Macklemore, Machine Gun Kelly Rule mtvU Woodie Awards

Tegan and Sara and Machine Gun Kelly host the mtvU Woodie Awards on March 14th, 2013 in Austin, Texas.

mtvU's Woodie Awards have become something of a SXSW tradition over the past few years, with a day party, nighttime showcase and the awards show broadcast on MTV all dedicated to celebrating the tastemaking musical choices of college students across the country. Last night, co-hosts Machine Gun Kelly and Tegan and Sara led the crowd through performances by headliner Zedd and Macklemore and Ryan Lewis, pausing between performances to hand out awards. The showcase will be edited down to a half-hour telecast set to air Saturday night at 8 pm.

The day party included sets by Pusha T, Atlas Genius and Travi$ Scott (who brought out T.I. for a cameo appearance). Tegan and Sara took the stage to kick off the award show just as the sun set over downtown Austin. Opening with "Back in Your Head," the twin duo with a four-piece backing band ran through a short four-song set (which included "Body Work" and "Closer") before heading to the small host's stage, where Machine Gun Kelly delivered the Breaking Woodie to Odd Future rapper Earl Sweatshirt. Earl, whose major label solo debut Doris is set to drop this year on his vanity imprint for Columbia, jokingly thanked R. Kelly for getting him to come down to SXSW.

Video: Machine Gun Kelly 'Takes Over the Rucker'

The awards show gave the showcase a bit of a stilted feel, with a few longer waits between artists and the bizarre sight of MGK and Tegan and Sara speaking into cameras from the host's stage without being able to hear a word they were saying. Danny Brown was on hand to collect his Woodie Award for Best Music Video (for the coming-of-age tale "Grown Up"), while Macklemore and Ryan Lewis shared the Branching Out Woodie and MGK himself took home the Woodie of the Year honor, delivering a prepared speech in which he decried the backlash against him from critics and journalists and thanked his fans for sticking by him.

The average age of the crowd unsurprisingly skewed young, with a number of fans crowded near the backstage barricade before the show started, trying to get a glimpse of Macklemore and Lewis. But the band that surprised most was the Ohio-based SXSW newcomers Twenty One Pilots, who caused more than a few audience members to utter a double-take "Who?" But their genre-mashing electro-pop-rap-rock combination was received with enthusiastic praise. "I know you don't know who we are," said singer/keyboardist/aerial stuntman Tyler Joseph self-deprecatingly before he and drummer Josh Dun jumped all over the stage – Dun executing a backflip off a raised dais – and performing their song "Holding On To You," a Passion Pit-inspired indie synth-pop track with rapped verses.

The crowd packed in for Macklemore, who appropriately came out wearing a poncho he claimed to have bought at an Austin thrift shop, a story he related to the crowd after performing his near-ubiquitous chart-topping hit "Thrift Shop." "Same Love" was a sermon tearing down homophobia in hip-hop and the church, while Schoolboy Q and Hollis emerged to help out with "White Walls" and Macklemore went walking out on top of the crowd's hands a la Method Man during his set-closing "Can't Hold Us."

Much of the audience streamed out after his last song – another unsurprising twist, considering how rabid his fanbase has become – leaving plenty of space to dance around during Zedd's closing set. His massive screen and video game-esque light show helped energize the crowd, which wound up covered in beach balls and the residue of Zedd's fog machine by evening's end, a celebratory ending.

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Macklemore, Machine Gun Kelly Rule mtvU Woodie Awards

Tegan and Sara and Machine Gun Kelly host the mtvU Woodie Awards on March 14th, 2013 in Austin, Texas.

mtvU's Woodie Awards have become something of a SXSW tradition over the past few years, with a day party, nighttime showcase and the awards show broadcast on MTV all dedicated to celebrating the tastemaking musical choices of college students across the country. Last night, co-hosts Machine Gun Kelly and Tegan and Sara led the crowd through performances by headliner Zedd and Macklemore and Ryan Lewis, pausing between performances to hand out awards. The showcase will be edited down to a half-hour telecast set to air Saturday night at 8 pm.

The day party included sets by Pusha T, Atlas Genius and Travi$ Scott (who brought out T.I. for a cameo appearance). Tegan and Sara took the stage to kick off the award show just as the sun set over downtown Austin. Opening with "Back in Your Head," the twin duo with a four-piece backing band ran through a short four-song set (which included "Body Work" and "Closer") before heading to the small host's stage, where Machine Gun Kelly delivered the Breaking Woodie to Odd Future rapper Earl Sweatshirt. Earl, whose major label solo debut Doris is set to drop this year on his vanity imprint for Columbia, jokingly thanked R. Kelly for getting him to come down to SXSW.

Video: Machine Gun Kelly 'Takes Over the Rucker'

The awards show gave the showcase a bit of a stilted feel, with a few longer waits between artists and the bizarre sight of MGK and Tegan and Sara speaking into cameras from the host's stage without being able to hear a word they were saying. Danny Brown was on hand to collect his Woodie Award for Best Music Video (for the coming-of-age tale "Grown Up"), while Macklemore and Ryan Lewis shared the Branching Out Woodie and MGK himself took home the Woodie of the Year honor, delivering a prepared speech in which he decried the backlash against him from critics and journalists and thanked his fans for sticking by him.

