Agree 100%. I think Lionel Ritchie stuck some carrots in Simon’s ears.
He’s no Lind, Holm, Fuentes, and Nilsen. (Yes, I know he’s only one guy…)
If I have to pick just two, I think Michael and Luke should go home.
Ok, off to see if I can download a couple of those songs. Was Paula just speaking English?
I loved David Cook and Jason Castro, for daring to do something different. Danny was good, too, but I don’t see him scoring many points with Podunk, USA for that performance.
Har!
You’re All the Woman I Need is Luther’s. Luther did it first and Crackhead Whitney can shove it.
I thought that was Luther! That was 90s, too, wasn’t it? Okay, I understand that it was released by someone * in the 80s, but would like to have heard songs that were at their peak in the 80s, not something that was either late 89 or a song that was most famous in the 90s.
*For me, anything from 1989 forward was 1990s, but that might be because I graduated high school in 1988. I know it’s irrational, but it’s how I feel.
What does Randy think it means? No clue.
I always thought it really meant “Thanks for watching my back”… Biggirl, you mentioned it in last week’s thread – would you agree with me?
I absolutely agree. And it made me realise how old I truly am, compared to these kids! Is this how my parents feel on 60s night? :eek: (Well, would feel if they watched, but you know…)
Yes. It means “thanks for looking out for me”. Randy is an idiot.
Once a long time ago while watching that 70s show with my kids, it struck me that this would be their Happy Days. They thought of the '70s like I thought of the '50s-- some deep dark black and white place of yore.
The other day, I actually uttered the phrase “30 years ago…” and cringed. My husband bought a beer that had a label on it, celebrating the 40th anniversity of the release of a Frank Zappa album from 1968. 40 years!?
I also feel old when I (as a 37 year old) call the AI contestants “kids” and the cutoff is 28 years old.
Here’s how I’d rate them tonight:
-
Jason Castro. Excellent performance. Very heartfelt. I like performers who put their heart into the songs, and he did.
-
David Cook. Excellent arrangement, took a risk, made it work. I used to hate this guy, but now he’s one of my favorites, if only because at least you can expect something different from him.
-
David Hernandez. Just on the strength of the vocals. He’s got a great tone.
-
David Archuleta. So-so performance for him, but still better than most.
-
Michael Johns. Eh. Pretty generic rock vocals. Somehow, even though he’s belting it out his voice still sounded kind of weak. And he doesn’t have anywhere near the creativity of the people ahead of him on my list.
-
Chikeze. That wasn’t that great, but he’s still capable of knocking out some big notes. Give him the right kind of songs and he does better.
-
Danny Noriega. That was just annoying, overly self-conscious, and the vocal wasn’t great.
-
Luke Menard. Congratulations. You out-pussied WHAM! I hear when you do that, you have to surrender one of your testicles.
Any of the bottom four can go home now, and I won’t care which. If any of the top four get booted, there is no justice.
Well. Some surprises tonight. Not so great, really, for the guys. Seems like some complacence has set in.
Luke Menard, C+
I really don’t like when these songs are done as imitation covers, and I don’t think AI is looking for cover artists. I thought it was Holiday Innish. Great sounding if you had a little buzz going and a hot dance partner. But there’d be no reason to buy the CD if the original is still being produced.
David Archuleta, A-
TMZ rumors have it that the guys picked on David this week, and a certain defeatism did seem to come from his performance. It’s one of those things that’s hard to tell, like when a brilliant student blows a test. I think in David’s case, it would be that the material is too boring for him. Just like this song was too weak for him. He has the capability to do the big songs, and he should. He had been rumored to be doing Open Arms, which would have been much better. Simon’s complaint, incidentally, was quite random. Two weeks ago, David did an upbeat Motown song, Better Shop Around.
Danny Noriega, B
I just don’t like celebrities with too much attitude, and he has attitude in spades. He comes across to me as having a sense of entitlement, and a deeply disturbing narcissism. His voice is quite good, but with high maintenance comes high drama, usually. As a producer, I wouldn’t want to invest in him for fear of wild emotional ups and downs causing scenes and scandals that are expensive to handle.
