American Idol

[Solecismic]

It's time for the final installment of the Solecismic Ratings. I've got some spare time here while my wife watches the ultimate chick show: the wedding of two scenery-chewing reality television show weasels.

Now, as far as wedding go, it looked like Vonzell and Anthony had some chemistry going there for awhile. I think they'd make a more interesting couple. The marriage of disco and elevator. YMtapioCA.

By the time the show ends, everyone already has their favorite. It's all about the pageantry as they try out the songs written for the winner to release as whatsisname cashes in on all the Idol hype.

And these songs just weren't written for Bo. He gave it a game effort, but his lack of range showed. He can't do pop convincingly. Nor can he do country with the right twang. These songs were written with Carrie in mind, perhaps two months ago.

So, on to the competition.

Bo's first song, and Carrie's third song, was a putrid little pop tune about angels. It had some fancy little key changes and required some range, but it came together about as well as a rousing rendition of Chilliwack's greatest hits.

Bo struggled a bit when the key changed, but his tone was pure. I'd score that an 82. But Carrie came in with an excellent performance, probably the best of the night. She actually sung with a bit of emotion for once, even though it may well have been relief that everything was over. She knew she did well. Score of 95.

Carrie's first song, and Bo's third, was a twangy little number that I'd be quite pleased never to hear again. Carrie had a dreadful start. She missed several notes, and it looked like an impending disaster. Then she hit the big refrain and saved herself. Score of 77.

On Bo's end, he clearly wasn't enjoying the song, but he gave it a decent try. I'm going to score it a 74, though it could have been worse. Again, it wasn't very fair to have him competing head to head with Carrie on songs that were much more her style.

For the second song, each contestant got to pick his or her favorite from earlier in the season. Bo chose that Vehicle song that somehow was considered part of '70s week. He knows that song well, it's ideally suited to his voice. He's probably sung it 500 times on stage. And it was very good. Since Carrie gets the benefit of the songwriting, I won't dock him any points for familiarity. Score of 93.

Carrie chose a country song rather than the Heart song she did so well with early in the season. She started strong, but uncharacteristically missed a few loud notes at the end. It was almost a Vonzell performance, if Vonzell could sing country. Score of 79.

For the entire night, I'd give Carrie the tiniest of edges. And for the season, a slightly bigger edge to Carrie. With a little polish and training, she has more mass appeal, and is a better fit for American Idol. Bo clearly has a long and successful career in rock and roll ahead of him.

This was a much better season than last, and the fans picked the right two finalists. Carrie's not quite as talented as Kelly Clarkson and she's not the brightest bulb in the proverbial Christmas tree strand, but I'm comfortable with her winning.

As a token, I called in one vote for Carrie. Which is the only time I've ever voted on AI, with the exception of my kitschy and ill-fated Mikalah campaign.

[Pyser]

Originally Posted by Solecismic

As a token, I called in one vote for Carrie. Which is the only time I've ever voted on AI, with the exception of my kitschy and ill-fated Mikalah campaign.

just for fun, i tried calling in to vote for bo. the line has been busy every time ive tried for the last 3 hours.

its easier to vote for a freakin president of the united states of america than bo bice.

[HomerJSimpson]

Originally Posted by Pyser

just for fun, i tried calling in to vote for bo. the line has been busy every time ive tried for the last 3 hours.

its easier to vote for a freakin president of the united states of america than bo bice.

Well, Bo would have real power.

[Cuckoo]

Here are my thoughts (as completely worthless as everyone else's here ):


I'll start with the song they had in common. Horrible song, and neither sang it well. I disagree with the judges, though. I think Carrie was a little better on it, but that's only because the song was more suited to her type of voice.

Worst song of the night was Bo's first, in my opinion. It was boring and lifeless, back to that strand in the middle of the season where Bo wasn't anything special.

Best song of the night was Vehicle. It's perfect for him, and they'll be foolish if they don't put that on his album. Yes, every high school band in the world plays it at football games, but Bo will have a hit with it.

