dr. seuss's eco-infotainment story finally makes it to the big screen. check out the trailer for the lorax, above. no lie, probably going to see this one.
beyonce's "party"
the full-length version of beyonce's video for "party" finally hit the web. b swaps out andre 3000 for j. cole on this version of the track. the video's really just an excuse for beyonce to dabble with as many trashy looks as she can.
pre-prego beyonce sure did film a lot of music videos. or she's not really pregnant and wearing a prosthetic. either, or- i'm glad we're getting a video for pretty much every song on 4. check out this sneak peek of b's latest, "party" - look out for cameos by sister solange and kelly former bandmate kelly rowland. can "schoolin' life" be up next? please.
here are the highlights, the winners and the what just happened moments.
gaga opened the show. as a man. and then continued to act as this man (jo calderone) for the remainder of the show. she's special. really special.
these two can do no wrong. ok, kanye can. but never, never jay.
if "shutting it down" were in the dictionary, this performance would be next to it.
this was great, but i have two questions: 1) why were children performing it? 2) why wasn't this a medley of britney songs performed by today's younger pop stars?
best vma performance ever? i mean she's currently carrying jay-z's baby. or is it destiny's child? (see what i did there?)
rip amy.
because it makes so much sense to perform a song that requires 95% bleeping.
as far as the winners:
video of the year- katy perry, "firework"
best female video- lady gaga, "born this way"
best new artist- tyler, the creator
video vanguard- britney spears
best male video- justin bieber, "u smile"
best collaboration- katy perry ft. kanye west, "e.t."
best hip hop video- nicki minaj, "super bass"
best rock video- foo fighters, "walk"
best pop video- britney spears, "till the world ends"
best video with a message- lady gaga, "born this way"
my take on who will win big, who got snubbed and surprise nominations for this years video music awards.
best pop video
adele, "rolling in the deep"
britney spears, "till the world ends"
bruno mars, "grenade"
katy perry, "last friday night (t.g.i.f)"
pitbull ft. ne-yo, nayer and afrojack, "give me everything"
i mean, it's the best video ever. like of all time. adele's all about the voice, so i can't see her winning for a video where she sits all by herself. britney's done better, and bruno/pitbull don't stand a chance. but- big oversight not putting rihanna or j.lo on this list.
best new artist
big sean ft. chris brown, "my last"
foster the people, "pumped up kicks"
kreayshawn, "gucci gucci"
tyler, the creator, "yonkers"
wiz khalifa, "black and yellow"
this one will come down to who votes- the hipsters or the too-hip-to-be-a-hipster crowd. if the hipsters show up, expect foster the people to take the moonman home. if everyone else shows up? wiz khalifa. but where are ellie goulding and jesse j?
best female video
adele, "rolling in the deep"
beyonce, "run the world (girls)"
katy perry, "firework"
lady gaga, "born this way"
nicki minaj, "super bass"
adele? again- she's sitting in a room. alone. beyonce? that song flopped. if her billboard music awards performance were nominated it would be a different story. and "born this way" is the weirdest effing video to come out in a decade. it comes down to katy vs. nicki here, and nicki's candy-colored rap fantasy's more likely to take the trophy than perry's inspirational firework-sparking boobs.
best male video
bruno mars, "grenade"
cee-lo green, "f*ck you"
eminem ft. rihanna, "love the way you lie"
justin bieber, "u smile"
kanye west ft. kid cudi and rihanna, "all of the lights"
this is a "duh" to me- cee-lo all the way.
best collaboration
chris brown ft. busta rhymes and lil' wayne, "look at me now"
kanye west ft. kid cudi and rihanna, "all of the lights"
katy perry ft. kanye west, "et"
nicki minaj ft. drake, "moment for life"
pitbull ft ne-yo, nayer and afrojack, "give me everything"
i would say eminem and rihanna were a lock for this category for "love the way you lie," but they weren't nominated! based on video, katy perry and kanye will win this title, but all the nominees are viable options.
