Critic of Music

There is no amount of medicine that will allow me to forget this performance. None.

Miley Cyrus managed to make Lady Gaga look like Mother Teresa. She just sent the quality of the VMA's, along with her career, sailing down the East River. If my opinion isn't clear yet: This was disastrous. I demand a public apology.

With the VMA's literally around the corner, it's time to start placing bets. Last year we watched Rihanna swoop up the VMA for Video of the Year, so who will take that and more this year?

I'll be rating each artists chances out of 10, so if an artist gets a 6/10 per say, I'm predicting they have a 60% chance to win. After the VMA's, I'll italicize the winners to see how the predictions played out.

Best Female Video

Demi Lovato - Heart Attack (6/10)
Miley Cyrus - We Cant Stop (2/10)
Rihanna (Feat. Mikky Ekko) - Stay (1/10)
P!nk (Feat. Nate Reuss) - Just Give Me a Reason (.75/10)
Taylor Swift - I Knew You Were Trouble (.25/10)

Demi has the lowest sales and peak here, so why is she the favorite? Demi's Lovatics have incredible social media presence in power, so even though P!nk had the best sales, her lack of social power will be her downfall. Miley Cyrus and Rihanna also have decent stan power, but the Lovatics will trump the two here.

Best Male Video

Robin Thicke (Feat. TI and Pharrell) - Blurred Lines (3/10)
Ed Sheeran - Lego House (2.5/10)
Justin Timberlake - Mirrors (2.5/10)
Bruno Mars - Locked Out of Heaven (2/10)
Kenderick Lamar - Swimming Pools (Drank) (0/10)


Robin is the obvious front runner here, his sales along with his No.1 placement during voting are very strong ingredients for a win, along with a very controversial video. Ed Sheeran is a strong 2nd, thanks to his direct support from the Twitter beasts known as the Directioners. Bruno and JT have decent social pools and healthy sales for decent chances, while Kederick's utter lack of social support will do him not favors whatsoever.

Best Pop Video

Miley Cyrus - We Cant Stop (4/10)
Selena Gomez - Come & Get It (3/10)
Justin Timberlake - Mirrors (2/10)
Bruno Mars - Locked Out of Heaven (1/10)
Fun. - Carry On (0/10)

Miley's video is no stranger to controversy or viral success, so she'd destroy her competition, if it wasn't for Selena Gomez. Selena's video was a gorgeously shot, and less polarizing video than Miley's, while JT's video was elegant and classy. Basically, those who were not satisfied with Miley's 'unethical' take would have no problem settling for either contender. Bruno's was a hot mess (literally), but he did have success, while Fun. has nowhere close to the success of their competitor's, or their fan base populations.

Best Rock Video

Imagine Dragons - Radioactive (8/10)
Mumford and Sons - I Will Wait (1/10)
Fall Out Boy - My Songs Know What You Did in the Dark (1/10)
Vampire Weekend - Diane Young (0/10)
30 Seconds to Mars - Up in the Air (0/10)

Radioactive was a hit on more formats than just Rock Songs, so it will have a much broader appeal than its fellow nominees. The sales and ridiculous longevity just crush all hopes and dreams of any of the other bands. Fall Out Boy and Mumford and Sons have the slightest chances to edge out Dragons, but its a fairly safe bet that Radioactive will prevail.

Best Collaboration

Robin Thicke (Feat. TI and Pharrell) - Blurred Lines (7/10)
P!nk (Feat. Nate Reuss) - Just Give Me a Reason (2/10)
Justin Timberlake (Feat. Jay-Z) - Suit and Tie (1/10)
Ellie Goulding and Calvin Harris - I Need Your Love (0/10)
Pitbull (Feat. Christina Aguilera) - Feel This Moment (0/10)

Nothing's 'Blurred' about it, Robin has a crazy upper hand here. P!nk has the slimmest chance of succeeding, with Justin having a micron of a chance, but Robin should make room for a new trophy on his mantle for this one.

Best Video With a Social Message

Macklemore and Ryan Lewis - Same Love (6/10)
Beyonce - I Was Here (2/10)
Kelly Clarkson - People Like Us (2/10)
Miguel - Candles in the Sun (0/10)
Snoop Lion (Feat. Drake and Cori B) - No Guns Allowed (0/10)

Macklemore's hit is the biggest of all 5 of these contenders, so he shouldn't have to break a sweat with this one. This years inauguration crew (Bey and Kelly) have slim chances, with Kelly being active this year and Beyonce being Beyonce, but they really shouldn't hold their breaths. Miguel and Snoop Lion's singles don't even have Wikipedia pages, so they're odds are quite literally non-existent.

Video of the Year

Robin Thicke - Blurred Lines (3.5/10)
Justin Timberlake - Mirrors (2.5/10)
Macklemore and Ryan Lewis - Thrift Shop (2.5/10)
Taylor Swift (1/10)
Bruno Mars - Locked Out of Heaven (.5/10)

Typically, MTV gets it right in this category, with the best video taking home their own mini-astronaut. This year will probably be the closest year in quite sometime, with every nominee having some considerable strengths. Robin has the success and video controversy, JT has his stunning masterpiece, Macklemore have the success and a solid video, Taylor has the fan base and Bruno has the success. Even Bruno who only gets half a point could still pose a threat, thats how tight this race is. However, all the cards seem to be pointing towards Robin as this years VMA Messiah, and his record breaking year should only be extended here.

Who do you think will take home the VMA for Video of the Year? What about any of the other categories? Make your calls below!

I'm a bit done with Ariana after this, and have an unfavorable view towards Nathan Sykes as well.

I know you've had to have heard this 400 times, and are expecting me to say it as well, but yet again, Ariana has failed to move past her obsession with Mariah Carey. Honestly, Ariana isn't even her own artist at all now, she's a Mariah Carey cover artist. And why would you want to be a copy cat when you can be the original legend? This formula has worn out quick, and I'm honestly quite fed up with Ariana selling the public more and more Mariah rip-offs.

As for Nathan, the only The Wanted song I've ever heard is Glad You Came, and after this, I have no interest in hearing anything more from him or his group. His whiny, nasally tone was an instant turn off for me, and his ego was far louder than any genuine feelings her tried to pour into the song. And Ariana's delivery didn't come off as sincere or genuine either, they both sang like they were pretty faced robots.

Vocals: B
Instrumentation: C-
Lyrics: C-
Overall: D+

The studio version of Demi Lovato's new song for the Mortal Instruments movie, entitled Heart By Heart, has hit the internet in its full length form.


The song is incredibly dark and eery, even for Miss Lovato, which perfectly matches the vibe thats translated from the movies preview. It seems to follow in the path of Paramore's incredible Twilight single, Decode, with its haunting lyrics and powerful imagery.

Though I'm loving the dark vibe for it, it seems to fall a little flat. It's beautiful yes, but it is still kind of boring. Its not as arresting as the aforementioned Decode, and a far cry from For The Love of a Daughter. Demi puts as much into the song as she can, but the fairly restrained instrumentation doesn't leave a lot of room for Demi to unleash her full vocal prowess here, something that anyone that has heard a song from Miss Lovato has come to expect. I would love for Demi to experiment more with this baroque-rock-ballad style, but I also want her to be able to rip the song apart as well.

Vocals: A-
Lyrics: B-
Instrumentation: B-
Overall: B

This week has shaped out to be what will undoubtedly go down in history as one of the biggest stan wars in history. Katy Perry's Roar shall compete head to head with Lady Gaga's Applause. But who will come out on top?

