Backstage Pass

Remember when Jesse McCartney was all doe-eyed and earnest, going on about “beautiful souls”? Well, on his new single “Leavin’” (Hollywood), it seems young Master McCartney has embraced his inner playa. The irresistibly catchy, R&B-tinged track, produced by Tricky and The-Dream, is a sweet slice of springtime fun that picks up where Chris Brown’s smash “With You” left off. And it should give McCartney, who has honed his songwriting chops penning Leona Lewis’ “Bleeding Love” with Ryan Tedder, his biggest hit yet.

Jesse McCartney, "Leavin'"

On the frantic new Gnarls Barkley single, the aptly named “Run” (Downtown/Atlantic), Danger Mouse welds a sleek ‘60s pop backdrop to a current dance beat and then lets Cee-Lo freak out on top of it, singing “Run away! Run children! Run for your life!” and talking about monsters and such. His frenzy is enjoyably contagious (and remarkably aerobic), though this level of madness really can’t really compete with “Crazy.”

The video (which may or may not cause seizures) is equally frenetic:

Times New Viking's new single "(My Head)" (Matador) is loud, sloppy and thoroughly enjoyable, a catchy blast of indie-rock that serves as a raucous introduction to the Columbus, Ohio, band's updating of Guided by Voices' minor four-track fuzzy-guitar masterpieces. "(My Head)," like the rest of the new album "Rip It Off," bucks all the conventions of what today's rock should sound like. That makes Times New Viking maddening or thrilling. Or both.

Download "(My Head)" here

PHOTO: Times New Viking (their odd crop, not ours, btw) for Matador Records. 

 Remember when the first single from a Janet Jackson album was an event, when “Miss You Much” or “That’s the Way Love Goes” or changed the way radio sounded and MTV looked? Yeah, “Feedback” (Island Def Jam) isn’t like that. It follows instead of leads, traipsing down the same robo-dance path as Britney Spears’ “Blackout.” What saves “Feedback” from sounding totally anonymous is Jackson’s playful phrasing and her ability to mine the electro-groove. Those touches, not the surprisingly cookie-cutter production from Rodney Jerkins, keep “Feedback” fun. It’s fluff, sure, but enjoyable fluff.

Hear "Feedback" here

PHOTO: Island Def Jam Records 

Snoop Dogg shows he's still got some surprises up his sleeve on his new single "Sensual Seduction" (Geffen), where he sings the entire song - using a vocoder no less - and only raps a little. The result is catchy and somehow still current, like T-Pain taking on a late '70s Barry White classic. If Snoop can deliver a smash like this straight out of left field, the rest of his forthcoming "Ego Trippin'" album, due early next year, could be another ambitious change of pace.

And the drenched-in-1979 video can only help things, complete with keytars and "Solid Gold" dancers.

There must be some sort of epidemic of confusion among pop divas. How else can we explain the latest trend of singers announcing themselves? The Britney Spears single "Gimme More" (Jive) is more of a marketing distraction than actual music, requiring not just an intro naming her, but an outro as well. But what's Nicole Scherzinger's excuse for using her first name as the chorus of her debut solo single "Whatever U Like" (RCA)? It's a pretty decent song, with a spacey beat and distinctive, punchy vocals, to muck it up with the line: "She's hot as a stove/Her name is Nicole." Name recognition must be pretty tough for Scherzinger. She even named her debut album "Her Name Is Nicole."

Hear "Gimme More" here

"How on earth did we get so mixed up?" sings Brandon Flowers in The Killers' new holiday single "Great Big Sled" (Island). Good question - not just in terms for the world in general, but The Killers in particular. The Las Vegas band went from synth-pop underdogs to bombastic rockers in the course of one album. But "Great Big Sled" suggests a bit of rehab for The Killers' reputation. It's clever and self-deprecating ("Little boys have action toys for brains," Flowers sings. "I'm living proof it can last a long time") without giving up the big, rock-anthem feel they try to create on the "Sam's Town" album. It has that Phil Spector "wall of sound" production that rocking holiday songs always go for, while still sounding current. And, to top it off, "Great Big Sled" is a charity single, part of the (RED) campaign (http:// joinred.com) to raise money to buy medicine for Africans with AIDS. For The Killers' career, it all adds up to a giant leap back in the right direction.

