First Listen: Beyoncé "Why Don't You Love Me" + Video

I'm not a huge Beyoncé fan, but I cannot talk shit about her videos. Whatever craziness they're about, she goes 110% into it and delivers. Her latest, Why Don't You Love Me? is no different.

It's weird to have a first listen also be the first time you see the video because I'm pretty sure the dedication to the theme actually made me like the somewhat lackluster song better. I wouldn't even take a free download of this song (okay, who am I kidding? I would, if itunes was giving it away) but I enjoyed the video so much, I am tempted to take a second listen. That's what every video wants to do, right?

I agree with Trent at Pink is the New Blog that the video and the song don't seem thematically linked in any way but, like Lady Gaga and Beyoncé's "Telephone," sometimes videos just spawn from some random idea and are definitely visually interesting...but not related to the song whatsoever. When the concept is fun and weird and interesting, you tend not to care so much.

- Lanie

First Listen: 30 Seconds to Mars - "Bad Romance" cover

I was hoping that this would be hilarious. It wasn't, really. It was moody, scary, and it's safe to say that they put their usual 30STM spin on it. As a lover of profanity in my music, I love this cover, but I'm not sure it was good. - Lanie

I'm confused by the alt-country vibe Jared Leto is working on his vocals in this track. The vocalizations have this bizarre twang to them that I'm really not feeling. Every time I start getting into it, that twang throws me back out. The instrumentation, however, is fabulous. I'd love to get my hands on an instrumental track for this, because it was just that good. I'm used to Live Lounge stuff being acoustic (Panic! At The Disco's version of "Maneater," Fightstar's "Battlefield," Paramore's "Use Somebody"), so this is a nice change. The lyrical changes are interesting, to say the least, but I have to say that they lost points with me for removing the Hitchcock references. One thing about the song, other than the instrumentation that I wholeheartedly approved of was the near-scream going from the bridge into the last chorus - I just wish he'd carried it all the way through to the chorus instead of backing down. On the whole, not my favorite cover of "Bad Romance" (I really like A Smile From The Trenches's cover from the Classic Vs. Modern compilation), but it's not terrible. If it shuffled up I'd probably listen to it, but I'm not going to be putting it on repeat. Interesting, on the whole. - Julieann

First Listen: Christina Aguilera - "Not Myself Tonight"

Apparently Christina Aguilera is supposed to be revealing a new sound on her upcoming album Bionic. With her new single, "Not Myself Tonight," that sound is apparently cacophonous electronic pop. Make no mistake, I have no problem with electronica or even most bad pop music. That what this blog's about, having questionable taste but enjoying it anyway.

That said, this track is not good.

It starts with a spoken intro and gives way to what seems to be the music behind Justin Timberlake's "SexyBack." And then the vocals. Oh the vocals. I literally could not understand the melody of the verses. Half-spoken, half-sung and at the end, scream-censored: I was very confused. I'd just like to say that I was reading the lyrics along with the song the whole time. It wasn't that I wasn't getting the words through all the quickly varying sounds, but as a whole, I'm not sure it made any sense.

Maybe I'm getting too deep with it, expecting to find meaning in a Christina Aguilera song. As a club track, it won't be terrible. When she's not singing, I actually don't hate it. But there are so many layers, bleep bloops and voices coming from every direction that even her own voice is lost in there. That's a problem. - Lanie

Look, I used to like Christina Aguilera a lot. That said, I haven't been into anything she's done since Stripped. Yeah. So I knew this wasn't going to be good for me. And then it started with spoken word and I cringed. Then I started singing Justin Timberlake's "SexyBack" along with it, which, okay, if that was what you were going for, Xtina, then good job? I know people are doing that lately. (See example: being able to sing Britney Spears's "Womanizer" to Cobra Starship's "Nice Guys Finish Last" or being able to sing Blondie's "Call Me" to Muse's "Uprising.") But being able to sing "SexyBack" along with it was genuinely the best part of the song for me, and ... I don't like Justin Timberlake. The verses were a disaster, the entire concept of having a "pre-chorus" longer than the actual verse is something that grates on my nerves, and the chorus was nearly non-existent. And for this to be a pop song, the lack of a chorus is kind of going to be a huge flaw - pop music should have a catchy hook, and this track doesn't.

