Happy Birthday Miley!


'BTW' video creative director Laurieann Gibson says Gaga recruited director Nick Knight to push the envelope.
By Jocelyn Vena
Lady Gaga
Photo: Kevin Winter/ Getty Images
If it wasn't clear from watching Lady Gaga's "Born This Way" video, the singer intended for the over-the-top clip to be a visual spectacle. And that's why she wanted fashion photographer Nick Knight onboard to direct.
"Well, that was completely from the gate. She was like, 'I want Nick Knight for this video, I want a visual,' " the video's creative director, Laurieann Gibson, explained to MTV News. "She was always birthing something visual in her head. [Knight's] prolific, but he's so genius visually. He's such an Englishman. He's so particular and everything must be spot-on. [The video] was about a beautiful photograph and it was about pushing the bar; it is a viral message. Nick was flawless."
Many of the visuals in the video are tied to the dance, which Gibson choreographed for the splashy sci-fi-style video.
"At first, when I thought about birthing a new race and adding the prosthetics, I thought that maybe they should have a certain way they should walk or maybe they move a certain way, but then I realized it is actually a race within our race; it's a mindset," Gibson recalled. "So they don't have to walk funny," she said of the figures in the video.
Instead, Gibson focused on how she to interpret the song's feel-good message in the moves. "So I just told the story of the record," she said. "We birth ourselves out of the womb. There's lots of pushing and birthing [in the video]. There's lots of punching through the adversity, and then we go to church. So it's very symbolic, it's really based in modern dance: She's doing [Martha] Graham. She's doing [Lester] Horton. These are legitimate dance techniques."
What's your favorite part of the "Born This Way" video? Tell us in the comments!
Related Videos Related ArtistsUsher, Jaden Smith, B.o.B, Janelle Monae and Lady Antebellum will also perform on February 13.
By Gil Kaufman
Justin Bieber and Usher
Photo: Kevin Mazur/ WireImage
While Willow Smith is the one who made music headlines with "Whip My Hair" last year, it's her brother, "Karate Kid" actor Jaden Smith, who will take the stage at the upcoming 53rd Grammy Awards in a special performance alongside Usher and Justin Bieber, with whom he collaborated on the song "Never Say Never" last summer.
The trio joins a list of new performers added to the show on Thursday (January 20) that will also include another power trifecta made up of B.o.B, Bruno Mars and Janelle Monáe, according to a press release from the Recording Academy announcing the additions to the February 13 telecast from the Staples Center in Los Angeles.
Also taking the stage next month will be nominees Muse and Lady Antebellum. They will join a roster of previously announced performers that includes Eminem, Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, Arcade Fire, Cee Lo Green and Miranda Lambert. It will be the first time on the Grammy performance stage for Bieber, B.o.B, Lambert, Mars, Monáe, Muse and Smith. Eminem, Green, Gaga, Perry, Usher and Lady Antebellum will be making return visits for the occasion.
While 11-time Grammy winner Eminem leads the pack in nominations this year (with 10 nods), Mars has seven nominations, and Gaga and Lady Antebellum are not far behind with six nods each. B.o.B has notched five, Perry and Green are each up for four, and Arcade Fire and Lambert are vying for three awards. Bieber, Muse, Usher and Monáe are each nominated for two Grammys.
No details of the collaborative performances were released, but the Grammy announcement promised a rare, never-before-seen event for the Mars, B.o.B and Monáe segment.
With the addition of Antebellum, all five Album of the Year nominees (Eminem, Arcade Fire, Gaga, Perry) are now scheduled to perform on the show. Additional performers, presenters and special segments will be announced soon.
Which Grammy performance are you most looking forward to? Talk about it in the comments!
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Usher, Jaden Smith, B.o.B, Janelle Monae and Lady Antebellum will also perform on February 13.
By Gil Kaufman
Justin Bieber and Usher
Photo: Kevin Mazur/ WireImage
While Willow Smith is the one who made music headlines with "Whip My Hair" last year, it's her brother, "Karate Kid" actor Jaden Smith, who will take the stage at the upcoming 53rd Grammy Awards in a special performance alongside Usher and Justin Bieber, with whom he collaborated on the song "Never Say Never" last summer.
