Pop Shots - Bad Taste

Welcome to your weekly dose of pop world musings. Covering all things pop culture, this week Pop Shots is hitting you with thoughts on everything from Lana Del Rey’s awful SNL performance (which, like an exceptionally bad meal, took me an extra week to fully digest), to Madonna’s questionable comments about Lady Gaga, to an album no one wants to hear, and since it’s Pop Shots you know everything is seasoned with a little bit of attitude.

* Lana Del Rey, an artist I felt was terrible the first time I heard her, developed a huge buzz in the hipster community and on the internet (which are pretty much one and the same), so Saturday Night Live gave her a shot. Bad idea jeans. Del Rey sounded like she should have been singing outside of a Del Taco... or perhaps working at one. With an SNL performance that awful her next move should involve marrying Pete Wentz.

* In recent interviews Madonna has come off a little cold when it comes to her feelings towards her current successor, Lady Gaga. Everyone heard the similarities between Gaga’s “Born This Way” and Madonna’s “Express Yourself,” and when asked about her feelings toward Gaga’s hit Madonna called it “reductive.” She also used the words “interesting” and “amusing.” Personally, I see this as concrete evidence that Gaga ISN’T copying Madonna, because no one’s ever called the material girl “amusing,” or “interesting.”

* Adele’s 21 has scored its 16th week at #1 on the Billboard albums chart, a feat only four other albums have done in the past two decades. Those albums, however, aren’t exactly elite company. Yes, there is the soundtrack to The Bodyguard, and Garth Brooks’ Ropin’ The Wind, but there’s also the soundtrack to Titanic, and Billy Ray Cyrus’ Some Gave All. So, congrats?

* Taylor Swift, America’s perfect little sister, says her new album will be about an “absolute crash and burn heartbreak,” leading speculators to wonder if the content will revolve around her 2010 short lived crush on Jake Gyllenhaal. One thing’s for sure, at the rate Swift writes about her ex-boyfriends she’s radically thinning her dating pool with each album she releases. Maybe it’s time to tell some other stories, Taylor. I don’t want your next single to start with “he was a little older & had a windowless van.”

* LL Cool J will be hosting the Grammy Awards this year. It will be the first time in seven years the Grammys will have a host, and, as much as I love LL, it’s the first time in seven years LL will have done anything relevant in music. Wait, did I just call the Grammys relevant? Apologies. I won’t let that happen again.

* A judge has dismissed Bruno Mars’ cocaine possession charge now that the singer has completed his court-ordered drug education classes and community service. Drug education classes? He already knows how to buy it, and use it, so hopefully the classes taught him how to not break it out in Vegas nightclub bathrooms.

* The feds really thought they did something big when they shut down the file sharing site megaupload.com this past week. Apparently the case against megaupload had been ongoing for two years. Hilariously, fifteen minutes after the news broke of the site’s demise (note, that’s a lot less than two years) the group Anonymous hacked the Department of Justice’s website. Here’s a golden rule to live by - do not piss off the internet!

* Tweet of the Week: @JensenClan88 Can Mark Wahlberg stop THIS? RT @ParisHilton In the studio working on new music...

* In very sad news, Blake Shelton suffered the loss of his father this past week and the normally jovial Shelton, whose Twitter feed is filled with jokes, took a turn for the serious as he thanked all those who have been supporting him. Pop Shots is one of those supporters. In fact, here’s his latest, “Drink On It” (this is just the official audio, the real video isn’t out yet).


And with that, my time is up for the week, but I'll be back next week with more shots on all things pop.