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Justin Bieber

Photo: Getty Images

Justin Bieber dropped his bumping new single “Boyfriend” on Monday (March 26), teasing his next album, Believe. It’s a grinding, midtempo song that hears Bieber proclaiming all the ways he can make a girl happy (swag and fondue included!).

Co-produced and co-written by “Cooler Than Me” singer Mike Posner, the song shows growth from Bieber’s “Baby” days. When MTV News caught up with Posner last week, he told us what it was like to hit the studio with Bieber (and co-producer and co-writer Mason Levy) for the track.

“I’ve known [Bieber's manager] Scooter [Braun] for a few years, so I actually ran into Scooter at a Clippers game and told him I would love to work with Justin,” Posner said. “I got the opportunity to write with Justin. I didn’t really know what to expect at first, but he’s an incredible, incredible writer and amazing vocalist.

“Because I’m an artist myself, I can be pretty selective on who I produce for and who I make beats for … and really what I’m looking for is an amazing vocalist, somebody that can sing better than I can,” he continued. “And the other thing is somebody that’s willing to not try to make something that succeeds within the matrix of what pop music is now, but makes something that moves that matrix to where it is, and Justin was willing to take that leap with me.”

Bieber spoke to Ryan Seacrest on his radio show hours after the song’s world premiere Monday, explaining why this was the perfect track to kick off the Believe era.

“It was a really hard choice. I mean, we had so many songs, so many uptempos we could release, [that] I thought, ‘Let’s slow it down,’ ” he said, adding that there are already plenty of fast songs all over the radio. “It’s just something a little bit more mature, but it’s also something I think I’m ready for.”

While fans and industry insiders had been wondering what a more grown-up Bieber would sound like, he said he tried to block out all the noise when making the track. “There’s so many people that are going to give me opinions, but I’m the only one who can ultimately make those decisions, because I’m going to have to live with my career for the rest of my life. So I thought this was the perfect single,” he said, adding that this song “was me all the way; it is a representation of me.”

And Bieber said “Boyfriend” perfectly sets up what’s coming next. “It’s kind of classic,” he said of the album. “The songs, I feel, won’t get old. The music is very fresh, but it’s also — I’m taking a lot from old-school music, a lot of Michael Jackson, a lot of old R&B, a lot of old pop. It’s pretty special.”

What do you think of “Boyfriend”? Share your reviews in the comments below!

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Wes Bentley as Seneca Crane in “The Hunger Games”

Photo: Lionsgate

We all knew “The Hunger Games” would debut to enormous opening-weekend numbers, but few could have predicted just how quickly the fire would spread.

The YA adaptation opened to an incredible 5 million weekend, passing up “The Twilight Saga: New Moon” and “Spider-Man 3″ to have the third-highest opening weekend behind “The Dark Knight” and “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2.”

Early predictions had “The Hunger Games” opening at a respectable million, not even half the actual total and in range of this year’s “The Lorax,” another recent box-office surprise. As the release drew nearer, analysts bumped up the predicted total to a range of 5 million to 0 million. The reason for the initially low prediction lies with another YA series, according to Jeff Bock of Exhibitor Relations.

“Many people were comparing this to the original ‘Twilight’ film, which grossed million its opening weekend,” Bock said. “Even though the book series was a huge success, many other young adult novels have been translated to film recently and failed to produce the next ‘Harry Potter’ or ‘Twilight,’ so, as an unproven commodity, expectations were tempered a bit with ‘The Hunger Games.’ Even Lionsgate was estimating that the film would debut with a three-day weekend gross of million earlier in the week; they certainly didn’t expect it to nearly eclipse that number on opening day.”

Wanna win a Hunger Games special edition HP laptop from MTV News? Click here to enter!

The strong push out of the gate came from a combination of an aggressive marketing campaign by Lionsgate and groundswell created by fans of Suzanne Collins’ best-selling books. Gitesh Pandya of Box Office Guru said it was a precise combination of those key factors that led to such an explosive opening weekend.

“The record opening was driven by the loyal fanbase, which is humongous, along with a carefully crafted marketing push that intrigued them and also drew in new audiences in time for the movie’s release,” Pandya said. “Marketing was a key component to the massive debut, as the film wasn’t over-promoted to the point of repelling people. Lionsgate turned the opening weekend of ‘Hunger Games’ into the hottest party around and nobody wanted to be left out.”

