The Chris Brown/Jordin Sparks performance was taped a couple of weeks ago, after the live show aired that week. They did that with virtually every "guest" performance last year (Akorn's Nuts, etc.).

And the other thing they edit with is the dress rehearsal. Notably, the recap at the end of the live show is usually showing them from their rehearsal peformances.

Bucc, for the last several weeks, the show has been live - not taped live day-of. When they were tape-delayed and not live (pre-top 12 or so), it wasn't day-of, but a day before. That's how we would know the spoilers a day ahead of time. At this point, we're waiting for the dress rehearsal to end (around 6-7pm EST) for spoilers to leak during a normal week. This week was a bit different because of IGB and the "inspirational" song list leaked early.

K, including the vote off segment? You really believe we are seeing the full picture?

AFAIK, the relevant portions of those shows are absolutely live. You can tell when they are running over, etc. Like I said, some of the performances are taped and shown during the live show, but I believe the vote-off portions are live. And on performance night, those are sometimes live with a dress rehearsal prior to the live show, or taped a day or so in advance in the early rounds.

Thanks.

Here's some interesting info...80% of the contestants who have gotten the boot this year have performed in the first half of the show, and 40% of them performed from the 1st spot. It seems like it really is a matter of out of sight, out of mind. Brooke went first last week, and ended up in the bottom 3. And David A, David C, and Castro haven't performed first yet.

Wow, David's Carey was awesome.

I don't see how anyone but Cook could win at this point. Week in and out he has been by far the best performer.

Tonight only:

1. David Archuleta
2. David Cook
3. Jason Castro
4. Kristy Cook
5. Carly Smithson
6. Brooke White
7. Syesha Mercado

Overall:
1. David Cook
2. David Archuleta
3. Carly Smithson
4. Brooke White
5. Jason Castro
6. Kristy Cook
7. Syesha Mercado

I'd still put my money on David A or Castro... mainly because of the teenage girl vote.

Cook just plain kicks everyone else's ass. He was off last week, but every other night I've watched, he was the best. And to do that with a Mariah Carey song is amazing.

Writeup for the round of seven is now posted at the Football Frontier:

http://www.solecismic.com/frontierblog/?p=245

Overall: The contestants struggled bravely with a difficult diva theme. By and large, they did well as long as they didn’t try and out-Mariah the original.


Bonus info: Average Score to date (not just tonight).

1. David Cook (82).
2. Brooke White (79).
3. Carly Smithson (78).
4. David Archuleta (75).
5. Kristy Lee Cook (71).
6. Jason Castro (67).
7. Syesha Mercado (62).

Best of the eliminated:

1. Michael Johns (78).
2. Alexandrea Lushington (74).
3. Chikezie Eze (71).
4. David Hernandez (71).
5. Alaina Whitaker (69).

Mariah's expensive (and expansive) cleavage gave the finest performance tonight IMHO.

she is so nasty

Flasch, way to be specific :)

Show was weak tonight because of MC, but of course Cook is the one to beat after that stellar performance. Surprised that Simon enjoyed Castro as I unfortunately did not, knew it'd be a tough week for him.

Quick rundown headlined by the Cooks.

1. David Cook - Great performance and solid arrangement. He may be the first AI star that I actually buy an album from.
2. Kristy Lee Cook - She's found her wheelhouse with the country style. I don't know that her ceiling is as high as Underwood, but she could stick around in that genre.
3. David Archuleta - David A did well, but he's just not showing anything to consistently compete. He looked like a fish out of water with tonight's theme, but still finished third. It's like Fulham pulling out a tie against Man U - not a bad result considering.
4. Jason Castro - I kind of liked his version. It was intriguing and he's becoming a poor man's combo of Jack Johnson and John Mayer.
5. Syesha Mercado - technically the best of the rest, but she's getting that robot status. Still, she was much better than Brook or Carly (not sure that's much of compliment though).
6. Brooke White - It's pretty bad when you can't deliver on even a watered down version of Mariah. I think if she were pulled away from the piano tonight and made to sign like Jason did, she would have been exposed pretty quickly.
7. Carly Smithson - Took on a tiger song by Whitney and only has the teeth marks to show for it. She's setting up arrangements to wow with her range, then she bails out in the last minute. Not sure there's any hope for her at this point and she should go.

