“American Idol” has been around since 2002 and, at its peak, was a ratings juggernaut that could not be touched. So why, a decade later, is it looking like a rookie trying to keep up with the cool kids instead of the seasoned vet that it is?
Thursday’s announcement that Steven Tyler was leaving the “Idol” judging table (and Jennifer Lopez‘s “Today” show hints that she would be following him out the door) means a complete reimagining of the show — again. Only this time, instead of being the only horse in the race like it was when Simon Cowell jumped ship two years ago, “Idol” is in a crowded sea of reality singing competitions that only seems to be getting more congested.
The good news: Starting from scratch allows “Idol” to come up with entirely unique ideas while also cherry-picking the elements that have worked best for the other shows. Here are five things Nigel Lythgoe and company need to think about moving forward:
Star Power
There’s no denying that much of the appeal of “The Voice” stems from its four superstar judges taking breaks from their in-demand careers to bicker amongst themselves and get teary-eyed over fresh-faced talent. This year, all four judges — Christina Aguilera, Adam Levine, Cee Lo and Blake Shelton — were nominated for Grammys. Talk about relevance! “Idol” should seek out current talent instead of artists who were in the spotlight years prior (sorry, Paula). “X Factor” certainly took a page from the “Voice” playbook by snagging Britney Spears and Demi Lovato for season two.
Full-Time Mentors
Speaking of “X Factor,” there’s something about “mentors” vs. “judges” … or a hybrid. Giving your panel a personal stake in the outcome of the competition instantly ups the commitment factor. We’ve been at “Idol” live shows in the past where the judges show up at the last second, talk during performances and run out of the auditorium every commercial break. Not exactly present. But if you mix a superstar ego with the chance of “winning” the competition by mentoring the eventual champ, the judges will be all ears. (According to Us Weekly, lone original judge Randy Jackson might go the mentor route next season, so “Idol” is already taking the hint.)
Production Value
The most obvious difference between “Idol” and its new rivals is production value. “X Factor” and “The Voice” are providing backup dancers, elaborate sets, full bands — basically treating every performance like it’s on an awards show. “Idol” needs to do away with the video backdrop of flames while a contestant sings “Heat Wave” and bring its contestants into the 21st century.
Real Criticism
Steven Tyler and Jennifer Lopez did one thing very well: Making all the contestants feel like they were equally talented and never made any mistakes. Does that sound like good TV? We’re not trying to make the singers cry or be mean for the sake of meanness, but they need to hear the truth. That equal-opportunity sugarcoating led to low votes for powerhouse singers like Pia Toscano and Jessica Sanchez because the “experts” weren’t making it clear to the voters at home who was nailing it and who was just so-so.
Relevancy
This goes not just for the superstar judges, but also for the contestants. It’s been a looong time since Kelly and Carrie were showered in confetti, and they’re still leaving their lesser contemporaries in the dust as they release record-setting music. It’s no coincidence that the caliber of finalists has gone down along with the judging. Simon Cowell told voters who was good and who wasn’t, and they listened. Obviously you can’t go find another Simon, but “Idol” needs to get that moral center back or it will no longer be the seasoned vet; it will be the canceled dinosaur.
Get your “Idol” fix on MTV News’ “American Idol” page, where you’ll find all the latest news, interviews and opinions.
Fresh off inking her first record deal with Interscope, “American Idol” runner-up Jessica Sanchez is now rumored to be in contention for the lead role in the film adaptation of “Miss Saigon.”
A musical adaptation of the opera “Madame Butterfly,” “Miss Saigon” is a tragic tale of doomed love between a Vietnamese prostitute and an American G.I. in Saigon during the Vietnam War. According to Broadway.com, 16-year-old Sanchez is in talks for the tough title role of Kim.
The Lee Daniels-directed film has been in preproduction for the past three years. Writers include Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel SchÖnberg, who penned Les Misérables, which is also being released on film, starring Anne Hathaway and Hugh Jackman.
The pop opera, full of ballads, seems right up Sanchez’s alley. The pint-sized belter shone on “American Idol” by nailing the likes of Whitney Houston’s “I Will Always Love You” to her finale song, “Change Nothing.”
Although the young singer has never acted, she has already received support from the original “Miss Saigon” of Broadway, Lea Salonga, who was a mere 18 when she took on the role. “If she’s the one that they’ve chosen, or she’s somebody in serious consideration, then that’s a good thing,” Salonga said. “We all know she’s talented, we all know she’s actually quite beautiful.”
No release date has been announced for the film, but Sanchez is not the only actress vying for the part: The rumor mill claims “Glee” guest star Charice is also in consideration.
