another failed romance.

Many thanks to mes amis français for introducing me to the wonders of Star Academy. I didn't care much for my host family while I stayed in France, so we spent a lot of awkward moments watching TV in silence. I had no tolerance for re-runs of Friends in English or French, so our options were limited to the news and Star Academy (hint: it was rarely ever the news). I don't remember much about the season of StarAc that I watched while in France, but I continued to follow it once I returned home to the States. Spoiler alert: the winner of the season that followed my departure from France was Monsieur Gregory Lemarchal, who broke my heart (Google him, it's tragic). I kept up with StarAc through season 5, Ely had something good for a while but to be honest I couldn't get over the loss of Gregory.

Enter the UK's X Factor and the magnificent Leona Lewis. I've had a love-hate relationship with singing competition shows (as evidenced by my intermittent attempts at following American Idol), but I find the foreign shows to be much more entertaining. I've been watching bits and pieces of X Factor over the last few years, but my love reached a fever pitch last year when I saw Cher Lloyd's audition. So you can imagine the excitement I felt when my very favorite the Huffington Post did a piece on Cher's upcoming American debut.

FIIIINALLY. I've had Cher on my iPod since last fall, I absolutely LOVELOVELOVE finishing a run while listening to "With Ur Love." And unlike Girls Aloud (and that fraud, Cheryl Tweedy Cole), Cher Lloyd sufficiently fills the hole in my heart left by the breaking up of the Spice Girls.

So today, in honor of Cher Lloyd making her big U.S. debut, let's all go to iTunes and download her shit... or, you could just do what I do and take her music with you on a run today. Happy Cher Lloyd day.