plus hs'e just so hot. we all wish we were as delightfully care-free, honest, and self-assured as he is.

Ultragrrrl

f1sh3r

i have comcast in atlanta, but i can't imagine it was a cable issue, because the volume was fine for the vocals.

f1sh3r

What cable provider do you have and where are you? I suspect it was a Comcast in Denver issue.

Hamm Beerger

I'm sorry, this is my fourth comment in this post today, but: I can't believe we've gone all day without anyone referencing this viz. Castro's performance:

[www.theonion.com]

Chris Molanphy

They sound like Hilary supporters!

Nicolars

whatever, at least hell's kitchen is still entertaining.

f1sh3r

Sniffle

God HELP me that I remembered that.

And if that's Archie's demo, then the kid's going to sell fewer records than William Hung.

Chris Molanphy

That's the Archie demo.

whoneedslight

Big Gray.

And I guess I'm stupid because I wasn't offended by Syesha's statement about the Civil Rights movement either.

Then again, I had just seen Barack Obama break a can of whoop ass on Hilary Clinton in NC. So, I might have been a bit emotional...

rhythmchyc

a) Weirder things have happened. If you'd told me a year ago Natasha Bedingfield would be rescuing her U.S. career with a Sean Kingston duet, I'd have been gobsmacked.

b) The reason I keep comparing Archie to Aiken and not Sparks is her model is different than his.

She was right in the late-teenager pop sweet spot, not the tweens-and-grandmas spot, and so she needed big, Z100-style hits to sell anything. (And she just got unlucky with the first couple of releases, esp. "This Is My Now.") She's still not selling many albums because she had the misfortune to be releasing a straight-pop album in 2007, in the iTunes-dominance era.

Aiken scored no radio hits at all -- none. ("This Is the Night" when No. 1 on the Hot 100 on sales alone; it had next-to-no airplay. "Invisible" stalled after a couple of months of hard BMG payola.) And yet the little twerp moved 3 million albums. Yes, it was 2003, not 2007, but the industry downturn was already in full swing by then, and if he'd been Kelly Clarkson with that lack of radio love he'd have sold half as many albums. Again: grandma and little Kaitlyn don't need the radio to be inspired to buy plastic. That's how I'm seeing Archie's career, at least through album one.

Chris Molanphy

i would not let randy jackson pick the music for an elevator ride. his value to the show is what... ?

that feeling of unease/embarrassment i get when i watch paula
abdul speak to the singers is like a high. she is off the rails ridiculous, but she's my heroin.

i'd like j. castro to win but he won't.

derby

Charlie Kerfelds Jetsons Tee

Archuleta's commercial potential is near nil -- his best bet is to end up in one of Cowell's Il Divo-style fake groups, warbling "Danny Boy" for easily misled Summer Pops consumers.
[blog.newsok.com]

GeorgeLang

jenocyde

I (for second time in Idol history) voted last night, many times, for Jason Castro. The judges were way too harsh on him last night (and last week). And without his quirky self, the song would be...so (even more) boring.

Here's hoping the conservative/religiousy viewing audience gets confused by David Cook's songs ("he's singing about wolves?...and wasted teenagers?? he must worship the Devil!") and he goes home this week. I hate to admit it (for many reasons) but Bret Michaels' "Baba O'Reilly" on Don't Forget the Lyrics was a better performance (or, at least, more entertaining to watch).

jenocyde

@Rory B. Bellows: I think your Josiah prediction might come true, to be honest.

Maura Johnston

Your GPA

Its so commical to me that best music on the show -- the songs closest to the ones that actually sell -- are so not what the producers think that they want.

In fact, that Josiah Lemming kid is probably going to outsell everyone on this season.

Rory B. Bellows

As we've discussed here plenty, Clay Aiken's fanbase is one of the most rabid in Idol history, even though it shrank fast. To a certain kind of middle-aged or middle-of-the-road/Christiany pop fan, he was like the second coming (you had to see some of the letters Fred Bronson was running back in 2003 - some older chart geeks comparing their Aiken excitement to the Beatles in '64, etc.), and these people buy plastic. In stores. In droves.

Archuleta's fanbase doesn't map to Aiken's precisely, but I think we can agree he'd have a similar makeup of everyone-but-the-middle (i.e., none of that 18-34, probably 18-49, demo). And like Aiken, I think he could release one Measure of a Man and go double-platinum, briefly, before radio PDs realize they can't do anything with him and the fanbase shrinks down to grandma and people in Utah.

In short: Archuleta is ultimately doomed to a marginal fanbase, but unlike, say, Taylor Hicks, I don't necessarily think he's doomed to instant failure.

Chris Molanphy

Big Gray.

tubby

Charlie Kerfelds Jetsons Tee

melanielectric

Probably even Jesus, if the season lasted long enough.

Audif Jackson Winters III