Singing | featured news

It could be the muffled sound of singing in the shower or that sing-songy indecipherable voice from the Muppets' Swedish Chef. Surprisingly, scientists said the audio they captured was a whale imitating people. In fact, the whale song sounded so eerily human that divers initially thought it was a human voice.

Ryan Seacrest agreed to a contract extension with “American Idol” this week, and his continued willingness to fit the twice-weekly dates with Jennifer Lopez, Randy Jackson and Steven Tyler into his busy schedule is bad news for the rest of the talent show landscape.

The Voice eliminated quarterfinalists RaeLynn and Ashley De La Rosa and determined four of its second-season semifinalists during Tuesday night's broadcast of the NBC singing competition.

How many singing competition shows can America watch each week? That’s the question being asked now that NBC’s “The Voice” has started its second season with a bang, while Fox’s long-running “American Idol” has seen its ratings decline. “It’s still very early on for ‘The Voice,' but they got a great start coming out of the Super Bowl with 37.6 million viewers,” media analyst Brad Adgate of Horizon Media told Fox411.com. “The most watched ‘American Idol’ was the finale between Clay Aiken and Ruben Studdard in 2003, with a little over 38 million viewers.”

The powerful 19-year-old vocalist from Sunrise, Fla., won the Fox talent competition Thursday over soulful 30-year-old singer Josh Krajcik of Wooster, Ohio. Amaro, who was mentored by judge Simon Cowell and was at one point eliminated from the contest, was awarded the grand prize: a $5 million recording contract and a starring role in a Pepsi commercial. "Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my God," Amaro repeated after host Steve Jones announced her as the winner.

Fox admitted to lip syncing on its singing competition "X Factor" after contestant Leroy Bell was heard singing on Thursday's episode before he even held his microphone to his mouth... "For the group ensemble performance, the vocals are pre-recorded to allow acts to concentrate on preparing for their own live competitive performances on Wednesdays -- this is also no different to what other competition shows do for ensemble performances."

After a grueling first night of X Factor Boot Hollywood Camp Week, Night 2 opens with host Steve Jones, who we’ve learned from new “X Factor” photos is very tall, informing us we’re in for more groups of hopefuls who still have to perform for the judges. And, in case we’ve forgotten: the finalists picked tonight will be divided into four groups: boys, girls, groups, and “Over 30s,” and each group will head to the home of one judge, where they will live while the judge mentors them and decides which of them makes it to the live competition.

If there was ever any doubt, it's gone now. Jennifer Lopez will be back at the judge's panel for the 11th season of "American Idol."

NBC says the four musician-coaches who have helped make "The Voice" a summer hit will be back for the next round of the vocal competition. NBC said Thursday that Christina Aguilera (ag-wuh-LEHR'-uh), Cee Lo Green, Adam Levine and Blake Shelton will all return when "The Voice" resumes in midseason next year.

This post contains spoilers from the season finale of “The Voice.” NBC’s “The Voice” came to an end Wednesday night, with soul singer Javier Colon taking home the title over Dia Frampton. But before there was a winner and a runner-up, both contestants got the chance to duet with two music stars.