Idol Headlines for 05/25/12 – The Evening Edition

By On 05/25/2012 · 135 Comments · In American Idol, Headlines

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Jessica Sanchez and Phillip Phillips both have pages at Interscope Records HERE and HERE.

‘Idol’ Winner Cloaks His Talent in Modesty – If Phillip Phillips had been craving a victory on “American Idol” this season, he did an outstanding job of hiding it. Mr. Phillips is a secret sophisticate, often going to great lengths to mask his evident gift. Throughout the season he was shy and humble, even as his fingers, as applied to his guitar, displayed serious dexterity, and his voice, scratchy and earthy, showed real range and power. – Read more at NY Times

Heejun Han on Phillip Phillips Win “I’m Pretty Emotional” Interview

Carrie Underwood: CMT Insider Interview (First of Two Parts) – In an interview with CMT Insider host Katie Cook, Underwood said, “I wanted to switch things up, shake it up, do some different things, write some different ways. … We took more time to produce them and really get in there. I feel like I’ve only gotten better as a singer, as a songwriter, and I know what I want to hear.” – Read more at CMT

Kellie Pickler to Spend Memorial Day Weekend on USO Tour – Have you ever noticed the tiny star tattoos on Kellie Pickler’s left arm? Each star represents one of her overseas USO trips, immortalizing what the country star says is the greatest joy of her career. Just in time for Memorial Day weekend, Kellie has embarked on her fifth international USO tour, so we may see some new ink on her arm soon. – Read more at The Boot

Haley Reinhart Tells World to ‘Listen Up’ – American Idol alum Haley Reinhart was all spandex, crop shirt and curls at the radical release party for her first record, Listen Up! What I loved about her was her determination, how openly she talked about the realities of her career and that she had no back-up plan — she was going to make it! – Watch the video at The Insider

Taylor Hicks – Idol Hangover interview Part 2

Britney Spears She Has ‘X Factor’ Qver a Barrel – Fact is … “X Factor” wanted Britney so desperately, she was able to negotiate terms that are “unheard of” — so say people with direct knowledge of her deal. As one source put it, “Simon is a smart and shrewd businessman who knew Britney could make his show and he was willing to give her just about anything to come on board — and he did.” So Britney is allowed to walk off any time she wants. And that’s just the beginning. Britney can do just about anything she wants … and get $15 million in the process. – Read more at TMZ

 
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  • shell29

    What makes a winner more “deserving”?  Is it because they sell more albums than the runner up?  When their album is certified platinum?  When they’re the “favorite” among the media and Idol bloggers as opposed to the runner up of their season?  I wasn’t thrilled about the winner in two of the last five seasons (season 9 and 11 to be specific) but all of the WGWGs won fair and square.  It’s hard for me to say that one winner is less deserving than another. 

    Regarding P2-I don’t see him as being any more of a “rocker” than Kris or Lee IMO.  To me, he’s Lee 2.0.  In terms of singing ability I still think he’s the worst of the five WGWGs (although I’m now more inclined to give him a slight pass due to his illness-maybe he’ll sound a lot better once that gets taken care of).  In spite of how he’s been charting on itunes, I’m still not convinced that he’s going to be this huge seller with his post-Idol debut album (and I don’t think it’s a foregone conclusion that he’ll outsell Lee let alone Kris, Scotty or Cook).   Even though I probably won’t be buying what he’s selling, I’m hoping that Interscope will handle things differently and more positively for Phillip than RCA did for Lee. I might not be a fan of all of the Idol winners but I do want them all to be successful.

  • Anonymous

    Regarding P2-I don’t see him as being any more of a “rocker” than Kris or Lee IMO.

    I don’t think that everyone in the group of Lee, Cook, Phillip and Lee would describe their sounds as rock, or at least they would be more specific than that.  I know that they wouldn’t say that all of them have the same sound or that they are all in the same genre.  They’ve been labeled the same, but mainly because they all won a singing contest, and they have the ability to play instruments.  

  • Anonymous

    I agree the whole “deserving” thing is totally subjective and utter crap as a basis of “judging” winners. They all had great moments on the show, made it through the entire months upon months long journey and at the end of the day earned the most votes. There have been a lot of “cute guy” musicians that haven’t won. Casey James, Tim Urban, Colton, Durbin, Michael Johns, ect. The thing about the winners is they were likable and delivered performances good enough to win. They deserve the title.

    Phillip is off to a great start with Home but airplay is going to need to kick in soon to sustain it. If the airplay doesn’t show up then I’m calling it another data point of evidence that Idols will not get played on mainstream radio. This is regardless of label support or the strength of material. Yes both of those help but it is not the most important aspect in getting significant airplay anymore.

    I’m all for changing the voting system to based on iTunes sales. It should eliminate the Mythical “texting teens” problem and I believe that the most commercially appealing contestant should win. I’d bet that the same winners would have occurred doing it this way anyhow. But going forward Idol needs to life the veil of secrecy over the iTunes rankings and performance and strongly consider basing votes off of it or even using it as part of the vote. The Voice does both of these things, it is not a hard concept to grasp for Idol.

