Rihanna reportedly peeved off Saturday Night Live’s producers by calling in sick for the final dress rehearsal but the girl put on a good show regardless. The dress rehearsal is done live in front of a studio audience right before the actual show and it’s taken pretty seriously, so when she bailed and came in looking fine, it didn’t bode well.
Rihanna started with “Birthday Cake,” making some believe Chris Brown would make an unexpected cameo (he didn’t) but it soon turned into a medley of “Talk That Talk.” Rihanna was spotlighted in front of a giant spiderweb which was illuminated by green lasers.
Some people complained that there was an echo effect added to her microphone that made her voice sound shaky, but that went away with her follow-up performance of “Where Have You Been,” which had an Arabian-themed backdrop.
Host Eli Manning was a bit awkward but it was Kristen Wiig who ultimately stole the show with her impression of the Tan Mom. Whether or not Rihanna was sick, she put on a good performance, though we didn’t get to see her anticipated “Shy Ronnie” digital short.
Watch it here:
Rihanna doesn’t shy away from posting photos of all aspects of her life, whether it’s rolling a blunt on some dudes head or smoking a gigantic joint. It appears that Rihanna is a generous tipper at the strip club too after she tweeted this Instagram photo of herself tossing money with the caption: “my daddy would be proud.” Though we beg to differ.
And apparently she doesn’t care about the whole “role model thing” — “Best stress reliever = $tripper$. Kill it Tip it… ROCstars**t my daddy would be proud… RoleModelS**t.”
General Aladeen Sacha Baron Cohen stopped by Australia’s Today show to coerce you into seeing “The Dictator” and also talk about hot button topics like Rihanna, Mel Gibson and Ryan Seacrest.
Here are a few things I learned:
1) Mel Gibson is now the head of the Republic of Wadiya’s Department for Race Relations and on the board for the Museum of Intolerance.
2) Aladeen has paid for sex with Rihanna so many times that he would have had enough air miles to fly him around the world 10 times first class.
3) Reporters are terrified to comment on anything lest it backlash on them. Instead of joking around, they answer with suppressed laughs that sound like awkward exhales of air. This reporter/interviewee relationship unintentionally reflects the relationship between media and tyrants. Deep.
4) Aladeen has 25 female virgin guards. “I check their virginity every night with the head of my penis.” Though he goes too far with this one: the first rule of a politician is they should only harass female staff because they only cry, whereas guys will always talk.
5) The infidel Ryan Seacrest is used to having Asian men all over his chest so it wasn’t such a big deal when Kim Jong-il’s was all spilled all over him.
Watch it here:
In advance of his debut album Paradise, Cody Simpson is throwing you one with his free mixtape Angels & Gentleman. His first LP isn’t coming out for another month so this is supposed to tide you Angels over until then.
The 15-year-old Aussie shows off his eclectic taste with this mix, which includes Chris Brown’s “Beautiful People” and Rihanna’s “You Da One.” Although the covers aren’t really re-imagined, you can’t deny he has a velvet voice.
Angels & Gentlemen
1. Angels (Intro)
2. Feel So Close (Calvin Harris Remix)
3. Beautiful People (Chris Brown Cover)
4. You Da One (Rihanna Re-Imagination)
5. Interlude
6. Evenings In London (Drake Re-Imagination)
7. What You Wanted (The Weeknd Re-Imagination)
8. Better Together (Jack Johnson Cover)
9. Gentlemen (Outro)
Chris Brown “Beautiful People”
Rihanna “You Da One”
After three behind the scenes videos we’re finally granted the final visuals for Rihanna’s “Where Have You Been.” RiRi is a tribal, voodoo hunter prowling for her mate in the Dave Meyers directed video.
Here are five key scenes:
The Swamp
The music video opens in a foggy, moss-strewn pond with a submerged Rihanna peering above the waterline and diving back down like an alligator. When she comes up completely she’s naked except for the scaly pasties covering her lady bits.
