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'She definitely is one of those iconic people when it comes down to the dance scene,' Flo tells MTV News of late disco singer.
By Kara Warner, with additional reporting by Rob Markman

Donna Summer
Photo: Getty Images

The surprised, sincere and heartfelt reactions continue to roll in as the news of Disco Queen Donna Summer's untimely passing Thursday (May 17) spreads far and wide. Summer influenced the music industry as a whole, but her impact is especially felt in today's electronic dance music — which includes current club-anthem king Flo Rida.

"I was just looking at something with her months ago," the "Wild Ones" singer told MTV News. "Today, when I got a text message [about her death], I thought, 'Wow, she passed away.' She definitely is one of those iconic people when it comes down to the dance scene and all that. My condolences go out to all her family. She definitely influenced what I do."

Speaking to Summer's genre-bending influence, house-music forefather Frankie Knuckles called her unforgettable hit "I Feel Love" one of the most commercial electronic pieces of music ever written.

"Today you can hear its influence on all popular Dance music, House, Techno, Trance," he told MTV News in a statement. "She was deemed 'The Queen Of Disco.' She's been sampled and ideas of her songs have crept into today's popular dance music by everybody. Her association with [legendary record producer] Giorgio Moroder set the tone for what Dance Music is all about."

"Donna Summer RIP I FEEL LOVE FOR YOU," Swedish dance-pop princess Robyn tweeted, adding a link to a Summer performance of "I Feel Love."

The reception of Summer's iconic 1977 anthem essentially revolutionized music, not to mention the rest of her chart-toppers that would soon follow.

"One day in Berlin, [Brian] Eno came running in and said, 'I have heard the sound of the future,' " David Bowie famously wrote in the liner notes to Sound and Vision. "He puts on 'I Feel Love,' by Donna Summer. ... He said, 'This is it, look no further. This single is going to change the sound of club music for the next 15 years.' Which was more or less right."

Share your condolences for Donna Summer's friends, family and fans in the comments or on Facebook.

• Donna Summer: 1948 - 2012

• Donna Summer: The Queen Of Disco

• Donna Summer
• Flo Rida

Joshua Ledet just misses out on the big showdown.
By Adam Graham

Jessica Sanchez and Phillip Phillips on "American Idol"
Photo: Michael Becker/ Fox

The "American Idol" finale is set, and Joshua Ledet didn't get an invite.

Phillip Phillips and Jessica Sanchez will compete in next week's season finale after Ledet was voted off the show Thursday (May 17). Ledet, the 20-year-old from Westlake, Louisiana, who was continually praised as one of the best contestants to ever grace the "Idol" stage, received the lowest number of votes from the 90 million votes cast, according to "Idol" host Ryan Seacrest.

Ledet set a record for standing ovations from the judges this season on "Idol"; barely a week went by when he didn't get the judges on their feet after one of his stellar performances. Ledet performed James Brown's "It's a Man's Man's Man's World" at the close of the show Thursday, repeating a song that became one of his signature moments.

Show mentor Jimmy Iovine took partial blame for Ledet's performance Wednesday, saying by choosing Mary J. Blige's "No More Drama," he didn't give him a song with enough of a melody to captivate the audience and generate votes. "There was something missing, and I know it was the material. In fairness, I gave him a song that didn't have enough melody. Joshua needs melody, [and] I take 100 percent responsibility for that," Iovine said.

Still, he thought Ledet deserved to compete for the "Idol" crown next week. "Does Joshua belong in this finale? 100 percent, he should be in anyone's finale," he said.

Ledet's elimination gives Sanchez a shot at being the first female "Idol" winner since Jordin Sparks back in season six. At the onset of the season, it was said to be the women's year on "Idol," and four of the top six contestants were female. But three women were picked off in a row — Elise Testone, then Skylar Laine, then Hollie Cavanagh — threatening the show's girl-power contingent. Now Sanchez is carrying the torch for the ladies.

Iovine, in summing up Wednesday's performances, also blamed himself for picking a bad song for Sanchez, but said Phillips won the night with his version of Bob Seger's "We've Got Tonight." "Hands down, it was the best performance he's done in the entire contest," he said, calling it "flawless." (In fairness, Iovine also said Phillips' version of Matchbox Twenty's "Disease" was "a total snooze-fest."

Regarding Sanchez, Iovine said, "She has to have the most magical moment she's had so far" in order to win it all. "If she gets in the finale," he said, "It's about the songs."

Before Ledet's elimination, Jackson said the final contestants were "three of the best we've ever had" and said all three have "big careers" ahead of them.

Also on Thursday's show, Adam Lambert dropped by to perform "Never Close Our Eyes," and Lisa Marie Presley (huh?) performed her new single "You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet."

What did you think of "Idol" on Thursday? Did the right contestants make the finale? Let us know in the comments!

Get your "Idol" fix on MTV News' "American Idol" page, where you'll find all the latest news, interviews and opinions.

• 'American Idol' Season 11 Performances

'I always think about that song that will be able to let you out of that slump,' Looking 4 Myself singer says on 'MTV First.'
By John Mitchell

Usher at "MTV First"
Photo: MTV News

It's not often that fans get to hit the club to party with the artist behind the latest dance hit, but that's exactly what happened for the audience at the interactive off-Broadway show "Fuerza Bruta" when Usher arrived for a unique first-listen experience for his new album, Looking 4 Myself.

