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'The Voice' May Soar--But We've Got Four Tips For The Talent Competition

Posted 4/22/11 4:42 pm EST by in Music, Television


By Patrick Hester

With "The Voice" set to premiere on Tuesday, many fans are wondering, "Will this reality show succeed in an era when singing competitions can be a person's ticket into the music biz?"

Regardless of how you answered that question, "The Voice," whose coaches include Christina Aguliera and Maroon 5 frontman Adam Levine, has a lot going for it. It's one of the only singing competitions on TV that won't be based on a person's looks. The contestants are solely chosen by the coaches based on their voices and then coached by celebrity judges who've been successful in the music industry.

With all that going for it, we thought it would beneficial to list a few things "The Voice" should NOT do, in order to ensure it says on the air. (With a few reality talent competition shows already canned, here's hoping they take a look at this list as a bit of a warning!)

Don't Be Unoriginal
As mentioned before, "The Voice" has the whole "blind audition" going for it, but a lot of reality singing competition shows fail because they use a formula that has already been done before. A panel of three judges offering praise or giving criticism can be seen Wednesdays on "American Idol." There are no "judges" on this show, as they are "coaches" who coach the contestants for the viewing public through a variety of stages. This could work, especially since it hasn't really been done before.

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Coachella Dilemmas: Odd Future Vs. Cee Lo; Duran Duran Vs. The National

Posted 4/13/11 5:44 pm EST by in Music


By Zack Swickey

The schedule for this weekend's Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival has at last been revealed, and in typical music-fest fashion, it is forcing fans to make heart-wrenching decisions. Anyone that has ventured to a major music festival, especially one of Coachella's magnitude, knows that they will inevitably have to choose between, not one or two, but up to four or five of the newest wave of indie bands and veteran acts playing simultaneously.

Friday is going to be hardest day for the music elitists sweating in the California sun. If you want to check out the latest rap crew the music world is buzzing about, Odd Future, you will have to sacrifice seeing foul-mouthed Cee Lo and art-rock outfit Warpaint. And what would make a wicked indie-rock bill on its own is instead a touch dilemma: Noise-rock duo Sleigh Bells perform at the same time as vets Interpol and Cold War Kids. Fans of the Killers have the choice to see Brandon Flowers solo, or they can check out the finest of blues rock: the Black Keys. If you want to forgo main-stage favorites Kings of Leon, you can treat yourself to frenetic, electronic rock duo Crystal Castles. Beer guzzlers will most likely watch Flogging Molly close Friday night, while the more, shall we say, "experimental" fans will flock to see legendary electronic outfit the Chemical Brothers.

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Cee Lo's 'F--- You' Makes Pop-Chart History

Posted 4/7/11 11:12 am EST by in Music


On September 25, 2010, Cee Lo's (now ubiquitous) "F--- You" officially debuted on Billboard's Pop Songs chart, rising to a peak position of #18 within a few weeks before quickly — and, rather unceremoniously — falling off the chart altogether by the end of November.

Of course, within weeks, thanks to a pop-culture groundswell that included a plumb spot on an episode of "Glee" (in Gwyneth Paltrow belted it out as "Forget You,") a spoken-word cover by William Shatner, and, of course, an armload of Grammy nominations (including both Record and Song of the Year), "F--- You" was back on the Pop chart ... and from that moment on, it began a slow-but-steady climb to the top that culminated Thursday, when the tune finally reached #1 ... and made a bit of history in the process.

Because, according to Billboard, "F--- You's" ascension to #1 officially completes the longest journey to the top of the Pop Songs chart in its 18-year history, a voyage that took 25 weeks to complete, breaking a mark first set in 2006-07, when Pink's "U + Ur Hand" reached #1 after a 23-week climb.

All told, "F--- You" has spent 30 weeks on the Pop chart, which ranks songs based on total radio spins. The song has also reached as high as #2 on Billboard's Hot 100 singles chart, and has sold more than 3.7 million downloads to date ... oh, and, of course, it got the deluxe Grammy treatment, too, as Cee Lo and Paltrow (and a whole bunch of puppets) performed a memorable duet of the song during the big show.

