Jump to content

American Idol season 8

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Phyrhone (talk | contribs) at 01:09, 5 May 2009 (→‎Other performances). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.


American Idol season 8
Created bySimon Fuller
Directed byKen Warwick
Bruce Gowers
StarringSimon Cowell
Paula Abdul
Randy Jackson
Kara DioGuardi
Ryan Seacrest
Country of originUnited States
No. of episodes34
Production
Executive producersKen Warwick
Simon Fuller
Running timeVaries
Original release
NetworkFox Broadcasting Company
ReleaseJanuary 13 –
May 20, 2009

The eighth season of American Idol premiered on January 13, 2009. Judges Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul, and Randy Jackson are judges once again, along with Ryan Seacrest as host. This season introduced Kara DioGuardi as the fourth judge on the Idol panel.[1]

Changes from Season 7

Several changes were planned for season 8. Fox Entertainment president Kevin Reilly stated that Idol would feature fewer "William Hung-like" contestants and "funny auditions," and would quickly move its focus to the potential singers during the earlier stages of the competition, thus moving the season at a faster pace.[2] Mike Darnell, president of Fox's alternative programming, said the contestants would be more emotional and that viewers would learn more about them and their pasts than they had in the previous season.[3] Songwriter and record producer Kara DioGuardi was added as a permanent fourth judge on the panel. She had previously collaborated with Celine Dion, Hilary Duff, Enrique Iglesias, Leona Lewis and Christina Aguilera, and produced several Top 40 hits. As a songwriter, she had already worked with several American Idol alumni and winners, including Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood, David Archuleta and David Cook.[4] Meanwhile, Ken Warwick became the new executive producer, as Nigel Lythgoe had left the show to focus on So You Think You Can Dance and his new show with Simon Fuller, Superstars of Dance.[5] Idol Gives Back was canceled for season 8, as the ongoing economic crisis and recession, left Idol officials uncomfortable asking financially struggling viewers to donate.[6] The semifinals saw the biggest change as the wild card round returned for the first time since the third season. After voters picked three finalists from each of three groups of 12 semi-finalists, the judges selected eight of the previously eliminated 27 semifinalists to return and perform a song on the March 5, 2009, show. They were judged by the panel, instead of a vote by the viewers, with four advancing to the finals.[7][8] Although the finals had been billed from the beginning of the season as a set of 12 contestants, the judges announced at the last minute that they would be advancing a thirteenth contestant, Anoop Desai, as well.

Another change in the Idol format, which was revealed on March 11, 2009, is that the judges are eligible to exercise a veto power on one eliminated contestant at any given point of the competition and spare them from elimination for that particular week. This can only be invoked up until the Final 5. The following week two contestants will be eliminated if the save is used because nobody is eliminated on the week that the save is used. The save can only be used once and it must be unanimous.

Early process

Regional auditions phase

Locations

Auditions were held in the following cities:[9]

Audition City Date Audition Venue
San Francisco, California[10] July 17, 2008 Cow Palace
Louisville, Kentucky[11] July 21, 2008 Freedom Hall
Glendale, Arizona[12] July 25, 2008 Jobing.com Arena
Salt Lake City, Utah July 29, 2008 EnergySolutions Arena
San Juan, Puerto Rico August 2, 2008 Coliseo de Puerto Rico
Kansas City, Missouri August 8, 2008 Kemper Arena
Jacksonville, Florida August 13, 2008 Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena
East Rutherford, New Jersey August 19, 2008 Izod Center

Contestants are required to be between the ages 16 and 28 on July 15, 2008 and eligible to work in the United States. Contestants are ineligible if they were part of the top 40 from previous seasons (exception being for those who reached the top 50 from season 7), if they hold recording or management contracts or if they are not U.S. citizens or landed immigrants (i.e. temporary residents).

Hollywood phase

For this season, the Hollywood round moved to the Kodak Theatre, which was previously used for the season finale from seasons 1 and 3–6, from the Orpheum Theatre. In addition, the Hollywood round was extended to two weeks.

In the first round, the 147 contestants each sang a short solo a cappella performance of any song. The next round had the remaining 107 contestants performing in groups of three or four. The 72 contestants that passed group day performed one more solo song, this time accompanied by a band, before being narrowed down to 54. The final 54 then went to the "judges' mansion" in Los Angeles for the final results, and the Top 36 were announced. Some contestants had a sing-off to determine who would enter the top 36.

Semi-finals

The top 36 were announced in a special two-hour broadcast on Wednesday, February 11, 2009.[13]
All 36 contestants, performing in three groups of twelve, sang songs that were Billboard Hot 100 Hits.

