But did anything interesting happen to you in your infancy, Anthony.

That's what we want to know.


Thread title due to Argillus.

I like Athony...but the whole "pushing him down our throats" routine may get really tired soon.

I agree with the others who mentioned that he, of all the "top" contestants, has the best shot of flaming out early.

ITA Brian C on early flare-out potential. It's more the talking about his throat than the shoving of him down ours that bugs me though... he probably has the "strongest" (or at least most pimped) backstory and yet is the weakest performer of the group (didn't say voice, said performer!) and that's why I've been referring to him as Federovtohaveagoodstory because without it he's imo just another passable singer. He hasn't exactly shown originality or diversity of style as he's the only one to repeat a song right?

And deergahd please, back away from the fauxhawk, k? Really though... this kid seems to make Jawwwnnn Stevens seem like a chihauaha on crack comparitively. I think in other seasons, say last season, he could have completely mailed it in to the finals. This year every guy can sing at least as well and every other contestant has at least more style and/or personality (for good or bad) so I don't think being shockingly average will get him far. I say he'll be out fairly quickly really. Dead man walkin!

Can I just say that, Anthony? It is not a good thing if people would be surprised to find out you are not fake. See, the bio question there, that is really meant to elicit a response about something that folks might not know about you, something surprising, something like, oh I don't know, like you do a good Tina Turner impression. Like that. (Thank you Judd Harris for the awesome example). You see if people were surprised to find out that you were not fake, that would mean of course that most folks think you are fake and then...oh. wait. Yeah, I guess you were right. Nevermind.

He's made it this far based on three things:

1.A sob story
2. A musical and physical resemblance to Clay Aiken
3. A reasonably good voice.

Last year he would have been golden, in a group of absolutely terrible singers. It appears to me that nearly everybody can sing this year, and his sob story is going to wear thin after awhile. The Clay thing has a good chance of backfiring on him.

So he's going to have to grow musically to stay alive - and fast.

Boy should make a list of every song Voldemort ever sang on AI and make a note to never perform any of them.

His bio annoyed me. He seems kinda stuck up.

I'm so glad he made it. This promises to be a real cutthroat competition.

(I... I'm sorry. I'll never do it again.)

Bwaahhhaaahhhhaaaaa!!!

Nice one FellowWaitress heh

I kinda like him, blandness and all... nice voice, boyish and he seems pretty level headed and NORMAL (his sob story aside) compared to some of the other wannabes and OTT characters around... can't hate him...

FellowWaitress, you are my American Idol.


Anthony? One trick pony. He'll make Final12, but he aint winning this thing.

FellowWaitress, I hope you're around here for a very long time. I see us being good snark buddies. That was priceless. Please - feel free to do it again.

If I hear anymore about this tracheotomy during this competition - I tell you no lie: I will vote for everyone else just to push him out. No offense, Antoniolotole - they did it to you.

Personally, I like Anthony and am throwing my hat into the ring for him. Yes, he has a "sob story" as some of you put it, but is it any more of a sob story than say that of Scott Savol? IIRC, at Scott's audition, he told a sad story of how his dad was an asshole who always told him growing up that he'd never amount to anything, and by auditioning for AI, Scott was hoping to prove him wrong. A person can't help their parentage anymore than they can help the fact that they needed a tracheotomy as an infant. I'm just saying.

Edited because 'less' does not mean the same as 'more'.

I'm impressed that there is absolutely no mention of the trach in his bio on the website. Although there's one close-up of the neck (and therefore the scar), but I don't blame him for that. Seacrest didn't even mention it yesterday. Maybe TPTB are lurking on the forums and realize how pimping the tracheoctomy to no end was annoying people and decided to quit it.

I hope that he's wearing a new outfit on Monday.

Yes, well, he will be receiving a weekly wardrobe allowance now that he's reached this stage, so let us hope he spends it on clothes. He's already cute IMHO, but he could be so much cuter with some different clothes.

He really does look like a blond Harry Potter, which sorta freaks me out...and I like the books and movies.

The tracheotomy thing doesn't really bother me, since I haven't noticed many mentions on the show recently.

Besides, look at it this way: he's better than JPL, the Spastic Hobbit from Hell.

Better than JPL? Is that really so hard to accomplish?