video of the year
adele, "rolling in the deep"
beastie boys, "make some noise"
bruno mars, "grenade"
katy perry, "firework"
tyler, the creator, "yonkers"
this category is much more about the song than the video, making it adele's to lose. adele's four fellow nominees seem completely random. the beastie boys? really? and "last friday night" is way better than "firework."
for a complete list of nominees and to cast your own vote, click here. the vma's air sunday, august 28 on mtv, 9/8c.
um ... she's not really helping her case with this one. while the song, "best thing i never had," is one of the breakout tracks from 4, this video is more of a breakdown. beyonce, what are you doing rolling around on a grassy knoll in a wedding dress? and why are you being so theatrical? and what's with the bizarre fake home videos? someone explained to me that the video's autobiographical- beyonce was allegedly engaged at 19, but realizes now everything worked out for the best with her marriage to jay-z. but this song calls for a sex and the city-style break-up, female empowerment montage. right? right.
b is back. beyonce returns to the music scene with 4, her, yep, fourth studio effort. the album mixes disco and 90s r&b, creating beyonce's most musically advanced, but least commercial album to date. 4's mainstays are ballads, with few up-tempto exceptions- the failed single "1+1" is probably the weakest track on the album. the stand out tracks are actually found on the bonus disc, with "schoolin' life" having the greatest chance at radio success. you won't find anything resembling previous dance-based tracks by beyonce, with only "countdown" resembling anything she's put out before. 4 will go down as the beyonce equivalent to kelly clarkson's my december, an artistic endeavor for artistic endeavors sake- something only for the true fans. i wouldn't expect beyonce to tour with 4, but rather focus her effort on working on more music and evolving further. in the meantime, take a listen to the album, but make sure to mix your playlist with some of beyonce's former tracks like "crazy in love" and "deja vu," but not "single ladies." just because.
rihanna opened the billboard music awards (who knew those were still around? i didn't) with her latest hit, "s&m." the performance was super grope-y, super sexualized and just what you expect from a song with that name. halfway through the performance who should show up but miss britney spears. the princess of pop popped up to tackle the remixed version of riri's hit. sadly - but not surprisingly - britney decided to lip sync (the poor audio engineer who had to flip between rihanna's live singing and britney's recording...) and looked like she wanted to get off the stage the second she appeared- she actually started to walk away after giggling her way through the staged pillow fight before realizing the cameras were still on her. hopefully britney will do better next time...
beyonce delivered- hands down- the performance of the night. i mean, she was receiving the "millennium award," so she needed to bring it. while the song hasn't exactly been a hit, b's performance of "run the world (girls)" definitely was.
this was my favorite non-performance performance of the night. lady antebellum brought the house down - and by that i mean gave us a night refresher from the over-the-top dance sequences - with their latest single, "just a kiss." i liked it, but i couldn't help but think how uncomfortable it must be for two people who are not in a relationship together to constantly have to sing love songs to each other. awkward.
didn't jay-z record a song called "death of autotune." yeah, the black eyed peas should take a listen to it. it's one thing to have a verse in autotune, but for every song to be all autotune all the time? not a fan. seriously, what did this group do before fergie?
ok, maybe i spoke too soon about britney. miss spears surprised the audience for a second time, showing up halfway through nicki minaj's turn on stage. the female rapper du jour rocked it out to her song of the summer "super bass" before heading into her verse from the "til the world ends" remix. then britney came out lip syncing (again) and just kind of strutted around until the song was done. if this is any indication of what the girls' joint tour will be like this summer, expect ticket sales to flatline.
you'd think a new beyonce track would be super exciting, right? but if you give one listen to the demo for "girls (who rule the world)," i don't think you'll be impressed. while i'm sure we'll all be claiming "girls" as our new favorite song once the official track hits radio stations, i'm not sold on it yet. "girls" sounds like a rejected song from her album b-day. it's very repetitive, but not really catchy. you can't even tell what b's saying the whole time. the only reason "girls" will be a success is because beyonce's name's attached to it - she's reached the same point at britney - they could literally record the phone book and it would go #1. check out the leak above and hope the song's final mix is better than this.
