Lady Gaga, John Mayer, ‘American Idol’ And Mardi Gras
Even though we were only providing news, insight and humor for four days this week (thanks, President’s Day!), there was still a remarkable amount of excellent news tumbling out of the Internet and onto the MTV Newsroom Blog. It was a fantastic batch of stories featuring an eclectic batch of stars, from John Mayer and Lady Gaga to Mitt Romney and Olympic skier Hannah Kearney.
If you’ve like us, you’re going to spend your weekend seeing “Shutter Island,” wishing the snow would melt and maintaining a nasty case of Olympic Fever. But before you indulge in all of that, be sure to catch up with everything you might have missed.
» After she won a trio of prizes and made jaws drop with her performance at the Brit Awards, Lady Gaga threw her support behind a series of designer condoms. Practice safe sex, Little Monsters!
» John Mayer’s Playboy controversy appears to have blown over, but that didn’t stop us from analyzing some select lyrics from Mayer’s catalog. We still can’t believe he has a song called “My Stupid Mouth.”
» We celebrated Mardi Gras this week with a playlist featuring Lil Wayne, Better Than Ezra and Miley Cyrus.
» There was no shortage of Winter Olympics coverage this week, including an interview with Hannah Kearney, the first U.S. gold medal winner in Vancouver.
The ‘Bad Romance’ Showdown On ‘American Idol’ Ends In A Draw
For years, “American Idol” fans (okay, mostly me) have complained about the show not getting clearance for singers to perform enough contemporary hits during audition rounds, instead forcing them to fall back on the same handful of Whitney Houston and Stevie Wonder chestnuts that guarantee a spectacular flameout. But on Wednesday night’s (February 10) group round in Hollywood, two acts chose to perform Lady Gaga’s current hit “Bad Romance,” with both opting to go a cappella.
The thing about Gaga is, thankfully, there is only one of her. (Could our brains really handle a second one?) She’s so unique, so way, way out there that you’d be a fool to try and cop her cultural Cuisinart pop art style. But both Team Neapolitan and (ugh) Destiny’s Wild were brave enough to give it a shot. We watched as the sassy members of Wild glared at their rivals, steamed that they’d seemingly stolen the idea of going music-less after watching Wild rehearse the twitchy song first that way hours earlier.
At first, it seemed like they had little to worry about, as Neapolitan lead-off singer Liz Rooney — the one with the old school Pink hairdo — called the dogs with a series of creaky bum notes. Heavyweight lover Thaddeus Johnson and Pussycat Doll wannabe Jessica Cunningham redeemed it with a finger snapping R&B flair as the quartet executed some barbershop quartet-worthy harmonies and basic ball-change choreography that impressed Simon.
With Wild catcalling from the audience that they’d stolen their thunder, Neapolitan were moved through. From group leader Jared Liewer’s monster claw theatrics to Todrick Hall’s gymnastic pass and backflip, Wild made it clear from the start that they were the more theatrical Gagaloonies.
Hall crooned some Chris Brown-worthy runs as the other three provided “love, love, love” harmonies and Theri threw in Aguilera-like melisma.
Liewer sounded a bit spazzy and showtune-y, while surprise breakout Siobhan Magnus gave the tune an edge with her shouty, gritty vocals and open mouth rock face. Unfortunately, the four ended the performance with a flat-as-a-pancake note that led Ellen DeGeneres to lament that the whole thing was “weird” and mock their Cirque du Soleil outfits. Remarkably, though, they also made it through.
The lesson? Jazz hands, backflips, backstabbing and “Bad Romance” are a winning combination.
Kanye West Shows Up, Drops Out: Wake-Up Video
Let’s pretend for a moment that Kanye West has only ever existed in recorded music. Forget about the bombastic boasting, the otherworldly live shows, the crazy all-caps blog rants and, of course, the Taylor Swift incident. Assume all that stuff never happened and only think about West’s output as a recording artist.
With that in mind, has there ever been a better debut album than The College Dropout? Before it was released on this day back in 2004, West had created plenty of buzz for himself as the producer who had crafted much of The Blueprint, Jay-Z’s watershed 2001 masterpiece. His skills in the studio were unmatched, and as The College Dropout (and early single “Through the Wire”) proved, West was also an adroit MC who had stellar control of metaphor and was quick with a punchline. He was seemingly good at everything, from joke-fueled dance jams (”The New Workout Plan”) and slow burners (”Slow Jamz”) to old-school rhymefests (”Breathe In Breathe Out”) and raw relationship dramas (”All Falls Down”). West had an unorthodox flow but knew how to make it work, and his beats were expertly crafted. There’s not a single dud on The College Dropout (even “Last Call,” which ends with West giving shout outs to what appears to be everyone he has ever met).
Kanye’s subsequent albums — 2005’s Late Registration, 2007’s Graduation and 2008’s 808s & Heartbreak — are all excellent but flawed in some way as West explored the outer reaches of his musical mind. But can you blame him for wanting to broaden his horizons after completely mastering straight hip-hop in his first attempt? Because honestly, once you’ve cut “Jesus Walks” — one of the most intense, savage pop radio hits of this century — you can’t help but dig much, much deeper.
Lady Gaga Thanks Her ‘Little Monsters’ With New Tattoo
Gaga took to her Twitter to show off a new tattoo that reads “Little Monsters” in swirling script on her arm. There’s no better way to say “I love you” than a tattoo, right? “Look what I did last night,” she tweeted. “Little monsters forever, on the arm that holds my mic. Xx.”
As if getting inked in their honor weren’t enough, in the days since she won her Grammys, she’s been tweeting a slew of thank-yous to her fans, saying that she’s even found a very special place for her newest awards.
“Woooh little monsters! I’m going to put these right next to all your beautiful fan art. I love you. x,” she wrote, adding in a previous tweet, “We won big tonight little monsters. I am so proud to make music 4 you. I hope I continue to inspire u the way u inspire me. You’re everything.”
What do you think of Gaga’s latest ink? Are you one of her “little monsters”? Tell us in the comments below!
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