Another week has come to a close here in the MTV Newsroom, and it's been an especially busy one. We saw some fascinating video premieres, a few great album previews, some hilarious interviews and at least one modeling lesson for one of our staffers. Before you hit the town to sing karaoke or go to a screening of "2012" (because the stupid Adirondack Mountains have had it coming to them for a while), check out everything you might have missed this week.
» This week was all about Taylor Swift. She brought big laughs on "Saturday Night Live," and then swept the CMA Awards. And just for good measure, producer Butch Walker paid her a tribute with a cover of "You Belong With Me."
» Kanye West probably didn't like this year's CMA Awards broadcast, but he can take solace in the fact that he would make the ideal Super Bowl performer.
» Veteran rock band Aerosmith threatened to come apart at the seams several times this week, so we provided a few helpful suggestions for possible Steven Tyler replacements.
» Looking to find some old, inexpensive music this weekend? Try some semi-forgotten albums from Air and the Strokes, as featured in the new edition of "Bargain Spins."
» New music from two "American Idol" artists got the preview treatment from Jim Cantiello, who really liked Kris Allen's self-titled debut but thought that Allison Iraheta's forthcoming record was a little less promising.
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By Rya Backer
On Friday morning, Chris Brown's new video for "Crawl," the second single to get the video treatment from his upcoming release Graffiti, made its debut. The clip, which depicts a bespectacled Brown singing about how people need to crawl back to love, also features shaven-head sensation Cassie as Brown’s love interest. The ballad is at least a little bit about Rihanna, and the video seems to make references to her and their relationship.
We took to the streets of Times Square to see what people thought of Brown's latest foray into short film. Reactions to the song and the video were mixed.
"It was a decent song. After everything that's gone on, it's kind of hard to support him," explained Lindsay, a student in town from Kentucky.
"I think it sounded fine," added her friend Katie. "But I don't know, I think it was a kind of failed attempt to tell everyone he's really sorry. I don't think it really did anything for me."
Former Chris Brown obsessive Alysia said, "You could see that there's a lot of Rihanna inferences in there. But after you do something like that, I don't think you can regain the public's trust."
However, Brown has fans in Chiquita and Terell, who both expressed their support for the single. Chiquita thought that the video was "really nice," and Terell said "It seemed like a nice concept. He shouldn't fall back after all that happened with him and Rihanna and all that, so it's just good to see him out again."
What do you think? Is "Crawl" a keeper? Leave your thoughts in the comments!
The first week of November is almost behind us, and while the march toward the holidays is already on, that doesn't mean the music world took any time off. In fact, the next few weeks should be quite exciting, with oodles of new music, video and tour news coming at a rapid pace. The MTV Newsroom team will be all over everything as soon as it breaks, but for now, catch yourself up on everything that you might have missed.
» Some samples of Adam Lambert's new album hit the Web, and Jim Cantiello broke down every second of them.
» The Weezer Snuggie (or "The Wuggie") is pretty incredible, though even frontman Rivers Cuomo has no idea why.
» Both Chris Brown and Rihanna talked extensively about the assault back in February. Brown sat down with Sway to talk about the aftermath while Rihanna spoke to ABC about expectations and the future.
» Justin Bieber had a busy week: He dropped a new single, announced his golden ticket contest and impressed Ellen DeGeneres during his guest spot on her talk show.
» The Bieber performance was part of a busy week for Ellen, who also spent time scaring the heck out of Taylor Swift.
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Ever since the news broke of Chris Brown's assault on then-girlfriend Rihanna back in February, we knew what the results were but details were always hazy about what exactly lead up to Brown's actions. Some of that was cleared up this morning on "Good Morning America," where another portion of Rihanna's "20/20" interview aired. She confirmed the rumor that the argument started over a text message Brown had received from another woman. "I caught him in a lie, and he wouldn't tell the truth," she told interviewer Diane Sawyer. "I couldn't take that he kept lying to me. And he couldn't take that I wouldn't drop it, so it escalated into him being violent towards me and ... it was ugly."
She went on to describe Brown's demeanor once he became violent. "He had no soul in his eyes, just blank," she said. "He was clearly blacked out. There was no person when I looked at him. All I kept thinking the whole time: When is it going to stop?" The full interview with Rihanna airs tonight on ABC.
