American Idol 2008

[Scoobz0202]

I wonder what Brooke White is going to do with the Beatles. She has been putting out amazing performances, but I'm not seeing a song for her. Anybody else?

[Toddzilla]

The wrong AI chick is gonna get naked pictures released - if you believe the tabloids

[Ksyrup]

That's been the rumor out of Indianapolis for 2 weeks. I was hoping it wasn't true.

[Eaglesfan27]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

That's been the rumor out of Indianapolis for 2 weeks. I was hoping it wasn't true.

Ehh?

[Ksyrup]

Rumors of Amanda posing nude for an ex-boyfriend and the ex shopping them to the highest bidder. She's from the Indy area and radio stations there have been talking about this possibility.

[Eaglesfan27]

I doubt it, but I wonder if that is what had her so distracted last week. She is the one I would have guessed most likely to have naked pictures come out.

[saldana]

i wonder if her bush has the blonde highlights and stands up straight for the first 3 inches like the hair on her head did during 70's week

[path12]

Originally Posted by Scoobz0202

I wonder what Brooke White is going to do with the Beatles. She has been putting out amazing performances, but I'm not seeing a song for her. Anybody else?

I could see her doing "Across the Universe".

[path12]

Originally Posted by saldana

i wonder if her bush has the blonde highlights and stands up straight for the first 3 inches like the hair on her head did during 70's week

There's your cure for priapism.

[cuervo72]

I wouldn't mind hearing Brooke sing Lady Madonna.

(actually, I thought of Eleanor Rigby too, even before Ksyrup's mashup post )

[Arles]

Eleanor Rigby is probably my favorite Beatles song. So whomever sings will have my vote (provided they don't completely butcher it - which is about a 50-50 proposition).

[Pumpy Tudors]

Originally Posted by saldana

i wonder if her bush has the blonde highlights and stands up straight for the first 3 inches like the hair on her head did during 70's week

I'll give you $100 if you do that with your bush.

[korme]

nevermind

[INDalltheway]

Originally Posted by INDalltheway;1671143 02-28-2008, 11:30 AM

Local radios around here are saying someone in Indiana is selling nudie pictures of Amanda Overmyer to the highest bidder... haha I am not kidding. Also she has had several DUI's etc, etc.

Beat ya to the punch..

[RedKingGold]

Why the hell is Ramiele still here?

[Mustang]

If naked pictures of Amanda come out, I wouldn't be shocked if she has a penis.

Wait, did I say If? I mean when.

[cuervo72]

ENOUGH WITH THE EFFING COUNTRY MUSIC

[Drake]

Wow. That David Archuleta song was teh suck.

[Drake]

dola...

I thought the first half of tonight's show was full of absolute brilliance. The second half has been absolutely horrible. I'm not sure at what point it started going downhill, but it's just crashed and burned with the last few contestants.

[adubroff]

More candidates to leave this week than last, but less will, good news for a lot of the competitors. I am just putting Amanda last til she goes, in hopes that America does the same. Chikeze and I are having a bipolar experience.I like him when he doesn't suck, but he sucks about half the time.

Carly - channels amy winehouse effectively in beginning. she can perform. she rocked the house tonight. I've been waiting for this performance from this performer.
chikeze - definitely "made it his own"....voice is good tonight, fits the song. maybe a lil too much improv at the end
MichaelJ - Welcome to the competition mike. Great song choice. I had a feeling he might be holding back a little and he let loose this week.
Brooke - I was expecting a Brooksaster but it fairly Brooktastic. excellent song choice and her best this year for me.
David C - oasis called, they want their sound back. Late better than early.
JsonC - better than ramiele but very boring. GOod voice, good song choice but zero fun.
ramiele - good voice and good choice of song. On the down side I'm not sure she's shown anything new or unique this entire competition.
Kristy - good voice, good showmanship. Interesting genre change but the tempo didn't work for me
DavidA - I'm a davidA fan but this performance was way too mousketeery for me.
DavidH- This is not a strong night for him. I think this is pretty weak.
syesha - cruise ship comment coming...shocked simon liked this. think he is on happy pills
Amanda - horribly indescribeably bad.

[rowech]

I thought Chikeze and Brooke were the best and Kristy was the worst. There were some folks who were extremly mediocre tonight.

[korme]

*KLC, Hernandez, and Amanda are the top 3 to go home in my opinion.

*I'm afraid that Johns playing every song the same, while sounding great, is going to grow tiresome. Someone like Chikezie, who is inferior vocally, could outlast him because of his ability to mix it up.

