It’s hard to believe it has been almost ten years since Kelly Clarkson was the very first singer to win American Idol. Since winning the competition, Clarkson has had five top singles on the chart including her latest #1 song Stronger.
Clarkson knows if it hadn’t been for winning American Idol, her career would not be where it is today. Clarkson told us that wining the competition was like hitting the lotto and goes on to reminisce the night she won. (Click on the audio player to hear Kelly Clarkson)
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
To make it to the “American Idol” finals, you need a lot of things – talent, that’s a big one, and that’s something you’re born with… but you also need confidence, perseverance, and a thick skin. Those are things that come from experience, things you learn as you deal with life and its little curve balls. So we asked the “Idol” finalists about the biggest life lesson they had to find out the hard way.
What Hollie Cavanagh learned was what everyone struggles with at some moment in their life. (Click on audio player to hear Hollie)
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Jessica Sanchez almost had it all and considers American Idol to be her second chance. (Click on audio player to hear Jessica)
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
After watching Joshua Ledet this season, it blew us away at what his response was. (Click on audio player to hear Joshua)
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Make sure you listen to Fox All Access this weekend to hear what fellow finalists Phillip Phillips, Elise Testone, Colton Dixon, Erika Van Pelt, DeAndre Brackensick and Skylar Laine have to say about the lessons they’ve had to learn that only made them stronger.
After winning the 10th season of “American Idol” last May, Scotty McCreery returned to the “Idol” stage for the first time as an alumnus on Thursday night, performing his single “Water Tower Town.” He also got a special treat, as Jimmy Iovine presented him with a Platinum placque commemorating a million sales of his debut album, “Clear As Day.”
After the show, McCreery went backstage and spoke with Fox All Access producer Jeff Axelrod about what it was like to return to the very place that changed his life so drastically last year.
Entertaining as he might have been, you wouldn’t have found too many handicappers picking Heejun Han to go all the way and win “American Idol.” And tonight, America told Han it was his turn to leave the group of finalists competing for the title. While the judges still have their save available, they chose not to use it, and Han’s heading home.
Did America make the right choice this week? Foc All Access producer Jeff Axelrod went backstage with Steven Tyler and Randy Jackson after the show to get their reactions, as well as to find out what being a musical idol means to Steven, and the songs they might have considered for the “personal idol” theme week.
Next week, it’s “The ’80s and Eight,” as the remaining finalists salute the decade that brought us Madonna, Wham!, U2, and Kajagoogoo. After they perform, to whom will America be singing Scandal’s 1982 hit “Goodbye To You”? Find out next Wednesday and Thursday as the march toward crowning the next American Idol continues on Fox.
To make it into the Top 9, the “American Idol” finalists had to master songs from the “Piano Man.” But was Billy Joel’s soft rock too hard for the “Idol” contestants? We asked two of the judges following Thursday night’s elimination, where Erika Van Pelt was sent home, and got two different answers.
Joel’s former labelmate, Steven Tyler, told us he thought the songs are very difficult to perform. (Click on the audio player to hear Steven Tyler)
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Jennifer Lopez, though, took a different view, and said Joel’s songs aren’t that hard to sing. (Click on the audio player to hear Jennifer Lopez)
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Next week, the remaining nine contestants get to sing songs from artists they consider their own idols. Who will they choose? And who will emulate their idols well enough to move on? Find out when the “American Idol” finalists perform next Wednesday at 8/7c on Fox.
The American Idol Top 10 contestants share a lot in common with Katniss, Peeta, and the rest of The Hunger Games competitors. They’re mentored, styled, and put through a massive boot camp training process, and of course there are the fans – whose support is vital to the contestants’ survival each week. While there’s no killing involved (thank goodness!), each contestant does have a different “weapon” they bring to the competition. So, in the spirit of The Hunger Games we asked the Top 10 to describe “their” weapon of choice – that thing that makes them stand out from the rest. Enjoy our American Idol interview: The Hunger Games Edition.
If you could sponsor one contestant and help them make it to the end – who would you choose? Let us know! Then tune in to American Idol Thursday night and find out who makes it through another week. It all goes down at 8/7c on FOX.
It was a night of high emotions and even higher stakes last night at “American Idol.” Because of the disqualification of Jermaine Jones, the field was being cut from 11 to the Top 10, which means one contestant would go home, while the rest will all go on tour when “Idol’s” finished. Based on America’s votes, Shannon Magrane was the one who didn’t make the cut, and the judges chose not to use their save tonight.
FOX All Access was backstage after the show and spoke to Jennifer Lopez, who talked about the Top 10 finalists, having to say goodbye to Magrane, and what it will take to win the “Idol” crown this year.
Although “American Idol” is based in Hollywood, the Top 10 contestants will be in a “New York State of Mind” next week, as they tackle the Grammy-winning catalog of the “Piano Man,” Billy Joel. Who will be able to handle the “Pressure,” and who will be “Movin’ Out”? Only the good move on, so watch the performances next Wednesday at 8/7 central, and then find out who advances on the “American Idol” results show, Thursday night on FOX.
Last night on American Idol was an emotional farewell for contestant Jeremy Rosado, who was eliminated from the competition. Idol Judge Jennifer Lopez was a big fan of Rosado, but despite being an advocate of his, she told us last night backstage after the show that she and the other judges made the right decision to eliminate him. (Click on the audio player to hear Jennifer Lopez)
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Last night, the judges determined which of the bottom two contestants were going to go home. Lopez told us that making that decision wasn’t that difficult. (Click on the audio player to hear Jennifer Lopez)
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
On Wednesday night, the female contestants performed songs from the great late Whitney Houston, and the boys performed songs from the great Stevie Wonder. Lopez thought overall that the contestants did a great job singing the songs of those legendary singers.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Katherine McPhee became a star after she was a contestant on season five of American Idol. McPhee finished in second place next to Taylor Hicks. Since then, McPhee has gone on to do movies and currently stars in the NBC musical drama, Smash.
While American Idol was a great and grueling experience for McPhee, she told us that starring on Smash is more grueling, and that she has to pace herself while being on a television series.
If you watched Hollywood week on “American Idol,” you saw some of the contestants literally succumb to the pressure. Meltdowns, faintings… it was one of the wildest “Idol” weeks ever, and even the judges were surprised by what happened. Jennifer Lopez talked to us about why she thinks this year’s singers are feeling the pressure more than ever, and notes that their ability to handle it could ultimately determine who goes on to win.
Top 24 are unveiled on tonight’s episode of “American Idol,” and voting begins next week, when “Idol” will air Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday nights at 8/7c on Fox.
It was a night of high emotions and even higher stakes last night at “American Idol.” Because of the disqualification of Jermaine Jones, the field was being cut from 11 to the Top 10, which means one contestant would go home, while the rest will all go on tour when “Idol’s” finished. Based on America’s votes, Shannon Magrane was the one who didn’t make the cut, and the judges chose not to use their save tonight.
