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Pick at the pops: 18 December 2006

Our weekly round-up of the weird and wonderful world of pop music...

It’s the season of goodwill so the knives are out all over Popland. Rentagobs Lily Allen and Girls Aloud are at it again, with Lily on the receiving end of some barbed comments. Ms Allen has thrown a few backhanded compliments Nicola Roberts’ way- “I like her because she isn’t that pretty” sort of thing - and Nicola has replied that Lily “was a breath of fresh air, but now I think f*ck her”. Kimberley says she doesn’t really like Lily “as a person”. OK, the comments could be more barbed.

How about the X-Factor judges? Pop goddess Jamelia has apparently described winner Leona Lewis as “Mariah Carey circa 1990”, and Louis Walsh and Simon Cowell have hit back in style, perplexingly calling the Jamster a “one-hit wonder”. They should probably keep schtum until Leona’s knocked up seven Top 10 hits and counting.

Rap star and world class self-publicist Kanye West is being sued by has-been motorcycle maniac Evel Knievel for defamation after West’s Touch The Sky video implied a wild, womanising reputation for the erstwhile Grand Canyon jumper. Knievel has said that it was “sure not” his way of life, perhaps with a touch of bitterness.

Mariah Carey, possibly edgy after the emergence of Leona, is threatening to sue porn actress Mary Cary, star of Bergmanesque meditations on the fragility of existence like Double Air Bags 11, for having a similar name or something. Mariah, no one cares.

And speaking of no one caring, spare a thought for Emma Bunton, whose critically well received new album Life In Mono entered the album chart at No.65 and is heading straight out. The odds on the Spice Girls reunion are being slashed faster than you can sell a Princess Diana Memorial Concert ticket on eBay.

Matthew Horton

• 11/12/2006: The Britney and Paris show >>
• 4/12/2006: Potty Pete pays the penalty >>
• 27/11/2006: Nelly says no to Playboy >>
• 20/11/2006: Queen's greatest-selling hits >>
• 13/11/2006: Ms Dynamite's high speed crash >>
• 06/11/2006: Glastonbury to go "gay"? >>
• 30/10/2006: McFly hit top spot yet again >>
• 16/10/2006: Girls Aloud v All Saints in war of words >>
• 09/10/2006: Razorlight ready for world domination >>
• 02/10/2006: Madonna's record breaking millions >>
• 25/09/2006: When pop stars reunite >>
• 18/09/2006: Robbie's new footballing chum >>
• 11/09/2006: Monkeys' Mercury delight >>
• 04/09/2006: Foo Fighters save miners >>
• 28/08/2006: Britney gets banned in Asia >>
• 21/08/2006: Radiohead's grumpy greatest hits >>
• 14/08/2006: Natasha Bedingfield's Rocky return >>
• 07/08/2006: The heavyweight return of Meat Loaf >>