85 replies to this topic

[trojan69]

I call shenanigans on the sound mix for Turbanator. No way was his voice as weak as it came across my TV. UNpossible. It was still a turrible song choice for him.

I have arguably never, EVER, heard more breathing issues in a Top whatever contestant than I did with Josh. Not even worthy of the Wednesday night karaoke at the neighborhood saloon. Horrid. Of course the jidges haaaaad to make an issue of the piano. Unreal.

One hour in and I see the end of the road for this series. The wall has been hit. If only advertiser make-goods could make the songs good. Oh well.

Never have the judges been so entirely completely free to cut. How the heck could any of the wannabes demand a recount? What a turrible night.

How can a lady not win this year? Ameriker can't possibly go for a guy.

We gonna cut 10 and no jidges' saves next week? Good. Can we make it a cut of 15?

[Phan]

Was Nicki over compensating in judging for her XY love-fest from last week?

Mathenee – Shrieked a majority of the song. It’s 2013, song choice is completely open, and somehow this guy lands on the fifth rendition of “A Little Less Conversation” on IDOL.

Gurpreet – Toneless and trite. Slap a real soul-jazz singer on this song though, and we can talk.

Sidenote: Does anyone else notice that Randy is only “honest” when someone before him is actually honest?

Vincent/Papa Smurf – Holy crap! Where did that come from?! That’s what Curtis Finch dreams of being. Dude has velvet tone, great arrangement with fantastic vocal transitions, grit to spare… damn. Best guy so far and possibly the best performance of the entire Top 40, hands down.

Nick – One of the few falsetto centered voices I don’t mind. He’s got quite a bit of potential, but it was a bit of a let down from his Hollywood performance.

Josh – I liked the melody in the song, though I couldn’t hear any lyrics thanks to mother fucking Bandzilla. He reminds me a bit of Blake Lewis (meaning he seems a bit overconfident). Should’ve stayed at the piano and brought the intensity musically instead of physically. It was kind of Elton John, “Bennie and the Jets”-ish. He was easily better than any the males who advanced last week.

David – He emits a Tracy Chapman meets The Animals vibe. There is a retro vibe, almost sort of like an Amy WInehouse blues voice, it’s very strange and totally cool. I loved him.

Bryant – Competent singer but there’s nothing notable about him. He could’ve found a current pop song to showcase himself more. It made me miss Kimberley Locke and Erika Van Pelt.

Burnell – Lovely. He is such a diamond in the rough and the fact that he isn’t over singing and can connect so thoroughly is great. Outfit a bit Urkelesque, but even Laura would’ve eaten that shit up. I hope IDOL doesn’t fuck him up.

Lazaro – If he didn’t have the stutter, he would be nothing more than cannon fodder. Thank goodness Keith called him out for that stupid choice of song despite it being Keith’s song.

Cortez – This is the song Nick should’ve sang. Cortez misfired here and there vocally on the lower end, but he glory noted in all the right places and that’s all that matters, apparently (though thank goodness Keith called him out on the tuning inconsistencies).

Results: Why did they stick all of these guys in one group? To make sure Charlie could get through without the Idolsphere rioting? I don’t get Cortez’s inclusion, I would’ve taken David instead if they needed a good looking guy. Also, David’s way more interesting; TPTB was likely afraid of the BGWG. I also would have taken Lazaro out and put Josh in, but Lazaro has the sob story. I was pleasantly surprised that Nick made it, but like Janelle last night, he faltered. Burnell and Vincent really deserved their spots; they were far and away ahead of the class, but some of the guys who were cut could have grown more than those who stayed. Color me shocked [/sarcasm].

Edited by Phan, Feb 28, 2013 @ 10:39 PM.

[garlandk77]

So the 10 final boys include:

4 blacks
2 Hispanics
1 Asian
2 gay white guys
1 geeky white guy

After a string of five similar winners, the show understandably would prefer a different kind of winner. Whether by accident or design, this goal has been guaranteed by a total absence of straight, white males with sex appeal in the top 10.

It's also notable that among the top 10 girls are 6 blacks, 1 Asian, and only 3 whites.

I think this is great. With its steadily declining ratings, this show needs a serious change. It might be a good idea for Idol to gradually transition to becoming a show focused on various minorities. It would appeal to a whole new demographic. If Fox cancels it for low ratings, the black network BET would probably love to pick it up.

