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'Glee' Star Chris Colfer Follows 3OH!3: MTV News' #MusicMonday

Posted 5/31/10 10:00 am EST by in Music


Really, you should be listening to music every day, but thanks to Twitter, Monday has become the best day of the week to discover new songs, show some love to the tune currently dominating your iPod playlist and quietly judge the listening habits of your closest friends. Yes, it's #MusicMonday, one of Twitter's most enduring trending topics. Hence "MTV News' #MusicMonday," a weekly look at the songs your favorite stars are currently crushing on.

This week, "Glee" star Chris Colfer follows 3OH!3 wherever they may lead him.

In the history of television, there has been perhaps no scripted series with a greater dependence on the power of pop music than the mega-hit "Glee." (Well, except maybe "Cop Rock.") So it's not surprising at all that the cast members are on the pulse of current trends (especially considering they've recently delivered episodes that paid tribute to both Madonna and Lady Gaga). Such is the case of star Chris Colfer, who plays sky-high singing Kurt Hummel. When Colfer stopped by the MTV News office to discuss the upcoming season finale of "Glee," he listed off a number of current Billboard chart-crashers that he's currently jamming out to, but there was one in particular — care of a manic dance-pop duo from Colorado — that caught his attention.

"Right now I'm listening to a lot of 3OH!3," Colfer told MTV News. "I love their song 'Follow Me Down.'" Colfer even sang a bit of the chorus for us.

"Follow Me Down" made its biggest splash as a part of the "Almost Alice" soundtrack, the collection of rock songs that accompanied the release of Tim Burton's "Alice in Wonderland" film. In addition to 3OH!3, the soundtrack featured Avril Lavigne, Owl City, the All-American Rejects, Tokio Hotel and a collaboration between Mark Hoppus and Pete Wentz. As for "Glee," the season finale airs this Thursday, June 3.

What's your #MusicMonday jam? Let us know in the comments!

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'American Idol,' Bret Michaels And Rihanna: This Week's Deep Cuts

Posted 5/28/10 5:30 pm EST by in Deep Cuts


The sun is shining, the grills have been lit and the beach is calling, which can only mean one thing: It's Memorial Day! No matter what you end up doing for the next three days — be it heading out to your local baseball stadium, lounging by the pool or just relaxing in the living room without a care in the world — you should safely enjoy the holiday and dive headlong into the first official weekend of summer. But before you do that, be sure to check out the stories you may have missed this week on the MTV Newsroom blog (and take an extra minute to vote in our 2010 summer jams poll).

» "American Idol" came to a close this week, and at the end of the road, only Lee DeWyze was left standing. Relive the magic of both the final night of performances and the grand finale via on-the-ground live blogs from MTV News "American Idol" expert Jim Cantiello.

» Perhaps the biggest highlight of the last "Idol" week was the appearance by Bret Michaels, who performed the classic "Every Rose Has Its Thorn" live on the show.

» That wasn't Michaels' only big victory of the week, as he also scored a win on the final episode of "The Celebrity Apprentice." Michaels appeared live on that show as well, kicking off an extremely active week on the way to the beginning of his tour this weekend.

» Another ending this week? "Lost," which wrapped up its six season run with a polarizing final two-and-a-half hours. Most rock stars had trouble parsing out the show — except for Hayley Williams, who managed to nearly predict the finale despite never having seen the show.

» It wasn't all about endings this week, though. The new season of "So You Think You Can Dance" kicked off with new rules, new judges and a whole bunch of all-star returnees.
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Kourtney Kardashian Was A Terrible Motorist: The MTV News Quote Of The Day

Posted 5/28/10 4:45 pm EST by in Television


"I was definitely known as the accident queen in my family. When I was 17, I remember I was driving down the street, and the car in front of me stopped short, and I stopped really fast and I hit the car. I thought it was their fault, like I didn't know accident rules. So I was like, 'How dare you stop short even though I was driving like an inch behind you!'"

-Reality television star Kourtney Kardashian, talking about her spotty history as a motorist on MTV's "When I Was 17." Like many of the people who have revealed their high school stories on "When I Was 17" (like Bret Michaels and Jennie Finch), the star of "Keeping Up With the Kardashians" and "Kourtney and Khloé Take Miami" got into more than a bit of trouble in a beloved vehicle.

Her assertions are backed up by mother Kris Jenner, who told MTV, "Kourtney Kardashian is the world's worst driver." Kardashian's friend Samantha concurred, adding "She ran a ton of red lights. I was always terrified driving in the car with her."

Kardashian's tales of misadventures on the road (along with her other stories from when she was 17) are included on this weekend's new episode of "When I Was 17," which airs this Saturday (May 29) at 11 a.m. on MTV. She'll appear alongside former "American Idol" winner Kris Allen and Gym Class Heroes frontman Travie McCoy.

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The Stanley Cup Finals Kick Off With A Christina Aguilera Flashback

Posted 5/28/10 4:00 pm EST by in Music


This weekend, the sports world turns its attention to the race for the most coveted prize in all of professional athletics: The Stanley Cup. The 2010 version of the NHL playoffs have been absolutely thrilling, featuring a number of incredible upsets (including the unlikely run of the Montreal Canadiens, who upset both the Washington Capitals and the Pittsburgh Penguins before falling to the Philadelphia Flyers) and thrilling series (the second round battle between the Flyers and the Boston Bruins was a stunning war of attrition). Starting Saturday night (May 29) on NBC, the Flyers and the Chicago Blackhawks will kick off their seven-game series, with the winner earning the right to hoist the Cup over their heads at the end.

The Flyers' run to the championship has been incredible. Having barely made their way into the playoffs, the Flyers ran through an otherwise hot New Jersey Devils team in the first round. They then had the incredible series with the Bruins, which saw Philadelphia fall behind three games to none before rallying to take down Boston in four straight games. They then ran through the otherwise on fire Canadiens to make their way into the finals.

Comparably speaking, the Blackhawks' road through the playoffs has been relatively smooth. They narrowly missed being the top seed in the Western Conference (they ended up a single point behind top-seeded San Jose) and plowed through the Nashville Predators and the Vancouver Canucks before sweeping the Sharks to win the West. It's their first trip to the Stanley Cup Finals since 1992 (they were swept by a Mario Lemieux-fueled Penguins team), which is notable because at least one thing hasn't changed in the 18 years since the Hawks competed for a Cup: Christina Aguilera is still a big deal. Back in 1992, when Aguilera was only 11 years old, the now-famous singer performed "The Star-Spangled Banner" before the second game of the Stanley Cup Finals that year (the game was in Pittsburgh, and Aguilera grew up in nearby Wexford, Pennsylvania). Check out the video of Aguilera's performance below, and prepare yourself for what is likely to be an all-time great series.

Who do you think will win the Stanley Cup? Let us know in the comments!

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Hayley Williams' Twitpic, Kanye West's New Song And 'American Idol' Deals: Three To See

Posted 5/28/10 3:00 pm EST by in Music


Every morning, MTV News delivers the top news stories in music, movies and pop culture hot and fresh for your reading and watching pleasure. We then bring together a trio of the biggest headlines for "Three to See," the daily digest of the top stories making noise on our site and across the Internet. This morning, stories on the topless photo of Hayley Williams that found its way onto her Twitter, Kanye West's brand new track "Power" and the record deals signed by Lee DeWyze and Crystal Bowersox lead the way.

Hayley Williams Twitter Hack Leads To Topless Photo
In the latest incident in an ever-growing trend, Paramore singer Hayley Williams' Twitter account was hacked at some point on Thursday (May 27). The hacker posted a topless photo of the singer that made it to her 600,000 followers before being taken down.

Kanye West Drops New Song "Power"
Following a self-imposed exile that saw him rarely in the public eye since he made an infamous appearance at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards, Kanye West is back to the business of music. On Thursday night, he dropped "Power," an angry new track from West's forthcoming album Good Ass Job

Lee DeWyze And Crystal Bowersox Sign Deals With RCA
A mere 24 hours after viewers decided that Lee DeWyze was the "American Idol" champion, both he and runner-up Crystal Bowersox signed record deals with 19 Recordings. DeWyze's albums will come out on RCA, while Bowersox will be distributed by Jive.

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Kanye West Is Back With 'Power,' But Where Has He Been?

Posted 5/28/10 2:15 pm EST by in Music


Nine months ago, Kanye West had a really weird 24 hours. As a guest at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards, West voiced his frustration with the voting process by jumping on stage and interrupting Best Female Video winner Taylor Swift's acceptance speech (he thought Beyoncé's clip for "Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It)" deserved the victory). Following an exit from Radio City Music Hall and a hectic few hours that saw much of the pop music universe turn him into a villain, West went on the premiere episode of Jay Leno's now-defunct primetime show to apologize for what he had done and to tell the world that he was going to take some time off.

True to his word, West did indeed disappear for a long time. He showed up at the odd fashion event, popped up on an episode of "The Cleveland Show" and put his house in the Hollywood Hills up for sale, but in general, it was difficult to find Kanye if you weren't really looking for him. Most accounts have him holed up in Hawaii working on his upcoming fifth album Good Ass Job and preparing for a triumphant return. He began said comeback on Thursday night (May 27), when he dropped the brand new track "Power," a sharp, angry, world-weary track that juxtaposes West's lyrical bile with a frothy, world-music biting beat that samples — of all things — prog rock legends King Crimson's "21st Century Schizoid Man." It's as sharp a track as Kanye has generated, and gets back to the roots of hip-hop that he had abandoned on his previous effort 808s & Heartbreak.

Now that Kanye is back, we thought we'd take a look at the things he could have been doing during that time out of the spotlight. Was Kanye helping clean up the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico? Maybe he was just improving his blogging technique. But honestly, nine months is the perfect amount of time to catch up with and dissect "Lost," so perhaps now that it's over, 'Ye can get back to business.

(Click here for more photos of theories of what Kanye West might have been up to in the past few months, including watching "Lost" and waiting for "Sex and the City 2"!)

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Katy Perry, Lady Gaga, Usher, B.o.B And 3OH!3 Continue Summer Jam Competition

Posted 5/28/10 1:30 pm EST by in Music


Summer Songs Week has come to a close, but that doesn't mean the competition for the title of Official 2010 Summer Jam will continue throughout the long weekend. You have until the end of Monday (May 31) to get your votes in for the song you think should be considered the official song of the next few months, the tune that will score all the barbecues, road trips, beach vacations and baseball games in the near future. MTV News has nominated five songs: Katy Perry's "California Gurls," B.o.B's "Airplanes," Lady Gaga's "Alejandro," Usher's "OMG" and 3OH!3's "First Kiss."

MTV News has spent the week going over the cases for each track, and each one has a lot going for it.

B.o.B featuring Hayley Williams of Paramore, "Airplanes"
Though it's a little more somber than your average summer jam, "Airplanes" has a lot going for it: A breezy beat, a killer chorus and crossover appeal with the assistance of Williams.

Usher, "OMG"
The Atlanta singer's latest smash single currently sits at the top of the charts and recalls awesome Usher dancefloor hits like "Yeah!"

Lady Gaga, "Alejandro"
Everything Gaga touches turns to gold, but she hasn't had a summer jam yet. "Alejandro" could change all that, as it has an island-esque vibe that recalls Madonna's classic summer anthem "La Isla Bonita" and has an easily-sung-along-with chorus (just like all of her excellent singles).

Katy Perry featuring Snoop Dogg, "California Gurls"
Easily the current frontrunner, Perry's first single from her upcoming album Teenage Dream has a bubbly beat that is ideal for road trips and outdoor parties. The addition of Snoop Dogg — whose entire oeuvre was designed for barbecues — only adds to the greatness.

3OH!3 featuring Ke$ha, "First Kiss"
It's the dark horse, but the chant-along chorus and fun-friendly lyrical content will make it a sure-fire hit. Plus, 3OH!3 and Ke$ha both know how to party, which is the secret to any great summer jam.

So keep voting in the poll below and sound off on the songs you thought should have been nominated in the comments. Tune in next week when we'll reveal the winner!

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'Prince Of Persia' Playlist: 30 Seconds To Mars, Lil Flip And Blur Draw A Line In The Sand

Posted 5/28/10 12:30 pm EST by in Music


Apparently, Hollywood thinks American wants an adventure in a desert. Thursday (May 27) saw the opening of "Sex and the City 2" (most of which takes place in Abu Dhabi), and today sees the release of "Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time," which also spends most of its time in the middle of the desert. The latter (perhaps best thought of as a male counterpart to "Sex and the City 2") casts Jake Gyllenhaal as the heroic Dastan, a heroic character who must battle his evil adopted uncle Nizam (played by Ben Kingsley). It's based on a hugely popular and innovative video game series, so the flick features plenty of jumpy action and pretty-looking stunts.

For that kind of adrenaline rush, you should really prepare yourself with a batch of film-appropriate tunes. That's why we've put together the video playlist below, which brings together one of the best songs ever written about princes (that would be Spin Doctors' "Two Princes") and a number of awesome songs about video games (Lil Flip's "Game Over," Chris Isaak's "Wicked Game"). There are also a handful of tracks about the desert (Solange's "Sandcastle Disco," Bleeding Through's "Line in the Sand," T.H. White's "Desert Sky"), time (Black Tide's "Warriors of Time," Blur's "Out of Time") and other royalty (30 Seconds to Mars' "Kings and Queens").

But we begin with Felix da Housecat's "We All Wanna Be Prince." Felix was, of course, talking about the legendary Purple One who delivered the world Purple Rain and 1999. But with his striking good looks, chiseled muscles and killer hair, who wouldn't also want to be the Prince of Persia?

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Summer Jams Flashback: Katy Perry Kisses And Tells

Posted 5/28/10 11:30 am EST by in Music


All this week, MTV News will be going through the nominees for this year's official summer jam. You'll be able to vote all week on the official 2010 summer song poll for one of our five nominees, which include Usher's "OMG," Katy Perry's "California Gurls," B.o.B's "Airplanes," 3OH!3's "First Kiss" and Lady Gaga's "Alejandro." You can also endorse your own pick for the official 2010 summer song on our poll.

In addition to the new songs, we're going to take a look back at some classic summer songs from the past 10 years. Today's flashback takes us to 2008 and 2009, when "The Dark Knight" took over our lives, Eminem got to know Sacha Baron Cohen a bit too intimately and the world lost Michael Jackson.

2008: What was floating around in the air and the water in 2008? That summer seemed to be full of songs that were pretty excellent but didn't quite cross the threshold into true official legend status. Theoretically, Chris Brown's "Forever" probably should have been that summer's official jam (it also operated as a prom song, which doubled its staying power). Madonna's "4 Minutes" certainly made a bid, but since that song is one of the weakest singles of her career, it doesn't seem like it deserves the title. On balance, it seems like Katy Perry's "I Kissed a Girl" is the winner, which means that any time you put a Perry song with the word "girl" in the title, it'll do just fine. Other Contenders: M.I.A.'s "Paper Planes" (peaked too late); Miley Cyrus' "7 Things" (too angry); Lil Wayne's "A Milli" (too weird).

2009: Last year's summer jam was a tale of two stories. On the one hand, the Black Eyed Peas absolutely dominated the pop charts for the entire summer with their one-two punch of "Boom Boom Pow" and "I Gotta Feeling," with the latter really standing out as a definitive hot weather party jam (even though the vibe of that track is a little chilly). But considering that Michael Jackson passed away right at the peak of the summer, it's hard to argue with the idea that one of Jackson's big hits wasn't actually the jam of last year (based on what was overheard coming out of cars in and around the greater New York City area, it seemed like people were gravitating toward "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'"). But since "I Gotta Feeling" is such a positive party jam, it narrowly takes the duke. (Including an exclamation of "Mazel Tov!" in the bridge didn't hurt, either.) Other Contenders: Pitbull's "I Know You Want Me (Calle Ocho)" (slightly too spastic, not Black Eyed Peas enough); Keri Hilson's "Knock You Down" (too slow, not Black Eyed Peas enough); Taylor Swift's "You Belong With Me" (too country, not Black Eyed Peas enough); Miley Cyrus' "Party in the U.S.A." (peaked too late, not Black Eyed Peas enough).

What were your summer jams of 2008 and 2009? Let us know in the comments!

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'So You Think You Can Dance' Recap: Let's Get Contemporary

Posted 5/28/10 10:30 am EST by in Music, Television


By Sandrine Milet

With Thursday night's (May 27) big premiere of the new season of "So You Think You Can Dance," the show made its first stops in the audition rounds on the east coast in both the Big Apple and Miami. Following a heavy, overly dramatic introduction, host Cat Deeley kept reminding us that season seven is going to be the toughest and most competitive season yet (most likely due to the all of the rule changes). But at least the auditions reminded us that some things just always stay the same: People still screech, "I'm going to Las Vegas!" and there continue to be very bizarre (and questionable) auditions.

Of course we only get to see a select few of these auditions, but from what I could tell, New York definitely produced some interesting characters, which always makes for great entertainment (if not necessarily for top-shelf dancing). The most memorable was the hazardous waste fluid cleaner (or something of that sort) who basically cleans up blood for a living. His job alone made him worth mentioning. And then there was the low-budget horror film director who cross-dressed wearing fruits and vegetables (and eventually threw a broccoli that was taped to his chest to the judges). Apparently he had just gone vegetarian.

But with the delusions aside, there were some pretty fantastic and emotional auditions. One that really stood out was from the 18-year-old Teddy Tedholm, who auditioned last season but unfortunately didn't make it during the Vegas week. I'm crossing my fingers that this year he'll live up to what the judges expect of him. His performance was truly filled with raw emotion and impressive choreography, which brought Mia Michaels to tears (but that was expected of her).

Miami, however, didn't bring as much heat. Save for an outstanding audition from the 24-year-old Tyrell Rolle (who has only been dancing for seven years), the most exciting part was that Sonya Tayeh was judging. Towards the end it went from bad to horrible, with a painfully awkward audition where a girl danced an uncomfortable routine with her father.

One trend that was noticeable was the invasion of contemporary dancers. There were a few b-boys and the occasional Latin ballroom dancer, but it was apparent that the majority was auditioning in the contemporary style. There weren't even any tap dancers! While the balance may be off a bit, it looks like the changes (both in rules and in styles) will make for another great season of the show.

What did you think of the first round of auditions? Is contemporary becoming the dance norm for the show? Let us know in the comments!

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