The name Clay Aiken is all over the internet. It seems that everyone wants to know what Clay Aiken thinks!!!
American Idol returned Wednesday night for its 15th and final season. The show highlighted the auditions in Atlanta and Denver. It was obvious that the season will be filled with much nostalgia. It seems we will be seeing lots of past Idols as they auditioned and continued throughout their season. Wednesdays show quickly highlighted Clay Aiken, Taylor Hicks, and Ruben Studdard.
Because this is the final season of Idol, there has been a great deal of press about Idol and the past years.
As a follower of Clay Aiken, I found the article by Billboard a fun read. I am posting the important part about Clay.
‘American Idol’ Auditions: A Look Back on the Best As ‘Idol’ Enters Its Final Season
It’s hard to believe, but tonight (Jan. 6) American Idol will air the first episode of its very last auditions.
That’s a big deal, because auditions are where the journey begins — or ends — for every Idol contestant…
…You had to love Clay Aiken’s confidence for his audition. “You had some good talent, but I think as far as the top 10 goes, I could have been up there,” he said when asked if he had watched the first season. His “Always and Forever” was flawless, and we all know where he finished in Season 2. His debut album was a hit, he starred on Broadway, he came in second on Celebrity Apprentice, and later ran for Congress. Well done, Clay!…
Nice!!!
You can see the entire article at BILLBOARD
Earlier on Wednesday, I found an interesting article about Idols and CD sales at the Wall Street Journal:
‘American Idol’ Stars, Ranked by Album Sales
When “American Idol” premiered in June 2002, it quickly became a cultural powerhouse. Music careers were launched and viewers at home got to play a part in the process by voting for who was eliminated each week. At its peak in 2006, “American Idol” was garnering nearly 31 million viewers per episode, a staggering fact 10 years later as ways of consuming music and media have become so fractured…
…Below are the previous winners, and a few non-winners, ranked in terms of total album sales. Streams, along with individual track sales, are accounted for in the total number, which is the industry standard these days. The numbers give a snapshot of how “American Idol” winners have fared through the years.
1. Carrie Underwood (Season 4 Winner, 2005)
Number of albums released: 5
Total album sales: 20,120,000
2. Kelly Clarkson (Season 1 Winner, 2002)
Number of albums released: 7
Total album sales: 17,915,000
3. Chris Daughtry (Season 5 finalist, fourth place, 2006)
Number of albums released: 4 (as rock band Daughtry)
Total album sales: 9,074,000
4. Clay Aiken (Season 2 runner-up, 2003)
Number of albums released: 6
Total album sales: 5,169,000
5. Fantasia (Season 3 Winner, 2004)
Number of albums released: 4
Total album sales: 3,585,000
6. Ruben Studdard (Season 2 Winner, 2003)
Number of albums released: 6
Total album sales: 2,726,000
To see the article and entire list, visit Wall Street Journal
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One thing we know about Clay Aiken is that he does not have any trouble saying what he thinks. On Wednesday night, he went on a twitter binge. It started with
Watching @americanidol for the first time in a decade. You never know what you’ve got til it’s gone. #idolpremiere
and after some more tweets, moved to
Oh good Lord… those boring ass responses from the judges!? Where is Simon when you need him!? That guy need a hook to pull him off stage.
and:
It’s VERY clear now that @SimonCowell was the reason @AmericanIdol was a hit. I’ve watched root canals more entertaining than these judges.
And, many tweet later:
When you really love something you only want the best for it, and you have high expectations from those you know are capable of it.
It took about 5 minutes for the press to report these tweet from the internet. Some people thought Clay was rude and mean, but others said he just said what the rest of us thought. Already, social media is all over the tweets from Clay! I loved this tweet to Clay:
David Caplan Verified account
@DavidCaplanNYC
@clayaiken I’m loving your commentary
David Caplin is :
Journalist • @NYPost contributor (travel, real estate, luxury) • former @TooFab (@TMZ) managing editor + @People senior editor + @TheDishh managing editor
Earlier tonight, American Idol kicked off Season 15, its final set of episodes, and while some may have thought the show would pull out all the stops to bring last season’s dismal ratings back up to past highs, it was just your average batch of auditions. Or rather a below-average batch, if Clay Aiken has anything to say about it, and he definitely did, taking to Twitter to share his excellent opinions with the world. Here’s one.Clay Aiken ✔@clayaiken
It’s VERY clear now that @SimonCowell was the reason @AmericanIdol was a hit. I’ve watched root canals more entertaining than these judges.Pardon me while I make explosion sounds while waving my arms around. There are undoubtedly people out there who still truly enjoy American Idol and think that Jennifer Lopez, Keith Urban and Harry Connick, Jr. are delightful and worthy of sitting behind the judge’s table for many more years. But everyone else is rather tired of them carefully choosing their words to appear as amiable as possible while protecting their own personalities. Simon Cowell’s entire persona could be summed up as one big rose thorn, so he never had to worry about doing anything but entertaining viewers through brutal honesty. And love him or hate him, it’s undeniable that he engaged people.
Aiken, whose time on Celebrity Apprentice proved him to be quite the outspoken gent, didn’t take just one shot at the program that launched him to stardom.
Oh good Lord… those boring ass responses from the judges!? Where is Simon when you need him!? That guy need a hook to pull him off stage.
The audition episodes of American Idol used to be the most popular of the bunch, and were worthy of handfuls of viral videos in the early years. But tonight’s set of tryouts was laughable as far as exciting moments went (with the exception of Jeneve Rose Mitchell and her cello), and it was all capped off with one of the lamest Kanye West TV bits since he interrupted Taylor Swift.
And to think, Aiken was actually optimistic when he first tuned in.
To read the entire article click HERE
There are hundreds of articles about American Idol and many are mentioning Clay’s tweets. So…be prepared! If there are lots of fun articles, I will try and post them during the day. And… remember, American Idol is on again tonight!!!
So….what do you think?
Did you watch American Idol last night?
Do you agree with Clay or did you think it was an exciting show?
