Yesterday, my colleague Shirley Halperin wrote a PopWatch item asking how professional is too professional when it comes to American Idol contestants (a topic also debated on the special-effects-laden season premiere of Idolatry); one reason for the hullabaloo is rumored Hollywood-bound contestant Carly Hennessy, who back in 1999 signed a six-album deal with MCA Records. While I’m torn between believing that it’s always more fun to root for a total music-biz newbie (like Elliott Yamin) than a semi-pro (say, Taylor Hicks) and wondering where exactly Fox is going to find 24 great-but-unsigned singers who don’t at least have a MySpace page with their own original material, I also couldn’t resist the urge to do a YouTube search for Hennessy, where I found this 2002 video for ”I’m Gonna Blow Your Mind” (apparently produced by New Radicals’ Gregg Alexander).
Whatever your opinion of the song (or whether or not Hennessy belongs on Idol), you’ve got to admit: Her hair certainly moves like a pop star’s should. I mean, if you put me in front of a wind machine, all you’d get is a light rustling and woeful dishevelment. But Hennessy’s tresses? Wow. The way they shimmy and shine and explode, it’s like a Silkience ad and a Matrix trailer and a trip to Castle Enya all rolled into one. Her singing, on the other hand, while competent, doesn’t strike me as anything particularly distinctive or memorable. So unless Idol’s planning to let her perform in a wind tunnel, I’m not sure I want to see her in the season 7 finals. How ’bout you?
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Here’s where Idol is between a rock and a hard place: the show/producers want “to be taken seriously”, like they’ve “found” some new talent. BUT: if you keep allowing people who’ve been dropped (for whatever reason) from labels, then is the show what they don’t want to be: a popularity contest? Just my 2 cents, and sorry about all the “quotes”
Yea.. that hair is all over the place.
She has a good voice, but I don’t think that it’s all that special.. I’ve heard better on idol before. It will be interesting to hear her sing live as opposed to recorded with all the “effects”
Awesome. She has what it takes. I love her voice and range. she is sexy, cute, talented and a winner. She’ll make it with or without A.I.
Carly will have my support for sure.
She has a page on MCA, you can download her album from iTunes, and Yahoo Music.
Just google her, she’s had her chance, she should not be on idol.
She’ll be the shock elimination. Watch.
She’s not that good.
Wait and see what happens. A lot of Idols had hit or miss singing careers (Daughtry, Bo Bice)…Idol is the last chance for a lot of them. At the least it gets your name out there. She’s OK, we have to wait and see. I read somewhere that her manager pushed her on the show as a last chance effort.
She’s fine, but not the champ, I don’t think. You can tell this was 2002, and the Michelle Branch/Vanessa Carlton train was still chugging along.
This is terrible. She’s going to hollywood? why the hell would they do that?
She sucks.
But give her a chance, sure. I don’t think she should get to the finals though. If that’s her whole vocal ability, then hell no.
I know that there is another post that I should probably be placing this in, but I don’t think this girl should really be allowed to participate in ‘AI’. The show should still be catering to the total to somewhat newbies, not someone who has been through this much in the music business. I don’t think having had a record deal that fell through (like Kelly Clarkson had) or being semi-pro (Melinda Doolittle performing back-up) counts. If you already have a manager and have had a MAJOR recording deal and had a CD release, I feel you’re over qualified. I mean, at this rate, Annie Lennox is now able to audition for the show seeing as she is now without a record deal.
I think Annie Lennox should try out, I would vote for her.
Gringo, totally agree with you. They have to set some clear boundaries for who does and does not qualify.
It’s just a matter of time before we see ex-members of boy bands audition.
Five years ago, when the music industry began it’s post-Napster freefall, the Wall Street Journal wrote a must-read article about Carla Hennessy – here is a link to said article:
http://blog.mattgoyer.com/stories/2002/02/21/popSingerFailsToStrikeAChordDespiteTheMillionsSpentByMCA.html
Why would someone who’s already had a record deal be allowed to be on AI? That seems totally unfair to me.
