American Idol (04/01): Disco (Ugh!!)

Cafe Society
21

In the order they performed:

Rickey Smith: He seemed to be having fun, but his voice didn’t do anything for me this week. Middle of the road.

Carmen: She still sounds like she’s sitting on a paint agitator. She’s not bad, other than the vibrato, but she’s not great either. Once again, she’s spared the wrath of Simon, for whatever reason. I think it’s because she was his wildcard pick, and he doesn’t want to admit he screwed up.

Kimberly C: Bleh. I’m tired of hearing her yell her songs.

Clay: Sounded good as usual, just didn’t sound very disco (whether that’s a good or bad thing is up in the air). Simon was too hard on him, but he does need to show he can do more than sing ballads. One thing I don’t like about his singing is that he enunciates too much, and when he’s singing well known songs, it jars me to hear it.

Trenyce: Good job. I still don’t care for her much personally, but she does have a great voice.

Ruben: Best of the night, once again. Very smooth voice, and he always looks like he’s having fun.

Kimberley L: Started out badly, but got much better.

Josh: I don’t know if he really had a cold, or just didn’t care, but that was terrible. I know disco isn’t his thing, but he’s shown in the past he can sing without so much twang. This would have been a good time to try that again.

Top 3: Ruben, Kim L and Clay/Trenyce tied for 3rd.

Bottom 3: Kim C, Josh and Carmen. Based on last night’s performance, Josh should walk, but I think it will be Kim C.

A couple of general comments about the show:

  • Finally a judge willing to give some constructive criticism along with the praise.

  • The line about how Fox does background checks, but they don’t work as well when contestants are “less than honest” amused me. I thought that was the whole point of background checks - people are not always honest! If everyone was totally honest when they applied for the show, Fox wouldn’t need to do them.

22

This was the first week Ruben didn’t give me goosebumps and the first week Kimberly Locke did. Rickey sang like he never sang before. I mean that literally.

23

Ya know, now that I think about it. . . does Ruben ever do anything different? If Simon is going to pick on Clay for sounding the same every week, maybe he ought to sling some of those barbs the Big #205’s way!

24

I don’t agree that Ruben sounds alike every week. Maybe sometimes, but last week he was much more rocking. And, at least his sound is a popular music sound. Clay, whom I like, usually just sounds Broadway. Broadway may have its place, but this ain’t it.

25

Nitpick – “I’m Every Woman” was originally recorded by Chaka Khan.

26

I guess I was the only one who thought Carmen did a really good job last night. She picked a really hard song to sing and sang the hell out of it.

27

Nah, I liked her performance too. She’s not the best singer there, but she’s just so darn cute. I can’t help but like her.

28

This was painful. Can I get that hour of my life back? Verdine White is just frightening.

OK, Velvet Teddy Bear was fun, as always, and Simon was right to point out that he has the star quality that the winner must have. Kim L. showed her range, not always present, but enough to run with the big dawgs. Clay was Clay and Trenyce was Trenyce. Those are your final 4, America, and let’s get on with it.

Corporal Punishment looks like he just wants out, and, if he phones it in next week too, he’ll have his wish. But it’s Miss Mascara’s turn this time, and Jercules is on deck too.

29

It’s tough living in Southern California. For a while I was representin’ the 213. Then the phone company changed my area code to 310, and I had to get all new shirts! Then, a few years ago, they changed my area code again, to 323. Man, that was a bummer, a whole ‘nother set of clothes. But I am still representin’! Don’t you be dissin’ the 323! 323 forever! (Or, until it changes again.)

  • I’m down with the 213. I mean, 310! No, wait, 323!!
30

Bottom three prediction:

Ricky
Kimberly Caldwell
Clay

And the loser is Ricky.

31

Fortunately for Clay, the format of the show is not like Star Search, where voters mark a scale and can mark disliked contestants way, way down.

Instead, each call is a vote for a contestant, thus Clay will not be in the bottom three. Judging from the number of Clay signs in the live audience, there are enough people who like him enough to vote, and the people who vehemently dislike Clay won’t be able to effectively counteract each Clay vote by voting for everybody else many many times.

Clay is playing it correctly. He is not in danger of elimination yet, with many contestants to be booted before him. The smart play is to hold back and not show all his talent. If Ruben is peaking now, the audience will be bored with his act in the later rounds and will vote for a surging Clay instead.

