Graded Song: After School "First Love"

After School, another hit and miss group of girls. Last summer's comeback "Flashback" was a hit and should have done better than barely missing the top ten. Then you have their horrid subunit, Orange Caramel, who release such cheesy subpar singles that actually do better than the groups. With all that aside, we finally have a group comeback with their Brave Brothers produced single "First Love." They've given us very steamy teasers showing off their pole dancing prowess, but does the song ZZZZZ...Sorry, I tinink I fell asleep. This was actually pretty boring, and that's putting it lightly. The production is a sped-up version of SISTAR19's "Gone, Not Around Any Longer", which sounds like a slew of other Brave Sound produtions minus 4Minute's "What's Your Name?" (Brave Brothers, it's time to stop Dr.Luke-ing us) and the vocals were pretty deadpan. The sensual and sexy were there, but at least with "Gone..." we only had to worry about Hyorin's singing and Bora's (assisted by Hyorin) rapping, but because there are seven of them, none of the members stand out vocally . Not impressed, not impressed at all. *goes back to blasting "Flashback."*
Final Grade:C-

Graded Song: SISTAR "Give It To Me"

The first big comeback of June!!! Starship Entertainment's  SISTAR dominated the charts summer 2012 with their smash hits "Alone" and "Loving U" . They furthered their chart-topper count with their subunit SISTAR19 and the jazzy "Gone Not Around Any Longer" back in February, the single being the third highest selling track this year! Hyorin, Dasom, Bora and Soyou are back together with their second full length album and its title track, produced by Duble Sidekick (T-ARA N4's should have been smash "Countryside Life"). I know I'm not the only one who though that this was going to be a cheap "Pandora" ripoff. The beginning piano riff is similar to Kara's single, but that's the only similarity as far as I know. Hyorin dominates the song with a full verse and the latter part of the chorus (no surprise there), but now we have Soyou stepping from behind the scenes and giving us some much needed vocal variation. Bora seemed to be the one left behind this time as her rap was here and then gone.  Also, the ending seemed to be a bit on the anti-climatic side. A change in pitch of the production would have done good. Still, one of the better comeback singles of the year.
Final Grade:B+ 
The music video shows SISTAR in a more sensual way then before. The girls perform in a theatre as a burlesque troupe, incorporating a lot of strutting, posing, man grabbing and even tango! The video has yet to be flagged by any Korean music stations so hopefully when they do their comeback stage, there will be no unnecessary alterations.

Lorde "Tennis Court"

A name you should watch out for in the coming months. Sixteen-year-old New Zealander Ella Yelich-O'Connor, also known as Lorde has been making a splash on the indie music scene with her "Love Club" EP. She topped her countries official chart with her song "Royals" with no major label backing and continues to make headway with her critical yet reflective lyrical content and Lana Del Rey-esque delivery. She has released her first official single "Tennis Court" along with a cover of The Replacements' "Swingin' Party." As much as I love her EP (check "Bravado" I beg of you), I hope that she plans on releasing a full-length soon (and sign to distribute internationally). We definitely need an anti-Taylor Swift in pop right now and Lorde seems like she would fit the part.

Eliza Doolittle "Big When I Was Little"

Since her recent collaboration with Disclosure, Eliza Doolittle has been more visible nowadays. The follow-up to her platinum-certified eponymous debut will come sometime this year after three long years, but for now we'll have to settle for the first single, "Big When I Was Little." The song is a bouncy pop number that has a very sing-songy chorus that is perfect for upcoming summer months. The song will be released July 28th, but you can listen to it below.

Selena Gomez "Slow Down"

So Miley wasn't the only one who released a song yesterday. Selena Gomez held a group chat last night, where she released the titles of the songs on her upcoming"Stars Dance" LP and premiered the audio to her second single, "Slow Down". It will follow the highly successful "Come and Get It" and was produced by The Cataracts. Do you think "Slow Down" is better than "We Can't Stop?"

Graded Song: Miley Cyrus "We Can't Stop"

Former Disney channel star Miley Cyrus . After 2010's mucky "Can't Be Tamed" era, Miley laid low for a while, aside from some relationship trouble, a marijuana mishap, phallic shaped cakes and shaving her and dying it blonde. Her fellow ex-Disney stars have released singles within the past two months and have been decent and given them their highest charting singles to date. Will Miley's transition from pop to urban inspired be successful? Ermmm...ok. There is more than enough embarrassing lines to go around and she sounds less than convincing when she says that's she's getting "turnt up" and "dancing with Molly". Mike Will Made It downplayed his normally trap beats and tailored it to the mainstream audience, which isn't bad at all, but could have went to someone who would have done more with the song. Similar to Avril Lavigne's disappointing comeback single, "Here's To Never Growing Up" but adds unnecessary hard drug references and a flat vocal delivery. We saw the Jolene cover, we know you can sing! Not as bad as "Can't Be Tamed", but then again...
Final Grade:C-

Rizzle Kicks "That's Classic" and "Roaring 20's" Cover Art

Rizzle Kicks released visuals for the track, "That's Classic". The song is a teaser from the hip-hop duo's upcoming sophomore album, "Roaring 20's", which they announced via social media last night. I'm glad that they are following the same promotional template as they did with "Stereo Typical", which was one of the most flawless debuts of 2011 to be honest. Instead of just serving us a single, they give us most of the tracks and visuals to go along with them. The album spawned the hit singles "When I Was a Youngster", "Down With The Trumpets" and "Mama Do The Hump", the latter peaking at #3 on the charts.
You can also check the iconic cover art for "Roaring 20's" which will be released September 2nd and available for pre-order now.