Brit Struts With New Confidence in Vid

But delivers uninspiring 'performance'

(NEWSER) - Comeback kid Britney Spears swept three MTV Video Music Awards last night—but delivered an uninspired performance, reports ABC News. Fans had hoped Spears' appearance would redeem her image after the star's last addled MTV performance. But Britney delivered a meek Valley Girl skit with Superbad star Jonah Hill, lamely inquiring, "What is your deal?" when he began to make out with her—and a stiff teleprompter read. More»

Meghan Daum: To be really popular, you have to be really unpopular

(NEWSER) - With Friday, 13-year-old Rebecca Black has a top 20 song on iTunes and a video that’s reached 35 million views—but what she’s most noted for is widespread derision. “We don't hate you because you're famous. You're famous because we hate you,” reads one of the printable tweets. But that’s what fame is in the age of the Internet, writes Meghan Daum in the Los Angeles Times : "To do anything in a public arena is to invite an insta-response that will echo just as loudly with harsh critics as with fans." More»

Bruce Springsteen finishes 2nd to Irish superstars, and it's not even close

(NEWSER) - The news that U2 was the top moneymaker in music in 2009 is no surprise, but what may come as a bit of a shock is the gap between No. 1 and No. 2. The Irish rockers brought in $108.6 million lat year, nearly twice as much as runner-up Bruce Springsteen's $57.5 million. Extending the greatest hits of the '80s theme, the next two acts in the Billboard rankings are Madonna and AC/DC, with Britney Spears somewhat unexpectedly rounding out the top 5. More»

What will we still be talking about next decade? Britney, for one

(NEWSER) - The ‘00s were full of important contributions to culture, but which ones will we still be talking about in another decade? Here are some of New York ’s picks:

• TV: The Sopranos for inventing quality cable, American Idol for changing the music industry, and of course all things Oprah Winfrey.
• Books: The Da Vinci Code for singlehandedly sustaining the book industry, and The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay for blazing the trail of combining geek lit with high lit.

BBC's ChartJackers raising money for charity with 'I've Got Nothing'

(NEWSER) - Four teenagers are trying to break into the UK charts with no experience, no money, and no musicians...but with a lot of help from YouTube. They put together an entirely crowdsourced music video using contributed YouTube comments for the lyrics, a YouTuber-written melody, and a band, producer, and actors also found through—you guessed it—YouTube, Mashable reports. More»