Jessica Sanchez Performs In Front Of The "American Idol"

The sing-off on this week's "American Idol" doubled as a warning - to the viewers.On Wednesday's show, contestants had to pick a song by the artist they've modeled themselves after. In other words, they showcased the style and sound they'll most likely pursue on CD should they take the prize.

Let's just say, for the most part, it wasn't a promising tease.Many performances showed just how far these young singers fall into the shadow of their own idols - including some of the season's most favored players. Jessica Sanchez owns one of the season's burliest voices. But her take on a song by her clear role model, Beyonce, showed too much similarity in their timbres and phrasing, making Sanchez's voice seem redundant. This, despite the fact she switched up the arrangement of the bootylicious song she chose, "Sweet Dreams."

Likewise, judges' pet Philip Phillips sounded like a frustrated understudy for Dave Matthews (despite singing a Johnny Lang song, "Still Raining").

Jason Ledet, who owns the churchiest shout of the season, showed an unfortunate taste for sap by choosing to Mariah Carey kitschy version of "Without You." It's gooeyness undermined his gospel brilliance.

Other singers made choices that revealed similarly unfortunate taste. Colton Dixon selected Lifehouse's sub-grunge ballad, which he murmured through, while Hollie Cavanagh offered a duller xerox of an earlier Idol champ, Carrie Underwood, on her "Jesus Take The Wheel." Fellow country fan Skylar Laine showed more distinction on Miranda Lambert's "Gunpowder and Lead," but she still too closely recalled the original's spunk.

Ironically, some of the least favored contenders showed the most moxie. Heejun Han, having been humbled by the drubbing he took over his jokey performance last week, played it straight on Leon Russell's "A Song For You," with encouraging results. An even more dramatic turn around came for Deandre Brackensick, who'd seemed listless in recent weeks. On Wednesday, he returned to his trademark falsetto, soaring Eric Benet's "Sometimes I Cry" to the sky.

But the top jaw-dropper of the night came from Elise Testone. While she'd formally excelled at soulful jazz, this time she performed Led Zeppelin's "Whole Lotta Love" with a stone cold rocker's guts. Her performance showed the kind of flexibility and canny that makes an audience not just passively watch you on TV but actively buy your work on CD.

The Hunger Games: Songs From District 12 And Beyond

"The Hunger Games: Songs from District 12 and Beyond," the companion soundtrack to the year's most highly anticipated film, is a mostly impressive collection of songs.

Esteemed producer T-Bone Burnett certainly succeeds in what he routinely does best -- establishing, then maintaining, a specific vibe and sound on the album. It's downcast and dreary, for the most part, and populated by some of the coolest characters in indie music and country.

The album should be a hit with the "Hunger Games" brigade -- which should be good enough to turn it into a multiplatinum sensation. Yet, unlike some of Burnett's other soundtrack works (most notable, "O Brother, Where Art Thou?") I don't believe it can transcend the film and have a life of its own.

The soundtrack gets off to a rough start with the rather bizarre "Abraham's Daughter," which might be the most pretentious thing Arcade Fire has ever recorded — and that's really saying something. Was the band intentionally going for an Enya sings "Game of Thrones" vibe? If so, Arcade Fire definitely nailed it! "Abraham's Daughter" should, however, make the playlist at Dungeons and Dragons parties for years to come.

Thankfully, the soundtrack improves from there, with a star turn by the Secret Sisters (real-life siblings Laura and Lydia Rogers) on "Tomorrow Will Be Kinder." Critics' darling Neko Case is mediocre, as she often is, on "Nothing to Remember" -- providing a rendition that definitely underscores the tune's title.

Taylor Swift is routinely knocked for having a rather weak voice. Yet, that charge seems downright preposterous after listening to the somber "Safe & Sound." (Actually, it seemed preposterous to me long before I heard this track.) Of course, it doesn't hurt when you have the acclaimed Civil Wars on harmonies.

Kid Cudi is one of the top talents in hip-hop, and his "Man on the Moon" series has been epic, but he doesn't live up to his own standards on "The Ruler and the Killer." The song sounds like mediocre Soul Coughing.

The album enters a sweet spot with Track Six, the Punch Brothers' "Dark Days," and remains there through Track 10, Glen Hansard's "Take the Heartland." One of the highlights of that solid stretch is the rambunctious "One Engine" by the Decemberists, the Grammy-nominated troupe that has made a career out of taking complicated concepts and twisting them into tuneful bliss. Another is the Carolina Chocolate Drops' old-timey "Daughter's Lament," which nicely showcases Rhiannon Giddens' memorable voice. The Civil Wars' plaintive "Kingdom Come" is undeniably lovely — but certainly not a track I'd want to listen to multiple times.

After all those hip selections, it was a little weird to see Maroon 5 on the track listing -- I mean, who knew that reality TV star Adam Levine even had a band? OK, I jest. Let's just say, however, that Maroon 5's offering on the soundtrack -- "Come Away to the Water" -- is no "Moves Like Jagger." In fact, I'd wouldn't be surprised if it put ol' Mick to sleep.

The album meanders to a close after that, coasting through a run-of-a-mill Swift track ("Eyes Open"), another snoozer by Low Anthem ("Lover is Childlike") and other mediocrity. By the time the dreary album ended, I found myself longing to put on the "Twilight" soundtrack — at least that offered up a little variety.

Yang Mi The Topic Queen

Mainland actress, Yang Mi's beauty was often questioned whether it was surgically enhanced. Recently, a Weibo user by the name of “Catwalk Lam Si San” claimed to be Yang Mi's former friend, allegedly accompanying the actress to receive plastic surgery in South Korea! The true identity of “Catwalk” remained unknown, but her claims aroused widespread speculation as to whether Yang Mi had indeed received plastic surgery.

Although Catwalk's post was suspected to be fraudulent and perhaps a prank, the message aroused widespread interest in whether Yang Mi had indeed received plastic surgery procedures. Chinese search engines were flooded with visitors querying whether Yang Mi had gone under the knife.

Yang Mi Denies Plastic Surgery

Appearing at a press conference for mainland China idol drama, Chinese Girl, Yang Mi noted that the allegations were false and did not know who Catwalk was. Yang Mi stated, “At first, I minded the rumors. Now I treat myself as a spectator, watching others play a farce. It was not the first time that someone claimed to know me personally. I felt that everyone's reaction was too strong, as I felt that the allegations were too fake!”

Old Photos Hint At Changing Face

Comparing Yang Mi's old photos to her current features, it may be highly possible that she did receive cosmetic enhancements. As a child, Yang Mi exhibited a strong nose hook, which she carried in her late teenage years (see middle photo). However, her recent photos show a more refined nose tip from her former years. Upon closer inspection, it appeared that the shape of Yang Mi's jawline appeared significantly rounder in recent years. In the past, than angle of her jawline was quite sharp, lending to a somewhat squarish effect, while recent photos revealed Yang Mi's jawline (the point where the jaw meets the ears) to be much rounder. Yang Mi was blessed with good looks at birth. The cosmetic procedures done to her nose and jaw did refine her features, improving the overall proportion and symmetry of her face. 

Yang Mi Shed Tears of Joy at Hawick Lau’s Love Declaration 

Mainland actress,Yang Mi, and boyfriend,Hawick Lau ,appeared together at a promotional event on Valentine's Day. At the event,Yang Mi and Hawick witnessed the exchange of vows between a newlywed couple. At the end of the event, the organizer broadcast a short video clip prepared in advance, in which Hawick declared his love for Yang Mi openly! The lovers hugged and Yang Mi was moved to the verge of tears. The scene was very romantic! 

At a separate event, Hawick revealed that his parents were very fond of Yang Mi. Hawick said with a a laugh, “Now even my mother's Mandarin has improved!” As for his Valentine's Day gift for Yang Mi, Hawick maintained that it must be kept confidential to retain an air of mystery!

The Morden Ways To Listen To Music

The way that we listen to music and the devices that we play it on seem to change almost from generation to generation. This article gives us a brief overview of how we've listened to music through the ages.

The gramophone was essentially a record player that played music by running a needle through the groove of the record. Because of the size of the records and the gramophone it was extremely difficult to listen to music on the go with this device and as a result we tended to listen to it just at home or at a public gathering.

The cassette - or tape - was a huge step forward for music as it meant that all of a sudden people could make their own tapes, simply by recording music off the radio or making their own compilations from already owned music. While piracy is an affliction that troubles the music industry even today, back then there was very little that could be done about it and the tape player was the medium by which this crime became widespread.

As the name suggests, a Walkman was a portable device that was small enough to clip onto a belt or even fit in a pocket. Essentially they were simply cassette players - and that is what they played - that were very small and ran on battery power.


The CD player started to become the choice of music player for people in the late eighties and early nineties, primarily because the quality of the music they played was so much better than that used by tapes. Copying music onto a CD was much harder, however, and this meant that often people owned both a CD player and a Walkman so that they could listen to music on the go as well as in better quality at home.


Early in this millennium IPods started popping up, which had a very high quality of sound on them and also gave the owner the ability to mix music as they liked. It also meant that an entire music collection could all of a sudden be stored on one small device, saving the owner plenty of space. Of course, since then people have started to store all their music on their phone as well, as the evolution of music continues.
As you can see there have been huge developments as to how we listen to music over the last few generations: how do you think your children will listen to music?