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'Tik Tok' singer/nominee racked up massive digital downloads, opened for Rihanna and survived 'SNL' on road to Video Music Awards.
By James Montgomery
Ke$ha
Photo: Kevin Mazur/ Getty Images
Ke$ha is, without question, one of the biggest breakout stars of 2010. A slurring, whirling, hard-partying pop oddity (who may also be a genius) with a #1 album and a boatload of hit singles to her name, not to mention more than a few enemies. She even has under her star-spangled belt, her very own, very public WTF debacle in the form of a rather, uh, divisive "Saturday Night Live" performance.
Ever since Ke$ha came stumbling into our lives last year with "Tik Tok" (we named it one of the Best Songs of 2009, by the way), she's been nothing if not consistently entertaining, if slightly confounding. She's always coming back with another massive single or eye-popping video, always saying — or wearing — something outrageous. In the process, she's made a rather indelible impact on popular culture and, earlier this month, MTV showed its recognition of that fact, rewarding her with multiple Video Music Award nominations, including nods for Best Female Video and Best New Artist.
But how did she go from unknown pop curio to one of the fastest-rising starlets on the planet? Here's a look back:
In January 2010, "Tik Tok" rose to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100, setting a record for digital downloads in the process. That same month, she was named one of three female Artists to Watch , as part of MTV News' Pop Week 2010. Buoyed by the success of "Tik Tok," Ke$ha's debut album, Animal, opened at #1 on the Billboard albums chart, selling more than 152,000 copies and ending "Britain's Got Talent" phenom Susan Boyle's six-week run at #1. Ke$h would pay homage to Boyle soon after, declaring to MTV News that the cat-loving singer "knows how to party."
She followed up "Tik Tok" with "Blah Blah Blah," another party-ready anthem featuring her pals in 3OH!3. The song cracked the Top 10 and has sold more than 2 million digital downloads to date.
Ke$ha then took to Twitter, where she flirted with John Mayer and then drew the ire of both Britney Spears and Justin Bieber fans, after she (sorta) swiped at Britney in a demo of an old tune ("Styrofoam") and called Biebus "a tiny little baby." In both instances, she apologized ... though, not before Perez Hilton weighed in, calling her a "trash-talking train wreck."
In April, she was announced as the opening act on Rihanna's Last Girl On Earth Tour, and then got to work on another video, this one for "Your Love Is My Drug." That month, clad in a bizarre bodysuit (and later, nothing but glow-in-the-dark bodypaint), she performed a pair of songs on "SNL," a debacle which was described by some as "the worst ['SNL' performance] ever." Never one to back away from a good brawl, Ke$ha responded thusly: "F--- the cynics."
In May came the premiere of the "Drug" video — a bonanza of beards, boulders, Beatles and bodypaint — and the pop singer quickly followed that up with a cameo on 3OH!3's "My First Kiss" and yet another Animal video, this one for "Take It Off."
Later that summer, she hit the road with Rihanna, and described the dynamic duo's backstage relationship thusly: "We braid each other's hair ... naked." She then began discussing plans for a follow-up to Animal, saying she could foresee getting into country music but would definitely stay away from jazz. She also began laying the groundwork for her very own headlining tour. Oh, and of course, she revealed she's planning a fashion line, too, featuring capes and haberdashery made out of "roadkill ... and recycled feathers."
Seems strangely fitting, if you ask us.
The 27th annual MTV Video Music Awards will be broadcast live from the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles on September 12 at 9 p.m. ET. Go to VMA.MTV.com (or text VMA to 97979 if they are Verizon subscribers) to vote for the Best New Artist video through September 12.
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Lohan is reportedly being dropped from the film due to her ongoing legal struggles.
By Jocelyn Vena
Taylor Swift
Photo: Jason Merritt/ Getty Images
Despite online reports to the contrary, Taylor Swift is not set to replace Lindsay Lohan in the romantic comedy "One Night With You," the singer/actress' rep told MTV News.
Swift, who has appeared in movies like "Hannah Montana: The Movie," "Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience" and "Valentine's Day," was rumored to take over the female lead in the flick about a starlet who joins a reality dating show in an attempt to save her career. But, as in most romantic comedies, things don't go as planned when instead she falls for a bartender who happens to hate all things Hollywood. A love/hate relationship ensues between the two.
When contacted by MTV News, a rep for Swift said nothing is planned as of now.
Swift stated earlier this year that her focus was on her music, not making movies. Her new album, Speak Now, is due out in October.
"I'm not making movies right now. I'm making music. That's always been my number-one love," Swift said back in June. "It's been so cool to be able to be a part of things that have been really fun, like being in 'Valentine's Day' and getting to guest-star in 'CSI.' I feel like I get to do these little mini-movies when I make music videos, so that kind of fulfills that little need or desire. But if I ever get time, I might like to [act again]."
Regardless of her current status on "One Night With You," Swift was recently seen sporting a basketball uniform, which she reportedly wore for a part in "Todd vs. High School," co-starring Jason Segal.
Lohan, meanwhile, is still onboard to star in the Linda Lovelace biopic "Inferno," despite repeated delays in filming caused by the actress' ongoing legal troubles.
For young Hollywood news, fashion and "Twilight" updates around the clock, visit HollywoodCrush.MTV.com.
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The long-awaited sequel debuts with $19 million.
By Mawuse Ziegbe
Michael Douglas in "Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps"
Photo: 20th Century Fox
The Box-Office Top Five
#1 "Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps" ($19 million)
#2 "Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole" ($16.3 million)
#3 "The Town" ($16 million)
#4 "Easy A" ($11 million)
#5 "You Again" ($8.3 million)
Moviegoers didn't sleep on the long-awaited follow-up to the 1987 financial drama "Wall Street." Twenty-three years after banking villain Gordon Gekko first fascinated audiences, "Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps" took the box-office crown. Featuring Michael Douglas as fallen financial titan Gekko, Carey Mulligan as his estranged daughter Winnie and Shia LaBeouf as her fiancé, the sequel picked up $19 million during its debut weekend.
The animated, fantasy film Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole," about a crew of intrepid owls out to save the owl kingdoms from powerful foes, flew into second place. The adaptation from a children's book series, featuring voice-over contributions from Helen Mirren and Geoffrey Rush, raked in $16.3 million.
"The Town" maintained a top-five slot during its second weekend on screens. The Ben Affleck-helmed, cops-and-robbers flick is close behind "Ga'Hoole" with $16 million. The film's total estimated tally now stands at roughly $49 million.
Emma Stone, Penn Badgley and Amanda Bynes' high-school laugh-getter "Easy A" also maintained a solid second-week showing. Punching up well-worn, teen-friendly themes, such as rumor-mongering and social acceptance, the flick raked in $11 million. The weekend ticket sales bump the movie's total haul to nearly $33 million.
The rom-com "You Again" wrapped up its first weekend in theaters in fifth place. The film stars Kristin Bell as a PR professional faced with the prospect of her high-school enemy (played by Odette Yustman) becoming her sister-in-law. Hollywood vets Jamie Lee Curtis and Sigourney Weaver also turn in performances as soon-to-be-in-laws with their own strained past. The flick raked in $8.3 million.
Check out everything we've got on "Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps" "Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole" and "The Town"
For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com.
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The show will tackle some of the singer's biggest hits Tuesday night.
By Jocelyn Vena
Heather Morris in "Glee"
Photo: FOX
We've already seen what the masterminds behind "Glee" can do when they pay homage to blond pop stars (see: Madonna and Lady Gaga), but now it's time for the highly anticipated Britney Spears episode, which premieres Tuesday night (September 28). With Spears onboard to make an appearance in the episode, it's shaping up to be one very exciting episode — and it even had the cast freaking out.
In the months since it was rumored that the hit Fox show would pay tribute to Spears, there's been so much information floating around about it that we here at MTV News thought we'd round up the most salient tidbits regarding the episode, which is already rumored to have a sequel sometime next year.
Judging by preview clips, it appears Brittany and Santana hit up their local dentist, played by John Stamos, to get their hands on some anesthesia. From there, the girls go on a trippy ride through Brit's catalog, with some appearances by the pop princess herself. Show creator Ryan Murphy has called the episode "hallucinogenic."
The cast will be doing six of Britney's biggest hits all while resurrecting her most iconic costumes, including the "Oops ... I Did It Again" red-leather bodysuit; the bejeweled (and nearly naked) "Toxic" look; the "I'm a Slave 4 U" green bikini, complete with snake; Madonna and Brit's "Me Against the Music" menswear-inspired suits; the "(Baby) One More Time" schoolgirl uniform; and, finally, a stirring rendition of "Stronger."
Spears herself has been keeping her fans updated about the episode, and she will be live-tweeting during the show's West Coast airing. The bottom line, according to Amber Riley, is that the episode will live up to all of the hype. "I can tell you it's going to be a really great episode and you're going to love it," she said. "And they're doing the big hits from Britney."
Are you looking forward to the "Glee" Britney episode? Let us know in the comments!
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Stepping out for a good cause, Heidi Klum and Alessandra Ambrosio were among the stars at La Permanente in Milan, Italy on Monday evening (September 27).
The Victoria's Secret beauties both took their turns on the arrivals carpet ahead of the amfAR Milano gala held as part of Milan Fashion Week Womenswear Spring/Summer 2011.
As for the charitable event, the goal is to raise as much cash as possible for amfAR - which "spreads awareness of HIV/AIDS, promotes HIV prevention, and endeavors to engage all communities in the fight against AIDS."
During the evening's festivities, which include a live auction, dinner and drinks, Miss Ambrosio excitedly tweeted, "Supporting the fighting against AIDS!!!"
Meanwhile, Miss Klum spent time mingling with fellow attendees Roberto and Eva Cavalli while Leona Lewis and Chanel Iman also made appearances.
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'I still can't believe Beyoncé didn't win,' West's animated character Kenny West says on season premiere.
By Jayson Rodriguez
Kenny West on "The Cleveland Show"
Photo: FOX
When Kanye West was public enemy number one following his outburst at the 2009 VMAs, he went into seclusion for months before busting back onto the scene in a big way with performances at the Facebook offices, a private show in Manhattan and closing out this year's Video Music Awards. His cartoon counterpart, Kenny West, however, was having trouble rebounding in the same manner Sunday night on the season two premiere of "The Cleveland Show."
A down-on-his-luck Kenny West was homeless after his rap career failed to take off. "Look, it's locally famous rapper Kenny West," Cleveland says when he sees West dropping his daughter off at school. Cleveland invites the rapper to live in his garage.
He then persuades West to abandon his hip-hop pursuits. "Cable installers are today's rappers," he begins to spout.
Soon, though, Cleveland realizes his mistake when the younger West begins to dress and look like him, complete with Afro and bushy mustache. "[A mustache] shows the world you put away your childish dreams," West says after his makeover.
The two attempt to hatch a plan to get Kenny West back on the scene, from an "8 Mile"-style rap battle to Cleveland trying to gouge out West's eyes à la "Ray." It's not until they see a news report on a girl who fell into a well that the two conjure up a benefit concert. The resulting Kenny West song, "Be-Cleve in Yourself," becomes a big hit, and soon West and Cleveland are on live TV.
"Barack Obama doesn't care about black people," Cleveland says to a reporter, a nod to Kanye West's Bush tirade post-Hurricane Katrina, as an astonished Kenny West watches. In another nod to the real-life West's antics, Kenny quips, "I still can't believe Beyoncé didn't win."
Although Cleveland helps to orchestrate Kenny West's comeback, the rapper (in another nod to the real-life 'Ye?) abruptly fires him and he returns to his family.
"To make it as a rap star, you have to make wildly irrational decisions, without even thinking about it," Kenny West says. "Goodbye, Cleveland."
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'There are amazing heroes here today whose stories are more powerful than any story I could tell,' she tells 4,500-person crowd.
By James Montgomery
Lady Gaga speaks out against "don't ask, don't tell" in Maine on Monday
Photo: Matt Harper/ MTV News
PORTLAND, Maine — It was probably the smallest stage Lady Gaga has set foot on since her East Village days, but it might have also been the most important.
Because Monday (September 20), on that stage — a simple wooden thing with a brick backdrop — in Portland's Deering Oaks Park, she spoke loudly, proudly and passionately against "don't ask, don't tell," the long-standing policy that prevents openly gay men and women from serving in the Armed Forces and a policy that, on Tuesday, may very well be ancient history if the Senate approves the National Defense Authorization Act.
Clearly, the stakes are high, and Gaga, ever the entertainer, was more than up to the task. Speaking before an audience of some 4,500 (mostly students from nearby colleges, activists and a few somewhat confused passersby) on behalf of the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, she unveiled a speech titled "The Prime Rib of America" that took members of the Senate to task, urged her supporters to action and even managed to tie in rather nicely to the much-discussed "meat dress" she wore to last weekend's MTV Video Music Awards.
"My name is Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta. I am an American citizen ... [and] to the Senate, to Americans, to Senator Olympia Snowe, Senator Susan Collins — both from Maine — and Senator Scott Brown of Massachusetts: Equality is the prime rib of America," she said. "Equality is the prime rib of what we stand for as a nation. And I don't get to enjoy the greatest cut of meat that my country has to offer. Are you listening? Shouldn't everyone deserve the right to wear the same meat dress that I did? Repeal 'don't ask, don't tell.'
"I'm here today in this park, in Maine, to say that, if the Senate and the president are not going to repeal this 'don't ask, don't tell' policy, perhaps they should be more clear with us about who the military is fighting for, who our tax dollars are supporting and, ultimately, how much does the prime rib cost?" she continued. "Because I thought this was an 'all you can eat' buffet. This equality stuff, I thought equality meant everyone. But apparently, for certain value meals, for certain civil rights, I have to pay extra, because I'm gay. ... When it's time to order my meal, when it's time to benefit from the freedoms of the Constitution that I protect and fight for, I have to pay extra. I shouldn't have to pay extra. I should have the ability, the opportunity, the right to enjoy the same rights — the same piece of meat — that my fellow soldiers, fellow straight soldiers, already have included in their Meal of Rights. It's prime rib, it's the same size, it's the same grade, the same cost, at wholesale cost, and it's in the Constitution."
But Gaga's entire speech wasn't one long meat analogy. At one point, she drew whoops of support from the crowd by suggesting that several senators — including Arizona Republican John McCain, who plans to lead a filibuster against Tuesday's vote — were "using homophobia as a defense in their argument" and said that, rather than continue to support "don't ask, don't tell," perhaps those same senators would rather support her proposed piece of legislation.
"Doesn't it seem to be that 'don't ask, don't tell' is backwards? Doesn't it seem to you that we should send home the prejudiced? The straight soldier who hates the gay soldier? The straight soldier who has prejudice in his heart in the space where the military asks him to hold our core American values?" she asked. "I am here today because I would like to propose a new law; a law that sends home the soldier that has the problem. Our new law is called 'if you don't like it, go home.' If you are not committed to perform with excellence as a United States soldier because you don't believe in full equality, go home. If you are not honorable enough to fight without prejudice, go home. If you are not capable of keeping your oath to the Armed Forces to defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies foreign and domestic ... then go home."
Earlier in the afternoon, members of the SLDN — including discharged servicemen Mike Almy and David Hall, both of whom accompanied Gaga to the VMAs — told the crowd their personal stories of unjust prosecution at the hands of "don't ask." Portland Mayor Nick Mavodones, who had worked directly with the organization to bring the event to his city, also expressed his distaste for the policy. But the majority of the crowd was here to see Gaga, and she delivered. There were no flashy costumes (she wore a sportcoat, power tie and glasses) or over-the-top showpieces, just one of the biggest pop stars on the planet speaking out against what she considers to be an unjust law — and, hopefully, helping to get it overturned.
"There are amazing heroes here today whose stories are more powerful than any story I could tell, any fight I've ever fought, and any song that I could tell," Gaga said. "I'm here because they inspire me. I'm here because I believe in them. I'm here because 'don't ask, don't tell' is wrong ... it's unjust and, fundamentally, it is against all that we stand for as Americans."
Share your thoughts on Gaga's rally in the comments below.
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Them Crooked Vultures make their debut with a post-Lollapalooza set.
By James Montgomery
Dave Grohl (file)
Photo: Jewel Samad/AFP/Getty Images
Officially, Lollapalooza ended Sunday night in Chicago's Grant Park, with dueling sets from the Killers and Jane's Addiction. Unofficially, it ended very early Monday morning, across town at venerable rock club the Metro, with a surprise show by Them Crooked Vultures.
To the unfamiliar, the Vultures might seem like an odd choice to close out Lolla weekend ... until you realize that they're made up of Foo Fighters frontman/ former Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl, Queens of the Stone Age mastermind Josh Homme and Led Zeppelin legend John Paul Jones. And their gig at the Metro was their world premiere.
According to some reports, the Vultures actually turned down Lollapalooza founder Perry Farrell's request to replace the Beastie Boys as headliners at the festival, opting to debut in front of some 1,100 super-psyched fans at the Metro, rather than 75,000 in Grant Park (tickets for the gig were announced via Foo Fighter/ QOTSA fan clubs). Meaning that, in a lot of ways, this was the most sought-after ticket in town.
Taking the stage just after midnight, the Vultures — Grohl on drums (of course), Homme on guitar and vocals, Jones on bass and keys and frequent QOTSA contributor Alain Johannes on guitar — ripped through 12 songs in 80 minutes, all taken from their upcoming debut, which may or may not be called Never Deserved the Future, and may or may not be hitting stores on October 23 (early "promo" videos touting both those facts were revealed over the weekend to be hoaxes perpetrated by QOTSA fans).
The songs, with appropriately Homme-ian titles like "Scumbag Blues," "Mind Eraser (No Chaser)," "Caligulove" and "Interlude w/Ludes," sounded pretty much how you'd expect, given the band's pedigree. They rocked, hard — Chicago Tribune critic Greg Kot described them as "fresh, invigorating and just plain nasty" — delving off into psychedelic, reverb-filled excursions and exploring proggy territory, "both of the old-school Yes variety, and the more modern Tool flavor," according to the Chicago Sun-Times' Jim DeRogatis.
It's not known if Monday's Metro performance was a one-off event for the Vultures — there have been whispers of a full-blown tour, but a spokesperson for Homme had not responded to MTV News' request for comment at press time. Nor was it clear whether or not they'll have an album out in October.
Early Monday, a Crooked Vultures Twitter account, which had previously posted links to the band's official-looking Web site and the Metro's online ticketing site — posted a link to what appears to be the group's first bit of official merchandise: a Deserve the Future T-shirt. Cost: $30.
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