Noted “Tom Hiddleston as F. Scott Fitzgerald” enthusiast Meghan O’Keefe and I take on The Great Gatsby and debate each track on this epic soundtrack. How did Beyonce do on her cover of Amy Winehouse? How does Florence Welch compare to Lana Del Rey and Sia?
The nominees for the 55th Annual Grammy Awards were announced in Los Angeles tonight during a live special that aired on CBS. Hosted by LL Cool J and Taylor Swift, the show featured performances from the likes of fun., Maroon 5, Ne-Yo and more. The 2013 Grammys will be broadcast on CBS February 10th at 8/7c.
This year’s nominations were dominated by a few big names: The Black Keys‘ Dan Auerbach, fun., Jay-Z, Mumford & Sons, Frank Ocean, and Kanye West top the nominations with six each; the Black Keys, Chick Corea and Miguel each garner five nods; and producer Jeff Bhasker, mastering engineer Bob Ludwig and Nas are each up for four awards. [via Grammy.com]
RELATED: VH1 You Oughta Know Artists Score An Impressive 16 Grammy Nominations
Here’s a (mostly) complete list of the 2013 Grammy Nominations!
RECORD OF THE YEAR
The Black Keys, “Lonely Boy”
Kelly Clarkson, “Stronger”
fun., “We Are Young”
Gotye, “Somebody I Used To Know”
Frank Ocean, “Thinkin Bout You”
Taylor Swift, “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together”
ALBUM OF THE YEAR
The Black Keys, El Camino
fun., Some Nights
Mumford & Sons, Babel
Frank Ocean, Channel Orange
Jack White, Blunderbuss
BEST NEW ARTIST
Alabama Shakes
fun.
Hunter Hayes
The Lumineers
Frank Ocean
Last night, as advertised, Florence Welch of Florence + the Machine dropped in on The Rolling Stones to help at their “50 and Counting” anniversary tour stop in London. The pop powerhouse blew new wind to the song the Stones’ half-century old hit, and then blew us and Mick Jagger (who thanked her when it was done, raving also “I loved that!”) away. We’re surprised there weren’t actual sparks flying between she and Jagger when they got into a walk/wail-off at the last round of “It’s just a kiss away’s.” And fortunate for us, some camera-wielding concert goer was kind enough to upload the moment so all the rest of us might also get to enjoy it on this Friday!
The Stones’ “50 and Counting” tour lands stateside next week for shows in Brooklyn and New Jersey.
Watch Florence Welch sing “Gimme Shelter” with The Rolling Stones [CoS]
Tens of thousand of people set-up blankets or folding chairs on the grass throughout Zilker Park in Austin, Texas for the first day of Austin City Limits Music Festival. For the music lovers without either, they stood surrounding one of the eight stages for that one of a kind feeling of a live performance by their favorite artist. The sweltering heat was an obvious topic of conversation among attendees and performers. Sara from Tegan and Sara worried she may pass out. However, a beaming sun didn’t deter the determined legion of fans from bouncing cheerfully from one end of the park to the other, stage to stage, with water in hand. Read more…
Along with 70,000 excited fans we’ve trekked down to Austin, TX (where it’s 80 degrees!) for this year’s Austin City Limits Music Festival to partake in the live shows by bands that run the gamut of Red Hot Chili Peppers to Florence + The Machine to The Roots to The Black Keys. It’s going to be a jam packed three days of rocking out and grooving at Zilker Park to an eclectic mix of sounds. Aside from our excitement to try Austin’s famous mouth-watering barbeque, we’re anticipating unforgettable moments that shall go down in music festival history. Read more…
Last month, Calvin Harris helped Rihanna take home the MTV VMA for Video of the Year with “We Found Love,” a video whose dysfunctional romance and dark-but-beautiful imagery has been permeating the hearts and minds of viewers since last year. In keeping that gloomy theme alive, Harris has returned with a video for his forthcoming album’s fifth single, this time alongside Florence Welch, to deliver an intense visual for an already powerful song.
