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Archive: September 2010 (81-90 of 152)

Sep 13 2010 12:24 PM ET

Florence Welch of Florence and the Machine: An EW Q&a

Categories: Awards, Festivals & Events, Indie Rock, MTV, Q&A

Florence-and-the-Machine Image Credit: Paul Redmond/WireImage.comSomewhere between Gaga’s meat smock and the endless iterations of Kanye-vs.-Taylor, a different kind of star emerged at last night’s VMAs.

Crimson-haired songstress Florence Welch (who is, essentially, Florence and the Machine) stunned an audience fed on frantic dance moves, endemic lip-synching, and ersatz drama—simply by singing the crap out of a genuinely great song.

EW caught up with the 24-year-old Londoner and 2009 EW Year-End Albums topper late last week, while she was still anticipating last night’s performance, and spoke to her about gearing up for the show, getting to know Lady Gaga, and who she was most likely to fan out on backstage.

EW: Hello! We’re big fans here at EW, so it’s nice to finally speak to you. Are the VMAs a thing you’re familiar with, having grown up in England?

FW: Yeah, they do run them here on MTV, for sure.

EW: So you know the show is famous for crazy incidents—Eminem fighting with the sock puppet, the guy from Rage Against the Machine falling off a statue onstage, Prince in his buttless pants…

FW: Oh yes, the buttless pants! The Brits are really my only experience with awards, and the VMAs are such an iconic event. Just yesterday, I was walking around [London's] Soho in a dress that cost me one pound and has a hole in it, and then later I was laying on the living-room floor with my sister and this advert came on for the VMAs, this huge spectacle with explosions and all these massive artists and I was like “Oh my god, I’m doing that? Are you sure?” People in south London laying on their living-room floors aren’t supposed to be the people who do that. It just seems so surreal to me that I was laying there watching an advert for a thing I’m actually scheduled to be performing at.

EW: Are you planning to match that level of spectacle?

FW: I think it’s going to be something quite big, not something we’d be able to do at any other event.

EW: So that means you’ve been learning arial acrobatics, like Pink?

FW: Yes, absolutely. While doing jump rope upside down [laughs].

EW: tell me how this year has been for you, it seems like in America at least, it’s been a pretty slow, steady build… READ FULL STORY »

Sep 13 2010 03:39 AM ET

Inside the VMAs: What you didn't see on TV

by Simon Vozick-Levinson

Categories: B.O.B., Bruno Mars, Drake, Eminem, Justin Bieber, Kanye West, Lady Gaga, MTV, On the Scene, Paramore, Rihanna, Taylor Swift, Television, Usher

Image Credit: Kevin Winter/Getty ImagesThe crowd settling into the Nokia Theatre L.A. Live on Sunday evening knew that anything could happen over the next two hours — primarily because anything did happen at the last MTV Video Music Awards. (Lil Mama, you are not forgotten.) I’m sure I wasn’t the only one in that auditorium wondering whether we were about to see any more jaw-dropping surprises when the lights went down at 6 P.M. West Coast time. But did we? Read on. READ FULL STORY »

Sep 12 2010 11:45 PM ET

Kanye vs. Taylor, Round 2: Is there a winner here?

by Leah Greenblatt

Categories: Kanye West, Taylor Swift, VMAs

Image Credit: Vince Bucci/PictureGroup/MTV; Kevin Mazur/WireImage.com In the end, no skits or reenactments or Chelsea Handler-assisted reunions. Instead, Taylor Swift and Kanye West chose to address last year’s infamous onstage debacle through—what else?—song. (And to a lesser extent, interpretive dance.)

Taylor, always the expert at turning true-life experience into Billboard-topping hits in less time and with seemingly less effort than it takes most people to brush and floss, waited until now to unveil a ballad explicitly addressing the ’09 incident, though “explicit” may be a relative term here. Her lyrics—“Time turns flame to embers / You’ll have new Septembers / Every one of us has messed up too”—were a soft-glove study in forgive and forget (except, of course, also memorialize for eternity). And it all appeared genuinely heartfelt, even if the voice she delivered them in often failed to nail the notes.

