American Idol singer Allison Iraheta has become the third contestant from this years show to sign with 19 Recordings and Jive Records.

17-year-old Allison, follows in the footsteps of Kris Allen and Adam Lambert. She finished in fourth place and will release her debut album in the autumn.

“I think I’m still in shock that this is happening – getting to record my first album and this whole awesome experience is a dream come true,” she told Entertainment Weekly.

Danny Gokey is the only contestant from the top four who has not yet landed a deal. “There’s nothing to report just yet,” said a 19 Recordings spokesperson.

Allison turned 17 this week, not that you would know it if you listen to her huge belting vocals.

The judges praised her efforts – apart from Cowell , who told her that he doesn’t think she believes she can win and that “she might be in trouble tonight”.

I would have to disagree with Cowell. I loved Allison’s rendition of this song. I loved her perfect vocals and her husky tone. Allison to win (or at least make the final) I say!

Former “American Idol” contestant Sanjaya Malakar is reported to have signed up for the American version of “I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here!.”

The series kicks off June 1 on US TV network NBC and will run for four weeks. The celebrities camp will be located in the jungles of Costa Rica.

Since appearing on Idol last year, Sanjaya has realeased his memoirs and an album, both titled “Dancing to the Music In My Head.”.

Fox have announced today that this series of American Idol will see a more balanced judging panel as the show welcomes another female judge in the form of songwriter/music producer Kara DioGuardi.

DioGuardi has previously penned songs for singers like Kelly Clarkson, Christina Aguilera, Gwen Stefani, Celine Dion, Faith Hill, Carrie Underwood, Santana and Pink.

“We are turning the heat up on`Idol’ this year and are thrilled to welcome Kara to the judges’ table,” said creator and executive producer Simon Fuller in a statement. “She is a smart, sassy lady, and one of America’s most successful songwriters. We know she will bring a new level of energy and excitement to the show.”

Executive producer Cecile Frot-Coutaz said a fourth judge isn’t a new idea.

“We had originally intended for `American Idol’ to have four judges,” she said. “We’ve seen from our international series that having a fourth judge creates a dynamic that benefits both the contestants and the viewers.”

Nigel Lythgoe has recently announced that he will be stepping down as Executive Producer of the show so he can concentrate on other TV projects.

I decided to watch American Idol tonight. We’ve been dipping in and out of it for a few of the live shows, but it’s time to commit! If you’re watching American Idol, drop me a line in the comments and let me know what you thought.

The theme this week seems to be 80’s songs. Here’s my run-down of each performance.

Luke Menard – Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go: A good, clean performance from Luke. I like the clarity of his voice, but ironically he couldn’t ‘hit that high’ and frequently lost control of his pitch during the song. Cue Randy Jackson’s favourite comment – it was a little bit pitchy. Paula loved loved loved his interpretation of the song. Simon – predictably – thought it was weak and girly. In his nastiest comment of the night he said he didn’t think Luke would get past the night.

David Archuleta – Another Day In Paradise: David’s a youthful 17 years old, so taking on a Phil Collins song might have been a big mistake! He started off at the piano, then went to standing at the front of the stage. My feeling was that the singing was a bit weak.

Randy didn’t think the song choice showed off David’s vocal range, while Paula fawned over him. Simon’s venerable opinion was that the music was far too gloomy, so he told him to lighten up a little bit.

Danny Noriega – Tainted Love: Could Danny be this year’s Sanjaya? He seems like he’s all hair and mincing around. Randy seemed to pick up on this and noted that he wasn’t vocally confident at the start. Flakey Paula spent as much time critiquing his haircut as reviewing his performance. Lord Cowell called it like we saw it – horrible. Far too camp for my liking.

David Hernandez – It’s All Coming Back To Me Now: Oh yeah! Dudes singing Celine Dion songs – that’s what I’m talking about! David was a tiny bit shouty in his performance – not so much singing as bellowing.

King of Pitch, Randy Jackson pointed out some…pitching problems. Paula said nothing worth repeating. Simon said that he didn’t like it as much as last week, but that he’d secured a place for next week.

Michael Johns – Don’t You Forget About Me: Moderate rocker Michael takes on the Simple Minds classic performed in the style of the dearly departed Michael Hutchence. Not bad at all, if a little pedestrian.

Woo-hoo! Randy did exactly the same comparison to Hutchence. Paula said something, sounded a bit like “blah blah blah”. Simon doesn’t think that he’s found the right song for him yet, but says that he really really likes him. But maybe to stick to soul material rather than act like a wannabe rocker.

David Cook – Hello: Left-handed guitarists freak me out. David is no exception, it’s just not natural dude. After a rough start, David pulls of a sensitive and soulful rendition over a warmly distorted guitar. Not bad. Not bad at all.

Randy quipped that he made a “slightly emo version of an extremely pop Lionel Ritchie song”. Simon loved it. Simple as that. He said he liked it when people took risks. Did I miss a judge? Don’t think so.

Jason Castro – Hallelujah: takes on Leonard Cohen or Jeff Buckley or ‘that song from Shrek’ depending on your age. And he managed it beautifully, and that’s despite the simpering face he kept pulling during the song.

Randy thought he did a great job and a good choice not to come out with the guitar. Paula thought Jason showed great vulnerability and had great phrasing and technique. Simon thinks he’s improving and said it was one of the best performances of the night.

Chikezie – : The no-surnamed Chikezie chooses to play Whitney’s All The Man That I Need. It doesn’t seem to last long at all. A smooth soul performance.

Randy seemed surprised by the end note. Paula complimented Chickezie’s vocals, but Simon said it didn’t work for him and said it was a cabaret performance.

There ya go folks – if you watched American Idol this evening, share your thoughts with us in the comments!

There’s never been a worse time for reality TV flagship shows than right now. Ask the producers of American Idol, X Factor and Big Brother. Talent is seemingly thin on the ground, the formats themselves seem strained and audiences are in decline.

The American entertainment websites will tell you that American Idol is onto a surefire winner this year – they’ve basically got a captive audience due to the Hollywood writer’s strike. But that’s no reason to become complacent, and the Idol production team know it.

Season six of American Idol featured some of the weakest talent the competition has known to date. Backed up by the fact that neither the winner – Jordin Sparks – or the runner-up Blake Lewis managed to score a number one with their respective debut singles.

Is it a coincidence that the two top talent shows of 2007 were a complete washout? I already passed my judgement on 2007’s X Factor, but Lisa and I really expected so much more from American Idol. After all, surely larger population = larger chance of talented individuals getting through? Apparently not.

Short-lived Careers?

You’re going to hear a lot about how many Idol alumni have been dropped from their record labels due to poor sales. But you’ll also hear a lot about how artists like Kelly Clarkson, Chris Daughtry, Jennifer Hudson and America Fererra have gone on to stellar careers in music, film and television.

The problem is the public. When you allow the public to vote, you run the risk of true talent being dropped from the show in favour of ‘personalities’ who have minimal musical ability. Like Sanjaya. Or Chico. Nigel Lythgoe recently said “Just because a granny in Omaha falls in love with Taylor Hicks, it doesn’t mean she will go out and buy his record, even though she will pick up the phone and vote for him.”

The problem is the selection process. Perhaps to have some consistency with the ‘freakshow’ auditions, the producers feel some responsibility to put a couple of halfwits through to the live rounds. They do so at the expense of talent. If the producers and judges made certain to select talented and charismatic individuals, then it would be a dogfight among the best emerging artists in the industry.

Last year’s competition was amateur hour compared with what we should be seeing on a nationwide talent show like American Idol.

Improving American Idol

As I said earlier, the producers cannot afford to be complacent with American Idol this year. There’s always a risk that the viewing audience will abandon TV completely and go out and get lives or something. Idolator has a good round-up of how the programme’s makers are planning to spice things up in Season Seven.

• New set and new opening sequence: I was wondering when they were going to refresh the brand. After six seasons, it’s long overdue!
• Allowing contestants to play instruments: possibly the most significant development and one that I hope brings a better class of auditionee.
• Reality TV rejects in the Hollywood Round: not sure what this means, but it sounds dodgy…
• More backstories: I like the idea of this, as long as they can stay away from X Factor style sob stories.
• “Where Are They Now” for former contestants: A good idea, but with a declining base of ’stars’ to choose from. How many burger flippers can we see?
• Less celebrity mentors: Praise Jebus! The celebrity cash-in – exclusive mentoring in exchange for a plug of your latest single or album is a thing of the past. No longer will these hungry wannabes have to lick the boots of megastars and pretend to respect their ‘art’.
• Three farewell songs instead of one: Er, who cares?
• Fox promises not to saturate the network with American Idol programming: A bit of savvy brand management here. Just because there’s going to be nothing good on US TV for a while doesn’t mean you should overplay your hand.

Despite the hype, I’ll be remaining mildly cynical. The X Factor producers promised last year that there’d be less schmaltz and less editorial agenda. However, they delivered a series that depended far too heavily on sob stories from a group of contestants who I could beat with my in-shower singing voice.

As with all reality television, the success – in my opinion – depends on the contestants. And all I want is for them to be talented and charismatic. I want to have finalists so good that I find it difficult to choose between them. Not so bad that I don’t care who wins.

Do you think you can handle that, American Idol producers? Then let the season begin.