MTV News |
- Lady Gaga Was 'Fearless' As Jo Calderone At VMAs
- VMAs Drive Record-Breaking 10 Million Tweets
- 'Hunger Games' Burning Questions Answered!
- Red Hot Chili Peppers' <i>I'm With You</i>: Don't Call It A 'Comeback'
- Lady Gaga's Jo Calderone: LGBT Advocates Weigh In
- Will Lady Gaga And Jo Calderone Ever Collaborate On A Song?
- Sebastian Bach's Home Flooded By Hurricane Irene
- Kim Kardashian's 'Jam' Video Leaks Online
| Lady Gaga Was 'Fearless' As Jo Calderone At VMAs Posted: 31 Aug 2011 03:53 AM PDT VMA executive producer says Gaga's commitment to her character raises the bar for future performers.
One of the breakout stars of the 2011 Video Music Awards was Jo Calderone, the smoke-spouting, slightly stained mechanic who stormed the big show to deliver a lengthy monologue about his former love Lady Gaga, and then launched into an epic performance of her current hit, "Yoü and I."
And while you may think that Calderone was just Gaga playing dress up, well, you'd be wrong. Because for all intents and purposes, Gaga became Calderone ... diving deep into the character during, after and, rather surprisingly, before the show. "We had talked to her about the creative [for the performance] a few weeks before the show. We had a call with her, and it became clear that she's going to be Jo," VMA Executive Producer Dave Sirulnick explained. "She showed up as Jo, rehearsed as Jo ... if you said 'Gaga,' she wouldn't respond. After rehearsals, she comes over, she says to me, 'It's nice to meet you,' and I say to her, 'I know your friend Gaga,' and she says, 'That Gaga, what a bitch!' " Sirulnick recalled. "She did not break character once. She walks in backstage and, in front of a whole bunch of people, went into the men's room. Later, we had all the Young the Giant fans lined up waiting for the band to rehearse their performance, and Jo was walking out of the building to her dressing room and someone yelled 'It's Gaga!' But she didn't respond, just kept on walking, until finally someone yelled, 'Hey, Jo!' and then she turned and waved."
So given all that, it wasn't exactly shocking that the commitment to character continued long after Gaga — er, Calderone — had finished the show-opening performance of "Yoü and I." Jo, of course, not only returned to the stage to help pay tribute to (and kiss) Britney Spears, she also accepted the Best Female Video Moonman for "Born This Way" with an impassioned speech. But even when she wasn't in the spotlight, Gaga didn't break ... not even for a second. "Over the years, lots of people have done lots of things, lots of people have worn lots of things, but no one has been that committed, that in character," Sirulnick laughed. "She's smoking in the building, she was holding court in the crowd, you know, Kanye, Katy, Adele, Tony Bennett, they loved it. They respected her commitment and her level of artistry." And, of course, they couldn't help but be inspired by it too. Because by never wavering, by putting it all out there as Jo Calderone, Gaga raised the bar for her fellow VMA performers, too, and it was up to them to match the heights she achieved. "For her to go out there and just be so into this character, it was fearless, and you saw a lot of that at the VMAs," Sirulnick said. "Chris Brown was fearless in the way he flew across the stage. Beyoncé was fearless in her amazing vocal performance and what she revealed. Jay and Kanye were fearless in saying 'Here we are, watch us.' Adele was fearless in her performance, doing it in one shot, saying 'I'm going to stand here and put it all on display.' " The 28th annual MTV Video Music Awards have wrapped, but the real action is just getting started! Stick with MTV News for winners, fashion pics, video and behind-the-scenes stories about everything that went down. Visit VMA.MTV.com for the latest. Related Videos Related Photos |
| VMAs Drive Record-Breaking 10 Million Tweets Posted: 29 Aug 2011 11:45 PM PDT Beyoncé's pregnancy and Lady Gaga's over-the-top fashion just a few of the Twitter Trends.
Lady Gaga tweeted about her Little Monsters. Kim Kardashian tweeted about Beyoncé's baby-bump secret. Those Twitter updates and millions more made the 2011 MTV Video Music Awards the most tweeted-about awards show ever.