So, that leaves me with the final Carrie song. Frankly, I'm not sure she pulled it off. She was straining, and she missed a couple notes. Not spectacular. But, and this is a big but, she did have some emotion going on there. And her little falsetto thing at the end, intentional or just a result of oversinging the entire night, sounded like a real emotional connection to the song on the outside. Major points for a person who needs the performance points.

Therefore, I'd give the slight edge to Carrie, athough I'd still be much more likely to buy Bo's album. Overall, I'll be happy with either one as I think they're both better than any of the other Idols from years past.

[Rizon]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

Man, talk about crap. Aside from the song Bo re-did from earlier, every song/performance was sub-par. Terrible song choices all around. This proves the entire competition is too long - they ran out of songs a few weeks ago.

I lost interest in this show a few weeks ago. Caught bits and pieces, but it's lost its entertainment value for me. I won't be watching next year.

[Cuckoo]

Originally Posted by Solecismic

Carrie's not quite as talented as Kelly Clarkson and she's not the brightest bulb in the proverbial Christmas tree strand, but I'm comfortable with her winning.

Just as an aside: Being from Oklahoma, I'm privy to all the Carrie articles in the paper. Woohoo!! [/sarcasm]

I read in an article the other day that she was the Salutatorian of her High School class. Must be a really small class, right? Well, not huge, but not near as tiny as a lot of Oklahoma schools. She was #2 in a class with just over 100 Seniors. Interesting...

And before Crapshoot comes in with his comment on how stupid Southerners are...

I think maybe she's just really naive and probably not as stupid as she comes across.

[Daimyo]

I thought it was funny how the judges were so critical of the original songs when the AI machine will be peddling the winner's album with those same songs next week. I thought the hype machine would have the judges saying great things like usual.

[Ksyrup]

Originally Posted by Cuckoo

Just as an aside: Being from Oklahoma, I'm privy to all the Carrie articles in the paper. Woohoo!! [/sarcasm]

I read in an article the other day that she was the Salutatorian of her High School class. Must be a really small class, right? Well, not huge, but not near as tiny as a lot of Oklahoma schools. She was #2 in a class with just over 100 Seniors. Interesting...

And before Crapshoot comes in with his comment on how stupid Southerners are...

I think maybe she's just really naive and probably not as stupid as she comes across.

I've known plenty of book-smart people who still come off as dumb as a box of rocks. I'm not talking about street smarts necessarily, just interactions with others and the ability to understand what someone is saying that's pretty obvious to the rest of us. Carrie might do very well on a math test or writing an English paper, but she strikes me as someone you could throw very obvious sexual innuendo jokes or the like at and she'd have no clue you what you were actually saying. Eventually, she might pick up on the fact that others are laughing at her, not with her, but that's about what it would take to make her lightbulb finally come on.

[Ksyrup]

And btw, I think Jim was being too gracious with his scores. I didn't really start watching Idol until last year (although I think I saw the Clay/Reuben final), but that was one of the worst shows, finals or not, I've seen in quite a while. Blame it on the fact that they've rolled out the uninspiring, paint-by-numbers, pop schlock they're going to force one or both of them to record, but either way, that was a disappointing end to a decent season.

And for next year, Randy and Paula need to get back to being actual judges. Paula's been a fruit loop for awhile, but Randy's now intruding on her territory. I don't know what changed, but a few weeks into the final 12, and all of a sudden he's throwing out "best vocal performance ever" and "that was perfect" comments to anyone on stage. Enough, dog!

[MizzouRah]

Carrie wins it. Bo is right there though. This was actually the first AI that I truly thought the two best singers were left.


Todd

[Ksyrup]

If Seacrest was telling the truth, that only 2% separated Bo and Carrie last week, then adding in Vonzell's votes, Carrie should win easily.

[Cuckoo]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

I've known plenty of book-smart people who still come off as dumb as a box of rocks. I'm not talking about street smarts necessarily, just interactions with others and the ability to understand what someone is saying that's pretty obvious to the rest of us. Carrie might do very well on a math test or writing an English paper, but she strikes me as someone you could throw very obvious sexual innuendo jokes or the like at and she'd have no clue you what you were actually saying. Eventually, she might pick up on the fact that others are laughing at her, not with her, but that's about what it would take to make her lightbulb finally come on.

