Justin Bieber And Cody Simpson 'Support Each Other'

'It's definitely not something that should be seen as a rivalry,' 14-year-old Australian singer tells MTV News.
By Christina Garibaldi


Cody Simpson
Photo: MTV News

If you don't know who Cody Simpson is yet, you will soon find out. The 14-year-old Australian teenage heartthrob recently released his second EP, Coast to Coast, which is currently #12 on the Billboard 200 chart, and is hard at work gearing up for his debut album, which is set to hit stores next year.

Simpson, who credits Justin Timberlake and Jack Johnson as his musical inspirations, was living his life as a normal teenager until he was discovered on YouTube back in 2009.

"I grew up in a very relaxed lifestyle." Simpson told MTV News. "Music was something that I've been involved in since I was 7 or 8 years old, when I started playing guitar. I listened to a lot of country music. I went into a school talent show with my friend and we did a Jason Mraz cover of "I'm Yours," and we posted it online. It was my first performance on a stage and I put it up, and then I was like excited when I hit 200 views and then I put another video and it went up to 2,000, to 20,000, to 200,000 to 20 million."

If his story sounds a little bit familiar, that's because teen sensation Justin Bieber was discovered the same way. Now, if you're a young male singing star, there will automatically be some comparisons to Bieber, but Simpson assures us, these two are very different.

"Well, we both grew up in very different lifestyles. I mean, he was in Canada playing hockey and listening to R&B music," Simpson said. "I grew up on the beach down in Australia listening to totally different styles of music."

Simpson, who recently signed with Bieber's manager, Scooter Braun, is a big fan of the teen star and insists there is no animosity between the two.

"I'm a big fan of Justin's. We support each other a lot. He was talking to me yesterday about the songs he liked off my EP." Simpson said. "People feel like its competition, but it's really like friendly and family. It's definitely not something that should be seen as a rivalry."

And that seems to be true. Bieber recently tweeted, "shoutout to @ddlovato @codysimpson @mindlessbhavior 4 all their albums coming out this week. our generation is doing it big. #sharethewealth." Simpson seemed to appreciate the love from Bieber, because he replied with, "@justinbieber mate I appreciate the shoutout. heard you liked Good As It Gets. thanks for that. #CoastToCoast."

So could we possibly see a collaboration between the two? "We haven't got plans set in stone yet to do that," Simpson said "But I'm sure something will happen in the future. You'll have to wait till 2012. Next year, it's not that long."

What do you think of Cody Simpson? Let us know in the comments below!

Related Artists

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1671776/justin-bieber-cody-simpson.jhtml

Melissa Rycroft Melissa Sagemiller Mena Suvari Mia Kirshner Mía Maestro

Simon Cowell Denies Calling Beyonce, Lady Gaga 'Boring'

'X Factor' judge clarifies reports that he accused the superstar singers of lacking said factor.
By Jocelyn Vena


The "X Factor" judge Simon Cowell
Photo: Ray Mickshaw/ FOX

Simon Cowell is conducting damage control following some insulting statements he allegedly made recently. The always outspoken "X Factor" judge reportedly said that Katy Perry, Lady Gaga and even Beyoncé lack the full-scale X factor that he's looking for on his Fox reality show.

So, what got Cowell into so much hot water? "If you only ever heard Lady Gaga, she's the most boring singer in the world," he reportedly told The Mirror. "You've got to see her — you need TV. Same with Beyoncé. Or Katy Perry. We're all about image. You have to have that X factor."

Well, he is now going on the record to let everyone know they've got it all wrong. "This was completely misreported. It's the complete opposite, in fact," Cowell's rep told RadarOnline.com. "Simon is a massive fan of both [Gaga and Beyoncé] and he always refers to them as amongst the artists he most admires. He thinks they are two of the most interesting, talented and relevant artists today."

Cowell himself said, "It's like they've all been bred to take over the world and dominate everything in entertainment. They are unbelievable, these girls."

Noticeably absent from the statement was Perry, but he was specific about why he thinks Gaga and Beyoncé are so great. Beyoncé's "the biggest star we've seen in 20 years; we're seeing sort of the rise of the super female pop star. It's like a different breed. Beyoncé has that," he said.

