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Access Atlanta > American Idol Buzz > Archives > 2008 > May
May 2008
5/30: Sanjaya does a Nationwide ad
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Nationwide Insurance is doing an ad with Sanjaya mocking his hair. Here’s more info:. Or you can access behind the scenes video here.
-Jason Castro has a lovely homecoming in Rockwell, Texas.
Teenage girls were nearly reduced to tears when they saw Mr. Castro and his signature brown dreadlocks. “Oh my gosh! I touched his hair!” squealed 16-year-old Jennifer Walthall.
This is rather short because I’m in New York today goofin’ around and just taking just a momentary break to see what’s floating around. Not much apparently! I’ll add more tomorrow if I have time. Have a great weekend y’all!
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5/29: Is Clay Aiken a daddy?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I’m on Long Island this week visiting my parents and plan to stop by NYC Friday, missing the two Davids by a day because I just saw them on the “Today” show this morning. My timing also means I missed Taylor Hicks by a week for his debut on the “Grease” play. Bummer!
I’m also grappling with a wonky Internet access so I’m sorry I didn’t post all day. And my parents don’t have a DVR so that means missing shows like “So You Think You Can Dance” and I’m afraid I’m going to miss parts of “Lost” live tonight. Ugh!
Anyway, here’s some other news before the Web dies on me again:
-TMZ reports that Clay Aiken has given his sperm to artificially inseminate his best friend Jaymes Foster, David Foster’s wife. No on-the-record confirmation but TMZ said it got the news from multiple sources.
-David Cook has 11 songs debut in the Billboard Top 100. Many of these songs would have already been on the chart except iTunes withheld sales numbers until he won last week. Still, that’s the most songs by one artists since the Beatles in 1964. Cool, eh?
-A press release from Jon Peter Lewis: Season 3 top ten American Idol finalist, Jon Peter Lewis, would like to personally thank his fans who pre-order his upcoming album, “Break The Silence,” due in stores July 22nd. Those who order his new CD by June 3rd through Adrenaline Music here. will receive a personal thank you from JPL with their name included in the liner notes.
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5/28: David Cook dating Kimberly Caldwell
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Happy Wednesday to y’all!
David Cook confirmed on “Live With Regis & Kelly” yesterday that he had a date with Kimberly Caldwell, a season two contestant who now hosts a couple of shows on the TV Guide Channel. Cook was one of the few single contestants (besides virginal Archuleta) on the show this past season.
-This is old news but Bo Bice’s second child will be named Caleb, he told People. His first song Aidan is two. Hard to believe but Bo is now 32 years old.
-Carrie Underwood claims she’s too busy right now to date. “If I found something worth finding by now I would have made time for it, but right now I’m so busy I don’t need a boyfriend,” she told “Fox News.” “This year is the year for me to be on the road and focus just on myself. That’s what I want.” Carrie’s previous beaus include Chace Crawford of “Gossip Girl” fame and quarterback Tony Romo.
Her single “Last Name” is at No. 7 on the country charts and still climbing. Surprisingly, after more than six months on the charts, Josh Gracin’s “We Weren’t Crazy” has gutted its way into the top 20.
And David Cook’s coronation song “Time of My Life” was picked up by 59 top 40 radio stations last week, including Q100, which has spun it 22 times in the past week. Jordin Sparks’ “No Air” has peaked at No. 2 and is now slipping down the charts. Will “One Step at a Time” become her third hit single? That song will have to go top 10 for her to have a chance of selling 1 million copies of her CD.
Carrie, Jordin and Daughtry all sold about 20,000 copies each of their latest CDs this past week, seeing sales growth thanks to the “Idol” finale and subsequent publicity, although Daughtry wasn’t even there.
-Jennifer Hudson gabs with USA Today about her love of purses and her new album prior to the debut of the film version of “Sex & the City.”
Q: Tell me about your self-titled album, which comes out in September. What are the key songs?
A: “Spotlight” is a pop feel, kind of clubbish. It’s a hot track. Then we have “Pocketbook,” which is sassy. It reminds you of Louise [her film character], because she’s loving purses. “Happy Place” is one of my favorites. People who know me will know what songs I had a whole lot to do with, because they’re sassy.
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5/27: More on Josiah Leming, David Cook
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Welcome back from Memorial Day Weekend. I’m more or less off this week, out of town, but throwing in a few tidbits when I can. I’m also going to miss Jordin Sparks opening for Alicia Keys tomorrow at Philips Arena. Bummer.
-Josiah Leming talks about his Warner Brothers record deal with mtv.com.
“I signed my deal with Warner Bros. about a month and a half ago, and I’m glad to finally announce it. The songs are written, the arrangements are done, and right now it’s time to work with the producers,” he said. “I’m so excited. I’m just beaming inside right now. Since I signed the deal, it’s been a lot of wait, wait, wait. Now it’s finally come. I’m in this awesome studio, working on songs. … It’s amazing. This is everything I ever wanted.”
Then he goes all “indie” and critiques the show as “glorified karaoke” because it doesn’t allow original tunes by the singers. That’s true. And since he got this record deal from the exposure, he has zero complaints:
*”As everyone clearly saw, I poured my heart and soul into the process and into the competition. But looking back now, things could not have gone any better. Things happened perfect,” Leming said. “I got the exposure. … People liked me, which was amazing, and I love my fans more than anything. I’m happy I didn’t make it.”
More about him and his ill mom in this USA Today story.
Already a soulful songwriter, Leming says his mother’s condition has further sharpened his senses. “Her being close to death brings me closer to death,” he says. “It makes every single moment, every word and melody, count as if it were the first and last ever.”
-And here is David Cook on “Ellen,” on his whirlwind trip through TV talk shows, courtesy of MJ’s Big Blog:
And Linny, yes, Cook’s coronation song is No. 1 right now on iTunes, not a surprise. He also has two other songs in the top 10, including the song he sang on Tuesday.
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5/25: David Cook/David Archuleta post-show press conference
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
It’s now Sunday morning and I just noticed I missed an email note from Thursday evening that there would be a phone press conference with David Cook land then David Archuleta ast Friday morning. Wish I had known that! I would have been there!
They sent me the transcript Friday night, which I just caught. Here are some highlights from the press conference I missed. Cook was pretty bland at times, though Archuleta couldn’t be duller.
First up: Cook:
On Simon thinking early on he was cocky: “I didn’t have any expectations as to what the show was going to do for me or what I was going to do for the show. I just went into as an opportunity to expose myself musically to a large audience. So my confidence level really never wavered and maybe that’s what got misinterpreted as cocky or arrogant. I think as the season went on maybe he saw the work that I was putting in not just on my own stuff, but really just to try to make it a positive working environment for everybody.”
His performance background:: “I started in bands when I was 15 years old in Kansas City and was fortunate enough to get to play in and around Kansas City quite a bit and got to travel around the Midwest on occasion. The move to Tulsa, I’d graduated college and the opportunity to continue music presented itself in Tulsa, so I went. I played acoustic gigs a couple of times a month. I played full band gigs a couple of times a month and I just kind of hoofed it around the Midwest for about 10 years.”
On the 12 million vote victory. “You know, I think that number is actually really misleading. Obviously within the bubble of Idol, it’s hard to kind of get a vibe on what’s going on. I thought Archie was probably a little bit ahead of me if I’m being honest. I think as far as the finale goes, there’s a lot of conspiracy theories out there. I attribute the finale vote discrepancy just to my fans just being awesome. I don’t really know how else to explain it. You know, my hats off to Archie for the whole scenario. I mean, he handled himself with a lot of grace. More importantly, he’s just an amazing human being, so I was just honored to share the stage with him.”
He was very vague about what type of record he’d come out with, just it will be rock: I’m going to try to recreate that energy within this record. I want this record to have some twists and turns. I want people to feel like they got taken on a trip from beginning to end. I got my work cut out for me. It should be a lot of fun.”
Would he have been better off not winning, like Daughtry?” “I think going into this was an idea that you don’t want to win I think is a huge slap in the face to the 103,000 people that auditioned this season that really wanted to win, so I definitely went into this to try to win it. As far as having more success by not being a winner, I think that’s something that’ll get played out hopefully in the next couple of years. I think Daughtry’s success is amazing. So for me like right now I’m not trying to be Daughtry. You know, I’m just trying to put out a solid record. Even if it doesn’t do well commercially, as long as I can say that I put out a record that I’m proud of, that’s the goal right now and hopefully if I can do that, then success will follow.”
On auditioning when he didn’t initially want to “[David’s brother Andrew] really wanted me to audition with him and I was just hesitant, not for any negative stigma associated with the show, but I didn’t really see this as my path for whatever reason. To stand in line at 5:30 in the morning in Omaha and the sun hasn’t come up. The producer comes by with a camera and interviews my brother and then turns to me and I’m like, ‘I’m not auditioning,’ and he goes, “Well you are now.” Life has a weird way of working itself out sometimes.”
On how he changed over the course of the competition “Well, this show’s been great for my diet. I’ve lost probably 10 - 15 pounds through the season. There was definitely a progression for me on this show. Early on - I’m talking like the third or fourth week in - Debra Byrd, our vocal coach, really hit home with me on a particular lesson. I think going into this, I put up a wall, kind of a protective barrier between me and the audience just to kind of protect myself, a little bit of a defense mechanism. She kind of forced me to break that down and I think it helped in the performances. Everybody talks about how towards the end I started crying a lot. Well, you know there was just a lot of intensity into the last few weeks as far as just what was at stake and all the work that had been put into it. I said in a lot of interviews yesterday the crying after I won was like an exhale. “
Why is he single? [A TV Guide reader question]: “I have no idea. That’s all I can say.”
Now onto what little I could cull from the Archuleta transcipt that wasn’t packed with boring cliches. He likes to prattle on a bit and gosh darn it, he’s kinda dorky, too. Favorite self-description: “I’m pretty much an airhead.”
Blah blah about Cook “The fact that Cook won, I think he deserved it so much. He just proved it week after week that he deserved to be the American Idol even early in the competition. He’s such a great guy too. My main priority wasn’t to win the competition, but it was just to do my best because you can suck and people can vote, but not for you to win and that wouldn’t feel very good. I think we both gave it all.”
On his dad “I hadn’t really heard much of it until later on. I tried to stay away from the press and my dad also. He understood that I didn’t like to hear anything going on in the news about me good or bad, just because I didn’t want it to distract me or let it go to my head or anything like that. I just wanted to stay myself and how I was at the beginning of the competition before all this happened. I wanted to keep who I was, the normal teenage David. In interviews and stuff it started coming up and it was just kind of strange because there were really weird things. I heard one thing was like he refused to give me water or something like that. That’s the weirdest thing. I mean, I’m 17 and if I want water I’m pretty sure I would just go get it anyway. Another thing was like he made me cry during one of the recording studios or something like that. I can’t remember really. Just weird things like that. I’m old enough to have enough control over myself. Then the next thing is he’s a great guy. There isn’t really anything he’s done that’s bad like the things that have been spoken about him. You know, my whole family has been such a great support and they’re the ones who’ve kept me grounded and allowed me to be who I am today. No one understands what I’m here for more than they do. They get what I love about music and how it’s changed my life. They’ve witnessed what it’s done for me and so they understand what I want to do while I’m here.”
What he’d like to record “Well I’d love to do the pop thing just because I’m still a teenager. On the show I was getting a little mature with my songs even though I love to do that stuff. I still want to be able to relate to the kids my age. I like the pop music, but I still want to have meaning in my music. So I’d still like to do some fun stuff along with songs that have more meaning in them. John Mayer and … are examples I use as people who have done the more pop side of music, but their music is so - I call it - real. It’s real music where it has meaning and depth to it still. They’re respected as real musicians and artists.”
On the differences between “Star Search” and “Idol”: “When I was little I didn’t even think I deserved to be on Star Search. I didn’t think I was good enough and I was confused that I kept going on. I was such an airhead. Well, I’m still pretty much an airhead. I was just like I don’t get why I’m still here. The people are going against are better than me and stuff. It just helped me to really keep focused I guess, because I understand that it takes a lot of work to do these kinds of things and to be able to show what you can do in that small amount of time. This show, fortunately, allowed more time and it lasted longer. I don’t know. I don’t know where I’m going with this.”
How he used to hate getting his picture taken “I hated pictures at the beginning of this. I’d always like run away from cameras even just with friends and stuff. I’d always be the one hiding behind a bush or something. It’s because I hate looking at myself. I still don’t really like looking at pictures of myself. I’ve never watched myself on the show. I would just do something else when the show was on and maybe like my family was watching it or something. I can’t stand hearing my voice. I’m okay with just talking to the cameras and stuff as long as I don’t have to hear it afterwards unless maybe I can learn something from it.”
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5/23: What did we learn from season 7?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
What did we learn from season 7 of “American Idol”?
Love those instruments! We’ve been wondering why they didn’t do this sooner. Folks like Bo Bice would have truly appreciated it. This year, the instrument rule two final five contestants we probably wouldn’t have otherwise gotten in Brooke White and Jason Castro. Clearly, the producers liked the addition, too, and it will be back in 2009.
No Sanjaya sideshow worked fine with me (though train wreck Amanda Overmyer verged on caricature at times). Sure, there are folks who watched “Idol’ for the spectacle of the Chicken Littles of the world. But “Idol” needed a year off from that to bolster its legitimacy, however amusing it might have been to have little politico Kyle Ensley in the top 24 or flamboyant Danny Noriega in the top 12.
That there’s still talent out in dem woods. We’re a big country and thank goodness the likes of Syesha, Brooke, Jason and the two Davids still exist, that the talent herd hasn’t been completely sucked dry.
Experience is not a sin. Some folks still gripe that Carly and Michael and Kristy alreadly had shots already in the “biz,” but nobody knew who they were so who cares? I thought it added an interesting element, a nice mix of the naive and new such as Jason and the almost desperate in Carly.
Forgetting lyrics is okay. Clearly, this is not a deal breaker for viewers, that it sometimes humanized the contestant more than demonized them as in Brooke and David A. But in the case of Jason “uh uh uh uh” Castro near the end, it solidified in people’s minds that he was simply ready to go home at that point. Memorizing two songs in one week is hard, dude!
Country isn’t quite king or queen but it certainly helped Kristy Lee Cook. She lasted far longer than most expected and being the single representative in the country world kept her alive weeks longer than she otherwise should have.
I pledge allegiance… Pull the patriotic card out when needed. Kristy Lee Cook, at a point in the competition where she needed help, pulled the Lee Greenwood song out. Brilliant! Archuleta later made a similar, though less successful, move by opting for Neil Diamond’s “America.”
Expand your vocabulary, dawg. Randy’s tiresome, limited choice of descriptions got especially tiresome this year. Everyone was “molten red hot” and “on fire,” and heck, “you can sing the phone book,” too.
Don’t wave your hands like you just don’t care. If “Idol’ brings back the mosh pit, how about recruiting some minorities, maybe even a male or two. And prohibit them from “spontaneously’ waving their hands in semi-time to the music.
Bring the band closer to the stage. The new layout kept the band so far away, I think that often made it harder for the singers to connect with them. The times when they brought members of the band near the contestants were often quite effective. (See Chikezie.)
Q&A quandary Yes, that Q&A was a time waster if we ever saw one. And posting the questions on that board, then having the caller ask them was pure redundancy. It will surely be gone next week if Fox’s promise of 30 minute results shows holds.
Add your own. Those were just a few off the top of my head.
In other “Idol” news;
-USA Today reports that on Tuesday, teleprompters were in use for the singers. Can’t imagine David Cook needed them but perhaps Archuleta did. I don’t know if either copped to using them. I haven’t read the post-show press conferences yet.
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5/22: Annual thank you note to the loyal readers
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Dear loyal blog readers,
As a mostly David Cook crowd, we’re warmly buzzed this morning, not hung over. But this blog entry won’t be about the show per se, but about you.
Thank you for supporting this blog for a fourth season! And I want to remind folks that I am such a psycho. I actually keep this blog alive the other seven months of the year! With 82 “Idol” alums, the “Idols Live!” tour, auditions for season eight, three peripatetic judges, the ubiquitous Ryan Seacrest, offshoot reality shows, et. al, there’s always something to write about in “Idol” country.
So keep this site bookmarked if you need your fix, say, on a lazy August day. Or come back any day and talk with the regulars. This was a bit of a rough year in “mushblog” land. We have insanely slow comment posting and we lost our one-year effort at social networking. I hope we’ll be using some sort of new software by 2009 that will be faster and better in many ways. And I’m still sorry to have seen the “Idol Exiles” leave the scene, but, alas, communities build and they splinter. That’s the natural progression.
Now I’d like to thank the regulars by name (or at least the names they use on the blog): Deirdre and Linny stuck with me through thick and thin, my two lieutenants in “Idol” arms, keeping the conversation flowing and egos (more or less) in check. War Eagle, JTesla and Flats provided a surprising dose of testosterone for a show not known for studly appeal. Thanks to Mike S for his insights, though I can tell by his busy schedule, he hasn’t been able to “break” as much news as he has in the past. Thanks to Negativo for his brilliant, cutting remarks and amazing predictive powers. Thanks for past regulars such as Songluvr, Harmony and Lara for stopping by, even on occasion. And welcome to newcomers such as Harrieth, Justin, DawnH, Menana, and mvt. I also appreciate y’all who merely lurk and any other regulars I may have missed.
It’s a pleasure and a privilege to serve you all.
Cheers,
Rodney
P.S. Some of you have intimated I should blog about “So You Think You Can Dance.” There are other reality shows I can write about too but naturally “Dance” is the closest kissing cousin to “Idol.” Unfortunately, my knowledge and ability to critique dance is far weaker than singing. Not sure what I can add per se there. But I might throw my two cents when on occasion.
P.S.S. I lied about this not being about Idol. I just got the early ratings and it appears despite lower ratings most of the year, the show ended on a high note thanks to the most compelling final two in years. It drew about 32 million viewers, up from last year’s 31 million. The only episode this year that did better was the premiere. So congrats all the way around! Even in the younger 18-49 demo, it was flat, which is a victory in this day and age.
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5/21: David Cook wins season seven of “American Idol”
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
David Cook wins! David Cook wins! He’s truly overcome with emotion. Sweet!
“I started this season much to Simon’s chagrin as the ‘word nerd,’ ” he said. [Cook likes crosswords.] “I’m at a loss for words. Thank you guys. This is amazing.”
We get to hear the coronation song “Time of My Life.” He does a wonderful job. He makes even drivel like this sound reasonably good. Overall, it’s an emotionally satisfying ending with the top 12 standing on that stage behind the judge’s table with Cook. He has his arms around Archuleta. Class act, sharing the spotlight. And the brother who convinced him to audition joined him on stage earlier, too. (The sick one wasn’t there.)
My prediction in March was Archuleta, with Cook as runner up. And immediately after last night’s show, I wasn’t 100% sure if Cook could win. Bu Cook ended up with an 11 million-plus vote lead, very very comfortable. I can’t imagine Simon’s pre-coronation of Archuleta helped the munchkin. In fact, Simon’s words may have caused Cook fans to work triple time to ensure Cook won. In the end, I’m glad I was wrong.
And look, 19 Entertainment will sign both Davids anyway. I’m sure the record label is thrilled to have Cook, who is far more radio friendly than Archuleta. We can talk more later this week in terms of who is worth signing to a record deal and who isn’t.
Earlier, I was at the Mike Farrell (of MAS*H fame) book signing/talk right now and watched the finale late. Not a bad thing because that meant lots of fast forwarding!
Anyway, I started writing this at just past 9 p.m. and played catch up all night.
8:02 p.m. Vote numbers: 97 million plus, smashing the past record by 23 million. Thank you texting Arch Angels! But the results are not close. 56% for the winner. If dialidol.com were correct, that means a resounding David Cook victory, right?
8:04 p.m. Group sing with the top 12: Very few closeup shots, lots of quick cuts, plenty of distracting “So You Think You Can Dance” singers, so it’s difficult to ascertain the singers who can dance. Then again, the choreography is dumbed down so even Amanda Overmyer can handle it (more or less). David Archuleta, though, clearly could use some dance lessons. Kristy Lee Cook can move. And so can David Hernandez. Of course, ditto with Syesha. Brooke White? We know, we know. Stay at the piano, please!
8:06 p.m.Audience celebs: Is that Janice Dickinson? Or her preserved body parts?
8:09 p.m. Duet #1: the two Davids. How apropos for Cook— a Nickelback song! Not Archuleta’s territory. Passable harmonizing. Not foreseeing future (voluntary) collaborations between the two of them.
8:12 p.m. Pointless extended, imbedded promo: That Mike Myers film I won’t mention. Let’s just say, Ebert and Roeper, your jobs are not threatened by the two Davids.
8:17 p.m. Duet #2: Syesha works the stage with Seal with his tune “Waiting For You” and she’s outmatched. Hard to beat such a distinctive voice and presence.
8:23 p.m. Castro sings rather than talks: He reprises arguably his best past moment with “Hallelujah.” (Melinda Doolittle sighting afterwards)
8:30 p.m. The Davids win Hybrids, win or lose. I wouldn’t mind one of those in this day when some local Atlanta stations hit $4 a gallon.
8:31 p.m.: Top six gals. Poor Amanda Overmyer has to do more choreography and singing Donna Summer to boot. One..two…three.. don’t trip! Remember words…to… “Hot Stuff.” Phew. Made it! Carly blows the roof. Then Ramiele (who?) sings. Donna appears with what looks like an attempt at a modern ‘do. Someone bejeweled her mike. How cute! Okay, Donna’s wearing slimming black slacks but she’s clearly no longer 1978 “Bad Girls” thin. (She is almost 60.) And unfortunately, her new single ‘Stamp Your Feet” is only tap-your feet-worthy. At least she can still sing “Last Dance” with slightly deeper tenor than she did 28 years ago. Syesha does a better job than she did with Seal.
8:38 p.m. Duet #3 The former Fado waitress and former Fado performer join up for a little Joe Cocker “The Letter.” This is much better than their “One” they did a few weeks back. Carly has worked hard to scale back Killer Bunny Look From Outer Space. And Michael is relaxed and cool. They make a fun duo.
8:43 p.m. Kimmel goes for the kill “I just valet parked outside. How much should I tip Sanjaya?” Sanjaya, in the audience, laughs uproariously. Ryan without his “Lee Press On Nails” and frosted tips, would look like… Chris Sligh. “I learned if you put all your awful things to music, it’s quite beautiful,” he notes and they summarize many of his negative comments to “Pop Goes the Simon.”
8:46 p.m.: Bryan Adams turns in his grave Oh, wait, Bryan Adams is still alive, right? “Summer of ‘69” first. Michael Johns sings it best. Probably sang it a lot at C.J.’s Landing. The two Davids go to “Heaven.” Cheesy ballad! This is actually Archuleta territory. Oh, look! It’s the real Bryan Adams, looking reasonably well preserved, singing some song we don’t know, because isn’t that the point? (See Seal and Donna Summer)
Time to speed through David Cook and ZZTop doing “Sharp Dressed Man” (checking in later—pretty good!), Graham Nash and Brooke White on “Teach Your Children” (lovely!), sop to the tweens the Jonas Brothers with “S.O.S.” (superfluous for me), a review of the worst auditioned including a live take by the dude Renaldo Lapuz who reprises that hilarious song “I Am Your Brother, Your Best Friend Forever” with some marching band (comic relief, of course!), OneRepublic with Archuleta, Jordin Sparks working her next single “One Step At a Time” (largely recovered from her vocal problems though far from peak form). Hey, look! Blake Lewis in the audience! Remember him?
Okay, I have to stop to see the Gladys Knight & the fake pimps circa “1972.” It’s Jack Black, Ben Stiller and Robert Downey Jr.! A little shoutout to our little state of Georgia! Season four winner Carrie Underwood then does her latest single “Last Name.” It’s now 9:35 p.m. I’m almost caught up! 15 minutes behind… phew. [Later, checked out Carrie and yes, she warmed up the entire theater by 10 degrees. She’s come a looong way, baby!]
It’s now 9:42 p.m.. The top 12 do a George Michael medley. Oh, boy. Pointing and wiggling your hips. Damn, said Amanda Overmyer. I’ll slur my way through “Faith,” then keep me out of camera range as much as possible! The guys do Ace Young’s favorite tune “Father Figure.” Note how David Hernandez says the word “naked” with such enthusiasm! Jason sounds really awful! At least his voice doesn’t fit this song. Then it’s “Freedom.” Keep me out of the solos in this song, Amanda said. Producers say, of course!
George Michael then shows up to do a very clean rendition of “Praying For Time” and I fastforward again so it’s now 9:55 p.m. and I’m caught up! There were some rumors of Paula performing live but that didn’t happen—probably just as well!
9:58 p.m. We’re so so close: What is Randy Jackson wearing? Did he raid a carnival? Paula is resembling a pineapple with that hair. Simon has his buttons down to show off his chest. Ick! He admits that it wasn’t as clear cut as he had announced it for Archuleta. “For the first time, I don’t really care who wins. You both have done terrific,” he said.
I checked my office pool (via DJ Slim) and came in a respectable sixth place.
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5/21: Tuesday ratings up year over year, finale spoilers
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
With only a couple of exceptions, year over year ratings have been down for “Idol,” on average 8 to 10 percent.
But interest waned a bit last year for the Jordin/Blake faceoff. (I don’t remember a single thing from last year’s finale show.) So it’s good to know the David vs. David finale performance show last night actually did slightly better than Jordin/Blake. The early ratings show 26.1 million viewers vs. 25.3 million last year. Usually, “Idol” actually goes up in the final numbers so it might be closer to 26.7 or 26.8 million in the end. Among those 18 to 49 year old viewers, ratings were flat but will end up being slightly higher.
Last year’s finale pulled in about 30 million viewers. I anticipate tonight’s will probably do about the same.
I don’t have a clue how zabasearch does its methodology but it claims that Cook beat Archuleta by about 1 million votes out of 63 million or so votes. Check out the chart here.
SPOILER ALERT E! reports that George Michael may be the big star who shows up tonight. (Michael is doing his first big US tour in 15 years and will be at Philips Arena July 31. He has kept a low profile for years, outside of that little park incident in the bathroom, but he did show up recently on the ABC show “Eli Stone.” He looks a bit Botoxed up nowadays but not horrible.)
Other names popping up, courtesy of MJsbigblog: Donna Summer, Seal, ZZ Top (strange!), Jonas Brothers, OneRepublic. And expect lots of former Idols.
-Neither song sung last night from the songwriters’ contest finalist pool will be the actual coronation song. Instead, it will be “Time of My Life,” which presumably won’t sound anything like that Bill Medley/Jennifer Warnes song from “Dirty Dancing.” More info here in USA Today. And more info on the songwriter here.. He also co-wrote a song on Clay Aiken’s album.
Sample lyrics: I know this is the time/This is the time/To be more than a name/Or a face in the crowd/I know this is the time/This is the time of my life/Time of my life
More “Idol” news to come as we count down to the big two-hour finale.
-Clay Aiken’s second week in sales land was rough. After opening at about 94K, his latest dropped to just 20K and has sold 114K total. Jordin sold another 17K and has 758K total. Carrie’s latest sold 16K and is up to 2.1 million. Daughtry moved another 15K and is up to 4.06 mil. Carrie’s first album moved another 9K and is up to 6.4 million. That’s it for Idol folks in the top 200.
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5/20: Top 2 Idol performance show, Josiah Leming signs deal
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
“Idol” is playing up the “boxing” metaphors to the hilt, aren’t they? You’d think they were going to have to sing “Eye of the Tiger”!
In the end, it was one of the better top 2 performance shows. But we know who came out to really win this: David Archuleta. Cook was solid but could it be that Archuleta wants this victory just a bit more? Archuleta’s pick of that very self-centered song “In This Moment” says everything. He wants that moment tomorrow night. And you know? He might just get it.
Personally, I still prefer Cook but it’s hard to be upset if Archuleta takes it home. He has earned this. And we can always rationalize that, like Daughtry, Cook doesn’t need this win to succeed.
Good news for Cook fans: he seems to be comfortably ahead in dialidol.com. Maybe all that Archuleta pimping by Simon fueled the Cook lovers to dial heavily. But dialidol doesn’t include text messaging votes, which might push Archuleta ahead.
[And “Dancing With the Stars” had its results tonight, too. Early favorite Kristi Yamaguchi won, the second gal to win it in six cycles.]
And surprise! Ruben showed up at the end to sing “Celebrate Me Home.” Woohoo!
Cook’s first song (“I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” by U2,” Clive’s pick) - A great song choice for Cook, who can do spirituals well. He opens strong and brings some Bono-like swagger as goes onto the stage behind the judge’s table. In this case, I really wanted him to sing the entire song, not the truncated “Idol’ version. Good job. Randy: “It was a great way to start this dual of 2007. (huh? 2007?)” Paula: “David Cook has arrived. Amen, amen. You are in great voice tonight.” Simon: “I can see you at top of this show. Looked very tense and emotional. Taking that together, it was phenomenal.” A/A-minus
Archuleta’s first song (“Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me” by Elton John, Clive’s pick) —Â Clive has given Archuleta a calling card song that Clay Aiken did five years ago. That’s going to be tough to top. You have to wonder if Clive picked it on purpose to see if he can match Clay. But with that tough comparison, it’s clear he doesn’t have the vocal depth of Clay. It’s another solid Archuleta performance but didn’t knock my socks off. I gave it a second listen after the following effusive comments and yes, he does a wonderful vocal job. Maybe the song is just a bit overdone for me, hard for me to feel moved. Randy: “Doesn’t matter what happens. This is one of the best performances all season. That was flawless and unbelievably molten hot.” [Huh?] Paula: “My heart’s still pounding. The sun is never going to go down on you.” [Is Paula going to make comments based on the song titles all night?] Simon: “It’s very easy to get overexcited tonight. Last week, you were okay. I thought tonight’s performance was arguably the best you’ve done so far. Round one goes to Archuleta.” B-plus
Cook’s second song (“Dream Big,” songwriter’s pick) - He adds his vintage grunge feel to a song with an incredibly mundane message. Musically, he picked a suitable song from the dreck for him. He did about as good a job given the circumstances. Randy: “The song was just okay for me. But you were singing your face off.” Paula: “It was a great way to take a song we don’t know and fall in love with it.” SImon: “It was a bit of a lightweight. The end of okay. You made the most of what you have. It didn’t feel like a winning moment for me. That was a 6.5 out of 10.” A-minus
Archuleta’s second song (“In This Moment,” songwriter’s pick) - This craptastic ballad feels interminable. This is not to be mistaken for “A Moment Like This.” And it won’t be. I’m hoping one of those sorority girls grabs Archuleta’s ankles. “I want to stay in this moment,” he sings. “Nobody can take it away.” Well, except the voters. I do have to give him credit. He felt the song, believed the lyrics, sold it well. Randy: “The song I wasn’t crazy about. You are so in the zone, you could sing the phone book.” Paula: “Another heartfelt performance. It’s like pure magic.” Simon: “I loved the egotistical lyric. Fantastically self centered. You chose the better song. Much more in keeping with the night. Round two goes to David Archuleta.” A-minus
Cook’s third song (“The World I Know,” by Atlanta’s Collective Soul, contestant’s choice) - He saved the song from last week. It’s a lovely tune but is it a showstopper? I’m not so sure. He slows down an already thoughtful, pensive tune. He does a lovely job but that wasn’t a great way to end the night for him because it simply didn’t hit that emotional punch (using the silly boxing metaphors.) Randy: “That’s the sensitive side of David Cook. You can make this record and get by. Very nice job dude.” Paula: “I looked up at you and you’re standing in your truth and delivering unbelievable songs with integrity… I truly applaud you.” SImon: “You are actually one of the nicest, most sincere contestants we had. I thought that was a beautiful song but I’m going to be honest but the wrong song choice for you. What you should done is sung ‘Billie Jean’ or ‘Hello.’ ” “For me, it’s a progression. Why do something I’ve already done?” Cook said. I give him points for doing something new. B-plus/A-minus
Archuleta’s third song (“Imagine” by John Lennon, contestant’s choice) - Archuleta plays it safe with what he thought was his best performance. Can you blame him? He’s in it to win this and goes with his strongest, um, hook. (I know, I know, stop the boxing metaphors!) Strategically, he wants his teen fans to text, text, text, and this should properly inspire them. Subtle and powerful. Positions him well for the victory. Randy: “You are so good tonight. You’re exactly what this show is about.” Paula: “It’s the culmination David. You’ve left me speechless like when you first sang the song.” Simon: “We’ve taken a little bit of stick, this competition. This show is about finding a star. I think we’ve witnessed one of the great finals. In my opinion, David, you came out here tonight to win. What we have witnessed is a knockout.” (Okay, Simon did the final boxing metaphor, not me!) A
Tonight’s show will feature three songs each: one picked by Clive Davis, one the songwriters’ competition winner and one pick by the contestant. David Archuleta will reprise his “Imagine.” He will also perform last, winning the game toss. (He looked to his dad in the audience for guidance.) Surely, Jeff Archuleta knew that the ultimate winner sang second five out of six times.
Is it smart for Archuleta to do an old song or to go for another one? It’s the safe choice, that’s for sure.
-As for the National Enquirer rumors about Jeff Archuleta trying to sign a side endorsement deal for his son have not been substantiated in any more reputable pubs.
And here’s a cool factoid from the story:
The average age of songs sung this year (31.5 years) is the oldest to date and six years older than those in 2007, according to Idol database whatnottosing.com.
MJ also says each David got to pick their favorite out of the top 10 vote-getting songs in the songwriting contest. Good idea!
Tomorrow’s finale will reprise that Celine/Dion live/dead duet with another live/dead combo. They tried to do that with a dead Marvin Gaye and a live Mariah Carey for “Idol Gives Back” but for whatever reason, couldn’t do it. Ryan Seacrest interviews Nigel Lythgoe on his Los Angeles radio show.
-CMT reports that Carrie Underwood will perform her latest single “Last Name” on the finale.
-Scores of former “Idol” contestants converged at a pre-finale party in Los Angeles. EW reports that Ace Young sang five songs.. Among others seen:* Jon Peter Lewis, Chris Sligh, Chris Richardson, Brandon Rogers, Kevin Covais, Justin Guarini, Gina Glocksen, Nadia Turner and Bo Bice.*
-And if you want to chew over a fresh topic— ew.com did a poll for most over-rated “Idol” this year and Jason Castro won, followed by Archuleta. Agree? Disagree?
-Josiah Leming, the talented Tennessee kid who lived in his car and just missed the top 24, has signed a record and publishing deal with Warner Brothers.
-USA Today has a survey broken up by age groups. Cook wins handily, 71 percent. Teens are the only ones favoring Archuleta 58-42. Cook’s strongest demo is 30-39, who supported him 78 percent. And while the rest of us plebes didn’t get any time with the Davids, USA Today (with its 2 million plus readers in print and many more online) got a few quotes.
“I’ve tried not to pay attention to what everybody has been saying. I’ve just wanted to stay myself. I didn’t want anything to get to my head,” Archuleta says, although raves for Imagine in the semifinals had him concerned he might be seen as peaking too early.
Cook says he was fortunate to avoid early scrutiny. “I kind of liked coming in without all the buzz. It allowed me a couple of weeks to find myself,” he says. “Each week, my goal was just, ‘Don’t take last.’ So now I’ve kind of run out of options.”
Lythgoe in the story also said instruments are here to stay, and so are the judges and host.
-With “Extra,” Cowell thinks Cook will win, though it will depend on song choice tonight, he said. He also pulled his punches on Fantasia’s “hot mess” performance last Wednesday: “Fantasia’s a great girl. She doesn’t take herself too seriously. And whether you liked it or hate that performance, at least it was something you could talk about and that’s what I miss.” True—it was hard not to take your eyes off of Fantasia!
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5/19: Carrie’s ACM win, Jennifer Hudson album finally coming
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
At 1:06 p.m., “Idol” publicists said scheduling conflicts mean no Q&As for either David for us poor scribes. Oh, well.
I wrote a big “Idol” package for the print edition Tuesday. The topics include a “David vs. David” faceoff, recycled from something I wrote here a week ago, a discussion of why “Idol” ratings are off and a ranking of the 10 finalists based on commercial viability, which I could bring up again as a blog topic here later in the week. Here’s the link.
-Carrie Underwood probably needs a separate room for the awards she keeps scarfing up. She won female vocalist of the year again at the ACMs Sunday night. (And congrats to Atlanta’s own Sugarland for winning song of the year with “Stay”!)
-MJ posted Kellie PIckler’s performance of a new song “Don’t You Know You’re Beautiful” she wrote with Taylor Swift. (She lost to Swift for best new female performer) As MJ noted, she was not in good vocal form:
-I was busy Thursday, then got sick so I missed this rather pertinent detail in the Fox TV announcements. They have scheduled “Idol” results shows back to 30 minutes, which was the norm until season six. Oddly, the results shows did better in season six than the performance shows, the only time that has ever happened. This year, it’s gone back to the norm of 5 to 10% fewer viewers for results than performance, which makes logical sense since there’s only 3 minutes of real news. We’ll see how desperate Fox is by spring of 2009 to see if they hold to the 30 minutes. (That means no more trumped up Q&As. Hold back the tears, people!)
-Any thoughts yet on Jennifer Hudson, who looks kind of leaden in the promos for “Sex & the City.” She pops in at 1:04 in this trailer:
-But good news for Hudson fans. Her album is set to go September, with a single “Spotlight” out June 9. More info here at E!. Ne-Yo, Robin Thicke, Diane Warren and the ubiquitous Timbaland were all involved.
