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Lady Gaga's 'Telephone': The Story Behind Her VMA-Nominated Video
Lady Gaga's 'Telephone' is up for Video of the Year at this year's VMAs.
By Jocelyn Vena
Lady Gaga
Photo: Amy Sussman/ Getty Images
Up until the release of "Telephone," Lady Gaga had been trying to one-up herself visually from music video to music video. She quickly went from producing simple party-music videos like the one she released back in 2008 for "Just Dance" to creating spectacles and feasts for the eyes thanks to over-the-top clips like "Bad Romance" and her cartoon-like video for "Telephone."
Nominated for three 2010 MTV Video Music Awards, including Video of the Year, where it will face off against "Bad Romance," "Telephone" is nearly 10 minutes of fashion, Gaga, Beyoncé, dancing and murder. Directed by iconic music video helmer Jonas Åkerlund, Gaga took fans for a ride and amped them up with clues as to what they might expect from the video.
What did they get? Gaga's own take on gender politics and Hollywood's fascination with ladies who kill. The video picks up where "Paparazzi" leaves off: Gaga breaks out of prison after killing her beau ("True Blood" star Alexander Skarsgård) in her "Paparazzi" video, then in the "Telephone" clip, she and Beyoncé go on a killing spree in the famous truck from "Kill Bill" before making a "Thelma and Louis"-like pact to stand by one another no matter what.
"There was this really amazing quality in 'Paparazzi,' where it kind of had this pure pop music quality but at the same time it was a little bit of commentary on fame culture," Gaga explained about the video. "I wanted to do the same thing with this video -- take a decidedly pop song, which on the surface has a quite shallow meaning, and turn it into something deeper: the idea that America is full of young people that are inundated with information and technology and turn it into something that is more of a commentary on the kind of country that we are."
And for the killer video, Gaga brought her "Video Phone" pal Beyoncé in for the track and the video, and the video's look was certainly a change of pace for Beyoncé. "The video in a lot of ways is more about [Beyoncé] even than it is about me," Gaga has said. "It was sort of a pop-art venture for me to bring her into my world. In a way, the video is an attempt for her and I to erase pop music as we know it up until this very point. It's meant to change the perspective of the world on what a pop music video should be and she's kind of the vehicle for that. In reality, more people around the world are familiar with her aesthetics than they are with mine. It was something for me to kind of change the way that you see her for one video."
It was a video that recalled not only such iconic flicks as "Kill Bill" and "Thelma and Louise," but also pop-culture moments like anything by Madonna, someone to whom Gaga has frequently been compared, the famed musical "Chicago," Andy Warhol and Wonder Woman. But, as Åkerlund would later explain, the video's colorful, mind-bending visuals were all uniquely Gaga's.
"Gaga's a little different because she has, like, the first [idea], which makes my job easier," he said back in March when the video first hit the streets. "She always has the first couple [ideas] to tell you. So, based on what she tells me, I write a treatment, she has comments on it. So that's how we go into the ideas. She's boiling. Her brain is amazing. She's filled with ideas.
"She writes music and thinks [of] images and wardrobe and all those things that are important for videos," he continued. "It's more like a concept than just me being a director for hire and doing a video and I'm out. It's a natural part for her. She's that generation of artists that think about all these things."
With the chance at winning a few Moonmen at Sunday's big show, Gaga might feel inspired to make a sequel to the clip, as is teased at the end of the splashy video. But, as Åkerlund has said, don't expect anything anytime soon. That really wasn't their intention. "Well, there's no plan," Åkerlund explained. "As I said, we're very spontaneous. We'll see ... I mean, it'll be cool, but we just left the door open. So we'll see."
The 27th annual MTV Video Music Awards will be broadcast live from the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles on September 12. The party starts with MTV News' VMA Pre-Show at 8 p.m., followed by the main event at 9 p.m. ET. Fans can go to VMA.MTV.com (or text VMA to 97979 if they are Verizon subscribers) to vote for Best New Artist from now through Sunday.
Related Videos- Lady Gaga's Rise To Fashion Icon Relived In 'VMAs: Revealed'
- Gearing Up For The 2010 VMAs!
- MTV News Extended Play: 'Telephone' Director Jonas Akerlund
Drake Has 'A Couple Of Women' He'd Like To Hug At VMAs
'I'm just excited to see all the faces I never met,' he tells MTV News.
By Jayson Rodriguez
Drake
Photo: Jason Merritt/ Getty Images
This is a family network, so we can't print what Lil Wayne wants to do to every girl in the world (you can pick up the Young Money compilation to find out), but Weezy's protégé Drake has a cleaner desire when it comes to the women attending the 2010 Video Music Awards.
The Toronto MC wants to hug a number of the celebrity starlets in attendance. It is, after all, Drake's first VMA experience. He said he would start with Angelina Jolie and move onto Alicia Keys, though the recently christened Mrs. Swizz Beatz would only get a congratulatory squeeze, Drake said.
"I get to meet everybody," he said of his plans for the Sunday night's big festivities. "There's a couple of women I'd like to hug. I'd like to hug Angelina Jolie. I wanna hug Alicia. I'm happy for her. I wanna tell them in person: I'm still a fan."
With the Thank Me Later rapper's rapid rise, it's easy to forget before this year his VMA experience consisted of catching the show from his couch rather than in the house. But after scoring a number of nominations, including Best Hip-Hop Video, the Toronto lyricist has an invite not only to attend the Chelsea Handler-hosted event, but also perform.
To hear him tell it, he'll be enjoying the blowout on Sunday night just as much as anybody else.
"I'm just excited to see all the faces I never met," Drake said. "I wanna shake some hands. I been working so hard, I hardly ever get to go to any parties in L.A. or anything. This is it. This is my time."
The 27th annual MTV Video Music Awards will be broadcast live from the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles on Sunday. The party starts with MTV News' VMA Pre-Show at 8 p.m., followed by the main event at 9 p.m. ET. Fans can go to VMA.MTV.com (or text VMA to 97979 if they are Verizon subscribers) to vote for Best New Artist from now through Sunday.
Related Videos Related Photos Related ArtistsWeezer's 'Memories' Video Promises Skateboarding, Silly Hats
Clip featuring the cast of 'Jackass 3-D' premieres today at 5 p.m.
By Kyle Anderson, with reporting by Matt Elias
Weezer's Rivers Cuomo
Photo: Tim Mosenfelder/ Getty Images
The lyrics to Weezer's new single, "Memories" (from their forthcoming eighth album, Hurley) paint a picture of the band back when they first began playing clubs and trying to scrape together a living on the backs of the songs from their landmark self-titled debut.
"I had been married for a few months and had been in school for the semester before that, and basically I had been away from the band and the rock world for a while," frontman Rivers Cuomo told MTV News. "I was really missing it, and just sitting there alone in my room missing the fans and missing my band, so 'Memories' is about getting back in there."
So when they decided to shoot the video — which premieres Thursday (September 9) on MTV, right after an all-new episode of "Jersey Shore" — it's no wonder the group decided to call some old friends.
Those friends? Johnny Knoxville, Wee Man, Chris Pontius, Steve-O and the rest of the crew from "Jackass" (who also happen to have a brand-new movie, "Jackass 3-D," hitting theaters in October). They got together for what "Jackass" director Jeff Tremaine calls "an old-school skate jam," featuring a cavalcade of extreme tricks in and around an empty pool.
Like most Weezer videos, "Memories" relied on unpredictability. "We're kind of making it up as we go along, to be honest," Knoxville told MTV News when we visited the set last month. "We brought funny hats and some Super 8 cameras. I think that's the video. Are we over-selling it?"
With the low-fi cameras and the rapid-fire editing, the "Memories" video closely resembles a DIY skate video from the '80s — something the guys went for on purpose, starting with the location.
"It really is a legendary spot," Tremaine said. "It made sense once we decided what we were doing. It's from 'The Search for Animal Chin,' a legendary skate video from back in the '80s -- '87 or '86 — that the Bones Brigade made. That was Tony Hawk's team. They filmed in here, and it became an old, classic skate spot."
Don't miss the premiere of Weezer's "Memories" video on MTV, Thursday (September 9) at 5 p.m.
Florence And The Machine's Epic Breakthrough: A VMA Cheat Sheet
Four-time nominees will perform at Sunday's VMAs.
By Gil Kaufman
Florence Welch of Florence and the Machine
Photo: WireImage
We hate to say we told you so, but we totally told you so. Back in January, we picked English rock group Florence + the Machine as one of the potential breakout artists of 2010, and, well, we can't lie, we were totally right.
Not only did the band's debut album, Lungs, top the charts in England, but thanks to flame-haired singer Florence Welch and a penchant for high-energy performances, the Machine became a staple on festival bills across the world this year and the go-to soundtrack for TV shows like "Grey's Anatomy" and "So You Think You Can Dance."
With a sound that mixes the art-rock attack of Yeah Yeah Yeahs with Lily Allen's cheeky soul croon and a bit of the White Stripes' garage ooze, the band has gained attention for Welch's penchant for injuring herself onstage while scrambling up lighting rigs and leaping off speaker stacks. "I'm quite unrestrained, and it does lead to some accidents," Welch told us in January. "Onstage, I seem to have this force field of protection, so I rarely injure myself onstage, even as I'm climbing up rafters or jumping off of things."
After giving up the drums to take the lead-singer role, Welch was shocked, to say the least, by her band's four nominations at Sunday's MTV Video Music Awards. The nods for Best Rock Video, Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography and, yes, Video of the Year for the trippy "Dog Days Are Over" clip were described as an "iconic event" by the singer, who said she's watched the VMAs on TV since she was a kid.
"It's one of those things: It's not real life, it's a dream scenario," said Welch, who is essentially a one-woman band augmented by session players on live dates. "So for me to be actually a part of it feels like I'm in some sort of parallel universe. It's kind of strange and wonderful and terrifying all at the same time."
It's quite a journey from the recoding of "Dog Days," which Welch said originated in a closet where she and a friend banged their hands against the walls and used pans as instruments to lay down the beat.
The visually striking, stark video casts an ashen-faced Welch as a kind of future-shaman leader of an eclectic band. Wearing a white dress and white makeup, she does a freaky hippie dance as the members of her troupe appear on the spotless white set: first two blue-skinned, bouffant-wearing dancers, a pair of red-hooded harp players, masked percussionists, a 10-person gospel choir and a kabuki cymbal player. She spends most of the video emoting the dynamic song's lyrics, wearing a geisha outfit with red eye makeup and a furry dress. That is, until she starts waving a blue flag and making her bandmembers disappear one by one in a puff of dust.
The clip is notable for its lack of a traditional narrative, but also for the way it puts the full attention on the charismatic singer as she sells the song with just some simple dance moves and colorful outfits.
It took a while for Lungs, which was released in July 2009 in England, to catch on in America. By the time U.S. audiences began taking notice, the CD had already reached #1 in the U.K., and audiences there became well-acquainted with the story of how it was inspired by a temporary breakup between Welch and longtime love Stuart Hammond.
The first single, the rollicking "Kiss With a Fist," was included on the soundtracks of "Wild Child" and the Megan Fox flop "Jennifer's Body." But it was the use of "Dog Days" in ads for the Julia Roberts summer hit "Eat Pray Love" that helped the album start its march up the Billboard charts in America this summer, as did the placement of another single, "Cosmic Love," in shows ranging from "The Vampire Diaries" to "So You Think You Can Dance" and "Grey's Anatomy."
It also didn't hurt that in May, it was announced during the slow reveal of the "Twilight Saga: Eclipse" soundtrack track list that her song "Heavy in Your Arms" would be included on the hit release.
