'It's doing exactly what Rihanna and I hoped it would do,' Anthony Mandler says.
By Jocelyn Vena
Before the "Man Down" video was even released, its director teased that his latest collaboration with Rihanna was bound to "flip people's minds." Anthony Mandler wasn't wrong.
"Man Down," which depicts Rihanna shooting a man in the head as retaliation for sexual assault, elicited an incredibly visceral from some camps, who said the clip glamorizes violence.
"It's doing exactly what Rihanna and I hoped it would do, which is shine a light on the very dark subject matter," Mandler told The Hollywood Reporter.
He explained that the video harks back to the '80s and '90s, when most videos had a message, and said that the reaction to the video has been "knee-jerk."
"The fact that there's an argument to ban this because this will make girls retaliate from abuse with murder is skipping over the point," he added. "We obviously have a huge issue to deal with as a country."
While some are criticizing the videos, others have come to the defense of Rihanna's message. "It strikes me first and foremost that she is working out personal issues through her art," said Terry O'Neill, national president of the National Organization for Women.
But, the response is still very much split. "One of the main messages it leaves you with is violence breeds more violence and everyone can see that and also detect some problems with that," said Stephanie Nilva, executive director of Day One, a New York organization focused on teen relationship abuse. "I respect the fact that Rihanna is trying to draw attention to these issues, but I don't think viewers are necessarily getting healthy messages from it."
Related ArtistsSource: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1665372/rihanna-man-down-controversy.jhtml
Asia Argento Aubrey ODay Audrina Patridge Autumn Reeser Avril Lavigne
But is it here to stay? Our music-industry experts weigh in.
By Akshay Bhansali
Ke$ha
Photo: Andreas Rentz/ Getty Images
In 2010, pop princesses, R&B icons and chart-dominating newcomers all danced to the same beat. Not only did dance music go pop, but pop music caught the club-music bug.
Between Katy Perry's "Firework," Ke$ha's "We R Who We R," Rihanna's "Only Girl (In the World)," Enrique Iglesias' "I Like It," Usher's "DJ Got Us Fallin' in Love" and "OMG" and countless other singles, established artists definitely looked to dance beats for surefire hits. And two of this year's biggest success stories in music were Jason Derülo and Taio Cruz; could there be a soul left in this country who hasn't heard "Dynamite" or "In My Head"?
The love went both ways, with dance music's biggest stars finding mainstream success this year. Dance-music maestro deadmau5 took up house-artist duties at this year's VMAs, and Swedish House Mafia and Usher teamed up for a medley of their gems at the American Music Awards.
So how did this happen? We caught up with some music-industry experts to get their takes.
"You definitely saw tempos go up this year," Jon Caramanica of The New York Times told MTV News. "And I think what you had are a lot of producers who are really familiar with nightclub stuff. They are familiar with Europe. Things are happening on a more global scale now."
"I think everything from Europe, and sometimes even Asia, it comes to America, and we just adopt things a little bit slower," said Jared Eng of JustJared.com. "I think it was just a change. People like different types of music at different times. And dance was of this moment."
Noah Callahan of Complex magazine added: "I think 2010 saw the merging of the pop and dance genres. Pop artists realized that there were best practices that could be borrowed from dance music. And, ultimately, [all] pop music that has been made in the past 20 years had ended up being remixed for the club by dance artists. I think they basically just cut out the middleman and went straight there."
Dance music being introduced into the hip-hop and R&B realms was particularly notable this year.
"I think David Guetta kind of at the end of last year and the beginning of this year spearheaded it," said freelance writer Julianne Escobedo Shepherd. "He produced a lot of tracks. I think as trends go, people revile 'unst-unst.' But it's just coming back around. Big-room techno was a way for people to get decadent in a year that no one could get decadent."
"You have someone like will.i.am, who's like, 'Well, I spent all this time in Ibiza, and this is what they are doing,' and he wants to find a way to bring that into his music," Caramanica said of the Black Eyed Peas mastermind. "R&B especially became dance music. And especially with your Jason Derülos, Taio Cruzes. Guys like that would have literally been blocked at the border two years ago. That would not have made it through customs. And now all of a sudden they have #1 songs. I think will.i.am had a lot to do with that last year."
Elliott Wilson of RapRadar.com added: "It's actually even affected hip-hop. I was talking to Q-Tip, and his next record, I feel like that's gonna kind of go in that vein. I know that was also Jay-Z's thought process with Blueprint 3 at first, that he wanted to make a little bit more of a world music [vibe], a little more dancey. I think the kids today want to go to the clubs. They wanna have a good time. They wanna dance. So I think the artists of today are trying to kind of feed that audience."
