There was a time when people thought that making it onto American Idol would provide
a hopeful singer with their big break.
While that may have been true for some of the people who've appeared on the show over
the years, the majority of American Idol contestants and winners never really hit the big time.
What happened to these American Idols once the cameras turned off and the voting ended?
Candice Glover
Season 12's Candice Glover tried out twice for American Idol before finally making it
onto the show.
Her powerful pipes wowed audiences at the time, but she's since struggled to maintain
her momentum.
Her debut album, Music Speaks, only sold 65,000 copies, and things haven't improved much since
its release.
Glover is still making music, however, releasing songs on SoundCloud and YouTube, which is
your best bet for hearing her these days, because her performances are few and far between.
Caleb Johnson
Singer Caleb Johnson's American Idol career was a rocky one.
He auditioned for the show in 2011 and 2012 but failed to make it into the final rounds.
The rocker finally established himself as a contender in 2014, and won the Season 13
title.
Johnson's success was short-lived, however.
Plagued by poor album sales, he parted ways with Interscope in 2015.
In an interview with Billboard, he blamed the label for a lack of support, saying,
"I want to find the right home and the right team of people that are going to get behind
my music and really do something.
What's the point of doing it if the [label] isn't going to do anything?"
After leaving Interscope, Johnson crowdfunded his EP, 'Born from Southern Ground', with
a second full album in the works.
Most recently, he performed in his native Asheville, North Carolina's BaconFest and
seems to be struggling to recapture the glory of his American Idol days.
Nick Fradiani
Season 14's Idol win came as a shock.
Nick Fradiani thought himself to be an "underdog," but despite his doubts, he beat Clark Beckham,
who was favored to win the competition.
His luck ended there, though, and Fradiani is still struggling to hit the big time.
Early in 2017, the singer left Big Machine Records after terrible album sales, telling
Billboard,
"It just wasn't the right fit.
I couldn't be more happy.
It needed to happen, and I was hoping for it."
These days, he's focused on recording his own songs and recently released an EP.
He told Digital Journal,
"I'm not obsessing over record sales anymore.
It's just getting the music to as many people, and hoping that the music turns them into
a fan."
David Cook
Season 7 of American Idol brought us the battle of the Davids.
Fans were shocked when David Cook beat the projected winner, 17-year-old David Archuleta.
Despite this stunning upset, Cook failed to achieve the level of fame that you'd think
such a victory would bring him.
Despite his first album after Idol reaching Platinum status, his follow-up albums sputtered.
The singer is still recording and touring, even a decade after his win, remaining humble
and hard-working.
He told the Del Mar Times,
"I believe in keeping your head down and doing your work for as well as you can, as hard
as you can, for as long as you can."
Phillip Phillips
Season 11 featured one of the biggest showdowns of all, as rivals Phillip Phillips and Jessica
Sanchez went head to head.
Phillips ultimately won the title after a record-breaking number of votes.
His coronation song "Home" went triple platinum and, for a time, it seemed that Phillips was
unstoppable.
At the height of his success, Phillips tried to get out of an "oppressive" contract with
his label, 19 Entertainment, who then counter-sued him for breach of contract.
He's not letting his legal battles keep him from making music, though.
He's still actively touring and recording, recently opening up for early-2000s mainstays
The Goo Goo Dolls, and hoping that his next album will make the Billboard charts.
Ruben Studdard
The 2003 rivalry between Ruben Studdard and Clay Aiken was one for the books.
Studdard managed to clinch the title by a margin of less than one percent.
Studdard's first album, "Soulful," debuted at number one and sold more than a million
copies in pre-orders alone.
Despite his early success, Studdard's fame didn't last.
After dwindling record sales, he was dropped from his label in 2007.
In 2013, the singer appeared as a contestant on The Biggest Loser, telling TODAY that it
was time for a major life change.
The stint on the show meant taking time away from music and forced him to cancel some performances,
but he remarked that it didn't bother him too much, saying,
"Being here for four months isn't going to kill my career.
If four months kills my career, then I don't have a career."
It turns out those may have been famous last words.
Even though his fourth album was timed to be released with the season finale of Loser,
it only sold 6,000 copies in the US.
Studdard has been struggling to remain in the limelight since.
Taylor Hicks
Since Taylor Hicks' Season 5 victory, the singer has been pretty successful — just
not always in the music industry.
The singer-turned-restaurateur hosts a food show called State Plate on the INSP cable
network.
While he's still touring intermittently, he hasn't released an album since 2009.
He's also got some strong opinions on the ABC reboot of American Idol.
In an interview with The Domenick Nati Show — after it was announced that his Season
5 rival Chris Daughtry would be on the panel — Hicks weighed in on who should be a judge,
"If anything, I think a winner should be.
Because, you know, what you go through to win the show is a lot different than what
you go through when you're third or fourth."
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