After announcing the release of the new albums by Kelly Clarkson and Taylor Hicks, I got many emails from you readers reminding me that there was another American Idol releasing music this week. 

Diana DeGarmo has released an EP titled “Unplugged in Nashville” which is now available on CD Baby, Itunes and Rhapsody.  Here is the tracklisting:

1. Kiss Me
2. Like I’m Not Even Here
3. Thank You
4. Find Me

The songs are all acoustic so the focus is on Diana’s pure vocals which, of course, are amazing.  I’d love to hear what you guys thought of the music.

image: CDBaby.com

American Idol finalist (and Academy Award and Grammy Award winning actress/singer), Jennifer Hudson, spoke to Jet magazine about what her life has been like since the tragic murders of her mother, brother and little nephew.  Before we go into that, I just want to say how beautiful Jennifer looks on the cover.

In the interview, she says: “I’m so grateful.  My first Grammy and my first tour, it doesn’t get any better than this.”  How does she find the strength to remain so optimistic?  “Praying every morning and thanking God for every single blessing keeps me grounded and motivated to be the very best that I can be in everything that I do,” she said.

Jennifer will be embarking on a tour with multi-platinum recording artist Robin Thicke, who wrote Hudson’s Giving Myself, on her CD.  He had some words to share with the magazine: “Jennifer is someone that I’ve always loved and admired, so when the opportunity for us to do this together came about, it was a no-brainer. She’s so immensely talented and such a beautiful person inside and out, to be associated with her is wonderful.”

For the whole interview, check out the March 23-30 issue of Jet which hits stands on March 16, 2009.

image used with permission

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 3 runner-up, Diana DeGarmo, is currently appearing in Oz: The Musical and this video of her, singing “I’m Here” as Dorothy, was uploaded to YouTube a couple days ago.  Predictably, she’s amazing. 

To see tour dates here, visit the official website of Oz: The Musical.  I wish she was coming to a city close to me!

Fantasia Barrino has told Access Hollywood that she has decided to earn her high school diploma this year.  That’s great!  Despite being famous, it probably feels pretty bad to not have graduated from high school.  The 24-year-old singer said: “Yep, going back to school to get my diploma.  Well of course I can’t go in a school because I would probably like, start a riot , but I’m gonna get a teacher to come teach me everyday. I’m gonna get my diploma starting in maybe three weeks. So you know, it’s gonna be tough, it’s gonna be hard, but it’s gonna be a testimony to a lot of young people and a lot of people who are in my shoes. I wanna go back to show them you can go back, it doesn’t matter, never too old. Go back.”

She also wanted to address all of the rumors that her home was in foreclosure because she couldn’t pay for it.  Of the 1.3 million estate in North Carolina, Fantasia said: “We’re still in my home. I take care of my whole family so there’s no way I could [let] anybody take it,” she said. “It wasn’t a foreclosure, it was just somebody trying to take it away from me, but that’s the industry and there’s a lot of people out here, but as you can see I’m still a strong tough cookie, I got that from Miss Celie.”

I’m guessing Fantasia is quite attached to the role since it looks like she will be returning to the play: “Yes, Miss Celie. [I’m] going back, end of June around my birthday time, so another birthday with Miss Celie,” she said.

image: Bauer-Griffin

I cannot put up pictures yet of what I saw while I was inside the American Idol Experience attraction at Disney’s Hollywood Studios but I can tell you a few things! There were five finalists and we were given instructions about how to vote for the person we liked best (there’s a voting panel on the armrests).  The only problem is that you can accidentally change the vote of the person sitting next to you, which happened to me (fortunately, it was my husband).

At the event, all of the former American Idol winners were brought on stage where they were presented with awards made especially for this occasion (they looked like old-fashioned microphones).  This was the first and only time that I saw Kelly Clarkson. 

Season 7 winner, David Cook, did an acoustic version of his hit, “Light On” and then season 4 winner, Carrie Underwood, also performed an acoustic rendition of her song “All-American Girl.”  They pair then sang “You Can Go Your Own Way” together and it was such a good duet that a lot of people were later saying they should actually record and release it as a single.

There was also a pretty hilarious exchange between Ryan Seacrest and Paula Abdul while they spoke to the “contestants” before the performances.  Paula went over to give them tips on how to relax and when she started massaging one girl’s shoulder, Ryan said something like “now, remember Paula about the rules regarding contestants?”  The audience booed but we also laughed when Ryan referenced the situation with former contestant, Corey Clark, who alleged that he had an inappropriate relationship with Paula.

That’s basically all I’m at liberty to say but, in the meantime, here’s a video that walks you through the attraction:

image: Jyle Dupuis

I just came back from the private opening of the American Idol Experience at Walt Disney World’s Hollywood Studios and I had a blast.  I’m thoroughly exhausted but it really was a lot of fun.  Disney really knows how to put on a show and I am extremely grateful to them for the fabulous trip!

I will cover the event in three parts (motorcade, American Idol Experience show and the after-party) over the next three days.  Today, I’ll kick things off by telling you all about the American Idol motorcade. 

The blue carpet was rolled out for the stars and one by one.  Mickey Mouse got things started but was then followed by Justin Guarini (runner-up, season 1).  He looked great and was all smiles for the fans and the media.
Next was Chris Sligh (finalist, season 6).  He talked a little bit about how his song “Here Comes Goodbye” was picked up by Rascal Flatts and is actually the first single off of their new album.

It was a star-studded event.  Check out more pictures including Carrie Underwood, David Cook and David Archuleta after the jump!

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Jennifer Hudson did a touching performance of the song “The Impossible Dream” at the 40th Annual NAACP Awards. I thought the beginning was slightly shaky but, as always, she ended up doing a fantastic job. Could we expect any less from Jennifer?

Here Dreamgirls co-star, Beyoncé also performed, which you can see here.

I’ve got some pictures here of a dashing Randy Jackson presenting an award with Regina Taylor at the 2009 NAACP Awards, held at Los Angeles’ Shrine Auditorium. Jennifer Hudson was also there performing the song “The Impossible Dream” and accepting four awards last night.

She chose to go with an all black outfit. I’m not completely sold on the dress, but I thought she was definitely wearing a hot pair of shoes and her hair looked great! Were you digging J-Hud’s style?

More after the jump!

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Did you guys tune in to see the 40th Annual NAACP Awards? The amazing Jennifer Hudson, who suffered a big loss recently, won four awards last night! We also saw a win for American Idol season 7 and one for Fantasia Barrino.

Jennifer won for The secret Life of Bees which took the award for Best Motion Picture while American Idol season 7 won for best Reality TV Series.

Fantasia and Jennifer both won for Best Duo, Group or Collaboration for J-Hud’s song “I’m His Only Woman” featuring Fantasia. Then, Jennifer snagged two more awards! One for Best New Artist and the other for Best Album for her self entitled CD, Jennifer Hudson.

Were there any disappointments for you guys at the awards last night?

image: Bauer-Griffin