Glee: The Music – The Power of Madonna

1. Express Yourself
2. Borderline/Open Your Heart
3. Vogue
4. Like A Virgin
5. 4 Minutes
6. What It Feels Like For A Girl
7. Like A Prayer

You’ve got to love that Glee creator Ryan Murphy and his crack team of writers chose a song to represent just about each and every one of Madonna’s musical phases, though we sadly don’t see any tracks from the electro-heavy Confessions on a Dancefloor or the primetime-inappropriate Erotica—ah, can’t win ‘em all.

We already know Jane Lynch is set to “Vogue,” but do you have any guesses as to which Glee member will be singing which tune? We have a feeling Quinn the pregnant cheerleader (who already sang the hit “Papa Don’t Preach”) may be performing “Like a Virgin” just for irony’s sake.

Check out a preview of the episode here:

“It means they want to hear someone sing,” Houston replies. “They want to hear—for all the years that I have been in the business, which is now going on 30 years—sing love to them. Not so much strip for them, take their clothes off for them or do soft porn for them…” (Hey, speak for yourself, lady!)

Oh, Whitney—let’s not get carried away. Remember when you were fun and threw the F bomb around in Grade A popcorn fare like The Bodyguard?

We suggest that The Voice get a stripper pole installed in the basement of Chez Houston, watch the “Telephone” video about six times and call us in the morning if she’s not feeling loosened up—because there’s always T-Pain’s trashy “Reverse Cowgirl” extravaganza if that doesn’t work.

Peaches feat. Shunda K – “Billionaire”

In the crayon-enhanced video, Peaches plays Dorothy in the most effed-up retelling of The Wizard of Oz you could ever imagine. At least one thing is consistent with the original MGM musical movie—those flying monkeys are still freaking terrifying.

We have a feeling Hollywood will be going in a slightly different direction (that doesn’t include dancing on the graves of Dorothy’s friends with a bottle of booze) with The Wizard of Oz remakes they’ve been planning for years.

Lady Gaga—who was then simply known as Stefani Germanotta—met music producer and songwriter Rob Fusari when she was 20-years old. He was trying to put together an “an all-girl version of the Strokes,” and according to Rolling Stone, the first time Gaga showed up at his house to collaborate, Rob was shocked at what he saw:

“’Fusari was expecting someone a little more grunge-rocker than the young Italian girl ‘guidette’ that arrived at his doorstep and was worried that he had made a mistake,’ the suit contends. Recognizing Gaga’s ability, Fusari claims he helped craft Gaga’s songwriting to something with more of a dance feel.”

The two became involved in both a business and personal relationship, and Fusari ended up co-wroting “Paparazzi” and three other tracks on The Fame. When Gaga gained and lost a record deal with Island Def Jam Records, Fusari wanted to end things romantically and just carry on as business partners. Gaga was allegedly “verbally abusive” to him and once she got another record deal, she stopped returning his phone calls.

Fusari, who insists that he came up with the moniker “Lady Gaga,” claims he entered into a contract with Gaga in 2006 guaranteeing him a portion of her merchandising and revenue. His lawyer Robert Meloni borrowed a quote from the play The Mourning Bride to begin his lawsuit: “Heaven has no rage like love to hatred turned, nor hell a fury like a woman scorned.” (Seriously, dude? Why not just quote the lyrics to Meredith Brooks’ “Bitch” while you’re at it?)

He goes on to say, “All business is personal. When those personal relationships evolve into romantic entanglements, any corresponding business relationship usually follows the same trajectory so that when one crashes, they all burn. That is what happened here.” So basically, he claims that Gaga was majorly pissed the relationship ended and remained so bitter after the break-up, she refused to give him the money owed him.

Lady Gaga’s camp is not commenting on the lawsuit. But we wouldn’t be surprised if the revenge fantasy of murdering her boyfriend in the “Paparazzi” video was drawn from real-life events.

Now Taio has found himself in an enviable position in the States. Recently signed to an American deal with Mercury Records, the 26-year-old Londoner paired up with Ludacris for a reworked version of “Break Your Heart” that managed to shoot to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 last week. (Cruz also set a record for the largest jump on the Hot 100 by an artist with their debut single when “Break Your Heart” flew from #53 to #1.)

After the jump: our Q&A with Britain’s latest hot export, who’s currently preparing the stateside release of his album Rokstarr.

IDOLATOR: Your second album Rokstarr has been out in the UK since the fall. Are you writing new songs for its U.S. release?
TC: Yes—I’m always writing songs! I’ve got quite a few good ones from Rokstarr and the Departure album. I’ve been in the studio with Dr. Luke and Dallas Austin doing sessions. So hopefully good stuff comes out of that.

