Selena Gomez never wanted to be a role model. However, the 18-year-old actress and singer has learned to embrace it anyway, she says in the upcoming E! Entertainment Special: Selena Gomez . “I’m human, I’m not perfect,” Gomez admits . “I make mistakes all the time, but I guess my job is to keep those mistakes to myself, which I’m already fine doing and just try to be the best I can be for those kids.” Being a role model isn’t easy when you’re still growing up yourself . “I never really said I want to be a role model. But when it happened I was so down for it,” Gomez admits, having just been hospitalized due to malnourishment and exhaustion, which led to her mom telling her to slow down . She’s doing better now, but it’s an ongoing battle. While the Texas-born beauty has enjoyed much success at a young age, she didn’t have an easy childhood and struggled with her parents’ divorce. Gomez’s high-profile romance with Justin Bieber has made headlines, making it tough to stay comfortable in the spotlight and manage her fame. “This is a very superficial job,” Gomez says. “I sit in a chair for two hours and get hair and makeup done and talk about [myself] in interviews.” “That’s a very vain thing to do. I do get caught up in it sometimes.” Give her credit for recognizing the pitfalls of celebrity at such a young age and trying to keep life in perspective as well as a teenager possibly can. We wish her all the best. For a look at Selena’s latest musical effort, follow this link and listen to ” Whiplash ,” a collaboration with Britney Spears! [Photo: WENN.com]
Michelle Obama is coming to iCarly in an episode that will air in January. The First Lady paid a visit to the set of the Nickelodeon show this week. The guest appearance by Mrs. O is designed to raise awareness to Joining Forces, an initiative that supports and honors American military families. Executive producer Dan Schneider reportedly wrote the episode specifically for Michelle Obama and Joining Forces. Here she is arriving on the set … Michelle Obama on iCarly Set In the episode, the two BFFs of Carly (Miranda Cosgrove) break some rules to set up a web chat so Carly can speak to her dad serving overseas. The First Lady, who hears about the girls’ efforts, then comes to talk to them about the importance of connecting soldiers with their families. Sounds like a television event worth watching.
Christina Aguilera poses naked on the latest cover of W Magazine. This might make it difficult for any reader to focus on the interview inside, but that would be a shame. Because the singer touches on two of the obstacles that made the beginning of 2011 so challenging for her: Her split from Jordan Bratman. Her forgetting of the National Anthem lyrics prior to Super Bowl XLV. On why she and Bratman got divorced : “At one time or another, we were both not angels. It got to a point where my life at home was reminding me of my own childhood. I will not have my son grow up in a tension-filled home…” On the Super Bowl snafu : “Everything on the field at the Super Bowl was vividly bright, and I was having a moment. I got lost in the emotion of being there and I messed up the lyrics to the song.” Oh well. Christina has bounced back nicely, anchoring the panel on The Voice , this season’s top-rated new show.
Move over, Alexander McQueen. You had your time in the spotlight when you designed Kate Middleton’s royal gown. But now someone else has been chosen to play a vital role in the true Wedding of the Century: Carolina Herrera has been tabbed as the woman behind Bella Swan’s dress in Breaking Dawn . The announcement was made over Twitter today, and linked to a photo of Bella’s veil. See it HERE . All eyes will be on Carolina Herrera’s creation in Breaking Dawn. Breaking Dawn comes out on November 18. Next to the abs of Taylor Lautner , Bella’s wedding dress is likely what fans are most looking forward to seeing.
The trailer for The Help worried us with its Blind Side y condescension, but the new poster for the film presents Viola Davis, Octavia Spencer, Emma Stone, and Bryce Dallas Howard (who looks a lot like Ellie Kemper here) in a more positive, yellow-and-purple sorta light. Watch and judge.
Sure, Megatron’s the supreme villain of the Transformers universe, but in Transformers: Dark of the Moon his infamously cold, calculating fellow Decepticon Shockwave gets a turn in the spotlight. Starting with this newly-released character banner, in which Shockwave — often described as what Star Trek ‘s Spock might be like in evil alien robot form — poses while laying waste to an entire city block.
