The Voice's Melanie Martinez on 'Toxic', Xtina Critiques and Weird Onstage Talk of Her Ex

Melanie Martinez’s first crack at covering “Toxic” started as a joke. “My friends were like, ‘You should learn a Britney Spears song’ — because I’m so different from that,” recalls the 17-year-old contestant on Season 3 of The Voice. “So I started singing ‘Toxic’ one day, did different little things to it and that’s how my version came around. It was kind of a random process.” READ MORE

The Voice's Amanda Brown on Grace Potter Covers, Distracting Dancers and 'Dream On'

When Amanda Brown covered both Aretha Franklin and Whitesnake for Top 6 performance night on The Voice, her coach Adam Levine raved about her versatility. But the 27-year-old former background singer for Adele says she hopes to to make it par for the course to fuse soulful vocals with edgy rock sounds as she embarks on her post-show career.

“It’s funny: Two of my favorite artists are …READ MORE

The Voice's Cody Belew Talks 'Jolene' Twist, Mad Max Jackets and How He's Like…Seinfeld?

Cody Belew may have blown a couple of minds when he performed Beyoncé’s “Crazy in Love” during Season 3 of The Voice — complete with outrageous leather jacket, bad-ass boots and end-of-song hip swivelrie — but in his mind, it was a perfect opportunity to “focus-group what America was willing to digest.”

And when he breezed into the next round, the 27-year-old Arkansas native took it as a direct message. READ MORE

The Voice's Dez Duron on Sex-Symbol Labels, Bieber Covers and 'Feeling Good' Comparisons

Few artists on The Voice have worked the stage as hard — or as thoroughly — as Dez Duron. “I’m an entertainer, man. My favorite thing is to sing live. The music just kind of flows through me, and I can’t help but move,” says the Season 3 Top 8 finisher. “I thrive off of the audience response. I thrive off the beat. When you see me moving around, it’s just an outward expression of what I’m feeling inwardly.” READ MORE

X Factor's Lyric Da Queen on Eye Patches, Mary Poppins and Miley — Plus: Bonus Freestyle Rap!

If a year ago, you’d told Flint, MI-based rapper Lyric Da Queen that she’d be covering a Miley Cyrus party anthem on national television, she’d have laughed in your face. But after landing in one of Simon Cowell’s patched-together groups on The X Factor, Lyric (along with her cohorts Jemelle “Melee” Joseph and Julien “Jewlz” Joseph) got in touch with her inner Disney diva — and wound up being labeled a “superstar” by Cowell and his adviser Marc Anthony. READ MORE

Fall TV Preview: Raising Hope Plans a Bear Attack, a Funeral and an Apocalyptic Christmas

Fall TV Preview

Fox’s Raising Hope wrapped its sophomore run with the happiest of accidents: Hope’s serial-killer mom (played by Bijou Phillips) was mowed down by a bus while attempting to stab Sabrina (Shannon Woodward) with a giant knife.

And while executive producer Greg Garcia won’t rule out a return appearance from the show’s murderous mama — “I certainly haven’t seen her body,” he teases — there are …READ MORE

SYTYCD's Cyrus Spencer on Superhero Dreams, Slo-Mo Running and Nigel's Tough Comments

Cyrus “Glitch” Spencer arrived at Vegas Week for Season 9 of So You Think You Can Dance, and suddenly felt very small. “Everybody else was so good,” he explains. And while he’d wanted to take some classes in between his initial audition and the boot-camp-style callbacks, Cyrus says that …READ MORE

SYTYCD Winner Chehon Wespi-Tschopp on Tough Judging and the Meaning of 'The Suitcase'

Chehon Wespi-Tschopp was well aware that most of his ballet-world contemporaries would think him crazy for abandoning a lead role in the touring production of Twyla Tharp’s Come Fly Away for a chance to audition for So You Think You Can Dance, but he saw it a different way. READ MORE

SYTYCD Champ Eliana Girard Talks 'Bang Bang,' Pole-Dancing and Triple-Threat Dreams

So You Think You Can Dance‘s Season 9 co-champion Eliana Girard says that her decision to quit a steady job as an aerialist with Cirque du Soleil and audition for a reality competition was the best choice she’s ever made, but by far the scariest. READ MORE