Idolator’s Maura Johnston on NPR
This weekend, Idolator editor Maura Johnston did a great interview on NPR about this month’s upcoming Idol releases–Kris Allen, Adam Lambert, Carrie Underwood (Susan Boyle was also thrown in there).
Maura Johnston is a MUSIC JOURNALIST who also happens to cover Idol. I always respect her opinion. She’s one of the most knowledgeable music writers out there, so frankly, I really don’t see why she’s getting hate from, sigh…some Kris Allen fans.
Contrary to popular opinion, I don’t consider all Adam Lambert fans to be crazy–I just believe there are a core group of overzealous ones who uh, give the fandom a bad name. Given that I’ve been called a Kristard on several occasions just for giving Kris Allen rightful props, I know how this works. And while I know there are a fair amount of Kris Allen fans who are regular Top Idol readers, it does not mean I won’t call out shitty behavior of Kris Allen fans when I see it.
Nothing Maura said in her interview was incorrect–have you listened to a Top 40 station lately? Essentially, Maura says Kris Allen’s music is more geared to a “coffeehouse” and Lambert’s is more Top 40. Big deal.
This doesn’t make her a GLAMBERT. So why are people claiming she has a Glambert #? Even MJ tells her commenters this is nonsense. (I mean, can we just consider the absurdity of all of this? Just the fact fans give themselves NUMBERS is beyond my comprehension.)
Maura does NOT have a glambert #. Trust me on this.
Also, I didn’t find her remarks about Kris dismissive at all. She didn’t say Kris “should” be playing in a coffee house, but that he is a “coffeehouse” type artist. Also, what she said about clean-pop not getting played on Top 40 these days is just the truth.
There are lots of artists who place this type of music who are VERY successful–Ray LaMontagne is one of my favorites, and his last release spent about a week or two at the top of iTunes album download charts. Citizen Cope, Jason Mraz, and even the world’s biggest douchebag John Mayer, are VERY successful playing this “coffeehouse music”. And these types of artists are often more appealing to us music snobs than the “poppy” ones.
No, Maura does not have a Glambert #. And for chrissake, she did not say anything dismissive of Kris Allen. It actually bothers me to see this sort of over-the-top behavior. Maura doesn’t have to cover American Idol for Idolator, she does it because she likes the show. She’s a music journalist. And frankly, she knows more about music than you do so just shut the frak up.
And once again, just as I know not all Adam Lambert fans are batshit crazy, I know this mentality does not also apply to all Kris Allen fans. But come on, people, it’s not necessary to interpret everything a journalist or blogger says as not only negative–because they might not say so-and-so shits Ferrero Rocher–but as meaning they’re in the perceived rival’s camp and out to get the other guy. People can like Kris Allen and Adam Lambert. It’s not one or the other, and as I’ve said since the finale, neither Allen nor Lambert would have cared if the outcome were different. You will find most of us who spend a considerable of time blogging about this shit show actually DO like Kris Allen, Adam Lambert and Allison Iraheta (sorry, Gokey!), as well as a few other contestants. Of course with anything and anyone, there will also always be a few we can’t stand, either. (Again, sorry Gokey!)
The show’s over. A new season is starting. Get a grip.
Top Idol 
Does that mean that Kris Allen fans are the new Radiohead fans, if you get what I mean?
I don’t understand this at all, I’m a regular reader of Idolator and many of the posts about Kris Allen are quite favorable .
Oh, Kris fans, why do you shame me so? Please, refrain from the bullshit. I like being a Kris fan, don’t ruin it for me.
We can always discuss Vampire Diaries…..I tease, I tease. Oh, poor Maura. Kris is a coffee house type of singer, that is not an insult, its a description. These idiotic fans need to relax…the only people in the world that are allowed to ever get upset over who says what about KA is his momma or wife. Otherwise, its just embarassing.
The Glamberts are psychcotic idiots but Billy is a drama queen. Mountain out of a molehill much.
i love Maura and her website..and she also calls into my favorite morning show here in Boston every Thursday. she rocks. but not as much as Top Idol. xo
Hahahaha holy crap, the sparklecows thought Maura had a Glambert #? Hahahahaha.
