iTunes Ranking for the Wildcard Show (Not Exactly Chartbusters) Matt Giraud and Anoop Desai Lead the Pack

So, in the future, to compare the popularity bars someone just has to make an Imix with all the songs. And probably add the top song on itunes just to see how they’re doing compared to that. Or is there another way?

If we go by those bars, the songs aren’t really selling that much.

I think this is a fluke. None of the semi weeks work if you try it that way.

If we go by those bars, the songs arenà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t really selling that much.

The rank is only in comparison to each other.

I think this is a fluke. None of the semi weeks work if you try it that way.

Ah. Ok, thanks. Yeah, I just noticed that the other songs don’t have a populary bar.

If we go by those bars, the songs arenà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t really selling that much.

The songs are only in comparison to each other.

We can compare it to Brooke’s song. That song is not even in the top 120 of Itunes.
I find it a bit strange that the top song is only selling like 20% of Brooke’s song.

We can compare it to Brookeà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s song. That song is not even in the top 120 of Itunes.
I find it a bit strange that the top song is only selling like 20% of Brookeà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s song.

I think we have to keep in mind that these are just the mp3s of the live performances. It’s a little hard to be excited about purchasing recordings that could be downloaded from Rickey’s site. (Granted, the version that goes on iTunes is cleaned up a little, but 99 cents? Really?) I’m sure the sales will go up when they start putting up studio recordings.

Wow, I wonder if had Ricky been pimped, would he have overtaken Jasmine? :ponder_tb:

ETA: IF Simon et al were really forced to stay with a Top 12, it would totally be a 8 guy-4 girl split because I don’t think they would keep Jasmine while they let Anoop or Matt go. Nu-uh, not happening.

Tatiana’s sales might be higher if she hadn’t chosen to sing the same song again. That girl killed her own chances with her bizarre behavior.

I wonder if the judges and AI looked at the iTunes results to gauge who should be in the top 13 the next day. It seems awfully coincidental that the top 4 selling were the ones that got picked.

I just made a chart including Brooke’s song, and the #100 song, “Alone” on iTunes Top songs.

Didn’t “Hallelujah” go to #1 last year? It was at least Top 10 I think That was a live version from the semi finals.

I think we have to keep in mind that these are just the mp3s of the live performances. Ità ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s a little hard to be excited about purchasing recordings that could be downloaded from Rickeyà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s site. (Granted, the version that goes on iTunes is cleaned up a little, but 99 cents? Really?) Ià ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢m sure the sales will go up when they start putting up studio recordings.

True, but even some of the semi-final performances last year landed at or near the top of the overall iTunes rankings. It was a while before iTunes worked-out the glitches last year and Rickey did a very good job at tracking relative sales rankings throughout the season to the extent that iTunes gave a glimpse. ‘Imagine’, ‘Hallelujah’, and ‘Hello’ were all MP3′s of the live semi-final performances that appeared in the iTunes top-10 for at least a couple of days the week they were performed, and all continued to rank highly overall even as the season progressed.

For example, here’s a post from the Thursday night after Top Ten results night, with a screenshot showing ‘Hello’ still in the top 20 of iTunes overall (buoyed certainly by ‘Billie Jean,’ which was well ahead of Mariah and Madonna at #1 overall at that point). This was three weeks after ‘Hello’ was performed on the show. If it had finished that sales week at #19 on the digital downloads chart (which is extremely unlikely, but just for argument’s sake), it would have sold ~59,000 copies (Chris Brown sold 58,719 at #19 that week). That’s 8K more than Brooke sold last week after she premiered her single on Idol.

Obviously the whole iTunes tracking thing is far from an exact science, but when iTunes slips up it is possible to get a general idea of how these songs are selling relative to others on the overall chart. I’m admittedly not loving S8 so far, but I definitely would have expected these wildcard performances to be doing better, especially since the Idol audience is now conditioned to pre-order and download songs from their favorites.

It seems awfully coincidental that the top 4 selling were the ones that got picked.

Those songs only went online after the 4 were picked, so I think it’s natural their songs will sell more. People are now more interested in them.

I think we have to keep in mind that these are just the mp3s of the live performances. Ità ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s a little hard to be excited about purchasing recordings that could be downloaded from Rickeyà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s site. (Granted, the version that goes on iTunes is cleaned up a little, but 99 cents? Really?) Ià ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢m sure the sales will go up when they start putting up studio recordings.

I understand what you mean, and I agree that starting next week more people will buy the songs. But, if we’re going to believe those popularity bars, it’s still a really low number of downloads.

Didnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Hallelujahà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  go to #1 last year? It was at least Top 10 I think That was a live version from the semi finals.

I don’t think Jason’s version was #1, but yeah, it was really high, probably top 10. And others weren’t too far. I think Billie Jean was the first song to be #1 last year.

Oh, I had forgotten about that. Thanks for pulling up the link, ladymadonna.

Disregard my earlier comment. Season 8 must just really suck! heh

I just went and spent $2.00 on Jesse. LOL. :rolleyes_tb: I know I’m probably pretty crazy to do so, but I wanted something by her. So anyway the second song “Tell Me Something Good” (imo) sounded really good on itunes. I love “Betty Davis Eyes”, but it’s not as clear. FWIW.

I wish would could have seen how the first 3 groups did.

Didnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Hallelujahà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  go to #1 last year? It was at least Top 10 I think That was a live version from the semi finals.

I can’t seem to find a screenshot of the overall iTunes popularity bars that week either at Rickey’s or TWoP, but if I remember correctly, Jason’s à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Hallelujahà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  did make it into the top ten for at least a day or two that week, along with both ‘Imagine’ and ‘Hello’.

We know he pushed Jeff Buckley’s version to #1 on the downloads chart that week. It sold a whopping 177,824 copies, and an additional 70,551 the following week. We have no real way of knowing exactly where Jason’s version ended up that week, but it’s generally assumed that the Idol track sells more than the original that it “bumps”. I’m not sure of that in this case, since Buckley’s version is so iconic. But there’s no doubt that Castro (as well as Archie and Cook) sold a heck of a lot of downloads that semis week.

Later in the season Cook was #1 overall on iTunes with ‘Billie Jean,’ ‘ABMB,’ and ‘I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing.’ He likely moved six figures in each of those weeks. I think Idol and Apple made a LOT of money on S7 downloads. And of course TPTB had a goldmine of data at their finger tips. Not only could they track overall sales and get a very clear idea of who was truly commercially viable, but they also get a wealth of demographic data from these sales. iTunes tracks everything – when you sign-up they get basic info (gender, age, income level), plus detailed buying behavior and music library info through the ‘Genius’ feature.

I’m pretty sure they look a lot more closely at iTunes sales than voting patterns now in determining who they’re going to pimp, and who they’re going to sign.

You can’t really read much into Tatiana’s wildcard iTunes totals because this was the second go ’round with that song. People aren’t going to buy it twice. The group 1 popularity chart would be more telling as it relates to Tatiana’s iTunes success compared to the other AIers.

Does anyone know when Jason’s recorded version of Hallelujah from the soundtrack will be available? I want it!

ETA: I really don’t see any point in purchasing an mp3 from a live show. I’ll wait for the studio versions they supply in the top 12.

Those songs only went online after the 4 were picked, so I think ità ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s natural their songs will sell more. People are now more interested in them.

Oh, you are right leome. Thanks. I forgot that they sang and picked on the same night. I’m so used to the results always being the next night! With so much idol this week, it all became a blur. LOL. I’ll be glad when we get back to the familiar format of the top 12 (well, top 13).

yeah , omg i remember i immediately searched for IMagine and Hallelujah after David A. and Jason sang them.

ETA: I really donà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t see any point in purchasing an mp3 from a live show. Ià ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ll wait for the studio versions they supply in the top 12.

For the people who have favorites already, the purchase would be worthwhile, IMO. Last year, Top 24, Top 20 and Top 16 songs were only offered in the live versions. I would have loved to have bought studio versions of Jason singing during those weeks, especially Hallelujah and Daydream but AI did not offer that option. I bought the live versions and love them.

Maybe they finally realize that when it comes down to it, it’s music (talent) they’ll be selling (or not) rather than the pretty packages.

I really donà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t see any point in purchasing an mp3 from a live show. Ià ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ll wait for the studio versions they supply in the top 12.

This year? I’m with you. Ain’t nothing I want to buy from the semi-finals. Not even from the two or three that I actually like.

Last season, though? I have all of DC’s semi-final stuff, Castro’s “Daydream” and “Hallelujah” and I even have Brooke’s “Love is a Battlefield”.

I’m sure Tatiana was one of the highest selling singles in the first semi finals round but people are not going to buy the same song twice especially if the first one they bought was longer. That would feel like Idol is ripping us off. If people wanted it on their Ipod, they’d buy the 1st one so that’s why the sales were low.

Her 1st “Saving All My Love” performance was the only song I liked enough to buy this season when usually I buy a lot more. I’m not going to buy it again though since the first version is longer. I also think she had more confidence in that performance and sang better where as the wildcard show, you can tell she was more nervous.

