All The Fashion At The 2011 Teen Choice Awards

The 2011 Teen Choice Awards were held last night — 07 August. While it was Taylor Swift who won big, it’s the fashion on the blue carpet that had us going. Here is the best, the good, the bad, the ugly and the all so important WTF of the 2011 TCAs:

‘Vampire Diaries’ actress Nina Dobrev looked chic in a Dolce & Gabbana dress and Salvatore Ferragamo double platform pumps

‘Gossip Girl’ star Blake Lively looking gorgeous in a Gucci leather dress and Christian Louboutin pigalle python pumps

Soon-to-be-married Kim Kardashian rocked a black and white Givenchy ostrich dress with Christian Louboutin point-toe pumps

Black Eyed Peas lead female vocalist Fergie colour-blocked in a sexy Dolce & Gabbana star print dress and Christian Louboutin pumps

Canadian rocker showed off her sexy legs in a little number.

Hollywood actress Zoe Saldana kept it simple yet elegant in a Lanvin strapless dress

Selena Gomez looked lovely as usually in an Erin Fetherston strapless dress with a train.

Singer JoJo was stunning in her short dress.

‘Twilight’ actress Ashley Greene kept it clean in a Givenchy white and black sheath dress.

‘Mean’ singer Taylor Swift was elegant in a white Rafael Cennamo halter dress.

R&B singer Jason Derulo looked dappy in a gold suit.

We can always count on Justin Bieber to switch it up.

Joe Jonas suited up, not sure about those sneakers though.

Taylor Lautner brought his biker swag.

‘Vampire Diaries’ star Kat Graham had too much going on with her outfit.

Khloe Kardashian looked frumpy in her gown.

Demi Lovato squeezed in everything in her BCBGMAXAZRIA dress.

Tyra Banks looked like she was at the auditions for catwoman in her Thierry Mugler leather jumpsuit.

 

Britney Spears Wrestles The Paparazzi

Britney Spears is once again back with another banging music video, this time around sans dance moves, but rather with a thrilling mini movie filled with lots of humour and symbolism. Let’s be honest Britney often appears cold, unanimated and absent in most of her music videos, especially in recent years, but with the “I Wanna Go” video you can tell that she’s fully present and actually enjoying herself.

The video kicks off at a press conference, where reporters are asking Britney foolish yet funny questions such as “is it true you banned junk food, smiles, candy, sunshine and laughter from your Femme Fatale Tour?” and “Britney, can you confirm reports that you are pregnant with Brad Pitt’s love child?”. The 29-year-old finally decides that she’s fed-up with all their trivial questions, and literally tells them to “fuck off”.

Subsequently, the singer emerge from a building sporting an Avril Lavigne-esque look, that consist of a studded biker jacket, combat boots and pink-striped hair. Britney decides to let loose and just live her life the way she wants to. Thus she starts behaving outrageously — groping a fan, flashing an underage boy and seducing a cop, while at the same time battling lurking paparazzi. It all proves to be too much for our dear Brit Brit, as her knight in shining armor (played by actor Guillermo Díaz) arrives in a car and rescues her from it all. But are his motives really pure and innocent?

As Britney is escaping it all with her prince charming, she snaps out of it. It turns out it was all just a dream and Britney comes back to reality. We are taken back to the scene of the chaotic press conference, where reporters are still asking Britney silly questions like “Britney why is my wife cheating on me?”. An innocent looking Brit Brit then points out to a sleazy looking Guillermo — who is unclear if he’s now portraying Britney’s manager, boyfriend or bodyguard — that she just had the weirdest dream ever. Guillermo patronizingly replies “I love dreams and seashells” as he takes her away from the crazed press conference.

Directed by Chris Marrs Piliero, who is also responsible for Ke$ha’s jesting ‘Blow’ music video, this is by far the best Britney video from the Femme Fatale era. Sure a lot of the scenarios in the video are greatly exaggerated for theatrical thrill, but Britney is wittingly showing us what she encounters on a daily basis. Even though the video has a lot of underlying messages, for instance that people close to her always seem to have ulterior motives, Britney is really making one big bold statement with the video. Perhaps that while she’s back and better than ever from her down period, she still can’t fully live her life the way she wants to, due to the public’s over scrutiny. It’s very important to also point out that girl is looking mighty fine lately.

 

Meet the breakthrough artist of 2011

For the last couple of months we’ve been slowly hearing the name Skylar Grey and she has slightly being grabbing our attention with her sultry vocals, especially after she lent her vocals on Diddy Dirty Money’s “Coming Home”. But it wasn’t until she emerged out of no way during Eminem’s Grammy medley, muttering the words “I’m about to lose my mind”, that she commanded our full attention.

Grey is no new kid on the block, she has previously released an album under the alias Holly Brook in 2006 called “Like Blood Like Honey” and also featured on Fort Minor’s “Where’d You Go”. During this period of her life Grey was signed onto Linkin Park’s record label Machine Shop Recordings.

However, this newly 25-year-old decided to ditch her old moniker for Skylar Grey. She recently explained to Entertainment Weekly (EW) in details the concept behind her name change. She states that first of all grey is her favourite colour, but the meaning goes deeper than that. Grey points out that she was going through a hard time a few years back emotionally, unsure of where she was headed with her life, and feeling like she needed to simplify it a bit.

“One of the things that I thought might help, is if I went into my closet and threw out everything with color in it. So, I did that. I went in and I threw out everything that had any bit of colour in it, even brown. I just threw it away. I was left with grey, black, and white” Grey tells EW.

“And it really simplified my life. I didn’t have to think about what I had to wear everyday because everything matched”.

Grey who currently resides in Oregon further explains that her new hometown is the inspiration behind her first name Skylar. Grey says she’s not a fan of sunny weathers and Oregon has a very rainy climate. So when her manager suggested the name Skylar to her, it just felt right.

Grey debuted her new stage name on Diddy’s “Coming Home” late last year, which was followed by her lending her vocals on Lupe Fiasco’s “Words I Never Said” and Dr. Dre’s “I Need a Doctor”.

Grey is not just a gifted singer, but is also a talented songwriter. She wrote Rihanna’s anthemic chorus in “Love the Way You Lie”, for which she accomplished the coveted feat of being nominated for two Grammys this year. She has also written all of her verses in Coming Home, I Need a Doctor and Words I Never Said. Grey also wrote T.I. and Christina Aguilera’s song “Castle Walls”.

She is currently working on her upcoming album set to be released later this year with producer Alex da Kid, who recently worked with Avril Lavigne.

Judging by her eclectic sound and exceptional song writing skills, Skylar Grey is a name we are going to be hearing a lot of this year. Her ‘dark-girl’ image is a breath of fresh air from the gaudy female acts – such as Lady Gaga, Rihanna and Ke$ha – which we have been seeing a lot of lately.

“I’m not a big fan of trying to be a sex symbol or any of that stuff because I really like the music to speak for itself”, Grey says.

If Britney Spears is the comeback kid on 2011, Lady Gaga the top diva of the year and Adele the not-to-miss act of 2011, then it is only appropriate that Skylar Grey be the breakthrough artist of the year.