Tag Archives: grammys

Justin Bieber, Rihanna And Others Tweet About Pre-Grammy Activities

Grammy-nominated stars tweet about bum-rushing theaters and getting freaked out by Sunday’s awards. By Mawuse Ziegbe Rihanna Photo: Getty Images The Grammys are going down Sunday night, but in the days beforehand, many of the stars up for hardware have been tweeting about their antics. Some missives were related to the big show, others were just in good, clean superstar fun. Cee Lo, who is up for four mini gramophones — including Record of the Year, Song of the Year, Best Urban/Alternative Performance and Best Short Form Music Video — tweeted on Friday about getting a luxurious lift from one of his megastar pals in order to arrive at his destination in timely fashion. “Yo yall might not believe me but steven Spielberg is letting my use his private jet to get to san diego on time!” the Lady Killer wrote . “Its nice to have friends.” Grammy newbie Justin Bieber, who is in the running for two awards, including the coveted Best New Artist trophy, is also spending the weekend celebrating the release of his documentary, “Justin Bieber: Never Say Never.” The teen sensation also decided to add the element of surprise to his 3-D flick by dropping in on some lucky moviegoers. “About to surprise another theatre with the crew!!” he wrote . “U support us so we support u. Thank U! Let’s shock the world #NSN3D.” Indie darlings Arcade Fire also unleashed a surprise on their fans Friday night by playing a last-minute, 500-ticket secret show. The collective, which is up for trophies like Album of the Year and Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group With Vocals, worked well-worn hits and insta-classics and even got a legendary street artist to helm the wheels of steel, tweeting on Friday afternoon, “Shepard Fairey will be DJ’ing before set tonight in LA.” Rihanna, on the other hand, apparently spent her Saturday helming her own low-key shindig. The songstress, who will hit the stage and whose Eminem collabo “Love the Way You Lie” is vying for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration and Best Rap Song, replied to a fan who asked her what’s up, saying that she’s “just shakin my ass in the mirror.” The singer also conceded to some pre-show jitters. “I CAN’T STOP thinking about tomorrow!!!” she replied to another fan . “#AnxietyF——–!!!!!!!” Don’t miss “Snooki & Sway: Live From the Grammys,” a red-carpet live stream kicking off Sunday at 6 p.m. ET on MTV.com. And stick with us all Grammy night for coverage of the red carpet, the show, the afterparties and beyond! Related Photos 2011 Grammy Awards Rehearsals 2011 Grammy Performers Related Artists Justin Bieber Rihanna

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Justin Bieber, Rihanna And Others Tweet About Pre-Grammy Activities

Travis Barker Talks Partnership With Lil Wayne On New Solo Single

Barker says his collaboration with Weezy on ‘Can a Drummer Get Some?’ began when they performed together at last year’s Grammys. By James Montgomery, with reporting by Sway Calloway Travis Barker Photo: Getty Images NORTH HOLLYWOOD, California — On Friday, with the 53rd Grammy Awards less than 48 hours away, Travis Barker invited MTV News up to his studio to play us a handful of tracks from his long-delayed though finally completed solo album, Give the Drummer Some , which hits stores on March 15. Judging from what we heard, there’s no shortage of hard-hitting, genre-blurring jams on the record, though a standout is “Can a Drummer Get Some?” The track, which is the album’s proper first single, features verses from Rick Ross, Game, Swizz Beatz and, of course, Lil Wayne. The Blink-182 stickman let it slip that he’s planning on filming a video for the song with all the talent present as early as next week. And it’s fitting that, on practically the eve of the Grammys, he’s talking about the song because, in a lot of ways, its roots stretch all the way back to last year’s Grammy telecast, when Barker joined Weezy, Eminem and Drake onstage for a performance of “Forever” “At the Grammys, we were at soundcheck, we were messing around before we even bust into the song,” Barker recalled. “Freestyling, just busting beats, it’s always a good time.” And that crackling, live energy is more than present on “Can a Drummer,” a song that Barker is deeply attached to for a lot of reasons. “I painted that one up in my head — that’s the first song I wrote for my album. I pieced that one together, I knew exactly how I wanted it,” he explained. “I [had] played on something for Young Money — they wanted me to do a remix, and I was like, ‘Cool.’ I had seen Wayne in L.A., and I had talked to him about a verse, so [we were like] ‘let’s just do [an] even trade.’ So, like a month later, I got my verse from Wayne. Man, everything he said, he just killed it. I would get mixtapes and I’d be listening to it in the car, like blaring it, and I’d hear him say my name or something, and I’d be like, ‘Lil Wayne just said my name, this is a trip!’ Because I’m a fan.” And as a fan, Barker is a lot like the rest of us. He’s eternally marveling at how far Wayne has come — a voyage that started more than 10 years ago, continued though their 2010 Grammy performance and now is featured prominently on “Can a Drummer Get Some?” “I love what Wayne’s done, how he’s progressed,” Barker laughed. “I remember, it must’ve been 1999 or 2000, and we’re in Las Vegas, at the Joint, and Cash Money is performing, and Blink’s performing — so it’s just a trip because I grew up on him too. I saw him go from that through his whole career, all his albums — it’s just crazy.” Don’t miss “Snooki & Sway: Live From the Grammys,” a red-carpet live stream kicking off Sunday at 6 p.m. ET on MTV.com. And stick with us all Grammy night for coverage of the red carpet, the show, the afterparties and beyond! Related Artists Travis Barker Lil Wayne

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Travis Barker Talks Partnership With Lil Wayne On New Solo Single

Arcade Fire Throw An Anti-Grammy Party At Secret Show

The Grammy-nominated indie rockers announced details of the Los Angeles theater show just 12 hours before taking the stage. By James Montgomery Arcade Fire’s Win Butler Photo: Getty Images LOS ANGELES — It wasn’t the Grammys, and it wasn’t supposed to be. On Friday night, far away from the machinations of the music industry and the glad-handling of golden gramophones, in a grand old theater that now doubles as the Ukrainian Culture Center of Greater Los Angeles, Arcade Fire — the indie band who, at Sunday’s 53rd Grammy Awards , will face off against the likes of Eminem and Lady Gaga for Album of the Year — threw what will probably go down as the week’s greatest un-official, anti-Grammy pre-party: a sweaty, exuberant, all-ages secret show that felt about a million miles removed from the award-show hysteria that has descended on much of the city. Only 500 tickets were sold, in a first-come, first-serve basis at three locations (a pair of record stores and the venerable El Rey Theatre) on Friday afternoon. There was no red carpet outside or a VIP area inside, just the still-elaborate eaves of an 86-year-old building now crumbling away on a decidedly gritty stretch of Melrose Avenue. The band gave away “free drinks and cotton candy” before the show even began. It was, in short, an anti-industry affair in all conceivable ways, and Arcade Fire savored every second of it. As the strains of Julie Andrews’ “Lusty Month of May” crackled over the speakers, the Canadian band’s members took to the tiny stage, grinned and then, appropriately enough, blasted headlong into “Month of May,” from their Grammy-nominated The Suburbs, with frontman Win Butler cocking his head and jutting his guitar out into the crowd — who, being so close, gladly reached out and grabbed it. Given that they were playing at full strength — eight in all, sawing and hammering away on a menagerie of violins and keyboards and drums and guitars — and that, for much of the past decade, they’ve been tailoring their sonics to massive festival crowds and cavernous indoor spaces, the sound they produced in this little theater was enormous; it washed over the audience, all the way to the back of the building, and then up to the arched ceilings. And that only added to the euphoria. Because there truly is something to be said about seeing a band this big in a venue this small. Already-massive songs like “Rebellion (Lies)” and “Neighborhood #2 (Laika)” became even larger, the bass rumbled and the strings stabbed, the chanted vocals of R

Arcade Fire Throw An Anti-Grammy Party At Secret Show

The Grammy-nominated indie rockers announced details of the Los Angeles theater show just 12 hours before taking the stage. By James Montgomery Arcade Fire’s Win Butler Photo: Getty Images LOS ANGELES — It wasn’t the Grammys, and it wasn’t supposed to be. On Friday night, far away from the machinations of the music industry and the glad-handling of golden gramophones, in a grand old theater that now doubles as the Ukrainian Culture Center of Greater Los Angeles, Arcade Fire — the indie band who, at Sunday’s 53rd Grammy Awards , will face off against the likes of Eminem and Lady Gaga for Album of the Year — threw what will probably go down as the week’s greatest un-official, anti-Grammy pre-party: a sweaty, exuberant, all-ages secret show that felt about a million miles removed from the award-show hysteria that has descended on much of the city. Only 500 tickets were sold, in a first-come, first-serve basis at three locations (a pair of record stores and the venerable El Rey Theatre) on Friday afternoon. There was no red carpet outside or a VIP area inside, just the still-elaborate eaves of an 86-year-old building now crumbling away on a decidedly gritty stretch of Melrose Avenue. The band gave away “free drinks and cotton candy” before the show even began. It was, in short, an anti-industry affair in all conceivable ways, and Arcade Fire savored every second of it. As the strains of Julie Andrews’ “Lusty Month of May” crackled over the speakers, the Canadian band’s members took to the tiny stage, grinned and then, appropriately enough, blasted headlong into “Month of May,” from their Grammy-nominated The Suburbs, with frontman Win Butler cocking his head and jutting his guitar out into the crowd — who, being so close, gladly reached out and grabbed it. Given that they were playing at full strength — eight in all, sawing and hammering away on a menagerie of violins and keyboards and drums and guitars — and that, for much of the past decade, they’ve been tailoring their sonics to massive festival crowds and cavernous indoor spaces, the sound they produced in this little theater was enormous; it washed over the audience, all the way to the back of the building, and then up to the arched ceilings. And that only added to the euphoria. Because there truly is something to be said about seeing a band this big in a venue this small. Already-massive songs like “Rebellion (Lies)” and “Neighborhood #2 (Laika)” became even larger, the bass rumbled and the strings stabbed, the chanted vocals of R