So far so good—and congrats on “Break Your Heart” becoming your first American hit. How did you first connect with Ludacris?
TC: Well, I always thought he was amazing as an artist, and we wanted someone for the record. He was the first one that came to mind as a rapper who never fails to make good music and give great performances. We reached out to his management and he said he loved it and wanted to jump on it.

You also snagged Ke$ha to sing on your tune “Dirty Picture.” Any chance you actually have any dirty pics of her? And if so, Skype those on over!
TC: [Laughs] No…

No?!?
TC: I don’t have any dirty pictures of Ke$ha but we are shooting the video for the song soon and I’m sure we’ll take some then. So, even better—you’ll have moving dirty pictures of Ke$ha.

Excellent. So, given that you’ve written for artists like Justin Timberlake, Britney, Sugababes and Tinchy Stryder, how do you determine which of your songs you want to keep for yourself and which ones you’re willing to give over to other artists?
TC: Well, sometimes I specifically write it for someone else, and in that case it’s theirs by default no matter how good the song is or how much I love it. If I’m writing just in general I am always inspired. So I’m not overly pressured to keep records for myself—I feel like I will write another song that will be better and, for the moment, be my favorite.

Speaking of Sugababes, you have a good relationship with them. Was it odd to work with the trio while they were going through such an abrupt lineup change?
TC: It was very weird. One week I was with them and the next week [there was] the new set up. I’ve known Jade [Ewen] for a long time, so I’m quite happy that she is doing well and in such an amazing band. I’m happy for them.

Will you be doing any live appearances or touring in the States at some point this year?
TC: I would love to do a tour. There aren’t plans for a tour just yet but hopefully with the upcoming album there will be a demand by the fans so Taio can rock out with the Rokstarr album.

Tying in with that, you’ve also got the Rokstarr line of sunglasses. Where’s the best place for people to purchase them at?
TC: The best place to buy the shades are at www.rokstarr.com—buy it online! The Rokstarr line of sunglasses is sort of a brainchild of mine. It’s a brand that I really really love. I’m a big fan of Chanel and thought there should be a male equivalent of black and white sunglasses. It has a very slick art direction for a clothing brand. I wanted to be the spearhead for that brand, and it’s working out pretty well.

Shakira and Selena make an adorable pair, but watching this clip, we can’t help but be reminded of this episode of Ricky Gervais’ Extras with a special appearance by Chris Martin:

—compliments of Idolator commenter slmcmahon for their winning comment in this week’s Caption This contest. There were a lot of great entries from a ton of devoted Adam fans, and our only advice is to keep the clever comments coming in our next photo challenge—and if you ever meet our boy Glambert while he’s wearing one of these dangerous outfits he’s so fond of lately, try a handshake instead of a hug.

:: It’s Lil Idols! Check out the contestants’ baby photos. Turns out Michael Lynche was “Big Mike” even when he was an infant. [People]

:: Rock of Ages‘ Constantine Maroulis’ caricature at Sardi’s reminds us of a foreign lover on the cover of a romance novel. We love Constantine, but it looks nothing like him. [MJsbigblog]

:: Kris Allen tweeted a pic of him peeing in a men’s room. We don’t know why. Just we know you’re curious to see it. [@krisallen]

:: Here are the 5 reasons Season 9 of American Idol might just be the best season yet. Don’t look at us that way, just read it. [Idolator]

On the importance of education in his life: “School sucks.”

On having 30 friends flown to L.A. for his 16th birthday: “I’m only 16 once. I’ve got to live like it.”

On the h8terz: “There’s more people that like me than there are who hate me, so I kind of brush it off.”

On his the elephant in the room—his voice eventually changing: “People say, ‘Oh, people just like him because he’s pretty.’ Or the funniest one: ‘When he goes through puberty, he’s not going to be a good singer anymore. How does that make sense when we’ve seen people like Michael Jackson and Usher and Justin Timberlake and all these famous singers do it?”

[Note: Usher and JT's voices had already changed by the time they were having hits. As for Michael Jackson—has it ever been scientifically proven that he actually went through puberty?]

On being confident he could fill Madison Square Garden: “I just think that I have enough fans, so I could pull in the people. I don’t really get nervous anymore. I’ve already performed at Madison Square Garden, and I’ve performed for an hour before. What’s the difference?

On his inevitable foray into feature films: “I don’t want to do the Hannah Montana thing.” [Fibber!]

On his magical, life-affirming tweets: “I still [use Twitter] as much as before. People write to me and say, ‘I’m giving up, you’re not talking to me.’ I just write them a simple message like, ‘Never give up,’ you know? And it changes their life.”

You know, for somebody who hates school, he certainly is quite the wise sage. The Bieb-filled issue of Billboard is on sale now.