I don’t think Lauren is in any danger of being dropped.  She’s not exactly setting the world on fire, but she’s doing pretty well all things considering.  In addition to not seeing any reason Lauren & Skylar need to be seen as competitors now that they are in the real world so to speak, there is also no logical reason to think that Skylar the 5th place finisher is necessarily more popular than Lauren the runner-up.  I like Skylar, but if she were so popular than she would have made it past 5th place.

I wish Skylar well and I hope she does well.  I also wish Lauren continued success.  I like both and think the both have something to offer the industry.  I find it hard to even compare the two outside of they are both young and came from Idol.

KLC?  She kind of turned me off when I saw how bitter she was in that past Idols roundup that was posted a few weeks back.  I give her points for her never say die attitude and continually going after her dream, but I’d be shocked if KLC ever happens to be honest. It’s not that I think she’s wholly untalented and she’s obviously attractive, but she has always come off as rather generic to me.

Raelynn? Not even worth mentioning.

Lauren is far from being karaoke, but hey thats your opinion. I guess America loves karaoke singers then, since she made it to the top 2 spot. Notice the sarcasm. I could say many things about I feel about other singers, but I am just going to let it go for now. I realize music taste is subjective and just because I may not like someone, doesnt mean they are not good on their own light to other people.

Once again your theory that Skylar would of beaten Lauren during the same season is pure speculation. I still have Lauren appealing to the tween audience more then Skylar which would take her further in the competition. I still believe if a lot of people liked Skylar she would of made it to the top 2 spot or at least top 3 of her season, but she didnt, and that is with Colton being eliminated. She simply wasn that popular. Honestly even though I didnt like her as much, I thought she was a shoe in for top 3 or even top 2, so it was a shock to me when she got eliminated earlier then i expected. It let me know how popular she really was and if i am not mistaken she made a couple of trips to the bottom three before that, whereas Lauren only made one trip and she was in the competition longer.

Blake is not drunk. I may not get the Raeylynn thing. But every night she was charting really good on itunes.  Which means someone out there will buy her music, which is all they care about.  She is also very marketable. Only time will tell whether her selling well is long term. But with the Sheltons help, she may do good.

Can someone tell me what connection Jordin Sparks has to the country music genre? And why is she presenting an award for country music? Has she ever sang a note of “country tinged music” in her life?

BonnieDee: And Lauren has Carrie’s support, which is awesome as well.

Skylar has Carrie’s support too :) Carrie’s even said she thinks Skylar is “light years” ahead of where Carrie was at the end of Idol’s s4. Funny how Carrie seems to think it’s a great thing for both Lauren and Skylar to be part of country music. Maybe something to keep in mind ;)

Tiffany: Only so much money to go around and do they really want two new country girls to promote. 

Universal Nashville was hoping Georgia Peaches would succeed and help its cowriter Mallary Hope get launched successfully so yes, they do want two new country girls to promote. More, if possible.

Lauren’s not getting dropped for Skylar. If Skylar gets signed to Universal Nashville the label will be hoping to successfully parlay both of their Idol exposure into successful recording careers because it’s a crazy struggle to launch anybody these days.

BonnieDee: As I said before, Kristy Lee has a hunting show and a new tough girl persona so there’s more competition for Skylar.

I keep track of Kristy Lee Cook news in case there are any developments to report here. Season 1 of Goin’ Country aired in August 2010. Season 2 is in the can, expected to air late last summer/early fall 2011 but hasn’t aired since the network it was on (Versus) was transformed into the NBC Sports Network, which didn’t pick up KLC’s show. The Outdoor Channel might seem like a natural new home for the show but there’s no sign of a pick up there and they already have Craig Morgan’s show. Doesn’t look like the 2nd season of the show’s all that likely to hit any airwaves.

Kristy Lee Cook’s now saying there’ll be a new single this month. Keep in mind it’s been delay after delay after delay for her. Early this year she was saying she’d start a radio tour in April and that hasn’t materialized yet. Before that it was going to be a single in the late summer/fall 2011. No way does her album come out this summer unless they don’t care about supporting the album with a single getting airplay.

raya: KLC?  She kind of turned me off when I saw how bitter she was in that past Idols roundup that was posted a few weeks back.

KLC’s always had a bitter side. When she was dropped from Arista Nashville she actually did an interview blaming Carrie, saying the label spent its money promoting her. Because somebody who came in with a small AI base after finishing 7th on the show should be given equal promo as somebody whose debut album went 7x platinum and who’d already won a bunch of industry awards at the time :p Carrie even cowrote a song on KLC’s Arista Nashville album, what a way to say thanks ;)

Chris: A single launch requires a good push, everyone goes all out so I think I blew a gasket reading that rare national TV coverage would not be used to support a stronger song like Eighteen Inches or DRP, OOTB …. but I will get over it.

