Justin Timberlake is taking it to the streets for his new video for "Take Back the Night," the first single from his "The 20/20 Experience — 2 of 2" album, due out on September 30. The clip, filmed on the streets of New York, will world premiere on July 30.
But before that, starting at 7 a.m. ET on Tuesday, JT's fans will get a chance to go on a journey through the making of the video by joining an interactive hashtag campaign on Twitter supported by behind-the-scenes content enabled by Stipple, which will unlock the full video.
According to a Timberlake spokesperson, the look behind the making of the "Night" video will take fans, "on a fun, virtual journey throughout New York City, from the legendary Yankee Stadium to historic locales in Chinatown and unlock secrets of the video by touching images to gain fun facts and expand the experience on the making of the [video]."
Fans who join JT's new fan club, The Tennessee Kids can share their #TakeBackTN moments with each other. The video was directed by Jeff Nicholas, Jonathan Craven and Darren Craig for The Uprising Creative, the same company behind Timberlake's NSFW "Tunnel Vision" video.
He'll kick off "The 20/20 Experience World Tour" on October 31 in Montreal before taking the outing through North America, South America, Europe and Australia through 2014
Britney Spears released a passel of interactive teaser images Wednesday (July 10) for the video for her "Smurfs 2" track "Ooh La La," and it looks to be a family affair for the family movie. The vid features her sons Jayden Jaymes, 6, and Sean Preston, 7.
Spears spoke about the Marc Klasfeld-directed music video, which will officially premiere at noon on Thursday, and her sons' involvement onRyan Seacrest's radio show last month: "[My sons] were actually really, really good on set," she said. "They play themselves ... [but when] we did the actual shoot of the video I didn't see [them]. I was in hair and makeup, so later on I got to see what they actually did on camera and it was adorable."
Spears also told Seacrest that her sons were the reason she contributed to the film's soundtrack in the first place. "They're obsessed with the Smurfs," she said. "We've seen 'The Smurfs' movie a million trillion times, and they were told they could be in the video and all this cool stuff, so that's the reason why I did it."
Accordingly, the boys got ample play as Brit started building anticipation for the vid's release. Wednesday morning, she fired off the following tweetand Instagram image, featuring the pop star and her sons munching popcorn in a movie theatre ("Omg. How CUTE are my boys?!" she gushed.) The lyric video hit VEVO at the end of June.
She then followed up with even more snippets from the video — this time via interactive image-sharing tool ThingLink — featuring Britney and her sons watching what is probably "Smurfs 2," as well as Brit herself frolicking outside.
"Smurfs 2" is set to open on July 31, but that doesn't mean that things are going to slow down for Brit anytime soon. Her will.i.am-produced album is currently in the works, with a release date still to come.
Hey, did you know that the biggest song in the country has a music video that features clothed men gazing upon multiple topless women? Justin Timberlake sure does, and for his music video for "The 20/20 Experience" single "Tunnel Vision," which was released on Wednesday (July 3), JT takes a cue from Robin Thicke's "Blurred Lines" clip and doubles-down on the time-honored "bare breasts as art" notion.
For seven whole minutes, Timberlake and his pal Timbaland are seen staring in awe at writhing women with alluring looks plastered on their faces and flesh-colored g-strings serving as their only clothing. Ironically, the lyrics of the (still-great) single focus on the singer's undying fixation on a single romantic partner, but at one point in the "Tunnel Vision" video, JT's face is projected upon the bare bodies of three ladies, as we, the viewer, wonder what Jessica Biel could possibly think of this music video.
"Tunnel Vision" is Timberlake's third single from "The 20/20 Experience," following "Suit & Tie" and "Mirrors." Both of those tracks were Top 5 hits on the Hot 100 chart, and "Mirrors" stays at No. 7 on the new tally, which will be revealed in full on Thursday (July 4). Meanwhile, "The 20/20 Experience" is the year's biggest-selling album at its halfway point, selling 2 million copies according to Nielsen SoundScan (check out the full mid-year SoundScan report here).
Timberlake's Legends of the Summer co-headlining trek with Jay-Z will kick off in North America on July 17. Will the "Tunnel Vision" video get banned from YouTube by then, as the uncensored "Blurred Lines" clip did shortly after its release? We'll have to wait and see.
Check out the "Tunnel Vision" video below (warning: video features copious amounts of nudity and is NSFW):
The singer is currently working on her fourth record, the first since 2010's Teenage Dream.
