Posted by Carla Correa at 2:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
                    

American Idol finalist Kristy Lee Cook apparently has signed a record deal with 19 Recordings/Arista Nashville. Her first single, "15 Minutes of Shame," is expected in August. A shame is right. Say it ain't so! Kristy Lee Cook was soooo bad on this season of Idol. I am simply shocked. I admit that country music is not my favorite, but I know good singing when I hear it. She doesn't have it.

How can you compare Cook to Carrie Underwood or even Kellie Pickler? You can't. She doesn't have the vocal chops or stage presence of either Idol-alumna-turned-country-music star. Heck, I don't think Cook could hold court with a number of the contestants on this season of Nashville Star.

Please, please, please somebody tell me what is so special about Ms. Cook?

Posted by John-John Williams IV at 5:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (13)
                    

Posted by Carla Correa at 2:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
                    

Archie, Cookie and the rest of the American Idol Top 10 are touring the nation starting July 1.
They'll be in Baltimore at 1st Mariner Arena on Aug. 12. The next day, they'll be in Philly. On Aug, 14, they sing in D.C. For the complete schedule, click here.

Who are you most excited to see? I'm going to see if I can arrange an interview with my favorite contestant Jason Castro. Heck, maybe I'll buy him a drink ... (Wait a second! Is he even 21?)

Posted by John-John Williams IV at 11:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (19)
                    

Taylor Hicks is joining the Tony-nominated production "Grease." (Did anyone see the awards show last night? Whoopi Goldberg did a great job hosting. Anywho ...)

Hicks, winner of Season 5 of American Idol, will join the cast as "Teen Angel." I saw him Friday on Regis and Kelly, and he talked about his future plans, which include releasing a new album this fall. (Check him out here.)

Aside from the Liberace-inspired grey suit, Hicks did a decent job. I'm glad to see that he appears to be bouncing back. (He was dropped by his record label earlier this year.) I can't think of another American Idol winner who has been as overshadowed by his/her competition as Hicks. (Take your pick from Katharine McPhee, Elliott Yamin, Chris Daughtry, Kellie Pickler and Ace Young.)

Continue reading "Taylor Hicks of 'American Idol' heading to Broadway" »

Posted by John-John Williams IV at 4:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (8)
                    

It appears that American Idol runner-up David Archuleta has been signed to a record label.

The 17-year-old crooner from Utah has joined 19 Recordings/Jive Records, the label managed by Idol creator Simon Fuller.

No word on how the company will market the popular contestant, although I'm not sure it will really matter in the current music climate. (Talent has little to do with hit records. Just ask current teen sensations Jonas Brothers and Miley Cyrus ...)

For all you David Cook fans, don't worry. The Idol winner already has himself a contract with 19 Recordings/RCA Records. It came with the title.

What contestants from this year's crop are worthy of a contract? Syesha Mercado? Brooke White? Or, gulp, Jason Castro?

Posted by John-John Williams IV at 2:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (29)
                    

Scary. 97.5 million votes were cast on last night's performance finale on American Idol. The split is 56 percent to 44 percent, host Ryan Seacrest says. But it's WAY too soon for them to tell us which is which.

The top 12 hit the stage to perform "Get Ready" along with stars from previous seasons of So You Think You Can Dance. The performance is probably pretty fun, but the camerawork is so manic, it's nearly impossible to watch.

After a break, David Cook and David Archuleta duet on Nickelback's "Hero." Hey, maybe they'll both win.

I'm going to ignore the segment that was a big commercial for an upcoming film.

After that neverending portion of the program, Syesha Mercado duets with Seal on "Waiting for You." Jason Castro then reprises his most acclaimed performance, of "Hallelujah."

No, it's not time for the winner yet, but Ryan does tell the Davids that they are both getting free Ford hybrids.

The top six women sing Donna Summer songs, and Amanda Overmyer looks both indifferent and homicidal about the situation. Carly Smithson, meanwhile, is inexplicably wearing thick shiny tights with her slinky red dress. After a quick dance break from some of the SYTYCD dancers, Donna herself comes out to sing her new single as well as "Last Dance."

Carly Smithson barely has time to change clothes before she is back on stage to duet with Michael Johns on "The Letter."  (And suddenly, the tights make much more sense.)

Jimmy Kimmel does a little roast of the show, followed by the top six men with a medley of "Summer of 69" and "Heaven." Then Bryan Adams sprints out to the front of the stage and performs with the guys.

David Cook and ZZ Top hit the stage for a rendition of "Sharp Dressed Man." Then Graham Nash and Brooke White sing "Teach Your Children."

