This Week's Top 10

Here are the top 10 stories from this week's Day in Pop and the top Day in Pop digest stories

American Idol's Lee DeWyze Sets Album Release Date

American Idol fans, the news you've been waiting for has arrived: 19 Recordings/RCA Records announce November 16, 2010 as the release date for American Idol Season 9 winner Lee DeWyze's debut album.

The 24-year-old Illinois singer-songwriter impressed millions when he won America's most watched music reality television show this year.

DeWyze has been on the nation-wide American Idols Live Tour the entire summer, writing and recording the music for his debut. "I've been very fortunate to be able to collaborate with some amazing songwriters on new songs over the past 3 months," says Lee. "I can't wait for everyone to hear my debut album." - more on this story

T.I. Makes Secret Comeback

T.I. staged a secret comeback at a corporate show on Tuesday night in New York City. Here is the announcement form the organizers, Axe Music: T.I., who took the stage for an intimate secret show performing in front of lucky fans and tastemakers at New York City hot spot Capitale in China Town. Marking T.I.'s highly anticipated return to the stage, the show was filled with surprise appearances from artists B.o.B., Keri Hilson and Swizz Beatz, and T.I. debuted tracks from his soon to be released album, "King Uncaged."

To create the excitement and anticipation of the "One Night Only" experience, exact concert details remained undisclosed and were revealed in stages just before the actual event. T.I. teased his performance on his official fan site (www.trapmuzik.com) in the days leading up to the show, but the official facts – including the venue, date and time – were not revealed until hours before the show on AXE social media platforms (www.facebook.com/axe or www.twitter.com/axe).

"AXE is known for delivering unexpected and memorable experiences that help bring guys and girls together," said Mike Dwyer, AXE marketing director. "The 'One Night Only' concert series delivers in signature style by partnering with some of today's top artists to headline secret, exclusive shows that promise to be unforgettable." - more on this story

Carrie Underwood Getting Support from Sons of Sylvia

Sons of Sylvia are once again hitting the road with Carrie Underwood for the second leg of Carrie's "Play On Tour."

The trek kicks off September 25th in Portland, OR and Sons of Sylvia will be along for the ride.

Brothers Ashley, Austin and Adam Clark saw the release of their album Revelation on 19 Recordings/Interscope Records this past April, the same week they performed their debut single "Love Left To Lose" on American Idol! Revelation debuted at # 33 on the Billboard top 200 album chart and # 9 on Billboard's Rock chart. - more on this story

Justin Bieber and B.o.B To Perform At 2010 MTV Video Music Awards

MTV have added Justin Bieber and B.o.B to the performance lineup of the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards.

Here is the announcement: Bieber, who is nominated for "Best New Artist," and B.o.B, who received an impressive 5 nominations, will join the line-up of performers including Kanye, Drake and Florence + The Machine. Ke$ha and Ashley Greene have been added to the previously announced list of presenters which include Nicki Minaj, Emma Stone, Penn Badgley, Trey Songz, Selena Gomez and Ne-Yo.

The "2010 MTV Video Music Awards" will air live from Nokia Theater in Los Angeles on Sunday, September 12, 2010 at 9PM (Live ET/Tape delayed PT.) MTV will announce additional performers, presenters and host on a later date. - more on this story

Singled Out: Jason Reeves' Helium Hearts

Welcome to Singled Out! where we ask artists to tell us the inside story of their latest single. Today Jason Reeves tells us about "Helium Hearts," which was released this week and comes from his forthcoming new album "The Lovesick". We now turn it over to Jason for the story:

This song is a fairytale set on fire. It is a daydream lit by the brightest sunbeam on earth. And I was madly in love with at least the idea of love when I wrote it, seen hiding in the eyes of the ghost of a gorgeous girl. I always write when I'm burning alive. Whether it's in pain or bliss or bewildered confusion. The idea of having helium hearts is a very simple but hopefully powerful metaphor for the way falling in love seems to lift us up and away from the madness of this world. To a place where everything is as surreal and mysterious as it ever could be. It's as if we're floating up into the sky away from a city that is being engulfed in silence by flames.

We're looking down at the beautiful chaos and disintegration knowing that we figured out how to escape. Just barely in the last possible perfect moment. And I hope for this song to give people that feeling of floating up towards a light and away from any sort of darkness. Every song is real and is inspired directly from the most tumultuous and fragile of all my emotions. My songs are rare survivors from a battlefield that changes every war. They are gifts found drifting on the wandering wind. And I feel like I'm only reflected in the pool of each one of them like an illusion that could be lost. This song is for love and its miraculous potential to heal and save and revive our hearts again and again..