+1

Wow, I'm completely surprised so many people thought KLC was good. Her vocal was so bad, she made me cringe during the rehearsal piece they showed. She couldn't hit a note to save her life. She was easily bottom 2 for me.

Brooke was disappointing, since she completely lost the song in the middle, to the point where I think she was singing a different key than the one she was playing.

The rest...nothing stood out as memorable, good or bad.

The show was weird for me, because I blame Mariah Carey for the last 2 decades of warbling diva R&B crap that I have "run through walls" to get away from (to borrow another thread topic), but I've never really heard a Mariah Carey song, at least not enough of one that I could pick it out. I just hate her vocal style, period. So I had no idea about any of the songs performed last night, except the cheat that Carly sang, which was a cover written by Badfinger in the early 70s and most famously (to me, anyway, since I had no clue MC re-recorded it) recorded by Harry Nilsson. Anyway, crap music is crap music, no matter what genre you translate it to.

Score of zero to the show for putting me through that.

Before the show started I really wanted Brooke to sing "Hero" because I thought she could do a very good job with it.

Boy was that a disaster, disappointing. I think she's in pretty big danger personally.

Same here. I also agree with Ksyrup that KLC was not good at all vocally. She looked great, but I'm not sure that will save her.

I think David Cook was the easy winner on the night. I loved that performance and agree that he could be the first AI winner that I'll buy an album from. David Archuleta was a solid 2nd and the rest were just somewhere in the middle.

I think Brooke deserves to go after last night.

Word.

I honestly would be pretty surprised if David C. wins. I picture a loss in the final 3 or final 2.

Which could be good for him.

I envision a victory for the stunningly bland "teen idol" David A, followed by an album release chock full of nausea-inducing "inspirational" ballads (and absolutely NO uptempo tunes) that the label's target base of Hannah Montana teen girls ignores. Luckily for Dave-o, hundreds of thousands of old ladies who like non-threatening (read: no dangerous beats and scubbed clean of any honest emotion) music with positive messages and pretty orchestration will scoop up his LP and use it as background music for bridge club.

Just guessin'.

David A. will still make some noise with teen girls (witness Jonas Brothers' huge hit right now with a schmaltzy ballad), but you're right, as this guy loses the "kiddie" factor and gets into his 20s, I could see him becoming the straight Clay Aiken.

As far as the idea of buying music from an AI contestant, I still come back to what is most important for me - the music. And nothing I've seen from David Cook suggests anything about his post-AI output. The most important thing for me is the original music, and in that respect, we've heard nothing from David Cook (not his fault, but that's a fact). His genre/style is basically the same post-grunge stuff that's been on the radio for the past decade or so. If he could match Daughtry in songwriting skill, that would be a huge achievement for him, IMO. But we just don't know. And even then, there's nothing about Daughtry's music that has ever made me want to willingly listen to it, and certainly not buy it. Do any of you listen to Daughtry? So I don't get what makes this guy any different. To some extent, I think AI viewers suffer from "hottest chick in the office" syndrome.

And for the record, I have the same thoughts about Brooke. As much as I enjoy her style, there's no way I'd consider buying an album of hers unless I was convinced the songwriting was up to par. There are plenty of artists out there who write well who deserve my dollar over someone who got a huge break on a national TV show, but whose talent was really more fitting a role on the show as opposed to true musical talent/ablility. And I'm just not into singers at all, so there's no reason why I'd buy an album of rote schlock just to hear a voice.

I don't know...just my perspective.

On AI Purchasing... off the top of my head I have:

Daughtry Album
an Underwood Album
Yamin Song
Ace Young doing "Father Figure"
A few Kelly Clarkson songs (and I didn't watch AI back then)
Daughtry doing "Dead or Alive"

I am getting more dissapointed the further this season goes. Kristy Lee was horrible last night singing wise, her range is non-existant and her voice just isn't that great. I think this is probably as far as she is going to go. I'm upset that Brooke keeps coming out the last few weeks and performing horribly as well, since she was one of only a few who I liked earlier in the season.

