American Idol's Secret Weapon: Marc Anthony
Naima Adedapo
Record-company executive Jimmy Iovine may be getting the lion's share of the credit for working with American Idol's Season 10 contestants. But the singers revealed after the show Wednesday nigh there is another music-industry heavyweight who's been coaching behind the scenes: Jennifer Lopez's husband, Marc Anthony.
"A lot of the struggle that had been going on in prior performances was that we hadn't adjusted to the 'In Ears,'" says Naima Adedapo, referring to the custom-made earpieces that singers often use to balance out sound levels when they're singing with a live band on a big stage. Most of the contestants performed with the earpieces for the first time last week during their second performance.
"We couldn't really hear ourselves," says Adedapo. "We were having 'pitchy' problems. But Marc Anthony took the time to sit with us one on one and say, 'Okay, how does it sound, how does it feel?' It added so much."
Part of the adjustment is that a singer can wear one earpiece, two — or none at all. "You can have two but I chose one because I still like to have that live vibe," says Haley Reinhart. "A lot of us have taken out our 'In Ears' because we're like, 'We'll just go the natural route because we're not used to them.'"
But, says Casey Abrams, Anthony's coaching made a big difference. "Tonight was my first try with 'In Ears' and Marc Anthony really helped us out."
Says Reinhart, "Getting this feedback and lessons from Marc? It was awesome."
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