The album cover for Drake's Nothing was the Same means a lot to the OVO star — so much so that he incorporated the Kadir Nelson design into his 2013 VMA performance.

When Drizzy opened "Hold On, We're Going Home," he did so sitting against a blue sky, speckled with white clouds. The televised shot was a live-action mimic of the album cover that the rapper dropped on Wednesday. "It's a child version of myself starring at myself now," Drake explained to MTV News on Friday after a scheduled rehearsal in the Barclays. "When I try to think back through this journey, it's so hard to pinpoint all these moments and it gets foggy."

For the rapper, Nothing was the Same is his most focused work and the art represents the way he will musically tell the story of how he went from a boy into the man. "Even on past albums when I been trying to tell this story, I've got there, but maybe not got there all the way," he said. "What that album art is to me is that this is my most clear, concise thoughts from now and my best recollection of then."

"Started from the Bottom" is one of those recollections of then that Drake references, it was also the second song he performed last night. The pounding Mike Zombie-produced beat and firework display onstage got stars like Will Smith, Wiz Khalifa and YMCMB affiliates like DJ Khaled and Birdman out of their seats.

"Man, I was excited man. When he dropped that ...

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From the way she, literally, used her face as a canvas to a shout out to conceptual artist Jeff Koons' gazing balls, Lady Gaga filled her performance? at Sunday night's 2013 MTV Video Music Awards with multiple nods to her ARTPOP collaborators and inspirations.

With a set and lighting fashioned by famed playwright and stage design artist Robert Wilson, Gaga's tour de force opening act took her through a whirlwind of costume changes and moods. The visual spectacle was exactly the kind of rich experience that one of Gaga's art world mentors, performance art legend Marina Abramović?, expected from her charge.

"Lady Gaga is a force," said Abramović, who spent time in her upstate New York studio space last month with Gaga filming videos? in support of her Marina Abramović Institute. "In our workshop together I witnessed her tenacity, her passion, her discipline and her impulse to take risks. I saw all of those same qualities in her performancelast night. She challenged herself technically and pushed her limits physically. Her performance was so unexpected! This is what I like."

Abramović was also impressed? with how Gaga moved in the space created by Wilson, which included a kind of shimmering forest with the letters of her single, ? hanging from tree branches.

"I admire her desire to collaborate with visual artists to bring a unique vision to her new album ARTPOP," Abramović wrote to MTV News in an exclusive email review of Gaga's performance sent from Oslo, Norway.

Abramović wasn't the only one who was blown away by Gaga's ...

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Miley Cyrus promised her VMA performance of "We Can't Stop" would be a crazier moment than Britney Spears and Madonna's infamous 2003 kiss. And Miley made good on her word, proving that she doesn't make promises she doesn't keep — especially when it comes to twerking and taking off her pants. Miley's "We Can't Stop" performance, which morphed into a medley of "Blurred Lines" with Robin Thicke and 2 Chainz, ripped a page from the scandalous video's treatment (apt since video director Diane Martel also helped conceptualize Miley's "We Can't Stop" performance), but with more teddy bears, far less clothing and a giant foam finger.

Miley simulated sex acts still illegal in some states as she writhed around the stage, grinding against Thicke and executing physical maneuvers often not seen outside of your local King of Diamonds. Mashable called it "childhood-ruining." People called it purgatory's version of a Build-A-Bear workshop (we're paraphrasing). Dlisted called it an ode to Vice magazine. (Well put, Michael!) We just called it Miley bein' Miley. But here's what everyone else was saying about Miley Cyrus' polarizing, ass-packed VMA performance. First, Rihanna's reaction. (Opinion unclear.)

And the inevitable foam finger Twitter account.

Someone on Twitter's dad: Maybe you should've started with the "We Can't Stop" video as an introductory course. Could I please see a menu? Chris Crocker! Oh, the shade of it. Twerk in the mirror: No word on whether this works, but that's only because we haven't yet tried. Leave Jennifer Lawrence out ...

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The "Avengers" sequel is by far the film comic fans are most anticipating, although writer/director Joss Whedon has just given them a reason to pause in a new interview with Entertainment Weekly. According to Whedon, 2015's "Avengers: Age of Ultron" could be the swan song for one — or more — of Earth's mightiest heroes.

"I'm always joking about that," Whedon responded when asked if an Avenger would bite the dust in the upcoming film, before adding an evasive, "Um ... maybe?" Of course, Whedon can't reveal a major plot point for a movie that hasn't even begun production — and a character death is the most major of all potential plot points — but even if the cameras have yet to roll, Whedon has finished writing the film. If one actor's about to find him or herself out of a job, then Whedon knows it — although killing a character isn't a decision the writer makes alone.

