Idol Headlines For 2/22/08

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Elliott is doing his tour in Europe for the army which is good. He took Clays spot as “the guy” whom probably did not please AI prosducers by standing up to them and Taylor not going for obvious reasons.Taylor is going back home to get an award which is good for him. Nothing new happend after 5 just American Idol was more vovcal and maybe a tinge more obvoius whom they liked.

Season 7 the girls I agreed with Simon was not blown away and am sure one person I like will be kicked off Brook. I can not tell Amanda from Kady.

Michael Johns lipped sync? WHAT??? Did anybody else notice that….what will VFTW think?

I can’t imagine they let one contestant lip sync. They either allowed everyone to do it or more likely, I think, the tracking was just off. It was a recorded show. Couldn’t the editing of the audio and video have been off?

“I can not tell Amanda from Kady.”

Have you been watching the show? Amanda is the biker nurse with the two-toned hair and raspy voice. Amanda looks and sounds like no other contestant this season.

Not much really first time with the girls because I was curous. Sorry about that I do know who Amanda is had a serious crs moment…I ment the two young looking blond girls sorry about that….Thanks Day-tripper.

I know Simon is Simon but Randy he seems like an old record player caught in a groove ?

Taylor Hicks will be performing SOUL THING on the awards show and two of his idols — THE COMMODORES and PERCY SLEDGE will also be performing.

And thank goodness, he’s going to donate that hideous purple jacket ( I hope he never wears it again — give it to Barney the Dinosaur instead ).

Pulls out fingers and toes…counts down days until Phil’s CD comes out….

RE: Michael Johns’ lip synching… I thought it became acceptable when a lot of the other singing stars did that with almost no criticism.

I was already arguing about Shakira lip-synching in her Idol performace way back in Season 5…

à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“I can not tell Amanda from Kady.à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ 

You must be confusing Kristy Lee with Amanda.

And yes, I’d say Kristy Lee and Kady can pass for sisters.

Well, Alaina Whitaker could pass for Carrie Underwood’s little sister too ( and that is why she won’t win. We can only have room for one Carrie ).

More on lip syncing from Wikipedia :

* In July 1989, during a live performance by Milli Vanilli recorded by MTV, it was revealed that the performers were merely lip-syncing when the recording of the song “Girl You Know It’s True” jammed and began to skip.

* In 2004, singer Ashlee Simpson appeared on Saturday Night Live in a promotional visit. She was scheduled to sing two songs from her album Autobiography. However, when beginning to sing the album’s title track, another song began playing in the background, and it was revealed that she was either lip-synching or using a vocal backing track.

* In 2007, the rapper 50 Cent was busted lip synching at the BET Awards, while performing in front of a large audience according to the news.com.au website. News.com.au also reported witnesses saying, that when the record did eventually re-cue, 50 Cent did all that he could to salvage his performance, but it was far too late at that point.

* In 2007, Britney Spears lip-synced through a performance of her recent single, Gimme More, in a performance that was supposed to be a come-back which resulted in a universally panned event.

* In 2007, Chris Brown lip-synced through a performance of his recent single, Kiss, Kiss, at the VMA’s while doing various dances on stage his microphone fell out, and the music was still on.

* In 2008, Justin Timberlake lip-synced through a performance of his single, SexyBack, at the His Tour, while doing various dances on stage his microphone fell out, and the music was still on. He apologized to fans while they were booing him.

Thanks…..wait I have nothing to appologize for ….I goofed

Ya know, I wish someone would do an article on why we couldn’t get any *!@#*! spoilers about what people were singing this week.

As soon as I read that Chris Sligh was going to rate the Season 7 girls on their performance, I said to myself — this guy is going to love Amanda Overmyer. Guess what ? I WAS SPOT ON.

He said this : “Amanda is what this show needs: something different and fresh. The texture to her voice is bordering on amazing.”

Sligh also disclosed that he is rooting for Brooke White ( this guy has the same taste in music as me I have to say ). But I’ll say this — Carly Simon or Carole King ( the singer/songwriter types) can never win American Idol ( which favors the diva type ). And even if they do win — the producers aren’t going to like their styles.

Sligh also rates his buddy Phil Stacey’s performance of TOBACCO ROAD last season better than Syesha Mercado’s ( he also ranked hers as the best performance of the night). I say he’s just being biased.

Sligh didn’t seem to get the over the top love Randy and Paula gave to Carly, which ironically placed him in the same boat with Simon Cowell.

I recall noticing the same thing about possible lip-syncing in Michael’s performance. He seemed to turn his head away from the microphone, but there was absolutely no change in volume or anything. It reminded me of the end of Jordin’s “Heartbreaker” last year when she pulled the mic away from her quickly but the note kept going on.

I don’t get why AI would be doing all these favors for Michael. He’s an engaging performer, sure, but if he needs this much propping up this early in the competition, then what’s the point?

