American Idol, Season 8
Feb. 27th, 2009 10:08 am![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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poptimistsI've been posting some short summaries in my journal each week and Kat suggested I x-post them in here, so here goes:
Top 36, Group 1
Jackie Tohn ('A Little Less Conversation'): I'm sure I liked Jackie during the auditions. I'm struggling to remember why. The whole performance was irritating and not well-sung at all. Perhaps there's a "Tohn deaf" joke to be made here. But the whole thing was, without wishing to sound too much like Mr Cowell, like a hyperactive child trying to get everyone's attention at a family gathering. Did not want.
Ricky Braddy ('A Song For You'): I quite liked this guy, but he's obviously boned because we've never seen him before, as far as I can remember. Singing was decent - good by tonight's standards, not necessarily great by any other set of standards you might care to mention. But he was probably the male performer I enjoyed the most tonight.
Alexis Grace ('Never Loved A Man'): I liked her a lot in auditions, but I wasn't that sold on this performance tonight - it did feel like quite a weak vocal in places. Difficult song, I suppose, but then that's not really a great excuse and wouldn't fly with the judges. She might have still have potential, though.
Brent Keith ('Hicktown'): Song choice was awful, and basically killed whatever passing interest I may have had in him.
Stevie Wright ('You Belong With Me'): Oh dear. She seems like a lovely girl, but this is possibly one of the worst performances I've ever seen someone give at this stage in the competition. Like, if I'd seen this at karaoke, I would've cringed. And I get why she chose the song, and all, but - there are no songs by young artists in her range? Really? Poor girl.
Anoop Desai ('Angel Of Mine'): Totally soporific. If you're going to do a Monica song, at least do 'The First Night' or 'The Boy Is Mine', not this one. Don't really get the fangirl hype on this guy, but whatever.
Casey Carlson ('Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic'): Mummy, the face! Why is it twitching like that? I'm scared! It's like Taylor Hicks was reborn in the body of a moderately attractive young woman. DO NOT WANT. Actual vocals: unimpressive.
Michael Sarver ('I Don't Want To Be'): Heh, this has to get wheeled out at least once a season, right? Although I don't think anyone did it last year. It started out quite wonky, but got better. Not sure he's going to be terribly interesting or have an awfully wide range, but on a weak night he was definitely one of the strongest contestants.
Ann Marie Boskovitch ('Natural Woman'): I can remember almost nothing about her - she seems to have fused into Casey Carlson in my head somehow. From what I remember - decent performance of an overly-attempted song, but the wrong song for her. OH WAIT, she was the "Sara Bareilles? So, less good?" girl, wasn't she? I liked her for that, but not for her performance, especially.
Stephen Fowler ('Rock With You'): Kind of don't remember much about this one either - I think my brain had melted by this point. From what little I can recall: competent, but unexciting. Like Kara said, at least he was memorable when he forgot his words and flounced off the stage, but he wasn't here.
Tatiana "Ahora Con Mas Semen" Del Toro ('Saving All My Love For You'): Whatever, haters to the left - I like this girl. Sure, she's either one hell of a faker or the most insecure woman in the world wrapped up in a big bag of crazy, but she can sing well, so I have no objections to her being here. She gave my favourite female vocal of the night, and I would like to see her in the Top 12. SO THERE.
Churchy McWidow ('Hero'): I'm sorry, I didn't realise this was The X Factor. Fuck off, and take your sob story with you. Okay, fine, you gave a good vocal on this one, but I'm with Simon - the amount of praise you got from Kara/Paula/Randy was completely out of proportion to the actual quality of the performance. Plus, I don't care how hypocritical this sounds right after my attempted defence of Tatiana, but there's something about this guy I really do not like.
SHOULD GET THROUGH: Tatiana, Michael, Danny
WILL (AND DID) GET THROUGH: Alexis, Michael, Danny
Top 36, Group 2
Wow, Seacrest is really rocking the dress-down-Friday look these days, isn't he?
So, they saw the first group do "pretty good" last week, huh, Randy? On what planet, exactly?
