10:05 AM EDT 05/29/2012

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The X Factor

Jason Trawick Films Sweet Video Message for Britney Spears

Originally posted 05/27/2012 08:55AM



It's a "yes" from Jason!

Britney Spears's fiancé Jason Trawick had a sweet, encouraging message for the newly-minted X Factor judge after she filmed her first set of auditions in Austin, Texas.

"Princess, we just completed our first weekend in Austin on X Factor," he says to Spears in a new video message, which he filmed in bed. "Just wanted to say I'm very proud of you and I love you so much. Congratulations."

Trawick signs off the video with a sweet kiss, and says, "Now get back in here so we can go to sleep."

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X Factor Champ Melanie Amaro Gets New Puppy

Originally posted 01/18/2012 04:00PM



X Factor winner Melanie Amaro has a lot to look forward in 2012: a new album, her first Super Bowl ad, and the home she plans to buy.

But the most exciting of milestone of all? Potting training her new puppy!

The singer's 12-week-old Maltese, T.K., is still finding his way to the pee pad. Amaro tells PEOPLE, "He's like, 'No, I'm going to pee over here on this floor.'"

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Credit: Ian Derry/FOX
Simon Cowell: Next X Factor Will Be a Bloodbath | Simon Cowell

The X Factor

Simon Cowell: Next X Factor Will Be a Bloodbath

Originally posted 12/27/2011 11:00AM

With Melanie Amaro just crowned this season's winner, auditions are already underway for next season's The X Factor – and contestants and viewers should prepare themselves for a few possible changes.  

"Can we make the show better? Yes. I will never ever go into anything going forward unless I can believe I can make it better," Simon Cowell, the show's producer and judge, told PEOPLE Thursday after Amaro had won the $5 million recording contract. "Next year will be a bloodbath. We have to come out with something better than the rest, and that's what we aim to do."

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Melanie Amaro Will Spend Her X Factor Money on New House – and Chicken!

The X Factor

Melanie Amaro Will Spend Her X Factor Winnings on a New House – and Chicken!

Originally posted 12/23/2011 09:15AM

A foot massage, a house for her mom – and a lifetime supply of chicken.

With an hour to think about it, Melanie Amaro has already tallied up her dream purchases with the $5 million she earned Thursday night after being named the The X Factor's first winner.

"Life will change a lot," she tells PEOPLE. "The most I have ever had before was $200, if I was lucky."

The college freshman and piano teacher from Sunrise, Fla., plans to buy her mother a new house because, as she deadpans, "The one we live in now sucks."

But the chicken is for her. "I can't live without it," she says. "It's my favorite food.

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The X Factor's Josh Krajcik: I Miss My Cat

The X Factor's Josh Krajcik: I Miss My Cat

Originally posted 12/15/2011 04:45PM

The X Factor semifinalist Josh Krajcik has made it far into the competition, and as it winds down, there's one thing he's looking forward to: spending time with his kitty.

"I want to get to my cat," Krajcik told PEOPLE on Wednesday. "My cat is at a babysitter's and has been for the last three months."

Krajcik, who sang the Beatles's "Come Together" and Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah," feels so strongly about the feline, a tabby named Maya, that he has written tunes for her.

"She comes running whenever I whistle her theme songs," he said. "She is my biggest fan. I miss her dearly. I know that sounds lame. We are best friends. We are obsessed with each other."

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The X Factor's Drew Ryniewicz Has Design Ambitions

The X Factor

The X Factor's Drew Ryniewicz Has Design Ambitions

Originally posted 12/03/2011 10:45AM

The judges sent Drew Ryniewicz packing when she failed to move them with her "save me" song during The X Factor's double elimination sing-off Thursday night.

But the 14-year-old hasn't given up her dream of eventually making it big in the music biz – or of pursuing a secondary career as a fashion designer.

"I actually really want to have a clothing line," Drew told reporters following her elimination from the competition. "Every singer has something else on the side that they do – whether it be a clothing line [or something else] – everybody has something."

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Nicole Scherzinger's Jazzy Night in Hollywood | Nicole Scherzinger

Nicole Scherzinger's Jazzy Night in Hollywood

Originally posted 11/30/2011 05:55AM

Nicole Scherzinger was spotted dancing with the music at the Living Room's weekly jazz night inside the W Hollywood. The X Factor judge had a front row table and grooved in her seat as Brenna Whitaker and her Little Big Band performed. Scherzinger even was spotted recording some of the music on her BlackBerry. And joining her for the night out: Evan Ross. – Jennifer Garcia

Credit: Ray Mickshaw/FOX
X Factor's Melanie Amaro Reveals a Big Secret

The X Factor

Melanie Amaro Reveals Her 'True Self' on X Factor

Originally posted 11/23/2011 07:00PM

With the eyes of the world on her, Melanie Amaro decided she just couldn't hide any longer.

The X Factor contestant, 19, one of the Fox show's front-runners, broke down Tuesday night after revealing her Rihanna-esque Caribbean accent for the first time – and she tells PEOPLE it wasn't planned.

"To be where I am, from where I'm from, here today, is a big, big thing," she said. "Not lots of people come out of the Caribbean to become big stars. I'm so humbled and so gracious and so thankful to be where I am that it just came out. I could not help myself."

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Filed Under: The X Factor
Credit: Ray Mickshaw/FOX
PEOPLE's TV Critic Assesses The X Factor

The X Factor

PEOPLE's TV Critic Assesses The X Factor

Originally posted 09/22/2011 03:10AM

The X Factor arrived on Fox Wednesday night like a bumblebee alighting on a pussy willow.

The bumblebee was the size of a food truck.

The much-hyped, heavily anticipated singing competition, which first began in England, was exactly what the previews indicated it would be and what Simon Cowell intended it to be: a show to out-idol American Idol, out-voice The Voice and outdo any other conceivable reality show. Cowell doesn't have to reinvent the wheel here: Just ramp things up.

The two-hour premiere, a night of auditions, looked expensive – you could have fit the home tree from Avatar on the blue-lighted Los Angeles stage – with the ultimate prize of a $5 million contract for the winner, either solo singer or group, age 12 and up.

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