TVSquad

A couple of days ago, the purported list of the Top 24 contestants spilled across the Internet. Monday, I took you through the list of Top 12 Boys, so now we're going to look into the Top 12 Girls. And let me tell you, after researching these 24 (whether they're the accurate Top 24 or not is still up for debate), I can tell you that American Idol is definitely NOT about finding great undiscovered talent this year.

After the lackluster response to last year, they were determined to get better singers on the air, so it makes sense to look for people who've already had major record deals and have already been signed by major labels and stars, but whose big debuts just kind of fizzled. You know they've got talent because they were already signed once, they're just not signed now. So it's "Unsigned Talent" that's more important than "Undiscovered Talent." I just wish they'd be more honest about it on-screen instead of pretending these people just walked in off the farm.

[UPDATE - Now updated and with additional audition video! - j/h]

TOP 12 WOMEN

Joanne Borgella, 25, Hoboken, NJ

Borgella is a reality competition veteran, having won, in 2005, Mo'Nique's FAT Chance on the Oxygen Network. She has since appeared In Essence Magazine and been the covergirl for PLUS Size Magazine. Since the Idol machine has already taken the personality out of her MySpace page, all we have beyond her solid Idol audition is her audition tape for FAT Chance.

Kristy Lee Cook, 23, Selma, OR


Another one of our contestants who's hardly an undiscovered talent, Cook has already had a recording contract with Arista Nashville through an association with Britney Spears's Superstar Spears production company. Under the moniker Kristy Lee she released Devoted in 2005, and even produced an upscale video for the title track as her first single:


Amy Davis, 25, Cedar Lake, IN

Amy was a contestant on Nashville Star, though she only made it to the second round. Since that time she's established a respectable portfolio for a burgeoning modeling career. Isn't this tainting the talent pool a bit to have people like this? And I'm not just trying to pick on Amy here.

Honest to god struggling waitresses who've "never done anything like this before" have to face off against people who've already done shows like this or even recorded albums and videos and experienced the ins and outs of the industry already. I'm having a tough time getting a handle on how I feel about what they're doing this year. I know it bothers me more that none of these accomplishments have been mentioned on the show so far for any of the contestants with professional backgrounds.

Back to topic, Amy has a MySpace Music page and her own YouTube video page, but neither seem to have any music on them. Below is a cute clip that shows her playing with her dog. Think of it as some of that background personal crap we didn't get last season.

Amy's current venture is with 6th Element, a cover band from Cedar Lake, IN. Check out their MySpace Music page to hear Amy sing background vocals on "Waiting for the World to Change."


Asiah Epperson, Joplin, MO

Asiah's story is not only heartbreaking but she appears to be something special this year, a true novice to the music industry. If you think about it, this season of American Idol is similar to the upcoming season of Survivor where you have fresh-faced contestants facing off against veterans who've done it and failed to win before.

Alexandrea "Alex" Lushington, 16, Douglasville, GA (Atlanta Auditions)

She has been performing as "Miz Alex" Lushington since she was 7 years old. She's appeared on everything from Showtime at the Apollo to BET. She has her own MySpace Music page with several sample tracks available and has recorded two music videos. These seem to be independently produced, so she can still lay the claim to being "mostly" undiscovered.



Kady Malloy, 18, Katy, TX (Dallas Auditions)


She wowed us with her dead on Britney Spears impression and impressed the judges even more with her own voice. Kady from Katy released a self-titled album a little while ago, but almost all traces of it have vanished from the Internet. Luckily, IdolBlogLive.com managed to snatch five of the tracks and get them posted. She has a MySpace page but the Idol machine got to it, too. Where's Neo when you need him, The Matrix seems to be rewriting reality again.

Ramiele Malubay, 20, Miramar, FL (Miami Auditions)

The only other video I could find on Ramiele is from the local Fox affiliate when they were interviewing Idol hopefuls. Her MySpace page is gone, but her MySpace Music page lives on, for now. She is, however, mentioned frequently on various Filipino-American sites and has apparently amassed a following in her own ethnic group. I have a Filipino-American friend and I can tell you, at least as far as he was concerned, all Filipino-Americans consider one another almost like family. It's a surprisingly close knit group, and just being Filipino is enough to be "in." Hell, they have to rent out huge parks for reunions or parties and I think every Filipino in the region goes. Maybe he knows Ramiele. I'll have to ask him.

