Sanjaya was good too.
Oh, I like the little shy boy. Can’t believe he’s so modest!
If he’s the lead voice in his choir, I’d hate to hear the rest of them.
Why’d they let that guy sing the Unchained Melody to the end? You scare yourself? Imagine what you do to everybody else.
Why did Simon stop that guy? He was good. He missed a little bit on that high note but compared to most of the others so far he was fucking Pavorati.
Did Simon say no to the Venezualian guy? He sang very well and was sooo cute.
No, I didn’t like the smirk but-- he could sing.
Go Venezuela!
Does somebody write Simon’s lines for him?
This is getting cruel.
Really funny, though. But cruel.
I felt so bad for laughing. Still, everybody who shows up has got to know what they’re in for.
I’m hating the Taylor wannabe.
Good heavens, this girl is tall!
Loved the growling skit
The 16 year old? Can sing.
Freddie Mercury just threw up in his urn.
I’m with BabaBooey on this one…
Oh my god, I nearly crapped myself when they showed him on the preview last night!
He’s my husband’s hairdresser.
— The girl with the red lipstick and the mom was so Alice from Dilbert. That had to be a work.
— I figured they’d have security in the room, but I never saw them before the Taylor wannabe. I was actually expecting them to escort that first girl out.
— The very large guy, who sang God Bless America? I’m glad he could at least carry a tune. Before he sang, I was thinking, “18 years of building self-esteem, and it’s all going to be flushed.” But he took it well. Look for him and his pal with the eyes to be at the finale.
— Whenever there’s a really nerdy guy, like the programmer or whatever he was from SLC, people always say, “But what about Clay?” The difference is, even when Clay looked like something the cat dragged in, he still had buckets of confidence. SLC guy was a sad sack, and I’ve never seen any of the sad sacks get through.
— Loved the Venezuelan. Loved the 16-y/o with the NFL dad.
— The Indian girl with the brother…I thought she was terrific. Two possible reasons why Simon was down on her.
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As I’ve said before, Simon actively dislikes the true stunners. Not the ones who are hot due to their youth and style, but the ones who are classically beautiful, the Liz Hurley types. I can practically see his fur standing on end, like he was a cat. Perhaps he was dissed by a model when he was younger.
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Or, being British, he may be biased against Indians/Pakistanis. I don’t know, but I wouldn’t rule it out. (BritDopers, please don’t be offended. I don’t mean you, and I don’t mean to imply that all Brits are prejudiced against Indians. But AIUI, it’s not unheard of.)
— Girl Next Door**, really? That’s awesome! Sort of.
— And the chick with the red arms? Were her legs red too, or was she wearing tights? That’s another bad sign: when people are so unaware of how they come off that they choose an outfit that emphasizes their worst feature.
A lot of curious comments about the role of race and Idol wannabes… and I am definitely on the lookout for those type of things. But I have to say that I’ve never noticed a tendency of the judges to favor or disfavor people based on race. Now, they are lookist. They do like pretty people (especially Simon with the brunettes). That’s part of the business though - you can’t expect to sell records will someone who looks like a dog’s dinner. And they’ve had unconventional lookers do quite well - Ruben and Clay, for instance.
You could make a case that they have no qualms about exploiting the less-conventional looking people (the guy with the bushbaby eyes, for instance) - heavy people, nerdy-looking people, etc. But I imagine they feel that anyone who voluntarily comes out to audition is fair game, which is pretty equitable, I suppose. I don’t think that one race comes off worse from this angle. We’ve seen contestants of every stripe get humiliated or told that they suck. Truth be told, the sucky people we see tend to be White more than anything, if you ask me.
Rilchiam, anything’s possible, but I think you are really assuming the worst of someone whose goal is to make money, whether it be via an effeminate White guy, a rotund Black guy, a skinny Black girl, or a blond. You’d have to have something besides him kicking a contestant to the curb. The Indian girl? She was okay but she wasn’t wonderful. She reminded me of the Ayla Brown-type: well-trained, nice enough looking, but not really different. The really cute Black girl whose dad played football was similar but I think she was a better singer. They both struck me as kids who take lessons, who go to drama/vocal classes, and have maximized their talent through hard work. At some point you’ve got to bring something special along as well. Katherine McPhee was very similar - obviously an excellent student and someone who has a good talent, but Taylor had that special spark that you could never train or teach.
Sanyara, or whatever her brother’s name was, did have a much better voice and a really cool shy vibe about him. I think teenaged girls will really like him. And Simon moved him on, so I have to ask you why that came into your mind (Simon potentially being prejudiced vs. South Asians).
We’ve seen Asian, Black, Latino, Jewish, and bi/multiracial folks do well in this show. I like the fact that there is a nice cross-section of America in the pool and in the final 12. Perhaps there are cultural reasons why we don’t see more South Asian contestants trying out… I’m not going to make assumptions but at those cattle calls you can see a really good demographic snapshot of this country.
We also don’t see the majority of auditions, so it’s entirely possible that there was a glut of talent show trained-type contestants, which might color (no pun intended) Simon’s take. I actually find Simon to be the most consistent and reliable of the judges, but he does take leave of his senses occasionally.
Well, I did say maybe re: the South Asian bias. But about her looks, I’m serious. I see his hackles rise when a truly beautiful woman auditions. He even said something to that effect a few seasons ago: that a real looker won’t make it because the audience won’t identify with her.