Posted 9/22/11 12:00 pm EST by MTV News in Television
By Josh Wigler
"Survivor: South Pacific" continues this week with a flurry of hidden immunity developments, emotional outbursts, inward betrayals and another player gone. How is pale-skinned law student John Cochran holding up in light of his grueling first Tribal Council performance? Does the specter of Russell Hantz continue to loom heavily over nephew Brandon? Can Coach and Ozzy keep the targets off their backs? Find out those answers and more in our recap past the jump!
Posted 9/22/11 11:04 am EST by MTV News in Demi Lovato
My favorite song on Demi Lovato's album "Unbroken" is every song that sounds like it belongs in a late 90's early 2000's dance movie about a ballet dancer who discovers that she is too short for the ballet but that her songs, style and routines can be just as good if not better when remixed with some hip-hop to be a little more contemporary. What better a way than to write a sample of the script containing the music?
By Brendan Kennedy
EXT. URBAN CHICAGO, 1997 – DAY
It's a clear, crisp day – so cold you can see people's breath. Demi Lovato's "Lightweight" begins to play.
After a fast cut spread of the city, the camera pans on the elevated train to a sign that reads "School for the Performing Arts."
Our main character, Taylor, is crying after what looks like vomiting behind the sign. Her best friend Abigail, an overconfident urban teen who gave it all to a boy who changed his mind, runs up and is shouting, like loud you guys.
Abigail
Oh snap, I cannot believe what you just did. Are you kidding? No third year student let alone second would have ever done that.
Taylor
(cough/crying)
It's over. Like it's really over.
Abigail reaches over and grabs the CD player and skips a track. Lovato's "Real Life" begins to play as Abigail dances among the homeless people.
Abigail
Pussy Cat, please. (smiles) Well ... Yes, it's over, but did you see how Kyle looked at you? Girl you can get it.
Abigail continues to dance and pretends to "freak" on a sleeping homeless person.
Taylor
Too short ... Like, what the f**k is that? They couldn't have told me during any of the 12 years I've been dancing? No, I can't now. He'll never go for me if I can't be a real dancer because I'm too short.
Abigail
First of all, you think Mr. Perfect T.A. gives a s**t about ballet? You know he's always squawking about how he's gonna land jobs on Bad Boy music videos. It's hip-hop he cares about, fool.
Abigail begins an exaggerated grind, like a video ho. Read More...
Sad news! R.E.M., the influential alternative rock band fronted by Michael Stipe, has decided to call it quits after 30 years. In the early '90s, R.E.M. emerged as a force to be reckoned with on the video scene, dominating the 1991 MTV Video Music Awards with their legendary clip for "Losing My Religion."
"To our Fans and Friends: As R.E.M., and as lifelong friends and co-conspirators, we have decided to call it a day as a band," the band said in a statement on its website. "We walk away with a great sense of gratitude, of finality, and of astonishment at all we have accomplished. To anyone who ever felt touched by our music, our deepest thanks for listening."
The Rock and Roll Hall of Famers leave behind an incredible musical legacy, so rather than get too down that they won't be making any new music, let's take a look back at their five best videos!
"Losing My Religion"
with reporting by Jocelyn Vena
When our girl Beyonce's latest album 4 dropped, we were torn over the amount of ballads on the set. At first, we weren't sure we were into it. King Bey's got a fantastic voice and we've always loved her ballads in the past ("Listen" is a personal fave), but an album dominated by slow jams seemed like overkill. The songs have all since grown on us and we wouldn't dare change a thing about Bey's album. It's perfection.
Looking over reviews of the album, we realized that just about every critic commented on the volume of ballads on 4, so we weren't alone in our knee-jerk reaction to Beyonce's album. But we couldn't help but wonder why? Sure, there are a lot of ballads in there and it merits mention, but the few middling reviews the acclaimed album received were less critical of the songs themselves and more of Beyonce for opting for tearjerkers over club bangers.
That's when we realized that – with the notable exception of Adele's 21 – pop albums have moved away from ballads to the point where if more than one or two appear on a set it's noteworthy. Dance songs rule the radio, and while pop princesses like Rihanna and Katy Perry carefully pick a slow song or two to show off their pipes, albums are now dominated by four-on-the-floor jams. Look at Perry's historic run of singles from Teenage Dream, there's not a ballad among them.
Britney Spears has given up on recording ballads entirely. With the exception of a few slower electro jams ("Unusual You," "Criminal"), Spears' last two studio albums Circus and Femme Fatale have been ballad-free.
It's a strange shift from the mid-90s, when ballads by Mariah Carey, Boyz II Men and Whitney Houston were logging Billboard chart records left and right. The longest-running hit ever in the history of the Billboard singles chart is Carey and Boyz II Men's "One Sweet Day," which topped the chart for 16 weeks in 1995. In fact, six of the top singles ever are slow songs, and with the strange exception of Los del Rio's "Macarena," none are dance tracks.
So when ballad-masters Boyz II Men, who have three (!) of the top ten biggest No. 1 hits ever, visited MTV News this week, we decided to get their take on the state of the modern ballad. Check out the video below.
After the jump, vote in our poll and let us know if you'd like to hear more slow jams on mainstream radio. Read More...
Posted 9/21/11 2:47 pm EST by MTV News in Facebook, The Interweb
By Dionne Buxton
Change is never easy, especially when you have to appeal to more that 750 million people. As we're sure you've noticed, Facebook has revamped … AGAIN.
