New Kids! New Edition! New Duet!
In what could be the greatest collaboration since Superman and Batman formed the Justice League, the reunited New Kids on the Block have teamed up with the reunited New Edition to save the worldor at least make thirtysomething suburban moms swoon.
“Donnie Wahlberg had this idea for a few months, looking for that one track for all of them,” producer Nadir “RedOne” Khawat tells People. “And I think we found it.”
The track, “Full Service,” was recorded last week and is set to appear on NKOTB’s upcoming album.
“It sounds very universal and melodic and has both sides in it: the R&B, which is New Edition, and the pop side for New Kids,” adds RedOne, calling the song “very uplifting.”
Whaddya think: Is “Full Service” going to lift up the oldsters to the top of charts or over the shark? Comment away…
Jessica Simpson, Kim Kardashian Visit “The View”
Jessica Simpson, Kim Kardashian Visit “The View”
Taking a break from their Los Angeles studio, the hosts of The View have been broadcasting live from Las Vegas - filming today’s (June 25) episode at Caesars Palace on the Sin City strip.
Visiting Barbara Walters, Elisabeth Hasselbeck and friends on the set was pop-turned-country star Jessica Simpson, along with reality star Kim Kardashian and her sisters Kourtney and Khloe.
During the show, “Simpson talked about her new album and her friendship with country legend Dolly Parton, who sings along with Simpson on one of the songs on her new country album. Simpson said she couldn’t describe Parton as singing back-up on the song, and instead said that they sang along together.”
Jessica also gabbed about her rollercoaster relationship with Cowboy quarterback Tony Romo, saying they’ve been together “seven, almost eight months” and that she’s completely smitten!
Jessica’s Country Cover
Expect to see a little southern comfort to grace the cover of Jessica Simpson’s new country album.
No, not the booze.
Sources tell News she’ll likely be dressed in a cowboy hat and boots for the CD cover.
“This is her first country album, and she wanted to send home the message that despite her previous pop stuff, she’s just a country girl at heart,” the pal says.
Jessica posed for pics in Nashville on Monday in a cover shoot that included lots of cowgirl shots (in jeans and cutoffs), as well as glam-girl pics, according to our insider.
“They wanted a mix of stuff to choose from,” says the insider. “But she is pushing for the simple country cowgirl-type thing.”
Jessica’s mom, Tina, was on set, but the men in her life (daddy Joe and beau Tony) were both absent. And that’s a good thing, says Jessica’s pal.
“She’s got enough pressure on her,” her friend says. “She doesn’t need the men all tense around her. She’s got so much hope pinned on this country record. She thinks this could reinvent her and finally give her the respect she’s never had in the music industry. She simply can’t live with Newlyweds as her only lasting legacy.”
David A. on Dad: Rumors Were "Really Weird"
What David Archuleta wants to know is, why in the world wouldn’t he be able to fetch a glass of water for himself?
“I heard one thing where [my dad, Jeff] refused to give me water or something like that and that’s the weirdest thing,” the American Idol runner-up said Friday in a conference call with reporters. “I mean, I am 17 and you know, if I want water, I am pretty sure I would just go get it anyway.”
Archuleta, who lost to David Cook by a reported 12 million votes Wednesday despite being the apple of the judges’ eyes for several weeks, said that he wasn’t really exposed to all the “stage dad” reports circulating about his pop until later on.
“He understood that I didn’t like to hear anything going on in the news about me, good or bad, because I didn’t want it to distract me or let it go to my head or anything like that because I just wanted to stay myself as I was at the beginning of the competition before all this happened,” Archuleta said of his father, who was banned from Idol’s backstage earlier this month after prompting his son to add unlicensed lyrics to “Stand By Me.”
“I wanted to keep who I was, the normal, teenage David. But in interviews and stuff it started coming up and it’s kind of strange because there were really weird things.”
Of course, it’s also weird to Archuleta that he’s got millions of adoring fans, but he’s just going to have to get used to it.
“It’s such a weird thought to think,” the Murray, Utah, teen said. “I do think of it more as people who have really appreciated what I have done and with all the letters that I have been sent. I’ve tried to read as many as I could…
“The fact that people were able to feel what I was trying to give off as I sing is one of the coolest and best feelings ever.”
Archuleta said he’s going to try to continue his schooling (he still had to do homework during the competition) while also pursuing music.
“Even if music does turn out to go somewhere for me, you never know how long it would last,” he said. “I want to make sure I have something to back me up on that.”
In the meantime, Archuleta’s looking to take his music in the pop-with-meaning direction.
“John Mayer and Sara Bareilles are examples I use for people that have done the more pop side of the music, but their music has more meaning and depth to it,” he said. “They are respected as real musicians and artists.”
And as for the fact that he didn’t come out on top?
“The fact that Cook won, he deserved it so much,” Archuleta said graciously. “He just proved that week after week that he deserved to be the American Idol from early in the competition.”