‘I can respect that he wears his feelings on his sleeve,’ Kelis says of cover featuring her green wedding dress. By Rob Markman Nas’ Life is Good album cover Photo: If you were expecting Kelis to scream “I hate you so much right now” after seeing ex-hubby Nas’ Life Is Good album cover, then you have the “Milkshake” singer all wrong. For the cover of his upcoming solo LP, Nas posed with Kelis’ green wedding dress, the only item she left behind when she and the Queens rapper split. “My feelings about it are not really relevant, but at the end of the day, Nas is an artist and for whatever it’s worth, he’s one of the greatest — especially for what it is that he does,” Kelis told NME.com about the album cover during an interview at the Isle of Wight Festival in England this past weekend. Nas first spoke on the significance of the dress when VH1 profiled the usually private MC on their “Behind the Music” special. “She took her stuff out of the house and left her green wedding dress. And that was all she left,” he said. “It clicked right there. You’re saying it even in your interview. It’s like a given that this should allude to this being on the cover, that statement,” Nas told MTV News on June 12. “Some things you can’t plan, they happen.” The veteran MC likened himself to an old blues musician, an endearing quality that his ex-wife appreciates. “I feel like, especially someone in hip-hop to really kinda be genuine and honest, whatever the honesty is about, I think it’s awesome,” she said. “My feelings about it aren’t really necessarily valid, it’s just the fact that as an artist, I can respect that he wears his feelings on his sleeve. I like that.” Life Is Good is due out July 17. What is your favorite Nas album cover? Let us know in the comments! Related Artists Nas Kelis
Hollywood.TV is your source for all the latest celebrity news, gossip and videos of your favorite stars! bit.ly – Click to Subscribe! Facebook.com – Become a Fan! Twitter.com – Follow Us! Seth McFarlane talks about sitting in the back of the theater during the initial screenings of “Ted”, especially this movie as it was the hardest script he’s ever written. The challenge in this film was retaining the story arch throughout the movie, and he’s relieved that the movie is not a failure. He says he hopes that audiences relate to the talking teddy bear as an actual character…and not just a stuffed child’s toy. Originally, ‘Ted’ was an idea for an animated series! Hollywood.TV is the global leader in capturing celebrity breaking news as it happens. We cover all the major Hollywood events including The Golden Globes, The Oscars, The Screen Actors Guild Awards, The Grammy’s, The Emmy’s and the American Music Awards, as well as all the red carpet movie premiers in Los Angeles and New York. HTV is on the streets 24/7, at all the industry events and invited by the stars to cover their every move in Hollywood, New York and Miami. Hollywood.TV is currently the third most viewed reporter channel on www.youtube.com YouTube with almost 400 million views, and our footage is seen worldwide! Tune in daily for all the latest Hollywood news on www.hollywood.tv and http like us on Facebook!
‘I feel like every artist is inherently granted one shot to sing about having a good time,’ Adam Young tells MTV News of ‘Good Time.’ By Jocelyn Vena Owl City Photo: When MTV News caught up with Owl City himself, Adam Young, on Thursday (June 21), he called “Good Time,” his just-released duet with Carly Rae Jepsen , a “happy accident.” Happy is definitely the right word to describe the feel-good summer track, on which Owl City and Carly Rae sing about listening to Prince and partying until twilight (the time of day, not the movie). “I feel like every artist is inherently granted one shot to sing about having a good time in his or her life, and six months ago, I realized I hadn’t cashed in my chips yet,” Young told MTV News. “So I thought, ‘I’m gonna sit down and I’m gonna give this a shot … and get my friend Carly to sing on it.’ … The final product rarely exceeds your expectations, and this thing just kind of happened.” Young’s people called Jepsen’s people, and from there, “Good Time” became a shimmering duet between the “Fireflies” singer and the “Call Me Maybe” songstress, combining their earworm powers for the ultimate summer sing-along jam. “It was this whole worlds-collide thing, and it was this kind of dream come true. I can’t believe it happened,” he said. “[It was] so kind to lend her talent to this song, so yeah, it worked out. … I feel like it’s one of those songs, it kind of always needed to be a duet. That was the initial idea from step one.” Young wrote the track back in the dead of winter, saying he wanted to craft a tune that “anybody from any walk of life can sing.” He certainly accomplished that mission, with the song’s easy-to-remember chorus (“We don’t even have to try/ It’s always a good time”) and a little bit of a “Whoa-oh-oh-oh-oh” anthem to keep you singing and dancing to. With the song out in the world, up next, Young and Jepsen are slated to shoot a video in New York City, but Owl City actually has a more ideal spot. “It would have to take place in Hawaii, ’cause it’s such a summer song,” he said. “So there’s probably $1 million in flights right there. But probably somewhere very dreamy and summery and somewhere you can feel like you can take a look around you, and you’re already having a good time.” “Good Time” is the lead single from Owl City’s next album, The Midsummer Station, due in August. Related Artists Owl City Carly Rae Jepsen Adam Young
New clip, directed by Anthony Mandler, sees the pair portraying the Kennedys. By James Montgomery Lana Del Rey and A$AP Rocky already made minor waves when a song they recorded together, “Ridin’,” was yanked from production duo Kickdrums’ mixtape at the last minute — reportedly because Rocky liked the track so much, he decided to keep it for his own upcoming full-length, LongLiveA$AP. But from the sound of things, their next collaboration could make major headlines: The duo will play John F. Kennedy and Jacqueline Kennedy in the video for LDR’s “National Anthem.” Rocky broke the news in an interview with a German reporter, saying the “Anthem” video is sure to get people’s attention, even if they probably won’t understand what they’re seeing. “We did a video together … [it’s] some swag sh–,” he said. “I play JFK, she plays Jackie O, you know, some cool, trippy sh–, some really 2015 sh–. People gonna get it in like three years, and that’s the whole purpose of it.” Totally. Of course, in another interview with BBC Radio 1 , Del Rey revealed that, in addition to its rather unique take on the Camelot couple, the “National Anthem” video would also be 10 minutes long and directed by Anthony Mandler (who recently helmed Fun.’s epic “Some Nights” clip). “Every so often, I top what I’ve done, and this video is definitely the most beautiful thing I’ve ever done,” she said. “I wrote a treatment for me and A$AP Rocky, because i just thought he’d be really perfect to star in it. … I love it.” Sadly, Mandler is about the only person who isn’t talking about the video. In an email to MTV News, he said he couldn’t speak about the video “until I know when the release is.” But rest assured, it’s coming soon — and you’re probably going to be talking about it for a long time after. Related Artists A$AP Rocky Lana Del Rey
My Bieber Experience started on May 1 st when my friend, Emily and I were called back for filming after we submitted an application for VEVO, who was trying to find Justin’s Superfan! Let me just begin by saying that Emily and I have been huge fans since November 17 th 2009. The one thing we have wished for over these past years has been to simply have a conversation with Justin. we were so excited and were the first ones taping for an interview that would air on VEVO! We found out in the dressing room that the person who won would be called back tomorrow to meet Justin! We were so nervous but excited thinking that all we had to do was rock the interview. We both did our interviews, then we had to lip sync and dance to Baby. We went crazy dancing over the whole stage and singing as loud as we possibly could. It was the best experience of my life and I honestly felt like such a star just having all the attention on us, getting a real microphone attached to me and just singing and dancing on stage. It was such an amazing experience there alone. But that’s not even the best part. The best part came right after we shot. We walked out with one of the producers asking us, “Would you guys maybe want to come back tomorrow?” OH MY GOSH . The person who came back tomorrow would meet Justin!!! WE WERE SO EXCITED! We were jumping, screaming, and on the verge of crying. I was so happy. The next day, May 2 nd , I had to endure school thinking that I could possibly meet Justin Bieber. I was still a little skeptical because she technically didn’t say we would meet him. So Emily and I left school early and headed back out to the secret location. When we got there, the two producers and director, met Emily, myself, and our moms outside. He said, “Unfortunately, you will not meet Justin today”. I felt my heart sink down into the bottom of my stomach. Then he said, “Just kidding! You will meet Justin today!” At that point of confirmation, I was so excited! We were jumping around, running up and down the halls, screaming, crying, we were absolutely in shock! This was our break! After those 3 years, we would finally have our dreams. We rehearsed some lines, and the director told us we would be able to have a conversation with Justin and ask him anything we wanted. We were honestly the happiest girls in the world and no words could describe this feeling. And this was before we met him! Kenny came out and we introduced ourselves and he said, “Are you guys excited? Because you need to be!” Obviously that just made us even more excited. We waited for about 2 hours, while Justin was interviewing his segment. Mind you, as we were waiting, we saw a matte black Range Rover pass by, and just freaked out a little bit inside. Finally they asked us if we were ready. WE WERE FREAKING OUT ! We walked in and they gave us our places and we read over some lines. The director said, “Do you know what you’re going to ask Justin?” See, we didn’t really know that we would be taped, so we were just thinking that we would have a regular conversation with him, ask about his day, whatever, but no we were going to be filming our conversation so we started freaking out! Then he said Justin will walk out you have to stay here and then start your conversation. So then he came out, I honestly thought I was going to pass out. He was so perfect and amazing and I just didn’t know what to do with myself. He was walking up to us and said “Hey guys! How are you?” And then said “You guys look so pretty!”. Did Justin Bieber just say we looked pretty? *Freaking out in my head!!! My friend and I introduced ourselves and so did Justin, even though we knew who he was obviously! Then he stood next to me and I started asking questions. I was shaking and had to think of these questions on the top of my head so just started asking. After getting more comfortable with Justin, I was totally fine and honestly saw him as a regular kid. We kept talking and then for a second, cameras stopped rolling. He came up to us and said, “Enough of the fake stuff! Come here!” And just came in giving us big hugs and then a group hug . He was honestly the sweetest person ever. Then we gave him the awards, which is why he was there. Justin was honored with 8 certified awards for having 8 of his songs get more than 100 million views on VEVO! We took pictures and were just joking around and I honestly felt like Justin was my friend. We thanked him for being so amazing to his fans and being so appreciative of how much he does for us. We had small talk with Justin, just talking about random things and realized our dreams came true. We had a conversation with Justin Bieber. After a ton of pictures and more shooting, we thanked Justin for everything he did for us again and said our goodbyes. Let me just conclude by saying, Justin Bieber hasn’t let fame hit him. He was the sweetest boy in the world and was honestly so genuinely nice to us and thankful for his fans. As he was leaving, he shook everyone’s hand who was involved, hugged our moms and said his goodbyes to us. I could tell in his eyes how thankful he was for us and I was just so proud to be called a Belieber. I hope we represented all of his fans well and I couldn’t be happier to belong to such an amazing Bieber family! Thank you so much to VEVO for this great opportunity. Justin, thank you for everything you do for us daily. You made my dreams come true and I couldn’t have asked for a better role model in my life. Miracles happen to those who believe in them. NEVER SAY NEVER. -Paulina @bieberbabe1994 Click here to watch the video View original post here: My Bieber Experience started on May 1st when my friend, Emily…
