Idol Chatter 3/24/08

[T_Bone0806]

Theme: The year they were born.

I must say, once again I am annoyed with the inconsistency of the judges. They criticize singers for not getting out of their comfort zone, thern criticize when they do. Just tell the truth, guys: "I really have nothing valid to say but I'm getting paid to say SOMETHING, so.."

1-Syesha-"If I Were Your Woman'. I only know this by Gladys Knight, don't know who did the remake that qualified this as a song for Syesha. A very solid performance from start to almost finish. The final vocal run was ther only thing that kept the + from being added to the grade. I'm not a fan of her personally, but fair is fair... A

2-David C. "Billie Jean" I realize that this was not HIS original arrangement (did he say it was Chris Cornell?), but I wasn't crazy about it. Still, he sang the crap outta it. Nice job on the sustained note near the end. Just dont want to hear the same type of arrangement on EVERYTHING he does from here on in. A

3-Jason "Fragile" This is the type of song he excels at. After his "who gives a crap" performance last week, he needed to play to his strength this week. I was entertained and he was pleasant to listen to. Nothing wrong with that. A

4-Michael "We Are the Champions". Best performance since the last time he did Queen (during Hollywood Week). A little shaky on the "No Time for Losers" part, otherwise the rocker finally rocked. A-

5-Chikezie "If Only For One Night". See my opening statement re: inconsistent criticisms. I heard a nice mellow vibe in his voice. Maybe a bit dull but his vocal was excellent. A-

6-Brooke "every Breath You Take" False start notwithstanding, I found this to be an interesting and entertaining take on an unexpected choice. A little shaky on the second half, but not cripplingly so. B+

7-David A "You're the Voice" Decent but a bit lackluster. B

8-Carly "Total Eclipse of the Heart" Cliched song choice. Yawn. Carly was trying too hard here. Forced the power vocal and wandered offkey now and then. The ending was less than stellar. B-

9-Kristy Lee "God Bless the USA" This smacked of desperation. Talk about pandering to the voters. She knows she's on thin ice, so she tries the appeal to our patriotic nature. "If you vote me out for singing this song, you're un-American and probably a Commie". Call me a cynic, but I was insulted by this crass reach for our flag-waving heartstrings. I am only surprised that she wasn't wearing red, white and blue. As for her singing, her best performance? Maybe so, but that's not a compliment either. OK on the verse, a train wreck on the chorus. C-

10-Ramielle "Alone" Choosing this oversung, overdone song was really stupid. First of all, it invites comparison to not only fan favorite Carrie Underwood (who, in something I have never understood, earned rave reviews for her rendition a few years ago), but one of her competitors THIS season, Carly. Second, she was terrible. Flat throughout. Wayyyyy too big for her. D-

Who should go: I won't be happy until Kristy Lee is His-Tor-Eee.
Who will go: I'm guessing Ramielle.


My standings:

Chikezie 56 pts.
Carly 55 pts
David A and David C 53 pts
Jason and Syesha 50 pts.
Michael 47 pts
Brooke 42 pts
Ramiele 41 pts.
Kristy Lee 23 pts.

[KillerTomato]

Theme: The year they were born.

I must say, once again I am annoyed with the inconsistency of the judges. They criticize singers for not getting out of their comfort zone, thern criticize when they do. Just tell the truth, guys: "I really have nothing valid to say but I'm getting paid to say SOMETHING, so.."

1-Syesha-"If I Were Your Woman'. I only know this by Gladys Knight, don't know who did the remake that qualified this as a song for Syesha. A very solid performance from start to almost finish. The final vocal run was ther only thing that kept the + from being added to the grade. I'm not a fan of her personally, but fair is fair... A

2-David C. "Billie Jean" I realize that this was not HIS original arrangement (did he say it was Chris Cornell?), but I wasn't crazy about it. Still, he sang the crap outta it. Nice job on the sustained note near the end. Just dont want to hear the same type of arrangement on EVERYTHING he does from here on in. A

3-Jason "Fragile" This is the type of song he excels at. After his "who gives a crap" performance last week, he needed to play to his strength this week. I was entertained and he was pleasant to listen to. Nothing wrong with that. A

