Quick Hits: Mariah Carey, Jennifer Lopez, Teen Choice Awards, P!nk, Korn, Kanye West, Grouplove, New Order, Big Boi, Snoop Dogg, Foxy Shazam
July 23, 2012
Mariah Carey
It's official: Mariah Carey has joined American Idol as the Fox show's newest judge for its upcoming twelfth season. Fox Entertainment President Kevin Reilly confirmed the news to critics today, calling Carey "the biggest recording artist that any of the these [singing competition] shows have ever had," according to Entertainment Weekly. Reilly also confirmed that it is 100 percent that Jennifer Lopez won't be back as an Idol judge next season. Steven Tyler announced this month that he had left Idol as well. Carey tweeted, "It's gonna be so much fun working on @AmericanIdol. As a singer-songwriter, I'm excited to help find and nurture new talent."
Speaking of JLo, Jennifer Lopez will premiere her new video for "Goin' In" featuring Flo Rida during the special MTV First: Jennifer Lopez. The video will make its world premiere on MTV on Wednesday, July 25, at 7:50 p.m. ET, with an exclusive 30-minute interview with Lopez and MTV News'Sway Calloway to follow on MTV.com. J. Lo will discuss the new song, which appears on the soundtrack to Step Up Revolution, as well as what the future holds as she departs American Idol and releases her best-of compilation, Dance Again...The Hits.
Justin Bieber, One Direction and Taylor Swift were all big winners at Sunday night's Teen Choice Awards. The 14th annual awards show was hosted by Demi Lovato and Glee star Kevin McHale and also boasted performances by Bieber, Carly Rae Jepsen, Flo Rida and No Doubt, who gave their first televised performance of the new single "Settle Down." Bieber, who performed a medley of "Boyfriend" and "As Long as You Love Me" was named Choice Male Artist. Selena Gomez was awarded Choice Music Group along with her band, Selena Gomez & the Scene. Swift was named Choice Female Artist and also won trophies for Choice Single by a Female Artist ("Eyes Open"), Choice Country Song ("Sparks Fly"), Choice Female Country Artist and Choice Movie Voice (for Audrey in Dr. Seuss' The Lorax). The five awards for Swift brought her career total to 20 Teen Choice Awards, which is the most ever won by a female artist.
P!nk has revealed the full tracklist for The Truth About Love, which is due on September 18. In addition to her new single, "Blow Me (One Last Kiss)," it also features tracks called "Are We All We Are," "Just Give Me a Reason," "Slut Like You" and "Here Comes the Weekend." P!nk recently toldMTV News that the new material is eclectic and "The only common thread is my voice. You're going to have rock and roll, you're going to have R&B. You're going to have a country ballad and a folk song and a pop, Max Martin, radio-friendly hit. So I think that's kind of the mystery bag, that's what's fun."
KoRn has joined the lineup for the fourth annual ShipRocked cruise, which sails from November 27 to December 1. Other lineup additions include Pop Evil, Helmet, The Halo Method, Dead Sara, Write This Down and Andy Wood & The Amalgam. They join the already-announced lineup of Godsmack, Five Finger Death Punch, P.O.D., Sevendust, Filter, Fuel, Black Stone Cherry and more. ShipRocked embarks from and returns to Fort Lauderdale, FL, while ports of call are set for Key West, FL and Nassau, Bahamas.
Kanye West's G.O.O.D. Music compilation album, Cruel Sumer, has been given a release date of September 4. An official tracklist has yet to be released, but it presumably will include the singles "New God Flow" and "Mercy," which features Big Sean, Pusha T and 2 Chainz.
Grouplove has unveiled details of their headlining fall tour. The first round of dates will kick off on September 25 in Portland, OR, and continue until November 3 in Boston. Support on select legs of the tour comes from Alt-J and MSMR. Additional dates will be announced shortly. Meanwhile, on July 30, Grouplove will partner with YouTube for a special "YouTube Presents" live performance and Q&A session. The entire event will be live-streamed at www.youtube.com/presents beginning at 1 p.m. PST.
New Order is set to tour North America for the first time in seven years. The brief, seven-date tour kicks off on October 5 in San Francisco and swings through Los Angeles, Denver, Dallas, New York City and Chicago before ending in Toronto on October 23. The trek also will be New Order's first stateside run without original bassist Peter Hook, who left the band in 2007 and was replaced by Tom Chapman.
Outkast rapper Big Boi hosted a private listening session of his forthcoming album, Vicious Lies & Dangerous Rumors, on July 19 in Manhattan, where the rapper revealed that the album will be hitting stores on November 13. "She Hate Me," featuring Kid Cudi, will be the lead single, and a video for the track will be shot within the next few weeks, according to Billboard.com. There also is a track called "Lines," which features A$AP Rocky, and "Mama Told Me," a collaboration with Swedish synthpop act Little Dragon.
Snoop Dogg has released the first single from his Reggae project, and the song is called "La La La." It features production from Diplo and Ariel Rechtshaid, while Major Lazer is credited as executive producer. The rapper will adopt the name "Snoop Lion" for his reggae album, titled Reincarnated, and it will see release later this year on the Vice label.
Rockers Foxy Shazam will open Slash's upcoming tour, starting September 4 in San Diego. The throwback rockers will play a number of festival and club dates in July and August, and just released the video for their new single "Holy Touch."