Judge laments that 'a lot of kids [went] home who deserved to be there.'
By Kara Warner

"American Idol" season 10 top 13 at the top 13 after-party
Photo: FOX

The first elimination show of the new season of "American Idol" has come and gone in history-making fashion. Host Ryan Seacrest announced on the show Thursday (Mar 3) that around 40 million votes were cast, narrowing the field of 24 hopefuls to 10 contestants, the biggest cuts in the show's history. Three more wild card contestants sang for their lives and were later added by judges Steven Tyler, Jennifer Lopez and Randy Jackson to make a top 13.

When MTV News caught up with the involved parties at Fox's afterparty to celebrate the "Idol" finalists, there were feelings of relief, joy and, for one judge, discomfort.

"Ugh. It was awful!" Lopez said of the deliberation that went on between the judges to select the three wild cards at the end of the show. "It was so tough. It was so hard, even up until the very last second. It was like, wait a minute, we really didn't know who to choose at the last minute. It could have gone any way. Even when we did it, when we announced it, we were like, 'Did we do the right thing?' I don't know."

Lopez went on to say that there was not really a right or wrong with so many talented contestants in the mix this year. "[We] were going to send somebody home that maybe deserved to be there," she said. "Probably a lot of kids [went] home who deserved to be there."

Stefano Langone snagged one of the lucky three wild card spots with his rendition of Smokie Norful's "I Need You Now," a decision he said he made for several reasons.

"I knew if it got to the point where I had to sing for the wild card, that I'd be singing for my life," Langone explained. "I needed a song that I'd done prior to this point that was the absolute perfect song for my voice, to show my soul, everything that I have, everything I could bring to the table as a musician."

Despite the anxiety involved in singing for his life, Langone said it was a great experience. "I had to work for that spot. I had to work to where I wanted to be, and I feel really blessed to have gotten that. I'm so thankful and honored and blessed. It's a dream."

Fellow wild-card winner Naima Adedapo felt the same way about her song choice, Donny Hathaway's "For All We Know."

"It really talks about what I wanted to talk about," she said. "That is, 'Love me tonight. I need you to put me through tonight. Let me show you who I am.' "

Adedapo added that hearing her name called as part of the top 13 had her almost floating on air.

"Words can't really express it, but it's like a high," she said. "It's like being elevated somewhere. I feel like I wasn't even on earth anymore, I just kind of was happy and in the moment. I felt like I had an opportunity to really show them how much I really want it."

Don't miss "Idol Party Live" at 10 p.m. Thursdays on MTV.com, following the "American Idol" results show, for analysis, celebrity guests and even some karaoke — get in the conversation by tweeting with the hashtag #idolparty! In the meantime, get your "Idol" fix on MTV News' "American Idol" page, where you'll find all the latest news, interviews and opinions.

• 'Idol Party Live' With MTV News' Jim Cantiello

• 'American Idol' Season 10 Performances
• 'American Idol' Season 10 Top 24

• Jennifer Lopez

Kim Yoon jin Scarlett Chorvat

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Hold It Against Me

• Artist: Britney Spears
• Label: Jive, Zomba Label Group
• Director: Jonas Akerlund

Jessica Paré Alexis Bledel Lucy Liu Mila Kunis Paige Butcher

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Christina DaRe Adriana Lima Poppy Montgomery Amber Valletta Nicollette Sheridan

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Anna Kournikova Bonnie Jill Laflin Rachel Hunter Anna Faris Taylor Swift

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2010 BET Awards Show Highlights

• Queen Latifah
• Alicia Keys
• Kanye West
• Drake
• Nicki Minaj

Missi Pyle Alessandra Ambrosio Christina DaRe Adriana Lima Poppy Montgomery

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2011 Pre-Grammy Celebrations

• Usher

Thalía Amanda Peet Shannon Elizabeth Jennie Finch Malin Akerman

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Femme Fatale's second single was penned by Ke$ha.
By Jocelyn Vena

Photo: Jive

Britney Spears' new single, "Till the World Ends," sounds poised to be a club smash. The Ke$ha-written, Dr. Luke/Max Martin-produced track was posted by Perez Hilton on Thursday afternoon (March 3), after speculation earlier in the day that the song would hit radio next week.

"Till the World Ends" is a swirling, "beat the beat" track, ready for late nights spent "dancing till the world ends" as she sings on the fast-paced party jam. "This kitten got your tongue tied in knots I see/ Spit it out 'cause I'm dying for company," a confident Spears purrs.

As the song slows for a moment — during a break before she moves her way to the chorus — she sings, "I can't take it take it take no more/ Never felt like felt like this before/ Come on get me get me on the floor/ DJ, what you what you waiting for?" she teases.

The beat chugs in the background as synths play with Spears' sex-kitten delivery of lines like "Watch me move/ When I lose, when I lose it hard/ Get you off with a touch/ Dancing in the dark.

"See the sunlight/ We ain't stopping/ Keep on dancing till the world ends/ If you feel it/ Let it happen/ Keep on dancing till the world ends," she sings as the song breaks down, fading out for a brief moment (revealing her signature breathiness), and then coming back in as she repeats those final lines again to close the song.

Ke$ha recently dished about the track to Spin.com, noting that it is about the power of an artist performing a great gig. "That song is me imagining her and any female musician touring the world," she said. "You know, when you go out, and you're having an amazing, magical night and you don't want to go to sleep and you want it to last until the world ends."

"Till the World Ends" is the second single from Femme Fatale, set to drop March 29. Its lead single, "Hold It Against Me," was an equally club-friendly jam by Luke and Martin, who are overseeing production on the album.

Give your review of "Till the World Ends" in the comments below!

• Britney Spears
• Ke$ha

Rose McGowan Hayden Panettiere Penélope Cruz Nikki Reed Lindsay Price

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Lindsay Lohan Diane Kruger Olivia Wilde Georgina Grenville Emma Watson

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Chelsea Handler Rachael Leigh Cook Miranda Kerr Thandie Newton Victoria Silvstedt

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Britney Spears In V Magazine

• Britney Spears

Rihanna Jordana Brewster Michelle Obama Kelly Clarkson Angelina Jolie

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He?s everywhere you look these days, and Charlie Sheen is convinced he will be back on ?Two and Half Men? very soon.

The ?Hot Shots? actor told, "Absolutely the gig's coming back, and I have absolute faith in that. Not hope, because hope is for suckers," Sheen said on Philadelphia-based Wired 96.5's Chio and Shila in the Morning Show.

"I see us back on the air with a few adjustments, and giving the people not only what they want, but what they deserve, which is loyalty,? he added.

"It feels like we're getting close to something. I don't want to say what. But it just feels like the worm is turning, it feels like all parties myself excluded are finally waking up," Sheen went on. "It's like some hot springs in Middle Earth are finally ready to explode outward and say, 'Here is it, here it is, embrace this man, embrace this man.'"

Carla Gugino Krista Allen Abbie Cornish Amy Smart Noureen DeWulf

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Good news Kristen Stewart fans, it is being reported that the actress is in final negotiations to play the title role in ?Snow White and the Huntsman.?

According to reports, the ?Twilight? babe is working out some kinks before making the official announcement.

Last month, it was rumored that Selena Gomez was also being considered for the part, but Gossip Cop is confident that Stewart is the only in the running for the role.

Charlize Theron and Viggo Mortensen are also set to star in the film.

Giuliana DePandi Radha Mitchell Lorri Bagley Maria Menounos Jolene Blalock

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Maria Sharapova Whitney Able Jenny McCarthy Reese Witherspoon Chyler Leigh

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Patricia Velásquez Magdalena Wróbel Amy Cobb Trista Rehn January Jones

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But is it here to stay? Our music-industry experts weigh in.
By Akshay Bhansali

Ke$ha
Photo: Andreas Rentz/ Getty Images

In 2010, pop princesses, R&B icons and chart-dominating newcomers all danced to the same beat. Not only did dance music go pop, but pop music caught the club-music bug.

Between Katy Perry's "Firework," Ke$ha's "We R Who We R," Rihanna's "Only Girl (In the World)," Enrique Iglesias' "I Like It," Usher's "DJ Got Us Fallin' in Love" and "OMG" and countless other singles, established artists definitely looked to dance beats for surefire hits. And two of this year's biggest success stories in music were Jason Derülo and Taio Cruz; could there be a soul left in this country who hasn't heard "Dynamite" or "In My Head"?

The love went both ways, with dance music's biggest stars finding mainstream success this year. Dance-music maestro deadmau5 took up house-artist duties at this year's VMAs, and Swedish House Mafia and Usher teamed up for a medley of their gems at the American Music Awards.

So how did this happen? We caught up with some music-industry experts to get their takes.

"You definitely saw tempos go up this year," Jon Caramanica of The New York Times told MTV News. "And I think what you had are a lot of producers who are really familiar with nightclub stuff. They are familiar with Europe. Things are happening on a more global scale now."

"I think everything from Europe, and sometimes even Asia, it comes to America, and we just adopt things a little bit slower," said Jared Eng of JustJared.com. "I think it was just a change. People like different types of music at different times. And dance was of this moment."

Noah Callahan of Complex magazine added: "I think 2010 saw the merging of the pop and dance genres. Pop artists realized that there were best practices that could be borrowed from dance music. And, ultimately, [all] pop music that has been made in the past 20 years had ended up being remixed for the club by dance artists. I think they basically just cut out the middleman and went straight there."

Dance music being introduced into the hip-hop and R&B realms was particularly notable this year.

"I think David Guetta kind of at the end of last year and the beginning of this year spearheaded it," said freelance writer Julianne Escobedo Shepherd. "He produced a lot of tracks. I think as trends go, people revile 'unst-unst.' But it's just coming back around. Big-room techno was a way for people to get decadent in a year that no one could get decadent."

"You have someone like will.i.am, who's like, 'Well, I spent all this time in Ibiza, and this is what they are doing,' and he wants to find a way to bring that into his music," Caramanica said of the Black Eyed Peas mastermind. "R&B especially became dance music. And especially with your Jason Derülos, Taio Cruzes. Guys like that would have literally been blocked at the border two years ago. That would not have made it through customs. And now all of a sudden they have #1 songs. I think will.i.am had a lot to do with that last year."

Elliott Wilson of RapRadar.com added: "It's actually even affected hip-hop. I was talking to Q-Tip, and his next record, I feel like that's gonna kind of go in that vein. I know that was also Jay-Z's thought process with Blueprint 3 at first, that he wanted to make a little bit more of a world music [vibe], a little more dancey. I think the kids today want to go to the clubs. They wanna have a good time. They wanna dance. So I think the artists of today are trying to kind of feed that audience."

"I think it's caught on this year because the people who've done it have been successful," offered Clover Hope of Vibe magazine. "Like 'OMG,' with usher, he didn't have success until he made a dance record. He had 'There Goes My Baby' and these really, like, adult-contemporary records that didn't really catch on. And then once you see that everybody is doing it and that people are liking it, they are like, 'OK, let me just try this out.' It's like Auto-Tune. Like, 'Let me see what I sound like on a record by David Guetta.' They end up liking it and doing more of it."

So does the club-music trend have staying power. According to our tastemakers, not so much.

"I do think it's a blip," Caramanica said. "I don't think that's gonna be something that lasts in America. I think this is gonna be a moment we'll all look back on and go, 'Wasn't that weird when Jason Derülo and Taio Cruz had #1 records?"

"At some point, these R&B artists will get kind of sick of it and be like, 'Let me go back to my soul background,' " Hope said. "When you actually have to say something, dance doesn't really lend itself to substance. And I think that R&B artists, they really want to talk about love and in a deep way, and to do that, you need to do, like, a soul or a traditional R&B record. I want to say that it's kind of a fad."

"I think music is very cyclical," Eng offered. "So I think dance music might be here for a little bit, but I'm sure it will phase out at some point."

Wilson called dance music "the sound of today. I think that people want more aggressive, faster beats, and I think that that probably has legs until at least next summer."

What do you think? Is dance music here to stay? Let us know in the comments!

• Stories Of 2010

• Usher
• Ke$ha

Marika Dominczyk Sarah Polley Sunny Mabrey Willa Ford Jamie Gunns

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New York's 2010 Summer Jam Lineup

• Usher
• Drake
• Nicki Minaj
• Ludacris

Kate Walsh Saira Mohan Kate Moss Rosario Dawson Rose Byrne

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