4-Michael "We Are the Champions". Best performance since the last time he did Queen (during Hollywood Week). A little shaky on the "No Time for Losers" part, otherwise the rocker finally rocked. A-

5-Chikezie "If Only For One Night". See my opening statement re: inconsistent criticisms. I heard a nice mellow vibe in his voice. Maybe a bit dull but his vocal was excellent. A-

6-Brooke "every Breath You Take" False start notwithstanding, I found this to be an interesting and entertaining take on an unexpected choice. A little shaky on the second half, but not cripplingly so. B+

7-David A "You're the Voice" Decent but a bit lackluster. B

8-Carly "Total Eclipse of the Heart" Cliched song choice. Yawn. Carly was trying too hard here. Forced the power vocal and wandered offkey now and then. The ending was less than stellar. B-

9-Kristy Lee "God Bless the USA" This smacked of desperation. Talk about pandering to the voters. She knows she's on thin ice, so she tries the appeal to our patriotic nature. "If you vote me out for singing this song, you're un-American and probably a Commie". Call me a cynic, but I was insulted by this crass reach for our flag-waving heartstrings. I am only surprised that she wasn't wearing red, white and blue. As for her singing, her best performance? Maybe so, but that's not a compliment either. OK on the verse, a train wreck on the chorus. C-

10-Ramielle "Alone" Choosing this oversung, overdone song was really stupid. First of all, it invites comparison to not only fan favorite Carrie Underwood (who, in something I have never understood, earned rave reviews for her rendition a few years ago), but one of her competitors THIS season, Carly. Second, she was terrible. Flat throughout. Wayyyyy too big for her. D-

Who should go: I won't be happy until Kristy Lee is His-Tor-Eee.
Who will go: I'm guessing Ramielle.


My standings:

Chikezie 56 pts.
Carly 55 pts
David A and David C 53 pts
Jason and Syesha 50 pts.
Michael 47 pts
Brooke 42 pts
Ramiele 41 pts.
Kristy Lee 23 pts.

Just finished watching it on DVR, and GENERALLY I agree with most of the above. HOWEVER....

I'm still not drinking the Archuletta Kool-Aid AT ALL. He was awful yet again. "Theme Park" was too kind. Twitchy and occasionally offkey (yep), breathy and amateurish.

As for Cook, this was the first time I've really liked him, although I HATE that version of "Billie Jean" almost as much as the orignal Wacko Jacko version.

I for one thought Syesha kicked butt tonight, second only to Cook (although she would get a better grade for me simply because I hate the song he chose). And third? I'm in the minority here, but I thought Chikezie was great. Fourth for me was Brooke, although I agree that an all-piano arrangement would have worked better, but she took their advice from a previous performance (wish I could remember which one) and brought the band in halfway through...then they complained about it.

Next, Carly surpised me by nearly singing "Total Eclipse"...a bit bombastic, and certainly a copycat of Bonnie Tyler, but not bad. She just beat out Jason (I love "Fragile," but he could have used better backing...this is one example where the minimalist approach worked against him).

I'm also staying away from the Aussie-flavored Kool-Aid. Once again, singing a two-for-one (even when Queen did it first) just shows that while he can shred half the time, the other half he's just....eh.

The bottom of the pack were Kristy (who shouldn't even be there) and Ramielle (who just sucked wind).

[Snaxx]

I liked Chikezie as well! I put in a good few votes for him since based on the judges reaction and past weak support for him, he appears to be in danger this week. I'm afraid that pandering song choice will save Kristy Lee for another week. Ramiele is my second choice to go after Kristy Lee.

Snaxx






.

[fantine33]

Songs in the Year They Were Born Week depresses me.

[MarkBarrett]

Ramiele is the low score on my card. Kristy shouldn't still be in the competition, but this week she wasn't awful.

Syesha was outstanding and I'll add to her vote count to keep her out of the bottom three.

Joining Ramiele in the bottom three I'll predict it's Chikezie and Carly. My impression was the judges enjoyed Michael enough to keep him safe for now.

At this point it doesn't matter what David A. does as he's untouchable until top 3. I also suspect Jason and David C. have top five spots locked up.

I still don't know what to make of Brooke. She's far from my favorite finalist, but I enjoyed her version of The Police song.

Tonight's show had a good mixture of songs and I think iTunes will be busy tomorrow.

[PlacentiaSoccerMom]

I've liked David C since the first week. Brooke is growing on me and I hope that she lasts for a while. I also like Michael and Jason, but the rest of the field is forgettable to me.

I resent the fact that the producers seem to be pimping out Carly and David A and I think that the latter will last a while due to his teenage girl fanbase.

[SportsFan68]

I looked in on VFTW.

I think they have an uphill battle so far -- Kristy won't command the fan base that voted for Sanjaya.

We'll see who's next after she gets the boot.

[kusch]

Theme: The year they were born.

I must say, once again I am annoyed with the inconsistency of the judges. They criticize singers for not getting out of their comfort zone, thern criticize when they do. Just tell the truth, guys: "I really have nothing valid to say but I'm getting paid to say SOMETHING, so.."

1-Syesha-"If I Were Your Woman'. I only know this by Gladys Knight, don't know who did the remake that qualified this as a song for Syesha. A very solid performance from start to almost finish. The final vocal run was ther only thing that kept the + from being added to the grade. I'm not a fan of her personally, but fair is fair... A

2-David C. "Billie Jean" I realize that this was not HIS original arrangement (did he say it was Chris Cornell?), but I wasn't crazy about it. Still, he sang the crap outta it. Nice job on the sustained note near the end. Just dont want to hear the same type of arrangement on EVERYTHING he does from here on in. A

3-Jason "Fragile" This is the type of song he excels at. After his "who gives a crap" performance last week, he needed to play to his strength this week. I was entertained and he was pleasant to listen to. Nothing wrong with that. A

4-Michael "We Are the Champions". Best performance since the last time he did Queen (during Hollywood Week). A little shaky on the "No Time for Losers" part, otherwise the rocker finally rocked. A-

5-Chikezie "If Only For One Night". See my opening statement re: inconsistent criticisms. I heard a nice mellow vibe in his voice. Maybe a bit dull but his vocal was excellent. A-

6-Brooke "every Breath You Take" False start notwithstanding, I found this to be an interesting and entertaining take on an unexpected choice. A little shaky on the second half, but not cripplingly so. B+

7-David A "You're the Voice" Decent but a bit lackluster. B

8-Carly "Total Eclipse of the Heart" Cliched song choice. Yawn. Carly was trying too hard here. Forced the power vocal and wandered offkey now and then. The ending was less than stellar. B-

9-Kristy Lee "God Bless the USA" This smacked of desperation. Talk about pandering to the voters. She knows she's on thin ice, so she tries the appeal to our patriotic nature. "If you vote me out for singing this song, you're un-American and probably a Commie". Call me a cynic, but I was insulted by this crass reach for our flag-waving heartstrings. I am only surprised that she wasn't wearing red, white and blue. As for her singing, her best performance? Maybe so, but that's not a compliment either. OK on the verse, a train wreck on the chorus. C-

10-Ramielle "Alone" Choosing this oversung, overdone song was really stupid. First of all, it invites comparison to not only fan favorite Carrie Underwood (who, in something I have never understood, earned rave reviews for her rendition a few years ago), but one of her competitors THIS season, Carly. Second, she was terrible. Flat throughout. Wayyyyy too big for her. D-

Who should go: I won't be happy until Kristy Lee is His-Tor-Eee.
Who will go: I'm guessing Ramielle.


My standings:

Chikezie 56 pts.
Carly 55 pts
David A and David C 53 pts
Jason and Syesha 50 pts.
Michael 47 pts
Brooke 42 pts
Ramiele 41 pts.
Kristy Lee 23 pts.

I think Ramiele should go. Ok, can someone attempt to convince me that David C is all that? I just do not get it. Like I said, attempt to convince me because I think I have a pre-disposition to not like rockers, maybe.
David C should not have even made the final 24. Overly cocky, arrogant and just plain "hey people look at me, I am the real deal" just bug the heck out of me. Oh, so does his hair.

Rant over, go back to your regularly scheduled programming.

[PlacentiaSoccerMom]

Dial Idol has the bottom three as:

Spoiler

Ramiele, Jason, and Chikezie. They say that David Cook has the highest votes, for the first time in this competition. Usually David A has the highest number of votes.

[astrnomr]

Rule #1 for American Idol -- which most people (except for the competitors, apparently) know -- is never, ever sing a song done by Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey, Celine Dion, or George Michael. You will not compare favorably. Rule #2 is to pick songs people have heard of. What the hell was with the song choices last night??? I love 80s music, and most of them were born in the 80s, yet I only recognized about half of the songs.

This is a deep, talented field this year, and I see a wide-open competition with many singers who have recording careers ahead of them. Here's what I thought of last night's performances, mixed in with my comments for this season so far:

Ramiele - Song choice was terrible. It's a slutty song, and that's not the image she presents. She's a good singer and she's cute, but has the stage presence of a wet mop. Being unspectacular and leading off are never a good combination. Maybe with some professional coaching she could be successful, but she's only marginal at this point.

Jason - He's boring, and he has the same goofy expression on his face no matter what he's singing. My son Peter still associates him with the song "Hallelujah" where, thanks to the magic of HDTV, we saw him let a big spit bomb go in the middle of the song. Other than that, his performances, including last night's rendition of an obscure Sting song, have been completely forgettable. Unless his dreadlocks can start singing backup for him, he has no future as a recording star. If you think otherwise, try closing your eyes and listening to his performances.

Syesha is a good singer, but rarely produces memorable performances. I think she has a lot of talent, but she has yet to pick a song that really blows me away. Last week's version of "Yesterday" (complete with crocodile tears) was close, but this was still a solid performance and should easily move her on to next week.

Chick Peasy has a very small comfort zone -- bluegrass music -- and the judges seem to hate him when he does that kind of music. His ballad was okay, but again it was a song I don't know. I think he has potential, but not as a pop/rock musician, and he'll be gone from the show within a few weeks.

Brooke gets points for having the sense to start over when she hit the wrong initial note. Just about every other singer would have continued and turned it into an off-key mess. Overall, it was okay, albeit unspectacular. She reminds me a lot of Carly Simon. I'm still not as excited about her as others are, though. Last week's version of "Here Comes the Sun" was an absolute disaster, but she came through unscathed.

Michael Johns learned nothing from last week's ill-conceived smash-up of "A Day in the Life". "We Will Rock You" is a bad song because it requires no vocal range and literally anybody can sing it. Also, the sudden jump to "We Will Rock You" was awkward. Although he did an excellent job with the latter, I would have really loved this performance if he had just done the second song. He showed tons of potential in the Hollywood rounds when he did the intro to "Bohemian Rhapsody".

Carly's rendition of "Total Eclipse of the Heart" didn't work that well for me. She's a powerful singer, but she either picked a key that's too low for her or her range is more limited than I thought. Her low notes last night were downright awful.

David A -- please refer to AI Rule #2. I don't know what the hell he was singing or doing up there, and I tuned out the entire performance. The nicest thing I can say is that at least it wasn't another sad ballad. Unfortunately, that seems to be the only kind of song he sounds good singing.

Kristy is like the Washington Senators. She's pretty, she's likeable, and she's always hovering around last place. Desperately needed something to pull herself out of the cellar, she pulls out a big old wheel of cheese. She actually sounded good, and it might even be enough to survive another week. She looks and sounds like Carrie Underwood 2.0, except that version 2.0 is not an improvement over version 1.0. She might have some limited success as a country music star, but that's about it.

If David Cook would get a real haircut instead of that stupid emo look, he could be running away with this season. He's the only one who attempts to do something other than simply covering the original song. Yeah, he's rather full of himself, but I like how he makes over songs into his own style. I also think he's the only one who would be ready to start making CDs today. I'd like to see him do something besides a power ballad, but I really liked this version of Billie Jean -- better than the original, even.

Bottom Three:
Ramiele - Forgettable and went first. That's usually a bad combination.
Jason - Goofy, forgettable, picked an obscure song, and went second. Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?
Chick Peasy - Boring, forgettable, and bad song choice. Can't anybody pick the right songs???

The Boot:
My surprise pick this week is Jason. He's had several lackluster weeks in a row, he went early in the show, and voter complacency might kick in. He looks like he doesn't even care at this point.

