If you’re interviewing actor Samuel L. Jackson, you’d best make sure to choose your words carefully. During his press junket for Django Unchained, Jake the Movie Guy, aka Jake Hamilton, refused to say the N-word after Jackson’s insistence. It all started when the reporter commented: “There’s been a lot of controversy surrounding the usage of the N-word in this movie.”
‘No?’ ‘Nobody?’ ‘None?’ The word would be … ?” said Jackson.
“I don’t like to say it,” said Hamilton.”
“Have you ever said it? Jackson asked. “We’re not going to have this conversation unless you say it. … You want to move on to another question?”
Jackson tried to get the interviewer to say it several times but Hamilton refused over and over. Although Jackson started laughing, he said seriously: “It wasn’t a great question if you can’t say the word.”
The reaction was mixed online. While some thought the reporter’s squirmy reaction was hilarious, others thought it was silly he was asking a question when he was too terrified to use the appropriate word. Still, if he did say the word would there have been a negative reaction?
The film, which is a Western epic set in the pre-Civil War South, uses the word more than 100 times. Not everyone has been willing to overlook Django Unchained‘s use of the word. Director Spike Lee boycotted the film, saying watching Quentin Tarantino’s latest would be “disrespectful to my ancestors.” The controversy might have put Jackson over the edge.
What do you think about the whole thing? Should the reporter have said the word?
Believe it or not, Bridgit Mendler actually started her career acting in soap operas, and we managed to track down the footage! She even re-created her well-rehearsed soap opera reaction, which is much alike to Derek Zoolander’s.
In this interview we talk about her brief foray in daytime dramas and how she got her start in acting. Her one line: “I hate you and I wish I’d never been born,” (seriously).
We also wanted to find out how she balances Good Luck Charlie and her budding music career. “It’s nice that they’re complimentary. You can share an audience, which is good, and sometimes there’s opportunity for synergy on the channel,” she said. “I think it’s important to make a definitive line. I don’t want my character on Good Luck Charlie to have the same singing voice as me in real life. I’ve made an effort to make it not be that.”
Apparently she has it all figured out!
Watch it here
Unlike some other artists, Diplo can work with whomever he wants without losing his credibility. It’s impressive how many strange, random collaborations he’s done but he always brings something cool to the table. In this interview, we ask him about his new album, working with the Maple Jesus (Bieber) and what it takes to get picked up by Mad Decent.
Watch it here
Wiz Khalifa told us about the weirdest sh*t he did on his newest album. It involved getting drunk and experimenting with volumes. “That might sound kinda trippy and sh*t but we did it,” he said “and it came out really awesome.” ANDPOP‘s Jordan Bortolotti spoke to the rapper about experimenting with drugs while recording and the state of rap.
“I want it to really be about the music and the swag and about everything that goes into the project,” he said about his newest album, O.N.I.F.C. “You gotta see what’s going on and not only be able to move forward but be able to take from past inspirations — like listening to albums that when I first got CD players, these were the albums I was going and buying. I’m at that point in my career when I really gotta define who I am and how long I’m gonna be here and those artists did that with those albums.”
Starting your music career while you’re still in high school can be complicated. Between school, touring and making new music, Austin Mahone is a busy guy.
We asked him how he maintains his seemingly “perfect life.” It’s a demanding schedule that can be pretty repetitive — hotel room, venue, sleep. “Honestly, the music business is insane,” he said. “It’s super crazy — I never expected it to be this intense.”
Oh, and we also got some news about his upcoming album! “My album’s gonna come out around the time I’m going on tour with Taylor Swift, which is around March. And so I would say expect a lot of collaborations with huge artists,” he said. “You know, just upbeat pop songs.” Get excited.
Watch it here
Also watch Part One and Part Three here.
The characters in The Hobbit and Lord of The Rings aren’t particularly attractive. But what if your life depended on being involved with one of them?
Playing a funny game with stars Martin Freeman, Andy Serkis and Sir Ian McKellen, MTV’s Josh Horowitz gave the actors a hard time in choosing whether they would F*ck/marry/kill characters like Gollum, the Eye of Sauron, Smaug or Bilbo Baggins.