Listen to "Great Big Sled" here

Mary J. Blige's new single "We Ride (I See the Future)" (Geffen) opens with the interesting disclaimer: "Everybody asking why Mary ain't mad no more/Seems like a question that I've already answered, like, too many times before." But the answers have been so good - the smashes "No More Drama" and "Be Without You" - that Mary should keep going. "We Ride," one of four new songs from her "Reflections: A Retrospective" album out Tuesday, features the same pretty piano tinkling of "Be Without You" and yet another grand vocal workout. Happiness apparently suits Blige quite well, emotionally and artistically.

Listen to "We Ride" here

Will the real Avril Lavigne please stand up? One minute, she's all "punk," out with her "sk8rboi" hubby spitting at the paparazzi and swearing like a sailor. The next minute, she's putting out boring ballads such as "Keep Holding On" (RCA), where she recycles bits of "I'm With You" and mixes them with whatever greeting-card sentiments she gets handed. Toward the end, she gets so bored she sings, "Whatever's meant to be will work out perfectly/Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!/La dee da da, La dee da dum." Of course, you may have switched stations by the time she gets there.

Listen to "Keep Holding On" here

Has the success of My Chemical Romance's "The Black Parade" (which even gets name-checked on Jay-Z's new album) driven Fall Out Boy crazy? "This Ain't a Scene, It's an Arms Race," the first single from Fall Out Boy's forthcoming album, is a grandiose clunker, puffed up like a John Mayer song at the beginning and then sped up and thrashy for no reason in the middle. Known for being clever while still writing memorable melodies, the band replaces the catchiness of its previous hits with simple repetition of the title. That won't fool anyone. If this is the best their "Infinity on High" (Island/Fueled by Ramen) album has to offer, sugar, they're going down.

Listen to "This Ain't a Scene, It's an Arms Race" here.

It's getting to be holiday time, so, of course, there's another posthumous 2Pac album ready for release. To drum up interest in "Pac's Life," which arrives in stores today, Amaru/Interscope is releasing two singles simultaneously. There's the pop-leaning title track, which features Glen Cove's Ashanti sweetly singing the lighter-than-air hook, while T.I. fills in the holes between 2Pac's rhymes. The darker, Swizz Beatz-produced "Untouchable," featuring Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, is hard-hitting and one of the best posthumous 2Pac singles yet.

Listen to "Pac's Life" and "Untouchable" here

There are two new songs on U2's latest greatest-hits compilation, "18 Singles" (Interscope), which hits stores today. The first is the fiery cover, with help from Green Day, of the punk single "The Saints Are Coming," which has already, more or less, made its mark. The second new song is "Window in the Skies," a pretty, midtempo rocker that slips some Beatle-esque phrasing into the standard U2 soundscape. It's nice, but it doesn't really turn this OK collection into a must-have - the bonus DVD in the deluxe edition, however, is a different story.

Listen to "Window in the Skies" here

Only Gwen Stefani would hear a hip-hop beat in Julie Andrews' yodeling on "The Lonely Goatherd" from "The Sound of Music." And only Stefani would be able to pull off mixing that sample with a more standard hip-hop thump. On "Wind It Up" (Interscope), she re-enters the dance-pop diva sweepstakes on top again, with a catchy song that immediately sounds unique, showing Fergie, Nelly and the rest how to make being your own quirky self look easy.

Listen to "Wind It Up" here

With each passing single, Eminem seems less and less interested in continuing to rap. His verses on Akon's "Smack That" (SRC/Konvict Muzik), already a throwaway ode to ladies' butts, couldn't be more cliche-ridden. On Em's new single "You Don't Know" (Shady), from the forthcoming compilation "The Re-Up," where he introduces new rappers, he pops in almost like an afterthought with talk of beefs and partying, while 50 Cent and Lloyd Banks do the song's heavy lifting. If Eminem wants a break, that's cool, but he shouldn't waste fans' time with these half-hearted attempts.

Listen to "Smack That" here

Listen to "You Don't Know" here

Jay-Z's comeback single "Show Me What You Got" (Roc-a-Fella) is built around a silky horn solo and some flashy flourishes that sound like a less serious continuation to "Encore" from "The Black Album." Like a lot of Jay's lead singles, "Show Me" plays like the appetizer to the album's main courses - even opening with a sly, half-joking apology, "What you want me to do? I'm sorry. I'm back." It's a charmer, but it also suggests there's more to come, making us wait until "Kingdom Come" drops on Nov. 21 before Jay shows us what he's got going on.

