Well, this is the final week of the semi-finals, and
the final week they'll eliminate 4 people to get down
to the final 12. I decided to give my 2 cents on the
contestants as we go along. I've never actually
written my opinions before during the contest so it'll
be interesting to see what I feel towards them at the
end compared to how I feel now.
First of all, over the past 2 weeks they've gotten rid
of 8 contestents who shouldn't have been there in the
first place. I hate the fact that the judges (Randy,
Paula and Simon) knowingly put into the final 24
contestents they know will not pass muster and can be
easily gotten rid of. I'm sure there are actually 24
really good singers out there considering they send
about 10 times that many to Hollywood, all of whom
pass initial auditions. I don't know why they don't
want to start with 24 good singers, instead of about
12. Plus, I really hate the way Simon sways and
manipulates the audience and the voting through his
comments - you know it's deliberate and it frustrates
me that people follow him even though they may have
just heard a performance they liked a lot- once he
says his opinion, which may or may not be what he
really heard but reflects how he wants to voting to
go, people just fall into line and vote the way he says.
Here's someone sitting at hime: End of performance,
"Wow! That was really good! I'm totally voting for
that guy!" Applause, hooting and hollering. Randy and
Paula, "yay, excellent, unique, dawg...woohoo!" At
home, "yay, yeah, I agree, that was excellent!"
Simon, "That sounded just like something I'd hear at a
second rate casino, it wasn't very good." At home, "oh
my gosh, maybe he's right. Maybe it wasn't so good, I
better change my vote." All because Simon has a
different lineup in his head of who he wants in the
final 12, final 6, final 2 whatever. He may have
totally liked the performance, but if that particular
singer isn't on his list to advance he disses them.
And the final 12, and the audience's votes, fall into
place just how he dreamed it.
So anyway, here's who I like:
Girls:
Paris is really good, but she was better in the
auditions and her song selection for the past 3 weeks
has basically sucked. I think people are going to get
annoyed with the "fashionista", the baby voice, and
with her not picking the songs they want to hear. Who
is helping her select her songs? They suck, and can't
compare to the gospel-y/jazz-y songs she sang early in
the competition - the songs that got her to where she
is. Plus her perkiness and chicken-dancing are
annoying. Paris was my pick to go all the way, but
now I'm pretty annoyed with her and her song selection
this week was ineffective. But I don't thnk she'll be
sent home yet.
Mandisa: This one is good. She's got power, but
she's going to have to dial it back a notch soon and
change up her song selection because she's running the
risk of song sameness, and she'll get called out on
it. In the meantime, she's riding a wave and totally
deserves it.
Melissa: Hope she goes. Sang Melissa Ethridge and
totally had to strain and force it. I hear that
Melissa was the choice to vote for on that website
votefortheworse.com so it really makes me nervous when
they get voters together to bloc-vote and someone gets
sent home before they should and someone else gets
kept when they shouldn't be.
Kellie Pickler, Pick-pickler, carrie-pickles: Kellie
has a great voice, a bit thin and not very powerful,
but still on-tune and with a good tone. I like her.
What I don't like is all the cornpone-hype AI is
throwing at us - if they keep it up there will be a
viewer backlash against Kellie.
Katherine: I Love this girls voice! Between
Katherine and Mandisa I don't know who I would pick as
the best because they're both so good in their styles.
A lot of people in the forums were giving Katherine
grief because she picked an Aretha song to sing
("Freedom") and basically said if she can't sing like
Aretha she shouldn't sing that song. I disagree - if
I hadn't heard Aretha sing it or if a singer of a
lesser quality had sung it I would never have thought
to compare and Katherine did an excellent job. Even
though I know the Aretha version, Katherine sang it in
her own voice and style, and did not try to imitate
Aretha at all, so there was nothing to compare. She
chose a great song and sung it out of the park.
People on the boards can be so stupid sometimes.
Who's left?
Oh, Lisa. Girl's good, but needs to come back in
another 5 years and try again. She has a fine voice
but she's only 16 and it shows - talent show
contestant.
Kinnik: Ugh. Awful song selection since she made the
final 24 - I expect her to go this week.
I'm forgetting somebody - but it doesn't metter.
My favorite girls: Katherine and Mandisa
My picks for the girls that should go: Melissa and
Kinnik. It gets tougher after these two go because the women's field is deep.
Guys:
OMG, what is Chris doing here? He is so much better,
more experienced and more composed than anyone here
and he should be launched already into a successful
career. Except, you can't argue with the exposure you
get on AI so maybe this is the best way. He's just so
much better than the rest - it might backfire. I
think that would be OK though, because I bet a million
bucks that he already has contracts lined up now.
