I am decidedly depressed by the news that Justin Timberlake and Britney Spears are both slated to appear during tonight's Los Angeles stop on Madonna's "Sticky & Sweet" tour.
I know, I know…back in March, I blogged about how, for the first time in Madge's career, I was unexcited about one of her album releases. After all, Madonna's always been at her best when she's latched on to a slightly underground trend, co-opted it as her own, and foisted it onto an unsuspecting mainstream audience (think: vogueing, electronica, Mirwais). Madonna's sudden reliance on Timberlake, Timbaland, and Kanye West to make 2008's Hard Candy a sales success was tantamount to her nervously carrying her lunch tray into the pop-culture cafeteria and trying to score a seat with the cool kids when, really, she should've been sitting down at an empty table and confidently forming her own damn posse. And sure enough, seven months after its release, Hard Candy is barely on my radar, except for those occasions when the admittedly excellent "Beat Goes On" pops up on my cardio playlist.
Which makes tonight's recruitment of Spears even more distressing. Madonna and Britney's previous collaborations -- the faux-lesbian smooch on MTV, the abhorrent "Me Against the Music" -- did little to boost either singer's fortunes. And (hello!) why would you think that fans shelling out hundreds of bucks for a ticket would be excited to have a notorious lip-syncher added to the bill?
What think you, PopWatchers? Am I crazy for expecting Madge to still be setting trends at this stage of her career? And if she really has reached the "follow the leader" stage of her career, could it be time for her to (blasphemy alert) follow Celine Dion and Cher's leads, and get herself a residency in Vegas? Share your thoughts in the comments section below!
Folks, I ask because I am so not ready. I firmly believe that it will always be too soon to cut this wonderful song out of our lives. So can it be true that Justin Timberlake is officially retiring "SexyBack," as he announced at a recent charity concert (h/t)?! I feel a tiny bit karmically responsible for this situation, as someone who found "SexyBack" fairly annoying when I first heard it in the summer of 2006 (has it really been so long?) — only to realize when I heard it that fall, in the context of the full FutureSex/LoveSounds album, that it was a total jam. If only I had advocated more forcefully for "SexyBack" from the start, maybe JT would feel differently now!
Anyway, this decision may be a symbolic one since Justin also says in that same story that he's dialing back his tour plans for the time being. Perhaps he'll have changed his mind by the time he revs up the old tour machine again in a year or two. In the meantime, I'll have to content myself by watching this '06 performance clip from The Ellen DeGeneres Show (below). I'll be honest, though, I'm still a little distraught thinking about this loss. How about you?
Every day now, it seems like another unlikely celebrity is speaking out on the presidential election. I understand how these artists must feel — I can't stop reading campaign news and refreshing the latest polls, either. But there's something pretty surreal about seeing, say, Justin Timberlake and Jessica Biel remix the classic "D--- in a Box" as a pro-Obama clip called "Vote in the Box." (Yes, this actually happened, and while the video has mysteriously vanished from YouTube during the time I spent writing this post, I swear it was funny.) Meanwhile, you've got cavalcades of mostly apolitical rappers lining up to contribute verses packed with talking points to Russell Simmons and DJ Green Lantern's Yes We Can: The Mixtape. (The mixtape is totally solid and worth a free download, as it happens.) Then there was that fairly hilarious Moveon.org ad directed by Mr. & Mrs. Smith's Doug Liman where, like, Serena van der Woodsen and Dan Humphrey rag on John McCain. (Check it out below.) And those are just the three best examples from the past few days! Put it all together and it's clear that this election cycle is bringing out civic engagement from across the pop-culture map in a way I've never witnessed before.
Of course, I'm biased here. I'm most definitely the kind of guy who loves well-crafted entertainment with political overtones, so of course I'm enjoying all this. (It also helps that I'm a big supporter of Sen. Obama, who's the beneficiary of virtually all these pop-culture PSAs.) But what do you think? What have your favorite celeb endorsements of the season been? Or have you just had enough of all this? Cast your ballot with a comment below...
Here's a confession for my crafty fellow PopWatchers: I'm highly skilled in the art of decoupage. In fact, I've been known to whip up objets 'd arte using a copy of People magazine, a glue stick, and my teenyboppy imagination.
Now as an intern at EW.com, my cube doesn't have an official plastic nametag, so on a recent afternoon, after coming across a small picture of my beloved Justin Timberlake with an actress who's apparently known as Jessica Biel, I decided to remedy the situation; I sized a Facebook-approved photo of myself to fit conveniently over this Biel person's head -- no hard feelings, dear -- and my Faux-to Shopping was the instant horror envy of my co-workers.
I know in my heart I'm not alone in my gluey professions of love for my favorite entertainers. If you've ever sacrificed one celebrity's head to weasel your way up next to another, then it's time to confess your cut and pastes in the comments section below!
Passionate people can be demanding, as we established when we confessed our pop-culture relationship deal breakers. But I do believe that we are also, at least occasionally, capable of extraordinary acts of kindness.
For instance, last night, at the end of a phone conversation with my mother, she said there was something that she wanted my opinion on...
"What do you know about that new Justin Timberlake movie?" she asked.
Instantly, I panicked, because I'm going to be vacationing with my mother next week after that film opens. "The Love Guru?" I answered. "I know I haven't laughed at any of the trailers."
Silence.
"You want to see it, don't you?" I said, with a huff not heard since she told me that we wouldn't be waiting around for the second Air Supply show at DelGrosso's Amusement Park following the rain-out of the first.
"I've never seen Justin Timberlake in a movie. [That's him, pictured, in The Love Guru.] I'd like to see him act."
I must really love my mother — or have had too much wine to drink at dinner — because I said I'd see The Damn Love Guru.
What entertainment-related sacrifices have you made in the name of love (or friendship)?
I've spent the last two decades locked in an oddly Pavlovian relationship with Madonna: She puts out a single, and I start salivating in anticipation of her album release date. So imagine my confusion that upon the release of "4 Minutes," her new duet with Justin Timberlake (pictured, with Madonna, at the latter's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction earlier this month), I'm experiencing symptoms of dry mouth and general ennui. The expected rush of anticipation over her upcoming Hard Candy disc (due April 29), well, it's just not there. So what gives? Listen to the single, "4 Minutes," after the jump, and we'll discuss.
I like my music with lyrics. And piano recordings? They don't typically thrill me. So when I stumbled upon David Sides, a pianist who's covered everything from the ''Star Spangled Banner'' to Kanye West, I was ready to be underwhelmed. Then I watched this version of Justin Timberlake's ''What Goes Around.'' Now I wish I never quit piano. Not that I'd ever be as good as Sides, who, by the way, plays by EAR. The guy can turn songs like ''Buy You a Drank'' and ''Party Like a Rockstar'' into actual symphonies. What do you think? Could his music be even better than the original?
I am decidedly depressed by the news that Justin Timberlake and Britney Spears are both slated to appear during tonight's Los Angeles stop on Madonna's "Sticky & Sweet" tour.
Justin Timberlake's publicist convinces America he's 
Here's a confession for my crafty fellow PopWatchers: I'm highly skilled in the art of decoupage. In fact, I've been known to whip up objets 'd arte using a copy of People magazine, a glue stick, and my teenyboppy imagination.
Passionate people can be demanding, as we established when we confessed 
I've spent the last two decades locked in an oddly Pavlovian relationship with Madonna: She puts out a single, and I start salivating in anticipation of her album release date. So imagine my confusion that upon the release of "4 Minutes," her new duet with Justin Timberlake (pictured, with Madonna, at the latter's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction earlier this month), I'm experiencing symptoms of dry mouth and general ennui. The expected rush of anticipation over her upcoming Hard Candy disc (due April 29), well, it's just not there. So what gives? Listen to the single, "4 Minutes," after the jump, and we'll discuss.
Because when you 