Jasmine Murray ('Love Song'): Instant fail. This song is dreadful whoever sings it. And Jasmine was flat anyway. Shame, because she's cute and awesome and I think she's talented, but this performance won't be enough get her through - maybe under the old system, but not in this one. Still, actual constructive criticism from Kara this week, tick v.g. Randy, on the other hand, can be fired any time and replaced with a recording of a voice saying "I dunno, it was kind of pitchy, dawg".
Matt "Piano" Girard ('Viva La Vida'): Oh dear. I think Coldplay is generally a very bad idea as far as performing their work on this show goes, and this vocal was very shaky and kind of nasal. What the hell is up with the dancing, too? Nope, this was bad. Shame, because he's kind of cute for a duelling piano player.
Jeanine Vailes ('This Love'): Alexandra, you've already won. You don't need to go through this all again. Hmm, except Alexandra was a much better singer who wasn't quite scuppered by her lower register. Also: suit jacket + denim hotpants =/= an acceptable outfit combo, I'm afraid. Nope, she's trying to oversing this and somehow ending up undersinging it. I did like her snarky comment about not having had any screentime, and AARGH RANDY STOP SAYING PITCHY, IT IS TOTALLY MEANINGLESS.
Nick Mitchell/"Normund" fucking "Gentle" ('And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going'): Seriously, dude. In case you hadn't realised, you are the butt of this joke. Shut the hell up and get the hell out. I supported you in the beginning because you had a good voice, but the schtick is officially old.
Interlude: for tonight's performance, the role of Paula Abdul will be played by Ralph Wiggum.
Allison Iraheta ('Alone'): Kelly, you've already won. You don't need to go through this all again. Also, wow, that chat with Seacrest was Castro levels of awkward. I like her tone, though, and honestly on this show you can never really go wrong singing Heart. Her voice cracked on the high notes and she was saved by the backup singers, but I liked this performance. And if she gets through, I may have actually found who I'm rooting for this year.
Interlude: "It doesn't matter what age you are - she's 16 and she blew it out the box!" Thanks for that, Randy.
Kris Allen ('Man In The Mirror'): Wow, this guy is cute. And I think there's a good voice there under the nerves, I think. I also appreciated the loving close-ups of his bottom. Could've chosen a better song, I think, but good by the standards of tonight's mostly so-so performances.
Interlude: ITV2, when I switch on for Idol at 10pm, I do not want to have to watch the tail end of Paris Hilton's British Best Friend.
Megan Joy Corkrey ('Put Your Records On'): Wow, that retrospective of her audition was horrendous. There's something weird about her face. Like, it moves a lot without ever once being expressive. And what's with the scary robot dancing? Singing: passable, but very amateur hour. I don't see her getting through.
Matt "Metalwork" Breitzke ('If You Could Only See'): O HAI SO I HERD UR A WELDER. I'd prefer him not to be quite so mealymouthed in his phrasing. I don't know this song at all; the singing was decent enough but I found it all a bit dull. Can see him getting lots of votes, though - but if he makes Top 12, and I think he will, he'll be competing for the same set of votes as Michael from last week.
Jesse Langseth ('Bette Davis Eyes'): I agree with her that this is an awesome song, but that's where she and I part company, because this was painful to listen to. She mumbled most of the verse, and didn't have the raw power in her voice to pull off the chorus. It just seemed to get worse as it went on. Ugh.
Kai Kalama ('What Becomes of the Brokenhearted'): Not so much a name, more something you shout when you're surprised. I don't like how he snarls when he sings. There's a nice tone to his voice - not really my cup of tea, but I can appreciate its merit objectively. I think, however, he really biffed it on song choice because it just makes him sound like a relic from another era.
Mishavonna Henson ('Drops Of Jupiter'): Whatever you do, Mishavonna, DO NOT POINT TO ONE OF YOUR ACTUAL SCARS DURING THIS SONG. Something about her look reminds me of Jordin, but not enough to repeat the "you've already won" gag a second time. I like her voice, but there's something rather monotonous about this song - it all feels like the same two or three notes, and there are some very sloppy sounds coming out of her.
