November 27, 2024

About the author  ⁄ MTV News

EXCLUSIVE: Check Out Paramore’s Smashing Record Store Day Release

Usually sounding like a broken record is considered a bad thing. Not so with Paramore's Record Store Day release, which was designed to look like smashed vinyl. MTV News has the photo of that sure-to-be-coveted piece of plastic.

"The Paramore 'Ain't It Fun' 12' was designed by Hayley [Williams]," Record Store Day founder Michael Kurtz told MTV News. "And, essentially, it looks like somebody broke the record. That was the picture she drew for the label and they figured out a way to do it."

I'm not exactly sure how the record will play, but it does look strikingly similar to the logo of Brooklyn punk band The So So Glos, so perhaps Paramore could give them some tips for future releases.


"Ain't It Fun" comes off of the band's 2013 self-titled record.

Paramore are long-time Record Store Day participants; the band released a special edition record in the shape of a hibiscus flower titled The Holiday Sessions in 2013, and the RSD crew supplied us with some classic snaps from 2008 of the band rocking out in-store.


Record Store Day goes down in stores across the world on April 19 with releases from a bevy of indie and big bands alike — including the likes of One Direction, who are releasing a tricked-out picture disc for the occasion.

While you're waiting to get your hands on that jagged vinyl, Paramore is currently squaring off against American Authors in our Musical March Madness tournament, so we suggest you get voting.

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‘Hey Girl’ The Musical: Ryan Gosling Picks His Next All-Singing, All-Dancing Project

After a spate of steely roles, from getaway driver to gangster hunter, Ryan Gosling is ready to show his softer side in a classic Hollywood biopic — and heading back to the halcyon days of classic Hollywood to do it.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Gosling is set to produce and most likely star in a film about the life of Busby Berkeley, the iconic choreographer from the golden age of cinema.

And if you're scratching your head right now and saying, "Good for Ryan Gosling, but what the hell is a Busby Berkeley?" don't you fret: we've got the essential skinny on the Depression-era icon, and why he's so interesting to your favorite A-list dreamboat.

Choreographer Extraordinaire!
After a stint as a field artillery lieutenant during World War I, Berkeley returned to his family roots in showbiz and became famous for choreographing elaborate, massive, and militaristic dance numbers for the outsized musical movies of the 1930s and 40s.

His specialty: using an overhead camera to create a kaleidoscopic effect as the dancers moved their limbs and changed formation, a technique which he pioneered and that's still being used today.

Zac Efron Owes Busby, Big Time
As does the entire cast of "Glee," for that matter. Without Berkeley to lead the way, "High School Musical" hero Troy Bolton would never have gotten his head in the game to the thud of rhythmic dribbling — and even more horrifying, Will and Emma would have had to get engaged without the benefit of an Esther Williams-style synchro swim to set the romantic mood.

Busby's Legacy ...

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Freddie Gibbs Won’t Stop Dissing ‘Punk Ass’ Jeezy Till He Responds

When Freddie Gibbs first announced his split from Jeezy's CTE label, he said it wasn't personal. And maybe it wasn't then ... but things are clearly getting personal now.

Gibbs has most recently declared he won't stop throwing shots at his former comrade until Jeezy responds to the disses.

"I'mma stay on his punk ass till he say something about it. I'mma keep drilling his punk ass into the ground," Freddie told Grantland.com this week.

The Gary, Indiana MC recently linked with producer Madlib, and the duo dropped their collaborative Piñata LP. The soulful-yet-gangsta album is filled with a number of highlights, including the jaw-dropping where Gibbs takes aim at Jeezy.

"I thought the world was at my feet when I linked up with Snow/ But I refused to be his flunky, so we don't kick it no mo'," he spits over the slow-rolling track. "No nuts, got the whole team lookin' weak/ Guess why they ran up on you at the BET?" he continues, referencing Jeezy's altercation with Rick Ross at the 2012 BET Hip Hop Awards in Atlanta.

Gibbs signed to Jeezy's CTE in 2011, but split from the label a year later. "I started seein' the fake and the empty promises and all of that stuff and I just didn't wanna be around that no more," he told MTV News last year. "It's tough meetin' your heroes sometimes and kickin' [it] with them because when they take that cape off, boy oh boy, under that cape, sometimes it's some scary lil' boy hidin' under ...

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Is Justin Bieber Brewing Up ‘Bangers’ With DJ Mustard?

Justin Bieber's back in the studio, and he's got the Instagram video to prove it.

In the new clip, Bieber is seen dancing to a song that sure sounds like it was produced by DJ Mustard — at one point, you can hear his signature "Mustard on the beat ho!" drop, which also shows up on tracks like Tyga's "Rack City" and 2 Chainz's "I'm Different" — and, though it's sorta difficult to see (this studio apparently has more black lights than a '70s dorm room), he's definitely feeling it.

A rep for Mustard could not be reached for comment by MTV News at press time. But to expound on his feelings about the new track, Bieber also attached a note to the video: "Girls be in the the club like OMG this is my song!!!!! LOL."

LOL, indeed. In another Instavid, Bieber shouts out producer Soundz, and tells him to get to Toronto, ASAP, since "We're making bangers, bro!"

There's still no word about when fans will get to hear said bangers, though in recent weeks, Bieber has been spending plenty of time in the studio — just this past weekend, he posted a video of a new song called "Life is Worth Living," which many speculated was about his on again, off again, back-on-again relationship with Selena Gomez.

Last month, Bieber unveiled a new song called which took aim at the critics that have hounded him since his DUI arrest in January.

...

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The ‘Nymphomaniac’ Cast Share The Stories Behind Their O-Face Posters

The first half of Lars Von Trier's "Nymphomaniac" hits theaters this week, and for an art house film set for limited release, there's been a lot of conversation about the two-parter. Some of that had to do with the odd antics of star Shia LaBeouf, but even before he wasn't famous anymore, the movie's character posters had everyone talking.

You remember posters, right? The ones with the entire cast giving their best o-face? It was certainly a new approach to the character poster, and the one-sheets spread like a wildfire.

I couldn't help but bring up the posters during my conversations with the cast of "Nymphomaniac" at the press day, and the stories behind the photos were interesting to say the least.

The tales from Christian Slater, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Stellan Skarsgård and Uma Thurman about the making of the posters were all different, but it's pretty clear that it was an uncomfortable day on set.

"Nymphomaniac: Vol. 1" opens in theaters on March 21. Both installments are available digitally now.

...

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‘American Idol’ Recap: Finalists Take On Top 10 Hits With Mixed Results

"American Idol" 's top 10 tackled songs from the top 10 on Wednesday, trying their hand at Billboard's biggest hits from 2011 to the present.

Contestants took on songs from One Direction, Zedd and Avicii, and the performances ranged from strong (Malaya Watson) to extremely shaky (MK Nobilette).

Here's a look at how the night unfolded.

Malaya, Caleb Lead The Pack

The last time Malaya Watson took on a Bruno Mars song, she landed in the bottom three. But Watson did Mars again on Wednesday and was on point, delivering a solid, heartfelt and emotional version of "When I Was Your Man."

The judges were preoccupied with the song's gender specificity — Jennifer Lopez admitted, "I was ready to kind of hate on you" for the song choice — but Watson's sincerity shone through. "Well done for leaving it the way it was," Keith Urban told her.

Caleb Johnson also stood out, taking on a powerhouse female singer — this time, Lady Gaga — for the second week in a row. Even though the band didn't match his fire, which is a problem with nearly every performance this year, his version of Gaga's "The Edge of Glory" was a winner, earning Johnson "an A for originality" from sourpuss judge Harry Connick Jr. Lopez wasn't as impressed, however, knocking Johnson for lacking feeling and "showing off vocally." On a singing competition, can you imagine that?

One Direction, Hunter Hayes Get Covered

One Direction got the "American Idol" treatment for the first time Wednesday when Alex Preston tried "Story of My Life" on for size. It was a good fit, ...

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Shailene Woodley’s ‘Divergent’: The Reviews Are In

Whether they know it or not, moviegoers are participating in a Choosing Ceremony of sorts this weekend, as director Neil Burger's enters theaters.

The film, based on the Veronica Roth novel series and starring Shailene Woodley and Theo James, has been hyped by onlookers as the next "Hunger Games." It's talked about in the same conversations as "Twilight" and "Harry Potter." But does "Divergent" meet those heights? While many critics are intrigued by the film and its franchise potential, others have concluded that "Divergent" offers nothing new to the cinematic world of dystopia-driven young adult fiction.

Here's a look at what critics are saying about "Divergent."

