Singer opens up to GQ about the night he was found in possession of narcotics in Las Vegas.
By Jocelyn Vena
Bruno Mars on the cover of GQ
Photo: GQ
Tag Archives: Bruno Mars
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Grammy Performances: Frank Ocean, Bob Marley Tribute, Miguel & Wiz Khalifa, Jay-Z & Justin
Hip-Hop didn’t make much of a showing at last night’s Grammy Awards in terms of performances (not to mention that most of the rap categories were awarded before the show officially began) but some highlights included Frank Ocean‘s performance of “Forrest Gump” Miguel and Wiz Khalifa‘s interesting rendition of “Adorn,” Jay-Z joining Justin, plus the Bob Marley tribute with Rihanna, Sting and Bruno Mars and the Marley sons.
Miguel and Wiz took it to the audience for their performance, with the Kaleidoscope Dream singer starting on the piano and strutting his stuff down the aisles while hitting his high notes. Wiz added his verse to the track, sporting a blazer sans shirt.
A couple weeks ago Frank Ocean was out in the California dessert shooting visuals for his track “Forrest Gump” and on Sunday night some of that footage accompanied his trippy performance of the track.
In honor of Bob Marley’s birthday the Grammys gathered a seemingly random group to tribute the iconic singer, but at least everyone seemed to have a great time. Rihanna, Sting and Bruno Mars performed in his honor, with help from his sons Damian Marley and Ziggy Marley.
And let’s not forget Jay-Z, who casually rose from his seat during Justin Timberlake’s performance to accompany him on “Suit & Tie.”
Rihanna Performing With Bruno Mars, Sting At Grammy Awards
Rihanna is now a confirmed performer at the upcoming Grammy Awards, which already included scheduled sets from Frank Ocean, Alicia Keys and many more. She will be performing along with Bruno Mars and Sting, according to a tweet from the Recording Academy.
“In case you missed, @BrunoMars @Rihanna + Sting (@OfficialSting) will be performing together at the 55th #Grammys next Sunday,” the tweet read. Rihanna is a Grammy regular at this point, last year she joined Coldplay to perform “Princess of China.”
The Recording Academy will extend the weekend’s activities with a one-hour special on February 9 entitled “The Grammys Will Go On: A Death in the Family.” The show looks at how Grammy producers, hosts and musical artists made last-minute changes? to the February 2012 program in the face of the death of Whitney Houston. The special will use never-before-seen rehearsal footage and behind-the-scenes interviews with artists and the Grammy production team to look at the 48 hours leading up to last year’s show, which was thrown into turmoil with Houston’s passing 24 hours before the telecast.
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Rihanna Performing With Bruno Mars, Sting At Grammy Awards
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[Album Reviews] Alicia Keys
“Girl On Fire” finds the perfect balance of self-help and realized-romance.
Alicia Keys has released her fifth album Girl On Fire a little over a decade since she first came into recorded music prominence. The Hell’s Kitchen RB Singer-Songwriter went cross-genre in 2001 thanks in due part to her ability to add musicality to RB. It wasn’t anything new to the genre, but at the time it was something that wasn’t common. It was a well marketed intention of artistic integrity that earned Alicia Keys a record setting five Grammys in one night in 2002, and she’s delivered on the promise of being that year’s Best New Artist ever since.
With Girl On Fire, she continues along a “Best New Artist” vein. For the first time, Alicia heavily enlists the help of some of today’s popular songwriters (for every track except two): Emeli Sandé, Bruno Mars, John Legend, Babyface, and Frank Ocean. None of the collaborations backfire in the way they could. Alicia retains her signature style. Apart from the noticeable inclusions on the album, the noticeable absence from the Girl On Fire crew is Kerry Brothers. The acoustic production of every track except “Girl On Fire” and “A New Day” (respectively produced by Salaam Remi and Swizz Beatz) mark Kerry’s obvious exclusion.
Alicia’s songwriting turned inward since 2007′s As I Am. Songs about romance were paired with songs about realizing one’s purpose and the lessons of life mistakes. Girl On Fire finds the perfect balance of self-help and realized-romance. Take for instance the beautiful “Brand New Me” where she sings, “If I talk a little louder/If I speak up when you’re wrong/If I walk a little taller/I been under you too long” along with the Frank Ocean co-penned “One Thing” where the pair’s words come together in harmony. The Maxwell duet “Fire We Make” has the potential to be Alicia’s biggest single since the 2009 Drake pairing “Fireworks” – romantic, succinct, with an indelible RB melody. The album’s signature Alicia Keys moment, “Not Even The King,” is the most stripped down track that captures Alicia’s ability to carry simple production (think of how it felt listening to “If I Ain’t Got You” for the first time).
