Blog Posts by Lyndsey Parker

While many contestants from the "X Factor" franchise--like America's Chris Rene, Marcus Canty, and Rachel Crow, and the U.K.'s Cher Lloyd, Rebecca Ferguson, and Little Mix--continue to make inroads with their music, the darkly beautiful new tunes from "The X Factor U.K.'s" Aiden Grimshaw may comprise my favorite "X Factor" output yet. Aiden was a Dannii Minogue-mentored contestant on the seventh season of "The X Factor U.K." (the same season that spawned Cher, Rebecca, and of course, One Direction), and while he disappointingly only placed ninth, he thankfully secured a record deal with RCA/Syco anyway--and now his debut album, Misty Eye, is about to get some serious rotation in my iPod.

Mia Michaels returnsAfter going on hiatus for two frustrating weeks (rather than go toe-to-pointe-toe with NBC's prime-time Olympics coverage), "So You Think You Can Dance" finally returned to Fox this Wednesday. And the remaining 14 dancers faced a truly Olympian challenge: recreating (and, ideally, even topping) the iconic routines of "SYTYCD's" most beloved genius choreographer, Madame Mia Michaels, as originally danced by some of the series' most beloved contestants (like Katee Shean, Twitch Boss, even Travis Wall). So the pressure was on. Anything less than total murderation would basically be unacceptable.

photo: Todd Oren / WireImageCongratulations, Spencer Pratt. You are officially no longer The Worst Reality TV Singer Of All Time. That (dis)honor now goes to MTV D-lister Farrah Abraham, of "Teen Mom" semi-fame, whose inappropriately titled debut single, "Finally Getting Up From Rock Bottom," puts her atop this list for 2012--and possibly in the recording hall of shame for life. Congratulations also go out to "Jersey Shore's" the Situation, because with the deserved addition of Farrah to this countdown, Sitch (who squeezed in at number 10 last year with his eponymous rap abomination, "The Situation") has been fist-pumped right off the list.

More than three years after his season of "American Idol" ended, Adam Lambert's hair, both on his head and on his face, remains the hot topic of much online debate. Elvis hair or emo hair? Blue Manic Panic stripe or Vanilla Ice stripes? Clip-on ponytail or no? Goatee or beard-free? There was even one time when he tweeted a pic of the side of his head freshly shaved, and Twitter basically exploded. Well, the engineers over at Twitter better have some backup servers in place, just in case, now that the forever-shapeshifting Glamerican Idol has just tweeted another photo of what may be his most extreme follicle makeover yet.

The Muppets take over "The Voice"If there was one thing that could improve upon "The Voice's" Adam/Xtina/Blake/Cee Lo formula, it would be having the judges rendered in puppet form. (I am a steadfast believer that puppets make everything better, and my obsession with all things felt has been well-documented in the past.) The geniuses over at "Sesame Street" recently posted a preview of their new "Voice" parody, and it's just as adorable and amazing as one might expect.

The Muppet Christina is infinitely more likable than the flesh-and-blood one. The Carson Daly puppet seems more lifelike and charismatic than the real guy. Oddly, there's no Adam Levine puppet...but otherwise, this clip is just about perfect. There's even a Muppet version of Cee Lo's feline mascot, Purrfect!

photo: NBCAfter cryptically tweeting recently that she was ready to quit "America's Got Talent," Sharon Osbourne officially announced her resignation from "AGT" this week, after a seven-season run. While at first fans might have assumed that she was leaving due to some sort of feud with new judge Howard Stern, it turns out her feud is actually with NBC executives, over what she claims was discrimination against her ailing son, Jack. And now Sharon has made her war with the network public, via a slew of typically outspoken, scathing comments to The New York Post. It seems hell hath no fury like a mama Osbourne scorned.

With reigning "American Idol" champ Phillip Phillips's coronation single, "Home," recently certified gold and back at number one on the iTunes charts thanks to some prominent placement in NBC's Olympics coverage, the release of the song's official music video could not be better timed. It also couldn't be better suited to Phillip's casual, unpretentious persona, as it features a couple of lovable dogs, some grainy road-trip footage, plenty of P-Squared jamming, and even his real-life girlfriend, Hannah Blackwell.

photo: Kevin Winter/ Getty ImagesForbes magazine released its list of the World's Highest-Paid DJs this week, and while most of the top 10 entries are big names on the electronic dance music scene--Skrillex, Swedish House Mafia, David Guetta, Steve Aoki, Deadmau5--one of these names is most definitely not like the others. Sitting pretty, and lucratively, in the number seven spot is none other than "Jersey Shore" star Pauly D, who makes a fist-pumping (or some might actually say depressing) $11 million a year for his DJing appearances. That sort of money can buy a lot of hair gel and tanning-booth visits.