Fiery Beyonce dominates MTV Video Music Awards

NEW YORK | Beyonce on Sunday dominated the MTV Video Music Awards as she took home top prizes and awed the audience in a fiery dance medley with a subtle political touch.

The pop superstar won Video of the Year for “Formation,” the most outspoken work of her career, as well as Best Female Video for “Hold Up.”

The two tracks appeared on “Lemonade,” Beyonce’s latest album which she released in a surprise tie-in with a film of the same name that paid tribute to African American women.

Beyonce stole the spotlight at the gala party in New York’s Madison Square Garden by performing a “Lemonade” medley of more than 16 minutes, managing even to change outfits in a set that culminated in the stage erupting in fire.

In one of the most striking moments, the sound of a single gun-shot rang out as her circle of angelic-clad dancers each collapsed in a fog of red.

“Formation,” directed by Melina Matsoukas, offered solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement against police brutality with officers depicted raising their hands as if under arrest.

“I dedicate this award to the people of New Orleans. God bless you guys,” Beyonce said as she accepted the award for “Formation,” which was musically inspired by the southern city’s bouncy hip-hop scene.

Beyonce arrived at the show, broadcast to more than 120 countries from New York’s Madison Square Garden, with the mothers of four young African American men whose deaths have galvanized the United States — Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Oscar Grant and Trayvon Martin.

Martin, 17, was killed in 2012 by a white neighborhood guard, a catalyst moment for Black Lives Matter. Brown, Garner and Grant were all killed by law enforcement.

Singer Alicia Keys offered another of the night’s powerful moments as she recited a poem she said was inspired by civil rights hero Martin Luther King Jr. who delivered his landmark “I Have a Dream” speech in Washington 53 years ago Sunday.

In a year marred by global conflict and a bitter U.S. presidential race, Keys, moving seamlessly from spoken word to a cappella, voiced hope that “maybe we can love somebody instead of polishing a bomb.”

“If war is holy and sex is obscene, then we got it twisted in this lucid dream / Baptized in boundaries, schooled in skin, divided by difference, sexuality and skin,” she recited.

KANYE TALKS KANYE

The Video Music Awards, broadcast to more than 120 countries, have long been known more for their on-stage antics than the winners, and this year MTV decided to let the artists loose.

In one of the night’s most anticipated moments, rap superstar Kanye West — who last year used the occasion to declare his intention to run for president in 2020 — delivered a nearly stream-of-consciousness speech about empowerment.

As the audience chanted his stage-name Yeezy, West said that unnamed wealthy white people warned him against comparing himself to Apple founder Steve Jobs and entertainment pioneer Walt Disney.

But West said that the pair were among fewer than 10 true artistic heroes — and that the slim list also includes himself.

“Three keys to keeping people impoverished are taking away their esteem, taking away their resources and taking away their role models,” said West, who started his speech by deploring street killings in his native Chicago.

He then presented a racy new video for his song “Fade” featuring actress and singer Teyana Taylor, who moved her body sensually in a gym before a steamy shower scene.

The video marked a theme in the evening, if accidental, of sexualized exercise.

Ariana Grande and Nicki Minaj received roars of crowd approval for a sensual take on a workout, with the pop star and rapper dancing together in a stage transformed into a gym full of highly physical young men.

RIHANNA HONORED

Drake won in the rap category for “Hotline Bling,” one of the most popular songs of the year.

But Drake did not appear in time to accept the award. According to the presenter, rap icon Puff Daddy, the Toronto star got stuck in New York traffic.

MTV presented its Video Vanguard Award — named after late King of Pop Michael Jackson — to Rihanna, in recognition to her contributions to pop culture.

Rihanna opened the ceremony with, aptly, “Don’t Stop the Music,” as she glided across the stage in a snug white T-shirt with a team of performers in matching laced outfits.

In her acceptance speech, Rihanna pledged never to forget her native Barbados.

source: interaksyon.com

‘Bates Motel’ casts Rihanna in Janet Leigh role

SAN DIEGO | The horror television series “Bates Motel” has cast pop star Rihanna in its final season, the show revealed during its panel at the Comic-Con fan convention on Friday.

The 28-year-old diva will play Marion Crane, the role made famous by Janet Leigh in Alfred Hitchcock’s “Psycho,” executives revealed.

