Canadian pop singer describes writing song with Redfoo over the phone. By Jocelyn Vena Carly Rae Jepsen Photo: Carly Rae Jepsen has captured America’s collective eardrums with her inescapable hit “Call Me Maybe,” teasing just what pop lovers might hear on her in-the-works full-length debut, set for release in September. In addition to her duet with Owl City on “Good Time” and an already-teased collaboration with her boss, Justin Bieber , the singer has shared that she is also working with LMFAO party rocker Redfoo on the fall release. “I ran into Redfoo from LMFAO at the airport,” she told Billboard magazine, via Ace Showbiz , about the collaboration, explaining that they’ve been writing together over the phone. So he called her, no maybes about it. “And we’ve been writing a song together today. Over the phone. “What I really love about music is that despite all this craziness, the creative process remains the same,” she continued. “And that same exciting feeling I had before anybody knew me, when I was just beginning to work on ‘Call Me Maybe,’ is the same feeling I had today with Redfoo from LMFAO.” Later this year, in addition to dropping her album, she’ll also be hitting the road with Bieber on his massive Believe tour , kicking off in September. “It’s not that I didn’t have my dream show built in my head before all of this — it’s just that I never had the resources together to actually put it to life,” she said. “I feel very giddy with the idea of making my imagination take form and being able to put on a show where people leave feeling like they’ve experienced something.” Related Artists Carly Rae Jepsen Lmfao
Losing money over some poon-tang? That’s that isht YMCMB don’t like Lil Wayne Wants Drake To End Beef With Chris Brown According to TMZ reports : Lil Wayne and the rest of the Young Money crew want Drake to put an end to his beef with Chris Brown … STAT — because the bad blood is bad for busine$$. It’s a sign that as bad ass as rap may be … the bottom line is the bottom line. Sources close to Drake tell TMZ, Drizzy has received several calls from Weezy, Birdman, Mack Maine and more — urging the rapper to extend an olive branch to Brown after last week’s nightclub brawl in NYC. Sources tell us, Wayne and co. are worried the rift will affect business — since Brown appears on several tracks with Young Money members and, pure and simple, Brown = hits. We’re told Drake doesn’t want to reach out to Breezy until he knows CB doesn’t actually blame him for last week’s melee — despite what Brown’s lawyer has been saying … that Drake was one of the aggressors. We’re told Young Money’s on Drake’s side no matter what — but as one source put it, “Making money matters most.” We can hear Wayne and Birdman now: “Aye, bay-bee, you gotta call that boy Breezy and make it cool ya ‘eard me?” Considering that Nicki Minaj features Chris on her popular single, “Right By My Side”, Cash Money definitely does not want to miss an opportunity to make it rain on some hoes over some “Bajan beef”. Image via SplashNews
Presumably Erykah Badu was conscious when she stripped down and climbed into a bathtub while filming the video for “The First Time I Ever Saw Your Face,” her collaboration with Oklahoma freak-pop collective The Flaming Lips . And it’s a safe assumption that her sister Nayrock Badu was also aware she was being filmed when she smeared her totally nude body with glitter, fake blood, and a suspiciously jism-esque (how often do you get to use that word in a sentence?) substance. But despite this, Erykah’s got herself all worked up about the nude content of the video, which apparently was leaked online by Flaming Lips fontman Wayne Coyne without securing the R&B diva’s approval. And as divas are prone to do, yesterday she lashed out at Coyne in a public takedown on Twitter . Here’s some highlights: then… perhaps, next time u get an occasion to work with an artist who respects your mind/art, you should send at least a ROUGh version of the video u PLAN to release b4 u manipulate or compromise the artist’s brand by desperately releasing a poor excuse for shock and nudity that sends a convoluted message that passes as art( to some). .. You begged me to sit in a tub of that other shit and I said naw. I refused to sit in any liquid that was not water. But Out of RESPECT for you and the artist you ‘appear’ to be, I Didn’t wanna kill your concept , wanted u to at least get it out of your head . After all, u spent your dough on studio , trip to Dallas etc.. Sooo, I invited Nayrok , my lil sis and artist, who is much more liberal ,to be subject of those other disturbing (to me ) scenes . I told u from jump that I believed your concept to be disturbing. But would give your edit a chance. You then said u would take my shots ( in clear water/ fully covered parts -seemed harmless enough) and Nayrok’s part ( which I was not present for but saw the photos and a sample scene of cornstarch dripping ) and edit them together along with cosmic, green screen images ( which no one saw) then would show me the edit. . Instead, U disrespected me by releasing pics and rough vid on the internet without my approval. (Contract breech ) That is equivalent to putting out a security camera’s images of me changing in the fitting room… O, And on behalf of all the artists u have manipulated or plan to manipulate, find another way . These things have been said out of necessity. And if you don’t like it you can KiSS MY Glittery ASS . O and Nayrok told me to tell u to kiss her ass too . Almost forgot. Peace Ohhhhhhh, cornstarch ! That’s what it was! Coyne has responded to Erykah’s anger in characteristically cheeky fashion, tweeting a picture of himself with glitter-covered lips along with the caption: “Yessss!!! Nice ass!!!!” Our thoughts exactly, Wayne. See all the good parts of the now-infamous Erykah Badu /Flaming Lips “The First Time I Saw Your Face” video right here at MrSkin.com!
