Anthony Fedorov surprised many as a darkhorse on Idol's fourth season, though he was never able to escape the shadow of good friend and eventual champ Carrie Underwood. One of his standout performances came Top 6 week when he took on Celine Dion's big ballad "I Surrender" for 21st Century theme night. Relive the performance below:
Despite the vocal acrobatics Anthony showed off during this performance, it was not enough to keep him from visiting the bottom two, where he was spared elimination in favor of Constantine Maroulis. Still, Anthony was able to last another two weeks, and this performance can largely be deemed responsible for extending his stay on the show.
After months of waiting, we finally know the album title and cover art of Carrie Underwood's highly anticipated third studio album - Play On. The notification came in the form of a news item posted on Carrie's official Web site, which was accompanied by an update sent out to the country star's following on Facebook. Per the news item:
Releasing November 3, Play On draws its title from the name of a song featured on the new album, but it’s certainly appropriate for the feelings of the countless fans who’ve come to love Carrie’s music over the past four years. Since the release of her debut album in 2005, Underwood has amassed sales of more than 10 million albums with Some Hearts and 2007’s Carnival Ride.
The album is once again produced by Mark Bright (Some Hearts, Carnival Ride) and the yet-to-be identified first single will be released in mid-September and is rumored to be the uptempo "Cowboy Casanova."
After going without complete, reliable album sales data for Idol alums for a month, we finally have a full update!
Upon analyzing the numbers, what we found was a host of steadily declining entries that accurately represent the performance of most albums on the overall chart. Leading things off was Daughtry's Leave This Town, which slid 12% in sales to 33.3k copies, accompanied by a #8-9 decrease on the chart. It has sold 547.4k in its first month-and-a-half of release. The band's first effort, however, saw a 4% uptick in sales to 4.3k and actually went up one spot to #104, marking a current tally of 4.517 million copies.
Up second was Jordin Sparks' Battlefield, which fell #54-63 thanks to a 14% sales dip to 7.3k. It has only sold 92.6k to date. Following Jordin was another winner, Kelly Clarkson, who witnessed her All I Ever Wanted slip a similar 14% in sales to 5.8k for a total of 680.2k. On the chart side, it was down 13 spots to #80.
Next up was the random exclusive Season 8 5-song EP, which was down #85-108 to 4.1k following a sales dip of 21%. It has sold 33.7k copies in a matter of weeks. The other Season 8 entry, the Walmart exclusive album, was off 31 spots to #147 with a weekly take of 3k for a current total of 60.9k It was down by 20% compared to the previous week.
A pair of female country artists had albums separated by just three spots, as Carrie Underwood's Carnival Ride was down #96-114 and Kellie Pickler's Kellie Pickler fell #93-117. The former album was down 13% to 3.9k for a total of 2.954 million, while the latter slipped 21% to 3.8k for a total of 297.8k.
David Cook's self-titled post-Idol album was off 18% and down 23 spots to #122, selling 3.6k for a total to date of 1.226 million copies.
Full chart positions and partial sales numbers courtesy of jameson95 on Pulse as follows:
009 008 Daughtry - Leave This Town 33,311 -12% 37,782547,387 063 054 Jordin Sparks - Battlefield 7,319 -14% 8,490 92,610 080 067 Kelly Clarkson - All I Ever Wanted 5,816 -14% 6,732 680,176 104 105 Daughtry - Daughtry 4,283 4% 4,105 4,517,259 108 085 Various Artists - American Idol: Season 8 EP 4,105 -21% 5,187 33,704 114 096 Carrie Underwood - Carnival Ride 3,938 -13% 4,523 2,953,820 117 093 Kellie Pickler - Kellie Pickler 3,805 -21% 4,794 297,770 122 099 David Cook - David Cook 3,606 -18% 4,383 1,226,376 147 116 Various Artists - American Idol: Season 8 2,950 -20% 3,690 60,894
Kelly Clarkson was on hand to participate in the 2009 Jimmy Fund Radio-Telethon to strike out cancer sponsored by WEEI-AM last night in Boston, Mass. The organization was aiming to raise $5 million over the course of Aug. 27-28, but fell just short at $4,550,786. Kelly also sang "God Bless America" a Capella in the middle of the 7th inning at the Boston Red Sox / Toronto Blue Jays game, which can be viewed below:
Other celebrities that were on hand to participate in the telethon include Ben Affleck, Dane Cook, Brendan Fraser, Denis Leary, Donnie Wahlberg and Ethan Zohn among others.
The following are Idol-related odds and ends that happened this week:
>After weeks of speculation about the exact release date of Kris Allen's debut album, it has finally been confirmed via the Season 8 champ himself that the yet-to-be titled album will hit stores and digital retailers on Tues., Nov. 17. Courtesy of Kris' official Twitter account:
KrisAllen4Real Hey guys! The album is set to release Nov 17th. about 16 hours ago from TwitterFon
The good news for Kris is that this date is ideal considering its proximity to Thanksgiving, and thus, "Black Friday," but the bad news is he will have plenty of competition unless some artists shift their album release schedules. Other albums set to drop on the date include Leona Lewis' Echo plus albums from John Mayer and Norah Jones and, although not nearly as much of a threat, Jason Castro's debut on Atlantic Records is due out that day.
>Taking a break from co-headlining a tour with the Jonas Brothers, Jordin Sparks joined Britney Spears' "Circus Tour" on Monday at Madison Square Garden in New York, N.Y. Watch her perform "Battlefield" below from the Tues., Aug. 25 show:
Jordin will re-join Britney's tour tomorrow in Boston, Mass., following a performance set with the JoBros at their Cleveland, Ohio stop yesterday.
>David Archuleta (or more likely, someone from Jive) blogged about his forthcoming Christmas release for the first time on his official music MySpace page, as he posted the following on Wednesday:
David's Christmas album 'Christmas From The Heart' is now available for pre-order only @ amazon.com. Click HERE to order yours today! The album will be released on October 13, 2009!
As stated above, the album can be pre-ordered on Amazon for $9.99 and will be out Tues., Oct. 13.
