The Rap-Up: Recap Edition

After a surprise, unannounced vacation, we’re back! Here is a recap of what you may have missed. Ariana Grande’s “Yours Truly” Album Up for Preorder

The “Baby I” singer took to her Twitter and Facebook accounts last week to announce that her debut album, “Yours Truly” is available for preorder on iTunes! To top it all off, Grande released another track from the album, “Right There” featuring Detroit rapper Big Sean. Listen below!

Preorder “Yours Truly” right here. Available September 3rd.

“Get Like Me” Visuals Released

Rapper Nelly released the music video for his song “Get Like Me” featuring Pharrell and Nicki Minaj. Check it out below. WARNING: This song will be stuck in your head for the rest of the day.

New Music From Katy Perry

Last week Vevo posted a 30 second sneak-peak for a new song called “Roar”. The track was supposed to be released across United States radio stations Monday morning, but was leaked early this past weekend. So, Katy Perry gave in and officially released the song early. 

It was also announced that Katy Perry will perform the new single for the first time at the 2013 MTV VMAs on August 25th.

“Hold On, We’re Going Home”

Thats the title of a new song from YMCMB rapper Drake. It features Majid Jordan, and shows off Drizzy’s vocals more than ever before.  What do you like better: rapper or singer Drake?

Drake’s new album “Nothing Was The Same” is slated for a September 17th release.

Lady Gaga Gives Up and Releases New Single Early

For the past few days, Lady Gaga has been posting pictures on her Twitter and Facebook accounts, counting down the time until her first single from “Artpop”, “Applause” was supposed to be released. But, this past weekend, “music pirates” took matters into their own hands, getting ahold of low quality snippets of the track “Applause”.  So, Lady Gaga decided to release the song early.

Yesterday morning, Gaga had this message for her fans:

“A POP MUSIC EMERGENCY IS UNDERWAY 911 - 911 SUMMON THE MONSTER TROUPES

DUE TO HACKERS AN ABUNDANCE OF LOW/HIGH QUALITY LEAKS...WE ISSUE THIS POP MUSIC EMERGENCY...MONSTERS SPREAD THE WORD

MY NEW SINGLE 'APPLAUSE' IS OUT TODAY AND CAN BE HEARD ON UNITED STATES RADIO IN 5 MINUTES. INTERNATIONAL RADIO TO FOLLOW.

POP MUSIC EMERGENCY #‎0DAYSTillAPPLAUSE MY NEW SINGLE COMES OUT TODAY. 911 SPREAD THIS MESSAGE”

Along with the new single, Lady Gaga’s album “Artpop” is available for preorder on iTunes and is scheduled to be released on November 11th (11/11).

Credit: Facebook

Gaga is set to perform her new song at the 2013 MTV VMAS on August 25th. This will be her first public performance since her hip surgery back in February.

Austin Mahone Announces Headlining Tour

It's official! 17 year-old singer Austin Mahone took to Facebook and Twitter today to announce his debut tour! Austin, joined by Becky G, Midnight Red, and W3 The Future, will kick things off in Miami on October 17th. See the photo below for complete list of tour dates, and get tickets here.

Credit: Republic Records

The Rap-Up: New Music Monday Special Edition (Week of July 21st)

Happy New Music Monday! For this week's Rap-Up, we are going to report on some of the new music that came out today!

Baby I- Ariana Grande

Announced last Monday, 20 year old Ariana released the brand new single today, "Baby I", and we can tell you that it is absolutely incredible. That girl can really hit the high notes in this new track. Within hours of the single being available on iTunes, it skyrocketed up to #2 on the iTunes Top-10.

Credit: Republic Records

Make sure to buy "Baby I" on iTunes now!

Love More- Chris Brown ft. Nicki Minaj

Breezy is back, and this time he has teamed up with Nicki Minaj (something we have been waiting for since the "Right By My Side") to make a single called "Love More". Chris & Nicki premiered half of the song a few weeks back at the BET Awards, but this is the first time studio vocals have been released. Take a listen below!

UPDATE: "Love More" is now on iTunes! Get it here.

Birthday- Selena Gomez

Could it be that there is more Selena Gomez news? Yup. Today is her 21st birthday (Happy Bday Selena!) and she premiered some very mature party visuals for the track "Birthday" off of her album "Stars Dance". Peep the vid below.

