I’ll admit to being weirdly obsessed with Riff Raff(aka Jody Highroller). Is he our generation’s version of Andy Kaufman or a talented hip-hop performer I’m supposed to take seriously? (The latter, me thinks.) Is he maybe kind of attractive with those sparkling blue eyes? (Yes.) Is he completely and utterly ridiculous in the best way possible? (Also yes.) Whatever your conflicting Riff Raff emotions may be, I have a story that is sure to charm you: I witnessed Riff Raff on the Grammys red carpet bonding with two tiny British girls, and it was nothing short of adorable.
We had the nerve-wracking honor of sitting down with Fleetwood Mac recently and chatted with the iconic band about their upcoming tour and the re-issue of their album Rumours, which celebrated its 35th anniversary this week. Most interesting was the group’s willingness to discuss their torrid, rocky personal past with each other, which included break ups, make ups, affairs, drug abuse and lots of legendary songs about it all. The band says that emotions and feelings still pop up when performing together on-stage, where their songs live on even after the old feelings and feuds they detail have long-since died.
“All those feelings that you have for each other do come out on stage,” Stevie Nicks told VH1.”Because you’re telling the stories when you sing the songs, so you are in a way re-enacting what happened.” Read more…
Myspace? What could possibly done to make Myspace cool again? Brothers Chris and Tim Vanderhook (Myspace’s COO and CEO, respectively) have taken on that challenge, alongside creative partner Justin Timberlake, and they may just have succeeded. I took the sleek, new social media site for a test drive yesterday, along with some other journalists at a Beverly Hills hotel. I went into it with zero expectations – I long ago deleted my Myspace account in favor of Tumblr/Twitter/Instagram and an on-again off-again relationship with Facebook. But the Myspace team has reinvented the site as a place for music artists (and eventually artists of all platforms) and lovers to connect, share and curate. Visually it’s absolutely gorgeous, like a sleek, exclusive boutique hotel filled with unnaturally attractive people. Still, it’s not without its kinks – the horizontal scroll takes a bit to get used to, and navigating the site is not entirely intuitive. But it’s got a ton of promise, and there’s not a picture of Tom in sight. Here are 5 more things that might surprise you about the site.
Yesterday we had one of those cool days that makes our job extra awesome. We were invited to a Beverly Hills hotel to try out the new Myspace with a handful of other music, entertainment and tech journalists. We then sat down with CEO Tim Vanderhook, COO Chris Vanderhook (yes, they’re bros) and VIP/Myspace dude Justin Timberlake and quizzed them on the rebirth of 1996′s most popular social media site.
We’ll have a more in-depth review of the new Myspace later today (which is shiny and new and surprisingly, quite cool and fun to use), but first, some interesting moments from Justin, who spoke passionately about what he believes the site can offer to artists across a multitude of platforms. He also sorta addressed that “When is he gonna put out new music?!” question that’s been on everyone’s lips for the past five years.
“I tend to write songs about relationships, that tends to be a thing that happens,” said Taylor Swift, in a sit-down interview with VH1 before her Storytellers show. “Usually beginnings and endings,” she added with a laugh. “Because that’s what I know most.”
Taylor’s Storyteller’s show took place at Harvey Mudd College, after students won an online voting contest to bring her to the school. She spoke of the connection college students feel to the emotional journeys she details in her music. “For me being here at a college, these are kids that are my age,” said Taylor, “and so were all going through the constant up and down, twists and turns of who are you going to love, and who are you going to end up and who do you want to avoid because they just broke your heart. I really hope this crowd relates to the stories I tell because were all kind of going through the same stuff.”
It was reported yesterday that Taylor and boyfriend Conor Kennedy split in the past month (cue sad groans). We guess this means we can expect another song about the end of a relationship on her next album?
Taylor Swift‘s new album Red dropped on Monday, and since then we’ve been obsessed with figuring out who each song is about. After all, Taylor is known for writing deeply autobiographically tunes, some more obvious than others (“Dear John,” for example). We dissected “All Too Well” and concluded that it’s 100% about her ex Jake Gyllenhaal, and we’ve read all about her coded messages in the liner notes and assume ”Begin Again” is totally about Conor Kennedy. But according to Taylor herself, we could be way off. When we interviewed her last week, she said that us fans are often totally wrong when it comes to the Swiftie Song Guessing Game.
“There are songs that people play the guessing game with. It’s kind of the king that happens when I put out a record. Either blogs or fans will make guesses because I write really detailed songs. I always have and I just never wanted to change that aspect of writing. Because the magnifying glass is wider.
