Q&A: Simon Cowell
The Hollywood Reporter: Who do you think will win “Idol” this season?
Simon Cowell: Either Adam (Lambert) or Danny (Gokey).
THR: How would you rank this season so far overall?
Cowell: The contestants are interesting, they’re talented. I think, arguably, with this guy Adam, he could be one of the best we’ve ever had — in terms of an out-and-out pop star who could sell all over the world. So in that respect, it’s been one of my favorite seasons. Much better than last year. I got bored last year. Just totally, totally bored. It was like judging a bunch of robots.
THR: And if you’re bored, then the audience probably picks up on that.
Cowell: I get accused of looking bored, looking around. But if you get to that point, it’s because you are. You know, we’re not actors. So at a point I get a bit fidgety, because I have the attention span of a goldfish. I get bored very, very quickly.
More Idol Headlines after the JUMP…
The Most Dramatic Rose Ceremony in American Idol History
That’s how you do Idol! I mean, that’s how you do it. Manufacture “surprises” so people will keep watching a full hour of television that should only take five minutes. Did your jaw drop?
Of course, I’m referring to the huge, shocking surprise that TAYLOR HICKS IS STILL ALIVE. I know, America. We all thought he was carted off to the old folks’ home like two years ago, where he died an anonymous, dusty, quiet death and was buried in an unmarked grave under a maple tree. But we were all wrong! He’s been doing Grease and singing at Foxwoods, and now he’s got some sort of new album out and he played the guitar and had a sad seizure on stage and Simon’s blood probably boiled. Soul patrol!
American Idol Results: The Matt In The Hat Falls Flat
There was never a time when it seriously looked like Matt Giraud might win American Idol, but his narrow escapes will go down as an essential part of Season Eight lore. He appeared to squander his position as a judges’ favorite with a semifinal take on “Viva La Vida” that is still among the worst things heard on the show all year, but landed a surprise callback for the wild card show and a subsequent spot in the final thirteen. Then, after surviving a trip to the bottom three, he was voted out by America two weeks ago, only to become the first ever beneficiary of the judges’ save.
American Idol: The Huff gets going
As happens whenever “American Idol” is up against an original “Lost, ” I left last night’s “Idol” recapping duties to Vicki Hyman, so you can read her take on what went down, who went home, etc. What I want to talk about, after the jump, is the Huff…
The Huff is a time-honored “Idol” tradition going back to the infamous night in season three when Jennifer Hudson went home and Fantasia and La Toya were in the bottom three with her. Basically, at top 7 elimination night — and occasionally on top 5 night — the contestants are divided into two groups, with one left alone, told they’re safe, and asked to choose which group he or she belongs with. The Huff is named for the first victim of this maneuver, gospel-singing, dip-dancing George Huff, who looked terrified and confused for about 18 hours before finally walking over to the three R&B divas — only to be told, as the studio audience gasped, that he was standing with the wrong group.
Adam Lambert, Kris Allen Fans React To ‘Idol’ Bottom-Three Surprise
Sonja Keith felt sick to her stomach Wednesday (April 29) night. Watching the “American Idol” results show at home with her family, one of the organizers of Tuesday night’s huge Kris Allen Watch Party in the singer’s hometown of Conway, Arkansas, said she couldn’t believe her eyes or ears.
“My thought was, ‘How is that possible?’ ” she told MTV News the morning after Allen, 23, made his first trip to the bottom three and Matt Giraud was sent home.
That stunned reaction was equaled only by the shock that supporters of front-runner Adam Lambert felt when the 28-year-old musical-theater veteran joined Allen in the bottom three for the first time this season.
Five Possible Reasons Why Adam Lambert Was In The Bottom Three Last Night
The biggest news to come out of last night episode of …American Idol was not that Matt Giraud was eliminated (for the third time this season ‘ yawn and farewell), but that Adam Lambert shockingly landed in the bottom three. While Im sure many Lambert fans are busy wailing in agony and disbelief over the travesty, wondering how this could have possibly happened, I can think of at least five reasons.
‘American Idol’ and Apples in Stereo: weird-good or weird-bad?
Last night’s in-show Ford Focus advertorial on Americal Idol, featuring psych-pop outfit Apples in Stereo’s “Energy, ” now occupies a special place in history — that ant-sized spot where AI viewers and Elephant Six collective fans meet.
Below, Idol’s version of the song, and the original video from the 2007 album New Magnet Wonder. Tell us, Musix Mixers, is anything that exposes an underappreciated band to the masses (see: Of Montreal’s Outback Steakhouse ads, M.I.A.’s “Paper Planes”-boosting Pineapple Express appearance) a good thing — cred doesn’t pay the ConEd bill, after all — or does it just suck the pleasure and context out of music that means something to you? Do you feel like buying a car now?
East Troy Singer Beats Danny Gokey at WAMI Awards
WITI-TV, MILWAUKEE – Danny Gokey could end up winning American Idol, but Monday night he lost another competition. Gokey was edged out by an East Troy artist you may not have heard of. FOX 6’s Chrystina Head explains.
Could Adam Lambert be first gay “American Idol”?
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Adam Lambert wears eyeliner and diamond stud earrings, sings like a dream and has won a rare standing ovation from tough-minded judge Simon Cowell.
With three weeks to go before the “American Idol” final, Lambert, 27, is favored to win the No. 1 U.S. television talent show and become, possibly, the first gay or bisexual singer to be handed the “Idol” title by millions of Americans.
Ann Powers: Thoughts on Adam Lambert and the cliffhanger
Adamlambertmattgiraud250 “It’s just a show, it’s just a show, it’s just a show….” so Yahoo’s “American Idol” tracker Lyndsey Parker posted on her Facebook page early in last night’s show, at around 6:15 PDT. Idling in bed with a hope-it’s-not-porcine head cold, I noticed her status report and started freaking out. Checking my e-mail, I saw a missive from Rabbi Rushfield: SHOCKER! My palms started sweating. Something, I knew, was wrong.
