WIN A COPY OF SHAKIRA'S NEW ALBUM "THE SUN COMES OUT"

Sales don't lie.  With 60 million albums sold worldwide, Shakira undisputedly is one of the greatest female artists of our time.  Her new bilingual album The Sun Comes Out just hit stores this Tuesday and Critics already are hailing it a return to basics, with equal nods to Rock 'n' Roll and her Columbian roots.  

Debut single Loca just debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 Charts in Canada and the U.S. and if history should repeat itself, expect it to perform big.

But this isn't where it stops.  Mr. Will-W.:Pop Maven and Sony Music Canada are giving Canadian readers an opportunity to win one of two copies of The Sun Comes Out!  To qualify, leave a comment with the name of the rapper featured on Loca.  Winners will be announced Monday, November 1, 2010 midnight.  One entry per reader please.  Good luck, Mavenati!

VIDEO: SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE "WE ARE THE WORLD 3" PARODY (MUST WATCH!)

Occasionally our friends at NBC's Saturday Night Live nail it and when they nail it, they nail it good. Watch their hilarious spoof We are the World 3, to raise awareness for the disastrous charity single We are the World 2010 for Haiti featuring Rihanna (Jennifer Lopez), Eddie Vedder, Adam Lambert, Shakira, Lady Gaga and Gwen Stefani (Kristen Wiig)!

What do you think - cruel or funny?

NEW MUSIC: SHAKIRA - GYPSPY (FREEMASONS RADIO MIX)

I'm not sure who's idea it was to not release Shakira's excellent She Wolf album worldwide simultaneously,  but I'm certain the people upstairs at Sony Music are kicking themselves right now.  Or maybe not considering this will be her last album anyway under the Epic imprint before transitioning to newly launched Live Nation.  I really, really had high expectations for that album but alas, it's been buried under the rubble after showing so much promise with its first single.  The songs were there definitely and Shakira is more than capable of delivering  in a live performance, believe me. 

With that being said, attentions have now been devoted to third single Gypsy, a track about the free spirit known as Shakira, expressed through guitars, sitars and string padding.  On the Freemasons Radio Mix of this track, some extra synth colouring is added in addition to new rhythmic elements.  The mix is atypical of the electro house mixes we are accustomed to from the UK duo but nonetheless, this is the version that should be delivered to radio.  The original album edit is perhaps too sparse.  It should find some degree of success in terms of airplay in the Hot Adult Contemporary format and may get some spins in the Top 40 format too.

Preview Shakira's Gypsy (Freemasons Radio Mix) below in full (courtesy of Sony Music):

SUSAN BOYLE > LADY GAGA/ADAM LAMBERT/RIHANNA/SHAKIRA

Astonishing. Early album sales projections for the current week have surfaced at Hits Daily Double and Susan Boyle will be the clear winner by a landslide. It is estimated that her Sony Music debut I Dreamed a Dream will sell in-excess of 600,000 copies, making it one of the biggest selling albums of 2009, let alone being the biggest selling debut album of the year. This woman does not cease to amaze me and if you haven't checked out her amazing work on the disc, please do.

Lady Gaga also is no slouch in terms of sales with the re-release of her debut album The Fame, titled The Fame Monster expected to push approximately 350,000 copies (200,000 in its Deluxe Edition format and 150,000 in its single disc EP format). This is my favourite album of 2009 and her commercial success is an accomplishment well-deserved; she is the Lady of Pop. I am unsure though if the two album formats will be tracked separately on the Billboard Hot 200 Album Chart seeing that they are being released under the same title. My guess is that the totals can be combined.

Adam Lambert seems to be getting publicity much ado about nothing for his male-male kiss/simulated oral sex stunt at Sunday night's American Music Awards. He is expected to post sales of 200,000+ for his debut album from RCA Records For Your Entertainment, deeming him a commercial success for the Idol franchise. The series has produced more misses than hits in recent seasons.

THE AMERICAN MUSIC AWARDS - A 1.5 MINUTE RECAP

It's been an extremely busy day on the blog from naked Babydaddys to a review about a football film. You cannot criticize me for not trying to branch-out! I'm not going to go into too much detail, but as per multiple requests over Facebook Chat and text messages to my Blackberry, I am going to re-cap for you my highlights of tonight's American Music Awards. No nonsense, just straight to-the-point.

