You’ve probably seen the now-famous image above and others documenting Kevin Federline’s transition from “K-Fed” to “K-Fat,” but with the help of Celebrity Fit Club on VH1, he’s really slimmed down.

According to Yahoo’s OMG, “Most of that fat is apparently in the past now: Federline has reportedly lost 50 pounds as a contestant on the next season of VH1’s Celebrity Fit Club, airing in January..”

The big question now is, what will Britney Spears’ ex do with his slimmed-down form and the exposure he gets on the reality show? Playing with Fire Part II?

Susan Boyle, the big winner of “Britain’s Got Talent” who’s taken YouTube by storm with the video of her first performance of “I Dreamed a Dream” from “Les Miserables,” is celebrating the success of her first album, “I Dreamed a Dream.” According to Billboard:

This past week, Boyle’s “Dream” held on to the No. 1 slot for a second frame with 527,000 — down just 25% — after bowing last week with 701,000. Now, with 1.23 million sold in its first two weeks, “Dream” is chasing after Taylor Swift’s “Fearless” (2.53 million sold this year) for the title of 2009’s best-selling album.

With four sales weeks left in the SoundScan tracking year, and with industry gurus suggesting “Dream” will have yet another blockbuster week, Boyle could overtake Swift’s sales figure by year’s end.

Congratulations, Susan! If you’ve somehow been under an Internet rock for the past few months and missed it, here’s the video that made her n international star:

Carrie Underwood’s “Cowboy Cassanova” warns the ladies against a troublesome cowboy, but she’s definitely not the first girl (or cowgirl) to fall in love and get burned. Here are some other tales of love gone wrong from some formidable female singers…

1. Patsy Cline’s “Walkin’ After Midnight.” This classic heartbreaker about a woman who spends her evening hours looking for the man she loves (who’s nowhere around) is perfect to crank up when your heart is breaking but you haven’t given up yet. Key quote: “I’m lonesome as I can be. I go out walkin’, after midnight out in the moonlight, just hopin’ you may be somewhere a-walkin’ after midnight searching for me.”

2. Alannah Myles’ “Black Velvet.” I’d been singing along with this sultry ballad for ages before realizing that it was a tribute to Elvis and a lament for his passing. Key quote: “Black velvet and that little boy’s smile, Black velvet with that slow southern style, A new religion that’ll bring ya to your knees, Black velvet if you please.”

3. Tracy Chapman’s “Fast Car.” She thought he was going to rescue her from her dead-end life and overwhelming responsibilities, but instead he added to her problems and got her stuck even farther. Key quote: “You stay out drinking late at the bar, See more of your friends than you do of your kids, I’d always hoped for better, Thought maybe together you and me’d find it, I got no plans I ain’t going nowhere, So take your fast car and keep on driving.”

4. Beyonce’s “If I Were a Boy.” Her gender-bending song & video take a fresh approach to pointing out some of the cruel things men do and how odd they would look if a woman were doing them. The end of the video is a real tear-jerker, though. Key quote: “If I were a boy, I would turn off my phone, tell everyone it was broken, so they would think I was sleeping alone.”

5. Lilly Allen’s “Smile.” Ending this list on a slightly upbeat note is Lily Allen’s “take that” to a man who broke her heart by cheating. With help from her friends she has learned to just smile instead of crying when she sees the worm. Key quote: “When you first left me, I didn’t know what to say, I’ve never been on my own that way, Just sat by myself all day.”

This seems like a list that could go on forever. What are your favorite heartbreak songs? What did we miss?

While watching a re-run of VH1’s “100 Greatest Hip Hop Songs” today, Queen Latifah’s “Ladies First” really stood out to me. Her current CoverGirl look (see above) is a pretty dramatic shift from where she was when All Hail The Queen came out in 1988. She’ll be hosting the People’s Choice Awards again in January, and her most recent album, August’s Persona, should give her some good tunes to work with if she sings during the broadcast.

To get a feel for how a strong woman like the Queen can evolve, check out the video for her classic “Ladies First” below…

Devendra Banhart’s new album, “What Will We Be,” came out last week, and Stereogum is offering a free stream of samples from it. If you’re new to Devendra, you might remember him as having dated Natalie Portman and featured her in the video to his trippy song, Carmencita.

Here’s the video for Carmencita, which is pretty cool:

What did you think?

• Estudiantina Castellana’s “Noche de Paz”. If you’re dreaming of a “Blanca Navidad,” this is the album for you.
  
  

  Noche de Paz

• Kate Ceberano’s “Merry Christmas”. Another beautiful woman sings all the sexiest Christmas hits.
  
  

  Merry Christmas

• Johnny Reid’s “Christmas”. Where beautiful women lean towards the sexy Christmas standards, apparently nice-looking young men go for the sentimental favorites. Johnny Reid will be home for Christmas, darnit!
  
