One of the biggest events of the year is happening next week right here in NYC.

It’s not the Oscars, the Golden Globes or even the presidential inauguration: It is in fact “The Hills Finale Live From NYC,” airing Monday at 8 p.m. ET/PT!

It seems that not a lot has changed in season four. Onetime best friends Lauren and Heidi are still not speaking to each other … the lovely Audrina is still as entertaining as ever … and Spencer is still, well …

Next week is the big season finale, and to celebrate we’re throwing a monster “Hills” finale aftershow right here in New York in front of a live studio audience, with the entire “Hills” cast live in the studio and me as your host. The one and only Pussycat Dolls will be performing at the aftershow, which begins at 10:30 right after the season finale.

Now, no names have been confirmed yet, but just imagine: It would be pretty interesting to have Heidi, Spencer and LC on the same couch, sitting next to each other, right? Awkward moments = great TV! Read more…

My colleague James Montgomery and I have a somewhat friendly difference of opinion about many things musical. James, it appears, favors writing hard-hitting stories about female pop stars “jumping” and “screaming,” while I tend to prefer grittier exposés about the perils of the mosh pit and uplifting tales of fallen Idols reaching for redemption.

But there’s one thing we always agree on: Neither of us will give an inch when it comes to Lily Allen. James, for instance, thinks the British popwreck is simply brilliant, witty and entertaining as she barrel rolls, seemingly with no shame gene, from one outrageous act to the next, frequently with one of her naughty bits hanging out.

Me? Not so much. Though initially charmed by her devil-may-care attitude, I now find her more tiresome than an Amy Winehouse health scare. So it was no surprise that we disagreed about Allen’s recently unwrapped cover of Britney’s “Womanizer.” Producer-of-the-moment Mark Ronson debuted the song on Friday during his “Authentic Sh–” show on East Village Radio, though it’s unclear whether he actually produced it.

Changing up the beat from a relentless electro hammer to the forehead into a kind of 1960s smoky girl-group trifle backed mostly by a two-note repetitive jazzy piano riff and some spare drums, Allen has set the table for her upcoming album, It’s Not Me, It’s You, by showing her relevance in the pop world. Read more…

By Matt Elias

It’s one of the most surreal moments I’ve had during my time at MTV News. I was backstage at KROQ’s Almost Acoustic Christmas in Los Angeles on Sunday, waiting in a hallway for my scheduled interview with the Killers, when all of a sudden I was whisked into a side room by KROQ’s Ann Ingold (you “Loveline” listeners might know her as “Producer Ann”). Without any idea of what was going on, I was told these words: “Courtney Love will talk to you.”

“Courtney Love!” I screamed to myself. Before I had a chance to react, I was face-to-face with an icon of ’90s grunge. For someone like myself who worshiped Nirvana and everything surrounding them, this was a big deal.

To the best of my recollection, the interview started with Courtney (who clearly hasn’t been watching MTV or checking out our Web site) saying, “MTV still has news? I miss the ’90s and Kurt Loder … this isn’t going to f—ing air.” It was love at first bleep! Read more…

Her name might not be Rio, but she sure danced like she was on a pile of sand.

Madonna took her Sticky & Sweet Tour down to Rio de Janiero on a rainy night last weekend, but her footing onstage was neither sticky nor sweet: Dressed in an outfit that might have been more age-appropriate for her 12-year-old daughter Lourdes, 50-year-old Madonna took a pretty awesome nosedive.

Rain on concert days is not Madonna’s friend, as anyone who’s seen “Truth or Dare” can attest. And after her spill here, she did her best to pass off the fall by writhing around on the stage. This, of course, only made things more awkward. Read more…

There’s the easy way, and there’s Kanye’s way.

Rather than staying in the platinum-dipped, award-winning lane he’s already carved with his previous albums, Kanye West promised to swerve on 808s & Heartbreak, taking the bold step of trying to sing more than rap. We already know 50 Cent’s not that crazy about it, and after ‘Ye’s appearance on “Saturday Night Live” over the weekend, even more people are starting to ask if maybe Yeezy bit off more than he can croon.

Without the assistance of his near-omnipresent vocoder — which he employed more heavily during his VMA debut of “Love Lockdown” in September — to massage his vocals into a robotic smoothness, West’s singing abilities were laid bare during the performance, and his vocals sometimes hit flat spots amid the spare musical accompaniment. That drew some harsh criticism from a number of Web outposts, like this and this. Gawker called it “like a quiet man doing bad karaoke” and headlined its review “Kanye West Disastrously Sings Without Digital Enhancement,” but when TMZ caught up with ‘Ye at the airport on Sunday, he deemed his performance “good” and he was not shy about posting the footage on his blog, where poster “neeomari” referred to the version of “Lockdown” as “hands down the greatest ‘SNL’ performance of all time.”

So, what did you think of Kanye’s singing on ‘SNL’?

By Akshay Bhansali

Z100’s Jingle Ball ‘08 is a wrap with easily one of the more talked about pop artists of 2008, Kanye West closing out the festivities. The press room was alive and chaotic today and some of the artists on the night’s roster were kind enough to make some time for us, as well as the plethora of young fans in waiting.

Although, Katy Perry, Leona Lewis (who judging by the camera crew surrounding her must have been shooting a reality show?), Rihanna, Chris Brown and Kanye West weren’t able to make it to the press area, former “American Idol”-er David Archuleta, Ne-Yo, Hayley and the gents from Paramore, Jesse McCartney, The Veronicas and the ever flamboyant Lady Gaga met up with us to share their year end news.

It was especially cool to observe the Veronicas meeting Paramore properly meeting for the first time (they waved hello to each other at the 2008 MTV Australia Awards).

By Matt Harper

Recently, I wrote about Dan Deacon’s decision to add a 14-piece ensemble to his performance. Dan invited me and fellow producer CJ Smith down to Baltimore to watch this grand experiment in music come to life … and we were pleased to accept the offer. We watched Dan and his gang of percussionists, keyboardists and xylophonists practice for about three hours, and then we sat down and talked to him for a bit about exactly why he’s moving away from purely electronic composition into a realm more closely approximate to orchestral composition.

What was clear to us after talking to Dan was that the addition of live instrumentation was the direction he had always seen for himself. But as he put it, when you’re just starting off, it’s hard to convince 14 people to come and practice for 10 hours a day to play to a crowd of no one. But things are different now. His last album, Spiderman of the Rings, was a critical success, and Dan’s frenetic shows have earned him a steady following of loyal fans. So it seemed like the time was finally right to step up his live performance by bringing along his makeshift ensemble. Read more…

Baseball, football, basketball — I’m into all that. I love wrestling with a passion.

Golf? Not so much.

I mean, I watch the highlights on ESPN of Tiger Hood (yeah, we claimed him — Woods is ‘hood) obliterating the competition, but it never really inspired me to want to play. Well, unless you count putt-putt. I’m a miniature-golf fiend when I get a chance to play in VA (Bad News, what up!!!).

But doing what we do here at MTV News, there are some things you have to see for yourself. So when our good friend Theda Dotcom told us that one of her clients, Scarface, not only loved to play golf, but invited us to come with him to play while we were in Houston for the Ozone Awards, no way could I say no.
Read more…

By Matt Harper

Tomorrow is a big day for Baltimore “electronic” musician Dan Deacon. Please take note: I’m putting “electronic” in quotes because after tomorrow — when Dan takes the stage of the Brooklyn Masonic Temple with a full 14-piece ensemble — he can no longer be called an electronic musician … which is the point of the whole thing, I suppose.

My co-worker and I got the opportunity to drive to Baltimore this week to check out Dan and his 14-piece entourage practice for the very first time for their upcoming show. So after two speeding tickets and a belly full of Waffle House, we made it to the practice space where Deacon would realize his vision of translating his pulsing, addictively danceable beats into live instrumentation.

(More from the Dan Deacon rehearsal, after the jump!) Read more…

FROM THE MTV MOVIES BLOG: Tomorrow, the hotly anticipated Golden Globe nominations will be announced, and with that comes the same question that is asked every single year: Who the hell is the Hollywood Foreign Press Association that decides who wins and who loses at the Golden Globes?

One of the big differences that separate the Golden Globes from the Oscars is the simple fact that the nominees and the winners are not decided by fellow actors and directors, but instead by a group that calls itself the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.

For more on Tim’s Golden Globes vs. Oscars debate, head to the MTV Movies Blog.