Pop Shots – Love is a Battlefield

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 Taylor Swift’s heart-y weekend, to Paramore feeling the love from an unlikely source, to Usher falling out of love, and since this is Pop Shots you know everything is seasoned with a little bit of attitude.

* Taylor Swift premiered the video for her latest single, “Delicate,” at last night’s iHeart Radio Music Awards. So for her they were more like the iHeart Easy Promo Awards.

* Elton John heaped heavy praise on Paramore’s latest album, After Laughter, calling it, “Probably one of the most underrated albums of last year.” Upon hearing this, Paramore frontwoman Hayley Williams invited the legendary artist to see the band live. Until this exchange I didn’t realize it, but I need to see Elton John crowd surf to “Misery Business.”

* Last week, Meghan Trainor released a new single titled “No Excuses,” and announced she’s collaborated with the fitness/dance company Zumba to create an official choreography video for the song. This is not the Dance Dance Revolution we asked for, but perhaps it’s the Dance Dance Revolution we deserve.


* Rihanna is reportedly looking to launch her own lingerie collection. I am reportedly interested in seeing the photoshoot.

* In a curious move, the Backstreet Boys' AJ McLean joined the Country Music Association in Nashville. Who knew AJ’s backstreets have been dirt roads all along?

* Speaking of the country music world, for the past 20 years Dolly Parton’s nonprofit, Imagination Library, has been donating books to families in need on a monthly basis. On February 27th she reached an impressive milestone, donating her 100 millionth book. If her donations are anything like the donations for my local library’s book sale, a lot of those 100 million have been returned copies of Fifty Shades of Grey.


* Journey’s Greatest Hits has become just the third album to spend 500 weeks on the Billboard 200 chart, joining Bob Marley and The Wailers’ Legend: The Best Of Bob Marley and The Wailers (510 weeks), and Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side of the Moon (937). In other words, people have, quite literally, not stopped believing.

* Demi Lovato is engaging in a war of words with blogger Perez Hilton. Although she technically hasn’t named him in her tweets, she wrote about enjoying being able to sing “Sorry Not Sorry” at “one of USA’s most notorious bullies,” adding she refused to name the bully “because he doesn’t deserve the relevance that he doesn’t have anymore.” The general feeling is all this stems from Hilton writing a mixed review of a recent concert of Demi’s. Hilton, who has become much more subdued over the years, responded by writing, “Demi Lovato thinks I'm irrelevant and wants to give me a little relevance by tweeting about me … Sorry I'm not sorry I said nothing but nice things about her …” That’s right folks, we live in a world where Perez Hilton is taking the high road. Yes, I’m just as confused as you are.

* Usher and his wife Grace Miguel announced their separation after two years of marriage. This will be the second divorce for Usher, which means he’s only one away from becoming the Ross Geller of R&B.


* In sad news, Tower Records founder Russ Solomon passed away at the age of 92. All of our album collections owe a debt of gratitude to him.

* As some of you may know, The Summer Set were one of my favorite bands. Sadly, they split up in 2017. The good news, however, is that lead singer, and songwriter, Brian Logan Dales has embarked on a solo project, titled DALES, and he’s kept the ‘80s pop-rock vibe The Summer Set were embracing on their final album. His new single, “Chateau,” is a perfect example of this.


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