After lighting up such British festivals as Glastonbury, Reading and Leeds in 2009, the group was confirmed for October's Voodoo Fest in New Orleans, as well as Sunday night's VMAs.
Will Welch upset the heavily favored, 13-time-nominated Lady Gaga at the big show? Tune in to find out.
The 27th annual MTV Video Music Awards will be broadcast live from the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles on Sunday. The party starts with MTV News' VMA Pre-Show at 8 p.m., followed by the main event at 9 p.m. ET. Fans can go to VMA.MTV.com (or text VMA to 97979 if they are Verizon subscribers) to vote for Best New Artist from now through Sunday.
Related Videos Related PhotosTrey Songz Says 'Unusual' Is All About 'Spontaneity'
'That's pool tables. That's car hoods. That's restaurant bathrooms,' the singer who 'Invented Sex' explains of his latest Drake collabo.
By Steven Roberts, with reporting by Sway Calloway
Trey Songz
Photo: MTV News
Trey Songz and VMA-nominated Drake have collaborated on numerous tracks, from their early "Replacement Girl" to the over-the-top "I Invented Sex." But their "Successful" probably best captures the two artists' rise to the forefront of their respective genres in the past two years. And the dynamic duo's latest collabo measures up to their typically high standards.
With just days until the release of Songz's fourth studio album, Passion, Pain & Pleasure, Trigger's "Unusual," featuring Drizzy, leaked to the Internet. The R&B star stopped by MTV News this week and spoke about the track.
"The 'usual' is whatever is expected," Songz said. " 'I know you're tired of the usual,' that's what the song is saying, 'I could give you more than the usual,' " he continued, reciting the song's chorus. "The 'unusual' is spoken about all through the record: That's rooftops. That's pool tables. That's car hoods. That's restaurant bathrooms — that's taking it beyond. That's spontaneity."
The duo teamed up once again with Drake producer Noah "40" Shebib (he also worked on "Successful"), who created a far more upbeat romp for "Unusual." Songz said he wanted take their previous success a step further.
"The thing with Drake and I is, after the last album having a record like 'Invented Sex,' which was such a powerful title and power collaboration for the both of us, I wanted to do something that took it to the next level, and I think this record does that," Songz said.
Given his and Drake's success and how much they've worked together, there has been talk of a collaborative album, but Songz said that probably wouldn't happen anytime soon. The singer explained that when the question was first posed, Drake hadn't even dropped his debut, Thank Me Later. While they're close friends outside of music and will continue to work together, Trey said any project has to be organic.
He also had nothing but high expectations for Drake's upcoming R&B mixtape, though he did offer some advice.
"Drake's a great writer, has a great voice and makes great songs. The advice I would give him in putting that mixtape out is making sure he can perform those songs, because people will want to hear them."
What's your favorite Trey/Drizzy collabo? Tell us in the comments!
YG Says Ladies Can 'Toot It And Boot It' Too
L.A. rapper looks to capitalize on debut single's success, in Mixtape Daily.
By Steven Roberts
YG
Photo: MTV News
Fire Starter: YG
If you've set foot in L.A. over the last few months, you've definitely heard YG's "Toot It and Boot It." The laid-back, infectious tune is a staple of any SoCal party, and it's starting to gain traction throughout the rest of the country.
So the next question on everyone's minds has to be: What does the phrase "toot it and boot it" mean?
"The song 'Toot It and Boot It' means have fun for one night," YG explained. "Go to Vegas, you meet a girl in the club, tell her what's up, take her back to the hotel, and then you do you-know-what, then after you do that, you kick them out. You got to go. You toot it and boot it. You got to give them the boot, and then it's on with your life."
The song is a new take on the old notion of a one-night stand. YG said the track came together after producer and vocalist Ty$ and a few of his homies invited him to the studio to jump on a track they were working on. And despite the song's seemingly misogynistic overtones, YG insisted "tooting and booting" is an equal-opportunity sport.
