The tenth season of American Idol premiered on January 19, 2011, on Fox. The show underwent a number of changes from season nine, which include the reduction of the judging panel to its original number of just three judges (two of whom are new), a returning executive producer, a new music director as well as multiple format changes. For the first time, Idol will air on Wednesdays and Thursdays as opposed to the previous schedule of Tuesdays and Wednesdays.
Nigel Lythgoe returned to the senior production team as executive producer for the series. American singer Steven Tyler and American singer-actress Jennifer Lopez joined the judging panel as replacements for Simon Cowell, Ellen DeGeneres, and Kara DioGuardi who all left at thelf season nine. Ray Chew replaced Rickey Minor as the show's musical director and leader of the Idol's live band.
Interscope Records, which is part of Universal Music Group, replaced Sony Music Entertainment as Idol's official partner record label. Interscope's Chairman Jimmy Iovine, a songwriter and producer, was made in-house mentor to work with the contestants on a weekly basis. He is supported by associated producers: Rodney Jerkins, Alex da Kid, Tricky Stewart, Don Was and Timbaland who all help contestants tailor their song choices to their chosen genre of performance, as well as work in producing arrangements for the contestants and offering original material to be performed.
This is the first season in which 15 year-olds may audition. Other changes include online voting, extra rounds such as the Las Vegas and a final solo round, and a return of the judges' wild card choice. More contestants made it to Hollywood in season 10 than in previous seasons. This is the second season where 13 contestants made it to the finals, the first being season eight.
Changes for season ten
Simon Cowell, a judge from the start of the show, announced on January 11, 2010, that he would not be returning as a judge for this season in order to focus on launching the American version of his hit British singing competition The X Factor. Ellen DeGeneres officially announced her departure on July 29, 2010, after judging for only one season, because she felt the show was not the "right fit" for her. Kara DioGuardi then announced on September 3, 2010, that she would also not return this season due to her pursuing new projects. On September 22, 2010, it was announced that Jennifer Lopez and Steven Tyler would join the judging panel.
There were a number of other major changes in season ten, from the judges to the format of the show itself. Nigel Lythgoe returned as the executive producer, and Ray Chew has been hired as the show's new musical director, replacing Rickey Minor, who left the show along with vocal coach Dorian Holley to become the musical director of The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Peisha McPhee, mother of season 5's runner-up Katharine McPhee, joined as one of the vocal coaches. In this season, online voting was also offered for the first time for fans with Facebook account and up to 50 votes may be cast.
New rounds and challenges
"Theme weeks will also get a makeover. We’re not going to ask a country singer to sing an R&B song, or an R&B singer to do Led Zeppelin, ... If the theme is ’80s or Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, every song will be customized to that contestant... What's most important, is that the song suit the finalist's voice."
– Ron Fair
Then beginning in November 2010, returning producer, Nigel Lythgoe, revealed that there would be other significant format changes. New challenges include "contests [having] to make the best music video, to promote themselves, and to work with a band and dancers for an awards show-style performance." Entertainment Weekly reported that the challenges would replace the traditional semi-finals portion of the competition meaning that finalists would go on to compete in the top-twelve for the live shows. However it was later revealed that the music video challenge was only ever an idea but there were no plans to make it part of season ten of Idol. The Hollywood round would narrow the contestants down to sixty potential finalists. Those who made the final sixty were then taken to Las Vegas where they were asked to sing songs from The Beatles. It was originally planned that 20 contestants would be left by the end of this phase of competition, and these remaining contestants would perform in two groups of ten in a semi-final sudden death round to find via public votes the ten finalists – five girls and five boys – for the live shows in the finals. Nigel Lythgoe however later revealed that the Top 20 would be extended to a Top 24. Additionally, the judges were given wild card picks.
Partnership with Universal Music
At the end of season nine, Sony Music Entertainment's affiliation to Idol also ended. The partnership was superseded by a new deal with Universal Music Group, meaning that the winner will now be signed to Interscope Records. Interscope's sister labels, A&M Records and Geffen Records, will also be involved in promoting and distributing the albums of the show's finalists. Chairman of the Interscope-Geffen-A&M label group, Jimmy Iovine, will work directly with contestants as the in-house mentor. Additionally, Billboard revealed that a team of Universal Music-associated producers and songwriters, such as Rodney "Darkchild" Jerkins, Timbaland and Alex da Kid, will work alongside the contestants. It was reported that the new creative team would allow contestants to take on original material and arrangements, not just cover versions, when singing live. The Hollywood Reporter also indicated that other changes for season ten will include online voting and finalists releasing music as the season progresses, rather than waiting for the summer to record an album. Despite previous reports that Idol producers had axed the weekly music theme, in-house mentor Fair, confirmed that the themes would remain.
Regional auditions
The judges sit in this order from left to right: Steven Tyler, Jennifer Lopez, Randy Jackson
This is the first season in which the contestant age minimum was reduced to 15 years old. The maximum age however still remains 28.
Auditions were held in the following cities:
Note 1: Actual number not announced on the show but this number is based on the number of names listed on americanidol.com website and may not be the actual total.
In addition to the above cities, for the first time contestants were allowed to audition online via Myspace / Facebook / Twitter. To audition, they were required to upload a 40-second audition clip of them singing a pre-approved song. The internet auditioners were called back to the Los Angeles auditions to audition in front of the judges.
Hollywood week
The Hollywood week phase of the competition was held in the Pasadena Civic Center. There were a record-number 327 contestants in the first round, which lasted over two days, exceeding season 2's record of 234. The contestants emerged in groups of ten and each performed individually a cappella. After the whole group had finished their performances, those who failed were cut immediately. 168 advanced to the next round, where the contestants performed in groups; out of the 168, only 100 advanced to the next round. In the next round, the contestants performed solo, accompanied by a band or an instrument. The contestants were then separated into four rooms, with two of the four rooms containing eliminated contestants and the other two containing contestants who made it into the next round. Only 61 of the 100 remaining advanced.
This year, due to the large number of contestants, two more rounds were added. The 61 remaining contestants proceeded to Las Vegas where they performed songs from The Beatles as duos and trios in the Love theatre at The Mirage for this newly added 'Las Vegas' round. After that, 40 advanced to the final "Sing For Your Life" round back in Los Angeles. In that round, each contestant performed a song of their own choosing at Howard Hughes' Spruce Goose aircraft hangar. The Top 24 were then selected from the remaining 40 for the semifinals. This episode was notable for the emotional breakdown of judge Jennifer Lopez after telling contestant Chris Medina that he had been eliminated.
Semi-finalists
The twenty-four semi-finalists were revealed in two stages. The first five were revealed on February 23, 2011, and the remaining 19 were revealed on the following night's episode. The following are semi-finalists who failed to reach the finals.
- Females
| Contestant | Age | Date of Birth | Hometown | Audition Location | | Julie Zorrilla | 20 | November 3, 1990 | Bogotá, Colombia | San Francisco, California | | Kendra Chantelle | 22 | September 27, 1988 | Loudon, Tennessee | Nashville, Tennessee | | Lauren Turner | 24 | May 8, 1986 | Covington, Louisiana | New Orleans | | Rachel Zevita | 23 | October 20, 1987 | New York City | Jersey City, New Jersey | | Ta-Tynisa Wilson | 20 | June 19, 1990 | Aurora, Illinois | Milwaukee, Wisconsin |
| - Males
| Contestant | Age | Date of Birth | Hometown | Audition Location | | Brett Loewenstern | 17 | December 13, 1993 | Boca Raton, Florida | New Orleans, Louisiana | | Clint Jun Gamboa | 26 | June 9, 1984 | Long Beach, California | San Francisco, California | | Jordan Dorsey | 21 | April 23, 1989 | Laplace, Louisiana | New Orleans, Louisiana | | Jovany Barreto | 23 | September 3, 1987 | Harvey, Louisiana | New Orleans, Louisiana | | Robbie Rosen | 17 | December 27, 1993 | Merrick, New York | Jersey City, New Jersey | | Tim Halperin | 23 | May 27, 1987 | Fort Worth, Texas | Los Angeles, California | |
Semi-finals
The semifinal round began on Tuesday, March 1, 2011. This year, the producers use a new format. Below are the two semi-final groups (males and females) with contestants listed in their performance order. The top five males and top five females, along with the three wild card choices by the judges advanced to the finals. There were twenty-four semifinalists, twelve females and males. The males started the semifinal round, and the females continued on following night's episode, the contestants perform songs of their choice (there was no particular theme).
Males
Females
Finalists
Still Participating:
- Haley Reinhart (born September 9, 1990) is from Wheeling, Illinois and 20 years old during the show. Auditioned in Milwaukee, Wisconsin with The Beatles' "Oh! Darling". She originally auditioned for the previous season, but did not make it to Hollywood during that season. She performed Corinne Bailey Rae's "Breathless", and Billie Holiday's "God Bless the Child" in the Hollywood rounds, but she forgot her words in the group round.
Eliminated:
Finals
This is the first season in which there are 12 weeks of the finals with one of the 13 finalists eliminated each week. In Season 8 there were 13 finalists but 2 were eliminated in the first week, the final rounds thereby only lasted 11 weeks. This is the third season in which a Wild Card contestant, Ashthon Jones, was eliminated in the first round of the finals, with the first two seasons being season three and season eight. American Idol (season 7) winner David Cook recorded the Simple Minds song "Don't You (Forget About Me)" as the send-off song played when a contestant is eliminated.
Top 13 - Their Personal Idols
Top 12 - Year They Were Born
Top 11 - Motown
Elimination chart
Legend | Top 24 | Wild Card | Top 13 | Winner |
| Safe | Safe First | Safe Last | Eliminated | Wild Card Choice | Judges' Save |
Results show performances
Post-Idol alumni
Eliminated contestant Chris Medina released a single called "What Are Words" on February 25, 2011, the day after his elimination. The song is about his fiance who suffered a brain injury as the result of a car wreck. The song debuted at #22 on the Heatseekers Songs chart, and then reached #83 on the Billboard Hot 100. It has since sold 61,000 copies He performed the ballad on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno on February 28, 2011 and on Good Morning America on March 4, 2011.
On March 3, 2011, it was announced that eliminated contestant Carson Higgins had joined the cast of the Los Angeles production of the Paul Storiale play The Columbine Project. The play is inspired by the tragic events at Columbine High School in Colorado in 1999, and will be performed at the Avery Schreiber Theatre in North Hollywood beginning April 22, 2011.
U.S. Nielsen ratings
References
External links
Retrieved from :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Idol_(season_10)
