David Cook's debut album is still months away, but his first single, "Light On," is out now and sure to be inescapable this holiday season, or at least until the next Daughtry song comes out. Cook's "Light On," in fact, is firmly in the Daughtry mode, albeit there's a little bit more stubble and gruffness in his voice.
It's full-on, cellphone-waving arena rock schmaltz, with husky, slow-moving guitars and a wallop of meaninglessly earnest vocals. Cook is undoubtedly straining his face red as he oh-so-desperately wails that the object of his affection "try to leave a light on when I’m gone / something I rely on to get home."
It begins with a slow-dance piano, but Cook soon obliterates it, over-singing as if he's bearing the weight of every bad love letter written in the past eight years upon his back. Or like an "American Idol" winner trying to prove he's rock 'n' roll, if your first point of reference is Nickelback. But it's easily ignorable, and relatively inoffensively sensitive hard rock, and as Idolator predicted -- without even hearing it -- it'll be a soundtrack for shopping malls and drugstores all winter long.
The song has a bevy of star power behind it, and hits iTunes this week, making the single eligible for Grammy voting, meaning it will get nominated. Some grungy, Soundgarden-like guitars are definitely present in the cut, and co-writing credits go to Soundgarden/Audioslave's Chris Cornell, who picks up right where Audioslave's "Revelations" left off. But the more telling credit goes to Brian Howes, who has written for Daughtry, Puddle of Mudd and Hinder, and Cook is aiming for somewhere in the middle of all of that.
Following the news this week that new "American Idol" David Cook placed a whopping 14 songs on the U.S. digital songs chart comes some staggering sales figures from Nielsen SoundScan. During the week of the finale, the 10 "Idol" finalists sold a total of 1.5 million digital downloads, led by Cook, who moved 924,000 of them.
"Idol" runner-up David Archuleta sold 323,000 downloads, and Jason Castro was a distant third with 64,000 copies. Two things to note: The sales figures represent multiple tracks from the artists, and fans were encouraged to download the songs this week, as most of them disappeared from Apple's iTunes store Wednesday night. So if you were wondering why America seemed a little brighter -- perhaps just a little happier -- on Thursday, there was your reason (sorry, boss).
The kind kids at Show Tracker noted that songs from Cook and Archuleta would still be available after the Wednesday night deadline, but an iTunes search for "Archuleta" did not reveal any songs. It appears that his soullessly professional version of John Lennon's "Imagine" can no longer (legally) infect MP3 players.
So here's the complete breakdown:
Cook: 942,000 downloads
Archuleta: 323,000 downloads
Castro: 64,000 downloads
Brooke White: 47,000 downloads
Michael Johns: 40,000 downloads
Carly Smithson: 33,000 downloads
Syesha Mercado: 18,000 downloads
Kristy Lee Cook: 10,000 downloads
Chikezie: 5,000 downloads
Ramiele Malubay: 3,000 downloads
Artists who appeared on the "Idol" finale also saw a nice benefit. Carrie Underwood's "Last Name" went from 22,000 downloads to 64,000, and OneRepublic's sappy "Apologize" rocketed from 6,000 downloads to 40,000.
So while execs at Fox ponder how to reinject some life into the competition, they can rest assured that the show still has a tight grip on the music marketplace.
Update from the A.M.: The post was changed to include sales figures from Ramiele Malubay.
Note: This post is appearing here because "American Idol" Show Tracker Richard Rushfield is in Park City, Utah, covering the Sundance Film Festival.
He'll return next week. In the interim, Mr. Rushfield has asked me to
chronicle the second week of "Idol" Season 7. It should be noted that I
am a music journalist
who, prior to 2008, had refused to watch the contest. My long-held
refusal to tune in to "Idol," said Rushfield, is the precise reason why
I was drafted. After this week, I'll be back to my regular, non-"Idol"
duties.
"American Idol" concluded
its sixth hour in two weeks on Wednesday night, and of those 360
minutes, only a small fraction were devoted to actual music.
That may seem odd, seeing as how "Idol" is out to find our next pop
star and all. But this is not a show about music. In fact, in these
early Season 7 episodes, "Idol" has done little, if anything, to
actually celebrate or promote pop music. Simon even went so far as to
tell "Idol" lovebirds Randy Stark and Crystal Ortiz, a couple who met
on the "Idol" message boards (hey guys!), to essentially not even sing
for their families.
A dose of truth for the delusional, perhaps, but for a show about
music, "Idol" has an amazing ability to shatter dreams, and to make one
feel stupid for ever trying to sing in the first place. A lifetime
passion? Destroyed in about 20 seconds -- 20 seconds in which technique
(the ability to hold a note and carry a tune) is held in higher regard
than passion and personality.
Oh, I want to believe you Jeffery Lampkin. Jeffery performed with
his sister Michelle on Wednesday's Charleston, S.C., auditions, and had
an energy that would make Gnarls Barkley's Cee-Lo proud (as well as a
waistline). "Anybody can sing, but you have to have the ‘ow’ factor,"
he said. Not sure if the family act he has with his sister is going to
work (OK, it isn't), but as far as a singer with an "ow" factor,
Jeffery is the closest there's been in Season 7.
That's why it's surprising the pair were actually voted on to
Hollywood. For there were two moments in Wednesday's episode --
admittedly, the most entertaining "Idol" episode this season -- that
did a fine job of capturing the way the pop-star-making end of the
music industry actually works.
1. Sixteen year-old singer Amy Catherine Flynn (pictured), or, in
her words, "AC, whatevs."
Note: This post is appearing here because "American Idol's" Show Tracker, Richard Rushfield, is in Park City, Utah, covering the Sundance Film Festival.
He'll return next week. In the interim, Mr. Rushfield has asked me to
chronicle the second week of "Idol" Season 7. It should be noted that I
am a music journalist
who, prior to 2008, had refused to watch the contest. My long-held
refusal to tune in to "Idol," said Rushfield, is the precise reason why
I was drafted. After this week, I'll be back to my regular, non-"Idol" duties.
Not even two weeks in, and "American Idol's" seventh season reeks of
desperation. This sense of dread was in the air before Fox showed us
the "12,000 hopefuls" who poured into San Diego for Audition Episode
No. 3, many of them, it turns out, having already been rejected by the music industry.
Indeed, the episode ended with one Carly Hennessy, the widely reported former major-label bust once
signed to MCA Records (as of 10:44 p.m. on Jan. 22 that link to MCA's
long out-of-date Web page for Hennessy works, but in case it fails you,
there's also Amazon).
As far as the seventh season of "Idol" is concerned, she's Carly
Smithson, back on the show after being disqualified in Season 5 due to
visa issues.
Her performance of "I'm Every Woman" was met with mostly resounding
approval from the judges (Simon was predictably catty), but Paula said,
"That's what we wanted to hear," waving her hands in the air. Perhaps
it is, if what impresses you is a pretty but largely forgettable
singing voice, and the ability to stretch the word "me" to four
seconds.
Hennessy's prior record biz journeys have inspired plenty of online
debating as to whether or not "Idol" should welcome those with
experience. I say sure, why discriminate against talent?
