I joined a focus group on Fox News Channel’s “America Live” with Megyn Kelly to discuss and debate different points from President Barack Obama’s State of the Union Address.
Watch the full segment here.
Thanks to Mark Goldman of Goldman and McCormick PR.
- Cool to see “Idol” continuing to explore different places for auditions, showing off parts of the country that don’t fall within a top 10 market.
- Judges interviews/auditions at the top of the show looked so staged.
- I love Randy Jackson’s laugh when he’s pleasantly surprised or disgusted. He laughs the same way for both.
- Guess I predicted JLO coming off as a diva correctly, as she spent a nice chunk of the episode fighting Steven and Randy.
Contestants
- Phong Vu is going to end up being famous, it’s a shame. A William Hung wanna-be.
- 17 year-old country singer/deer hunter Skylar Laine was one of the best contestants yet. I could see her going far in this.
- Baylie Brown was good, but she’s 21 and made it to Hollywood at 16. I applaud her persistence but I find it disheartening that people get a second chance when some don’t even receive a deserving first.
- Kristine Osoris used a loan to pay her divorce attorney for her flight to audition. Decent voice, certainly women will love her story.
- Cortez Shaw did an Adele cover justice, turning “Someone Like You” in to a uptempo R&B song. The kid has the looks and charm as well – the best pure R&B singer to audition yet.
- Ramiro Garcia won a golden ticket, after being born without ears. Amazing story.
After seven years of marriage, Seal and Heidi Klum are divorcing. Entertainment Reporter Jill Wilderman believes there may be alterior motives in the announcement.
Wilderman notes that Seal and Klum are still wearing their wedding rings.
Check out Jill’s blog here and follow her on Twitter here.
Neon Hitch comes off as an aggressive ex-girlfriend in her track, “F*** You Betta,” the first single from her soon-to-be-released album, Beg, Borrow, and Steal. Apparently while shooting the music video, which will premiere online next month, she mimicked the aggressiveness of the song.
“I still have cuts from (the shoot),” Hitch said to me during a Skype interview, while showing me a bruise on her webcam. “I did a lot of training for it, but it was all worth it.”
“Me and a mannequin, we’re the only people in the video,” she divulged. “But there was a lot of dance routines, like there’s this one where I’m doing this whole dance routine in this black oil, and you know, it got pretty painful.”
Neon Hitch, yes that’s her real name, is no stranger to pain or bizarre. She was born in the UK and spent a good part of her childhood as a gypsy, traveling in a circus. Fast forward a few years to when super-producer Benny Blanco (Ke$ha, 3OH!3) found her on MySpace and flew her to the States, and voila, Neon Hitch has a record deal and a forthcoming LP.
Hitch is also featured on the latest single from Gym Class Heroes, “Ass Back Home.” Performing the track live with Travie McCoy and crew has taken her to Madison Square Garden and now next month, the Super Bowl.
“I’m so excited!” the singer exclaimed from her bed. “I’m so grateful to Gym Class Heroes for involving me. This is so amazing.”
The singer will join GCH at the VH1 Pepsi Super Bowl Fan Jam, airing live on the cable network Thursday February 2 at 9 PM from Indianapolis, the host city for this year’s big game.
Sammy Adams is ready to “blow up” and fill a void that he sees in the current pop music landscape.
“There’s not really a white pop star or singer/rapper/hybrid that really has footing like Katy Perry and Britney Spears and the female pop artists,” Adams said in a Skype interview from Miami this week. And he makes a point, although immediately when he gave that example, I thought of his record label-mate, Mike Posner.
Adams, real name Samuel Adams Wisner, shares another similarity with the “Cooler Than Me” emcee: both attended college and began recording music in their dorm rooms. But while Posner graduated from Duke, Wisner ditched his political science major and soccer scholarship at Trinity College to tour the globe. He had attended college for a total of three and a half years.
“Once I started touring, my plans to get my work in…” Adams trailed off, while making a guillotine-like motion by his neck, signaling that the plans were cut off. “I was a college kid, traveling around the country, playing shows, making music that I wanted to hear; music that most college kids could relate to.”
And can still relate to. “Blow Up” is a college kid’s anthem, for every student pulling all-nighters and wondering when enough is finally enough. When Adams had enough and focused solely on music, he believes he figured out what the key to success was.
“You have to find your identity as an artist,” he advised. “It really comes down to finding out who you are, what kind of music you want to make. Yunno, these days, a lot of stuff’s changed, and you got to be able to build your fan base and really stay true to yourself.”
Adams was in Miami finishing up the recording for his major label debut album, which he says is “probably 90 percent” done. He still has a couple working titles, and is looking at a spring release on RCA Records.
- Loving the change in scenary thus far this season – as last night’s episode aired from Aspen, CO. The state has produced a lot of pop stars recently, from OneRepublic to 3OH!3 to The Fray.
- Steven Tyler wins line of the night: “Turkeys have balls?”
- Does anyone else feel that more than ever, Jennifer Lopez is coming off looking like a diva again? I think the fact that she is surrounded by two grounded people doesn’t help matters.
Contestants
- Thought the first person to audition, Jenni Schick, was pretty good. Her and Tyler locked lips after she won her ticket to Hollywood, and even Steven said after, “I’m gonna get in trouble for that one.” You know it’s bad when even he admits he did something wrong!
- Richie Law had a deep, old school country voice and could definitely go far in this competition.
- Mathenee Treco just has a solid voice that lends itself to pop music.
- Although 19 year-old Tealana Hedgespeth didn’t deserve a golden ticket, I found myself rooting for her because “Idol” once again did a great job in telling a back story.
- Haley Smith is a throwback, and is too talented for me to simply say she’s too different to win.
- Shelby Tueten was good, but I think throwing a 17 year-old who suffers from depression and bi-polar in to that atmosphere could prove a little regrettable.
- The look Steven Tyler gave Angie Zeiderman when she walked in was priceless. Angie is different in all the right ways and has a great voice. I see people backing her the way they backed Adam Lambert or James Durbin. Outcasts unite!
It’s official: Justin Bieber’s manager has signed another musical act. In an interview set to air this Monday on “The Ralphie Radio Show,” The Wanted confirmed that the band is now managed by Scooter Braun.
“Def Jam and Scoot got together and were like, ‘We want these boys,’” said The Wanted’s Tom Parker. The group, who are currently in the midst of a small U.S. tour, agreed that Braun’s previous work with Island Def Jam helped in the process.
Rumors first surfaced of the manager’s involvement with the UK-based boy band when reports emerged that it was Braun who landed The Wanted on “Ellen,” the group’s first American TV performance.
“I mean, he’s got a really good relationship with Ellen, and she heard about us in the UK and we were obviously trying to come to the U.S.,” Parker explained, before Nathan Sykes downplayed the notion that they appeared on the show simply because of Braun.
“She did say that she wouldn’t have us on the show unless she actually liked us,” the youngest of the five boys chimed in. “She did say, ‘I want to be the one to break them out here.’”
The Wanted’s current single, “Glad You Came,” is climbing up the charts here in the States. Braun and the band finalized the contract for management on Tuesday. This came on the heels of The Wanted finding out that the group will make their second national TV appearance in Los Angeles next week, although the guys would not divulge which show it will be on.
In this week’s edition of “Trend Hungry Tuesday” – Resident Fashionista Jessie Holeva chatted about a trend that all of the Kardashians and singer Jessie J are rockin’, lip tattoos.
Visit Trend Hungry to find the latest fashion 411 on a skinny budget, and catch Jessie every Tuesday evening on “The Ralphie Radio Show.”
