december 2011 – WelcheMusic.com

All Hurts Want for Christmas Is New Year’s Day

We say goodbye to 2011 with a track that should’ve gotten a lot more recognition upon its release last year. The British synthpop duo Hurts included ‘All I Want for Christmas Is New Year’s Day’ on the ‘deluxe edition’ of the debut album Happiness.

It was initially released as a free download via iTunes in the United Kingdom and Ireland, yet it only charted in Austria (where it peaked at No.67). The music video is re-visited by characters from earlier Hurts videos (‘Better than Love,’ ‘Wonderful Life’ and ‘Stay’) as they gather around a grave, where a Christmas tree emerges.

Hurts did lift a few additional singles off their debut set this year .Despite Happiness reaching No.4 on the UK album tally, none of the duo’s singles have broken the top 20. Hopefully this will be achieved in 2012 and maybe just maybe ‘All I Want for Christmas Is New Year’s Day’ will be re-released and chart for real!

Kelly Clarkson’s Controversial Republican Support Spikes Sales

Stronger (What Doesn’t Kill You) Is Kelly Clarkson’s Latest Single — Kelly Clarkson - Stronger

True to her lyrics, “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger,” Kelly Clarkson got her (fair) share of criticism when she expressed support for the Republican presidential Ron Paul according to Idolator. Fans voiced their opinions via Twitter in a less than nice way, which led Clarkson to defend herself against hatred.

The reason? Well, Ron Paul has expressed some controversial views on gay rights and the death penalty according to Idolator. Yet, it seems that her latest set Stronger has increased its sales on Amazon and iTunes. According to GossipCop, the set rose from No.41 to N.13 during her Twitter battle.

Kelly Clarkson released her debut album Thankful in 2003 on the back of her winning American Idol the year before. The set was followed by Breakaway (2004) which included some of her biggest hits such as ‘Because of You’ and ‘Behind These Hazel Eyes.’

Her latest set which is mentioned above has so far spawned two singles. While ‘Mr. Know It All’ did reach No.10 on the Billboard Hot 100, ‘Stronger (What Doesn’t Kill You)’ might get passed that dismal No.64 with the support of Ron Paul?

Listen to Kelly Clarkson – Stronger (Deluxe Version) via Spotify!

Kelly Clarkson – Stronger (What Doesn’t Kill You)

T-Pain, Wiz Khalifa and Lily Allen’s 5 O’Clock Hyped Track

T-Pain featuring Lily Allen and Wiz Khalifa’s ‘5 O’Clock’ was the fastest rising track on last.FM’s Hyped Tracks chart last week. Following ‘Best Love Song,’ the track was the second official single off T-Pain’s fourth studio album Revolver, released 6^th December. The track was issued in the US at the end of September, yet it wasn’t released in the UK until 4^th December. It has reached the top ten in both territories.

Lily Allen’s contribution is an original sample of the vocalist’s track ‘Who’d Have Known’ off It’s Not Me, It’s You (2009). The music video was shot in De Wallen, Amsterdam’s red-light district. The third single – ‘Bang Bang Pow Pow’ – featuring Lil Wayne, was released last month.

‘5 O’Clock’ shot in Amsterdam, Holland.

Listen to and buy legal downloads/MP3s from T-Pain via Spotify below:

T-Pain Featuring Lily Allen & Wiz Khalifa – 5 O’Clock

T-Pain – rEVOLVEr (Deluxe Version) (album)

Amanda Fondell’s All This Way Vaults to the Top

Last week, I wrote that Amanda Fondell probably wouldn’t top the singles chart with ‘All This Way.’ In line with last year’s Idol winner Jay Smith, Fondell would be the second winner ever not to reach the summit. I was wrong, and I’m really glad for Amanda Fondell’s sake!

Ever since Daniel Lindström made the top of the charts in 2004 with ‘Coming True,’ Idol has become one of the music industry’s key events during the winters. I would hate to see that this year’s winner would fare even worse than last year’s.

Amanda Fondell singing ‘All This Way’ at a local charity event.

Idol Runner-Up Darin Co-wrote ‘All This Way’

Ironically, the runner-up from that year’s final – Darin – is one of the co-writers of ‘All This Way.’ Darin has topped the Swedish singles tally on three occasions – ‘Money for Nothing’ (2005), ‘Step Up’ (2005) and in 2009 with the Coldplay cover ‘Viva la vida.’ In 2010, he was a contender in the Swedish leg of Eurovision with ‘You’re Out of My Life’ and in last year he also released ‘Can’t Stop Love’ as a tribute to Crown Princess Victoria and Prince Daniel’s wedding. (The official song of the wedding was Idol winner Agnes Carlsson and Björn Skifs’s duet ‘When You Tell the World You’re Mine’…).

Check out the lyrics to Amanda Fondell’s ‘All This Way.’

Listen to and buy legal downloads/MP3s from Amanda Fondell via Spotify below: