Hey! American Idol (March 6, 7 and 8th)

Cafe Society
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[QUOTE=PoorYorick]
I assume you just have to have “something” a producer is looking for, whether it’s a style, a look, or whatever. And you have to draw the notice of someone who happens to be looking for that something. That’s why I find Simon’s feedback the most interesting: That’s how he makes his living and what he’s known for. He puts his money and his reputation on the line by saying, “I think this person is going to be the next star.”
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Exactly. He may be harsh, but I’ve found that I agree with him most of the time. He knows talent, knows what sells (which may or may not have anything to do with “talent”) and knows what the majority of the audience doesn’t like.

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K. Finally had some TiVo time. (Working at a video store, I always have a teetering stack of DVDs to watch, and since my equipment is from the 1930s, I have to shuffle cords around between watching TiVo and watching DVDs.) I stand by my previous post, that two of this year’s themes are “The Guys Suck,” and “The Melinda Doolittle Show.” I’m also frankly appalled at the impact that VFTW seems to be having; Sabrina should not have gone before Haley, with whom I also had a moment of “Now which one is she?” like Simon. And though I would not call myself a Sundance fan, he was clearly far more qualified to make it to the top 12 than Sanjaya. As I said before, VFTW only fucks with the losers; it won’t matter when we get to the final few. But it’s still infuriating.

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[QUOTE=OpalCat]
Ok so that song LaKisha did was Whitney? That might explain why I hated it. I can’t stand Whitney. I can’t stand that whole genre of music. Barftastic. Yes, she has a great voice. But da Vinci himself could sculpt a steaming pile of doodie in marble, and it would be amazingly lifelike and flawlessly executed… but you’re still just looking at a turd.

It’s my loathing of this style of music that has kept me from ever watching American Idol in the past… just seeing the snips of this stuff on the commercials made me run in terror. This season I decided to give it a try. It seemed more varied earlier on, and it’s drifting into my irritation zone now… I may not last to the end of the season if they are singing more and more of this stuff.

So far the only one I’ve liked of the girls was Jordan. Antonella sounded horrible, and the others just sang songs that grated on me or bored me to tears.
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Yeah, I agree. And so far, they’ve managed to kick off almost every singer that didn’t fit the bland R&B mold. Sundance was weak the other night, but at least he would try interesting songs, and I’m still convinced that he’d sound great on the right song. His little bit in the group opening sounded really good. And Leslie is also gone, and the pedi-cab girl never even made it out of Hollywood week.

There are only two singers left that really interest me - Gina and Melinda. If Gina goes, I may just stop watching the show, or just PVR it and fast-forward to Melinda every week. I have no interest whatsoever in hearing lame covers of Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey every week.

To me, Rock Star Supernova was a much more entertaining show. If only they had a Zayra, Storm, Magni, or Josh on this show, it would be much more interesting. And the House Band kicked the Idol band’s ass. They’re not even in the same league. Could you imagine one of those rockers tearing up the Idol stage? Hell, even Lukas would be an improvement on this bunch, and I could barely stand him.

As for why Idol produces such formulaic, bland singers… Because that’s what America wants. Look who’s at the top of the charts. Carrie Underwood sells 5 million albums of dreck, and The Who put out their first album of new material in 20 years and can’t sell 500,000 copies.

Like it or not, this is what mainstream music is today. Hip-Hop, R&B and country dominate the charts.

Idol focuses on technique. They’re all about whether you were a little flat in spots, whether you have enough range, or whether you could hit those four note jazz runs around your melody. They want someone they can run through the commercial music machine, create an image, have some contract songwriters write a formulaic ‘hit’ at 9 AM on a Monday morning, and manufacture a ‘star’. But rock music is all about raw emotion. It’s like the difference between Kenny G and John Coltrane. Kenny G is technically adept, sounds impressive when listened to for about 15 seconds, and sells lots of records. John Coltrane will make you cry.

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[QUOTE=Sam Stone]
But rock music is all about raw emotion. It’s like the difference between Kenny G and John Coltrane. Kenny G is technically adept, sounds impressive when listened to for about 15 seconds, and sells lots of records. John Coltrane will make you cry.
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I love the way you put that.

