The Barbz were getting ready to skip school just to make sure they heard Nicki Minaj’s new single “Pills N Potions” right when it was released, but hopefully everyone took her advice and stayed in class instead. The Pink Print single dropped early on Wednesday morning (May 20), giving her throng of loyal fans enough time to listen, tweet and cry their hearts out, before the day really got started.

On Tuesday we wished for wished for a few things from Nicki’s first Pink Print release, and she came through with a few of them — most notably, with a hook that’ll remain stuck on repeat. The YMCMB rapper actually flexes her vocal chords here, hitting a couple of high notes on the haunting refrain before she gets into her verses.

Nadeska Alexis

A native of Grenada, a product of Brooklyn, a student of hip-hop. Hi, I'm @neweryork.

The current branch of the “Planet of the Apes” universe has really taken off thanks to the motion capture technology that let Andy Serkis breathe life into Caesar. With “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes” just a few weeks away now, we’re about to see that tech used for a larger primate population.

A new video over at Entertainment Weekly provides a look at what went into bringing the apes to the screen for “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes” by playing finished footage alongside the original captured image from the set. It’s a perfect demo of how an actor’s performance carries over to the finished ape effect.

“Dawn of the Planet of the Apes” opens in theaters on July 11.

Kevin P. Sullivan

For Yeezus’ Sake!”
“The Hills” alum Brody Jenner reportedly will not attend his stepsister Kim’s nuptials, because his girlfriend did not get an invitation.

Minaj Releases New Song
Yasss! Nicki Minaj’s latest single, “Pills N Potions,” dropped Wednesday morning (May 21).

And The Winner Is…
Drum roll, please! Josh Kaufman won ‘The Voice’ making it the first time that a competitor from a team other than Adam Levine’s or Blake Shelton’s has been victorious. Congrats, Team Usher!

Ryan Seacrest Announces For The 13th Time…
Either Caleb Johnson or Jena Irene will be crowned the champion on “American Idol” Wednesday night (May 21). Tune in to see who America voted for.

The Cost Of Being ‘Happy’
Pharrell is not “Happy” that six Iranian teens were arrested after making a cover video of the song in Tehran. The city authorities found the video “vulgar,” because the women were not covered from head to toe.

Future Is Here (Again)
Songstress Ciara and rapper Future welcomed their first child, Future Zahir Wilburn, Tuesday.

Brangelina Film Part Deux
Hollywood power couple, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, will star opposite each other in a second movie, but don’t expect a “Mr. And Mrs. Smith” sequel. Jolie said, “It’s a very experimental, independent type film.”

Abby Devora

Logo TV “Trailblazers,” a new annual event to honor the pioneers who have broken new ground in the quest for LGBT civil rights and are leading the way toward equality. The one-hour special will feature the celebrities, politicians, activists and trendsetters who are transforming our cultural landscape, as well as musical performances from some of today’s biggest artist.

“Trailblazers” will premiere on June 26, during the most historic week of gay rights – the 45th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots and the one-year anniversary to the day of DOMA being overruled. The special will honor Edie Windsor and Roberta Kaplan, two of the catalysts behind the DOMA overruling.

The event will feature presenter Daniel Radcliffe, who is a longtime supporter of The Trevor Project, a performance from A Great Big World and special appearances from Jared Leto, Kylie Minogue, Ariana Grande, Rita Ora, Iggy Azalea, Tyler Glenn (Neon Trees) and Mary Lambert.

“Through their courage, Edie and Roberta redefined an institution to make it open to everybody. Like the greatest civil rights pioneers, they secured a basic human freedom for all of us,” said Stephen Friedman, President of MTV and Logo. “Each of our honorees has stood up for LGBT equality in a way that has helped change history. Whether they’re acting on the national stage or in their home towns, whether they’re activists, athletes or artists, their fearlessness in confronting the obstacles of today creates a more just and equal society for tomorrow.”

In addition to honoring those pioneers who have ...

If you’ve ever wished you could belly up to the bar at the Mos Eisley Cantina, hold a beer in all three of your hands, and sip them gently through your insect-like proboscis, then put on your party pants and ready your passport: this is your big chance!

“Star Wars: Episode VII” director J. J. Abrams announced today the “Force for Change” campaign, a charitable initiative by Disney and Lucasfilm in collaboration with Bad Robot, benefiting Unicef. Fans who support the cause won’t just be making a difference, they’ll also be eligible to win an incredible prize: a trip for two to London, where the winner and a guest will be given a behind-the-scenes tour of the Star Wars set, and an on-screen cameo in the movie, in full wardrobe and makeup.

For more information and to enter, visit Omaze.com/StarWars. May the Force be with you, and may your proboscis be bigger than you ever dared to dream.

Kat Rosenfield

After the twisty teen mystery of “Pretty Little Liars,” Marlene King’s next project is going someplace even darker and more dangerous than Rosewood: a basement in an abandoned house, where four teenage girls hold a fifth one captive and plan to bleed the evil out of her.

According to a report from Deadline, King will pen the script for and produce “The Merciless,” a feature film adaptation of the YA horror novel by Danielle Vega. The book won’t be on shelves until June, but Hollywood has snapped up rights in advance of its release, in the hopes of scaring the pants off audiences sooner rather than later.

“The Merciless” tells the story of Sofia, who luckily falls in with the golden crowd of popular (and devoutly religious) girls during her first week at her new school. But as she becomes part of their group, she also, unwittingly, becomes part of a frightening plan: to kidnap their quirky, punky alterna-girl classmate Brooklyn Stevens, and exorcise the demon they know is living inside of her skin.

How? In any way necessary. (And without giving too much away, let’s just say that things go wrong, fast.)

