Idol Headlines for 11/14/09
Kara on Ellen: ‘Idol’ chemistry is crucial
NEW YORK — Kara DioGuardi wants to hang out with Ellen DeGeneres before the new season of “American Idol” to get the judges working together comfortably.
The second-year judge said she plans on spending down time in December with the newest addition to “Idol.”
“I’m hoping the chemistry with Ellen will be great — and a great start to the season,” she said at the Media and Money conference in New York on Friday.
It’s all part of her effort to establish her identity on the Fox show after a rookie year that saw plenty of criticism come her way about her on-air role. She explained, “you have to know on the show who you are and have a vision of yourself. What am I trying to represent? You’ll see more of this branding myself.”
More Idol Headlines after the JUMP…
Review: Adam Lambert’s ‘For Your Entertainment’ glams it up greatly
Adam Lambert’s “For Your Entertainment” is every bit the boffo, glam-rock, disco-pop space oddity you’d expect from the “American Idol” standout. It’s a bold, assured, boot-stomping romp, and it’s so over-the-top it should come packaged in a mirror ball.
For his fans, this won’t come as a surprise. Lambert hit the “American Idol” stage earlier this year like a transplant from the planet Glampire: David Bowie funneled through Edward Cullen. Over the course of the show, he proved to be the most exciting “Idol” contestant in years, with a fearlessness stemming from years of stage experience and a shocking caterwaul that could strip the paint off walls.
Album Preview: Allison Iraheta ‘“ Just Like You
American Idol season 8 churned out some of the most diverse talent we’ve seen in sometime from the hit show. Their final three were all shoo-ins for recording contracts and will all release albums in this busy final quarter.
The youngest of the bunch, Allison Iraheta, will release her debut album Just Like You on December 1st. For those needing to see just what this talented teen’s music is all about, they can gather a pretty good idea from a collection of 30-second snippets from the album released online.
David Archuleta Fans Deliver Birthday Flowers And Cupcakes To MTV News
This morning, I casually Tweeted that I’d be celebrating my birthday tonight. My actual birthday isn’t until November 22 ‘†the day Adam Lambert will be stealing the show at the American Music Awards ‘†so I was a tad confused when the mailroom called me to say I had to sign for some flowers.
“Uh, you have the wrong number,” I said.
“Are you the Jim Cantiello who sits on the 29th floor?” the mail room dude asked.
I slowly said, “Yes.”
“Well, then come downstairs and pick up your flowers.” Click.
Daughtry does what he does best
Is Chris Daughtry, supreme practitioner of the power ballad, a self-loathing balladeer?
As he and his namesake band Daughtry spent the better part of Friday night’s 90-minute show plowing through one power ballad after the next, the singer apologized to the crowd at the Bank of Kentucky Center for doing the very thing that he does best, singing ballads.
‘I know you’re thinking, ‘Enough of the sissy love songs. Let’s play some rock ‘n’ roll,’ right?’ he said to the crowd, immediately after playing a power ballad, and about five minutes before he would play another power ballad.
Daughtry’s performance a mutual lovefest
‘Greensboro! You guys made me so proud to call this town my home!!! Thank u for everything! Now gotta get some sleep.’
That was Chris Daughtry’s 1 a.m. tweet, which came about two hours after his triumphant headlining appearance Thursday night at the Greensboro Coliseum.
He has every right to feel good about his Greensboro fan base, which showed up in strong numbers. Though the upper deck was mostly empty, the crowd of 7,089 comfortably filled the floor and lower arena.
Daughtry does what he does best
Is Chris Daughtry, supreme practitioner of the power ballad, a self-loathing balladeer?
As he and his namesake band Daughtry spent the better part of Friday night’s 90-minute show plowing through one power ballad after the next, the singer apologized to the crowd at the Bank of Kentucky Center for doing the very thing that he does best, singing ballads.
‘I know you’re thinking, ‘Enough of the sissy love songs. Let’s play some rock ‘n’ roll,’ right?’ he said to the crowd, immediately after playing a power ballad, and about five minutes before he would play another power ballad.
Historic Stage Introduces
NEW YORK–There is a moment at the beginning of this latest revival of ‘Dreamgirls’ when reality and fantasy mesh, when the actresses performing onstage at the Apollo Theater in Harlem are as excited and anxious about their chance at stardom as the fictional 1960’s-era singers they portray.
‘You’re talking about it, but you’re actually there,’ said Moya Angela, who plays Effie White, the role that made her movie and Broadway predecessors, Jennifer Hudson and Jennifer Holliday, stars.
