Taylor Swift, Rihanna Dress To Impress At Billboard Awards

Nicki Minaj, Ke$ha, Selena Gomez also make fashion splash on red carpet, as showgirl style rules at the Las Vegas event on Sunday night.
By Jocelyn Vena


Taylor Swift at the 2011 Billboard Music Awards
Photo: Jordan Strauss/ Getty Images

On Sunday night, some of the biggest names in the music industry hit up the Billboard Music Awards in Las Vegas and decided that sparkles and sequins make for the perfect additions to any red carpet get-up. Well, it is Sin City after all.

Taylor Swift always seems to bring some of that Nashville sparkle to any red carpet. She arrived at the show in a pale-hued, sequined Elie Saab gown. Nicki Minaj showed off her signature sense of style in her baby-blue, body-hugging spandex Mark Fast catsuit.

Selena Gomez turned up the style dial in a sexy, cut-out black Dolce & Gabbana gown that she paired with red strappy sandals with sparkly bow detailing. Like Gomez, Ke$ha opted for some cut-out detailing in her sparkly, slate-gray dress with tulle skirt. Rihanna looked white hot in her men's tailored Max Azria suit, which she kept sexy and feminine by not buttoning her shirt all the way.

Fergie went S&M chic in her little black bandage-type dress by Hervé Léger. Nicole Kidman also wore black. She paired a casual braid hairstyle with a long black gown and Keith Urban. British pop cutie Kyle Minogue looked funky in her little black lacey dress. Inside the show, Britney Spears sat in the audience wearing a skimpy black dress of her own, her hair in loose curls, with little-to-no accessories.

While some stars kept the color scheme low-key, Keri Hilson decided to stand out in her billowy little yellow dress paired with a turquoise-colored belt. Kelly Rowland showed off some of her best assets in a body-hugging, bright pink bandage dress.

The fellas also looked tight on the carpet. Joe Jonas wore all black with white sneakers, Ne-Yo paired his periwinkle suit with a Yankees cap and Justin Bieber wore black tuxedo pants with a gold-lamé tuxedo jacket.

Which stars' styles caught your eye at the Billboard Music Awards? Tell us in the comments.

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Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1664386/billboard-music-awards-taylor-swift-rihanna.jhtml

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Robert Plant And Alison Krauss Win Grammy Album Of The Year

Raising Sand, from Led Zeppelin vet and bluegrass superstar, wins five Grammys on Sunday night.
By James Montgomery with MTV News staff


Alison Krauss and Robert Plant accept the award for Album of the Year at the Grammy Awards on Sunday
Photo: Kevin Winter/ Getty Images

"I'm bewildered," Robert Plant said onstage as he accepted the Grammy Album of the Year award with Alison Krauss on Sunday night. "In the old days we would have called this selling out, but it's a good way to spend a Sunday."

He was probably one of the few who were surprised, because Raising Sand, which won five trophies at Sunday night's show, is in many ways the perfect Grammy album. It features two respected veterans, a critically lauded producer, some sandpaper-and-velvet vocals and a baker's dozen of time-tested standards.

You're probably familiar with Robert Plant from his Led Zeppelin days, and you might be aware of producer T-Bone Burnett's work on the "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" soundtrack (it won the Grammy for Album of the Year in 2002). And if you don't know who Alison Krauss is, she possesses a haunting set of pipes and is one of the meanest fiddle players in the world. Oh, and she's won 21 Grammys, more than any other female artist and the seventh-most in history.

Really, she's the key to Sand's success, and not just because of her voice (or her fiddle playing). She and Plant first met in 2004, at a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame tribute to legendary bluesman Leadbelly, and the former Zeppelin man was amazed by her knowledge of American Roots music — so much so that they began kicking around the idea of recording an album together. Three years later, Sand was released.

And while Plant possesses the more famous voice, the album's finest moments radiate from Krauss. Whether she's getting bluesy on Little Milton's "Let Your Loss Be Your Lesson" or entwining with Plant's husky voice on songs like "Please Read the Letter" and Roly Salley's winsome "Killing the Blues," she more than carries her end of the bargain.

And perhaps that's also due to producer Burnett, who handpicked the 13 songs the duo cover on Sand. His arrangements are sparse — giving the two voices ample room to breathe — yet dense, warm and crackling at the same time. It's a testament to his work that he's often given just as much billing as Plant and Krauss on the project ... and it's certainly justified.

To date, Sand has sold more than 1 million copies, heaped tons of acclaim and actually earned a Grammy last year — "Gone Gone Gone (Done Moved On)" took home the award for Best Pop Collaboration With Vocals.

One expert was surprised not by the album's success, but by the fact that it's actually quite a good album.

"At first, the album seemed like a vanity project. ... Two names, clearly a one-off record, didn't have to be any good, you know?" New York Times music critic Jon Caramanica said. "Led Zeppelin fans would buy it because of Robert Plant, Alison Krauss would get a check. But it actually turned out to be a really thoughtful, really good record. So when you combine all that with the fact that the Grammys love to lionize one of their own, I could really see it taking home some awards."

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Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1604582/plantkrauss-win-album-year-grammy.jhtml

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Ke$ha, Black Eyed Peas, More Featured In O Music Awards Roundtable Debate

Music-video director Wayne Isham will join Most Innovative Video debate, which streams live Monday on OMusicAwards.com and MTV.com.
By MTV News Staff


Ke$ha
Photo: Noel Vasquez/ Getty Images

Ever since they were first announced, the O Music Awards have proudly proclaimed themselves the untraditional alternative to the staid world of red carpets, acceptance speeches and celebrity glad-handing.

And for further proof of that point, consider the following: Though the inaugural O Music Awards won't premiere until April 28, the first award will be handed out on Monday at 4 p.m. ET ... and it's a big one.

For weeks, fans have been voting for the Most Innovative Music Video through the O Music Awards official site, and on Monday — in a roundtable debate moderated by MTV News' James Montgomery — a winner will be crowned.

The O Music Awards Debate for the Most Innovative Music Video, presented by FUZE®, will stream live on OMusicAwards.com and MTV.com. Joining Montgomery around the table will be acclaimed video director Wayne Isham, Mashable's Brenna Ehrlich and some super-secret celebrity guests.


The Black Eyed Peas, Ke$ha, My Chemical Romance and more will also take part in the discussion about just what makes a video truly innovative, and the folks who are nominated for the award — a list that includes Arcade Fire, Robyn, OK Go and Andy Grammer — will also Skype in to make the case for why their video deserves to be named Most Innovative.

On Monday morning, the original list of 10 nominees will be whittled down to the top five vote-getters, and then, during the debate, our roundtable and the Internet audience will cut that list down to the final three. At the very end, we'll announce the winner of the very first O Music Award for Most Innovative Video.

The inaugural O Music Awards will stream live from Las Vegas at 11 p.m. ET/8 p.m. PT on OMusicAwards.com. Tune in to see who will reign supreme in categories like Most Viral Dance, Funniest Music Short and NSFW Music Video!

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Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1662511/o-music-awards-most-innovative-video.jhtml

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Harry Potter World Cup: The First Round!

Welcome to MTV's Harry Potter World Cup! We've selected 64 of the best "Harry Potter" characters and matched them up in a series of duels for a chance at magical glory, but it's up to YOU to decide who the greatest "Potter" character of all time is in this pool of wizards and witches. Will [...]

Source: http://moviesblog.mtv.com/2011/06/24/harry-potter-world-cup-first-round/

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'Jersey Shore' to Be Recast for Season 6? Not So Fast!

'Jersey Shore' to Be Recast for Season 6? Not So Fast!

Nothing lasts forever -- not even gym, tanning and laundry. But despite an MTV insider telling Us Weekly that the cast of Jersey Shore would be replaced by a new set of guido lifestyle experts after season 5, it looks like well be stuck with The Situation for at least a little while longer.

In a statement to Entertainment Weekly, an MTV rep has denied that the current crew -- Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi, Jenni "J-Woww" Farley, Paul "DJ Pauly D" DelVecchio, Mike "The Situation" Sorrentino, Ronnie Ortiz-Magro, Sammi Giancola, Vinny Guadagnino and Deena Cortese -- will film their last season this summer. "We love the present cast, and their summer adventures have just begun," says the rep. "We currently have no plans to recast the show."

Still, it's not hard to see why MTV might consider dumping the original cast and starting anew -- at least from a financial standpoint. The group's explosive popularity has been a double-edged sword for MTV. On the one hand, the show draws spectacular ratings, and of course that benefits the network. But their fame has also led to ever increasing salary demands. According to Entertainment Weekly, in season 2, the cast members were each receiving about $10K per episode. By season 4, the core group was earning $100K per episode. And yes, that means they earned $100K per episode to party -- and brawl -- in Florence.  

Naturally, their notoriety has also made filming more difficult. It's a little harder to get into a night club screaming match, or make out with a stranger, with hundreds of fans closing in on you all the time.  

Despite all that, MTV is sticking by this orange-tinted gang. And with three of them -- Snooki, J-Woww and Pauly D -- already primed for MTV spinoffs, it looks like the original gang will be hanging out well into the foreseeable future.

Source: http://www.ivillage.com/jersey-shore-be-recast-season-6-not-so-fast/1-a-360391

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'True Blood' Rookies Introduce Their New Characters

Vedette Lim, Fiona Shaw, Janina Gavankar and more newbies give us the low-down.
By Kara Warner


Alexander SkarsgÅrd,, Anna Paquin and Stephen Moyer at the "True Blood" season four premiere
Photo: Kevin Winter/ Getty Images

For all the "True Blood" fans out there, the wait from the end of one season to the start of a new one can be quite grueling. So much so that HBO employed the Twitter hashtag #waitingsucks in its "True Blood" marketing campaigns — and fans couldn't agree more.

Luckily, the waiting game is about to end with the premiere of the fourth season on HBO this Sunday. MTV News spent some quality time with the cast at the show's premiere earlier this week, where we asked the newest faces of "True Blood" to introduce themselves to fans. Very minor spoilers ahead.

"I play Naomi, I am a good friend of Tara," newcomer Vedette Lim told us. And be advised to take Lim's use of "friend of Tara" loosely. "I'm a cage fighter, clearly," she added, showing off her not-so-intimidating guns.

"I'm a vampire, if you can see the pale skin," said Aaron Perilo, who plays devious Blackburn. "I'm pretty old so I'm very fast. I kind of have an attitude — I don't know if that's a talent. I have a bloodthirsty attitude where I like to get in trouble." Sounds like he'll fit right in then!

Next up is legendary actress Fiona Shaw, whose résumé is too lengthy to list, but many may recognize her from her recent work as Petunia Dursley in the "Harry Potter" film franchise. Shaw plays a very dedicated witch and coven leader Marnie. She's also already a cast favorite. Her work is so convincing that many of her "True Blood" co-stars claimed to be officially obsessed with her.

"Marnie is a witch. She's not a very good witch, but she becomes a very powerful witch as the thing goes on," Shaw explained. "It's been very interesting for me to play someone so out there, so weird, so lonely, so desperate, so isolated. It's been a very big challenge, the lack of vanity to really go there, and I think I have done that."

Three other witches to look out for are Roy, Casey and Antonia, played by Dean Chekvala, Fiona Dourif and Paola Turbay, respectively. Roy and Casey are a part of Marnie's coven, while Antonia is the more mysterious and possibly dangerous presence.

"[Antonia] is a witch from the era of the Inquisition," Turbay revealed. "Her spirit is haunting the vampires, and she's around and she's causing a lot of trouble."

Last but certainly not least is Luna, a new shape-shifter and potential romantic interest for everyone's favorite bar owner Sam Merlotte.

"She is also a schoolteacher by day, shape-shifter by night," Janina Gavankar said of her character. "She is a nice girl with a big old past," added Gavankar, whom you might recognize from other TV roles on "The League" and the short-lived "Traffic Light." "[She] is just trying to do the right thing and be drama-free and keep it together and live a simple life in Bon Temps."

Which new character are you most excited for? Let us know in the comments!

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Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1666347/true-blood-season-four-new-characters.jhtml

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