  

  Christmas

• A Very Special Christmas 7, by Various Artists. If you’re going to buy just one new Christmas album this year, this is probably it. Leighton Meester, Carrie Underwood, Miley Cyrus, Sean Kingston, and more, come together to sing… basically the same songs you’ll find on the other albums on this list.
  
  

  A Very Special Christmas 7

• Kermit Ruffins’ “Have A Crazy Cool Christmas”. I’ve never heard of Kermit Ruffins before, but I like his name.
  
  

  Have a Crazy Cool Christmas

What are your favorite holiday albums? Have you heard the new Bob Dylan? What did you think?

Justin King, an amazing guitarist and sometimes-war-photographer, has just released his first solo album since the dissolution of his band, The Apologies, a couple of years ago, and the first release he’s created since splitting with Epic Records. Humilitas Occidit Superbiam is available for purchase through iTunes and CDBaby, but you can listen to it for free on his site right now.

Here’s video of Justin performing “Sparrows,” which appears on the new album, in 2007. Enjoy!

While thinking about Thanksgiving and music, the first and most demanding song to make the rounds of being stuck in our heads on a loop was “Thank You” by Led Zeppelin. Before we transition fully into posts about the December holidays and the music they inspire, here’s a last nod to Thanksgiving and the lyrics to this great song:

If the sun refused to shine, I would still be loving you.
If the mountains should crumble to the sea, there would still be you and me.

Kind woman, I give you my all, Kind woman, nothing more.

Little drops of rain whisper of the pain, tears of loves lost in the days gone by.
But my love is strong, with you there is no wrong,
together we shall go until we die. My, my, my.
Inspiration’s what you are to me, inspiration, look… see.

And so today, my world it smiles, your hand in mine, we walk the miles,
Thanks to you it will be done, for you to me are the only one.
Happiness, no more be sad, happiness….I’m glad.
If the sun refused to shine, I would still be loving you.
If the mountains should crumble to the sea, there would still be you and me.

During an athletic performance of her new song “Louboutins,” Lopez walked up the backs of five dancers, who were assembled like steps, then attempted to leap off — and fell right on her rear end.

and

“She walked off the stage absolutely fuming,” an unnamed insider told Fox News. “She was so upset, and ready to kill. Jennifer was a perfectionist about that performance and practiced hard.”

Singer Adam Lambert also made an impression with a performance MTV says divided critics. According to their article:

A kind of mash-up of the top awards-show shock moments from Britney, Madonna and Christina Aguilera over the past 15 years, complete with faux-oral sex (which was edited out of the West Coast feed), S&M play, bondage, crotch-grabbing, same-sex make outs, serial hip-thrusting and even an accidental stumble, Lambert made it clear that he’s not the kind of safe pop star typically churned out by the “Idol” machine.

He also pre-emptively declared that anyone who criticized his display of sexual liberty was endorsing a double standard that says straight women can explore their (bi)sexuality onstage, but gay men can’t. However, not everyone agreed.

The Los Angeles Times’ site features photos of the awards show, including what they call Lambert’s “ultra-lewd” performance.

Taylor Swift was a big winner last night, this time without interruption from Kanye West when accepting any of her five awards, which included the top prize, “Artist of the Year.”

Whitney Houston’s big comeback performance is getting very positive buzz on the Internet. FilmyFair says:

What made Whitney different from the other performers at the AMAs, was the fact that she only let her voice do all the performing – figuratively speaking. She did not get into anything bold, nor headline grabbing worthy nor seductive, but she let her powerful voice win over the audience.

And Gather.com says, “It’s official: the Queen of the Night is back!”

For a complete list of winners and links to their award winning songs, check out the Events section on MetroLyrics.com by clicking HERE!

Did you hear the one about tween star Justin Bieber’s fans causing a near-riot that shut down a Long Island mall? According to the Associated Press:

Police on Long Island had to shut down a mall appearance by teen pop singer Justin Bieber after thousands of young girls showed up, and got a little too wild.

Girls and adults in the Friday crowd of nearly 3,000 started pushing and shoving as they waited for the 15-year-old to show at a clothing store at the Roosevelt Field Mall in Garden City.

Bieber’s appearance was still two hours away when things got out of hand. Five people were taken to hospitals with minor injuries.

The young singer got started by posting videos of himself singing on YouTube, and now he’s shutting down malls and making prime time TV appearances. Here’s a hilarious interview the confident 15-year-old gave E’s Chelsea Handler recently on Chelsea Lately:

Greg Kot of the Chicago Tribune says:

there was hope that “For Your Entertainment” would be the first post-“Idol” debut to break the mold of industry-manicured pap. Instead, it’s a series of hedged bets. It stuffs Lambert into a box of formulas that keep his musical flamboyance in check.

Rob Cavallo, Dr. Luke, Ryan Tedder, Max Martin — among the most successful songwriters and producers of the decade, experts at manipulating the industry machine — keep him firmly in the middle of the road. The most exciting moments arrive when he veers off, little explosions of individuality that suggest Lambert has a lot more to give than this album and his small army of handlers will allow.

Pop & Hiss, the LA Times Music Blog says of the first single from the album:

The first single and title track from Adam Lambert’s soon-to-be-dropped debut album couldn’t be more of an announcement. “For Your Entertainment” strides into the room, snaps its fingers and declares 2010 the year of Our Gorgeously Airbrushed Overlord.

With a toy whip in his hand and a glittery gleam in his eye, Glambert croons familiar phrases about making it hot, getting rough and staying in control. Scandinavian hitmaker Dr. Luke wrote and produced the track, and it has that compressed, noisy rock ‘n’ roll circus sound he’s created for others, including Britney, Pink and that other neo-vaudevillian troublemaker, Katy Perry.

Some Glamthusiasts may bemoan the restraint (and processing) applied to the song’s vocal, but Lambert is making another move in this song, one likely to become a signature. He sings with an arched eyebrow, executing a come-on that wryly takes the pffft out of itself.

And Rolling Stone said of the previews available earlier this month:

Based on the half-minute previews, For Your Entertainment seems to be evenly divided between glam stompers like the title track, “Sure Fire Winners” and “Strut” and big ballads like “Broken Open,” “A Loaded Smile” and “Soaked,” which was written by Muse’s Matt Bellamy and sounds similar to the band’s own “Unintended.” You can definitely hear the influence of Lambert’s all-star songwriters as well. “Music Again,” penned by the Darkness’ Justin Hawkins, serves as a glamtastic opening track that both welcomes listeners to For Your Entertainment and has us wishing the “I Believe In a Thing Called Love” rockers would reform.

What do you think? Are you a member of “Glambert Nation”?

If you liked this video and want to spread it around, you can get the embed code here!

*This post also appears on BlueComet.TV, where new and live music live online.

According to Wikipedia:

Leona Louise Lewis (born 3 April 1985) is an English pop and R&B singer–songwriter. Lewis rose to fame in 2006 as the winner of the third series of the British television series The X Factor.

Lewis has become a multi-platinum selling artist and three time Grammy Award nominee. She has released two albums to date, Spirit and Echo, in 2007 and 2009 respectively. Spirit became the fastest-selling debut album and the biggest seller of 2007 in both the UK and Republic of Ireland, and made Lewis the first British solo artist to top the Billboard 200 with a debut album. Her second album, Echo, was released in November 2009.

Lewis’s debut single “A Moment Like This” became the fastest selling UK single after being downloaded over 50,000 times within thirty minutes of its release. Her second single, “Bleeding Love”, reached number one positions in over thirty singles charts around the world. In November 2008 she set a record in the UK for the fastest selling download-only release with her cover version of the Snow Patrol song “Run” which sold 69,244 copies in two days. In November 2009, the first set of dates for her 2010 debut world tour were announced.

Lewis has sold over 6.5 million albums worldwide.

Her official Website shares this nugget from her past:

For Lewis, making a solo album was the chance to realize a dream she’s had since the tender age of 5, when her parents (father is Guyanese/mother is Welsh) enrolled her into London’s prestigious Sylvia Young Theatre School. Lewis then attended the performing arts academy The BRIT School, where she honed her songwriting and production skills. Encouraged by winning several talent contests as a teen, she left school and took part-time jobs ‘” including working in Pizza Hut as a waitress ‘” to earn money to pay for studio time. ‘It was about doing my music,’ she says. ‘It has always been my passion to be a singer and songwriter.’

Here’s the video to “Happy” off her new album:

5. Bella and Edward, New Moon: If you’ve read the Twilight series you already know that the second installment is not pretty for America’s current favorite vampire/mortal lovers.

4. Michael Scott and Pam’s Mom, The Office: How would you feel if your boss was dating your mom & broke up with her on her birthday?

3. Rihanna and Chris Brown: She finally spoke out about the whole thing recently. What did you think?

2. Everyone, the new Melrose Place: This is not the best place to meet your perfect spouse.

1. Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt: I guess you have to give these two credit for knowing how to get themselves in the media (even here), but wouldn’t it be nice if they just went away?

- Hung Up by Madonna
- SexyBack by Justin Timberlake
- Groove is in the Heart by Deee-Lite
- Cyclone by Baby Bash
- Womanizer by Britney Spears
- Bad Romance by Lady GaGa
- My Humps by The Black Eyed Peas
- Umbrella by Rhianna
- Single Ladies by Beyonce
- Fever by Kylie Minogue
- Momma’s Boy by Chromeo

Thus concludes the road trip playlist series. What would you put on your fantasy road trip playlist? We know we left out a ton!