American Idol 2012

Not to mention that the idea of "Their careers are forgotten" is little more than another way of saying "I haven't heard anything about them lately so, clearly, they must be failures".

I'd argue that unless you're a Daughtry fan (As I am), you probably wouldn't have bought his latest album and it's not like the guy is on the cover of every major magazine in the country. He's putting together a solid career and has fans, like me, that follow him and make sure to buy his latest music.

The same will be true of the four-pack of stars from last year (Scotty, Lauren, Haley and James). You might never "hear from them" again but they'll all likely have decent runs with a couple of albums under their belt that their fan base loves.

And, really, besides a couple of standouts, who is even close to being a music superstar these days? Most artists would be lucky to get to record an album or two, whether it's because of this show or not.

 

I've now watched Skylar perform for the third time, and it finally hit me who she reminds me of.

Nancy Cartwright, of Simpsons fame.

 

Bottom 3: Hollie, Elise, Skylar

Going home: Hollie

I was underwhelmed by Phillip and Colton, but they're easily safe. Jessica, Joshua and Elise were the best for me tonight, but there are only 7 left. Somebody good is going to be in the bottom 3.

The Bruno Mars song that Joshua did was the only one I'd ever heard before tonight, and I only had heard that because I watched the Grammys. I'm really out of touch with contemporary music.

 

Hiya. I did all my “judging” without reading anything on this thread first so I wouldn’t be influenced.

Skylar Laine: I still do not think the “twang” is going to go the distance in this competition. But this was a damn good performance. She can bring across the emotion. I can buy that as a top-10 country song. 7/10.

Colton Dixon: Last week, it was suggested that the Lifehouse song he performed was Christian rock. This song, I could tell from the lyrics it wasn’t Christian rock, but IT sounded like Christian rock. Is it just his voice? I liked the song … he did it very well … there’s just something a bit off-kilter that I can’t put my finger on. 6/10.

Elise and Phillip are doing Gotye? Hey, they actually did that pretty well. And, god help me, that song is growing on me by the day.

Jessica Sanchez: She added a trace of big-girl maturity and attitude I hadn’t seen before. And she was special already. Pitch-perfect … and skatting! If this girl doesn’t become a diva, I have no ability to predict this sort of thing. 9/10.

Joshua Ledet: He only hit the edge when he needed to at the end, showed more restraint than the past few performance. It was a relatively gritty performance for him – and I liked the change. I don’t know if he was standing-ovation worthy if BB Chez wasn’t. But he was outstanding. 8/10.

Skylar/Colton: That was solid, professional country balladeering. Even a little more confused as to what Colton Dixon wants to be.

Hollie Cavanagh: I do think she has a nice voice. But her phrasing is becoming a little more awkward each week. She just seemed to have trouble getting her mouth around some of those lyrics. And she’s still relatively clumsy moving around the stage. Could be end of the road. 4/10.

Phillip Phillips: Boy, Jimmy’s rooting for a fistfight between Phillip and Colton, isn’t he? The song didn’t produce a moment, to me. It was Phillips doing Phillips doing Levine. And I thought he was going to gag on his last note. Like J-Lo called it, underwhelming. Might have played better on “The Voice.” 5/10.

Jessica/Joshua/Hollie: I actually thought this the weakest of the “pairings.” Felt about 3 degrees cooler than Up With People. Disappointing.

Elise Testone: Gaga was a good choice. And yet, she was just a tick short of bringing the big notes home. Every last time. If she had nailed this one, I think she would have been here to the final three. 5/10.

Final three: Hollie, Elise and Colton (although it should be Phillip this week). Hollie goes back to McKinney, England, or London, Texas, or wherever.

 

OK, I’ve just got to say this. What’s with all these kids crying every week when someone gets booted off? Did they think they signed up for summer camp or something? This is a competition. People are going to get booted off. Nut up and man up, bitches.

Now, onto my review …

Skylar Laine-“Didn’t you know how much I loved you”—My surprise winner last week came out with a dangerous move by singing a fairly unknown country song but, damn, this was fantastic. Liked seeing her busting out the guitar to go along with it and, maybe it’s because I never heard this song and so it sounded like a Skylar original but I enjoyed this. Her voice wasn’t perfect, she was a little rough when she tried to get angry but this was a solid, albeit completely different, performance from last week and it really looks like Skylar is getting better and better as the show goes on. Good job. 8/10.

Colton Dixon “Love the way you lie”—Colton says flat out that “This song has the chance to be a game-changer for me” and then he sings another sappy, sad song with the piano. Wow. Way to change it up. Douche. God, sometimes these pretentious kids make it so difficult to like this show. As for the performance, Colton was Colton. I don’t know if I liked the violins thrown in there, I felt that was a little overkill and I don’t know if this was a great song for Colton as I associate this tune with Rihanna’s vocals on that Enimem track. If he wasn’t so “dreamy” and the pride of all the prepubesant 13-year-old girls watching this show, he’d be gone. But hey, it’s between him and Phillip Phillips right? Awful. 5/10. OK. Correction. He just said he changed his mind from singing “I will not bow” from Breaking Benjamin. I’m knocking him down two points for pussying out and denying me what could have been an awesome performance of one of my favorite rock groups. So, after further review, 3/10.

Elise Testone and Phillip Phillips duet “Somebody that I used to know”—I’m so glad they spent five minutes with Tommy Hilfiger going over fashion … so that Phillip could wear another grey shirt. Way to try to be different. As for the song, I think it sucked. But as a song. The performance was enjoyable. I liked Elise here. Good rebound from last week. Cool to see Phillip doing something different too. Nothing amazing here but it was enjoyable. Glad I didn’t fast forward through it. 6/10.

