John, John, John. I love you, but that was terrible. sigh
You know, I started a list of who I liked, but with the exception of John, who royally screwed up, they were all pretty good tonight. Even Camille gave a better performance than she has in the past.
My prediction for the bottom 3: Camille, John, and Diana. I hope John gets to come back to redeem himself. Motown just isn’t his thing.
Oh my! Ashford/Simpson as guest judges!? YAY!
Camille–It’s obvious that she’s putting forth her best effort hrre, but is still very WEAK. Good performance, but she’s the one who’s out of her depth, not Jennifer. I’m with Simon and Randy. If she’s not gone this week, she’ll be gone next week.
Jon Peter–Oh dear…just meh. His fanbase will save him though. Let’s face it, Simon is right.
Latoya–HEEE! She looked just like Trenyce. Despite the overuse of melisma, she was just fabulous! Excellent!
Amy–Overall, very good and a lot of fun, but DID miss notes and the long note was not good at all. The ending hurt, but still sounded decent.
John Stevens–Errrr…good song choice, but weak performance. It’s like he diluted the song with water or something. I wish people`would just let Simon finish what he’s saying! Geez!
Jennifer Hudson–Great song choice! A little heavy on the vibrato, but so far the best. Hell, she did better than K. Lo!
Jasmine–Meh. Song choice did her in. But, meh. No way she’s the best tonight. Not a bottom three, but nowhere near as good as Latoya or Jennifer.
Diana–Well sung, but something’s missing. She’s certainly among the best, I can’t be compelled to vote for her.
Fantasia–I didn’t care for the ending too much, but overall fantastic. Most certainly among the best and I WOULD vote for her if she were as vulnerable as Jennifer.
George–HEEE!! It’s obvious that this was HIS NIGHT! Excellent!
Bottom Three:
Camille
Jon
John Stevens
First half of the show: sucky! (Camile doesn’t belong on the stage; Penboy was all shakey; La Toya had a bad night and it wasn’t just the hair; Amy was out of her league and John! Omigod! So horribly bad! Jennifer – I really don’t like this girl.)
Second half of the show: Pretty Darned Good! Jasmine did OK. Diana DeGarmo rocked the house, but I hated her earrings. Fantasia WAS Fantastic, but lose the sweater/shrug. And George was in his element!
I’m predicting John goes home. . . if not Camile who should have been the first one to exit.
I just really didn’t expect such a sub-par show from a Motown theme. Too bad. And Ashford and Simpson are scarey!
What did somebody yell from the back when Simon was talking to John Stevens?
If John Stevens gets the boot it is cruel irony, because next week’s theme is “big band.”
Call them sympathy votes or whatever, but I called in a votes for John. I like his voice. Even though he sucked tonight, I think he needs to outlast Camille and I’m hoping she goes home tomorrow. That girl is absolutely terrified to be on stage and I don’t think a few more weeks on the show is going to help her overcome that.
I thought Amy was doing alright until the last part. I actually cringed when she did that last line.
Jennifer’s got a powerful voice, but she makes scary faces when she sings.
Jasmine - meh. I don’t get what all the fuss is about her and I wish she’d get rid of that damn flower.
It was nice to see Matt in the audience. He didn’t deserve to go last week, but he looked like he was enjoying the show.
I kept track of the audience reactions in case anyone is interested:
Camille - Standing ovation.
Jon Peter - Standing ovation.
Latoya - Standing ovation.
Amy - Standing ovation.
John - Standing ovation.
Jennifer - Standing ovation.
Jasmine - Standing ovation.
Diana - Standing ovation.
Fantasia - Standing ovation.
George - Standing ovation.
Camille - she won’t win, that’s abundantly clear, she may be the weakest contestant (mostly due to nerves) in the competition…but she’s so beautiful! She put forth a lot of effort and wasn’t the worst tonight. I’d be perfectly happy to watch her go to the final two despite her lack of talent.
JPL - yikes
Latoya - I hated the song that she sang but she sang it well. Good job as usual.
Amy - think she did a fine job actually and for some odd reason, I actually liked the note at the end. I know it wasn’t right but for some reason I liked it. And Jay Leno?? Harsh.
