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AMAs Get Stars Competing for Spotlight: Taylor Swift, Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, Lady Gaga, Rihanna, Adam Lambert

Emma Renda — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 16:41:59 +0000

The American Music Awards had all the ingredients for success this year: Taylor Swift beating out a pop mogul for a major award, lots and lots of Michael Jackson shout-outs, a Whitney Houston comeback performance and both Lady Gaga and Rihanna wearing next to nothing.

The major shock of the evening was Taylor Swift’s award for Artist of the Year, snagging the posthumous nomination from the King of Pop himself.

“I just want to say that music has never been ultimately about competition,” Swift said in her acceptance speech via video from London, England. “To even be mentioned in a category with Michael Jackson, who will be missed and loved forever, is an unimaginable honour.”

Swift won four other awards, of six nominations, including Pop/Rock Female Artist, Adult Contemporary Artist, Country Female Artist, and Favourite Country Album.

Jackson did pick up a few awards in the end, including Favourite Pop/Rock Male Artist as well as Soul/R&B Male Artist, and set the record most American Music Awards won by any artist with a whopping 23 awards.

Jermain Jackson was present to accept the awards, and Janet performed the show’s opening number.

“We love you, Michael,” Jermaine Jackson said as he accepted one award. “It’s not just about winning the award; it’s mainly the message. The message Michael had will live on forever and that’s that he saw good in everyone.”

Whitney Houston’s performance was another emotional moment, receiving a standing ovation for her rendition of “I Didn’t Know My Own Strength”. Samuel L. Jackson presented Houston with the International Artist Award of Excellence.

As per usual, Lady Gaga’s performance made a splash. Sporting a vulcan-inspired headdress and a vest filled with lights, Gaga burst on stage, shattering the class case around a grand piano with her microphone. When she sat down to perform a medley of songs from her new album, The Monster Show, the piano burst into flames.

Rihanna didn’t need to do more than strut around on stage partially naked to garner as much of a reaction. Performing her new singles from Rated R, “Wait Your Turn” and “Hard” ft. Young Jeezy, Rihanna wore nothing more than a body suit made of strips of white fabric and heeled white leather boots. The performance kept with the theme of the morbid videos she has released lately, Rihanna started her performance with a video of a masked woman on a medical table being electrocuted to life.

Adam Lambert, the most recent American Idol winner, closed the show with his performance of “For Your Entertainment” in which he shoved a male dancer’s face into his crotch.

The full list of winners at the 37th Annual American Music Awards:

Artist of the Year: Taylor Swift
Pop-Rock (Male): Michael Jackson
Pop-Rock (Female): Taylor Swift
Pop-Rock (Band, duo, group): Black Eyed Peas
Pop-Rock (Album): Michael Jackson Number Ones
Soul-R&B (Male): Michael Jackson
Soul-R&B (Female): Beyonce
Soul-R&B (Band, duo, group): Black Eyed Peas
Soul-R&B (Album): Michael Jackson Number Ones
Rap-Hip-Hop (Artist): Jay-Z
Rap-Hip-Hop (Album): Jay-Z Blueprint 3
Country (Male): Keith Urban
Country (Female): Taylor Swift
Country (Band, duo, group): Rascal Flatts
Country (Album): Taylor Swift Fearless
Adult Contemporary: Taylor Swift
Alternative Rock: Green Day
Latin: Aventura
Contemporary Inspirational: Mary Mary
Soundtrack Album: Twilight Soundtrack
T-Mobile Breakthrough Artist Award: Gloriana
International Award of Excellence: Whitney Houston

Taylor Swift Doll

Vanessa Baker — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 20:30:11 +0000

American toy company Jakks Pacific has created six Taylor Swift dolls, reports Perez Hilton. Three of the dolls sing either “Teardrops on My Guitar,” “Our Song” or “Picture to Burn.”

The other three do not sing, instead focusing on the songstress’s fashion. The “Red Carpet Ready” doll sports a dress similar to the one by Reem Acra that Swift wore to last week’s Country Music Association Awards in Nashville, Tennessee.

