Blog: Idolator

Janet Jackson sees our desire : Days before her fifth album janet. celebrates its 20th anniversary , the enduring pop diva announces that she's prepping her first new music in five years. "We are creating the concept and initial thoughts on the music," she says to Billboard . "I am excited about the direction that we're taking." At this point in planning, the possibilities for Jackson's new music seems endless. Her most recent album, 20082s Discipline , had debuted at No. 1 [...]

One night after premiering "New Slaves" on 66 different building facades in 10 cities , and hours after the world learned his new album will be called Yeezus  (seriously), Kanye West appeared as the musical guest on Saturday Night Live 's May 18 season finale. For the first song he debuted "Black Skinhead," and it was an intense, angry and focused performance. Yeezy ranted with fuzzed out vocals over an industrial racket as menacing black-and-white images and price tags flashed on a screen behind him. There was word that [...]

On Friday, Beyonce was confirmed by "multiple sources" to be pregnant with her second child. Hours later she apparently took to Instagram to deny the reports, only to delete her sharp statement. "I can't stop the rumors from starting, and I can't really change peoples [ sic ] minds who believe them, all I can do is sit back and laugh at these low life people who have nothing better to do than talk about me," the post said. [...]

will.i.am has released a video for "Bang Bang," his contribution to The Great Gatsby soundtrack . While the film boasted a lavish world that could be viewed in 3-D, will.i.am's black and white clip is stark in its simplicity. A band of horn players follow his lead as he signals for the drop, then nails the Charleston inside an otherwise empty ballroom. In AllMusic's review of the soundtrack, David Jeffries said that will.i.am's song made for an "entirely obvious and irresistibly fun" contribution. The video is [...]

"If I go hard, let me tell you that it's worth it / Play the right cards, I-I-I ain't afraid to work it," Jessie J sings in her new single "Wild." On Thursday the Voice mentor previewed the song with a clip of her studio session, in which she added final touches to her pop plea. Heartbeats are still left to ponder over a lyric that Jessie J teased along with "Wild": "Everything starts with a WISH but everything can be real." (No, her new album isn't titled Wish  — as [...]

When Jennifer Lopez teased her "Live It Up" video, she offered flashes of a colorful runway show, a rambunctious beach party and skin - her own, that is. Hours later, Lopez couldn't help but to release the video in its entirety - a flashy clip showing that if Pitbull calls (okay, texts) and America's Next Top Model alumnus Eva Marcille appears, J. Lo will still steal the show. Lopez preps for the runway when Pitbull proposes to meet in southeastern France. (The video was filmed in [...]

"I'd rather be a dick than a swallower," Kanye West raps in "New Slaves," a song he debuted Friday night. West premiered the song in nine different cities by projecting a clip onto 66 different buildings, of him staring straight ahead. West was calm, but his words were harsh. "New Slaves" brings West's February gigs in London to mind and how, to the tune of "Clique," the G.O.O.D. Music honcho mocked corporations ("I can’t give a fuck about your comments, I promise, I promise") as he rambled of the Grammys, "the whole [...]

Like a moth to a flame that burns by the fire, our love for Janet Jackson is blind, can't you see our desire — to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Janet with another Twitter re-listening party. Yes, you read that right, Janet turns the big 2-0 on Saturday (May 18). Instead of wallowing in the fact that the infamous choreography to "If" is now two decades old, we're going to celebrate the chart-topping album that brought us timeless hits like "That's The Way Love Goes" "Anytime, Anyplace" and "Because Of Love" the best [...]

Like one of Stefon's favorite New York hotspots,  Jennifer Lopez  and  Pitbull 's upcoming video for "Live It Up" has  everything ! Fierce boots! A beach party! People getting sprayed down with alcohol! Ferocious choreography! J.Lo rocking a fierce orange lip! Pitbull in a robin's egg blue suit! Actual pitbulls! (Except that one. There are no actual pitbulls in the video. Although there probably should be.) The quick clip of the video basically serves as a highlights reel for what to expect when the actual thing drops, but it looks [...]

Well, as brand-sponsored novelties go, this is one of the cooler ones I've seen: Ginger-haired guitar-strumming unicorn  Ed Sheeran  made an appearance in New York a few weeks back, where he performed his heartbreaker "Lego House" at The Box (which is a teeny, tiny little venue) for Nokia's Lumia phone. The performance was recorded on a bunch of Lumia devices and then cut together, and it looks pretty good for video recorded on a cell phone! Sincerely. Genuinely. Not just saying that.  The performance is typically heart-wrenching, and the reactions from his special [...]

