Elizabeth: The short skirt and boots was not a good look for her. The size of her thighs was distracting. She didn’t really nail the song either. Whitney, she is not. Meh.
Eric: Another meh. The falsetto at the end was nothing special. He was still better than any of the guys from last week. (Does anyone else think he looks like Stiffler?)
Amy: Didn’t she do this song already during the screening rounds? She loses points for doing a Celine Dion song but she sang it ok. I find her adequate but not specially exciting.
Jon Peter (“Penboy”): As he was singing I realized he looked a little bit like Elton John. he doesn’t sing like him, though. He mumbled and rushed a little bit. And his voice sounded weird.
Charly: Wow, what an accent. She sounds like Sissy Spacek in Coal Miner’s Daughter. Not a strong performance. Not a strong voice.
Jonah: I’ve thought from the beginning that this guy needs to work with a voice coach and figure out his breathing. He always just seems to wind himself by the end of every line. This was not a good song choice either, no melody and no real dynamics.
Leah: Pretty good, not spectacular.
Latoya: Holy sh*t, where did this girl come from? I thought she started off a little shaky but she knocked it out once she got going. I agree with the judges that she’s been the best in this round. Fantasia has some new competition as the front runner.
Despite Latoya’s dynamite performance, I still like Amy best. She’s more professional. Latoya has razzle-dazzle stage presence and a pretty damned good voice.
I was surprised that the judges liked Leah. I thought she was a washout.
I still think that the judges opinion may get her a long way however.
My third choice would be Jon Peter. His voice has an unusual quality that some training could help. And I like his impishness. I don’t even think that HE knows that it’s there. He just needs to “unlax.”
Elizabeth - I don’t remember her which can’t be a good thing Eric - he wasn’t bad, that’s about as good as he’s gonna get from me though. Amy - I liked her. Celine is a good artist to choose if you want to show off your voice. Penboy - I wasn’t crazy about this performance, I seem to remember thinking that his whole performance was just a touch off, unimpressive. Charly - my thoughts are roughly the same as Simon (there were a few times in this episode where I commented word for word what he ended up commenting, this was one of those times) Jonah - very unimpressed. Stick to rapping. Leah - For the life of me, I cannot remember this performance. I seem to think I agreed with simon on this one, in fact yeah, whatever simon said. This was the one where he stole my words. This was the Whitney performance, right? Latoya - When she started up, she seemed a little weak. I should clarify weak though, by weak I mean she seemed a little nervous and wasn’t putting as much into it as she could. The minute I made this comment, she stepped it up, and how. She sang the hell out of the second half. I would have loved to see her substituted for one of the people from last week just so we could hear Simon comment on how noone else is even close. Out of the first three weeks, she’s my favorite.
LaToya was very good but she did that thing I absolutely hate. That hit every note but the one that’s supposed to be sung thing.
The rest:
Elizabeth-- she’s got a weird voice. It’s like she’s two different singers-- a throaty torcher in the lower register and a pop princess in the higher ones.
Jonah-- I wanted to like him. But I didn’t.
Leah-- She comes from a family of Bulgarian rockers! Who cares?! I don’t think I would have liked her no matter how she sang. It was a personal thing.
Pen guy-- Eh.
I’m missing somebody. Can’t remember who. I guess that says a lot.
I think you must have to be there to really get a sense of how well LaToya did since Paula said she had goosebumps and even Simon was sort of stunned. I also like Amy and think she should move on. It’s kind of funny that I’m saying that since they both sang Celine Dion songs, and I don’t like Celine Dion. On the other hand, I liked both of the contestants’ versions of those songs better than Celine’s. I don’t see what the big deal is about Leah but she’s got a good chance of edging out Amy because the judges talked her up and she’s better looking. I hope I’m wrong because Amy was simply better. Simon’s cabaret crack was moronic, and so was his comment about the ripped dress. He tries too hard to be clever.
I liked Charly’s accent; she should have been herself and gone with hillbilly thing, maybe sung a song like “The Scarlet Tide.”
Jonah was the weakest. Bad song choice and a completely dull performance, all runs and hand gestures. Jon didn’t have good pronunciation or a feel for the words, and he seemed to cover a couple times with vocal slurs when he forgot the words. I forget the other guy’s name, but he was a Karaoke singer. Same with the first singer whose name I forget. I actually thought she was kind of cute, but she was blown away by the other performances.
I am glad to see I am not the only one who thought the judges were wrong to think Leah was so good. The best one so far??? It was amusing when right after that comment, Latoya blew her away. I hope you guys are right about Amy getting the nod. I just flat like her. She has a great voice and a wonderful personality.
I think LaToya is a shoe-in for the final group.
And I think I’d vote Jon Peter forward, if only for the fact that he was the best of the boys and the final group is going to need boys.
Pink-hair girl did nothing for me.
Jonah was an embarrassment.
Clay-Aiken-look/sound-alike didn’t look or sound anything like him.
And the other girls were just meh!
