Tag Archives: buried-beneath

‘Glee’ Guest Darren Criss Hits #1 With ‘Teenage Dream’

Posted on November 19, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Comments Off

Katy Perry loves rendition, the first ‘Glee’ single to top digital sales chart. By Amy Wilkinson Don’t pinch yourself, because this isn’t a dream: With 214,000 tracks sold, “Glee” guest star Darren Criss has scored a #1 hit with his rendition of Katy Perry’s “Teenage Dream,” which debuted at the top of the digital sales chart this week — the first “Glee” single to do so, according to a joint statement from Fox and Columbia Records. The tune debuted during “Glee’s” November 9 episode, “Never Been Kissed,” in which Criss made his first appearance as an openly gay teen from rival glee club the Dalton Academy Warblers. Criss is accompanied on the track by the Tufts University Beelzebubs, who also did the arrangement. Criss is humble about the track’s success, giving credit to great collaborators and good timing. “There’s a couple of things that stack up in my favor, preceding any shenanigans I may or may not be adding to it,” Criss told MTV News. “First of all, it’s a great song … between Dr. Luke, Ben Levin, Bonnie McKee, Max Martin, Katy Perry — those are all pretty strong pop writers. A lot of props go to the Beelzebubs from Tufts University, who arranged the killer arrangement. And the song was attached to a new character that a lot of people had a lot of speculation about. I’m just the lucky guy that got to be sprinkled on top.” Perry, however, couldn’t sing Criss’ praise more loudly, telling Access Hollywood , “He’s amazing! I love when any of my songs are remixed or interpreted differently. I just I love that. I really welcome a creative mind to anything.” The singer had previously tweeted, “Oh…My…Gosh… this just brought a sweet tear to my eye! Teenage Dream on GLEE makes my heart go WEEEEE!” Criss said the feeling is mutual. “She’s been really sweet. Katy makes my heart ‘go weeeee.’ It’s a great tune. I really lucked out that I got to sing that song. I mean, you’ve gotta sing what they give you.” Do you like Criss’ version of “Teenage Dream”? Tell us in the comments below! Related Artists Katy Perry

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‘Glee’ Guest Darren Criss Hits #1 With ‘Teenage Dream’

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Posted in Celebrities, Gossip, Hollywood, Music

Tagged beelzebubs, bennyhollywood, buried-beneath, daily, live, Music, spirituality, teenage-dream, warblers-criss, wilkinson, world

John Forte To Chart His Spectacular Rise And Fall In Memoir

Posted on November 19, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Comments Off

Onetime Fugees producer/MC tells MixtapeDaily book will ‘revisit what it was like to be on top of the world and [then] buried beneath the world.’ By Jayson Rodriguez John Forte Photo: MTV News Cornerstone Credentials: John Forte No disrespect to Jay-Z or Trick Daddy, but if there’s a rapper who really needs to put pen to pad to write a book about his life, it’s John Forte. In the years leading up to his music industry success, the former Fugees affiliate lived a charmed life, overcoming an impoverished childhood and going on to enjoy the privilege and opportunities that came with an elite private school education. That all came to a crashing halt, however, when in 2000 he was arrested at an airport after authorities discovered he was carrying $1.4 million worth of cocaine in a briefcase. He began serving a 14-year sentence in 2001, but the term was commuted when outgoing President George W. Bush pardoned him in 2008. Now Forte plans to open up about the dark period in his life. “It’s a pretty uncomfortable thing for me to do,” Forte recently told Mixtape Daily about his forthcoming book, to be published by Simon & Schuster. “In order for me to tell this story the right way and to do it justice, I have to relive this moment. Yes, it’s cathartic, but also to have this discipline to sit still and to revisit what it was like to be on top of the world and be buried beneath the world.” Since being released from prison, Forte has mostly set music aside. While he’s still working on material, he decided he had to learn how to exist as a free man before returning to the scene that once made him, as he put it, a “vampire.” “I think there was an expectation for me to come home and for me to cash in on the credibility factor,” Forte explained. “I was real. I was thorough. I did this. That wasn’t impressive to me. I went on a journey. I felt like I went all around the world, even though I was sitting still. I got to a pretty comfortable place in my headspace and my spirituality — that was still removed from society. So I had to come home and make sure I was still in tune with what was happening here.” For other artists featured in Mixtape Daily, check out Mixtape Daily Headlines . Related Artists John Forte