[NoSkillz]

Well, Archuleta is human after all. Talk about deer in the headlights when he forgot the words...I'm a fan but that was bad. He's safe though.

Kristy was awful and only a Sanjaya-like voting display can save her now. Hernandez was weak as well.

Favourites on the night were Carly, Chikeze, Brooke and David Cook (chorus onward).

My guess at the bottom three: Kristy Lee Cook, David Hernandez, Ramiele

And interestingly enough, while she wasn't great, I didn't mind Amanda tonight. She's so one-dimensional but I thought she performed well tonight.

[MJ4H]

Carly and David Cook front-runners tonight by a mile. Brooke somewhere within striking distance. The rest were all fairly forgettable. A few that were memorable in their horrendousness. Kristy for instance.

[korme]

Cook has really come out of nowhere for me. He's getting better with each show.

[Jim G.]

This week's recap is posted:

http://www.solecismic.com/frontierblog/?p=240

Overall: It was a week of haves and have-nots, with the top five faring quite well with a difficult and unusually tiny song book. But the bottom five were painful to the old ears, and probably made McCarthy reconsider ever doing this again.

[Mustang]

Brook is growing on me. Nice to have a contestant just sing. Don't need to put runs in or hit bigs notes... sometimes you just have to sing it.

[Arles]

Jim's pretty much dead on tonight. Here's my list:

1. David Cook - As I said above, Eleanor Rigby is probably my fav Beatles tune. So, it was nice to see the best performance be for that song. He really is a cut above everyone else in this competition - and it's really not close based on the last two weeks.
2. Carly - I thought she did very well with her performance, but it did get a little old. Still, her overall quality was top 2.
3. Chikezie - Pleasantly surprised. If he keeps this up, he might last a few weeks. Still, this was probably his ceiling and he finished third. When Mike, Brooke and Jason have a good week, he may be in trouble.
4. Jason - Solid vocals, but not a lot outside of that. He needs to mix it up a bit, but he can't go too far.
5. Brooke - She struggled with some of the high notes and really didn't hit it out of the park like I thought she would when she started. A bit of a letdown.
6. Mike - Ditto to Brooke. Thought it would be a good song for him but he was fairly plain.
7. Syesha - She did OK, but her performance was the most forgetable, so I couldn't put in the top half.
8. Amanda - She also hit her ceiling like Chikezie, but hers is 8th. 2-3 weeks max of having her around. There's only so many times you can hear her combo of a bad Elvis and bad Melissa Ethridge before your ears start bleeding.
9. Ramiele - She would have been forgetable like Syesha, except that she wasn't really that good. Still, she remembered the words.
10. David H - Should have been last, but unfortunately two others were horrendous. Way too over the top - maybe it was his tribute to Danny.
11. David A - Yikes, talk about a rough night. I think I heard Greg Norman and Bill Buckner say "Man, that kid choked tonight." Still, in his defense, even a good performance would have landed him mid-table. Everything about the song choice was questionable.
12. Kristy - You know it's bad when you finish behind a guy who forgot the words. This was maybe the most sanjaya-esque painful performance of the season. Nothing redeeming - it would have been better to mime the song.

[Scoobz0202]

I personally hated Cook's rendition of Elanor Rigby. Maybe that is because that is one of my favorite songs, but that sucked. It is not a rock song. At all..

Carly Smithson nailed Come Together. Absolutely nailed it.

My favorite, Brooke White, started off really strong, in my opinion. She didnt really finish strong, but I felt she did a good job.

Jason Castro did a good job with If I Fell. Not brilliant, but it was definitely pleasing to the ears.

Now my drunk ass is going to bed and I will view the rest tomorrow.

[Scoobz0202]

I just saw Arles post.

I would be interested to hear from those that agree that Eleanor Rigby is such a great song. What made his performance stand out to you? I personally was listening and at the same time heard the Beatles song in my mind, and I felt he did it no justice at all.

Side note: I voted for the first time in American Idol history. Brooke White. Not even her best performance. Dunno.

[korme]

Well at first I didn't like it either because I like the original classic that is Eleanor Rigby, but after a while you realize he is just good at putting his own spin on things and as a straight up rock-modernized version it was pretty damn sweet... beginning to think he can do it to any song.

[rowech]

I didn't like his verses for Rigby. I really liked the chorus. The chorus worked in that type of singing and the verses didn't.

[Ksyrup]

OK, so what happened to this?