Edited to add: I’d love for the mainstream media to pick up on this story, just so we can see Paula try to spin-slur AI’s way out of it next week!

As you know, iTunes is not showing the popularity bars for the AI downloads in the AI store for S7. This is done to be “fair” because they don’t want voters to know who is doing best. You wouldn’t want one competitor to get the leg up on another *cough*

But, that doesn’t mean we can’t do it anyway (shhh…don’t tell Nigel or he will close that loophole too). Here are the relative popularity rankings on iTunes:

1. Jason Castro: Daydream
2. David Archuleta: Shop Around
Those two are a almost in a dead tie…big drop to about 1/3 as popular:

3. Michael Johns: Light My Fire
4. David Cook: Happy Together
5. Robbie Carrico: One

These next songs are in a dead tie (about 1/6th as popular as the leaders):
6. Danny Noriega: Jailhouse Rock
7. David Hernandez: In the Midnight Oil
8. Colton Berry: Suspicious Minds (sure buy his song, but don’t vote for him
9. Jason Yaeger: Moon River
10. Luke Menard: Everybody’s Talkin’

About 1/24th as popular as the leaders):
11: Garret Haley: Breaking Up is Hard to do
12: Chikezie: More Today than Yesterday

The girls just went on sale.

BTW Jason C and David A are outselling the original versions of their songs by about 2x and 6 x respectively (iTunes uses a rolling chart so that’s 2x the amount that the song has ever sold. Just how much it has sold in N hours). Everybody else is trailing.

Oops, the ratios for the third and fourth groups are about 1/20th and 1/40th compared to the leaders (I was comparing them to Michael Johns…what a goof I am).

Suffice to say, a lot less than the leaders.

The iTunes numbers are interesting. That’s kind of the way I see the race for the top-6 guys right now.

Jason C was the surprise breakout star of the first week, and I think he was able to generate enough goodwill that even missteps in the next two weeks wouldn’t sink him. David A has been a favorite from the beginning.

AI will carry Michael into the top-12 if it kills them. They seem way, way invested in him. Both David C and Robbie are talented enough to be believable top-12 material. Pretty sure those three will be in.

Then it gets really interesting, because there is a wild-card seat up for grabs. I’d say that David H has the edge over Danny, which is the way I think AI would rather it go. Getting rid of Danny would be kind of like AI burning Sanjaya in effigy, and I think they would love doing that (to punish those who voted for Sanjaya last year and made him a bigger story than AI itself). However, can three Davids make it? There may be room for only two, so David C is vulnerable after all.

Chikezie is just Dead Man Walking at this point.

Real interesting is that Jason Castro’s single is 2nd only to “Kelly Clarkson’s A Moment Like This” in an “American Idol” album search.
1) A Moment Like This – Kelly Clarkson
2) Daydream – Jason Castro
3) Wanted Dead or Alive – Chris Daughtry
4) Shop Around – David Archuleta
5) Independence Day – Carrie Underwood

Are these versions on itunes full length or the short versions done on the show? I’m only asking because my DSL is out of commission at home and i cant go to iteuns here at work… I’m having MJ’s withdrawal at night!!!!

Amazing discovery, Kristen. Thanks! I checked it out too. Currently, the ranking from iTunes of most popular to least (including the girls) goes like this:

1. Jason Castro
2. David Archuleta
3. Michael Johns
4. David Cook
5. Ramiele Malubay
6. Alaina Whitaker
7. Robbie Carrico
8. Danny Noriega
9. Brooke White
10. Asia’h Epperson
11. Carly Smithson
12. Colton Berry (WOW?!)

13. David Hernandez
14. Amanda Overmyer
15. Syesha Mercado
16. Kady Malloy
17. Kristy Lee Cook
18. Alexandrà ©a Lushington
19. Joanne Borgella
20. Jason Yeager
21. Luke Menard
22. Garrett Haley
23. Chikezie
24. Amy Davis

Compared to current songs from Idol Alums, Jason Castro is #16, behind Elliott’s Wait For You and before Carrie’s Inside Your Heaven. David Archuleta comes in right after Carrie and before Bo’s The Real Thing. I only counted actual idols and not people like Bon Jovi or Christina Aguilera, who for some reason or another come up.

(iTunes uses a rolling chart so thatà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s 2x the amount that the song has ever sold. Just how much it has sold in N hours).

Huh? Is N how long the song’s been out or just a set period of time?

Just some thoughts on the 30 second snippets on iTunes while I’m at it:

Does anyone else think David Cook has a much better recording voice than Michael Johns?

Robbie Carrico- When you can’t see his rawk outfit, he definitely does not sound like a rawk singer.

Danny Noriega actually had good vocals.

Colton sounds comes across so much better when I can’t see him. and that smile. Keep singing, dude!

