Pop triumvirate rules music
JESSIE J, ARIANA GRANDE & NICKI MINAJ “Bang Bang” ★★★ ½
WITH so much star power in one song, a hit was always likely — but this three-way doesn’t find anyone resting on her laurels. British singer Jessie J fills her lungs and belts out her verse like a diva, Grande shows some refreshing sass when she sings, “She might’ve let you hold her hand in school/But I’mma show you how to graduate,” and Minaj’s silver tongue is as inimitable as ever. “Bang Bang” is pop dynamite that will make you move in ways you never knew you could.
HILARY DUFF “Chasing the Sun” Half a star
MAKING fun of Hilary Duff ’s music career seems churlish, but she brings it on herself by continuing to have one. Her first new track in seven years is painfully bland — and an attempt to infuse a light-reggae touch to liven things up actually makes “Chasing The Sun” an even bigger target for ridicule.
KAREN O “Rapt” ★★ ½
SHE may be married and in her mid-30s, but Karen O still sings like a heartbroken teenager on her new solo track (from the upcoming album “Crush Songs,” out Sept. 9). Over a scratchy, distant acoustic guitar, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs singer sounds beautifully disconsolate as she laments a breakup that she needs rather than wants. “Rapt” is lightweight musically — but the emotional heft is massive.
SPOON “Outlier” ★★ ½
WITH their eighth album “They Want My Soul,” Austin alt-rockers Spoon may have instigated a hipster beef. “I remember when you walked out of ‘Garden State’/You had taste,” sings frontman Britt Daniel on this dense and strangely funky album cut aimed at Zach Braff ’s 2004 comedy.
NICK JONAS “Chains” ★★
CAN the purity ring jokes — Nick Jonas’ life as a Disney star has been buried a little deeper with his new solo single. The classy, minimal R&B production smolders like a Lorde track, and Jonas channels Justin Timberlake with his vocals. The clunky lyrics are a disappointment though.
LENNY KRAVITZ “Sex” ★ ½
SUBTLETY is not on the agenda for Lenny Kravitz’s comeback. “I’m just a slave for your pleasure and I’m waiting to pop” is just one of the ways “Sex” makes it abundantly clear the 50-year-old still has plenty of lead in his pencil. The song itself (from his forthcoming album “Strut,” due Sept. 23) is a surprisingly good funk-rock workout harkening back to his ’90s heyday, but horndog lyrics give “Sex” an unintentional comedic effect.