Late last night and after months of speculation, Paula Abdul announced via Twitter that she would not be coming back to "American Idol" for the show's ninth season (which begins shooting soon). The decision has rocked "Idol" fans everywhere and has lead to all sorts of speculation. What will Paula do now? Will "American Idol" add a fourth judge or just stick with three? Was it really just about money? Did Ryan Seacrest's new contract torpedo Abdul's deal? Was it because Randy kept calling her "Dawg"?

But those are questions for down the road. Right now, we can only wonder whether or not Paula's absence will help or hurt the show. So we hit the street to talk to some of the people hanging out for today's episode of "It's On with Alexa Chung" and asked them whether they think Paula's absence from "Idol" will be a good thing or a bad thing.

The results are in, and as woefully unscientific as they are, they still point to a landslide. In fact, 73 percent of the people we talked to said that the show would be hurt by a lack of Paula. Many seemed to like her positive attitude, while others cited her occasional zaniness as something they'll miss. Still others just wanted to have everything remain the same. The Paula story is probably not over, and we won't know what the true effects are until the show airs again in January, but until then, speculate away!

What do you think: Will "Idol" take a dive without the presence of Paula? Or is the show better off without her? Leave your thoughts in the comments or head over to Your.MTV.com to make your voice heard!

With the nominations for the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards hitting the street today, there are already a few showdowns in the works. Beyoncé will square off against Lady Gaga in the battle of the most-nominated ladies, while Asher Roth and Kid Cudi will go from touring together to fighting one another off in the Best New Artist category. But perhaps the most intriguing head-to-head is between Kanye West and Eminem, each of whom have four nominations in the same categories. That means that two of hip-hop's biggest personalities will be squaring off for Video of the Year, Best Male Video and two others. Eminem has more career VMA wins than Kanye, but Mr. West loves to take home statuettes. So we wonder: Who is more likely to sweep their showdowns? And who will ultimately come out on top when September 13 rolls around?

To find out, we hit the streets to talk to some of the fans parked outside MTV Studios waiting to get in to see today's episode of "It's On with Alexa Chung" and asked them those very questions.

The (highly unscientific) results are in, and a whopping 78 percent of those polled think that Kanye will walk away with more victories than Slim Shady. The respondents seemed ready and willing to reward West for the level of innovation he has brought to both his music and his videos, but the 22 percent in favor of Eminem believe that his return to form on Relapse should be worth something.

What do you think: Will "We Made You" get more nods than "Love Lockdown" and "Paranoid," or will Kanye West add another award to his ever-growing mantle? Leave your thoughts in the comments or head over to Your.MTV.com and make your voice heard!

Perhaps you read that Mariah Carey's upcoming CD, Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel, will come with a 34-page booklet packed with ads for upscale perfumes and liquors. Her label, Island/Def Jam, is promoting the venture as a ground-breaker in integrating marketing for a music industry that has seen a steadily increasing decline in music sales over the past decade. But as pioneering as it is, Mariah is not the first artist to dip her toe into musical product placement by teaming up with advertisers to hawk her music.

Last year, Chris Brown's label cut a deal with the Wm. Wrigley, Jr. company to have the singer turn his song "Forever" into a jingle in ads for Doublemint gum by using the 1famous "double your pleasure, double your fun" tagline. While plenty of singers have lent their songs out to be used in commercials, the collaboration with the gum maker and Brown — whose ads were pulled after he was arrested for assaulting Rihanna — presented a new level of corporate collaboration.

Coca-Cola recently recruited Cee-Lo Green from Gnarls Barkley, Fall Out Boy's Patrick Stump, Panic! At The Disco's Brendon Urie, Gym Class Heroes' Travis McCoy and Janelle Monae to write and sing a new jingle, "Open Happiness," which was turned into a music video aired, among other places, on MTV. And last year, Santigold, Pharrell Williams and Strokes singer Julian Casablancas hooked up to write "My Drive Thru," a jingle for Converse sneakers.

For years, artists like Jay-Z and Diddy have hyped their own brands in songs, and others, like Busta Rhymes, have gotten deals on the back end after paying tribute to liquors like Courvoisier in verse. But more recently, new band Parachute acoustically reworked their song "She is Love" to serve as the "single" for a new ad for beauty products giant Nivea. The deal was such a success that the band's next single is also going to be used in a Nivea ad.

But frankly, these deals pale in comparison to a few of the most notorious product placement gigs in music history. First came British rock icons the Who, whose third album, 1967's The Who Sell Out, was packaged as a concept record with fake commercials between the songs but which led to lawsuits by real commercial interests who cried foul over the parodies. Then there was Flaunt It, the notorious 1986 debut album from New Wave supergroup Sigue Sigue Sputnik, on which the band sold actual ad time between songs alongside fake ads that they created themselves.

