Absolutely. Sis definitely isn’t into competition. I liked him but she seemed prima donna-ish to me.
Yeah, I think what those people are missing is why Simon passed on Taylor. He passed on Taylor not because he thought Taylor was a bad singer, but because he didn’t think Gray Charles fit the American Idol archetype. That was a bad judgement call, but it’s not the same as when Simon says “you’re not a good singer.”
I felt really bad watching them make fun of the guy (Nicholas?) who sang “Unchained Melody.”
He was certainly not “mentally deficient”-- he indicated that he was a software engineer.
He was so pedantic when he stated that he lived near the Salt Lake area, then corrected that to in the Salt Lake area. His singing wasn’t terrible, at least at first. He did have difficulty with the highs and the lows, which he admitted to as much after the audition. The song might have also gone downhill when he saw the reaction he was getting from the judges.
When he heard the judges’ comments, his eyes were darting back and forth like he was trying to decide if they were kidding or not. My wife and I both said the same thing–he displayed a lot of the characteristics of a person with Asperger’s Syndrome.
All in all, I don’t have a problem with the show making fun of people who act like jerks or intentionally display outrageous behavior, but it seems petty and cruel to pick on peoples’ physical and mental attributes.
And the show does pick on people. He was screened out of thousands of people who auditioned that day solely so they could mock him on national TV.
Of course the show picks on people. That’s what the audition part of the show is all about. Every single year people get picked on. Every year. And, even though it was mean to call the guy with the huge eyes a bushbaby-- Bushbaby should have realized that he was going to get it!
I don’t understand why people cry and complain about how mean the judges are-- especially Simon. Every single person who went to the audition knew ahead of time exactly how mean Simon can be. And yet, they went. And people feel sorry for them when Simon is mean to them.
Strange looking people, fat people, people who can’t sing, people who dress funny, people who are mentally deficient, the socially awkward-- even people who look and sound great-- get ridiculed by Simon and Co. This year is no worse or better.
Now, I can see why many people do not like the audition part of the show. It is very squirm-inducing to watch others get their feelings hurt or humiliate themselves in front of everybody and God. And I do sometimes feel sorry for the auditionee, too. But I can’t see blaming the judges or the show. These people have no one to blame but themselves.
And apparently he goes into a trance while cutting hair?!
I think what bugged me was how the gorgeous people come in and immediately I think, oh, they’ll make it. Putting cute/beautiful people on in juxtaposition to the potentially mentally challenged and clearly sartorially challenged or non-conventional and having the former make it and the latter not just reinforces the image part. I was relieved when a couple of the really short clips from the end showed going-to-Hollywood people who looked a little ragged. Of course, wait till the machine gets its hands on them.
Oh, and as far as Randy Jackson favoring black candidates, he played in friggin Journey. Dawg.
Gotta agree with Biggrill. Even if these people are mentally retarded in some way, they are often accompanied by friends or even parents who ought to have the mental capacity to intervene against attending if that’s necessary.
Gotta agree with Biggrill. Even if these people are mentally retarded in some way, they are often accompanied by friends or even parents who ought to have the mental capacity to intervene against attending if that’s necessary.
My grill is of fairly average size. My boobies, however. . .
I think the important thing to remember, regarding various wannabes, that some of them don’t seem to understand coming in, is that this is not an audition for music school.
A lot of the beggars, in particular, talk about how they have promise, and with just a little more training, yada yada…
When you walk into this show, you are declaring: “I am such a talented vocal performer that the record company that invests a million dollars in developing and marketing product with my name on it will find that investment well-rewarded.”
You’re not saying, “I’m a decent singer, listen to me!”, you’re saying, “I’m a million-selling singer, spend piles of money on me!” If you fall far short of that level, I’d say you’ve earned yourself some ridicule. That’s why Simon’s comments don’t bother me.
A season or so ago, they ran an AI special, “World’s Worst Auditions”, featuring bad singers from Idol auditions across the globe. In the clips from Britain’s original Pop Idol, Simon’s almost the nice one.
Oh, and a nitpick with regard to any racial bias among the judges: Paula’s not black, (Brazilian can mean a lot of different things, skin-tone-wise):
Yeah, I didn’t think he was really that bad either. He could definitely carry a tune, and I’m sure he probably does quite nicely in his church choir or whatever. I do hate to see people like that (who can kinda sing but not well enough for this competition) lumped together with the delusional, can’t carry a tune in a bucket folks.
I don’t know which singer you were listening to, but the first tones out of his mouth sounded terrible to me, and it just got worse from there.
And for an audition potentially worth a million bucks, a performer worth that much will have the sense not to pick a song whose notes are out of their range.
And any singer who lets the negative reaction of three people destroy his performance is not gonig to cut it in the world of popular music in the first place. He was awful.
I’m with you, up until the last 2 sentences. Certainly the producers need to have high standards. But somebody who doesn’t meet those standards hasn’t invited ridicule, when a simple “no” will suffice.
I wondered if the mom knew she looked exactly like Joey Ramone in drag.
We’ve seen that for many of them, a simple “no” does not suffice. Some of them are just incapable of processing the message that they aren’t talented. I get the feeling that a lot of the times when Simon is saying “one of the worst I’ve ever heard…ghastly…absolutely terrible” and the like, he’s really just trying to avoid the auditioner seeing any ambiguity in his rejection. He wants them to know it’s not borderline. It’s not close. Coaching isn’t going to help them. Another song isn’t going to help them. They just can’t do it and will never be able to do it. Like he says, he’s not killing puppies. He’s just telling people who can’t sing that they can’t sing. It’s not a blanket indictment of them as human beings.
There are some people who can basically sing but just aren’t anything special and he’ll say that too. Ok, you can carry a tune but lots of people can carry a tune. What have you got that would make you more compelling than my aunt at a karaoke bar? If you’re going to get through on vocal ability alone (and some do) you have to better than just adequate. I actually think that those kinds of auditions are probably the most common but we don’t see that many of them because they’re boring.
This was just absymal. I hope they did better with the Memphis candidates.
Will the real hairdresser please stand up? When we saw him at work (doing hair, not singing), didn’t he have an accent?
I don’t get why he thought that acting and looking like Taylor Hicks would get him anywhere.
My point (yeah-- I know you all are sick of me making it) is that showing up for the AI audition is an invitation to ridicule. Just by taking a number and walking through that door. You have now opened yourself up to national humiliation. It’s not like it’s a secret.
I’m reminded of another show I love to watch on HGTV called Design to Sell. The very first thing that happens on the show is a ‘real estate specialist’ walks through your house and tears it down. She can be very mean. She makes jokes about your taste and your housekeeping. She ridicules your furniture-- and yet the homeowners don’t cry and call her mean. This is a part of the show.
Why should the auditioners on AI expect to be treated with respect or even nicely? Why would anyone watching AI expect this? I’m really puzzled.
God, I’m sorry. I must have had lunch on my mind. (Grilled cheese and tomato soup.)
ok, here is my final answer. I am ok with the judges ridiculing bad performances. I have a problem with them ridiculing physical appearance, mental handicaps or any other deviation from the Hollywood norm. With the buggy-eyed guy, even Paula and Randy were actually ashamed of Simon’s comments. No need for that.