As Jay-Z and Kanye West‘s Watch The Throne tour kicks off this week, there’s really not all that much else to talk about. Between set lists, leather outfits, copious bling and “OMG WILL PREGONCÉ OR FRANK OCEAN OR BOTH MAKE AN APPEARANCE?”, it’s a truly immersive experience, permeating all facets of daily life and conversation. So while we wait very impatiently for our turn to Watch The Throne, we’ve compiled a list of some of our favorite collaboration albums of all-time.
Each Friday here on the VH1 Blog, our VH1 Top 20 Video Countdown host Jim Shearer (@jimshearer on Twitter) will be sharing his Shearer’s Spotlight with us. Be sure to tune into the Top 20 Countdown tomorrow morning when it airs on VH1 at 9 a.m. ET/PT.
Jim Shearer
In celebration of its grand opening, here are my favorite music videos set inside a restaurant:
5) Cee Lo, “F*** You”
Usually when a man screams “F’ YOU!” inside a diner, he is asked to leave; Cee Lo was asked to play the Grammys.
4) Radiohead, “High And Dry”
Back in the day when Radiohead made music for the masses, they also crafted some really good music videos. This classic includes a brief case, a time bomb, a key hidden inside a cup of mayonnaise, and Thom Yorke impatiently shuffling around the restaurant because he couldn’t fit into a booth with the rest of his band mates.
Earlier this week, we shared a handful of snaps with you that our own Julie Ruiz took last weekend at the Austin City Limits Festival, deep in the heart of Texas. Well, we just got a look at some of the black-and-white outtakes of artists like Kanye West, Arcade Fire, Cee Lo Green and Sara Bareilles and couldn’t resist the urge to share them with you.
[Photo: A Horse With No Name Photography]
Autumn weather may be in full swing, but this weekend, 70,000 music fans flocked to the musical (and actual) capitol of Texas for one last burst of summer: the 2011 Austin City Limits Festival. Over a hundred artists played on one of the festival’s eight stages, and VH1 photographer Julie Ruiz was on site, following the sounds and snapping pictures of Stevie Wonder, Kanye West, and seventeen others—including three of the can’t-miss sets we recommended. Before this weekend, we thought we were all festival-ed out, but looking at this gallery gives us all-too-fresh pangs of jealousy.
[Photo Credit: A Horse With No Name]
We may not have been able to attend Lollapalooza 2011 ourselves, but the photographers we sent in our stead got some great shots. Yesterday, we shared their fashion roundup of attendees, but of course we wanted lenses be pointed at the stage at least some of the time, and this gallery definitely delivers. Click through for shots of performances all weekend, including shots from must-see sets like Eminem‘s, as well as some great snaps of You Oughta Know alums like Grace Potter & The Nocturnals, Lissie, and more!
And our trusty VH1 News team was also on hand, scoring some awesome interviews with the likes of Tinie Tempah, My Morning Jacket, Foster The People, Christina Perri and Ok Go. We’ve got some exclusive video to share with you below.
Jaleel White appears as his late-era Family Matters suave alter ego Stefan Urquelle lady killer Cee Lo Green in the video for “Cry Baby,” the latest single off, erm, The Lady Killer. To its credit, the clip, with which Cee Lo himself has had no discernible involvement, doesn’t sugarcoat the caddishness of Cee Lo’s persona. White’s fancy footwork doesn’t hurt either, especially when the video becomes a middle-of-the-street spectacle.
The video looks to have been helmed by “F—k You” director Matt Stawski, but we wouldn’t be surprised to learn that director and choreographer Adam Shankman was responsible; while the clip’s retro stylings have elements of the sixties-soul revamp of “F—k You,” the poodle skirts and dance sequences hearken further back to teen-rebel films, and we wouldn’t be surprised if the clip was inspired by John Waters’s film of the same name, though filtered through a post-millennial pop lens, like Shankman’s re-envisioning of Hairspray. This is retromania we can get behind.
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Despite selling more than a million copies during its first week of release, Lady Gaga‘s Born This Way is being whispered about in many industry circles as both a creative and commercial disappointment. Some have even bandied around the theory that the record is suffering because the videos for the Born This Way singles thus far (“Born This Way,” “Judas” and “The Edge Of Glory”) haven’t scaled the same heights as her previous videos, like 2010′s Video Music Award winner for Video Of The year “Bad Romance.” And if the nominations for the 2011 VMAs are any indication, this theory may not be far off.
Four other artists (Katy Perry, Adele, Kanye West, and Bruno Mars) racked up more VMA nominations this year than the Mother Monster. Katy led the way with nine total nominations (including Video Of The Year and Best Female Video), followed by Adele with seven, Kanye with six and Bruno with four.
Gaga, too, must be feeling the pressure; how else to explain the recent media blitz of the last few days? As the summer progresses, no doubt more theories will emerge as to why Gaga didn’t (an idea that our own Nick Minichino touched on recently in his essay, “Ten Years Of The Strokes And The White Stripes, And The Question Of What’s Next”). But for now, we’ll leave the Gaga analysis alone, and instead share with you the complete list of nominations for the 2011 MTV Video Music Awards, which will air live on Sunday, August 28 at 9 p.m. ET/PT.
