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| Network: | Fox |
The sixth season of American Idol premiered on the Fox Broadcasting Company as a two-night, four-hour premiere special on January 16 and 17, and ran until May 23, 2007. Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul, and Randy Jackson returned as judges, and Ryan Seacrest returned as host. A new record of 74 million votes were cast in the finale round, and a new record of 609 million votes were cast in the entire season. Jordin Sparks won the competition, while Blake Lewis was the runner-up. This is the first season not to be syndicated under the Rewind package.
Contestants were required to be between the ages 16 and 28 on August 6, 2006. Guest judges were used for auditions this season.[1]
Auditions were held in the following cities:
| Preliminary date | Preliminary venue | Filming date(s) | Filming venue | Golden tickets | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Los Angeles, California | August 6, 2006 | Rose Bowl, Pasadena | September 26, 2006 | Millennium Biltmore Hotel[2] | 40 | |
| San Antonio, Texas | August 11, 2006 | Alamodome | August 26, 2006 | Henry B. González Convention Center[3] | 24 | |
| New York City, New York | August 14, 2006 | Continental Airlines Arena, East Rutherford | August 30, 2006 | Chelsea Piers[4] | 35 | |
| Birmingham, Alabama | August 21, 2006 | Birmingham–Jefferson Convention Complex | September 29–30, 2006 | Sheraton Hotel[5] | 20 | |
| Memphis, Tennessee | September 3, 2006 | FedExForum | October 5–6, 2006 | Memphis Cook Convention Center[6] | 22 | |
| Minneapolis, Minnesota | September 8, 2006 | Target Center | September 12, 2006 | Minneapolis Convention Center[7] | 17 | |
| Seattle, Washington | September 19, 2006 | KeyArena | October 2–3, 2006 | W Hotel[8] | 14 | |
| Total number of tickets to Hollywood | 172 | |||||
Jordin Sparks, this season's winner, originally failed to pass through her audition in Los Angeles,[9] but later won an audition in Seattle as a reward for winning a local Fox-affiliate-sponsored contest called Arizona Idol.[10]
The Hollywood rounds of the audition process were held over four days in November 2006 at the Orpheum Theatre in Los Angeles.
The first round consisted of each contestant singing one song a cappella in front of the judges. Contestants were then told whether they were moving on or going home in groups of six. This extended over the first two days.
The second round took place on the second and third days, and consisted of groups of three or four contestants rehearsing and then performing one of nine pre-selected songs. Groups were reviewed and contestants were then judged individually as to whether they were moving on or going home.
The third round took place on the fourth day, where each contestant performed one song from a pre-selected list accompanied by a piano and backup singers. Contestants were again informed of whether they had made the cut or not.
The final round took place at the Pasadena Civic Center on January 14–15, 2007, just before the regional audition shows began airing. Without any further auditioning, the 40 remaining contestants were reduced to 24. In a process taking a whole day, contestants waited in a sitting room until, one by one, they went up to the center's Gold Room. The three judges told them whether they had made it onto the stage show or were cut. The 24 semifinalists were announced on February 14, 2007.
The live show portion of the semifinals began on February 20, 2007, with the names announced on February 14. Starting with 12 women and 12 men, the women and men performed weekly on separate shows and on the result show, the bottom two male and two female contestants were eliminated. The semifinals took place over three weeks, leaving the other six to form the top 12. The females performed on the first night, followed by the males the next night.
Color key:
Contestants are listed in the order they performed.
| Song | ||
| Top 24 | "Sowing the Seeds of Love" | |
|---|---|---|
| Fantasia | "I'm Here" |
Contestants are listed in the order they performed.
|
|
| Song | ||
| Top 20 | "Joy to the World" | |
|---|---|---|
| Kellie Pickler | "I Wonder" |
Contestants are listed in the order they performed.
|
|
| Song | ||
| Top 16 | "Stuck in the Middle with You" | |
|---|---|---|
| "Wasted" |
The top 12 finalists were announced on March 8, 2007. As in past years, the top 12 appeared on the annual compilation album while the top 10 participated in the American Idol summer concert tour. Also as in past years, one finalist was eliminated every week, with the exception of the April 25 show, when all contestants were declared safe. As a result, two of the participants were eliminated on the May 2 results program.
