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  • Sia And Maddie Ziegler Include Kristen Wiig In Their Madness; Watch Them Perform ‘Chandelier’ At Grammys

    Twelve-year-old dancer Maddie Ziegler has been a muse of sorts for Sia recently. The talented dancer appeared in the music videos for Sia’s “Chandelier” and “Elastic Heart”. Sia has even brought Maddie Ziegler along with her to perform the dance routine for those songs while promoting her new album. Now, they have finally made it. The two appeared at the Grammy Awards red carpet wearing matching hairstyles and matching suits.

    Maddie Ziegler and Sia were there for a special performance of “Chandelier”. Shia LaBeouf, who starred in Sia’s “Elastic Heart” video alongside Ziegler, introduced the performance. Maddie Ziegler danced with comedienne Kristin Wiig as Sia sang with her back to the crowd. The pair wore matching blonde wigs that were meant to mimic Sia’s signature bob.

    In a recent interview, Maddie Ziegler opened up about her collaboration with Sia. “People only knew me as a reality star. Now when I go out with my friends, go get ice cream and go shopping, I love when they say, ‘Oh, you do stuff with Sia!’” Ziegler said. “I don’t want to be known as just a Dance Moms competitor. I’d really like to be known for all of Sia’s work, too.”

    Maddie Ziegler also revealed that her recent work with Sia led to her increased interest in music. “I would love to be an amazing singer. I take voice lessons,” she said. “It’s good to have as a dancer — to be able to sing and act too because for a Broadway show or musical, you have to be able to do everything.”

    Ziegler added, “We’ve become like family ever since I did ‘Chandelier. I text Sia sometimes when I am in rehearsals. Everyone’s like, ‘Send a picture of us to her!’”

    The video for Sia’s “Chandelier” starring Maddie Ziegler racked up more than 520 million views on Sia’s VEVO page, making it one of the most popular music videos in recent years.

  • Katy Perry: Still No Grammy, Still Enjoying Record-Breaking Success

    Thirteen nominations but no wins. For some that might be a depressing statistic, but it’s nothing to superstar Katy Perry who is enjoying her current wave of success following her Super Bowl Halftime performance and top-selling album, Prism.

    Perry strut down the red carpet at the Grammy Awards last night which was held at the Staples Center in LA. Wearing a white glammed up couture Zuhair Murad dress, Perry told Ryan Seacrest that she just wanted “to shine bright like a diamond,” during music’s most important night. The California Girls singer pulled off a wavy purple hairstyle that matched her radiant make-up.

    The 30-year-old pop star made an incredible transformation from the red carpet to the stage. If her red carpet look was similar to her bubbly Super Bowl performance, Perry opted for a more understated look when she hit the stage to perform By the Grace of God, a ballad that she dedicated to victims of domestic abuse. From purple locks, Katy transformed her hair to a slick black style that contrasted with her flowing white gown that was reminiscent of the Kenzo gown that Solange Knowles wore in her wedding last year.

    Her emotionally-charged performance was introduced by a short message by President Barack Obama that encouraged artists to take a stand against the prevalence of abuse and rape cases in the country. Activist Brooke Axtell also did a spoken word piece before Perry started the powerful ballad.

    While Perry has never won a Grammy, the successful artist is experiencing the best years of her career. She became the first artist in Billboard chart history to spend 52 straight weeks in the top 10, with nine number one singles. Her Super Bowl performance was the most watched in television history and she was also named as the All-Time Top Digital Artist by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). Perry joins other esteemed artists like Bob Marley, Jimi Hendrix, and Martina McBride who were all nominated but never won.

  • EGOT: Filipino American Songwriter Robert Lopez Joins The Club

    Not all actors may admit it, but almost anyone in the entertainment industry aspires to win an acting award. Making it in Hollywood is no small feat, let alone being singled out for giving an exceptional performance in the film, television, theater, or music industry. However, there is a small and exclusive group called EGOT that consists of individuals who managed to snag the four most prestigious awards in Hollywood: the Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony.

    To date, there are only 12 members in the EGOT club. Acclaimed composer and one half of the duo Rodgers and Hammerstein, Richard Rodgers, was the first to complete all four awards in 1962. Aside from composing nearly a thousand songs for numerous Broadway musicals, Rodgers also wrote songs for film and television. He is also one of two EGOT members who received a Pulitzer Prize for the musical score of the 1949 film South Pacific. Rodgers has a total of 13 awards under his belt.

    Actress Helen Hayes became an EGOT member in 1976 when she won a Grammy for her spoken word album entitled Great American Documents. The first female to get the coveted EGOT slot, she received her first major award in 1932 and waited 45 years to complete the collection. Hayes has 7 awards that consist of three Tonys, two Oscars, one Emmy, and one Grammy.

    The third member is another actress – Rita Moreno. She managed to accomplish a number of “firsts” in the EGOT club, the first of which is being the first Hispanic actor to be admitted to it. She is also the first to win a Grammy award for a song performance as opposed to a music composition.

    Actor Sir John Gielgud is the oldest winner to become an EGOT. He has a total of six awards that include three Tonys, two Grammys, one Emmy, and one Oscar. The theatrical actor was also the first EGOT member to win a non-Oscar as his first major award.

    Audrey Hepburn was the first actor to make the EGOT club through a posthumous award. Her last distinct award was granted in 1993 for her work in the television documentary Gardens of the World with Audrey Hepburn.

    Composer Marvin Hamlisch was the second EGOT member to receive a Pulitzer award. He has three Oscars, the most number received by a Grand Slam winner. He took home the Grammys for Best Artist and Song of the Year in 1974, as well as a Grammy and Oscar for the title song, “The Way We Were”

    Composer and musical director Jonathan Tunick received one of each award, while comedian Mel Brooks received 11 awards. The Graduate director Mike Nichols has a total of 15 awards and has the most number of Tonys of any Grand Slam winner.

    The View co-host Whoopi Goldberg officially joined the EGOT club in 2002 when she won a Tony for co-producing the musical Thoroughly Modern Millie. Her inclusion in the list has been quite controversial as she received a Daytime Emmy as opposed to a Primetime Emmy. Producer Scott Rudin won his fourth award in 2012 for the children’s TV program He Makes Me Feel Like Dancin’.

    The most recent and youngest member of the EGOT club is Filipino-American songwriter Robert Lopez. Along with his wife, Lopez won Best Original Song at the Oscars for the song, Let It Go, which is part of the official soundtrack of the Disney animated film, Frozen.

    Image via Twitter

  • NeNe Leakes & Dr. Oz Talk Blood Clots

    NeNe Leakes & Dr. Oz Talk Blood Clots

    The outspoken reality show star NeNe Leakes has successfully shown her different dimensions by showcasing her acting chops on Glee as well as a regular spot on the well-received new comedy The New Normal, and she opened up with Dr. Oz on Thursday to get really personal about a recent health scare.

    In November, Leakes suffered a pulmonary embolism, the very same condition that rendered the pregnant Marlise Munoz brain dead. Fortunately, Leakes is still with us and fully recovered, and wishes to pay it forward by educating women of the symptoms and what actions prevent this often deadly occurrence.

    On the show, Dr. Oz warned watchers that sitting for extended periods of time can cause pulmonary embolisms; blood clots often start in the legs, and travel up to a person’s heart causing the severe reaction. Other factors such as high blood pressure, being overweight, or crossing your legs also contribute to this condition.

    During the show, Dr. Oz and Leakes discuss vegan-ism, and Leakes expressed that she is definitely is altering her diet to prevent the recurrence that she had to admit “scared her to death.”

    Dr. Oz went on to emphasize to Nene Leakes as well as to the audience the importance of supplements to prevent pulmonary embolisms such as Omega-3 fatty acids, Vitamin D and multivitamins.

    Nene Leakes’ testimony certainly helped those who watched, and both she and the audience left with a bounty of helpful information from Dr. Oz. His knowledge obviously impressed her,

    and her appearance touched viewers to give sentiments such as these:

    You can catch more of Nene Leakes on Real Housewives of Atlanta at 8p.m. EST tonight on the Bravo television network.

    Image via Twitter

  • Grammys 2014: Are Beyonce and Madonna Performing?

    Surprise performances add excitement to the Grammy awards, which is why people love to speculate about them. Two rumored surprise acts have many people buzzing with delight. Music insiders believe Beyonce and Madonna are secret performers at the 2014 Grammy awards.

    The LA Tiimes reports that a source confirmed Beyonce and Madonna’s performances at the Grammys. However, they won’t be singing together. Beyonce will sing some songs from her secretly released self-titled album. This will be the first televised performance of songs from this one.

    For her secret act, Madonna is singing background vocals for an already announced Grammy performer. She fueled these performance rumors even more by posting a picture on Instagram. On the picture Beyonce kisses Mercy James, Madonna’s adopted daughter. Madonna captioned the photo by saying, “Mercy James gets a big fat one from Queen. B!”

    This picture gave their fans the impression that the two are bonding while rehearsing for the Grammys.

    When the L.A Times asked Grammy Awards show producer Ken Ehrlich about the possibility of Beyonce and Madonna being surprise performers, he didn’t confirm or deny either one. He did, however, say things that made these rumors seem real.

    “Let’s put it this way … we have a really great history that goes back to the early days of Destiny’s Child. I love working with [Beyonce]. She’s incredible. She is so into what it is that she does and making sure that everybody who sees her walks away saying, ‘wow.’ Should she be on the show this year? I would think that the potential is there for that kind of moment,” Ehrlich told the L.A Times.

    A few of the other 2014 Grammy performers are Sara Bareilles with Carole King, Kendrick Lamar with Imagine Dragons, Robin Thicke with Chicago, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, Taylor Swift, Pink with Fun.’s Nate Reuss, and Katy Perry.

    Beyonce is becoming so efficient at keeping secrets that her fans probably can’t handle anymore of them. This Grammy surprise might just give them joy overload if it proves true.

    Image Via Instagram

  • Grammy Nominees 2014: Kendrick Lamar And Macklemore Stand Out

    This year’s Grammy nominations were announced on Friday night during the Grammy Nominations Concert Live. Among the expected names were, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, Lorde, Taylor Swift and Daft Punk — all of whom dominated the radio waves this year. However, this year’s nominations came with its fair share of surprises as well as shocking omissions. From Justin Timberlake’s head scratching miss to Kendrick Lamar’s surprising triumph.

    Justin Timberlake was locked out of the top awards categories (Album of the Year, Record of the Year and Song of the Year) despite his seven nominations in other categories. JT’s “20/20 Experience” was considered a heavy favorite for Album of the Year. The single “Mirrors” looked like it might win both Record of the Year and Song of the Year awards but somehow did not get nominated. Timberlake’s past albums “FutureSex/LoveSounds,” and “Justified” were both nominated for Album of the Year in past years. This year, his epic “20/20 Experience” received very positive reviews, tons of radio play, debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard charts and went just short of platinum in it’s first week of sales. Despite all this, Justin was shockingly left out.

    Some are still scratching their heads as to why Lady Gaga is conspicuously missing in the big list. Turns out she didn’t make the cut because “ARTPOP” missed the eligibility period and her single “Applause” didn’t get enough time to build up steam before eligibility ended. Chances are she’ll be named for a number of awards come next year.

    Kendrick Lamar managed a massive seven nominations, topped only by Jay-Z’s nine nods, for his debut “Good kid, m.A.A.d city” album. Among Lamar’s nominations is the nod for the coveted Album of the Year award. Could this be the year rap music takes the top honor? A rap album hasn’t won Album of the Year since 2004, when ‘Outkast’ walked away with the award.

    Newcomers Macklemore & Ryan Lewis are also in the mix with seven nominations of their own. This year they are contenders for Album of  the Year for their rap album, “The Heist” and Song of the Year for “Same Love”. The duo from Seattle also opened the Grammy Nominations Concert Live with their hit song, “Thrift Shop”.

    2014 Grammy Nominees:

     

    Record Of The Year

    Daft Punk & Pharrell Williams – “Get Lucky”
    Imagine Dragons – “Radioactive”
    Lorde – “Royals”
    Bruno Mars – “Locked Out Of Heaven”
    Robin Thicke Featuring T.I. & Pharrell – “Blurred Lines”

    Album Of The Year

    Sara Bareilles – “The Blessed Unrest”
    Daft Punk – “Random Access Memories”
    Kendrick Lamar – “Good Kid, M.A.A.D City”
    Macklemore & Ryan Lewis – “The Heist”
    Taylor Swift – “Red”

    Song Of The Year

    Pink Featuring Nate Ruess  – “Just Give Me A Reason”
    Bruno Mars – “Locked Out Of Heaven”
    Katy Perry – “Roar”
    Lorde – “Royals”
    Macklemore & Ryan Lewis Featuring Mary Lambert – “Same Love”

    Best New Artist

    James Blake
    Kendrick Lamar
    Macklemore & Ryan Lewis
    Kacey Musgraves
    Ed Sheeran

    Kendrick Lamar On Getting Grammy Nomination

    Kendrick Lamar On Tupac And Dr. Dre

    (main image via Wikipedia)

  • Alanis Morissette: Jagged Little Pill To Broadway

    Alanis Morissette has had a wildly successful career as a singer, and it started at a young age. She has released several albums throughout her career, but none of them have been as significant to her or her friends, as her classic “Jagged Little Pill” from 1995. The album that earned her five Grammys will now be heading to the stage, and Morissette will turn her classic album into a Broadway musical.

    The Canadian singer has made quite a name for herself over the years, and “Jagged Little Pill” especially was a very personal and outspoken album for her. When the album was released in 1995, it stayed atop the Billboard charts for 12 weeks, and sold more than 33 million copies.

    The album also produced six singles, and to this day, it is still the best-selling debut album by a female artist in the U.S., as well as the highest-selling debut album worldwide in music history. She was also the youngest artist to win the Grammy for Album of Year at 21.

    With the lyrics of the album, it is easy to tell how personal it is for the singer, and she is excited to help bring that energy to Broadway. She explained of the experience of turning it into a musical, “I look forward to taking the heart of Jagged Little Pill and expanding its story, fleshing it out into ever deeper layers of emotionality, specificity, humanity, power, physicality, spirit and fabulism.”

    The new musical will feature each track from Alanis Morissette’s Grammy-winning album, in addition to other hits throughout her career, and a few originals especially for the show. Perhaps “Thank You” or “Hands Clean” will be included? She has not been given much attention in recent years, but the pop star from the 90’s has also released new material, with “Flavors Of Entanglement” in 2008, and “Havoc And Bright Lights” in 2012.

    Jagged Little Pill will be produced by Vivek J. Tiwary and Arvind Ethan David, and Tom Kitt will be provide the orchestrations and arrangements. David is excited about the production, and said “Alanis’ songs have always uniquely combined narrative clarity with dramatic power– bringing them to the Broadway stage feels like bringing them home.”

    Fans of Alanis Morissette can all get excited for a new way to see some of her old material again, and an opportunity to see some new songs in relation to her most well-known work. Alanis Morissette, who is now 39-years-old, is set to release her popular album on Broadway in the early part of 2014.

    Here is a favorite from the album that everyone will certainly be looking forward to seeing on the stage.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3iTWtNveJxc

    Image via Facebook

  • Shania Twain Announces 2014 Las Vegas Show Dates

    Shania Twain won over the hearts of many music fans throughout the 90’s and early 00’s, but then seemed to have kind of disappeared. She made a bit of a comeback less than a year ago with a new type of show that premiered in Las Vegas, featuring much more than just her and her music. She just announced the dates that she will be appearing in 2014, which should help people that are able to see her get even more excited about the shows.

    She started performing at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas last year, and will round out a full year of shows, with her performances coming up. Before her break from the spotlight, Twain was known for excellently blending the genres of country and pop, with big hits such as “Man! I Feel Like A Woman” and “You’re Still The One.”

    Tickets for her upcoming shows that are scheduled from January 22-February 15th will go on sale on Friday. The tickets can be found on Shania Twain’s new website, specifically designed for the show.

    Her new show is featured at The Colosseum, and the show is conveniently called Shania: Still The One, a nod to one of her earlier hits, “You’re Still The One.”

    While this will be no ordinary string of concerts by the popular country singer, she is scheduled to perform alongside trained horses, a full band, as well as a flying motorcycle. Twain is a five-time Grammy winner, and debuted her Las Vegas show last December, shortly after horseback riding down the Las Vegas strip.

    Earlier this month, Shania Twain also announced that she will start working on new material again. Her last album, Up! was released in 2002, and after over a decade without a new album, it seems that fans are due for some new material from the country artist.

    She revealed that her new material will be much more personal than her older hits when saying “They’re very personal, (and) I think probably a little bit more personal than ever before.”

    At 48-years-old, the Canadian native, Shania Twain, has said that enjoys being able to write again, and looks forward to sharing her new material with all of her fans.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1lCmUvdv8NY

    Image via Youtube