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

Not usually when they are made out of plastic siding these days.

 

One man's irritating is another's captivating. If someone who can sing "well" is consistently boring, I'd prefer the alternative no matter who it was. I don't agree with you on the relative merits of either person. Haley does have a unique character to her voice--the sexy raspiness. But I like Marianne Faithfull's Broken English too, which is even more severe. If whoever gets ahold of her lets her make a record like she wants to, rather than forcing her into the usual Idol pop pablum that is released, will also determine how well she does in her career. Force more unreleased Lady Gaga junk on her and it fails. Let her do stuff the quality of the Zeppelin cover, and I'm buying it, and I bet a lot of others are as well.

One other comment I never got around to making this season but intended to, was how much better the house band was this season over all of the others. They were usually able to put together good arrangements, and cool sounding backings instead of the cheesy muzak AI always used to sound like. Again, the Zeppelin cover is the perfect example, although there were dozens of others all the way through the show week to week. Still not up to the quality of the house band on the short-lived RockStar series, but getting much closer.

 

This is what I posted back on April 15:

"IMO:

Stefano, Haley, Casey and Jacob are no longer competing to win, they are just competing for additional weeks of national exposure. Haley and Casey don't have the vocal chops, Stefano doesn't have the style, and Jacob is just overwrought and sort of strange. None of them can possibly win.

The folks competing to win are James, Scott and Lauren. James is probably too edgy to make it to the end, plus I'm not sure it helps a metal singer to win American Idol. (Though having Zakk Wylde say that you sang your a$$ off is definitely a good thing for an aspiring metal singer.) James seems to be having a lot of fun, but he is still a long-shot to win.

Scott McDreary (not a spelling error) is immensely popular, and quite good at his particular country style, but he makes every song sound the same. He is playing it too safe. Six more weeks of the same song is going to get boring. I think he makes the finals, but doesn't win.

Lauren is going to win. Yes, all of the teen and tween female voters vote for the guys, unless they vote for the girl that reminds them of themselves. That is Lauren. She is 16 years old, is attractive but not threateningly so, always smiles, has a pleasant personality, and chose a Miley Cyrus song this week. She has an excellent voice, with nice tone and melodic quality -- she cannot soar or project like Pia, but her voice is more than adequate for most pop and country songs that she is likely ever to sing. OTOH, she's no Kelly Clarkson."

Since then:

1. Haley surprised me. She improved a lot, nailed a few performances and lasted much longer than I expected. She is attractive, has a feisty personality, and had some great "moments" ("I Who Have Nothing" and the LZ cover, in particular). But rockers just can't get enough votes to win, and her vocal talents are not as strong as Lauren's. Haley butchered some songs like the Michael Jackson and Alanis Morrisette songs.

2. Both Lauren and Scotty have improved, but not a lot. Lauren can and should win, but she is going to need a very strong performance -- hopefully, with a real breakthrough -- to overcome the Scotty vote machine.

3. IMO, the only contestants who had true "wow" performances were Pia, James, Haley and Jacob. It is telling that none of them remain.

 

Just a reminder:

AI is on tonight and tomorrow this week instead of its usual Wednesday/Thursday airing.

 

Do you think they changed the date to compete with Dancing with the Stars?
I know they don't share the same time slot but perhaps A.I. is a bit miffed by DTWTS announcing that they are/were the most watched show on their given night.

 

I wondered why they were going with Tuesday, too.

I find that even though I've watched the entire season this year, I am just not interested at all in the final week.

 

yeah, a battle between Scotty and Lauren just doesn't do it for me.
It has completely turned me off.

 

Not likely. AI and DWTS are owned by the same company.

 

Same here.

 

likewise. fast forwarded through the show last week, watching only two of haley's tunes and skipped the results show entirely. won't even be tuning in for the finale tonight.

hooray for country.

 

No, the last day of sweeps is Wednesday hence the second to last show broadcasting tonight.

 

This may have been posted already but I guess U2 is performing tomorrow.

 

no, it was to make room for "So You Think You Can Dance" premiere at 8 PM Thursday on Fox.

I'm not sure AI and DWTS are owned by the same company, I think it is more likely AI and SYTYCD are produced by the same production company.

 

That was supposed to be the big secret. Apparently the cat got out of the bag at last night's Billboard Music Awards.

Wonder who else is playing tomorrow? Aerosmith?

EDIT:

Actually the report is that Bono and The Edge will appear tomorrow along side of cast members of the Broadway Musical, Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/idol-worship/update-u2s-bono-edge-perform-191156

 

My partner and I have never listened to country music. Didn't recognize either of the first 2 numbers. Vaguely remember Lauren singing her song once before. As previously mentioned this finale is shaping up to be a real snooze fest.

Wonder what type of drugs the emergency doctors pumped Lauren with to get her vocal chords working again.

 

In our humble opinion, Scotty easily won the night on his vocal performances. Did the judges not hear Lauren's voice blow out when she went for the high notes in her final song? Jennifer Lopez had no business in her critique saying that Lauren has won the competition with that performance. Randy and Jennifer were just kissing *** tonight. :thumbsdn:

David Cook's performance of Don't You Eat Breakfast Without Me was average. Too many low notes for his vocal range. He wasn't projecting enough.

 

It was the judges trying to influence the voting. Looks like AI producers/judges want a girl to win (Was Jordin Sparks the last girl to win?)

I also thought Scotty had the best vocal performances, by far.

WTF is Steven Tyler saying he is giving Lauren the edge because she is prettier?
I agree that J-Lo had no business saying what she said about Lauren won.

 

yeh it seems J-lo got her Mic cut during that , but not fast enough , wahtever she said right after stating Lauren should win got cut ....

I was not impressed by either tonight , I always thought scotty would win it in the end & i figure they could make some $$$$$ off him in the country market .
But that song they picked for his 1st single is just awfull .... very boring ....
1 more night , thens someone wins & no one sells any records & fades away like most of them do

 

I actually thought Lauren had the strongest overall performances tonight, despite having challenges with her vocal cords. I think though that Scotty will take the victory tomorrow night.

 

Lauren had the strongest overall performances tonight and I think it's hers.

 

looks like the country is sending a message?

 

and I think the message is "Country".

Congrats to Scotty McCreary, the winner.

 

I've enjoyed Steven Tyler and Jennifer Lopez for the most part but their Idol stints should remain a one-season deal (Randy is dead weight as usual). Once we got past Hollywood Week, they didn't bring anything to the table. They were both fun and likable but hell, even Paula made it clear when she didn't enjoy a performance...she sugarcoated it but was never exactly subtle about it. This judging panel is in a competition to out-diplomat the others.

FF'd through all of the performances tonight (listened to about 30 seconds of each) and I still nearly fell asleep.

 

I thought Lauren outperformed Scotty, but I must say that I was wishing for Haley and James by the end of the show.

 

i "missed" it, yet i don't feel as if i missed a thing. i'm probably more aggrivated i wasted so many hours watching it prior to the finals. maybe my last season to watch. hopefully x-factor will be better.