Britney Spears Says She'd Love To Tour With Usher

In her 'Britney Spears: I Am the Femme Fatale' special, she calls the 'OMG' singer 'really hot right now.'
By Jocelyn Vena, with reporting by Sway Calloway


Sway Calloway and Britney Spears
Photo: MTV News & Docs

What do Britney Spears and Usher have in common? Well, they are both global superstars with a back catalogue of tunes that have kept fans dancing for a really long time and they both recently hooked up with will.i.am for tracks on their latest releases (the Black Eyed Peas mastermind worked on the pop vixen's Femme Fatale tune "Big Fat Bass"). And, if Spears has her way, she and the "OMG" singer could be hitting the road together.

When Spears sat down to talk with Sway Calloway for her "Britney Spears: I Am the Femme Fatale" special — airing Sunday (April 3) at 9 p.m. ET on MTV — the singer revealed that Usher is first on her list of artists she'd like to join her on tour.

"Oh, I'm so excited. I'm really excited about going on tour, very," she explained about her forthcoming summer trek, which happens to have a spot open on the bill now that Enrique Iglesias has pulled out of the gig. "I think Usher's really great right now. I think he's really hot right now. That would be cool [to tour with him]."

The North American road trip is expected to kick off June 17 in Sacramento, California, and will run for 26 dates, winding up on August 13 in Toronto. More details will be announced soon.

The "Britney Spears: I Am the Femme Fatale" special is a mixture of behind-the-scenes footage of the singer as she wraps up production on her album, which dropped this week, as well as an inside look at her life and fans. In addition, those who couldn't make Spears' recent nightclub show in Las Vegas will get to see her as she takes the stage in her latest pop incarnation.

Don't miss "Britney Spears: I Am the Femme Fatale," airing Sunday (April 3) at 9 p.m. ET on MTV.

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'Harry Potter' Films Could All Get 3-D Theatrical Releases, Producers Hint

'I suspect the studio is going to be reluctant to let it die,' David Heyman tells MTV News.
By Eric Ditzian, with reporting by Josh Horowitz


"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1"
Photo: Warner Bros.

"Harry Potter" producers may have ditched plans to release "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1" in 3-D last November, but they haven't abandoned bringing three dimensions to the film. The flick is currently being converted to 3-D for a Blu-ray release.

What's more, we just might see the rest of the franchise get the 3-D treatment too. "We're doing 3-D for the DVD of '7, Part 1,' and there's been no discussion of anything else yet," producer David Heyman told MTV News recently. "But I suspect the studio is going to be reluctant to let it die, and if there's an opportunity to maybe enrich ... "

Heyman left it at that, but those hints jibe with what he told us as far back as March 2010, when he said of converting the entire series, "I'm sure it's just a matter of time."

For now, filmmakers are racing to finish "Deathly Hallows, Part 2" ahead of the July release and working on the conversion of the first part for the Blu-ray.

"We're very pleased with the way 'Part 1' is going — the 3-D for the Blu-ray," producer David Barron said. "It's really exciting, really involved."

"I was surprised at how wonderful it is," Heyman added. "It is different in some ways [than the theatrical release], but it's enriching."

Additionally, they're continuing to work on theatrical 3-D effects for "Part 1," a process that has not yet been finished. "We haven't completed the first part in 3-D for film release, for theatrical," Barron said.

"The quality is quite different," Heyman explained. "It's much easier, in a way, to do 3-D for a smaller screen than it is for a bigger screen."

Check out everything we've got on "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1."

For young Hollywood news, fashion and "Twilight" updates around the clock, visit HollywoodCrush.MTV.com.

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Usher, Ke$ha And More Help Dance Music Go Pop In 2010

But is it here to stay? Our music-industry experts weigh in.
By Akshay Bhansali


Ke$ha
Photo: Andreas Rentz/ Getty Images

In 2010, pop princesses, R&B icons and chart-dominating newcomers all danced to the same beat. Not only did dance music go pop, but pop music caught the club-music bug.

Between Katy Perry's "Firework," Ke$ha's "We R Who We R," Rihanna's "Only Girl (In the World)," Enrique Iglesias' "I Like It," Usher's "DJ Got Us Fallin' in Love" and "OMG" and countless other singles, established artists definitely looked to dance beats for surefire hits. And two of this year's biggest success stories in music were Jason Derülo and Taio Cruz; could there be a soul left in this country who hasn't heard "Dynamite" or "In My Head"?

The love went both ways, with dance music's biggest stars finding mainstream success this year. Dance-music maestro deadmau5 took up house-artist duties at this year's VMAs, and Swedish House Mafia and Usher teamed up for a medley of their gems at the American Music Awards.