Songwriter Bonnie McKee, who is one of Katy's closest pals and also worked with the star on smash hit California Gurls, promises big things.
"I think it's a little bit more grown up and it's really interesting," she told MTV News.
"I'm really excited for the world to hear it because she's just... she's taking a new approach. And I don't want to say too much about it, but it's definitely different. It's definitely a little more mature than the California Gurls of yesterday."
Bonnie also worked with the Firework singer on tracks Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.), Part of Me and Wide Awake.
The musician recalled how the two met and why their bond is so strong.
"Katy and I are really similar. That's kind of how we became friends. We met at Wasteland on Melrose [Avenue in Los Angeles], a thrift store. We just are totally on the same level... We're just soulmates in that way, I guess," she smiled.
"We were just in [Katy's hometown of] Santa Barbara and we wrote three or four songs, I guess. So I have four songs with her coming out."
No details about the name of Katy's album or a release date are known yet.
Bonnie's other song-writing credits include Britney Spears' Hold It Against Me and Rita Ora's How We Do (Party).
Since hitting YouTube in late June, Miley Cyrus' fast-paced, non-sequitur-packed clip for her hit single "We Can't Stop" has racked up more than 45 million views and counting. The video's origins date back to a conversation that Brooklyn-based director Diane Martel – who also oversaw the much-debated clip for Robin Thicke's smash "Blurred Lines" – had with Cyrus earlier this year. After the two were introduced by Pharrell Williams, Cyrus told the director about a four-day party she threw with a few of her closest friends, helping inspire the video.
"It's like a giant, fucked-up selfie," says Martel, who wrote the video treatment with her friend Aramis Israel. "We wanted the video to be full of blog-worthy moments, but it ended up being about Miley sharing herself with her audience in a crazed way. It's exhibitionistic, and she's absolutely taking the piss out of being in a pop video." Here, Martel explains 10 of the wildest images from the video:
The Product Placement (0:02)The video opens with a shot of Cyrus slicing off an ankle bracelet with a giant pair of pink scissors, followed by a similarly colored Beats By Dre branded Pill speaker. "Beats By Dre contributed to our budget in exchange for a product shot," Martel explains. "I think the pill looked nice and matched the scissors Miley cut her house-arrest bracelet off with."
The Gold Teeth (0:08) As the music gains steam, Cyrus attaches a grill to her front teeth and gnashes for the camera. "Miley owns a few beautiful pairs of fronts," says Martel. "She wanted to wear some, so I thought the video should start with her like Iron Man, gearing up."
The Smoke Dicks (0:17, 0:36, 2:01) In three separate instances, overjoyed characters party in a dark room with what looks like smoke bombs going off in their pants. Martel and her team called this effect "smoke dick."
The Mountain of White Bread (0:27, 2:26 3:11) One character in "We Can't Stop" chews on a white bread sandwich with cash as its filling, while another rolls around in a massive mound of bread and eats a slice in ecstasy. "I got obsessed with having a pile of bread in the kitchen, like a fucked-up version of party food/chips," says Martel. "Sometimes, I just want to put something in a video, and this time, it was bread."
The French-Fry Skull (0:34, 0:38) The single most arresting visual in the clip is a human skull built out of French fries, which is quickly crushed by a falling sneaker. The image was suggested by Cyrus, who found a photo of a very similar sculpture by artist Christopher Chiappa and showed it to Martel. "We didn't know until after the video was shot," Martel says of the original work's creator. "He was nice and he let us use our version of his art."
The Severed Fingers (0:59) A woman uses a chef's knife to slice off all the fingers on her left hand, which promptly begins oozing bubblegum-pink goo. Notes Martel, "Scouting in the kitchen, I thought, 'Oh, someone has to cut off their fingers.'"
The Teddy Bears (starting at 1:06; 1:37) Art director Georgia Walker found the teddy-bear backpacks work by Cyrus and her backup dancers in a prop shop. The same goes for the two "sad little taxidermy dudes" in sunglasses and a gold necklace that Cyrus carries around. "Miley likes taxidermy," Martel adds, "and there is awesome taxidermy at prop shops."
The Giant Doll (1:44, 1:49)Cyrus and a huge Barbie-like doll pose in a swimming pool, and then Cyrus tongues the toy. Martel calls the doll "another nasty prop-shop find." After she saw that Cyrus was fond of it, the director insisted that the doll be dressed in a swimsuit that matches Cyrus'. "We gave Miley the doll in the pool and she did some improvisational doll performance."
