After barely two nights, four hours of auditions (on screen at least) and two cities’ worth of good contestants, the world has made hot property out of Kara DioGuardi. Her appointment to the newly-made fourth judge seat on American Idol surprised people, and her first judging duties have impressed quite a lot of people—and earned her a lot of attention. (Imagine everyone asking me about who she is, repeatedly, during Tuesday’s premiere.) Suddenly, the songwriter and occasional singer is on everybody’s lips.
To be honest, we wouldn’t have cared for her if she didn’t come out on Idol—well, she isn’t really obscure, but she wouldn’t get to this level of fame. Suddenly people are asking her about everything, from her first experiences on the show—she still has to show off everything, after all—to her personal life. And, with what we’ve seen, yeah, we really have a lot to discuss.
Bikini Girl. Oh, yes, if anything was more memorable than the actual bikini get-up, or the way she kissed Ryan Seacrest (and forever changed my image of him) at the end of her segment, it’s the way the new Idol judge dealt with the contestant. You must’ve remembered Katrina Darrell, who appeared in a bikini and earned a storm of discussion from the judges for the way she did Mariah Carey’s song. A perfect opportunity, honestly, for Kara to demonstrate what she really has to offer—even if it meant her singing the song to show how it’s done.
“Of course, I want a pretty girl,” she later cleared on an interview on Ryan Seacrest‘s radio show. “But I’m not just looking for pretty, though. I’m looking for an incredible voice, great stage presence. I’m a big champion of women. I’m not the kind of woman who’s going to drag a woman down.”
As if to further press that she’s not against pretty girls, she clarified that “there were some really pretty girls coming up.” Fair enough. But, “we wouldn’t be talking about the bikini [she wore] if she killed the song,” she said.
Another effect of the spotlight: suddenly everybody is looking at you. Let’s face it—news of her engagement would’ve escaped the radar, if not for her participation on Idol. News of her engagement to her boyfriend, general contactor Mike McCuddy, got out shortly before the premiere, and she would (of course!) also talk about it—especially the unusual (of sorts) way he proposed to her.
“We were in Mexico on vacation and we were just in the room,” she told Access Hollywood. “I was in my pajamas … he [suddenly] said, ‘I have a question for you. Where are my shoes?’ I said, ‘I don’t know where your shoes are!’ [ He then said,] ‘Okay, well then, will you marry me?’ I said, ‘Okay.’ Very low-key.”
But if anything seems to be definite, it’s the size of the wedding. She may be famous all of a sudden, but it doesn’t mean the wedding would match the popularity. “It’s not just what I want, it’s what he wants, too,” she said. “I think he’s more of a low-key guy. I don’t know how he’ll feel about a big, big wedding.”
But perhaps the biggest question—and, somewhat inevitably, one that gets buried under all the controversial stuff—is the way she’s dealing with fame, and all of a sudden at that. “I really don’t know what’s going to happen in terms of, are people going to be interested in me, are they going to want to follow me around,” she said. “I think that it’s more important that I do great on this job and that I actually find America’s next best thing.”
-Henrik Batallones, BuddyTV Staff Columnist
Sources: Reality TV World, Access Hollywood
(Image courtesy of Getty Images)
Staff Writer, BuddyTV
