Britney Spears

26 Iconic VMA Performances You’ll Remember Forever 

Originally posted on BuzzFeed.com

In the midst of one of the craziest award shows of the year, let’s remember the greats.

1. Britney Spears – “I’m A Slave 4 U,” 2001 VMAs
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A true goddess walked among us that day, and still walks among us today. We were blessed with this snake performance, and the world WILL NEVER FORGET.

2. Justin Timberlake – Vanguard Award Performance, 2013
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In a single moment, the entire world collectively sobbed at the glorious reunion of NSYNC. And JT was serving dance moves for days.

3. Mariah Carey – “Shake It Off” / “We Belong Together,” 2005
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Anthems of the year and the century, TBH.

4. Beyoncé – “Ring The Alarm,” 2006
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Beyoncé *literally* fights the police in this performance. She gave tooth and nail to serve you desperate housewife realness.

5. Guns N’ Roses featuring Elton John – “November Rain,” 1992
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OK honestly just look at this collaboration. HONESTLY.

6. Lady Gaga – “Paparazzi,” 2009
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Classic Gaga at her best. The voice, the costumes, the blood dripping from her eyes. EVERYTHING.

7. Shakira – “Hips Don’t Lie,” 2006
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The hips that launched a thousand ships and a thousand memes.

8. Britney Spears and NSYNC – “Baby One More Time” / “Tearin’ Up My Heart,” 1999
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This changed us all in a matter of minutes. Serving metallic pants, killer hair, and boy band outfits, Britney and the boys destroyed lives with this performance.

9. Drake – “Hold On, We’re Going Home” / “Started From the Bottom,” 2013
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Admit it, you cried from enjoyment and sexual frustration. YAAAS, AUBREY.

10. Christina Aguilera – “Come On Over” / “Livin’ It Up,” 2000
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The purple tips, the dance break, and Fred Durst? This is so ’00s it hurts. It hurts sooooo good.

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All Performances from the 2015 Billboard Music Awards #BBMA2015

Imagine Dragons — Stand By Me

Tori Kelly — Nobody Love

Nick Jonas — Jealous

Wiz Khalifa and Charlie Puth — See You Again

Meghan Trainor and John Legend — Live I’m Gonna Lose You

Kelly Clarkson — Invincible

Little Big Town and Faith Hill — Girl Crush

Chris Brown and Pitbull — Fun

Kanye West — All Day

Nicki Minaj and David Guetta — Hey Mama

Ed Sheeran — Bloodstream

Van Halen — Panama

Mariah Carey — Vision of Love and Infinity

Jussie Smollett, Bryshere Gray, and Estelle — Conqueror and Your So Beautiful

Hozier — Take Me To Church

Britney Spears and Iggy Azelea — Pretty Girls

Simple Minds — Don’t You Forget About Me

Britney Spears and Iggy Azalea Drop Their Ode to “Pretty Girls”

(RCA Records)“Pretty Girls” is Here!!!

The anticipated Britney Spears and Iggy Azalea collaboration has had its official, scheduled release in the early Monday morning.

“Thank you all for the amazing feedback on #PrettyGirls!! Going to bed now with a smile on my face,” Britney tweeted. “Have some more surprises coming soon!”

Britney and Iggy are coming to the 2015 Billboard Music Awards for the debut TV performance of “Pretty Girls.” The 2015 Billboard Music Awards returns to ABC on Sunday, May 17. Listen to “Pretty Girls” below.

Billboard Cover: Britney Spears on Why Her Vegas Residency ‘Clicked,’ Being Inspired by Celine Dion and a New Album Not Being a ‘Full Priority’

Billboard Cover: Britney Spears on Why Her Vegas Residency 'Clicked,' Being Inspired by Celine Dion and a New Album Not Being a 'Full Priority'Britney Spears was barely 21 when the idea of a Las Vegas residency first crossed her mind. It was 2003, shortly after wrapping Dream Within a Dream, her first full-blown U.S. arena run, when she and a friend stayed at Celine Dion‘s palatial estate off the Strip to see how the French-Canadian star lived away from the touring circuit.

