Electronic music done right live is AMAZING. It just doesn’t seem to be something AI can do. They tried (Born to be Wild), but I’ve heard better electro-noise come from drunk dorks playing on their Macs (that’s more to do with the studio though, as I loved Adam’s live version).

The Chemical Brothers used to put on GREAT live shows. Which is not something I expected. And yeah, I agree, the electronica on the AI show for the studio however, was horrendeous, which is no doubt why Adam didn’t bother to try and recreate it live for BtBW. And I think drunks on a Mac is too kind, the word casiotone, springs to mind when listening to the studio version.

Whatever happens, I bet Adam doesn’t dump 50 lbs. of glitter on his first solo audience ‘ ¦ because that would be a definite Cookie diss!

LOL, Cookie would probably find that hilarious

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Speaking of 19 and RCA knowing what they have in Adam and allowing him to be outlandish, I actually think they might go a little overboard with that. They have a tendency to parody what they think is successful.

Ugh, not diggin Peaches at all but I love the new muse song. Let’s kick peaches out of Adams ipod!

Nope! Love Peaches. Adam and Megan are probably the only two contestants I would go to a concert with (we have similar favorite artists), which is probably why I like them. I really love the IAMX song with Imogen Heap.

I do think artists referenced tend to be clues to the music. Of course Adam is not going to sound like them (I’d be stunned if Adam had a song like IAMX on his album… pleased, but stunned), but it’s inspiration, even if it is made radio-friendly. Most previous contestants have sounded similar to their inspiration (including Blake, which is part of the problem there). To be honest, even if Adam became total electropop, I’d be pleased as I like electropop. I could be off, but I don’t think Adam will lose his “edge” on his album (he isn’t super-edgy anyway, but edgier than most people on the show) — I think he will lose some of his AI fans with his style.

Behind the scenes with DC @ GMA

Aw, lots of Cookie vlog goodness to enjoy today! Thanks for bringing that over, he’s a sweetie .

I am vastly enjoying this discussion and then flipping over to the Hard Rock thread and talking about pirate pantz, lol.

Behind the scenes with DC @ GMA

I am excited about the part where Adam says he is going for the Bowie/Muse sound. When he talks about electronica, it scares me only because the MFB does NOT interpret that well onto the stage. Maybe with the right musicians it could work, but it hasn’t so far, imho.

Electronic music done right live is AMAZING. Even rock acts get electro live quite a bit. It just doesn’t seem to be something AI can do. They tried (Born to be Wild), but I’ve heard better electro-noise come from drunk dorks playing on their Macs (that’s more to do with the studio though, as I loved Adam’s live version).

Starlight and the Bowie Medley were my favorite parts of Adam’s set, so that is making me squee. I figured that would be more of the direction once I saw some of his collaborators. RedOne is best known for GaGa, but he is very good at taking the artist’s sound and making it catchy and radio-friendly, whether it is Lady GaGa, Kat DeLuna, Sean Kingston (eww) or Little Boots (yay!). I doubt Adam would be as hard as Muse get, but the song he did choose to perform by them was their poppiest one. And while they usually are rather prog, their latest single has a T-Rex vibe. I do think Adam will be rather electropop at times though, but that is purely my speculation.

I think Adam will still be radio-friendly, but I think he will have a bit more “edge” than most post-AI as that is the way they have been establishing him. He’s not going to be edgy in terms of most music, but probably allowed to have a bit of one than most post-AI alumni since they have been establishing that sort of image for him anyway (RS interview, him pushing boundaries on the AI show).

‘So it’s very cool to have people singing along, and you’re up on that big stage, kinda leading it, and I’m actually surprised that a lot of people know that song!’ 

I was singing along with Kris, but sat down when I got the words wrong. I thought I was drunk, but was later told Kris flubbed it at the LA show, not me. I win!

I don’t think anyone forced ‘A Daily Anthem’  on David because it’s his own song that he wrote in 2006, way before Idol. It’s all him. As for the ballads you list, he co-wrote all of them and performs at least two of them now in concert and has performed all of them in concert since he’s been on tour. So, I think he likes these songs. (I’m not sure how he feels about Come Back to Me or Light On, however. And, we all know he doesn’t plan to sing Time of My Life in the near future ‘ ¦ or the far future for that matter

All I’m saying is that the balance of ballady tracks vs. uptempo rock the tracks that were selected in the album likely reflects the compromise that I believe the label execs forced Cook to make. Because in my mind, RCA/19 execs were thinking AI audiences swooned whenever Cook sang those ballads, so let’s make sure we give them some (or a lot).

I also know full well when ADAM was written, and Cook was likely very happy that ADAM was chosen by the label execs to be included in the album. I am not even saying that any of the songs are bad per se (well, I still maintain that IDIFY is mediocre.) However, he has stated that they recorded 20 tracks on the album, out a larger number (he mentioned 60 of songs that had been written or submitted based on his solo pre-Idol output) and I would hazard to guess that those 20 were chosen by the label, and then the ultimate 12 (13 if you include KOTN (again, the fact that that song is a hidden track speaks volumes (to me anyway) about what Cook really wanted but I degress)) after having been recorded were also chosen by the label to determine what would have the most commercial appeal, with both Cavallo and Cook, I’m sure, fighting little battles here and there to maintain the vision they originally had for the album. But ultimately, I doubt they had the final say. As we know from that EW article last year, Rob Cavallo himself talked about striking a balance in the album between (to read between the lines) what Cook wanted for the album and what RCA TPTB/AI fans were expecting based on his AI run.

But ultimately, my comment above was really targeted more towards saying that the rock-oriented fans may like the front half better than the back half, despite the fact that some AI fans (i.e., fans on this blog) like the back half b/c it is replete with ballads and don’t care much for the front half which they seem to be saying is not original/Nickelback-ish or whatever term is useful for conveying that a lot of modern commercial radio rock sounds the same.