This morning, "Good Morning America" devoted a full 30 minutes of the program to Rihanna, where she spoke briefly and performed three songs: "Wait Your Turn (Tha Wait is Ova)," "Russian Roulette" and "Umbrella." It's incredible to think that only four years ago, she was an unknown singer who first grabbed attention with "Pon De Replay," an infectious island-inflected dance tune that introduced her unique point of view and approach to pop music.

Though Rihanna hadn't yet adopted her very particular style (which was best on display in videos like "Disturbia"), she was still a confident artist who sent herself head-first into her music. "It's just imagination, being creative; that's what my music is composed with," she said in her first interview with MTV News. "Being creative and thinking of situations, whether situations I went through or situations I've observed people going through."

Since she hadn't even cut the video for "Pon De Replay" yet (and was years away from delivering definitive performances on the 2007 and 2008 MTV Video Music Awards), her vision of the future was simple. "I can't tell you where I'll see myself in five years, but I can tell you I will work my best to be the most successful artist that I can be," she told MTV News.

Four years, three albums, a bunch of top-shelf collaborations and one massive, chart-topping single later, Rihanna has blossomed into one of the most forward-thinking artists in the hip-hop and R&B world. Take a look at her first interview with MTV News below, where it's clear that she may be young, but she wasn't naive.

Look, we all know what you're doing this weekend. You're not preparing for Thanksgiving, raking the last of your leaves before the snow arrives or indulging in this year's batch of Beaujolais Nouveau. Rather, you're going to be at your local cinema watching Taylor Lautner's perfectly-sculpted abdominal muscles in "The Twilight Saga: New Moon." And we can't blame you — it's a heck of a roller coaster ride through teenage angst and vampire mythology. But in between screenings (because you're obviously seeing it more than once), you should catch up on everything you missed this week here on the Newsroom blog.

» Last weekend saw a couple of cool-looking flash mobs in honor of Janet Jackson's Number Ones, and we had a first-person account from one of the dancers. (Be sure to catch Janet this Sunday on the American Music Awards, where she'll open the show.)

» MTV mourned the passing of comedian, TV producer and "Remote Control" host Ken Ober with classic clips and testimonials from friends.

» Rihanna premiered the hotly-anticipated video for "Russian Roulette," which really made us think about the head wound Balthazar Getty received in a David Lynch movie.

» Are you a hardcore fan of Adam Lambert, Kris Allen or Allison Iraheta? Make sure you enter our photo contest, with the winner receiving an autographed copy of the new issue of Elle magazine, which features all three!

» There was no shortage of other "American Idol" news this week. For example, we now know why Kris Allen changed his Twitter name.
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Rihanna's new video for "Russian Roulette" is an incredible cinematic affair, full of striking images and a narrative that may or may not hold together or even exist. It cuts between Rihanna being monitored in a padded cell, then shifts to the singer sitting across a table from an anonymous man and contemplating the gun between them. Then there are flashes of tigers and Rihanna ends up in the desert, where she is buzzed by a car. Finally, she ends up underwater, shot in the chest and bleeding (theoretically to her doom). There certainly seems like there is a story in there, but it's unclear and pretty dense.

In that sense, it's a lot like a David Lynch film. In fact, there are so many similarities between Rihanna's "Russian Roulette" and Lynch's 1997 film "Lost Highway" that it seems like it must be a direct homage. "Lost Highway" is a difficult film to describe, but here's a brief synopsis: It's a fever dream of a movie wherein Bill Pullman kills his wife, then goes to jail and morphs into Balthazar Getty, who gets out of jail and gets involved with a gangster's girlfriend. Along the way, the two characters run up against a porn director, a violent mob boss and a guy with no eyebrows who may or may not be the devil himself. It's a difficult film, and one of Lynch's most underrated.

There are a number of parallels between "Lost Highway" and "Russian Roulette." In both pieces, the protagonists both seem to be projecting themselves out of prison into alternate lives that are theoretically free but no less dangerous. They both have scenes that feature cars nearly running over characters in the desert. Even the figure watching over Rihanna in her cell somewhat resembles the evil Mystery Man in "Lost Highway." There's also the scene below, which shows both Patricia Arquette and Rihanna standing mysteriously next to dark cars.

Whether it's intentional or not, Rihanna is not the first artist to indulge in film homages. In fact, Beyoncé and Lady Gaga's new clip "Video Phone" borrows the opening scene from Quentin Tarantino's "Reservoir Dogs." Kanye West also dipped into his DVD collection for his video for "Stronger," which uses images from the anime classic "Akira." And of course Faith No More essentially recreated all of Alfred Hitchcock's "Vertigo" for the video for "Last Cup of Sorrow."

Click here for a complete look at the space where film and music video cross over!

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.

There might have been other cultural events happening last night, but as far as the pop universe is concerned, the only real event last night (and all week, really) was the premiere of "New Moon," the hotly-anticipated second entry in the "Twilight" film series. The film had its big red carpet event last night (check out last night's live blog over at Hollywood Crush for all the sordid details) that again brought together the series' hot trio of Taylor Lautner, Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson. The premiere was also attended by co-stars Dakota Fanning, Nikki Reed, Kellan Lutz and Ashley Greene, as well as 50 Cent, Death Cab for Cutie frontman Chris Walla, Emma Roberts, OK Go, film director Kevin Smith and, of course, hundreds of fans who gathered outside the Mann Village Theater in Los Angeles.