Listen to "Show Me What You Got" here

It's been 10 years since the Spice Girls began exporting "girl power," flashing peace signs and building a tween army of wanna-bes. So it only seems right that a new generation of British female artists are queuing up for their shot at taking over America this fall. Lady Sovereign - the pint-size rapper who comes across as part Sporty Spice, part Eminem - is unleashing "Love Me or Hate Me" (DefJam), a catchy single that twists Em's "Without Me" in a darker, more electronic direction. Lily Allen, who combines her Debbie Harry edginess with Baby Spice cuteness, is offering "Smile" (Capitol), which may seem like cutesy reggae until you get to the chorus of "When I see you cry, it makes me smile." Together, they should be conjuring up some "girl power" of their own soon over here.

Listen to "Love Me or Hate Me" here
Listen to "Smile" here

Sweet 16-year-old Taylor Swift's debut single "Tim McGraw" (Big Machine) is an unexpected country delight, a love song more about a memory than country music's biggest hunk. Swift's voice is pretty and understated - a little Carrie Underwood, a little LeAnn Rimes and a bit of Avril Lavigne mixed together - striking the right balance to perfectly sell dreamy lyrics like "When you think Tim McGraw, I hope you think my favorite song, the one we danced to all night long."

Listen to "Tim McGraw" here

On its brilliant new single "Welcome to the Black Parade" (Reprise), My Chemical Romance squeezes an indie-rock manifesto of epic proportions, three distinct musical styles, and a bookshelf of storytelling into a mere 4 1/2 minutes. Starting with a rock opera benediction ("Son, when you grow up, would you be the savior of the broken, the beaten and the damned?"), "Black Parade" moves into an emo rallying cry and ends in a triumphant mishmash of soaring guitar solos, trumpet flourishes and Gerald Way's wailing promise, "We'll carry on." It's jagged and unexpected and impossible to listen to only once.

Listen to "Welcome to the Black Parade" here

Nicole Scherzinger may not be a household name yet, but she has a hand in three of the most buzzed-about singles around. First, there's the flirty Top 5 pop hit "Buttons" (A&M) with her group, the Pussycat Dolls. Then, she sings the sexy hook on "Come to Me" (Bad Boy), Diddy's bounce-inducing comeback hit, which will soon be charging up the charts as well. And finally, there's the oddest one of all, a duet with Italian popera hunk Vittorio Grigolo called "You Are My Miracle" (Univeral), where Scherzinger shows she owes her success to more than her cat moves, as she holds her own on the big ballad.

Listen to "Come to Me" here

Joseph Arthur's new single "Enough to Get Away" (Lonely Astronaut) is a charming bit of escapism, the sonic equivalent of hustling away from the city toward a carefree paradise of sun-kissed simplicity. Pretty loops float over the jangling guitars and Arthur's jaded but hopeful vocals, leading to a flash of serenity that makes you keep replaying the song to snag that fleeting moment again. Beck's new single "Nausea" (Interscope) is the opposite, as his jangling guitar and jaunty but jaded vocals lead an acoustic funk march and peppy sing-along into the heart of darkness. Each trip ends up sounding pretty good.

Listen to "Nausea" here

PHOTO: Joseph Arthur by Steve Gullick / Lonely Astronaut

Snow Patrol's new single, "Chasing Cars" (A&M), walks in the same sensitive, fragile (and ultimately successful) footsteps as James Blunt's "You're Beautiful" but turns the guitar up in the middle enough to suggest the Brits' rock roots, like the wise-cracking dude who encourages the lead guy in the romantic comedy to "man up." Between "Chasing Cars" and "Chocolate," the British hit that has been revived as the theme for the new Zach Braff movie "The Last Kiss," Snow Patrol should be the fall's breaking back-to-campus band.

Listen to "Chasing Cars" here

Wait. When did it become 1976 again? Both the Scissor Sisters' new single "I Don't Feel Like Dancin'" (Universal Motown) and the new John Legend single "Save Room" (Getting Out Our Dreams/Sony Urban) sound like the past 30 years of popular music never happened. The Sisters have crafted the answer to the Bee Gees' "You Should Be Dancing," as Jake Shears and Ana Matronic harmonize like a truck full of Gibb brothers over a disco groove that will make you want to bust out The Hustle. Legend, on the other hand, sounds like he's swiped a Burt Bacharach song - complete with organ solos and glossy background vocals - from Dionne Warwick. Can a Jimmy Carter revival be far behind?

Listen to "I Don't Feel Like Dancing" here
Listen to "Save Room" here

Evanescence's new single, "Call Me When You're Sober" (Wind-Up), sounds cobbled together from stray "heavy" rock parts, faux toughness to hide the fact that Amy Lee is really a Sarah McLachlan wanna-be prancing through Elvira's closet. Unfortunately, the band can't even be bothered to keep up the charade. "Sober" is only 3:34 long, but two-thirds of the way through, they've already forgotten the chugging guitars designed to toughen the opening, and we're left with Lee living out her Lilith Fair fantasies while modeling her mall-goth finery. We won't get fooled again.

Listen to "Call Me When You're Sober" here.

Fergie steps away from her Black Eyed Peas pals on "London Bridge" (Interscope) to get her funk groove on. Built on a cranky horn sample similar to one from Beyoncé's "Work It Out" or Amerie's "One Thing," "London Bridge" is meant for the dance floor, so that the big beat and catchy, "Hollaback Girl"-like chorus distract you from clunky lines like "Now I wish that I didn't wear these shoes." Thanks to Polow Da Don's sharp production, though, it all hangs together as one of summer's hottest guilty pleasures.

Watch "London Bridge" here.

John Mayer is a sharp, well-spoken guy. So if he wants to bite from Curtis Mayfield's "People Get Ready" for his new single "Waiting on the World to Change" (Columbia/Aware), that's cool. He can probably come up with some pretty good reasons for it. He can probably even defend watering down one of soul music's greatest breakthroughs into pandering, pre-packaged blandness.

But the lyrics for "Waiting on the World to Change" are ridiculous, especially when he tries to speak like the voice of a generation. "We see everything that's going wrong with the world and those who lead it," he sings. "We just feel like we don't have the means to rise above and beat it. So we keep waiting, waiting on the world to change." Is he serious? Can he really be advocating that even though he and all his friends are against the war in Iraq, they should not speak out, but simply do nothing and wait on the world to change? Music is filled with great protest songs urging people to stand up for what they believe in. Mayer may hold the shameful title of being the first to encourage people to sit down.

Listen to "Waiting on the World to Change" here.

Method Man delivers a searing attack on critics in "Say" (Def Jam), throwing out lines like, "Radio is the same, a whole lot of speculatin' ... That ain't where the hip-hop live, it live in the streets. We eat to live, they livin' to eat. I'm fed up." To keep things from getting too dark, though, Meth piles all his stored-up bile - which comes mostly from the drubbing his last album, "Tical 0: The Prequel," took - on a sunny-sounding sample from Lauryn Hill doing Bob Marley's "So Much Things to Say." It's not just a case of biting the hand that feeds, the first single from the forthcoming "4:21" album is a smackdown. But, as one of his most accessible-sounding singles in years, it will likely prove too popular for radio to not play.

Listen to "Say" here.

Pharrell is in a slump. Once unstoppable, the flashier half of The Neptunes has released his second dud single in a row - dragging Kanye West, who contributes some of his blandest rhymes, down with him this time. "Number One" (Star Trak/Interscope) is choppy, with a clunky chorus of "Number One, smashing, off the charts, classic" that sounds like it was a Michael Jackson cast-off.

Full review
Listen to "Number One" here. (RealPlayer needed)

Beyonce's new single "Déja Vu" (Sony Urban / Columbia) doesn't club you over the head with its hotness the way "Crazy in Love" did. This one's smoother, with a jazzier vocal take over the Stevie Wonder-soul horns and the midtempo groove. Then Jay-Z drops a couple of hot verses ("I don't make the list, don't be mad at me/I just make the hits, like a factory") and knocks it out of the park.

Janet Jackson's new single "Call on Me" (Virgin) is laid back, too - a breezy duet with Nelly that goes back to her breathy, carefree hits "Doesn't Really Matter" and "Runaway." Its slight, sweet melody could be a summer sleeper hit, a welcome change of pace from all the brassy, in-your-face beats out right now.

Jessica Simpson, on the other hand, goes glitzy and retro on "A Public Affair" (Columbia), channeling "Janet"-era Jackson doing a song that sounds like Madonna's "Causing a Commotion" and Diana Ross' "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" smashed together. It works, but sounds so unlike Simpson's past, it may get confused as a new song from musical blank slate Paris Hilton.

Full review here.

Listen to Beyonce's "Deja Vu" here.
Listen to Janet's "Call on Me" here. (need RealPlayer)
Listen to Jessica's "A Public Affair" here.