First, I am posting this as its own thread and not as part of this week’s AI discussion because it is something a bit beyond just one week’s worth of performances, and because I’d like to roughly keep that thread focused on just this week’s show.
So why does anybody enjoy Elliot? What makes him memorable or noteworthy?
Because what I see, week in and week out, is the star of the dopey college acapella choir who has no discernable personality other than a vague attempt to look cool by growing a goatee, who sings wonderfully on pitch, but with very strange enunciation and absolutely no soul. He doesn’t have sex appeal*, he doesn’t have a strong genre to fall back on**, he doesn’t have humor***, he doesn’t have style****. He’s just there.
Near as I can figure, what he does have is a lock on being one of the only remaining contestants who doesn’t have that southern attitude going on (because Richmond VA is so very north ), and he’s getting a push from states above the Mason-Dixon. But that can’t be it. There must be something else that others see which just fails me.
*See McPhee: okay singer, wooden personality, but hot.
**See Chris Daughtry (rock) or the Pickler (twangy country).
***See Taylor Hicks and his crazy dancing feet. Or, inadvertently, the Pickler.
****See Paris, who is consistently cute as a button, despite coming out in drastically different styles every week.
I find him kind of cute. I don’t mind that he’s a bit of a shaky performer because I think he’s very sincere. I don’t feel like he’s trying to put us on, he’s just enjoying the song and being himself. That’s not everyone’s cup of tea, I know, and even though he’s not my favorite, he’s definitely appealing to me and many others.
Tonight’s show is the only one I’ve watched this season besides the first one or two episodes. I hope I’ve got the right one when I say that I enjoyed his singing. It is, to me, reminiscent of Stevie Wonder. Much better than the guy with the tiny ponytail, and the girl wasn’t working for me at ALL.
If he wins, I hope the first thing he does is get those teeth fixed. And maybe lose the leprechaun beard.
He can out Stevie Stevie Wonder. He’s a jazz singer. He could be the next Al Jarreau or . . . name another male jazz singer? He should be doing vocalese versions of the most difficult songs imaginable, and nailing them. He’s phenomenal.
He’s the best singer of the bunch, now that Mandisa’s gone, although he’s very different from Mandisa.
I agree with this assessment. He may one day be a successful recording artist, but no way no how is he an idol, American or otherwise. I actually find him somewhat creepy to watch. It’s as if the mechanic in a small podunk village in West Virginia walked from the garage into the waiting room, wiping grease from the socket wrench he just used to unscrew the plug on my car’s oil tank, then held it like a microphone and started crooning into it.
It’s already been said, but it bears repeating, Elliot has a great VOICE. He doesn’t particularly nail the other ‘Idol’ requirements (ie, attractiveness), but he can sing better than anyone left.
I absolutely love Elliot and vote for him and only him whenever I can remember to vote within the allotted time period (which is not as often as I should, I’m sure).
A co-worker and I were discussing Idol and she was beside herself that I could like Elliot, let alone think he’s attractive. “But his grill is all messed up!” she stammered, in between swooning over Ace “Am I intense enough for you NOW?” Young.
Here’s the difference between a guy like Elliot and a guy like Ace (or Chris, even). Elliot seems like the type of guy that would take you to Fenway Park, buy you cotton candy and think it’s cute when you get a giant piece of it stuck to your nose.
Ace and (to a lesser degree) Chris seem like the type of guys that would insist on taking YOUR car to XYZ club so that they had time to primp and hog your rearview mirror to ensure that they’re still OMGHOT by the time you roll up to the club. Yuck.
Couple Elliot’s genuine demeanor with an -incredible- voice and a strong sense of rhythm and I think it’s pretty clear why he’s still in the running.
My husband may have thought that I was a bit nutty when I pressed my finger towards the TV last night and said, “ell…eeeeeeee…uuuhhht…”
I think he is better than Frank Sinatra. I agree with the teeth thing, though, but I love his simple down home way. I am from west virginia. he makes me think of a movie where he is the down to earth type male lead who sings, like…pat boone. You see, I’m fifty!! not fifteen but he turns me on when he croons.
I don’t follow American Idol too closely, but I watch it a bit with my sister. I thought he looked strange when I first saw him, and that hasn’t changed, but I’ve grown to like him pretty well.
I think the thing that really made me like him was the previous week’s Queen show. He said he hadn’t really listened to Queen before but chose one of their songs he liked. Talking to the band members he learned that it was a soul inspired song and was a tribute to Aretha Franklin. What I liked about his performance was that it didn’t sound a thing like Queen. I’d heard that song before but I didn’t recognize it at first. Now I like Queen, and I seem to recall liking their version of the song, but his version was good–and completely different.
To me that really earned him my respect. He was singing a song by a well known band with a very distinctive and popular sound whose surviving members were in the audience, and he sang it his own way and still did the song justice.
Well it just fails me to understand how people can say Elliott has no personality, when what I see is someone charming, adorable, sweet, funny, humble, funky and amazingly talented. I like how he reaches out to the other idols to offer comfort and well-wishes from the bottom 3 position. I could tell from the first semi-final round when he sang “If You Really Love Me” that all the other idols absolutely adore him by their reaction to him on that stage. I thought that song was a lot of fun and he just nailed it.
Then there was “Moody’s Mood For Love.” <Thud>
The man consistently picks the most challenging and difficult songs to sing and hits them out of the ballpark. And with no formal vocal training no less!
And while I would agree that he’s not traditionally handsome like someone like Chris or even Ace, there is something extremely sexy about the “just a regular guy” kind of guy, which Elliott is. There’s an “approachability” and lack of arrogance which can be quite comforting and alluring. His eyes sparkle and his looks have improved tremendously as his hair has grown out.
But frankly, his looks matter not a whit to me, as I don’t so much watch music as listen to it – on CD, on the radio and on the computer. I couldn’t care less what a singer looks like, so long as he or she inspires something in me when I hear them sing, which Elliott does. I think he has a beautiful, pitch-perfect, smoothe voice that I can’t wait to hear on full-length songs, back-to-back on a CD. I will be first in line to buy whatever he records, he is just that good.
And lastly, there has been no one more lifeless and boring as a performer than Ruben Studdard, and he won the whole thing, so I see no reason why Elliott needs to put on some kind of act on stage. All he’s got to do is keep singing well, which I have no doubt he will.
), and he’s getting a push from states above the Mason-Dixon. But that can’t be it. There must be something else that others see which just fails me.