MTV News' Sway interviewed Brown about the case this past Monday (the result of which airs tonight at 6 p.m. on MTV as "Chris Brown: The Interview"). He talked about the many personal and public apologies he has made over the past few months. "When I apologize, I really apologize, definitely, about the situation, like me and her personally, obviously," Brown told MTV News. "We've exchanged, I've exchanged my apologies for her, but when I do it publicly, it's for [the others] I've let down: It's for the fans, it's for all the people ... even the people that have invested in me and thought that I was good enough role model." The remainder of Brown's interview, which includes details about his court-mandated community service and some explanations of some of his recent Internet postings, airs tonight at 6 p.m. on MTV.
After a few months of relative silence following his altercation with Rihanna, Chris Brown is back with a new album (Graffiti, due in stores December 8), a fresh set of singles, an otherworldly video and a "Fan Appreciation" tour. It's a long road back, and Brown is taking it one step at a time.
But plenty of questions still remain, which is why MTV News correspondent Sway traveled to Brown's home in Virginia for an extended sit-down with the singer. It was a no-holds-barred conversation, and the result will be revealed on Friday (November 6) when "Chris Brown: The Interview" airs at 6 p.m. on MTV.
Brown was ready for Sway's questions, as he said he has posed them to himself over and over again since the fateful night in February. "My thoughts [when I look back on it now] is like, 'Why did it happen?' Like, 'What was I thinking? What is wrong with you?' That's what I'm thinking with myself."
The singer said that it was "anger" that drove him to strike Rihanna, adding "Young people, we do before we think." But he's clearly struggling to make amends and figure out what he must take away from the experience. "It's like, 'How do we get past it? How do you, Chris' — talking to myself — 'how do you go from point A to point B? How do you learn from your mistakes, turn it into a positive and help other people with the situation, and at the end of the day become the person that you want to be?'"
For more, be sure to tune into "Chris Brown: The Interview," this Friday, November 6, at 6 p.m. on MTV.
Though Chris Brown appeared to be pining for ex-girlfriend Rihanna on Twitter earlier this week (despite the court's stay away order), he's been seen spending time with other ladies.
TMZ reported that the singer has been romantically linked to Natalie Nunn, a contestant on this December's edition of "The Bad Girls Club."
The gossip website posted two photos of the singer and Nunn: In one she is seen sitting in Brown's lap while he's smiling and giving a peace sign. In the other, Brown, in a cap and sweatshirt, is seen smiling while Nunn is cozied up to him.
According to Reality TV World, Natalie is "a spunky self-proclaimed socialite, Natalie enjoys cruising in her sugar daddies' expensive cars and painting the town red with her cool celebrity friends. With a degree in Sociology, Natalie operates her own fashion boutique in Northern California. This flamboyant rebel proclaims to 'run L.A..'" The California native's photo on the show's Web site calls her "the gold digger."
TMZ goes on to report that the pair has hung out a couple of times. Their most recent "date" was on October 16, when they attended a roller-skating party. The catch, however, is that Brown says he isn't dating that girl.
He took to Twitter to clear up the rumors: "TMZ … omg ... U guys have nothing better to do. And by the way. I don't mess wit 'that girl.'"
In this age of digital music, it's unusual for a major artist to take her cover art so seriously. But Rihanna clearly has a stake in how she appears on the covers surrounding her new album, Rated R. The cover of the single "Russian Roulette" was already unveiled last week, and it cast Rihanna as a badass sorta-pirate bound by barbed wire. Today she revealed the proper album cover for Rated R. It's a black-and-white image that retains her new "R" logo and shows her covering her right eye (the same eye blackened by Chris Brown back in February). The image, shot by fashion photographer Ellen von Unwerth (who has also worked with Britney Spears and Janet Jackson) is everything that makes Rihanna interesting: sparse, slightly futuristic and gorgeous.
But what do the fans think? We sent an MTV News crew to a rainy Times Square today to gather some reactions, and the results were decidedly mixed.
