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Idol Blogging
Wednesday, April 23rd, 2008So we’re apparently at that point in the season where the previous night’s performances mean very little, and everyone is sort of coasting (or clinging to life) based on how well they’ve managed to build up a fan base.
Case in point: Tonight’s two lowest vote-getters by far and away gave last night’s best performances. Carly Smithson may have the best pipes of anyone this year, but she just hasn’t had the charisma to hang with Mormon plush toy (not my phrase, can’t remember where I first saw it, but it’s spot-on–and hilarious) David Archuleta, girl next door Brooke White, or wide-eyed stoner Jason Castro. Those three are all very talented, but all gave considerably worse performances last night than Smithson or Syesha Mercado.
I also wasn’t nearly as impressed with David Cook as the judges. I’m not a big fan of musicals, so maybe my ear was off. But I found him almost unlistenable. He sounded exactly like you’d expect he might–like the lead singer of Creed or one of the dozens of bands who sound just like them trying to do Andrew Lloyd Weber.
But back to Mercado. She killed last night. It was the kind of performance she should have been giving all season. I’ve been saying for weeks now that she needs to liven up, tap her sex appeal, and push a sultry, old soul vibe. She’s finally found her groove, but it’s probably too late. She could conceivably outlast White next week, but it’s tough to see her getting much farther, no matter how much she picks it up.
Sorry my Idol blogging has been spare the last few weeks. I’ve been fairly busy and the shows have been kinda’ boring (I fast-forwarded through just about of all of Mariah Carey week). For those of you who hate the Idol blogging, I guess I’ll go ahead and apologize for its return.
I was surprised at how honest Weber’s remarks were (whereas Mariah Carey was all “OMG THEY’RE ALL SO AWESOME”). He said about Mercado “she could bring the house down,” and she had the best performance, and he was very hesitant about White and Castro, and they both did poorly.
Carly going home is very disappointing. I would have put her third, above even Archuletta, if only because she can at least sing different-sounding songs. Cook and Mercado are top two for me.
All I hear when Carly Smithson sings is yelling. She seemed nice, but I’m not disappointed to see her go.
I have to say that when I read the first sentence of this post, I thought it was about the current state of the Demorcratic presidential race.
I’d have to agree. Though I don’t follow Idol, I do think Carly should win based on dark hair blue eyed hotness alone.
Carly’s problem was that her choice of clothes and that hideous tattoo were just not attractive. She also had a manic way of performing where she looked cross and desperate. Her voice by itself is excellent, but she lacks stage presence
Ahh, Syesha. I’d hit her like the fist of an angry god. An angry god, I say!
I like David Cook. I think he shows the most overall talent in his arrangements and his performances week to week IMO. Of course, that probably means he just does things that are more aligned with my tastes. As far as this week’s performance, I think Simon was correct when he said Cook got the most out of the song that he could. I was iffy about Carly earlier on but I thought she killed with JC Superstar. Brook (who has restarted her song two different weeks now) seems to get a free pass on that when the judges used to rip other people for it. Archuletta holds no appeal for me at all. Mercado was wonderful and is all kinds of sexy. I thought Brook should have gone home last night. I like Brook, but Carly deserved another week more.
Yeah, now that Carly’s gone, I’m rooting for David Cook. She was great, and yes, beautiful.
I don’t like Mariah Carey either, but I searched Itunes for Cook’s version of “you’ll always be my baby.”
CC
I gave up on caring who wins after Michael Johns got booted. He was definitely in the top three—along with Carly Smithson and David Cook—as far as talent goes, if not the best. I would definitely consider buying an album by any of them.
When I saw you write “Mormon plush toy”, I was sure you were writing about Brooke White, because she is actually a Mormon. She’s very adorable and gave some great performances early on, but she isn’t as versatile or consistent as most others. No one else can match her playing the Carole King or Carly Simon type music, which I personally would buy. I wouldn’t buy an album with songs that didn’t fit her, like many of the weekly theme choices. David Archuleta’s asthmatic enunciation weirdness has bothered me from the start, and his style is too bland, even if he can hit the notes well.
The only effective way to decide marketable talent is to have people buy the music they want to hear, i.e., vote with their wallets. But I don’t think a weekly show would lend itself to that. A futures market would be interesting, but I don’t think it would draw the viewers that Fox wants.
Idol bloggin’ is back baby!! Thanks!
I had a sneaky feeling that the obvious two bottom performances would wind up safe. I think people vote for more reasons than just the most currently performed song. I expected Jason to get axed but I figured if a guy gets axed after an Andrew Lloyd Weber Idol then at least he can leave with his dignity in tact.
David Cook should win the thing but I think Archuletta will take home the prize. Archuletta has the little girl vote and believe me those kids will sit down with his number keyed in to their cell phone and hit “end / send” hundreds of times before time runs out on a night of voting.
I think Simon nailed the assessment of Jason’s performance. It was like a guy that was forced to sing a ridiculous song at a wedding he did not even want to attend.
But he still got by. I think the fact that my wife was endlessly hitting the end/send buttons on the cell phone helped. She can be such a little girl.
I hope he can pick a decent Neil Diamond song to do next week.
“I Am…I Said” would be a good one for anybody to do.
1) Tony Kornhesier calls Brooke White “the virgin nanny.” I love that nickname. Still, I actually like Brooke and was pleased to see her stick around for another week.
2) I was thrilled to see Carly go. Her sense of entitlement and woe is me attitude was rivaled only by the Clintons. “Why are you always picking on me, Simon?”
3) Equally thrilled to see Castro still in it. He’s the only person I think might have a chance of keeping it from being a David vs. David final. Plus, any one that sings Cohen on American Idol has my vote as long as they are on the show.
4) David Cook may have won the show the other night. Not my cup of tea, but playing it straignt and relatively well probably endeared him to a lot of voters whose horses will be leaving the race soon.
5) Syesha was fine but she really should have gone home weeks ago.
6) Some one has to sing Cracklin’ Rosie next week. Best Neil Diamond song ever — and there are a lot of them. Too bad Kristy Lee Cook isn’t still in it. I would have loved to hear “America.”
Oh yeah…
7) Welcome back Idol Blogging.
1) You don’t have to apologize, it’s your blog. If I ever had the time to start one, I’d expect that I’d write whatever the hell I feel like.
2) My wife forces us to watch this stuff so …. I think Mercado is usually excellent and nailed it the previous night. I think the problem for her (as with Smithson) is who the kind of people are who religiously watch a show like Idol: Pre-teen, white girls. So it’s probably going to come down to the ‘Mormon plush toy’ or the stoner … ugh.
I vote 250 times a week for Castro, as does my wife. It’s the least we can do since we have unlimited texting with AT&T. We can be such little girls.
I once had to continually hit end / send for Castro on my wifes cell phone while she took a shower. I must have voted over 250 times for him myself. I lost count.
So I guess there was one big girl in the shower and one little girl with a cell phone following orders.
But I like Castro. A lot. Even if he does look like John Travolta with dreadlocks