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Spotted: Kylie Minogue Keeps Warm In London

Posted 12/17/10 12:30 pm EST by in Music


Every day a multitude of stars wander through the halls of MTV News to talk about their latest projects and goof around with our intrepid correspondents. But sometimes we catch stars elsewhere, and that's why we put together Spotted!, a daily compendium of stars in the wild.

Let's take a moment to appreciate the greatness of Kylie Minogue. The 42-year-old Australian superstar has been kicking ass in the international pop music game for decades, starting with her 1988 breakout hit "The Loco-Motion" and moving all the way through the present day (she just released her latest album Aphrodite over the summer). Along the way, she has amassed a ton of big hits (including the unfathomably gigantic smash "Can't Get You Out of My Head") and a giant stash of awards (including a Grammy and a pair of MTV Video Music Awards). She has also logged a lot of credits as an actress, highlighted by her long stint in the Australian soap opera "Neighbours" and as a special guest on the "Doctor Who" Christmas special from 2007. With all that in mind, she also looks incredible. So here's a holiday salute to Kylie Minogue, who was spotted around London staying warm and looking great.

She wasn't the only star out getting seen, as Usher thrilled another crowd at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia and Spike Lee signed copies of his book "Spike Lee: Do the Right Thing" in Brooklyn. Click here for these photos as well as the entire "Spotted" archive, which features over 500 candid shots of stars like Britney Spears, Taylor Swift, Justin Bieber, Jay-Z, Lady Gaga, Eminem, Katy Perry, the Jonas Brothers and Madonna!

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Anthony Pettis Kicks His Way To WEC Championship, A Path That Began On 'World Of Jenks'

Posted 12/17/10 11:30 am EST by in Television


On Thursday night (December 16), an era ended and a whole new one began. A few months ago, the Ultimate Fighting Championship announced that World Extreme Cagefighting (an organization owned by Zuffa, the same company that runs UFC) would be folded into the UFC. Last night was the organization's final show, and they went out in memorable style, including big victories by Anthony Pettis and Dominick Cruz.

WEC was always unique group because it focused on lighter fighters (by the end, the only weight divisions were bantamweight, featherweight and lightweight), which often lead to fights that were much faster and more intense. Such was the case on Thursday night when WEC bantamweight champ Dominick Cruz defeated intense challenger Scott Jorgensen in a one-sided five round decision. Cruz's stand-up style is unorthodox, but his footwork and cardio are second-to-none. He danced around Jorgensen, peppering him with punches and taking him down at will despite Jorgensen's superior wrestling pedigree. Cruz walked away with the brand new UFC bantamweight championship belt and will probably fight Urijah Faber next, which should be a pretty intense feud moving forward.

But as good as the Cruz performance was, "Fight of the Night" honors went to Anthony Pettis and Ben Henderson for the WEC lightweight championship. Henderson started out strong, clearly winning the first round. However, Pettis turned it on in the subsequent rounds, using his unusual assortment of strikes (including an amazing jump-off-the-cage kick called "The Showtime" that nearly ended the fight in round five). In the end, Pettis won on all cards to become the final WEC lightweight champion, and he'll fight a title unification battle against the UFC lightweight champion (either Frankie Edgar or Grey Maynard, depending on who wins on New Year's Day) in what should be a memorable battle.

Pettis, of course, was the subject of one of the best episodes of "World of Jenks." Jenks hung around during the lead-up to Pettis' fight with Danny Castillo that started him on the path to the championship. Re-live Pettis stressful weigh-in below.


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Lady Gaga? Kanye West? Eminem? Katy Perry? Who Was The Man And Woman Of 2010?

Posted 12/17/10 10:30 am EST by in Music


All this week, MTV News has been naming its picks for the awards for Man of the Year and Woman of the Year for 2010. This morning, we put the crown on Kanye West and Lady Gaga, who went above and beyond all other pop stars in the past 12 months.

Lady Gaga had an especially intense year, delivering greatness from bell-to-bell. After dropping The Fame Monster in late 2009, Gaga went on a tear through the pop world every day of the year. She dropped massive singles with huge videos ("Telephone," "Alejandro"), embarked on a massive world tour, headlined Lollapalooza, stood up for gay rights, won a ton of awards (including Grammys and MTV VMAs) and explored the outer reaches of fashion (including the infamous dress made entirely of meat). She stayed extremely busy and did everything with an incredible amount of energy and passion, which easily earned her the title of Woman of the Year.

(Click here for photos of the picks for MTV's Man and Woman of the Year, including Kanye West, Lady Gaga, Katy Perry and Eminem!)

As far as Kanye West goes, his run to the top was a little more scattered. In fact, he was secluded for most of the first half of 2010, but when he finally emerged, he didn't stop hitting hard. My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy is everybody's pick for the best album of the year, and he compounded his vision with a short film, a series of free (and excellent) songs and a handful of jaw-dropping television performances (most notably the debut of "Runaway" on the MTV Video Music Awards).

(Click here for photos of the picks for MTV's Man and Woman of the Year, including Kanye West, Lady Gaga, Katy Perry and Eminem!)

But we'll leave the final verdict to you. Who are your picks for Man of the Year and Woman of the Year? Vote in the polls below, and if you have somebody in mind who we didn't consider, drop your argument in the comments!

(Click here for photos of the picks for MTV's Man and Woman of the Year, including Kanye West, Lady Gaga, Katy Perry and Eminem!)

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'Tron: Legacy' Soundtrack: Get Ready For The Game With Daft Punk

Posted 12/17/10 9:30 am EST by in Music


Along with Christmas and New Year's, the new December tradition appears to be the release of a gigantic 3-D science fiction blockbuster. Last year, "Avatar" stormed its way into cineplexes, and today (Friday, December 17) sees the release of "Tron: Legacy," a pricey bit of sci-fi escapism that is a spiritual sequel to the 1982 cult classic "Tron." Costing hundreds of millions of dollars and headed up by a first-time director, "Tron: Legacy" is a big gamble but has the potential to be especially huge. With a hot cast that includes Garrett Hedlund, Olivia Wilde and Oscar winner Jeff Bridges, "Tron: Legacy" has some of the most head-splitting eye candy you'll see on the big screen all year, so that alone should draw plenty of curious people into the warm bosom of their local movie theater in between packing for holiday travel and doing that last-minute Christmas shopping. (Of course, "Black Swan" opens wide this week, so you should really be seeing that as many times as possible as well.)

If you need another great reason to check out "Tron: Legacy," then consider the music. The score was handled by French electronic duo Daft Punk, and the result is a buzzing, envelope-pushing exploration of future sounds. But in order to put yourself in the right frame of mind before losing yourself in the world of "Tron: Legacy," check out the playlist below. It's chock full of tracks from Daft Punk as well as odes to video games (Chris Isaak's "Wicked Game," Blindside's "Fell in Love With the Game") and '80s nostalgia (Calvin Harris' "Acceptable in the '80s"). There's also Dashboard Confessional's "Stolen" (which stars Wilde) and Gwyneth Paltrow's "Country Strong" (which features Hedlund). But let's get things started with Daft Punk's "Derezzed," a blistering bolt of keyboard lightning that should get you in the mood to watch a light cycle battle.


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Hip-Hop Sampling Becomes A Federal Issue: Wake-Up Video

Posted 12/17/10 8:30 am EST by in Wake-Up Video


These days, with easily accessible media manipulation and the rise of the Internet as a tool for spreading artistic experiments, people are eager to protect their intellectual property even if there's no money involved (and sometimes especially when there's no money involved). But there was a time when people weren't so litigious, and early hip-hop producers didn't even need to clear samples before releasing their work. That all changed on this day in 1991 when a New York court ruled that Gilbert O'Sullivan (a singer-songwriter known mostly for his 1971 hit "Alone Again (Naturally)") should have been paid for the use of that song on Biz Markie's 1991 track "Alone Again" (from his I Need a Haircut album).

O'Sullivan filed a suit against Markie and his record label, arguing that he should be paid for the use of "Alone Again (Naturally)" because it provided the backbone of Markie's tune. The defense that Warner Bros. mounted was pretty limp: They stated that because stealing uncleared samples was such a common practice in hip-hop production that they shouldn't be held accountable, essentially stating that stealing is OK as long as everybody is stealing. A federal judge dismissed that idea, awarding the case to O'Sullivan and setting a precedent for other oft-sampled artists (especially James Brown, Sly Stone and other '70s funk legends) to get paid.

