You know what they say: if at first you succeed historically well at covering a late legend, try, try again. That’s exactly the advice Jessica Sanchez took on American Idol this week, as she followed up her version of Whitney Houston’s ” I Will Always Love You ” from last month with a take here on the more upbeat “How Will I Know?” Was it on par with Jessica’s initial Whitney performance? No. But that would have been nearly impossible to match. The judges were clearly impressed, with Jennifer Lopez expressing shock over such a big voice emanating from such a small body. Where do you stand on Jessica Sanchez? Enough Whitney or more Whitney? Watch and react now: Jessica Sanchez – “How Will I Know”
Who knew she had it in her her?!? Skylar Laine, a young southern gal best known to American Idol fans so far on season 11 for her energy and lively personality on stage, simply stood at the microphone last night and belted out a beautiful version of Bette Midler’s “Wind Beneath My Wings.” It was the sort of rendition we’d have expected from Jessica Sanchez , but Skylar proved her versatility with it, causing us to agree with Jennifer Lopez, who was on the verge of tears by the time Laine completed the cover and told her: You “can sing with the best of them here.” Amen, J. Lo. Amen. Skylar Laine – “Wind Beneath My Wings”
American Idol was chock full of surprises last night. Fans were treated to Skylar Laine slowing things down for once and singing a beautiful rendition of ” Wind Beneath My Wings ” to close the show, while Hollie Cavanagh took to the stage prior and went in the opposite direction. Mixing up a performance from her usual ballads, Cavanagh went with “What a Feeling” from Flashdance and shook her booty right in front of the judges’ table at one point. It was a welcome change, although it came across as a bit forced. Hollie didn’t seem comfortable in her fringed dress, moving and shaking instead of just… singing. What did you think? Hollie Cavanagh – “What A Feeling”
Following Elise Testone singing a version of Foreigner’s “I Wanna Know What Love Is” on American Idol last night, Jennifer Lopez told the finalist that she really likes her outfit. In other words: Uh-oh. Elise could be in trouble. No panelist exactly swooned over the performance, with Steven Tyler wondering if it was the proper song choice and Randy Jackson saying there were pitch problems. Is the bottom three in Testone’s future? Critique for yourself now: Elise Testone – “I Wanna Know What Love Is” Which women did stand out on Idol this week? Our ranking of performers from this gender would be: Skylar Laine on “Wind Beneath My Wings.” Jessica Sanchez on ” How Will I Know? ” Hollie Cavanagh on “What A Feeling.” Testone’s “I Wanna Know What Love Is.”
Resident jokester joined by Hollie Cavanagh and Skylar Laine in bottom three. By Adam Graham Heejun Han on “American Idol” Thursday Photo: Fox The laughs are over for Heejun Han, as this season’s court jester was voted off “American Idol” on Thursday (March 29). Han, who with his goofball demeanor and off-center sense of humor was criticized heavily for not taking the competition seriously enough, ended up at the bottom of America’s votes following Wednesday’s performance episode, despite earning a standing ovation from the judges for his performance of Donny Hathaway’s “A Song for You.” He reprised the song for the judges in an effort to get them to use their one save for the season on him, but the judges let him go. “Let the record show that you knew this was coming yourself, you saw it come this week,” Steven Tyler told him. “Unfortunately after talking, we’re gonna have to let you go, man.” Just 24 hours earlier, Tyler had praised Han for turning himself around in the competition, and Jennifer Lopez reaffirmed his talents, telling him, “You didn’t make it this far by mistake.” Randy Jackson welcomed him back to the competition, telling him, “Finally, the Heejun that we selected came back to us tonight!” But the 22-year-old from Flushing, New York’s fate may have been sealed following his performance of Billy Joel’s “My Life” the week prior, which was met by a stinging critique from “Idol” mentor Jimmy Iovine. “He came out and disrespected the entire process. His performance was more like four minutes of a bad Adam Sandler movie that goes straight to DVD,” Iovine said, referring to it as a “stunt gone wrong.” “At the end of the day, Interscope has to spend a lot of money on somebody who wins this show, and that’s not it.” At the time, Han — who landed in second to last place following the performance — defended himself by saying, “I’m not trying to be a star, I’m just really happy where I am.” Han was in the bottom three Thursday with Hollie Cavanagh and Skylar Laine. Laine was sent back to safety first, and was followed by Cavanagh. It was the first time in the bottom three for both Laine and Cavanagh. Also on the show, Eric Benet came out to surprise DeAndre Brackensick, who performed his song “Sometimes I Cry” on Wednesday’s show. Meanwhile, last year’s “Idol” champ Scotty McCreery performed his latest single, ‘Water Tower Town,” and was presented with a platinum sales plaque by Iovine, signifying 1 million sales of his debut album, Clear as Day. Nicki Minaj appeared and performed “Starships” and made a pitch to do a guest-judging bid on the show. “J. Lo, can you scoot over a little bit?” she asked, to which Lopez replied, “I don’t know if there’s enough room for both of us up here!” What did you think of Thursday’s “Idol”? Did Heejun Han go home too soon? Let us know in the comments!
