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Katharine McPhee Gets McUgly

Katharine McPhee Gets McUgly

American Idol’s Katharine McPhee (season 5 runner-up) also made a guest appearance on last night’s episode of Ugly Betty. Kat appears as herself and shows up for Mode Magazine’s runway show and signs her self-titled CD (out now) for Betty (America Ferrera) to give to her sister Hilda (Ana Ortiz). Check out the video of McPhee’s Ugly Betty cameo below!


Katharine McPhee - Ugly Betty, 2/1

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28 Comments

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# 1
Capriciousdiva @ 02/01/2007 at 10:25 pm

who is this girl?
what does she do?
where does she come from?
please let me know anybody…

# 2

She was the runner-up on Season 5 (the last season) of American Idol. Because her last name is “McPhee” fans of hers were said to have the McPheever-pretty catchy in my opinion. Thanks for the video!

# 3
[Fug Face Maniston] @ 02/02/2007 at 12:12 am

she didnt help the ratings not one bit, lol

# 4

who is this girl?
what does she do?
where does she come from?
please let me know anybody…

****************************
1. a karaoke singer with an overbearing stage mom
2. has special brain-washing-mind-control powers over otherwise respectable celebrity/gossip bloggers… forcing them to post ad nauseum over her talentless self
3. hails from AI where she was able to brainwash millions of little tween-age girls to vote for her because she had the cool, self-proclaimed name of “McPhake”
4. Now you know.

# 5

Thanks for the video. She looked gorgeous. Her cd is great. It got some positive reviews from different critics.

# 6

What a shame for Ugly Betty to stoop to this since it’s one of my favorite shows on TV right now. McPhoney’s acting is worse than her shrill, cold, and unemotive voice, and THAT’S SAYING SOMETHING! I can’t stand her facial expressions because they are so forced. She is trying really hard to make herself seem like she is nicer or more likable than she really is. And I think that is the core of what’s wrong with her–she wants REALLY badly to be popular so she does things like starves herself, becomes a scientologist, pretends to be goofy/relatable, etc. In the end, I probably blame her washed up lounge singer mom, Peeshit, the most for ******** up her daughter in childhood beauty pageants, and attempting to live vicariously through her. I bet it was mommy dearest who told Kat that she needed to drop 15-30 for TV. Hell, she probably held her hair back while she was throwing up!

# 7

Positive reviews??? Are you reading Tiger Beat?

“…But for every time the modern makeover works, it almost as often goes awry, as on the jarringly awkward, rapid-fire “Open Toes,” a self-conscious celebration of sexy shoes on which Katharine never once sounds believable; she sings as if she’s only seen pictures of this footwear in US Weekly and never once wore them herself. This disconnect is a common problem throughout this eponymous debut album: try as she may, Kat never sounds sexy when she struts on numbers like “Do What You Do,” which doesn’t come as a great surprise since she was always more spunky than sultry on the show, but it’s a problem that plagues even the old-fashioned tunes, which should have been McPhee’s forte. True, most of the slow ones here are little more than boilerplate ballads, but McPhee can’t breathe life into these songs, so they just sit there inert, sounding impeccable but unmemorable…” — All Music Guide

# 8

Wozzy, you’re going to die of throat cancer. I saw it.

# 9

Katharine look great….Her CD is amazing!!! Congrats!

oooh….i liked her on idol better than taylor “ticks” but…daaaaaaang…that was some BAD acting!!

i luv music @ 02/02/2007 at 5:56 am

Tiger Beat???? Wat r u lyk? 12???!!! Haha.

Have u checked amazon, barnes and noble, vhi, us weekly, people??? hello? Hell yeah, she got positive reviews.

Such a woozy, Wozzy…

Just stop bashing her! Obviously, JJ likes her! And please… if you can’t stand her, go and audition for AI and let’s see if you even get to top 2…

Argrrh… People can be so mean…

It looked like she was trying so hard not to look directly into the camera! I thought she has the looks for acting more than a voice for singing…but it looks like she may just be good at modeling…that way we won’t have to hear her sing or ‘act’.

Emma, I wouldn’t be surprised if you got hit by a bus tomorrow, making comments like that. You McMake me want to McPuke.

Cruel Intentions @ 02/02/2007 at 11:05 am

Gawd u guyz r so dense. Obvsly the tiger beat comment was sarcastic! And yeah, emma, cancer is not something to make a joke about. oh, and 1 last thing. mcphee ain’t pretty enuf 2 model.

