Up until recently, Abel Tesfaye — the mercurial mastermind better known as the Weeknd — preferred to let his music do the talking.

Since rising to fame in 2011 with his trio of self-released albums (and subsequently signing a deal with the Universal Music Group), Tesfaye has maintained a purposefully low profile, refusing interview requests and seemingly existing in a murky world of his own creation. But, with the release of his major-label debut, Kiss Land, he's softened that stance slightly ... earlier this summer, he gave his first-ever interview.

That's not to suggest his outlook on life is any sunnier these days ... quite the opposite in fact. Musically, Kiss Land is even more monochromatic than his previous works, and lyrically, he's still trapped in the same cycle of druggy nights, desperate flings and depressed dawns, all of which are expressed with an honesty that's downright eye opening. If he's willing to talk about any of these things, it's more likely out of necessity. Such is the price that comes with leaving his hometown of Toronto for the big time.

But if he must speak, he's going to do it on his own terms: Recently, his team sent MTV a series of produced pieces that tell the story behind Kiss Land's creation ... one that begins the moment he left home for the first time in 2011, and continues to this day.

"Trilogy was more of a claustrophobic body of work, before it was released I hadn't left my city for 21 years, and I had never been ...

Though he's going to be someone's dad soon, there's nothing put-down playboy Simon Cowell likes more than being surrounded by beautiful women. He'll get his last chance at TV bachelorhood this season on 
 when he'll be the alpha male on a judging panel that is otherwise all female.

When MTV News caught up with Cowell and the gang before Wednesday (September 11) night's launch of season three of the U.S. edition of the show, he had nothing but high praise for his new charges. "Kelly did the U.K. show and she was amazing," Cowell said of former Destiny's Child member Kelly Rowland
. "Paulina, I've always wanted to work with her. I think she's interesting," he added of Latin singing star Paulina Rubio.

And, of course, there's the sole returning judge, and Cowell's playfully cheeky foil, Demi Lovato. "Demi was great last year and then the idea of putting the three together ... we've never done that before, I've never seen that before. I wasn't sure until we started filming, but it was great."

After two seasons of middling ratings, "X Factor" shuffled the deck 
 one more time over the break after the departures of original judge L.A. Reid and one-and-done panelist Britney Spears
. It was the latter high-profile choice that flamed out most spectacularly last season, as Spears failed to develop chemistry with Lovato or the rest of the panel, and, in general, didn't provide enough of a personality spark to engage viewers at home either.

The change this time around, however, is apparent in Lovato's attitude ...

While Keanu Reeves may be taking his career to the next level with his directorial debut, the martial arts film "Man of Tai Chi," fans can't help but look back at the movie that kicked his career into high gear way back in 1989: "Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure."

The time-traveling buddy comedy spawned a sequel in 1991 ("Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey") and has earned a devoted cult following — one that's constantly asking what's holding up the long-delayed "Bill & Ted 3."

"It's a long story," Reeves told MTV News' Josh Horowitz while at the Toronto International Film Festival. "There's lots of subterfuge and conspiracy theories. There's a whole thing... I might have to do one of those independent press, conspiracy, other-name kind of [statements] explaining why it hasn't happened yet, because it's pretty dark out there."

Getting a film made can be a tough thing, especially if the previous films are from a few decades past, but Reeves continued to hint at darker forces at play.

"There is [a script]," revealed Reeves. "There's all sorts of stuff and it just can't — it's just — there's darkness out there that's keeping it from happening... It's that part of the story where it's looking grim. It's the dark period of the idea!"

Horowitz tried to look on the bright side, stating that it is always darkest before the dawn — but Reeves wasn't budging. His co-star Alex Winter, who played Bill, had a more positive outlook back at South by Southwest, but maybe that was before the darkness came.

"There's no drama," ...

As one tentpole, "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales," moves out of the summer 2015, one moves in to replace it. Though it was previously known by its tentative title, "Jurassic Park 4," when we return to the dinosaur-infested isle on June 12, 2015, the movie will be called "Jurassic World."

The press release from Universal finally solidified the release, which had been previously up in the air after since-deleted tweets from two crew members mentioned production shutting down. Then there were the rumors about what the story may or may not be, all amounting to us not knowing much for certain about "Jurassic World."

But with a title and a summer 2015 release date set, let's take a look back at what we do know for certain about "Jurassic World."

The Director
Lots of names were tossed about for the job of directing the fourth "Jurassic Park," but few expected an indie breakout like Colin Trevorrow to end up with the job. But "JP4" wasn't the first blockbuster franchise that the filmmaker had been associated with. Just months after his small-budget sci-fi-themed comedy "Safety Not Guaranteed" premiered at Sundance, the 36-year-old director's name was being mentioned as a potential candidate for the "Star Wars: Episode VII" job, after George Lucas reportedly fell in love with "Safety Not Guaranteed."

The Story
Well, we can't tell you for sure what it's about, but we can tell you who wrote it. There was an original draft written by the team behind "Rise of the Planet of the Apes," Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver, ...

