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Pick at the pops: 02 June 2008

Our weekly round-up of the weird and wonderful world of pop music...

Hello there. I hope this isn’t an inconvenient time to call – I know how busy people are these days - but this shouldn’t take more than a few seconds of your time. I represent the Oh Come On, Jay-Z Won’t Be That Bad At Glastonbury party and we were wondering if we could count on your support. We’ve got those all-important celebrity endorsements: the Eavises are on board, of course, and so is Fyfe Dangerfield of Guillemots; we’ve had some cheerleading from Chris Martin and his lovely wife Gwyneth Paltrow, and now the big one. Yes, this week Welsh soul gargler Duffy said, “It hadn’t really crossed my mind that his appearance might be a problem.” Woo! Jump on board, kids.

More good news for Glasto-goers: it’s not going to be a mudbath this year! Well, the organisers are “quietly confident” anyway. The Met Office reckons rainfall will be “either near, or above average” for the time of year. Hmmm. We’re getting the feeling it might rain, but – and here’s the clincher – it might not. Or it might just rain a bit. You heard it here first.

Exciting tidings from across the pond, where oddly anonymous r’n’b superstar Ne-Yo is bigging up the forthcoming album from Hollywood car-crash-in-humanoid-form Lindsay Lohan. The lad has heard some snippets and claims it’s a “ridiculously fabulous job”. Coincidentally, Ne-Yo has also been writing songs for this masterpiece in the making and, overcome by the honour, keeps feeling the need to pinch himself: “I mean, I’ve written for Beyoncé, Mary J Blige, Rihanna, Celine Dion…” Ne-Yo, we’re going to have to stop you there before the clang of all those dropped names hitting the floor deafens us.

Artistic integrity is in rude health over here too, with unimpeachable iconoclast Damon Albarn strong-arming his Gorillaz into scoring the music for the BBC’s Olympics coverage this summer. What about the Tibetans, Damon? No, we’re not telling you to make a record with them…

Matthew Horton

• 26/05/2008: Wogan gets shirty >>
• 19/05/2008: Fatboy Slim trims his name >>
• 12/05/2008: Doth Sugababes protesteth too much? >>
• 05/05/2008: Amy not ready to work on music >>
• 28/04/2008: Shakira collaborates with Gordon Brown >>
• 21/04/2008: The last word on the Jay-Z at Glasto debate >>
• 14/04/2008: Beyoncé and Mark E Smith fight the animals >>
• 07/04/2008: Lennon and Mills - separated at birth? >>
• 31/03/2008: Leona topples Wilde record >>
• 24/03/2008: Rihanna the "new Britney"? >>
• 17/03/2008: Madonna in B12 shocker >>
• 10/03/2008: Bjork gets political >>
• 03/03/2008: Keef disses Led Zep >>
• 25/02/2008: Mark Owen gives KT Tunstall his last quid >>
• 18/02/2008: Aretha or Tina - just who is the Queen of Soul? >>
• 11/02/2008: We mourn the Spice Girls - again >>
• 04/02/2008: Winehouse and Spears - will the madness end? >>
• 28/01/2008: Oh no! Simply Red and UB40 have split up! >>
• 21/01/2008: Annie Lennox and The Verve won't pave streets >>
• 14/01/2008: Robbie and Coldplay turn on EMI >>
• 07/01/2008: Out with the old, in with the new >>
• 2007 archive >>
• 2006 archive >>