Fantasia single released

It takes a while to produce a complete album. You have to search for the songs, then the arrangers, then listen to the artist giving them his own interpretation and then last but not least finding the right mix. This is doubly true when you have a very special talent who can make it to the top and certainly deserves the very best. In this case, the singer is Fantasia Barrino, the 19-year-old from North Carolina who won in the third season of the American Idol. It would really be best to take the time doing her first solo album. But on the other hand, a big demand for her songs already exists and any businessman, no matter how concerned with the artistic side of the music, will be dumb not to take advantage of having a sure big seller.

So here it is, a CD simply titled Fantasia, featuring the girl with the remarkable vocals televiewers everywhere, including Pinoys who watched but could not vote, strongly rooted for during the recent contest. There are three cuts and these are the songs that made her the winner. I Believe is the original composition by American Idol first season finalist Tamyra Gray. This was the song Fantasia and the other finalist Diana DeGarmo were both asked to perform during the finals in a sort of showdown. Chain of Fools, the classic favorite popularized by Aretha Franklin and which Fantasia did during another contest later in the series. Then there is Summertime, the immortal Gershwin song from the opera Porgy and Bess, which Fantasia performed to perfection during the Broadway Night and which has sort of become her signature song.

For more of Fantasia, you will have to wait for the complete album, which will hopefully come out before this year is over. Now if you want more of the other finalists, there is American Idol Season 3: The Great Soul Classics, where all of them including Filipinos Jasmine Trias and Camille Velasco do the Motown hits.

Still on singing idols. The talent show phenomenon has given rise to new, exciting talents from all over the world and it does seem natural that there will also be a contest where they choose the World Idol. There is an American Idol and a Canadian Idol, an Australian Idol and lots of other idols discovered in the TV franchise show that now rules the ratings. Now if the winners in these contests are pitted against one another then the winner will be the World Idol deemed the best among all the other idols. Too bad we do not have it here. Otherwise I am sure we will be fielding very strong contestants in the World Idol tilt.

And the winner of the first World Idol competition is former plumber Kurt Nilsen of Norway. Held last December in the UK, the contest had as finalists winners of the first Idol season in various countries. Aside from Nilsen, there were also his runners-up, Kelly Clarkson of the US ; Peter Evrard of Belgium, Heinz Winkler of South Africa, Will Young of the United Kingdom and Ryan Malcolm of Australia.

Despite his being the World Idol, there is not much that we know about Kurt and have not heard much about him hereabouts. Why, I even missed watching the World Idol contest when it aired some weeks ago on TV. All I know is what I read in a magazine a few months ago. It said the Nilsen has the voice of an angel and the looks of a Hobbit. This should give you a good idea of what he looks like. So I am sure we are now asking ourselves, what is so special about this guy that he won over other Idol champs like Kelly Clarkson or Will Young? I do not have the answer but here now is a chance to find out more about him.

Kurt’s voice is not only like an angel’s, he sounds like an angel who rocks. Find out for yourself in his debut album, I. She’s So High, which won him the Norwegian Idol title, is the best song in the album. Other cuts, which seem to be Norwegian originals in English, are Here She Comes, All You Have to Offer, Breathe You In, Last Day of Summer, Lost in Despair, Games We Play, another great track; She Me, The Wedding’s Off, Ordinary World, Smell the Roses and Beautiful Day.