>Another runner-up, Blake Lewis, has been in the news for more than his album cover and track list this week. Brian Mansfield of USAToday.com's "Idol Chatter" blog reported the sixth season's runner-up is in tax trouble. Per the blog post:
The Detroit News' Tax Watchdog blog reports that the Internal Revenue Service filed a lien against Blake for nearly $125,000 in July.
The post goes on to say a spokesman for Blake has denied he is in any hot water and that the taxes have been paid, but there is no evidence that a lien release has been filed. Sit back, this could get interesting.
>The first official auditions preview premiered on AmericanIdol.com, which is hosted by Season 8 11th-place finalist Alexis Grace via TV Guide Network. Watch the video below:
If this is the best Idol can do to start getting people excited for Season 9 (minus all the Paula press and celebrity guest judges), then things do not look too promising.
Just this week, the track lists and album covers for the sophomore albums from two Idol runners-up were released. Katharine McPhee and Blake Lewis, each of whom coincidentally have their latest albums to drop on Tues., Oct. 6, as the former's Unbroken and the latter's Heartbreak On Vinyl will each court fans of their new sounds.
Below are the track lists and album covers for the forthcoming releases, with Katharine's courtesy of Tommy2.net and Blake's courtesy of Amazon.com.
Katharine McPhee - Unbroken 01. It’s Not Right 02. Had It All 03. Keep Drivin’ 04. Last Letter 05. Surrender 06. Terrified (with Jason Reeves) 07. How 08. Say Goodbye 09. Faultline 10. Anybody’s Heart 11. Lifetime 12. Unbroken 13. Brand New Key
DVD (Deluxe Edition): 01. Making of Unbroken 02. Track by track video commentary 03. Making of the "Had It All" music video 04. Photo album
Blake Lewis - Heartbreak On Vinyl 01. Heartbreak On Vinyl 02. Binary Love 03. Freak 04. Sad Song 05. Rhythm of My Heart 06. Afraid 07. Left My Baby For You 08. SuperScratchaVocalisticTurnatableLicious 09. Rebel Without A Cause 10. Our Rapture of Love 11. The Point 12. The Remedy 13. Love or Torture (Please Don't Stop)
Both albums can be pre-ordered on Amazon, with Katharine's available as a CD ($13.49) and CD/DVD ($15.99) while Blake's is only available as a CD ($13.99). Also, Katharine's lead single "Had It All" and Blake's lead single "Sad Song" are both available to download on iTunes.
All Idol-related entries on Billboard's Hot 100 chart for the chart week of Sept. 5 saw positive movement, which is something that has not happened in a while.
Naturally, Jordin Sparks' "Battlefield" kicked things off at #16, down one spot from the previous week. The song's ability to hang inside the Top 20 shows that it deserves a good deal of credit even though it is often talked of as an underwhelming single.
Up next was Daughtry's "No Surprise," which inched ahead #25-23 on the heels of steady sales and airplay gains, while Kelly Clarkson's "Already Gone" witnessed the highest jump among alums, as the single was up 14 spots to #65.
And it was David Cook's "Come Back to Me" that worked its way back into the Top 80, as the slow-moving song was up #88-80.
Full chart positions courtesy of bks over on Pulse are posted below:
16 17 Jordin Sparks, "Battlefield" 23 25 Daughtry, "No Surprise" 65 79 Kelly Clarkson, "Already Gone" 80 88 David Cook, "Come Back to Me"
After fourteen weeks of competition, IDOL LIVE's annual poll of the week champion series edition has come to a close, with David Archuleta taking the top spot following a two-week voting period finale that consisted of a whopping 10 alums from the series' seventh season.
As expected, Arch took the cake with 11,595 votes, reeling in 64% of the total votes cast. Arch's only real competition was David Cook, who netted 6,257 votes, or 34% of all votes. These results are flipped in comparison to last year's results, when Cook took in 82% and Arch was able to amass only 17% of the votes.
Not surprisingly, none of the other Idol alums that were up for voting from the semifinal rounds were able to take in a single percentage of the votes cast, with Kellie Pickler finishing an extremely distant third with 90 votes.
After all these months of voting, it should be recognized that all the contributions from readers that have participated in these polls are truly appreciated and it is hoped that this participation will continue to shine through as we carry on with regularly scheduled polls of the week. In this week's edition of the poll of the week, readers are asked which celebrity guest judge would they prefer take Paula Abdul's spot if the spot is to be filled. You have exactly one week to vote.
David Cook 6,257 (34%) David Archuleta 11,595 (64%) Syesha Mercado 10 (0%) Chris Daughtry 9 (0%) Brooke White 10 (0%) Kellie Pickler 90 (0%) Kristy Lee Cook 1 (0%) Michael Johns 2 (0%) Ramiele Malubay 1 (0%) Chikezie 30 (0%) Amanda Overmyer 1 (0%) David Hernandez 6 (0%)
Gains were made by two Idol-related singles charting on the most recent issue of Billboard Hot Digital Songs chart, while another single slipped a bit but remained level.
Falling one spot to #16 was Jordin Sparks' "Battlefield," which sold another 55.8k downloads in the face of a 7% decline in sales. The song has passed the 800k benchmark, with its total currently resting at 802k.
Next up was Daughtry, whose aging single "No Surprise" saw an unexpected sales increase, moving ahead 9% to 34.8k for a total of 680.4k with an accompanying six-spot increase on the chart to #38. But it was Kelly Clarkson's "Already Gone" that saw the biggest sales jump among entries by Idol alums, with the song amassing 31.5k downloads, up 20% in sales from the previous week and 17 spots on the chart to #40. It has now sold 183.3k tracks in all.
Full numbers and chart positions courtesy of bks on Pulse as follows:
For the second straight week, only one Idol-related album appeared on HITS Daily Double's Top 50 building album sales chart.
That distinction, once again, belonged to Daughtry's sophomore effort Leave This Town, which pulled in 33.4k copies according to estimates. It slid three spots to #11 and was down 14% in sales.
Other than that, sales were pretty boring. Unlike the last two weeks, finalized figures courtesy of Billboard should most likely be out this week. Hopefully...
It turns out that Kelly Clarkson and Jordin Sparks will not be the only Idol-related participants on VH1's highly anticipated Divas concert special that will be carried live on Thurs., Sept. 17.
