Idol Chatter & Voice Views

*** Favorite Tweet from last 24 hours ***

Jordin Sparks:  “From my dad: ‘No more tight black dresses or sticking out your lips. I know you did your bikini shoot and all but…’ LMAO hes a riot!”   For those who don’t recall, Jordin’s dad is former NFL cornerback Phillippi Sparks.

*** Jennifer’s book out next week ***

We’re just a week away from the Jan. 10 release of Jennifer Hudson’s book, “I Got This (How I Changed My Ways and lost What Weighed Me Down).”

A blurb on her website calls it “an honest and inspirational  story of dreaming big, winning big and losing big by one of today’s most beautiful voices and brightest Hollywood stars.”

The losing big, of course, refers to Jennifer’s weight loss.  A spokeswoman for Weight Watchers, she lost 80 pounds and opened her own Jennifer Hudson Weight Watchers Center in Chicago.

And if  “brightest Hollywood stars” seems a bit overstated, remember she’s the only Idol contestant with both an Oscar (for “Dreamgirls”) and Grammy (her debut was named best female R&B album) to his or her  credit.  All from a gal who was once told she’d never make it as an entertainer by Simon Cowell.

Jennifer will appear on NBC’s Dateline Sunday (7 p.m. EST).  During the interview, she talks about how her slain brother inspired her comeback and about the “one little decision” that kept her from her mother’s house on the day three family members, including her mother and brother, were murdered.

*** Free download of David Cook song ***

The first 25,000 people to donate to the Girl Up campaign will receive a free download of the David Cook song, “We Believe.”

A reader provided me with that tip after I named “We Believe” the top Idol song released in 2011.  I just love the song’s positive message.

But I didn’t find details about the free download until last night.  Here’s the link.

Girl Up — Uniting Girls to Change the World — is a campaign of the United Nations Foundation.  Here’s how it’s described on the group’s website:  “We give American girls the opportunity to become global leaders and channel their energy and compassion to raise awareness and funds for United Nations programs that help some of the world’s hardest-to-reach adolescent girls.”

David said he got involved after seeing girls “struggling to overcome poverty” during a trip to Ethiopia as part of Idol Gives Back in 2010.

*** Megan Joy album nears completion ***

Megan Joy from Idol Season 8 posted a blog today indicating her independent album is nearing completion.

She followed it up a few minutes ago with this Tweet: “TWO WEEKS UNTIL MY ALBUM IS FINISHED!!!!!!!!!! 3 years of chaos. I should have ditched all the middle men from day 1! Get ready :)))”

Not sure if that means the album will be available for you and me in two weeks, but it sounds like it will be soon.

Last summer, Megan launched a KickStarter campaign to help finance the album’s release. She set a goal of $15,000 and had raised more than $17,000 by the time the campaign ended.

Here’s the link to Megan’s blog post.

*** Judges talk about Season 11 ***

TV Guide posted an interview with the three Idol judges and host Ryan Seacrest yesterday about how Season 11 is shaping up.

The good news:  They say the talent is as diverse as last year.

The bad news:  All the girls seem to want to emulate Adele.  Says Steven Tyler:  “There have been about 10 contestants who just nailed it. We’re just so tired of hearing it, though. Every three songs it’s that same song.”   Then everyone chimed in with the name of the song: “Someone Like You.”

The judges also said Hollywood Week was tougher on the contestants this year.  Randy Jackson said contestants were “passing out, fainting.”

Here’s hoping the focus is still on the singing and not on the sideline drama and antics when those Hollywood Week episodes air.

Go here for the full interview.