The Contenders: Meet Jasmine Murray

Sixteen-year-old Jasmine Murray auditioned for Season 8 of "American Idol" in Jacksonville.  Accompanied by her mom and three older sisters, she sang Fergie's "Big Girls Don't Cry" for the panel. The Starkville, Mississippi high school student got approving smiles and nods from all and was sent to Hollywood with four yeses. In Hollywood, she was the sole one of the four members of "Team Divas" who didn't get sent home. The smiling star didn't falter, even after Katrina Darrell's antics ruined the group's practice. Jasmine Murray got teary-eyed emotional with her achievement and got a big hug from homeward bound teammate Rose Flack as "bikini girl" Katrina Darrell made a quick exit without goodbyes.

Keep up with Jasmine Murray news at her offical fan club site.

--Leslie Anne Wiggins

photo: Fox

Rose Flack: Don't blame Bikini Girl!

"American Idol's" Hollywood Week may have been wrapped up long ago, but the battle between hippie chick Rose Flack and Bikini Girl Katrina Darrell rages on.  The feud, however, may have become a bit one-sided.  In an interview with the L.A. Times, Darrell said of Rose:

One of them was like a hippie chick who didn’t wear shoes anywhere, which is fine, whatever. But she was always smoking. We could never find her. She was on cigarette breaks the entire time. We were always like, ‘Where is Rose? Where is Rose?’ She wasn’t even practicing.

On her MySpace blog, however, Rose has called for unilateral cease-fire on the part of her fans. In a post headed "Katrina Darrell" she wrote:

                        

is NOT the reason i got cut.
the reason i got cut was because i did a bad preformance.
sure, i was pissed that she left the group.
however she did not contribute to my horrid vocals and forgetfulness.
so please stop calling her such a bitch, because she's really not.
she and i got along famously before we were in a group together.

Bikini girl Katrina Darrell says she's not 'just some fluke in a bikini'

Katrina Darrell, 20, famously known for making out with Ryan Seacrest in a bikini during her “American Idol” audition, didn’t make it past Hollywood week. Few are surprised, including Darrell, who’s nevertheless nothing but optimistic for what’s coming next. (In her case, that means offers from Playboy, FHM and some stint in Las Vegas.) She’s also already accumulated more than 4,100 friends on MySpace.

So even though the Chino Hills, Calif., girl blogged Wednesday that she was “bummed” and “rather pissed at FOX for the editing they did” of the episode in which she was eliminated, she says she’s over it. In a telephone chat this morning, Darrell tried to explain her bikini decision, what really happened during the group auditions, why she believes Simon Cowell is a big fan and why she just feels sorry for Kara.

Tell us about the bikini.
It was 110 degrees in Phoenix! We were staying in a hotel and it was so hot inside, and then the contestants were going to have to stand in these lines for 15 hours. I had heard people were standing even up to 18 hours. I thought if it takes that long at least I’ll be tan.

And that was really the only reason?
Yeah, it was spontaneous. It wasn’t preplanned at all. I woke up in the morning and just decided to wear it. My mom thought I was crazy.

Did she try to stop you from wearing it?
She said, ‘I don’t know if you should wear that’ and I said, ‘No, it’ll be OK.’ When we got there I was real nice to people. I think it’s how you carry yourself too. If I wore a bikini and just trying to be like, ‘I’m so sexy’ and mean to everyone, I think you’d get a negative reaction from that. But if I’m nice person and I explain why I did it, I think people would see that it’s all in good fun. I didn’t think that it would be so controversial, but I guess it is.

What does your mom think about everything that’s happened?
She’s been laughing; she thinks it’s funny. You know, I did runway modeling in my bikini so it’s nothing that she hasn’t seen before. I did runway for Ed Hardy, I’ve walked with Tyrese and Eva Pigford from 'America’s Next Top Model.' I’ve done a lot of runway.

How do you think you’ve been portrayed on the show?
It’s actually pretty funny. The bikini was wild and crazy and they played 'Barbie Girl' when I walked. You know, that’s my personality though, I’m out there and friendly and just fun, you know? It’s all in good fun.

You blogged otherwise. I mean, you’re aware there is some backlash? That they portrayed you as somewhat of a villain during Hollywood week? Partly to blame for three out of the four girls in your group getting eliminated?
I’m not the villain. I think that part of the portrayal is false. Honestly, with a reality show they don’t give you enough time to get to know a person or really even hear me sing fully. I only sang one line, even in the first audition. So they haven’t heard my voice to my best ability. And they haven’t gotten to know my personality or really get to know me. So all that’s seen is the crazy stuff I’ve done. So, whatever, we’ll let it roll. Hopefully America will see a lot more of me.

Ann Powers: Group round, 'Survivor' style

They might as well have been swimming through mud to grab brass rings from a crab-infested net.

The group round show is always the "Idol" episode most like other reality shows. The unexpected and often unwelcome alliances, the sleep deprivation, and the pressure to learn Jacksons-level dance routines in just a few hours turns what should be a singing competition (say it, Simon!) into a simulacrum of "Survivor." If you like drama, this is the season's high point; if you like music, not so much.