Beyonce is pregnant again , according to E! Online (not the New York Post , who reported it earlier this week but are no longer even remotely credible, which is pretty grim if you think about it). As is par for the course, the Internet was quick to respond (cue the think pieces!) with thoughts on Kanye West , that surrogacy issue and Bey's pop contemporaries: Here are some of the best (read: shadiest) tweets from some Twitter funny people. Kanye is going to announce his pregnancy [...]

Earlier this week, MS MR released Secondhand Rapture , a lovely debut album full of enigmatic alt-pop, and last night (May 16) they made their network television debut to celebrate the release. The duo of Lizzy Plapinger and Max Hershenow (plus two extra live band-mates) performed "Hurricane" on the Late Show with David Letterman  (sans blue and red body paint ). Lizzy's voice has an even smokier cabaret feel live, and combined with the more front-loaded synths, there's a nice fog/neon juxtaposition that isn't as apparent on the studio version. [...]

Alright, everyone. The rumors are apparently (supposedly!) true:  Beyonce  is with child once more. E! Online  confirms via "multiple sources" that the singer (and mother to 25-year-old baby Blue Ivy Carter )  is pregnant, after speculation began swirling over some fairly innocuous stuff — she wore a dress with a high waist to the Met Gala (pregnant!) and then canceled a concert over "dehydration and exhaustion" (pregnant!). In all fairness, this  does  explain why her latest album era has completely failed to launch in any meaningful way, and [...]

Perpetual adolescent  Avril Lavigne  has finally begun to make some promotional rounds for her uncommonly good new single "Here's To Never Growing Up," and she stopped by  The Today Show  to chat with  Matt Lauer  about the song (not that his questions were particularly great) before delivering a live rendition.  Lavigne certainly has the petulant teenager act down — she seems even less mature than I remembered her, somehow — and that likable brattiness came through in the performance, which was engagingly scratchy. At this point, I would have preferred a performance [...]

American Idol 's 12th season wrapped up last night (May 16) with a finale that provided a solid ending to the latest run. The star wattage was impressive, with performances from Mariah Carey , Jennifer Lopez and Adam Lambert to name a few, all leading up to some real emotions when Candice Glover rightfully took the Idol throne. Welp, it turns out Americans didn't want to be bothered by any of it! According to Reuters , Thursday's finale brought in 14.2 million US viewers, [...]

Maybe we've all just grown accustomed to seeing  Britney Spears  pushing boundaries, but the pop provocateur is playing it safe on her  Smurfs 2  soundtrack cut "Ooh La La" — and the critics have taken note. While they complimented the song's sound, nobody seemed particularly floored by it — then again, nobody hated it, either, which is a good thing. Head below to see how opinions varied. :: Our friends at Spin  liked it, more or less: "[I]t's peppy, guitar-bursting dance-pop that shouldn't overly upset [...]

After a night of major anticipation and live-tweeting , there is finally a new American Idol  winner! The season 12 finale was jam-packed with stellar performances from Idol  alums  Jennifer Hudson and Adam Lambert , tons of glitter (thanks, Mariah Carey ) and of course a sad farewell to  Randy Jackson . Candice Glover , who has auditioned for the show three times in a row, was crowned the first female  AI  winner since Jordin Sparks in 2007, and you can already hear the studio version of [...]

Now that American Idol finished up season 12 , it's time for everyone's favorite pastime: speculating about next season's  Idol   lineup. We already know Randy Jackson is leaving , and if the rumors are to be believed, so are the remaining three judges. Before the next wave of rumors hits, though, it's worth noting how competing competitive singing show The Voice  has managed to implement a more structured off-season game of musical chairs. Deadline reports that Christina Aguilera and [...]

So I spent the evening with  Fifth Harmony  earlier this week — the night after their wild meet-and-greet at Topshop, where they were mobbed by fans — and it was memorable, to say the very least. Next week, expect to see several exclusive videos with the girls — including some very special acoustic covers! — but for now, let me just leave you with a little message they wanted to share with their fans. No doubt you'll forgive them for gushing a little bit. After all, their Harmonizers  are amazing. Watch [...]

The most talked-about producer on the planet right now isn't one of the many crafting new material for Britney Spears , Beyonce and Justin Timberlake . It's Giorgio Moroder , the 73-year-old Italian musician whose synth-heavy work influenced more artists than you can fill on a sheet of paper and soundtracked at least two generations. Giorgio's longtime collaborator and close friend Donna Summer passed away one year ago today, at the age of 63. The disco queen kept her battle with lung cancer private, but it's Summer's [...]