• Janet Jackson opening the show with a mimed medley of hits that included her latest track Make Me (not technically a hit) from her just-released Number Ones compilation. It appears that Jackson is back to the original weight she was at when she released her ground-breaking Control album and I love it. She looks healthy and content.
• Need I mention how amazing Lady Gaga is? Her medley of new hit single Bad Romance and Freddie Mercury-esque ballad Speechless was the highlight of the show. I do think though that her costume would have looked better with claws. I admit I was a little petrified seeing her play on a flame-ignited piano, as it looked as though her wig would get singed at any moment. I'm still trying to figure out what the deal was with the breaking of the empty (fake sugar-glass) Johnny Walker bottles. And yes, I feel truly that she was robbed of the Breakthrough Artist award which went to country band Gloriana. I'm so ready for her Toronto show this Saturday!
• It was amazing seeing Whitney Houston's celebrated performance of I Didn't Know My Own Strength from her I Look To You album. Although her vocals were all over the place, certainly she is getting there slowly but surely....
• Jennifer Lopez was stunning in her mimed performance of new single Louboutins. Yes, she did fall on stage after climbing on-top of her male dancers (as seen in the photo below), but being the consummate professional she is, she made it look deliberate and carried on. It is ironic though that she was wearing a pair of Louboutins and fell in them; product placement gone wrong.
• Although I am not a fan of the track, Jay-Z and Alicia Keys' performance of Billboard Hot 100-topping Empire State of Mind was quite enjoyable. The New York, New York intro was a nice touch.
• Shakira is always a pleasure to watch and although I have my doubts about her choice for the second single off She Wolf, her performance of Give It Up To Me was stellar... as usual.
• Rihanna's new album Rated R sucks. She can call it "art" all she wants, but it still sucks. And seeing her perform a track live did not make it suck less.
• Is it just me or does Mary J. Blige's new track I Am sound like a Mariah Carey B-side?
• I love Kelly Clarkson but she really needs to step-up her game. Her performance of single Already Gone was far from engaging.

REVIEW: SHAKIRA - SHE WOLF

International pop sensation Shakira's third English studio album She Wolf is everything Madonna's Hard Candy should have been. Sorry, Madonna. This album has Shakira picking-up where massive worldwide hit Hips Don't Lie left off - a sound that is rhythmic and urban with a nod to her Latin/Arabic roots. She keeps things melodic and cohesive with zero filler on the album. Each of the 9 English tracks, and 3 Spanish translations belong on the album.

The album's electropop first single She Wolf has been well-reviewed, needing little introduction. It has already reached the Top Five in Canada and the UK; it is a fraction of a millimetre from cracking the Top Ten in America. The gems just keep coming one after the other, with a Pharrell Williams-produced three-peat led by confirmed second single Did It Again. Musically, the track sounds like something that came off Gwen Stefani's epic Love.Angel.Music. Baby album but it is Shakira's lyrical metre that gives the track that extra bit of uniqueness other artists might not possess. Long Time is reminiscent of Hips Don't Lie and I could not help but want to dance along to the bongos and throbbing bassline at first listen. Why Wait sounds like some of Williams' earlier work with Britney Spears during her I'm A Slave For U era. Men In This Town asks amusingly, where all the real men are since Matt Damon isn't for Shakira. This proves that even gorgeous women have it tough. There is only one ballad on the album and it is co-written with Beyoncé collaborator Amanda Ghost. Sitar-driven Gypsy beautifully tells us how Shakira has transcended beyond the hurt in her life and I bought it completely. One of the She Wolf's best tracks is presented late and it is an homage to Off The Wall-era Michael Jackson Wyclef Jean collaboration Spy. Mon Amour is the last of the English tracks on the album and it is a reminder to us that Shakira was indeed a bona fide rock star before she decided to try her hand at dance pop.

Listen to a full version of Did It Again (courtesy of Sony/BMG) below:

Shakira's She Wolf will be released November 17, 2009 in North America. I can say without hesitation that it is one of the best female pop albums to be released this year. I am delighted and actually would consider seeing her on tour based on the strength of this new material alone. Grade: A-