The Post-Adam Era Has Begun

FINALLY!!! Winter's dark days again have light. Warmth invades its cold chill. The bleak empty void is becoming filled with purpose. IDOL IS BACK.

At the sound of the first train wreck I knew I had, at last, come back home again. Is there anything that makes me happier than hearing Cassandra say, "I want to stab myself with my nail file", upon hearing a deliciously horrifying rendition of Janis Joplin?

Well, since it's too early to become emotionally invested in anybody, yet (translation: nobody as cute as Alexis, or Syesha, or Brooke, or Sabrina appeared this week), I am left with some random observations.

I didn't miss Paula. I honestly didn't even notice she wasn't there. To be fair, this stage of Idol is more about the train wrecks and clever editing than about the judges, so my jury is still out on the No Paula Effect.

Along the line of judges, I was prepared to not like the rather anorexic Victoria Posh Beckham Spice but she made me like her with her, well, spiciness - quiet self-assurance, sappy sweet like Paula, yet quite willing to tell it like it is when people suck and to get in Simon's face.

Gee, I know all of Britney Spears' songs (guilty pleasure revealed here publicly for the first time). If I sing one really badly as in the guy (no less) that sang "Womanizer", can I hug Kara, too?

People who were good: Ashley (has "it" according to Mr. Cowell), Katie (16!) and dude with broken arms.
Hot Sensitive Guy with Touching Story the Girls Will Love: Justin.

Ah, yes, Idol is back. Sure, the grey storm clouds of Simon's imminent departure hang over us. But for now, Idol is back. Can I get an Amen?

P.S. Atlanta Auditions
Wow - Mary J. Blige (one of favorite artists) hardly said anything but was an AMAZING judge. Her horrified facial expressions were priceless! And she had good reason to be horrified: the girl who butchered Pat Benatar - mess with my girl Pat and you should be punished to the full extent of the law; and the loud, angry guy that I didn't know was singing "Kissed by a Rose" until Diandra told me. Knowing that is one of favorite songs, she was waiting for my reaction but my musical faculties were already beaten into submission.
Altogether now - "Skiboski, baby." He could actually sing a bit.
Young Jermaine was very good.

The Winner By Knockout?

Yes, I am going to gloat but I will try to be nice about it. I do recall stating quite forcefully that although Kris won the popular vote – by popular I mean ATT-texting teenagers and a few women in Nebraska – the real voting would take place in the fall when his and Adam’s albums were released. Because, ultimately, this is the music business not a beauty contest (although Adam was selected as Sexiest Rocker in People magazine’s 110 Hottest Guys on the Planet) and in the business – and by the business I mean the industry – it’s how people vote with their dollars that counts.

So if the early returns are any indication, this vote has the potential for a landslide. Kris’ CD sold 80,000 copies in the first week, the lowest first week total for any Idol winner. That’s less than Taylor Hicks (who I voted for) dreadful CD (that I bought) which sold so bad, he lost his label deal.

Adam’s CD (quite excellent by the way), on the other hand, sold 198,000 and opened at #3 ahead of Lady Gaga and Rihanna! This is even after the brouhaha at the AMAs and despite the lack of a strong single – For Your Entertainment (the single) had fallen off the charts prior to the album’s release. Having said that, For Your Entertainment moved back to the charts [#61] this week, presumably on the strength of the album sales.

To be fair to Kris, his album isn’t dreadful and his single Live Like We’re Dying is selling well - #38 as I write this. Still, the single didn’t bring the album with it, which doesn’t bode well. And next week’s sales for Adam will be as interesting as this week’s because this year so many artists have seen a big drop-off from the first week. But still hard to argue against the impact that Adam has already had in the REAL voting.

There. That wasn't too big a gloat, was it?

p.s. Need I also mention the following: Adam on GMA; Adam on Letterman; Adam on Ellen; Adam on the View! Adam on Conan; Adam on Leno; Adam on the finale of So You Think You Can Dance! Adam is one of Barbara Walters' Ten Most Fascinating People! Uh, so what exactly did Kris win, again? (sorry, couldn't help myself . . . .)

p.p.s Kris is on So You Think You Can Dance in their next-to-finale show. Adam gets the finale. Gee, who do you think Fox considers the real Idol winner?

OK, yes, now I am gloating!

Let the Games Begin Anew!

OK – it’s on. Idol selling season has begun in earnest and my ears (and eyes) are tingling with excitement. November is generally when the winners and “winning losers" (see Daughtry, Chris) get their albums released. And we are beginning to get not-so sneak peeks.

I’m sure a certain Kris Allen has something that’s probably floating around in cyberspace and I have been hearing generally good things about his pre-album buzz. But clearly, I expect the battle of the A’s this selling season to be all about Adam with a generous helping of Allison.

Allison first. Here is the link to her new single which has been getting good reviews: http://www.allisoniraheta.com/us/news/y-music-loves-friday-ill-be-over-u
I have to confess that I like this song: kind of Bangles meet April Lavigne meets Pink meets Eurodance pop. Very catchy and WAY better than the usual teen pop crap. And Jenny – she is singing an age appropriate song and sounds like a teenager – but one with talent. Is that OK? (I am breathlessly awaiting your critique)
I do wish they had left the Autotune in the closet for the chorus. She can actually sing so why bother with the vocal effects?

Now Adam. His video for “Time for Miracles” is here http://www.myspace.com/adamlambert. It's from the soundtrack of the upcoming (Nov. 13) scifi disaster film 2012.
Don’t be fooled by the beginning of the song as I was (generic, serviceable and safe – and will sell fine). But then three minutes into the song it gets CRAZY good - and VERY BIG - and Adam is AMAZING. Simply amazing. Did I mention how great the end of the song was? It left me breathless – well, after I went around the house screaming at anybody who would listen – “Whoa! Adam’s new song is SICK!!!!!!”

