Eliminated 16-year-old tells MTV News that Carey’s power ballad ‘One Sweet Day’ has sentimental value. By Christina Garibaldi Shannon Magrane Photo: MTV News Although Shannon Magrane was sent packing on last week’s episode of “American Idol,” the 16-year-old Tampa, Florida, native has no hard feelings about her early elimination. On Monday (March 19), Magrane stopped by the MTV Newsroom and reflected on her fun, if brief time on the “Idol” stage. “It’s hard, you never know what America is thinking,” Magrane admitted. “It’s crazy, but I loved it. It was a great learning experience for me. I loved every minute of it.” During her final performance, Magrane took on Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men’s “One Sweet Day,” which received relatively positive remarks from the judges. But in the end, that wasn’t enough to save her from elimination. And while “Idol” judges usually advise contestants to stay away from Carey’s power ballads, Magrane has no regrets about her song choice. “I was happy I sang that song,” Magrane said. “What not a lot of people know about that was that I chose that song because it was a song that me and my Papa sang together,” she added of the tribute to her grandfather. “And [I] sang it because before he passed away, that was our favorite song that he would always sing to me. I just felt emotionally connected to that song.” Magrane wasn’t the only contestant eliminated on “American Idol” last week. Jermaine Jones made a surprising exit after producers claimed he misled them about his history of arrests. The news was a shock to viewers but also to the contestants. “That was definitely one of the biggest shockers on ‘Idol’ that I’ve ever seen so far, and I’ve been watching it since I was a little girl. That was a big shocker,” Magrane said. “We all found out when America found out, we were all so shocked … we were so sad because he was one of the people that were the funniest people in our group. He was always making people feel happy and laugh all the time.” Magrane’s 11th-place elimination means she’ll miss out on the singing show’s summer tour but she told us she plans to attend. For now, the teen just has her sights set on making her mark in the music industry — and finishing high school. “I still have to go to school; I still have school work to do. But on top of that, I’m still going to be working on my dream,” Magrane said. “I really want to be a triple threat. I want to be like Beyonc
American Idol eliminated two contestants this week, first sending Jermaine Jones home last night for lying about his criminal record and then giving another finalist the axe tonight for… well, being worse than the other 10 singers. So, who will NOT be going on tour this summer? Following performances by Daughtry and Demi Lovato (below), the final three came down to Shannon Magrane, Erika Van Pelt and Elise Testone, with the fewest number of votes going to… Shannon Magrane. The 16-year-old went with Mariah Carey’s “One Sweet Day” in an attempt to earn the judges’ save, but Randy Jackson told her it was not meant to be: “Unfortunately, we’re not going to use it tonight, Shannon. Thank you.” What did you think of these results? Did Shannon deserve to go home?
Let’s continue with our face off of American Idol finalists, shall we? With the final 13 named last week and all contestants performing live for your vote on Wednesday, we’ve been pairing off men and women against each other in order to determine the season 11 favorites. Deandre Brackensick, for example, is currently a more popular finalist than Joshua Ledet, according to THG readers. Now we’re back to the fairer gender, specifically two contrasting crooners: Shannon Magrane and Skylar Laine. The former was compared to Lauryn Hill during her semifinal rendition, while the latter rocked out to some country . Which will advance father? Vote now:
Shannon Magrane is a tall, All-American girl. That was how she was portrayed on last night’s American Idol audition show, as Ryan Seacrest once again interviewed her World Series-hurling father and once again brought up a certain awkward incident from a few weeks ago. But can she sing? We think so. While the judges questioned Magrane’s song choice a bit, Randy Jackson delivered very high praise in saying Shannon possesses a “Lauryn Hill vibrato.” That reference may be lost on younger viewers, but trust us. It’s a big compliment. What did you think of Magrane’s performance? Shannon Magrane – “Go Light Your World”
For their first live auditions of season 11, both Jen Hirsh and Elise Testone covered the same Adele song last night. That has to be an American Idol first, right? Even more incredibly? The track was NOT “Rolling in the Deep!” Instead, each of these hopefuls delivered a version of “One and Only,” with Randy complimenting Jen for her R&B “swag” and then J. Lo taking it a step further for Elise, who sat at a piano for her performance. “You may be the best singer here,” Lopez told Testone. Listen to both now, compare them to other contestants such as Shannon Magrane and then vote on your favorite cover: Jen Hirsh – One and Only Elise Testone – One and Only Whose version of Adele did you prefer?
There’s a Haley, a Hollie and a Hallie. There’s also the daughter of a World Series pitcher and a young woman who auditioned five years ago and has now made a triumphant return. Indeed, it’s a mixed, talented bag of female American Idol semifinalists. They’ll perform live for the first time on Wednesday night, so now is the time to place your early bets. Sort through the following Fox promotional pics and then select a favorite and let’s see if one of these females can break the string of male Idol champions… WHO IS YOUR FEMALE FAVORITE?
