Rummaging through the archives of You Tube was what I did for the past couple of days shunning sunlight. That’s what you do when your face was Hell Boy-red.
I missed the first three seasons of American Idol which left me basically clueless about Kelly, Reuben and Fantasia. Together with the rest of big winners, it’s interesting to see how they all started by watching their audition videos. I think one thing they had in common was they already knew they would make it big time.
Kelly Clarkson, Season 1 winner, was the first Idol to win two Grammy Awards in 2006 for her album “Breakaway”.
Season 2 winner and Grammy nominee Reuben Studdard won by a close margin of 134k votes against runner-up Clay Aiken.
Eight-time Grammy Award nominee Fantasia Barrino was the youngest Idol winner at 19 until Jordin Sparks.
Country singer and Martina McBride fan Carrie Underwood has a string of big wins after her AI experience.
Despite his AI success, Taylor Hicks didn’t do well in selling his post American Idol album. But we really can’t tell what the future has for him, right?
Jordin Sparks was the youngest contestant to win American Idol at 16. Her records has been popular among the younger crowd. Long way to go.
Season 7 winner David Cook is a big Daughtry fan and has been known for his out-of-the-box takes on popular songs during his AI days that wowed millions.
By the way, it’s going to be a long weekend this week. I hope everyone enjoys it the way people vacationing at Outer Banks do.
It has always been Danny Gokey for me since Day 1. But there came Glambert, Allison and Scott the blind man. Then a couple of attention-starved freaks. Like Bikini Girl. Kris Allen was not even in my consciousness until he reached the finals, surprised everyone with how he nailed down “Heartless” and had his name engraved in Idol history. It was a huge upset that kept people buzzing until now. And some were literally upset at the results. Squabbles over AI results exploded online among adults acting like 10-year-olds.
Why did Kris Allen win?
5. He’s a church boy, like Gokey. And majority of Christian America definitely cast their votes on him. After all, family welfare first when it comes to TV watching.
4. He is the good guy-next-door, a low-key charmer, unassuming and refreshing. Kuya Emann said, “The voting was much more like like marrying someone. People like to be associated with a rebel, rugged looking type , but when it comes to marrying someone they wanted to be with a decent looking one. Ikaw ba gusto mong pakasalan yung lalaking mas makapal pang maglagay ng eyeliner kesa sa iyo?” Okay. Fine.
3. The consolation-prize comments the judges gave him on the last night of the competition made him so kawawa. They were almost short of crowning Adam Glambert the winner. Voters felt they had to fight for Kris to stay alive in the competition.
2. His version of Kanye West’s “Heartless”, a song for Simon, actually did it.
1. You voted. Someone even power voted him 2200 times.
If you didn’t know a darn thing about the new American Idol the way I remain clueless about rv parks, here are some juicy bits I pilfered from a fan website.
- He was born on June 21st, 1985 as Kristopher Neil Allen.
- Grew up in Jacksonville, Arkansas but now lives in Conway.
- Attended College Station Elementary, Fuller Junior High, and Mills University Studies High School as a student in the gifted and talented program.
- Leads worship at New Life Churches in Central Arkansas and is a member of Chi Alpha at the University of Central Arkansas.
- Did missionary work in the following countries: Morocco, Spain, Mozambique, South Africa, Thailand, and Burma.
- Can play a variety of instruments, including the guitar, piano, viola, and ukulele.
- Started playing the viola in 4th grade, became All-State in high school and received opportunities to play in college orchestras, but declined.
- Fan of the Packers and the Braves, and even played varsity baseball throughout high school.
- Married to Katy Allen, a former homecoming queen at the University of Arkansas.
- Kris is a business major at the UCA.
- One sibling, Daniel, a cheerleader UCA.
- Has a shetland sheepdog named Elvis.
- Has one less rib that had to be surgically removed in junior high.
I am a Kelly Clarkson fan. But somehow her latest single found its way to annoy me. I had to turn the radio off. That song, “My Life Would Suck Without You”, sounded immature, lame and not to mention, whiny. I wonder what Simon Cowell thought about this when she performed it live during her AI guesting a couple of weeks back. Her performance had always been brilliant. But this song’s lyrics were horrendous you might be tempted to hit the lyricist on the head with one of those Grohe faucets.
Guess this means you’re sorry
You’re standing at my door
Guess this means you take back
What you said before
Like how much you wanted
Anyone but me
Said you’d never come back
But here you are again
Cuz we belong together now
Forever united here somehow
You got a piece of me
And honestly
My life would suck without you
Maybe I was stupid for telling you goodbye
Maybe I was wrong for tryin’ to pick a fight
I know that I’ve got issues
But you’re pretty messed up too
Anyway, I found out I’m nothing without you
Cuz we belong together now
Forever united here somehow
You got a piece of me
And honestly
My life would suck without you
Being with you is so dysfunctional
I really shouldn’t miss you, but I can’t let go
Oh yeah
Cuz we belong together now
Forever united here somehow
You got a piece of me
And honestly
My life would suck without you
Back to American Idol Season 8 Finale, I have high hopes for Kris Allen. If he would continue doing something brave and amazing like what he did to a Kanye West song, chances are high that he’d be taking home the title. Adam Lambert is good, but I find his voice somehow screechy.
