Christmas Gifts & Christmas Gift Ideas

Femme Fatale Deluxe

Britney Spears announces her seventh studio album is titled Femme Fatale. The iconic global superstar’s title Femme Fatale is a tribute to bold, empowered, confident, elusive, fun, flirty women and men. It’s not a conceptual album, Spears is letting the music speak for itself. She’s worked hard on it for two years and she considers it to be her “best album to date,” true to where she is now personally and professionally. Femme Fatale (Jive Records) is executive produced by Max Martin and Dr. Luke. Few artists have earned the distinction of having five No.1 debut albums, and 24 Top 40 hits. She most recently set a new one-day precedent for single sales with her current No. 1 hit song, “Hold It Against Me.”. Jonas Åkerlaund shot the video for the song. Spears is peerless among her contemporaries. Throughout the years, Britney has consistently released hit after hit for over a decade, selling close to 70 million albums cumulatively worldwide. During her 12-year career, Britney has had five albums debut in the No. 1 position on Billboard ‘s Top 200 Albums chart and she’s had 24 Top 40 hits on Billboard’s Mainstream Top 40 chart. Globally, Britney Spears is one of the top-selling artists of the past decade, dominating charts with her albums, selling an astonishing 67 million albums worldwide. Her previous albums include: …Baby One More Time (1999); Oops!… I Did It Again (2000); Britney (2001); In The Zone (2003); Blackout (2007); Circus (2008); and The Singles Collection (2009).

The Fame

When Lady GaGa was a little girl, she would sing along on her mini plastic tape recorder to Michael Jackson and Cyndi Lauper hits and get twirled in the air in daddy’s arms to the sounds of the Rolling Stones and the Beatles. The precocious child would dance around the table at fancy Upper West Side restaurants using the breadsticks as a baton. And, she would innocently greet a new babysitter in nothing but her birthday suit. It’s no wonder that little girl from a good Italian New York family, turned into the exhibitionist, multi-talented singer-songwriter with a flair for theatrics that she is today: Lady GaGa. “I was always an entertainer. I was a ham as a little girl and I’m a ham today,” says Lady GaGa, 22, who made a name for herself on the Lower East Side club scene with the infectious dance-pop party song “Beautiful Dirty Rich,” and wild, theatrical, and often tongue-in-cheek “shock art” performances where GaGa – who designs and makes many of her stage outfits — would strip down to her hand-crafted hot pants and bikini top, light cans of hairspray on fire, and strike a pose as a disco ball lowered from the ceiling to the orchestral sounds of A Clockwork Orange. “I always loved rock and pop and theater. When I discovered Queen and David Bowie is when it really came together for me and I realized I could do all three,” says GaGa, who nicked her name from Queen’s song “Radio Gaga” and who cites rock star girlfriends, Peggy Bundy, and Donatella Versace as her fashion icons. “I look at those artists as icons in art. It’s not just about the music. It’s about the performance, the attitude, the look; it’s everything. And, that is where I live as an artist and that is what I want to accomplish.” That goal might seem lofty, but consider the artist: GaGa is the girl who at age 4 learned piano by ear. By age 13, she had written her first piano ballad. At 14, she played open mike nights at clubs such as New York’s the Bitter End by night and was teased for her quirky, eccentric style by her Convent of the Sacred Heart School (the Manhattan private school Nicky and Paris Hilton attended) classmates by day. At age 17, she became was one of 20 kids in the world to get early admission to Tisch School of the Arts at NYU. Signed by her 20th birthday and writing songs for other artists (such as the Pussycat Dolls, and has been asked to write for a series of Interscope artists) before her debut album was even released, Lady GaGa has earned the right to reach for the sky.

21

Rebelution

2009 album from the Latin Hip Hopper. Pitbull is a Miami rapper who has been an independent artist and now signed to a major label. His 2004 debut album M.I.A.M.I. (Money Is A Major Issue) featured the hit single ‘Culo’ and became the biggest selling bilingual debut since Cypress Hill’s self titled debut in 1991. With five subsequent chart-topping albums and a multitude of hit singles, including ‘The Anthem’ and ‘Krazy’, Pitbull continues to blaze trails and maintain his status as the #1 Latin artist on Myspace and beyond.

Libra Scale

Libra Scale, is a monumental concept album that tells the story of the rise of R&B’s first superhero squad, The Gentleman, a trio of garbage men who are granted all that they’ve ever wanted–special powers, money, fame, women– after encountering a mysterious figure. The only catch? The men must use their powers to fight crime in their city and must never ever fall in love. Not a problem until Jerome (Ne-Yo) meets Pretty Sinclair, a vivacious, no-nonsense beauty. He quickly captures her heart. But all goes awry when after a night of passion, Pretty Sinclair contracts a strain of Jerome’s superpowers and suffers an adverse reaction that effectively drives her crazy.

Strip Me

Recorded in Los Angeles, Strip Me reminds us of the gift Natasha Bedingfield has for creating smart, substantive pop music. Writing more than 50 songs, Bedingfield, armed with an impressive production team of modern hitmakers including GRAMMY® award winner John Shanks (Michelle Branch, Sheryl Crow), Ryan Tedder (OneRepublic, Kelly Clarkson, Leona Lewis), Wayne Wilkins (Beyonce, Jordin Sparks), John Hill (Shakira, Santigold), Kleerup (Robyn, Cyndi Lauper), Danielle Brisebois (“Unwritten,” “Pocketful of Sunshine”) and reuniting with Steve Kipner, who produced Natasha’s own smash hit “These Words,” has stripped down her songs to the 13 tracks contained on her newest release. Each song on Strip Me evokes the innate desires, needs and fears which people feel in these most troubling times. Although the title of the album is provocative, the songs Natasha writes underscore the things that are important to her. Bedingfield’s message is clear. Don’t get caught up in material things. Don’t be afraid to be loved, to be supported, and to be touched. Believe in yourself and follow your heart. While the album’s theme is soulful, Bedingfield’s gifts as a singer and songwriter continue to reflect that magic spark and infectious pop sensibility that catapulted her to being the first British female artist in twenty years to score a no.1 on the U.S. Billboard pop chart with her first smash hit “Unwritten.”