In total, the VMA Pre-Show and main show drove 10 million tweets, according to newly released numbers for the social-networking site. That awards-show record was just one that the VMAs shattered. Beyoncé set the record for the most mentions on Twitter per second with 8,868, helping make the show the most-watched broadcast in MTV history, pulling in 12.4 million viewers. Pre-show viewership also set a record, and MTV Digital saw its highest VMA day ever on Sunday with show content attracting 2 million unique visitors, an increase of 33 percent year over year. Twitter helped make it all happen. As the black-carpet pre-show kicked off inside the JW Marriott in downtown Los Angeles, the trend #whatwillgagawear lit up the social-networking site and became one of the longest running of the night. During the show itself, over half of the worldwide Twitter Trends were connected to the VMAs — and at times they took over eight or nine of the top 10 trends. The trends also included shout-outs to Justin Bieber and Joe Jonas, and the two simple statements, #DemiYouAreBeautiful and BEYONCE IS PREGNANT. All that attention had an added benefit for the pregnant pop star: Her song "Love on Top" leapt into the iTunes top five after she performed it onstage at the Nokia and revealed her baby bump to the world. The 28th annual MTV Video Music Awards have wrapped, but the real action is just getting started! Stick with MTV News for winners, fashion pics, video and behind-the-scenes stories about everything that went down. Visit VMA.MTV.com for the latest. Related Videos Related Photos Related Artists |
| 'Hunger Games' Burning Questions Answered! Posted: 30 Aug 2011 12:10 AM PDT Director Gary Ross leads MTV News through some of hot topics surrounding the highly anticipated adaptation.
If you thought our "Hunger Games" exclusives would end with the sneak peek Jennifer Lawrence introduced during Sunday's VMAs, you are in for a pleasant surprise! MTV News teamed up with director Gary Ross in order to shed some insight into the teaser trailer and his vision for the highly anticipated film. And although Ross couldn't reveal too much about his plans for Katniss and the Capitol, we were able to get him to answer a few burning questions:
What's the Status of the Score? How Did Jennifer Train for the Role of Katniss? Watch an exclusive 'Hunger Games' sneak peek. How Did You Create the 'Girl on Fire' Look? What Scenes Are the Most Important to Re-Create Faithfully? Check out everything we've got on "The Hunger Games." For young Hollywood news, fashion and "Twilight" updates around the clock, visit HollywoodCrush.MTV.com. Related Videos Related Photos |
| Red Hot Chili Peppers' <i>I'm With You</i>: Don't Call It A 'Comeback' Posted: 30 Aug 2011 08:44 AM PDT 'What did we come back from? Malaria?' frontman Anthony Kiedis says of first album in five years.
In one of the first stories written about the Red Hot Chili Peppers' I'm With You, Rolling Stone's David Fricke referred to the disc as the band's "comeback album," a phrase that would seem to make sense to most people, considering it was not only the band's first effort in five years, but also their first since the departure of longtime guitarist John Frusciante.
It should be noted, however, that RHCP frontman Anthony Kiedis is not "most people." Because to him, while I'm With You is many different things, it most certainly isn't a comeback. "What did we come back from? Malaria?" he laughed. "Maybe [Fricke meant it] in the traditional sense of the word, like 'coming back' from our break. ... But [words like] 'comeback,' 'reunion,' I don't know. We took a moment to reflect and consider the possibilities, and we're really fortunate Josh [Klinghoffer] was available and wanting to join forces with us. ... We didn't really ever lose full momentum, so it wasn't like we disbanded and re-banded, we just got kind of flotatious and then reformed together in a new configuration. 'Comeback' sounds like you quit and then started again, we didn't quite quit." "Quite" is the operative word. After all, I'm With You comes after a lengthy two-year hiatus and an even longer bout of soul-searching. "It's the first time the band took more than a couple months off probably in the last 10 years," new guitarist Klinghoffer said. Anthony Keidis told us he feels like RHCP are a "new band" on I'm With You. While they never seriously considered calling it quits, even Kiedis will admit that the Peppers' break was necessary. In fact, it probably helped save the band. Because when they finally emerged from their hibernation, with a new member and a new lease on life, they were rejuvenated, reloaded and — most important of all — reborn. Which is why, though Kiedis won't call I'm With You a "comeback album," he's got no shortage of other adjectives to describe it and the newfound joy it's brought him and his bandmates. "It does feel incredibly fresh, and I feel as excited or more excited about this period — from the writing to the recording to the playing to the anticipation of going on tour — as I've ever felt about anything that we've done, from the beginning," he said. "Sitting here, doing these interviews, listening to Josh, I often just go into a daydream of playing these songs live, and it's the same feeling that I got in 1983, when I couldn't sleep the night before a show, and if I did fall asleep, I would have a surreal little dream about the show itself; and, you know, I still have that feeling about this record and the inevitability of playing live, and kind of dreaming of set-list possibilities. ... It's a good feeling." Related Videos Related Artists |
| Lady Gaga's Jo Calderone: LGBT Advocates Weigh In Posted: 30 Aug 2011 02:00 AM PDT 'I liked that she dove into it and stuck with it throughout the show,' Logo's John Polly tells MTV News of Gaga's VMA performance.
Lady Gaga was fully committed to her male alter ego Jo Calderone during this weekend's MTV Video Music Awards. Not only did the pop star perform her latest single, "Yoü and I," in character to open the show, she spent the rest of the night wearing Calderone's black suit and signature sneer.
Gaga is easily one of the most vocal lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender advocates in the pop world. She actively campaigned against the "don't ask, don't tell" policy, has spoken openly and often about the importance of marriage equality and gave a rousing speech in Washington, D.C., last year as part of the National Equality March. So what is the LGBT community saying about Gaga's gender-bending VMA performance? "I thought it was great," John Polly, editor of Logo's pop culture blog NewNowNext.com, tells MTV News. "Gender issues are often the most challenging for people, so I liked that she dove into it and stuck with it throughout the show." Murray Hill, a popular drag-king comedian in New York City and host/creator of "Mr. Transman," a female-to-male competition, agreed. "There is barely any visibility for FTM, drag kings and lesbians on television. There is a huge imbalance," he said. "For Lady Gaga, the biggest pop star in the world, to go on TV with millions of people watching in drag as a man and then to actually say 'lesbian and transgender' live is undeniably powerful and creates change. She ups the visibility big time and gets the language into the mainstream." Polly commented on the integrity with which Gaga has approached her role as a gay-rights advocate and thinks that she might not have intended to make a statement about transgender individuals with her performance at the VMAs, but that it was perhaps perceived that way because of the political role she has adopted in other LGBT struggles. "I think it complements [her advocacy]," he said, "but I don't know that it was even a statement on the LGBT community; it's just a character she wanted to play. But since we don't see [drag kings or female-to-male transgender persons] much, we perceive it that way." While there has been backlash against Gaga in some sectors of the gay community, particularly among activists who see a disconnect between the pop star's outspoken activism and the fact that she is not gay herself, Hill feels she deserves recognition for being an entirely pro-LGBT voice in the music industry, which sometimes suffers from instances of homophobia. "Lady Gaga has only spread a positive and accepting message for all kinds of queer people," he said. "She does this through her work, which is entertainment. There is a lot of homophobic hate spewed in the music industry and in the world. I'm grateful she is using her voice to spread the love." Indeed, Polly told us that most of the reader feedback he's seen on AfterEllen, Logo's lesbian interest website, has been positive and that he personally found the performance to be a "fun challenge" for the "Born This Way" singer. The 28th annual MTV Video Music Awards have wrapped, but the real action is just getting started! Stick with MTV News for winners, fashion pics, video and behind-the-scenes stories about everything that went down. Visit VMA.MTV.com for the latest. Related Videos Related Photos |
| Will Lady Gaga And Jo Calderone Ever Collaborate On A Song? Posted: 30 Aug 2011 09:51 AM PDT ' I tried to show her that I could work hard to be with her,' Jo told MTV News backstage at the VMAs.
You can imagine why Lady Gaga would be a bit pissed. After all, not only did her male alter ego/ pretend boyfriend Jo Calderone air out their relationship woes in an monologue opening the VMAs, but then he shared a kiss with Britney Spears after presenting her Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award.
"I'm hopin' that she'll take me back," said a clearly emotional Calderone backstage after the show, as he clutched Jo Gaga's two Moonmen for Best Female Video and Best Video With a Message. "I'm hoping she's gonna wanna roll around with me again in bed, you know what I'm sayin'?" The pair, who shared the screen in the video for "Yoü and I," may be reuniting professionally too. "Well, tonight I got to show a little bit of what I can do," he said, alluding to the show-opening monologue and piano-pounding tear through "Yoü and I" that featured Queen guitarist Brian May. "But I'm just an amateur, you know. I just don't really do this, but I tried to show her that I could work hard to be with her, and I hope she likes it. That's all." See photos of Lady Gaga as Jo Calderone backstage at the VMAs. Gaga was clearly jacked about the wins, writing on Twitter after the show, "I couldn't be more overwhelmed+grateful as I am tonight. Little Monsters inspire me. Never give up on your vision, you were born this way," she wrote. "To win 2VMAs, Best Video with a Message + Best Female Video for 'Born This Way' means the world. I have never believed in a work so much." She also thanked her fans for throwing their love to Calderone. "Thank u monsters for supporting @jocalderone attending instead of myself," she wrote. "He came over last night with 2 moonmen, whiskey + we watched VMAs." Related Videos Related Photos Related Artists |
| Sebastian Bach's Home Flooded By Hurricane Irene Posted: 30 Aug 2011 06:07 AM PDT Death toll from weekend's storm rises to 40, as flooding continues in some East Coast states.
