What We Learned From Season Eight of …American Idol
American Idol producers heralded Season Eight as a time of change: there would be a new judge in Kara DioGuardi, a new arbitrary rule with the Judges Save, a new set featuring a giant white staircase for gallant entrances and a newly articulate Paula Abdul. But the season biggest surprise was breakout star Adam Lambert, who despite losing the competition to Kris Allen, made a name for himself as a glam-rock sex god ready for prime-time. And after five months of slavish devotion to Idol in our weekly recaps, weve acquired a few new kernels of wisdom:
Gokey’s ‘Idol’ homecoming at Riverside Tuesday
Danny Gokey, the second runner-up on the latest season of “American Idol, ” will be welcomed home to Milwaukee at a free public event Tuesday, May 26, at the Riverside Theater.
Gokey’s homecoming is a prelude to a 50-city “Idol” tour that kicks off July 5. The tour includes a stop in Milwaukee at the Bradley Center Aug. 28.
Doors to the Riverside will open at 6:30 p.m. for the 8 p.m. event. Members of Danny church choir, including friend and …American Idol contestant Jamar
Idol Chatter: Why Is Kris Allen’s Margin of Victory Being Kept Secret?
American Idol has often ‘ though not always ‘ publicly revealed by how much a champion won. To cite a few examples, Kelly Clarkson in Season 1 claimed 58 percent of the vote to best Justin Guarini, Ruben Studdard squeaked past Clay Aiken by a slim 1, 250-vote margin, and David Cook’s beat David Archuleta by some 12 million ballots.
Details on how exactly the just-wrapped Season 8 shook out, however, remain a mystery.
Even your new American Idol, Kris Allen, who came from behind to top Adam Lambert, claims to be in the dark about who seized what portion of the “nearly 100 million votes.”
Let Alexis Grace tour! A call to urgent action
Even with the season now over, the outrageous premature dismissal of the fabulous Alexis Grace still burns. It is hard to recall ever in “Idol” history, so much injustice being delivered upon one so talented so early in the season.
Of course, we know who is to blame for this; the tween girls of America may still be giddy from their triumph this week, but they have blood on their hands that will not soon be washed away. The ghosts of Carly Smithson, Melinda Doolittle, Allison Iraheta and Alexis Grace will haunt them well into their high school years.
What Kind Of Post-‘Idol’ Career Will Kris Allen Have?
The lights on the “American Idol” stage have gone dark. Season-eight champ Kris Allen shall be judged no more … at least for a while. When his debut album arrives at some point in the future, the fair-minded appraisals and vicious condemnations will begin anew.
The decision for Allen and his label will be what type of album he records. Will he stick to the acoustic guitar, singer/songwriter persona he seemed to favor during the show? Will he go in a country direction, as indicated by Wednesday night’s performance alongside Keith Urban? What’s the best bet to ensure Allen has a long, lucrative career? MTV News spoke with some leading producers in the music industry to get their takes on what makes Allen special, what type of record he should make and what artists out their have a comparable sound.
Kris Allen, Yet Another Pentecostal Singer
What does Kris Allen, American Idol winner, share in common with Toni Braxton, D’Angelo, Jerry Lee Lewis, Elvis Presley and a host of other famous singers? All were raised in Pentecostal churches.
In a surprise upset on Wednesday night’s finale, Kris Allen received more of the 100 million votes than did his rival, Adam Lambert. Kris and the third place finisher, Danny Gokey, are both Pentecostal.
Kris is a worship leader at New Life, a Pentecostal church in Greater Little Rock, Arkansas. He has done missionary work in Burma, Morocco, Mozambique and several other countries. He married his longtime girlfriend in the fall of last year.
David Cook Song Enough to Open My Mind
My daughter is graduating tonight. I wont tell you from what grade because if I say …college, I just sound old, and if I say …kindergarten, I just sound ridiculous.
But she is old enough to have taken it upon herself to make a video for the class. It will be shown after tonight ceremony. And it has about 150 pictures of her and her classmates from the past 10 years. Very, very touching stuff.
David Cook Tried Not To Cry During ‘American Idol’ Finale Performance
On Wednesday night, a year after he was crowned the American Idol, David Cook performed on the season-eight finale, when Kris Allen was named this year’s champion. During his performance, Cook paid tribute to his late brother Adam with the song “Permanent.”
“For the finale this year, I was floored that they would allow me to have that platform, ” he told MTV News. “There’s so many great artists out there that could have had that moment. The fact that they had me come back and perform ‘Permanent, ‘ something that was important to me, the charity and everything, to continue to give me that platform [was great].”
Did Adam Lambert Lose to Kris or Homophobia?
Adam Lambert doesn’t seem bitter that he was upset by Kris Allen on “American Idol” — but his fans sure are, with many of them claiming “middle America” or “rednecks” or “right-wing Christians” hated Adam because of his sexuality and that’s why he lost.
Is that true? If people thought Adam Lambert was straight, would he be the “American Idol” champion today instead of Kris Allen?
My gut feel, based on blogging about “Idol” all season and deleting literally hundeds of hate speech comments off this blog — almost all directed at Adam — is that yeah, homophobia did make some people vote for Kris.
Concert review: Jennifer Hudson delivers soulful, sassy show at Nokia Theatre
GRAND PRAIRIE ‘ Jennifer Hudson has an amazing voice. That’s the good news. That’s also the bad news.
It’s bad only in the sense that she could damage it if she isn’t careful. Remember that her concert Thursday night at Nokia Theatre had to be rescheduled twice because she strained her vocal cords during this tour.
And onstage, Hudson doesn’t hold back. Before an enthusiastic crowd that also seemed to enjoy trek mate Robin Thicke’s earlier set, J-Hud was full throttle from the get-go. Almost immediately she let loose an avalanche of lung power during “We Gon’ Fight” and “You Pulled Me Through, ” two uplifting manifestos.
Jordin Sparks Questions ‘Purity Ring, ‘ Admits Moving On Steph Jones
Jordin Sparks stood up for the Jonas Brothers at last year’s MTV Video Music Awards, proudly touting her purity ring. Today, the former “No Air” singer says she’s concerned about her feelings for singer/songwriter Steph Jones and where their relationship is going..
“We don’t know whether or not to go further or to just keep the friendship, ” Sparks shared with PEOPLE at this week’s BMI Pop Awards.
“It’s crazy, we’ve got the feelings but we don’t know whether or not to say it out loud.”
Elliott Yamin Comes Home to Innsbrook
Richmond native Elliott Yamin is right about a few things: nothing is guaranteed so living every day like it could be your last is key, the love of a parent is unconditional and housebreaking a puppy is completely annoying. He was wrong, however, about one thing: his 2009 Idol-winner prediction:
I spoke to Elliott at his new home in L.A. last week.
Elliott Yamin Interview
“Adam Lambert is going to win. That’s my pick. Absolutely. He’s great, he’s gonna take it.”
I think it’s safe to say Mr. Lambert – like Elliott, another Idol ‘non-winner’ – won’t have a problem finding the success he deserves.
Pink hates ‘Idol’ and other misinterpretations
The 13 final American Idol contestants performed Pink’s song “So What?” as a group on the finale show Wednesday. Pink posted the message above to her Twitter account the next day. The day after that, dozens of celeb rags couldn’t resist butchering the context to make neat headlines like “Pink: ‘American Idol’ Finalists ‘Butchered’ My Song, ” “Pink Hated The Top 13 On American Idol Singing ‘So What, ‘ ” and “Tweet of the Day: Pink’s Not Impressed.”
What’s strange is that every one of these publications is working from the exact same tiny amount of source material: 140 poorly punctuated characters that SatTatt thinks pretty clearly mean that Pink did not watch the “Idol” finale but that one of her friends thought they didn’t do a good job with her song.
‘So You Think You Can Dance’ recap: Mile High Groove
It never fails. For three months, I cover American Idol for this website, a truly fun gig that nonetheless turns me into a hollow shell of a man, especially by the time I reach the back-to-back near-all-nighters required while reporting the Tuesday and Wednesday night two-part Idol finale extravaganza. So I always trudge into the Thursday night season premiere of So You Think You Can Dance bone tired, and the notion of weathering yet another near-all-nighter to recap yet another televised performance competition show fills me with cold, unforgiving dread.