I agree completely. I suppose that's what I meant to say when I called her naive.

[Daimyo]

I almost hope Bo finishes second so he doesn't have to release those two crap singles. If last night was a glimpse of how they're going to use Bo in the future, he has no hope unless he can get out of his Idol contract.

[judicial clerk]

Thanks for the reviews. I was busy putting together my wife's birthday present and missed the finale.

Everybody knows Carrie will win, but if Bo did win for some reason, I am sure that the powers that be will not try to make him into a pop star ala Brittney Spears or Justin Timberlake. They are not idiots and they will recognize where Bo's talents lie and have him put out a southern rock/pop/whatever album. I want Bo to win just becasue I want him to be the champion. I don't care what record or songs he releases in the future as i probably will not buy them (unless I go all 21st century and get an mp3 player) so i don't care. Carrie has a good voice and if she wins that is ok.

[TLK]

Tonights show is two hours long? Do they announce the winner at the end of the show? In other words... Can I tune in for the last ten minutes and not miss anything?

[Joe]

Originally Posted by TheLionKing

Tonights show is two hours long? Do they announce the winner at the end of the show? In other words... Can I tune in for the last ten minutes and not miss anything?

yeah, they'll do it at the end. if its like previous years, they'll have the other finalists performing as well, pimping out their summer tour.

[Ksyrup]

Yep, tonight is win/win for me. I won't have to sit through an awful AI finale, and my wife will watch Lost, which means I've got about 110 uninterrupted minutes of music through my headphones while surfing the net.

[Ksyrup]

I'll have the music so loud, I probably wouldn't even notice...

EDIT: Fuck this time stamp shit! It's like we have to quote everything we're responding to!

[thealmighty]

Tonight is win/win for me as well. I'll be in with your wife...














...I mean the watching Lost part, of course.

[MJ4H]

rulez. congrats carrie.

[TLK]

Excellent....

[FBPro]

Originally Posted by MattJones4Heisman

rulez. congrats carrie.

Yep, picked her from the start.

[Mota]

I enjoyed the finale tonight, only because I time-shifted it and watched 2 hours of programming in 1 hour. Man, they really have to pad the show to make it 2 hours.

The sad thing for us Canadians is that Canadian Idol starts on Monday. Give us a few weeks break, why don't ya? I am NOT ready to start over this quickly.

[MizzouRah]

YAHOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!

[Arles]

I was impressed with the self-discipline of the AI producers. To have David Hasselhoff and Anthony Federov on the same stage and resist the temptation on what could be a duet of near global proportions is impressive

[Ksyrup]

Originally Posted by Arles

I was impressed with the self-discipline of the AI producers. To have David Hasselhoff and Anthony Federov on the same stage and resist the temptation on what could be a duet of near global proportions is impressive

I'm even happier with my decision to not watch a second of this until 9:50.

[Danny]

Tivo for the win!

[Ksyrup]

What was there to Tivo? David Hasselhoff on Tivo looks just like David Hasselhoff live...except you can make him last longer on Tivo. All you had to do was flip over during the last Lost commercial at 9:54, see who won, and flip back before she started singing that God-awful song again.

[Critch]

Don't know what happened this season, but my wife and I just completly lost interest. Boring competitors, polished cos they were a bit older, but not great. We skipped the final last night and I checked in here at 10.30 to find out who won The Battle of the Blands.

[Ajaxab]

Who are we kidding about these people having long and successful careers? It hasn't come to the 'where are they now' stage just yet, but Kelly Clarkson seems to be the only one who has done anything that might be construed as a career to this point.

As far as Seacrest and the claimed 2% difference between the two contestants, 2% is a heck of a lot if 40 million votes were cast. Sounds a little different if he had said that one of them soundly beat the other by almost 1 million votes instead of the 2%.

[gottimd]

What they don't tell you is that out of the 50 million or so votes that they record, there is probably about 100K people voting tons of times. They should have the voting system be limited to one vote per phone number. Could you imagine the decrease in the amount of votes?

