Archive: August 2011 (101-110 of 202)

Aug 17 2011 05:57 PM ET

Justin Bieber is entertainment's richest teen -- see who else made the list

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Categories: Justin Bieber, Pop, Things That Were Inevitable
Bieber-Teen-Choice

Image Credit: Tina Gill/PR Photos

While it’s nice that Justin Bieber now has a street named after him in a small town in Texas, you have to assume that he prefers the economic spoils of his fame a bit more.

And what spoils they are! According to People, Bieber is the richest teen in entertainment, having taken in an astounding $53 million last year.

Of course, that isn’t just cash from album sales or even his massively successful arena tour. When you consider just how many Bieber dollars there are, you have to remember that he also licenses his name and likeness to all sorts of stuff that has nothing to do with music, like his fragrance (which accounted for a pretty big chunk of change). He also cleared a bunch of green thanks to Never Say Never, the biopic/concert movie that came out earlier this year.

Musicians dominated People‘s list of the richest teens, as touring and diversification allowed for a lot more paydays than movie or television stars have. READ FULL STORY »

Aug 17 2011 04:00 PM ET

Katniss sings! Jennifer Lawrence lends her vocals to the 'Hunger Games' soundtrack

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Categories: Danny Elfman, In the Studio, Soundtracks, T-Bone Burnett
hunger_games_3

Image Credit: Murray Close

You only have a few months left before The Hunger Games takes over the pop-culture landscape completely. (Yes, the post-apocalyptic adventures of Katniss Everdeen have captivated readers in book form for a few years already, but the coming film franchise promises to make Jabberjays a permanent part of common parlance.)

Famed producer T Bone Burnett confirmed to MTV News that he and star Jennifer Lawrence have recorded “Rue’s Lullaby,” a tune that Katniss sings to a fellow Hunger Games contestant after the latter is mortally wounded in battle. “It was beautiful,” he told MTV. “She did great. She’s singing great. Killer actor too.”

The composer, who is co-creating the music for The Hunger Games with fellow Grammy winner Danny Elfman, did not reveal when the world would get to hear Lawrence croon “Rue’s Lullaby,” only nothing that it would be released “soon.” READ FULL STORY »

Aug 17 2011 03:18 PM ET

Kanye West and Jay-Z's 'Watch the Throne' breaks Coldplay's first week sales record, debuts at No. 1 on Billboard 200 chart

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Categories: Charts, Hip-Hop/Rap, Jay-Z, Kanye West, Pop
kanye-jay-z

Image Credit: Daniel Boczarski/Getty Images

Our critic may not have felt the vibes on Jay-Z and Kanye West’s Watch the Throne album. But with a record breaking iTunes debut and the top spot on the Billboard 200 albums chart, it appears many did.

The twosome’s collection, one that West refers to as “luxury rap,” broke Coldplay’s iTunes first-week sales record, moving almost 290,000 digital copies. Coldplay’s Viva La Vida Or Death and All His Friends sold 282,000 in 2008.

Within 24 hours of Throne dropping on Aug. 8, it was No. 1 on iTunes worldwide in 23 countries. And today, Billboard reports that Throne‘s complete opening sales (meaning both the digital and physical version, which bowed Aug. 12) is a kingly 436,078 units, making it no. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart.

It’s a huge victory for the two, who didn’t promote the album in traditional fashion. Really, they hardly promoted it at all. Outside of two press listening sessions (I attended one) and one New York radio interview, Jay and Kanye kept quiet. There wasn’t magazine cover or even a music video released before the album.

Still, the buzz behind the project was huge. And apparently, fans have not been disappointed.

Did you buy Watch the Throne? Glad it opened with these numbers? Let us know.

More on EW.com:
Jay-Z and Kanye West release ‘Watch the Throne’ ‘Otis’ video — Everybody’s all-American! Watch it here
Independent record stores protest Jay-Z and Kanye’s album-release shutout


Aug 17 2011 01:47 PM ET

Kelly Clarkson announces release dates for new album and a new single, 'Mr. Know It All'

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Categories: Kelly Clarkson, Pop
Kelly-Clarkson

Two years after dropping her last project, American Idol alum Kelly Clarkson is set to release her fifth album. She just announced that the set, entitled Stronger, will hit stores Oct. 25.

