"Don't Waste the Pretty" is the third single by

Allison Iraheta Allison Iraheta (; born April 27, 1992) is an American singer from Los Angeles, California, who was the fourth place finalist on the eighth season of ''American Idol''. Prior to ''Idol'', Iraheta won the Telemundo competition ''Quinceañera: Mam� ...

of her debut album '' Just Like You''. It was written by Michael Dennis Smith,

Stefanie Ridel Stefanie Jill Ridel (born May 17, 1973) is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. She was a member of the girl group Wild Orchid, and was a co-host of the television show ''Great Pretenders''. Early life Stefanie Jill Ridel was born in Ho ...

, Miriam Nervo and Olivia Nervo and was produced by

Howard Benson Howard Benson is an American music producer and multi-instrumentalist. He was nominated for the Producer of the Year Grammy Award in 2007 and 2008. Early life and education Benson was born and raised in a middle-class family in greater Philadel ...

. The single version of the song, featuring

Orianthi Orianthi Penny Panagaris (born 22 January 1985), known mononymously as Orianthi, is an Australian guitarist, singer and songwriter who rehearsed in 2009 with Michael Jackson in preparation for his '' This Is It'' concert series, and performed wi ...

on guitar, made its online debut on

EW.com ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cul ...

and Zap2it.com on June 2, 2010 and was released digitally on June 8, 2010. It was released to radio stations on June 22, 2010.

Promotion

Iraheta performed the original version of "Don't Waste the Pretty" on ''

Lopez Tonight ''Lopez Tonight'' is an American late-night television talk show that was hosted by the comedian George Lopez. The hour-long program premiered on November 9, 2009, on cable network TBS. Lopez was the first Mexican-American to host a late-night ...

'' on Wednesday, May 26, 2010, and the acoustic version of the song on

Z100 New York WHTZ (100.3 FM) is a commercial top 40/CHR station licensed to Newark, New Jersey and broadcasting to the New York metropolitan area. Owned by iHeartMedia, WHTZ is the flagship station for '' Elvis Duran and the Morning Show''. The WHTZ studios ...

on June 22, 2010.http://www.z100.com/pages/chat/?uri=channels/379041 She performed the track with

and

Adam Lambert Adam Mitchel Lambert (born January 29, 1982) is an American singer and songwriter. Since 2009, he has sold over 3 million albums and 5 million singles worldwide. Lambert is known for his dynamic vocal performances that fuse his theatrical tra ...

on the Glam Nation Tour in 2010. Iraheta and Orianthi performed the song on the Thursday, July 29, 2010 results episode of ''So You Think You Can Dance''.

Reception

Reception of the new version of "Don't Waste the Pretty" has been mainly positive. ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cul ...

s Michael Slezak concluded that "Don't Waste the Pretty" finds Iraheta "at her gravelly, soulful best, paired with a killer hook and an empowering message that certainly can’t hurt a generation of kids who’ll be spending their summers singing along to “Can’t Be Tamed” and “Rude Boy.” ''Billboard'' writes that "'Don't Waste the Pretty' deserves to become for Iraheta what "Whataya Want From Me" was for Adam Lambert—a breakthrough record for an 'Idol' alum with outsize talent."

AOL Radio AOL Radio powered by Slacker (formerly AOL Radio powered by CBS Radio, and prior AOL Radio featuring XM) was an online radio service available in the United States only. It had over 200 free internet radio stations. History Roots AOL Radio ...

writer Matthew Wilkening writes that "Orianthi's soloing adds dramatic tension to the country-tinged, mid-tempo pop song as Iraheta advises a friend not to take verbal abuse from her partner" Rodney Ho from the ''

Atlanta Journal-Constitution ''The Atlanta Journal-Constitution'' is the only major daily newspaper in the metropolitan area of Atlanta, Georgia. It is the flagship publication of Cox Enterprises. The ''Atlanta Journal-Constitution'' is the result of the merger between ...

'' calls Iraheta "a really talented singer" and hopes "that radio embraces this song, which is pretty catchy," adding that "top 40 program directors should give it a spin." Zap2it Blogger Andrea Reiher praised the new version of the song, writing "We already loved this song, but it's even better with Orianthi's sick guitar licks in the accompaniment."

Music video

There is no official music video for "Don't Waste the Pretty". However, Jive did release a video titled "The Journey to Don't Waste the Pretty". This video is backstage footage of Iraheta, her band, and Orianthi. It is intercut with scenes of Iraheta performing the song on stage at different gigs (which is in sync with the track).

Sales

Other versions

The original version of "Don't Waste the Pretty" appears on Iraheta's debut album ''Just Like You'' as the fourth track and does not feature Orianthi. Iraheta has also performed the song acoustically on ''Entertainment Weeklys online show ''Realite'',

Yahoo! Music Yahoo! Music was a brand under which Yahoo! provided a variety of music services, including Internet radio, music videos, news, artist information, and original programming. Previously, users with Yahoo! accounts could gain access to hundreds of ...

Radio Disney Radio Disney was an American radio network operated by the Disney Radio Networks unit of Disney Branded Television within the Disney General Entertainment Content, headquartered in Burbank, California. The network broadcast music programming ...

and

. She released the acoustic version of the song for download on June 8, 2010.

References

{{authority control Allison Iraheta songs Orianthi songs 2010 singles Songs written by Olivia Nervo Songs written by Miriam Nervo Songs written by Stefanie Ridel Song recordings produced by Howard Benson 2010 songs Jive Records singles 19 Recordings singles