Dirrrty Pop Goes Worldwide!
I just discovered that on GoStats you can see where all your site visitors come from. I never knew I was so popular in the Netherlands! I am also feeling much loved as various cool sites i've never heard of have linked me. Yippee! Dirrrty Pop is famous!

A Few Things I Just Had To Mention
1. Doesn't the singer from A look like Cameron from Big Brother? Surely it's not just me who thinks he does?
2. Blue hair appears to be catching - Gareth and his guitarist being a prime example
3. Andy Scott Lee must shave his beard off immediately and have (more) singing lessons if he expects to do well in Pop Idol. He is quite sweet though.

That's all for now folks!

Home Sweet Home
It's amazing how much happens in a week in pop! S Club 8 appear to have aged about five years, Gareth is releasing 2 albums and Elton John is number one. Quite a lot for a girl to take in!

So instead of watching Fame Academy and using my computer, I spent the last week watching German pop shows and being worried by the amount of underage pop stars, my personal fave being Ice T, a very ickle DJ with a very cute song called 'The Magic Key'. Other poptastic German songs include the fabulous 'Heartbeat' by Daniel K., Nena and Kim Wilde's duet 'Any Time, Any Place, Anywhere', Sarah Conner's Bounce and the not pop but shockingly fab 'In The Shadows' by The Rasmus. Plus I discovered this cutie:

http://www.patrick-nuo.de/

Who on further inspection has really awful hair!

Goodbye my friend
It's not the end. In fact, I'll be back next week!

Looking Back On When We First Met
In yet another exciting new feature, I look back to the first ever glimse of some of my favourite stars. And quite predictably I shall start with one Will Young.



This picture is from Will's performance of Light My Fire on Pop Idol in the final 50. I will always remember he was on the 4th week and I was feeling seriously rubbish about the whole show, not liking anyone and threatening to stop watching. I just couldn't make myself love Hayley and Korben. And there he was, singing a song I'd never heard before and in normal circumstances I wouldn't give a second thought to, but it sounded amazing. I loved his voice and I loved him. I didn't vote but I was hooked and incredibly pleased when he got through. I rewinded (We had been visiting grandparents and taped the show) and watched his performance again twice and went to bed very happy. It sounds weird but I can't remember hardly anything of my life before that day, and just to make myself sound even more ridiculous, that is the day my life really began. I developed my tastes in music and people and learned loads about myself, maybe not all thanks to Will, but he certainly triggered it.

Girls (And Boys) On Film
I can't wait to see this film:



It's a comedy musical about a singing and dancing summer camp. With songs and funny bits and everything! And it's called Camp! Fantastic.

The pop is back!
Oh yes it's back (For good, like Alistair - oops I'm not meant to mention him!) and I'm feeling so much better for it. And the cause of this backness? This morning I have heard the 5 best songs of the rest of this year. Technically one isn't out til next year, and only one is going to be a hit, but they are still the best. I'm not going to tell you all the songs, not in a PJ style mystery artist way, I just don't want to tell you. So three of the five best songs of the rest of this year/start of next:

1. Lene - It's Your Duty (To Shake That Booty)
This is a pretty obvious choice but it really is just as good as everyone makes out. It's cheeky, catchy and everything else a pop song must be.

2. Stacie Orrico - (There's Gotta Be) More To Life
You thought Stuck was good? Just wait til you hear this! And she has blue hair in the video.

3. Rachel Stevens - Sweet Dreams (My LA Ex)
I wasn't a huge S Club fan and rachel was far from my favourite (Jo and Paul did that job nicely) but this song is way better than I ever thought and I love when that happens...yippee!

Did you notice they all have brackets? Must be the new must have accessory. I really should get some. (There we go, I'm so cool!) Now I'm off to dance around to these songs like the excitable child I am.

Come On Alistair, You Can Do It!

All Alistair And No Pop
I seem to have lost my pop - can anyone suggest where it might have got to and how I can get it back? Thanks in advance!

Alistair Pant Watch
I didn't see the pants today, but Alistair has now not only run out of pants but t-shirts too ( I swear he was wearing one of Nick's on Tuesday!) so he has sent out an appeal via BBC3 for viewers to send some in. I don't think I will, but I'm sending him a letter and a lawn darts card and some cut out pants including a paper replica of the lucky pants.

Alistair Pant Watch
Alistair was wearing shorts instead of pants today, cos his lucky green polka dot pants are in the wash! This is very worrying so we will have to keep our fingers crossed extra tight for him tonight and vote loads: 09011212209!

New Alistair Photos!
Cos I'm sure you're all just as interested as me. Well OK one of you might be.



First up we have this photo of Alistair singing. He looks a bit odd in it but lovely all the same.



Alistair has a habit of constantly fiddling with his hair. Here he is in action, and a gorgeous photo it is too. My favourite so far.



One of my favourite Alistair moments - when he cried...awww!



Slightly girly pose here, not typical of Alistair. Still looks very sweet though.

Enough of that, it's time for...

Alistair Pant Watch
In a new and exciting feature, we track Alistair Griffin's underwear trends. Will he wear the same pair twice? Does he prefer pants or shorts? All will be revealed!

Friday: Blue pants with light blue polka dots

Monday: White and grey striped shorts

Tuesday: Dark green with yellow bits

Come back tomorrow for more Alistair *heart*ing madness and fun!

The Kids From Fame
After being so successful finding info on Alistair I decided to have a search around for anything on the other contestants. So far I have found:

Alistair ctd.

http://ftp.bbc.co.uk/northyorkshire/music/2003/fame_academy/index

With .ram files of Back For Good, You And Me (original song) and an 8 min interview with local BBC station.

Nick



www.nick-hall.com

He has fronted many bands including The Occasional Band.

Gary



3NM website

You may recognise Gary and Mark from the former 3NM line-up, but with new boy Phil taking the place of lost boy Kris, you're sure to be more than just a little impressed! They're three young lads from Newcastle who hope to bop to the top of the hit parade with a selection of catchy tunes which include their very own rocky rendition of "Walk This Way" by Aerosmith.

Phil (20), Mark (17) and Gary (19) have had a complete change of direction and now prefer to take to the stage donning some guitars and a drumkit. Gary tells us; "Basically we changed style and direction 'cos record companies turned round and said that commercial boybands was just like not working anymore, and they said if you're capable of changing to errr, more of an instrument band then do it, and we are"

Visit that site above for much more info and pretentious nonsence.

Carolynne Good

She wrote I'll Take The Tears, a song by A1. She was famously rumoured to be dating Ben Adams aka Applehead at the time but they recently broke up. She was also in the band Word On The Street who I saw at the Smash Hits Tour in I think 1999.

Louise Griffiths

Louise was one of my most interesting finds, having various fansites already!



www.louisegriffiths.info
Celeb site with topless pictures!

Dirrrty Pop EXCLUSIVE!
You will not believe what I've just found. It's Alistair!!



I just searched for his name in Google and found this site. There is that embarrassing but still attractive picture and two songs up for sale called Kiss And Tell and Last Dance. You can hear mp3s of Kiss And Tell but not Last Dance cos of a faulty link. Presumably it will be him singing, so this is the maybe closest we will get to him releasing a single. I'm downloading now and will be back shortly with my thoughts....

Also found out:

In the past Alistair and his band Pulse made the shortlist of songs for the Eurovision Song Contest.
He has penned a song for football pundit Terry Venables and wrote Stand Up If You Love Boro for his favourite football team.(Eek slightly sad Alistair!)
He has also performed at Party in the Park events in Stockton and Leeds.

I feel an obsession coming on. I need help now! Alistair is obviously not going to win cos we all know he isn't as good as Alex or some others. I am just leading myself into a trap here and embarrassing myself horribly in the process.

I know I am risk of turning this blog into ilovefameacademy.com so I do plan to talk about other things soon...but not that soon!

What's Going On?
On Friday morning whilst watching the live feed with my Mum over breakfast, I said in no uncertain terms there was something I disliked about Alistair and I have said the same to various others. So how come half an hour later he had become my second favourite contestant (After the almighty Alex)? I don't really know myself, but I think these things may have something to do with it:
1. Wiggling his polka dot pants clad bum around for all to see.
2. Refusing to wear a disgusting tie die short sleeved shirt that the stylist loved.
3. Drowning out Paris' Lenny Kravitz 10 song medley with a rendition of
4. Not saying much. I prefer quiet people.
5. Crying. I love it when boys cry! Not in a sadistic way, it's just so sweet.
6. Taking his shirt off very regularly
7. Singing one of my favourite songs, Truly Madly Deeply.
8. Doing lots of high bits
9. Spelling his name very unusually
10. Looking like this except loads better due to lovely new hairdo:



More Alistair and Alex pictures when they appear. I might even make some little Vote Alex/Alistair buttons for my sidebar. Fun fun fun!

