In their new video, the Kings of Leon do something they haven't done in years: smile.

Yes, inspired by the newfound happiness that fuels their upcoming Mechanical Bull album, the Kings ditch the dourness that came to define the Come Around Sundown era, and get back to the business of being a bad-ass band ... and, according to "Supersoaker" director W.I.Z., that was precisely the point.

"The Kings make serious rock and roll music, with the wisdom and panache not to take themselves too seriously," he wrote to MTV News in an email. "[We wanted] playful, sensual ideas of teen angst, rock and roll and Americana; we wanted to a make a piece that was urgent as well as effortless, precision with abandon."

And in keeping with those themes, W.I.Z. — who's directed videos for Oasis, Marilyn Manson, and Kasabian — filled the "Supersoaker" clip with over-saturated colors, texts and pop art, casted a gaggle of models, ran the footage through a gritty, Super 8 filter, and basically let the band be themselves. Or, as he put it:

"My inspiration is the hungry beat of Nathan's snare drum and the soul in Caleb's rasping voice," he wrote. "The look is an imagined hybrid of pop-art screenprint, hand tinting and Technicolour film."

Now that's some prime director-speak. And though some may want to read even deeper into "Supersoaker's" style and sentiment ... especially in these Instagrammed times of twerk, well, W.I.Z. advises them to stop digging, sit back, and enjoy the video for what it is: a kick-ass rock and roll clip, ...

Eminem might be the next rapper to drop a monster album this year with only a few days' notice, but there was no mention of that Wednesday night when Shady took the stage for an extended set at G-Shock's "Shock The World" 30th anniversary party in New York.

The performance coincided with the brand announcing Eminem's own limited edition, Detroit-inspired G-Shock watch, which will be released in December.

After an opening set from Shady Records signee Yelawolf, who delivered singles like "Trunk Muzik," Marshall Mathers hit the stage in shorts, a baseball cap and a camo hoodie for his very rare performance.

D12 rapper and producer Mr. Porter played the role of hype man for Shady, and while fans were unsure whether to expect only songs from his most recent albums, or maybe even a preview from his upcoming project, Em took it back to some of his classics.

From Marshall Mathers' "Kill You" and "Stan" to Recovery's "No Love," Em rotated between albums, and finally stripped down to his usual white T-shirt after getting warmed up. "Criminal," "Cleanin' Out My Closet," "The Way I Am," "Sing For The Moment," "Like Toy Soldiers" and even his verse on "Airplanes" made the cut.

The Shady Records family was in the building to show their support — including Obie Trice, who watched from the VIP section — but Royce Da 5' 9'' was the only cameo of the night, joining Eminem for their Bad Meets Evil collaboration "Lighters."

Em followed up their radio hit with "Not Afraid" from his most recent album Recovery, before the lights dimmed ...

Now this is the Lady Gaga we've been missing!

Never content to put out a simple teaser video for her new album, Mother Monster blew minds late Wednesday when she dropped a bizarre, definitely NSFW clip in which she pays homage to legendary performance artist Marina Abramović.

Oh and she gets totally nude and hugs a bunch of giant crystals, too.

The trailer of sorts for her upcoming album, ARTPOP
, is a tribute to the Abramović Method, which the artist describes as an exercise that "helps participants to develop skills for observing long durational performances."

In Gaga's case, that means a two-minute video which opens with her laying on a gallery floor in an all-white jumpsuit while singing a single note for nearly 30 seconds and then standing in the rain in the middle of a river doing the same while wearing a pair of yellow horns over her eyes.

Gaga, who is slated to take the stage on August 25
 at the 2013 MTV Video Music Awards, had said in an earlier statement that her new album would find her working with a number of art-world luminaries and Abramović certainly fits the bill. The 66-year-old Serbian performance artist has been provoking audiences for more than four decades, often with works that are physically challenging.

One of her most famous pieces is the 2010 "The Artist is Present" work at New York's Museum of Modern Art, during which she sat in silence for more than 730 hours while looking into the eyes of a rotating series of visitors ...

The Wanted's Nathan Sykes was feeling the pressure when he was asked to contribute his vocals to Ariana Grande's ballad It marked the first time he would hit the recording studio after undergoing vocal cord surgery back in April.

"I met Ariana at a charity bowling event thing, and she seemed lovely, and we kept in contact, and she's a really talented girl," Sykes recalled to MTV News. "I got the call from [manager] Scooter [Braun] like, 'We want you to try this vocal. It's a really hard vocal, and she doesn't even know it's been turned into a duet.'

