Butt Implants: The Search For Perfection!

Check out this good read from MTV\’s Wrap Up:

I’m sure most of you are aware of the young British girl who flew to Philadelphia recently for butt implants. 20-year-old Claudia Seye Aderotimi flew to America for the surgery, which was performed in a hotel. It turns out that Claudia found the procedure online and opted to travel to the States as it was a cheaper option in comparison to getting the cosmetic injections here in the UK. The fact that Claudia would agree to the procedure being completed in a hotel tells a sad story of how some women would go to such lengths to search for perfection…

Claudia described herself as a “*Model* Actress* Singer* Dancer* Doctor* that’s about it*” on her Twitter page. I looked at her feed and it was clear to see that she wanted to be involved in the entertainment world as a tweet on January 12 read, “I wanna be Famous.”

This case has further highlighted the lengths that young women will go to in order to gain fame. It’s even sadder when a tweet that the 20-year-old typed, said: “G.R.O.D.T. GET RICH OR DIE TRYING.” Sometimes you can’t blame young girls who chase the dream of the perfect image; because they see people they look up to in the entertainment world having surgeries of their own.

You only have to look at one of the most successful female rappers in hip-hop, Lil Kim. It would appear the rapper has had a number of surgeries, ranging from skin lightening to cheek implants. When looking at before and after pictures, you wouldn’t be blamed for thinking she is a totally different person to the Kim that we were introduced to back in the early 90s.

Lil Kim’s last album came in 2005 and since then the rap world hasn’t seen another queen of hip-hop, but all has changed thanks to Nicki Minaj, some would say. Born Onika Tanya Maraj, the femcee is said to have had butt implants of her own, as well as a nose job and breast implants. So with such big stars in the mainstream media going under the knife in order for them to find perfection, it’s not hard to see why some women lean towards surgeries of their own.

As well as Nicki and Kim, there are many other artists who have had plastic surgeries and most have been well documented in the media. There are also the hip-hop music videos, which seem to cast a certain type of female – the women known as ‘video vixens’. One of the most successful vixens is Vida Guerra, who has had a very successful career due to being cast in various hip-hop videos and has gone on to be a model. Vida is said to have had plastic surgery, with breast enlargement.

These women seem to be looked down on in the videos, as a lot of the time they are wearing close to nothing and are simply there for the male gaze. Young females look to music videos as an entry level into higher grounds, such as film, modelling or singing. However, as with Claudia, you can see that there are sacrifices to be made in order to reach what is seen as perfection in the media’s eyes.

Rihanna is someone who has seen her latest video for ‘S&M’ being heavily criticised. It’s been banned in some countries, while only being played at certain times in others. Not to mention the radio edits and playing restrictions, as well as the YouTube controversy. However, even though there is a lot of criticism towards the video, it is this that brings a lot of publicity, which has worked in favour of the artist.

The album just climbed back up to number 5 on the US Billboard chart and the song has already reached number 1 in some countries, while continuing to climb the charts worldwide. The 22-year-old singer is aware of her young fans and knows they look up to her, so you would think she would tone down her image at times, but it seems she is getting more and more sexual as time moves on.

It is said that sex sells, and yes, even Marks & Spencer’s use it in their adverts with food that looks almost too good to eat. However, the entertainment industry needs to take a good look at itself and see that there are many cases, like Claudia’s, of young girls going after a definition of ‘perfection’ which has been fed to them through media and things have not gone accordingly. She was only 20 years old and had her whole life to look forward to, but in the end, sadly her life was lost after chasing the dream. Something needs to be done, and fast in order for young girls to be happy with who they are, rather than trying to be someone else.

Words: Brady Kinghorn (@BradyLondon)

Well Done Cher Lloyd!

Ok, I have to be completely honest; I’m not Cher Lloyd’s biggest fan. Her first audition was amazing, but everything after that has been pretty below par. I’m just not a fan of the whole rapping thing. Last week she butchered Blackstreet’s “NoDiggity” and the previous week she traumatized Jay-Z’s “Hard Knock Life” – yet still getting huge praise from the judges. Simon Cowell’s just thinking of all $$$ he’s gonna make from her when the show’s finished.

But with that said, last night I have to take my hat off to Cher, her rendition of “Stay” by Shakespears Sister was AMAZING. The emotion, the vocals and she didn’t rap. You have to give credit where it’s due, so well done Cher Lloyd, you killed it – and I mean that in a good way. Shoot, I mean that in a great way. You did FANTASTIC girl!

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying she can’t rap. Her rapping is OK, she’s got the swag going on, but when she portrays herself as this rapper, it just doesn’t work for me. I think she should focus more on the singing, and of course she’s a young who loves urban music, so she should incorporate bits of rap in her songs, from time to time. But overall sing more and rap less, because last night I think she put herself back in the running as a SERIOUS potential winner.

And surprisingly Katie Waissel’s growing on me too –wowza, it’s all getting a little crazy up in here. I also like One Direction, Rebecca, Matt and Tesco Mary.

Cher Lloyd Performs ‘Stay’ – X-Factor Live

X-Factor: Anastasia Disses Cher LLoyd!

This is the exact definition of a sore loser. Where’s your dignity girl?

Ditched X-Factor wannabe Anastasia spoke with The Sun newspaper and went on a complete tirade against Cher Lloyd. I actually really liked Anastasia and felt bad for her that she didn’t get through, especially how it was her FIFTH time auditioning. And to honest I wasn’t too keen on Cher after her shambolic judge’s house performance. But after seeing this interview I think it’s a good thing Anastasia didn’t go through. To go publically (and so soon) and talk about her former room-mate in such a horrible way is just wrong. Even if it’s true, you don’t need to expose the girl like that, there’s no need. Total bad move. It just makes her look bitter and jealous and I think people will like her  a lot less after seeing this.  

Very disappointing move Anastasia, very disappointing!!!!!

Has Cheryl Cole Lost Her X-Factor?

I have to admit I was rather peed off with X-Factor last night. In particular Ms Cheryl Cole. Her decision at the judge’s house completely undermined the whole point of the judge’s house stage.

During this stage, contestants have one last chance to prove to their mentor that they should be picked to go through to the live finals. Cheryl was joined by pal, Black Eyed Peas singer Will-I-Am.  The Girls Aloud star – in charge of the girls – picked early show favourite Cher Lloyd and Madonna wannabe Katie Waissel, despite both girls terribly messing up their performances.

In contrast all the other girls gave a stunning performance, but got the boot anyway. Mother of two Rebecca Ferguson is the only one of Cheryl’s pick that gave a great error-free performance and truly deserved her place.

But let’s talk about Gamu for second… 

The 18-year-old Zimbabwean has been consistent all throughout the competition and gave a great performance at the judge’s house. However, the teen, who won over millions of X-Factor viewers, got sent packing back to Scotland, as Cheryl questioned her star potential.

The shock decision caused shockwaves through entertainment forums and social networking sites twitter and facebook, as angry viewers vented their anger at the 27-year-olds shock decision.

But relax people; it seems there’s a little twist in this years show. Apparently the judges have a wildcard and will be able to bring back one of the hopefuls they sent home. And with the backlash following Gamu’s departure, there’s no doubt Cheryl will pick her. Phew, normal service is resumed. Well kind of…

I actually don’t like the whole wildcard idea, as it once again undermines the whole judges house process. But hey, Gamu deserves her chance, so I’m for it.

So… to answer my headlining question, has Cheryl Cole lost her X-Factor? Of course she hasn’t. She’s still got it; she just made a bad error that pissed a lot of fans off. I’m actually more annoyed that Katie went through. She seems so contrived.  

Ms Tweedy better step her game up and not make anymore hiccups, because Nicole Scherzinger did a damn good job while she was away.