Reality Rocks

  • Last night on the So You Think You Can Dance finale, the title of "America's Favorite Dancer" was bestowed upon the lovely and gifted Jeanine Mason--the fifth winner in the show's history, and only the second female to receive such an honor. It was a bit of an "upset," but I wasn't personally upset. While I was officially rooting for my own favorite, Brandon the racehorse, over Jeanine the dark horse, in the end I couldn't help but be happy with the results. See, all of the top four are mind-bogglingly talented, and are in their own way (despite what Nigel Lythgoe said last night) true champions.

    And Jeanine is so charming, it's easy to see how she danced her way into America's hearts and became the favorite. Talent, Nigel-endorsed personality, humility, fabulous hair (she's the only season 5 dancer who never needed extensions!)...yes, the girl is the total package.

    Case in point: My charming backstage interview with Jeanine from last night, shot only moments after she won, when the

    Read More »

  • Last year, when Jennifer Hudson unveiled the album artwork for her debut disc, I was perturbed. She looked like she'd gone on a drastic digital diet, so to speak--that is, that some overzealous Photoshopper had given her an extreme electronic makeover. (See my Hudson blog here.) And now it seems another curvy Idol, Kelly Clarkson, has undergone the same treatment on the new cover of Self magazine.

    Compare and contrast Kelly's baby-got-no-back Self cover below, alongside a shot of her performing July 31 on Good Morning America (only a week ago!):

    Now, if Kelly has been Photoshopped--and that does seem to be the case here, in my opinion--this annoys me even more than the suspiciously skinny J.Hud photo did.

    First of all, people like Kelly and Jennifer (along with Jordin Sparks, Kimberley Locke, Kelly Pickler, and many other female Idols who weigh more than 98 pounds) have long had to deal with size-ism, pretty much ever since they first entered the AmIdol audition room. Kelly in

    Read More »

  • This morning, American Idol heartthrobs David Cook, Adam Lambert, and Kris Allen performed on ABC's Good Morning America.

    Yes, all at once. SINGING A FLEETWOOD MAC SONG. It was a good morning for America, indeed.

    And thus, "Cookradam" (David + Kris + Adam) was born.

    There was only ONE problem: Cookradam's Fleetwood Mac cover, "Little Lies," was not aired in its entirety on Good Morning America. ABC instead ran about 13.27 seconds of it. This, to me, was like letting someone eat one tiny delicious bite of tiramisu before cruelly yanking away the dessert tray and saying, "Nope, that's all you get."

    What a tease! And normally being teased by Cookradam wouldn't be something to complain about (heh heh), but it sure was in this case.

    So as a public service, I give you the full "Little Lies" performance below. It is available, along with the Idols' individual numbers (Adam doing "Starlight" and Kris doing "Heartless" acoustic, and David singing "Come Back To Me" with his band) at

    Read More »

  • In a way, all four dancers in this season's So You Think You Can Dance finale are underdogs--not just Evan, who lately has become the judges' punching bag and has surprised many (not just the judges) by making it this far, but also Brandon, who started off the show as Mia Michaels and Lil' C's personal punching bag; Jeanine, who spent much of the season being dragged down by mismatched partner Phillip and sort of came out of nowhere in the last few weeks; and even Kayla, who despite consistent praise from all the adoring judges has ended up in the bottom three several times.

    Therefore, this season's finale week may be the most suspenseful in SYTYCD history, as it's pretty much impossible to predict who will win Thursday night.

    But suspense is all part of the fun, of course. And tonight's final competitive round was fun indeed. Taking place at new finale venue the Kodak Theater in Hollywood, it was an evening positively tingling with "Deeley chills" (and, come to think of it, "Parker

    Read More »

  • Throughout this season of So You Think You Can Dance, the judges--particularly the always outspoken Nigel Lythgoe--have griped that while this season's top 20 may have been the most technically gifted cast yet, no one stood out as a "star," a la past contestants like Twitch, Hok, Benji, or Lacey. However, judging from how the top four performed on tonight's final competitive show, such complaints now seem groundless. All four were stars tonight, in their own way.

