Kristi of The Blaker Girls got to spend some much deserved time with Blake this week, and today posted a myspace bulletin about finally getting to hang out with him again. Below is an excerpt:
as you know, the AI tour just wrapped up last week. so where does that leave our favorite idol? blake is back in good ol’ rainy seattle and very happy. for the next few weeks he’ll be finishing up his album. he’s already got a TON of amazing songs and is very excited to share them with all of you. he’ll be working in seattle and LA over the next few weeks while he finishes up.
blake and i had a chance to hang out earlier this week when we ran errands together at alderwood mall and grabbed lunch at claim jumper (he had the tri tip sandwhich with shoestring fries, for those of you who were wondering!). it was great to just catch up and see him! it’s been MONTHS since just the two of us had hung out. he gave me the latest on his albums and also said what a great time he had on tour and how much he enjoyed meeting all of you!
a lot is up in the air for right now, but you know as soon as i hear it from him, i’ll pass it onto all of you. hope you’re all doing well and getting ready for blake’s album, A.D.D. (Audio Day Dream) to come out on NOVEMBER 27th.
I’m so glad she got to spend some time with him. :) He sounds like he’s very happy to be home.
B’s obviously happy to be home where there’s a lot of green, water, and fresh air! Of course it sounds like he’s going to be buzzing down to L.A. quite a bit to finish up on the CD. I’ve never followed an artist this closely before. Do they do a lot of PR to promote the album before it comes out? I sure hope so.
I’m definitely glad that Blake and Kristi got to spend some time together, FINALLY! I’m sure there was tons for the two of them to catch up on. It really sucks that she got laid off from her job, tho…perhaps Blake’s management should hire her to be his PR person! :-D
LD, yes, usually. They’ll typically be on the usual morning shows (GMA, Today Show, The Early Show, Live with Regis and Kelly), late shows (Jimmy Kimmel, Leno, Letterman?), afternoon talk shows (The View, Ellen, Martha Stewart maybe), etc. Sing the National Anthem at football or baseball games. Maybe have commercials on tv advertising it (Daughtry had a Target one last year). I think Katharine had a lot of online promo too - myspace and yahoo are homepages where I remember seeing her album advertised.
Then, sometimes the PR will continue after the album is released. Last year, Daughtry’s single was used for a few days in a promo clip for the Prison Break spring premiere. Another song was used for NFL playoff games. Now, his current single is being used as the “theme song” kind of for SEC and ACC football games - a video airs before the games start and the announcers talk about the album and the band, etc.
And, of course, having a single and video out before the album drops is a GREAT way to build interest in the album. Neither Daughtry or Taylor had that last year. In Daughtry’s case, it didn’t really matter because once the single dropped, it became totally ubiquitous, but in Taylor’s it seemed like a bit of mismanagement on their part.
Let me see if I can find a promo schedule from last year. Sorry all my examples are Daughtry. He was my fave last year, so he’s the one whose promo I paid attention to. :)
I hope Blake gets to do AOL Sessions! I think both Chris and Katharine did that. And, I can’t wait for him to go on Ellen! She was pretty supportive of him on her show last spring, if I remember correctly. And I’m sure The View will have him on again since Elisabeth is a Blaker Girl. :)
I said it before but I’ll say it again - it’s nice to see a message from Kristi!
Yeah star, they did both do AOL sessions. And Taylor and Elliott both had videos on rehearsals.com. I’m not sure if they did AOL sessions or not. I know Daughtry also had a big AOL First Listen profile, once the single was decided - they had the full INO, and clips of “Home”, “Over You”, and “Used To”. And then, of course, all the albums were available for preview through VH1 about a week before their releases.
Oh! And parades! Thanksgiving, Christmas, Bowl day parades (Kat was in the Rose Bowl parade, I think), etc. And last year, Taylor performed at halftime of the Orange Bowl too.
So there are a LOT of opportunities. It’s just which ones the management decides on. I have no doubt that Blake’s management will get some good appearances for him.
Sarah,
Where Taylor made his big mistake was firing the management he had and going with the Firm. He really should have stuck with his previous management but the CD isn’t radio friendly either.
It is nice to hear from Kristi again. I just hate it about her losing her job. I hope she can find something really soon!
No, I don’t think Taylor made a mistake in going with another management company. And from what I understand about the situation, he did not fire them. They gave him the option to go with another firm and he did. If anything, it was a good thing. 19M already had the two artists on their roster they wanted - Chris and Kellie.
Plus, the label is as much, if not more, responsible for pushing the album as the management is, and his label really dropped the ball. I’ve heard some things about why, but that still is not an excuse for the lack of promo he got after the obligatory first two weeks push.
Kat was in the Rose Bowl parade, but it seemed that there was a problem with the audio while she was sining. You could barely hear her and I think that was really unfortunate. I would love to see Blake on the Rose Bowl parade on one of those beautiful floats.
