Tag Archives: Scooter Braun

Nicki Minaj Throws An Assist To Carly Rae Jepsen On ‘Tonight, I’m Getting Over You’

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By Sidney Madden

Carly Rae Jepsen teamed up with Nicki Minaj to provide fans with even more punchy girl power on her remix of “Tonight, I’m Getting Over You.” Minaj lent her rapid verses to Jepsen’s new single and fans have had plenty to say about the remixed track.

“When Carly Rae and Nicki get together, they make songs about getting over guys,” Jepsen’s  manager Scooter Braun told MTV News of the song. “Whenever girls do songs about getting over men, they seem to do really well.”

In the song, Minaj raps about hitting the club, meditating and even doing yoga (or as she calls it, “yog-er” as methods to combat a recent heartbreak. This is the second time that “the female Weezy” has lent her voice to a track by a Scooter Braun-managed artist. Minaj joined forces with Justin Beiber on “Beauty and a Beat” last year and the result was an absolute domination of the airwaves.

The remix of “Tonight I’m Getting Over You” featuring Minaj’s temporary takeover dropped yesterday. Has musical lightning struck twice for Minaj and School Boy Records? Barbz and Jepsies seem to think so.

@MatthewLucasXO Well I actually do love @carlyraejepsen’s #remix of #TonightImGettingOverYou with @NICKIMINAJ. Bravo ladies

@SMonsterMan I love this Carly Rae song EVEN MORE NOW!!! olol…. #TonightImGettingOverYou

@xMyCliquex Nicki and Carly…. this is so gorgeous #TIGOY

@KrazyYyee PRETTY GANG , RICH GANG , YOUNG MONEY , NICKI MINAJ , I see you Carly let’s get it ! #TIGOY

@_ashleighs @Lord_Farquhard remember when we thought Carly singing tonight I’m getting over you on tour was sh–? Well now nicki minaj has remixed it…

@BiebsontheRadio The Carly Rae Jepsen #TonightImGettingOverYouRemix ft Nicki Minaj check it

@ROMAN_BARBIE21 @NICKIMINAJ NICKI we want the video with you and Carly Rae!!! She’s my favorite so glad you guys teamed up!!

@BeyondThaGlory Carly Rae Jepsen and Nicki Minaj. YES PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!

Justin Bieber On Selena Gomez Breakup: ‘There’s So Many Rumors’

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Beliebers already have it marked on their calendars, but for those not in the know, Justin Bieber drops his Believe Acoustic album Tuesday. Amid unplugged versions of tracks from his 2012 release, there are also three new tracks, one of which, “Nothing Like Us,” is Bieber’s ode to former flame Selena Gomez.

“Because at the end of the day, there’s nothing like us, you know? That’s just it. It is what it is,” Bieber says in the new issue of Billboard about the tune, which manager Scooter Braun confirmed is about the split. “People are going to relate to that.”

Bieber has remained pretty tight-lipped about his breakup with Gomez, until now. And with this new album full of personal experience, Bieber told the magazine he’s feeling the pain of that breakup. “I’m not in the happiest place that I’ve ever been,” he said. “I’m trying to get through what I’m going through. Like I said, I have my really close friends to cheer me up and keep me going.”

The singer and his ex recently made headlines when they each performed versions of Justin Timberlake’s “Cry Me a River,” but Bieber didn’t go into specifics about that or any of the speculation about what split them up.

“There’s so many rumors. People say I call Selena every day and she won’t pick up the phone or I’m chasing her down, and these are all fake stories,” he said. “I don’t go on blogs or anything like that. I hear things. People tell me if something happens on the Internet. It gets back to me, definitely.”

While Bieber is dealing with a lot right now, he insists there are still lighter moments. “Definitely, all of the time,” he said. “I’m 18. I have a great team around me. I have great friends. We have a blast. They keep me occupied and my mind off of the negative things. It’s funny when people are like, ‘You’re 18. What have you really gone through?’ I’m thinking, ‘What do you mean? When you were 18, you don’t think that you went through stuff?’ When you are 18, you’re going through that transition. You have a high school girlfriend, you might not. Going to college. Figuring yourself out, leaving home.”

During the chat, he also opened up about his disappointment over not getting nominated for any Grammy Awards (which he says is now water under the bridge) and potential new music he’s working on, as well as the excitement that Believe Acoustic is poised to debut at the top of the charts.

At the end of the day, he said his life is about taking the good with the bad. “I don’t have any regrets,” he said. “I live and I learn. My mom says, ‘You got to learn the hard way, don’t you?’ That’s me. I learn the hard way. But it’s about how I pick myself up and be better and stronger.”