The average age of the crowd unsurprisingly skewed young, with a number of fans crowded near the backstage barricade before the show started, trying to get a glimpse of Macklemore and Lewis. But the band that surprised most was the Ohio-based SXSW newcomers Twenty One Pilots, who caused more than a few audience members to utter a double-take "Who?" But their genre-mashing electro-pop-rap-rock combination was received with enthusiastic praise. "I know you don't know who we are," said singer/keyboardist/aerial stuntman Tyler Joseph self-deprecatingly before he and drummer Josh Dun jumped all over the stage – Dun executing a backflip off a raised dais – and performing their song "Holding On To You," a Passion Pit-inspired indie synth-pop track with rapped verses.

The crowd packed in for Macklemore, who appropriately came out wearing a poncho he claimed to have bought at an Austin thrift shop, a story he related to the crowd after performing his near-ubiquitous chart-topping hit "Thrift Shop." "Same Love" was a sermon tearing down homophobia in hip-hop and the church, while Schoolboy Q and Hollis emerged to help out with "White Walls" and Macklemore went walking out on top of the crowd's hands a la Method Man during his set-closing "Can't Hold Us."

Much of the audience streamed out after his last song – another unsurprising twist, considering how rabid his fanbase has become – leaving plenty of space to dance around during Zedd's closing set. His massive screen and video game-esque light show helped energize the crowd, which wound up covered in beach balls and the residue of Zedd's fog machine by evening's end, a celebratory ending.

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R. Kelly Records Song for Survivors of Newtown Shooting

R. Kelly Records Song for Survivors of Newtown ShootingSinger pays tribute to Connecticut school children $(document).ready(function() { $('.socialActionsTop .pageActions .email-content').hover( function() { $('.socialActionsTop .bubble.email').show(); }, function() { $('.socialActionsTop .bubble.email').hide(); } ); $('.socialActionsTop .pageActions .print-page').hover( function() { $('.socialActionsTop .bubble.print').show(); }, function() { $('.socialActionsTop .bubble.print').hide(); } ); });

R. Kelly has written and recorded a new track paying tribute to the survivors of the Sandy Hook school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, Rap-Up reports. "I Know You Are Hurting" is an uplifting, gospel-tinged track that features choirs of children and adults, though Kelly cedes the spotlight to the kids. "I know you're hurting / I hear you crying, but come tomorrow, there's a place you can go," they sing. It's a much needed dose of positivity.

Gun Control Now

A local promotor and newspaper editor in Newtown are looking for acts for benefit shows to support the community and survivors of the shooting. They have secured open dates for late January and early February at Webster Bank Arena in Bridgeport.

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R. Kelly Records Song for Survivors of Newtown Shooting

R. Kelly Records Song for Survivors of Newtown ShootingSinger pays tribute to Connecticut school children $(document).ready(function() { $('.socialActionsTop .pageActions .email-content').hover( function() { $('.socialActionsTop .bubble.email').show(); }, function() { $('.socialActionsTop .bubble.email').hide(); } ); $('.socialActionsTop .pageActions .print-page').hover( function() { $('.socialActionsTop .bubble.print').show(); }, function() { $('.socialActionsTop .bubble.print').hide(); } ); });

R. Kelly has written and recorded a new track paying tribute to the survivors of the Sandy Hook school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, Rap-Up reports. "I Know You Are Hurting" is an uplifting, gospel-tinged track that features choirs of children and adults, though Kelly cedes the spotlight to the kids. "I know you're hurting / I hear you crying, but come tomorrow, there's a place you can go," they sing. It's a much needed dose of positivity.

Gun Control Now

A local promotor and newspaper editor in Newtown are looking for acts for benefit shows to support the community and survivors of the shooting. They have secured open dates for late January and early February at Webster Bank Arena in Bridgeport.

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Machine Gun Kelly on His DMX, Avenged Sevenfold Collaborations

Rapper Machine Gun Kelly worked with acts including DMX, Avenged Sevenfold, Lil Jon and Young Jeezy on his debut album, Lace Up (due October 9th), he and is signed to Bad Boy/Interscope. Still, he views himself very much as the underdog.

"We never had what Mac Miller, what A$AP Rocky had, what any of these guys had – we never had the hype to where we were getting covers of fucking magazines," MGK tells Rolling Stone. "The 'wow' factor should've been I'm just an average kid who speaks for fucking hundreds of thousands of kids who feel just like me, and [are] all willing to live and die by the lifestyle that I portray and project and live myself."

If it seems like a stark juxtaposition between how MGK sees things and how others might view them – after all, he won mtvU's Breaking Woodie award this year and was named MTV's Hottest Breakthrough MC of 2011 – that is his weird world right now.

"I live in a house in Cleveland, Ohio with all my best friends. Other than that, we're on a tour bus. I have no Internet and no way of really seeing what is going on, as far as hype goes," he says. "I'm not paid at all. I'm not rich, I don't have a car."

Yet the executive producer for his album is P. Diddy. "I've seen Puff do impressions of me – that shit is pretty funny," he says.

He's also struck up a close bond with DMX: "He kind of became like an older brother to me. He'll give me advice, he'll tell me when I'm tripping," Kelly says. That friendship was born out of their memorable first meeting, when the two teamed up to record "Demons."

"He really didn't have any idea what he was getting into, so I was worried about the first impression," Kelly recalls. "But it was the best first impression ever. He came in the studio when I was on top of the table rapping the last song ['Niggaz Done Started Something'] on It's Dark and Hell Is Hot, which a lot of people in the mainstream world would not know. But it's the L.O.X., Mase and him, and I was rapping his verse right when he walked in, so he was like, 'Oh, shit, this energy is crazy right now,' started clapping his hands."

Kelly's pairing with Avenged Sevenfold on the song "Save Me" is the opening track. "In my opinion, they're the best in the metal world of this generation," he says.

