During Season 8 of Idol, finalists were challenged with a Michael Jackson theme week. Almost every finalist talked about the influence the King of Pop had in their dreams of being a recording artist. Michael Jackson has influenced many singers who have made their way to the Idol stage, as well as dozens in the industry.

Season 8 winner Kris Allen chose to sing Man in the Mirror, one of Jackson’s many, many hits. Here is a video featuring the audio of the February performance.

American Idol

Before her star began to rise on Idol, Carly previously had released a solo album with little major success. This new band, with veteran rockers, seems like the perfect fit for one of the most-noted female rockers to come from the Fox reality series.

“I’ve said many times about Evanescence that we caught lightning in a bottle … and I think we are doing it again,” bandmember John LeCompt told CNN.com. “Carly is a good fit for the band because more than anything she is a brilliant, brilliant vocalist who is very down to earth and a humble person. She wants to do something where everyone is involved rather than being a posturing diva.”

The band’s first single, Bury Me Alive, is being offered for free to the first 100,000 people who register at the official site.

But today, the American Idol runner-up has a new single, Want, from the upcoming CD release On With the Show. The album was recorded in 2007 and 2008, before Adam appeared on Idol. The entire disc will be released by Hi Fi Recordings/Wilshire Records, and the single is now available on iTunes.

Want sounds a bit more pop than the more rock edge Adam seemed to bring to Idol. Of course, I think the album will do well, as well as his RCA release, which is expected in the fall. Season 8 Idol winner Kris Allen also will release his debut this fall.

Fast-forward to now when, if you didn’t know better, you would still swear Adam Lambert won the show. As the two finalists, as well as the rest of the Top 10 finalists, prepare to kick off the summer Idol tour, Adam has been busy being in the spotlight. He is on the cover of the latest issue of Rolling Stone (following his solo appearance on Entertainment Weekly before the show even wrapped), and he was interviewed for 20/20 just last week.

Sure, a lot of this publicity for Adam — the “Wild Idol” as Rolling Stone sees it — has surrounded his sexuality. To nobody’s surprise, Adam is gay. He didn’t deny early rumors, but he chose to not talk about it until after the voting ended. Good, bad or indifferent, it certainly doesn’t seem to bother his devoted fans. No real shockers have come from this exposure.

The most shocking revelation, perhaps, is what Adam had to say about Kris in the pages of Rolling Stone. “They put me with the cute guy. Distracting! He’s the one guy I found attractive in the whole group on the show: nice, nonchalant, pretty and totally my type — except that he has a wife. I mean he’s open-minded and liberal, but he’s definitely 100% straight,” Adam said about Arkansas native and seemingly conservative Kris Allen.

Adam, just like Kris, already has started work on his debut album. The only difference is we know little, if anything, about what Kris has to say or where he plans to take his career post-tour. That’s because it seems nobody really cares about the guy they voted into the top position.

As always, only time will tell how high either Adam or Kris will rise on the charts. Until then, plan on seeing a lot more from Adam and maybe, if you’re lucky, a little bit from Kris.

But the reality TV giant already is out and about looking for a possible Season 9 champion. Auditions for next season begin June 14 in Boston. Other stops throughout the summer include Atlanta (June 18), Los Angeles (June 30), Orlando (July 9), Denver (July 14) and dates to be announced in Chicago and Dallas.

If you think you have what it takes to be the next Kris Allen or Carrie Underwood, go to the official American Idol site to find out more.

Adam Lambert

A native of New Iberia, Louisiana, Blake attended Louisiana State University. The 27-year-old is now working in interior designer and, no doubt, will be seeing flash bulbs from many photographers in the future.

While Adam has not confirmed or denied his sexuality, reports are out the Idol star will be coming out in the next issue of Rolling Stone. Either way, Adam certainly is going to be busy this summer as the Idol tour kicks off July 5 in Portland.

FunnyOrDie.com is known for parody videos featuring a huge crop of celebrities. One of the latest features American Idol alum Katharine McPhee promoting a paparazzi protector, Quween. It’s one of the funniest things I’ve seen in quite some time.

Parents, be warned. The video above features some strong language. Anyone at work, beware. You will be laughing when you watch this video. So make sure the boss isn’t around.

Kris Allen

The Billboard Hot 100 has Kris Allen’s No Boundaries in the No. 11 slot after it sold 134,000 downloads in this week after the Conway, Ark., native was crowned American Idol’s eighth winner. Kris also is at the No. 16 spot with Heartless, likely his most talked-about performance of the season.

Adam’s top Billboard spot is No. 19 with Mad World. Both singers take up several other spots as the list moves along.

It seems like a great start for Kris and No Boundaries, the victory song written by judge Kara DioGuardi. But it doesn’t come close to being as successful as Season 7 winner David Cook’s Billboard showing one year ago this week. The Time of My Life, David’s victory tune, debuted at No. 3 the week after he beat runner-up David Archuleta.

David also held court in more than twice as many slots on the Billboard charts than the five spots Kris holds this week. Of course, it’s not always the victory tunes that do so well for the winning artists. I wouldn’t be surprised if Heartless bypasses No Boundaries in the coming weeks.

Kris Allen

While AT&T has announced it had a few Arkansas employees helping fans power-vote for Kris, Fox Broadcasting and Idol producers say the Idol finalist with the most votes won the contest. And, even without the extra votes in Arkansas, Kris still would have been the winner.

“In no way did any individuals unfairly influence the outcome of the competition,” a statement released claimed. The release, representing Fox, FremantleMedia North America and 19 Entertainment, went on to say the results are verified by an outside, third-party agency.

“Fox and the producers of ‘American Idol’ are absolutely certain that the results of this competition are fair, accurate and verified. Kris Allen is, without a doubt, the American Idol,” the release continued.

“We have an independent third-party monitoring procedure in place to ensure the integrity of the voting process. In no way did any individuals unfairly influence the outcome of the competition.”

Adam Lambert fans began questioning the validity of the final vote count after the Arkansas Democrat Gazette, the major newspaper in Little Rock, Ark., unveiled the story about local AT&T representatives being at two parties in support of Kris. No similar representation was made available to Adam’s fans.

“Going forward, we will make sure our employees understand our sponsorship celebrates the competition, not individual contestants,” the company said. “That said, it’s quite a leap to suggest that a few individuals could have impacted the final results.”

Kris Allen

Now reports are surfacing that power voters at parties in the winner’s home state of Arkansas may have had a little assistance from one of Idol’s major sponsors, AT&T. According to The New York Times and other media outlets, AT&T provided phones for free text messaging at two parties in Arkansas during the final night of voting. The stories say AT&T had representatives on hand to show fans how to cast 10 votes with the touch of a single button, a power-voting tactic that violates show rules.

Fans of Adam are pointing to this unfair treatment, especially since no similar chance was given to fans at California support parties of the runner-up. FOX and Idol representatives have not yet commented on the allegations.

“In Arkansas, we were invited to attend the local watch parties organized by the community,” a representative for AT&T released for the NY Times story. “A few local employees brought a small number of demo phones with them and provided texting tutorials to those who were interested.”

As everyone already knows, it doesn’t require winning the competition to have a solid musical career. It’s all about exposure. Clay Aiken, Jennifer Hudson, Chris Daughtry and Constantine Maroulis are just a handful of examples.

Meanwhile, Kris and Adam are making the rounds to shows like Regis & Kelly, where both performed this week, as well as Ellen and several late-night shows.