American Idol Fan

You would never know when you saw cute, perky Kellie Pickler perform that she was fighting a battle with depression.  Kellie tells People that last year, while her professional life was going great, she felt her personal life was crumbling.  Kellie says she spent last year struggling with depression and having reactions to anti-depressants she was taking for her depression.

Pickler said she was depressed due to family issues and the end of her relationship to boyfriend, Jordin Tootoo.  Pickler reported that the anti-depressants weren’t a help because they made her feel crazy. 

Kellie is strong and she had her friends Carrie Underwood, Taylor Swift and her new boyfriend to help lift her spirits and break her free from depression. 

Kellie Pickler has grown as a woman and as a country artist over the past few years since American Idol.  Kellie’s debut album, Small Town Girl, did rather well with three hits and becoming a gold album, but it wasn’t really her.  Small Town Girl was put together in a hurry after her stint on American Idol and she didn’t have much input on the direction of the album because she was busy on the Idol’s tour. 

Kellie has stated that if it were up to her, there are songs on her debut album that she never would have done.  But now the story is different with her self-titled sophomore album.  Pickler picked the producer, thes songs, the cover art and co-wrote half the album tracks.  The album, which has just been released, will introduce country fans to the real Kellie Pickler. 

Best of luck on your new album, Kellie! 

Kristy Lee Cook’s new album has hit the Billboard charts.  In its first week being released, Kristy Lee sold 10,000 copies of her Why Wait album.  The album debuted at #8 on the Top Country Albums and at #49 on the Billboard 200.

How does Kristy Lee’s record sales compare to those of other Idol contestants from previous seasons?  Kellie Pickler sold 79,000 copies the first week of her Small Town Girl album and debuted at #9 on the Billboard 200.  Bucky Covington sold 61,000 albums the first week with his album and debuted at #4 on the Billboard 200.  Phil Stacey sold 13,000 copies in the first week with his album and debuted at #43 on the Billboard 200.

Is Kristy Lee going to make it this time around?

The perky and cute Kellie Pickler has been chosen to team up with Ryan Seacrest on New Year’s Rockin’ Eve this December 31st.  Ryan Seacrest amazes me with how much he is involved in.  He is a super busy guy and while I like Kellie Pickler and think she’s a lot of fun, I’m surprised that Ryan Seacrest would choose her to co-host Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve.

This New Year’s Eve Ryan will be hanging out with Kellie Pickler on Times Square as millions of fans watch from home and the extremely large crowd that gathers at the event live in New York. 

American Idol has done a lot for country music!  Both Carrie Underwood and Kellie Pickler have been nominated for awards in the upcoming 42nd Country Music Association Awards. You will be able to watch the CMA Awards on November 12th on the ABC network at 8:00 p.m. Eastern/7:00 p.m. Central.

Both ladies have been very successful in their country music singing careers, especially Carrie Underwood.  This year nominations for each are:

Carrie Underwood…

• Female Vocalist of the Year
• Album of the Year (Carnival Ride)

Kellie Pickler…

• New Artist of the Year

These former American Idol contestants are up against other great country music singers like Martina McBride, Taylor Swift, Alison Krauss, Miranda Lambert, Jason Aldean, Rodney Adkins, Lady Antebellum and James Otto.

Kellie Pickler has had a great country music career since she was voted off of Idol on Season 5.  I loved to watch Kellie perform on the show and enjoyed her natural, funny, quirky attitude.  While Kellie definitely doesn’t need help with her singing, she admits to OK! Magazine that she has to have her hair and makeup people.  Some people may think it’s a “diva” attitude that she won’t do her hair and makeup on her own but that’s not the case.  Kellie says she needs the reinforcements because she is unable to do it on her own. 

Kellie tells OK! Magazine:

“Well, I have a team of highly-trained professionals that get me ready because I can’t do it on my own,” she tells OK!. “When I’m out on tour, I usually just do it myself but for TV and photo shoots I usually have people that help get me ready because it’s so stressful anyways.”

Kellie is just a simple country girl and she would much rather prefer to have the natural look. She admits that she only wears makeup when she has to. She does have one addiction with makeup, however, and that is mascara. She jokes with OK! and says that she has “40,000 mascaras”.

To read more of Kellie’s interview and to see her OK! Magazine photo shoot, click HERE.