Vincent James & Keep Music Alive!

Thirsty Thursday – Idol’s and Song Choice

Okay I don’t know what Thirsty Thursday has to do with song choice, except after last night I am really dying for some better songs (read on). Last night was the Idol Results Show and I there wasn’t much love lost when we said goodbye to Megan Joy. Earlier in the season I kinda liked her vocal style and it seemed to fit with the song choices she made. But as the weeks wore on it just became harder to listen to her quivering voice. At least she’ll be able to do the tour, get some more experience under her belt and perhaps something will come of her Idol experience.

David Cook and Song Choice - Yes I know David Cook is last years Idol but now more than ever song choice is very important if you want your career to have life after your initial Idol album. I was listening to David’s performance last night of “Come Back To Me” and was the first time I had heard this tune. Honestly this is a B-Side song if I ever heard one…a B-side for those not from the Vinyl days is a song that’s not good enough to be an A-side hit on the front of the 45 Single (back when we all played records on a turntable :)). I jumped online and was relieved to see that “Come Back To Me” was off David’s debut Idol album and not a new album. Meaning the record label is just trying to milk the album for more singles (after "The Time of My Life" and “Light On”)…I haven’t heard the rest of the album but if “Come Back to Me” is the next best song its time to stop marketing singles off this CD and quickly put together a new one with at least 2-3 hit quality songs. Many of the Idol winners (Taylor Hicks, Fantasia, Ruben Studdard) and runner ups have not had much chart success after their initial album and the #1 reason is song choice, song choice, song choice. Instead of the label/19 Entertainment going out and finding the best possible hit songs for these artists the song choice is left more to the artist or others controlling the production of the CD (producer, manager, etc). There’s a saying “It all starts with a song” and its absolutely true the better songs they put on the albums (regardless of who wrote them), the better chance the artist will have a lengthy career. So can you tell I’m a songwriter with this rant :)

We’ll do a followup posting on Song choice soon with more fun details to kick around. Next week this years Idols will be singing songs from the year they were born…so will range from 1980 (Danny Gokey) to 1992 (Allison Iraheta). As always should be interesting to see what songs they pick.

Tomorrow’s blog will touch on some different dating websites and the different audiences they attract. Have a great Thursday and will see ya soon!

~Vincent James @ LoveSongs.com