I would like to unsee the Guitar Hero commercial featuring David Cook running around in his underwear a la Tom Cruise in Risky Business. At least it wasn't Archuleta.

The Jonas Brothers are the next random act to perform on this never-ending finale.

Then, it's a flashback to the beginning of the season with the montage of badness and weirdness, followed by a live performance of "I am Your Brother" by Renaldo Lapuz, the guy in the white suit, accompanied by the USC marching band and cheerleaders. Ohhhh-kay, then.

Eventually, we might have some results. Maybe?

First, OneRepublic performs "Apologize," though, accompanied by David Archuleta (who frankly is better than the lead singer, at least tonight).

Then, Jordin Sparks performs her latest song, and, uh, it's a little pitchy, dawg.

In the most random segment yet, footage of Gladys Knight from 1972 is spliced with footage of Robert Downey Jr., Jack Black and Ben Stiller pretending to be the Pips. It's pretty hilarious, all things considered.

Carrie Underwood is next, with her single "Last Name." Lest you forget why she won her season of Idol, she reminds you with this performance.

Oh, no. Then it's the Guitar Hero commercial again, this time with David Archuleta (in boxers, thankfully not briefs, but I still really want to unsee this).

The Top 12 sing a medley of George Michael hits, after which Mr. Michael himself comes out to sing. For a really, really long time.

Finally, finally: RESULTS.

First, though, Simon admits that he was "on the verge of disrespectful" toward David Cook last night and apologizes. (Backtracking?)

And the winner, "by 12 million votes," is David Cook, who gives it up for David Archuleta. Then he cries. "I started this season, much to Simon's chagrin, as the word nerd, but now I'm at a loss for words," he says. His mother and brother come up on stage to share in the celebration.

The seventh Idol, David Cook, sings one last song, and cries some more.

So what do you think of the finale? And the results? (And the fact that the show went five minutes long?)

Posted by Sarah Kickler Kelber at 10:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (56)
                    

Tonight's American Idol kicks off with the "Let's Get Ready to Rumble" guy introducing David Cook and David Archuleta like they are boxers, complete with silk robes. So which one of these Davids will take the Idol title?

Depends on how things go tonight, with three rounds of songs.

David Archuleta won the coin toss a few days ago, and will go second.

The first songs were chosen by Clive Davis.

For David Cook, he's picked "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" and for David Archuleta, "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me."

Cook is first. He starts out quiet, and unlike last week's softer starts, his tone is strong and he sounds great. About halfway through, the band comes in, and he ramps it up, too. Nice choice by Mr. Davis. Judge Randy Jackson says it was "a great way to start this duel of 2007" (um, whoops), and that even though he isn't sure David did everything he could with it, it was still "hot, baby." Judge Paula Abdul, "We have found David Cook. ... You are in great voice tonight." Judge Simon Cowell says at the top of the show he looked tense and emotional, and, "taking all of that together, that was phenomenal."

Then, it's Archuleta's turn. He does a nice job with it, showing more emotional range than usual, though the bouncing around the stage is a tad awkward. But another good song choice. Randy says it doesn't matter what happens, that this was one of the best performances of the season, and he had "crazy hot molten vocals." Paula says her heart is still pounding and that "that was a beautiful, stunning performance." Simon says it's easy to get overexcited tonight, adding that last week he was "OK," but that this performance was the best he's sounded so far. "Round one goes to Archuleta," who looks like he is going to bawl.

Round two, each of the David's gets to choose from among the Top 10 finalists from the Idol songwriting competition.

David Cook is singing "Dream Big" by Emily Shackleton and David Archuleta's is "In This Moment" by Brian Gomar. (I'm guessing on those name spellings.)

Continue reading "'American Idol': David vs. David face off in the finals" »

Posted by Sarah Kickler Kelber at 9:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (12)
                    

So, not so shockingly, it's David vs. David tonight on American Idol.

The oddsmakers are giving it to Cook already, but you can't underestimate the crazed power voters who dial or text again and again.

Sun TV critic David Zurawik has an intriguing story in today's paper about how Idol has changed television. I highly recommend it. 

So as we head into tonight's two-part finale, what are your thoughts?

Either way, both Davids are going to get a record deal and sell like crazy, at least for a while. I think Cook would probably be the bigger commercial success, which might be why it seems like Idol producers are pushing so hard for him to win.

Since I'm covering the show, I don't vote, but who, if anyone, will you be pulling for tonight? 

Posted by Sarah Kickler Kelber at 11:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
                    

Tonight, we'll learn who the final two are on American Idol. I think a lot of us have a pretty good idea who it's going to be (and who the producers want it to be), but let's see how it goes.