Below are the three semi-final groups with contestants listed in their performance order. In each group, three people advanced to the next round, based on votes by the viewers. The top male and female recipient advanced, along with the next highest vote recipient of the remaining ten contestants in each group. Following those nine singers advancing, eight of the remaining 27 semi-finalists were selected by the judges to compete in the Wild Card round. Following another performance by each Wild Card contender, the judges selected four contestants to advance to the final group of 13.

Semi-Final Group 1 - Billboard Hot 100 hits

Advancing to the Top 13: Alexis Grace, Michael Sarver, and Danny Gokey
Wild Card Contenders: Ricky Braddy, Tatiana Del Toro, and Anoop Desai

Semi-Final Group 2 - Billboard Hot 100 hits

Advancing to the Top 13: Allison Iraheta, Kris Allen, and Adam Lambert
Wild Card Contenders: Jasmine Murray, Matt Giraud, Megan Joy, and Jesse Langseth

Semi-Final Group 3 - Billboard Hot 100 hits

Advancing to the Top 13: Lil Rounds, Scott MacIntyre, and Jorge Núñez
Wild Card Contender: Von Smith

Wild Card Round - Billboard Hot 100 hits

Advancing to the Top 13: Jasmine Murray, Megan Joy, Matt Giraud, and Anoop Desai

Finals

Top 13 - Michael Jackson

Eliminated: Jasmine Murray and Jorge Núñez

The judges chose not to save either Jasmine or Jorge.

Top 11 - Grand Ole Opry

Mentor: Randy Travis

Bottom 3: Allison Iraheta, Michael Sarver, and Alexis Grace

Bottom 2: Michael Sarver and Alexis Grace

Eliminated: Alexis Grace

The judges chose not to use their save on Alexis.

Top 10 - Motown

Mentor: Smokey Robinson

Bottom 3: Matt Giraud, Michael Sarver, and Scott MacIntyre

Bottom 2: Matt Giraud and Michael Sarver

Eliminated: Michael Sarver

The judges chose not to save Michael.

Top 9 - Popular iTunes Downloads

Bottom 3: Megan Joy, Allison Iraheta, and Anoop Desai

Bottom 2: Megan Joy and Anoop Desai

Eliminated: Megan Joy

Simon made it clear that the judges would not even consider using the save on Megan.

Top 8 - Year They Were Born

Bottom 3: Anoop Desai, Scott MacIntyre, and Lil Rounds

Bottom 2: Anoop Desai and Scott MacIntyre

Eliminated: Scott MacIntyre

Paula and Kara wanted to save Scott, but Simon and Randy did not.[14] Since the judges must be unanimous for the save to be used, the save was not used on Scott.

Top 7 (first week) - Idol at the Movies

Mentor: Quentin Tarantino

Bottom 3: Anoop Desai, Lil Rounds, and Matt Giraud

Bottom 2: Matt Giraud and Lil Rounds

Lowest Voted: Matt Giraud

Eliminated: None*

*Matt Giraud received the lowest number of votes but the judges decided to use their save and Matt was not eliminated.

Top 7 (second week) - Disco

Bottom 3: Anoop Desai, Allison Iraheta, and Lil Rounds

Eliminated: Lil Rounds and Anoop Desai

With no elimination the previous week, there was a second "Top 7" week and two people were eliminated.

Top 5 - Rat Pack Standards

Mentor: Jamie Foxx

Bottom 3: Adam Lambert, Kris Allen, and Matt Giraud

Bottom 2: Adam Lambert and Matt Giraud

Eliminated: Matt Giraud

Top 4 - Rock n' Roll

Mentor: Slash

  • Kris Allen
  • Allison Iraheta
  • Danny Gokey
  • Adam Lambert

Results night performances

For the finals, season 4 winner Carrie Underwood's cover of Mötley Crüe's "Home Sweet Home" was used as the exit song.

Group song

Other performances

In addition, songs are played during the elimination night to promote an artist, single, album, or the show itself. Included is a list of those songs with their Billboard Hot 100 and Hot Digital Songs reactions.

