My rankings…
Not Painful
Taylor
Katharine
Bucky
Elliott
You’re Better Than This
Chris
Mandisa
Paris
Just…Go Away
Kellie
Lisa
Ace
Damn. The enthusiasm level tonight for all the performances has nearly put me to sleep.
Can’t say I actually liked any of them. Some were at least tolerable. A few sucked all the life out of the room.
It’s a sad night when the most exciting thing that happens in the whole show is Paula managing to put not one but several complete sentences together! :dubious:
Rick’s Picks
This week’s Paula Drunkenness Rating: 2/10. She’s usually sober the week after a lot of rumours about her sobriety, or lack thereof, have been flying around.
Overall this might have been the work week in show history. Just awful.
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PARIS BENNETT (7/10) - Not the most challenging or interesting song; a pretty standard Beyonce/Destiny’s Child backbeat-heavy, melody-impaired song. but she was fun and did as good a job with it as you could expect.
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MANDISA (6/10) - I don’t know the song, but it sounded like a mediocre Big Black Lady song, and that’s what she does. She’s actually a hell of a singer and I’m starting to think she’s a contender to win it all.
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KATHARINE MCPHEE (6/10) - Still a babe. Still a great voice. Still boring.
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ELLIOTT YAMIN (6/10) - Showed some range, but it WASN’T a great vocal. He was really having trouble with the song’s tempo.
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TAYLOR HICKS (5/10) - That was okay, I guess. Another stupid song choice. Man, this was a bad week.
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CHRIS DAUGHTRY (5/10) - I said last week that Chris was going to start getting boring, abruptly, if he kept doing his “Nickleback sings everything” approach and never do anything else. That moment came exactly four seconds into tonight’s performance.
One thing that seems to confuse the contestants is that sometimes they’re told to try something different, and sometimes the judges tell them to stay in their comfort zone. What they sometimes don’t seem to grasp is that this is a game show. You need a strategy to win, and song choice has to be appropriate to the situation.
If a contestant is struggling, they need to pick upbeat, showy songs that exactly fit them, in order to stay alive. But if they’re way ahead - as Chris is, or Katharine, who will start getting boring next week - THAT’S the time to try something new and show your chops. Chris could have done a slow ballad this week because he’s got a huge amount of momentum; he’d show some flexibility, keep people from getting bored with him, and not risk a ticket home. It was a mistake not to try, but he could still do it next week.
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BUCKY COVINGTON (4/10) - He really can’t sing for shit, but that was one of the night’s more confortable performances; he knew what he was doing, had the presentation down, delivered the goods, and probably saved his ass for another week.
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LISA TUCKER (2/10) - Central High School called. They want their talent show performance back.
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KELLIE PICKLER (2/10) - Her worst performance ever, by far. Didn’t even look or sound like she was trying. She won’t actually be in the bottom 3, but she’s badly torpedoed herself the last two weeks and is losing ground really fast.
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ACE YOUNG (1/10) - Holy flying Christ, that was atrocious. I’ve figured out why he made it this far, the only possible reason; he plowed Paula Abdul.
Should go home: Ace
Will go home: Lisa, I guess
Okay, that was uncomfortable. I wish Tom wantshisname (from “Dancing with the Stars”) was the host so he could tear up the judges with his one-liners. (“Man, the judges are grumpy. Did you all skip the food cart tonight?”)
I’m kind of depressed by how few songs I know from the 21st century. I believe that means I’m an old geezer. In any event, little is left to be said. I will say that I thought that the judges were going to tear Katharine up by choosing Cristina Aguilera, but they praised her. What do I know?
Paula’s comment that she wanted to hear Ace’s scar story was pretty funny.
I hope Lisa goes home just because it depresses me when they criticize her.
I voted for Chris tonight because I really do want to hear him sing a ballad. I got through a dozen times. Not a good sign.
