Thanks to Katie for pointing out that Penn Badgley already has the singing chops to be on American Idol. He sings and plays the guitar. Reportedly, he’s also cut an album… I’m still checking!

No word yet from the Ed Westwick fan club? I thought for sure that fans of his band, Filthy Youth, would be voting for him!

Okay, so that’s not really happening.

But considering all of the buzz surrounding Leighton Meester’s upcoming album (can she sing? will there be a video?), I thought it would be fun to speculate.

If the cast of Gossip Girl paid a visit to American Idol, who would win and which song would they perform?

Which cast member would get voted off first?

Here are my picks:

Winner:
Chace Crawford would win because he would have inside information from Carrie Underwood. He would choose country music since he’s from Texas - perhaps “Friends in Low Places” because it’s a fun show with easy lyrics.

Voted off first:
Penn Badgley would lose. He may be cute, but I get a nerdy, goofy, can’t sing/can’t dance vibe from him. But then, I got the same vibe from Clay Aiken and it worked for him, so what do I know?

Do you agree? What do you think?

Leighton Meester has announced plans to release an album. But can she sing?

Here’s a clip from the movie “Drive Thru” where Leighton sings, we think (assuming that it’s not dubbed).

What do you think? Are you looking forward to the album?

Leighton Meester talks about Gossip Girl, getting back to work and her new album. Watch it here:

Online Videos by Veoh.com

She may be playing Guitar Hero in the photo above, but Leighton Meester is serious about music. During the writers’ strike, Leighton spent time recording an album, which is slated for release within the year.

Meester describes her music as hip hop meets electronic. Her style is, she says, like Gwen Stefani and MIA.

Hmm. Will you buy it?

The response to my post about how I am like the characters in Gossip Girl has been great!

Arieanna posted how she is like the characters in Gilmore Girls.
Tom posted how he is like the characters in Ugly Betty.
Nikki posted how she is (um, not really) like the characters in Lost.

There are more on the way, so keep reading.

But now I’m interested to know what YOU think. How are you like the characters in Gossip Girl?

Okay, I’ve been tagged for a meme on Gossip Girl Report - by my hubby, no less!

Since I’ve been memed before, I thought that I would keep this one fresh by telling you how I’m like your favorite Gossip Girl characters…

1, Like Serena, I went to boarding school. It was my decision. I left home at age 14 to attend a public residential high school in the middle of my state (NC). It was one of the smartest things that I ever did - I met great people. I am still close with my roommate and many of my hallmates (in fact, three of us are getting together at the beach in April).

2, Like Blair, I had bulimia in high school (and in college). I am glad that the show has made it a part of the story line because I think that there’s not enough press out there about it.

3, Like Jenny, I love to sew and have for years. I get it from my mother who used to make my clothes. It was an economic decision for her but I thought it was cool. It was like having my own personal seamstress! I designed my high school prom dress and my mom made it for me - the richest girl in school told me that it was the prettiest dress that she had ever seen.

4, Like Vanessa, I was a poor student and had to work several jobs. The worst job that I had was working at Winn-Dixie, a local grocery store in NC - I worked the express lane on Sundays. In NC, you can buy beer and wine in the grocery but you can’t sell it until a certain time on Sundays (it’s our blue law). Inevitably someone yelled at me because they wanted their beer NOW - I hated being yelled at. I also worked for a printer, a newspaper, GapKids, CVS, Revco, a temp agency (my best gig was at a hotel), just to name a few gigs.

5, Like Dan, I’m also a writer. In addition to my blogs, I do freelance work. I write a monthly column for the Legal Intelligencer, as well as occasional bits for other blogs and periodicals. I have written one novel (not published) and am working on two more - as well as a book about tax.

6, Like Lily, I’m a city mom - but not rich and not the ex of a gay man. I live with my husband and children in Philadelphia. My kids are young - too young to watch Gossip Girl!

7, Like Nate, I’ve had to bail someone out of jail. When I was in college, my good friend’s fiance was busted for drugs (and subsequently expelled). He was a spoiled rich kid but didn’t want to tell his parents, so my friend and I had to break into his apartment to find things to pawn to make his bail. It was both enlightening and humiliating. We posted his bail and went to get him out of jail, where I was offered a cigarette and mistaken for a hooker.

So, now I’m charged with tagging seven other folks. I’m going to tag folks at the Entertainment Channel and challenge them to write how they might be like their favorite characters!

I’m tagging:

Arieanna at Gilmore Girls News
Julie at Desperate Blog
Tom at Ugly Betty News
Ingrid at Grey’s Anatomy News
Jillian at Showtime Fan
Dexie at Soaps on ABC
Nikki at Approaching Lost

I was Skype-ing with a friend about Gossip Girl. She didn’t get the appeal. It is, I told her, decadent. And fun.

And yes, while I stay for the yummy story lines, I watch for the fashion. Don’t you?

Of course, there’s more to fashion than just slapping a couple of cool pieces together. Here’s a list of 50 hot Gossip Girl fashion moments (on and off screen) from this season’s Gossip Girl:

1, Gossip Girl owes its sense of style to costume designer Eric Daman, a former assistant costume designer and stylist on the iconic Sex and the City.

2, Eric Daman favors young designers for the show like Stella McCartney, also a favorite of Lindsay Lohan.

3, Lindsay Lohan was originally slated to star as Blair Waldorf in a Gossip Girl movie before the project was shelved in favor of a Gossip Girl television series on the CW. Like Lindsay, the actress who ended up playing Blair (Leighton Meester) was not a natural brunette.

4, Early on in the series, Blair’s character was to be a model for her mother’s clothing line. Eleanor Waldorf’s fashion line is actually the real life existing design work of Abigail Lorick.

