Sunday, August 31, 2008

Carrie returns to her alma mater

Carrie Underwood returned to campus on Friday when she performed for hundreds of fans at Northeastern State University's celebration of its centennial countdown in Tahlequah, Okla. She sang "Praise the Lord, I Saw the Light" in addition to a few of her own mega successful hits. According to this article in The Muskogee (Okla.) Phoenix, Carrie was a hit with the crowd:

Jenks Middle School students Libby Hanford, Savannah Fuller and Kayla Bauman huddled together to write a fan note to Carrie Underwood. It said "Dear Carrie, we would like you to know how much we love you."

Savannah said she and her friends were in town visiting her grandfather, who she said was an NSU psychology instructor.

"And he said he had a surprise for me," she said.

She said she and her friends got to the NSU campus at around 4 p.m.

"We were here before she was here," she said, pointing to Underwood, who was sitting behind a barricade before her concert. "We’re going to have a policeman give the note to her."
Vitamin Water, which sponsored Carrie's trip to her alma mater, was on set filming a new commercial for its product, which in all likelihood will feature her in it.

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Saturday, August 30, 2008

Jennifer Hudson's Anthem performance at the DNC

Introduced as "Academy Award Winner" on the fourth day of the Democratic National Convention in Denver on Thursday, Season 3's seventh-place finalist, Jennifer Hudson, sang "The Star-Spangled Banner" before many thousands of spectators at Invesco Field. The resounding performance was just one aspect of a very historical night, which was capped off by Illinois Sen. Barack Obama's acceptance speech for his party's nomination for the presidency. Watch the performance below:



Jennifer was personally asked by the senator to sing the Anthem. Her debut album, Jennifer Hudson, is set for a Sept. 30 release. She will next appear on the silver screen in The Secret Life of Bees alongside Queen Latifah and Dakota Fanning.

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Jasmine Trias to perform in "Sister Act" concert

Season 3's second runner-up, Jasmine Trias, will appear in "Sister Act" - a concert that will be held at the Victoria Gardens Cultural Center in Rancho Cucamonga, Calif. The concert's purpose is to inspire area children interested in tackling a career in music to follow their dreams.

Jasmine, who is of Filipino descent and calls Hawaii home, will display her own talents alongside the performers, who are also Filipino and range from six to 16 years old.

This is not the first time Jasmine has participated in an inspirational engagement, as she has previously judged a young talent competition on the Tyra Banks Show. "Sister Act" will take place on Sun., Sept. 14.

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Poll of the week update: feels like it's May 20!

Wowzers! After only two and a half days of voting, the IDOL LIVE champion poll has generated nearly 3,000 votes. This is leaps and bounds more participation than any other poll of the week has received. It is now a fight between David Archuleta and David Cook, and, there are either way more fans of each than IDOL LIVE expected, or the Cookies (and Archies) are busy cookie-cleaning. Below are the current results:

David Cook 1,491 (48%)
David Archuleta 1,492 (48%)

Elliott Yamin 3 (0%)
Chris Daughtry 51 (1%)
Brooke White 2 (0%)
Kellie Pickler 11 (0%)
Kristy Lee Cook 1 (0%)
Haley Scarnato 1 (0%)
Chikezie 0 (0%)
Stephanie Edwards 0 (0%)
Melissa McGhee 0 (0%)

With 11 days to vote, it will be interesting to see which David is able to withstand the long haul.

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Friday, August 29, 2008

Ruben in the red

The second season's champion is following in the footsteps of Wesley Snipes, as he has failed to pay $193,650 in taxes to the state and federal government. Ruben Studdard, who was dropped by J Records last December, has not yet commented on the matter.

The majority of the taxes, according to court documents, are from 2003 when he did not pay $19,581 in state income taxes and $163,836 in federal taxes and was also issued property liens for $2,149 in state and $8,083 in federal for the 2005 fiscal year.

Ruben's tax woes comes on the heels of his marriage to Surata Zuri McCants in June. He is also involved in a legal dispute between his former record company, Sony BMG, and apparel line Louis Vuitton over the former's illegal use of the latter's trademarks in Ruben's music videos and on his third record, The Return, which Sony BMG has agreed to stop producing.

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Thursday, August 28, 2008

'Idol' BB 200: 'Carnival Ride' #35 (9/6/08)

It was once again a mixed bag for Idol-related albums on the Billboard Top 200 album chart for the week of Sept. 6. Led by Carrie Underwood for the umpteenth time, only three albums with Idol ties made the chart. Carrie's Carnival Ride rose three spots to #35, its highest chart position since the week of July 19 when it was also at #35.

The battle for second place among Idol alums between Daughtry and Jordin Sparks carried on as expected, with Daughtry's self-titled album falling eight spots to #78. Jordin Sparks came in at #80 after a nine-spot drop.

There are no sales figures to report at the current time, but they will be posted if and when they become available. Full chart positions courtesy of 2m over on Pulse are as follows:

ETA: sales #s are courtesy of tony over on Pulse.

35 38 Carrie Underwood - Carnival Ride, 11,223 -1% 11,364 2,298,379
78 70 Daughtry - Daughtry, 6,963 -0% 6,988 4,193,092
80 71 Jordin Sparks - Jordin Sparks, 6,874 -0% 6,896 891,567

Total sales in bold.

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Kevin Covais: "I am feeling great!"

Season 5's 11th-place finalist, Kevin Covais, posted an update on his official site in which he says he is "feeling great." The message reads:

"Hey everybody! I am happy to announce that I am currently at home and I am feeling great! I just wanted to say thank you and send my love to all of you who have showed concern over the past few weeks, and let you know that all is well! I can’t tell you how excited I am for everything going on in my life right now, including the release of my first feature film "College" which hits theaters nationwide this Friday, August 29th!"
IDOL LIVE is glad to hear Kevin is in good spirits and is recovering from his mystery illness. As for his film debut, College, it will open in 2,123 theatres on Friday and is expected to make $8.4 million among registered users on BoxOfficeMojo.com and $6 million according to Gitesh Pandya at BoxOfficeGuru.com for the four-day weekend.

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Jennifer Hudson set to sing National Anthem

At the request of Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, Season 3's seventh-place finalist Jennifer Hudson will sing "The Star-Spangled Banner" tonight before the democratic nominee accepts his party's nomination tonight in front of over 70,000 supporters at Invesco Field in Denver.

It is not clear what time the Oscar winner will perform the Anthem, but it will at least be seen on all cable news networks (CNN, FNC and MSNBC) and C-SPAN.

Jennifer's current single, "Spotlight," now has a remix on which Def Jam rapper Young Jeezy is featured on available at iTunes. Her debut self-titled album will be released Sept. 30.