Kanye, floaty chiffon-clad ballerinas aside, had no such vaseline on the looking-back lens; his “Runaway” chorus is a litany of NSFW (or, for that matter, radio) words: a—hole, scumbag, and jerk-off among them. So, was his appropriating of the outsized invective hurled at him endlessly after the Swift incident clever and revelatory, or just half-baked FCC bait?

Lyrically, it’s far from his best work, but if one thing can be counted on with ‘Ye, all goofy Twitter-fed hubris aside, it’s his fearlessness in exposing the kind of self-doubt and vulnerability that few in hip hop—let alone mainstream pop—even attempt, let alone succeed at.

Readers, what’s your take? Tell us in the comments section below.

More MTV VMAs coverage on EW.com:
MTV VMAs: We’re live-blogging it!
VMAs: Video of the Year nominees
VMA nominees: Surprising winners and losers
Kanye West apologizes to Taylor Swift: ‘I only want to do good.’
VMAs: 15 terrible fashion choices

Sep 12 2010 11:34 PM ET

Kanye West admits he's a douchebag, debuts 'Runaway' to close VMAs: Watch here

by Brad Wete

Categories: Hip-Hop/Rap, Kanye West, New Stuff, Things That Are Awesome, VMAs

Image Credit: Vince Bucci/PictureGroupOkay, to say it’s been a rough year for Kanye West would be an understatement. Granted, he’s the reason he’s had it so bad. After interrupting Taylor Swift’s acceptance speech at last year’s VMAs, the rapper and sometime singer spent the end of 2009 and majority of 2010 in pop culture exile. But at the top of this summer, he returned with his rebellious “Power.” Though his skills as an artist haven’t diminished, his ego apparently has– a little. On Twitter, he’s frequently apologized for his prior antics, and tonight he made another huge step back into the land of popularity at the VMAs.

After surviving Taylor Swift’s performance, which was (kind of) about him, West closed the show debuting his new single “Runaway.” Introduced by comedian and friend Aziz Ansari, West walked out in a red suit and black tee.

Kanye started off singing the track’s hook. “You’ve been putting up with my s— for way too long…/ Let’s have a toast for the douchebags/Let’s have a toast for the a–holes…/Baby, I’ve got a plan/Run away as fast as you can.” On stage with ballerinas and his drum pad, he delivered one of his most earnest, but also somehow tongue-in-cheek, performances ever.

It was a complete victory, addressing his character flaws and acknowledging public opinion without relinquishing any of his power. After a witty verse from his label mate, Pusha T of the Clipse, West returned for some Auto-Tune-assisted singing on the bridge.

“Kanye! Kanye! Kanye,” the crowd chanted after he was done. It was the night’s only standing ovation. Strategically, if this doesn’t work, I don’t know what will. But based on the crowd’s reaction, it appears to have done the trick. It was a Kanye lovefest. Check out the performance after the jump.

READ FULL STORY »

Sep 12 2010 11:20 PM ET

Lady Gaga announces title of her upcoming new album during VMA speech, steals show

by Jennifer Armstrong

Categories: Lady Gaga, MTV, Music, Television, Things That Are Awesome, Things That Are Strange, Things We Love, Video Gaga, VMAs

Image Credit: Vince Bucci/PictureGroup/MTV Lady Gaga made good on a promise to fans to announce the name of her next album in her speech if she won Video of the Year: In accepting the award for “Bad Romance” (from Cher! who was wearing her “If I Could Turn Back Time” spiderweb/thong getup! gays, rejoice!) she not only dropped the title — Born This Way – but also sang a few bars. And between her amazing non-Auto-Tuned voice (sorry, Kanye) and her great throwaway line (“I never thought I’d be asking Cher to hold my meat purse”), she calmly, classily stole the show, just by being Gaga. No actual speech-stealing required. (Again, sorry, Kanye.)

What did you think of the impromptu sneak-peek at Born This Way, Music Mixers?

Sep 12 2010 10:25 PM ET

Taylor Swift sings about Kanye West (we think, sort of) at the VMAs: Is this the official end to the saga?

by Jennifer Armstrong

Categories: Kanye West, MTV, Music, Taylor Swift, Television, VMAs

Image Credit: Kevin Winter/Getty Images Taylor Swift “surprised” the audience at the VMAs (though word of the performance leaked last night) with a song “about” Kanye West’s now-all-too-infamous stage-crashing incident at last year’s ceremony. And a good thing word leaked yesterday, or we’d barely know this song she sang was vaguely, possibly, inspired-ish by said lapse in manners. The replay of the incident at the beginning of her appearance helped make it clearer, but then it was all moody lighting and red lipstick and sparkles. She looked gorgeous, as she is wont to do, but, um, the actual song was a pretty opaque: She seems to be saying Kanye “lost [his] balance on a tightrope” and “lost [his] mind trying to get it back” and also “who you are is not where you’ve been,” thus he is “still an innocent.” Perhaps the clearest reference to the rapper was when she said “32 is still growing up now” — lo and behold, he was that very age when he crashed the stage.

At any rate, she seems to have forgiven him: “Time turns flames to embers,” and “minds change like the weather — I hope you remember today is never late to be brand new.” So, yay. Let’s all toast to the (hopefully) final note in that moment that launched a thousand blog posts, apologies, and replays on YouTube. Everyone’s been wondering if her new album full of confessional tunes, Speak Now, would address the debacle — and now we have our answer! And she’s had the last word. There, don’t we all feel better now?

How do you feel, Music Mixers? Do you have proper closure on Taylor/Kanye-gate?

Sep 12 2010 09:51 PM ET

Justin Bieber at the VMAs: We have to admit, he drummed up a great performance

by Brad Wete

Categories: Justin Bieber, VMAs

Image Credit: Kevin Winter/Getty ImagesOkay, it’s official: I too have the fever. Bieber fever, that is. And if you don’t, my question for you is, “Why?” Did you see Justin Bieber’s performance just now at the VMAs? One, he was introduced by Kim Kardashian. That was already a win.

Performing outside of the Nokia Theater in a black varsity jacket and backed by six red-cardiganed dancers, the Biebs kicked things off with his teen smash “Baby.” He followed that up with “Somebody to Love.” His tween dancers were replaced by prancing children. After all, they just love the 16-year-old phenom.

But the best part came towards then end when Justin took over percussion for a drum solo (by the way, he plays the guitar and piano and “a little trumpet.” Seconds in, he lost one of his sticks. But he cleaned up the mess quickly, recovered without any major damage done to his set. It wasn’t perfect, but as the streamers flew towards at the end, it was obvious that he pleased the cheering audience clamoring for more. And me, too. It was perfect for his fans: simple, totally unpretentious fun.

Did you catch Justin’s performance? What did you think of the little guy’s VMA showing?

Sep 12 2010 09:14 PM ET

Eminem and surprise guest Rihanna open VMAs

by Brad Wete

Categories: Eminem, MTV, VMAs

Image Credit: Vince Bucci/PictureGroupComing off a summer so amazing he left us wondering how he did it, Eminem capped off the season by opening up tonight’s VMAs with “Not Afraid” and his Rihanna-assisted “Love the Way You Lie.” In a black jacket, hooded sweatshirt, and white tee, the Detroit rhymer intensely ripped through “Not Afraid.”

In a white knee-length tutu, blazing red hair and black combat boots, Rihanna–who slyly fibbed about not being able to make the show tonight because of prior obligations earlier this week–popped up on stage halfway through “Not Afraid” for “Lie.” The crowd ate it up, jumping to their feet before they closed and hugged as fire lit the jumbo screens. Em’s comeback is complete, it seems.

Did you catch the performance? Let us know what you think.

Sep 12 2010 08:46 PM ET

Lady Gaga's crazy Native American-ish VMA arrivals outfit: What did you think?

by Jennifer Armstrong

Categories: Lady Gaga, MTV, Music, Music Videos, Television, VMAs

The most-nominated Lady of the VMAs — that is, Lady Gaga — has already made her first (of potentially many, if history is any indication) fashion statements of the night. She arrived on the white carpet in a feathery gold headdress, flowing platinum locks, and a very autumnal gold, green, and orange gown with a pumpkin-ish pouf at the bottom — a creation of the late Alexander McQueen (who committed suicide in February). Then, well, there are the McQueen armadillo shoes, which still defy words, even after seeing the similar ones she wore in the “Bad Romance” video. A little more of a nature-bound look than we’re used to from the otherworldly Gaga, but, of course, she does like to keep things fresh and current — so why not nod to the changing seasons?