Here’s a question I’m sure must have been asked and answered before, but no way am I wading through 5 (6?) years of Idol threads to find it:
Regarding the family members of the contestants in the audience: Don’t these people have jobs? I’m pretty sure my company, cool as it is, would never give me 2+ days off a week for however many months to fly out to California (if I didn’t already live here) just so I could watch my son/daughter perform on TV.
I’ve always wondered that too. You’d have to have just the right boss who would be as excited as you and want you to go.
I must say that I’m a little worried this year. It isn’t that there is a big group of middle of the road singers, its that there isn’t a lot of variety. There is no Country voice, no real Rock voice (Gina is the closest), no real strong pop voice, no real Sinatra standards voice - there just doesn’t seem to be as much variety. Most of the boys are trying for some sort of soul vibe and the girls are all R&B.
Whats worse is that there are two early stand-outs - Lakisha and Melinda - whose voices seem tailor made for the same kind of 50’s & 60’s Aretha/Lena Horne/Oleta Adams style R&B. That’s great, I love that kind of music, but I’m afraid that there wont be the range of styles, which could wear on the viewer. (me)
Agreed.
I can tell that the women are better singers, but they sort of blend together for me, with the exception of Melina/LaKisha and Gina.
The guys have more variety, but also more suck.
I said it before and this week proved it again; the top women singers at this point are ALL better than every one of the guys.
I think part of that problem is from day one, they had about twice as many women in the competition and just kept the lame guys on to keep a gender balance. Seems kind of unfair if you really want to find the best of the best.
Oh well, it will be fun to watch the guys getting booted off, one by one, for the next few weeks - baring some backlash and a flurry of little-girl-votes for some cute, but woefully untalented dude.
My prediction - one of the top women will be booted soon because everyone thinks they are so good and don’t bother to vote for them (myself included - so I guess that makes any future complaints from me invalid.)
Anyway, why can’t they have one male and one female? It’s good enough for the Oscars.
Just another little gem from my aforementioned elderly mom:
“Simon is cute…[long pause]…when he smiles.”
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Here is a linkety-link to the original newspaper article.
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Elton John.
I think Lakisha might fall prey to this, but my vibe from Melinda is that she’s got a trunkful of great songs from every genre and I think she’ll be able to pull off anything they throw at her. I think she’s that talented.
Speaking of which, does anyone know if they are going to continue with that hideous “sing something from a genre you have no feel for” thing? I love a versatile singer, but judging someone by something they wouldn’t sing if their hair was on fire is just wrong. I always cringe for them during that week.
Mr. K and I both got a Meatloaf vibe from him this week. Go figure.
Someone said that earlier (maybe you), but I don’t think that’s who I’m trying to think of. Elton had more of an edge to his voice.
(Funny (to me, at least) typo. I was doing a search on Chris S and I typed “Chris Slight” into Google.
Talk about changing the entire meaning of something with the addition of only one letter!)
I was the Elton guy. It is a similar timbre (pre-throat surgery).
They are going to start with the themes again, but I don’t remember what any of them will be. I think they always give the singers so much wiggle room anyway that it’s almost pointless.
I actually like it BEST when the contestants are forced to sing something outside their comfort zones. It sorts out the wheat from the chaff. I wish they would be MORE challenging about it. Let’s have a Sex Pistols night, followed by a bluegrass night followed by a Delta blues night followed by a Black Sabbath night. Why make it easy on them? I want to grind them down. It helps to identify the ones who really have talent, and the ones who don’t…well, a spectacular trainwreck can be just as entertaining as a showstopper.
Yep. Two weeks ago I was thinking that Jordin would have been right at home in the Whiskey-a-Go-Go or some club in London circa 1966, singing Brit blues with the likes of Eric Clapton and Ron Wood. That’s where I think her real talent lies.
I dunno…when I think of that, I think of Rod “The Mod” Stewart singing old standards. It makes me weep. Acually, just about everything Rod that occured after the Jeff Beck days makes me weep, but that’s another thread.
I like Rocker Chick from Naperville. I know she won’t win, but I get a kick out of her anyway. (I’m a much bigger fan of the Rock Star competition than I am of American Idol.)
What, no opera?
Isn’t that what happened to Jennifer Hudson? There were three strong black female singers who “cancelled each other out”?
I always worry that some groundswell will wash away the frontrunner who everyone assumes has enough votes, but for the most part the voters get it right.
Carrie Underwood tonight–I hope she doesn’t sing that crap about destroying her man’s property. Or that “Jesus Take the Wheel” glurge.
The only guy I think should make it is Chris Sligh, and maybe Blake for fun.
Hmmm…Meat Loaf night. That would be cool.
Me too, actually. There’s not a Whitney or Celine song to be found anywhere, which is fine by me.
God, I hope not. This usually provides some of the most hilarious moments of the competition, and that’s about 70 percent of what I watch it for. The music is secondary.