Category: SNL (1-10 of 21)

Jan 30 2012 01:36 PM ET

Karmin unleashes new single 'Broken Hearted' in time for their 'Saturday Night Live' performance

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In less than two weeks, YouTubers-turned-major-label-recording artists Karmin will take the Saturday Night Live stage alongside host Zooey Deschanel.

The duo has already released its first single, “Crash Your Party,” which is currently climbing the pop charts, and while it’s unclear whether that song will be performed on SNL, Amy and Nick clearly have more than just Chris Brown covers ready for the show.

Epic has just released the audio of Karmin’s second official single, the sunny pop track “Broken Hearted,” which features another dose of Amy’s trademark rapping over a Dr. Luke-esque beat.

Nick’s voice, however, is nowhere to be heard on the song, in which a lover begs her man not to “leave [her] broken hearted tonight.” Give it a listen below: READ FULL STORY »

Jan 16 2012 11:23 AM ET

Lana Del Rey's 'SNL' performance draws criticism, counter-backlash: Watch the video here

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Though it wasn’t the most viscerally fascinating event on Saturday night (falling well behind the destruction of Tim Tebow, and Edson Barboza’s crazy-ridiculous roundhouse-kick knockout at UFC 142), Lana Del Rey’s appearance on Saturday Night Live certainly got the Twitterverse talking.

Del Rey, whose debut album Born to Die hits shelves on January 31 and who scored a veritable avalanche of blog-born buzz with her 2011 single “Video Games” (which made EW’s year-end top 10 list), performed two songs on the Daniel Radcliffe-hosted episode. Clad in a white dress, Del Rey seemed nervous and vocally shaky as she rolled through “Video Games” and “Blue Jeans.” Check out the latter below. READ FULL STORY »

Dec 13 2011 02:30 PM ET

'SNL' star Taran Killam's awesome interpretation of Robyn's 'Call Your Girlfriend' video: Watch it here

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As the host of last weekend’s episode of Saturday Night Live, Katy Perry delivered a performance that was not quite as successful as fellow non-actress Taylor Swift’s outing but miles ahead of, say, (arguably also non-actress) January Jones.

And If nothing else, she proved that if her next solo album strikes out, she can always front a Florence + the Machine tribute act.

But the true highlight was musical guest Robyn, who spent the better part of the summer on the road with Perry as her opening act. The Swedish pop sensation acquitted herself nicely on the often-difficult SNL musical stage with both “Dancing on My Own” and “Call Your Girlfriend,” all while wearing truly impossible shoes.

Before she even took the stage, Robyn was clearly inspiring SNL cast members – especially Taran Killam, who delighted Towleroad when he turned on the camera at 4:30 in the morning last week to re-create Robyn’s video for “Call Your Girlfriend.”

With the help of a handful of other SNL regulars (including Bobby Moynihan operating the flashlight) and a very furry jacket, Killam nailed the clip’s low-budget, quirky charm with even more penny-pinching flare. Check it out below, and be ready to laugh as much as Vanessa Bayer does. READ FULL STORY »

Sep 26 2011 11:23 AM ET

Radiohead drop woozy 'Lotus Flower' and 'Staircase' on 'SNL': What did you think?

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radiohead

Image Credit: Dana Edelson/NBC

Saturday Night Live opened up its 37th season over the weekend with guns blazing. The show trotted out record-breaking, much-beloved host Alec Baldwin, whipped off their first funny political cold open since the 2008 election, and invited Radiohead, one of the most cultishly adored bands on the planet, to stand in as the musical guest.

In case you have forgotten, Radiohead actually put out an album this year. It’s called The King of Limbs, and it was almost completely forgettable. Objectively speaking, it’s another impressive sonic accomplishment, full of rumbles and hums and womb-like soundscapes. But once upon a time, the band used to write real songs, and those are nowhere to be found on The King of Limbs.

They didn’t do much to change minds on Saturday night, as frontman Thom Yorke and his collective of bleep-bloop obsessives twitched their way through a pair of tunes: the sinister b-side “Staircase” and the sorta-single “Lotus Flower,” the latter of which you can check out below. READ FULL STORY »

Sep 19 2011 12:40 PM ET

Radiohead to play 'historic' one-hour episode of 'The Colbert Report,' two shows at NYC's Roseland

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Comedy Central has announced that “show history” will be made on September 26 when Radiohead appear on a special one-hour episode of The Colbert Report.

The band will perform tracks from their recent King of Limbs CD as well as the song “The Daily Mail,” which they previously played at the U.K.’s Glastonbury Festival in June. The Report will start, as usual, at 11:30 p.m. ET/PT.

READ FULL STORY »

Jun 14 2011 01:28 PM ET

Justin Timberlake on his music career: 'I don't have a single song ready to go'

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Justin-Timberlake

Image Credit: Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic.com

Currently, there is no shortage of Justin Timberlake in show business. The guy is headlining two upcoming comedies (Bad Teacher and Friends With Benefits) and just recently ruled one of the best episodes of Saturday Night Live in a long time.

But if you love JT for his elastic pipes and sweet dance moves, you’re probably pretty bummed, and you’ll stay bummed for a while.

