The 54th Grammys are on tomorrow night and is hosted by none-other than hip-hop legend LL Cool J – and if you can’t be there, might as well stalk those who are via Twitter.

We pulled together a little list of musicians, music critics, comedians and other accounts that are essential to give an inside look at music’s biggest night. Check them out below:

THE MUSICIANS:
@AdamLevine: Maroon 5′s frontman and The Voice judge is performing with the freakin’ Beach Boys and Foster The People.
@BlobTower: Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon – a Twitterholic and up for two major awards.
@BrunoMars: He’d catch a grenade for you and he snagged a few nods.
@CoryMonteith: That Canadian dude from Glee tweets as much as sings.
@Deadmau5: Toronto’s DJ with a nod and a performance this weekend.
@Drake: Stay tuned for lonely thoughts at the after parties.
@JustinBieber: An up-and-coming tween sensation that has some potential.
@KanyeWest: He’s up for seven awards and he likes to talk. A lot.
@KatyPerry: She’s performing, up for a few awards – and she’s Katy Perry.
@LadyGaga: Mother Monster is performing, up for a few awards.
@LLCoolJ: Host for the evening; stay tuned for a snapshot or two from behind the scenes.
@TheLonelyIsland: Everyone’s favourite SNL-group headed by Andy Samberg.
@LupeFiasco: Nominated for Best Rap Performance.
@MileyCyrus: She will be in attendance.
@NickiMinaj: She’ll be performing, nods for her collab with Drake and Best New Artist.
@Questlove: The Roots’ drummer that is “your favourite twitterer’s music critic.”
@Rihanna: She likes to Tweet That Tweet – let’s see what she has to say about Chris Brown’s performance.
@Skrillex: 24-year-old producer is up for Best New Artist.
@TaylorSwift13: No doubt this nominee will be Instagraming all night long.
@WizardCud: Kid Cudi might not be as philosophical since quitting weed, but remains vocal.
@ZooeyDeschenel: Fresh from her SNL-hosting gig Saturday, she’ll be all adorkable at the award show.

THE MUSIC CRITICS:
@AlanCross: Canadian music-history icon will keep us confirmed.
@GerrickKennedy: Music writer for the Los Angeles Times likes to tweeter.
@JianGhomeshi: Canadian radio personality loves his music.
@RobSheff: Rolling Stone’s resident music critic – knows a thing or two about the industry.
@RyanSeacrest: This guy is so addicted to hosting things that he’ll likely tweet as if he is hosting the damn show.

THE COMEDIANS:
@JimmyFallon: The Late Night host that’s a fan of everything – especially music.
@NealBrennan: New York comedian that is worth following year-round.
@RobDelaney: He tweets like breathing – why aren’t you following him already?

THE OTHERS:
@TheGrammys: Pretty self-explanatory
@Fave: One of the official Grammy bloggers.
@KickKickSnare: An official blogger for the Grammys – been snapping a lot of candid pics of the parties thus far.
@RedCarpet: E! Channel’s official red carpet twitter account with photos and commentary for every major red carpet event.

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Following Madonna’s stint at this year’s Super Bowl, a variety of artists have been pitched for next year’s prestigious halftime show – even famous parodist, Weird Al Yankovic.

“This is a serious case to be made,” writes spearheads Paul and Storm. “All the elements are there: lights, video, costume changes, general spectacle. And given a stadium-sized budget? It would be awesome in every sense of the word.”

In all seriousness, let’s look at the facts: he has been doing shows and putting out albums for three decades, 2013 will mark the 30th anniversary of his self-titled debut and he has parodied every major artist under the sun. Over his 30 year career, he’s left his mark on nearly every genre: Queen, Madonna, Nirvana, Lady Gaga, Taylor Swift and Miley Cyrus – just to name a few.

It would be a clean, entertaining, family-friendly show that meets all of the NFL standards.

You can sign the petition that currently holds 2,500 signatures and the #WeirdAlSuperBowl trend has started to surface across all those social media outlets. It’s time for change and we want it now.