[ari333]

Bandzilla strikes again. Eat me, Show.

That is all.

[Phan]

2 gay white guys

Nick Boddington has a girlfriend, so I doubt he would identify as gay. Jury is still out on Paul (no pun intended).

[sandrajane]

Mathenee – Shrieked a majority of the song. It’s 2013, song choice is completely open, and somehow this guy lands on the fifth rendition of “A Little Less Conversation” on IDOL.

The contestants submitted five songs, and the producers picked the song the contestants would sing. Mathenee submitted five, all rejected. Submitted second list of five, rejected again. Turned in third list, and the producers picked that Elvis song. Also, from spoilers of people who were there, Randy's questioning was a little bit longer than what was shown. Mathenee explained that his song choices were rejected and/or not cleared. Made it sound like he just picked a song from an approved list and did what he could with it.

Nicki has said to a couple of contestants that they need to stop trying to please the judges, and that's all I see when they pick a Keith Urban song, like Lazaro. That was a bad, bland and boring performance. Terrible song choice.

[garlandk77]

Nick Boddington has a girlfriend, so I doubt he would identify as gay. Jury is still out on Paul

Paul also claims to have a girlfriend, but my gaydar is pinging loudly on both of them.

[mojoween]

I seriously hate them all and cannot figure out why I watch this show.

Ugh...there was more than enough Zoannette last night, I could definitely have done without her shrieking and carrying on tonight.

I can only hope with the live shows comes criticism that Nicki will follow and stop with the multiple fake accents. And she's so creepy, with the hitting on the male contestants. A male judge would get raked over the coals if he said some of the things she does.

[Phan]

The contestants submitted five songs, and the producers picked the song the contestants would sing. Mathenee submitted five, all rejected. Submitted second list of five, rejected again. Turned in third list, and the producers picked that Elvis song.

I know the producers technically choose the songs for this round and I'm not saying there aren't song clearance issues on IDOL, believe me. But even it was choice 15 of 15... why would anyone in their right mind put that as a possibility? I've seen some songlists from IDOL of all cleared material: there were still better songs.

[rustyspigot]

So, this was predictable. Like Mariah Carey was going to eliminate the stutterer. Who sucked by the way. And you still have to talk to people in an ice scream shop. Its a customer service position. And what was with the "smart people" comment he made?

Randy Jackson Jr. I guess needs to compete with Curtis in the battle of Worship Leaders. Oh, sorry other worship leader who I liked.

Urkel has the whiniest voice. This is American Idol, not The Swan. I don't care that you lost weight.

Cortez is pretty, I'm sure he'll be the first one to tell you that.

Favorite part of the night: Nikki talks about 50 year olds throwing their panties, camera cuts to Zoanette.

Edited by rustyspigot, Feb 28, 2013 @ 10:55 PM.

[vb68]

And she's so creepy, with the hitting on the male contestants. A male judge would get raked over the coals if he said some of the things she does.

There was one time tonight where it almost seemed like her demeanor got harsher once she saw the guy's wife. It was just odd. After she said hi to the wife, she tore him up. But maybe it was just editing.

I actually liked Josh and wish he stayed.

Edited by vb68, Feb 28, 2013 @ 10:39 PM.

[SmallTownMom]

Wow, there were ALOT of bad song choices tonight. Guess I wasn't in the mood to watch this show tonight, because so much bugged me:

Mariah, do you have to bring the girls every show?

Randy, I actually was yelling at my TV "say something worthwhile, you idiot!" After one performance, you actually said "Dude, Dawg, Wow, ............" How about a complete sentence? You know, one that shows some real judging? Then you pulled out "He's in it to win it!"

Ryan, your constant chatter works on my nerves: "He's going home, he's sad, here he is saying goodbye to the judges" the entire time they are saying goodbye. I would actually like to hear what was said.

Zonette, sit down and shut up! This was the guys night. It's OK to clap and cheer, but you don't have to be all "look at me!" Quit acting like a fool. Oh, wait............

On the up side.....I generally dislike Nicki intensely, but loved when she said to Supreet, "Hell, no." Thanks, I needed that.

[ari333]

There was one time tonight where it almost seemed like her demeanor got harsher once she saw the guy's wife. It was just odd. After she said hi to the wife, she tore him up. But maybe it was just editing.

I actually liked Josh and wish he stayed.

