American Idol: First 8

Cafe Society
1

I didn’t see any threads on tonight’s show, so I decided to go ahead and start one.

Diana–Oh! The pink/black girl. She looked very cute. Sounded nice, but I’m getting a “meh” vibe, so meh. Don’t get me wrong, I like her, but I can see myself tiring of her very easily.

Marque–A nice arrangement of a common song, but still weak. At least at first it was. He got much better later on, but I don’t care who he was singing it for.

Ashley–She reminds me of Jewel. Good and strong, but I can’t help but think that she’s trying to say “look what I can do with my voice!” I’m with Randy and Simon.

Katie Weber–Looks good and it’s nice to see her sing something other than common pop. But, that doesn’t mean I have to like her and I don’t. I’m with Simon.

Erskine–Holy balls! What a BAD song choice. This is one of those songs that only Steve Perry can sing! VERY disappointing! WEAK! The music drowned out his voice! Damn, and he was in my top three. Oh, well, so much for that!

Jennifer–She looked wonderful in all white. Started out a bit breathy, but got much better a little later. Good arangement of “Imagine”. Doing the vocal gymnastics, but I liked it. She reminds me of Kimberly Locke. :slight_smile: I do agree with Randy. She can do much better, but overall very good and better than the rest so far.

Matt M.-- Well, he’s pleasant, but not good enough for the finals. So, Meh. My mother says that he’s nice looking, but not too great. I’m with her and Randy.

Fantasia–I honestly believe that she’s the best of the bunch. Should have rethought the song though, but I’m with Randy. She better make the finals! HEEE! I’m with Simon too!

My top three:

  1. Fantasia
  2. Jennifer
  3. Diana

The vast majority of my votes went to Fantasia! :smiley:

2

I guess it’s just not my style, but I didn’t like Fantasia at all. She has a weird quality to her voice that makes it sounds like she spent a few minutes huffing helium before the show.

My favorites were Diana for performance, Ashley for voice (and look :P), and Erskin for just the overall “seems like a good guy” vote.

3

I pretty much agree with Jurhael down the line. Fantasia was the best but I think Jennifer has the most potential. She’s got a hu-u-u-ge voice. She just needs the right material to showcase it. I can see Fantasia’s Macy Gray impersonation getting a little stale after a while.

I thought Matt had a physical presence amd looked good but his voice is just average. Interestingly, I think I could see him as an actor. He does hold a stage.

The rest were all meh. None were horrible. The one who sang “Crazy” was annoying and cloying. I liked the kid who sang “Open Arms” but Journey is a pretty weird choice for AI.

I’m guessing that Fantasia goes right through and hopefully Jennifer as well but I’m worried that Matt might get voted in just based on his looks.

4

I have that same worry, Diogenes.

I’m gunning for Jennifer and Fantasia and if they don’t make it, I will be VERY upset. But, I do think Fantasia is a shoe-in because her line is/was rather busy. Jennifer’s not so much, so quite a few of my votes went to her when I couldn’t get any in for Fantasia. Heheh.

5

My top 3:

  1. Fantasia - Very nice indeed. I can easily see her going to the Top 3.
  2. Diana - Really liked her singing. The pink/black can go, but she is pretty good.
  3. Katie - I liked the Jazz song. She’s got real personality and seems fun.

Jennifer was also very good. And the rest were pretty decent as well. Strong First 8, IMO (the only one I didn’t like was Matt… eh).

6

My top 3:

  1. Diana - Best overall performance.
  2. Fantasia - Best voice.
  3. Katie - Best personality and “look”.

My bottom 2:
7) Erskine
8) Jennifer

7

I thought Fantasia was awesome! I’m a big Macy Gray fan and she reminds me of her.

8

And if Fantasia makes is I will be VERY upset. My god, I wanted to claw my ears out at that shrieking-like-a-cat-in-heat-on-helium-masquerading-for-singing. She is one big, giant NO! Horrifying. Utterly cringeworthy. Having to put up with an entire season of her would be worse than a season of 10 GoatGirl Carmens. No. Just No.

Jennifer has a decent voice but her song choice and rendition were terrible. And I kept expecting her to whip out an umbrella and start crooning Singing in the Rain. Too bad, because she could be good, but I just didn’t think she brought it tonight. She was warbly, off-key and used way too much melisma (lord I hate that – pick a note and sing it!).

Erskine was a sad disappointment. I expected him to be the one who stood out from the crowd by not compromising who he is. Talk about selling out. But his biggest mistake was singing a song Clay sang last season, the one that was his worst performance of all, and doing it even worse.

Katie Webber completely shocked me. I want to hate her. In fact, I really don’t care for her personality – she’s too much like KimberMe Caldwell. But I loved her daring in choosing a jazzier song (What’s up with the judges’ incosistency in their critiques, though? They criticize everyone for playing it safe, then turn around and criticize Katie for choosing something different. I don’t get it. But then, I rarely do with these three.) And she performed it really well. Turning my back and listening without watching, I really enjoyed her voice.

Diana didn’t sound nearly as good on a 2nd listen with my back to the TV, but I have to give her props for opening the show with such a strong, bang-up performance. She is especially comfortable and commanding on stage for a 16-year-old.

Matt was darling and a great “performer,” but a not-so-great singer. I think it may just have been a bad song choice, because I definitely see/hear promise in his style and I’d like to see him given a chance to show his chops as the show progresses.

Marque and Ashley were just bad.

But please, G-d, I beg of you, Just!Say!No!To!Fantasia!!

9

I wouldn’t say no to Fantasia if the world were flooded with pee and the naysayers lived in trees! :b

Tough. :wink:

The TWOP people see her as the Clay of this season because it seems that people either really love her or hate her.

