As we watched the VH1 Divas show broadcast from the Brooklyn Academy of Music and caught a whiff of the fact that Ms. Liza Minelli was in the audience, we almost peed our pants with excitement. While some of us from VH1 were live-blogging from the show, others  were watching from our homes in Brooklyn, a mere mile from Liza, one of our heroes — she was so close! Oh, and what’s that? Liza is actually going to appear onstage? With Paula Abdul? And accept Paula’s shoes as an award?! Yes, please. This delightful bit of crazytown had us on the edge of our seat — both Paula and Liza (”with a Z”) are seasoned performers but both have a dash of “the meds make me forget things” that made us worry they were veering off script. They saved it though in the end and we found Liza thrilling as always…even if she didn’t sing for us.

Stevie Wonder sure can class up a joint. As the only man allowed on the VH1 Divas stage last night, Wonder complemented the gorgeous Jennifer Hudson during their duet of “All In Love Is Fair.” This is one of our favorite duets of the night and cemented Hudson’s status as a diva and a legend in the making — not everyone can hold their own with Stevie and she proved herself more than capable. The soulful song played out in stark contrast to some of the other duets, like the Sheryl Crow-Miley Cyrus performance. We think it was the benchmark for elegance last night.

No one can contend with Simon Cowell every day, get publicly scrutinized regularly, have unflattering interviews go viral in ten minutes, and still be as beloved as Paula Abdul. Perhaps we love her because of those things, not in spite of them, but she always manages a positive outlook and recovers from them no worse for the wear. Even tonight at VH1 Divas, Paula stumbled, literally, during her opening number, but she kept right on dancing and fulfilling her hosting duties, continuing to poke fun of herself, go head to head with the worst celebrity mocker of all, Kathy Griffin, and still come out of it on top.

Jennifer Hudson has proven her Diva status a hundred times over, with her Oscar winning performance in Dreamgirls and  her powerhouse voice, but still, humble Jennifer can’t believe, “I’m here and one of the Divas.”

With a five-week-old baby, Jennifer says her world has changed and she now “…sees everything through brand new eyes.” WE certainly can’t wait to SEE her performance tonight!

Tune in to VH1 Divas tonight at 9PM EST and participate in our Divas Live Blog Party now.

Many of you in our Divas Live Blog Party are asking questions about the show, sometimes the same questions, and sometimes three or four or 15 times! So we’ve compiled this cheat sheet to hopefully answer your every curiosity.

Q. When is the show?
A. Tonight (9/17)  at 9PM EST on VH1.

Q. Can I watch it online?
A. No. We will be streaming behind-the-scenes footage, but not the actual show.

Q. Will the red carpet be televised?
A. No. The revolutionred carpet will not be televised. But it will stream online starting at 7:30PM.

Q. Who are this year’s Divas?
A. Kelly Clarkson, Jennifer Hudson, Miley Cyrus, Leona Lewis, Jordin Sparks and Adele.

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Confession: We just recently hopped on the Jordin Sparks bandwagon after we heard “Battlefield” earlier this summer and then danced around Brooklyn for a month with it blasting on our iPod. Her latest single “S.O.S” is catchy and addictive (it samples that early ’80s classic “Let the Music Play” by Shannon), in that ‘I wanna get down to this all night on repeat’ sorta way. We’re hooked. Anyone wanna have a dance-off?

We just caught  the Idol winner’s rehearsal here at BAM and she rocked it. The girl’s got pipes, and she knows how to use ‘em. Not to mention, she’s completely adorable. We told you we were on the J-Sparks bandwagon! Check out a sneak peak of Jordin rehearsing this morning, workin’ it way before noon. No Diva hours for her! She’s a total professional.

Tune in to VH1 Divas tonight at 9PM EST and participate in our Divas Live Blog Party now.

Let’s just get real here people: Miley Cyrus has the summer jam of 2009 in her pocket, and the 16-year-old starlet may or may not be belting it out in a few short hours here at VH1 Divas. Lucky for you we’ve got a clip of her rehearsal that just went down, and we suspect it holds the answer. Give it a watch and get ready to swoon!

We were lucky enough to witness Miley doin’ her thing onstage, and she was all energy and smiles. Kinda crazy, seeing as she just did a show in Tacoma, Washington last night (her tour just started on Monday), but the girl’s clearly got it under control. She sounded stellar, and kicked back on stage in a black romper, black boots and a button down. For more Miley, tune in to VH1 Divas tonight at 9PM EST and participate in our Divas Live Blog Party right now!

One of the highlights of our day was getting to hang with Adele. We chatted with the Brit about her super-fast rise to stardom and checked out pics of her new puppy on her Blackberry (he was left at home as he’s still too young to travel). The singer is relatively new to fame; she hit it big - nay, HUGE - with her album 19, won a ton of critical acclaim, and snagged a couple of Grammys along the way. No big deal, right?

Adele’s only 21, but she assured us that’s she’s been doin’ the diva thing long before she became a household name. “I was doin’ it way before I won a Grammy,” she tells us, explaining, “If it has to do with my career and I want something and it’s not happening, I get annoyed.”

But being a diva isn’t about being crazy demanding, says the singer. “I think being a diva is also about being nice and knowing how to work with people, and how to treat your fans. That’s very important.”

We can attest that the girl’s got the nice thing down, as she was super cool to us. Watch our entire interview with Adele above and check out pics of her pup on her Myspace page. Be sure to tune in to VH1 Divas tomorrow at 9PM EST and check back here to participate in our Divas Live Blog Party.

We were lucky enough to watch Kelly Clarkson rehearse for “VH1 Divas” today at BAM, and we were totally floored by what we saw. Literally. We fell on the floor. The down-to-earth diva belted out a song off her new album (peep the clip to figure out the tune) and sounded absolutely amazing. If her rehearsal is any indication, she’s gonna be on fire tomorrow night. And we’ll end up back on the floor.

Tune in to VH1 Divas tomorrow at 9PM EST and check back here to participate in our Divas Live Blog Party.

We caught Paula Abdul rehearsing her opening number for VH1 Divas, let us be the first to say it: she’s still got it. With all the buzz surrounding Abdul it’s easy to forget that her roots are in dance, but watch one second of her onstage and it all comes rushing back. Her moves are sick, and she breezed through the routine effortlessly while looking chic in all black. Get ready to get down to all your favorite Paula songs tomorrow night; you can even dance along with her in your living room, if you can keep up, natch. Two steps forward, two steps back - you know the drill, right?

Watch Divas tomorrow on VH1 at 9PM EST and check back here for our Divas Live Blog Party.

Last week, we asked you to dig in our Divas Vault and tell us what your favorite classic Divas performances are. Well, you told us all right and it mostly sounded like this: “Mariah! Mariah! Mariah!” We knew she had some loyal fans, but damn — we had no idea that our little countdown would turn into a bloodbath. Mariah’s peers officially have been diva-stated.

Below, are the Top 10 classic Divas performances by readers’ votes. Not to spoil it or anything, but take a wild guess on which diva is occupying not just the top, not just the Top 2, but the Top 3 slots…

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