Wow. Who’s the star in this picture? From the looks of it, I’d have to go with Jennifer I-got-kicked-off-American-Idol-way-too-early Hudson. She is making Beyonce look like a second-rater here. I think I’m going to have to go see me a movie.
I’m have a certain amount of reverse schadenfreude seeing Jennifer Hudson doing well, because her getting voted off of AI when she was obviously head-and-shoulders better than the rest of them was the reason that we stopped watching AI (which we had formerly enjoyed). We know that the masses can be poor decision-makers, but every so often you get a particularly annoying example of it rubbed in your face.
I think it’s that Beyonce is coming across as all flash, in her shiny “look at me!” dress, plunging neckline, and sexymama pose, whereas Hudson is all substance, projecting a more subdued, classy, confident look.
She better enjoy the attention because I suspect her movie career post-DG will be both spotty and short-lived (though I imagine she’ll have a healthy recording future ahead of her)
I realize I’m asking for a beating, here, but I never thought much of Jennifer Hudson on AMERICAN IDOL. She had the weirdest facial expressions, was completely impervious to criticism, and her voice… well, she could do the high belting thing. And then, other times, she would do the high belting thing. And, for an encore, there was the high belting thing. I thought she was all power and no artistry; a shouter with a crappy attitude.
That’s why I always think it’s weird when people get angry at shows like IDOL and say that so-and-so “deserved to be around longer.” I mean, there’s no objective measure of ability; this isn’t JEOPARDY. The OP described JHud as head-and-shoulders above the other candidates during her season. In my subjective opinion, Latoya London from the same year was miles ahead of Hudson - she could wail the G#, when it was appropriate, but she had such tremendous control that she could vary up every performance. You never knew what was coming next. I don’t think you can definitively say that the masses made a bad decision booting her, because there’s no such thing as “correct” on a subject like this.
Right now, though, Hudson seems to have overcome a lot of what I didn’t like about her before. The weird facial expressions are gone, and her voice has more levels and depth to it than it did on AI. I think she’s become a legit performer (although some of the praise she’s getting is a little overboard. I’m reading people saying that “And I Am Telling You (This Title is Too Long)” is “her” song now, that she’s better with it than Jennifer Holliday, to which I say, pshaw).
It’s kind of neat how many people from that show have managed to build successful careers; it makes watching the season more interesting.
I think what bugs us most about AI is the voting process. My husband thinks most of the problems would be worked out if they voted for people they wanted to leave, rather than voting for whom they want to stay. We think more people would be moved enough to phone in and say this person was terrible and needs to go home than are moved to phone in and keep the good ones around.
And yes, AI is horribly subjective. There have been many, many performers that I would gladly have never, ever listened to again if it had been MY show (especially anybody who is singing country, bleating like a sheep, or over-singing in the Mariah Carey/Christina Aguilera “style”).
That’s pretty much exactly what I was trying to say.