[Buccaneer]

Great, another year and another sappy crooner.

[Ksyrup]

Originally Posted by Ajaxab

As far as Seacrest and the claimed 2% difference between the two contestants, 2% is a heck of a lot if 40 million votes were cast. Sounds a little different if he had said that one of them soundly beat the other by almost 1 million votes instead of the 2%.

It's not 2% of 40 million, it's 2% between the two of them, in a 3 person vote. If people voted 40 million times for 3 contestants, and we assume that the third contestant didn't get completely blown away by the other two, the voting might look something like this:

Carrie - 15,000,000
Bo - 14,700,000
Vonzell - 10,300,000

That would be a 2% difference between Carrie and Bo. Now, take that 300,000 and add it to Vonzell's votes, and you've got over 10.5 million votes that would get split between Bo and Carrie. I'd guess that 75% of Vonzell's votes would go to Carrie (assuming they were even motivated to vote after she lost). So Carrie would gain an edge over Bo in the millions. I didn't watch so I don't know what Ryan said about how close the voting was last night (the 2% figure was for last week's 3-way vote), but my guess is Carrie won it fairly easily.

[Cuckoo]

Well, as I expected the first hour was a complete waste. And so was the majority of the second hour.

However, I must admit that I really enjoyed the songs with name acts there at the end. With the possible exception of "Walk This Way," I thought they were all well done.

As to the winner, I think they got it right. Carrie probably deserved to win, but I really do think that both of them should (and I emphasize should) have solid careers.

I think Ksyrup's right about the voting, though, because Ryan didn't say that it was close. Whenever it is, they always play that up. I don't know if Carrie blew him away, but I don't think it was as close as many expected it to be.

[rkmsuf]

[Ksyrup]

2005 “American Idol” rock contestant Bo Bice will be unleashing his debut album “The Real Thing” (yep, same name as Faith No More’s 1989 album) on the 13th of December.

Bice was the favourite to win the talent competition, and following his loss to country lass Carrie Underwood plenty of interest and time was invested in him by some of the biggest names in the industry. “The Real Thing” was produced by Clive Davis and sees Bice working with Jon Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora, Chad Kroeger, Max Martin, Ben Moody and John Shanks.“It's so cool to be surrounded by people like that…you just feel grateful every day,” said Bice of his all-star recording crew.

“The Real Thing” will be released in 2 versions – the regular, single disc version and the special edition 2-discer featuring three additional songs written by Bice, a documentary “A Day In The Life”, behind-the-scenes looks at Bo in the studio and promo appearances, photo shoots and acoustic performances of “Changing for the Better,” “Whisky, Women and Time,” “Sinner in a Sin” and “Papillon.”

[zums]

how current is that article? i thought i heard the album got pushed back until after the new year..


-zums


EDIT: either way, i'm actually looking forward to it quite a bit

[Ksyrup]

Where I got it from wasn't exactly a legit new source, but Billboard says the same thing:

"American Idol" runner-up Bo Bice will release his as-yet-untitled debut album Dec. 13 via RCA. Although the track list for the set is not finalized, tunes have been submitted by Nickelback frontman Chad Kroeger, former Evanescence guitarist Ben Moody, Bon Jovi guitarist Richie Sambora in collaboration with producer John Shanks, Desmond Child and Marty Frederiksen.

It is unknown if Bice's debut single, "Inside Your Heaven," will re-appear on the album. The track debuted in July at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100, two weeks after "Idol" champ Carrie Underwood took the song to No. 1.

Bice and his band have also been performing two songs inspired by the recent hurricanes, "We Can't Change This World" and "Changing for the Better," at their live shows, but it is unclear if they will make the cut.

Clive Davis is serving as executive producer on the set, while additional production was turned in by Shanks, Moody, Frederiksen and Max Martin.

As previously reported, Bice can be heard guesting on Carlos Santana's new album, "All That I Am," due Nov. 1 via Arista.

[Ksyrup]

That article is from October, though. But Sony Music Store has the same release date:

http://www.sonymusicstore.com/store/...05&skuId=91625