And speaking of big shows, Cee Lo has just been confirmed as a judge on NBC's upcoming talent competition "The Voice," a show on which, we suspect, we'll hear "F--- You" several times; though not always in song form, of course.

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Katy Perry, Kanye West And OK Go: The Top 25 Songs Of 2010

Posted 12/9/10 5:00 pm EST by in Music


The end of 2010 is almost upon us, which is why MTV News is rounding up the Top Songs of 2010. We had over two dozen MTV News staffers submit their own personal lists of their 25 favorite songs, and from those lists we derived a master list whose top 10 will be slowly rolling out over the course of this week. Check out one of the 25 lists below, with an argument or two for the greatness of some of the under-appreciated tunes of the year.

By Kyle Anderson

1. "F--- You," Cee Lo Green

2. "Runaway," Kanye West featuring Pusha T

3. "B.M.F. (Blowin' Money Fast)," Rick Ross

4. "Teenage Dream," Katy Perry
Every time I hear "Teenage Dream," I'm transported to that time in senior year when I hopped in the car, cranked up this song and drove north in search of a record shop and a place that sold vegan burritos. Except that story happened in 1999 and was probably accompanied by Built to Spill's Keep It Like a Secret. That's how good Perry is — no, that's how great Perry is: She can make me feel nostalgia for a youth I did not actually have.

5. "Bloodbuzz Ohio," The National

6. "This Too Shall Pass," OK Go

7. "This Ain't No Lil Kid Rap," Rah Digga
Everybody went crazy for Nicki Minaj this year, but I was celebrating the return of one of the best, most underrated female rappers in history. Rah Digga, the former female member of Busta Rhymes' Flipmode Squad, came out of a self-imposed 10 year sabbatical and dropped an album called Classic that may have been a little spotty, but the single was a punchy, welcome return to form.
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Inside The Grammy Nominations: Song Of The Year Is A Throwdown Between Eminem And Cee-Lo

Posted 12/2/10 10:30 am EST by in Music


The nominations for the 53rd annual Grammy Awards were announced on Wednesday night (December 1), with Eminem leading the pack with 10 and Bruno Mars nipping at his heels with seven total (though those are split between performances, writing and production nods). Song of the Year is always one of the more important (and contentious) categories, and it usually is the award the acknowledges the biggest musical sensation of the past 12 months. Consider the past few winners, like Beyoncé's "Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It)," Coldplay's "Viva La Vida," Amy Winehouse's "Rehab," Norah Jones' "Don't Know Why" and U2's "Beautiful Day."

The nominees for Song of the Year this time around are a pretty robust mix, with four solid contenders (sorry, Ray LaMontagne). They include Cee-Lo Green's "F--- You," Eminem's "Love the Way You Lie," Miranda Lambert's "The House That Built Me," Lady Antebellum's "Need You Now" and LaMontagne's "Beg Steal or Borrow."

Who Should Win
Cee-Lo Green's "F--- You" is one of the most awesome songs of the year. It balances old school Motown cool and envelope-pushing future funk, building swirls of piano, bass and killer background vocals that hold Cee-Lo's unique voice and killer lyrics. Also, it's really angry, which is pretty incredible. It's an incredibly impressive song from any angle, which is why it should win Song of the Year.

Who Will Win
While "Love the Way You Lie" more than deserves it and would probably gain some support, for some reason it seems like Lady Antebellum's name is already on the statue. (As an aside: This is going to be a big year for country music at the Grammys, which is pretty amazing considering Taylor Swift's name is nowhere to be found.)'

Wild Card
Did anybody really know that LaMontagne even put an album out? Still, his appearance among the nominations makes him a threat. Plus, his song is exactly the kind of music that Grammy voters tend to love.

Who do you think should win the Song of the Year Grammy? Let us know in the comments!

