• Small Talk – Daniel Radcliffe (2 of 2)

    In his latest movie, The Woman In Black, Dan traded his Hogwarts uniform for a totally new role as a Dad.

  • #freshpresslive – feb 10/12

    Natalia brings you the latest news on Adele’s interview with Anderson Cooper, Kristen Bell’s interview on Ellen is auto tuned, Ladyhawke’s latest music video and much more!

  • #freshpresslive – Feb 8/12

    Natalia discusses what’s new with Pharrell Williams and her thoughts on Karl Lagerfeld’s mean comments towards Adele’s weight. She also shows a roster of animals behaving like humans and, wait until you see the new size of coffee available at Starbucks!

  • #freshpresslive – Feb 7/12

    Natalia dishes the latest news on the Juno Awards nominees, the upcoming Spiderman 3D film starring Emma Stone and Andrew Garfield and is Katy Perry hooking up with Tim Tebow? Watch today’s episode to find out.

  • Small Talk – The Kooks (2 of 2)

    When The Kooks are in the studio they’re focused and most importantly, sober. Watch Hugh and Luke explain their reasoning below.

  • Small Talk – The Kooks (1 of 2)

    The Kooks released a new album called “Junk of the Heart,” and you would think Hugh and Luke would be very excited about it. Well, they seemed rather indifferent to be honest. We spoke about that and why they don’t care about critics.

  • #freshpresslive – Feb 2/12

    Natalia dishes the latest in entertainment news on Joan Rivers, Lana Del Rey and a brand new trailer for the movie Hunger Games.

  • #freshpresslive – Feb 1/12

    Natalia talks about how Snooki might be pregnant, Nicolas Cage’s Cage Rage, Elisabetta Canalis is dating Steve-O and more for Feb 1, 2012.

  • #freshpresslive – Jan 31/12

    Natalia dishes the news on Miley Cyrus breaking her tailbone, a 100 year old woman who plays the Nintendo DS to stay young and Houston, Texas contemplating a statute of Beyonce.

  • #freshpresslive – Jan 30/12

    David Beckham debuts a new line of underwear, the worst dressed celebrity – Shy’m and Matthew Broderick is back as Ferris Bueller with a brand new commercial airing during the Super Bowl on Feb 5th 2012.

  • Small Talk – Daniel Radcliffe (1 of 2)

    Daniel Radcliffe is back with his new movie The Woman In Black. It’s a bone chilling remake of a film from the ’80s. Ironically, Daniel actually scares very easily but he’s not afraid of ghosts. In this interview he tells us what really gives him the creeps.

  • Small Talk – Graffiti6 (2 of 3)

    Next time you’re struggling to make conversation, try asking this question: “If you could invite anyone (living or dead) to the perfect house party, who would it be?”

  • Small Talk – Graffiti6 (1 of 3)

    Graffiti6 is starting to make their North American invasion, and they are hitting up the Tonight Show. Does this sound familiar? Well the Beatles made the exact same journey over 40 years ago. Naturally, @jordans_life had to make some comparisons.

  • Small Talk – Nick Carter (3 of 3)

    Nick plays World of Warcraft. Not only that, he’s the head of his guild, demonstrating that it IS possible to juggle being a hardcore gamer with being a top-selling recording artist.

  • Small Talk – Nick Carter (2 of 3)

    During a LIVE interview on andPOP.com Nick Carter gave out a number and took phone calls from his fans. These were real phone calls from real fans who we gave exclusive access to one of the biggest recording artists of our generation.

  • Small Talk – Nick Carter (1 of 3)

    There were great questions about music, fitness, the backstreet boys but the most popular question, however, was about his underwear. In this clip Nick talks about his his ‘Haynes’ and covering his fans with glow in the dark paint.

  • Small Talk – Hedley (2 of 2)

    When releasing new music today, half the battle is online promotion. However, contests, signed merch and giveaways aren’t always the best solutions. When working on their latest album, Hedley came up with a brilliant idea, they decided to make trailers.

  • Small Talk – Hedley (1 of 2)

    It’s hard to prepare for an interview with Hedley. So in this interview, we threw caution to the wind, got a 24 of beer and broadcast the interview live on our USTREAM (andPOP.tv). Eventually Jacob, Dave and @jordans_life ended up talking about hairy legs, their newest music video and more.

  • Small Talk – Marina and The Diamonds (2 of 2)

    Diamandis from Marina and The Diamonds talks to us about her very serious disease. It’s called synaesthetic. And we lied, it’s not a disease. More like a cool condition. Diamandis explains further.

  • Small Talk – Neverest

    Would you be embarrassed if someone scrolled through your iPod? We sit down with Spee and Brendan to talk about the diverse music on their playlist.

 
 


Column: Fighting the Good Fight on Canadian Idol

Posted by andPOP Staff on June 8th, 2006

After watching this week’s “Canadian Idol,” boy, am I glad I never got around to auditioning.

I thought about it, I really did, but there was something about sitting in line for days that just didn’t appeal to me very much. That, and my family was pretty sure I’d make it on the air. Only not in the Kelly Clarkson way, but the William Hung sort of way.

But I wanted to audition just to see how the whole process worked. And I thought after last week’s episode, where the judges were just plain mean, that it was a good thing I didn’t come out. But after what happened this week, it was definitely good I decided to walk by the Cannon theatre in Toronto a few months ago and not pop in.

Come on, you know what I’m talking about. This was the most publicized “Canadian Idol” episode ever. The commercials had been talking about it all week, and so had Ben Mulroney. It was the week the judges got in a fight.

And they did. In Montreal, Jake lost it. Farley rolled up his sleeves in preparation for the battle that never came. So, I couldn?t help but think, “that was the big fight?” I mean I waited all week for that? But wait ? there was more.

The Toronto auditions were horrendous (well supposedly, we only see snippets) and Zack lost it.

After throwing a garbage can (which the poor guy auditioning thought was meant for him, although I’m sure it wasn’t), Zack and the rest of the judges stormed into the lobby of the theatre (basically) warning everyone if they sucked to go home.

And had I been there (assuming I wasn’t the one auditioning when the garbage can was thrown, which, let’s face it, my luck I would have been), I would have beelined out of the Cannon like there was no tomorrow.

But no one did. They sat there in silence, afraid to move, let alone save themselves.

And I can’t say I really blame them. From what I’ve heard from people who have made it in front of Zack, Jake, Farley and Sass, they have to go through other auditions before getting there. People screen them to see how good these kids are ? or how bad they are. And if you think you can sing, and you can’t, but you get through to the celebrity judges round, are you really going to be thinking at that moment, “oh they must be talking about me”? I don’t think so.

On the other hand, I can totally see where the judges are coming from. It?s one thing to get one or two bad singers in a row, but it’s another when it just seems to never stop. And Zack was right, due to its population alone, Toronto should be walking in and taking all kinds of gold tickets.

The problem the judges face is they are there to yes, find talent, but also to be the entertainment relief of the show. I mean come on, would anyone really watch the audition process if everyone could sing? Of course not, there’s no entertainment value in that. No comic relief. No way for anyone at home to say, “well, even I’m better than that.”

And that is why I pity the judges because they are experts in the music field, they know what a good voice is, what they are looking for and it must be so frustrating to have to sit through the endless bad auditions just so “Canadian Idol” junkies like me can have some entertainment Monday nights.

And it is also — since Zack, Farley and Jake told me that the top 22 are phenomenal this year — I can?t wait to hear them for myself in a couple of weeks.

Because as any fellow “Canadian Idol” viewer knows, if those three are in agreement, these kids must be good.


Tags:
Categories: Entertainment