Idol Watch

Sligh: "I didn't want to win"

  "I never came into [American Idol] wanting to win it,'' Chris Sligh, the curly topped, chubby contestant who was voted off this week, told The Greenville News. "I made the Top Ten. That was my goal.''

Slight Sligh was even considering quitting, he says, but wanted to make the Top 10 so he could go on tour this summer with the other idols and collect a paycheck. "I wanted to be able to make music for my living, so I don't have to work at the marketing company that I was working at.''

He oughta hold off on quitting that job. Sligh's lack of star quality will keep him at a desk job. Not even trying to win reflects a bad attitude. Sligh's Christian fundamentalist college, Bob Jones University, also booted him out for the unholy sin of attending a contemporary Christian concert featuring the group 4Him.

Top 10 Elimination Results

Answer to this week's $100,000 American Idol challenge: Ruben Studdard was "the velvet teddybear." If you win the 100 grand, remember your friendly Idol Watch blogger.

Applause for Ryan Seacrest's fauxhawk. Next week it's Simon's turn to be Sanjaya'd.

Chris Sligh didn't look too happy during Gwen and Akon's performance. Could it be cuz he's going in the bottom three momentarily....? Or, maybe he can smell a second-rate Madonna when he hears one.

I predicted the right bottom three but when it came down to sexyhot Haley and Curly Chris S. 30 million votes weren't enough to save Curly. Chris S. goes home. As it should be, really.

Elliott Yamin charts

American Idol 2006 third-placer Elliott Yamin's CD debuts on next week's Billboard 200 album chart at No. 3 with first week sales of 90,000 copies. He's the fifth finalist from last year's season to chart (more than any other season). Chris Daughtry (4th placer), Taylor Hicks (winner) and Katharine McPhee (runnerup) had larger first week figures; Elliott tops sixth place finalist Kellie Pickler's debut. Only Daughtry has managed to land a hit album though. He remains in the Top 5 this week and has two singles on the Hot 100. The other albums have all fallen out of the Top 40 and none have sold a million. Next up: Bucky Covington (eighth place) is expected to debut in late April when his country CD hits stores April 17. His first single is in the Top 40 on Billboard's Country Tracks chart.

It would seem unlikely to expect a repeat with this season's cast. Can you imagine six of these 10 getting record deals or selling enough to chart?

Upcoming guest coaches on American Idol

In case you're wondering about upcoming guest coaches on Idol, here are the next two:

Next Tuesday Tony Bennett coaches and on Wednesday he croons. Expect standards. Expect Tony to gag Sanjaya with the toupee off his head.

The following Tues, Apr. 10, Jennifer Lopez coaches and performs the next Wed. Not sure what the theme is. She has her first Spanish-language album out now she'll want to promote and she's said she expects theme to be latin album music but, really, does that make any sense? There aren't any Latin artists among the finalists. Why would they be expected to shine in that genre?

April 17 brings us Martina McBride for country night (wish we had some country candidates). Watch sales of her album, Waking Up Laughing, soar if she performs its power ballad Anyway on the results show.

Tonight, Gwen Stefani (with Akon) does her silly single The Sweet Escape.

Gwen Stefani guests for Idol Top 10

Check this out.

Seems Gwen Stefani, pop music's Betty Boop, pitched a hissy fit over Sanjaya doing one of her songs tonight on Idol. Given the fact her squeeky voice makes early Madonna sound like Maria Callas you'd think she'd want someone like Sanjaya singing her songs. She could only sound better by comparison.

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"A lot of the artists I love aren't known for their big singing voice," Gwen says. Not surprising.

LaKisha Jones: Did Gwen coach Kisha on Donna Summer's Last Dance? Seemed her performance came out of nowhere. It certainly went nowhere. Disappointing. Clunky arrangement, no flow, stiff. (Better dress though). Simon's comment, "You're 30 years younger this week" is so unfair though. Last week's theme was early 60s British Invasion music chosen by Idol producers. She had to sing an old song. And Simon, sweetheart, last week she sang a song from 1971. Tonight's Last Dance was from 1978. Hardly 30 years younger.

Chris Sligh: Put a "t" after Chris' surname and you have a description of his feeble attempt at The Police's snappy 1981 hit Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic. Slight. Randy and Paula were right, rhythmically he was not in sync with the band's beat. Simon rambled on and on, "A mess." We get it. Chris took the criticism graciously, though.

Gina Glocksen: This girl can't do anything. Sorry, but she's the female Sanjaya. To start with, I hate this I'll Stand By You Pretenders song with a passion so it was no treat to hear this poorly sung sappy mess. Shocked the judges found that dreary bore her "best performance."

What the hell is up with Sanjaya's hair?? This kid's really working my nerves.

Sanjaya Malakar: "He got nervous, forgot words. I feel for him, it's a hard song," Gwen fretted. So Sanjaya strapped on a large feather duster, sang Bathwater with a mouth full of water and redefined lifeless. "Presume there was no mirror in your dressing room," Simon said. "You are jealous, you can't pull it off," Sanjaya sassed. America please...don't vote for this guy.

