Rapper releasing Obama win song

The star has recorded with Michael Jackson and Justin Timberlake

Rap star Will.i.am is releasing a new song and video to mark Barack Obama's win in the US presidential election.

The musician spent election night editing the final version of It's A New Day, which is set to make its internet debut on Wednesday.

The Black Eyed Peas singer said the song was a tribute to the American people and their part in events.

Will.i.am scored a viral hit with Yes We Can earlier this year, in support of Obama's White House bid.

Testimonials

It set an Obama speech to the rapper's music and racked up millions of hits in February.

The song also featured vocal contributions from stars including actress Scarlett Johansson, jazz legend Herbie Hancock and Pussycat Dolls frontwoman Nicole Scherzinger.

The new song and video is due to debut on the Dipdive website.

Will.i.am also asked for celebrity video contributions for the project.

He said: "The whole thing is really for people to leave testimonials... to create a page and leave testimonials on how they feel about this American accomplishment."

The musician, who scored a top ten hit with Girls Aloud star Cheryl Cole in April, spent part of election night in Chicago, where Obama delivered his victory address.

Source: BBC NEWS

May Recommends

There has been so much music that I have been listening to recently, new and old, and yes, I hear you cry, shouldn't I have been revising, yes the answer is, I should have been revising but you never know what gems you can find when you shouldn't be!!! Now, first things, first, if any teachers have just read that, sorry, I am sure you understand this time is stressful and so looking at music is just a way to procrastinate and prolong the process!!!

Anyway, music, that is why we are here :D

What a lot to get through, well seen as the sun has been around for the past week, I know, the rain has come back, but there seems to be some good music to wash about the rainy blues and welcome the sun back... First on my list, I have found that over the past month, I have started to like artists and songs that I did not before and did not want to... and here is the first,

1. Madonna ft. Justin Timberlake- 4 Minutes
Despite my prolonging ambivalence towards this generic, Timberlake powered anthem, I was wondering when Madonna would get back on the music horse and realise that although sex sells, although Justin Timberlake sells, although having a good base accompanied by a rap sells, I would rather stand up for the traditional Madonna and hope that this would not sell! After the revelation that we would have at least another year of the reinvented Madonna with the release of 'Hard Candy', and that it would follow with the same old, boring, chart topping hits (as I am sure, by this point, you can guess I would prefer not to follow the trends!), after being fully informed that at the high point of Madonna's career, she was the trend setter, not follower and although, she may never have got back to the heights of 'Papa Don't Preach' and 'Like a Prayer' but even with her 'Confessions of the Dancefloor' she was trying to break into a genre that mainstream pop was being slightly weary off, despite the negative success of her previous outing (whereas, myself really enjoyed the new style), knew like every other Madonna fan, that this was not going to last to long and we would be expecting a new flavour of the Madonna collective.
And to that end, 'Hard Candy' was released, due to mixed reviews and 30 second previews on iTunes, I will probably keep as far as possible from the new sound, the RnB inspired, 'let me use every big star at the moment', top the charts, pay the bills, ignore every old lesson inspired album. Even with the likes of 'American Life' in the back of her wardrobe, lurking like the years she would rather not speak about (personally, an underrated album with great songs) and yet she would rather find what the mainstream enjoy, you would think that Madonna, could afford to keep fans happy instead of making new ones.

With names like Kanye West, Justin Timberlake and Timberland, all producing, rapping, singing, doing what they do, taking part in the collective that is 'Hard Candy', it seems to be that it's just a random collection of B-Sides. If looks could kill, then I am sure most the music-buying world would be having a fit after taking a look at the cover! At the age of 49, she is not a bad looking woman but whoever decided that to have the neon pink cover with the star wearing what she is, was definitely blind... or having a joke!

Back to the song, I was so adamant not to listen to '4 Mins' that when I actually happened to listen to it, last week, after the storm of chart rising had been and gone, I figured that this song was not too bad and since then it has not left my iTunes top played. Unfortunately for me, only a few people at school like this song and if I play it, well you would rather not hear what people say but put it this way, Madonna's latest is a lateral based symphony, a mix for the mainstream ages where the little known can only get so far without the fanship of the biggest stars. With the like of Kanye and Justin joining Madonna, it is obvious why the smaller stars can't have any airtime, all the biggest stars get their songs played and then the next song, same singers, different collaboration.

'4 Mins' starts with Timberland’s 'singing', what's the point to be honest, as a producer, I applaud but to find him appearing, it disturbs me... (OneRepublic blooper!), anyway, moving on, Madonna starts with a moving beat, Justin joins and together they produce a song of stages... despite the pointless lyrics and the tick tock dance, this song goes against the trend and in fact, get's the thumb up from me.

2. Robyn- Who's That Girl
I have not a bad thing to say about Robyn, the Swedish star who shows that despite her poor pop past, the dance industry is a whole new ball game. The new single to join the past three, finds a new level of self wonderment, does Robyn realise that in English, her lyrics are meaningful and actually show the hidden things that people are always thinking, does she believe in what she sings, by the sounds of the passion, one would think so.

