If you thought last night was a star-studded experience, be prepared to be blown away tonight by lots of guest performers and celebrities, including Alicia Keys, Annie Lennox, Ben Stiller, Black Eyed Peas, Carrie Underwood, Elton John, Jim Carrey, Jonah Hill, Justin Bieber, Mary J. Blige and many more.
To see who I predict will be leaving tonight, see here. Please feel free to add your two cents throughout the one-hour blogcast, with coverage starting just prior to 8 p.m. ET.
Tonight's blogcast features the music of Danny Gokey, Daughtry, David Archuleta, Diana DeGarmo, Jennifer Hudson, Katharine McPhee, Kelly Clarkson, Leona Lewis and Michael Johns.
According to HITS Daily Double's one-day sales, Kris Allen's album is going to fall below most industry expectations and will most likely be the lowest debut for a post-Idol album from a winner.
According to the numbers, Kris Allen will pull in between 75-80k in its first week, which is even below my pessimistic prediction of 90k. In terms of his competition, some of the usual big selling artists are also coming in a bit under usual standards. Norah Jones's album The Fall will take in 150-160k, while new discs from 50 Cent, Casting Crowns and Andrea Bocelli will all get 140-150k. Leona Lewis's Echo, on the other hand, will probably take in 60-65k.
Be sure to check back on Friday for revised predictions. Hopefully Kris's upcoming appearances will be enough to push the sales a little bit higher.
The next high profile Idol-related release comes in the form of Kris Allen's self-titled debut album, which drops this coming Tuesday.
Kris certainly has his work cut out for him, as he is having a tough time standing out from the crowd amid a heavy release slate of artists that are more well-known than him. On Tuesday, music fans get to pick from new discs from Norah Jones, 50 Cent, Leona Lewis, Paul McCartney, Fall Out Boy, OneRepublic, Janet Jackson, Boyz II Men, John Mayer and more, so it will be very hard for Kris to rise above the fray. Couple this with a steady but slow-moving single in "Live Like We're Dying" and a somewhat bare first week promo schedule and it appears album sales will be slow out of the gate as well.
When taking this all into consideration, it looks like Kris Allen will sell about 90k in its first week of release, but there are a lot of factors that could prove to be wild cards that could cause this number to vary slightly in a more positive or negative way.
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.
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.
The following are Idol-related odds and ends that happened this week:
>In the dog days of summer, it does not take much to get one's name out in the news. Exhibit A is Ju'Not Joyner's stirring of a hornet's nest earlier this week with his claims that Idol is rigged. The Top 36 contestant from Season 8 said the following in an interview with AI Now:
"What I mean is that people think AI is a talent show. No. It's a reality show with writers!! We're all actors. All these shows have writers that guide the public opinion. The Hills, Real World. All of them."
So far there has been no comment from the 19E/FremantleMedia camp, and it would be a surprise if anything substantial came from them period.
>One of the aspects of the "Idols Live!" tour that Kris Allen must not be thrilled about are the pesty fans that bug him and the other alums backstage. In the following video, Kris is interrogated about his t-shirt that reads "I'd trade my girlfriend for a Coke":
Obviously Kris does not have a girlfriend, since he is married. Oh well, this is just an example of the joys and pains of allowing backstage passes.
>While Paula Abdul's future with Idol still hangs in the balance, Kara DioGuardi's time on Season 9 as a judge has already been reserved. Although full details of the contract are not yet available, it is assumed that Kara will be making substantially less than any of the other judges, but that's apparently not a problem for her.
>The first season of Idol acquainted millions of people with a few big names like Kelly Clarkson and Tamyra Gray, but Kelli Glover was not one of them. The Top 30 contestant was recently featured on the fourth season of America's Got Talent, but was eliminated in Las Vegas before the show got to the live voting portion. Watch Kelli below:
Kelli sang "How Am I Supposed to Live Without You" back in the wild card round of the semifinals, after performing "I Will Always Love You" in group 1.
The following are Idol-related odds and ends that happened this week:
>It was announced on Wednesday via a press release that Season 2 seventh-place finalist Kimberly Caldwell has signed with Vanguard Records. Kimberly had the following to say about the signing:
Kimberly stated, "There are no words that can truly express how thrilled I am about joining the Vanguard Records family. Music has always been my first love so I'm beyond excited to release my debut album and it's such an honor to get to do so alongside the amazing artists who call Vanguard home."
According to the release, Kimberly's debut album will be produced by Marshall Altman and is expected to be out early next year. (Photo courtesy of Matt Beard.)
>Kelly Clarkson will be one of four female artists taking part in VH1's Divas special alongside Miley Cyrus, Leona Lewis and Adele. Per the press release issued on Tuesday:
Continuing in true Divas tradition, the evening will feature a night of unforgettable performances from various performers, presenters and special guests. Additional performers and presenters will be announced in the coming weeks.
This is the first Divas special the network has hosted since 2005. VH1's Divas will be broadcast live on VH1 from the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) Howard Gilman Opera House on Thurs., Sept. 17 at 9 p.m. ET.
>As part of her continuing promotional tour for her sophomore album Battlefield, Jordin Sparks appeared on MTV's talk show It's On with Alexa Chung on Wednesday. Watch the first segment from the show below:
In the second segment featuring Jordin, she played "Will You Drink It" in which she had to drink concoctions ranging from "Red Devil" (tomato and pineapple juice) and "Rootbang" (rootbeer and tang).
>Phil Stacey launched his new official Web site last week to coincide with his upcoming sophomore release Into the Light (Aug. 25) on Reunion Records. In his welcome message, Phil said in part:
This new project represents my heart. I come from a long line of ministers. These songs are lessons I have learned along the way that I feel have drawn me closer to Jesus. I am excited to share them with you.
In the meantime, please check out my tour dates. I have a lot of events coming up, including a tour with Michael W. Smith this fall. I would absolutely LOVE to see you out there on the road. Until then, God bless you! Be safe.
Phil's new single, "You're Not Shaken," is currently #3 on Amazon MP3's Top 100 downloaded songs chart. It has been available as a free download for the past few weeks.
Join us tonight as we taking a journey down the nail-biting road to the Top 3 of the eighth season of Idol, when a member of the final four must see their dreams crushed following last night's performances from the genre of Rock 'n Roll. Fortunately, Daughtry and No Doubt will both perform their new singles "No Surprise" and "Stand and Deliver," respectively. The blogcast will last one hour and will begin at 9 p.m. ET.
Tonight's blogcast will feature music from Ayla Brown, David Cook, Matt Giraud, Leona Lewis and Mandisa.
Join us tonight as we blog during the Top 7 finalists' performances for the "Songs of the Cinema" theme. It's a good bet someone will sing a Disney-related tune, maybe Allison will do Miley Cyrus' "The Climb"? That would be interesting. In any event, the blogcast will last one hour and will begin promptly at 8 p.m. ET. Oh yeah, and we'll have to sit through Quentin Tarantino and his eccentricness when he serves as mentor this week. Joy.
Tonight's blogcast will feature music from David Cook, Melinda Doolittle, Leona Lewis, Amanda Overmyer and Jason Yeager.
Join us tonight as we blog during the first ever Top 13 performance episode of Idol. Even though we'll be losing two finalists tomorrow night, it will still be interesting to see how they fit all 13 performances into two hours while trying to skirt around the #13 phone sex line controversey. As usual, the blogcast will begin at 8 p.m. ET.
Tonight's blogcast will feature music from Chikezie, Chris Sligh, David Cook, Gina Glocksen, Jordin Sparks, Kristy Lee Cook, Leona Lewis, Paris Bennett and Syesha Mercado.
The world-famous nonprofit organization Musicians On Call is currently hosting a benefit auction via CharityBuzz.com featuring many Idol alums amongst its roster of artists that have kindly agreed to donate items and experiences to the winners of the auctions. As seen in the organization's informational video below, the power of one song can have wide-reaching effects on many people:
Among the Idol-related items and experiences up for bidding include autographed guitars from David Cook, Kellie Pickler and Jordin Sparks, two tickets and a chance to meet Jordin backstage at one of her concerts, two tickets to a Kelly Clarkson concert and an autographed hoodie and the opportunity to have lunch with Leona Lewis and join her in the recording studio. Links to each individual item are below:
The auction began Tues., Feb. 10 and wraps up on Thurs., March 5. Make sure you place your bids for these items before your chance is up (Jordin's and Kellie's autographed guitars currently have zero bids).