Jay Rock, Ab-Soul, Schoolboy Q and Kendrick tell MTV News in spite of shine from Dr. Dre, they’re still out to prove themselves. By Alvin Blanco, with reporting by Steven Roberts Black Hippy Photo: MTV News When covering the New West , the name Kendrick Lamar will inevitably pop up. The Compton rapper has managed to convert mixtape and hip-hop blog adulation into a co-sign from Dr. Dre, who’ll be contributing to his forthcoming Section .80 album. Despite his high-profile admirer, Kendrick remains focused on his grassroots grind and is signed to independent label Top Dawg Entertainment. The 23-year-old and his fellow TDE labelmates — Jay Rock, Ab-Soul and Schoolboy Q, all high-caliber hip-hop prospects in their own right — joined forces and formed Black Hippy. The talented rap quartet share a love for deft wordplay over thumping beats (see “Zip That Chop That” and “Rolling Stone”), making them one of L.A. hip-hop’s most highly anticipated crews. More amazing is that most of their music is created in a tiny studio. “Sometimes it gets a little difficult because there’s four or five of us, so we somehow manage to squeeze in enough time to get our work done as well as the Black Hippy material,” Ab-Soul explained to MTV News. Thankfully, cramped quarters haven’t stopped them from creating music that they continue to get out to more and more fans as their popularity grows. “It feels real good to see our music touch everybody, not just my color, his color, all colors of people and different cultures,” said Jay Rock, a former Warner Bros. Records artist. “For all of those people to come together and watch us do our thing and show us love, that [gives] us the energy to do what we do.” Kendrick is set to appear on the good Dr.’s Detox and also has a joint project in the works with Roc Nation rapper J.Cole. Jay-Z’s first signing will be producing 90 percent of the as-yet-untitled album, according to Kendrick, who specified that it won’t be just a mixtape. But props from Dr. Dre, J. Cole and others, isn’t going to stop Kendrick and his Black Hippy family from working even harder to build on the foundation they’ve already created. “A lot of people will be like, ‘You good now, Dre messing with you,’ ” Kendrick said. “No, we’re not good now. We’ve got to go 10 times harder. Just because that man is further in his career doesn’t mean he could say one word and further my career right that instant. I’ve got to have the music to back it up and prove myself still.” Stick with us all week as MTV News turns the spotlight on the New West, the next wave of hip-hop acts helping restore faith in the L.A. rap scene. From groups like Odd Future to rising MCs like Dom Kennedy, we’ll bring you up close and personal to these artists as they carve their own lanes in the post-gangsta rap era. Keep it locked here for the next week for more on the West Coast up-and-comers! Related Videos The New West: An In-Depth Look At L.A. Hip-Hop
Fader ‘s editor in chief calls the eclectic collective’s rise ‘a special moment.’ By Steven Roberts Odd Future’s Tyler, the Creator Photo: Getty Images Over the past few months, Odd Future have exploded onto the music scene, leading the charge for the New West . The L.A.-based collective has found itself performing at the mtvU Woodies ; in the pages of nearly every skate, music and pop-culture publication; taking over “Late Night With Jimmy Fallon” ; and even parodying itself in a Funny or Die spoof. While the last few months may have seemed like a whirlwind, the group isn’t an overnight-success story. Tyler, the Creator, Domo Genesis, Hodgy Beats, Left Brain and the rest of the gang have been making noise for quite some time. They’ve released more than 10 albums over the last two years and made significant waves underground and on the Internet, building a substantial, loyal following thanks to their attention to lyrical detail and “I don’t give a f—” attitude. “It seems like there’s been kind of a divide in hip-hop, where the people that are quote-unquote lyricists are very serious about their craft and don’t seem like they’re having very much fun at all,” said Andrew “Noz” Nosnitsky. “And the party-oriented stuff is more the guys like Waka Flocka and dudes who are like, ‘Nah, I don’t care about lyrics at all.’ ” Noz, who wrote OF’s Billboard cover story , said the group appeals to people on both sides of the fence. Tyler has been vocal about his love of Waka Flocka Flame and his disdain for overly critical hip-hop heads, but his crew’s lyrical prowess can’t be ignored. Fader Editor in Chief Matthew Schnipper agreed that OF’s mixture of bedlam and lyricism made for something special. “There’s always people making good things, and there’s always people running around trying to be ridiculous,” Schnipper told MTV News. “When the two things come together, it’s a special moment.” Schnipper also said Odd Future owed a lot of their success to new fans joining their circus. OF had released a bevy of free albums before they caught the mainstream’s attention, leaving newcomers with a lot to catch up on. “By the time everyone jumped on them, they had already had a full body of work that had already been on the Internet and around, so I think to some degree, that’s exciting, because here is somebody you didn’t know about, and then you can go to page 102 on a Tumblr and 4 million mixtapes. There’s a body of work there to be explored that’s all pretty solid.” Stick with us all week as MTV News turns the spotlight on the New West, including a special edition of “RapFix Live” with Cali’s own Tyga on Wednesday at 4 p.m. ET on MTV.com. We’re bringing you the next wave of hip-hop acts helping restore faith in the L.A. rap scene. From groups like Odd Future to rising MCs like Dom Kennedy, we’ll bring you up close and personal to these artists as they carve their own lanes in the post-gangsta rap era. Keep it locked here for the next week for more on the West Coast up-and-comers! Related Videos The New West: An In-Depth Look At L.A. Hip-Hop Related Artists Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All Odd Future