“I don’t have a single song ready to go,” Timberlake recently told Playboy. “People keep asking me when a new song or album is coming out, and I don’t know what to say. Music is not my focus right now. It may be someday. It could happen next month or next year but right now it’s not where it’s at for me.” READ FULL STORY »

May 9 2011 09:03 PM ET

Michael Bolton talks about his 'Jack Sparrow' 'SNL' digital short, his new CD, and sticking his face in a mountain of (fake) cocaine

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Is Michael Bolton now the coolest rock star on the planet thanks to the crooner’s game turn in this weekend’s Saturday Night Live digital short, “Jack Sparrow”?

Maybe not, but Bolton’s performance as a movie-obsessed version of himself who hilariously ruins the Lonely Island crew’s hip-hop track by singing about Pirates of the Caribbean, Forrest Gump, Erin Brockovich, and Scarface has definitely cranked up his cool quotient.

The short has also turned him into an unlikely Internet phenomenon. After the jump, Bolton talks about his collaboration with Lonely Island-ers Andy Samberg, Jorma Taccone and Akiva Schaffer, his new CD of duets, and why he won’t be dressing in drag again any time soon.

READ FULL STORY »

Apr 15 2011 10:53 AM ET

Dave Grohl Q&A: The Foo Fighters frontman talks about the new Foos album, saying no to 'Glee,' and playing 'Smells LIke Teen Spirit' for the first time in 18 years

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Image Credit: Landmark/PR Photos

On Tuesday, the Foo Fighters released their seventh CD, Wasting Light, and recently debuted a new documentary, Back and Forth, tracking the band’s tumultuous 17-year-long history.

And let’s not forget that this August will mark 20 years since the release of “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” the song that signaled a seismic shift in modern music—and made megastars of Grohl’s previous band, Nirvana.

All of which seems to have left Grohl, 42, feeling a tad, well, old. “It’s weird when there’s a kid on the bill who comes up and says, ‘Your band was my first concert,’” he muses. “You just think, ‘Oh no. I’m that guy, now? What am I, f—ing Gandalf?’”

In truth, few people would confuse the Foos overlord for the Lord of the Rings wizard. Apart from anything else, Gandalf doesn’t drop the F-bomb nearly as much as Grohl who, after the jump, foul-mouthedly talks about Wasting Light, Back and Forth, and what it was like to play “Smells Like Teen Spirit” for the first time in 18 years.

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Apr 4 2011 12:50 PM ET

'SNL' skit men The Lonely Island reveal new album cover, guests Justin Timberlake, Rihanna, Nicki Minaj and more

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Last week, the Andy Samberg-led comic trio The Lonely Island revealed the hilarious cover to their sophomore album due May 10, Turtleneck & Chain.

In torquoise turtlenecks, gold neclaces, and white slacks, the crew looks less like joke-tellers and more like a ’90s R&B group. “When we met each other in the eighth grade, that was pretty much the look we all had,” group member Akiva Scaffer explained on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon Friday evening.

Chain features collaborations with Akon, Justin Timberlake, Nicki Minaj, and Rihanna, among others, likely pulling from their guest appearances on Saturday Night Live. Their joyous Akon-assisted jam “I Just Had Sex” with Akon made its debut as a Digital Short late last year, and has already gone gold. (Stalker smash “The Creep” with Nicki Minaj went similarly viral).

Check out the the covers and album titles that didn’t make the cut after the jump. Andy Samberg hoped for 3 Morks, while Shaffer wished for royal whales and Jorma Toccone tried to play basketball in outer space:

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Dec 13 2010 11:33 AM ET

Paul McCartney's divisive 'Saturday Night Live' performance: Why you should cut him some slack

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Paul-McCartneyImage Credit: Dana Edelson/NBCPaul McCartney got way more screen time on this weekend’s Saturday Night Live than your average musical guest. In addition to very funny turns on “Weekend Update” and a digital short, the former Beatle performed “Jet” and “Band on the Run” (from the recently reissued Band on the Run album), “A Day in the Life” leading into John Lennon’s “Give Peace a Chance,” and “Get Back” to close the show. So how did he do?

Opinions are divided here at EW headquarters. Most everyone agrees that the sound mix was up (or down) to SNL‘s usual muddy standard, making it difficult at times to hear Macca’s voice over his backing band. Even when he was fully audible, though, some are complaining that he seemed a little hoarse.

To which I say, so what? The man turns 70 the summer after next. Of course his vocal cords aren’t quite as limber as they were in 1966. It’s still a pleasure to see him rocking out as enthusiastically as he did on Saturday night. He was having fun up there running through some all-time classic tunes, which made it a fun show to watch from home. And the “A Day in the Life”/”Give Peace a Chance” medley was just right, a tribute to a late friend that was touching without being heavy-handed.

Over to you now. What did you think of McCartney’s SNL performance? Sound off in the comments.

(Follow the Music Mix on Twitter: @EWMusicMix)

More from EW.com:
Ken Tucker’s Saturday Night Live recap
Ringo Starr’s 70th birthday concert: Guests galore, and Paul McCartney, too

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