American Idol Castoff Blames Carrie Underwood for Her Career Failures

I haven't watched American Idol since the first season because, well, it's a really boring show and I could do more mentally stimulating activities with my time (like humming or blowing bubbles), so I have no idea who this Kristy Lee Cook character is, but apparently instead of blaming herself for her career not taking off she's blaming Carrie Underwood. Not directly, mind you, but she sure does come off as a little whiner. The Boot reports:

Kristy Lee Cook is speaking out against her former record label, Arista Nashville. The 'American Idol' alum says record execs spent too much time and money on another country 'Idol.'
"(Arista) released me again. It's because I was on the same label as Carrie Underwood," Cook tells the Grants Pass Daily Courier. "We're kind of glad that we got released because we weren't getting the attention we need."
Cook first signed with Arista at age 17 but was dropped before any music was released. She was re-signed to the label shortly after placing seventh on Season 7 of 'Idol,' and quickly released her debut album, 'Why Wait.'
"They promoted it a little bit," Cook says of Arista's attention to the album. "They spent so much more money on Carrie."

Sometimes it's better to just keep your mouth shut then to speak up and embarrass yourself - a lesson that Kristy Lee Cook has yet to learn. She actually seems shocked that a record label would spend more money on Carrie Underwood than her; could it possibly be the result of Underwood winning American Idol and instantly being recognized by millions of people instead of coming in seventh a few years later? My God, what an absolute shocker.

Anyway, shifting the focus away from someone who we'll probably never hear about again, here's Carrie Underwood looking good and leggy at the 35th Annual People's Choice Awards...

Posted 3 years, 4 months ago

jlm

This story is old news and has already been proven to be false. First off she's not blaming Carrie Underwood or anyone for anything. She's blaming the fact that she was on the same label as Carrie Underwood. In other words she's blaming something, not someone. Can you read? BIG DIFFERENCE. Why don't you go read the comments at the Boot site before you start putting out false information. BTW, the original story is about her Horse Heaven Foundation and the headline reads "Idol star Cook giving horses helping hand", and someone paraphrased the story and changed the headline to make Kristy sound like she was blaming Carrie. Other than that, I'm done with this non-story. It's over a week old!

Jay Tierney

Never said she wasn't blaming the label, see the part above where it says, "she's blaming Carrie Underwood. Not directly, mind you"? In other words, she's blaming Underwood indirectly, via the label.

I still love it how you take liberties from an originally positive story about Kristy and her foundation work, and try to twist it into a negative story about her blaming Carrie Underwood by using some article that paraphrased the original one. If you actually did the interview, I would take it more seriously. :)

mickey

Even though the original story didn't focus on this...she obviously said it. Sometimes one stupid statement can overshadow the whole interview. Take LiLo's "colored" comment in her interview a few weeks ago...i bet no one can actually tell you what that interview was about, but everyone heard about that one statement - didn't they? Kristy really should think before she opens her mouth and says anything like that...she didn't name anyone or blame carrie/label specifically, but it's not too difficult to read into it to see what she was saying. By saying they spent more money on carrie and she wasn't getting the attention she needed, she's pretty much blaming both of them. Does she actually think she deserves the same attention/money/publicity as Carrie Underwood? That girl has won almost every award out there...she's worked her butt off and she deserves everything she's gotten and more. I think Kristy expected things to be handed to her because people thought she was "the next carrie." I definitely agree with Jay...nice job, well written. Just enough sarcasm for my taste too! :)

Also...artists trying to make it big in country music right now should learn something...the fast track to killing your country music career can be accomplished by speaking out against any of the popular artists now (taylor, kellie, carrie, etc...) Heard anything from Jessica Simpson lately? Thought not...

What exactly did Kristy say that is so bad? She's not speaking out against Carrie Underwood, that's for sure. She never blamed Carrie for anything...not even indirectly. Yes, she blamed her label for not giving her the attention she needed, and the fact that she was on the same label as Carrie Underwood. That doesn't mean she's blaming Carrie Underwood for it. If anything, she's blaming the situation she was caught in, and her label for not promoting her enough. I'm tired of everyone acting like they KNOW the story, when they can't even read it correctly, and make their own headlines up that are completely misleading. It's called yellow journalism. BTW, after reading comments of this story on the Boot, I have lost a lot of respect for some of Carrie Underwood's fans...not the most mature or brightest people in the world I have encountered, I must say.

Rick D

jlm - Are you Kristy's father or manager or somehow related? You sure seem to be taking this personally.

Nope Rick D. Just a fan. Judging by the comments at some sites, and the poor reporting at the blog sites, I guess the Carrie fans seem to be taking this personally too, huh. I guess bringing up Carrie's name in a conversation is off limits. Even if the comments aren't directed at Carrie. Kristy does have fans too, you know.

Shayna

I'm confused as to how someone can write that we don't know the WHOLE story, yet they are not related to Kristy or anything at all.....so how exactly do they know the whole story themselves either? hmm.... Anyways, I am a Carrie fan myself, and obviously if you point fingers and blame the label for promoting Carrie more, you're indirectly blaming Carrie as well, I don't care how much you try to sugarcoat it. I like kristy too I won't say I don't, but I lost respect for her because its not everyone elses fault that she got dropped. Grow up and take it..and move on. Carrie's huge and can sing! I doubt the whole they promote her more or whatever, but if they did, who can blame them?

PMK

Can't we all just agree that Carrie Underwood has great legs and leave it at that? Oh, sorry, what was everyone talking about again?

Shayna, I'm sorry you feel that way. But I can guarantee you I am just a fan as well, and I don't know Kristy personally. I'm not saying I do know the whole story. I'm just tired of people taking a story, slapping a new headline on it, paraphrasing it, and then playing judge and jury on what a bad person Kristy must be when they didn't even write the original story or do the interview. Reread Kristy's comments, and tell me honestly how Kristy is blaming Carrie for anything as the headline states. Honestly, I'm tired of today's pop-culture society that has to sensationalize any bad publicity they can weed out of an otherwise positive story. Oh, and PMK, sure, why not. :)

The truth is, the more sensational angle on this story will help Kristy's career more than hurt it. Any news is good news.