it looks like beyonce may be making her play to become the millennium's gay icon. the bootylicious singer/actress/designer/wig connoisseur is set to star in a new musical adaptation of a star is born. this will be the fourth time a star is born has been made, first in 1937, then again in 1954 with judy garland and most recently in 1976 with barbra streisand. the film's general plot revolves around a past-his-prime star (yet to be cast) who takes an up-and-comer (that would be beyonce) under his wing to - guess what - make her a star. clint eastwood is set to produce and direct the latest version , which is being made under the warner brothers banner. the question will be if beyonce can carry a film like this. all her other movies - austin powers: goldmember, dreamgirls, cadillac records and obsessed - have all had built in audiences, or been genre-driven. to create an original musical for beyonce may be too big of an undertaking, even with eastwood on board. i think the success of this remake hangs on who is cast alongside beyonce. apparently, will smith has been on the short list for a long time. but, it seems like a bodyguard-esque race-bending love story could bring more buzz, and a bigger audience, to the flick. production should start later this year, and expect a star is born to be released in late 2012/early 2013.
ms. swift's latest single, "mine," has leaked onto the internets. the song is in her wheelhouse of bubbly country pop love song, so it's nothing new or exciting. just more of the same. the one plus is taytay has moved on from high school, kind of. the song talks about the boy being in college so...check out the song below. i understand taylor wants to play it safe and not lose any fans, but she's going to have to grow and evolve to stay in the industry. her career will plateau within five years if she doesn't do something game changing. or at least adult. take some cues from carrie underwood - she started out with a song about jesus, then busted up some guys car and became country's resident pop star. check out the song below.
the vma's are coming!
mtv has released the nominations for this year's video music awards. not surprisingly, lady gaga got the most noms with 13, the most for any artist ever in the history of the show. here's a list of the major categories and who i think will be taking home the moon man at the end of the night. there's a lot of repetition and quite a few snubs, but i'll get to those at the end.
video of the year
30 second to mars, "kings and queens"
b.o.b. featuring hailey williams, "airplanes"
eminem, "not afraid"
florence + the machine, "dog days are over"
lady gaga, "bad romance"
lady gaga featuring beyonce, "telephone"
best collaboration
3oh!3 featuring ke$ha, "my first kiss"
b.o.b. featuring hailey williams, "airplanes"
beyonce featuring lady gaga, "video phone"
lady gaga featuring beyonce, "telephone"
jay-z featuring alicia keys, "empire state of mind"
best female video
beyonce featuring lady gaga, "video phone"
katy perry featuring snoop dogg, "california gurls"
ke$ha, "tik tok"
lady gaga, "bad romance" - see video above
taylor swift, "fifteen"
best male video
b.o.b. featuring hailey williams, "airplanes"
drake, "find your love"
eminem, "not afraid"
jason derulo, "in my head"
usher featuring will.i.am., "omg"
best new artist
broken bells, "the ghost inside"
jason derulo, "in my head"
justin bieber featuring ludacris, "baby"
ke$ha, "tik tok"
nicki minaj featuring sean garrett, "massive attack"
best pop video
b.o.b. featuring bruno mars, "nothing on you"
beyonce featuring lady gaga, "video phone"
ke$ha, "tik tok"
lady gaga, "bad romance"
katy perry, "california gurls"
every year, mtv attempts to maintain their music credibility by throwing in videos/songs/artists that are relatively unknown. while we all know those people will never win (hello broken bells...who the hell are you anyway?) it is nice for them to get some exposure. on the flip side, people who have had big years (like miley cyrus - "party in the usa" is no where to be found - and justin bieber, who got one nod and one nod only) get bumped out of categories. you can't please everyone, but i don't know if putting lady gaga in every category is fair for a fan-voted show. fan-voted shows are never really fair, though. oh well. the show airs september 12 on mtv. a host is yet to be announced. click here to see the full list of nominees and learn more about the show.
