What's up between Taylor Hicks and American Idol?

December 17, 2006 8:46 PM

What's up between Taylor Hicks and American Idol?

Asking this one for my mom. It took Taylor Hicks' album months longer to hit store shelves, whereas the previous candidates' albums were out within a month or two. Wikipedia mentions this, but not why. Also, she (my mom) says the album cost less than other candidates' albums, and in the liner notes he didn't thank American Idol nor anyone from the show. Did something happen?

posted by IndigoRain to Media & Arts (7 answers total)

No. Regarding the album delay, what I heard (in an interview with Taylor) was that Taylor refused to record while he was touring with AI; he wanted to take the time to put out an album that was good. There was some buzz a few weeks ago that Taylor had said that he didn't/wouldn't watch AI anymore, which was clearly taken out of context, since AI hasn't been on since he won.

I think that Taylor is the first AI winner to realize right away that winning AI alone is not going to shoot you to stardom (see: Reuben Studdard). You have to work really hard to get YOUR message out, not just feed the AI money machine. I think he's going to be OK.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 8:55 PM on December 17, 2006 [1 favorite]

Kelly: Won Sep 2002, album released April 2003
Ruben: Won May 2003, album Dec 2003
Fantasia: Won May 2004, album Nov 2004
Carrie: Won May 2005, album Nov 2005
Taylor: Won May 2006, album Dec 2006

So that doesn't seem unusually delayed. Normally it's timed so that they can do some promotion for the album during the next season of the show, while not getting eclipsed by the next batch of singers.
posted by smackfu at 9:00 PM on December 17, 2006

It seems like they're also aiming for the very key Q4/Christmas Season release date - which (regardless what the hype machines may get the artists to say) is the best time of year to get your album out. However, now days it's like a morphine burst to a terminally ill patient.
posted by plaidrabbit at 9:25 PM on December 17, 2006

I should explain my previous post. American Idol season 4 faced serious ratings challenges so in response Fox changed a lot of what was happening with season 5 behind the scenes, so in order to fend off the collapse and "shark jump" of AI things have been very different.

So, did something happen? Yes, the ratings of Ameircan Idol began to slump in season 4.
posted by Pollomacho at 10:18 PM on December 17, 2006

You'll find plenty of good factual info about the past "Idol" season at my pal Andy's Weblog, Reality Blurred. Note that Hicks tried to distance himself from the show, then quickly had to backpedal.
posted by GaelFC at 10:59 PM on December 17, 2006

There's an interesting interview with Taylor in a recent issue of Relix (the one with Tenacious D on the cover). His attitude toward AI is borderline dismissive - it sure seems like he knew all along it was a means to an end. It also delves into his personal musical tastes, which are very non-AI (huge Widespread Panic fan, followed them around the country when he was 15).
posted by jbickers at 3:14 AM on December 18, 2006

I love the fact that there are so many well-informed answers to this question. It totally skews my perception of the mefi demographic in interesting ways.
posted by craniac at 7:20 AM on December 18, 2006