‘American Idol’ notes: Phillip Phillips, Brooke White, and Haley Reinhart

The newest batch of “American Idol” notes is here, and considering the timing it really only seems appropriate to kick things off with the man who is the official winner of season 11.
Phillip Phillips hits up “Leno” – In celebration of Phillip taking home the title, he say down on “The Tonight Show” Thursday night and talked a bit about coming out on top.
Overall, the interview was mostly standard fare from the guy — he explained that he is looking forward to producing some music of his own, that he is still surprised he won, and despite some ongoing problems with his kidney, he should be able to have surgery and still be ready for the summer tour.
Brooke White’s a mom! – Now, we have some news on the baby front. Speaking to People Magazine, the season 7 alum White’s husband David Ray confirmed that they are now proud parents to a girl by the name of London — who is named after his parents’ heritage:
“Baby London is here … Our girl came in at 6:41 p.m. and is 8 lbs., 12 oz.!”
There’s not much else in the way of details available, but hats off to the couple!
Haley’s album sales will be… – Finally, we have some news on the album sales front that makes it look like Haley Reinhart is going to have an uphill battle making “Listen Up!” successful enough that she will stay on the Interscope label.
According to early projections from HITS Daily Double, both this album and Kris Allen’s “Thank You Camellia” are projected to sell between 15,000 and 20,000 within their first week. This is only a quarter of what Allen’s self-titled debut brought in, and for Haley it is around 10% of the first-week sales of Scotty McCreery’s “Clear As Day” last fall.
Could this change for the better depending on radio airplay? Definitely, and at the moment “Free” is currently climbing its way up the Hot AC chart. Let’s just hope she keeps it up so that there will be good news on the horizon.
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Do you think Haley’s sales will improve over time?
Photo: Fox
TJ
May 29, 2012 @ 10:43 am
Haley’s talented. She’s original unlike Allen who is a dime a dozen. It’s all going depend on how much they’ll promote her. Allen will be dropped.
ellen radeloff
May 28, 2012 @ 9:02 am
I just purchased HALEY’s ‘Listen Up!’ CD @ Wal-Mart and it is a KEEPER!! Very nice collection of songs that portray her interesting and charismatic voice so well. These songs should resonate well with the public–right in time for summer vacation!! HALEY is a smart cookie & she should be very proud of this CD…….
Roger Sanchez
May 26, 2012 @ 3:36 pm
Haley’s a grower, not a shower ; ) – This album is stellar, and from the looks of it, one of the best reviewed American Idol albums ever (from conglomerate scores of critics), so she’s definitely doing something right: hopefully radio play is gratuitous!…
Ernest
May 26, 2012 @ 2:30 am
Pretty dismal first week sales prediction for Haley. I don’t get why Interscope waited so long to release the single/album. From what I understand, she recorded ‘Free’ during the idol tour (i.e. July-Aug) and had the album pretty much completed about three months after the tour ended (i.e. Nov-Dec). So why on earth was the single not out until March and the album May? Makes no sense. If she could have had her album out when she performed on Idol, sales would have been so much better. Oh well, doesn’t matter now. ‘Listen Up!’ really is a quality album so hopefully it takes off eventually. *fingers crossed*
Terry
May 26, 2012 @ 1:32 am
Haley has always been a slow-cooker. On Idol, she took a few weeks to come into her own. She took a lot of time to make an amazing album. She should see, and deserves to see, highly successful sales after some time!
Gillyking
May 25, 2012 @ 7:35 pm
All 14 tracks on the deluxe edition are exceptional and original. Not one filler song or cover in the whole album. This retro mix of bluesy /soulful pop/rock/ some disco beats combine to really exhibit Haley’s big phenominal and emotional voice. The entire album would be very radio friendly and I believe that Listen UP will endure time and continue to grow.
Alison
May 25, 2012 @ 5:37 pm
Haley’s got a great album which should sell well. Hopefully the first song prospective buyers hear isn’t Oh My with that terrible rap segment. What was she thinking?
Miguel
May 25, 2012 @ 4:23 pm
Hits Daily Double “Rumor Mill” yesterday had debut week sales of Haley’s album at 18K-21K. That’s likely somewhere between 14-19 on the Billboard 200.
Seth
May 25, 2012 @ 1:39 pm
I think Haley’s album will be a grower, she should be fine.