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Wednesday, August 27, 2008

IDOL LIVE poll of the week - Melissa McGhee's got it

Melissa McGhee lost on the fifth season of Idol as soon as she made it to the Top 12, but she did win this week's poll of the week with a resounding four votes, good for 33 percent. Out of an embarrassing total of 12 votes, the next closest competitor was Season 7's David Hernandez, taking 3 votes (25%).

But now that this phase of the poll of the week series is over, it is time to pick the IDOL LIVE Top 12 finalist champion. You will have two weeks to vote for your choice.

Vanessa Olivarez 1 (8%)
Leah LaBelle 1 (8%)
Lindsey Cardinale 1 (8%)
Melissa McGhee 4 (33%)
Brandon Rogers 2 (16%)
David Hernandez 3 (25%)

Total votes: 12

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'Idol' Hot 100 - "Crush #15" (9/6/08)

Despite a great opening at #2 last week, David Archuleta's "Crush" took a hefty fall to #15 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart for the week of Sept. 6. That fall almost gave Jordin Sparks's "One Step At a Time" the title of top Idol-related track on the chart, as the single rose #21-17, while Jordin's duet with Chris Brown, "No Air," only fell four spots to #43.

David Cook's "The Time of My Life" fell #28-35 after weeks of gains, while Carrie Underwood's "Just a Dream" inched ahead three spots to #57. Another positive advancement on the chart was Jennifer Hudson's "Spotlight," which barely moved ahead #67-66. And Daughtry finally reappeared on the chart with "What About Now," which debuted at #94. Full chart positions courtesy of bks over on Pulse are posted below:

Hot 100
15 02 David Archuleta, "Crush"
17 21 Jordin Sparks, "One Step At a Time"
35 28 David Cook, "The Time of My Life"
43 39 Jordin Sparks ft. Chris Brown, "No Air"
57 60 Carrie Underwood, "Just a Dream"
66 67 Jennifer Hudson, "Spotlight"
94 -- Daughtry, "What About Now"

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Digital sales roundup: "Crush" #6 (8/23/08)

As expected, David Archuleta's debut single "Crush" took a hefty fall in its second week, as its 46% decline was good for another 89.5k downloads and a #6 entry on Billboard's Hot Digital Songs chart. Its total stands at a healthy 255.7k. The next highest Idol-related track was once again Jordin Sparks' "One Step At a Time," which witnessed a two-spot climb to #16 with an eight percent increase to 58.5k downloads for the week. It is just shy of gold status, sitting at 491.k downloads.

Following Jordin was David Cook, whose coronation single "The Time of My Life" finally saw a drop, and a big one at that, as it plummeted 18 spots to #45 with another 29.3k downloads. It appears it may take a little longer than expected to reach platinum status, as it now totals 822k. Jennifer Hudson, on the other hand, saw her "Spotlight" minimally increase once again, as its gain of seven percent put its total north of 78k. It will be interesting to see how the single is effected by her "Star-Spangled Banner" performance before Sen. Barack Obama receives his party's nomination tomorrow night in Denver.

And despite the fact that there are no Carrie Underwood numbers to report this week, there are numbers to report for Daughtry's "What About Now," which enters the chart at #161 with 8.6k downloads. Its total is 300k on the dot. Full numbers and chart positions courtesy of bks on Pulse as follows.

006 001 David Archuleta, "Crush" 89,472 -46% 166,247 255,719
016 018 Jordin Sparks, "One Step At a Time" 58,494 8% 54,252 491,528
045 027 David Cook, "The Time of My Life" 29,343 -32% 43,170 822,001
149 156 Jennifer Hudson, "Spotlight" 9,417 7% 8,834 78,272
161 --- Daughtry, "What About Now" 8,626 24% 6,955 300,633

Total sales are in bold.

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Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Jordin performs "One Step At a Time" on 'Canadian Idol'

Jordin Sparks traveled north of the border tonight to perform her latest single, "One Step At a Time," for the audience at the Canadian Idol studio. Watch the performance below:


Following her performance Jordin answered questions from host Ben Mulroney including advice for the show's Top 4. Jordin said song choice was an important factor in succeeding and she reminisced on her time on American Idol at this stage of the competition.

"One Step At a Time" is currently #15 on Canadian iTunes.

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Ace to join the cast of 'Grease'

Season 5's seventh-place finalist, Ace Young, will join the cast of Grease on Broadway on Sept. 9 as Kenickie, best friend of one of the main characters, Danny Zuko. Ace is not only the second Idol alum to take part in this show, but the second Idol alum from the fifth season to star in it, as its champ Taylor Hicks is currently starring as Teen Angel.

Ace was obviously excited about taking the role, as he said of his debut on the great white way:

"That's a big side of me that a lot of people don't know. They didn't get to see that on `Idol.' You know, I have four older brothers. I was never trying to even care about what I was wearing. I was just trying to survive at the household."
Taylor's run is up Sept. 7, however, so they will not be in Grease at the same time. Ace's run will last until Jan. 18, 2009.

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'House Bunny' final figures: $14.2 million weekend

Although it was possible The House Bunny could have seen a rise on the weekend box office chart when actuals came in it was the more likely scenario that came to fruition. Despite a drop from $15.1 million to $14,533,702, Katharine McPhee's debut film posted a more than respectable number for its opening weekend according to BoxOfficeMojo.com and will sail past $40 million for its total take.

Its hopes for an improvement from #2-1 were not helped by Tropic Thunder's weekend take increase by $100k when actuals come in. It's still too early to tell how Bunny will fare in the coming weeks, but Labor Day weekend has always been kind to the film industry so it should have one more week before it sees a drastic drop.

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Monday, August 25, 2008

Who is Kara DioGuardi?

So by now everyone knows that in demand singer/songwriter Kara DioGuardi will sit alongside Simon, Paula and Randy at the judges' table next season on Idol. But just who is she? Kara has written for many artists, especially idols, all of which are listed below:

Clay Aiken - 1 track
Bo Bice - 3 tracks
Kelly Clarkson - 6 tracks
Diana DeGarmo - 6 tracks
Taylor Hicks - 2 tracks
Katharine McPhee - 7 tracks
Carrie Underwood - 1 track

She has also produced three Idol-related tracks: Kelly's "Walk Away" and Katharine's "Home" and "Love Story." As for the latest crop of contestants, Kara is currently working with David Cook and David Archuleta, but she has said her favorite from Season 7 was in fact Brooke White.