Pundit, I don’t think most of those songs were that popular when they came out…
Missed this. But I cannot answer because it is all already a fog. Didn’t recognize most of the songs anyway. Sorry.
First, even if it were true, I don’t get how Paula could have any impact on whether he stays or goes. She praises everyone when they don’t deserve it, so I don’t think her remarks have much to do with how America votes. Plus, I have a pretty strong hunch that Ace is gay (no reason, it’s just a feeling).
Somehow I missed his touching his scar when he sang “scar.” Aigh! He is the king of the literal gesture, and for that alone he should not only be ejected, but probably beaten too. …and I like Ace…
Even Taylor did it when he put his fingers to his forehead in singing “worry.” What is wrong with these people? Do they have some horrible American Idol gesture coach or something?
Well, 30% of her actually is, so what do you expect?
My favorites have gone from Katharine and Chris to Katharine and Taylor. They are the most consistent with giving good, solid performances from week to week. Taylor’s weaknesses are looking pissed off, spazzy dancing, and bad song choices. Kat pretty much doesn’t have any weaknesses.
The local news just showed a quick interview with Kevin Covais at the airport - arriving back in New York. He’s so poised and well spoken, and just seems to be having a ball with the whole thing. He said the plane ride back was a lot different from the ride out there “just about two months ago.” Wow, can you imagine your life changing that much in that short amount of time?
He says he’s looking forward to going back to school and persuing “singing and acting.” Hmmm…we’ll see if the future smiles kindly on our wee Kevin. Lots of luck, guy.
Someone asked about songs and original performers. I caught most of the songs but I don’t know all the original performers.
Lisa - “Because of You” Kelly Clarkson (Now that was “a ballsy”)
Kellie - “Suds in a Bucket” by some country singer I don’t know. (Alas, it was not about beer)
Ace - “Drops of Jupiter” Train
Taylor - “Trouble” I did not catch the name of the original performer.
Mandisa - “Wanna Praise You” did not catch the name of the original performer.
Chris - “What if” Creed (sigh)
Katherine - “The Voice Within” Christina Aguilera (Apparently sounding like the original performer is okay)
Bucky - I heard “country” and I zoned out.
Paris - I was still zoned out from Bucky, by the time I came to I missed the name of the song and half the performance.
Elliot - Gavin DeGraw’s song that I never remember the actual title of something like “I don’t wanna be anything other than what I’ve been lately.” … but that’s too long for a title.
Did anyone think that the Pickler may have finally realized she needed to tone down the cornpone? I thought she sounded a lot less “hick-y” when she talked, especially in her song intro.
For some odd reason I’m watching this again. And I am compelled to share my thoughts. Lucky you!
The Worst: Nearly every performer at some point made a literal gesture to go along with the song lyrics. Ace was the worst, but it was so rampant I feel like this must have been a homework assignment from Pop School.
The Best: The one-hour format cut significantly down on the Ryan/Simon bickering, and pointless post-performance interviews with the contestants. Speaking of which…
Lisa doesn’t want to be there. Please, America, have pity and stop voting for her. I wish that doing a song from an ex-Idol contestant would be an automatic disqualifier. Come to think of it, maybe Lisa wishes that, too.
The best thing about Kellie was that someone hid the Wagner power painter. At least she’s consistent. She wears tank tops and jeans and sings crap-ass songs with the coldest, deadest eyes anyone’s ever seen this side of Jaws. But I hate her, so let’s move on.
Ace looks worse every week. He’s gone downhill since they got the stylists. He’s not that terrible a singer - though arguably the worst remaining in the competition. What’s really doing him in, though, is nerves. He was shaking so hard I thought he’d drop his microphone, and Ace is nothing without looks and confidence. After seeing him try to dance, I’m thinking he might be straight after all.
By the way, was Randy telling Ace to be more like NSYNC*? He’s rapidly eclipsing Paula as the most worthless judge evar.