As the R&B megastar's latest hit, the beat-driven Max Martin-produced "Scream," pounded through the theater, Usher flew into the audience for a rave-like dance party that had everyone in the place moving.

He's used to that sort of reaction by now, having released some of the biggest club hits of the past 15 years, including "OMG," "Yeah," "DJ Got Us Fallin' in Love" and "My Way." Usher consistently makes dance records that define a night, and it's important to the singer that his upbeat songs reach people on as deep a level as his more personal ballads.

"If I'm gonna move you, I want to move you. I hope that it could be something that could be life changing," the soulful signer said during "MTV First: Usher." "You may be going through something real crazy, who knows, and just need to get out and just enjoy yourself. So I always think about the club, I always think about that song that will be able to let you out of that slump, if you're in it."

But "Scream" isn't just for those looking for escape. The track can work on many levels, according to the singer: "If you're just ready to have a good time, or if you're working out and you just need that little motivation to push you over the edge, there you go."

• MTV First: Usher

• Usher

'Sometimes you can't communicate in words, but in a song, you can,' late Queen of Disco told MTV News in a rare interview.
By John Mitchell, with additional reporting by John Norris

Donna Summer
Photo: MTV News

Donna Summer's death Thursday (May 17) at age 63 after a long battle with cancer saddened music lovers around the world. Fans are mourning the loss of one of the greats, a real pioneer, whose innovative use of synthesized backing tracks blazed the path for the dance music we are all so familiar with today.

Hers are some of the most memorable disco songs ever recorded, and her impact on music is almost too large to quantify with words, but for Summer herself, it was all about the voice.

"Music is part of my life. For my judgment, music is the greatest of all the gifts," Summer told MTV News' John Norris in a rare 1989 interview. "The voice — not my voice, but the voice — to me is the greatest gift. Having a voice. You need no other instrument, all you have to do is sing. Open your mouth, and it's there."

Because her sound was so rooted in the mechanics of disco, with its glittering synths and pulsating beats, some people don't know that the five-time Grammy winner was also an amazingly accomplished vocalist. Her mezzo-soprano voice transcends even the genre she pioneered. Before she became the Queen of Disco, she sang gospel in church and in her early 20s moved to Europe, where she performed in musicals like "Godspell" and "Showboat" and joined the Viennese Folk Opera.

"When I hear other people singing, I think, 'God, it's great, it's a great gift, what a great gift,' " Summer told MTV News. "And probably one of the gifts that people want the most is to be able to sing, and for obvious reasons — it's soothing, it's stimulating, it's encouraging, it's sad, it covers every spectrum of emotion."

It was a gift she was lucky enough to have and good enough to share with the world — one that brought her 14 top 10 hits and four #1's.

"There's no better way to get into those crevasses, those cracks in somebody's personality and root out the real person but through singing," Summer continued. "Sometimes you can't communicate in words, but in a song, you can."

Share your condolences for Donna Summer's friends, family and fans in the comments or on Facebook.

• Donna Summer: 1948 - 2012

• Donna Summer: The Queen Of Disco

• Donna Summer

Mixtape Daily introduces newcomer, who hooks up with Yo Gotti and DJ Scream on her latest, Girl, Interrupted.
By Rob Markman

Sadie Hawkins
Photo: MTV News

Firestarter: Sadie Hawkins

It's no secret that rap has been a male-dominated sport, but you can't forget the ladies. Of course, Nicki Minaj is the most recognizable, and Iggy Azalea and Azealia Banks are both making waves. Well, it's time to add another name to that growing list of femme fatales: Sadie Hawkins.

If the name sounds familiar, Hawkins borrows her moniker from a 1930s comic-strip character. And, school children often attend Sadie Hawkins-themed dances, where traditional roles are reversed and the girls ask out the boys. The name is particularly fitting for an artist who rhymes with a ferocity typically associated with male rappers.

Sadie started out as a model, and during one of her photo shoots, an onlooker suggested she try her hand at music. "He was like, 'Are you a rapper?' And I was like, 'Nah,' " she told Mixtape Daily. "He was like, 'Yeah, you look like a boss chick. Your name should be 'Sadie Hawkins.' "

As a child, she always admired hip-hop's top female spitters. "Growing up, some of the female MCs that I grew up on — like Lil' Kim, Foxy Brown, Salt-n-Pepa, MC Lyte, Missy, Eve — seeing them out there, and they doing it, and they actually made it happen, it could give you [a feeling like] 'Yeah, OK, I can do this too,' " she shared.

Sadie pays homage to the queens on "Microphone Checka," a track on her DJ Scream-hosted, Angelina Jolie-inspired Girl, Interrupted mixtape. Hawkins spits over a 1980s-style instrumental while name-dropping some of her favorite back-in-the-day rappers.

On "Cocky," the lyrical newcomer partners with Yo Gotti, proving that she can hold her own against one of the game's most-respected MCs, and on "Ms. Money," she delivers a catchy make-it-rain ode that's ripe for radio.

Sadie Hawkins shows tons of promise: More than just a pretty face, the rookie spitter makes music to back it up.

For other artists featured in Mixtape Daily, check out Mixtape Daily Headlines.