‘Idol’ isn’t resting on her laurels

Are you burning out on “American Idol”?

Even the winner of the TV talent competition’s third season wouldn’t be surprised if a lot of people started to lose interest in the show.

“They might be,” says Fantasia Barrino, who took the honor in May with her quirky, forthright personality, scratchy voice and killer version of the Gershwin classic “Summertime.” “You know how people are. It’s a TV show. ‘Idol’ was a great way to give a young person an opportunity to do what it is they are going to do. I don’t know how much longer it will last.”

The track record is pretty strong. First-season victor Kelly Clarkson’s “Thankful” album has sold 2 million copies, and sophomore champ Ruben Studdard has done 1.7 million with his debut, “Soulful.” Year two runner-up Clay Aiken actually has the best seller of the bunch, with his “Measure of a Man” at 2.6 million. But with those three already out there at that level, the impact of the “Idol” brand may be diluted. The novelty is gone, at the very least.

So with that in mind, Clive Davis, the chief executive of BMG North America, is clear on the best way to get Barrino -- now billed simply as Fantasia -- to live up to the expectations surrounding an “American Idol” winner:

Get people to forget that she’s an “American Idol” winner.

It’s what the veteran executive is doing as he oversees the production of her debut album, due in stores from his J Records label in late November.

“You have to put blinders on and forget she comes from ‘American Idol,’ ” says Davis. “You have to do that in making the album. There’s automatic skepticism when you win a television contest, understandably. So all you can do is say, ‘Forget where they come from.’ ”

Davis says history shows that “American Idol” itself guarantees only a certain number of album sales.

“With the visibility and the fans, you can count on about a half a million sales coming out of ‘American Idol,’ ” he says, citing typical numbers for various compilations featuring show finalists. “But that’s not our target. Of course, we want the show’s fans to be happy. But when you reach for 2 million or, in the case of Clay’s album, nearly 3 million, you have to go beyond that.”

The making of the album is about to kick into high gear with Barrino just now finishing her duties on a concert tour showcasing the recent season’s top performers, but she and Davis say work is about half-completed. She has already recorded core songs with such top figures as Missy Elliott, Jermaine Dupri and hot writing-production team the Underdogs.

“For Fantasia, I’m approaching her as if I’d seen her at an audition,” says Davis, who as a guest judge on “Idol” said he would have signed her if he had seen her perform in a Kansas City basement. “In showcasing her for a Missy Elliott or the Underdogs or other people working with her, we’re not referencing ‘Idol’ but her roots and the excitement of a new talent.”

Which isn’t to say they will not take advantage of her “Idol” exposure. They’re certainly not turning their backs on TV in promotional plans. She’ll be featured on the Macy’s Thanksgiving parade and in November will film a guest spot on the “American Dreams” series on which she will play one of her own idols, Aretha Franklin.

Mostly, though, Barrino believes the best way to separate herself from the previous winners is to tell her story (she’s a young, single mother who has struggled in life) and just be herself. She’s worked with the songwriters and producers to make sure the songs on the album come from her own experiences.

“All of the Idols, Kelly, Ruben and Clay too, are great people,” she says. “But I see myself as being a lot different from them. We went through struggles, but we got by. I’ve heard people say the show is corny, karaoke. But I want to push past that -- ‘Fantasia Barrino, she’s been through some things.’ ”

Potent matchup in a mash-up

Underground phenomena are cool because they’re, well, underground. The coolness doesn’t always hold up when they come above ground. But Linkin Park’s Mike Shinoda doesn’t think that will be a problem with a collaboration between the group and rapper Jay-Z that aims to elevate the mash-up concept to new heights.

Mash-ups are combinations of two very different songs, mixed to sometimes comic and other times artistically startling effect. Passed around on the Internet or as bootlegs, such mash-ups as “Stroke of Genius” (Christina Aguilera’s “Genie in a Bottle” mated with the Strokes’ “Last Night”) and DJ Danger Mouse’s “The Grey Album” (combining songs from the Beatles’ White Album with tracks from Jay-Z’s “The Black Album”) became hot items.

The Linkin Park/Jay-Z collaboration, though, is official. The teaming has been shot as a concert event for a new MTV series, and studio sessions are being put together for a CD.

“I actually think the mash-up thing has been done to death,” says Shinoda. “We feel that it had plateaued, and we saw an opportunity to do something that is much more complex.”

Using original master tapes and adding some new bits, the L.A. band and Jay-Z have gene-spliced the latter’s “Encore” with the former’s “Numb” for one track and created another using Jay-Z’s Big Pimpin’ ” and “Jigga That” with Linkin’s “Paper Cut” and “Numb.”

The package featuring an audio CD and a DVD with a documentary about the project, from studio sessions through a Roxy performance, is due Nov. 30. But already it’s impacted by the ongoing mash-up underground. A mash-up of Jay-Z’s “99 Problems” and Linkin Park’s “One Step Closer” making the rounds without participation or authorization from either.

“A DJ in New York put that together, and it’s really good,” says Shinoda. “People have been saying, ‘I heard that and it’s really cool,’ and I have to tell them we didn’t do it.”