The New York Daily News reports today that Big Ang andRenee Graziano‘s star power eclipsed that of Sean “Diddy” Combs and Mariah Carey last week at the Escape To Total Rewards concert at Gotham Hall in New York. The News reported that “Fans of the VH1 series swarmed the VIP area where Angela (Big Ang) Raiola and Renee Graziano sat to beg for pictures with the ladies” during the show where Diddy and Carey were performing, and at one point, Diddy (who has professed his love for Big Ang on Twitter before) gave the ladies a shout out, saying “I’m busy, but I watch TV and all that s—!” Honestly? We’re not that surprised.
If you tuned in to our five-day 100 Greatest Songs of the 00′s countdown last week, you already know that pre-preggers Beyoncé took home the #1 spot with hubby-featured smash, “Crazy In Love.” Good for them, right? The collabo is over eight years old, and still carries with it a sense of sonic recognition that might one day be categorized as “timeless.”
If you ask our countdown’s pundits, however, there is a wide range of respectfully-dissenting opinions on what video should have been #1. Tim and Damian from OK Go suggested that Gnarls Barkley’s “Crazy” should have earned the coveted slot, our former colleague Rich Juzwiak was vying for Mariah Carey’s “We Belong Together,” and a number of other commentators from the show made arguments for OutKast, Kelly Clarkson, and Eminem.
If you could have your way with our list’s top 10 songs, which one would you have crowned The Greatest of the 00′s? Take our poll and leave us your thoughts in the comments section. Don’t worry, we’re thick-skinned!
While it will still be another 18 months or so until Twilight-mania finally subsides, the next big franchise poised to gobble up the disposable income of America’s rabid teenage girl fanbase will almost certainly be The Hunger Games¹. There is currently a film adaptation in the works, and it is scheduled to hit theaters next March. Earlier today, The Hollywood Reporter landed the scoop that there will be not one but TWO soundtrack albums produced for the Lionsgate film. One will feature the instrumental score co-composed by Grammy-winning soundtrack maestros T. Bone Burnett and Danny Elfman, while the other will feature “collections of the songs featured in the film and songs directly influenced by the themes — freedom, rebellion, survival, family — and subject matter of the film.” No specific artists have been announced yet, but we’re not going to let a silly thing like that stop us from speculating about the contents of said soundtrack. Here is the The Hunger Games soundtrack tracklisting … of our dreams.
I never really had much patience for the tired gripe that “MTV doesn’t play videos anymore.” After all, the complaint was already a chestnut before I started watching MTV, and yet in my early years of exposure to the channel, I scarcely had trouble finding videos. My family lived in a condo complex in Stratford, CT that, until 1996, had the most basic cable service possible, which somehow meant no MTV. So a decade and a half after the channel’s debut, I was experiencing the channel the way that those nearly a generation before me had: curiously and furiously seeking out the channel at my friends’ houses. I remember racing home after school the day that our condo’s cable package was going to be expanded to include MTV, and watching hours of videos after school, starting with “Bulls on Parade” by Rage Against the Machine.
Sure, there was plenty of MTV original programming, as there always had been. Some of it was reality television and some was not. Some of it was great and some of it was not. But I quickly adapted to the schedule of the network, and could find what felt like twelve hours’ worth of videos on some weekend days. This was the beginning of a second golden age for music videos; Hype Williams gave jiggy rap its signature proto-Michael Bay sheen. Big-budget action sagas like Mariah Carey‘s “Honey” coexisted with Michel Gondry art-dreams like “Everlong.” And this was without even delving into 120 Minutes. All of this was pop, and it all coexisted. Jess Harvell analyzes this, in so many words, in a piece on Beavis and Butthead for Sound of the City (which, incidentally, is the only venue not in-house that’s actually given MTV’s entire history a fair shake for this anniversary). [click to continue…]
Mariah Carey returned to the Home Shopping Network Sunday and yesterday to share her perfume, jewelry, and most of all, love with the viewing audience. Yesterday Gawker posted a four-minute edit of the six-hour appearance, but it left a bad taste in our mouths, like the clip was a decade-old riff on Mariah’s TRL appearance. She’s so crazy!
For our money (if we had any money) the recap to watch is Rich Juzwiak‘s, above. Full disclosure: Rich is a former writer for this blog, but we guarantee that his devotion to Mariah far predates and far precedes any devotion he might have had to this blog. He’s even recapped Mariah on HSN before. Juzwiak’s recap delineates the many loves of Mariah Carey, and it’s also unbelievably entertaining. Enjoy!
