By Zachary Swickey

Some people have begun taking notice of rising star Lana Del Ray’s previous musical iteration – Lizzie Grant, her real name and the one she used when she first tried to break into the music business in 2010. Her first “real” debut can no longer be found on iTunes, but according to a new interview with the singer that is about to change.

Many believed the absence of the album on iTunes (where it was only up for two months) meant Del Ray was attempting to hide from her “embarrassing” past (think Lady Gaga in her Stefani Germanotta days); however, the singer reveals that’s not the case at all. Talking to BBC News, she revealed, “I’m re-releasing it, maybe in late summer.”

The album only cost (her rich daddy) $10,000 to create and it touted production duties from established producer David Kahne – who has worked with everyone from Paul McCartney to Linkin Park.

“People act like it’s so shrouded in mystery, the ‘forgotten terrible album,’" explained Del Ray. “But if you look on YouTube, all 13 tracks are available with millions of views, so it’s not like no one’s hear them. We were all proud of it. It’s pretty good."

Read more...

Tags lana del rey

Kanye West by Sam Spratt

By Zachary Swickey

When digital painter Sam Spratt was a spry art college grad in June 2010, he immediately became the (first) in-house staff illustrator for popular media conglomerate Gawker. Articles boasting his work were getting plenty more hits than ones carrying boring stock photo images. Before long, Spratt was getting more commission work than he could handle and had to say goodbye to Gawker and venture out on his own. (But trust us, he’s doing just fine!)

Since his departure, Spratt has diversified his portfolio - creating merch designs for herbal enthusiast and rapper Wiz Khalifa, as well as album artwork for rockers Foxy Shazam and metal-heads Trivium. Spratt has no problem with tricky imagery, whether it’s a Renaissance period piece for a private client or his collaboration with Rovio Mobile’s super-mega-smash-hit “Angry Birds.” It seems he’s up for any type of visual challenge.

Quite the fan of pop culture, Spratt has painted multiple interesting likenesses of various characters, including Ron Swanson from “Parks and Recreation,” quirky Dwight Schrute of “The Office,” Kanye West, a breathtaking portrait of “2 Broke Girls” star Kat Dennings and a hilarious take on Troy and Abed of “Community” in a fake movie poster for “Inspector Spacetime." Even his personal self-portrait is stunning to say the least. We are simply floored by the visual creations Spratt manages to create and with Twitter as an outlet – some of his creations have gone viral. Rainn Wilson is even using his portrait as his Twitter avatar.

Spratt is currently based in Brooklyn, New York, and was kind enough to chat with us about his interesting craft and provide us a look into his digital art domain. Read more...

Tags art, Kanye West, Pop, Television

Fashion designer Jean Paul Gaultier, a favorite of Lady Gaga, is catching heat after presenting his Amy Winehouse-inspired spring/summer 2012 collection at Paris Fashion Week.

Winehouse's family is a bit miffed that the over-the-top designer, perhaps best known as the man behind Madonna's famous cone bra bustier (which is in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Museum), approximated Winehouse's signature style looks with a collection heavy on brightly-colored '60s style looks and beehive-sporting models wearing heavy black eyeliner. Gaultier admitted Winehouse directly inspired his collection, telling reporters, "Amy Winehouse was a true style icon. What she stands for above all, is uniqueness. Both in music and the way she dressed, she mixed a great many influences to create her style."

Well, Mitch Winehouse isn't feeling the love today and in a statement said the singer's family was upset when they saw images from the show, particularly because the look and presentation reflected the more troubled aspects of the "Back To Black" stars life and because Gaultier hadn't offered to make a donation to the Amy Winehouse Foundation, adding that the show was "purely about Gaultier making money."

Read Mitch Winehouse's strongly worded statement in full, after the jump. Read more...

Tags Amy Winehouse

It's been 13 years since their last album, 1999's The Autobiography of Reinhold Messner so it's time for your inner high school student to rejoice, twentysomethings – Ben Fold Five is reuniting!

Folds tweeted a photo of himself with his one-time (and we guess current) bandmates in the studio recording, saying, "It's happening fo sho - Day 1 in studio with Robert and Darren through March #NewBenFoldsFiveRecord."

Asked by a fan when the group expects to release their new record, Folds simply tweeted, "spring release."

Ben Folds, Twitter

Are you excited for a new Ben Folds Five record? Let us know in the comments below

Tags Ben Folds, Ben Folds Five, Reunions

The late Michael Jackson's children Prince, 14, Paris, 13, and Blanket, 9, celebrated their father today by helping stamp his famed sequined glove and a pair of his shoes in cement outside Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood.

Justin Bieber and "Thriller" producer Quincy Jones hit the stage in front of the Hollywood landmark to speak about the King of Pop's influence. Tito, Marlon, Jackie and Katherine Jackson all attended the ceremony, which featured special performances by the cast of "Glee" and the Jackson-based Cirque Du Soleil show "Immortal." The ceremony was timed to coordinate with "Immortal's" first dates at Los Angeles' Staples Center. "Glee" will air its Michael Jackson tribute episode next week.

Jackson's children have been in the public eye far more in the years since his death, appearing at the Grammy Awards to accept an honor on behalf of their father and at the "Immortal" premiere in Canada. Paris Jackson appeared on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" in December to talk about her role in the film "Lundon's Bridge and the Three Keys." She told the host that her father helped her prepare for the role. "We would do improv together," Jackson told DeGeneres. "He would give us little scenarios. He would (say), 'OK, in this scene you're going to cry' and I'd cry on the spot."

Read more...

Tags Michael Jackson

By Akshay Bhansali

Before deconstructing, “Eyes Wide Open,” his latest track with Dirty South, featuring Kate Elsworth, house music hit-maker Thomas Gold brought MTV News along to the kick-off of his current U.S. tour.

Several hundred folks packed Clifton, New Jersey's Bliss Lounge to catch a steamy set of big room EDM, including Gold gems “Sing2me,” “Marsch, Marsch,” and his enchanting remix of Adele’s “Set Fire to the Rain.”

But we won’t explain any further. Re-live the night for yourselves by watching the video below!

Tags dance, video

While the "S**t So and So Says" meme is a few weeks past its expiration date, we had to share this bit of goodness courtesy of the fine folks at "30 Rock."

NBC has assembled its own clip to add to the viral cannon, "S**t Liz Lemon Says." Anyone who's ever watched Tina Fey in action as Lemon knows she is a sound bite machine. (Tell me you don't know someone who says "I want to go to there" regularly?)

Check it out below. We promise to never contribute to the proliferation of this meme again. Unless, you know, a really funny one comes along in which case, yes, we totally will.

Tags 30 rock, Memes, Television

By Zachary Swickey

Last weekend, Epic Records’ notorious chairman and CEO LA Reid sent Fiona Apple fans into a frenzy when he tweeted that new music was coming from the icon “in the next few weeks.” While we really wanted to believe that, it did seem a bit out of left-field considering there has been absolutely no word about the album from the label previously, and an Epic Records spokeswoman has already started raining on our hopeful parade.

When Time shared our doubts, they reached out to Epic for comment and their spokeswoman clarified Reid’s statements. While a new Fiona record will indeed be coming out in 2012, she states that Reid’s tweets were “taken a little bit out of context” and that we won’t be getting new music in the next few weeks after all.

“It’ll absolutely be this year,” she told the Times, “but timing-wise, I don’t know exactly when.”
Not sure if “taken a little bit out of context” is the right way to put it since impending new music from Fiona is exactly what Reid said was imminent (and he’s the freakin’ CEO!).

Despite Apple’s incredible talent – being one of the few “vintage-y” singers left in our time (and my personal favorite voice in music, period) – her last release had complications just like her next one seems to be having. When Fiona began tracking her last disc Extraordinary Machine back in 2002, it took three years of legal label-limbo and fan outcry before it eventually saw the light of day. The label even had the album mastered by another producer after being unsatisfied with the work of Fiona’s go-to producer, Jon Brion. Read more...

Tags Fiona Apple

Our favorite married couple, "Will & Grace" Emmy winner (and ever-present sitcom guest star) Megan Mullally and "Parks and Recreation" star Nick Offerman, have made a music video … and it showcases everything we love about them.

The hilarious pair sing a country-western love song with a twist – he's a paleontologist and she's a creationist. Uh oh! Lovebirds with a very different point of view on a controversial topic. Seems ripe for parody and Offerman and Mullally do not disappoint!

The clip is loaded with the same off-the-wall humor that makes the pair's onscreen collaboration on "Parks and Rec" (she plays his crazy ex-wife) so awesome.

Watch:

Is there any way we can pass a law that, regardless of what happens down the road, these two can never ever in a hundred million years get a divorce? They are the perfect team and give us faith that love still exists in this sad world!

Related:
>>> Ron Swanson Is MTV News' #1 TV Character Of 2011!

Tags Television, viral video

Much has been made about late night television being a boys club – from "The Daily Show" to "The Late Show with David Letterman," multiple shows have endured accusations of sexism – so it comes as something of a surprise that one late night host is now embroiled in a lawsuit charging the opposite.

A former staffer on "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" is accusing the popular host of "gender bias" in a lawsuit filed in New York, saying he was fired from his job because Fallon "prefers to take direction from a woman" and that he was replaced by a "totally incompetent woman," according to papers obtained by TMZ. Paul Tarascio, the first stage manager on Fallon's NBC show, claims he isn't the only man to have lost his position because of Fallon's lady-preferring ways, alleging audio technicians and a prop-master were also replaced by women at the host's request.

NBC has not responded to the lawsuit at this time, but last year, when Tarascio filed a complaint with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the New York Division of Human Rights relating to the same issue, the network said, "Any claim of sexual discrimination is without merit."

The suit comes just weeks after David Letterman's comedy booker Eddie Brill was fired after making disparaging remarks about female comics in a New York Times profile. (For its part, "Late Show" execs say Brill was let go for "speaking to the press without authorization" and not his opinion.") Last summer, feminist blog Jezebel investigated what it referred to as "The 'Daily Show's' Woman Problem" and spoke with multiple former staffers, many of whom alleged the show was a "boys club" that cycled quickly through the few female employees it hired and created a "frustrating and alienating experience" for them while they were there.

Tags Jimmy Fallon, lawsuits