Ever since The Streets broke up, Mike Skinner has been teaming up with ex-Music singer Robert Harvey on a project called The D.O.T. Together, they’ve already put out one album, 2012′s And That, and now they’re back with a new album entitled Diary.

“We wanted to create an album on which every track sounds like a classic,” Harvey has said in a statement. “We feel like the music speaks for itself.”

And indeed it does on this collection of 12 songs. The electro-soul melodies are infectiously danceable, but emotionally rich in its vocals and lyrics. It twists and turns in ways that aren’t expected and will keep listeners intrigued from beginning to end.

Check it out and let us know what you think!

Best Tracks: “What Am I Supposed to Do”, “How We All Lie”

Listen to The D.O.T.’s album Diary over at MuchMusic.com’s First Spins section here!

After laying roots (and gaining serious street cred) in 
New York City, Toronto-born comedian Sabrina Jalees is homeward bound to kick-off her first eight-city Canadian Tour: BROWNLISTED, kicking off in Toronto’s Innis Town Hall on Friday, June 14, 2013. The half-Pakistani, half-Swiss, Muslim, gay comedian has never shied away from her normal upbringing, and plans to share her witty and riotous commentary on life, love, old world culture and new money celebs, with audiences across Canada. You’ve seen her on MuchMusic’s Video On Trial, YTV’s In Real Life and NBC’s Last Comic Standing… Canada, whip out your 20s, slap some rouge on and check her out live! For more info head over to www.sabrinajalees.com!

You can check out Sabrina’s tour announcement video here until she hits up your town!

You know what this summer needs more of? Cody Simpson. Thankfully Simpson agrees and have answered our prayers. The singer will be releasing his new album Surfers Paradise on July 16!

A follow-up to his 2012 debut, Paradise, this new album promises to “show fans a more personal side” of the star, as andPOP reports and the title actually refers to Australia’s Gold Coast region were Simpson is from.

“I think this album really represents that piece of me, my lifestyle, and where I come from,” the pop star says in a statement. “When making my first album Paradise it was sort of a journey to find myself as a young adult & artist. With Surfers Paradise the entire process felt more natural and comfortable, like being back home. I wanted to share that feeling with my fans.”

Simpson’s latest singles, “Pretty Brown Eyes” and “Awake All Night” will be on Sufers Paradise and will be kicking off his summer tour on May 30. He will also be putting out a book called Welcome to My Paradise: My Journey on October 24th.

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You guys. Phoenix. Girl Talk. Hot Chip. The Gaslight Anthem. Earl Sweatshirt. And a whole bunch more are coming to Toronto’s Fort York Garrison Common to set the summer on fire. Goldenvoice and Arts & Crafts teamed up for The Grove Music Festival and we’re stoked for this inaugural event. And the best part? There’s something for everyone from Swedish DJs Icona Pop to hip hop standout Earl Sweatshirt to indie rockers The Gaslight Anthem, you’re not gonna want to miss out!

The Grove Music Fest goes down at Toronto’s Fort York Garrison Common on August 3, 2013. Tickets and VIP tickets are on sale now here but we got the hook ups! You just have to keep on watching this space for the deets. But for now we got the official trailer for The Grove Music Festival here.

It was announced yesterday, on the X Factor‘s first day shooting for its new season, that singers Kelly Rowland and Paulina Rubio have joined Simon Cowell and Demi Lovato on the judges’ panel and now we have pics of the new cast to show off!

This is the first time the show will have three female judges, which is pretty badass. The X Factor will air later this Fall on FOX.

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We reported a while ago that Paris Hilton was working on new music, which she supposedly will release this summer, but now we’re hearing that Lil Wayne’s Cash Money Records will be putting out the album. Say what?

The rapper’s label will put out the socialite’s second album when she is done recording it with the help of producer Afrojack and will even feature Wayne, rumours say.

“This is a lot different than my first album,” Hilton says. “It’s really going to be house music.”

She is also working her 17th perfume and a foundation for children’s causes because Paris Hilton does everything.