Lionsgate is certainly not wasting any time in trying to repeat the magic of their biggest hit to date. Production on the sequel, “Catching Fire,” is scheduled to begin this summer with a release tentatively set for November 2013. Pandya believes the next adventure of Katniss Everdeen could even go bigger.

“Studios knew to stay out of the way of ‘Hunger Games,’ which is why no other film opened wide this weekend. But now they know how big of a juggernaut it is, and if history is any indicator, the opening of ‘Catching Fire’ will be even bigger in November 2013,” Pandya said. “And unless Disney changes its superhero date, we’re going to see a big-brother battle as Liam Hemsworth’s ‘Catching Fire’ will open just one week after Chris Hemsworth’s ‘Thor 2.’ ”

What did you think of The Hunger Games? Give us your review on Facebook!

Check out everything we’ve got on “The Hunger Games.”

For young Hollywood news, fashion and “Twilight” updates around the clock, visit HollywoodCrush.MTV.com.

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Lena Headey in “Game of Thrones”

Photo: HBO

Swords, kings, dragons and things (and by things, we mean an absurd amount of sex and violence): Where else but “Game of Thrones” can you get all that and then some?

Those who’ve been thirsting for blood and fire are about to get plenty of both when “Thrones” returns for its second season this Sunday, but considering how much time has passed since poor Ned lost his head, you’d be forgiven for not remembering much of what happened all the way back in season one. Well, never fear, true believers; that’s what we’re here for!

Keep on reading for everything you need to remember about “Game of Thrones” season one before returning to Westeros later this week.

“Winter Is Coming”
The words of House Stark echo all throughout “Game of Thrones” season one, beginning with King Robert Baratheon’s royal visit to old friend and war buddy Eddard Stark all the way north in Winterfell. Robert all but commands Ned to take on the role of Hand of the King — the ruler of Westeros’ right-hand man — and Lord Stark begrudgingly accepts. His reason: to investigate the death of the pervious Hand, Jon Arryn, an old mentor of Ned and Robert’s, whom he believes was murdered by Queen Cersei and members of her wicked family, the Lannisters.

Kids These Days
Ned’s investigation does not go smoothly. After arriving in King’s Landing to serve as Robert’s Hand, Ned learns that Robert fathered many bastard children and that his own supposedly trueborn heirs — Joffrey, Myrcella and Tommen — were not his trueborn children at all, but bastards of Queen Cersei’s incestuous relationship with her twin brother, Jaime. Robert dies from a freak injury before Ned can tell him the truth, and Ned takes it upon himself to see that the late Baratheon’s younger brother, Stannis, is the next man to sit upon the Iron Throne, as is his right.

Hopeless, Headless Ned
Once again, Ned’s plan does not go well. When Lord Stark attempts to convince the court to recognize Stannis’ claim to the throne, newly minted King Joffrey and Queen Regent Cersei have him arrested for treason. A deal is later brokered where Ned will confess to his treachery and recognize Joffrey’s claim, in exchange for the safety of himself and his children. But after he publicly confesses to his “crimes,” Joffrey pulls a fast one on everyone — characters and audience included — by ordering Ned’s beheading. With one stunning stroke, the main character of “Game of Thrones” was dead, before the season finale, no less.

Stark Reality
While they still have their lives, the Stark children aren’t faring much better than poor Ned. The youngest son, Bran Stark, is pushed out of a window and subsequently paralyzed after catching twins Cersei and Jaime doing the nasty. Ned’s two daughters, Arya and Sansa, are left in very different and very awful positions following his death too. Arya is posing as a boy, traveling north with a group of young men to join the Night’s Watch; she’s to be dropped off at her home in Winterfell before reaching the Wall. Sansa, meanwhile, is still in King’s Landing and still betrothed to the wicked boy king Joffrey, who abuses her physically and emotionally with brutal regularity.

The King in the North
Lord Eddard Stark’s eldest son, Robb, on the other hand, is in a position to actually do something about his father’s death. Robb has called upon House Stark’s bannermen in the northern part of Westeros to wage war on Joffrey and the Lannisters. His goals are threefold: the safe return of his sisters, the official succession of the North from the Seven Kingdoms’ purview, and vengeance for Ned. Robb becomes known as the King in the North, an ancient title not held by anyone since Torrhen Stark bent the knee to Aegon the Conqueror nearly 300 years earlier.

