As promised, Idolator (idolator.com) relaunched and refreshed on Thursday, but pop fanatics and longtime readers were hardly welcoming.  Instead of embracing the modest redesign and added multimedia elements, the pop intelligentsia seemed unimpressed and dismissive.  “Mainstream, cliche, commercialized garbage,” one commenter dismissed.  “So much for my favorite music blog,” another complained.

Those are just the PG-rated examples, and unfortunately, positivity was not the prevailing mood. Perhaps that just intensifies the challenge for incoming writers Robbie Daw and Becky Bain, as well as supervising editor Jeff Leeds.  But lingering in the background is departed writer Maura Johnston, formerly the voice of the blog and at one point, a solo act.

But Johnston was ‘never a great fit,’ according to Buzzmedia president Alan Citron, and the site appears focused on cultivating a new crowd, instead of courting to the existing base.  The results, if successful, would include a broader readership, and a bigger footprint in the music blogosphere.