Billboard Changes Rules

Vanessa Baker — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 15:07:04 +0000

Billboard will now be including catalog releases when calculating the best-selling albums, which were previously decided based on record sales from the past 18 months, reports Perez Hilton. The Nov. 25 chart will be the first to reflect these changes.

Taylor Swift is the only artist who sold more albums this year than Michael Jackson. Rihanna previously held the record for digital songs, selling 9.9 million, but Swift, Jackson, Lady Gaga and the Black Eyed Peas have all broken that this year.

Taylor Swift Spoofs Kanye West for SNL

Sara Harowitz — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 16:19:33 +0000

Think you’ve heard enough about the Taylor Swift-Kanye West MTV Awards stage crash? Well, apparently not everyone does.

In a promotional shoot on Tuesday for Swift’s upcoming role as both host and musical guest on “Saturday Night Live,” Swift and “SNL” cast member Bill Hader poke some fun at the now-infamous event, according to MTVnews.com.

The promo opens with Swift and Hader standing in a 30 Rock corridor. Hader is on his cell phone as Swift says, “Hey, I’m Taylor Swift, and I’ll be the host and musical guest this week on ‘SNL.’” As she finishes her line, Hader gets off the phone and tells the young country star, “Whoops, Kanye just called. He thinks Beyoncé should host instead.” As Swift looks at him in disbelief, Hader goes, “Funny joke, right?”

19-year-old Swift then rolls her eyes and says to herself, “Wow.” Then in the awkward fashion that he’s become famous for, Hader says, “Good times,” before walking off the set and whispering critically to himself, “Hader!”

Before shooting the promo, Swift told MTV news that nothing was off-limits at this weekend’s “Saturday Night Live” show.

“I want to look nothing like myself,” she said. “I told all the writers, ‘Don’t count anything out.’ I want to go completely, 100 per cent in. I don’t want to be halfway involved. Just because I have a lot of things to do as far as being musical guest and host doesn’t mean I don’t want to live up to my full hosting demands.”

Swift, who was a musical guest on “SNL” just last January, said one particular cast mate inspires her comedy. “I think my favorite things on ‘SNL’ are the things that Kristen [Wiig] does, where she’s these incredible characters that you’ve seen in real life,” she said. “Everybody’s been at the party with the Penelope character to some extent.”

Guitar Hero Announces November Line-Up of Downloadable Content!

Elliott Rudner — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 21:54:02 +0000

Band Hero let's you be Taylor Swift without being interrupted by Kanye West!

After last week’s amazing DLC 3 pack of Gwar, Marilyn Manson, and The Misfits is there any better way to follow it up than offering a new game featuring Taylor Swift and Adam Levine? Heck no!

On November 5th as a way to celebrate Band Hero being released, plastic instrument fans can either export 69 songs from Guitar Hero 5 into Band Hero or 61 songs (out of 64) into GH5 from Band Hero!

The songs that will not export from Band Hero to Guitar Hero 5 are as follows:

Jesse McCartney- “Beautiful Soul”
Aly & AJ- “Like Whoa”
Styx- “Mr. Roboto”
Hilary Duff- “So Yesterday”

Look on the bright side though you can make Kurt Cobain sing Taylor Swift!

The export runs you 400 Microsoft Points on Xbox 360, $4.99 on Playstation3, and 500 points on Wii.

November 12th is all about Lenny Kravitz as Guitar Hero commemorates the 20th anniversary of his 1989 debut album Let Love Rule. This three song track pack includes the title track “Let Love Rule,” “Lady” off his seventh studio album Baptism, and “Fly Away,” a song which I will assume you all know because it’s freakin’ “Fly Away”

On November 19th paint your faces and grab your tongue extensiosn because it’s time to rock out with the one and only KISS! This track pack includes their new single “Modern Day Delilah,” which has a ripping solo “I Was Made for Loving You,” their second Gold single and finally “Lick it Up,” which was the title track off their album which was also named… Lick it up.

