President Barack Obama has apparently decided on the tunes he’ll use to help back up his reelection campaign.
Many presidential candidates have used a particular song or style of music at rallies and fundraisers to remind their supporters of their mission or to generate popular support.
This year, it seems that Obama is asking for forgiveness and patience. When he sang the first line of Al Green’s “Let’s Stay Together” at a January fundraiser, it seemed that the soundtrack of this campaign would be about redemption and loyalty.
In 2008, Obama’s message was about changing the world and one of the most popular rally songs was “Signed, Sealed, Delivered (I’m Yours)” by Stevie Wonder.
Mitt Romney, perhaps the likely Republican contender for Obama’s Oval Office seat, has used Kid Rock’s “Born Free” and other country music at his appearances. While it’s expected that Obama will release his list of songs and promoting those songs via rallies and appearances, no Republican candidate has taken this step, according to an Obama campaign spokesperson.
It hasn’t been an easy four years for Obama but many believe he will have a surge in popularity once his campaign really kicks off this summer. The songs he chooses might help or hinder his cause. We can’t wait to see what his song list includes and if Romney or Rick Santorum also decide to come up with a playlist.

In true Madonna form, she will take that new relevancy and head to big stages all over the world this summer. This week, Madonna announced that she will hit the tour circuit, kicking off her most extensive tour ever in Tel Aviv, Israel. The Material Girl will also head to Australia for the first time in 20 years and she will play in a variety of markets she’s never played before.
While many have considered Madonna past her prime, the reality is that she is a huge touring star. Her last tour, in 2008 and 2009, grossed $408 million, according to Boxscore by Billboard. That is the highest ever so far for a solo artist and the third highest of all time.
If the Super Bowl halftime show was any indication, Madonna plans to bring a big and spectacular show to arenas throughout the world. Some of the planned venues include Staples Center in Los Angeles and New York’s Yankee Stadium. Tour organizers say there will be many outdoor venues as well, including Quebec’s the Plains of Abraham. The tour will play 26 European dates before hitting North America on Aug. 28, where it kicks off in Philadelphia.
Just before Thanksgiving Madonna will wrap up the North American tour; then she’ll head to Latin America where she’ll perform until just before the holidays. She’ll wrap up the tour in early 2013 with the Australian dates.
Tickets for the Tel Aviv and UK dates go on sale this Friday. Tickets for North American dates will go on sale Feb. 13.

Who’s touring this summer? Country Music fans might happy to know that Carrie Underwood is currently on tour and will continue for a few more months, and Brad Paisley and Brooks & Dunn are also slated to tour soon. Other country music artists set to tour include Kenny Chesney and Tim McGraw.

While she set herself as a country music singer, Taylor Swift successfully crossed country music lines into pop music in 2009 and her 2010 tour will stop at a number of venues this summer, including two nights at the Staples Center in Los Angeles and stops in Iowa, Ohio, Kansas, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York and other states and venues.

U2 will continue its highly successful 2009 tour into 2010. The Irish rock sensation will make a number of outdoor stops in the United States including stops at the Meadowlands Stadium n New Jersey, the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum in Oakland, Ca., Angels Stadium in Anaheim, Ca., and  Invesco Field in Denver.

Other headline tours this summer include the Dave Matthews Band, Green Day, John Mayer, Lady Gaga, Nickelback and Sting. Elton John and the Eagles will also headline some shows. John will also continue his highly successful Face 2 Face tour with Billy Joel this fall.

Finally, some of the grandfathers (literally) of rock and roll might be on tour this summer. Rumor has it that the Rolling Stones might head out on tour. The band hasn’t since it toured behind 2005’s “A Bigger Bang”.

“Bionic” will be Aguilera’s fourth studio album; it will be the first album since the 2006 release of “Back to Basics”.

The single “Not Myself Tonight” will premiere tonight on Aguilera’s website, www.christinaaguilera.com. It will officially be the first single off the new album.