Many people saw the correlation between the covered eye and the altercation with Brown, but many more just seemed hyper-aware of the more "adult" vibe. "She looks quite scary and somewhat intriguing," one respondent noted.
"I like it, but it's a little dark," another added.
Based on "Russian Roulette" and now this album cover, it seems like there will be more musical comment coming from Rihanna about Brown. Rated R hits the streets on November 23.
What do you think: Is Rihanna's album cover a beauty or a beast? Leave your thoughts in the comments or head over to Your.MTV.com to make your voice heard!
Every day a multitude of stars wanders 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.
Adam Lambert has got to be the most popular second-place finisher in history. Despite losing last season's "American Idol" contest to Kris Allen, he has already managed to make the cover of Rolling Stone and provide a song for one of the most hotly-anticipated movies of the year (whose video will premiere in front of one of the other biggest movies of the year). And of course, he's already getting his share of paparazzi following him around (though Governor Schwarzenegger is making that more difficult). Yesterday while in Los Angeles, Lambert stole a kiss from boyfriend Drake LaBry while in the front seat of a car. It's good that Lambert has found time to sneak in his personal life, as the run-up to his debut album (which hits stores November 24) has been incredibly hectic. In addition to finishing the album, he'll also have to prepare for his performance at the American Music Awards in November.
In other sightings yesterday, Chris Brown hit the tarmac at LAX and Faith Hill and Taylor Swift teamed up for a benefit concert at the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville. Click here for these photos as well as the entire "Spotted!" archive, which contains over 350 candid shots of Britney Spears, Madonna, Lady Gaga, Justin Timberlake, the Jonas Brothers, the cast of "New Moon" and Tokio Hotel!
Soulja Boy Tell'em has a new album coming out in November, and the details are starting to come together that could make it one of the hotter releases on the hip-hop calendar. Soulja has been keeping up a constant series of tweets narrating the development of his new album The DeAndre Way (which takes it's title from Soulja's given name, DeAndre Way). Past Soulja albums have all been star-studded affairs, and this one will obviously be no different, as in just the past 24 hours he has mentioned working with both Drake and Chris Brown. He even posted a photo of himself and Brown taking a break from working.
Soulja also hit up his Twitter account last night to debut his new mixtape My Way of Life, which features 25 tracks, including a remix of "Successful" with Trey Songz and Lil Wayne. The mixtape also has guest spots from Nicki Minaj, Birdman and the S.O.D. Money Gang.
But Souja Boy's best Twitter moment of the past week was actually a tweet by Spencer Pratt. Last night, Soulja tweeted, "Just finished new song with Drake." Pratt saw it and re-tweeted, but also added "and King Spencer Pratt" at the end of it. Rest assured that the "Hills" star won't be dropping a verse on The DeAndre Way — or any rap album, for that matter.
After ducking out of the spotlight while the story about his assault on Rihanna was at its peak, Chris Brown has gradually been returning to the public eye. Sure, he appeared on "Larry King Live," but a lot of his comeback has come via Twitter. He recently linked to the just-premiered video for Ester Dean's "Drop It Low" (which features a guest spot from Brown as well as an introduction from NBA superstar LeBron James — logical, as the song comes from the soundtrack to the film "More Than a Game," a documentary about his high school hoops team).
But last night he put up a link to another video clip, this time featuring photos of him and Rihanna set to his song "Changed Man." He added the note "Sorry y'all, just one of those days" in the tweet. He also tweeted, "My heart is incomplete ... The part that is complete is my love for fans, career, friends, family ... god. But I'm missing someone or something." Most people believed that the "something missing" was Rihanna, but that message was deleted from his Twitter shortly after going up and replaced with an angrier missive, originally written in all caps: "I ain't postin' s--- else about me (personally). I'm so over all this bulls---." Since then, Brown's tweets have been mostly innocuous, though he did note today that he will be conducting some community service as a part of his plea deal in the Rihanna assault case. Plenty of stars have written off Twitter in the past, but it rarely sticks. We'll see how long Brown can last without putting himself out there again. In the meantime, he premiered his new Web site (a sort of Kanye-esque approach to having a pop culture blog) and remains hard at work on his new album Graffiti, which is due some time next year.