Luke sounds WAY better (which is weird because isn’t a recording of his live performance?)

Just a reminder –

Chris Sligh’s single, “Empty Me” is officially released to all Christian radio today! :jittery_tb:

He’s currently promoting the single and upcoming CD, “Running Back To You” (due out May 6th) on radio, tv and other miscellaneous venues across the country. His tour schedule is listed on his Myspace Music site:

http://www.myspace.com/chrissligh

Good luck, Chris!

I’ve watched the youtube of MJ singing Light My Fire 3 different times, and I just don’t see anything that looks like lip-synching. Aren’t the contestants double-miked, anyway? One would think…

Looking at those itunes ranking – poor Luke, *sniff, sniff*. I refuse to pick him in my pool this week though. I like to think positive – LOL.

I didn’t pick him either. Figured people might want to keep looking at him for free, but may not want to dish out money to hear him. It’s all good

Has anyone downloaded Luke’s song yet? If he gets a thumbs up from this discerning crowd, I may spring for the $1.99 this evening, as a charitable donation.

I haven’t downloaded any of the songs yet but I listened to the samples. I was under the impression these would be good quality, recorded versions. In the “Light My Fire” clip you can hear the the little shrieks from the audience.

Margaux, if I’m not mistaken, I think it’s only $.99, not $1.99 – if that makes your decision easier.

MJ, I clicked on your link to iTunes to purchase Kirk Avecedo…ummmm…David Hernandez’ Midnight Hour and the link is not working for me. Anyone else having the same issue.

If I’m gonna go over and purchase a big ball of cheese, I wanna make sure that MJ gets the blame…ummmm…..credit.

This lip-synching topic got discussed last year at DialIdol. Someone there claims it has to do with digital broadcasting — that there is a tiny, almost infinitesimal lag between the singer’s vocals and what you hear come out of your speakers. As a result, it looks and sounds like a lip-synch, but in reality it’s not.

That iTunes stuff is interesting. I listened to some audio at Rickey’s and thought David A and Carly sounded quite good. Jason and Aussie sounded better on the show. But iTunes never tells the whole story. I think last year Blake dominated the dls and still didn’t win.

PrimeM, yes agree about David Cook singing better than MJohns. So far Cook and David H. actually have great voices. Don’t know why Simon doesn’t like David H. He lacks some appeal for me, but sings better than MJohns. MJ sounds good when he belts out a little but “listen” to the voice..seems off a lot to me? I think Alexandria was off through her whole song as well. Great performing but not voice wise. Jason, great charisma.

RE Carly – Randy. To me its not all that good or bad about previous contract but the BAD part is Randy being a vp there at same time. They didn’t address “that” last night. THIS is the conflict of interest thingy to me is worse.

Well, it makes me happy that one of the four guys who weren’t pimped at all is leading on iTunes, even if it doesn’t mean too much. I’ve watched the show a couple of times and Jason is my favorite guy as of now. I’m not saying he has the best voice, but it’s unique and he’s a natural… at least while singing. He was pretty awkward afterwards, which was endearing but could get old. The quirky good looks don’t hurt, either (eyes, smile, etc). Yep, charisma.

I hope nerves and his inexperience as a front man don’t hurt him. He can’t have his security blanket (guitar) each week.

Oh, and I’m not buying the lip sync conspiracy theory for Michael Johns, either. Nope.

ETA: As for David A, I’m not sure I buy his golly gee “you really like me” routine. This is nothing new to him. It’ll be interesting to see how it all unfolds.

I hope, hope, hope we don’t have a theme next week. Anyone know?

MJ, I clicked on your link to iTunes to purchase Kirk Avecedoà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ ¦ummmmà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ ¦David Hernandezà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ Midnight Hour and the link is not working for me. Anyone else having the same issue.

Does the link open up your iTunes? Are you getting any errors? Which link are you using.

You can use either the link at the top of the front page (will take you straight to the iTunes AI downloads) or the banner on the sidebar (which will take you to the iTunes front page, then you can click on the iTunes American Idol banner).

pj, I don’t know, but other boards today (multiple) did say 70′s theme next week and 80′s for top 16. I hope not, although I think these two decades give more variety for song choices than the 60′s. File this under rumor and speculation though.

MJ — figured it out.

Reminds self: Technology is good. Technology is good.

pj, I donà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t know, but other boards today (multiple) did say 70à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s theme next week and 80à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s for top 16. I hope not, although I think these two decades give more variety for song choices than the 60à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s. File this under rumor and speculation though.

I sure can’t think of a better way to find the most “contemporary” sounding recording artist. If you have a list with “Shadow of Your Smile” don’t complain that it “sounds Cabaret”!

I also heard or read that they are having 70′s week next week and 80′s week for the week after. I don’t like theme weeks this early.

