Does Winning American Idol Matter?
So much emphasis is placed each year on who wins the coveted “American Idol” title that it’s sometimes hard to recall that a few of the biggest stars in the recent “Idol” universe were sent home either well before the finale or on the last night. This season marked the first one which all the contestants really seemed to understand that just making it past Hollywood to the show was probably enough to launch some kind of career. You could tell by the way they marketed themselves using their sex appeal (Haley Scarnato), hairstyles (Sanjaya Malakar), similarity to Justin Timberlake (Chris Richardson) and quirky mouth-magic gimmicks (Blake Lewis). Chances are, they took their cues from last season’s galaxy of non-winner stars 2-8, who have all either released or are about to release their own albums. Though Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood are certified superstars, given the relatively modest success of the second albums from Ruben Studdard and Fantasia Barrino, and the solid but buzzle