She also has her own MySpace video page, but again, like Amy Davis, there doesn't appear to be any videos of her singing on them. There are remnants of some YouTube videos out there, but the videos themselves have been removed. Anybody want to tell me why American Idol feels the need to erase the pasts of their contestants? So they can rewrite it as they see fit?

Syesha Mercado, 20, Sarasota, FL (Miami Auditions)

Syesha has an interesting back-story. Back in 2006, ABC hyped a singing competition show of their own called The One: Making a Music Star. It was the most lavish summer production they'd ever done ... and it was terrible. And nobody watched, in fact it set records for its lack of viewers. After two short weeks, ABC pulled the plug and immediately stopped production on the live show. A winner was never announced.

Syesha was one of those contestants, and since she didn't get voted off in the first two weeks, who knows how far she could have gone? I guess we're going to get to find out this year. She hasn't been sitting on her laurels, though. She's actually been pretty busy with commercial work, appearing in a wide variety of ads all of which can be seen on YouTube (I'm not going to link to them all because I don't think there's that many Syesha Mercados over there, so I think you'll be able to find her.

Her MySpace Music page, in fact, has a bunch of them right there. Don't get excited when you see the links for her singing, though, as the Idol machine got those already, too.

Amanda Overmyer, 23, Frankford, IN (Atlanta Auditions)

Amanda apparently sang in some bands in Indiana but there is nothing about her online. An actual honest to god undiscovered talent? Here she is trying to find a bassist in '06. If she's been trying to stay off the radar, I think she can expect that to end really quickly. Especially if there's more depth to that raw voice she displayed in Atlanta.

Carly Smithson, 24, San Diego, CA (San Diego Auditions)


Her presence on the show really started the whole controversy of what constitutes an appropriate contestant. Smithson must be her married name, because under the name Carly Hennessy, she is a majorly failed artist for MCA Records, who dropped $2.2 million dollars on her in two years only to see her career go nowhere. Idol failed to mention this at all, instead focusing on how she had tried out before and hadn't made it. Maybe what they were telling us was she had tried out being a major recording star and hadn't made it. That makes much more sense.

As part of the launch of her debut album, Ultimate High, a video was produced for the first single: "I'm Gonna Blow Your Mind." Honestly, it's not that great and if this was what they tried to use to sell her, I'm not surprised it didn't work. Sample other tracks at Amazon.com's album page.


Alaina Whitaker, 16, Tulsa, OK (Dallas Auditions)


The little girl who proudly wore the comparison to Carrie Underwood into her audition won a regional singing contest last year with her older sister, where they won the opportunity to record a 3-track CD. I don't know if they've done that yet, but if they are under contract for it, doesn't that make her ineligible?

I'm kidding. Alaina is what I consider a true contesetant. Someone who's had some success on her own but is looking to get her first big break with American Idol. You can check out her Idol-ized MySpace Page, where you can hear ... *gasp* ... the recording of her American Idol audition. Beyond that, there doesn't appaer to be much out there on her, yet.

Brooke White, 24, Hollywood, CA


Two years ago, Brooke released Songs from the Attic, her debut album, on a small independent label. The album did, however, manage to get availability at Amazon.com, CircuitCity.com and tons of other online retailers; though I don't know if it was able to penetrate into the stores themselves. She still maintains her MySpace Music page, which features samples of four of the songs from the album.

A video was produced for "Free," though again I don't know what, if any, kind of air play it may have seen. So it would seem Brooke is a borderline case of a failed musician. It doesn't appear she ever had a major record deal, but she has been playing the game for at least a few years.

Here's the video for "Free":


And a bonus video, featuring a live peformance of "Say Goodbye":


CONCLUSION
Honestly, at this point, I'm not sure what to think. So many of these contestants are seasoned professionals, albeit maybe not superstars, so it seems to taint the whole point of the show. Kind of like when Survivor started casting actors as contestants. The game remains the same but the recruiting process is tainted. Now, it is completely possible that all of these artists just happened to audition this year, just like everyone else. I am a bit suspect, though, due to just how many of these people they are and to how Idol has patently ignored all of these past accomplishments, so far. Maybe they'll address them in later episodes, but somehow I kind of doubt it. Do people at home really want to vote for someone who already had and already blew a multimillion dollar recording contract? I guess only time will tell.