But when it comes to judging, this is not Kara's first go around with the opportunity. In 2006 Kara lent her judging abilities to the ill-fated ABC reality series The One: Making a Music Star. Joining Idol, however, is quite a step up, as it has lasted much longer than the four episode-run The One had.

Whether or not this was a wise decision on Idol's part, the only pressing question viewers have on their minds is...next to whom will Kara sit?

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Keeping up with Leslie Hunt

Although she fell victim to scatting during her rendition of Nina Simone's "Feeling Good" on Top 20 night of the sixth season of American Idol, Leslie Hunt is happily humming a new tune as the release of her sophomore album See Jane Dance quickly approaches.

Leslie first showed her post-Idol recording efforts on From the Strange to the Stranger, which is available on iTunes. Dance, which is set to hit stores in October, will feature such songs as "American Dream Man" and "Let Them Go" that can be heard on her official music MySpace page.

In hopes of promoting her upcoming album, Leslie will perform at a festival with The Ides of March in Aurora, Ill., on Aug. 30, and another event at Goose Island in Chicago.

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Sunday, August 24, 2008

Watch Sanjaya's Nationwide commercial

Sanjaya Malakar's long awaited commercial for Nationwide Insurance was revealed earlier this week. The ad, titled "Spiritual Retirement Commercial," has already amassed more than 40,000 views on YouTube. Watch the commercial below:



If this is a sign of things to come from the sixth season's seventh-place finalist, it appears the world will see more hair than musical fanfare when it comes to Sanjaya.

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Kevin Covais' mystery illness saga continues

As reported earlier this month by IDOL LIVE, Season 5's 11th-place finalist Kevin Covais was admitted to a hospital for an undisclosed illness. Rumors began swirling that Kevin had possibly had a stroke, but his publicist, Cindy Collins later brushed them off, instead insisting he had suffered complications from his diabetes.

The story regained traction yesterday when TMZ.com reported that Kevin was "cooped up in the hospital" with Bell's palsy, a condition that results in partial paralysis of the face. But Kevin's publicist once again tried to disspell that report. According to a story from Newsday, Collins

"...would not say what was ailing the 19-year-old. 'We cannot officially say either way until tests are done,' Collins said from Los Angeles.

The TMZ story reported that the illness was brought on 'because of the stress of his press tour' for the raunchy comedy flick. But Collins said, 'For the record, Kevin was not stressed out. It was a blast, it was the highlight of his week.'"
This obviously is not the last we've heard of Kevin's mystery illness. Whatever the true cause is, IDOL LIVE wishes him a quick and painless recovery.

College enters theatres nationwide on Friday. It also stars Drake Bell and Andrew Caldwell.

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Kat finishes second...again

After months of anticipation, Katharine McPhee's major studio acting debut in Sony's The House Bunny finally hit theatres across the nation this weekend. Although McPhans never doubted the hilarity of the movie's subject matter, its box office performance was much more unpredictable.

But fans were elated to discover that Bunny in fact beat most experts' expectations, as it posted a solid $15.1 million weekend according to early estimates from BoxOfficeMojo.com. Despite the higher than expected figure, it was only good enough for a No. 2 finish, as estimates are giving Tropic Thunder a $1 million advantage and a second week at the top. When actuals are released tomorrow afternoon, however, it is possible that Bunny could squeak out a win.

Bunny, which had a production budget set at $25 million, looks to become a late summer hit. On the ratings front, the film is averaging a 41% on RottenTomatoes.com, as it received 28 positive reviews out of a total of 68. This score led those of the three other films that received wide releases for the weekend. As for user reviews, the film currently has a B+ from a total of 831 ratings on Yahoo! Movies.

Although one film cannot determine an up and coming actor's future success, it looks like Katharine at least began her film career on a positive note. As for Kevin Covais' debut in this coming week's College, one can only guess what the outcome will be.

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Thursday, August 21, 2008

'Idol' BB 200: 'Carnival Ride' #38 (8/30/08)

Once again, the same three Idol-related albums make an appearance on the Billboard Top 200 album chart for the week of Aug. 30. Carrie Underwood leads all with Carnival Ride, which rose 14% to 11.4k copies for a total of 2.287 million.

Next up was Daughtry, whose self-titled album dropped a mere 1%, rising #83-70 with an additional 7k copies sold. Jordin Sparks followed right behind with her self-titled album, which rocketed #93-71 with another 6.9k copies. Totals stand at 4.186 million and 885k, respectively. Full chart positions courtesy of areyoureadytojump over on Pulse are as follows:

38 54 Carrie Underwood - Carnival Ride 11,364 14% 9,954 2,287,156
70 83 Daughtry - Daughtry 6,988 -1% 7,043 4,186,129
71 93 Jordin Sparks - Jordin Sparks 6,896 6% 6,528 884,717

Total sales are in bold.

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Wednesday, August 20, 2008

'Idol' Hot 100 - "Crush" #2 (8/30/08)

After only a two-week stint on top of all Idol-related tracks, Jordin Sparks' "One Step At a Time" is surpassed by David Archuleta's "Crush," which rockets to #2 in its debut on the Billboard Hot 100 chart for the week of Aug. 30. In the meantime, "Time" rises three spots to #21, while Jordin's duet with Chris Brown of "No Air" falls #35-39.

David Cook's "The Time of My Life" on the other hand jumps eight spots to #28, signaling that the single is not just on a fluke of a chart run. Carrie Underwood saw the biggest jump among all Idol alums on the chart, as her latest single "Just a Dream" zoomed ahead #98-60, while Jennifer Hudson's "Spotlight" also saw positive movement with a 16-spot increase to #67. Full chart positions courtesy of bks over on Pulse are posted below:

Hot 100
02 -- David Archuleta, "Crush"
21 24 Jordin Sparks, "One Step At a Time"
28 36 David Cook, "The Time of My Life"
39 35 Jordin Sparks ft. Chris Brown, "No Air"
60 98 Carrie Underwood, "Just a Dream"
67 83 Jennifer Hudson, "Spotlight"

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IDOL LIVE poll of the week - Stephanie Edwards (woo!)

As expected, IDOL LIVE viewers were not too enthusiastic about voting for their favorite 11th-place finalist of all seven seasons. This gave Season 6's Stephanie Edwards the perfect opportunity to place first in the poll. Stephanie did just that, as her pitiful seven votes were enough for 46% of the vote.

Her competition was weak, as evidenced by second-place finisher Amanda Overmyer's four votes, good for 26%. Hopefully this week's poll is more exciting. In this week's poll of the week, we ask who your favorite 12th-place finalist is. You have exactly one week to vote.