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Music should be entertaining and educational. Luckily The Lonely Island and Solange have teamed up for a new song that teaches us all about our favourite grammar symbol, the semicolon!

“Semicolon” is a track off of their upcoming album, The Wack Album, and is probably one of our favs so far. But, as someone at Much did point out, though, that the song might be a great example for students to reference for grammar, but they did misspell the name Gretzky in the lyric video. Okay fine, they’re not great spellers, but they know where to place a semicolon!

Listen to/watch the lyric video below!

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Imaginary Cities wants to make big pop music. No, not David Guetta-style big, but ambitious and fully realized pop songs, filled with layers of instruments and a myriad of genres blending together. Their latest release, Fall of Romance, does just that.

Its spaced out album cover suggests lots of intergalactic synths or Daft Punk parody, and the album does have some futuristic keys slide in and out, but that’s not the focus. Instead, songs hop between indie rock, folk and pop, creating a sonic journey that takes the listeners to a new destination on almost every song.

Fall of Romance features guests such as Sloan’s Andrew Scott, The Sheepdogs’ Ewan Currie and Mother Mother’s Ryan Guldemond and Jeremy Page.

Best Tracks: “Silver Lining”, “Who’s Watching You”

Listen to Imaginary Cities’ album Fall of Romance over at MuchMusic.com’s First Spins section here!

On this week’s brand new episode of Zach Stone Is Gonna Be Famous, an invite to a party from Christy motivates Zach to give himself a makeover, which in true Zach Stone-fashion turns into a disaster. Plus, it looks like someone else may be swooping in to romance Amy while she’s waiting around for Zach.

Click here to watch the first three episodes of Zach Stone Is Gonna Be Famous and read the recap under the jump! Watch new episodes of Zach Stone Is Gonna Be Famous every Tuesday at 10:30E/7:30P following new episodes of Awkward. at 10E/7P.

Zach and Amy are hanging out at the beach when Christy spots them and invites the pair to her party the next day. Actually, she invites Zach’s camera crew, but in true Zach Stone fashion, he sees this as his ‘in’ with the cool kids.

Amy thinks that Zach should be spending more time trying to get famous and less time hanging out with Christy, but Zach has done the math and being famous is 5% work, 95% hanging out with famous people. Zach sees the party as his big chance to show Christy and her friends the new him, but when he tells Greg about the party, his best friend is scared this is a trap that is going to result in them having beer poured all over them…again. Zach finally manages to convince Greg that the party is a good idea and so is stealing a cardboard cut-out of what I assume is Gerard Butler from 300 to use as the prototype for his new image. Zach Stone is gonna get a makeover.

His first stop is the salon with Amy and while it looks like a respectable establishment, Zach returns home looking like Pauly D. Let’s be real. Only Pauly D can pull off a blow out and I’m pretty sure even he thinks it’s kinda ridiculous.

Christy calls Zach to invite him to her house so she can model bathing suits and Zach barely stops to the car to let his brother Andy out when he drops him off for baseball practice on Zach’s way to Christy’s house.

When Christy emerges from her bathroom in a bikini, Zach realizes that her party is a pool party and goes into panic mode, quickly running out of Christy’s house. His camera crew is much slower to leave the half-naked 18 year old.

After hanging out with Christy, Zach is late to pick up Amy and throws salt on the wound by cancelling their movie date and taking her to work out while she’s in jeans. Not cool, man. Amy may not be happy about the change in plans, but she has a change in attitude when she runs into Nick, a hot guy from their high school who seems to have a thing for Amy.

As per usual when it comes to Amy, Zach is oblivious to what’s going on.

Zach forgets to pick Andy up from baseball practice, but when Andy sees his brother upset and throwing out his 300 cut out, he tries to make Zach feel better and tells him guys have their abs spray painted. What Zach didn’t hear Andy say was that having abs to begin with is still required.

Zach heads straight to the tanning salon and shows up at Christy’s party the next day looking like this.