There were other lower-profile events happening yesterday too, as Rihanna celebrated the release of her new album Rated R at a London club and Justin Bieber hung out in Queens on the eve of his album's release. Click here for these photos as well as the entire "Spotted!" archive, which features over 350 candid shots of stars like Britney Spears, Madonna, Adam Lambert, Justin Timberlake, 50 Cent, Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, the Jonas Brothers and Shakira!

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.

Has anybody promoted his debut album better than Justin Bieber? The precocious 15-year-old posted some footage of him singing on the Internet, inspired a bidding war between Justin Timberlake and Usher (the latter won), amassed a ton of Twitter followers and Facebook friends, dropped a series of catchy singles (including the latest one, "Favorite Girl") and appeared on just about every television show available to musicians. Bieber's debut album My World hits the streets tomorrow, and Bieber kept up his push up on Sunday (November 15) with an appearance on "Good Morning America." He performed his first single "One Time" live on the show, and then when the cameras stopped rolling he sang a pair of Ne-Yo songs: "Because of You" and the new "Never Knew I Needed" (which is from the upcoming Disney animated film "The Princess and the Frog"). He won over yet another crowd (both live in the studio and on television), which bodes well for the debut of Bieber's album.

Bieber wasn't the only star who put in some work over the weekend, as Rihanna showed up in London to prepare for a big concert event and Janet Jackson appeared in Los Angeles to check out one of the flash mobs paying tribute to her. Click here for these photos plus the entire "Spotted!" archive, which includes over 350 candid shots of stars like Britney Spears, Beyoncé, Lady Gaga, Jay-Z, Justin Timberlake, Adam Lambert, Katy Perry, the Jonas Brothers and Madonna!

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!

Though it may seem glamorous to the people in the crowd, the life of a musician on tour is generally exhausting and taxing. Sure, there's travel to exotic places, but the star usually only gets to see the inside of a hotel room and the backstage area of a venue. Most of life on the road involves simply getting from one place to another, with the comforts of home completely absent. That's why tour riders have to be so incredibly specific: If you don't ask a promoter at a venue for something ahead of time, you almost certainly won't have access to it. When read out, they're typically sort of silly, and usually contain some ultra-specific things that reveal something about the artist in question (though in the case of Van Halen — who notoriously demanded that all of the brown M&Ms be removed from their candy bowls — the details were slipped in there just to make sure everybody was reading the thing).

Rihanna's rider, which found its way online via the Smoking Gun, contains a handful of charming notes. In addition to the normal supplies needed by most singers (hot tea, honey, boxes of Throat Coat tea), her food demands include two dozen hot wings in addition to a whole roasted chicken with jerk spices. The rider also requests boxes of Frosted Flakes and Golden Grahams, a particular flavor of Cheetos and blueberry-scented candles.

Even more interesting are the strange turns of phrase contained in the rider. In the section dealing with drinks, it asks for "6 small bottles of flip top cap/ sports cap style bottles of water to be given to Beth ... She will use these for her own purposes," which sounds sort of ominous. And an all-caps note at the bottom of a page reads "we may ask for hard boiled eggs, turkey bacon and turkey sausage at any time throughout the day." So when you're on tour with Rihanna, a healthy breakfast could strike at any time.

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.

The press push continues for Rihanna, who is coming off her big interview with Diane Sawyer last week and currently making the rounds in New York. She stopped by "It's On with Alexa Chung" on Monday (with the entire half-hour show devoted to her) and she also sat down with Sway to talk about her big collaborations, how she feels about Chris Brown and some stories behind her upcoming album Rated R (which stands for "Rihanna," not "Restricted"). Yesterday, she was spotted on the street outside the Gramercy Park Hotel, looking cool and fashion-forward as always (that is an excellent hat). She has managed to keep her name in the news, as she's got a racy new single cover and a video for "Russian Roulette" that is set to premiere this Friday.

Rihanna wasn't the only star on the move yesterday, as Shakira was caught leaving the MTV building (shortly after her conversation with MTV News' Jim Cantiello, which will be rolling out soon) and Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson were seen getting off a plane holding hands, further fueling speculation about their relationship. Click here for these photos as well as the entire "Spotted!" archive, which features over 350 candid shots of stars like Britney Spears, Madonna, Beyoncé, Justin Timberlake, Adam Lambert, the Jonas Brothers, Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, Jay-Z and Mariah Carey!

In her brief but already prolific career, Rihanna has collaborated with some of the biggest stars in the business, including Justin Timberlake (on "Rehab"), T.I. (the buoyant "Live Your Life") and Ne-Yo ("Hate That I Love You"). But her two biggest tag-team efforts have been with legendary rapper Jay-Z. The first time they crossed paths was in 2007 with "Umbrella," which was just voted the best song of the decade in a recent poll. More recently, she provided the hook for "Run This Town," Jigga's big comeback single and video that also featured Kanye West. Despite the star power in the room, Rihanna said that creating that incredible jam was nothing but fun.

"They're like my brothers," Rihanna told MTV News' Sway during their interview yesterday. "Especially Jay-Z. We're really close." The singer also told Sway that "working with him was effortless but really enjoyable, and every time we perform the song it's fun." She most recently enjoyed herself this past weekend, when she joined Jay-Z on stage in Los Angeles for a performance of "Run This Town."

But what about Rihanna's other brother, the somewhat reclusive Kanye West? "I actually haven't seen him in a while," she admitted. "But last time I saw him, he was good."

For more from Rihanna, including her thoughts on the aftermath of her interview with Diane Sawyer on last week's "20/20," the concept behind her new album Rated R and her touring plans for the coming year, check out the entire "Extended Play: Rihanna" now.