As viewers received a look back at the American Idol journey taken by the first four semifinalists eliminated during Thursday night's broadcast, they heard a familiar voice. That's because Idol producers have chosen "Home" -- a ballad from former Idol 5 finalist Chris Daughtry's self-titled debut album -- to serve as background music for season six eliminations.
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The 27-year-old North Carolina native fronts the band that bears his name last name, which last July signed with "official Idol record label" 19 Recordings/RCA Records, who released the band's debut album in November 2006. It went platinum on December 21, selling more than one million copies in a month before finally reaching No. 1 on the Billboard Top 200 album sales chart on January 23.
However Ian Pirie, head of 19 Entertainment's U.S. division, said the song's selection had nothing to do with Daughtry being on Idol's label. Pirie said he met with Idol executive producer Nigel Lythgoe in October, and the two listened to tracks from Daughtry's upcoming album.
"I brought a rough version of 'Home' and played it for Nigel," Pirie told Daily Variety. "He called up [Idol creator] Simon Fuller right away, and they both agreed right away that the song had the sentiment to be the perfect Idol exit song. It seemed to fit perfectly." Pirie added that Daughtry wrote the lyrics to "Home" before he was even an Idol 5 hopeful.
Accordin to Variety, whether "Home" will be released as a single has not yet been decided, however based on last season, it would probably be a good decision to do just that given Daniel Powter's "Bad Day," the single that served as the Idol 5 exit song ended up selling millions of downloads and spending most of the spring and summer topping different musical charts. But Idol didn't reap any benefits from "Bad Day," as Powter was signed to Warner Bros.
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Somewhat ironically, Daughtry is familiar with "Bad Day" -- he performed a parody of it with comedian Jimmy Fallon during last summer's MTV Movie Awards ceremony.
About The Author: Christopher Rocchio