I still don't get the fascination that everyone has with David Cook, I don't like most of his songs, and didn't really care for his singing last night either. Of course, I can't tell you anyone who I liked last night. At this point, I don't think I would have any interest in any of the music from the remaining singers. Maybe this is why I am better off watching the first 6-8 weeks of American idol and then turning it off each season :)

I hope I don't sound snarky or anything, but given the above comments, why do you even bother watching American Idol? It's months and months of virtual nobodies singing other people's songs. I mean, you know what kind of competition it is, and it seems to go against what you're looking for. What's the appeal for you?

didn't we cover this already, bogambo?

Your thread is like 44 pages now. I don't remember.

Just to add, Ksyrup, if you've already answered my question elsewhere in the thread, there's no need to answer it again. I'll find it.

not if I delete this mutha

SkyDog set it up so I can ignore Ksyrup...but just in *this* thread. :D

That's OK, I can explain it again. I get this all the time, actually.

I watch solely for the TV show/reality competition aspect of it. Broadly, it involves music, which interests me, of course. I think what draws me to it is the process, more than the substance. I've been following this season since August, when the auditions happened. I followed the spoilers from November, when Hollywood Week was taped and the top 50 was chosen. I'm fascinated by how it all happens, knowing the backstory behind the contestants and the possible motivations for the decisions that have been made as to who makes it and who doesn't, etc. In the back of my mind, there's always the hope that someone who appeals to me might actually make it onto the show and get some publicity, but that's not at all what drives me to watch. Admittedly, AI is not the right forum for what I like, which is why I desperately hope NGAB comes back and they retool it some.

There hasn't been a single contestant on AI that I would bother listening to post-AI, at least so far. And even including NGAB, The Clark Brothers come pretty close but of what I've heard of their original stuff, I'm a bit concerning it will be too mainstream country-ish lyrics-wise for me to enjoy it. And that's really where the "rubber meets the road," so to speak...musically and ability-wise, they seem to have it together, but I'm just not sure about the original content, which is most important to me.

Aside from spoilers, what's there to ignore?

Or, are you one of those "Archuleta People"? Ew, gross! :p

Just kidding, homie ;)

I've tried to ignore myself, but SD told me the only FOFC member who has that ability is Schmidty.

Schmidty's jealous of rich peoples.

No, I mean Schmidty is able to ignore himself. It was either that, or watch him get into a virtual fistfight with himself.

Myself and my wife own several post-AI CDs.. namely from Bo Bice, Daughtry, Carrie Underwood, Clay Aiken and Kelly Clarkson. We've also seen one of the idol tours (after season 4) and have seen and met Bo Bice in a separate concert.

I've bought a couple of Cook's covers on iTunes.

Just to add a little perspective to my comments up-thread about purchasing AI music - since I didn't quote anyone - I was mainly referring to the few people who have suggested that David Cook might be the first AI contestant whose music they would buy. I know some people have bought a few things by AI people, and I'm not here to judge you for that. I was mainly trying to understand why this guy deserves the benefit of the doubt at this juncture, when he hasn't proven anything other than he can perform other people's songs in a particular style fairly consistently. I think Daughtry did the same thing, and I didn't hear people jumping up and down about him at this stage.

If I remember right, Daughtry did not do any of his own arrangements on any of the songs. Sure, he did Live and RHCP, but weren't his own. At least David Cook has done some of his own arrangements (and has borrowed)

A bit surprised with the love for David Cook last night. For me, it was one of the few performances of his I did not like at all. His voice sounded "off" in the slow part and didn't get much better in his more comfortable uptempo style. I think he thought he was horrible judging from his reaction to the judges comments.

I liked Brooke a bit better than most of you it seems too. Appreciated that she tried to add a little to her basic style. Carly really oversang the last half of that song, and that's become a trend for her I'm afraid. I like her but can't see her lasting much longer, maybe even tonight.

Syesha probably should be the one to go though. I don't mind her actually, she generally puts on a good performance, but she doesn't have the diva voice she desperately wants to have, and thus there's nothing that really stands out with her. Especially compared to the rest of the contestants.

