Blog Posts by Lyndsey Parker

WATCH PART 1 OF DURBIN'S INTERVIEW

James DurbinFans of James Durbin eager to hear more snippets of his debut album, Memories Of A Beautiful Disaster,  should truly enjoy part two of my chat with of the "American Idol" rocker, as he quite frequently randomly breaks into song throughout our conversation. It's obvious just how enthusiastic he is about his new music  (and music in general--he even belts out a song by one of his favorite new bands from Finland!)...and his enthusiasm is extremely contagious.

Dia Frampton rocks a new Rapunzel look"The Voice" runner-up Dia Frampton has just released her first post-show single, "The Broken Ones," and I must say the lovely folk-pop power ballad is growing on me--just like Dia's hair seems to have grown about 22 inches since "The Voice's" April finale, judging by her appearance in the song's new video.

All kidding aside, while it's a little disconcerting to see the formerly bobbed Dia sporting what appears to be an Ann Wilson wig, she does look and sound gorgeous in her "Broken Ones" video. And the song remains steadfastly true to the signature sound she cultivated on "The Voice" with her "Heartless" and "Losing My Religion" covers and her original song "Inventing Shadows"--the latter of which went to number one on iTunes. So it's a nice relief to learn that Dia's musical style didn't undergo a makeover too.

Simon rocks his trademark smirkThis week's top 10 show on "The X Factor" was originally supposed to be Lady Gaga/Madonna Night. But at the last minute, Simon Cowell changed it to Rock Night. As it turned out, the switch made little difference. Rock Night just didn't really, well, rock. Of course, with a top 10 cast of mostly R&B, pop, and country singers, it was understandable that few of the contestants were willing, or able, to tap into their (possibly entirely non-existent) inner rock stars. But some of them didn't even get assigned actual rock songs that would have allowed them to do so, anyway.

The star-crossed and unlikely love story between "American Idol" contestant Paul McDonald and Twilight actress Nikki Reed--who met when the "Idol" Season 10 cast attended the Red Riding Hood movie premiere earlier this year, and married only six months later--continues apace this week, with a new twist. This Monday, the newlyweds premiered their new love duet, "Now That I've Found You" (music by Paul, lyrics by Nikki, vocals by both), on Ryan Seacrest's KIIS FM morning show. Paul also tweeted a photo of the single's cover art, with an announcement that the song will soon be on iTunes. It's Paul's first official recording since he left "Idol" in eighth place back in April.

Paul & Nikki's cover art

Vocal PointMonday night was R&B night on "The Sing-Off," meaning the five remaining teams had to infuse some actual soul into their performances. This would be no easy task for any a cappella group--not even for "rap-a-pella" team Urban Method, and especially not for the clean-cut Mormon boys of Vocal Point. But hey, they all tried. And you know what? Judging by Monday's thrilling opening number, all of them actually possess way more soul than I'd ever given them credit for.

Blake Lewis, Didi Benami & Tim Urban are on a boat!Some people book vacations to the Bahamas to get away from it all. I, of course, am not one of those people. So when it came time for me to take a winter holiday, I chose to fly out to Grand Bahama Island for the Grand Lucayan resort's Inaugural Celebrity Weekend, a charity gala organized by entertainment industry veteran Lisa Tenner (founder of Las Vegas's EAT'M Festival), to see some of my favorite reality singers--"American Idol's" Blake Lewis, Didi Benami, and Tim Urban, and "America's Got Talent's" fabulous fop Prince Poppycock--perform in a seaside setting. Now that was a proper vacation, as far as I'm concerned. Velvet-sand beaches, bottomless Bahama Mama cocktails, AND Prince Poppycock covering Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" in the Grand Lucayan ballroom? Yep, this was a total Bahamian rhapsody.