The series is set before the events of the 1960 horror thriller, in which motel owner Norman Bates murders Crane in one of movie history’s most memorable moments.

“We wanted to thrust the iconic role into a contemporary spotlight and redefine it in a meaningful and exciting new way,” executive producers Carlton Cuse and Kerry Ehrin said in a joint statement released after the Comic-Con announcement.

“We also heard Rihanna was a fan of the show, and we were huge fans of hers, so it was the perfect collision of creativity and fate.”

Rihanna is no newcomer to acting, having starred in 2012 movie “Battleships” and played a lead role in Luc Besson’s upcoming sci-fi fantasy “Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets.”

But it will be the Grammy-winning Barbadian singer-songwriter’s debut television series role.

“Yes, hello Comic-Con. It’s the girl Ri-Ri and let me tell you what a bad bitch is about to do,” Rihanna said later in a video posted on the “Bates Motel” Twitter account.

“I am about to check into the Bates Motel, very soon, and guess what else? Guess who’s playing Marion? Yes, so all you Comic-Con fans, all you ‘Bates Motel’ fans, stay tuned.”

Producers at the “Bates Motel” panel also confirmed that the fifth season, filming in Vancouver in the fall, would be the show’s last.

It’s Emmy-nominated star Vera Farmiga, who has played Norman’s mother Norma Louise Bates since 2013, revealed how tough she found it to play a dead body.

“I found I would be thrown into a panic if I had to actually hold my breath… I’m actually breathing in all those scenes, but so shallow that it would take me about 40 minutes to get into it,” she said.

source: interaksyon.com

Taylor Swift world’s highest paid celebrity: Forbes

NEW YORK | At the tender age of 26, Taylor Swift is the world’s highest-paid celebrity, pulling in a whopping $170 million over the past year, Forbes magazine said Monday.

The pop diva’s take from June 2015 to June 2016 is the highest total of her young career, the magazine said, more than doubling her previous record of $80 million last year.

She out-earned other famous musicians including Adele ($80.5 million), Madonna ($76.5 million), Rihanna ($75 million) and Bruce Springsteen ($60.5 million).

The “Shake It Off” singer also outpaced rival Katy Perry who was last year’s top-earning musician at $135 million, according to Forbes magazine’s annual list of 100 highest-paid celebrities.

Perry dropped to number 63 on this year’s list, earning a mere $41 million.

Swift’s huge earnings were largely thanks to her “1989 World Tour” during which she smashed the Rolling Stone’s North American record, grossing $200 million on the continent en route to a quarter of a billion worldwide, the magazine said.

Coming in at number two on the list this year was the boy band One Direction, ($110 million), followed by author James Patterson ($95 million).

Taylor’s former beau, musician Calvin Harris, also made the cut coming in at number 21 ($63 million).

“The world’s 100 highest-paid celebrities pulled in $5.1 billion pretax over the past 12 months, more than the GDP of Belize, Gambia and Bhutan combined,” Forbes said.

Magazine editor Zack O’Malley Greenberg said live entertainment continues to be a major cash draw.

“From soccer games in Spain to concerts in China, fans are willing to shell out to see big names – and this is driving the celebrity economy to ever greater heights,” he said in a statement.

On the Hollywood front, Jennifer Lawrence was the industry’s highest-paid actress for the second consecutive year, earning $46 million, a slight drop from the $52 million “The Hunger Games” star banked the year before.

Actor Dwayne Johnson wrestled the highest-paid actor spot from “Iron Man’s” Robert Downey Jr., earning $64.5 million, largely thanks to the billion-dollar “Fast and Furious” franchise and the surprising success of 2015′s “San Andreas” movie.

Many athletes also made the list, including Portuguese footballer Cristiano Ronaldo ($88 million), tennis man Roger Federer ($68 million), and German race car driver Sebastian Vettel ($41 million)

source: interaksyon.com

Rihanna releases long-awaited album in streaming exclusive

NEW YORK | R&B superstar Rihanna late Wednesday released her long-awaited eighth album “Anti” as she offered exclusive early access through commercial tie-ups.

“Anti,” Rihanna’s first album since 2012, had been announced late last year but the timing of the release was a surprise and came hours after she put out the first single.

Tidal, the streaming service led by rap mogul Jay Z in which Rihanna is a partner, premiered “Anti” and said it would not appear elsewhere for the first week.

