Posted by Saturday, January 27, 2018 by RODNEY HO/rho@ajc.com on his AJC Radio & TV Talk blog
"American Idol" has completed taping Hollywood Week, which we'll see probably in late March or early April.
Billboard got a glimpse of day three and seemed to take a liking to Lionel Richie. Richie enjoys providing advice standing up. So Katy Perry stuck a whoopee cushion and guess what? He got pranked - at least in a fifth grade sort of way. Richie also liked making puns about his song titles, noting how the contestants had to work "all night long."
Perry came in more blunt than expected, Billboard noted. She was nice but direct. Luke Bryan? Cheesy joke central.
But the writer observed that they do work well together. And overall, "Idol" stuck to the usual rules, with individual performances and group sings and the elimination rooms.
Also, "Idol" hired Katy Perry's musical director Kristopher Pooley to head the live band for the show. And Phil McIntyre will play the Jimmy Iovine/Scott Borchetta role as musical mentor. He is the manager for Demi Lovato and Nick Jonas.
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What's up with "The Four"? I couldn't get myself to recap it every week. It's simply not popular enough and in retrospect, it simply didn't excite me enough to go back. So I've been reading M.J.'s recaps instead. He doesn't seem all that impressed. Ratings have been modest, not enough to cause much of a stir or scare "The Voice." I'm not sure if it will generate enough buzz for Fox to pick it up again. The whole Gladiator-style atmosphere and younger-skewing R&B/hip-hop sound may differentiate it from the other two shows, but the appetite for another reality music competition show is not that great nowadays.
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Chart update:
Scotty McCreery's "Five More Minutes" is now up to No. 7 on Mediabase 24/7 country chart. (The video features classic video of Scotty as a kid.)
Lauren Alaina's "Doin' Fine": No. 35 country chart
Mandisa "Bleed the Same": No. 15 Christian AC chart
And an update from Billboard about Carrie Underwood's "The Champion" featuring Ludacris:
Ludacris lands his highest Hot 100 placement since Justin Bieber's "All Around the World," on which he's featured, reached No. 22 in June 2012. On Digital Song Sales, he scores his best rank since his featured turn (with DJ Frank E) on Enrique Iglesias' "Tonight (I'm Lovin' You)," which hit No. 3 in January 2011.
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Credit: Getty Images
Credit: Getty Images
Kelly Clarkson was given a Grammy nomination for "Love So Soft" as best pop female performance. She has been nominated 13 times in total and won three times.
"I just love the fact that it's how my husband makes me feel. Y'know, very sexy… and it's just an intimate song on a fun, sassy level," she told ABC Radio.
She believes she has no chance of beating Pink, Lady Gaga, Kesha or Ed Sheeran. (Pink, Lady Gaga, Kesha and Ed Sheerans 'Shape of You" and Kesha's "Praying" are more likely to win over voters.)
And to Life & Style magazine on why she chose "The Voice" over "Idol" as a coach instead of a judge: "I was so young when I started [on Idol]. I would've loved to have had someone who was looking out for me rather than having to make money off of me. I would've loved to have somebody in my corner like that — so it's nice to be that person for someone."
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Paula Abdul's mom Lorraine has passed. She was 85.
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Clay Aiken social media post of the week has nothing to do with politics or music. It's about... math?
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