Hmm. Maybe they are flipping it this year. Theme weeks until top 12. I doubt it, but it would be interesting.

70s… hmmm. If David Cook has the balls to do a RAWK version of “Seasons in the Sun” I might throw him a couple of votes.

LOL – a RAWk version of Seasons in the Sun… even I’d vote for him!

You know the one performance that stood out for me was Shop Around.
Saw it live and liked it. Listened to it with no picture and it is truly an amazing vocal.

I hope they do one of my favorite 80′s song and I do not mind.

PJ – guess who is in a movie http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117981281.html?categoryid=13&cs=1

I was in chat but after a few tumbleweeds ……I got the hint..

Huh? Is N how long the songà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s been out or just a set period of time?

Sorry, I’ve been away all day. N is just the period of time that iTunes uses for it’s rolling chart. N is much speculated. It used to be 24 hours, but now people think that it may be as long as a week. It’s not from the time the song was released (unless it was released less than N hours ago). That’s why you’ll see a newly released song with a higher sales ranking than something that has already sold 2 million units in the past. The older song has just recently been selling less than the new song.

As an example, the Mediabase numbers I post are from their 7 day rolling chart. That means it counts the spins for the last 7 days. The BB airplay charts are always for a set period of 7 days (from Monday to Monday)

Interesting Kirsten. Thanks for the explanation. I just bought Jason C’s and it’s skipping. Is it my download or the file? Anyone know?

Oh, and Pop, my BFF since 5th grade is a comic book geek and loved the X-Men. Wolverine was her fave. I can’t get into them, but I do heart Riggins

Lu, lol. We should start a petition.

Well, the ole iTunes produced an interesting result. I coughed up a few pennies and purchased some of them. Listening only to the voices, I have to say that David H and Danny N have some really strong recording voices. Aruchuletta’s voice sounds like it’s muffled a bit — don’t know how to explain it, but there’s something just a little strange going on. And Jason Castro’s voice is adorable and makes me think of his beautiful blue eyes. Sigh.

And Jason Castroà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s voice is adorable and makes me think of his beautiful blue eyes. Sigh.

Double sigh.

Poor Garrett. No prior airtime and then this…

‘American Idol’ Castoffs Speak: Garrett Isn’t Worried About Being Pale, Colton Tells Ellen To Give Him A Call

…But what might come as a surprise is the fact that Haley had never heard Neil Sedaka’s “Breaking Up Is Hard to Do” before this week and that the tune wasn’t even in his top three choices of ’60s songs. The teen explained how he fell victim to the inner-workings of “Idol” à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬’  and how he keeps his trademark ‘do so shiny.

A: I didn’t really get to choose it. We’re allowed to choose three songs from a list. Every contestant is for sure to get one of the songs, and I didn’t get to get any of my songs because they gave the songs out to all the contestants before that. So I just ended up with having to choose from the list again. And I didn’t really get to choose, they just threw the song at me and said, “Here, sing this one.” [He laughs.] And I was like, “OK.” It was a total surprise to me, but I took what I got, and I did what I could do with it…

MTV

Talk about setting up Joanne, Colton, and Garrett to not succeed. This is just awful! To think that they were given 50 choices which included, “Moon River.” This will probably happen with any further themes.

I will bet they insisted that Danny do “Jailhouse Rock” because he was good TV viewing (in a strange way). Why am I surprised with all the manipulations TPTB do?

Also, I didn’t realize that David A. is doing the same songs he sang when he won Star Search in 2003. No surprises here.

that story from MTV about Garrett and his song really stinks, talk about manipulating a kid and setting him up.. and what happened to all three of the other songs he chose? I am certain Carly, Michael and David received “special tx” in song selection and the rest got the leftover songs they didn’t want. and then to have the judge’s snippy comments “you chose the wrong song” :wallbash_tb:
I have little respect for Michael Johns picking “light my fire”, shows his lack of risk taking which doesn’t bode well for me at this stage in the game. Hate these theme weeks, makes for predictable teevee

Kristen, thanks for the explanation.

———————-

Dang, that really sucks for Garrett. What ever happened to the producers saying, we help them with a list of songs and arrange it for them; what we don’t do is CHOOSE the song for them?!?! And I’m curious as to who got to sing the 3 songs he chose.

Again, this kid Garrett has such a great attitude.

ohhh, I’m hatin’ on that song choice for Garrett. I sure wish he’d have piped up and said, I didn’t chose that song, TPTB did!

How about that,, Carly #11 at itunes.

Maybe next week she’ll sing Cry Me A River.

I just went to itunes carolina and I don’t see Carly nowhere in the top 100. Where did you find her?

ealbino – from primeminister’s post on the first page.

It’s not the offical itunes ranking — it’s the idol single’s rankings.

oh..my bad… thanks Carolina..