The X Factor (TV Show)

Ten Potential X-Factor Replacement Judges

The list of former judges on FOX's The X-Factor reads like the attendance list at a Passages Malibu: Addiction Cure Center for celebrities obsessed with proving their talent (Nicole Scherzinger, 2011 and Demi Lovato, 2012), relevancy (Cheryl Cole, 2011 and LA. Reid, 2011-12), sanity (Britney Spears, ... More >>

No One Trusts the Tastes of Teenage Girls, But Should: Why Justin Bieber Is the Next Beatles

At what point did teen girls suddenly just become wrong? "Serious" music fans seem to have universally accepted a critique of quality that befalls any artist who willingly sells to the rabid teen girl market and stigmatized the fans who dare to sometimes be male or at least above the age of 18. It's ... More >>

Tracing "Hallelujah" From Obscurity To Ubiquity

Back in September of 2010, noted music journalist (and former editor-in-chief of SPIN and Vibe magazines) Alan Light was among 4,000 people sitting in the Jacob Javitz Center for Yom Kippur services when the Congregation Beit Simchat Torah choir took the stage to conclude the solemn proceedings with ... More >>

Judy Tenuta Asks Me For Help With Her Sex Tape!

Hilarious love goddess Judy Tenuta has signed a big deal for Vegas, plus she has a new book out and two movies. She paused to crack me up about all of it the other day, with a zingy phone call from La La Land. Hi, Judy. Tell me about your book, Full Frontal Tenudity. It's like three books in one ... More >>

Live: Labrinth Brings The New And Old Schools Together At Santos

Labrinth Santos Party House Tuesday, June 5 Better than: Watching American Idol. Labrinth has a bit of a foul mouth. It's jarring—his boyish looks and feel-good pop tunes don't betray any sort of edge, but the rising U.K. singer/producer dropped a healthy amount of F-bombs last night at Sant ... More >>

Midyear Report: 12 for '12

A dozen of the best singles from the year so far

IN SYNC

The Beacon Theatre gets 
the boyband it deserves

Top 10 Eurovision Song Contest Winners* of All Time

In a couple of weeks, the biggest, gaudiest, gayest and easily the most-watched televised music event in the world will unfold, this year from Baku, Azerbaijan, and once again Americans will be almost completely oblivious to it. We're talking, of course, about the Eurovision Song Contest, which sta ... More >>

One Direction, Booster Club

The British boy band's shot in the arm for young women

Six Things To Know About One Direction, The Quintet Taking Over The Metropolitan Area For The Next Few Days

Beginning tonight and spooling out over the weekend, a pack of five British youths will blitz the tri-state area with performances and signings and, eventually, a Rockefeller Center-stuffing appearance on NBC's Today. The five young men make up the vocal group One Direction—a five-member boyba ... More >>

Scientology and Nation of Islam Exposed in Florida School Takeover; In Israel, Miscavige Shown to be a Liar by Own Attorneys

The Tampa Bay Times has done it again with another explosive report on the Church of Scientology. Drew Harwell's thorough report shows an alarming partnership between Scientology and the Nation of Islam that has drained dry a troubled charter school in Dunedin, Florida. We also have a startling rep ... More >>

Whitney Houston, R.I.P.

Whitney Houston, the big-voiced belter who dominated radio in the 1980s and '90s and whose cover of Dolly Parton's "I Will Always Love You" spent 14 weeks at the top of the Hot 100, passed away tonight at the Beverly Hilton, where Clive Davis's annual pre-Grammy party was about to take place. (Her c ... More >>

5 Biggest Lies in Scientology's 2-Minute TV Ad

We keep seeing Twitter reactions as people are stunned to see a 2-minute ad for Scientology show up on network television. We've written earlier about the negative reactions the ad is getting as it appeared during NFL playoff games, the Miss America pageant, the Golden Globes, and during such weekly ... More >>

Live: Ed Sheeran Rubs Elbows With The Crowd At Mercury Lounge

Ed Sheeran Mercury Lounge Monday, January 30 Better than: Finding a Sugababes album in the 99-cent bin. British pop stars have had something of a rough go when trying to break America, despite often working with much better material than much of what's on the charts over here. The sacking of poor ... More >>

Scientology Half-Cocked: Commenters of the Week!

​It's been another blast of a week here at the underground bunker, where we keep an eye on all things Scientology related. We started off the week by marveling at the "thrill" of Scientology fundraising in our regular weekend feature, Sunday Funnies. On Monday, we collected a few dozen of ... More >>

Scientology Network TV Ads: More Precious Reactions!

Scientology's aggressive network TV ad campaign continued last night with another 2-minute commercial that aired on Fox's American Idol right after the New York Giants defeated the San Francisco 49ers to win the NFC championship and earn a spot in the Super Bowl. Poughkeepsie's Michael Farrell was ... More >>

Scientology Viscosity: Commenters of the Week!