Here a King, There a King …
Robb Stark is not the only man in Westeros calling himself king. There’s Joffrey Baratheon, of course, who sits on the Iron Throne. Three other men have their eyes on the crown as well: Balon Greyjoy of the Iron Islands and the two remaining Baratheon brothers, Stannis and Renly. Though Renly is a charismatic and well-liked figure in Westeros, he is also the youngest Baratheon, making his claim weaker than the less-beloved Stannis. It won’t matter which Baratheon has the better claim, of course, if one of the other three kings vying for power has their say.

… And There a Queen
There’s another player in the game of thrones, and that’s exiled princess Daenerys, the last surviving member of House Targaryen, the clan who ruled over Westeros for nearly three full centuries. Dany spends the entirety of season one across the Narrow Sea among the Dothraki, a barbaric people who pride themselves on war and horses. Bad things happen to all “Thrones” characters, but Dany has a particularly rough go of it in season one: Her husband, Khal Drogo, and their unborn son both die, as does her brother, Viserys. (Indeed, that guy is super dead.) On the other side of all that tragedy, Dany is now the proud owner of three brand-spanking new dragons, the first of their kind in hundreds of years. That’s a plus!

The Perks of Being a Wallflower
Elsewhere, in another remote area of this fantasy world, Ned Stark’s bastard Jon Snow serves as a man of the aforementioned Night’s Watch, an ancient order of warriors who patrol the great ice Wall to protect the people of Westeros from the dangers lurking further north. Shortly after becoming a sworn brother of the Watch, Jon saves Lord Commander Mormont from dying at the hands of a reanimated corpse (zombies, ftw!), the latest and most dangerous evidence yet that the Others — a long-forgotten force of evil with unspeakably cold crystal swords and voices that sound like crackling ice — still exist beyond the wall. To investigate further, Mormont takes Jon and other members of the Watch beyond the Wall, where they’ll continue to explore throughout season two.

Paying Their Debts
Clearly, season one was crazy busy for Ned Stark and his family, but how about House Lannister? Though Cersei’s son sits on the Iron Throne as she had always hoped, the queen suffers a severe blow in the capture of her brother and lover, Jaime, at the hands of Robb Stark. Jaime remains in the northerner’s captivity. Meanwhile, the third Lannister sibling — the imp Tyrion Lannister — went through hell and back again as well: He starts in Winterfell as part of Robert’s royal party, ends up on the Wall for a time, is captured by Ned Stark’s wife Catelyn for his suspected role in Bran Stark’s paralysis, is brought to the miles-high Eyrie to pay for his crimes, is eventually liberated from his fate with the help of his own cunning wit and the talented sellsword Bronn and ultimately relegated to the frontlines of lord Tywin Lannister’s war against the Starks. As King Joffrey’s Hand, Tywin can’t exactly win a war and worry about the goings-on of Westeros at the same time. Accordingly, he temporarily passes off his duties as Hand to Tyrion, who is about to prove that a very small man can cast a very big shadow.

A Dink and a Nod
Speaking of very big shadows, you heard about Peter Dinklage’s Best Supporting Actor wins at the Emmys and the Golden Globes this past year, right? Well, given what happens to his character in “A Clash of Kings” (the novel that the second season of “Thrones” is based on), Dinklage has only scratched the surface of Tyrion’s enormously satisfying arc. If he’s as smart as his character, the gifted actor has left some room on the shelf for a few more trophies come the end of the new season.

Are you all caught up for “Thrones” season two? Let us know in the comments section below, or chat with me more on Twitter @roundhoward!

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Katy Perry

Photo: MTV News

More than 20 months after Katy Perry released her smash Teenage Dream album — and became one of the biggest pop stars on the planet — she’s releasing it again, this time as a fully stocked Complete Confection, which ties up all the loose ends and, in a sense, brings this rather amazing chapter of her career to a close.

While stars reissuing their biggest albums is certainly nothing new, Perry’s approach to the Confection certainly is: She makes no bones about the fact that this one is for both her die-hard fans and those still (somehow) contemplating joining her flock.

“This isn’t a ‘reloaded’ album, it’s not an album with eight songs that are new … it’s not my third record. It’s my second record, with a face-lift,” she laughed. “I don’t want it to feel contrived or manipulated. … I had the idea to do a reissue, like that one last ‘wham-bam-thank-you-ma’am.’ Like, ‘Here’s Teenage Dream, if you’re on the edge of being a fan.’ … It’s for that last push of, like, ‘Jump in with me. Why not? You’ve already bought five songs, so you might as well complete your album!’ … But really, why I did it was because I know my fans always want more, so it’s for the die-hard fan to have a nice, complete package.”