Gaga "has the X factor. She's smart ... [and] has real ambition. She is a total, utter star. ... You have to be open and embrace this level of expression. You hope to God that you can find someone like her," Cowell said.

"I think somebody like Lady Gaga defines exactly what we're looking for. She's both talented and interesting. She's worked it all out for herself. You never get the feeling somebody is controlling her. Lady Gaga is the most relevant pop artist in the world at the moment. I've met her. She is very smart. I like her," he added.

Related Artists

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1671784/simon-cowell-lady-gaga-beyonce.jhtml

Kelly Hu Kelly Monaco Kelly Ripa Kelly Rowland Kerry Suseck

Justin Bieber And Cody Simpson 'Support Each Other'

'It's definitely not something that should be seen as a rivalry,' 14-year-old Australian singer tells MTV News.
By Christina Garibaldi


Cody Simpson
Photo: MTV News

If you don't know who Cody Simpson is yet, you will soon find out. The 14-year-old Australian teenage heartthrob recently released his second EP, Coast to Coast, which is currently #12 on the Billboard 200 chart, and is hard at work gearing up for his debut album, which is set to hit stores next year.

Simpson, who credits Justin Timberlake and Jack Johnson as his musical inspirations, was living his life as a normal teenager until he was discovered on YouTube back in 2009.

"I grew up in a very relaxed lifestyle." Simpson told MTV News. "Music was something that I've been involved in since I was 7 or 8 years old, when I started playing guitar. I listened to a lot of country music. I went into a school talent show with my friend and we did a Jason Mraz cover of "I'm Yours," and we posted it online. It was my first performance on a stage and I put it up, and then I was like excited when I hit 200 views and then I put another video and it went up to 2,000, to 20,000, to 200,000 to 20 million."

If his story sounds a little bit familiar, that's because teen sensation Justin Bieber was discovered the same way. Now, if you're a young male singing star, there will automatically be some comparisons to Bieber, but Simpson assures us, these two are very different.

"Well, we both grew up in very different lifestyles. I mean, he was in Canada playing hockey and listening to R&B music," Simpson said. "I grew up on the beach down in Australia listening to totally different styles of music."

Simpson, who recently signed with Bieber's manager, Scooter Braun, is a big fan of the teen star and insists there is no animosity between the two.

"I'm a big fan of Justin's. We support each other a lot. He was talking to me yesterday about the songs he liked off my EP." Simpson said. "People feel like its competition, but it's really like friendly and family. It's definitely not something that should be seen as a rivalry."

And that seems to be true. Bieber recently tweeted, "shoutout to @ddlovato @codysimpson @mindlessbhavior 4 all their albums coming out this week. our generation is doing it big. #sharethewealth." Simpson seemed to appreciate the love from Bieber, because he replied with, "@justinbieber mate I appreciate the shoutout. heard you liked Good As It Gets. thanks for that. #CoastToCoast."

So could we possibly see a collaboration between the two? "We haven't got plans set in stone yet to do that," Simpson said "But I'm sure something will happen in the future. You'll have to wait till 2012. Next year, it's not that long."

What do you think of Cody Simpson? Let us know in the comments below!

Related Artists

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1671776/justin-bieber-cody-simpson.jhtml

Olivia Wilde Padma Lakshmi Paige Butcher Pamela Anderson Paris Hilton

Seth Rogen: 'I Smoke A Lot Of Weed When I Write'

'I think way more people smoke weed than the media likes to acknowledge,' actor tells MTV News.
By Eric Ditzian, with reporting by Josh Horowitz


Seth Rogen
Photo: MTV News

"That dude gave me the greatest gift I've had in the last five years," Kevin Smith told MTV News earlier this year about his "Zack and Miri Make a Porno" star Seth Rogen.

Smith wasn't talking about some meaningful postproduction keepsake — say, the bubble-blowing ring ex-porn star Traci Lords uses for unclean purposes in the movie — but rather a joint Rogen and the filmmaker shared on the last day of shooting in 2008. "We sat back, watched some footage and sat there smoking," Smith explained. "And I loved who I was."

Smith is now a gleeful proponent of weed, which he credits with spurring the most creatively productive years of his career, and Rogen is happy, as he put it recently to MTV News, to take credit for Smith "being stoned all the time."

