July 31st, 2012 | 10:31 am by Zara Golden (@zaragolden)

The 2012 VMA Nominations Are In, And It’s A Good Year To Be Drake Or Rihanna

The 2012 MTV Video Music Award nominations are in, and this year and among the nominees are the usual suspects (Katy Perry, Maroon 5, Usher, Justin Bieber, Kanye West), the internet raised (Carly Rae Jepsen, Gotye, Childish Gambino, Lana Del Rey), strong women (M.I.A., Nicki Minaj, Beyoncé), fresh faces (A$AP Rocky, Frank Ocean) and boy bands (One Direction, The Wanted). And all are led by Drake and Rihanna, with five nods a piece, who picked up four for their “Take Care” video (Video of the Year, Best Male Video, Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography) and who will face off for Video of the Year (Drake’s “Take Care” versus Rihanna’s “We Found Love”). Quite the crew, don’t you think?

The show will live on September 6th at 8 p.m. EST from the Staples Center in Los Angeles, and it will feature performances from Alicia Keys and One Direction, assuring that viewers will be the real winners that night.

See all the nominees in all the categories below:

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July 30th, 2012 | 3:50 pm by Mark Graham (@unclegrambo)

Song Of The Summer 2012: Katy Perry May Have “Fallen From Cloud Nine” IRL, But “Wide Awake” Stays At #1

Welcome to Week 3 of VH1′s Song Of The Summer Countdown, brought to you by our good friends over at Dove Clinical Protection Deodorant. Each week from now until Labor Day, VH1 will be keeping tabs on which songs will ultimately come to define the summer of 2012, as measured by their performance across six categories: the VH1 Top 20 Video Countdown, Billboard‘s Hot 100, Spotify‘s most-streamed songs, the iTunes Singles Chart, YouTube’s music chart, and YOUR VOTES (which, btw, if you haven’t voted yet, you should totally vote now!).

Last week, Katy Perry outmuscled presumptive frontrunner Carly Rae Jepsen to overtake the #1 spot on our countdown, and the top of the chart remains the same this week. Buoyed by a strong number of votes from the Katycat contingent —only One Direction‘s “What Makes You Beautiful” and Pitbull and Shakira‘s “Get It Started” received more fan votes on sots.vh1.com— Katy Perry’s “Wide Awake” is staying put in the #1 position this week. (Subscribe to our VH1 Song Of The Summer 2012 playlist on Spotify!)

That doesn’t mean that she doesn’t have some challengers, though! In addition to Carly Rae Jepsen’s summer smash, Flo Rida’s “Whistle” lept up three spots to #7 this week, and the aforementioned One Direction climbed from #17 all the way to #7 with their irresistable hit, “What Makes You Beautiful.” Who will be on top next week? Be sure to check back with us all week for updates, and don’t forget to vote for the Song Of The Summer over at sots.vh1.com! (Oh, and if you want to see how this week’s chart was formulated, check out our super detailed/nerdy chart below.)
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July 30th, 2012 | 12:15 pm by Zara Golden (@zaragolden)

Ryan Lochte Gets Gold And Then A “Call Me” Of His Own

Maybe it’s too soon to call, but our money is on Carly Rae Jepsen winning the 2012 London Olympics MVP, as “Call Me” fever has been spiriting medal winners Canadian and otherwise. Last week, the so-far winning U.S. Olympic swim team won our affection with a spirited, lip-synch to the song that just won’t quit. And now, the team’s breakout star has earned himself a “Call Me” cover as good as his gold.

Ryan Lochte upset Michael Phelps in the 400m IM on Saturday, and emerged from the pool one of the most fawned over U.S. Olympians this round. He atop the podium, the internet went ahead and declared him “King of the Pool” with this hilarious “Call Me Lochte” paradoy. “It’s hard to swim right by Phelps, baby/ But this is my year, so call me Lochte,” the rework riffs, swapping the original’s indecisive “maybe” for the more confident kiss-off of a winner. Is it too late to change the national anthem? Because this seems to be working. Read more…

July 27th, 2012 | 5:49 pm by Mark Graham (@unclegrambo)

Last Lap: The US Olympic Swim Team Performs Their Own Lip Dub Of “Call Me Maybe”

AXL ROBES
We’re not exactly sure where this picture of Axl Rose wearing a Missoni robe came from, or who his galpal is, but one thing we are sure of is that this picture sort of gives us the creeps. [Dangerous Minds]

YOUR CARLY RAE OF THE DAY
Your favorite US Olympian swimmers (Michael Phelps, Ryan Lochte, etc.) are the latest squad of athletes to go cray for Carly Rae Jepsen (who, we should point out, is Canadian). We’ll overlook their lack of patriotism this time around. [Vulture]

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July 25th, 2012 | 12:05 am by Zara Golden (@zaragolden)

Last Lap: Carly Rae Jepsen Rebukes Sex Tape Rumors

CARLY RAE JEPSEN SHUTS DOWN SEX TAPE RUMORS
Word spread last night that the “Good Times” singer had been caught canoodling on tape. But it’s not so. “Ridiculous,” she says. “Obviously not me.” [MTV]

MEET THE SKIN ILLUSTRATOR WHO DECKED OUT GOTYE FOR HIS “SOMEBODY I USED TO KNOW” VIDEO
According to Emma Hack, neither “Wally” nor Kimbra knew exactly what they were getting themselves into — in a good way. “Both artists loved the concept,” she says of her work. “It never occurred to them they were pushing the envelope.” [PopDust]

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July 24th, 2012 | 1:35 pm by Bené Viera

It’s All About Having A “Good Time” When You’re Twentysomething Year Old Carly Rae Jepsen And Adam Young Of Owl City

When is life not a good time when you’re a twentysomething rising star? For the visual to “Good Time,” Carly Rae Jepsen and Owl City‘s Adam Young take a quick trip to a cabin in the woods with their other twentysomething friends all looking to have a blast. By day the group rock out in the car while road tripping. Once they’ve arrived they take their slushies to the wilderness to trollop through the pebbles and swamp barefoot. By night they build a campfire and pitch a tent. But not to be confused with a regular weekend in the woods only complete by roasting s’mores (although they do that too!). CRJ and Adam Young have a full-out party, making it a good time to remember. Read more…

July 23rd, 2012 | 3:15 pm by Mark Graham (@unclegrambo)

Song Of The Summer 2012: Your Votes Propel Katy Perry Ahead Of Carly Rae Jepsen!

Welcome to Week 2 of VH1′s Song Of The Summer Countdown, and boy oh boy, we’ve already got ourselves a huge upset in the making!

Propelled by a large number of user votes, Katy Perry‘s “Wide Awake” overtook the presumptive Song Of The Summer favorite, Carly Rae Jepsen‘s “Call Me Maybe,” as the frontrunner for this year’s crown. In fact, as you’ll see in the chart above, there was lots of movement from where we were sitting at this time last week; 15 of the 20 songs in our chart either moved up or down in the rankings, and three new songs — One Direction‘s “One Thing,” P!nk‘s “Blow Me (One Last Kiss)” and Carrie Underwood‘s “Good Girl”— entered the chart for the first time!

As a reminder, here’s how our Song Of The Summer countdown works.
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July 23rd, 2012 | 1:46 pm by Zara Golden (@zaragolden)

Carly Rae Jepsen Defers On Song of the Summer, Chooses “We Are Young” Instead Of “Call Me Maybe”

If early front-runner Carly Rae Jepsen was rooting for her own “Call Me Maybe” for Song of the Summer, we wouldn’t have held it against her. Big Sean has got her back, and she would hardly be alone in her vote. But when we caught-up her last night on the red carpet at of the Teen Choice Awards she instead deferred the title to a fellow nominee. “I mean, I have a lot of songs that I love about summer,” she offered diplomatically before admitting, that this time around, she’s really into the fun.‘s indie-pop anthem “We Are Young.” She also showed some love “for sure” for No Doubt, who returned to the stage last night. “I want to shake their hands, say thank you for the amazing music,” she gushed. No shame in either choice!

It’s nice that, even though there were Summer Song and Breakout Artist boards waiting for her, Jepsen is still feeling all “I-just-met-you” about her quick rise to fame. “I’m not quite used to it yet,” she said, looking and sounding truly demure in a satin-white blazer and palm-tree covered skirt. “But I don’t think I ever want to become used to it, because it’s really fun to be here and be like, ‘Ah! This is crazy!’”

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July 23rd, 2012 | 12:57 pm by Bené Viera

Big Sean Thinks “Mercy” Should Be The Song Of The Summer Because…It’s Music You Can Literally Do Everything To

If there’s one place to see fresh faced young talent it’s the annual Teen Choice Awards. Always filled with fun surprises and performances, this year the five cutest moments, which was pretty hard to narrow down, and the worst dressed celebs who get an A for effort, were some of the highlights. But on the red carpet is where the special magic happened when we chatted with Carly Rae Jepsen and Big Sean about their picks for VH1‘s Song of the Summer. Read more…