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Tags: Hip-Hop/Rap, Justin Bieber, Music Videos, Nicki Minaj, Pop, Things That Are Canadian, Viral Stunts

Image Credit: Joe Scarnici/WireImage

Hey, remember that time everyone was worried about Justin Bieber’s stolen laptop and camera? Turns out, it was just one giant psych – so you’re off the hook, Tacoma-area thieves!

The stolen-gear claims made by Bieber and his label were all part of a coordinated publicity stunt designed to pique your interest in the video for “Beauty and the Beat,” his Believe collaboration with Nicki Minaj.

“On October of 2012 three hours of personal footage was stolen from musician Justin Bieber,” the video hosted on Bieber’s official Vevo account reads. “The following footage was illegally uploaded by an anonymous blogger.”

In fact, the clip features DIY-style scenes of a massive waterpark party, complete with beer pong, babes, and, of course, Ms. Minaj, the sudden queen of dubiously leaked videos.

Take a look at the fake found footage for yourself in the “Beauty and the Beat” below:

Oct 9 2012 05:50 PM ET

Justin Bieber covers Phish on 'Believe' tour

by Josh Stillman

Tags: Justin Bieber, Justin Bieber Believe: All Around the World, Phish, Selena Gomez

“Cover” is a strong word.

The Biebz recently took in a Phish concert with his girlfriend Selena Gomez and guitarist/musical director Dan Kanter. Now it seems his band’s taken to banging out portions of Phish tunes during interludes on stage. I wouldn’t go so far as to say they’re covering the songs – Kanter is basically working an occasional Phish guitar lick into Bieber originals – but it’s refreshing to hear something, you know, heady from the cherubic teen idol. He’s already admitted that he’s into Metallica and Boyz II Men – who’s to say he can’t also dig a jam band?

The band first tackled “Divided Sky” at a gig in Fresno, Calif.; a day later, in Oakland, they snuck “Sand” and “First Tube” into a segway between Bieber’s “Love Me Like You Do” and “She Don’t Like the Light.” Watch those two riffs in the video below at 4:32 and 5:35, respectively.

Sep 30 2012 02:41 PM ET

Justin Bieber has a license to ill, throws up on stage

Tags: Justin Bieber, Pop, Tours, Viral Video

And remarkably, he didn’t even have to stop singing!

While performing “Out of Town Girl” during the opening night of his much-anticipated Believe tour in Glendale, Ariz., Justin Bieber turned his back on the crowd, hunched over, and barfed on stage.

Though Bieber quickly trotted away following the incident, according to reports, he returned a short while later and asked the crowd, “Will you love me even though I’m throwing up on stage?” (I’m going to venture a guess and say, yes, Justin, they will.)

“Getting better for tomorrow’s show!!!” Bieber tweeted after the concert. “And …. Milk was a bad choice! Lol,” he added.

You know what was a good choice, though? That backing track! Not even a little bit of puke could stop that track from delivering Beiber’s smooth “vocals” to the crowd. Good job, backing track. You kept the words flowing out of Justin’s mouth, even as a whole lot of other stuff was flowing out, too.

Sarcasm aside, we do feel a little bit bad for Bieber. Getting sick is no fun — especially on a stage in front of 15,000 screaming fans. Watch the video (if you can stomach it) below: READ FULL STORY »

Sep 28 2012 04:43 PM ET

Justin Bieber has been scalping his own tickets, says Nashville TV station

by Kyle Anderson

Tags: Country, Justin Bieber, Keith Urban, Pop, Taylor Swift, Things That Bum Us Out, Y'all!

Image Credit: Will Hart

Hey Justin Bieber fans in Tennessee, did you have trouble scoring tickets to your boy’s upcoming show? You’re not alone.

According to documents obtained by Nashville’s NewsChannel 5, of the nearly 14,000 tickets available for Bieber’s forthcoming show at the city’s Bridgestone Arena, only 1,001 — or roughly 7% of the total — were actually allocated for sale to the general public.

So where did the rest of the tickets go? That’s where the information gets pretty damning. About 6,000 were held for American Express customers, who had access during a special pre-sale. Another 3,000 were held for members of Bieber’s fan club, who pay a fee for the opportunity to buy those seats. 500 went to Ticketmaster’s “Platinum Exchange” program, and another 900 were chopped up for various VIP packages.

But the smokingest gun is this: An entire block of seats was reserved for Bieber’s tour, and some of those tickets are currently available on resale site TicketsNow for $216 each.

The bottom line is that not only are only seven percent of the available tickets available for actual face value, but the Bieber camp is actually scalping his own ducats.

He’s not alone: READ FULL STORY »

Aug 23 2012 07:01 PM ET

On the Charts: Maroon 5 takes over, Taylor Swift hits No. 1, Kelly Clarkson stuck on the 'Dark Side'

Tags: 2 Chainz, Alex Clare, Charts, Hunter Hayes, Justin Bieber, Karmin, Kelly Clarkson, Lana Del Rey, Maroon 5, Matchbox Twenty, Taylor Swift, Winners & Losers

Image Credit: Terry Richardson

Maroon 5 have officially accomplished the rare feat of having not one but two singles in the Top 10 of Billboard‘s Hot 100 this week.

Although their smash “Payphone” is on its way down after peaking at No. 2 (this week it dropped from No. 5 to No. 7), their followup “One More Night” has wasted no time ascending the upper tiers of the chart. This week “Night” jumps 15-9, following major gains at radio and 170,000 additional downloads.

The two hit singles are driving album sales for the band’s fourth album Overexposed, which grew 59 percent to 36,000 copies this week — a $3.99 sale on Amazon also boosted sales substantially — and moved from No. 11 to No. 5 on the Billboard 200. The disc has moved 450,000 copies after eight weeks on the chart.

We’ll find out if “One More Night” can climb one spot higher than “Payphone” in the weeks to come, but for now, let’s check out the week’s other chart winners and losers below:

Aug 1 2012 11:34 AM ET

Justin Bieber releases cinematic 'As Long As You Love Me' video: Watch it here

Tags: Big Sean, Buzzworthy, Chanel Celaya, Downloads and Streams, Hip-Hop/Rap, Justin Bieber, Music Videos, Pop, R&B, Things That Are Canadian, TV

Justin Bieber’s trending on the ol’ Twitter again, and it’s not because of his UCB-parody biopic 8 Kilometers.

The pop star released the official video for his Big Sean-assisted Believe single “As Long As You Love Me” this morning, and it’s squarely on the epic side.

The Anthony Mander-directed clip begins with some narrative dialogue between Bieber and what looks like a character from Grand Theft Auto: Vice City but is really Reservoir Dogs actor Michael Madsen. Madsen plays a protective father of Bieber’s love interest, played by 21 Jump Street actress Chanel Celaya. “She needs to be with a man, not a boy,” Madsen warns the singer, who in fact is a man. “I don’t want to know you. You need to get in your car and leave and don’t come back ’cause if you do, it’s not gonna be good for you.”

Yet Bieber’s heart tells him to stay the course, even if it means his body will suffer a bloody beating in a parking-garage scene that boldly calls to mind Michael Jackson’s “Bad” video, plus a splash of Drive.

Check out the “As Long As You Love Me” video below:

Jul 19 2012 12:05 PM ET

Ten things we learned about Justin Bieber from his 'Rolling Stone' cover story

Tags: David Letterman, Jay Leno, Justin Bieber, Katy Perry, Part of Me, Pop, R&B, Rolling Stone, Scooter Braun, Things That Are Actually Part Indian, Things That Are Canadian

Well, well — it looks like Justin Bieber’s gotten himself on the cover of Rolling Stone all over again.

So, what fun new stuff is in this issue’s story that wasn’t in the one from February of last year? For one, adulthood: Bieber’s previous RS cover labeled him “Super Boy,” but this time around, he’s deemed “HOT. READY. LEGAL.”

Of course, there are plenty more awesome tidbits in the current issue’s eight-page spread, which hits newsstands today. We went ahead and rounded up our favorite ten for you below: READ FULL STORY »

Jul 18 2012 02:00 PM ET

Album Sales: Frank Ocean sells 131,000 copies of 'Channel Orange,' but Zac Brown Band tops chart

Tags: Album Sales, Charts, Chris Brown, Country, Frank Ocean, Justin Bieber, Maroon 5, R&B, Zac Brown Band

Image Credit: Karl Walter/Getty Images

Following Frank Ocean’s very personal admission on his Tumblr and a high-profile performance on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon last week, Def Jam released his major-label debut Channel Orange a week early on July 10 as an iTunes exclusive.

While that move may have angered Target, which is protesting the early digital release by not carrying the physical album (discs officially hit retailers yesterday), Ocean probably isn’t too worried about it. Channel Orange sold an impressive 131,000 copies (3,000 of which were actually CDs) in its first week. As Billboard notes, his sales are in line with recent R&B/hip-hop debuts from Usher (Looking 4 Myself, 128,000) and Chris Brown (Fortune, 135,000).

Some of the initial interest undoubtedly comes from Ocean’s recent revelation that his first love was a man, but reviews — including EW’s — have largely been enthusiastic, and have little to do with his expressed sexuality.

Still, Channel was no sales match for Georgia’s Zac Brown Band, whose third studio album Uncaged topped the Billboard 200 with 234,000 copies. READ FULL STORY »

Jul 13 2012 11:35 AM ET

Justin Bieber hurts mom's ears at concert, gets sued for $9.2 million

Tags: Courts, Justin Bieber, Lawsuits, Pop, R&B, Things That Are Canadian, Too Easy

Image Credit: Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images

Justin Bieber is reportedly being sued for $9.2 million by a woman who accompanied her daughter to one of the pop star’s concerts back in 2010. Her grievance: His music ruined her ears.

Well, more or less. According to E!, Stacey Wilson Betts is alleging that certain “unforeseen aspects of the show” resulted in blasts of sound that “exceeded safe decibel levels,” which caused the mother to “[suffer] hearing loss, severe tinnitus, and hyperacusis in both ears.”

So what were those unforeseen aspects? As Betts alleges in the E!-obtained court documents, “[Bieber] climbed into a heart shaped, aluminum/steel gondola and was pulled out over the crowd,” causing a “wave like effect of screaming” that “enticed the crowd into a frenzy of screams by continuously waving his arms in a quick and upward motion.” Or, as Bieber calls it, Tuesday.

Jun 27 2012 12:39 PM ET

Album Sales: Justin Bieber's 'Believe' scores the best debut of the year; Kenny Chesney, Fiona Apple open strong