I don’t think you’re remembering that correctly. Looking at his list of performances on Wikipedia, his first ‘breakout’ performance was “Hello”, and he performed it at the same point in the season that we’re at now (top 16). When he did “Billie Jean” three weeks later, it seemed to me that he became the front runner. But he was near the top of the pack after he did “Hello”.
I don’t think this is right either. I think it’s easy to forget how well Kris was doing because Adam Lambert was getting so much attention, but in fact was first told he was one of the front runners after doing “To Make you Feel my Love” during the top 11 week, and two weeks later he got great reviews for “Ain’t No Sunshine”. Two weeks after that he was declared a front runner with “Falling Slowly.” Allen stayed near the top of the pack throughout the competition, but all the attention went to Lambert each week so he was easy to miss.
In almost every season, the front-runners had already turned out a killer performance by this time of the season, and it was already clear who the top talents were. There have been no real killer performances so far, but we know who the top talents are. The different this year is that the overall level of talent is much weaker. There’s no one here this year that makes you go, “Oh my God, where has this person been hiding?” Last year there was Adam Lambert. The year before, David Cook. Before that, Melinda Doolittle was slaying everything she sang. Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood had already blown the roof off with killer performances by now.
There’s no one on the show this year who matches the level of any of those people. Casey and Crystal have come close, and I think there’s a potential to be surprised by either Didi or Katelyn, who seem to me to have all the necessary skills but just haven’t put it all together yet. But based on the performances to date, this is definitely the American Idol ‘B’ team.
I think the only one who comes close to the level of prior years vocally is Siobhan, actually, with potential for Big Mike. I don’t like Big Mike’s style of music very much but damn, he’s got a nice smooth voice.
Curious about what they’re going to do for Rolling Stones week, a theme that thrills me to no end.
Love Siobhan’s necklace and hair tonight. She’s just freakin’ adorable. Every week she gets cuter.
I love how Katelyn leaves and Giraud shows back up. The mole abides.
DialIdol supports my memory. Archuleta is shown consistently on top, with two exceptions, until Cook sings “Music of the Night”:
[ul]
[li]Finals week 3: the week Cook sang “Billie Jean” (which got Cook votes that week, but no staying power afterward)[/li][li]Finals week 6: Cook sings “Always Be My Baby” (Archuleta and Cook are about tied, Cook with a slight edge)[/li][/ul]
Archuleta is the only stand out through semi-finals, including the week Cook sings “Hello”.
Cook, on the other hand, has middle-of-the-road results. “Hello” was a solid performance, but nothing out of the ordinary, and the vote results reflect that. No “WOW!” moment like “Music of the Night” had. After Finals week 7, however, Cook’s standings increase drastically and he’s on top or tied for the top from that point on.
Ooops, gotta get off here before I get spoiled more (damn pacific time zone…)
Oh, wow. Did not see Lilly’s boot coming at all. Although I was liking her less and less as time went on–the comment upthread about how she took a bunch of different songs and made them sound exactly the same was spot-on. But Katie just plain sucked, so I was sure she was gone.
I don’t know. “Hello” was the week I went screaming up the stairs to find my husband because he absolutely come hear this guy. Definitely the breakout week for me.
Well, this show just turned a new corner on the road to complete suckage. I cannot believe Katelyn and Lilly are going home, and Paige and Katie are still there. If I were religious, this might be the week when I decided there is no God.
Katelyn was far better than she got credit for. I was hoping for a killer performance out of her yet, because I think she’s got it in her. On the other hand, the only way we’re getting a killer performance out of Paige is if she goes nuts on her elimination night and stabs Simon with a hair pin. Her crazy eyes suggest this may be in the cards.
But overall, this season just went from ‘barely watchable’ to ‘mostly unwatchable’. I’ll probably keep recording it, but I’ll be fast-forwarding through 70% of it each week.
At least in our threads here I seem to recall some catfights over who was going to claim him as their own. We were all going “what is it about this guy that is SO captivating??” possibly before and certainly after “Hello”…
While we’re reminiscing about superior previous seasons’ finalists, I suggest these videos of Adam Lambert doing a reboot of VH1’s “unplugged” as a palate cleanser. Especially recommended for those who object to overproduced post-Idol albums: Adam Lambert Unplugged
You’ve all seen “Mad World” plenty of times, so I’d suggest skipping right to the 2nd and 3rd videos (“Whataya Want from Me” and “Broken Open”). Gorgeous.
The hungover interview following the videos is pretty hilarious too.
Maybe I should have said that was my take on David Cook and Kris Allen. I noticed David Cook from his first audition - sat up on the couch and said, “Hello! I think this boy can sing!” I liked a couple of Kris Allen’s performances (his version of “Ain’t No Sunshine” is still one of my favourites Idol moments), but he was a bland nice guy from beginning to end.
Can’t say I disagree with the final 12 - the ones who have a chance are still on. The rest are just chaff anyway.