Contrary to popular opinion, Taylor’s song was a brilliant choice. He took what in lesser hands would have been excruciating and made it amazing. The outfit didn’t look right on him, and he looks like he wants to hit somone, but still the best performance of the night.
Mandisa was terrible, full stop. Between not hitting the notes half the time and screaming the rest, it was even more painful the second time.
Chris was off his game. This song should have been right up his alley (unfortunately), but he didn’t do it well. Maybe even he is getting bored with the rut he’s dug for himself.
Katharine’s main problem is that she’s talented, gorgeous, poised, professional, and charismatic. In short, she’s not crazy, weird, stupid, gimmicky or shouty enough to stand out among the Picklers and Mandisas and Taylors. If anything is going to take her down, it’s just being too consistently good to make a big impact on voters. To a lesser extent, this is Elliott’s problem too.
Bucky was the anti-Ace. He looked better than ever, and was absolutely in his element tonight. Not the best vocalist, of course, but made up for it with everything else. I hope he escapes the ax this week.
Paris demonstrates once again how she can go from making every right decision one week to making every wrong decision the next. If Paris were a Star Trek movie, this would be one of the odd-numbered ones.
Elliott is the male Katharine, but not as gorgeous. And a bad dancer.
“Trouble” was done by Ray LaMontagne. I think he released his first record in 2004. It was a good choice for Taylor, whose performance I liked best tonight.
I also like Katharine and Paris and Chris a bit, but the others didn’t do it for me tonight.
I think Lisa will be going tomorrow.
I wish PicklerHickler would stop apologizing, and Ace needs to stop looking like a frakking deer in the headlights.
When I heard what the theme was going to be tonight, I cringed. It’s not that there aren’t some really good songs this century so far (I think music quality is going downhill, despite the RIAA’s blaming it on downloading, but still are good songs), but that these are songs that they’re comfortable with. And anytime you do something your comfortable with, you don’t give it your all. And not one performance proved my thoughts wrong. We fast-forwarded past three artists (TGFT). All performances were like they were singing songs they’ve sung in the shower a thousand times. Only Taylor stood out for me, and then only slightly.
First off, I don’t like to get into a lot of analysis over strategy, because everything is a gamble to some extent. If you do safe and easy, you risk getting falling into a rut and being upstaged by the competition. If you do difficult songs with a lot of range, you risk annoying a lot of viewers. If you go all over the board with song selections, you risk messing up and annoying viewers. If you shake it, you risk looking stupid. If you don’t shake it, you risk being seen as lifeless. It’s all based on the whims of a fickle public, and nothing is a sure thing or even a fairly sure thing.
They just have to do their thing and hope for the best. And build their careers on what they end up with. (I hear that Trias lady’s been doing pretty good. 
)
In the future, what I’d really like to see is different competitions for different types of music. You could have your rock AI, your pure mainstream pop AI, your soul AI, etc. Or just put all these different competitions on the same show. Is this workable?
Right, then…
Lisa Tucker - Kelly Clarkson’s a superstar now, and this is far from the worst selection she could’ve made. I don’t think she’s mailing it in yet, and I’d actually be surprised if she went this week.
Kellie Pickler - I saw nothing wrong with this performance. I don’t understand how contrition hurts her chances (we’re a long way from Survivor 1, people). She was okay, and we haven’t yet reached the point where that’s fatal.
Ace Young - Dangit, he’s giving his all, he’s not going quietly, but it looks like his hand is simply played out. He’ll be either out or RBPO* tomorrow; just a matter of which.
Mandisa - Gospel is a good choice for her; it plays to all of her (limited) strengths. Actually found her less annoying than last week. She’s safe.
Chris Daughtry - Is this the week he gets the Bo Bice scare? I didn’t mind the song choice, but a future idol needs to be aware of national trends, particularly bands that stir up enormous amounts of blind hatred for whatever reason (I know I mentioned this before!).
Katherine McPhee - Nice. Really nice. Could’ve been better, but now’s not the time.