Upon first glance there’s an absence of radio singles on Girl On Fire, but aside from the strained vocals on the title track, A.Keys has delivered a subdued album. While Keys started by taking over the Pop charts, she’s slowly worked her way into an RB focus – it’s a welcome endeavor as she’s always been a true RB artist. Girl On Fire pushes her superb writing skills forward without losing what makes Alicia Keys the artist she promised to be 11 years ago.
The Wanted Want ‘Peace’ With One Direction … And A Beer
NEW YORK — It all came down to Friday night (December 7) at Z100′s annual Jingle Ball concert: Would One Direction and The Wanted finally settle their nearly monthlong feud?
Well, if it’s up to The Wanted, they will. After trading jabs through interviews and on Twitter, fans of One Direction and The Wanted — who, at one time, were on friendly terms — were worried there would be a boy-band showdown at Madison Square Garden, where they were both performing Friday.
On Monday, The Wanted said they could “get arrested” if the argument with 1D escalated, and they’ve been hyping the face-to-face meet-up for quite some time, recently telling MTV News, “If you got an actual problem, come see us in New York.”
On the Jingle Ball red carpet, we caught up with The Wanted’s Jay McGuiness and Max George — who was appropriately wearing a T-shirt that read “You Mad, Bro?” — and they revealed that in the spirit of the holidays, it was time to put the feud behind them … even if they’re still unsure why it went as far as it did.
“It seemed to start as a joke,” McGuiness said of the back-and-forth. “But then the tone got a little bit nasty, so I just like to see how they feel about it, because I didn’t like what I read. I think it’s probably best that we peace a little at Christmas.”
Lindsay Lohan is still hanging with The Wanted after her arrest.
This isn’t the first time The Wanted have attempted to make amends with One Direction: George admitted that he reached out to them earlier about a possible truce.
“I invited them for a beer a few months ago,” George revealed. “But they didn’t take me up on it. Hopefully we bump into them after the show.”
McGuiness added: “Peace and love at Christmas!”
It seems Directioners and the TWFanmily can rest easy, because this battle of the boy bands has come to an end — for now.
“Big Best of 2012: A Year End Celebration Presented by T-Mobile” goes LIVE at 12 p.m. on 12/12/12. Watch bigandbestof2012.com for eight hours of showstopping performances by Bruno Mars, Miguel, Grace Potter, Metric, Alt-J, Thompson Square, First Aid Kit and Dustin Lynch, plus surprise guest appearances, prize giveaways, special editions of “RapFix Live,” “Big Morning Buzz Live,” “MTV News After Hours,” “You Oughta Know” and much more!
Alicia Keys On Fire With #1 Chart Debut
Alicia Keys is four for five. Thanks to sales of nearly 159,000, the piano-tickling RB superstar will score her fourth career #1 Billboard 200 debut next week with Girl On Fire, according to figures provided by Nielsen SoundScan.
Girl grabbed the honor despite putting up the lowest first week figures for any of the Grammy-winner’s five studio albums. That was more than enough to keep Taylor Swift at #2 for a third week with Red, which sold another 137,000 copies, for a six-week total north of 2.2 million.
The rest of the top 10 was mostly unchanged, with most of the titles suffering double-digit drops in the run-up to the holiday shopping season. Rod Stewart was up three spots to #3 with Merry Christmas Baby (117,000), One Direction were down one to #4 with Take Me Home (92,000, down 48 percent) and Phillip Phillips slipped a spot to #5 with his debut, The World From the Side of the Moon (74,000, down 56 percent).
The rest of the top 10: Rihanna, Unapologetic (72,000, down 70 percent in week two), Michael Bublé, Christmas (#7, 66,000), Lady Antebellum, On This Winter’s Night (#8, 59,000), Blake Shelton, Cheers, It’s Christmas (#9, 53,000) and Kid Rock, Rebel Soul (#10, 46,000, down 68 percent).
It was a down week overall, as nearly every title in the top 30 suffered single- or double-digit drops. One of the few big gainers was Cee Lo Green‘s Cee Lo’s Magic Moment Christmas CD, which shot up 88 spots to #32 on sales of 21,000.
Once again, dozens of holiday-themed releases moved up the ranks, including titles by Josh Groban, the “Glee” cast, Justin Bieber, Colbie Caillat, Elvis Presley, Mariah Carey and She Him.