My answer is no. If you seen recent pictures of her she’s seems like she might have a few screws loose. She’s heavily tattooed now and is married to a guy who has a tattooed mask on his face. She’s the girl in the preview that Simon says was better two years ago.I think middle America is going to be turned off by this girl and she will get booted early
As I wrote yesterday, clearly, the litmus test should be whether the American public has any awareness of the artist…this girl is an unknown, and qualifies to raise the bar on AI. As for her voice, I think your hubris is showing on this one, much as I enjoy your columns and the rest and am grateful to you for your passion, because the girl has an extremely pleasant and interesting voice, nicely textured and featuring some very tasty phrasing. So I say: let the games begin!
I’m of two minds about this. On one hand, it does take some of the thrill out of it to be watching seasoned careerists use Idol as just another step in the standardized march to the charts, rather than novices thrilling at a once-in-a-lifetime break. On the other hand, better singers make for a better show, and the fact is that if someone is really that good, they will probably have had some professional success at some point. I am getting kind of sick of the parade of countrified blondes, though.
She’s good, but I don’t know if I see her winning. Kind of Michelle Branch type voice.
the lyrics to this song are so bad and cliche, i really couldn’t get past them. as for the girl, her voice is passable, but she is forgetful. i want raw talent on AI who have never gotten any chances previously. elliot yamin is the perfect example. this girl already had her chance and didn’t do much w/ it. why should she take the place of someone who, with equal or greater talent, wouldn’t even get close to having a music video?
AI is the best A&R development venue in the world. Nowhere else where an artists, pro or non-pro get the kind of care, tutoring, education, and breaks that AI gives the show. Give it props for taking unknowns who are lemons and turning them into lemonade. This girl Carly obviously didn’t have the best “team” or else she wouldn’t have failed. AI is her last change. Let’s see how it goes for her.
I think what bugs me the most is the sense that the producers are trying to deceive us. We’re not stupid, we’re able to find out this background information on contestants like Carly and Kristy Lee and the show avoids telling us the full story. Who do they think they’re kidding???
She isn’t that good. Her having a record deal is no different that Taylor having albums out. You all are just nitpicking and if it bothers you that much I am sure that you can find plenty of others thing to watch on Tuesday nights.
1999 was NINE years ago. The voice matures SO much in that time, so I don’t think we can really judge her just yet.
I think it’s awful that people have already decided to dislike her before they’ve ever seen her perform on the show.
The best part about all of this is that KELLY CLARKSON covered one of Carly’s songs, “Just Missed the Train” on her debut album, Thankful. And I mean faithfully covered it. Slezak, you should check out Carly’s CD. It’s got a few great ballads on it… “Rip In Heaven,” “No One’s Safe From Goodbye,” and “What I’ve Found” are kinda awesome.
So… anyway, i did a bit more digging and found that the song actually dates back before Carly to some Norwegian singer, Trine Rein. But still… you gotta admit it’s kinda cool that some girl auditioning for Idol and Kelly Clarkson both have debut albums including this melodramatic ditty.
Her voice is not bad at all. But the writer \ director of that video should be shot.
The Archeletta kid that is also going to be on Tuesday night, won Star Search when he was 12. You all better get together to get him tossed off the show. Do it now!!!! So you don’t all lose sleep over it. Hurry!!! Hurry!!!! Hurry!!!! They haven’t even cut down to 24 yet, so there is no sure thing that she is even going to make it to where the public gets to vote.
What is the matter with the Idoltry video? It works up until the part where they talk about Kristy Lee Cook, and then like the picture goes away, but you still hear the audio.
No wonder her name sounds so familiar! I knew Kelly covered a song that was already on another person’s album but I didn’t know that it was her! I think actually putting a cd out on a major label is being too qualified..other than that, I don’t think that she would win anyways based on that voice. Also, the females that win on Idol have a girl next door relatability factor so i don’t think people would want to vote for someone who already had a chance
I just googled the name David Archuleta. His name is linked to a youtube AI commercial in which he sings John Mayer’s “Waiting for the World to Change” P.S. I do recall the young face.