This is the girl who sang "I Believe In You and Me" and she's from Bulgaria. I liked the raspiness and overall tone in her voice. But I have a feeling she won't make it to the semi-finals. She seems like someone who could be too inconsistent.


Thanks to dorkusmcforkus for the new thread title.

I thought she was horrible.

Where's Chewie and Han when you need them?

No go for me.

She certainly was sexy. And her voice was quite nice. She seemed chatty too.

Overall, I liked what little I saw of her.

I liked her voice. She needs a little vocal coaching, but overall there is potential there.

I was shocked when they invited her to Hollywood.

I think they just fell in love with this 'angle' to play upon WorldIdol and because it made them seem so very important in both a "we are the AmericanDreem" way and an "Our Influence is Beyond Your Understanding" way... and after WierdKosovoAl and the Karmen/KarlTheAmazingTransgenderGirl they had to have a hook to come through bringing someone along to Hollywood to continue their dreem.

I was suprised she was sent on mainly sue to the quick cutoff to the "yes or no" proceedings; usually not a good sign. She did fulfill the "okay voice, decent story and cute" quota. Her voice could be wavering a bit due to nervousness but we've seen a lot of people flub beginnings and then pull it out. Didn't Julia DomatoDomahhhto do that last year? Anyhow she had some nice moments and some rough patches. I think this was a combo of potential and marketability that sent her through. She did look a bit like Craggle's sister though; and again we have a hat wearer, there has to be a few of those! Overall though? I dig her.

BTW: her name is Leah Vladowski (thankyou tivo).

Edited cause werdz hate me; as does my keyboard.

I would like her to make it to the finals.

I was shocked they let her through. I thought she was one of the "bad" auditioners they have on to entertain the audience. The air force girl was much better.

She wasn't horrible, but you can tell that the second she's on-stage in front of a live audience, she's freezing up faster than Carmen can gobble down a baby. Worse stage fright than Julia. You could see it her eyes.

It's like Candace (sp?) from last year--all growed up.

Yeah, she'll help fill the eye candy quota. They need some performers who don't sound so bad and also have a good look. That way we can maintain the "Talent v. Image " wars.

"Help her, Obi Wan Kenobi. You're her only hope."

She suck-diddly-ucked.

I agree with the world idol angle. I seriously doubt she'd have made it if they didn't let her through... plus they really wanted to show She-Man and Weird Al and couldn't very well show two really crappy auditions of foreigners and not show any good ones... DISCRIMINATION etc. so I think in order to balance out showing shitty foreign auditions they had to put at least one through. I don't think she'll make it through glendale.

So this is the best they can do so far? I should have stopped watching.

I didn't think Leah was that bad, but I also felt the Airforce girl was much better, lindakoy. AF girl had a better voice and a MUCH better personality than Leah. But, alas, AF girl was just cute, not pretty. They've already done the wholesomely-cute thing with Kelly Clarkson. Plus, I think they probably don't want any military-related repercussions (unavailability due to military duty, post-war anti-military sentiments, etc.) to muck up their manipulations.

I still think they're trying to find a "pretty" girl to win this time around. Plus, if they have a full band accompanying them in the semifinals (as is rumored), you won't quite notice Leah's inconsistent voice quite so much. Looks before talent, people! Don't forget!

Why do people find her attractive? I find her looks very average. Of course, I thought GI Martha was cute, so obviously I have strange tastes.

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Eh, I didn't think much of her. She started off poorly and got through the song all right, but I thought Martha was a lot better. And Martha had a more fun personality.

For the one of you that watched American Juniors, Leah kind of reminds me of a grown-up Chantel Kohl. Sans the creeeeeepy, crying dad, of course. I also don't think she sang so bad that she shouldn't at least make it to the semis.

This is Leah Vladowski, right?
In her bio she says that she developed vocal nodules a year ago but they went away. Should be interesting if she makes it to the finals.

Has anyone figured out who her "famous" mother is? I adore me some obscure Euro-pop.

I'm really sorry, Shack, but the title might have to be changed again. Hee. In the episode thread, discostu just pointed out that she's suddenly called Leah Labelle (she's French now?). What the hell is going on with the names? Eh, I say we make her keep Vladowski.

Why would I be surprised that she's been to Bulgaria? (From her AI page.)

Hee! That last line is priceless. It's like she decided to cut to the chase and tell the truth in the middle.

Next question. Exactly how many grams of coke do you do per day, Leah?

Leah LABELLE? WTF?

LaBelle?!?!? [Seinfeld]Who are the marketing geniuses who came up with that one?? [/Seinfeld]

I wonder what choice these kids with the clunkier names had here though; we know how evil and controlling a master 19e can be... given Leah's steadfast determination to make her background known I can't picture her dropping her last name of her own accord. Who knows though... it's really odd.

