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When singer/songwriter Skylar Grey showed up in L.A. a decade ago, she was plain ol’ Holly Brook, a 17-year-old girl who’d been in a folk duo with her mom growing up in Wisconsin. She quickly wound up broke and hungry until her sweetly delicate voice was featured on Mike Shinoda’s side project Fort Minor’s 2006 hit “Where’d You Go.” She landed a slew of opening tour slots and then released her debut record.

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The first round of performers has been released for the Grammy’s and Barack Obamas Presidential Inauguration, while the Golden Raspberries, the annual awards celebrating the worst movies of the year, have released the nominees from 2012. Since all of this news came out today, we thought we’d give you the full lists for all three events, which you can read below.
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And if you’re keeping tabs, Beyonce is performing at the Presidential Inauguration, Jennifer Lopez was nominated for a Razzie (What to Expect When You’re Expecting), while Rihanna has pulled off the impressive Grammy performance/Razzie (Battleship) double whammy.

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By now, everybody knows Taylor Swift and One Direction’s Harry Styles have (allegedly) called it quits – no surprise there, right? I mean, Taylor is well-known for dating, dumping and then writing songs about her past relationships. So that means our girl has a follow-up record to write! ‘Red’ was a huge hit, with songs that alluded to past romances with people like Jake Gyllenhaal and…Jake Gyllenhaal. So, it should come as no surprise to anyone when the next big Taylor Swift single comes out it might be about young Harry Styles. Here are some thoughts as to what that song may be called and maybe even a few lyric ideas.

Columbia
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Surprising: after a decade with no new music or live appearances (save a hilarious cameo on Extras), David Bowie comes out of nowhere with a new single/music video and the announcement that a new album, The Next Day, will drop in March. Not surprising: the music video is weird as f@*$.
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Titled Where Are We Now?, the video features a somber Bowie and poses several contemplative questions, which we do our best to try and answer.
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Where the heck are they?

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The video shot was shot in Berlin, in an auto shop located underneath the apartment when he lived and recorded the “Berlin Triptych” albums — Low, Heroes and Lodger. Recorded with the living music God Brian Eno, the Berlin Triptych is generally viewed as the most experimental and musically complex period in his career. It was also where he escaped to try and wean himself off cocaine. Maybe he’s waxing nostalgic for that specific time in his life. Or maybe he just really wants to rail a line.
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What’s with all the German?

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Potzdamer Platz is a square in Berlin while Nurnberger is one of the city’s streets. “Dschungle” or Jungle was a West Berlin nightclub where he performed and partied with the likes of Iggy Pop and Frank Zappa. “Bose brucke,” the “evil bridge,” was a border crossing between East and West Berlin. Somewhere in Germany, someone is furiously organizing walking tour of David Bowie’s Berlin. And cue KaDaWe, the German equivalent to Harrods or H&M, starting a Bowie fashion line.
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Who is the woman next to Bowie?

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Jacqueline Humphries, the wife of director Tony Oursler. Unless Bowie owes Oursler a major favor or Oursler decided to direct as the ultimate fanboy, her presence is probably representational of something else. Could Bowie be lamenting the loss of a past lover? Maybe, but that seems doubtful – what would his wife think? Why open up that can of worms in such a public setting? Not even David Bowie could charm his way out of that sh-tstorm. My guess is a nod to the star-crossed lovers on opposite sides of the Berlin Wall that were the basis for the Bowie classic “Heroes,” given that the album art for The Next Day is a reworking of the album art from Heroes.
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What’s with “walking the dead?”

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One of the designers who collaborated with Bowie on The Next Day’s – artwork commented on the existential elements of album – specifically, the influence of Beckett’s Waiting for Godot (which Bowie has long cited as one of his favorites) and the idea of monotonously waiting for the next day to come, over and over and over again. So maybe “walking the dead” would be better understood as “walking towards death” or “waiting for death.” Both fit the melancholy undertones of the song and add to the impression that Bowie is a man circling the drain.
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Why are Bowie and the woman represented as dolls with cutouts for their actual faces? Why is Bowie wearing a “Song of Norway” shirt if the video is shot in Berlin?

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OK, Now I think we’re venturing into “I have no freaking idea” territory.
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Immediately after the music video was released, Columbia reps stated Bowie would not be giving interviews or doing any live performances – including the lyrics in the music video seems like his way of saying as far as interpretations go, we’re on our own.
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The Next Day will be released in the United States on March 12th.
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There’s nothing better than a good cover tune. Luckily for you, we’ve collected all the coolest, weirdest and most interesting covers from the past week. Some are live, some are recorded, some work and some, well, not so much. Let us know who does your favorite band justice in the comments. This week: James Franco offers a weird version of Justin Bieber, Taylor Swift’s new single gets a redux and more.