January 2007 News Archive (Page 11)

We're not encouraging gambling, as American Idol should be enjoyed for its entertainment value. But for those who do have a hankering for some wagering, consider the following:

The site www.betED.com is offering odds on who will win Season Six of American Idol.

Participants have a simple choice: Will the winner of American Idol be male (+100) or female (-150)?

In other words, those behind the odds seem to think a woman will come out on top this year. History does back this up, seeing as three females have been crowned champions so far and only two males.

Kelly Clarkson will make a guest appearance on country music star Reba McEntire's hit CW sitcome later this month.

The initial American Idol recently attended at event that honored McEntire and has made her admiration for the vertan singer well-known. Look for Clarkson to appear as a ditzy local TV station intern on the January 14 episode of the show.

If you're a fan of American Idol, the cover story of this week's Entertainment Weekly is music your eyes.

It delves inside the new season, speaking with judges and producers from the show. You can read the entire thing here - or check out various parts from the article as post them on our site. Here's the first:

1. There's no obvious front-runner
One girl pulled a tuning fork out of her shoe. Another had a squeaky, helium-high voice that made season 5 urchin Paris Bennett sound like Isaac Hayes. One guy was so obsessive during auditions that he took copious notes about each contestant, his or her song choices, and each judge's reaction.

There's even a contender named — boy, we hope we're spelling this right — Chiquini. The one element that's missing as we enter season six? A sure thing.

''Occasionally someone like Carrie Underwood or Fantasia walks in,'' Simon Cowell says, ''and you just absolutely know [they] could win. This year, I think it's going to be more like season one, not as obvious. I really hope that, actually.''

Which is not to say that the judges don't have a couple of early favorites. Randy Jackson cryptically predicts the winner will be ''someone with curly hair,'' while Cowell is eyeing two strong contenders:

''One guy who stands out in the crowd and has what I call the likability factor. He's not what I would call the typical American Idol because he's different... but everyone liked him ... [The other is] ''one girl who's got an incredible voice... but not much personality at the moment.''

No personality?! No excuse. Serious hopefuls have had five years to study at American Idol University, and they should know that a snooze-inducing persona will buy them a one-way ticket to Crushed Dreamsville.

As such, says Idol host Ryan Seacrest, ''this is a very intense year. These are the savviest contestants we've ever seen. There's aggression, intensity, a bit of every man or woman for himself or herself. They don't care about making friends. They want to make money.''

They also want a reaction from Simon, but now they aren't so quick to take his criticism.

''With Simon getting it wrong regarding Taylor, it's ammunition for the contestants,'' says exec producer Nigel Lythgoe. ''If Simon says 'I don't like you,' now they say, 'I don't give a s---. You didn't like Taylor last year.'

The former American Idol singer and current acting sensation showed up on Good Morning America this morning.

Why might Jennifer Hudson be smiling in this picture? On top of her Golden Globe Award nomination for Dreamgirls, it was announced today that her peers have nominated her for a SAG Award, as well.

Only one big-time trophy awaits: Can you spell O-S-C-A-R?

According to Nielsen SoundScan, the post-Christmas week was slow for all album sales. But many American Idols seemed to be hit especially hard:

• Chris Daughtry is the new Idol champ on the charts for this week, but he fell from No. 8 to No. 11 after selling 76,000, compared to 250,000 in the pre-Christmas week. Total: 1.12 million.

• Carrie Underwood fell from 4 to 15 on the chart, selling 66,000, down from 292,000. Total: 4.65 million.

• Taylor Hicks album sales were down on the charts from 15 to 36. He sold 39,000, compared to 202,000 the previous week. Total: 540,000.

• Fantasia fell from 63 to 66, selling 22,000, down from 62,000. Total: 217,000.

• Kellie Pickler dropped from 61 to 84 on the chart, selling 17,000, down from 63,000. Total: 353,000.

• Clay Aiken sold 5,900 to bring his total to 489,000. He was off the Top 200 chart.

As American Idol season six gets closer and closer, here's some news about a former finalist:

Paris Bennett has named her debut CD, Princess P.

Bennett signed with 306 Entertainment for her debut set. "Dreamin'," the autobiographical first single, is slated to hit iTunes and radio waves in January. The 18-year-old co-wrote the majority of the songs on the album, which also boasts production from Jon Jon TraXX, Darren Lightey and Rodney Jerkins.

Since appearing on Idol, Paris has toured nationally for the show, began developing her Tres P clothing line and performed recently at the annual Walt Disney Christmas Parade singing "Let It Snow" with fellow finalists.

Princess P is scheduled to hit shelves in March, while the sixth season of American Idol airs January 16 on FOX.

American Idol winner Taylor Hicks shares the stage with soul singer Gladys Knight at the Orange Bowl halftime show in Miami on Tuesday.

The pair swapped vocals on the classic "I Heard It Through the Grapevine," after Hicks kicked off the show with his latest single, "The Runaround."

USA TODAY recently ran statistics regarding year-end radio airplay.

It covered the calendar year of 2006, and includes data from several radio formats. Therefore, the results may differ from some of the equivalent Billboard charts. But here are where many American Idol favorites and their songs ranked:

18. Kelly Clarkson/Because of You: It was on the weekly top 100 for most of the year (46 weeks) and accumulated a lot of total audience (number of plays times number of listeners at the time of those plays, more or less). Its weekly peak was number-three.

41. Kelly Clarkson/Walk Away: On the chart for 37 weeks, peaked at 16.
83. Carrie Underwood/Jesus, Take the Wheel: On for 25 weeks, peaked at 15
96. Carrie Underwood/Before He Cheats: On the chart for 18 weeks with a peak of 18.

113. Carrie Underwood/Don't Forget to Remember Me: 20 weeks, peaked at 29.

191. Kelly Clarkson/Behind These Hazel Eyes: 14 weeks (it was a bigger hit in 2005, when it peaked at number-four)

291. Ruben Studdard/Change Me: On the chart for six weeks, with a high point of 76.

308. Bo Bice/The Real Thing: On for five weeks, peaking at 79.

330. Kelly Clarkson/Since U Been Gone: Even though it first came on the chart in 2004, and peaked in 2005 at No. 4, it still racked up four more weeks in the top 100 this year. Amazing.

351. Daughtry/It's Not Over: Its two December weeks on the chart were enough to land it here. Peak so far is No. 61 (this week); it'll be a lot bigger next year.

362. Kelly Clarkson/Breakway: Another holdover from 2004, with two stray weeks on the top 100 this year (in January). Its all-time peak was number-seven.

370. Josh Gracin/Favorite State of Mind: Josh snuck onto the chart in July for a couple of weeks, peaking at number-96.

Lyric Street Records is a young country music label. It's major signing so far has been the top-selling band, Rascal Flatts.

Until now.

In December, Bucky Covington, a North Carolina artist who made it to American Idol top 12 finalists this year, signed with Lyric Street. The label expects to hit the ground running in January with Covington's first single.

David Della Terza is the creator of the website VoteForTheWorst.com. To say he doesn't like American Idol would be putting it lightly.

The man hates our favorite show.

He recently talked to Buddytv.com about reasons why. Click here to read the entire interview - and read more below to find out whether or not he hates ALL Idols:

We don't loathe all of the contestants, we love certain people from the show. We love the Brenna Gethers, the Kevin Covaises... people who just entertain us and remember this is just a silly television show. I personally love Brenna, Kevin, Taylor, Scott Savol... just about everyone we've voted for. I hate Kellie Pickler though. She's obnoxious.

And as much as I love bad music, there's absolutely no way I would subject my poor ears to Claiken's Christmas music. Though just so I don't get an inbox full of angry letters from idiot Claymates... Man, I love Clay Aiken's album. It's so... OK, I can't do it.