A little more background on Jason, he co-wrote 10 tracks on Colbie Caillat's platinum debut Coco, including the hit singles "Bubbly" and "Realize," as well as 10 tracks on the deluxe edition of her album Breakthrough, including current hit single "I Never Told You." Hearing is believing. Now that you know the story behind the song, listen for yourself and grab tour dates and - right here!

First Look at John Legend & The Roots

John Legend & The Roots teamup for WAKE UP!, which is being released by Columbia Records on September 21st. You can now have your first look at the project with the release of "Wake Up Everybody", the debut music video from the album, which premiered exclusively on the iTunes Store yesterday.

The "Do The Right Thing" inspired video features Grammy Award winning rapper Common and R&B Singer/ Songwriter Melanie Fiona along with John Legend and The Roots.

The video was shot in Brooklyn and directed by Gil Green (Lil Wayne "Lollipop", Rick Ross "Magnificent"). - more on this story

New Usher Next Week

We told you that this was coming and it's coming next week. Usher will release Versus, a nine-song follow-up to Raymond V. Raymond on August 24th.

Fans will also have the opportunity to purchase Raymond V. Raymond (The Deluxe Edition) which will contain all 22 songs from Raymond V. Raymond and Versus. The new set will include his current No. 1 hit "There Goes My Baby" the pop smash "DJ Got Us Fallin' In Love" (click on link to listen) featuring Pitbull , and Usher's explosive collaboration with Jay-Z "Hot Tottie."

Versus is an extension of Usher's sixth studio album Raymond V. Raymond. RVR debuted at No. 1 on Pop and R&B albums charts and spawned five hit singles including "Hey Daddy (Daddy's Home)," "Lil Freak" featuring Nicki Minaj, "There Goes My Baby" and "OMG" featuring will.i.am. - more on this story

Taylor Swift's Mine Video Premieres

Taylor Swift's new video "Mine" premiered Friday on CMT, MTV, VH1 and MTV International. Here is the 411:

The first single from Swift's upcoming album Speak Now, "Mine," was rushed to radio after being leaked across the internet and debuted at #1 on Billboard's Hot Digital Songs Chart and #3 on Billboard's Hot 100.

With the Hot 100 distinction, Big Machine Records' Swift joins Mariah Carey as the only female artist in history to debut more than one single in the Top 5 in a calendar year. - more on this story

Justin Timberlake, Christina Aguilera, Lady Antebellum, Salt-N-Pepa, Selena Gomez, T-Pain Children's Benefit

Wanna see Justin Timberlake share the stage with Christina Aguilera, Lady Antebellum, Salt-N-Pepa, Selena Gomez, T-Pain and more for a good cause? Read on:

Justin Timberlake and Friends, a Special Evening Benefiting Shriners Hospitals for Children event will take place at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino's Theatre For The Performing Arts in Las Vegas on Saturday, October 23 at 8 PM.

This year's concert will feature performances by Christina Aguilera, Sean "Diddy" Combs and his new group, Diddy-Dirty Money, Lady Antebellum, Salt-N-Pepa, Selena Gomez & The Scene, T-Pain and FreeSol. - more on this story

OMD Return

OMD (aka Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark) first new album in 14 years, History of Modern, will be released September 28th.

The US version of History of Modern contains the US only exclusive track, "Save Me," which features Aretha Franklin and is the album's first single.

One of the reasons OMD have called their brand new album – their eleventh – History of Modern is because they are acutely aware of what it is they're doing with this release. On paper, this is the UK synth-pop pioneers' first new material since 1996, but in spirit, History of Modern has more in common with the group's early '80s heyday, when Enola Gay and Souvenir, penned by two teenage Krautrock fans from the Wirral, lit up the charts and set the agenda for a bold new movement in British electronic music. - more on this story

CMA Awards Nominations Announcement To Be Strung Out

Fans wanting to know who has landed CMA Awards Nominations this year will have to practice a little patience as the organizers are rolling out the announcement over two days. Here is a quick rundown with the details:

Dierks Bentley and Miranda Lambert Announce Five Categories Live From New York City On ABC's "Good Morning America" Wednesday, Sept. 1

Justin Moore and Chris Young Announce the Finalists in Seven Categories At the Historic Ryman Auditorium in Nashville Aug. 31 - more on this story

Singled Out: Mayday's I'll Be Gone

Welcome to Singled Out! where we ask artists to tell us the inside story of their latest single. Today Mayday tell us about "I'll Be Gone" from their forthcoming new album "Stuck on an Island," which is set to hit in October. We now turn it over to Mayday for the story:

Plex Luthor: (Producer, Keys, Guitar) "I'll Be Gone" started with the vocoder part... I was just messing around with the vocoder and some Jack Daniels and ended up with that simple rhythm part that made me want to add to it... the rest of the intro just fell in line after that, the piano riff was freestyle one take. The verse part just came from a need to juxtapose musical ideas or moods I guess, it's more relaxed and sparse than the intro until it builds back up to the chorus so the energy of the song has a storyline. That's pretty much it, sorry I can't be deeper, it's hard to describe these feelings or musical motivations in words. These things just come out how they do, sometimes your hands have a mind of their own and they create without instruction.

Bernz: (Vocals) What's memorable about "I'll be Gone" for me was the fact its one of the few tracks we actually all kind of worked on together...at the same time! Since usually our process is layered with time in between each addition to the song, it was cool to get to the studio and hear an almost finished version of the beat already playing. The vibe was sick in the lab and Me and Wreko got to work pretty quickly. The whole time I heard it, I imagined something dramatic for the chorus. I knew what I wanted to say before I actually knew how to say it. I blurted out versions of the hook "you'll miss me" etc. etc. Till finally threw some form primitive yelling and sentence building we finally get the chorus line "by the time you hear this...I'll be gone". I hopped in the booth to reference it and what I did is actually what you hear in the final hook version.

Wrekonize: (Vocals) When we started writing the lyrics for "I'll Be Gone" I told Bernz that I wanted to do a hook that was limited to one phrase. We had been writing very big melodic pop hooks and I wanted to switch our approach. I didn't know what I wanted to say yet, but I knew I wanted it to be a short phrase and let the beat breathe after that. Once Bernz started into that train of thought about "not appreciating things until they are missing" we started toying with ways to approach that. I don't remember now how we got there, but once we came upon the exact words it clicked. We both knew we couldn't leave it at that so we started layering the choir part with a melody I had in my head that the beat really wrote for me. What I dig most about this track is the intro. When I first heard the way Plex had the intro I knew right away that I did not want to intrude upon it with lyrics. I felt right away that the intro of the whole song needed to remain as it was and stand alone. I'm a sucker for the dramatics. Either way, it ended up being a great intro for an album.

Hearing is believing. Now that you know the story behind the song, check out the video - right here

Jenny and Johnny Preview New Song

Jenny and Johnny [Jenny Lewis (Rilo Kiley) and Johnathan Rice] have released their newest single, Switchblade and are offering fans a chance to listen via an online player.

Check out the Jenny and Johnny player for the ONLY place to hear Switchblade! Listen here

Separate they are Jenny Lewis and Johnathan Rice, but together they are the Los Angeles-based band, Jenny and Johnny. The coupled duo will be releasing their debut, I'm Having Fun Now, August 31 on Warner Bros. Records. Moreover, the pair, who have performed together - but separate - before, have announced their first official tour as Jenny and Johnny beginning this September with shows spanning across the US. - more on this story

Fantasia Lines Up Media Blitz Following Alleged Suicide Attempt

Fantasia was hospitalized last week after a reported suicide attempt but she is now ready to get back to work. We received the following announcement on Monday:

With a renewed commitment to her music career and fans, Fantasia is preparing to resume promotional activities for the August 24th release of her third album Back To Me (J Records).

Fantasia will kick off her promo run with previously confirmed television performances on Good Morning America (8/24), Lopez Tonight (8/25), 106 & Park (9/8), Regis & Kelly (9/9) and Wendy Williams Show (9/10). Additional appearances include Steve Harvey's Ford Hoodie Awards (8/28) and Tom Joyner's Family Reunion (9/4). - more on this story

2010 Video Music Awards House Artist

Deadmau5 being named the house artist for MTV's 2010 Video Music Awards. Deadmau5 has also been named a "Push" artist, for the week of August 16th.

This news comes on the heels of the announcement that Kanye West, Drake and Florence + The Machine will perform at this year's show, which will also feature appearances by Nicki Minaj, Emma Stone, Penn Badgley, Trey Songz, Selena Gomez and Ne-Yo.

The "2010 MTV Video Music Awards" will air live from Nokia Theater in Los Angeles on Sunday, September 12, 2010 at 9PM (Live ET/Tape delayed PT.) MTV will announce additional performers, presenters and host on a later date. - more on this story