Victoria Justice as Sofia

This film will need a Latina actress with great range in its lead role, and we need to see Victoria in more movies; it’s a win-win.

Isabelle Furhman as Riley

Nobody does manipulative and cunning ...

There were a number of things we were expecting/wanting from “Pills N Potions,” the first single from Nicki Minaj‘s upcoming third album, The Pink Print.

We wanted “Monster” level bars, an incredible cameo and a hook that would haunt us in our sleep. Well, the Dr. Luke-produced song co-written by Ester Dean kind of gives us all those things, yet not in the way you’d expect.

That Voice
After opening with a spare, haunting drum beat, Minaj comes in singing in a feathery, near-whisper about “Pills and potions/We’re overdosin’/I’m angry but I still love you.” The vocals are among the prettiest (and poppiest) we’ve heard from Nicki to date, especially when they get blown up with an echo effect in the second pass, where Nicki adds, “I still love, I still love, I still lu-uh-uhhhv.”

Still Hard
Once the verses start, Nicki has the urgency she promised in her bars, but she holds things at a simmer at first. “They could never make me hate you/Even though what you was doin’ wasn’t tasteful,” she says about someone who did her wrong. “Even though you out here looking so ungrateful/I’mma keep it movin’ be classy and graceful.”

Nicki doesn’t name names, but someone clearly messed her over. And she won’t forget it.

Still Mad
The haunting chorus comes back around, and then Nicki gets back to reminding whoever it is that she’s going to forgive and forget the backstabbers, even though she knows they’re jealous now that she’s had her success. “But I spin off in a ...

Ben Affleck made his Batman debut last week, appearing in a monochrome photo that publicly revealed his “Man of Steel” sequel cape, cowl and car for the very first time since he joined the cast.

By and large, fans seemed very into the look of Batfleck. But why then does it seem he has a case of the blues?

We’re not talking about his emotional well-being, although that’s in question as well. We’re talking about the color scheme of the Batman suit — a color scheme that Kevin Smith apparently knows inside and out, having seen the Batfleck suit with his own two eyes several months ago. Here’s his description, based on a recent podcast appearance (caught by Dark Horizons):

“If you want to see what this suit looks like, you just go to Frank Miller’s ‘The Dark Knight Returns,’ go to the third book, Hunt the Dark Knight,” he advised. “It’s the exact outfit he’s wearing. That’s why I hugged that guy all those months ago.”

The costume Smith describes is a full gray bodysuit, with a cape and cowl that’s black bordering on blue. Based on the description, it sounds like we’re about to see one of the most comic book faithful interpretations of Batman’s costume ever captured in live-action — so much so that we could get a hint of the blues to go with it.

But even if there’s no blue, we can assume the Batfleck colors will be better than this:

By Emilie Cruz
Weeks of grueling competition came to an end Tuesday night (May 20), as Josh Kaufman was crowned the season-six champion of “The Voice.”

Not only did the soulful singer best his competitors, Team Adam’s Christina Grimmie and Team Blake’s Jake Worthington, to land a recording contract with Universal Music, but Kaufman’s win also marked a first in “Voice” history. Team Usher’s win ended the five-season reign that saw only Levine and Shelton’s artists winning the singing competition.

OneRepublic kicked off the star-studded night with a performance of their newest single “Love Runs Out,” a song that champion Kaufman sang during the competition. Country star Justin Moore hit the stage to sing his hit “Lettin’ the Night Roll” before country all-star Tim McGraw debuted a brand new song called “City Lights.” Then it was Brit invasion as Ed Sheeran jammed out to “Sing,” and Coldplay performed their latest hit “Sky Full of Stars.”

But it wasn’t just about the biggest names in music – no, the big names of tomorrow, also known as the top 20 artists of “The Voice” returned to the stage as well.

For their “Bring Back” performances, Worthington brought back buddies Kat Perkins, Kristen Merlin, Audra McLaughlin, Morgan Wallen, and Ryan Maloney for a fun-in-the-sun performance of Kenny Chesney’s “Summertime,” while Grimmie brought back her BFFs Tess Boyer, Bria Kelly, and Jake Barker for Lorde’s “Team,” and Kaufman assembled the soulful T.J. Perkins, Sisaundra Lewis, and Stevie Jo for Nico and Vinz’s “Am I Wrong?”

Past ...

It looks like the mother-effer who found Bin Laden could become the mother-effer leading the next season of “True Detective.”

Nerdist.com reports that Oscar-nominated “Zero Dark Thirty” and “The Help” actress Jessica Chastain has been offered a headlining role on the second season of “True Detective,” the HBO procedural anthology series that allured audiences and commanded think pieces for the first few months of 2014. As of the report, Chastain had not accepted the role.

Assuming the offer is real, and assuming she accepts, Chastain has some mighty big shoes to fill in approaching “True Detective” season two. As reluctant partners and friends Rust Cohle and Martin Hart, actors Matthew McCounaghey and Woody Harrelson offered up some of the most captivating characters on television in recent memory. Indeed, many believe that McCounaghey could win the lead actor award at the Emmys this year, beating out Bryan Cranston’s final bow as Walter White on “Breaking Bad.” Even if he doesn’t pull it off, the mere possibility is powerful enough on its own.

But Chastain is a proven talent at this point as a two-time Oscar nominee. Furthermore, she has a McCounaghey connection of her own, starring alongside the Oscar-winning actor in Christopher Nolan’s upcoming “Interstellar.” Perhaps McCounaghey was the one who put Chastain on the Yellow King’s trail.

Stay tuned as we find out more about Chastain’s possible involvement with “True Detective.”

Josh Wigler