‘I wish I could have worn one of those funny hats, dude,’ Shia LaBeouf jokes to MTV News at NYC debut. By Josh Wigler Rosie Huntington-Whiteley and Shia LaBeouf attend the “Transformers: Dark of the Moon” premiere in New York City Photo: Getty Images Mark your calendars, boys and girls: June 28, 2011, is officially “Transformers” Day in New York City, as announced at Tuesday night’s red-carpet premiere of “Dark of the Moon,” the third (and potentially final) installment in Michael Bay’s robot-smashing, record-obliterating blockbuster trilogy. On one hand, it was an event packed with more excitement and enthusiasm than a downtown Chicago brawl between Optimus Prime and his Decepticon rivals. On the other, it was bittersweet. “It feels like graduation day, you know?” Shia LaBeouf told MTV News about his feelings on the night of the premiere. “I never went to college. I spent all of my college years on the set. This is my graduation. I wish I could have worn one of those funny hats, dude.” But even LaBeouf was able to make light of the situation. Asked what he’d wear underneath his graduation gown, he laughed: “Nothing. A unitard. A leopard unitard and a graduation hat.” For Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, the Victoria’s Secret model making her acting debut and replacing former leading lady Megan Fox in the process, this was the crowning achievement of an already-breathtaking experience. “It’s blowing my mind to be here right now,” she said of the premiere, which took place in a packed stretch of New York’s famous Times Square. “I’ll never, ever forget the last couple of weeks. It’s been a dream come true. You see all of your hard work paying off. Look at all of these amazing people that [came out to] support this movie. It’s really humbling.” Humbling (and probably overwhelming) isn’t a surprising reaction, considering the presence of hundreds upon hundreds of “Transformers” fans holding signs like “I
Singer will hit the road again on August 9 in Vancouver following her doctor-ordered hiatus due to laryngitis. By Jocelyn Vena Adele Photo: Stefan M. Prager/Redferns After canceling her North American tour earlier this month due to laryngitis, Adele has just announced the rescheduled dates for the trek. She will resume performing beginning on August 9 in Vancouver. After the stop in Canada, the tour circles back around to missed tour dates on the West Coast and in the Midwest, wrapping up on August 24. Adele is also set to add six more dates to the tour, stopping in Las Vegas; Atlantic City, New Jersey; Durham, North Carolina; Orlando, Florida; Miami; and Spring, Texas from October 7 through October 21. Despite the health setback, Adele’s album 21 has been bouncing around the top of the charts for more than three months now. Atop the charts for the last 10 of the 17 weeks it’s been out, this week it lands at #3, falling behind Bad Meets Evil ‘s (better known as Eminem and Royce Da 5’9”) Hell: The Sequel as well as 11-year-old “America’s Got Talent” soprano opera singer Jackie Evancho’s Dream With Me . So, why is Adele so unstoppable this year? “It shows the power … of her fanbase. You’ve got a song that’s performing very, very well, still being discovered by new people every week,” Nielsen SoundScan’s senior vice president of analytics Dave Bakula told MTV News. “You’ve got an artist here who wasn’t a household name prior to this record coming out, so you do still have that discovery process going on with her. “What it really goes to show is the fact that there still are that many people discovering the album every week,” he added. “I think it shows a lot about the latent demand that is out there for great music.” Related Artists Adele
Sad news today out of the world of country music: Glen Campbell has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease. The singer and wife Kim opened up about his condition in an interview with People this week, saying Campbell intends to follow through on a series of live performances this fall in promotion of the album “Ghost on the Canvas,” which comes out August 30. Glen Campbell in Concert “Glen is still an awesome guitar player and singer,” says Kim. “But if he flubs a lyric or gets confused on stage, I wouldn’t want people to think, ‘What’s the matter with him? Is he drunk?'” Campbell, 75, is a Grammy winner whose biggest hit, “Rhinestone Cowboy,” topped the charts in 1975. As he plans a farewell tour, he says: “I still love making music. And I still love performing for my fans. I’d like to thank them for sticking with me through thick and thin.”