Now that the Idol finally has use of the entire songbook — which includes 180 tunes — Lythgoe knows just when to use them.
“When the Top 12 sing for the first time this season, it will be the music of Lennon and McCartney,” he told Seacrest. “We’ve given them a list because it’s all of the early songs — from ‘I Want to Hold Your Hand’ to ‘Got to Get You Into My Life.’ These fantastic songs. It’s one of the few areas that everybody knows.”

My theory is one of two things: (1) some people stunk at the early songs, and they needed good performances to ensure that this wouldn't be a 1-time thing; or (2) they bent over backwards for 2 of The Chosen Ones (Carly and Michael Johns), and then let Brooke do Let It Be because she wanted to play piano. I'm guessing it was more #2 than anything - they are really doing whatever they can to make sure the favorites succeed. You're telling me David Hernandez got stuck with the Beatles equivalent to Jailhouse Rock, yet Carly and Johns get Come Together and Across the Universe? I don't buy it. Oh, and Archuleta getting the pimp spot yet AGAIN when his performance was terrible? Should have gone to Chikezie, maybe David Cook, in terms of "bringing down the house to end the show"-quality performance.

I have to ask...was it just us (and there were 4 of us watching), or were the acoustics in the new theater beyond terrible? The vocals were distant, there was tons of reverb, and when the vocals were up front, we couldn't understand what most of them were singing. It has to be the new stage. Not looking forward to another 10 or so weeks of that crap.

The performances:

I thought Chikezie was the best of the night. In fact, when Simon commented that "the first singer blah blah blah," I looked at my wife and said, "I know it was just 10 minutes ago, but I honestly don't remember who went first." It took her a good 10 seconds to remember Syesha. Not sure if that says more about how forgettable Syesha was, or how good Eze was, or what.

I guess Carly was good, I was too pissed at the fact she got to sing an older song to even bother paying attention.

Brooke is..."above" this competition. Let's just put it that way. Aside from Amanda (and in a totally different way), Brooke is the one contestant who doesn't belong on this show. She's way too mature and complete a singer/performer to have a chance at winning this show. If she does, she'll be a trainwreck in terms of sales.

I didn't love Cook's version of ER, but I give him props for doing it in a style that worked (for most people, it seems).

Ramiele, Castro, and Hernandez - forgettable. Knew it the minute Hernandez's song choice was announced. He performed the song like he needed to, but he didn't have the correct song to do that kind of performance with. I think he got hosed in song choice - that's my tin foil hat prediction. Castro has nothing, not sure what people see in him other than his dreds.

Michael Johns - credible version of Across the Universe, but both me and my wife immediately said, "Nowhere near Rufus Wainwright's version," and I think that spoiled it to some extent for me. I'm also getting a little tired of the judges going back and forth over singing it straight vs. giving them the glory notes. A couple of people got criticized (like Johns) for doing nothing with the song, while people like Brooke were applauded for not veering from the original. I thought the criticism was fine for Ramiele because the song was boring as hell, but Johns' performance was much better.

Kristy Lee Cook...never thought I'd say this, but she needs to go. Now. Of the girls, I'd put her at #7 on the sexy list, right below Danny. Honestly. I was in love with her at first, and now I've turned on her after that horrible arrangement but even worse performance. She could have added pigtails, clogs, yodeled, and slapped her thigh a few times, and it wouldn't have been markedly worse than it was. She is the 1993 Miami Dolphins of American Idol (isn't that the consensus SB pick that had 21 former 1st round draft picks on their roster, yet failed to make the playoffs?). Done. I've never seen a more beautiful woman who can sing consistently fail to evoke any kind of emotion when performing. She looked uncomfortable, and completely unable to move in anything but a cringe-worthy way. Totally unsexy, which is crazy to think about when you see photos of her. But here we are...

Amanda was Amanda...sloppy, slurred singing when she wasn't screaming, but not horrible this week.

I'm not going to pile on Archuleta this week, but the difference in performance between him and Brooke, for instance, is night and day. He truly looks like a 15 year old up there by comparison, even when he's not missing words and making a mess out of the song.

Never thought I'd say it, but I want KLC to go.

[Thomkal]

No one sang Yesterday. I would probably put Carly in the #1 spot this week, and I liked Michael Johns a lot more than I have in the past because he kept it simple and didn't try to do too much with his voice like the last couple weeks.

Brooke, one of my favs, was a disappointment to me tonight and I was shocked she got such praise. I thought she was off key at times and rushing to catch up to the music as well. I felt bad for David A tonight, forgetting the words is never good. His confidence has always been so fragile, I worry he won't recover well from this performance.

