After the cover of Guns N’ Roses’ “Paradise City” from the unlikely combo of Slash, Fergie and Cypress Hill made its way online last week, former GNR guitarist Slash Hudson took to his Twitter account to defend the curvy Black Eyed Peas’ fox’s inclusion on the track. Or maybe he’s just making a general assessment about Fergie’s rock chops. MORE »
In the wake of yesterday’s horrifying incident in London where an apparently lovestruck (??) fan punched the excessively inoffensive Leona Lewis, the British pop-clearinghouse Popjustice has released a manifesto declaring that we need to enter a new era of being nice to pop stars, and resisting the reflexive snark that has taken over so many corners of the Internet. “It should be possible for popstars to sign copies of mediocre books without fear of being hit around the head by a bellend,” writes Popjustice, “and it is the absolute right of anybody to go about their daily job without fear of being punched, unless they are Perez Hilton.” Well all right then! How can you be nice to a pop star today? Popjustice has a couple of ideas. MORE »
The lead Pussycat Doll is apparently the latest person to attach herself to Slash’s forthcoming solo album, which comes out next year and is set to feature a Love Boat-worthy cavalcade of cameos by the likes of Iggy Pop, Flea, Stacy “Fergie” Ferguson, Adam “Maroon 5″ Levine, and Jason Bonham. But why not just go all the way and re-record La Scherz’s forever-in-turnaround solo effort Her Name Is Nicole as a collaborative effort between the Pussycat Dolls’ chief vocalizer and the still-in-search-of-a-frontperson semi-supergroup Velvet Revolver? Let’s face it—both projects need a big shot in the arm, buzz-wise, and this could maybe almost do it in a “so crazy, you have to check out the MySpace page at least once” sort of way… [AceShowbiz / Photo: Getty] MORE »
Fox today outlined its plans for replacing Paula Abdul at the American Idol judges’ table, and somewhat unfortunately, they involve retaining the four-judge panel that was instituted on the show last year. The show is going to bring in guest judges! “Our intention is to have guest judges be female pop stars, female performers,” Fox Entertainment chair Peter Rice said. Signed for next season so far: A & R expert Katy Perry and tabloid fixture Victoria Beckham. Even though Beckham is more known for her stick-thin figure and the clothes she hangs on it these days, she was a Spice Girl, right? Uh, sure. Any Idol watcher knows that Fox will likely make some sort of misstep in selecting other people to round out the panel; as a sort of pre-emptive strike against that, we offer up five female pop stars whose presence would make the new-look Idol judges’ table even more farcical than it already is. MORE »
The most notable thing about the trailer for P. Diddy’s StarMaker, a talent-and-drama show premiering on MTV later this month: The “I’m Not Here To Make Friends” Moment that’s required of every “x people picked to live in a house and annoy the crap out of each other” program these days, in which the friend-eschewing singer who’s hoping to ride Diddy’s coattails to fame says that she doesn’t want to make any “BFFFs.” What, pray tell, could that extra “f” mean? I shudder at the possibilities. [YouTube via Vicki] MORE »
The Pussycat Dolls’ new single is the throwbacky, “I Will Survive”-biting track “Hush Hush,” and one thing sort of flies out at you from the single’s cover: The “featuring Nicole Scherzinger” that denotes that only one of the Dolls is providing the lead vocals on the track. Which isn’t much of a secret; indeed, commenters here have noted that the Dolls’ debut album PCD had some fine print pointing out that La Scherz provided “all lead and backing vocals,” and the tales of her solo debut’s woes were this site’s bread and butter for quite a while. But one of the other Dolls has had more than enough of playing second fiddle in a group that she’s allegedly a member of! MORE »
And no, this isn’t an April Fool: The Pussycat Dolls‘ underperforming Doll Domination (it’s shifted 314,000 units as of this writing) is being re-released later this month in (sigh) “2.0″ form, which basically means that the girl group’s cash-in tracks from The City and Slumdog Millionaire will be tacked on to the album, and the whole package will be re-presented to Americans in the hopes that they might actually care. (Cough.) Of course, lead Doll Nicole Scherzinger took the opportunity presented by the album’s reissue and ran with it in an even more self-promotional way: MORE »
La Scherz speaks on the Pussycat Dolls’ attempt… MORE »
As 2008 recedes in our collective rearview mirror, the headlines trumpeting bad news are still there: record sales are lousier than ever, the economy sucks, record executives are still trying to flog the Pussycat Dolls. But there are still reasons to be excited by what’s to come in the probably contracting, definitely shapeshifting world of pop music. Nine things to look forward to today and in the 364 days that follow after the jump! MORE »
