Scotty McCreery

Ranking All The American Idol Winners In Terms Of Quality

A regular on the gay gossip board datalounge.com took a stab at ranking the show's bevy of belting prize winners, from 11 to 1. If you don't see some of the best talents on the list, it's because they didn't win on the show! Here what they wrote: "11. Lee DeWyze (above). He's cute and can more or ... More >>

Lionel Knows Best: 10 Black Pop Stars Who Should Go Country

By Mike Seely [Editor's note: Country Time is a new biweekly column for our sister music blog in Seattle.] With the nation's major-party political conventions drawing to a close recently with a rousing reelection appeal from the nation's first black president, it seems fitting to cast a spotlight ... More >>

Josh Turner

THIS IS 

COUNTRY MUSIC

Brad Paisley and the Band Perry headline the first Jones Beach event of the year

North Carolina Hates The Gays! Well, Let's Look At Their Culture

The good people of North Carolina just voted against same-sex marriage, leading me to think they're a bunch of heathen cretins with no taste or style. But a glance at Wikipedia proves they have a rich and vital culture. They've birthed a lot of big jazz musicians plus James Taylor. Also, North Ca ... More >>

100 & Single: Buy An Adam Lambert Album, Strike A Tiny Blow For Gay Rights

About a year ago, the movie Bridesmaids opened in the U.S. and was the subject of a rather unusual awareness campaign. Female movie fans, largely independently of the film's producers, compelled women to go see the film in its opening weekend and defy common Hollywood wisdom that non-rom-com movies ... More >>

Carly Rae Jepsen: Crush Patrol

The singer infatuates the charts

100 & Single: The Erratic Chart Fortunes Of TV-Crowned Idols, From Kelly To Scotty

​Scotty McCreery—winner of the 10th edition of American Idol, and owner of the new No. 1 title on Billboard's album chart, Clear as Day—sets a handful of chart records this week that certainly sound impressive. As Billboard reports, McCreery is the first country act to debut at No ... More >>

Here's Something Else To Do Before The Summer Ends: Attend A Free Concert Put On By A Morning Chat Show

Idol runner-up Lauren Alaina at Central Park this morning.​Yesterday my wonderful colleague Jen Doll penned a list of 11 things to do in NYC before the summer ends, and I'd like to add one item to her list: Catch one of the outdoor concerts put on by the national morning shows. This morning I ... More >>

Radio Hits One: Reality TV Propels Aging Stars Back Into The Top 40

​ When I heard that Jennifer Lopez was leveraging her new position as an American Idol judge to launch her new single, premiering the video for "On The Floor" on one episode and performing the song on another, I rolled my eyes at what I thought was her hubris. It'd been less than two years sin ... More >>

Lee DeWyze

American Idol: It's Finally Over!

Michael Becker/FOX​A deeply frustrating season of American Idol is over now, having discovered exactly zero future stars, and last night we got the massive glitzathon finale, an annual event that reliably has little or nothing to do with the rest of the season. Scotty McCreery barely even look ... More >>

American Idol Sets Up A Pretty Boring Finale

​So we lost Haley Reinhart this week. Fuck you, America. That's all I really have to say about that. I don't know why twangy teenagers are bulldozing everyone else this year, but it's going to make for a truly boring one-note final show. Has American Idol ever had a less interesting final two ... More >>

American Idol: James Durbin's Not-Very-Good Voice Finally Leaves Us

Michael Becker/FOX​ Tonight, American Idol lost James Durbin. I was sorry to see him go, but only because his departure meant that we'll never get to see the live-TV Tourettic freakout that I was really excited about back when he first came into our lives. As it turns out, most people with Tou ... More >>

American Idol Gets Inspired To Believe In Itself (And In Lady Gaga)

Michael Becker/FOXThis guy. ​ American Idol seems like it should build toward a big finale, but it never works out that way. Instead, the real excitement surrounding any season of the show usually peaks around the time of its first shock elimination; this year, that'd be when Pia Toscano went ... More >>

American Idol: Jacob Lusk, You Were Too Good For This Show

Michael Becker/FOXFarewell, Jacob. ​It always happens. My end-to-end favorite contestant has never, ever won American Idol. They usually do pretty well, but they always flame out within a few weeks of the finish line because of some combination of nerves, bad choices, mass bad taste, and the f ... More >>

American Idol: No Judging, Please, We're Only Being Paid Gobs Of Money To Do So

Michael Becker/FOX​Hey, remember when enough people would get voted off American Idol and the show would go down to a much saner 60-minute running time? That was nice. Now, with only five people left, we still get a 90-minute show, with all the contestants singing twice. Maybe Fox is just dete ... More >>

American Idol: Casey Abrams Gets Sent Packing, This Time For Good

Michael Becker/FOX​ For the second time, Casey Abrams got voted off American Idol, and I honestly don't have a thing to say about it. I liked him at first, and then I got sick of him yelling and scatting at me. He ended things nicely, screaming and grunting while running around and singing "I ... More >>

American Idol Breaks Out Its Copy Of Carole King: Her Greatest Hits

Michael Becker/FOX​ The same week NBC attempts to take on American Idol by launching the loud, flashy The Voice, Idol makes one of those baffling decisions that only Idol can make: Devoting an entire 90 minutes to saluting the deeply, overwhelmingly annoying singer-songwriter Carole King. I h ... More >>

