Yesterday, Adele released the official video for “Rolling In The Deep” on iTunes, the first single from her upcoming sophomore album, 21. (WATCH)

Sand, sparks, and shattered porcelain all help to add texture to the soulful singer’s highly stylized clip, which features an array of artsy visuals and cinematography that perfectly suits the song’s brooding mood. We’re breakin’ dishes up in here (all night)!

Though I was admittedly underwhelmed when I first heard the stomping Paul Epworth-produced single a few weeks back, I can safely conclude that my opinion has changed entirely: “Rolling In The Deep” is clearly one of the better singles of 2010.

“Rolling In The Deep” was released on November 30 in the US. 21 will be released on February 22. (iTunes)

I don’t want to tempt fate, but if that’s not a number one, I’ll eat my sofa.

As the man responsible for such songs as Diana Vickers‘ “The Boy Who Murdered Love,” The Saturdays‘ “Chasing Lights,” and Will Young‘s “Anything is Possible,” as well as some of the upcoming material from Pixie Lott and JLS, pop songwriter and producer Chris Braide has seen his fair share of glory in the UK Top 40 recently.

Two weeks ago, I had the great pleasure of speaking with the busy producer from his studio in London (which is about to be packed away and carted stateside!)

I’m quite proud of this interview–we touched upon all sorts of artists and ended up having a really in-depth discussion about the very nature of pop itself.

Read on to hear all the gossip from behind Braide’s soundboard–loads of pop nerd chatter ahead!

Click “Read More…” to view the entire interview.

Read more »

Three years ago, just at the peak of the neo-soul revival that saw Amy Winehouse and Adele topping the charts, Lucky Soul released their debut album, The Great Unwanted.

The album was a fabulous nod to swinging ’60′s pop, complete with dizzying melodies and razor-sharp hooks. Songs like “Lips Are Unhappy Without You” and “Struck Dumb” provided a nostalgic, authentic dose of yesteryear magic that cherished the sound of pop and all of its celebratory, lovestruck nature.

Now, the group has returned for another stab at creating more pop perfection. Promising “more hooks than an Icelandic hardware shop,” their new self-produced, self-released album A Coming of Age, released worldwide on April 19.

While we wait for its release, here now are two tracks for you to download from their upcoming album, courtesy of the band. I highly recommend them both!

DL: Lucky Soul – Woah Billy!
DL: Lucky Soul – A Coming of Age

This Thursday, the band will be hosting their album launch party at London’s Cargo.

MuuMuse is proud to be giving away ONE PAIR of tickets to attend the album launch in London. If you’d like to enter, send an e-mail my way with your full name and the subject line “LUCKY” or tweet me with the following phrase: “I want to get LUCKY SOUL with @muumuse!”

A winner will be announced on Tuesday April 13 at 12 p.m. EST. Good luck!

These two are Nikki + Rich, a newly signed soul pop act from Warner Brothers Records.

While I was intrigued from the beginning, it was this slick, stylishly crafted intro video that sealed the deal for me.

And now, a brief summation:

Nikki & Rich are Nikki Leonti, a California-born pastor’s daughter who grew up singing in church, and Rich Velonskis, a Queens, NY-born former DJ and established hip-hop/R&B producer who got his start spinning in New York City clubs as a teenager. These two seemingly opposite characters first met in 2007. Nikki was based in Nashville working as a background singer for Carrie Underwood and Rich was in Los Angeles producing tracks for Eve, Robin Thicke, Mario, and Ludacris, under his moniker Rich Skillz…Rich was looking for a strong vocalist and lyricist to collaborate with and take his tracks to the next level and he found the perfect match in Nikki.

To put it simply, Nikki + Rich are to doo wop as Bitter:Sweet are to acid nu-jazz: a dynamic duo of two (rather attractive) musicians with a flair for the old-fashioned.

Though there’s been some backlash as of late for ‘revival acts’ that call upon the sounds of yesterday (Adele, Duffy, Winehouse), Nikki + Rich show the promise of staying true to today without looking back to the point of becoming a tribute band.

You can now stream the swinging “Cat and Mouse” and the deliciously sassy “Next Best Thing” right now.

I’m utterly obsessed with these two!

Lights is the debut album released on March 1 by Ellie Goulding, the 23-year-old British electro-pop chanteuse recently awarded with (or damned with, depending on your interpretation) the title of BBC’s Sound of 2010 Artist.

The distinction stems from a list compiled at the start of each year by the broadcasting network responsible for predicting the next movers and shakers in the industry (Little Boots topped the list in 2009; Adele in 2008).

With the title also comes a responsibility to deliver, something that has always seemed to plague the shortlisted winners with an impossible amount of criticism and hype before their debut ever reaches shelves.

Luckily, Ellie Goulding can officially breathe a sigh of relief.

Lights is a buoyant, fluttery album complete with ten numbers that flow together effortlessly, all tied together with Goulding’s signature child-like warble that falls somewhere in between Joanna Newsom and a far less moody Lily Allen; strong for belting, though often fragile enough to shatter into pieces at the end of each of her word’s syllables.