I thought she was the best singer of the season but people couldn’t look past what they thought of her laugh and crying. I happen to like her personality and think she’s funny.

You know, last year the semifinal performances were done with a full band, the usual backup singers, and the contestants could play their instruments. Overall the production quality of the semis was w-a-y better than this year’s cassio-music-as-backup-track.

I’d bet money that there would have been better performances, and better iTunes sales if the semis had been produced, musically, the same as last year.

I’ve only downloaded TWO song from the semis this year (both from the wildcard show – Anoop and Jesse), because the tinny lackluster backing music and poor backup vocals aren’t worth my $0.99.

Just my thoughts.

My ipod is loaded with S7 performances by DC, Jason, Brooke, Carly and Archie. This year, I’m having a hard time just watching the show … much less spending money to hear performances by peeps I don’t enjoy and can’t get invested in.

It’s been a while since we’ve heard “the most talented season ever” moniker. Maybe they’ve decided to lay that puppy to rest.

And of course TPTB had a goldmine of data at their finger tips. Not only could they track overall sales and get a very clear idea of who was truly commercially viable

I agree with your comment. But as an addition to it, and maybe some proof that it’s not an exact science (not that you were saying it is):

If I’d had iTunes in Season 6, I would have bought nearly everything that Blake Lewis did on the show. I loved him on the show. He was something AI had never seen before. But my taste in music and Blake’s taste in music couldn’t be further apart. I hate electronic music. I haven’t even given his album a listen.

I’m going to have the same problem with Adam if he goes the electronic route after AI, which previous recordings indicate that he very well could.

That is, if the American public are even willing to let him past this next week. *sigh*

I hope we get a look at the charts during the top 13 week that would be great to see how much they are selling. I am really not surprised by these numbers.

I absolutely agree, no water-cooler breakout tunes. The only songs I’m even tempted to download are Jesse’s two. I also agree that the studio recordings are a much better indication of who will make stunning records — see Jason Castro for a prime example.

Not only that — last year at this time my Idol concert crew was already making plans to buy tickets to the Season 7 show, as we knew that the talent pool was strong and deep. We’re not there yet.

Overall the production quality of the semis was w-a-y better than this yearà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s cassio-music-as-backup-track.

There was a 5 piece band, and backup singers playing throughout the semis, you just couldn’t see them.

the itoonz version of anoops song is ROCKIN.. really good.. I bought it yesterday.. I also bought ricky’s song.

http://i39.tinypic.com/10rpuo4.jpg
most of the songs ranking…

Yeah those rankings are nothing to go by. Considering Adam and Danny aren’t even selling anymore? wtf? I think it’s a weekly comparison. Also wtf with Matt Giraud…the song sucked.

I think it will be more significant numbers next week when all of the competitors sing together.

I bought Anoop’s song and love it. I did plan on buying Jesse’s “Bette Davis Eyes” but didn’t think the recording sounded that good and didn’t like her most recent performance.

I don’t know if it’s fair to compare to previous season’s “watercooler” performances because most of this season’s idols have only had one performance/recording and even though the wildcards got a 2nd one I believe there were some limits on what they sang not the least of which being time. I didn’t buy any of last season’s first songs until later when I went back and got Michael John’s “Light my Fire” and Jason Castro’s “Daydream”.

I donà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t know if ità ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s fair to compare to previous seasonà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“watercoolerà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  performances because most of this seasonà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s idols have only had one performance/recording

And that’s one of the arguments against this semis format — no one is allowed to grow and break out.

Matt’s song sounds really good. I love his voice, when he sings the right stuff he blows me away.
I am glad he did so well this week. He deserved his Top 13 spot definitely.

And thatà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s one of the arguments against this semis format à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬’  no one is allowed to grow and break out.

I agree but don’t think we should hold this season’s idols accountable for that.

mj Mar 7th, 2009 at 11:42 pm

I think this is a fluke. None of the semi weeks work if you try it that way.

It is a “fluke” in that it clearly is an exception to the rule. But I hardly think this ‘glimpse behind the curtain’ is an accident. They want the public to see that America agrees with the judges selections and the popularity is reflected in sales. Just another little bit of manipulation here, typical for the way Idol runs things.

You’ve gotta love the chutzpah of the little disclaimer there on the iTunes page:

iTunes and FOX are committed to presenting contestants in a fair and balanced manner online and on-air.

Talk about horsesh!t, Jesus, these guys are arrogant.

“And thatà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s one of the arguments against this semis format à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬’  no one is allowed to grow and break out.”

I agree but donà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t think we should hold this seasonà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s idols accountable for that.

They’re not accountable but that’s how it is. Like Season 7 is said to be boring and lacking in drama. It’s not the contestant’s fault that most of them are drama-free and quite professional; it’s also not their fault that the show focused on mentors rather than on the contestants themselves. Not their fault technically but Simon/Nigel/TPTB blame it on the contestants why 7 was boring and that the ratings were going down.

I heard that “Alone” peaked at 22 on ITunes but its popularity is higher than Brooke’s “Hold Up My Heart” and that made it to the Top 10 so shouldn’t that have made it to the Top 10 too? Also what about “Drops of Jupiter” that also made it to the Top 100 on ITunes too and there may have been one or two other songs that people performed that made it to the Top 100.

Honestly I’m loving Season 7 because there are mad talents in there. This iTunes ranking just proves that Season 7 is so much more well received.

Didnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Hallelujahà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  go to #1 last year? It was at least Top 10 I think That was a live version from the semi finals.

Jeff Buckley’s version of Hallelujah went to #1. Jason’s Hallelujah did really well, too, but you have to conceed that you can’t really compare the songs
Hallelujah and ‘My Perogative’. The quality of song that the wildcard contestants sang might have something to do with the lack of downloads.

I’m pretty sure that Jason did “Hallelujah” on week 3. I know technically you could compare it to this past week because it was before the top 12, it was still 3 performances in for him.

I have a feeling that there was added stress on this group because they knew they had to be in the top 3 to get through instead of staying out of the bottom 2. They certainly didn’t make the best song choices overall but it’s also hard to take a chance with it under the circumstances. I don’t know if there will be a watershed moment for any of them but think it’s too soon to say that there won’t be.

http://i39.tinypic.com/10rpuo4.jpg
most of the songs rankingà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ ¦

There are no popularity bars for the other songs, that list is meaningless.

I heard that à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Aloneà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  peaked at 22 on ITunes but its popularity is higher than Brookeà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Hold Up My Heartà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  and that made it to the Top 10 so shouldnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t that have made it to the Top 10 too? Also what about à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Drops of Jupiterà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  that also made it to the Top 100 on ITunes too and there may have been one or two other songs that people performed that made it to the Top 100.

iTunes popularity rankings (and the Top Songs list) track a rolling period, commonly believed to be ~2-3 days. So these rankings and popularity bars are not cumulative – they are essentially reflective of how songs are selling “now,” with perhaps a 48 hour cushion to smooth-out spikes. As songs peak and their sales start to wane over a few days, their ranking and popularity bars relative to other songs will go down.

Brooke’s HUMH sold better than ‘Alone’ last week after her Idol appearance. Over the first day or so when her downloads were at their highest volume, you could watch her track rise up into the top ten and stay there for awhile. And then as the rolling tracking period moved further away from her performance date, she started drifting back down the rankings. Now her spike is mostly over and ‘Alone’ is selling better and more consistently. ‘Drops of Jupiter’ and other songs that got a temporary bump from Idol exhibited the same behavior – up in the first 48 hours or so after a performance, and then gradually down through the next week.

http://i39.tinypic.com/10rpuo4.jpg
most of the songs rankingà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ ¦

Other than the wildcard songs, the rest of the list is alphabetized.

Later in the season Cook was #1 overall on iTunes with à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Billie Jean,à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹ABMB,à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ and à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹I Donà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t Want to Miss a Thing.à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ He likely moved six figures in each of those weeks. I think Idol and Apple made a LOT of money on S7 downloads.

I still wish they’d someday release those figures. Someone must have them, since people got paid based on those numbers… Oh well.
Thanks for reminding me what was David’s 3rd #1, too. I remembered there were 3, but couldn’t remember what was the song other than BJ and ABMB.

If the WC downloads are indicative of anything, than this really does not bode well for Season 8 so far. I still routinely listen to my S7 downloads to this day, there were some real jems in there.

I donà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t know if there will be a watershed moment for any of them but think ità ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s too soon to say that there wonà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t be.

I don’t think anyone is saying there won’t be. In fact I sure as hell hope there are some showstopping moments because, like MJ, I really love this stupid cheesy show. Hopefully as these contestants get their footing and start to build real (rather than producer-manufactured) fanbases, people will start investing in their favorites.

But having tracked the iTunes sales pretty obsessively over last season (what? it’s a hobby!), I can tell you definitively that what we’re seeing right now is a major fall-off from S7, even at this early stage in the game. I agree with what many have posted here about why this might be (lack of seasoning due to the 1-song semifinal format, poor song choices), but seeing that the Wildcard performances overcame both of these obstacles to some degree, I would say things are not looking good in terms of demand for these contestants right now.