"This would have been the first time I've recorded since my surgery, so I went in," he explained, noting that the team had to evaluate his post-surgery vocal ability. "I was really nervous. I've never been so nervous for a session, and went in and [did] what I like to think is quite possibly the best vocal I've ever recorded. I'm really proud of it."

Grande, who Sykes called the "best female vocalist" out right now, previously gushed to MTV News about how great the boy bander did on the song, which will appear on her debut album, Yours Truly, as well as the soundtrack for The Wanted singer, on the other hand, initially had his reservations.

"I didn't know how my voice would sound 'cause I didn't know what my capabilities [were], and it was kind of scary that I've had so much more control than I've ever had due to the team that I've ...

If you let Cee Lo Green tell it, he and Andre 3000 are like twin brothers, except Cee Lo may be just a little more "cuddly." So when it comes to Dre's much-anticipated return to music, the Goodie Mob MC understands his trepidation.

"He just said he had a severe case of stage fright and just kind of been away from the game and didn't know if he could truly live up — ah, I just feel like I'm talking to much personal stuff. I hope he don't mind," Cee Lo said of 3 Stacks when he and the rest of the Goodie Mob appeared on "RapFix Live" on Wednesday (August 7).

On Saturday, BET executive Stephen Hill tweeted out that Andre 3000 was going to return to music with a new solo album at the top of 2014, after he says he and the OutKast rapper shared a conversation. On Sunday, a rep for Andre wouldn't give an official confirmation when asked by Billboard.com. Goodie Mob member Big Gipp believes that Dre is just looking to keep an element of surprise. "I know he doin' somethin', that's ol' possum right there," Gipp joked.

Cee Lo and Andre are childhood buddies, and the two grew to be stars in the Atlanta-based hip-hop collective, the Dungeon Family. Their birthdays are just days apart and the recent death of Dre's mother and Cee Lo's grandmother brought the longtime friends even closer. "I've known Dre since the third grade and it was just on my spirit really heavy to just reach ...

Jared Leto had plans for a summer vacation. Instead, he ended up making a music video.

"It was going to be the first-ever planned summer vacation of my entire adult life. I blacked out the time and said I was going to do it, and then, lo and behold, it went from an overzealous three weeks, to two weeks, then a week, then five days, then nothing," he laughed. "But, in exchange, I have this beautiful little film. I got these experiences with these people I'll never forget, so it's a fine trade-off for me."

That "beautiful little film" is Thirty Seconds To Mars' "Do Or Die," the spiritual sequel to their stirring 2010 live clip for It was filmed during the band's globe-spanning summer tour, and, like "Closer," features heart-wrenching interviews with members of the Echelon.

So, in a sense, it is a love-letter to Mars' fans ... but, as is often the case with this band, "Do Or Die" is also something more.

"So much has changed about us, about our audience, about our shows, so I wanted that to be a part of it, also. Most of the interviews, I did myself, so they're really intimate. It's me, it's them, and it's the camera," Leto explained. "What I've found is, that if you talk to everybody long enough, you find an incredible story. Every single person has a moment in their life, something that they've found a solution for, a story to tell. Some are funny, some are really intriguing, and if you ask the right questions, ...

Last week, Lorde was fielding collaboration offers from the Backstreet Boys ("I don't know if could write something pure enough to be a Backstreet Boys song," she laughed). This week, she crossed paths with R. Kelly. That came on the heels of high-profile endorsements from the likes of Selena Gomez and Carson Daly, to name just a few.

It bears mention at this point that she is just 16 years old, has visited the United States exactly once — she played her first show in New York City on Tuesday night — and has more interviews to her credit than actual songs. Yet, when those songs are as striking, strident and self-assured as or well, you can begin to understand why the native New Zealander has become the object of such obsession ... and why, despite her age and relative inexperience, she's already being tapped as pop's next great hope.

And, yes, she thinks she's up for the challenge.

"For so long, pop music has been this super-shameful thing, where people don't want to be associated with it, they want to be on Pitchfork," she said. "But, the way I see it, pop music doesn't have to be stupid, and alternative music doesn't have to be boring; you can mesh the two together and make something cool.

"People who listen to Top 40 radio aren't as stupid as 'Aw yeah, Shawty in the club,' you know?" she continued. "People have a brain, and I think you can combine saying something clever with saying something ...