Following a whirlwind courtship, fatherhood and subsequent divorce with Britney Spears, Kevin Federline stayed out of the public eye for a while (despite releasing a disastrous hip-hop album and guesting on WWE programming). But lately he's surfaced again, and he's been spotted with a camera crew in tow. Does that mean that K-Fed is gearing up to return to the public eye via a reality show? And what will that mean for the child custody he shares with Spears?

But most importantly: Will a Kevin Federline reality show actually attract any viewers, or has that guy's already spurious claim to fame evaporated completely? We hit the streets of New York to talk to the people headed in to see today's episode of "It's On with Alexa Chung" to find out whether or not Federline still has an audience.

The wildly inaccurate numbers show that it's a pretty even split, with 56 percent of the respondents claiming they would indeed tune in to see what Federline is up to. The interest is surprisingly varied, as some people are curious about whether or not he is handling fatherhood well, while others hope that they would get to hear untold stories about Britney. But of the 44 percent who said they wouldn't watch, at least a handful cited the fact that they didn't really know who he was anymore. There's still no confirmation that Federline is going to have his own show, but no matter what the final result is, there's no possible way it could be any worse than "Britney & Kevin: Chaotic," which aired in 2005, consisted mostly of home video footage of the two of them goofing around and is largely considered to be one of the worst reality shows ever aired on television (and think about the gravity of that statement in a world filled with "The Swan" and "Are You Hot?").

This morning, the latest shot was fired in the beef between Eminem and Mariah Carey. Their war of words started a few years ago when rumors circulated that the two had been involved in a romantic relationship and escalated with the release of Em's "Bagpipes From Baghdad" from this year's Relapse. From there, Carey released the single "Obsessed," which also came with an accompanying video that appears to be aimed at Eminem (though Carey and husband Nick Cannon — who was also attacked in "Bagpipes From Baghdad" — have repeatedly denied that the song or video are directed at any one person). Then came this morning's dis track "The Warning," a bile-filled Em rant wherein he talks about recordings they made, recounts their supposed sexual encounter and makes several threats against her life. It's the sort of anger Slim Shady usually reserves for the likes of Ja Rule or Benzino.

It's a pretty stunning and aggressive track, though it made us wonder: Has he gone too far? We hit the streets this afternoon to poll some people to see if they thought Em had gone over the line.

The (extremely unscientific) results are in, and 61 percent of those polled thought that even though the song was extreme, it still doesn't go too far. Those respondents were very willing to let Shady off the hook — not an unreasonable stance, especially considering he has spent most of his career taking down celebrities and attacking other musicians with his lyrics. The 39 percent who thought "The Warning" was too much were mostly uncomfortable with the threats of violence. One thing that everybody could agree on, though: This feud is far from over.

Two nights ago, "Gossip Girl" star Taylor Momsen celebrated her sixteenth birthday with a party in New York City that featured a performance by her band the Pretty Reckless. While Momsen's band draws on a lot of different influences, it's clear that their look and sound draw a lot from Courtney Love and her band Hole (one listen to the Pretty Reckless makes it fairly clear that Momsen has listened to Celebrity Skin on repeat).

Though imitation is said to be the sincerest form of flattery, Love apparently doesn't appreciate the homage. She took to Twitter to cut down Momsen (along with the Veronicas), saying "Why does Taylor Whatsit deeply disturb me and why is the Blonde one from the verons or whatever they are called wearing my actual clothes?" She also told Momsen, "I don't watch tv or read teen mags and gossip rags so I wouldn't know. Do not still 'like my music' please."

Courtney has a history of feuding with people, so she's no stranger to public beef. She normally keeps it a war of words, but what if the two of them actually threw down? We hit the street to sample the folks waiting to get into today's episode of "It's On with Alexa Chung" and asked them which would put the other one to sleep in a cage fight.

The laughably unscientific results show that more than three quarters — 77 percent, to be exact — of the respondents would place the odds on Courtney to knock out Momsen. It's pretty obvious, really: She's got the obvious size and experience advantage, and as several of those polled said, "Courtney is a badass."

The biggest story in Hollywood right now is the "Twilight" series, and the biggest news within that series is this morning's news that "Spider-Man 3" and "The Village" star Bryce Dallas Howard would be taking on the role of Victoria starting in the franchise's third film "Eclipse." She replaces Rachelle Lefevre, a Canadian actress who scored her big breakout when she appeared in the first film. The Victoria character begins to beef up in the third film as she becomes a primary threat to Bella, and rumors are swirling about why the continuity has been changed — especially considering the two actresses bear a striking resemblance to one another.

So we hit the street to interrogate the "Twilight" enthusiasts who happened to be waiting to get in to see today's episode of "It's On with Alexa Chung." We asked: Is replacing Lefevre with Howard a good move for the future of the "Twilight" movies?

