American Idol 2007 - discussion ***possible spoilers***

Love Nashville Star, watch it at work all the time! but I love country Music! I had no Idea George Canyon was on there! I just got his CD yesterday! lol

 

American Idol is just as much a popularity contest as a singing contest - which is why Taylor won over Katherine last year, and why some contestants who are mediocre singers make it to the final ten or five or three. The losers with marginal singing talent need to pursue acting or "hosting" careers like many of the former reality show stars do, with some success.

 

Well, there's another example of different people hearing different things when others sing. I honestly thought Katherine was awful a lot of the time -- cringe inducingly bad. I never really liked Taylor. I actually didn't like any of the finalists last year very much apart from Chris Daughtry, but even his screaming began to get on my nerves by week 6 or so, and Elliott Yamin, probably the best singer in my opinion but just didn't have much stage presence.

 

Same with Brad Cotter who won a couple years ago. Then again, Gretchen Wilson was also a demo singer. A few years ago she and Buddy were singing on almost half of the demos done here.

 

I think this probably happens every year. For all I know, it could be part of Fox's marketing plan. It amuses me, however, that the mainstream media is raising the question as to whether Idol (and Simon in particular) has become "too mean." I had just written a long response as to why I would say "no," but I realize that my sore throat is making me irritable so I probably wrote some things that I would have later regretted. The bottom line for me is that Simon is one of the main reasons to watch the show. At least he calls 'em like he sees 'em.

 

Granted, Katherine wasn't great either - but my point was that Taylor put on more of a "show" with his Soul Patrol banter, awkward dancing, and generally pandering to the audience as much as possible to get votes. And it worked - I don't blame him, after all he was there to win, but all that stuff had nothing to do with his being the best singer. It's really not a singing contest, it's an "entertainer" contest with personality being the number one factor. Katherine didn't seem as "warm" or as down to earth as Taylor, and that's what hurt her IMO. Plus her singing wasn't great and her material choice was mostly bad.

 

Taylor who?

 

Did anybody catch the portly fellow last night who said people think he looks like Jack Osbourne or Jack Black, but when he looks in the mirror he sees Christina Aguilara? The guy's comedic timing was perfect, and he can sing well enough, I guess - he got through.

I'm cheering for him on personality alone, since I'm not expecting a whole lot from the music anyway.

 

I'm interested in seeing how far the son of Roy Head will go (I forget his first name).
Roy Head's big hit was "Treat Her Right", supposedly knocked out of the #1 position by "Yesterday" in 1965.
Steve's remastered Treat Her Right is on the "Vintage Music" vol.7 both LP & CD. The first issue CDs have 2 vols. on each disc. Later issues are the single vols.
They're a great collection, track 'em down! They sound terrific.
http://www.amazon.com/Vintage-Music...f=sr_1_12/002-5799170-5297606?ie=UTF8&s=music

 

Let's get back to the real, official thread, here for the season.

Did anyone just see Simon? He got real defensive when that female singer suggested that Simon was wrong about Jennifer Hudson.

Fireworks were flying. Paula stood up and was clapping.

Simon, did though, have a point. America voted Hudson off the show. Simon didn't kick her off, although, I'm sure his comments at the time didn't help.

 

I can see why Simon gets defensive about that. It seems everyone thinks he dumped her when it was America's vote that sent her packing back then.

I remember Jennifer had a real attitude back then for some reason which has been missing lately.

 

IMO, the judges GROOM the at home audience right up to the last vote...

 

...she doesn't need an attitude...she's on top of the food chain now...quite undeserved in my opinion.

The Oscars are a joke!

 

Well, to be fair, she won an Oscar for acting and not singing. I haven't seen Dreamgirls -- I'm waiting for it to come out on dvd because I don't think it's worth seeing in a theater -- so I cannot comment on whether her acting deserves and Oscar, but I'll say that based on the times I've seen her singing songs from Dreamgirls that her singing is about the same now as it was on Idol. That is to say that she has a loud voice but I'm not particularly impressed by her beyond that. She's a belter without much range.

 

Ever notice that when the singer is bad they end up saying that they look great? heh
"Oh, your hair is perfect, your outfit is nice." What a bunch of yahoos.

 

Fair? For who?

Even worse!

seriously, how on earth can someone who has NEVER EVER ACTED WIN an OSCAR!????

How can this be taking seriously?

HOW?????

 

agreed! we stopped watching as of last week...

I spoke to a person today who's daughter auditioned for Idol...amongst the 1,000's of hopefuls they take more people who can't sing ( for that ongoing circus atmosphere) and pass on the gifted!...so basically the bad singers know they suck and are there just for the insults and laughs!

Typical television entertainment antics...

staged and planned perfectly.

 

Well, they show a lot of bad singers during the audition weeks but I don't think they deliberately choose bad singers to move on to the semifinal rounds. Sometimes they end up getting it way wrong (ie, someone who gave a good audition ends up having little talent), but this season I don't think there was anyone in the top 24 who couldn't sing. And if you've tuned out already this season, you're missing some great performances. I dare say that Melinda blew me away this week singing My Funny Valentine.

 

I wasn't trying to indicate that it's fair that she won an Oscar, just that it isn't fair to equate her winning an Oscar with "proof" that Simon/AI's voters got it wrong when they booted her off the show. While I do think that she left earlier than she deserved (as there were a couple of awful singers left), I think that both Latoya and Fantasia were far better than her.

 

no, not in the semi finals...before the 24...

 

We've given it up here, just nothing has really caught our attention this season. One too many versions of the same songs from the other seasons, Randy endlessly harping "it was a little pitchy" and Ryan saying (again) "now tackling Celine Dion's All By Myself here's..." Wait, didn't Eric Carmen have something to do with that? Add the insult of the Foxworthy show that follows (which should have the same length run as William Shatner's "Show Me The Money") and me and the wife were off for some Chinese takeout.

 

..I hated it from the beginning, still hate it, but for the love of my life I watched it with her...

I'm shocked she stopped. She's a professional singer and knows her stuff.

The judges are taxing to say the least...they should just have a button to push (with their stock predictable comments) and keep their mouths shut!

quite laughable...

no matter what we say, America eats this up with a vengeance!


kinda gross...

 

Some like it,some dont. Its alright. BTW,i dont care what she looks like in those pic's,she cant sing and needs to go and she has a big mouth.

 

I agree Michael. I didn't watch last week and had it on 'in the background last night', but you're right:

This show is as programmed as any other, and it's a matter of time until people lose complete interest.

You'll notice how the ratings for the first shows were reported....I wonder what they've been the past 2 weeks.

I think the only difference this year is that Randy is a little more honest which makes it 2 'judges' who are critical, and Paula with all the love.

I'll continue to check in and out of it, but there's no way I'm tuning the show in as I have the last few years.

 

I typically watch AI as I'm doing other things (reading, surfing the net, etc.), so not one to take it seriously....but

IMO, Jennifer Hudson gave a great performance in Dream Girls, and her Oscar was deserved. The emotion she displayed singing "I'm telling you.." gave me goosebumps and she played the "scorned diva" role flawlessly.