‘American Idol’ Daily: The fallout continues
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The day’s ‘Idol’ news continues to be dominated by a whirlwind of speculation surrounding the death of Paula Goodspeed outside Judge Abdul‘s home. While few new facts have emerged in the last 24 hours, the Internet is aswirl with rumors, speculation and finger-pointing, such as questions about the role ‘Idol’ played in the tragedy, unconfirmed reports about Paula’s status with the show, recriminations from Goodspeed’s family. Idol Daily does not have much to add to our prior comments, but we are following the story and will update this space as any new hard facts, confirmations, denials or insights become available on this tragic event.
However, some sense of the fan take comes from the public opinion research site MediaCurves.com, which surveyed some 300 ‘Idol’ viewers on their reactions to the tragedy. According to the site:
The majority of ‘American Idol’ viewers (who responded that they watch the show “all the time” or “sometimes”) felt that Goodspeed’s audition experience on ‘American Idol’ should not be blamed for her suicide. Most responders across all segments agreed that the victim, Paula Goodspeed, should be primarily responsible for her own death. ‘American Idol’ viewers also felt that the show and the judges’ likability ratings would not be negatively affected by the Goodspeed case.
Among those who always watch ‘Idol,’ only 19% say Goodspeed’s death has negatively affected their view of the show. And 22% of occaisional viewers took that stance. As to whom should be held responsible, 83% to 76% in the various categories felt the blame for the tragedy lay with Goodspeed herself rather than with the show.
In other ‘Idol’ news:
In an interview with EW.com, Kelly Clarkson’s producer Dr. Luke said that a new single from ‘Idol’s’ prodigal daughter could be out as soon as December (which, by my math, is a mere two weeks away). The single, elegantly titled ‘My Life Would Suck Without You,’ will apparently be something of a companion piece to Clarkson’s 2004 hit ‘Since U Been Gone.’ And contrary to Internet rumors, the Dr. says Clarkson will NOT be going country but staying firmly in her established pop/rock vein. ‘She has powerful lungs. She’s like the Lance Armstrong of vocal chords,’ Dr. Luke tells EW.
As his album stands at No. 3 today on the iTunes charts (Billboard numbers out next week), locked in a fierce tween death match with Taylor Swift and the ‘Twilight’ soundtrack for the top slot, David Archuleta continues to try to quash the irresistible story of the second showdown between himself and David Cook. He said in an interview with Reuters:
I think we have wanted to extinguish that flame because we want to be separate artists and musicians. Even during the ‘Idol’ competition we weren’t that competitive. No one really understood what was going on, watching this dream grow. Cook understands that more than anyone else because he went through the same thing. I still talk to him and text him every now and then. He’s always checking up on me. He is like a brother and that shows that he is awesome.
On his MySpace page, Season 6 runner-up Chris Richardson responded to fan rumors that the new song he has been working on is in fact a Christmas song, denying such talk and saying that he is not producing an entirely new song at all but just a remix. Richardson writes:
I’m getting comments that everyone believes this mystery song is a Christmas song ... a little off ... but at least i know what to work on for the Holidays!! Basically what i did was re-write some of a song already playing everywhere on the radio... added my touch and made it a Chris Rich mix! Not a song i would typically do, but its a dope song.
The countdown stands at:
Four days until David Cook hits the stores.
And Season 8 will debut a mere 60 days from today.
— RIchard Rushfield