When the camera panned to the wife, then back to Minaj, we saw subtle fangs and a hiss from Minaj. Go back and watch it again. We thought we saw what we saw, here at the house, and couldn't believe it. "Demeanor got harsher" is really spot on (and perhaps a generous understatement.)

Minaj is disgusting (imo.)

Edited by ari333, Feb 28, 2013 @ 10:51 PM.

[aps817]

I'm fuming over David being cut and Lazaro being put through.

Watching Nicki come down on David and Bryant after sounding great and then immediately praise Burnell and Lazaro after sounding like ass made absolutely no sense to me.

I know she has like 23453423 different personalities but I hope we never see tonight's personality on the judging panel ever again.

[sandrajane]

I know the producers technically choose the songs for this round and I'm not saying there aren't song clearance issues on IDOL, believe me. But even it was choice 15 of 15... why would anyone in their right mind put that as a possibility? I've seen some songlists from IDOL of all cleared material: there were still better songs.

I don't believe anything TPTB say about clearance issues, especially if he was picking all his songs from that massive list of cleared songs that comes out every season (which I think is paired down before given to the contestants anyway). They kept denying him until they could corner him into singing a song he wouldn't be able to handle, and then ream him about song choice. At least he got up there and worked with what he was given.

[ari333]

I wouldn't begrudge Minaj working a genuine accent... if she had one; Or it'd be cool if she could even pick one fake accent if she'd just be a tad bit freaking consistent with it. But as it is, it's just annoying and contrived. And it grates to no end. bah. Additionally, if I have to hear, "ladybug" and some such again I'm going to lose my dinner.

[peggy06]

Deeply mediocre night. I don't think I heard five performances worthy of being put through. A girl has to win; the guys' field is so weak. I thought last week was bad, but man! This was way worse.

Random thoughts:
What was the singer from Hawaii doing with the hand gestures? It was weird and distracting.

Guy who sang Fever with acoustic guitar totally failed to connect to the song in any way, shape or form. Sort of like the girl who sang Rihanna last night.

I don't remember Nick from previous rounds, and tonight, his voice sounded puny to me. Like Julianna's, it just petered out on the high notes. When he and Gupreet were the last two, I was thinking, "Seriously? One of these guys is going on?"

I feel sorry for Lazaro, but a sob story isn't enough. He was shaky, and I find his ballads boring. The show isn't doing Keith Urban any favors with the way they're singing his songs.

The show needn't encourage Zoanette to act OTT by cutting to her and even soliciting her opinion.

[kelbel]

What did that audience member say that had Nicki throwing a fit? I thought that was weird.

Zoanette had me rolling tonight with her theatrics during Vincent's performance. Also, I could spot her from far away in the audience because her hair was so big.

Nick really disappointed me tonight. His fans were hyping him up so I was expecting to be amazed and it just kind of fell flat. But I'm glad he made it through to get a second chance. Like Janelle, I think he just had an off night/picked the wrong song. I still like him.

As much as I like Lazaro, I have to admit, his singing doesn't do anything for me. And I feel like he doesn't know who he is as an artist despite what Nicki said. He's sung Simon and Garfunkel, Lady Gaga, Keith Urban. That's quite a varity he has going on there. I expect him to sail through the competition for a while just because of his sob story and he's so likeable. But unless he starts impressing vocally, I don't really see him winning.

I really liked Burnell. But what he was doing with his hands throughout the performance was really distracting. The way he dresses reminds me of Steve Urkel. So far, I'm liking him the most out of the R&B guys.

Didn't like Cortez. He kind of lost his way through parts of the song. I just didn't like how he sung it, glory notes aside. But I still agreed with the judges to send him through.

LMAO at the 71% #idoldisagree with the judges decisions. I wonder how much of that was Josh not going through. I didn't really care for his performance, but I could just imagine a bunch of females already squeeing over him.

Finally, we get to vote next week. Now the competition really gets started.

Edited by kelbel, Mar 1, 2013 @ 12:04 AM.

[garlandk77]

Watching Nicki come down on David and Bryant after sounding great and then immediately praise Burnell and Lazaro after sounding like ass made absolutely no sense to me.

The only way I can make sense of the judging tonite:

The producers and judges decided in advance who to cast in the top 10 based a balanced diversity of genre, ethnicity, personality, and back story. Then they adjusted their comments as needed to support their predetermined picks.