Charles Grigsby 1 (6%)
Matt Rogers 2 (13%)
Mikalah Gordon 0 (0%)
Kevin Covais 1 (6%)
Stephanie Edwards 7 (46%)
Amanda Overmyer 4 (26%)

Total votes: 15

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Cook blogs on everything "finally hitting" him

David Cook used his day off in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., to blog about how he finally understands what has happened to his life since winning Idol. Per the blog entry, Cook said:

"All at once, it hit me full on what has happened to me this last year. I thought about Omaha, and my brother, Andrew, and the Green Mile, and the top 12 red carpet event, and the hotel, and the finale, and this tour. It really became apparent to me at that moment that the tour will be done in about a month, and we'll all, hopefully, go on to amazing careers and lives away from this "Idol Machine" and apart from one another. After a year with these guys, that thought looms ominous and scary."
Also in the blog Cook gave the new Robert Downey, Jr.-Ben Stiller comedy Tropic Thunder his seal of approval (4/5 stars) and thanked his fans for
"...the understanding you guys have shown to my limitations as I try to meander through this very new lifestyle of actually being acknowledged for doing something I love."
Cook is continuing to work on his debut album while on tour, which wraps up Sept. 13 in Tulsa, Okla.

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Jordin performs "One Step At a Time" on GMA

Jordin Sparks performed her latest single "One Step At a Time" on Good Morning America this morning following a concert with Jesse McCartney at the Nokia Theatre in Times Square last night. Before the performance, Jordin spoke with GMA co-host Robin Roberts about what her life has been like since winning Idol in May 2007. Watch the interview and performance below:



"One Step At a Time" is currently Top 10 on Top 40 radio and is sitting at #15 on iTunes' Top 100 Songs chart.

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Album covers: Kellie & Kristy Lee

Kellie Pickler and Kristy Lee Cook both had their upcoming albums' covers revealed this week. Kellie's cover for her self-titled sophomore album is a head shot in classic black and white with pink text, while Kristy Lee's is a shot of her lying on top of one of her horses (most likely not the one she sold to get herself to the Season 7 auditions).

The reception has been mixed, even skewing poor. But cheap album covers are nothing new, and it is to be expected from artists managed by 19E. In fact, every single album released by an Idol alum has been criticized to the core, moreso than many other non-Idol artists.

You can now pre-order Kellie Pickler (Sept. 30) and Why Wait (Sept. 16) on Amazon.

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Carrie lends vocals to cancer charity single

Carrie Underwood is one of 15 female singers that will make appearances on the charity single "Just Stand Up," which will benefit cancer research. The single will be released to iTunes on Sept. 2 and all 15 singers will perform it live on the "Stand Up to Cancer" television special, which will air on the three major broadcast networks: ABC, CBS and NBC on Fri., Sept. 5 at 8 p.m.

In addition to Carrie, some of the singers lending their talents on the single include Rihanna, Sheryl Crow and Mary J. Blige. The special and single are being sponsored by Stand Up 2 Cancer, the combined effort of many charitable organizations like the Noreen Fraser Foundation and the American Association for Cancer Research.

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'The House Bunny' promo week wrap-up

This week was an extremely busy one for Katharine McPhee as she prepped for the release of her first feature film, The House Bunny. Katharine appeared with cast mates for interviews and premieres, some of which are documented below.

Katharine sat down with her costars with Entertainment Tonight for two interviews, including one that aired in a package on the show's broadcast on Tues., Aug. 12. Watch it below:



Katharine attended the New York premiere of the film at Hearst Tower on Monday, as seen pictured on the right (photo courtesy of WireImage). The premiere was sponsored by Cosmo Girl magazine. Also in attendance were cast mates Anna Faris, Rumer Willis, Emma Stone and Australian pop/rock duo The Veronicas, who were in the city to tape a performance on MTV's Total Request Live. While at the premiere Katharine and friends sat down with ET for a second interview, which can be watched below:



Katharine also spoke with ReelTalk TV while on the red carpet at the New York premiere. In the interview Katharine talks about what it is like to play the part of a pregnant girl and how it felt to work on a movie set for the first time. Watch the interview below:



Another Web-based media outlet that the Katharine and the cast granted interviews to was ComingSoon.net, which was posted yesterday and can be viewed below:



Today the cast of The House Bunny appeared on TRL this morning, which was taped on Monday.

Tonight is the official Los Angeles premiere, which will be streamed live on MySpace and ETOnline.com at 9:30 p.m. ET. At the premiere, the cast members will take part in an interactive "Pink Carpet Chat" with viewers.

The House Bunny opens in more than 2,600 theatres nationwide on Friday.

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Digital sales roundup: "Crush" #1 (8/16/08)

For the first time in 10 weeks an Idol alum other than Jordin Sparks leads all Idol-related tracks on Billboard's Hot Digital Songs chart. In its first week David Archuleta's debut single "Crush" sat on top of the chart at #1 with 166.2k downloads sold. This was more than enough to unseat Jordin's "One Step At a Time," which remained at #18 but rose eight percent to 54.3k downloads sold for a total of 433k.

David Cook's "The Time of My Life" once again witnessed a surge, as it jumped from #40-27 with another 43.2k for the week. Its total now stands at 793k copies and looks to reach platinum status by late September. Carrie Underwood's latest single "Just a Dream," on the other hand, is still early on in its chart run as it sold 17.9k copies for the week, landing at #79. And Jennifer Hudson capped off tracks among Idol alums with another 8.8k sold at #156. Its total is now at 68.9k. Full numbers and chart positions courtesy of bks on Pulse as follows.

001 --- David Archuleta, "Crush" 166,247 999% 0 166,247
018 018 Jordin Sparks, "One Step At a Time" 54,252 8% 50,347 433,034
027 040 David Cook, "The Time of My Life" 43,170 35% 32,032 792,658
079 167 Carrie Underwood, "Just a Dream" 17,856 121% 8,079 91,871
156 153 Jennifer Hudson, "Spotlight" 8,834 4% 8,508 68,855

Total sales are in bold.

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Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Kat's "I Know What Boys Like" video premieres

The video for Katharine McPhee's latest soundtrack single, "I Know What Boys Like," premiered on MySpaceTV last night. At a scant 2:20, the video features characteristics that suggest it may appear at the end credits of The House Bunny. Watch the video below:



The House Bunny hits theatres nationwide on Friday. Check back tomorrow for a full recap of this week's promo and a forecast for the film's box office performance.

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LaKisha Jones on FOX 5 D.C.

LaKisha Jones appeared yesterday on Washington, D.C.'s FOX 5 morning show to promote her debut album So Glad I'm Me, due out Oct. 28. Tony Perkins interviewed Season 6's fourth-place finisher in the "My Voice DC" segment of the newscast before she performed her song "Same Song," which she said could be a single in the future. Watch the interview and performance below:


LaKisha attended the Idols Live tour on Sunday and said it was great. She also said her first single, title track "So Glad I'm Me," will be out on iTunes on Aug. 25. LaKisha will also be touring with Chaka Kahn beginning at the Riverwind Casino in Morman, Okla., on Fri., Aug. 22.

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Jordin to host XM's Pink Channel

Jordin Sparks will be an upcoming celebrity guest host of the brand new Pink Channel on XM satellite radio (channel 24). The channel is a joint effort by Premiere Radio Networks and leading cancer research group City of Hope and will feature pop hits from the 70s-90s while health-related segments fill the gaps in the programming.

As for Jordin's duties as host, per a press release:

A weekly celebrity host will report on City of Hope’s latest cancer research and treatment programs, and will share personal stories and read listener dedications.
For more information, visit The Pink Channel on the Web at PinkChannelRadio.com. There is no word yet on when Jordin will host the network.

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Monday, August 18, 2008

Daughtry's "Feels Like the First Time" video premieres

In conjunction with CNN's recurring "League of First Time Voters" segment that will air during the network's coverage of this election season, Daughtry recorded a cover of "Feels Like the First Time," which will be used as the segment's theme song.

"First Time" was originally made popular by the band Foreigner in 1977. Watch the video below:



The band received positive feedback from Foreigner member Mick Jones, who said of the cover:
"Daughtry's version of the song is very cool and has more than captured the essence of the original. I am delighted that the song will be used in this critical initiative."
The "Leage of First Time Voters" initiative will focus on getting new voters registered and educating them about the candidates and issues.

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Keeping up with Ryan Starr

Before Daughtry, Bo Bice and Constantine even saw an ounce of fame, Idol's resident rocker was a female. Ryan Starr placed seventh on the show's first season in 2002 and has carried herself far ever since.

Ryan has focused more on the television aspect of the entertainment industry, as she has starred on The Surreal Life (2004), Battle of the Network Reality Stars (2005) and was set to star in the second season of E!'s Kill Reality before it fell through. But she is currently looking to merge her love for TV with her music career, as she is shopping around a reality show that centers around the recording process of her album. MTV, E!, FUSE, Bravo and FOX Reality are reportedly interested.

On the music side of things, Ryan released an exclusive single at iTunes in September 2004 in "My Religion," which reached #1 on Billboard's Hot Digital Songs chart. She also had three tracks released on the first volume of the "Curtain Call" series, which was released on Feb. 5, 2008 and features songs from Idol alums. Ryan's tracks appeared on the same album as Stevie Scott (Season 5), AJ Tabaldo (Season 6) and Jon Peter Lewis (Season 3).

Ryan recently added songs to her official music MySpace page including "7 am," "Stranded" and "Eyes of a Child." There is no word yet on when Ryan's album will be released.

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Sunday, August 17, 2008

No 'Godspell' for Diana

The much talked about revival of Broadway staple musical Godspell saw its chances dashed last week when it was reported that inability to secure funds for the show would cause it to close its doors before they even opened.

Godspell, which was supposed to star Diana DeGarmo in addition to Broadway greats like Gavin Creel and Telly Leung, was one of many musicals that was a casualty of the lackluster economy early on in the 2008-09 season.

This would have been Diana's fourth limited run in a stage production since coming in second on Idol in 2004. She has previously starred in West Side Story (San Jose, 2005), Hairspray (Broadway, 2006-07) and Brooklyn (national tour, 2006).

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VMA update: VotY is "No Air"-less

Although it seemed like a sure thing, the video for "No Air" did not make the final cut for the most coveted Video of the Year category for the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards. Jordin Sparks' duet with Chris Brown was slighted in order to make room for such "masterpieces" as Britney Spears' "Piece of Me" and The Pussycat Dolls' "When I Grow Up."

Despite the non-nomination, "No Air" is still up for Best New Artist and Best Female Video, and is surprisingly the only Idol-related video on the ballot for the awards show.

The VMAs will air live on Sept. 7, 2008, at 9 p.m. on MTV. It will be hosted by Russell Brand.

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Saturday, August 16, 2008

Katharine on 'Regis & Kelly'

Currently in the midst of promotional tour for The House Bunny (Aug. 22), Katharine McPhee stopped by Live with Regis & Kelly yesterday. Watch the segment below:



Katharine talked about a wide range of topics, from her "Greek wedding" to her upcoming plans for filming The Storyteller this fall and recording her sophomore album, which is slated for a spring 2009 release. Regis' guest host was his daughter, Joanna.

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Friday, August 15, 2008

'Idol' BB 200: 'Carnival Ride' #54 (8/23/08)

Carrie Underwood's Carnival Ride leads all albums on the Billboard Top 200 album chart for the week of Aug. 23 by Idol alums once again despite an eight percent drop. The album shifted 10k copies for the week.

Down at the lower rungs of the chart, Daughtry actually pulled ahead of Jordin Sparks, as the band's album fell #78-83 while moving an additional 7k copies, while Jordin plunged #69-93 with another 6.5k copies. Totals stand at 4.179 million and 878k copies, respectively.

Full chart positions courtesy of 2m over on Pulse are as follows:

54 48 Carrie Underwood - Carnival Ride 9,954 -8% 10,806 2,275,792
83 78 Daughtry - Daughtry 7,043 -5% 7,417 4,179,141
93 69 Jordin Sparks - Jordin Sparks 6,528 -17% 7,838 877,852

Total sales are in bold.

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Thursday, August 14, 2008

Arch's "Crush" reigns supreme on iTunes

Since being added to the iTunes music store on Tuesday, David Archuleta's debut single "Crush" has had a quick ascension to the top spot. The song landed at #1 in less than 24 hours, one of the fastest trips to the pinnacle in iTunes history. In the past two days, Arch has been able to fend off the threat of Taylor Swift and Chris Brown, who are eagerly awaiting for their chance at #1 with their Olympics-themed charity singles.

Kristy Lee Cook, on the other hand, has been unable to crack even the Top 100 Country songs chart with her single "15 Minutes of Shame." This chart is relatively easy to place on, and like "Crush," "Shame" was added to the store on Tuesday. This does not bode well for Kristy Lee's career, although it does not help that there is no ad whatsoever promoting the single. Only time will tell whether "Shame" will in fact be a success story for her.

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Wednesday, August 13, 2008

IDOL LIVE poll of the week - Chikezie to the tenth power

It was Season 7's Chikezie who eked out a win in last week's IDOL LIVE poll of the week. He took home 28% of the votes among Top 10 finalists from all seven seasons according to IDOL LIVE readers, compared to Chris Sligh's 25% (10 votes compared to nine votes).