Reminds me of when The World League (the predecessor to NFL Europe) started up they had to go with really basic teeam names like 'Fire' and 'Heat' so they translated accross Europe. "Joy" and "Labelle" instead of an ethnic sounding name and a dashed last name... somethin is fishy.

Maybe Lashundra "Trenyce" Cobbins told her it was a good idea to change her name.

It saddens me that I have perfectly good brain cells being used up to remember idiotic information like this. Sad, sad, sad.

At least I don't remember Josh Gracin's wife and daughter's names. ANNMARIE AND BRIANNA!!! DAMN DAMN DAMN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm just waiting for one of these kids to go all out and change their name to "He Hate Me".

This kid intrigues me. I don't know why. It's certainly not the outfit she wore during the group sing, because those fishnet stockings were hideous. Maybe it's her Bulgarian pop star mom, or her WTF? name change, or the fact that the judges obviously see something in her that I don't, and it bugs me. Her voice is mediocre at best. I don't get it!

Does anyone else recognize her from Caught in the Middle or am I the only who watches it? She sang in every damn episode and honestly, her voice has gotten better but that's not saying much.

She's kind of cute - like a much better-looking (and less frightening) Fairuza Balk. But I agree - her voice is not all that. It showed as she ended her group's performance of "Young Hearts". Not horrible, but not final-worthy. She'll probably get through on the 'look' factor.

What is "Caught in the Middle" and if Leah wanted to change her name, couldn't she come up with something better than LaBelle?

Does she think that we are suddnely going to think, "Maybe her mom isn't a Bulgarian star... maybe her mom is Patti LaBelle!" This whole name change thing is absurd - though at least she didn't go to just 'Leah' or 'LeaVlad' or something equally ridiculous. Hopefully nobody is going to change their name to a one-worder, a la Trenyce or Bettis.

Although it would be pretty funny if one of the guys changed his name to just 'John.'

I like Leah. When I saw that group sing, I absolutlely loved it, and you can tell the other contestants in the crowd did too. And when Leah started singing, I could just feel everyone's "woah" in that audience. So it made me feel good. And that's all I cared about.

And if Leah does end up wowing me again, despite her name change, I'll still yell "VLA-DOW!".

She's got a great smile too.

Leah Labelle.

Bad name for AI.

Great name for porn.

Girl's gotta have something to fall back on...

It automatically puts me off a person when I feel like they're compromising themselves before the show even begins.

I like her old name much better than this wishy-washy crap.

I don't think that Vladowski is a Bulgarian surname. Possibly, the correct transliteration from the Bulgarian (they use a Cyrillic script similar to what Russians, Ukrainians, and similar use) is "Vladovski" or something like that. My guessing is that when the family came to the USA, some asshole at immigration misspelled it. Or maybe Leah has a stepfather named Vladowski. (Coincidentally, Varjabedian (the surname of Leah's friend Karmen the Bulgarian Subwoofer) is an Armenian surname. But I have heard of Armenians defecting to other countries because of poor conditions in the homeland, so whatever.)

Sigh. TWoP is letting me down. Fine then - I will take it upon myself. I shall begin to make the necessary inquiries amongsy my Bulgarian friends. Yes, I only have two, but clearly something must be done to find the identity of Leah's rockin' mom.

According to an AI article in the latest US Weekly, her mother's name is Anastacia Vincheza.

I blame Tiffany Montgomery for this trend.

Hmmm... "Anastacia Vincheza" returns absolutely nothing on Google. Alas! I'm still on it, fear not!

I was just at the official website and noticed that Leah Vladowski-Labelle is the youngest competitor in the round at 17 years old. I'm wondering if she's going to be one of the top 2 this week, what with all the teens we've seen advancing so far.

Leah is supposed to be singing something by Whitney Houston as is Elizabeth LeTendre. Does this mean we might be in for another "Dance!" moment?

Eric Carmen also wrote the songs All By Myself (think Celine Dion), Someone That You Loved Before (think Diana Ross), and Almost Paradise (love theme from Footloose; duet with Ann Wilson & Mike Reno). If I had to guess, I’d say she’s planning on doing the first one. Just because she wants to make my eardrums bleed.

I hope she reaches the levels of superstardom that her mom attained.

Whereas I've never heard of her mother (and can't for the life of me figure out who she is), I'd have to say I agree.

This is Leah Labelle right?

Anyways, I would put her, LaToya and Amy in the top 3. Since I thought all three were very good I am trying to think of what may factor in the voting process that could work for her or hurt her. My conclusion is this-She is gorgeous! That could help. What may hurt her is that she seemed a little arrogant to me, so when I think of the top 3 tonight I wonder if that may be what works against her.

Guess we will see tomorrow.