There were eleven weeks of finals with twelve contestants competing. One contestant was eliminated every week based on the public's votes, with the exception of the top 6 week, where one week featured a non-elimination and the following week a double-elimination.
Color key:
Diana Ross served as a guest mentor this week. Contestants performed one song each from her discography and are listed in the order they performed.
| Contestant | Diana Ross song | Result | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brandon Rogers | "You Can't Hurry Love" | Eliminated | |
| Melinda Doolittle | "Home" | Safe | |
| Chris Sligh | "Endless Love" | Safe | |
| Gina Glocksen | "Love Child" | Safe | |
| Sanjaya Malakar | "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" | Bottom two | |
| Haley Scarnato | "Missing You" | Safe | |
| Phil Stacey | "I'm Gonna Make You Love Me" | Bottom three | |
| LaKisha Jones | "God Bless the Child" | Safe | |
| Blake Lewis | "You Keep Me Hangin' On" | Safe | |
| Stephanie Edwards | "Love Hangover" | Safe | |
| Chris Richardson | "The Boss" | Safe | |
| Jordin Sparks | "If We Hold on Together" | Safe |
| Song | ||
| Top 12 | "Where Did Our Love Go" "Baby Love" "Stop! In the Name of Love" | |
|---|---|---|
| Diana Ross | "More Today Than Yesterday" |
British singers Peter Noone and Lulu served as guest mentors this week, with the former mentoring the men and the latter mentoring the women. Contestants are listed in the order they performed.
| Contestant | Song | Result | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Haley Scarnato | "Tell Him" | Safe | |
| Chris Richardson | "Don't Let the Sun Catch You Crying" | Bottom two | |
| Stephanie Edwards | "You Don't Have to Say You Love Me" | Eliminated | |
| Blake Lewis | "Time of the Season" | Safe | |
| LaKisha Jones | "Diamonds Are Forever" | Safe | |
| Phil Stacey | "Tobacco Road" | Safe | |
| Jordin Sparks | "I (Who Have Nothing)" | Safe | |
| Sanjaya Malakar | "You Really Got Me" | Safe | |
| Gina Glocksen | "Paint It Black" | Safe | |
| Chris Sligh | "She's Not There" | Safe | |
| Melinda Doolittle | "As Long as He Needs Me" | Safe |
| Song | ||
| Peter Noone | "There's a Kind of Hush" | |
|---|---|---|
| Lulu | "To Sir with Love" |
Gwen Stefani served as a guest mentor this week. Contestants performed songs from her discography or songs that inspired her, and are listed in the order they performed.
| Contestant | Song | Result | |
|---|---|---|---|
| LaKisha Jones | "Last Dance" | Safe | |
| Chris Sligh | "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic" | Eliminated | |
| Gina Glocksen | "I'll Stand by You" | Safe | |
| Sanjaya Malakar | "Bathwater" | Safe | |
| Haley Scarnato | "True Colors" | Bottom two | |
| Phil Stacey | "Every Breath You Take" | Bottom three | |
| Melinda Doolittle | "Heaven Knows" | Safe | |
| Blake Lewis | "Lovesong" | Safe | |
| Jordin Sparks | "Hey Baby" | Safe | |
| Chris Richardson | "Don't Speak" | Safe |
| Song | ||
| "The Sweet Escape" |
Tony Bennett served as a guest mentor this week. Contestants are listed in the order they performed.
| Contestant | Song | Result | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Blake Lewis | "Mack the Knife" | Safe | |
| Phil Stacey | "Night and Day" | Bottom three | |
| Melinda Doolittle | "I Got Rhythm" | Top three | |
| Chris Richardson | "Don't Get Around Much Anymore" | Safe | |
| Jordin Sparks | "On a Clear Day You Can See Forever" | Top three | |
| Gina Glocksen | "Smile" | Eliminated | |
| Sanjaya Malakar | "Cheek to Cheek" | Safe | |
| Haley Scarnato | "Ain't Misbehavin" | Bottom two | |
| LaKisha Jones | "Stormy Weather" | Top three |
| Song | ||
| Michael Bublé | "Call Me Irresponsible" |
|---|
Jennifer Lopez served as a guest mentor this week. Contestants are listed in the order they performed.
| Contestant | Latin song | Result | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Melinda Doolittle | "Sway" | Safe | |
| LaKisha Jones | "Conga" | Safe | |
| Chris Richardson | "Smooth" | Bottom three | |
| Haley Scarnato | "Turn the Beat Around" | Eliminated | |
| Phil Stacey | "Maria Maria" | Bottom two | |
| Jordin Sparks | "Rhythm Is Gonna Get You" | Safe | |
| Blake Lewis | "I Need to Know" | Safe | |
| Sanjaya Malakar | "Bésame Mucho" | Safe |
| Song | ||
| Top 8 | "Bailamos" | |
|---|---|---|
| "Don't Matter" | ||
| Jennifer Lopez | "Qué Hiciste" |
Martina McBride served as a guest mentor this week. Contestants are listed in the order they performed.
| Contestant | Country song | Result | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Phil Stacey | "Where the Blacktop Ends" | Safe | |
| Jordin Sparks | "A Broken Wing" | Safe | |
| Sanjaya Malakar | "Something to Talk About" | Eliminated | |
| LaKisha Jones | "Jesus, Take the Wheel" | Bottom two | |
| Chris Richardson | "Mayberry" | Safe | |
| Melinda Doolittle | "Trouble Is a Woman" | Safe | |
| Blake Lewis | "When the Stars Go Blue" | Bottom three |
| Song | ||
| Top 7 | "I'm Alright" | |
|---|---|---|
| Fergie | "Big Girls Don't Cry" | |
| Martina McBride | "Anyway" |
Owing to a special theme week – Idol Gives Back – Ryan Seacrest announced that this week would be a non-elimination, and that the votes cast for this week would be combined with the votes from the following week. Contestants are listed in the order they performed.
| Contestant | Song | Result | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chris Richardson | "Change the World" | Safe | |
| Melinda Doolittle | "There Will Come a Day" | Safe | |
| Blake Lewis | "Imagine" | Safe | |
| LaKisha Jones | "I Believe" | Safe | |
| Phil Stacey | "The Change" | Safe | |
| Jordin Sparks | "You'll Never Walk Alone" | Safe |
Jon Bon Jovi and David Bryan served as guest mentors this week. Contestants performed one song from the Bon Jovi discography, and are listed in the order they performed. Two contestants were eliminated based on the combined votes from last week and this week.
| Contestant | Bon Jovi song | Result | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Phil Stacey | "Blaze of Glory" | Eliminated | |
| Jordin Sparks | "Livin' on a Prayer" | Safe | |
| LaKisha Jones | "This Ain't a Love Song" | Safe | |
| Blake Lewis | "You Give Love a Bad Name" | Safe | |
| Chris Richardson | "Wanted Dead or Alive" | Eliminated | |
| Melinda Doolittle | "Have a Nice Day" | Safe |
| Song | ||
| Robin Thicke | "Lost Without U" | |
|---|---|---|
| "(You Want to) Make a Memory" |
Barry Gibb served as a guest mentor this week. Contestants performed two songs each from the Bee Gees discography and are listed in the order they performed.
| Contestant | Order | Bee Gees song | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Melinda Doolittle | 1 | "Love You Inside Out" | Safe |
| 5 | "How Can You Mend a Broken Heart" | ||
| Blake Lewis | 2 | "You Should Be Dancing" | Safe |
| 6 | "This Is Where I Came In" | ||
| LaKisha Jones | 3 | "Stayin' Alive" | Eliminated |
| 7 | "Run to Me" | ||
| Jordin Sparks | 4 | "To Love Somebody" | Safe |
| 8 | "Woman in Love" |
| Song | ||
| Top 4 | Bee Gees medley | |
|---|---|---|
| Pink | "Who Knew" | |
| Barry Gibb | "To Love Somebody" |
Each contestant performed three songs: one chosen by one of the judges, one chosen by the producers, and one chosen by themselves. Contestants are listed in the order they performed.
