For example, KELLY CLARKSON's Calgary Stampede performance has been put off until the winter... just enough time to deliver a baby?
All that aside, AMERICAN IDOL has been using KELLY CLARKSON as their poster child for quite some time now. Proving that she is more than a flash in the pan, KELLY CLARKSON seems to be able to hold her own with the most of them with her cliche'd poopy (oops poppy) drivel.
A few years later new country / ac performer CARRIE UNDERWOOD hit the scene running after winning the AMERICAN IDOL top spot. Aside from that, staying power is not on the side of AMERICAN IDOL winners who must both battle and embrace the fame and expectations tossed upon them after winning the AMERICAN IDOL top spot.
This season's consensus favourites are Lambert and 29-year-old church music director Danny Gokey, but Clarkson's choice is a more unlikely pick: just-turned-17 long shot, Allison Iraheta.
Iraheta is the only woman left in the competition. More important, she has a preternaturally mature voice and an old-soul vibe - more rock queen than pop princess. Clarkson has said the key to performing well on Idol is staying determined, being authentic and refusing to compromise, even when the popular winds seem to be blowing the other way. And Iraheta is by far the most unique, uncompromising singer of the final four, even as Gokey and Lambert appear destined to go all the way to the end.
The season's other contender is 23-year-old Conway, Ark., gospel singer Kris Allen.
ADAM LAMBERT is still the overwhelming favourite to win - his landing in the bottom two this week was likely a one-time anomaly. His talent for working the crowd, his Freddie Mercury-tinged vocal stylings and his canny song selection - Johnny Cash, Tears for Fears, Queen, Steppenwolf - give him the edge.
Iraheta has a shot, however. She scored the second-highest of the 47 million votes cast after the April 28 performance program. (Gokey landed the most votes.) Iraheta has Clarkson and country star Reba McEntire in her corner. She is the youngest contestant, by far.
That, and smart song selection, may yet see her through to May 19's final pairing.
As for what happens after that - KELLY CLARKSON-style longevity or Taylor Hicks-style obscurity - only time, and the Billboard charts, will tell.
AMERICAN IDOL profiles:
ADAM LAMBERT, 27
Hometown: Los Angeles
Odds of winning: Even
ADAM LAMBERT is a seasoned performer on Los Angeles' theatre circuit, and it shows. His musical influences range from Michael Jackson, Freddie Mercury - no surprise there, to anyone who's heard him sing - Lenny Kravitz and David Bowie, to Katy Perry, Pink, Christina Aguilera, Lady Gaga, Beyonce, Goldfrapp and, strangely enough, Madonna.
That's an eclectic mix, but one thing ADAM LAMBERT has shown on Idol is a willingness to shake things up and turn conventional wisdom on its head.
Danny Gokey may be the audience favourite, but ADAM LAMBERT is the more interesting performer and Simon Cowell's pick to win.
ADAM LAMBERT has come a long way since Cowell labelled an early performance of Johnny Cash's Ring of Fire "indulgent rubbish."
He hit an all-world glory note on Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley's Feeling Good on Rat Pack night, and Cowell told him he was a born entertainer determined to prove a point every time he sings.
ADAM LAMBERT has said on his personal blog that if he doesn't win Idol, he will continue to write and perform.
DANNY GOKEY, 29
Hometown: Milwaukee
Odds of winning: 3-2
DANNY GOKEY's personal story touched a nerve with AMERICAN IDOL followers early in the season, when it was revealed his wife Sophia died from complications after surgery for congenital heart disease, just four weeks before Gokey auditioned. Gokey said he wanted to try out for Idol, "to find new hope."
A devout evangelical Christian, DANNY GOKEY has said he wants to tap the mainstream music audience rather than focus on contemporary Christian music. He cites Brian McKnight, Kirk Franklin and Lauryn Hill as musical influences, though his Idol song list has ranged from Marvin Gaye and Rascal Flatts to The Temptations and Earth, Wind and Fire.
Of DANNY GOKEY's Rat Pack night performance of Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer's Come Rain or Come Shine, Randy Jackson said, "This is a singing competition and, dude, you can sing."
DANNY GOKEY has said that if he doesn't win AMERICAN IDOL, he will continue to sing and record his own music. He has established a heart-disease foundation in his wife's name, and has vowed to use his music to support the foundation, "to help people."
KRIS ALLEN , 23
Hometown: Conway, Ark.
Odds of winning: 5-1.
KRIS ALLEN is the pure musician in this Idol group. In addition to being an accomplished singer, in Idol terms, KRIS ALLENis also proficient with the guitar, piano, viola and ukulele. Like Gokey, KRIS ALLEN is a devout evangelical Christian. Like Gokey, he, too, wants his music to touch a mainstream audience.
KRIS ALLEN's song list on Idol has ranged from Leon Russell and Michael Jackson to, interestingly, Michael Buble and Marvin Gaye. After KRIS ALLEN's performance last month of Bob Dylan's To Make You Feel My Love (the song became a hit for Garth Brooks), Cowell told him, "I am genuinely beginning to think you have a shot of (winning) this competition."
By Rat Pack night, though, Cowell had changed his tune somewhat, calling Allen's subdued performance of Jerome Kern's The Way You Look Tonight "a little wet."
"It's like taking a well-trained spaniel for a walk," Cowell said. "I don't get the feeling from you tonight that you can win this competition."
If he doesn't win Idol, KRIS ALLEN has said he will stick with his music and do as best he can.
ALLISON IRAHETA, 17
Hometown: Los Angeles
Odds of winning: 10-1
ALLISON IRAHETA is the Cinderella story in this year's group. She turned just 17 the day before Rat Pack night, but her growly, old-soul rocker's voice and stage presence belie her young age. Kelly Clarkson and Reba McEntire have both cited Iraheta, who's of El Salvadoran descent, as their favourite singer in this year's group.
"You sing like Pink, but with nine thousand more octaves," Randy Jackson told Iraheta after her performance of George and Ira Gershwin's Someone to Watch Over Me.
That was telling, because ALLISON IRAHETA has cited Pink as one of her musical influences, along with Beck, Katy Perry, Mariah Carey and Heart.
ALLISON IRAHETA's not new to TV singing competitions: In 2006, at age 14, she won the Telemundo talent search Quinceanera, earning $60,000 and a recording contract.
ALLISON IRAHETA's Idol song list has ranged from Heart, Patty Loveless and The Temptations, to Bonnie Raitt, Aretha Franklin and, improbably, Aerosmith.
Music has helped her grow and become a better person, she said on her Idol blog, adding Cowell is her favourite judge. ("Who doesn't love Simon? He's fun!") She has vowed she will keep on singing, even if she doesn't win.
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