Usher's <i>Looking 4 Myself</i> Represents An 'Evolution' |
- Usher's <i>Looking 4 Myself</i> Represents An 'Evolution'
- Lady Gaga Suffers Concussion During Concert, Responds To Madonna?
- Madonna Accidentally Flashes Breast At Audience In Istanbul
- 'Prometheus': Secrets Behind The Surgery Scene
- Miranda Cosgrove Recalls Her Favorite 'iCarly' Episodes
- D'Angelo Joins Questlove For Historic Superjam At Bonnaroo
- Red Hot Chili Peppers Heat Up Bonnaroo's Saturday Night
- 'Mad Men' Season-Five Finale: A Year In Review
- 'True Blood' Season Five: Burning Questions
| Usher's <i>Looking 4 Myself</i> Represents An 'Evolution' Posted: 11 Jun 2012 04:04 AM PDT 'The last three years of my life have been extremely experimental in style, lifestyle, in music and in fun,' Usher tells MTV News.
Usher's seventh studio album may be titled Looking 4 Myself, but judging from the sound of his latest effort, he's found what he's looking for. Although the musical landscape has drastically changed over the years, unlike most artists, Usher has consistently evolved with it. He takes some risks with this album, and let's face it: He's earned the right to do just that. Usher has called his latest album's sound "revolutionary pop" and that's exactly what it is. Looking 4 Myself takes his fans on a musical journey that has the singer experimenting with different sounds and working with different producers, but at the same time sticking with what he does best — making infectious music that gets people on their feet and in the clubs. Usher himself admits that this album is unlike anything he's done, and he recently told MTV News that he credits his life experiences as the real inspiration behind this new sound.
"It is an experience that was kind of based off of the places that I've gone and the music that I've listened to, the styles that I've been inspired by and also some of the emotions that I've been able to feel," Usher said. "You know, for me, every album should represent kind of an evolution. The last three years of my life have been extremely experimental in style, lifestyle, in music and in fun. I travel to different places, met and sat with different artists, made a lot of friends, and in doing that I created new music." One can tell that Usher took his time with this album, meticulously picking out each beat and working with producers he's never worked with before. He teamed up with Diplo, who produced the bold, artistic lead single, "Climax," Swedish House Mafia and the late Amy Winehouse's producer, Salaam Remi. Mixing these new producers with veterans like will.i.am, Max Martin and Pharrell, Usher found himself with a sound that mixes retro, electro and R&B. "I think when making this album, it was about what felt good. After I had an understanding of different styles, I began to find the music that I felt comfortable with, even though it was a little bit different," Usher said. "I would find the melody and the emotion in it, most of the time it's a beat, it's a beat on the guitar or the piano, and then the melody finds its way and then the words begin to find a way. A lot of them came from travel so I thought back to where I was, kind of took my mental diary out and began to take myself back to that experience to what I think the people were experiencing or what I felt in that moment." Looking 4 Myself drops Tuesday, June 12. Are you excited for Usher's album? Let us know in the comments. 
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| Lady Gaga Suffers Concussion During Concert, Responds To Madonna? Posted: 11 Jun 2012 05:22 AM PDT Singer smacked in the head with a pole during New Zealand show and appeared to reply to Madonna's dis during a different show.
Maybe Lady Gaga's fans should call her Mother Terminator instead of Mother Monster. The unstoppable pop machine proved her mettle on Sunday night during the third of three shows in New Zealand when she was struck in the head with a pole and just kept on rocking. Videos of the incident posted online show a male backup dancer accidentally hitting Gaga in the head with a metal set piece while trying to take move it off the stage. Gaga, who bent down to pick up a prop machine gun during the performance of "Judas," staggered a bit and rubbed her head before briefly walking off the stage. But, a short time later, she was right back at it, performing 16 more songs before calling it a night. Later in the gig, she told the audience, "I want to apologize. I did hit my head and I think I may have a concussion. But don't you worry, I will finish this show." The singer's make-up artist, Tara Savelo, tweeted about the incident on Sunday, writing, "Gaga has a concussion but she is going to be okay. She wants u to know she loves u. I'm taking care of her. Can't believe she finished the show."
Maybe at the next big awards show she can trade notes with Justin Bieber, who recently suffered a concussion when he walked into a glass wall backstage during an appearance in Paris. There was other news out of her New Zealand swing as well. After Madonna called Gaga out during her tour kick-off in Tel Aviv recently by playing a mash-up of her "Express Yourself" with Gaga's similar-sounding "Born This Way" and then ending the song by chanting, "She's not me," Gaga appeared to respond to the dis. While playing her follicular pride tune "Hair" during a NZ show on Thursday, Gaga sat down at her motorcycle-shaped keyboard and appeared to respond to the incident. "It sometimes makes people feel better about themselves to put other people down or make fun of them or maybe make mockery of their work," she said in a video of the speech posted on YouTube in which she speaks in general terms about knocking down others to make yourself feel better. (Speech starts at 2:30 mark.) "And that doesn't make me feel good at all. That just makes me feel like I'm not being a good human being ... I don't even want to fight back because it's more important to me to keep writing music. Because that's really all I care about, is the music ... things are really different than they were 25 years ago, and that's what makes 'Born this Way' so relevant for me. We're socially in a different place and it's OK, we don't have to all slice and hate each other anymore."
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| Madonna Accidentally Flashes Breast At Audience In Istanbul Posted: 11 Jun 2012 05:38 AM PDT While performing 'Human Nature,' Madonna pulled her bra down and exposed her right nipple.
When paparazzi photographers catch a glimpse of a starlet accidentally showing more skin than she intended it's called a "nip slip." But what do you call it when you purposely pull down your bra to give thousands of fans a peek at your lady bits? Madonna found out on Thursday night when the 53-year-old singer gave fans in Istanbul an eyeful during a performance of "Human Nature." According to a video of the incident posted on YouTube, the singer removed her white dress shirt, then a lacy piece of lingerie before first pulling down the strap of her bra, then thinking better of it and just doing the full monty and pulling her right breast out to the cheers of the audience. She shot her fans a naughty girl "oops" look before threatening to drop trou as well and then turning around to show a huge temporary tattoo on her back reading "No Fear."
It was the latest attempt at outrage on the veteran pop star's MDNA tour. She kicked it off in Tel Aviv, Israel by taking a shot at Lady Gaga by playing a mash-up of her "Express Yourself" with Gaga's similar-sounding "Born This Way" and then ending the song by chanting, "She's not me." Gaga appeared to respond to the dis during her show in New Zealand on Thursday. She also angered the French National Front leader Marine Le Pen during the same show by flashing a photo of Le Pen with a swastika on her forehead, which prompted a threat of legal action from the French politician.
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| 'Prometheus': Secrets Behind The Surgery Scene Posted: 11 Jun 2012 04:04 AM PDT Co-writer Damon Lindelof tells MTV News about genesis of Noomi Rapace's creepy self-surgery sequence.
This story consists almost entirely of "Prometheus" spoilers. You've been warned. True to his legacy of sci-fi-horror, Ridley Scott peppered "Prometheus" with moments that are sure to make you wish you'd kept your helmet on, but none of the film's shocking moments even approach one hair-raiser in particular. The sequence doesn't require much identification beyond "that scene," but in case you've already repressed the memory of it, here's a refresher.
Hours after an intimate encounter with her alien-infected boyfriend, the supposedly infertile Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Rapace) finds out that she is, in fact, three months pregnant with something. Shaw, desperate to get the thing out of her, undergoes an impromptu Cesarean section in a futuristic self-surgery med-pod. Now you remember. We spoke with co-writer Damon Lindelof about the genesis of that sequence and why it works so well at creeping the hell out of everyone. Lindelof was quick to praise the sequence, but he almost as quickly shifted the credit to his co-writer. "The first thing, it's one of my favorite scenes in the movie, certainly on an action level. It's the most frightening and disturbing scene in the movie by far," he said. "The second thing, this was Jon Spaihts' idea." Spaihts wrote the initial draft of "Prometheus," which tied the story closer to the other films in the universe, as apparent in the scene's original version. "In Jon's draft, essentially Shaw gets a facehugger on her and gets implanted with a xenomorph, a traditional chest burster, so she used the med-pod to essentially extract this thing from her chest," Lindelof said. So when he took a crack at the scene, Lindelof decided to relocate the foreign body to Shaw's abdomen. "I thought it was an amazing sequence, but I said, 'I think this scene is going to be even more upsetting and disturbing if it plays into the fertility and sexual aspects of the "Alien" universe,' " he said. "So things were rejiggered so that Holloway eventually impregnates Shaw, who is infertile, with his now enhanced or corrupted, depending on which way you look at it — I won't confirm either here — DNA, so this is literally a fetus. It's a child. The fact that she is pregnant was what I brought to it, and that was my story contribution to that sequence." Then there was the actual performance, for which credit can only be given to Rapace. "Obviously Noomi was on that set for a couple days and the emotional intensity that she brought to what is intentionally an absurd sci-fi scenario — it really feels real and gritty and grounded and horrifying. I think she brought it to life," he said. But even with Lindelof and Spaihts both providing the ingredients for the scene, Lindelof gives most of the credit to Scott. "Ridley, from the choreography of what the med-pod itself is doing — in terms of cutting her open and stapling her shut and removing this thing — what he shot practically versus what he did CGI and the answer is 'very little,' " Lindelof said. "The majority of that scene is practical, minus her stomach actually being opened up with a laser beam and seeing her internal organs. Most of that stuff was done practical, which is very rare these days." For Lindelof, Scott's treatment of the scene harkens back to the most iconic scene from "Alien," in a good way. "Kudos to [Scott]. Even the idea of trying to step up to and/or approach the John Hurt scene from the original film and say, 'I want to do something that is as psychologically upsetting as that. It will be different, but let's not try to repeat myself, but at the same time honor that,' I think that he accomplished that and then some." Check out everything we've got on "Prometheus." For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com.
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| Miranda Cosgrove Recalls Her Favorite 'iCarly' Episodes Posted: 11 Jun 2012 04:04 AM PDT As show celebrates its 100th episode, the star opens up to MTV News about approaching series finale.
Miranda Cosgrove and her "iCarly" pals just turned 100. Well, actually, the show just hit the 100th episode over the weekend. And the episode, titled "iBattle," finds Carly and her crew up to the kind of shenanigans that has kept fans tuning in to the hit Nick show for five seasons. With that milestone behind them and as the series reaches its finale in November, Cosgrove admits she's excited the show was able to make it to that sweet spot.
"We just hit our 100th episode — it was really exciting that we got to do that before the end," she told MTV News, adding that fans have been celebrating the show and its legacy since hearing this fifth season will also be its last. "I've got a ton of messages from Twitter and Facebook and everything, and it's awesome," she continued. "I mean, a lot of people have been watching since they were our age when we started, so they grew up watching it. So I think it's really sweet." With 100 episodes behind them, Cosgrove does have a few that she considers near and dear to her heart. "We've had a lot of fun filming. We did a Halloween episode; we did two Halloween episodes now. But the first one we did was really fun," she said of the 2007 episode "iScream on Halloween." "I was like 13, and I got to wear this crazy bug costume and that was just a fun one. [It was] like when we first started [when we made it] and we were all just really excited and the show had just come out. So I really like that one." Another contender is a 2010 episode that remains at the top of her list. "And I like 'iSaved Your Life' a lot too, when Nathan [Kress'] character, Freddie, saves Carly's." Cosgrove and the rest of the cast will film their last episode this month. When we spoke to her in May, she admitted she didn't know how Carly's story would close out, but she did have an idea of how she'd like it to. "I don't know how it's going to end," she said. "I mean, 'Freaks and Geeks' is one of my favorite series, and I really like the way it ends 'cause it's just like another episode and it's like their [lives are] gonna go on. It's not really the end." Cosgrove, however, does know what's next for her. She'll be hitting the University of Southern California for college. Related Artists
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| D'Angelo Joins Questlove For Historic Superjam At Bonnaroo Posted: 10 Jun 2012 07:51 AM PDT R&B singer hits the stage during early morning hours his first U.S. performance in 12 years.
MANCHESTER, Tennessee — Questlove always has a few tricks up his sleeve, and the Roots drummer saved his one of his biggest stunts in recent history for Saturday night's "Superjam" session at the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival. Just a couple hours after the Roots finished their own set on the festival's main stage, D'Angelo joined Questlove for his first U.S. performance in over a decade. The Superjam session (billed as "?uestlove with very special guests") didn't kick off until well after midnight at "This Tent," and Quest wasn't on the stage for long before he proudly introduced the legendary R&B singer to the crowd, telling them, "I've been waiting 12 years to say this: Ladies and gentleman, D'Angelo!"
After warming up with a few recent shows in Europe, D'Angelo finally made his way to a stage in the states. With the support of a nine-piece band and musical veterans like Roots collaborator James Poyser, D'Angelo joined Quest for over an hour, opening with Jimi Hendrix's "Have You Ever Been (to Electric Ladyland)" and hitting songs like the Beatles' 'She Came in Through the Bathroom Window" and Led Zeppelin's "What is and What Should Never Be." Rumors of an appearance from D'Angelo had been circulating through the music tents in Manchester, Tennessee all day, and when MTV News caught up with Questlove a few hours before the surprise set, he explained, without naming names, what his vision for the night was. 'What I wanted to do was recreate the magic of the songwriting process at the time when I was taking residency in Electric Lady Studios," he explained, referencing Jimi Hendrix's studio facility built in New York's West Village in 1970. "I made that my central location from 1996 'til about 2004, and during that time that's where D'Angelo's Voodoo album as created, Mos Def's Black on Both Sides was created, and even some of Phrenology and The Tipping Point was created," he said. "That was really the central location for our soul querying catalog, so what I've done [for the Superjam] is gathered a cast of characters to show what a night in that period was like." And what exactly what a typical night in Electric Lady Studios like? "Around 3 a.m., we would sit around bored and decide what album to re-do," he reminisced. "So let's say Prince's Under the Cherry Moon album — we would get in the studio and karaoke-style do the album from start to finish. But if at any point we started playing something that sounded good, we kept playing the groove over it, then all the music would go away, the drums would still go ... and it slowly morphed into another song. That was our songwriting process. So tonight, eight musicians of historical significance will be on stage and when we're in that circle, it's just gonna be the eight of us. I'm not even gonna look at the thousands of people watching." The thousands of people who were watching had a hard time believing that D'Angelo was really jamming at the late-night set, and it's safe to say that not one of them was "bored" as Questlove joked they might be. The next time fans will be able to catch D'Angelo live is at the upcoming Essence Music Festival in New Orleans, where he'll likely treat crowds to his own classics. Are you at Bonnaroo? Share your review in the comments below! Related Videos Related Photos Related Artists
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| Red Hot Chili Peppers Heat Up Bonnaroo's Saturday Night Posted: 10 Jun 2012 07:17 AM PDT In their first appearance at the festival, RHCP unleash raucous energy.
MANCHESTER, Tennessee — In a two-hour set that absolutely flew by, the Red Hot Chili Peppers proved Saturday night that they're still the hardest-working band in the business. Their incomparable energy was on full display in their first Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival appearance as they tore through their nearly 30-year catalogue. A little more than two months into a tour schedule that has them performing nonstop through the end of November, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees opened with "Monarchy of Roses," the first track on their most-recent release, I'm With You. "Factory of Faith" and "The Adventures of Rain Dance Maggie" also represented that disc.
Highlights included the RHCP classics "Give It Away," "Suck My Kiss," "Under the Bridge" and their cover of Stevie Wonder's "Higher Ground." As if his bass playing isn't impressive enough, Flea deftly made his way across the stage in a handstand. The bassist clearly caught Bonnaroo fever, gushing, "I feel peace and love and kindness everywhere I walk around here." He praised the weekend's earlier performances from St. Vincent, Dumpstaphunk, Santigold and the Roots, calling Radiohead's Friday night set "so f---ing beautiful." RHCP, who will headline this year's Lollapalooza, also pulled out "If You Have to Ask" from 1991's Blood Sugar Sex Magik and By the Way cut "Throw Away Your Television." On a very warm night that had festivalgoers running through the fountain at 2:30 a.m., Skrillex brought huge smiles to the faces of EDM fans. Also Saturday, metal legend Alice Cooper's show packed That Tent, which earlier in the day hosted a succession of hard rock and punk acts, including Bad Brains, Flogging Molly, Tool frontman Maynard James Keenan's Puscifer and Danzig. Hip-hop also had a strong showing, as the Roots, Das Racist and GZA performing Liquid Swords with Grupo Fantasma all got heads nodding. Childish Gambino projected the lyrics to "You See Me" on the giant screen behind him so his fan boys and girls could sing along. Friday featured Radiohead, Feist, Ludacris, Foster the People, and Mos Def and Talib Kweli as Black Star. The festival wraps up Sunday (June 10) with the Beach Boys, Phish, the Shins, Fun. and Bon Iver. Are you at Bonnaroo? Share your review in the comments below! Related Videos Related Photos Related Artists
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| 'Mad Men' Season-Five Finale: A Year In Review Posted: 10 Jun 2012 08:21 AM PDT MTV News recaps the turbulent events at Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce in the lead-up to tonight's season finale.
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. The fifth season of "Mad Men," which concludes Sunday night (June 10) at 10 p.m. ET on AMC, has seen more than its fair share of ups and downs: There were tremendous triumphs for certain parties but horrific downward spirals for other Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce employees. Whether or not the year was kind to your favorite "Mad Men" character, everyone can agree that season five of the Emmy-winning drama was an eventful one. Indeed, it just might be the very best season yet. In case you've been lagging behind on your "Mad Men" viewing and don't have time to catch up ahead of the big night, here's a handy-dandy cheat sheet on one of the most turbulent years to date in the lives of Don Draper and friends. When Donny Met Megan The season-four finale, "Tomorrowland," ended with Don's shocking proposal to French Canadian secretary Megan. Season five did not balk on the promise of their betrothal, picking up well into the unlikely marriage between the former Dick Whitman and the new Mrs. Draper. But their first year of marriage was not without fits and starts. Despite showing extreme creative promise at SCDP, Megan abandoned the agency to pursue her passion as an actress. Don felt burned by Megan's decision, not to mention his own creative boredom with his job, and often took his frustration out on his wife. But even if their relationship has been rocky, it's not currently on the rocks, certainly not at Don-Betty levels of doom. Whoa, Fat Betty, Bam-Ba-Lam Speaking of Mrs. Francis, Don's ex-wife went through some big changes between seasons four and five as well. Seriously big changes, in fact. Betty returned this season not just with the usual emotional baggage she brings to the table, but physical baggage as well, eating her way through her depression. Though her lithe figure increased by a few sizes this season, Betty's stubborn heart stayed Grinch-sized as she took out her frustrations on rebellious daughter Sally and on Megan, a woman she viewed as her chief rival for Sally's affections. Onwards and Upwards Big changes were afoot for many of the other supporting "Mad Men" characters as well. Roger Sterling's ever-growing roster of ex-wives increased by one following a long night filled with LSD-fueled epiphanies. Ken Cosgrove came out of the closet as a secret science fiction novelist, inspiring "Lost" co-writer Damon Lindelof to pen some truly inspired fan-fiction. Pete Campbell, frustrated at his lack of forward momentum at work and his stagnant suburban life with his wife and baby daughter, embarked on two brief affairs (one with a prostitute, one with his train buddy's wife) that went approximately nowhere. He also made a not-so-valiant attempt at wooing a youth in his driver's ed class, to no avail. (But hey, at least he can drive now!) Meanwhile, Pete's baby mama, Peggy Olson, tired of not moving up in the company despite standing head-and-shoulders above her fellow copywriters, finally threw in the towel and left SCDP for greener pastures; she hasn't been seen since. And lastly, new mother Joan Harris separated from army medic and compulsive jerk Greg, later becoming a full-fledged partner at Sterling Cooper, albeit through sleazy, unorthodox means. Fast Cars, Big Money Those aforementioned unorthodox means refer to SCDP's biggest client to date: Jaguar. The ad agency finally landed a major car company, but not after some major struggles. British gentleman Lane Pryce originally brought the business to the table, but Pete and friends ruined that initial deal through their typical misogynistic hijinks — a blunder that resulted in one of the best fistfights on any television show this year. A second chance at redemption came their way eventually, when Don and his team managed to deliver a winning pitch and secure the account, but only after Joan agreed to sleep with one of the major decisionmakers on the other side of the Jaguar deal. The result: a new partner at Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce, not to mention big money. Playing Hangman Well, not big money for everybody. Lane spent most of season five down and out, owing an impossible amount of money in taxes and facing the very serious risk of having to leave America and return to Britain in shame. When an attempt to pay his way through an early Christmas bonus failed, a desperate Lane forged Don's signature and wrote himself a check with company money. When Don learned of his colleague's duplicitous actions, he forced Lane to resign, giving him a weekend to dream up a graceful reason for his departure. Lane's solution was anything but graceful: The broken Brit attempted suicide not once but twice, succeeding on the second try by hanging himself in his office and leaving behind nothing but a form resignation letter to explain his actions. Only Don knew the true reasons behind Lane's suicide, and his decision to speak out or remain silent is still unresolved. Which brings us to tonight... Are you planning to watch the "Mad Men" finale tonight? Let us know in the comments!
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| 'True Blood' Season Five: Burning Questions Posted: 10 Jun 2012 08:21 AM PDT With the new season about to premiere, we look back at the cliffhangers left up in the air from season four.
Oh "True Blood," how we've missed you and all your nudity, sex and soap opera-esque drama. Not to mention all the vampires, werewolves, werepanthers, shifters, fairies and ghosts. With the premiere of the expectedly fantastical fifth season just hours away, we can't help but wonder just what creator/executive producer Alan Ball has in store for us over the course of the next 12 episodes. Here are a few of our burning questions ahead of the big return to Bon Temps tonight: How Will Eric and Bill Be Punished? How Long Will Sookie Stay Single? How Long Will Eric Stay Angry With Pam? How Much Damage Will Russell Edgington Cause? How Dead Is Tara?
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