Pete Yorn & Scarlett Johansson

Scarlett Johansson has a type, it seems-- at least when it comes to recording music. Johansson's first album, the better-than-anyone-realized 2008 drug-pop swooner Anywhere I Lay My Head, consisted almost entirely of Tom Waits covers. And later this year, Johansson and singer/songwriter Pete Yorn will release a collaborative album reportedly inspired by Serge Gainsbourg's duets with Brigitte Bardot, according to USA Today.

So if you're a legendary songwriter with a craggy seen-it-all voice and a permanently unimpressed hangdog facial expression, you might eventually inspire a Scarlett Johansson album. Leonard Cohen-- call your manager!

USA Today reports that Johansson and Yorn teamed up with producer Sunny Levine to record Break Up, which the newspaper describes as "a song cycle that chronicles a tempestuous affair." Yorn wrote eight of the album's nine songs, the other being a cover of "I Am the Cosmos" by Big Star's Chris Bell. The album was actually recorded in 2006, so it pre-dates Anywhere I Lay My Head. unsecured loans

The first single, the amiable rockabilly chug "Relator", is currently streaming on the album's website. Judging by that, Johansson does a better job channeling Bardot than Pete Yorn does playing Gainsbourg, but that shouldn't exactly come as a shock. bad credit loans

Loveable Rogues

Loveable Rogues and 11-year-old Molly Rainford were voted through tot he 'Britain's Got Talent' final last night.

Loveable Rogues and Molly Rainford have made it to the 'Britain's Got Talent' final.
The trio were the first act through in last night's (08.05.12) semi-final after winning the viewer vote for their performance of self-penned track 'Lovesick', while the 11-year-old singer won the judges' vote.

Molly went head-to-head with the Twist & Pulse Dance Company for last night's final slot, with David Walliams going with his "heart" to save the youngster, and Alesha Dixon opting for the dancers who she said she felt "emotionally invested" in.

Amanda Holden also chose the dance group, but show chief Simon Cowell sent the decision to deadlock after deciding Molly had the "most potential". unsecured loans

After hosts Ant & Dec announced Molly had received more public votes and was therefore through to the final, she said: "It's just amazing. I can't believe it. I want to thank [the voters] so much, without them I wouldn't be in the final."

After Loveable Rogues had performed, Simon appeared to hint he was keen to sign them up.
He said: "It was brilliant. Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant. You have come along at the right time, you are current, I know who you should be working with on your first album, I can hear that single already.
"This is the real deal! The song is genius and you have a great chemistry."

Later, Amanda admitted she thought Simon would offer the trio a record deal regardless of whether or not they win the contest. bad credit loans

scarlett johansson tragus piercing

Recently Scarlett Johansson signed up to film The Other Boleyn Girl with bad credit loans Natalie Portman and last year she showed her septum piercing in which she is wearing a very thin jewelry. It was not her new piercing rather she has her multi-earlobe and tragus piercing. Alike belly button piercing even tragus piercing is gaining popularity in the world of body piercing. She got her tragus piercing in 2005 followed by septum piercing in 2006 and I am hoping to cover a news on her new piercing in 2007. unsecured loans

Eurovision

Hello. Yes, it’s been a while, hasn’t it? But the arrival of May heralds the Coming of the Contest and Twitter just isn’t up to the task of telling all I have to tell about this year’s Eurovision.

My pre-show pontificating is divided into three posts: one for each semi-final (of which, you will correctly surmise, there are two) and one for the final. On your behalf, I’ve endured all of this year’s songs and compiled some brief thoughts. I’ve linked the country name to the song’s video on the official Eurovision YouTube channel to make it as easy as possible for you to agree with me (or disagree, if you’re crazy).
As has been the case for a few years now, the large number of participating countries means we’re treated to semi-finals in order to whittle the songs down to a barely manageable final. Fear not: the UK’s financial contribution to the competition means we never have to go through the indignity of being knocked out in the first round. We’ll be voting for the songs in second semi-final, so we’ll only get to cast formal judgement on these if they make it through to the big event, which is being held in Azerbaijan on Saturday 26th May. In some cases, I really hope we’re spared.

So, without further ado, let’s take a look at the countries who’ve been drawn in the first semi-final.

The Good

The ones I liked and hope to see get through to the next stage, in alphabetical order:

• Greece have a strong track record of memorable, up tempo Eurovision entries and this is very much in that vein. It’s almost Eurovision by numbers – pick a one word title (in this case the suitably exotic sounding Aphrodisiac) and contrive a song around it – with the musical production updated for 2012. I’m not complaining: this is surely one for the final and it’s the only one of the entrants to lodge itself unbidden inside my head.
• Next up is Maureen Lipman‘s favourite Eurovision country: Hungary. This one keeps just on the right side of über earnest and I really like the musical production (though how that will translate on the night is anyone’s guess). The last Hungary song I liked was Dance With Me in 2009 and that sank without a trace, so I’m hoping for better luck this time.
• Iceland will hope to put European prejudices against ash clouds and defaulting banks behind them, and with Never Forget they may. I rather like the video, with its Icelandic scenescape, but more importantly I like the song. I’m a sucker for atmospheric strings, syncopated percussion and a male-female counterpoint – even if there is a touch of Evanescence to it. Since they then add a sudden silence (which I hope survives in the live version) and a key change, I’d put this straight through to the final. (You may remember Jónsi’s cheekbones from such Eurovisions as 2004, where he performed 19th-placed power ballad Heaven.)
• Ireland – I’d never heard Jedward sing before last year’s contest, having not seen whichever talent show from which they emerged, and this year they’re back for a second helping of Eurovision. Waterline feels like it’s fallen off a Stock, Aitken and Waterman landfill of leftover pop songs, but that’s by no means a bad thing. It could do well – although I wouldn’t be surprised if the twins’ live performance falls short of the recorded version, which could impact on their chances. Either way, it needs to accompany a training montage in a 1980s action film as soon as possible.
• Moldova – It’s cheesy as sin – worse, it’s cheesy as actual cheese – but it’s one of many songs in this first semi-final with a winning cheerfulness that keeps the whole thing bouncing along quite happily. A nice instrumental in the middle and a ska jazz feel make it a keeper.
• Romania – Bagpipes, drums and accordion are all part of Zaleilah‘s charm. I suspect the lyrics mean nothing of note but this is a bit of light fun and begs to be served with rum.

The Bad

There’s a disappointing dearth of truly terrible entries this year – I don’t know what the other countries think they’re playing at – but there are certainly some songs I’d like to see taken down the knacker’s yard and put out of our misery. For example…

• Austria – Yes, they are genuinely using the band name Trackshittaz. To their credit, it’s an appropriate name, because, to their deficit and excuse mon français, the track is utterly shit. Awful, shouty rubbish. Still, sung in German, “Woki mit deim Popo” sounds rude, so at least that’s entertaining.
• Denmark – I’ve often loved overlooked Danish entries (and pastries, for that matter), and now that we all love The Killing and Borgen, could it be Denmark’s year? No, no it won’t. Soluna Samay is so middle of the road, her only chance of creating excitement is if she trips over the cat’s eyes. Tiresome.
• Latvia – Oh cripes: it’s a Eurovision song about recording a song for Eurovision, and its winning no fans here with the lyric “I was born in distant 1980″. A Eurovision fan friend asked me a few weeks ago whether singer Anmary was in on the joke. I really hope so. Yes, it’s catchy, but so’s smallpox. If the lyrics were in foreign, this might be passable – as it is, it’s hideous and deserves to be burned. Right now.
• Russia – The Eurovision gays won’t be in any hurry for Russia to host the contest again so this dreadful chorus line of singing grannies could be perfect news, if only we didn’t have to listen to it. That said, it does run the major risk of picking up a shedload of “ironic” votes from across the continent. The dancing is only marginally more co-ordinated than Pan’s People, the singing is less tuneful than Jemini and the song itself is dire, so anything could happen. bad credit loans
• San Marino – “Do you wanna be more than just a friend? Do you wanna play cybersex again? If you wanna come to my house then click me with your mouse.” Those lyrics alone tell you all you need to know about the horror that is The Social Network Song. Someone’s noticed that the internet’s a thing and decided to write a sub-Whigfield pun-laden Eurovision entry about it – and then autotuned it to death. And the social networks have spoken: its YouTube Dislikes are outnumbering its Likes by more than three to one. “Oh oh – uh – oh oh” indeed.

The Ugly

Some songs defy categorisation, and they’re the ones I’ve included in this category:

• Sometimes Israel give us a stonking pop song; sometimes it’s a terribly worthy ballad about how good it would be if everyone just got along; and sometimes it’s just bizarre. This time it’s a kitch number that sounds like it’s fallen through time from one of those 1970s Top of the Pops they show on BBC Four to save them making new programmes. It’s too jolly to actively dislike but Slade were never my scene and I don’t like Star Wars. (I do like Star Wars.)
• Montenegro will open the show with Euro Neuro and we start as we might hope to go on: bonkers. It’s a strange fusion of folk instruments, funky beat and monotonous rapping, like an Eastern European Cake, and there is clear evidence the lyricist got drunk and made a series of ill-advised bets with a rhyming dictionary. For all that, the chorus is memorable (for the duration of the song).

The Rest

The remaining songs were neither particularly good, nor particularly bad. The word “meh” is frowned upon, so we’ll just call them “the rest”:

• Albania – I spent two of this song’s three minutes waiting for it to start. It eventually did (complete with some epic shrieking), but that’s not making the best use of the allocated stage time. The video’s worth a look: a woman with her legs in a box; two children drawing chalk lines on a wall; a weird bird mask; a tealight on a record player. I’m not saying Rona Nishliu doesn’t have good hair – I’ve got nothing against the hair – but I am saying this song could be better. On the other hand, it also could be worse. UNsecured loans
• Belgium – When the drums came in a third of the way through, I was hoping this was going to turn into a big number. Instead, it just carried on as before but with drums. Sorry, Iris: this may still be better than most of whatever the kidz listen to today, but you’re no Sergio & The Ladies.
• Cyprus – Here comes the Eurodance. That’s pretty much all you need to know, and being the only track from that oeuvre in the semi, it should corner the market. It’s not bad, although nothing special for the genre – it would play quite happily in a club in Ibiza or Gran Canaria or Frinton or wherever it is one goes to take E and dance topless these days. As the title La La Love suggests, there are a lot of la la la la las – and then it abruptly stops because its three minutes are up. NB: the video appears to feature Catherine Zeta Jones being chased by Tracy Scoggins in a funny hat.
• Finland – Interestingly, this is sung in Swedish. (Look, it’s interesting to me. So Suomi.) I don’t understand a word but I’m sure it’s very poetic. The song has a pleasant, gentle melody and Anna Friel did an OK job singing it, but I can’t see it sparking a riot at Our Price or overloading the phone voting lines.
• Switzerland – Sinplus, the first rock band in this year’s contest, offer a less than subtle “follow your dreams” message. Unbreakable isn’t breaking any new ground – who is it I’m reminded of? Snow Patrol? The Pigeon Detectives? – but it fills three minutes without complaint and as the only guitar band in this semi-final, they stand a good chance of getting through. Of course, when it comes to the voting, I expect Switzerland to give everybody two points.

That’s not a bad line-up, I’d say, so expect a watchable semi-final on Tuesday 22nd May. Were we phone voting for this programme, I’d be calling up to vote for Iceland and Hungary.

Patrick Wolf interview

The sun-dappled roof garden of Camden’s Koko feels like an apt location in which to chat with Patrick Wolf about his latest album. Named Lupercalia after a pagan fertility festival held to purify the city, Patrick’s fifth release sees him at his most optimistic, dealing largely with themes of love and contentment. Fittingly for a pop star promoting a record titled after a seasonal celebration, much in Patrick’s life seems to have come full circle; as we meet he is excitedly preparing to perform songs written about his boyfriend William in the venue where they first met at a party three years ago, and while his last album saw him lamenting that “I'm not gonna marry in the fall, and I'm not gonna marry in the spring, I'll never marry, no one will wear my silver ring”; today he is engaged. To see the stark contrast between the moods of this album and his last, you only need look as far as the videos for their prospective lead singles. Vulture saw Patrick trussed up in leather bondage imploring the listener to ‘take my dead meat’, while new single The City features him frolicking in the Santa Monica surf, surrounded by a similarly jubilant cast. Break out the bunting: Patrick Wolf is happy.

It hasn’t always been so. If Lupercalia is about romantic hopefulness, the inspirations for Patrick’s previous albums have been darker. He’s sung about everything from pedophilia to Satanism, and his follow-up to 2009’s The Bachelor was originally conceived as a concept album about conquering personal demons, ‘but I didn’t want to do that because Lycanthropy was about that, and Wind In The Wires and The Bachelor were also about struggle. It was like, Patrick, what are you doing repeating yourself again and again? There’s a certain point that you have to let go and become a new person.’ It is this new Patrick who greets us today.

What’s influenced this new optimism?

I think that it’s a mixture of being in love and turning 27 and being more secure within myself and knowing a bit more about the world. I actually met William, my fiancé, here at Koko. We met on the first balcony and it was love at first sight. I think 27 is an age where you really do have to take a look at your life and then readdress what you want to do with your future. It’s a real sea-change moment. I was very happy at the same time that I had someone with me who also wanted to go forward and create a future together.

What are you like as a boyfriend?

Hard work!

How come?

I don’t stop working, I never stop writing. It’s like that great Hidden camera song music is my boyfriend – they might get jealous of the other half of me, which is my music. I spend so much time with it. I barely sleep if I’m writing, so that might be hard work. But I’m better now. I brush my teeth now!

Was William aware of you as a pop star when you met? In the past has your persona meant that boys have preconceived notions of what it would be like to go out with Patrick Wolf?
He’s definitely not sycophantic at all. A lot of my friends are either people I went to school with of people who I met when I was thirteen or fourteen and was doing gigs. I find it quite hard to make friends, because I prefer it when people almost hate my music. Then I can just be a human and talk about life. Then again, I do like it when my friends like my music!

A lot of your lyrics in the past have been very fantastical, but this album feels more domestic. Why do you think that is?
All my other albums are very much about travelling and escapism and running away from yourself, running away from other people, and this is just very much ‘I’m home, lets look at the world around me, us, and the future.’ I haven’t felt this way since I was 10-years-old in terms of having roots and having a house and a home. I’m through with being solipsistic and lonely. I’ve decided that that’s not where I want to be. For now I’m going to be surrounded by the world around me. It’s an interesting moment in my life – but it’s all about to change because now I’m on tour.

Is it right that some of the darkness on the last album came about as a result of some of the difficulties you had touring with the Magic Position album beforehand?

I think it came about through being single and gay on tour. I’m quite shy and I don’t go out really, I party with my band and stuff, but I felt like I would never meet anybody. Also, being a different type of gay man, a lot of the time I felt marginalized as being the weirdo anyway. I wrote The Bachelor for anybody that feels they are unloved in the world, that’s how I felt.

This album sees you with a new perspective, because you’re getting married – what can we expect from Patrick Wolf’s wedding? We’re guessing not a registry office with matching three-piece suits.

