nicki minaj + ke$ha + britney? i mean, could you really ask for anything more. listen to this over-the-top remix of britney's latest single, "till the world ends. " brit brit's newly announced tour-mate adds some much needed intensity to the song's opening (alluding to her ongoing fued with former rap queen lil' kim), while the song's writer (ke dollar sign ha) takes over some of brit brit's opening verses. if this and the britney remix to "s&m" don't hit radio soon, there's going to be a problem.
after weeks of schtick after schtick, glee finally returns to some quality, not-so-wholesome entertainment. check out the latest episode, in which the cast tackles the touchy subject of getting schwasted, with a little help from the creative genius that is ke$ha and jamie foxx.
do you ever think to yourself, "what the hell happened to kirsten dunst?" the '90s teen comedy staple has worked on few projects since spiderman 3 in 2007. there was that stint in rehab and all, but in-demand actresses don't stop working. well miss torrence shipman is back in a movie that's getting some serious oscar buzz. all good things stars dunst as the wife and possible murder victim of a real estate-tycoon heir, played by ryan gossling. it's based on the life of robert durst, a real life heir to the durst real estate fortune. durst's wife, kathleen, disappeared in the early 1980s, and she hasn't been heard of or found since. rumors have long followed durst that he in fact murdered his wife, and suspicion grew stronger when durst's long time friend was found murdered in 2000. check out the trailer above. it looks like it's going to be a serious psychological thriller and will probably make everyone question if they really know who their significant other is...kirsten dunst has three more projects in the works now, including the highly anticipated adaptation of jack keouac's on the road, with kristen stewart. it seems like dunst is taking on much more dramatic roles, which hopefully will pay off for the star.
want to hear some new music?
a lot of musical acts released new singles this week. here's a look at some of the ones that caught my eye.
everyone's favorite dirty party girl is releasing a companion album to animal, called cannibal. "we r who we r" is the lead single off the disc, and from the sound of it, cannibal will be more of the same. auto-tuned sings-speak all about sex, drugs and rock and roll. i mean, is anyone really complaining? we all need some guilty pleasure music in our life.
speaking of guilty pleasures, it looks like pussycat dolls lead single nicole scherzinger is giving a solo career another go. the singer's earlier attempts, "baby love" and "whatever you like," failed to take off and a 2007 album called her name is nicole never made it to stores. "poison" is very club, very dance. it reminds me a lot of where kelly rowland has gone with her career (see: "commander"). hopefully nicole's dancing with the stars win and possible spot on the x factor's judging panel will help "poison" take off.
leighton meester's solo music career seems to have been put on the back burner, but her film career is taking off. the gossip girl star already filmed the roommate and monte carlo, both due out next year, and is part of the ensemble cast of country strong. leighton plays a new country teen queen and a snippet of a song from the movie, "words i couldn't say" hit the internet today. check out the short clip above. if leighton's pop/dance-inspired music career doesn't take off, she might want to consider the country route. she definitely has the voice for it.
and, speaking of country strong, the music video for the title single was released today. in the flick, gwyneth paltrow plays a recovering alcoholic country music superstar trying to get her career back on track. paltrow sings all of her own songs and, wouldn't you know, she's actually pretty good. good enough to land a guest gig on glee. check out the video above - the movie hits theaters december 22.
check out the singer's two crazy performances from last night's saturday night live. if this is a preview of what her concert with rihanna will be like this summer, i see a lot of people buying tickets.
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$ha and justin bieber. she could eat him.
it looks like conan o'brien may be looking for a new job starting next month. the red-headed funnyman is reportedly on his way off the peacock airwaves. and jay leno would be in. it hasn't even been a year since conan took over hosting duties for nbc's the tonight show from leno, but nbc is feeling the loss. ratings are down for the net all around, with cbs's letterman-hosted late show beating nbc for the first time since leno was host. and the primetime numbers are weak, weak, weak with leno's new format taking 5 hours of programming time away from the network. according to tmz, leno's current show will go on indefinite hiatus starting february 1 and the veteran comic will return to 11:30/10:30c after the network's airing of the olympics winds down later this year. sources say there was a long staff meeting at leno's nbc studio today to figure out what exactly will happen when the star returns to the airways, with one option cutting leno's program down to a half hour which would then be followed by an hour of conan, pushing the jimmy fallon hosted late night to directly compete with abc's ratings winner jimmy kimmel show. the second option would be for the network to completely buy mr. o'brien out of his contract and give jay back the show that made him a household name. this was one of the plans being tossed around before jay was offered his primetime showcase, but was tossed to the curb because it would be a major million dollar payout. looks like the audience and ad sale lost is more costly for the net than conan's severance. hopefully the network will release some sort of statement in the next couple of days once they've figured out what exactly will happen, but either way leno will get back his after hours comedy slot. looks like the peacock may finally be getting its mojo back. my question is, what the hell are they going to be putting in those 5 hours a week at 10/9c??
ka ka ka ke$ha
here's a mini-music review for you. the other night i decided to grab ke$ha's debut, animal, on itunes while it was still specially priced for under $7. i've been listening to the she-rap/singer since september - long before "tik tok" fell on anyone else's radar. animal lives up to the build up of "tok" and then some. my one critique is that the way the tracks play, the disc progressively goes from high energy pop to slower songs. but, with the help of itunes shuffle, that little complaint is nbd. there are plenty of radio-friendly songs, including my favorite from the cd, "dinosaur." check it out above and consider downloading the disc while it's still cheap.
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