MTV News |
- Paramore Show MTV News Some Southern Hospitality
- Swizz Beatz Says DMX Is Ready For A Comeback
- 'Hills' Star Stephanie Pratt Says It's 'Fun' To Mock Spencer's New Cowboy Look
- Britney Spears Announces <i>The Singles Collection,</i> New Track
- Jay-Z Says Lil Mama's VMA Stage Invasion Was 'Outta Line'
- Kanye West, Lady Gaga Release Provocative Promo For Fame Kills Tour
- Aubrey O'Day Cancels 'Peepshow' Performance After Nude Photos Hit Web
- Drake's 'Forever' Video: Kanye West, Lil Wayne, Eminem And An Explosion Or Three
| Paramore Show MTV News Some Southern Hospitality Posted: 24 Sep 2009 03:51 AM PDT Hayley Williams and company take us to their old (and current) haunts in Franklin, Tennessee.
FRANKLIN, Tennessee — At their very core, Paramore are Franklin, Tennessee, the tiny satellite of Nashville they call home. And when they welcomed MTV News to the town earlier this week, they made that point abundantly clear. But during the course of our conversations, it became clear that their roots can actually be traced to nearby Leipers Fork, an (even tinier) town just a few miles to the west. Because out there — west on State Route 96, south on Highway 46 — is where lead singer Hayley Williams first met bassist Jeremy Davis (at the insistence of her mom). And the rest, as they say, is history.
"I went to middle school out there. It's this really tiny town in the middle of nowhere, but they have one of the best music programs in the country," Davis said. "So that's where I learned to play guitar and where I started playing in this band — and that's where I met Hayley." "They had this cover band going, of like funk songs and party music, and they needed a singer, and they had fliers all over my middle school and at my mom's school, because she was a teacher. And I had no friends, so my mom was like, 'You love singing, and you like this kind of music, so let's do this, let's try to make you some friends!' " Williams recalled. "So I went to the audition at this dude's house, the drummer of their old band, and they had this microphone and everyone was set up, and I was so nervous. And they had me sing with them, and I made it. And I started singing in their band, and we'd play out there in Leipers Fork, in this place called Green's Grocery." And near Green's was a place called Puckett's, a sort of — as Davis put it — "combination gas station and a restaurant and a grocery store." It's the kind of place that's fairly common in the Tennessee countryside, little more than a few tables sharing space with shelves of household goods and a gas pump or two, but over the years, Puckett's has become sort of an institution — and not just for tourists, but for country megastars (and the occasional platinum-plus punk act too). "I don't know how, but every Saturday night, they'll have people come and sing at Puckett's, like these famous people, like Faith Hill or Michael McDonald," Davis laughed. "They'll cook up a big meal, and a few people will sit inside and listen to Faith Hill sing." "Over the years, we've gone out there a bunch too," Williams added. "It's in the middle of nowhere, so we don't go too often. And they haven't asked us to sing yet, either." And, as is the case with most things involving Paramore, it all comes back to Franklin. A few years back, the people behind Puckett's decided to open a second location in the city's downtown district. And since then, it's become the unofficial Paramore HQ — the place where the band unwound during the (very contentious) recording of their Brand New Eyes album, where they let the pressures of following up a platinum-selling album disappear. So, naturally, it was the first place they took us on their tour of Franklin. "I come to Puckett's a lot, because I'm always in downtown Franklin. We always come here, like, whether it's after church or before a band practice," Williams explained. "When we were recording our record, we recorded it right down the street, and a lot of days we would come here for lunch and just talk. And that was at a time when we weren't really talking a lot, either, so those moments where we would actually hang out were special and awesome and kind of few and far between for a little bit. "It's Southern as you can be," she added. "Everyone's so sweet. Anyone can come here and just be themselves." |
| Swizz Beatz Says DMX Is Ready For A Comeback Posted: 24 Sep 2009 03:51 AM PDT Plus: Raekwon talks about the future of his Cuban Linx, in Mixtape Daily.
