Our newest ‘BFFs’ Melanie Iglesias and April Rose share some girl talk and wings before season two premieres tonight on MTV2. By Rya Backer April Rose and Melanie Iglesias of “Guy Code” Photo: MTV News
MTV’s Rya Backer also has a few chance encounters with ‘exes’ like Kendrick Lamar and Young the Giant at Bonnaroo ’12. By Rya Backer Mac Miller on a “First Date” Photo: Bonnaroo , you seem so far away already. Earlier this month, I caught some amazing performances — Battles, Feist and Ludacris were just some of my favorites. But between sets, I found myself fighting to maintain my composure as I encountered something many men and women face daily: bumping into an ex. Granted, they were rapper and rocker exes of the fictionalized “First Date,” variety, but still: We’d gone on a date. And yes, there were cameras involved and I’m very much in a real-life relationship (which is to say nothing of the statuses of the many artists I’ve gone out with), but still — connections were made. So, on a plot of land somewhere between Nashville and Chattanooga, Tennessee, I ran into upwards of seven “exes.” Over a fairly wide expanse, I had chance run-ins with the likes of Kendrick Lamar , Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. and Young the Giant. And then there was Mac Miller . A perennial fave around the MTV newsroom (and a favorite “First Date” episode among rabid followers of the series such as my mother and father), Mac and I caught up with each other to talk about what he’s been up to since we first went out late last year for a kosher lunch at New York’s Katz’s Deli. “I made history,” he deadpanned, referring to his debut, Blue Slide Park, which became the first independent album to hit #1 in well over a decade. In addition to that small feat, Mac toured the world and dropped an acclaimed mixtape, Macadelic. A follow-up mixtape with Pharrell is on deck, and there’s even more music to be heard. “I’ve been making my own beats, which I’ve done forever but, like, I’m really gonna start taking it seriously now,” Mac told me. “I’ve been making beats forever, but no one had known … I kept it secret.” Hopefully, we won’t have to wait until a third date — which Mac suggested we do at a NASCAR race — to hear them. Who should go on the next “First Date”? Share your suggestions in the comments! Related Videos MTV News First Date Related Artists Mac Miller
Season five kicked off as sexy as ever, but we’ve still got some secrets we’d like to uncover. By Kara Warner Stephen Moyer, Alexander Skarsgard and Lucy Griffiths in “True Blood” Photo: Lacey Terrell/ HBO Just when we were thinking that this summer needed a little more sizzle, HBO’s steamy vampire soap “True Blood” returned with all the nudity, over-the-top sex scenes and drama we’d been missing. Spoilers ahead for those who haven’t yet watched the season five premiere. For those who have, read on as we wrestle with a few new burning questions, along with some unanswered holdovers : How will Eric and Bill Be Punished? If there is anyone within the “True Blood” universe who takes corporal punishment seriously, it’s the Vampire Authority. As such, there is no way that Eric and Bill will escape their uptight, unforgiving clutches without a few flesh wounds. The King and his Sheriff really should face the True Death for their sins against the Authority, but we all know that there is no way HBO would kill off two of the most beloved characters — this isn’t “Game of Thrones.” So the question remains: How will Bill and Eric pay for their crimes? What Big Secret Is Terry Hiding From Arlene? We’ve known about Terry Bellefleur’s PTSD demons for several seasons now, but they haven’t posed a serious problem story-wise until this season. Clearly the arrival and continued presence of Terry’s war buddy Patrick (Scott Foley) is causing serious stress for several reasons, but why? What really happened that night in Iraq? And since this is “True Blood,” what sort of supernatural elements might be in play? When Will Alcide Find Out About Debbie? Those of us who’ve read Charlaine Harris’ books know that the Debbie Pelt murder plotline provided for plenty of drama between Sookie and Alcide, which makes us wonder just how long Alan Ball and company will draw out this particular plot point this season. Yes, Sookie killed someone, but because it was in self-defense, why do she and Lafayette have to be so secretive about it? Alcide knew that Debbie hated Sookie, surely he’ll understand? Regardless, we imagine Alcide will find out right before he and Sookie hookup or profess love to each other or something dramatic. What Happened to Jesus’ Body? Poor Lafayette. The man has been through some serious emotional strife. He finally allows himself to fall in love with a decent man for once, and that man turns out to be a brujo who in turn helps Lafayette uncover a few supernatural abilities of his own, which eventually leads to his death at the hands of Lafayette (who was possessed at the time). All Lafayette wanted to do was bury his dead lover’s body and say goodbye, but now his body is missing? What the heck happened to it? Who would take a dead man’s body and what will they do with it? We’ve already seen Jesus’ ghost once, will we be seeing him later this season fully reanimated in some way, shape or form? How Undead Is Tara? Tara’s not dead! More specifically Tara is now undead, a vampire. The last we saw of her she wanted to drain the life from her BFF Sookie, but we know that won’t happen. Odds are that Tara is not going to be pleased about being turned into a vampire, by Pam of all people, so how is she going to handle that? We don’t see her becoming BFFs with any of the vamps who terrified her before so this plotline could get really ugly really quickly. Maybe she could befriend Jessica? Tara is the most stubborn character on the show, so she’s going to have to be forced into seeking or receiving help, but from whom? What questions did you have after the “True Blood” premiere? Leave your comment below!
