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Pop Rock Nation

Tag: American Idol

  • It’s Blake vs. Jordin with Dolittle Cast Aside

    To be perfectly frank, my projection from at least the 12, if not earlier, was a Blake-Melinda final. Jordin came on strong the last few weeks (wow, she’s only 17 doesn’t count in pop music), but if anything the final is okay.

    The two most salable singers in the contest are Jordin and Blake. They’re in the finals. That makes sense. As I told a Help Web publisher tonight, everyone watches the show, but it’s the under 35 crowd who votes. Sure, some may have thought Melinda was safe, but ultimately today’s audiences want Beyonce, not Tina Turner, much less a goody-goody Tina.

    Jordin’s biggest disadvantage is the same thing. When asked about jamming with Sir Mix-A-Lot, Blake casually shrugged off the show saying they had played together before. Blake, like everyone else in the group every year, is not an amateur. He’s a local artist who does okay. Jordin is as close to amateur status as anyone.

    But even were Jordin to win American Idol, her competition would no longer be Melinda Dolittle or Haley Scarnato but Beyonce, Shakira and Mary J. Blige. Bo Bice never learned that lesson. Neither did Chris Daughtry, even if last year’s results were just horribly jumbled up. Carrie Underwood could go pro while Bo Bice could play in a bar band. Taylor Hicks may join him for vocals one night. Both are entertaining — neither is a star.

    Blake Lewis can be a star of the Kelly Clarkson / Carrie Underwood variety — someone who comes out of the chute and sells millions of CDs. He should be the next Idol. What do you think? Leave a comment and let us know!

    Spinning In The CD Tonight:

    Elliott Yamin’s album is back on after watching the now-shaggy haired singer command a stage. Last year’s most salable artist finished third. Pity that.

  • Ben Folds + Boston Pops = Fistfight?

    Pity poor Ben Folds who has been traveling the globe for two years now, playing with orchestras from Australia to the US. Elton John’s old arranger, Paul Buckmaster, has even signed on, giving the prolific composer his own seal of approval.

    And Folds is due some respect as he is quietly becoming this generation’s Randy Newman. On tour now with John Mayer, Folds helped the famed Boston Pops open their concert season last week when a fistfight broke out in the upper rows.

    Cameras captured the image and spun it all over television and the web. One half expected the fight to have been caused by Folds’ fans well-known tradition of singing along with every line of every song. Orchestra members seem astounded, and sometimes a bit overwhelmed, by the attention. But in the end, the fight was simply one guy talking through a song, another telling him to shush and ratting him out to an usher, followed by shoves and punches and posturing.

    In the most delicious of ironies, Folds was not playing his sentimental favorite Boxing, but rather, Jesusland, when the brou-hahaed.

    Spinning In The CD:
    Forget that Taylor Hicks won season 5 of American Idol. We’ll also stipulate that McPhee can sing almost as well as K.T. Tunstall and looked pretty darn pretty sprawled on a stage singing Over The Rainbow. Elliot Yamin has turned in the slickest release of all of Season 5’s contestants. Daughtry will undoubtedly sell more. Playing your single to 30 million people every week will do that for an album. Just ask Daniel Powter. But Yamin, who producers kept on a short vocal leash, shows that his is a voice that will be releasing ballads, soft rock and smooth jazz for another generation. Now if we could just get him a duet with Stevie…

  • Taylor’s Proud Single Knocks Off Shakira’s Hips

    Rapper Ice Cube

    Billboard’s Hot 100 is out this morning and showing that latest American Idol winner Taylor Hicks’ first single Do I Make You Proud? debuted at #1. The song knocked Shakira’s Hips Don’t Lie out of the top spot.

    In other Idol news, runner-up Katharine McPhee has told People that she suffered from bulimia for five years and threw up as many as seven times a day. McPhee’s interview with the celebrity magazine revealed that the singer started suffering from the affliction at 17 and sought treatment in October 2005, just before the show’s season started.

    Spinning In The CD Player Today:
    Ice Cube’s Laugh Now, Cry Later – the original angry rapper is back, and while Chris Brown has a sweet voice and Jay-Z wants to be a mogul, Ice and N.W.A. helped build the bridge from rap to the mainstream. Check out this photo of the 37 year old rapper in front of the Washington Monument. Does he look happy to you?