The O.D.: A Mixtape Daily Exclusive
"Me and X probably have the realest of realest talks," Swizz said of his close friend. "If a person don't wanna help themselves, then there's nothing you can do. The good thing is that X is willing to help himself. I know the X I can work with, I know the X I cannot work with. Right now [he] is the X I can work with. That's why he's on the ['Who's Real'] remix smashing it and we got about seven other records that, if we put out right now, it would mess everybody up. "But I wanna have the proper setup where he's getting a fair chance and the most attention and most respect right now," Swizz added. "I'm not putting nothing out until we have the lineup together, which we're close to having, and the streets are going to witness that raw uncut street element. X was doing $16 million movies and sleeping outside, just because that's where he felt comfortable. He's the realest in the game. He never was on no jewelry, no cars. X, he's one artist that I truly know is a real artist. It don't get no more real than X." As for the Ruff Ryders coming back together, Swizz said, "100 percent." While a compilation may be held back due to business reasons, he says everyone — the LOX, Eve, Drag-On as well as DMX — is working on their separate projects to drop soon. The Streets Is Talking: News and Notes From The Underground "That's a mean question," he told us recently in New York. "I'd like to see Nas do another Illmatic. See Snoop do another [Doggystyle]. I'd like to see Hov do another Reasonable Doubt. I'd like to Slick Rick come back with the another Great Adventures of Slick Rick. I'd like to see Rakim do another Paid in Full. ... I'm hip-hop for real. We could go on for days. I would like to see another Criminal Minded [from Boogie Down Productions]. "These are dudes that really initiated the boat to really rock the right way," he continued. "I'm gonna always respect the classics until the young G's show me they really understand it, rather than just looking at it as being a rapper with the bling on and the Phantom parked outside and the girls and the bling on and the paparazzi. I wanna see skills come back to the table. I wanna see creativity come back to the table. I wanna see art. Just do your work. Do what you supposed to do to make us say, 'He stepped his game up.' Shout to the young G's doing their thing though." Rae isn't sure about the future of the Cuban Linx series of albums — it depends on the fans. "We at that question already?" he smiled when we asked him about the game plan for Cuban Linx III. "Right now, that's not even thought about. I want people to suck up this album. If the fans start getting on me and I feel like they respect what I do ... I'm looking to see all the people who been talking about II, I'm gonna see where y'all at. I'm looking at the charts and sales and everything to really feel like, 'OK, III is worth it because II showed me they wasn't fronting on me. You never know." For other artists featured in Mixtape Daily, check out Mixtape Daily Headlines. |
| 'Hills' Star Stephanie Pratt Says It's 'Fun' To Mock Spencer's New Cowboy Look Posted: 24 Sep 2009 03:51 AM PDT 'It's really fun to make fun of him lately,' Pratt says of her brother's new style.
Stephanie Pratt isn't really feeling brother Spencer's latest accessory. As fans know by now, Spencer has been donning a cowboy hat lately — and it seems that's not the only Western garb that he's been rocking around "The Hills." "His Amish hat?" Stephanie joked to MTV News. "The best part, though, is he's wearing cowboy boots with heels, so he clunks. You hear 'em. Even past the hats, now he wears crystals."
Stephanie says that she's not afraid to call her older brother out for suddenly becoming an urban cowboy. She also doesn't really buy that he's wearing all of this as some sort of tribute to his father-in-law Cowboy Bill, either. "It's really fun to make fun of him lately. ... I go over to their house and I'm like, 'Spencer, stop going through Heidi's clothes.' It's really fun," she explained. "He says the cowboy hat is, like, a gift from dad and blah blah blah, but he's, like, getting really scary." However, Spencer has assured MTV News that he is indeed wearing the gear on the show because Cowboy Bill asked him to. "Well, it was because my new father-in-law gave it to me, and he gave it to me with such a serious speech connected to it [about] how much it truly meant to him and his life and everything," Pratt explained. "He even kind of hinted at how cool it would be to see it on the show for all his cowboy friends back in Colorado." Check out Spencer's cowboy style for yourself when new episodes of "The Hills" premiere Tuesday, September 29, at 10 p.m. ET on MTV. Related Videos |
| Britney Spears Announces <i>The Singles Collection,</i> New Track Posted: 23 Sep 2009 01:52 AM PDT New single called '3' drops next week, and compilation album is due out November 24.
While she's still on the road promoting her most recent album, Circus, through September 27 in Las Vegas (and in Australia through November 29), Britney Spears is already breaking out yet another new release. The pop star will celebrate her 10 years in the game by releasing The Singles Collection on November 24, and a new single, "3," is set to come out next Tuesday.