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Cee Lo Green Rocks Late Night, Serenades New York

Posted 11/12/10 11:00 am EST by in Music


">Cee Lo Green's The Lady Killer ended up becoming one of the more high-profile releases of the season thanks to the stealth success of his smash viral hit "F--- You." Because of his potty-mouthed hit (with an assist by his less vulgar but just-as-awesome new single "Bright Lights Bigger City"), Cee Lo has been in demand over the past few weeks leading up to the recent release of The Lady Killer (which is on pace for a top 10 debut on next week's Billboard chart).

The past few days have been particularly active for Cee Lo, as he played two high-profile gigs in New York that showed off all the angles of his personality. First, he stopped by "The Late Show With David Letterman" on Monday (November 8th) for a chat and a run through "F--- You," and on Tuesday (November 9) delivered the same kind of intensity and charm on "The Colbert Report."

On Thursday night (November 11), he took the stage at the W Hotel in New York for W Hotels' Wonderlust Live Music Series, where he ran through a sweaty, intense set full of the funkiest, most soulful burners from The Lady Killer. Whether it was in Goodie Mob, Gnarls Barkley or on his own, Cee Lo certainly knows how to work a crowd, and his ability to hold it down on stage has made him a can't-miss performer.

(Click here for more photos from Cee Lo Green's live performance at the W Hotel in New York!)

Cee Lo will wrap up his run through New York City today with a visit to the MTV Newsroom, where he will no doubt talk about the finer points of The Lady Killer and the potential of "F--- You" being selected to the MTV News 25 Best Songs of the Year list.

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Cee Lo Green's 'Bright Lights Bigger City' Video: The Key Scene

Posted 11/10/10 12:30 pm EST by in Music


Following a surprise smash hit with the Motown-biting, censor-baiting single "F--- You" (which has managed to have an impressive chart life considering its content), Cee Lo Green's new album The Lady Killer (his first solo joint since his mainstream breakthrough with DJ Danger Mouse as Gnarls Barkley) has a profound amount of buzz around it. It hit stores this week, and all the excitement was well-deserved, as The Lady Killer is an incredible collection of tunes, full of plenty of classic Motown sounds, psychedelic forays and all-out rockers. In fact, Cee Lo just dropped a new video for one of the album's best tunes in "Bright Lights Bigger City."

While the video for "F--- You" was an earnest series of laughs, "Bright Lights Bigger City" shows the other side of Cee Lo — the smooth operator side. He cruises through New York City in the back of a limousine, parties with some hot women and also gets embroiled in some sort of spy movie plot that sees Green taking possession of a briefcase, drawing a gun on a woman in a kitchen and eventually taking a blow to the head. In the video's key scene, Cee Lo pulls out his best James Bond impression.

The Lady Killer has been receiving rave reviews so far, with most critics excited by the fact that Cee Lo is able to jump between genres and use his versatile voice to excellent effect. When he was with Gnarls Barkley, he proved that he was a dynamic performer who could be funny, sexy and dangerous all in the same song, and The Lady Killer only expands on that promise.

What do you think of the video for Cee Lo Green's "Bright Lights Bigger City"? Let us know in the comments!

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Gwyneth Paltrow Singing 'F--- You' On 'Glee,' Adding To Her Long Music History

Posted 11/4/10 9:30 am EST by in Music


Cee-Lo's foul-mouthed, sugary-sweet Motown throwback "F--- You" is undoubtedly one of the best singles of the year (and one of the most refreshing surprises of 2010), and despite the greatness of the video and the general freakiness that the former Goodie Mob member lays down on the track, it's about to get even stranger. According to Entertainment Weekly, Paltrow will be appearing on an upcoming episode of the hit music-based show "Glee" to perform "F--- You" (which will be changed to "Forget You," the sanitized version that is played on radio). It should make for a delightfully strange piece of television.