Resident jokester joined by Hollie Cavanagh and Skylar Laine in bottom three. By Adam Graham Heejun Han on “American Idol” Thursday Photo: Fox The laughs are over for Heejun Han, as this season’s court jester was voted off “American Idol” on Thursday (March 29). Han, who with his goofball demeanor and off-center sense of humor was criticized heavily for not taking the competition seriously enough, ended up at the bottom of America’s votes following Wednesday’s performance episode, despite earning a standing ovation from the judges for his performance of Donny Hathaway’s “A Song for You.” He reprised the song for the judges in an effort to get them to use their one save for the season on him, but the judges let him go. “Let the record show that you knew this was coming yourself, you saw it come this week,” Steven Tyler told him. “Unfortunately after talking, we’re gonna have to let you go, man.” Just 24 hours earlier, Tyler had praised Han for turning himself around in the competition, and Jennifer Lopez reaffirmed his talents, telling him, “You didn’t make it this far by mistake.” Randy Jackson welcomed him back to the competition, telling him, “Finally, the Heejun that we selected came back to us tonight!” But the 22-year-old from Flushing, New York’s fate may have been sealed following his performance of Billy Joel’s “My Life” the week prior, which was met by a stinging critique from “Idol” mentor Jimmy Iovine. “He came out and disrespected the entire process. His performance was more like four minutes of a bad Adam Sandler movie that goes straight to DVD,” Iovine said, referring to it as a “stunt gone wrong.” “At the end of the day, Interscope has to spend a lot of money on somebody who wins this show, and that’s not it.” At the time, Han — who landed in second to last place following the performance — defended himself by saying, “I’m not trying to be a star, I’m just really happy where I am.” Han was in the bottom three Thursday with Hollie Cavanagh and Skylar Laine. Laine was sent back to safety first, and was followed by Cavanagh. It was the first time in the bottom three for both Laine and Cavanagh. Also on the show, Eric Benet came out to surprise DeAndre Brackensick, who performed his song “Sometimes I Cry” on Wednesday’s show. Meanwhile, last year’s “Idol” champ Scotty McCreery performed his latest single, ‘Water Tower Town,” and was presented with a platinum sales plaque by Iovine, signifying 1 million sales of his debut album, Clear as Day. Nicki Minaj appeared and performed “Starships” and made a pitch to do a guest-judging bid on the show. “J. Lo, can you scoot over a little bit?” she asked, to which Lopez replied, “I don’t know if there’s enough room for both of us up here!” What did you think of Thursday’s “Idol”? Did Heejun Han go home too soon? Let us know in the comments!
‘Welcome to Twitter. You’re still banned from my show,’ Morgan writes to Madonna. By Gil Kaufman Madonna and Piers Morgan Photo: Getty Images CNN talk-show host Piers Morgan has not been shy about his feelings about Madonna . The former “America’s Got Talent” judge has been going in on the singer for months, calling her everything from a “con artist” to “gruesome,” and making fun of her super-toned physique and Super Bowl halftime show. But on Monday, Morgan escalated the feud, sending a snippy message to Madonna in which he welcomed her to Twitter while smacking her down once again. The “Girl Gone Wild” singer had set up a special Twitter account on Monday in order to chat with her fans and Morgan wrote , “Welcome to Twitter @MadonnaMDNAday -you’re still banned from my show. Love Piers.” That crossed the line for Madonna’s manager, Guy Oseary, who responded with his own snap-tastic tweet , posting a letter from October 21, 2011, that says Morgan is “delighted to invite Madonna to be a special guest for his L.A. recording of his U.K. chat show — where she would be welcome to promote her new film and forthcoming album release (and perform two numbers).” Like a demented game of Hollywood power-broker tennis, Morgan fired the ball back, tweeting , “Madonna’s only been banned from my #CNN show @guyoseary – not my UK show, which sent that invite. But I’m now banning her from that too.” And he still wasn’t done! Morgan then banned Oseary from all his shows too, due to what he called “guilt by association.” Morgan has apparently felt slighted over the years by Madonna, especially during his days as an editor at England’s Daily Mirror newspaper, where he claims he was lied to by the singer’s publicist in order to ensure that a rival paper got Madge’s pregnancy announcement. Morgan caught Madonna on the same day she was finally extinguishing another feud, this one with EDM superstar deadmau5 , who had taken the 53-year-old pop icon to task for seemingly making a drug reference during her appearance last weekend at the Ultra Music Festival in Miami. What do you think of Morgan’s Madonna ban? Tell us in the comments. Related Artists Madonna
‘DeAndre is a hot dude who appeals to the female demographic,’ ‘Idol’ blogger explains, while Han is backed by Vote for the Worst website. By Gil Kaufman Heejun Han and DeAndre Brackensick Photo: Getty Images There’s almost always a singer on each season of “American Idol” who makes it way deeper into the competition than expected. But season 11 of the show has seen two unlikely finalists — Heejun Han and DeAndre Brackensick — stumble into the top 9 and onto this summer’s cast tour despite a string of, respectively, jokey and lackluster performances that have drawn assorted raspberries from the judges and outright derision at times from music-industry icon and show mentor Jimmy Iovine. Their resilience got MTV News wondering if perhaps they have a special magic that some of the other eliminated finalists haven’t discovered yet. We spoke to some of our favorite “Idol” experts to take a look at the dynamic duo’s social-network presence to try to figure out how they’ve done it. For Brackensick, it doesn’t appear to be thanks to Twitter , where he had just 31,660 followers (dubbed “DreDreamers”) as of Tuesday evening and spent most of his time thanking fans for their support or complaining about poor WiFi at the “Idol” mansion. “DeAndre is a hot dude who appeals to the female demographic,” said leading “Idol” blogger MJ Santilli of MJsbigblog about the strange allure of the singer with a sky-high voice and hair-commercial-ready curls. “He’s sung well enough to give the impression that he’s got potential. The ‘Master Blaster’ performance — which Jimmy and the judges loved — was enough to keep him going for a week or two more, but if he doesn’t step it up, he’s going out mid-pack, too.” Heejun’s following on Twitter was a heftier 86,663 on Tuesday, putting him near the top of the social-networking heap among his fellow finalists. Not surprisingly for the yuk-loving singer, his interactions with fans are much sillier and more playful than most of the others, with a loose vibe that matches his onscreen persona, including lots of candid photos and suggestions that fans adopt the nickname “Hanimals.” He also has the dubious distinction of being the subject of this year’s target on the Vote for the Worst website. “Finally, the man we were waiting for comes out to play,” the site said in a banner promoting the vote. “Welcome to VFTW, Heejun. We love you. Here are lots of votes.” “Idol” expert Jim Cantiello said he gets Heejun’s appeal. OK, he doesn’t get it get it, but he can see how Han attracts attention by being a spectacle while everyone else is singing ballads — all the time. “His silliness supplies good .gifs for tumblr and easy fodder to tweet about,” said the former MTV “Idol in 60 Seconds” host. “Trust me, just like Sanjaya, the first time he has a performance that provides zero water-cooler talk, he’ll be dropped. Or as soon as it seems like powerhouse singers are in jeopardy, casual ‘Idol’ fans won’t be as quick to call in a vote for the clown.” Cantiello suspects Han has another thing going for him as well, whether it was all part of his devious plan or not. “Heejun’s got the whole bromance thing with Phil Phillips going on,” Cantiello said of the buddy-comedy vibe between the joker and one of this year’s leading male contenders. “So some of Phil’s fans are automatically into Heejun, and they’ll vote him through to keep seeing them be silly on TV together.” MJ agreed that Heejun is just good TV. Not only did he bring some unneeded extra drama to the Hollywood rounds by sparring with annoying Richie “Cowboy” Law, he’s shown his vulnerable and sensitive side as well. “Up until now, viewers wanted him on their TVs and most definitely wanted him on the tour, where he is likely going to be super-entertaining,” she said. “But now that he’s beginning to knock off vocally gifted finalists like Erika [Van Pelt], watch the backlash begin. I don’t think he’s got more than a couple of weeks left in the competition.” How do the seven other finalists match up on the Twitter tote board? Pint-sized cute Hollie Cavanagh actually comes in below Brackensick with 30,792 “Holliepops,” while faux-hawk flying singer Colton Dixon has one of the highest Twitter tallies at 92,458, putting him just ahead of foot-stomping Dave Matthews-alike Phillip Phillips , with 90,116 followers. Solidly in the middle of the pack is leading female contender Jessica Sanchez with 69,825 followers, while country girl Skylar Laine rounds out the bottom with 33,122 “Skoutlaws,” just ahead of gritty Elise Testone (23,969) and R&B crooner Joshua Ledet (23,618). Why do you think Heejun and DeAndre have survived this long? Let us know in comments below! Get your “Idol” fix on MTV News’ “American Idol” page , where you’ll find all the latest news, interviews and opinions.
Tim Burton opts for gonzo comedy that should please many but may rile fans of the original soap opera. By John Mitchell Johnny Depp in “Dark Shadows” Photo: Warner Bros The wait is over! With less than two months to go before the May 11 release of “Dark Shadows,” we finally have a trailer, and it’s a doozy. We’re going to come right out and say it: We love the trailer. It’s Tim Burton doing what Tim Burton does best. The look is dark and Gothic, but the feel is certifiably gonzo with a heaping side of camp and comedy. Based on its soapy source material, Burton could have taken “Shadows” one of two ways: He could have stripped it of the over-the-top camp and played it as a straight romantic drama where the protagonist was a conflicted vampire, which is what the creators of the early-’90s TV remake did, or he could turn the volume all the way up and have a little fun, flipping the super serious vibe of the original soap opera upside down and making a blood-splattered comedy. He clearly chose the latter, and that’s just fine with us. “Shadows” stars Johnny Depp as Barnabas Collins, a rich and powerful playboy who is turned into a vampire and buried alive by the jealous witch Angelique ( Eva Green ). Two centuries later, in 1972, Barnabas is inadvertently freed from his tomb by thief Willie Loomis (Jackie Earle Haley) and finds the world quite changed and his once great estate, Collinwood Manor, in disrepair. His descendants, including reclusive family matriarch Elizabeth Collins Stoddard ( Michelle Pfeiffer ), her drunken, snobby brother Roger Collins (Johnny Lee Miller) and bratty teenage daughter Carolyn ( Chloe Moretz ), haven’t fared much better. In the present, not only does he have to again face Angelique, but he has to contend with nosy psychologist Dr. Julia Hoffman ( Helena Bonham Carter , who has more than a few secrets of her own. Here are our five key scenes from the “Dark Shadows” trailer: First Glimpse of Barnabus as a Vampire After a fleeting look at a pre-vamp Depp in his 18th-century prime (and seriously, can we talk about how this guy never ages?), we see Angelique working her evil magic and casting her spell. Cut to Depp’s Barnabas taking in his monstrous new self from the crashing waves at the bottom of Widows’ Hill, the cliff where his love, Josette duPres (Bella Heathcote), took her own life. “What have you done?” he yells up at her. The aesthetic created for Widows’ Hill is pure vintage Burton. The dark, rocky facade builds up to a point that looks like something from “The Nightmare Before Christmas” brought to life. Which means it’s pretty awesome. Meet the Collins Family Sitting around the dinner table to welcome their long lost relative, we get introduced to all the key players in the film. “Who the hell is this?” Bonham Carter’s straightforward Hoffman asks.”I’m a vampire, Madame,” Barnabas responds. The whole gang — Miller, Moretz, Pfeiffer, Bonham Carter and Gulliver McGrath (David Collins) — is there, and boy are they curious about this pale-faced creeper in some very vintage wares, but Barnabas is ready to hit the road to take care of business. “How soon can the horses be ready?” he asks. “We don’t have horses; we have a Chevy,” Pfeiffer admits. “What Sorcery is This?” Barnabas just can’t seem to grasp the technological innovations that happened while he was chained up in that casket for a few hundred years. Of particular concern is the television, which he seems certain is nothing more than witchcraft. “Reveal yourself, tiny songstress,” he demands before tearing into the back of the set. It’s a pretty random scene, but it perfectly sums up the tone of the humor the film seems after. Things are so weird nowadays, you guys, and the old dead guy just can’t wrap his head around it. Depp’s delivery is spot-on though, and we can see why test audience reaction to this scene was so warmly received. Angelique Rides Back Into Town Burton has taken many liberties with his film, but the most interesting of them might be his characterization of Angelique as a sassy fox with a mean-girl streak and plenty of attitude. When she returns from the late-1700s, she isn’t wearing her old corsets and talking about the old days; she pulls up to Collinwood in a cherry red convertible wearing modern clothes. “You cursed me to be this hideous creator,” Barnabas cries. “You may strategically place your wonderful lips upon my posterior and kiss it repeatedly.” Barnabas and Angelique’s Freaky, House-Trashing Makeout Even though she, you know, cursed him to eternal damnation because he just wasn’t that into her, we can certainly see why Barnabas can’t keep his claws off Green’s sexy witch. At the end of the clip, Depp and Green engage in some very rough foreplay. The magical pair throw each other from wall to wall before ending on the floor, where Angelique gives Barnabas one last lick with her very long tongue. “That was a regrettable turn of events,” Barnabus says, taking in the destruction left in the wake. So “Dark Shadows” fans, are you loving the fun and campy way Burton decided to tackle the sudsy soap? Or do you think he should have gone a different direction? Let us know in the comments below and hit me up on Twitter @JohnMitchell83 with your thoughts and suggestions on all things “Shadows.” Check out everything we’ve got on “Dark Shadows.” For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com . Related Photos 5 Key Scenes From The ‘Dark Shadows’ Trailer
