Idol Update--Jennifer Hudson, Chris & Katharine; Plus Fantasia & Taylor Try to "Breakaway"

In the biggest non-surprise of the week, Clive Davis has signed Jennifer Hudson to Arista Records. Funny how nobody wanted her until she became a frontrunner for an Academy Award nomination…

Usually when an Idol winner releases their second CD, it’s an attempt to separate themselves from the show and “Breakaway” so to speak. Apparently Fantasia is following in those footsteps.

In an interview with VH1, Fantasia says her second CD, “Fantasia,” which drops December 12th, is “totally different” and that she didn’t have time to put her own input on the first one. Fantasia admits that her producers had a hard time at first with her vision, but she was persistent. “I feel like this album is my baby,” she says.

Part of the problem many people had with the first CD was the number of songs dealing with all of the things she went through in her life, but that’s not the case here. Aretha Franklin, Missy Elliott, Babyface and many others contributed to Fantasia’s vision of “urban rock.” The first single is “Hood Boy” featuring Big Boi. “Hood Boy” got special mention in this week’s “Entertainment Weekly” on the Must List. Fantasia will appear on “The Tonight Show” Wednesday (11:35 p.m., NBC)…

It looks like Taylor Hicks may not be waiting until that second CD to distance himself from “Idol.” In an interview with “Relix” magazine, Taylor admits that he doesn’t watch “Idol.” But more interestingly he says that he passed on another song before he was given “Do I Make You Proud.” He told the producer, “No way, you’re not going to make me sing this song. I’m out of here,” and he got up and walked out of the studio [I can’t help but wonder if the song was Katharine’s atrocious single, “My Destiny.” Surely there couldn’t have been another song worse than that one.].

There’s no doubt that Taylor’s CD is going to be a lot different than any other Idol winner’s. I’ve heard three of the songs and they all have an old soul kind of feel to them with lots of horns. “The Right Place” has a gospel quality to it, while “The Runaround” is a little over –brassy, but custom-made for Taylor’s dance moves. “Dream Myself Awake” is a good song that I would go with for his first single, but I’m betting on “Runaround.” You can hear them for yourself at http://www.taylorhicks.com/. Taylor is scheduled to appear on “Christmas at Rockefeller Center” Wednesday at 8 p.m. on NBC and Friday night on “The Tonight Show” (11:35 p.m., NBC)…

“Idol” is well-represented in the nominees for the VH1 “Big in ‘06” Awards. Chris Daughtry is up for Big Reality Star and Katherine McPhee is nominated for Big “It” Girl. You can still vote at www.big.vh1.com/index.html. I only ask that you vote for Kiefer Sutherland for Big TV Star while you’re there. The “Big in ’06 Awards” air Sunday, December 3rd at 9 p.m. on VH1…

Speaking of Chris and Katharine, they will both be presenters at the Billboard Music Awards December 4th at 8 p.m. on FOX…

I’ll post Chris’s CD sales as soon as I get them tomorrow…