Pop Shots - Turn Turn Turn

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 Lady Gaga and Perez Hilton turning on each other, to Kanye West turning down a gig where he’d get to judge others, to Motley Crue turning back the clock, and since it’s Pop Shots you know everything is seasoned with a little bit of attitude.

* MTV’s annual VMAs were last night at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, NY, and the biggest winners of the evening were the people who DVRed the festivities, so they could get through the two hour affair in around 45 minutes. The biggest losers were anyone trying to get anywhere in Brooklyn.

* Former pals Lady Gaga and Perez Hilton are now very publicly feuding on Twitter and on Perez’s gossip blog. I know Gaga is healed from her injury, and out of her wheelchair, but I still feel like Eric Cartman addresses this best...


* Katy Perry’s “Roar” took over the digital songs chart, selling 557,000 copies in its first week. The total is the sixth largest sales week ever for a digital song, and the third highest debut for a digital song. If Weird Al isn’t already hard at work on a parody titled “Snore” I will be very disappointed. (“You’re gonna hear me SNORE!”)

* An interesting side note, this past week UMGD (Universal Music Group Distribution) had nine of the top ten songs on the digital sales chart, with only Miley Cyrus’ “We Can’t Stop” not being under their umbrella. Anyone else remember when the internet was supposed to level the playing field?

* Kanye West reportedly turned down an opportunity to be the third judge on the next installment of American Idol. A source told Us Weekly, “He didn’t want to lose any street cred,” which apparently Kanye is gleefully unaware he has none of in the first place. Dr. Luke is currently first on the show’s wish list to sit in the third judge’s chair. Personally, I want him to take the gig, solely because that means there would be a possibility that Ke$ha could be brought in as a mentor. I can imagine her advice now, “Do you know what would improve your performance? MORE GLITTER!”


* Motley Crue are planning their farewell tour. Lead singer Vince Neil told Rolling Stone, “We'll do one more time around the world and kinda call it quits,” adding, “It's just that time. We're going out on top.” What a weird way to let the world know time travel exists. I say this because if Motley Crue is “going out on top,” they’re booking their tour in 1989.

* Brandy performed a post-game concert in South Africa at FNB Stadium as part of Nelson Mandela Sport and Culture Day. There was a slight snag in the proceedings, however, as no one seemed to tell anyone the concert was going to happen, leaving the singer to perform in front of 40 people in a 90,000 seat stadium. After singing two songs she joined the majority, and left the stadium. There’s a chance Brandy would have had a larger audience if she’d stayed sittin up in her room.

* Neko Case is using her upcoming album, The Worse Things Get, The Harder I Fight, The Harder I Fight, The More I Love You, due out Sept. 3rd, to team with the Best Friends Animal Society to help save shelter animals. Case and her label, Anti- Records, will donate $5 to Best Friends for every website that posts her new “Save Them All” public service announcement, and for every supporter who shares the video on social media. Here’s the clip (and $5 for Best Friends!), and don’t worry, I pre-screened it to make sure Sarah McLachlan doesn’t show up to completely bum everyone out.



* Most of the time, thug rappers are lying through their teeth about their exploits. Brooklyn’s Neno Best, however, apparently wasn’t, as the dumb as rocks artist snitched on himself through Instagram, posting photos of his weaponry, and large amounts of money, with braggadocios comments that he was selling weapons out of his Ocean Hill recording studio. This led to the biggest gun bust in NYC history, and the likely end of Neno Best’s rap career. In its investigation, NYPD reportedly seized 243 handguns, nine rifles, and two shotguns. Although it wasn’t in the police report, one can assume they also came across thousands of unsold mixtapes, and a thumb drive with a Kendrick Lamar response track.

* Country star Luke Bryan crashed the Billboard 200 albums chart with his latest effort, Crash My Party, which debuted at number one with nearly 528,000 copies sold. The total is the third largest sales week of the year, topped only by the debuts of Justin Timberlake’s The 20/20 Experience (968,000) and Jay Z’s Magna Carta Holy Grail (slightly more than 528,000). Jay Z is currently wondering how he can get on a remix to “Country Girl (Shake It For Me).”


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