La Reid Page 2

Demi Lovato fans were treated to the early unveiling of her new song, 'Heart Attack', one week before the song was due to air on Ryan Seacrest's KiisFM radio show after it was uploaded on to YouTube by her official channel.

The singer had uploaded a snippet of the new track online two week ago, but clearly this wasn't enough for the insatiable fans of the former Disney starlet. The song, produced by the Suspex, is quite a departure from the sombre 'Skyscrapers' that led off her last album, with 'Heart Attack' taking on a much more electro-pop centric sound than the first single from 2011's Unbroken. In addition to the YouTube video, Lovato also made the new single available to download from iTunes and it is believed that her upcoming fourth album, which is currently untitled, will be ready to release in spring.

Away from her own musical projects, Demi is still to confirm her place on the judging panel of the next season of The X Factor. In light of the departure of Britney Spears and La Reid from the singing contest at the end of last season, there were suspicions that Demi may follow suit, but the singer has remained silent on the subject since the last season ended. Demi joined the show along with Britney in autumn last year, with a new series of Simon Cowell's America Idol spin-off expected to air later this year.

Continue reading: Demi Lovato's New Single, 'Heart Attack', Leaks Online A Week Before Intended Premiere

Britney Spears has had a pretty good run this past couple of months – she’s had her first season on the X Factor judging panel, managed to clear her immense tax debt from the Kevin Federline (aka He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Mentioned) era and she is generally going strong without any train wrecks this year.

It might not be all sunshine and roses in Britneyland however, as this newfound maturity is what has reportedly earned the pop princess an axing from the X Factor. It is no secret that the show is in desperate need of a revamping after all-time-low ratings for this season’s finale. According to Us Weekly, producer Simon Cowell was hoping that Britney would be the one to bring the “x factor” to the mix with her crazy antics. But with puns like that then maybe the ratings failure is justifiable.

However, when the new Brit proved to be tamer than expected, Cowell decided that his $15 million investment in hiring the pop star hadn’t been worth it after all and she will be departing from the show after this season. Cowell was reportedly after Rihanna as a judge on The X Factor, but with both Britney and L.A. Reid not returning for next season and Cheryl Cole axed from the UK version, the producer not only has some huge shoes to fill, but plenty of them.

Against all the odds 37 year old Tate Stevens has gone on to win the final of The X Factor, landing a $5m record deal, and a pretty substantial fan base to get him started.

Speaking to MTV the whole ordeal was overwhelming for the country singer: "I can't explain it. It's not real, it hasn't happened," he said. "I don't know. I'm so blessed to be here and be in this situation. It's crazy... For people to like what I do enough to vote on it every week and for me to eventually win this whole thing that's an amazing feeling right now. It's crazy." 

Stevens' win is the best news for the series, and really only good news for the season as, despite being signed on for a third series to begin early next year, their ratings have dropped by almost 4 million average viewers, in comparison to season 1. Comparing it to the likes of American Idol doesn't even really bare thinking about. No doubt producers will be racking their brains before the next season begins attempting to work out how to steal those important figures from its rivals.

Continue reading: X Factor 'Tate Stevens' Wins Series 2, But The Show Loses Millions Of Viewers

 The X Factor will always have faced hot competition from American Idol, the US singing talent show's predecessor. However, despite having only managing to get half as many viewers as American Idol, they've done really well with average audiences exceeding 12m. Part of that success is down to the judges, one of whom, La Reid, has announced that this second season of the X Factor will be his last.

Reid made his name, success and fortune in the music industry, he's had a hand in the enormous successes of Dido, Young Jeezy, Ne-Yo, Usher and Rick Ross. As the CEO of the Island Def Jam Music Group he has even bigger stars in his debt, including Mariah Carey, Jay-Z, Rihanna and Kanye West. Now he's the CEO of Epic records, with the likes of Avril Lavigne and Outkast on the books. You can see why he was asked to be a judge on the show.

"Doing the show was fun," he said, but he's also learnt a lot that he can apply to his own business. "the idea was go and learn television." He added, when speaking to press after his formal resignation, "I know a little bit about it, so now let's go produce some shows." 

Continue reading: X Factor's LA Reid Leaving To Return To His Own Record Company

The X Factor just can’t seem to hold on to judges these days.

After Paula Abdul and Nicole Scherzinger left the American edition to be replaced by Demi Lovato and Britney Spears in the second season, it was announced earlier today that La Reid will not be returning for season three. The Epic Records boss denied any rumours of a conflict with Simon Cowell leading to the decision, CNN reports.Instead, Reid explained the change with his responsibilities to the Epic Records label and the roster of artists that he has been managing.

“I love Simon. We have a great relationship, we have fun together, we talk, we laugh, we do bad things, we’re friends. I owe so much to Simon,” Reid explained in an interview. Definitely not a repeat of the Cheryl Cole situation then, even though, let’s face it, that would have been more interesting to watch. “It was a nice break, it was a nice departure from what I’ve done for the past 20 years, but now I gotta go back to work,” he commented in the interview with Access Hollywood.

Continue reading: Another Change In X Factor Panel: LA Reid Leaving To Take Care Of Business

X Factor judges Simon Cowell and Britney Spears arrive for the US final party

In the aftermath of the US X Factor quarter-finals, the star judges and final four were looking their best as finalists and past alumni gathered with them to celebrate the move towards the climax of the show's second season in the US. Big changes were made this year to the judging panel, with Britney Spears and Demi Lovato entering the fray, and though Spears has received some negative criticism, she's in truth managed to hold her own on her first run of the show. Certainly the pair, alongside original judges La Reid and show creator Simon Cowell, looked content to be at the event at Mixology in Los Angeles last night (December 6).

Continue reading: Pictures: Judges And Semi Finalists Attend X Factor USA Viewing Party

The latest episode of X Factor USA was a night of high drama and hormones as Jason Brock narrowly lost out to CeCe Frey as the judges called deadlock on evictions and UK boy band One Direction entertained the masses with not one but two performances. And CeCe somehow got off scott-free, despite seemingly being universally despised. We guess Brock had a bigger circle of family and friends voting for him..?

As he said goodbye to the land of the TV singing contest, Jason Brock, somewhat bizarrely, said “I did it for the gays. And Japan.” Um, OK. As Khloe Kardashian asked him how he was feeling, upon learning that his journey to stardom had come to an abrupt end, Jason uttered his reply, before adding “I’m really happy to have been here.” Mentor La Reid hopped onto the stage to give him a farewell hug, with Khloe offering an encouraging “hug it out, hug it out,” behind them. Reid’s summary of Jason’s time on the show was full of tell-tale platitudes, such as “every time he sang, he sang from the heart, he’s very entertaining, I really loved working with you.” Which is all X Factor speak for “thank goodness, he’s gone,” of course.

Luckily, for any viewers needing a little light relief, after watching the painful Jason Brock highlight reel, One Direction were on hand to perform ‘Live While We’re Young,’ and 'Little Things.' A hormone-fuelled reminder that success stories do come from the X Factor process. 

Continue reading: X Factor USA: There's One Direction For Jason Brock And That's To The Exit

Awkward times for Britney Spears and Khloe Kardashian as they turn up to the X Factor finallists party in similar outfits

This was an awkward moment for Britney Spears and Khloe Kardashian, with the X Factor judges both turning up to the X Factor finallists party wearing very similar outfits. Spears has been taking the plaudits as judge on this season of the show, and maybe that's why Khloe felt the need to make things awkward for the multi-million selling artist. As you can see Kardashian looked incredible in the all-black Skaist-Taylor dress with her dark tresses worn in a half up half down style. But awkwardness abounded when Spears arrived also in a black dress of the same style, consisting of a turtle neck and long sleeves again, though with the hemline fell a little lower.

Continue reading: PICTURES: Khloe Kardashian And Britney Spears Suffer Outfit Clash At X Factor Party

The X-Factor judges had mixed feelings when the categories were announced on Wednesday night’s show (October, 10). After more than half the singers were told they wouldn't be advancing, the singers then learned they'd be competing in groups of Teens, Young Adults, Over 25s and Groups, reports MTV.

CeCe Frey, Willie Jones, Janelle Garcia, Nick Youngerman, Paige Thomas and Jillian Jensen all had been picked to compete in the Young Adults group, which will be under Demi Lovato’s control. "I have the winning team," she promised. Jason Brock, Daryl Black, David Correy, Tara Simon, Tate Stevens and Vino Alan grabbed places in the Over 25s group, which will be over seen by La Reid, who didn’t seem too happy with the decision. "The what?" he angrily said, before slamming the phone down storming off. "Are you serious? Oh my god! That is amazing," said Britney Spears on learning that she’d been handed Beatrice Miller, James Tanner, Carly Rose Sonenclar, Diamond White, Reed Deming and Arin Ray in the teenagers group. Simon Cowell takes the reins with the groups, Sister C, Dope Crisis and Emblem3, and said: "I'll make the most of it. I'm happy for them.”

Ironically, it was the youngest mentor, Justin Bieber, who had some words of advice for the oldest competitors, the Over 25s. "They told me I was too young and you're never too old or too young," he assured. "You definitely are in good hands."

The auditions continued for last night’s episode of X Factor USA (September 19, 2012), without Simon Cowell. The music mogul was reportedly under the weather, according to CBS News but he was kind enough to ensure that he sent a replacement, in the form of Louis Walsh. Walsh already helps to judge the UK version of the show was well-versed in what to expect and what the show’s producers were looking for.

Last night’s show was based in Kansas City and the first contestant shown was 18 year old rapper Rizzloe Jones, who surprised the judges with his vocal skills, despite not quite looking the part. He was even challenged to a freestyle and was asked to rap on the topic of “marshmallows” by Demi Lovato, whilst La Reid insisted on “X Factor.” Such was Rizzloe’s confidence, he took on both subjects with ease. Britney Spears even went so far as to compare him to a “young Vanilla Ice,” though we’re not 100% sure if that was a compliment or not. They were equally wowed by 20 year-old CeCe Frey, whose initial rendition of ‘Unchained Melody’ was unremarkable but when she was given a second chance, her version of Christina Aguilera’s ‘Ain’t No Other Man’ practically had Britney Spears scraping her own jaw off the floor in shock at how good it was.

For the latter part of the show, Cowell had evidently recovered from his illness and returned to the judging panel, where he was won over by Jessica Espinoza’s audition. She sang a version of ‘Nobody Knows’ by Pink, which impressed Cowell so much that the usually dour Cowell told her “I didn’t like it. I loved it.”