» 3-25: 2004.04.06 Options

[Thallia]

Simon called her out on her not connecting with the audience. She seems to have tried to heed his advice with her "come on"s

I'm sorry, but someone needs to tell DiBot that yelling "C'mon!" is not connecting with the audience.

[RealityPrincess]

I haven't read all the posts, so I know I am going to be repeating much of what has been said....

Fantasia: I have been a fan on and off, but I am just completely over the sassiness. She's annoying as hell with that attitude and personally, I don't think she has the talent to back it up. Yeah, her voice is different, and that can be good in a sea of PPP's and Divas who only know one way to sing...however, the attitude is just bugging the crap out of me and I am over her. She'd better get a big old piece of humble pie really damn fast.

JPL: *SIGH* My heart just started breaking when that boy started singing one of my favorite Elton songs. I knew he'd screw up whatever he sang but did he have to go with "Rocket Man"??? I thought FOR SURE he'd be the one to fuck up "Croc Rock". I am pretty confident though that he's in it for at least another week because the voters don't seem to have it right.

Jasmine: I know it's not the kid's fault what they are wearing, but that outfit was ridiculous. Her shirt looked like a lampshade in an 1800's whorehouse, bad all around! I thought she sounded fine, I would have liked to have seen some more modulation in her voice instead of the constant belt going on. That's my general comment for all the PPPs and Divas though. She deserves to stay, but probably not for too much longer.

John: I have ONE nice comment for him: he's gracious. He has never talked back to the judges, he has taken the comments and has tried to improve or at least change and I will give him TONS of credit for that. For a teenager, he is poised and courteous and that goes far in my opinion. However, this is not Mister Congeniality and his voice and stage presence are not good enough. It's time for him to go and be a teenager again. This experience will be great for him because all the girls who wouldn't give him the time of day before are going to be all over him when he gets home.

Camile: Sweetheart, take your nappy hair and your wrist band and your whiny, terrible, flat, shaky, horrible, disastrous voice and go back to Hawaii. You are done.

George: I love this man! He saves the competition for me. I love his voice, his personality, his demeanor, his overall likability. I think he might burst from happiness though, I get a little worried about him in that respect...and the first few rows of the audience. Great song, great voice, great night for George. He has my vote.

Diana: That girl only knows one volume: LOUD! I'm sick of her voice. I'm sick her pageant expressions, I'm sick of her choosing the same styles of music week after week. I know she'll be back, but I'm over her and I hope she's gone soon.

LaToya: I love her voice too. My only issue is that I wish she'd go up into her head voice more. The power house singing is tiresome for me. I need to hear that she can take a song through many different layers of her voice. She has done it before to an extent and I would have liked to have seen that last night. That was a great song choice though. I am not overly confident in the voters though, she doesn't have a huge fan base and Simon wasn't overly kind to her. She may very well be in the bottom three, it would be a travesty, but don't be surprised.

Jennifer: I know this is going to be wildly unpopular, but I just don't like her voice. I guess I am sick of the powerhouses, it's boring, it's one note, it's yelling. JHu yells and has crazy eyes and I am just not feeling her.

Bottom Line: I can't even begin to predict who will be in the bottom three, I know J/J and Camille really need to take a trip to the seal, but I have no faith in the voters and could easily see LaToya in there again this week. I'd like to see Camille go, but who knows. If TPTB are reading this, we need a songs of Neil Diamond week. George would ROCK on "Thank the Lord for the Nighttime". Does anyone know what the next few themes are?

Okay, bottom three in the dream world: John, JPL, Camille with Camille packing her bags.

Please see http://www.televisionwithoutpity.com/faq.c...i?show=0&q=1541

This post has been edited by Glark: Apr 7, 2004 @ 2:12 pm.

[PandaX]

Chalky - I agree about the meh-ness of John's voice. Its not impressive at all compared to other performers. I just am maybe related too much to seeing him called creepy because he is bone white. That's not something he can help much because there aren't a lot of options out there for people who don't tan and the few that exist won't work on someone with John's haircoloring. (been there, tried everything, been openly mocked all my life. There's not much that will help poor John's skin to be less white and less translucent.)

His expressiveness etc is a different story. Though in all honesty I felt he did a bit better with that this time around. Still, if he's bottom three tonight, he deserves it for the singing.

[jmtbci]

I heart Elton John. I inferred a lot from his clip comments, in that it definitely came across who he thought had real talent and who was a pretender. I'm so glad he was not on the show live. At least he has a shred of dignity left!

The performances, on the other hand, pretty much sucked in new and horrible ways. I don't even know who to hate most.

Fantasia - Well I'm inclined to like her, and it was pretty good, but I didn't love this song. Also, all audience roaming gets negative points from me. And yeah-yeah-yeah cannot end every bloody song!

JPL - I have nothing more to say on this clown. Get thee gone! (Will admit he was not actually the worst tonight though, so he's going nowhere yet.)

Jasmine - Love this song, and for some reason I keep giving her a break more than the other princesses, but really, this was very weak, and she pretty much sucked. It's just that others are so much worse...like...