What are you expecting from Bieber’s acoustic album? Let us know in the comments!

Justin Bieber’s Believe Acoustic: Everything You Need To Know

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Justin Bieber is stripping down … for his latest musical release. On Tuesday, Believe Acoustic will hit retailers, and the 11-track album features some key songs off 2012′s Believe, as well as three brand-new tunes for Beliebers’ listening pleasure.

Since Justin first announced the LP in December, hype around the release has grown with each passing week (and each piece of news about his personal ups and downs). So now that fans are just a day away from getting their hands on it, MTV News has rounded up everything you need to know before Believe Acoustic hits the streets.

Making New Friends?
There was chatter that the boy wonder had hooked up with some other musicians for this album, his first since Believe dropped last June. That release featured collaborations from artists like Drake, Nicki Minaj and Big Sean, so it’s no surprise that tweets and photos from Bieber had fans buzzing that he might be working with guitar-loving acts like Nick Jonas and Ed Sheeran for this LP. But despite all of the online back and forth, judging from MTV News’ sneak preview, neither the JoBro nor the U.K. singer/songwriter seems to have made the cut.

Slowing It Down
While Believe was chock full of EDM-influenced beats, Bieber has managed to reimagine many of those tracks as soulful acoustic jams that put Bieber’s impressive voice on display instead of the synths and glitches. His voice is smooth on slowed-downed versions of “Beauty and a Beat” and “As Long As You Love Me.” “Boyfriend” gets a remix as well, turning it into the RB slow jam it probably should have been. Meanwhile, uptempo jams like “She Don’t Like the Lights” and “All Around the World” also get the acoustic treatment, alongside Believe‘s “Fall,” “Be Alright” and “Take You.”

The Newbies
There are three new songs on the album: “Yellow Raincoat,” “I Would” and “Nothing Like Us.” “Raincoat” and “Nothing Like Us” are ballads that deal with heartbreak — both in romantic love and the kind that comes from living life in the public eye — while “I Would” is more upbeat and is sure to have girls swooning. On the track, Justin just wants to give a special lady everything she wants.

As for “Nothing Like Us,” manager Scooter Braun seems to have been referring to the song when he hinted about a last-minute addition to the album: “Up early working hard to get this last minute very heartfelt song the kid just wrote onto the #BelieveAcoustic album. #11songs.”

The Clique
Bieber teamed up with longtime musical director/ guitarist Dan Kanter to co-produce the nine reimagined tracks that make up most of Believe Acoustic. But for the three new songs, Bieber added a few friends to the mix, seeking out the help of Da Internz (Rihanna, Big Sean) on the mid-tempo “I Would.” He also worked with Tom Strahle on “Yellow Raincoat,” after previously working with him on “Turn to You (Mother’s Day Dedication)” last year. But Bieber goes at it all alone (and pours his heart out) on the emotional, break-up track “Nothing Like Us.” (Give it a listen and try not to tear up at all the heartbreak on there.)

Rumor Control
Bieber wants his fans to know that if they had any questions about his personal life, this album will have all the answers they’ve been waiting for, and he made that very clear in a recent tweet, writing, “Now #6DAYS until i answer all the questions – #BELIEVEacoustic.”

After a photo leaked of Bieber smoking what appeared to be a joint, the singer also hinted that he would address a lot of the online reports on the album. “I got some things to say. #23Days #11Songs #BELIEVEacoustic#COUNTDOWN,” he wrote. The tweets leading up to the January 29 release have all been messaging the same idea. “With everything going on I’m gonna tell u myself how I feel” and “some of the most honest music i have ever written. #9days#Countdown #BelieveAcoustic — thanks” are just a few of his recent posts. Bottom line? According to Bieber, “My acoustic album will let u know how I feel about what is going on in my life instead of rumors guessing.”

Are you excited to hear Justin’s Believe Acoustic? Tell us in the comments!

Psy, Fun., Carly Rae Jepsen: Will They Do A 2013 Encore?

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Sometimes success — massive success — is both a blessing and a curse. On the one hand, you move millions of digital songs, land the catchiest single of the year, put up ridiculous YouTube numbers or score the buzziest debut in years.

But with great accomplishment comes great pressure to follow those feats up with even greater ones. Such is the dilemma facing some of 2012′s biggest break-out stars: Psy, Carly Rae Jepsen, Fun., Gotye and Frank Ocean.

We asked a panel of experts to suggest what these stars should/could do for an encore in 2013.