According to a release posted on BritneySpears.com, The Singles Collection will be available for purchase as a standard set and a packaged box set. The standard set will include 17 of her biggest hits. The ultimate fan box set will contain all 29 of Spears' singles individually packaged in slip sleeves with their original artwork and B-sides or remixes. The box set will also include a DVD with all of Brit's videos from past to present and a photo booklet with various photos spanning her career. Spears released her first greatest-hits collection, My Prerogative, back in 2004. Britney recorded "3" with Max Martin, the mastermind behind her legendary pop tune, "... Baby One More Time." In mid-July, Spears tweeted a message hinting at her collaboration with the producer. "Back in the studio with Max!" said Spears while in Sweden on her Circus tour, which Spears' camp claims is the highest-grossing tour of 2009. Related Videos Related Artists |
| Jay-Z Says Lil Mama's VMA Stage Invasion Was 'Outta Line' Posted: 23 Sep 2009 04:48 AM PDT 'To interrupt that moment for us, I don't think that was the right thing to do,' Jay says of his performance with Alicia Keys.
During the MTV Video Music Awards on September 13, Lil Mama crashed the stage during the show's finale, the debut performance of Jay-Z and Alicia Keys' "Empire State of Mind." Jay called Angie Martinez's Hot 97 radio show to talk for the first time about Mama's move. "To interrupt that moment for us, I don't think that was the right thing to do," Jay said. Jay also compared the Mama incident to Kanye West spoiling Taylor Swift's winning moment. "It was a lot of planning that went into that performance. To disrupt that was outta line," he said.
Hov also said Mama's actions angered him, but there wasn't much he could do when she came onstage uninvited. "What I'mma do, fight Lil Mama?" Mama told MTV News, in the wake of the incident, that she came onstage because she was overwhelmed with inspiration. Alicia Keys told the "Today" show that she and Jay wished Mama had stayed in the crowd. "We can appreciate her being overwhelmed and inspired," Keys said, "but we would have appreciated it if she would have did it from her seat." Jay is overseas performing, so he won't be on hand when VH1 salutes Def Jam during their "Hip-Hop Honors" program taping Wednesday night (September 23). "There's a lot of people in Def Jam," he said. "They'll cover for me." Jay's Blueprint 3 is the #1 album in the country for the second week in a row. For that, he thanked the fans. Related Videos Related Artists |
| Kanye West, Lady Gaga Release Provocative Promo For Fame Kills Tour Posted: 23 Sep 2009 01:46 AM PDT West posted the clip, which features a topless Gaga, on his blog.
In the aftermath of his outburst at the MTV Video Music Awards, Kanye West went on "The Jay Leno Show" and said he was planning to keep a low profile in the coming months, both to deal with personal matters and to let the media firestorm he created subside. Well, West's self-imposed exile didn't last too long. On Wednesday (September 23), he took to his blog, posting a provocative teaser trailer for his upcoming Fame Kills Tour with Lady Gaga, which he announced earlier this summer during an appearance on "The View" but wasn't confirmed until last week. And, yes, the new video is sure to have people talking. The clip — which West posted under the headline "What Happened to All the Rock Stars? The Fame Killed Them!" — is part grainy, slo-mo art film, part soft-core strip tease, featuring a topless Gaga (her rep confirmed to MTV News) writhing in the arms of a black man, while a moody, ominous soundtrack plays in the background. After 30 seconds of this, the name of the tour appears onscreen, followed by a voice (that sounds very much like West's) saying, "Fame Kills," and then "West + Gaga" flashes on the screen Last month, Gaga told the BBC that the Fame Kills Tour was going to be "groundbreaking" and that she and West had been working together to create the look and feel for the jaunt. The tour is scheduled to kick off November 10 in Phoenix and wraps January 24 in Dallas. Related Artists |
| Aubrey O'Day Cancels 'Peepshow' Performance After Nude Photos Hit Web Posted: 23 Sep 2009 04:48 AM PDT 'It made me feel insecure about my body,' former Danity Kane singer says in online video.
