As many of you may have already heard, Clive Davis is gearing up to release a new memoir about his life and his well respected career in the music industry. For those of you that have been living under a rock over the last few decades, Clive the man credited for bringing us such iconic talents such as Whitney Houston, Alicia Keys, Aretha Franklin, Christina Aguilera & Jennifer Hudson (just to name just a few). Well not everyone on Clive’s roster of powerhouse diva’s is celebrating the release of his memoir… Kelly Clarkson is also a who Clive took under his wing in her early career and let’s just say their relationship was never a smooth ride. I think Kelly & Clive definitely fall under the “frienemey” category!

It seems that Clive struck a nerve (once again) with Kelly when she found out about some of the details pertaining to her section in his memoir which she claims is straight-out fiction and took to her blog to clarify. She also took the liberty of providing us with a couple of details that Clive left out of his story which gives us a more complete picture of the man he really is as apposed to the one he just wants you to think he is.

Without further adieu, here is Kelly’s epic verbal smack-down in response to Clive…

“So I just heard Clive Davis is releasing a memoir and spreading false information about me and my music. I refuse to be bullied and I just have to clear up his memory lapses and misinformation for myself and for my fans. It feels like a violation. Growing up is awesome because you learn you don’t have to cower to anyone – even Clive Davis.

First, he says I burst into “hysterical sobbing” in his office when he demanded Since You Been Gone be on my album. Not true at all. His stories and songs are mixed up. I did want more guitars added to the original demo and Clive did not. Max, Luke and I still fought for the bigger sound and we prevailed and I couldn’t be more proud of the life of that song. I resent him dampening that song in any way.

But, yes, I did cry in his office once. I cried after I played him a song I had written about my life called “Because Of You.” I cried because he hated it and told me verbatim that I was a “sh*tty writer who should be grateful for the gifts that he bestows upon me.” He continued on about how the song didn’t rhyme and how I should just shut up and sing. This was devastating coming from a man who I, as a young girl, considered a musical hero and was so honored to work with.
But I continued to fight for the song and the label relented. And it became a worldwide hit. He didn’t include that in the book.

He also goes on to say My December wasn’t successful because I co-penned the album and it didn’t have “pop hits”. Well, first let me say, I’ve co-penned many of my “pop hits.” Secondly, My December went platinum (It sold 20,000 less than All I Ever Wanted which followed My December.) Hardly a huge failure. Never Again, the ONLY single they released in the US from that record was a Top 10 hit. I am very proud of that and I have my fans to thank. But, again, what’s most interesting about his story is what he leaves out: He doesn’t mention how he stood up in front of his company at a convention and belittled me and my music and completely sabotaged the entire project. It never had a chance to reach it’s full potential. My December was an album I needed to make for myself for many reasons and the fact that I was so completely disregarded and disrespected was so disheartening, there really aren’t words to explain….

Anyway, I love my job. I love my music. I love my fans. I love my label and all of my professional relationships… now. And I am grateful for Clive for teaching me to know the difference.

Cheers to another amazing year! And, as always, thanks for listening!

KC”

All I can say is I respect Kelly Clarkson with all my heart. She is a true artist with a true gift and has stood up for her herself and her music. She has NEVER bowed down to the big-wig industry people in fear of ruffling their feathers… As a matter of fact, I think she likes giving these pretentious suits a healthy does of rock & roll rebellion!!

So the other day I reported how Beyonce’s publicist contacted a famous blogger and asked him to remove “unflattering” action-shot photos of the “Single Ladies” singer taken from her massively watched Super Bowl halftime performance this past weekend. The blogger of course did not respond to the ridiculous request and instead wrote an article about how desperate her people are to manipulate the media to make sure she has a “picture perfect” image in every aspect of the meaning.

