Beyonce’s HBO Documentary, Kelly Clarkson’s Battle with Clive Davis and Baauer’s “Harlem Shake” Got Our Readers Talking

Bradley Stern | February 22, 2013 5:30 pm

2013 has already been a huge year for Beyonce.

After making headlines with her not-so-live performance at the Presidential Inauguration last month, as well as her electrifying (and briefly blackout-inducing!) performance at the Super Bowl halftime show, Bey premiered her HBO documentary, Life Is But A Dream this past weekend, which got the Beyhive (and critics) buzzing. It was a dream within a dream for some of you, but for others, it was more like a perfect nightmare.

While Bey was busy running the world, Kelly Clarkson was gearing up to go to war with her longtime arch-nemesis Clive Davis, defending her music and her integrity as an artist in a scathing open letter to the record exec heard ’round the world—something you guys definitely loved. Adam Lambert took on Rihanna‘s “Stay” live in concert which had every single Glambert shaking and crying, while Mimi ditched the whisper notes (finally!) and premiered her triumphant new single, “Almost Home.”

On the charts, Baaeur‘s viral smash “Harlem Shake” burst onto the Billboard Hot 100 at #1 on Wednesday, all thanks to a new calculation system that includes YouTube views which got many of you shaking…with anger.

:: Here Lies Discernment didn’t think Bey’s documentary brought the goods on Beyonce’s ‘Life Is But A Dream’: Watch The Full HBO Documentary: “I like Beyonce’s music, but this was souped up too much. Over promised under delivered. No hate just truth, maybe next time. This was a glorified promo show.”

:: Neither did Kristen, who found the whole thing to be fake on Beyonce’s ‘Life is But A Dream’ HBO Documentary: Review Revue: “It was difficult to watch someone become so narcissistic and out of touch with reality. She doesn’t have an ounce of humility or authenticity. Humanity is worse off since the rise of Beyonce corp.”

:: Chelly was more into the Bey documentary: “It was nice and refreshing, but nothing we didn’t already know. I give it a 3.”

:: But Clay thought Beyonce was more of a Bey-bot: “Solid 2 out of 5 stars. Trying to humanize a machine…mission not accomplished.”

:: Jile went in on Clive Davis on Kelly Clarkson Blasts Clive Davis In Letter To Fans, adding: “He is the exact definition of that shady LA executive that promises a new life, whilst shoving the contract & pen in your hand to sign the dotted line without reading anything. Let’s just host a party in the same place a supposed friend, Whitney, died just hours earlier.”

:: Danny, too, had some choice words for Clive Davis on Clive Davis Responds To Kelly Clarkson’s Accusations In New Statement: “KC and Clive’s creative differences ended up becoming a HUGE success for her. It just comes down to an out of touch weirdo that is stuck in the 90′s. Look how old he is. I wouldn’t want him as a go to person to make my music.”

:: Glamberts everywhere rejoiced over Adam’s cover of RiRi’s “Stay,” as did Davion on Adam Lambert Covers Rihanna’s “Stay”: Watch: “Absolutely beautiful, there is so much color in his voice, it like a Monet painting. This begs for more.”

:: Adam even won himself some new fans, like Trimmah: “I was not an Adam Lambert fan. I listened to him sing this song and my mouth fell open, literally!”

:: Mimi’s “Almost Home” caused the Lambily to go nuts, and Jason provided some insight on Mariah Carey’s “Almost Home”: Hear The Legitimately Great & Powerful Track : “When I heard the 30 second preview I was so relieved. A different production team, a different sound, and finally, that voice! I thoroughly enjoy the song but have to point out to those saying it’s a little middle of the road, it’s for a Disney soundtrack. It’s not going to be a signature Mariah song; that being said, I think it’s great.”

:: When Billboard announced its new tallying system, Nolisha K Fairfax-Westwood weighed the pros and (mostly) cons of the decision on Sound Off: Does Baauer’s “Harlem Shake” #1 Mean Billboard Should Be Factoring YouTube Into The Charts?: “Yes and no.
 Yes, if there is a way to tell how many times one PC listened to a song. If someone is spamming a vid for views it will be easy to throw the vote…In all honesty alot of these viral videos are garbage and not award worthy. In fact its actually becoming an embarrassment to say ‘I’m a musician.'”

:: MM feared the long-run consequences on Baauer’s “Harlem Shake” Debuts At #1 On Hot 100, Which Now Factors In YouTube Streams, explaining: “I don’t want to get ahead of myself, but I feel like this new rule will just encourage record labels to make worse and worse music so that it becomes viral videos. Even if they don’t, but just focus more on making great music videos, I still feel like that is unfair to the musicians who are doing this for the music. Who won’t be able to crack the top of the charts because they haven’t spent $2 million on a video, or don’t want to release a silly song or dumb video to get hits.”

:: But HELLO held the bleakest outlook: “Music is officially 6 feet under. RIP.”