Posts for 'Music' Category

The 2009 Video Music Awards air this Sunday, and in honor of the big event we have our version of the top ten VMA performances.

Check out the list along with the videos here! The MTV Video Music Awards are something I always look forward to.

The musical line up is usually awesome and the artists go all out for their performances. I have made a list of my personal top ten favorites.

Beware, Justin and Britney do dominate, ’cause in my world, they are solid (for the most part) performers who always put on an amazing show.

Of course it is all relative. Naturally, a great song usually makes for a great live show, but I also think choreography is a huge part of a live show, as are special effects, lighting, sound quality, and about a dozen other elements.

So let’s get started with number ten: Guns N’ Roses Ft. Sir Elton John Playing November Rain. This was done for the 1993 VMA’s, and was such a beautiful rendition.

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Perhaps dance music albums like Calvin Harris' second album Ready For The Weekend shouldn't receive attention from the critical press. Perhaps they should just be enjoyed by lovers of the most frivolous pop music and those that blithely dance away on clubland's bigger dance floors.

These albums certainly don't need critical praise to be huge. This one recently knocked MJ off the No.1 spot in the UK. But it seems Calvin Harris also expects to be treated as a serious artist, judging from the way he threw his toys on Twitter after this album received a critical mauling.

Pre-release comments like this being "the best thing I've done in my life" and "a great achievement, personally" also indicate his hopes for popular and critical success. But this album cannot be taken as anything more than lightweight fluff.

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Pop diva Madonna has received death threats in Serbia.The Frozen hit maker has beefed up her security after the threats during her ongoing 'Sticky & Sweet' world tour and arrived in Belgrade, Serbia, in disguise to perform her concert in front of 30,000 fans Monday.

The star took extra precautions after receiving threatening messages from Balkan fanatics, hiring a posse of bodyguards to protect her as she took the stage in the Serbian capital for the first time. The worried singer will also be accompanied by the stepped up security in neighbouring Romania, where she is set to play a gig Wednesday.

Social-networking giant MySpace agreed to acquire iLike, a social music startup, as part of its plan to restructure itself after losing momentum and buzz in recent years. Financial terms weren't disclosed.  Founded in 2006, iLike quickly became one of the most popular widgets on social sites, such as Facebook, where it has also been the top music application with 10 million active monthly users. The iLike service also has a music download offering as well as other features.

All Things Digital suggested Tuesday that MySpace, a unit of News Corp. (NWS), is paying about $20 million for iLike. About $13.5 million would be paid upfront in cash, with about $8 million of that likely going to one of iLike's major shareholders, Ticketmaster (TKTM), due to its preferred shares.

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Britain's Academy of Contemporary Music is opening its first U.S. branch in Oklahoma City, with ambitious plans to enhance touring opportunities in the region, as well as educate students for a career in the music business.

Based in Guildford, southern England, the ACM was established in 1995 and educates 1,200 students annually, producing successful artists like singer-songwriter Newton Faulkner and Sugababes singer Amelle Berrabah, as well as many music business executives. It already has branches in Italy, South Africa and Japan.

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 Brooks & Dunn decided to call it quits after they realized they'd begun to run out of ideas after 20 years of making hit country music together.

Kix Brooks and Ronnie Dunn talked about their parting Wednesday during a taping of Country Music Television's "Invitation Only" show, which will air Oct. 30. They announced this week that they plan to release an album of greatest hits that will include a few new songs next month then tour one last time in 2010 before parting.

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The annual MTV Video Music Award nominations were announced yesterday, and Beyonce and Lady Gaga led the pack with nine each. Their thank-you speeches, however, were ridiculous in their different ways. "I've been blessed to have Single Ladies become a video people really connected with," wittered Beyonce.

"It's beautiful to feel you touch people." And Gaga gave us this: "We believe in the immensity and the promise of showbiz and will continue to give it mouth-tomouth till its vomiting return." No, we don't know either.

The singer - who divorced the British film director earlier this year after almost eight years of marriage - penned a track about a couple who loved, fought and loved again, sparking speculation the pair are set to reconcile.

Madonna has even ordered Guy a special personalised rifle for his birthday in September.
A source told Britain's Grazia magazine: "The whole relationship now is just unbelievable. Not long ago, people wouldn't even dare bring up his name because it was so bad. When they did talk, all they did was scream abuse at each other down the phone. "Madonna has met few people in her life she truly respects and one of them is Guy. Forgetting everything else, she admires his intellect and cares about what he thinks.

"No one ever expected they could go from lovers to enemies and then back to incredibly close friends." Friends of the 'Sherlock Holmes' filmmaker have also claimed he still refers to Madonna as if they are married.

One source said: "He'll often say, 'My wife is in great shape.' "The couple agreed to resolve their differences after Madonna's 12-year-old daughter Lourdes from a previous relationship told her mother she wanted the pair to get along.

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Brooke Hogan may know best on her reality show, but she should have known better than churning out the lackluster album "The Redemption." It's all tricks, and few treats.On most songs it's hard to tell where the vocoder and production tricks end and Hogan's own voice begins. This is bad, since Hogan has a perfectly fine pop music voice. But she lets the folks behind the mixing board overpower her to a fault.

Hogan comes out swinging on "Dear Mom." "I love you. But you gotta change," Brooke says in heartfelt fashion before launching into a talk-rap-sing tirade. It might have been a poignant touching track, and obviously self-referential given her own battles with mother Linda, but there's so much dirty south "crunk" production going on it quickly dissolves into a mess of Nintendo-esque tones and synthesizer stabs.

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Michael Jackson’s ghost has been spotted at Neverland. Fans of the late pop star – who died of a suspected cardiac arrest on June 25, aged 50 – claim the image of his spirit can be seen in the background of a TV show filmed inside his beloved ranch.

During an interview with Michael’s brother Jermaine Jackson for CNN’s ‘Inside Neverland’ TV show, a strange shadow appeared on the wall before crossing the corridor and moving around the room. Fans believe the shadow is the ‘Thriller’ singer’s spectre, which has returned to his former home from beyond the grave.

Gareth Jones, 26, said: “It’s an incredible couple of seconds of footage.” The ghostly apparition was missed by Jermaine, US interviewer Larry King and the film crew who failed to noticed its presence during the recording of the show.

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