Do you think Jessica Sanchez would be a good fit for “Miss Saigon”? Share your comments below!
As if there weren’t already enough excitement surrounding the slightly restructured fourth season of “Glee,” with the characters’ story lines picking up after high school, word on the street is that an “American Idol” finalist will be joining the cast in the fall.
According to TV Line, 16-year-old phenom Jessica Sanchez is in final negotiations to join Rachel, Finn, Mr. Schu and the rest of the “Glee” gang for a multi-episode arc. There is no word on what specific role Sanchez will play, or whether she’ll be part of McKinley High’s National Championship-winning New Directions or will surface in the form of competition at another school.
Because of Sanchez’s previous commitments to the summer “Idol” tour, she won’t be able to appear on the hit series until closer to the halfway mark of season four. If and when Sanchez’s stint on the show is officially announced, the California native will join an illustrious list of famous “Glee” guest stars: Gwyneth Paltrow, Britney Spears, Neil Patrick Harris, Lindsay Lohan and international pop star Charice.
In addition to juggling her responsibilities on the “Idol” tour and the potential gig on “Glee,” the pint-sized powerhouse is also hard at work on her first solo album, which she hopes has more of an urban sound.
“I don’t want people to just hand me music and be like, ‘Here, you sound good on this. Sing it.’ I want to be able to say, ‘This is me,’ ” Sanchez told MTV News recently, adding that she has high hopes for some A-list contributors on the album.
“This is going to seem odd, but I love Eminem, because he has so much conviction and emotion in the way he raps; every word that he raps, you feel it,” she said. “And I think our talents would mesh. So, hopefully, it could happen, and I would just die if he’d collaborate with me!”
Get your “Idol” fix on MTV News’ “American Idol” page, where you’ll find all the latest news, interviews and opinions.
It’s hard enough for bands with one singer to get their musical heads together for a major summer tour. Just imagine coordinating a band with 10 lead singers and you can begin to see how much work goes into getting ready for this summer’s American Idols Live! Tour featuring the top singers from season 11.
The top 10 have begun getting things together for the tour, which kicks off on July 6 in Detroit. They gathered in a studio in Los Angeles on Wednesday to continue getting their act together. During an a cappella run through One Direction’s “What Makes You Beautiful” a smiling Phillip Phillips stood in the back of the pack as fellow finalist Colton Dixon mussed up his pal’s hair.
“I’m really excited, you know it’s all of our first time being on a real tour … it’s going to be a big learning experience,” said Phillips, just a few weeks removed from surgery to repair a chronic kidney problem . “I’m feeling good,” he assured MTV News of the surgery, which followed eight surgeries during the run of the show to deal with recurring stones. For a period it was unclear if Phillips would be healed in time for the tour, but he’s clearly healed quickly enough make the trek.
Phillips recently told the Associated Press that he’s “getting better each day, so that’s a good thing. I’m just walking around, getting my strength back together. It was tough, you know, those first few days, but I’m getting to where I can pick the guitar back up and write a little bit.”
Runner-up Jessica Sanchez was reveling in getting the old crew together again. “It’s so much fun … it’s just like the old days when we were first auditioning and everyone was just a big family and just jamming out.” Her pal, country gal Skylar Laine, added, “Every day we come in here and rehearse and just sing our songs and do our group songs and it’s a blast.”
Dixon promised that the live show is “completely different” from what viewers saw on TV. The experience will also be new for the singers, since instead of a few thousand in a studio audience, they will be looking at more than 10,000 screaming fans in arenas. “We’re gonna be like, ‘what do we do with that?’,” he said.
Rocker chick Elise Testone promised that you will see the contestants singing backup for one another, performing duets and group songs and putting more of their personalities into the songs.
“It’s a perfect mix between favorite moments form the show …. And a whole mix of new stuff too,” Erika Van Pelt said.
Get your “Idol” fix on MTV News’ “American Idol” page, where you’ll find all the latest news, interviews and opinions.
To hear her tell it, Jessica Sanchez didn’t exactly have high hopes heading into last week’s “American Idol” finale. In fact, she didn’t have any hopes, high or otherwise. Which, given her supreme talent (and diva-riffic pedigree), is sort of surprising.
“I never thought I was going to win,” she told MTV News. “And I think at that moment, during the finale, I knew I wasn’t going to win, and I was like, ‘Let me just sing my songs, let me have fun, let me be in this moment.’ Even making it to the finale surprised me. You saw my face!”