At work today, people were talking about AI down the hall, and I heard one (early 20s) woman say "I was so happy and proud for the blonde kid who sounds like Clay. Did you know he had a tracheotomy and didn't even know if he would speak, much less sing?"

The viewers really ARE that simple.

I don't think his singing is good enough, but he's ok looking and has a good name.

After watching his introduction video, I agree with an assessment elsewhere that he is a wolf in sheep's clothing, he is too slick.

Question: When did you first start singing? Answer: "I started singing PROFESSIONALLY when I was 14.

I also think he is a one trick pony, he says that love ballads and spanish ballads are his "forte".

Spanish ballads? I can imagine his pronunciation being horrid.

'American Idol' picks 24 semifinalists




'American Idol 4' wraps auditions, reveals its 24 semifinalists



One trick pony?

Am I the only one here that thinks he's awesome?

Although, yeah, please stop with the trach sob story-WE. KNOW. (fellowwaitress, XD!) I have a feeling though it's mostly the producers over-pimping the whole childhood surgery thing; he himself hasn't really mentioned it.

And for the love of all that is holy, get some new clothes. Flood pants=no.

Love him! Just love him. I'm not concerned with the tracheotomy thing because he's one of those people who doesn't really need much of a gimmick given his strong voice. However, I can see him being one of those that you either love or hate.

I have no doubt that he will be in the finals.

Anthony is my favorite. Love his voice. Love. However, I picked JPL early last season, and look where that landed me. Therefore, I reserve judgment to change my mind at anytime. However, for now, Anthony will be getting my votes.

FellowWaitress - BWAH! That was priceless.

From what I've read about Anthony, he seems like the goody-goody, suck-up-to-authority type (i.e. making a CD of love songs he recorded and giving it to his high school principal, which he did according to this article). And I would so not be surprised if he stuck to Michael Bolton-esque ballads the entire competition. If they have rock and roll night, he'll probably sing something like "Iris" (and hopefully get booted for it, as Joshua Sellers thankfully did on Canadian Idol).

I want to like you, but I just might fall asleep. Dammit.

I don't hate you, I. just. don't. care. Plus one Aiken in this world is quite enough.

I like him! And hope that he sings "The Promise" by When in Rome or something by Gino Vanelli. Not kidding. hee.

He probably does a mean Besame Mucho (judging by his place of employment). He will be a hoot on the Motown night. Or a country night. Or a Gloria Estefan night. Or any night for that matter. One-trick pony if I've ever seen one.

It's to soon to know if his one-trickness is total, but if it is, it happens to be a trick I really enjoy, so it's all good to me. [limbers up dialing fingers]

He gets auto-hate from me and he can thank TPTB. How bland does he have to be for the producers to have to go to his infancy to find anything remotely tv-worthy to talk about? Boring. And the Michael Bolton love? Not helping. Voice? Let's see how he does with uptempo songs, if he even dares to sing them. Judging by the three-second clip they showed of his group sing? Not. Good.

*Looks at empty wallet from all my Death Eater activities* Yes, that. And Harry Potter ain't no Voldemort.

I don't see the Harry Potter thing, but I guess if you just move the scar from the forehead to the neck....

Anthony Federov bores me. He is milquetoast. He'll be out of there soon. I hope.

FellowWaitress, that was hilarious. Thanks for that.

Did he get blonder during the selection process, or is he simply fading out of my memory?

For some reason I imagine him being a huge follower of Roxette. I dunno if it's the hair or the fact that he is vaguely European in a foreign exchange-y sort of way, but that's all I've got so far.

People

Of course, he gets a full-length photo. And we find out that he hails from Ukraine.

"...I'm a hopeless romantic."

Something doesn't ring true about the whole "geeky" thing. He's a bit too suave at this stage, and already has the teen idol talk down.

"[My girlfriend] gave me a bit more of a kinky look."

Kinky? There are no words.

He's OK, but people said that Clay was vanilla...

I think he looks like Nick Carter, pre-bloat. I'm sure he'll sing that 'Angel' song again and he'll think it's different this time because there's a piano and backing tracks and shit. But he'll still sound the same, being good, but uninspired and boring.

He creeps me out. His voice is fine, but not particularly impressive. And Clay was infinitely more charming than this sketchball.

If one considers constantly fluttering the eyelashes, mouthing silent 'thank-yous', faking an 'aw shucks' demeanor and combining preachiness with sexual ambiguity charming than I agree, Clay has it in spades over Anthony.

