Another new promo for the X Factor USA has premiered, following the Britney-only clip that surfaced earlier this week.
The new one shows someone getting led away in handcuffs, someone getting taken away by paramedics, one dude breaking down completely, and Demi Lovato proving she has one of the best laughs in the world.
Check it out below.
Really CBA with the UK version this year…
So it’s a long-established fact now that The X Factor USA is more exciting than The X Factor UK this year, purely because the judging panel is hella better and it’s pretty clear from the weaknesses of season one that Simon Cowell will have gone to hell and back to make it better.
In a new video clip (“new” as in four days ago, oops), judges Britney Spears, Demi Lovato and LA Reid discuss the San Fransisco auditions, with Britney brushing off the suggestion that she is the “toughest judge” and saying she tries to be constructively critical.
What the judges actually say isn’t particularly interesting, but I just love how comfortable Britney is in this clip. That wouldn’t be a big deal for most other celebs, but since The Great Meltdown Of ’07 every interview with her has been so carefully regulated and sucked dry of personality, and it’s reassuring when looking forward to the show’s premiere in September that she could well completely hold her own as a panellist and prove a lot of her critics wrong.
Also Demi is a legend. But we already knew that.
Now’s a good time to dig up that “LEAVE BRITNEY ALONE!” video.
Britney Spears’ rep has ‘slammed’ reports that the hitmaker is “coming undone” whilst filming The X Factor USA.
In all of two days of filming, Us Weekly reported that “X Factor may lead her back into meltdown territory… This is a lot of change at once for Britney.” This of course is despite the fact that Simon Cowell recorded a special video message for a separate gossip outlet last week insisting that all negative press reports about the two days of taping in Texas were false.
But, speaking to Gossip Cop, Brit’s rep said that Us Weekly were told before publishing their ‘scoop’ that there were absolutely no signs of a 2007 repeat, but decided to run with it anyway.
“[It's a pathetic attempt at creating a story," they raged.
Imagine if LA Reid had a meltdown. Literally no-one would care.
She’s looking set to be the breakout star of The X Factor USA, but Demi Lovato has learned that being a successful talent show judge sometimes involved a bit of cheeky backchat.
Tweets sent out by audience members at the Texas tryouts this week reveal that a 50-year-old contestant who sang an uncomfortably sexual original song to a 16-year-old member of the crowd had a hugely negative reaction from the crowd, and received scathing feedback from the judges.
Lovato reportedly kicked off the critique by saying that he creeped her out. “I just can’t,” she said.
Britney then gave her first big swipe of the season, joking: “I want to know why let you on stage. I left uncomfortable with you even being on stage looking at me right now.”
After he also clashed with LA Reid and Simon Cowell, Lovato then told him he couldn’t sing and he spitefully accused her of using autotune in her recordings.
“No, I don’t,” she snapped back. YOU GO DEMI.
An audience member wrote on Twitter: “DEMI JUST TOLD HIM HE COULDN’T SING. HE SAID THAT’S WHY YOU USED AUTO (TUNE) AND I DON’T. TO DEMI (sic)”
“You need to leave now,” demanded LA, before Simon told him to get off the stage.
Demi then shouted after him as he left talking to teenage girls.
LA Reid, Simon Cowell, Demi Lovato and a certain Britney Spears will soon be arriving in Texas for their second day of shooting The X Factor USA’s audition episodes, but gossip is still doing the rounds about yesterday’s debut.
E! were there to report on every moment, and seemed happy to relay that Brit loosed up a great deal as the day went on and, by the sounds of it, that Demi could be the show’s equivalent of Britain’s Got Talent‘s David Walliams – by which I mean she was a little flirty but unafraid to tell him where to stick it.
Two episodes were shot yesterday, with 14 acts being auditioned for the first. Britney missed the last four so she could “take a break” (?), but was there for the entirety of the second episode taping. She was a lot more chatty with Demi during the second phase, and apparently the pair even stood up and danced during a hip-hop trio’s performance.
What was she like as a judge? Very sweet, apparently. To a rapper who was universally deemed to have given the worst audition of the day, she quipped “I like your hat”, and when the man to her left was especially scathing to another hopeful she said “That’s rude, Simon!”. She did, however, get booed by the audience at one point when she gave a negative critique. Amazing.
Feisty Demi shot down both Simon and LA on several occasions, and was a massive flirt with the younger male singers. “I like a country boy,” she purred to one act. Her best moment was apparently when Cowell said to a pretty 22-year-old “It’s too bad we didn’t meet 10 years ago,” and Demi chimed in with “More like 30″. Britney may generate the headlines, but it seems like Demi could sneak up below the radar and steal the show.