The Desert
Next, Rihanna is the only lady leading a crew of warriors in the sandy, rocky desert. Everyone wears tribal or animal prints and Rihanna rocks red Hammer pants that sway perfectly with her dance moves.
The Cave
Next, Rihanna is in a dark cave, sitting on a zebra-print carpet in a black lacy dress. She dances gracefully with the other ladies, sometimes prowling so low she looks like a tiger stalking prey. The best part is when she huddles with the dancers and they create a giant, blinking eye with their arms.
The Owl Nest
Rihanna nests on a gigantic, twiggy patch, shaded by pink blossoms, calling for her mate.
Kaleidoscopic Forest
We saw kaleidoscopic scenes in Nicki Minaj’s video for “Starships” and now Rihanna pulls the same trippy moves. Her eyes are framed by a gold mask and her body doubles and triples with every movement.
Rihanna returns to her mossy swamp at the end of the video to continue searching for her lost companion.
Watch it here:
Rihanna channels wildlife in her voodoo tribal video for “Where Have You Been,” sporting zebra prints, bone accessories and scale-like pasties.
Unlike the multiple video teaser ploys that I’ll leave unnamed (ahem Justin Bieber) I’m not yet sick of Rihanna’s promos because instead of giving us cheap thrills with 30 second clips we get a substantial look at how much work is put into the rehearsals, wardrobe fittings and filming.
The back-to-nature sets for the Dave Meyers-directed video look pretty intricate, including a mossy swamp and a soft nesting ground from which Rihanna grazes, shaded by a pink blooming branches.
“This is another part of wildlife,” she says. “I guess we’re gonna call this the “owl set up.” Why an owl? Because they have a hundred percent kill rate! That’s why.”
After 17 exhausting hours of shooting the crew is still in good spirits and joking around before grappling all their energy for two intense dance scenes, one in a desert wasteland an the other in a foggy cave.
This is the third behind the scenes look in the series, which also includes a look at the dance rehearsal and wardrobe fitting. The official video for “Where Have You Been” comes out on April 30 on Vevo.
We finally get to see the result of Rihanna’s gangsta goth geisha look that she tweeted in late March. The singer gets handsy in the visuals for “Princess of China,” wearing gigantic gold talons for fingernails while hands shoot out behind her like she’s a deity. Rihanna looks GORG in a strapless black dress, channeling Angie in many of the shots with a leg bomb.
The video is reportedly being featured behind Coldplay during their international tour because Rihanna obvs can’t make it to the performances — that’s probably why Chris Martin’s entire solo at the beginning is cut out, making it a short 2:38.
The track is from Coldplay’s new album Mylo Zyloto and Piranha was commissioned to create the music video.What do you think of the visuals?
Watch it here:
Turns out the “rapapapa” in Rihanna’s song “Man Down” was totally ripped off Australian radio hosts and they confront her about it on their show. Then we talk about drive-by compliments and watch a video of the WORST boyfriend ever pranking his girlfriend.
Rihanna was confronted by Australia’s Hamish and Andy who insist she stole their idea for a song. Last time she was on the show the radio hosts jested with Rihanna about how she comes up with ideas for songs: “If you think of a tune instead of humming something in the morning do you call Jay Z and go ‘Rapapapa?’”
The hosts quickly went all legal: “By the way if we here “Rapapapa” in one of your songs we’re going to know where you got it from.”
Rihanna promised she wouldn’t steal the tune but, lo and behold, a sneakily similar sound is in “Man Down.” Embarrassing! Thankfully, the radio hosts were forgiving but suggested they re-release the song as a collaboration.
Watch it here:
Florence + The Machine guitarist Robert Ackroyd kissed a girl over the weekend and it just happened to be Katy Perry. Not that she’s easy to miss with her blue-purple ombre hair.
The rumoured couple were seen canoodling at Coachella over the weekend, the music festival where hipsters wear peace flowers in their hair, Tupac is resurrected and romances bloom. It’s a place where magic things happen.