Mandisa performs in Toledo
TOLEDO, Ohio – Former American Idol contestant and Christian recording artist Mandisa performed Friday evening at the Peristyle Theater at the Toledo Museum of Art.
FOX Toledo caught up with her before the show to talk about where her career is headed.
Since finishing ninth on the fifth season of American Idol she’s released three albums and she’s busy performing almost every weekend.
If it weren’t for the show, Mandisa wouldn’t be where she is today.
Is The X Factor killing pop?
Six nights ago, 16.6 million people ‘“ more than half of those in Britain watching TV at the time ‘“ turned their sets to ITV1 to watch three 18-year-olds battle for their places on The X Factor. Since the previous evening’s broadcast, an undisclosed number of people ‘“ ITV does not reveal individual episode voting figures, but it is likely to be close to 1 million ‘“ had voted on their performances, leaving twins John and Edward Grimes and Welsh teenager Lucie Jones facing ejection on the Sunday results programme. In the end the Grimes twins, who perform as John and Edward, would triumph, leaving Jones sobbing onstage, but the manner by which that result was reached led 3,000 people to complain to the broadcasting regulator, Ofcom ‘“ 10 times the number that complained about the BNP leader’s appearance on Question Time.
‘So You Think You Can Dance’ twirls into San Diego
Watching the live stage production of ‘So You Think You Can Dance’ is very much like watching the TV show.
Producer and judge Nigel Lythgoe, on a large screen, welcomes thousands of young screaming girls to the show. The soothing voice of Cat Deeley introduces each dancer before her or his solo. The format is similar, too: group number, a few partner dances, solo, solo, group number.
The routines are the same ones performed over the course of Season 5, a collection of favorites spanning all genres from contemporary to Bollywood, hip-hop to paso doble.
Read more: http://www.sdnn.com/sandiego/2009-11-13/blog/culture-cruncher/so-you-think-you-can-dance-twirls-into-san-diego#ixzz0WqYv9hhS
‘Glee’ Actor Hopes Cast Didn’t ‘Crap On’ Journey’s ‘Don’t Stop Believin”
It might have been the pilot episode of the smash series but performing ‘Don’t Stop Believin” is still the high point and a “dream come true” for ‘Glee’ actor Cory Monteith. “It’s just such an iconic song,” Monteith tells PopEater. “It’s such an anthem. Everyone knows it. Everyone has heard it. It’s much more than a nice tune. The song speaks a lot to everyone kind of finding their own place, and searching for somewhere in the night. Just like the lyrics.”
Posted in 848 Responses to “Idol Headlines for 11/14/09”
CindyM – I’m not saying FYE is dead at all! I think it is going to do very well. My point was that if Adam has an uphill climb on radio because he is gay then RCA would surely know that and may have a different strategy in mind ie bypass initial radio promo and focus on going direct to 10 million people on the AMAs first. Seems like a good plan to me. assume they will do radio afterwards when they have the single out there already.
The other thing to keep in mind is that most clear channel stations that will be playing Kris and Adam (KISS) are Top 40/Rhythmic not Top40/HAC. Before music hits the clear channel station here in Cincy, it first has to be doing well on the Top40/HAC (WKRQ – which I suspect may be adding FYE this coming week as they’re starting to spin it) and then cross over as the KISS station is more Rhythmic oriented. Even then, they won’t get as many spins because of the rhythmic emphasis to the KISS station.
Latest on Adam’s album ranking from Amazon.com
US- steady at 6
UK- 119 today (213 yesterday)
CAN- 14 today (15 yesterday)
Japan- 91 today ( 136 AM and 111 PM yesterday)*
* good movement in Japan
I also wonder if Adam touring with someone else is already set and just not announced. Jamie King is a heavy hitter in the industry and the fact that he’s been employed to work with Adam, a newbie, seems out of the norm to me for a small solo tour. Maybe that’s the reason for less of the usual radio station concert/Jingle-ball method of getting initial radio play. Who knows at this point, but I will say that the hiring of King also indicates to me RCA ’s full support, as if I didn’t believe that before.
CindyM-totally agree
FYE is doing the same or better as LLWD at two weeks. It isn’t stalling on the radio. A single takes more than two weeks. (unless your name is Taylor S., Britney, Lady Gaga, Rihanna)
The adds and spins for the first three or four weeks were pretty low. The single came out two weeks before the album. The album sales helped push the single sales. I expect album sales to help both LLWD and FYE.
I know about all of this and it is incredibly misleading. Cook had three singles “released” from the album and only two were promoted.
