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Access Atlanta > American Idol Buzz > Archives > 2008 > February > 17 > Entry
2/17: Gone Country, Jordin Sparks opening for Alicia Keys, chart update
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I hope you’re all having a nice, quiet weekend.Tomorrow, I’ll post my interview with Irish gal Carly Hennessy Smithson, who lived in Marietta from 2003 to 2005. (Vote For the Worst Sunday today noted that Randy Jackson was an A&R head at MCA Records when Carly was there from 1999 to 2002. Could this be construed as a conflict of interest? I would have asked Carly if I had known this before I talked to her Friday. Oh, well…) On Tuesday, I’ll post my interview with Douglasville’s own Alexandrea Lushington. The boys, by the way, are on Tuesday, the gals on Wednesday.
Here’s the top 24 commercial.
Not much to say about this past Friday’s episode of “Gone Country.” The group did a car wash to raise money (Nope— nobody wore swimwear. It was all very G rated.). Then they visited a children’s hospital in Nashville, a tradition for country artists in Nashville. Bobby Brown was especially affected by a woman whose child was dying and he cried, cried a lot. In other words, it was all about Bobby again. Given his drinking issues, this might eventually turn into “Celebrity Rehab with Bobby Brown.” In the last minute or two, we finally seeing them start working on their songs at the end of the episode but we don’t catch anything Diana did.
CMT, by the way, noted that Diana has essentially ensconced herself in Nashville, staying at 13 acre dig. Here’s the scoop.
“I figured if I want to do it, I’ve got to be here,” she says. “So I’m here. I’ve been living the country life. I had wild turkeys in my carport a couple of days ago, and I about had a heart attack. I have deer in my yard all the time. I had some country history, so I’ve had a lot of old friends come out of the woodwork and say, ‘Finally! You finally came back from the dark side!’ It’s been fun. I’ve had lots of really huge writers and producers [contact me], so it’s all falling into place.”
And she gets into some detail of what her country album may sound like:
“Sort of like a country pop record, more in the vein of Martina-meets-Faith, with a little Dolly Parton thrown in, just because I’ve got to,” she says. “‘Jolene’ is my favorite song! I respect her and love her so much.”
Jordin Sparks, when I interviewed her last month, said she was trying to solidify an opening slot for a big star. Well, that big star is Alicia Keys. That’s an excellent pairing. They hit Philips Arena May 28. I won’t be in town. Bummer.
Kimberley Locke’s lyrical memories will be tested on a future episode of “Don’t Forget the Lyrics.”
How about sales? MJ’s blog reports that Jordin saw a small boost after her Super Bowl appearance and now is up to 491,000 (with 17K last week), so she should hit the 500,000 mark this weekend. With “No Air” one of the fastest climbing singles on the top 40 charts right now, she should be on pace to sell 15 to 20K for the next few weeks. That would get her within Taylor’s 698K by June, which is currently the low point of sales among past winners prior to Jordin.
Daughtry, with a hot fourth single “Feels Like Tonight,” is still in the top 20 after more than 15 months on the charts and is up to 3.8 million. Carrie’s “Carnival Ride,” with “All American Girl” another top 10 hit for her, is now up to 1.8 million while “Some Hearts” (the Grammys didn’t hurt here) up to 6.3 million, the most of any “Idol” album thus far.
Comments
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By ,,,=^..^=,,, from home
February 17, 2008 6:53 PM | Link to this
I’ve not caught the Gone Country yet but since they show it a gazillion times, including the first 3, by the way, a week, i’m sure i will later on…
has ANYone caught the Randy Jackson production on MTV of “America’s Best Dance Crews”? it’s pretty entertaining, if you like dance. There’s one group, Jabberwockeze, that i think was also on Hasselhoff’s AGT, or at least, they were on SOMETHING i’ve seen before. All the dance crews are pretty darn good! including the crew that dances—on skates! yeah. anyway. just wondered if anyone else was catching that one.
Jordin should improve in sales once she starts touring with Keyes, because if nothing ELSE she’ll be getting exposure on a broad (pardon the pun) basis! (two females, broads, you know…oh nevermind)… anywho… hope you all survived the storm coming through about now (we’re of course getting it after the ATL up here in lil ol’ Athens)
see you guys tomorrow!
By Deirdre
February 18, 2008 8:08 AM | Link to this
Good morning Mushblogians! I predict a quiet day. It’s a holiday for many.
I haven’t watched Gone Country yet and may not. Let me know when there’s actually some singing on the show. Besides the 5 minutes worth of rehearsal.
By War Eagle
February 18, 2008 8:24 AM | Link to this
D, Gone Country started out promising but has almost became Bobby Brown show. Each episode is 30 minutes and CMT insist on focussing on Bobby’s drinking and other problems. There has been 4 episodes and we have heard them sing for a total of 30 seconds each maybe. Except for Marcia that chickened out. You aren’t missing much.
By Deirdre
February 18, 2008 8:35 AM | Link to this
I know, WE…the show had so much potential. Right now, the only thing it’s accomplishing is reinforcing why Whitney left Bobby! We get it already!!!
By linny ,,,=^..^=,,,
February 18, 2008 9:19 AM | Link to this
AMEN to that, D! I’ve been incredibly disappointed in Rich productions for the handling of the Bobby thing. IMHO he should have been removed from the show the first time he got drunk and passed out, and if not then, certainly when he got drunk and wandered from the group and came back with food for himself only, having already passed out in the bus and apparently .. um.. how to say this … been gaseous in Carney’s face when she was trying to help him. Ewwwwwwww. but noooooooo he gets his sob story episode because of the children’s hospital. “Gone Bobby” is not worth spending much more time on, imho. Sad, because I really am looking at Diana to “go country” anyway, and this could have been a nice stepping stone.
later, Mushbloggians (we will probably NOT see a lot of garbage from students being home and giving us grief, other than those who already know about us, because there’s apparently no electronic front page link today (whew!)
adios!
By Rodney Ho
February 18, 2008 10:05 AM | Link to this
Carly Smithson interview is now up.