Did you see Jennifer Hudson on Oprah yesterday?  She looked amazing and I won’t pretend that I didn’t have tears in my eyes watching her talk about being happy to be back at work.  It’s only been a few short months since her mother, brother and nephew were murdered and I cannot believe how strong she is. 

Oprah didn’t go into any details (thank goodness) but she did ask Jennifer how she’s doing.  She told O that she’s “in a very good place” and that performing is “therapeutic.”

So far, 2009 is off to a good start for Jennifer – she has won a Grammy Award and she performed at Super Bowl XLIII.  I sincerely hope that things continue along this positive track for her this year.  She definitely deserves it.  After the short interview, Jennifer sang “If This Isn’t Love” from her debut CD.  Watch the performance here:

American Idol season 7 finalist, Brooke White, was on the results show last night where she debuted her new single “Hold Up My Heart” and I’m guessing viewers really liked it because it’s already doing really well! 

On Twitter today, Brooke wrote the following: “GOOD MORNING!! MY SISTER JUST CALLED ME AND SAID "HOLD UP MY HEART" IS #4 ON THE ITUNES POP CHARTS AND #12 ON THE OVERALL CHARTS!! WOW!LOL!”

It was closely followed by another tweet: “THANKS EVERYONE FOR HELPING ME MAKE THIS HAPPEN, WOW:)”

How awesome is that!?  If you’d like to get a copy of the single, head to iTunes.  You can also follow Brooke on Twitter: (check out these other Idols on Twitter!).  In the meantime, check out this video of Brooke performing the song last night:

image: iTunes.com

American Idol judge, Paula Abdul, is free of the constant chronic pain that has plagued her for the last decade.  The article that I read doesn’t mention it but I’m pretty sure her pain issues began with a cheerleading accident when she was 17 and then the plane crash she survived didn’t help. 

She has been diagnosed with reflex sympathetic dystrophy and complex regional pain syndrome and she had 14 surgeries to try to relieve her pain and discomfort but, finally, the 15th operation seems to be successful. 

She told OK magazine: "For the first time in 12 years, I am pain free. I had my 15th surgery to correct my back and neck problems last August and it worked. Finally! I had a new doctor who tried a new procedure and because of that I’m a new woman. I may have to have one more surgery in the spring but after all this, I can handle it."

She adds: "Not only am I pain free, but I am pain-medication free. I weaned myself off everything I’d been taking."

I sincerely hope that the surgery was a success and that she will be able to find some normalcy in her life. 

image: Newscom

American Idol season 7 runner-up, David Archuleta, will be traveling to the United Kingdom to perform for his British fans. 

I was really surprised that he was including European dates but I’m happy he’s making that big leap across the pond.  I hope it goes well for him. 

He’ll be opening for McFly.  Here are the planned tour dates:

April:

21 – Wolverhampton Civic
22 – Blackpool Opera House
24 – Edinburgh Corn Exchange
25 – Glasgow Clyde Auditorium
26 – Newcastle City Hall
29 – Portsmouth Guildhall

May:

1 – Hammersmith Apollo
2 – Southend Cliffs Pavillion
3 – Ipswich Regent
5 – Croydon Fairfield Hall
6 – Oxford New Theatre
8 – Manchester Apollo
9 – Leicester De Montford Hall
10 – Cambridge Corn Exchange

image: Amazon.com

What do you think?  Adam Lambert, Kris Allen and Allison Iraheta have been added to the Top 12.  They will join the three chosen from Group 1 – Alexis Grace, Michael Sarver and Danny Gokey.

Were you happy with the results on tonight’s show?  Were you expecting Nick Mitchell to make it?

image © 2009 FOX BROADCASTING CR: Michael Becker / FOX

Yesterday, the internet was abuzz with reports that American Idol judge, Paula Abdul, was against the addition of Kara DioGuardi to the panel.  Kara responded by saying she was “disappointed” that Paula didn’t just speak to her directly and now Paula is claiming that the whole thing was taken out of context.

She told Us Magazine the following: "It is unfortunate that a quote of mine was taken completely out of context today.  I was actually referring specifically to the use of ‘guest judges’ in seasons past, NOT Kara or this season. I am thrilled to have her by my side each week on American Idol."

What do you think?  Were Paula’s comments really taken out of context?  Was this a publicity stunt to try to increase ratings (the reports did come out just in time for yesterday’s performance show – maybe they hoped more people would tune in to see if there would be a catfight)?

Do you have a Twitter profile?  If you don’t, you should consider getting on there because it’s one of the best ways to keep track of what your favorite celebrities are up to!  There are a growing number of American Idol stars on there that you can start following (if you haven’t already).  Feel free to email me or add some that I’ve missed in the comments area and I will update this post.

• Michael Johns (finalist, season 7) – http://twitter.com/michael_johns
• Jordin Sparks (winner, season 6) – http://twitter.com/TheRealJordin
• Ryan Seacrest (host) – http://twitter.com/RyanSeacrest
• Melinda Doolittle (finalist, season 6) – http://twitter.com/mdoolittle
• Anoop Desai (top 36, season – http://twitter.com/noopdogg
• Brooke White (finalist, season 7) – http://twitter.com/babblingbrookie
• Alexis Grace (finalist, season – http://twitter.com/AlexisGOnline

Do you use Twitter?  If so, feel free to add me (http://twitter.com/JeanneD) or share your Twitter ID in the comments section below!

image: twitter.com

The second group from the Top 36 had to sing songs from Billboard’s Hot 100 tonight on American Idol.  I was really interested to see how things were going to unfold after all the Paula/Kara drama.  I felt like Paula went over-the-top with her commentary tonight and was really trying to look better than she normally does.  Did you notice that too? 

What did you think of the performances tonight?  Again, I think poor song choices ruined some people’s chances (Matt Giraud and Mishavonna Henson, for example).  I’d love to hear what you think.  Take my poll!

You can see my recaps/commentary along with images and video (coming soon!) from the performances at the following links:

• Jasmine Murray sang “Love Song”
• Matt Giraud sang “Viva La Vida”
• Jeanine Vailes sang “This Love”
• Nick Mitchell sang “And I Am Telling You”
• Allison Iraheta sang “Alone”
• Kris Allen sang “Man In the Mirror”
• Megan Joy Corkrey  “Put Your Records On”
• Matt Breitzke sang “If You Could Only See”
• Jesse Langseth “Bette Davis Eyes”
• Kai Kalama sang “What Becomes of the Broken Hearted?”
• Mishavonna Henson sang “Drops of Jupiter”
• Adam Lambert “Satisfaction”

image ©2008 FOX BROADCASTING

Adam Lambert makes me think he wants to be the missing Jonas Brother every time I see him.  Anyway, the 26-year-old from Los Angeles, CA (auditioned in San Francisco) chose to sing “Satisfaction” by the Rolling Stones and he made it more contemporary but it was still cheesy and over-the-top to me.

Paula said that it felt like she was watching an Adam Lambert concert and that he’s in a league of his own.  Simon said parts of the performance were brilliant and others were really bad.  Randy said that he loved it and compared him to Fall Out Boy and Robert Pattinson (what does the Twilight star have to do with anything?).  Kara said that his vocal range is incredible.

image ©2009 FOX BROADCASTING CR: Frank Micelotta

Mishavonna Henson sang “Drops of Jupiter” and I wouldn’t have picked that song for her.  The 18-year-old from Irvine, CA (auditioned in Phoenix, AZ) has quite an amazing voice and I just am so disappointed that she picked that song!  WHY?!

Paula said that she wouldn’t have picked that song for Mishavonna.  Simon said that she’s very serious, is a quite a good singer but was left cold by the performance.  Randy agreed that Mishavonna is too serious for her age.  Kara said that she didn’t mind the song choice but that Mishavonna is too well put together and should loosen up a bit.

Audio Only:

image ©2009 FOX BROADCASTING CR: Frank Micelotta