Newly freed Paula Abdul will be the special's Ryan Seacrest at the event, which will take place at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in Brooklyn, N.Y. According to a tweet from the great Paula:
PaulaAbdul Hi guys! im really excited 2 announce ill b hosting this year's "Vh1 Divas"!The show will be live on Sept 17th @ 9 pm EST about 10 hours ago from mobile web
This must come as welcomed news to Paula considering she lost out to Kristen Johnston for a recurring role on ABC's former hit comedy series Ugly Betty. The reason? Well, if you enjoy believing rumors, it was a dispute over money. Glad to know things are still the same for Paula.
For the first time in a while, a new Idol-related single sees its release as an exclusive download at iTunes in the form of Katharine McPhee's "Had It All." The song, which was penned by Mitch Allan, David Hodges & Kara DioGuardi, is the first single off Katharine's upcoming release Unbroken, which is due out Tues., Oct. 6.
Also out today is Phil Stacey's sophomore album Into the Light, which is courtesy of Reunion Records. The album, which features the lead single "You're Not Shaken," is in the Contemporary Christian genre, a departure from his previous experiments in country music.
Links to purchase the aforementioned can be found below:
Katharine has been excitedly tweeting about the single's release over the past week, and informed fans that two webisodes would be released on her official music MySpace page on the same day. Unbroken can now be pre-ordered on Amazon as a CD/DVD deluxe package as well as a traditional CD.
In anticipation of her forthcoming album ‘Unbroken’ (Oct. 6) courtesy of Verve Forecast, Katharine McPhee opts for a new look, and more importantly, a new sound as demonstrated by the album’s lead single “Had It All.”
Leaving behind the R&B-fused pop and open-toed shoes found on her debut LP, McPhee settles for a more earthy sound while marinating her vocal prowess. Although it is inaccurate to classify the song as being “indie,” it definitely gives off indie vibes as her vocals glide seamlessly over the barely polished production of the track.
“Had It All” was co-penned by an all-star trio of Mitch Allan, Kara DioGuardi and David Hodges, and the lyrics work for the most part despite having a bland chorus (“I had it all I threw it all aside / thinking there was more there I needed to find / I had it all baby till you went away”).
At the song’s bridge, McPhee harkens back to her days on ‘Idol’ with a building, billowing high note that carries through the song’s remainder, and finally settles on a crisp, calm finale.
Katharine McPhee surely is back in the game, only this time her true persona will shine through thanks to songs like “Had It All” that will allow her to demonstrate the most suitable styles of music for the budding artist.
"Had It All" is now available to purchase on iTunes.
Idol's second season was the birthplace of the series' controversy, as early favorite Frenchie Davis was disqualified for topless photos before the semifinals round. But the even bigger scandal came Top 9 week, when it was revealed that finalist Corey Clark had a criminal past he had failed to inform producers of. Therefore, his performance of Dobie Gray's "Drift Away" in the country/rock themed week was the last one he gave while on the Idol stage. Watch the performance below:
Corey was not the weakest contestant, but his past surely came back to haunt him in a devastating way. The manner in which he handled the events afterward was even more disrespectful, and for that he will forever be a member of the "fallen idols" camp.
The following are Idol-related odds and ends that happened this week:
>Daughtry announced the cities and dates for the first leg of its highly anticipated arena tour in support of the band's latest album Leave This Town. The tour, which includes 36 dates, begins Oct. 19 in Topeka, Ks., at the Kansas ExpoCentre and wraps up at the Roberts Center in Evansville, Ind., on Dec. 20. Theory of a Deadman and Cavo will open for the band.
>Katharine McPhee's single off her forthcoming sophomore album Unbroken has been revealed. In a tweet sent by Kat yesterday, it was revealed that the single title's name is "Had It All":
My brand new single, Had It All, debuts in 5 days! about 5 hours ago from Tweetie
A demo of the song, which was co-written by Mitch Allan, David Hodges and Kara DioGuardi, can be heard below:
In preparation of her album's release on Tues., Oct. 13, Katharine continued to work on her music video for the song on Wednesday.
>When Season 8's Top 10 finalists swung through Albany, N.Y., on their "Idols Live!" tour on Wednesday, The New York Daily News had fun with the concert by comparing the tour stop to democracy and the lack thereof in the empire state's capitol. The newspaper's columnist Michael Daly commented in part:
His fellow Idol singer Lil Rounds echoed the same sentiment, as if it were only what decency requires.
"Anybody that supports you, you want to give them the best that you have," she said. "I want to give them everything I have."
Compare that to legislators who are willing to do anything to get whatever they can for themselves at the expense of the very people who put them in office.
The attitude of those bozo bums toward the voters could not be any more different from that of Idol singer Matt Giraud.
"You want to thank them," Giraud said of those who voted for him. "They gave you what you have."
Although the odds of Albany's political woes being remedied anytime soon are long, it is nice to know the people of New York had something to distract them in these long late August days.
>Blake Lewis continued to make all the right moves leading up to the release of his sophomore album Heartbreak on Vinyl. Blake released a nine-song digital maxi-single of remixes of his single "Sad Song" on iTunes for $8.91 and has been out on the road promoting the record by appearing on local radio stations and newscasts like Chicago's Kiss 103.5 FM.
>Apart from recently recording her sophomore album Battlefield, Jordin Sparks has been keeping busy in the studio. She just recorded a track for the soundtrack of the upcoming Disney direct-to-DVD release of Tinker Bell and the Lost Treasure. According to writer/producer Bryan Todd via his official Twitter account:
Jordin Sparks and Jordan Pruitt song turned out amazing for Tinkerbell and The Lost Treasure. Soundtrack out 9-22, Movie out 10-27-2009! 11:29 AM Aug 3rd from TwitterFon
The song is called "Road to Paradise" and will be released with the rest of the soundtrack on Tues., Sept. 22. It can now be pre-ordered on Amazon.com.
It was only last week that a demo of a song called "Heaven" written by Sam Watters ("Battlefield") sung by Nikki Flores that was reportedly up for consideration for Jordin Sparks to record made its way onto the internet. Now, a new song called "Colors" (or the British "Colours" if you go by the title on YouTube) has also found its way onto the web, only this time the vocals on the track are provided by none other than Jordin herself. Listen to the track below:
As you can tell right away, the song was produced by Stargate. It seems "Colors" was a leftover track that was left on the cutting room floor when Jordin's Battlefield was pieced together, and it's not very difficult to see why. The song is lackluster and sounds like ultimate filler material. Still, it is a little surprising that all these tracks have been leaking as of late. Wonder why, and how strong of a possibility a re-release of the album could be in store in time for the holidays? We'll just have to sit tight and wait patiently.