Psy
aaba3 140x105 Psy, Fun., Carly Rae Jepsen: Will They Do A 2013 Encore?
The South Korean sensation and 1 billion-YouTube-view star has already promised to mothball “Gangnam Style” this year and vowed to go it alone on his next effort.

» “What he’s trying to do is get a bunch of cameos on his full length album, which is a smart way to go about it,” said Hollywood Reporter music editor Shirley Halperin. With a strong management team led by Justin Bieber‘s main man, Scooter Braun, Halperin said Psy has a chance of landing a successful album.

» Entertainment Weekly staff writer Kyle Anderson agreed that Psy needs a celebrity co-sign or major duet to advance beyond one-hit wonderdom. “A Bieber remix, something … but I would wait on it, maybe until summer to get some distance from ‘Gangnam,’ ” he said.

» Given how charismatic and funny Psy is and his raft of celebrity fans (Katy Perry, Ellen DeGeneres), Rolling Stone associate editor Simon Vozick-Levinson agreed that the singer needs to cash in his good will chips to avoid “Macarena”-ville.

Carly Rae Jepsen
aaba3 140x105 Psy, Fun., Carly Rae Jepsen: Will They Do A 2013 Encore?
Having the catchiest song of the year with your first single is a burden. But Bieber protégé Jepsen is looking to build on a stellar 2012 with, well more of the same. “2012 was so far the biggest year of my life and it think it taught me to expect the unexpected,” Jepsen told MTV News. “I have no plans for 2013 other than to just keep doing what I’m doing… work hard at the songwriting side of things and cross my fingers.”

» Though it lacked another “Maybe,” Vozick-Levinson liked Jepsen’s album and said she should focus on her songwriting chops as long as it takes to craft another piece of ear candy.

» “There may be an awareness in that camp that she doesn’t have another huge hit, so they could go grassroots and pretend she’s a new artist,” said Anderson, who thought Jepsen is in a good position to have a long, solid career if she doesn’t try too hard to pull another “Maybe.” He also suggested she could have a solid second act as a song doctor for singers like Pink and Kelly Clarkson while continuing to do her own thing.

» “She really hasn’t been able to transcend the song and some people [never do],” Halperin said. “Sometimes the song is bigger than the artist.” Of all the acts, she thought the biggest pressure might be on Jepsen to come up with another big hit, especially since she doesn’t have the swagger or personality of a pop star like Rihanna, but clearly wants to be in that world.

Frank Ocean
aaba3 140x105 Psy, Fun., Carly Rae Jepsen: Will They Do A 2013 Encore?
Between the critical praise for his major-label debut, Channel Orange, six Grammy nominations and studio sessions with everyone from Jay-Z and Beyoncé to Alicia Keys and Pharrell, the Odd Future crooner might have trouble matching the magic of the past 12 months.

» A spokesperson for Ocean told MTV News there was no information on what was next for him, but Halperin said FO has the least amount of pressure of all the big 2012 acts. “He doesn’t follow the normal album promotion path, he hasn’t done many interviews… but he’s got this critical mass thing going,” she said. Even without a massive hit single, Ocean can pretty much write his own ticket and Halperin is excited to see what direction he goes.

» Vozick-Levinson agreed that Ocean has the best long-term prospects of all the acts, thanks to his level of respect with critics, fans and other artists. “It’s in his favor that he’s not a flash-in-the-pan and didn’t yield an immediate hit single,” he said. “He’s incredibly imaginative, unique and a talented songwriter and he just needs to keep doing what he’s doing, write another album and not rush it.”

Fun.
2d8ed 140x105 Psy, Fun., Carly Rae Jepsen: Will They Do A 2013 Encore?
One hit single is great. But trio Fun. managed to follow up the gigantic Some Nights smashes “We Are Young” and the title track with the current hit-in-the-making single, “Carry On.” They are on the road for the next two months, then head overseas in March and April, with more U.S. dates this summer and a new track, “Sight of the Sun” on the “Girls” soundtrack, which is out next week. Oh, and they were nominated for six Grammys, including all four of the Big Four.

» “They’re light-years ahead of these others,” said Anderson. “For them, the goal this year should be to figure out what they want to be and how they want to be known going forward.”

» Thanks to singer Nate Ruess‘ proven songwriting chops on songs by Pink and Ke$ha, Vozick-Levinson said as long as he doesn’t give away his best bits to others the band is well set-up for a long, successful career.

» The Grammy spotlight will provide another burst of attention, and Halperin predicted, another sales bump for the album. Along with the “Girls” tune and budding hit “Carry On,” Halperin said the band could easily have an Adele-like slow-burn success that will bleed into this year and keep them rolling through all of 2013.