The trio joins a list of new performers added to the show on Thursday (January 20) that will also include another power trifecta made up of B.o.B, Bruno Mars and Janelle Monáe, according to a press release from the Recording Academy announcing the additions to the February 13 telecast from the Staples Center in Los Angeles.
Also taking the stage next month will be nominees Muse and Lady Antebellum. They will join a roster of previously announced performers that includes Eminem, Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, Arcade Fire, Cee Lo Green and Miranda Lambert. It will be the first time on the Grammy performance stage for Bieber, B.o.B, Lambert, Mars, Monáe, Muse and Smith. Eminem, Green, Gaga, Perry, Usher and Lady Antebellum will be making return visits for the occasion.
While 11-time Grammy winner Eminem leads the pack in nominations this year (with 10 nods), Mars has seven nominations, and Gaga and Lady Antebellum are not far behind with six nods each. B.o.B has notched five, Perry and Green are each up for four, and Arcade Fire and Lambert are vying for three awards. Bieber, Muse, Usher and Monáe are each nominated for two Grammys.
No details of the collaborative performances were released, but the Grammy announcement promised a rare, never-before-seen event for the Mars, B.o.B and Monáe segment.
With the addition of Antebellum, all five Album of the Year nominees (Eminem, Arcade Fire, Gaga, Perry) are now scheduled to perform on the show. Additional performers, presenters and special segments will be announced soon.
Which Grammy performance are you most looking forward to? Talk about it in the comments!
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Superstar teen lampoons Lindsay Lohan, Justin Bieber and herself on sketch comedy show.
By Shawn Adler
Miley Cyrus on "Saturday Night Live"
Photo: NBC/Broadway Video
For fans of Miley Cyrus last night's "Saturday Night Live" had to seem, like, "pretty cool," as the 18-year-old former Disney Channel Star made her first ever appearance as host on the long running sketch comedy show, alongside musical guest The Strokes.
From the very beginning, Cyrus made it clear she was not above lampooning herself, self-depreciatingly telling viewers during her monologue that "Hannah Montana" was The Disney Channel's version of "Black Swan," before transitioning into "I'm Sorry I'm Not Perfect," a song which managed to walk the fine line of referencing nearly every scandal of the young performer's still burgeoning career without actually apologizing for any of them.
"There's a photo of me dressed like a dude, and Annie Leibovitz tried to get me nude. For those of you who think that's pretty crude, I'm sorry I'm not perfect," Cyrus belted.
"[I] didn't make a dirty tape, and pass it along. Didn't text a dirty picture of [my] dong," she continued, flanked by cast members Bobby Moynihan and Kristen Wiig. "Don't' both of these things seem worse than a bong? I'm sorry I'm not perfect."
The show's midnight centerpiece was, predictably, "The Miley Cyrus Show," which continued SNL's recent tradition of having the target of their hijinks appear alongside the actor lampooning them. In this case, Vanessa Bayer, whose spot-on impersonation of the giggly, hyper-loquacious Cyrus has become a show highlight, made room on her mock talk show for Cyrus herself, who in her best impression of the night played Justin Bieber.
"Did you know I smoked salvia," Bayer as Cyrus said to her guest.
"Well there's no reason that you wouldn't," Cyrus as Bieber replied, looking straight into the camera. "Because it's totally legal, yo!"
The spot offered up further opportunity for Cyrus to be in on the joke, dancing alongside a super sycophantic caricature of her father played by Jason Sudeikis, and laughing as Bayer introduced a 3D film called "Always Say Always" to compete with Bieber's "Never Say Never."
But while she took turns playing Bieber, Lindsay Lohan and Fergie among others, the most daring sketch of the night might have been the one where Cyrus played herself, in a bite the hand that fed you skit called "Disney Channel Acting School."
Alongside Kenan Thompson as Raven Symone, Cyrus offered tips for kids looking to break into the big time with a show on the young adult channel including, "On the Disney Channel, every person has to be the loudest person in the room," and, "In the Disney Channel world, any child is smarter than every adult." Cyrus also showed off some classic moves like "Reacting to Stinky Feet" and "Spying in a Doorway."
What did you think of Cyrus's performance on Saturday Night Live? Which skit was the funniest? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
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