John - Gawdawful. It's nice he attempted to move a little for once -- jeez, he had to given the song choice -- but really, he can't win any more points in my book at this stage. I was horrified for him. Pathetic performance and I really don't want to hear any more. I don't even care to hear him croon through a Rat Pack song now, which might go reasonably well. Please go home now.

Camille - There are so many vying for that bottom three tonight, but I don't know how she could breeze by another week. This was so horrible. I have a new facial tick of disgust from listening to some of this dreck.

George - "The wonderful thing about Georges, is Georges are wonderful things." What is he, Tigger? STOP...BOUNCING! No doubt he has a great voice, and I would not mind hearing him on the radio, as long as I don't have to endure the visual of extreme squatting and bouncing. I had to crack up because he is obviously giving the camera guys fits! "Wait, he's bouncing again, pull out wide! Camera three, pull back on that close up...farther...FARTHER!" Top 3 or 4, sure. American Idol...not for me.

Di-Bot - Disconnect this robot and put her on the scrap heap. Once again, major negative points for audience roaming, and "c'mon" spouting. And what in the world was that outfit? Great candidate for bottom three at any time.

LaToya - Looked beautiful. Much better with this haircut. I think she outclasses every other performer in these finals put together. She can go out now and Elton would hire her for his Vegas show, or see to it that she gets a record deal. Go ahead, America, put her in the bottom three again. I dare you. The only one from any season of AI whose record I might buy.

Jennifer - Great belting. First demonstration of why she's in the finals, certainly. A little too shouty, but she was good. I hope this means she gets back on track.

The judges are just more and more nuts all the time. Simon, though, is actually attempting to give some useful criticism along the way, which is good. As much as I HATE JPL, Simon gave him good advice, and he seemed to take it in stride and did not act like an idiot, so good for him.

Seacrest, die.

This post has been edited by jmtbci: Apr 7, 2004 @ 12:41 pm.

[Swoopin It Up]

Which is odd, because EJ isn't possessed of particularly exceptional power, technical virtuosity or range. Realizing that I risk finger-pointing and a pitchfork facial, I'd say that his voice is simply "good," that the melodies of his songs work very well to flatter his abilities and that his real gift (vocally) is in his connection to what he's singing.

I agree and disagree. Now, EJ doesn't have the range he once had--he's in his 50's for one thing, and he's had cord surgery, so a lot of his power and range are forever gone. That said, in his early years, he had a pretty good range and a lot more power. What he has never had is what I'd call a "pretty" voice. He has to transpose most of the falsetto stuff now because he can't hit those notes, but his connection to songs like Goodbye Yellow Brick Road and Bennie and the Jets (which I'm sorry someone didn't tackle last night, just for the entertainment value that would have been...) make it work okay without the wailing high notes. If you do ever get an opportunity to see him live, though, go. Awesome stuff.

More on last night--I thought it was interesting that the four people EJ singled out praise-wise were the predictable La Toya and Fantasia, the not quite expected JHu, and.......JPL. And I thought his comment about George was that he'd picked something less familiar to him and that he wasn't therefore as prepared as someone who picked something that's played on the radio all the time. I'll have to go relisten to that part.

Interesting that vocally, Camile and JPL probably picked the most vocally challenging songs last night. I really didn't think Rocket Man was all that bad, though--middle of the pack. But Camile. Lord Love a Duck was that bad.

And I thought neither Jasmine or Diana had any idea what they were singing about. Whereas La Toya clearly did. Amazing how nearly a 10 year age difference makes, well, a difference.

[jimblan]

The fact that John Stevens is still in the competition shows that the American Idol voting audience is open to a "crooner". However, John has a weak voice and stage presence, he can't stay on key, and he has an ever-present, horrible vibrato. Yet he's gotten to this point in the competition. (Simon's "Plan 9" comparison was very apt.)

Imagine if a young crooner on the show had the pipes and control of Rosemary Clooney, Ella Fitzgerald, or Frank Sinatra: the audience might just fall in love and vote them all the way through. After all, Kelly Clarkson's breakthrough came on "Big Band" night, if I'm not mistaken.

[kattam6175]

I missed Fantasia, JPL and Jasmine. Doesn't seem like I missed much (they did their usual things: brought it, sucked it, and PPP'd it respectively).

JS: I second the poster who asked, "How is it possible to sing monotone?!" because that's exactly what he does. It's the oddest thing EVER. Plus, he looked so unbelievably uncomfortable up there. Why the hell did he pick that song?! He might have been able to do something with Your Song or I Guess That's Why They Call It The Blues. Why Crockodile Rock? Oh, I know. Because the judges are all, "In the box. No, out of the box. No, in the box. Out. In. Out. In". The guy has no idea what they want anymore. Send him home tonight, America. Please!

Camille: Week after week, I keep saying to myself, "Just hang in there, kattam. She's going to bring it one of these times." Yet, week after week, she's just weak. Plus, I really don't understand why she insists on hunching over all the time.

Diana: She's trying waaaayyyy too hard. Will the real Diana, please stand up...please stand up.