Let’s kill some time before Wednesday’s sneak peek by thinking up our dream trailer, in ‘Twilight’ Tuesday. By Kara Warner Robert Pattinson in “Breaking Dawn – Part 2” Photo: Is it Wednesday yet? We are anxiously awaiting the debut of yet another expectedly epic teaser trailer for “Breaking Dawn – Part 2,” and although there was a brief moment of reprieve when we got a sneak peek at 13 seconds of the teaser on Tuesday (June 19), we’re now in full-on obsessive analytical mode, which means it’s time to think about the five things we’re hoping to see in this new trailer: Renesmee, Renesmee, Renesmee As much as we’d like to ooh and ahh over how cute Edward and Bella’s progeny is as a baby, now that we’ve seen a photo of Mackenzie Foy as Renesmee , we’re thirsty for scenes of the young lass in action. Baby? What baby? As we all know, her existence is a continued threat to the Volturi, so we’re hoping to see some of that intensity play out. New Vampires! It seems like I write about this every week, but I’m still dying to see more of those new additions to the cast , i.e. all the other vampires from the non-Cullen clan. Where and why are you hiding Garrett, Carmen, Irina, etc.? Vampire Bella’s Mind Tricks We very likely won’t be seeing Bella’s secret superpower until the end of the movie, but how about showing us a little sample of what she can do with her soon-to-be-superstrong mental force field? I’ll settle for a quick glimpse of her arm-wrestling battle royale with Emmett, but it would be great to see how Bill Condon and screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg adapted Stephenie Meyer’s description of Bella’s mind tricks. The Next Great “Twilight” Song Biased as I am, it’s going to be hard for anyone to top the Edward/Bella love song from “Breaking Dawn – Part 1,” “Turning Page” by Sleeping at Last , but in knowing the caliber of the “Twilight” soundtracks, I’m betting it will include several potential new favorite songs. So why not give us a little listen in this new trailer? Jacob Not Being Creepy With Renesmee I am all about my love for Jacob, but the whole imprinting on Renesmee thing still creeps me out. I know, I know, he only feels and thinks about his total devotion to the young lady, but I just can’t get past the oddness of it all. Something that would help me get over that is if I could see how Taylor Lautner’s Jacob interacts with Foy as Renesmee. What do you want to see in the trailer? Let us know in the comments or tweet me @karawarner! For young Hollywood news, fashion and “Twilight” updates around the clock, visit HollywoodCrush.MTV.com .
MTV News talks to Billy Corgan about his ‘I’ll piss on Radiohead’ comment and the Pumpkins’ freewheeling new disc. By James Montgomery Billy Corgan Photo: First things first: Billy Corgan would like it to be known that he does not actually want to piss on Radiohead , despite the interview he gave last week in which he declared, rather matter-of-factly, “I’ll piss on Radiohead.” Turns out, most things involving Corgan, the Smashing Pumpkins or anything else Corgan’s done over the past 25 years (professional wrestling, Scorpions’ concept albums, Zwan) cannot adequately be described as “matter of fact.” So here, in the same all-in manner in which he approaches most aspects of his life, is his full explanation of that Radiohead quote and the ensuing fallout it caused. “Look, if anybody wants any insight into my real character, I’m willing to play the fool, to point out where things are foolish. For example, addressing the Radiohead quote, where the quote was ‘I’ll piss on Radiohead.’ The context of the quote was saying ‘I’m willing to poke fun at something because there’s so much pomposity around it that it’s treated as reverent and holy,’ ” Corgan told MTV News. “So what ends up happening? The quote ends up getting picked up, which shows [people think] ‘How dare anybody criticize the band that’s un-criticizable?’ And that’s really funny; why is a band un-criticizable? I’m an artist who it is apparently OK to criticize, and I’ve made a career out of playing with that criticism and subverting it. “One of my main complaints about the music business is that it ignores a lot of music that people really, really like. Heavy metal being particularly one of them. You can say in a crowded room that ‘Oh I love Radiohead,’ and everyone goes, ‘Oh yeah, me too.’ But if you say ‘I love Iron Maiden,’ people go ‘What?’ ” he continued. “That’s not cool, and yet, heavy metal bands seem to sell a lot of records and draw a lot of fans. Why are those fans ignored? It’s the same high school game … it’s still the same sh–. It’s still some guy in a corner with a beard telling me I’m not cool enough, yet I pioneered the very form of music that he’s still talking about 20 f—ing years later.” Get it? Good. Corgan wasn’t taking a shot at Radiohead but rather the industry that has turned them into sacred cows. And if he sounds bitter, well, that’s because he is. After all, unlike most of his alt-rock contemporaries, he’s rarely the subject of voluminous praise, and the past decade of his work has, to varying degrees, largely been ignored by the mainstream. Though all of that may change with the Pumpkins’ brand-new Oceania album, which, thanks to its voluminous scope, ringing solos and proudly anachronistic aesthetics — hour-plus running time, lack of discernible singles and the like — has critics talking about a full-blown Pumpkins’ revival. And yes, Mr. Corgan finds all of that very amusing indeed. “Part of the steam and energy behind the new Smashing Pumpkins record is very few people actually thought I’d make a great record again, I’m not oblivious to that,” he said. “And it gives very little credit to the fact that I haven’t been trying to make great records. I’ve been trying to make records in a different definition; the cultural zeitgeist version of a great record, I haven’t been trying that for a long time. I just don’t think there’s an upside in it. Where is the upside in making a great record if the critical class isn’t going to review it properly, isn’t going to give it historical context, and is going to give some guy in his basement who has one good song the Hosanna review, like he’s Jesus Christ walking on water. Once you see that system, you just lose interest.” And that truly seems to be the point of Oceania. Corgan isn’t interested in making top 10 lists, earning raves or placing singles on modern rock radio. Instead, he just felt the need to make an artistic statement: This is who he is, 25 years into his career, without any regrets. Whether you listen or not is largely up to you; either way, he’s content to be misunderstood. In fact, “content” may be an understatement. “I [used to be] hell-bent before on destroying the bridges that I had just crossed. I don’t feel the need to do that anymore. I don’t feel the need to honor anything in particular, I don’t feel the need to be a certain type of musician, I don’t feel the need to exist in a particular culture,” he said. “Because as far as I’m concerned, alternative culture on the edges has dismissed me repeatedly for, what, being an artist? That’s a really strange thing. And mainstream culture has ignored me repeatedly for not selling enough records, and yet I’ve managed to sell a lot of records. So, ultimately, what I’d say to anybody is, true independence means you’re not going to have the normal people stand up and vote for you. You have to go on your own.” Related Artists The Smashing Pumpkins
Cover features rapper sitting with ex-wife Kelis’ wedding gown draped across his knee. By Rob Markman Nas Photo: A bright splash of green is all it took to make the album cover for Nas ‘ Life Is Good pop, but coincidentally for God’s Son, it’s all just a case of the blues. “The cover is like an old blues man talking about his life,” Nas told MTV News about the striking image for his upcoming 10th solo shot. There’s Nasir Jones, sitting pensive, with his hand to his chin, wearing a crisp white, casually unbuttoned suit. On his lap is a green wedding dress, the same green wedding dress that his ex-wife Kelis wore during their 2005 wedding ceremony; the same green dress that she left hanging in his closet after their divorce. When VH1 profiled the rapper on their “Behind the Music” special, the usually private Nas spoke in detail about his split from the R&B singer. “She took her stuff out of the house and left her green wedding dress. And that was all she left,” he said, his voice marked by heartbreak. It was in that very moment, during the VH1 interview, that Nas knew what he had to do for his next album cover . “It clicked right there. You’re saying it even in your interview, it’s like a given that this should allude to this being on the cover, that statement,” he said. “Some things you can’t plan, they happen.” Throughout his career, the gifted lyricist has always delivered strong images, and it’s all very deliberate. Before fans even got a complete listen of Nas’ 1994 classic debut Illmatic, the album’s cover let you know that you were in for something special. The cover image of a prepubescent Nas, with his hardened gaze juxtaposed against his native Queensbridge housing project has become just as indelible as the 10 tracks that it housed. On his next three album covers, Nas built upon that first Illmatic image. The front panel for his 1996 sophomore disc It Was Written re-created the same look, but with an image of a more grown-up Nas. On I Am, Nasir once again posed against Queensbridge, but this time he appeared as a pharaoh. And on Nastradamus, he used the same backdrop but played the role of a prophet, with a brown hood over his head. By the time 2001’s Stillmatic was released, Nas had abandoned the Queensbridge concept and created an image faintly reminiscent of Slick Rick’s 1988 debut, The Great Adventures of Slick Rick. With 2004’s Street’s Disciple cover, Esco re-created a Last Supper theme, and on his controversial 2008 Untitled album, a shirtless Nas appeared as a slave, with welts on his back that formed the letter ‘N.’ When the already-iconic MC looks back at his career, he wants to be remembered for his cover art. He takes his cues from memorable LPs like Earth Wind & Fire’s Last Days and Time and Iron Maiden’s self-titled 1980 debut. “I wanna be the one, like Earth Wind & Fire and Iron Maiden, like album covers that just really stand out,” he said. “I want to be the guy with the best album cover story.” Life Is Good is due out July 17. What’s your favorite Nas album cover? Let us know in the comments! Related Artists Nas
Martin Hill tells the Daily how he set the stage with the visually arresting opening scene. By Kevin P. Sullivan An Engineer in “Prometheus” Photo: This article contains “Prometheus” spoilers. Ridley Scott’s ” Prometheus ” begins with some of the film’s most arresting images. A hairless, pale-skinned Engineer stands atop a waterfall. He drinks a liquid that we may never learn more about, disintegrates and, in turn, creates all of life on Earth. The visuals set the stage for the rest of the film and show Scott’s use of 3-D simultaneously, and now, new videos from the Daily explore the effects work that went into making that shot and the Prometheus’ crash with the Engineer ship. Visual effects supervisor Martin Hill from WETA Digital goes into great detail during his interview about the opening sequence, the creation of life. Not only was the team challenged with creating an impressive visual, but one that succinctly told a complex story. “Because we had such a short amount of time to tell the story of the DNA getting infected, breaking apart, and then re-forming and recombining to show Earth DNA, we had to make the designs of the different DNA quite graphical, quite illustrative of what they were,” Hill said. After some time, the sequence shifts to the microscopic level, traveling inside the veins of the Engineer. For those sequences, Scott instructed the visual effects team to emphasize the destruction being done. “The Engineer’s DNA, we thought, ‘This needs to be quite sinister, but we know it’s going to get infected, and the infection has to look more messed up than the Engineer’s DNA,’ ” Hill said. “We used quite a light color palette for Engineer’s DNA, and then the infection comes on and it’s very melted looking. Ridley actually said to us, ‘It has to feel like war in there. The DNA is just being torn apart.’ ” The actual scene of genetic destruction came together from computer-generated elements, but the inspiration for the look came from a very real-life source of inspiration. “We try to use as much reality as possible, so we were looking at all different kinds of reference, so eventually we settled on fish bones, actual decayed fish spines, to represent the structure of the DNA,” Hill said. “For the infection that rolls across the infected DNA, what we did was carve actual blocks of silicone with the vein structures in there and pumped black ink and oils and all kinds of different materials through those, filmed them, and used the motion of those as the basis for all of our effects for the veins and the effect coursing through his body.” Check out everything we’ve got on “Prometheus.” For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com .
A crazy, self-proclaimed Jungle Bird Man crashed the U.S. Open trophy presentation last night after unheralded Webb Simpson won golf’s prestigious title. Somehow, this odd UK Bird crept past security and stole the show, cutting off NBC’s Bob Costas on live TV and doing his bird call before being hauled away. The Bird admits he had a few beers beforehand … big surprise. Bird Man Interrupts Webb Simpson Interview Jungle Bird Man – see his official Facebook page – says it was a premeditated mission to raise awareness about global deforestation. Makes sense. “I want people thinking about saving trees,” he said. Hilariously, after security handed the interview crasher over to the San Francisco police, he and the officers were making bird noises at the station together. They eventually cut him loose because U.S. Open officials did not want to press charges. Classy move on their part. Next on the hit list for the avian wonder? “The House of Commons,” he says, “is the next port of call.” Better beef up security over there fellas.