I don’t think Ricky will go for the same reasoning. Josh will be in the bottom three, due to the embarassing outing. However, we can never underestimate the sympathy vote nor the patriotism vote, which is magnified due to the voting format.

I think Kimberly Locke will be in the bottom three and possibly a surprise boot, because of her outfit and because there isn’t anything compelling about her which would lead to a lot of votes. She might be competent voice-wise, but so are many of the others who are far more interesting.

32

I’m still trying to scrub my brain out from having to endure that crap last night. I actually muted the sound after the first 30 seconds of Joshua Gracin – it was so bad I couldn’t even make myself listen.

I know everyone has different taste and certain styles will appeal to some and not others. But for the very life of me I can’t fathom how anyone could possibly think Kimberley Locke performed that song well last night. She was frighteningly shitty. I cringed through her entire performance. And I’ve liked her in previous performances, so it’s not about her, personally. She absolutely BUTCHERED that song. It was too slow, she was pitching all over the place, she ground her voice on half the notes, she completely missed the other half – I could go on and on with everything that was wrong with that performance. It just sucked. BADLY. <shudder> And she looked like utter crap, too.

Initially, I thought Carmen did a pretty dang good job with that song (if you ignore the vibrato – which I’m hoping someone will train her out of if she plans on pursuing a music career) – it’s not an easy one to sing. Then I listened to the audio again and I have to say, I was wrong. She also sucked.

Even Trenyce sucked last night. She’s another one who just has to quit SCREAMING her songs before I put my fist through the tv at her. It’s annoying as hell. GAH!

If Josh hadn’t totally tanked, I’d be praying for Kimberly Caldwell to be a gonner tonight, but Josh deserves the boot this time around because, as bad as KC was, he was worse. But I will be dancing the happy dance the second they announce she’s gone. She is HORRIBLE. Just horrible.

Rickey Smith… Poor thing. He’s so nice. But he can’t sing.

Ruben, I love him. I’ll surely buy a CD when he releases one. But for fuck’s sake, LEARN THE CATAGORIES! “Can’t Get Enough of Your Love” is R&B, it’s NOT disco! And what Simon said about Clay – goes double for you, Rube. You’re beginning to sound exactly alike every week and it’s getting old. And you also need a different schtick. Quit with the stretching one arm out, bringing it back, switching hands with the mic, stretching the other arm out. Why is it that when Clay doesn’t “dance”, he’s criticized, but Ruben can stand in one spot and stretch his arms out one at a time and he’s applauded? And he’s not stretching himself. He takes no risks with the songs he chooses, so how could he possibly make a mistake? I’m not saying he doesn’t deserve to win – he very well may – but if he just “coasts” through this competition to the #1 spot, I’ll be pretty annoyed.

Clay rocks. He’s the only one who hit every note in his song – no pitchiness, no throat grinding, no hystrionics. And for cryin’ out loud, the only one who made any effort to add a little personal twist to the arrangement and not sing it exactly as it was originally performed.

The top 3 were, once again, Clay, Ruben and (reluctantly) Trenyce.

At the bottom, Josh and both Kims. They were all horrifying. Any of them can go tonight and I will not be sorry.

33

Ruben is boring. Pleasant but boring.

Clay is the best of those remaining.

Just MHO

34

Oh, come on. Give Trenyce a break. She didn’t sing “I’m every woman” as originally performed by Chaka Khan.
She sang it the way Whitney Houston did it. :smiley:

35

It should be Joshua Gracin.

It will be Ricky.

Backup Pick: Kimberly The Blonde.

36

That suck-diddly-ucked.

37

Biggest Waste of an Hour. Ever.

38

Craptacular.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I must go bleach my brain in response to Ryan Seacrest’s whole “manhole” thing.

(Also, gobear, thanks for correcting a child of the eighties.)

39

BTW, is Ryan Seacrest subtly coming out of the closet? Las night he referred to himself as a disco queen, tonight he’s talking about manholes and getting glitter out of his crevices.

Will Ryan go “Flame On” live?

I certainly hope so because he is megahot.

40

Well, sure glad I didn’t waste an hour of my life watching the “non-elimination” show. Those pussbags.