Jessica Sanchez “Stuttering”— I must clearly be out of touch with music today because I don’t think I’ve heard any of these tracks. That being said, this was really a good song choice for Jessica. It showed her vocal abilities really well and she, once again, showed off that star power. I wonder if that’s going to cost her down the road as people don’t like to vote for, well, for divas and Jessica definitely comes across as one in training. Hard to argue that her voice is amazing and just about perfect. If she was born 20 years ago, she’d be at Mariah Carey-level right now. She’s that good. But the world already has a Beyonce and I think Jessica needs to understand that, ultimately, she’s going to need to do more than act the part of the diva if she wants to stay alive in this competition. 6/10.

Joshua Ledet “Runaway baby”—Great. Another song I don’t know. Gotta love the selection here though. It was so nice to see a different side of Joshua here. He almost looked like he was having fun here and, I’ve got to tell you, if he makes the finals, he’s going to be a tough opponent for anyone to try to take down. He’s clearly got something there and now we know it’s not just a Motown voice. This guy is truly talented. 7/10.

Colton Dixon and Skylar Laine duet “Don’t you want to stay”—I saw a teaser on Yahoo that said Steven Tyler was gross in his critique of this duet so I was kind of dreading this. But then I heard the song choice and I immediately changed my mind. Love this song and loved the potential of this for these two. Did it deliver? Absolutely. Skylar was, again, amazing here. I don’t know how she’s changed my mind so quickly about her but she’s been bringing it hardcore lately. Nice to see Colton do something other than whine and cry. He’s got a great voice and unique look but he’s the type of artist I look forward to seeing crash and burn trying to be teen idol and then come back three years later and be real. This, though, was a good step forward. 7/10. Oh, and Tyler was gross but what do you expect from a guy essentially wearing a snake? Oh, and one last note. He’s hitting it.

Hollie Cavanagh “Perfect”—My girl Hollie needed something big this week and I loved this song choice for her as I think it’s a great track. I worried about her hitting it the right way because she doesn’t have that emotion Pink has but I LOVE that she slowed it down. Such a different take on the song and it made the words really stand out. Was it perfect? No. She was still a bit boring and I was kind of hoping she’d get up and show some real passion but she tried and failed at that last week so I guess that’s not a bad thing. I think she still ends up in the bottom three but it’ll be more a product of her competition this week than what she did herself. Oh and could the judges have been more open with their total dismissal of her? When Randy is the positive voice of the group, you know the judges want someone gone. They might get their way. 8/10

Phillip Phillips “Give a little more”—Now this is a song I can get behind. Love this album. Was interested to see what P2 could do with this but he worried the hell out of me with the slow start to this track. Nearly put me to sleep. Luckily, once he sped it up, it was really good. Loved the red rain drops in the background too. That video package really enhanced his performance here. As I said last week, P2 is the kind of guy who I think can put together a dope album but he looks pained every time he sings. That’s ultimately what’s going to cost him in his (fake) battle with Colton. 7/10.

Hollie Cavanagh, Jessica Sanchez, Joshua Ledet “Stronger”—Oh, this looks like a recipe for disaster. Three talented singers with three unique styles singing one song? I wasn’t optimistic about this at all and there was a good reason. This sucked. Individually, I would have loved to hear any one of these three sing this song. But together it sounded like shit. No different than every mashed-up group number on results number. Just awful. -3/10. Yes. That’s a negative three. I don’t understand how the judges could have liked that. They must be deaf.

Elise Testone “You and I”—Pimp spot again for Elise. Man, they are trying so, so hard to keep her around and it’s with good reason. She’s REALLY good. Not going to lie, though, I was worried when I heard she was going to go with Gaga. There’s only one Gaga and she’s traditionally (at least since I started watching) been butchered here. Even my girl Haley couldn’t do this song justice last year. Now, I don’t like this song even though I love Gaga but Elise looked god damn amazing and beautiful at that piano and she backed it up vocally. I like that she kind of just did her thing here. The chorus was a little rough and it wasn’t perfect but it was a nice step up from last week. Still not as good as she was a couple weeks ago and she’s still going to be in bottom three but I think she’s done enough to either earn the save or, at the least, stick around another week. 6/10.

RANKINGS
1. Skylar Laine
2. Phillip Phillips
3. Hollie Cavanagh
4. Joshua Ledet
5. Elise Testone
6. Jessica Sanchez
7. Colton Dixon

My predictions: Hollie, Elise and Skylar are in the bottom three. The first two because of past performances, the last because she went first. Hollie, unfortunately, is on her way out this week. Simply not exciting enough to make a name for herself in this field.

 

schiez, that song Joshua did is from Bruno Mars. He did it at the opening of the Grammys, and absolutely killed with it. Bruno was so great doing it, I might have been tougher on Ledet by comparison.

 

I knew it was from Bruno Mars but I only know a couple of his songs (It will rain; Just the way you are; Grenade). Had never heard this song but I liked it.

 

Hollie go out?

 

Wait. Good point. I just caught the end...where was she?

 

You have got to be fucking kidding me.

 

Idol was such a joke this week. Sanchez got what she deserved. She got cocky, sang a song no one heard of and expected to get through. The the judges bail her out. Most annoying was the judges browsing a shit fit about how America got it wrong, but they never say who should have been bottom three (America wasn't that far off - switch out Elise for Hollie; at this point song choice is a big part of moving on and Joshua and Sanchez screwed up).

 

I am so confused. I must have totally missed Hollie in all that. Was she in the cool kids group or hanging out with the losers?