They kick it off with a group sing to "Ain't No Stopping Us Now." The background singers seem to have a pretty big role in this one, but that's OK. I wish they wouldn't make them dance, but I guess they need to be ready for the tour.

Before introducing a recap of last night, host Ryan Seacrest says that 56 million votes were cast.

Then Fantasia comes out to sing. (Hey, she was in Baltimore singing on Sunday.) The expression on Simon's face during this performance is priceless.

Then, results time, sort of. David Archuleta is called out from backstage so he can watch footage from his visit home, which looks pretty darned overwhelming. He says "gosh" about 100 times, but then he kind of laughs at himself about it afterward. Then they show his "journey through Idol" video, which they are doing with everyone this evening. Syesha Mercado comes out to see her video from her trip to Sarasota and her "journey" video. She's also overwhelmed by the support of her fans in her hometown. Then, it's David Cook's turn. He tells Ryan he originally went to Idol auditions in Omaha to support his little brother Andrew's efforts. But next thing he knew, he had a camera in his face, and he was trying out. Little brother doesn't seem too bitter about it, though.

After the break, results time, for reals: The final two are David Archuleta and David Cook.

Not a big surprise, but Syesha did a pretty fantastic job setting herself up for a career after this show.

What do you think about the final two?

Posted by Sarah Kickler Kelber at 10:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (14)
                    

It's top three time on tonight's American Idol. And that means three songs apiece, too, as each contestant will sing a judge's choice, a producers' choice and their own choice song.

(Random celeb sighting: It's Lloyd -- aka Rex Lee -- from Entourage in the audience! And there's Justin Guarini.)

First round is judge's choice.

David Archuleta will be singing Paula Abdul's choice, "And So It Goes" by Billy Joel. She says she picked it to showcase his vocals and because it has a level of difficulty she knew he could handle. His voice sounds nice, as usual, but for the first part, he sings with no backing, then some violins, but the tempo is a little weird -- it seems so much slower without the piano in the original. When the piano comes in later, it helps a lot. Randy Jackson says, "Paula chose a dope song. ... You are in the zone, you are in it to win it, baby." Paula calls is "a pure and stunning performance" and says he was a storyteller. Simon Cowell says it was good, but "no surprises and a bit predictable."

Syesha Mercado is assigned "If I Ain't Got You" by Alicia Keys, and she is excited. She does a really nice job with it, but all it makes me think is how nice it would have been to have seen these contestants singing current songs for the entire season. (Pardon the broken record syndrome.) Randy says she did an amazing job and he's so happy she peaked at the right time in the competition, and, "That's why you're standing there number three." (Hey, did he just say she's already come in third place? I don't think it's that much of a foregone conclusion!) Paula says she did a great job with something so identifiable with another artist. Simon says it was great, but he does wish Randy had picked something she could change up a little more. Randy says she did change a lot. And Simon closes by saying that she looks gorgeous.

David Cook will be singing Roberta Flack's "First Time Ever I Saw Your Face," as chosen by Simon. Simon says it's one of the great songs of all time and he wanted to give David a chance to show some originality. It starts out a little weak, maybe too much in his higher register, but he gets more into it and really shows off his voice in an unencumbered kind of way as it goes on. Randy says he can sing anything, and he loved the high note at the end, but he wishes that Simon hadn't picked an older song for him. Heh. Paula reminds us that it's about the contestants and says it's one of her favorite songs, and he's now the second favorite performer of it. Simon says it was one of his best performances. "This is what makes you brilliant -- you take risks. ... Round one goes to Cook and Cowell."

Continue reading "'American Idol': Top 3 perform" »

Posted by Sarah Kickler Kelber at 9:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (25)
                    

There had been some vague rumblings that David Archuleta's dad, Jeff, had a little bit of a stage dad thing going on. But late last week, news broke that Jeff Archuleta had been banned from rehearsals and backstage goings-on. He'll still get to sit in the audience and wave frantically during the show, though.

The story, reported by TMZ.com and the Associated Press, says that Jeff Archuleta interfered with David's performance last week, suggesting he supplement his performance of "Stand by Me" with a verse from Sean Kingston's "Beautiful Girls," which samples "Stand by Me." Producers said no, David did it anyway, Jeff's now banned. The unapproved change probably has some royalty implications, among other problems.

Read the original TMZ report, the AP story and today's People.com report, which has family friends saying that Jeff can't help with arrangements anymore because it's "a fairness issue." And in case you can't get enough, USA Today has an interesting analysis of the whole situation here.

Posted by Sarah Kickler Kelber at 3:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
                    

Will Jason Castro finally get the boot on tonight's American Idol? Only time (about 59 minutes worth) will tell.

Host Ryan Seacrest says nearly 51 million votes came in, and that the top three were all within a million votes of one another.

The group sing (tonight, to "Reelin' in the Years") looks even sillier, choreography-wise, with so few people left.

Results: David Archuleta comes out first, and I wish they would stop making him talk. He's safe, by the way.

Then there's a bit on the final four's trip to see Love in Vegas.

More results: David Cook gets called forward, and he, too, is safe. Syesha Mercado and Jason Castro come out, and Jason asks if Ryan is really going to tell them already (since it's only like 24 minutes into the show). Ryan says no. (And again, he never said this was the "bottom two." Just that one of them is going home.)

After their Ford commercial, the contestants look suitably embarrassed.

Viewer questions. That's all I have to say about that.

Maroon 5 performs a song from 2007, which is far more current than what the contestants have had to work with this season.

Then season four's Bo Bice performs his new song "Witness."

Finally, the last of the results: Jason says that someone told him last night that he shot the tambourine man, which is kind of funny. He also says that he thinks his inexperience is starting to show this late in the competition. Syesha is safe, and Jason is going home. Whew. I think even he would have thought it was a travesty if he had stayed.

Ryan says he seems relieved, and Jason says he is because next week, it's three songs, and he doesn't know what he would have done. He sings out with "I Shot the Sheriff," and it's all over.

Posted by Sarah Kickler Kelber at 10:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (17)
                    

As American Idol starts tonight, Ryan Seacrest says that three of the top four have had the largest number of votes at one point or another. That's just his way of saying: VOOOOOTE.

The theme this evening is Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, which leads into a history lesson on rock.

David Cook is up first, and he'll be singing Duran Duran's "Hungry Like a Wolf," and he plans to turn it on its head. The audio seems a little odd -- his vocals are loud, but the band and the background singers are kind of muted. Thankfully, he's got a good voice, though I think the discrepancy in volume between the band and his vocals made him come off a little bit shouty. Also, I'm not sure how much he changed up the song -- seemed pretty straight-forward to me. Randy Jackson says it was an OK choice and a solid performance, but that was "just OK." Paula Abdul says his "Hungry Like a Wolf" left her with a healthy appetite. Simon Cowell says it was "a little bit copycat" and he didn't really make it his own like he has in other weeks, but it was good enough to get him through to next week, no problem.

Syesha Mercado tells Ryan she's so excited about the Top 10 tour and getting to meet her fans. Her first song is "Proud Mary," which she says has been covered more than 100 times. She admits she was nervous, but she told herself to just do it and have fun with it. She's definitely not trying to avoid that "copycat" line -- she's gone on a Tina-esque silver dress, and she replicates some of Ms. Turner's choreography, too. Did she have fun with it and entertain the crowd? Absolutely, but vocally it wasn't insanely awesome, and this is the final four. Randy says this is the third week she's shown up and been "in the zone. ... Very nice, very nice, very nice." Paula says she looks like a star and that she's turned into this woman with a magnetic voice and presence. Simon says he's sorry to put a slight damper on things, and that he thought it was "a bad impersonation of Tina Turner." She says she was just trying to have fun. He says, "Good. I didn't."

Continue reading "'American Idol': Top 4 perform" »

Posted by Sarah Kickler Kelber at 9:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (15)
                    

All right, there's been some back-and-forth this week about whether this season of American Idol has been blah because of the themes or boring contestants or the show just running out of steam.

I think it's some combination thereof, but I'm still of the mind that the themes have been causing some of the mind-numbingness of season seven.

Consider this. Last season, for the Top 16 and the Top 20, the contestants had no constraints, except that the Top 20 had to dedicate the song to a friend or family member. So they were all over the board in styles, genres and eras.

Yes, the Top 12 had to do the songs of Diana Ross, and the Top 6 had to do the songs of Bon Jovi, but the other mentor nights were more open: British Invasion, No Doubt songs and songs by artists who inspired the band, American classics with Tony Bennett (but this made the throwback theme an anomaly, not just another old-fashioned week), Latin night with Jennifer Lopez (including songs by Santana, Gloria Estefan and others), country week with Martina McBride (with songs by Keith Urban, Carrie Underwood, Bonnie Raitt and Rascal Flatts).

So in the 12 weeks I looked back at, the contestants got to cover much more ground than just "Beatles" or "the '80s" or "Dolly Parton" or whatever. We've gotten variety when the singers have gone with new arrangements, but taken together, this season's song choices have been pretty stale.

And it's almost too late to do anything about it.

Sounds like the show is planning to make some changes in future seasons, based on the questions in a viewer survey, but these sure seem like the wrong questions to me. 

What do you think? 

Posted by Sarah Kickler Kelber at 4:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
                    

On tonight's American Idol, we'll learn who the final four are. And, I'm sure, hear some explanation for Paula's seeing into the future moment last night when she started evaluating Jason's second song when he'd only sung once thus far. (Here's the story that's been making the rounds today.)

Host Ryan Seacrest says he's still out of breath from last night's show because of its fast pace and that more than 45 million votes were cast.

First up: The group sing, a tribute to Neil Diamond.

Ryan stops in the audience to talk to Idol alums Constantine Maroulis and Gina Glocksen so they can pimp their Fox Reality show. Then, after his blabbing about how they like to pay tribute to former Idol contestants, he walks right past Ace Young without saying a single word. Ouch.

Time to address that Paula issue from last night, sort of: He says, "The rumors, they're not true, and she's part of our family." Well, that clears that up!

Results time: Jason Castro comes forward and finds out that he's safe. David Archuleta is next, and he's safe, too.

Throwing it to commercial, Ryan says the theme next week is "Rock and Roll Hall of Fame." Now that sounds promising!

Next, here's an extended preview for the next season of So You Think You Can Dance, which I am seriously looking forward to and which premieres May 22. (I covered the first round of auditions in D.C. a few months back. Check out a video here, if you want.)

More results: David Cook hits the stage and he's safe, so that leaves a bottom two last two of Brooke White and Syesha Mercado. (Update: As several commenters have pointed out, Ryan never actually used the words "bottom two," so it's possible someone else had fewer votes.)

But they have to wait it out, first through a performance by Natasha Bedingfield (including a kiss for David Archuleta), viewer calls (including a question from Tara Miller, who was Simon's first kiss when they were 9) and a performance by Neil Diamond (including an appearance by his mother, who is in the audience).

Back to the results, and Brooke is already crying. And by the way, Brooke is going home.

She is kind of a disaster, she's crying so much, but she gives her final sing her best try (until my DVR cuts off -- one of these days the show will end on time).

I'm really surprised Jason wasn't in the bottom two, but not at all surprised to see Brooke out. She's a sweet girl, but this was getting harder and harder for her, I think. How do you feel about the results? (Or about how the show chose to deal with Paula's gaffe last night, for that matter?)

Posted by Sarah Kickler Kelber at 10:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (35)
                    

Tonight on American Idol, the finalists are taking on the songs of Neil Diamond. Wait, it gets better. Each one will sing two songs. Don't get overwhelmed by the hipness!

The contestants won't hear judges' comments until after both performances.

Jason Castro gives an acoustic guitar performance of "Forever in Blue Jeans." It's nice, but the usual -- sounds like exactly what it is, an acoustic performance of an old-fashioned song.

David Cook gives Neil Diamond goosebumps with his practice performance of "I'm Alive," which is not a super-well-known song. He rocks out, and it's his usual, too, but nothing really memorable.

Brooke White sings "I'm a Believer" for her first song. I get that she's trying to have fun, but ... how can you hear this song without thinking of the Monkees?

They are rushing through the performances, and in case you can't tell, it's pretty lame so far. And it's odd without the breaks for the judges to talk.

David Archuleta starts off with "Sweet Caroline" (dun-dun-dun!). Are we surprised he does pretty well with it? He's sweet and goofy; the song is sweet and goofy. It's a perfect match. Modern? No. Pleasant? Sure.

Syesha Mercado sings "Hello Again." It's nice, she's good, probably won't hear it on the radio any time soon.

After round one, Randy Jackson tells Jason he was "OK," says David Cook was "in the zone," Brooke was "a little karaoke," David A. was "the bomb" and Syesha was "in the zone, too." Paula Abdul says Jason's lower register was nice and then starts talking about his second song, which he hasn't even sung yet. She says, "I thought you sang twice." Simon sums it up: "Jason, forgettable, David Cook, just above average, Brooke, a nightmare, David Archuleta, amateurish, Syesha, I thought it was old-fashioned."

Here's hoping round two is more fun ...

Continue reading "'American Idol': Top 5 take on Neil Diamond" »

Posted by Sarah Kickler Kelber at 9:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (35)
                    

The American Idol tour dates have been announced, and the Top 10 will be stopping at Verizon Center at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 14.

Tickets go on sale at 10 a.m. on May 17 through Ticketmaster. 

Posted by Sarah Kickler Kelber at 3:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)