Tell Us How You Really Feel About American Idol, Dave Grohl

Ratings for the 12th season of American Idol, for the lack of a nicer term, suck whale balls and they have dropped almost every week since the debut. Last week, the show’s ratings were down 33% from the same time last year, so it’s safe to say that people are growing tired of Nicki Minaj lecturing drama club kids about talent. Or maybe they’re just tired of talent shows like The Voice or X Factor in general, but either way it seems that Dave Grohl is once again the voice of reason in an otherwise autotuned world.

“I think people should feel encouraged to be themselves. That’s what bums me out about those shows where people are judged so harshly by fucking musicians that hardly even play an instrument on their own fucking albums. It makes me really mad.”

He added: “I swear to God, if my daughter walked up onstage and sang her heart out and some fucking billionaire looked at her and said, ‘No, I’m sorry you’re not any good,’ I’d fucking throttle that person, I swear to God. Who the fuck are you to say what’s good or bad?”

Grohl also reckons the shows homogenise music so that “everyone sounds like fucking Christina Aguilera.” The Foo Fighters singer added: “The next time someone says you’re not a good singer say: ‘Fuck You’. I interviewed Neil Young and he said in his band someone said to him: ‘The band’s really great, but honestly you shouldn’t be the singer.’ If Neil Young had listened to that person then we wouldn’t have had any Neil Young.” (NME)

Can anyone even name the last five people who won on American Idol? Hell, the last three people? At least other countries are still trying to make their versions of American Idol relevant. Like, the Czech Republic, for instance. Last week, they had 19-year old pop singer Ewa Farna on, and she looks a hell of a lot more interesting than these Season 12 finalists. I can’t quite put my finger on it, but that Ewa Farna just grabs my attention.

(Photo Credits: Getty)

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American Apparel Responds to Nancy Upton’s Campaign Against Their “Next Big Thing” Plus-Size Model Search; Explains Why Upton Didn’t Win

Last month, American Apparel launched a nationwide contest to find a plus-size model, in celebration of the brand’s addition of XL sizes to a couple of their styles. The contest, titled “The Next Big Thing,” was rife with euphemisms and jokes, which outraged many who felt that the contest was mocking, rather than celebrating plus-size women.

But no one felt stronger than Nancy Upton, who challenged American Apparel by entering the contest and submitting photos of herself gorging on food, and generally satirizing what she perceived to be the company’s misconceptions about plus-size women.

Of course, Upton actually wound up receiving the most votes in the contest, and should have won but the company decided to award the title of “Next Big Thing” to other contestants.

Now, The Frisky has alerted us to a letter American Apparel’s Creative Director Iris Alonzo sent to Upton, which Upton also published on her Tumblr this morning. The letter addresses both Upton’s campaign against the contest, and the reason why she didn’t win despite getting the most votes.

Alonzo begins by apologizing for offending Upton and to assert that, while the contest may have been misinterpreted, their “only motive was to discover and celebrate the many beautiful XL women around the globe who enjoy our brand, and to promote the recent size additions to our collection.”

Alonzo also responds to accusations that a sales rep allegedly told a shopper plus-size is “not [their] demographic,” something that Upton has referenced on her blog. Alonzo said in the letter:

I don’t recall the name of the confused employee credited with saying that, but he or she was sadly uninformed, and our company certainly does not endorse their statement. For as long as I can remember, we have offered sizes up to 3XL in our basic styles, and as far as adding larger sizes to the rest of our line is concerned, if there is the demand and manufacturing power to support it, we’re always game.

Alonzo also goes onto defend lawsuit-prone Executive Director Dov Charney saying that despite negative media reports, she can “represent a ton of people I know when I say that we really like Dov and we passionately believe in his vision for a beautiful factory with sustainable practices,” noting that the “sensational media will always need something to latch on to and success, spandex and individuality (and mutton chops circa 2004) are certainly easy targets.” We hardly believe that all of Charney’s sexual harassment issues have been because of his hairdo, however it is interesting to hear Alonzo’s take on the subject, as she’s woman who must work closely with Charney.

While Alonzo keeps it pretty classy throughout the letter, she does resort to some snarkiness on the subject of Upton being denied the winning title, saying that while she had the popular vote the company instead chose contestants they “feel truly exemplify the idea of beauty inside and out,” which seems to suggest that Upton is neither of those things in their eyes. (We wholeheartedly disagree.)

We actually kind of feel bad for American Apparel. It seems like no matter what the company does, it always leads to controversy. Then again, maybe that’s sort of the point–or as, Alonzo hints in her letter to Upton, “maybe the PR ups and downs are all part of our DNA as a company.”

PR stunt or not, American Apparel should not take people’s offense too lightly–a brand as large as they are have the power to really affect the general population’s psyche, and they should remember that behind the outraged buzz of a controversial PR stunt, are real people with hurt feelings.

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It's a Girl for American Idol Alum Jason Castro! - Babble (blog)

Posted by ebrady on August 29th, 2011 at 10:45 pm Jason Castro and Daughter

It’s a baby girl for American Idol alumnae Jason Castro and his wife Mandy!

The singer-songwriter welcomed daughter, Madeline Emilia Castro, on Sunday.   Castro shared the details of Madeline’s arrival on Twitter beginning early Sunday morning writing, “My wife woke up at 5:30 this morning with contractions… came to the birth center and they sent us home! we werent quite ready.. until now!”

The trip home was a temporary one with Madeline deciding to arrive later in the day when he added, “Excited to meet my baby girl today!”  Shortly after, the singer posted a photo of himself holding onto his newborn daughter with the caption, “Daddy’s Girl”.

This is the first child for the couple who were married in 2010.

Congratulations to the happy family!

Photo: Jason Castro Twitter

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