    Backstage at tonight's part 1 finale, I addressed this point with the three judges--Mary Murphy, Nigel Lythgoe, and guest Adam Shankman--and all three agreed that the contestants truly stepped it up tonight...so much so that they all seemed baffled about who might actually win tomorrow night:

    And then it was time to chat with the top four STARS of the show--first Jeanine and Evan, then Kayla and Brandon--scars and all. (Jeanine and Evan showed me their dance-induced bumps and bruises, and let me tell you, these warriors

    Read More »

  • I always assumed that Adam Lambert sprang forth from the womb--or, more likely, hatched from some magical whitechocolatespaceegg--a readymade rock 'n' roll creation, with natural cobalt blue streaks in his hair, permanent eyeliner tattooed on his newborn face, and a spiky pair of custom Skingraft leather diapers strapped to his babylegs.

    Not so. Case in point: this newly unearthed local San Diego commercial starring a high school-aged, entirely unrecognizable Adam (yes, he's the tow-haired kid, for those of you who didn't already know he's a natural blonde):

    Now, I know that Adam's old image may not be a revelation to diehard fans (including myself), but I still wanted to blog when I saw this ancient ad, because it only made me admire Adam that much more. I am continually amazed at how he totally transformed himself from Lambert to Glambert, from freckle-faced freshman to trouser-snaked Rolling Stone cover boy/glitter rocker/Coolest Person On All This Planet And All Neighboring

    Read More »

  • Back in American Idol season 5, runner-up Katharine McPhee lost out to silver-haired showman Taylor Hicks. And now Katharine is looking a little silvery herself these days, unveiling a bold new platinum hairdo on People.com and her website, katharinemcphee.com.

    The photos are from a shoot for the cover of her upcoming second album, Unbroken, but I personally take one gobsmacked, bugeyed look at her choppy, bleachy makeover and think, "Wow, if ain't broken, don't fix it, Kat."

    Now, it goes without saying that Kat is a beautiful woman, and would be even with a Sanjaya-style mohawk. And the Bardot/Sedgwick/Duffy-ish retro styling of these Ellen Von Unwerth promo pics is kind of cool.

    But...the naturally brunette Katharine had gorgeous shampoo-commercial hair. The kind of hair that earned her multi-page photo spreads in hairstyle magazines. The kind of lush and abundant tresses that other female Idols, like Kelly Clarkson and Jordin Sparks, freely admit they could only achieve via exotic

    Read More »

  • Hey, wasn't Kevin Skinner supposed to be some great-unwashed, backwards-baseball-capped, "simple country guy" from Kentucky?

    That's certainly how America's Got Talent was promoting its favorite everyman contestant this season...and that still seems to be how the "unemployed chicken farmer" self-defacingly views himself. But judging by his AGT semi-final performance tonight, he seems to have undergone some sort of semi-extreme makeover:

    Wow. Who knew that beneath that farmer hat and flannel shirt lurked a country heartthrob? There's no way Skinner's not advancing to the next round after this. Who knows...maybe he'll even go as far as another famous contestant-turned-heartthrob who also performed "To Make You Feel My Love" on another big Simon Cowell-affiliated TV talent show:

    Follow me on Twitter 

    Follow Yahoo! Music on Twitter

    Read More »

  • So there I was, backstage at the So You Think You Can Dance finale, marveling at the fancy footwork of Brandon, Kayla, Evan, and Jeanine, when during some between-routine downtime I whipped out my iPhone and, like all compulsive people of this modern age, checked my Twitter. And that when I was hit by this bombshell regarding SYTYCD's sister show, American Idol, tweeted by the one and only Paula Abdul:

    "With sadness in my heart, I've decided not to return to #IDOL. I'll miss nurturing all the new talent, but most of all being a part of a show that I helped from day 1 become an international phenomenon. What I want to say most, is how much I appreciate the undying support and enormous love that you have showered upon me. It truly has been breathtaking, especially over the past month. I do without any doubt have the BEST fans in the entire world and I love you all."

