Main Pop Girl

With the end of another year imminent and New Year's Eve fast approaching, it wouldn't be surprising if now's the time you start to stress about your NYE party plans. While technology hasn't yet progressed far enough for us to send Chris Hemsworth through your screen as a midnight kiss, we are happy to help with what we can do best: and that's countdowns! This year, we've selected the top ten best singles of 2015 for you to add to your NYE playlist (one for every hour of partying, of course!) - and from 'Call Me Maybe' sugar cube Carly Rae Jepsen to Canadian alternative rock band Glass Face, we've designed it to keep everyone happy. For bonus points, finish off your party with the annual Pop Danthology mashup, where tracks like 'Hello', 'Trap Queen' and 'Bad Blood' do battle against each other! 10. Allie X - Prime You may not have heard of Allie X, who follows in the footsteps of acts like Marina & The Diamonds and Charli XCX as pop's latest indie darling. But rest assured that once you've heard your first taste of her breakout single 'Prime', you won't want to stop. Treading the precarious line between feel good party lyrics and social commentary, X reflexively hides a message on her generations need for instant gratification both sexually and socially through a killer chorus. Just be warned: you will have this song in your head all week. 9. Florence + The Machine - Ship To Wreck Flo's latest offerings from How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful never reached the commercial heights of more radio friendly tracks like 'You've Got The Love' or 'Sweet Nothing', which is a shame given that 'Ship To Wreck' is one of her most powerful and ambitious songs to date. The English songstress has always excelled at painting some of the strongest images in pop, and this track is no exception, with Florence calling on nautical imagery to discuss the self-destructive addiction she faced at the tail-end of her Lungs release. Get ready to dance with this one. 8. Adam Lambert - Ghost Town At the beginning of this year, the most we really knew about Adam Lambert was that his killer set of pipes had gotten him far in American Idol, and that he had a penchant for penis. But with the release of 'Ghost Town' in April, we became privy to a new layer of Lambert's personality, and experienced a level of pop knowledge and talent that was almost scary. Edgier and more experimental than anything the singer had worked on before, the (literally) haunting lyrics are improved only by the expertise of the supreme Max Martin, whose heavy beats and whistles propelled the song right onto the dance floor. Have glowsticks on hand for maximum effect. 7. Mark Ronson - UpTown Funk (Feat. Bruno Mars) While it may also qualify for most overplayed song of the year, there's a reason that 'UpTown Funk' was blasted from every radio station, barber shop and boombox for the majority of 2015. Mars has always been known as a prophet in pop, predicting the newest trends years before they happen, and Mark Ronson (best known as Amy WInehouse's most frequent collaborator) was the perfect choice for his new funk and soul inspired project. If you're looking to switch it up a little, try Fleur East's 'Sax': it's a formulaic rewrite but the melody's unique enough to get you dancing all over again. 6. Glass Face - Hotline Bling Probably more appropriate for the morning after than the big night itself, Glass Face's alternative rock cover of Drake's 'Hotline Bling' is admittedly more of a "slit your wrists in the bathtub" kind of song than it is a club banger. Nevertheless, their ambient blend of vocal harmonies, heavy percussion and stunning synths draws a sad vulnerability out from the original song that make the lyrics much more effective than they were in the awkward dancing original. 5. Skrillex & Diplo - Where Are Ü Now (Feat. Justin Bieber) J. Bieb's first major foray into EDM (after the admittedly catchy 'Beauty and a Beat' which was produced by Zedd) also marked a comeback for the one-time teen star, whose overblown antics made more waves than his music for the majority of 2015. With 'Where Are Ü Now', a collaboration with dance music heavyweights Skrillex and Diplo, Bieber strikes a delicate balance between danceable hit song and surprisingly vulnerable lyrics, a formula he'd later replicate somewhat less successfully with follow up singles 'What Do You Mean' and 'Sorry'. Even those who aren't fans of the Ruby Rose lookalike have to admit this track is a jam. 4. Major Lazer & DJ Snake - Lean On (Feat. MØ) Gone are the days when MØ was simply known for being the awkward girl dancing behind Iggy Azalea on SNL. Now, she awkwardly dances behind Diplo in India! In November, 'Lean On' was named by Spotify as the most streamed song of all time, and it's easy to see why with it's global lyrics, powerful vocals and total earworm of a post-chorus. Not only did this track bring both Major Lazer and MØ to the forefront of pop music for 2015, it also sparked a sonical revolution that reverberated through the rest of the