'He always wants there to be the soul in there,' Cruz tells MTV News about his 'Without You' collaborator.
By Jocelyn Vena, with reporting by Matt Elias
<P>Usher is hard at work on his next album. Set to work with fellow hitmaker Taio Cruz, the two already cooked up some magic with their David Guetta anthem "Without You," and it seems they are hoping to recapture that spirit for Usher's follow-up to 2010's <i>Raymond v. Raymond</i>. </P><P> </P><P></p><div class="player-placeholder right" title="Taio Cruz's Collabo With Usher Is A 'Secret'" id="vid:717257" width="240" height="211"></div><p> </P><P> </P><P>"I saw Usher a few times, but I spoke to him at length at David [Guetta]'s house when we were in Ibiza [Spain]," he told MTV News in L.A. after his Jingle Ball set. "He has very specific ideas of where he wants to go musically and sound-wise." </P><P> </P><P>Given that Usher has never shied away from exposing a bit of himself in his music, while also keeping the party going, Cruz wants to make sure they can connect the mind, body and soul for this next release. "He always wants there to be the soul in there," he explained. "I'm kind of, not the opposite, but I'm always like, 'Let's get straight to the point and be really clear with the message and be simple.' </P><P> </P><P>"So we try to match those two worlds together: being soulful and, at the same time, catchy," he added. </P><P> </P><P>Cruz can't yet discuss what they're working on: Besides "Without You," he said, "Everything else is secret." </P><P> </P><P>Usher said he was drawn to the Guetta hit because he connected to it emotionally, explaining to MTV News recently what an important part that plays in his musical philosophy. "I think the world wanted a record like that. That [song] really spoke to the journey that I've actually been on in the last three years," he said. "Traveling all around the world, music sounds different. There's many different genres, and when you see R&B and pop and house, as well as electronic, come together, that's the reality of what music is." </P><P> </P><P><div style="background-color:#000000;width:428px;"><div style="padding:4px;"></div></div></p>
Related ArtistsSource: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1675448/usher-album-taio-cruz.jhtml "> http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1675448/usher-album-taio-cruz.jhtml
Anna Friel Anna Kournikova Anna Paquin AnnaLynne McCord Anne Marie Kortright
'He's an incredible, incredible writer and amazing vocalist,' producer Mike Posner tells MTV News about Bieber's new single.
By Jocelyn Vena
<P>Justin Bieber dropped his bumping new single "Boyfriend" on Monday (March 26), teasing his next album, Believe. It's a grinding, midtempo song that hears Bieber proclaiming all the ways he can make a girl happy (swag and fondue included!). </P><P> </P><P>Co-produced and co-written by "Cooler Than Me" singer Mike Posner, the song shows growth from Bieber's "Baby" days. When MTV News caught up with Posner last week, he told us what it was like to hit the studio with Bieber (and co-producer and co-writer Mason Levy) for the track. </P><P> </P><P> </P><P> </P><P>"I've known [Bieber's manager] Scooter [Braun] for a few years, so I actually ran into Scooter at a Clippers game and told him I would love to work with Justin," Posner said. "I got the opportunity to write with Justin. I didn't really know what to expect at first, but he's an incredible, incredible writer and amazing vocalist. </P><P> </P><P>"Because I'm an artist myself, I can be pretty selective on who I produce for and who I make beats for ... and really what I'm looking for is an amazing vocalist, somebody that can sing better than I can," he continued. "And the other thing is somebody that's willing to not try to make something that succeeds within the matrix of what pop music is now, but makes something that moves that matrix to where it is, and Justin was willing to take that leap with me." </P><P> </P><P>Bieber spoke to Ryan Seacrest on his radio show hours after the song's world premiere Monday, explaining why this was the perfect track to kick off the <i>Believe</i> era. </P><P> </P><P>"It was a really hard choice. I mean, we had so many songs, so many uptempos we could release, [that] I thought, 'Let's slow it down,' " he said, adding that there are already plenty of fast songs all over the radio. "It's just something a little bit more mature, but it's also something I think I'm ready for." </P><P> </P><P>While fans and industry insiders had been wondering what a more grown-up Bieber would sound like, he said he tried to block out all the noise when making the track. "There's so many people that are going to give me opinions, but I'm the only one who can ultimately make those decisions, because I'm going to have to live with my career for the rest of my life. So I thought this was the perfect single," he said, adding that this song "was me all the way; it is a representation of me." </P><P> </P><P>And Bieber said "Boyfriend" perfectly sets up what's coming next. "It's kind of classic," he said of the album. "The songs, I feel, won't get old. The music is very fresh, but it's also — I'm taking a lot from old-school music, a lot of Michael Jackson, a lot of old R&B, a lot of old pop. It's pretty special." </P><P> </P><P><i>What do you think of "Boyfriend"? Share your reviews in the comments below!</i></p>
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Glam rocker tackled the legendary 1970 Led Zeppelin song for 'American Idol' rock night.