-And for the second year in a row, I failed to get through the songwriting contest candidates. I fear the worst, hope for the best. I mean, after last year’s debacle, who knows? I still say “Inside Your Heaven” is the worst winner song ever but many will argue for last year’s painful “This Is My Now” that poor Jordin had to sing or Taylor’s “Do I Make You Proud?” We find out tomorrow what the song is. Bring the dramamine!
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5/17: Jon Peter Lewis interview, Taylor Hicks Broadway bound
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I got a nasty case of food poisoning Thursday and I was mostly down for the count Friday. So belatedly, here is a summary of my talk with Jon Peter Lewis at the Starbucks near DIsco Kroger, same place I met Jordin Sparks earlier this year. I figure I better get this out before Web traffic on this blog drops off big time post-finale!
Lewis, an eighth place finisher from season three, has spent the past four years in the post-“Idol” trenches, selling a few albums here and there, making appearances and doing concerts at colleges, clubs and private corporate events. He hasn’t done a wedding but he did do a girl’s bat mitzvah. In other words, he’s managed to leverage “Idol” to make a living as a musician. “I’m not working at McDonald’s,” he said.
He has a manager and an indie label backing him for his latest album coming out July 22 That’s more than what a lot of “Idol” alums have. And “Good Day Atlanta” was perfectly happy to have him on last Thursday to sing his new single “Break the Silence.”
“It’s not an easy path,” he later noted. “But I’m still here four years later. Take that for what it’s worth. I’ve got a new record. I feel like this is just the beginning.”
One thing he hasn’t liked doing much has been hosting “Idol” style competitions, a common request. “I’m pretty good at it but I prefer to sing,” he said. Through the years, he said he’s run into virtually every major “Idol” star, from Daughtry to Carrie. (The only winner he has missed is Taylor.) Back in 2004, a 13 year old Jordin Sparks, wearing a “JPL” T-shirt met him and gave him an indie CD she had worked on.
And he turned down a chance to go on NBC’s “Fear Factor,” which Anthony Fedorov and Carmen Rasmussen ultimately chose to do. “I just didn’t want to eat worms just to get TV time,” he said.
How about this for strange? He had been singing “Stand By Me” with a smidgen of Sean Kingston’s “Beautiful Girls.” He said when he visited “Idol” the week Amanda Overmyer was eliminated, he said he ran into Jeff Archuleta, David’s dad, who said he had been following Jon Peter Lewis’ career for awhile. Perhaps Jeff was inspired by Jon Peter Lewis? Probably a stretch but check it out here, when he performed the song April 1, 2008 at Albright College in Reading, PA:
Here’s the video for his new single “Break the Silence” and honestly, it’s a pretty darn good song with top 40 potential:
His voice actually sounds much deeper and textured than I recall from season three. He said at the time had very little stage experience and wasn’t really clear in his mind what he wanted to do as an artist. And he admits what people remember the most is his goofy dancing. You can see he’s come a long way:
After “Idol,” he moved to Los Angeles and spent time learning how to write music. “I needed to learn a lot of that stuff, figure out what my sound was going to be,” he said. He experimented live with kitschy songs, rock songs, Americana songs. He settled on what he calls “mood pop,” kind of John Mayer-esque. “My range has gotten bigger,” he said, through practice.
His take on Diana DeGarmo at the time: “Back in the day, it was tough. No one was able to figure who she was artistically. But she had this incredible range and she’s tenacious.”
Not surprisingly, he’s rooting for David Cook to win though he thinks Archuleta’s fans may take him over the top for the crown.
In other “Idol” news:
-Yes, another one goes Broadway. This time, it’s Taylor Hicks, who will star in Grease next month as the “teen angel,” who sings “Beauty School Dropout.” I didn’t see that one coming! He’ll do it from June 6 to Sept. 7. More info here.
-“Idols live” tour tickets went on sale today. It looks like a few thousand have been sold already as of 2:40 p.m. Saturday. You can get them here..
-Oddsmakers still have David Cook favored to win.. I think Cook has broader appeal but you can’t count out the rabid Archuleta fans who will work double time to text message him to victory.
-Traffic is down on this blog by about a third year over year. Apparently, that’s not as bad as what’s happened on www.americanidol.com. Last March, 2007, the unique audience on that main “Idol” site was 7.27 million. This past March? Just 4.3 million. That’s a dropoff of 41 percent. Nielsen provided these stats and more. Nielsen ratings are only down about 10 percent.
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5/15: Syesha Mercado interview: “I want to do everything!”
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Film! Broadway! An album! Books! An organic restaurant! Start a lupus charity foundation!
“I’m real goal oriented,” said Syesha Mercado. who is all about optimism. “I write them down and keep looking at them.” As she later noted, “I want to do everything!”
I noted to her that Paula Abdul twice Tuesday said she sang songs that didn’t define who she is. So I asked— who is she really as an artist? “I’m a mix of a lot of things. I think that’s why people say, ‘She’s Broadway!’ I’m like a black Christina Aguilera or Alicia Keys. I definitely see myself putting together a Christina Aguilera album like the one she recently did [which had Broadway elements in it.] I could do a ‘Diary of Alicia Keys.’ I like pop and I like R&B and I like old-school musicals. I’m growing into an artist and developing. I’m glad I did ‘American Idol.’ You were able to see the transition I went through. I’m still learning about myself every day… People will know who I am.” [As you can see, even she can’t define herself in 25 words or less the way we can the two Davids or Brooke or Jason.]
For my folllowup question, I asked her to clarify her comments equating her own experience to the Civil Rights movement in relation to the Sam Cooke song “A Change is Gonna Come.” I wasn’t sure she was aware that it was a rather uneven comparison and thought she could give us some clarity. My interpetation: she says the song meant something different to her in terms of her own life vs. what the song meant to an entire generation, not that there should even be a comparison per se: “It’s a signature song for the Civil Rights movement. For me, it meant something different. It took on a completely different meaning. It came during a transitional time in history. This is a transitional time for me. For me, a change is gonna come.”
On how she changed during the show: “I consider myself a hard worker. I’m always rehearsing. almost overworking. When I first stepped into the competition, I was in this little shell. I came in with a negative mindframe. It was harming my performances. Over time, I became more comfortable with myself. There’s a fine line between overworking and doing so much, you’re no longer having fun and letting go and taking it all in. I was more satisfied as the weeks went on. I’ve learned how to relax. I learned ways to deal with stress.”
On her dad’s struggles with alcohol and drugs: “It made me the humble person I am. Having my dad struggle made me sad a lot of my life. It made me understand people more. I told myself I won’t let this determine what my future will be. I will help my dad and encourage him. I’m going to make him proud of me so he can make me proud of him. It’s motivated him to stay sober and clean. It’s a beautiful story to tell.”
On wedding bells with her fiance: “I’m a live in the now person. He’s so supportive. We have a mutual understanding. We’ll do it when the time is right.”
On her mindset each week. “I never packed my bags. They told us to do so but I never did because I didn’t want to go home! I talked to my family a lot. They helped me stay strong.”
On singing that “Happy Feet” song My nieces and nephews watch that movie over and over again so I knew it. I h ad to make it as good as I could I’m very positive. Whenever something is in my way, I block it all out. What can I do to turn this into a positive and make the best of it. I tried my very best.”
On her feelings after Tuesday night: “I was like, ‘It’s over.’ I got too many bad comments to keep me t here. But I moved on and made peace with it. I couldn’t feel bad about it. I don’t feel like i failed.”
Other upbeat cliches she uttered. “I’m at peace. Only great things can come from here on out. We don’t know what’s in store for us. I’m proud of being the last girl standing. I’m honored to have had a great opportunity like this.”
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5/14: Top 3 Idol results show - David vs. David!
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
We now have the top two we anticipated two months ago: David Cook vs. David Archuleta. This should be a humdinger, as Simon dubbed it. And yes, kids, that’s not a dirty phrase. Dated, yes. Not dirty.
Syesha Mercado finished No. 3, the spot I predicted in mid March before the top 12 performed. I’m proud of that one!
She’s a beautiful gal who sang consistently well throughout the competition. I really enjoyed her “Tobacco Road” and “Me and Mr. Jones” in the semifinals and became a fan. Her “Yesterday” was exceptional. Along the way, she made a few minor stumbles in song choice (Fantasia’s “I Believe,” especially) and skirted defeat five times. She picked up some steam near the end, with “A Change is Gonna Come” receiving her the most praise.
Through all the themes, her versatility was her strength and weakness. She always managed to make something out of whatever was handed to her. She never had a truly awful jaw-droppingly bad performance. She didn’t forget her lyrics. She moved the stage well. On the downside, she never had that Fantasia “Summertime” moment. She lacked that singular presence that would make her a potentially successful R&B singer. I’m not sure who she is as a performer. But Broadway? Perfect! She can become somebody else and do it well.
So I’ve gotten three out of nine guesses right based on night-after predictions. Of the top 12 I picked in order nine weeks ago, I got four correct. I made two wildly bad predictions—Kristy Lee out week one and David Hernandez landing in the top 5. My original top 12 was 12-Kristy Lee 11-Ramiele 10-Chikezie 9-Ramiele 8-Michael Johns 7-Brooke 6-Carly 5-David H. 4-Jason 3-Syesha 2-David C. 1-David A.
Anyway, here’s a quick rundown of the episode before the results:
Ryan’s hyperbole is in full force tonight as he notes that missing the top 2 for the third-place finisher is “devastating.” Not… really.
David Hernandez and Chikezie Ezie are in the audience, along with Andrew Lloyd Weber. Group sing: “Ain’t No Stoppin’ Us now.” There were 56 million votes for the top 3, up from 51 million a week earlier. (Last year, there were 60 million votes tallied at this point and 50 million season five.)
Fantasia comes on relatively early for the results show. Her hair is very, um, red. It’s a very funky song. But I’m not likin’ it. It’s called “Bore Me” and comes from her second album. Simon looks flummoxed to say the least!
I guess they want to reserve time for the three hometown visits. First up: David Archuleta. Murray, Utah. “Good Day Utah.” 101.5/The Eagle. The Gateway Mall. Lotsa screaming girls. He’s overwhelmed and teary. “Gosh!” he says many times.
And to kill more time, they show his “farewell” video, just in case. And they use Graham Colton’s “Best Days” instead of “Celebrate Me Home.”
Syesha goes to Sarasota. “Good Day Tampa Bay.” Her elementary school in Bradenton. She goes to her house. (David somehow misses out on that.) “I struggled with drugs and alcohol for years,” her dad said. “This is like a natural high to me. This gives me a purpose to stay clean.” She gets a parade with the parents to her high school. The Fox TV copter to a concert in Sarasota. “I didn’t expect to cry so much,” she said.
During her “farewell” video, they use Fantasia’s “I Believe” while Syesha utters cliche after cliche about “if you believe in yourself, anything is possible.” (The problem being, that isn’t really true. Just watch the “Idol” auditions!)
At 9:42 p.m., David Cook gets the spotlight. “Good Day Kansas City.” He does a weather report. Hits a radio station. Goes downtown for a big concert where he does an acoustic version of “Living on a Prayer.” His elementary school, where he sees his proud music teacher. We meet his bro and he chokes up during the parade. Is David crying, too? Fox knows how to push those buttons, eh? We see his high school stadium appearance and a brief moment at the Royals game.
His video features “What About Now” by Daughtry.
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5/13: Idol top 3 performance show
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Sorry about starting this so late. Played tennis, then hit the weights (negating the exercise with a yummy coffee mocha milkshake at Steak n Shake, ahem). So it’s now past 10 p.m. and I’m hitting the DVR.
Interestingly, the personal picks by the trio were relatively weak. The producer’s picks were truly atrocious. But the judges did a solid job and their picks made my top three. Overall, it wasn’t a terribly memorable night.
As for the performances, David Cook does indeed win the night, as Simon said. And David Archuleta was a solid second, doing about as well as you’d expect, with or without Daddy Dearest. Syesha was good but not good enough at this stage.
It’s an easy call: say goodbye to Syesha. Even with Paula predicting a David/David finale, I can’t see enough Syesha fans rallying to defeat either David. The fact is, since neither Dave tripped up, they didn’t change what has been an almost inevitable outcome since the beginning of the top 12. Syesha has made an admirable late run but no way she can break the combo. [Dialidol.com has Syesha safely at the bottom.]
My predictive track record this season is abysmal—I’m only 2 out of 8. I actually did better before the top 12 started—I’ve gotten three right so far from that stage.