In a hilarious turn of events, since the blogger posted his article about the phone call/email her received it seems that some of the pictures have gone viral all over the Internet as fans and critics alike are taking to photoshop to spoof the buffed out diva! Karma’s a bitch! Here are just a few of the parody photos…

Feel free to post links to any you come across in the comments section…

So I found this little “behind-the-scenes” tidbit to be very interesting… After a popular blogger at Buzzfeed.com wrote a pretty fun & positive article about Beyonce’s Super Bowl halftime performance, B’s publicist contacted the blogger and asked him to remove some of the photos in the article that she found to be “unflattering” of  the “Love On Top” singer. As if 108.4 million viewers didn’t witness these “unflattering” moments themselves when it happened live in action on Sunday.

So being the awesome blog that they are, the people over at Buzzfeed did not bend over backwards for this ANNOYING attempt to control all aspects of the media on Beyonce’s team’s part and instead wrote a new article to publicly call them out and post the ridiculous email that B’s publicist sent to the bloggers… Oh and not to mention, took the opportunity to REPOST all of the “unflattering” photos. HAHA!

Sorry team B, this one goes to team Buzzfeed! Goes to show that you can’t have your cake and eat it too. You want to be in the spotlight? Then you’re going to be in the spotlight – THE GOOD AND THE BAD. You want to sing for the President? Then you need to SING for the President and expect repercussions if you decide that you just can’t make time for rehearsals and want to lip synch instead. Who run the world? The people/fans/blogs/ect who put you where you are so stop trying to shade them!

DJ/Producer Kaskade is not only a very talented musician and DJ icon but apperently he is also a well versed writer and an all-around good human being. The superstar DJ has written an open letter in which he speaks out against a very derogatory article that was featured in the LA Times last week which depicts the EDM scene in a very negative light. Take a moment and read Kaskade’s very well written & strongly argued response to the LA Times’ out of touch and misguided depiction of the EDM scene and ‘sounds off’ in the comments section if you agree or disagree with famed producer!

“No One Knows Who We Are

This past Sunday, the LA Times ran an article which was essentially an inflammatory pummeling of the EDM scene. It painted a picture of “Ecstasy-fueled underground” raves, bumped up into the mainstream, leaving a trail of dead, drug-addled kids being picked up by the “…coroner’s wagon rolling down desert roads.”

Please. I’m all for looking hard at things that need to change, but first the fiction has to be knocked out of the discussion. Let me set a few things straight.
First off, this article is irrelevant and outdated. Perhaps if these journalists had written this twenty years ago, when the truth was a little more ragged, they could have made an argument that wasn’t so laughable. Back when warehouses were being broken into, fire codes were ignored, dodgy generators were powering a massive sound system and restrooms were non-existant. This was a time that safety probably wasn’t exactly job one. Things were smaller then, though. There weren’t tens of thousands of people looking to gather in one place, not like now. This scene has grown, and in response to the people it serves, it has grown up.

Today, massive events are being held on terms that have been scrutinized by engineers, civil servants, fire chiefs, policemen, and all manner of bureaucratic safety hoops. As EDM’s numbers have become larger, we’ve become more accountable. No longer hiding in an abandoned warehouse, we’re paying taxes, paying dues, and stimulating the hell out of each cities’ economy that hosts an event. Before the doors ever open, there is a string of green lights that have to be run through by people whose business it is to keep these events safe. The same codes put into place for every other genre of music applies to EDM. To say otherwise is untruthful and adheres to dangerous stereotyping.

I wouldn’t dare say we ignore the tragic accidents that happen. I wouldn’t dare say they don’t happen. But it takes a rudimentary understanding of the Basic Laws of Probability to guess that the more people that show up to these festivals, the larger the risk is that something goes awry. This isn’t unique to this music. This is a universal principle. Can we hope to avoid it? Absolutely. Can we take every precaution and security measure to hedge the odds? Definitely. But can the promoter be held responsible for the actions of the individuals at his events? No he can not.

What it comes down to is this: The responsibility to address substance abuse and addiction cannot come down to people who are event promoters. Not only is it unrealistic to expect them to tackle such a huge problem, it’s an enormous insult to those who have made it their life’s work to do so. Clearly, if the US Government hasn’t come up with the magic bullet to quell the problem of drugs in this country, it is not reasonable to expect an event promoter to pull this kind of trick out of his hat either.