The rapper points out proudly that every collaboration on the album was booked before he got the Bad Boy/Interscope name behind him. "A lot of the people did it strictly off the love for what I was doing," he says.

What those artists see in Kelly is what thousands of kids see in him – an artist who is also a diehard music fan.

"When I was running away, I didn't have somebody there to help me run away. All I had was DMX's voice or Eminem's voice or Tupac's voice. It's not like I ran away from home and a motherfucker would just pop up at the train station, 'Hey, everything's gonna be OK, I see you're going through some shit,'" he says. "I didn't have that. All I had was those two headphones and that three minutes of music."

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Kelly Clarkson Brings Out Famous Friends in Los Angeles

Kelly Clarkson performs during her Stronger Tour at the Nokia Theatre L.A. in Los Angeles.

"I feel so popular right now!" said Kelly Clarkson last night at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles – and beyond the capacity crowd, it wasn't hard to see why. Playing one of the final dates of her current North American tour, Clarkson peppered the nearly two-hour show with surprise cameos by several high-wattage pals, including Reba McEntire and Blake Shelton, the latter of whom joined her for a rendition of Clarkson and Jason Aldean's pop-country power ballad, "Don't You Wanna Stay." Michelle Branch and fellow American Idol alum Tamyra Gray also appeared. "It's L.A., y'all," Clarkson explained at one point. "I got a lot of friends here."

The guest stars inspired big audience reactions, but Clarkson hardly needed the help as she ran through hit after hit from her five studio albums: "Since U Been Gone," remade as a sleek dance-punk jam; "Already Gone," with close-harmony backing vocals from her eight-piece band; a fiercely propulsive "My Life Would Suck Without You"; "Mr. Know It All," which she introduced by asking if anyone in the house had ever "dated a tool" before. ("I dated maybe the biggest douche in L.A.," she added.) After a stripped-down "Never Again," from 2007's gloomy My December, the singer offered a warning to all future boyfriends: "Never piss me off – I'll write some shit."  

In addition to "Mr. Know It All," Clarkson sang a handful of tunes from last year's Stronger, which she called her favorite of all her records. "Einstein" was a laidback folk-soul tune, while "You Love Me" had an appealing Eighties-R&B vibe; later, the album's chart-topping title track blasted the room with strobing disco synths. Clarkson did several covers as well, including "Heavy in Your Arms" by Florence and the Machine and a gospel-fired take on Britney Spears' "Till the World Ends." She and Gray revived "When You Believe," the 1998 Mariah Carey-Whitney Houston duet from The Prince of Egypt, and Clarkson summoned more dueling-divas energy with McEntire during "Because of You."  

Toward the end of the show she reached back to the Disney-princess pop of her first big solo smash, "Breakaway," telling the crowd the song was "where people started really getting behind me and supporting my career." Nearly a decade later, as last night's parade of stars demonstrated, that career has grown exponentially. But somehow Clarkson retains an essential one-of-us quality. She still can't believe she's the popular girl.

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Kelly Clarkson Brings Out Famous Friends in Los Angeles

Kelly Clarkson performs during her Stronger Tour at the Nokia Theatre L.A. in Los Angeles.

"I feel so popular right now!" said Kelly Clarkson last night at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles – and beyond the capacity crowd, it wasn't hard to see why. Playing one of the final dates of her current North American tour, Clarkson peppered the nearly two-hour show with surprise cameos by several high-wattage pals, including Reba McEntire and Blake Shelton, the latter of whom joined her for a rendition of Clarkson and Jason Aldean's pop-country power ballad, "Don't You Wanna Stay." Michelle Branch and fellow American Idol alum Tamyra Gray also appeared. "It's L.A., y'all," Clarkson explained at one point. "I got a lot of friends here."

The guest stars inspired big audience reactions, but Clarkson hardly needed the help as she ran through hit after hit from her five studio albums: "Since U Been Gone," remade as a sleek dance-punk jam; "Already Gone," with close-harmony backing vocals from her eight-piece band; a fiercely propulsive "My Life Would Suck Without You"; "Mr. Know It All," which she introduced by asking if anyone in the house had ever "dated a tool" before. ("I dated maybe the biggest douche in L.A.," she added.) After a stripped-down "Never Again," from 2007's gloomy My December, the singer offered a warning to all future boyfriends: "Never piss me off – I'll write some shit."  

In addition to "Mr. Know It All," Clarkson sang a handful of tunes from last year's Stronger, which she called her favorite of all her records. "Einstein" was a laidback folk-soul tune, while "You Love Me" had an appealing Eighties-R&B vibe; later, the album's chart-topping title track blasted the room with strobing disco synths. Clarkson did several covers as well, including "Heavy in Your Arms" by Florence and the Machine and a gospel-fired take on Britney Spears' "Till the World Ends." She and Gray revived "When You Believe," the 1998 Mariah Carey-Whitney Houston duet from The Prince of Egypt, and Clarkson summoned more dueling-divas energy with McEntire during "Because of You."  

Toward the end of the show she reached back to the Disney-princess pop of her first big solo smash, "Breakaway," telling the crowd the song was "where people started really getting behind me and supporting my career." Nearly a decade later, as last night's parade of stars demonstrated, that career has grown exponentially. But somehow Clarkson retains an essential one-of-us quality. She still can't believe she's the popular girl.

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Paul Kelly Writes 568-Page Liner Notes for Career-Spanning Box Set

With his beetle brow, bald crown, big ears and gaunt cheekbones, Paul Kelly could play the heavy in a British gangster film, especially when he wears a shiny suit (on the first night of his current U.S. tour, in Austin, Texas it was maroon). 

Instead – someone notify the Guinness Book of Records – the Australian singer-songwriter's current claim to fame might be creating the world's longest CD liner notes. Kelly's 568-page autobiography, How to Make Gravy, has just been published in the United States, in tandem with The A to Z Recordings, a 106-track, eight-CD boxed set culled from Kelly's now-trademark A to Z live performances. 

For those shows, which traveled to 11 U.S. cities through March, Kelly takes the stage over one to four nights with an easel, 24 big white cards displaying letters of the alphabet (he doesn't have a "V" or "X" song) and a guitar, surveying his whole career in alphabetical order. "It's like a game really," Kelly says.

Something of a cross between Bruce Springsteen, Townes Van Zandt and Elvis Costello to his fellow countrymen, Kelly has been making music for 30 years, getting his start around the same time as such Australian post-punk greats as Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds and the Go-Betweens. Rolling Stone's David Fricke has called him "one of the finest songwriters I have ever heard, Australian or otherwise." 

He was a college radio fave on A&M Records in the late 1980s (touring the U.S. with Crowded House), and his song "Blue Stranger" was covered by Keith Urban – but his true metier is as a witty, sparse roots and rock & roll-based storyteller. 

His minimalism stems from the influence of short story writers like Raymond Carver, who could convey so much information and emotion in so few words (Kelly's song "Everything's Turning to White" retells Carver's story "So Much Water So Close to Home") but also the economy of classic pop music (i.e. the Beatles or Motown). "If I write a song that's two and a half minutes or three minutes, I feel pleased about it," Kelly says.

He first did an "A to Z" (which he pronounces "Zed," of course) in 2004, as something special for the Famous Spiegeltent (a travelling venue that makes regular stops around Australia and the United Kingdom). By the time those shows were over, "I realized that I'd found a new way to perform," Kelly says. "Audiences went to the shows with a different sort of expectation."

The sets are almost entirely acoustic, just Kelly on vocals, guitar, harmonica and occasionally piano, with his nephew Dan Kelly adding melody and color on guitar and backing vocals (and at least one time, ukulele). 

"Some of it's predictable, some of it's not," Kelly says. "Some letters I have eight songs (one of which is "I") and other letters I might only have two or three. "Adelaide," about his hometown, always starts things off, and he wrote a song called "Zoe" especially for the first Spiegeltent show.
Named after his huge Australian Christmas hit (which is sung from the point of view of a prisoner calling his family during the holiday), Kelly's "mongrel memoir" really did start out as liner notes. But no sooner had he written a few pages about "Adelaide" then he realized he had something more. Two and a half years later he had a finished book.

Much more than an autobiography, How to Make Gravy includes everything from unfussy recollections of his time using heroin and an encomium for Aussie cricket great Don Bradman to how he came to lift parts of his song "Careless" from two different Go-Betweens song to an actual letter Kelly wrote in the late 1980s while on that first big U.S. tour. He also throws in plenty of his own takes on rock history - in one chapter he talks Australian music; in another, he lists his favorite-ever first lines of songs from the likes of Weezer, Bo Diddley, Patti Smith and Bruce Springsteen.

The book is also in alphabetical order, but Kelly found that having such a rigid structure also was quite freeing.

"I wasn't writing a novel or a nonfiction thing with a through line through it," he says. "I tried to treat each chapter as a standalone thing and then I would think, these songs go on an album. It was a very songwriterly kind of book in that way."

The U.S. release of A to Z comes on the heels of Kelly's recent best-of Songs of the South; his label Gawd Aggie is also preparing a comprehensive reissue program that will include U.S distribution. So has there ever been a moment with the boxed set and the memoir where Kelly tired of looking back? 

"That moment is now," he says. "When I wrote the book I just didn't write any songs: writing prose was sort of like flicking a switch. So, definitely ready to do a new studio record now."

But even though it's been five years since his last full-band disc, Stolen Apples, Kelly thinks that he'll be sticking with the A-Z aesthetic for a while – the record that is in his head is still something simple and acoustic. 

"I'll probably be in this sort of mode for a while," he says.

To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here

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Paul Kelly Writes 568-Page Liner Notes for Career-Spanning Box Set

With his beetle brow, bald crown, big ears and gaunt cheekbones, Paul Kelly could play the heavy in a British gangster film, especially when he wears a shiny suit (on the first night of his current U.S. tour, in Austin, Texas it was maroon). 

Instead – someone notify the Guinness Book of Records – the Australian singer-songwriter's current claim to fame might be creating the world's longest CD liner notes. Kelly's 568-page autobiography, How to Make Gravy, has just been published in the United States, in tandem with The A to Z Recordings, a 106-track, eight-CD boxed set culled from Kelly's now-trademark A to Z live performances. 

For those shows, which traveled to 11 U.S. cities through March, Kelly takes the stage over one to four nights with an easel, 24 big white cards displaying letters of the alphabet (he doesn't have a "V" or "X" song) and a guitar, surveying his whole career in alphabetical order. "It's like a game really," Kelly says.

Something of a cross between Bruce Springsteen, Townes Van Zandt and Elvis Costello to his fellow countrymen, Kelly has been making music for 30 years, getting his start around the same time as such Australian post-punk greats as Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds and the Go-Betweens. Rolling Stone's David Fricke has called him "one of the finest songwriters I have ever heard, Australian or otherwise." 

He was a college radio fave on A&M Records in the late 1980s (touring the U.S. with Crowded House), and his song "Blue Stranger" was covered by Keith Urban – but his true metier is as a witty, sparse roots and rock & roll-based storyteller. 