Lady Gaga’s Grammy Performance: How Will She Top Herself?

MTV News takes a guess at what Lady Gaga will do Sunday during her ‘Born This Way’ performance. By Jocelyn Vena Lady Gaga performs at the 2010 Grammy Awards Photo: Kevin Winter/Getty Images On Sunday, days after debuting “Born This Way,” a splashy dance track about accepting who you are, Lady Gaga is set to take the stage and perform the song for the first time at the Grammys (if you don’t count the time she sang part of the chorus at the VMAs back in September). Gaga’s live performances are typically gory, over-the-top spectacles. She died a bloody death onstage during the 2009 VMAs , she played with fire that same year at the American Music Awards and paid tribute to her late pal, Alexander McQueen , at the Brit Awards in 2010. Last year at the Grammy Awards , the singer didn’t miss a beat. She appeared, donning a sparkly getup by Armani Priv

Video: In 1971, Grammy Competition was Insanely Fierce.

Will Eminem Or Justin Bieber Rule The Grammys? Oddsmakers Weigh In

Ladbrokes and Bodog both like Em and Bieber’s chances on Sunday night. By James Montgomery Eminem Photo: Getty Images The 53rd annual Grammy Awards air Sunday from the Staples Center in Los Angeles, and while most will be tuning in to see if Eminem can capitalize on his industry-leading 10 nominations or catch Lady Gaga performing “Born This Way” for the first time, we’ll be watching to see how all our bets panned out. See, we love gambling nearly as much as we love the Grammys (and that’s a lot ), and, with the big show just a few days away, we figured it was time to place our bets in the Big Four categories: Album, Record and Song of the Year, plus Best New Artist. And to help insure our wagering success, we’ve once again gone to two of the best oddsmakers in the universe — Ladbrokes and Bodog — to get their take on music’s biggest night. And, strangely, their picks sort of mirrored our own opinions : They both see a big night for Eminem. But unlike us , they also see Justin Bieber hoisting the hardware. And, really, who are we to disagree? After all, they’re professionals. So here, for your last-minute wagering, are Ladbrokes’ and Bodog’s odds for the 2011 Grammy Awards. Ladbrokes “The odds reflect the sensational musical year we’ve had, which makes our jobs considerably harder. When it comes to arriving at our conclusions, personal tastes do come into play, but our main job is predicting public sentiment and where we think the money will go,” Ladbrokes’ Alex Donohue said. “Some of the categories look like they have nailed-on winners — namely Eminem and Jay Z and Alicia Keys — whereas others are much closer. The quality of the short list means we can’t rule anyone out, and we’d expect one or two surprises along the way.” Album of the Year

Eminem, Dr. Dre Grammy Performance To Show Razor-Sharp Rap Skills

Hip-hop superstars’ previous shows have created video sets and packed a lyrical punch. By Mawuse Ziegbe Eminem Photo: Getty Images When Eminem hits the stage, he rarely goes it alone, having already lit up Grammy night with pop luminaries like Elton John and hip-hop upstarts like Drake. This year, he’s taking it back to his hip-hop roots by teaming up with longtime mentor and rap legend Dr. Dre , with additional assistance from Maroon 5 frontman Adam Levine. Sunday’s performance promises to be a major hip-hop moment, as not only will Eminem rip the stage, but the set will mark Dre’s first live performance in more than 10 years (not counting his hysteria-inducing cameos at Shady and Jay-Z’s Home and Home Tour ). But what should fans expect from the Doc and Em’s first joint awards-show matchup in over a decade? Well, if we take cues from their onstage team-ups back in the day, we can expect the greats to school anyone who may have forgotten about their concert chemistry and serve up more of their renowned, top-flight lyricism. At the 1999 VMAs, a newbie Shady performed his debut smash “My Name Is” in a hoodie with “Role Model” splashed across the front in blinking lights. Midway through the track, Dre showed up to spar with Slim for the ethics-juggling hit “Guilty Conscience,” re-creating the bank-robbing scene from the track’s video. Then another chart-topping Dre prot

