Have you heard John Mayer’s new single, Paper Doll yet? The track, which comes from his upcoming album, Paradise Valley, has just been released with a lyric video.

Oh dear, oh dear, where do I start.

First of all, I want to know whose idea was it to make that video. With such a soothing, beautiful song as Paper Doll, it was apparently decided that it should go with Joanna Rohrback, creator of Prancercise, as the star of the lyric video. If you don’t know what Prancercise is, it’s basically a type of exercise where people prance around like a complete retard. I don’t know whether to laugh, cry or cringe, or do everything at the same time.

The entire video just sees a short introduction of Prancercise, or rather Advanced Prancercise, by Joanna and then it’s 4 minutes of her executing a “prance to romance to”. As for the lyrics, they’re way too white, way too translucent and way too serif for my liking. Now, I don’t want to be too cruel here, but does she look a tad creepy in the beginning or what?

Aside from the what-the-heck-did-I-just-watch video, Paper Doll is a pretty satisfying track. A line from the chorus does sound like a response to Taylor Swift’s Dear John about their brief relationship together. While Taylor sings, “And I’ll look back and regret how I ignored when they said run as fast as you can”, John croons, “You’re like 22 girls in one and none of them know what they’re running from”. So how can a possibly serious song with meaningful lyrics be paired with prancercise?

Distinctly John Mayer-esque, this perfectly mellow tune, complete with perfect harmonies, probably would suit yoga better. But honestly, the advanced prancing killed the song. And I think I’m scarred for life.

Watch Paper Doll’s lyric video here at your own risk. 

Drake, please take note that this, THIS is how you do a collab and pay tribute to an amazing deceased artist, and not whatever you did with Enough Said. Thank you Chris Brown for Don’t Think They Know with babygirl Aaliyah.

I don’t care what you think of Chris Brown, I don’t care if you don’t know who Aaliyah is (but you totally should because I’m already judging you), because this ish is hella dope. This might be a Chris Brown track, but babygirl doesn’t even have to steal the spotlight, Chris Brown shines it on her.

First the MJ-esque Fine China and now classic Aaliyah Don’t Think They Know, if these two songs are anything to go by, Chris Brown’s upcoming album X is going to be mind-blowing. Also, thank you for featuring Aaliyah in the video though cuts from Try Again and If Your Girl Only Knew.

And that’s all I’m gonna say because the song is beyond perfection and beyond words, just trust your ears and take a listen. R.I.P. Aaliyah, we love you, we miss you. 

So you’ve just gotten a new portable speaker, but you’re sitting at home thinking “now what?” Don’t worry, we have the solution to all your problems.

Start the day by getting ready with your portable speakers. Help your speaker brush his grills while it blasts your favorite music though its Bluetooth function. Do NOT take a bubble bath with your portable speaker though. I tried that once and he fell into the tub. Yeah, electrocution isn’t that fun. The speaker I am using - the JBL Micro Wireless - fits in my cup holder perfectly and delivers GREAT sound. It plays louder than my mom's naggings in the morning and has a great bass return. I could not be happier with this. The sound quality is just outstanding.

Try cooking with your speakers. Teach him the way of culinary arts and become the next Masterchef. Despite the picture though, please do not actually cook your portable speaker, it is NOT edible. Trust me, I’ve tried with my JBL Micro Wireless. Moving on.

Bring your speaker jogging. Even though he might be a solid metal object, you got to help him keep off those love handles. And when you and your speaker are looking hot, go shopping and grab your ultra lightweight and compact JBL Micro Wireless in new colors; red, blue, green or white!

Go drinking with your portable speaker and have a good time partying the night away. A few bottles of vodka, some mixers and you’re good to go. You won’t need to worry about the portable speaker getting drunk either, the LED light will turn red when he’s about to pass out. Or when you pass out… either way’s good.

You can also throw your portable speaker a sleepover! Invite all you friends so they can meet the new speaker in your life. Have pillow fights, eat marshmallows and talk about boys. But be careful though, the JBL Micro Wireless has unbelievably strong bass that will keep you up at night. Actually, you know what, don’t have a sleepover with him, he’s too loud. He can’t sit with us.

There you have it, five ways to spend the day with you new JBL Micro Wireless. Remember to water and feed your speaker too everyone!

*****

Find out more about JBL wireless speakers here and join their Facebook page for more updates!