10

Lovely.

Yeah, now I remember you from last year. No surprise to read that response.

11

My votes:

Diana: That girl can bring it.

Katie: The only one that I played back to hear again.

Fantasia: Very tight performance. May not be what all y’all like, but it’s what’s on the radio right now. And as has been pointed out numerous times, they’re looking for a pop idol. Not someone who’s gonna break new ground.

Problem with some of the others, I think, was their arrangements. Remember last year, when Clay’s final song was “Bridge Over Troubled Waters” and Paula said something to the effect of “You took a classic song and made it sound original”? It’s hard to pull that off, and fatally easy to fall short.

That sums up Marque, Ashley and Erskine. Ashley just didn’t make me forget Patsy Cline. The way PC sang “Crazy”, you could practically smell the stale cigarette smoke and taste the dregs of the gin. Ashley was like “Tee-hee, I’m crazy over you!”

Jennifer was good for what she was, but they’re not looking for gospel singers either. And to quote Mr. Rilch, “I kept waiting for Matt to really belt it out!” Which he never did.

I have a feeling that the finalists are going to be 9 women and Matt Rogers. (Or is it twelve finalists?)

12

#1. Fantasia: Amazing, gave me chills
#2. Jennifer: Vocally, yes. I’ve never seen a black girl do Lennon so well.
#3. Matt(hew): Needs a fucking band, not American Idol. Eerily reminsiscent of Brad Nowell (If you don’t who he is, look it up and buy Sublime’s Greatest. You’ll thank me later).

13
  1. Diana - For a sixteen year old. Amazing!!!
  2. Katie - Big surprise for me. Great voice and an unexpected song which she sang well.
  3. Jennifer - Although she messed up and started to cry (sympathy votes), she fell to 3rd place on my list.
  4. Fantasia - Hate to say it folks, but if i had to suffer last year at Clay Aiken, I hope to pray that I don’t have to suffer and listen to Macy Gray errrr I mean Fantasia. OK voice, but you won’t get me to buy her album if they put that face on it.

Huge gap

  1. Marque - another MMC graduate. Bad song choice.
  2. Matt - I wanted more, good voice, nice presence.
  3. Erskine - I expected more, but he held back. Very disappointed.
  4. Ashely - Sorry, but I can hear that at any Karaoke bar. Good voice, bad song.
14

Fantasia was one of my favorites from the beginning. I think Simon liking her will work to her disadvantage only because people like voting for an underdog.

Katie was also very good. For some reason I thought she was the 16 year old. But she’s not.

Matt is a hottie.

I don’t understand. You don’t buy music from singers you think are ugly? That’s, um, special.

15

Damn! Fantasia kicked ass! Let’s just put her through and forget the rest of that group. Though if I had to, I’d pick Jennifer and Diana.
Fantasia’s not a pretty girl. Ruben was fat. Clay’s looks took some getting used to. So what? Elton John’s a dog with a bad haircut. But I think he has some fans.

Did y’all vote? I decided to not vote, since my choice seemed a shoo-in. I plan to, once they’ve cleared off the dross.
And was that it for AI til next week or are they going to tell us tonight what the results were?

16

That’s spooky. I once used almost the exact same phrase to describe listening to Judy Henske sing… but its absolutely right on the money in describing Patsy Cline as well.

That’s all. No reaction on the first eight, except to say that for a sixteen-year-old, Diana’s vocal talents are formidable. But she’s not competing against seven other sixteen-year-olds.

  • Rick
17

I liked Jennifer much more than Fantasia. I also really liked Matt as eye candy. I want him to go on just so I can look at him.

18

Fantasia is grating. I’m glad I taped it, because I had to lean heavily on the FF button after about two seconds of her.

Sadly, she will make it to the next round, due to the mathematics. :mad:

If it’s anywhere near a 50/50 split of voters who like or dislike, she benefits wholly from the everyone who liked her, but is penalized far less by the people who dislike her because those votes are spread between 7 other contestants.

19

I missed the show last night so I didn’t get to see Fantasia’s performance, but I downloaded it this morning and I still think it was crap. I guess I just don’t go for the high-pitch squeal that appeals to some people.

Meanwhile, I loved Jennifer’s performance. It’s nice to hear someone sing with a lower register.

20

This is the first time I’m watching this portion of the show (Season 1 I saw bits of the end, Season 2 I saw the tryouts), and it’s interesting how much the lousy talent is hyped during the tryouts…so, during last night’s show, I was actually surprised when people could sing!

My thoughts on the performers…[ul]
[li] Diana (a.k.a. Pink & Black) had a great start; I think it looked good that she handled being first with such finesse. While I can’t fault her performance, I am put off by how young she is. shrugs[/li][li] Marque lost me due to his song choice (“Wind Beneath My Wings”); that’s an absolutely karaoke song and should be avoided.[/li][li] Ashley was pretty meh.[/li][li] Katie was a true surprise; I really don’t want to like her…she’s such a perfect package, and I prefer someone a bit more unique, but her song choice was great and so was her voice.[/li][li] Erskine–thought I was going to like him, but was completely underwhelmed by last night’s performance.[/li][li] Jennifer blew me away. When I realized she was going to sing “Imagine,” I started to groan, but she really pulled the song through and gave it something of herself.[/li][li] Matt–won’t be seing him again. I would be floored if he made the next round just on pretty boy looks, which Diogenes and Jurhael suggested. Which, really, I’m not that impressed by anyway.[/li][li] Fantasia completely shocked me by her song choice; well done! I was really surprised by how much the judges dug her. I thought she was good, but my vote goes to Jennifer.[/ul][/li]

I don’t mean to be daft, but “votes”? You can vote more than once?