And so there are a lot of songs that people think is about this dude, but it’s really not, it’s actually about this guy you have no idea I even dated. Or you’ll sit there and go ‘that song was inspired by three different situations with three different people.’ And you don’t ever want to go out there and be like, ‘this song is about this guy, first name, last name,’ because it’s just the one piece of the puzzled I have just locked in. I never really talk about who my songs are about.”
Hmmmmm. So are we way off in our assumptions above? What songs are about three different dudes? And most importantly: who has Taylor dated that we have no idea about? Any guesses?
Taylor Swift‘s new album Red comes out on Monday, and yes – we will be buying it. But it also leaked online this week and the songs are now all over the web, and yes – we’ve been listening (and loving it). Our favorite song is “All Too Well,” which reflects on a relationship that is no longer. Taylor recently told VH1 that fans are often way off about who her songs are about, saying, “There are a lot of songs that people think is about this dude, but it’s really not. It’s actually about this guy you have no idea I even dated. Or you’ll sit there and go ‘that song was inspired by three different situations with three different people.” But still, we’re pretty confident “All Too Well” is 100% about Jake Gyllenhaal, and we’ve got evidence that matches the lyrics as hardcore proof. Get out your magnifying glasses, Swifties!
EXHIBIT A
LYRIC:“I walked through the door with you. The air was cold, but something ’bout it felt like home somehow and I left my scarf there at your sister’s house and you still got it in your drawer even now.” EVIDENCE:
Taylor Swift hugged me, and somehow I have lived to tell about it. And yes, being embraced by the woman with the most digital record sales of all-timeIS like driving a new Maserati down a dead end street: exhilarating and emotional, a split second of life on the edge. The most magical moment of my life went down Monday afternoon, right before the singer took the stage in front of a room full of college students for her VH1 Storytellers performance. That too was awe-inspiring and uplifting, complete with lots of “I love yous!” from Taylor to the crowd as she strummed a sparkly guitar.
If it sounds like I’m gushing, I am. The woman completely won me over.
When I first met Ryan O’Neal, who performs under the monniker Sleeping At Last, on the red carpet of The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, I quite literally squealed in his face. His song “Turning Page” had landed a spot on the most exclusive soundtrack in town and was featured in the movie’s most crucial scenes. (The wedding and the sex scenes, duh.) “Oh my god, your song is ah-ma-zing.” I gushed, and he offered up a very gracious and humble reply. I spoke the truth; Twitter was filled with fans detailing the many ways in which “Turning Page” moved them to tears.
I sat down with O’Neal last month at my local Coffee Bean in Los Angeles, where we discussed what comes next after Twilight mania, his big break meeting Billy Corgan as a teen, and touring with songbird Christini Perri. He also refused to let me pay for our coffee — because in addition to being a talented musician, the dude’s also a gentleman. Enjoy our interview below (and his latest video for the song “Emphasis” above).
VH1: Let’s start where we left off – at the Breaking Dawn premiere. Did being featured on the soundtrack change the trajectory of your career? RO: You know it fit really well with what I was doing, so it didn’t really change the direction as much as it changed the audience. That was a really special thing. The Twilight fans are so sweet and so supportive. So, that’s been one of the biggest things. They’ve been so sweet and so nice about some of my other music as well, not just that song, which has been a really great thing. So I have this upcoming tour coming up, and they’ve been really sweet and supportive about that. I do feel like I’m a little bit a part of their Twilight world, which means a lot.
VH1 spoke with Grammy-nominated singer Kelly Price on the Grammys red carpet last night, and chatted with her in depth about close friend Whitney Houston‘s final performance. Kelly was not only present when Whitney sang one final time on Thursday night, she performed alongside her. (Video is below).
The close friends sang “Jesus Loves Me” for a packed crowd at Price’s pre-Grammy celebration, with A-List onlookers like 2011 VH1 DIVA Ledisi, Anthony Hamilton, El Debarge and Ray-J watching from the audience. Kelly adamantly defended Whitney’s behavior that night, telling us “she came out to celebrate a friend…in doing nothing wrong, she’s being vilified.”
Hear more of Kelly’s passionate defense of Whitney, above. And be sure to tune into VH1 at 8 p.m. ET/PT tonight for our brand VH1 News Special, Whitney Houston: Death of a Diva (also repeating at 9:30 p.m. as well), which will feature interviews with celebrities on the 2012 Grammys Red Carpet last night, as well as previously unseen 2010 interview footage with Whitney Houston herself.