Daughtry yesterday visited the set of NBC's hit summer series America's Got Talent earlier in the day to tape a performance of "No Suprise," which aired last night. Watch the performance below:
The band was conveniently in Los Angeles to play a show at the Henry Fonda Theatre. After the performance, Talent judge David Hasselhoff told Chris he's a big fan, according to Chris' Twitter:
The Hoff just told me he was a HUGE Daughtry fan! My life is officially complete. about 17 hours ago from TwitterFon
At least The Hoff was not moved to tears. He was, however, moved enough to attend the band's concert later that night.
It's the halfway point for IDOL LIVE's poll of the week champion series, and it has predictably come down to a battle of the Davids for the second straight year. The difference between now and the same poll last year is the Archies seem to be taking the poll more seriously than their Word Nerd counterparts.
David Archuleta is currently in the lead with nearly 9,000 votes, compared to David Cook's total thus far of just over 6,000 votes. Although things started with a bang in the first few days of voting, it seems that the fans' fingers have slowed down in recent days. Maybe everyone is soaking up their last few weeks (or in some cases, days) of summer vacation?
One point that should be reiterated is that each visitor of IDOL LIVE should only be able to vote once per day. However, this does not mean there aren't ways around this restriction. This Idol poll veteran is very well aware of the whole cookie-deleting process that is often used in these polls, and if that works to your advantage, then great. If not, that is out of my control.
So with just one week left to vote before the poll closes, here's to hoping the fan bases of finalists other than the Davids find this poll and continue to make things interesting.
David Cook 6,108 (40%) David Archuleta 8,743 (58%) Syesha Mercado 6 (0%) Chris Daughtry 8 (0%) Brooke White 3 (0%) Kellie Pickler 87 (0%) Kristy Lee Cook 1 (0%) Michael Johns 1 (0%) Ramiele Malubay 1 (0%) Chikezie 26 (0%) Amanda Overmyer 1 (0%) David Hernandez 5 (0%)
It was another blah week for Idol alums on Billboard's Hot 100 chart for the chart week of Aug. 29.
Kicking things off again was Jordin Sparks' "Battlefield," which slipped one spot to #17. On the flip side, Daughtry saw its current single "No Surprise" was up #27-25, while Kelly Clarkson's "Already Gone" jumped ahead by 10 spots to #79.
Full chart positions courtesy of bks over on Pulse are posted below:
17 16 Jordin Sparks, "Battlefield" 25 27 Daughtry, "No Surprise" 79 89 Kelly Clarkson, "Already Gone"
Lazy, hazy summer days once again softened activity for tracks by Idol alums continued on the Billboard Hot Digital Songs chart.
Jordin Sparks' single "Battlefield" continued to embarrass her album's sales, as it raked in another 60.2k downloads, down 8% in sales. It fell two spots to #15 and has sold 746.2k to date.
Next up was Daughtry's "No Surprise," which depreciated by 5% to 32k downloads for the week. It has only sold 645.6k in all and was off seven spots to #44 on the chart. And Kelly Clarkson's "Already Gone" rounded out available Idol-related data with a 10% increase to 26.3k. It jumped #68-57 and has now sold 151.7k tracks.
Full numbers and chart positions courtesy of bks on Pulse as follows:
And then there was one. After weeks of multiple Idol-related albums making it onto HITS Daily Double's Top 50 building album sales chart, only one album found a spot on the chart this week.
Daughtry's sophomore release Leave This Town pulled in an estimated 38.7k copies for the week, down 12% in sales and up two spots to #8. Surprisingly (or maybe not), Jordin Sparks saw her Battlefield fall below the threshold of reported album sales, which means it took in less than the 11.4k copies that Jason Mraz's We Sing. We Dance. We Steal Things (the #50 album) sold.
Finalized figures courtesy of Billboard should hopefully be out this week unless, of course, everyone is on vacation. In that case, we're outta luck for the week.
Even though Jordin Sparks just released her sophomore album Battlefield three weeks ago, there are already demos making their way onto the net with her name attached to them. One of these songs is "Heaven," which is said to have been written by Sam Watters, who also co-wrote "Battlefield" with Jordin and Ryan Tedder. Listen to the demo below:
Even though the song sounds like it would fit Jordin's vocals like a glove and would not look out of place on her latest album's track list, there are many reasons why she should not consider incorporating this song on a re-release of Battlefield, with the most glaringly obvious reason being the whole "Halo"/"Already Gone" controversy that involved Beyonce, Kelly Clarkson and Tedder. There are even more similarities between this demo as is and "Halo," from the title to the clap track to the overused synths that shadow the vocals throughout the entire song, not to mention the generally "epic" sound.
If this is just some lame attempt to gain exposure for a song by attaching a well-know artist's name to it, then we have nothing to worry about. But if "Heaven" is in serious contention to be recorded by Jordin for an upcoming release, she should stay clear at all costs.
Anyone remember Janay Castine? The 17-year-old made it all the way to Top 16 in Idol's fourth season, but after delivering this performance of Blu Cantrell's "Hit 'Em Up Style" in Top 20 week, it is amazing to think she made it as far as she did. Relive the scariness of the performance below:
Simon was right on the money talking about her facial expressions looking like she was watching a horror movie, as this performance earned her the nickname "bug eyes." Janay's dance moves and awkward facial expressions earned the performance the no. 3 spot on AOL Television's "Top 20 Worst 'American Idol' Performances Ever" countdown in 2008.
There was a big hoopla surrounding Carly Smithson and ex-members of Evanescence with the announcement of a new collaboration through the formation of a new band, We Are The Fallen, in late June. Although things have cooled off since the announcement, the band has still been posting regularly on its official Facebook fan page.