I am dug in so deep that articles like this one, smacking of uninformed bigotry fire me up in a pretty passionate way. To assign responsibility of regulating drug use to concert promoters is ludicrous, in the extreme. To paint a picture (bordering on hysteria) of a community of people as capricious and reckless drug users is irresponsible.

This is a conversation that has been going on for decades. I don’t expect it to end here. But know this: as far as a music culture goes, EDM is the one who will accept the kids on the outliers, the ones who get bullied, the ones who feel like they may not quite fit in. This community is exceptional in its ability to bond all types together, and I am not exaggerating when I say it saves lives. Our audience is intelligent and kind, discriminating only in regards to which sound they like best. Our audience is unprecedented in their drive to proactively support each other.

There’s your story, LA Times. Do the world a favor and dig into that for a change, punks.”

I just came across this video of Beyonce’s Destiny’s Child sista Michelle Williams getting an embarrassing (and unintentional) diss by a clueless journalist on the World Music Awards red carpet some years back! I guess this is old as someone “nicely” pointed out but wanted to share the shade anyway! I don’t know who I’m more emberessed for… Her or the dumb chick behind the mic!

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So as I’m sure you’ve all heard already… Beyonce is sitting in the hot seat today after a member of the U.S. Marine Band dropped a bombshell and claimed that Beyonce lip-synched her National Anthem performance at President Obama’s second inauguration yesterday. Supposedly, Beyonce requested the pre-reocrded backing-track last minute and cited insufficient rehearsal-time with the band as her reason for lipping. Since then, the member of the band that broke the story has been silenced and a representative for the Marines has released a statement trying to put out the fire by saying “no one in the Marine Band is in a position to assess whether it was live or pre-recorded“.

But the damage may have already been done! Seems like you just can’t escape this story right now… It’s all over Twitter, Facebook, music blogs, television and radio. Some people are calling fowl and seemed deeply offended that Beyonce would resort to such studio-trickery when performing for the President. Others are defending the Super Bowl half-time show’s star entertainer by claiming that the inauguration is much too important of a gig that is watched by millions to risk any sort of snag or missed note. We all know what happens if you screw up the National Anthem these days. While some others simply refuse to believe there is any truth behind these claims at all even though the women who played in the Marine band told multiple news outlets, including CNN and The New York Times, that this was the case…

So while the Internet is a-buzz crucifying/defending Beyonce, I want to hear what my readers think about the “controversy”… Are you on “team B” or are you burning your “Single Ladies” CD-single as we speak?! Ready, set, SOUND OFF…

Are you ready from some shade piled on top of some more shade?! So here’s the rundown in a nut shell… Kelly Osbourne has been on the receiving end of attacks from Lady Gaga’s obnoxious fanbase (Accurately dubbed “littler monsters”) because of criticisms that Kelly has made on her show Fashion Police on about some of Gaga’s fashion choices. And c’mon… Gaga’s kind of asking for the attention (positive & negitive) when she wears some of the outlandish and ridiculous get-ups that we’ve seen her in over the years. As a matter of fact, a huge chunk of her career & success is based on and can be attributed to the shock value of some of her “looks” and media-hype surrounding her constantly revolving (and sometimes fashionably questionable) costumes.

Exhibit A:

So Kelly was recently interviewed for Fabulous magazine in which she spoke about being on the little monsters’ “shit-list” and made the following remarks concerning the matter;

“Lady Gaga’s fans are the worst. They’ve said I should kill myself, that they hope I get raped. I mean it’s crazy but I’ve had this all my life and I just try and ignore it.

I actually think she’s a good singer but she has the worst fans in the world and you have a responsibility to stop that. I think you do anyway.”

But rather than call off her legions of crazed hyenas spirited fans that follow her every whim or respond to Kelly privately concerning her interview, Gaga decided to write a hypocritical and somewhat condescending open letter to the Fashion Police host claiming she “cares so deeply about humanity” while knowing fully well that this would ignite even more poisonous venom from her “monsters” towards Kelly! Here is what Gaga wrote to Kelly…

Dear Kelly,

While I wish you had reached out to me personally, as the head of the Born This Way foundation with my mother Cynthia we would like to respond. Everyday, through my music and public voice I choose to be positive and work towards a kinder and braver world with our community of followers. I encourage them to ignore criticism, stand up to bullies, know their own value and see that we are all the same and no one person is worth more than another. I know I’m perceived as a wild child, but in reality I am woman that deeply cares for humanity. I have empathy for you Kelly, but I feel it culturally important to note that you have chosen a less compassionate path. Your work on E! with the Fashion Police is rooted in criticism, judgment, and rating people’s beauty against one another. “Appearance” is the most used reason for bullying in the world. Your show breeds negativity, and over the years has even become comedic in nature. It glorifies you and Joan Rivers pointing in the camera, laughing, and making jokes about artists and celebrities as if we are zoo animals.

What about your body revolution? It used to make me truly sad when I would hear people talk about your weight when you were younger, as I was bullied too. To see you blossoming into a beautiful slender woman who makes fun of others for a living is astounding. Why not help others? Why not defend others who are bullied for their image and share your story?

I am pointing this out not to take a crack at your character, as we’ve met before and you’re lovely. However, I urge you to take responsibility and accountability for the example that you are setting for young people. They look up to you because you are famous, and if you treat others that way on TV, many adolescents at home on twitter assume your actions are acceptable: well if she does it, why can’t I? I cannot control my fans, and I discourage them from any negativity and violence, because that is wrong and hurtful — and I do feel baldy that your feelings were hurt. However, we can all do our part in the media to set a standard of respect, compassion, and love. I wish for you to be treated with the kindness and respect that everyone deserves.

While some of my fans have learning to do, most of them share the same values as I, and it’s what bonds us together. And that bond is strong.

Sincerely

Gaga and Cynthia

www.bornthiswayfoundation.org

PS. And to any media or celebrities that happen to find this letter in their path, I hope you, too, consider the power of your voices. Lets work together and make 2013 a year of unity.

While Gaga has a few somewhat valid points in this letter that I would have taken seriously if she didn’t derive an entire career based off of high fashion and visual aesthetics, this letter sounded more like an attempt to make excuses for her fans than a genuine and heartfelt response from a “caring humanitarian” to Kelly. But the story doesn’t end here… There’s actually a happy ending! What happened next I’m sure even Gaga didn’t see coming!  Kelly’s secret weapon, her mom/manager Sharon Osbourne, wrote an own open letter of her own slaying… No, ANNIHILATING the singer who’s currently struggling to sell tickets to her tour!! Take a look at Sharon’s game-ending reponse;

Ms. Gaga,

I am responding to your open letter to my daughter Kelly, and I am perplexed as to why you would go public with an open letter. Regarding this current situation; Kelly didn’t contact you, I was the one that contacted your manager today and the email is attached below for your reference. I reached out to him as Kelly’s manager and mother to ask him if you could address your “little monster” fans and stop them from writing libelous, slanderous and vile comments about my family, including death threats to Kelly.

Your open letter is hypocritical and full of contradictions. And as your mother Cynthia supports you, I support my daughter Kelly. I must say your opinions on what is politically correct and acceptable totally differ from mine, but that is what makes the world so interesting…we are all different. How sweet that you have empathy for my daughter, as you feel that she has taken a less passionate path in life. You say her work on E! with the Fashion Police is “rooted in criticism, judgment, and rating people’s beauty against one another.” Welcome to the real world. Example, when I saw you wear a dress made out of raw meat, I was sickened. When I see you wearing fur, and using it as a fashion statement, the fact that defenseless animals have been killed so you can get your picture in the press is abhorrent to me. Shouldn’t you be teaching your “little monster” fans to respect animals and life?