Check out Weird Al’s substitute for Madonna and watch ‘Like A Surgeon’ below:

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Actor-turned-rapper Childish Gambino has dropped the heavily anticipated clip for “Heartbeat” from his debut LP Camp.

“I thought the best way to convey the feeling that’s in the song was to be confused ourselves,” Glover told MTV about the Kyle Newacheck directed video. The two had previously worked together on an episode of Community back in 2009. ”I wouldn’t say it’s so much a video as much as it is just a mood.”

Whatever the case, it’s bringing back those Drive-like urges to buy a Scorpion jacket and driving gloves.

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For decades, many people have been buying into the idea that sex, drugs and music are synonymous. Even The Kooks have built somewhat of a reputation based on the fallacy that they’re just a bunch of party hooligans from Brighton. In reality, they’re actually pretty relaxed people. Like anyone, they like the occasional pint and Luke has dabbled with mind-altering substances. Their key to success, however, is keeping the Rock N’ Roll lifestyle separate from the actual music. When The Kooks are in the studio they’re focused and most importantly, sober. Watch Hugh and Luke explain their reasoning below.

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Mark Zuckerberg may have a lot of friends – U2′s Bono being one of them and his stake in the Facebook stock will soon make him the richest rockstar on the planet.

The Dublin band’s frontman might not have a crucial role in the founding role of Facebook, though Zuckerberg may “like” U2, but his private equity firm Elevation Partners owns 1.5 per cent of the shares.

That means he invested about $90 million in 2009 – but, when the social networking site goes public later this year, Bono’s share will be worth about $1 billion. If you think about it, that’s some $300 million more than the current richest rock star, Sir Paul McCartney

For those of you that might think that amount of cheddar is redonkulous – remember how much of Bono’s finances goes to his many charity projects, mostly focused on humanitarian aid in Africa.

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Adam Lambert, the flamboyant American Idol alum, was rumoured to be joining Queen for a performance at the Sonisphere Fest in July followed by a string of tour dates.

As we reported yesterday, Lambert gloated to the Daily Mail:  ”The intention is to pay tribute to Freddie and the band by singing some f***ing great songs,” he allegedly said. “It’s to keep the music alive for the fans and give it an energy that Freddie would have been proud of.”

Lambert then took to his Twitter to dismiss the rumours on Friday evening:

“Oooh them clever reporters takin my quotes outta context…. I haven’t confirmed any guest appearances. I was talking about the EMA’S,” he tweeted, without directly referencing the report. “That being said, I’m truly flattered by your jump to such glorious conclusions mr journalist!! ”

They had all performed together at the 2009 American Idol finals as well as a November gig at the MTV EMAs.

Lambert’s sophomore album Trespassing is due in March.

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Chris Martin & co. are back with their latest video off their fifth studio album, “Mylo Xyloto”.

This Mat Whitecross-directed video features the chaps performing in a mysterious small venue before a lucky group of fans covered in glow in the dark paint. The fast-paced video features “Misfits” star Antonia Thomas and Elliott Tittensor from “Shameless”.

Coldplay look like they had a lot of fun on the set of “Charlie Brown”. This is probably their most cheerful music video to date. It’s nice to actually see a smile on Chris Martin’s face when he’s singing.

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Joseph Gordon-Levitt – the actor, troubadour, independent film-trailblzers and recreational musician – remember his duet with Zooey Deschenel pre-New Years Eve?

That was until his Hit RECord event at Sundance on Thursday night, the 50/50 star strapped on his acoustic and belted out an adorkable rendition of the Beatles classic. It was a part of Gordon-Levitt’s collaborative company – the event also included a reading of Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, a variety of short films and a heaping of fan-interaction as he encouraged everyone to turn their recording devices on. Most of those fans did and nearly every moment of the 90-minute performance is captured and already uploaded to the official Hit RECord website.

Oh – and he recently cleared up the definition of ‘hipster’ as: Someone who kind of dresses up like an artist but they don’t actually make anything. He added, “So all you people calling me a hipster can go fuck yourselves cause I’m makin’ shit all the goddam time. People are like, ‘You wear skinny jeans’ but these are 501s man.”