One thing the band stated back when the announcement was made was that they would be taking a nontraditional approach in releasing music. Instead of recording a bunch of songs and then releasing an album, they are going to release songs as singles every so often and then create a compilation out of the singles in the form of an album. But when it comes to the band's first single "Bury Me Alive," not much has been happening with the song since it was put on its official music MySpace page and made available as a free download to the first 100,000 fans. It did, however, appear on the music testing site HitPredictor.com (formerly Promosquad.com), which signals that the band might be interested in sending the single to radio.
The only question is, which format is being targeted here? The mystery will continue to unravel.
The following are Idol-related odds and ends that happened this week:
>It has only been four years since Carrie Underwood rose to stardom, but she will soon be able to say she is enshrined in the Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame. According to CMT.com:
Carrie Underwood is one of three performers selected as this year's inductees into the Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame. The announcement was made Monday (Aug. 10) during a news conference at the Tulsa Press Club.
It was last December that Carrie was inducted into the Grand Ol Opry. The ceremony and concert will take place on Thurs., Sept. 17, in the Muskogee Civic Center.
>Season 8's Top 10 finalists made a stop by NASDAQ while in New York City on Tuesday, where they partook in the tradition of Idol alums doing the ceremonial ringing of the bell to close out the day's trading. Watch the event below:
The crazy poses in the middle of the video above were used as shots of the finalists displayed out on an LCD screen on the exterior of a building. The group of 10 were in town to perform in concert as part of their "Idols Live!" tour stop at the Nassau Coliseum on Long Island.
>Jennifer Hudson became Idol's latest new mother, as the third season's seventh-place finalist gave birth to David Daniel Otunga Jr. late Monday night. According to Us Magazine, the couple's publicist said the 7-pound, 14-ounce baby "is beautiful and perfect."
>While making an appearance at Sunday's Teen Choice Awards, Jordin Sparks ran into a familiar face amidst the sea of celebs. Who else but Ashley Ferl (a.k.a. the "crying girl") turned up and was sure to impress Jordin with her awesome crying skills. Jordin tweeted about the meet up, saying:
Look who I saw yesterdayyyy! No, Sanjaya wasn't there! Lol http://twitpic.com/dfb83 4:12 PM Aug 10th from TwitterFon
Looks like not much has changed in two years.
>Kimberly Caldwell will be fulfilling hosting duties for MTV's upcoming series P. Diddy's Starmaker. Per a press release issued earlier this week:
Singer, actress and television personality Kimberly Caldwell has worked as an entertainment correspondent and host for the TV Guide Network. Kimberly first hit the limelight as an artist on another popular reality competition show, which gives her the ability to develop an intimate and empathetic relationship with the aspiring "StarMaker" contestants.
Starmaker premieres on Sun., Aug. 16 at 10 p.m. ET on MTV.
In the final round before the grand finale of IDOL LIVE's 2009 poll of the week champion series, it was an unequivocal wipe-out with one winner trumping his seven peers.
Although the margin of votes separating David Cook from his competitors was not as wide as the gulf that existed between David Archuleta and his fellow runners-up in last week's poll, Cook's 255 votes were good enough to make up 62% of the 408 total votes cast.
Coming in (way) behind Cook in second place was Carrie Underwood, who is widely considered to be one of the Top 2 most successful winners. Carrie managed to receive 51 votes (12%), which most likely came from casual fans. Following Carrie were Kelly Clarkson and Kris Allen tied at 34 votes a piece, good for 8% of the total sample.
Jordin Sparks was not too far behind, as her 26 votes were enough to hand her 6% of all votes cast. But Ruben Studdard, Fantasia and Taylor Hicks all severely disappointed, as none of the aforementioned winners were able to make an impact on the standings and each failed to receive a single percentage of the vote.
Out of the 12 rounds leading to the finale of the champion series, a finalist from Season 7 earned the right to advance to the next round 10 times, with Season 5 finalists making up the other two spots. This is without a doubt evidence that Seasons 5 and 7 are considered to be the most successful and best-liked of all.
Now that the finale of the poll of the week champion series is here, it will be interesting to see if we have a re-match of last year's dogfight between the Archies and the Cookies. Just like last year, the final round of the champion series poll will be open for voting for the next two weeks, as it will close at 11 p.m. ET on Wed., Aug. 26.
Kelly Clarkson 34 (8%) Ruben Studdard 1 (0%) Fantasia 3 (0%) Carrie Underwood 51 (12%) Taylor Hicks 4 (0%) Jordin Sparks 26 (6%) David Cook 255 (62%) Kris Allen 34 (8%)
VH1's first Divas special since 2004 is already very highly-anticipated, but interest increased yesterday when the Idol representation on the special grew by one, according to Kelly Clarkson at least. Kelly was interviewed on The Pulse earlier today and she was asked who was on the show, and she went on to name Jordin Sparks among a few other artists. Listen to the interview below:
Kelly said she would be performing "Already Gone" on the show after spilling the beans on Jordin's addition to the roster:
"As far as I know, it's Adele it's, um, Jordin Sparks I think just signed on..."
And she went on to gush about how sweet Jordin is. Per VH1.com, Divas will air on Thurs., Sept. 17, at 9 p.m. ET and will feature Leona Lewis and Miley Cyrus among others.
Chris Daughtry is quite possibly the biggest self-professed fan of Batman to ever appear on Idol, so it was no surprise that Pepsi Music had him don a mask as the dark knight to peruse the floor at Comic-Con San Diego last last month. Watch his experience (with band mate Joey Barnes in Catwoman gear) below:
While it is true Chris may never be as cool as Batman, it can be said that he knows how to have a good time while waiting to do a show. Maybe he'll find his grappling gun next time he swoops through the neighborhood.
Another track by an Idol alum made its debut on Billboard's Hot 100 chart for the chart week of Aug. 22, as pre-existing entries from the franchise had mixed movements.
Kicking things off was Jordin Sparks' "Battlefield," which slid three spots to #16, marking its third-straight week inside the Top 20. The next Idol-related track actually saw positive movement, as Daughtry's "No Surprise" rose five spots to #27.
Holding steady on the lower half of the chart was David Cook's "Come Back to Me," which charted at #87 for the second week in a row, and Kelly Clarkson's "Already Gone" made its debut on the chart at #89.
