Allison Iraheta debuts new single "Friday I'll Be Over U"

Allison Iraheta's new single "Friday I'll Be Over U" debuted this morning on AOL's PopEater blog. The song, which is the lead single off Allison's forthcoming debut album courtesy of Jive Records, was both written and produced by Max Martin. Listen to the single below:

The song harkens back to the style of music sung by Avril Lavigne circa 2007 ("Girlfriend," anyone?) and sounds like something Ashlee Simpson would have turned down. That said, Allison's unique voice adds something to the juvenile lyrics and tired synths, so it should do reasonably well for her. Full review to follow.

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Kelly Clarkson kicks off concert tour in Connecticut

Kelly Clarkson embarked on her "All I Ever Wanted" tour Friday with a show at Mohegan Sun. She performed 20 songs including fan favorites like "Walk Away" and "If I Can't Have You," a few covers including "Lies" and "Use Somebody" and signature songs such as "Since U Been Gone" and "My Life Would Suck Without You." Watch her sing The White Stripes' "Seven Nation Army" below:

It appears the show was a big hit not only with fans, but with professional reviewers as well. Eric Danton of The Hartford Courant's "Sound Check" section said the following of Kelly's performance:

With a mix of songs from each of her four albums, and a handful of eclectic covers, the original -- and best -- "American Idol" champion showcased her powerful voice for 90 minutes.

Backed by an 11-piece band, including three horns, and an enthusiastic audience well versed in her songs, Clarkson looked like she was having a great time.She waved at people in the crowd, beamed brightly when the crowd took over on vocals and jumped in circles when she was particularly immersed in a song.

Kelly will next perform tonight at the Cumberland County Civic Center in Portland, Maine. The "All I Ever Wanted" tour will wrap up its U.S. leg on Dec. 11 at the Pensacola Civic Center in Pensacola, Fla., before heading overseas for a leg in Europe.

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'2012' soundtrack shooting up Amazon thanks to Adam Lambert's fans

It looks like Adam Lambert's fans are in it to win it. Considering news of Adam's song, "Time For Miracles," which will be featured on the upcoming soundtrack of Roland Emmerich's disaster film 2012, has been circulating for a while, it was no surprise the soundtrack's sales skyrocketed yesterday after being placed on Amazon.com for pre-order.

It is already #49 at the moment, marking two Adam-related albums in the Top 50 (Adam's upcoming studio album has been sitting at #1 for days). This kind of activity is eerily similar to the fan activity seen by Clay Aiken's fan base following his narrow loss to Ruben Studdard back in 2003. Moreover, these early indicators are giving good credit to the idea that first week sales of Adam's album will be monstrous. Is it possible that this soundtrack, which releases Tues., Nov. 10, could possibly debut at #1 and Adam's album follows suit two weeks later? Probably not, since most fans will opt to download the single via iTunes if it's available, but it could happen.

Additionally, "Miracles" will reportedly play during the end credits, and if it is the first song to play during the credits, it can be nominated for an Academy Award. Not sure it will be worthy of a nomination considering no one has heard it yet, but that's just something to keep in mind.

Whether or not Adam's fans will be able to sustain consistent sales after a huge opening is another question. But as for now, all systems are a go.

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Track review: Kris Allen's "Live Like We're Dying"

Moving on from the worst ‘Idol’ coronation song ever conceived, Kris Allen takes on a more contemporary sound on “Live Like We’re Dying,” the first single off his upcoming debut album (Nov. 17).

“Dying,” which was originally written and recorded by the Irish band The Script, is reworked to fit Allen’s unique acoustic-friendly vocals and is extremely believable coming from him. The lyrics are positive and forward-looking but some come off a little cheesy and cliché (“You never know a good thing till it’s gone / you never see a crash till it’s head on”). The chorus, however, is fairly catchy and is hard to get out of your head.

As for Allen’s vocal job on the track, it is above average. The fact that he does not try to reach for any notes that are outside his natural range only helps keep “Dying” real. In the chorus, he takes on an indie alternative sound and despite its catchiness, Allen comes off sounding more monotonous than Mraz. This is obviously how the track was written to sound, but it is nothing special.

Regardless of how it ends up doing on the charts, “Live Like We’re Dying” is an adequate effort to help set a foundation for the genre of music Kris Allen will be pursuing, and it appears there really are no boundaries to where his music will go.

"Live Like We're Dying" is now available to download on iTunes and Amazon MP3 for $1.29.

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Katharine McPhee premieres new songs at Walmart

Katharine McPhee took to the stage at the Walmart in Oceanside, Calif., on Wednesday to premiere five songs off her forthcoming album Unbroken, which was originally slated to hit stores on Tuesday but has since been pushed back until Tues., Jan. 5. The new titles revealed were "Brand New Key," "Terrified," "How," "Lifetime" and "It's Not Right. "Watch her sing "Terrified," written by Kara DioGuardi and Jason Reeves, below:

Other songs Kat performed include "Say Goodbye," current single "Had It All" and a re-stylized version of "Over It." The set lasted roughly 45 minutes and she signed autographs for fans upon finishing.

