'Idol' odds 'n ends: Kris Allen sets a date - Nov. 17

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.

[+/-] Show Full Post...

[+/-]Hide Full Post...

Analysis: Sun (finally) sets on Scott's 'Idol' journey

Scott MacIntyre is a happy guy. In fact, he was probably the nicest, most personable finalist to appear on Idol this season. That said, like last week there was really no other option for who was to be sent home.

After weeks of offering up very similar song choices and performances at the piano, Scott finally tried something different as a result of Paula's nudging of him to step out of his comfort zone. Looking back, he probably still would have left had he gone with the piano on "The Search Is Over" rather than the gimmicky guitar, so the blame really can't be pinned on anyone but him and his vocals.

As for the seemingly endless discussion among the judges to decide whether or not Scott was worth their powerful save option, there is no way two of them were actually willing to use it. It had to be all for show, to ratchet up the drama factor and to give Scott that much more hope that he'd have another week. One thing I noticed was Randy seemed to be really detached from the rest of the judges, as he was sitting behind Simon and Paula during Scott's final performance and really had nothing to say when it was time to make a decision.

By the way, what was up with the judges and that photoshopped "baby photo" of Simon and Paula? That was a waste of time. But what was an even bigger waste of time was Frankie Avalon's surprise performance to make Simon feel old about turning 50 this year. The guy walked out from behind those big doors looking eerily similar to what Ryan will probably look like in 50 years and proceeded to shuffle around the stage. At least half of the audience (probably closer to two-thirds) had no idea who he was or why he was there. In fact, I still have no idea what he was doing there. All I know is it was a waste of time.

Speaking of wastes of time, last night's guest performers were both on the average-to-awful side, as Flo Rida had more fun stripping on stage than he did singing along to his "Right Round"'s catchy hook and Kellie Pickler was more interested in flirting with the judging than churning out a respectable vocal. Flo's typical rapper schlock ("R.O.O.T.S. in stores now!") when he chatted with Ryan (who was trying to act too cool, by the way) post-performance was just another anchor on his appearance on the show.

Getting back to the results for a moment, the other Bottom 2 dweller was Anoop, which did not come as a huge surprise. It looks like unless he can score the pimp spot next week and pull off an amazing showstopper, his time may be up soon. Lil, on the other hand, will get a kick in the pants to finally listen to what the judges have been trying to tell her for weeks and she will turn the advice into a golden performance as long as she does not go for a "I Will Always Love You"-like performance for next week's "Songs of the Cinema" theme.

Another Ford music video was upstaged by its behind the scenes featurette that preceded it, as seven of the finalists had to pretend to enjoy dressing up like magicians, putting sparkles on their faces and singing along to Britney Spears' "Circus" (no surprise on who the one finalist that enjoyed the whole production was). The amount of footage of Scott in the behind the scenes video was a dead giveaway as to who would be leaving, as he had never been included that much in any off-site group video package.

As for IDOL LIVE's predictions, I am now 0-6 with my original predictions because I had Alexis going home originally and, well, she left in 11th place a few weeks back. I'm doing much better on my pre-results show predix, though, as I correctly called Scott leaving last night. Therefore, my record has improved to 3-6 in that predicting category. I was off on who would be joining Scott in the B2, though, as I had Kris in there over Anoop, and I had Anoop in third-to-last rather than Lil. But oh well, as long as the end result is the same.

As mentioned upstream, next Tuesday the Top 7 will have to master "Songs of the Cinema" and endure re-listening to Miley Cyrus' taped performance of "The Climb" from a few weeks back. Awesome!

[+/-] Show Full Post...

[+/-]Hide Full Post...

'Idol' Hot 100: "My Life Would Suck Without You" #1 (2/7/09)

It was an historic day for the Billboard Hot 100 chart, as Kelly Clarkson's "My Life Would Suck Without You" rocketed to the #1 spot after debuting last week at #97. The jump breaks the record previously set by Britney Spears' "Womanizer" last year, when the single advanced #96-1.

This is Kelly's first #1 on the chart since "A Moment Like This" hit the top spot in its second week back in 2002 after it debuted at #52. This is also the first non-coronation Idol-related track to hit #1 on the Hot 100.

The only other Idol-related track to make it onto the chart was David Cook's "Light On," which fell #23-29. David Archuleta's "Crush" fell below the Top 50 threshold, marking its departure from the chart.

Full chart positions courtesy of bks over on Pulse are posted below:

Hot 100
01 97 Kelly Clarkson, "My Life Would Suck Without You"
29 23 David Cook, "Light On"

[+/-] Show Full Post...

[+/-]Hide Full Post...

