January 2007 News Archive (Page 8)

Could this crazy behavior have been a PR stunt?

Its seems like a possibility now that the announcement has been made of a reality show starring Paula Abdul. The former dancer has agreed to a deal with bosses at Bravo to turn her life into a new series.

The unnamed show will focus on Abdul's work on American Idol as well as her private life, along with her new role as executive producer of the new film Bratz: The Movie - based on the popular dolls for kids.

"I'm excited to open the doors to Bravo and have all my fans see the other sides to me, beyond what they see on American Idol," said Abdul.

Carrie Underwood has a magical 2006. Her album, Some Hearts, is breaking records on an almost weekly basis.

The American Idol beauty recently sat down for an interview with Reuters.

Q: What would you be doing now if you hadn't won American Idol?
A: I would have a job somewhere, maybe in the journalism field or maybe broadcasting or something like that, but I'm not exactly sure, because I never got to that point.

Q: Do you think you would have done what other aspiring country artists to, move to Nashville?
A: No. It's always something that I thought would be awesome to do, but I consider myself to be a very level-headed person and the chances of (succeeding that way) were slim to none. I was just planning on being in the real world and doing the best I could at my job. I probably wouldn't have pursued music much further at all.

To read the rest of the interview, click here.

Simon Cowell wasn't always mean.

In fact, the American Idol judge used to be shy and intimidated by fame. He recently admitted regret for not speaking up when he had the chance early in his career - and thereby putting an end to pop dreams of Eddie Murphy.

The caustic American Idol co-creator was hired to help Murphy hit the high notes in the early 1980s. How now admits he wishes he had the nerve back then to tell the star he was terrible.

"He (Murphy) was interested in making a record, so I flew to his huge house, and I was very intimidated. I thought it would be just the two of us and a hi-fi. But I ended up in a recording studio with about 20 nodders; a nodder is someone who gets paid to agree with the person paying him," Cowell said. "Eddie started to play some songs, which I hated, and I just didn't know what to say. Now I'd find it a lot easier. I would just say, 'I hate it.'"

He's certainly proven as much with his recent criticism of Bob Dylan.

Season six of American Idol debuts tomorrow - but it turns out the drama onstage is nothing compared to the soap-opera antics offstage. So explains a recently article in The New York Post.

Based on interviews with 10 past contestants from different seasons, the newspaper reveals what life is like in the American Idol dorm.

Katharine McPhee repeatedly sneaked out to visit her boyfriend. Ryan Starr spied on neighbor Jennifer Lopez's house. Scott Savol and pals made frequent trips to Hooters. And Bucky Covington says the boys' rooms were stinking pigsties.

On the other hand, Josh Gracin often cooked breakfast.

Each season, contestants who make it past the national auditions are flown to Los Angeles, where they live two to a room in a hotel. Once Simon, Paula and Randy winnow the group to 12 finalists, they're moved into private accommodations.

During the first three seasons, home was a four-story mansion on Mulholland Drive in Bel-Air. Since then, contestants have lived in a luxury apartment complex just three miles from the studio.

They are thrown together 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Each is given a cellphone, but there's very little other contact with the outside world.

No visitors are allowed at work or at home, there is little freedom to come and go, they aren't allowed to drive and there's a strict curfew: 11 p.m. during the week, and midnight on the weekends.

They are surrounded by chaperones - from producers to contestant coordinators making sure the American Idols are where they need to be - and they are attended to by chefs, chauffeurs, stylists and security guards.

They have to get permission from the production and security staff to go anywhere alone - and they must have a security guard accompany them.

At the beginning, "we didn't know what to expect," says Season One seventh-place siren Ryan Starr, 25. "We didn't know there were 34 million people watching the show."

When Starr and her nine castmates - in the first season, only 10 finalists were selected instead of the 12 in later seasons - moved into the mansion, "we were like kids in a candy store," she says.

"We were running up and down the stairs, using the elevator, and we jumped in the pool with our clothes on. We had never seen a house that big."

The house, hidden behind gates, was rumored to be owned by an Indian princess.

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We can't even venture a guess as to what was wrong with Paula Abdul in this clip. We hope she's okay.

But it's worth taking a look at how she answers questions about recent American Idol auditions in Seattle:

For those of you with Sirius satellite radio, be advised that there are interviews set with Jennifer Hudson, Taylor and Chris.

They are as follows:

• Jennifer: Broadway's Best (channel 77) on Friday at 7 p.m. ET, repeated Saturday, 5 p.m; Sunday, 2 p.m.; and Wednesday, 2 p.m.

• Taylor Hicks: Hits-1 (channel 1) on Tuesday, 7 a.m. ET, rebroadcast at 8, 9 and 10

• Chris Daughtry: Hits-1 on Wednesday, 7 a.m. ET, rebroadcast at 8, 9 and 10.

As American Idol embarks on its sixth season, industry insiders are wondering just how long it can remain popular.

A recent article on MTV.com provided a slew of opinions on the issue.

"I think it could be like Kellogg's," said Ron Fair, the A&R guru behind Christina Aguilera and the Pussycat Dolls, comparing Idol to the century-old cereal brand. "They have created something that is just so intrinsic in everybody's consciousness now, and I don't even think 'How long will it last?' is a relevant question. I think this thing goes on forever. There may be peaks and valleys, depending on who is on the show, but it's like 'Monday Night Football."

Not surprisingly, Randy Jackson agrees.

"I think there's an abundance of talent in America, and there will never not be a lot of talent out there," he said. "You see what's happening to Jennifer Hudson, who didn't even win that year. That tells you right there there's a lot of great talent out there. It's just about finding it."

And as the show is increasingly legitimized by things like Hudson's star-making turn in Dreamgirls; the success of fourth-place finisher Chris Daughtry; and Prince's appearance on last season's finale, Jackson insists the auditioning talent only gets better.

"For years, everyone has been skeptical," said Clive Davis, the legendary mogul who has overseen several former Idol finalists' albums for J Records and RCA. "But I am telling you, for us it has been an incredible opportunity to find new artists."

So with an endless pool of future Kelly Clarksons to choose from, is it possible American Idol really could become an establishment as American as "Monday Night Football," which just wrapped its 37th season?

"I have seen nothing to indicate that Idol will be slowing down anytime soon," said David Bloomberg, editor of fan site FoxesOnIdol.com. "If the public were to lose confidence in the voting, that could hurt it. But it would take a lot for that to happen. Every year there is a 'shocking' elimination and some people say it's rigged and they're never watching again. And then each year those people are right there in front of their TVs once again. It would take some huge revelation to kill the show at this point."

JoJo Wright, who, like Seacrest, hosts a radio show on KIIS-FM in Los Angeles, suggested another potential concern.

"The only immediate scenario I see that could dethrone Idol is losing Simon," he said. "All the characters have become household names, but Simon is the central figure that the show revolves around."

Cowell's contract with American Idol lasts another four seasons, but with so many other projects in the works (from his classical boy band Il Divo to "America's Got Talent" to huge British hit "The X Factor"), there's no guarantee he'll renew again."

"American Idol is genius because it takes singing songs and basically turns it into sports, where it's a competition," Fair explained. "We all know in real life music is not a sporting event, but on the show they are able to flip the elements around so that you get the same buzz you get off watching a game as you do watching music getting performed.

I am jealous that it's not my show. And as much as I am not a fan of many of the winners, I think it is an absolute genius, ubiquitous institution."

We've arrived at the final part of Entertainment Weekly's American Idol 6 preview. The focus of it?

The one. The only. Simon Cowell.

5. Simon is even crankier than usual
And with good reason: He's doing double time exec-producing The X Factor, developing season 2 of NBC's America's Got Talent, and overseeing bands like Il Divo, the favored crooners of suburban mothers everywhere.

"Simon's working more than he's ever worked before,'' says Seacrest, ''and he has been more testy than ever before.''

And when Cowell gets testy, Abdul gets flustered, Seacrest gets cocky, and Jackson gets� Well, he says ''dawg'' a lot.

Even just sitting in a room with the four friends during a break is entertaining enough to conjure up ideas for an American Idol spin-off. They've got a quirky, endearing camaraderie, and as they talk, the topics fly at random:

First, there's Underwood bringing fellow season 4 contestant Anthony Fedorov as her date to November's CMAs. (''That was the biggest news the next morning,'' Seacrest laughs. ''Do you think they ended up hooking up?'')

Reports of John Mayer and Jessica Simpson's rekindled romance get them gossiping (''What is he doing?'' Jackson whispers to Seacrest). And then it's on to the misconceptions the public has about them. (''Last year, when no one understood what I was saying, and even though I've never been drunk in my life, I'm accused of filling my Coca-Cola cup with alcohol,'' Abdul says. ''Yeah, that was really fun for me.'')

At times, they even let out a few honest-to-goodness compliments.

''What I love about Paula is she's a genuine fan,'' says Cowell. ''She's the only one who's emotionally involved. Someone's got to do it.''

Adds Seacrest: ''The first thing that happens every year when we see each other is we have that look like on the first day of school when you haven't seen your friends all summer and you have so much to gossip about.''

So while they bicker and feud and cry (Paula), and occasionally even stomp off the set, millions of fans wouldn't have it any other way.

''It's one of the greater phenomena when people click like we do,'' says Jackson. ''We grow and change every year. It's a circus... but it's a fun circus.''

Here's a look at American Idols on the album chart (and a couple that have fallen off), courtesy Nielsen SoundScan:

Number-one last week: Dreamgirls featuring Jennifer Hudson (66,000, down 36% from the previous week; 452,000 total): Of course not technically a J-Hud (wow, hope that doesn't catch on) album, but she deserves to share in the credit.

Number-three: Daughtry (56,000 sold; down 27%; 1.18 million total): Great jump, although it was due to his rate of decline was the only one among the top 10 albums that was lower than the overall drop in album sales (which was 34%).

Number-19: Carrie Underwood (39,000 sold; down 41%; 5 million total)

Number-47: Taylor Hicks (19,000 sold; down 51%; 559,000 total): Everybody was down, but Taylor dropped significantly.

Number-66: Fantasia (14,000 sold; down 37%; 231,000): Essentially held its own considering the general downtrend, and the single's still alive, but it's a long way from gold.

Number-83: Kellie Pickler (10,600 sold: down 36%; 363,000): Also holding its own. Three months to 500,000 at this pace.

Katharine McPhee: No. 3 on the singles chart with a staggering 600 copies; total 158,000.

Katharine McPhee is kicking off sweeps month on Ugly Betty. Last season's American Idol runner-up will appear as herself on the Feb. 1 episode, "I'm Coming Out," about Mode's runway show.

The show will air two days after McPhee's self-titled album hits stores. Ugly Betty stars newcomer, America Ferrera.

This is the second annoucement in a week of an American Idol alum jumping onto the small screen. Kelly Clarkson will guest star on an upcoming episode of Reba, as well.