And as for that other reality show that started last night, it really doesn't even deserve a mention. I'm only watching on the very slight chance that some pretty, talented posh boy might eneter, inspired by Will. I just wish he'd hurry up, I've had enough of Nicola Gates, nervous Craig and mouthy Rachel already....

VOTE ALEX!



Or she'll scream and scream and scream...etc.

We Didn't Say That!
Here are a few regularly misheard lyrics that make sweet and innocent popsters seem anything but.

God-fearing Destiny's Child better wash their mouths out:
"I got you shit fucking scared of me" (Bootylicious)
Should be: "I got you shook up and scared of me"

This might answer the current who fathered Sugababes' Mutya's baby question:
"I don't need no man, got my kids for free" (Round Round)
Should be: "I don't need no man, got my kicks for free

Bomfunk MCs have very bad taste in snacks:
"Cheesestring from the top of my dome"
Should be: "Freestyle from the top of my dome"

And You're Soooo Overrated...
The top ten most overrated songs of the year so far:

1. Room 5 - Make Luv
2. R Kelly - Ignition
3. Busted - Sleeping With The Light On
4. Sean Paul - Gimme The Light
5. Evanescence - Bring Me To Life
6. Blu Cantrell - Breathe
7. Gareth Gates - Sunshine
8. Cheeky Girls - Cheeky Song
9. Benny Benassi - Satisfaction
10. Gareth Gates - Spirit In The Sky

And the most underrated:

1. Puretone - Stuck In A Groove
2. Sinead Quinn - What You Need Is
3. Ruby Amafu - Sugah
4. Michelle Branch - Are You Happy Now?
5. Amy Studt - Misfit
6. Nio - Do You Think You're Special
7. Siobhan Donaghy - Overrated
8. Sarah Whatmore - Automatic
9. Rosie Ribbons - A Little Bit
10. Nivea - Laundromat

New Link!
I've added a new link to the Fame Academy site where I've volunteered to help write news articles and so on, so please pay them a visit cos it's a great site.

Summer Songs Day!

I enjoyed *NSync Day so much that I decided to have another themed day, so today is Summer Songs Day. Events will include the hottest hits of summer 2003, the worst summer novelty tracks and the Euro hits that you'll hear on your holidays.

10 Hottest Hits Of Summer 2003
Definition of a hot hit: A song that is/will be not only a big chart hit but is actually a great song too. In no particular order...

1. Crazy In Love by Beyonce Knowles
2. Where Is The Love by Black Eyed Peas & JT
3. Senorita by Justin Timberlake
4. Life Got Cold by Girls Aloud
5. Innocent Eyes by Delta Goodrem
6. Sundown by S Club 8
7. Miss Perfect by Abs and Nodesha
8. Sweet Dreams by Rachel Stevens
9. Stuck by Stacie Orrico
10. Jumpin' by Liberty X

10 Worst Ever Summer Novelty Tracks
I'm a big hater of these things. Again, in no particular order:

1. Hey Baby by DJ Otzi (01)
2. The Ketchup Song by Las Ketchup (02)
3. The Macarena by Los Del Rios (96)
4. Hooray Hooray It's A Cheeky Holiday by The Cheeky Girls (03)
5. Follow Da Leader by Nigel And Marvin (02)
6. Who Let The Dogs Out by Baha Men (00)
7. Agadoo by Black Lace (84)
8. La Bamba by Los Labos (87)
9. On The Ball by Ant And Dec (02)
10. Mambo No.5 by Lou Bega (99)

10 Big Euro Hits Of 2003
Some better than others!

1. Chihuahua by DJ Bobo
Typical Euro novelty track.
2. Summer Jam 2003 by Underdog Project vs. Sunclub
Main hook: 'This ain't nothing but a summer jam, Bronze skin and cinnamon tans whoa!'
3. Aicha by Outlandish
Danish rap group consists Isam Bachiri, Lenny Martinez and Waqas Qadri, actually from Morocco, Honduras and Pakistan.
4. Je Voulais Te Dire Que Je T'Attends by Jonatan Cerrada
Winner of French Pop Idol
5. Ich Kenne Nichts/I've Never Seen by RZA feat. Xavier Naidoo
Wutang member RZA goes solo with German star Xavier.
6. Laisse Parler Les Gens by Jocelyne Labylle & Jacob Desvarieux
Jocelyne is from Guadeloupe and was in the band Melodie and Jacob, ex-member of Kassav is from the Caribbean.
7. Live Is Life by Hermes House Band
The band who gave us Country Roads at Xmas 2001.
8. Sur Un Air Latino by Lorie
Seems to be a french Britney-lite
9. Mulata by Raúl Paz
Cuban salsa etc.
10. Jaleo by Ricky Martin
First single from Ricky's Spanish language album

Non-Euro artists also very popular on the continent right now include Beyonce, Justin, Christina, 50 Cent and J-Lo.