Last season’s best-selling Idol performance tracks would usually start to appear in the iTunes overall rankings by the Thursday morning after the results show. The really big hits usually made the top five by mid-day Thursday, and then climbed to #1 or #2 through the weekend. I’ve already mentioned the big semi-final hits from last season. Of the pre-finale studio recordings last year, two finalists had songs make it to #1 or #2 on all of iTunes: Castro (Over the Rainbow) and Cook (Billie Jean, Always Be My Baby, and IDWMAT). These mega-hits also had incredible staying-power, remaining in the overall rankings for weeks after they were performed.

But even amongst performances that were not true “watercooler moments,” there were a bunch of songs that made it into the #10-#30 range on all of iTunes before gradually drifting back down after the Idol spike was over. Of the S7 finalists, four had songs that hit the top 30 overall: Brooke (Let it Be), Michael Johns (We Are the Champions, It’s All Wrong…, Dream On), David A (Angels, You’re the Voice, Smoky Mountain Memories, Love Me Tender) and David Cook (Eleanor Rigby, Little Sparrow, Music of the Night, I’m Alive, and Hungry like the Wolf).

None of these S8 Wildcard performances even sniffed the top 120 this week, and from the looks of the popularity bars I’m not sure even Matt or Anoop made the top 500. Like I said, this does not in any way preclude them from having break-out performances in the weeks to come. We obviously have a very limited amount of data, and who knows – maybe some of the early-round standouts sold more than Flo Rida. We didn’t have visibility into that. At this point though, signs point to no.

One positive is that great performances as the season progresses do tend to lift sales of the entire back-catalog. David Cook probably experienced this phenomenon more than any contestant last year – as the weeks wore on and he delivered over and over again, he gained new fans who went back and purchased all of his early-season performance stuff. It happened week after week – ‘Hello’ and ‘Eleanor Rigby’ would pop back into the top ranks weeks later when he was in the top 10 with ABMB, Music of the Night, IDWMAT, etc. Hopefully some of these S8 kids will show sustained growth in the same way, because (Kristy Lee Cook not withstanding) that’s what I think TPTB are looking for when it’s time to make signing decisions.

Sorry for the post-ho’ing and the iTunes dissertations. I’ll shut-up now.

It is a à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“flukeà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  in that it clearly is an exception to the rule. But I hardly think this à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹glimpse behind the curtainà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ is an accident. They want the public to see that America agrees with the judges selections and the popularity is reflected in sales. Just another little bit of manipulation here, typical for the way Idol runs things.

Exactly. I’m a software designer. There is simply no way that this disclosure is an accident. Idol songs are tagged automatically to be hidden from iTunes sales rankings. It’s not something they’d require somebody do by hand every week. Someone probably had to go through a lot of special effort for this to “slip” out. TPTB are getting hammered from all sides for this fraud of a season and that travesty of a wild card show. They hoped that by showing these numbers, people would say “oh, I guess they did choose the right four people.” I know they think we fans are dumb but it’s starting to frighten me how dumb.

ladymadonna, I thoroughly enjoy your iTunes dissertations. Just so you know. (-;

Tatiana Del Toro (probably purchasing her own mp3 to boost her sale)

Hi – larious!!! lol

I’m still hoping Matt G does Georgia again. I’m so buying that! So far, no one has performed anything that I have any desire to own. I love Anoop but I like the original My Perogative way better – it’s on my ipod. It’s really got to be amazing to make me download a cover… DC’s Billie Jean and Hello, Jason’s Halleluiah and Somewhere Over the Rainbow – amazing, imo.

^^Me too!!!

Maybe it’s because they’re hiding the band behind a screen but this season seems more karaoke-ish. Things seem sort of disjointed.

^^^ About the band… We all saw three backup singer ladies during the Wild Card show. There was also a glimpse of a drummer at one point. But I wonder if all the rest was being done with a single keyboard/synthesizer. I was listening to Anoop’s my prerogative and David Cook’s Hello/AllRightNow/HappyTogether. The production quality is COMPLETELY different. This year’s tracks sound very shallow and tinny.

Just because I did not download right after the show, I only tonight had the chance to download Jesse and Ricky, it just takes me longer. Long story as to why, but I cannot download itunes from my home, I have to take my laptop to a hot spot. I also hesitated because the invisible band sounds like crap.

I’ll never forget David Archuleta’s performance of “Who’s Loving You” from Star Search! It’s still somewhere out there on the internet I am sure. It was super cute.