Official 2008 American Idol Thread
mannybolone
Los Angeles, CA 15,025 Posts
Lushington.I don't even know how she sings. I just like the surname.The white dude with dreads is mad David Cassidy. I thought I was watching a Partridge Family reunion show. Chikezie: yo man...what were you thinking?That 17 year old dude who looks 14 is going to clean up. Garret Haley creeps me out.
Comments
Watching it with a slight delay in the UK I've been tempted to find out what kind of odds I can get on this guy to go all the way. Unless the media reveal something along the lines of that he's actually a 35 year old with stunted growth who is on the run from the law I can't see how he's not going to walk this.
I'm concerned about my crush on Ramielle
Is that why yall still watch this? because you gamble on it? I guess that makes it semi acceptable.
Money does make everything more interesting. I'm mainly just a sucker for the audition stages though - it's like giving your brain a rest for a couple of hours. I tend to stop watching when it comes down to the actual competition.
^^^Sign you might be white!
(For real though, I feel you. Girl can sang.)
Seriously. I figured there was no way the women could do as bad but I was proven quite wrong.
I don't see how 24 people - well, ok, 20 or so - people could fuck up a 60s week so bad.
Lushington covering Shirley Bassey = pretty good.
I thought Ramiele picked a song that was way too old but at least she can sing it.
I wasn't mad at Carly doing "Shadow of Your Smile" but wifey thinks she sounds too much like Celine - too "clean" a voice.
Brooke and Dread Dude need to team up on some Donny and Marie tip. They'd kill "I'm a Little Bit Rock and Roll".
Buh bye Amy Davis!
To echo Junior's point: the show becomes less interesting as the weeks go by. I usually stick with it through the winnowing process to the semis unless there's a singer who's simply fun to watch, either b/c they're a trainwreck or b/c they can actually, you know, sing.
I only saw a small part of the show but I remember the Three Dog Night cover being quite descent.
Chris Matthews is the new Simon Cowell.
Where are the real kids?
Yeah for me there has to be the hook of actually being impressed by someone's voice or thinking "what the hell are they going to wreck this week". Polished and accomplished stage school types just don't hold any interest plus I always end up getting angered by what I perceive (rightly or wrongly) as the general populations poor choice in voting. This was undoubtedly why Cowell protested so strongly about them putting through that geeky junior politician - sure he would never have won it but at least he was something different.
Haven't seen this week's show yet but I liked Carly during the auditions. Ironically, considering where she's from, she has a far better chance of winning American Idol than if she'd appeared on the UK version.
It's a wrap, batches. This 17 year old is slaying out there.
The girls are pathetic this year.
That one guy looks so much like a girl -- even more unsettling to watch than Constantine.
http://www.calendarlive.com/tv/radio/cl-et-idolbanter28feb28,0,2576596.story
Everything about the kid reeks of contrivance. From the beginning they've tried to hype up this kid as being some unknown inexperienced 17 year old who's come out of nowhere and was yet another great undiscovered talent American Idol is responsible for. There's so much that's come out about this kid and how he's actually quite experienced, from winning the Junior Singers division of Star Search when he was 12 to appearing on the Jenny Jones Show and also on CBS' Early Show. This week, as noted, he jacked the Eva Cassidy arrangement of "Imagine". It just seems like American Idol is trying real hard to push Archuleta as the heir apparent on the men's side.
It's just like with Carly Hennessy/Smithson on the women's side. It seems like after last year's lackluster crop of contestants they were determined not to have it happen again this year, even if it involved throwing some ringers in there and not saying anything about it if they could. I really think they've only made any concessions at all and showed that footage of Archuleta singing for season 1's contestants, and then the little interview where Smithson totally undersold how big a deal her previous record contract was, because there was so much public outcry about this year's contestants and how so many of them already have previous experience. Not that I expect people who are serious enough to pursue singing for a career not to have any previous experience, but it's a whole other thing when people have had major label deals that involved millions of dollars, or have won previous talent competitions, and to try and pass them off as unknowns who've never had a break or been discovered before.
