The rest of the world has been mourning the loss of Michael Jackson and the American Idol judges are no exception.  I haven’t seen anything about Simon Cowell but I know that Randy Jackson (no relation) and Paula Abdul have voiced their sadness.

Randy told Spinner: "I am so saddened by the loss of a great idol and icon, Michael Jackson," the ‘American Idol‘ judge tells Spinner. "He was, to me, the greatest entertainer of all time. He was a huge inspiration for performers across all music genres. He taught us all how to light up the stage. Wow."

While speaking with Entertainment Tonight, Paula said: "Words cannot begin to express my heartfelt sorrow upon hearing the new of Michael Jackson’s passing. I was blessed to be able to work with, and witness first hand, his tremendous talent and growth through the years as he truly became an icon. Today we have all lost a legend who has touched each of our lives through his music and showmanship over the past five decades."

It’s been floating around that Paula, who has worked with Janet Jackson in the past, could help choreograph an episode of So You Think You Can Dance that will pay tribute to the late King of Pop.  I hope it works out – that would be amazing!

I know a lot of media outlets are reporting that the American Idol judges are set to come back for the ninth season of the show but when I looked at their sources for that information, I couldn’t go along with it.

I’m glad I didn’t fall for that (even though it might be true) since E! Online is saying that Simon Cowell, Randy Jackson, Paula Abdul and newest judge, Kara DioGuardi, are still negotiating.  Apparently, Paula’s agent said: "The RadarOnline info is incorrect. Negotiations are continuing. You probably won’t hear anything until closer to September, when judges are needed back to go on the road."

So, what would you like to see happen?  I’d actually like to see another season with all four judges.  I don’t think one year is enough to judge the addition of a fourth judge.

image © 2009 FOX BROADCASTING CR: FOX

There were so many stars on the red carpet last night for the American Idol season 8 finale that I wouldn’t even dream of trying to list them here. 

Of course, there were the finalists, Kris Allen and Adam Lambert, along with the rest of the Top 13 and judges but the celebrities (and former contestants) came out in droves to see who would win the singing competition. 

It looks like season four winner, Carrie Underwood, hurt her knee somehow since she’s got her “owie” all covered up with four Hello Kitty bandaids. She still managed to look absolutely fabulous!

SEE MORE GREAT RED CARPET PICS AFTER THE JUMP!

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Can you believe the eighth season of American Idol will be over tonight?  It started with a great recap of the best judges moments from this year which, of course, included some clips of Kara DioGuardi.  I never realized how much she said “sweetie!”  Too funny!

After they checked in with the hometowns of finalists, Kris Allen and Adam Lambert, the Top 13 performed Pink’s hit song “So What?”  I am not sure why they picked this since I don’t think it works well as a group number.  It sounds kind of cheesy to be honest.  Kudos to Scott MacIntyre (Idol’s first visually impaired contestant) for navigating his way through the performance!

American Idol season 7 winner, David Cook, performed a song called “Permanent” and I really liked it.  He really is an impressive artist and I’m so happy with how great his career has progressed since the show ended.

More “Golden Idol Awards” (these are a little mean, aren’t they?).  They showed clips of the worst auditions of this season.  I am ashamed to admit that I could not stop laughing!  It great to see a whole highlight reel of Nick Mitchell/Norman Gentle material.  He won, of course

Queen Latifah took the stage along with former contestant, Lil Rounds.  They performed “Cue the Rain” and it was a pretty good performance.  Did you like it?

Jason Mraz, along with former finalists, Anoop Desai and Alexis Grace, sang his huge hit “I’m Yours” (the rest of the Top 13) and I really thought it was a bit choppy and off.  I really love Jason Mraz and he was great but it felt a little strained and weird. 

We next got to see “The Journey of Kris Allen” and those montages always give me the chills.  I love to see how far they’ve come since we first saw the finalists in the audition round.

Kris thrilled his fans by coming out on stage with Keith Urban where they sang “Kiss a Girl” and I thought it was fabulous!

The great pairing just made the girls’ group performance stand out as mediocre.  Okay, really it was mostly Jasmine Murray who was seriously struggling (as she did in the Top 13 group number earlier) as she and Megan Joy started by singing “Glamorous.”  Allison Iraheta introduced Fergie who sang “Big Girls Don’t Cry” but the action didn’t stop there. 

The rest of the Black Eyed Peas came out and they performed their new single “Boom Boom Pow.”  It was an awesome performance and, is it just me, or is Fergie looking better these days?

Yuck, we get to see Katrina “Bikini Girl” Darrell again as a nominee(and winner) for the “Golden Idol Awards” in the “Best Attitude” category.  Why does she get to sing?  Ugh.  She butchered “Vision of Love” and I’m wondering if Nick Cannon is going to come out and defend his wife, Mariah Carey’s honor this time.  Uh oh.  Kara DioGuardi, Bikini Girl’s nemesis, came out on the stage and stole the spotlight by not only outsinging her but by also flashing her own bikini on stage.  That was awesome!

Allison Iraheta and Cyndi Lauper performed “Time After Time” and I thought it was a pretty great pairing.  It was a nice, mellow performance.  There were a couple weird moments but they are both, um, unique artists so what can you expect?

After Ryan talked to Kris Allen’s parents, Danny Gokey sang “Hello” (yikes, not sure I would have been brave enough to since that song after David Cook slayed it last season) and was joined by Lionel Richie and they sang some of Richie’s other music.

We got to see “The Journey of Adam Lambert” and then he took the stage with KISS.  Does it get much better than that?  I loved his outfit too!  I absolutely LOVE KISS and the fireworks and makeup are the only thing this year that has been more over-the-top than Adam Lambert on Idol.  What a show!

Carlos Santana had the bad luck to follow KISS and Adam Lambert but he was amazing, of course.  I love Santana.  He was joined by Matt Giraud and then the rest of the Top 13 when he started playing “Smooth.”  So good. 

After a Ford commercial with Adam, Kris and David Cook, Steve Martin took the stage with Michael Sarver and Megan Joy.  It was a cute banjo/bluegrassy kind of number. 

The Top 13 guys sang a group number where they performed “If You Want My Body” and introduced Rod Stewart.  I love him too!  He sounded a little rough but who cares!?

The last “Golden Idol Award” was awarded to Tatiana Del Toro for Outstanding Female.  She ran up on stage (even though Ryan pretended he needed to go to a break), accepted her award and started signing “Saving All My Love For You.”  Gotta love Tatiana.

For one last time, the Top 2 are singing together.  Kris and Adam sang “We Are The Champions” and it was really good.  I’m freaking out.  I don’t even know who I want to win tonight. 

Over 100 million votes were cast (recording breaking!).

FIND OUT WHO WON AMERICAN IDOL AFTER THE JUMP!

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Simon Cowell is doing damage control and he’s not the first to deny that there are any problems with the world’s most popular talent show.

OK! magazine’s current cover story claims that there is a huge rift between American Idol judges, Kara DioGuardi and Paula Abdul.  Even in the article about Simon, the mag says that during this week’s show, the ladies were barely able to look at each other.  I have to disagree with OK! because Kara and Paula were dancing together during Matt Giraud’s “sing for your life” performance (although, I had to admit that it did look fake). 

Simon said: "They both seem to get along well.  As far as I’m concerned, we’ll all be back on it next year… There’s no weirdness going on behind the scenes."

What do you think?  Are things weird between the judges?  They can deny it all they want to but I think something is wrong.  You can just see how Kara is not only left out of stuff but she’s mocked and even ignored at times.  Simon and Paula seemed to be making an extra effort to be friendly just to leave Kara out, in my opinion.  It’s pretty strange but I will say that I respect Randy since he seems to be the only one of the original three judges to be taking the high road.

image © 2009 FOX BROADCASTING CR: Michael Becker / FOX

Judges Randy Jackson, Simon Cowell and host, Ryan Seacrest, were on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno last night and Jay asked them to make a prediction about who was going to win this season. 

I know they are asked this question all the time but I think it is interesting that Jay is having them privately write down their prediction so that he can keep it a secret until the finale.  I wonder if not being put on the spot and being able to think through their answer will make a difference.  Randy and Simon claim that a guy will win (they named Danny Gokey and Adam Lambert) but then Simon cracked me up by including “Little” Rounds (I’m sure he can say “Lil” by now, right?).

image: NBC Photo: Margaret Norton

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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It was a strange night for American Idol during their auditions in Jacksonville, Florida (the hometown of Idol judge, Randy Jackson).

Joshua Ulloa kicked off the auditions by singing Marvin Gaye’s “Let’s Get it On” and he was really energetic but it seemed to go over well enough.  I thought his voice was okay but I was surprised they let him through since the audition was so unusual.  All four judges put him through to the next round and I’ll be very interested to see what happens in Hollywood. 

Next came Sharon Wilbur who sang “Superstar” by the Carpenters.  I thought she was pretty good and she left with a golden ticket.

Dana Moreno sang “Through the Fire” by Chaka Khan and it was really bad.  It didn’t start out as terribly as it ended so I wasn’t surprised that the judges didn’t put her through.

Kaneswa Finne (pictured at right) showed up to audition with her mother by her side and, I have to confess, I thought she was going to be good.  When I heard that she was going to sing “Rapture” by Anita Baker, one of my favorite songs, I actually got excited.  The 16-year-old wasn’t even close to being on key which prompted the judges to bring in her mother and ask her if she truly thought her daughter was a good singer (of course she said yes!).  The judges had to send Kaneswa away without a golden ticket.

Julissa Veloz sang “I Have Nothing” by Whitney Houston and I was pleasantly surprised by how much I liked her voice.  I really thought she did a good job.  She made it through to Hollywood!

Darin Darnell (pictured at left) was really hyperactive out in the waiting area and even got very emotional when someone he had just met was rejected by the judges.  In fact, he was so upset that he started crying in the audition room.  He finally tried to sing “It’s So Hard to Say Goodbye” by Boyz II Men and it was just not anywhere near good enough for him to make it on the show.  He was not put through to the next round.

Naomi Sykes entered the audition room and immediately told Randy Jackson that her friend loves him so much that she was out in the holding area crying.  The invited the friend into the room and Simon told the young lady to sit on Randy’s lap.  Paula Abdul actually ended up sitting on Simon’s lap while Ryan Seacrest took a seat on Kara DioGuardi.  It was really bizarre!  Anyway, Naomi sang “Loving You” by Minnie Ripperton and it was absolutely terrible.  

  
Jasmine Murray came in and sang “Big Girls Don’t Cry” by Fergie and I thought it was actually pretty good.  Simon thought it was great because he said she had a good look, good voice and is quite commercial (in other words, he could make money off of her, ha ha).  The judges put her through to the next round.

George Ramirez came into the audition room looking like a cross between a tree-hugging rock climber (which he actually is!) and a young Robin Williams.  I was surprised that he auditioned for the show – I couldn’t identify what he sang but he was later shown giving a brutal rendition of “Walkin’ on Sunshine” by Katrina and the Waves.  Poor guy. 

Anne Marie Boskovich came in and immediately told Kara that she really loved her and sang a bit of an obscure song that she saw the new judge perform in Nashville.  It was clear that she had a good voice but the judges wanted a little more from her so they sent her away and asked her to come back looking like a different person.  She went out in the parking lot, found a makeup artist and then changed her shoes and took off her jacket.  In front of the judges once more, she chose to sing ”Bubbly” by Colbie Caillat and I thought she was fantastic.  The judges all put her through to the next round but I was surprised by the fact that they weren’t more enthusiastic about her talent.  I hope she makes it through the Hollywood rounds!

T.K. Hash had auditioned last year and Paula and Randy both remembered him.  This time around, he sang John Lennon’s iconic hit, “Imagine” and, while they accused his rendition of being influenced by last year’s runner-up, David Archuleta, they agreed to put him through to the next round.

Michael Pirelli chose to sing “Jumper” by Third Eye Blind and he really sabotaged himself.  Before his audition, he explained that he doesn’t normally go anywhere without his guitar and that he was really upset to learn that he wasn’t allowed to play it during his audition.  Once he got in front of the judges, he really fell apart and left his nerves/desperation get the best of him.  He started pleading and making excuses and that just turned the judges off.  It’s too bad because his singing wasn’t too bad and I felt like the judges might have given him a second chance.  He should have just been quiet while they deliberated but he wouldn’t shut up and I think that ultimately cost him.

Tomorrow night, the auditions are in Salt Lake City.  Should be fun!

image © 2007 FOX BROADCASTING CR: Michael Becker / FOX

American Idol cutie, David Archuleta, recently sent out a message to the judges on the popular singing competition which I first spotted on the J-14 website (thanks to Nikki of Junior Celebs!). 

It was, of course, an adorable little video with David telling Randy Jackson that he misses all the “dawg” comments, thanking Paula Abdul for all the nice (but weird) things she said about him, telling Simon Cowell that he’s very cool even though a lot of people are afraid of him and, finally, thanking Kara DioGuardi for working with him on his album.  What a sweetie!

Have you been waiting for the return of Randy Jackson Presents America’s Best Dance Crew?  The reality dance competition kicks off its’ third season tonight at 10pm ET/PT (9pm Central) on MTV! 

The season premiere is a 90-minute special episode featuring nine crews who will face off against each other in what they are calling “the most physically demanding season yet.”  Sounds great already!!!

If you want to catch up on the action from Season 2, you can visit DanceCrew.MTV.com and watch entire episodes online!  How cool is that?  You’ll also have access to cast bios and flip books featuring last year’s contestants. 

In case you are new to the show, dance crews of five to seven members compete for a chance to be named “America’s Best” and, of course, to win a $100,000 cash prize!  The show is hosted by Mario Lopez and features a judges’ panel comprised of JC Chasez (N*Sync), Lil Mama and Shane Sparks (formerly my favorite choreographer and judge from So You Think You Can Dance?). 

Again, it premieres tonight.  Anyone going to watch it?!

images used with permission