[Chocorokoroko]

I'm a little stunned Josh didn't make it. I could have seen him making it far in the competition and having a good spot in the Idol Tour. Oh well. I guess he and Paul are a little alike (in looks); so having similar appearances wouldn't work so well for this show's advertisement or whatever.

I'm gonna find it hilarious when the #idoldisagree twitter voting will keep overruling the #idolagree hash tag.

Glad Turbinator is out; that was getting a little too old.

Yay Lazaro; but I agree that he needs to get something straight. Or else, shakiness in performance won't be a stranger.

[Nedsdag]

Well the judges (and to a lesser extent the producers) have made it perfectly clear that a WGWG will not win AI this season by choosing more minorities and more buzz worthy females to the top 20 than I have ever seen in quite some time. I don't know if this is a good thing or a bad thing. IMHO, I kind of like the diversity, but I'm not so sure the tweens and the fraus will like it.

Nick has a nice voice, but something about him bothers me. I don't know what. Is it the bug eyes or what's under his head? He looks more like a contestant on The Voice instead of AI.

Edited by Nedsdag, Feb 28, 2013 @ 11:47 PM.

[BogoGog24]

Mathenee- If what was said about all his song choices being rejected is true... that's really low. It doesn't surprise me of course that they will sabotage certain contestants. Anyway, his performance was all right, at least it was upbeat, but I knew as soon as they put him first that he didn't have a chance. Every person who has gone first so far has gone home, except Paul who only got through on the tiebreaker.

Turbinator- His voice is interesting but the song he chose did nothing for him. His begging for a second chance was off putting.

Vincent- Joshua Ledet 2.0 except nowhere near as good. He was one of the better contestants tonight though, for sure. He's basically the foil to Curtis Finch.

Nick- Really disappointing after such great performances in Hollywood Week. I'm glad they gave him a second chance though, especially over Turbinator. I hope he can deliver a great performance next week because I generally like his voice, I think he just picked a bad, boring song.

Josh- I was surprised when I found out they could do originals. I give the guy credit for doing his own song, but the song itself was average. And I agree with the person who said he is just a tad too similar to Paul. I'm sure he would have garnered a lot of the female votes. He had a nice voice, but the song really didn't do him justice.

David- I don't get the fuss that was made over him. I don't even remember his performance, except that it fell pretty flat for me. His "old" vibe was kind of cool and different, but I felt no connection there.

Bryant- Sad to see him go, I really enjoyed his performance of NYSOM, even if it was a little "sleepy" He had a nice voice and his laid-back Hawaiian vibe was cool.

Burnell- I don't think he was as good as the judges were saying he was, but he was definitely a standout amongst some of the more boring performers. He has an interesting and unique tone, he doesn't sound like the stereotypical black gospel singer, he has a little something special about the quality of his voice. And I instantly thought of Steve Urkel when I saw what he was wearing too haha

Lazaro- He's a nice kid with a pretty good voice and a good story, he's a cute kid and very nice and likable, but his performance tonight was bland and disappointing. I can't figure out why so many of them picked Keith Urban songs... his songs sound like they suck when these guys sing them... I still like Lazaro though so I'm glad he was put through (as if they would have cut him anyway). He needs to really bring it for next week because I think he can really sing, he just chose a horrific song that did nothing for his voice.

Cortez- Pretty good performance, although I wasn't crazy about how he was hitting those high notes, it sounded a little strained to me. I agree overall with him being put through though.

I agree with all the judges' picks, this group seemed a lot easier to pick who was going through than last night's or last week's.

I love Nicki as a judge, normally, but she was really annoying tonight. She had to start every comment with a fake accent, which just got annoying after a while. Randy I thought did a better job than usual, he told one guy he outright sucked. But I had to facepalm when he brought in the "in it to win it" comment. Please Randy that is so Season 10. Stop with the catchphrases, or at least get a new one! Keith and Mariah were probably the best judges tonight, although I disagreed with a lot of their comments, they overhyped many of the contestants who I didn't think were that good.

[taiko]

Burnell- I don't think he was as good as the judges were saying he was, but he was definitely a standout amongst some of the more boring performers. He has an interesting and unique tone, he doesn't sound like the stereotypical black gospel singer, he has a little something special about the quality of his voice. And I instantly thought of Steve Urkel when I saw what he was wearing too haha

Speaking of Gospel when I first heard him I was thinking of a new contemporary gospel singer Mali Music. All the earlier talk about the two gay white guys, well Mr Burnell has set off my wife's gaydar.