“I remember how beautiful it was — really cool, low-key — and her dressing room was great,” Spears, now a 33-year-old mother of two, tells Billboard from her family’s residential suite in Vegas, not far from her own dressing room at Planet Hollywood. “I was actually jealous, like, ‘Oh, my gosh, she gets to be in one place all the time.’ Everything clicked: To have your children and your family and that way of life, it just makes sense to have everything in one place.”


Dion’s Caesars Palace residency was a pioneering one. It was the first time an in-her-prime superstar (Dion, like Spears, was 33 when she first embarked) had set up shop in the desert at the peak of her touring powers, debunking the notion that Vegas was a pop-star retirement community. Her 4,100-capacity shows at The Colosseum pulled in $493.7 million in Billboard Boxscore receipts in the first 10 years, and helped lure Elton John,Cher, Bette Midler and Shania Twain to the same venue for a rotation of residencies totaling more than $1 billion in revenue, according to AEG Live. Continue reading →

52 Reasons 2015 Will Be The Best Year For Music Since Ever

Adele! Kanye! Rihanna! Frank Ocean! Sufjan! Seriously, we’re freaking out.

originally posted on Buzzfeed

1. Adele, TBA

Adele, TBA

XL Recordings

Thanks to a single, winking tweet from Adele, many fans expected the follow-up to her world-conquering sophomore album last year. However, 2014 came and went without so much as a song title and the project remains shrouded in mystery. In a recent interview, long-time collaborator Paul Epworth refused to comment on the sound or status of the album, saying only that it “will come when it’s ready.” Will she pull a Beyoncé? Collaborate with Pharrell? Make good on her promise to go country? Only time will tell because her people aren’t talking.

2. Kanye West, TBA

Kanye West, TBA

Slaven Vlasic / Getty Images for (RED)

Appreciators of G.O.O.D. music are starved for new ‘Ye after a 2014 in which a much-anticipated follow-up to Yeezus was teased repeatedly but never produced. One track allegedly leaked, while another made a brief and tantalizing appearance in a World Cup Adidas commercial. On New Year’s Eve, Kanye threw fans for another loop by premiering the first official taste of his next project — an emotionally devastating ballad written from the perspective of his late mother and featuring Paul McCartney. Dubbed “Only One,” the piano-driven tearjerker is about as far from the queasy pyrotechnics of Yeezus as you can get. And with several more McCartney collaborations promised in a press release, the only thing we know is that everything we thought we knew about Yeezus II is wrong. New day, new ‘Ye.

3. Rihanna, TBA

Rihanna, TBA

Def Jam

It’s been two years since Rihanna’s last album and expectations are at an all-time high. Once known for releasing a new album every year, pop’s hardest working hit-maker decided to take some time off in 2013. While she continued to listen to demos and “phuck round” in the studio, it wasn’t until October 2014 that she really buckled down and got to work. According to insiders, her eighth album — dubbed #R8 by fans — will be a mix of ballads and edgier, Hudson Mohawke-esque bangers. She’s also reportedly recordeda song titled “Burritos,” so, yeah, it sounds like this album will be worth the wait.

4. Kendrick Lamar, TBA

Kendrick Lamar, TBA

Interscope

What we know: 1) “i” and the untitled track he performed as the last musical guest ever on Colbert both slay. 2) His last album Good Kid M.A.A.D City was a rare kind of insta-classic revelation that floored just about everyone exposed to it. 3) Kendrick himself is a rare music artist, unafraid to take risks, confound fans, and say what’s on his mind in this era where nearly everyone is content to play it safe. All that adds up to next-level anticipation for whatever it is King Kendrick has planned, and we’re told from a label rep who has heard the album that our expectations aren’t misplaced. “I can’t tell you anything about the album,” he told us. “Except it’s going to blow you away.” Of course, label reps are paid to make hyperbole sound natural, but we are completely inclined to agree here.

