Column will focus on art and fashion. By Jocelyn Vena Lady Gaga Photo: Kevin Mazur/ WireImage Pop star, entrepreneur, philanthropist: Is there anything Lady Gaga doesn’t find the time to do? Well, it seems that she’s made room in her schedule to add a new job to her ever-growing r
Britney insiders Claude Kelly and Sabi talk about working on the pop star’s brand-new record. By Jocelyn Vena Britney Spears’ Femme Fatale Photo: Jive Britney Spears teamed up with Dr. Luke and Max Martin to make an edgy, dark club album, and the result is Femme Fatale, which features genre-busting pop songs about love, sex and the big, fat bass . But in addition to that pop dream team, Spears also hooked up with a wide array of collaborators (Travis Barker, will.i.am, Sabi), songwriters (Claude Kelly, Bonnie McKee, Ester Dean) and producers (Bloodshy, Benny Blanco, Rodney Jerkins), who helped create the sonically bombastic pop record that dropped on Tuesday (March 29). MTV News caught up with songwriter Kelly and newbie pop singer Sabi, and got the inside scoop on the making of Femme Fatale. “Here’s what people don’t realize and here’s what I’ve noticed: She’s very, very much in control of what she records, how she sounds, how she portrays herself on the record,” Kelly, who wrote “Gasoline,” said of Britney’s process. “There’s no grand master puppeteering — that’s kind of a myth. She knows what she’s going to cut. She’s not going to sing anything she doesn’t want to and she has this amazing ability when she gets behind the mic. It’s like eye of the tiger.” Kelly went on to say that when Spears hits the studio to record an album, she knows what fans want to hear from her. “Her rhythm is spot-on. You tell her, ‘This part needs to be sexy,’ and she’s like, ‘I got it already,’ ” he explained. “It’s that rare ability that only really true artists have to get into character and to sell a theme and that’s what she’s good at. … I think because she’s been out for so long, people forget the evolution of her career. When you’re in the studio with her, you quickly get reminded about how versatile she is and how clever she is. She’s a show-woman.” Although Sabi, who appears on the track “(Drop Dead) Beautiful,” didn’t hit the studio with Brit, she felt the star’s presence when she was dropping her verse. “She recorded it already and then I went in. … I rapped on it and I’m a singer. I rap when I feel the mood is right, so it all worked out. When I’m inspired to rap, I rap, but I’m a singer,” she explained. “Me and [producer] Benny Blanco, we were just sitting there throwing ideas back and forth.” Two other collabos made the album’s final cut, but Sabi’s the only other femme fatale on the record. “To be the only female on Britney’s album, just in general, this whole thing is just bananas. I feel very lucky to be this person in this position right now,” she said. “It is crazy. She does not do features that often and I think maybe it hasn’t sunken in yet. It’s a wonderful opportunity and maybe when it starts circulating, it’ll sink in what’s really going on. But right now, I don’t know where I’m at but it feels good. When this song hits radio, it’s going to be surreal.” What do you think of Femme Fatale ? Tell us in the comments! Related Videos Britney Spears Drops Her Femme Fatale Album! Exclusive Preview Clips Of ‘Britney Spears: I Am The Femme Fatale’ Related Photos Britney Spears Brings Down The House In Las Vegas Britney Spears Performs During ‘Good Morning America’
Britney insiders Claude Kelly and Sabi talk about working on the pop star’s brand-new record. By Jocelyn Vena Britney Spears’ Femme Fatale Photo: Jive Britney Spears teamed up with Dr. Luke and Max Martin to make an edgy, dark club album, and the result is Femme Fatale, which features genre-busting pop songs about love, sex and the big, fat bass . But in addition to that pop dream team, Spears also hooked up with a wide array of collaborators (Travis Barker, will.i.am, Sabi), songwriters (Claude Kelly, Bonnie McKee, Ester Dean) and producers (Bloodshy, Benny Blanco, Rodney Jerkins), who helped create the sonically bombastic pop record that dropped on Tuesday (March 29). MTV News caught up with songwriter Kelly and newbie pop singer Sabi, and got the inside scoop on the making of Femme Fatale. “Here’s what people don’t realize and here’s what I’ve noticed: She’s very, very much in control of what she records, how she sounds, how she portrays herself on the record,” Kelly, who wrote “Gasoline,” said of Britney’s process. “There’s no grand master puppeteering — that’s kind of a myth. She knows what she’s going to cut. She’s not going to sing anything she doesn’t want to and she has this amazing ability when she gets behind the mic. It’s like eye of the tiger.” Kelly went on to say that when Spears hits the studio to record an album, she knows what fans want to hear from her. “Her rhythm is spot-on. You tell her, ‘This part needs to be sexy,’ and she’s like, ‘I got it already,’ ” he explained. “It’s that rare ability that only really true artists have to get into character and to sell a theme and that’s what she’s good at. … I think because she’s been out for so long, people forget the evolution of her career. When you’re in the studio with her, you quickly get reminded about how versatile she is and how clever she is. She’s a show-woman.” Although Sabi, who appears on the track “(Drop Dead) Beautiful,” didn’t hit the studio with Brit, she felt the star’s presence when she was dropping her verse. “She recorded it already and then I went in. … I rapped on it and I’m a singer. I rap when I feel the mood is right, so it all worked out. When I’m inspired to rap, I rap, but I’m a singer,” she explained. “Me and [producer] Benny Blanco, we were just sitting there throwing ideas back and forth.” Two other collabos made the album’s final cut, but Sabi’s the only other femme fatale on the record. “To be the only female on Britney’s album, just in general, this whole thing is just bananas. I feel very lucky to be this person in this position right now,” she said. “It is crazy. She does not do features that often and I think maybe it hasn’t sunken in yet. It’s a wonderful opportunity and maybe when it starts circulating, it’ll sink in what’s really going on. But right now, I don’t know where I’m at but it feels good. When this song hits radio, it’s going to be surreal.” What do you think of Femme Fatale ? Tell us in the comments! Related Videos Britney Spears Drops Her Femme Fatale Album! Exclusive Preview Clips Of ‘Britney Spears: I Am The Femme Fatale’ Related Photos Britney Spears Brings Down The House In Las Vegas Britney Spears Performs During ‘Good Morning America’
The new preview gives us a few clues about Jack’s journey to the Fountain of Youth. By Eric Ditzian Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow Photo: Disney We’ve just crossed the two-month mark; there’s now a mere 59 days until “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides” shoves off and into theaters. What’s more, there’s now a brand-new trailer for Johnny Depp’s seafaring 3-D adventure flick, giving us important pieces of plot info and raising all new questions about what we’re going to see when the movie debuts. As we continue to count down the days until that premiere, let’s take a look at the new trailer’s five key moments. Looks Like They Took a Wrong Turn We’ve already seen a variation of this scene — Depp’s Captain Jack Sparrow walking under some kind of stone archway on an island — but in the new trailer, we see the camera push forward a little, giving us a peek at what’s on the other side: a ship perched on a cliff high above the water line. How’d it get there? Well, as we see throughout the new footage, the laws of physics get twisted in all sorts of funky ways. Just as compelling a question as what the ship is doing up there is: Whose ship is it? Speaking of ships, the Black Pearl is back in the mix, though this time it seems to be in the hands of nefarious Blackbeard (Ian McShane). And as Captain Barbossa explains, Blackbeard has made some unconventional improvements to the craft. “The rigging had come to life. Our own ship turned against us,” he tells Jack as we see shots of ropes whipping around like tentacles and plucking up pirates. What sort of dark magic does Blackbeard wield? A confusing one, no doubt, because after Sparrow gets caught up in the ship’s new powers, he blurts out, “Captain, I wish to report a mutiny. I can name fingers and point names!” We’ve seen plenty of mermaids floating through previous “Pirates” footage, but the new trailer gives us the most information yet about how these creatures fit into the storyline. Turns out, a mermaid is needed to locate the fountain of youth — that mythical place everyone in “On Stranger Tides” is trying to find. That explains why, as in earlier footage, we see a shot of a mermaid trapped in a seriously large fish tank. Captivity, however, can kill a mermaid. Given that under his tattoos and dreadlocks, Sparrow is a very moral guy, we suspect Jack might go from capturing a mermaid to setting one free. From the very first official “On Stranger Tides” photos , we’ve seen Jack being dragged into Old Royal Naval College by King George II’s guards and offered the job of finding the fountain of youth. But the captain isn’t one take to orders. How does he slip away from King George’s men? A clue seems to arrive in the form of Jack wearing a musty old wig and a bright red robe, just like a British judge: nothing like a clever disguise to help a pirate escape. As we mentioned, Jack’s quest for the fountain brings him into contact with lands in which the laws of physics don’t entirely apply. Early in the new trailer, for instance, a drop of water seems to fall upwards, hitting Jack’s hands as it goes. Here we see our hero in a sort of cave that has a roof of water. How exactly does something like happen? And, furthermore, how is he pulled up into the water as if by reverse gravity? We likely won’t get the full answer until the movie arrives on May 20. Check out everything we’ve got on ” Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.” For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com . Related Photos Top Five Scenes In The New ‘Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides’ Trailer