"Alone Again" was removed from Markie's I Need a Haircut, but the artist took the whole scenario in stride — he even called his next album All Samples Cleared. So whenever you hear a hip-hop song from the '80s that samples a classic funk or soul break, just remember that they probably didn't get paid the first time around. Case in point: N.W.A.'s "Express Yourself."


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Jared Leto Discusses Pajamas, Insists On Pants: The Best Of 2010 You Didn't See

Posted 12/16/10 5:30 pm EST by in Music


As the year 2010 comes to a close, we looked around the MTV Newsroom and noticed that there was an awful lot of tape hanging around that you never got to see. Sometimes it's completely irrelevant, sometimes it's filthy and sometimes it's just too odd to broadcast. Over the next few weeks, we'll be unveiling some of those amazing pieces of tape that will finally be revealed.

If you wanted to declare a rock band as having the biggest year for guitar-based acts, 30 Seconds to Mars would make an awfully compelling argument. Though their latest album This Is War came out in 2009, it really came into its own in 2010, mostly on the backs of big singles like "Kings and Queens" and "Closer to the Edge." They spent a great deal of their year on the road, blowing away their biggest crowds yet (though they've been making hits for a decade, this year was their first arena tour). They also grabbed plenty of headlines with their eye-popping music videos, especially the VMA-winning "Kings and Queens" and the controversial epic "Hurricane."

In fact, the video for "Kings and Queens" brought the band to the MTV News offices back in February. After band members Jared Leto and Tomo Milecevic talked us through the video for an excellent installment of "Frame By Frame," we chatted about a number of different topics, including the aftermath of the strange bomb scare, their enthusiasm for Fever Ray, the greatness of Las Vegas and their still-in-the-works documentary. As Leto pointed out, much of the raw footage of that film catches him in his pajamas, which lead to this exchange about whether or not it's OK to not wear pants if you don't plan on leaving the house. Let it be known that Leto insists on pants. It was a weird, funny moment, and I'm glad it can finally be seen.


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Train's Christmas Song Won Over The U.K.: The MTV News Quote Of The Day

Posted 12/16/10 4:30 pm EST by in Music


"[That was] the first time anyone heard it, at Shepherd's Bush in London, and it was cool, because the end chorus is just 'Ho Ho Ho,' and so I just asked them to sing it once, and they sang it every single time. And that's why it felt so big, because they just wanted to be a part of it. We feel honored to be able to go to the U.K. or Europe or anywhere in the world, and get people to care at all. That was the first time they heard it, and they acted like it had been on the radio for months."

-Train frontman Pat Monahan, discussing their concert in London where they debuted "Shake Up Christmas," their holiday song that you probably recognize from the Coca-Cola commercials. That same concert was captured on film for "MTV World Stage: Train," a live special that airs on Palladia this Friday, Decemeber 17 at 9 p.m. Eastern on Palladia.

The band was extremely satisfied with the performance, mostly because they felt it worked both as a live event and as a television special. "We've recorded a lot of shows in the past, with cameras ... and usually it's been kind of a bummer, because it sets a weird vibe right off the bat, when there's six cameras and people can't see past [them]," Monahan explained. "But this one was different. They set it up really nicely and all the fans that were in there were psyched to be a part of it, and we were psyched to be a part of it. ... The people of London were amazing, and once they found out they were going to be part of a film, it was even more intense. It was a great night for us."

"MTV World Stage: Train" premieres Friday, December 17, at 9 p.m. ET on Palladia.

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MTV News' Man And Woman Of The Year: Who Will Be Number One?

Posted 12/16/10 3:30 pm EST by in Music


All this week, MTV News has been rolling out its lists of the men and women of the year, the individuals who have gone above and beyond the normal call of art and entertainment to truly define what it was to be involved in pop culture in the year 2010. On Friday (December 17), MTV News will unveil its picks for the top spots — the truly definitive awards for MTV News Man of the Year and Woman of the Year — the two stars who truly reigned over all of the music world this year.

The countdown began with Nicki Minaj and Lil Wayne, both of whom owned the number five spots on the list. The two labelmates had big years for very different reasons: Nicki built up a steady stream of buzz in the lead-up to her big debut album Pink Friday, while Lil Wayne spent a large part of the year in jail (though that didn't stop him from having two huge albums in Rebirth and I Am Not a Human Being).

Next came Drake and Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi in the number four positions. Drake cashed in on his 2009 buzz with his hit-filled full-length debut Thank Me Later, while Snooki used "Jersey Shore" to elevate herself to superstar status.

Taylor Swift and Justin Bieber owned the number three spots. Both had extra-large years, as Bieber put out two albums (My World 2.0 and My Worlds Acoustic), shot a film and went on a massive tour, while Swift put out her best album yet in Speak Now (an album that sold over one million copies in its first week of release).

Finally, the second place entries belonged to Eminem and Katy Perry. Eminem solidified his big comeback this year with Recovery (which spawned two chart-topping singles) and a quartet of huge concerts with Jay-Z. Perry also owned the charts (all three singles from her new album Teenage Dream have gone to number one) and went on a gigantic tour, setting her up for an undoubtedly huge 2011.

But can you guess who the two stars are at number one? To give you a hint, MTV News turned once again to MorphThing, which let us create the possible baby that the Man of the Year would produce with the Woman of the Year. Let us know who you think they might be in the comments!

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Justin Bieber In The Oscar Running With 'Never Say Never'

Posted 12/16/10 2:30 pm EST by in Music


Justin Bieber's "Never Say Never" promises to be one of the biggest film events of the early part of 2011, but the 16-year-old Canadian singer could get quite a big boost from another piece of culture that shares the same name. The shortlist for the Academy Award for Best Original Song just got released, and Bieber's "Never Say Never" (his duet with Jaden Smith that was the theme song of the summer smash "The Karate Kid") is on that list.

There are a total of 41 tracks included on the short list, and from that massive batch, as many as five finalists will be named when the rest of the nominations are announced on January 25. It's not a guarantee that Bieber could be nominated for gold, as he is up against favorites like Cher's "You Haven't Seen the Last of Me" (from "Burlesque"), John Legend's "Shine" (from "Waiting for 'Superman'"), Gwyneth Paltrow's "Coming Home" (from "Country Strong") and Oscar regular Randy Newman's "We Belong Together" (from "Toy Story 3"). Still, he has the fact that he is a recognizable name and was associated with a big hit going for him. He also has youth on his side (the rest of the favorites skew pretty old). Plus, the nominations will be coming out right before the release of Bieber's film "Never Say Never," which would make for some nice marketing synergy.

Among the more esoteric selections on the short list include Metric's "Eclipse (All Yours)" (from "The Twilight Saga: Eclipse"), Eddie Vedder's "Better Days" (from "Eat Pray Love"), Avril Lavigne's "Alice" (from "Alice in Wonderland") and Colbie Caillat's "What If" (from "Letters to Juliet").

Who do you think should be nominated for an Oscar for Best Original Song? Let us know in the comments!

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Is Eminem's Recovery The Best Album Of The Year?

Posted 12/16/10 1:30 pm EST by in Music


This week, MTV News has been taking stock of the year that was in the world of albums. It's a curious thing to think about in 2010, as the current single-dominated culture seems to have pushed the concept of the album into the background. Full-length albums used to be the standard by which music was measured, but now it feels a bit antiquated. Still, putting together a complete album is a difficult thing, so the albums that really excel are that much more special in the current musical climate.

With all that in mind, MTV News' James Montgomery declared Kanye West's jaw-dropping opus My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy as the best album of the year (a sentiment agreed upon by the likes of Rolling Stone and Spin, both of whom had West at the top of their respective best-of lists). That has been a popular choice this year, though not all of the commenters concurred. Many believed that Eminem's Recovery was the best album of the year (and that it was especially too low on Montgomery's top 20 list). Endorsements also came in for some of the biggest (but ignored) albums of the year, including Taylor Swift's Speak Now, Rihanna's Loud and Drake's Thank Me Later (all of which could make legitimate arguments for the top spot).

But ultimately, we'll leave the final verdict to you. There are 10 albums below, synthesized from Montgomery's list, the suggestions of the commenters and some Grammy nominees for Album of the Year. Vote for your favorite and leave your arguments in the comments!

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