Boys Like Girls
Photo: MTV News

They've already landed a cameo from Ashley Tisdale in their "Love Drunk" video, and they recorded a duet with Taylor Swift on their new album, but it's the one collaboration Boys Like Girls didn't do that's grabbed the most headlines.

It seems that, in the months leading up to the release of their Love Drunk album (due September 8), someone thought it would be a good idea to begin spreading a rumor that the band were recording a song with none other than Chris Brown. News of the supposed collaboration — apparently on a song called "Just Waiting for You" — made the rounds on gossip sites and even ended up on the band's Wikipedia page (though it's since been deleted).

So when MTV News sat down with BLG earlier this week, we decided to get to the bottom of the whole Chris Brown fiasco. And, somewhat understandably, they were pretty much over talking about it.

"That's called 'the Internet,' " drummer John Keefe sighed.

"That's called pressing the 'edit' button on Wikipedia and writing whatever you want," guitarist Paul DiGiovanni added.

"We probably shouldn't even be talking about that," bassist Bryan Donahue said. "Let's distance ourselves from that."

OK then. While they were less than pumped to discuss Chris Brown, they were more than willing to talk about Swift, who duets with the band on what's shaping up to be the second single from Love Drunk, a track called "Two Is Better Than One." It's a change of pace from what Boys Like Girls usually do — something that was very much intentional — but the guys aren't worried about alienating their fans with the track. Far from it, in fact.

"I don't think we were worried about how our fans would react to that collaboration," frontman Martin Johnson said. "I think Taylor's such a versatile artist, she can go from country to pop to rock to anywhere. We just saw her at Madison Square Garden, and there were so many kinds of fans there. We just thought she was the right voice and the right person for that song.

"Actually, from what I've read, everyone is really digging it," he continued. "And as opposed to most of what I read about us, I actually believe that."

• Boys Like Girls
• Taylor Swift
• Chris Brown

Ashley Tisdale
Photo: MTV News

It seems Ashley Tisdale likes Boys Like Girls. Tisdale, whose new album Guilty Pleasure hits stores later this month, jumped at the chance to work with the pop-rockers when they asked her to be in the their new video for "Love Drunk," off their album of the same name, out September 8.

"Actually, I'm a really big fan of Boys Like Girls," Tisdale told MTV News on the video's set. "I love their music. It's super exciting. I've always dreamt about being in it."

Tisdale did explain that she had to make one adjustment before signing on for the role — she had to tone down her style for the video. "I think it's very the cute-girl, jeans-shorts kind of beachy-casual, but nice. Those are the things we went through," she explained. "I used to smoke out my eyes and be rocker, so for this I toned it down."

The love that Tisdale feels for the band isn't one-sided. "When we were thinking about girls for the video, it seemed like it would be a great idea to bring her in," frontman Martin Johnson said.

"I think she's going to kill the role," he added, hinting that "she's in a bunch of different scenarios, a couple of different dudes. We're super stoked to have her a part of it. It's cool to have a fan of the band that's an actress come in and want to be a part of it."

And if any of you might be thinking that the guys of Boys Like Girls will be drunk with desire for Tisdale in the video, think again. The song isn't exactly about falling in love. "It's obviously not about being in love," Johnson said. "It's about giving the F.U. to a relationship and a situation.

"It's fun. It's kind of celebrating — skipping your way out gracefully with a nice flip of the bird rather than crying your way home to mommy. It's cool, 'cause the song has a twist to it. It's about having been love-drunk and then saying goodbye."

• Boys Like Girls Get 'Love Drunk'

• Boys Like Girls
• Ashley Tisdale

Katy Perry at the MTVu VMA Tour near Baltimore Tuesday
Photo: MTV News

LARGO, Maryland — On Tuesday, the mtvU Video Music Awards Tour descended on Six Flags America near Baltimore. It was one of the hottest days yet this summer, but that didn't stop thousands of fans from cheering on All Time Low, Metro Station, Boys Like Girls and VMA nominee Katy Perry.

The show was free, but fans had to get admission bracelets near the main entrance, and those were gone soon after the park opened. Judging by the line to get in, which snaked through the park, the show was easily the biggest attraction there. As the temperature pushed 100 and the venue reached capacity, several fans had to be taken away in stretchers after collapsing from heat exhaustion. Even the artists started feeling the heat. "I almost passed out from heat exhaustion. Every five minutes I'd look at my drummer and say, 'I'm going to die from heat exhaustion,' " Perry said.

Still, spirits remained high throughout the day. "Not only do I love playing shows, but I also love riding roller coasters, so this is the best of both worlds," All Time Low frontman Alex Gaskarth said. The band made one of the concert's most memorable moments when they played an energetic cover of Rihanna's "Umbrella."

With the VMAs only weeks away and most of the nominees announced, talk of potential winners and losers was rampant backstage. While All Time Low, Boys Like Girls and Metro Station all had a good number of fans nominate them for Best New Artist, they didn't get enough votes to put them in the top five with Katy Perry.