There’s a Haley, a Hollie and a Hallie. There’s also the daughter of a World Series pitcher and a young woman who auditioned five years ago and has now made a triumphant return. Indeed, it’s a mixed, talented bag of female American Idol semifinalists. They’ll perform live for the first time on Wednesday night, so now is the time to place your early bets. Sort through the following Fox promotional pics and then select a favorite and let’s see if one of these females can break the string of male Idol champions… WHO IS YOUR FEMALE FAVORITE?
Producer talks to MTV News about collaborating with award-winning composer Hans Zimmer. By Jocelyn Vena, with reporting by Ricky Louis Pharrell Williams Photo: MTV News This Sunday, super producer Pharrell Williams and Oscar-winning composer Hans Zimmer will show the world what they’ve been cooking up since the December announcement they would join forces as the musical consultants for the 84th Academy Awards . “You know, Hans called me and he said that [Oscars Producer] Brian Grazer had asked him to come on as a consultant and effectively score the music or whatever,” he explained to MTV News. “And Hans was like, ‘I can’t do that. … I’d do that if like I had, like, Pharrell.’ [Grazer’s] like, ‘OK, get Pharrell on the phone.’ That’s the story he told me. I got the call from Hans and he told them he wanted to do it with me, and so I pleasantly accepted and we’ve just been working ever since.” While Pharrell wanted to keep the collaboration as top-secret as possible, he did give some insight into what the two have in store for the big night, which will be hosted by Billy Crystal. “Well, you’re gonna have to watch the show and see, we can’t give it away. That’s what’s so funny about interviews. They always want to know what you’re about to do,” he explained. “It’s like some of us love you know music and art that blindsides, comes out of nowhere with a crazy impact. And then sometimes you talk about things because you want to warm up the feeling before the huge impact. “But this is another one of those things where we keep things under wraps,” he continued. “But it’s cool; it’s interesting; it’s very different. Definitely there’s an homage to the tradition of how the music was done traditionally. … [but] we’re different, and when given an opportunity and it’s our opportunity, Hans and I agreed we just would do it from the perspective of people who love music and love making music and respect it, giving back to what gave us so much, which is music and film.” The MTV Movies team has the 2012 Oscars covered! Stick with us for everything you need to know leading up to the awards show, and on Sunday, February 26, tune into MTV.com at 5 p.m. ET for our two-and-a-half-hour red-carpet live stream and updates on the night’s big winners. To join the live conversation, tweet @MTVNews with the hashtag #Oscars. Related Photos 2012 Oscar Nominees Related Artists Pharrell Williams
After 11 season, this faithful viewer might be trading ‘Idol’ in for new models ‘The X Factor’ and ‘The Voice.’ By Gil Kaufman Ryan Seacrest with the top 24 of “American Idol” Photo: Fox I’m a loyalist at heart. Back in the day, I watched “The X Files,” the original “Beverly Hills, 90210” and “The O.C.” until the bitter end, convincing myself that my patience would be rewarded well after the shark had jumped. But after slogging through another interminable pair of “American Idol” cut-down episodes Wednesday and Thursday , I think I’m finally throwing in the towel. I’ve been there since episode one with “Idol,” reveling in the joy of Kelly Clarkson’s win, cheering Ruben Studdard to his well-deserved crown and scratching my head when clearly inferior champs like Taylor Hicks, Lee DeWyze and Kris Allen took the top prize. Just a week before the season 11 live shows start, though, “Idol” has lost me, perhaps for good. The bottom line is that the show just feels like it’s on auto-pilot, from the bored looks on the faces of celebrity judges Steven Tyler and Jennifer Lopez to the predictable plotlines and not-so-clever editing tricks intended to keep our interest up through the early rounds. It was bad enough a few weeks ago when an entire episode of the group rounds went by without any discernible footage of, you know, singing. The biggest plot point that week was the exploitation of a sick teenage girl passing out and falling off the stage, which was used as a cruel cliffhanger. On Wednesday night, we got yet another rehash of the previous audition rounds along with mostly truncated looks at the singer’s final Las Vegas performances (most of which were bland, if not downright boring) before they had to make the long walk to the judgment chairs. Thursday night was more of the same. Sole original judge Randy Jackson seemed to run out of creative ways to torture the painfully eager singers with purposely vague platitudes about how hard it is to cut them at this point, purposely mangling his words to keep them on the edge of confusion. Watching this spectacle, I just asked myself, “Do I even care if Heejun Han or Reed Grimm make it?” “Do I need to see Jermaine Jones cry again?” “Who is Chase Likens and why haven’t I even seen him up until now?” In my long experience with “Idol” and writing about music, none of them seem like winner material, in the same way that such paint-by-numbers soul mamas like Jen Hirsch, Elise Testone, Erika Van Pelt, Shannon Magrane and stage mom’d Brielle Von Hugel fail to excite. And making Adam Brock — a weepy white dad who brags about singing like a black woman while using his dead grandfather’s handkerchief as a pity prop at every turn — a cliffhanger for Thursday night’s episode just seems pointless. This guy has no chance to win, and if he does, well, “Idol” has way bigger problems. In fact, the only contestant in the mix at this point who seems even halfway relevant in today’s music biz is skunk-mohawked former castoff Colton Dixon, but he hasn’t gotten nearly as much love as Phil Phillips, whose twitchy Dave Matthews impersonation has already grown unbearably irritating. Even 15-year-old Eben Franckewitz seems promising, but I can already tell his “story line” will be that despite lots of experience on the musical-theater stage, the judges are going to hammer him for his nerves. Before Wednesday night’s episode aired, I was already firmly in line with Entertainment Weekly columnist Mark Harris, who wrote an opinion piece in the February 24 issue about how he was switching sides. “The opening weeks of ‘Idol’ traffic in humiliation and tears — the neediness of the young, desperate to be extracted from the mob; the familiar weariness of the judges; the talentless clowns pimped as sneerworthy sideshows,” he wrote. “But the opening weeks of ‘The Voice’ are about hope and discovery.” In essence, he said, we’re at a tipping point where NBC’s upstart show is winning the race not by copying the template of “Idol,” but by purposely running in the other direction. The “Voice” judges are relevant musicians of today from varying genres with a sharp, entertaining rapport that crackles and brings a fresh energy to the show. That show starts from day one with good to great singers from varying backgrounds, singing mostly contemporary chart hits, who are eager to get help from those who are still charting today. Meanwhile, the “Idol” judges are riding the fumes of their fading careers as they continue to struggle to apply their hard-earned lessons in the music biz to mostly teenage strivers who can’t relate to their mother or father’s favorite singers. The leading contestants so far this year on “Idol” fall into two or three predictable camps: overreaching, throwback R&B belters, quirky imitators of no-longer-relatable stars or ultra-twangy country gals. Where are the edgy R&B divas like Rihanna? The cute boy singers like Justin Bieber? The hip-hop-influenced Drake wannabes? Hell, where are the Carrie Underwoods who can deftly mix pop and country? “The X Factor” and “The Voice” eagerly embrace singers of every color, style and persuasion. So are you telling me that there was not one woman of color out of the tens of thousands who auditioned worthy of the semifinal round? Have we become a nation of (almost exclusively) blond, female Mariah/Christina copycats? Just look at the talent that has already been signed in the wake of the first “Factor” season : a legitimately powerful soul diva in winner Melanie Amaro , a fascinating redemption story in rapper/crooner Chris Rene, contemporary R&B singer Marcus Canty, white blues man Josh Krajcik, high school cutie Rachel Crow and buzzed-about teen rapper Astro , any one of whom could legitimately blow up. Meanwhile, the first 24 semifinalists put through by “Idol” this week are almost without exception as blandly interchangeable (and old-fashioned) as Lopez’s spangly tops. And the “surprise” extra boy to be named later is one of the most tired tropes in the “Idol” dream factory bag of tricks. Sure, it’s very early in the process and nobody knows what could happen. But if you recall, even in the audition stage it was already clear that eventual season-eight runner-up Adam Lambert was destined to be one of the most exciting, unusual performers in the show’s history. It’s not like season-one “Voice” winner Javier Colon has set the world on fire, but at least that show focuses on mentoring and nurturing talent of any age, shape and style, rather than serving up cookie-cutter slot fillers. The sense of hope, discovery and optimism that Harris said permeates “The Voice” is wholly lacking on “Idol,” which feels more and more like a dated reality competition and less like a singing showcase. Tear-jerking backstories aside, it’s hard to see how any of these singers is going to win America over, not to mention make a case for idolatry or even above-average chart success. It’s been a fun ride, “Idol,” but unless you can prove to me that you can read the writing on the wall, I’m afraid my TiVo is going to be reprogrammed to NBC from now on. Get your “Idol” fix on MTV News’ “American Idol” page , where you’ll find all the latest news, interviews and opinions. Related Photos ‘American Idol’ Season 11 Top 24 And Wildcard Contestants
With her performance in Hollywood last night, let’s hope Shannon Magrane finally gets recognized for her potential to actually win American Idol . So far, the 16-year old has been the subject of inappropriate remarks from Steven Tyler , as well as lame puns from Fox producers (we were told last night that the contestant “hopes to a home run.” Get it? Because he father pitched in the World Series!). But let’s not lose track of an important fact, folks: Shannon can sing! She proves as much below, belting out a version of “What a Wonderful World.” Shannon Magrane – “What a Wonderful World” (American Idol Audition) We have high hopes for Magrane, who has been featured each week on season 11. The same can be said for Reed Grimm . Is the show trying to tell us something?
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