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?
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