Tag: "justin bieber"

• Oh, so that’s why we got rid of segregation.
• If you don’t buy his clothes, Kayne will come to your house and heckle you and say that Beyoncé was robbed.
• Apparently, Björk is trying to give Frankenstein a run for his money with her new album.
• We can already see the endless line of hipsters forming when this documentary hits theaters.
• …but who’d want to kill James Brown? This doesn’t feel good.
• This is shaping up to be the best Christmas album not being released on Christmas.
• Makes total sense that Phish would come running to the sound of water.
• Lady Gaga: inventor. Yeah, we can’t really believe it either.
• We’re calling everyday until you come back, BSS.
• Maybe we’re looking too much into this. Maybe Justin Bieber is hangin’ with his Boyz.

“Take back Vanessa Redgrave
Take back Joe Piscopo
Take back Eddie Murphy
Give ‘em all some place to go”

— Tom Petty, “Jammin’ Me” (1987)

“Fuck Tom Petty!”—Eddie Murphy

Oh, those crazy stars! What will they say next? And will they ever learn? What a tangled web they weave when they start to take pot shots at each other.

Celebrity feuds have existed since before the dawn of the pop charts. Eminem owes much of his early notoriety to cutting down to size the likes of Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, ‘N Sync and Moby in videos and on record. Meanwhile, off the record (though always totally for attribution), Katy Perry has never met a fellow chart-topper she wouldn’t slag off.

But lately, stars keep colliding and disturbing the peace in the music galaxy. Liam Gallagher just filed suit against his brother Noel over the latter’s claim that Liam pulled out of a high-profile Oasis gig in 2009 due to a hangover and over comments Noel made blaming Liam for the demise of the band. But then brothers in arms have engaged in verbal—and occasionally, physical— combat since the heyday of the Kinks, which featured the dueling Davies, Ray and Dave. Chris and Rich Robinson of the Black Crowes, William and Jim Reid of the Jesus and Mary Chain, and Kings of Leon‘s Followill brothers have the battle scars to prove it.

Continue reading ‘Sound And Vision: Celebrity Feuds — Pop Is a Battlefield, World War II’

The MTV Video Music Awards always serve up big surprises and this year was no different.  From Beyoncé’s big news to Lady Gaga’s dragged-up, stand-in, this year’s show didn’t skimp on the stumpers.

Lady Gaga kicked off the show with a monologue from her male alter ego, ‘Jo Calderone’. “She left me! She said it always starts out good and then the guys—meaning me, I’m one of the guys—we get crazy. I did. I got crazy. But she’s f—ing crazy too, right?” The narrative was hard to follow at first, and I’m guessing die-hard Gaga fans figured it out before the rest of us.  Still, she delivered an intense performance of “You And I” with a guest appearance by legendary guitarist, Brian May of Queen. What you didn’t see on television was the tumble Gaga took off her piano towards the end of her performance.  Ever the pro, she moved on before the crowd even noticed her slip up.  Her video for “Born This Way” earned her two awards; Best Female Video and the newly created Best Video with a Message category.

Jay-Z and Kanye West took the stage for an unexpected performance of their Watch The Throne hit, “Otis”.  While it was instantly exciting to see the two onstage together, the performance was not as magical as expected.  The best part of their set was when security bum-rushed a stage-crasher who tried to interrupt the  lackluster performance.

Nicki Minaj was nominated in three categories and  nabbed the Moon man for Best Hip Hop Video for “Super Bass”. She presented the first award of the night to tour mate, Britney Spears for “Til The World Ends” for  Best Pop Video. In her speech, a healthy, happy-looking Spears thanked God, her kids, and ex-agent boyfriend, Jason Traiwick.  Gaga presented Spears with the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award telling the crowd, “I used to hang posters of her on my wall and touch myself when I was laying in bed,” before introducing an awesome montage of Britney’s videos, complete with a legion of dancers donning her most iconic outfits and legendary dance moves.

After accepting her award, Britney introduced Beyoncé, who sang “Love On Top” in a suspiciously body-conscious outfit of black pants and an oversized blazer.  While those of us on the black carpet had already seen the secret bulge at arrivals, she teased the crowd during her intro saying, “I want you to stand up on your feet, I want you to feel the love that’s growing inside of me.” At the end of her set she opened her blazer to reveal a shockingly developed baby bump.  The smile on her face as she rubbed her belly was the highlight of the night, as husband Jay-Z and Kanye West celebrated from the front row. Her video for “Girls (Run The World)” won in the Best Choreography category, but lost to Katy Perry for Video Of The Year.

