Jessica Sanchez - You, Me & the Music

[mercfan3]

I love Jessica, and I want her to succeed..so as I do for idol contestants, I bought her album. (I expect season 3 to beat my record of bought idol debut albums from a single season. As I expect I'll also buy DeAndre's, Hollie's, Joshua's, Elise's, and Skylar's depending on the songs. Versus Season 10's top 3 and Casey.) First of all, her cover art..and album title are fantastic. (And it's apparently "Me, You, & the Music..oops)

First track is "Right to Love." (C ) It's in the vein of Rihanna and JLO..the techno pop, similar to her first single. The lyrics are a little..clumsy. And the song doesn't mean much. But in terms of sounds, it's not bad..but it's not extremely catchy.

Tonight - (B) We've all heard it. Similar comments to "Right to Love" except it is catchy. Extremely catchy.

Don't Come Around - (A) I heard her sing an acoustic version of this song, and I liked it a lot. It doesn't disappoint. Lyrically it's very good and it's redemption for "Change Nothing." Telling the guy to go instead of being a dateline NBC female Martyr song. In terms of sounds, it's interesting and catchy. She adds a little bit of a Jamaican accent in parts that make the song. I hope she releases this as a single in the summer, because I think it's a better single than "Tonight." IMO, best song on the album.

Crazy Glue - (B) first ballad of the album. (Not sure if it's the only). Her vocal is beautiful, as always. (Although not as amazing as "Sweet Dreams" from the season.) The song itself is very cute. Very 16/17 year old. The one thing I will say, is it sounds like the song is compressed, as her voice is much higher than it typically is.

No One Compares - (B) Featuring someone named Prince Royce. The beginning of this song is beautiful. I thought it was going to be my favorite. It then turns into a dance music song. (Like most of her album.) This is a bit more of a mature song. I can easily see it on the radio.

In Your Hands - (B-). From the beginning of the song, I thought it was going to be where I like Jessica best..in the Alicia Keys soul/R&B venue. Similar to "How Come You Don't Call Me." And it mostly stays there, but it's a little more overproduced than those songs should be. I also don't think she's suited for a lot of words in a short period of time, which this songs forces her to do. (Similar to Lauren)

Plastic Roses - (A-) Clearly, Jessica's best songs are man hating songs. This is slower, although it's got a stronger beat, so I'm not sure if it's technically a ballad. But her voice shines on it, very good lyrics, great hook. Very strong song.

Drive By - (B+) This song made me smile. The lyrics are great. The hook is great. It's so appropriate for a 17 year old girl. Sound wise it's interesting. I liked this one a lot.

You've Got The Love - (B) I feel like the exact same comments from "Tonight" belong here. It's a little bit of a better song. But it actually sounds a little more...old fashioned. It sounds like something a young Whitney would sing (or has sung.) Which is not necessarily bad. This song also does that weird compression thing with her voice again, making her sound like Michael Jackson..when he was 5.

Gentlemen - (A-) Jessica and her man hating strike again. Lyrically, it's not as great on the Hook as some of the others. But it's very catchy, very fun, her voice sounds fierce in this song.



Overall, it's actually more of a baby Rihanna type of sound, despite the fact that Jessica actually sounds much more similar to Beyonce. It's similar to a majority of pop records, some filler..one song you always skip, and a couple of very good tracks. Very good for an Idol debut. Her style is very "in" right now, and with the right promotion, this could sell a lot. I'll be honest, I was concerned when I heard "Tonight." (Once again, a very poor first single choice.) But there are plenty of songs that make up for it.

It is a very young album. Which is good, I'm sure that's the audience she's going for.

"Don't Come Around" "Plastic Roses" "Drive By" and "Gentleman" are standouts with "Don't Come Around" as the best.

[mercfan3]

Next 19 posts split from the
"Listen Up! 2013 perspective" thread.

---

Haley and Interscope seem to have left on aimicable terms. And she seems to have been cut based on a financial decision. They have no use for the music. So hopefully, the price will be right.

Just a side note, because Interscope doesn't learn. See if this story sounds familiar...

Interscope signed Jessica. Released a single in March..that was a poor choice for a single. Gave her little promotion besides local stuff and a performance on idol. (A performance that wasn't going to charm the older audience) and now her debut, released a year later, is expected to sell about 20K in it's first week.

(Jessica got the Glee promo all by herself. Glee approached her because of her idol run.)

We'll see if she gets another single and a tour and what not. Jessica does have the already there international audience waiting for her.

But you would think Interscope would have learned...

[kaypea]

Haley and Interscope seem to have left on aimicable terms. And she seems to have been cut based on a financial decision. They have no use for the music. So hopefully, the price will be right.

Just a side note, because Interscope doesn't learn. See if this story sounds familiar...

Interscope signed Jessica. Released a single in March..that was a poor choice for a single. Gave her little promotion besides local stuff and a performance on idol. (A performance that wasn't going to charm the older audience) and now her debut, released a year later, is expected to sell about 20K in it's first week.

(Jessica got the Glee promo all by herself. Glee approached her because of her idol run.)

We'll see if she gets another single and a tour and what not. Jessica does have the already there international audience waiting for her.

But you would think Interscope would have learned...

I don't know-isn't it more like what alot of people were saying when Haley(or any Idol) waits a year after being on the show to put out their first single.Granted that Haley needed that time to write and record the music that she wanted to do and you bring up Jessica which is almost a year later- but how would Lauren,or Scotty or PP,all of whom had initial success and got good promotion have faired if they had waited a year before putting anything out.

[My Alter Ego]

^^Kaypea, although Haley's album wasn't ready to be released before the holidays, if I recall correctly, it was recorded by early 2012. It was Interscope that kept pushing back the release date.

[mercfan3]

Well, I think that's part of it.

But I also think, the not learning thing is more about Interscope realizing how they have to promote the music.

You could promote Lauren, Scotty, or PP as idol contestants/winners..because you released their music so soon after the show.

But Jessica and Haley released their music a year later. You can't promote them as such anymore. Now they are budding new artists and you can't expect the same sort of automatic sales based on name. Idol has "moved on" in a sense to the new batch.

It wasn't Haley. And It's not Jessica. Who are both two fierce, marketable, talented young women. It's poor marketing.

There's no problem with releasing music a year later. The problem is how you promote it. Interscope essentially went "Oh hey, remember them" with their performance on idol, and expected that to carry it. And they did so with songs/performances that were likely to not catch on to the main idol audience.

[Shela]

Haley and Interscope seem to have left on aimicable terms. And she seems to have been cut based on a financial decision. They have no use for the music. So hopefully, the price will be right.

Just a side note, because Interscope doesn't learn. See if this story sounds familiar...

Interscope signed Jessica. Released a single in March..that was a poor choice for a single. Gave her little promotion besides local stuff and a performance on idol. (A performance that wasn't going to charm the older audience) and now her debut, released a year later, is expected to sell about 20K in it's first week.

(Jessica got the Glee promo all by herself. Glee approached her because of her idol run.)

We'll see if she gets another single and a tour and what not. Jessica does have the already there international audience waiting for her.

But you would think Interscope would have learned...

I remember to have read (not sure if it was at IF), that sometimes, the main Record company attached to these types of shows used to sign runner ups in order to take advantange of their push of the show or to let them cool and not interfere with their main act or even to avoid that other record companies would take advantage of their exposure and they dropped them after a while.... that would be a mean purpose, but who knows.

Jessica could have been a safe pop act for them....why not to promote her

[My Alter Ego]

Haley and Interscope seem to have left on aimicable terms. And she seems to have been cut based on a financial decision. They have no use for the music. So hopefully, the price will be right.

Just a side note, because Interscope doesn't learn. See if this story sounds familiar...

Interscope signed Jessica. Released a single in March..that was a poor choice for a single. Gave her little promotion besides local stuff and a performance on idol. (A performance that wasn't going to charm the older audience) and now her debut, released a year later, is expected to sell about 20K in it's first week.

(Jessica got the Glee promo all by herself. Glee approached her because of her idol run.)

We'll see if she gets another single and a tour and what not. Jessica does have the already there international audience waiting for her.

But you would think Interscope would have learned...

I remember to have read (not sure if it was at IF), that sometimes, the main Record company attached to these types of shows used to sign runner ups in order to take advantange of their push of the show or to let them cool and not interfere with their main act or even to avoid that other record companies would take advantage of their exposure and they dropped them after a while.... that would be a mean purpose, but who knows.

Jessica could have been a safe pop act for them....why not to promote her

Interesting point, Shela. There would be no way that Jessica would compete with Phillip's fanbase, because their genres are completely different. So why not promote her.

[kaypea]

^^Kaypea, although Haley's album wasn't ready to be released before the holidays, if I recall correctly, it was recorded by early 2012. It was Interscope that kept pushing back the release date.

Yes but even if it was put out in Jan-or Feb.-that's stll a long way from getting the intial push right out of the gate that the other's that I mentioned got.Haley went on Regis fresh after being on Idol and everyone loved her but she had nothing to sell at that point.That was my only point.

[mercfan3]

Just a side note, because Interscope doesn't learn. See if this story sounds familiar...

Interscope signed Jessica. Released a single in March..that was a poor choice for a single. Gave her little promotion besides local stuff and a performance on idol. (A performance that wasn't going to charm the older audience) and now her debut, released a year later, is expected to sell about 20K in it's first week.

But you would think Interscope would have learned...

The biggest, most obvious, mistake Interscope made in the early promotion of Haley & now Jessica is they should've used the Idol performance AFTER the album comes out NOT to promote a single's release.

If they want to release the single a few weeks or a month before the album comes out to get a little airplay going that's fine, but the Idol performance isn't going to make a great deal of difference when it comes to how much airplay radio stations are going to give that single.

What it does do is reach a HUGE audience, once, that's already familiar w/ them, so if the album is available it always, always results in a huge, very meaningful spike in sales. In reality what it's doing is allowing them to pick up their casual (might not have even voted but liked them) fan. Kind of like an impulse buy. If they would've had Haley &/or Jessica on the show, after the album came out, you're easily talking an additional 10,000 in sales.

I actually disagree a bit. Idol, traditionally, has actually not helped very much at all in terms of sales. The casual fans are casual fans and at a new season they've moved on.

The problem, IMO..is depending on idol. Sure, it's a great stage. But for that to be the only promotion..or the only big promotion. (and as you said, when there's nothing to sell..) does even less for the artist.

[kaypea]

I don't think there was any ill will towards Haley. They put some valuable resources into her.

But I don't know if it was the "bad timing." Because they went and did the exact same thing to Jessica.

Well-on paper hasn't this been the "go to" label for Idols just coming off the show in terms of getting the best treatment? Maybe things there still aren't all that cool.