Week Performer(s) Title Hot 100
Reaction		 Hot Digital Songs
Reaction		 Notes
Top 36/Group 1 Carly Smithson
Michael Johns		 "The Letter" Was Never Released Ineligible to chart
(No legal digital release)		 live performance
Top 36/Group 2 Brooke White "Hold Up My Heart" 47 (debut) 27 (51,171 +999%) live performance
Top 36/Group 3 No performer
Top 13 Kanye West "Heartless" 7 (+1) 13 (95,223 +18%) pre-recorded[15]
Kelly Clarkson "My Life Would Suck Without You" 5 (+4) 6 (141,167 +38%) live performance
Top 11 Brad Paisley "Then" 35 (debut) 18 (64,127 +999%) live performance
Carrie Underwood
Randy Travis		 "I Told You So" 9 (+48) 4 (125,806 +701%) pre-recorded[16]
Top 10 Ruben Studdard "Together" did not debut N/A pre-recorded[17]
Smokey Robinson
Joss Stone		 "You’re the One for Me" did not debut N/A live performance
Stevie Wonder "Motown" Medley: "My Chérie Amour"/"Superstition"/
"Overjoyed"/"All About the Love Again"		 ineligible to re-enter N/A live performance
Top 9 David Cook "Come Back to Me" 63 (debut) 40 (39,430 +498%) pre-recorded
Lady GaGa "Poker Face" 2 (-1) 2 (228,799 +11%) live performance
Top 8 Frankie Avalon "Venus" N/A N/A live performance
Flo Rida "Right Round" 3 (=) 4 (179,913 +9%) live performance
Kellie Pickler "Best Days of Your Life" 50 (+53) 34 (46,825 +257%) live performance
Top 7
(week 1)		 Jennifer Hudson "If This Isn't Love" 63 (+23) 86 (19,112 +172%) live performance
Miley Cyrus "The Climb" 4 (+4) 2 (189,566 +0%) pre-recorded
Top 7
(week 2)		 David Archuleta "Touch My Hand"[18] did not debut 107 (12,875 +558%) live performance
Freda Payne, Thelma Houston, and KC Medley of "Band of Gold", "Don't Leave Me This Way" and "Get Down Tonight." ineligible to re-enter did not enter live performance
Top 5 Natalie Cole "Something's Gotta Give" TBA TBA live performance
Taylor Hicks [19] "Seven Mile Breakdown" TBA TBA live performance
Jamie Foxx "Blame It" TBA TBA live performance
Top 4 Daughtry [20] "No Surprise" TBA TBA
No Doubt [21] "Stand and Deliver" TBA TBA
Top 3 Jordin Sparks [22] "Battlefield" TBA TBA
Katy Perry "Waking Up in Vegas" TBA TBA
Top 2 TBA TBA TBA TBA

Elimination chart

Legend
Did Not Perform Female Male Top 36 Wild Card Top 13 Winner
Safe
Bottom 3
Bottom 2
Eliminated
Judges' Save
Stage: Semi-Finals Wild
Card 		Finals
Week:
2/18
2/261
3/4
3/5
3/112
3/18
3/263
4/1
4/8
4/154
4/225
4/29
5/6
5/13
5/20
Place Contestant Result
Kris Allen Top 13 Btm 3
Danny Gokey Top 13
Allison Iraheta Top 13 Btm 3 Btm 3 Btm 3
Adam Lambert Top 13 Btm 2
5 Matt Giraud Elim Top 13 Btm 2 Saved Elim
6 - 7 Anoop Desai Elim Top 13 Btm 2 Btm 2 Btm 3 Elim
Lil Rounds Top 13 Btm 3 Btm 2
8 Scott MacIntyre Top 13 Btm 3 Elim
9 Megan Joy Elim Top 13 Elim
10 Michael Sarver Top 13 Btm 2 Elim
11 Alexis Grace Top 13 Elim
12 - 13 Jorge Núñez Top 13 Elim
Jasmine Murray Elim Top 13
Wild
Card 		Ricky Braddy Elim Elim
Tatiana Del Toro Elim
Jesse Langseth Elim
Von Smith Elim
Semi-
Final 3 		Arianna Afsar Elim
Felicia Barton
Kendall Beard
Ju'Not Joyner
Nathaniel Marshall
Kristen McNamara
Taylor Vaifanua
Alex Wagner-Trugman
Semi-
Final 2 		Matt Breitzke Elim
Mishavonna Henson
Kai Kalama
Nick Mitchell
Jeanine Vailes
Semi-
Final 1 		Ann Marie Boskovich Elim
Casey Carlson
Stephen Fowler
Brent Keith
Jackie Tohn
Stevie Wright

1 Due to the 2009 Speech to the Joint Session of the United States Congress on Tuesday, February 24, 2009, the performance show was moved to Wednesday, February 25 and the results show was moved to Thursday, February 26.
2 Ryan never specifically said who the bottom three or four was, but Megan Joy was brought up with Jasmine Murray and Anoop Desai with Jorge Nuñez for dramatic effect. Jasmine Murray was announced as the first to leave, followed by Jorge Nuñez.
3 Due to the White House Press Conference on Tuesday, March 24, 2009, the performance show was moved to Wednesday, March 25 and the results show was moved to Thursday, March 26.
4 Due to the judges using their one save, in order to save Matt Giraud, the Top 7 remained intact for another week.
5 The bottom two were eliminated on 4/22. It was never announced who received the lowest number of votes, although Lil Rounds was announced as the first to leave, followed by Anoop Desai.

