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Rihanna on WhoSay

Rihanna got everyone buzzing this week when she dropped her video for "We Found Love." It was hard to imagine what type of video she'd cooked up for the sunny, Calvin Harris-produced clip, but she certainly threw us for a loop in the best way possible.

The dark, edgy video, directed by Melina Matsoukas ("Hard," "S&M," "Rude Boy" and "Rockstar 101"), takes a close look at a couple fueled by their love for one another and their passion for drugs and partying. While the video opens with the pair (Rihanna and British model/boxer Dudley O'Shaughnessy) seemingly in love, it ends with them broken by the weight of having meant so much to one another and letting themselves get swept up in drugs.

The key scene comes at about 3:33 into the clip. It's when things really start to take a turn for the worse and Rihanna passes out in the street, perhaps from an overdose or exhaustion or both. By this point, Rihanna and Dudley's fighting has gotten worse as their dependency on drugs and partying deepens. The beautiful parts of their love affair have gotten ugly, and Rihanna begins to question it all after a very public meltdown.

In the end, she leaves him, perhaps to get clean and get her life together. That's at least what we hope happens. Read more...

Tags Rihanna, The Key Scene

By Zachary Swickey

Those who couldn’t get enough of Rihanna’s wicked hot fragrance, Reb’l Fleur, last year will now have another option to mull over as the Barbadian pop queen has announced its sequel (perfumes can have sequels right?). Fittingly dubbed Rebelle, which is a nickname RiRi got from her grandmother, the scent is a partnership with smell-good icons Parlux Fragrances and will surely attract the attention of many men … and maybe some women.

“Wore the sample last night and all the fly girls wanted some,” the pop singer tweeted this summer. “My new fragrance is about taking control but still being a lady. There’s a feminine romantic element to the fragrance – but there’s also a defiant quality in it,” Rihanna explains in a press release for the product.

(The pop star is causing a ruckus today because of another product she just launched – the red-hot music video for her new single "We Found Love." Check it out after the jump.)

The marketing campaign accompanying the fragrance is being shot by Rihanna’s go-to music video director, Anthony Mandler, who has shot a hefty 16 music videos with the star and has also worked with Jay-Z, The Killers and Drake. So (hopefully) we can expect to see Rihanna continue her trend of being scantily clad and stealing hearts. Read more...

Tags Rihanna

By Zachary Swickey

It’s hard to take some actors seriously when they dabble in music. (Remember when Lindsay Lohan made the attempt?) Sure, there have been a few well-received efforts (like Zooey Deschanel’s indie project, She & Him), but for the most part, being an actor is a stigma to anyone hoping to find credibility in the music world. This is the exact reason I refrain from mentioning the name of the lead singer of Dead Man’s Bones until the person I’m sharing it with admits their ears are digging it. You might have seen him in a few flicks recently too: "Crazy, Stupid, Love," "Drive" and "Ides of March." Yeah, it’s still rather shocking to me how few people know that Hollywood man-of-the-moment Ryan Gosling fronts a rock band, and quite a good one at that.

Dead Man’s Bones first came to be in 2005, when Gosling met Zach Shields, the boyfriend of Rachel McAdam’s (Gosling’s then-girlfriend) sister, Kayleen. The four were once living under the same roof and the two gentlemen found themselves bonding over their mutual fascination with typical fright fare: zombies, ghosts, monsters, etc. It’s clear from the group’s do-it-yourself ethic that Dead Man’s Bones is no vanity project, rather a meticulous musical experiment that had Gosling taking up cello and piano for the first time. The duo didn’t want an overproduced, slick album, so they adhered to some basic principles in the studio: they would play all the instruments (even if they didn’t know how to use them yet), there would be no more than three takes per song, and they would keep even keep some of the recorded imperfections.

Inspired by the free-spirit and imagination of children, DMB recruited a children’s choir from the Silverlake Conservatory of Music – a music education facility in Los Angeles that was co-founded by Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist Flea – to help with the recording process. With members ranging from 5-17 years old, the choir would meet with Gosling and Shields every Sunday afternoon for a few months to record. Their playful music video for “In the Room Where You Sleep” was filmed during a wrap party on the final day of recording, and was our first venture into the world of Dead Man’s Bones.

Listen to "In The Room Where You Sleep" after the jump. Read more...

Tags Bands We Like

Justin Bieber certainly has his romantic swag on full display in the video for "Mistletoe."

Whatever do we mean? Well, between the photo booth scene, the dress-buying sequence, picking up his girl in a very expensive vintage car and the kiss at a dance, it's hard for us to really not pine away about our first love when watching the holiday-themed clip. Bieber knows how to treat a lady. Selena, you got yourself a good one.

Director Roman White explained that a lot of the video was inspired by John Hughes movies from the past. And that inspiration is not on display more than about midway through the clip when Bieber picks up his lady love in his car. What kind of car? A vintage Porsche. No. Big. Deal.

Anyways, it's a full-on "Pretty In Pink" moment (Don't know what we mean? Go watch it and get back to us!) and it's pretty much the key scene in the video. It marks the turning point for Bieber and his girl, played by Allie Williams, as they finally make the transition from hot chocolate-swilling besties to mistletoe kissing boyfriend and girlfriend.

Just a note for the future: Bieber, we're pretty sure she was into you without all that swag. Check out the "Mistletoe" video, as well as vid director Roman White talking about the Key Scene, after the jump. Read more...

