Usher's Next Album 'Soulful, Catchy,' Taio Cruz Teases1675448

'He always wants there to be the soul in there,' Cruz tells MTV News about his 'Without You' collaborator.
By Jocelyn Vena, with reporting by Matt Elias


Usher
Photo: Todd Williamson/ WireImage

Usher is hard at work on his next album. Set to work with fellow hitmaker Taio Cruz, the two already cooked up some magic with their David Guetta anthem "Without You," and it seems they are hoping to recapture that spirit for Usher's follow-up to 2010's Raymond v. Raymond.

"I saw Usher a few times, but I spoke to him at length at David [Guetta]'s house when we were in Ibiza [Spain]," he told MTV News in L.A. after his Jingle Ball set. "He has very specific ideas of where he wants to go musically and sound-wise." Given that Usher has never shied away from exposing a bit of himself in his music, while also keeping the party going, Cruz wants to make sure they can connect the mind, body and soul for this next release. "He always wants there to be the soul in there," he explained. "I'm kind of, not the opposite, but I'm always like, 'Let's get straight to the point and be really clear with the message and be simple.' "So we try to match those two worlds together: being soulful and, at the same time, catchy," he added. Cruz can't yet discuss what they're working on: Besides "Without You," he said, "Everything else is secret." Usher said he was drawn to the Guetta hit because he connected to it emotionally, explaining to MTV News recently what an important part that plays in his musical philosophy. "I think the world wanted a record like that. That [song] really spoke to the journey that I've actually been on in the last three years," he said. "Traveling all around the world, music sounds different. There's many different genres, and when you see R&B and pop and house, as well as electronic, come together, that's the reality of what music is."

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Aretha Franklin Engaged To Longtime Friend William Wilkerson

Aretha Franklin Engaged To Longtime Friend William Wilkerson

Aretha Franklin, 69, is set to wed her longtime friend William “Willie” Wilkerson this June or July. The singer released a statement to the Associated [...]

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Lady Gaga To Help Drop New Year's Ball In Times Square1676579

Mother Monster was named Mayor Bloomberg's special guest for the annual celebration.
By James Montgomery


Lady Gaga performs at the 102.7 KIIS FM's Jingle Ball at Nokia Theatre L.A. Live on December 3, 2011 in Los Angeles, California.
Photo: Joe Scarnici/ WireImage

Back in May, ahead of the release of her Born This Way album, Lady Gaga described her hometown of New York City as her "husband," and now, she's been tapped to help her spouse ring in the New Year in the most traditional of ways: by dropping the ball in Times Square. Yes, according to The New York Post, Mayor Michael Bloomberg has named Gaga as his special guest at the City's annual New Year's Eve celebration, where she'll ceremoniously push a Waterford Crystal button at 11:59 p.m., officially beginning the famed crystal ball's descent over the raucous Times Square crowd. Shortly after the official announcement was made, Gaga took to her Twitter account to express her excitement, writing "I'm so looking forward to ... dropping the Ball with Mayor Bloomberg! What an honor as a New Yorker!" Each year, Bloomberg chooses a guest to drop the ball and help usher in the New Year ... though, to date, Gaga is his most, uh, unique pick: previous honorary button-mashers have included Bill and Hillary Clinton, Colin Powell, Muhammad Ali and Rudy Giuliani. Of course, dropping the Times Square Ball — which this year is bedazzled with 2,688 Waterford Crystal triangles and carries the theme of "Let There Be Friendship" — isn't Gaga's only New Year's Eve gig. She'll also perform at two NYE celebrations: the 40th annual "Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve" and, of course, the Japanese program "Kohaku Uta Gassen." MTV will also be throwing a New Year's Eve party of its own: "NYE in NYC 2010," a performance-packed special featuring Demi Lovato, Mac Miller, Selena Gomez, J. Cole, Jason Derülo and more. It all goes down live on MTV at 11 p.m. ET on Saturday (December 31) from Times Square. Will you be watching the ball drop this New Year's Eve? Let us know in the comments below!

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'Girl With The Dragon Tattoo' Track List Revealed1675322

First single from Trent Reznor/ Atticus Ross soundtrack is Karen O cover of Led Zeppelin song.
By Gil Kaufman


Rooney Mara in "Girl With The Dragon Tattoo"
Photo: Giles Keyte/Columbia Pictures

You kind of can't go wrong when the soundtrack you've put together for one of the most eagerly anticipated literary adaptations in years kicks off Yeah Yeah Yeahs singer Karen O's take on Led Zeppelin's "Immigrant Song."

Fans heard the throbbing industrial take on the rock classic cooked up by former Nine Inch Nails mastermind and O when a trailer for the David Fincher-directed "Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" leaked back in May. And on Thursday, Oscar-winning industrial-rocker-turned-film composer Reznor and musical partner Atticus Ross unveiled the full track list for their "Tattoo" score album. The follow-up to their award-winning "The Social Network" score was a labor of love, according to a post Reznor put up on the NIN site on Thursday announcing the disc. "For the last fourteen months Atticus and I have been hard at work on David Fincher's 'The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo,' " he wrote about the American version of the tale of pierced and punished hacker Lisbeth Salander (Rooney Mara) and her muckraking journalist compatriot Mikael Blomkvist (Daniel Craig). "We laughed, we cried, we lost our minds and in the process made some of the most beautiful and disturbing music of our careers. The result is a sprawling three-hour opus." The album will be released on iTunes on December 9 in two versions. Right now, you can download the Karen O song on iTunes when you pre-order the 39-track album. That download purchase will also give you a link to the eight-minute "Dragon Tattoo" trailer, for which Reznor and Ross created a unique score.

