Apparently, because her first single, “Just Dance” was nominated at last year’s Grammy Awards she no longer counts as a new artist.

That sucks for her! I’m sure she was thinking no one else had a chance of winning. You guys have any other clues as to who might bring home the award? My money’s on Keri Hilson.

Image: Zuma Press

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PMS: After you guys rose to fame with the release of your single "Apologize", are there times when you feel completely overwhelmed and want a break from it all?

OR: We’ve definitely had our moments of exhaustion on the road, but doing this for a living is a lot of work, and getting the chance to do so is a lot like winning the lottery. A break every now and then is always nice, though.

PMS: How has your life been affected the most by the success?

OR: I think that a lot of the things that have come along with the success of Dreaming Out Loud have really refined my perspective and my outlook on life in a way that I definitely didn’t expect. Being able to travel so much of the world and experience life as it is for such a broad range of people or cultures can be the best education one could imagine. It’s also been enlightening to lose sleep over more important things than being flat broke or getting dropped from your record label. We’ve all learned a lot about ourselves and a lot about life since we put that out, and I can’t think of anything more important than that.

More after the jump!

PMS: Everyone seems to be waiting for your album Waking Up to be released. What’s the biggest difference we can expect from this one in comparison to your last album, Dreaming Out Loud?

OR:  Waking Up is the record that we all wanted to make. We’ve been playing the bulk of Dreaming Out Loud for five or six years now, so when it came time to write this one, writing a bunch of mid-tempo ballads or straight ahead pop rock songs was the furthest thing from anyone’s mind. We didn’t want to try and write another Stop and Stare or Apologize. We wanted to make a record that would hit harder and break down prettier and move the listener more and maybe shake an ass or two. We wanted to do something bold because we felt that anything less would be disingenuous.

PMS: What’s the inspiration behind the Waking Up cover art?

OR:  Jerrod Bettis, who played drums for us before Eddie, saw a trash can with a beautiful Jackson Pollock-looking splatter on it one day while he was walking around in Seattle. He took a photo of it and painted it with a bunch of different colors and we knew right then that we had found our cover.

PMS: Is there a track on the new album that you just felt particularly connected to?

OR:  Missing Persons 1&2 might be my favorite track on the album. I’m especially proud of that one making it on there. There was also a moment in London while we were recording the orchestra on the title track that Ryan and I almost started sobbing. We looked like little girls.

PMS: You guys recently released the album’s lead single, "All the Right Moves." What do you guys like most about it, and was there anything in particular that inspired you to write it?

OR:  The disconnect between what you have, what you want, and what you thought you wanted is a theme that appears throughout Waking Up, and it sort of originated with All the Right Moves. We’ve been playing that one live for about a year now, and I still love it every time, so I guess that’s a good sign.

PMS: Are there any rituals that you guys do before shows?

OR:  A few of the guys ceremoniously drink a little scotch right before we hit the stage. I like to stretch out on the floor and do a bit of yoga if there’s time.

PMS: As a band, are there any musicians or other bands who inspired you musically?

OR:  So many. We’ve got five pretty scattered musical backgrounds but we all overlap where it counts. Queen, Beatles, lots of Britpop, Classical music, film scores, Hip Hop, Beach Boys, Beck, etc… We listen to almost anything.

PMS: What has been your biggest challenge since making a name for yourselves in the music industry?

OR: Trying to get what I would consider good music back on modern radio is a bitch! Seriously though, maintaining a name in music is just as hard as making one. Short of being Bruce Springsteen, you’ve got to keep working and pushing forward all of the time.

PMS: How did you guys come up with the name OneRepublic?

 OR:  We played for years under the name "Republic" and then added the One to make the name more reflective of our original goal to make music that was everyone’s. That and it rhymes with our alter ego band, "Wonder Puppet".

PMS: When you guys aren’t traveling around the world or recording music, what do you like to do?

OR:  Record more music? We like skiing and snowboarding and bicycling and spending time with our families. We rarely ever get any time off, so spending time with the people we care about is really the only thing we get to do outside of music.

PMS: Finally, can you give a shout out to Pop Music Scene fans and let them know why you should by their album?

OR:  Don’t buy our album because anyone says it’s this or it’s that. There’s way too much of that out there. That being said, I think Waking Up is awesome and we would love for all of you to give it a listen and see what you think.

Images used with permission

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An official cover art for his new single, “Who I Am” has been released along with some audio. The track will be released in full on December 3rd.  This is actually not the first track to be revealed from the album. Kevin Jonas revealed that Nick would be covering the JB’s song “Tonight.”

The album has yet to be named, however, a website for Nick Jonas & the Administration is currently under way. Also, the single “Who I Am” is already listed on Amazon.com.

It’ll be great to finally get even more details! In the meantime, here is a little snippet of “Who I Am.” Let me know what you guys think!

In my opinion, it sounds a little bit like the Jonas Brothers mixed in with some John Mayer influence. I love that the music is not as gimmicky and pop tart as typical JoBro music.

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A source said, "Russell was just messing around in the studio with Katy. He was pretending to sing into the microphone and started reciting the poem, ‘The Owl And The Pussycat’, reciting some of the more interesting parts of the poems. By the title of the poem, you’ll have a vague idea of what Russell was saying!

A source also revealed, "They often use the nicknames Owl and Pussycat. Russell is ‘Owl’ because he’s wise and, well, it’s fairly obvious that Katy’s a sex kitten, isn’t it?"

It was after it was recorded that they realized that it was actually decent. According to an insider, "That’s when it dawned on everyone. It was actually really good. With work, it could be a really interesting track, evocative of The Goons or Monty Python. They were very harmonious. Everyone was transfixed."

Katy’s old boyfriend, Travis McCoy of the Gym Class Heroes, says that he might write a song about what happened between  he and her after she left him, and shortly began dating Russell. He says,  "I can’t sit here and lie and say that what went down between her and I won’t be a present on the record. But we’ll have to wait and see."

I can’t imagine what the song must have sounded like. It definitely must have been silly!

Image: Bauer-Griffin

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Demi said of the video, “The music video relates to the song in a way that a girl has so much to say to the guy, and it feels like he’s not listening, and she wants him to remember everything that they had. And so instead of having a love interest in this video, it’s all about being fierce and kind of, like, taking control as a girl. It’s like girl empowerment. Yeah, divas!”

I like the song. Demi’s got a great voice, but the video is pretty typical. Check it out below.

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The awards show will be hosted by Queen Latifah and will take place on January 6th, at the Nokia Theatre. Also, don’t forget to vote for your favorites on the official website, because it’s your vote that counts!

Check out the nominees below!

Favorite Male Artist:

• Eminem
• Jason Mraz
• John Mayer
• Keith Urban
• Tim McGraw

Favorite Female Artist:

• Beyonce Knowles
• Britney Spears
• Carrie Underwood
• Pink
• Taylor Swift

Favorite Breakout Music Artist:

• Adam Lambert
• Demi Lovato
• Kris Allen
• Lady GaGa
• Susan Boyle

Favorite Music Collaboration:

• Cobra Starship and Leighton Meester – "Good Girls Go Bad"
• Jason Mraz and Colbie Caillat – "Lucky"
• Jay-Z, Rihanna and Kanye West – "Run This Town"
• T.I. and Rihanna – "Live Your Life"
• The Lonely Island and T-Pain – "I’m on a Boat"

Favorite Pop Artist:

• Britney Spears
• Katy Perry
• Lady GaGa
• Black Eyed Peas
• Taylor Swift

Image: Zuma Press

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She says of the music video,“There’s this one shot in the video where I get kidnapped by supermodels. I’m washing away my sins and they shove vodka down my throat to drug me up before they sell me off to the Russian mafia."

Also, Gaga wants you to know that she’s been thinking about us and our pocket book, "I have been fighting with my record label because my album as a re-release was entirely too expensive for my fans. So last night I ripped it in half."

Of course, Gaga can be seen wearing a bunch of different styles in the video, but I have to ask, does anyone else find the Gaga with the reddish blonde hair to be kind of creepy?! Anyways, the song and video are odd, but you can’t help but like it.

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Leighton said of the video, "I want it to be telling a story, but a lot about the photography and the lighting and mostly about the clothes." She also commented on the song itself, saying, "This song really represents what I’m going through in my life right now."

There is no official date as to when her album should be coming out, but it’s not like she hasn’t had some great stars helping her out. Names included on the list of helpers include, Justin Timberlake, Pink, Polow da Don, Usher, Fergie, Spencer Nezey of Jupiter Rising, JR Rotem and Kara DioGuardi.

So, what do you guys think of the song and video? The song is relatively good enough for me, but I’m not liking the video much. Check it out below!

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However, after only three of Brit’s songs were played, the fans started to make their way out of the concert in disappointment at the fact that she was lip-synching. The only songs during the show that weren’t mimed were the ballads. Average cost of tickets are $200.

One fan, Amanda Hawlet spent $500 in a weekend getaway, trying to go and see Britney. She said of Spears, "I want my money back or I want her to sing properly. The ticket cost me $200 and she lip-synched the whole thing.

She continued, "It’s cost me half a week’s wage and you’ve got bills to pay, but you look forward to this concert, it’s a night out – and what do you get? Nothing. It was a waste of $200 – I could have got four pairs of shoes for that."

Also, despite the round stage, which held fans surrounding all parts of the stage, some of the fans say that Britney hardly looked their way during the performance.

Well, it does suck that they paid good money to see Britney and didn’t know she would be lip-synching, but this is Britney Spears we’re talking about! If you go to a Britney Spears concert you should go expecting to be entertained, but certainly not to hear a bunch of live performances! Shouldn’t her fans know that by now?

Image: Zuma Press

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Nick and Joe did a relatively good job, but what was up with Kevin? Some people are even saying he sounded drunk! It wasn’t a great in leading up to such an important tribute, but at least the actual video itself was pretty sweet.

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