John Stevens - yikes
Jennifer Hudson - thought she over did it a little but she has a fine voice. It was decent.
Jasmine - plenty of energy which is good but the thing is, she just doesn’t have the pipes to win. If I remember correctly, a bunch of the notes weren’t as good quality as they could have been - but they weren’t off exactly.
Diana - this is the only song I really liked, thought Latoya or Jennifer could have sung it better but she did an admirable job.
Fantasia - said this last week, I’ll say it this week - I don’t enjoy her voice at all so I can’t objectively comment. It’s safe to say I didn’t like it though.
George - he did very well this week. Overall, I’d put him in my top five but I’m not so sure he should win.
Bottom Three (loser bolded) - not necessarily representative of my feelings.
JPL
Camille 
John
Ok, I know John blew it. I even said that. But getting kicked off before Big Band night would just be wrong.
Unfortunately tonight was the first night I was able to watch the whole episode without the phone ringing off the hook! I have missed all or part of various people’s previous performances, so that makes it hard for an overall grade.
Camille – I think she’s cute as a button but she can’t sing.
John Peter – I think this is his best performance yet (of what I’ve seen). But that isn’t saying much. He IS kind of cute, in a dorky way.
LaToya – Wow! I keep missing most of her performances, and tonight was actually the first time I saw her all the way through. She’s really awesome!
Amy – I thought she was pretty ugh, though this was a much better performance than on Soul Night (I missed her on Country night).
John – I love John Stevens. He’s one person I actually remember from the first auditions and I loved him then. But this was a poor night for him. Can’t wait to see what he’ll do on Big Band Night.
Jennifer – Decent voice I guess, but for some reason she annoys me.
Jasmine – I think her performances are going downhill. I thought she was okay at first, but each time I’m less and less sure.
Diana – Honestly I feel like she had such a poor song choice that I was having trouble liking her tonight. Good voice though.
Fantasia – She just annoys me. I can’t really get into her singing.
George – Yummy! I’ve liked him from the beginning. He’s awesome.
My top three for the night were George, LaToya, and maybe Diana. Top three overall are George, LaToya, and John Stevens (I don’t think he’s an American Idol, but I just love him!). I hope JPL stays in for awhile because he’s funny to watch. Camille needs to go now. After that Amy, Jennifer, and Fantasia in any order.
This is so funny. But so sad. Because it’s so true! And it’s just like Paula’s judgments: all so positive that they don’t mean anything any more. This show is a joke, but we’re all so sucked into it.
Camille: Sucked. She’s stunk up the stage for three weeks in a row now. She just doesn’t belong in this competition…and enough with hang loose sign already.
JPL: Dude just doesn’t have the pipes, man.
LaToya: It was just a’ight for me, man. I think she’s been better. She didn’t suck but it was nothing special either.
Amy: I thought she got drowned out by the band and her constant mugging really annoys me. She’s not one of the real contenders but she’ll probably hang around until the top five.
John: The cat was off key, man. I like the dude all right, but you gotta sing in key, dawg.
Jennifer: Good. Solid. Still waiting for great from her, though.
Jasmine: She was good. I wanted her to suck but she didn’t. One of the top three or four performances tonight.
Jon-Benet: I just don’t like her. She’s a phony pageant brat. She’s a technically competent singer but she has no real personality and she said “c’mon” again. I hate when they say “c’mon.”
Fantasia: Really good, typical Fantasia. She really overdid the “yeah, yeah, yeahs” at the end but she was in the top three tonight.
George: He seems to be getting a little better every week and Motown is right in his sweet spot. One of the best performances tonight.
Bottom three:
Camille
JPL
John S.
Based solely on tonight’s performance, John S. would have to go but cumulatively it should be Camille and I predict that it will be Camille who gets voted off the island.
My take on it:
Camille - She seemed slightly less scared but please let this be her last week. She does not belong there. But I’m afraid she’ll just keep getting the sympathy votes.
Jon Peter - Ew, ick. What was that? He looked frightened of the band. He was squat dancing… it was just ew. I couldn’t believe he got a standing O (or Camille) then I saw everyone got one.
LaToya - She got a weave. I think it changed her whole look, not sure how I feel about it. I have to wonder if she didn’t do that so she didn’t look like Fantasia. She was good but not her best. The band and back-up singers seemed to drown her out at times but that seemed to happen for a lot of the singers tonight.