The hilariously unscientific results show us that it's a pretty even split, with 56 percent of respondents wishing that the move hadn't happened. The reasons why were pretty varied: Some fans were actually attached to Lefevre and thought she had done a good job with the character, while others thought that, despite their similarities, that Lefevre was the more attractive choice. Those who were fine with Bryce Dallas Howard cited her acting experience and her higher profile as justifications for the switch. Either way, we'll be hearing about the results soon, as "Eclipse" begins shooting in just a few weeks.

What do you think: Did Rachelle Lefevre get the shaft or will Bryce Dallas Howard do a better job sinking her teeth into the Victoria character? Leave you thoughts in the comments or head on over to Your.MTV.com to make your voice heard!

While brother Kevin prepares for wedded bliss, one of the Jonas Brothers is single once again. Yesterday, MTV News got confirmation that Joe Jonas had officially split up with actress Camilla Belle. Despite rumors that Belle was cheating on Joe with a Spanish tennis star, a representative from the Belle camp says the split has nothing to do with anybody else. Still, that hasn't stopped Joe from changing the lyrics to the song "Much Better" at recent concerts, with the line "Get a rep for breakin' hearts, now I'm done with superstars," becoming "Get a rep for breakin' hearts, now I'm done with movie stars."

This is the second consecutive relationship that has ended publicly for Joe — he famously split with pop country star Taylor Swift last year. So does Joe still have the sympathy of the people? We wandered downstairs to talk to the folks lined up to get into today's episode of It's On with Alexa Chung and asked: Are you on Joe Jonas' side or Camilla Belle's side in the aftermath of their split?

The wildly inaccurate polling reveals something we probably could have predicted: A full 81 percent of those polled side with Joe, leaving only 19 percent on Team Camilla. The alignments weren't necessarily altruistic, though, as several people sided with Joe only because it meant that he was now single and available.

What do you think? Did Camilla break Joe's heart, or is Joe just the player that Swift has intimated that he is? Leave your thoughts in the comments or head over to Your.MTV.com to make your voice heard!

Now that the 2009 version of the San Diego Comic-Con has wrapped, it's time to sort out what everybody is talking about. Obviously, the upcoming release of "New Moon" got everybody buzzing. The new details, photos and rumors about "Iron Man 2" were a hot topic. Tim Burton's upcoming "Alice in Wonderland" (starring Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter) got an incredible reaction, as did the forthcoming Seth Rogen-powered "The Green Hornet." Only "New Moon" will see a release in 2009, but that doesn't mean that people won't be whispering about them for months.

Since buzz is king, we wanted to know which of those four films won the buzz wars from this weekend's Comic-Con. So we hit the streets to talk to the folks waiting to get into the audience of "It's On with Alexa Chung" and asked them: Which film — "New Moon," "Alice in Wonderland," "The Green Hornet" or "Iron Man 2" — is the one you are most looking forward to seeing?

The (not even remotely scientific) numbers reveal a surprising result: 70 percent of people are most excited for Burton's "Alice in Wonderland," whose trailer recently premiered and whose production stills have inspired a great deal of debate and ranting on the Internet. Coming in a distant second place was "New Moon" with 15 percent of the vote, followed by "Iron Man 2" with eight percent and "The Green Hornet" with seven percent. While most of the respondents cited the leading man (either Depp or Robert Pattinson) as the primary reason for wanting to see the film, a surprising number of people said that director Burton was a main contributor to their excitement about "Alice in Wonderland."

What do you think: Are you most looking forward to "Alice in Wonderland," or does "New Moon" still take up all your anticipation energy? Leave your thoughts in the comments or head over to Your.MTV.com to make your voice heard!

So far, this year's San Diego Comic-Con has been full of buzz: James Cameron has been talking about "Avatar," Peter Jackson revealed some secrets about "District 9" and there are all kinds of details emerging about the sequel to "Tron." But by far the biggest buzz has surrounded "Twilight" (specifically the upcoming installment "New Moon"). And an even bigger story emerging from yesterday's "Twilight" press conference? Kirsten Stewart's clothes. She appeared with co-stars Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner wearing tight black jeans, Converse sneakers and a Minor Threat T-Shirt. Her hair is also in a permanent black shock so that she looks more like the 1978 version of Joan Jett.

Needless to say, it sparked a lot of debate on ye olde Internet, so we took to the streets to ask today's burning question: What do you think of Kristen Stewart's new look?

The (highly unscientific) numbers don't lie: 84% of the people we talked do gave Stewart's "Runaways" threads a thumbs down (and even the 16% of people who thought she was pulling it off weren't terribly committed). She should be allowed a little slack: It's difficult to do press for the tween-centric "Twilight" movies while also working on another project, and her commitment to the role has been admirable (she's been hanging out with Jett and has been spotted at several rock shows). But if it gets some kids into old-school punk bands and helps to make the Runaways biopic (starring Stewart as Jett) a success, then it can't be all bad.

What do you think: Does Stewart look good embracing a dirty punk look or was she better off in Bella Swan's more traditional look? Let us know in the comments or head over to Your.MTV.com and make your voice heard!