His minimalism stems from the influence of short story writers like Raymond Carver, who could convey so much information and emotion in so few words (Kelly's song "Everything's Turning to White" retells Carver's story "So Much Water So Close to Home") but also the economy of classic pop music (i.e. the Beatles or Motown). "If I write a song that's two and a half minutes or three minutes, I feel pleased about it," Kelly says.

He first did an "A to Z" (which he pronounces "Zed," of course) in 2004, as something special for the Famous Spiegeltent (a travelling venue that makes regular stops around Australia and the United Kingdom). By the time those shows were over, "I realized that I'd found a new way to perform," Kelly says. "Audiences went to the shows with a different sort of expectation."

The sets are almost entirely acoustic, just Kelly on vocals, guitar, harmonica and occasionally piano, with his nephew Dan Kelly adding melody and color on guitar and backing vocals (and at least one time, ukulele). 

"Some of it's predictable, some of it's not," Kelly says. "Some letters I have eight songs (one of which is "I") and other letters I might only have two or three. "Adelaide," about his hometown, always starts things off, and he wrote a song called "Zoe" especially for the first Spiegeltent show.
Named after his huge Australian Christmas hit (which is sung from the point of view of a prisoner calling his family during the holiday), Kelly's "mongrel memoir" really did start out as liner notes. But no sooner had he written a few pages about "Adelaide" then he realized he had something more. Two and a half years later he had a finished book.

Much more than an autobiography, How to Make Gravy includes everything from unfussy recollections of his time using heroin and an encomium for Aussie cricket great Don Bradman to how he came to lift parts of his song "Careless" from two different Go-Betweens song to an actual letter Kelly wrote in the late 1980s while on that first big U.S. tour. He also throws in plenty of his own takes on rock history - in one chapter he talks Australian music; in another, he lists his favorite-ever first lines of songs from the likes of Weezer, Bo Diddley, Patti Smith and Bruce Springsteen.

The book is also in alphabetical order, but Kelly found that having such a rigid structure also was quite freeing.

"I wasn't writing a novel or a nonfiction thing with a through line through it," he says. "I tried to treat each chapter as a standalone thing and then I would think, these songs go on an album. It was a very songwriterly kind of book in that way."

The U.S. release of A to Z comes on the heels of Kelly's recent best-of Songs of the South; his label Gawd Aggie is also preparing a comprehensive reissue program that will include U.S distribution. So has there ever been a moment with the boxed set and the memoir where Kelly tired of looking back? 

"That moment is now," he says. "When I wrote the book I just didn't write any songs: writing prose was sort of like flicking a switch. So, definitely ready to do a new studio record now."

But even though it's been five years since his last full-band disc, Stolen Apples, Kelly thinks that he'll be sticking with the A-Z aesthetic for a while – the record that is in his head is still something simple and acoustic. 

"I'll probably be in this sort of mode for a while," he says.

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Prince, R. Kelly, Will Smith Ex-Wives Get Reality Show

Nicole Murphy and Eddie Murphy together in 2004

The ex-wives of Prince, R. Kelly, Will Smith, Eddie Murphy and Jose Canseco will star in a new VH1 reality series called Hollywood Exes, the Los Angeles Times reports. The women – Mayte Garcia, Andrea Kelly, Sheree Fletcher, Nicole Murphy and Jessica Canseco – have apparently been friends for years, but hope to further their respective careers and businesses with the new show.

The program, which is slated to premiere sometime this summer, will run for 10 episodes. None of the men – all of whom are notoriously private save for baseball star Canseco – are expected to make an appearance on the show.

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Machine Gun Kelly Tempers His Rage on 'Half Naked' EP

Machine Gun Kelly Tempers His Rage on 'Half Naked' EP

Machine Gun Kelly is more vulnerable than his "wild boy" persona lets on. The Cleveland, Ohio rapper, whose clamorous live sets and fanbase of "ragers" have branded him a contender for hip-hop's resident rocker, reveals a softer side on his Half Naked & Almost Famous EP, his first official release through Diddy's Bad Boy label and a companion piece to a 90-minute documentary.

On cuts like "See My Tears" and "EST 4 Life," Kelly points the pen inward, reflecting on his mainstream ascent and questioning what the future holds. The five-track set also includes two previously released tracks – the blistering "Wild Boys," featuring Waka Flocka Flame, and the Cassie-assisted "Warning Shot," where Kelly barks over bombastic soundscapes.

"I'm probably one of the wildest, most out-of-control people in the industry," says the 21-year-old, who was arrested for disorderly conduct in January after a gig in Florida. "I don't give a fuck about the masses; I'm not here for them. I'm here to make an impact on the kids who truly care. I'm not going to beg for attention and shit."

MGK is at his most raucous in the documentary, which was shot during last year's Warped Tour and features footage of him coughing up blood from a throat infection ("We fuckin' bleed this shit," he boasts) and tripping on mushrooms ("I'm definitely a boomer").

"I was a huge punker growing up," says Kelly, whose real name is Richard Baker. "On my body, shit, if you want to talk about rock stars, I've got Tommy Lee's Mayhem (logo) tattooed on my wrist. I got fuckin' Chili Peppers on my elbow. I got scars all over my fuckin' hands from fighting and just dumb shit. Hip-hop influences my talent, but I think that punk and everything else I listened to growing up was who my idols were. That's why drugs also got involved in my life. I idolized the wrong people, like Nikki Sixx and Kurt Cobain."

Kelly's rise has caught the attention of Tech N9ne, who invited the rapper to join his Hostile Takeover; the trek will hit 90 cities in 99 days and kick off on March 24th in in Kansas City. The rapper's history of road rage preceded him, resulting in an imposed list of guidelines for him to follow over the three-month run. "No afterparties, no clubs, no smoking...We have a very bad road reputation," Kelly says. "Rules are meant to be broken."

Kelly, who is diagnosed with bi-polar disorder, also plans to showcase his more extreme and subdued sides on his upcoming summer debut LP, Lace Up. Recorded before he signed with Bad Boy last August, it features a collaboration with Tech N9ne – but the rapper remains tightlipped about the rest. When asked why "Warning Shot," which originally featured Livvi Franc on its hook, now features Cassie, his tongue turns cold. But he assures that he maintained creative control over the project.

"Lace Up is going to be recognized by the Grammys. It's going to be one of those things that goes down in history as one of the best albums, period. It's kind of like Adele's 21. It was this perfect time in a person's life, and she made a soundtrack for it. Lace Up is the same way," says Kelly. "When it's time for you to know who I am, it'll be the right time. I'm not going to convince you to know who I am. I don't care."

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Machine Gun Kelly Tempers His Rage on 'Half Naked' EP

Machine Gun Kelly Tempers His Rage on 'Half Naked' EP

Machine Gun Kelly is more vulnerable than his "wild boy" persona lets on. The Cleveland, Ohio rapper, whose clamorous live sets and fanbase of "ragers" have branded him a contender for hip-hop's resident rocker, reveals a softer side on his Half Naked & Almost Famous EP, his first official release through Diddy's Bad Boy label and a companion piece to a 90-minute documentary.

On cuts like "See My Tears" and "EST 4 Life," Kelly points the pen inward, reflecting on his mainstream ascent and questioning what the future holds. The five-track set also includes two previously released tracks – the blistering "Wild Boys," featuring Waka Flocka Flame, and the Cassie-assisted "Warning Shot," where Kelly barks over bombastic soundscapes.

"I'm probably one of the wildest, most out-of-control people in the industry," says the 21-year-old, who was arrested for disorderly conduct in January after a gig in Florida. "I don't give a fuck about the masses; I'm not here for them. I'm here to make an impact on the kids who truly care. I'm not going to beg for attention and shit."

MGK is at his most raucous in the documentary, which was shot during last year's Warped Tour and features footage of him coughing up blood from a throat infection ("We fuckin' bleed this shit," he boasts) and tripping on mushrooms ("I'm definitely a boomer").

"I was a huge punker growing up," says Kelly, whose real name is Richard Baker. "On my body, shit, if you want to talk about rock stars, I've got Tommy Lee's Mayhem (logo) tattooed on my wrist. I got fuckin' Chili Peppers on my elbow. I got scars all over my fuckin' hands from fighting and just dumb shit. Hip-hop influences my talent, but I think that punk and everything else I listened to growing up was who my idols were. That's why drugs also got involved in my life. I idolized the wrong people, like Nikki Sixx and Kurt Cobain."

Kelly's rise has caught the attention of Tech N9ne, who invited the rapper to join his Hostile Takeover; the trek will hit 90 cities in 99 days and kick off on March 24th in in Kansas City. The rapper's history of road rage preceded him, resulting in an imposed list of guidelines for him to follow over the three-month run. "No afterparties, no clubs, no smoking...We have a very bad road reputation," Kelly says. "Rules are meant to be broken."

Kelly, who is diagnosed with bi-polar disorder, also plans to showcase his more extreme and subdued sides on his upcoming summer debut LP, Lace Up. Recorded before he signed with Bad Boy last August, it features a collaboration with Tech N9ne – but the rapper remains tightlipped about the rest. When asked why "Warning Shot," which originally featured Livvi Franc on its hook, now features Cassie, his tongue turns cold. But he assures that he maintained creative control over the project.

"Lace Up is going to be recognized by the Grammys. It's going to be one of those things that goes down in history as one of the best albums, period. It's kind of like Adele's 21. It was this perfect time in a person's life, and she made a soundtrack for it. Lace Up is the same way," says Kelly. "When it's time for you to know who I am, it'll be the right time. I'm not going to convince you to know who I am. I don't care."

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Kelly Clarkson and Lionel Richie to Star in 'Duets'

Kelly Clarkson and Lionel Richie to star in 'Duets'Jeff Neira/Katherine Bomboy-Thornton/ABC

Kelly Clarkson, Lionel Richie, Robin Thicke and Sugarland's Jennifer Nettles will star in Duets, a new singing competition show for ABC. The show, which is set to air this summer, will have the celebrity vocalists searching for undiscovered talent, and each will choose two duet partners for weekly performances. At the end of the season, one winner will get a recording contract with Hollywood Records.

Duets is the latest in what is becoming a very crowded market for televised singing competitions. In addition to American Idol, The Voice and The X Factor, Jennifer Lopez's Latin American talent search Q'Viva is coming to Fox, and the CW is about to launch The Star Next Door with Gloria Estefan and John Rich.

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Kelly Clarkson and Lionel Richie to Star in 'Duets'

Kelly Clarkson and Lionel Richie to star in 'Duets'Jeff Neira/Katherine Bomboy-Thornton/ABC

Kelly Clarkson, Lionel Richie, Robin Thicke and Sugarland's Jennifer Nettles will star in Duets, a new singing competition show for ABC. The show, which is set to air this summer, will have the celebrity vocalists searching for undiscovered talent, and each will choose two duet partners for weekly performances. At the end of the season, one winner will get a recording contract with Hollywood Records.