Digital sales roundup: "My Life Would Suck Without You" #1 (1/23/09)

In what will be a record-breaking week for the original Idol, Billboard's Hot Digital Songs chart has revealed that not only is Kelly Clarkson's new single "My Life Would Suck Without You" sitting atop the sales chart, but it will undoubtedly be #1 on the Hot 100 chart later on today.

The single itself sold a massive 280k downloads in its first week, which is also the highest digital sales week for a single track for Kelly, as "Never Again" debuted to 107k back in May 2007.

This 96-spot jump (#97-1) on the Hot 100 is thanks to the fact that MLWSWY is already within the Top 20 at Top 40 radio and so it will be the biggest week-to-week jump for a song on the chart, beating the record set last year by Britney Spears' "Womanizer," which rocketed #95-1 in its second week on the chart.

Kelly's numbers sort of make the other Idol-realted entries on the chart seem like an afterthought, but they still performed well. David Cook's "Light On" dipped eight spots to #25 with a 27% decrease to 49.5k, for a total of 641.8k. David Archuleta's "Crush" continued to steadily decline, this time by 17% down #37-46. It sold 33.3k downloads for a grand total of 1.482 million.

Full numbers and chart positions courtesy of bks on Pulse as follows:

01 -- Kelly Clarkson, "My Life Would Suck Without You" 279,605 999% 0 279,605
25 17 David Cook, "Light On" 49,488 -27% 67,995 641,844
46 37 David Archuleta, "Crush" 33,258 -17% 39,909 1,482,347

Total sales are in bold.

[+/-] Show Full Post...

[+/-]Hide Full Post...

Britneymania brings Marque Lynch mention

In the highly anticipated (and very disappointing) MTV documentary on Britney Spears Britney: For the Record, which premiered on the network on Sunday, an old Idol hopeful's name came up (at 7:05 in the video below) over dinner in New York City when the actor mentioned he had previously starred in the Broadway production of The Lion King.



Marque Lynch, who was in Group 1 during the Top 32 in Season 3, was referenced by a Broadway actor from the show In the Heights while he was eating dinner with Britney, a name she immediately recognized. On the show, Marque performed "Wind Beneath My Wings."

Although this might seem strange at first glance, it is not as obscure as one might think. Before auditioning for Idol, Marque was a regular castmember on Disney's The New Mickey Mouse Club with Britney, Justin Timberlake, Christina Aguilera and even Ryan Gosling. See him perform Tevin Campbell's "Always In My Heart" from the show with Timberlake and Gosling below:



How's the for six degrees of Idol-nation?

[+/-] Show Full Post...

[+/-]Hide Full Post...

VMA wrap-up: Jordin steals the spotlight

Although she went home empty-handed Sunday at MTV's 25th annual Video Music Awards, Jordin Sparks shook up the scene at the Paramount Pictures lot with her heat of the moment defense of the Jonas Brothers after their decision to wear purity rings was mocked by host Russell Brand (who?) in his opening monologue.

Jordin was so upset by his remarks that she had to give her two cents when it was her turn to introduce T.I. alongside John Legend. Watch her response below:



The comeback has been receiving a lot of press and online buzz, mostly positive. On the awards front, Jordin's video for "No Air" lost out to Tokio Hotel's "Ready, Set, Go!" for Best New Artist and Britney Spears' "Piece of Me" for Best Female Video. Maybe next year, but it's not like it's a Grammy or anything.

[+/-] Show Full Post...

[+/-]Hide Full Post...

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.

[+/-] Show Full Post...

[+/-]Hide Full Post...

VMA update: Pop Video category now open

The doors have closed on voting for the Best Male and Female Video categories, but have opened on voting for the Best Pop Video category for the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards. The only Idol-related video that made it to the final ballot in the two former categories was Jordin Sparks' "No Air," which is competing against "Piece of Me" (Britney Spears), "I Kissed a Girl" (Katy Perry), "Touch My Body" (Mariah Carey) and "Take a Bow" (Rihanna) for Best Female Video.

As for Best Pop Video, the only Idol-related video open for voting that actually has a shot at notching a nomination is also "No Air," which looks like a lock for a final nomination due to the fact that it has the most views of all videos up for voting. Other videos from Idol alums up for consideration in the saturated category are Katharine McPhee's "Love Story," Paula Abdul's "Dance Like There's No Tomorrow," Carrie Underwood's "Last Name," Jordin's "One Step At a Time," Blake Lewis' "Break Anotha," Jennifer Hudson's "Spotlight" and Elliott Yamin's "One Word."

Voting for the category ends on Wed., July 30, with the final nominees being revealed on Fri., Aug. 1. The VMAs will air live on Sept. 7, 2008, at 9 p.m. on MTV.

[+/-] Show Full Post...

[+/-]Hide Full Post...