Kristy probably my choice to go this week. I've liked her performances the last couple weeks, and I salute her for taking a risk here, but it was a bad choice and she'll likely suffer for it. Amanda of course is who I want to go home, but she probably did enough to keep her around for another week.

And a big boo to Simon for having to ask Randy near the end of the show who the Irish girl's name was.

[Ksyrup]

From Jim G.'s blog about David H.:
"I have to wonder if the recent controversy about how he makes a living has caused him to want to get out of this competition, because he’s much better than this."


I'm telling you, they forced him to sing that song to help pave the way for his leaving. No way he chose that song - 12 people, 25 songs...you do the math. And his interview segment where he mentioned working for some pizza joint at least 5 times - he might as well have come out and said, "That's right, I worked at a pizza place, NOT a male strip joint!" - didn't help, either.

[Ksyrup]

Originally Posted by Thomkal

And a big boo to Simon for having to ask Randy near the end of the show who the Irish girl's name was.

I can't tell if he does stuff like that on purpose or what...pretending to forget her name, and then asking the guy who was an exec at her former record company what her name was? I was hoping Randy said Carly Hennessy.

[Thomkal]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

I can't tell if he does stuff like that on purpose or what...pretending to forget her name, and then asking the guy who was an exec at her former record company what her name was? I was hoping Randy said Carly Hennessy.

He's done this consistently over the years and I don't think its on purpose. He just doesn't care much about the contestants past their vocal skills.

[Ksyrup]

I don't know...I refuse to believe he has accidentally called Chikezie "Jacuzzi" twice so far. I think he does it because it furthers his reputation as an uncaring asshole.

[Ksyrup]

Judging by the DialIdol results:

Spoiler

David Archuleta has a chokehold on this competition if he's getting that kind of voting response after such a bad showing.

And I guess I might have been right about Syesha...not memorable combined with performing first = trouble.

Actually, now that I look at her actual DialIdol score, it isn't far behind David H. Trouble for DialIdol is that aside from David A., no one's garnering enough support to make their prediction stable.

http://dialidol.com/asp/predictions/Predictions.asp

[Eaglesfan27]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

I can't tell if he does stuff like that on purpose or what...pretending to forget her name, and then asking the guy who was an exec at her former record company what her name was? I was hoping Randy said Carly Hennessy.

I was hoping Randy would slip up as well.

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

I don't know...I refuse to believe he has accidentally called Chikezie "Jacuzzi" twice so far. I think he does it because it furthers his reputation as an uncaring asshole.

Agreed. I think it's all part of his act.


As for my thoughts on the competitors:

1. Chikezie - Shocked me with a great, high energy performance, that was memorable and entertaining. First time that I felt like he should stay on the show.

2. Carly - While I enjoyed the VFTW rant on her, she clearly is one of the best competitors in this competition.

3. David Cook - I thought it was excellent from the middle on.

4. Brooke - Took on one of the most memorable songs and did a very credible job.

5. Ramiele - I liked her singing and thought it was a good performance. Wife didn't.

6. Michael - A decent job with that song which is one of my favorites.

7. Jason C. - A solid vocal.

8. David H - Forgettable.

9. Syesha - Also forgettable.

10. David A - I think that is the first song he hasn't performed a million times before and it showed. He forgot the words and looked lost out there. Bad performance but he'll be saved by past performances.

11. Amanda - Terrible performance as usual.

12. Kristy - Sadly, I agree with Ksyrup. I really liked her at first, particularly with her dance moves in the introductory clip. They edited that clip in future showings, and I almost think they told her to tone down the sexy factor. Last night she wasn't sexy, and that song didn't work. Maybe my wife called in a personal favor to the network execs. I think Mrs. E gets her wish tonight.

[Ksyrup]

Originally Posted by Eaglesfan27

10. David A - I think that is the first song he hasn't performed a million times before and it showed.

Bingo.

And this explains some of what I was trying to say a couple of weeks ago about what I don't find authentic about his performances. I can just tell that they are rehearsed, so they don't come across as natural and credible to me. And last night proved that, in a way, because he stumbled badly with a song he didn't know. It wasn't rehearsed and choreographed a thousand times before he had to perform it.

At this point, though, I don't think it's going to matter, unless he reels off 4-6 straight weeks of bad performances. He's the only contestant with a real fanbase at this point. Perhaps it could bite him if we get down to the top 4 and he's been consistently bad, but I think he's too much of a professional to slip up consistently.

[Mike1409]

Seperated at birth?