Full chart positions courtesy of bks over on Pulse are posted below:
16 13 Jordin Sparks, "Battlefield" 27 32 Daughtry, "No Surprise" 87 87 David Cook, "Come Back to Me" 89 -- Kelly Clarkson, "Already Gone"
Sales of tracks by Idol alums were split in terms of positive and negative movement on the most recent edition of the Billboard Hot Digital Songs chart.
As usual, Jordin Sparks led all other entries from the franchise with her single "Battlefield," which took in an additional 65.1k downloads despite a two-spot slide to #13. It was down 15% sales-wise and has amassed a total of 686k to date.
Next up was Daughtry's "No Surprise," which was down in the count by two spots to #37 thanks to a 10% dip in sales to 33.7k downloads. Its total is now 613.7k. Kelly Clarkson's next single "Already Gone" followed at #68, up a whopping 32 spots from the previous week, with 23.9k tracks sold. Its sales were up by 41% and now has a total of 125.5k.
And David Cook was once again playing the familiar role as the ninth batter in the lineup, as his "Come Back to Me" lallygagged at #139, up 12 spots, thanks to a boost from his performance of the song on Good Morning America. It was up 5% in sales and has sold 308.9k to date.
Full numbers and chart positions courtesy of bks on Pulse as follows:
013 011 Jordin Sparks, "Battlefield" 65,077 -15% 76,793 686,001 037 035 Daughtry, "No Surprise" 33,692 -10% 37,508 613,664 068 100 Kelly Clarkson, "Already Gone" 23,885 41% 16,993 125,460 139 151 David Cook, "Come Back to Me" 10,942 5% 10,445 308,939
It is now four weeks running for Idol's rocker of choice, as Daughtry once again held the franchise's highest-selling album according to HITS Daily Double's Top 50 building album sales chart.
Chris and the boys saw their album Leave This Town fall five spots to #10 thanks to a 28% slip in sales to 43.9k.
As expected, Jordin Sparks' sophomore album Battlefield continued its downward spiral, falling 17 spots to #46 as a result of a 34% sales decrease. It sold 11k copies for the week.
Finalized figures courtesy of Billboard should hopefully be out this week, but if not, chart positions will be posted later on in the week, most likely on Thursday.
Coming off a strong Idol presence at last year's event, the 2009 Teen Choice Awards was even less of the place to be if you had starred on FOX's highest-rated show, as Twilight and Miley Cyrus proved. Making waves at the staple meaningless awards show of the summer was Jordin Sparks, who made a trip up to the stage to introduce the "Dare the Jonas Brothers" segment during which viewer-submitted dares for the group were aired. Watch Jordin's segment below (begins at 5:54):
In terms of actual awards for the franchise, David Archuleta had three attached to his name as he was the recipient of Choice Music Breakout Artist, Choice Music Love Song (for "Crush") and Choice Music Tour for his tour with Demi Lovato.
Another big Idol-related winner of the night was Adam Lambert, who defeated his Season 8 rival Kris Allen in the Choice TV Male Reality/Variety Star. Neither David nor Adam could make an appearance at the show due to being on tour at the moment.
One last big Idol-related win included American Idol taking home a surfboard for Choice TV Reality Competition at the fan-voted award show, as expected.
The Teen Choice Awards were taped yesterday at the Gibson Amphitheatre in Universal City, Calif., and aired earlier tonight on FOX.
Ryan Seacrest is not the only host to come out of Idol, as Season 3's 11th-place finalist Matt Rogers is now in the midst of hosting his second series. Matt, who previously hosted the Discovery Channel's Really Big Things, is now fulfilling the duty on CBS' reality series There Goes the Neighborhood, which premieres last night.
Watch a clip from the series' premiere in which Matt introduces the eight families to the premise of the competition and which family everyone thinks will be the first to leave below:
Despite the hype generated by the eye network in anticipation of the show, the ratings for Neighborhood were lackluster, as it averaged 5.08 million viewers for the hour and got a 1.6/4 rating/share with adults 18-49. In other words, it will struggle to finish out its season.
John Stevens provided one of the most unintentionally funny performances ever delivered on Idol during Season 3's Top 9 week with his take on Elton John's "Crocodile Rock." Relive the classic moment below:
Although John deserves plenty of props for trying on the song, his shrieky "la la la la la"s were enough to send any self-respecting artist's head into violent bouts of shaking of disapproval. Regardless of the fact that John would only last three more weeks on the show, this performance alone was worth him taking away a spot from more "deserving" contestants, and since he's a nice guy he gets a pass for the performance. That does not change the fact that it's memorable, though.
Two Idol alums appeared on the Saturday edition of NBC's Today Show to discuss the departure of Paula Abdul as a judge. Melinda Doolittle contributed via satellite hookup from Nashville, Tenn., while Bo Bice chimed in from Pelham, Ala. Watch the segment below:
Melinda called Paula the "momma of the show" and "the heart of it" for her. Bo said he was a little bit shocked, but more surprised and that when Kara DioGuardi entered the picture a lot of people had questions about what the composure of the judges would be.
It was another good week for Idol alums, particularly Daughtry, on the Billboard Top 200 chart for the chart week of Aug. 15.
Chris and the boys saw their sophomore release Leave This Town hold steady at #2 despite a 38% drop in sales to 62k. The album's total is 432.4k after three weeks. Their other entry, Daughtry, saw positive movement as it climbed #84-78 with 4.9k, down 8% for a total of 4.504 million.
Last week's new entry, Jordin Sparks' Battlefield, tumbled 63% to 17.7k for a two-week total of 65.6k copies. On the chart side it fell 14 spots to #21. Next up was Kelly Clarkson's All I Ever Wanted, which surged ahead 27 spots to #59 thanks to a sales bump of 30%. It claimed another 6.8k copies for the week for a total of 661.4k.
Following Kelly was the Season 8 Walmart exclusive album, which received an additional 6k despite a 26% decrease in sales for a 49.3k total. It slipped #53-65 for the week. Kellie Pickler saw her sophomore album slip in sales but rise on the chart, as it was down 5% to 5.7k but up three spots to #69. It has sold 283.7k copies to date.