Fif tells MTV News his labelmates’ singles ‘go to top 40 and crossover radio immediately.’ By Rob Markman 50 Cent Photo: Christopher Polk/ WireImage 50 Cent knows what it takes to make a hit record. The first step for him is the groundwork, usually in the form of a street single. Before “In Da Club,” the G-Unit General set the streets on fire with “Wanksta,” and before he took fans to the candy shop in 2005, Fif started off with “Disco Inferno.” For his fifth, yet-untitled LP — which he tweeted will now come out in November — things are no different. After blasting his label on Twitter last week, 50 decided to heat up the streets by dropping “Outlaw,” his new Cardiak-produced street single. When asked how his tried-and-true formula differs from that of Interscope labelmate Lady Gaga, Fif said their respective circumstances are incomparable. “When you say Lady Gaga, a pop artist, they want them to just deliver a song,” 50 said. “They don’t have the mixshow radio platform to go through before they would actually go for adds on an actual record.” As opposed to mainstream pop artists, rappers who are viewed as more niche, for the most part, usually have to service a record that caters to late-night urban-radio formats where DJs blend records together in a continuous stream. The mixshows serve as a proving ground of sorts for edgier hip-hop music. “Her records go to top 40 and crossover radio immediately. You can’t really compare it to any artist that would be considered a pop artist or a white artist,” 50 said of his circumstance in relation to Gaga’s. “And I say that openly, because what we consider urban radio or rhythmic radio was referred to as black radio at one point. That right there is something that I am conscious of.” Still, 50 said he doesn’t place any blame; instead, he simply points out the differences. He even talked about his method of landing records on the charts in relation to Eminem. Like Gaga, 50 points out that Slim Shady bypasses urban radio as well. “You can’t compare Eminem and 50 Cent’s career on any level,” he said. “Eminem doesn’t know what the inside of Hot 97 looks like. He’s never even had to go there. So the top 40 and crossover-radio platforms are detrimental to the success of an Eminem project, and for me to get to the top 40 or crossover space, I have to have music that performs so well on your Hot 97s and Power 106s of the world until it actually goes up to that point.” Last Thursday, before leaking “Outlaw,” 50 tweeted that he wouldn’t drop his new album in 2011 unless Interscope got “on the same page.” 50 clarified to MTV News what many perceived as a serious rift between him and his label. “They’re behind it, but to get everybody moving at the same beat and moving at the same pace is the object. That was what the goal was even writing that statement and releasing the song,” he said. What do you think of 50 Cent’s radio theories? Let us know in the comments. Related Artists 50 Cent
We take a look at the album’s chart domination as it reaches #1 yet again. By Jocelyn Vena Adele’s 21 Photo: Columbia Records Adele seems to be unstoppable. Her sophomore release, 21, has managed to top the charts for nearly as many weeks as it’s been out. Clearly, this Brit has never heard of the sophomore slump. If you take the album by the numbers, it’s had quite the impressive run. Just how impressive? Here’s how it shakes out: 114,314 : The number of units she sold this week, beating out Lady Gaga’s Born This Way with 100,255 units. 16 : The number of times Adele’s 21 has been on the charts. 10 : The number of times it’s topped the charts. 2.2 million : The number of records sold since the album hit stores in late February . Gaga, meanwhile, has sold about 1.4 million records in three weeks. 1 : The number of singles released from the album. 8 : The number of consecutive weeks “Rolling in the Deep” has ruled the singles charts. 352,000 : The number of albums sold in 21 ‘s first week, compared to Gaga’s 1.1 million . “It is something, isn’t it?” Dave Bakula, Nielsen’s senior vice president of analytics, told MTV News. “I think if we were to look at this back at the beginning of the record … I don’t think anyone would have guessed.” Given that more than 2 million people have already bought Adele’s album, the question remains: Who is still buying it? “It shows the power … of her fanbase. You’ve got a song that’s performing very, very well, still being discovered by new people every week,” Bakula said. “You’ve got an artist here who wasn’t a household name prior to this record coming out, so you do still have that discovery process going on with her. “What it really goes to show is the fact that there still are that many people discovering the album every week,” he added. “I think it shows a lot about the latent demand that is out there for great music.” Can she be beat? “To be honest, certainly there are releases week in and week out that will come and go, much like Gaga,” he said. ” … There are always going to releases who come in and come out like Beyonc