He makes his big entrance with two boom boxes playing Mmmmmbop and then proceeds to belly flop into the pool, quickly dying the water with his tan.

Zach makes a hasty escape and Amy gives him some alone time while she thankfully flirts with Nick, a guy who knows she is alive.

Amy checks out Zach later that night and though he’s down, he’s happy she’s there. Zach invites Amy to have coffee the next day, but she’s going to be busy getting a personal training session from Nick. Maybe this will be the wakeup call Zach needs to pay attention to her. But probably not. He’s pretty oblivious.

Pharrell is one of the most ubiquitous music stars out there, making appearances everywhere lately from Robin Thicke’s “Blurred Lines” to Daft Punk’s “Get Lucky” and now even on the soundtrack of an animated film.

“Happy” is Pharrell’s newest track, which will be featured in the Despicable Me sequel coming out on July 3.

Listen to the song below. Are you excited to see Despicable Me 2?

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Charli XCX was born and raised in the ’90s, which means that she probably grew up listening to the Backstreet Boys. So it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the pop singer recently covered a BSB song at a record store appearance in Chicago.

Before diving into a rendition of “I Want It That Way,” Charli revealed her obsession with the song and hoped that the audience would recognize it. Watch the video below and see if you recognize the hit song!

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What’s the first thing you would want to do if you attended a party at Justin Bieber’s house? Take pictures, Tweet, Instagram and just let the world know that you’re in the same room as one of the world’s biggest pop stars, right? Of course! But wait, YOU CAN’T.

TMZ recently obtained a Liability Waiver and Release that people must sign when partying at Bieber’s place that states that if you were to talk about the party in any way or form, you will get sued for $5 million. That’s right, that would be a $5 million tweet.

And by the sounds of what might happen at these shindigs, it must be crazy tempting to tell others, especially when you do things that, according to the contract, are “potentially hazardous and you should not participate unless you are medically able and properly trained,” and risks include “minor injuries to catastrophic injuries, including death.”

Wait, what? Please invite us to these parties, Justin. We PROMISE we won’t blog about it!

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Sugar, it’s going down! It’s been five long years since Fall Out Boy left their mark on the MuchMusic audience with their explosive Live In the Lot concert. On Thursday, May 23, fans will be saying thanks for the memories when Patrick Stump, Pete Wentz, Joe Trohman, and Andy Hurley make their triumphant return for Live At Much with Fall Out Boy!

Want tickets? Ya, you do! MUCH is giving away three pairs of tickets to see Live At Much with Fall Out Boy and winning a pair is as easy as repeating us. Seriously, it’s just a retweet to win. Sooooooo simple.

Log into Twitter and RT the following message (make sure you’re following @MuchMusic):

Live At Much w/ Fall Out Boy is going down THURSDAY at 8E/5P! Wanna win your way in? RT this to enter! Rules at: http://bit.ly/119fsqv

It’s that easy! We’ll pick three winners and notify them by end of day today. Watch Live At Much with Fall Out Boy on Thursday, May 23 at 8E/5P and stream the show live online at www.muchmusic.com/falloutboy/.

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It’s time for the annual homecoming dance, but when Jenna has flashbacks of single life, she decides that she and Matty should sit this one out. Plus, Ming tries to do her own dance around conniving Becca. Find out what happened on tonight’s brand new episode of Awkward. after the jump!

Find out what happened on this week’s episode of Awkward. under the jump! Watch new episodes of Awkward. every Tuesday at 10E/7P on MUCH. Check out episodes online, podcasts, recaps and more on Awkward. here!

At Jenna’s high school, the tradition for home coming is for one partner to pin another with a gaudy broach of some sort. Matty is in the school spirit and even whipped out some pipe cleaners for Jenna’s beaming pin, but when Jenna looks around and sees all the girls whose shirts pin-free, she feels guilty for having a boyfriend.

Jenna tries to find support from her formerly single friends Ming and Tamara, but both are riding high on having bfs (in Ming’s case, two) and don’t know why Jenna is driving the downer bus.

When Jenna sees Christy Patton, her best friend from Grade four, crying in Val’s office and later sitting alone, her guilt gets even heavier.

During lunch, Jenna tries to talk herself out of going to the dance with Matty and tells Tamara that her reason for bailing is because Matty doesn’t dance. Jenna keeps the dancing comment to herself, but still bails on the dance, telling Matty that she won’t participate in an activity that makes so many people feel left out.

Ming is busy with her own moral conundrum. Becca has decided to call in her favour for getting Ming the tape of Matty and Jenna in the sanctuary and wants Ming to attend the school council meeting later that day and make sure the theme of the dance is Tropic Like It’s Hot, not Great Ball of China.

At the meeting, Ming goes to the only other person she knows is as mean as Becca – Sadie. The original mean girl tells Ming that if she wants something done, she tells someone to do it. Ming decides to go against Becca’s instructions and gives an inspired presentation on China, ensuring that Ball of China wins for homecoming theme.

Jenna is trying to find Christy Patton a date online when Lacey demands to see her pin and talk all things homecoming. Jenna tries to explain to her mother that she’s not going to the dance anymore and Lacey points out that in order to spare the feelings of some solo-girls, Jenna has hurt Matty, who she loves. Lacey forces Jenna to call Matty and tell him that their date is back on.

Matty is hanging out with Jake and Tamara when he gets Jenna’s phone call and sees Tamara make a face. The two boys tickle the truth out of Tamara, who blurts out that Jenna didn’t want to go to the dance with Matty because he doesn’t dance.

Jake calls bro-code and once Tamara has left the building, it’s game time. Jake is going to teach Matty how to dance. It’s going to be awkward and embarrassing, but it must be done. Jake tells Matty that dancing is all in the expression. Here’s a big secret – if a guy is willing to dance, he’s in. That’s it. No skill required. Just ask a girl to dance and you’re golden.

Ming gets to the dance and is confronted by Becca, who says she is happy that Great Ball of China won…even though she told Ming to make sure it lost. She. Is. Scary.

Tamara and Jenna are waiting at the dance for the boys and Jenna is riding high on the guilt train. She sees Christy Patton standing by herself and decides that her old friend needs a pep speech. Jenna tells Christy that things will get better and to hang in there, but Christy isn’t sad that she’s single. She’s a drug dealer and is waiting to make a drop. When she tries to offer Jenna a bottle of pills, an undercover cop arrests her. Well, that took an unexpected turn.

Finally ready to get on the dance floor, Matty is busting a move and Jenna is nowhere to be found. After witnessing a drug deal gone bad, Jenna sees Matty in the middle of the gym dancing with all the single girls. And swoooooon.

To celebrate Fall Out Boy’s triumphant return to the music scene – and to get you stoked for their Live at Much special this Thursday – we started thinking about other artist who took a bit of a break, but we’re so glad to have them back.

Don’t miss brand new episodes of Today’s Top 10 every Monday to Wednesday at 10 PM ET only on MuchMusic!

It’s that special time of year when you can have your say on who should win a MMVA! The votes have already been tallied for the Wildcard options and Marianas Trench, Billy Talent and P!nk are now going head to head with today’s biggest artists for Your Fave Artist/Group, Your Fave Video and Your Fave International Artist/Group.

Check out the full list of Your Fave nominees below and click here to vote!

YOUR FAVE ARTIST/GROUP

Carly Rae Jepsen
deadmau5
Drake
Justin Bieber
Marianas Trench – Wildcard Winner

YOUR FAVE VIDEO

Billy Talent, Surprise Surprise – Wildcard Winner
Classified f. David Myles, Inner Ninja
Drake, Started From The Bottom
Hedley, Kiss You Inside Out
Marianas Trench, Stutter

YOUR FAVE INTERNATIONAL ARTIST/GROUP

Demi Lovato
One Direction
P!nk – Wildcard Winner
PSY
Taylor Swift

The list of nominees for the 2013 MMVAs are out and Marianas Trench lead with six nominations! Four piece pop band Marianas Trench are nominated for Pop Video of the Year and MuchFACT Video of the Year, with Drake and Marianas Trench going head to head in the categories of Video of the Year, Director of the Year and Your Fave Video. The Toronto MC has scored noms for Director of the Year, Hip Hop Video of the Year and Your Fave Artist of the Year, coming in second with a whopping five nominations. Marianas Trench won the Wildcard vote for Your Fave Artist/Group, beating out Drake for the most nominations this year.