It’s been awhile since Guitar Hero gave us anything for free and on November 24th they’re doing it SIX TIMES! The Neversoft Thanks The Fans Track Pack features: “Lemon Frosting” by Bunny Knutson, “RockNRola” by Nancy Fullforce, “From the Blue/Point of No Return/T.T.R.T.S” by An Endless Sporadic, “Love Holds It Down” by Dom Liberati, “You Really Like Me” by Davidicus and “Guilty Pleasures” by Tony Solis.

These may appear to be unknown bands to the casual player but I can tell you that I am super excited to play more An Endless Sporadic (from GH3 and GHWT DLC respectfully) and Guilty Pleasures sounds awesome as well.

For reasons unknown this track pack will only be available for Playstation3 and Xbox 360 as of this announcement.

We aren’t done quite yet though for the Wii fans out there that have been feeling not metal enough lately the 8 missing tracks from Metallica’s Death Magnetic will now be able to be downloaded as singles on your Nintendo Wii! This offer begins on November 24th so prepare to shred!

Lenny Kravitz Track Pack

KISS Track Pack

I Was Made For Loving You

Modern Day Delilah

Neversoft Thanks The Fans Track Pack

From The Blue/Point of No Return/T.T.R.T.S

http://guitarhero.com

Disney Sing It: Pop Hits coming soon

April Apoong — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 20:44:38 +0000

Disney Interactive Studios has announced recently that there will be a Disney Sing It: Pop Hits, available to the masses. With the game being a multi-platform karaoke style title letting everyone the chance to give it a try. There will be a lot of familiar songs and expect singing tips along side vocal lessons from Tiffany Thornton herself.

On the Wii, Playstation 3 and Playstation 2 consoles, players will have the opportunity to match their talents with the performers which includes master recordings and popular music videos from global fan favorites.

With a bevy of modes that range from duets to competitive singing ensures enjoyment for one person or a group of your friends. New features include “Sing It Encore,” and “Run the Risk,” which allows players to play back performances and contestants try to correctly predict scores against their opponents.
The song list includes:

Miley Cyrus
“7 Things”
“Fly on the Wall”
“The Climb”
“Hoedown Throwdown”

Demi Lovato
“Get Back”
“La La Land”

Jonas Brothers
“Don’t Forget”
“Hold On”
“SOS”
“When You Look Me In The Eyes”
“Love Bug”
“Burnin’ Up”

Colbie Caillat
“Realize”
“Bubbly”

Vanessa Hudgens
“Sneakernight”

Jesse McCartney
“It’s Over”
“How Do You Sleep?”

Taylor Swift
“I’m Only Me When I’m With You”
“Change”

One Republic
“Apologize”

Duffy
“Warwick Avenue”
“Mercy”

Coldplay
“Violet Hill”

Steve Rushton
“Emergency”

Love & Theft
“Don’t Wake Me”

Mitchel Musso and Tiffany Thornton / “Hatching Pete” (Disney Channel Original Movie)
“Let It Go”

Mitchel Musso
“The In Crowd”

Hannah Montana
“Let’s Get Crazy”
“Let’s Do This”

Jem
“It’s Amazing”

When the time comes to pick this up on the Wii or PS3 you will have the choice of buying the game in a bundle which includes a Logitech mic or just the game itself.
For PS2 owners the game is only available as a standalone.

I’m starting to have the urge to raise my voice and give this a try when it comes out. I’m sensing a karaoke party in the near future.

John Mayer Announces Charity Concerts

Sara Harowitz — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 21:37:12 +0000

With a new album due out in November, John Mayer has announced two charity shows that will take place during the holiday season, according to johnmayer.com. Mayer will perform with the John Mayer Trio, which is made up of himself, bassist Pino Palladino, and drummer Steve Jordan.

The Trio will be playing at San Diego’s Copley Symphony Hall on December 29, and at Las Vegas’ The Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino on New Year’s Eve. All ticket proceeds for both shows will go to Military Outreach Ministry Camp Pendleton, a not-for-profit organization that supports young military families, and the Veterans Health Research Institute, an institute that investigates such issues as the causes and best treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder and other war-related injuries.

