Archive: October 2011 (31-40 of 123)

Oct 21 2011 04:21 PM ET

Crystal Bowersox, Lee DeWyze both dropped by their record label: For 'Idol', what a difference a year makes

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Categories: American Idol, Crystal Bowersox, Lauren Alaina, Lee DeWyze, Music Biz, Scotty McCreery
lee-crystal

Image Credit: Michael Becker/Fox

American Idol Season 9 runner-up Crystal Bowersox has split with label RCA/Jive, a rep for the singer confirmed yesterday to TVLine.

Bowersox, whose debut album Farmer’s Daughter sold 210,000 copies (compared to Idol winner Lee Dewyze’s Live It Up, which moved just 168,000 copies.), said, “For not having any radio play and any great promotion, I think I’ve done pretty well on sales … I’m able to provide a good, comfortable life for my family, and that’s what I wanted out of it.” She says that she expects that her second album will be released independently.

Reports of Bowersox’s split arrive just two weeks after news that Lee DeWyze had been dropped by RCA as well. Apparently, Season 9 of American Idol, which many viewers felt was lackluster edition, just didn’t produce a bankable star. (Although, technically, the jury’s out on third-place finisher Casey James, who just released his debut country single “Let’s Don’t Call It A Night.” He seems to be Season 9′s last hope.)

Scotty-Lauren-Idol-finale

Image Credit: Frank Micelotta/Fox/Picture Group

Meanwhile, Season 10′s top two finishers, Scotty McCreery and Lauren Alaina, both of whom are managed by Interscope and signed to Mercury Nashville, are both kicking off their careers with decidedly healthier results.

In its first two weeks on the chart, Scotty McCreery’s Clear As Day has sold a strong 285,000 copies, while Lauren Alaina’s Wildflower managed to sell 69,000 copies (the best female country debut since 2006) in its debut last week. HITS Daily Double predicts that those titles will sell an additional 65,000 and 30,000, respectively, this week. Not too shabby for a couple of teens!

Perhaps the better numbers are a result of country audiences more willingly buying whole albums than pop listeners, or perhaps Scotty and Lauren benefited from October release dates, rather than the more competitive mid-November (Lee) and December (Crystal) dates of their predecessors. Or maybe audiences just like them more—after all, Scotty and Lauren fit into the smiley, bright-eyed, big-dreaming mold of American Idol better than the more subdued Bowersox and DeWyze.

Whatever the reason, McCreery and Alaina (and hopefully Haley Reinhart one day soon!) are re-establishing American Idol as a brand that can produce stars—so long as they aren’t named Pia Toscano, of course. She just never really happened, did she?

What do you think? Will Bowersox and DeWyze find success on the indie circuit? Will McCreery and Alaina experience career longevity? Sound off about all your favorite Idol-ites in the comments below!

Read more on EW.com:
Lauren Alaina debuts in fifth place on the Billboard 200
 ‘American Idol’ roundup: Four new music videos from non-winners: What do you think?
 Scotty McCreery sings the national anthem at the World Series

Follow Grady on Twitter: @EWGradySmith

Oct 21 2011 12:19 PM ET

What's on your workout playlist? For Michele Obama, it's a whole lot of Beyonce

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Categories: Beyonce, Good Causes, Listmania!, Make us a playlist!, Pop, Things We Maybe Knew Already, What's on my iPod?
obama

Image Credit: Susan Walsh/AP

It’s not exactly clear why the listening habits of political figures are so fascinating. But they are fascinating, aren’t they?

Thanks to inquiring minds, we now know that Barack Obama is into Lil Wayne and Bill Clinton has a weakness for Sarah McLachlan’s “Angel.”

The latest iPod revelation comes from First Lady Michelle Obama, who while promoting her “Let’s Move” campaign (which encourages young people to exercise and eat right), noted that when it comes to her own workouts, Beyoncé is tops.

“I always love Beyoncé, so anything that’s fast-paced that she’s doing is a good one for me,” the First Lady noted in response to a Twitter question during a video Q&A. “I have very eclectic taste, so my playlist on my iPod runs from fast-paced to a little more mellow.”

Of course, Bey’s “Move Your Body” is one of the big anthems for “Let’s Move,” and in the past has inspired both the First Lady’s Dougie and a Beyoncé-assisted flash mob. And if it’s a faster pace she’s looking for, it’s likely that Mrs. Obama’s favorite 4 tracks include “Countdown” and “Party.”

As somebody who is occasionally maniacal about working out, I can tell you that a gym-related playlist is pretty serious business. Some people prefer the adrenaline spike of hard rap or metal, while I’ve talked to others who prefer something they can get lost in (I knew one guy who swore that Air’s Moon Safari was the best workout album he had ever heard).

