MTV News |
- 'We Are The World' Remake Producer RedOne Aims For 'Current' Sound
- Ashton Kutcher, Nick Cannon, More Share Their Valentine's Day Secrets
- Tony Yayo Hopes Eminem Will Join G-Unit's U.S. Tour
- John Mayer's <i>Playboy</i> Interview Caps A History Of TMI
- 2010 MTV Movie Awards And Video Music Awards To Air Live From L.A.
- Exclusive: Lil Wayne Plays Evil Trick On Short Dawg -- Watch It Here!
- 'We Are The World' Director Paul Haggis Recalls Video-Shoot 'Chaos'
- Kanye West On Alexander McQueen: 'We Lost An Angel!'
- Watch Pink, Justin Bieber In 'We Are The World' Footage
- Black Eyed Peas, Lady Gaga Top iTunes All-Time Most-Downloaded Songs
| 'We Are The World' Remake Producer RedOne Aims For 'Current' Sound Posted: 11 Feb 2010 07:12 AM PST 'I didn't want to mess it up, because it's too good,' the Lady Gaga hitmaker says of the original.
LOS ANGELES — Grammy-winning producer RedOne has worked with a slew of top artists, including Akon, Shakira, Little Boots, Sean Kingston and, most notably, Lady Gaga. But when he received a phone call from Lionel Richie and Quincy Jones, asking him to produce a remake of "We Are the World," he was in complete shock. "I was like, 'Oh my God!' " RedOne told MTV News at the Henson Studios, where the track was recorded last week. "This is Lionel and Quincy, you know, the fathers of music, of hits, of music, of charity, of everything. It was big. So that night, before I started working on it, I had nightmares about the whole track. 'They didn't like it. Oh, they need a new track.' But, thank God, they loved it."
Twenty-five years after the all-star recording of "We Are the World" was put together to help combat African famine, a new collection of stars came together February 2 to make their new version for victims of the Haiti earthquake. But RedOne was careful not to change up the original version too much. Instead, he opted to keep the song the same but bring a more current sound to it. "I just keep the class of the original one," RedOne said. "But I didn't want to change any course. I didn't want to mess it up, because it's too good. I tried to keep it on the same level and tried to make it sound more now and current. I kept the whole chord progressions, the feeling and the vibe, but brought fresher sounds that are more now." Producing the track was relatively easy, RedOne said, considering Richie and Jones had already picked the artists and selected which parts of the song the musicians would sing before bringing the hitmaker onboard. "Everybody wanted to help," RedOne said about the stars checking their egos at the door. "I remember Jamie Foxx came to me and said, 'Red, don't worry about me. I am here. I can wait. Do your thing. Whenever it is my time, I'll be here. Don't think about it.' So that was a beautiful sign. It wasn't about me as a producer or Quincy as a legend producer or Lionel or any artists. Celine Dion, Barbra Streisand, Akon, Enrique [Iglesias] — everybody was there. And it was amazing and beautiful." After a week of fine-tuning the song, RedOne couldn't be happier with the outcome. "'We Are the World' is done, and it sounds incredible and the video is incredible," the producer promised. "So I think the world will be touched by it, and hopefully people will be touched that much to help, because that is the whole purpose for the song. "It is so easy to forget about them for a little while," Red said of keeping Haiti in people's minds. "But music goes on and on, so all the money that is going to be generated can be for Haiti, and it's a beautiful thing. We try to raise the money to build, like, seven cities and help the children and schools and things, so it's a good thing. I think you are going to love it." The song, accompanied by the video, is slated to premiere Friday night at the opening ceremonies of the Winter Olympics on NBC. All proceeds will go to the newly formed charity We Are the World Foundation LLC and will then be distributed to Haiti. Learn more about what you can do to help with earthquake-relief efforts in Haiti, and for more information, see Think MTV. Visit HopeForHaitiNow.org or call (877) 99-HAITI to make a donation now. Related Photos Related Artists |
| Ashton Kutcher, Nick Cannon, More Share Their Valentine's Day Secrets Posted: 12 Feb 2010 03:50 AM PST 'Be very considerate — listen and plan wisely,' 'White Collar' star Matt Bomer says.
Valentine's Day is only a couple of days away, so we asked a few of our favorite actors for some of their favorite memories of the holiday — and some even offered up their A-list advice for those who could use a little help in the love department. A few of the men from the new rom-com "Valentine's Day" let us in on some secrets. Renée Zellweger's beau Bradley Cooper said, "I was away with a young lady and we came back and I had redone her garden in the back of her house."
