August 2007 News Archive

We applaud Jordin Sparks for her virtue.

The latest American Idol champion recently talked about her vow of chastity, saying she's only gonna sleep with one man ever: her husband.

“My parents gave me a purity ring and talked to me about waiting until I'm married to have sex. It wasn't forced; it just made perfect sense," Jordin said.

She went on to explain how incredible that first experience with be:

"It's going to be awesome to say to my husband that I waited my whole life for him."

He's number-one! A lucky man will be the only person to ever sleep with Jordin Sparks.

As we await the windfall of new American Idol music - from Carrie Underwood to Jordin Sparks and Blake Lewis albums - let's take a look at where current CDs are ranked on the charts...

• Daughtry is still top Idol, remaining at No. 33 with 20,000 sold, a meager 2% decline from the previous week. His total is 3.04 million, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

• Kelly Clarkson is next, but drops 36-45, selling 15,000, a 20% drop from the previous week, for a total of 619,000.

• Carrie Underwood falls 42-47, selling 14,000, a 12% decline, for a total of 5.88 million. That's the top-selling album currently on the top 200.

• Elliott Yamin has the best sales news of the week, jumping 89-76 on 9,000 sales, up 14%, for a total of 371,000.

• Bucky Covington drops 97-115, selling a little less than 6,000, a 21% drop, for a total of 260,000.

• Mandisa falls 122-129, selling 5,000 for a total of 36,000.

• Kellie Pickler is down 140-147, selling slightly under 5,000 (down 9%) for a total of 616,000.

• Fantasia manages to climb a bit, 193-188, selling 4,000, a 3% increase, for a total of 463,000.

• Katharine McPhee sold 900, her first venture into three figures, down from 1,200. Total is 353,000.

• Taylor Hicks dropped to 400 from 500, with a total of 694,000.

In between filming their new comedy, Katharine McPhee and Rumer Willis take the same sort of break many Americans do everyday.

Wonder if we can get a slice...

The website Buzz Patrol recently caught up with Sabrina Sloan, American Idol season six finalist.

Follow our link to read the full interview now - and check out some highlights below.

Buzz Patrol: OK, first and foremost, you were robbed! In retrospect, do you think you would have gone further in the competition if you’d worn short shorts [ala Haley Scarnato]?
Sabrina: Haha! You know, that is possible. I was just getting ready to pull them out before I went home. It’s funny since Haley was my roommate during the show.

Buzz Patrol: Other than the shorts then, do you have any regrets over doing American Idol?
Sabrina: Regrets? No! I was hesitant going into the competition because a lot of my Broadway friends back in New York couldn’t even get past the preliminary stages to meet with the judges. You know, though, the competition is about a lot more than singing. Popularity is a big part of it.

Buzz Patrol: Well, moving past American Idol, I’m told that you are currently recording a cd. Would you like to tell our readers about it?
Sabrina: Sure! I am doing a project with Sundance Head for Motown Records. Since we both did our exit interviews together, the execs thought that our voices and fan bases would blend well. The cd is basically a soul album that contains a number of covers re-arranged to become duets, though we do have one or two original tracks as well. The cd is due out in November.

Buzz Patrol: Any favorite tracks?
Sabrina: Yes, the Isley Brother’s “For the Love of You.” It’s sort of an Outkast meets Al Green kind of arrangement.

Buzz Patrol: So speaking of music, who are your biggest musical influences?
Sabrina: I grew up loving Mariah, Whitney, and Prince. Personally, I would love to be a kind of female Justin Timberlake. I love his sound, the whole urban hip hop genre.

Buzz Patrol: In light of troubled musicians like Whitney, do you have any thoughts on young pop musicians like Britney, Lindsay, and Amy Winehouse and the current trouble they all seem to find themselves in?

Sabrina: Well, looking at them, it makes me feel lucky that I didn’t start out singing as a child. I mean, I sang from an early age, but I wasn’t put into the business. This industry is too demanding for a child, being told what to do all the time and not being allowed to have an actual childhood. And now look; they are just doing whatever they want! It’s like they are taking back their childhood they never had.

Personally, I have an awesome family and a wonderful support base. I have a husband who is not in the industry, and I think that’s important as well. He is very supportive of what I do and there is no clash of egos. I mean, I’m a performer; we’re supposed to be dramatic!

Blake Lewis has a somewhat unexpected fan.

Friday Night Lights star Scott Porter recently said he was a little jealous of Lewis. How come?

Because the young actor that portrays Jason Street on the great NBC drama spent seven years as a professional beatboxer before landing this new role.

"He had some strong points and some weak points. I liked watching him, though. He's pretty talented," Porter said of Lewis's beatboxing skills. "When I saw him perform with Doug E. Fresh, I have to tell you I was a little jealous, but anything that can bring some notoriety to beatboxing, I really enjoy."

Porter says the locals in Austin - where Friday Night Lights is filmed - are great about letting him get on stage.

"There's a group called Boombox out here in Austin, and whenever I get a chance to see them, they let me up on stage, and we jam a little bit. It's a great feeling to get to do what I used to do."

By the way: this is the best show on TV you're not watching. We suggest you start doing so this fall.

FOX knows marketing.

Looking to capitalize on a pair of its hit reality shows, the network has asked two American Idol finalists to appear on a charity version of the quiz show Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?

In November, host Jeff Foxworthy will quiz Clay Aiken and Kellie Pickler on their knowledge of basic geography, history, science, math and English. It should be fun.

Billy Bush, Regis Philbin and Tony Hawk are also scheduled to appear.

Remember Jared Cotter, season six fans?

While the names that stick out from last year's American Idol are well-known by now - Jordin Sparks, Blake Lewis, Antonella Barba - this semifinalist has actually turned his success on the show into a new, kinda cool gig:

Cotter has been named co-host of music network Fuse's "daily magazine show" The Sauce. He had been guest-hosting since June.