New York trio recall seeing jam-band legends at Madison Square Garden. By Rya Backer Photo: MTV News Bonnaroo 2012 came to a close Sunday night with a four-hour (and only four-hour, contrary to rumors circulating the campgrounds that they’d play until 6 a.m.) set by Phish , which featured such crowd favorites as “Sample in a Jar” and “Tweezer.” But before the masses filled the muddy field a final time, we caught up with Fun. for one last go at our trusty Bonnaroo quiz — now with new questions! The New York trio had no problem spelling the name of the festival — a talent that, given the response of the rest of the acts we talked to throughout the weekend, ought to be celebrated. Nor did they see much around the festival that they didn’t take to. Then we asked them to do their best Phish air guitar solo. Members Jack Antonoff and Nate Ruess deflected that question and instead offered a story of a time they saw Phish at New York’s Madison Square Garden several years ago instead. “We don’t smoke pot,” guitarist Antonoff started. “But the Garden, which is a large space, it got so hot-boxed. When we left, we were just like, ‘Ehhhhhhh’ ” — a fancy way of saying they were perhaps feeling the effects of the space’s second-hand smoke. “We stumbled into a bar, and we were like, ‘What should we dooooo?’ ” frontman Ruess added. They finally agreed upon “two things of nachos, three hamburgers.” So it wasn’t exactly the answer we expected, but envisioning some of our favorite rockers destroying some bar food worked just as well. And we can only wonder how they fared after Sunday evening’s performance … Did you experience Bonnaroo 2012? Share your favorite moments in the comments below! Related Videos Bonnaroo 2012 Gets The Party Started Related Photos 2012 Bonnaroo Music And Arts Festival Related Artists fun.
In their first appearance at the festival, RHCP unleash raucous energy. By Mary J. DiMeglio Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Anthony Kiedis Photo: Rya Backer/ MTV News 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 Bonnaroo 2012 Gets The Party Started Related Photos 2012 Bonnaroo Music And Arts Festival Related Artists Alice Cooper The Roots Skrillex Red Hot Chili Peppers
R&B singer hits the stage during early morning hours his first U.S. performance in 12 years. By Nadeska Alexis Questlove and D’Angelo Photo: Rya Backer/ MTV News 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 Bonnaroo 2012 Gets The Party Started Related Photos 2012 Bonnaroo Music And Arts Festival Related Artists D’Angelo The Roots
‘Deathly Hallows, Part 2,’ with six nominations, is up against ‘Twilight’ and ‘Hunger Games’ for Movie of the Year. By Josh Wigler Daniel Radcliffe in “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2” Photo: Warner Bros. “The Boy Who Lived, come to thrive?” That could well be the case at the 2012 MTV Movie Awards . Just as Harry Potter bravely walked through the Forbidden Forest to meet his maker at Voldemort’s hands, so too does Team Potter approach its final chance at Golden Popcorn glory come the June 3 broadcast. “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2,” the eighth and last film in the Warner Bros. fantasy series, has scored six nominations, including nods for Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson, a Best Kiss nomination for Watson and Rupert Grint, and a coveted shot at Movie of the Year. Will this be the year “Potter” finally brings that top award home? With a big target out of the way, it just might be. For years at the Movie Awards, magic has succumbed to bloodsucking in the battle between “Potter” and “Twilight.” But with “Breaking Dawn – Part 1” netting only two nominations this year — one for Movie of the Year, another for Best Kiss — the path is considerably clearer for the boy wizard and his companions to make a run at the six awards for which it’s nominated. With a reduced “Twilight” presence at this year’s show, perhaps the odds are in Harry’s favor, to borrow a phrase from another fan-backed franchise. Then again, besting that franchise — “The Hunger Games,” if you’re one of two people who didn’t catch the reference — could prove trickier than destroying one of He Who Must Not Be Named’s Horcruxes for “Potter” fans. Breaking past $600 million at the global box office, “Hunger Games” brings both commercial and critical firepower to this particular race, leading the Movie Awards nominations with eight. The Jennifer Lawrence-led film managed second place during the MTV Movie Brawl 2012, scoring 1.7 million votes. “Potter” wasn’t eligible for that competition, of course, but it’s no slouch in the tournament department: Last year,
