American Idol Season/Series 10, 2011 discussion - ***possible spoilers*** (Part2)

Haley has been my fav since the beginning.

Would like to see Scotty leave tomorrow but have a feeling it will be Lauren.

 

I LOVED that, my favorite of the whole night.

Otherwise I thought it was one terrible and/or boring song choice after another from everyone. But Haley was still least boring on the other two songs.

 

"What Is And What Should Never Be" was quite a ballsy choice. Her Dad was rocking the Gibson Les Paul.
I do think she ran out of air after that part (vocal's got wobbly) but still it was pretty cool.

And did Haley fall after she ran around the judges table and tried to get back up onto the stage?

 

A little late with the be mine at around 1:24 but recovered well. Check it out.

 

I'm not and have never been a fan of pop/country. But putting that aside, I didn't think Lauren and Scotty did very much tonight. They bored me to tears.

Haley's songs, all 3, were the biggest risks of the evening. She did very well on the first two songs. My thought on the judges' choice for "You Oughta Know" was . It's a hard song to peform with screaming in the choruses, low register in the verses and fast tempo.

I like the earlier suggestion for Pat Benatar. If I was picking Haley's third song, I would have gone with something such as "Move Over" by Janis Joplin, or "Somebody To Love" - Jefferson Airplane. Something in that genre.

I pray that "You Oughta Know" doesn't cost Haley a spot in the final 2.

 

A good summary of last night's program.

From Christian Science Monitor.com

American Idol final three: Haley Reinhart falls for Led Zeppelin

American Idol countdown: With only one week until the finale, the last three contestants each took on three songs Wednesday night. Haley Reinhart may have had some literal missteps, but her Led Zeppelin cover was spot on.

On Wednesday’s episode of American Idol, the top three contestants took on three songs each.

In the first round, the songs were contestant’s choice and Beyoncé was on hand to offer some hard-core, tell-it-like-it-is mentoring . . . just seeing if you were paying attention. In reality, like most Idol mentors, Beyoncé’s role seemed confined to pleasantries and tepid observations of the contestants in exchange for a flattering intro and a promotional plug.

The second song was Jimmy Iovine’s choice and the final songs were chosen for the contestants by the judges.

Scotty McCreery:

A steady and consistent performer, sometimes Scotty fails to convince the audience that there is a real creative passion behind his talent. Scotty’s performances on Wednesday night were not significant enough to win or lose him any fans.

The article gave Scotty a B- on all 3 songs.

Lauren Alaina

Maybe it was not a good idea for the producers to show the footage of Lauren’s audition since it made it painfully obvious that Lauren peaked in auditions and has never quite delivered on her early promise. While she seems to have slowly begun to gain back some of her earlier confidence, the magic of her first performance has proven to be elusive.

Lauren received a C, C and B.

Haley Reinhart

With an eclectic style and an unparalleled tenacity, Haley has clawed her way from frequent appearances in the bottom three to the final three. Beyoncé described her as a risk taker with conviction. Someone with a presence, even when she’s not singing.

Article scored Haley an A, B- and C+. I would have scored her a B+ on the Fleetwood Mac cover.

Hoping as neo123 said that possibly Scotty and Lauren will split the Country vote and Haley will make it to the final.

 

Haley's Led Zeppelin cover was the only outstanding performance of the night for me. When she started singing it, I was startled that she had picked such a relatively obscure song.

I did not know that it was her father onstage with her until after the song, and I thought while I was watching the performance that he was a professional musician who could rock out more than most of the guitarists who play on the show. I liked his playing.

As far as I know, only two Led Zeppelin songs have ever been performed by the American Idol contestants, and they are the first two songs on "Led Zeppelin II".

The rest of the evening was forgettable for me. What was with the powerful fans blowing into Haley during the Fleetwood Mac song? I wondered if she would be able to remain upright, much less sing well, with all of that air coming at her.

Scotty and Lauren do what they do, and can't do any more. From the flashback segment, I was surprised at how soulful and raw Lauren sounded during her audition--what happened to that? She's now a bland "little miss sweetheart", about as insipid as they come. Maybe if you are a big pop/country fan you can detect favorable nuances in what she is now doing, which escape me.

I think it would be just as well for him if Scotty lost, so that he could catch the next plane to Nashville to start work next week on his first platinum selling pop/country album.

Oh, I love your icon, Chris B. I had that baseball card when I was growing up.

 

That was a battle of the boring (Haley), the boringer (Scotty), and
the boringest (Lauren). I've never seen such lackluster talent make
it to the top three before. The performances were not only mediocre,
but the lack of any kind of personality in the contestants, made the
whole show (all 2 hours of it) drag on forever.