The-Dream Talks New Album Plans, Justin Bieber Collabo

The singer/songwriter says his next effort should be released ‘by August.’ By Jayson Rodriguez The-Dream Photo: Alberto E. Rodriguez/ Getty Images If anybody knows that the world isn’t perfect, it’s singer/songwriter The-Dream . Last year, the man behind hit songs by everyone from Mariah Carey (“Touch My Body”) to Rihanna (“Umbrella”) said he was retiring as an artist, vowing to abide by a threat he’d been teasing about for some time. “It’s the last album, period,” The-Dream told MTV News with regard to his Love King project. “I really would like it to be the last one if I could — in a perfect world.” Things haven’t exactly gone smooth for The-Dream since that time. He divorced singer/actress Christina Milian amid allegations of adultery and revealed that he thought about suicide during the aftermath of the breakup. But now, the Grammy-winning producer has revealed that he is hard at work on a new solo effort. “Everybody’s calling for an album now, so I should have one out by August,” The-Dream told former MTV host Quddus on Wednesday before the Los Angeles premiere of Justin Bieber’s new movie, “Never Say Never.” As of press time, no album title or release date had been confirmed by The-Dream’s label, Def Jam Records. The singer, whose own credits include “Nikki,” “Rockin’ That Thang” and “Make Up Bag,” also was hush regarding details. The-Dream did reveal to Quddus that he’s working on Bieber’s next record, along with Danja, Kevin Cossom and Kanye West. “I’ve been writing, just to get ready,” he said about the teen sensation’s upcoming effort. He teased that the sound of the new material was “somewhere between Fergie and Jesus, somewhere in between there. If I can get away with edgy, I would love it.” The-Dream also recently hit the studio with reality star Kim Kardashian , with whom he recorded the catchy single “Turn It Up.” Are you excited that The-Dream is working on a new album and collaborating with Justin Bieber? Tell us in the comments. Related Artists The-Dream Justin Bieber

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The-Dream Talks New Album Plans, Justin Bieber Collabo

Justin Bieber Says He’s Not Just Some Industry ‘Packaged Thing’

‘I’ve been playing music ever since I was born and it’s always been in me,’ teen superstar tells MTV News. By Jocelyn Vena, with reporting by Sway Calloway Justin Bieber Photo: Brian Phares/MTV News Justin Bieber will have his loyal fans and even his harshest critics saying “Never Say Never” when his 3-D flick opens on Friday. The movie offers an inside look at Bieber’s rise to stardom and the hard work and determination the teen star put in before hitting it big. For those who may not realize that Bieber is more than just a record label puppet created to pander to throngs of teenage girls, the film also shows that the 16-year-old is a skilled musician. “People didn’t really know,” he explained to MTV News. “They didn’t understand that I’ve been playing music ever since I was born and it’s always been in me. And this movie is really going to show that I’m not just some packaged thing that some A&R put together. It was actually just me living my dream and just making music.” He later joked that he also wasn’t molded in manager Scooter Braun’s basement. “Yeah, [he] just cut my hair like this [and made me what I am]!” At the New York screening for the film last week, Bieber spoke to us about what he hopes his fans will take away from the film. It is part concert film, part documentary, complete with interviews from some of the people closest to the teen phenom. It also features cameos by Miley Cyrus, Usher and Ludacris, to name a few, during concert performances filmed at Madison Square Garden last September, and interviews. In the film, Bieber is seen skillfully playing piano, drums and guitar. “Fans will be really excited to see that I’m just a regular 16-year-old having fun, just living my dream,” he said. “And it’s possible for anyone to live theirs.” Hot on the heels of his movie’s premiere, Bieber will be performing at Sunday’s Grammy Awards , where he promises “some surprises.” He’s been nominated for Best New Artist and Best Pop Vocal Album. Don’t miss “Snooki & Sway: Live From the Grammys,” a red-carpet live stream kicking off Sunday at 6 p.m. ET on MTV.com. And stick with us all Grammy night for coverage of the red carpet, the show, the afterparties and beyond! Related Videos MTV Rough Cut: Justin Bieber Related Artists Justin Bieber

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Justin Bieber Says He’s Not Just Some Industry ‘Packaged Thing’