Duets is the latest in what is becoming a very crowded market for televised singing competitions. In addition to American Idol, The Voice and The X Factor, Jennifer Lopez's Latin American talent search Q'Viva is coming to Fox, and the CW is about to launch The Star Next Door with Gloria Estefan and John Rich.

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Kelly Price Remembers Whitney Houston

Whitney Houston and Kelly Price share the stage at the Kelly Price and Friends Unplugged: For The Love Of R&B Grammy Party at Tru Hollywood.

On Thursday night, just two days before her death, Whitney Houston showed up at R&B singer Kelly Price's pre-Grammy celebration. The two old friends even sang a duet of "Yes, Jesus Loves Me."

Talking to Rolling Stone last night, Price – who was clearly struggling to control her emotions before succumbing to tears near the end of the interview – said that the song was a fitting one.

"She’s a church girl, she related to the church girl in me. I’m a church girl, I related to the church girl in her," Price said. "And at the end of the day, whatever was going on, our conversation could always go back to the foundation of our lives, starting out singing in church. And no matter what was going on we could always go back to that."

Photos: Whitney Houston Through the Years

One of the reasons Price wanted to speak under the difficult circumstances was to address resurfacing rumors surrounding Houston's problems with addiction. Price wanted to talk about the Houston she saw Thursday night, not the troubled diva depicted in the media in recent years. The specific circumstances of Houston's death are still unknown, but reports surfaced Sunday that the singer may have drowned in the bathtub. Law enforcement officials at the scene Saturday evening said there was "nothing obvious at this time" for cause of death and ruled out foul play. Houston had been attending out-patient rehab program in May 2009 for drug and alcohol treatment.

"Things people want to allude to are not what I saw," Price said. "There was no craziness going on, absolutely none of it. It was a great musical event. And honestly, I’m saying it because her daughter was there with her, my two children were there with me. It was an atmosphere that lent itself to being okay for our kids to be there. So that’s what was going on."

What Price saw instead was a close friend celebrating music and having a good time. "She came down, and we had a ball like we always do," Price said. "We laughed, danced, sang and cried and talked about the stuff that we talk about – the kids, life outside of the business. It was good, she was good. It was great, she had a good time, she was happy and that was all night long,"

For Price, Houston's generous spirit is what she'll remember most about the singer. "She was not just a phenomenal singer, she was an amazing person. She was very giving, she would give you her last," she told us. "And the way we were with each other on Thursday night is the way she absolutely deserves to be remembered, celebrating somebody else because she loved them and she wasn’t afraid to put somebody else forward."

Houston often advised her friend on how to survive the industry. "She’s told me what pitfalls to watch out for, how to keep from falling into certain traps, about how this business can just tear you apart if you let it."

Price said Houston imparted to her the importance of keeping a healthy balance between work and family. "She told me, 'Do whatever you can to maintain normalcy at home. Do whatever you can to be there with your family, keep your family around you. Don’t let this business define who you are at home, don’t let it become your everything because this wonderful gift that we have will also, if you’re not careful, and you allow the business to consume every area of your life, it will tear you apart.'"

That Houston tried to keep a peer from suffering through some of the same issues she had was one reason Price called her a friend. "I want people to know she cared about people, she loved people, she loved me, she cared about me," she said.

"She showed up to that party on Thursday night not as a diva. She came and sat in the background and watched me shine. She pushed me to shine. That’s the Whitney I know, that’s who they need to understand she was," Price told us.

"I worked with a lot of artists. She is probably the only one that just without any selfishness at all would push me," Price said. "She wanted me to be heard, she wanted me to be seen. And on Thursday night she said to me, 'I am proud of you. I’m proud of you.' And that means so much because I understood what that meant."

Price continued, remarking on Houston's willingness to help a fellow musician and her desire to connect. "It wasn’t just about the Grammys, it was about knowing that through it all, things that she told me, I took heed of them and I believe that there are even some things she might have fallen prey to and some pitfalls she experienced throughout her life and her career," she said.

"[Houston's] goal in advising me was to keep me from having to face the same issues as her or the same problems," Price said. "And I heard her when she talked to me, and I took it to heart. It wasn’t about being proud of an achievement, it was because she understood that I heard her and I took to heart what she said."

Below is some video footage of Houston's performance with Price on Thursday night:

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On the Charts: Kelly Clarkson Starts the Slow Burn

Kelly Clarkson performs at Radio City Music Hall in New York City.

WINNER OF THE WEEK: Kelly Clarkson. Her people pulled all the right levers over the past month and a half to launch "Stronger (What Doesn't Kill You)" to the top of this week's Billboard digital songs chart, where it sold 225,000 copies – and hit Number One on iTunes, overtaking even Adele's "Set Fire to the Rain." Clarkson performed it just before Christmas on VH1 Divas and early this year on Saturday Night Live, then sold it for $0.99 at Amazon's MP3 Store, helping to rack up 4 million YouTube views in the process. The single doesn't have quite the rocking-out resonance of such Clarkson hits as "Since U Been Gone" and "My Life Would Suck Without You," but it's catchy and memorable and has a certain survivor mentality that's kind of perfect for the times. Clarkson never quite explodes onto the charts, but she's a master of the long, slow burn.

LOSER OF THE WEEK: Guess you all got tired of Jason Mraz in a hurry. In just its third week on the charts, the singer-songwriter's sentimental "I Won't Give Up" dropped from Number Eight on Billboard's Hot 100 to Number 72 – as well as 50 slots, from Number Two to Number 52, on the Ultimate Chart, which measures Internet criteria like YouTube views and Facebook likes. Why the steep drop? Maybe it's because the pop competition finally emerged from holiday hibernation, compared to the barren early-January period, when "I Won't Give Up" was the only hit in town. Or maybe it's this. Either way, it's not the ideal run-up to releasing an album, which Mraz plans to do in the first half of this year.