[Alan T]

Originally Posted by Scoobz0202

I personally hated Cook's rendition of Elanor Rigby. Maybe that is because that is one of my favorite songs, but that sucked. It is not a rock song. At all..

Carly Smithson nailed Come Together. Absolutely nailed it.

My favorite, Brooke White, started off really strong, in my opinion. She didnt really finish strong, but I felt she did a good job.

Jason Castro did a good job with If I Fell. Not brilliant, but it was definitely pleasing to the ears.

Now my drunk ass is going to bed and I will view the rest tomorrow.

I agree with your thoughts on Cook.. I did not like his performance at all and told my wife once he was done that I bet he is voted out.. Guess that shows how little I know

My favorites was Chikeze and Carly, I liked both of those performances alot. I haven't been a big fan of Chikeze's past performances, but I've liked most of Carly's.

[Ksyrup]

You know, I completely forgot about Carly living in San Diego. I was there last week and even visited an Irish pub in the Gaslamp District...but it wasn't hers. Is that one she works at in that area, or somewhere else?

[Subby]

I liked Brooke's performance the best. Not to channel Paula here, but it sounded incredibly authentic - she seemed to feel every word she was singing. Plus I'm overly emotional so when she was tearing up that kind of got to me.

Ramiel is so cute. I hope she gets her act together.

Please god let Kristy Lee Cook be the one that goes home. Her hotness factor has plummeted like Skylab and her performances have all sucked.

[Ksyrup]

Originally Posted by Jim G.

Simon's just sick of this. He has not been himself this season at all.

Good call by Jim:

Simon Cowell has said that he's "not enjoying" the current series of American Idol.

The reality TV star claimed the series was similar to the last X Factor in the UK, which he described as "dull".

He told The Sun: "To be honest with you I'm really not enjoying the current American Idol season. It actually reminds me of the last X Factor series we did. It's just a bit dull."

[Arles]

Originally Posted by Scoobz0202

I just saw Arles post.

I would be interested to hear from those that agree that Eleanor Rigby is such a great song. What made his performance stand out to you? I personally was listening and at the same time heard the Beatles song in my mind, and I felt he did it no justice at all.

IMO, the great part of taking a new twist on a song means you don't necessarily have to compare it to the original. If someone just did a "copy" of ER from the Beatles, I probably wouldn't have liked it as much unless they were 100% spot on. I would compare this to Daughtry doing the "Walk the Line" Live remake version of Cash's song. Because it was setup differently, you can be a little more forgiving.

I would also agree that the song was much better from the first chorus on. In fact, for most of the performances it seems that the initial lower register beginnings often felt forced and lacking. Maybe it's the acoustics like mentioned above. Because, once the band was involved and the producers were able to equalize the sound, the 2nd and 3rd lower register sections always sounded better.

Originally Posted by Eaglesfan27

10. David A - I think that is the first song he hasn't performed a million times before and it showed.

I completely agree. The worst thing about this is that it sets him up to go back to his "awk, shucks, you mean you really like me?!!" Melinda Doolittle impression the next time he does a decent job. I really can't remember a singer that has had more of a 3-4 show freefall than David has since he did imagine. It's now to the point where I almost dread his performance because it's either going to be this brooding, well-rehearsed, fake-emotional performance or he is going to take a chance and probably bomb. He's like the bizzaro Brooke White (who comes off as genuine and with real emotion).

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

I'm telling you, they forced him to sing that song to help pave the way for his leaving. No way he chose that song - 12 people, 25 songs...you do the math.

I wouldn't be surprised at all to learn that David H chose this song. First, I think the process works where everyone submits their choice and the producers let the favorites get first dibs. But, David H has had some success with the faster-moving songs and I think he just got a little full of himself. He probably got the choice between "Saw her standing there" and a piano ballad and chose the former to keep his up-tempo style.

[rkmsuf]

By the time this thing is over, Kristy Lee Cook will look like a man and David H will look like pre Idol Kristy Lee Cook.

[lordscarlet]

I pretty much agree with everyone above. I wish MJ4H would have addressed the David A performance, though.

Eze really surprised me this week. His #2 spot hurts him in rankings, I think, because there were a lot of very good performances after him. After loving it when he performed it, I think it dropped to #4 or so on my list. I also loved Carly, David Cook and Brooke.

[Ksyrup]

Originally Posted by lordscarlet

I wish MJ4H would have addressed the David A performance, though.

Hey, everyone's entitled to at least one screw up on a song they've haven't been performing since before puberty.