My personal playlist includes a lot of ’90s R&B, like Blackstreet’s “No Diggity” and Bel Biv Devoe’s “Poison.” However, when I get into really serious running, I end up listening to a lot of Guns N’ Roses and Eminem. In fact, looking at my workout playlists on my iPod, I see that the two most-played songs are both Slim Shady tunes: the Pink-assisted “Won’t Back Down” and the Ja Rule dis “Go to Sleep.”

So on this Friday, we here at the Music Mix wonder: What songs help you blast your glutes and push you through the end of that 5K? Leave your favorite workout tracks in the comments below.

Read more:
Beyoncé Leads the Bé-Boys in ‘Love On Top’: Watch it Here
Bill Clinton’s favorite music — check out his presidential playlist
Seth Meyers cracks up the White House Correspondents’ Dinner

Oct 21 2011 09:57 AM ET

Chris Martin awkwardly chats with Stephen Colbert, ranks Coldplay's attractiveness

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Categories: Coldplay, Rock Stars Say the Darndest Things
cold-play

Image Credit: Sarah Lee

A “17 percent high” Chris Martin paid a visit to The Colbert Report last night for an awkwardly-funny sit-down chat and a performance of “Paradise” off Coldplay’s new album, Mylo Xyloto (out Tuesday), which may or may not be Greek for Miley Cyrus.

As is often known to happen, Stephen Colbert turned the Q&A into an absurdly passive aggressive tête-à-tête, including an award-comparing contest and a critique of his guest’s foreign birth. “You are a seven-time Grammy winner, I am a one-time Grammy winner,” Colbert said. “Between us we average four Grammys.” When Colbert said that he’d won for a Christmas album and asked if Coldplay would ever consider making one and go all mistletoe and holly on us, Martin joked, “Yes, but it won’t be as good as yours. It will be much better.” READ FULL STORY »

Oct 20 2011 08:49 PM ET

'Big Bang Theory': Kunal Nayyar shares what's on his iPod!

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Categories: Eminem, Jay-Z, Kanye West, Mumford & Sons, Radiohead, Television, What's on my iPod?
Kunal-Nayyar

Image Credit: Monty Brinton/CBS

Raj might be having trouble with love this season on The Big Bang Theory, but with a playlist like this, his portrayer Kunal Nayyer certainly has enough to cure whatetever heartache ails him.

EW recently spoke with actor to get a rundown of five songs/artists that are in heavy rotation right now. Take a look:

Mumford and Sons: “I love epic folk rock. I love Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova from the movie Once, and I feel like Mumford takes it to another level. When I hear it, I feel the music in my bones. I get chills when I hear it.”

Radiohead, “True Love Waits”: “I came from India in ’99 and I didn’t have access to a lot of good music. Well, I did, but it was Bon Jovi, Bryan Adams, New Kids on the Block — generic pop music, which I still love to this day, though. I didn’t really get Radiohead at first, but when I really began listening to them, I became obsessed….Every single breakup I’ve had in my life, I’ve listened to that song. [Laughs] I’m an actor; we’re masochistic. It feels good to hurt.”  READ FULL STORY »

Oct 20 2011 08:26 PM ET

Taylor Swift says new album is 'coming along really well' for next year. Can she possibly top 'Speak Now'?

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Categories: Country, Y'all!, Ladies, Music, Pop, Taylor Swift
taylor-swift

Image Credit: Joseph Anthony Baker

It’s been almost exactly a year since country singer Taylor Swift dropped her last studio album, Speak Now, but the crossover superstar is already hard at work on her next one — even though she anticipates it won’t be released for another year.

Last night, while promoting the launch of her new perfume, Wonderstruck, Swift revealed that the follow-up to Speak Now is very much in the works. “I’ve written 25 songs so far, so it’s coming along really well,” Swift told The Hollywood Reporter. “I’ve been writing a lot, and I like to take two years to make a record. We’re at the end of year one and I still have a year left to go to write.” She added: “It’s looking really great.”  READ FULL STORY »

Oct 20 2011 07:25 PM ET

YouTube stars Karmin release first major-label single 'Crash Your Party': Listen here

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Categories: Karmin, Pop, Snap Judgment, YouTube Delights

A few months ago, Karmin was just a guy and a girl (real-life couple Amy Heidemann and Nick Noonan) sitting in their Boston living room, covering pop songs.

Then, the duo released a cover of “Look At Me Now” that went viral, and the musicians became an outright web sensation.

It wasn’t long before Karmin’s other covers began garnering millions of views, and the band was invited to do things like perform on talk shows, duet with The Roots, have their music featured on NBA commercials, and ultimately, sign with Epic Records.

Now, Karmin has released “Crash your Party,” its first official single with Epic (from an untitled album due out in 2012), and unlike a lot of Youtube-turned-pop acts, they sound like they could actually fit in on mainstream radio. This track has swag!

Amy flaunts a bit of her trademark sassy rap style and R&B-tinged runs over a sunny groove that feels similar to Jessie J’s “Price Tag” and had me bopping right along. But then, I am a confessed fan of these two!

