Headlines: Haley Reinhart Mazda Ad, Chris Mann Pledge Music Woes

‘American Idol’ 2019: Top 14: Part 2, The Interviews – This year’s collection of top 14 finalists on American Idol returned to Los Angeles on Tuesday, April 2 to get ready for the season 17 live shows and the final phase of the competition. Less than 24 hours later, they followed a tradition that began years ago by sitting down with Billboard in a dressing room at CBS Television City for their first in-depth interviews. As they filed in one by one from early morning to evening time, they answered questions about their earliest musical memories, their influences and their personal histories of Idol. – Read more at Billboard.com

Mazda3 Campaign Debuts During NCAA Championships – Mazda is using one of the spring’s biggest sporting events to break the second installment of its “Feel Alive” campaign. The 60-second spot, “Dream Bigger,” from Garage Team Mazda, debuts tonight, April 8, during the NCAA Championship game. The spot features Haley Reinhart covering “Dreams” by The Cranberries and is directed by John Hillcoat. known for his Apple spots, films and TV series “Black Mirror.” – Read more at Media Post (I’ve seen this commercial several times and didn’t make the connection to Haley!)

Chris Mann Posts a PledgeMusic Shut Down Update – Thanks to your generosity, I was able to fully fund my new album, “NOISE.” I successfully used PledgeMusic for my previous campaign without any problems and was happy to use their indie platform to raise funds for the new album. PledgeMusic has found itself in a financial situation and has halted distribution of the funds they collected from the fans who supported artists using their platform. To be very clear: PledgeMusic has not distributed any money to me or anyone on my team that they have collected from you. Right now, the many artists who used PledgeMusic to raise funds for their projects are, like the fans who supported us, in limbo regarding the distribution of funds. I will continue to advocate for you in my ongoing discussions with PledgeMusic to seek a resolution to this situation. In the meantime, everyone who donated to the campaign to fund “NOISE” will receive their digital copy of the album on release day. Even though I’m not being compensated, I feel like it’s the least I can do for my fans. In terms of the other pledge items, I will need to kindly ask for your patience as I work through this with PledgeMusic. – Read more at PledgeMusic

David Archuleta, on the stresses of ‘American Idol’ and becoming a celebrity pre-Twitter – Archuleta is grateful the “American Idol” producers were intrigued by his personality and story. He certainly wasn’t looking for the fame and wouldn’t have had it without the show. He auditioned out of sheer curiosity and never felt comfortable being the center of attention. “I liked being away from the camera,” he says. “I wanted to be invisible.” And he still checks in on the show and is friends with other contestants, including Ashley Hess, who made it into the top 20 this season. – Read more at Fresno Bee

About mj santilli 34833 Articles
Founder and editor of mjsbigblog.com, home of the awesomest fan community on the net. I love cheesy singing shows of all kinds, whether reality or scripted. I adore American Idol, but also love The Voice, Glee, X Factor and more!