| Contestant | Order | Song | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jordin Sparks | 1 | "Wishing on a Star" | Safe |
| 4 | "She Works Hard for the Money" | ||
| 7 | "I (Who Have Nothing)" | ||
| Blake Lewis | 2 | "Roxanne" | Safe |
| 5 | "This Love" | ||
| 8 | "When I Get You Alone" | ||
| Melinda Doolittle | 3 | "I Believe in You and Me" | Eliminated |
| 6 | "Nutbush City Limits" | ||
| 9 | "I'm a Woman" |
| Song | ||
| Elliott Yamin | "Wait for You" | |
|---|---|---|
| Maroon 5 | "Makes Me Wonder" |
Each contestant performed three songs, and contestants are listed in the order they performed.
| Contestant | Order | Song | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Blake Lewis | 1 | "You Give Love a Bad Name" | Runner-Up |
| 3 | "She Will Be Loved" | ||
| 5 | "This Is My Now" | ||
| Jordin Sparks | 2 | "Fighter" | Winner |
| 4 | "A Broken Wing" | ||
| 6 | "This Is My Now" |
| Song | ||
| Daughtry | "Home" | |
|---|---|---|
| Jordin Sparks & Blake Lewis | "I Saw Her Standing There" | |
| Gwen Stefani | "4 in the Morning" | |
| Kelly Clarkson | "Never Again" | |
| Blake Lewis, Chris Richardson, Phil Stacey, Sanjaya Malakar, Chris Sligh & Brandon Rogers with Smokey Robinson | "Ooo Baby Baby" "Being with You" "The Tears of a Clown" | |
| Blake Lewis with Doug E. Fresh | "The Show" | |
| Jordin Sparks, Melinda Doolittle, LaKisha Jones, Haley Scarnato, Gina Glocksen & Stephanie Edwards with Gladys Knight | "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" "I Feel a Song (In My Heart)" "Midnight Train to Georgia" | |
| "For Once in My Life" | ||
| Melinda Doolittle with BeBe & CeCe Winans | "Hold Up the Light" | |
| Top 12 | "Time After Time" | |
| "I'll Stand by You" | ||
| African Children's Choir | ||
| Sanjaya Malakar with Joe Perry | "You Really Got Me" | |
| Green Day | "Working Class Hero" | |
| Taylor Hicks | "Heaven Knows" | |
| Jordin Sparks & Ruben Studdard | "You're All I Need to Get By" | |
| Bette Midler | "Wind Beneath My Wings" | |
| Top 12 with Kelly Clarkson, Taylor Hicks, Ruben Studdard & Carrie Underwood | "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" "A Day in the Life" "She's Leaving Home" "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" "With a Little Help from My Friends" | |
| Jordin Sparks | "This Is My Now" |
After Carrie Underwood performed "I'll Stand by You", Clive Davis gave a speech extolling the state of "the American Idol album franchise," and then presented Underwood with a special award for achieving 6 million U.S. album sales for her album Some Hearts.
