American Idol 2012

She should be saved.

 

No she shouldn't have. She had no chance t win and wasn't very good. Thought the bottom 3 was bunk, but I have no problem with who got kicked off.

 

Couldn't be happier with the decision, although I think it should have been DeAndre. I guess he's this year's Tim Urban ... mediocre talent but cute enough to keep around.

 

DeAndre or Heejun should be packing.

 

Was out of town most of the week and just got caught up.

I'm really shocked that Shannon is gone this early. I didn't think she was very good, but she wasn't 11th-place bad, either. Would have been interesting if she had tried "Don't Speak."

Elise and Erika being in the bottom 3 is totally because they're average-looking women over the age of 21. Elise in particular was easily the second or third-best performer this week. But "older" women never do well on Idol (witness Pia Toscano last year).

To me, it's a two-horse race between Joshua and Phil-Phil right now, with Jessica in third. Hollie's very talented, but wasn't good at all this week, so she needs to step it up if she wants to get into the finals.

Skylar and Colton are middle of the pack at best, though I thought Colton was pretty good this week. Skylar took a step back in my opinion.

Hee Jun will hang around longer than he should because of Asian bloc voting. And DeAndre will because of his looks. They both suck.

 

Oooooo, I thought Hollie was really good.

Then again, with Shannon getting ready for volleyball season, I'm beginning to doubt myself.

 

It's Billy Joel week. Hope nobody has a HEART-A-TACK-ACK-ACK-ACK-ACK-ACK.

http://www.mjsbigblog.com/american-idol-top-10-the-songs-of-billy-joel-lana-del-ray-and-haley-reinhart-perform.htm

And paging Schieza ... Haley Reinhart is to perform.

 

Oh, I know already. I follow her on Twitter ... because I'm clearly a 14-year-old girl.

 

Not really blown away by any of the first four. I guess Erika's been the best thus far. Joshua was subpar (at least for him).

I was going to say that I'm getting sick of Skylar, although it's probably just that I hate that type of music — take a pop ballad and thrust in a steel guitar and it's classified as country. Whatever.

Also, Deandre dances like a drunk guy ... taking giant steps to ensure that he doesn't bust his ass.

 

1. Colton
2. Jessica
3. Phil-Phil
4. Elise (great performance, but no one's ever heard that song)

5-10. Everybody else (though Hee-Jun thumbing his nose at Diddy, Tommy Hilfiger and the music industry in general all in a 3-minute span made me laugh)

Erika goes home.

 

Top three for me, and this is for tonight, not in the voting.

1) Colton Dixon (if he takes the screeching out, it's just about perfect)
2) Jessica (is anyone more consistent?)
3) Elise Testone (perfect week for her)
Honorable mention: Erika Van Pelt (really, really solid, although I worry about the demographic in the voting)

Bottom three for me
1) Joshua (just wrong key overall)
2) Skylar (a horrible version of Garth's version)
3) Heejun (I enjoyed it from an entertainment standpoint, but this might have been his swan song)
Honorable mention: Hollie (just didn't follow up last week's performance)

Man, I really, really want to love Philip Phillips (I'm an acoustic guitar player), but he just doesn't wow me with his overall vocals. Originality is his meal ticket, but unless he brings more to the table, he's toast. He's a poor man Lee Dwyze.

As far as DeAndre, actually might have been his best performance yet and could keep him around. Tough spot going No. 1, but I thought he did a nice job.

 

American Idol- 3/21

Well, it’s Wednesday night so you know what that means. Time for another long-winded, uninformed rant by me about American Idol. So, without further ado, here. We. Go. …

First off, what’s with the sad Shannon send off? The show never portrayed it like she was some big part of the group and what do these people expect? Eventually all but two of them are going to be gone. I thought they wanted to win?

On to the music -> Full disclosure. While I understand the love for Billy Joel and will say he is a very talented musician with a treasure trove of hits, I really couldn’t care less about his music. It’s not offense to him, I’m just not a fan. So any of my rankings tonight will probably be lower than they should be because I can’t connect with the tracks.

Deandre Brackensick “Only the good die young”—OK, first things first. Since when is Diddy a well-respected musician? He hasn’t done shit in a decade and, at his most popular, he was only well known because he stole—sorry—sampled everything everytime he wanted to put out a single. As for Deandre, while I liked his wardrobe this week—to the point where his shitty hair didn’t distract me—I don’t know if I liked this song for him. The thing Deandre has that other contestants don’t is that Prince-type voice that can sing a seductive lyric and sound cool while doing it. I like when he puts some fun and spirit into his performance and this was just meh. Kind of boring. It wasn’t as exciting as he needed to be and I doubt this will stand out to me midway through the show, let alone at the end. He could be in trouble. 5/10.

Erika Van Pelt “New York State of Mind”—As a fellow Rhode Islander, I’m offended by Erika’s choosing of this song but she owned her betrayal so I can live with it. Hairstyle-wise, I think Erika made a big mistake here. The jet black look is just not a good one, especially for her. I agree she needed a new look but this was not it. She looks lke something Pink would throw up. Song-wise, she did a pretty strong job with a classic Billy Joel song. She didn’t make it her own, by any stretch of the imagination, and it’s not something that I think is going to be memorable past tonight but it was good. Nice showcase of her voice and she did a great job by avoiding oversinging it but to me, this effort coupled with her new look really dropped her down a bit. Then again, she wasn’t doing too hot before hand so who knows? Maybe it buys her a few more weeks, maybe it doesn’t. At best at this stage of the game she might make it to the top-7. 5/10.

