As all of my Muusers know (okay, maybe seven of you), I just graduated from Brandeis University. During my time studying there, I worked for the school’s paper, The Justice, writing/re-posting MuuMuse album reviews and running around calling myself the “Pop Muse” (shocking, all of this).

In my last little hurrah before graduating, I set up an interview with Nikki & Rich and the Arts section of The Justice, as the duo’s single “Next Best Thing” became a kind of unofficial anthem within the Justice office around two in the morning during Monday’s chaotic production nights.

Click here to check out the full feature story.

Great job, guys!

Happy Friday, Muusers.

Today, two videos for songs I’ve recently muused about…Nikki & Rich‘s “The Next Best Thing,” and Charice‘s “Pyramid,” featuring Iyaz. Let’s watch together, yes?

In summary: Two attractive people dancing around in sexy outfits. There’s a Britney/Madonna “Me Against the Music”-type of dual room set-up, but no raunchy make-out sessions or canes stuck in between legs.

It’s all a bit like what one might expect if the James Bond series had short musical interludes between all the fighting and sex.

In summary:

Spoiler Alert: THERE ARE NO PYRAMIDS IN THIS VIDEO.

Charice gets mad because she didn’t get a part in a play, so she sings at herself in a mirror for a while. At the same time, Iyaz wanders the street before creepily sneaking into a theater where she is performing alone to videotape her from his seat. We’re all a little uncomfortable.

Honestly, I can really relate to Charice in this video. This is just like when I lost out for the part of Maria for my high school’s production of West Side Story.

Good job all around everyone.

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!