For the Latest ‘American Idol’ Finalists, Another 15 Minutes of Fame

UNIONDALE, N.Y. — Syesha Mercado, a k a No. 3, was working herself flush performing “Listen,” from “Dreamgirls,” to an almost sold-out Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum on Tuesday night, pretending that she was not killing time. It was the third song of a three-song set, her not-quite-15 minutes of stage time on the American Idols Live Tour 2008, and she intended to milk it, even as Jeff Archuleta, father of David (No. 2), was making his way through the crowd to the sound board at the back of the arena, preparing to watch his son steal her thunder.
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David Cook, the 2008 American Idol, performed with the show's other finalists on Tuesday night in Uniondale, N.Y.
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Carly Smithson on the American Idols Live tour.
Rahav Segev for The New York Times

Syesha Mercado performing on the American Idols Live tour.

For this concert, which featured the top 10 finalists from the seventh season of “American Idol” in the country’s largest covers revue, the singers were announced by their names and numbers — what place they came in on the show — on screens hanging high above the stage. They performed in order of elimination, leading up to the two Davids: Archuleta and Cook (No. 1).

The latest cycle of “American Idol,” which concluded in May, needed these Davids. Most of the other finalists were competent vocalists but otherwise largely blank. Mr. Archuleta was a winning, precocious naïf with a lovely, flexible voice, and Mr. Cook, the season’s token rocker, had a gift for holding raspy notes at length and with power. Viewers logged 97.5 million votes for the finale, with Mr. Cook capturing 56 percent of them.

These are numbers that any record label executive would salivate over. But, and it’s important, “American Idol” is not a record label. That the Season 4 winner, Carrie Underwood, has become a true, consistent pop star seems incidental; no other winner — save, in moments, Kelly Clarkson from the show’s inaugural season — has come close.

Success on “Idol” has long been confused with music industry viability, but the show requires a different set of skills. Singing well is nice, but so is the ability to perform one’s emotions, to have an easily relatable and neatly sketched back story, and to understand what the camera will forgive and what it won’t.



“Idol” requires its own metrics, and accordingly, on this tour, the show’s stars were not just singing songs, they were also playing their characters. Brooke White (No. 5), the clean-scrubbed folkie, performed barefoot while torturing the Beatles’ “Let It Be”; Jason Castro (No. 4), the dreadlocked hipster, appeared just as dazed as he did on the night he was eliminated, and all the nights before that, though he snapped to attention for a ukulele-driven version of “Over the Rainbow.” Kristy Lee Cook (No. 7) used gratuitous patriotism to distract from her thin voice on Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the U.S.A.,” as well as some jiggles of her behind. (“That’s not very ladylike,” one mother could be heard telling her daughter.)

The winner, Mr. Cook, was a great television character: the humble beginnings, the ailing brother, the journey of self-discovery. But his set captured only the final installment of his growth: resignation. In a tight T-shirt, lace-up pants and eyeliner, he managed to appear both smug and glum, his performance carrying an air of the perfunctory about it. Perhaps thousands of screaming fans are not enough to lighten the burden of being the one who has to shout, at the end of the night, “Give it up for Pop Tarts, Guitar Hero and the band!” (In that order.)

Losing might have put things in perspective. Mr. Archuleta’s versions of Robbie Williams’s “Angels” and Ben E. King’s “Stand by Me” were charming and impressive. And the night’s best performance came from Carly Smithson (No. 6), a major-label refugee who was an early favorite to win this season. (She released a flop, “Ultimate High,” on MCA in 2001 under her maiden name, Carly Hennessy. The next year, in an article on music-business excess, The Wall Street Journal reported that MCA had spent $2.2 million on the project.)

Ms. Smithson has a pleasantly brassy voice, though she was erratic on the show. But while television might not have suited her, the stage did. Here, her three songs — Evanescence’s “Bring Me to Life,” Heart’s “Crazy on You” and Cyndi Lauper’s “I Drove All Night” — were stunning. She hit the big notes. She drew the audience close through careful deployment of volume. She dramatically dropped to her knees. All in all, it felt strangely like a concert.

The American Idols Live tour stops at the XL Center in Hartford on Friday and at the DCU Center in Worcester, Mass., on Saturday; tour.americanidol.com.

August 1, 2008
Season 3 Finalist Jon Peter Lewis took some time off from the road to share his thoughts from the Salt Lake City auditions. He was there hanging with the auditioners -- you'll even see him doing some interviews for americanidol.com later this summer/fall! He was also in Salt Lake to celebrate the release of his second album, Break The Silence, which hit stores on July 22nd.

Don't miss his take on the Salt Lake experience, and, if you're heading to the Kansas City auditions, you might just see him there, too!

Catching Up With Ramiele

AMERICAN IDOL NEWS UPDATE
August 2, 2008 - Posted by Miles
Once Ramiele Malubay was chosen as one of the top 24 contestants in season 7 of American Idol, life for her has been anything but dull. After competing for five weeks knowing that she would be on tour during the summer, Ramiele stayed in L.A. This worked out well for her, as rehearsals for the finale and the tour began in earnest before the season even ended.

Life in the Idol world is always fast paced. As soon as the finale ended, rehearsals really kicked up and then the top 10 Idols were on the road, touring America from coast to coast. Lucikly for us, Ramiele took some time out of her busy schedule while she was in Newark to share some thoughts about the past year.

Ramiele has had a great experience on the road and she notes that "every city is different. We try to get off the bus, put our stuff inside and go and sign autographs before we have hair and makeup done and do press and whatnot." Later, she followed up, "I really didn't come into this with any expectations. I just love getting off the bus in other cities. I love waking up in different cities."

While it sounds glamorous and exciting, being on the road can be somewhat exhausting. Ramiele, though, exclaims, "It's less exhausitng then the show." Without having to stoiclly receive feedback from the judges after every performance, she confirms there's just less stress. This is how Ramiele describes a typical day on the road for her:

"Usually, after a show, if we have a show the next day, we'll travel to the next city and it will be, like, a four or five hour drive. We get out of the bus, take all of our stuff out, go and sleep for a couple hours, get ready, get all of our stuff back, get our hair and makeup done, meet the sponsors, perform, meet people after the show and, then, we go sign autographs outside and, then, we go and do the same thing all over again." Whew.

"All of us have gotten it down to a routine schedule. We're working on getting things done quicker. You know, like hair and makeup because there are five girsl and four of the girls are in the first set, so it's hard to get everybody done, but we're doing really well."

Being on tour is also quite different from being on the show in that she is now regularly performing in front of thousand and thousands of people. Laughing, Ramiele told us what kind of effect this has had on her:

"Backstage I freak out a little bit when I look into the audience. I go second, so when Chikezie is out there, I peek through the little cracks and see how many people are out there. I kinda freak out a little because there are so many people. Then, you go out there and you do the same songs every night. You don't have to learn new words or impress anybody -- you're just being yourself. Putting yourself out there for the people who have been watching you and supporting you."

Being away from family and friends for so long can be challenging, but she speaks to them often. When we spoke to her, Ramiele was missing her dog very much, but, fortunately, her boyfriend was coming into town with her dog for a visit. After the tour, Ramiele hopes to meet with some major studios and will be retuning to the Philippines in December to do a few concerts.