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'American Idol' loses its juice, Sparks album tanks
By Stone Martindale Nov 29, 2007, 20:29 GMT
11/22/2007 - Jordin Sparks - 81st Annual Macy\'s Thanksgiving Day Parade - Columbus Circle - New York City, NY, USA © Janet Mayer / PR Photos
The latest "Idol" winner Jordin Sparks is selling worse than Taylor Hicks, the previous year's winner.
The Fox reality show is entering its seventh season.
Auditions for the seventh season of American Idol began July 30.
The Auditions were held in the following cities:
* San Diego, California: Qualcomm Stadium
* Dallas, Texas: Texas Stadium
* Omaha, Nebraska: Qwest Center
* Atlanta, Georgia: Georgia Dome
* Charleston, South Carolina: North Charleston Coliseum
* Miami, Florida: American Airlines Arena
The seventh season of American Idol will air in January 2008.
Sparks was the youngest winner of the series. She secured a deal with Jive, which has a track record of breaking young R&B/pop superstars, including Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake.
But the magic has stopped.
It's hard to point to one distinct reason why Sparks failed to launch.
Despite the ratings juggernaut it has been for Fox, the plethora of untalented finalists might be a sign that the program is increasingly looked at as a freakshow, not a serious search for the next great American singer.
Runner ups Clay Aiken, Jennifer Hudson and Chris Daughtry proved winning isn't everything - they all have reached levels of great success.
Sparks has a stronger digital presence that is cannibalizing her album sales, this demonstrates how much technology has changed the music world since Kelly Clarkson began.
Prior to her album's release, Sparks told MTV News that she was nervous about its prospects. "I really hope that it does well, I hope that people like it, and they embrace it. ... I hope I make people proud." She added that Underwood and Clarkson had "set the bar so high — I really want to try and achieve [their successes], so hopefully I'll be able to."
And in an interview Entertainment Weekly conducted the week before the sales figures were released, Sparks admitted to EW that she was "nervous" about the album's chances. "No one's told me what to expect," she said at the American Music Awards, where Daughtry and Underwood were big winners. "I hope it does really well ... but I can also expect the worst, that it won't sell at all."
