Pretty much anyone who gets remotely close to the American Idol stage can count on scoring a record deal these days. (Need I remind you of Season 6 auditioner Ian Benardo’s recent debut release?) And yet it’s taken season 5’s Mandisa, who made it all the way to the show’s top 10, more than a year to get around to putting out her first single. Still, she’s reaped at least one advantage from that delay: The controversy surrounding certain unpleasantly narrow-minded statements she made last spring seems to have more or less died down since then. And now that we can listen to her new single "Only the World" with fresh ears, the time is just right for a proper PopWatch Snap Judgment! Check it out for yourself at Mandisa’s MySpace and click through to see our first impression after the jump.
Mandisa still had enough fans left to propel "Only the World" straight to the top of Billboard’s singles sales chart this week. (Though not nearly enough to get her comparable spots on the more important Hot 100 and Hot 100 Airplaycharts.) I’m not sure, however, why anyone other than a diehard Fandisawould give this more than a couple spins. It’s got a sweet, sunnymelody, and Mandisa’s voice rings out clear and on-key throughout. Butthose motivational lyrics ("It’s only the world I’m living in/It’s onlytoday I’ve been given/There ain’t no way I’m giving in") sound likethey come from a rejected Hallmark card, and the half-hearted rhythmguitar licks and bobbing bassline provide approximately 95 percent lessfunk than, say, Maroon 5’s last single. As Mandisa herself puts it inthe first verse, "nothin’ new here’s/What I do here."
I’d be surprised if this song has any legs on the pop charts; Iguess I could see it replacing Natasha Bedingfield’s "Unwritten" as ago-to feel-good tune for romantic comedy trailers. Then again, I’mprobably not exactly Mandisa’s target audience. How does it sound toyou, PopWatchers?
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Does anyone else think Mandisa kind of looks like Jennifer Tilly in that photo?
Ugh, I had no idea she was such a homophobe. She should keep those feelings to herself. Here’s hoping her single dies a quick, painful death.
The irony is that this is exactly the type of song that would most likely get remixed and played over and over in gay nightclubs. You see Mandisa(!), there’s this saying about not biting the hand that could potentially feed you…
Homophobic trash. Disgusting.
Mandisa should’ve really known better than to piss off the gay community if she seriously wanted a singing career. If a big fat black lady wants to be a big fat star, she NEEDS gays on her side. As echoed earlier, here’s hoping her single and her career dies a quick death.
our judging of mandisa is worse than her judging of us (yep, i am gay). we go day to day being discriminated against and just throw it right back. THAT IS NOT HOW IT WORKS people!!!! you believe what you want, she can believe hers. i don’t agree with what she says, but i won’t let that affect what i think about the music. maybe i’m alone here, but that’s what i think about that. as far as the song goes, it’s light and breezy, just like a summer song should be. i’ll give it a generous B-
Wow! The question was “How did the song sound?”
These comments are what I see as being hateful, personal attacks that have nothing to do with the music.
I think her song sounded great!
I don’t really care how she feels about gay people (do I get to keep my gay card?) because Jennifer Hudson and many other performers feel kinda the same way (maybe not as strongly). My problem is that she can’t see past sexuality to perform at an event with mostly gay people. You don’t have to be in the Pride Parade, but at least have respect for all the people who like your music.
oh, I forgot, the song is bad, like really bad…
That was completely different than what I’d expected. And not in a good way. Her voice deserves more than a pile of generic pop that anyone could sing.
Hatred and discrimination coming from a group of people? How shocking!
Give the hatred a rest its about the song. Clearly the ‘gays’ are like everybody else, blinded by their own ignorance and hatred but condemn everyone else for the same thing.
she definitley has a good voice, but does she ever sing the chorus? she seemed to just be belting out harmonies the whole time
Thanks Michelle – seems everyone including the writer forgot the question is “what about the song”? Forget about her political and sexuality feelings; there are lot of artists who feel the same way about gay people & other gay artists and I for one am sick of the Gaynazi patrol trying to bring everybody down. A lot of black people are just “tolerant” we don’t have to love gay people, which is what they want us to do – LOVEMELOVEMELOVEME!
I’m glad she finally got something out and it’s a nice little song. Not great, not hip hop but it has appeal to a niche crowd. And betcha they sing it next season on Idol.
