The new American Idol judges are … exactly who we heard they would be.
Ryan Seacrest confirmed it on his Twitter account earlier today.
It’s official: your new #IdolJudges panel is @yo_randyjackson, @JLo & Steven Tyler! RT!
To me, Jennifer Lopez isn’t a surprise at all. Though not a very talented singer, she’s done more with her talent than almost anyone in the world of Hollywood and music. Did you see any other In Living Color dancers become the biggest female star in Hollywood and top the pop music charts? And, let’s not forget this; this show is in HD and Lopez still looks fantastic.
The surprise is Steven Tyler. For one, he’s not necessarily someone who I can completely understand when he speaks. His signature wail works on records, but doesn’t necessarily work on a show when it’s his job to critique singers to an audience of some 20 million viewers. Also, he’s almost too professional for these amateur singers. It’s the same reason Michael Jordan would never be a good coach. He’d expect too much out of players who can never be nearly as good as he is. I think it’s the same deal with Tyler. Unless he has the ability to see things that Simon Cowell could see, I really wonder how long Tyler lasts.
The last thing is that this show is still missing a Simon type of character who is the last word. It really didn’t matter what Randy, Paula, or Kara ever said. Simon had the last word and his word was the word that mattered. Who is going to be that judge this year? That’s where they are empty.
Chelsea HandlerWe’re live! Ok, well, I’m kind of lying. I’m blogging this while watching the West Coast MTV feed, so it’s really the earliest I can watch this show. But those of you on the East Coast have already seen it. So you can either watch with me, or reminisce with me, whichever you prefer.
Refresh every 15 minutes or so as I’ll be updating the blog as much as possible.
I don’t know Chelsea Handler’s work well, but she has a little bit of buzz because of her talk show on E! and I guess that’s what happens when you get some buzz. You host the VMAs.
– An Eminem performance to start the show? You sure are not very predictable MTV.
– What I find hilarious about Not Afraid is that baseball players and fighters everywhere use it as their batter walk-up/entrance music. Don’t know they it’s about an addict who is trying to make a comeback? Or are they saying they’re former addicts?
– I wonder if MTV knows that Recovery is a terribly overrated album?
– I swear, if Chris Brown shows up on stage with Rihanna for Love The Way You Lie, I’m never watching MTV again.
– Ok, he didn’t make it on stage. Thank the lord.
– So far, Chelsea’s monologue consists of making fun of Taylor Swift, black rappers, Justin Bieber, and The Jersey Shore. In other words, it’s pretty lame.
– At least one thing that Ellen DeGeneres got out of being a judge on American Idol is that she’s a presenter on the VMAs. I’m not sure that was a step forward in her career. Did Oprah ever do the VMAs?
– Lady Gaga won the first award for Bad Romance and she walked up on stage wearing a peacock hair-do, looking eerily similar to Ellen DeGeneres’ faux hawk.
– Is it bad of me that I’m rooting for Paramore to win the best rock video all because of my girl Hayley Williams? Damn, they lost. 30 Seconds To Mars won.
– Kim Kardashian just introduced Justin Bieber. Too bad her boyfriend Miles Austin is sad that his Dallas Cowboys lost on Sunday Night Football. Ok, it’s not that bad that they lost. In fact, that made me kind of happy.
– Justin Bieber is lip-syncing the hell out of Baby. He’s pulling a Joey McIntyre on us since his voice is probably changing on him these days. It’s about time.
– He segued into Somebody To Love and I was just waiting for Usher to try and steal his swag. I also find it cute that whenever Bieber’s done with his performance, he ends with a drum solo just to show that he knows a little bit of music.
– Don’t you just hate it when people use the word “myself” when they’re supposed to use the word “me”? I’m looking at you Trey Songz.
– Remember when I jokingly said that I was waiting for Usher to steal Justin’s swag? Guess who’s performing next? I’ll give you a clue. His name starts with a U.
– My man can still dance his tail off. He definitely owes a lot to MJ for the way he moves, but at least it’s not a complete jack like Chris Brown.
– If Nicki Minaj doesn’t make it in rap music, she has a career in modeling for Apple Bottom jeans. Holy cow, you could see it from the front. She might as well change her name to Nicki Badonkadonk.
– Florence Henderson is in a new group called Florence Henderson + The Machine? Isn’t she too old? What? It’s just Florence + The Machine? My bad.
– Lady Gaga just won Best Pop Video and is wearing an outfit that reminds me of Missy Elliot’s rubber ball suit. She won for this video:
– Taylor Swift is singing a song that might be inspired by the Kanye West fiasco from last year that I still believe to this day was party rehearsed. She should’ve gone the Justin Bieber route and lip-synced. She must be going through puberty too. Or else, her voice just isn’t very good.
– Mary J. Blige is making my ears happy after Taylor Swift made them so sad.
– And the Best Hip Hop Video goes too… B.o.B.! Woohoo! Ok, you knew Eminem really won.
– Take J-WOWW’s boobs and Nicki Minaj’s rear end and you have a pretty cool comic book character.
– Bruno Mars is on stage lookin’ like a Filipino Richie Valens with his hair all blown out. Finally. All it took was a red-headed white girl who can’t dance with a big voice and B.o.B. to join each other on stage to put together a performance that I really liked. You go Haley.
– First Selena Gomez and now Victoria Justice? Disney Channel is making it hard for 14-year old boys I tell you.
– Justin Bieber finally won an award and if you just started watching, you’d know it was his first. He couldn’t find his way to the stage and nearly went the wrong way after receiving it. Come on, he’s going through puberty! Cut him some slack.
– Cher is on this show, damn near naked in 2010.
– Gaga says the name of her new album is called Born This Way. Well, that sure is going to help dismiss those rumors that she has a pilly packer.
– Kanye’s performing a song with a hook that goes, “Let’s have a toast for the douche bags, let’s have a toast for the assholes, let’s have a toast for the scum bags, everyone of them that I know.”
– He also did some live beat mixing on stage. He was definitely the most intriguing performer of the night. I think he was even on pitch more than Taylor was. Check out the audio of the song below. Good night!
If you haven’t been paying attention, you wouldn’t have seen this coming. But we may have a pop underdog ready to shake up the charts. Peter Hernandez is much better known as Bruno Mars and his mixed background (Puerto Rican and Filipino) has him crossing all kinds of cultures.
You’ve heard him on B.o.B.’s infectious first single Nothin’ On You and on Travis McCoy’s silly song Billionaire. I was fine with Mars as a hook singer on both of those songs, but the truth is, you can’t sing hooks forever. I wanted to hear him on his own. I wasn’t completely bought in on his first single Just The Way You Are until a few listenings later. But now I’m in.
He has the kind of R&B sound that reminds me of the early 90s, and I really liked that time in R&B music, as pop sounding as it was. The video is creative and cutesy, but so is the song. I think they’re a pretty good match.
