Blog Posts by Lyndsey Parker

additional reporting by Tiffany Lee

photo: Kevin Winter/Getty Images"American Idol" has held songwriting competitions before--the Season 6 and 7 coronation singles were penned by contest winners, and two years ago, the show launched the "Coca-Cola Perfect Harmony" program, which enlists fans to help pen a new, original tune to be performed by a pop star on each "Idol" finale. Taio Cruz participated in the program in Season 10; last year's "Perfect Harmony" pop star was Jason Derulo; and this season's just-announced participant is Carly Rae Jepsen. Carly's involvement is an especially interesting full-circle moment, since she got her first big break via the "Idol" machine, placing third on "Canadian Idol" in 2007.

"It's really crazy to me," Carly tells Reality Rocks. "I was on 'Canadian Idol' back in the day, so it's going to be very strange. I would've never thought, auditioning for 'Canadian Idol' way back when, that one day I would be on the season finale of 'American Idol'! It's very, very cool to me! It's just amazing to be part of the whole 'Idol' thing."

The "American Idol" top nine covered the songs of Lennon & McCartney this week, which regular "Idol" viewers know is almost NEVER a good idea. The young contestants often embarrass themselves by freely revealing their lack of familiarity with the greatest band of all time, the Beatles (which I personally think is grounds for immediate disqualification), and even the ones who own a well-worn copy of The White Album usually pale (no pun intended) in comparison to the almighty Fab Four.

"It's really hard to go wrong when you have the entire Beatles catalog to choose from," Mariah Carey attested this Wednesday, totally incorrectly. Lots can go wrong, apparently. (And if the contestants had access to the Beatles' entire catalog, then they would've been able to sing George Harrison- and even Ringo Starr-penned songs, too, not just Lennon & McCartney compositions. Duh.) In-house "Idol" advisor Jimmy Iovine put it much better when he explained the risk involved with this week's theme, saying, "If you don't sing these songs well, the whole world is gonna know." Or at least the people in the world who are still watching "Idol."

Suzanna Choffel at Yahoo!Season 4 of "The Voice" is about to kick off with some serious singing talent, but I'm still holding a teensy-tiny grudge against the show for eliminating promising songstress Suzanna Choffel so early in last season's game. The Austin-bred, Brooklyn-based music teacher was one of my favorite contestants of Season 3, and even though the contestant who outlasted her in the Knockout Rounds, Cassadee Pope, ultimately went on to become the latest "Voice" winner, I still wish Suzanna had been in the finale as well.

But good things have been happening for Suzanna since she left "The Voice," and when she recently returned to Los Angeles to play a special show opening for Emeli Sande and Skylar Grey, she swung by Yahoo! HQ to perform a few acoustic originals for our staff. Let's hope there's more talent as fab as this on Season 4 of "The Voice," which premieres March 25!

photo: NBC

Last year, NBC, home of the unstoppable "Voice," announced its controversial decision to cancel its other, more underrated vocal competition, a cappella talent show "The Sing-Off." It was the day the a cappella music died. But the show's cast members and diehard fans didn't go without a fight: Judges Ben Folds, Shawn Stockman (of Boyz II Men), and Sara Bareilles, along with host Nick Lachey, all took to their Twitter accounts to mobilize viewers to #SaveTheSingOff, and a grass-roots campaign, led by former contestants Street Corner Symphony, was soon fully underway. Shawn was especially vocal (no pun intended), even posting a link to a petition asking NBC to reinstate the show and encouraging fans to use "power of social media" to keep the beloved cult show on the air.

And now, it seems that NBC execs have listened to those judges and fans--or have at least taken notice of the success of "Sing-Off" Season 3 champs Pentatonix and the a cappella movie Pitch Perfect--because they've excitingly decided to resurrect "The Sing-Off" for a fourth season, back in its old Christmas mini-series format.

Season 10's Sarah Sellers [photo: Justin Goode]Season 10 "American Idol" alum and cool food blogger Sarah Sellers has been posting her viewing-party snack recipes in Reality Rocks for two "Idol" seasons now, and she's back this year to get your mouth watering every night of Season 12. Tonight, the top nine finalists will tackle the catalog of Lennon & McCartney, so Sarah is paying homage to the two Beatles' roots with a little British cuisine.

"The Voice" has had a long history of alums with serious showbiz experience--Season 1 winner Javier Colon was once signed to Capitol Records and fronted the Derek Trucks Band; Season 2 winner Jermaine Paul was Alicia Keys's backup singer; and reigning champion Cassadee Pope used to sing for the Pete Wentz-championed Decaydence/Columbia Records emo-pop band Hey Monday. But one Blind Auditioner for "The Voice" Season 4, which premieres in less than a week, just may have the most impressive résumé yet. And she just may be the next "Voice" winner.

Regular readers of Reality Rocks know I loved me some Cody Belew, the flamboyant rodeo soulman from Season 3 of "The Voice." The night he went home, after defying all odds to make it all the way to the top eight, was a sad night for me indeed. But happily, Cody is now bringing back the bam-bam with his brand-new video, "Baby Get Out."

Looks like Simon Cowell has found "The One"!Eternal bachelor Simon Cowell has finally taken the plunge and made an honest woman out of the love of his life: himself.