There obviously isn’t much to choose from (because really, who would want to kiss an Orc?), but I agree with McKellan for marrying the dragon Smaug.
Although villainous, Smaug is voiced by Benedict Cumberbatch and that man is BEAUTIFUL.
Watch the video here:
The smoking hot guys from The Wanted performed an acoustic cover of “I Found You” during ANDPOP’s LIVE interview with them. They’re amazing artists in the studio but they proved they can put on a wicked acoustic show too.
As always, the guys let loose while performing — clapping to the beat, laughing with each other and fooling around. Especially little Nathan, who stole the show.
Watch it here
Stopping by on The Ellen Show, Justin Bieber covered many topics such as his new owl tattoo, his outfit meeting the Prime Minister of Canada and being snubbed by the Grammys.
Having won several awards this year at the American Music Awards, Bieber said he wasn’t too broken up about being left out from one of the biggest annual music awards shows.
“It’s definitely something that I was looking forward to, but I know that it’ll happen one day,” he said, noting that he is still young. “I’m blessed to be able to do what I love every day.”
And because Bieber is clearly all about the music, he also had some special news for his fans. Returning back to his kidrauhl roots, Bieber announced on the show that he is releasing an acoustic record in January!
“It’s something I think the fans really like,” he said, “because I started out on YouTube, just playing my guitar and singing without all the production and stuff. I like to put out acoustic albums. I think it’s more intimate.”
The exact date of release isn’t known yet. But for all we know, it’s days like these that make us cross our fingers and hope that the world isn’t going to end in six days. Because if it does, we’ll NEVER GET TO HEAR IT.
(Don’t worry. I highly doubt the world is going to end. That’s just ridiculous.)
We were surprised to hear Bridgit Mendler’s debut studio album isn’t semi-autobiographical, considering it’s called Hello My Name Is.. (Bridgit Mendler). Although it’s self-titled, the songs on the album aren’t all personal to her, though they do appeal to her sense of style and personality. She recently sat down with ANDPOP’s Jordan Bortolotti in Toronto to chat about the writing process.
“I think it’s so brave for artists to tell their own stories,” Bridgit said. “And I would love to do that. But I think another part of the fun of it is not just telling your own story but telling a bunch of different stories.”
“Ready or Not” was the first single off her introductory album. It was an international Top 40 hit and thrived on the Billboard Hot 100 list. The 19-year-old was also at NYC’s recent Big Jingle on Dec. 7.
Bridgit said she’s looking forward to doing more albums in the future that have an over-arching concept, but the eclectic mix of songs was perfect for an introductory album. “For now,” she says, “the main thing I’m trying to convey is ‘Hi! This is who I am.’” And if this is who she is, we’re into it!
Watch it here
After watching her promo tour for Les Miserables, I have to say Amanda Seyfried is becoming one of my favourite personalities ever. Every interview she does is ridiculously entertaining, case in point, her interview with Ellen Degeneres.
She has so many talents but here’s one you didn’t expect from her — or anyone really. Seyfried rapped 2Pac’s “California Love” while inexplicably wearing a frog mask. The YouTube comments are mixed so far, though matheuswoww‘s comment led the pack when I wrote this: “That’s the whitest thing i’ve seen.”
Watch it here
Perhaps she had a little liquid courage in her system? She admitted to David Letterman the other day that she indulges in a little alcohol before big talk shows so she can enjoy them more. Before Letterman’s show she had three drinks, partially supplied by his colleagues.
“I’ve never done a live television show — or afternoon — without some kind of liquid courage,” she said. “I understand that I have a problem maybe, but you know what? It really gets me through. I really want to enjoy my experience out here because it’s special.”
I’m crossing my fingers we never hear about Seyfried enrolling in a rehab program, but in the meantime this girl is absolutely hilarious. She totally owned rapping in a frog mask and I’m guessing that’s no easy feat.