It was an amazing week here at the underground bunker, where we keep an eye on all things Scientology. Let's take a look back at how the week unfolded before we recognize the work of our illustrious commenting community. We starting things out by having fun with the Tone Scale in our regular weeken ... More >>

BEEN GONE

Kelly Clarkson  returns to New York

Did You See a Scientology Ad This Weekend?

Update: After the jump, we'll show you the church e-mail that confirms just about everything we were told by Jefferson Hawkins about this sudden ad campaign. The Church of Scientology bought network TV ad time in a big way this weekend. On Saturday, we started noticing Twitter users complaining tha ... More >>

100 & Single: Can Katy Perry Turn The States' Post-Christmas No. 1 Race Into Something UKrazy?

​Thanks to her husband, Katy Perry considers herself as an honorary Brit. But as the most frequent current inhabitant of the Billboard charts, she must wish we were all anglophiles. If only America had a Christmas No. 1 competition as rabid and media-fueled as Old Blighty's! Katy would have t ... More >>

Underwhelmed And Overstimulated, Part II: PJ Harvey, Jessie J, And The Post-Pop Character Landscape

​ Sound of the City's year-end roundtable, with contributions from Tom Ewing, Eric Harvey, Maura Johnston, Nick Murray, and Katherine St. Asaph, continues. Follow along here. Thanks Maura! And hello Nick, Katherine and Eric. Post-megasales megastars? Beyoncé and Gaga fit the bill, for certa ... More >>

Scientology Storms Out of Court in France, Getting Hammered in Florida: It's Time for Thursday Stats!

Mark Bunker sent over to us another tease from his upcoming Scientology documentary, Knowledge Report, and this one is a real treat. We've written here several times that few former Scientologists ever endured as much legal persecution and really unbelievable levels of harassment as Gerry Armstro ... More >>

Michael Sandlofer, 1st Husband to X Factor's Stacy Francis, on Her Past, Her Scientology, and Her Problems With The Truth

X Factor's Stacy Francis​"I have to defend what I know. And I know how serious domestic violence is, and I'm not with that. To be potentially accused of that is gross." An exclusive here at the Voice this morning. We have the first interview with Michael Sandlofer, the first husband of X Fact ... More >>

Cheyenne Jackson Discusses His Future On Glee--And Getting Checked Out At The Gym

He acts, he sings, and he even talks—with me! By Michael Musto

Kathy Griffin On Paula Abdul, Michele Bachmann, and Anderson Cooper!

Somebody's got to do the dirty dishes around here

Dispatch From The X Factor Auditions: Makeovers, Preening, And Missing The Machine

​In Seattle on Wednesday, The X Factor was doing its damndest not to be American Idol. Producers had overseen the first round of auditions, and now, in front of an audience of 4,000, the few acts who had passed muster would perform for judges Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul, L.A. Reid, and Nicole Sc ... More >>

Nicola Roberts's "Beat Of My Drum" Makes A Transcontinental Bid For The Song Of The Summer Title

​Nicola Roberts's former mate in the British hit factory Girls Aloud, Cheryl Cole, is somewhere licking her wounds over being sacked from The X Factor. What better time, then, for Roberts to release an absolute banger of a single? "Beat Of My Drum," produced by Diplo, sounds like somebody crea ... More >>

What Cheryl Cole's X Factor Dismissal Means For British Pop In America

​ Deep at the heart of Cheryl Cole's abrupt dismissal from the American edition of X Factor earlier this week is a twisted take on My Fair Lady. Here we have a pop star who takes leave from her U.K. homeland--where she's a household name thanks to her tenure in the hit-making girlband Girls Al ... More >>

Jessie J Sings For Her Life On "Who You Are"

​All the world's a stage, and singer-songwriter Jessie J's corner of it looks something like American Idol (or maybe X Factor, since she's a Brit). The 23-year-old's debut, Who You Are, is not so much an album as it is a pleading, 50-minute audition, the logical byproduct of someone who doesn' ... More >>

The 20 Worst Songs of 2010, #15: Susan Boyle, "Hallelujah"

F2K10 is a countdown of the 20 worst songs of 2010. Track our progress here. ​Leonard Cohen's ode to sex and music theory "Hallelujah" reached a certain saturation point this year--there was a moment when it seemed like there would be one overwrought cover of the track appearing on TV per mon ... More >>

American Idol Season 9: "Chris Brown Touches Kids," Victoria Beckham Has No Spice at Boston Auditions

It's raining in Boston. I'm taking that as a metaphor. Everyone could just pack it in right now, go home, stay dry, and we'd be none the poorer. Instead, 9,000 American Idol hopefuls visually and aurally assault viewers for the next two hours, and subsequently five months, and most likely several mo ... More >>

Hugs and Kisses #18: The Final Episode in Everett True's Desktop Trilogy