She used her bastard child and ‘baby mamma’  status on Idol to curry favor with voters on the show,

To the person who made this remark, this was so disturbing to me and quite frankly made me really sad. I sincerely hope this came from a child (which would really truly frightening) and not a grown adult who knows better than to refer to someone’s child, a gift from God as a bastard. How dare you. How dare you. She used her talent to CARRY favor not her baby. If I’m not mistaken her baby did not sing. Grow up and stop with those remarks. It is so unsettling, mean spirited and judgmental. Mind your manners unless you are without blemish or sin; which I GUARANTEE you are not as I am not. Be careful.

now she’s taken up with a married man…

How do you know that? Even if she is what business is that of yours? Let that be between her and the God she serves. That is none of your concern. NONE of us are in a place to judge. Let her live her life. PLEASE!!

To Fantasia keep your head up and keep cranking out the hits. You are truly talented, gifted and appreciated. Can’t wait until your next CD. 2010 is your year. Your time to shine.

Can’t ‘judge’  her? Wow. She used her bastard child and ‘baby mamma’  status on Idol to curry favor with voters on the show, now she’s taken up with a married man? What is wrong with her? Ridiculous. Hasn’t matured a lick.

(I refuse to use your word) child? Taken up with a married man? That accounts for at least 1/3 of Hollywood, doesn’t it? And a good portion of people right there in your home town. People in this day and age don’t call innocent children names no matter what the circumstances of their birth. At least nobody I personally know or want to know.

I thought she looked like Grace Jones in the accompanying photo but I guess that dates me.

Can’t “judge” her? Wow. She used her bastard child and “baby mamma” status on Idol to curry favor with voters on the show, now she’s taken up with a married man? What is wrong with her? Ridiculous. Hasn’t matured a lick.

For me she’s been the most surprising Idol winner. I thought she’d do much better in the radio market.

He’s not abandoning the studio, however. Next up is production work with “American Idol” winner Fantasia, for whom Saadiq hopes to record “something soulful but really strong, something like maybe a little bit of Aretha (Franklin) mixed up with a little bit of LaBelle. I think that would sound really good on her.”

The thing that will always make it really tough for Fantasia is that she has MAJOR talent, but her circumstances growing up make her an easy target for for every shyster in the music biz.

She’s not educated (although she’s working on that) she doesn’t have business savvy nor does anyone she can count on. Until she matures (hopefully) and takes control of her business will she be successful.

Hopefully someone she can trust will take her under their wing and do the best for her. Hopefully she will be able to tell who it is.

You guys just had to mention Jennifer lol, never fails. The difference between the two is Jennifer had enough talent that she didn’t need to win to become a star, Fantasia is struggling to do anything and she won that season. Winning isn’t everything.. and please lets not insult Jennifer’s acting skills by saying Fantasia is better, we all know that is not true lol.. How do you suck playing yourself in a movie ??

As I said, I love Jennifer, too! I loved them both in Season Three and was very upset when Jennifer got voted her off — I wanted her to be there to the end.

But while I thought she was great in Dreamgirls, she seemed kind of stiff and not terribly convincing to me in Sex in the City and The Secret Life of Bees. Of course, that might just have been me! I didn’t think that because I was rooting against Jennifer, though. I have always been rooting very much *for* Jennifer.

Meanwhile, as I mentioned, the only time I’ve seen Fantasia act is on the stage — didn’t see the tv movie — and she totally totally blew me away in The Color Purple (and the rest of the audience with me, it seemed.) ….

I know that she may have been convincing as Celie because she identifies very much with that role — as I *guess* you’re saying; I don’t really know what you mean by saying that she’s only “played herself” — but then I think Jennifer identified very much with the Dreamgirls role, as well. Don’t know that Celie in The Color Purple is more like Fantasia — and thus easier for her to play well — than Effie is like Jennifer, really.

She had major adultery issues and still got promoted for decades as a positive beacon of class and uprightness,

1950’s classic catholism at it’s very best. Damn that pesky church and that pesky wife who thought she had “her” man over a barrell.

Yup, Fanny should “never” be judged on her personal life…she’s put enough of herself out on the table and has been raked over the coals enough. I’ll just celebrate her great voice and her OTT sense of personal style and wish her the best. Someday, I hope to see the Color Purple, the musical. Isn’t it going to be a movie?

Fantasia’s made it tough on her label and management to promote a cd when she’s gotten herself embroiled in another controversy, this time with a married man. She’s talented but constantly shoots herself in the foot by doing dumb stuff.

I just don’t see it. If affairs and sex scandals and so forth made it too hard to promote music, the labels would have to dump about 50 percent of the people they’ve ever signed, wouldn’t they?

Most of the time, I don’t think this matters very much to most music buyers, movie watchers, etc. When I think of the sweet little old ladies, even, who totally revere Katharine Hepburn, for example, and clearly couldn’t care less that she was fooling around with a married man for most of her career. She had major adultery issues and still got promoted for decades as a positive beacon of class and uprightness, and the audience today, at least, knows all about it and doesn’t give a hoot. And she’s just one teensy example.

Her second was also mostly Urban AC, with a song or two that that got Urban radio airplay.

“When I See U” from her second album was #1 on the Billboard R&B chart for awhile.

What type of music was her first album (I guess meaning which radio format was she going for)?

Her first was pretty much all Urban AC, with I Believe getting Gospel airplay. Her second was also mostly Urban AC, with a song or two that that got Urban radio airplay.

Fantasia’s made it tough on her label and management to promote a cd when she’s gotten herself embroiled in another controversy, this time with a married man. She’s talented but constantly shoots herself in the foot by doing dumb stuff.

Truthfully Niall, I am not sure that matters to the buying public. Here a thread with about two dozen responses, and nobody mentioned it, but you. Considering I heard Alicia Keys in a similar circumstance, I really don’t think pop stars sex lives are as important as the music.

In the long run, I’m sure Fantasia will have a good solid entertainment career for the rest of her life. She’s got all the talent you need and even though she’s not a mainstream pop girl, she seems to have gathered quite a cadre of strong admirers in the business and out over the years.

She’s my favorite female from the show — love her musicianship, her amazing stage energy, and her heart-wrenching ability to interpret songs of all kinds. And she can act, too. Better than JHud, I sort of think, even though I like Jennifer a lot too (hard to tell on that, though, really, I suppose, since I’ve only seen Fantasia on stage — where she was astonishing — and only seen Jennifer act on screen, and the two are awfully different.) Love Fantasia’s sense of style, too.

Hope for good things for her in 2010.

ETA: That picture is awesome.

I’d love a funky soul-rock-gospel hybrid album from Fantasia. I feel like like the label’s thinking too mainstream with her so they’ve stuck her with urban ballads that are too bland and bouncy hip hop cuts that are too polished. Fantasia’s so raw, she needs music that matches that.

She broke from 19 but yeah J Records is still her label as 19 has nothing to do with the label.

She broke with 19 Management last year. She could still be with 19R (with J-Records) as her record label–same as Kelly Clarkson.

I don’t think they would try and push promotion on an album just yet.

There would be interviews with Fantasia talking about it, though. Bucky Covington, Jason Castro, and Katharine McPhee all have album coming out first quarter 2010, their labels/management are already publicizing the albums.