5. Troye Sivan, TBA

Troye Sivan, TBA

EMI

If you don’t know the name Troye Sivan yet, you will soon. Thanks to a startlingly self-assured EP and an enormously dedicated fanbase, the Australian YouTuber-turned-singer is poised for IRL stardom. His five-song debut, TRXYE, cracked the top five of theBillboard 200 with almost no press and just three days of sales. More than just a stylish collection of synth-pop, TRXYE established Sivan as an artist with things to say and a voice worth listening to; mixed in with the songs about love and lust are critiques of prescription pill culture and thoughts on toxic masculinity. His forthcoming debut album for Capitol is to likely solidify his standing as one of pop’s most exciting newcomers.

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17 Unreleased Britney Spears Songs Every Fan Needs To Hear

From Buzzfeed

17. “Baby Boy”

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Recorded during sessions for Original Doll
Choice Lyric: “So why do you desert me, baby boy? / I need your love right now!”
Sounds Like: A K-Fed-era torch song.

16. “Every Day”

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Recorded during sessions for Femme Fatale
Choice Lyric: “Every day, the sun comes up again / A little hope begins and it starts with you ‘cause you get me through it”
Sounds Like: The first single from a Britney Spears Christian pop album.

15. “Little Me (Just Yesterday)”

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Recorded during sessions for Blackout
Choice Lyric: “Little me / Please forgive me / I couldn’t see / You hurting inside”
Sounds Like: “Everytime” with guitars.

14. “Love 2 Love You”

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Recorded during sessions for Original Doll
Choice Lyric: “I wanna hold you wherever you are / There ain’t no time that’s wrong / Ain’t no place that’s too far”
Sounds Like: Madonna’s “La Isla Bonita” meets Sean Paul.

13. “911”

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Recorded during sessions for Blackout
Choice Lyric: “911, I call you when I’m feeling lonely / 911, baby boy come get right on me / 911, put this fire out I’m burning up, up up”
Sounds Like: A b-side from Justified.

12. “Welcome To Me”

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Recorded during sessions for Blackout
Choice Lyric: “Close your eyes and visualize me / Go with it, flow with it / Come on, be a man / Take control of it”
Sounds Like: Sexy breathing.

11. “When I Say So”

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Recorded during sessions for Britney
Choice Lyric: “You’re feeling me / My jeans / My baby tee ”
Sounds Like: A slickly-produced game of early-00s mad libs.

10. “Unbroken”

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Recorded during sessions for Femme Fatale
Choice Lyric: “You put the pieces back together / Make me feel like I was never open / You make me feel unbroken”
Sounds Like: 2010.

9. “State Of Grace”

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Recorded during sessions for Blackout
Choice Lyric: “Love is a state of grace / Transcending time and space / No other way I can describe ”
Sounds Like: A less offensive version of Katy Perry’s “Legendary Lovers.”

8. “Dangerous”

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Recorded during sessions for Circus
Choice Lyric: “Think you know all the rules of the games that you play / When it all comes around you got nothing to say”
Sounds Like: A flirty James Bond theme.

7. “Am I A Sinner”

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Recorded during sessions for Britney
Choice Lyric: “I confess if I’ve done it wrong / But in your eyes I see I’m guilty”
Sounds Like: A sexy, unapologetic version of “Everytime.”

6. “Dramatic”

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Recorded during sessions for Original Doll
Choice Lyric: “Baby, fuck you / The things you did, and never thought I’d get a clue, yeah”
Sounds Like: The (amazing) taunts of an unhinged ex-girlfriend.

5. “Sippin’ On”

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Recorded during sessions for In The Zone
Choice Lyric: “He was kinda like a summer fling / Hot and heavy through that April rain / May and June he was after me”
Sounds Like: A chill summer night.

4. “Strangest Love”

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Recorded during sessions for Circus
Choice Lyric: “Don’t talk no more / That’s not what words are for”
Sounds Like: A sexy Enya song.

3. “Look Who’s Talking Now”

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Recorded during sessions for Original Doll
Choice Lyric: “I was true to you, justify my point of view / Now you are lookin’ at me, yeah you are lookin’ at me”
Sounds Like: A glorious Justin Timberlake kiss-off.