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Here comes the Son.

Dhani Harrison, the son of George (the late and great Beatles guitarist) visited Abbey Road studio with long-time Beatles producer George Martin and his son, Giles  to discover something sacred. Deep in the master tracks of “Here Comes The Sun” from 1969′s Abbey Road, Dhani stumbles upon a lost solo from his father’s ballad. It completely changes the texture of the song, not to mention how freakin’ cool it is.

It’s chilling, but doesn’t compare to the moment when George Martin turns to Dhani and says, “You’re like your father.”

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The Chili Peppers are back and better than ever with a brand new music video.

From their latest album “I’m With You”, the four rockers really get their groove on in “Look Around”. The band is known to produce the most creative and visually stimulating videos around and this one is no exception.

The bassist Flea, who’s sporting turquoise hair these days, looks like he’s having the most fun, while lead singer Anthony Kiedis cradles a young child while doing the worm at one point.

Check out the music video below.

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There’s a fine line between sampling a song and straight ripping off someone else’s artistic integrity. Imitation is recognized as the highest form of flattery – but at what point does it go too far?

Most recently, Madonna finally spoke out about her insane influence of Lady Gaga, with focus on ‘Born This Way‘ and it’s similarity with Madge’s 1989 hit ‘Express Yourself’. And in the spirit of that buzz – we’re delighted to bring you a little sampling, thirteen songs that famously ripped off others (and were pretty successful in their own right). Some of which dealt with court settlements and others were able to slip through the legal cracks. For those arguing that the likes of Hammer and Vanilla Ice had the right to sample – both were busted by the predecessors for their use. Ice even argued in an episode of VH1′s ‘Behind the Music’ that it was completely original and the sampling accusations were bogus.

Tell us what you think! Below are thirteen examples, first being the song that ripped off the following song:

Jennifer Lopez “On The Floor (Ft. Pitbull)” VS. Los Kjarkas “Lloranda se fue”

MC Hammer “U Can’t Touch This” VS. Rick James “Superfreak”

Sean Kingston “Me Love” VS. Led Zeppelin “D’yer Mak’er”

Sum 41 “Pieces” VS. Coldplay “The Scientist”

Ray Parker Jr. “Ghostbusters” VS. Huey Lewis “I Want A New Drug”

Red Hot Chili Peppers “Dani California” VS. Tom Petty “Mary Jane’s Last Dance”

Flo Rida “Right Round” VS. Dead Or Alive “You Spin Me Round (Like A Record)”

The Offspring “Why Don’t You Get A Job” VS. The Beatles “Ob La Di Ob La Da”

Vanilla Ice “Ice Ice Baby” VS. Queen & David Bowie “Under Pressure”

Avril Lavigne “Girlfriend” VS. The Rubinoos “I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend”

Coldplay “Viva La Vida” VS. Joe Satriani “If I Could Fly”

Green Day “Boulevard of Broken Dreams” VS. Oasis “Wonderwall”

Fergie “Fergalicious” VS. J.J. Fad “Supersonic”

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NBC’s ‘The Voice’ has announced that they’ve enlisted more celebrity talent for their upcoming season – this will surely challenge those over at ‘American Idol’ the most watched show on television.

According to Rolling Stone, each of the show’s panelists will now be joined by two celebrity advisors from the music industry. Cee-Lo Green will be joined by other R&B heavyweights, Ne-Yo and Kenny “Babyface” Edmonds. Maroon 5′s frontman Adam Levine will have some help from Alanis Morissette and Robin Thicke while mentor Christina Aguilera will be joined by Jewel and industry-icon, Lionel Richie.

“I trust the show more than I trust the record industry at this point,” said Levine about reality show singing contests, in a recent Reuters interview. “It is a very tired format, but in a way this is a very fresh way of doing it.”

Another mentor, country-star Blake Shelton is pulling in two reality-show veterans – his wife, Miranda Lambert and Kelly Clarkson. That’s right, Seacrest.