Former Danity Kane member Aubrey O'Day has pulled out of the Wednesday (September 23) performance of her Las Vegas revue "Peepshow," citing her disgust over nude photos hitting the Internet. "Hey, everyone, Aubrey here," she began a two-and-a-half-minute video that ends with her stripping nearly naked to show off her body on her own terms. "I'm making a video for you guys, because instead of being onstage at 'Peepshow' tonight, where I usually am, I decided to call [off] tonight because of some nude photos that were illegally obtained last night at the show." In the video message, posted on her Web site, the 25-year-old O'Day said that following last night's debut performance in "Peepshow" — a semi-nude stage extravaganza billed on the Planet Hollywood Web site as "a strip show you can take your wife to" — she was disturbed to learn that an audience member had taken photos of her and posted them on the Web. Of course, some outlets have pointed out that O'Day recently appeared nude in the March issue of Playboy, but she denies any claims of hypocrisy. "Last night was my opening night, and it was such an amazing feeling, and I've been told by everyone that the performance that I gave was absolutely amazing, one of the best they've seen," O'Day explained. "[But the photos] made me feel like crap. It made me feel bad. It made me feel insecure about my body, and unfortunately, this is not the first time I felt this way in this industry." Judging by the look of the clip, O'Day shot the video in a hotel room, leaning against a wall. Explaining that she was "up screaming at attorneys, internationally and domestically, trying to get all these photos off the Internet last night," the tired-looking O'Day rants about recent issues concerning her weight fluctuations, online judgments on her appearance and even calls out Perez Hilton, saying, "This is what I look like without makeup." "A lot of people may not understand what it feels like for women to be judged like that, but as you can see, I'm not performing, which is the one thing I love doing most. ... I'm not going to let anyone like Perez Hilton say that Aubrey looks ugly un-Photoshopped," she fumed, promising, "I am going to be back onstage at 'Peepshow' every night [following tonight's cancellation]." O'Day ended the video by stripping off her shirt, exposing a see-through bra, while exclaiming, "This is what my body looks like, naturally. "This is what I look like with my natural hair, uncombed — I just got out of bed, and this is what my body looks like naturally," she said. "There you go, everyone, you can look at all the photos you like — yes, any cover that any celebrity has ever done has been retouched. But this is what I look like without my top on, and any photo that you see, especially the one from 'Peepshow' [on the Internet, which] was an hour and a half [into me] performing while I was hitting a high note onstage. "I guess my message is be comfortable with who you are, don't let anybody tear you down, don't let anyone make you feel not proud of your body," said O'Day, who stars in "Peepshow" with "Girls Next Door" alum Holly Madison. "I'm sure every celebrity has battled with this throughout their career, feeling bad about themselves because of the bad that other people say about them. And I really hope that this inspires somebody to just say f--- it. "For me," she concluded, "I would just like to say, 'F--- you!' to all the haters." Related Artists |
| Drake's 'Forever' Video: Kanye West, Lil Wayne, Eminem And An Explosion Or Three Posted: 22 Sep 2009 10:57 PM PDT Hype Williams-directed clip is basically the opposite of Drake's dark 'Successful' video.
One of the coolest things about Drake's "Successful" video — which premiered late last month — was that it didn't really feel like a Drake video. Sure, he (and Trey Songz) are featured prominently throughout, but the clip is dark and brooding, a stylized, noir-ish nightscape that (like the song itself) takes most of the celebratory tenets of R&B videos and made them look, well, decidedly less fun. In fact, "Successful" is seriously somber, to the point where it borders on dark, a rather bold and artsy move for a guy tipped by pretty much everyone to be the next big thing.
Not surprisingly, reactions were a bit mixed, with many critics loving the clip and many fans reacting with confusion. So, Drake has pulled a 180 with his follow-up video, the very big, very brash "Forever," which — in addition to copious explosions and flashing lights — features cameos from NBA star LeBron James (the song is featured on the soundtrack to the James documentary "More Than a Game") and a lot of rappers you might have heard of: Kanye West, Lil Wayne and Eminem (who is joined by Slaughterhouse) — and Hype Williams directed it. Somber this one isn't! Now, the ramifications of having co-stars of this magnitude have already been debated, but suffice it to say, landing four of the hottest MCs in the world (and the reigning NBA MVP) for his video is a pretty good look for Drake, who at 22 has already accomplished something that takes even superstar MCs years to do: line up a legendary posse-cut, then deliver on the hype. With a lineup like that, a performance clip is really the only way to go, and that's what's been done here: The real thrill is seeing Wayne, West, Em and Drake in the same music video! This is a blockbuster of the highest order, a big-budget, big-explosion event, and fans (especially those who weren't fans of "Successful") will lap it up. Drake has done his art-house video, and now, with "Forever," he's gone IMAX. Get your popcorn! Related Videos Related Photos Related Artists |
| You are subscribed to email updates from MTV News To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610 | |
Tidak ada komentar:
Posting Komentar