2. “Kiss You All Over”

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Recorded during sessions for Blackout
Choice Lyric: “She must not like to drink / Cuz if I was her / I would sip on you all day”
Sounds Like: Janet Jackson karaoke in the best way.

1. “Sugarfall”

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Recorded during sessions for Original Doll
Choice Lyric: “I was your freak (I was your freak) / Hit me one more time / And trust me I’ll be ok”
Sounds Like: Heaven.

Spice Girls’ ‘Wannabe’ Named Catchiest Song Ever By New Study

From Huffington Post

In a finding that’s sure to ignite debates among music lovers around the world, researchers say they’ve identified the catchiest song of all time.

The winner: the 1996 Spice Girls hit “Wannabe.” (Try getting that out of your head now.)

Researchers from the University of Amsterdam worked with the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester, U.K., to figure out why some songs are catchy and others are not.

“You may only hear something a couple of times yet 10 years later you immediately realize that you have heard it before,” Ashley Burgoyne, a computational musicologist from the University of Amsterdam, told the BBC. “Yet other songs, even if you have heard them a lot, do not have this effect.”

So what makes a song catchy? It’s not simply your ability to know it and recognize it. It’s how the song stays in your head even when it stops playing — the so-called earworm effect.

To measure this, the researchers developed a game. Because they’re measuring “catchiness,” it’s not your typical name-that-tune type of arrangement. Instead, you hit the stop button the moment you recognize a tune, and then the game tests the ability of the song to keep playing inside your head.

It’s called Hooked on Music, which you can actually play for yourself right here. Warning: Your productivity for the day will plummet the moment you click on that link. Then again, how often do you get to participate in real science?

The game used the top 40 songs from each decade over the past 70 years. Of the 12,000 people who played during the yearlong study period, the Spice Girls track was tops, recognized in an average of 2.29 seconds.

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And while the game may seem silly, there is a very serious purpose behind the study. The researchers wrote on the game’s website that they hope to use the results to further research into dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.

Here’s the full list of the top 20 catchiest songs, at least as determined by the study:

  1. Spice Girls, “Wannabe”
  2. Lou Bega, “Mambo No. 5”
  3. Survivor, “Eye Of The Tiger”
  4. Lady Gaga, “Just Dance”
  5. ABBA, “SOS”
  6. Roy Orbison, “Pretty Woman”
  7. Michael Jackson, “Beat It”
  8. Whitney Houston, “I Will Always Love You”
  9. The Human League, “Don’t You Want Me”
  10. Aerosmith, “I Don’t Want To Miss A Thing”
  11. Lady Gaga, “Poker Face”
  12. Hanson, “Mmmmbop
  13. Elvis Presley, “It’s Now Or Never
  14. Bachman-Turner Overdrive, “You Ain’t Seen Nothin’ Yet”
  15. Michael Jackson, “Billie Jean”
  16. Culture Club, “Karma Chameleon
  17. Britney Spears, “Baby One More Time”
  18. Elvis Presley, “Devil in Disguise
  19. Boney M., “Rivers of Babylon”
  20. Elton John, “Candle in the Wind”

This Day in Music History — October 31

1962 : Monster Mash: It was 1962 when what is still the most famous Halloween song of all time was introduced. Bobby “Boris” Pickett’s vocals were his impression of Boris Karloff, known for his role as Frankenstein’s monster.

1975 : Southern rockers The Marshall Tucker Band headline a fundraising concert for Presidential nominee Jimmy Carter.

1993 : Rapper Tupac Shakur is arrested and charged with shooting two off-duty police officers in Atlanta. Police said the 22-year-old rapper got into an argument with the two police officers from suburban Atlanta. They said one of the officers pulled a gun and Shakur then fired at the officers.

2001 : Having fully recovered from the flu that forced her to restructure the North American tour in support of her third Jive album, Britney, Britney Spears’ tour kicks off in Washington, D.C.

2011 : 17-year-old Justin Bieber is hit with a paternity suit from 20-year-old Mariah Yeater, who claims the singer knocked her up in a Staples Center bathroom. The suit is later dropped, but Bieber takes a paternity test anyway to prove he is not the father.