If you’re reading this post, I’m pretty sure you know what happened next. Adam Lambert, the seasonlong front-runner in this year’s competition, the hot-as-ice performer I’ve endorsed as the kind of pop star who could change people’s lives, had been banished to the bottom bench on elimination night. Worse yet, he stayed there until the very end of the episode! I hyperventilated, hitting the “refresh” button on Google News every 30 seconds as I monitored the situation from my little corner of the Internet.
Anoop Reflects on Life During and After American Idol
HIGH POINT, N.C. – Anoop Desai was not ready to leave American Idol last week, but he is glad to be back in the Tar Heel State.
“I stepped off the plane and I stepped outside in Raleigh and … it’s just the air. It was just sweeter, ” he said Thursday, when he spent a couple of hours hanging around the FOX8 studios talking about how American Idol changed his life.
“I can’t just anonymously walk down the street, which is a great thing, but it’s definitely different, ” he said.
Rickey Minor: Matt Giraud “thought himself out” of American Idol
Matt Giraud may have been waiting all season to sing on standards night, but, once he got onstage, his over-enunciation and his mannered performance may have led to his downfall.
“I think he thought himself out of the competition, ” American Idol music director Rickey Minor told me Wednesday after the results show that saw Giraud voted off for the third and final time. “He over-thought what he was going to do, how he was going to hold his hand, how he was going to sing. When you do that, it’s not a natural thing.”
Some singers convinced ‹Idol house is haunted
No, it’s not the ghost of Elvis, but somebody is apparently haunting the nine-bedroom Bel Air mansion where the “American Idol” contestants are bunking while they’re in competition.
“Some people are convinced that there’s a ghost there, especially Allison (Iraheta), ” a skeptical Anoop Desai tells PEOPLE. “But I’ve never really seen her.”
It’s not just a matter of seeing “her, ” according to Desai, who says the ghost, named Phyllis, is “just a friendly troublemaker. She bangs around and keeps people awake. Allison hears something in her room every night. I don’t know if someone’s just creeping around in there or what.”
David Cook wows fans at UCM concert
WARRENSBURG, Mo. — American Idol winner David Cook rocked UCM Hendricks Hall Tuesday night for a sold-out show.
Fans had begun waiting hours before the doors at 6:30 p.m. for a 7:30 show.
Late arrivers may have been stunned to reach Hendricks Hall, only to find out that the end of the line snaked all of the way past the university Union toward the Wood Building.
…I figured that a lot of people would be lining up, but not that many. I didnt think that all of us could fit in there, said Megan Ray, a freshman.
Jennifer Hudson watches fiance wrestle in Dade City
If you went to the National Guard Armory to watch Florida Championship Wrestling on Wednesday night, you may have caught a glimpse of an out-of-town guest: Jennifer Hudson. The Dreamgirls star was there to see her fiance, David Otunga, who wrestles under the name of Dawson Alexander, Esq. (which is an improvement over his previous nickname, Punk from I Love New York). Luis Santana, a paparazzo for the Times’ sister publication tbt*, was on the scene and managed to catch a glimpse of Hudson hanging out in the background (wearing a gray hoodie and pink tights, no less), but she soon got wise and left. Otunga was there signing autographs and looking gigantic, though.
Catching up with Bo Bice
Bo Bice, …American Idol Season 4 runner-up to Carrie Underwood, is fresh off the heels of a three week tour and enjoying life in Nashville with his wife and two young musically inclined sons, Aidan and Caleb. Aidan, 3, …loves to play on his guitars and drums and he sings. He loves Rock Band — he does ‹Slow Ride very well, he knows almost all the words. And anytime Caleb, 8 months, …sees an instrument or somebody singing, he all over it.
After trying to make it as a songwriter in Nashville …about a decade ago, ” Alabama-born Bice, 33, returned to make it his home, and it much better this time ‹round. The Bice family have been Nashville-based for four years now.
…It nice being here now and being able to really have my dreams come true ‘ being able to write and produce music here, ” he said. “And then on top of everything else, it just a beautiful town here in the South.
Simon Cowell saves his nice side for British audiences
From the moment the Singing Souls dived into “Taking Over Me” by Evanescence, it was clear Simon Cowell wasn’t pleased. It didn’t take more than a few seconds for him to weigh in with his verdict.
“One of the worst groups I’ve ever heard in my life, ” he told the young women, with characteristic hyperbole. “Girls, you sounded like three cats being dragged up the motor way.”
Hannah, the most aggressive of the group members, barked back, as dismissed contestants often do. But rather than get flustered, Simon met her anger with charm. When she petulantly stuck out her tongue at him, he playfully stuck his tongue out right back: You can’t out-brat the brat.
Paula and Bruno, Danny Gokey and Lens Crafters, mansion ghosts, iTunes denial, and other American Idol stupidity
In response to recent iTunes download rankings that were (apparently accidentally) revealed, executive producer Ken Warwick tried to deny those were real to Fox Los Angeles affiliate, but as MJ Big Blog notes, his …duck and cover efforts fail as he used careful language such as …there are no download numbers from iTunes deliberately and …it not released, and it hasnt been released.
The idiot who interviewed Warwick, Fox 11 Jane Yamamoto, says …those numbers are not true, because she clearly missed the day during j-school when they taught about skepticism and the day when they taught students how to Google. Of course, the whole segment is blatant Idol-whoring, so it not to be taken seriously, but it horrifying to think people actually watch local news and think theyre being informed by twits like this.
