PHOTOS
Lisa Sokolowski
The premise of
American Idol was simple when it started: get a bunch of nobodies to sing and be praised or reprimanded by three judges, one of which was British and has an acerbic tongue. Then, let America fall in love with the ones who got the most camera time, slowly vote off the ones who didn't, and eventually crown a winner who would go on to sell millions and millions of records.
Then there was the case of Sanjayagate in 2007. The baby-faced, bad-haired teenager had enough votes to soar into the top 10 last season, though his singing was far inferior to anyone else, and the producers and judges couldn't stop him since voting is up to the general public.
So, in order to make the 2008 version of the show a success, there were what the viewing audience referred to as plants, contestants the producers hand-picked in an attempt to weed out the potential Sanjayas.
Not that the plants were bad singers or anything, but they already had their chance at fame. And, in the case of Irish-born Carly Smithson, had already put out a record. Under the name Carly Hennessey, she inked a deal with MCA and released
Ultimate High, a 2001 disc that sold a mere 300 copies.
Decide for yourself if it should have sold more when Smithson takes the stage at the Wachovia Arena at Casey Plaza on Monday, Sept. 8 as part of the American Idols Live tour.
Also performing will be 2008 winner David Cook (the least plant-like contestant who was in a band called Axium that had a song picked up by AMC Theatres Movie Tunes); David Archuleta (who won
Star Search, and, as a result, eventually met the
American Idol contestants from season one); Syesha Mercado (who was on ABC's
The One: Making a Music Star); Jason Castro (who was on the MTV reality show
Cheyenne about Epic Records' artist Cheynne Kimball and was in her video for "Holding On"); Brook White (who released
Songs from the Attic on an indie label in 2006 and reportedly opened for country star Phil Vassar a year before); Kristy Lee Cook (who was signed to Arista Nashville); and Michael Johns (who was signed to Maverick Records with his band, Film, in the early 2000s). Then there's Ramiele Malubay, who finished ninth and seems to be the lone unknown in Season 7's top 10, and 10th-place finisher Chikezie Eze, who made it to the show's Top 40 in 2007 and dropped the Eze during the 2008 season.
But just because they're not authentic unknowns doesn't mean they're not good singers. The episodes of
American Idol this year were packed with good songs, just a slightly contrived group of people were singing them. It's not like anyone had problems with the Monkees or O-Town, anyway.