I was mainly addressing the thought about buying Daughtry and how that might reflect David C.

FWIW, I'm really not a big fan of David C. where at this point in the show I was ready to buy Daughtry's album the day it came out.

Man I hate it when they ask one contestant to go stand with one group over the other. Hope one of these days one of them goes off on the producers for doing it.

I agree with that, but I did think it was clever to move David Cook around. I was sure he was safe. I thought it was unlikely, but possible that KLC and Brooke were safe as well and I wouldn't have been surprised for Carly and Jason to be in the bottom 3, so it was somewhat surprising when he moved groups.

The girls couldn't win this week.

If they did a popular song Simon killed them and said they need to be original. If they did a lesser known song he killed them for that.

He makes me crazy sometimes.

The girls also weren't very good.

While I didn't care for David Cook's Idol performance last week of innocent, I listened to the studio version and really enjoyed that.

Well, that was a big, fat failure for Dial Idol. They had KLC squarely in the middle and safe. Based on performance, though, I thought she was probably the worst, right there with Syesha. I'm still stunned Jim ranked him #1 and a lot of you thought she was good. Apparently all that warbling dazed you, and you were unable to distinguish which notes were in tune and which ones weren't!

Andrew Lloyd Webber next week. Oh joy. Perhaps this will be the week that Carly pops a vein in her forehead straining so hard to look like Devil Woman, and there won't be the need for an elimination.

Mrs. E is very happy that KLC is gone. Also, she said something very similar about Carly. She predicts the song that will do it for Carly is "Superstar."

Ya.. AI pays attention to dialidol though.

You had Cook in the group with KLC and Brooke so, you're thinking dialidol screwed up on Brooke, but then you figure they screwed up on Castro though in the other group. Then they changed Cook/Syesha it and it was pretty clear cut then.

It is unclear whom you are referring to in this because neither Kristy nor Syesha is a him and you referenced both girls either. Kristy was far better than Syesha in almost every way this week. I have no idea what on earth the judges saw in Syesha's performance, but it was horrific. Kristy was fairly well in tune, surprisingly. The low register was just a touch rough, and when you combine that with the fact that the song she sang had kind of an awkward chord progression when the melody dips into the low register, it sounded kind of strange at first. The clip of her rehearsing with Mariah showed her singing that little section and it was awfully out of tune. Her actual performance was much better in tune, though, and she pulled the whole thing off surprisingly well. After the rehearsal clip I laughed and told my wife "there's no way I'll make it through this one." Turned out she did much better than I thought she would.

SORRY FOR TEXT WALL

can we vote Mariah out?

that was one of the worst songs I've ever heard

tl;dr

;)

Yeah, I meant her, obviously, since Jim ranked her #1. And I disagree about her vocals, it was terrible three ways - rehearsal, performance, and sing out last night. She may have hit some notes warbling through them to get to the off-key stuff, but it was painful to listen to.

Syesha wasn't any better, and may have been worse, but I had them as my bottom two anyway, so either of them leaving wouldn't have been a surprise. My surprise was that some of you thought KLC was actually good, as opposed to mediocre or bad.

also, can we go back 10-15 years and have hot Mariah back?

1. It may have been painful, but it was only slightly out-of-tune in the low register, the rest in tune pretty well.

2. Mediocre is good for Kristy Lee Cook, so [Myagi]same-same[/Myagi]

:D

The goofy look on Simon's face when KLC was singing at the end while sitting on the table was laugh out loud funny.

Mariah Carey labels performance "rancid".

Yes, please.

He was struck dumb by the glitterboobs?

Summary, please? Blocked from work.

He looked about as uncomfortable as one can. Didn't know where to look or what to do.

The cleavage had him spellbound.

I actually felt sorry for David A. when Ryan asked him to side with the group he thought was safe. That's a tough place to put a 17 year old kid in on national television, especially when he's going to be working with those people on the Idol Tour one way or the other.

I was impressed with the way he dealt with it, though. Selecting his "own" group, which he already knew was safe was a smart move.