Carrie Underwood's Carnival Ride saw positive activity on both fronts, as its sales jumped 9% to 5.5k copies and it rose on the chart 16 spots to #72 for a total of 2.940 million. And David Cook familiarly closed out Idol representation on the Billboard 200, as his self-titled album took in 4.1k copies, off 14% from the previous week, for a total of 1.214 million. In the chart rankings, it was only off three spots to #93.
Full chart positions and sales numbers courtesy of kylecburke on Pulse as follows:
002 002 Daughtry - Leave This Town 62,040 -38% 100,826 432,424 021 007 Jordin Sparks - Battlefield 17,671 -63% 47,972 65,629 059 086 Kelly Clarkson - All I Ever Wanted 6,810 30% 5,248 661,449 065 053 Various Artists - American Idol: Season 8 6,023 -26% 8,164 49,276 069 072 Kellie Pickler - Kellie Pickler 5,656 -5% 5,965 283,698 072 088 Carrie Underwood - Carnival Ride 5,494 9% 5,045 2,940,237 078 084 Daughtry - Daughtry 4,902 -8% 5,348 4,504,184 093 090 David Cook - David Cook 4,101 -14% 4,794 1,213,813
It was an all-Idol affair on this morning's episode of Good Morning America, as David Cook, Kris Allen and Adam Lambert each performed as part of the program's Summer Concert Series in New York City's Central Park. Just one week after Kelly Clarkson headlined the same concert, the three male alums took to the stage to perform either their current single (in the case of Cook) or a song from the current "Idols Live!" tour (in the case of Kris and Adam). Watch the performances below:
Cook's "Come Back to Me"
Adam's "Starlight"
Kris' "Heartless"
Both Kris and Adam are in town to perform in concert with the rest of Season 8's Top 10 finalists as part of the Idol tour at Atlantic City, N.J.'s Boardwalk Hall tonight and the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J., tomorrow and Sunday. Cook is currently in an in-between period and will resume his tour on Wed., Aug. 13 at the Verizon Center in Washington, D.C.
The following are Idol-related odds and ends that happened this week:
>Blake Lewis began making the rounds in support of his forthcoming album, Heartbreak On Vinyl, beginning with an appearance on New York City's FOX affiliate morning program, Good Day New York, on Mon., Aug. 3. On the show, Blake spoke with its co-hosts and performed the album's first single, "Sad Song." Watch Blake's performance below:
Blake said the album is about the death of the physical medium of music, and it will additionally be available to purchase on vinyl records. The album will be out on Tues., Oct. 6.
>David Archuleta posted his latest blog entry from his tour with Demi Lovato on his official Ning site on Tues., Aug. 4. A snippet from the entry is found below:
After the Pittsburgh show, we had the North Carolina show, and then went down to Florida! The state where I was born and lived my first 6 years of life haha. We had a day off there, and so I got to spend it with some friends who are amazing people! I also got to spend time with my Grandparents! I love them. My grandparents were actually able to come to all 3 of our shows in Florida, and it was so great. I honestly don't remember the last time I was able to spend that much time with them, so I'm really grateful for it.
Arch also talked about some second cousins he did not know existed until he did research and ended up inviting them to his show, and ended the blog entry by encouraging his fans to research up on their families to see if they had any relatives they did not know about.
>Jordin Sparks spoke with ABC News about her new album, Battlefield, in addition to her thoughts on Chris Brown and Paula Abdul. Watch the interview below:
Jordin should get points just for speaking to Darius Brown while getting her nails done. That must take some talent.
>Amid all the Paula mania that happened this week, the controversy raised by Ju'Not Joyner got two more voices to contribute to the discussion. Ayla Brown, a semifinalist on the show's fifth season, told ABCNews.com:
"A few weeks in, when I was rehearsing, Ken and Nigel came in and said, 'You know, we knew you were pretty but we really didn't know you could sing this well,'" Brown said. "It made me think that I was on the show, and some people are put on the show, just to get ratings."
Similarly, Justin Buckles, a former production coordinator for Idol, said that the way the show's contestants are treated "is slave labor and I am not afraid to say it."
>Daughtry's highly anticipated AOL Sessions were uploaded to AOL Music last week. Watch the entire set below, starting with "No Surprise."
Other songs performed during the set include "Possum Kingdom," "Every Time You Turn Around," "Home" and "Ghost of Me." In addition to the performances, the band participated in a Q&A session.
Now that word has been circulating that FOX is interested in permanently replacing Paula Abdul for the ninth season of Idol, it should be expressed that there is absolutely no need for another fourth judge.
The laundry list of reasons why this would be unnecessary and even downright irresponsible is lengthy, but there are a few major reasons that stick out above the rest. First of all, do the producers not recall how many times performance episodes ran over thanks to the extra set of critiques that were needed after each performance? Whose fault was that again? Yeah, it was your fault by the extension of Kara DioGuardi and her babbling. Remember the time Adam Lambert's performance of "Mad World" went over the broadcast's allotted time during Top 8 week? And then the next week, only two judges were allowed to critique each performance, and the overtime still amounted to two minutes? That is not a professional way to run a show.
And then of course there's the whole notion that hearing an extra critique per contestant does not affect much in terms of swaying voters to vote one way or another, it usually only reinforces one of the other judges' opinions. Plus, during auditions and in Hollywood it is Simon who gets to make the final decision when the four of them reach a stalemate. Even though he probably merits this power thanks to his role in the show's production and his stature, it is still annoying that he not only has a contract worth millions upon millions more than his fellow judges and this additional perk is solely at his discretion and he could potentially (and probably already has) denied someone a ticket to Hollywood because he just "didn't like them."
So unless the plan is to fire Kara and replace her with someone who doesn't care so much about "artistry" or to do away with Randy's role after the next "dude" or "dawg" he drops, there should be no new faces appearing on this show come Season 9. None.
Keeping with the theme of Season 7's domination, David Archuleta's fans propelled him to a victory in IDOL LIVE's poll of the week champion series for the runner-up portion of the competition.
In fact, "competition" is not the right word to describe this week's voting round, as Arch netted 421 votes, or 89% of all votes cast in the poll. This figure was a little unexpected, and puts the 22 measly votes (4%) Adam Lambert received in the "whimpy" category.
No other contestant deserves a mention in looking at the results, as three took in 1% each and three failed to garner more than four votes. It is worth mentioning, however, that Arch will make one more appearance in the champion poll series of 2009, as he will be back in the finals beginning next Wednesday when we decide who will be the champion of all Idol finalists for the year.