Though she’s just released her Master of My Make-Believe album, Santi’s already prepping a new track with the Odd Future member. By James Montgomery, with reporting by Uptin Saiidi Santigold Photo: MTV News On her just-released Master of My Make-Believe album, Santigold strives to reinvent (or reinterpret) reality … which, as you might expect, was a challenge, to say the very least. “It’s about accepting that your fantasy is actually your reality, and trusting your imagination, and trusting that your imagination is actually a real sense of knowing, ” she told MTV News. “It was about navigating through my mind, my emotions, and realizing I was in control. I had to trust my vision and my creativity and really own the art I was making … I had to grow into accepting that. It took a tremendous amount of trust in myself.” And while she spent much of the past year working under conditions both real and surreal, Santi also found time to collaborate with ( finally free ) Odd Future member Earl Sweatshirt on a new track. But since the collaboration was revealed via Twitter back in February , there’s been no updates on just when fans would be able to hear the track. So, when Santi stopped by the MTV Newsroom earlier this week, we asked her for the latest … and just how the unlikely team-up happened in the first place. “I saw a tweet. I guess somebody re-tweeted that Earl said ‘I like Santigold, would love to do something.’ And I was like, ‘OK!’ ” she laughed. “I mean, he’s so cool, he’s such a cute, awesome dude. And they were at Coachella, and they were the first ones up onstage — we invite people up onstage [during her performance] — and they came and did some major booty-shaking moves. And a couple of them came to our MOCA show in LA. We did this event that Mike D curated … and they came there and caught the show.” So, when can we hear it? Well, with a new album out, Santigold’s plate is pretty full right now, though she swears she’s going to get the track out as soon as she finds a free second. “I don’t have many plans these days. I just kinda, like, soon as I can get stuff done,” she said. “It’s something I really want to do, so hopefully it will be done soon.” What do you think of an Earl Sweatshirt/Santigold collabo? Leave your comment below! Related Artists Santigold Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All
Colleen Atwood leads MTV News through the intricate fashions. By Kara Warner Chris Hemsworth and Kristen Stewart in “Snow White and the Huntsman” Photo: Universal Studios Hey Kristen Stewart and reimagined fairy tale fans! Have we got a special treat for you: a brand new exclusive behind-the-scenes look at “Snow White and the Huntsman” with Oscar-winning costume designer Colleen Atwood. Over the course of the nearly four-minute featurette, Atwood, who has three Oscars to her name for “Alice in Wonderland,” “Memoirs of a Geisha” and “Chicago,” walks us through some of the details and inspiration behind the intricate wardrobe worn by the film’s leading ladies, Stewart and Charlize Theron . “I’ve seen actors find their characters in so many different ways in my life. I think they don’t realize they’ve already found it, but the moment when they put on hair and makeup and the costume, they’re there, they’ve arrived,” Atwood said of watching actors try on her designs for the first time. “Sometimes because the costume goes on last after hair and makeup and everything, that feels like the hero, but it’s really the [actor].” One of Stewart’s most intricate costumes is her armor, which Atwood said they wanted to tell a story on its own. “There are a lot of messages in her armor. The concept is [Snow White] comes to a place in the story and decides to go to battle and lead her future people,” Atwood said. “She doesn’t have time to have armor made, so we took elements of different armor to compile a look and so [Stewart] could also do action in it.” Atwood added that Theron’s costumes were equally exciting to make. “You can’t design for [Queen] Ravenna without having Charlize to work the costume. We had a great time,” Atwood said. “She wanted to have fun with it and not be too strapped into the clich