You might say Scotty McCreery and Lauren Alaina have officially made it in the country music business. The American Idol finalists – both of whom are faring very well on the charts – took the stage Friday night at Tennessee’s famed Grand Ole Opry. Alaina went first, covering “Blue” by LeAnn Rimes and then going into her first single, ” Like My Mother Does .” From there, Scotty went with “I Love You This Big” and the George Strait track “Check Yes or No.” Listen to the audio versions of all these performances below: Lauren Alaina Audio – Grand Ole Opry Scotty McCreery Grand Ole Opry Performance
Kelly Rowland’s song “Motivation” is growing wildly popular among fans and artists. Da Brat, R.Kelly and now Busta Rhymes, Fabolous and Trey Songz have jumped on the track to add his and her own flavor. As “Motivation” climbs the charts so does the roster of celebs to remix it! Kelly Rowland Stuns In Wonderland Magazine [PHOTOS] Kelly Rowland’s “Motivation” Climbs To #1
Bigger Than the Sound sizes Gaga’s remarkable chart debut up against the year’s other event album, Adele’s 21. By James Montgomery Lady Gaga Photo: Michael Buckner/ Getty Images As of Wednesday (June 1), Lady Gaga officially has the #1 album in the country, after selling 1,108,000 copies of Born This Way, according to Billboard.com . That’s the biggest sales week since 50 Cent’s The Massacre was released in 2005. None of this should really surprise you, though. After all, no album in recent memory has been promoted to the degree that Born This Way has. You could hear it on FarmVille , in a Google Chrome commercial or through a special version of Tap Tap Revenge. You could buy it for 99 cents on Amazon.com, pick it up with a non-fat double latte at Starbucks (which also hosted an online Gaga-themed scavenger hunt) or get it at Best Buy with the purchase of a mobile phone and a two-year service contract. That’s to say nothing of the more than 20,000 “non-traditional” retailers that also stocked it … noted musical hotspots like CVS Pharmacies, Whole Foods and Walgreens. And in the weeks leading up to its release, you seemingly could not escape the woman behind Born This Way, either: Lady Gaga showed up on “Saturday Night Live,” “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” “Late Show With David Letterman, ” “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” and “American Idol” ( twice ). She guest-edited V magazine and the Metro newspaper. She appeared in a documentary that aired on MTV and greeted fans at a New York City Best Buy . No word on whether she also went door-to-door handing out samples of the album, but I wouldn’t put it past her. In short, there was no way you did not know of Born This Way ‘s existence. As Newbury Comics’ director of purchasing, Carl Mello, joked to me during the release-week hype, “If people aren’t aware that Lady Gaga has an album coming out, then that’s a problem for Interscope.” So while BTW ‘s big first week is certainly remarkable, it was by no means unforeseen. This was an album that, from the time Gaga first announced its title in September at the VMAs, was destined to debut at #1. It was inevitable. The real test begins in the weeks afterward, when we’ll all see whether Gaga’s got legs. During my conversation with Mello, he noted that while Born This Way was the top seller at Newbury’s 29 locations (by a long shot), holding strong at #2 was Adele’s 21, an album that, in just 14 weeks, has sold nearly 2 million copies in the U.S. alone and snagged the #1 spot on the Billboard 200 nine times. You did not get 21 with the purchase of a Samsung Epic 4G or by rhythmically tapping on your iPhone, and it was not previewed on FarmVille. In fact, about the extent of its promotion has been one official single (“Rolling in the Deep”), a handful of TV appearances and a sold-out tour. And yet, the record has sold and continues to do so. It is, without a doubt, an album that has legs. In fact, the success of 21 is all the more remarkable when you compare it to the all-out blitz that has surrounded (and, some argue, enveloped) Born This Way. Comparing the two seems almost implausible, if not impossible. But both are genuine phenomena, albeit in completely different ways: 21 is a slow-burning hit; its success is just about as unexpected as it is old-school. BTW is an event ; a big blockbuster for which failure was not an option. Adele made the industry pay attention; Gaga had their ear since last year. And while first-week numbers are all well and good, real success is measured eight to 10 weeks down the road; it’s how we know whether an album resonates, whether the singles have stuck, whether the artist is in it for the long haul. Right now, I wouldn’t bet on anyone catching either Adele or Gaga in the race for 2011’s best-selling album, but the real question is: Can Born This Way overtake 21 for the title? Only time — and some hit singles — will tell. With the promo that led to BTW ‘s release, Gaga has proven that she’s willing to work, but now that the album has been foisted onto the world, the real work’s just beginning: she’s going to have to prove she’s got legs too. How do you think Born This Way will fare on the charts? Share your thoughts in the comments section! Related Videos Lady Gaga: Inside The Outside Related Photos Lady Gaga’s ‘Judas’ Video: Decoded Lady Gaga Joins Her Little Monsters At Best Buy Signing Related Artists Lady Gaga
Jackie Rozo, the 27-year-old daughter of Arnold Schwarzengger’s secret baby mama Mildred “Patty” Baena, is breaking her silence about the love child scandal. Rozo’s reason for speaking out? To decry how RACIST everyone is! The ONLY reason people care about Patty Baena , she claims, is because Arnold was in an interracial affair. We can think of a handful of other reasons … “It’s just a big thing because she’s Hispanic, and he’s a celebrity,” Rozo says. And because he’s been married to Maria Shriver for the past 25 years. And employed Baena for the past 20 years. And kept this secret the past 14 years. And has four legitimate kids. And was the GOVERNOR OF CALIFORNIA. Either way, it’s still all news to her. Like the guy who thought he was the dad , Jackie claims she had “no idea” that her half-brother was fathered by Arnold until the news broke last week. But now, Jackie’s coming to her mom’s defense – adding, “She’s like a superwoman pretty much” … “My mother does not need to justify herself.” Perhaps … but neither do people for being flat-out amazed by it. Nor does it make one racist to expect better from an elected official. Just saying.
Welcome to THG’s new feature, in which two of our celebrity gossip experts debate topical issues in the entertainment world and you decide who wrote the winning argument! Today, THG Asks : Did Scotty McCreery deserve to win American Idol? YES by Free Britney Two words: 122 million. That’s the number of people who crowned the newest American Idol this week. Not exactly a small sample size. We could keep playing the numbers game – how many songs, how many aspirants he bested – but you get the idea. Some will say Pia Toscano was ousted too soon, and she probably was. Ditto James Durbin. But can anyone really dispute Scotty McCreery ‘s worthiness? Many of this year’s eliminations were controversial, but only relative to some of the contestants who outlasted them – not to Scotty specifically. He’s got an outstanding voice perfectly suited for country, and he proved it time and again. What he lacks in flair, he makes up for with talent. Slow, smooth and steady won this race, and deservedly so. NO by Hilton Hater Scotty McCreery is a fantastic singer. If I were going purely by voice, he’d have earned my vote as American Idol champion after his first audition. But forget what the judges say: This is not purely a singing competition. There are, and there should be, other factors at work. The legitimacy of Idol itself is at stake, especially with new competition such as The Voice and The X-Factor. It really needs to crank out a successful winner, and Lauren Alaina stands a better chance at sustained success than Scotty does. For whatever reason, male victors simply don’t do well on the charts. Kris Allen? David Cook? Lee DeWyze? Can anyone name a top 10 single by any of them? As evidenced by her duet with Carrie Underwood , Alaina has a long way to go. But she’s tough. She overcame a sprained throat to compete in the finals. She clearly wants this and I have no doubt she has more potential to be the next Carrie than Scotty has to be more than a one-month wonder. THG Asks you … did Scotty deserve to win?