“I chose Miranda and Kelly because they both survived reality television shows,” Shelton told reporters at an annual gathering of TV critics. “I just wanted somebody who could talk to them about what they were going through.”

Executive producer and reality show innovator Mark Burnett admits that the show’s success hasn’t yet fulfilled its expectations. Last year’s winner Javier Colon (who?) released his album and peaked at no.134 on the Billboard 200 album chart. That doesn’t even come close to the success of “Idol” winners in the vein of Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood.

It’s impossible to predict success in the ever-changing music industry and even making a name for yourself in the Billboard chart is a huge feat. Though this season could change everything, again.

The new season of ‘The Voice’ premieres February 5 on NBC.

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Do you think rock n’ roll is dead? Well autotune Queen Ke$ha is determined to save rock n’ roll with her next album.

“I feel like I don’t necessarily agree, but people say that rock and roll is dead, and it is my mission and my goal to resurrect it in the form of my pop music,” Kesha told MTV News. “That’s the goal. We’ll see what happens. That’s a very ambitious and lofty goal, but that’s my goal.”

Ke$ha recently covered Bob Dylan, which might have influenced her thinking. “I’m really proud of that, but I have learned over the past three years of doing this that being vulnerable doesn’t mean you’re weak,” Ke$ha said of her debut. “I very much want to be seen as a strong woman, but I realize that vulnerability can also be a strength. So on my next record, you are going to hear probably a little more of that.”

So we will have to wait and see. Do you think Ke$ha can be taken seriously as a rock artist?

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2011, like any other year, was full of sex, drugs, violence and even some dancing monkeys. Music videos from such artists like Bruno Mars and Britney Spears have kept us entertained from January until December. Here at andPOP, we can’t wrap up a fantastic year without discussing our top ten music videos.

10. Dr. Dre and Eminem – “I Need a Doctor” 

Dr. Dre’s first official single in over a decade and we love how the video walks us through the rapper’s life.

9.  Beyonce – “Countdown”

This video would have been much higher on the list if the song wasn’t so brutal to listen too, not to mention a blatant rip-off of over music videos from the past.

8. Bruno Mars – “The Lazy Song” 

We love how this dance sequence with the monkeys was all done in one shot. It must have taken Bruno and the gang a few tries before getting it perfect.

7. Britney Spears – “Criminal” 

We see Britney in a whole new light with this video. We also see her in some compromising positions with her real-life fiance, Jason Trawick. Hot, hot hot!

6. Cher Lloyd – “With Ur Love” 

This gets placed in sixth for being incredibly cute and PG.

5. LMFAO – “Party Rock Anthem”

What song makes us want to dance out in the streets than this one by LMFAO? They definitely put the ‘party’ in ‘party rock anthem’ with this wild dance video.

4. Lady Gaga – “Marry the Night”

The first video Gaga directed independently may not make much sense but damn, you just can’t take your eyes off of it.

3. Katy Perry – “Last Friday Night”

This music video reminds us of all the cheesy romantic comedies from the ’80s. This is also the only place you’d ever see Katy rockin’ a neck brace and neon spandex.

2. Rihanna – “We Found Love”

We found lots of controversy surrounding this Rihanna video. It’s quite ironic how similar the actor in the video looks to her ex, Chris Brown.

1. Amy Winehouse and Tony Bennett – “Body and Soul”

Seeing as it’s the last video we’d ever see from the soul singer, it takes the cake for best video of 2011. Amy’s collaboration with Tony Bennett sounds incredibly beautiful and is a great way to remember her.

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The Foo Fighters rock so much they actually caused a tremor in New Zealand.

During their concert at Western Spring, the ground was shaking three times per second in a nice rhythmic motion, a geologist says. The cause was most likely due to the weight of the 50,000 fans dancing on the ground.

BBC News reports its very similar to a volcanic tremor found on Mount Ruapehu and White Island.

As much as this could have turned into a great disaster for everyone at the concert, lead singer Dave Grohl must be reading this with a smirk on his face. No other bands have ever caused such an activity.

