Access Atlanta > American Idol Buzz > Archives > 2008 > October > 01
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
10/2: David Archuleta acting debut, Jennifer Hudson 1st week sales to eclipse Kellie Pickler’s, “America’s Got Talent” winner
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
David Archuleta will appear in an episode of Nickelodeon’s “iCarly,” according to people.com. He will play a version of himself. His album is due out Nov. 11 and the “iCarly” ep will air next spring.
Based on one-day sales Tuesday, Jennifer Hudson should open with at least 225,000 copies but an appearance on Oprah today (Thursday) might push that even higher. That would place her No. 2 next week behind Atlanta’s T.I., who should easily break 500,000, according to estimated by Hitsdailydouble.
Kellie Pickler, however, will open much more modestly at around 40,000 copies, about half of what her first CD “Small Town Girl” opened. The problem, I suspect, is the modest performance of first single “Don’t You Know You’re Beautiful.” A couple weeks ago, I was close in predicting Pickler’s number, way low on Hudson.
Reviews for Hudson’s album are all over the map.
The Washington Post is mostly positive::
The credits on “Jennifer Hudson” include more than two dozen songwriters and nearly as many producers, a debut-by-committee approach that has record mogul Clive Davis’s fingerprints all over it. Davis, the album’s lead producer, never met a demographic he didn’t want to court, but his vision, such as it is, works against Hudson by preventing her from establishing a clear artistic identity on the very album that bears her name.
Still, the woman who coulda — and shoulda — been a contender shows plenty enough on her debut to reinforce that she’s a major talent whose career will be worth following.
Chicago Sun Times gave it just one star, blaming Clive Davis for the album’s problems.:
Now, after an inexplicable and unconscionable delay in this accelerated era of five-second attention spans, Hudson finally has delivered her self-titled major-label debut, which arrives in stores today. Sad to say, not only is it not worth the wait, but in typical “American Idol” fashion, it’s an overworked, overwrought, shamelessly pandering piece of pop product unworthy of her considerable talents and largely devoid of the personality that made us love her in the first place.
The Dallas Morning News liked it more or less.
For a mass-appeal project targeted to sell millions, the Chicago native doesn’t embarrass herself. She satisfied all the honchos and sounds like she’s artistically committed, too.
The Boston Globe gets a kick out of her more than most of the songs.
Despite its flaws, Hudson’s debut comes on much like her “Dreamgirls” character, with admirable self-assurance and real-girl sensuality. Every song may not be a winner here, but the woman who sings them sure is.
- The “America’s Got Talent” winner Neal E. Boyd is apropos He’s highly skilled at opera, has an amazingly humble attitude and has underdog written all over him. Heck, he’s an insurance saleman! I actually preferred Nuttin’ But Strings but Boyd’s victory is not surprising. He cried alot and cried again when he won, of course. Congratulations, Boyd! “What has happened to my life!” he said. Personally, I think Nuttin But Strings broke new ground and could do a great Vegas show but Boyd truly touches the heart. And an opera singer won in the U.K., too.
Here he is from his audition:
-Here are how some singles are doing on Radio & Records charts:
Jordin Sparks sees her single “One Step at a Time” move up to No. 3 on the top 40 chart. Download sales: 45K for the week, 747K total. Her album had its worst week yet with 5K sold, ranked No. 114 and 922K total.
David Archuleta moves up to No. 14 from 15 with a decent increase in airplay for “Crush.” It’s still the top “Idol” download at No. 12 and 567K total.
Daughtry slips back to 21 from 20 with “What About Now” but actually gains airplay so all is not lost yet for his fifth single. His album falls to No. 65 with 8K sold and 4.24 million total.
David Cook with “The Time of My Life” falls to 36 from 33. No sign yet of “Light On,” which should appear on the chart next week. It sold 15K in downloads, 915K total.
Jennifer Hudson has gained momentum with “Spotlight” jumping from 10 to 6 on the urban chart. Downloads are 13K and 145K total.
Carrie Underwood edges up to No. 6 from No. 7 with “Just a Dream” on the country chart. Download sales: 22K last week, 228K total. Her album “Carnival Ride” is the top seller of the week among “Idols” with 9K sold and 2.35 million total.
Bucky Covington gets to No. 16 from 17 in his 23rd week with “I’ll Walk.”
As noted earlier, Kellie Pickler is at No. 26 from No. 27 with “Don’t You Know You’re Beautiful.”
Kristy Lee Cook moves up to No. 41 with “15 Minutes of Shame” but is losing airplay. Her album plummeted from 49 to 153 with sales of just 4K. It won’t last another week on the top 200. B-bye.
Josh Gracin takes a small jump to No. 48 form 54 for “Unbelievable (Ann Marie)”
And here’s a thank you note from David Cook for the early reaction to “Light On.”
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10/1: A potpourri of Gone Country, Kellie Pickler, Chris Sligh
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Quiet day so far. I’ll add more later if anything notable happens:
-I finally caught up with the finale of CMT’s “Gone Country” with season four’s Mikalah Gordon. While Sean Young and Lorenzo Lamos did not embarrass themselves, Mikalah made a false start, tried to serenade John Rich, then brought a little girl on stage. Very gimmicky, not very warm. Sebastian Bach, formerly of Skid Row, earned the win. With Kid Rock on the country charts, I could see Sebastian actually crossing over.
-On October 21, Carrie Underwood’s “Carnival Ride” is getting an added Christmas CD, exclusive at Wal-Mart.
-And surprisingly, Kim Kardashian and her boring persona was ousted from “Dancing With the Stars.? I thought Rocco Dispirito was a goner.
-Kellie Pickler has resisted a reality TV show so far, she told CMT:
“I’ve been offered so many reality shows just to have people follow me around,” she tells CMT.com. “I don’t see why anybody would want to follow me around all day because I’m really not that interesting. I told my manager, ‘I can’t do it. It’d be like ‘bleep bleep.’ They wouldn’t be able to show anything. It’d be like a whole television show of nothing. It would be muted the whole way. There would be no talking, and I’d probably get committed into some home. … They’d probably take me away to some psychiatric ward because I’m nuts. But, yeah, I can’t have one unless they have it on, like, HBO at night.”
-Chris Sligh is inviting folks to lip sync to his song “Empty Me” and the best ones will be spliced together into a video. More details here.
