Kelly Clarkson, Rubin Studdard, Carrie Underwood, and Fantasia Barrino are just a few of the stars who can thank the popular reality show, American Idol, for their precious little careers. But, has this show’s ever-so admired run come to a rapid halt?
The self-titled debut album from American Idol’s latest winner, Jordin Sparks, was released on Nov. 20, 2007 and entered the Billboard Music Charts at a mild #10, according to MTV.com. It only sold 119,100 albums in its first week. This is an obvious disappointment for the American Idol, who was considered one of the show’s most popular contestants to date.
In 2003, the show’s first season winner, Kelly Clarkson, hit the top of the charts with her album “Thankful” selling just short of 300,000 copies within the first week. Though her sophomore album was also extremely successful, her latest stab in the studio was quite the upset. After “My December” was taken to her record label’s executives, it was turned down by Clive Davis because of its “lack of hits,” according to perezhilton.com. After the album was on the shelf for months, Kelly was allowed to run back into the studio and re-record every track. What is she doing now? Playing small, 2,500 seat venues and recording her next album that will be released in 2008.
Other American Idol alums, such as rivals Rubin Studdard and Clay Aiken, have been hitting a rough patch in their careers as well. Studdard’s and Aiken’s first singles were purposefully released on the same day, and not surprisingly, Aiken’s beat out the second season’s winner. Has the industry heard from either of them since? Negative. Besides making random appearances on Idol, the two have remained relatively silent within the music industry.
So will the public chew and spit out the most recent American Idol, Jordin Sparks? It seems that they already might have. Debuting at number eight on Billboards Pop 100, her first single, “Tattoo” was beat out by other heavy-hitters such as Chris Brown and Alicia Keys. With a schloo of hot producers such as Stargate and Underdogs, a powerful voice and a prize-winning smile, it’s hard to pinpoint why Sparks’ album was such a let-down. A number of sources agree that it was the nature of this season’s past contestants. Being paired up with Blake Lewis, the human beat-box, the popular vote quite possibly went to Sparks simply because she is normal, which doesn’t set her up for world pop-music domination.
Is this the fall of the American Idol era? Some may be jumping for joy, but it doesn’t seem like the show is ending any time soon, no matter the ill success of their past contestants. The new season begins on Jan. 15, and yes, the first handful of episodes will be filled with awful performers who think they have talent.