Tag Archives: spotlight

Drake And The Weeknd Work Like ‘Family’

Producer 40 says Drake’s ‘Crew Love’ was ‘an important record for him to make, and the Weeknd was someone that he wanted to include on that.’ By Rob Markman, with reporting by Steven Roberts The Weeknd and Drake Photo: Getty Images To his fans, the Weeknd is quite mysterious. Though the Toronto singer/songwriter stayed plenty busy putting out three free albums online last year, he has shied away from the spotlight, making very few public appearances and doing only a small number of interviews. While he remains an enigma to fans, to Drake, Noah “40” Shebib and the entire October’s Very Own team, the Weeknd (real name: Abel Tesfaye) is family. “Weeknd is obviously someone very close to us and our family. He’s from Toronto and someone we’ve been associated with and working with for quite some time,” Shebib told MTV News when we visited Toronto in December. “So that’s close to home, that’s easy. He’s in and out of the studio whatever the case is — that’s family.” Weeknd released his first album House of Balloons in March, then its follow-up Thursday in August and then completed the trilogy with Echoes of Silence in December. His music has no doubt caused a stir, and he was most recently tapped to perform at the upcoming Coachella music festival. Two key appearances on Drake’s Take Care also did a lot to raise the Weeknd’s musical profile. His soulful wails drive Drizzy’s pulsating hometown dedication “Crew Love.” Even to the unfamiliar, it’s impossible not to notice Tesfaye’s key contribution. ” ‘Crew Love’ was just a moment for Drake, as far as the content of the record and what was going on around him in his life and his people and his team and how much he cares for them,” 40 explained. “That was just an important record for him to make, and the Weeknd was someone that he wanted to include on that, and that made sense.” On “The Ride,” the Weeknd contributes in a different way, blending his vocals into the background of the track while Drake raps throughout. It’s almost as if the emerging vocalist is an instrument, rather than a guest on the track. ” ‘The Ride’ was really just a vibe, it was a vibe that the Weeknd caught, and it was just so crazy that Drake wanted to rap on it,” Shebib said. “On ‘The Ride,’ he’s definitely an instrument, and he’s singing all through Drake’s vocals.” It is all a great introduction for an artist with a ton of potential, but as for what the Weeknd has planned next, no one really knows. “He’s not interested in playing the game right now,” Shebib said. “He wants to put out his music, and I think when he’s finished putting out his music, he’ll reassess his feelings on the game.” After our interview with 40, the Weeknd released the third mixtape in his trilogy ( Echoes of Silence ), and now we wait to see what’s next. Miss any of our exclusive interview with Noah “40” Shebib? Check out his track-by-track breakdown of Take Care, his thoughts on the Rihanna-featuring title track and why he isn’t competing with Kanye West . Related Photos ’40’ Making ‘Take Care’ Related Artists Drake

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Drake And The Weeknd Work Like ‘Family’