I’d rather listen something a little raw, a little imperfect, with some real emotion to it, or some original wording, or some interesting instrumentation, rather than something technically perfect, slick, and utterly soulless.

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WRT the Sundance/Sanjaya thing. Am I the only one who thinks it doesn’t make a difference? In the long run neither of them are gonna win anyways. Neither of them will be in the top 4. It was a close call…between them, it’s not that it’s going to come down to Sundance or Sanjaya against Brandon or Blake. I’m guessing Sanjaya is the next one out.

PS
Does anyone else think Blake looks and acts alot like Travis from So You Think You Can Dance???

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[QUOTE=OpalCat]
Ok so that song LaKisha did was Whitney? That might explain why I hated it. I can’t stand Whitney. I can’t stand that whole genre of music.
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I don’t get this line of thinking. Whitney, Barbra, Celine - they’re powerhouses. Voices like no other - voices that are very rare. Very few people can pull off the songs those ladies sing when they pull out all the stops. So a Whitney song or a Barbra song or a Celine song separates the real singers from the wannabes. You can dislike them on principle, but it’s pointless.

[QUOTE=Kalhoun]

Yeah, you’ve got a point. But after “Gloria Estefan’s” boot-off, I have no faith in the American public. Not that I ever did, but that just underscored it.
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It was the ditching of Jennifer Hudson that did it for me.

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[QUOTE=Quiddity Glomfuster]
I don’t get this line of thinking. Whitney, Barbra, Celine - they’re powerhouses. Voices like no other - voices that are very rare. Very few people can pull off the songs those ladies sing when they pull out all the stops. So a Whitney song or a Barbra song or a Celine song separates the real singers from the wannabes. You can dislike them on principle, but it’s pointless. .
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Uh… I don’t dislike them on principle, and I admitted they have great voices. It’s what they DO with their voices I can’t stand. You know how some people hate rap? Or country? Or the sound of a belt sander on aluminum sheeting? Well that’s what Whitney is for me. I just loathe the style of music she sings. Yes, they have amazing range, tone, control over their voices… but if they spent their time making fart noises with their voices would you still stand up and say that it’s wonderful? I doubt it. For me, listening to that melisma shit is just about like listening to fart noises. I hate it. It is like fingernails on a chalkboard. It ruins songs that might otherwise have been nice. R&B in general makes me want to run screaming from the room… it’s just so aggressively boring that I can’t handle it. Then when you add all those runs and crap it is 100 times worse.

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[QUOTE=Kalhoun]
One clarification if someone could, please: She’s a back-up singer…but how “professional” is she? Clubs? Studio work? I never heard how extensive her experience is.
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I wondered this too; she and the “I Just Want to Celebrate” guy are both backup singers, but she is worlds better than he.

Melinda Doolittle: Cece Winans and Aaron Neville.
Brandon Rogers: Christina Aguilera and Anastacia

Interesting.

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[QUOTE=Sam Stone]
I have no interest whatsoever in hearing lame covers of Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey every week.

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The good news is that we’re into the finals, and the contestants have limited options as to what they sing. Assuming AI sticks with previous years’ format, they have to stay with the Theme of the Week, and it won’t be Whitney Covers every week.

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But it’s Diana Ross week. Plenty of over-the-top schmaltz available there.

Please, God, no “Stop! In the Name of Love”

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[QUOTE=Joey P]
WRT the Sundance/Sanjaya thing. Am I the only one who thinks it doesn’t make a difference? In the long run neither of them are gonna win anyways. Neither of them will be in the top 4.
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You’re correct in that it doesn’t make a difference in the long run. However, it makes a big difference in this week’s show. Namely, I would have liked to heard Sundance do a bombastic (if slightly strained) version of something interesting rather than hear Sanjaya smilingly mumble his way to another bottom-ranked performance.

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I didn’t notice any real reluctance in Carrie Underwood’s performance. With the size of the audience and all the additional publicity, she’d be crazy not to want to perform a song on the show.