My rankings:
1-David Cook (“First Time Ever I Saw Your Face,” Roberta Flack, Simon’s pick) third - What a strange choice. “It’s one of the great songs of all time,” Simon said. “Unlike Randy [with Syesha,] I wanted him to do something different. David has a chance to show some originality.” I’m sure Daughtry couldn’t do this song as well as David. This forces David to hit his higher register, which isn’t half bad. He clearly decided to infuse it with some real soul, as opposed to phoning it in, which he easily could have done. Great money shot note at the end. Even Simon clapped! Randy: “Loved the high note at the end but I wish Simon had picked something as predictable as this older kind of song. I want you to rock.” Paula: “That is one of my favorite songs. Now you’re the second favorite person to sing it.” Simon: “I thought it was one of your best performances to date. This is what makes you brilliant. Round one goes to Cook and Cowell!” A
2-David Archuleta (“And So It Goes” by Billy Joel, Paula’s pick) first song sung - I’m a huge Billy Joel song and since season two, Billy has seldom, if ever, has popped up. This was a top 5 soft rock hit for Billy but not one of his better known songs. Carmen Rasmussen did it not quite so well that year during Billy Joel week. I do love it. It’s pensive, yet melodically sweet. He slows it down and gives it a hymnal feeling. David hits it out of the park. Randy: “The Billy Joel thing works for you… You’re in the zone. You’re in it to win it, baby!” (Hasn’t he said those phrases like 40 times already? Get a thesaurus, dawg!) Paula: “It was a pure and stunning performance.” Simon: “It was very good. You know, no surprises. Bit predictable.” A/A-minus
3-Syesha Mercardo (“If I Ain’t Go You” Alicia Keys, Randy’s pick) second - I think purposely picked this song to see if she could be an R&B star. She does it well but is she a commercial R&B artist along the lines of Alicia Keys? I’m really not sure. It’s good but she simply can’t transcend the essence that is Alicia. Randy: “I thought that would work really well on you. You did an amazing job. I’m so happy you’re peaking at the right time.” Paula: “I’m very proud you’re the very last lady standing.” Simon: “You sang that very well. I just wish that Randy had chosen something for you, you weren’t going to sound like the original.” B-plus
4-David Archuleta (“With You” by Chris Brown, David’s pick) fourth —Â Yah! A current song! We haven’t had many of those this season. And this is one of my favorite songs of 2008. it’s hilarious seeing him utter the word “boo.” He almost messes up partway through proving this is a deceptively difficult song to sing. And a smart choice to appeal to the googly-eyed teens. And he doesn’t embarrass himself. Randy: “I applaud you are trying something new and young. Seeing you sing ‘my boo’ is unbelievable.” Paula: “It’s in the right tone of your voice. You’re so used to singing ballads…This is another part of who you. I’d work getting into it and not extending the phrases.” Simon: “I applaud you didn’t do a treacly ballad. It was a little bit like a chihuahua being a tiger in so much as it’s not really you. It was a bit awkward, the dancing.” [Simon is right.] But I like the song so he gets a B-plus
5-David Cook (“I Don’t Want To Miss a Thing,” producer’s pick) pimp spot - I hate, hate, hate this song. Did I emphasize I hate this song? But give David credit: he makes it almost tolerable. [Josh Gracin took a stab at it and so did, get this—Antonella Barba last year.] And he is working’ the money note again! Randy: “I love the song. It was okay for me. Very predictable.” Paula: “This is where the beginning, middle and ending is. David—see ya in the finals!” Simon: “One of the great songs of all time. David Cook wins the night.” B-plus
6-Syesha Mercado (“Hit Me Up” Gia Farrell, producer’s pick) eighth up — This was a No. 1 hit — in Hungary but barely scraped the charts here in 2006. It’s not a bad party song, the type of song Syesha hasn’t done much of. He does a perfectly adequate job. Randy: “It was just okay for me.” Paula: “It was from the ‘Happy Feet’ soundtrack. You did the song very well. I just want to tell you. As much as I liked it, I’m not sure if it defines you as Syesha the artist. I don’t know if it will get you into the finals of American Idol.” Simon: “It was better than the second song. Your best moment last week was the Sam Cooke song. The problem with that song. It’s a little bit forgettable. It’s fun and young but didn’t give you the defining moment at the end of this song.” [You can’t blame her. She didn’t pick the song!] B/B-plus
7-David Archuleta (“Longer” Dan Fogelberg, producer’s pick) seventh up — Speaking of treacly ballads, this one truly takes the cake, a cake with two tablespoons of sugar too many. The late great Fogelberg’s hit feels so retro ’70s and Archuleta can’t do much to save it from the mush that it is. Randy: “You can sing the phone book. You’re in the zone. Another hot one from you.” Paula: “Very lovely.” Simon: “You sang the song very well. However, the song and the lyrics are horrible. It’s so gooey. But you’ve done enough to get in the finals next week.” B
8-Syesha Mercado (“Fever” by Peggy Lee, Syesha’s pick) fifth up “I like the vibe of the song,” she said. “And I wanted to use the chair.” Paris Bennett did a pretty good job on this song two years ago. This is a good pick cos it has a Broadway vibe to it. Although she does a competent job, I was left kinda cold. No fever for me. Now if Kat McPhee had done it… Randy: “Very interesting song choice. What I will highlight. You sang it amazingly well.” Paula: “Out of all the songs, I’m surprised you picked this song. I’m not sure it shows who Syesha is as an artist.” [harsh for Paula!] Simon: “You will probably regret that decision tomorrow. You could have picked a song to show you as a contemporary. artist. It was a lame cabaret performance.” B/B-minus [My wife noted that she didn’t really work the chair well either.]
9-David Cook (“Dare You To Move” Switchfoot, David’s personal pick) sixth up - He had already planned to sing Collective Soul but switched to Switchfoot instead. Not sure why. It was a top 10 hit for the alternative rock band though I was personally bored by the song whenever it hit the radio. And he only makes it marginally better, even though he did finish with a flourish. Randy: “A little pitchy.” Paula: “I feel like you just got to the beginning when it hit the end of the song. I wanted more.” [Yes, it felt truncated.] Simon: “I don’t think it’s the best melodic song.” B/B-minus
In a TV Guide interview, Archuleta defended his dad before Jeff’s banishment: “I’ve heard the weird things that people have been saying, and it’s kind of a bummer. My dad’s been great. He understands more than anyone what I want.” (Would you expect anything else from the Arch?)
Executive producer Nigel Lythgoe explained the situation with Jeff at ew.com::
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: There have been reports that Jeff Archuleta was banished from backstage, but then David’s vocal coach gave a radio interview in which he said that wasn’t the case. What light can you shed on this?
NIGEL LYTHGOE: “Banished” is a terrible word, isn’t it? It sounds like we’re in some far-off kingdom. He has been asked not to participate in the choice of music with David or be in the room when David is working out his routines that he wants to sing. He’s fine to be in the studio — nothing wrong with that. We just want David to be able to be free like everybody else to get on and do what they want to do.
Naturally, TMZ reports that Jeff Archuleta Tuesday night was buddy buddy with Randy but not Nigel!.
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5/13: Top 3 strengths & weaknesses
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
While everyone is anticipating the long-awaited David vs. David finale, let’s give Syesha some due and weight each person’s strengths and weaknesses as we enter the home stretch of season seven:
David Cook
Four-word description: Daughtry, with more soul
Strengths: He brings growly sincerity and manly confidence to all his work. He can take a seemingly shallow pop song and shape it in a way that gives it a real depth. He’s comfortable on stage. And he doesn’t seem arrogant in an offputting way, like Daughtry did at times season five. Vocally, he seldom misses a note. He could be packaged quite successful in the rock-pop realm.
Weaknesses: He’s not the best-looking dude on earth and when he tried to pull off a Simon LeBon-like sexiness last week, it didn’t really work. And his fallback position is to ape that grunge-lite Nickelback sound, which can be a bit repetitive and tiresome in large doses.
Odds of winning: 3-2
David Archuleta
Three-word description: Donny Osmond redux
Strengths: He has a pliable, comforting voice that can warm the soul when properly engaged. He’s got puppy-dog good looks, appealing to 13 year olds and their moms. He can take on a ballad with surprising depth, especially if it has some sort of social message. He possesses a real heart. And he could do quite well in a Josh Grobin sort of way.
Weaknesses: He is only 17 and seems like he’s 13. His lack of maturity means it’s hard to predict where he’ll land in 10 or 20 years. He seems uncomfortable with anything with an edge and doesn’t seem to know how to apply himself on stage when it comes to moving more than two or three inches to his left or right. (Jordin Sparks had the same movement problem last year.) Guys don’t generally seem to find him all that interesting, but they aren’t the primary voters either.
Odds of winning 5-4
Syesha Mercado
Two-word description: Broadway bound
Strengths: She clearly has great acting ability, able to take on different genres with verve and a take-no-prisoners raison d’etre. Her vocals are always solid, if not distinctive or spectacular. She’s pretty, though not in an intimidating way.
Weaknesses: She always seems like she’s acting. If she has a “real” core to her, it’s sometimes hard to see. She is not a pure pop singer, lacking a top 40 sensibility.
Odds of winning: 20-1
I have to meet some friends for dinner but will add some extra “Idol” news later.
In the meantime, here’s MJ’s video of Jason Castro performing “Daydream” on “Ellen DeGeneres”:
-The debate over Archuleta’s dad’s influence over the kid continues unabated. Will David be helped or hurt by his dad’s reduced presence? MJ thinks it’s a win-win for David. He will get pity votes if he folds and if he does better, well, then they’ll say this was a good thing for David. In other words, David will be in the final two.
It’s hard to tell without knowing the family dynamics, says Charlie Toft, who covers television for film.com and is on USA TODAY’s Idol coach panel, which offers weekly advice to contestants. “Of all the major teenage contestants Idol has ever had, David appears to be the most heavily programmed and least spontaneous, and his stereotypically showy way of singing suggests he and his father have been aiming at this goal for a long time.”
I heard nothing of the sort in terms of “stage parent” issues with Diana DeGarmo (and I like her mom a lot) or with Jordin Sparks, the other two under-18 contestants who made it to the final three.
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5/12: Hometown visits, Archuleta’s dad banned!
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I remember when Fox did this for Diana DeGarmo four years ago in Snellville. It’s a highly orchestrated hometown visit for the final three. Here’s a summary of their trips.
-Murray, Utah. greeted David Archuleta at his high school and at a mall, where 2,000 showed up. The governor named it “David Archuleta Day.” He sang the National Anthem at the NBA playoff game though ESPN wasn’t allowed to air it because of some sort of exclusivity deal with Fox. An AT&T rep claims Archuleta drew more than comparable events for Syesha and Cook, though blog commentators in K.C. say Cook didn’t do anything specific for AT&T and brought in 10,000 people at a high school stadium. DJSlim has video of his anthem and Syesha’s, too.
-Syesha Mercado hung out in Bradenton, Fla., doing a concert at the riverfront where she sang “Proud Mary,” visiting her elementary and high school (which is in Sarasota) and singing the anthem at a Rays game. This Tampa blogger captured the scene quite nicely.. She also attended Florida International University. This Miami Herald piece claims she’s the first Floridian to make the top 3, which I’m sure makes Vonzell Solomon (top 3, season four) feel great! The story noted that Randy Jackson wants her to sing Alicia Keys’ “I Ain’t Got You”on Tuesday as the judge’s choice. And yes, Manatee County proclaimed it “Syesha Mercado Day.”
-In Kansas City, David Cook sang “Living on a Prayer” and “Always Be My Baby” at the Power & Light District and later sang “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” at the Royals. (Thanks Tricia for the info) He leaked to the Fox 4 Morning show that he will be singing Atlanta-based Collective Soul’s “The World I Know” this Tuesday. The judges want him to sing (huh?) “First Time I Ever Saw Your Face” by Roberta Flack. How about that for strange? And yes, of course, he got to have his own “David Cook” day. Of course!
-And how about this for juicy gossip? TMZ and Associated Press both say David Archuleta’s dad Jeff was booted from the show for being a pain in the patootie. Apparently, he had insisted Archuleta add a line from Sean Kingston’s song “Beautiful Girls” into “Stand By Me,” which producers nixed. Archuleta did it anyway. It caused problems with the song’s publisher and cost “Idol” money, TMZ claims. Jeff has been nixed from the backstage although technically Archuleta is a minor and needs a guardian. I wonder how the legalities of this will play out and will Archuleta be better without his dad breathing down his neck while he rehearses with the band and vocal coach? Jeff will be able to sit in the audience, lucky guy. I heard later that Jeff is only technically banned from rehearsals and song consultations.
