LADY GAGA ANNOUNCES CAMERA GLASSES
Lady Gaga, who was named Creative Director for Polaroid last year, has announced the newest product from the company: Camera Glasses. Gaga was on hand at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas on Thursday to introduce the Glasses that can take a photo of whatever the user is seeing. Polaroid says users can instantly capture or upload photos with the built-in camera and then display them on the glasses’ LCD screens for others to see. The GL20 Camera Glasses will be available later this year, at a price to be announced.
STATEMENT! Polaroid released this statement: “Only Lady Gaga could create a hybrid that’s part fashion statement, part revolutionary technology and part tool for self-expression.”
EMINEM LEADS GRAMMY PROMO
Eminem appears in a 30-second commercial for the Recording Academy’s Music Is Life Is Music social-networking and promotional campaign. According to an official press release, the clip is just one of three to come. As previously reported, the multi-platinum selling rapper is up for ten nominations for his critically acclaimed Recovery LP during the biggest night in music! Be sure to tune in the 53rd Annual GRAMMY Awards when they air February 13th at 8 PM Eastern on CBS.
KATY PERRY ON HIMYM
Katy Perry starred on The Simpsons late last year, and it appears that she’s giving TV acting another shot in 2011. According to USA Today, the pop star will make a guest appearance on an episode of How I Met Your Mother, playing a character named “Honey,” who is “Zoey’s” cousin. The ep is set to air later this season.
KATY PERRY’S TUNE TOP DIGITAL SONG OF 2010
It was a tough year for the record industry, but it still managed to be a pretty good one for Katy Perry. According to RollingStone.com, the pop star’s hit tune “California Gurls” was 2010’s top-selling digital song, and was downloaded 4.4-million times. That’s a very nice number, but still not as high as 2009’s two most downloaded songs — “Boom Boom Pow” and “I Gotta Feeling,” both by the Black Eyed Peas.
EMINEM AND KATY PERRY TOP YEAR END CHARTS
Eminem’s Recovery is 2010’s best-selling album. The effort sold more than 3.4-million copies since its June release, according to Nielsen SoundScan. Lady Antebellum are number two on the list, selling over 3.1-million copies of Need You Now. Speak Now, Taylor Swift’s third CD, which was released in late October, comes in at number three, selling about 2.9-million copies. Justin Bieber came in at number four with My World 2.0 and Susan Boyle’s Christmas album, The Gift, rounds out the top five. Katy Perry’s “California Gurls” featuring Snoop Dogg was the top selling song, moving more than 4.4-million tracks in 2010. Train’s “Hey, Soul Sister” is second with 4.3-million copies.
RIHANNA TOPS SOCIAL 50 CHART
Rihanna tops Billboard’s Social 50 chart for a fourth non-consecutive week. Justin Bieber holds at number two, followed by Lady Gaga, the Black Eyed Peas and Eminem. Michael Jackson movies up two spots to number six, Katy Perry climbs three notches to number seven, Linkin Park rises one spot to number eight, Akon drops three rungs to number nine, while Shakira leaps three spots to number ten. Paramore’s recent buzz about their line-up change sees the band enter the chart at number 36, while Avril Lavigne vaults 10 spots to number 16, in the wake of releasing her new single, “What the Hell,” on December 31st. The Social 50 chart ranks the most active artists on the world’s leading social networking sites like YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and iLike.
KATY PERRY TOPS BILLBOARD HOT 100
Katy Perry’s “Firework” is back on the top of the Billboard Hot 100 chart for a fourth non-consecutive week, pushing Bruno Mars’ “Grenade” down to number two. Ke$ha’s “We R Who We R” holds at number three, while “What’s My Name?” by Rihanna featuring Drake holds at number four and P!nk’s “Raise Your Glass” also holds at number five.
2011 GRAMMY NOMINEES CD
The 17th edition of the GRAMMY Nominees CD boasts music from Cee Lo Green, B.o.B, Katy Perry, Lady Gaga, Eminem, Lady Antebellum, Bruno Mars, Michael Jackson, Maroon 5 and more. It will arrive in stores on January 25th. The CD reflects a cross-section of the nominees for the 53rd Annual GRAMMY Awards, which will be held Sunday, February 13th at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. The big show airs live on CBS at 8 PM Eastern.
LADY GAGA’S SURPRISE CLUB GIG
Lady Gaga surprised fans by appearing at New York City’s Plaza Hotel’s famed nightclub, The Oak Room. Gaga took the stage during a scheduled set by her friend, singer/trumpeter Brian Newman, to perform two jazz standards, “Someone to Watch Over Me” and “Orange Colored Sky.” For her short set, Gaga donned long blond locks and a leather bandage-style S&M dress along with garters. It’s not the first time that Gaga has popped up at the Oak Room, back in September she performed wearing a dress made of human hair.
Lady Gaga singing “Someone To Watch Over Me.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XlYKYmfPSxo&
GAGA’S FIRST SINGLE IS “BORN THIS WAY”
Lady Gaga’s first single off of her forthcoming album, Born This Way, will officially be the title track. The news was confirmed in a post on LadyGaga.co.uk and, according to Gaga’s New Year’s Eve Twitter post, the single will be released on Sunday, February 13th, which is the same night that the GRAMMYs are taking place. This is fueling rumors all over the Internet that Gaga will be debuting the song live at the big show. We’ll keep you posted as further details become available.
NEW BRITNEY DEMO
Britney Spears’ fans rejoice, a demo of her first single surfaced on Thursday. The demo of the song titled “Hold It Against Me,” which is being produced by Dr. Luke and Max Martin, does not feature Britney’s voice, but gives a clear indication on the direction of her upcoming album. The dance-heavy song is sure to be a club staple in 2011.
Listen to the demo at PerezHilton.com here: http://goo.gl/8tsG0
CYRUS HACKER ARRESTED
According to the Associated Press, authorities say a man who bragged about hacking into Miley Cyrus’ e-mail account and distributing revealing pictures of her has been arrested on unrelated charges. 21-year-old Josh Holly was arrested Thursday in Nashville and charged with possession of unauthorized credit card account numbers. He acknowledged hacking into Cyrus’ MySpace account and also bragged online and to the media about obtaining photos of Cyrus from her Gmail account. So far, he does not face charges relating to Cyrus.
NEW NICOLE SCHERZINGER TRACK
A snippet of a new Nicole Scherzinger track has made its way online. According to ThatGrapeJuice.net, the song is titled “Don’t Hold Your Breath.” Scherzinger’s current single is “Poison.”
LISTEN! Check out the 13 second snippet here: http://goo.gl/76cMg
SWIFT PARTIES WITH COVERGIRL, DEGENERES
Taylor Swift didn’t just spend her Wednesday evening celebrating her Favorite Country Artist win at the People’s Choice Awards. She also helped her new friends at CoverGirl celebrate their 50th anniversary. Taylor was seen going into the West Hollywood party wearing a strapless black dress. She was also spotted hanging out with fellow-CoverGirl Ellen DeGeneres and her wife, Portia de Rossi. Taylor was recently named the newest face of CoverGirl’s NatureLuxe line.
After Taylor’s win at the People’s Choice Awards, she tweeted, “Thank you SO much for the Peoples Choice Award! It’s sitting here all sparkly in my hotel room. I love you guys. :)”
USHER INVENTS NEW GENRE FOR NEW ALBUM
According to Rap-Up.com, Usher has already begun working on the follow-up to 2010’s Raymond v. Raymond. In addition to teaming up with Rico Love for the disc, the crooner said of the project that he’s looking to incorporate “a new genre of music–Revolutionary Pop–which combines several music genres to create a new sound experience.” The singer recently told us that he’s always aiming to make great music for every LP. No further details are known at this time.
MTV NEWS EXCLUSIVE: PARAMORE: THE LAST WORD
On December 18th, Paramore made an announcement, via their website, that guitarist Josh Farro and his brother, drummer Zac Farro, were leaving the band. This came as a shock to fans, but what shocked them even more was Josh Farro’s lengthy and damning blog post about the split. MTV News sat down with the band to discuss their side of the story. Here’s singer Hayley Williams.
Paramore open up about the whole story in Paramore: The Final Word, a live stream airing on MTV.com tomorrow starting at 4 PM Eastern, so be sure to tune in.
CEE-LO AND GWYNETH RECORD “FORGET YOU”
It’s official! Cee-Lo Green and Gwyneth Paltrow recorded a new version of “Forget You” this week in New York City. According to People, Green says the actress “sings like a natural.” The pair may duet together on the January 15th episode of Saturday Night Live.
WAKA RELEASED FROM JAIL
According to AllHipHop.com, Waka Flocka Flame has posted 32-thousand dollars bail from Henry County Jail on Wednesday. The news comes days after the rapper turned himself in to authorities on Monday for weapons and drug possession charges stemming from his Atlanta residence being raided last month. It’s unknown when he’s due back in court. He took to his Twitter page to thank all his fans who prayed for him.
TEENA MARIE’S DEATH STILL UNKNOWN
According to TMZ, the coroner has marked Teena Marie’s cause of death as still unknown on her death certificate report. As we previously reported, the “Lovergirl” songstress recently passed away in her sleep at the age of 54 at her California home on December 26th. We will keep you posted with further details!
TEENA’S FINAL TWEETS: “May Gods Light always shine on you and your family! May you have the most joyous Holiday season ever! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!”
SNOOP AND WIZ KHALIFA PREP NEW FILM
According to XXLMg.com, Snoop Dogg and Wiz Khalifa have teamed up to create a new movie titled High School. While the flick will be available on DVD on April 20th, the West Coast rappers have also collaborated on a new song called “That Good,” which will serve as the lead single off the film’s official soundtrack.
http://hulkshare.com/n330h5r59q76
SIMON LE BON GOT INTO A FIGHT
Simon Le Bon is apparently a lover and a fighter. The Duran Duran frontman told Q magazine about a scuffle that he got into in 2002 with someone riding a scooter while in St. Tropez. It seems that the guy almost crashed into the vocalist, and they started yelling at each other, which eventually led to them fighting and “knocking each other out cold.” Simon said that the whole situation must have “been quite comical for anyone watching.”
MADONNA IS BIG WINNER IN SPIN’S 25TH ANNIVERSARY SURVEY
Spin magazine is celebrating their 25th anniversary, and they asked their readers some questions about the past two-and-a-half decades. Spin readers named Madonna the Best Solo Artist of that time, as well as Hottest Sex Goddess. Bay Area rockers Green Day also did quite well for themselves in the competition, being named by the mag as Best Live Act, having the Best Album with American Idiot, and frontman Billie Joe Armstrong was named Hottest Sex God. See all the results at Spin.com.
AN ALBUM UPDATE FROM COLBIE CAILLAT
Colbie Caillat has just given a little update on her album via Twitter. The “Bubbly” singer wrote that she has named the follow-up to her number one album Breakthrough, but she won’t reveal the title just yet. She also added that she will have “a few surprise guests” on the effort as well. We’ll let you know more when we do.
O.A.R. STILL WORKING HARD ON NEXT ALBUM
O.A.R. are getting closer to the release of their next album, the follow-up to 2008’s hit effort, All Sides. Frontman Marc Roberge wrote on his Twitter account that he was heading into the studio on Thursday, and that he “already plowed through over thinking these tracks last year. Now it’s time to have fun with ‘em and bring ‘em home.” No official word on when the record is due out, but we’ll keep you posted.
AMY WINEHOUSE TO PLAY NEW MUSIC IN BRAZIL
Amy Winehouse is in Brazil to play four shows, and apparently, the lucky fans in attendance might be getting to hear some new music. According to ContactMusic.com, singer Zalon, who is part of the “Rehab” crooner’s backing band, wrote on Twitter that they have been rehearsing some “new songs” and that we should all “get ready.” Amy’s first gig on the short trek takes place on Saturday.
T.I. GETS IN TROUBLE FOR SEXUAL ACTIVITY
According to TMZ, T.I. and his wife, Tiny, were caught engaging in sexual activity during regular visiting hours at Arkansas State Prison. The couple knew the guidelines, which only permits a hug and kiss at the beginning and end of each visit as well as hand holding. It’s unknown what the two were caught doing specifically or if Tiny will still be allowed to see her husband anytime soon, but Tip was sent to the Special Housing Unit because of the violation. As previously reported, the rapper is serving an 11 month sentence for violating the terms of his probation.
THE BEATLES LUCRATIVE iTUNES DEAL
In November, The Beatles’ music finally made it to iTunes, and Reuters has gotten details of the deal that brought the songs to the site. It was apparently one of the most lucrative contracts in the history of digital music since iTunes is paying royalties directly to the company’s that control the band’s music — Apple Corps and Sony/ATV Music Publishing. Most deals include licensing songs so by doing it this way, the Beatles cut out several middlemen. Cheap Trick, The Allman Brothers Band and AC/DC have all tried unsuccessfully to negotiate deals like this with iTunes.