Note to Mr. Allen – your album better be good, dude. Let the Games begin anew!

Ellen!!!!

Ellen Degeneres the new Idol judge? How GREAT is that? This is so huge. I was seriously worried a bit about Paula leaving not so much because of Paula but because of the chemistry with the other judges and the audience. Whatever you thought of Paula’s wackiness, she was an essential element of the Idol chemistry. But – sheesh – Ellen is her own freaking chemistry! She loves music like the rest of us Idol geeks – I have long said that her dancing through the studio audience each day on her show is the best moment on TV – and c’mon, she will be funny on purpose!

The BIG question is, though, who has the power? Isn’t Ellen arguably a bigger star than Simon? She certainly is as big or bigger a personality. How will you not want to always hear what she has to say? How will Simon deal with that? And how much fun will she be with Ryan? Dude, this is so delicious!

Can you tell I love this?

MJ Tribute Week - how did Adam not win? Ah, Alexis!

How in the ^&^#%*(&&%^$^^(*) did Kris win? Travesty is the word that immediately comes to mind.

Alexis. Heart Be Still.

Favorite MJ songs? That is way too hard a question but here’s a few that immediately come to mind: Beat It (Eddie Van Halen!), Jam, Human Nature, Scream (with sis); maybe my favorite Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough, Morphine (from a not so well known mostly remix album called Blood on the Dance Floor), Heartbreak Hotel, Dancin’ Machine . . . . yes, Thriller (100 million copies worldwide? Are you kidding me?)

Tonight’s replay of MJ week was a lot of fun to be able to both relive and re-evaluate the season. More than ever – if such a thing is possible – I think Adam and Alexis were robbed. But I am ahead of myself, so on with the re-evaluations.

Lil – The Way You Make Me Feel – her bluesy, R&B take on this was so good. What happened to her that she got so bad?

Scott – Keep the Faith – boring, no pop, sizzle and pitchy. It’s nuts that he kept moving on each week.

Danny – PYT – dude, Danny can flat out sing. Yeah, he can’t dance! I still can’t believe he lost to Kris. Crazy.

Michael (Oil Rig Dude) – You Are Not Alone – What can I say? I got up and went to the restroom. Really.

Jasmine – I’ll Be There – nice start but got really pitchy when the song got big.

Kris – Remember the Time – OK, apparently I didn’t because it was better than I remember. But Danny and Adam were better, and at the time, so was Lil. And Allison.

Allison – Give In To Me – I love her voice but I wouldn’t have picked that song. Not enough range in it to show off her voice but still, she has amazing pipes.

Anoop – Beat It – in his interview he said he wanted credibility. So he picks this song? Arrogance? Lunacy? Naïveté? All three. Painful.

Jorge – Never Can Say Goodbye – I wanted him to do well but this was so bad. I remember liking it more the first time and after seeing it again, I have no idea why.

(Simon-Crushing) Megan – Rockin’ Robin – Mute Button! Stat! That was painful. And she lasted longer than Alexis?

Adam – Black and White – this was the one that put him on the map. Nobody even close – a class by himself in every regard – vocally, performance, look, stage presence. A travesty that he didn’t win. I am angry again!

Matt – Human Nature - I seriously forgot he was on the show. The words from the song, “Why? Why?”, perfectly capture Matt. I still don’t get what the judges saw from this performance.

Alexis – Dirty Diana. OK, she is still so totally hot. But this is a really hard song to sing because of the flow of the words and she didn’t really pull that off. Did I mention that she is so cute? And then Country Week came the next week and finished her off. Still, she was better than over half the people on the show. Yes, I am still angry!!!!

Idol Update - Carly Smithson

This has me REALLY excited. Much as I like David Cook, Carly Smithson was my fave last year and, in my opinion, was a leading contender for Best Idol Singer Ever - a list made completely irrelevant by Adam. And now Carly has something really going on. She is the lead singer in a band named Fallen which is the original Evanescence band that singer Amy Lee fired before hiring a new band for "their" second album before she fired them, too. But I digress although I must admit that Amy is one of my all-time favorite singers and most captivating performers ever.

Anyway, the first Evanscence band's album Fallen (get the connection between this and the band's new name?) only sold 15 million copies! And that band and the new one has Ben Moody who wrote much of that album as well as songs for Kelly Clarkson, Avril Lavigne, Celine Dion and co-wrote Daughtry's smash "What About Now"? Carly is as close to an Amy-Lee sound-alike as you can get - she even sang an Evanscence song during the Idols tour - which tells me this band and album will probably be really close to the original Evanescence. I seriously cannot wait for this!

Check out this link (after 3:00 p.m. Eastern Time Monday) for more on this cool development http://www.wearethefallen.com/

or her MySpace http://www.myspace.com/carlysmithson

Idol update - Adam

In a shameless but can-you-really-blame-them money grab, small-time record label Hi Fi Recordings is rushing out an album of some Adam Lambert recording sessions he did a few years ago as a struggling, young artist. They have just "released" a "single," called "Want," from the sessions, and the album, On With the Show, is due out later this summer. Here is a link to the song: http://www.hifirecordings.com/

It's clearly Adam and we can clearly expect better from his more legitimate, upcoming fall album which is being produced by RedOne, Lady Gaga's producer (and I cannot wait!!!!). For his part, he has released a statement distancing himself from the label and the material. Still, it feeds the Adam's already huge publicity machine.