Its a bold promise, but the funny 
thing about this song is even without knowing what she is singing in Danish, you can still enjoy the song and get whats going on here. The song is by Medina who won Best Danish Artist honors at both the 2009 and 2011 MTV European Music Awards. I was put on to this track while in Copenhagen this summer where she is pretty much their version of Britney Spears. This track is called “Kl. 10″ and I dare you not to enjoy it 
Tag Archives: mtv
The Kooks. Great song for your summer playlist!
British 
pop/post punk rock band The Kooks came on the scene in 2005, and unfortunately (or fortunately depending how you look at it) their debut album debuted on the same day as the much anticipated monster debut album of another Brit band, The Arctic Monkeys. That allowed The Kooks to travel under the radar for some time but not too long as their album of catchy songs wouldnt go unnoticed for long. They eventually top the charts in the UK and Ireland and won the MTV Europe Music Award for best UK/Ireland band in 2006.
This track has made its way on to my Summer 2012 mix because its just such a feel good song. Its called “Naive” and is off that debut album. Check it!
This Woman’s Work
One of the most beautiful 
soul performances Ive ever seen has to be Maxwell’s cover of “This Woman’s Work” on MTV Unplugged in 1997. The song was written by legendary songwriter Kate Bush, and Maxwell took it to the next level with this performance at Brooklyn Academy of Music. One of the interesting things about this Unplugged is that prior to taping this, Maxwell had only released one album which was “Maxwell’s Urban Hang Suite”. Typically Unplugged status goes to well established performer. Nevertheless, this song made its rounds on R&B and adult contemporary radio, appeared on the Love & Basketball movie soundtrack and college mixtapes across the country.
Enjoy this live performance from the MTV Unplugged and tell me he doesn’t suck you in with song…
I dig Taylor Swift…there, I said it!
First off, dont judge! Second
, she writes her own songs, writes her own lyrics, plays a bunch of instruments, has a great voice, and has a TON of hit songs. Thats all the explaining Im gonna do!
The song Im choosing to share is one of my favorites of hers. It may not have been one of her #1 hits, but its a great one and to me is the essence of what she is all about. She writes songs about the emotions she feels as a young person in life and relationships. This song, “Enchanted”, tells the story of her meeting someone and having a sort of ‘love at first sight’ moment that we’ve all had. You know what Im talking about too! You see someone in the grocery store, or at the gym or walking on the sidewalk and maybe you exchange a few words with them and then you spend the rest of the day wondering if you will ever see them again, did they like you, what will you say if you see them again, etc. Its happened to all of us, Taylor just puts it into nice songs.
I also appreciate the fact she puts herself out there in her music and is honest with her lyrics. In this song, I love towards the end when she sings:
“Please dont be in love with someone else
Please dont have somebody waiting on you”
It doesnt get anymore honest than that. Shes sitting there hoping the person is not taken and that she has a chance with them. Gut-wrenchingly honest. And this is why I fully endorse Ms. Taylor Swift! Enjoy this performance of “Enchanted” from BBC Radio in London.
PS: I met Taylor in the elevator at MTV some years ago and I think she probably wrote this song for me. OK maybe not, but she was still very nice
An unforgettable Jay Z / Linkin Park moment…
So I think it was 2007, but I was in NYC and got invited to go to the Linkin Park 
concert at Madison Square Garden. I saw them once at the LA Coliseum when they opened for Metallica and they crushed it, so I was really excited to see them again.
I went to the show with two friends, one of whom was the VP of Music and Talent for MTV and the other who was the label rep for Linkin Park at Warner Brothers. Before the show the 3 of us decided to grab a drink at a bar underneath MSG so we headed down there a little before the show was to start. About 15 min into drinks, a guy walks into the bar named John Meneilly who is Jay Z’s business manager and someone we all knew and had worked with, so he stopped over to join us for a moment. We were shooting the breeze and lo and behold who walks in a few minutes later is Jay Z himself, who also stopped by and said hi. That was all really cool in itself, and then we all walked in to see the show and got to our seats just after Linkin Park’s first song. I didnt put two and two together at the moment because I was so excited about seeing Jay and being at the show, but soon something amazing was about to happen…
After Linkin Park finished what was an incredible set, totally reaching and exceeding my expectations, they went offstage as the crowd cheered for them to come on and perform an encore. Did they ever! Not only did they come back, but who walks on stage with them but Jay Z! He ended up performing with them the ENTIRE “Collision Course” album that they did together, and I think it ended up being the only time they did that whole set together outside the time they originally performed it at The Roxy in LA for our MTV show. At the end of the day it ended up being one of the best live shows I ever saw.