Color key:
| Semifinals | Top 12 | Top 11 | Top 10 | Top 9 | Top 8 | Top 7 | Top 6 | Top 4 | Top 3 | Finale | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2/22 | 3/1 | 3/8 | 3/15 | 3/24 | 3/31 | 4/6 | 4/11 | 4/18 | 4/25 | 5/2 | 5/9 | 5/16 | 5/23 | ||
| Jordin Sparks | 1 | Safe | Safe | Safe | Safe | Safe | Safe | Top three | Safe | Safe | Safe | Safe | Safe | Safe | Winner |
| Blake Lewis | 2 | Safe | Safe | Safe | Safe | Safe | Safe | Safe | Safe | Bottom three | Safe | Safe | Safe | Safe | Runner-up |
| Melinda Doolittle | 3 | Safe | Safe | Safe | Safe | Safe | Safe | Top three | Safe | Safe | Safe | Safe | Safe | Eliminated | |
| LaKisha Jones | 4 | Safe | Safe | Safe | Safe | Safe | Safe | Top three | Safe | Bottom two | Safe | Safe | Eliminated | ||
| Chris Richardson | 5 | Safe | Safe | Safe | Safe | Bottom two | Safe | Safe | Bottom three | Safe | Safe | Eliminated | |||
| Phil Stacey | Safe | Safe | Safe | Bottom three | Safe | Bottom three | Bottom three | Bottom two | Safe | Safe | |||||
| Sanjaya Malakar | 7 | Safe | Safe | Safe | Bottom two | Safe | Safe | Safe | Safe | Eliminated | |||||
| Haley Scarnato | 8 | Safe | Safe | Safe | Safe | Safe | Bottom two | Bottom two | Eliminated | ||||||
| Gina Glocksen | 9 | Safe | Safe | Safe | Safe | Safe | Safe | Eliminated | |||||||
| Chris Sligh | 10 | Safe | Safe | Safe | Safe | Safe | Eliminated | ||||||||
| Stephanie Edwards | 11 | Safe | Safe | Safe | Safe | Eliminated | |||||||||
| Brandon Rogers | 12 | Safe | Safe | Safe | Eliminated | ||||||||||
| Antonella Barba | Safe | Safe | Eliminated | ||||||||||||
| Jared Cotter | Safe | Safe | |||||||||||||
| Sundance Head | Safe | Safe | |||||||||||||
| Sabrina Sloan | Safe | Safe | |||||||||||||
| Alaina Alexander | Safe | Eliminated | |||||||||||||
| Leslie Hunt | Safe | ||||||||||||||
| Nicholas Pedro | Safe | ||||||||||||||
| A.J. Tabaldo | Safe | ||||||||||||||
| Rudy Cardenas | Eliminated | ||||||||||||||
| Paul Kim | |||||||||||||||
| Amy Krebs | |||||||||||||||
| Nicole Tranquillo | |||||||||||||||
On the April 3 show, Ryan Seacrest announced the first American Idol songwriting contest. Following an open online submission process, where over 25,000 submissions were received, twenty songs were selected for competition by Simon Fuller and A&R representatives of 19 Entertainment. Beginning on May 2, 2007, and ending on May 8, 2007, with "one online vote per fan", the American public were able to listen to snippets from each song and rate them on the American Idol website. On the May 22 show, the two finalists performed the winning song: "This Is My Now". The song was released as a single by Jordin Sparks.[12]
The titles of the twenty songs were:[13]
There was controversy surrounding the judges' comments over the audition of a Special Olympics participant named Jonathan Jayne.[14] American Idol producer Ken Warwick responded by saying: "It's not a conscious decision, It's just that the further we go in the series, there are less and less good singers, so the numbers are made up by more bad ones." Warwick said that he thinks everyone has the right to audition, and added that in some instances when there are singers with certain disabilities who just want to meet the judges, the producers will "turn the cameras off and bring them in. We give them a good experience."[15]
A series of provocative photos surfaced on the Internet of sontestant Antonella Barba.[16]
On Tuesday, April 17, 2007, the day after the Virginia Tech massacre, while Chris Richardson and Ryan Seacrest were discussing the shooting after Chris's critique, Simon Cowell apparently appeared to be rolling his eyes at the incident, when he was actually speaking to Paula Abdul and did not hear what Chris had said. On the results show the next day, Cowell stated: "I may not be the nicest person in the world, but I would never, ever, ever disrespect those families or those victims, and I felt it was important to set the record straight." To clear Cowell's name, a video was shown on the result show which showed Cowell and Abdul talking with an inset of Chris and Seacrest discussing the shooting. Additionally, Seacrest began the performance show by acknowledging what had happened the day before.
Live + same day ratings
American Idol ended the season as the top show of the 2006–2007 TV season. Its Wednesday episodes ranked first with an average of 30.02 million viewers, followed by the Tuesday episodes which averaged 29.54 million. The premiere episode became the series' highest rated debut episode, viewed by 37.44 million viewers and receiving a 15.8/36 Nielsen rating in the Adult 18-49 demographic.[17]
Live + 7 day (DVR) ratings
American Idol Extra, a behind-the-scenes show, also returned for a second season, corresponding with the start of the finals in March. It aired on Thursdays on Fox Reality.
