American Idol 2012

Jimmy is on to something with his Colton vs. Philip thing. They're going to be the final two. Young white males have dominated this competition since moms and young girls took over as the show's top demographic.

 

The judges are the root cause of this all. They're so damn wishy-washy with the criticism. I went off on this last night with my wife. I used an analogy with my work. What if, when I was reading a young writer's story, and instead of telling him/her what was really wrong with it, I just said. "Well, you turned it in on time! You coded your byline correctly! But this just didn't do it for me."

Be specific in your criticisms. You look smarter and the person hearing it appreciates it. You don't have to be the second coming of Simon Cowell, but impart some damn wisdom.

Idiots.

 

You really thought Sanchez should have been anywhere near the bottom three? I was floored by that, let alone her needing the save.

I wish I thought adult viewers would see this as a wake-up call to pick up the phone and make the right picks themselves ... but that's not about to happen.

 

Goddamnit, somebody answer me.

 

I wasn't watching, but from what I could read, she was not even in the bottom three.

The bottom three was Elise, Jessica and Joshua Ledet.

At least this means next week will have a little more drama, with two of them hitting the road.

 

Thank you! Two leave next week? I'm going with Elise and Joshua.

 

Shot,
You have to look at Idol as a game.
At this point in the contest, you have to pick your song wisely and execute it. Sanchez picked some song half of America hasn't heard of, so she was screwed from the start unless she sang it so well she rose Whitney from the dead.
This week was the worst week of the season by far because music sucks now. Lyrically its terrible, there aren't enough good voices and the singers/groups with good voices can't be matched by these kids on Idol.
Sanchez isn't going to be around long because she's fucking boring. Joshua's only going to be on as long as he can cheat (singing cover songs of old soul music is the only reason he's surviving; once he changes genre's, he ordinary); Hollie doesn't have much more left in the tank.
Colton and Philip Squared are in the final three. Locked in. Skylar will probably end up joining them.
If Elise starts picking better songs (and I thought she was the only one who nailed it this week) she's going to win. She's had the best performance of the season and is miles better than everyone else. She's got the tools, but no brain.

 

Bullshit bottom three but, then again, what do you expect when the people who vote in this thing get all gooey eyed over Colton "Whiny Emopants" Dixon?

I don't mind Jessica getting the boot because, as Rhody said, she's boring as shit but there's no way she was worse last night than Hollie, Colton or Elise.

If the final two is, indeed, Colton vs. Phillip, I might not even watch because that is beyond ridiculous.

 

Fitting that the most horseshit Bottom 3 in American Idol history would occur on the night Jennifer Hudson — who suffered the most horseshit elimination in AI history — returns to perform.

I knew AI voters were lovestruck teenage girls. I just didn't know they were lovestruck, racist teenage girls.

 

It wasn't a bullshit bottom three, especially if you've watched the show for more than one season.
You need to do two things right - pick a good song and execute the performance.
Go over the list:
-It didn't matter which country song Skylar sang. As long as she didn't butcher it, she was going to be fine.
-Colton picked a great song and executed.
-Sanchez crushed her performance but picked a song no one knows.
-Joshua picked the worst Bruno Mars song he could have and wasn't outstanding either.
-Hollie picked an extremely popular song and didn't butcher it; she was a borderline bottom three.
-Phillip Squared did his thing. He's an aberration because he's playing a guitar and along with Elise is the only one who doesn't sound like a manufactured pop star (and stop with the 'he sounds like Dave Matthews;' it's true, but there are two people who sound like Dave - Dave and P-Squared; There are a million who sound like Jessica).
-Elise picked a great song and nailed the performance.

As history shows - or at least what I've seen since Season 6 - you have to pick popular songs in order to win this contest.
-Jordin Sparks did safe songs the entire season and when she took a chance with "I Who Have Nothing" she killed it and Blake never stood a chance.
-David Cook covered the crap out of pop songs people knew and dominated.
-Kris Allen played it safe and looked cooked, then covered Kanye. That performance alone - plus the South's fear of the gays - put him past Lambert.
-Lee DeWyze and Crystal Bowersox were neck and neck and it was clear early they were both making the final because they picked good songs and even when they were bad, sounded different than the rest of the competition.
-McCreery had it easy. Pick a country song, sing with that insanely deep voice, beat what was a mediocre field.

If you're doing country (Skylar), you have an edge because that's a built-in population of voters thanks to Miss Underwood winning Season 4.
If you play an instrument (Colton, Phillip, Elise) - namely an acoustic guitar (Phillip) - and know how to manipulate music (Phillip), you have an edge because you can take a bubblegum pop song that everyone knows and make it sound like your own, which goes over incredibly well with voters.
If you have a different voice (Phillip, Elise) you can win.

Jessica can't win because while she's good, she's not blow you out of your seat good.
Joshua can't win because the younger generation has no appreciation for Motown/Soul.
Hollie can't win because she's not as good as Jessica.
Elise should win, but she can't because she's played the game about as bad as you could.
That leaves Phillip and Colton and if Colton keeps playing his emo crap, he won't win. Phillip can win the contest the second he does something like he did during Hollywood Week with Usher, which is No. 3 on best performances this season (No. 1 is Elise doing Zeppelin; No. 2 is Jermaine doing the Fievel song).