Classfied scored four nominations, including Hip Hop Video of the Year, with Serena Ryder and deadmau5, coming in with three nominations this year. Billy Talent also have three nominations after winning the Wildcard vote for Your Fave Video for their vid Surprise Surprise.

Check out all the nominees under the jump!

No strangers to the MMVAs, Hedley, The Sheepdogs, Justin Bieber and Metric all received two nominations a piece with Young Empires scoring their first two nominations. Tyler Shaw, winner of the 2012 Covers Casting Call, is up for his second MMVA for MuchFACT Video of the Year. Shaw was presented with an MMVA during last year’s awards show when he became the second person ever to win the Covers Casting Call.

MMVA performer and co-host PSY along with MMVA performer Demi Lovato are going head to head for International Video of the Year – Artist. The competition in their category is steep, with One Direction, Taylor Swift and Wildcard winner P!nk rounding out the list. The two are also nominated for International Video of the Year – Artist.

Check out the full list of nominees below and see who’s taking home a MMVA on Sunday, June 16 at 9E/6P. Click here to vote for Your Fave Video of the Year, Your Fave International Artist or Group, and Your Fave Artist or Group!

VIDEO OF THE YEAR

Classified f. David Myles, Inner Ninja
Drake, Started From the Bottom
Marianas Trench, Desperate Measures
Serena Ryder, Stompa
The Weeknd, Wicked Games

POST-PRODUCTION OF THE YEAR

Billy Talent, Surprise Surprise
Colin Munroe f. Pusha T, The Fight of My Life
deadmau5 f. Chris James, The Veldt
The Sheepdogs, Feeling Good
Young Empires, White Doves

DANCE VIDEO OF THE YEAR

Anjulie, You and I
deadmau5 f. Chris James, The Veldt
Draongette, Live In This City
Grimes, Genesis
Mia Martina, HeartBreaker

DIRECTOR OF THE YEAR

Director X – Drake, Started From the Bottom
Kyle Davison – Marianas Trench, Stutter
Noah Pink – Rich Aucoin, Brian Wilson Is Alive
Natalie Rae Robinson – Serena Ryder, Stompa
RT! – Victoria Duffield and Cody Simpson, They Don’t Know About Us

POP VIDEO OF THE YEAR

Down With Webster, One In A Million
Hedley, Kiss You Inside Out
Kardinal Offishal f. Karl Wolf, Turn It Up
Marianas Trench, Desperate Measures
Shawn Desman, Too Young To Care

ROCK/ALTERNATIVE VIDEO OF THE YEAR

Billy Talent, Surprise Surprise
Matt Mays, Take It On Faith
Metric, Youth Without Youth
Serena Ryder, Stompa
The Sheepdogs, Feeling Good

HIP HOP VIDEO OF THE YEAR

Classified f. David Myles, Inner Ninja
Drake, Started From the Bottom
k-os, Nyce 2 Know Ya
Madchild f. Matt Brevner and Dutch Robinson, Jitters
SonReal & Rich Kidd, Hometown

MUCHFACT VIDEO OF THE YEAR

Classified f. David Myles, Inner Ninja
Marianas Trench, Stutter
Metric, Youth Without Youth
Tyler Shaw, Kiss Goodnight
Young Empires, White Doves