Mister Cee has watched the details of his personal life become tabloid fodder over the past few months, and on Wednesday morning (September 11), "The Finisher" announced his official resignation on New York City's Hot 97 radio station, with an emotional speech and a farewell set.

The legendary DJ, born Calvin Lebrun, played a major role in the careers of the Notorious B.I.G. and Big Daddy Kane during his reign, but this morning, he told listeners that it was simply time to move on.

In May, he publicly addressed accusations of soliciting an undercover cop who posed as a prostitute, saying that some of the details were blown out of proportion, and Wednesday's resignation came after new prostitution allegations made their way to the Internet via an audio clip.

"[Today is] my last time being on the air on hot 97, yours truly Mister Cee," he began the emotional announcement, over Biggie's "Hypnotize" instrumental. "I am officially resigning from Hot 97 today. I went through a lot in the past two years and I've tried to rise above those situations, I have tried to move forward from these situations and unfortunately every time I try to move forward, it's like I take one step forward and then two steps back, and I'm hurting the people who are closest to me, which is my Hot 97 fam."

Though Cee didn't spell out the details, it was clear that he was addressing the much publicized prostitution scandals.

"Everybody knows I love doing this radio thing. I've been at Hot 97 since 1993 and I ...

It's a good day to be Ariana Grande. The singer is likely somewhere out there celebrating the #1 bow of Yours Truly
, her debut album, which will land atop the Billboard 200 album tally thanks to sales of 138,000, according to figures provided by Nielsen SoundScan.

That's impressive for a number of reasons, not the least of which is that Grande, 20, fended off competition from at least three other veteran acts who also made it into the top 10.

Just behind Grande is Tamar Braxton, the reality TV star and younger sister of Toni Braxton, whose Love and War, her first album in 13 years, hit #2 on sales of 114,000.

Hesitation, Love and Appreciation

The shake-up on the charts brought plenty of fresh blood in, including the return of iconic industrial rockers Nine Inch Hails, whose Hesitation Marks hit #3 (107,000) and John Legend, just behind at #4 with Love in the Future (68,000). Soul singer Jaheim got in on the action as well, sliding in at #6 with Appreciation Day (58,000).

All those new faces sent some other former chart toppers on the way down, including Robin Thicke, whose Blurred Lines slipped two spots to #7 (57,000), last week's #1, Avenged Sevenfold, down seven spots to #8 with Hail to the King (down 74 percent, 42,0000) and Justin Timberlake, who fell three to #9 with The 20/20 Experience (38,000).

Thunderous "Roar"

Katy Perry's 
 continues to reverberate on the Digital Songs chart, notching its fourth week at #1 thanks to sales of another 373,000. The big surprise, though, ...

Whether good or bad, people can't stop talking about Miley Cyrus. And judging by the 42 million views on her "Wrecking Ball" video, people can't stop watching her as well.

In the scandalous Terry Richardson-directed video released earlier this week, Cyrus rides a wrecking ball naked, licking tools and rolling in her underwear, which, not surprisingly, captivated audiences. However, there is much more to this video than just the obvious, which is something Cyrus, who called in to New York's Z100 radio station on Wednesday (September 11), wants her fans to understand.

"I think the video is much more, if people get past the point that I'm naked and you actually look at me you can tell that I actually look more broken then even the song sounds," Cyrus said. "The song is a pop ballad. It's one of these songs that everyone is going to relate to, everyone has felt that feeling at one point."

Cyrus admited that because the filming of this video was so emotional and raw — with her singing straight to camera as a single tear runs down her cheek — that it proved to be a challenge.

"If people can take their minds out of the obvious and go into their imagination a little bit and see kind of what the video really means and the way it's so vulnerable and actually if you look in my eyes I look more sad then my voice sounds on the record it was a lot harder to do the video then it was to ...

Kendrick Lamar challenged his peers to step up their game on his "Control" verse, and Meek Mill accepted, snapping back with his response on But apparently that was only the beginning.

On Tuesday night, K. Dot had something to say about Meek's track during a show in Brooklyn. And the MMG rapper got wind of it pretty quickly.

On "Ooh Kill Em," Meek challenged Kendrick's claim of being the 'king of New York,' rapping, "Hov gave you 24, let you have that / Man, you claiming you the king of New York / What the f--- wrong with you n---a? snap back / Hundred shots, aimin' straight at your snap cap / Everybody want the crown till I snatch that."

Kendrick wasn't feeling that. "I been doing this sh-- for years, I mastered this sh--," Kendrick reportedly told a crowd at Williamsburg Park in Brooklyn. "I have no time for irrelevant n---as [or] new n---as."

And if there was any doubt that he was including Meek in those statements, he specifically referenced the Philly rapper's recent single "Levels." There's one n---a in particular that needs to realize that there's 'levels' to this sh--. I'm motherf---in' King Kendrick."

Naturally, news of Kendrick's shout-out reached Meek pretty quickly and he took to Twitter to respond. First, he posed his question to fans and then directed it right at the Compton rapper.

"King of what? Somebody tell me please," Meek tweeted.

When MTV News spoke to Meek on Monday, he revealed what sparked the Ooh Kill Em" track. "Kendrick made a statement ...