Posted 6/27/11 9:26 am EST by Jocelyn Vena in Beyonce, Lady Gaga
Beyonce, or as I like to call her, the Queen Of All Things Amazing and Sparkly, took the stage at Glastonbury on Sunday night and dazzled. She not only used it as her BET Awards performance, but once again she proved to the world how marvelous she can be. (Seriously, people, go out and buy 4.)
She also did something quite unexpected during the feisty performance. What was that? Well, read on to find out! Read More...
Posted 6/24/11 4:05 pm EST by John Mitchell in Gay Rights, Lady Gaga
June is gay pride month and this weekend marks the 42nd anniversary of the Stonewall riots in New York City. The riots are considered the defining moment that started the gay rights movement in the United States. All these years later, the movement is still fighting hard for equality, with marriage rights, bullying and discrimination still a constant battle for the LGBT community. But as last fall’s courageous It Gets Better anti-bullying campaign sought to point out, things are better now than they have ever been.
And who do we thank for that? Our leaders and allies, of course. So much love to people like Lt. Dan Coi, the late Harvey Milk and Elizabeth Taylor, Madonna, President Obama, Rachel Maddow, Jon Stewart and Judy Shepard (among many, many others), and groups like PFLAG, HRC and GLAAD. But there is likely no more prominent LGBT ally in the world right now than Lady Gaga. By almost any estimation, with her enormous platform, legion of devoted fans and pro-gay stance, she’s the most vocal LGBT rights advocate on the planet.
Posted 6/22/11 4:18 pm EST by John Mitchell in Britney Spears, Lady Gaga
Why so serious, Lady Gaga?
Today, Britney Spears released the video for her new single “I Wanna Go.” It’s all the things we’ve come to expect from Spears at her best: silly, sort of derivative and a whole lot of fun. In the video, Britney Jean holds a press conference but quickly tires of the reporters’ nonsensical questions and lets them have it. She then takes to the streets to flash a child, get frisky with a sexy policeman and take out a bunch of cyborg photographers with a microphone.
“The video did what it was supposed to and then some,” Perez Hilton told MTV News earlier today. “Not only do you see Britney having lots of fun, but you also hear her speak and are just watching her look very normal.”
Spears is having a banner year, with a well-reviewed tour, her sixth No. 1 album, her biggest hit in years (“Till The World Ends”) and now yet another buzzed-about video. Good for her! But what we’re most excited about is that she’s done it all with a smile on her face. For the first time in a long time, Spears seems at ease and ready to have a good time.
Which brings us to another woman we love: Lady Gaga. Lady Gaga is deadly serious about everything. And that’s fine, we guess; she’s a very different type of pop star than Britney. But sometimes it kills the vibe. Right? Wouldn’t it be nice if she dropped all the posturing for just a second and let lose a little bit?
We don’t mean to over think things, but in a weird way, it’s almost as if Britney Spears is more self-aware than Lady Gaga. (Yeah, we said it!) Read More...
Posted 6/21/11 9:10 am EST by MTV News in Britney Spears, Lady Gaga, Pitbull
By Morgan Schwartz and Matt Goodhue
Today’s not just any Tuesday in June – it’s the official first day of summer (and the longest day of the year!). And while we’re sure most of you have already hit the beach and started jamming to your own summer playlists, we at MTV News wanted to give our take on the best summer songs of 2011. Whether you’re tanning in the sun, driving with the windows down, or drinking beers with your friends, these tunes will be sure to get you in the mood to let loose and soak up that summer fun.
1. “Give Me Everything,” Pitbull ft. Ne-Yo, Afrojack and Nayer
This single has everything a summer song could possibly need: a killer beat to dance to at the club, a catchy chorus to sing in the car and a collaboration that is to die for. Produced by Afrojack, the song has elements of techno and pop and an extremely good beat. It’s no surprise that it’s already at the top of the charts. With a chorus that encourages us to live for the moment – “give me everything tonight/for all we know, we might not get tomorrow/let’s do it tonight” – we know that it will stay there.