Off topic, but I just got finished watching the finale of Mad Men, and have to give major praise to Jon Hamm and the rest of the cast for hitting it out of the park. Seriously some of the best acting I’ve seen in a long time. And Hamm looked delicious throughout the episode.
And to say something on topic: Eh, I don’t see anything offensive either. It’s not like she said OMG KRIS SUCKSSSSS!!!!!! I found her opinion to be pretty balanced.
Did I mention Jon Hamm is very good looking. Because he is. Ok, good night everyone 🙂
I do think that it’s a pretty small number of fans of both Adam Lambert and Kris Allen fans who are crazy like that, but yeah, it does need to be said. And just as a lot of Kris Allen fans probably get really annoyed when they get called homophobes for saying anything less than 100% complimentary about Adam, a lot of Adam Lambert fans get annoyed if they get called Glamberts for saying anything less than 100% complimentary about Kris.
I think that Adam, Kris, and Allison all seem like really genuinely nice people (which is pretty rare, really) and they’re all very talented.
You know what comedian I can’t stand? Mario Cantone. Can’t stand him. Find him completely irritating and unfunny. Yeah, must make me a homophobe, right? But no one has ever called me that whenever I’ve said I didn’t like the guy. Hmmm…
Sorry–did what I said come across wrong? I was saying that it was silly to call people Glamberts/homophobes when they aren’t 100% positive about Kris/Adam. 🙂 So, I was agreeing with you. I don’t know who Mario Cantone is, but he fortunately doesn’t seem to have many crazy fans. 🙂
Oh, I was agreeing with you 🙂
Oh good, I thought so–just wanted to be clear, nuance in tone can be so hard to read over the internet. 🙂
I like Kris all right and I see nothing wrong with this interview. I agree that Kris’ album is sort of a throwback so really, I don’t see it as an insult. Some people will like it and some won’t. Even I wasn’t really blown away by the Amazon snippets although I wish him success.
Oh yeah, it’s not just Adam fans. He just has a bit more. LOL and on that note, I gift you just one of about 999,999 episodes of teenager f*kery on Twitter, one who spent her entire weekend on Twitter wreaking havoc with her little buddies. And spamming KRIS 137 times in a row and Adam, 101 and that was just in one sitting.
AFTER she pondered why her buddies on ONTD_AI accused her of having a big forehead, which she does but it was still mean. eyeroll
I cannot imagine the extrodinary amout of time these guys spend clearing their iphones.
Only a very partial list of the cray: (and not “sparkle cows”, they are kids)
#threewordsaftersex IT WAS KRIS
strut
omgkassiee it was shitty. someone said i had a big forehead and imma find out who they are since i reported it to the mods. :DD can’t wait.
@omgkassiee lol it’s fine. it hurt a lot. but i know i have a big forehead so yeah
@miss___blue wanna bug @adamlambert?
@strut_ What should it be this time?
@strut_ i know @adamlambert replied to you. flaunt your victory moar
137 tweets to @krisallen and 101 to @adamlambert. Guess who needs to back away from twitter4:50 AM Nov 7th from web
• Replymiss___blue
@miss___blue LET’S TWEET ADAM OMFG OMFG
@strut_ He might block us at somepoint
@strut_ and.. nothing is complete until I get some anon hate for this.
@miss___blue rob zombie – house of 1000 corpses. I DARE YOU TO TWEET
LYRICS FROM IT TO ADAM.
@miss___blue it will say he blocked you on the top of his page.4:53 AM Nov 7th from web in reply to miss___blue
@miss___blue why not. it’s funny. 😦
@strut_ he blocked ethan, right?4:59 AM Nov 7th from web in reply to strut_
@miss___blue yes LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL
@alleycatblock tell me a song
@miss___blue no gtfo. tweet a rob zombie song to adumb 😦
@miss___blue adumb needs to block some of the glamberts.
