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A handful of pop radio staples have released new singles over the past two weeks to the delight of their eager fan bases.
After months of rumors and Instagram photos, the world finally got to hear the single on which DJ/producer Zedd and Selena Gomez collaborated last Monday. While speculation ran rampant over their personal relationship, there is no doubt the duo can combine to create a hit record in the studio. Zedd, nee Anton Zaslavski, is billed as the title artist on “I Want You To Know,” with Gomez as the feature. OneRepublic’s Ryan Tedder told Billboard that he wrote the single and gave it to Zedd.
“I don’t want to say just yet,” a coy Gomez replied, when I asked her in November who she was collaborating with in the studio. “You’ll see. It’ll be all over Instagram soon, I promise.”
She wasn’t kidding.
Last Monday also marked the return of FUN. lead singer Nate Ruess. The front man is working on a solo album and unveiled “Nothing Without Love” as the first single.
“I remember taking a trip upstate to finish the lyrics,” Ruess wrote on Facebook, “and returning thinking that I’d finally been able to say everything I’d ever been feeling in that moment, and it’s applied to my life in so many different ways ever since.”
Ruess calls it his favorite song that he’s written. No other details on his solo effort are available yet. The rest of FUN., Jack Antonoff and Andrew Dost, are off working on separate projects. During Grammy weekend on “Ralphie Tonight,” Antonoff debunked rumors that the band’s demise was imminent.
“It’s actually something that I think is pretty cool,” the New Jersey native explained, “that we’re in this really big band that we only work on when were inspired. We don’t just do it because, ‘Hey, it makes money.’”
Then this past Monday, Carly Rae Jepsen returned to the airwaves with the first single from her forthcoming third studio album. “I Really Like You” is very reminiscent of “Call Me Maybe”: catchy hook, up-tempo synths and lyrics suited for a hopeless romantic.
Also similar to Jepsen’s breakout hit: a little help from the guy that helped bring her to the masses, Justin Bieber. The pop star along with Tom Hanks star in the music video for “I Really Like You,” which was filmed in New York City. Bieber discovered Jepsen after hearing “Call Me Maybe” on the radio back in their native Canada. He and his manager, Scooter Braun, signed the singer to a record label deal.