Dance Moms ‘Not Very Grateful,’ Abby Lee Miller Says

‘You would think that the mothers would see things a little clearer now,’ outspoken instructor tells MTV News about Tuesday’s season-two premiere. By Jim Cantiello Abby Lee Miller of “Dance Moms” Photo: MTV News Abby Lee Miller is just as eager to see the second-season premiere of “Dance Moms” as the rest of us. Although she’s the star of Lifetime’s runaway reality hit about a tough-love dance instructor and the meddling moms that get in her way, she doesn’t see the show ahead of time. “I see [the episodes] when you see them,” Miller told MTV News. “People are asking me questions about future episodes, and I’m just like, ‘I don’t remember what happened. Sorry!’ ” But once the titular dance moms are brought up in conversation, Miller has no problem recalling her ongoing drama with the cast. (Buckle up, readers. She’s got a lot to say about everyone!) “They’re just not very grateful,” Miller whispered. “You would think that the mothers would see things a little clearer now, now that they’re on a television show and now that they do have fans, that they [wouldn’t] be a little more respectful of me. I just think that they don’t want to recognize the fact [that] if it wasn’t for Abby Lee Miller and the Abby Lee Dance Company and having their children enrolled in my studio that they would be on a show,” Miller said. A lot of the drama in season two — premiering Tuesday night (January 10) at 9 p.m. — stems from the inflated egos of the newly famous cast. “[Dance mom Kristi] went behind everyone’s back and hired a publicist,” Miller sighed. “Kristi has this bizarre twisted imagination that they would have just picked [daughter] Chloe up in any dance studio in the Pittsburgh area. How would that have happened? That’s not the way that it came to be.” Still, even with the spotlight brighter than ever, the lady in charge insists that nobody “turns it on” for the camera. “I think why the show always works is there’s that underlying original story or characters, if you will, that had these original problems before Lifetime, before [production company] Collins Avenue, before [producer/creator] John Corella and I ever put this together and he ran with it and made this all happen,” Miller said. “Those things like grown adult mothers being jealous of [child dancer] Maddie — that’s still there.” One of Abby Lee Miller’s biggest pet peeves is the “favoritism” accusation thrown her way in regards to Maddie, the award-winning dancer often perched on top of Miller’s achievement pyramid over classmates Chloe and Paige. “Bull!” Miller screamed. “[Maddie]’s paying for one-on-one lessons. At registration in August, guess who wasn’t there [to sign up for one-on-one lessons]? I don’t know if I’m allowed to say,” Miller trailed off, hinting at future season-two plot-points. “These moms, this is their first child that they’ve had involved in this. This is my 3,000th child I’ve had involved in this. So I’ve done this all before. I can take you back 30 years and give you two names just like Maddie and Chloe. Another five years? Another two kids. Another five years? Another two kids. There’s always two kids in that studio that are vying for the top spot. There’s all those other kids who are in the group [too]. Some of those [other] kids are on Broadway right now. It’s not always the one who was really good and winning everything when they were little that ends up with a career. Bodies change, interests change, passion changes. You never know. I mean, look at Paige; she’s stunning. She’s a beautiful child. When she’s 18, it’s all going to come together. She’s gonna fill out, she’s still gonna be beautiful. The dancing’s gonna click. You don’t need to do the steps that Maddie’s doing to be in a Broadway show or to be a Rockette.” Another hot topic is Holly’s inability to see her daughter Nia perform at a dance competition due to a work commitment. It’s a fight that kicks off season two and it still remains a contentious issue, long after the second season wrapped taping. “[Holly]’s a principal of a school. She’s a hotshot. Leave early! Come on! She just got in trouble two days ago for me. Didn’t show up again at a competition, and it was a Saturday. Now what? And her husband’s a really good-looking, nice guy with a big job. Hire an assistant! Do whatever you have to do!” But nobody gets Abby Lee Miller’s blood boiling quite like Cathy Nesbitt-Stein, rival dance coach at Candy Apple’s Dance Center in Ohio. Miller accused Cathy of stealing a bumblebee costume Miller leant to her daughter. “I think they’re stealing a lot of things,” Miller joked, referencing a tricked-out video-screen pyramid PowerPoint that fans will see Cathy use at Candy Apple’s in the season-two premiere. “I went to the [Apple store] in Pittsburgh and I said, ‘I want this and I wanna throw [the girls’ pictures onscreen] like “CSI.” ‘ And then I told my producers at Collins Avenue, ‘I need this! This is the way it has to be.’ And then they stole that idea and gave it to [Cathy]. You can’t trust anybody in this business,” Miller said. Watch Abby Lee Miller be “always right” and never get the respect she deserves when the drama-filled second season of “Dance Moms” premieres Tuesday night at 9 on Lifetime.

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Dance Moms ‘Not Very Grateful,’ Abby Lee Miller Says

Britney Spears’ Big 2011: From A Smash Album To A Ring On Her Finger

A decade into her career, the pop megastar reinvented herself this year as the ultimate Femme Fatale and made a big commitment to Jason Trawick. By Jocelyn Vena Britney Spears Photo: Getty Images Maybe Britney Spears ‘ lucky number is 30. The singer turned 30 this year, marking the landmark birthday on December 2 with a fan-voted MTV News tournament that crowned the Best Britney Video of All Time . But her 30th year also proved to be an incredibly successful period in her career. For the first time in a while, she seemed comfortable being the pop megastar that she is. More than a decade into her career, Spears re-emerged as a Femme Fatale, giving fans a fist-pumping album, embarking on a flashy tour and dropping more memorable music videos. Britney Spears fandom was reenergized as the singer came out of her shell, opening up about this phase in her career as well her personal life in several high-profile interviews. So it’s probably not surprising that Spears will cap off the year at #4 on MTV News’ Top Newsmakers of 2011 list, just behind Lil Wayne. “When I was younger, I was busy, busy, and I was always singing and dancing all the time. I was just really creative,” she recalled in the MTV special “I Am the Femme Fatale.” “That’s when my mom realized I’m a really creative person.” She let that creativity shine over the past 12 months. From “Hold It Against Me” to “Till the World Ends” to her Chris Marrs Piliero-directed “I Wanna Go” and “Criminal,” Britney made headlines every time she dropped a music video. But no vid stirred up as much controversy as her “Criminal” clip , which featured real-life boyfriend (now fianc

