Singer and former 'Dawson's Creek' star battle it out in her new music video.
By Jocelyn Vena
Ke$ha in her video for "Blow"
Photo: RCA
Ke$ha's new music video for her song "Blow" opens with this disclaimer: "No mythological creatures were harmed in the making of this video."
Ke$ha isn't referring to "Dawson's Creek" star James Van Der Beek, who makes a cameo in the video, which was directed by Chris Marrs Piliero. She's referring to the champagne-swilling, hard-partying unicorns that also make an appearance in the video, which takes place at a society party.
Looking glossy and glam in her one-shoulder dress, she tells two unicorns, "I grabbed the bear by the throat, looked him right in the eyes and said, 'Bear you have until the count of zero to put some pants on and apologize to the president. And that's the story of how I was elected to the parliament of Uzbekistan."
She then giggles as she looks into the camera, telling viewers to "dance." Soon, she locks eyes with Van Der Beek. Ke$ha and Van Der Beek exchange glances as they make their way through the party. Scenes of their longing (and unicorns dancing with one another) are edited with scenes of Ke$ha, in a bodysuit, mugging for the camera, singing the song and kissing more unicorns.
Van Der Beek begins stripping off his suit jacket and dances his way towards the singer, who then pulls off her bra from under her gown. He follows suit, leaving viewers laughing and Ke$ha understandably perplexed about why he wears a bra under his dress shirt.
"Well, well, well ... if it isn't James Van Der Douche," she says.
"I don't appreciate you slander-beeking my name," Van Der Beek replies.
After snipping at one another and trading barbs, they begin shooting lasers at one another in a battle sequence, knocking down and killing rainbow-shooting unicorns in the process. In the end, it's revealed that Ke$ha has killed the actor and mounted his head on her wall, laughing off the encounter. The plaque in which his head is displayed reads "James Van Der Dead."
What do you think of the new Ke$ha video? Tell us in the comments!
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'I probably won't get on this album, but hopefully the next one,' singer/songwriter Sia says of song she pitched for Beyonce's new album.
By James Dinh
Beyoncé
Photo: Michael Loccisano/ Getty Images
As Britney Spears and Lady Gaga gear up to release new albums, there's another pop heavyweight who may offer them some friendly competition: Beyoncé. Details surrounding the singer's next album remain scarce, but according to a few of the project's collaborators, Bey is almost finished recording the follow-up to 2008's I Am ... Sasha Fierce and has managed to hit the studio with an extensive list of producers.
After gushing about her high hopes for working with Beyoncé, Australian songstress Sia revealed that she told B's behind-the-scenes team that she wanted to lend a creative hand for the new album. "So I just said to all the producers, writers, everyone, help me make this happen, and then Diplo e-mailed me and said, 'where are you in the world right now? would you be interested in flying to New York? I'm writing with Beyoncé,' and I was like, 'Yesss!' " the singer told MTV Australia.
Despite Diplo's offer, Sia said she was unable to fly out because of schedule conflicts, but is in the process of pitching songs to Beyoncé. When asked if her submissions were for Beyoncé's forthcoming LP, Sia said, "Well, there's only one song left for this album, so I probably won't get on this album, but hopefully the next one. That's my dream, that's my goal."
Sia isn't the only collaborator that has suggested Beyoncé is close to wrapping up studio sessions for the project. Sleigh Bells have confirmed working with the singer, but are weary on whether their work with the songstress will make the final cut. Speaking with NME.com, guitarist Derek Miller admitted, "I actually have no idea if the collaboration will ever be released."
While Miller remained tight-lipped on details regarding the song (or songs?), the Sleigh Bells bandmate confessed that the collabo is just one of her many musical partnerships, saying, "Beyoncé works with whoever she wants to work with, probably 30 or 40 producers. It's a totally different world from what I'm used to. So for me, it's just exciting to hear something that I worked on but I can't really say any more than that."
Sia and the Sleigh Bells join a long list of other collaborators who have been tapped to work on Beyoncé's new album, including Ne-Yo, S1, Jim Jonsin, Sean "The Pen" Garrett, The-Dream and Tricky Stewart.
Who do you want to see Beyoncé collaborate with on her new album? Share your suggestions in the comments.
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Unicorn cameos in 'Born This Way' and 'Blow' videos is 'just weird coincidence,' Chris Marrs Piliero tells MTV News.