Over on the iTunes singles chart, the will.i.am. and Britney Spears single “Scream Shout” topped the roster, followed by 50 Cent and Eminem‘s “My Life,” Bruno Mars‘ “Locked Out of Heaven,” Psy‘s “Gangnam Style” and the Lumineers‘ “Ho Hey.” The rest of the top 10: Phillip Phillips, “Home,” Ke$ha‘s “Die Young,” Rihanna‘s “Diamonds,” Keys’ “Girl on Fire” and Flo Rida‘s “I Cry.”
The top iTunes albums were: Keys, Phillips, electro duo Timeflies‘ One Night EP, Rihanna, Bublé, Swift, Tiesto‘s Dance (RED) Saves Lives,” the Lumineers‘ self-titled debut, Stewart and Mumford Sons‘ Babel.
Next week will feature the chart debuts of new albums from Ke$ha and Wiz Khalifa.
One Direction Wish They Were ‘Cool Enough’ To Work With Jay-Z
In 2012, One Direction went from virtual unknowns in the United States to undoubtedly one of the biggest acts in music, and it doesn’t look like they will be slowing down in the new year.
Following the success of their smash album Take Me Home, the British/Irish boy band will spend the better part of next year working on their 3-D movie, which Simon Cowell said will not only be “about the fans,” but will also follow their massive 2013 world tour, which kicks off in February at London’s O2 arena.
They have their first-ever headlining tour for Up All Night under their belts, but this time around, the boys promise it will be bigger and better.
“With the last tour, we didn’t expect it to be as big as it was,” Harry Styles said. “We never expected to do that many dates. I think we did 92 shows, and this time we are kind of preparing it for bigger arenas so we can make the stage a bit bigger. The whole show is bigger, and we’re doing, like, 101 dates on the next one, so it’s going to be a long one.”
One Direction teach us the art of the swoon face: Watch now!
One Direction did admit that they’ve already picked out their opening act but wouldn’t disclose the lucky artist. However, they did reveal who is on their dream list of tourmates.
“Celine Dion!” Liam Payne said of who he would want to tour with before rattling off the names of Bruno Mars, Pink and Kanye West.
Zayn Malik admitted that going on tour with Katy Perry “would be amazing,” but hip-hop mogul Jay-Z tops his list.
“Imagine going on tour with Jay-Z,” Malik asked the group.
“Lads, I don’t think there’s much chance,” Louis Tomlinson admitted.
One Direction answer your Twitter questions!
And while they might not get to go on tour with Jay, they are keeping their hopes up for a possible collaboration.
“I would love to do a hip-hop collaboration with Jay-Z,” Payne said. “I don’t know how to talk to him, though. I think he’s wicked. I love Jay-Z. It upsets me that we’re not cool enough, but I wish we could.”
Not so fast: It seems Liam already made the first move. Payne snapped a photo of himself with Jay at the Brooklyn, New York, stop of Justin Bieber‘s Believe Tour, after tweeting, “Alssoooo my biggest news todayy i met one of my idols and couldnt even look him in the eye…”
Wonder if he asked him about that collaboration? Fingers crossed, Directioners.
Would you want to hear a One Direction amd Jay-Z collaboration? Let us know in the comments below!
Kanye West, Paul McCartney Top Bill For 12-12-12 Sandy Benefit
Kanye West, Paul McCartney, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band and the Who are just some of the acts confirmed for the star-studded 12-12-12 concert, a benefit to aid those recovering from the destruction of Hurricane Sandy.
Jon Bon Jovi, Billy Joel, Alicia Keys and Roger Waters will also perform at the concert, set for — you guessed it — December 12 at New York‘s iconic Madison Square Garden.
Proceeds from the 12-12-12 concert will go to the Robin Hood Relief Fund, which works hand-in-hand with the local organizations serving those in the tri-state area that were hit hardest by Sandy. The concert is organized by Clear Channel, the Madison Square Garden Company and the Weinstein Company, the same group that sponsored the historic 9/11 benefit “The Concert for New York City.”
More information — including how to buy tickets for the concert and broadcast information — will be released in the coming days.
Meanwhile, on Thursday (November 15) night, MTV will air “Restore The Shore,” a live telethon to benefit victims of Sandy, and to help rebuild one of the areas that bore the brunt of the storm’s fury: the iconic town of Seaside Heights, New Jersey.
The cast of MTV‘s “Jersey Shore” will appear live from MTV‘s Times Square Studio during the telethon, and will be joined by a host of other stars, including One Direction, Taylor Swift, Britney Spears, Kim Kardashian, Bruno Mars and more, each of whom will contribute messages of support for victims of the storm.
“Restore The Shore” airs live tonight at 11 p.m. ET on MTV. Text SHORE to 85944 to make a $10 donation now.