Amy - Good, better than her first couple performances, but not good enough. She should be safe though but she’s not right for this contest.
John - That was a little different but he didn’t pull it off, his voice was too weak. He was drowned out a lot by the band.
Jennifer - Great. I didn’t see as much of the bulgey eyes scary face tonight.
Jasmine - Good but a little weak at the start.
Diana - Great. I don’t get what Simon’s problem with her is. Maybe she’s just not unique enough in her appearance for his tastes?
Fantasia - Ok, I just don’t like her voice. I think she does have talent but I don’t even want her in the top two because I don’t want to have to hear her voice all the time, even if she comes in a close second.
George - He’s good but was a little weak in spots. I don’t feel like he is consistent enough to be a professional at this point.
Bottom 3:
Camille
Jon Peter
John S
I think Camille should go, but it will probably be John unfortunately. I think since he lost his support with the judges the rest of the country will write him off.
For the record. I am not voting this season. I always end up disappointed and I can’t outdial the crazy people who vote on sympathy or looks and not voice talent.
Camille might sing well dipped in cement, perhaps if she couldn’t do all the carefullly choreographed hand/arm/feet/dancey moves she’d be able to give up all the techniquey crud and just sing. I’m not so much getting the nervousness vibe the judges keep offering as an excuse, I see her performances as someone with plenty of experience and talent who’s determined to keep doing what’s worked well for her in the past and just coast on her looks waiting for everyone to catch up to her wonderfulness.
I might cry if John’s booted and Camille is kept, regardless of how poorly he did tonight. At least we can see a definate difference in him, he’s actually trying to grow and branch out a bit, not quite successfully but danggit, I just enjoy him.
Manic was a dead-on desription of Jennifer, go Simon!
LaToya, George and Diana were good tonight, I agree with everyone else about John, Jon and Camille being the worse.
All of them need to stop borrowing from the George Huff school of squat, and I cannot believe they ragged LaToya on her hair but left Fantasia’s outfit alone. Too scared of riling Ghettogirl’s wrath after last week?
You know, you just never know. I thought it was much worse this week than last; who’d have thought country week would beat Motown week? Ah well. A review by contestant:
CAMILLE VELSACO - Dreadful, third week in a row; Camille now probably has the dubious distinction of being the worst finals contestant in the history of the show. No power, projection, or charisma.
JON “PENBOY” LEWIS - I like his charisma and his energy, but he’s just an OK singer who did an OK job. Out of his league, but I hope he sticks around a few more weeks.
LATOYA LONDON - Very good performance, maybe not as good as either of the last two weeks. She is, by far, the most professional, polished performer in the history of the show. No contest, IMHO. The only bad thing about her is her first name; it’s like having a family doctor named Mengele or a therapist named Dr. Lecter. It’s like hiring a lawyer to represent you in a really nasty lawsuit and his name is Neville Chamberlain.
AMY ADAMS - Poor song choice. (Hint: When selecting a Motown standard, do not select one that was done as a horrible, 80s-ified homoerotic cover by David Bowie and Mick Jagger.) Fundamentally the same type of performance as last week, but not as good a song and not quite as good a delivery. I like her and she’s middle of the pack but I think she has zero chance of winning.
JOHN STEVENS - Horrific, one of the worst performances in show history. He was flat for almost the ENTIRE SONG. He barely hit a note; it sounded like fingernails on a chalkboard. Could he not hear himself? Just horrific, and he’s not developing any level of comfort or charisma. Way, way out of his league. He’s a nice kid with a smooth, easy delivery, but is just too young. More than anyone else in show history he has survived almost entirely on being unique; he’s a way sub-professional performer.
JENNIFER HUDSON - Pretty good, better than last week, and actually quite a bit better than Kimberley Locke’s rendition of “Heat Wave” in AI2. I hate “Heat Wave” and cannot understand why anyone would do it - bad song choice.
Jennifer can sing but she just doesn’t have a lot of charisma that I can see. Her one persona on stage is Assertive Black Woman Uh Huh, which gets old fast.