10 Best Ever Summer Videos
My personal favourites:

1. Light My Fire by Will Young
2. One For Sorrow by Steps
3. Bring It All Back by S Club 7
4. Survivor by Destiny's Child
5. Sometimes by Britney Spears
6. The Animal Song by Savage Garden
7. Automatic High by S Club Jnrs
8. I Surrender by K-otic
9. Candy by Mandy Moore
10. Come Speak To Me by Elisa

Before And After
It's like a TV makeover show except it's not on TV!

Our first victim is....pop 'sensation' Gareth Gates!

Before:



After:



Such an improvement!

New Links!
I have 4 new links today: The Escargot Cafe owned by Hula, Steph's I Like...I Hate..., Flum's Talent In A Previous Life (Or Talentina as I think it should be named) and Shocked By The Power by....Shocked By The Power! Hooray!

Fame Academy Review

Ryan
Ryan seemed like a sweet guy and really pretty despite the red hair (Not usually as good a look on boys as girls!) but he tried too hard and was humiliated. I guess he had to come last cos no-one was that bad on this week's show. I would have liked to have seen some who did worse performances go through cos they seemed nicer people eg. Ryan and Nathan.

Sally
From her video, I hated Sally. Her face was plastic and she has a wig fetish! She was very fake. But she put on a great performance and I think if she had been in another weaker show namely show one, she would have got through. I still don't like her as a person though and I've never liked the song Son Of A Preacher Man very much.

Nathan
I really wanted nathan to do well because he doesn't look like a typical pop star but obviously had talent and if he had sung something a bit more exciting he would have showed just how fab he really is. They showed him singing his own material in the auditions and it sounded like my type of thing and his voice was a lot better.

Simone
Simone was the best performance of FA2 so far for me. She was the first one with a really strong voice which is also pleasant to listen to. She seemed really sweet as a person too and it would have been a crime if she hadn't got in. Go Simone!

Barry
First of all, you cannot have a pop star named Barry. And don't say Barry White - he's dead so he doesn't count. I did give him a chance. He can sing very well, but he has little individuality in his voice and as a person he has zero star quality. He will never be the Irish Robbie Williams. So what is the point of having Barry in the Academy? Is it just so the Irish have someone to vote for, cos that's how it seems.

Paris
Paris obviously does have star quality - he acts like he's not just an upcoming singer but a megastar already. I can't see him bonding with the other contestants and this could be his failing. He won't get through a contestant vote if he has no friends. However he could slip through in the same way that Ainslie and Lemar did - they were never actually saved by the public even once and were very rarely on probation.

I'm really looking forward to Wednesday's show because all six of the contestants look potentially great. Mostly excited about Mark (OK he's a big Christian wimpy type, but he sings great and dances too! We have a winner!), Terence if he turns up, Loma with the cool husky voice and Alex the boy girl clown, who I'm quickly becoming obsessed with. I really should not be so excited about a TV show....

Re-ewind
Forget all those fave bits of the JT book, the best bit is quite obviously:
"Very few pop stars have the courage to come out as gay early in their career, Pop Idol Will Young being one notable and laudable exception." Will even gets praise in other peoples books - proof he is future King Of The World.

Time For The Remix
Here are my top ten favourite pop bootlegs:
1. Shakira vs Britney vs Beegees
2. Dannii vs Dead Or Alive
3. Kylie vs New Order
4. Justin vs Michael Jackson
5. Destinys Child vs Nirvana
6. XTina vs Strokes
7. Dannii vs Madonna
8. XTina vs Diana Ross
9. Will Young vs Eminem
10. Britney vs Eminem

Video Killed The Radio Star

Delta Goodrem - Innocent Eyes
This is Delta's 3rd single and my favourite so far. I bought her album a few days ago and the CD is fast becoming a favourite. Her voice is lovely and the songs are great. This is more uptempo and unusual than her previous two ballads. The video shows Delta in her dressing room preparing for a show and thinking about when she was younger and it shows some little girls who are meant to be her at that age.
I give Delta Goodrem *****

