‘Idol’ star Archuleta still rising, still in awe
David Archuleta’s latest reading list could reveal something about the teenager.
“Jason Castro handed me ‘The Exorcist’ during ‘American Idol’ and said, ‘You should read this, ‘ ” said Archuleta, 18, “I’m not much of a reader outside ‘The Book of Mormon, ‘ but I fell in love with it, and I really like the author’s morals and the lessons he puts into his books.”
“The Exorcist” has led to Archuleta’s reading of “The Witch of Porto Bello” by Paulo Coelho, which he says is a “little more out there, ” but he’s enjoying it.
More Idol Headlines after the JUMP…
Funny and moving, Comic Relief pulls it off
Then, in a special episode of the Doctor Who spin-off The Sarah Jane Adventures, Ronnie Corbett played a flatulent monster from the planet Raxacoricofallapatorius who was disguised as a small Scottish comedian. Soon after that, we got a moving investigation into life on Nairobi’s largest rubbish dump, carried out by Simon Cowell.
Fortunately, if it ever crosses the minds of anybody involved with Comic Relief that this is all slightly weird, they show no signs of it.
Kelly Clarkson
Turns out Kelly Clarkson is forever bound to pop after all. After her alt-rock detour on 2007 …My December, she returns to her crowd-pleasing ways, belting out the type of pop anthems she best known for. …All I Ever Wanted, Clarkson fourth release, showcases her vocal strengths better than ever. Good pop comebacks are not a dime-a-dozen, but in spite of some minor setbacks, the singer manages to come out with yet another success.
All I Ever Wanted – Kelly Clarkson
Her last album, 2007’s “My December, ” was hardly a flop, although its darker, less commercial direction resulted in all kinds of career-sidetracking drama for the ur-“American Idol.” Clarkson’s latest album opens with a chugging guitar riff cut from the same cloth as her 2004 smash “Since U Been Gone.” The message is clear: She’s (mostly) back to her winning pop-rock ways. A few cookie-cutter ditties merely take up space, but the title track, the achy-breaky “Cry” and the No. 1 hit “My Life Would Suck Without You” prove Clarkson hasn’t lost her mass-appeal mojo. Grade: B
Jennifer Hudson: ‘If This Isn’t Love’
Having won an Oscar for Dreamgirls and scored a slow-burn hit with ‘Spotlight’, Jennifer Hudson’s career was on an upward trajectory. But after her mother, brother and cousin were tragically murdered less than six months ago, shying away from the limelight must have been a tempting option. Showing admirable bravery, Hudson returned to the public eye last month with a Super Bowl performance and recently announced her first live shows.
Taken from her self-titled debut album, ‘If This Isn’t Love’ is a delicate love song that finds Hudson in her natural comfort zone. “God sent me an angel from above, that’s going to love me for life, ” she sings soulfully, with recent events making the lyrics particularly resonant. Combining modish beats with a cool, breezy chorus, ‘If This Isn’t Love’ may not be in the same league as recent power ballads from Beyoncà © and Leona, but it has an understated charm that’s hard to quibble with.
American Idol: Week 1 and the “Judges’ Save”
These early rounds are always a mixed bag, as the “also rans” and “make weights” are eliminated to leave the hard core of really good acts at which point the competition finally becomes interesting both because every artist remaining is worth listening to, and the voting can become unpredictable.
And it’s that very unpredictability that the judges are now reserving a single chance to undo. For one week only, at any time, and as long as they are all agreed, the panel of judges can save an act from elimination. On the week they choose to do this, no-one will go. But the next week, the TWO acts scoring the fewest votes will be sent home.
What are the odds? Dancing with the Stars for bettors
I’m not much of a betting afficionado, but plenty of people are apparently betting on the Dancing with the Stars celebrities, and we’re only heading into the second show. On Monday night at 8, ABC will air another performance show, followed on Tuesday night with its first results show.
When you have a show with more than 22 million viewers for the Season 8 premiere, chances are good there will be plenty of interest among the bookies and the bettors. So here’s the lineup, the odds and the analysis from Sportsbook.com:
