I just now went to the John Stevens site and you're right, it sounds like it's going to be just great. I signed up for email messages so that I won't forget to buy it when it comes out.
Did you watch the video? I love what he did with the Maroon 5 song. That opens up a lot more music possibilities for him if he can do that with other songs and he'll gain more fans. Somewhat younger fans.
It looks like his record company is looking after him really well. I'm glad to see it.
Tonight's the Night!
Article from NY Daily News:
No 'Idol' before us
Tonight, either Bo or Carrie will triumph
and become the worst 'AI' yet
So it comes down to this: a cut-rate country singer vs. a man who does the least credible impersonation of a rock star since Pat Boone.
Tonight at 8, millions will witness the season's final smackdown of "American Idol" on Fox.
It pits Carrie Underwood against Bo Bice.
She's a Nashville striver so plastic she makes Shania Twain seem like she was born in a holler. He's a should-be lounge singer who somehow mistook himself for a member of Lynyrd Skynyrd.
Wouldn't it be great if both could lose?
Alas, no such tender mercy can save us.
Following tonight's showdown, tomorrow will bring a commercial-crammed two-hour episode, during which one indisputable winner will be declared. Then America's pop charts will have to deal with the consequences for a year — or more.
So who will it be?
It's hard not to give a major shoulder shrug, considering the still-puzzling upset of Clay Aiken vs. Ruben Studdard two years ago. The skinny Clay seemed to have more of the crowd smitten, only to lose at the last minute to his portly rival. The fact that Clay went on to outsell Ruben proves how odd — and off — these results can be.
I'm leaning toward Bo, if only because he has the higher profile, not to mention the ability to inspire more jokes on "Saturday Night Live" — a sure sign of cultural resonance.
Yet some things about tonight's show can be stated for sure.
First, whoever wins will be the worst victor in "AI's" four-season reign of terror.
You don't have to be Simon to know that 2005's contestants have sunk to new lows. They've suffered from less sure pitch and a less nuanced understanding of the lyrics than ever before, and that's a near Herculean feat.
The other twist for 2005's edition is that the two finalists come from genres outside the one that has dominated the contest so far: R&B-pop. While that gives "AI" some badly needed variety, it brings the singers into trickier commercial turf than previous contestants.
Earlier winners and first runners-up enjoyed the generous context of R&B, which in the past has welcomed singers as iffy as J.Lo, Ciara and Ashanti. That's because R&B is often a producer's medium, where sonic tricks make the hit.
Should Bo win, he has to face something far riskier: the credibility factor of rock. And at the moment he has less of it than Donny Osmond.
Carrie has to deal with the fact that country music favors Nashville insiders, which could well hurt her potential fan base.
Then again, at this point the vast "AI" fan vortex and hype machine represents a genre unto itself. It's a universe of cheesiness every bit as popular, and undying, as Velveeta.
Tonight, be ready to choke down the heftiest slice yet.