Jared Leto premieres 30 Seconds to Mars “Hurricane” video in Hollywood

by Bill Palmer

After seeing his band’s controversial thirteen minute long music video for new single “Hurricane” banned from the television networks, Jared Leto was determined to give the short film an audience in its full unedited form, even if it meant renting out a Hollywood theatre and airing it for invited fans. Leto and 30 Seconds to Mars did just that on Monday night, as the Hurricane video saw its premiere at the Ricardo Montalban Theatre and was followed by what became nearly two hours of Q&A with the audience.

“A lot of people have questions about this weird little movie we made,” Leto explained after being introduced as Bartholomew Cubbins, the Seuss-inspired pseudonym under which he directed the short. Sensually themed, interwoven with scenes bondage and violence, Hurricane follows the three band members as they each struggle through attackers and challenges of various kinds. There’s arguably no more sexuality or violence in the Hurricane video than in the typical R-rated movie, but that hasn’t kept networks including the BBC from rejecting even the self-edited version of the video.

As if to drive his point home, Jared Leto (who was briefly joined by 30 Seconds to Mars bandmates Shannon Leto and Tomo Milicevic during the Q&A) pulled a printed list of network objections to the video which he’d been sent, which spanned several pages. “People are much more comfortable with violence than they are sex,” Leto explained to an audience member who inquired as to why the final edited version excluded much of the sex but left the more violent scenes intact. Even so, one network objected to a portion of a fight scene in which one participant kicked the other in the leg in too graphic of a manner.

In answering an exhaustingly long series of audience questions, Leto revealed that he had originally written the song back in late 2007 while in Berlin. By acting as the video’s director, he found himself directing his bandmates – one of whom happens to be his older brother – and quipped that he’s been “working with these guys for some time, and it’s nice that their acting careers are thriving and mine’s in the fucking gutter,” in winking reference to his own film and television acting career, which he’s been balancing with his musical ambitions for the past fifteen years.

After multiple instances of calling “last question” and then proceeding to take several more questions in order to ensure that everyone had their chance (one attendee said she’d driven all the way up from Tijuana, Mexico just for the event) and teasing attendees by revealing that Hurricane remix collaborator Kanye West “almost came by” unannounced for the event but ultimately couldn’t make it, Leto grabbed a guitar at the end of the evening and performed a solo acoustic version of Hurricane.

Even after hours of earnestly explaining every rationale behind the Hurricane video (mixed in with quite a few moments of deadpan humor) and appearing to easily win over the audience, Jared Leto may not be any closer to getting his video on air, edited or otherwise, than when the night began. But the few hundred who packed the intimate theatre certainly seemed to get it, and if nothing else, the core army of 30 Seconds to Mars fans will likely feel empowered to give the television networks a piece of their minds.

Auburn releases La La La video, makes use of iPhone 4 FaceTime

Auburn, the rising pop star whose hit single La La La has consistently been in the top twenty on the iTunes pop singles charts, has released the official music video for the song – and it uses a creative, timely method of bringing guest vocalist Iyaz into the picture. Throughout the video, Auburn refuses to answer repeated phone calls on her iPhone 4 which come from a heckler at whom the song’s lyrics are directed. However, when fellow Beluga Heights / Warner labelmate Iyaz calls, she takes the call and he appears on the iPhone’s screen to deliver his supporting vocals.

The use of Apple’s “FaceTime” video conferencing in the video is obviously simulated, as the iPhone 4 in question isn’t on a wifi network at the time, and as every iPhone user who’s tried FaceTime can tell you, the new feature is regretfully wifi-only. But nonetheless, the La La La video represents what is apparently the first use representation of FaceTime in a major label music video, something Apple fans will likely enjoy. However, they may be less thrilled with the video’s conclusion, which sees the guy who’d been trying to call Auburn show up at her door, only to see her toss his iPhone 4 into a fish tank – which we’re pretty sure isn’t covered under warranty.

Auburn recently discussed the success of La La La and her forthcoming debut album with Beatweek in an in depth interview.

Maroon 5 music video for new single Misery: watch it now

The good folks at MTV have invited us to share with you the brand new music video for the new Maroon 5 single “Misery” from their forthcoming album Hands All Over. Of the video shoot, Maroon 5 lead singer Adam Levine said, ““It was great to be back on set with the guys again. Everyone in the band really dug the concept and it was fun working with director Joseph Kahn. I am looking forward to our fans getting to check it out!”

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(apologies to iPad and iPhone users, it’s in Flash/Shockwave format)

Lady GaGa Beyonce Telephone wins BET award for best video

The vocal collaboration between Lady GaGa and Beyonce on the former’s latest album has netted them both an award for the corresponding music video. Telephone, the second single off The Fame Monster, has won a BET award for best video. The clip, which sees the two pop stars sending up a Thelma and Louise-style storyline after GaGa is released from prison, has seen heavy rotation on MTV during the hours in which it still plays music videos. GaGa has since released Alejandro as her next single, while Beyonce has stated plans to take the year off from music. Of the award. GaGa tweeted “Paws up for B! X Mother Monster.”

Katy Perry Califoria Gurls new video is whipped cream alicous

Katy Perry, you’ve come a long way since I first sat down with you in New York City back in early 2008 when no one yet knew who you were but you knew you were going to be famous anyway. You’ve written the soundtrack for summer 2010 with California Gurls, and now you’ve launched a music video that will have people talking about it all summer, and not just because Snoop Dogg makes a cameo. In some kind of twisted pastel candyland setting, the video is deliciously artificially cheesy – and that part at the end of the preview where there’s some kind of whipped cream shooting out of cannons attached to your boobs? I really don’t know what to say about that, except that none of your success over the past couple of years has surprised me. You had this plan for world domination all along, even when we were sitting there doing that interview in that NYC bar years ago and you were about as famous as me, didn’t you?

You can watch all thirty seconds of the California Gurls preview right here.

Katy Perry Califoria Gurls music video is whipped cream alicous

Katy Perry, you’ve come a long way since I first sat down with you in New York City back in early 2008 when no one yet knew who you were but you knew you were going to be famous anyway. You’ve written the soundtrack for summer 2010 with California Gurls, and now you’ve launched a music video that will have people talking about it all summer, and not just because Snoop Dogg makes a cameo. In some kind of twisted pastel candyland setting, the video is deliciously artificially cheesy – and that part at the end of the preview where there’s some kind of whipped cream shooting out of cannons attached to your boobs? I really don’t know what to say about that, except that none of your success over the past couple of years has surprised me. You had this plan for world domination all along, even when we were sitting there doing that interview in that NYC bar years ago and you were about as famous as me, didn’t you?

You can watch all thirty seconds of the California Gurls preview right here.

OneRepublic premieres music video for new single Secrets

OneRepublic have released the music video for Secrets, the second official single from their sophomore album Waking Up. The video for the string-heavy ballad, directed by Chris Sims, features the band performing the song in an abandoned restaurant.

and has been posted to YouTube ahead of OneRepublic’s Friday morning performance on the Today Show’s summer concert series. The band will then be performing on Saturday with Bon Jovi at New Meadowlands Stadium in New Jersey.

OneRepublic appeared on the cover of Beatweek Magazine in November for a cover story interview in which lead singer Ryan Tedder explained the meaning of the lyrics to the song Secrets, among other aspects of the Waking Up album.

Orianthi debuts motorcycle-themed music video for Shut Up & Kiss Me

Orianthi has released the music video for her new song Shut Up & Kiss Me, which is the lead single for her forthcoming album Believe II due out on June 8th. The video features the virtuoso playing a bright red guitar and a guy with a malfunctioning motorcycle who’s rescued by a brunette who arrives on her own motorcycle, and at various points Orianthi is seeing playing her guitar while sitting on an all-red motorcycle of her own. Keeping with the theme, the video also includes a red amp, a red chair, and in the final scene of the video, Orianthi uses a red pair of Monster Beats headphones as a massive guitar pick.

The Shut Up & Kiss Me video can be watched via YouTube. The release of Orianthi’s new single and its video come ahead of the release of Believe II and and her participation in the Glam Nation tour which kicks off early next month.

Katy Perry hosts live chat from set of California Gurls shoot

Katy Perry is in the process of filming the music video for her new single California Gurls, but she’s taking a break from shooting this afternoon for an online live chat with fans via a Ustream channel running through KatyPerry.com. You’ll have to hurry, though, as the live chat begins in just a few minutes, at 2:30 pm pacific time today. California Gurls, released this past Tuesday, has been the highest-selling single in iTunes since the day of its release. The song will be a part of Katy Perry’s forthcoming sophomore album Teenage Dream which is set for worldwide release in August.

Missed the live chat? Here’s a little bit of what she had to say. And if you want to her a whole lot more from Katy Perry, here’s our original Beatweek interview with her.

Katy Perry shoots music video for California Gurls

Katy Perry’s new single California Gurls went straight to number one in iTunes without the benefit of a music video, but that’s set to change as the singer is shooting the video today and has promised to post twitpics from the set. We don’t know much about the video yet beyond the fact that (based on Twitter chatter) it will apparently include appearances from Katy’s friends Markus Molinari and Ferras. Katy says that when she first saw the set constructed for the video is nearly made her cry “cotton candy tears” and her biggest fear is that she’ll “eat the set.” Perhaps the biggest question about the California Gurls video is whether it’ll include a cameo by Katy’s labelmate Snoop Dogg, who lent his vocals to the song.

Christina Aguilera video to premiere this Friday

Christina Aguilera’s newest song “Not Myself Tonight” from her forthcoming album Bionic was released as a digital single earlier this month, and now here comes the video. Directed by Hype Williams, the sensual video will debut in the wee morning hours of this Friday, April 30th, on VEVO. Access Hollywood will also be airing behind the scenes footage from the video shoot beginning on Thursday.

Aguilera, who has sold thirty million albums worldwide, is gearing up for a June 8th release date for Bionic.

Justin Timberlake stars in Esmee Denters video

Justin Timberlake prodigy Esmee Denters, whom Timberlake discovered via YouTube while she was still working a day job serving pancakes, is set to release the music video for her new single “Love Dealer” – and the video stars Timberlake himself. The video won’t hit iTunes until May 4th (VEVO on April 28th), but a sample of the video has been posted in the mean time. The song itself is an up tempo R&B flavored track with a distinctly electronic backbeat.

The video with Esmee Denters is part of a busy month for music videos for Justin Timberlake, as he can also currently be spotted in a video with Timbaland for their “Carry Out” collaboration from the latter’s new album Shock Value II.

Norah Jones adds tour dates

After releasing her guitar-tinged album The Fall late last year, Norah Jones doesn’t appear to be looking to slow down as she’s announced additional tour dates to an already crowded calendar which features U.S. shows in April, May, and June before heading to Europe for several July dates and then coming back to the U.S. for a single Lilith Fair 2010 appearance in August.

She’s also just debuted the music video for new single Young Blood, which is currently available in iTunes, and will perform on the Ellen Degeneres show on April 22nd.

The full list of U.S. and European tour dates is available at NorahJones.com.

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Filed Under: Industry News
Tagged: Chasing Pirates, concert, music video, Norah Jones, schedule, The Fall, tour, TV, Young Blood