Last night brought some drastic changes to your Facebook homepage. The most significant change is in the redesign of the News Feed, which now determines what it thinks is interesting to you. A little thing we like to call “algorithm hell.”
“You won’t have to worry about missing important stuff. All your news will be in a single stream with the most interesting stories featured at the top,” developer Mark Tonkelowitz wrote on the Facebook blog.
They’ve also installed a Twitter-like “ticker” that gives users real-time updates. “Now when a friend comments, asks a question or shares something like a check in you’ll be able to join the conversation right away,” explained Tonkelowitz.
Here at MTV News, we know how important Facebook is to your lives (almost as important as MTV, right?). We have come up with your change survival guide! Read More...
Posted 9/21/11 1:32 pm EST by MTV News in Movies, Television
By Dionne Buxton
The king of musical television has his eye on a new adventure.
That’s right, "Glee" creator Ryan Murphy now wants to conquer a musical movie starring none other than "Glee’s" favorite substitute teacher, Gwyneth Paltrow. Murphy wants to write an original movie starring Paltrow and Maya Rudolph, telling E! Online, "We want to do a musical together, I want to write an original movie for Gwyneth and Maya Rudolph, both of whom I'm great friends with."
You can’t deny the magic that happens when these two work together. In 2006, Murphy directed the film “Running with Scissors," a dramedy based on Augusten Burroughs 2002 memoir, starring Paltrow. Also, this year she won an Emmy for her guest appearance on "Glee."
Although, Murphy is being quite hush hush about his ideas for the new film, he has disclosed where his inspiration will come from. He really enjoyed Gwyneth’s character in "Country Strong," in which she played an alcoholic country singer.
"I loved 'Country Strong,'" Murphy revealed. "I love it when she's drunk and on the floor spitting up pills." Read More...
Posted 9/21/11 11:46 am EST by John Mitchell in Television
At 7:50 PM last night, we were in the throes of a crisis. "Glee" was set to return for its third season at 8 and we couldn't decide if we were ready to invest in another season of the once-great TV musical-dramedy. Once upon a time, we loved "Glee" – it was fresh and fun with characters both endearing and realistically petty, show-stopping musical numbers and a sharp wit. For how exaggerated the characters and situations could be, it managed to capture something real about the high school experience. It was a warts-and-all look at how hard it can be to be a teenager and it didn't shy away from heavy subject matter.
Then the second half of its second season happened.
The show seemed to get caught up in its own hype and lost its way. As soon as people started celebrating "Glee" for its handling of big issues, it became too self-aware and started pushing things too far, approaching topics that were once handled with grace and ease with clichéd self-importance. Our singing misfits became vehicles for PSAs on loving who you are. "Glee" was never exactly subtle, but it wasn't particularly heavy-handed either. The show also introduced too many new characters in its second season and was never able to strike a balance with them, so the episodes began to differ wildly from one another as writers scrambled to make sure everybody got featured. One week it would be high drama with Karofsky and the next week you'd have Gwyneth Paltrow discouraging Puck and Lauren from making a sex tape.
So we were apprehensive about jumping on board for season three. We knew that if we started, we'd have trouble walking away later and thought maybe it would just be best to give it up entirely from the get-go? But at about 7:57 our gut impulse to tune in to FOX got the better of us and boy are we glad it did. Read More...
Posted 9/21/11 8:36 am EST by John Mitchell in Newsroom Poll
This is it! Today's the last day to vote for your favorite album of 1991 and to let us know if you agree or disagree with our notion that '91 may well be the best year in rock of the MTV era.
Vote below. Polls close at 5 PM today, so vote now and vote often! We’ll have the results for you tomorrow.
Posted 9/20/11 4:59 pm EST by MTV News in dance
By Akshay Bhansali
While its possibly clichéd to reference a Diddy-Dirty Money’s dance music hit by Dirty South at the top of this post, Wolfgang Gartner has “Come Home” to California after a jaunt in Texas. New home. New album. (Out today called Weekend in America.) New Studio.
Seldom do folks get a peep into the creative lair where dance music’s biggest stars make their magic, but Gartner – whose new album Weekend features will.i.am, Eve and Dipset’s Cam’ron and Jim Jones – was kind enough to invite MTV News into his new Los Angeles home and share his creative space with his fans. Production techie’s keep your eyes and ears open – no doubt, you will recognize some of the tools of the trade – and some of the older gems that have helped generate that Wolfgang Gartner sound. Enjoy!
Posted 9/20/11 3:43 pm EST by Jocelyn Vena in Demi Lovato
A lot of people blow through the MTV building, but very few get the staffers here at MTV as excited as Demi Lovato. The Unbroken singer stopped by 1515 today to perform and tape it for VH1 Top 20 Live and she made Lovatics out of everyone.
The singer blew through her repertoire with tons of vocal gusto. Clad in her Stevie Nicks best – a leopard print maxi skirt, loose fitting shirt and fedora – she looked gypsy chic as she blasted the room with her unbelievable voice. She kicked off the four-song set with a medley of "Catch Me" and "Don't Forget" from her first two albums.
It was the newer tracks from her just-released album, however, that really had the room buzzing with excitement. She played the ballad "Like A Star," and she sang with a powerhouse quality and bravado the was reminiscent of Christina Aguilera. Before launching into the track, she told the room, "I'm really, really excited to sing it for you guys. So I hope you like it." The room certainly did, giving the tune tons of applause as she closed it out. Read More...