Perry (who had a whopping ten nominations this year) also took home the Best Collaboration title for “E.T.” with Kanye West. Her husband and past VMA host, Russell Brand, kicked off a touching tribute to Amy Winehouse who died last month at twenty-seven.  He highlighted her amazing voice, which he called “a timeless sound like a roar from the guts of humanity,” telling the crowd, “When a talent like Amy Winehouse comes along, it affects everybody.” He was joined by Tony Bennett, who likened her to prolific jazz singers, Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald before debuting a duet he recently recorded with Amy. Bruno Mars delivered a loving performance of her cover of “Valerie” ending it with a final farewell, singing, “Say Amy, oh Amy/ I love you darling, I love you darling/ Say Amy, whoa Amy, we’ll miss you baby.”

Other stand-out performances came from Chris Brown, who didn’t win a trophy, but wowed the crowd with his stellar dance moves and Adele, who belted out “ Someone Like You” so effortlessly, it’s no wonder she’s every artist’s favorite artist. Odd Future’s Tyler ‘The Creator’ won the coveted Best New Artist award, beating out newbies Kreayshawn, Big Sean and Wiz Khalifa with his hit,  “Yonkers” prompting a profanity-ridden acceptance speech from the Wolfpack front-man.

Lil Wayne closed the show with a bang-literally, when he smashed the guitar he was using at the end of his set.  He started off with an auto-tune assisted rendition of “How To Love” and followed up with a rocked-out version of “John”, set to Black Sabbath’s “Iron Man.”  Weezy dropped the digital version of his highly anticipated Carter IV album following the show, with the physical album in stores yesterday.

I’ll never forget the day Basia lied to me. Twice. I was interviewing the Polish singer (best known for her 1988 hit “Time and Tide”) shortly before the release of her 1994 album, The Sweetest Illusion, which was coming five years after her previous album, London Warsaw New York. That day, she promised me two things: First, she would never again make me wait so long for new music. Second, she’d never release a run-of-the-mill greatest hits album featuring, well, her greatest hits. She felt that at the very least, artists owed it to their fans to reprise their hits as brand-new tunes, not just repackage the same old songs.

Her next studio album, It’s That Girl Again, wouldn’t arrive until 2009, nine years after she had released Clear Horizon—The Best of Basia, one of those run-of-the-mill greatest hits albums featuring, well, her greatest hits.

The morals of this story: 1) You can’t rush inspiration. 2) The first cut isn’t only the deepest—sometimes it’s the best, too. That’s a lesson Mariah Carey may have learned last year when she scrapped plans to release Angels Advocate, a remixed version of her Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel album, after a new version of “Up Out My Face” (Memoirs‘ best song) featuring Nicki Minaj limped onto Billboard’s Hot 100 at No. 100 and refused to go any further.

But apparently, Lady Gaga, the reigning queen of remix albums and EPs, still hasn’t received the memo. When she released Born This Way back in May, she put out a special edition that included a separate disc with remixes of five of the album’s songs. (Bryan Ferry did a similar thing with last year’s Olympia.) Divine inspiration or clever marketing ploy? Perhaps a little of both, but “Born This Way”-with-a-twang never would have spent six weeks at No. 1. The “Country Road Version” makes for an interesting one-time listen, but I never need to hear it again.

Continue reading ‘Sound And Vision: Director’s Cuts — From Lady Gaga to Kate Bush, the Mixed Results of Tampering with Your Own Songs’

We all have that one band, singer or musician that we can’t get enough of. We can’t stop listening to their music, buying up all their merch and gushing about how cool they are. But how much artist love is too much? For some people, being a fan is akin to obsession. These crazed individuals take supporting their favorite acts to a new level, devoting all their time and energy to knowing every detail behind the band, and doing virtually ANYTHING to get themselves closer. Such fans can be incredibly scary, and can make a simple performance challenging, for even the most experienced pop star.

A little over a week ago at a concert in Brazil, Avril Lavigne was onstage, about to start a cover of Coldplay‘s “Fix You”, when a crazed fan ran at her. Avril, atop a piano at the time, let out a shriek as a fan approached her, but before anything could happen, the fan was picked up and taken offstage by security. Avril, a little taken aback, took a second to collect herself, but laughed it off, saying “Its all good”, and resumed the show.

Miley Cyrus had an equally close encounter at a concert over a month ago, but didn’t take it quite as lightly. She had just finished her last song of the night, “The Climb”, and was taking a bow, when a girl who looked to be in her early teens, ran up behind her and attempted to give the pop star a hug. Seconds later, security guards rushed after her, prying her off Miley, pinning her to the ground, and then shoving her off the stage. The only words Miley uttered before being ushered offstage in a panic, were “Oh My God”.

