After being crowned the American Idol winner, Jordin Sparks sat down with People magazine for a cute little interview. Jordin fans will love it!

Have you gotten your driver’s license? And are you a good driver?
Yeah, I have my driver’s license. I actually got it July of last year, so it was about before I went and auditioned. So, I’m ok, I haven’t gotten any tickets or anything yet. I’m all right.

How did you do on your driver’s test?
Well, my driver’s test I think I did pretty well. The permit test, I kind of had a problem with, but then I went and studied and I passed – so it was good.

How do you think will handle the pressures in Hollywood to be super thin?
Oh, that super thin stuff? Hollywood needs to get over it, but I don’t know. I’ve got a really good family around me and I love the people that I’ve got around me and I’m pretty sure they’ll keep me grounded – I know they will because they’re always like, “Don’t let it go to your head, Jordin.” And I’m like, “Okay.” And I know that my mom, and my dad and my grandparents – as long as I got them with me I’ll be okay.

How did you emotionally handle the shows various pressure throughout the season?
It’s cool because since I am a minor I have a guardian with me and so I had my mom or my nana, because they would switch off. I would have them with me throughout the season, so it was cool to have them to lean on.

Who is your celebrity crush?
I’m going to have to say Brad Pitt. Why?
I don’t know – he’s just really cute. I don’t know him so I don’t know anything else except he’s just really good-looking.

What was your greatest moment before winning Idoll?
Oh my gosh, you’re going to laugh at me but getting my braces off. I’m just a normal quirky 17-year-old girl and getting my braces off was awesome. I did get my license and that was cool. And then just making it through the first round of auditions I was just – it amazed me because I didn’t think that I had a chance because so many people auditioned.

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Post from: Idol Stalker

In an interview prior to the start of the fifth season of American Idol, Executive Producer Nigel Lythgoe revealed for the first time that Clay Aiken had led the fan voting every week from the Wild Card week onward until the finale, when the possibly-random voting result gave Ruben Studdard the win. Of course, the truth will probably never be known and Clay went on to have a great career but that is besides the point.

During season four, several major voting errors were reported and confirmed. The first resulted in the first-ever re-vote in American Idol history. Mikalah Gordon was eliminated during “Billboard #1 Hits” week when the show mixed up the voting numbers for three of the Top 11 contestants, Anwar Robinson, Jessica Sierra and Gordon herself (FYI – I think Mikalah needed to go anyway). As if that wasn’t bad enough THE MISTAKE HAPPENED AGAIN!!!! After Anthony Fedorov’s second performance, the phone numbers displayed in the closed captioning were incorrect. As visible in the image above, the first two numbers that appeared were 1-866-IDOLS-01 and 1-866-436-5701, and the last number was Text Vote 5704. The “01″ number is actually for Carrie Underwood! Two more contestants were victims that night…

As was the case with Anthony’s number, Bo Bice and Vonzell Solomon’s phone numbers were incorrectly listed as 1-866-IDOLS-01 and 1-866-436-5701, which, again, was the number for Carrie Underwood!!! Carrie is a great artist and this is nothing against her – I’m just relaying facts.

One contestant, Frenchie Davis, was disqualified and removed from the competition after topless photos of her surfaced on the Internet. She later appeared in the Broadway musical Rent. Antonella Barba did not suffer the same fate.

According to the Howard 100 News, LaKisha Jones’ departure was not because of America’s vote, but rather a predetermined outcome. Their source claims that travel arrangements for LaKisha to return home were made prior to the start of the May 8, 2007 performance show, well before the phone lines were opened. The source also claims that a significant sized crew was sent to Flint, Michigan for reaction shots, however crews were not sent to the remaining contestants’ home towns.

Since the 2004 season, American Idol producers have battled online community services such as the weblogs DialIdol.com, Worldsentiment.com, and VotefortheWorst.com. DialIdol predicts the winner of each week’s contest based on how often an automatic dialer encounters a busy signal for each contestant; Worldsentiment uses very large samplings and algorithms to predict the outcome of the vote-off; and VotefortheWorst exhorts viewers to vote for what the site deems to be the worst contestant, rather than the best. Some in the media have implied that Las Vegas odds makers exert behind-the-scenes influence in protecting the services.

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Post from: Idol Stalker

Post from: Idol Stalker

Her Ho Patrol has obviously become the “No” Patrol. Haley Scarnato is going home. I think making the contestants sing after their elimination is cruel and in this case, I feel like I’ve been punished as well.