Ticket prices for the San Diego show are $60.50 (US), and prices for the Las Vegas show range from $96.00 – $226.00 (US). Tickets for both shows went on sale on Saturday. Mayor Hawthorne and The County will be opening for Mayer.

Mayer’s new album, Battle Studies, will be released on November 17. The much-anticipated fourth studio album is a follow-up to 2006’s successful project, Continuum, which generated such hits as “Waiting On the World to Change” and “Slow Dancing In a Burning Room.” To date, Mayer has sold nearly 12.5 million albums worldwide.

The seven-time Grammy Award winner co-produced the new album, which will be released by Columbia Records. A North American tour is currently in the works, due to kick off in early 2010.

“Where Continuum was R&B and Soul, Battle Studies was written with the timelessness of Tom Petty, Fleetwood Mac and Neil Young in mind,” Mayer says in a Columbia Records press release on PR Newswire. “The melodies and message are concise and from-the-gut with the efficiency of simplicity.”

The record’s first single is called, “Who Says,” and the new album also promises a collaboration track, “Half of My Heart,” with rising country star Taylor Swift. Who needs Kanye, anyways?

West And Gaga Release Provocative ‘Fame Kills’ Promo

Sara Harowitz — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 20:16:42 +0000

While Kanye West may have claimed to Jay Leno to be keeping a low profile on things after his Taylor Swift-MTV Video Music Awards debacle, the new video clip he posted on his blog begs to differ.

The promo video released on Wednesday, Sept. 23 for his new “Fame Kills” tour with Lady Gaga is anything but low profile, according to MTV News.

The video clip, posted by West under the headline, “What Happened to All the Rock Stars? Fame Killed Them!” is a slow motion film featuring a topless Gaga covering herself and wrapped in the arms of a black man while soft, moody music plays in the background. When 30 seconds of this pass, the name of the tour appears on the screen along with a voice that says, “Fame Kills!” and then “West + Gaga” flashes across.

West first made an announcement about the tour earlier this summer at an appearance on “The View,” but it wasn’t a sealed deal until last week. The “Fame Kills” tour is set to begin on Nov. 10 in Phoenix and wrap up Jan. 24 in Dallas.

Other than the video clip, however, West has managed to keep out of the direct spotlight. He even had his lawyer push back a court date that was scheduled for this month. The pre-trial hearing for West’s 2008 airport scuffle with a photographer has now been pushed back to Oct. 23. Lawyer Blair Berk reportedly went to the judge in the case and requested for the trial to be pushed back.

The scuffle took place on Sept. 11, 2008 at the Los Angeles International Airport. West and his road manager, Don C. Crowley, allegedly wrestled a camera out of the hands of a TMZ photographer who was trying to take the rapper’s picture. Crowley is then said to have thrown the photographer’s $10,000 camera to the ground and West is said to have smashed the flash. The debacle ended in an arrest. West has pleaded not guilty to three misdemeanor counts of vandalism, theft, and battery.

However, the pushed-back date still allows West lots of time to work on the new tour with Gaga. And no matter how you look at it, Gaga and West are sure to blow the top off this one.

Fame Kills from kwest on Vimeo.

Under The Rock: Kanye West Threatened By The Kids These Days

Emma Renda — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 04:01:28 +0000

We all know what KanyeWest did at the VMAs and it looks like we’ll be talking about it until the Grammys. But shouldn’t we be prepared for this by now?

Kanye has based his career on the unlikely pairing. College student becomes iced-out rapper. Rapper wears sweater vests and horn-rimmed glasses. Prep-school rapper spits rhymes about Jesus and the politics of blood diamonds. Catholic hip-hopper samples Ray Charles for a song about women horny for money. Blues piano samples replaced with electro-house synthesizers and Auto-Tune.

Et cetera.

When he stormed the MTV VMA stage on Sunday, interrupting the sugary acceptance speech of tween country princess Taylor Swift, the event was actually more scripted than offensive. It wasn’t like the time Kanye accepted an MTV Europe award he didn’t win, or refused to accept an award he did win because he felt Outkast deserved it more.

No, it was more of a half-assed display of choreographed ego, just Kanye scoping out the most unlikely character to stand next to and making sure it happened before commercial break. Sure, Kany emay have been upset Beyonce’s video for “Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It)” lost out to Swift’s beige video for “You Belong with Me”.

But both Beyonce and Swift are making millions and will undoubtedly be remembered as this decade’s roster of leading ladies, so there is much more to Kanye’s outburst than being a sore loser.

Kanye was nominated for four VMAs this year, three for “Love Lockdown” and one for “Paranoid”, both off his late-2008 release 808s and Heartbreak. It’s safe to say no one expected him to win like they have in the past and considering the comebacks and break-throughs crowding this year’s nomination (Eminem and Lady GaGa, to name a few), Kanye hardly stood a chance.

Certainly four nominations is no small feat, and the genre-bending album isn’t one to shirk. But once 2009 arrived and Kanye’s techno treatments were duplicated and redubbed by nearly every pop act out there, both indie and mainstream, Kanye as a soloist drifted into the wings. It’s a trend that actually summarizes most of this year, as any hit out there has been remixed to a blurry, electronic hilt.

Kanye doesn’t like to share the spotlight, though. While he is content to invite Young Jeezy and Kid Cudi to guest on his album, he doesn’t seem to be taking well to his decreased visibility.

In the video for Jay-Z’s “Run This Town”, Kanye spends the first two minutes of the song bobbing uncomfortably next to Jay and Rihanna who undoubtedly steal the show. His verse is nearly forgotten by the time Rihanna’s last triumphant chorus closes out the song.

So what better time to get some attention on his own terms than the star-studded and media-hounded VMAs? Lady GaGa appeared in indecipherable-themed garb and Madonna somehow manipulated a Michael Jackson tribute into a retelling of her personal history, but Kanye will be the one everyone talks about this week.

Because who wouldn’t gape at the sight of Kanye ambushing the slight Taylor Swift, purer than the Jonas Brothers and most recently famous for gushing at the standing ovation she received when she walked on stage to her first Madison Square Garden headlining gig.

It’s natural to wince when a kitten is eaten by a lion, or when an antagonistic rapper in scary sunglasses brashly steals candy from a baby. But even more natural is this trick pulled from Kanye’s bottomless bag of them.

Kanye’s entire career is based on being looked at. He just spent a year very irrevocably in the spotlight.

The third installment to his career trilogy, Graduation, literally smashed the charts two years ago, dishing 50 Cent a large helping of crow following the challenge as to who would sell more records on opening day. (As if it weren’t enough, the albums hit shelves on Sept. 11, 2007.) Following the break-up with his fiancee, Kanye’s mother Donda, who he rapped about and brought to more events than credibility should allow, died in a plastic surgery snafu. Then his Glow in the Dark World Tour sold out nearly every venue.

He was very busy and very famous, even broaching notorious. 2009 has been noticeably slow for West in comparison. Sure, you can blame him for his cruel grasp at spicing things up. Or, you could try to understand.

He feels old, irrelevant and if you can believe it, threatened by the youth of America. Kanye is no spring chicken – at 32, he would have been introduced to the Internet shortly before college and now he is forced to compete with a generation born into it.

He is still graciously steering the careers of most this year’s youngsters by way of trend-magnet Kid Cudi. But for the man who was hyped as one of the top MCs in the game just a few short years ago, Kanye has become the PR guy rather than the hype itself.

The shoe, so far, doesn’t seem to fit and even the most seasoned rock stars aren’t above a temper tantrum now and then.

Kanye West and Taylor Swift At VMAs

andPOP Staff — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 02:06:59 +0000

Kanye you are a talented guy but sometimes you push it too far. At tonight’s VMA awards, Taylor Swift was awarded the Best Female video. However during her acceptance speech an aggressive West stole the mic from Taylor, saying “Taylor, I’m really happy for you. I’ll let you finish.” “But Beyonce had one of the best videos of all time … one of the best videos of all time!” The camera then panned to Beyonce who continued to sit in the crowd obviously shocked and stunned. All we can say is poor Taylor, poor Beyonce, and Kanye you are a huge douche. See below to watch: