Quote:
Originally Posted by Pickled Pink
Building up a fan base when you're starting out is really HARD work...all those hours on the bus, traveling endlessly, smiling and signing autographs until you think your fingers will fall off...
If your heart isn't really in it, you won't want to do that for long. I don't think Kat ever wanted to be a SINGER exclusively and don't think she's dedicated enough to music alone to do what you need to do to succeed big time.
She wants to be a movie star, or act on Broadway I think.
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Kat doesn't have good
PR sense. I don't think she relates well to the "common man," or more importantly, TV audience viewers and record buyers from all financial backgrounds, regions, races, ages and genders.
I tend to agree with her camp's assessment that she got pathetic promotional backing -- she should have at least been given a spot on AI last year to sing. However, her CD came out too late and was seen as a disappointment by an already shrinking fan base, and I guess the label didn't want to throw more money at a problem they didn't feel they could fix.
I think her problems began with the AI tour.
Maybe it was just bad luck, but when Kat bowed out of a third of the AI Tour on account of bronchitis and laryngitis, I think she left too many of her fans wondering who she is, whether her heart was in it at all and whether she cared about them.
I remember reading articles about little girls breaking down and crying because they got to the concert sites and found out that Kat wouldn't be there. I think if Kat had attended even a few concerts, had come out on stage and waved, it would have been a lot better for her than skipping the concerts entirely.
There also was a credibility crisis for her when she was seen in a pool with her boyfriend about the time we learned that was sick.
I think all that turned a lot of people off.
I remember reading things like this, from MSNBC, when she was sitting out:
“At the souvenir stand there were three tees for sale,” Access Hollywood senior field producer Tara said. “A collage of all the finalists, a Katharine tee and a Taylor tee. In the 15 minutes that I waited in line, not one Katharine shirt was sold. Taylor and team idol tees were flying off the racks.”
Katharine McPhee still absent from Idol™ tour - Access Hollywood - MSNBC.com
I also think (correct me if I'm wrong) that her first public appearance before returning to the tour was a press conference announcing that she had signed a deal to promote some shampoo line. Not good timing.
Kat did well here in Charlotte when I saw her, bringing Kellie up on stage in honor of Kellie's homecoming concert. But the crowd was pretty tepid toward her compared to many of the others.
What we (and she) didn't know is that she had broken her foot earlier that night when she tripped backstage trying to see Kellie sing. If she hadn't already missed so much of the tour, I think we would have seen headlines screaming about what a trooper she was for going on the rest of the tour with a broken foot. But by that point, it was too late, and people still remember her more for missing concerts than toughing it out later.
A Billboard article on Kat mentions that before AI, her experience was limited to musical theater.
Kat must not have adapted well to the pressures of putting out a CD.
Once in album-making mode, she also struggled with putting her own stamp on material that had been submitted by veteran songwriters.
"The demos, it's so hard once you hear whoever is singing to get that out of your head, especially for me, being new to recording," she said.
So, the woman who was able to completely rework a classic like "Over the Rainbow" in a few days on AI, couldn't do the same for "Open Toes."
I think that's another sign her heart wasn't in this.
In the end, Kat picked songs that a lot of her fans didn't like and the CD came out at the worst time of year to debut an album.
I wish her luck in the movies. Maybe if she does well there, she can make another album, and do it right this time.