Time spent dialing for Ruben: 0 minutes. Votes tallied: 0
Time spent dialing for Kim: 15 minutes. Votes tallied: 100
Time spent dialing for Clay: 1 hour, 35 minutes. Votes tallied: 113
I thought the lack of busy signals and ease of getting through for Kim meant she was toast tomorrow. But then I read the TWOP board and it seemed to vary significantly across the country. There were people who spent all 2 hours voting for her and barely got through, much like my experience voting for Clay. So now I’m back to having hope for a Clay/Kim final.
I couldn’t get through for Kim or Ruben, but my husband got through for Clay three times after many busy signals. My husband and son love Clay. I do too, but I am so confused! I love them ALL!
I didn’t notice the screw up in “Vincent” but it wasn’t Clay’s best. Not bad though, IMO. Our family thought “Mack the Knife” would be a great choice for Clay, but I personally don’t think he was that great singing it. He could do better.
Ruben was very predictable in all three songs.
Kim Locke should win this, I think. I think she’s pretty versatile, NOT predictable, and has learned from every performance. I don’t know if she will win though.
I kind of feel disloyal. I was for Ruben all this time, but he was third for me this week and last.
Am I the only person to notice that Kim is tone deaf on any notes below a high A? In the first song, there were four bars in which I counted only three notes that she hit accurately. She has a terrific voice, but she just has no ear. She is, by my rough estimates, flat on notes below high A almost 65% of the time. It drives me crazy, because when she is done, the judges gush. Are they tone deaf as well? She is smart to end on notes at A or above and sustain them, because those she tends to hear and nail.
Reuben had some tone problems last night, as well, but the quality of his voice (that rasp, in other words) makes it less grating. Clay hit his notes rather well, but that is par for the course. That Vincent song needs to be taken out back and shot, though. Whoever put it in the bowl should be throttled with a week-old herring.
Regardless of who wins at this point, I think the most marketable and ultimately successful (from a performance standpoint) will be:
Reuben
Clay
Kimberly
I don’t see Kimberly as being particularly marketable. Reuben will appeal to the crowd he appeals to, and Clay will make an insane amount of money doing a Barry Manilow review in Vegas. Shayna, you are obviously a Kimberly fan. May I ask why? Is it the person, the performances, or something else? I am not asking to criticize your liking Kim, I am just wondering what I am missing.
Personally, I liked Clay, then Ruben, then Kim. I didn’t mind Clay’s first song as much as the judges seemed to, but I don’t think I’ve ever heard the original, so maybe that’s why.
I put Ruben over Kim because I like his style of singing more than hers. They’re both very good performers, but it’s just a personal preference for Ruben.
I did admire Clay for coming back out after his first song was ripped apart by the judges and doing two amazing performances. He’s shown in the past that he can take criticism like an adult, and use it to improve.
Of course, being a Canuck, I can’t vote, so I can feel free to complain if I don’t like the results :). I wonder if we’ll have this many Dopers following along for Canadian Idol?
Actually, serenitynow, I’m not a Kimberely fan at all. Notice above where I said, “I have not always liked her – she’s gotten her share of criticism from me over the course of this competition”? Other critiques have included…
I try to critique each performance on its own merits. What I think about Kim is that she does have a very pretty voice – when she uses it and doesn’t scratch or screech the notes. I think she’s shown great improvement over the course of this competition, accepting the judges’ criticism and learning from their suggestions.
Comparing her to Ruben, I think she sounded better than he did last night. I think she’s trying harder than he is through this whole competition. I think she has better range and a better voice than he does (again, when she uses it properly). I think she’s a better performer than he is. And I think she’s more marketable as a “pop” star than he is.
Clay beats both Ruben and Kim every single show with every single song – even the ones he’s not so hot on. He is head and shoulders above either one of them on vocal quality, consistency and performance. I think he deserves to win this thing, hands down.
Now it’s just a matter of who I think should come in second, and I think it should be Kimberley. So I voted for the 2 performers I wanted to see move ahead last night.
I can’t wait to see the look on Simon’s face if Ruben actually does get voted off tonight (which he deserves to be, IMNSHO)!
I started off a Clay fan, but as the season has progressed I like his performances less and less. My criteria for voting is: who could sing an album of songs I’d like to listen to? The only answer for me is Kim. Both Clay and Ruben sound identical in EVERY song, there is no versatility. In addition, Clay’s vocal tics and precious delivery style are starting to get on my nerves.
That being said, I still think he’s a very likeable person and is completely adorable.
Unlike the Survivor Jenna debacle, if any of these three win, I won’t be upset.
Whoa, I just realized I might have spoiled Survivor for people living in areas where it has not been broadcast! I’m so sorry, I should have posted before coffee.
I have to say, I’m with Shayna on the Ruben issue. He was not good last night, and he wasn’t that great last week either. He’s having trouble hitting and holding notes, and his voice is starting to sound really gravelly. I understand that these people aren’t professional singers and aren’t used to this sort of pace of performing, rehearsing, etc, but the pace is also bringing to light the fact that Ruben’s voice just isn’t as good as it seemed at the outset of this competition.
I was really pissed at the judge’s comments on Clay’s rendition of Vincent…yes, they can slam him for forgetting the words (but I could have sworn that they had the Teleprompter, so that confuses me a bit), but his singing was fine. And Randy complaining about the song itself? Yeah, it was a really crappy song for Clay, but ummmm…did he forget that Clay WASN’T GIVEN A CHOICE??? Sheesh.
I’d love to see a Kimberly/Clay final. I tried voting for Kimberly last night, and in dialing for an hour or so, I only got through once. I tried Clay, too, but didn’t get through at all. Based on the experiences of other people in this thread regarding country-wide dialing patterns, I’m not sure what to think at this point.
Did all the performers pick out of the same bowl of songs - or were there different bowls for each - with different songs in each? I cannot imagine either Ruben or Kimberly pulling off “Vincent”.
Jadis, I don’t know how the people over at TWoP get their information, but they’re saying that the judges decided at the last minute to add a verse to, and/or somehow change the arrangement of, Vincent. If that’s true, then not only was Randy’s comment about hating the song stupid and irrelevant, since he knew Clay didn’t purposefully choose it, but it’s also rude and misleading not to let the audience know that he had, like, 5 minutes to learn new words!
I was not at all impressed with Clay’s rendition of “Vincent.” I do happen to like the song and he did lose a good chunk of the words. Regardless of that, I wasn’t impressed with the performance. Great job on “Mack the Knife” although that was really oddly arranged. I wish they would let these kids sing entire songs!
Kimberly turned in 2 and a half solid performances, I’ll have to agree with whoever said she started off the second one kind of breathy. Serenitynow I didn’t notice pitch problems this week but I have a couple of times in the past. I started off loathing Kimberly L. because I thought she made it to the finals just because she told off Simon.
Ruben, I’ve been enjoying his performances all along but he is starting to show the strain. I was waiting for him to have a heart attack on stage tonight and were those sweat stains on the first shirt or was it supposed to look like that? The Mrs is still very behind Ruben but I voted for Kim as my favorite of the evening.
Two asides, Seacrest saying that this is not a popularity contest and that we should vote based on performance. If we’re trying to come up with a pop Idol, shouldn’t popularity belong in there somewhere?
Secondly, did anyone else notice that Vanessa Olivarez is not listed in the roster for the Idols tour? IMHO she got hosed getting voted off first. Should have been any number of other people based on performance, and now they are keeping her off the tour?
I think Vanessa is the only one not on the tour; even Charles is going to be there.( He’s on the CD, btw. He’s sweet but I think he only knows that one song.) She really was pretty good and should not have been the first to go, if you ask me.
BTW, I just found out from my husband that we are going to the live show when it comes to town. He got the tickets on a pre-sale. I can’t wait till early August!
Man, Kurt Weil was rolling in his grave last night. I thought that was the most cringe-inducing performance of the night. He clearly had only listened to the Bobby Darin version, then took it to Branson. Clay sang the socks off “Unchained Melody,” though.
Shayna , thanks for your response. I guess I just assumed that voting 30 or 40 times for anyone made you a fan I started off being a Kimberly detractor, stayed that way for a while, then got over it, and now I am a detractor again because I have come to the conclusion that she is tone deaf. I agree that she is trying harder than Reuben, but I think that is because Reuben doesn’t have to try hard, he has natural talent. When I hear Kim off key, I think “Kim missed that note.” When I hear Reuben off key (which is more often of late), I think “Hey, the background music is off.” Reuben has a professional quality voice, even if his style is not my favorite. I think the Kims of this world are a dime a dozen, or maybe twenty cents a dozen, but definitely nothing amazing. Just differences in taste, I guess.