  • Anonymous

    Cook, Lee, Kris and Phillip are all pop rock of different variety, leaning towards more or less  pop or rock or alt or folk, and although they are different, their style is closer to each other’s than to Fantasia’s or Scotty’s (even if sometimes bundled with them) or Adam’s dance songs.

  • Tess

    As soon as you make purchasing something a voting measurement you alienate half your audience…paying for something you got for free for years and years just ain’t going to fly and then the vote turns into an elitism thing and you have way more conspiracy theories then you do with texting. 

  • Anonymous

    How many people are posting those comments about looks, when it comes down to it?

    Are all of the posts on those threads only about looks?

    The threads that get hundreds of posts, especially just after an Idol season, are as likely to be filled with anti-posts and pro-posts: it’s the arguing against/defending that makes them super long, not just a handful of posters talking about looks.

    And anyway, I’m not convinced that what you read on the net, from the super invested, relates very much to broader fanbases or voters on AI. I’ve never voted in any of these shows: obviously not on AI, because I’m not American, but not in the UK either and the fact that I’d have to pay is only part of the reason for that.

    If I did vote, then my picks would have been extremely varied and totally dependant on my reaction to what the acts did on the show. Certainly, I can see that some men are more attractive than others. P2 for example is a very attractive man; Michael Johns was a very attractive man. But I didn’t really respond musically to either of them, even if I appreciated what I saw.

    And I reckon that the vast majority of people are the same.

    I’m not denying that there is a physical reaction that some people have to some contestants or that there haven’t been threads and threads devoted to it. And, yes, I’ve seen some pretty questionable threads about exactly this issue elsewhere.

    I just don’t think that the broadest swathes of voters vote for that reason.

    Also, I’d suspect that males are as likely to fancy Carrie Underwood, for example as females are to fancy x, y or z. They just don’t feel the need to spread that across the internet.

  • Anonymous

    I think changing the voting system would be a great idea – and good for Idol in the long run (if it lasts in the long run).

    But I actually don’t think it would make that much difference to the results.

  • Anonymous

    All genres are not represented by the contestants, because all genres don’t sell equally – no matter what the Viewers/Voters may prefer.  

    1) Modern R&B and pop get more regular radio play on mainstream formats than modern rock does.
    2) I don’t see any reason why fans of old-school R&B are less likely to embrace modern R&B, or fans of disco to embrace modern dance-pop, than fans of classic rock are likely to embrace modern rock (which seems to be an implicit assumption here).  I would think that older fans in all genres should be equally equipped to see the connections between older material and present-day material and to vote accordingly.

    So again, I don’t see a reason why it should be assumed that 40+ viewers would invariably support rock-leaning contestants over talented contestants in other genres.  Which is again why I say that the show made some very poor decisions about casting, song clearance, and voting processes that are marginalizing a lot of people who want something different, and the general aging of TV audiences and of Idol in general is not a sufficient explanation for that marginalization.

    I’m a rock fan, among many other genres, but I also want something different.  It doesn’t help the show to be predictable.  It doesn’t help the alumni to keep sending new artists at the same formats and hoping that the saturation point is still another year or two off.  Because I think it’s already here, even when it’s been a few years between truly strong genre finalists (McCreery and Pickler).

    I don’t think that the show producers and the labels are working nearly closely enough together to direct the kind of outcomes you are suggesting.  I think they’re not thinking far enough ahead at all.

  • Anonymous

    Is it because they sell more albums than the runner up?

    When you have supportive, rational people like Debra Byrd stating publicly that “Chris Daughtry really won S5″ because he vastly outsold everyone else, I think the conclusion has to be drawn that outselling other finalists in one’s season legitimizes the win, and not doing so delegitimizes it.  I may like any given winner better than a runner-up, but the press surrounding post-win sales is pretty relentless if the winner can’t at least sell “the most.”

    That said, making iTunes sales a condition for advancement is problematic.  People who don’t want to text can still vote by phone for no additional cost.  People who don’t have high-speed internet or an iPhone and want to get downloads are SOL if they don’t want to pay the additional costs.

  • http://twitter.com/ZarkeMulgore Zarke

    Despite his coronation song “Home” making it to No.1 on I-Tunes the day
    after his win, Phillips said that the song was not really something he
    would write, describing it as “not the best song for me.”

    “It’s
    a little too pop for me… but it’s a very good song and I’m glad
    people like it. I feel like I’m a little more rock than that, so
    hopefully people like what I have to put out, some jazz rock stuff,”
    said Phillips, who counts Eric Clapton and Eminem as some of his
    influences.

    Oh why oh why did you go against your true self and
    listened to others? Jessica could have won. LOL! I guess he really
    wanted to win. So, he played the game! Good call! (Note: this is what
    was nagging me. This song was not P2 at all. So. they did choose it for
    him. Oh, well)

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