 

You’re out of your mind.
Let’s pretend for a second that your theory of “You need to do two things right - pick a good song and execute the performance” is correct. If so, then what your list should have said was this:
-Skylar picked a so-so song but sang it well and nailed it. SAFE.
-Colton picked a boring song, made it even more boring in his emo-friendly way but executed what his game plan was. BORDERLINE.
-Sanchez picked a boring song but sung it like a freaking star. BORDERLINE.
-Joshua picked a fun song and executed it well. SAFE.
-Hollie picked a good song but whiffed. BOTTOM THREE.
-Phillip picked a safe song, made it boring by slowing it down but did a good enough job with it that he gets a pass because of his resume up to this point in the season. BORDERLINE.
-Elise picked a good song by a well-known, relevant artist and did a decent job with it. Given her resume, though, BORDERLINE.
That leaves you with Skylar and Joshua as the only two who truly nailed the two criteria you have above, making them safe. Hollie was, by far, the worst of your night by your criteria so she should have been Bottom Three and the other two spots should have gone to either Colton, Sanchez, Phillip or Elise.
If we’re going based on what they’ve done to this point in the season, Elise goes bottom three because she’s been there all year long, Sanchez goes to the safe couch because she’s been one of the most talented all year and the last bottom-three spot belongs to either Colton or Phillip.
But, instead, the judging wasn’t done on any relevant criteria. It was done on the “Who is most likely to grace the cover of Teen People Magazine this month?”. That’s why Elise (Too old a soul), Joshua (Too Motown) and Jessica (Too boring) were put out there like cows to be slaughtered.
It’s ridiculous.
Now, speaking of your history of the show, I concur with you that it appears as if this is heading into Colton vs. Phillip vs. Skylar final and that’s a shame because, in my humble opinion, none of those three are better than the three best singers on this show (Joshua, Hollie and Jessica) and they sure as hell aren’t better than the most-likely-to-become-an-Idol-legend Elise.
And one other thing, I think you’re insane if you think last year was a mediocre field. I understand I haven’t watched this show for as long as you have but I would argue it’s ALREADY produced two potential country stars, a potentially huge (for this era) rock star in Durbin and a potentially true artist (Reinhart). Three out of the four have already made strong debut albums and Haley’s first single, off her album dropping next month, is a fantastic song.
As for who I think can win, it’s easy:
Jessica can’t win because she has a Pia vibe to her, ala she’s good but she knows she’s good and she carries herself like a superstar despite not having actually accomplished anything yet.
Joshua can’t win because he’s a 60s star trapped in an era that doesn’t appreciate his type of music.
Hollie can’t win because she refuses to break out of her shell long enough to put together a performance that doesn’t look forced and, like you said, her efforts this season have paled vocally compared to Jessica.
Elise can’t win because she’s going to develop a niche following and doesn’t pick popular-enough songs to sway the country vote her way.
Colton shouldn’t win because he hasn’t done a damn thing worth rewatching all season and, apart from his piano man cover which was a good track to listen to on iTunes, has basically done the same exact thing every week. But it worked for Scotty and I think it will work enough to get him to the finals.
Phillip, meanwhile, is like a slightly better version of Casey Abrams. We all know he’s very good but can he reallty get that far on this show? He’s odd enough where I don’t think he’ll beat Colton in the race for the teenage voters and I don’t think he’s got enough crossover appeal to sway the mainstream folks either.
That leaves Skylar. If we didn’t already have Lauren Alana get to the finals last year and lose to Scotty, I would say she’s a dark horse candidate to take the whole thing but she’s going to do just enough to continue improving and she’s got that country girl twang that will keep her genre behind her enough to get to the final vote.
My prediction is she loses to Colton in the final and Colton goes on to become the most disappointing American Idol winner not named Taylor Hicks.
Oh, and one last note. Rhody, you’re only mad at the comparisons Phillip is drawing to Dave Matthews because you love DMB. Newsflash: They suck balls.

 

Schieza, here's the difference between my analysis and yours: mine is based on pop culture and history; yours is based on your opinion.
Colton's song is boring to you. It isn't to the millions of people who vote; Sanchez sang like a star, but the millions of people who vote want to hear her sing a song they know; Joshua sings old people music and while the millions of people who vote know Bruno Mars, it wasn't the cool Bruno Mars song they know; Hollie sang the second most popular song of the night and managed to not fuck up; Elise picked the most popular song, which is why she didn't get eliminated. Skylar does country. She's going to be fine until she goes up against the two people who will absorb the rest of the voters - dreamboats Phillip and Colton.
I had Jessica, Joshua and Hollie in the bottom three, figuring Elise's Gaga would put her past Hollie's Pink, and had Hollie going home. When I saw Elise in bottom three, figured she was done. I don't think it really mattered because regardless, the judges were saving that person (although Hollie would have been a question, IMO).
You can't go on what they've done to this point because there's no voice of reason reminding everyone of who is good and who's not and you have to stop judging on your opinion because there aren't enough people like you who vote.
As for last year, it was a mediocre field which was a direct result of Simon not being on the show. Last year's competition was incredibly boring. There were no "holy crap" performances. McCreery and Alaina are going to be stars, but that has more to do with the current popularity of country music and less to do with their talent; as we saw tonight, Durbin is going to be forgotten in a year; and as much as you love Haley, she's a cheap, less talented Adele.
Now as for DMB, you've heard DMB, but you haven't listened to DMB. He writes the way Gaga dreams to one day. He's not radio-friendly and for most of the people who vote in Idol, they haven't heard of him, which is why I think Phillip is doing so well. Everyone thinks he's original, but he's not.
My opinion based on my feelings and opinion based on the facts are different. I want Phillip and Elise to be the top two and would like to see Joshua get in the top three. I know that ain't happening.