But, if you visit the NIN online store, Reznor is offering the soundtrack in a variety of forms, from a free six-track sampler to a deluxe 3,000-piece limited-edition signed $300 package with your choice of MP3 formats; the full album on six pieces of 180 gram vinyl; a deluxe book package with a metal cover; an exclusive custom 8 GB metal razor blade USB drive pendant containing the full album; and a fold-out poster. The full album score track list is as follows:
» "Immigrant Song" (Led Zeppelin cover) [ft. Karen O]
» "She Reminds Me of You"
» "People Lie All the Time"
» "Pinned and Mounted"
» "Perihelion"
» "What If We Could?"
» "With the Flies"
» "Hidden in Snow"
» "A Thousand Details"
» "One Particular Moment"
» "I Can't Take It Anymore"
» "How Brittle the Bones"
» "Please Take Your Hand Away"
» "Cut Into Pieces"
» "The Splinter"
» "An Itch"
» "Hypomania"
» "Under the Midnight Sun"
» "Aphelion"
» "You're Here"
» "The Same as the Others"
» "A Pause for Reflection"
» "While Waiting"
» "The Seconds Drag"
» "Later Into the Night"
» "Parallel Timeline With Alternate Outcome"
» "Another Way of Caring"
» "A Viable Construct"
» "Revealed in the Thaw"
» "Millennia"
» "We Could Wait Forever"
» "Oraculum"
» "Great Bird of Prey"
» "The Heretics"
» "A Pair of Doves"
» "Infiltrator"
» "The Sound of Forgetting"
» "Of Secrets"
» "Is Your Love Strong Enough?" (Bryan Ferry cover) Check out everything we've got on "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo." For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com.

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Mary J. Blige Dishes On Her 'Crazy' Led Zeppelin Covers1633563

'I've listened to their music since I was a child,' says the R&B diva, who recorded 'Stairway to Heaven' and 'Whole Lotta Love.'
By James Montgomery, with reporting by Larry Carroll



Photo: MTV News

You wouldn't peg Mary J Blige as the black-light-and-tapestry sort, but, as has become readily apparent in recent weeks, she absolutely loves Led Zeppelin. In early February, reports began circulating that Blige had re-recorded Zeppelin's classic "Stairway to Heaven," working with Travis Barker, "American Idol" judge Randy Jackson and guitarist Steve Vai on the track, which is slated to appear on the international reissue of her Stronger With Each Tear album, due Monday.

But after she had recorded "Stairway," Blige continued to get the Led out, covering another Zeppelin classic — the thunderous "Whole Lotta Love" — for the album too. And when MTV News caught up with her on the Essence Black Women in Hollywood red carpet, she told us all about channeling her inner Robert Plant for the tracks, a process that came much easier than you'd probably imagine. "I did Led Zeppelin's 'Stairway to Heaven' and 'Whole Lotta Love' — it's crazy," she said. "I am a Led Zeppelin fan. I'm not going to say I've been to their concerts, but I've listened to their music since I was a child, and it's always moved me, especially 'Stairway to Heaven,' and 'Whole Lotta Love' is just fun." Blige also said she recorded another new song — a "club record" called "I Can't Wait" — for the re-release. And while it's only slated to hit shelves outside the U.S., she hopes her fans will get a chance to hear all the new songs pretty soon. "I want y'all to hear it," she laughed.

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Justin Bieber, Lady Gaga Top Google Zeitgeist Year-End Lists1676060

Bieber named Google's Most Popular Person of 2011, while 'Born This Way' tops Fastest Rising Songs chart.
By James Montgomery


Justin Bieber performs at the 2011 American Music Awards
Photo: Getty Images

Let this serve as undeniable proof that, regardless of search engine, Justin Bieber truly dominates the Interwebs. Having already been named Bing's most-searched person of 2011, on Thursday (December 15) Bieber picked up another e-honor, as Google unveiled its annual Zeitgeist site and, in the process, declared him its Most Popular Person of the year, besting Kim Kardashian and Lady Gaga to take home the title. Nicki Minaj and, uh, Casey Anthony rounded out the top 5. It's a fitting way to cap off a year that saw Bieber beat Gaga in the race to 2 billion YouTube views, though perhaps the Mother Monster can take solace in the fact that "Born This Way" topped Google's Fastest-Rising Song search list, ahead of "Watch the Throne" (which, you know, isn't actually a song) and Blake Shelton's "Honey Bee." Of course, not even Bieber could best Rebecca Black on Google's Fastest Rising Searches, as the "Friday" sensation topped the list — which tallied worldwide searches — ahead of Google Plus, Ryan Dunn, Casey Anthony and "Battlefield 3." Breakout star Adele also made huge headways this year, landing at #7 on the list and beating out Steve Jobs and the iPad 2. Not surprisingly, Black also came in atop the Fastest-Rising People list, besting "American Idol" champ Scotty McCreery and teenage bride/ pumpkin-patch enthusiast Courtney Stodden. But when it came to the year's most-searched images, well, neither Bieber nor Black made the cut. Instead, folks were seeking pics of Charlie Sheen above all else, followed by "Planking," "Kim Kardashian wedding" and a trio of hair-raising (or perhaps razing) queries: "Tom Brady Haircut," "Selena Gomez Haircut" and "Emma Watson Haircut."

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The Garner-Afflecks Prep For Seraphina's 3rd Birthday

The entire Garner-Affleck crew - Jennifer, Ben, Violet, Seraphina, Ben's mom Chris, and their two dogs - took a walk in Pacific Palisades yesterday. The family spent their holidays close to home in LA with Jen due to give birth to her third child in the next few weeks. Ben and Jen have many exciting events to look forward to in 2012, but it looks like their first order of business is celebrating Seraphina's 3rd birthday on Friday! Their youngest daughter got an early birthday treat when Jen took Seraphina to get her nails painted at a local salon.

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