Rihanna signed a deal reported to be worth $25 million with South Korean electronics giant Samsung, which set up an “Anti” interactive website accessible on its smartphones.

Tidal said that Samsung users who used the website would be able to download “Anti” and receive a two-month free trial of the streaming service.

The release marks the latest effort by an upstart streaming companies to challenge the dominance of streaming leader Spotify through exclusive releases.

Prince put out his two last albums on Tidal while pop superstar Taylor Swift released a tour video only on Apple Music.

Streaming services, which offer on-demand access online, have grown rapidly in recent years and become a key part of the music industry’s commercial strategies.

Rihanna earlier Wednesday put out a first single from “Anti” that features chart-topping rapper Drake.

Entitled “Work,” the song is set to tropical house, the light-feeling electronic genre that has become increasingly popular in the past year.

The song returns to Rihanna’s familiar theme of feeling taken advantage of in a relationship, while Drake in his verse raps of his struggle finding intimacy.

“Anti” starts off with the track “Consideration,” a collaboration with SZA, an R&B singer who has come to prominence more recently.

“Anti” does not include “FourFiveSeconds,” a song that Rihanna released a year ago in a collaboration with Paul McCartney and Kanye West.

Rihanna quickly became one of the 21st century’s top-selling artists after releasing her debut album in 2005, but the Barbados-born singer’s prolific output stopped after a seven-year stretch.

The two-month delay between the launch of the Samsung website and the album triggered speculation among fans who wondered if there were disagreements behind the scenes.

Some music industry observers suspected that Rihanna did not want to compete with British ballad singer Adele, whose album “25″ broke first-week sales records in November.

However, it is unclear how Rihanna will fare on the charts as her album is not available for conventional purchase.

Rihanna has already announced a world tour to promote “Anti,” which will begin on February 26 in San Diego.

source: interaksyon.com

J-Law, Rihanna nude pics nabbed in massive Hollywood hack

LOS ANGELES | Nude photos purportedly showing many top stars, including Oscar-winner Jennifer Lawrence and pop star Rihanna, bounced around social media Sunday, in an apparent massive hacking leak, US media reported.

“It’s so weird and hard how people take your privacy away from you,” Lawrence said in a tweet.

The actress’ agent, meanwhile, vowed to take legal action.

“This is a flagrant violation of privacy. The authorities have been contacted and will prosecute anyone who posts the stolen photos of Jennifer Lawrence,” her representative told TMZ entertainment website.

Word of the images began spreading early Sunday, amid reports that the photos had been obtained by hacking iCloud accounts, Mashable and other media reported.

Among the celebrities whose pictures allegedly were stolen and posted online were Avril Lavigne, Amber Heard, Gabrielle Union, Hayden Panettiere and Hope Solo, according to Mashable.

Media reports said among the other starlets targeted were Hillary Duff, Jenny McCarthy, Kaley Cuoco, Kate Upton, Kate Bosworth, Keke Palmer and Kim Kardashian.

Former Nickelodeon star and singer Victoria Justice said the images claiming to show her unclothed body were anything but the real deal.

“These so called nudes of me are FAKE people. Let me nip this in the bud right now. *pun intended*” she tweeted.

A spokesperson for actress and pop star Ariana Grande told BuzzFeed that images said to be of her, are “completely fake.”

But horror movie actress Mary Elizabeth Winstead, whose intimate photos were leaked, acknowledged her frustration.

“To those of you looking at photos I took with my husband years ago in the privacy of our home, hope you feel great about yourselves,” she tweeted.

“Knowing those photos were deleted long ago, I can only imagine the creepy effort that went into this. Feeling for everyone who got hacked.”

source: interaksyon.com

Singer Chris Brown to remain in jail until probation hearing

LOS ANGELES | R&B singer Chris Brown on Monday was ordered by a Los Angeles judge to remain in jail at least until his April 23 probation violation hearing, related to his 2009 assault of his then-girlfriend, the singer Rihanna.

Brown, 24, was arrested last Friday when he was dismissed from a rehabilitation facility, triggering a violation of the singer’s court-ordered treatment. He had spent the weekend at Los Angeles County’s aging Men’s Central Jail.

Brown was dismissed from the rehab center on Friday for violating four in-house rules, including inappropriately touching a female client on the elbow. Brown also said to a group, “I am good at using guns and knives,” which Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge James Brandlin said was troubling.