5, The jacket that Blair tricked Jenny into stealing from Eleanor’s store in the “Dare Devil” episode was actually designed by Abigail Lorick specifically for that shot.

6, Also in the “Dare Devil” episode, Jenny wore a Milly Peter Pan coat which retailed for $590. I received so many requests about the coat that I wrote a post advising how you can alter an existing coat into the same style.

7, The “Get Your Craft On: Make Jenny Humphrey’s Coat” post grew out of a comment left at a prior post advising how to make Chuck Bass’ scarf.

8, The Chuck Bass scarf was actually made from old ties and sold at J. Press in New York City. It sold out after the show, much like Serena’s gray knee length Chinese Laundry boots which she wore in the “Poison Ivy” episode.

9, Also sold out were Blair’s Max Studio Zulli Boots from “The Handmaiden’s Tale” episode.

10, In “The Handmaiden’s Tale”, we are introduced to Vanessa, who thus far has been voted one of the least fashionable Gossip Girl characters.

11, One accessory that Vanessa wore that did receive a lot of attention were the CC Skye Hoop earrings that are also a favorite of Hilary Duff.

12, Another favorite jewelry piece on the show was Blair’s heart pendant from Tiffany’s.

13, It was fitting that the pendant was from Tiffany’s since Blair considers Audrey Hepburn her style icon.

14, Blair’s real life alter ego, Leighton Meester, doesn’t have just one favorite style claiming that she likes to mix it up. She cites Zac Posen, Marc Jacobs, Nanette Lepore, Diane von Furstenberg, and Julie Haas as some of her favorites.

15, Zac Posen is also a favorite of the character, Serena (not actress Blake Lively), according to the CW.

16, “What is Serena wearing?” is the most asked question on Gossip Girl Report.

17, The most popular request related to Serena’s wardrobe was where to find the gold sequined dress in the pilot; it’s Tory Burch and retails for $750 (it’s also out of stock).

18, In the pilot, the wardrobe for Serena was based on a “Kate Moss type.”

19, Kate Moss isn’t the only model making an influence on Gossip Girl - America’s Next Top Model winner Caridee also made an appearance.

20, In the episode in which Caridee made an appearance, “The Handmaiden’s Tale”, Serena sported an amazing Valentino dress from the spring 2007 collection.

21, Blake Lively apparently enjoyed her Valentino dress - she made an appearance at the Valentino show for Fashion Week.

22, Chace Crawford also showed at Fashion Week this year - for Prada.

23, Prada’s collection for fall is big on black lace, also a signature look for Blair.

24, Blair also wears a lot of headbands - one of the most popular was the red bowed hairband in the “Victor/Victrola” episode.

25, Blair’s Balenciaga blazer featured in “Victor/Victrola” was knocked off several times this season (lucky us).

26, Also available in knock-off versions - Blair’s signature pearls.

27, For those that couldn’t get enough Gossip Girl fashion at affordable prices, fashiontribes.com broke several looks down for viewers.

28, Taylor Momsen chooses to go straight for the high end fashion, attending the Erin Fetherstone show (among others) at Fashion Week this year.

29, Taylor was also photographed last year wearing the “IT” dress of the year, designed by Paula Hian.

30, The same “IT” dress was also spotted on Carrie Underwood.

31, The “IT” dress was not nearly as popular as Blair’s Faviana dress featured in Blair’s birthday episode.

32, When Leighton Meester threw a real life bash in Vegas, she chose a Catherine Malandrino dress.

33, Cast mate and model Nicole Fiscella attended Leighton’s bash in Vegas, too.

34, Nicole Fiscella was on the cover of Lucky - like Blake Lively.

35, Blake Lively also recently graced the cover of Teen Vogue.

36, Blake also appeared on the cover of Cosmo Girl, which helped her get noticed by AskMen.com.

37, Coming in just ahead of Blake on the AskMen.com list was fashionable Kristen Bell.

38, Kristen Bell isn’t always so fashionable - she had a fashion miss at the Gameplan premiere.

39, Also a miss in public - Jessica Szohr at the Reebok Freestyle Tour.

40, Jessica was more of a hit at the Gossip Girl premiere party.

41, Jessica was photographed at the premiere with cast mate Nan Zhang, who plays Katy Farkas.

42, Katy Farkas was spotted in the Poison Ivy episode with a cute Paul Frank purse.

43, Serena was seen in the “Poison Ivy” episode with a hot new trend - the iphone.

44, Taylor Momsen prefers to carry a Blackberry at fashion events.

45, Taylor also made fashion news when she attended her high school homecoming in a dress that some thought was a bit too short.

46, Speaking of short, Blair’s pajamas from Victoria’s Secret were a hot item in “Roman Holiday”.

47, Victoria’s Secret was plugged a lot in “Roman Holiday” - which worked out well for Blake Lively who was named sexiest newcomer by the company.

48, Victoria’s Secret isn’t the only company wooing Blake Lively - she attended the Old Navy bash in January with cast mate Kristen Bell.

49, Old Navy’s sister store, Gap, also pulled out the stops for the Gossip Girl cast over the holidays - with funky fashion shoots.

50, No wonder that the cast nabbed best dressed honors for the year!

What made your list?

How well do you know Blake Lively? Take the Teen Vogue quiz and find out! Blake is on the cover of the March issue.

Psst - tell us your score below!

Gossip Girl’s Leighton Meester had a little taste of the Oscars on Saturday, when she attended The Belvedere Luxury Lounge at the Four Seasons Hotel in honor of the 80th Academy Awards. Meester was there to donate a few items to

Working Wardrobes. Working Wardrobes is a nonprofit organization that helps men and women in crises re-enter the workforce through wardrobing and career development.

To find out where you can donate your “gently” used clothes to help make a difference in the lives of others, check out this link. And if you do make a donation, tell us about it! We all love a feel good story.