Sales: [Updated 10:45 PM, August 18th]

This is the biggest piece of the formula. Katy Perry's last major debut was 2012's Part of Me, which landed at No.1 with a full week of availability and 411K sales. Exactly one year prior, Lady Gaga's Born This Way launched at No.1 with 3 days of availability and 448K sales. Another major factor in their sales is that both debuted on Grammy weekend, so they each had a few hours of Grammy sales to contribute to their tallies. In 2013 however, neither will have the chance to perform at a major awards ceremony until August 25th, when the VMA's are aired, as both artists will be performing. So, this week will be all debut fueled.

Katy Perry has the advantage over Gaga this year, as Katy's track will get a full week of sales, while Gaga's will get 6 days (Roar made its iTunes debut on a typical monday, while Applause debuted on Tuesday at around 12 AM eastern standard time).

Currently (9 PM Eastern on Friday, August 16th), Roar is still at No.1 on US iTunes, while Gaga is at No.4. On Amazon MP3, the second biggest digital retailer, Katy is No.2 while Gaga is steady at No.5.
Yesterday, Billboard announced that both songs would actually have their sales figures cut, Gaga's cut drastically. They theorized that Katy should be around 450K, while Gaga will land at a shocking 200-225K. Today however, Katy got better news, as her song should be aiming for 525K, Gaga will still be aiming at 225K.

Advantage: Katy Perry

Streaming Services: [Updated at 10:45 PM EST, August 18th]

The biggest difference between Katy and Gaga's pervious singles and this year, is the fact that YouTube is now a part of Billboard tabulations.  Again, Katy's track will get a full cycle, while Gaga's will get 6 days, as the official audio launched at around 8 PM Eastern on Monday. However, the lyric video for Applause was released at 3 PM EST on Wednesday, so this will also add Gaga's lead.

The audio for Applause currently sits at 12.1 million views, with the lyric video at 3.7 million, compared to Katy's lyric video, which is at 12.3 million views. This puts Gaga at around 3.5 million ahead of Katy (not enough to close the two to one deficit for her sales, however).

Advantage: Lady Gaga

Radio: [Updated 10:45 PM, August 18th]

Katy's track debuted at No.34 on Pop Radio, after only two days of radio play. Overall, the radio tracking week will end today, but surprisingly, Gaga has a lead over Perry of about 100 plays on Pop radio. For their previous singles, Gaga's Born This Way launched at No.6 on Radio Songs with 5 days of spins (Friday through Tuesday), while Perry's Part of Me debuted at No.36 on Radio Songs with a full week. The issue that came out Wednesday had 3 days of radio for Perry, and 2 for Gaga. However, the big head to head will be next Wednesday, when sales and streaming are factored in along their airplay.

Roar debuted at No.28 on Billboard's Radio Songs on Wednesday, a lofty entry for any song, even loftier considering it only had 4 days to accumulate the total. Gaga's track just missed the Top 75 according to Billboard. On KWORB's building chart, Roar is now No.15 on the chart, with Applause at No.25. Roar also boasts nearly than 2 times the radio spins as Applause at this point, and Applause won't be serviced to mainstream radio until its original release date of August 19th. Meanwhile, Roar was serviced on time. Perry's advantage only widens here.

Advantage: Katy Perry

Wednesday, August 21st Predictions

So, who will win overall? For me, I'm going to place my bets on Katy. She will get a day of points over Gaga, which is very crucial here. I'm going to say that Katy will sell about 530K while Gaga will sell around 490K, with Katy taking a streaming lead and Gaga taking a radio lead (she's been busy promoting radio today, as she was just on On Air With Ryan Seacrest). For next wednesday on the Hot 100, I'll say Katy will be No.2, while Gaga will be either No.3 or No.4. Both songs however will be unable to dislodge Blurred Lines, which will have a massive radio and probable streaming lead, with sales not going to be far enough behind to warrant a dislodging from the summit.

If you haven't heard either track because you were living under a rock in Botswana, check out the two here:


Who do you think will win? Comment below and let your voice be heard!