The one thing that bugs me about this guy is his name. His Ukrainian name is Anatoliy, but his American name is Anthony. I don't know much Ukrainian, but I don't believe that Anthony is the English equivalent of Anatoliy. The closest name within earshot is Anatole, and that's an anachronistic name. Maybe he should go by "Nate" or "Neato-nato". BTW, the Ukrainian equivalent of Anthony is Anton. Or something.

Yes, much like the name Nikko is derived from Osbourne. Oh, wait.


I sort of agree though, in that I think Anthony should have kept his real name for the show. I don't like it when performers change their names. Especially Anthony, his real name is way cool, he shouldn't have vanillified it.

Ah say, sing boy!

I'm not all that sure that it was Anthony's choice to change his name for the show. After all, these are the same geniuses that wanted Fantasia Barrino to drop her last name because they thought it was too "Italian".

His background would help to set him apart and make him more interesting, beyond Aiken comparisons and childhood medical issues.

ETA: I wouldn't be surprised if he actually was a robot created by 19E to makeup for letting Clay slip through their hands; only to make him "better". Their manufacturing ran into a slip-up around the neck area, but they just call it a tracheoctomy scar and spin a story around it.

I keed, I keed. Diana DeGarmo was one of my favorites last season, so i'm not adverse to robots on principle. But it's just too wierd. I'd love to see pictures of him before AI. There were also people that said Clay was playing up the 'nerd' image for his audition, but if you see them it's obvious that he was always a geek. I'm not sure about Anthony. It's not such a bad thing if he's not, but he should stop saying it.



OK, now that montage almost made me believe in his geekiness. Maybe that's why they did it ;)

In the PEOPLE article, he calls himself geeky - but on the interview on the AI site, he says he's good at all sports.
According to my kids - one in high school, one in junior high, Jocks aren't geeky.

The more I see of him, the more I think someone's trying to convince me he's the new, improved Clay. He plays sports! He has a girlfriend!

He not only likes sports, but he's good at all sports.

Uh...right. We can tell how good you are at sports by the way you dance.

In the PEOPLE article he also says, his girlfriend gave him more of a "kinky" look and that she wants him to do good.

Yah think she looked at who has sold the most albums and decided to dress her boyfriend to look like him? No, that would never happen, right?

Surely it can't be all sports. That bio bothers me just for that reason alone. Why won't he say which sports specifically? Does he dream of being a pro sports player of all sports? Not possible.

He seems more real than the Aiken. Of course, Aiken also came across as real at first, then slowly the stench of phony could be smelled through the TV screen. Too early to tell if this guy will be as equally deft at developing a persona.

Anyway, he's a glory-noter and I hate gratuitous glory notes. At least he doesn't over enunciate and flutter around like a fairy. So, points for that.

For now, he just bores me.

So where was the dancing? How did I miss the dancing?

It was at the tail end of Wednesday's show, when Ryan was explaining the new format. Instead of the picture portraits that they'd use to preview the semi-finalists in previous seasons, they decided to show clips of them dancing (using the term loosely for some) in front of a blue screen as he said their names.

Anthony was doing some wierd-ass cabbage patch/ running man hybrid. Actually, he just kept exaggeratedly kicking his legs up in the air backward repeatedly. It's possible he was playing up the "uncoordinated geek" image (or that TPTB told him to). Except that the whole point of that montage was mugging for that camera, and all the contestants did it.

Well back when I was in high school, we had a couple of varsity basketball players who were also on the chess team, so it's not unthinkable. I still don't care for him though, although I can't say that I hate him like I hate Constantine.

Thanks Mmm..., I just saw it and I think I just threw up in my mouth a little, seriously dude, when Bo Bice out-dances you, you got a problem!

I was rooting for him, but for some reason the bio on his site and intro video turned me off a little. Add in that little smirk I could swear I saw on his face on Wednesday when he was put through to the next round, I'm meh on him now. I'll reserve further judgement until I see how well he performs every week. But if he starts turning all smarmy like Justin I'll really get turned off.

I dont get any comparison to Clay at all. They both have big voices, and wear glasses. The thing that made Clay popular though was everything about him at the time (his makeover, his voice, etc.) were new and different to AI. So far Anthony is not original at all. Again, I'll reserve judgement until I see more.