David Hernandez, B+
Surprisingly good tonight. He was less scarey, I thought, than he usually is. There’s something about those eyes that intensify with an exponential proportion to his facial expressions. A better performance, too, with less forced movements. Apparently, he can take coaching, which is a good thing.
Michael Johns, B-
This is his third copy cover in a row. He simply must begin to interpret songs like the artist he aspires to be, rather than like a wedding singer. Again, I want to see him do a song that has a voice on the original that sounds nothing like his voice. That, I believe, will help to measure his talent and potential.
David Cook, B
I have to dock him for what no one mentioned, but that he was very aware of, namely the botched falsetto at the end. He cringed when he heard himself, but could not recover. That’s important because an otherwise excellent performance was heavily affected by a flubbed ending.
Jason Castro, B+
There is a certain charming unassuming manner about him that comes across in his performances. There’s a sort of Bob Dylan demeanor and an early — very very early — Elton John, the pre-successful troubadour quality to him that tends to endear him to audiences and give the appearance, at least, of some street cred. But the song this week was just a teensy bit bigger than he.
Chikezie, C
The falsetto was flat. And there was a key modulation in mid-song that he couldn’t quite wrap his voice around. Plus, he’s still giving off an awful lot of that cruise liner singer vibe. Cabaret, as Simon calls it. I won’t be surprised if he’s cut this week. I feel like he has pulled himself as far along as he is capable.
DialIdol has already projected
David A as a solid 1st place.
I don’t know what the judges were talking about – tonight was nowhere near stellar, and left me wanting more.
Luke Menard, C-
Luke doesn’t impress me at all, and I feel like his position as the first singer tonight was apt – as if he was the opening band for some larger act. Very karaoke-ish, and not at all spectacular.
David Archuleta, B
I agree with Simon, for the most part. I’m glad he found his niche, but he needs to show more of his ability. He’s a fantastic singer, but he has yet to really prove it. This song wasn’t really special, and I agree that last week was better (although I didn’t really like last week’s Imagine, so take that as you will). Something about him perturbs me – I have yet to really put my finger on it.
Danny Noriega, B
I can’t help but love Danny. He is the embodiment of stage presence, and he has just the right level of confidence. I was looking forward to him doing Tainted Love, but this kinda fell short. His arrangement was okay, but could have been better. Randy and Paula are right on the money (for once) with Danny – he’s being who he is, and he’s out there. You might not like his personality, but he’s at least being true to himself. Go, Danny, go.
David Hernandez, B
His facial expressions are a bit frightening at times, but overall, he was okay. Just okay. B+ if he had toned down that first note he held – I didn’t care too much for that. And, come on, most embarassing moment? How about “when everyone found out I was a gay stripper.”
Michael Johns, C
Michael Johns hasn’t been impressing me as much as I’d hoped when I saw him during the auditions. This was a weird karaoke/wedding song mix, and definitely NOT top 12 material. He really needs to get himself in gear.
David Cook, D
I’m going to go against the judges and the consensus here, it seems, and say that I honestly did not enjoy his performance. He gets a D just for having the balls to try it, but in my opinion, no way. I see this appealing to the judges, but to the demographic of the show? I think he may be in danger of disappearing Thursday.
Jason Castro, C
I first thought “you know, he could be cute if he lost that … crap … on his head.” But, no. I’d never really paid attention to him beyond the songs before tonight, and wow, I really think he may have some type of anxiety disorder. Or something. His recorded interview made me raise my eyebrow in suspicion of his mental capacity, and the fact that he can’t even speak to Ryan afterwards? Oh, not to mention the choice of song. Hallelujah is one of my all-time favorites, and I think he truly fell short of the mark. Color me quite unimpressed.
Chikezie, C
I’m not a Chikezie fan; I think his song choices are amateur-ish, and he just doesn’t seem to fit the competition. His competition seems to be on a whole other track than he is, in terms of both performance and song choice. Chikezie strikes me as someone you’d throw in at halftime, for filler, just to keep the show moving while a critical scene change happens in the background. His singing was just okay.
My top picks for the week: stripper David, shyguy David, and Danny (hey – it’s not just a singing competition, no matter how you want to play it – it’s a lot of stage presence and attitude as well, and Danny shines there)
I’d say the ones who need to cross their fingers for Thursday are David Cook, Luke Menard, and Chikezie. Which two of them will go, I dunno, but it’s gonna be two of them.