Kevin: Needs to GO HOME! Sang "Vincent", a song
which almost derailed Clay when he sang it and is
about SUICIDE and there's Kevin grinning and chirping
and lisping through the song like it's about
butterflies and rainbows. The first part of the song
was terrible, but he got into it towards the middle
and did OK. The kid has a nice voice that could be
trained to be better - it's thin and reedy, with too
much vibrato, and he needs to learn to sing around the
lisp. He needs real voice lessons, and not just from
his choir teacher. He has potential but should not go
much farther in this competition. That would be
unfair to the other contestants.
Elliot: Elliot has a great voice, but he's not on
Simon's favored list so I'm afraid he'll go home soon.
Maybe even more than Chris, he has control over his
voice, and is always in tune and on key and has a
beautiful tone. For some reason Simon doesn't seem to like
him - he isn't as pretty as some of the other guys,
though, so that's probably why.
Simon likes to say in one breath that it's a "singer's
competition", in which case Elliot is one of the best,
but then he'll turn around and say "it's not just a
singer's competition" which means the way you look
counts for a lot and he doesn't think people like
Elliot have it. Pick a side Simon!
Wil: Doesn't have a chance. He's young, he sounds
great most of the time, but he's too Bobby Brady to
hold people's attention. Another one who could come
back and sing in his man's voice in a few years, after
he loses the kid voice. Although, the judges are so
obviously trying to lose Wil before Kevin it's
pathetic and transparent: Wil has a much better voice
than Kevin, and is cuter, but they want to keep Kevin
for the "dorky-cuteness factor" and boy, is he in for
an embarrassing and crestfallen time when they're
finally done with him - I really hope he's not buying
into the bullshit they're heaping on him now.
Bucky: I LOVE Bucky. I love his voice, although he
needs to learn to enunciate a bit better, I think he's
stomach-fluttery-cute, he has a great smile, he seems
sweet and kind and not affected, and what more can you
ask? People who do not like him cite his "country"
appearance and cast slurs on his long hair or say he
probably stinks from cows or something. How stupid is that? I
read this kind of disparagement a lot on the forums
regarding Bucky and I don't understand it. Snark is
snark and can be funny, but enough is enough when it
gets so personal and it's time to quit and focus on the singing
And, OMG, he has a TWIN!
They're both adorable and I want one.
Ace: AI is letting Ace slide through on sex appeal -
he does seem to be a legitimately nice guy with a
decent voice, but AI so obviously does not want him to
leave before the final 12 that they are almost
embarrassingly upfront about it. I could do without
the eye-fuck, although it's not as bad as
Constantine's was last year (really, nothing could be
worse than that). But there's not a chance in hell
he's leaving this week - AI has focused too much time
and attention on him. Last night's Michael Jackson song "Butterflies", which he
sang first in falsetto, and sang the second part in his natural
voice, was good for what it was but a lot of prople probably didn't get it.
Gideon: Has a pleasant voice but definitely out of
his league here. He's very young, only 17 or so, and
I would totally love to see him come back and blow us
out of the water in four or five years with his
grown-up voice - although he might already have a
career by then. He doesn't have it yet. Might go
home this week.
And, last, and least, is Taylor. I am so over this
guy. I hate his tics and spasms, his voice is Ok but
he's rarely right on the notes, he's aping Ray Charles
with his self-hugging, which I hate, Stevie Wonder with
his swaying and clapping and side-bopping, and Michael
McDonald with his gray hair and his singing style.
WHERE'S TAYLOR?????? Nobody seems to be asking this
question. Who is Taylor? How can everyone be
showering the love on him when he's nothing but a
mixed-up version of Stevie/Ray/Michael AND worse, he's
just barely above or below his notes, almost all of
the time? I would like to see Taylor go home, but he
won't because since the first time they saw him, when
they didn't know what to do with him, AI has developed
him as this quirky, fun loving, high-performance guy
but I think he's just a so-so-voiced copy cat who has
yet to find himself. He's not going anywhere.
My faves: Chris, Bucky, Elliot (although according to
dialidol.com, which tracks phone calls and ranks them
from "got through" vs "busy signals", Bucky might be
in trouble - I hope not) I can't check now because dialidol went down.
Going Home: Wil and Gideon (should be Kevin)
Ones we'll see forever because they've been so heavily
hyped by AI for some reason: Ace, Pickles, Taylor.
We'll see tonight how close I am.
