Lady Gaga's Born This Way is old news in pop time—it came out a whole five months ago—which is why there's a remix album due November 21 that features revampings of the album's tunes by the likes of the Weeknd, Twin Shadow, the Horrors, and Goldfrapp. (Goldfrapp is on "Judas" duty, and they'd better not mess it up.) To coincide with the release and remind the American public that, hey, she still exists, the Lady is making a couple of appearances at splashy music-related events—on November 30 she'll perform on the Grammy nomination show airing on CBS, and on December 9 she'll once again take the stage at Madison Square Garden for Z100's Jingle Ball, the pop station's annual holiday hitmaker celebration. Full lineup for that show after the jump.

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Big news about pop music on MSNBC.com: Apparently songs like Kelly Clarkson's new track "Mr. Know It All" (above), as well as older invective-filled songs like "U + Ur Hand" and "Before He Cheats" and "the not-even-that-big-hit "According To You"—songs in which wronged women sing about the men who broke their hearts— are proof that man-bashing is a surefire key to chart success. Apparently this is all an aftereffect of the riot grrrl movement, just another example of feminism ruining things for everyone. Or something like that! The piece is pretty muddled, with evidence coming in the form of one current hit, a couple of older ones, Carly Simon's "You're So Vain," and a listicle from Vibe Vixen claiming that Ciara's gender-bendy "Like A Boy" is actually a "male-bashing anthem." (TLC's "No Scrubs" is No. 1, in case you were wondering what to put on your next man-hating iTunes playlist.)

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The pro-Kelly Clarkson critical bias 'round these parts is pretty strong, and yesterday when the inaugural American Idol held a chat on the streaming-video site Ustream any notions of getting work done sailed out the window in favor of watching her endearingly answer questions about her dream duet partners (Miranda Lambert! Let's make that happen!) and celebrity crushes (Kyle Chandler!) and new album Stronger, which comes out October 25. (A detailed recap is here.) During the chat also premiered the record's first single "Mr. Know It All," a forceful yet midtempo kiss-off to a lover that shows off her formidable pipes quite nicely; the chorus's declaration that "you don't know a thiiiiing about me" already started pinging around my head after a mere two spins. (Not that I stopped at two, because, well, why would I do such a dumb thing?) Stream below.

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Bryan Horowitz

Kelly Clarkson
Highline Ballroom
Wednesday, May 25

Better than: Watching the American Idol finale in real time.

I'll be honest: There was something pretty delicious about spending last night, during which a super-frustrating American Idol season came to an end by crowning a bland Southern teenager with a freakishly deep voice its champion, watching a high-energy show by Kelly Clarkson, the Texan who won the show's first season. It wasn't just because of the symbolic middle finger I was giving to this crap run of the show and its lackluster judging and stubbornly undeveloped contestants, though. Clarkson is one of my favorite performers, someone who looks like she's always having a ton of fun onstage while being able to belt out songs about her bad boyfriends and worse luck in love.

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On May 7, Katy Perry debuted "California Gurls," the first single from her forthcoming album, Teenage Dream. It was a cleverly-engineered, synchronized piece of pop craft--a classic no-chances move--and it had to be: there were things riding on this song. Things like the viability of Perry as a bona fide superstar, Snoop Dogg's continued (ir?)relevance, and an early bid for the title of Summer Anthem. So Perry and her label, EMI, did the thing that labels do when it's no-chances time: They called Lukasz Gottwald, better known as Dr. Luke.

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As estimable friend-of-SOTC Maura Johnston notes, the verses here are straight outta Arcade Fire's "Rebellion (Lies)," just sung with a little more... force. And pep. And tunefulness. And so forth. It also sounds like the trance remake of itself, in advance. That's Kelly, always innovating.