And Finally Artist News Beef Of The Week

CMU Beef Of The Week #109: The Wanted v Christina, Britney and… Lady Gaga?

By Andy Malt | Published on Friday 4 May 2012

The Wanted’s feud with fellow Brits abroad One Direction has failed to gain traction. Partly because both sides insist there never was any feud, and partly because One Direction are too busy getting golden showers and STDs off koalas. But it’s alright, there are still plenty of other popstars out there for The Wanted to fight with, and over the last week or so they’ve begun systematically running through them all one at a time. Number one in their sights was Christina Aguilera.

Aguilera is a judge on the US version of ‘The Voice’, on which The Wanted recently guested. Apparently she was pretty sullen throughout their performance of ‘Chasing The Sun’, and her reaction didn’t go down well. Especially given that Jennifer Lopez gave at least one of the boy band a sneaky kiss when they performed on ‘American Idol’.

Said the group’s Tom Parker, speaking to New York radio station Now FM: “[Christina] is a total bitch. She might not be a bitch in real life, but to us, she was a total bitch. She just sat there and didn’t speak to us. She wouldn’t even look at us”.

Meanwhile, referencing their meeting with Lopez at the ‘Idol’ recording, Max George added: “J.Lo’s hot, Christina’s nothing special!”

Possibly feeling guilty, possibly having had a talking to from their PR people, the group backtracked a little a few days later. Speaking to TMZ, Parker admitted: “We shouldn’t have said it, to be honest with you. We just think manners cost nothing, you know what I mean? The rest of the judges were really nice and she didn’t look at us or even talk to us but we apologise for the comment but we get a bit frustrated. It’s just common courtesy”.

Yeah, manners cost nothing, Christina. You really forced the otherwise well mannered Wanted to call you a “total bitch” in public. Forced them. But anyway, that doesn’t matter because, now on an etiquette crusade, the group had another star in their sights: Britney Spears, who they scored a support slot with last year.

Although Siva Kaneswaran admitted that telling this story would mean breaching a “confidentiality thing”, he explained to Fresh 102.7: “I was in the hallway with my tour manager. Basically we were looking with a laptop, trying to get wi-fi, facing the middle of the hallway. [Britney’s] bouncers came down with her and told us to face the wall”.

Parker, eager not to lose his status as chief popstress offender despite having apparently not actually been there (unless he also works as The Wanted’s tour manager), butted in: “As Miss Spears is walking through. We’re like, come on!”

Kaneswaran finished the story forlornly: “We turned around and I faced a wall for about ten seconds until she got really far away”.

Perhaps recalling the stern talking to they may or may not have had from their people the last time they dissed one of the world’s biggest popstars, or possibly because they just realised they were starting to look rather ungrateful for being invited onto not only a high rating TV show but also the stage of a large scale concert, Jay McGuiness added: “When we actually met her person to person she was so down to earth”. But it was too late, the damage was done.

As news of The Wanted’s war on Britney spread around the web, E! Online got on the phone to her people for a statement, who said: “What’s even more interesting than the false allegations they made is the fact that they have claimed to be picked on by two female popstars in just a few days. Look out Lady Gaga – there are still three days left this week”.

So far The Wanted have said nothing about Lady Gaga, as far as we know. She’ll be pleased to learn that Plácido Domingo has got her back should things kick off though. He told The Daily Mail this week: “I think Lady Gaga has a very good voice. Absolutely. She has a wonderful voice. I know she’s very wild in her performance, and clever, and she does all these things to please the youth. But when you listen to her, the voice is good”.

Actually, that sounded like a slightly backhanded compliment there. So Domingo doesn’t like Lady Gaga’s performance or ‘the youth’? That’s the sort of talk that really winds up The Wanted, Plácido. I’d watch out if I were you.