 

I agree, and it shows the influence of the American South, conservatives, and country fans on the voting. I have read before how almost all of the past winners have been from a Southern state (Jordin Sparks and Lee DeWyze being notable exceptions--but Jordin had the pure, wholesome image thing going for her).

Pia, James, and even Jacob (although I was not a fan) all had the potential to do much more exciting things than Scotty or Lauren.

In the past, Simon was vocal about his dislike of country music and country performances, and I think that two singers squarely in a pop/country niche would not have made it this far, past his acerbic commentary, which would have either ruined their confidence, or influenced them to venture far out of their area of strength.

I think that Simon would have had Lauren bawling like a baby onstage-notice how she almost bursts into tears now at the slightest hint of disapproval or adversity. I think that Simon would have raked Scotty over the coals for his several cutesy or sleepy performances. Now the judges say that everything the two country popsters do is simply wonderful, so Scotty and Lauren continue on, smiling and spreading their blandness like a blanket of Velveeta cheese all over the audience.

 

I think if Simon were watching any of this season he's thanking his lucky stars that he isn't part of it because he is definitely not a country music fan at all. I think you are right. He would not have been too kind to either Lauren or Scotty. He would have appreciated their voice at most.

I think that contestants that are interesting who stay interesting get voted off and the ones who start off with the potential to be interesting get molded into being bland and palatable. It's what will sell.

 

Except that I think that Haley started off being rather dull and has become more interesting. She's not always consistently memorable now, but she is much more interesting to me, compared to the first few weeks of the competition.

 

I agree with your post; and I still like my earlier suggestion for "I Feel The Earth Move" for Haley.

From my perspective, she's pulling away from the pack on the home stretch. The best singer in this singing contest.

I figured out why Lauren has dissapointed me. Watching her audition clip, she appeared to have more to offer, than a Carrie Underwood alternative (all be it with a better tone). And Scotty the grocerie bagger, well, people love him and besides, Sheryl Crow is just waitin' to worm her way into his Country career.



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I agree here as well. Yeah, the Zeppelin cover was great!!!

Scotty does what he does, but, his voice isn't great when he hits his higher range. He sounds a bit like Doug Clifford of CCR....enough said.


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Never enjoyed Pia and her arm waiving; and James, well he isn't half the rocker that Haley is.

 

Good suggestion.

 

Didn't think any of them were great or bad. Thought they were all about the same, pretty good.

 

OUCH!!! I would call that "damning with faint praise", except that it does not even qualify as faint praise.

 

I love how anytime someone's favorite is voted off, people claim it's "rigged." But it's never rigged when our favorites win.

 

I agree. I don't think it's rigged. I just think that the masses of American voters often do not vote for the singer who seems to be the "best" to us.

But then look at any situation in which the great masses of millions of Americans express their preferences--from Presidential elections, to movie box offices receipts, to music purchases, to food purchases. The higher quality choice is often not the winner. A lot more corn dogs are purchased than stalks of organic broccoli. The brilliant art house film does worse than the mindless violence-with-explosions flick.

 

Haley had the best performance of the night with the LZ cover, but overall Scotty's voice is more perfectly suited to what he does (and I'm not a country music fan). Lauren's got the pipes, but she bores me (as did Pia earlier in the season). I think the finale will come down to Scotty and Haley, in part because Lauren and Scotty will split the country votes while Haley will pick up James' rocker votes. It's been interesting to see how Haley's come to embrace more rock songs over the last few weeks - I think she's finally found her niche.

 

Exactly. I wasn't at all surprised that James was voted off last week. Did we really expect a "rocker" to win this thing when nearly every other topic on this forum bemoans the fact that rock and roll isn't selling these days?

 

While I like Haley best of the three by far, I think it is wishful thinking that she will make the top two. I think that it will be the two country kids who move on.

 

This is my fear as well. Which will make for a boring finale....

 

And also the most beloved finale in history--for millions of country fans, lovers of good clean wholesome entertainment, the Silent Majority, natives of the South, and kindly old grandmothers everywhere.

 

I enjoy the show for what it is but rarely watch the finale. You get one repeat (I don't care to hear something twice in a season), the god awful original song and I guess what once was a limp judges' pick. Always seems to make for one of the worst shows of the season (in my opinion of course). Not sure of the format this year.

 

I also agree that this season is ending in a whimper. i usually do watch the finale to see all the guest stars that appear (KISS showed up one year).

 

Aerosmith will be on the final this year.