The cohesive quality of Lights can be largely credited to its main producer, Starsmith, a newcomer to the mainstream music scene as well. The two established a wonderful working relationship together (as seen in the ever-increasing number of YouTube videos recorded together), lending itself to the strong collection of tracks that became the singer’s debut. The producer’s work on Lights is as much responsible for Goulding’s skyrocketing to fame as it is his own, now producing for a variety of major ticket acts including Cheryl Cole and Diana Vickers.

“Starry Eyed” and “Under the Sheets,” the album’s two lead singles, are undoubtedly the album’s strongest offerings: the former, a hectic explosion of twinkling sounds and jittery vocal tics that won the blogosphere’s approval as one of Goulding’s first offerings to the public; the latter a brilliant, kaleidoscopic mesh of plodding drums and exasperated cries of “We’re under the sheets, and you’re killing me!” that easily trumped most of the other pop singles released last year.

While it’s true that there aren’t many obvious standouts on the record, the fact doesn’t take away from the album’s plentiful successes. “This Love (Will Be Your Downfall)” is probably the album’s greatest triumph apart from its singles, as Ellie goes through the motions of a relationship: “This love is be and end all / This love will be your downfall,” she warns throughout the glittering, dance-ready chorus.

The spectacular combination of synth-pop, vocal layering and dramatic strings grant “Your Biggest Mistake” some of the catchiest riffs and brightest melodies of the bunch. Later on, during the chilly longing of “Wish I Stayed,” Ellie touches down to Earth in the song’s echoed introduction and prompts: “Why can’t we speak another language, one we all agree on? Why when men look outside, they see houses, instead of the fields they grew from?”

Goulding’s debut is an honest, delicate collection of flowing ambient pop that doesn’t fill the airwaves with messy gobs of loud instrumentation–a welcome addition to counter the increasingly busy sound of pop in 2010. While the album may not produce any gigantic radio hits, there are still plenty of wonderful, heaven-sent sounds and melodies here to keep Lights burning bright long after the first play.

Click here to purchase Lights.

Hey, Muusers…

So, I’ve unexpectedly fallen ill (I’ve been couch-bound all day–and I didn’t even drink last night!), but when I saw that this radio interview occurred, I knew that it was a perfect fit for the first post of 2010.

Click here to listen to Nuhdeen Coyle and Alan Carr tick off some of the greatest British songs of the Noughties for The Great British Songbook on BBC’s Radio 2 (It starts at the 18:30 mark).

Loads of great song selections, great dialogue between the two (Nuhdeen speak in full force!), and quite a few unexpected call-in guests, including Heidi Range, Adele, and Paloma Faith.

For Girls Aloud fans, NuhdeenNuts, and any and all Brit pop fanatics…this is a must listen. Trust me, it’s brightened my spirits, and I can barely move my body!

Well, this sounds nothing like 3 Words.

“Boys” was written by Adele, which provokes a kind of “Oh, really? Adele?!” response until you think about it a little, forget why it was all that surprising in the first place, and then swiftly move on with your life.

The song, to me, is a three-play grower. By this, I mean I remained unconvinced on the first play, intrigued by the second, and all but addicted upon the third.

The hypnotizing swirl of the synth-pads, lonely echoing guitar plucks, and the semi-melancholy, lovesick lyrics (“Boys, this is not our choice / We can’t help that opposites attract / But where’s the fun in that, for a hopeful romantic kind of girl?”) all lend themselves to a perfect addition to the already not-so-mainstream package that is the “3 Words” single.

I like it very much, though it does make me a bit sad to think that “Boy Like You” trumped this “Boy” for a spot in the final tracklisting of 3 Words.

Welsh-born Duffy is expected, along with Adele, to be one of the top British artists to watch in 2008. You know the kind…oh so popular in the U.K. until American audiences finally catch wind and snatch them from the country. I originally wrote her off as an old-school revival copycat, until I accidentally stumbled onto the video for her new single. She’s got a colorful history, working in a fishery, a jazz club, and coming in second place on Welsh’s version of Pop Idol, Wawffactor (America: Consider this for a possible re-titling of American Idol.)

Of course, Duffy has been dealt plenty of comparisons to fellow contemporary “old-school” singer Amy Winehouse, though I can’t find much similarity in the overall style of their sound. Winehouse is more of a real deal soulful singer with the ability to invoke the rawest form of Motown soul, whereas Duffy is more breezy-pop and showy, lacking the gritty and biting vocals that only Winehouse can possess. Now, I happen to like the new single a great deal. She reminds me of Dusty Springfield and a bit of Nancy Sinatra. I still prefer my crazy Amy if compared, but Duffy’s “Mercy” is still a refreshing, melodic, and overall fun track to sing along to. Plus she’s easy on the eyes, and her hair appears to have been washed at some point in the last week. Not that Amy isn’t a raving beauty in her own right, but sometimes hygiene is sexy. And not that Amy isn’t hygenic, but–well, okay. You know she probably smells. Just saying.

Duffy’s new album, entitled Rockferry is due March 3, 2008. Click on the “read more” for the tracklisting.

DL: Duffy – Mercy

Watch the video here.

1. Rockferry
2. Warwick Avenue
3. Serious
4. Stepping Stone
5. Syrup & Honey
6. Hanging On Too Long
7. Mercy
8. Delayed Devotion
9. Scared
10. Distant Dreamer