Join us tonight as we find out the next batch of two guys and a girl that will advance through to the Top 12 (cause you just know it will be two guys and one girl again. For real). Tonight's results show will be the first of two Thursday night results shows, as it will begin at 8 p.m. ET and, as usual, will last one hour. Make sure you tune in to hear Brooke White's new single, "Hold Up My Heart," which she will be performing tonight.
Tonight's blogcast will feature music from Kelly Clarkson, Sundance Head, Leona Lewis, Brooke White and Jason Yeager.
One day after singing "The Star-Spangled Banner" at the NFL's Pro Bowl in Hawaii, David Archuleta took it upon himself to blog on his official music MySpace page about his recent experiences. In addition to talking about his performance of "A Little Too Not Over You" at Ohana Day on Saturday, Arch marveled at how tall Enrique Iglesias is:
I didn't get a chance to talk to Ciara, but Enrique was a cool guy. He's tall though! I didn't realize how tall he was. He's 6 ft. 2 in. haha.
Arch also gave his two cents on last night's Grammy Awards winners:
First off, I'd just like to congratulate all the winners and their successes. I was so excited to hear Adele won 2 Grammys for Best New Artist and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance! She is truly amazing, and I'm so happy that she has gotten some more recognition for the quality of her music. It's sooo good. Well anyway, I better head out and get started with seeing more of Hawaii. I'll talk to you guys later and let you know how things went this week!
Well, since his song for the day is Adele's "Right as Rain," it looks like he likes her really wanted her to win at the Grammys, which probably means he likes her better than Leona Lewis, right? Of course there's nothing wrong with that, just throwing it out there.
The following are Idol-related odds and ends that happened this week:
>David Cook will perform on FOX's "New Year's Eve Live" special on Dec. 31, 2008 with Scott Weiland. The show is hosted by Spike Feresten and Mark Thompson and will begin at 11 p.m.
>Amanda Overmyer's debut album is available to download on her official Web site. The 12-song album is titled Solidify and "Play On," "Iroquois Lane" and "Fail to Compromise."
>Kady Malloy added a new original song to her MySpace called "Autumn Leaves."
>Simon Cowell and Ryan Seacrest will appear on the Family Entertainment Awards tonight at 9 p.m. on the CW network. Miley Cyrus and Leona Lewis will perform.
There were a few Idol-related shockers at the special (yet pointless) one-hour 51st Grammy Awards announcement special, most of them having to do with who wasn't nominated.
CBS shamelessly stretched out the televised announcements for a few select "important" categories in tonight's special, with only one nomination in a major category going to an alum. Jordin Sparks was nominated for her single "No Air" along with Chris Brown in the Best Pop Collaboration With Vocals category.
But it was Jennifer Hudson that got the most nominations for an alum, as her "Spotlight" was nominated for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance and Best R&B Song, her duet with Fantasia of "I'm His Only Woman" received a nom for Best R&B Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals and her debut album, Jennifer Hudson, got a nomination for Best R&B Album.
One of the more surprisingly revelations was how few nominations Carrie Underwood received. She was able to manage a nom for "Last Name" in the Best Female Country Vocal Performance category and for "Ever Ever After" from Enchanted in the Best Song Written For Motion Picture, Television Or Other Visual Media category.
Full Idol-related category list follows:
Best Pop Collaboration With Vocals * Lesson Learned - Alicia Keys & John Mayer * 4 Minutes - Madonna, Justin Timberlake & Timbaland * Rich Woman - Robert Plant & Alison Krauss * If I Never See Your Face Again -Rihanna & Maroon 5 * No Air - Jordin Sparks & Chris Brown
Best Female R&B Vocal Performance * Me, Myself And I - Beyoncé * Heaven Sent - Keyshia Cole * Spotlight - Jennifer Hudson * Superwoman - Alicia Keys * Need U Bad - Jazmine Sullivan
Best R&B Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals * Ribbon In The Sky - Boyz II Men * Words - Anthony David Featuring India.Arie * Stay With Me (By The Sea) - Al Green Featuring John Legend * I'm His Only Woman - Jennifer Hudson Featuring Fantasia * Never Give You Up - Raphael Saadiq Featuring Stevie Wonder & CJ Hilton
Best R&B Song * Bust Your Windows - Salaam Remi & Jazmine Sullivan, songwriters (Deandre Way, songwriter) (Jazmine Sullivan) * Customer - I. Barias, Raheem DeVaughn, C. Haggins, K. Oliver & J. Smith, songwriters (Raheem DeVaughn) * Heaven Sent - Keyshia Cole, Jason Farmer & Alex Francis, songwriters (Keyshia Cole) * Miss Independent - M.S. Eriksen, T.E. Hermansen & S. Smith, songwriters (Ne-Yo) * Spotlight - Mikkel S. Eriksen, Tor Erik Hermansen & Shaffer Smith, songwriters (Jennifer Hudson)
Best R&B Album * Love & Life - Eric Benét * Motown: A Journey Through Hitsville USA - Boyz II Men * Lay It Down - Al Green * Jennifer Hudson - Jennifer Hudson * The Way I See It - Raphael Saadiq
Best Female Country Vocal Performance * For These Times - Martina McBride * What I Cannot Change - LeAnn Rimes * Last Name - Carrie Underwood * Last Call - Lee Ann Womack * This Is Me You're Talking To - Trisha Yearwood
Best Song Written For Motion Picture, Television Or Other Visual Media * Down To Earth (From Wall-E) - Peter Gabriel & Thomas Newman, songwriters (Peter Gabriel) * Ever Ever After (From Enchanted) - Alan Menken & Stephen Schwartz, songwriters (Carrie Underwood) * Say (From The Bucket List) - John Mayer, songwriter (John Mayer) * That's How You Know (From Enchanted) - Alan Menken & Stephen Schwartz, songwriters (Amy Adams) * Walk Hard (From Walk Hard — The Dewey Cox Story) - Judd Apatow, Marshall Crenshaw, Jake Kasdan & John C. Reilly, songwriters (John C. Reilly)
The real travesty was the fact that Leona Lewis lost out to the Jonas Brothers in the Best New Artist category. Truly an embarrassment to the music industry.
A full list of nominees for all 110 categories can be found on Grammy.com. The 51st annual Grammy Awards will air on CBS on Mon., Feb. 8 at 8 p.m.
Although it was intended to send shockwaves across America when Ryan uttered the words "Brooke, you're safe" last night, it really was not a huge surprise. Although her now infamous restart was the talk of the town, and Ryan mentioned it on multiple occasions last night alone, Brooke White's maturity after the performance on Tuesday was remarkable. She stood there with her lips pursed, accepting the criticism that she knew she would be getting. She did not talk over the judges, something she made note of before her results were read last night.
It was a definite shame, however, that Ireland's Carly Smithson was sent packing. Her performance of "Superstar" on Tuesday was arguably the best of the night, and so although it was not a complete shock, it did feel a bit undeserving. The fact that Carly went out all smiles and with class was good to see, and Simon even gave her praise, telling her to hold her head up high and be proud of what she accomplished, which was interesting considering their somewhat rocky relationship onstage over the course of the season.
Last night, most of America was introduced to Leona Lewis, the UK's X-Factor winner and Simon discovery. Lewis looked beautiful in a white knee-length dress, and the lighting made her seem angelic. It was definitely one of the best guest performances of the season, if not the best. The flames were a nice added touch as well.
One aspect that was not missed during the results show was the "Idol Live" segment (serves them right for stealing the name), as it is the filler of all fillers. Ryan's chat with Andrew Lloyd Webber was interesting, and gave more insight into why he gave advice to certain contestants. When asked if Jason followed his advice, he said "no," and commented on the song choice being "peculiar." He also thought Brooke was flawless in the dress rehearsal, which goes to show how she would have sounded had she not restarted.
When Simon brought out David Archuleta and David Cook to kick off the results, everyone knew what was coming. But the fact that Syesha Mercado landed in the bottom two with Carly was a sad but real circumstance that the remaining five finalists will have to deal with from here on in. Every week is do or die, and one wrong move could end their dreams of winning.
Although it may seem obvious that the next three to leave are Syesha, Jason Castro and Brooke (and probably in that order), nothing is set in stone. At this point in Season 5, everyone and their mother had Chris Daughtry picked as the winner, but we all know how that turned out. Just something to keep in mind as we march toward May 21.
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.