Probably not. What I was actually referring to was the A above middle C, which is probably not considered High A, but just A. :wally I have not been vocally trained, so I should know better than trying to adopt what I assume would be the terminology of those who know such things. I do know an A when I hear one. If you want to train your ears to identify A, just listen to Kimberly, and it is the first note she hits that is actually on key.
I agree with you. I don’t know, but maybe Vanessa is passing on the tour because she has other projects in the works. She was on the Today show within a week of being kicked off the show and said she had met Bette Midler and that she had been approached about several projects and implied that she was going to be working on one very soon. I didn’t think she should have gone so soon, and would be happy to see her land on her feet. I thought she was quite talented.
IMO, Kimberly has a lovely voice, but Rueben and Clay are in their own leangue. That Rueben has a slightly gravely, straining voice at times is perfect for the music he sings. Listen to the BIG R&B/Soul singers, and you’ll see Rue is in great company.
Clay is just a colossal talent and will only get better with age and training. With good marketing, he’s on the yellow brick road to Broadway, Branson, or Vegas.
And I think that’s what precisely irks Simon about Clay: he sees the possibility of him going the way of Vegas ala Wayne Newton/E. Humperdink/Tom Jones/Manilow route. Simon detests that, I think, and the “Grease” rendition last week just underscored his concerns.
Funny how they’re looking for the next American Idol, yet 80 % of the songs the contestants sing are a generation old. Another thought: only a handful of today’s musical superstars could make it to the quarterfinals of AI. Stardom by committee doesn’t work.
serenitynow, I also think Vanessa Olivarez is quite talented. She recorded a CD when she was 18 that used to be for sale on amazon.com, but the Idol people made them remove it when she got on the show. Someone obviously bought the CD, recorded the songs from it and uploaded them to their website (which she’s aware of, according to a recent interview with her, also linked on that site). Visit http://www.americanidol2.com/vanessaolivarez/ to hear her music, about half of which she co-wrote either the lyrics or the music. I think she was totally ripped off in this competition. She is WORLDS better than Charles Grigsby, Corey Clark or Miss Baaah Baaaah Blacksheep. I went back and listened to her Group 3 performance clip and I think she’s actually more deserving of being in the top 3 than Kimberley!
Which brings me to… I don’t think we’re too far apart on our opinion of Kimberley’s overall singing abilities. I just think she has more range and has performed better than Ruben the last 2 or 3 shows. And since the object is to vote for who you want to stay on the show, voting for her was my way of voting against Ruben. While he’s the King of Smooth, he’s equally off-key, flat and gravelly as Kim is. He’s just never called on it by the judges. He chooses “safe” songs that have 10 words that repeat over and over, so there’s little chance of him forgetting words. He’s BO-ring, just standing in the middle of the stage, stretching alternating arms out, begging us to give him his baby back. His runs are horrendous! He has, basically, 3 of them that he repeats in every single song he sings. He can’t hold a note longer than a nanosecond. He can’t breathe. My Og, he’s likely to die on stage of a coronary at the pace the AI people would expect of him if he wins [sub](Og forbid!)[/sub]!
The sad thing is, even though I think he’s a merely mediocre singer, I probably wouldn’t hate him as much as I do if the judges weren’t trying to brainwash me into loving him with all their ass-kissing.
I’m really anxious about tonight’s show. I bet these kids are all nervous wrecks!
All three were wonderful. Clay, I agree, had the best and worst songs of the night. Ruben was giving it his all, and sounded wonderful. Kim was great as well.
Kim is going though. She doesn’t have the built up fanbase that Ruben or Clay do.
I started off being a Kimberly detractor, stayed that way for a while, then got over it, and now I am a detractor again because I have come to the conclusion that she is tone deaf. I agree that she is trying harder than Reuben, but I think that is because Reuben doesn’t have to try hard, he has natural talent. When I hear Kim off key, I think “Kim missed that note.” When I hear Reuben off key (which is more often of late), I think “Hey, the background music is off.” Reuben has a professional quality voice, even if his style is not my favorite. I think the Kims of this world are a dime a dozen, or maybe twenty cents a dozen, but definitely nothing amazing. Just differences in taste, I guess.