And to that end, Complete Confection is packed with all the hits and remixes, not to mention a trio of unheard tracks, two of which are Dream holdovers and one brand-new song (”Wide Awake”) she wrote and recorded in just two days as an added treat for her fans. It’s also a setup for the next phase in her career, the upcoming “Part of Me” concert film. As Perry has proved time and time again, there’s a true purpose behind everything she does these days.

“There were two songs that I had from Teenage Dream that I couldn’t put on [the album] — ‘Part of Me’ and ‘Dressin’ Up’ — and then I knew we were doing this re-release, so I was like, ‘I’ve got to get into the studio, because I can’t wait eight months to be able to put out this feeling that I’m feeling right now,’ ” she explained. “Because God knows it would take me another eight months to do another record. I couldn’t do it on the fly; it just takes time to set up a record!

“So … I had two days to write, and I wrote it with my regular crew — Dr. Luke and Max Martin and Bonnie McKee — and then I had two days to record, and it was literally like, I submitted the lyrics before I submitted the music, because it was like by the hair of my chinny-chin-chin that I put that song on the record,” she continued. “But I have a film that’s coming out in the summer, a concert documentary, behind-the-scenes, real in your face, and… not only did I write the song because I needed to flush that out of my system, but I wrote it for the film as well.”

Will you pick up Katy’s Complete Confection? Let us know in the comments below!

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Liam Hemsworth, Jennifer Lawrence and Josh Hutchenson

Photo: WireImage

While we’d love to take some more time to bask in the glow of just-released box-office champ “The Hunger Games,” it’s time to move on to the sequel and start pondering and overanalyzing everything about “Catching Fire”.

Here are our five burning questions (minor spoilers ahead for those who haven’t yet read the book — hurry up and get to it, people!):

When Will Gary Ross Officially Sign On to Direct?
By all accounts, this question has already been answered behind closed doors in some fancy studio room somewhere but has not been announced to the general public. As of now, Gary Ross is attached to direct “Catching Fire,” which, in “Hollywood speak,” means he’s still trying to work out the details with his agents and the studio. We’re pretty optimistic that he’ll return, though, because he’s offered up some very specific details about his plans for it.

When and Where Will Filming Take Place?
Come on, Lionsgate, you’ve already announced the release date for “Catching Fire.” When will you announce the production start date? Time is ticking! Those of us who’ve read the book know there are Games afoot but of a completely different nature. Ross told MTV News that he has some specific ideas about how to shoot in/on a tropical location but wouldn’t expand upon them beyond teasing the tone of the second film. “It will look and feel slightly different from the first,” he said before adding that he can guarantee one thing: “Catching Fire” will not be in 3-D. “I don’t think it’s appropriate for this film. If we shoot in 3-D, we become the Capitol,” he said.

Who Will play Finnick Odair?
Much like the hullabaloo that surrounded the casting of Katniss, Peeta and Gale, fans are very invested in who will play hunky-yet-surprisingly-complex victor Finnick Odair. The list of fan hopefuls is all over the place and includes Armie Hammer, Alex Pettyfer, Garrett Hedlund, Hunter Parrish and YouTube star Joey Graceffa. (This writer would very much like for relative unknown Benjamin Stone to be in the mix. See his work on “The Nine Lives of Chloe King” for proof.)

Will Kristen Bell’s Campaigning Pay Off?
In addition to charming us into total adoration via the release of her slightly embarrassing sloth video, Kristen Bell has not been shy about her love of “The Hunger Games.” The admitted superfan has launched her very own campaign of sorts to be cast as kick-ass District 7 champ Johanna Mason. Only time will tell to see if she gets her shot. We think she at least deserves an audition, don’t you?

Which Scene Will Be the Most Swoon-Worthy?
The greater messages in “The Hunger Games” are about survival and independence and freedom. However, we can’t help it if there are also several swoon-worthy scenes that we can’t wait to see played out onscreen between Katniss, Peeta and Gale. Speaking to “Catching Fire,” what will make us melt in our seats most? That “beach scene” between Katniss and Peeta or Katniss and Gale’s emotional exchange after he’s severely beaten and recovering at her mother’s house?

Check out everything we’ve got on “The Hunger Games.”

For young Hollywood news, fashion and “Twilight” updates around the clock, visit HollywoodCrush.MTV.com.

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