Tags Justin Bieber, The Key Scene

Cher is one of the most vocal celebrities on Twitter. She's also one of our favorite stars to follow. The living legend actively responds to questions from her followers and talks about all those things you're not supposed to (hello, politics!). But one thing that's come up again and again that Cher has been stepping around is her duet with Lady Gaga, "The Greatest Thing."

The song was supposed to drop in late-September, but still hasn't seen the light of day, and fans want to know why. For her part, the reason for the delay seems to be the only thing Cher won't address directly on Twitter. Instead, the music legend has been tossing out sarcastic responses when asked and yesterday told fans she is "never telling you guys early again!"

She didn't, however, actually say when the much-anticipated song would be released. Read on for a bit more insight into "The Greatest Thing" and to see what Cher had to say about another music legend on the comeback train. Read more...

Tags Cher, Lady Gaga, Twitter

Just like you, we gasped at the nearly NSFW video for Britney Spears' 'Criminal.' It's by far her most risqué look yet, and that's saying a lot from the woman who reinvented the mile high club in the classic 'Toxic' video.

There's plenty of chatter about that shower scene with Brit's real life beau Jason Trawick and one of our favorite responses came not in words, but in animated GIF form, reuniting Britney with Justin Timberlake in full 'Cry Me a River' mode.

Tags britney spears, Criminal, Justin Timberlake

Last night during MTV First, Justin Bieber's new Christmas hit "Mistletoe" debuted and Beliebers are loving it, calling the catchy tune a "Christmas classic."

Fans joined MTV News' James Montgomery here in our Times Square offices, which got a holiday makeover with gift boxes, wreathes, lights and even a fire accented with stockings, for the special, where they got to check out James' interview with Bieber and ask "Mistletoe" video director Roman White questions about working with the pop star.

Fans also got an opportunity to send special messages to the singer. "Thank you for always being a part of my life and for changing it," Bieber fan Kayla told MTV News. Another fan, Julia, offered to hit the studio with Bieber, saying, "If you ever want to do a song with me, I'm available," while another Belieber was quick to add, "If you ever want to go out with me, I'm available."

On Twitter, Beiber's fans were also wild for "Mistletoe" and let MTV know what they would get the singer for Christmas. On savvy tweeter said she'd give the singer the "ability to trend on Twitter again" – a nod to the fact that Twitter had to change its algorithm to exclude the singer's name because mentions of the popster would make him the top trend at all times on the social network.

Be sure to catch up on Justin's interview and all the excitement by watching MTV First: Justin Bieber and check out more fan reaction from the event after the jump. It made for a merry early kick-off to the holiday season here in the MTV Newsroom. Read more...

Tags Justin Bieber

By Kara Warner

All this talk about Justin Bieber's forthcoming holiday-themed album "Under The Mistletoe," and our exclusive debut of the video for its first single, "Mistletoe," has got us to thinking, where the heck did that whole kissing-under-the-mistletoe tradition start?

Here's a quick primer of the most interesting mistletoe-themed facts: Read more...

Tags Justin Bieber

By Christina Garibaldi

Britney Spears just released the ultra-steamy video for “Criminal,” which stars her boyfriend of over two years, Jason Trawick. The two give us a glimpse into their bedroom behavior in the clip and it got us thinking, what other couples have turned co-stars in music videos? Well, wonder no more, here’s our list!

Britney Spears and Kevin Federline, “My Prerogative” (2004)
Jason Trawick wasn’t the first boyfriend Britney teamed up with for a music video. Brit starred alongside then fiance Kevin Federline for the video for “My Prerogative." In the vid, K-Fed’s cameo remains a mystery for most of the clip (even though everyone knows it’s him) as he watches a barely clothed Britney roll around on a bed. The video concludes with the two walking down the aisle and locking lips, which later happened in real life. Yet, after two kids, the two called off their marriage in 2006.

Beyonce and Jay-Z, “Crazy in Love” (2003), "Bonnie and Clyde" (2003), “Déjà vu” (2006), "Upgrade U" (2006)
The super private couple certainly has had no trouble showing their love through their music. The two have appeared been in four music videos together, including “Crazy in Love,” which got the rumors swirling that these two were actually a couple. Now, not only do the two make great music together, they are also making babies! Beyonce is expecting their first child this February.

Read more...

Tags Beyonce, britney spears, couples, enrique iglesias, Jennifer-Lopez, Mariah Carey, Pink, video

By Dionne Buxton

What group do you know of that can basically disappear from mainstream, nearly 15 years removed from the hit most people know them for, and still have diehard fans sleeping outside for concert tickets?

Hanson, of course.

The trio of brothers performs tonight at the Best Buy Theatre in Times Square (right next door to the MTV offices), and there are already more than 30 fans with sleeping bags waiting outside for a chance to get as close as possible to the group.

The band, best known for their 1997 hit “Mmmbop,” haven’t been able to reach that top spot again since their label merged with another and left them without a label that understood them “creatively,” according the fans we talked to. But they don’t need a popular label backing them; they never stopped making music.

“They put out their fifth album last year, they’ve been doing tours almost every year,” said Amber Hopper, 27, who’s been on-site since 3 AM. “People haven’t heard so much because they haven’t been on the radio, because of the fact that they left the major record label. But they’ve never stopped making music. They haven’t taken any breaks, they’ve still been going.” Read more...

Tags Concerts, Hanson