Within minutes of the conclusion of the final results episode, a writer from the Associated Press’s Los Angeles bureau posted the following story. By that time, the news had already been posted on scores of blogs, the exact number of which unfortunately cannot be obtained. Some form of the Associated Press story appeared in well over 200 daily newspapers around the world the following day. The story was also repurposed and distributed through thousands of websites throughout the world within a matter of minutes. It’s difficult to assess how many people may have been exposed to the news, but media experts estimate the number is somewhere between 175 and 250 million.
Noa Kalakaua edged out Melinda Doolittle to become the second consecutive male American Idol winner. Kalakaua received 51.3% of the 74 million votes cast during the voting period on May 22. Doolittle, a 29-year-old from Brentwood, TN, finished second with 48.7% of the votes. Kalakaua’s win over Doolittle marked the smallest margin of victory in the show’s six-year history.
Kalakaua is a 34-year-old economics professor at the University of Chicago’s Graduate School of Business, where his research focuses on irrationality in economic decisions, particularly in government and public service.
Kalakaua, unlike most American Idol contestants, was not attempting to make a career in the music business when chosen for the show. It’s unclear how, if at all, he will balance life as an academic and his new life as a pop star.
Melinda Doolittle, the runner-up, won’t have the same problem. Doolittle, a career back-up singer who lives just outside Nashville, TN, will likely be able to use her strong finish to land a record deal.
Many other Idol veterans who failed to win the show have gone on to have successful careers in music. Most notable may be Jennifer Hudson, who was eliminated early in Idol’s third season but went on to co-star in the film adaptation of the Broadway musical Dreamgirls, a role for which she won an Academy Award.
Kalakaua doesn’t have the professional music pedigree of Doolittle. He grew up on the Hawaiian island of Lanai, located just west of Maui, where he sang in the choir at Sacred Hearts Catholic Church and learned to play a handful of Hawaiian instruments.
As an undergraduate at the University of Chicago, Kalakaua was part of a small garage band, but he left music behind when he entered the economics PhD program at the school.
The future, though, is indisputably bright for both Kalakaua and Doolittle. American Idol has proved over the last five seasons to be very good at identifying viable musical talent. Four of the five albums made by American Idol winners have sold more than 2 million copies.
Second place finishers have fared well, too. Clay Aiken, the season 2 runner-up, sold nearly 2.8 million copies of his debut album and sold another 1.4 million copies of his “Merry Christmas with Love” album.
Kalakaua, like all Idol winners, wins a $1 million deal with Sony/BMG music. American Idol maintains a relationship with Sony/BMG that allows the show to collect a share of the revenues generated by the album sales of the show’s stars. Kalakaua will also be managed by 19 Management, a talent management company affiliated with Fox and the show.