You may have heard of Chris Young. He’s had like 5 #1s in a row at country radio. He was nominated for ACM Male Vocalist Of The Year this year. So, he gets a performance slot at the ACMs this year. And, what do they have him sing? Voices – a #1 from last year that isn’t even on his current album! Why? Because they wanted something with a little more tempo instead of a power ballad like Tomorrow or a soulful ballad like You (which are his 2 most recent #1s) or the gorgeous ballad he’d just released as a new single Neon.

These TV producers don’t care about helping a push for a single – they want what they think will make for a show that’ll minimize tuneout and unfamiliar songs by non-established acts are generally seen as too risky.

curly_yenta: Can someone tell me what connection Jordin Sparks has to the country music genre? And why is she presenting an award for country music? Has she ever sang a note of “country tinged music” in her life?

These shows regularly invite a few people who have nothing to do with country music but are promoting something. In Jordin’s case she’s promoting the upcoming movie Sparkle.

That being said, I’m pretty sure Jordin sang Broken Wing with Martina McBride at a VH1 Divas event one year, and she did a great job. She’d sung Broken Wing on AI during s6 too.

Windmills:  ”Skylar has Carrie’s support too :) Carrie’s even said she thinks Skylar is “light years” ahead of where Carrie was at the end of Idol’s s4. Funny how Carrie seems to think it’s a great thing for both Lauren and Skylar to be part of country music. Maybe something to keep in mind ;)”   
But my whole point in that discussion was that if Lauren is Carrie Lite and Skylar is Miranda Lite, then at least Lauren has Carrie’s support.  Skylar doesn’t have Miranda’s.  And Carrie was probably talking about performance, not voice, when it comes to Skylar.    We all know Carrie had the voice and had to work on her performances.  

I agree that the 7th place finisher should not expect as much attention as the winner from a previous season.  I also don’t think the 5th place finisher in a weak ratings season is so popular she is going  unseat the second place finisher from the year before.  That was stated in the post that started this whole discussion.  The reason I think KLC might go somewhere is that she’s with Jason Aldean’s label now.  Whether her hunting show is picked up or not is irrelevant to my point.  The point was that she hunts too and is working the tough, outdoor, hunter girl persona, more competition for Skylar, with a better voice IMO.

Carrie was the co-host(ess) on the countdown Sunday AM.  I was getting back from the store when the host said he would ask Carrie about Scotty – I drove around and around and around waiting – and he asked her and she admitted he had a lot to do to get ahead and then started talking about Lauren – it is so obvious that she really likes Lauren – calls her “my little sister” so she will probably endorse the song if Lauren puts it out

Lauren is already rehearsals? A shame she has to sing GP.

I find Casey’s schedule a bit bizarre, he is doing a gig in Washington tonight, while some others are already busy with rehearsals. He’s been playing in a different state every day for the past week, and he has 8 performances planned for the CMA fest, he is going to be exhausted. 

Lauren just finished a 10 day California swing with Sugarland and got to Nashville last night . She starts the first of her  6 performances of this week tomorrow night at the CMT welcome event. Add the 2 fan signings event and the softball game she will be colasped next to CJ. I hope all their voices hold out and that CJ gets there in time for rehearsals LOL. It is going to be a great week for all of them in terms of getting some exsposure.

It is always nice to see Idol alumni having success beyond Idol.  I think I’ll tune in to watch the CMT Music Awards.

I’m not trying to argue with you Windmills.  I know you like Skylar as an artist and I can’t see anything there, so we’ll just have to wait and see how it all plays out.  

He has been crazy busy with all of those shows!  Hope he will be singing “COAS” at the awards show.

I think I agree with most of ur comment. I definitely think Skylar has more far reaching appeal than Lauren. But then I just don’t like much about LA period. I really liked Skylar and would buy her music. I think she has her own thing going and don’t see the Miranda lite thing. I’m not so sure Carrie is all that much in support of LA, but perhaps she is reading the comment she made in ref to her being like little sister…I think Carrie or any responsible artist wld not be smart to assoc. themselves w/LA. She just strikes me as loose cannon and bad news. At best she’s very ordinary. But then I liked Raelynn, maybe just b/c she was only country artist in the finish…wld have to take a second look on her…but  think Skylar is better than LA and Raylynn…Part of that is that based on personality as much as talent…she impressed me as mature for age, kind and considerate of others and supportive of all her fellow-contestants on Idol. And she did get Reba’s support, which says a lot to me.