Meanwhile, Topher Grace revealed that he hasn't had the best luck on the big day. "I don't think I have [a good story to share]," he said. "I've been riddled with bad valentines! But finally someone created a save. Say you're in your 20s, you've been dating for two weeks, one week, you don't know what to give — do I give her a candle or a rose or a dozen roses? Go see a romantic comedy. I'm not going to say which one — your choice." Ashton Kutcher, who will be spending the big day with wife Demi Moore, insisted you must start celebrating from the moment you wake up. "By waiting until the end of the day, now you have to compete with what everyone else has done throughout the day," he said. "So if you hit it first thing in the morning, they're all competing with you and you set the bar. Do not leave it hanging — at least plant the seed." "Southland" star Ben McKenzie joked that showing off your tough side could make for the perfect date. "I've learned a lot from the cops," he said. "I would take her to the firing range. And then take her on a ride-along in gang territory in South Central L.A." Nick Cannon told us he has learned from experience and will probably check with Mariah Carey before he makes any plans. "So I guess our two ideas didn't mesh together well," he said of a past incident. "So you walk into this room and all you see is red and lights and candles. We were opening gifts and I smell smoke ... the whole room was on fire and I screamed like a little bitch. Mariah, being a hero that she is, put the fire out. She's my hero. She's my valentine hero, so hopefully this year we won't set nothing on fire." All in all, "White Collar" star Matt Bomer knows the best way to your loved one's heart: just listen to them. "How to woo someone on Valentine's Day? I think be very considerate. Listen and plan wisely," he advised. "Don't operate too fast. Be respectful. Be present and if you're taking someone out on a date, hopefully you'd listened to them enough to know what they like and do something that they would enjoy." Which one of these guys would you most want as your Valentine? Let us know in the comments below, or upload a video to Your.MTV.com! |
| Tony Yayo Hopes Eminem Will Join G-Unit's U.S. Tour Posted: 12 Feb 2010 03:50 AM PST 'It would be an honor if Em came out,' he tells Mixtape Daily.
The O.D.: A Mixtape Daily Exclusive
In a couple of weeks, the G-Unit will be heading overseas for an international tour. Come June, the 50 Cent-captained team is scheduled to do something they haven't done in quite some time: tour the United States. Although no dates or other acts have been announced for the bill, Tony Yayo is hoping at least Slim Shady will be on the road with them. "I'm not sure if Eminem is gonna be a part of the bill," Yayo said recently in New York. "I know 50 wants to go out and do the U.S. tour. It would be an honor if Em came out. Shout to Em, the whole D12, everybody out there. "My best experience was [the] Anger Management [3 tour] with 50 and Eminem," Yayo added. "They was killing each other on the tour, it was crazy. That was an ill tour. Em comes out, Fif comes out, D12, Proof was still alive — rest in peace to Proof. That's one of the best hype men ever." While Yayo was fantasizing out loud, he threw another name in the mix. "You know what? I would love to see Eminem, Dre and 50 do a big tour, so I could make millions of dollars," he said. "I'll be a stagehand and work in the back. I wouldn't even care. I know I'll make a million dollars lifting stuff. It's an honor to be in their presence." Obviously, it would be a huge undertaking to get all these guys on the road together, but Yayo and the fans can dream, can't they? "With guys like Em and Dre and Fif, these guys got busy schedules," the Queens native said. "Em is working on another album. Fif got about 15 movies; he's working on another movie right now called 'The Gun.' Dre — come on, man, you see them Dr. Dre headphones selling like hot cakes everywhere you go. Those guys are busy guys. I feel blessed I could say that I know Eminem, Dr. Dre and 50 Cent. A lot of artists beg to do a song with Eminem, beg to do a song with 50 Cent, beg to do a song with Dre — I've experienced all those worlds." Yayo said that his new album might be called Godfather of the Ghetto, and like Lloyd Banks' next album, he wants to put it out this summer while the Unit are on tour. As for when 50 might release another LP, Tony said Fif isn't focused on that right now. "50 is like a chameleon," Yayo said. "What I seen from Fif, he's in Will Smith mode; he's shooting movie after movie. I know he's definitely supporting me and Banks' albums." For other artists featured in Mixtape Daily, check out Mixtape Daily Headlines. Related Videos |
| John Mayer's <i>Playboy</i> Interview Caps A History Of TMI Posted: 11 Feb 2010 12:52 AM PST Singer/guitarist's recent attention-grabbing comments weren't his first.
John Mayer has a long-established reputation as a virtuoso guitar player and ladies' man. But it's one of Mayer's other prodigious talents, his tendency to say and tweet outrageous comments, that has landed the "Waiting on the World to Change" singer in hot water this week.
By now, you've probably read and/or heard about Mayer's instantly infamous Playboy interview, in which he used the N-word and made sexually charged references to famous exes Jennifer Aniston and Jessica Simpson. Mayer quickly apologized for some of the comments he made in the interview, which also featured comments about black women and his " 'hood pass" that many have perceived as racist, including a number of prominent rappers. "I think it's time to stop trying to be so raw in interviews," Mayer said after the fact. "It started as an attempt to not let the waves of criticism get to me, but it's gotten out of hand and I've created somewhat of a monster. I wanted to be a blues guitar player. And a singer. And a songwriter. Not a shock jock. I don't have the stomach for it." Indeed, the Playboy interview wasn't the first time Mayer has said outrageous things or the first time he's talked about not being able to stop himself from making potentially offensive comments. In October, Mayer sat down with MTV News' Tim Kash and decried what he described as the "hatrix," a fake Internet world of hate in which people criticize and put other people down. "People don't like things that [are] purposely shocking," he said. "They start to feel abused by it. ... People are really concerned with what other people are saying about them." While blasting the tabloid media that covers him and confidently saying his songs will last well beyond the gossip rags' outrageous stories, Mayer said fans don't need to worry about the effect those reports have on him. "All the things that play out in the media were, most of the time, by a choice I made in my life," he said. "You make a choice in your life, and it affects your life in all the ways, good and bad." In a cover story in January's Rolling Stone magazine, writer Erik Hedegaard tackled head-on the insular world Mayer inhabits, titling his story, "The Dirty Mind and Lonely Heart of John Mayer," with the subtitle, "He has everything a 32-year-old man could want. So why can't rock's biggest playboy shut up and enjoy?" What followed was six pages of Mayer's stream-of-consciousness ranting, in which the reader learned that the "Daughters" singer has a $20 million watch collection, owns a bulletproof vest, can't resist "poop Twitters," believes he has "masturbated [himself] out of serious problems" in his life and describes how even in his sex dreams, he has to stop his virtual mate from grinding on him because he's distracted by a phantom paparazzo. These were all very personal, TMI-style utterances that the average guarded modern pop star would never reveal. "I don't know how much further I can do this before I'm a dead body on the side of the road," he said. "I mean, either I'm a total f---ing nut case who can explain himself, or I'm really not crazy and I can explain myself. I don't know yet." If nothing else, Mayer is conflicted, at once painfully aware that he talks way too much, but seemingly unable to stop. "I have these accidents, these mistakes, these self-inflicted wounds, and then I tear my head to shreds about it for days," he said about incidents such as the Playboy debacle (it's unclear if he completed the men's magazine interview before or after the Rolling Stone one). But, after a few days of reflection, he said, he typically decides he can't just be quiet. "I don't want to detach. I don't want to go live in a gated community. So I will continue to make these worldwide dignity mistakes as often as it takes to not make them anymore." Related Artists |
| 2010 MTV Movie Awards And Video Music Awards To Air Live From L.A. Posted: 11 Feb 2010 09:01 AM PST Don't miss the Movie Awards on Sunday, June 6, and the VMAs on Sunday, September 12, both at 9 p.m. ET/PT.
Last year in Los Angeles, Brüno landed half-naked on Eminem's head, while months later in New York, Kanye West didn't quite let Taylor Swift finish her acceptance speech. These were just two of the eye-popping, unforgettable, did-that-really-happen? moments from the 2009 MTV Movie Awards and Video Music Awards. This year, the pop-culture madness is all going to take place in one city.
That's because both the 2010 Movie Awards and the 2010 VMAs will air live from Los Angeles. First on Sunday, June 6, at 9 p.m. ET, MTV will launch the 19th annual Movie Awards live from the Gibson Amphitheatre in Universal City, California, the same venue where "Twilight" dominated the evening in 2009. Then on Sunday, September 12, at 9 p.m. ET/PT, we'll launch the 27th annual VMAs in Los Angeles, with the show returning to the West Coast after a stint in the Big Apple. As you might expect, the awards shows will feature a mix of A-list presenters, performances from the biggest names in the industry, tons of exclusive content and more of those unexpected moments that make MTV's awards shows the most fun of the year. "The Movie Awards and the VMAs consistently deliver some of the most talked about moments on TV. Making Los Angeles this year's location for both shows gives us the perfect hotbed to create the eclectic mix of artists, stars and commotion which embody MTV events," said Stephen Friedman, general manager for MTV. "The success of last year's shows ups the ante on the star power, music and movie madness viewers expect to see, and they won't be disappointed." Mark your calendars: The 2010 MTV Movie Awards air live Sunday, June 6, at 9 p.m. ET, and the VMAs go live Sunday, September 12, at 9 p.m. ET. Be there! Related Photos |
| Exclusive: Lil Wayne Plays Evil Trick On Short Dawg -- Watch It Here! Posted: 10 Feb 2010 11:29 PM PST Watch exclusive clip from DJ Scoob Doo's 'The Nino Brown Story, Part 2' right here!
You've seen video clips right here on MTVNews.com from DJ Scoob Doo's unprecedented access into Lil Wayne's world. Scoob has taken the footage and turned it into two DVDs, "The Nino Brown Story," parts 1 and 2.
During a recent trip to Atlanta (before Wayne's jail sentence was postposted earlier this week), Scoob was finally able to present Wayne with the latest DVD, and the Cash Money Millionaire gave it his stamp of approval. " 'Nino Brown Part 2,' sh--- crazy!" Wayne is seen saying with a grin a couple of weeks ago in ATL. Weezy was surrounded by Young Money members Gudda Gudda and Short Dawg. In the DVD, Wayne plays a wicked trick on Dawg, a native of Houston. When Short falls asleep in the studio, Wayne puts hot sauce in a teaspoon. Then, the multiplatinum prankster puts the spoon in Short's mouth, literally giving him a rude awakening. "The 'Nino Brown' superstar in the building!" Wayne said to Short and the room full of his friends, still ribbing his artists for the escapades in the DVD. Short took the joke in stride, quoting lines from "New Jack City" (from which the DVD takes its name): "Am I my brother's keeper? "I went out like G Money in that bitch, man!" Short continued, talking about his look in the DVD. Meanwhile, Wayne was tickled at how Scoob captured his jokester side. "You gotta really pay attention to the editing and you gotta pay attention to how your verse comes on when you wake up," Wayne told Short. "Soon as the verse come on, that boy wake up [and starts drinking]. If you would have started singing the verse, that would have been the hardest sh-- that Martin Luther King died for. For real!" As the night proceeds, Short drops more famous lines from "New Jack." "You're a murderer, Nino!" Short yells, getting everyone to laugh. "Sit your five-dollar ass down before I make change!" Related Videos Related Artists |
| 'We Are The World' Director Paul Haggis Recalls Video-Shoot 'Chaos' Posted: 11 Feb 2010 03:03 AM PST 'You hear these stories about people checking their egos at the door, and it really is true,' he says of all-star recording session.
NEW YORK — Oscar-winning director Paul Haggis had just days to prepare to shoot the music video for the 25th-anniversary recording session of "We Are the World," the revamped version of the classic tune meant to raise funds for post-earthquake relief efforts in Haiti. In this, he was exactly like producers Lionel Richie and Quincy Jones and the 85-odd participating artists: No one had any time to prepare and you just had to go with it.
Or, as Haggis put it in an interview with MTV News, "I embraced the chaos." That's pretty much what he was still doing when we caught up with the "Crash" director in a Manhattan editing suite on Thursday afternoon (February 11). He and his team were working on essentially no sleep as they scrambled to put the finishing touches on not one but two versions of the video: a three-and-a-half-minute version for the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics and a seven-and-a-half-minute version that encompasses the uncut song. When we spoke, Haggis was just minutes away from streaming the finished footage to iTunes, where it will be available Friday. Despite the lack of sleep, Haggis talked excitedly about the process of shooting the video in Los Angeles earlier this month, as artists from various genres and generations came together in support of a common cause. "It was interesting seeing Pink and Tony Bennett working it out," he said. "They were jamming. They had a lot of fun. "You hear these stories about people checking their egos at the door, and it really is true," Haggis continued. "They came and stood forever and were glorified extras a lot of the time. They just stood in the corner and waved. It was hot and it was crowded. When there's chaos, there's friction. Where there's fiction, there's drama, and I knew I'd have fun things to shoot. Unfortunately, there wasn't as much drama as I expected. People really got along very well." Haggis said the finished song and video will include artists not present during the initial shoot that still wanted to take part in the charity effort. But he declined to name names, wanting the full revelation to take place during the opening ceremony. Participants that Haggis did want to make mention of were the Haitian film students he flew in from the island to participate in the shoot, as well as a behind-the-scenes documentary. "The most important thing to me was that we include the people of Haiti in this and it just not be a bunch of well-meaning, wealthy folks from Santa Monica and Brentwood and Bel Air," he said. Related Videos Related Photos |
| Kanye West On Alexander McQueen: 'We Lost An Angel!' Posted: 11 Feb 2010 01:17 AM PST 'He was so important and special,' West blogs.
Kanye West has always had an affinity for fashion, and the late designer Alexander McQueen was one of the rapper's favorite icons. McQueen was found dead in London on Thursday (February 11). West remembered McQueen in a blog post on Thursday afternoon, calling the edgy designer a "genius" and an "angel."
"McQueen ... So devastating," 'Ye wrote in all capital letters. "He was a genius ... He was so important and special ... We lost an angel!" It wasn't the first time the 808s & Heartbreak star shouted out the popular British native on his blog. Last year, West heaped praise on McQueen's spring show collection, and even posted images of the entire collection online. The entry spanned four pages on the rapper's site and featured over 30 pairs of funky heels that enamored fans of McQueen's with their obtuse designs. West, like Kelis, Rihanna, and Lady Gaga, among other musicians and celebrities, were huge fans of McQueen's work. The rapper regularly attended McQueen's fashion shows: In 2007, he and his former fiance, neophyte designer Alexis Pfeiffer, were spotted in France at McQueen's show for Paris Fashion Week. And West attended McQueen's showcase in New York last year, during Fall Fashion Week. West called the 2009 event "my favorite fashion show this year" in a blog post. Related Videos Related Photos Related Artists |
| Watch Pink, Justin Bieber In 'We Are The World' Footage Posted: 11 Feb 2010 08:38 AM PST Lionel Richie explains the need for 'current' stars in song's re-recording, which premieres during Olympics tomorrow night.
In 1985, it was Michael Jackson, Bruce Springsteen and Tina Turner leading the "We Are the World" charge to ease a devastating famine in Africa. Twenty-five years later, as the recording industry once again mobilizes to face an unspeakable crisis — the aftermath of the 7.0 earthquake in Haiti — a new generation of artists has risen up for a fresh spin on the iconic song, which premieres during the Olympics opening ceremonies tomorrow night.
Lionel Richie, an original co-writer of the tune and organizer of the remake, says solving a 2010 crisis requires singers relevant to the 2010 public. "[I]t was time for a group of faces that this world knows now," he said in a recent interview. "We have the standard group. I call them the Marines, the ones who went in first and charted the course. But for it to be current, you have to make it current." Newly release footage from the recording session in early February, prominently shows those new faces, including Justin Bieber, Lil Wayne, Wyclef Jean, Miley Cyrus, Drake, T-Pain, Kanye West and Keri Hilson. They joined veterans such as Tony Bennett and Barbra Streisand in the studio, singing as photos of the Haitian devastation played on oversize screens behind them. Quincy Jones, a producer on the original song as well as the new one, stood in front of the group, listening to the proceedings via headphones. The video also gives us glimpses of some solo recording sessions by Bieber, Pink, Josh Groban, Mary J. Blige, Akon and Maroon 5's Adam Levine. "You couldn't get one person to recognize Haiti three months ago," Richie said. "It was just business as usual before, and if you died on the street, you died on the street. Now, the whole world is forced on Haiti. We had to lose 250,000 people to do it. But now we can't walk away from it. Now we have to pay attention to it." All proceeds from sales of the "We Are the World" will go toward Haitian relief efforts. "Donate," Jones urged viewers. "Give it up, whatever you got, to help people who cannot help themselves at this point and to rebuild the country." Learn more about what you can do to help with earthquake-relief efforts in Haiti, and for more information, see Think MTV. Visit HopeForHaitiNow.org or call (877) 99-HAITI to make a donation now. Related Videos Related Photos Related Artists |
| Black Eyed Peas, Lady Gaga Top iTunes All-Time Most-Downloaded Songs Posted: 11 Feb 2010 03:21 AM PST Katy Perry, Flo Rida also make strong showings on list.
The Black Eyed Peas and Lady Gaga are the two big leaders of the iTunes all-time most-downloaded songs list, which the company released for the first time on Thursday (February 11). Both artists had songs in the top 10 — with the Peas occupying the #1 and #3 spots — and Jason Mraz, Coldplay, Flo Rida, Taylor Swift, Leona Lewis and Ke$ha filled out the top 10; Katy Perry also had a strong showing in the top 25, and Flo Rida and Gaga also had songs at #19 and #23, respectively.
The entire top 25 is posted on iTunes, with all songs available as an album for $31.95. Additionally, iTunes has created a "Countdown to 10 Billion Song Downloads" contest, for which the winner will get a whopping $10,000 gift certificate. Anyone who downloads a song (beginning Thursday) or enters the contest on iTunes' Web site is eligible. For complete details, see iTunes' Web site. iTunes' most-downloaded songs of all time, as of February 11, 2010: 1) "I Gotta Feeling," Black Eyed Peas |
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