"I think it's caught on this year because the people who've done it have been successful," offered Clover Hope of Vibe magazine. "Like 'OMG,' with usher, he didn't have success until he made a dance record. He had 'There Goes My Baby' and these really, like, adult-contemporary records that didn't really catch on. And then once you see that everybody is doing it and that people are liking it, they are like, 'OK, let me just try this out.' It's like Auto-Tune. Like, 'Let me see what I sound like on a record by David Guetta.' They end up liking it and doing more of it."
So does the club-music trend have staying power. According to our tastemakers, not so much.
"I do think it's a blip," Caramanica said. "I don't think that's gonna be something that lasts in America. I think this is gonna be a moment we'll all look back on and go, 'Wasn't that weird when Jason Derülo and Taio Cruz had #1 records?"
"At some point, these R&B artists will get kind of sick of it and be like, 'Let me go back to my soul background,' " Hope said. "When you actually have to say something, dance doesn't really lend itself to substance. And I think that R&B artists, they really want to talk about love and in a deep way, and to do that, you need to do, like, a soul or a traditional R&B record. I want to say that it's kind of a fad."
"I think music is very cyclical," Eng offered. "So I think dance music might be here for a little bit, but I'm sure it will phase out at some point."
Wilson called dance music "the sound of today. I think that people want more aggressive, faster beats, and I think that that probably has legs until at least next summer."
What do you think? Is dance music here to stay? Let us know in the comments!
Related Videos Related ArtistsSource: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1655031/usher-keha-more-help-dance-music-go-pop-2010.jhtml
celebrities Zooey Deschanel Aaliyah Abbie Cornish Adriana Lima
Glitter-heavy pop star tells MTV News she's going for 'balls-out, irreverent rock and roll.'
By James Montgomery, with reporting by Matt Elias
Ke$ha's already got the face paint down pat, and, during recent live sets, she's even taken to guzzling blood out of a human heart, so it should come as no surprise that, on her upcoming album, the pop star is taking things back to the most theatrical era of rock: the prop-heavy, arena-spanning heyday of the 1970s.
Ke$h revealed her plans over the weekend in Los Angeles, on the red carpet of KIIS FM's annual Wango Tango concert, where she told MTV News that the follow-up to her breakout Animal album (and, we suppose, Cannibal too) would be heavy on hard riffs and light on pretty much everything else.
"The next album ... I've been working on writing on the road, but as far as a sound, I just know it's gonna be balls-out, irreverent rock and roll," she said. "I've been pretty much in this '70s rock and roll kick and I just want to capture some of the true essence of what rock and roll is, and that's just irreverence and sexiness and fun and not giving a f---, so we'll definitely put a bit of rock and roll in it."
So, does that mean that fans can expect the likes of Alice Cooper or Peter Frampton to show up on her new album? Perhaps. Because while Ke$ha's new album is still a ways off, she's already begun calling in favors, hoping to line up a killer collabo for the new disc.
"I'm trying, trust me," she laughed. "I really would love to connect with one of my idols, I mean, that's my dream. I'm working on it."
What do you think of Ke$ha going rock for her next album? Tell us in the comments!
Related Photos Related ArtistsSource: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1663946/kesha-new-album.jhtml
Arielle Kebbel Ashanti Ashlee Simpson Ashley Greene Ashley Olsen
Source: http://feeds.celebritybabies.com/~r/celebrity-babies/~3/VDQTfAHAU6Y/
Brittany Snow Brittny Gastineau Brody Dalle Brooke Burke Brooke Burns
Officials have reportedly impounded copies of Gaga's latest disc, calling it 'offensive to Christianity.'
By Jocelyn Vena
On Monday night, Lady Gaga attended the Council of Fashion Designers of America Awards in New York City, where she accepted the Fashion Iconprize.
Donning a green wig and a black dress with mesh and spikes, the superstar opened up about her love of fashion and how it shaped her as an artist.
"All of you made me feel like a star before I was," she told the CFDA crowd at Lincoln Center, where guests included fashion luminaries like Marc Jacobs, Anna Wintour, and onetime star of MTV's "The City," Diane von Furstenberg. She continued, "As much as this award means to me personally ... I just want you to know how much this means to young Americans."
Gaga will continue to show support for her fans when she makes an appearance in Italy on Saturday at Rome's Circus Maximus to mark the close of 2011 Euro Pride.
U.S. Ambassador to Italy David Thorne said he is "very proud to have an Italian-American artist of [Gaga's] stature'' attending the Euro Pride festivities, which are held in a different European city every year. He added that U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said, "Human rights are gay rights and gay rights are human rights."