On the March 8 results show, Ryan Seacrest announced an initiative to give back to people in poverty in both Africa and the United States, including those affected by Hurricane Katrina. The event took place over two episodes of the series. For every vote cast immediately following the April 24 broadcast, sponsors donated funds to the Charity Projects Entertainment Fund. The fund would distribute the money raised to many charities in the United States as well as in Africa.[37] News Corporation pledged to donate 10 cents for every vote made to the show for the first 50 million calls, that is, up to $5 million. MySpace created a special profile page for the event in order to spread the word. Donations from viewers were accepted by phone and through the website during the April 25 results show, in a manner similar to a telethon. Near the end of the broadcast, Seacrest announced the show had raised $30 million. As of May 1, 2007, over $70 million has been raised as a result of Idol Gives Back.
Between contestant performances, video vignettes showing Seacrest and the judges and visiting and observing squalid conditions in Africa and the United States were aired. Similar vignettes were aired during the results show. For this special, the voting period was doubled to four hours following the show, rather than the usual two. In response to the anticipated call volume, each contestant was assigned two toll free numbers. Over 70 million votes were cast.
The results show was broadcast from two locations—the regular American Idol stage and Walt Disney Concert Hall, which included many celebrity actors and personalities. Ellen DeGeneres co-hosted the event from the Disney Hall stage.
Due to the charity theme of the show, no contestant was eliminated on the April 25 results show. This was a surprise both to viewers, to whom Seacrest promised the "most shocking elimination ever", and to the contestants. When Seacrest seemed about to eliminate Jordin Sparks, he announced that since it was a charity night, none of the contestants would be voted off, and the votes from that week would be added to the votes from the following week, and that two contestants would be eliminated. Both weeks saw a two-hour extension of the regular two-hour voting window, and in the end, the two-week combined voting totaled 135 million votes.
TV Guide Channel aired its third season of Idol Chat.
TV Guide Channel brought back a second season of Idol Tonight, the live pre-show to American Idol, which aired on Wednesdays starting in March. The show featured Justin Guarini as a correspondent along with Kimberly Caldwell and Rosanna Tavarez.
For back-to-back repeat of the performance and results shows in the U.K. on ITV2, Cat Deeley presented additional sections preceding and following each commercial break, and followed the end of the show with a short interview with that week's eliminated contestant.[38]
Unlike previous seasons, the top 12 compilation album did not come out while the show was airing. The top 12 recorded studio versions of each of the songs they sang on the show. The songs were available for purchase on AmericanIdol.com as digital downloads through the night of the finale.[39]
Originally, a collage of the finalists' head shots from the top 24 photo shoot was used as album art on AmericanIdol.com, with the title American Idol 6: Greatest Moments; at present, the covers of Sparks' and Lewis' EPs are used instead. The American Idol: Season 6 – "Greatest Hits" & "The Collector's Edition" were eventually released on June 12, 2007. This was the only season where the season's collection was not distributed by Sony BMG/RCA Records.
Sparks' first non-American Idol single was the top hit "Tattoo", which received platinum certification. Her second single was the Billboard Hot 100 number three hit "No Air" with Chris Brown. The song went to number one in several countries, and also topped Billboard's Pop Airplay chart. "No Air" had been certified platinum in April. It stands as the bestselling single by any American Idol contestant. Sparks released a third single off her album, "One Step at a Time", which peaked at number 17. "One Step at a Time" so far sold over a million copies and is certified platinum. Sparks released her second album Battlefield in July 2009. The album's title track became Jordin's fifth top 20 hit on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at number 10. This made Jordin Sparks the only American Idol contestant to have their first five singles become Top 20 Hits.
Blake Lewis's first single was "Break Anotha!", which failed to chart on the Billboard Hot 100. His second single, "How Many Words", also failed to chart on the Billboard Hot 100. Shortly afterward, Lewis confirmed that he had been dropped by Arista records. His album sales were just over 300,000. The drop also cancelled his apparent plans for a third single release.
"This Is My Now," as performed by Jordin Sparks, was released as a radio single. It debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 chart at number 15.