effort, kids... we shall see.  Either way, sit back, relax, pop some popcorn & enjoy the publicity circus being drummed up just in time for Azealia & Angel's debut albums.  Hey, at least we get a good song out of it... But we highly doubt that Diplo & Paul Epworth will care much since, um, they're both working with them (suspicious much?)

Azealia & Angel are probably high-fiving backstage right now. The collab's still on, right?

Unapologetically,

Minna

BG's POP 2012 in Review

Fave POP Albums of 2012

1) Ellie Goulding - Halcyon - Ellie Goulding exceeded my expectations. I listened to this album for 20 days straight non-stop. It's mournful. It's alternative. It's POP. All of that makes it the most exciting record we've heard all year. Check out our review: http://unapologeticallypop.blogspot.com/2012/10/ethereal-ellies-halcyon.html

2) Regina Spektor - What We Saw from the Cheap Seats - Yes, Regina's orally created faux drum beats are incredibly annoying, and it's true, she's not one for album to album reinvention. However, we can always rely on her for a beautifully composed piano ballad. In an era of constant change, Regina makes music we can hold onto.

3) Lana Del Rey - Born to Die - The Paradise Edition - Though she's hypersexualized, Lana/Lizzie's music is pretty fresh, so much so that mainstream American radio DJs won't play her tracks. The mix of classical music with hip hop beats hits the spot. The Paradise edition really satisfied with great production by Rick Nowels on American, Pussy Cola (see what we were saying about the oversexing? I'm sure Lana's pussy tastes delicious, but I'm allergic to cats), & Body Electric. Marina, you got the short end of the Rick Nowels production stick. Compared to his work for Lana, Nowel's material on Electra Heart sounds like a drunken night on Garage Band. I think we can guess who makes him more moolah...

Most Disappointing POP Album of 2012

1) Rihanna - Unapologetic - No, I don't find this album disappointing because she's back with Chris Brown. In fact, one of my favorite tracks is Nobody's Bitness, their collab which samples Michael Jackson's The Way You Make Me Feel. This album simply sucks. I expected something that would top #TalkThatTalk's We Found Love. I was told we would get more collaborations with Calvin Harris and his protege, Burns, and so I expected some glorious four to the floor anthems a la Robyn. Instead, we got Diamonds, in which Rihanna intentionally mispronounces diamond in the last verse without the "M" so as to sound more ghetto-fabulous. STOP. It didn't work for JLo, and it won't work for you. The filler dance tracks with David Guetta aren't even songs. They're just sythns sequenced together into danceable nothings. Yuck. Fortunately, the album does have one saving grace: Stay, the gorgeous piano ballad composed by frequent Lana Del Rey collaborator Justin Parker. I could listen to it forever and be happy.

Unapologetically (it was our blog title first, RIRI!!!!),

Barry Gregory