Time of my Life was the coronation song. It was released with the last of his Idol performances and is more correctly grouped in the Idol performances category, than single releases off his album, since it was an Idol performance and his album didn’t even exist at that point.
Permanent was a one-off charity single. Never released to radio; never promoted outside of that one performance on American Idol.
Bar-ba-sol was so-called released to rock radio, but never promoted and he never performed it in any promotional setting. Cook made multiple TV appearances after “Come Back to Me” was released with “Bar-ba-sol” and he never performed “Bar-ba-sol.” He was actually begging his fans at concerts to call up rock radio and request the song. THAT’S how much support the label was giving him for it. Yeah, nothing. Nada. Zero.
The only two legitimate releases off that album was “Light On” and “Come Back to Me.” Neither song written by Cook or even representing who he is an artist. In fact, I thought he seemed very unattached to “Come Back to Me.” He and the band have never even tried to “cookify” it in concert. They play it straight. The end. I think it’s a duty for them.
Oh, I do. I think Declaration or Heroes should have been the first single and I think Lie should have definitely been the second. A good backup for that would’ve been Avalanche. These songs are all much, much stronger than the ones that were released (even Princess Carrie agrees) *and* he had a hand in writing them which makes them at least marginally more connected to him as an artist than what they released. It never ceases to puzzle me how they could take a proven songwriter — the guy wrote an entire CD (let alone the other songs/CDs he wrote) and released it independently to local and regional accolades. He can write music and yet they wouldn’t release a single song that HE wrote. They’re imbeciles!
RCA needs to stop steering, period. They need to get out of his way. David is succeeding in spite of RCA. He is not succeeding because of decisions they’ve made.
Really? I hear this song on my top 40 station everytime I get in the car. Is it still moving? How many units did it sell?
It also seems from reviews that Kris’s best songs are the ones he wrote, but instead of choosing one of those for a single, they went with the Scripts song. I am wondering if there is some sort of contractual agreement with the outside songwriters that their songs are released as singles?
Cook has done well enough to warrant a second album, which I suspect will be much stronger than his debut album.
Sassycatz – I feel really divided about the singles issue and RCA.
I know nothing about the US music industry and take what people who are American say at face value. They indicate that an artist will never be viewed as truely successful without a huge radio hit.
I do think it will take a huge US radio hit for Cook to be consequently marketed over here, so I want one selfishly for that reason.
In the UK some of the biggest artists/album sellers – and the most highly regarded musicians – would rarely or never have a top 40 hit.
As for RCA – I can’t make my mind up. Certainly they must want the man to succeed and make money. I feel that they must have chosen the singles that they thought had the best chance of establishing him. As I said LO seems to have done a good job, but CBTM was just dire and disastrous IMO.
I don’t know, at this point, how much faith – if any – RCA actually had in Cook as a musician or song writer. They certainly wanted to milk his post AI popularity and they will certainly give him a second album, due to the success of the first.
To me, Cook is at heart an indie artist. The music should come first, with a couple of songs that stand out to appeal to a wider market, as in Greenday’s American Idiot. He and the band should therefore be free to develop their own musical identity, whilst relying on the label to find/identify those one or two songs.
I think that’s what they tried to do, but from the pov of Idol star rather than authentic musician and whilst I kind of understand that, it’s probably the thing that most pisses me off about how they viewed DC coming off Idol, especially in comparison to how they appear to have treated the current bunch.
Sorry to be so long and rambly – but at least I got that off my chest!
“I dunno. I’m not that concerned about it. Adam’s single has been out for only 2 weeks now. I think its too soon to say whether or not he is doomed or will be a star. Plus, none of us are in the inner circle so we have no idea what they are doing or what their plans are.”
That’s exactly right, we don’t know what they are planning. I guess right after his debut on the Ama and the release of his album, we will hear about his tour and whom he’s touring with. There are going to be more media appearances and Adam Fever will be rampant. Adam is not your usual idol newbee, he has something that a lot of other idols don’t have, which is star power. He knows how to sell himself and his music, when he gets a chance. He’s charming and interesting, which makes people interested in him, even those who don’t like still talk about him. I don’t doubt for a second that the AMA appearance will be the beginning of Adam Lambert’s rise to fame. His ability to give memorable performances, is one of his best attributes, alone with being some very nice “eyecandy”.
Ryan’s station doesn’t focus on country, but seems that they can include some country(-ish) songs (appeared to be a Taylor Swift song on their playlist, for one). Danny’s single seems more country to me than country/pop, so not sure if it would work there. But nice that Ryan is mentioning it and pointing people to Danny’s official website.