3. Skunk Anansie- Hedonism & Weak
For those of us, still living in the 90's, most of us would remember Skunk, as a multicultural band of many means. Their songs cover a variety of topics and after listening to one, you wonder where you were before you first heard it. Hedonism, attacks the materialistic world, our world, the one that you live in, because you are reading this on a blog and the one I am living in... how else would I be writing this? But apart from, Skin's replenishing voice and the rhythmic beats, one can't quite understand how they would end. Weak, follows the same generic similarity but when watching the video, how come someone get away with this? Does the art of the music video have to entertain, provide a medium for the song or does it have to construct something much more- Weak does just this!

4. Alphabeat- 10,000 Nights of Thunder
When someone listens to this and enjoys it, pop music is firmly back in the place that it should be, at the top of the charts! Thinking back to the days when listening to S Club was socially acceptable or wondering when the next Steps single would be out, shows that pop music was the prime example of the 90's and despite what critics say, everyone loved it!

Well, Alphabeat, bring the old beat back in a new style, from Denmark, they have already made a mark in the UK chart with 'Fascination' (seen ages ago on this blog!), being in the charts for almost ten weeks and not leaving the top 20, one must realise that pop music is starting to make it's mark... (Britney Spears, Blackout, not as bad as I would have thought!) But here we have the cheesy, happy go lucky fun that we all craved! After music becoming too serious for a while, it seems that we need music this is just going to make you smile and love it or hate it, you will want to dance!
'10,000 Nights' is just another song to add to the profile and what a great single, this was the deciding factor as to pre ordering the album!

5. Sigur Ros- Hoppipolla
What's not to love about this song? Simple and great, powerful and beautiful, balanced and perfect, Ros finds that perfection is easy and music comes naturally and brilliantly... Simple as, listen, relax and fall into a new world!

6. (Here's a bonus!) Maroon 5 & Rihanna- If I Never See Your Face Again
A remix of a great song from M5's latest, see's the addition of synths but the similar formula that made them great. America's biggest success story of last year, Rihanna, keeps churning out the hits and with the release of her new single, 'Take a Bow', she does not rest and why not release a duet of an old song with an award winning band in a totally different genre!

The result, the same we know from M5, nothing life changing but nice to see Rihanna adding to her long list of things she has done... she looks great in the video and is a great asset to what could have been, just another M5 release.

Ollie///Beauty is music for this month

Hey! Here are my top five tunes for this month... more writing come soon...

1. Remy Zero- Save Me
Having been sitting through the WGA strike over the past couple months I have been introduced to some television shows that I have not watched before, new and old... One of those has been Smallville, the story of Superman as a teenager, starring Tom Welling. Anyway, this is the theme tune and after watching one episode, I was straight onto iTunes! I can't really point my finger on what they sound like because they sound different to most other generic sounds and after the calm introduction to the rockier ending, the song takes you through the motions with some great lyrics.

2. MGMT- Kids
After being lent their album on recommendation and already loving the single, "Time to Pretend" MGMT have spent some time getting to the top and although they are not everyone's taste, their tunes are consistently catchy and memorable. Kids, one of the songs on the album, Oracular Spectacular, happens to my favourite. Starting with the layered rhythms all the way till the end this shows some real talent. " Picking insects off of plants, No time to think of consequences" Some really meaningful lyrics and certainly a highlight from the album, look forward to hear more from them in the future.

3. Justin Timberlake- What Comes Around/ Goes Around (Interlude)
The 7 1/2 minute version of this song from the album, FutureSex/LoveSounds, has put the faith back into this guy for me. I am the first to say that of recent, the music from Timberlake sounds like a sell out, his first album, Justified had a variety of stuff and sounded really good but on the sophomore release, I was not surprised to hear the constant reminder of the bland music that people like these days... But this song, has certainly surprised me, almost a sequel to single, 'Cry Me A River', this song is accompanied by a great video starring Scarlett Johansson and contains lots of twists and turns along the way. I particularly like the album version with the added two minutes including Timberland's extra... The story behind the story is also great, but I'll let you get that.

4. Thomas Newman- Six Feet Under Theme Tune
I know officially not a song but all the same, a great piece of music showing some amazing talent. Another of the shows I started watching, Six Feet Under, about the dysfunction American family who own the funeral home had this amazing theme tune. With the added bonus watching the beautiful video with it... This is a real gem, when the bass comes in you feel really relaxed and I could listen to this 1 1/2min tune for such a long time.

5. The Devlins- The World Outside
I heard this song on an HBO advert advertising various shows from years ago (thanks to YouTube). This rock song starts with the beautiful piano part and then the guitars come in followed by the drums and then lead singer, Colin Devlin adds to the mix, this Irish quartet show that sometimes Indie music can really be touching as they don't just stick to the mediocre conventions attached to this music. Seen with REM a while ago- certainly a song to listen to.

Don't worry, I will be back with some stuff for you to read soon, revision has been mental recently- exams are too close, but I will be back!