Clea
Clea are Chloe, Lynsey, Emma and Aimee (hence the weird name) and they are the girl rejects from Popstars: The Rivals, minus Javine. If you were a fan of Popstars you will remember that the girls had very little talent between them - bitchy redhead Chloe being the strongest vocally, but getting booted off for being generally dislikeable, which typically made me like her all the more. The song starts grandly and I had high expectations from this point, but it is quite mediocre and no challenge to Girls Aloud's top pop.
I give Clea ***

Gareth Gates - Sunshine
Gareth thinks he can pull off r'n'b and as expected he can't. However, it makes little/no difference if critics and over twelves laugh at this weak Michael Jackson wannabe track, cos his fans will fall for it hook line and sinker and it's sure to be number one. There are parts of the song that are quite catchy but then he sings the word 'denying' and I'm running for the loo as usual. I have tried to give Gareth a chance, thinking that I may have been too harsh on him but if he wants to be taken seriously he's going to have to come up with something better than this.
I give Gareth Gates *

Party Like It's Your Birthday

In a completely unoriginal move, today is *NSync Day! Justin has a book and 2 singles coming out and and JC has his debut single out soon, so this is cause for celebration if there ever was one!

U Remind Me
To begin our celebrations, here are some *NSync related lookalikes:

Justin OR Pacey?



JC OR James (FA)?



I Can Read You
I've only read the first few chapters of Justin Timberlake: The Unofficial Book, but here are the highlights so far:

1. Justin wasn't always so pretty - "When he wasn't being called 'Brillo Pad', he was being derided as 'Pizza Face'"
2. "Chris Kirkpatrick was ten years Justin's senior" - that's even dodgier than Nick and Kevin Backstreet!
3. "However, the boys would soon come into contact with Lou Pearlman, now known as 'Big Poppa'" - can we get any more worrying?
4. "They also supported the gaggle of rough diamonds that made up British boy band Five" - Five got a US tour? And *NSync supported them? There's so many things wrong with that sentence!
5. "'Christmas carols are just so beautiful' he merrily told an eager media. 'They're just pretty melodies, you know?'" No Justin, I don't know.

No Regrets
How could NSync possibly regret this fetching get-up?



I need that video!

Top Five *NSync Singles
1. Pop
2. Girlfriend
3. Gone
4. It's Gonna Be Me
5. Bye Bye Bye

Top Five *NSync Solo Singles
1. Cry Me A River
2. Like I Love You
3. Senorita
4. Rock Your Body
5. Blowin' Me Up

Fame Academy Review
Renata
Renata obviously can sing but she was drowned out here by the music. I Wanna Dance With Somebody is never a good choice of song on these shows. I don't think Renata showed her full potential, if she had she might have got through.

James
James looks lovely and sounds lovely. Pity about his embarrassing tart of a girlfriend and the fact he's never read a book - not even Mr Tickle! Still he has obviously worked really hard to get here and was so pleased (even brought to tears) when he got through.

Nicole
I don't think Nicole was as bad as the teachers made out. She had a pretty voice, but was SO nervous and looked all wrong on the stage. I liked the bit where she turned Dido's Thank You into Tom's Diner, although I'm starting to think I was hallucinating cos no-one else appeared to notice.

Audley
Audley was the most talented of the lot in my opinion. He had a really strong voice and although he picked an odd song I enjoyed listening to him. He seems like a nice bloke too, if a little God-loving. But I do think he will be good fun and not end up on the Heaven And Earth Show like Kwame Kwe Amar(sp?).

Andrea
Why Andrea chose a song that even she knew was too hard for her is beyond me, cos she seemed like a lovely Irish girl and it would have been nice to see more of her.

Peter
I'm still undecided about Peter. I was pleased that he got through cos it will be interesting to see how he gets on with some of the more serious contestants such as Louise and James. I have a feeling that Peter is going to do well, though I don't know if he can win.

As it stands I think James and Peter have the best chance of winning. The two girls, Carolynne and Louise are both strong contenders but it's so rare that a girl does win these things so I'll be surprised if they do. Remember there are 6 more wannabes to go in so I have high hopes that our winning superstar will be among them. I'm looking forward to ickle Terence the nervous and possibly very thick little soul boy (A new, less arrogant Lee Ryan I think), Mark Vallance who looks like an alien but still has a record contract and therefore must have something special, and Alex the boy girl cos I want to see what type of music she goes for. I just can't imagine him on the stage at all.