Gotye
2d8ed 140x105 Psy, Fun., Carly Rae Jepsen: Will They Do A 2013 Encore?
The Grammy-nominated Australian pop singer continued to enchant all last year with his finger-snapping 350-million YouTube view smash, “Somebody That I Used to Know.”
 He started 2013 early by getting sampled
 by T.I. on the rapper’s new Trouble Man album, but a spokesperson said that after a whirlwind year, Wally De Backer is taking some time off this year to work on writing his fourth album.

» It might be hard for Gotye to follow up the success of “Somebody” because, as anyone who’s listened to the album knows, it’s not indicative of the Sting-like adult contemporary nature of the disc. “It’s the classic case of, ‘Why would I buy the album if I only like the one song?’ ” Halperin said.

» Vozick-Levinson isn’t so sure De Backer was even looking for that kind of crossover pop success and suspected he might happily go back to making his idiosyncratic tunes to a much smaller audience.

Who do you hope to see more in 2013? Tell us in the comments!

Conor Maynard Doesn’t Want To Be The ‘Next’ Justin Bieber

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Justin Bieber‘s rise to pop superstardom is rarely the case for many up-and-coming pop wannabes. But he defied the odds, and in the years since Scooter Braun discovered him on YouTube, Bieber has become a pop tour de force.

Now there’s a new kid on the block — Conor Maynard — hoping to make a splash all his own. Much like Bieber, he got his start online and makes Justin Timberlake-tinged pop’n'b. He’s hoping to win over music lovers (and Beliebers) with his own brand of catchy, RB-influenced tracks, including “Vegas Girl,” “Can’t Say No” and “Turn Around.”

To add to the inevitable comparisons, like Bieber, Maynard has a music-industry insider — in this case Ne-Yo — helping get him to the top. But if you ask if he’s worried that people might confuse him with that other young singer, he has a number of reasons why he thinks he’ll be able to forge his own path.

“I don’t want to be the next anyone,” he told MTV News ahead of the release of his U.S. debut, Contrast. “I want to be the first Conor Maynard. I think I want to have a successful career that is unique in its own way.”

Conor Maynard talks pop’s British invasion!

But he isn’t dissing the Biebs. “There isn’t really anyone out there where I’m like, ‘Yeah, I want to do it like they’ve done it,’ ” he explained. “I think I kind of want to get to a point of being as successful as possible in a way that’s unique to me.”

With folks like Pharrell, Ne-Yo and Frank Ocean on the 20-year-old’s side, it’s possible he can make the leap across the pond. Contrast was released overseas last summer and hit #1 in his native U.K. and will drop in the U.S. on Tuesday.

Justin Bieber Makes ‘X Factor’ Mentor Debut This Week

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If you needed extra incentive to tune in to “The X Factor,” Justin Bieber will make his mentoring debut when the contestants visit the judges’ homes in all-new episodes airing this week. The “Boyfriend” singer will also be joined by previously rumored mentor Nick Jonas, Marc Anthony and will.i.am.

The Boot Camp round of the show draws to a close this week, and the contestants are whittled down to reveal the top 24 for the beginning of the “judges’ homes” round. Each judge is assigned to one of the to-be-announced new season two categories (like last year’s men, women, over 30 and groups), after which the remaining contestants will find out who their mentors are.

Bieber and his manager, Scooter Braun, will be mentoring judge L.A. Reid’s hopefuls; Jonas will be paired with Demi Lovato; will.i.am is with Britney Spears; and Marc Anthony is with Simon Cowell.

“I’m lucky to have some incredible mentors in my life, and I’ve always valued their opinions greatly,” Jonas said in a statement from Fox. “Being able to provide guidance for another artist, while working with the incredibly talented ‘X Factor’ team, was an amazing experience. There’s some extraordinary talent out there and I couldn’t be more thrilled to be a part of their journey.”

Black Eyed Peas hitmaker will.i.am., who has been a guest mentor on “American Idol,” added that all it took was the request from Spears herself to get him to say yes to appearing on “X Factor.” “When Britney asked me to come help mentor talent in the ‘judges’ homes’ round, it was an easy ‘yes,’ ” he said. “Some of the talent I’ve seen so far has blown me away — they’re out-of-this-world good.”

“I am really excited to have the opportunity to mentor the ‘X Factor’ contestants,” Anthony added. “And I am looking forward to seeing them advance in the show’s new season.”

The “judges’ homes” round begins Wednesday and continues next week.