Danny is in LA today (arrived sometime yesterday apparently), with an appearance later in the day sponsored by Ryan’s radio station (the wedding contest). Would love to see Ryan interview Danny on air next week, not sure if that is planned though. Danny appears about to go on the first leg of his radio tour with country music stations.
Well I missed the party yesterday but I just wanted to make a couple of points.
First off, it is important that an artists singles sell well and get radio play, I admit that but selling albums is as EQUALLY important and in this day and age it could go both ways in terms of success.
Jordin Sparks is a good example of how singles can only do so much. Her singles have been successful but because her album sales have not been as strong she has not been able to headline her own tour (probably because while there are peeps willing to download a single or two they are not willing to fork up fifty bucks or however much a ticket costs, which means her fan base is limited) and honestly she doesnt get nearly as much radio play as Lady Gaga or Taylor Swift right now even though her singles do well (with the exception of “No Air”) so basically her single sales keep her in the game but she is stuck doing small gigs or sharing the stage with other artists.
Daughtry on the other hand had STRONG album sales and has been able to tour on his own, but again because of the genre of music he sings he doesnt get as much radio air play as some of the pop artists yet he has been successful and is making money and that is as equally important. Artists make a lot of money off tours.
If Adams album does well I dont think radio stations will just ignore him because that would mean ppl want to hear his music so again one thing could lead to the other. Single sales might boost album sales or album sales might boost radio air play.
Adam’s presales seem to be doing very well and that is why he will most likely get to tour and as a fan that is important. Yes it would be nice for the radio to play his single more but I think that RCA is focusing on promoting the album. That being said THERE IS STILL time for his single to do well though especially after the AMA performance and all of the ones that will follow. Plus Oprah invited him to perform on her show…that in it of itself is a great accomplishment.
IMHO having a devoted fan base which I think he has, is more important than selling singles.
Radio play is important because of the amount of exposure it gives but there are other means out there.
I choose to remain optimistic. He is still garnering lots of attention especially from ppl in the business with him (as in other celebrities) and that is yet another important deciding factor in all of this.
Honestly Id be more worried for Kris. His album drops in 2 days.
I have no worries about Adam’s success. He will do fine. TPTB and Adam know what they are doing and have a plan. FAITH…
This is something I can’t get past when I read posts predicting Adam’s failure based on sales of his single. Expensive power operators like Jamie King don’t get brought on board for artists who are expected to tank. We might talk about what Adam’s sales look like to us so far, but RCA knows what the precise pre-order numbers are. And album sales will be what really matters, not singles.
All of these artists get played on radio stations though, whether it is Rock or AC or whatever, these artists still have songs out there. Also, the artists you named all had big crossover hits at some point in there career, and have developed fan bases that have proven they would buy their albums year after year. An artist like Adam or Kris does not need smash singles like Jordin or Kelly, but they still need singles to do well to give their album staying power. Look at Archuleta, his big single Crush pushed him into very good early sales, but when the rest of his singles failed his album sales plummeted, because their was no new songs to bring in new artists. Carrie and Daughtry sold so much of their first albums because they had major radio hits. We aren’t in the 70s anymore where someone can be a singles or album artist, you need both to thrive to be a success, and then if that happens years from now Adam won’t need the support of singles and he can just sell boat loads of albums like Bon Jovi.
I respectfully disagree. I have never heard Andrea Bocelli on the radio and I listen to the radio a lot cuz Im young…many stations not just one and it hasnt happened. I understand I am just one case but still, I dont think hes that type of artist especially because of the genre of music he sings. Its not very “radio friendly” these days.
I have heard Barbara Streisand but they mostly play her old hits.
Also, I am a huge Josh Groban fan and I think Ive only heard him like 5 times on the radio (in one radio station mind you) in all the years Ive been a fan. He is a great example of how you can achieve success without radio hit singles. He’s said it himself in interviews.
All of his albums have done very well and he has been able to tour extensively and many of his concerts are aired on PBS and sub sequentially put out DVD’s of said concerts which also sell well and are quite good. Why? Because he is one of those artists, like Adam who is very compelling live. He has a fantastic voice. In fact him and Adam should do a duet LOL their voices would blend very nicely especially with some harmonies. Josh has a very masculine yet sweet Baritone voice and Adam is a very high tenor…it would work
plus it would be something that would be interesting and would be out of both their “comfort zones” even though Adam doesnt really have one.
I, of course, also have not a clue what RCA was thinking. My feeling is that 1) they are used to not trusting the songwriting prowess of their new Idols, so they bring in established songwriters who are proven in the industry to try and manufacture a hit. They haven’t seemed to waiver from this no matter the talents or past track record of the winner. 2) The newest Idol is not only trying to get a record out very fast, but like the other top ten, they are out on a major Idol tour during all of this, so most would not have the time or talent to get a marketable single out quickly under those time and work constraints. I give them that. Why Light On, though? Well, I think they 1) were somehow trying to replicate the whole “Billie Jean” phenomena by getting a Chris Cornell penned song. Granted Cornell didn’t write “Billie Jean” but he changed it enough so that it can stand independently. So, they were trying to catch lightening twice in a bottle. Plus, they figured — since Cornell was a favorite of David’s — that he might match David’s sensibilities. This is all my assumptions.
But, I have no explanation whatsoever for “Come Back to Me,” because at that point they could have seen that other songs on Cook’s CD were being praised and were stronger. I’d love to see the market research they did, if any that indicated that “people” thought that song was the next best release. Even the survey on Cook’s very own official web site rated other songs higher. There *has* to be another explanation because it’s clear David was not on board with it considering the accompanying (non) release of “Bar-ba-sol” to satisfy him.
Just adding my two meager cents. I have always said I am thankful for Cook’s major label support, however, I sometimes cringe as what seems as plain exploitation of these young hungry idols. I see KClarkson and I don’t wish her bitterness on any of these idols especially my “consentido” Cook. Again, I am not an expert by any means, but obviously with Adam, RCA and 19 know something we don’t, and that probably is his pre-sales numbers, and the quality of his CD.(according to their standards of course) which has probably great potential. However, the reality is that these major lables, and 19 don’t give a rats A#@s about the “person” it is all about the bottom dollar. That is scary, and it is reality, and I am sure that this has always been the case. So, my conspiracy theory on Cook’s releases? They bamboozled him into believing they would release one of his songs, but the reality is that they have their list of writers that make “big bucks” when a song is played and sold. The singer? If he is not the writer, makes peanuts in comparison. So, is a major label still better than where these kids were before idol? If they can make peace, and hold on to the reigns of the powers that be…yes I guess it’s the price they pay to come out of obscurity.
Sydia – ITA Cook has to be better off now than before Idol. He has the exposure and he has die hard fans who know who he is. Even if the next album is not a hit and RCA drops him, based on previous idols’ experience, he will get a new contract and be able to sell his music from a higher and much more secure platform.
But it’s a deal with the devil to be sure.
Sassycatz – I seem to remember much controversy over the choice of CBTM at the time: very few Cook fans liked it much or supported the single choice. But I think people were reassured with the reasoning that tptb knew what they were doing and this would give him that elusive top 40 hit.
Or not – as it turned out.
What annoys me the most about it is that it totally and completely misrepresents him as a musician and added onto the TOML thing (which could easily have been explained away as the winner’s song) landed him with the image of an easy listening rocker, rather than the hard edged indie rocker, which he clearly is.
Who knows what they were about, but the implications aren’t positive, IMO.
I totally co-sign everything y’all are saying about David Cook’s singles. I don’t think I’ll ever forgive RCA for the opportunity they squandered this year. They should have put out 1-2 more singles, and ones that David wrote. It’s not fair to him or to us, and it’s stupid because the listening public doesn’t know what he’s really all about, they think he’s an AC artist, and he’s not. Sometimes the label is just wrong, period. He got a raw deal this time, but next cd hopefully will right the wrong and they’ll put out songs he wrote that better represent him. Grrr. Really annoys me.
A lot of us weren’t reassured but what could we do? We can’t do anything, the label calls the shots, we can only hope for the best with each single. Sure he’s doing well, but he could have done better because he had the songs on the cd that could have won him even more admiration and success than he has had so far. It’s not that I want too much for him, it’s not that I’m not grateful for what he’s gotten so far, it’s just that it’s so unreasonable for RCA not to put out a couple of more and different singles, it’s not fair and it’s not sensible or logical, and I don’t get it, and I’ve heard all the justifications and spin but I don’t agree with it.
I agree. Calling Permanent a single is really far-fetched imo, and BBS doesn’t count either. TOML was the coronation single and was released a long time before the cd. In 12 months, only 2 singles were released from the cd. If one counts TOML, then there were 3 singles in 18 months. Bottom line, RCA put out 2 singles off the cd and there is no good reason for it, imo.
Wow can I just bow down to you? It’s so refreshing to hear someone tell it like it is. ITA with you.
Nice article on Matt…
http://www.mlive.com/entertainment/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2009/11/american_idol.html