-For the first time since the beginning of the top 24, David Archuleta is not longer the gamblers’ presumptive favorite. Cook is now slightly ahead.
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5/9: Should “Idol” skew younger?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Simon Cowell generally hates precocious young teen singers, though he has been fairly kind to David Archuleta. But he told Extra that going younger may be the way to go, especially on a show that is losing younger viewers.
“All these shows, including Idol, in the future are going to have to go younger. We’re going to have to drop the age from 16 to 14 soon.”
Do you agree? I’m not too psyched about the idea. Younger kids don’t tend to know who they are yet and that can be a handicap.
Remember “American Juniors”?
In other “Idol” news:
-Some “Idol” reject from season three who compared himself to Clay Aiken was arrested for soliciting sex with 10 year olds,. I think I blocked this dude out of my brain.
-Carmen Rasmussen from season two thinks that David Archuleta is still the fav to win it all.
-Today is the day each of the top 3 is getting the hometown treatment. I’ll post some of what happened over the weekend.
-Some fans of Jason Castro didn’t believe he said he wanted to go home to Entertainment Weekly. Well, he admit he said it to her in a follow up interview. and he was just frustrated at the time.
-Sacre bleu! A hometown writer in Salt Lake City dares to critique the hometown teen contestant in the form of David Archuleta!. Been there, done that!
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5/8: Jason Castro exit interview: “I’m a chronic yawner.”
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
In today’s press conference, Jason Castro proved he could say full sentences and denied he was tanking on purpose.
He also said the yawning he did on camera was not an indication of ennui toward the show, that people who noticed thought it was funny. “I am a chronic yawner,” he said.
I asked him specifically if he said “Don’t vote” Tuesday night.
“I was trying to emphasize ‘Vote,’ ” by saying it twice, he said. “Nobody heard me. I sat down and was thinking about it. It had the same syllable. [Don’t and vote.] [The second time,] I consciously went and said ‘vote’ once.”
On Simon saying he forgot his words on purpose. “I did not do that on purpose. I can’t believe I forgot such a popular line [during ‘Mr. Tambourine Man.’] THat’s writtong on your soul. It somehow slipped my mind.”
Insisting he wanted to win: “I still wanted to win. I think it came down to my inexperience. Once we doubled on songs, I couldn’t focus. My mind was just split. I couldn’t deliver either [song.]” Later he added. “I was doing my best.” He said when he said he wanted out to “Entertainment Weekly” a couple weeks ago, “A lot was going on that morning. I don’t know. That kind of came across wrong. People were kind of thinking I didn’t want to be there. That was never my mindset.”
How much experience does he have: “I started playing guitar freshman year and singing soon after. I’d learn songs but never all the way through. So trying to do two was tough.” [Longest set he’s ever done: 30 minutes.]
Songs he couldn’t get cleared: As we know, he said “Crazy” by Gnarls Barkley didn’t get aired because Danger Mouse nixed clearance after he had already performed it. He also almost got “Santeria” by Sublime cleared, then it wasn’t.
Why so mellow? “I’m grounded. Nothing comes as a surprise to me, but, um, I don’t know. I am like that. I’m not always so calm. I am kind of goofy. Some don’t see my hyperness. I still have fun. I am pretty relaxed about everything.”
Doing two songs: “I was losing that power. I couldn’t connect with the songs in the given time. I wasn’t committed to either one. I couldn’t fall in love with them.”
HIs speaking skills: “I’m an awkward conversationalist. I’m trying my best now! What you see is what you get. I didn’t change at all coming here.”
HIs singing and performance skills: “I’m as raw as it gets.”
On Paula’s snafu last week: “That was kind of funny. I was confused… I don’t think it affected my performance [of his second song.]”
Was he relieved by his departure: “It was my natural reaction. I felt relieved. The pressure was off. I loved my time on there. I would have liked to have gone farther.”
Watching “Idol” in past years: He vaguely remembers watching it one season in college.
On Jeff Buckley’s “Hallelujah” doing so well after he sang it: “I realized the power of ‘American Idol.’ It was such an honor. Cool. People hadn’t heard it. Now they have.”
What he wanted to sing next week: “Blue Eyes” by the Carey Brothers, from the “Garden State” soundtrack. (see below)
In other “Idol” news:
-DJSlim has what is a song by Jennifer Hudson called “All Dressed Up In Love.” I really like it but it sounds very ’60s, very old school, not modern at all. I have no clue where he got it from or whether it will be on her upcoming album.
-Reports are that Jordin Sparks is back to work, her voice recovered.
-Jon Peter Lewis from season three is going to be on “Good Day Atlanta” on WAGA-TV next Thursday, May 15. I can’t say he was going to be a star, but he seemed like a nice pen salesman. I’m not sure if he’s selling pens right now but that was Simon’s prediction for him.
-Q100 had Randy Jackson, Kat McPhee and Elliott Yamin on the phone this morning at the same time. McPhee said she was thinking of throwing in the towel earliy on and both said the show was extremely stressful. She felt she got worse as she went along. McPhee had Kellie Pickler at her wedding. Randy placed Kat and Elliott on his album. The trio are promoting the song “Real Love.”
-Phil Stacey’s self-titled new album opened at No. 43 with 13,000 copies sold, which is about what I would have expected. That’s comparable to Josh Gracin’s second CD, which opened a few weeks ago at 18,000. Stacey’s single “If You Didn’t Love Me” is at No. 28 on the country charts in its 15th week while Gracin’s “We Weren’t Crazy” is at No. 22 in its 29th week, according to Radio & Records. Last year, Bucky sold 61K in his first week.
-Jordin Sparks passed Taylor Hicks with 19K more sold and has 717K total. She’s now the fifth highest selling “Idol” winner, only behind Taylor. She’s now selling far more downloads—more than 3 million. Daughtry is at 4.02 million with 17K more sold. Carrie’s latest is at 2.06 mil with 14K sold while “Some Hearts” moves another 9K and is at 6.4 mil. These numbers all courtesy of Idol Chatter.
-For Clay Aiken’s “On My Way Here,” first-week sales, as projected by Hits Daily Double,, based on first-day sales is 80,000 to 85,000. That’s down from 205,000 for his last release “A Thousand Different Ways” in 2006, 270,000 for his Christmas CD in 2004 and 612,000 copies of his very first CD right after he came in second to Ruben Studdard in 2003.
And according to Georgia Claymate prez, Jenna McBride, this is what I missed Monday night at Manuel’s while I was trying to find my camera (to no avail):
*We had about 25 or so there last night. Most of the Georgia Claymates were in NYC for Clay’s last performance in Spamalot and some stayed over to attend the NYC CD Release Party and some stayed over for the CD signing today at Virgin Megastore in NYC. We had two girls who had literally just flown in for the party last night and came straight from the airport. It was an awesome party. And we especially enjoyed having my friend Jason there who came and played and sang. I think that Jason said that he knows you. His name is Jason Bowen. He is a singer/song writer for Sony/AVT or ATV (one or the other). Sony has changed so many names recently with so many different departments it’s hard to keep up.
Jason has been writing songs for Sony for about 12 years and he just happens to be friends also with Ryan Tedder, the guy who wrote the lead song on Clay’s new CD, “On My Way Here”. Of course Jason sang it for us last night and did a magnificent job. He and Ryan have co-written songs before and he sang one of them last night also. It was awesome too. And another song that he sang last night was one that he wrote that Sony has sent to Kelly Clarkson for consideration. Jason also sang a couple of other songs that Clay has recorded. Hopefully Jason will be able to write some for Clay some day and since their voices and style are somewhat similar, I would love it if he could sing backup for Clay also. Jason has toured with Barry Manilow as a backup singer.
Here are a couple of reviews for the new Clay Aiken CD:
The Daily News gave him one star.
The music Aiken’s writers matched to such hoary bromides continues the singer’s established love for the kind of power ballads that died in the mid-’80s. In this world, the band Mr. Mister still rules; Rick Springfield remains a pop player.
At least such warm-milk pop suits Aiken’s creamy tone. More than ever, he sounds like Boy George, only not so butch.
Here’s the Baltimore Sun, somewhat kinder:
As much as his record company would want him to be, Aiken isn’t a crossover pop star. He’s a male Celine Dion, a nerdier Michael Bublé, a new-millennium Barry Manilow, and there’s nothing wrong with that. The sooner he embraces that, the better his albums will sound. With “On the Way Here,” he’s not quite there.
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5/7: Whoa! Jason is (finally) gone! Idol top 4 elimination show, slipping ratings
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Has anybody been more relieved to be leaving “Idol”? Probably not!
Jason Castro is finally able to grab a beer, relax and go home. Phew!
The farewell video is amusing because it shows him dancing with that happy Asian dude during auditions singing “Since U Been Gone.” He is truly a goofball, a sweet kid. And he left us a couple of great performances (“Over the Rainbow,” “Hallelujah”) and as Paula says, a real person and a wonderful Jack Johnson surfer dude vibe.
But in recent weeks, he’s either become overwhelmed or tired or both because he clearly wasn’t able to deal with the workload. Two songs in one week? Whoa! That’s too much to memorize!
“Three songs next week. I don’t know what I would have done!” he said.
For only the second time, I correctly predicted the person leaving. (Ramiele is the other one.) But if you look at my original top 12 eight weeks ago, this is the third person I nabbed correctly back then (Michael, Carly, now Jason.). My top 3 at that time was 1) David Archuleta 2) David Cook and 3) Syesha Mercado. I’m most proud of the fact I had faith in Syesha to make it this far. It’s far more fun than noting that I thought David Hernandez would finish in the top 5!
Anyway, the first 54 minutes was the usual filler.
By 9:24 p.m., we know the two Davids are safe, of course. No shocker forthcoming. Thank God. That meant 30 more minutes to wait for the answer between Syesha and Jason.
In case you fastfowarded the first portion of the show or simply skipped it, Ryan noted that there were 51 million votes and the top 3 were all within 1 million votes of each other. That means they each got probably around 13 to 15 million each assuming Jason only got 6 to 8 million votes. We shall see.
The group sing was “Reelin’ in the Years.” Carly Smithson was in the audience again. “Idols Live” tickets go on sale May 17 with a stop at Gwinnett Arena August 18. The top 3 go to their hometowns. The Idols were flown to see “Love” in Vegas on a private 737 - with a bed. “Sleeping in the sky. Ooooh… cool,” said the ever articulate Jason.
I skipped most of the Q&A. I doubt I missed anything. Throwing in Maroon 5 was a blatant play to keep the fleeing 12 to 34 year olds to stick around. Bo Bice harkened back to season four.
Some folks think Jason Castro last night was mouthing the words “Don’t vote!” to the camera as Ryan Seacrest was giving out the numbers. I was typing frantically at the time and as usual, not watching. Some think he simply repeated the word “Vote!” Hard to tell. Go to 4:12 or so:
Then again, it’s a moot point. He’s going home. Right? Right? We do not want a Daughtry or Tamyra tonight.
In other “Idol” news:
-Ace Young and Brandon Rogers are making cameos on Bones next Monday May 12 during a singing contest, in which Brennan takes part and sings “Girls Just Want to Have Fun.” Bones, as Brennan is known, has no clue what “American Idol” is of course.
-Clay fans are having a field day cos he’s popping up on all the talk shows. Here he is on Good Morning America, thanks to the amazing MJ on MJs’ blog:
-And if you really have a lot of time on your hands, Billboard’s Fred Bronson (nice guy!) interviewed the top 10 contestants. The top 4 are featured here..
-[MSNBC reports that Ryan Seacrest might take over for Larry King as early as next year,] based on a couple of anonymous CNN sources. Seacrest already subs in for Larry. Would this be a good idea? If anybody has the time, though, it’s Ryan, that lazy schlub.
_While I’ve been enjoying this season more than last year, the ratings keep on getting worse. Last night was under 22 million compared to 25.5 million a year ago for the same episode. That’s about a 14 percent drop year over year. Alan Sepinwall, a highly respected TV writer for the Star Ledger in New Jersey, picks the show apart here. He hates the themes this year (which arguably haven’t always been so hot), he thinks this the deepest group without “stinkaroos” like Sanjaya but lacking any truly great great stars besides David Cook and he thinks the contestants look miserable and tired. He abhors the Q&A sessions (which have been truly time fillers) and the mosh pit, which isn’t necessarily awful but that hand waving has to go!
And this is a topic I might bring up as a separate blog entry later this week— perhaps “Idol” is packing too much on the contestants so they are truly exhausted? But are things really any tougher than they were season one? I might have to call Debra Byrd. She’d have a good sense of things…
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5/6: Top 4 performance show
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
It’s songs that cleared from the 500 most influential songs of the rock era courtesy of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Here’s the list for reference.
The Who and Bob Dylan cleared songs, I think, for the first time. And that may have been the first time we heard Bob Marley. The Who should be happy. Not so with Dylan.
Jason Castro should have gone home last week. Can his fans save him tonight after? It will probably be Syesha and Jason in the bottom two, if they even give us a bottom two. I liked his first performance but you can’t mess up lyrics in the final four and expect to skate by again. As Simon says, sorry. (Fortunately, it looks like Jason is in danger, based on dialidol.com. Let’s avoid a Daughtry/Tamyra repeat!)
My rankings:
1-David Cook (“Baba O’Riley” The Who) fifth - The song everyone mistakenly thinks is called “Teenage Wasteland” is a much better pic than Duran Duran for Cook. He, as usual, mellows it out in the opening. He actually misses a note but he’s much more comfortable here. And it begged, begged for a much longer arrangement. I wanted more! Randy: “That’s more like the David Cook I’ve grown to love.” Paula: “I want more David Cook!” Simon: “Welcome back, David Cook!” A/A-minus
2-David Archuleta (“Stand By Me” Ben E. King) Fourth - Remember Josiah Leming, the homeless kid, murder this song during Hollywood round? Well, Archuleta won’t repeat that. This is a your usual earnest song that fits Archuleta’s voice and style. He even throws in a little bit of Sean Kingston’s “Beautiful Girls.” He plays to the teen gals and they love it. Randy: “At least there’s one guy hitting the stage trying to win the whole thing. It was hot!” Paula: “You’re seasoned already.” Simon: “You could have whistled and it would have sounded better than Jason’s song. I thought you struggled a little at the end. But look, in the grand scheme of things, I’ll call that as the best performance so far.” A-minus
3-David Archuleta (“Love Me Tender” Elvis Presley) eighth and the pimp spot! - His first attempt at a romantic ballad. He tries to look smoldering but instead, he just looks like he’s squinting early on. I’m not sure I’m enjoying seeing him that close up. He kind of whispers the high note at the end. Can’t tell if that was accidental or deliberate. It was good, not quite worth a pimp spot. Randy: “Another great performance for you.” Paula: “That was my favorite performances from you. I felt your heart.” Simon: “You didn’t beat the competition tonight. You crushed the competition.” B-plus/A-minus (I noticed he hit that second to last note better in the rehearsal version when they showed it at the end.)
4-Syesha Mercado (“Proud Mary” Tina Turner) Second - This song shows her strengths and her ultimate weaknesss. She’s an actress with solid pipes, a pretty face and great stage presence. But it comes down to authenticity and however good she is, it still feels like play acting. A good act, nonetheless. And she’s about as confident as it gets. She is going for broke. Randy: “You’re showing the heat late in the competition. Very nice. ” Paula: “You look like a star. Magic happens and you made it happen.” Simon: “I’m sorry to put a slight damper on things. I thought it was a bad shrieky version. A bad version of Tina Turner.” B-plus/A-minus
5-*Jason Castro (“I Shot the Sheriff” Bob Marley & the Wailers) *Third - He finally gets to really go reggae to match his dreads. He actually seems to be enjoying this one, as opposed to Neil Diamond. I enjoyed it. It’s his best performance in ages though he didn’t really add much to it in terms of arrangement. Randy: “That was really karaoke Bob Marley.” Paula: “I never saw you perform more to the audience. I wasn’t crazy about the performance or the song.” Simon: “Stand back. That was utterly atrocious. That was a song you do not touch. This was like a first round audition massacre. I don’t know what you’re thinking.” [I don’t agree!] B-plus
6-Syesha Mercado (“A Change Is Gonna Come” Sam Cooke) sixth - It’s reasonably heartfelt but kind of boring. She does successfully hit the money note at the end. Randy: “For me, the first song I loved. I did not love this one as much. I didn’t love the arrangement. I felt you pushed out things that weren’t there. You don’t need to do anything extra. It felt all disconnected. Fell flat for me.” Paula stand and claps. “I want to hug you. How you orchestrated the vocals. Beautiful. Welcome to your dream. This is it, Syesha.” [She starts crying. That’s kinda sweet. And she keeps crying and crying.] Simon: “I have to be fair. I’m going to agree with Paula. I thought Randy got that completely wrong.” [Wow! Didn’t see that comng!] “Before I sang the song, I researched it. Found out why it was written. It came out during the civil rights movement. I feel like I’ve changed a lot.” B
7-David Cook (“Hungry Like the Wolf” - Duran Duran) First up - A bit of an odd choice. Cook has charisma but it’s not like that of Simon Le Bon and this was a rare time when it felt kind of grunge-karaoke. He didn’t add much to the song at all. So it was okay, nothing to remember in a week or two. Randy: “That was just okay for you.” Paula: “You left me with a big appetite.” Simon: “It was good. I know where he’s coming from. It’s a little copycat. Is it good enough to get you through next week, yes.” B
8-Jason Castro (“Mr. Tambourine Man” Bob Dylan/The Byrds) seventh - He goes all folksy and it’s vintage Castro for the first 15 seconds. But then he completely botches it by forgetting the lyrics and fails to fake it by going uh uh uh uh. He recovered afterwards but at this stage, there’s no excuse for that. Randy: “Jason’s not in the zone tonight.” Paula: “It is what it is. At this point in the competition, you’ve solidified your niche.” Simon: “I’d pack your suitcase.” Agreed. C
And I’d like to apologize to the Claymate folks for not making it to the CD release party. The problem: I lost my camera. I arrived at Manuel’s Tavern at about 10 p.m. yesterday and realized my camera had disappeared sometime between work, playing tennis and Manuel’s. I went back to work to try to find it but alas, it was gone. I suspect I dropped it while placing my laptop in my trunk at a parking lot downtown. And I stupidly left no contact info in the camera bag for even an honest person to figure out. So some lucky schmo has my camera and 3GB in photos. If they know anything about “Idol,” they’ll be amused. Fortunately,
Anyway, Clay’s CD “On My Way Here” is out today. And so is Chris Sligh’s “Running Back To You.”
I left a message with Jenn McBride, the organizer of the Claymate party and will update to see how it went.
In other “Idol” news:
-MJ’s Big Blog has Michael Johns and Carly Smithson dueting “One Love” on the Ellen DeGeneres Show. It’s kind of a strange take. Not nearly as good as Bono dueting with Mary J. Blige.
-CMT’s “Gone Country” was renewed and inevitably, another “Idol” finalist is in: season four contestant with the really strange pronunciation skills Mikalah Gordon. I know, I know. I can’t see it either. The others competing: Sebastian Bach (Skid Row), Lorenzo Lamas (yes, “Grease”), Irene Cara (“Fame,” “Flashdance”), Chris Kirkpatrick (N Sync), Jermaine Jackson (yes, he is a Jackson), and Sean Young (actress, “No Way Out”). Sounds like a fun crew but I don’t see any of them becoming country stars. It’s in production now and set to premiere in August.
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5/5: Kellie PIckler at Etowah High School
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Kellie Pickler did graduate high school. (Really!) But she readily admits: “I’m no role model.”
Dr. Kellie Pickler or attorney Kellie Pickler doesn’t quite sound as apropos as country singer Kellie Pickler. And she’s built an impressive fan base - especially at Etowah High School in Woodstock.
ABOVE: She’s indeed a tiny gal, even compared to me!
And for kicks, Kicks 101.5 and her record label at Sony BMG took an idea that worked in Philadelphia: kids from the high school who sent the most text messages got a free concert from said Pickler.
Etowah High School principal Ron Dunnavant heard from his brother that Etowah a few weeks back was in third place in the contest. So he went on the P.A. system that Monday and told kids to push them to No. 1. He wanted to celebrate a great year in which Etowah was named a “School of Excellence” by the state, one of only four schools this year.
His students did not disappoint. They ended up texting more than 500,000 times, averaged out to 227 per student. Junior Cole Arnold (right), a Pickler fan, contributed 120,000 all by himself by hooking his phone up to automated text messaging software for an entire week. Overall, metro Atlantans sent a whopping 2 millon texts (more than doubling Philly.)
“It’s like American Idol all over again!” she said.
Originally set up as an acoustic set in the gym, the label was so impressed by the response, they drove from Nashville an entire band and set the concert up in the football field for 4,000 Etowah middle and high school students.
With a sea of posters (including “I love Kellie like a stalker” and another shaped like a pickle with her head on it), she sang for 40 minutes, including a couple of new tunes and she even teared up after “I Wonder.” “I feel like I’m singing to my peers,” said Kellie, who graduated in 2004. The cheerleaders presented her an Etowah Eagles football jersey, a megaphone with her name emblazoned on it, plus a yearbook signed by hundreds of students.
Pickler has been running almost nonstop for two years. The sixth place “Idol” finisher was the first one out of the box with a CD before anybody else from the Class of 2006. After the show and the tour, she began promoting her album with a radio tour that led her to a Douglasville mall. She generated three top 20 hits over the next 18 months with almost nonstop touring, including stints opening for Brad Paisley and Rascal Flatts. She has sold more than 740,000 albums, more than Taylor Hicks and all the other Class of ‘06ers except Daughtry.
I spoke with her for a few minutes in the media center. (I guess they don’t call them libraries anymore.).
Do you text message?
I’m not a very big phone person. I’m not carrying it around. But I’d rather text than to talk to people on the phone!
Why aren’t you a big phone person?
I’m around people all day long. I like my space where I don’t have to be talking all the time. It’s important to have me time.
What phone do you have?
I have an iPhone. I go through phones like people change their clothes. I probably have had every phone out there. I’ve had four a Blackberry, I had a Pearl I dropped down four flights of stairs. I had a World phone on the USO tour. Pretty much blew that up. And I dropped an iPhone into the commode at a Cheesecake Factory. Luckily, it was before I used the bathroom!
I saw you opening for Rascal Flatts a few months ago and you cried after singing “I Wonder.” (the autobiographical song about her mom, whom she is estranged.) How often does that happen?
Every once in awhile it really hits me. It’s such an emotional song. It’s so personal yet I’m doing it in front of thousands of people. It becomes overwhelming. I can put the microphone down and hear everyone singing the song. You look into the crowd and see a mom holding her child, a little girl. That gets me sometimes.
You handling this whirlwind life okay so far?
It’s just crazy! The whole thing is sort of surreal. It becomes overwhelming constantly on the go. It’s very rare for me to slow down and absorb everything, the whole experience and the atmosphere. Sometimes, after a show, I have to lay down in bed and tell myself to slow down. I’m still adrenalized, still pumped from getting off the stage. I think, ‘Am I really doing this?’ This is what I wanted since I was a little girl.
ABOVE: Yup, she does have to wear red high heels, in tribute to her breakthrough song.
How was the USO tour?
It was amazing. I knew Toby Keith had done it. It was an incredible learning experience, really eye opening. It just makes you appreciate your life. You learn not to take even small things for granted.
What’s your favorite moment with a soldier?
There’s this song on my record, “Small Town Girl.” It’s actually one of the first songs I ever wrote about my hometown [Albermarle, N.C.] I had one soldier say when I sung that, he closed his eyes and it felt like he was back home. That was one of the coolest things someone ever said to me. It motivated me to want to go back.
So are you still getting flak for not knowing your European countries on “Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?”
I have ot say I’ll have to tell these students to pay attention in class or you’ll look like a dumb*ss on television. But I don’t know anybody but a handful of people who knew that Budapest was the capital of Hungary. A lot of people won’t admit it but I was honest. I say what I think!
Are you touring this summer or working on a new album?
I’m doing both. I’m hitting some fairs and festivals. I’m doing a fair with Kid Rock in South Dakota. Hopefully nobody hits me over the head with a pool stick!
[Someone then said, “Don’t join him in a Waffle House!” Not sure if she got that!]
Finally, what’s on your iPod?
I can’t get mine to work. I’m computer illiterate. I do listen to CDs. I love Dolly Parton and Fergie. I love John Mayer. He’s one of my favorites. Keith, Kenny.
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5/5: Idol cliches
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I saw a headline on mjsbigblog about 11 major “Idol” cliches culled from seven seasons.
I decided not to read their cliches and see if I can come up with 11 myself. Feel free to add your own. These are off the top of my head and not in any order:
1-Ryan’s dramatic cold open, with the camera panning each contestant and him saying, “THIS…is… American Idol!”
2-Splitting the final seven into two groups and forcing the seventh to make a decision which one is the eliminated group. They’ve done it at least four years in a row.
3-Simon’s tight black shirts & his fake “sorry” apology when he’s saying something negative and the crowd is booing.