Controversies

Joanna Pacitti

Joanna Pacitti, who was originally selected as a semi-finalist, created controversy due to her being previously signed to A&M and Geffen Records. Later, she was found to have been having a "private relationship" with 19 Management. She was later disqualified, and replaced by Felicia Barton.[23]

Telephone number

In the Top 13, the expected phone number for Alexis Grace, 866-IDOLS-13, was not owned by American Idol, but by a company called Intimate Encounters, who used it as a sex line. Although host Ryan Seacrest mentioned the replacement phone number, 866-IDOLS-36, several times, some commentators feared that the phone number confusion could lead to Grace being inadvertently voted off the show.[24][25] Grace was not voted off that week.

Lip-syncing

After the Top 11 program, Justin Guarini, while hosting Idol Wrap on TV Guide channel, asserted that the show's group performances were being lip-synced.[26] Soon after Guarini's assertion was aired, a spokesperson for the producers of American Idol said, "The Idols don't lip-sync, period."[26] The following day, the same spokesperson said that "due to extensive choreography and to balance their voices with open mics against a screaming audience, the Idols do sing along to their own prerecorded vocal track during the group performances only."[26][27] The spokesperson maintained that the performers sing their solo songs live, but their performances available to download through iTunes are recorded prior to airing.[26]

Releases

iTunes

As in the previous season, American Idol exclusively partnered with iTunes. To keep the competition fair and prevent any revealing of the number of songs bought during voting, they are not available until the result show (Wednesdays). While the performers sing their solo songs live on the program, the performances available to download through iTunes are prerecorded prior to airing.[26] The iTunes exclusives includes:

  • Top 36 live performance audio
  • Top 13 live performances videos and audios, as well as studio recordings

Songs from some guest performers, such as Brooke White, are also available on the American Idol portion of iTunes.

References

  1. ^ Songwriter Kara DioGuardi joins 'American Idol' panel
  2. ^ OK! Magazine - First for Celebrity News - Less is More for Next Season of American Idol
  3. ^ ‘Idol's’ emotional focus will highlight Abdul
  4. ^ Associated Press
  5. ^ Lythgoe Leaving 'American Idol'
  6. ^ American Idol Shelves "Give Back" Show for 2009 Season
  7. ^ Fox releases 'American Idol' schedule, confirms format changes
  8. ^ MTV How WIll The Wild-Card Round Work On 'American Idol'
  9. ^ Who Will Be The Next Singing Superstar? - American Idol News
  10. ^ Release says San Francisco; arena is actually in Daly City, though part of its property is in San Francisco.
  11. ^ http://www.rollingstone.com/rockdaily/index.php/2009/01/22/american-idol-finds-a-major-label-burnout-kentucky-derby-hats-at-louisville-auditions/ The filmed session before the judges was actually at Churchill Downs.
  12. ^ Release says Phoenix; arena is actually in Glendale.
  13. ^ http://www.americanidol.com/news/view/pid/1564 Top 36 Revealed!
  14. ^ "judgesplit". Retrieved 2009-04-12.
  15. ^ Borzillo-Vrenna, Carrie (March 11, 2009). "American Idol: What You Didn't See". E!. Retrieved March 12, 2009.
  16. ^ Vary, Adam B. (March 18, 2009). "American Idol: On the scene at the Top 11 performance night -- special appearance by Carrie Underwood!". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved March 18, 2009. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  17. ^ Pastorek, Whitney (March 26, 2009). "American Idol: On the scene for Top 10 performance night". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved March 26, 2009. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  18. ^ http://weblogs.newsday.com/entertainment/music/idol/blog/2009/04/david_archuleta_grins_his_way.html
  19. ^ http://news-briefs.ew.com/2009/04/post-1.html
  20. ^ http://www.hitfix.com/articles/2009-4-30-daughtry-no-doubt-coming-to-american-idol
  21. ^ http://www.hitfix.com/articles/2009-4-30-daughtry-no-doubt-coming-to-american-idol
  22. ^ http://myidol.americanidol.com/americanidolnow/blog/2009/04/24/jordin_sparks_sophmore_record_details
  23. ^ Elber, Lynn (February 12, 2009). "Joanna Pacitti Disqualified From "American Idol"". The Huffington Post.
  24. ^ Montgomery, James (March 11, 2009). "Will 'Idol' Phone Snafu Sink Alexis Grace?". Retrieved 2009-03-15.
  25. ^ Mousavinezhad, Jamshid (March 10, 2009). "American Idol can't use 'nasty' 1-866-IDOLS-13 number". Newsday.
  26. ^ a b c d e Wyatt, Edward (Mrch 25, 2009). "'Idol' Group Numbers: Not So Live After All". The New York Times. p. C1. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help) Cite error: The named reference "nyt" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  27. ^ Kaufman, Gil (March 26, 2009). "'American Idol' Producers Admit Group Sing-Alongs Are Lip-Synched". MTV.
Preceded by American Idol
Season 8 (2009) 		Succeeded by
Season 9 (2010)
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=American_Idol_season_8&oldid=287964250"