Lisa Tucker finished second with eight votes (22%). In this week's poll of the week, we ask who your favorite 11th-place finalist is. You have exactly one week to vote.

Ejay Day 0 (0%)
Julia DeMato 2 (5%)
Amy Adams 2 (5%)
Jessica Sierra 4 (11%)
Lisa Tucker 8 (22%)
Chris Sligh 9 (25%)
Chikezie 10 (28%)

Total votes: 35

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'Idol' Hot 100 - "One Step At a Time" #24 (8/23/08)

For the second week in a row, Jordin Sparks' "One Step At a Time" led all Idol-related tracks on the Billboard Hot 100 chart for the week of Aug. 23. "Time" rose #31-24, signifying its highest peak to date. Jordin also was represented by her duet of "No Air" with Chris Brown, which surprisingly advanced two spots to #35.

David Cook followed one spot behind with "The Time of My Life," which moved three spots to #36. On the lower half of the chart, Jennifer Hudson's "Spotlight" jumped #89-83, and Carrie Underwood's "Just a Dream" made its first appearance at #98 following a #6 entry last week on the Bubbling Under chart. Full chart positions courtesy of bks over on Pulse are posted below:

Hot 100
24 31 Jordin Sparks, "One Step At a Time"
35 37 Jordin Sparks ft. Chris Brown, "No Air"
36 39 David Cook, "The Time of My Life"
83 89 Jennifer Hudson, "Spotlight"
98 -- Carrie Underwood, "Just a Dream"

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Digital sales roundup: "One Step At a Time" #18 (8/9/08)

In what will possibly be its last week to lead all Idol-related tracks on Billboard's Hot Digital Songs chart, Jordin Sparks' "One Step At a Time" comes in at #18 - a full 10 spots up from its placement last week. "Time" nets another 50k downloads for a total of 378.7k. Jordin's other single on the chart, her duet of "No Air" with Chris Brown, rebounds with another 28.8k downloads for a total 2.358 million. Following the sixth season's winner is the seventh season's winner, David Cook, who once again sees an incline in sales for his track "The Time of My Life," which rises 10% to 32k. Its total is now at 749.4k.

Then there's Jennifer Hudson and Carrie Underwood, both of whom appear out of the Top 50. Jennifer's "Spotlight" falls 6% to #153 with 8.4k downloads, while Carrie's "Just a Dream" debuts at #167 with 8k downloads. Totals stand at 60k and 74k, respectively. Full numbers and chart positions courtesy of bks on Pulse as follows.

018 028 Jordin Sparks, "One Step At a Time" 50,347 14% 44,207 378,782
040 041 David Cook, "The Time of My Life" 32,032 10% 29,065 749,488
043 050 Jordin Sparks ft. C. Brown, "No Air" 28,859 15% 25,048 2,358,421
153 146 Jennifer Hudson, "Spotlight" 8,487 -6% 9,059 59,927
167 --- Carrie Underwood, "Just a Dream" 8,079 43% 5,631 74,015

Total sales are in bold.

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Monday, August 11, 2008

Keeping up with Sanjaya

He may be "so 2007," but Sanjaya Malakar is not abandoning his hopes of becoming a successful artist. The sixth season's 7th-place finalist has been busy touring following his departure from Idol and the ensuing Idols Live tour and performed two new original songs at a concert at the Mohegan Sun shopping mall area in Uncasville, Conn., on Tues., Aug. 5. Sanjaya performed "Quintessential Lullaby" and "You Ain't Never Met a Guy Like Me," which is rumored to be his new single. Watch the performance below:


Aside from his budding music career, Sanjaya has been exploring other areas in the entertainment industry, including television hosting duties. Sanjaya hosted the TV Guide Channel's special Idol Stars: Where Are They Now?, which aired in February. He has also plans on attending the Berklee College of Music in Boston in the future with his sister, Shaymali.

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Katharine feels "Connected"

The summer of 2008 has been like Christmas for the McPhans, as once again a track of Katharine McPhee's has been released. This time it was her cover of "I Feel Connected," which will appear on the upcoming direct-to-DVD release of Barbie and the Diamond Castle.

Not only did Katharine record the song, but she appeared in its video (wearing yet another yellow dress) with acoustic pop duo Room for Two. Watch the video below:



"Connected" was originally recorded by actress Sarah Paxton for the 2006 film Aquamarine. There is also an alternate version recorded by RBD.

Diamond Castle's soundtrack will hit stores on Sept. 2, while the DVD will be released Sept. 9

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Sunday, August 10, 2008

Update on Kevin Covais

It was reported last week that Kevin Covais was rushed to the hospital last Sunday after suffering a seizure, causing him to miss a scheduled show in New Jersey. According to his publicist, Cindy Collins, Kevin is now doing fine. In an e-mail received Saturday night, Collins said of the health scare:

"It was a diabetes related matter and wasn't serious."
IDOL LIVE is glad to hear that Kevin is doing well and that the matter was not as serious as previously believed. Kevin's publicist also said Kevin is preparing for his MGM press tour in promotion of College and will sing "The Star-Spangled Banner" for the New York Mets and the New York Jets within the next month.

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Saturday, August 9, 2008

Track review: Arch's "Crush"

Debuting over a week ago on New York's flagship Top 40 radio station, Z100, David Archuleta's first post-Idol single, "Crush," has been making headway on radio. After only one day of airplay, "Crush" was able to debut on Billboard's Pop 100 (#93) and Pop Airplay (#57) charts. After taking one listen to the track, it is not hard to imagine why it has bad such preemptive success.

David Archuleta strikes first for the seventh season of American Idol with "Crush," a stylized mid-tempo about a subject 17-year-olds deal with on a regular basis.

"Crush," produced by Emanuel Kiriakou (Celine Dion, Taylor Hicks), starts out pretty generic, as Arch's "ooohs" swim in and out of the piano sequence and overused hand claps. But as he moves into the pre-chorus the song builds in excitement, as if the listener does not know what to expect, but knows it will be something big. Then guitar riffs introduce a melodic sugar fest accompanied by Arch's innocent vocals, leaving the target demographic feeling like they are floating through Candyland. The chorus resembles something JoJo would have put out in 2006, but the pop-rock and r&b elements mixed together keep "Crush" relevant.



Despite the many positive elements of the song, it is not without a few low spots. For example, there are a few songs that sound like they were ripped off for the sake of producing "Crush" together. The Stargate-esque drum beats in the pre-chorus could have been in any song they produced, whether it was Jordin Sparks's "Tattoo" or Beyonce's "Irreplaceable." And the chorus echoes many similarities to JoJo's "Too Little, Too Late."