Demi Lovato and Britney Spears have begun work on The X Factor USA, as the filmed auditions get underway in Texas.
Britney’s already had to deny a rumour that she stormed off half-way through the first day, whilst Demi has called Simon “grandpa” and cut LA Reid “to shreds”. Amazing.
There was a slightly awkward moment outside (picture, left) when Britney signed a Rolling Stone magazine front cover with the headline ‘The Tragedy of Britney Spears’ (it was published mid-breakdown in 2007), but other than that it seems everything went swimmingly.
Check out this video of the judges making their arrivals at the venue, and then making their entrance to sit behind one of TV’s most famous desks.
Oh, and here in the UK apparently Geri Haliwell got booed.
It’s hard to get excited about YET ANOTHER TV talent show, but after watching a recent Good Morning America sneak peak (and knowing Kelly Clarkson is on the panel) Duets seems like it might be pretty good.
But rivalry between it and its rivals is inevitable, and John Legend – who sits alongside Clarkson, Jennifer Nettles and Robin Thicke on Duets – hasn’t minced his words. Asked about Britney Spears and Demi Lovato’s appointments on The X Factor USA, he suggested (though I am being a tiiiny bit sensationalist) that the pair can’t actually sing. OK, Britney’s recent output has got more autotune on it than that T-Pain/Lily Allen collabo from last year, but Demi? No way!
Speaking at the ABC Upfronts, he told E!:
“You know it’s interesting. It should be very interesting. I don’t have much to say. It’s interesting when people you know who are judging singing competitions when they aren’t really singers. It’s interesting.”
Well, to be fair, Britney is an absolute legend, but she is more of “a popstar” than “a singer”. But can you really say Demi doesn’t have a huge set of pipes on her? And isn’t this show about finding “a popstar”, for better or worse?
Kelly added:
“I’m excited for both of them. I’m a big fan of both of them. Both of those girls are super sweet. I think it’s fun for them too to just be more out in the public eye again. I think those two are two you really want to root for and you really want them to succeed, so I think that’s exciting… Obviously they are both performers so… I think that show really needs it. I don’t think everybody latched onto that show like they thought they would.”
John, mate, you might want to lay low and keep away from your Twitter ‘@’ mentions for a little while…
And now for Demi being a very good singer:
Not that the world didn’t already know, but yesterday Britney Spears was unveiled alongside Simon Cowell, LA Reid and Demi Lovato as a judge on the new season of The X Factor USA.
With a pop career that dates back to a Disney show in 1994, Britney is the biggest star ever to be signed up for a talent show – and, with a $15 million payday, producers will be hoping that translates into ratings.
Internationally she has released 37 singles (30 in the UK), and below are her ten best-sellers. The list is fascinating – the general consensus is that Brit’s heyday is far behind her, and though her album sales have been sloping downwards in recent years, her singles figures tell a totally different story.
Note the sales figures are US only… UK stats are nowhere to be publicly found :(
UPDATE: The UK-only figures are out of date, but are unlikely to have changed much – they are (predictably) 1. ‘…Baby…’, 2. ‘Oops!’, 3. ‘Sometimes’, 4. ‘Womanizer’, 5. ‘Toxic’, 6. ‘Born To Make You Happy’, 7. ‘(You Drive Me) Crazy’, 8. ‘Everytime’, 9. ‘Piece of Me’, 10. ‘Lucky’
10. ‘I Wanna Go’
Album: Femme Fatale, 2011
Sales: 1.4 million
Chart peak: No7 (US), No138 (UK)
Although it didn’t quite catch on over here, in the US ‘I Wanna Go’ was one of the biggest hits of last summer. The cheeky video, that saw Britney poke fun at all the ridiculous rumours about herself and then parade around in front of a sign for Crossroads 2, was one of the weirdest clips of 2011. Co-written by Savan Kotecha (‘What Makes You Beautiful’, Glee) it is one of the most radio-ready anthems on the icon’s seventh studio album.
9. ‘Hold It Against Me’
Album: Femme Fatale, 2011
Sales: 1.45 million
Chart peak: No1 (US), No6 (UK)
A track that could well have marked Britney’s sixth UK number one if it weren’t for the ill-fated On Air, On Sale system, ‘Hold It Against Me’ boasted a dubstep-influenced middle-8 (this being before every song had a dubstep-influenced middle-8) and kept her one step ahead of the pack. Its innuendo-filled lyrics were as transparent as thin air, but this track was huge.
8. ‘Toxic’
Album: In The Zone, 2003
Sales: 1.6 million
Chart peak: No9 (US), No1 (UK)
Britney’s first Number 1 hit in four years in the UK, ‘Toxic’ was released at a time when we thought she had put all of her not-a-girl-not-yet-a-woman “troubled years” behind her. Little did we know, of course, that the worst of it was still three or four years away. ‘Toxic’s music video was one of the most iconic clips of the 00s, and remains one of her most renowned Greatest Hits.
6. ‘Piece Of Me’
Album: Blackout, 2007
Sales: 1.7 million
Chart peak: No18 (US), No2 (UK)
Her highest-charting UK single in five years, ‘Piece Of Me’ saw Britney staring her paparazzi enemies right in the face. “I’m Miss American Dream since I was 17… I’m miss Bad Media Karma, another day, another drama”, she purred robotically over crunching synths and liberal autotune effects. And, as life imitated art (or visa versa), she hit her lowest ebb around the same time this single became a worldwide smash.
5. ‘…Baby One More Time’
Album: …Baby One More Time, 1999
Sales: 1.8 million
Chart peak: No1 (US), No1 (UK)
Surprised that it’s only No5? The album may have sold 25 million copies worldwide, but the title track “only” shifted 1.8 million domestically, a personal best that went on to be beaten four more times in the years to come. It doesn’t particularly need an introduction, does it?
4. ’3′
Album: The Singles Collection, 2010
Sales: 2.1 million
Chart peak: No1 (US), No7 (UK)
For a Britney Spears single, ’3′ was quite poor. But then, the fact it was the only new track on her celebratory Singles Collection perhaps accounts for its astonishingly high sales figure. The LP did terribly in the charts (on both sides of the Atlantic), suggesting that fans probably opted to download this one original song instead of splash out on the 20-odd they already owned.
3. ‘Till The World Ends’
Album: Femme Fatale, 2011
Sales: 2.4 million
Chart peak: No3 (US), No21 (UK)
Without question this is the most under-rated song in Brit’s back catalogue. Released under on air, on sale rules in 2011, it only managed a No21 peak in the UK, but it is amazing. Co-written by Ke$ha, it’s a euphoric masterclass in dance-pop, clarifying that there’s no harm in treading a well-worn route (lyrics like “watch me move as I lose it hard”, “DJ what you waiting for” etc etc etc) if the production is as flawless as this. So good we named it our favourite single of 2011.
2. ‘Circus’
Album: Circus, 2008
Sales: 2.8 million
Chart peak: No3 (US), No13 (UK)
Blackout was “the comeback album” in terms of releasing music after a long hiatus, but Circus was “the comeback album” in terms of not being a train wreck of a human being anymore. The album was flawed, but as ever, it had a cracking cluster of hit singles on it… not least its title track. “All eyes on me in the centre of the ring, just like a circus”, came the chorus. If you ask me it’s not among the best of her best, but 2.8 million Americans clearly disagree.
1. ‘Womanizer’
Album: Circus, 2008
Sales: 3.2 million
Chart peak: No1 (US), No3 (UK)
‘Womanizer’ became Britney’s second US number 1 single in 2008… a decade since her first. As said above, the Circus era put her back at her personal best, and this was an addictive pop anthem so good that even Lily Allen covered it. The performance on the UK X Factor proved that Brit was still on the road to recovery performance-wise, but as a song it rightly ranks as one of her best.
Demi Lovato and Britney Spears have been officially unveiled as X Factor judges (SHOCK HORROR)… And here’s the moment they were unveiled.
Britney isn’t particularly full of banter but go Demi – she’s ready to win!
Note also Britney’s lil’ gaffaw when Simon says he’s ready to “kick butt”. SOUND THE PERSONALITY ALARM! (I joke, but… seriously, Britney. Let’s not much this up, right?)
Months of speculation. Weeks of “they’ve signed/they haven’t signed” rumours. A UK-beating panel of judges.
Two of the greatest popstars on planet Earth today have joined The X Factor USA and, as was widely reported… it’s Britney Spears and Demi Lovato.
They join LA Reid and Simon Cowell on the show’s second season this Autumn.
Spears said: “I’m ready to find the true star”, while Lovato said to Cowell: “It’s an honor to be standing next to you… It’s an honor to represent my generation.”
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