I’ve been making fun of David Cook’s combforward mercilessly since day 1, but I absolutely loved his rendition of Hello. It is the first AI song that I’ve ever wanted to buy off iTunes - and I’ll probably get it tomorrow.
I thought Michael John’s did a terrible job with Don’t You Forget About Me, but I think he’s way too pretty to be voted out. As amusing as Danny is - I think it should be Danny and Luke gone Thurs night.
I don’t really get to watch anymore because I work Tuesday and Wednesday night, if it were slow I could watch but people always come in when Idol is on and stop coming in when it’s over. Anyway, I only caught Luke and the recaps. Luke is so pretty. I know he’s not as good a singer but if he has to go home could they just plop him down in the audience instead and have the camera cut to him every couple of minutes? Ooh! Better yet, just give him Seacrest’s job!
I worked late again, so had to catch up with highly-pixellated YouTube clips, most of which edited out the “most embarassing moments” and judge comments, so…
**
Boring Luke** prompted me to scream at my laptop: “YOU ARE SO BORING I HATE YOU GO HOME NOW YOU FUCK!” and “YOU PUSSIFIED ONE OF THE PUSSIEST SONGS EVER WRITTEN!” (not to mention sucked every drop of fun out of it). And, no, I don’t find him the least bit attractive. Boring is not attractive.
Little David’s voice was was pretty much perfect as always, though I sensed a sort of…weariness? I didn’t know about the “Open Arms” rumor until after I saw the clip, but of course that would have been a much, much better choice. He’s so far ahead of the pack that he gets a pass this week. No more weak song choices though, bub.
Gay Danny’s Tainted Love = too much taint, not enough love. He sleazed it up in a creepy way and didn’t sing it well enough to be fun. I like him, and want to see him next week, but he’s got to seem less like he’s working for tips at a Chelsea bathhouse.
Stripper Dave, I’m starting to like a lot. He’s good. But not terribly memorable. He’s gotta work on that. This night, he’s one of my tops (heh) because he didn’t outright piss me off, like…
Michael Johns! Yet another indistinguishable-from-the-hit-single version. Lazy! He still has a chance to impress, but it seems like he doesn’t care all that much (or thinks he’s too good to have to).
David C., I am with KSO: please, please ban David C. from bringing a guitar on stage ever again. I liked the Daughtry-lite rock arrangement of the song, but David’s crap-ass guitar playing adds NOTHING and makes him look awkward and desperate. He probably deserves to go on to the next round, but based on that performance I’m happy if he goes home.
Jason Castro is nothing if not perfectly charming. He needed a good performance to keep him at the top and I think he made it, just barely. The main thing with Jason, is that I can’t wait to watch his performances. I can’t think of even four other contestants I feel that way about. For that reason, he’ll stay around for a bit.
Chikezie, I like. He’s overdramatic and annoying, and chooses weird songs, but he’s got talent and is interesting. He needs to stay.
Top 2: Jason C., David A.
Middle blah: David H., Chickezie, Michael Johns
Bottom 3: David Cook, Gay Danny, Boring Luke
Going home: LUKE, OR THERE IS NO GOD (and I’m guessing Gay Danny)
It strikes me as though the contestants this season aren’t trying to be as memorable as they should be. Up through the Hollywood rounds, you could tell the guys were giving it their best, knowing it was do or die. To me, it seems that a number of them are now “comfortable” in their spots – that is, they aren’t trying so hard to impress. Maybe it’s because they don’t care, maybe it’s because they think they’re too good already. I don’t know for sure, but I certainly am detecting a bit of lethargy from the boys lately.
Each week seems slightly suckier than the previous. It’s not really a fighting match of “who can be the best,” more of “who can not suck the worst; or at least, sing slightly better than at least two others.”
Thanks to VoteForTheWorst… Danny Noriega sends you Christmas wishes, or something like it.
Apparently Danny boy posted it to Myspace at some point, and it didn’t take long for VFTW to find it.
Personally? I love this kid. This video seals the deal. I’m cyber-adopting him.