Still, it made me want to punch Seacrest in the nuts.

First season of Idol?

They've been doing this for a long time. Only contestant that I can remember actually selecting a group was George Huff who went to the side of the 3 'Divas' (Fantasia/Hudson/Latoya London) and didn't go to Stevens/Barino/Trias. After he went to the group, Ryan said "I said the top 3 George"

Bo Bice started the next year by going to the middle of the 2 groups.

Hmm. Shows you how much attention I usually pay to the results show.

(Honestly. I'm really hit and miss with the results show. I usually end up checking here to find out who gets booted, or I just watch the last two or three minutes to see who's singing themselves out.)

whoops - sorry about that...

Kristy Lee is all about confidence. When she has it, she sings with a rich, in-key voice that country fans will be hearing on albums for a long time.

When she doesn't have it, she makes faces, looks uncomfortable and sounds pretty bad.

When the competition started back in February, she was sick, and that threw her. She made it to the round of 12, barely. She was considered the weakest in the group, deservedly, at that time.

About four weeks ago, she found her confidence and started sounding a lot better. There are long pieces of her last two performances that are as good as anything we've heard on the show this season.

The confidence thing is crucial for her. At the start of her song this week, she had to dip into her lower register with a bit of a trill. She couldn't do it right, and, each time, made that familiar grimace. She knew instantly it was off, which is a sign that she will develop as a singer.

Then she found that confidence once she was out of that lower register, and it was night and day.

I don't know if she will mature as a person, as she seems awfully young for her age. But I could see her becoming a huge star if she works hard at this over time.

You mean like calling Simon a "butt" in front of 30+ million people last night? :D

Normally the dumbness makes them hotter but in the case of KLC I find her personality a huge turn off. I can't think of a more uninteresting and drab personality that she projects.

i dont think the fact that KLC is gone hurts her one bit...she was never going to win, but she got enough attention and showed what she was capable of becoming that I wont be a bit suprised when she "drops" a pop/country album...she was different enough from the rest of them that she didnt need to win to get a contract.

i will miss looking at her though.

So this means Castro is going home next week, since its been boy/girl since we got to 12. Then, the ladies get picked off for 3 weeks until Archuleta wins... and half of America commits suicide.

If Kelly Pickler can make money doing country, certainly KLC can (and this is from a country music fan)...

Definitely. Although...Pickles may be dumb, but at least she's got personality.

Here's some KLC aftermath stuff...


Kristy Lee Cook got engaged Wednesday night. So that’s some good news for her.

Kristy was planning on singing “Don’t Cry For Me Argentina” next week.

But KLC is more attractive. Pickles annoyed the hell out of me and I don't like her after-Idol stuff. KLC just needs one nicely recorded ballad and she'll make some $$$.

Yeah, I never found Pickles to be attractive at all. KLC is attractive, but not sexy (I still don't think so, even after she got better on the show). Still, I wouldn't be surprised to see her do well. Country seems to be the one genre that AI contestants succeed in regularly. Carrie Underwood, Pickles, Josh Gracin, and I think Phil Stacey has an album coming out soon, too.

Do you remember that opening dance she did when they introduced the top 24... I have a feeling KLC can be very sexy on stage and Idol was holding her back in that department (or maybe some other external factor was holding her back.) She is definitely attractive as well and I wouldn't be surprised at all to see her do well as a country artist.

KLC was sexy in her audition and then it was steadily downhill from there.

KLC looks smelly

but KFC looks yummy

Of course I remember that. I also remember that Darrin Erstad hit .350 one year, too. I think what I've seen since both of those things occurred tells me a lot more about them than that one brief, shining moment in the sun.

That said, I think she could definitely make money. I just don't think she's sexy, outside of a 4 second clip. Aside from her beauty, there's nothing alluring about her at all. The difference between her and, say, McPhee is like night and day. Although she went and married a guy as old as her dad, which drops her a few notches, but you know what I mean.

If AI producers didn't play a different clip of her (but not everyone else) when introducing the top 24 in future shows, I'd agree with you. Everyone else had their original clip, but she had a much tamer/lamer clip. I'm convinced they told her she was being too sexy for the show and to tone it down, and she just went WAY too far overboard in doing so. I guess we'll see in the next year once she is free of Idol's clutches.