I must say that I agree with the bottom three. I think Jordin was a bit worse than Chris but Phil is getting on my last nerve. He is talented but I don’t know what happened to him over the last few weeks. If you listen to him tonight during the opening song, “Bailamos,” he sounds good. Too bad he can’t bring that back to the stage. Tick tock goes the clock… who will be next?

Tomorrow’s Sanjaya Report 

Come back tomorrow for Thursday’s edition of the Sanjaya Report. What could he possibly have in common with J.Lo and Madonna???  Did Ryan Seacrest’s street interviews on tonight’s show give insight into this contestant’s staying power?  You’ll have to come back to find out!

Post from: Idol Stalker

Melinda Doolittle

Okay, I need to voice my frustration here. Melinda is a fantastic singer. Tonight, she delivered a good performance of “Sway.” That’s right, I said good – not great. Aside from looking like Martin Short with her dance moves, I’m totally tired of her not picking challenging songs. If she is going to consistently pick easy, repetitive tunes, she needs to blow me away – she didn’t. She did look great in that black dress tonight, though.

Lakisha Jones

Lakisha is another strong singer who isn’t trying very hard. I loved when Jennifer Lopez told her that she doesn’t “have to do too much” Right – because J.Lo has never been known as the queen of excess. Moving on… If you had the Pointer Singers of “Neutron Dance” fame cover Gloria Estefan’s “Conga” you would get tonight’s performance. Lakisha really brushed off Paula’s constructive criticism which falls in line with her total dismissal of the advice from Tony Bennett, Gwen Stefani and Lulu. Keep ignoring the advice, Lakisha, and you might be sent packing.

Chris Richardson

It almost pains me to say that Chris was one of the better performers tonight, but he was. I love Rob Thomas and Santana’s “Smooth” and, although he did not quite get there, the second half of his performance was decent enough.

Haley Scarnato

She sang, “Turn the Beat Around” but I wish she sang “Turn the Volume Down.” Okay, the backup vocals are so strong during the chorus of this song that it might be easy to ignore her terrible singing but when she started singing on her own, the truth was undeniable – it was a mess. For half of the song she was so out of breath that she couldn’t even complete her words properly. Does she really think that those short-shorts are going to get her a record deal? I think we learned our lesson with Jessica Simpson – shaking your booty is just not enough.

Phil Stacey

This was probably Phil’s worst performance. He sang, “Maria, Maria” and let’s hope it was in prayer because only a miracle could make people think he sang in tune. He was ahead of the music at least twice and it was so boring that I think it was actually worse than Haley’s performance. At least he wore a hat.

Jordin Sparks

Is no one else bothered by her yodeling? And her vibrato is so distracting that she sounds almost like a sheep. Am I the only one who feels this way? She’s got decent intonation, she can definitely carry a tune but something just annoys me. I thought the performance was boring and her twitchy behavior was odd. Her clothing was moderately better, though. I liked the top a lot.

Blake Lewis

I think Blake came out on top tonight, which, considering how everyone else did, is not a major accomplishment. He sang, “I Need to Know” by Marc Anthony, who, despite looking a bit like Skeletor from the He-Man cartoon of the 80s, can sing his butt off. Marc’s version is stylish and Blake’s was very straight. However, it was a smart song choice since it suited his voice and, in the end, he managed to pull it off.

Sanjaya Malakar

I can say, for the first time in the 12 top performances, that I did not think that Sanjaya was the worst. In fact, I think he did reasonably well. The song choice (Besame Mucho) was great, singing in Spanish won him some points and as Randy said, he’s “one of the smartest contestants” ever. I don’t know how he does it, but I don’t think he’s going home tomorrow.

Breakout performance – Chris Richardson. It was more than I expected.

Most Surprising – Sanjaya Malakar. He actually sounded okay.

Worst of the Night – Haley Scarnato. No further comment.

Biggest Risk – No one. It was very safe and boring.

Prediction for bottom three – Haley, Phil and Jordin with Jordin being safe.

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Post from: Idol Stalker

Gina Glocksen Defends Sanjaya

In a recent interview, Gina referred to Sanjaya as a friend and had the following to say – “It’s funny that everyone is asking is it tough that Sanjaya did [remain in the contest longer], I mean it’s tough that all the other eight people did. It’s not just Sanjaya. He’s just different. It’s not that he’s better or worse. He’s Sanjaya and Jordin is Jordin and Chris is Chris and Blake is Blake; America, I guess, was through with me, and that’s fine. I’m fine with it. I’m going to tour.” In reference to his ability to remain composed amidst all of the buzz he’s generating, Gina said “I’m proud of him. He’s hanging in there and he’s not letting it get to him. He still comes out on stage every week and he gives his all.”
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KFC Ups the Ante on Their Offer to Sanjaya

In an official letter to Sanjaya “on behalf of Kentucky Fried Chicken, Gregg Dedrick, is asking Sanjaya to don a bowl hairdo during one of his next nationally televised performances – KFC will grant him 1) a free lifetime supply of KFC Famous Bowls and 2) $5,000 in cash and his own starring role in the next KFC Famous Bowls advertisement if he comes through. Will he be chicken?”

A representative from KFC kindly provided me with a copy of the letter and a photo of what the haircut might look like. Here it is:

Is Sanjaya the Reason for Slumping Ratings?

The results show during which Gina Glocksen was voted off had the lowest regular score of the season. Despite this, the show continued to dominate in the ratings department. Some have speculated that Sanjaya is to blame. What is curious to me, however, is the fact that when Ryan Seacrest announced the bottom three, he claimed that just under 33 million votes were cast. That sounds like a high number of votes to me. I’m not sure why everyone is saying that American Idol is in trouble. What do you think?

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Post from: Idol Stalker

When Jennifer Hudson was voted off, there was such a public uproar that the question of racism was immediately raised. Even Elton John got involved in the debate, despite the fact that, of the six remaining contestants, at the time, three were black (Fantasia Barrino, La Toya London and George Huff). Ruben Studdard, also African-American, had won the season before. Unfortunately, as is the case with most racial discussions, the two groups involved are usually Caucasians and African-Americans.

Do Other Groups Get Forgotten?

In the uproars and conspiracy theories that have been bestowed upon Idol in these past 6 seasons, one question remains – why have there been no Asian contestants in the top 12? While I definitely had not tapped him to win, I thought Paul Kim was good enough for the top 12. He certainly sang better than Alaina Alexander, Antonella Barba, Leslie Hunt, Nick Pedro and AJ Tabaldo. I guess America didn’t see it that way. Maybe that’s why Sanjaya sticks around. Aside from the fact that he is South Asian, his presence brings diversity to the predictable.

Since writing this post originally, one reader pointed out Jasmine Trias, who I remember being very proud of being Hawaiian (which can consist of any number of cultural backgrounds since Hawaii is known for it’s diverse population) but to the less discerning and vigilant viewer may not have recognized her as being Asian.  If there’s someone else, let me know!

Here are some sites I found this morning after searching the net for others who raised the same question (most were Asian themselves):

• Asian Guy’s American Idol (I’m not even kidding about the name!)
• Yahoo Discussion (wow, was that interesting reading…)
• 8 Asians
• Where Are All the Asians on American Idol (discussion thread)

If anyone finds anything interesting of the subject, send it over!

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Post from: Idol Stalker

Okay, so not only was I pressed for time this morning, I also thought that maybe I was pushing my luck with the Bat Boy and Nosferatu comparisons but this must be said: What was up with Michael Bublé?

He is one of my favorite artists and, as a fellow Canuck, I am proud of everything he has done. Last night, however, I almost cowered behind my couch. Any dedicated hockey fans might compare this to when Jann Arden sang the anthem during the 2003/2004 Stanley Cup playoffs for the Calgary Flames. I felt for her. It was painful.

What prompted me to make my objections known? One of our site’s visitors, Christa, asked in the “Movers and Shakers” thread if anyone had noticed Bublé’s erratic behavior. I breathed a sigh of relief and vowed to dedicate this post to her. So, here’s to you, Christa!

He sang, “Call Me Irresponsible” and that’s what he appeared to be – irresponsible – with his liquor cabinet. He almost seemed like he had forgotten the words, stumbled back to the horns section and then returned in time to finish this “performance.” Look back at the tapes, it was interesting. The saving grace was that the horns seemed to drown him out.

Here’s a question for everyone: Does anyone think that the Idol stage has been the kiss-of-death for celebrity guests? Almost everyone has sounded bad over the years (Stevie Wonder and Rod Stewart stick out in my mind but Gwen Stefani worked it out).

IS THERE SOMETHING WRONG WITH THE IDOL STAGE???

I’ve said this before. I think the judges can’t even hear properly sometimes. Anyone agree?

Post from: Idol Stalker

It’s the fifth most popular search for Phil Stacey so I thought I would include it.

What do you think?

Post from: Idol Stalker

Post from: Idol Stalker