Its lead single, “Mr. Know It All,” is set to premiere Sept. 5 after she hosts a live webcast on her revamped site KellyClarkson.com. The two-time Grammy winner has sold millions of records in the U.S. and is no stranger to hit records.

Are you excited to get a taste of her next album? What do you expect of it? Let us know.

Read more at EW.com:
Carrie Underwood passes Kelly Clarkson as most successful ‘Idol’ winner as two country stars square off in finals
Kelly Clarkson tears through a medley of hits on ‘Ellen’: Watch it here

Aug 17 2011 01:27 PM ET

Troubled Michael Jackson tribute concert hits new snag with Kiss's Gene Simmons

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Categories: Charity, KISS, Michael Jackson, Pop, Rock Stars Say the Darndest Things, Things That Bum Us Out, Things That Were Inevitable
Paul-Stanley-Gene-Simmons

Image Credit: Marcos Hermes/LatinContent/Getty Images

When the news first broke that a cabal of Michael Jackson’s family members (lead by Michael’s mother Katherine) were planning a tribute concert for the late King of Pop in Wales later this year, the red flags immediately went up.

After all, we’ve been through this sort of thing before (remember that concert that was supposed to take place in Vienna a few months after Jackson’s passing in 2009?), and it didn’t help that the Jacksons announced the existence of the concert without mentioning a single performer on the lineup.

Also not helpful? The fact that only hours after Michael Forever was introduced, another set of Jackson family members (including brothers Jermaine and Randy) issued a statement saying they did not endorse the show—though only because it would take place during the manslaughter trial of Jackson physician Conrad Murray, and not because it’s a terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad idea). That seemed like a good enough reason to close up shop on the whole thing, right?

Nope! READ FULL STORY »

Aug 17 2011 01:13 PM ET

Katy Perry ties Michael Jackson's No. 1s record... with a little help from Missy Elliott

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Categories:
MTV-Music-Awards

Image Credit: Kevin Mazur/WireImage.com

The (teenage) dream finally comes true: Following a false alarm a few weeks back, Katy Perry’s single “Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)” is set to climb atop the Billboard Hot 100 chart this week, officially putting the cupcake-clad songstress in league with the King of Pop himself.

The song is the fifth single from Perry’s 2010 LP Teenage Dream to hold the top slot, making Perry the first female artist and only the second artist overall after Jackson to produce five Hot 100 No. 1 singles from the same album. (Jackson did it in 1987 with Bad.) Other chart-toppers from Teenage Dream include the title track, “E.T.,” “California Gurls” and “Firework.” READ FULL STORY »

Aug 16 2011 09:22 PM ET

Indiana State Fair tragedy: Can you protect people from Mother Nature?

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Categories: Music, Sugarland
stage-fair-sugarland

The stage collapse at the Indiana State Fair last weekend, which claimed the lives of five people and injured dozens of others, is the third incident of its kind this summer. Indiana governor Mitch Daniels called the tragedy a “fluke event” that no one could have prevented, the result of a 70 mph gust of wind that ripped through the grounds just before Sugarland was set to take the stage. However, six days earlier, the Flaming Lips avoided near-catastrophe when a sudden storm blew their 15-foot video screen from the back of the stage at Tulsa’s Brady Block Party. And about a month before that, a thunderstorm brought down the entire stage during Cheap Trick’s set at the Ottawa Bluesfest.

READ FULL STORY »

Aug 16 2011 07:29 PM ET

Sugarland will hold memorial for 5 stage collapse victims

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Categories: Country, Y'all!, Sugarland
sugarland

Image Credit: Stewart Volland

Following the stage collapse at the Indiana State Fair killed five fans waiting for a Sugarland concert this weekend, the country music duo announced today that they will hold a private memorial in Indiana t honor the fans who died.