With the death toll from Hurricane Irene rising to 40, five million homes in the dark as of Monday and towns up and down the East Coast still struggling to hold back floodwaters, the cleanup from the storm is expected to take weeks, if not months. One of the people who will have to put the pieces back together is Skid Row singer Sebastian Bach, whose New Jersey home was destroyed by flooding from the hurricane. The 43-year-old hair-metal vocalist lamented the loss in a lengthy Facebook post, in which he said that not only was the dwelling destroyed, but also that the storm had taken away some one-of-a-kind rock artifacts. "I am numb, in shock, & devastated to report that my home of 21 years, my house featured on 'MTV Cribs,' has been destroyed, condemned, & deemed uninhabitable due to the extreme flooding courtesy of Hurricane Irene," Bach wrote. "In the 2 decades I have lived in this home, there has never been a single drop of water in the basement or anywhere else in the structure. Now Irene has overflowed the reservoir adjacent to my house. The surging waters have snapped the bridge in half next to my house & sent the bridge straight into my garage, knocking the house off of its foundation." Bach said he was told he could not pump the water out due to fears of electrocution. Among the "irreplaceable" items lost: KISS Gargoyles from the 1979 tour, a KISS pinball machine, Skid Row master tapes, master tapes from Oh Say Can You Scream and "boxes & boxes" of original Skid Row memorabilia, from the band's first tour to their most recent, which Bach said no one else had. "I had a library in the basement with every single magazine that had Skid Row on the cover," he lamented. "This library took up a big part of the basement. All of this is lost now. We will salvage what we can of course. But how I wish there was a reason to do a box set or something before Hurricane Irene hit. Nobody cared. Now it's too late. Don't know what you got till it's gone, indeed." Some of his other treasures, such as his father's artwork — including a 16-foot-tall mural from the band's Slave to the Grind album — were safe after being moved upstairs, but Bach said he hasn't been allowed back in the house yet to assess the damage because the foundation had "crumbled" and the structure could collapse at any time. "This has really taught me that the best things in life are indeed 'free,' " he concluded. "What makes me happy is that my children & ex wife are safe. My dad's art is unharmed. No one got hurt. My scrapbooks of memories of my life are dry & safe." And, after 25 years of calling New Jersey home, Bach said he's packing it in and permanently moving West. "I will always love New Jersey, but now there is literally nothing left for me here except memories of a past life," he said. "Hello, Los Angeles. Hello, New Life. Here I am. It's time for a new start. Like I have a choice." Related Artists |
| Kim Kardashian's 'Jam' Video Leaks Online Posted: 30 Aug 2011 06:16 AM PDT Leaked portion finds newly married reality star flaunting her famous assets.
There are a few things Kim Kardashian is known for: her near-ubiquitous reality TV presence, her recent lavish wedding to basketball player Kris Humphries ... and for the rest, you just need to watch the first 54 seconds of the upcoming video for her debut single, "Jam (Turn It Up)."
The opening of the Hype Williams-directed clip showed up on Perez Hilton's site on Monday, and it's pretty much what you might expect. The first image you see is Kardashian lying on the floor covered in sweat, or oil, as her name scrolls by in giant pink neon letters that fill the frame. Once the thumping disco beat produced by The-Dream kicks in, we are treated to an up-close-and-personal shot of the other thing Kardashian is best known for: her rear. As she crawls across the wet floor, the camera zooms in on Kardashian's assets, sheathed in barely-there pink leather booty shorts. The beat keeps pumping as Kardashian slithers toward a giant spinning exhaust fan. Her face and hair dripping with greasy moisture, Kardashian mouths, "Turn me up, turn me up, turn me, turn me, turn me up," while nearly subliminal still images of her tongue rolling over heavily made-up red lips pulse on the screen. And those are pretty much the only lyrics we hear, accompanied by more images of a dewy Kim K. rolling around on the floor and touching her hair. Near the end of the clip she explains, "I'm goin' out tonight/ It's going down/ Headed straight to the front of the line," while conveniently rolling onto her back to give us a peek down her barely hanging-on dirty wifebeater to show off her other most famous lady parts. Kardashian debuted the song back in March on Ryan Seacrest's radio show, while also tweeting out some stills from the shoot, but she has not yet announced when her debut album will be released. |
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