4-Cameras closing in on any surviving contestant crying after someone is eliminated. And if the contestant is crying, the others come on stage to join the person and console him or her (usually her.)
5-Paula’s halting, grammatically challenged, “Up With People” commentary.
6-Dawg, these cliches are hot! They’re da bomb!
7-Starting a ballad by sitting on the steps and gazing into the camera in close up, before pulling back, standing up and doing the “big” note standing up.
8-During auditions, those painfully stupid montages in which they have everybody sing the same song and do it badly.
9-The opening of the audition door and the contestant flashing the yellow piece of paper as relatives and friends leap and jump as if they’ve won the lottery, often with Ryan as collateral damage.
10-The endless archetypes during audition rounds—the country rube, the arrogant woman who talks back to the judges, the dork, the comatose dude, the military person, the gal whose relative just died, the man whose wife is about to have a baby, the little person with the big voice, the ebullient big dude.
11-The mentor enters a room with the contestants and they do a group sing of one of his/her famous songs. Then the mentors hugs the contestants, who express awe.
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5/2: Clay Aiken interview, ratings update, song choice
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Those Clay Aiken fans have been waiting for this since I’ve been teasing it. But his first album of originals since 2003, “On My Way Here” comes out Tuesday. (The Claymate crew will be at Manuel’s Tavern, 602 N. HIghland Ave., Atlanta, at 8;30 p.m. Monday for an album release party.)
Clay is definitely the gabby sort. I had a lengthy list of questions to ask him for my 15 minutes, including several from Clay fans I solicited. But I only got in a handful of my own before the publicist said time was up. We spoke on April 23, a couple of weeks before his final “Spamalot” show on Broadway, which is Sunday.
What’s the coolest part about doing “Spamalot”?
This deal was for 18 weeks. I really thought I was going to hate it by now. [He then compared it to school and how the third quarter is such a drag.] I’m in the third quarter. And I’m not miserable! I’m not! I’m enjoying it. This show is funny. It’s a little different every night. It’s always fresh. At the same time, the people I work with are unreal… I was worried they’d hate me. I came off a reality show! I didn’t pay my dues. i didn’t have to audition. But they’ve been warm and inviting. I’ve been thrilled. I’m not going to say I’ll shed a tear, but I’ll miss it a little bit. I’ll miss the people. I’ve made friends I’ll have for a long time.
What was the toughest part of doing Broadway?
Everything has to be precise. You can’t change anything. But the hardest thing for me the first few weeks was not looking into the audience. I’m so used to playing for the audience and looking at them. At concerts, you have a spotlight on you so you can only see the first two rows. In this show, you can see the first 15 to 20 rows. And for me, it takes energy to be another person. I think I’ve gotten it down.
But it was some work to be able to do that. The reason we did this show versus others because it was work. Most other shows were about singing, no dancing, less acdting. This one was so far out in left field. I had to learn a British accent! It took some training to go from a Southern redneck to proper British!
So do you sing much at all?
It’s comedic. The song that I do is actually a patter song. It’s spoken though they changed it in a couple of places so I sing some notes and do my thing. Still, it was a challenge to do. That’s why we chose it. I wanted to expand myself, something people wouldn’t expect. Maybe that’s why I’m not bored. It’s so different!
I saw you at Chastain last summer and yes, you interacted with the crowd a lot.
I’m constantly doing that. I stop the show to talk to people.
I remember you commenting a lot about the bugs flying around.
Forget bugs. In Asheville. N.C., we had bats! Those are rodents with wings! And the moths were so big, one flew down the tops of one of my background singers. We had a bit of fun with that!
Why has it been so long since you did a full album of originals?
The record label latched on to me doing a Christmas album. It kind of made sense. It worked beautifully for whatever reason. The truth is, we ain’t radio people. Clay Aiken and the radio don’t happen as easily as Kelly Clarkson or Chris Daughtry. They wanted me to do an album with songs they could sell on TV. Radio is like an advertisement for your album. They thought they could sell Clay Aiken songs for commercials. So I did mostly covers. It ended up being a product I liked quite a bit though there was some resistance from the fans. They call me the next Barry Manilow but at least he has his own music. I wanted stuff that was mine whether it gets played on the radio or not. We went at this saying, that’s not a priority. I don’t want to think about doing radio friendly songs.
Look-I’m not top 40. I’m not cool enough to be on there. If you walk into a nightclub and they put on Clay Aiken music, I hope they’ll run out.
How about soft rock stations?
The “lite” stations? We might have a shot there. We are trying to do AC [adult contemporary] stations. I spent five years trying to be a politician. That’s stupid. We obviously have sold enough, I’m able to be comfortable to do what we want to do. We’re fortunate to have people come to concerts without airplay. Let’s do what feels right. That’s really all that matters.
Do you think your first single “On My Way Here” can do well on radio?
The label thinks so. We never tried to find a single. We used to try to do that. We tried and tried. Nothing worked. We do things that are good for me, that sounds believable. If you saw the show the last time, I did a bit of “Sexyback.” It was totally a joke, totally tongue in cheek. If I tried to sing those songs sincerely and put it on the radio, that’d be a caricature. I know that. Give me a cool song. I start singing it, it’s not cool anymore.
What’s different about this vs. your first album?
I used to not care about lyrics. I could have sung about watermelons as long as it’s pretty. This is the first time we looked at lyrics. I wanted every single song to connect with me lyrically. Some of them are songs that don’t necessarily connect with me directly but a majority of people will experience.
We produced a very diverse sounding album. If some of these songs were sung by someone else, they might end up on Q100… Lyrically, it’s all connected.
I have time for one more question. I just saw you on ‘American Idol Rewind,’ the week you did “Grease” in that red leather jacket. Good memory or bad?
[He laughed.] That’s the one week I’ve wiped out of my memory completely! I remembered “To Love Somebody.” That was great! The truth is, the little hip thing I did. [He did a hip thrust during “Grease.”]. That’s a really good connection about what we were just talking about. That was not cool.
About the jacket - we always went shopping with a stylist and we had a budget. We can spend so much money each week. I wanted to wear stuff that looked good but not too edgy. I’m not edgy. You can’t make me look like Justin Timberlake. The stylist kept pushing me. That week, I gave in. I bought this red leather jacket. I had never spent money on clothes. I was really cheap. So I had some money stored. I spent $2,000 on that jacket and wore it. It didn’t work.
In other “Idol” news:
-The Tuesday episode, at 25.1 million, was only 6 percent lower than last year. But the results show, at 22.8 million, showed the biggest discrepancy of the season to a comparable episode at 28.8 million a year ago, when Phil Stacey and Chris Richardson were eliminated in the first double elimination since the first season. That’s 21 percent lower than a year earlier. Most years, the results show is about 10 percent lower in ratings than the performance show. That’s kind of understandable. The results show is 55 minutes filler. But last year for reasons I wasn’t ever able to fathom, the results show did better than the performance show most weeks.
-Barack Obama read the top 10 list last night on “The Late Show With David Letterman,’ which were surprising facts about Barack Obama. No. 2? “This has nothing to do with the Top Ten, but what the heck is up with Paula Abdul?”
-Entertainment Weekly got up close and personal last week with “Idol” to watch rehearsals. The focus? Song choice.
”I’ve had people going into fetal positions over song choice,” says vocal coach Debra Byrd. ”The judges say song choice, song choice, song choice constantly, so they’re in agony all week over it.”
The article’s take on Archuleta: his dad is indeed heavily involved. Brooke won the tiebreaker pick-a-name-out-of-a-hat for “I’m a Believer.” They couldn’t condense “Holly Holy” properly to 90 seconds. He got rid of songs with inappropriate lyrics for him and settled on “Sweet Caroline” and the cleverly patriotic pick “America.”
Jason had a brother and friend visit, taking time away from practicing. And when he met with Neil Diamond, as we saw on screen, he didn’t know the song well enough to get constructive criticism. “I’m kind of ready to go home,” Castro said. We could tell!
Syesha struggles over song choice. It’s interesting to read how she agonizes over the choices. Simon says she’s very Broadway. We knew that, too!
When Cook picked “All I Really Need is You,” Byrd said it’s boring but he thought it had a “November Rain” feel to it. Diamond liked him. Simon says “I’d like him to win it.”
Finally, Brooke is having a tough time because songs are either about women or alcohol. She picked “I’m a Believer” over Archuleta in the hat and was still doubtful about it at first though she eventually came around on it, even after Simon dubbed it a “nightmare.”
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5/1: Brooke White exit interview, Kellie Pickler in Cherokee
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
During the exit press conference today, Brooke White was bright, peppy and sweet, everything you’d expect. And she has a knack for spinning cliches but not in a bad way.
On the pressure: “You feel like you’re sinking, then swimming. You realize you’re here, you have to make the best of it. The pressure is so incredibly difficult. I was here to do my best. I was true to my heart. Even with the challenges I faced, I was able to do that.”
On her state of mind: “I’m an emotional girl and I’m passionate. It really came across on stage. I felt very vulnerable every time.” Later, she added: “Tuesday, I felt a resurgence of confidence, a lot of joy and gratitude being in that place… it felt great. And even though I went home, it’s wonderful I left on that note. Simon said [‘I’m a Believer’] was a nightmare but I personally thought it was a great moment… Finding that inner confidence has been a struggle for me. Idol definitely helped me work on that.”
On her own voice: “I didn’t start singing until David Achuleta’s age. I never thought I had a nice voice. It wasn’t pretty. It was this low, raspy thing. I didn’t have big range. I think I was very intimidated by the other singers, especially on ‘American Idol.’ … [What ‘Idol’ taught her was] it’s okay to be different. It’s important to accept it and make the most of it. There are people who appreciate it. You have to go with it.”
On lyrical issues: “I didn’t have problems with lyrics until ‘You Must Love Me.’ [That’s when she started, stopped, then re-started.] Suddenly, it freaked me out. You play head games. When I was singing ‘I Am I Said’ in rehearsals, I felt like ‘palm trees’ wasn’t sticking in my brain.” [So she stuck the word palm on her palm.] She said just the act of doing that helped even though she couldn’t see it while playing the piano. She said it was an added challenge this week to learn two songs vocally, plus the instruments. “It increased the workload a lot,” she said.
On getting to play an instrument: “I didn’t know going into it they would let us to do it. When I found out, I thought, ‘Gosh, this is it. This is the year I needed to do this.’ It’s something I love to do but it’s very difficult.”
On Paula’s snafu “I don’t know exactly what happened with Paula. It’s just a human moment that happened on the show. It’s live. Things change very quickly. They kind of decided to change things in the middle of the show. She got lost in the moment.”
What couldn’t she get cleared: [my question] “I would have loved to have sung Fleetwood Mac or James Taylor.” [Though she did get to do Carole King’s “You’ve Got a Friend,” which James Taylor turned into a big hit.]
What would she have sung next week for Hall of Fame week? (my question) I hadn’t completely decided. One that I was definitely thinking of was ‘Help Me’ by Joni MItchell.”
Speaking to her idol Carly Simon I spoke with Carly Simon (right) this morning. It was amazing! She was incredibly supportive, very generous with her comments. It really boosted my spirits. It kind of gave me a motivation to keep going in the direction I am. I do relate to her and those singer-songwriters from the ’70s. I connect with what they do. I hope I can make that happen in 2008 in a more modern way.” [Video below, courtesy of MJs Big Blog.]
In other “Idol” news:
-Kellie Pickler will pop into Etowah High School Monday for a private concert. Kicks 101.5 held a contest asking for students at metro area schools to text message their school and her name. In the end, they got more than 2 million texts!
-Sales were slow this week as Jordin Sparks remains the top-selling “Idol’ at No. 20, with 19K sold and 697K total. She will surpass Taylor Hicks (at 701K) this week; in fact, she should be ahead of him in sales now. And she is nearing 3 million in download sales of three singles. Plus, Chris Daughtry has just passed 4 million sold, according to USA Today’s Idol Chatter.. Carrie’s “Carnvial Ride” is at 32, with 15K sold and 2.04 million total while “Some Hearts” moves up to 65, with 8K sold and 6.39 million total. Josh Gracin is the other “Idol” on the Billboard Top 200, at 175, with 3,500 or so sold and 34K total after three weeks. Kellie is at 751K, Kelly’s “Breakaway” at 5.98 mil with two months away from hitting 6 mil; “My December” is at 763K, Bucky is at 339K, Elliot at 506K, Randy at 28K, Bo at 49K, Mandisa, 78K; Fantasia, 512K; Kimberley, 20K; Clay, 525K; Kat, 370K; Ruben, 237K and Constantine, 25K. Paris is being “retired” after several weeks of selling fewer than 100 copies a week. Her final total: 21K.
