The rumor going round is that American Idol winner, Caleb Johnson’s debut album is already set to go. The release date is August 12. I hope to the good reality tv god above that they have a plan for this record. Here is 5 reasons why Caleb Johnson’s album is important for Idol.
- He’s the first rocker to win since David Cook. And David Cook’s albums have done decently well. David Cook’s self -titled debut album did 1.4 million sales, and his sophomore follow up, This Loud Morning only did 10% of that, but still is successfull. If Caleb’s album doesn’t do more than 700,000 sales, it will be a massive failure.
- Jena Irene should have won because she could have saved the Idol franchise. Jena will get radio play. She will release poppy tunes and she will become a big star. But she’ll always be remembered as “the runner up”. And that won’t do the show any favors. Caleb’s album needs to break into radio to prove that he was the right choice for American Idol.
- Meatloaf. Many are comparing caleb to meatloaf. Which isn’t bad, but it also isn’t great.
- The Judges. This is the first reign of the new judges. Harry, JLo, and Keith. When the first overhaul happened in Season 10, we saw a great American Idol in Scotty Mccreery win the title and went on and sold over a million copies. And has done over 200,000 copies on follow up albums. This new set of judges, which seem to be in it for the long haul, need to have a success under their belt as they begin. They can’t wait. It’s one of the reasons why Simon, Paula and Randy worked so well: they found Kelly Clarkson.
- Candice Glover, Lee DeWyze, Taylor Hicks, Kris Allen, . Caleb and Idol can’t afford more names to that list.
Jena Irene was the clear winner because she was pop. She was what the show was designed to build. But lets see how Caleb does.