Of course, if you ask her to elaborate on just why she felt she had no chance at beating eventual champ Phillip Phillips, she’ll mention one thing: “Change Nothing,” the (genuinely pretty terrible) “coronation song” she was saddled with during the finale. Simply put, from the moment she first heard the tune, she knew it wasn’t the right fit for her. But, as she’d done all season, she was determined to give it her all, no matter what.
“It was confusing, because it was the winning song, and you try to pick a song that you’d want to put out as a single but also that would sound good when you won the competition. … I felt like I had to sing a vocally strong song but also one that was kind of mainstream, and that was in the middle, kind of,” she explained. “And even listening to it, I was telling them, ‘Some things have to be changed in this, because this is not completely me.’ And when we did that, nothing was really that changed, and that’s why it came out like a pop single. I totally agree with Randy [ Jackson]: That song was not me at all. I want to do pop, but, like, just a sprinkle of it, not a whole bucket.”
And while Sanchez has nothing but praise for Phillips (“He’s a really great talent”), and despite her claims that she never believed she had a shot at the season 11 crown, that doesn’t mean she wasn’t disappointed by the results. Because she was definitely looking to reverse recent history and win one for the girls.
” ‘American Idol‘ isn’t fixed. It really is America, and if America enjoys [male singers], then they do. I’m just here to please my fans, and make music for them. Now that the competition is over, I can do that and be happy with that,” she said. “But it’s definitely one thing that pushed me to want to really win. … I was doing it for my family, I was doing it for myself because I loved it, but I just wanted a girl to win this year so bad — even if it wasn’t me. It could’ve been Hollie [Cavanagh] or Skylar [Grey]. But I was just like, ‘We gotta show that girl power!’ “
From the sound of things, Sanchez is certainly looking to push the “girl power” agenda with her post-”Idol” debut, mentioning the likes of Beyoncé as an inspiration and saying she’d definitely like to move in a more “urban” direction. She’s already made up her mind how she plans to approach the project — “I don’t want people to just hand me music and be like, ‘Here, you sound good on this. Sing it.’ I want to be able to say ‘This is me,’ ” she said — and she’s definitely gunning for some top-tier talent to contribute to the album.
“This is going to seem odd, but I love Eminem, because he has so much conviction and emotion in the way he raps; every word that he raps, you feel it,” she said. “And I think our talents would mesh. So, hopefully, it could happen, and I would just die if he’d collaborate with me!”
Get your “Idol” fix on MTV News’ “American Idol” page, where you’ll find all the latest news, interviews and opinions.
After a “world record” of 132 million votes, America has crowned guitar-strumming sweetheart Phillip Phillips as season 11′s “American Idol.” And although most viewers and critics expected him to win it all, Phillips himself seemed shocked that America chose him.
When MTV News caught up with the 21-year-old Georgia native at a backstage press conference after the finale, he still seemed to be coming to terms with his recent win over 16-year-old Jessica Sanchez.
Q: How do you feel?
A: Uh, I’m feeling. I don’t know. I don’t really feel anything. It’s crazy. I’m still a little numb from the whole situation. It’s just so unreal.
Q: Did you think you were going to win?
A: Did I think I was going to win? No. Heck no. Did you see Jessica’s last performance? Golly. She sang the crap out of that song.
Q: Is this surreal? Is this like a dream come true?
A: Man, it’s so unreal. Like I said, it hasn’t sunk in yet and it’s just such a blessing to have and I’m kind of ready to try to comprehend it all.
Q: Can you talk about your health? Will you get any surgery?
A: Yeah, I’m gonna get some surgery done so I’m gonna get all better for the tour.
Q: How were you able to overcome the pain you must have been in to get through this season and get all the way to the end?
A: Yeah, it was very tough but I had great doctors and great people surrounding me so that really helped out. So, it’s just a blessing to be here now.
Q: Can you talk about what happened onstage when you were performing “Home” tonight?
A: Yeah, I wasn’t thinking about anything, not even the song. I wasn’t really wanting to sing or anything. And I just started thinking about the whole journey, how far all of us had come and how far we had made it and it was just so overwhelming.
Q: When you auditioned did you think you would be standing where you are right now?
A: Honestly man, I didn’t think I’d even make it to see the judges because, like I said, man, I have no shame in saying that I’m not a great singer. You know, I just love having fun up onstage jamming with the guys and just playing good music man. You know, I like getting the crowd into it. Music’s fun dude. It’s takes away a lot of things that’s going around.
Q: Are you all cried out or do you think you might cry a little more?
A: I might end up crying some more. I hate crying but I’ll probably cry some more. It feels good at times.
Get your “Idol” fix on MTV News’ “American Idol” page, where you’ll find all the latest news, interviews and opinions.
The lights were dimmed, the votes were counted, and Phillip Phillips became the new “American Idol.”