Adam Lambert ('Satisfaction'): OH GOD IT'S THE SECOND COMING OF DAVID COOK, NOW WITH ADDED DISCO :( :( :( I don't like this guy, I'm afraid - too stagey, too contrived. Sort of like if Danny Noriega and Normund Gentle had a love child and Constantine Maroulis was the godfather, it would be Adam Lambert. I can appreciate he's talented, but he does nothing for me. Did Randy just liken him to RPattz? This show, I swear.
SHOULD GO THROUGH: Kris, Allison, Adam (grudgingly)
WILL GO THROUGH: Allison, Adam, Welder Guy
Top 36, Group 1
Jackie Tohn ('A Little Less Conversation'): I'm sure I liked Jackie during the auditions. I'm struggling to remember why. The whole performance was irritating and not well-sung at all. Perhaps there's a "Tohn deaf" joke to be made here. But the whole thing was, without wishing to sound too much like Mr Cowell, like a hyperactive child trying to get everyone's attention at a family gathering. Did not want.
Ricky Braddy ('A Song For You'): I quite liked this guy, but he's obviously boned because we've never seen him before, as far as I can remember. Singing was decent - good by tonight's standards, not necessarily great by any other set of standards you might care to mention. But he was probably the male performer I enjoyed the most tonight.
Alexis Grace ('Never Loved A Man'): I liked her a lot in auditions, but I wasn't that sold on this performance tonight - it did feel like quite a weak vocal in places. Difficult song, I suppose, but then that's not really a great excuse and wouldn't fly with the judges. She might have still have potential, though.
Brent Keith ('Hicktown'): Song choice was awful, and basically killed whatever passing interest I may have had in him.
Stevie Wright ('You Belong With Me'): Oh dear. She seems like a lovely girl, but this is possibly one of the worst performances I've ever seen someone give at this stage in the competition. Like, if I'd seen this at karaoke, I would've cringed. And I get why she chose the song, and all, but - there are no songs by young artists in her range? Really? Poor girl.
Anoop Desai ('Angel Of Mine'): Totally soporific. If you're going to do a Monica song, at least do 'The First Night' or 'The Boy Is Mine', not this one. Don't really get the fangirl hype on this guy, but whatever.
Casey Carlson ('Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic'): Mummy, the face! Why is it twitching like that? I'm scared! It's like Taylor Hicks was reborn in the body of a moderately attractive young woman. DO NOT WANT. Actual vocals: unimpressive.
Michael Sarver ('I Don't Want To Be'): Heh, this has to get wheeled out at least once a season, right? Although I don't think anyone did it last year. It started out quite wonky, but got better. Not sure he's going to be terribly interesting or have an awfully wide range, but on a weak night he was definitely one of the strongest contestants.
Ann Marie Boskovitch ('Natural Woman'): I can remember almost nothing about her - she seems to have fused into Casey Carlson in my head somehow. From what I remember - decent performance of an overly-attempted song, but the wrong song for her. OH WAIT, she was the "Sara Bareilles? So, less good?" girl, wasn't she? I liked her for that, but not for her performance, especially.
Stephen Fowler ('Rock With You'): Kind of don't remember much about this one either - I think my brain had melted by this point. From what little I can recall: competent, but unexciting. Like Kara said, at least he was memorable when he forgot his words and flounced off the stage, but he wasn't here.
Tatiana "Ahora Con Mas Semen" Del Toro ('Saving All My Love For You'): Whatever, haters to the left - I like this girl. Sure, she's either one hell of a faker or the most insecure woman in the world wrapped up in a big bag of crazy, but she can sing well, so I have no objections to her being here. She gave my favourite female vocal of the night, and I would like to see her in the Top 12. SO THERE.
Churchy McWidow ('Hero'): I'm sorry, I didn't realise this was The X Factor. Fuck off, and take your sob story with you. Okay, fine, you gave a good vocal on this one, but I'm with Simon - the amount of praise you got from Kara/Paula/Randy was completely out of proportion to the actual quality of the performance. Plus, I don't care how hypocritical this sounds right after my attempted defence of Tatiana, but there's something about this guy I really do not like.
SHOULD GET THROUGH: Tatiana, Michael, Danny
WILL (AND DID) GET THROUGH: Alexis, Michael, Danny
Top 36, Group 2
Wow, Seacrest is really rocking the dress-down-Friday look these days, isn't he?
So, they saw the first group do "pretty good" last week, huh, Randy? On what planet, exactly?
Jasmine Murray ('Love Song'): Instant fail. This song is dreadful whoever sings it. And Jasmine was flat anyway. Shame, because she's cute and awesome and I think she's talented, but this performance won't be enough get her through - maybe under the old system, but not in this one. Still, actual constructive criticism from Kara this week, tick v.g. Randy, on the other hand, can be fired any time and replaced with a recording of a voice saying "I dunno, it was kind of pitchy, dawg".
Matt "Piano" Girard ('Viva La Vida'): Oh dear. I think Coldplay is generally a very bad idea as far as performing their work on this show goes, and this vocal was very shaky and kind of nasal. What the hell is up with the dancing, too? Nope, this was bad. Shame, because he's kind of cute for a duelling piano player.
Jeanine Vailes ('This Love'): Alexandra, you've already won. You don't need to go through this all again. Hmm, except Alexandra was a much better singer who wasn't quite scuppered by her lower register. Also: suit jacket + denim hotpants =/= an acceptable outfit combo, I'm afraid. Nope, she's trying to oversing this and somehow ending up undersinging it. I did like her snarky comment about not having had any screentime, and AARGH RANDY STOP SAYING PITCHY, IT IS TOTALLY MEANINGLESS.
Nick Mitchell/"Normund" fucking "Gentle" ('And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going'): Seriously, dude. In case you hadn't realised, you are the butt of this joke. Shut the hell up and get the hell out. I supported you in the beginning because you had a good voice, but the schtick is officially old.
Interlude: for tonight's performance, the role of Paula Abdul will be played by Ralph Wiggum.
Allison Iraheta ('Alone'): Kelly, you've already won. You don't need to go through this all again. Also, wow, that chat with Seacrest was Castro levels of awkward. I like her tone, though, and honestly on this show you can never really go wrong singing Heart. Her voice cracked on the high notes and she was saved by the backup singers, but I liked this performance. And if she gets through, I may have actually found who I'm rooting for this year.
Interlude: "It doesn't matter what age you are - she's 16 and she blew it out the box!" Thanks for that, Randy.
Kris Allen ('Man In The Mirror'): Wow, this guy is cute. And I think there's a good voice there under the nerves, I think. I also appreciated the loving close-ups of his bottom. Could've chosen a better song, I think, but good by the standards of tonight's mostly so-so performances.
Interlude: ITV2, when I switch on for Idol at 10pm, I do not want to have to watch the tail end of Paris Hilton's British Best Friend.
Megan Joy Corkrey ('Put Your Records On'): Wow, that retrospective of her audition was horrendous. There's something weird about her face. Like, it moves a lot without ever once being expressive. And what's with the scary robot dancing? Singing: passable, but very amateur hour. I don't see her getting through.
Matt "Metalwork" Breitzke ('If You Could Only See'): O HAI SO I HERD UR A WELDER. I'd prefer him not to be quite so mealymouthed in his phrasing. I don't know this song at all; the singing was decent enough but I found it all a bit dull. Can see him getting lots of votes, though - but if he makes Top 12, and I think he will, he'll be competing for the same set of votes as Michael from last week.
Jesse Langseth ('Bette Davis Eyes'): I agree with her that this is an awesome song, but that's where she and I part company, because this was painful to listen to. She mumbled most of the verse, and didn't have the raw power in her voice to pull off the chorus. It just seemed to get worse as it went on. Ugh.
Kai Kalama ('What Becomes of the Brokenhearted'): Not so much a name, more something you shout when you're surprised. I don't like how he snarls when he sings. There's a nice tone to his voice - not really my cup of tea, but I can appreciate its merit objectively. I think, however, he really biffed it on song choice because it just makes him sound like a relic from another era.
Mishavonna Henson ('Drops Of Jupiter'): Whatever you do, Mishavonna, DO NOT POINT TO ONE OF YOUR ACTUAL SCARS DURING THIS SONG. Something about her look reminds me of Jordin, but not enough to repeat the "you've already won" gag a second time. I like her voice, but there's something rather monotonous about this song - it all feels like the same two or three notes, and there are some very sloppy sounds coming out of her.
Adam Lambert ('Satisfaction'): OH GOD IT'S THE SECOND COMING OF DAVID COOK, NOW WITH ADDED DISCO :( :( :( I don't like this guy, I'm afraid - too stagey, too contrived. Sort of like if Danny Noriega and Normund Gentle had a love child and Constantine Maroulis was the godfather, it would be Adam Lambert. I can appreciate he's talented, but he does nothing for me. Did Randy just liken him to RPattz? This show, I swear.
SHOULD GO THROUGH: Kris, Allison, Adam (grudgingly)
WILL GO THROUGH: Allison, Adam, Welder Guy
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Date: 2009-02-27 11:33 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-02-27 11:54 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-02-27 01:35 pm (UTC)Anyway: Interlude: "It doesn't matter what age you are - she's 16 and she blew it out the box!" Thanks for that, Randy.
As much as I do not want to ever be in the position of defending and/or understanding Randy, I think that may have been a dig at Jeanine "I Deserve This Because I'm 28" Vailes. I don't think he quite got the point of her saying she was 28, but he tried.
WHY DOES EVERYBODY HATE "LOVE SONG"? JESUS CHRIST.
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Date: 2009-02-27 02:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-02-27 03:23 pm (UTC)Week 1:
Good: Danny Gokey (Somewhat ovhyped, but he's a good singer, and he did a good job with this)
Tatiana (This was a surprise, but the hidden secret nobody seems to want to talk about with her is that she can actually sing)
OK Performance, Bad Song Choice: Jackie Tohn (kinda weird, but I was entertained)
Anoop Desai (I like the song, and his voice is good, but the performance itself didn't do it for me)
Alexis Grace (I'm slotting her here. I'm not feeling it. I think this was a bad song choice for her. The vocal did not sound good to me; I thought she missed a lot of notes.)
Forgettable: Ricky Braddy (he has an OK voice but this was so boring)
Anne Marie Boskovich
Michael Sarver
Brent Keith
Bad: Stephen Fowler
Terrible: Casey Carlson
Stevie Wright (This has to be the worst tandem of performances in semifinal history)
Overall a terrible week, with only 2 performances I liked, and lots of chaff.
Week 2:
Great: Norman (He was [intentionally!] really funny and actually, I thought he gave one of the better vocals of the night. This is obviously a love him or hate him thing)
Allison (Excellent job on a song overdone on Idol. Actually, probably the best ever "Alone" performance on this show, better even than Carrie Underwood)
Good: Mishavonna (Underrated on this song, I really like the sound of her voice)
Adam Lambert (Once again, a little overhyped, but he can sing and is a good performer and definitely deserves top 12)
OK Vocal, Bad Song Choice: Megan Corkrey (I like her, but this performance was not up to par. She did OK I guess.)
Forgettable: Kris Allen (Really, really boring, but he can sing. I guess it's OK he goes through cuz in theory he could probably do way better.)
Matt the Welder
Kai Kalama
Bad: Jesse Langseth (She picked a really easy song and still did a bad job!)
Jeanine Vailes
Terrible: Matt Giraud (so disappointing)
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Date: 2009-02-27 06:31 pm (UTC)But anyway, thanks for the guide, and maybe this weekend I'll take a gander via YouTube.
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Date: 2009-02-27 08:16 pm (UTC)I'll wait to reserve complete judgement until they come down with the final 12, but right now I have an overwhelming sense of "meh" and "wtf is this shit"?
There's something I like about 16-year-old Allison, and also something I really dislike about her. Time will tell if she lives to rule or lives to annoy me.
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Date: 2009-02-27 08:55 pm (UTC)