"I feel like I just kind of showed up on the scene, and I'm nominated with more established artists. They're on their third single, and I'm still kissing girls," Perry said of her nomination. And what if she wins? "I'd love to have a Moonman. Everyone wants a Moonman, but I think this is just the beginning, and if I get lucky enough to win, I'm going to create a necklace out of it," she laughed.

Her tourmates say they'll be supporting her when it comes time for the big show. "Her single is enormous. Everyone has it stuck in their head right now; it's like a song of the summer," Boys Like Girls guitarist Paul DiGiovanni said. At the end of her set, during "I Kissed a Girl," the singer came down off the stage and sang the last verse with the cheering crowd.

As for other nominees, Lil Wayne was a big favorite among both All Time Low and Boys Like Girls. "I think Lil Wayne will probably take Best Male Video because he dominated this year," BLG bassist Bryan Donahue said. And for Best Rock Video, Gaskarth said he would "put $400 on Paramore."

This year's VMAs, hosted by British comic and "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" co-star Russell Brand, will feature live performances from the Jonas Brothers, Lil Wayne and Kid Rock. See how Perry and the other nominees fare when the big show is broadcast live at 9 p.m. on September 7 from the legendary Paramount Pictures Studios in Hollywood.

It's a wrap! Now that the 2008 VMAs have come and gone, check out all the winners, the most surprising moments, the best red-carpet fashions and more at VMA.MTV.com.

• MTVu VMA Tour Hits Six Flags America

• Katy Perry
• Boys Like Girls
• Metro Station
• All Time Low

Gym Class Heroes accept the award for Woodie of the Year at the 2007 mtvU Woodie Awards
Photo: Bryan Bedder/ Getty Images

Gym Class Heroes, the Academy Is ... and Boys Like Girls all got Woodies on Thursday night.

Does that sound like the opening salvo in a frat-boy film? Actually, it's a rather cheeky summary of the winners at the mtvU Woodie Awards.

Yes, the emo boys were among those taking home hardware at the fourth annual Woodies, an awards show and genuinely cool concert held once again at New York's Roseland Ballroom. GCH won the night's biggest honor, the Woodie of the Year, which is given to "the artists who made the biggest splash on mtvU and the college music scene"; TAI won the Viral Woodie, for "acts that crashed servers and blew up the World Wide Interwebs"; and BLG grabbed the Breaking Woodie, given to the year's best emerging artist.

Other (non-acronymic) winners included Madvillian — the mind-melting hip-hop project from MF Doom and Madlib — who took home the Left Field Woodie for the year's most original artist; Say Anything, whose "Wow, I Can Get Sexual Too" won the Best Video Woodie; and Muse, who were given the Best Performing Woodie for the year's strongest tour.

But the awards were only half the show: The Woodies boasted an impressive, genre-bending list of performers, too. Lupe Fiasco kicked things off with a fiery version of "Superstar," joined onstage by Fall Out Boy frontman Patrick Stump. Baltimore raunch-masters Spank Rock teamed up with Philly MC Santogold on bumping renditions of "Loose" and "Rick Rubin." The Academy Is ... were backed by a string section from the Julliard School of Music. And Rilo Kiley closed the show with a pair of tunes from their Under the Blacklight album, the slinky "Moneymaker" and the bittersweet "Breakin' Up."

Presenters at the Woodies included Fall Out Boy, Q-Tip, Annie Lennox, Talib Kweli and Tom DeLonge and Dave Kennedy of Angels & Airwaves. Winners were determined entirely by student voting on mtvU.com. More than 4.6 million votes were cast this year.

If you're bummed that you couldn't be in NYC for the show, don't fret. It'll be broadcast in its entirety on mtvU and mtvU.com on Thursday at 8 p.m. ET, with a half-hour "Best Of" show to follow on MTV on November 17 at 10 p.m. ET/PT and on MTV2 November 18 at 12:30 a.m. ET.

The complete list of winners for the fourth annual mtvU Woodie Awards:

» Woodie of the Year: Gym Class Heroes

» The Breaking Woodie: Boys Like Girls

» The Left Field Woodie: Madvillain

» Best Video Woodie: Say Anything, "Wow, I Can Get Sexual Too"

» The Good Woodie (Greatest Social Impact): Guster

» Best Performing Woodie: Muse

» The Alumni Woodie (aka The You're Still OK in Our Book Award): Spoon

» Viral Woodie: The Academy Is ...

» Best Music on Campus Woodie (given to the artist with the most votes, streams and/or buzz on mtvU's BestMusiconCampus.com): Stella by Starlight, Duke University.

• Fall Out Boy, Lupe Fiasco, Boys Like Girls, More At 2007 mtvU Woodie Awards

• Gym Class Heroes
• The Academy Is...
• Boys Like Girls
• Lupe Fiasco
• Fall Out Boy

Boys Like Girls check into the Palms on Friday
Photo: SoulBrother

It's been one heck of a year for Boys Like Girls.