Watch it here Read more…
It’s no surprise Diamond Rings takes a strong creative license over his unique sound and image, considering he started out by recording and distributing his songs in his bedroom. He’s someone who stands out both musically and artistically in a visually saturated culture — something he feels is important.
“I think it’s really important to take ownership over every facet of what it is to be a muscian in 2012,” he said in an interview with ANDPOP. ”The more I can do on my own to shape who I am and to shape what people think of me the better.”
Now that he’s gaining even more acclaim from fans and music critics, his work is done on a grander scale. To keep himself challenged creatively he’s involving others in the process, or “trying to” he laughs.
The artist performed an acoustic version of “All The Time” at Toronto’s Drake and gave some solid advise for aspiring musicians, or really, anyone in the artistic community.
“I would advise anyone starting out who has a love of music,” he said “to follow their hearts and not be afraid to trust intuition and trust their instincts, and not be afraid to try those things that seem crazy.”
He added: “If your heart is in the right place good things will start to happen.”
Watch it here
Diamond Rings: All The Time (Acoustic Performance) from ANDPOP on Vimeo.
In an age of strange and beautiful technology, talk show host Jimmy Kimmel is now able to interview animated characters. This week, he sat down with the crude teddy bear named Ted, from the film of the same name. The two chatted about a sequel to the film, which Ted jokingly commented will be exactly the same but in Thailand. Kind of a low blow to The Hangover Part II.
Although the interview is really cute and hilarious, it has the Internet questioning how the interview actually took place. Some people really believe that Ted was actually there in the flesh. Others want to know what the heck the audience was looking at — Kimmel having a one-way conversation with an invisible teddy bear? I guess we’ll never know.
Watch the interview here:
It’s hard to believe but Austin Mahone wasn’t always a ladies man. “I was in this little town so all the girls were into the country guys that wore boots and jeans. So I was completely different from everybody else and none of the girls found me attractive,” he said in an interview with ANDPOP.
A year ago he met Taylor Swift in a cafe and she told him to never give up on his dreams. Now he’ll be opening for her during her upcoming Red tour. “It’s gonna be crazy,” he said.
He also talked about the ups and downs of having a loyal social media following. Although it’s been harder to keep in touch with his friends, he loves connecting with his fans. Keep the tweets coming, he reads all of them!
Watch it here
Major LOLs during their performance for ANDPOP
One of my favourite things about The Wanted is that they don’t take themselves too seriously. They started off our live-stream with not one, but two acoustic performances— ’I Found You’ and ‘Glad You Came.’ If you didn’t catch what all the laughing was about, they were making sexual noises during GYC. I see what you did there. [skittlesforjay]
Drunk in the studio?
Even though the guys are constantly busy on the road, they’re making time for their new album coming out early next year. Nathan blurt out, “When was the last time you were in the studio Jay?” He didn’t quite remember if it was yesterday… or the day before. Who could blame him, really? [nodoyjay]
Tom Parker 2.0
Jordan wanted to know what it would take to be a member of The Wanted. After him and Tom reversed roles, he showed off his British accent and suggested he could be the rapper in the group. When TW’s manager Scooter Braun called in, he even said he liked the new Tom better. Could it happen? [thewantedsexgods]
Siva knows what’s up
Nathan may be the youngest out of the guys, but don’t question him when it comes down to his vocal cords. That solo in ‘I Found You’ says it all. Wow. [teamjaythan]
Too close for comfort?
During the lyric, “I’m glad you came,” Nathan couldn’t help but give a little grip onto Siva’s leg. He was like — uh no. It’s okay Nathan, I’m single. [nathanns]
The world is coming to an end Read more…
ANDPOP interviewed the gorgeous guys from The Wanted for the third time this past weekend and they nearly broke my camera with their smouldering good looks. Check out some of the photos below:
Max looks broodingly off camera. What’s he thinking about?
Every time Jay smiles, 100 girls’ ovaries explode
Likewise, every time Max shielded his face from the camera, 100 girls screamed defiantly
Scooter Braun called us and said our host should change places permanently with Tom. What would you think about the swap? Read more…
We’re streaming an exclusive LIVE interview with The Wanted AND Carly Rae Jepsen from a Toronto location this Saturday, Dec. 1 at 2:15 ET. Hold your screams for the next part: The Wanted will be doing a LIVE acoustic performance too! You can watch it all go down on on ANDPOP.com and our YouTube channel.
Every time we interview The Wanted something crazy happens. One time they prank called a fan and accused them of stealing a dog and the other time Siva made up a rumor about his testicles for kicks (but actually). We’re also dying to ask them details about their forthcoming album!
We’ll be interviewing Canadian hottie Carly Rae Jepsen at 3:30. We’re obsessed with her new album Curiosity (seriously, it’s on repeat) and can’t wait to ask her about life on the road with Justin Bieber.
We know. It’s like Christmas day came early and Santa brought you the ENTIRE WORLD. If you have any questions for them, holla at us on Twitter @andpop or Facebook.
CATCH THE ENTIRE EVENT HERE AT 2:15 EST!!!
One of the most endearing things about indie dance duo Matt and Kim is their wicked sense of humour and candid war stories, including getting blackout drunk or fooling around with “groadies” (groupies + roadies).
Apart from being hilarious, their fourth-studio album Lightning is addictive. They were happy to go back to their DIY roots, recording it themselves from their hometown in New York — which also meant they didn’t have to wear pants (WIN).
In their interview with ANDPOP’s @Jordans_Life, Matt and Kim also revealed how they got their start with the after-hours MTV crowd.
“When we started out we were just playing loft parties and house parties and stuff like that and we ended up hosting a show on MTV really early on before were doing any legit venue shows,” said Matt. “But it’s just probably because the people who were coming to those parties and stuff like that are also —”
” — people who work for MTV or write for magazines,” added Kim.
“So you’re in front of those people just when they’re going out to gett blackout drunk,” Matt laughed.
Either way, we’re happy they caught the attention of those reporters early on because we’re obsessed!
Watch it here
Jason Sudeikis impersonated a slew of celebrities on Ellen today, including Simon Cowell, Ricky Gervais and Cher. It was all for one of Ellen’s favourite celebrity guessing games, and she got most of them right. The only person missing was his girlfriend Olivia Wilde!
Ellen also gifted Jason with bikini-clad self portrait of herself lounging on the beach, which probably meant a lot to him because he admitted to having a big old crush on her. No seriously, he like, collected photos of her for a newsletter and stuff.
Watch it here
Jason’s crush Read more…
It looks like fame is suiting the Overly Attached Girlfriend well. Laina was recently invited to interview celebrities on the red carpet for the American Music Awards and naturally, couldn’t stop thinking about Justin Bieber.
She was as creepy as ever, hunting for the popstar with her wide eyes and even inspiring a couple unsuspecting people to call her creepy. Although she made eye contact with Scooter Braun, Carly Rae Jepsen and Karmin both bypassed her and Taylor Swift — who she screamed for — didn’t come around either.
She did make friends with Backstreet Boys’ Brian though, who told her she was awesome.
Watch it here
While Of Monsters and Men had musical aspirations, they never dreamed they’d be full time musicians.
“I always wanted to do it but it just felt silly to say it because it’s just so unrealistic,” said vocalist and guitarist Nanna Bryndís Hilmarsdóttir.
The six piece indie folk band experienced swift success after winning a national battle of the bands competition in Iceland back in 2010. Since then their single “Little Talks” from their debut studio album My Head Is An Animal has topped Billboard’s alternative chart.
The group performed a live acoustic session of “Mountain Sound” for Making Waves. They told ANDPOP they never intended to make an album at first — they just wanted to write songs and word quickly spread.
They also had some apt advice for musicians. While many artists throw off romantic affirmations like “follow your dreams,” vocalist and guitarist Ragnar Þórhallsson is a little more practical: “Do it because you want to do it and make music that you yourself like and not that you think everyone else will like,” he said. “Like my dad always says, just keep on keeping on.”
Watch it here