Joshua Ledet “She’s got a way”— If Joshua isn’t the top performer right now, he’s definitely in the top-two. With that being said, this was kind of meh for me. I openly admit it’s probably because I’m not the biggest Billy Joel fan but I could sense that Joshua wasn’t really into this this week. To his credit, he did a good job with the song and I’m sure it would sound great as a studio version but when you see him PERFORM this, it’s clear he’s just trying to get through this theme week. J Lo was spot on with his analysis. Spot on. 6/10.

Skylar Laine “Shameless”—Wow. I can’t believe I’m going to say this but Slylar impressed the hell out of me this week. Great take on this song. Easily the best to this point in the show. It felt natural, it felt real, it really vibbed with her voice. Just a pleasant track to listen to. When she told Randy that she was thinking of the Garth Brooks version, it clicked to me when I liked it. Such a strong effort. Only drawback, as stated by my wife, was that her outfit made her “hips and ass look huge”. 8/10.

Elise Testone “Vienna”—God damn, Tommy Hilfiger is amazing. Elise looked like a true smokeshow tonight. It’s a real shame she wasted that look on this song, which is a good little track but a totally forgettable number. I wonder how many voters are going to connect with this track, despite Elise’s absolute demolition of it. She did a great job here showcasing her emotion and growl when it was needed and letting her pure vocal talent do the work when the song required something softer and sweeter. If she’s in the bottom three this week, that’s a real shame, especially after the judges all but screamed at America to vote for them. 7/10.

Phillip Phillips “Movin’ Out”— As much as I hate this Dave Matthew Band cover artist, this was the first time he actually looked the part of a superstar. No, I’m not talking his wardrobe because Hilfigure was spot on about the colors being bland. I mean his comfort with the guitar during the chorus of the song and especially his red-faced growl at the end of the song. It was actually a very strong performance and the first time where Phillip looked like, maybe, just maybe, he could be interesting as the season progresses. Strong effort. I hope he doesn’t get into Scotty territory, though, and ignores all the advice of everyone. That could hurt him. 7/10.

Hollie Cavanaugh “Honesty”—Holy boobies, Batman. What the hell was Tommy Hilfiger thinking here? Sweet and innocent Hollie transformed into Hoochie Hollie? Not a fan. Not a fan at all. And you know it’s bad when your performer looks better going into the fashion advice segment than she does going onto the stage. There’s a difference between dressing your age and dressing in something that looks completely off. That being said, everyone knows I love Hollie and it is in full effect here. Just a great song choice. Was it a bit predictable? Yes. Did it sound a little too much like her effort last week? Yeah. But Hollie is clearly one of the best this season and I’ll gladly listen to her sing in the same style each week because she keeps nailing it, week after week. The ebb and flow of the song was perfect, she was on point with all the key notes and let it rip when she needed to. Great performance, despite her awful attire. 8/10.

Heejun Han “My life”—What the f*ck was that? I don’t know if that was sheer brilliance or a terrible mess. I mean, Heejun was clearly into it and he let his personality shine brighter than anyone in this competition has been able to so far—and that’s something I feel is sorely missing right now—but was he singing or doing some weird Asian southern rocker impersonation? I am genuinely not sure what to say about any of this. His fashion choice was, well, it was something. His dance moves were, I don’t know. I just don’t know what to say about this. I’m going to give him a 6/10 for effort but I agree that he’s going to have to start taking this a little more seriously if he wants to go far. Of course, he might just ride the Asian vote all the way to the title.

Jessica Sanchez “Everybody has a dream”—When I listen to Jessica, I hear a superstar capable of singing to a packed house at a Madison Square Garden-type venue. But when I look at her and her performance visually, it’s clearly not there yet. She’s good, actually she’s great and she’s easily the best SINGER this show has this season but she’s still missing that ‘it’ factor. I liked this performance. It was solid but it wasn’t anything that will stand out. This was just another solid effort from a true talent. She hit the notes perfectly, held back when she needed to but she’s still living in her own shadow. Hopefully she won’t get too complacent—which I think she is getting—and she’ll try something that really showcases her abilities next week. 6/10.

Colton Dixon “Piano Man”—I was racking my brain trying to figure out who was left and I completely forgot about Colton. I think that says a lot about Colton at this point in the season. But, as Diddy and Jimmy said, if there was ever a week tailor-made for someone, it was Billy Joel week and Colton. I didn’t like when he brought his voice up as high as he did on some of the notes but, all in all, this was beautiful. I respect the hell out of true musicians and Colton was clearly on point on the piano. I feel like that could be too much of a crutch if he does it too often but, damn, this was some quality stuff right here. 8/10.

All in all, a much better show as it went on but, still, give me a Motown week or a Decade theme next. These limited catalogue weeks are kind of meh for me.

My rankings:
1. Hollie Cavanaugh
2. Colton Dixon
3. Elise Testone
4. Skylar Laine
5. Jessica Sanchez
6. Phillip Phillips
7. Joshua Ledet
8. Heejun Han
9. Deandre Brackensick
10. Erika Van Pelt

My predictions: Erika, Deandre and Heejun end up in the bottom three. Erika goes home.

Final note: Anyone who read my reviews last year knows I was obsessed with Haley Reinhart. I don’t want to get too graphic but seeing her tonight made some of the blood leave my brain, if you know what I’m saying. (If you don’t, I’m referring to getting an erection). I can not wait until she performs tomorrow night and I have already told my wife—much to her chagrin—that I will be buying her album the day it comes out because she is awesome. Love that girl.