Aguilera said that the album, which was recorded in her home studio and features a different sound, will likely surprise and excite fans. “(It features) electronic and organic elements with subject matter ranging from playful to introspective,” she said in a statement. “It is something I don’t think anyone will expect  … I am so excited for my fans to hear the new sound.”

Some of the collaborations that have long been rumored were confirmed by Aguilera. She said that the album will feature collaborations with Ladytron, Hill & Switch, Sia, Le Tigre, and Christopher “Tricky Steward”.  The album also features a ballad written by Linda Perry called “Lift Me Up”. Perry also wrote “Candyman” and “Hurt” from the “Back to Basics” release. She also penned the 2002 hit, “Beautiful”.

“Back to Basics” was a huge release for Aguilera. According to Nielsen SoundScan, it has sold more 1.5 million copies thus far and her 2008 album “Keeps Getting Better: A Decade of Hits” featuring her greatest hits, has reportedly sold more than 300,000 copies.

Aguilera recently launched her movie career. She wrapped filming of “Burlesque”, which also stars Cher. It’s slated for a fall release.

“Raymond v. Raymond” – Usher. This is Usher’s 7^th album and it features a story within the album, taking listeners on a tour of his coming-of-age story and his need to balance his life as a person with a life and his life as a superstar performer. Amazon notes that the album is “is sure to paint a vivid portrait of growth, triumph, defeat and happiness.”

“Freight Train” – Alan Jackson. This country superstar has sold more than 50 million albums and has collected more than 100 industry awards, including three Country Music Awards for “Entertainer of the Year”. “Freight Train” features the hit song “It’s Just That Way” along with 11 other new songs.

“This Charming Life” – Joan Armatrading. British singer-songwriter Armatrading is a three-time Grammy nominated artist and the only female artist from the UK to debut at No. 1 on the Billboard Blues chart. She was also the first British female to be nominated for a Grammy in the blues category. This album features 11 new songs.

Weapons of Self Destruction – Robin Williams. If you like potty mouth comedy, this disc is for you. This is a release of Williams’ 2009 show in Washington, DC. which aired on HBO. Williams covers a wide range of topics ranging from his open heart surgery to health care in America. The disc features clips from previous concerts featuring Williams; some are as old as 1978. But be warned – this one carries warnings of explicit language.

“All in Good Time” – Barenaked Ladies. This is the first release from the Canadian group without co-vocalist Steven Page. Since the group was founded, it’s won several Grammy nominations and eight Juno awards. The group can also boast of more than 14 million albums sold worldwide and a number of hit singles. This album is the group’s 11^th studio effort and features production by Michael Phillip Wojewoda.

It’s the top 10 contestants that get to go on tour during the summer, and it’s during that tour that fans are made and record buyers are born. So the first two contestants to go on “American Idol” knew that they were missing out on being in that top 10. On Wednesday night page Miles was sent home, and she understood it was due partly to a lack of good song choices and partly due to some struggles with illness.

“I had a lot of health issues going on there … bad song choices”, Miles said. “But I still had a blast, and it was a great learning experience.”

Miles struggled during Tuesday’s No. 1 hits night, when she sang Phil Collins’ “Against All Odds”, a performance Randy Jackson called “terrible”.

When host Ryan Seacrest announced Wednesday night that Miles would be going home, the judges told her she didn’t have to sing a final song in order to try and stay on the show. Judge Simon Cowell told her that the judges had already decided she would not be allowed to stay on the show, so singing for her final chance to be saved by the judges would be pointless.

“It’s not working,” Cowell told Miles. “I don’t want to give you any false hope here. It’s the end.”

Miley Cyrus was the mentor during this week’s show and she returned to the results show to sing “When I Look at You.”

Next week, the theme will be R&B and soul music, and Usher will mentor the performers.

Cyrus told the panel on ABC’s “The View” Monday that she plans to back her upcoming June album release, but then plans to take time off to focus on other aspects of her career.