‘When it comes out, the fans will be happy … it’ll be good times,’ Claude Kelly says. By Jocelyn Vena Kelly Clarkson Photo: George Pimentel/WireImage While fans may have to wait until September to hear Kelly Clarkson ‘s new album , songwriter Claude Kelly is revealing some details about what fans will hear once the album drops. He recently worked on the album with Clarkson, and while he’s not completely sure which tracks will make the final cut, he said that Clarkson will be back bigger and better than ever. “I’m not surprised ’cause the music industry is full of unexpected things,” he said of the delay. “I will say that I’d be willing to bet that the reason it was pushed back was not for anything as horrible or earth-shattering as people think — it’s probably [just] a better setup.” Describing the current pop scene as “congested,” Claude Kelly thinks that a slightly delayed release will work in Clarkson’s favor. “They want to make sure that the arena is clean for Kelly Clarkson’s return, ’cause when she comes back, she always comes back pretty big,” he said. “They want to make sure when her first single comes out, there’s nothing out there that’s competing with it. I don’t know for sure, but Kelly always does it big, so when it comes out, the fans will be happy and she’ll sing her butt off and it’ll be good times.” Kelly and Clarkson have been working on some fun up-tempo tracks for the album. “The songs I did write for her were in true Kelly Clarkson form, singer records that showcase her voice, but also show her edge and her attitude and her personality,” he explained. “[It’s] always up-tempo for me when it comes to Kelly. I like to hear her in kick-butt mode. She has an edge to her voice that you want to hear her sing high and get in your face.” Over the weekend, Clarkson debuted a ballad titled “Why Don’t You Try” at Muhammad Ali’s 17th Annual Celebrity Fight Night in Arizona and it definitely displayed big voice. The track is a cover of songwriter Eric Hutchinson’s 2009 tune. Related Artists Kelly Clarkson
‘When it comes out, the fans will be happy … it’ll be good times,’ Claude Kelly says. By Jocelyn Vena Kelly Clarkson Photo: George Pimentel/WireImage While fans may have to wait until September to hear Kelly Clarkson ‘s new album , songwriter Claude Kelly is revealing some details about what fans will hear once the album drops. He recently worked on the album with Clarkson, and while he’s not completely sure which tracks will make the final cut, he said that Clarkson will be back bigger and better than ever. “I’m not surprised ’cause the music industry is full of unexpected things,” he said of the delay. “I will say that I’d be willing to bet that the reason it was pushed back was not for anything as horrible or earth-shattering as people think — it’s probably [just] a better setup.” Describing the current pop scene as “congested,” Claude Kelly thinks that a slightly delayed release will work in Clarkson’s favor. “They want to make sure that the arena is clean for Kelly Clarkson’s return, ’cause when she comes back, she always comes back pretty big,” he said. “They want to make sure when her first single comes out, there’s nothing out there that’s competing with it. I don’t know for sure, but Kelly always does it big, so when it comes out, the fans will be happy and she’ll sing her butt off and it’ll be good times.” Kelly and Clarkson have been working on some fun up-tempo tracks for the album. “The songs I did write for her were in true Kelly Clarkson form, singer records that showcase her voice, but also show her edge and her attitude and her personality,” he explained. “[It’s] always up-tempo for me when it comes to Kelly. I like to hear her in kick-butt mode. She has an edge to her voice that you want to hear her sing high and get in your face.” Over the weekend, Clarkson debuted a ballad titled “Why Don’t You Try” at Muhammad Ali’s 17th Annual Celebrity Fight Night in Arizona and it definitely displayed big voice. The track is a cover of songwriter Eric Hutchinson’s 2009 tune. Related Artists Kelly Clarkson
‘You got to be chic at all times,’ producer Claude Kelly says of session for ‘Love Is Your Color.’ By Jocelyn Vena NEW YORK — “Sex And The City 2” comes out on Friday, but the film’s soundtrack album is available today (May 25). The album features everyone from the female cast of the flick singing the Helen Reddy female-empowerment tune “I Am Woman” to Alicia Keys covering the Blondie classic “Rapture,” and the one and only Liza Minnelli doing Beyonc
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