And let's not even discuss the faux-orgasm scream censorship and the idiotic spoken word at the end. - Julieann

First Listen: The Used - "Blood on My Hands"

I'm not really that into The Used. I like some of their songs, but I don't think I could ever see them live, since singer Bert McCracken grosses me out pretty seriously. I feel like it would be like the time I saw From First To Last and Sonny Moore actually made me gag. Yes, I am for real. Unfortunately for this song, it sounds like Metallica's "For Whom The Bell Tolls." Or not unfortunately, since that's from Back When Metallica Was Good. I'll headbang to it in the car sometime in the future. - Julieann

I'm surprised to say that I kind of enjoyed this. Despite owning two of their albums, I wouldn't call myself the hugest fan of The Used. There was crowd singing, there was screaming but there was still melody. All in all, it was kind of epic. I'm excited to hear the new album if the rest of it is like this. - Lanie

First Listen: We The Kings - "Heaven Can Wait"

There's a lot more piano than you normally hear in a We The Kings song (with the exception of, I think, "This Is Our Town"), which I'm into. We The Kings are entirely my vapid pop-punk cotton candy of choice (which you know if you've read our review of All Time Low's Nothing Personal). Also, they seem like nice dudes and I am amused by their singer on Twitter. I like this song, and I'm actually kind of excited that they're currently recording a new album. - Julieann

I'm not a huge We The Kings fan. In fact, this may be the first time I've listened to them while being aware who was playing. I wasn't too impressed. It is pretty generic as far as pop-punk goes. Anyone could be singing this. The only thing that caught my attention was that the chorus kind of reminded me of Kelly Clarkson's "My Life Would Suck Without You." I'd rather be listening to that. - Lanie

Schism! at the Disco

I feel like I need to admit up front that I do not possess the ability to be anything but entirely, horribly biased about anything involving Panic! At The Disco or The Young Veins. I am firmly Team Exclamation Point, so take anything I say with a grain of salt.

That said, this was my first time listening to the track "Change" by The Young Veins. I had previously tried to listen to it a couple of times, but ended up turning it off. While it is still lurking on my computer, I don't plan on giving it much more listening, or much more thought. Harsh? Maybe.

I don't enjoy Ryan Ross's voice in large doses. When I initially got into the band, I was all for what he did as a vocalist - covering the lyrics that were overlaid with others, where Brendon Urie didn't have the physical ability to sing both parts. I was not impressed with his singing on Panic At The Disco's Pretty. Odd. In fact, I find that I am not fully enchanted by that sound, or the fact that it makes me feel like I'm trapped in the van with my dad and he's forcing me to listen to the oldies station. I just don't enjoy the sixties throwback sound.

I think what bothers me the most about this track is Ryan's singing. I actually enjoyed the guitar in some parts, despite my dislike for the general sound. Ryan Ross's voice is just so devoid of any kind of personality. I feel like his singing voice is just as boring and monotone as his speaking voice. This is a kid that has zero charisma with which to work the frontman angle. But by God! He's going to try!

Also, yelling "change" over and over at the end? GTFO with that, it's not even cute.

I'm not saying that Panic! At The Disco's "New Perspective" is a work of art or anything like that by any means. But I am going to say that I enjoy Brendon Urie's voice vastly more than I ever will Ryan Ross's. He's what brought me to the band, and he's what's keeping me with them. Part of it is that I enjoy being able to sing along with songs. I can't imagine ever singing along with "Change," because being monotone isn't fun. It's kind of why you listen to and enjoy Oasis, but you don't really sing along. "New Perspective," however, I'll gladly sing along with. I'll probably even shout the lyric "can we fast forward til you go down on me" or whatever it is. It makes me giggle, and it's great. I'm trashy, what can I say?

