F

Flavorwire

Adam Lambert

Pop Culture

Celebrities Reading '50 Shades of Grey' Aloud, Ranked From Worst to Best

By Emily Temple on

By now, it seems like everyone in the world has read 50 Shades of Grey (except the people you actually know). Including celebrities, who particularly can’t seem to get enough of reading the thing out loud. We get it — it’s hilarious and oh so scandalous in a completely safe way. But some celebs do a better job than others, and though “better” here is obviously relative and subjective, we’d say that the quality usually comes down to the commitment. After the jump, watch (if you can bear it) ten videos of celebrities reading from 50 Shades of Grey, ranked from worst to best. Do you agree with our rankings? Want someone else on the list? Let us know in the comments. … Read More

Music

Great Vocalizing Is Where You Find It: The Most Memorable Vocal Performances of 2010

By Michaelangelo Matos on

Singing, rapping, speaking, and chanting are all part of the same animal, made from the greatest of all instruments. There’s no one formula for a compelling vocal; some great singers and rappers sound bored, some sound utterly transfixed. Personality is the key, and if you can get that through Auto-Tune, great. The results are what matter. Here are 10 performances that hit us particularly hard, listed alphabetically by name. … Read More

Music

When Musicians Explain Their Awful Album Covers

By Judy Berman on

Horrible album covers can happen to the best of musicians. And usually, if the music is good, we can find a way to ignore them. But sometimes artists just won’t let the issue drop. Recently, for example, T.I. discussed the safari-themed cover for his King Uncaged with the magazine Respect: “I went and told them, ‘Get me as close as you can to a lion.’ He had a trainer holding him on a chain. They took the chain out [in post-work]. It really went down. I wanted to pet him. I said, ‘Let me get hands on.’ They were like, ‘No. We could only let you do but so much.’ So I did as much as they would allow me to do… I wanted it to be a a busy city street. My original idea was to lock down Times Square and let me and the lion do the same thing right there, but we couldn’t quite pull that off; they said it had to be in controlled environment.”

Huh. We were so amused by this explanation that we dug up five more choice examples of bands defending their bizarre album covers. Everyone from Prince to Adam Lambert weighs in after the jump. … Read More

Music

Clash of the Pop Titans: New Albums from Adam Lambert, Lady Gaga, Rihanna, and Shakira

By Ryan O'Connell on

This week marks music releases from four pop heavyweights: Lady Gaga, Shakira, Rihanna, and that gay guy who won American Idol and wears a lot of eyeliner, Adam Lambert. We know that listening to too much bubblegum sweetness could be hazardous to your valuable indie cred (You love the new Grizzly Bear video, don’t you?)) so we’ve graciously listened to all four albums for you.… Read More

Music

Sorry Gaga: Our Picks for a Best New Artist Grammy Nod

By Adrian Muniz on

If you haven’t already heard, it looks like America’s favorite performance artist Lady Gaga — she of the fashion envelope pushing — is definitely ineligible to be nominated for a Best New Artist Grammy when the awards for 2009 are awarded early next year despite reports to the contrary. Why, you ask? Because she was already nominated last year for “Just Dance” back when her only fans were clubgoers and the gays. Gaga lost then to Daft Punk, but she’s poised to be a major contender this year in other categories if not a shoo-in for the category she lost in 2008. As for the gaping hole in the Best New Artist category that she leaves behind? Here’s a look at the acts we’ll be rooting for when nominations are… Read More

Music

Adam Lambert’s Fauxllatio + 3 Other Must-See AMA Moments

By Judy Berman on

If you’re like us, you didn’t expect much out of last night’s American Music Awards. They are, after all, a second-rate awards ceremony at a time when even the Grammys and the Oscars fail to provide much fodder for water-cooler conversation. But now that we’re living in a post-Kanye-interruptus world, the potential for moments of unscripted magic were enough to plant us in front of our TV sets last night. And, although Taylor Swift took home five awards without incident, it was the evening’s performances — not its winners — that wowed us.

You see, for us, last night marked a sort of changing of the pop guard, with established divas like Jennifer Lopez and Whitney Houston falling on their asses (sometimes literally) as ascending stars Lady Gaga and Adam Lambert turned in jaw-dropping production numbers. After the jump, check out Glambert’s hot, homoerotic performance and three other essential AMA… Read More

Music

First Look: Album Art for Adam Lambert’s For Your Entertainment

By Caroline Stanley on

Remember when everyone was unsure about whether American Idol runner-up Adam Lambert was gay? This pretty cover image — in which Adam reminds us of a Kardashian sister mixed with the Goblin King — sure would have clarified things. His debut album, For Your Entertainment, drops on November… Read More

Web

4 Annoying Images That Won’t Go Away

By Andy Phillips on

The only real advantage to the internet hype cycle is that today’s annoyance is tomorrow’s afterthought. Still, we’re particularly put off this week by the prevalence of unnecessary controversy tethered to iconic imagery. OK, so maybe we’re hypocrites for perpetuating the cycle, but can we put them away already? After the jump, the four images (and accompanying non-controversies) sending our gossip meters into annoyance… Read More

Web

The Morning’s Top 5 Cultural Stories

By Caroline Stanley on

1. Rupert Murdoch says the future of newspapers is digital and there may be a time when you “get it on a panel which would be mobile, which will receive the whole newspaper over the air, (and) be updated every hour or two.” [Via Breitbart]

2. Coldplay’s Chris Martin “has been hit by a… Read More

Television

American Idol and AT&T Make Shady Bedfellows

By Caroline Stanley on

Was American Idol rigged? That’s the question many are asking thanks to one of their biggest corporate sponsors, AT&T. Per this article in the New York Times, they “might have influenced the outcome of this year’s competition by providing phones for free text-messaging services and lessons in casting blocks of votes at parties organized by fans of Kris Allen, the Arkansas singer who was the winner of the show last week.” (Note: AT&T is the only mobile carrier that can be used to text in votes. We had no… Read More