Simon Cowell sees changes afoot for ‘X Factor’
Creator and judge Simon Cowell, whose U.K. version is a top-rated hit, acknowledges overstating early expectations. Before the premiere, the former Idol judge had said he’d be disappointed with less than 20 million.
“It didn’t get the numbers I predicted,” he says now. “I’m not going to lie and say I’m thrilled. But I’ve also learned a lesson that you can’t be too cocky, and it may take a few years. You’ve got to earn the right to those numbers.”
Read more at USA Today
New Music: Lil Twist – ‘The Golden Child’ [Mixtape]
Young Money’s rising star Lil Twist goes up to bat with his DJ Ill Will-hosted mixtape The Golden Child. Lil Wayne’s protégé calls on Lex Luger, Chris Richardson, Khalil, and Jae Millz for the 15 tracks, available as a free download. Twist’s YMCMB debut Don’t Get It Twisted is slated to drop in early 2012 with appearances from Drake, Nicki Minaj, and Busta Rhymes.
Download: Lil Twist – The Golden Child
Read more at Rap-Up
Diana DeGarmo’s Young Love
Millions of Americans first got to hear Diana DeGarmo on season three of FOX’s American Idol, where she was the show’s first-runner up, and since then, theater audiences have been treated to her powerful vocals and superb acting in such shows as Hair, The Toxic Avenger, 9 to 5, and Hairspray. These days, she’s back on TV — showing off very different sides of her acting and vocal abilities — as aspiring singer Angelina Veniziano on CBS’ top-rated daytime drama The Young and the Restless. TheaterMania recently caught up with DeGarmo about her new gig.
Read more at TheatreMania
Jennifer Lopez & Marc Anthony in Q’Viva! – Univision Trailer – 2011.12.20
J.Lo Introduces Her New Beau to Idol Judges at Dinner
The dancer joined Lopez and her fellow Idol judges (as well as host Ryan Seacrest) in Las Vegas Monday night for dinner at Crystals’ Social House restaurant after a taping of their hit Fox show.
Dining on Kobe steak and yellowtail jalapeno, along with a bottle of Caymus Cabernet, “[Lopez and Smart] cuddled up next to one another, exchanging a few small kisses during the dinner,” a source told PEOPLE. Adds the source: “They were all very sweet.”
Read more at People
Landau says next album to be mostly original songs
Landau Murphy rose to fame earlier this year by performing Frank Sinatra cover tunes on the NBC’s “America’s Got Talent,” but the Logan native says he plans to switch up his sound soon.
“My next CD will be all originals, except for a few,” he said.
Although he became famous by singing American Songbook standards, Murphy said he appreciates all kinds of music, including rock, R&B, gospel and country.
“I do just about anything,” he said.
Read more at the Charleston Daily Mail
‘X Factor’ Final Three: THR Experts Make Their Picks
The X Factor finale is less than 24 hours away, but going into its last round, even after three months of competition, there is still no clear winner as each of the final three — Melanie Amaro, 19, Josh Krajcik, 30, and Chris Rene, 28 — offers something completely different.
our editor recommends
What to make of this toss-up? An argument, for one, so THR gathered music editor Shirley Halperin, Live Feed writer-reporter Jethro Nededog and Idol Worship blogger Michele Angermiller for their individual takes on who will win X Factor’s inaugural season.
Read more at THR
Cover Story: Why Marc Anthony Wants Jennifer Lopez to “Suffer”
After what appeared to be a fairly civilized July split following seven years of marriage, things between Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony are getting seriously ugly, multiple insiders tell the new Us Weekly, out now.
The catalyst? Lopez’s newfound love with Casper Smart, a 24-year-old backup dancer who’s already getting along swimmingly with Max and Emme, Lopez’s 3-year-old twins with Anthony, 43.
When the Latin crooner spotted photos of Lopez and Smart bonding with his son and daughter during a Thanksgiving vacation in Kauai, Hawaii, he “hit the roof,” one source says. “It caused a huge blowup.”
Read more at US Magazine
‘X Factor’ moms tell all
“X Factor” finalist Chris Rene was once so deep into his drug addiction that he tried to leap from a moving car on a busy freeway.
“A few years ago, Chris and I were driving around looking at Christmas lights, and all of a sudden his behavior started becoming very erratic,” his mother Joni tells The Post.
“He started saying things that made no sense. He grabbed my cell phone and began punching numbers erratically.”
Read more at the New York Post
“Glee” Star Lindsay Pearce Set for Limited Run of Jason Robert Brown’s The Last 5 Years
Lindsay Pearce, a finalist on Oxygen’s “The Glee Project” and the newest cast member of Fox’s hit show “Glee,” will star in the UnderMotion Production Corporation’s upcoming production of Jason Robert Brown’s The Last 5 Years.
Directed by Chris Berry with musical direction by Charles Barksdale, performances are scheduled for Jan. 6-8, 2012, at the Brauntex Theatre in New Braunfels, TX.
Read more at Playbill
Glee’s Naya Rivera Named New Proactiv Spokesperson
The 24-year-old turned to Proactiv’s acne products to clear up her complexion, and now she’s the brand’s new spokesperson.
“The makeup artist on the set of Glee gave it to me and I kept it using it because I knew it worked for other people,” she says. “I really wanted to work with Proactiv because the products really helped me.”
Read more at US