On our First Date, we learn the five-year plan of the actor/rapper also known as Donald Glover. By Rya Backer Childish Gambino Photo: MTV News I never thought I’d seek refuge in Childish Gambino . OK, let me explain. After years of pursuing the multitalented, infinitely hilarious Donald Glover for a First Date, our stars crossed at long last, and we were able to get to know each other at Tribeca’s Ninja restaurant. There, serving up our Japanese food, were men in full ninja regalia, terrifying us at every turn. Whether it was brandishing a dagger as we headed to our table, jumping in front of elevator doors as they opened, throwing down a ninja star on the table before making a dessert or slinging a yellow water balloon (yes, you read right) at us mid-meal, it made for a dining experience that required a companion willing to commiserate in all the scare tactics we came upon. It was a fitting place to go, considering Glover is at the center of a grass-roots fan campaign to star as Donatello in the live-action remake of the “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” movie (no doubt inspired by his own crusade to nab the title role in “The Amazing Spider-Man” ). Midway into the meal, he resolved that he’d make a good Donatello, as he tongue-in-cheekily bragged about his prowess in instilling fear in others. But a role as a hero in a half-shell isn’t the only aspiration on his horizon. When asked where he sees himself in five years, he said, “I hope just successful. Still doing stuff I want to do. I always wanted to just do whatever I wanted whenever I wanted. I never really expected rap to be anything, I don’t know if I’ll still be rapping, but it’d be nice to still be making music on some level.” We can’t wait to see — and hear — how he’ll get there. Do you want to see Donald Glover as a Ninja Turtle? Let us know in the comments! Related Videos MTV News First Date Related Artists Childish Gambino
‘I don’t think either of us could have predicted the success of the song,’ she tells MTV News. By Jocelyn Vena Kimbra Photo: MTV News When Gotye dropped “Somebody That I Used to Know,” neither he nor his collaborator on the sad breakup track, Kimbra , had any idea how the song would resonate with fans. When Kimbra stopped by MTV News last Friday, she told us she never imagined hearing the song on primetime TV shows and seeing it on the charts. The single (off Gotye’s 2011 album, Making Mirrors ) was covered by Matt Bomer and Darren Criss on “Glee,” and contestants on both “The Voice” and “American Idol” pinned their music industry dreams on the track. “I don’t think either of us could have predicted the success of the song,” she said of Gotye (a.k.a. Wally De Backer). “Used to Know” topped several Billboard charts, including the Alternative and Rock Songs lists, and peaked at #2 on the all-important Hot 100. And over the weekend, the duo performed the track on “Saturday Night Live.” “I knew it would resonate with people when I heard it,” Kimbra said. “Wally has a really great way of penetrating an emotion. But, you know … ‘Glee’ and ‘The Voice’ and all of these crazy pieces of exposure … that was really out of our imagination.” What makes the song stand out on pop radio, which is driven these days by dance loops and producers like Dr. Luke and Max Martin, is that it’s a mid-tempo ballad that pays homage to the kinds of songs that acts like Peter Gabriel, Phil Collins and the Police pumped out in the ’80s. “I think it’s a really exciting time for pop music right now, to see such a reflective, kind of vulnerable song shoot to the top of the charts, I think it’s paving the way for some really exciting artists to come through,” Kimbra said. “And I hope to be one of them, in terms of putting out my record here in the States. I think Wally’s doing something that’s really progressive for the pop world anyway.” Kimbra’s album, Vows, will be out in the U.S. on May 22. Related Artists Kimbra Gotye
California rock quintet reflect on their rise to fame, from little league soccer to a sold-out tour. By Rya Backer Rya Backer with Young the Giant Photo: MTV News Spend any time with Young the Giant and you’ll quickly learn that the quintet from Irvine, California, offers more than just rock music. Not to say that their music is something to be brushed off: Their choruses are anthemic, drums stomping, and guitar and bass intricate and commanding. It all results in a sound that music critics would describe as “sweeping,” “lush,” or more simply “whole” — with every band member getting their fair share of shine. On my First Date with Young the Giant to one of my old college haunts, the Pizza Box in Manhattan’s Greenwich Village, it became clear that the reason they treat each other so fairly is simple: They’re best friends. They’ve spent nearly every day of the past five years together — yes, that does include living together. And even before they were Young the Giant, most of them were childhood friends. (Lead singer Sameer Gadhia and Payam Doostzadeh met playing little-league soccer.) Their years of work seemed to have paid off nicely. There’s their 2011 VMA performance , a sold-out tour, and a cushy bus for them to get from show to show in. But Doostzadeh (full disclosure: my fellow Persian) has a much more humble approach to gauging when he and his friends first “made it.” “Making it was the fact that we’re now on a tour, that we have a crew,” he explained, referencing their past ventures that were a lot more hands-on. “So we don’t have to load in and load out our gear.” After looking back on the past five years together ( always together), where do the guys see themselves in five years? “I don’t think any of us have a plan. … I don’t think we even know what’s gonna happen in the next year. That’s what makes it exciting for us,” stated Gadhia. We’ll at least assume they’ll have all gotten their own places by then. Related Videos MTV News First Date Related Artists Young The Giant
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