About five years ago, the Wall Street Journal ran a lengthy profile of Carly Hennessy, an Irish pop singer who was signed to MCA Records and who had roughly $2.2 million poured into the making and marketing of her debut album, Ultimate High. (It went on to sell a whopping 378 copies in the three months following its release, making MCA’s per-sale investment approximately $5,820.11.) The piece detailed all the excesses involved in the album’s run-up–the re-recording of the whole thing to make it sound “more modern,” the Universal-bankrolled apartment where Hennessy lived for two years–and looking back, it seemed to represent something of a dam-break for peoples’ Napster-fueled frustration with the music industry, what with its detailed descriptions of the biz’s penchant for spending money like it was water and the overpriced, filler-packed product it placed on shelves. (The article also contained some bitching from Don Henley and Sheryl Crow, who were upset that their wildly successful records–and locked-in, long-term contracts–were pretty much bankrolling expensive flops like Hennessy’s album. Which was kind of true! Although not anymore, since who’s “wildly successful” these days?)

So where is Hennessy five years after her faceplant was page-one news? Well, if some early American Idol spoilers are to be believed, she’ll be on Fox a lot beginning next month, as she appears to be the producers’ pick to win–or at least go far enough to snag a record contract from–the show’s forthcoming season. MORE »