[Kali12]

I should have put money on this. It was a sure thing that whoever I'd have chosen was sent home.

[PBGamer89]

I have bets on a few of those guys being gay. Paul, Lazaro, maybe even Burnell.

[DancinCat]

Ryan, your constant chatter works on my nerves: "He's going home, he's sad, here he is saying goodbye to the judges" the entire time they are saying goodbye. I would actually like to hear what was said.

LOL, ain't that the truth! When Mathenee got cut and Randy was trying to encourage him by saying "Continue, don't give up," Ryan immediately chimed in with "It's the end of the road for Mathenee!"

[cryptaknight]

I have bets on a few of those guys being gay. Paul, Lazaro, maybe even Burnell.

Why does that matter?

I disagree with some of the judges' choices- last week moreso than this, to be honest- and I think it does seem like they are stacking the deck against a male winner. There's no telling what voters will do, though. I'd love to think the voice and performance matters more than backstory or looks or woobification or sexuality, but this is Idol. The voters always surprise me.

None of the boys are really jumping out at me, but I suspect that is the show's intention.

[Mycenaeus]

I must have been on something tonight because I felt this was probably the best group of 12 we've seen so far. While the girls have more vocal talent, the boys are far more relatable, so TPTB might be in for a rude awakening. As Keith Urban once said, this is "Connection Idol".

Thank God for Vincent. As someone else mentioned, he is the foil to Curtis. This is a good thing, because there's something about Curtis that I don't like. "Papa Smurf" is much more likable and a lot less smug. So if Vince can knock Curtis out and take the "gospel-y male singer" spot in the top 10 then I think that would make me very happy. Best vocal of the night.

Lazaro is really coasting on his sob story at this point. He hasn't had a single good performance since "Bridge Over Troubled Water". Part of the problem is that I have no idea what kind of artist he is. I don't think he knows either. I think that's important to know before you go into the competition, otherwise your sound is going to be changing with each theme night. So I guess I'm team Mimi/Randy on this one. It's not that I'm trying to bully anyone into picking anything, but he should at least have some idea of what type of music fits his voice best before deciding to pursue a singing career. Simon & Garfunkel, Lady Gaga, and now Keith Urban. Well, best of luck to him. Perhaps he will find himself somewhere between Latin week and Motown theme night. I think they should have told him to come back.

Burnell was my favorite tonight. I think he sounds like John Legend, so this was the perfect song choice. He did a wonderful job, although the judges overpraised it a bit. He totally deserved his spot and I look forward to hearing more.

Nick had a standout performance in the previous round. This was a rather weak showing, but his tone is beautiful. I like his falsetto a lot. Given the other performances, I'm not mad he made it through.

Cortez is handsome and has a fine voice. I hope he keeps getting called out on his tendency to over sing though. He was doing runs to the point of just ruining the melody. Nicki called him out on this when he over-sang "I Will Always Love You" in the Hollywood round, but she loved him here (she's so inconsistent). Also, is it just me, or did he sing the first verse of that song and then repeat the Titanium chorus over and over for the rest of the song? That's what it sounded like to me. Meh. He has the talent though, he just needs to get it together on a great song.

Ideally, Bryan Tadeo would have made it through instead of Lazaro, but I guess none of the judges were able to deny Lazaro's sob story despite the fact that he was not very good singing Keith tonight. Distracting hand gestures aside, Bryan was really good on "New York State of Mind". The judges got the loudest boos that I've heard so far when the audience found out he was eliminated.

[PoorKitty]

So is Lazaro saying that he's mentally challenged or that all ice cream scoopers are idiots? Way to go, kid. With your level of "talent" you can't afford to alienate even the frozen dairy treat workers demographic.

The only enjoyable part of the show was the audience booing Minaj. I hope they don't change up the judges' critique order as it's so easy to fast-forward through everyone after Keith, including Ryan and all the commercials up to the next contestant. Since I fast-forwarded after about five seconds of every single singer I made it through in about a minute thirty-seven. Makes me feel less shitty about watching this crap.

[shopgirl406]

AI just isn't what it used to be. Nicki is just too distracting as a judge - even over our favourite judge to snark on-Paula. This morning the only song rolling thru my head is Bryan's NYSOM. I loved his rendition of the song, his styling - just was a lovely, laid back song. No real sob story, no over the top junk - just good singing. And I thought this was a singing competition! :) Really thought he would go thru.