As for Charly’s accent - She’s from Pembroke, NC, so she’s either a Lumbee or Tuscarora Indian. I used to work in Pembroke many years ago, and from the point of view of a dialectician* (sp?) it is a VERY interesting area - the county (Robeson) is largely rural, and there are many VERY distinct accents, based on what part of the COUNTY a person was raised in. You could tell where someone came from by the accent, often to within a mile.
I wanted so badly to like Jon Peter (partly because I looooove “Tiny Dancer” and partly because he looked like my beloved hobbits), but I just couldn’t. His performance just …wasn’t.
I like Amy and I want her to go on despite the fact that she sang a Celine song.
Leah: overrated.
LaTonya: I missed half of this performance, but the half I did see (towards the end) didn’t impress me much. Maybe I wasn’t paying attention.
Everyone else: blah.
Here’s a [hijacky] question: I have Cingular. They recently bought AT&T Wireless, or announced their plan to buy them, right? Now, American Idol only accepts text votes from AT&T subscribers. Does that mean that I can now text my votes from my Cingular phone?
Eric: I love doo-wop, and was glad someone chose a song from that genre, but a) it shouldn’t be done without backup and b) he just wasn’t that good.
Amy: She is already there.
Jon: I like his voice, and the Tom Jones moves were pretty daring, but I can’t STAND singers who don’t enunciate!
Charly: Eh.
Jonah: Ditto.
Leah: I can see her making the final twelve, but I can’t see her winning, unless she refines her style. Good as she was, her sound is just a little too pre-packaged.
Elizabeth L. - Dress+boots=MEATY legs. Not that I’m one to talk, but still. Well, she can sing, but I can see her overtaken by the other competitors. Good, but that’s as far as I go with her. I’m with Simon, not good enough.
Eric Yoder–25? He looks 18!! Hoo Boy…Clay-lite. It wouldn’t suprise me if he got through on being Clay-lite. Pretty good though. Nice job. shrug
Amy-- I’ve always loved her hair. It’s very pretty and so is she overall. Nice big voice, but sounded like she was missing some notes. I’m with Simon. She probably will make the finals, but won’t win.
Jon Peter Lewis–Great song choice! Needed to enunciate more, but sounded GREAT! My mother said that his being hard to understand could hurt him and I agree. But, a lot of people(myself included) like him, so he should get through without a problem. That is, unless he gets shafted like Lisa L. did. Best so far, despite enunciation problems.
Charly–Excellent. But, there’s something missing. She made me smile, so that’s good enough. Heh.
Jonah–I adore him, but while he was pleasant, he was weaker than the others. I’m with Randy.
Leah–She can certainly sing, but I’m with my mother. “So-so”. “Okay”. I agree with Simon. Almost, but not quite right yet. I mean, I like her just fine, but almost isn’t good enough and I don’t think she is.
Latoya–Oh my GOD!! A little flawed(breathy a little, couple missed notes), but MY GOD!!! YES! THE BEST OF THE NIGHT! Absolute best! I had a feeling about her too! One of my favorites now! She had BETTER make the finals of there will BE DEATH!!!
Charly said in her quickie interview that she’s a Lumbee. They’ll be so proud of her when she goes home - which will be tonight.
LaToya London just won herself a recording contract, no matter what happens next in this competition. I’m still stunned.
Amy, Elizabeth, and Leah will make it too, but 2 of them are wildcards - dunno which. Matt Rogers may be the *only * guy in the finals, at this rate.
Isn’t Leah the one whose mother was a Bulgarian pop star (I shudder to think) and now dyes her hair red the way a middle-aged mom shouldn’t? Leah couldn’t enunciate to save her life, but the judges love something in her anyway, and that gets votes.
Now warming up for Don Ho at the Hilton Hawaiian Village - Jonah Moananu!
I’d really love to see a cite supporting Leah LaBelle’s claim her father started the first rock band in Bulgaria. That is what I heard her say last night, right?
I don’t even remember seeing LaToya in the preliminary rounds. Was this a sneaky producing/editing move or me being a total dumbass? It’s probably the latter.
I’m late to the party so all the good comments have already been made. So without further ado, my predictions…
Latoya (by a landslide)
Charly
For second place, I actually had a hard time deciding between Elizabeth, Charly, and Leah. I’d be fine if any of them accompanied Latoya to the final round.
Penboy: glad somebody else noticed the resemblance to a hobbit.
Jonah: was that a real song? Or was he making it up as he went along? Just awful.
Charly: hope she goes on, just because I like her accent.
Leah: I missed the Bulgarian part, when she said her father “formed the first [Bulgarian] rock band”, so I asked my wife – who’s her father? Bill Halley? She was ok, but I don’t see the potential that Simon saw.
Latoya: Perhaps it’s just because the song was so short, but it seemed all about vocal pyrotechnics, and very little singing. And I think after one of her (too many) melisima runs, she wound up on a wrong note. But yeah, she got pipes.
Amy looked like a giant next to the PenGuy.
I don’t think LaToya is capable of hitting a damned note without first trying out 10 or 12 others.
And Leah did say her dad started the first rock band in Bulgaria yesterday. I no like her.
If things keep going the way they are, all the wildcards will be guys-- just to get some tetosterone in the final 12.
One of my favorites now! She had BETTER make the finals of there will BE DEATH!!!