We grow up with a traditional idea of a marriage in a church, but I can’t do it in a church. I definitely want something very nature orientated. We want to make our own church somewhere. We have plans but I don’t want to give them away. I’ve put everything off for a while because I need to focus on my album and I think that marriage and a record at the same time are two big responsibilities, so it would be unfair if I was fitting it in around festivals. It might be a very long engagement.

You’ve spoken about how you were quite badly bullied at school, what did you make of the It Gets Better campaign?

Unfortunately I was at school while section 28 was really very powerful, so nobody would talk about being gay other than as part of a joke or something to be bullied about. I turned 18 just as the age of consent was lowered to 16, so I seem to have grown up through some of the workings of liberation. It’s a real shame that there was no-one there to help me. I thought those videos were amazing. If I had had the internet when I was younger I probably would have been able to talk to people about these things. When I was growing up there weren’t any messages of support in the media, even Queer As Folk happened when I was seventeen. Anything like that is amazing. For me it’s not just about the UK, it gets way darker and deeper into the Middle East. That really breaks my heart, and the internet is wonderful that you can get a message out to anybody anywhere in the world that they’re OK.

You notoriously refused the record company’s wish to have your third album produced by Mark Ronson – what happened there?

I ran into him on the street with friend of a friend and invited him down to my studio. It was then that the label went mental and were like ‘OK, you should work together.’ We both actually really wanted to work with each other, but my relationship with the label was on the rocks anyway at that time so it was just a nuts time. I was on the rocks with myself, I was a bit mental. It was just bad timing.

How were you a bit mental?

I was self-medicating, drinking, partying. I didn’t have grip with normality. It was classic pop star syndrome – get off the tour bus, back to your two-bedroom flat, one of them is filled with boxes from the flat you never moved out of because you were on tour. All your friends have forgotten you, exist because you’ve been on the road for four years, you don’t have a partner, you haven’t had sex for a year and you’re kind of going mental. unsecured loans

Lots of the theatrical elements of your previous albums have extended to your costumes, but it feels like as your lyrics have become less whimsical so have your outfits. Is that a conscious decision?

I always want to feel like I’m adding something new. I think the whole theatre within music is not new right now, it’s not really the future for me. The future is what hasn’t happened. I think that what Lady Gaga is doing is fantastic. It’s there, it’s part of culture now. It’s like ‘bread’ ‘eggs’ ‘Lady Gaga’. It’s now totally establishment and that’s wonderful, but I’m anti-establishment in a way and I feel like I need to be doing something new and different. For me right now I would like people to maybe be focusing again on my music again. bad credit loans

You’ve spoken before about your relationships with men and women, do you feel like there’s a lot of gay people who are suspicious of bisexuality?

I can understand why they get upset by it. I’m so confused by a lot of gay culture. Within LGBT there’s this sort of hatred towards lesbians or rivalry between all the different tribes of gay. A sense of unity needs to come back into the LGBT community, the idea that we should all support and like each other. Open-mindedness about sexuality would be really wonderful. When I lived with [Patrick’s last partner] Ingrid it was an art affair, it was a love affair. Love and sex are two very different things and I think you can have a love affair with a woman as a gay man. I have experimented with all types of sexuality, but I would say that, getting to know myself, I’m definitely a gay man. But I wouldn’t rule out falling in love with anything in the world. You have to have that wonder for life. Life can be complex and exciting, and I think it always should be.

Which song are you most looking forward to performing later?

Slow Motion. I’m going to play it for William. It’s the most romantic song on the album, and the most musically complex and experimental. It sums up the last few years. The slow motion of depression and this idea of life slowing down and not being as fast as it used to be, and then halfway through the song I got out of the house and got dressed properly, came to this party and fell in love. And falling in love is the most wonderful drug in the world. It feels like slow motion, like you’re tumbling down a rabbit hole into a beautiful place. Two slow motions in one song.