The 2009 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show went down in New York City last night, and in case you're not familiar with the year event don't get it twisted -- the pieces modeled by famous hoofers like Heidi Klum, Miranda Kerr, Marissa Miller, and Chanel Iman aren't the stuff of Victoria's Secret mall locations. These ladies aren't showing off the polka-dotted cotton undies you stock up on at your location VS.
The Victoria's Secret Fashion Show, which will air on CBS on December 1, is always an over-the-top celebration of gaudy glitz and glam and beyond-perfect bodies. And the annual show is a guaranteed celeb draw -- Jay-Z, Russell Simmons, Jay Sean, Keri Hilson, the Kings Of Leon, Patricia Field, Zac Posen and Christian Siriano were in attendance this year -- but this year, the show's "Star Trooper" collection seemed to have stolen its style, or at least heavily borrowed some inspiration from Lady Gaga and the Haus of Gaga. Observe, won't you?
Selita Ebanks wears a gold-spiked white bustier that looks an awful lot like the gold-spiked dress Lady Gaga wore to the Y100 Jingle Ball in December 2008. And that white bustier leotard looks just like Gaga's outfit in Beyonce's "Video Phone" video.
Hm. This bubble dress SURE looks familiar...
The Pièce de résistance!!! Gaga's Nasir Mazhar orb outfit from the "Bad Romance" video is reinvented on the Victoria's Secret catwalk!
Katy Perry's highly anticipated MTV Unplugged performance will be debuting on MTV and MTV.com this Monday, November 16. Rather than sleeplessly frittering away your weekend, hyperventilating and listening to "Waking Up In Vegas" on repeat, we thought it'd be a good idea to give you an Unplugged refresher course.
Here are some of the best performances of MTV's legendary live show, featuring some obscure performances and some unforgettable ones, with nary an amp in sight.
Nirvana, "Come As You Are" (1993)
For their episode of Unplugged, Nirvana revealed an aching vulnerability to their razor-sharp songs. This was an iconic performance, producing some of the most lasting, indelible imagery of Kurt Cobain.
Paramore, "That's What You Get" (2009)
Audience interaction is one of the best parts of these intimate Unplugged performances. In the case of Paramore, it's more about audience participation, as the crowd helps out Hayley Williams with the "whoa-oh's" of "That's What You Get."
Alicia Keys, "Unbreakable" (2005)
Unplugged puts the artist and their artistry at the forefront. In this 2005 performance, Alicia Keys shows the extent of her capabilities as a performer with a gorgeous rendition of "Unbreakable."
+ Watch more performances after the jump.
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Alicia Keys' "Try Sleeping With A Broken Heart" is a dawn-breaking, tears-streaming heartbreaker. It's got airy vocals, swathes and keys and a tumbling, hard beat.
Here's the thing. Things are going REAL WELL for Alicia. I mean, girl has a new album in the chamber -- The Element Of Freedom, out next month -- she's playing the VMAs and the World Series with Jay-Z, singing a hot hook on the Top 5 hit "Empire State Of Mind."
But all that aside, nobody does broken hearts like Alicia Keys. Even at the top of the game.she can pull heartstrings like the end of The friggin' Notebook.
+ Listen to Alicia Keys' "Try Sleeping With A Broken Heart" here.
Earlier this year, R&B crooning sensation Trey Songz did a remix of Jay-Z's "D.O.A." which, among other things, posited the idea that Trey Songz was just trying to be the best Trey Songz he could be, not some kind of R. Kelly re-tread (in case you thought he was). Trey Songzalso took some shots at R. Kelly, saying that he was too old to be using AutoTune. (The feud was basically like The Hills with more singing.)
Funny thing is, while Songz is hardly a re-tread of R. Kelly, he does share some qualities with he who was trapped in the closet, especially on two of the singles from his '09 platter, Ready.
On "LOL :)" (yes, that's WITH a smileyface emoticon) and "I Invented Sex," Songz comes with an irrefutably catchy melody ("LOL :))"and wanton sexual arrogance ("I Invented..."), respectively; two staples of the R. Kelly repertoire. Personally I like "LOL :)" (which you can jam to your heart's content here) the more because a) Soulja Boy and Gucci Mane are on it b) it's incredibly playful, as any song about texting should be and c) IT'S CALLED LOL SMILEY FACE.
Not that there's anything particularly wrong with "I Invented Sex," which you can watch in all its NSFW/ walked-in-on-someone's-sex-tape glory below, as well as an MTV News Trey Songz interview about the "concept" surrounding the video.
In 2006, Rihanna was just starting to become a big deal. She had released her second album, A Girl Like Me, and found some success with the single, "SOS," but was nowhere near the level of "Umbrella" success she'd find the next year. In this MTV video interview, taken from that period, Rihanna briefly talks about all the places she's seen and people she's met in during that dizzying year.
There's a certain harrowing air to the clip, isn't there? Rihanna talks about growing up and experiencing so much. You have to wonder how she must be feeling now, after all that she's seen and experienced in this tumultuous year.
Thankfully, it seems like Rihanna is ending 2009 on a real upswing. She appeared on Good Morning America to finally give her side of the whole Chris Brown issue. She wisely used it as a platform to make an appeal to girls, imploring them not to stay in abusive relationships. Then, this past weekend, Rihanna joined Jay-Z onstage at UCLA, triumphantly joining Hov during "Run This Town." Here's hoping things just keep getting better for Rihanna in 2010. Her new album, Rated R, drops November 23,
According to the always in-the-know peeps at MTV News, Hova and Alicia Keys are already cooking up a sequel to their smash Big Apple anthem, "Empire State Of Mind."
The track has been ubiquitous (especially for New Yorkers) since it unofficially debuted at the MTV Video Music Awards (along with that infamous Lil' Mama cameo); it gets played at least once in almost every club in the 5 boroughs on any given night, and was the unofficial theme song for the Yankees march to the World Series championship (Jay and Keys performed before Game 2, and Hov did it today at the Yankees victory parade).
But is it too soon to go back to the well? Will Jay and Alicia strike oil twice? It ain't easy. Here are a few (some good, some bad) song sequels/remakes.
Jessica Simpson's remake of "These Boots Were Made For Walkin'". Pretty much a FAIL in every conceivable way. Took Nancy Sinatra's all-time jam and turned it into a honky-tonk strip tease jingle.
"Rapper's Delight" by the Sugarhill Gang is one of the all-time classics.
But Redman, Erick Sermon and the Def Squad's sequel to the track actually embraced the pass-the-mic energy in the best possible way.
We can talk all we want about sequels, but Jay-Z's been down this road before. He and Beyonce remade Tupac's "Me And My Girlfriend" as "'03 Bonnie & Clyde."
Can you think of any other dope remakes or sequels? Any not so dope ones? Let us know in the comments!
The performances at the 2009 MTV Europe Awards were like hitting "shuffle" on your iPod... except exponentially more intense. Shakira and Beyonce, Jay-Z, Leona Lewis, U2, Green Day, Foo Fighters, and Tokio Hotel -- all celebrated popular music's bounty, from U2's timeless unifier, "One," to Shakira's box-fresh "Did It Again."
Watch each and every live performance from the 2009 MTV Europe Music Awards now.
Hallelujah and praise Beysus! The 2009 MTV Europe Music Awards just went down, and Beyonce ruled the night, sweeping up three awards -- Best Video for "Single Ladies," Best Female, and Best Song for "Halo." In a rare nod to her real-life love, Beyonce thanked her husband Jay-Z for putting a ring on it, and then Valentine's Day came early when she performed a red, romantic rendition of "Sweet Dreams."
I'm almost nonplussed by how dope this video is. Don't you hate when that happens? You read about something being in the works -- in this case, legendary hip-hop video auteur Hype Williams getting behind the camera to lens Jay-Z and Alicia's Big Apple anthem, "Empire State of Mind" -- and you think, "That will be excellent."
And then it happens, and it's excellent, and the very fulfillment of your expectations winds up being something of a minor letdown!
Talk about splitting hairs. This rules. Hype still has that gloss that he applied to all this mid-'90s Bad Boy classics. The montage of still photos reminds me a little of Mark Romanek's amazing clip for Jay's "99 Problems," but the star is really the city; all helicopter shots of skyscrapers and splendorous lights. That's the anthem, get your damn hands up.
+ Watch Jay-Z and Alicia Keys perform "Empire State Of Mind" live at the 2009 VMAs.
The VMAs are still a day away, but the A-list performers have been rehearsing inside of Radio City for days. I've seen almost all of the rehearsals, but I'm under strict orders not to reveal any of the top-secret details. (And far be it from me to let down Lady Gaga, Beyonce, Pink, Taylor Swift, Jay-Z, or any of the other VMA performers).
But I can give you a few clues about what you might see at tomorrow night's VMAs. It's up to you to figure out which VMA performer might match these clues. Ready?
+ Who will have over 25 dancers on stage?
+ Who will have violins? (It might not be who you think.)
+ Who will rock you?
+ Who will light the stage on fire?
+ Who might take flight?
+ Who might be covered in mirrors?
+ Who might make a big mess of the stage?
+ Who's hiding underground?
+ Who's about to make a HUGE entrance?
+ Who's got a keyboard in their dressing room?
+ Who's got the New York Yankees behind them?
+ See what happens tomorrow night at the 2009 MTV VMAs, live at 9pm.