Every now and then, somebody needs a little therapy, and ten years ago today, that somebody was Mariah Carey. When the pop diva decided to make a surprise guest appearance on MTV ‘s TRL (Total Request Live), it was already being reported that she was undergoing a tragic mental breakdown, coping with being overworked and recently single, post-breakup with latin singer Luis Miguel. Taking the impromptu entrance as well as anyone could, host Carson Daly couldn’t help but roll with the punches and point out the obvious (“Mariah Carey’s lost her mind!”) as the Glitter-promoting diva erratically moved around the Times Square studio, attempting to hand out popsicles to fans.
The best part? Before removing an over-sized, shamelessly plugging “Loverboy” t-shirt and gifting it to Carson by way of a PG striptease, Mimi pushed the frozen treats into the studio herself and requested that Carson give her a therapy session. No good deed goes unpunished! But don’t worry, underneath her shirt, Mariah revealed a tank top that read “SUPERGIRL” and a pair of teeny-tiny gold shorts that she then requested not get in the shot since they were so, well, short.
Of course, this event forebode the career disaster that was the theatrical release of Glitter (which, it should be noted, opened on 9/11), but as we all know, Mariah was able to turn her life around when The Emancipation of Mimi went multi-platinum a few years later and all was once again well in MC’s world. However, between her random, wild comments, constant running out of breath, and seemingly “medicated” mania, this clip is one to be cherished, even ten years later. And don’t forget, y’all: “If you don’t have ice cream in your life, sometimes you just might go a little bit crazy.” Mimi taught me!
Death Cab For Cutie’s VH1 Storytellers is airing at 11 p.m. tonight on VH1, and since lead singer Ben Gibbard is now married to his indie beloved Zooey Deschanel, we got to thinking about music’s most powerful couples of the moment. Because these lists are often tricky to compile and put into an order that everyone can agree on, we took to the streets and polled over 5,000 people. JK! We actually did something smarter and more efficient, combining stats from Billboard charts, YouTube clicks, and social media followings, and mixed it with our interpretation of je ne sais quoi cool-factor buzz. Confident in our rankings, we hereby give you VH1’s list of the most powerful couples in music today.
Who did we miss? Care to offer up any suggestions of your own? Hit us up in the comments section below!
It’s the video you’ve been hearing about and waiting to see! Mariah Carey takes on the haters in her new video “Obsessed” from her upcoming album Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel. See Mimi do double duty as her sexy self and jump genders to portray an obsessed celebrity stalker who bears resemblance to a certain Detroit rapper who’s name rhymes with Grim Gravy.
There are lots of pop music fans who feel warm and fuzzy (and maybe a little hot and horny) when Mariah Carey launches into one of her trademark romance tunes. Valentine’s Day is a perfect time of year to celebrate this part of Mimi’s songbook, and her new Ballads disc does just that – it’s a CD full of the singer’s sexiest and heartwarming tunes.
To celebrate, we’re streaming the entire disc for the next two weeks, and we’ve got lots of cool Mariah items to give away to those who are also feeling ultra romantic. Want to win a Mariah-branded iPod Nano, a complete set of her CDs on the Sony label, a deluxe edition of The Ballads (which includes a sample of her Luscious Pink fragrance), and an autographed photo? Well, jump into our Mariah Carey: One Sweet Day sweepstakes by reading the Official Rules, and then write some romantic Valentine’s Day wish or greeting in our comments section below.
They could be to your current love, an old flame, a horrible ex, or a wonderful new partner. If they have something to do with Mariah‘s music as well, all the better. The comments must be 50 words or less.
We’ll draw randomly from all the submissions, and the winner will be announced on February 18th. The cut-off for submissions is February 16 at noon ET.
Mariah Carey wants you all to quit being such haters, at least when it comes to her marriage. The eternally twelve-year-old diva visited TRL’s studios with her hubby the other day, where she was kind enough to chat with MTV News about all the rumors swirling around her marriage.
“It’s good. Life is beautiful, and things are going well,” Carey said. She then goes on to make a nearly unintelligible statment about the motives of people who have criticized her marriage (and why should they? Just because you only dated your husband for like, two weeks! And married him to time with your record release!). “People are going to say what they say, but what would be the purpose? I guess other people do those things for a purpose, but I don’t know.” Thanks for clearing that up Mariah.
But the butterfly-loving singer promises all is right in the world of Mrs. and Mr. Mariah Carey. “I’m ecstatic, so be ecstatic with me! Be happy with me. Can we celebrate?” Sure we can, Mims. If you make it to your first wedding anniversary.