2. “Party Rock Anthem,” LMFAO ft. Lauren Bennett and Goonrock
LMFAO has provided more than one iconic party anthem in the past. Some of their hits include “I’m In Miami, B*tch,” “La La La” and “Shots.” Now they’ve gotten literal and produced a song that’s living up to its title. “Party Rock Anthem” is one of the best party songs of the summer. It is perfect for a pregame in the city or a bonfire on the beach and with lyrics like, “party rockers in the house tonight/everybody just have a good time/and we gonna make you lose your mind/we just wanna see you shake that,” a good time is almost guaranteed with this song playing in the background.
Posted 6/20/11 7:30 pm EST by John Mitchell in Lady Gaga
After a bit of he said, she said over whether or not Lady Gaga would give Weird Al Yankovic permission to parody her hit “Born This Way,” the video for his “Perform This Way” has surfaced and it’s, um, interesting. And by “interesting,” we mean disturbing. And by “disturbing” we mean “creepy as f**k!”
There’s really no other way to describe a video in which Weird Al’s face is (badly) digitally placed over the face of a model/dancer in Gaga-garb and various states of undress, shimmying around to Al’s parody tune.
We’d say more about it, but our skin is still crawling so we’re having trouble typing. Check out the video below to see why, and let us know what you think in the comments!
Posted 6/20/11 3:00 pm EST by MTV News in Justin Bieber, Lady Gaga, Selena Gomez
By Danielle Genet
The world let out a big sigh last night when Selena Gomez and Justin Bieber appeared on stage together last night at the MuchMusic Video Awards in Toronto, Canada. However, unlike their big smooch at the 2011 Billboard Awards, the couple toned down their PDA and shook hands while Bieber teased to Selena,“Nice to meet you. You’re very beautiful. Maybe we can go out some time.” Beiber kept up the joke, later tweeting, “and to that young lady @selenagomez - great job and it was a pleasure meeting u.”
Bieber picked up two awards last night. He and Drake split the Best International Video of the Year by a Canadian prize for “Somebody to Love” featuring Usher and “Find Your Love,” respectively, and picked up the award for the fan-voted Ur Fave New Artist for “Somebody to Love (remix).” Biebs graciously thanked his fans on Twitter, leaving them with this message “Dont forget where you come from ... and always show love to home. I LOVE CANADA!!! THANK YOU. GREAT NIGHT.”
Those in attendance were also treated to not one, but two performances by Lady Gaga, who opened and closed the show. Gomez, co-host of the show, introduced Gaga as the “Queen of Pop – Mother Monster” before Gaga stormed the stage to perform renditions of “The Edge of Glory” (re-enacting her music video, Gaga danced on a balcony and fire escape set) and “Born This Way” (the hatching theme returned in the form of a cocoon, along with three different outfits, original music video choreography and a blood soaked finale). In between performances, Gaga took to the stage to accept awards for International Video of the Year – Artist for “Judas,” as well as the fan choice Ur Fave International Video for “Born This Way.”
Canadian rocker Avril Lavigne didn’t go unnoticed either, accidently dropping the F-bomb during her performance of “What the Hell.” Read More...
Posted 6/17/11 12:12 pm EST by John Mitchell in Lady Gaga
Lady Gaga premiered the much-anticipated video for her latest hit single, “The Edge of Glory,” last night on So You Think You Can Dance. In the clip, Gaga dances on fire escapes and down a foggy city street while Clarence Clemons wails on his saxophone, but the minimalist-for-Gaga video – and the Twitter storm that followed its premiere – has left fans wondering if some behind-the-scene drama resulted in a different clip than Gaga and her creative team originally intended.
Following the premiere, Joseph Kahn, who was widely reported to be the video’s director, took to Twitter to deny he helmed the video, saying, “I did NOT direct Lady Gaga’s ‘Edge of Glory’ video. Lady Gaga did.” He even clarified that he did not co-direct the clip with her, adding, “No, I don’t co-direct. One canvas, one paintbrush.” Note: Gaga and Kahn did not respond to MTV News for comment.