It doesn’t matter if you love him or love to hate him, but Pitbull is a mega producer/rapper/party animal with undeniably addictive songs. From Give Me Everything to Don’t Stop the Party to the classic Hotel Room Service, Mr. Worldwide is the undisputed King of the dancefloor. As a huge clubber myself, I am uber excited to announce that Spin or Bin Music is THE one and only official music blog for Pitbull’s upcoming concert right here in sunny (way, WAY too sunny) Singapore!

If his performance of Feel This Moment on the Billboard Music Awards is anything to go by, Mr. Worldwide will turn the concert into a clubber’s paradise. This will be the party of the century. And who knows, maybe there might be a special guest star to join Pitbull on stage. My fingers are crossed and praying for Christina Aguilera. What, a boy can dream, can’t he?

Concert Details:

Date: 31 August 2013
Venue: The MAX Pavilion @ Singapore Expo
Ticket prices: $158* (mosh pit), $128* (mosh pit), $108*, $88* (*excludes $3 SISTIC fee)

First 1,000 ticket holders of Category 1 are entitled to a complimentary beer, which can be redeemed at the concert!

Call ticketing hotline at 6348 5555 or log onto SISTIC to book your tickets. Ticket sales start from June 20. Be sure to stalk our blog and Twitter for opportunities to snag some golden concert tickets!

Spin or Bin Music is proud to be the Official Music Blog for Pitbull Global Warming Tour in Singapore!

He has always had the retro vibe to him in the past, but in the music video for his latest single, Treasure, Bruno Mars went all out to replicate the stereotypical 70's music video. With the highest video quality of only 480p for the video on YouTube, you know Bruno Mars is serious about the idea of going back in time. 

The cheography is undoubtedly very Michael Jackson-inspired, as Bruno Mars and his backup dancers look straight out of the 70's in their bright red suits and leopard-print shirts. 

I must say that I thoroughly enjoyed watching Treasure. I love how the whole set-up of the music video looked genuinely retro, ranging from the disco days inspired hairstyles to the cheesy computer graphics. Even the low video quality managed to complement the funky track.

Travel back in time with Bruno Mars and his band in Treasure below:

One Direction have always been known to send fans into crazy overdrive at concerts so, when they decided to do a bit of twerking to Drake’s The Motto, you can pretty much imagine the intensity of the excitement these fans would have.

Following a fan request on Twitter, the boys decided to do the dance “that involves a person shaking their hips and bottom in a bouncy up and down motion, causing it to shake, ‘wobble’ and ‘jiggle.’” (Thanks Wikipedia!)

Initially, the boys looked very uncertain as to what twerking was but after checking on YouTube, they quickly got the hang of things and handsomely (or so they tried…) twerked their way on stage. Liam Payne even managed to rap the lyrics to the song as well!

I have to admit, even though I’m not a fan of One Direction, they looked really cute here. I mean, a couple of English lads twerking to a rap-heavy song? HAHAHA. I really couldn’t stop laughing. Afterwards, I quickly Googled more twerking videos and this has got to be the most hilarious one I’ve seen.

So, who do you think twerked the cutest? Watch the video below and decide!

As an avid concert-goer myself, I have spent countless hours starry-eyed soaking in the addictive atmosphere which I later translate into words for you readers to enjoy. While I admit it can get quite tedious at times, it is still both my pleasure and duty to review gigs as part of the Spin or Bin Music team. But concert tickets don't come cheap (you know it) and sometimes, jostling with everybody else can be a huge turnoff. 

So my Plan B? Huddle up at home and watch my favourites LIVE on YouTube with my brand new JBL Flip stereo speaker. This is the latest "mighty mite" from JBL, an overachieving, compact 2-speaker system that to my ears surpasses many of the bigger, pricier systems let alone anything of comparable size. It delivers room-filling sound that, for the most part, is undistorted and "uncolored"- audio that upholds JBL's claims of "the truth" in terms of sound that is full and clear, natural and realistically present and, above all, faithful to the original source (the meaning of the term "high fidelity"). With its bluetooth connection, I can wirelessly stream audio from my laptop while carrying the speaker around to dance to the music. It's as though I'm actually at the gig itself!

But of course, the music is only as good as the artistes who create it. Dim your lights and press play, 'cos here's my take on the top 5 best live music performances of all time! 

5. Katy Perry - The One That Got Away (LIVE on The X Factor)

(skip to 1:03 for performance)

When one mentions Katy Perry, you would be reminded of her cupcake bras, hairdos as colourful as her personality and possibly her ex-husband, Russell Brand. But to me, it's not her flamboyant music videos that make the impression. Her pop ballad about losing a love is hard to forget. Her live acoustic performance of The One That Got Away is plain heartfelt and impactful, and listening to this on my speaker just brings out the best of her smoky voice.

