Those of you who haven’t bleached the last season of American Idol from your brains yet may remember Josiah Leming, the weepy Conor Oberst-y contestant who lived in his car in the weeks leading up to his audition and who got cut from the top 24 in favor of that former boybander who wore a wig in an effort to be “rock.” Well, things worked out OK for Leming in the end: He got snapped up by Reprise, and his debut album for the label is scheduled to be out sometime early next year… at least, if the Idol producers don’t drag him through a contractual loophole that forces him to be turned down by 19 Entertainment before he can do anything else. Because apparently humiliating him once wasn’t enough! Oh, and did I mention that his mom is dying of cancer?
Josiah Leming, the American Idol cast-off also known as “that kid who lived in his car and who was good, but totally ill-fitting in the Idol context,” has reportedly signed a deal with Warner Bros. Records. More »
In the days following his booting from American Idol, Josiah Leming made $15,000 off his MySpace page’s Snocap store. And he was on Ellen today, too. More »
Even people who hadn’t read the spoilers knew that weepy car-living hopeful Josiah Leming wasn’t going to crack the American Idol top 24 as soon as the package leading up to the judges’ decision on him quoted him as expressing confidence about his chances. (Silly Josiah! Hubris is never rewarded on the show; just ask Antonella Barba.) Something tells me, though, that the fan of Britpop, DC Talk, and Mika is going to join the pantheon of People Who Didn’t Really Need Idol To Be OK; his MySpace page is racking up the comments (50 in the last hour alone!) and he’s the only person who appeared on last night’s Idol to crack the current Google Trends chart. After the jump, a YouTube embed of his track “Bad News Baby,” which YouTube commenters are comparing to Bright Eyes, Death Cab For Cutie, and, um, the Fray.