Singer will premiere ‘Part of Me’ video on Wednesday, March 21, at 7:23 p.m. ET on MTV. By Jocelyn Vena Katy Perry Photo: MTV News Katy Perry will sit down with MTV News on Wednesday, March 21, to premiere her emotional, feisty clip for “Part of Me” during “MTV First: Katy Perry.” The premiere takes place at 7:23 p.m. ET on MTV, and it’s followed by a 30-minute chat with MTV News’ very own James Montgomery, airing live on MTV.com. The singer, however, isn’t a “First” newbie. Perry sat down with Sway Calloway in March 2011 to premiere the Floria Sigismondi-directed “E.T.” video, and afterward she opened up about the spacey clip. She later won the Best Collaboration VMA with Kanye West for the video. So before she sits down with MTV News for her latest “First,” let’s reflect on the best trivia we learned from her candid first one. How did Katy end up recording the super-trippy “E.T.”? “I’ll tell you, it’s funny … this song, I remember writing with Max Martin and Dr. Luke, and there’s this producer they wrote with, named Ammo, and they were just showing me different samples of songs or tracks or beats, and they accidentally pulled up this beat, and it was for Three 6 Mafia,” Perry said about the song, which is about falling in love with an alien. “I heard it and I always knew I wanted to write this futuristic, alienistic song, and they pulled it up and I was like, ‘Wait, I can wrap my head around this. I know this seems like a long shot, but I think I have the perfect material to put on top of this sound.’ And I did, and it really worked out perfectly.” How did she end up looking like a sexy alien creature in the video? “It was, like, five and six hours, each makeup look,” Perry said. “It was hard for me! It was really a patience thing for me on this video. But, you know, it’s like when you’re doing a film. Sometimes you have to do prosthetics, and you have to get really old or turn into an animal or a monster — and that’s kind of what this process was.” Would Katy ever travel to space? “I’m so into extraterrestrial stuff. … It’s very difficult for me to look up into the sky in the middle of the night and not think that our planet is one of … a bajillion. It’s really, really small,” she said, later sharing that she had plans to travel to space with her then-hubby Russell Brand. Well, with the singer always saying and doing the unexpected, Katy Cats should expect even more memorable moments this time around. “Part of Me” is the lead single off of her March 27 album release, Teenage Dream: The Complete Confection, which she will also talk about, as well as her forthcoming concert movie, “Katy Perry: Part of Me.” Perry’s fans can get in on the action of her “MTV First” by submitting video or text questions via Twitter (using @MTVNews / hashtag #MTVFirst or #KatyQ). Before the premiere of “Part of Me,” a tease of the clip will air on “VH1’s Big Morning Buzz Live” on March 21 at 10 a.m. ET/PT, giving fans a taste of what they can expect from Katy in the video. In the super-fast teaser, Perry is channeling her inner Marine. A few shots of guns and night vision preview boot camp for the singer. The sneak peek closes on Perry’s face painted in camouflage makeup. She shot the video on a military base in California in February. Immediately following the premiere of “Part of Me” on MTV, the video for the deeply emotional single will air on Logo, debut on MTV.com, VH1.com and LOGOtv.com, and go into rotation on mtvU, MTV Hits and AMTV the following morning. Additionally, the video will debut on Saturday, March 24, at 9 a.m. ET/PT during VH1’s “Top 20 Countdown” and on TeenNick’s “Obsess This” music block at 7 a.m. ET and Sunday, March 25, at 8:30 a.m. ET. Related Videos Get Ready For MTV First: Katy Perry MTV First: Katy Perry’s ‘E.T.’ Related Photos The Evolution Of: Katy Perry
Singer will chat for 30 minutes after premiere on Wednesday, March 21, at 7:23 p.m. ET on MTV and MTV.com. By MTV News staff Katy Perry in her “Part of Me” video Photo: Capitol Katy Perry is ready to give the world “Part of Me.” The singer will world-premiere the video for the track during “MTV First: Katy Perry” on Wednesday, March 21, at 7:23 p.m. ET on MTV. In addition to the video premiere, she will sit down with MTV News’ James Montgomery for a 30-minute chat about the video as well as her forthcoming album, Teenage Dream: The Complete Confection (out March 26), and her upcoming concert movie, “Katy Perry: Part of Me.” That all takes place on MTV.com. Perry’s fans can get in on the action immediately by submitting video or text questions beginning Thursday (March 15) via Twitter (using @MTVNews / hashtag #MTVFirst or #KatyQ ). Before the premiere of “Part of Me,” a tease of the clip will air on ” VH1’s Big Morning Buzz Live ” on March 21 at 10 a.m. ET/PT, giving fans a taste of what they can expect from Katy in the video. In the super-fast teaser, Perry is channeling her inner marine. A few shots of guns and night vision preview boot camp for the singer. The sneak peek