Check out the “hip pop” jam below, and let us know what you think: READ FULL STORY »

Oct 20 2011 06:03 PM ET

Axl Rose fell down in Mexico City, and it's all your fault

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Categories: Attack of the '90s, Guns N' Roses, Let's Argue!, Rock, Things That Bum Us Out, Things That Really Could Have Been Avoided
Axl-rose-2011-tour

Image Credit: Robert Cianflone/Getty Images

As is wont to happen whenever he steps out the door, Axl Rose’s current tour with Guns N’ Roses hasn’t been the smoothest journey.

There have been multiple complaints of Rose’s vocal weakness, an over-reliance on tracks from the sub-par Chinese Democracy, pacing issues (any show that pauses so that a dude named Bumblefoot can noodle on the theme from The Pink Panther is bound to seem sluggish), and side effects that may or may not include blindness. And on Wednesday night in Mexico City, Rose fell down and went boom in the middle of “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door.”

The good news is that Axl didn’t channel his 1992 self and storm off the stage in a huff and shut down the entire concert. But the bad news is that this happened at all. Not because it’s a bummer whenever an artist takes a tumble (even Beyoncé loses her footing sometimes), but because Axl is still doing this, and that people show up. READ FULL STORY »

Oct 20 2011 12:39 PM ET

Irish pop act Westlife announce 'amicable' split

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Categories: American Idol, Music, Pop, X-Factor
Westlife

Image Credit: Getty Images

Many Irish eyes won’t be smiling today with the news that Westlife have split up. In a statement on their official website, the long-running pop act announced  their intention to go their separate ways following a farewell tour next year. The Irish quartet described the split as “entirely amicable.”

The boy band — who were signed to Simon Cowell’s Syco label until leaving the company earlier this year — never broke big here. But in Ireland and Great Britain they enjoyed a string of enormous hits including 1999′s “Swear It Again,” the first of the Westlife’s 14 U.K. chart-toppers.

In all, the group have have sold 44 million records around the world.

Read more:
20 Best Boy Bands Ever

Oct 20 2011 12:20 PM ET

Scotty McCreery sings the national anthem at the World Series, Zooey Deschanel to bat clean-up

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Categories: About Last Night, Country, Y'all!, Scotty McCreery, Television, Zooey Deschanel
Scotty-McCreery

Image Credit: Paul Sancya-Pool/Getty Images

Last night at Busch Stadium, the St. Louis Cardinals bested the Texas Rangers 3-2 in the opening game of the 2011 World Series. The biggest baseball event of the year kicked off with the usual pomp and circumstance, featuring a cameo appearance by First Lady Michelle Obama and a national anthem performance by American Idol winner and Billboard chart-topper Scotty McCreery.

Luckily, McCreery’s performance of “The Star-Spangled Banner” was sharper than his unfortunately-tinted World Series jacket, and he also managed to overcome a bit of a technical snafu at the beginning (the first step to a great performance is to turn on the microphone).

It’s still a little bit jarring hearing that voice come out of McCreery’s face, but he managed to sidestep the usual pitfalls the come associated with the song. He’s had plenty of practice, as he performed it before a North Carolina State football game just a few weeks ago.

For those of you not interested in baseball (which is a shame, because this is the most evenly-matched Series in recent memory) but definitely concerned with music and patriotism, Fox announced the rest of the planned anthem singers for the three sure-thing games remaining.

It’s an especially country-tinged lineup: Trace Adkins will take the microphone before tonight’s game, with Ronnie Dunn holding it down before Saturday night’s game in Arlington, Texas. The most intriguing performance will come Sunday night in Texas, where New Girl star and She & Him member Zooey Deschanel will take on “The Star-Spangled Banner” before game four.

Check out Scotty’s performance below, and let us know who you’d like Major League Baseball to book to sing the national anthem should the World Series extend beyond four games. Anybody else hoping that St. Louis’ own Nelly gets the chance to bellow about the rockets’ red glare? READ FULL STORY »

Oct 20 2011 06:27 AM ET

Jon Bon Jovi's charity restaurant opens in New Jersey

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Categories: Bon Jovi

In three decades as one of the world’s biggest rock stars, Jon Bon Jovi has eaten in some of the world’s best restaurants, savoring the best food the planet has to offer.

Yet there’s no place he’d rather have dinner than The Soul Kitchen, a “pay-what-you-can” restaurant he and his wife Dorothea established in a former auto body shop near the Red Bank train station in central New Jersey.

The restaurant provides gourmet-quality meals to the hungry while enabling them to volunteer on community projects in return without the stigma of visiting a soup kitchen. Paying customers are encouraged to leave whatever they want in the envelopes on each table, where the menus never list a price.

The restaurant is the latest undertaking by the New Jersey rocker’s Jon Bon Jovi Soul Foundation, which has built 260 homes for low-income residents in recent years. READ FULL STORY »

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