Interview with Ashley Tisdale and the cast of Sharpay's Fabulous Adventure

A lot of you may know (and if you don't than now you do) that I have this huge thing for Ashley Tisdale. From her roles as Sharpay in the High School Musical franchise, Maddie on The Suite Life of Zach and Cody and Savannah on Hellcats to her infectious singles like He Said, She Said, Crank It Up and Be Good To Me, I can never get myself enough Tis. Alas, when I heard Ashley was going to be in Toronto shooting a new movie last year, I was overjoyed. On top of that, when my boss at my internship at Vervegirl Magazine told me she booked me an interview with the one and only Tisdale, I was ecstatic and 'OMGWTFBBQ'ing!

Because the film was to be kept top secret in terms of content, costumes, and overall secrecy, Disney had put an embargo on the interview and thus I had to keep my excitement contained within me...until now. So once again, OMGWTFBBQ! I'm super grateful for my boss at Vervegirl for being able to facilitate the interview, and it was a pretty awesome experience getting to be on set of the film, seeing the cast members shoot scenes, and then getting to interview them after.

After waiting nearly a year to be able to publish and speak about the interview, I almost forgot how exciting it was. All the cast members were super sweet and so open and honest in the interview. They were so open and honest, that I would be able to do a separate article on each cast member if needed be. However, I had to keep it small and thus, I present the cream of the crop in the interview. Here's a link to check it out:

http://tinyurl.com/vgsharpay

Last night, I checked Ashley out at NML (previously known as Much On Demand on MuchMusic) and then at the exclusive Toronto premiere of the movie, where she and a few other cast members attended. It was very nice to see Sharpay again, especially in a lead role. It was also cool seeing familiar locations in the movie, as it was shot in Toronto. The movie was ok; it had its cute and funny moments, but I can see why its being released directly to DVD and wasn't a big screen adaption like High School Musical 3. Regardless, it was fun attending the premiere, and I might shamelessly purchase the movie when its out on Blu Ray...just because Ashley is in it.

Don't tell anyone.

Concert Review: Shawn Desman

He's electric. He makes the girls shiver. And he's fresh. (Yes, that line was filled with more than one shameless pun.)

He is the one and only, Shawn Desman and I was able to check him out live at an intimate performance at Pure Nightclub in Montreal this past weekend. The show was incredible and he's definitely a great performer. It was a little sad that I had to see him perform at a small nightclub, because his talent far exceeds small club shows...especially for someone who's been in the business as long as he has. Regardless the show was amazing and you can read all about it on my guest blog for MuchMusic here:

http://www.newmusiclive.ca/shawn-desman-electrifies-montreal/

If you haven't heard already and you're into upbeat pop and dance music, make sure you check out his album 'Fresh' in stores and on iTunes. It's definitely worth a listen!

Britney Goes Urban?

Britney's back and has been snatching quite a few wigs in the last few weeks. Her latest album, Femme Fatale, debuted at #1 on the Billboard charts making her one of the only females with 6 #1 debuts on the chart. Not only that, but her videos for Hold It Against Me and Till The World Ends have shown Britney being...well Britney...something we haven't seen in a while. On top of all that, she just announced the dates and opening acts for her upcoming tour, named after her album!  Although it was previously announced that Enrique Iglesias was going to open, he dropped out for some unknown reasons. After a little searching, Britney has finally announced her new opener for whom I could not be more excited:

NICKI MINAJ! 

Nicki Minaj is pretty much one of the hottest up and coming thing right now and she's pretty much the perfect opener for her. She's not big enough to overshadow Britney but at the same time she's not small either where even if audiences aren't familiar with her music, they'll still know of her. Its a perfect way for Nicki to expand her audience to a next level. On top of touring with Nicki, Britney and Nicki also 'tweeted' some little hints at a potential collaboration or something. Some are speculating a remix featuring Nicki for Till The World Ends and others are hoping for a brand new track! For me, either way it'll be a smash. I mean, look how well Britney's remix for Rihanna's S&M is doing?  

This isn't the first time Britney has gone urban. Throughout her career, she's always brought a little bit of urban flavour in her music whether it was her collaborations with The Neptunes on songs like I'm A Slave 4U or her most recent remix with Rihanna on S&M. No pun intended, I like it, like it when Britney goes urban. Its an interesting twist to her music because she always does it in her own unique and unexpected ways. I mean, did anyone ever suspect she'd be doing a collab with RiRi or tour with Nicki?