So what happened? Read on for a closer look into what could have been. Read More...
Posted 6/15/11 10:25 am EST by John Mitchell in Lady Gaga, youtube
E Street Band saxophonist Clarence “The Big Man” Clemons is said to be in “responsive and stable condition” after suffering a stroke earlier this week. Now, one of his most recent collaborators, Lady Gaga, has posted a 13-minute compilation of well wishes to her official YouTube channel.
Gaga has been tweeting her love for the acclaimed musician since news of his health problems first surfaced. On Monday, she asked her legion of fans to “make some get well videos” for Clemons, who she calls “my very close friend.”
Later that same day, she tweeted, “In bed with Mommy thinking about Clarence, I can't wait for you to see the beautiful video we made together. He's a really special person.”
Clemons lent his talents to two tracks – “Hair” and the current Billboard top 10 hit “Edge of Glory” – on Gaga’s mega-selling album Born This Way. Of working with Gaga, Clemons told Rolling Stone, "It was a day I'll never forget. When I left the studio, it took me a few days to come down. What she does, man, it just blows my mind.”
It seems she feels the same way.
Check the video out below. Read More...
Posted 6/7/11 3:21 pm EST by Jocelyn Vena in Lady Gaga, Music
After Laurieann Gibson co-directed her last two videos, Lady Gaga is reuniting with one of the busiest music-video directors in the game for her "Edge of Glory" clip. According to fan site GagaDaily.com, she will be working again with Joseph Kahn.
The two have worked together in the past on the sunny, candy-coated clip for "Eh Eh" and then on the darker-themed "LoveGame." So really, anything's possible when these two hook up for the '80's-sounding pop smash "Edge."
For those unfamiliar with Kahn's impressive résumé, it includes shooting for everyone from Gaga (obviously) and Eminem to Chris Brown and the Backstreet Boys. He also loves to shoot other pop princesses, including Britney Spears and Katy Perry. Kahn knows a thing or two about taking a big pop record and making a big pop video.
Kahn kicked off his career back in 1990, but found his niche during the "TRL" days on MTV, directing '90s fan favorites like the Backstreet Boys (three videos), Korn, Brandy and Monica for their sing-along hit "The Boy Is Mine" as well as Brian Setzer Orchestra (in case you're too young to know it, swing music had its moment, let's not forget).
Moving into the new millennium, the work hardly slowed down for the director. He became the go-to guy for Destiny's Child (two clips), Spears (three videos), Brown (four clips), Ke$ha, Perry and Eminem (four videos).
Side note: He actually just directed the video for Em's soon-to-be-released "Space Bound." However, we're sure the "Edge" and "Space" videos are insanely different.
What are you expecting from another Kahn/Gaga collabo? Let us know in the comments!
Posted 5/23/11 3:16 pm EST by Jocelyn Vena in Lady Gaga, Music, Television
"It was Green Day Dookie with my own money, but my parents got me Stevie Wonder 'Signed, Sealed, Delivered' and the Beatles when I was younger, A Hard Day's Night," she says in the special. "Yeah, they were two CDs, and they were given to me with a boom box, a little boom box for Christmas when I was young. They could have chose anything, but Stevie Wonder and the Beatles? It's totally their fault. It's their fault. Don't spoon-feed me the Beatles and Stevie Wonder and Bruce Springsteen and Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin and Elton John and expect me not to turn out this way."
Gaga has said she takes in pop culture and catalogs it like a librarian, and her early days of listening to all forms of music certainly play into that. To put it into context, Gaga was 8 when the Green Day album dropped, Stevie declared he was ours 16 years before she was born and Gaga was -22 when the Beatles released their iconic album.
When you listen to Gaga's music, do you hear her references? Tell us in the comments!
Don't miss MTV News' hour-long exclusive interview, "Lady Gaga: Inside the Outside," airing Thursday, May 26, at 9 p.m. and 11 p.m. ET/PT on MTV.