By Jocelyn Vena
Ke$ha in her video for "Blow"
Photo: RCA
The brand-new videos for Ke$ha's "Blow" and Lady Gaga's "Born This Way" couldn't be more different. But fans on the Web have been comparing the clips, thanks to a special cameo the two videos have in common. With unicorns appearing in both "Blow" and "BTW," some Gaga fans are accusing the K-Dollar of stealing from their Mother Monster.
But MTV News spoke to "Blow" director Chris Marrs Piliero, who explained that it's pure coincidence his video and the Nick Knight-directed video both feature unicorns.
"It's very odd. It's one of those weird things, and I think a lot of people on the Internet don't grasp the sense of time [that goes into making videos]. Some Gaga fans, they don't realize that just because it was announced there might be a unicorn [in Gaga's video], it's like, we didn't film the video after that announcement," he said.
"It's like [the movies] 'Dante's Peak' and 'Volcano' and then there was 'Armageddon' and 'Deep Impact.' I don't know, I know when things like that happen when I was a part of the audience, I was like, 'That's weird and fishy,' but now being on the other side, it's just weird coincidences," he explained. "What are the odds of that?"
In fact, Piliero had a gut feeling that he should use unicorns many, many moons ago and he thought Ke$ha was the right artist to join with the mythological creatures onscreen.
"Ke$ha was looking to make kind of something different, a video that was cool and random, and I had this idea running in my head with just the idea of unicorns," he recalled. "If I massacred unicorns, they could bleed rainbows. I'm a fan of violence and I'm always trying to find a way to make it OK."
The rainbow-spewing unicorns weren't the only cameo that Piliero hoped to nab. He also wanted "Dawson's Creek" star James Van Der Beek to appear in the clip. "He's such an awesome guy. He was down for it," he said. "He had seen the Black Keys video [I shot] and he was stoked on the idea. It was so much fun. He and Ke$ha kind of went for all the craziness. I think he has a fantastic comic side. He's good at being naturally funny. It's about the delivery."
Ke$ha, of course, was onboard for all the zaniness. "Before we started filming, we had quite a few talks. She was adamant you can't back away from the crazy; everything about the idea she loved and she enforced the fact that she wanted to embrace every aspect of it and really go for it," he recalled. "On set, she was having fun. She was like, 'I want to lick a unicorn.' It was rad working with her because there definitely wasn't a sense of her feeling awkward about stuff or detached; no ego. It felt like we had worked together before."
Which video do you prefer: "Blow" or "Born This Way"? Tell us in the comments!
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'Till The World Ends' expected out sometime next week.
By Jocelyn Vena
Britney Spears
Photo: Jeremy Cowart/ WireImage
Slowly but surely, fans are getting a taste of what Britney Spears' March 29 album release, Femme Fatale, will sound like. On Wednesday, Spears slowed things down with the tease for her track "Criminal" and psyched fans up with the news that she worked with Travis Barker on the album.
Fans are speculating that the next single released will be the Ke$ha-penned track, "Till the World Ends." Art for the single's cover, in which Spears appears sitting on a couch in a sweater and heels, was posted at Deezer.com.
A 30-second snippet of the song appeared on Amazon.de, which indicates that the single will be available on March 11. The track sounds like a fist-pumping anthem, and the sample showcases Spears' electronically enhanced vocals going "Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh."
The single will reportedly drop sometime next week, according to a tweet sent out by Tampa radio station 93.3 FM. "Hearing from Jive Records that we'll have a new @BritneySpears single to play next week!"
Ke$ha recently dished about the track to Spin.com, noting that the song is about the power of an artist performing a great gig. "That song is me imagining her and any female musician touring the world," she says. "You know, when you go out, and you're having an amazing, magical night and you don't want to go to sleep and you want it to last until the world ends."
Spears' longtime manager Larry Rudolph recently told MTV News that he's super-excited about the next single off Femme Fatale. "I don't think I've been this excited about releasing a Britney single in many, many years," he said. "It's that good. That's all I'm gonna say about it at the moment. I haven't heard a final mix of it, but I should get it in the next day or two. So far, what I've heard is just extraordinary. It really is amazing. Her fans will be very happy with it. I'm trying hard to get it out before the album comes out."
For those keeping count, it's not the first time Ke$ha and Spears have worked together. Ke$ha appeared on the Circus song "Lace and Leather." "I just did backgrounds for her 'cause I was so broke. I needed to pay my rent," she shared back in 2009. "I got a few bucks. No, [I didn't meet her]. I just did backups for her."
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