Check out David Cook on Entertainment Tonight. In the clip, which ET aired on Saturday,
It’s a lot of blah blah about Idol and the tour, but the last 30 seconds are devoted to promoting the upcoming album, due to drop on November 18.
Watch the video, after the JUMP…
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maturin I love your attitude!
maturin, you can fix anything. Reminds me of when our cat died when my brother was like 4 years old. He put the cat in a box and put it on the workbench for Daddy to fix when he got home from work because Daddy can fix anything. I do believe you could have fixed that cat, maturin.
Maybe some folks don’t want to be positive. And here at mjsbigblog, they have the right to be negative without advice or admonishment from fellow posters.
Having said that, I know you meant well, so it’s all good.
Tanking out of the gate. Let’s see Jordin’s coronation song was the worst selling, worst charting, then she released Tattoo and sold 33,000 the first week. For as much as those first week sales sucked that little song went on to sell over a million downloads. I consider Jordin’s initial chart performance “tanking out of the gate” far more than David is right now and she seems to be doing fine and her record deal is in place last I checked. I think I’ll wait a couple of more months to decide if he’s a huge failure who RCA is ready to kick to the curb.
I don’t know either, gingerly. It seems awfully premature to me. Neither 19 nor RCA want DC to fail. They are going to do everything in their power to help him succeed. He’s not going to be shafted when it comes to promotion. Now, all of those things can’t guarantee that Light On will become a hit single but even if this song doesn’t catch on with the general public, they can always move on to the next single at some point. They are not going to give up on Cook that easily.
Oh my sweet David. You simply must know that people are going to lose their minds when you say things like that. And yet you continue to say them. Good for you!!!
ozarka, thank you for posting that Nashville radio interview! He sounds wonderful and hopeful.
My 2 thoughts on the topic at hand: First, my take on the important comments from David means he wants to make an album people will want to keep listening to long after the initial excitement and hype has worn off. Will people keep going back to it years down the road? I think its entirely possible since his previous work has already made a huge impact with a lot of his fans, we’ll see if any new fans feel the same way. I really don’t think David is prognosticating changing the music industry or inventing a new era/genre/style like some of the “important” yardstick albums have in the past. Nobody can predict albums of historical significance, not even the greats could have predicted it. So for David to say he wants his album to have lasting potential makes a lot of sense to me. Second, David always gives this answer in context to a question about living up to expectations, not some random statement he’s trying to work in. I have a feeling that while he is genuine in delivering this answer that its also kind of a way to answer the question without leaving any room for follow ups.
I don’t see much comparison with Jordin and Cook. No one had any expectations for her and many people thought her runner up would smash her in sales. This isn’t the chart thread but LO slide down iTunes its second week may mean the new single is not connecting. So while I think he’ll be fine and am certainly not pessimistic about his career, I think the new single is off to a disappointing start. Just my opinion and again if I’m wrong, great. I’m pretty positive that RCA will do everything it possibly can to make him a hit though.
I am new to AI this season, so I am not up to why things happened a certain way for earlier idol contestants. Someone above mentioned Daughtry and how he did. I wonder if things were easier for Daughtry than Cook because of expectations. Obviously, people expect a lot out of the winner and given that Daughtry has had a lot of success, they are comparing Cook to him. I expect Daughtry didn’t have as much to live up to.
So even though Cook sold 3x as many singles as Jordin in his first week, it’s still a disappointment because you expected much more of Cook than Jordin? Considering how talented Jordin is and how many hits she now has under her belt, I would argue that Cook’s future is therefore very, very encouraging. You might have high expectations for him, as a lot of us do, but he’s still relatively unknown. I’m inclined to give this single some time. How much do you want to bet that Cook is very happy with selling 109K?
I’m definitely not saying 109K is a disappointment for DC, but I totally get what jpfan is saying– it’s not all that useful to compare DC with Jordin because to say DC was a much more popular winner than Jordin is almost an understatement. Jordin was viewed as a winner by default because she was a better singer than Blake, and more marketable than Melinda. She didn’t paint a very distinct picture of herself as an artist on the show, and I think mostly did well when she was standing still and singing a ballad. IIRC, I think she did poorly when she tried some faster pace / contemporary songs, and was bottom two/three at least once. Meanwhile, DC won against an extremely popular runner-up, burst onto the Hot 100 breaking all sorts of records by iTunes sales alone, and in general, consistently showed off a modern, commercial sound on the various weekly theme nights. Clearly, expectations for DC are way, way higher than they ever were for Jordin. But I agree with you that the verdict’s not out yet for LO– I personally think it’ll prove to do quite well.