Though his friends poked fun of him about “KP” he tweeted: ”Best Coachella ever. Scratch that, best weekend ever. Dre, Snoop, Pac, Nate, Fiddy & KP.”
The pair were spotted while Rihanna performed during Calvin Harris’ set. We’re not sure if they’re official, but it’s probably safe to say he kissed a girl and liked it.
Looks like Rihanna’s new video for “Where Have You Been” will have a voodoo tribal feel, as the dancers don shredded shawls, beaded jewels and wooden bangles.
I’m getting tired of musicians releasing promo after promo for their new music videos (take Justin Bieber with “Boyfriend”). By the time the video comes out, I’m either severely annoyed at seeing the five-second clips so many times or I feel like I’ve seen the entire video already.
However, I like that Rihanna is giving us a behind the scenes look again, in her second teaser for “Where Have You Been.” The video takes us behind the scenes of a costume fitting, panning racks and racks of feathered jewelry and animal prints (salivate). In the video, RiRi jokes around about the pasties she has to wear to prevent any wardrobe malfunctions but she insists she doesn’t need any pasties.
Watch the video here:
In the world of celebrity news, there’s no shortage of hits and misses. This week, Zac Efron wants to be the next Leonardo and everyone goes insane when Miley Cyrus is “rushed” to the hospital
HIT: Rihanna shares vacation pics on Facebook
While no one can ask her about her personal life, RiRi doesn’t seem to mind sharing personal photos online (see her Twitter). This time, she’s sharing her Hawaii vacation photos where she’s swimming with sharks, surfing and looking good in a bikini sans makeup. The natural beauty even gets risque, as she goes topless under a waterfall. It’s this kind of uninhibited lady balls (i.e. ovaries) that has everyone around her enthralled, even director Steven Spielberg who was snapped taking her photo like a fanboy.
MISS: Drake tries to calm down a fight so he can party with models
Drake probably thought being famous would guarantee him safe passage into London night clubs. Alas, he was wrong as his entourage got into a bit of a scuffle with the security. Breaking up a fight so you can enjoy “Models Night Out?” Not as impressive as Ryan Gosling, in my opinion. Then again, nothing is as impressive as Ryan Gosling.
HIT: Zac Efron wants to be the next Leonardo DiCaprio
The Today Show asked Zac which famous actor’s career would he like to emulate, and naturally he answered with Leo. If you saw Titanic in 3D, or on the TV, this past weekend, you’ll remember how much of a babe young Leo was. Well, Zac’s got the looks down. Now all he needs is an Oscar.
MISS: Miley Cyrus goes to the hospital
Someone call the national guard! Miley Cyrus cut her finger after an unfortunate blender incident and went to the hospital with boyfriend Liam Hemsworth to get stitches. The miss here isn’t that Miley cut her finger, it’s that the story went viral. WTF? Read more…
RiRi played hard at Coachella this past weekend but she works hard too. The makeup free popstar and her choreographer teased her upcoming video “Where Have You Been” by documenting a recent dance rehearsal.
About dancing, Rihanna said it’s all about ”evoking an emotion through your body.” She says: “I was never gonna shoot this video if I couldn’t do choreography. It would be pretty pointless. It would be disappointing.”
Though unnecessarily self-conscious about how she looks, she and her choreographer Hi-Hat were all business and jammed in as many moves as they could. Rihanna even forfeited her hour long lunch break to eat french fries while dancing.
Watch the video below:
There’s a bit of debate over what substance Rihanna is seen rolling on her bodyguard’s head. While some speculate it’s cocaine others believe it’s marijuana. Lady tweeted a series of photo documenting her life of thuggery and while she’s no stranger to controversy, she’s just asking for trouble. Turns out, her fans weren’t too impressed.
I find it frustrating that Rihanna tweets and posts photos about her personal life but then expects fans and media to stay mum on the issue. If she thinks her personal life is none of our business, maybe she should create a personal account.
She posted the picture below on Twitter with the caption: “Memories don’t live like people do #coachella.” In the photo she’s straddling a man’s head scooping the mysterious substance off his shaved head.
Rita Ora has all the requisites of a good party in her new music video for “How We Do,” which was directed by Marc Klasfeld. Her hipster crew dances in front of UV lights in party hats, neon sunglasses and bunny ears while a giant fluffy flamingo stands there like “yeah, so what?”
Ora also rocks a Paper Bag Princess / Where the Wild Things Are gold crown. Unfortunately this sets an unattainable standard for future parties. How can we top that?
Watch it here:
The first look from Rihanna’s upcoming video for “Where Have You Been” is GORG. The video is reportedly dance-heavy and though there’s no word on when the video will be out, the song hits the radio on May 8. One thing to look forward to: choreography from HiHat. He also did Rihanna’s Grammy and Brit Award performances.
All these celebrities got to go to Coachella this weekend and be cute. While I’m still grappling with mild envy (no, I really enjoyed doing my banking this weekend) at least there are lots of photos to help us imagine we were there.
Katy Perry (above) makes me want to dye my hair a non-permanent purple and blue, don a flower ban and do a Coachella rain dance, if such a thing exists. She gets my vote for best Coachella look, but there are some more worthies below.
Lea Michele
Lea Michele was apparently VERY happy to stand next to this red alligator. She went with a simple white dress and stuck to her traditional pose. She always, always does this exact same pageant post and smile.
Rihanna
Rihanna went with the trademark Top Shop crop top, badass ripped denim shorts and a Chanel jacket. She also wore sunglasses at night to warn you that you don’t want to mess with her. S
Emma Watson
My second favourite look. mainly because of the classic hat. But can the girl smile? She’s at the Mulberry BBQ Pool Party after all.
Maya Rudolph sang “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” on Ellen Degeneres today as some of our favourite singers. Ellen challenged her to impersonate a few different singers and for every person Ellen guessed correctly she got one point.
Nicki Minaj and Rihanna have some of the most distinct and recognizable voices, but it’s her impersonation of Gwen Stefani that’s really uncanny.
Watch it below:
Reporters should know by now that Rihanna isn’t into personal questions about her dating life. I understand why she’d want to keep that part of her life private, however, many of the rumours start with her very public tweets.
Rihanna spoke to Sunrise’s Natalie Barr about her upcoming movie “Battleship.” She wasn’t feeling well that day but agreed to sit down for the interview anyway. Among questions about her movie and singing career, Barr asked her how frustrating it is to be asked questions about her personal life. It wasn’t a question that went into specific details, but it was enough for Rihanna’s publicists to cut the interview short.
Personally, I think our fixation with Rihanna’s personal life is unreasonable and I never understood the argument that we’re entitled to pry because celebrities trade in their private life for fame. When it comes down to it, being a commercial actor or singer is a job. Granted, it’s occasionally a very privileged career if you’re successful, but it’s not worth selling your soul for. Still, Barr has a job to do and is only asking questions that interest viewers most.
Do you think reporters focus too much on her personal life?
In the world of celebrity news, there’s no shortage of hits and misses. This week, James Franco continues to confuse us as he lipsyncs to Rihanna and Zac Efron is caught shirtless to the public’s delight.
HIT: One Direction’s Harry talks about his bromance with Louis
Harry Styles talked to VEVO in a private interview about his bromance with Louis Tomlinson and about how their friendship is so serious that they became roomates in London. Aw! Harry Styles + Louis Tomlinson = Larry Stylinson. “We get on really well,” he said. Since we started in the X Factor house me and Louis had always said we wanted to move in together and that was pretty much it. It just kind of happened.”
MISS: James Franco films himself lip-syncing to Rihanna
He’s also evolved from looking like K Fed to that guy from LMFAO. Franco’s relationship to WhoSay is like Kanye’s with Twitter: the stuff they post is bat shit crazy but I will eat it up any day. In some ways, this is a mega HIT.
HIT: Zac Efron gets shirtless in Australia
