27 April 2026 - A "Look At Me Now" Special

Look, I have a very hard time listening to Chris Brown since his incident with RiRi.  

I came around on this song - which was produced by Diplo and Afrojack - for two reasons.  

The first were the guest stars on this track, who STOLE the track.  STOLE.  Busta Rhymes and his speedrap is the thing of legend. Lil Wayne proves to be his equal.  And their participation made this song a huge hit - one of the biggest of 2011, on top of the fact that it was just a huge hit in its own right. 

Busta Rhymes has performed the song with Chris Brown - live - and he's just as great with the speedrap live as he was in the studio.

To be fair, Justin Bieber doing the Busta Rhymes part is somehow just as impressive. 

He also does the Chris Brown part, though.

But really, you came here for reason 2:

A couple of months after this single was released, a couple of Berkeley School of Music students named Amy and Nick - who happen to have been in a band called Karmin at the time - recorded a version of this song - with Amy singing ALL THREE PARTS. 

It's epic.  And they thought they had butchered it. 

Yes, we did this on Totally Covered fourteen years ago.  Don't @ me. 

Fast forward fifteen years. 

Karmin died. But Amy and Nick got married.... and are still together.  So that's nice.  And they're still making music as Qveen Herby.

But they did revive Karmin just once. And yes, they are wearing the same outfits. 

That doesn't mean that Qveen Herby hasn't still been performing the song. 

And not the sanitized version.

Oops, she said "on my dick".

24 April 2026 - Videoclub - Amour Plastique

Honestly, I spent the last two days referencing this song and this video, I feel we need to talk about it.

I think we all know that the two members of Videoclub were a couple, both musically and romantically.  This was their first single, one of their best known songs, and while it spoke of what seems like love, it's really talking about a superficial love, with little depth.    

I'd like to think Adèle and Matthieu had more than just this, but that's the song. 

Fast forward to 2021, a couple of months before Matthieu would leave Videoclub, and this very sad acoustic version of the song.

Neither of them is happy.

Four years later, when Adèle performed the song at a festival in France, she's back to being happy. 

And the crowd clearly took her side. 

23 April 2026 - Adèle Castillon - C'est drôle

For those who speak French, told ya. 

For those who don't, this is absolutely a song about her relationship with Mattyeux, and one he felt the need to respond to. But it's a sad song - and it revisits a lot of the scenes from "Amour Plastique" in a slightly different frame, much like Mattyeux did in his video. 

You can really hear her emotion live.

22 April 2026 - Mattyeux & Thefrenchkris - Émotions saturées

I really want to dislike Mattyeux.

But I'll be damned if he doesn't write a hell of a song, 

I'd feel a lot better about it if the video wasn't a direct ripoff of Videoclub's "Amour Plastique" and a lyrical response to "C'est drôle" by Adèle Castillon, his ex-lover and ex-bandmate. 

But still.  Hell of a song. 

21 April 2026 - Charli XCX - 365

Oh look.  

A charming remix about doing cocaine. 

And yet, it's a completely different song. 

Let's throw it back to brat summer as we celebrate the warming days of this spring!

It blows my mind (and probably Charli's nostrils) that she does this song live, but she does - and it was a highlight of her Coachella set last year.  

As part of the reimagined album brat and it's completely different but also still brat, Charli does a version of this song with Shygirl. Shygirl appeared on stage with Charli to do their version together in Detroit.  Stick around to hear her go seamlessly from "365" to "360" (and then to "Von Dutch"). 

20 April 2026 - Lime Garden - 23

Lime Garden are an all-girl indie pop-rock band from Brighton, in the United Kingdom.  Their second album, Maybe Not Tonight, was released last week, with this single, which the band calls their favorite single they've ever recorded, being released earlier this year.  

By the way, Maybe Not Tonight is an early contender to top my #Wicked25 this year. Easily one of my favorite albums of the year so far.

But back to this song.  It SHOULD be a huge hit by now. It's different - and has an interesting and unique bassline. On top of the album being great, this is one of my favorite singles of the year.

Now listen!

Just because they released the song in 2026 doesn't mean they didn't perform it in 2025.... and it sounds a lot like what you heard on record.  Also, this band is TIGHT!

17 April 2026 - Kenny Rogers & Dolly Parton - Islands In The Stream

Written by the Bee Gees!!!

A number one POP hit - the second for each artist - and a MONSTER country hit, it dominated the charts in 1983.  It is considered to be the greatest country duet of all time - and I think that's a pretty solid pick.

The song is written in C major for Rogers but switches to A-flat major in the parts where Parton takes lead. 

Of course, they performed the song together whenever they could, but the last time they did was on October 25, 2017.  Rogers was retiring (Dolly still isn't) and would pass away in 2020.   It's rare to have a firm last concert in advance, and he was lucky to do it. 

Some called the performance painful.  I say it's a classic.