I don’t feel I have to justify Kelly’s choices in life to you. By your actions to Kelly right now, you have shown me that you are nothing more than a publicly seeking hypocrite and an attention seeker. You know it would have been much more dignified of you to do this privately. I am calling you a bully because you have 32 million followers hanging on your every word and you are criticizing Kelly in your open letter. Are you so desperate that you needed to make this public?

You state “Everyday, through my music and public voice I choose to be positive and work towards a kinder and braver world with our community of followers.” Well this obviously is not translating well to your fans, as a large portion of them have not only been vile to Kelly, but also other celebrities such as Madonna, Adele and Rihanna. “You say a kinder, braver world” I don’t know what world you live in, but supporting disgraceful fan comments doesn’t fall under the words “kinder and braver.” It comes under the heading of bullshit.

In closing, stop wearing fur, stop looking for publicity, and stop using your fans to belittle not just Kelly but an endless stream of celebrities. A word from you would stop all the hideous, negative and vile threats from your “little monsters.” Let me know if you want to continue this debate. I’m an open playing field for you my darling.

Sincerely,

Sharon Osbourne

1/10/13

I believe what Sharon was really trying to convoy can be summed up by an old English saying that goes a little something like this…

Oh, Mariah Carey… How I missed you and your shady ways! Lastnight the “Vision Of Love” singer reminded us who the queen of all diva’s is when she appeared in a candid interview with Barbara Walters.

Barbara, being the seasoned interviewer that she is, pressed Mariah on many topics but really dug deep to get the skinny on her now infamous feud with Nicki Minaj on the set of American Idol. Mrs. Walters even confronted Mariah with some ‘questionable’ lyrics to a new Nicki Minaj song called “Hell Yeah” in which the pink-wigged one raps about Idol and at one point says; “I’m quick to check a bitch if she’s out of line” …

Mariah’s reaction? CLASSIC DIVA BITCHINESS! Check out the shade at the 4:07 mark…

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So as many of you already know, Kelly Clarkson finally put those pesky lesbian rumors to rest when she got engaged to her new fiancé Brandon Blackstock last year. The lesbian rumors followed her around for quit sometime simply because she chose to focus on her career and remained single for 6 years. Kelly recently opened up to the February issue of Cosmopolitan to explain that while she was never offended by the rumors… She thought the gay community should have been. Here’s her interesting take on the rumors…

“People think, ‘Oh, she’s been single for too long.’ That’s kind of an insult to the gay community. Being single doesn’t mean you’re gay. But I’m never insulted by it, obviously. I mean, I get hit on by the hottest girls ever. Oh, my god, if I were a lesbian, I would be so in luck. But it’s just not my thing. I’ve always batted for the boys’ team.”

Well it’s always good to have options Kelly!!

So Ke$ha has finally spoken out about the controversial (and cryptic) statement she tweeted a few days ago in which claimed she was “forced” to sing “Die Young” after it was pulled from radio following the Sandy Hook tragedy. Turns out she was being overly dramatic at the time due to her overwhelming emotions and she was never “forced” to sing the lyrics that she wrote herself. (No fucking duh!) Instead she says she had concerns about the lyrics. Here is the full statement…

“After such a tragic event I was feeling a lot of emotion and sadness when I said I was forced to sing some of the lyrics to Die Young. Forced is not the right word. I did have some concerns about the phrase “die young” in the chorus when we were writing the lyrics especially because so many of my fans are young and that’s one reason why I wrote so many versions of this song. But the point of the song is the importance of living every day to the fullest and staying young at heart, and these are things I truly believe.”

Well… There you have it. That solves that (not so) intriguing mystery!

After the extremely tragic events at Sandy Hooks Elementary School last week, it should come to no surprise that Ke$ha’s latest single (unfortunately titled) “Die Young” has been pulled from most radio programer’s playlists. But according to Ke$ha herself, she is OK with the single being abandoned but not only for the obvious controversial reasons after Connecticut school shooting, but because she wasn’t a fan of the song herself. As a matter of fact, her recent post on Twitter claims that she was “forced” to sing it….

“i understand,” she tweeted. “I had my very own issue with “die young” for this reason. I did NOT want to sing those lyrics and I was FORCED TO. I’m so so so sorry for anyone who has been effected by this tragedy.and I understand why my song is now inappropriate. words cannot express.”

Kudos to her for being so responsible and accepting the idea that the song could be construed as lyrically insensitive at this time… Personally, I do not find it offensive but I know some people close to the tragic incident might. But putting that aside, it sounds like there was a lot of behind-the-scenes drama surrounding the single before it was even released! I’m really intrigued to know what she meant by her saying she was “forced” to sing it. Did the Illuminate (that the video for the song supposedly represents) force her to sing the lyrics before she sacrificed a baby lamb to Satan?! I’m hoping she opens up a little more about her remarks…

Let’s play a fun game and place bets as to who out of Mariah Carey and Nicki Minaj will bail off of American Idol first and when??

As you all have been hearing… The two lovely ladies (and I use that term very loosely) had a little spat last week on the American Idol set…

Supposedly Mariah called Nicki “incompetent” or a “bitch” or something and Nicki retaliated by saying she would knock Carey out… So, you would think the two would try to kiss and make up so they can continue with the show in harmony but instead the feud continued to escalate after Mariah decided to call her good friend Barbra Walters on The View and tell the viewers that Nicki also threatened to shoot her and that she feels “unsafe” on the show.

So I don’t care who’s side you’re on. I’m actually on neither side anymore and hope they BOTH get fired for their unprofessional behavior… What I want to know is who you think will renege on their contract and leave on the show first and when they will make their exit.

I’m guessing it will be Nicki and shortly after or during Hollywood week. Because we all know these two diva-egos will not last an entire season sitting next to one another without another confrontation! So tell me… Who and when?!!

Oh, doesn’t this seem like it was almost yesterday… ?

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While the general consensus on Christina Aguilera is that people view her as a scathing, diva, BITCH… Every now and then she will totally do something to throw a wrench in all the haters’ accusations and negative opinions about the type of person she is. For example, this week the “Not Myself Tonight” singer proved she has a very big heart when she decided to reach out with words of support to Harper Gruzins, an 11 year old singer who performed the National Anthem at FC Dallas soccer game and… Well… Didn’t do the best job that day.

Ever since the rocky performance, the Youtube video of the poor girls Nation Anthem rendition has gone viral and she has become the target of the public’s harsh and degrading remarks. Granted, she didn’t do well singing the song but she’s only 11 and we all know how mean people can be on the Internet when they get ahold of someone’s failure and start passing it around on social networks for everyone to comment on. Anyhow when vocal power-house DIVA, Christina Aguilera, caught wind of the situation and saw all the negativity people were berating the poor 11 year old aspiring singer with, she decided to take matters into her own hands and sending little Harper a personal note of support. Here’s what Christina wrote…

“Harper, you had the courage to sing in front of thousands of people and I applaud you. Keep your head up high and keep trying. You have nothing to be ashamed of.”

You go, Xtina!”

WOW! I applaud Christina for her very big hearted gesture! Now if only she could be this kind to all of her celebrity peers, she might be able to shake her divalicious rep!

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Today the Queen of Pop Madonna turns 54 years young!! The music icon is currently on her record breaking MDNA tour singing and dancing for the masses demonstrating to the world why she wears the crown! L.U.V. MADONNA – HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

Madonna Ft. M.I.A. – B-Day Song:

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Kylie Minogue appeared on Watch What Happens Live on Bravo this last week and was posed with the pretty tricky question; “Lady Gaga or Madonna?” while playing ‘Plead The Fifth’ with Andy Cohen. Let’s just say that she did NOT plead the fifth and her answer did n0t disappoint! (Me at least) Watch to see Kylie’s answer to the controversial question…

The scene starts around the 8:00 minute mark… Watch away!

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