Yeah. I felt kind of sorry for him, because it was obvious how much it bothered him that to go through Anna had to go home.
You have to wonder if there weren’t a lot of folks telling them that showing one’s range should not be the range from good to terrible. It’s not like they did something a little different from what got them this far - both acts did something that, if they had done the same in auditions, would have gotten them excused by the producers. Do they have so little self-awareness that they don’t realize that they sound/look bad?
I think it’s the “damned if you do damned if you don’t” situation where if you do something risky they say “hoo boy, that was a risk why did you do that?” (lys agnes) but if you don’t do something risky they say “well we’ve seen it all before and you should branch out” (west springfield[who deserved to go on btw]).
My problem with lys is that I don’t like it when opera singers sing “regular” songs in an operatic tone. I think it devalues both their voice, and the song since it seems like the singer is making fun of the artist (poppycock did that too when he performed at one of the results show)
Well for Lys, they showed a producer asking her if she was really sure about her choice. It was pretty obvious that the producer didn’t think it was a good idea.
As for the Miami All-Stars, yeah, it did seem kind of amateurish.
And West Springfield, in my opinion, didn’t really do much. Standing in place for most of the performance seemed boring to me.
And I do agree with you Sir T-Cups about acts being damned if they do and damned if they don’t.
This may sound petty, but what really annoyed me was the interview with Anna (the girl singer) and Landau (the Sinatra imitator) after Anna was voted off. When asked her reaction, Anna volunteered something nice about Landau. When Nick interviewed Landau, he gave him a leading question about how he felt about Anna and his answer was something like “everybody loves me.” Not classy.
What??? I don’t recall anything like this at all.
I just rewatched the final part and you can’t have been referring to that. Where did you see this video of Landau?
I disagree. Two types of acts move on, those that play the sympathy card and get voted in by Americans feeling generous with AGT’s money and those act that you want to see what they’ll do next week. Some acts like Prince Poppycock it’s to see how more outrageous he’ll be next week so he does have to be more daring and so doing Bohemian Rhapsody works. Meanwhile, all people wanted to see from Jackie Evancho was being this generation’s Charlotte Church so her going outside the box would be a bad move.
I see your point but I think you used bad examples. Prince Poppycock was all about crazy showmanship and he should be more outrageous every week, including going from opera to a weird ass Bohemian Rhapsody.
Whereas Jackie was nothing but pure classic professionalism. There isn’t a person in the world who would have agreed for her to do anything but sing an opera song wearing white with a smoke machine.
But I do see your point.
That exactly what I said. Poppycock needed to do something different every week while Evancho needed to be the same every week.
Oh…oops…
Nevermind then!
I agree, I like him, and hope he wins.
That said, how much of his instant popularity comes from the fact that he is going against type?
I mean, a tall, skinny black dude with dreadlocks singing Sinatra and Rat Pack songs?!
Cool!
If this were a middle-aged, fat, balding white dude, would anyone have noticed?
Again, I really do like Landau, but just wondering if the anti-typical appearance is the big draw and that his voice, while good, is not exactly better than about 10,000 other Rat Pack imitators singing in lounges around the world?
For me, it’s a combination of things. It’s not just his voice, or his looks.
It’s his voice, and his presence. He acts like he’s already a Vegas headliner. He seems to have a genuinely nice personality. For me it’s the total package that I take into his consideration.
Although I think he’s going to have stiff competition with Team iLuminate. Then again, last season, I don’t think Fighting Gravity made it into the finals, so he has a 50/50 chance at this point.
In reverse order:
PopLyfe droppped the ball, and knew it. I think they have a future, but they are a high school band, and it showed (again - their audition was really no great shakes, beyond the singer). Nice of the singer to give props to her band-mate/arranger - and impressive if he really is doing all of the work there.
It seemed to me that Team Iluminate decided to be more of a traditional dance troupe - their strength is in the light show, I was less impressed than in the past. Though I don’t think they should win, they’ll get a contract somewhere.
Silhoutte, on the other hand, I liked for a change. They had a nice story, their structures were good and generally recognizable (the bed thing was pretty amazing, actually).
Which brings us to Landau. I thought he started a bit off (but I think he usually does). Once he got rolling, he pretty much nailed it (although I think some of his stage gestures are still stilted/over-planed - but that’s just time on stage to correct, most likely).
So - it should be Landau. I think Howie’s point when talking about Iluminate was pretty good - people are more invested in a single face, so that’ll help him also.
I recorded the show. Near the end they were throwing in a couple of clip assemblys, then finally Silhouettes, then the judges started talking… and my recording ends midcomment from one of them. No recap of the acts or closing comments by Nick or even show credits.
Was that what you saw live (assuming Eastern Time Zone)? Or did the show run long, or did I simply screw up on setting up the recorder?
Anyway…I thought all three of the first acts weren’t as good as previous. Something about Murphy’s voice sounded off. Not exactly rough, just not as smooth as usual, though the ending was good. iLluminat just didn’t excite me at all. Pop Lyfe was simply painful. (You’re no Freddie Mercury, dear.)
The Silhouettes…eh. The bed illusion was great, but they were back to things that made no sense until they swapped in a photo (like the bears) and the Eiffle Tower was bent and wobbly.
But I don’t think it matters all that much, people mostly have their minds up on who they like by now.
They were having technical difficulties prior to the Silhouttes coming on (hazards of a live show). Cannon was covering while they fixed whatever was wrong by introing various clip retrospectives from the year.
I think that they ended up running over by 2 or 3 minutes to get the act in, let the judges blather a bit, and then (IIRC) repump the voting methods.
I don’t really see Silhouettes getting it - their act is always the same, and while its neat, I could not imagine watching a full show (1 hour long) of it. I think it would get boring after about 20 minutes, if I made it that long. they have a lot of pluses: interesting idea, good execution, adorable kids (with heart-wrenching medical issues), plus a lot of patriotism in the act.
Would like to see Landau get the win - I confess, I find him to be a very charming gentleman, and agree that a big part of his schtick is the contrast between appearance and sound.
Poplyfe was pretty rough last night, but I think even if they don’t win, they will have a future. Very talented.
iLuminate - I think this one runs into the same problem as Silhouettes. I just don’t see me watching an hour long show of this. However, as I mentioned to the husband while we watched, based on all the standing ovations my opinions may not be reflective of the voting population. 
Thanks! So I guess the running long thing was what did me in, because like I said, my recording simply cut off in the middle of Sharon (? I think it was) commenting. At least I got to see the act.
I was getting seriously worried, as the time left on the recording kept dropping, dropping… What the hell would they do it they didn’t manage to show the Silhouettes BEFORE the scheduled end time? Would the various stations cut away to their news? How in the world would they be able to claim the voting was a fair result? Unless, of course, the Silhouettes actually won.
Not to mention Sharon’s buzzer going off randomly after Silhouette. She was standing there clapping then her buzzer went off.
I once paid to go see Blue Man Group, so I’m sure I would pay to see iLuminate in Vegas once they have some time to really work out a routine. Landau is also good, but I agree with Folacin, that something about Landau is unpolished. Either of those should win. They seem best situated to make a run in Vegas. (Too many kids in Silhouette that would presumably go back to Denver and school no matter what happens, and Poplyfe could probably use more time to gestate) 
No one really blew me away though.
-JadedBird
I thought Team iLuminate was the best.
While I though that Landau’s choice for a song was brilliant, I didn’t feel it was his best performance, but I think he deserves a strong second.
Silhouettes; I loved their first two performances, but since then they haven’t wowed me.
And I’m really surprised that Poplyfe made it this far. They’re a decent band, but they need a lot of work.