Of course, this isn't the first time somebody's arrangement of another song has been jacked. I remember when Chris Daughtry "borrowed" Live's arrangement of "I Walk The Line" and they at least acknowledged that after the fact after enough people started making a fuss about it. Unless I missed it there was no acknowledgment at all tonight that Archuleta completely ripped off his arrangement from somebody else, and what makes it more annoying is that on top of the non-stop adulation they're already giving this kid they're also giving him credit for this radical reworking of a Lennon song that wasn't even his. Ugh.
To wit: apparently, that weak ass rocker Robbie was rocking a wig the whole time
Past that, I don't really take the artists seriously as artists and looking at album sales for most of the winners, clearly few others do either. But yeah, I haven't been in David's corner - kid is so saccharin - but I thought his "Imagine" was really impressive...then I learned he boosted that whole arrangement off of Cassidy.
He didn't do that, did he?
I replied to this like 12 hours ago and when I tried to save the post it said shit had timed out, so I said screw it...but here's another go at a reply. I don't take the show all that seriously and I've never bought any CDs from any Idol-related artist, but I still enjoy watching the show and just getting into the competition. That said, I like to at least pretend the show is reasonably fair and that anybody on there has a shot. Even if I don't take the show all that seriously in the grand scheme of things I'd find it a total waste of time if I was watching the show and the producers were doing a lot to influence the outcome of the show.
That's kind of why this year is bugging me a bit. From the get-go there were rumors about how things weren't exactly on the up-and-up with this year's contestants. The story of Carly Hennessy/Smithson is already well known, as is the background of David Archuleta. Michael Johns was formerly in 2 bands that had contracts with Madonna's record label. Kristy Lee Cook was previously signed to Arista Nashville and had a deal with Britney Spears's production company. Syesha Mercado was on an Idol ripoff on ABC a few years ago that apparently got cancelled after 2 weeks, so who knows how far she would've gone on that. Amy Davis previously was a contestant on Nashville Star.
They were mum about Smithson's background and probably wouldn't have made any mention had there not been as big a public stink about it. Even when they did have her address her background they totally undersold just how huge a deal she had. From the start it seemed like the show and the judges were already declaring Smithson and Archuleta as the ones to beat and, surprise, they're the ones with the most previous experience and success. I know the show is fluff, but I'd at least like it to be reasonably fair fluff. Word going around is that Randy Jackson was the vice president of A&R at MCA Records when Carly Hennessy/Smithson had a record deal...and that wouldn't be a bit of a conflict of interest? And then there's the A HREF="http://www.etonline.com/news/2008/02/58917/index.html"> the story of how /A> the contestants apparently have less control over their song choice than the show implies. Week after week you hear the judges talk about the absolute importance of proper song choice but now it appears the contestants pick 3 songs from a list of 50 and then the producers/judges decide which of the 3 songs the contestant should sing. It just seems really disingenuous for them to harp on the contestants about poor song choice when apparently the contestants don't have final say in what song they perform, and apparently might even have to perform a song they didn't pick to begin with!
All I'm saying is that this year seems like the producers are trying real hard to steer certain contestants. This year as a whole seems rather disingenuous and I wouldn't really care so much if the show was just honest and flat out admitted they have a bunch of experienced people because they didn't want another repeat of last year's snoozefest finale.
My girl Ramiele's song choice wasn't so hot this week - I think David walked it and, as long as he maintains his nice guy image, he should stroll home. Carly could still be a contender if they get the right song, she does have a hell of a voice and far more real rock than Amanda's strangulated sounds-like-she's-grunting-for-a-dump mock Joplin impersonation.
I think David Cook might have the most obnoxiously punchable face in Idol history.
Define 'better'.
Watching last week's show, I was struck by the disturbing realisation that Danny Noriega looks like Jessica Alba in boy-band drag.
Chikieze did his thing on that Donny Hathaway tune, though - even on the first week's song, I was struck by how his voice has a similar tone to Donny's.
This whole scandal that's been written about upthread doesn't seem to have had much coverage over here. Maybe that's because AI doesn't run on one of the main TV channels, and instead is only viewable on digital satellite.
I agree with the general point that the quality of this season's contestants isn't as good as it has been in the past.
Anti-Idol snobbery is passe.