Britney Spears 'Very Hands-On' For Femme Fatale, Rodney Jerkins Says

'She had a lot of ideas for me,' producer says of pop star's new album.
By Jocelyn Vena, with reporting by Kara Warner


Britney Spears' <i>Femme Fatale</i>
Photo: Jive

Britney Spears is a month away from the release of Femme Fatale, and nearly every day, she's teasing fans with samples of some of the songs on the album, including the latest, her song with will.i.am, "The Big Fat Bass." Now, longtime collaborator Rodney Jerkins is opening up about hitting the studio with Spears.

"Britney's always great to work with. I've worked with Britney for 12, 13 years now," he told MTV News. "It's always great to work with someone when you work with someone time and time again; it's always great, and it always gets better. And just to see her evolve as an artist, it's an amazing, amazing thing."

Jerkins worked with Spears in the past on "Overprotected (Darkchild Remix)" and "I Love Rock 'n' Roll" in the early 2000s, as well as her leaked version of Lady Gaga's "Telephone," when she was recording Circus.

This time around, he said Spears knows exactly what she wants musically on the album. "She was very hands-on. She had a lot of ideas for me," he said. "She's great. She gets it. She is a top-notch veteran pro at this now."

She might be getting some help from Jerkins, but Dr. Luke and Max Martin are executive-producing the album, and Jerkins had nothing but the best to say about the production team. "I never spoke to them, [but] those guys are just great, and the stuff that they've been doing is just really, really great stuff," he said. "I'm sure with their hands on it, it's great."

Spears herself has described the album as "moody, edgy pop with A LOT of energy," hinting that many of the songs will be uptempo, and Jerkins noted that the songs he's been writing for her have certainly fit that label. "I know the songs that I do are uptempo," he said. "The stuff I've done, I think, will kind of shock people. I got a chance to go out my box a little bit too. She's great. Britney's just awesome."

What are you expecting from Britney's new music? Let us know in the comments!

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Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1658923/britney-spears-femme-fatale-rodney-jerkins.jhtml

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Ke$ha's 'Blow' Director Addresses Lady Gaga 'Unicorn' Flap

Unicorn cameos in 'Born This Way' and 'Blow' videos is 'just weird coincidence,' Chris Marrs Piliero tells MTV News.
By Jocelyn Vena


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The brand-new videos for Ke$ha's "Blow" and Lady Gaga's "Born This Way" couldn't be more different. But fans on the Web have been comparing the clips, thanks to a special cameo the two videos have in common. With unicorns appearing in both "Blow" and "BTW," some Gaga fans are accusing the K-Dollar of stealing from their Mother Monster.

But MTV News spoke to "Blow" director Chris Marrs Piliero, who explained that it's pure coincidence his video and the Nick Knight-directed video both feature unicorns.

"It's very odd. It's one of those weird things, and I think a lot of people on the Internet don't grasp the sense of time [that goes into making videos]. Some Gaga fans, they don't realize that just because it was announced there might be a unicorn [in Gaga's video], it's like, we didn't film the video after that announcement," he said.

"It's like [the movies] 'Dante's Peak' and 'Volcano' and then there was 'Armageddon' and 'Deep Impact.' I don't know, I know when things like that happen when I was a part of the audience, I was like, 'That's weird and fishy,' but now being on the other side, it's just weird coincidences," he explained. "What are the odds of that?"

In fact, Piliero had a gut feeling that he should use unicorns many, many moons ago and he thought Ke$ha was the right artist to join with the mythological creatures onscreen.

"Ke$ha was looking to make kind of something different, a video that was cool and random, and I had this idea running in my head with just the idea of unicorns," he recalled. "If I massacred unicorns, they could bleed rainbows. I'm a fan of violence and I'm always trying to find a way to make it OK."

The rainbow-spewing unicorns weren't the only cameo that Piliero hoped to nab. He also wanted "Dawson's Creek" star James Van Der Beek to appear in the clip. "He's such an awesome guy. He was down for it," he said. "He had seen the Black Keys video [I shot] and he was stoked on the idea. It was so much fun. He and Ke$ha kind of went for all the craziness. I think he has a fantastic comic side. He's good at being naturally funny. It's about the delivery."

Ke$ha, of course, was onboard for all the zaniness. "Before we started filming, we had quite a few talks. She was adamant you can't back away from the crazy; everything about the idea she loved and she enforced the fact that she wanted to embrace every aspect of it and really go for it," he recalled. "On set, she was having fun. She was like, 'I want to lick a unicorn.' It was rad working with her because there definitely wasn't a sense of her feeling awkward about stuff or detached; no ego. It felt like we had worked together before."

Which video do you prefer: "Blow" or "Born This Way"? Tell us in the comments!

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Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1659284/kesha-blow-unicorns.jhtml

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Britney Spears' 'Till The World Ends' Hits Web

Femme Fatale's second single was penned by Ke$ha.
By Jocelyn Vena


Photo: Jive

Britney Spears' new single, "Till the World Ends," sounds poised to be a club smash. The Ke$ha-written, Dr. Luke/Max Martin-produced track was posted by Perez Hilton on Thursday afternoon (March 3), after speculation earlier in the day that the song would hit radio next week.

"Till the World Ends" is a swirling, "beat the beat" track, ready for late nights spent "dancing till the world ends" as she sings on the fast-paced party jam. "This kitten got your tongue tied in knots I see/ Spit it out 'cause I'm dying for company," a confident Spears purrs.

As the song slows for a moment — during a break before she moves her way to the chorus — she sings, "I can't take it take it take no more/ Never felt like felt like this before/ Come on get me get me on the floor/ DJ, what you what you waiting for?" she teases.

The beat chugs in the background as synths play with Spears' sex-kitten delivery of lines like "Watch me move/ When I lose, when I lose it hard/ Get you off with a touch/ Dancing in the dark.

"See the sunlight/ We ain't stopping/ Keep on dancing till the world ends/ If you feel it/ Let it happen/ Keep on dancing till the world ends," she sings as the song breaks down, fading out for a brief moment (revealing her signature breathiness), and then coming back in as she repeats those final lines again to close the song.

Ke$ha recently dished about the track to Spin.com, noting that it is about the power of an artist performing a great gig. "That song is me imagining her and any female musician touring the world," she said. "You know, when you go out, and you're having an amazing, magical night and you don't want to go to sleep and you want it to last until the world ends."

"Till the World Ends" is the second single from Femme Fatale, set to drop March 29. Its lead single, "Hold It Against Me," was an equally club-friendly jam by Luke and Martin, who are overseeing production on the album.

Give your review of "Till the World Ends" in the comments below!

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Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1659161/britney-spears-till-the-world-ends.jhtml

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