However, one musical truth did surface, again and again, during group round. (Thanks to mjsbigblog for the video footage that follows after the jump.)

Rushfield Review: High drama hits Hollywood Week

Together, we have witnessed what may have been the most thrilling hour in the history of television.  As previously discussed, American Idol's Hollywood Week creates unprecedented drama in the tension seen when 150 young people, dreaming of stardom, are taken from their homes and placed inches from their dreams, only to see the dream turn into a nightmare. In a scenario taken from a horror film,  "Friday the 13th" for instance, these 150 kids travel away from their homes to what they think is a fun-filled summer camp by the water, only to have an ax-wielding maniac leap out of the woods and massacre them a dozen at a time.

So close to a life beyond their imagination -- this is the Idol promise -- but only to those who can first pass through the grizzliest of horrors.

And the worst of all came last night; to escape, they had to depend on someone else.

The nobility of the Idol path is that each singer faces his or her destiny alone. In single combat against a pitiless nation, these young singers stand naked and with no earthly power able to help them, and bare their souls to us in their quest for glory. In their years of preparation, the warriors of song must learn to craft themselves into a perfect weapon forged for singing warfare, finding all they need for battle within themselves and depending on nothing outside their skins.

But then, of all the diabolic tricks, Hollywood Week puts them in teams and makes them work with and depend on others. 

On one level, this is a non sequitur of a challenge. Yes, on the show proper they will do group numbers -- they will also live together, tape Ford commercials together and attend "Shrek" sequel premieres together. But all these events are sideshows; ultimately their 90 seconds alone on stage are all that matters. 

But on another level, this change-up is completely germane.  Before the road leads back to the Nokia, every Idol survivor will tell you, their powers of stamina and determination will be tested at levels they have never dreamed. In four days, Hollywood Week can only offer them a taste of the fatigue to come, but by throwing in this completely out-of-their-experience curveball, we get a sense of what these soldiers are made of; they all say they will stop at nothing to be the next American Idol, but when you are dealing with a drama queen running amok over your choreography, that is when a singer looks into his soul and asks himself, how badly do I really want this?

Phil Stacey blog: Group dreams

Tonight covered Day Three of Hollywood Week. Trust me when I say that these contestants are TIRED during this episode. When I was on "American Idol," Day Three was group day. I remember I stayed up all night with my group practicing harmonies and dance moves. I was literally out of it when we performed –- and so was the rest of my group. My roommate, Chris Sligh, however, was in a group with Blake Lewis, Rudy Cardenas and Tom Lowe. When they formed their group, they spent all of 15 minutes choosing a song and coming up with an arrangement for the following day. They were well rested and absolutely tore it up when they performed. Theirs was easily the best group event of the day. All four people easily skated through to the next round, while two members of my group were sent home. It just goes to show, sometimes you either have it –- or you don’t.

Simon has a “forget the words” no-tolerance policy. That is, unless he REALLY likes you. If anyone forgets the words and still makes it through, they are a guarantee for the semifinals.  It really is that simple.

This episode begins with a lot of group drama. I don’t know about you, but I enjoy watching the drama.

Tatiana Del Toro is the focus of most of the drama. I am assuming this is the day she will get cut. I’m kind of surprised to see that she’s still here.

High Notes and Howlers: Hollywood Week almost focuses on music

It began with an operatic flourish and some well-tempered words from sugar-pop zaide Barry Manilow: Success, said the barrel-voiced balladeer, occurs when preparation meets opportunity. Framing round one of Hollywood Week with that statement set up tonight's episode as one that would offer many dazzling high points, as performers with enough experience and talent to shine step forth to distinguish themselves and advance.

Yet by the time the hour concluded, all we'd seen were a big bouquet of first-audition style a capella snippets. Several contestants stood out as likely to continue, but in the end, it was just like what we saw in all those convention-center tryout rooms across the nation, only with better lighting and a few shots of that big sign in Griffith Park.

Now, I get into the drama of "Idol" as much as anybody (save my colleague, the Rabbi, Richard Rushfield). But since I am a music critic, not a hugs critic or a tears critic or a tender back-story critic, I want to get to the music! There's so little at first, buried under a mountain of public humiliation and glimmering hope. Hollywood Week is where "Idol" finally becomes, as Simon loves to say, a singing contest. But not this year.

Idoltracker Review: Hurray for Hollywood Week

“I want this more than anything. It’s under my skin and it bursts out when I’m on stage.”

The immortal words of Nathaniel Marshall, American Idol Hollywood Week aspirant, are a fitting tribute to what is the most exciting week of the most important program in entertainment.

Along the American Idol trail -- a slow, arduous climb up an increasingly steep cliff -- Hollywood Week represents a sudden detour into a demolition derby.  For the rest of the season, contestants will be executed at a gentlemanly once-a-week pace (or a bit more in the Top 36 rounds), but for this one segment, death does not take a stately stroll across the Idol set, but rampages across, a rabid dog unleashed seeking to bury his fangs in any victim at hand.

As the curtain rose on the Kodak stage -- the platform where Sparks and Underwood received their coronation -- we saw 147 young hopefuls, plucked from absolute obscurity and dropped at the gates of immortality.  By the end of the night, 43 of their number, a full quarter, had been cast out and told that the kingdom would never be theirs.  They have been called forth from the seas of people who flooded America’s stadiums for a chance at this dream; astounded to be 1 of 147 chosen out of tens of thousands.  But for most of those, the gates of the kingdom are as close as they will ever come.  And this is the drama of Hollywood Week.

Rose Flack speaks; others run for cover

On the eve of Hollywood Week, MySpace has become a frenzy of activity on the pages of those "American Idol" hopefuls shown receiving golden tickets on the audition episodes. Even as spoiler lists circle the Internet (click here at your own risk), some of the front-runners have been fueling speculation that they have already been granted a slot in the Top 36 (the "Green Mile" episode was taped a couple of weeks ago) by disassembling their MySpace pages piece by piece.

While the pages have not disappeared completely, the Web consensus is that removing one's music clips from one's MySpace page is the smoking gun, proving that the singer is Top 36-bound. That theory runs up against the problem, however, that by my count a few more than 36 have taken down their music clips. Meanwhile, the clips remain on the pages of some who are on the spoiler list and have been taken down from some who are not.

Others are, in cryptic ways -- perhaps already from deep within the "Idol" machine -- sending messages to the world.  From "hippie girl" Rose Flack, whose page has otherwise almost been dismantled, came this little riddle under the heading "ridiculous day."

tina got fanmail.
bahahaha.
and then the cda press called.
'so we heard rose got arrested.. is it true?'
BAHAHAHA.
no, cda press.
it is not.
sorry for the lack of breaking news.
=]

Others have been posting warnings about phony imitator sites, while another's mother has taken over keeping fans updated.

So what to believe?  It seems for complete clarity we will have to live through the special double Hollywood Week beginning Tuesday night. 

-- Richard Rushfield

Photo: Like most of those who tried out for "American Idol" this year, this contestant, even with cheerleader backup, didn't even make it to Hollywood. Credit: Fox

After the auditions: the 12 front-runners

So the auditions are behind us.  We haven't seen everyone yet, but we've seen a lot of them.  And on the basis of that half-information, we are prepared to make some predictions. 

Tens of thousands were summoned by the "Idol" trumpets.  We predict that when the dust settles and the curtain rises over the Idoldome in five weeks, it will be these 12 warriors of song onstage prepared to seize the mantle of history.  (Actually we couldn't narrow it down to 12, so we threw in one extra.)

In no particular order.  Listed by name, (audition city), age, hometown.  Audition song. Interesting fact. Link to check them out (while they last).

1. Lil Rounds: (Kansas City) 23, Memphis TN. Sang "All I Do."  Family made homeless by a tornado.  Audition video here.

2. Adam Lambert (San Francisco) 26, Hollywood, CA. Sang  “Bohemian Rhapsody.” Was in the cast of "Wicked"; looks like Ewan McGregor. Remnants of MySpace page here.  Audition video here.

3. Rose Flack (Salt Lake City) 17, Rathdrum, ID. Sang Carole King's “I Feel the Earth Move." Recently orphaned, barefoot hippie girl. MySpace page here. Audition video here.

4. Jackie Tohn (New York) 27, Silver Lake, CA. Sang Jason Mraz's "I’m Yours." Rocker since childhood.  Audition video here. Personal site here.

5. Scott MacIntyre: (Phoenix) 22, Scottsdale, AZ. Sang Billy Joel's "And So It Goes." Legally blind.  Audition video here. Personal site here.

6. Joanna Pacitti. (Louisville) 23, Philadelphia, PA.  Sang Pat Benatar's "We Belong." Had earlier recording career on A&M Records. Audition video here. MySpace page here.

7. Jorge Nunez. (San Juan) 20, Carolina, Puerto Rico. Sang  "My Way” and "What a Wonderful World." Charmed the judges when he sang in Spanish.  Audition video here. 

8. Meghan Corkrey. (Salt Lake) 23, Sandy, UT. Sang “Can’t Help Lovin’ Dat Man.”  Heavily tattooed single mother. Audition video here.

9. Kai Kalama: (San Francisco) 26, San Clemente, CA.  Sang "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes."  Cares for ailing mother.  Audition video here.  MySpace page for former band here.

10. Leneshe Young: (Louisville) 18, Cincinnati, OH. Sang original song.  Raised in homeless shelters.  Audition video here.

11. Von Smith: (Kansas City) 22, Greenwood, MO. Sang  "Over the Rainbow." Wore goofy hat; "attempts things most guys don't attempt to sing." Audition video here. MySpace page here.

12. Danny Gokey (Kansas City) 28. Milwaukee, WI.  Sang "Heard It Through the Grapevine."  Grieving recently deceased wife. Audition video here.  MySpace page here.

13. Michael Castro (Kansas City) 20. Rockwall, TX.  Sang "In Love With a Girl." Brother of Season 7 giant Jason Castro.  Audition video here.   

Whom have I left out?  Please share your thoughts!  Hollywood Week is coming fast.

-- Richard Rushfield

Photo: Fox