So how did this happen? We caught up with some music-industry experts to get their takes.

"You definitely saw tempos go up this year," Jon Caramanica of The New York Times told MTV News. "And I think what you had are a lot of producers who are really familiar with nightclub stuff. They are familiar with Europe. Things are happening on a more global scale now."

"I think everything from Europe, and sometimes even Asia, it comes to America, and we just adopt things a little bit slower," said Jared Eng of JustJared.com. "I think it was just a change. People like different types of music at different times. And dance was of this moment."

Noah Callahan of Complex magazine added: "I think 2010 saw the merging of the pop and dance genres. Pop artists realized that there were best practices that could be borrowed from dance music. And, ultimately, [all] pop music that has been made in the past 20 years had ended up being remixed for the club by dance artists. I think they basically just cut out the middleman and went straight there."

Dance music being introduced into the hip-hop and R&B realms was particularly notable this year.

"I think David Guetta kind of at the end of last year and the beginning of this year spearheaded it," said freelance writer Julianne Escobedo Shepherd. "He produced a lot of tracks. I think as trends go, people revile 'unst-unst.' But it's just coming back around. Big-room techno was a way for people to get decadent in a year that no one could get decadent."

"You have someone like will.i.am, who's like, 'Well, I spent all this time in Ibiza, and this is what they are doing,' and he wants to find a way to bring that into his music," Caramanica said of the Black Eyed Peas mastermind. "R&B especially became dance music. And especially with your Jason Derülos, Taio Cruzes. Guys like that would have literally been blocked at the border two years ago. That would not have made it through customs. And now all of a sudden they have #1 songs. I think will.i.am had a lot to do with that last year."

Elliott Wilson of RapRadar.com added: "It's actually even affected hip-hop. I was talking to Q-Tip, and his next record, I feel like that's gonna kind of go in that vein. I know that was also Jay-Z's thought process with Blueprint 3 at first, that he wanted to make a little bit more of a world music [vibe], a little more dancey. I think the kids today want to go to the clubs. They wanna have a good time. They wanna dance. So I think the artists of today are trying to kind of feed that audience."

"I think it's caught on this year because the people who've done it have been successful," offered Clover Hope of Vibe magazine. "Like 'OMG,' with usher, he didn't have success until he made a dance record. He had 'There Goes My Baby' and these really, like, adult-contemporary records that didn't really catch on. And then once you see that everybody is doing it and that people are liking it, they are like, 'OK, let me just try this out.' It's like Auto-Tune. Like, 'Let me see what I sound like on a record by David Guetta.' They end up liking it and doing more of it."

So does the club-music trend have staying power. According to our tastemakers, not so much.

"I do think it's a blip," Caramanica said. "I don't think that's gonna be something that lasts in America. I think this is gonna be a moment we'll all look back on and go, 'Wasn't that weird when Jason Derülo and Taio Cruz had #1 records?"

"At some point, these R&B artists will get kind of sick of it and be like, 'Let me go back to my soul background,' " Hope said. "When you actually have to say something, dance doesn't really lend itself to substance. And I think that R&B artists, they really want to talk about love and in a deep way, and to do that, you need to do, like, a soul or a traditional R&B record. I want to say that it's kind of a fad."

"I think music is very cyclical," Eng offered. "So I think dance music might be here for a little bit, but I'm sure it will phase out at some point."

Wilson called dance music "the sound of today. I think that people want more aggressive, faster beats, and I think that that probably has legs until at least next summer."

What do you think? Is dance music here to stay? Let us know in the comments!

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Sofia Vergara Arrives In New York City

Sofia Vergara looks upbeat as she arrives at her hotel in New York City. She must not mind leaving the sunshine and warmth of California for the chilliness over here. I’m loving that scarf and bag. Well, hey, there are … Continue reading

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Lady Gaga To Perform On 'Saturday Night Live'

Sources tell MTV News she'll appear alongside Justin Timberlake on May 7.
By Jocelyn Vena


Lady Gaga
Photo: Tom Briglia/ WireImage

When Justin Timberlake returns to host "Saturday Night Live" next month, none other than Lady Gaga will join him as musical guest during the May 7 show. A source confirmed the booking to MTV News, though no official confirmation has come though from "SNL" reps.

Gaga last appeared on the show in October 2009 in what went down as one very memorable episode. Gaga and Madonna poked fun at pop-star rivalries during the sketch "Deep House Dish," where they had a catfight and nearly kissed.

That night, Gaga performed two songs: a high-concept take on "Paparazzi" and a piano-driven performance of her dance track "LoveGame." She later appeared in a sketch alongside Andy Samberg, when both of them wore her famous bubble dress.

Being that this latest appearance comes just as Gaga is dropping her May 23 album release Born This Way, there's a good chance she'll perform lead singles "Born This Way" and "Judas." Or, as she's known to do, she might just dazzle fans with a brand-new track.

This is the latest promotional appearance announced for the album, including a May 27 appearance on "Good Morning America" that will kick off the show's summer concert series and the May 7 premiere of Gaga's highly anticipated HBO special, which was taped at New York's Madison Square Garden in February. She also just wrapped up work on her video for "Judas," though no date has been set for its release.

What are you expecting from Gaga's return trip to "SNL"? Let us know in the comments!

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'Water For Elephants': The Reviews Are In!

What do critics think of Robert Pattinson's non-'Twilight' acting?


Reese Witherspoon and Robert Pattinson in "Water For Elephants"
Photo: David James/FOX

"Twilight" films are never highly praised by critics. "New Moon" wallows at just a 29 percent approval rating at the Rotten Tomatoes review aggregator, and yet that film (like all in the franchise) has gone on to gross hundreds of millions of dollars at the box office.

Robert Pattinson's latest offering, the romantic drama "Water for Elephants," is similarly seeing mixed reviews thrown its way. And while, again like "Twilight," the film is based on a best-selling novel, "WFE" isn't expected to open with anything like the box-office bang Pattinson's vampire flicks have.

Yet his performance is garnering much critical praise. Oscar winner Christoph Waltz, too, is being lauded for his villainous turn. Reviews have also applauded the film's lush visuals, though they've also criticized it for subpar character development and an attempt to pack too much of the novel's story into the film. For those critiques and more, read on for what the pros are saying about "WFE":

The Story
" 'Water for Elephants' is partly a sawdust love story, partly a survival story. It opens with an old man's reminiscence, as Jacob Jankowski (Hal Holbrook) tells a young circus hand about his own Depression-era adventures under the big top. He didn't join the show out of any romantic impulses about carnival life. The well-planned veterinary career he expected was torpedoed by a family tragedy. And the first train he could hop just happened to be carrying roustabouts, a menagerie, a gorgeous trick rider, Marlena (Reese Witherspoon), and her possessive husband, the circus' owner and ringmaster, August (Christoph Waltz). That's where the romance enters in. And the survival drama, too." — Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune

The Performances
"Pattinson and Witherspoon, despite the limits of their earnest and fairly foolish characters, eke out a real spark of romance between them; several slow dances between them crackle with unspoken feelings, and even their lame flirty jokes feel genuine. Lurking over them both like some ghoul of violent circuses past is Waltz's August, essentially Hans Landa in the big top but less fun to be around. Waltz brings shades of honor and even pity to August, but the movie is written in such broad strokes of right and wrong that from the moment August beats Rosie with an iron bar, there's nothing to do but root for his inevitable downfall." — Katey Rich, Cinema Blend

The Visuals
"Visually, the film is a handsome thing. With the help of production designer Jack Fisk ('There Will Be Blood'), filmmaker Francis Lawrence ('I Am Legend') conjures a mostly believable world, circa 1931, of acrobats, sideshow entertainers, clowns and roustabouts down on their luck. You won't ever forget that you're watching a show, but it's a highly watchable show nonetheless." — Michael O'Sullivan, The Washington Post

The Adaptation
"Mr. Lawrence is so busy awkwardly jamming the novel's minor events together and introducing (before dropping) colorful minor characters who have so little screen time that they barely register, that the movie fails to develop a sense of wonder. ... As a piece of storytelling, the film displays its most disastrous choice when it makes the book's climatic rampage seem perfunctory. This sloppily directed scene, which ends almost as soon as it begins, leaves you feeling cheated out of a necessary cathartic release." — Stephen Holden, The New York Times

The Final Word
" 'Water for Elephants' is one of those big, extravagant-looking romances that you might automatically deem 'conventional' — except for the fact that almost nobody makes big, extravagant-looking romances anymore. That's the elephant in the room that the movie's director, Francis Lawrence, faces head on. Whatever his movie's flaws may be, he's alive to the wonder of spectacle, and he still believes in the old-fashioned idea of movie stars: Those with two legs, and especially those with four." — Stephanie Zacharek, Movieline

Check out everything we've got on "Water for Elephants."

For young Hollywood news, fashion and "Twilight" updates around the clock, visit HollywoodCrush.MTV.com.

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