It's not all love for Gaga, however. According to The Guardian, officials in Lebanon have banned Born This Way, describing it as "offensive to Christianity." The office of general security reportedly impounded copies of the chart-topping album when it arrived at the airport in Beirut. "Distributors are prohibited from circulating media that diverges from public decency and morality or is at odds with nationalistic or religious beliefs," officials told The Guardian.
Despite the report, Lebanon's information ministry insists that it "is, and always has been, against all forms of censorship." The Los Angeles Times reported that the Lebanese office of general security confirmed "[copies of the album] are still in our offices. We are still deciding what to do with them."
What do you think of Born This Way being banned overseas? Tell us in the comments.
Related Videos Related ArtistsSource: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1665288/lady-gaga-born-this-way-banned.jhtml
Catherine Bell Chandra West Charisma Carpenter Charli Baltimore Charlies Angels
Singer tells MTV News about gay fan inspired by her song 'Animal.'
By Gil Kaufman
Ke$ha knows all about the perks of being a headliner. On her Get $leazy Tour, the singer gets to call all the shots, blast her fans in the face with tons of glitter and handpick which dudes she wants to party and share the stage with.
But it's not all backstage shenanigans and groupie love. When MTV News sat down with the "Blow" singer in New York earlier this week before her gig at Roseland Ballroom, Ke$ha said that amid the nightly onstage parties there have also been some poignant moments on her first headlining outing.
"Best moment? There are so many. Every night's amazing. I have kids outside right now chanting my name and it's awesome," she said of the first leg of the tour. "There was one night a fan came onstage, I invited him onstage, and he had a tattoo of the dollar sign. I was like, 'Oh, that's awesome! Badass. You're part of the cult, man.' "
And then, she said, he began to cry and explained that he was able to come out of the closet to his friends and family thanks to her song "Animal."
"And I'm standing onstage about to sing a song about growing back a pair of testicles ["Grow a Pear"] and I had tears rolling down my face and chills all over my body," she said. "Because that's really the reason I do music, to inspire people to be themselves."
Ke$ha has been a vocal supporter of the "It Gets Better" video project, which aims to help gay, bisexual and transgender youth find hope in the face of teasing and bullying.
The "Get $leazy" juggernaut continues on Saturday night with a show at Clarion University in Clarion, Pennsylvania.
Are you planning to see Ke$ha on her Get $leazy Tour? Tell us in the comments.
Related Videos Related ArtistsSource: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1662061/kesha-get-sleazy-tour.jhtml
Asia Argento Aubrey ODay Audrina Patridge Autumn Reeser Avril Lavigne
Source: http://www.mtv.com/overdrive/?artist=1236911&vid=404504
Ashley Olsen Ashley Scott Ashley Tappin Ashley Tisdale Asia Argento
Breakup tune, penned by B and Babyface, serves as second single off singer's new album, 4.
By James Dinh
With "Me, Myself and I," "Irreplaceable" and even "If I Were a Boy," Beyoncé has proven that she excels at delivering top-notch pop&B, need-you-no-more-type jams. Her new single, "Best Thing I Never Had," which she co-wrote with Babyface and released on Wednesday morning (June 1), is just the latest entry in that category.
Following the eccentric dance sounds of her lead single "Run the World (Girls)," Bey takes things down a notch on this midtempo cut off her new album, 4. Reminiscent of her 2006 hit "Irreplaceable," the song has the pop star taking aim at a former lover, admitting that she no longer desires him after discovering his deceitful ways.
"I wanted you bad/ I'm so through with it/ Cuz honestly you turned out to be the best thing I never had/ You turned out to be the best thing I never had/ And I'm gon' always be the best thing you never had/ I bet it sucks to be you right now," she confidently sings on the chorus.
With its radio-friendly appeal and catchy chorus, "Best Thing I Never Had" sounds not unlike a song you'd hear during a Broadway musical. That may be because, as Beyoncé has revealed, she collaborated with the band from "Fela!" for "a couple of days" to gain inspiration from the play's subject, Nigerian musician Fela Kuti.
On the single artwork for "Best Thing I Never Had," a platinum-blond Beyoncé strikes a pose in a small bathroom. Sporting a tight-fitting dress, the pop star holds red lipstick up to a mirror after writing "King B" on it.
In addition to Babyface, it seems that the pop superstar has also collaborated recently with OneRepublic. "Just finished mix on Beyoncé song — last one to make her album, once again she blew me away vocally, this is sumthin different — hope ya like!" the band tweeted on Tuesday.
What do you think of "Best Thing I Never Had"? Share your reviews below!
Related ArtistsSource: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1664883/beyonce-premieres-best-thing-i-never-had.jhtml
Jennifer Garner Jennifer Gimenez Jennifer Love Hewitt Jennifer Morrison Jennifer ODell