What, no American Idol thread yet?

Cafe Society
241

The way he phrased it sounded rather arrogant, like “A lot of people wouldn’t believe this, but when I first came out to Hollywood, I had a hard time finding work!” You and just about everybody else, pally.

I may be in a minority here, but I like Bucky’s voice, and I really hope he gets into the finals. I also don’t like Will: boring voice, boring performer. Ace aggravates me, but I accept that there’s nothing I can do. Everyone else I’m okay with, especially Taylor. He could sing the Barney song and I’d be blown away.

242

Finally getting the chance to chime in on an AI thread. . . .

Kevin and Will are gone this week, I think. Will annoys me for some reason, and I think Kevin has known for several weeks that he’s living on borrowed time. I won’t be particularly sorry to see either of them go.

Chris didn’t give his best performance, and I wasn’t crazy about his choice of song, but he’ll breeze through. It’s his competition to lose unless he makes a huge screw up in coming weeks.

Taylor will get on through this week but will never win it all. The spaz dance was cute at first but now it’s just annoying. He just has so much fun, though, that it’s contagious.

Gedeon gets on my nerves with that creepy smile. I’m a little more kindly disposed toward him since reading his backstory, though.

Elliott has a great voice but is nowhere near cute enough to win. No sex appeal there.

Bucky isn’t bad, but he just needs to go make a country album.

Ace is so damn cute that I can’t pay attention to whether or not he can actually sing. Not sure yet if this works in his favor or against him.

Among the women, I predict Kinnik is cannon fodder this week. She’ll be joined by either Melissa, who has a fair amount of talent but didn’t do a great job this week, or Ayla, who is so boring that I can’t remember what she sang. (Hint to Ayla: Honey, when I’m paying more attention to your awful hairdo than your singing, you either need to choose a better song or a better hairstyle. Probably both.)

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GEDEON MCKINNEY

Meh. Your voice has no texture. It’s the same up, down, high, low, loud, soft… whatever. Your face is making expressions, but your voice isn’t. It has a nice tone, but the voices of backup singers have nice tones.

CHRIS DAUGHTRY

Far and away the most expressive voice in the competition. But Simon gave you some good advice last night. Listen to it. He said you were indulgent, and that’s true. You were merely pampering yourself with that song. He also warned you about becoming too insular. Great advice. We all know you can do Grunge and its children; show us you can do classic tunes as well.

KEVIN COVAIS

Last week, I compared you to Pat Boone because you suck the soul out of songs. You must have listened to me because this week, you picked a song with all the soul pre-sucked. Your lot will go down as other contestants become eliminated. That’s because you got your fan base early on; it won’t have any newcomers.

BUCKY COVINGTON

The difference between your persona when you’re being interviewed versus when you’re singing really is quite amazing. You’re not only a very good singer, but you have a very good stage presence and are very expressive, both with your voice and your body. Plus, you’re consistent. You may very well be a dark horse if something terrible befalls one or two others.

WILL MAKAR

What a horrible song. Why didn’t you just sing Candy Man and be done with it/ Maybe there’s a bizarro conspiracy theory that applies to you as well. Maybe you’re playing all innocent while your real intention is to woo little kids into voting for you. Not a bad plan, except that their attention spans are too short. They won’t dial after a busy signal very many times before giving up and calling a friend instead.

TAYLOR HICKS

You were the best of the night. An excellent choice of song, and a very good performance. Something tells me that you’re rebelling a bit against the producers. That’s fine, but be careful. They’re still airing those cameo vids.

ELLIOTT YAMIN

Very boring. It was one of those filler songs that needs a lot of stage mojo, and you didn’t supply it. You can’t afford to take many chances because your fan base is too thin. You could very well be gone tonight.

ACE YOUNG

I honestly laughed out loud. I’d sooner hear a balloon farting out air than to hear you sing. I was embarrassed for you. Whatever it was you brought to the table with your perceived and alleged good looks, you’re more than destroying with your squeaky falsetto. Keep it up. I figure you getting about two more Mulligans, and then you’re done.

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Unfortunately he would also dance like Barney while doing it.

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No, Lisa is criticized for singing songs that are “too old for her,” 'cos she’s a kid singing adult subject matter. Gedeon is singing songs that were written long before he was born. Different issue.

Oh, yeah. Elliott is good (though not a big attention-grabbing voice), Chris is powerful & good, Gedeon is amazing, and the rest are iffy at best.

The girls actually have Katharine & Mandisa that can go toe to toe with the best guys, & the rest of the current 8 are pretty solid. I think the 5th-8th girls may be a little better on average than the 5th-8th guys.

I’m not sure how to rank them, but they more or less fit into these categories:
the power singers: Chris, Mandisa
the classically trained, & it shows: Gedeon, Katharine
solid if occasionally boring: Elliott, Lisa, Melissa
good amateurs: Kinnik, Ayla
good enough for rock’n’roll in the payola days: Will, Taylor, Bucky, Paris
ok, but overreaches: Ace
can sing, but not quite at a professional level: Kevin

246

The previews say that Bo will sing tonight.

247

Seacrest Out said as much last night.

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Oh, I forgot the Pickler. She’s somewhere in the middle there, I guess.

Here’s the thing. This year, as last year, people are saying, “A guy will win.” Didn’t happen last year; may have been a self-defeating prophecy. If someone were just picking the new American Idol, of course this is a good year to pick a guy, after two girls in a row winning. But with audience votes, & an elimination down to two, it can go very differently. I think there are several girls with really broad appeal & deep talent, & I feel like the girls are actually better overall at this point.

And of course, people tire of their early likes. Remember, this time last year, people were talking about Mario Vasquez & Nadia Turner as the ones to watch.

249

Bo conditioned his hair to death.

250

This song is really beneath him. This sounds like Rick Springfield or something. Poor guy. He’s better than this.

251

Good job America!

Sorry, that was just as bad as the first time.

252

No surprises so far. I’m still holding out hope that Ace or Pickler will go home in a shocker. I know…I know…I can dream.

253

I’m not a fan of his singing, but Kevin really does seem like one of the VERY few AI (male) contestants that I wouldn’t mind hanging out with. Don’t mind seeing him go on.

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Kinnik and Will – no surprise that either was the lowest.

255

Bye-bye, Will! I still love you and want you to call me when you’re 18!

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Ayla – not a complete shock, but I really expected it to be Melissa going home.

257

My son’s analysis: What!? The giant sang much better. I think they got rid of her because Ryan got tired of being dwarft and complained about it.

258

That’s a surprise but she’s probably better off with her basketball scholarship anyway.

259

How many people do you remember crying on their sing out? I remember the Hawaiian girl with the flower, but that’s it.

260

I get the feeling that Ayla isn’t used to failing at anything. She’s taking it pretty hard.