This won't be the first time around the musical block for Paltrow, as she has a long history of lending her voice to various projects. She starred in the historically bad (but occasionally charming) film "Duets," which featured Paltrow crooning karaoke tunes with the likes of Huey Lewis (of all people). Paltrow also just dropped her first country single as part of the production of her upcoming film "Country Strong." And of course Paltrow has been married to Coldplay singer Chris Martin for the past seven years.

But her greatest musical moment had to have come in 2006 when Paltrow appeared on stage with Jay-Z at London's Royal Albert Hall to sing the chorus of his The Blueprint classic "Song Cry." That show — the first ever rap concert at the venue — also featured husband Martin (and Nas, just for good measure). Will the "Glee" appearance be able to top that? It's distinctly possible, especially considering the already-established greatness of "F--- You."


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The San Francisco Giants Win The World Series: Wake-Up Video

Posted 11/2/10 8:30 am EST by in Wake-Up Video


It has been a rough couple of days to be a sports fan in the Dallas area. The Cowboys' season has been derailed by erratic play and a devastating injury to star quarterback Tony Romo, and the NBA's Mavericks are in for a rough season (they got knocked off by the lowly Memphis Grizzlies over the weekend). (Rumor has it the city has a very successful NHL franchise, though that fact can neither be confirmed nor denied.) All the while, the Texas Rangers were getting battered in their first appearance in the World Series, their hot bats stifled by the San Francisco Giants' dominant pitching staff. On Monday night (November 1), the Giants finally put the Rangers out of their misery, as pitcher Tim Lincecum recorded his second victory of this Series to beat back the Rangers 3-1 and win the franchise's first championship since 1954 (and their first ever in the city of San Francisco) by a count of four games to one.

Lincecum was dynamite throughout his eight innings of work, striking out 10 batters and only giving up three hits (a pair of singles and a solo home run to Nelson Cruz in the seventh, after the Giants had already taken the lead for good). He was efficient, only tossing 101 pitches (71 of which came in for strikes) and his movement was as good as it has ever been (unlike in game one, where Lincecum was knocked around a bit but still got the victory, the Rangers could not find a solution to the 26-year-old phenom's change-up). The San Francisco bats did just enough, with all three of their runs coming on an Edgar Renteria homer in the seventh.

Renteria's heroics at the plate throughout the World Series earned him the Most Valuable Player trophy, but for a team that revolved around dominant pitching, it seemed like the award should have gone to Lincecum. In honor of the hurler everybody calls "The Freak" (and also in honor of whacked-out closer Brian Wilson, who was as flawless as a closer can be throughout the playoffs), enjoy Cee-Lo Green's "Closet Freak" and get ready for one hell of a parade in San Francisco.


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Is Kanye West's My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy The Most Anticipated Album Of The Season?

Posted 10/7/10 2:30 pm EST by in Music


If you have been paying any kind of attention to this space in the past week or so, you know that there's a lot of excitement around the MTV Newsroom surrounding the upcoming release of Kanye West's newest album My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. The songs we have heard (notably "Runaway" and "Power") have certainly fueled that fire, and the recent news about the unveiling of West's new film (also called "Runaway") has similarly stirred the pot. The album promises to be incredibly strange, dark and musically adventurous, which should put it immediately on the short list of best albums of the year.

But we're not only wrapped up in Kanye, as there are a number of other albums that have been getting our motors going. The slow and steady news about Taylor Swift's Speak Now suggest that it should be great. The long-awaited new album from My Chemical Romance is also excellent, as is Come Around Sundown, the new release from Kings of Leon. New music from Rihanna is always interesting, and Kid Rock's upcoming Born Free should also be eye-opening and head-turning. And don't forget about Susan Boyle, who sold nearly 10 million copies of her debut album I Dreamed a Dream. There is also plenty of singles-fueled buzz surrounding Cee-Lo, Nelly and Nicki Minaj ("F--- You," "Just a Dream" and "Check It Out" are all currently in constant rotation).

So which one of those releases is your most anticipated? Which one makes you most excited and will most likely end up on your year-end best-of list? Vote in the poll below and lay out your arguments in the comments!

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