"I either get people started smoking weed or I put them out of business smoking weed," Rogen added with a laugh while promoting "50/50," a comedy about a young guy with cancer in which the actor and co-star Joseph Gordon-Levitt's characters get high for suspect medicinal purposes. "I'm either your first or last."

While Smith credits pot as a sort of mind-expanding artistic gateway, Rogen says he lights up to ease the drudgery of the creative process. "I smoke a lot of weed when I write, generally speaking," he told us. "I don't know if it helps me write. It makes me not mind that I'm writing. And I don't know if it makes me work better, but it makes me not care that I'm working. Who wants to work? But if you're stoned, it doesn't seem like work."

To help you work better, to make you forget you're actually working, to just have a good ol' time — why and when people get blazed may differ. But Rogen is convinced that no matter how it goes down, it's most certainly going down (and up in smoke).

"I think a lot of people smoke weed," he said. "I think way more people smoke weed than the media likes to acknowledge. Maybe it's just the people I'm around, but I don't think so. Pretty much everyone that I know smokes weed sometimes — with the exception of my parents."

Check out everything we've got on "50/50."

For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com.

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1671806/seth-rogen-50-50-weed.jhtml

Reese Witherspoon Rhona Mitra Rihanna

Simon Cowell Denies Calling Beyonce, Lady Gaga 'Boring'

'X Factor' judge clarifies reports that he accused the superstar singers of lacking said factor.
By Jocelyn Vena


The "X Factor" judge Simon Cowell
Photo: Ray Mickshaw/ FOX

Simon Cowell is conducting damage control following some insulting statements he allegedly made recently. The always outspoken "X Factor" judge reportedly said that Katy Perry, Lady Gaga and even Beyoncé lack the full-scale X factor that he's looking for on his Fox reality show.

So, what got Cowell into so much hot water? "If you only ever heard Lady Gaga, she's the most boring singer in the world," he reportedly told The Mirror. "You've got to see her — you need TV. Same with Beyoncé. Or Katy Perry. We're all about image. You have to have that X factor."

Well, he is now going on the record to let everyone know they've got it all wrong. "This was completely misreported. It's the complete opposite, in fact," Cowell's rep told RadarOnline.com. "Simon is a massive fan of both [Gaga and Beyoncé] and he always refers to them as amongst the artists he most admires. He thinks they are two of the most interesting, talented and relevant artists today."

Cowell himself said, "It's like they've all been bred to take over the world and dominate everything in entertainment. They are unbelievable, these girls."

Noticeably absent from the statement was Perry, but he was specific about why he thinks Gaga and Beyoncé are so great. Beyoncé's "the biggest star we've seen in 20 years; we're seeing sort of the rise of the super female pop star. It's like a different breed. Beyoncé has that," he said.

Gaga "has the X factor. She's smart ... [and] has real ambition. She is a total, utter star. ... You have to be open and embrace this level of expression. You hope to God that you can find someone like her," Cowell said.

"I think somebody like Lady Gaga defines exactly what we're looking for. She's both talented and interesting. She's worked it all out for herself. You never get the feeling somebody is controlling her. Lady Gaga is the most relevant pop artist in the world at the moment. I've met her. She is very smart. I like her," he added.

Related Artists

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1671784/simon-cowell-lady-gaga-beyonce.jhtml

Reese Witherspoon Rhona Mitra Rihanna Robin Tunney Rosario Dawson

Ke$ha, Adam Lambert, Ne-Yo Have A Few Royal Wedding Gift Ideas

From 'guyliner' to American delicacies like Uncrustables, Kathy Griffin, Mike Posner and more tell us what they'd get Will and Kate.
By Terri Schwartz


Kate Middleton and Prince William
Photo: Ben Stansall/ Getty Images

What kind of wedding gift do you give the royal couple who has everything?

The wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton is on Friday (April 29), so MTV News reached out to some of our favorite Hollywood celebrities — from Ke$ha to Adam Lambert. Fortunately, they had some solid ideas!

"I haven't met them, so it would be kind of awkward," the "Tik Tok" singer admitted to MTV News. "I might paint them something. Maybe I'll paint them a guitar."

Like Ke$ha, other celebs had suggestions that were from the heart, even if they weren't the most practical.