The band certainly brings new light to that classic song that goes,”I feel the earth move, under my feet…”

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If you take away the autotune, mass production, and all that pop fluff,  you’ll find that Ke$ha is actually a really good singer.

For Amnesty International’s upcoming Bob Dylan compilation album, “Chimes of Freedom”, Ke$ha takes the blues song “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right” and makes it her own. She performs an a cappella version and if you listen closely, towards the end, you can actually hear her cry.

When you think about it, she’s not the most ideal candidate to cover such a treasured folk singer, but the compilation album features a lot of unique choices, such as Miley Cyrus, Adele, Jack’s Mannequin and Maroon 5.

You can stream the entire “Chimes of Freedom” album on the Amnesty International USA Facebook page. You can also just listen to Ke$ha’s cover below.

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Adele continues to roll in the praise by making Billboard history as the first female singer to top the artist, album and singles list in the same year.

The 23-year-old  Brit beat out Rihanna, Katy Perry and Lady Gaga in the American magazine’s prestigious Best Artist and No.1 Billboard 200 Album (with ’21′). She fought off the likes of LMFAO’s Party Rock Anthem and Katy Perry’s Firework to become top single with ‘Rolling in the Deep’. Although, it’s really a no-brainer.

Tye Corner, editor over at Billboard.com, said that “her success is really inspiring because it shows that there is still room in the music industry for an artist to make it with true, raw talent.

“It’s not necessarily always about the outrageous outfits or flashy videos, but an amazing voice coupled with the right song still has the ability to turn the ears of millions of people and keep them interested.”

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Canada’s not only a leader in premium maple syrup and the most tender, crispiest back bacon, we’re masters of the Billboard music scene.

According to the Billboard Hot 200 Charts, four of the top five positions on the Billboard Chart are held by Canadians. Not too shabby for a country that repeatedly gets made fun of for “being too nice”. It’s a-boot time Americans paid more attention to our fine exports.

Michael Buble’s “Christmas” album reigns in the top spot. Justin Bieber’s “Under the Mistletoe” is in third place. Drake’s “Take Care” is holding steady at four while Nickelback rounds out the top 5 with “Here and Now”.

Ah, if it weren’t for Adele maybe we could have finally had all top 5 positions to a Canuck. She’s interrupting the Canadian flow by being in second place with “21″.

Such achievement has never been made by Canadians. Canadian broadcaster Alan Cross commented on this phenomenon, saying, “earlier this year I think there were three in the top ten, but never four in the top five. Canadians continue to punch above their weight.”

Let’s hope this Canadian momentum will last enough to take us in to the new year.

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The most hyped up band of 2011 has now covered another band with a lot of hysteria to their name.

Foster the People, who brought us the most overplayed song of the year with “Pumped Up Kicks”, take on the Strokes’ lesser known played track “Macchu Picchu”. Perez Hilton was one of the first sites to post the song.

The Strokes were considered the quintessential hipster band for many years until Foster the People took the radio by storm. During an appearance on BBC Radio 1, the California trio took “Macchu Picchu” and made it their own with more synth and reggae flavour.

Have a listen of the poppy rendition posted below.

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I’d obviously find it strage if Hanson were to launch a line or perfumes or handbags, given  the fact that they’re girls. So, I guess the manliest form of a money grab would be to launch your own beer.

NME reports the three brothers from Tulsa Oklahoma, who have been making music since the ’90s, will release an Indian pale ale called “MMMhop” next year. It’s obviously named ater their 1997 smash hit “MMMbop”. That song is seriously catchier than anything any cast member of Jersey Shore’s ever gotten.

Drummer Zac Hanson spoke out at the Oxford Union two days ago, saying “it’s vital our fans trust in everything Hanson do. We are soon going to be selling our own beer. I’m not joking – Mmmhop IPA anyone?”

The southern brothers have launched other products in the past, but Zac promises nothing too questions will ever be released under their name.

“We have a board game and even a record player to play our last record on, but we will never make dolls, lunch boxes or toothbrushes that play our songs for example,” he says. Hallelujah!

If anything, I hope Hanson’s beer tastes better than Dan Akroyd’s red wine.

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