Pop Shots
Where Did This All Come From?
By: Adam Bernard
Last updated June 16th , 2010

Welcome to your weekly dose of pop world musings. Covering all things pop culture, this week Pop Shots is hitting you with thoughts on all the "official" World Cup songs, to Eminem's leakage, to Belinda Carlisle's tell all book, and since it's Pop Shots you know everything is seasoned with a little bit of attitude.

* The World Cup has me supremely confused and it has nothing to do with the rules of soccer. Some of you may remember that quite a while ago K'naan's song "Wavin' Flag" was announced as the official song of the World Cup. Well, last week press releases from both Shakira's and R. Kelly's camps made claims that each of them also have such an honor, Shakira for her song "Waka Waka (This time for Africa)," which from the title sounds like it might have been penned by Fozzy Bear, and Kelly for his song "Sign of Victory." I don't know which song is actually the official song of the World Cup, but who wants to bet Kelly wrote his after he found out how big girls youth soccer is in America?

* In what has to be one of the more bizarre pop music related stories I've read in a while, A 34-year-old forklift driver in Australia purchased, and is using, a vanity plate that spells out Justin Bieber's last name. I guess he wanted to be recognizable during his travels. Of course, if he lived in America there would be another way people would know he was in town - Megan's Law.

* Even though Recovery was leaked online last week, Eminem is still sticking with his original June 22nd release date for the album despite conventional thinking that it's a nonsensical delay that will only cause more illegal downloading and hurt sales. The lead single, "Not Afraid," already has me down on the album because it features an Eminem that's seemingly into holding everyone's hand and bringing everyone together to sing like a Coca Cola ad in the 80's. I have no problem with him feeling this way in real life, but the borderline Christian rap song is a little saccharine for my tastes and the video features an Eminem that seems to have had a ton of botox done on him. I know THIS version of Eminem still has fans, but man do I miss Slim Shady.

* Lady Gaga may have finally pushed me over the limit in terms of tolerating her act. I think she's a fantastic singer, and has created a remarkable character (something tells me Stefani Germanotta might not be like Lady Gaga when the costumes come off), but being that I'm a die hard Mets fan, seeing her flip off everyone within sight range at CitiField during a Mets game last week has officially put her on my crap list. I didn't even mind that she showed up for the game in her underwear. In fact, I wish more women would do that. Flipping off my people, though, gets you the gasface!


* Ricky Martin has scored himself a role in a revival of Evita, which will hit Broadway in 2012. No, he's not playing the Argentine political leader Eva Peron! Martin will be playing the role of Che, which I would know a lot more about if I actually spent time on Broadway, but since I spend most of my time at concerts in small nightclubs, let's just move on.

* Britain has refused give singer/girlfriend abuser Chris Brown entry into the UK to perform. This, obviously, puts his UK tour on hold. Interestingly, over the past handful of years Jive/Zomba, which is the label Brown's on, has managed to successfully overcome potentially career ending situations for both Britney Spears and R. Kelly, but it doesn't look like they'll be able to do the same for Brown. Hey Jive/Zomba, don't feel bad, just remember what Meatloaf once sang, "Two Out Of Three Ain't Bad."

* Those of us who remember the Belinda Carlisle led girl group the Go-Go's have a little summer reading to do. Carlisle just released a book titled Lips Unsealed, which is all about her very interesting life and times. From cocaine use, to being spit on by Madness' fans, apparently the book has it all. Personally, I'm looking forward to digging into it. Until then, however, I'm going to try to remember that Heaven is, in fact, a place on earth. Does anyone else think Carlisle looks like Kelly Kapowski version 1.0 in this?


And with that, my time is up for the week, but I'll be back next week with more shots on all things pop.

[Tags]