"I'd have to have a really good reason, a really great sequence for [Marvel executives] to go, 'We'll cut off a potential franchise, that's fine!' They know as any good studio does, that without some stakes, some real danger, how involved can we get? We don't just rule it out across the board, but neither is the mission statement 'Who can we kill?' We try to build the story organically and go, 'How hard can we make it on these people?' You go to the movies to see people you love suffer — that's why you go to the movies."

Marvel's built its universe ...

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There were no shortage of truly epic audience reaction shots during last night's MTV Video Music Awards — here's a supercut of some of the best — though, in the hours following the show, one truly managed to stand out from all the rest: Will Smith, and his kids, Jaden and Willow's shocked reaction to Miley Cyrus' twerk-tastic performance

But here's the thing: Despite what your favorite blog may have told you, it turns out that the Smiths weren't responding to Miley's over-the-top antics ... they were watching Lady Gaga's show-opening performance of And it seems they liked what they saw.

In fact, we captured the whole thing on one of our VMA All Access cameras (we have them strategically placed in and around the Barclays Center last night), and, as you can clearly see, Jaden, Willow and dad Will were digging Gaga's performance. Willow, in particular, goes nuts when "Applause's" anthemic chorus hits, and, at the end of the song, they all followed the tune's instructions and clapped loudly for the Mother Monster.

We're really not sure how the whole Miley rumor started — and that's not to say there weren't plenty of folks both inside the Barclays Center and at home who weren't shocked by her onstage efforts — but this year, we endeavored to bring you everything from the VMAs, and so, here's unedited footage. Not to debunk your daily dose of drama or anything, but let's just move on to something else. For example, what did Taylor Swift say ...

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Meet the woman all of Panem will envy: Australian newcomer Stef Dawson has been cast in the role of Finnick's lady love Annie Cresta in according to studio Lionsgate.

A District 4 victor, Annie is the girlfriend of Finnick Odair, and is initially reaped for "Catching Fire"'s Quarter Quell alongside her man — only to be replaced by an older veteran named Mags. And it's a good thing, considering she's been viewed as mentally unstable since her time in the 70th annual Games. It appears, however, that this particular plotpoint may play out off camera (or not at all), as Dawson won't make her debut until the series' two-part finale "Mockingjay."

Finnick's real-life alter ego, actor Sam Claflin, took to Twitter on Monday to welcome Dawson to "The Hunger Games" family.

Dawson is just the latest addition to "Mockingjay," directed by Francis Lawrence. It was announced last week that "Game of Thrones" actress Natalie Dormer had landed the role of Cressida, the film director who follows Katniss to get footage of the Panem uprising.

"Mockingjay," the final installment in author Suzanne Collins' three-part dystopian book series, follows the remaining Quarter Quell tributes as they enter the rebellion that will decide the fate of their oppressed country.

"The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1," starring Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson and Liam Hemsworth, is scheduled for a November 21, 2014, release with "Mockingjay - Part 2" opening in theaters November 20, 2015.

BROOKLYN, New York — Taylor Swift wasn't the only one going gaga over 'NSYNC's reunion at the 2013 MTV Video Music Awards. The entire Barclays Center in Brooklyn shook when Joey Fatone, Lance Bass, Chris Kirkpatrick and JC Chasez joined Justin Timberlake in honor of his Michael Jackson Vanguard Award win win. It was a moment that resonated with everyone in the building, even some unlikely fans.

Birdman, for one, was moved when Justin made way for his band of brothers. "That speaks a lot for him as a man, as a person, as a fan, as a friend, for him to bring his team back like that, I feel that 'cause we kinda did the same thing over the weekend," the Cash Money co-founder said, referencing his own reunion with Mannie Fresh at the BMI Awards on Thursday night in New York.

After performing a medley of his solo hits, the group rose from the floor and rocked snippets of "Girlfriend" and "Bye Bye Bye." Taylor gushed, Selena fanned out and Gaga shook her money maker in the crowd.

DJ Khaled, who is known to unite rappers like Rick Ross, Busta Rhymes, Nicki Minaj and Lil Wayne on his all-star tracks, respected the unity that 'NSYNC exhibited on Sunday night. "Now that 'NSYNC, that's classic. I like to see that too, that's just family. You don't forget where you come from so I respect that a lot," he said.

R&B singer Ciara agreed that the moment was special, while Wiz Khalifa's mind was completely ...

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