scene for the next six months and undoubtedly made Rihanna roll in her grave. Am I the only one who can still jam out to this song? 3. Demi Lovato - Cool for the Summer Before the release of 'Cool for the Summer', no one could have called Demi Lovato a risktaker. But with the first single from her otherwise disappointing album, Confident, Demi reinvented herself as sex kitten supreme, following in the footsteps of former Disney stars like Britney and Christina with a genre breaking hybrid that combines experimental pop, 90s power ballad and heavy metal. Matched with a new image I like to call "Tumblr meets sex shop", the track successfully pushed Demi out of her Disney Channel haze and into the adult world. It becomes even better when you realise the whole thing is basically about lesbianism. 2. Pia Mia - Touch It's crazy that at age nineteen, the ridiculously good looking Pia Mia already has more stellar pop songs under her low strung belt than most of her contemporaries double her age. It's equally silly that the almost amazingly mediocre 'Do It Again' blew up worldwide while the Stargate and Blood Diamonds produced banger 'Touch' went pretty much unnoticed by anyone who wasn't following Kylie Jenner on Instagram. Riding the same tropical house wave that made 'Where Are Ü Now' and 'Lean On' hits, characterised by some steel drum synths, a distorted vocal sample and an island beat, the would be hit was only improved by the super sexy video, in which Pia grinds, emotionlessly stares, and dances (rather well) her way to pop stardom. Make this happen people. 1. Carly Rae Jepsen - Run Away With Me It would have been easy to write off 'Call Me Maybe' star Carly Rae Jepsen as yet another flash in the pan after her big comeback single, 'I Really (Really Really Really Really Really) Like You' failed to make waves, even with endorsements from Justin Bieber and, bizarrely, Tom Hanks. But the second single off this year's EMOTION is pretty much everything you could want from a pop song and more. Backed by a saxophone sample that veers the song away from the dangerous bubblegum territory it might otherwise fall into, the song does what only an 80s inspired sax-laden pop song can do: it makes you want to dance, cry, change your life and do push ups all at the same time. Forget the Syrian refugee crisis: the fact that this song didn't blow up is the biggest social issue of the year, and we should all be attending to it as quickly as possible. What are your favourite singles of the year? Are you crying that we left out 'Hello', or screaming that 'Drag Me Down' didn't make the list? Let us know in the comments down below!

The singer born as Kesha Sebert has had many monikers over her short but prolific career. Debuting under her birth name at school talent shows at only age thirteen, the popstar moved to LA at age eighteen and ditched her mother's last name, adding a dollar sign to her first in a satirical take on how little money she was making at the time. Debuting in 2009 with her breakthrough hit 'TiK ToK', the artist became best known to most people as Ke$ha; before deciding in 2014 that she would replace the dollar sign with a boring old "s" to represent a new maturity in her sound. Now, the singer has taken on yet another new moniker: as lead singer of new band Yeast Infection. Debuting on stage just two nights before Christmas (as one of the best presents Animals could ask for!), Yeast Infection let Kesha return to her Nashville roots when they rocked the stage at the Springwater Lounge gig. In the secret, invitation-only event (apparently there was less than one hundred people in the building), Kesha and her boys performed a selection of her past songs in psychadelic rock form including 'We R Who We R', 'Blow' and a solo rockabilly version of her Pitbull-assisted single 'Timber'. They also performed a rare cover of Led Zepellin's classic 'Whole Lotta Love'. Imagine Kesha's vocals on that track! But we didn't have any real footage from the event until today, when Kesha posted an Instagram video of her performing 'Blow'. The other members of the band were later identified as guitarist Richie Kirkpatrick, producer Skylar Wilson, Robbie Crowell and Kesha’s touring drummer Elias Mallin. Kesha's music career has taken a back seat lately due to her extensive and prolonged legal battle with producer, manager, and labelhead Dr. Luke. While the live show must have been a triumph for the long-suffering artist, it's possible that there's an alterior motive to her sudden formation of a band. While Kesha is signed to Luke's Kenosabe label, Yeast Infection has no legal obligations to any organization, meaning it could be entirely legal for the band to release their very own album, single or mixtape in the near future with no ramifications. As such, the band could be a pretty clever guise to let Kesha's fans hear what she's been up to without breaking any laws. What do you think of Kesha's new sound? Would you be up for an entire album of rock jams from her and the rest of Yeast Infection? Let us know below!