Eh, no hand wringing from me. Yeah, Light On may be not getting the super aggressive push from RCA and the almost guaranteed insta-success that comes with it. But I’ve come to the point where I’m kinda zen about the fact he’s not going to be marketed the way Jive marketed Jordin and Archie. I think he has a lot of goodwill out there and in general people who remember him from AI want him to do well, and as long as his album is visible in the stores he’ll be okay and at least get a nice little jumpstart to his career. And if it’s a pretty good record, word of mouth should do the rest. So RCA focusing their energy on surrounding Cook with the type of artists he’d like to work with rather than a lot of big time marketing isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
As for the “important” soundbyte, there’s a huge difference between saying “My album is/will be important” and “I want my album to be important.” The former means he’s making assumptions and is a tad arrogant, the latter, which is what he did say, just indicates how seriously he’s taking this opportunity. Good for him. There’s no AI caveat that says you have to approach the rest of your career like you are a reality tv persona who got lucky, even if that’s how it started out. And you know, even if he said the former, I’d be cool with it. I like a little confidence and swagger, and Cook has always tempered that kind of thing with a self depricating midwestern family values vibe.
It occurred to me that possibly what appears to some to be a lack of promotion might be a very deliberate strategy to distance him from all things Idol, in order to reboot his image for the rock world. This may be one reason he did not claim the normal winner’s expected ‘perks’ of first single, first album, first video, etc. Rock does not look kindly on AI, to put it mildly.
The rock world is the world they have to conquer. It is a different world, wherein albums are emphasized over and above singles, for instance. The norms are different in every way.
I could be totally off base, but it’s worth considering. In any case, I continue to believe the strategy is simply different, not wrong or bad. I believe he will do great. It may take a few weeks for the adds date, radio spots, etc. to affect sales, but I believe the time will come.
Very wise thoughts Indy. I think you just might be on to something with that line of thinking.
This would be a plausible scenario if any of his upcoming radio interviews were with rock stations, but they aren’t. They are with Top 40 and HAC. It isn’t like it can’t be done. This is the exact same label and management that got Chris Daughtry on the Bob and Tom Show (a nationally syndicated morning show on rock radio, and, btw, they are hilarious). It doesn’t appear to be that they are making some sort of effort to establish “cred” in the rock world. They just seem to be dismissing him as “the other David” and somehow less worthy of promo, IMO.
Go boyfriend!!! State your dreams, hopes and aspirations LOUD and PROUD!
I know what you mean.
Eff me he looks so damn good at 1:07/1:08.
Now..back to catching up….
I don’t know if the time contraints really affect an album…if the music is good, well it’s good. Van Morrison recorded Astral Weeks in one week!!!! Can’t think of too many albums which is as brilliant as this.
I think only those of us in the AI bubble will lay heavy weight on his choice of the word “important”. Your average listener is not going to pay that much attention to the word choice….or just take it in stride.
There are two importnt messages in that clip…one is he looks so damn good and sounds intelligent, and two: the album drops Nove. 18th!!!!
I do wish it would be called something other than David Cook.
I was still rooting for “Optimistic to a Fault!”
I don’t know where to post this, but I haven’t seen any mention or review of “Light On” on Billboard and Rolling Stone in the past 2 weeks.
Someone posted that RS gave LO 3 stars, I checked and it’s not true, RS usually reviews albums, and only rates singles, but LO hasn’t been rated or mentioned.
“Crush” had a review on Billboard as soon as it was released, then a lot of news blurbs on Rolling Stone, including one which can be viewed as an unofficial “review”, whereas LO has none til now, 2 weeks after its release.
In regard of “distance Cook from all things Idol”, I think that the best way isn’t forsake his promotion, but drive those promotion to the more suitable direction, ie Rock stations, mainstream music magazines… I don’t know how to put it but LO being marketed in CHR/HAC is not the way to gain any rock credibility. IMO RS is that direction if he really wants to strive as a credible rocker. So nothing about LO on RS and Rock stations yet really concerns me.
To jd1111
This was posted on DCO. I hope the person doesn’t mind me usingit here:
I received Issue #31 in yesterday’s mail. Here is the review:
Light On
(3 stars)
‘For the American Idol’s power ballad on Red Bull, co-writer Chris Cornell- whose own “Billy Jean” cover served as a model for Cook’s victory performance- tosses some “Black Hole Sun”- style arpeggios under the verses. Cook summons all of his throaty passion, turning out a performance Simon might call “commercially viable.” ‘ -C.G.
