Britney Spears Calls VMA Tribute 'An Honor'

Spears tells MTV News her onstage smooch with Lady Gaga's Jo Calderone wasn't planned.
By James Montgomery


Britney Spears with Lady Gaga as Jo Calderone
Photo: Kevin Winter/ Getty Images

Britney Spears played it humble during her Video Music Awards tribute -- using her time onstage to shine the spotlight on her fellow performer, Beyoncé -- not an easy feat to accomplish in between nabbing the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award and getting kissed by Lady Gaga's male alter ego Jo Calderone.

When MTV News caught up with Spears minutes after stepping offstage, she stayed humble, calling the tribute "an honor" and once again deflecting the spotlight.

"It was really crazy. I had no idea what to expect," Spears said. "The kids were amazing and so entertaining, and it was a really fun night. It was really cool. I was like, 'Wow, that's really sweet!'

"I loved the little girl in the 'Slave' outfit," she continued. "She was just so tiny and she delivered and she had such a great performance. ... They were all so great, and you could tell they worked really hard."

Watch the Britney Spears VMA Tribute now!

And Spears didn't stop there either. For an artist who's won more than her fare share of VMAs in her career, she was blown away by Sunday night's Best Pop Video triumph. "Every year ... just to come here is such an honor, you never get used to it," she smiled. "But tonight means so much to me." In a night full of high-water moments, it was her tribute smooch from Gaga -- er, Calderone -- that she gushed about backstage. Especially because she said the kiss was totally unplanned.

"She was in full character!" Spears said. "We just got onstage and we just kind of felt it out; we didn't know what was going on, so it was interesting!"

The 28th annual MTV Video Music Awards have wrapped, but the real action is just getting started! Stick with MTV News for winners, fashion pics, video and behind-the-scenes stories about everything that went down. Visit VMA.MTV.com for the latest.

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Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1669873/britney-spears-vma-tribute.jhtml

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Beyonce, Adele, Lil Wayne Get VMA Bump On iTunes

Up-and-coming rockers Young the Giant also among those benefitting from post-show sales boost.
By Gil Kaufman


Beyoncé performs at the 2011 VMAs
Photo: Getty Images

Beyoncé's surprise pregnancy reveal wasn't the only bump to show up this week. A number of artists also got an expected iTunes VMA bump, as their singles shot up the iTunes digital charts in the wake of their performances on the record-setting broadcast.

The biggest leap was made by Adele, whose second single, "Someone Like You," shot right up to #1 on the tally in the wake of her dramatic appearance on the broadcast, a rise of 441 percent. The song was not even in the top 10 when iTunes released the charts for the week ending August 22. Though iTunes does not release sales figures, there was clearly some serious online purchasing that went on, in addition to a major flood of Twitter traffic caused by the VMAs.

Among the other beneficiaries were Lady Gaga, whose Jo Calderone-fueled take on "Yoü and I" pushed that song back into the top 10 to #4 as of Thursday (September 1). And, after dropping Tha Carter IV at midnight on Sunday, Lil Wayne was all over, with "Mirror" moving into the #5 position, "Blunt Blowin' " at #13, "MegaMan" at #23 and "How to Love" at #15.

Beyoncé herself had a boost from the night, as her "Love on Top" performance pushed the not-officially-released-as-a-single single to #3 (currently at #9) as sales picked up by 221 percent. Pre-show performers Cobra Starship were feeling the love also, as "You Make Me Feel" moved up to #6 after having faded to #11 before the broadcast.

Also benefitting were rockers Young the Giant, whose performance likely helped breakthrough single, "My Body," shoot up 223 percent to land at #2 on the alternative singles charts and #24 on the overall chart. The band's self-titled disc also saw some serious love, with sales expanding by 220 percent, moving up to #4 on the iTunes album chart. House artist Jessie J got the bump as well, with sales of her album, Who You Are shooting up nearly 200 percent.

Chris Brown's high-flying VMA medley also pushed him up the charts, as his singles "Beautiful People" and "Yeah 3X" soared by 904 and 149 percent, respectively, on the iTunes singles chart.

The love was spread far and wide, as evidenced by the 1,375 percent jump for Mark Ronson and Amy Winehouse's version of "Valerie" — performed by Bruno Mars during the Amy Winehouse tribute — and the Foo Fighters' VMA-winning "Walk," which had a 120 percent jump on the iTunes singles chart. Sales of Britney Spears' "Till the World Ends" were up 76 percent on the iTunes singles chart after the song was heard in the Britney tribute to the pop star and Pitbull's summer jam "Give Me Everything" surged 71 percent on the iTunes song tally following his performance.

The 28th annual MTV Video Music Awards have wrapped, but the real action is just getting started! Stick with MTV News for winners, fashion pics, video and behind-the-scenes stories about everything that went down. Visit VMA.MTV.com for the latest.

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Janet Jackson Thrills Fans With Greatest Hits, Michael Tribute At Radio City

Singer covered songs ranging from classic 'Pleasure Principle' to 2008's 'Feedback' at New York show.
By Vaughn Schoonmaker


Janet Jackson (file)
Photo: Christopher Polk/ Getty Images

NEW YORK — Often imitated, never duplicated, Janet Jackson's outbursts of meticulous choreography, sassy exclamations and smoldering gazes into the audience kept them on their feet for the entire two-hour set of her greatest hits at Radio City Music Hall. Monday night marked the last of three sold-out shows at the historic venue on her monumental Number Ones: Up Close and Personal Tour.

Up-and-coming boy band Mindless Behavior opened the show with songs including "#1 Girl," "Future" and their debut single, "My Girl." With their Usher-esque dance moves and shouts like "Where the ladies at?" the boys brought the tween girls out of hiding, judging by the shrill screams escaping various corner of the music hall.

At 9:00 sharp, the lights went down and Janet's fans were on the edge of their seats, watching music videos for "The Best Things in Life Are Free" and "Rhythm Nation" projected on big screens across the venue. A small shadow drifted toward center stage, and when the colorful lights came up, Jackson, wrapped in a shoulder-padded catsuit, complete with slick short hair, blasted into "The Pleasure Principle," dancing as hard and intensely choreographed as she did when the song first came out in the 1980s.

With barely a spare second between songs, Janet dazzled her way through her biggest hits, including "Miss You Much," "All for You" and "Nasty," and more recent hits like 2008's "Feedback."

Videos displayed during Jackson's costume changes included vintage clips from "Diff'rent Strokes," a funny scene from "Poetic Justice" where Jackson slyly rejects the advances of Tupac Shakur's character, and a rather heavy scene, as Jackson's character in "Why Did I Get Married" destroys her husband's house with a golf club, screaming hysterically.

Considering the tough couple of years the Jackson family has faced, the dark moments in the video seemed fitting, and everyone was beside themselves with bittersweet joy when Michael Jackson's face popped up on the big screen and she performed their hit single "Scream."

Janet emerged for her encore in a tight white one-piece disco suit, and performed "Diamonds," "Make Me" and "Together Again," which appeared to be the biggest hit of the evening. As Jackson graciously bowed out, her straight face transitioned into a smirk, suggesting that despite the hard times she has experienced recently, we can expect to see this singing and dancing pop legend shine far into the future.

"Its amazing!" Janet fan Elena Mercantini gleamed afterward. "It's like she's still 20 years old!"

"She's hot, she's amazing and she's still got it after all these years" added Alison Klinger of Long Island. "Best concert I've ever been to!"

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Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1660385/janet-jackson-radio-city-concert.jhtml

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Usher Collaborator Rico Love Calls Kelly Rowland's 'Motivation' 'Truly Organic'

Lil Wayne 'jumped on it,' Raymond v. Raymond writer tells Mixtape Daily.
By Alvin Blanco, with reporting by Rob Markman


Rico Love
Photo: TTLL

Behind the Beats: Rico Love

If more people read the credits behind some of R&B's biggest hits, Rico Love should be a household name. Born Richard Preston Butler Jr., the former Florida A&M University student is now one of the music industry's most-sought-after singer/songwriters.

After writing hits for Usher ("There Goes My Baby"), Beyoncé ("Sweet Dreams") and Diddy-Dirty Money ("Hello Good Morning"), to name a few, one of Rico's biggest hits to date is Kelly Rowland's "Motivation."

"It came about in a truly organic way," Rico told Mixtape Daily of the Jim Jonsin-produced "Motivation." "We had this meeting in New York: myself and Sylvia [Rhone] and Kelly. And they just were saying, 'We need to find that single; we need that big single.' Everybody was asking for an uptempo, actually.

"I flew down to Miami the next day, and that Tuesday, we got back in the studio, and Jim started playing these chords, and then coming up with these little sounds — the signature sounds that Jim comes up with. I just told him to lay it like a skeleton idea, and I jumped in the booth, and I started with the verse, and I kind of sang my way all the way through the record."

Rowland, formerly of Destiny's Child, was in the studio while Rico was laying down the reference track and made her regard for the song known immediately. "Kelly was there and watched the whole process," Rico recalled. "As soon as I finished singing the demo, usually an artist wants to live with it or listen to it for a little while. She just said, 'I want to cut it right now.' So she jumped in the booth, and we cut the record."

"Motivation" became the lead single for Rowland's third album, Here I Am, which was released in April. The song, which peaked at #1 on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, features a verse from Lil Wayne.

"Lil Wayne got out of jail a few days later, and as soon as he got out of jail, [Rowland] went to see him, and he jumped on it," Rico explained. "It was the most organized situation ever. It was nothing contrived about it."

There's been nothing manufactured about Rico's accomplishments either. Starting his musical career as a rapper, he has signed former Roc-a-Fella rapper Young Chris to his Universal/Motown-distributed Division 1 label.

After leaving Florida A&M to pursue music, Rico caught the attention of Usher, and penned songs for the R&B singer, including "Throwback." Other artists soon benefitted from his songwriting, including T.I., Pleasure P and Mario. Rico takes pride in being versatile with his talents, preferring not to make specific songs intended for specific artists only.

"Sometimes, when you keep an artist in mind, you'll limit yourself," Rico explained. "You won't go a place that they probably would go because you're thinking, "Nah, she wouldn't say this," or "He wouldn't do this," or "He wouldn't say this," and "This melody is out of the way for them."

"When I get a chance to just get into the studio and just write music and just produce music and sit at the piano and tell a guy where I want to hear the chords and create the progressions and just freely make music, it's a lot more fun."

Lately, Rico has been back in the studio with Usher. In 2007, he was signed to the singer's former US Records via J Records. But his debut album was never released, and he and Usher went their separate ways.

But as Rico become a songwriting force, the two eventually started working together again. The first song they recorded was the Grammy-winning "There Goes My Baby" from 2010's Raymond v. Raymond. Now, Rico is working on Usher's forthcoming album and embracing the pressure of surpassing its predecessor's platinum sales and critical success.

"I feel like this is what separates the boys from the men," Rico said of working with Usher. "This week, we been creating records together. We had two mics, two headphones set up in the booth, and we just sit there and vibe out.

"These first few days have been amazing. We got four records cut so far that sound super amazing. I'm super excited about it. I'm just anxious for the world to hear it."

For other artists featured in Mixtape Daily, check out Mixtape Daily Headlines.

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Madonna's 'W.E.': The Venice Reviews Are In

Material Girl's second directorial effort finds few early supporters at the film fest.
By Eric Ditzian


Madonna attends the "W.E." premiere during the 68th Venice Film Festival
Photo: Getty Images

The Venice Film Festival turned into something of a feeding frenzy on Thursday, as critics practically fell over one another in an effort to drum up the harshest disses and most damning, damaging turns-of-phrase about Madonna's second directorial effort, "W.E."

Their cackles of laughter echoed across the pond the next day, as the Weinstein Company attempted some damage control and a handful of defenders staked out claims that the film had been unjustly dismissed. Those supporters pointed to the lush visual landscape Madonna had captured and the touching love story she'd brought to life.

But the critics weren't having any of it. They slammed the garbled narrative structure, cheesy dialogue and directorial trickery that seemed to serve no other purpose than Madonna's look-at-me self-servitude. Read on for those critiques and more.

The Story
" 'W.E. is rather better than expected; it's bold, confident and not without amusing moments. Still, it's undeniably a strange concoction. Madonna (who also co-scripted with [Alek] Keshishian) has fashioned a split-level story of two couples: the Windsors, and the growing attraction between Wally Winthrop (Abbie Cornish), a contemporary Manhattan woman, and Evgeni (Oscar Isaac), a handsome Russian working security at Sotheby's. Wally, married to an eminent shrink who isn't above slapping her around, desperately wants children. (He doesn't.) Worse, she has inherited her mother's and grandmother's obsession with the Windsors (Andrea Riseborough, James d'Arcy) and doggedly researches their lives, seeking clues about how to live her own. In extreme moments, Mrs. Simpson actually appears to her." — David Gritten, The Telegraph

The Direction
"What an extraordinarily silly, preening, fatally mishandled film this is. It may even surpass 2008's 'Filth and Wisdom,' Madonna's calamitous first outing as a filmmaker. Her direction is so all over the shop that it barely qualifies as direction at all. 'W.E.' gives us slo-mo and jump cuts and a crawling crane shot up a tree in Balmoral, but they are all just tricks without a purpose. For her big directorial flourish, Madonna has Wallis bound onstage to dance with a Masai tribesman while Pretty Vacant blares on the soundtrack. But why? What point is she making?" — Xan Brooks, The Guardian

The Writing
"The script is the first problem. Co-written with Alek Keshishian, it's laden with clichés and clunky exposition from the off, with some moments drawing laughs from the Venice audience. More fatally, the structure works against what's trying to be achieved. There aren't really any similarities between the characters in the parallel stories, so the one isn't enlightened or embellished by the other. Furthermore, by telling Wallis' story in a somewhat non-linear fashion, jumping around from place to place, it becomes glacially paced and uninvolving, particularly as Madonna seems to steer things away from any actual drama — we never see the moment that Wallis and David first get together, for instance." — Oliver Lyttelton, The Playlist

The Defense
"A lot of people will loathe it, simply because it's been made by Madonna. But if they were to watch it with no knowledge of who directed, they would be pleasantly surprised. They might even find much of it enjoyable, although the odd moment may have them wondering if Madge has committed treason. Whatever your feelings about Ms. Ciccone, it's impossible to refute that her film brings to the screen one of the most compelling love stories in history." — Baz Bamigboye, Daily Mail

The Final Word
"Before it preemed in Venice, advance word on 'W.E.,' Madonna's sophomore feature about Wallis Simpson and Edward VIII, was that it was better than her debut, 'Filth and Wisdom.' Indeed it is, though that's not saying much: Burdened with risible dialogue and weak performances, pic doesn't have much going for it apart from lavish production design and terrific, well-researched costumes — and it's in focus, which is more than can be said for the script. Nevertheless, interest in the subject and her Madgesty alone will ensure substantial royalties internationally." — Leslie Felperin, Variety

For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com.

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