On the Charts: Taylor Swift Breaks Ke$ha's Record

WINNER OF THE WEEK: Taylor Swift. Our 10-year-old daughter has been replaying Swift's new single, "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together," repeatedly on YouTube for the past week, and it's one of those songs that is so catchy, even the throwaway lines ("like, ever") get stuck in your head. It sold 623,000 digital singles in its first week, beating Ke$ha's record for a female artist and barely missing Flo Rida's "Right Round" record of 636,000. (Of course, "Right Round" featured Ke$ha, so she's still the queen.) The single, whose perfunctory lyric video has 5.7 million YouTube views, should set up Swift's Red album (due October 22nd) as the blockbuster to beat in the fourth quarter.

LOSER OF THE WEEK: Number One albums. All they do is drop. Last week's chart-topper, NOW 43, falls to Number Two with a 32-percent sales decline (to 75,000 copies). The previous week's Number One, Rick Ross' God Forgives, I Don't, lost 27 percent in sales (43,000 copies) this week after sliding 73 percent (60,000 copies) the week before. And earlier this month, Nas' Life Is Good lost 38 percent of sales in its second week, with 45,000 copies. Maybe 2 Chainz's Based on a T.R.U. Story can break the trend? The rapper's debut is Number One this week with 147,000 sales, more than Billboard predicted.

It's perhaps no coincidence that as of August 1st, overall album sales were down three percent compared to the same period in 2011; that figure increased to four percent this week. We were feeling bullish about fourth-quarter releases a few weeks ago, but the metrics in August suddenly aren't looking good – maybe, as mentioned, Taylor Swift can pull an Adele with Red.

MORE ON MUMFORD: Last week, Mumford & Sons' Babel hit Number One on iTunes' album charts – and it isn't even out until September 24th. We can't figure out if the hype has died down or heated up since then. The album dropped to Number Three on iTunes, below 2 Chainz and Fun.'s Some Nights, and its new single "I Will Wait" dropped 34 percent in sales, with 102,000 copies, from Number Four to Number 10 on Billboard's digital songs chart. But the video has 2.8 million YouTube views since its August 7th release, and the hype is enough to push the band's breakthrough LP Sigh No More back onto the iTunes album chart, at Number 10. We were at first predicting a giant holiday season for Babel, but maybe it will more like a mini-giant.

LAST WEEK: Mumford & Sons Fans Can't 'Wait' for 'Babel'

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On the Charts: Taylor Swift Breaks Ke$ha's Record

WINNER OF THE WEEK: Taylor Swift. Our 10-year-old daughter has been replaying Swift's new single, "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together," repeatedly on YouTube for the past week, and it's one of those songs that is so catchy, even the throwaway lines ("like, ever") get stuck in your head. It sold 623,000 digital singles in its first week, beating Ke$ha's record for a female artist and barely missing Flo Rida's "Right Round" record of 636,000. (Of course, "Right Round" featured Ke$ha, so she's still the queen.) The single, whose perfunctory lyric video has 5.7 million YouTube views, should set up Swift's Red album (due October 22nd) as the blockbuster to beat in the fourth quarter.

LOSER OF THE WEEK: Number One albums. All they do is drop. Last week's chart-topper, NOW 43, falls to Number Two with a 32-percent sales decline (to 75,000 copies). The previous week's Number One, Rick Ross' God Forgives, I Don't, lost 27 percent in sales (43,000 copies) this week after sliding 73 percent (60,000 copies) the week before. And earlier this month, Nas' Life Is Good lost 38 percent of sales in its second week, with 45,000 copies. Maybe 2 Chainz's Based on a T.R.U. Story can break the trend? The rapper's debut is Number One this week with 147,000 sales, more than Billboard predicted.

It's perhaps no coincidence that as of August 1st, overall album sales were down three percent compared to the same period in 2011; that figure increased to four percent this week. We were feeling bullish about fourth-quarter releases a few weeks ago, but the metrics in August suddenly aren't looking good – maybe, as mentioned, Taylor Swift can pull an Adele with Red.

MORE ON MUMFORD: Last week, Mumford & Sons' Babel hit Number One on iTunes' album charts – and it isn't even out until September 24th. We can't figure out if the hype has died down or heated up since then. The album dropped to Number Three on iTunes, below 2 Chainz and Fun.'s Some Nights, and its new single "I Will Wait" dropped 34 percent in sales, with 102,000 copies, from Number Four to Number 10 on Billboard's digital songs chart. But the video has 2.8 million YouTube views since its August 7th release, and the hype is enough to push the band's breakthrough LP Sigh No More back onto the iTunes album chart, at Number 10. We were at first predicting a giant holiday season for Babel, but maybe it will more like a mini-giant.

LAST WEEK: Mumford & Sons Fans Can't 'Wait' for 'Babel'

To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here

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Pop Hitmaker Benny Blanco Talks 'Payphone' Success, Ke$ha's New Sound

Benny Blanco at the 60th annual BMI Pop Awards in Beverly Hills, California

Benny Blanco knows how to make a hit. The 24-year-old producer-songwriter, who first cut his teeth with Dr. Luke, has helped architect some of the past half-decade's chart-toppers, including Katy Perry's "Teenage Dream" and "California Gurls," Ke$ha's "Tik Tok" and "We R Who We R," and Britney Spears' "Circus." 

For his latest gig, the Reston, Virginia native piggybacked off last year's success in producing Maroon 5's chart-crashing single, "Moves Like Jagger," with "Payphone," a pattering earworm that features rapper Wiz Khalifa. After working with Khalifa on his latest single "Work Hard, Play Hard," Blanco wanted to throw a wrench into the Maroon 5 machine by adding some hip-hop flavor to the band's sound. "I love when things don't make sense, like, 'Holy fuck!'" explains Blanco. "You don't hear him on the song at all. I like when bands dip into a whole different genre."

Co-produced with Sweden's Shellback, "Payphone" is lodged at Number One on Top 40 radio and Number Two on Billboard's Hot 100, just one Carly Rae Jepsen phenomenon away from the top slot.  The falsetto-bolstered tune is the product of a collaborative session between Blanco and writers Ammar Malik and RoboPop (a.k.a. Daniel Omelio), who constructed a piano line and demo track that Blanco molded into a proper melody, then handed off to Maroon 5 frontman Adam Levine for lyric treatment.  

Five minutes before Khalifa arrived at the studio, Blanco laid the sound beds for the finger snap-driven portion of the jam. But Max Martin, who executive produced Maroon 5's latest album Overexposed, wouldn't let the original hook stand. "He was like, 'Yo, this song is so awesome, but the chorus should be a little different,'" Blanco says. "We wound up making it more acoustic sounding and wanted it to have an up-tempo feel, but have it still feel natural."

Blanco is also lending that stripped aesthetic to longtime collaborator Ke$ha for her anticipated new album, due out later this year. Recently, Ke$ha and Blanco hit the studio with producers Dr. Luke and Cirkut to work on a song that he describes as "old hippie rock," co-written with fun. lead singer Nate Ruess. "It's stomps and claps, and the chorus doesn't really have any drums in it, basically. The feeling is so good," says Blanco in his surfer drawl. "And then the verse just pops in, and it's very unexpected and it pops into electronic. So it's rock, it's big electronic breaks and drums."

Though Blanco relishes his solo success, which recently includes winning Songwriter of the Year at the BMI Pop Awards, he'd rather keep his team of pop technicians close. "When you're making music, it's meant to be shared with people. Sometimes, even if I'm writing a song, someone else brings a vibe. There's something different about it," he says. "If someone can play a better bassline than me, I'll let them do it. I'm just here to fit in and see where it goes."

To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here

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Pop Hitmaker Benny Blanco Talks 'Payphone' Success, Ke$ha's New Sound

Benny Blanco at the 60th annual BMI Pop Awards in Beverly Hills, California

Benny Blanco knows how to make a hit. The 24-year-old producer-songwriter, who first cut his teeth with Dr. Luke, has helped architect some of the past half-decade's chart-toppers, including Katy Perry's "Teenage Dream" and "California Gurls," Ke$ha's "Tik Tok" and "We R Who We R," and Britney Spears' "Circus." 

For his latest gig, the Reston, Virginia native piggybacked off last year's success in producing Maroon 5's chart-crashing single, "Moves Like Jagger," with "Payphone," a pattering earworm that features rapper Wiz Khalifa. After working with Khalifa on his latest single "Work Hard, Play Hard," Blanco wanted to throw a wrench into the Maroon 5 machine by adding some hip-hop flavor to the band's sound. "I love when things don't make sense, like, 'Holy fuck!'" explains Blanco. "You don't hear him on the song at all. I like when bands dip into a whole different genre."

Co-produced with Sweden's Shellback, "Payphone" is lodged at Number One on Top 40 radio and Number Two on Billboard's Hot 100, just one Carly Rae Jepsen phenomenon away from the top slot.  The falsetto-bolstered tune is the product of a collaborative session between Blanco and writers Ammar Malik and RoboPop (a.k.a. Daniel Omelio), who constructed a piano line and demo track that Blanco molded into a proper melody, then handed off to Maroon 5 frontman Adam Levine for lyric treatment.  

Five minutes before Khalifa arrived at the studio, Blanco laid the sound beds for the finger snap-driven portion of the jam. But Max Martin, who executive produced Maroon 5's latest album Overexposed, wouldn't let the original hook stand. "He was like, 'Yo, this song is so awesome, but the chorus should be a little different,'" Blanco says. "We wound up making it more acoustic sounding and wanted it to have an up-tempo feel, but have it still feel natural."

Blanco is also lending that stripped aesthetic to longtime collaborator Ke$ha for her anticipated new album, due out later this year. Recently, Ke$ha and Blanco hit the studio with producers Dr. Luke and Cirkut to work on a song that he describes as "old hippie rock," co-written with fun. lead singer Nate Ruess. "It's stomps and claps, and the chorus doesn't really have any drums in it, basically. The feeling is so good," says Blanco in his surfer drawl. "And then the verse just pops in, and it's very unexpected and it pops into electronic. So it's rock, it's big electronic breaks and drums."

Though Blanco relishes his solo success, which recently includes winning Songwriter of the Year at the BMI Pop Awards, he'd rather keep his team of pop technicians close. "When you're making music, it's meant to be shared with people. Sometimes, even if I'm writing a song, someone else brings a vibe. There's something different about it," he says. "If someone can play a better bassline than me, I'll let them do it. I'm just here to fit in and see where it goes."

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Wayne Coyne in Talks to Collaborate on Ke$ha's New LP

Wayne Coyne of The Flaming Lips performs in San Francisco.

After joining forces with Ke$ha for the Flaming Lips' upcoming collaborative LP, Flaming Lips and Heady Fwends – due out on April 21st for Record Store Day – frontman Wayne Coyne says he may return the favor and work with the pop star on her own material.

"I'm talking with Ke$ha about doing some tracks on her new record," Coyne tells Rolling Stone. Along with rapper Biz Markie, they cut a track called "2012" for the album during a late February studio session in Nashville. "We knew that she was a fan," says Coyne. "She's a lot of fun and crazy and open to ideas and she's creative. She's all these things that you don't know."

Coyne hopes to make more music with other Heavy Fwends collaborators like Erykah Badu, who teamed up with the band for a cover of Roberta Flack's "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face." I talk with Erykah Badu all the time about doing some more music," says Coyne. And after meeting TV On the Radio and Diplo this past weekend at Costa Rica's Festival Imperial, he hopes to work with them as well. "I was like, 'I'll fucking send you a track,' and they were like, 'Let's do it! That'd be cool,' " recalls Coyne, who says that the key to making unlikely collaborations work is in being open to experimentation. "Sometimes just this idea of trying makes all the difference."

Coyne is equally excited about about a project that the Flaming Lips have been involved with in various forms for nearly a decade: the band's landmark 2002 album, Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, is being adapted into a musical helmed by the veteran Broadway director Des McAnuff (Tommy, Jersey Boys). The production will finally debut in November at California's La Jolla Playhouse. "It's insane to think a group like the Flaming Lips are now being brought into (musical theater) by one of the most respected and successful people to ever fuck with it," Coyne says. "It's pretty amazing!"

Coyne first met McAnuff about a year after Yoshimi was released, and he says the director was visibly impacted by its emotional arc. "You could see him tearing up," Coyne remembers. "I was like, 'This motherfucker's really into this!" The two men would reconvene over the next several years to flesh out the adaptation and meet with several potential writers, including Academy Award-winner Aaron Sorkin. Coyne recalls a meeting five years ago when Sorkin suggested that the musical be a "retelling of the 9/11 story. "I said, 'I hate George Bush, I don't want him to have anything to do with Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots,'" Coyne recalls – although he now regrets shooting down the idea so quickly. "One of the greatest living writers of our time, and I'm saying, 'No, I don't like your idea?' Why wasn't I open to that?" says Coyne. McAnuff ultimately took over writing duties himself.

In its finished version, the musical chronicles a young Japanese artist, Yoshimi, who journeys alone into a robot world and and fights for her life against evil forces. Nearly the entire Lips catalog, including deep cuts and B-sides, has been incorporated into the musical. And while Coyne was central to the project, he doesn't view it as his own. "It's (McAnuff's') thing. It will probably speak more about his imagination than it will mine," Coyne says. "I've had some influence…but mostly for the bad."

To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here

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Wayne Coyne in Talks to Collaborate on Ke$ha's New LP

Wayne Coyne of The Flaming Lips performs in San Francisco.

After joining forces with Ke$ha for the Flaming Lips' upcoming collaborative LP, Flaming Lips and Heady Fwends – due out on April 21st for Record Store Day – frontman Wayne Coyne says he may return the favor and work with the pop star on her own material.

"I'm talking with Ke$ha about doing some tracks on her new record," Coyne tells Rolling Stone. Along with rapper Biz Markie, they cut a track called "2012" for the album during a late February studio session in Nashville. "We knew that she was a fan," says Coyne. "She's a lot of fun and crazy and open to ideas and she's creative. She's all these things that you don't know."

Coyne hopes to make more music with other Heavy Fwends collaborators like Erykah Badu, who teamed up with the band for a cover of Roberta Flack's "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face." I talk with Erykah Badu all the time about doing some more music," says Coyne. And after meeting TV On the Radio and Diplo this past weekend at Costa Rica's Festival Imperial, he hopes to work with them as well. "I was like, 'I'll fucking send you a track,' and they were like, 'Let's do it! That'd be cool,' " recalls Coyne, who says that the key to making unlikely collaborations work is in being open to experimentation. "Sometimes just this idea of trying makes all the difference."

Coyne is equally excited about about a project that the Flaming Lips have been involved with in various forms for nearly a decade: the band's landmark 2002 album, Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, is being adapted into a musical helmed by the veteran Broadway director Des McAnuff (Tommy, Jersey Boys). The production will finally debut in November at California's La Jolla Playhouse. "It's insane to think a group like the Flaming Lips are now being brought into (musical theater) by one of the most respected and successful people to ever fuck with it," Coyne says. "It's pretty amazing!"

Coyne first met McAnuff about a year after Yoshimi was released, and he says the director was visibly impacted by its emotional arc. "You could see him tearing up," Coyne remembers. "I was like, 'This motherfucker's really into this!" The two men would reconvene over the next several years to flesh out the adaptation and meet with several potential writers, including Academy Award-winner Aaron Sorkin. Coyne recalls a meeting five years ago when Sorkin suggested that the musical be a "retelling of the 9/11 story. "I said, 'I hate George Bush, I don't want him to have anything to do with Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots,'" Coyne recalls – although he now regrets shooting down the idea so quickly. "One of the greatest living writers of our time, and I'm saying, 'No, I don't like your idea?' Why wasn't I open to that?" says Coyne. McAnuff ultimately took over writing duties himself.

In its finished version, the musical chronicles a young Japanese artist, Yoshimi, who journeys alone into a robot world and and fights for her life against evil forces. Nearly the entire Lips catalog, including deep cuts and B-sides, has been incorporated into the musical. And while Coyne was central to the project, he doesn't view it as his own. "It's (McAnuff's') thing. It will probably speak more about his imagination than it will mine," Coyne says. "I've had some influence…but mostly for the bad."

To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here

Amazon Music and MP3 Center

Read more »