new york city MUSIC

For those of you who used to come home everyday after school and turn on the TV to watch “Total Request Live” like I did, today is a sad day. The New York Post reported that MTV and its parent company, Viacom, did not renew the lease on its iconic studio at 1515 Broadway in the heart of Times Square. This means that the glass-walled flagship studio, which was famously known as the stomping grounds of teenyboppers and screaming fans hoping to catch a glimpse celebrities and oh yeah, that guy who hosted the show, Carson Daly, may no longer be in existence come the end of the year. Cue high-pitched wail by tweens everywhere. However, there is still time for MTV and Viacom to make a bid on the space. Should they not renew the lease in the next few weeks, the management company, SL Green, says they will be putting the space on the market and MTV will need to move out by the end of the year. Perhaps the studio doesn’t serve much as much of a purpose as it used to after TRL went off ...

This year seems to be the year of female empowerment – at least in the eyes of MTV. The MTV Video Music Award nominees were announced this week – with Lady Gaga and Beyoncé leading the pack with the most VMA nominations: 9. Close behind is Britney Spears with her musical comeback at 7 nods. All three ladies will compete in the Video of the Year category – Lady Gaga for the addictive “Poker Face,” Beyoncé for the also addictive “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)” and Britney Spears for the slightly hypnotizing “Womanizer.” Beyoncé said on behalf of her nomination: “ I've been blessed this year to have 'Single Ladies' become a video people really connected with and responded to. I've spent so much time watching all the great versions people created all around the world. It's beautiful to feel you touch people and bring a song to life with a video.” Lady Gaga, on the other hand, had a bit more of a bizarre statement by thanking MTV “for being our video flagship, a...