Jasmine Trias is the Jose Cruz Jr. of American Idol. She was, I thought, FANTASTIC tonight. She was fantastic in Week 1. And in Week 2 she absolutely blew goats. Even in the runup competitions I always either loved her or hated her. She has the potential to win, but only if she can avoid the Bad Jasmine and get consistent.
I think Simon has a tin ear a lot of the time, but he was dead right here; it was a purely high school level performance.
If Fantasia Barrino was white, she’d look just like Pink. Think about it.
So the new RickJay Rankings, and remember, these rankings are not just this week, but are a compilation of all performances to date, with this week’s weighed, appropriately, a little more heavily.
I would now separate them into three groups; Latoya, George, Fantasia and Jasmine are the only competitors with any chance of actually winning. Amy, Jennifer, Diana and Jon have their strengths but can’t win. John S. and Camille are badly, badly out of their league now.
Camille: Mr. Rilch (who didn’t see last week’s show) said, “They better fix the sound, and quick!” Me: “That’s how she sounds.”
Jon Peter: Every song is one run-on sentence to him. He does not know how to emote. Boot him already.
LaToya: Good job, but perhaps I was more inclined to think so because she was the first one who didn’t suck.
Amy: So what about the last note? I see nothing wrong with putting her own spin on a song. And I have to give her huge props for laughing off Simon’s “Jay Leno” remark.
John: Oh, I felt so bad for him. I seriously thought he was holding back tears while Ryan was de-introducing him. But I want him to get another chance! To that end, I’ve been hitting redial for his number ever since the show went off; what upsets me is that I’ve been getting through almost every time.
Jennifer: Not bad. She should hang in for a while.
Jasmine: At first, I was ready to dismiss her as a lightweight, but she’s been surprising me with her sensuality.
Diana: I would have thought that was another undoable song, but she’s got the powerful enough voice to pull it off! Agree with Simon, though, that she didn’t have any moves, but if she’s determined to win (and she could!) she’ll do something about that.
Fantasia: Excellent; a real vamp.
George: He’s really becoming a contender. If he doesn’t go all the way, he still might be noteworthy as the one who improved the most throughout his run.
God, tonight was the night of suck. I expected Camille to get booted off for sure this week, but after all that suck, anything could happen.
I think everyone took Simon’s comments about making a connection with the audience literally, since everyone seemed to be yelling something at them. C’mon! C’mon! Shut up!
Fantasia was pretty good, possibly the best tonight, but what the hell was that foam sweater she was wearing?
George nailed it, he just keeps getting better and better. Is it true what I read the other day, that he only got back on because someone got bounced for a DUI? And the towel…wtf?
Alas, Penboy. I get the feeling that he needs to be in a certain zone to perform really well. Trouble is he never seems to find that zone. He seemed to be getting into that song more as it went on, perhaps he would have nailed it had it not been so abbreviated like all the songs are.
I hope John Stevens doesn’t get booted before Big Band night…too ridiculous.
Did anyone else think that Amy’s song sounded a little bit country? Or am I imagining things?
I see what Simon means about Diana. She’s really good, but she screams high school talent show in everything she does.
Valerie Simpson: Well, now I know what Sailor Moon’s gonna look like at age 60!
Who was it who prompted Nick Ashford to say, “Well, since I wrote the song…” I’d plotz if I knew I was performing in front of the actual songwriter: there’s so much more potential for them to say “You desecrated my song!”
How do you guys know in advance what the evening’s music theme will be?
Still calling in my support for John S.! If he’s not gone tomorrow night, you’ll know who to thank (or throw stuff at).
I don’t know what’s wrong with Camille. It’s hard for me to give up on her because she was so good before the finals. Like others, I’m beginning to wonder if it really is nerves, but what the heck else could it be if she was able to sing so beautifully in the past?
John Stevens was awful tonight, but I saw it coming a mile away when they announced it was Motown night. He’ll get through because his fan base is so devoted (just read the previous posts) and on big band night, he’ll kick ass. Even Randy the hater will have to praise him. I wish Simon hadn’t been cut off (what is this, the Oscars?). I wonder what was he going to say about Camille?
I didn’t hear what everyone else heard when Jennifer Hudson sang. I thought it was horrible and was stunned when Simon said she was good.