Way to go, JC!

No offense to Blake Lewis.

But he isn't exactly the romantic type, at least not as far as Jordin Sparks is concerned.

"It makes me laugh. We went through this whole experience and it's like I can't even look at him that way," she told Elvis Duran and the Morning Zoo on New York's Z100.

However, being the subject of celebrity gossip isn't the only downfall to her this Idol winner's new fame.

"I can't really go to the mall anymore," Sparks said. Even though she's tried everything to be able to go out in public and not get recognized – including wearing hats and hoodies – she sticks out "like a sore thumb."

A major reason? Those lovely curls. Once fans spot them, they recognize this artist in an instant.

Not that she's complaining.

"Everything is coming so fast. My life is just turned upside down. But I love it and I want to do it for as long as I can," she told the radio DJs just moments before they premiered her first single "Tattoo."

The track, which describes the scar left when a relationship ends, was one of the first songs she considered for her debut album after winning American Idol in May.

"I didn't even get through the first chorus before I was like, 'I need to have this song!'"

Like other American Idol finalists from season six, Chris Richardson has been touring the country all summer.

TV Guide recently sat down to discuss this and other issues with the Justin Timberlake lookalike...

TV Guide: What are you up to today?
Chris Richardson: I just finished songwriting. One for my album.

TV Guide: Tell us about it.
Chris: I'm not technically signed with anybody or anything, but I'm writing my album and I'm sort of creating my sound. I just got back from L.A. yesterday from laying down a song with Blake that me and him wrote. I'm just trying to find time to sort of get a head start on everything. But I'm enjoying the tour. I love seeing all of these different places and all of these different faces and actually meeting the fans that kept you alive on the show. I'm just having a blast.

Then, in my downtime even though I'm tired because we barely get any rest, I try to write as much as I can. Hopefully, this will give me credibility as a songwriter.

TV Guide: Yeah. Everyone that I've talked to on the tour has said you're writing a lot.
Chris: I'm trying to get my hands in everything that I can. For me, it's not about money and it's not about fame. It never has been. I've never been raised that way. It really is about trying to connect with an audience. But, also, these 10 [other Idol finalists] are my best friends. I know everything about them, and they know everything about me. It's so easy to write for them when you know about them and their personality and who they are as an artist.

TV Guide: Are you writing for all of them?
Chris: The ones that I've been writing for recently are [Jordin Sparks] and [Blake Lewis]. I'm also helping Phil on his country album, and I think I'm going to start writing with Gina also. It's really about capturing their sound. A lot of people get lost in confusion on that show, thinking you're going to do a certain style of music. People always compared me to Justin, which I only took it as a compliment because it could be worse! It also draws a different crowd too because people are like, "Wow, I'm a fan of Justin. Maybe I should listen to this guy."

TV Guide: It's really not a bad comparison.
Chris: The hardest part is breaking away from that to show people that you are completely different. Me, I'm more in touch with my rock side. My music is more comparable to Maroon 5 than it would ever be with Justin.

TV Guide: Are you singing on the track you laid down with Blake yesterday?
Chris: I'm doing background vocals on it. We actually wrote that together on the bus, then we flew out to L.A. and laid it down.

TV Guide: What's the song called?
Chris: "What You Got to Lose?" It's a really catchy song so hopefully it pans out. If it makes his album, that would be great. If it doesn't, well, we had fun doing it.

TV Guide: Have you laid down any tracks with Jordin yet?
Chris: You know, there's nothing that I've laid down with her. I wrote for her and we submitted some songs. She's liked them and, like I said, hopefully it will pan out.  To be honest with you, I think Jordin and Blake are the only ones who are completely signed. They're getting their deals right now and all of us are still waiting for the process to begin after tour.

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We have no doubt Jordin Sparks will live up the past success of American Idol winners such as Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood - but someone needs to tell this 17-year old that.

"They've risen the bar so high and I'm like, 'I hope I can reach it,'" the most recent winner told The Associated Press on Wednesday. "I'm trying to reach it! I just really hope that when (my CD) comes out it'll be great and maybe as good as theirs. And hopefully it'll sell well and people will like it."

Sparks offers a taste of the disc with her new single, "Tattoo," to be released on AOL's PopEater music blog Friday and to radio stations Monday. The tune about ending a romance had the Jordin seal of approval from the beginning. It was love at first listen.

"Right after I heard the first chorus, I was like, 'I wanna sing that song. I have to have it. I wanna sing it,'" she said.

Sparks, the youngest winner in the Fox show's six seasons, said her debut album, set for Nov. 20, will be a musical mixture of styles including pop-rock — in the edgy key of Clarkson, one of her role models — and the dramatic ballads that made her stand out on the "Idol" stage. She hopes to add some country, too.

This girl's got goals — among them, to "maybe win a couple Grammys ... Maybe be happy with somebody. Maybe act in a movie. Maybe do Broadway."

Sparks is still coming to terms with fame. Seeing her picture in glossy magazines is surreal. But she'd rather be in the spotlight than out of it.

"I wouldn't trade this experience for anything," she said. "It's just been so amazing. You know, it's hard because I go outside and I'm instantly recognized and I'm like, oh my gosh, because it happened overnight, literally."

Sparks, who is out on the American Idol tour, remains tight with her fellow finalists.

"It's abnormally weird how well we still get along," she said. "We're still like any dysfunctional family where we get on each other's nerves, but, at the end of the day, we're still just like, 'Hey, you wanna hang out?'"

The gang recently saw the hit comedy, Superbad, which has no shortage of R-rated raunch.

"It was so funny and I feel bad because I didn't expect it to be as vulgar as it was," Sparks said. "But I laughed anyway!"