It's possible. But I really can't believe she'd abandon that angle entirely, both in song choice and performance style throughout the season. I don't think she was holding back anything in those performances - I just don't think she can perform very well. But she can certainly do enough to sell a record, I'll give you that.

Oy... too do this to the contestants is just wrong. First Mariah, then Andrew Lloyd Weber and I think next week is Neil Diamond. (Although, I will give ALW credit though as he seemed relatively honest in his assessments of the singers)

Bottom 3 this week should be Brooke, Jason and either Carly or Syesha (just because someone has to be in the bottom 3) although, David A should be in the bottom 3 just based on the week.

Brook or Jason should go, but they won't. It will probably be Carly or Syesha.

Totally forgot about it tonight. What songs did they do?

Seriously, if you put a gun to my head and asked me to come up with the names, I'd be dead.

Carly did Jesus Christ Superstar, Jason C did I believe Memory and David C did a number from Phantom of the Opera. After that.. eh.. who knows.

Horrible night. Brooke is toast.

Castro or Brooke on this one...they were clearly the two dogs this week. I thought Castro was horrendous. Thought Syesha was once again good, but this week I thought she was great. David C. showed he can sing something different. Carly was very good as was David A. To me, it's between the two Davids with Syesha and Carly behind them.

My rankings for tonight.

1. David Archuleta
2. Carly Smithson
3. David Cook
4. Syesha Mercado
5. Jason Castro
6. Brooke White


Brooke. Unforgivable. That's twice this season. Just no.

yeah sadly I think that's the end for Brooke. I'd much rather see Jason or Syesha gone over her, but I can't see her overcoming that gaffe. I would put Carly in the bottom 3 with Jason and Brooke, but it will probably be Syesha again, though she doesn't deserve it this week.

I would have bet good money this week that David A would do Music of the Night, so I was very surprised by his contemporary spin on the song he did choose. Never thought David C would do Music of the Night or that he had been in musical theatre at some point. But that seems to be theme with him, very unpredictable song choices that he mostly does well with.

Football Frontier rankings are posted for tonight. I'll take some heat for the Brooke ranking, but remember that during a normal week at this stage of the competition, she'd probably be near the bottom with that score.

http://www.solecismic.com/frontierblog/?p=250

Overall: The Idols tried their voices at acting this week, and, while those who lost themselves in the spirit of the week were generally mediocre-plus, one came out with one of the top performances of the entire season. Those who tritely stuck with the popification of the musical were left exposed as artless pretenders.


Also, watch for some real football content on the Frontier this week. I've been working on a study of NFL officiating. The first three parts have been posted.

Goodness.

I didn't think it was possible, but David Archuleta is making Doolittle look like she sang a different genre every week last year. That guy can only do one thing. I know he's good at it, but come on - enough is enough.

I thought Carly was bad - shouting once again, and the Aretha/Freedom version of JCS was yuck. I was actually singing Freedom along with the song.

I was impressed that David Cook sang that in such a theatrical manner and pretty much pulled it off.

Syesha was excellent, and I think she's safe, but too bad she got stuck singing first.

Brooke and Castro were bad, but Castro was worse.

Mrs. E and I were also very impressed with David Cook's versatility and we both thought he was the clear best singer/performer of the night. Castro was horrible and should definitely go. Brooke should also be in the bottom 2 with either Carly or Syesha (just based on cumulative performances not to mention the dreaded 1 spot)

Brooke is done.

dola- the only thing that may save her is Simon said he would have one the same thing.

For anyone who is done suffering through the mess of tonight, War Games is on.

That's one of my frustrations with American Idol, the requirement that they sign stupidly different genres every week. Seriously, how many of these people are going to release an album that has that wide a range of songs in it? How many of them are going to sing 60s songs/opera/etc as a career?

Let them sing whatever they want each week imo and if they can't get people interested enough in them to keep voting for them after 12 weeks, that's why they should lose, not because they are required to sing out of their comfort zone.