Quote:...hundreds of songs are constantly being lobbed at radio, and some great tracks get lost in the shuffle. Last year, I critiqued the singles campaigns of recent albums, suggesting how different tracks could have been released in a different order. But right now I feel compelled to highlight some singles that simply deserved better, since by December these songs will be long forgotten in lists that boil the year in pop down to "Somebody That I Used To Know" and "Call Me Maybe."

...Haley Reinhart placed third on American Idol last year, but given the show's declining influence, that's no guarantee for success. In fact, she's probably lucky that Interscope decided to release her album at all, given that the lead single "Free" only hit No. 26 on the Adult Pop Songs chart. But the piano-driven midtempo track really did deserve a bit more love, as did season three finalist Leah Labelle's Pharrell-produced "Sexify."

http://blogs.villagevoice.com/music/2012/08/nicki_minaj_rihanna_coldplay_shoulda_beens.php?page=2

Quote:I agree this is good, very good in fact. I sold advertising for an alternative newsweekly for 5 years before I started working for the daily, so on the off chance that anyone doesn't already know this, please believe me when I say, that the alternative press in general doesn't like Idol. These are the champions of Indie Rock. To them American Idol either represents the corporatization of popular music or they see it, and other shows like it, as reality shows that just churn out records (most of which are substandard) quickly to cash in on the popularity of the show. So They're probably not going to say oh "Idol's making a comeback yeah for Idol" anytime in the near future... Not saying that an alt. press music reviewer has never liked a former Idol contestant's post Idol music before or anything but it doesn't happen all that often.

So for The Village Voice, the largest Alternative newsweekly in the country, to list "Free" as one of the "Nine Songs From 2012 That Should've Been Huge"... That's really good & it just might open a few doors at a few Idol resistant radio stations that didn't give Haley a chance the first go round. It's just further proof that Haley was right when told Interscope that she wanted to take the time to come out w/ a really good album and wanted to be as involved in the process as she was.

That's why I believe that in addition to the initial, quick, 4-8 week run on the Billboard charts that the typical 3rd or 4th place Idol finisher gets from the fanbase they built on the show, we're going to see "Listen Up" take a 2nd run on the charts, the way a good debut album from an up & coming artist would normally chart.... And that's a lot longer run.