Sorry to go OT here, but sine Junior started it: I don’t believe J.Hud has given anything but thanks and love to her “gay boys,” the gay fans who have supported her, and promised in an interview with a gay mag that there would be material just for them on her upcomign album. And I saw her on a cooking talk show (Rachel Ray or Martha Stewart) with her “personal chef,” a longtime childhood male friend…who seemed pretty gay to me. Don’t lump J.Hud and Mandisa together.
What the hell are you talking about, Team Me?!!!
AJ, not lumping, promise. I LOVE J-Hud! I see her as someone who has said, “hey, I’m religious but I am also respectful of all people gay and straight and have nothing but love…” Mandisa, needs to look into that attitude.
oh, and the song is still bad…
The “Gaynazi patrol” doesn’t bring people down – they bring awareness that ignorance against people of any sexual preference is WRONG!
Speaking of OT: Did anyone here make it to DC’s Capital Pride event this weekend? Though I’m straight (and married), I marched in the parade with my boss and tossed out green mardi gras beads to the audience which the mayor of DC had dropped.
I gotta say folks came out to represent! If I didn’t fully believe the 10% number before, I do now.
The point is, folks can hate on gays all they want, but the LGBT community isn’t going anywhere. The rest of us better find a way to tolerate, or we’ll make ourselves miserable.
The controversy may have died down (because she’s really a nobody), but it’s still the first thing I thought when I heard her name mentioned again. She’s a homophobe, plain and simple, and we don’t have time for such hate nowadays.
Simon–SIMON! Why you gotta go and mention that horrible, horrible dude with the “dubut release” again?!? PLEASE don’t give him any more of the attention he’s desperate for; he doesn’t deserve it.
Guess what, Sally? You’re a bigot!
“(Need I remind you of Season 6 auditioner ****’s recent debut release?)”
Need I edit your posts about him any more? The guy is annoying and delusional, but despite not needing to give him the attention he’s screaming out for, he’s obviously got a social disorder. I find it just as bad to make fun of him as some of the other auditioners.
Mandisa’s new book was written with her bigot hero Beth Moore. So, the unfortunate things she said that everybody forgot? Consider this your reminder.
Maybe if Mandisa could claim through any sort of serious rational study that Jesus was definitely the Messiah that the Jews had been expecting and that those who believe in him go to heaven when they die, she could sing this song. And now, unfortunately, people who here this song might believe what she believes, too. We need to stop believing what we’re told when we’re young and, instead, be rational and use our minds, rather than succumbing to the voices that tell us not to be rational and just to be faithful. We’re rational about everything else – why not about the veracity of religion? Plus, the song is by-the-numbers and sounds cheap.
here = hear
“J.Hud has given anything but thanks and love to her “gay boys,” the gay fans who have supported her, and promised in an interview with a gay mag that there would be material just for them on her upcomign album”
What does this mean? They need special “gay” songs from J Hud? Does that mean that she, as a supposedly hetero woman, will be singing about getting together with another woman to please her listening audience. Or will she sing about two men falling in love and hooking up? I don’t get it. Music is music.
I think it’s a great song. It’s light, it’s breezy, it’s memorable. It sure ain’t the Beatles, but as far as this song goes, I don’t think it’s as craptastic as a lot of the haters on this thread make it out to be.
Mandisa looks beautiful in this photo. You cannot make people accept what they do not want to. I believe she should have kept her opinions to herself because she was in front of millions every week. She is a vocalist with a booming voice, can’t take that away from her.
And yes, most gay men love fat women. What is up with that?
re: Sally Thu, Jun 14, 2007 “I for one am sick of the Gaynazi patrol trying to bring everybody down. A lot of black people are just “tolerant” we don’t have to love gay people, which is what they want us to do”
I believe that same “tolerance” from white people is what black people have been fighting for 40 years? Can you imagine Chris Sligh saying “I admit black people exist, but I wouldn’t play one of their events” Check yourself Sally, we do not want love — we want FULL equality and integration in society.
I find it interesting that the LGBT community demands “tolerance” and “acceptance” of anyone who doesn’t see sexuallity their way (as if sexuality alone defines the whole of a person), yet is lightning-quick to display intolerance and rejection to them if they don’t receive it. One can’t demand what one refuses to give. And one of the wonderful things about the U.S. is the First Amendment…