The emotive Boston four-piece's eponymous debut landed in stores little more than a year ago, but things really started picking up steam in early 2007. The Boys hit the road with Cobra Starship and Cartel for a two-month trek, after which they stopped by "Jimmy Kimmel Live" and performed the disc's second single, "The Great Escape."

But the icing on the proverbial cake came for the band on July 31, when "The Great Escape" reached the #1 spot on MTV's "Total Request Live" countdown. To date, Boys Like Girls has scanned more than 200,000 copies, and the band attributes much of its recent success to touring.

"We've been nonstop on the road for the last year and a half, two years — that has helped," frontman Martin Johnson explained. "I've slept in my own bed probably three or four nights in the last year and a half. We're working hard because we want to make it happen real bad, and we're doing everything in our power to get our music to as many people as possible. You have to play in front of kids to make that connection."

So, why are Boys Like Girls in Vegas? Well, they will be performing in the tepid Las Vegas heat at 7 p.m. on Saturday, just outside the Palms Resort Casino's babe-filled pool, as part of the Virtual VMA Pepsi Sky Villa Suite (see "Vegas, George Clooney-Style: Inside The Palms' Fantasy Suites"). Plus the Boys are big Vegas fans. (Feast your eyes on photos of Boys Like Girls, Common, Chris Brown, Eve and lots more stars in Las Vegas.)

"In the last year, we've been here four or five times, and we always lose our money, but we love coming here — it's fun, and the excitement's crazy," Johnson said. "It's just fun to gamble. We all just turned 21, so we get out here, and it's like, 'Ahhh — time to gamble.' "

The band spent this summer traveling the U.S. on the Warped Tour. Now, fresh from a string of Japanese dates (and suffering from extreme jetlag here in Vegas), Boys Like Girls are about to embark on their first-ever headlining run. The band's Tourzilla launches September 29 in Worcester, Massachusetts, and hits 48 North American cities before winding down November 25 in Philadelphia.

But while Boys Like Girls' upcoming tour is U.S.-centric, the band has certainly trotted elsewhere across the globe. Johnson recalled performing for their Japanese fans — he called it a most unusual experience.

"They're crazy over there — the fans are mental," he said. "When you're at the show, the fans go super-, super-crazy — when you're playing. When you're done playing your song ... silence. It's bizarre."

Johnson said Boys Like Girls hope to continue touring in 2008 "because we want to be out there until we feel like everybody who could possibly hear this record hears it." But playing the same set has been wearing them down, so they've been fleshing out material for their sophomore LP.

"We've been writing on the bus and getting ideas together," Johnson said, adding that the band has no definitive plans to hit the studio yet and no idea when it'll be ready to release album numero dos. "We're always writing, and we always have something up our sleeves."

First, though, the band plans to shoot a video for "Hero/Heroine," which Johnson said will be much darker in comparison to the clip for "The Great Escape." The rockers have scheduled the shoot for two weeks from now in their Boston hometown, and while Johnson wasn't too forthcoming with details about the video's premise, he did say there will be loads of performance footage.

"We're super-stoked for everyone to see it," he said.

Wait -- don't cash out on the VMAs just yet! From Britney's sultry comeback performance to the big winners, you saw it all -- well, almost everything! Get yourself even richer with our wall-to-wall show coverage, party reports, videos and loads more at www.VMA.MTV.com. For reports, photos, video and much, much more from previous VMAs, dive into the VMA archives.

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• Boys Like Girls

MTV.com Exclusive: Boys Like Girls

• Boys Like Girls

Woodie Awards 2007 Winners and Presenters

• Annie Lennox
• Q-Tip
• Fall Out Boy
• Talib Kweli
• Motion City Soundtrack

Woodie Awards 2008 Red Carpet

• Paramore
• The All-American Rejects
• All Time Low
• Lykke Li
• Santigold

Paramore, All-American Rejects, More Take Home Timber At The 2008 mtvU Woodie Awards

• Paramore
• The All-American Rejects
• Lykke Li
• Moby
• Boys Like Girls

Tila Tequila's New Year's Eve Masquerade 2008: Performances & Highlights

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MTV's Artist of the Week 12.03.07: Boys Like Girls

• Boys Like Girls

Fall Out Boy, Lupe Fiasco, Boys Like Girls, More At 2007 mtvU Woodie Awards

• Fall Out Boy
• Lupe Fiasco
• Gym Class Heroes
• Angels & Airwaves
• Talib Kweli

Adrian Grenier, Nelly, Shia LaBeouf, Britney And More Stars Spotted In Vegas

• Jay-Z
• Beyoncé
• Britney Spears
• Boys Like Girls
• Common

2007 VMA: Live And Poolside With Boys Like Girls

• Boys Like Girls

2007 VMA: Fashion By The Numbers

• Nicole Scherzinger
• Maroon 5
• Yung Joc
• Cobra Starship
• Boys Like Girls