the first single from the soon-to-be released deluxe re-release of beyonce's i am...sasha fierce "why don't you love me" has dropped along with a new video. i really like the song (even though it's been floating around the internet for a while now) and the video concept, i just don't know if i like them together. maybe it'll grow on me, but i don't know. the two are very christina aguilera's back to basics, which i like. check it out above and tell me what you think.
miley cyrus "can't be tamed"
miley cyrus also debuted her latest music vid today and it is...ridiculous. miley is definitely trying to shed any inkling of hannah montana from her persona. the video is super edgy and sexed up (though miley says the point isn't the sexiness, it's about embodying the lyrics. um, ok). check it out for yourself. it's definitely not going to run on the disney channel.
last night, lady gaga premiered the much-anticipated video for her single "telephone," featuring beyonce. it does not disappoint. the 10 minute vid is music video perfection. it's almost cinematic perfection. with slight nods to thelma and louise and kill bill, the video would surely have been a retiree had trl not gone off the air. check it out above.
last night, cbs aired the 52nd annual grammy awards and they were no disappointment. while the show is supposed to be about the awards, it was really the performances that made the special, well, special. lady gaga opened the show in true lady gaga fashion, including surprise guest elton john. it was over the top and theatrical, just the way to kick off an awards show. people say they're getting tired of gaga and her theatrics, but had the opening number been a bland stand-there-and-play-guitar type thing, the night wouldn't have gotten off on the right foot.
after gaga, everyone from pink to beyonce and bon jovi took the stage. pink's number, "glitter in the air," was proof that lip synching is dead. dead dead dead. if pink can do aerial stunts and sing live, anyone can. sorry, britney, but you're going to have to get your voice together.
speaking of britney, she was nominated for best dance recording for "womanizer." not surprisingly, she didn't win. but she did show up - after an 8 year hiatus from the show - in a crazy fishnet dress. i think it's pretty obvious why she skipped any press before the show.
beyonce was another great performance, though it was disappointing she didn't sing the song that made her year what it was - "single ladies." miss knowles did, however, cover alanis morisette's "you should know." it's weird to think about beyonce singing about uncle joey from full house (that's who the song was - allegedly - originally written about, fyi), but whatever.
taylor swift, who took home four of the night's big awards, performed on stage with fleetwood mac legend stevie nicks and, well, it was less than impressive. i've said it before and i'll say it again. and again - taylor has an issue singing live. it's usually better when she has the guitar in front of her, but last night it was just flat. flat flat flat. the one thing that saves taylor is that she's a good song writer, which is sure to keep her foot in the door of the industry for the rest of her life. she just needs to start focusing on more adult material and not sing every single song about puppy love and fairytales. the girl turns 21 this year, come on. it didn't help that taylor's breathy voice was backed up with stevie's husky one. it was just kind of a mess. the one plus was that the duo sang one of my faves from stevie's fleetwood days, "rhiannon." why stevie played the tambourine randomly during the performance is beyond me.
the most star-powered number of the night came during the michael jackson tribute, the final imagining of his "earth song" performance form what was to be the "this is it" concert series. the thing that annoyed me most about this performance was that it was in 3d - i know i wasn't the only one not to get the memo about needing glasses. hello, grammy people, not everyone just has those lying around. had they sent them out in the mail or in tv guide, i could understand it. but the award show expected people to go to target or kmart and pick up a pair. why is this '80s technology back with such full force? it's not like they've improved on it or like it's actually there in front of you. 2d is just fine by me. the "earth song" performance featured celine dion (surprisingly tame), usher, carrie underwood, jennifer hudson and smokey robinson. i understand this was michael's favorite song from "this is it," but i would have much preferred a medley of his hit songs.
after the performance, michael's son, prince, and daughter, paris, accepted the lifetime achievement award for their father. for some reason, they were joined on stage by their cousins (there's no question in my mind that this wasn't some way to promote the cousins' fame) but not little brother blanket. where the hell was blanket? prince gave most of the speech and the way he spoke was almost identical to the intonations and inflections in his father's voice. it was almost creepy.