‘Never going to forget this one,’ singer tweets after Tel Aviv show. By Jocelyn Vena Justin Bieber performs in Tel Aviv on Thursday Photo: Jack Guez/ AFP It’s been a trying week for Justin Bieber . After criticizing the paparazzi in Israel on his Twitter account, he then vowed to take a break from tweeting so that he could vacation with his family before his performance there on Thursday. Let’s not forget he had to cancel his meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as well. But on Thursday Bieber finally hit the stage without a hitch. “Well hello there,” he tweeted before he took the stage at Tel Aviv’s Hayarkon Park. “Time to do what i love best … perform for the fans. Israel … its almost time. #myworldtour.” According to a concert review in The Hollywood Reporter, Bieber took the stage at 8:00 p.m. to play to an estimated 35,000 fans. While most of the show sounded like standard Bieber fare, at one point Bieber’s music director, Dan Kanter, played the country’s national anthem, “Hatikva.” Bieber then played his inspirational track “Pray,” and even paid homage to manager Scooter Braun’s grandmother, a Holocaust survivor who was in the audience. “It was perhaps the one awkward moment in the show, if only because the next line he uttered enthusiastically was, ‘Who wants to be my ‘Baby?!’ ” the writer noted in her review. After his show, he seemed as happy about the performance as his fans. “AMAZING NIGHT … AMAZING PLACE … AMAZING SHOW!!” he tweeted. “NEVER GOING TO FORGET THIS ONE. #BLESSED” Next up Bieber takes his act to the Singapore Indoor Stadium. He has shows booked abroad through May. Related Artists Justin Bieber
‘I’m just a product of all that; all the hip-hop that I grew up seeing,’ Breezy tells MTV News about the Cali rap scene. By Rebecca Thomas Chris Brown Photo: MTV News Chris Brown may hail from a little town called Tappahannock in VA, but when it comes to his swag, these days it’s L.A. every day for the F.A.M.E. star. Whether he’s doing the “Cat Daddy” with Los Angeles trio the Rej3ctz in their colorful clip or teaming up with Compton-born Young Money MC Tyga for the wildly successful Fan of a Fan mixtape, C.Breezy reps for the region. As we gear up for our New West Week on Monday — MTV News’ must-follow series on the upstarts breathing new life into the Left Coast rap landscape, from Odd Future to Dom Kennedy — we spoke to Chris about why he lays his broad-brimmed snapback in La-La Land. “I been out in L.A. for a while but I think it’s just, with me, my style is just me,” he said when we asked how he’d been influenced by the City of Angels. With the exception of standard-bearer Snoop Dogg , energetic efforts from Game and the enduring influence of super-producer Dr. Dre, the West Coast took a backseat in the last decade after the Chronic -fueled dominance of gangsta rap subsided. But although that indelible sound gave way to a scene that’s now varied enough to count groups like Black Hippy and Pac Div, as well as Nipsey Hussle and Tyga among its corps, Brown said he was nostalgic for the Chucks-and-Dickies look of Ruthless Records-era N.W.A. “I’m just a product of all that; all the hip-hop that I grew up seeing … I’m inspired by everything,” the “Look At Me Now” singer said. “And I think fashion kind of goes with me as a creative artist. “The L.A. scene now is kinda poppin’,” he continued. “We brought the snapbacks back … me and Tyga,” he claimed about the trendsetting head gear. “Nobody was really wearing it, it was a handful of people: It was Omarion, it was Tyga, me and Big Sean wearing snapbacks. And we was just really wearing that as our own kind of swag ’cause we were looking at N.W.A and looking at how back in the day they used to have Kris Kross and the whole nine, and we wanted to bring that back for the kids.” He quickly added with a laugh, “We ain’t taking credit for it, but you know, everybody’s wearing ’em now, so we did something good.” Breezy did share the sartorial credit, citing fellow Virginia native Pharrell Williams as another major influence on his Angeleno-tinged style. The N.E.R.D. frontman put his stamp on the hip-hop-meets-skate-punk look early on, eventually launching the Billionaire Boys Club line (Chris was outfitted in the collection when he visited the MTV newsroom). “I kind of look at Pharrell as one of the advocates of that [look]. I think a lot of kids, whether it be L.A., whether it be New York, a lot of kids modeled after him when he cut that skater/preppy look, then it was Kanye after and [so on]. Pharell was that guy that really set the tone for us as the kids and the generation now.” Starting Monday, stick with us as MTV News turns the spotlight on the New West, the next wave of hip-hop acts helping to restore faith in the L.A. rap scene. From groups like Odd Future to rising MCs like Dom Kennedy, we’ll bring you up close and personal to these artists as they carve their own lanes in the post-gangsta rap era. Keep it locked here for the next week for more on the West Coast up-and-comers!- Related Videos The New West: An In-Depth Look At L.A. Hip-Hop Related Artists Chris Brown N.W.A.