Florence and the Machine‘s Florence Welch had us worried when she, complaining of vocal injury, cancelled a handful of scheduled appearances. Artists like Adele and John Mayer past have sidelined for far too long by similar injuries, and we didn’t want to see our dear VH1 Diva Flo suffer the same fate. So she skipped the Benicassim Festival in Spain and the Optimus Festival in Portugal and rested her voice. And then this morning, just a week later, she showed up on the Good Morning America and out of her mouth came a voice as beautiful and earth shaking as ever. We are not worried anymore.
“It’s almost like being an athlete, you strain a muscle and I just couldn’t really speak,” she explained after she wowed the crowed with harp-and-all performances of “Spectrum” and “Shake It Off.” “It seems to still work,” she laughed. And good thing, Florence and the Machines kick off their North American tour this weekend in British Columbia.
Florence Welch Talks Vocal Injury, Performs on ‘Good Morning America’ [RS]
As we type this, the gates are about to open in Indio, California for the thirteenth incarnation of the Coachella Festival, and for the lucky few (hundred thousand) with wristbands (and the jealous/curious rest of us), the festival has posted set times for this weekend’s insanely strong lineup. There’s at least one performer worth seeing at any given time, so if you’re going, definitely try to check out at least one band you haven’t heard before. (If you’re like us and are sitting hundreds or thousands of miles away from the Empire Polo Club, YouTube will be livestreaming much of this year’s fest.)
As anyone who has ever attended a music festival will attest, the most difficult part of the weekend is choosing between one or more of your favorite acts who are scheduled to play at overlapping times. With that in mind, we’re here to help! Here are this weekend’s five most crowded time slots, along with our recommendations about who you should see at Coachella this weekend.
FRIDAY EVENING: Pulp vs. Frank Ocean
FRIDAY NIGHT: The Black Keys vs. Explosions In The Sky vs. M83
SATURDAY AFTERNOON: Childish Gambino vs. Azealia Banks
SATURDAY EVENING: Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds vs. Martin Solveig
SUNDAY NIGHT: Florence + The Machine vs. DJ Shadow vs. AVICII
[Photos: Getty Images]
With this year’s highly anticipated Coachella Festival just three days away, rival festival Lollapalooza just stole a bit of their thunder tonight by announcing the lineup for their 2012 festival, which will be held in Chicago’s Grant Park from August 3-5. This year’s festival will be headlined by a powerful array of rock royalty (Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Black Keys, Jack White), a historic reunion (the only scheduled North American tour date for Black Sabbath) and, for the first time ever, big-draw DJ acts (Avicii, Justice).
VH1 was able to exclusively ask Lollapalooza founder Perry Farrell (Jane’s Addiction) what kind of traits he looks for in his headlining acts, and he answered in typically awesome Farrell fashion:
We’ve got the complete Lollapalooza press release, which just hit the wires, for you below!
Michael K. Williams Will Play Ol’ Dirty Bastard In An Upcoming Biopic
Better known as Omar From The Wire, Michael K. Williams is now set to play the role of Ol’ Dirty Bastard in an upcoming biopic. It’s called Dirty White Boy and will explore the relationship between ODB and his former manager, 22-year-old Jarred Weisfeld. [A.V. Club]
Florence Welch And Dev Hynes Are Going To Make An Album Together, Maybe
Florence Welch has hinted that she might be making an album with Devonte Hynes. She said, “Dev Hynes is going to come on tour with us, all around America and Australia and that’ll be fun because we’ve been friends for years, so maybe something will come of that. We usually end up making some kind of strange album that will only exist on the internet.” We hope this happens in a Blood-Orange-Meets-Early-Florence-Circa-Lungs kind of way. [NME]
VH1 Presents Mixtape Festival: Train, NKOTB, TLC, The Script + more! Tickets on sale now at MixtapeFestival.com!