the worst performance of the night has to go to jamie foxx, who didn't seem able to keep up with his backing track for "blame it." the fact that the song is so autotuned made it even harder. watch with your own discretion - let me warn you that the performance starts out with a hokey opera skit.
now to the night's winners and what i think of them.
album of the year: taylor swift, fearless - while it was a huge hit, i don't know that fearless made enough advances or impact in the history of music. i'm not saying taylor isn't deserving - she works hard and have made people pay attention to country music again - but lady gaga had the most hits and innovation of any other artists. the biggest disappointment is that gaga was shutout of the best new artist category because of a single nomination in the dance/electronica category next year.
song of the year: "single ladies," beyonce - deserved, deserved, deserved.
best new artist: zac brown band - did i call it or what? there really wasn't much else to choose from this year so the country group who writes their own stuff was the top pick.
pop vocal album: the black eyed peas, the e.n.d. - surprising, but their innovation makes it worth it. the peas are another group that can't really perform live. here's their performance.
best pop vocal performance (female): beyonce, "halo" - duh.
best pop vocal performance (male): jason mraz, "make it mine" - must have been slim pickings
pop collaboration with vocals: jason mraz and colbie caillat, "lucky" - colbie may have been the nights most surprising winner because she won on others' coattails. she helped write and sing on taylor's record, garnering herself a grammy for record of the year.
i'm not going to go into all the other categories, but just know that gaga wasn't completely shut out - she won the 2 awards in the dance category: one for "poker face" and the other for her album, the fame. other winners included beyonce in the r&b category, tswift in country, kings of leon and green day (who previewed their broadway musical, american idiot, at the show) in the rock category and jay-z, rihanna and kanye in the rap category for "run this town."
and, because you read this whole, long blog, a treat: my favorite picture from the night, ke$ha and justin bieber. she could eat him.
it looks like beyonce will be queen of the 52nd annual grammy awards when they air january 31st on cbs. lady b landed 10 noms, the most of any performer this year. taylor swift made a strong effort to beat bey, but only got 8 nods. below is a list of the nominees for the bigger categories and who i think will win (marked with an *).
record of the year (aka a second category for song of the year)
"halo," beyonce*
"i gotta feeling," black eyed peas
"use somebody," kings of leon
"poker face," lady gaga
"you belong with me," taylor swift
album of the year
i am...sasha fierce, beyonce
the e.n.d., black eyed peas
the fame, lady gaga*
big whiskey and the groogrux king, dave matthews band
fearless, taylor swift
song of the year
"poker face," lady gaga
"pretty wings," hot davis and musze
"single ladies," beyonce*
"use somebody," kings of leon
"you belong with me," taylor swift
best new artist
zac brown band*
keri hilson
mgmt
silverspun pickups
the ting tings
lady gaga couldn't be nominated for this category because her album received a nomination last year for best dance album. if you've been nominated before, you lose out. this also happened to jennifer hudson last year, because she had been nominated for the dreamgirls soundtrack. but, j hud swept her categories last year so maybe gaga can do the same this year.
best female pop vocal performance
"hometown glory," adele
"halo," beyonce
"hot n cold," katy perry
"sober," pink*
"you belong with me," taylor swift
best male pop vocal performance
"this time," john legend
"love you," maxwell
"make it mine," jason mraz*
"if you don't know me by now," seal
"all about the love again," stevie wonder
best pop performance by a duo or group with vocals
"i gotta feeling," black eyed peas
"we weren't born to follow," bon jovi
"never say never," the fray*
"sara smile," hall and oates
"kids," mgmt
best pop collaboration with vocals
"sea of heartbreak," roseanne cash and bruce springsteen
"love sex magic," ciara and justin timberlake
"lucky," jason mraz and colbie caillat*
"baby it's cold outside," willie nelson and norah jones
"breathe," taylor swift and cobie caillat
best pop vocal album
the e.n.d., the black eyed peas
breakthrough, colbie caillat
all i ever wanted, kelly clarkson*
the fray, the fray
funhouse, pink
the categories go on and on, but i can't post all of them. for a complete list, check here.
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