“I have concerns about his inability to stay out of trouble,” Brandlin said before ordering Brown held without bail.

Brown, dressed in a bright orange jumpsuit, was led out of the courtroom in handcuffs as his mother Joyce Hawkins sobbed.

Brown’s jailing is another mark on a growing rap sheet for the singer, whose music has so far been able to maintain wide popularity despite a poor image that has included his beating of Rihanna and several altercations.

The singer, who also faces a misdemeanor assault case in Washington, D.C., had been in the Malibu, California, rehabilitation center for anger management.

Brandlin had sentenced Brown to 90 days in the treatment program in November following his assault arrest where he allegedly punched and broke the nose of a man who was trying to get a picture with him.

The “Turn Up the Music” singer was ordered last month to stay in the treatment program until his April 17 trial in Washington.

In 2009, Brown was sentenced to five years probation, community labor and domestic violence counseling after assaulting Rihanna, who was then his girlfriend, on the eve of the Grammy Awards in Los Angeles.

source: interaksyon.com

Rihanna leads MTV Europe Award nominations

LONDON – Barbadian R&B singer Rihanna led the nominations for the MTV Europe Music Awards on Monday with six, ahead of country songstress Taylor Swift on five and pop stars Justin Bieber and Katy Perry on four each.

The music channel said Rihanna had been shortlisted for best song (“We Found Love”), best female, best pop, best video (“We Found Love”), biggest fans and in the new category, best look.

She is up against Swift in the female, pop and look sections, while Swift was also nominated for best live and best world stage act.

Lady Gaga dominated last year’s awards held in Belfast, coming away with four prizes and performing “Marry the Night”. This year she is nominated for three awards – best live act, video (Marry the Night) and “biggest” fans.

A host of other acts, including Lana Del Rey, Nicki Minaj, Jay-Z and Kanye West also earned three nominations each.

The awards, many of which are voted for by MTV fans online, are one of the biggest pop events outside the United States, and, despite being based in Europe, are generally dominated by American artists.

This year they will be held in Frankfurt’s Festhalle on Nov. 11.

Following are the main nominations:

BEST SONG: Carly Rae Jepsen/”Call Me Maybe”; Rihanna feat. Calvin Harris/”We Found Love”; Gotye/”Somebody That I Used To Know”; Pitbull feat. Chris Brown/”International Love”; fun. feat. Janelle Monáe/”We Are Young”

BEST NEW: Rita Ora; fun.; One Direction; Lana Del Rey; Carly Rae Jepsen

BEST FEMALE: Rihanna; Katy Perry; P!nk; Taylor Swift; Nicki Minaj

BEST MALE: Justin Bieber; Kanye West; Flo Rida; Pitbull; Jay-Z

BEST POP: Justin Bieber; No Doubt; Katy Perry; Taylor Swift; Rihanna

BEST LIVE: Taylor Swift; Lady Gaga; Jay-Z & Kanye West; Green Day; Muse

BEST HIP HOP: Jay-Z & Kanye West; Nas; Rick Ross; Drake; Nicki Minaj

BEST ROCK: Linkin Park; Green Day; Muse; The Killers; Coldplay

BEST ELECTRONIC: David Guetta; Swedish House Mafia; Avicii; Skrillex; Calvin Harris

BEST ALTERNATIVE: Jack White; The Black Keys; Arctic Monkeys; Florence + The Machine; Lana Del Rey

BEST VIDEO: M.I.A./”Bad Girls”; Lady Gaga/”Marry The Night”; Katy Perry/”Wide Awake”; Rihanna feat. Calvin Harris/”We Found Love”; Psy/”Gangnam Style”.

source: interaksyon.com

Rihanna & Frank Ocean Will Perform on the VMAs

Rihanna is spicing up the MTV Video Music Awards.

The multiple-nominee is set to perform on the Sept. 6 show (live from L.A.'s Staples Center), along with One Direction and Taylor Swift, who is slated to perform her latest single, "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together," for the first time live.


Rihanna, 24, who's up for best female video, best pop video and video of the year for "We Found Love," is also nominated twice more with Drake for his "Take Care" video.




One of this year's most highly acclaimed artists, Frank Ocean, is also scheduled to perform. Ocean, 24, is also a nominee in the best new artist category for "Swim Good."

The public can vote for general VMA categories at on the show's official website.

source: people.com