@strut_ hello bb! you’re tweets to adam are my entertainment for the evening5:01 AM Nov 7th from web in reply to strut_
• Reply
wathsalive
@miss___blue @strut_ bananas or blllollllllus?5:03 AM Nov 7th from web in reply to miss___blue
• Reply
Jerica_Png
Jerica P’ng Ree Ming
@Jerica_Png i blllollllllued @adamlambert earlier.
@strut_ @alleycatblock and me filled @adamlambert’s feed5:19 AM Nov 7th f
from web Replymiss___blue
Emma
@miss___blue i know he’s tempted to say hi.
@strut_ i’d lol too. and i’d be like WE ARE THE BOSSES HA HA HA5:25 AM Nov 7th from web in reply to strut_
• Reply
Culminating in the now famous bats$it trend attempt, where one girl begs don’t do that for Adam’s sake but she says it’s funny:
#adamscookie TEHEHEHEHEHE
can we trend #glambertsarebatshit ???
HELL YES PEOPLE BE GETTING ON IT ALREADY!! #glambertsarebatshit
@strut_ OMG no. Don’t do it for Adam’s sake. Please.2:34 PM Nov 7th from web in reply to strut_ LoveLifeDC
Debbie
@LoveLifeDC Tis a joke bb.
2:35 PM Nov 7th from web in reply to LoveLifeDC
@MrLaBry4fake I’d take out the batshit and make it short like #glambertsaredumb < — so it would actually trend. LOL2:40 PM Nov 7th from web
@rusticyogurt #iownadamstoiletpaper2:41 PM Nov 7th from web in reply to rusticyogurt
#glambertsarecraycray2:41 PM Nov 7th from web
#glambertsarecraycray2:41 PM Nov 7th from web
#imsorryaboutadamslife2:43 PM Nov 7th from web
ENDQUOTE
Too tedious to do more…..lol PLEASE Season 9 have something else to take this all away…..
NOTE the comment that says “we filled Adam’s twitter feed”.
Well, I just lost 3-4 brain cells I’ll never get back.
Nothing that any of the music reviewers says ever bothers me really. They have differing opinions and tastes just like all of us. Fans going apeshit over it is always what bugs me. Just let it go, people…tomorrow some other person will write that they love it. Does it really make any difference? The continuing fanwars in the comment sections are beyond stupid.(X got played more than Y. Y sold more than X. X is prettier than Y. Y has no talent. blahblahblah) I guess they’ll continue it until season 9 starts. Oh well, it gives us something to make fun of!!
We need more Gokey material.
I guess it feels vindicating to have a professional music critic sing praises for your favourite artiste, but in the long run it hardly means anything. Everyone has their own music preference and as objective as they’d all like to be, it’s not going to be so. Case in point, Jim Cantiello.
But yes, deez, I’m just glad for the lulz. And I look forward to seeing the tards move to the next batch of Idol contestants next season!
TI, you know I call you a Kristard with much love… 🙂
I wonder who will be next year’s “Adam?” Hopefully, it’s someone with a name you can hook a cool suffix to for his fan groups’ identification…something we can make fun of.
Well she did laugh while LLWD was playing so that rubbed me the wrong way.
And was all the talk about the Script really necessary?
Anyway, she didn’t really say whether she liked Adam’s FYE either, so I found the interview a bit pointless.
The interview was about how she felt they would fair once their respective albums debuted.
And “all that talk about The Script”? It was a mention. She never went in to detail, hell, she could have said she they were currently on tour with David Cook and were recently featured on an episode of “90210”, but she didn’t, did she?
I’m an absolute, admitted Kristard and this is a totally necessary article. Maura is a smart, thoughtful writer and commentator. She said absolutely nothing that was dismissive of Kris, and even if she had, it would have been an opinion and not a hateful attack. People need to CALM DOWN and stop taking anything that’s not 100% glowing praise as a personal affront. Fandom is scary. If you’re getting genuinely angry, take a deep breath and go outside. Or hell, if that’s too much to ask, listen to a Kris Allen/Adam Lambert song and remember that you like them because of their music (or look at a picture if you like them because they’re pretty), and not because of what anyone else has to say about them.
Personally, I was just happy to hear a segment about Kris, Adam et al on NPR! (And to hear what Maura had to say.)
Top Idol will hate me for this but…OMG ARE YOU PAPA CULLEN?????? If this confuses you then just ignore it haha
Is that one of those Twitard things? I always hear the name Cullen floating around when I see that shit. It’s unavoidable, always being shoved down everyone’s throats. Considered canceling my subscription to EW, but I know they’re just trying to survive in this shitty market for print, so the write a lot about that nonsense.
Haha yes. I only asked because Carlisle is the name of Edward’s “father” in Twilight. Why DO you hate Twilight so much? Yes, I agree it is way too popular, to an annoying degree, but that doesn’t make me dislike it 🙂
Wow, if I had remembered that, I totally would have chosen another poster ID here. 🙂 Thankfully, however, I have suppressed my memory of all but the most major plot elements of Twilight.
Is Carlisle some Twitard reference? Alas. See? I had no idea until you told me.
For me, “Carlisle” is (1) a hotel (albeit spelled Carlyle), and (2) a really random nickname from way back when. Any reference to Twilight is unintentional and unfortunate. (*bows head in shame. To be an admitted Kristard is bad enough, to be mistaken for a Twitard is truly tragic.*)
I was thinking Belinda 🙂
You people make me sad 😦 Twilight might be poorly written and have extremely annoying fans who just like it because everyone else does, but I absolutely adore the characters and storyline! Just, top idol, please don’t kick me out 🙂
Nah, I like you. Plus, my nieces and SISTER (their mother!) read that shit. As does my copywriter at work. I haven’t kicked them out of anything. I just shake my head and tsk at them. And then launch into my diatribes. (And please tell me you saw the spoof on SNL last night!)
I like you too! My mom reads it too. So does her friend. She’s more of a twi-hard than I am. She bought a Robert Pattinson cut-out…yeah, i know, creepy, right?
Yes! I love a good Twilight spoof! And Taylor Swift was such a great Bella! I cracked up at the Frankensteins! Take180.com has a pretty good New Moon spoof as well.
Hot Topic killed goth. And then Vampires killed any sort of cool mystique vampires had. None of today’s children will ever be REAL goths. It’s all become mainstream, a lie. Robert Smith should kick all of their asses. Goth, punk…all of it…gone…and mass produced for your nearest Hot Topic.
I’m also against the whole RELIGIOUS MORAL subtext of the book (the author is a devout Mormon). It basically says, don’t have sex with your really hot boyfriend because he’s a vampire (or a wolf, in some cases, I think) and you can’t let that happen. I mean look, doesn’t she marry him and then get to have sex? But then gives birth to a demon baby? And I thought this shit took place in modern times. Bitch should have been going to college, not getting married and knocked up that young so she could go gestate a vampire fetus on Puget Sound or whatever, probably the same town where they filmed “10 Things I Hate About You”, which was an AWESOME movie, btw.
Ok, fine it does have some Mormon undertones but I just ignore those 🙂
It’s basically a slick way to tell little girls to stay virgins until marriage, going as far as to say you’ll become a vampire or something if you do. (Sorry, not sure about the exact plot points)
Not exactly “become a vampire.” But Edward does make it very clear that Bella will burn in Hell if she has sex with him before they are married. Oh and Edward also says that vampires are going to Hell too…that’s why he’s so resistant to turn her. Can’t you just let me enjoy my hot boys without making me consider the religious undertones to the story, top idol? Haha I know there is so much wrong with Twilight but I kinda don’t care…
Oh wow. I didn’t even know they brought HELL into it. WOW. Even worse than I imagined!
They don’t directly say Hell. I mean come on, this book has to be appropriate. They refer to the saving of souls.
Edward is supposed to be saintly because he restrains himself. If he “loses control” and has sex with Bella — as she begs him to do on an annoyingly regular basis — he will injure her, possibly kill her. Of course, he agrees to have sex with her if she marries him first. Because you always hurt the ones you really love.