A GOLDEN AGE FOR ASS SONGS?: It takes three examples to make a trend, so watch this space when the news breaks that a third song with the word "ass" in the title starts running up the charts. We promise it'll be any day now. First, Big Sean's "Dance (A$$)," with Nicki Minaj's memorable presence, cynically galloped to a peak of Number 10 on Billboard's Hot 100. Then came Gym Class Heroes' "Ass Back Home" (as in "Get Your . . . "), which jumped 15 slots, to Number 23, on the recent Ultimate Chart. That's in part due to the video, co-starring the striking, red-haired, nose-ringed singer Neon Hitch – it's up to 5.4 million YouTube views and Number 24 on the Hot 100.

LAST WEEK: The Black Keys and Coldplay Prove Rock's Staying Power

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On the Charts: Kelly Clarkson Starts the Slow Burn

Kelly Clarkson performs at Radio City Music Hall in New York City.

WINNER OF THE WEEK: Kelly Clarkson. Her people pulled all the right levers over the past month and a half to launch "Stronger (What Doesn't Kill You)" to the top of this week's Billboard digital songs chart, where it sold 225,000 copies – and hit Number One on iTunes, overtaking even Adele's "Set Fire to the Rain." Clarkson performed it just before Christmas on VH1 Divas and early this year on Saturday Night Live, then sold it for $0.99 at Amazon's MP3 Store, helping to rack up 4 million YouTube views in the process. The single doesn't have quite the rocking-out resonance of such Clarkson hits as "Since U Been Gone" and "My Life Would Suck Without You," but it's catchy and memorable and has a certain survivor mentality that's kind of perfect for the times. Clarkson never quite explodes onto the charts, but she's a master of the long, slow burn.

LOSER OF THE WEEK: Guess you all got tired of Jason Mraz in a hurry. In just its third week on the charts, the singer-songwriter's sentimental "I Won't Give Up" dropped from Number Eight on Billboard's Hot 100 to Number 72 – as well as 50 slots, from Number Two to Number 52, on the Ultimate Chart, which measures Internet criteria like YouTube views and Facebook likes. Why the steep drop? Maybe it's because the pop competition finally emerged from holiday hibernation, compared to the barren early-January period, when "I Won't Give Up" was the only hit in town. Or maybe it's this. Either way, it's not the ideal run-up to releasing an album, which Mraz plans to do in the first half of this year.

A GOLDEN AGE FOR ASS SONGS?: It takes three examples to make a trend, so watch this space when the news breaks that a third song with the word "ass" in the title starts running up the charts. We promise it'll be any day now. First, Big Sean's "Dance (A$$)," with Nicki Minaj's memorable presence, cynically galloped to a peak of Number 10 on Billboard's Hot 100. Then came Gym Class Heroes' "Ass Back Home" (as in "Get Your . . . "), which jumped 15 slots, to Number 23, on the recent Ultimate Chart. That's in part due to the video, co-starring the striking, red-haired, nose-ringed singer Neon Hitch – it's up to 5.4 million YouTube views and Number 24 on the Hot 100.

LAST WEEK: The Black Keys and Coldplay Prove Rock's Staying Power

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Machine Gun Kelly Arrested for Disorderly Conduct

Machine Gun Kelly at S.O.B.'s in New York City.

Cleveland rapper Machine Gun Kelly was arrested over the weekend for disorderly conduct following a gig in St. Petersburg, Florida. The rapper, who is signed to Bad Boy Records, was busted at 4:12 a.m. by police in Pinellas County, and was released a few hours later after posting $100 bail.

Kelly tweeted about the arrest, saying, "Just spent my entire night in a fucking Florida jail . . . shit escalated way too quick last night, it always does with us though." Specific details of what Kelly did to get arrested have not been released. Speaking of his jail experience, the rapper wrote, "The weirdest part of it was how many inmates in there knew who I was and knew about the movement. It was some trippy shit."

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Machine Gun Kelly Arrested for Disorderly Conduct

Machine Gun Kelly at S.O.B.'s in New York City.

Cleveland rapper Machine Gun Kelly was arrested over the weekend for disorderly conduct following a gig in St. Petersburg, Florida. The rapper, who is signed to Bad Boy Records, was busted at 4:12 a.m. by police in Pinellas County, and was released a few hours later after posting $100 bail.

Kelly tweeted about the arrest, saying, "Just spent my entire night in a fucking Florida jail . . . shit escalated way too quick last night, it always does with us though." Specific details of what Kelly did to get arrested have not been released. Speaking of his jail experience, the rapper wrote, "The weirdest part of it was how many inmates in there knew who I was and knew about the movement. It was some trippy shit."

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Kelly Clarkson to Sing National Anthem at Super Bowl XLVI

Kelly Clarkson performs during the Allstate Fan Fest at the Allstate Sugar Bowl in the Jax Brewery Parking Lot in New Orleans.

Kelly Clarkson will sing "The Star-Spangled Banner" at the Super Bowl on February 5th at the Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana. Though Clarkon's appearance has not been formally announced, a person close to the event has confirmed the booking with the Associated Press.

Clarkson will join a slate of musical performers for this year's Super Bowl including Madonna, who will perform during halftime with guests M.I.A. and Nicki Minaj, and Miranda Lambert and Blake Shelton, who will sing "America the Beautiful" as a duet.

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