closes on Perry’s face painted in camouflage makeup. She shot the video on a military base in California in February. Immediately following the premiere of “Part of Me” on MTV, the video for the deeply emotional single will air on Logo, debut on MTV.com, VH1.com and LOGOtv.com, and go into rotation on mtvU, MTV Hits and AMTV the following morning. Additionally, the video will debut on Saturday, March 24, at 9 a.m. ET/PT during VH1’s “Top 20 Countdown” and on TeenNick’s “Obsess This” music block at 7 a.m. ET and Sunday, March 25, at 8:30 a.m. ET. This is hardly the first time that Perry has gotten the “First” treatment. In 2011, she sat down with Sway Calloway to premiere her trippy Floria Sigismondi-directed video for her chart-topping Teenage Dream single “E.T.” She later won the Best Collaboration VMA with Kanye West for the video. Related Videos Get Ready For MTV First: Katy Perry
Producer talks to MTV News about collaborating with award-winning composer Hans Zimmer. By Jocelyn Vena, with reporting by Ricky Louis Pharrell Williams Photo: MTV News This Sunday, super producer Pharrell Williams and Oscar-winning composer Hans Zimmer will show the world what they’ve been cooking up since the December announcement they would join forces as the musical consultants for the 84th Academy Awards . “You know, Hans called me and he said that [Oscars Producer] Brian Grazer had asked him to come on as a consultant and effectively score the music or whatever,” he explained to MTV News. “And Hans was like, ‘I can’t do that. … I’d do that if like I had, like, Pharrell.’ [Grazer’s] like, ‘OK, get Pharrell on the phone.’ That’s the story he told me. I got the call from Hans and he told them he wanted to do it with me, and so I pleasantly accepted and we’ve just been working ever since.” While Pharrell wanted to keep the collaboration as top-secret as possible, he did give some insight into what the two have in store for the big night, which will be hosted by Billy Crystal. “Well, you’re gonna have to watch the show and see, we can’t give it away. That’s what’s so funny about interviews. They always want to know what you’re about to do,” he explained. “It’s like some of us love you know music and art that blindsides, comes out of nowhere with a crazy impact. And then sometimes you talk about things because you want to warm up the feeling before the huge impact. “But this is another one of those things where we keep things under wraps,” he continued. “But it’s cool; it’s interesting; it’s very different. Definitely there’s an homage to the tradition of how the music was done traditionally. … [but] we’re different, and when given an opportunity and it’s our opportunity, Hans and I agreed we just would do it from the perspective of people who love music and love making music and respect it, giving back to what gave us so much, which is music and film.” The MTV Movies team has the 2012 Oscars covered! Stick with us for everything you need to know leading up to the awards show, and on Sunday, February 26, tune into MTV.com at 5 p.m. ET for our two-and-a-half-hour red-carpet live stream and updates on the night’s big winners. To join the live conversation, tweet @MTVNews with the hashtag #Oscars. Related Photos 2012 Oscar Nominees Related Artists Pharrell Williams
Chi-Town hero claims the Throne and Hottest MCs in the Game VII’s top 3 with a Twisted Fantasy and a groundbreaking joint album. By MTV News staff Kanye West Photo: Getty Images To be considered one of the Hottest MCs in the Game, a rapper has to build a solid case with lyrics and album sales, but buzz is just as important, and few artists can stir up a frenzy quite like Kanye West , who happens to have the verses and plaques to back it up. But that’s just touching the surface when it comes to why the Hip-Hop Brain Trust gave ‘Ye the #3 spot on our Hottest MCs in the Game VII list. The Chicago native set tongues wagging back on New Year’s Eve 2010, when he announced at a party in Las Vegas that his joint album with Jay-Z would arrive at the top of ’11. Although Watch the Throne didn’t actually drop until August 8, 2011, anticipation in the months leading up to its release was palpable. “Kanye came off of My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy in 2010, and just the hype from that album rolled over into 2011, as he started prepping us for WTT, ” said Nadeska Alexis, MTV News’ RapFix blog editor. “Kanye was the only thing people could talk about for the first few months of the year.” Want to join the debate? Just hit us on Twitter using the hashtag #HottestMC! West and