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'Idol' Judge Votes To Resume Singing
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Published: February 25, 2008
TAMPA - Paula Abdul says it's too early to pick a front-runner in "American Idol," but "the top 10 this season could be better than all the previous seasons combined."
The 45-year-old "Idol" judge held court last week with a telephone conference in which she discussed the current season of the Fox hit and her plans to return to recording and performing.
She says the "Idol" field is wide open, and for the first time in the show's history, she and her fellow judges can't even begin to predict who might take the prize.
"There are some definite standouts," she says. "You can't deny David Archuleta and Jason Castro's magic. And Michael Johns, and Alaina Whitaker and Ramiele Malubay and Syesha Mercado and Carly Smithson ... I would be crushed to lose any of them."
Malubay, who lives in Miramar, went to Zephyrhills High School. Mercado, who lives in Miami, is from Sarasota.
All of Abdul's favorites survived the cuts last week when four singers failed to get enough votes to stay on: Garrett Haley, 17, and Colton Berry, 18, were both eliminated from the male singer roster. Among the women, Amy Davis, 25, and Joanne Borgella, 25, sang their swan songs.
Abdul's music video for her new single, "Dance Like There's No Tomorrow" also debuted on "Idol" last week.
The former choreographer and Los Angeles Lakers cheerleader performs the song on a soundstage surrounded by dancers. She goes through several costume changes. Fellow judge Randy Jackson plays bass in the band. "Idol" host Ryan Seacrest and judge Simon Cowell have cameos at the end.
The track is from Jackson's upcoming release, "Randy Jackson's Music Club, Vol. 1," but Abdul says she's planning her own album, followed by a tour. This would be her first new album since "Head Over Heels" in 1995.
She says the first single from the album could be released as "American Idol" winds down its season in May.
"I am just in the beginning stages of it," Abdul says. "I am working right now with different producers - Oliver Leiber, who co-produced the vocals on 'Dance Like There's No Tomorrow.' He also wrote and produced 'Forever Your Girl,' 'Opposites Attract' and 'The Way That You Love Me.' We're looking forward to putting a single out by the end of May, beginning of June."
Being in the studio now "is more enjoyable," she says, thinking back to the stints recording 1988's "Forever Your Girl," 1991's "Spellbound" and "Head Over Heels."
Gone are the pressures of having to prove herself and top the previous album. She says this second chance at a musical career just "kind of crept up from behind."
She doesn't dance like she did in the 1980s. But after 14 surgical procedures, she says doctors had told her she might never dance again. Abdul says she suffers from pain from an injury she sustained in 1992 during an emergency plane landing.
She also says she is seriously talking about going on tour but will be "very particular" about how she will approach it.
"I want to approach touring really focused on being very different," she says.
She wants it to embrace all that she does. "I've been taking meetings and hearing different offers that are out there for me," she says.
"It's a very poignant and very special time for me," Abdul says. "It's been awhile since I've been out there doing that ... I knew that if I came back, it would be something special because I was pretty much told I would never dance again, so it's been a real triumphant time. ... I didn't realize how much I missed physically being out there."
She says that her previous experience as a performer gives her an insight that fellow judge Simon Cowell doesn't have and can't seem to understand because he has never been one.
She adds that the current crop of "Idol" contestants is more savvy than previous contestants.
"They grew up watching the show, and they understand that to be a well-rounded contestant, you're going to have to study different genres, different eras," she says.
Reporter Walt Belcher can be reached at (813) 259-7654 or wbelcher@ tampatrib.com.
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