With a modest outfit and her sweet bubblegum pink hair swept back like that, it's impossible not to fall in love with Katy Perry.

4. Yellowcard - Ocean Avenue (LIVE in Singapore 2012)

Oh, how I've missed these guys. Yellowcard is undoubtedly one of the top punk acts I've seen last year (and probably forever). Their breakthrough song and album Ocean Avenue has just hit 10 years and we could all use a little reminiscing.

And did I also mention the JBL Flip has a built-in bass port as well? That's all I really need to feel like I'm back in The Coliseum jamming out with my favourite band again. JENG JENG JENG JENG! \m/

3. The Script - Breakeven (LIVE in Singapore 2013)

Wow. I remember interviewing The Script just last year and they said Breakeven was the song that defined the band. And I love how the trio shows it in their performance at the Singapore Indoor Stadium. The vast stage, the huge LCD screens and collective voices simply sent good chills down my spine as I watched this. (It's a shame that I was away during their concert but nevermind!) 

And a little cool fact to share - the giant speakers at the Indoor Stadium are also from JBL! "I'm still alive but I'm barely breathing" Excuse me while I transport myself inside the video  

2. Ellie Goulding - Explosions/Anything Could Happen (LIVE on Britain's Got Talent)

I will never get bored of watching Ellie Goulding perform. Really. She constantly amazes me and her fans with the amount of vocal effort she puts into her performance so each song never sounds exactly the same. If you never heard of who she is - this video will bare it all. And I adore how Ellie can go from honest and solemn to boisterous goddess.

Just let the two songs show you; Explosions is hauntingly beautiful with the piano echoes but Anything Could Happen is a dizzy sugar sweet track. Of course, nothing beats watching Ellie G LIVE. It's something I'll always remember.

1. Fall Out Boy - Alone Together (LIVE in Chicago)

Maybe some Fall Out Boy fans will disagree with me on this but I'll say it: their new songs sound much better than their previous. I love the band and it's only less than 2 months ago til their Save Rock And Roll arrives in Singapore! Beyond stoked. 

And for a band who has stuck together through the good and bad for more than a decade, it's a great understatement to choose just one live performance and label it as "the best of all time". But I vouch that this Alone Together is one of the very best. Notable mention to look out for: when the crowd goes "yeah!" with the song. 

'Til August 6 comes, I'll just have this on my speakers over and over again. 

I have to be honest, the day UK jazz-pop singer-songwriter Jamie Cullum's latest offering, Momentum, was available for stream on Spotify, I already saved it as a playlist. Forgive this bias, but Cullum has always been a top star performer in my eyes, both in and out of the studio. This man can seem to do no wrong.

Objectively speaking, this is probably the talented pianist's most eclectic sound to date. It's not purely jazz anymore, which I've read is not his aim, but rather, an unabashedly pop-heavy record. But it works. The fact that he first started out with Twentysomething is so 2003, and I think this foray into a more commercial sound is to expand his fanbase, which was once limited to jazz fans.

Literally kicking things off with a tapping garage-can drum beat is The Same Things, with Cullum's smooth vocals effectively lifting the song and bringing up the energy of the album. The momentum (pardon the pun) is also set with this track - more radio-friendly, more risky. I do love it when albums kick off to a good start, and this was a great track that put me in the mood. The segue into its next upbeat number, Edge of Something, was also almost perfect. The darker sounding number, with minor-key piano riffs and Cullum's impressive emotive vocals tied the song together.

Cheekily, I loved When I Get Famous. The infectious chorus aside, how melodramatic was the intro? Probably a full brass band was invited for that gig, and gave the song a touch of Soul... The lyrics were ingenious as well, tongue-in-cheek and full of wit that was previously heard in Twentysomething and Get Your Way, "Whoever said you needed rights/ To tame your beauty/ I'll say goodbye to lonely nights/ Girls form an orderly queue please". It's even better sounding live - as testified by this video of him singing it in a train station. Speaking of live, I actually cannot wait for his next performance in Singapore (which I have attended all!!) to hear this new album. It's going to be spectacular.