David Archuleta did not win Idol. But the fact that he is under Jive Records' control should put his fans at ease, as "Crush" demonstrates that his career is on the right path.


"Crush" will be available at all major digital retailers on Tues., Aug. 12. Arch's album is scheduled for a Nov. 4 release.

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VMA update: Video of the Year now open

Since neither Paula Abdul nor Katharine McPhee made the final nomination roster for the Best Dancing in a Video category, it was Jordin Sparks who was the sole Idol alum to receive a nomination for a category last week. Jordin was nominated for Best New Artist for her video for "No Air." In that category, Jordin must deal with Miley Cyrus and Katy Perry among others.

But the most important category for all - Video of the Year - is now up for voting on narrowing down the nominees. On the list are Jordin ("No Air," "One Step At a Time"), Paula ("Dance Like There's No Tomorrow"), Katharine ("Love Story"), Blake Lewis ("Break Anotha"), Carrie Underwood ("Last Name"), Daughtry ("Feels Like Tonight," "Over You"), Elliott Yamin ("One Word") and Jennifer Hudson ("Spotlight"). Strangely enough, none of Daughtry's videos are nominated for Best Rock Video, which is also now open voting.

Voting for the category ends on Wed., Aug. 13, with the final nominees being revealed on Fri., Aug. 15. The VMAs will air live on Sept. 7, 2008, at 9 p.m. on MTV.

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Clay officially a dad

The AP reports that Clay Aiken and friend/record producer Jaymes Foster welcomed their son into the world yesterday at 8:08 a.m. on 08/08/08. Creepy enough?

But everything seemed to go according to plan, as Clay reports via his Web site's blog that:

"The little man is healthy, happy, and as loud as his daddy."

Well in that case, barring any age limit changes, IDOL LIVE will eagerly await the day Parker "No Hyphens" Foster Aiken curtails the competition and make the Top 2 only to lose to an obese R&B singer on Season 24 of Idol. But in all seriousness, congrats Clay & Jaymes.

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Friday, August 8, 2008

Kristy Lee to release 'Why Wait' on Sept. 16

After spending one whole week on recording her upcoming debut album, Kristy Lee Cook looks ahead to Sept. 16, when she will release Why Wait on Arista Nashville Records. The album, which was originally rumored to be titled Plant the Seed, features 10 tracks and was produced by Brett James (Josh Gracin, Taylor Swift) according to the press release.

The album's first single, "15 Minutes of Shame," will hit digital retailers including iTunes on Aug. 12, the same day David Archuleta's single is released.

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Thursday, August 7, 2008

'Idol' BB 200: 'Carnival Ride' #48 (8/16/08)

Old news again on the Billboard Top 200 album chart for the week of Aug. 16, as Carrie Underwood unsurprisingly leads all Idol-related entries with Carnival Ride. The album netted an additional 10.8k copies, down only 9% to #48.

Jordin Sparks was next with her self-titled album, which shot up #108-69 thanks to a 22% increase. The album took in another 7.8k copies and now stands at 871k overall. And then there's Daughtry, who also rose, albeit a mere 4%. The band's total is now 4.17 million copies. Full chart positions courtesy of 2m over on Pulse are as follows:

048 042 Carrie Underwood - Carnival Ride 10,806 -9% 11,860 2,265,838
069 108 Jordin Sparks - Jordin Sparks 7,838 22% 6,448 871,379
078 087 Daughtry - Daughtry 7,417 4% 7,142 4,172,098

Total sales are in bold.

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Wednesday, August 6, 2008

IDOL LIVE poll of the week - Mandisa beats Gina, Ramiele

Season 5's Mandisa was able to walk away with a slim win in a very quiet IDOL LIVE poll of the week of readers' favorite ninth-place finalists of all seven seasons. The gospel singer placed first with six votes, good for 30% of the total take, while Season 6's Gina Glocksen and Season 7's Ramiele Malubay each took home five votes (25%). In this week's poll of the week, we ask who your favorite 10th-place finalist is. You have exactly one week to vote.

Jim Verraros 1 (5%)
Corey Clark 0 (0%)
Camile Velasco 2 (10%)
Nikko Smith 1 (5%)
Mandisa 6 (30%)
Gina Glocksen 5 (25%)
Ramiele Malubay 5 (25%)

Total votes: 20

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'Idol' Hot 100 - "One Step At a Time" #31 (8/16/08)

The Billboard Hot 100 chart finally saw a changing of the guard among top Idol-related tracks on the chart, as Jordin Sparks replaced herself in the top spot with "One Step At a Time" landing at #31 for the week of Aug. 16. "Time" unseated Jordin's duet of "No Air" with Chris Brown, which crumbled #28-37 for the week.

David Cook's "The Time of My Life" re-entered the Top 40, advancing #47-39, and Jennifer Hudson's "Spotlight" moved up seven spots to #89.

Meanwhile on the Bubbling Under chart, Carrie Underwood makes a quick leap up to #6 for the week, suggesting a debut on the main chart may only be a week away. Full chart positions courtesy of bks over on Pulse are posted below:

Hot 100
31 34 Jordin Sparks, "One Step At a Time"
37 28 Jordin Sparks ft. Chris Brown, "No Air"
39 47 David Cook, "The Time of My Life"
89 96 Jennifer Hudson, "Spotlight"

Bubbling Under
06 18 Carrie Underwood, "Just a Dream"

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Digital sales roundup: "One Step At a Time" #28 (8/2/08)

For the third week in a row, Jordin Sparks leads all Idol-related tracks on Billboard's Hot Digital Songs chart with "One Step At a Time." The single took in an additional 44k downloads for the week, improving #29-28, and crossed the 300k mark. Jordin's other track, "No Air," continued its steady decline by falling five spots to #50. The -15% drop was good for 25k downloads for the week.

Meanwhile, David Cook's "The Time of My Life" has continued its vertical climb, as the now second-most successful Idol coronation single in terms of airplay increased a healthy 20% and crossed the 700k mark in total sales. Jennifer Hudson also saw positive movement for the week, but barely, as she increased #149-146 with "Spotlight," which stands at 51.4k total sales. Full numbers and chart positions courtesy of bks on Pulse as follows.

028 029 Jordin Sparks, "One Step At a Time" 44,207 9% 40,579 328,435
041 056 David Cook, "The Time of My Life" 29,065 20% 24,146 717,456
050 045 J. Sparks ft. C. Brown, "No Air" 25,048 -15% 29,369 2,329,562
146 149 Jennifer Hudson, "Spotlight" 9,059 1% 9,008 51,440

Total sales are in bold.

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Tuesday, August 5, 2008

TCA wrap-up

Last night's telecast of the 2008 Teen Choice Awards on FOX was hardly eventful, but four Idol alums made appearances regardless of how disappointing the show itself was. First on deck for the show was Katharine McPhee, who is "rocking her acting chops in The House Bunny" according to host Miley Cyrus, presented the award for "Choice MySpacer" with Jesse McCartney.

Katharine's exchange with Jesse was as cheesy as can be, and the fact that Katharine actually added Jesse into her top friends (and now sitting pretty as the top friend) following the taping made the situation all the more ridiculous. But the two looked like they were having fun, which is all that matters. Katharine was followed by the Davids, as Arch and Cook presented Miley with her award for "Choice Music Female Artist." The two had a poorly written exchange that centered around going by just one stage name ("David," would you believe it or not?).

Following the Davids was Jordin Sparks, who towered over presenting partner Lil' "Big Baby" Mama while presenting the awards for "Choice Male Hottie" and "Choice Female Hottie." Jordin, who brought Africa to the show via her shirt, had to put up with Lil' Mama's loopy cockiness but she definitely pulled it off.

Overall, the Idol alums were probably the highlight of the show, and its not surprising so many got premium appearance slots because the show was broadcast on FOX. Here's to a better show next year. Who knows, maybe Miley will actually kiss Arch.

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Monday, August 4, 2008

Carrie's "Just a Dream" video premieres

After an extremely long wait, Carrie Underwood's video for "Just a Dream" is finally here. The video, which was once again directed by Roman White, premiered tonight on CMT.com and can be watched below:


In the video, Carrie transitions from a wedding to a funeral after receiving word that her fiance was killed while serving in the armed forces. Roman uses a few special effects in the video, such as the change of color from white to black of Carrie's dress and the upward floating black petals once the funeral setting is reached.

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Nigel out of the driver's seat

TMZ.com is reporting producer Nigel Lythgoe is no longer associated with American Idol. The reason? Boredom, apparently:

We're told Lythgoe felt it was time for someone else to step in. Sources say he's said privately he is "not passionate about it anymore." "A.I.'s" ratings slipped last season, and the show was getting a little boring.
TMZ goes on to say he is focusing on a joint venture with Idol creator/manager Simon Fuller and wants to focus on his other hit show, So You Think You Can Dance. Although Nigel has also been a punching bag for when things have gone wrong with the show (and he often brought it upon himself), this does not bode very well for the show itself. It's not like Simon Cowell is leaving, but noteworthy nonetheless.

No word on a possible replacement, or whether TMZ is even telling the truth.

ETA: looks like this is 100% true. Per a statement made by Nigel himself:
"Due to the huge success of 'So You Think You Can Dance,' my summer will be taken up by travels to South Africa, Australia and Canada to work on local versions of the show. I will step back from my day-to-day producing work on 'American Idol' and will be devoting my time to a new venture with Simon Fuller. I have very much enjoyed my personal and professional relationship with Simon. He is without doubt, a man of vision, and I look forward to partnering with him on new and exciting challenges in all forms of entertainment."
This is definitely a blow to the Idol franchise. It is still a little baffling that he would ditch the most-watched show on all television to promote SYTYCD of all things, but if it's his decision, it's his decision.

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Kelly has fun at Fenway

Kelly Clarkson enjoyed some baseball (and a few cold ones by the looks of things) at Fenway Park in Boston Sunday night when she attended the Red Sox / Oakland Athletics game with friends Jill and Kate of the pop/rock duo JillandKate. The three of them sat in the K suites of the park. Kelly sported a Mike Lowell jersey.



In other Kelly news, she is reportedly nearing the finishing stages of the recording process for her fourth studio album and Ryan Tedder, who is collaborating with Kelly, said he thinks the material he is working with her on could possibly be bigger than Leona Lewis' "Bleeding Love." How's that for being bold?

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Keeping up with Baylie Brown

Season 6 will forever be remembered more for its controversies than its talent, and Baylie Brown was a casualty of the former. The then-16-year-old country singer drew comparisons to Carrie Underwood due to her appearance and the fact that she lived on a ranch and impressed the judges with her rendition of Faith Hill's "Stronger," so much so that Simon called her "commercial with a capital C."

But Baylie's hopes were dashed in Hollywood when she was stuck with best friends Antonella Barba (the one with the pictures, remember her?) and Amanda Coluccio, which led to feuding and ultimately Baylie's demise.

Despite the fact that she could not advance on Idol, the Krum, Tex., native has actively pursued a career in country music, and is currently in the process of putting her debut album together. It helps that Jay DeMarcus, one of the members of Rascal Flatts, is producing the album. There are three tracks up on her official music MySpace page, "This Is My Life," "Young As Me" and "I Wish Ya Woulda Told Me," all of which sound like they could be hits on country radio.

Baylie, who is signed to Universal South Records, will appear today at 12th & Porter in Nashville where she will have a showcase at 6 p.m.

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Arch, Carrie, Cook, Jordin win at TCAs


The hills were alive last night, the Hollywood hills, that is, when many Idol-related nominees were honored by getting beach towels with their names on them unraveled at the 2008 Teen Choice Awards.

In total there were six victories by Idol alums or series-related entries of the total of 57 categories, including wins for both David Cook (Choice TV Male Reality/Variety Star) and David Archuleta (Choice Most Fanatic Fans). Jordin Sparks won Choice Hook-Up with Chris Brown for their duet of "No Air," and both American Idol and Randy Jackson's America's Best Dance Crew picked up wins for Choice TV Reality Music Competition and Choice TV Reality Dance, respectively.

All Idol-related wins are listed below:

-Choice TV Reality Dance: America's Best Dance Crew
-Choice TV Reality Music Competition: American Idol
-Choice TV Male Reality/Variety Star: David Cook
-Choice Hook-Up: Jordin Sparks and Chris Brown, "No Air"
-Choice Red Carpet Fashion Icon Female: Carrie Underwood
-Choice Most Fanatic Fans: David Archuleta

For tonight's broadcast expect to see Arch, Jordin, Cook, and Katharine McPhee. All will be accepting and/or presenting awards on the telecast. There is also a rumor that host Miley Cyrus tried coming onto Arch, so that will be quite the sight if FOX does not play around with editing.

The show, which celebrated its 10th anniversary this year, was taped at the Gibson Amphitheatre in Los Angeles. It will air tonight on FOX at 8 p.m. ET (Photos courtesy of WireImage).

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