Usher’s latest album Raymond v. Raymond is actually performing quite well for the singer. Better in fact than I thought after listening to it and being pretty disappointed with it. On the strength of OMG (which is really one of the poorer songs on the album), it’s gone platinum.
Late in the summer, he’s repackaging the album and calling it Versus. One of the songs scheduled to be on the new album is Hot Toddy, featuring Jay-Z. It’s been leaked and you can listen to it below.
By the looks of it, Ellen DeGeneres is out as judge on the show, after only one year on the job. And who’s her replacement? Um, how about Jennifer Lopez. Ok, how about maybe Jennifer Lopez? Nothing is yet confirmed, but it’s the big rumor, at least according to Lisa de Moraes, TV writer for the Washington Post.
From de Moraes:
Meanwhile, Jennifer Lopez appears to be the show’s new Paula Abdul. J-Lo’s career has been on the fast track to nowhere of late and, according to the Web site Deadline.com, she’s brokered a deal to step in and replace Ellen, who, in turn, had replaced Paula last season. But some sources said it was not yet a done deal. A Fox rep declined to comment.
For Idol fans, that’s a lot of information to digest in one day. It’s quite obvious to anyone watching last season that no matter how hard they tried, Ellen was simply a bad fit for the show. I’d trust her feedback on hosting stand-up comedians, but not necessarily judging a singing contest.
It only took them one week to figure out how to hide her, but it was one week too late. If you remember during Ellen’s first week, she had to lead-off with the judging early in the show and looked like a deer in headlights. Every show after that, when she didn’t lead in the judging anymore and they had Randy as the lead-off hitter, it just showed the audience how week Ellen was.
As for J-Lo, I’m not sold on her as a judge, but for different reasons. She’s not a good singer, but she definitely knows the ups and downs of both the movie industry and the music industry. In fact, she’s kind of experiencing the downs in both industries right now.
She’ll bring a Hollywood feel to the show and will immediately be the biggest star and biggest presence. But I think that’s a bad thing. Because she’s the most famous person, she’ll be expected to replace Simon, rather than who she’s truly replacing in Ellen and Paula. If she can be the Paula/Ellen, I think she’d do fine, but her presence is too big for that role, unless they really hit on who replaces Simon.
If these are all the changes, it will be a tremendous letdown. But if they have someone huge in mind for Simon (my vote is on Justin Timberlake), then I think J-Lo can work.
I’m sure this won’t be my last update about this. Maybe it’s just begun.
Photo of Jennifer Lopez licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported, 2.5 Generic, 2.0 Generic and 1.0 Generic license.
Rihanna
According to MTV.com, Rihanna has joined the cast of the upcoming Peter Berg directed film, Battleship, which I’m assuming is a take on the classic kids’ game.
She’ll join my man Tim Riggins (aka Taylor Kitsch from the TV show Friday Night Lights) and Alexander Skarsgård, who is best known for his role in True Blood.
It will be the first movie for the pop princess who has a number one single out there with Eminem, called Love The Way You Lie. The movie is scheduled to come out in the spring of 2012.
Justin Timberlake and American Idol
The Rolling Stone’s website has a bit about possible American Idol changes.
The show is reportedly close to a deal to bring back producer Nigel Lythgoe (who left in 2008) in an executive producer role while targeting new candidates including Justin Timberlake and Elton John as potential replacements for Cowell, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
While the article does say that getting Timberlake would be a long shot, he’d be the perfect replacement. I can’t believe I never thought about him. In my opinion, he’s just as talented a TV performer as he is a music artist. If you’ve ever seen him on Saturday Night Live, you know what I mean. He’d be the anti-Cowell, but he’d bring instant credibility, super stardom, and the ability to create off the top of his head.
The article also says Lythgoe isn’t a fan of the four judge panel, which could be bad for Kara DioGuardi who is the only judge with a little bit of Cowell in her. It would also be bad for me as I think I may just be her biggest fan.
Kanye West
Kanye West made the Silicon Valley rounds today, showing up at both Facebook and Twitter headquarters. He also created a Twitter account and you can find him @kanyewest.
He previewed some lyrics from his new album, which he says is now not going to be called Good Ass Job. I always liked that name.