She’s very pretty and I like her new song a lot. At least this girl can sing…that’s more than what 99% of today’s female singers can say. I don’t think we can judge her acting skills from the nanosecond she was on Ugly Betty. But you can tell she’s not Britney Spears in “Crossroads” so at least that’s a start…
I think the people who don’t like her should just suck it up because something tells me this one isn’t going anywhere so fast…

Emma can’t reply. She’s under a bus right now. McPhake is too McPhat to McModel.

Jared…why do let them post such nasty things? Please….

Cruel Intentions @ 02/02/2007 at 6:59 pm

Get ova it Winnie the Foo’. This is a celebriddy blog, where peepol make katty remarkz. If u can’t handle it, u got problems. I think all McPhoney’s fans are those phat gurls with no so-shall life that lokk thmslves up in their roomz and get down to BSB and swoon ova Clay Aiken. So cry me a river, Winnie, maybe u’ll burn a few calories.

KatGuardian @ 02/02/2007 at 7:18 pm

I said this before and I will say it again. Kat is on her way to super super stardom because she gets bashed so much by haters who can’t handle her popularity and celebrity status. Haha… the last laugh is on them. (I’m a fan of Angelina Jolie too and I have seen her being bashed to no end.) People are so pathetic.

But anyway, bring on the bashing because it will bring more attention to Kat and have her fans coming out defending her even more. Hee hee hee hee.

Ugly Betty is now dead to me since this hack was on. I wonder is she puked after the show?

I told you you have no life Kotex KatGuardian! What a sad existence to revovle around a reality TV contestant who deosn’t even know you exist. I do not agree with your prediction about Kat, but then again, I don’t necessarily think that “super super stardom” = happiness. Your needless “haha” and “heehee” betray you and only serve to reveal your foolishness and pathetic devotion to a washed up RUNNER-UP! Katharine is among the most disliked finalists in AI history. The turn-out at Universal Citywalk in support of her during the finale was so low, that they had to zoom in to obscure the lack of fans. The disparity between the number of votes that she and what’s-his-face received was so enormous that they did not even mention what a tight race it was. Kat’s debut single was among the LOWEST charting of any AI finalist. I have never heard one single Kat song on the radio, btw, and I live in a huge metropolitan area that also happens to be her hometown! My advice to you, KatGuardian, is to save your adoration and undying support for family or friends… if you have any.

KatGuardian @ 02/03/2007 at 2:23 pm

Hi Wozzy! Thanks for the response! =)

I have a feeling I have more family and friends than you. (Just a gut instinct. You sound so sad.) It’s so funny to come in here and see you so put out about Kat. All that ranting and raving, blah-blah-blah - wothless, lengthy posts.

Just to amuse myself as I look forward to your next reaction and response to this - hee hee ha ha hee hee ha ha! Have a great weekend, Woz!

darkangel @ 02/04/2007 at 7:34 pm

KatGuardian, I totally agree with you. Angelina gets bashed too much but she still remains to be a superstar. Kat is on her way to the top and haters cant stop it. Love Angie and Kat.

Way to selectively edit, Wozzy. Here’s the COMPLETE review that came from, which follows the one also up on Barnesandnoble.com:

If fans can look beyond her uncharacteristically risqué album cover, they will find that Season 5 American Idol runner-up Katharine McPhee is still sugar and spice underneath her vamp makeover. The unexpected new look, however, does compliment her unexpected new sound. Initially, it’s surprising to hear the Broadway baby — who during her Idol stint wowed the judges with her soaring rendition of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” and got footloose performing an acoustic guitar-anchored rendition of KT Tunstall’s “Black Horse and the Cherry Tree” barefoot — belting “Open Toes,” a pop-and-R&B-kissed ode to sexy footwear. In fact, on her self-titled debut, McPhee sounds more like Christina Aguilera than fans will remember. Luckily, she has the pipes to support the junior diva comparison. For instance, the power ballad “Home” recalls X-tina’s “Beautiful,” and on the simmering, mid-tempo “Neglected,” Kat even cribs the Grammy-winning singer’s signature “Oh yeah” vocal trill. McPhee’s individuality, however, does shine through, particularly when she sings in her upper register, as on “Not Your Girl,” a tasty slice of ska-tinged pop, and the tender ballad “Ordinary World.” Like Clarkson and Underwood before her, McPhee is one of Idol’s most promising graduates. Tracy E. Hopkins

All Music Guide
From the beginning of the series’ fifth season, Katharine McPhee seemed like the ideal American Idol: a drop-dead gorgeous brunette, she was certainly telegenic and she also had a powerhouse voice, equally impressive on a slow-burning, show-stopping “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” as on a lively cover of KT Tunstall’s “Black Horse and a Cherry Tree.” Most importantly, Katharine was the first American Idol finalist since the premiere season to seem to appeal directly to the show’s core audience of predominantly female pre-teens and adolescents, the first since Kelly Clarkson to possess a crucial blend of young, fresh looks, pop sensibility, and wholesome sexiness. All the pieces seemed to be in place for McPhee to take home the crown, but she got steamrolled by the Soul Patrol, as the world’s youngest Baby Boomer, the prematurely gray Taylor Hicks, won the competition by appealing to the other AmIdol core audience — the adults who grew up on the pop of the ’60s, ’70s, and ’80s and were wondering where all that good music went. Taylor’s debut record appealed precisely to that audience, which freed runner-up Katharine to deliver an album that appeals to younger listeners, at least in theory. In practice, it took a bit of effort to get all involved with McPhee’s debut album to agree to this principle. According to several pre-release interviews, the singer approached her producers and label midway through production, requesting that the album sound younger; specifically, she wanted the music to have a stronger R&B and modern pop influence, so it would sound contemporary, which, in turn, would give her a greater chance of establishing herself as an artist outside the confines of American Idol — and as Kelly Clarkson proved with her two albums, this could result in greater success both in the short term and in the long run.

RCA acquiesced to Katharine, delaying the holiday 2006 release of the album and pushing it into the first month of 2007, but that didn’t mean that all of the original recordings were scrapped: some new sounds were added to the pre-existing sessions, resulting in a curiously lopsided final album, one that has two opposing sounds fighting against each other. There is, as Katharine requested, a heavy dose of modern pop here — mainly, a lot of songs that bear a heavy Beyoncé influence, along with traces of Christina, and the results can be quite stylish and alluring, as on the glistening, exuberant opener, “Love Story,” which strikes precisely the right blend of retro-’70s soul vibes and sparkling, stylish contemporary rhythms. But for every time the modern makeover works, it almost as often goes awry, as on the jarringly awkward, rapid-fire “Open Toes,” a self-conscious celebration of sexy shoes on which Katharine never once sounds believable; she sings as if she’s only seen pictures of this footwear in US Weekly and never once wore them herself. This disconnect is a common problem throughout this eponymous debut album: try as she may, Kat never sounds sexy when she struts on numbers like “Do What You Do,” which doesn’t come as a great surprise since she was always more spunky than sultry on the show, but it’s a problem that plagues even the old-fashioned tunes, which should have been McPhee’s forte. True, most of the slow ones here are little more than boilerplate ballads, but McPhee can’t breathe life into these songs, so they just sit there inert, sounding impeccable but unmemorable. And that gets to the core problem with Katharine McPhee: as pretty as she is, as talented as she is, she has yet to develop a performing personality that is distinctively hers. That was also true of Carrie Underwood, but she benefited by willfully submitting herself to the machinations of Nashville, where she was skillfully molded into a country-pop star blessed with strong material and strong productions. Here McPhee submits to two different formulas, neither of which are entirely successful because they rely on her to carry the music with her personality, which she can’t quite do yet. That these two formulas don’t quite complement each other also hurts the record, since it never gels, but on the positive side, the album does suggest McPhee’s instincts about going younger were correct. Missteps like “Open Toes” aside, the tracks that truly work are the ones that sound modern, whether it’s “Love Story,” the Christina-aping “Home,” “Not Ur Girl,” or even “Do What You Do,” which works in spite of Kat’s lack of sensuality. These are slices of sleek, bright modern pop that sound like what a young American Idol should sound like in 2006. That McPhee can’t quite deliver on their promise for the entirety of her debut is disappointing, but it’s not a disaster — after all, this is just a debut, and first albums are often where an artist shows promise instead of fulfills it. Here Katharine — just like she did on the show — suggests that she has the potential to be the freshest mainstream pop singer American Idol has produced since Kelly Clarkson. Even if the album ultimately plays like a handful of good singles and filler, that’s not too different than Kelly’s debut, and even if McPhee isn’t yet as charismatic as Clarkson, this record shows she has the raw ingredients to become a true pop star instead of merely playing one on TV.

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