‘American Idol’ notes: Adam Lambert, Jessica Sanchez, David Archuleta

We have quite a bit of good stuff to discuss for our Friday edition of our “American Idol” notes, including some news that is all about new albums in some shape or form.

Before we dive into that, let’s start with something that is coming a little out of left field: Adam Lambert getting an endorsement for a Chinese video game! We don’t really know much about the game outside of the fact that it is called “Rift: Planes of Telara,” but the significance of this commercial almost matters more than the game itself. Traditionally the only Americans to ever get endorsements of any kind in China are the biggest of the big, and this puts the singer in pretty rarified air. Not only that, but there is a reason that the likes of Leonardo DiCaprio and other A-listers do ads in Asia: they get paid a ridiculously large amount of money for it, given that China alone has over a billion potential customers. It’s hard to really think about that sort of audience living in America, but it’s huge, and this is why we see many basketball players signing with Chinese shoe companies.

Just from a business perspective alone Adam, well done.

Album news – Now, let’s turn specifically to a pair of albums. According to HITS Daily Double, Jessica Sanchez will be releasing her debut album on May 7, which is a pretty surprising release date for an “American Idol” runner-up. Typically May is not the best music month, but Carrie Underwood did have some success here last year with “Blown Away.” Plus, Jessica will have some nice cross-promotion opportunities here in between “Glee” and the Fox singing competition itself.

As for David Archuleta, his “No Matter How Far” album is going to be released on March 26. David is out on a Mormon mission, and these tracks were all recording over a year ago but are new to American audiences.

Check out the full listing below.

1. Nothing Else Better To Do

2. Everything and More

3. Don’t Run Away

4. Tell Me

5. Love Don’t Hate

6. Wait

7. Heart Falls Out

8. Notice Me

9. I’ll Never Go

10. Forevermore

Personally, we’re rather excited to see “Forevermore” getting an American release, as it was one of our favorites from David’s OPM release in the Philippines.

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If you want to see our full review of Thursday’s “American Idol” episode (featuring the reveal of the top 20), be sure to head on over to the link here.

Photo: RCA Press / Lee Cherry