The Hot-Dog-Filled Piñata (2:37)Food appears again as Cyrus takes a bat to a big, yellow piñata, spilling hot dogs all over the floor. The singer and her friends happily retrieve the eats. "Miley had a birthday party for her brother, and they had weird shit in a piñata," says Martel. "She requested that we have hot dogs and blunts in one in the video. No one has noticed the giant blunts on the rug."
What Didn't Make The Cut For all the crazy visuals in the final clip, there are a few more things Martel wishes she'd been able to include. "The image I wish we had time to shoot is one I've wanted to shoot for a while: ghost wigs [and] floating giant hairstyles wearing sunglasses," Martel says. "The scene was going to be this kid sitting in a room looking spaced-out as two ghost wigs floated by above her head, [with a] nine-foot Grim Reaper with really lo-fi, trippy lights gently caressing it and Miley riding a painted horse." There's still a chance for these absurd concepts: Martel says that she and Cyrus are planning to make another short film/music video that nods to cult directors John Waters and Paul Morrissey.
Fifty weighs in on the biggest projects of the moment.
50 Cent recently called into close friend and collaborator DJ Whoo Kid's Shade 45 radio show to discuss both Born Sinner and Yeezus.
Although Fifty's been avoiding the musical spotlight as of late, he did provide a rare guest hook on Cole's "New York Times," a Born Sinner bonus cut. Other than Kendrick Lamar's contribution on "Forbidden Fruit," he was the only other rapper who contributed vocals on Cole's project.
"I think that it's a good project," said 50. "He's producing his records while actually rapping on them like Kanye."
He didn't hesitate to compare the two or express his opinion on Yeezy's latest effort.
"I think they're both talented," he said. "Some of the choices on the new joint that Yeezy made, I wasn't into all that. I didn't know what kind of beat came off... [but] it was creative, man - it came out of nowhere with that. We'll see if people can adjust to it and really enjoy it or if it's too different."
50 also discussed his future in music and, and joked about re-recording his "officially unreleased but heavily bootlegged" debut album Power of the Dollar with producers such as Kanye, Timbaland and Cole.
The BET Experience focused its attention on the awards portion of the weekend's festivities after numerous performances, high temperatures and well-attended seminars. Rapper Drake led with the most nominations as the awards were handed out at L.A.'s Nokia Theatre, but Kendrick Lamar was the night's big winner, taking the new artist and male hip hop artist awards. The following is a complete list of winners for the 2013 BET Awards.
Group
Macklemore & Ryan Lewis | WINNER
Mary Mary
Mindless Behavior
Slaughterhouse
The Throne (Kanye West & Jay-Z)
Collaboration 2 Chainz f/ Drake -- No Lie
A$AP Rocky f/ Drake, 2 Chainz and Kendrick Lamar -- Problems | WINNER
French Montana f/ Rick Ross, Drake and Lil Wayne -- Pop That
Kendrick Lamar f/ Drake -- Poetic Justice
Justin Timberlake f/ Jay-Z -- Suit & Tie
Kanye West f/ Big Sean, Pusha T and 2 Chainz -- Mercy
Male Hip Hop Artist
2 Chainz
A$AP Rocky
Drake
Future
Kendrick Lamar | WINNER
Female Hip Hop Artist
Azealia Banks
Eve Nicki Minaj | WINNER
Rasheeda Rye Rye
Video of the Year
2 Chainz f/ Drake -- No Lie
A$AP Rocky f/ Drake, 2 Chainz and Kendrick Lamar -- Problems
Drake -- Started From The Bottom | WINNER
Drake f/ Lil Wayne -- HYFR
Kendrick Lamar f/ Drake -- Poetic Justice
Macklemore & Ryan Lewis f/ Wanz -- Thrift Shop
Miguel -- Adorn
Rihanna -- Diamonds
Justin Timberlake f/ Jay-Z -- Suit & Tie
Kanye West f/ Big Sean, Pusha T and 2 Chainz -- Mercy
Video Director of the Year
A$AP Rocky & Sam Lecca
Benny Boom | WINNER
Director X
Dre Films
Hype Williams
New Artist
Azealia Banks
Joey Bada$$
Kendrick Lamar | WINNER
Trinidad Jame$
The Weeknd
Gospel Artist
Deitrick Haddon
Lecrae Tamela Mann
Mary Mary | WINNER
Marvin Sapp