By Gil Kaufman
<P>Imagine a freight train speeding toward you at midnight. Or a rockslide barreling down a hill as you try to outrace it. That's the feeling of the ominous, chugging Jimmy Page riff that kicks off <MTVNLINK type="url" id="http://www.mtv.com/music/artist/led_zeppelin/artist.jhtml">Led Zeppelin</MTVNLINK>'s 1970 Stonehenge of rock, "Whole Lotta Love." And that's before singer Robert Plant leans into one of the nastiest, ecstatic rock screams this side of the Who's "Won't Get Fooled Again." </P><P> </P><P>That's the song Adam Lambert chose to sing on "American Idol" rock night Tuesday (May 5), and, needless to say, it was a challenge that the eyeliner-loving Los Angeles stage veteran was more than up for, hitting a series of high notes and rock screams that would have made Plant proud. It was a risky maneuver that paid off for Lambert, who chose a tune that came in at #75 on <I>Rolling Stone</i> magazine's list of the "500 Greatest Songs of All Time" in 2004. </P><P> </P><P></p><div style="margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; float: left;"> </P><P></div><p> </P><P> </P><P>The legendary British rock act recorded the tribute to Chicago blues icon Willie Dixon during their second U.S. tour after working it out in their live show, including it on their 1969 classic album <I>Led Zeppelin II.</i> Like many of the songs Zeppelin performed early in their career, "Love" was a blues standard turned on its head with a heavy dose of crunching psychedelic guitar and thundering drums, courtesy of late drummer John Bonham. The song was based on a 1962 tune by another blues forefather, Muddy Waters, called "You Need Love," which was penned by Dixon. </P><P> </P><P>For Zeppelin's version, Plant customized the lyrics by adding some lyrical quotes from a few other songs Dixon wrote for Howlin' Wolf, "Back Door Man" and "Shake For Me," nailing the tricky vocal in a single take. It was also inspired by 1966's "You Need Loving" from the British rock group the Small Faces, for whom Zeppelin had great affection, but they also did not credit Dixon for his part in writing the original lyrics. The song became Zeppelin's first U.S. single and their only U.S. top 10 hit. Though their manager would not let them release singles in the U.K. because he thought it cannibalized album sales, the song was finally released as the band's only British single in 1997. </P><P> </P><P>Dixon sued Zeppelin over the song in 1985, claiming it borrowed too heavily from his "You Need Love," and Zeppelin reached an agreement with him, with Dixon using the money he received to set up a program that provided musical instruments for schools. A cornerstone of heavy rock, the tune -- which was the theme song for the long-running British countdown show "Top of the Pops" in the 1970s and '80s -- has been covered by dozens of artists over the years, from Tina Turner and Ben Harper to Prince, Slash, Leona Lewis, Train's Pat Monahan, the London Symphony Orchestra and Jane's Addiction. </P><P> </P><P><b>Get your "Idol" fix on MTV News' "American Idol" page, where you'll find all the latest news, interviews and opinions.</b></p>
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Hilary Swank Isla Fisher Ivana Bozilovic Ivanka Trump Izabella Miko
First single from Trent Reznor/ Atticus Ross soundtrack is Karen O cover of Led Zeppelin song.