As expected, Phillips beat out Jessica Sanchez on Wednesday’s (May 23) Season 11 “Idol” finale, live at Los Angeles’ Nokia Theatre. Phillips topped Sanchez after a reported 132 million votes were cast — “a new world record,” according to host Ryan Seacrest.
Phillips teared up while performing his winning song “Home,” while confetti rained down on the stage around him. The Leesburg, Georgia, native has been a cool cucumber all season long, but he broke down in the moment, just as he did during his hometown visit last week.
Phillips didn’t finish the song, but strolled off stage and into the arms of his family, who were waiting in the first few rows. As streamers fell and the band played on the stage behind him, Phillips hugged his family members, and later judges Randy Jackson, Jennifer Lopez and Steven Tyler.
Phillips came out of Tuesday’s performance episode the heavy favorite to win it all and was celebrated by the judges for his “Home,” which was tailor made for his laid-back style. On the other hand, Sanchez’s would-be winning song, “Change Nothing,” was sloughed off by the judges and even Sanchez herself, who acknowledged the song wasn’t really in her wheelhouse, and said she’d aim to put more of herself in her future recordings.
Heading into this season, the buzz was that a woman would win “Idol,” becoming the first female winner since Jordin Sparks in 2007. Four of this year’s top six contestants were female, but Phillips proved unbeatable in the stretch.
Sanchez was an early favorite in the season, stepping out in front with her show-stopping rendition of Whitney Houston’s “I Will Always Love You” on the March 7 episode. But she hit her stumbling blocks along the way, and was voted out on the April 12 episode, and had to be saved by the judges to stay in the competition.
Phillips was steady throughout the season. His name — that name! — made him an instant standout, and he played it cool all season long, never letting much of anything — including the season-long illness he battled — ruffle his fathers. (On Thursday’s show, he joked — he was joking, right? — that he got nine and a half to 10 hours of sleep the night before.) He was often criticized, and fairly so, for his similarities to Dave Matthews, but he came alive in the final two weeks, knocking out Bob Seger’s “We’ve Got Tonight” and his winning “Idol” song, “Home.”
Wednesday’s finale packed the usual array of medleys, group performances and guest appearances. Stars on the roster included Rihanna (who hit the stage to perform “Where Have You Been”), Chaka Kahn (who joined the female finalists on “I’m Every Woman”), Neil Diamond (who did “Sweet Caroline” with the male contestants) and Reba McEntire (who sang “Turn on the Radio” with Skylar Laine). Josha Ledet sang Elton John’s “Take Me to the Pilot” alongside Fantasia Barrino, whom he introduced as “the biggest inspiration in my life” and who hit the stage in a wild, form-fitting catsuit and long hair, while another former “Idol” winner, Jordin Sparks, took the stage with Hollie Cavanagh on “You’ll Never Walk Alone.” John Fogerty teamed up with Phillips on the Creedence Clearwater Revival classics “Have You Ever Seen the Rain” and “Bad Moon Rising,” and Jennifer Holliday teamed up with Sanchez on the “Dreamgirls” signature song “And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going.” (Earlier, Sanchez hit the stage on her own to reprise her performance of Whitney Houston’s “I Will Always Love You.”)
The “Idol” finalists — minus Phillips and Sanchez, who teamed up on Joe Cocker and Jennifer Warnes’ “Up Where We Belong” late in the show — opened the show with Bruno Mars’ “Runaway Baby,” and the male finalists paid tribute to the late Robin Gibb by running through a handful of Bee Gees classics, including “How Deep is Your Love,” “How Can You Mend a Broken Heart” and “To Love Somebody.”
The “Idol” judges got in on the action as well. Jennifer Lopez performed “Goin’ In” with Flo Rida and Lil Jon and “Follow the Leader” with Puerto Rican duo Wisin Yandel, while Steven Tyler hit the stage with his Aerosmith cohorts to do their new single “Legendary Child” along with “Walk This Way.”
The show also featured “Idol’s” first live wedding proposal, when fifth season finalist Ace Young proposed to third season runner-up Diana DeGarmo while the dramatic “Idol” suspense-building music played in the background. (DeGarmo accepted despite Young’s tacky jewelry store plug mid-proposal.)
Phillips and Sanchez were also given new Ford automobiles for their efforts.
Next up? After the finalists make the media rounds, the “American Idol” summer tour — featuring the season’s top 10 finalists — kicks off July 6 in Detroit.
What did you think of the “Idol” finale? Let us know in the comments!
Get your “Idol” fix on MTV News’ “American Idol” page, where you’ll find all the latest news, interviews and opinions.