Nooooooooo. Nooooooo more Twitard talk.
You know this was a major plot point that threw me for a loop, and I’m not saying guys today aren’t like that, but holy crap, Edward has been “alive” for like 100 some years and you’re telling me he never had sex with anyone?
I never finished Breaking Dawn because I couldn’t stand it. I read to about the part where Bella got pregnant with the demon child and I was officially done when Edward had to ask Carlisle about how to have sex with Bella.
No man, vampire, etc, is that saintly, sorry.
After I got out of my damn Twilight bubble that I read all over Thanksgiving last year, I realize what true crap this series is. But oh for approximately 2 weeks I was reading it was the greatest stuff ever written and then I woke up…
Already said my piece on Twilight. Refuse to discuss that shit ever again.
And to crazy fantards: Opinions are like assholes, everyone has one, and my god, I can’t stand when any fanbase blows things out of proportion. This is what gets some artists bad reputations. I don’t see anything wrong with what she said. People(fantards) have such tendencies to not read things objectively and get all “up in arms” about things that are said negatively. Sometimes it helps to step outside the box and really hear what they are saying. When you are too invested in something you blow it all out of proportion.
EGAD. I now know more about Twilight than I ever needed to know. This must stop!
TOP IDOL,
Are you aware of this? I don’t know much about IDOLATOR or Maura. Funny you were just talking about her.
http://idolator.com/5290342/its-time-for-me-to-say-goodbye
RIGHT THE FUCK ON TOP IDOL.
After the Fort Hood stuff I talked to a teacher friend who has a couple of Muslim students in her class. They were really upset and said “the stuff that some people do in the name of Allah really pisses me off.” I told her to tell him “that’s okay…a lot of the stuff people do in the name of Jesus Christ pisses me off too.” Now replace those names with “Adam Lambert,” “Kris Allen,” “David Cook,” ad nauseam…
Every religion, cause, political party and Idol fandom has their share of the batshit loonies.
I don’t think the guy even shot anyone in the name of Allah, either. The military really needs to make the mental health of our soldiers one of their top priorities. It’s atrocious. And yes, it’s way off topic but that’s my 2 cents.
Check out this crazy Glambert video…they do the whole capitalization of Him thing…(it’s long, but funny)
http://www.youtube.com/user/jemmajemma#p/a/u/2/vRM3YQzixjg
Oh please, that video makes me want to cut myself.
Top Idol,
You will change the world one tard at a time.
I would squee, but I know you hate squee. 🙂
I think she just wanted to show off her high-end designer kitchen. I hate show offs.
Oh, see, I thought that was just a kitchen she found in a magazine. I didn’t think it was really HER kitchen…is it?
Because if it is, gag me.
If it’s not her kitchen then she’s a poser.
I know this frauen, she is from AO, founder of kitchen thread. It is NOT HER KITCHEN, just a picture from internet. It is imaginery kitchen, they also have imaginery drinks, food, rtc.
I don’t understand why frauen have imaginary food for their little online parties. You can talk to online friends without making it some fantasy la-la world. I just get a bottle of wine and use iChat to talk with another friend drinking a bottle of wine. It’s like being on a buddy’s sofa. No fake sofa photos, or mere pictures of wine.
She has a pretend kitchen and pretend food.
At least her psychotic disorder isn’t “pretend.”
Um… as BSC as Idoloonies go, they don’t go to lengths of religious extremists. And I say this as a Muslim who totally despises the fundamentalists who kill and call it Jihad. BSCs of Idols give me the lulz, religious extremists make me rage. Political extremists make me question my line of work.
Oh dear. Well, it’s good to know Kris fans are also capable of being complete idiots too.
As a Kristard (heh) I’m totally facepalming right now. Thanks guys.
Thank you for this:
“The show’s over. A new season is starting. Get a grip.” –‘Nuff said.
*applause* What an inspirational post! All Kris, Adam, Allison fans unite!!!!!!!!!! (sorry Gokey! lol)