– I have said in the past that I think Jason DeRulo’s “In My Head” would be a killer track live, and Jason showed and proved last night on American Idol‘s results show. It’s sad that the only reason I pay attention to Idol these days is for the guest appearances. Given how Usher’s “O.M.G.” and Diddy’s “Hello Good Morning” vaulted into the Hot 100 last week, there is a good chance that DeRulo will also make a big move next week, since it has more airplay than either of those tracks. As of right now, Jason is at #6 on iTunes’s Top Downloads, which will probably translate to a jump into the Top 3, but probably not #1.

– I let out a small gasp when I read that punk visionary Malcolm McLaren passed away today from cancer. Even if you don’t know WHO Malcolm is, you at least have a sense that he was an important figure in the music industry in his time. While most folks know him as the man behind the rise of the Sex Pistols in the late 70s, my first contact was his early 80s experimentation with hip-hop on “Buffalo Gals” and “Double Dutch”. I have no doubt that my love of hip-hop comes from Malcolm taking a raw American musical genre and interpreting it in a way that made it much more accessible to the masses. How many people can say that they had an influential hand in two musical genres during their lifetime?

– Speaking of shocking, you MUST check out the interview over at DontStopThePop with a Swedish producer. No name is ever given, but who cares? Accusations of payoffs, favoritism and manipulation have always been considered a given to some degree here in the States as far back as the Payola scandal, but to hear the accusation surface about Sweden’s pop perfection industry just seems sacrilegious. If nothing else, it is a riveting interview to try and figure out who is gutsy enough to put the accusations out there.

– Remember what I said about ukeleles last week? In a sign that it is already overused, Gym Class Heroes frontman Travie McCoy (didn’t he used to be Travis?) debuts at #92 on the Hot 100 with “Billionaire”. Any good thought I had of tiny guitar flew out the window as the track started. Shark, meet ukelele.