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Why Nobody Cares if They Win American Idol

Really, when you look at the careers of Elliott Yamin, Fantasia, Ruben Studdard, Kelly Clarkson, Clay Aiken, Katherine McPhee, Taylor Hicks, Daughtry, Constantine, and that creepy bald dude from last season who needs to get his ads the f**k off of Web sites I visit pronto, there’s no clear benefit to actually winning the contest as opposed to merely placing highly. Either way, you’ve gained public recognition and a fan base. Will Michael Johns’ career suffer because he was tossed off early? Will David Archuleta get to sing on a Disney soundtrack only if he wins? They’re all winners, as Paula would happily note, and all we have left is the tired formality of finishing the damn season. Maybe if there were some true amateurs on the show, there’d actually be some competitive spirit and lingering enthusiasm for letting Randy say whether or not they were the bomb.

Idolator

`American Idol’ top boss: Paula Abdul isn’t going anywhere

“Why would we get rid of Paula?” wonders Cecile Frot-Coutaz matter-of-factly, when questioned about possibly nixing the wacky “American Idol” judge now infamous for - among other things - critiquing both of Jason Castro’s songs after he’d sung only one.

All the chatter about Abdul’s slip-up during Tuesday’s “Idol” performance show doesn’t faze the FremantleMedia North America CEO and “Idol” executive producer. Nor did the subsequent speculation about the singing competition’s authenticity.

And really, why should it?

“I love that everyone was talking about it,” she told The Associated Press over lunch in her office two days after the show. “It was so unexpected. It was something that took up 2 seconds of airtime. You’d think there was no other news on television.”

Associated Press

‘American Idol’ In 60 Seconds

MTV News’ ‘Idol’ expert Jim Cantiello boils down a week’s worth of stunning performances, pitchy notes and shocking eliminations to a bite-size minute.

MTV

Terri Seymour Dishes ‘Idol’

Los Angeles — KTTV sent Terri Seymour backstage at “American Idol” last night to get the judges reactions to Brooke White being sent home.

My Fox LA

‘American Idol’: How the Top 5 Picked Their Songs

”We talk about song choice because we’re trying to hammer into their heads that a good song tells the audience who you are,” says judge Simon Cowell, who has harped on song selection this season more than ever before (and that’s saying something). So then, who are finalists David Archuleta, Jason Castro, Syesha Mercado, and David Cook? EW spent two days of rehearsals with the top four (as well as now-eliminated Brooke White) at the Idol production offices in West Hollywood, and got a unique view of how and why they chose the songs they did for Neil Diamond Week. Since season 5, contestants have not been allowed to perform the same song on the same night, so the selection competition is fierce. And what happens when two people want the same tune? If one person does not voluntarily bow out, they are forced into an Idol tiebreaker of pulling the desired song title out of a hat — both scenarios that played out during Neil Diamond Week. ”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.” Sure enough, some contestants angsted. Others ignored suggestions. Some made calculated moves based on what Simon might like. Others procrastinated learning the lyrics. And one paid the ultimate price with her ouster.

Entertainment Weekly

American Idol: A View from the Audience

While the rest of us are anxiously watching the clock in the hours leading up to elimination night on “American Idol,” some lucky fans are checking out the action firsthand. MTV News and Docs VP Laura Hill was one of those people last night.

I’m not going to say anything about the show itself because presumably if you’re reading this you’ve already seen it and have your own take on things, but more important, Cantiello is only about a 1000% better than me at recounting all things “Idol.” I’m just an interloper. I’ve worked on hundreds of shoots in my career, but I still find it fascinating to be behind the scenes of one. Here’s how it went:

MTV

Brooke White’s Debut Album Returns to the Internet

“I had shopped Brooke to practically every label in town and no bites,” confessed fallen Idol Brooke White’s former manager, Tim Simms, in a phone interview today. “No one thought you could shop the good girl.” As of today, however, Brooke White fans will be able to “shop the good girl” –- literally. Brooke’s debut album, “Songs From the Attic,” which she co-wrote and recorded with Tim, has now been re-released on Brookewhite.com.

Over the course of their four years working and recording together, Tim has been everything to Brooke: producer, manager, guitar player, roadie and more. “Its just a great, very, very unorthodox, professional” relationship, explained Tim, who remained in close communication with Brooke and her family throughout the competition. “It’s a great story,” he mused. “It’s like, movie of the week.”