I have to be honest and and say that I really really want to see him on Leno again!
I loved to hear from Kristi!
She is so nice and I am very glad she got to spend some time with Blake and catch up after a long AI tour.
I can’t believe she was laid off, you guys are right! She would be an excellent PR spokeperson for Blake. Look what a great job she did with the Blaker girls!
Anyways, I am sure Simon Fuller (at least I hope so) will do an excellent promotion for Blake. Blake is with 19 and I think Daughtry and Kellie have been promoted very very well. I also think Blake is pretty marketable which will help him a lot.So I am looking forward to all those TV shows with Blake.
It would sure help too to have the single and video out too before the release of the album but at least we know the single will be going for adds Oct 31st. That’s almost a month before the CD drops. I bet they will plan the video too after that. Can’t wait!
This news was posted on HDD (Hits Daily Double) earlier in the week:
I don’t really know a lot about Roger, but I have a friend that knows of him from her Clay fandom. She thinks he’s GREAT and is really ecstatic about this news. He must be good to be put in charge of publicity for all things 19E. Let’s hope he’ll be able to do some awesome things for Blake!
In addition to the things mentioned, I would expect either Blake or Jordin to show up at the Macy’s Parade, Christmas in Rockefeller Center (for the tree lighting) and possibly Disney’s Very Merry Christmas Parade. Last year the runners up taped an appearance in Disney World, but considering how easily Jordin slips into a Disney-esque marketing approach, maybe it’ll be her instead. I guess Taylor didn’t exactly fit that mold last year. lol
Wow! Thanks for all the info. I’m looking forward to seeing B in all the press. If he performs at sports functions I guess I’ll even have to start watching sports (something I don’t currently do)! It was great to hear from Kristi. She’s one smart cookie. I’m sure she won’t have trouble finding a new job and I bet B. helps her out. He treats all his friends well.
i think Blake is VERY happy 2 be home! Check out the Latset
Ethans Adventures if u havent already!
http://youtube.com/watch?v=A3xeiBJwz94
Great to hear from Kristi again.
Danni,
I just checked out the Ethan adventures. So funny. Blake just made me laugh. I am glad Blake has some time to spend with his friends after a long trip.
Blake is CRAZY when hes with his friends! lol
For some reason I can’t find her post on their Myspace and I am subscribed. It’s nice to read an excerpt from it at least. I bet Blake is relieved to to get a break from the constant fans wanting a piece of him now that the concert tour is over.
I thought Taylor got more than enough publicity last season. He was on everything for quite a while and even on the cover of People. Chris didn’t get nearly as much until his single caught fire. I think the mistake they made with Taylor was not releasing a single and video for so long. I’m not sure it would have made much of a difference since his single didn’t seem that radio friendly. I think there was some question about which single to put out and they didn’t chose the one he did on all of his appearance which confused me (and I’m not even a fan, lol). I think Blake will be different in that his music stands a good chance of being popular/radio friendly.
Definitely agree. He is also much more marketable. So I am hoping for the best! Good news so far is that they are going to release the single almost a month before the album drops. I am sure Blake will be doing a music video too. Can’t wait!
bean, she posted it as a bulletin, not a blog. Only myspace members can see bulletins.
Aww, she got laid off? That sucks, I wish her the best!
Im so glad Blake’s home and is able to chilax. Maybe because he is stress free and in his comfort zone, I wonder is some awesome songs will be created there (well they well all be great)..
Who wouldn’t love to go run errands with Blake!? lol. (I love shoestring fries too.)
Blake has certainly had one big rollercoaster ride for the past nine months! Now the Idol thing is over and its Blake Lewis time! I’m so excited for him that he gets to play his own music for the world now. He’s gotta be bursting.
Got a question….Is Blake the first Idol contestant to have pre-Idol music and/or videos available to listen to and/or see so early in the Idol competition? I mean back in March YouTube was filled with pre-Idol Blake performances and comic videos. I think that helped him in that we got to see the real Blake from the get-go rather than wonder what his real musical style would be. Many Idol fans apparently wished they’d gotten to know all the contestants better this past season, but I feel I got to learn more about Blake than any other contestant ever!
Speaking of Kristi– has anybody heard exactly how much fan mail was waiting for Blake when he got home? She said she would just hang on to it, or bring it over to the house for when he came home.(SO good of her, to do that for us) I am rather curious, how many people took advantage of being able to send him stuff, even if it was just a note saying “ILY!!”
Not that I did that, or anything. *whistles to self*
Bully I was wondering the same thing:)
*imagines a hand-written Thank you note, telling Bully “ILY too!”*
heh. Ssssh, I’m dreaming! :-D
Bully, I have the same dream.