George: Cute. Fun. On-key. But, the constant smile and church bounce are getting a little old. Just once, I want serious, romantic, smooth, intense George.

LaToya: Good. Not Great. A little boring, but undeniably drop-dead gorgeous. She's definitely this year's Tamyra and will do just fine with or without AI (probably better without).

Jennifer: Yes, that was powerful (and loud). But, it's not something I want to hear on my radio. Nor is it something that will work on MTV. There's a place for her, but AI isn't it.

[FfrauleinN]

Think she'll ever sing a ballad -- or is it because she can't say "C'mon" when she sings one?

Oh, come now. She'd be sure to find a way. I can see it now: "And IIIII … will always love youuuuu … C'mon, y'all!"

Camille was painful to listen to....on the Ah ah ah part? My god, she sounded like she was in pain.

Hee. That was so bad. The way she was all doubled over? And the yelping? It really did look like she'd been stabbed in the gut.

Jasmine-Stop with finishing a song, expressing open mouthed suprised complete with hunched shoulders, and blowing a kiss. You are not a figure skater having the best night of her life.

Wow. That is a perfect description of her post-performance behavior. I fully expect to see roses and tiny teddy bears come flying up onto the stage.

And am I the only one who thinks that George is kind of....slow?

Hey, I called that one like six weeks ago. He's gotta be at least a little bit "special." In fact, that theory has allowed me to tolerate his presence.

[hollyg9211]

Does anyone know what the next few themes are?

Barry Manilow is confirmed as a guest judge so I'd expect a Barry Manilow night.

[Dianora]

Wow, I didn't realize what excellent range Elton John has until I heard these people try to sing his stuff. Very eye-opening, go Elton.

I can concede Fantasia has a good voice and is a good performer but the girl just bugs me. Smug entitlement is an instant turn-off for me. No one named Fantasia has a right to look down on anybody else.

I love love George but I'm not sure I would actually buy an album by him -- it's not his voice I love so much as just watching him. He always makes me smile.

Jennifer sounded good but she delivered the song the same way she delivers every song: standing in one spot and yelling at the audience.

I have a soft spot for JPL but won't elaborate for fear of being stoned. ;) John Stevens: let this poor suffering boy go home already. Camille: Send Hawaii a telegram asking them not to vote for you anymore.

LaToya is beautiful and a good singer, but now I understand what a lot of people said about Tamyra leaving them cold. There's just something missing there--electricity, dinstinctiveness.

You know what's weird is I DID feel that way about Tamyra, but do feel more of a connection with LaToya. Maybe I just have a girl crush on her because she's so pretty.

[Cyclonus]

Obviously these kids did not figure out the secret to successfully singing an Elton John song....You must be Elton John. What exec idiot picked this theme? Oh right 19E. Well in AI3:The Race for Second Place I'm dreading the rest of the season.

[TonyPSU]

Barry Manilow is confirmed as a guest judge so I'd expect a Barry Manilow night.

Are you kidding me?? I can't begin to imagine how painful that night is going to be. On the flip side, I think that it will give all of the contestants a fair shot. Many may not be familiar with his work, but there is a lot to do with them. You could croon them out a la Young Conan. You could give them a gospel feel like Jennifer. Or you could make them very popish aiding Jasmine, Camile, and Diana.

I've missed a bunch of performances this season, even though 've watched every show. I enjoyed Diana's performance, but i hated her movements. Is she always like that? Does she always wear quasi- moo moos?

[Scorpio62]

I kinda cracked up a bit when Elton talked about LaToya and said something along the lines that her being in the bottom three last week was because Americans had no taste...Dude, these are the same people who plunk down money to see your shows!

Camille - I cannot express how utterly untalented and uncharismatic and unlistenable she is...Oh wait, yes I can! Why or why must everything she sings be in the style of "Afterschool In My Neighbor's Basement Hip-Hop Kareoke"? I'm sure she sounds good after a few bong hits, but c'mon, so would I...(and maybe then I could properly spell kareoke...)

All I kept thinking during this disastrous, thank God for the mute button night from Hell, is Randy spouting off earlier in the competition that this was the best top 12 evah.

Bottom three: Diana, Camille and John Stevens....JPL will once again get a pass...but your time will come, my man, your time will come...

Going home: Camille...or John Stevens...or Diana...or...

[jellyeggs]

JPL Scorpio? Nah, I doubt it, not yet.

[Jeaux35]

Note to Di-Bot. If you are properly singing a song that begs for audience participation, they will join in naturally. If you have to tell them to "C'mon", you aren't doing your job properly. Stop telling people to c'mon. You look like a moron.

The only person who's CD I would consider buying would be LaToya. Great voice, pleasant personality, no sense of entitlement, and knows the value of undersinging (or at least not oversinging). She is far and away my favorite this year. I hope she breaks out soon.

I would NEVER buy anyone else'e, especially not Fantasia or Jennifer. I don't like being yelled at. Maybe they should go to Vegas and try to out-Celine Ms Screech-on herself.