Jay teased fans with the single “H.A.M.” — later relegated to a bonus track — all while Kanye continued to push songs from his Grammy-winning solo LP. A flashy video for “All of the Lights” featured an appearance from Rihanna and generated plenty of chatter, and that folded right into the Watch the Throne hype. HOT STREAK Album: Watch the Throne with Jay-Z; My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy Selected Mixtapes: None Singles: “All of the Lights” (with Rihanna, Kid Cudi and Fergie); “H.A.M,” “N—as in Paris” and “Otis” (all with Jay-Z) Street Bangers: “Paris” remix (with Jay-Z and T.I.) Key Guest Appearances: Big Sean’s “Marvin & Chardonnay” Meteoric Metrics: Watch the Throne debuted at #1 on the album charts and has sold approximately 1.3 million copies to date, while West’s Grammy-winning solo single “All of the Lights” was certified platinum Business Ventures: Inked an official distribution deal with Def Jam Records for G.O.O.D. Music imprint; launched DW by Kanye West line at Paris Fashion Week Tours: Along with Jay-Z, West put on one of the most anticipated hip-hop tours to date in support of Watch the Throne. They grossed $48.3 million across 26 dates. Monumental Moment: Not only did Kanye add “cray” to the rap vernacular, he joined Jay in performing “Paris” a record 11 times at one of their live shows Forecast: After picking up Grammys for Best Rap Album ( MBDTF ) and Best Rap Performance (“Otis”), Kanye is currently at work on the highly anticipated G.O.O.D. album. And, of course, the second incarnation of his fashion line is getting plenty of advance buzz. In the weeks before the album debuted, Throne fans were treated to more tidbits from the project, much of which had the indelible Kanye West stamp. Animal-inspired cover art designed by Givenchy creative director Riccardo Tisci? The brainchild of Kanye West, certainly. “Jay-Z has really stood alone over the course of his career and he never really let somebody else get in the front,” said Rahman Dukes, MTV News’ director of hip-hop news, about the collaboration. “This is the one time [he let someone take control] and that’s a huge nod to Kanye’s genius.” One of the key elements in building anticipation for the album was that the Throne successfully avoided a leak. The duo even threw a grand listening session at the Museum of Natural History in New York City — select music journalists and A-list insiders from Beyonc
‘It was the first time you hear an artist from the mainstream singing bachata,’ former Aventura frontman tells MTV News of single ‘Promise.’ By Christina Garibaldi Lil Wayne Photo: Frank Micelotta/ Getty Images Romeo Santos , the former lead singer of the popular bachata group Aventura , has taken a new step in his career, venturing out on his own as a solo artist. Mixing his signature bachata flair with some R&B, he is showing fans a whole new side on his debut album, Formula, Vol. 1. Hoping to spread his unique sound and style to a mainstream audience, Santos enlisted Lil Wayne for his latest single, “All Aboard.” “This song ‘All Aboard,’ that tune allowed me to expand and kind of offer my audience something totally different because it’s not bachata — I’m singing English and that was really fun,” Santos recently told MTV News. “I was a little nervous about that, but people actually really accepted it.” Santos and Weezy recently shot the video for “All Aboard” in Miami; he called the clip “sexy,” “seductive” and “elegant,” but also revealed that this collaboration came very close to not making his album. “I was just like, I like the song but it’s missing something, and at first I couldn’t figure out what it was,” Santos said. “What we did was we left 16 bars open, and I was like, you know, who would rip this track? Lil Wayne. So we reached out. It barely made the album because he’s a busy dude, so he actually got on the record two months after we submitted it. It was like, if we don’t get his vocals in the next two days we hit, and we got it, so we made it and the song is just really great.” Wayne isn’t the only artist Santos pulled in for his album. On his last single, “Promise,” he teamed up with Usher , who last week joined him onstage at Santos’ first of three sold-out shows at New York’s Madison Square Garden. “I felt at that moment once again I was going to revolutionize bachata ’cause it was the first time that you hear an artist from the mainstream singing bachata,” Santos said. “It was a big deal.” What do you think of Romeo Santos’ solo debut? Let us know in the comments. Related Artists Romeo Santos Lil Wayne Usher