“I have a record coming out in June and that’s going to be the last thing I do in music for a while,” Cyrus told “The View” hosts. “I just want to do films ‘cause I like being someone else. My music is kind of like my diary. I’ll always do that … I just feel like the music industry isn’t as positive as I’d like it to be.”

Cyrus’ career took off after she became the star of the Disney series “Hannah Montana”. She recorded under the Montana moniker and recently as Cyrus, as she began to make the move to a less Montana-centered career. Her last full-length album was “Breakout” which was released in 2008. It sold over a million copies and brought Cyrus hits like “Fly on the Wall” and “7 Things”. The most recent release, “The Time of our Lives” resulted in the No. 1 hit “Party in the U.S.A”. If the next album is a success, Cyrus will be leaving music at her career peak. That album features her much-discussed cover of “Every Rose Has Its Thorn”.

Cyrus’ “Hannah Montana” was renewed for a fourth and final season which began filming on Jan. 18. That season is slated to begin airing in July.

Gaga’s being sued for $30 million by Rob Fusari, the co-writer of Gaga’s hit “Paparazzi”. Fusari is a producer and also ex-boyfriend of Lady gaga, and he says he discovered her in 2006 and that he created the moniker “Lady Gaga”.

Gaga’s two companies Teen Love Child and Mermaid Music are named in the suit, as Fusari is seeking a 20 percent cut from each company. He says he entered into a contract with Gaga in 2006 which would give him a part of her revenue and merchandising income. The New York Daily News reports that Fusari has had other hits as a producer with Will Smith’s “Wild Wild West” and Destiny’s Child’s “Bootylicious”. He says Gaga’s companies have shortchanged him on his royalty fees.

“It’s an age-old story in the music business,” said Robert Meloni, Fusari’s lawyer. “You become famous and you turn on the person who discovered you.”

According to the suit, Fusari recruited Gaga because he thought he would create an “all-girl version of the Strokes”. Instead, he was a little thrown by the Italian girl – Gaga’s real name is Stefani Germanotta — who arrived at his doorstep and was worried that he had made a big mistake. But the suit says Fusari believed in Gaga’s ability and that he helped craft her songwriting so that she could move beyond simple dance music.

He says they wrote three songs together that appeared on Gaga’s hit record “The Fame”  — “Paparazzi”, “Brown Eyes” and “Dirty Rich Beautiful”. He also said the bonus tracks “Disco Heaven”, “Again Again” and “Retro Dance Freak” were also written via their songwriting collaboration.

When Rolling Stone Magazine contacted Lady Gaga’s representatives for comment, they were told that Lady Gaga has no comment on the lawsuit.

“Rude Boy” marks Rhianna’s sixth Hot 100 No. 1 single. It marks her fifth as a lead artist. Some of her other number No.1 singles include “SOS”, “Take a Bow”, and “Disturbia”.

“Rude Boy” took out Taio Cruz’ “Break Your Heart”, which slipped to No. 3 on the Billboard chart. Lady Antebellum’s “Need You Now” remains in the No. 2 spot. Lady Antebellum is the first country group to sit at the top of the Billboard chart since Billboard launched its Hot 100 in December of 1990. Taylor Swift, as a solo act and Lady Antebellum as a group are the only country acts to have sat at the top of the chart.

The Black Eyed Peas moved from No. 5 to No. 4 with “Imma Be”, which had been a No. 1 hit. Newcomer B.o.B’s “Nothin’ On You” moved quickly from No. 16 to No. 5 and also takes the Digital Gainer award, as it was up 77% in the digital category.

Train’s “Hey, Soul Sister”, which peaked at No. 6, had dropped to No. 7 on the chart last week but rebounded this week back to No.6 on the chart. Ke$ha’s “Tik Tok” moved from No. 8 to No. 6.

Jason Derulo’s “In My Head” slid from No. 8 to No. 10 this week. Drake’s “Over” entered at No. 35 this week, and it’s just one of three new titles that appear on the Hot 100. It’s been awarded the Hot 100 Hot Shot Debut for the week.