Nina Nesbitt stopped by the Artist Lounge at Hackensack Meridian Health Stage 17 to chat about her new single, “Somebody Special,” her upcoming international debut album and how she recently scored a free meal thanks in part to… Britney Spears.
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Julia Michaels is attempting to complete a transition that a handful of other artists are familiar with: Keri Hilson, Ne-Yo, Jason Derulo and Ryan Tedder come to mind immediately.
The songwriter is now keeping the hits for herself, and singing them. It all started with a track that is currently climbing up the pop radio charts: “Issues.”
“The song was so personal to me,” Michaels explained to me. “It felt uncomfortable thinking that someone else was going to sing such a personal song of mine.”
So Michaels sang it and now radio stations are playing it. It’s far from the first time she’s heard her lyrics on the airwaves though; the songstress has a co-write credit on Justin Bieber’s “Sorry” and has also penned tracks for Demi Lovato, Britney Spears and the aforementioned Derulo to name a few.
“Of course I had respect for them before, but now I’m like, ‘You guys are my heroes,’” Michaels said of her newer-found-respect for the artists she has worked with. “This is so different.”
In example: instead of at an event or in the studio on GRAMMY Week, there Michaels was at our backstage broadcast, granting interviews with radio stations across the globe regarding her past discography and current single. But with
“The first time I heard ‘Issues’ on the radio I bawled like a baby,’” she admitted. “I was like, ‘Whoa, this is happening. It’s so crazy.’”
And if the success of her prior hits is any indication, it’s only going to get crazier.
Nash Overstreet called in to the show from Los Angeles to chat about his new solo EP, ‘U Don’t Get 2 Do That.’ The Hot Chelle Rae guitarist also talked about keeping in touch with his bandmates, Mike Posner inspiring him and working with other artists like Britney Spears and Rachel Platten on different projects.
For our first day inside Westwood One’s Backstage at the 2016 American Music Awards, we chatted with Andy Grammer on his Thanksgiving plans, Tinashe on working with Britney Spears and We The Kings’ Travis Clark on covering a song from the hit-musical “Hamilton.” Check out the photos, video and audio interviews below!
If I had to use one-word to conjure up my feelings for Sunday’s MTV Video Music Awards I would use: disjointed.
Before I tell you how little I enjoyed of the three-and-a-half hour broadcast (not including the mess that was the red carpet special), let me commend MTV execs for one thing: attempting to break the mold and trying something different. It was obvious from the minute that Vanguard Award-recipient Rihanna took the stage to open the show that this was not going to play out like your typical award show. Yes, it is refreshing to see the network take a chance with its biggest annual flagship program and create a new type of experience.
That said, they failed. Miserably.
We’ll start with the aforementioned Rihanna. Instead of receiving one long block of programming to showcase her prolific work and accept her “lifetime achievement” award, the singer was split in to four different performance segments, culminating with long-time collaborator Drake presenting her with the honor named for the late Michael Jackson. This alone exposes one of the VMAs major issues: a lack of star power so unavoidable that one of the night’s biggest performances was sprinkled throughout the course of the evening.
Think about music’s biggest names that were not in attendance: Justin Timberlake, Adele, Justin Bieber, Taylor Swift, Calvin Harris, Coldplay, Lady Gaga and Katy Perry.
Yes there was Beyonce, whose 15-minute medley of songs from “Lemonade” proved to be the night’s undisputed high point. Kanye West offered another bizarre, rambling diatribe before premiering a new music video from “The Life Of Pablo.” Britney Spears, introduced by Kim Kardashian West, appeared to return to old form with a performance of “Make Me” that featured rapper G-Eazy.
But you would have needed five Beyonce-like performances to make up for not only the missing names but mess that occurred when a performance or award presentation wasn’t happening. Comedian Jay Pharoah, who might have been better suited for a more-traditional hosting role or relegated to pre-taped vignettes (think Kevin Hart circa 2011 VMAs) was instead randomly inserted in to the program to showcase his various impressions. DJ Khaled proved that his energy and array of catchphrases play better on Snapchat opposed to live TV.
And comedians Key and Peele, who again should be commended for attempting something that breaks from the norm, failed in their quest to parody the “social media influencers” (coincidentally, like Khaled) who have become regulars on branded-content heavy programs like this one.
Perhaps just like those influencers, MTV needs to think of yet another new act. Ratings for this year plummeted 34 percent, from 9.8 to 6.5 million viewers.
Fuse Digital Deputy Editor Jason Lipshutz called in ahead of the 2016 MTV Video Music Awards to talk about what he was expecting from the award show and what he was most looking forward to.
Thanks to my producer Jay Buff, we have some snaps of the stars walking yesterday’s red… ahem, magenta carpet at the 2016 Billboard Music Awards!
Also, MAJOR KEY ALERT – I made DJ Khaled’s Snapchat story! Check out the footage:
There’s one big difference between Sunday night’s Billboard Music Awards and every other music award show on television: the winners are a true reflection of not just what fans like, but what they actually consume and spend money on.
“Those charts are what make our award show,” Billboard’s co-director of charts, Keith Caulfield, told me this week. “That’s the beauty of it. This award show is truly based on your performance on the Billboard charts throughout the year.”
The BBMAs serve as an annual scoreboard of sorts for the music industry’s biggest names. We’ll find out where the stars rank Sunday night at 8 p.m. on ABC.
“Billboard gets to honor the most popular artists, albums and songs of the past year on a great TV show, and we get to have amazing performances and it’s a star-studded event,” Caulfield said. “I’m really looking forward to the show.”
The list of performers alone could make this year’s program one of the more memorable in recent memory. Britney Spears, receiving the Millennium Award, will perform a medley of her hits. Justin Bieber will do the same. Rihanna is slated to sing on the show, almost exactly 10 years to the date she scored her first Billboard Hot 100 chart-topper. And Madonna will perform a tribute to the late Prince.
That doesn’t even scratch the surface: Celine Dion, Gwen Stefani and Blake Shelton, Nick Jonas and Tove Lo, Demi Lovato, Meghan Trainor, Fifth Harmony, Pink and Ariana Grande are also set to take the stage inside the brand new T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
As for the awards, The Weeknd is a finalist in 16 categories, leading all artists. Bieber follows him with nods in 11 categories. Taylor Swift and Adele are each a finalist in eight categories. Perhaps taking a cue from Swift’s “Bad Blood” music video premiere at last year’s BBMAs, Adele will unveil her video for the single, “Send My Love (To Your New Lover)” during the broadcast Sunday.
Appropriately, Swift holds the all-time high mark for wins at the show with 20. Adele has the record for most wins in one night with 12, which she scored back in 2012 off the success of “21.”
The Billboard Music Awards are produced by dick clark productions. Westwood One, the radio network owned by Cumulus Media, is once again an official partner of this year’s show. For the fourth consecutive year, I will broadcast from Las Vegas for the BBMAs. In addition to interviewing stars backstage Saturday and on the red carpet Sunday, we’ll have a full recap from Vegas on Monday evening.
She helped usher in a new era of pop music in the 90’s, becoming the best selling teenaged artist of all time in the process. She overcame personal issues to release some of her most heralded songs to date; before 2011’s Femme Fatale she never placed three singles in the top 10 off one album. And in a move that certainly looks visionary in hindsight, she helped change the idea that only “legacy” or “past their prime” acts take up a residency in Las Vegas. Her show at Planet Hollywood is one of the hottest tickets on The Strip.
It is obvious that throughout her much-publicized career, despite the trials and tribulations, Britney Spears has always found a way to set new trends. This is no different with the release of her new song, “Pretty Girls,” which features rapper Iggy Azalea.
The weekend prior to the single’s scheduled launch, Spears teamed up with Uber in Los Angeles to give fans a preview of the track. On Sunday, any user of the car sharing service in LA that requested a “Bee” ride at 3 pm west coast time was eligible to be picked up in a SUV branded with Spears’ name. When inside, the fan would get to hear the track ahead of its official midnight release, and even leave with a few pieces of Spears merchandise.
Unfortunately for Spears’ camp, a trend the singer could not buck is the leak of a record ahead of its on-sale date. A version of the song hit the Internet on Saturday. This could explain the push to release the song Monday at midnight, as opposed to the originally announced date of May 5.
So @Uber & I are bringing #PrettyGirls to you! Request a “Bee” ride in LA @ 3pm PT to hear it http://t.co/7Bi6lwdDqe
https://t.co/DGHRVO3onh
— Britney Spears (@britneyspears) May 3, 2015
“Pretty Girls” is the first new music Spears has released since her 2013 album Britney Jean. The collaboration with Azalea was produced by the Invisible Men, the same production team behind last year’s anthem “Fancy.”The songs share similar bravado but Britney brings a distinctively different sound to the track – which the duo can only hope duplicates the success of Azalea’s breakout hit. Spears’ last chart-topper in the states was “Hold It Against Me” in 2011.
Spears and Azalea have already filmed the music video although no release date has been set. The two will team up to premiere the song on television in a few weeks, performing it live on the 2015 Billboard Music Awards. The award show airs live May 17 at 8 pm on ABC from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Vegas.
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Life & Style Weekly reports that Britney Spears has been banned from going to her favorite burger joint in Las Vegas… by her managers! Reporter Melissa Roberto also talked about Beyonce and Hilary Duff on “Ralphie Tonight.”