Britney Spears’ Big 2011: From A Smash Album To A Ring On Her Finger

A decade into her career, the pop megastar reinvented herself this year as the ultimate Femme Fatale and made a big commitment to Jason Trawick. By Jocelyn Vena Britney Spears Photo: Getty Images Maybe Britney Spears ‘ lucky number is 30. The singer turned 30 this year, marking the landmark birthday on December 2 with a fan-voted MTV News tournament that crowned the Best Britney Video of All Time . But her 30th year also proved to be an incredibly successful period in her career. For the first time in a while, she seemed comfortable being the pop megastar that she is. More than a decade into her career, Spears re-emerged as a Femme Fatale, giving fans a fist-pumping album, embarking on a flashy tour and dropping more memorable music videos. Britney Spears fandom was reenergized as the singer came out of her shell, opening up about this phase in her career as well her personal life in several high-profile interviews. So it’s probably not surprising that Spears will cap off the year at #4 on MTV News’ Top Newsmakers of 2011 list, just behind Lil Wayne. “When I was younger, I was busy, busy, and I was always singing and dancing all the time. I was just really creative,” she recalled in the MTV special “I Am the Femme Fatale.” “That’s when my mom realized I’m a really creative person.” She let that creativity shine over the past 12 months. From “Hold It Against Me” to “Till the World Ends” to her Chris Marrs Piliero-directed “I Wanna Go” and “Criminal,” Britney made headlines every time she dropped a music video. But no vid stirred up as much controversy as her “Criminal” clip , which featured real-life boyfriend (now fianc

Lady Gaga Visits White House To Discuss Bullying

Gaga met with administration officials to discuss their anti-bullying campaign By Gil Kaufman Lady Gaga Photo: Ethan Miller/ Getty Images Though she didn’t appear to get another audience with the President, Lady Gaga visited the White House on Wednesday to offer her help in the Obama administration’s anti-bullying campaign. Gaga met with administration staffers about her pet issue, but was unable to speak to the President in person, as he was in Kansas giving a speech on the economy. “Lady Gaga is a source of strength for many young people who feel isolated and scared at their schools. Today, I had the opportunity to welcome her to the White House, where we discussed ways we could work together to make sure that no child comes under attack, regardless of his or her race, sexual orientation, gender identity, or any other factor,” wrote Obama senior advisor Valerie Jarrett in a blog post on the White House website . “Lady Gaga has described this cause as a personal one — she has said that as a child, she was often picked on for being different. I am deeply moved by the way she has used her story, and her success, to inspire young people, and shine the spotlight on important issues.” Gaga previously met with Obama when she attended a fundraiser for the president’s re-election campaign in California in September. The singer, who recently announced the upcoming launch of the Born This Way Foundation along with her mother, was uncharacteristically low-key about the White House pop-in, not posing for photos or publicizing the visit. Jarrett went on to enumerate the various ways the administration has taken on bullying, including the White House conference on bullying held earlier this year by the president and First Lady Michelle Obama. The Lady Gaga event came on the same day that the administration released a new analysis of state bullying laws and policies, which shows that states have made some progress in enacting policies and legislation to address bullying, but that more work is left to be done. “As we continue protecting our children, we look forward to working with Lady Gaga, the Born This Way Foundation, and with every American who is willing to help make our society more kind, inclusive, and equal,” Jarrett said. Related Videos MTV First: Lady Gaga Related Artists Lady Gaga

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Lady Gaga Visits White House To Discuss Bullying

Anthony Weiner Mistress to Publish Tell-All?

Anthony Weiner has remained mostly out of the spotlight since resigning from Congress this summer amid a penis-texting scandal. But Traci Nobles is reportedly hoping to drag the disgraced politician’s name back through the mud again, tell-all memoir style. One of Weiner’s online mistresses, Nobles has already appeared on The Today Show and said she has no regrets about cybersexing with a married man. To further drive that point home, “Traci has been shopping [a] book around to various publishers,” an insider tells Radar Online. The source claims this memoir will feature screen shots of her Internet-based conversations with the ex-congressman, who she friended on Facebook before moving on to the romantic setting of Yahoo! Messenger. “Traci shows no shame in pitching the book,” the mole said. “She puts it all out there.” Sounds like she and Weiner have something in common in that case.

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Anthony Weiner Mistress to Publish Tell-All?

