That, or the other good question--do you remember who Joanna Pacitti is?

Quick history lesson then: she made some ripples on the last season of American Idol, for being an obvious favorite and a shoo-in during the auditions.  She breezed towards Hollywood, and breezed towards the Top 36--that, despite Simon Cowell vowing that they will cut anyone who forgets the lyrics, which she did.
But her past soon caught up with her.  She had, after all, a previous (yet inactive) record deal, a fact that Kara DioGuardi quickly pointed out at the very beginning.  Cue debate on whether Idol should've let the ringer through in the first place, with discussion from disgruntled "where are the fresh talent?" fans to producers who thought nothing was wrong.  And then, just as the Top 36 was named, she was quietly removed from the list because she was found to have had a working relationship with two Idol producers in her past life.

Well, since then, her replacement didn't even make it to the Top 13, and Joanna vanished as we got distracted with Adam, Danny and Kris.

So what has she been up to?  Well, apart from showing up with her boyfriend, Dancing with the Stars' Mark Ballas--as the photo suggests--Joanna's still working on her music, as she admitted on a blog entry she posted on her MySpace page.  The first, she admits, in quite a while.

"I really can't believe it was this time last year that I was thinking about auditioning for this little show called American Idol," she wrote.  "All I wanted to do is sing and share my voice and music with the world."

"For some crazy reason I have been pretty unlucky in this business, but I truly believe that it's for a reason, and it's preparing me for something bigger," she added.  "But I can't help but be sad right now--Idol was an amazing experience for me ... I am thankful for the time that I was a part of the show but I truly wish I was there longer.  I think I deserved it."

"I get to write songs everyday about my experiences," she continued.  "I really couldn't ask for more!  I have never been in this business to be famous--I do it for you guys.  And if I can make a difference in your life and make you feel something, [then] I have done my job."

Now I've done that catching up, the all-too-important question: do you actually care?




- Henrik Batallones, BuddyTV Staff Columnist
Source: New York Post
(Image courtesy of WENN)