"The girls like that song, because they do a lot of tootin' it and bootin' it too, so they feel where I'm coming from," he said.
The rapper hails from L.A. and is signed to Def Jam, a label not traditionally known for signing too many West Coast acts. YG had amassed an impressive following in L.A., thanks to the promotional team he co-created "Pu$haz Ink." He caught Def Jam's attention by pushing his high-energy party music at shows and clubs.
YG's debut album, Fresh on Campus, will definitely have his traditional party vibe. His previous producers handled a majority of the album, and his next single, the suggestive "Patty Cake," is in line with what fans expect from him.
"I wanted to come out with 'Patty Cake,' because 'Toot It and Boot It' is a laid-back song," he said. "I feel all my fans know me as the party dude, like, 'He turnt-up,' so I feel like I've got to come out with something next that's turnt-up."
YG's third single, "Hell Yeah," will have a bit more star power with a potential feature from "Deuces" duo Chris Brown and Tyga. He knew Brown's best friend, Miho, from L.A., and he connected the two artists. Brown was more than happy to jump on the song when YG sent it to him. He was debating adding Tyga, joking that he selfishly may want to be the only one rapping.
Besides his debut release, which is slated for early 2011, YG recently filmed the movie "We the Party," directed by Mario Van Peebles, and he said he's been asked about starring in the Tupac Shakur biopic. YG said he enjoyed his first acting experience and said he might stick with it.
"I really liked it, you feel me?" YG said. "I hear that's where the money at, so I'm finnin' to go get the money."
For other artists featured in Mixtape Daily, check out Mixtape Daily Headlines.
It's Lady Gaga's 'Moment' At The VMAs, Celebs Say
Record-breaking nominee 'made music really exciting,' Jason Derülo says.
By Mawuse Ziegbe, with reporting by MTV News staff
Lady Gaga at last year's MTV Video Music Awards
Photo: Michael Loccisano/ Getty Images
Lady Gaga's "little monsters" have made it all too clear how enraptured they are with the inimitable singer, viewing her elaborate videos millions of times, following her every tweet, vamping it up in homemade Gaga gear and, of course, snatching up her music like it's going out of style.
Outsize admiration for the out-of-the-box singer comes from her celebrity peers as well. Stars doled out all types of snaps for Gaga, who has racked up a record-smashing 13 MTV Video Music Award nominations. Quirkily ornate clips like "Telephone" and "Bad Romance" featuring murderous roadside romps and stylized bathhouse seductions have landed Gaga coveted nods in categories such as Best Pop Video. She is also the first female artist to be recognized for Video of the Year twice in the same round of nominations.
"She's brought something totally different to the scene," Gaga's tourmate and fellow VMA nominee Jason Derülo told MTV News. Derülo, who is up for Best New Artist, which Gaga won last year, added, "She made music really exciting."
Gym Class Heroes frontman Travie McCoy said Gaga's ability to mash major theatricality with dance-floor-packing mega-hits has secured her status as one of contemporary pop music's most revolutionary figures.
"I think she kind of took this whole performance-art thing to a whole different level," McCoy said. "I wish nothing but the best for her."
At last year's festivities, Gaga turned in an unforgettable VMA debut that included a rendition of "Paparazzi," in which the singer bled to death, and a carefully choreographed lineup of over-the-top costume changes. Fellow theatrical breakout star Nicki Minaj said she admired the singer's pop-culture reign and conceded that, right now, it's all about Gaga. "This is her moment, and I'm really proud of her as a woman and as somebody that's just fearless."
What do you think Gaga will do at this year's VMAs? Let us know in the comments below!
The 27th annual MTV Video Music Awards will be broadcast live from the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles on Sunday. The party starts with MTV News' VMA Pre-Show at 8 p.m., followed by the main event at 9 p.m. ET. Fans can go to VMA.MTV.com (or text VMA to 97979 if they are Verizon subscribers) to vote for Best New Artist from now through Sunday.
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