LA Times

American Idol: Bye Bye Brooke

I’ve made it no secret that Brooke White was my favorite contestant this season of American Idol but my heart is not quite broken at her elimination this week. This is partially due to how the grueling grind of Idol wears down the viewers as well as the participants, slowly sanding away their initial charm — not just because we have to hear them all the time but because we have to see them jump through hoops like the group-sings, the commercials, the telephone Q&As, and theme night after theme night. Brooke wasn’t immune to this as all these performance gymnastics threw her off her game, choosing songs like this week’s “I’m a Believer” when she’d be better off with intimate songs performed with just her and a piano.Of course, American Idol isn’t about that kind of performance — it’s a “singing competition,” which means that the show pushes showboats, something Brooke is not. She is a singer/songwriter — albeit a mainstream one, one that emphasizes melody and feel over lyrics, which isn’t bad at all — and her album Songs from the Attic shows she has promise as a writer, too. The nice thing about her stint on Idol is that she’s now positioned to have a shot at the big leagues, and if history is any judge, she may have a better shot at success by not winning, just like Elliott Yamin a couple years back.

allmusic.com

On the Scene: ‘Idol’ Top 5 results night

After spending the better part of the previous 24 hours riding point on Paulagate 2008, of course literally the first thing I heard upon entering the American Idol studio was someone screaming “I love you, Paula!” This daffy woman continues to dominate my job, but I refuse to let her: Since I know Slezak’s all over this topic in his TV Watch, all I’ll say further on it (for today, anyway) is that I’ve read a lot about this online, and just for the record, the rumors about Slezak? They’re not true. He’s part of our family, and we wuv him. That is all.

Popwatch

‘American Idol’: Can David Cook Sustain A Rock Career After The Show?

With the exception of Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean,” which was a blatant (and admitted) cop on Chris Cornell’s cover of the song, Cook has been able to take these classics and make them his own. And the “Idol” audience has repeatedly rewarded him with enough votes to push him through to the next week.

“I think that’s definitely helping him, for sure,” said Michael Slezak, a senior writer for Entertainment Weekly known for his “Idol” coverage. “But I also think he’s a really good singer and performer. I could definitely see him taking advantage of this Nickelback period. This is a time where that type of music is doing well, and fits quite easily into that world of radio play. David Cook seems to have held onto his credibility — about the type of singer he wants to be — throughout the competition. He hasn’t lost any of that. If Mariah Carey week didn’t do him in, what will? The thing is, you don’t expect to see [rock covers of pop songs] during ‘Idol.’ We’ve grown accustomed to people belting big songs. Cook doing something you don’t expect to see on the ‘Idol’ stage — I think that’s given him a real edge.”

MTV

American Idol: Readers Want Paula Off the Show

Paula Abdul’s muddled mental state on Tuesday’s show has some Dish Rag readers calling for her head.
But others are more sympathetic, going with the old “to err is human, to forgive divine” advice.

LA Times

Castro in final 4

While in high school, American Idol finalist Jason Castro was a fixture at Kim Beslisle’s home in Rowlett.

Castro, now a junior at Texas A&M University, and his younger brother Michael, now an Aggie sophomore, were good friends with Beslisle’s oldest daughter Kelli Lennington, and the trio often palled around together, Beslisle said.

Family and friends always have believed in Jason Castro’s musical talent, Beslisle said. Yet it was somewhat of a shock, she said before he advanced to the final four contestants Wednesday, to see him make it so far in the famed television music competition.

“Everybody is so proud of him,” Beslisle said. “This is not what I would ever expect him to do, but what you see is what you get. The person you see on TV is exactly how he is — goofy but intelligent. He will say the goofiest thing and then turn around and say something very profound. He’s very authentic. He’s just a good, good guy.”

The Eagle

12th Man for Jason Castro

Once again, fellow Aggie Jason Castro has been sent to the couches - safe for another week. With four competitors left on the seventh season of American Idol, the competition is high and predictions are unclear. Campus groups such as Your Apple Campus Reps, MCS Town Hall, Dining Services, MacResource, Division of Marketing and Communications and Aggie Men’s Club put on an American Idol viewing party including free pizza, live music and prizes in honor of Castro.

It was “Neil Diamond night” on Tuesday as Aggies congregated in the MSC Flagroom to watch the show, buzzing about what song Castro would sing and how “adorable” he looked last week.

As Ryan Seacrest and the five remaining contestants took the stage, the room went wild. If Castro’s face flashed on the screen, even for a second, hands were up in the air and the Aggie “whoop” shot around the room.

TheBatt.com

David Cook’s Childhood Home for Sale

BLUE SPRINGS, MO. — A Missouri real estate agent is selling American Idol contestant David Cook’s childhood home.

The home at 1120 S Sunnyside School Road in Blue Springs, Missouri is being sold for $135,000. And the agent lists it as “David Cooks’ childhood home.”

So, what kind of house did David grow up in? It has three bedrooms and three bathrooms, a finished walk-out basement, and a fenced in backyard. It was build in 1990 when David Cook was 7-years-old.

My FoxKC

Carrie, Taylor & Barbara Get “Beautiful” News

May 1, 2008 - “People” magazine’s annual list of the “Most Beautiful People” in the world hits newsstands tomorrow, and country music looks to have a big impact on the issue.

Carrie Underwood, Taylor Swift, Miley Cyrus and Barbara Mandrell are all featured in “Most Beautiful” sections on People.com, indicating they’re each featured in the list.

For the average person, it’ll likely come as a bit of a relief to discover that some of the most attractive celebrities have the same insecurities as everyone else. Carrie, for example, feels inadequate whenever there’s a red-carpet event.

“I feel more beautiful when I see the pictures after,” she tells People. “I’m like, ‘I wish I had felt like I looked like that when I was actually there.’”

GacTV

Carrie Underwood, Daughtry to perform in Toms River Fest

Carrie Underwood and Daughtry will be the headliner acts at the Toms River Fest, which, after a year’s absence, returns in August to the campus of Toms River High School North.

The event is being produced by Concerts East in partnership with AEG Live.

AEG Live is also the sponsor of Raven-Symone’s Pajama Party Tour, which was to have been performed May 15 at the Ritacco Center.

Tickets will be on sale starting Saturday (May 10). Part of the ticket price from the
event will go toward the school district’s technology fund.

app.com

Touring ‘Rent’ stars two ‘Idols’

In a question and answer session as a contestant on American Idol Season 4, Anwar Robinson said if he didn’t make it on the show, he’d “seize every available opportunity that comes my way.”

The New Jersey native finished as seventh-runner up that season (country phenomenon Carrie Underwood won), and earned judge Paula Abdul’s praise as being “technically the best singer of the competition.” After Idol, he made good on his promise to seize every opportunity. After the show ended, Robinson was invited to join the national touring company of “Rent.”

Having never done musical theater, Robinson, of course, seized the opportunity.

SWIowaNews

When comparing Idols, do so style to style By Carmen Rasmusen

One of my biggest downfalls while I was on “American Idol” was comparing myself to others.

I couldn’t help it. Every time I’d hear Trenyce sing, I’d think, “Wow, if only I had her range!”

And every time I’d watch Kim Caldwell perform, I’d think, “Man! She really knows how to entertain an audience.”

I had some experience before “American Idol,” if performing karaoke at the county fair and on my high school stage counts as “experience.”

I felt pretty natural on stage, and while initially I felt nervous before I performed, I could turn those butterflies into adrenaline. I thrived on competition; in fact, that’s usually when I did my best.

Deseret News

Did Paula Abdul tarnish ‘American Idol’?

Paula Abdul’s colossal screwup on “American Idol” this week has gotten fans hollering that the judging isn’t fair - and has some questioning her role on the show.

Since Abdul commented on a performance by Jason Castro that hadn’t been seen by viewers of Tuesday’s show, fans and conspiracy theorists alike have been attacking the show’s credibility with blistering online messages.

The disgust only grew a day later after Abdul and host Ryan Seacrest blamed the mixup on last-second switches in the production and the fact that Abdul had seen some of Castro’s dress rehearsal performance.

New York Daily News

Clay Aiken gets personal, a SheKnows interview

In 2006, Aiken released “A Thousand Different Ways,” a record of songs made famous by other people. “On My Way Here” allows Aiken to get his sound out to an audience that has been hungering for original Aiken in five years.
He walked off of the “American Idol” stage during its second season as its runner-up and set the standard for success outside the top spot on the Fox phenomenon.

Since that famed singing competition made him a household name, Aiken has transcended pop to not only conquer the charts, but become the king of Christmas touring and an expert in Monty Python’s regal attitudes and had his hair lighten by just a few shades.

SheKnows.com