By Gil Kaufman
<P>You kind of can't go wrong when the soundtrack you've put together for one of the most eagerly anticipated literary adaptations in years kicks off Yeah Yeah Yeahs singer Karen O's take on Led Zeppelin's "Immigrant Song." </P><P> </P><P></p><div class="player-placeholder right" title="The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo" id="vid:693384" width="240" height="211"></div><p> </P><P> </P><P>Fans heard the throbbing industrial take on the rock classic cooked up by former Nine Inch Nails mastermind and O when a trailer for the David Fincher-directed "Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" leaked back in May. And on Thursday, Oscar-winning industrial-rocker-turned-film composer Reznor and musical partner Atticus Ross unveiled the full track list for their "Tattoo" score album. </P><P> </P><P>The follow-up to their award-winning "The Social Network" score was a labor of love, according to a post Reznor put up on the NIN site on Thursday announcing the disc. "For the last fourteen months Atticus and I have been hard at work on David Fincher's 'The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo,' " he wrote about the American version of the tale of pierced and punished hacker Lisbeth Salander (Rooney Mara) and her muckraking journalist compatriot Mikael Blomkvist (Daniel Craig). "We laughed, we cried, we lost our minds and in the process made some of the most beautiful and disturbing music of our careers. The result is a sprawling three-hour opus." </P><P> </P><P>The album will be released on iTunes on December 9 in two versions. Right now, you can download the Karen O song on iTunes when you pre-order the 39-track album. That download purchase will also give you a link to the eight-minute "Dragon Tattoo" trailer, for which Reznor and Ross created a unique score. </P><P> </P><P></p><div class="player-placeholder right" title="Daniel Craig Talks 'The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo'" id="vid:674399" width="240" height="211"></div><p> </P><P> </P><P>But, if you visit the NIN online store, Reznor is offering the soundtrack in a variety of forms, from a free six-track sampler to a deluxe 3,000-piece limited-edition signed $300 package with your choice of MP3 formats; the full album on six pieces of 180 gram vinyl; a deluxe book package with a metal cover; an exclusive custom 8 GB metal razor blade USB drive pendant containing the full album; and a fold-out poster. </P><P> </P><P>The full album score track list is as follows: <br> </P><P><b>»</b> "Immigrant Song" (Led Zeppelin cover) [ft. Karen O]<br> </P><P><b>»</b> "She Reminds Me of You"<br> </P><P><b>»</b> "People Lie All the Time"<br> </P><P><b>»</b> "Pinned and Mounted"<br> </P><P><b>»</b> "Perihelion"<br> </P><P><b>»</b> "What If We Could?"<br> </P><P><b>»</b> "With the Flies"<br> </P><P><b>»</b> "Hidden in Snow"<br> </P><P><b>»</b> "A Thousand Details"<br> </P><P><b>»</b> "One Particular Moment"<br> </P><P><b>»</b> "I Can't Take It Anymore"<br> </P><P><b>»</b> "How Brittle the Bones"<br> </P><P><b>»</b> "Please Take Your Hand Away"<br> </P><P><b>»</b> "Cut Into Pieces"<br> </P><P><b>»</b> "The Splinter"<br> </P><P><b>»</b> "An Itch"<br> </P><P><b>»</b> "Hypomania"<br> </P><P><b>»</b> "Under the Midnight Sun"<br> </P><P><b>»</b> "Aphelion"<br> </P><P><b>»</b> "You're Here"<br> </P><P><b>»</b> "The Same as the Others"<br> </P><P><b>»</b> "A Pause for Reflection"<br> </P><P><b>»</b> "While Waiting"<br> </P><P><b>»</b> "The Seconds Drag"<br> </P><P><b>»</b> "Later Into the Night"<br> </P><P><b>»</b> "Parallel Timeline With Alternate Outcome"<br> </P><P><b>»</b> "Another Way of Caring"<br> </P><P><b>»</b> "A Viable Construct"<br> </P><P><b>»</b> "Revealed in the Thaw"<br> </P><P><b>»</b> "Millennia"<br> </P><P><b>»</b> "We Could Wait Forever"<br> </P><P><b>»</b> "Oraculum"<br> </P><P><b>»</b> "Great Bird of Prey"<br> </P><P><b>»</b> "The Heretics"<br> </P><P><b>»</b> "A Pair of Doves"<br> </P><P><b>»</b> "Infiltrator"<br> </P><P><b>»</b> "The Sound of Forgetting"<br> </P><P><b>»</b> "Of Secrets"<br> </P><P><b>»</b> "Is Your Love Strong Enough?" (Bryan Ferry cover) </P><P> </P><P><b>Check out everything we've got on "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo." </P><P> </P><P>For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com.</b></p>
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New projects from 50 Cent, Big Sean, Drake and Lil Wayne also have our attention.
By Rob Markman
Jay-Z, Kanye West, Lil Wayne, Drake, Big Sean, 2 Chainz, Pusha T
Photo: Getty Images / MTV News
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