In the last week before the final round of the champion series poll begins, the next installment asks readers which winner is their favorite of all eight seasons. Voting will be open for exactly one week.
Justin Guarini 3 (0%) Clay Aiken 5 (1%) Diana DeGarmo 3 (0%) Bo Bice 4 (0%) Katharine McPhee 9 (1%) Blake Lewis 6 (1%) David Archuleta 421 (89%) Adam Lambert 22 (4%)
A depleted roster of Idol-related tracks was found on Billboard's Hot 100 chart for the chart week of Aug. 15.
After Jordin Sparks' current single "Battlefield" reached the landmark status of entering the Top 10, the song slipped three spots to #13. This is the second-highest position the song has charted at, but it looks to be on its way down thanks to slow growth in airplay and decreasing sales.
The only other track by an Idol alum to make the chart was Daughtry's "No Surprise," which fell #28-32.
Full chart positions courtesy of bks over on Pulse are posted below:
Hot 100 13 10 Jordin Sparks, "Battlefield" 32 28 Daughtry, "No Surprise"
After mentioning a change in hair color a few weeks ago, Katharine McPhee officially unveiled the change today in a spread on People.com. Per the story that accompanies the photo the right, Katharine said:
"I’ve never dyed my hair before so this was a pretty drastic change. I’ve always been known as a brunette but I’ve been thinking about it for a long time and it kind of just fit with all of the searching with the music and experimenting that I would do the same thing with my look.”
Katharine also changed her head shot and layout on her official music MySpace page, notifying fans via a blog entry on the page.
The story also appears in the current issue of People magazine, which is on newsstands nationwide. Katharine is currently drumming support for her forthcoming album Unbroken on Verve Forecast, which is due out Tues., Oct. 6.
A controversy surrounding one song was responsible for a large surge in sales while other Idol-related tracks slipped a bit on the most recent edition of the Billboard Hot Digital Songs chart.
Coming off her debut week, Jordin Sparks saw sales for her single "Battlefield" slide 24% to 76.8k, falling four spots on the chart to #11. After acquiring gold status last week, the song has now sold 620.9k.
Up next was Daughtry's "No Surprise," which continued its steady decline with an 18% sales decrease to 37.5k. Its was off nine spots to #35 and has now sold 580k downloads in all. The only Idol-related track to see positive movement on the chart, Kelly Clarkson's controversial "Already Gone," moved 17k in downloads thanks to a 252% sales increase, most likely caused by a combination of the song's music video release and the back and forth debate with Ryan Tedder that was sparked by comments Kelly made about the song sounding similar to Beyonce's "Halo," another Tedder track. It debuted at #100 on the chart and has sold a total of 101.6k to date.
And once again, David Cook brought up the rear with his "Come Back to Me," which sold another 10.4k despite a 23% drop in sales and a #120-151 slide on the chart. Its total now stands at 298k.
Full numbers and chart positions courtesy of bks on Pulse as follows:
011 007 Jordin Sparks, "Battlefield" 76,793 -24% 101,427 620,924 035 026 Daughtry, "No Surprise" 37,508 -18% 45,991 579,972 100 --- Kelly Clarkson, "Already Gone" 16,993 252% 4,821 101,575 151 120 David Cook, "Come Back to Me" 10,445 -23% 13,495 297,997
Now that it is official that Paula Abdul will not be returning to Idol for its ninth installment, it is a good time to look back at some of the judge's most memorable moments on the show. Therefore, IDOL LIVE is counting down Paula's Top 5 most memorable moments from the show (not including her off-show antics. There are too many of those to include here and could fill up their own alternative countdown).
5) Arm in a sling and a broken nose
Paula is no stranger to injury, but when she showed up to critique the Top 7 finalists (including Jennifer Hudson) in Season 3 wearing a sling, everyone had questions about what was the cause. It turned out that Paula's thumb suffered a freak manicure accident, and so she had to keep her thumb from coming into contact with anything or she would be sent into "excruciating pain."
This was not the only time Paula hurt herself during the Idol season. Just two days before the sixth season's finale, Paula tripped on her dog and broke her nose. Oh Paula...
4) A moth, a melon and a fortune cookie
Idol's fifth season was full of bad jokes (i.e. Taylor Hicks' victory), but the worst one possibly came on Top 24 results night when Paula was asked by Ryan Seacrest to give advice to Kevin Covais and Jose "Sway" Penala, one of whom was about to be eliminated from the show. As usual, Paula did not disappoint:
Even though it came early on in this season, this one-liner has stuck with Paula to this day and symbolizes that poorly-placed humor sticks out like a sore thumb on this show.
3) Performing like it's the first time
When Paula took to the Idol stage for the first time in the series' existence to perform her new single "(I'm Just) Here For the Music," the excitement was through the roof. When it came time for the actual performance, however, many considered it to be a let-down:
Sure, Paula's choreography is unsurpassed and still seems to be top-notch after all these years, but her lip-synching was not the right kind of example to set for the finalists considering they were receiving feedback from her on their singing among other things. Still, this performance is one for the Idol history books.
2) The affair of the century
Although accusations of an affair between Paula and Season 2 disqualified contestant Corey Clark were still two years away, the decision to include a sketch of Paula having a dinner date with Simon Cowell, complete with sexual tension and suggestive undertones.
The big, fat kiss that topped off the scene was the icing on the cake. It's pretty certain, however, that something like this would never have happened in any season after this.
1) Seeing the future!
This will forever and always be known as the most memorable moment of Paula's Idol career. As you all remember, things got hectic on Top 5 night in Season 7 as the judges were asked to write down comments for each of the Top 5 finalists' performances and deliver them all at once. Paula was noticeably caught up in the impromptu change in procedure and gave us all this gem:
Now, say what you will about Paula and her crazy antics, but you can't deny this was hilarious. It might not be her most proud moment, but to Idol fans it is without a doubt her most memorable one. Once again Paula, thanks for all the fun you've given us over the past seven years and good luck in your future endeavors.
IDOL LIVE is the place to stay up to date with the most current news on past, present and possibly future American Idol contestants, in addition to discussing the show in real-time as it happens.
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