[PlacentiaSoccerMom]

If David Cook would get a real haircut instead of that stupid emo look, he could be running away with this season. He's the only one who attempts to do something other than simply covering the original song. Yeah, he's rather full of himself, but I like how he makes over songs into his own style. I also think he's the only one who would be ready to start making CDs today. I'd like to see him do something besides a power ballad, but I really liked this version of Billie Jean -- better than the original, even.

Last night, Maddie and I were talking about David Cook's hair. We have liked him from the beginning, but have issues with his hair. As bad as his hair is, it seems as though it was better this week than it was his first few weeks.

Did you see his skull as a baby? He's got a huge, oddly-shaped head and I am not sure that any type of haircut is going to look good on him, though somebody did something to him to make him look better this week.


This week:


March 11th


March 4th



Feb 26th


Auditions

[minimetoo26]

I put the Bottom 3 as Chikeze, Brooke, and my boy Jason. I hope it's Chikeze out the door and not the Birthday Boy.

Dial Idol doesn't work for Ramiele--I'm guessing she's got more texters than most (TMTH and all...)

[Ritterskoop]

Stephanie Mills did the Gladys Knight song in 1978. I'll be buying one or the other.

David Cook's "remakes" have both been done by other groups. The Lionel Richie "Hello" version was originally by Incubus, and last night's "Billie Jean" was by Chris Cornell. Doesn't mean he isn't doing the right versions for himself, because he is, but they are not original arrangements by him. Like Chris Daughtry's "I Walk the Line" arrangement was by Live.

[astrnomr]

Last night, Maddie and I were talking about David Cook's hair. We have liked him from the beginning, but have issues with his hair. As bad as his hair is, it seems as though it was better this week than it was his first few weeks.

If somebody looks goofy but sings well, you can work on the looks. (Remember Clay Aiken?) If somebody looks good but sings goofy, there's little you can do.

David Cook's "remakes" have both been done by other groups. The Lionel Richie "Hello" version was originally by Incubus, and last night's "Billie Jean" was by Chris Cornell. Doesn't mean he isn't doing the right versions for himself, because he is, but they are not original arrangements by him. Like Chris Daughtry's "I Walk the Line" arrangement was by Live.

I heard some rumors to that effect. I've seen a YouTube video of Chris Cornell's acoustic version, but I really don't think it's quite the same as what David Cook did -- and Cook's version is far superior to that as well. Even so, he's making excellent song choices, and the end result is far better than anything else the other contestants are serving up. Was the version of "Eleanor Rigby" his own doing, or did somebody else do that first?

[T_Bone0806]

David C. cracked me up completely when he pointed out his large skull in his baby picture and said that he looked like a Marvel Comics Super Villain. I will now not be able to see him without thinking of The Leader, a villain in the old Incredible Hulk comics. All that's missing is the green skin.

[PlacentiaSoccerMom]

Was the version of "Eleanor Rigby" his own doing, or did somebody else do that first?

http://www.tmz.com/2008/03/12/did-david ... nor-rigby/

I think that because of the Eleanor Rigby/Hello issue, the show started mentioning whose arrangement David is using in his songs.

[T_Bone0806]

David C. cracked me up completely when he pointed out his large skull in his baby picture and said that he looked like a Marvel Comics Super Villain. I will now not be able to see him without thinking of The Leader, a villain in the old Incredible Hulk comics. All that's missing is the green skin.

http://www.hulklibrary.com/hulk/info/en ... terId=lead

http://www.marveldirectory.com/individuals/l/leader.htm

[peacock2121]

I got to see this one on tape late yesterday afternoon.

I think we got it wrong.

I say 'we' even though I didn't and won't vote.

Rameille, Kristy and Jason should have gone before Chikezie.

Michael floats my boat.

I think Simon's comment to David A about "You didn't pick that song" was a swipe at the dad.

I am not so secretly thrilled that David A is sinking.

[megaaddict]

My standings:

Chikezie 56 pts.
Carly 55 pts
David A and David C 53 pts
Jason and Syesha 50 pts.
Michael 47 pts
Brooke 42 pts
Ramiele 41 pts.
Kristy Lee 23 pts.

Spoiler

I had Chikezie near or at the top of my list as well. grr.