"I will go out on a limb and say these two individuals maybe haven't had Uncrustables before in their life. I would get them a strawberry Uncrustable," Mike Posner said about the pastry.

David Cook followed up on the all-American food idea. "I feel like they have everything except maybe they probably don't have an Applebee's gift card. I'll go [with an] Applebee's gift card," the "American Idol" alum said.

Other stars said they'd gift the British prince and soon-to-be-princess with an item they were personally best known for.

"I'd probably buy William some eyeliner," Lambert said. "He could do that, he could rock that look. I think."

Ne-Yo was more empathetic, saying he would give gifts that could help shield them from photographers and blend in with everyday people. "Three years' supply of sunglasses. Yeah, put them on. A bunch of baseball caps, throw those on, and try to move around like regular people," the singer said. "I can't imagine what it would be like having to live under that big of a magnifying glass your whole life ... and fake mustaches, that's what I'd give them."

Brooke Burke went the more traditional route, saying she would get Will and Kate a journal to record the big event. "I would ask them to really take the time to write down thoughts and phrases and wishes," Burke said. "And not really to lose sight of how they feel about each other now and to really hold on to that feeling."

Kathy Griffin had good intentions but the comedian couldn't resist a puke joke.

"If I had to get the royal couple a gift, I would get them the Royal Couple Vomit Bag, which someone sent me a photo of," Griffin told us. "So you can actually buy vomit bags with their image on it, and I think that that is an honor and I hope that they see it as such."

What would you give to William and Kate? Share your ideas in the comments section!

Related Photos Related Artists

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1662928/royal-wedding-gift-ideas.jhtml

Laetitia Casta Lake Bell Larissa Meek Laura Harring Laura Prepon

'Twilight' Newcomers The Joy Formidable Surprised By Spot On Soundtrack

'I haven't seen the films,' frontwoman Ritzy Bryan confesses, despite landing lead-off track on 'Breaking Dawn' soundtrack.
By James Montgomery


Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart in "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1"
Photo: Summit Entertainment

There are some bands prepared for the increased attention that a spot on a "Twilight" soundtrack brings. And then there are bands like voluminous rockers the Joy Formidable who, despite snagging the opening slot on the upcoming "Breaking Dawn" soundtrack, remain blissfully unaware of everything to come. Or, really, everything about the "Twilight" series, for that matter.

"I can't say I've ever read one. I haven't seen the films either, but I have heard the soundtracks, and I was familiar with some of the songs, you know, Metric and the Black Keys," frontwoman Ritzy Bryan told MTV News. "So I was more aware of the musical side of 'Twilight' than I was the books or the movies. Actually, I know very little [about the books]. I know they're about vampires, and I know they've connected very much with an audience ... so they're obviously much enjoyed by a lot of people."

And yet, despite all that, their contribution to the "Breaking Dawn" soundtrack — a ringing, downright desperate song called "Endtapes" that will be the album's lead-off track — fits seamlessly; mostly because, as Bryan explained, it is very much about the themes that remain central to the "Twilight" series.

"The song was written at the same time as our album, and because of that, it has a lot of the tone and the feel of the album. And those songs, there's a lot of turbulence going on, and it definitely chronicles a year that was very turbulent on one hand, but you know, it's me trying to push for that hope and that sense of optimism," she said. "It's a song that captures that spirit. It's a song about the frustration of not being able to have closure on a difficult situation."

And given that, unlike fellow "Breaking Dawn" artist Christina Perri, she's basically oblivious to the entire "Twilight" phenomenon, Bryan has no idea where "Endtapes" will be used in the upcoming "Breaking Dawn" film ... shoot, she's not even sure she and her bandmates will get invited to the premiere. That doesn't mean they wouldn't go, of course.

"I don't know anything about that! If we get an invite, I wouldn't mind going to the cinema. I haven't been to the cinema for such a long time," she laughed. "We've been perpetually on the road for about a year and a half, and we watch lots and lots of DVDs in our van, but a trip to the cinema would be wonderful. I would have to do some laundry, but that would be fine!"

Check out everything we've got on "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1."

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

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1671642/twilight-breaking-dawn-soundtrack-joy-formidable.jhtml

Megan Fox Melania Trump Melissa George Melissa Howard Melissa Joan Hart