That said, the jazz influences are still intact in songs like his cover of Anthony Newly's Pure Imagination, a soothing melody, and Cullum's deep husky vocals made this song a winner in my books. It's has the same feel as If I Ruled The World, albeit a tad more introspective and emotionally impactful. Take Me Out (of Myself) sees him return to the pop theme, held together by the drum beats, while loud, does not overwhelm the song. The piano solo mid-way into the song is classic Cullum, and builds up into a crowd-rousing chorus

I also found You're Not the Only One reminiscent of a typical boyband number, with its ascending riff and an underlying bass line and overall uplifting melodramatic mood. It was funny, because I don't know if he meant it that way, but Cullum holds his own with this song, and the huskiness and hard-hitting piano differentiates this from the Top 40 boyband fodder that dominates the airwaves.

The single Everything You Didn't Do, is a go-to summer track, but I had a hard time getting into it when it first came out. Perhaps it was due to his jazz image, and coming out with a hugely poppy song with a repetitive riff and catchy hook looked like it was trying too hard. After a few more listens, I found myself smiling along to the song. Title track Momentum encompasses low-buzzing synths to give the song a sense of urgency, and sounds vastly different from the poppiness of the earlier section. It's more... whimsical and definitely worth a listen.

Momentum is a work of art by Jamie Cullum's standards. I want to say it's his best album yet, and in most ways it is, but I can't help but wonder where he'll be going from here. Will he abandon his jazz roots totally? If so, I'd be a little disappointed... but with the standard of songs he churns out on a regular basis, all's not lost! If you're looking for a little pick-me-up, then chances are, this album will get you there.

Track Cuts: Momentum, When I Get Famous, Pure Imagination, Take Me Out (of Myself), You're Not the Only One

The 1925 novel by American author F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby, has been remade (again), and its 2013 version (Baz Luhrmann) comes with an updated, luxurious and star-studded film soundtrack, produced by none other than Jay-Z. With Luhrmann, one can expect a full-on experience, think Moulin Rouge. The opulence, decadence, intoxication that are featured in the narrative about the Jazz age, is given an edge with the hip-hop influence in the soundtrack.

While there has been a polarised debate about whether or not this soundtrack works, the reasoning behind the incorporation of hip-hop is explained with its similarity to jazz music of the 20s, starting out as an underground, subcultural upheaval, almost. It was supposedly "forbidden fruit" if you will, and the idea was to translate that sinfulness and lavish delight of a sound into something a 2013 crowd would be able to relate to. Of course, we get into a swinging mood with songs like Love Is The Drug, an almost sensual purr by Bryan Ferry, or A Little Party Never Killed Nobody (All We Got) with Fergie taking the helm on vocals, which sounds more like a woozy Eurotrash remix you'd hear in a club with a customary horn insert, rather than a swing party but still, is somewhat catchy and strangely works. It's probably the only song that really sticks to the brief.

As if this couldn't get any weirder, Luhrmann and Jay-Z up the melodrama a notch further with Florence Welch's Over the Love and the heralded centrepiece of the album, Lana Del Ray's Young & Beautiful. It's beautiful sounding and all, but leaves me feeling a little vacant and shallow... is that its aim? In other news, The xx sound like The xx, while Beyoncé and Andre 3000's remake of Amy Winehouse's Back to Black into a buzzy, intoxicated affair that's actually amazing as a standalone, and Jack White's U2 cover of Love is Blindness is overdone, but acceptable...if you get the meaning of the impassioned reverb that doesn't stinge on the theatricality.

At the end, instead of feeling like I've come out experiencing the Jazz age, I find myself more confused, disorientated and detached, much alike a wasted club-hopping teen at the break of dawn. 

Track Cuts: Back to Black, A Little Party Never Killed Nobody (All We Got)

In conjunction with their Paraoke Contest, the lead singer of Paramore, Hayley Williams, has decided to join fans and upload a video of herself providing the vocals for their single Still Into You for their first ever studio recording.

"So excited about these entries for the Paraoke Contest! I decided maybe I should share my own video with you guys. This is literally the entire first vocal take I did for "Still Into You" in the studio last year. I took it on my iPhone and was saving it for the right time to post. Hope you like it! Sorry about all the weird faces and the dancing awkwardly all by myself.  Anyway, keep sending in your Paraoke versions of the song and HAVE FUN!"

She posted on Paramore’s official Tumblr page. No worries Hayley, we forgive you for the weird faces and awkward dancing!

Despite how the video isn’t quite clear (it was recorded on her iPhone!), the vocals on this one are crystal clear albeit a little loud. In fact, hearing her sing in this video makes the tiny hairs on my arms and back stand! Can we just take a moment to fully appreciate the wonder that is this fiery-haired individual? I'm equal parts green with jealousy and beaming with admiration for her.

Sadly though, the Paraoke Contest is only valid to those living in the United States. 

Go on and watch the video below!