Here is one of the classics from that partnership, “Numb”.
Become a fan of Janelle…
Janelle Monae first popped on my radar leading up to the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards when she was selected to lead the house band for the show. Powerful and clean voice, with a unique style and edge that isnt over the top, just pure and honest. Check out this song and then her others.
Farewell MTV and NYC!
2After almost nine years of service, Im leaving MTV just short of getting free steak knives Thats right…and not only am I leaving MTV but Im leaving good old NYC. I’ve have the pleasure and absolute honor of announcing that I have just accepted the position of Campaign Director/Chief Creative Officer for Energy Action Coalition (EAC) in Washington DC!
As most of you already know, EAC is the preeminent youth 
environmental/energy organization in North America. They were MTV’s official partner for our award winning Break The Addiction campaign around climate change and were the muscle behind the largest youth environmental conference EVER this past February when they brought over 12,000 young people to DC for their Powershift conference. EAC is a coalition of the top environmental and energy related organizations in the world and have a massive network of young people everywhere. Its going to be insane working with such an amazing organization and network of partners and I truly am humbled by this opportunity.
And now from the You Cant Run Away From Your Past file…our office is literally around the corner from the Real World DC house in DuPont Circle which begins filming shortly. Perhaps that will be a little piece of MTV nearby to ease my transition into the new neighborhood
To everyone Ive worked with over the years at MTV, its been a pleasure. I’ll be back often but before then stay tuned as there are a couple parties Im having in NYC before I go that , lets just say, will leave an indellible mark on the city in my absence…
For my friends in DC, i look forward to you helping me transition! (seriously) I’ll be moving down that way around July 17.
Please hit me up on email, Facebook (www.facebook.com/petegriffin), follow me on Twitter to stay up to speed (www.twitter.com/WhatUpPete) or leave comments on this blog post. Talk to you soon!
Pete
the final product
1and without further adieu, here is the final footage of our trip to kenya in our inauguration show that aired on Jan 20.
To watch the show just click here.
why the heck am i in kenya???
The answer is for work and because I’m a lucky SOB!
The purpose of this trip to film a service project which will be used in MTV’s Inauguration special on January 20 (live at 10pm on MTV). The basic premise of the show on Jan 20 is to highlight and encourage service. We saw record setting involvement of young peeps during the 2008 Presidential elections and in an effort to keep that momentum going, we want to highlight some cool ways young people are getting involved in hopes of inspiring people to stay active or take action for the first time. We will be filming live on inauguration night from Obama’s Presidential Inauguration Committees official “Youth Ball”. During this live event there will be performances by Kanye West, Rihanna, and Fall Out Boy, President Obama will come and share some assumingly inspirational remarks directed towards youth people, and we will highlight 3 service projects currently underway. One is taking place in DC to fix up a school in partnership with Service Nation, one in New Orleans with The Lower Ninth Ward Project to help rebuild a home destroyed by Hurricane Katrina, and lastly the project I am working on which is to build a computer lab at a school in Kenya in partnership with Millennium Promise.
Per Millennium Promise’s website, “Africa has the greatest proportion of people living in extreme poverty- more than 40 percent or roughly 300 million people living on less than $1 a day. With rural communities stuck in a poverty trap, they’re unable to make the investments in human capital and infrastructure required to achieve self-sustaining economic growth. The Millennium Villages project, organized by Dr. Jeffrey Sachs, offers a bold, holistic model for helping rural African communities lift themselves out of extreme poverty by focusing on agriculture, health, education and infrastructure.”
For our project, we will work with the Millennium Villages Project in Lihanda, Kenya – about 20km from the western village of Nyangoma-Kogelo where Obama’s father grew up and where his grandmother still lives (what a beautiful tie in for the inauguration night, right?). We will help create a computer lab at Omindo Primary School, which will give young Kenyans some of the tools they need to expand their education and get connected to the rest of the world. Once completed, the new lab will provide computers and Internet access to over 400 students that attend the school as well as the thousands of others living in the village.
Im traveling on the trip with Sean (producer), Steve and Jordan (cameras) and Tim (host).