Haley Scarnato:  Is everyone holding back tonight so as not to upstage Stefani? Haley's sweetie-pie sluggish True Colors bruised my forehead from falling over asleep and hitting the monitor. Oops, Randy said "pitchy" again. But...it was. "Forgettable, nothing to remember, too safe," Simon said. Sanjaya's antics could save him. Being boring is the biggest crime on Idol. Haley could have doomed herself with that performance.

Phil Stacey: Every Breath You Take was a menacing song about a stalker. Phil's whitebread performance wouldn't strike fear in a kindergarten girl. The judges liked it, though.

Melinda Doolittle: "Beautiful, mind blowing, your voice is crazy," Gwen gushed over M'linda's Donna Summer redo, Heaven Knows. Heaven knows after 45 minutes of dull to dismal performances we needed a real vocalist tonight and as usual Melinda delivers. And this week she ditched the '40s secretary dresses too.

Blake Lewis: "Needs to be careful with beat boxing, distract from the music," Gwen warned. Good advice. Alas, Blake has no voice without the gimmick. Someone spiked the Idol punchbowl with novocaine. Blake's singing was sleepy but he was also hamstrung by a band that just couldn't muster any enthusiasm for The Cure's Love Song. I think Paula wants to do him. "Be careful not to be indulgent, a bit boring," Simon said, adding to Blake's ego by suggesting (along with Paula) he's the front running guy. Given the crappy quality of the guys that's not saying much.

Jordin Sparks: Poor Jordin left the picnic tablecloth attached to her neck when she left the buffet. Guess No Doubt's Hey Baby is contemporary. But the song's not a showcase for singing, has no melody, no lyric. Plus side: she took a risk on a stylized song. Down side: It was rather grating. But no matter, Jordin and Melinda are still this season's winners no matter where they finish. No doubt about that.

Chris Richardson: Sang No Doubt's Don't Speak. Don't sing, Chris. With his feckless voice and appearance he'd be the fifth wheel in a boy band.

Prediction time: Of course Sangina was ridiculous. Blake's smug. And the only real vocal tonight belonged to Melinda. But that's not necessarily the way the voting will go. My crystal ball? Bottom three votegetters: Chris Sligh, Haley, Phil. And going home: Haley.

Idol fans: Re-set your VCRs

Fans who tape American Idol this Tuesday night at 8 on Fox should add 7 minutes to their timers. To accomodate 10 performances (and musical guest coach Gwen Stefani) the 60 minute show will run 67 minutes.

Should be interesting to see what Stefani can contribute. Kudos to Idol for getting a current star to help the kids, but couldn't they have found one who can actually sing?

American Idol Underground: A resource for newcomers

American Idol Underground is an online community designed to promote awareness of new artists to help get their music heard. Interested? Check out the site for particulars. Basically, you submit a track, it is categorized into a genre of music (pop, rock, country, R&B, faith-based, etc.) and visitors review, comment on, and help spread the word. High rated songs get exposure, reviewers can win prizes.

It is licensed to 19 Productions/Fremantle, the Idol folks.

Bucky rocks country

One of the primary problems with theme nights on American Idol is it forces the contestants into singing music they have no connection with. It does make for mass appeal television, sometimes wildly entertaining, too. But it doesn't serve its performers well. And when they finally do release an album, if they are lucky, it's most often startling (sometimes happily, most of the time not).

Case in point: Bucky Covington. This North Carolina country singer was always an engaging presence and did some things well on the show last year (usually in the country realm). He would have made a more logical Nashville Star contestant but that show has a miniscule platform compared to Idol. When he left after finishing eighth few could foresee a career for this guy in music. Bucky singing Queen's Fat Bottomed Girls for a living? Bucky singing 60s British Invasion Theme Music?

Luckily, he has managed to land a deal with Disney's Lyric Street label and his self-titled debut arrives April 17. On Bucky Covington he's singing country-rock and he has put together a country CD that is far and away superior to any of the other Idols who have released country albums. He avoids the middle of the road Nashville formula that mired Carrie Underwood's and Josh Gracin's debuts. He has much stronger material with better production than Kellie Pickler's disappointingly lightweight CD.

Compared to the other non-country Idols he also has one of the more accomplished CDs. His uptempo country-rock songs have as much, and in some cases, more kick than Chris Daughtry's (admittedly catchy) Nickelback-like rockers. There's a hint of Bob Seger here, a lot of Tim McGraw influence. But McGraw hasn't recorded a CD with this much energy since Set the Circus Down six years ago. His music has more depth and intelligence than Katharine McPhee's. More life than Clay Aiken's sappy schmaltz. More memorable than anything Ruben Studdard or Taylor Hicks has put out. Song-for-song he's got a better album than Elliott Yamin, too. Kelly Clarkson tops him for singles quality but she's yet to make a filler-free CD.

He's not a great singer by any stretch. His nasal voice tends to wear thin over the course of the 11 song CD but, overall, Bucky Covington is a fine driving record.

Look for a story on Bucky in The Miami Herald around the time of the CD's release.

Here's video for his first single, A Different World: