American Idol 4/18-4/19: The Sounds of Seven Singers

Cafe Society
81

Damn, you! Beat me to it.
Chris - Wonderful. He proved he can SING!

Paris - This is definitely her niche.

Taylor - I thought he sounded good until the end. That was a bit too much personalization for me.

Elliot - I agree with Simon, good vocals but yawn.

Kellie - Yay! She really sucked!

Ace - It was okay until the falsetto, that just makes me cringe. Still the judges were kind of nice so I’m thinking he might lose the sympathy votes and go out on a high note.

Katharine - In a different league? Eh. She’s technically good but not a bit interesting.

I’m hoping Ace will go and Kellie will at least be in the bottom 3, but as Simon said Elliot could be in real danger.

82

Bottom three: Kellie, Taylor, Elliot

Kellie goes home

83

I thought I’d hate this episode, but it really wasn’t bad. My take:

Great:
Paris
Kat

Very good:
Chris
Taylor
Elliot

Okay for him, painful for me:
Ace*

Dreadful:
The Pickler

Going home: Elliot, sadly.

*I think that Ace is actually as dim witted if not even more vacant than Kellie. That boy is about as engaging as a roll of insulation.

84

I enjoyed Chris, Paris and Taylor the most. Really, though, Taylor ought to go off and make a video because he’s more fun to watch than to listen to, sometimes.

I liked Kat too, just not as much as the other three.

Elliott and Ace were competent but dull.

Kellie was HORRIBLE. And what is it with the judges and her? Even when she’s awful and she knows it, they try to downplay it. I am so sick of her “Thang kyooooooooooo!” and “I’m sooooorrrreeee!”

“Ah bootchurred it” is right, Kellie. You really Suckler. “Bewitched, bothered and bewildered…am AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.”
:rolleyes:

85

Ah, that reminds me. My favorite comment of the night - maybe of the whole season so far - when Simon said she could have forgotten the bewitched and bothered and just gone with bewildered.
I am also sick of the “Ahm sorreeeee”.

86

I couldn’t have said it better mahself.

I’m actually still stuck on “LOOK AT THAT PECKELLLL!!!” :rolleyes:

I think there’s a conspiracy where Fox and the executive producers force the “judges” to give her a break because she probably has the biggest non-voting audience: People with no phone.

87

I promise to try and think of something constructive to add to the thread at a later time, but this needs to be addressed.

Now, De Gustibus, etc. Neither the singing styles or the song choices any week are going to be to everyone’s taste, especially in this genre. You are all entitled to your opinions, which are at least as valid as my own, if not moreso.*

That said:

You are all on crack. Kat was transcendant.
*Hell, I’ll even drag my sig out of mothballs!

88

So you’re saying she one whit of personality?!?!

Care to elaborate? :dubious:
It seems by your own cites we all agree she can sing but… what else is there?

89

Chris Daughtry - Slow. Gentle. Easy. It was time for him to put up or shut up…and man, did he ever put up. Remember that talk at the start of this contest about how he probably didn’t even need the prize? He proved it tonight. Great performance. (I’m absolutely sick of What a Wonderful World, and I enjoyed it. That’s how good it was.)

Paris Bennett - Before, she had a diva mystique. Tonight, she was a diva. That’s how you do it, Paris. Way to go.

Taylor Hicks - Also good, though not quite as good as what’s now the two favorites. Always fun to watch even when he’s not all over the place.

Kellie Pickler - This is where her lack of versatility jumps up and bites her. Pretty listless all throughout, and I think she even missed a couple words. Okay, but just okay. And her word-of-the-day schtick and her saying sorry all the freaking time have to be getting annoying. Is this the week the Legion of Dumb finally decides she’s not worth it anymore?

Elliot Yamin - I thought he sounded really nice, and he did what he could within the limitations of “standard” music (whatever that means). There’ll be no cause for celebration when he leaves.

Ace Young - Oh, man. I still think he’s trying too hard, and he needs to realize that a lot of folks find don’t-call-it-falsetto annoying. (Seal could do it and not be annoying. I don’t think Ace is so fortunate.) He seems to be honestly doing his best, but he’s probably out of his depth at this point.

Katharine McPhee - Both my parents not only think she sounds professional (“Just listening to her, you can tell the difference!”), she’s the favorite to win it all. Personally, I found the pitch rise for the “waaaatch” a bit jarring; it sounded like she stepped on an ice cube. Fine performance otherwise.

Elimination prospects:
1st pick (33.3335% confidence): Kellie
2nd pick (33.3333% confidence): Ace
3rd pick (33.3332% confidence): Elliot

As “uncharismatic” as Katharine is, I really don’t think this nation wants to deal with the prospect of a Chris-Ace-Kellie final. She’s good for now.

90

Katharine is bascially being criticized for being a dull reality TV character.

91

I’m surprised to see Kellie predicted as in trouble this week. I gar-un-tee that whole “aw shucks I’m sowwy” routine had people burning up the phone lines to support the poor girl.

92

I think the bottom three will be

Ace
Elliot
Paris (should be Kellie, but it won’t)
Ace goes home

93

I’m always surprised that no one ever comments on Ace’s resemblance to John Travolta. (Okay, somebody else did say he looked like Vinnie Barbarino one time.) I was wondering if his 'do last night was supposed to be his Pulp Fiction look.

Kellie’s best line of the night: “Yew took a load off my chest!” :slight_smile:

94

She sucks the energy out of songs, then oversings them, grins like a fool while singing them, puts a twang into her singing voice, and is otherwise affected and annoying.

None of these people are interesting “reality TV.” I watch AI to see if schmoes off the street can sing in a way I find interesting. She doesn’t.

95

Rod Stewart’s reaction to that was pretty good.

As for Katharine, I think she is a very good singer, but her renditition of “Someone to Watch Over Me” was too confident, almost upbeat. I think it was Paula who mentioned Mr. Holland’s Opus, but the version in the movie was just the opposite, more vulnerable and yearning. That sort of sums up my reaction to Katharine: knows how to sing, but doesn’t yet know how to capture the emotional core of the song. In a few years, with some more experience, she could be great.

96

Well, Dial Idol has made their prediction.

They say:

Ace goes home. The other possibles are Paris, Chris, or Kellie it seems.

I just want to say that I think McPhee did the best last night. I’m surprised to see the bashing.

97

I thought Katharine sounded great. However, I couldn’t stand to look at her. She kept doing that little laughing thing between the lines, and other things that annoyed the heck out of me. She just always looked like she was mugging for the camera.
My rankings:
Paris: This is the Paris we all fell in love with at the auditions! I loved it, loved it, loved it. Dreadful outfit.
Chris: A pleasant surprise. I thought he was going to tank this week, but obviously the boy can sing. Another dreadful outfit. (Who’s dressing these people?)
Katharine: As I said above, she sang it beautifully. For that alone, she gets a high ranking from me. I still want her to stop mugging.
Elliott: Nicely sung, but nothing to wow me. It hurts me to say that, because I absolutely adore Elliott. I hope he gets to stick around for another week.
Taylor: Started out so boring that I started to zone out. Then he went spastic and sang the same note over and over again really loudly, so I had to pay attention. Did not impress me at all.
Ace: Just really bad. His hair was in a ponytail. Really, really bad.
Kellie: Worse than Ace by a hair (although her hair definitely looked better than Ace’s). Actually, I thought it started out pretty nice. Then she got lost and mumbled the rest of the song off-time. No amount of “Ahhhm sawrrys” can fix that performance.

98

Kellie admitting that she “butchered” her song was unprecedented – Fantasia would’ve said she was keepin’ it real, and asked her fans to back her up – and I think only she can get away with it. So she’s safe, even though hers was the worst performance of the night. But if she ever does get a singing career going in any genre other than Country, she’s going to have to drop the accent. “bewitched, bothered and bewildered…am ahhhhhh” doesn’t work.

Record producers are going to picture Katharine’s face on album covers, and her voice on the inside, and line up to sign her. And laugh hysterically at the people who say she has no “personality”.

Bottom 3: Elliot, Ace, Kellie.
Gettin’ the boot: Elliot.

99

And…woohoo for standards! Isn’t it amazing how good everybody sounds when they get to sing good songs?

(get off my lawn! these kids today, with their colored chalk, and their VW Golf leases, and their Neve Campbells, and their listening to the No Doubts…)

100

A bottom 3 of Ace, Chris, and Kellie would be a dream come true.