According to a letter posted on Sugarland’s website today, the event is still in the planning stages. “We would first like to hold space so that their families can have time to go through their own services and memorials,” the letter explains. “Until that time we are holding vigil for them. We join them on their mourning benches.”

Sugarland also wrote that, although they canceled an appearance in Iowa scheduled for Aug. 14, their Incredible Machine tour will resume this Thursday, Aug. 18, in Albuquerque. “The emotions have us yearning to be close to each other immediately. The logistics have us needing to replace all of our instruments and equipment,” the band wrote, adding that “the set is a loss that is insignificant in light of the tragedy.”

The stage collapse, in the days following, has been deemed a “fluke event” by Indiana governor Mitch Daniels. Daniels praised the bravery of other onlookers who jumped in to help the 40 concertgoers injured in the storm-related accident. Meanwhile, musician Sara Bareilles, who performed on the stage just before it collapsed, has also spoken words of sympathy: “The accident at the Indiana State Fair felt like a bad dream,” she said. “My heart aches for the lives lost or injured as well as their families. We will do whatever we possibly can to help heal the hurt from this very sad day.”

Read more on EW.com:

Stage collapses at Indiana State Fair before Sugarland concert, kills 4
Fifth death reported in Sugarland Indianapolis stage collapse
Indiana governor calls stage collapse a ‘fluke event’

Aug 16 2011 04:06 PM ET

Lady Gaga's 'You and I' video, featuring hot Calderone-on-Germanotta action: Watch it here!

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Categories: Lady Gaga, Music Videos, New Stuff, Pop, Things On The Internet, Video Gaga

Lady Gaga’s music video career has had some spectacular highs (the multiple VMA-winning “Bad Romance,” the more epic than epic “Telephone”) and confusing lows (the ill-advised Madonna homage “Alejandro,” whatever was going on in the “Eh Eh” clip).

So far, the videos from the sold-a-million-in-a-week Born This Way have fallen somewhere in between, but her latest “Yoü and I”—which just premiered on Perez Hilton even though it was supposed to be unveiled on MTV on Thursday night—might finally be the epic that everybody has been waiting for this time around.

In the six-minute clip for one of Born This Way‘s best songs, Gaga appears in a number of different guises: In the opening set-up, she’s a cyborg on her way to a funeral. In another, she’s a mermaid (which Bette Midler is probably still not cool with, even though she says otherwise). She also shows up as her male alter-ego Jo Calderone, who is either channeling Serge Gainsbourg or Cate Blanchett’s version of Bob Dylan in Todd Haynes’ I’m Not There.

Strangely, the most compelling version of Gaga is Calderone’s love interest, also played by Gaga. But rather than come up with a different costume or persona, she doesn’t wear any makeup or crazy outfits. She’s just Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta, playing a piano in the middle of a corn field—with a little making out on the side, of course.

Think there’s a lot going on? You’re right! Watch the whole thing after the jump. READ FULL STORY »

Aug 16 2011 01:25 PM ET

Elvis Presley died 34 years ago today. What's the best way to mark the anniversary of the King's passing?

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Categories: Country, Y'all!, Elvis Presley, Gospel, In Memoriam, Music, Pop, R.I.P., Rock, Singers with SAG cards, Stage
Elvis-Presley

Image Credit: Getty Images

Elvis Presley died 34 years ago today, an anniversary that was marked last night by a candlelight vigil at Graceland attended by thousands of fans.

But how will Presley-loving readers who couldn’t make it down to Memphis be honoring the King? What Presley songs or albums will you be playing? Which would be the best film to watch? Or the best book to read?

Personally, as a big fan of the later Vegas-era Elvis, I’ve been watching the fantastically exuberant–and fantastic white jumpsuit-featuring–version of “Suspicious Minds” you can see below.

Please do check it out and tell us your preferred way of marking the death of Elvis Aaron Presley: READ FULL STORY »

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