"American Idol": Stefano Langone Won't Get Any Closer To Winning

Michael Becker/FOX​So this was Stefano Langone's week to disappear. I can't say it's a surprise; he'd been on the chopping block for a while, bouncing in and out of the bottom three and generally coming across as someone who was not long for this show. It's still a bit messed up the way the sh ... More >>

"American Idol" Drags Itself Into The 21st Century

Michael Becker/FOX​Last night's episode of American Idol started as this gramatically ridiculous question flashed on the screen: "Do you remember when they were just a face in the crowd?" No, I don't. I don't remember when they were all just one face. That would've been some weird David Cronen ... More >>

"American Idol": Say Goodbye To Paul McDonald

Michael Becker/FOX​So Paul McDonald went home this week. Not that shocking! The only real surprise is that it finally reverses the gross and troubling trend of only female contestants getting bounced. (The one time a male contestant was voted off after top 12 week happened when the judges save ... More >>

"American Idol" Season 10: Ozzfest, Bleep-Outs, And The Persistence Of Will.I.Am

Michael Becker/FOX​About five minutes after Pia Toscano's shock elimination last week, rumors surfaced that she'd signed a big deal with Interscope. Now, a major label deal is pretty much what all these kids are competing for in the first place, and this is the first time I can ever remember a ... More >>

Are You Smarter Than A Rock Critic?: Can You Name The American Idol Finalists?

Michael Becker/FOXWho are these people?​ For weeks, our weekly indignity parade "Are You Smarter Than A Rock Critic?" has been putting our writers at an unfair disadvantage, asking for the intimate details of long dead and gone artists like The Clash, The Doors and Metallica [yeah, no sic]. I ... More >>

American Idol Season 10: The Kids Honor People Who Are A Bazillion Years Old

Michael Becker/FOXC'mon, dude, you probably never even had detention. ​ Gwen Stefani was on this week's American Idol because somebody paid somebody so she could hawk the clothing line that she apparently still has. But this wasn't Ska Week or New Wave Week or Neptunes Week, as awesome as eve ... More >>

American Idol Season 10, Elimination Recap: Goodbye Thia Megia!

Michael Becker/FOX Last week's insanely dramatic American Idol result show was the some truly compelling and weird TV; I sure as hell can't remember having that much fun watching one of those shows. The big moment, of course, came when the judges saved Casey Abrams and when Abrams collapsed into pa ... More >>

American Idol Elton John Week: Who Knew? Probably A Lot of People! But Not Thia Megia and Her Horrific Zombie Smile!

Michael Becker / FOXJames Durbin makes the piano catch fire for no reason This week is Elton John week on American Idol, and it's the same week Elton John is hosting and playing musical guest on Saturday Night Live. Why so much Elton John all of a goddamned sudden? Did God hear "Rocket Man" on his ... More >>

American Idol Season 10, Top 11: The Freaky Rictus Smile of Thia Megia

This person has no idea what Motown is. Photo courtesy Michael Becker/ FOX. ​Since last we spoke, Karen Rodriguez has gone back to MySpaceLand, Steven Tyler's wardrobe has grown impressively more absurd, and Jacob Lusk has bodied the fuck out of Heart's "Alone." I missed the last week of Ameri ... More >>

American Idol, Season 10, "Idols Week" Elimination: Someone Teach Adam Lambert How To Dougie

You've befouled Diana Ross' good name for the last time, Ashthon. Credit: Ray Mickshaw/FOX.​Ashthon Jones got sent home from American Idol tonight. I am perfectly OK with this! She was not very good on this show! In her final performance, she once again bleated her way through a Diana Ross son ... More >>

American Idol, Season 10, "Idols" Week: Ryan Adams Shout-Outs And Soaring Volcanoes

Please, Jacob Lusk, stick around as long as possible. CREDIT: Ray Mickshaw/FOX.​This was the first week we really got to see a lot of Interscope honcho Jimmy Iovine, whose role on American Idol is supposedly to mentor all the kids, but it's already clear he's only going to show up for five-min ... More >>

American Idol, Season 10, Final 13: Bodies Falling Everywhere

No time even to discuss that shirt. Credit: Frank Micelotta/FOX.​Two hours? Really, American Idol? You needed two hours for a results show? And you were still scrambling to finish it by the end? This show's results episodes are notoriously stretched-out marathons, where 30 seconds' worth of in ... More >>

American Idol, Season 10, Live Show #1: Up With Judas Priest, Down With Edwin McCain

This shirt is a major problem. Credit: Frank Micelotta/FOX.​Before we say anything else about the first live American Idol show this season, we're going to need to talk about Steven Tyler's shirt. Steven Tyler came out wearing this impossible-to-figure silky blouse-y thing with pictures of gig ... More >>

American Idol, Season 10: Separating The Nobodies From The Assholes

Our sources tell us this girl is "molten hot." Credit: Michael Becker/FOX.​Last night's show ended with a cliffhanger: We didn't know, as it faded out, whether Jennifer Lopez would be able to continue judging, or whether the strain of eliminating good kids was just too much. As the show return ... More >>