Selena's new album, "Stars Dance" is out tomorrow.

"Slow Down" Video Premiere

Wow, yet another Selena Gomez story! We just got hold of the (mature, to say the least) video for Selena's new single, "Slow Down". Watch the video below and see for yourself. 

Album Review: Stars Dance

Credit: Hollywood Records

When I heard about Selena’s announcement of a new album a few months back, I sort of got excited. I was hoping that she would create a new sound for herself, and grow away from the good-girl Disney Channel persona.

On June 3rd, Gomez released her second single from the album, “Slow Down” (single one being “Come and Get It”), and now I knew she was creating something new for herself. “Slow Down”, to me, is even catchier then the Eastern-style “Come and Get It”. It is just one of the songs that you roll the windows down on a nice day and bump.

Now, come mid-July, I had the chance to preview Selena’s new album “Stars Dance” in its entirety. It looks like my hopes came true, it sounds completely new. She sounds so much more mature in this new endeavor, and we at Roman’s Rap-Up love it. Here is a run down of some of the tracks on the album.

The first track on the album, “Birthday”, shows Gomez’s sassy side, with her singing “Tellem’ that it’s my birthday”. It actually sounds like Selena might have been having a legit party while recording the song. Definitely not my favorite song of the album, but still really good.

Title track “Stars Dance” has Selena singing about how she would “make the stars dance”, definitely referring about her unconditional love for somebody-perhaps it’s Bieber?

Selena Gomez at 103.3 Amp Radio's Birthday Bash 2013

This next one, “Like A Champion” is my favorite song off of the album, . It has a catchy rhythm, and almost sounds like Rihanna’s single “Man Down” (especially the chorus). Selena sounds like she has a great sense of pride in the song singing, “It's in the way you hold yourself/ You gotta know you're something else/ It's sure that you've never felt so sexy sexy”. That last part is even more interesting-never before has a Disney star said the word “Sexy” in a song. Even more proof she is growing away from Disney!

The next track, “Come and Get It”, is, well, different. Just from reading the title, you know it has something to do with sex. Thats what makes it interesting- Radio Disney invited her to perform this song at their Music Awards back in April! Did they even know what the song was about? Anyways, it sounds cool. The Indian/Bhangra instrumentals really work for the song.

“Forget Forever” is a really happy-sounding track. Yet, it is a song about breakups. Selena sings, “Our love was made to rule the world/ You came and broke the perfect girl”. It sounds like she is liberating herself from whatever man she is talking about. Especially in the end when she says “Forget you ever knew my name”.

“Save the Day” is a song about Gomez spending the night with a mystery man and never wanting it to be over. She talks about how this man keeps her going, singing “Put your lips on mine/ In the burning sunlight, I/ I cant believe that my body is still moving/ It makes me feel like we're doing something right.”

A few tracks later, “Love Will Remember”, talks about how love is permanent, and how you will never forget it. But, she sings it in such a nice, sweet way. The bridge of the song brings a bit of hope, with Selena singing “Let heaven in, Somewhere in forever/ We'll dance again”. It’s almost refreshing to hear this song after listening to the EDM heavy rest of the album.

The last song I want to talk about is “Nobody Does it Like You”, yet another song about sex. The entire song she is describing how much she loves this man, and what he “does”. The pop-star sings “You're my bad boy fairytale/ Since jamming with the dark side/ I wanna be your bad girl/ You bring out my wild side/ Your eyes your lips your touch/ His talk, sadistic rush, your sexy kinda swag/ The best I've ever had”. In this track, it’s quite obvious that Selena is breaking away from her old good-girl self.

The Verdict: To be honest, I was not disappointed with the album. I liked it more than any other album any Disney star has ever come out with, and I am proud of her that she is able to make music that she really wants. The thing I didn’t like about the album was that the majority of the songs sounds very similar. Not that it’s a horrible thing, I was just hoping for a little more diversity. However, overall it is pretty good, and I highly recommend you go buy yourself a copy next Tuesday, July 23rd when it is released to the public.

Roman's Rap-Up Rating: 7.5/10

Selena will be embarking on a world tour late summer/fall of this year to promote the album. Find out if she is coming to a city near you, and buy tickets here.