The Story
"Based on Veronica Roth's bestselling series, 'Divergent' depicts a future Chicago after a catastrophic global war. Lake Michigan has dried into a vast marsh, an electrified wall encircles the heart of the city to protect it from outside influences, and society is divided into five factions: Amity, Erudite, Candor, Dauntless, and Abnegation. Beatrice 'Tris' Prior (Shailene Woodley) and her brother Caleb (Ansel Elgort) are children of Abnegation, the governing faction that rejects vanity, feeds the Factionless, and lives humbly in bare quarters. Society replenishes itself by submitting children of all factions to a test that determines where they are best suited, then allowing them to pick their place for life in a Choosing Ceremony. But Erudite leader Jeannine Matthews (Kate Winslet) insists that everyone should simply know their place, and that those who deviate from a thoughtless routine threaten to undermine the fragile fabric of rebuilding society. Tris discovers during her test that she's ...

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Katniss Versus Tris: Who Would Win?

It's just about time we acknowledged something that we all know, in our deepest, most secret hearts, is true: There's at least one area in which Jennifer Lawrence is not the best.

WHAT!? We know, we know. Let us explain.

The upcoming release of "

Tris, the leading lady of "Divergent," goes from a meek young woman unsure of her place in the world, unable to stand up to her own parents, to a woman who can stand unflinchingly while a pile of muscle literally throws knives at her face. Oh, and she did the knife-throwing thing voluntarily. She's still unsure of her place in the world, but she takes steps to remedy that, questioning authority and quietly taking leadership as her own right.

And then there's Katniss. Everyone loves Katniss, but here's the thing: She's just not that awesome at staying alive on her own. Through both "The Hunger Games" and "Catching Fire," girlfriend hasn't changed much: Choices are typically made for her, she views most people as incidental (didn't see you there, Gale) and she tends to get saved, rather than doing the saving.

In the first movie, she dodged death, ironically, by trying to commit suicide, which she was cool with, and in the second movie, she had to be literally stabbed in the arm, knocked unconscious and abducted by revolutionary forces to make it out of the arena alive. Then, she becomes the reluctant figurehead of a revolution that she has little to no interest in.

What we're trying to say is that Tris could ...

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Is Ed Sheeran Gonna Light Up Your Spring?

We may finally have a firm release date for Ed Sheeran's eagerly anticipated second album. The Grammy-nominated singer/songwriter posted a cryptic note to fans early Thursday morning (March 20) that seems to hint that he's about to blow up our spring.

In addition to that news, Sheerios were psyched to find out on Wednesday that Ed will appear on "Saturday Night Live" on April 12 as the musical guest alongside host Seth Rogen. He also promised to play some new music on the broadcast.

Back in December, Sheeran told MTV News that after spending much of the year touring with pal Taylor Swift, he was excited about what an 
 she lent to the recording process.

"Whenever I finished a song, I'd send it to her to get her opinion," he said. "She's heard all the songs and she's a good judge of what's good or not good." Sheeran hasn't released a track list for the album yet, but he did unveil the new song "Tenerife Sea" in October during a show at Madison Square Garden.

He also recently showed Ryan Seacrest some new ink he got on his arm, a teddy bear tattoo on his bicep and one that read "Blood Stream," which is the name of a song on the as-yet-untitled release that he said he'd written about "120 songs" for. A spokesperson for Sheeran could not be reached for comment to confirm the album's release date.

And, as awesome as it was, we're pretty sure that his unplugged version of Beyoncé's "Drunk In Love"
 won't make it ...

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Is Ed Sheeran Gonna Light Up Your 4th Of July?

We may finally have a firm release date for Ed Sheeran's eagerly anticipated second album. The Grammy-nominated singer/songwriter posted a cryptic note to fans early Thursday morning (March 20) that seems to hint that he's about to blow up our summer.

In addition to that news, Sheerios were psyched to find out on Wednesday that Ed will appear on "Saturday Night Live" on April 12 as the musical guest alongside host Seth Rogen.

Back in December, Sheeran told MTV News that after spending much of the year touring with pal Taylor Swift, he was excited about what an 
 she lent to the recording process.

"Whenever I finished a song, I'd send it to her to get her opinion," he said. "She's heard all the songs and she's a good judge of what's good or not good." Sheeran hasn't released a track list for the album yet, but he did unveil the new song "Tenerife Sea" in October during a show at Madison Square Garden.

He also recently showed Ryan Seacrest some new ink he got on his arm, a teddy bear tattoo on his bicep and one that read "Blood Stream," which is the name of a song on the as-yet-untitled release that he said he'd written about "120 songs" for. A spokesperson for Sheeran could not be reached for comment to confirm the album's release date.

And, as awesome as it was, we're pretty sure that his unplugged version of Beyoncé's "Drunk In Love"
 won't make it onto the album.

...

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