Are Miley and Avril’s security measures over-the-top, or are these fans actually serious threats to the stars? It becomes hard to distinguish between a harmless starstruck fan and a fan who is dangerous when you look back in history at some of the obsessed fans who turned deadly. John Lennon, for example, was shot dead by obsessed fan Mark Chapman. Many stars have had fans break into their homes and have therefore taken out restraining orders and even used weapons for self-defense. Madonna‘s bodyguard shot and wounded fan-turned-stalker Robert Hoskins after he threatened her life. All that said, we don’t blame Miley and Avril for their “better safe than sorry” perspective.

Paris Hilton.

Kim Kardashian.

Heidi Montag.

Julianne Hough.

In a world where making a record is as easy as starring on reality TV, and even easier when you have your own show, Rebecca Black was bound to happen.

Don’t worry. Black, the fourteen-year-old from Anaheim, California, who made us wonder if she was making fun of shallow pop stars or being one herself in her viral YouTube video “Friday,” hasn’t gotten her own reality show. Yet. But isn’t it only just a matter of time?

What she does have is a level of fame—or infamy, depending on how you want to look at it—without having any discernible singing talent. Before it was yanked from YouTube in June over a dispute between Black and her former record label, Ark Music Factory, her “Friday” video had logged some 161 million views. Black became an Internet favorite, with article after online article devoted to her and her music—well, her song. Some people loved her; some people hated her; everyone was talking about her. Everybody’s still talking. Katy Perry even invited Black to costar in her “T.G.I.F. (Last Friday Night)” video.

Teen-pop superstar Justin Bieber started heating up on YouTube at the age of only 12. His sweet voice and adorable image made him so popular that Justin Timberlake and Usher were fighting over him. But since signing to Island Records and upping his status from YouTube sensation to worldwide teen heartthrob, he has undergone many changes. Some were easy, but others required a great deal of work.

Usher, voice coach Jan Smith, and Bieber

Justin Bieber‘s voice was incredibly high at the beginning of his career, typical for a young boy who has not yet reached puberty. Since then, the inevitable happened—his voice deepened. While every kid goes through puberty, few go through it while subjected to such intense scrutiny. Since he rose to fame, people have speculated that Bieber’s musical career would end when his voice dropped. And after his noticeable voice-crack during his performance of “Pray” at the American Music Awards in November, it seemed that they may have a point. Instead of letting that performance bring him down, Bieber used it as a learning experience and invested in a voice coach to help him strengthen his voice and ensure his continued success.

His weapon of choice: Jan Smith (dubbed ‘Mama Jan’ by Usher, who is also coached by her). Smith has coached stars like Ciara, Rob Thomas and Trey Songz, and her work with Bieber has helped him to learn the difference between singing for fun and singing as a profession. When Bieber was initially discovered, he sang because he loved doing it. But now he has been forced to learn discipline and the necessary steps required to sustain a career based on his voice. This is why a voice coach is so essential for Bieber. He needs someone with experience to guide him in learning vocal technique and to make him practice every day.

Michael Jackson is a great example of a child star who was well disciplined. His voice started out as male soprano and he was able to sustain it with great success as a high tenor after his voice changed. Jackson’s voice coach for most of his career was Seth Riggs, who rehearsed with him for at least two hours a day, six days a week. This kind of training strengthens the voice and allows singers to be at their best despite the fact that they are performing day after day, week after week.

Bieber’s voice has already grown significantly, but it is time for him to mature and take responsibility for keeping his voice strong. He can rely on Jan Smith for help, but it will be ultimately up to him and how seriously he takes his voice training.

Sometimes it’s not what song you sing but to whom you sing it. And if Selena Gomez‘s new hit, “Love You Like a Love Song,” is art imitating her love life, she couldn’t have picked a better object for her affection than boyfriend Justin Bieber. Though the romance occasionally has been hazardous to her health–death threats from too-ardent Bieber fans and a recent mystery illness (she blamed exhaustion, the rumor mill churned out one about a Bieber bun in her oven)–it’s also worked wonders for her career.

A quick recap of the life and times of the rising star: A few years ago, Gomez was just another Disney Channel starlet trying to make good on the pop charts. By this time last year, she was running neck-and-neck with Demi Lovato in a tween-and-teen-pop world ruled by Miley Cyrus. For anyone older than thirteen or fourteen, she was the one who wasn’t dumped by a Jonas Brother.