VIDEO OF THE YEAR
Adele – “Rolling in the Deep”
Katy Perry – “Firework”
Beastie Boys – “Make Some Noise”
Tyler the Creator – “Yonkers”
Bruno Mars – “Grenade”
When NBC’s a capella singing competition The Sing-Off returns this fall, there will be some changes to the judging panel since the series last aired. With Nicole Scherzinger departing for a spot on Simon Cowell’s X-Factor panel, the Peacock Network made the wise decision that longtime VH1 fave Sara Bareilles was the perfect person to join Ben Folds and Boyz II Men‘s Shawn Stockman on the judging panel. Once we heard the news, we decided to give Sara a ring to congratulate her. We caught up with her by phone this afternoon while she was in Missoula, Montana, preparing for a sold-out show this evening. Sara spoke to us about whether her judging style on The Sing-Off will lean more towards Simon or Paula, her new “old soul/kind of Motown feeling” EP that she’s about to record with Ben Folds in the fall, and what director Jonah Hill brought to the next video she’s going to make for her single, “Gonna Get Over You.” (Hint: It may have a “kind of a ’50s greaser vibe.”)
VH1: When did you first hear that becoming a judge on The Sing-Off might be a possibility, and what was it about the project that appealed to you?
Sara Bareilles: I’ve been a fan of the show since the beginning, so it was really exciting to me to have the opportunity to even be considered as a potential judge. A couple of weeks ago, my manager came to me to gauge my interest in doing it. And I was like, “Oh my God, yes, of course.” Then I had a meeting with the executive producers, who are super sweet, and it felt like I was a really good fit for the show. Because I have a background in a capella, it just felt like a very organic, natural, worlds colliding kind of thing. It’s very exciting.
Did you ever harbor any desire to be on television in any capacity other than as a performer?
It didn’t really cross my mind until this show. This is the only way I would sort of consider it, because I can bring something to the show in terms of a level of expertise with a capella performing. I get a little nervous about being put in the position of having to judge people, but I know from experience that we can always improve in our craft. I really love getting constructive criticism from people I respect when it’s put in a good way. To me, it’s all about how you phrase things and how you deliver your opinions. It’s something that I’m going to have to feel out and test the waters a little bit, but I think it’s going to be a lot of fun. The best part is that I still get to watch the show, but now I get to watch it closer.
If you were to describe your judging style, would you say you’re more of a Simon or a Paula?
Fifteen years ago, Spice Girls released their first single in the UK and set the pop world ablaze with a sassy little tune called “Wannabe” that introduced the duel concepts of Girl Power and zig-a-zig-ahhhhh. Eventually hitting #1 in thirty countries across the world, Spices Scary, Ginger, Posh, Sporty and Baby parlayed the “Wannabe” phenomenon into fame and fortune, selling twenty-three million copies of their debut album Spice and seizing the throne for the best-selling girl group in history.
Because we’re sentimental when it comes to all things pop culture, other fave lady jams started flooding our memory bank and got us thinking that, well, sometimes they can get a bit raunchy. However, to us, that’s the beauty of girl groups: They balance with one foot on the empowerment soapbox, and the other foot on the soapbox that reads “gimme some.” Maybe we have it all wrong, butthis list of ten anthems that say “come hither” all while commanding some R-E-S-P-E-C-T will bring you back in time and get you set for a (hopefully) spicy week.
10. Dream, “He Loves U Not”
Puffy’s Bad Boy girl grouppre-Danity Kane was sort of flop-ish, but their single wasn’t! And while the lyric “he’s into what he’s got” might be somewhat tame, it serves it’s purpose to give off a “there’s more where that came from” warning to ladies trying to steal their men.
9. Destiny’s Child, “Lose My Breath”
“Put it on me deep in the right direction,” demands Kelly Rowland in this uptempo Destiny’s Child track. Serving as both an aphrodisiac and a challenge, the entire song begs the question of the ladies’ male suitors: “Can you keep up?”
From L to R: Javier Colon, Dia Frampton, Vicci Martinez and Beverly McClellan.
WHO: Javier Colon (Top Left)
COACH: Adam Levine
SOUNDS LIKE: Brian McKnight
WHY YOU SHOULD ROOT FOR HIM: Funny, the reason you should root for him is the same as why some are rooting against him. You see, Javier Colon released two albums —he was simply called Javier at that time— on Capitol Records in the mid-aughts. Some would argue that he never really got a fair shake from his label during those tumultuous years for the industry, while others would say that he’s already got his shot and doesn’t deserve another one.
WHO: Dia Frampton (Top Right)
COACH: Blake Shelton
SOUNDS LIKE: Vanessa Carlton
WHY YOU SHOULD ROOT FOR HER: Much like her competitor Javier Colon, Frampton has a major label background; along with her sister Meg, the two released the album Here, Here, and Here on Sire Records in 2009. They were later dropped by Warner Bros., Sire’s parent company, in July of 2010. Will America give her another chance to make it big?