    I resisted the urge to spook everyone around me by letting rip an action-movie-tragedy-scene-style "NOOOOOOOO!!!" (you

    Read More »

  • Oh my. TMZ has just uncovered archival video footage of Simon Cowell's first television appearance, as "Wonderdog" on the U.K. music program Top Of The Pops. And if I'm being honest, it is dreadful.

    Apparently, back in 1982, a German artist named Harry Thumann produced a song called "Ruff Mix" that sampled dog-barks, much like other animal-sounds classics by, say, the Jingle Cats. Young music producer Simon acquired the rights to the novelty song, released it under the artist name "Wonderdog," and to promote this project even went on British TV dressed in a furry canine costume.

    This was the result...by a man who later became one of the highest-paid men in the music business:

    Ooh, that's ruff.

    Now, obviously this was not an attempt at a serious singing career, and although Simon's actual mouth is not visible in the clip above, I'd venture to guess his lip-synching skills were no worse than Paula Abdul's back in the day. But he's going to have a VERY hard time living this one down,

    Read More »

Pagination

  1. 194
(2,430 Stories)

News for You

  • Restaurant learns online reviews can make or break

    SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (AP) — It was the customer service disaster heard around the Internet.

  • Attorney: Donald Trump lied on stand

    CHICAGO (AP) — The attorney for an 87-year-old woman who accuses Donald Trump of cheating her in a skyscraper condo deal told Chicago jurors on Wednesday that he was personally repulsed by the "Apprentice" star whom he said lied on the witness stand.

  • The new consoles from Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony

    NEW YORK (AP) — Microsoft is the last of the three big video game console makers to unveil its latest gaming system. The unveiling comes nearly eight years after the Xbox 360 went on sale. It follows last fall's debut of Nintendo's Wii U and a preview in February of the upcoming PlayStation 4 from Sony.

  • Singer Kellie Pickler named new 'Dancing' champ

    LOS ANGELES (AP) — Kellie Pickler came into the final "Dancing With the Stars" episode in second place but finished in first.

  • Douglas, Damon dramatize a steamy showbiz affair

    NEW YORK (AP) — The idea of Michael Douglas playing Liberace might seem nearly as outrageous as Liberace himself.

  • Singer Kellie Pickler jives to victory on "Dancing With the Stars"

    By Andrea Burzynski NEW YORK (Reuters) - Country singer Kellie Pickler won the 16th season of ABC's "Dancing With the Stars" on Tuesday night, winning over judges and TV audiences with her graceful style and high-jumping jives with partner and professional dancer Derek Hough. Pickler, who first grabbed attention as a contestant on "American Idol" in 2006, screeched and jumped up and down when she learned she had won. "This is amazing! Oh, my God!" she exclaimed, before fellow finalist and NFL player Jacoby Jones hoisted her on his shoulders to celebrate. ...

Show More

TOP VIDEOS

  1. Can't Hold Us
    1.
    Can't Hold Us
    Macklemore & Ryan … | Warner
  2. 2.
    Just Give Me A Reason
    P!nk, (f/ Nate Ruess …
  3. 3.
    Mirrors
    Justin Timberlake
  4. 4.
    When I Was Your Man
    Bruno Mars
  5. 5.
    Stay
    Rihanna, (f/ Mikky E …
  6. 6.
    Come & Get It
    Selena Gomez
  7. 7.
    Thrift Shop
    Macklemore & Ryan …
  8. 8.
    Radioactive
    Imagine Dragons
  9. 9.
    I Love It
    Icona Pop
  10. 10.
    Cruise
    Florida Georgia Line