“T.I. And Tiny: The Family Hustle” To Premiere December 5 [PHOTO]

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It’s been a couple of months since T.I.’s release from prison, and at long last, the reality series that he’s been working on since his release is here. T.I. & Tiny: The Family Hustle will feature T.I.’s wife, Tameka “Tiny” Cottle and their children for an inside look at the private and professional life of the Grammy-winning Atlanta artist. ” In this family documentary, you will see the challenges of raising children while balancing a career,” T.I. said in a VH1 press release. “It’s like a lot of families, only our home is in the spotlight.” T.I. & Tiny: The Family Hustle premieres on VH1  December 5th at 9pm. The new series follows the “King of the South” at his most vulnerable, as T.I. re-acclimates back into his life as a father, husband, son, musician, apparel magnate, businessman, actor and best-selling author (Power & Beauty). During filming of a music video, the audience will catch a tender moment as T.I. teaches his son the importance of education and doing his school work. For the first time, fans will get to know T.I.’s children and see their reactions as they realize their father is a member of Hip Hop royalty. T.I. even begins to instruct his eldest son, Domani on the secrets to putting on a great concert performance and allows Domani (aka T-Money) show off his skills in front of a crowd of 3,000 at the Scream Tour. Read more here. RELATED: T.I. Feat. Big K.R.I.T. “I’m Flexin’” [NEW MUSIC VIDEO] T.I.’s Son Domani Raps: Is He As Good As Tip? [VIDEO] T.I., Young Jeezy & Nelly Stop By Gangsta Grillz [EXCLUSIVE] 2 Chainz Ft. T.I. “Spend It” Remix [AUDIO] Future Ft. T.I. “Magic” Remix [AUDIO] T.I. Speaks About His Freedom, Future & More! [EXCLUSIVE] T.I. Speaks On Incident With Diddy At Compound [EXCLUSIVE VIDEO] T.I. Should Have Been On His Honeymoon When He Was Arrested T.I. Pens Love Letter To Tiny From Jail T.I. Sentenced To 11 Months In Prison, Says He “Screwed Up” [EXCLUSIVE]

“T.I. And Tiny: The Family Hustle” To Premiere December 5 [PHOTO]

Justin Bieber Prank Calls Hair Salon

The fans of Justin Bieber are not reacting very well to the rumor that he impregnated a fan last year. Seriously, they are very angry at Mariah Yeater . But how is Bieber himself dealing with the seemingly ridiculous report? Just fine, thanks. He appeared on Ryan Seacrest’s radio show this morning and prank called a beauty salon, confusing the heck out of an employee named Darlene. Yes, he’d like The Bieber blow-dry, please. First, can you tell him what The Bieber entails? Watch now and take a deep breath, fans. It’s all gonna be okay… Justin Bieber Prank Call In another recent radio appearance, meanwhile, just rapped! REALLY well! Watch him drop rhymes NOW !

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Justin Bieber Prank Calls Hair Salon

Stanley Tucci and Felicity Blunt: Engaged!

Actor Stanley Tucci is engaged to Emily Blunt’s sister Felicity. The actor’s ties to the Blunt family go back to 2006, when he co-starred alongside Emily in The Devil Wears Prada as her sharp-tongued but supportive art director. A widower since his wife Kate died in ’09 from breast cancer, Tucci is father to their three young children. He began dating Felicity in the middle of last year. In March, Stanley Tucci will be seen in the movie adaptation of the Suzanne Collins novel The Hunger Games . Congratulations to him on his engagement! [Photo: Fame Pictures]

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Stanley Tucci and Felicity Blunt: Engaged!

A Very Gaga Thanksgiving: Coming to ABC!

Lady Gaga will sit down with ABC’s Katie Couric for a TV special that will air three weeks from tonight. Its title is short, sweet and holiday-themed: A Very Gaga Thanksgiving. The special promises an intimate look inside the private life of the pop superstar, who will perform eight songs – including ” Marry the Night ,” ” You and I ,” ” The Edge of Glory ,” “White Christmas” and “Lady and the Tramp” with Tony Bennett. The audience: Her own friends and family. “We all know Lady Gaga is a phenomenon. This is a chance to see more of who she is beneath the wild costumes and staged musical numbers,” says Couric . “She will impress you, delight you and surprise you.” The 90-minute special (November 24, 8 p.m. ET) will also feature an interview with Couric, who will sit down at Sacred Heart Catholic School in Manhattan. At Gaga’s alma later, the women will discuss the New Yorker’s music, her relationships, her rise to stardom, her life in the spotlight … and her love of deep-fried turkey and waffles, which she’ll make with the help of chef Art Smith. Can’t miss TV if you ask us!

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A Very Gaga Thanksgiving: Coming to ABC!