British sweetheart and current The X Factor UK co-winner Rita Ora declared war against her label this week when she filed a lawsuit against Jay-Z's Roc Nation imprint, using California's infamous "seven year rule" as basis for her action. In a suit filed on Thursday in Los Angeles Superior Court, Ora claimed that she is seeking to nullify a contract she made in 2008, claiming that the contract violates California law and is thus unenforceable. According to Ora's legal team, the singer believes that she has been "orphaned" from Roc Nation ever since Jay-Z expanded the company to encompass ventures such as sports management, music streaming, and other endeavours, claiming that as a result Roc Nation is a "diminished" label with "only a handful of admittedly worthy heritage superstar artists" on board. "When Rita signed, Roc Nation and its senior executives were very involved with her as an artist," states the complaint. "As Roc Nation's interests diversified, there were fewer resources available and the company suffered a revolving door of executives. Rita's remaining supporters at the label left or moved on to other activities, to the point where she no longer had a relationship with anyone at the company." To make matters worse, Rita has apparently been stuck in limbo ever since 2013, when the record label switched its distribution partner from Sony to Universal. According to the lawsuit, Rita was left behind at Universal, caught in the crossfire between two major labels, neither of whom had any financial incentive to support her. Ora is now relying on California's Labor Code §2855, the Seven Year Rule, which was established in 1944 when actress Olivia De Haviland sued Warner Bros. Studio. after they continually extended her contract even while suspending her for not accepting the roles they were suggesting for her. Back then, the California Court of Appeal ruled that De Haviland could not be subject to a contract for more than seven years, setting a precedent that would help to bring down the studio system. Since then, the law has transferred over to music, with artists like Courtney Love invoking the seven year rule only to see labels counter-suing to claim that promised albums had not been made. In this case, however, Ora is claiming that she has proof that she's created multiple records for release. The lawsuit certainly explains a lot about the state of Rita's career for the past few years. While her debut album ORA was released to general acclaim back in 2012, a planned US re-release of the project failed to materialize; and even though the lead single from her second album, 'I Will Never Let You Down', was released in January 2015, a sophomore album hasn't appeared either. All this despite several high profile American TV show appearances promoting her top five Iggy Azalea collab 'Black Widow', a veritable barrage of famous boyfriends, an appearance in Fifty Shades of Grey and even a Golden Globes nomination for 'Grateful'. "Rita's relationship with Roc Nation is irrevocably damaged," says Ora's lawyers complaint. "Fortunately for Rita, the California legislature had the foresight to protect its artists from the sorts of vicissitudes she's experienced with Roc Nation."

Almost three decades after Sean Penn was accused of heinous physical abuse against Madonna, the pop singer has been forced to deny the allegations in the face of a pending court trial between Penn and filmmaker Lee Daniels. First reported way back in the 80s, Penn has two serious allegations of domestic abuse against his former partner. In one incident, he allegedly caused Madonna to be hospitalised after beating her across the head with a baseball bat. According to unconfirmed reports, however, Madonna refused to press charges as Penn as already facing sixty days in jail for assaulting a film extra and she did not wish to exacerbate his sentence. In another reported incident, Penn was accused of breaking into his Shanghai Surprise co-star's Malibu home in 1989 during a drunken rampage and telling her that he owned her "lock, stock and barrel". Reportedly, when Madonna tried to leave her bedroom, he attempted to bind her hands with the cord of an electric lamp; and when she escaped this, Penn chased her into the living room, and bound her to a chair with heavy twine. Threatening to cut off her hair, he allegedly smacked and "roughed up" the singer, before leaving her bound and gagged as he went to purchase more alcohol. He only untied her after she agreed to "perform a degrading sex act on him", after which time she fled the house and drove to the sheriffs office. “I hardly recognized her as Madonna,” said Lieutenant Bill McSweeney. “She was weeping, her lip was bleeding and she had obviously been struck.” The whole incident lasted nine hours. Penn was apparently charged by the DA with domestic assault, but Madonna asked for all charges to be dropped, and Penn ended up with just a misdemeanour. But in a new statement released today, Madonna denies that Penn ever struck her at all. Through her lawyer, she states that claims to the contrary are “completely outrageous, malicious, reckless and false”, calling Penn “a caring, compassionate individual, as well as an extremely talented actor, creative artist, and philanthropist, including in connection with his work as CEO of the J/P Haitian Relief Organization.” Referring to the alleged incident with the baseball bat, Madonna stated: “I know the allegations in those and other reports to be completely outrageous, malicious, reckless and false.” Allegations of the abuse have made the news again recently due to a new defamation lawsuit made against Empire showrunner Lee Daniels by Penn's legal team. In the lawsuit, Penn requests $10 million USD from Daniels, claiming that such remarks have injured his credibility and reputation in his personal life, occupation and philanthropic activities, and that he has never been arrested or charged on domestic abuse charges. Such comments were made during an interview Daniels gave to The Hollywood Reporter, during which he called racism while comparing legal troubles faced by Empire star Terrence Howard to those faced by Penn. "[Howard] ain’t done nothing different than Marlon Brando or Sean Penn, and all of the sudden he’s some fuckin’ demon. That’s a sign of the time, of race, of where we are right now in America,” said Daniels. “Daniels, who was on notice of the falsity of his statements and who could have easily checked on the veracity of his false statements before making them, upon information and belief, made defamatory statements with actual malice, reckless disregard for the truth, and for improper purposes, with full knowledge that the statements would be prominently published and repeated throughout and outside of the United States,” stated Penn's lawsuit. While all legal matters playing out in the public eye tend to be messy, this one is even more confusing. Despite their 1989 divorce, Madonna and Penn are clearly still close, with the latter appearing at her #secretprojectrevolution launch event back in 2013 and rumours of a rekindled relationship persistently circulating. It's possible that Madonna is falsifying the claims as a favour to her ex-husband; but if what Penn says is true, and he has never been arrested or charged on domestic abuse charges (something that would presumably be easily disproven), then it's possible she's telling the truth. Either way, given the prominence of the abuse rumours, it seems like Daniels should perhaps be given a free pass if he did indeed get his facts wrong this time.