But love changes everything. Though she’s probably still best known as the girl who won Bieber’s heart, Gomez is now solidly in the running for teen queen. Thanks to her Bieber connection, she’s become a tabloid and celebrity magazine favorite and, with near-perfect timing, she’s at last a true pop star. In the July 23 issue of Billboard magazine, her aforementioned latest single jumped from No. 66 to No. 35 on the Hot 100, and it’s shaping up to be her biggest hit yet. Could nineteen-year-old Gomez have done it without Bieber, seventeen? Possibly. But he’s guilty by association of helping to pave her way to possible multi-platinum status.

Gomez isn’t the only singer reaping the benefits of high-profile love with a younger teen. Australian pop star Delta Goodrem, twenty-six, was virtually unknown in the United States until she began dating Jonas brother Nick, eighteen, in May. Though it’s too soon to tell what effect it will have on her commercial potential in the US, there’s no doubt that millions of Jonas fans who’d never heard of Goodrem back when she was engaged to Brian McFadden, the former member of the UK boyband Westlife who’s now a judge on Australia’s Got Talent (they announced their split on April 1), now know her name and her face.

Muse’s Matthew Bellamy was hardly unknown in the States when he began dating Hollywood star Kate Hudson, previously wed to Chris Robinson of the Black Crowes. But he’ll no doubt have more to celebrate than fatherhood (to Bingham, his and fiancee Hudson’s son, who was born July 9) by the time Muse releases its next album. Bellamy’s increased visibility, courtesy of his significant other, could finally propel his band, which has yet to score a platinum album in the US and has had only one Top 40 single (“Uprising,” No. 37 in 2009), into Coldplay territory.

Ah, Coldplay. Chris Martin needed Gwyneth Paltrow as much as Keith Urban needed Nicole Kidman, or Jay-Z and Beyonce needed each other (professionally, that is), but there’s something about the meeting of two mega-superstars that almost always ends up boosting their careers to even more stratospheric highs (see Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston, and Brad Pitt and, well, Gwyneth Paltrow). That’s what happened with Tim McGraw and Faith Hill, who were both major hitmakers in their own right when they got hitched 1996. Since then, the supercouple have ascended to superstar status in tandem.

Blake Shelton and Miranda Lambert, who began dating in 2006 and married in May, are currently following their lead. She spent the last year winning pretty much every country music award in the business for her third studio album, Revolution. Meanwhile, he landed a new gig as a judge on The Voice, NBC’s new hit star search; his first platinum single, “Honey Bee,” became a No. 1 country and Top 20 pop hit; and his new album, Red River Blue, just became his first to top the Billboard 200 album chart.

Sure they were both doing just fine on their own, but like all successful couples, on and off the clock, they’re even stronger together. May they all continue to prosper on the charts and love happily ever after.

Let’s be honest, the media has been pretty rough on Rebecca Black since her video, “Friday”, went viral in March. Not only was she called the world’s worst singer, but the fourteen-year-old  received death threats and dealt with rumors that she is pregnant. It’s safe to say that Rebecca Black is dealing with quite a bit more than she bargained for when she asked her mom to fund her video project.

And yet all this negative feedback has not shut Rebecca Black up. Interestingly enough, it has done quite the opposite. Yesterday she released a follow-up video, “My Moment”, and plans to release a five-track EP sometime in August. So, why didn’t Rebecca Black go into hiding after all this harassment? Could it be that the perks of being in the spotlight outweigh the negatives? (The fact that this previously unknown girl now gets the opportunity to star in Katy Perry‘s newest music video “Last Friday Night” and make appearances on the red carpet is certainly incredible.) Or, could it be she wants a chance to prove to America that she is more than just a bad joke before she goes down in history as starring in one of the most atrocious music videos ever?

It seems that Rebecca Black wants to follow Justin Bieber‘s path—she is even used one of his collaborators, Brandon “Blue” Hamilton, to co-write her newest single. After all, Bieber was originally a YouTube sensation too, who was taken under the wing of Usher and dragged into the spotlight.  But the difference is that Bieber became famous for his talent at such a young age, not his lack thereof. So, the odds that Rebecca will take off as successfully after her initial blow-up are not as likely.

If people are interested in listening to Rebecca Black’s new single, it will be because they are waiting to find something new to bash her about; hoping she’ll mess up again. So, for Rebecca’s sake, let’s hope she’s developed a thick skin, a good sense of humor and is ready to deal with the aftermath of another potential video flop.

• Arctic Monkeys are too vulgar for America.
• iCloud is coming! Finally!
• When Fish Ride Bicycles should be in the running for best album title ever.
• Adele postpones North American tour dates after being diagnosed with laryngitis. Girlfriend’s been belting it out too loud.
• 1.11 million ain’t nothing to sneeze at.
• But really, is “Country Bieber” a compliment?
• Mass brawls and Killers tribute bands… wait, what?
• All we have to say is, Justin Timberlake better not be off the market for long.