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'Idol odds 'n ends: Clip of Allison Iraheta's "Friday I'll Be Over U"

The following are Idol-related odds and ends that happened this week:

>A clip of Allison Iraheta's upcoming single "Friday I'll Be Over U" was added to YouTube today. Listen to the single below:

In a blogpost on Allison's official Web site, it was revealed that the single will premiere on AOL Music's "First Listen" on Monday.

>Katharine McPhee lent her film talents to a video raising awareness for the fight against breast cancer. Watch the skit "The Booby Scare" courtesy of FunnyorDie.com below:



Other female celebs that starred in the skit alongside Kat include Alyson Hannigan, Emily Deschanel, Minka Kelly and Jaime King. October is "National Breast Cancer Awareness Month."

>Jason Castro announced earlier this week that he will be touring this country's malls to promote his debut album beginning Mon., Oct. 12 at the Southdale Center in Minneapolis, Minn., and wrapping up Sun., Nov. 15 at the Ontario Mills Mall in Ontario, Calif. Billboard has a full list of the dates.

>Chris Daughtry yesterday tweeted about his band's collaboration with well-known record producer Timbaland, confirming an announcement made in late August that the band would have a track appear on the upcoming Shock Value II. Chris said:

The rumors are true folks! We're in the studio working with Timbaland on a sweet project!!! http://twitpic.com/jstk5 12:08 AM Oct 1st from Echofon

Chris followed it up with more photos from the "sesh" and confirmed that "Life After You" will be the next single off the band's Leave This Town album.

>30-second clips of tracks on David Archuleta's upcoming album Christmas From the Heart were added to Amazon.com. Listen to the clips below:



The album is slated for release this coming Tuesday and can be pre-ordered on Amazon.com.

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'Idol' BB 200: 'Leave This Town' #28 (10/10/09)

After two weeks without complete sales, Idol representation on the Billboard Top 200 album sales chart is finally available once again for the chart week of Oct. 10.

First up was Daughtry with its sophomore album Leave This Town, which dipped 13% in sales to 15.8k copies. Down four spots to #28 from the previous week, the album has now totaled 661k.

Next up was Kelly Clarkson with her album All I Ever Wanted, which rose eight spots to #79. On the sales side, it was down 5% to 5.7k copies for a current total of 711.3k. Jordin Sparks' Battlefield followed at #125, down six spots from the previous week. It sold another 3.7k, down 9%, for a 117k total.

And Kellie Pickler finished things off in terms of Idol alums with her self-titled sophomore effort at #177, down from #155 the previous week. It was down 4% in sales and sold 2.8k copies for the week, resulting in a total of 314.2k to date.

Full chart positions and partial sales numbers courtesy of jameson95 on Pulse as follows:

028 024 Daughtry - Leave This Town 15,789 -13% 18,062 661,038
79 87 Kelly Clarkson - All I Ever Wanted 5,656 -5% 5,985 711,259
125 119 Jordin Sparks - Battlefield 3,732 -9% 4,082 116,964
177 155 Kellie Pickler - Kellie Pickler 2,764 -4% 2,893 314,212

Total sales are in bold.

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'Idol' Hot 100: "Cowboy Casanova" #11 (10/10/09)

It was an exciting week for Idol alums on Billboard's Hot 100 chart for the chart week of Oct. 10 thanks to a mammoth debut by a former winner and a smaller debut on the Bubbling Under chart from another winner.

Kicking the action off was Carrie Underwood, whose latest single "Cowboy Casanova" rocketed #96-11 this week, narrowly missing the Top 10. Carrie has had four songs enter the Top 10 to date: "Inside Your Heaven" (#1), "I'll Stand By You" (#6), "Before He Cheats" (#8) and "I Told You So" (#9). Although it does not appear Carrie will be able to add another Hot 100 Top 10 to her belt in the immediate future, there is a good chance the song might be in contention of the title later down the road.

Falling backwards four spots to #25 was Jordin Sparks' "Battlefield," while Kelly Clarkson's slow-burning hit "Already Gone" continued its steady march up the chart, this week climbing #31-27. Daughtry's "No Surprise" emulated the footsteps of "Battlefield," falling four spots to #34.

As for the Bubbling Under chart, Kris Allen's lead-off single for his upcoming debut album made a small appearance at #15 based only on three days worth of sales this past week. Look for it to make gains next week.

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

Hot 100
11 96 Carrie Underwood, "Cowboy Casanova"
25 21 Jordin Sparks, "Battlefield"
27 31 Kelly Clarkson, "Already Gone"
34 30 Daughtry, "No Surprise"

Bubbling Under
15 -- Kris Allen, "Live Like We're Dying"

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Poll of the week: Carrie's fans still love JTTW

According to the latest edition of IDOL LIVE's poll of the week, readers are still mostly impressed by Carrie Underwood's first debut single, "Jesus, Take the Wheel." The song garnered 16 votes (44%), compared to the 10 votes (27%) "So Small" and current single "Cowboy Casanova" received.

In this week's edition of the poll of the week, readers are asked which debut single from an Idol winner is their favorite. Voting will be open for exactly one week.

Jesus, Take the Wheel 16 (44%)
So Small 10 (27%)
Cowboy Casanova 10 (27%)

Total votes: 36

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