Taylor Hicks - I dunno…it was good, but it didn’t play to his strengths, and you have to do what you’re good at if you’re going to win. Technically sound, nothing wrong with it, but I have a feeling he’ll be shifting back into high gear sooner rather than later.
Paris Bennett - Well, that was…interesting. This is actually the right time to test the waters (same deal as Taylor), see if getting out of one’s comfort zone really is a good idea.
Bucky Covington - He was virtually unintelligible, but he’s charming and has plenty of aw-shucks appeal. No idea how good or bad any of that is, so I won’t comment.
Eliott Yamin - This was a fine choice for him. Energetic, well-known, and just a tiny bit edgy. No complaints here.
No idea who’s it gonna be. Leaning toward Ace, but with only the most microscopic wisp of confidence. If not him, either Lisa or Bucky.
Re. the switch to one hour, I think this is yet another problem with the inviolable, sacrosanct one-at-a-time format. At some point, you inevitably get a way too drawn-out, filler-stuffed episode immediately followed by an episode where everything looks rushed. (I thought ten performances combined with the same freaking huge amount of commercial time per slot would be a very tight fit, and I was right.) It’s really very simple: Two hours, first cut takes it down to 1 1/2 hours, second cut to one hour, and have the final 3 or 4 compete on a half hour show.
Yeah, I know that’s never gonna happen. Even though it should.
- “Rock Bottom Plus One”. It’ll catch on, I tells ya!
No surprises. Mandisa and Elliott are stars, Chris remains the least original and most uninteresting performer, and Lisa’s going home. Lowpoints, besides Chris, was Kelly. Ace was close behind. Paris was great, but Mandisa gave what was for me perhaps the best performance I’ve ever seen on this show. Where Chris basically does grunge drag, Chris has a little bit of genius at making a song fresh. Katherine is phenomenal, but that was a terrible song. Taylor, OK, but boring. Bucky, he’s gone next week.
I think tonight they started with the worst, and got a little better each time.
1/10 Bye Lisa
2/10 Kellie Pickler - at least this time I didn’t want to slit my wrists, but that ain’t saying much
2/10 Ace Young - that was horrible and embarrassing
4/10 Mandisa - you showed off your lack of range. You suck when you sing low or soft, can’t belt it out forever
5/10 Chris Daughtry - my least favorite by you yet… Fuck you for singing Creed
6/10 Katharine - very pretty, best of the night so far (not saying much), chance to win it all
6/10 Taylor Hicks - I liked that you dropped the schtick for one and “just sang”… but it wasn’t that great
8/10 Paris - Loved it! I don’t care if it’s not my style so much, you have big potential in the next few years
8/10 Bucky - My favorite of yours thus far
8/10 Elliot - well sang but still kinda boring
I thought it was amusing that Randy kept saying he didn’t think much of the song choices. Um, maybe because the songs of the 21st century all suck? That’s right, I’m old! Get off my lawn and hush that caterwauling!
Kellie: “Ah’m saw-ry! Ah’m saw-ry!” I think what you meant to say is, “Simon, how come they cawl it the twenty-first century?”
Taylor, I like you more when you talk less. Don’t say “Soul Patrol!” anymore, 'kay?
Mandisa, no more jeans. Dresses look far better on you.
Bucky’s dancing actually had me thinking he was kind of hot last night.
Ace was showing a scar? We thought he was about to give us some nipple!
I’ve never liked Chris, and since last night was exactly the same as all other nights, I still don’t. I couldn’t understand why Simon thought he was great last week for not changing, but chided him last night for the same thing. RickJay may have hit the nail on the head:
Amen, just sing. You don’t sound like Ray Charles, anyway. You sound like Stevie Winwood when he was a kid. Now repeat after me:
I bought a sequin suit from a pearly queen…
See how nice that is?
Check out these pictures of Kellie “The Pickle” Pickler’s prom night and a page out of her yearbook. Doesn’t look like the kind of get-up a naive girl would wear: