TREND: Celebrity evolution

It’s not every day that I look at Hollywood and start to feel like a slacker. Actors and singers are falling over themselves to bail out on whatever successful venture they’re involved in just to make it on their own and guarantee personal legendary status. Beyonce did it to Destiny’s Child and Justin did it to it N’Sync. Both transformed into very successful, iconic, solo artists. Before “That 70’s Show” announced their final season Topher Grace hit the ground running towards Spiderman 3 as the diabolical villain Venom. Last season, Mischa Barton bade (a much needed) farewell to “The O.C.” and is now dabbling in the art of indie flicks, building her street cred. Recently, Zach Braff announced his last season on “Scrubs” just when he’s about to release Last Kiss, his second romantic, coming-of-age indie. He tends to leave the slapstick on the boob tube and bring the dramatic chops onto the big screen, which shows that he has high hopes for a future film career as actor, writer, and director. In the world of music, there are very few group members who have the balls, not to mention the public support, to venture out on their own. So, they build support while in their group. Last year, Adam Levine collaborated with Kanye West on his single and he was rumored to be collaborating with several other hit makers. Thus there was speculation that he was branching out from Maroon 5 and possibly going out on his own, because when you think Maroon 5, you think soulful, sexy crooner Adam Levine. It’s almost like word association. Let’s do another. When you think of Black Eyed Peas, you think…Fergie, the rump shaking, vocal-blaring diva. Her ascension to solo artist wasn’t really expected. She didn’t collaborate with anyone else and unlike others, she didn’t quite abandon her group so much as take over all the singing and make them do all the studio work. She didn’t need to be featured on someone else’s single for you to fall in love with her. Charisma was her key to memorable recognition. Most recently, the Pussycat Dolls have accomplished feats that no Vegas showgirl group could have ever imagined. Although many of the girls in the group are voluptuous vixens, there’s only one that anyone can name. Maybe it’s because she gets all the lead vocals, or maybe it’s because when she looks into the camera at you, you can’t take your eyes off of her. I mean, the other girls can definitely sing and they are definitely attractive, but nobody beats Nicole. She’s already collaborated with P. Diddy on his upcoming albums and at the VMAs, she was the only one who got to improvise on Ludacris’s song featuring Pharrell, despite the fact that all the Pussycat Dolls were on the stage. Do I hear a solo?