INTERNATIONAL VIDEO OF THE YEAR – ARTIST

Demi Lovato, Heart Attack
Ed Sheeran, Give Me Love
Justin Timberlake, Mirrors
Nicki Minaj, Va Va Voom
Phillip Phillips, Home
P!nk, Try
PSY, Gangnam Style
Rihanna, Diamonds
Taylor Swift, We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together
will.i.am f. Britney Spears, Scream and Shout

INTERNATIONAL VIDEO OF THE YEAR – GROUP

fun., Some Nights
Jay-Z and Kanye West f. Frank Ocean and The Dream, No Church In the Wild
Imagine Dragons, Radioactive
Jonas Brothers, Pom Poms
Macklemore and Ryan Lewis f. Wanz, Thrift Shop
Maroon 5 f. Wiz Khalifa, Payphone
Mumford & Sons, I Will Wait
One Direction, Kiss You
Swedish House Mafia, Don’t You Worry Child
The Lumineers, Stubborn Love

INTERNATIONAL VIDEO OF THE YEAR BY A CANADIAN

Avril Lavigne, Here’s To Never Growing Up
Carly Rae Jepsen, This Kiss
Justin Bieber f. Big Sean, As Long As You Love Me
Tegan and Sara, Closer
Walk Off The Earth, Red Hands

YOUR FAVE ARTIST/GROUP

Carly Rae Jepsen
deadmau5
Drake
Justin Bieber
Marianas Trench – Wildcard Winner

YOUR FAVE VIDEO

Billy Talent, Surprise Surprise – Wildcard Winner
Classified f. David Myles, Inner Ninja
Drake, Started From The Bottom
Hedley, Kiss You Inside Out
Marianas Trench, Stutter

YOUR FAVE INTERNATIONAL ARTIST/GROUP

Demi Lovato
One Direction
P!nk – Wildcard Winner
PSY
Taylor Swift

Maroon 5 is back with a new video for their latest track Love Somebody and we’re still fanning ourselves from how hot the video is! Love Somebody is the fourth single from Overexposed. The song was written by Maroon 5 front man Adam Levine and 3OH!3′s Nathanial Motte with Ryan Tedder and Noel Zancanella. The video was filmed in January 2013 by Rich Lee. Lee had previously done work with will.i.am, Nicki Minaj, Willow Smith, Eminame, and 50 Cent.

The video is highly visual is a feast for the eyes as you can watch Adam slather a liquid material all over his body, revealing every muscle… okay. You just have to watch.

Check out the video for Love Somebody here and tell us what you like of the video in the comments section below!

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Fall Out Boy are making their epic return to MUCH on Thursday, May 23 with Live At Much with Fall Out Boy. With Save Rock and Roll, the band’s first new album since 2008, burning up the charts around the world, Fall Out Boy fans have shown that they are ready to Dance Dance again with the four friends from Chicago. With three huge hits already under their belts, including My Songs Know What You Did In the Dark (Light Em Up), The Phoenix and Young Volcanoes, Fall Out Boy are back and better than ever.

Starting at 8E/5P on Thursday, May 23, Fall Out Boy will take the stage to perform new songs from their album Save Rock and Roll as well as some of their classic fan favourites. The band will also sit with NEW.MUSIC.LIVE. co-host Scott Willats to discuss their hiatus, their new album, and upcoming tour.

To get you ready for Thursday’s huge Live At Much with Fall Out Boy, check out this Fall Out Boy playlist!

Watch Live At Much with Fall Out Boy on Thursday, May 23 at 8E/5P. Stream the show live online at www.muchmusic.com/falloutboy/.

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Somewhere in Demi Lovato’s busy schedule, she will be getting her tonsils removed.

The singer is set to undergo the operation later this year in the midst of promoting her new album Demi and just as The X Factor picks up. Lovato admits that this might become a problem for her touring schedule, adding in a recent interview, “I’m not sure if this year is the best opportunity to [tour] because X Factor keeps me so busy.”

She’s going to tackle this surgery with confidence, though, and sans painkiller “’cause I’m a boss,” she says.

All the more reason to cheer her on when she takes the stage at the MMVAs here in Toronto on June 16th!

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