Another difference I'd like to point out is that I could only understand about every other word Ryan Ross was singing, anyway. I have no idea what "Change" is about, because I couldn't understand most of the words. And I grew up listening to Hanson, and I do love Fall Out Boy, so I am well-trained in understanding slurs of speech and mushmouth. But I appreciate Brendon's ability to, you know, enunciate so that I can understand him. YAY!

A compliment I can give: Ryan's voice has improved from what it was when they started. I'll give him that much. It's just, there wasn't a lot of room for improvement, because he's just not that good. Brendon, too, has improved. He's gotten smoother, and he sounds less like Patrick Stump and more like his own person. Which is cool.

In conclusion, I have no use for bands who are stuck in the sixties. I'm not down with that. If you wanna do a throwback, give me at least some hair metal and glam rock. At least Brendon Urie's obliging my horrible taste by covering Journey on the Blink-182 tour.

Although I'm sure Ryan Ross couldn't give a rat's ass for anything I say. He'll just snort some more coke and go on about his day like he thinks he's awesome. And that's cool, too.

- Julie

Coming from a more emotionally unattached place than Julie up there, I have significantly less to say about the Schism! at the Disco.

My first listen to The Young Veins' single "Change" didn't impress me much at all. I was tired of The Beatles' references by the time I finished my first listen of Pretty. Odd. and for a song called "Change," I found it sort of ironic that Ross hadn't...at all. Fine, he found a niche. He latched on. All well and good for him. However, he may have been one of the last people on the planet to go "OMG The Beatles are awesome!" If Walker was any bit wiser, he didn't bother reigning his partner in crime in at all. There's a difference between inspiration, looking up to a band and completely ganking their style...and then adding an organ. What? Churchy Beatles? What are they going for here? I cannot tell at all. I'm interested to see where they go with this but in a completely rubbernecking kind of way, not in a way where I'm actually excited to hear the music. It's not violently bad, which is more than you can say for a lot of other bands out there, cloning their influences.

The remaining members of Panic! seemed to have failed to grow as well. I'm going to say this is not a bad thing, since it looks like they've turned themselves around to the weird, vaudevillian, pop-hook-laden sound that made them distinctive in the first place. Panic! were weird. They were strange and charming and radio friendly but not annoyingly so. There is nothing wrong in the world with a good pop song and a few dirty references thrown in because 90% of the world is secretly 12 inside and we enjoy a good giggle. "New Perspective" is a fun tune with a great pop sound. That's all I really have to say. It's just that simple.

- Lanie

First Listen: Paramore’s new single, “Ignorance.”

The first thing I wanted to know when I found out they had a new single coming out was whether or not it would be in the vein of Riot! or the song “Decode” from the Twilight soundtrack. I liked it right up until the point that the word “rapture” entered into the lyrics, and my inner atheist recoiled in disgust. Oh why, Paramore, why? It also had the same “guitar solo” that every other Paramore song ever has had, so that’s also a downfall. Regardless, it’s probably going to get major airplay, because it sounds very radio-friendly. And I’m probably going to get really sick of it. It’s not as good as anything on Riot! was. Better luck next time, Hayley & Co. – JulieAnn

Having grown to love Paramore as a pleasure I can't even make myself feel guilty about, I was kind of nervous that their new single would take an even more pop-y approach than Riot and then I would be forced to resent liking them so much. Luckily, this song caught me right in the beginning. The build of the intro reminded me a bit of Incubus' "Megalomaniac" and a bit of the first verse made me think of No Doubt, whose influence isn't all that surprising. I wasn't as offended by the "rapture" as Julie was, but I didn't like the use of it. It didn't fit the meaning I thought they were going for. Not too long after that, it all went downhill as the song got more and more repetitive. It's ok to end the song after two and a half minutes if that's all you've got! I promise! Oh well. It's still a decent song and it'll be a couple weeks of incessant airplay before I get sick of it. – Lanie