Yes, the Rolling Stone review came out in paper, but not on the web. Hits Daily Double also reported that there would be a Rolling Stone article coming out before the record was released.
Sherryw, there has been a Blender article and will be a Rolling Stone article. His date for adds on rock is not until today, and he’s been getting some test spins on rock according to the quickcut data. And we don’t know what interviews, etc., he may have coming up. It seems pretty clear that they are ramping up the media. They also just hired a highly respected video director with a lot of experience in the rock world to handle the video.
All of which is to say that I agree with IndyMuse and don’t agree that RCA (who doesn’t have David A in its fold) AND 19M (who doesn’t have David A in its fold) are supporting David C (whom they do have in their folds) and aren’t treating him as “the other David,” which would make no sense for either of them. It makes sense that they are selecting media and other opportunities that, sure, will open doors for him at HAC and Top 40, where he’s already had some good success, but will also increase or at least maintain his credibility with rock.
The Blender article (with really funny pics) was really good. I had hoped that MJ would post it here.
It doesn’t make any sense to me that RCA would hang “the other David” out to dry…what purpose would that serve…just doesn’t even approach logic or good business sense.
RCA is hadling “the other David” just fine.
Still wish the album would at least be called The David Cook Band. Just David Cook is too much like DA’s title…different names of course! LOL
I don’t know. I really don’t think there has been any lack of promotion. It might not be coming fast enough for some of the fans, but the promotion is going to pick up considerably over the next few weeks. It’s already starting.
I don’t think it’s possible to distance Cook from Idol this quickly considering that he just won a few months ago. There are always going to be some rock music snobs who’ll look down on Cook because he’s a product of American Idol, but who cares? As long as he’s moving units, it’s all good. Rock “cred” can come later, if at all.
The video hasn’t even been shot yet and the album is more than a month away. Maybe I’m nuts but I fail to see how we can know what perks he is or isn’t getting when things like that haven’t even happened yet. As for the video, he’s got a top notch director so I tend to think that actually is a good thing. If you want to see how cheap RCA can be when it comes to videos take a look at Clay’s last couple of “videos” that didn’t even have a director.
The song impacted this week. Are we supposed to see every single radio interview they have planned in a span of 2 days? The HDD blurb said “tons of press on deck” and “multiple TV appearances in November”.
edit: DON’T LECTURE YOUR FELLOW POSTERS! I’m going to start putting people into moderation soon…
I wanted to clarify that I think RCA is doing fine with David, with promotion appropriate to their different strategy of emphasizing the album to come as opposed to his single. Somehow I guess I came across as implying that they were not doing right by him. That was not my intent. I am in the optimistic camp. I am not among the some I referred to above who see a lack of promotion.
I am not concerned about him yielding the firsts of video, song (excluding TOML), and album, which have already happened or are scheduled, as I don’t think they are needed for his success. I did not mean to imply that he had given up any other perks than these except maybe the Macy’s Parade, also for his own good. Keep in mind, as FolkFan pointed out, the Davids are under different management altogether. They are vying for largely different audiences, with only some overlap.
I do see the Blender article and Rolling Stone review as part of a repositioning which I agree will take some time. I think he’s going for HAC and AC and Top 40 out of necessity, and as a bridge. That’s where TOML has played, and he has fans over there. He may even find the AI title still useful over there. It’s got to be pretty tricky to go after rock fans without losing too many pop fans. Inevitably, he will lose some. However, I am on the optimistic side and am waiting for things to take off. I think he’s in good hands, with more evidence of that coming in every day. I am excited for the upcoming video in particular, as it sounds like they are taking pains to make it good. This has been a great week with lots of visibility for him in general.
Thanks for the info.
About the album name, at least it’s better to be “David Cook” than just “Cook”. I’m fine with self-titled album, but I’m somewhat disappointed because if it’s not self-titled I believe he’d have many ideas for its name, all cool and quirky.
Reminder:
Don’t lecture your fellow posters. It pains me to see posters have to clarify their statements due to finger-wagging fans. That’s not the way we roll around here. Respect your fellow poster’s opinions, please.
If you’re feeling angry, step away from the computer for awhile. This is going to be a long Idol record season, and I will be putting folks into moderation who don’t follow the guidelines.
Two questions:
Isn’t it pretty normal to self title your first major album?
Is it surprising to anyone else that on itunes, Cook is labeled pop and not rock?
Daughtry is also labeled as pop, so no, I am not surprised.