I think the vocals sounded thin because she effed up the lyrics pretty bad*. It almost sounded like she was just lalalaing through them at one point.
I’m disappointed with the judges’ picks. Country for Scotty? Wow, didn’t see that one coming AT ALL…
Are these the same judges who tell people all the time constantly to venture outside their comfort zones? :rolleyes:
*Just to clarify, I’m not talking about the edits here. The first time the tempo picked up she dropped the whole thing.
This is the first season I took Idol off my DVR list (did that after James was voted out), and I didn’t watch tonight.
Out of the three remaining singers, I don’t care about any of them, and I don’t enjoy listening to them.
If I was forced to listen to one of them sing, it would have to be Scotty, even though I’m not into country.
Lauren is just too bland and she looks so uncomfortable on stage that it makes me feel uncomfortable just watching her.
Haley has an interesting voice, but overall, when she sings it sounds like “amateur hour”; she is not a polished singer/performer.
My favorites were Casey and Paul, though they only shined when they made the right song choices (which wasn’t often enough, unfortunately)
I wonder if a competition with a slightly different format would be more interesting:
[ul]
[li]When you get down to the top 10, don’t vote people out every week. Keep everyone around till the end.[/li][li]Every week, singers get points, depending on the number of votes they get. (e.g. #1 gets 10 points, #2 gets 5 points and #3 gets 2 points.)[/li][li]After 8-10 weeks, keep the singers with the top two scores, and send everybody else home[/li][li]The finale will be between the top two, just like it is today. The points they accrued will be thrown out and only the votes from the finale will count[/li][/ul]
This way, we get to see the interesting singers for a longer time, even if America isn’t giving them much love in terms of voting. Also, it will give everyone more time to grow and let the audience get to know them better, and it won’t have the cutthroat feeling of “who’s going home tonight”, allowing them to relax and perform better. (I’ve noticed that when they sing a song that won’t be voted on and can’t get them sent home, they all look more relaxed and they sound better)
Sometimes I’d like Simon back. That Kenny Rogers song by Scotty was a train wreck. The singers were off pitch all night.
I had trouble hearing parts of Lauren’s third song. It was like she forgot to breathe and her voice ran out of steam. Why can’t she belt it out like she did in her audition?
I decided to actually listen to Scotty tonight, (instead of FFing). He’s good at what he does. But what he does seams like a parody of what he’s trying to do.
Even if I loved Country music, I can’t imagine listening to a whole Scotty album.
I am hoping Haley does something like Brickyard Blues next week. She has that Maria Muldaur thing goin’ on.
I have to say that I don’t get the Haley love. I thought she did a good (not great) job on the Zep song. She always reminds me of an over-achieving high school girl who’s parents constantly tell her she’s awesome even if she’s just pretty good. I do like her music sensibility but I just don’t buy that she’s a great singer. None of the three remaining are great, but I keep forgetting that Lauren and Scotty are both 16/17 years old. I think Scotty is the only one who will have a shot at a real music career.
I thought all three of them made better song choices for themselves than did Jimmy or the judges. “I Hope You Dance” is dull, and I don’t even remember her other song. “She Believes In Me” was the worst; that’s a song from an older man who’s lived life and been kind of beaten down by it, not a lively kid who’s just starting out. And it was totally out of Scotty’s range.
What was the name of that taped segment of a band/singer they showed last night - with the blond woman of uncertain ethnicity in the long yellow cooch dancer dress? She sounded like Fergie?
Beyonce’s new video, I believe.
When we saw it, my wife and I looked at each other and said “Lawrence Welk!”
What was up with Haley’s dad? Is he a professional musician? I missed most of the song, was he any good?
Based on the intro, both her parents are musicians. He’s no Jimmy Page, but he certainly held his own on the stage and she seemed really excited to sing with him.
I don’t mind that for Scotty. Scotty is a country guy, He’s going to go on to sing country songs, he’s going to cut country albums, go on country tours, sing at state fairs and have a large country following. He doesn’t really need to venture out. He needs to show country producers and country promoters what he can do. He’s found his niche and he’s not going to sway far from it. The people that they like to see move out of their comfort zone are the ones that haven’t really found their niche yet. The ones that kind of wander around a little. Those are the ones they want to challenge themselves.
Having said that, I do like it when Scotty does something blusey or rockabilly.
My two least favorite genres of music are Rap and Country.
Needless to say, I am less thrilled with this season’s American Redneck show.
Would have been nice if Pia and Casey had made it this far, as we would be listening to jazz, blues, old standards and current alternative music.
I can hardly wait for Scotty’s last song, “Proud To Be An American” with a chorus comprised of Army, Navy, Marines and Air Force with his mom wheeled on stage in a wheel chair holding a homemade apple pie in one hand and sparklers in the other, and then the American Flag unfurls in the background…
My pick for Scotty - “When Doves Cry” by Prince. Let’s see you outside your comfort zone, Country Boy. 
I think we saw last night that of the three, Haley is the strongest performer by far (her performance of “Rhiannon” was exactly right for the song). I can see where her voice wouldn’t be for everyone; she has a lot of interesting things going on it, rather than just a pure, beautiful voice.
Oh, yeah!
You just had to say that out loud, didn’t you?
Really? I thought it was really cheesy with the wind machine and all. That may not have been her call, but it looked like a bad 80s music video. (In that way it was very much like Stevie doing “Gypsy…”) Her voice is fine, but I don’t like the way she moves around. It doesn’t seem natural to me.
Like I said, exactly right for the song. 
I did not care for any of Haley’s performances, esp. the Zep.
Haley is in over her head. The Led Zep song was okay, but after she tripped she did a bunch of "La La La"ing because she lost track of the words. It’s funny because I thought it was brave of her to walk down all those stairs in high heels and then she tripped on the short set of stairs. :smack:
The tempo of “Rhiannon” was too fast, so she never quit sank her teeth into the song. And the wind machine trying to give her a Stevie Nicksesque quality was just embarrassing. I’m so relieved she didn’t do a Stevie twirl. Well during that song anyway. Stevie has an ethereal quality to her voice which allows her to slide like butter over the lyrics. Haley doesn’t and so the lyrics seemed stiff in comparison.
“You Oughta Know” is a really difficult song to sing because Morrisette crams so many words into the song and it’s sung in such a low register. I thought it was a poor choice for her until the chorus, when she rocked it. When she tried to vamp it up for Steve Tyler, who completely ignored her, I cringed for her.
Scotty. He’s nailed the country sound, obviously, but I didn’t feel the emotion behind any of the songs last night. And all the choices were safe and generic. He did a good job on them technically, but I take issue with “She Believes in Me.” That’s one of my favorite country songs. It tells a story about an aging singer who returns home from a late-night gig to find his lonely wife sleeping. And he’s amazed that she’s still there and rather ashamed that he hasn’t made it big. It’s lovely and melancholy all at the same time. Needless to say, 17 year old Opie can’t pull that off no matter how many yodels he puts into it.
I do see that GaGa fixed his limp wristed microphone hold. That’s a relief. Now if someone could get him to quit waggling his eyebrows, we’d be good to go. And I don’t get the screaming girls. at. all. Oh, and the lyrics to the “Kiss Me” song were just too precious for me.
Lauren’s “I hope you dance” was safe, but showed a nice range. I didn’t get goosies, though. And, FTR, I’m not good friends with Leanne, just in case anyone was wondering. The Faith Hill “Wild Girl” number was too cutesy for me, but I appreciate that she tried to embody a character again. I agree that she was out of breath during the last song. She needs to work on her breath control.
When they aired the playbacks of the audition round, I thought that both Haley and Lauren picked better songs than Jimmy and the judges to showcase their vocals – “Oh Darling” by Haley (even though she did too many runs for my taste) and Lauren’s treatment of the Aerosmith number – were spot on. The exception is Scotty’s song, which he overdid so much during the audition round that I never want to turn those lights down low.
America, I guess you got what you wanted. But it is not what I wanted. Goodbye:
Hayley. Scotty and Lauren in the finale
As promised a few weeks back, I hope James and Steven Tyler do a duet on the results show.