American Idol

Sanjaya explaining the hoax about being an art student instead of "Sanjaya". This kid is pretty darn cute (even if he can't sing ) You can view his video explanation here. He seems to have a great sense of humor about himself, much like Clay. It is going to serve him well!

http://www.tmz.com/2007/05/25/sanjaya-hoax-revealed/

This season sucked ass! I hated it. I hope next year is better! Although, I think once you find your favorite idol it is hard to like anyone else. Chris D. ruined me. It was worth it though!

I know what you mean SB. Clay ruined it for me too. No one compares for me. Season two was just so exciting. The whole Clay/Ruben fight to the finish. They and their friendship was just so sweet. The show was still innocent and fresh. That season finale is still the highest rated. 8 million more viewers than the season 6 finale. I do think that last year was a close second best. This season had some really good singers, but not enough personalities or charisma or just plain "it". Better luck next year TPTB!

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This season had some really good singers, but not enough personalities or charisma or just plain "it".

I think they did, but didn't bother to show it too us. They forgot that the contestants are the only story of importance - not the guest mentors, or the charity self-congratulation. Those 12 people singing their hearts out for the chance of a lifetime. That's the focus. They lost sight of that this year. One of the reasons why Sanjaya took over the place is because he's the only person who got his personality and personal dilemma to the forefront despite the show's lack of interest in who their contestants are. There's a juvenile male singer whose voice has not developed every year; this year was the only year it got treated as a national crisis, even though I think he's actually a better singer and more charismatic than either John Stevens or Kevin Covais.

Interesting piece of trivia: American Idol has never had a female F2 over the age of 22. They've also never had a male F2 UNDER the age of 24. My theory: women can't win unless they have a certain level of physical attractiveness, and the men need more time to develop vocally than women do. While Jordin's body is three months younger than Sanjaya's, she really about three or four years older than he is.

Boy I agree on Sanjaya better than Chicken Little LORD I could not stand that kid. Jon Stevens, I don't know - he was pretty good for his genre. If you like that stuff. I don't, but my mom does and she really liked the kid. Not enough to vote for him or buy his CD, but she thought some day, when he is older, he might have a night club career. I think he could too. I just don't hear much vocally pleasing about Sanjaya at all right now. Maybe some day. He did indeed get his personality across on the show. I also agree that I would have preferred they spent more time on letting us get to know the contestants. That said, I still did not see much personality in their performances or any real jaw dropping star qualities. I don't think this season had one single "WOW" performance - except probably Lakiki's "And I am Telling You". There were many good performances but not one that anyone will be talking about in years to come like Clay's BOTW or Fanty's Summertime or Kat's SOTR or Kelly's Stuff Like That There or even Con's BR.

Funny you should say that, Abrahammy. They say next year they're going to be concentrating more on the contestants, and less on the mentors, so I guess they realized the error of their ways.

Didn't they used to go visit the contestants at their apt.?

I met John Stevens' mom at the finale I went to and she was just so proud of her son. He is absolutely adorable. I told her he was the guy in high school you had a secret crush on. Too cute. I really didn't mind him. With Sanjaya, it was more like a fun thing, but I think John Stevens was the first not-good top-10 singer who became famous and people went brutal on the poor boy. With Sanjaya there was always an aura of fun about it. Not so with John.

Sanjaya did not outlast a major talent. John did. Also, I think Sanjaya recognize the humor in his own situation, and played to that humor. He did not let it crush him. John was serious, John got crushed pretty badly. John may have paved the way for the Sanjaya craze.

Jordin's on the cover of the next Entertainment Weekly. Guess who got the side article, with a smaller cover photo?

Teenagers took over the place completely.

The reason I said that is I think there was a DEATH THREAT towards John. I'm serious. I do think he paved the way for a Sanjaya and that he rolled with it a lot more, but yeah, I think because he was the first he had to deal with a lot more. I forget the major talent he outlasted.

I will be extremely curious to see how Jordin does.

John outlasted Jen Hudson. I was pretty pissed about that one myself. But, unlike Abrahammy, I think Sanjaya did outlast better singers. Gina, Stephanie, even Sabrina and Brandon were better "singers" if not better "performers". Frankly I think Sundance was a better singer. See, I do not think Sanjaya can sing well at all. He can be fun to watch, charming, and cute as a button, but not sing well - IMHO. So yes, I do think he most definitely outlasted better singers.

Death threats against John Stevens, that poor 16 year old kid, were just awful!

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But, unlike Abrahammy, I think Sanjaya did outlast better singers. Gina, Stephanie, even Sabrina and Brandon were better "singers" if not better "performers"

Let me specify exactly what I meant when I said Sanjaya did not outlast a major talent. By that, I mean he did not last a major threat - anybody who really had the chops to win the whole competition. Gina wasn't winning this thing. I make a very strong distinction between him outlasting somebody who was technically a better singer than he was and him outlasting somebody who deserved to win. If he had outlasted Lakisha, that is what I would consider outlasting a major talent.

John Stevens outlasted one major threat - Jennifer Hudson. That's when the death threats and really scary crap began.

I think where you and I differ on this, besides the fact that I like the basic tone of Sanjaya's voice better than you do, is that I don't think it's a travesty every time he in particular outlasted most of the people he beat. I do think there were some strange rankings, but it wasn't really Sanjaya's fault. Put this in perspective; each person Sanjaya outlasted was also outlasted by Haley Scarnato and Chris Richardson. (Chris Richardson, with his whiney, nasal tone, was my least favorite singer in the whole shooting match.) I think one could argue that most of the people you listed sang better than Haley as well as Sanjaya, and I personally think they all outsang Chris. I think Gina and Stephanie also sang better than Phil.

So, in my world view, it is strange that Gina and Stephanie were outlasted by Haley AND Sanjaya AND Chris AND Phil. There is something about Stephanie and Gina that for some reason just did not work with the audience. Just like Chris Sligh. Best male voice in the entire competition. His ranking was embarrassing for his ability - but it was his own damned fault that he was not as effective as he should have been.

I pretty much hated Sundance, so there's no debate fodder there.

Abrahammy, I'm totally with you about Sanjaya outlasting better singers, but not someone who would actually win. That show became super-boring when Sanjaya left. Jimmy Kimmel did a skit about him EVERY NIGHT. He was mentioned on almost every talk show EVERY NIGHT. That was some kick-ass free publicity on ALL the major networks! The skit where Jimmy tries to call for other contestants and the recording kept saying "thank you for voting for SANJAYA" made me pee in my pants.

I think Chris Sligh was his own worst enemy. I think he got cocky and didn't listen to people and thought he knew better than everyone else. Sometimes people start out real good and then suddenly you wonder WTF happened. I heard Chris and felt that when he was kicked off, he deserved it.

Chris R. had the cute factor, which is why he lasted.

I really get pissed, because the public can enjoy a male rocker and a guy who sings alt rock and makes his hair a couple of different colors, but the minute a girl does it, she's outta there. I adored Gina, but knew her days were numbered since she was a rocker AND died her hair different colors.

I remember Vanessa Ontiveros (sp?) was one of my favorites. I totally loved her.

I would have loved to hear more from Sundance! I also love Gina, but they weren't looking for a rocker and the viewers who watch and voted didn't want a rocker. Chris Sligh was really good, had a good sense of humor, but I agree...he got a little 'cocky'. Sanjaya got way too much 'attitude' towards the end....it was like, say what you will, but I'll still be here next week! That part of him, I didn't like. He had the 'cute' facter for the teenie boppers, and I didn't enjoy him. He was good during the auditions, but what happened?

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He was good during the auditions, but what happened?

He's good on mp3s, too. Sanjaya sang very well a capella and he sang very well with a piano. He does not have a big enough voice to project over the band. When his accompaniment got louder, he struggled and then his confidence went south for awhile - and losing Shyamali did not help.

I always thought the attitude was a way of dealing with the extreme and hysterical negativity surrounding him. I also thought "Welcome to the Universe of Sanjaya" was meant to be a joke, and since it came on the heels of a deliberately nasty and sarcastic snipe from Simon, I can hardly blame him. "Let's try a new tactic - Incredible!" is not judging a performance. It's a punchline - an insult and it's overtly nasty. "You were off-key in places and you need to learn better breath control when you start a phrase to keep that from happening" would have been far more helpful.

I would have liked to hear more from Sundance too Sky! His audition was amazing and he was my fave through all the auditions. Well, I also liked Bailey Brown but I guess they didn't need another blond country singer this season. Anyway, Sundance proved he can sing very well. He sure made a few bad song choices though. I did read he got signed right after he was cut from the top 24. I don't know if that is true, but I hope so. I really wish Gina could have gone further also. I agree GE, the AI viewers just don't seem to take to rocker chicks. I also loved Vanessa and was SHOCKED when she left so early in the top 12. Same with Amy in season three! Red/pink hair seems to be the kiss of death on AI.

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Red/pink hair seems to be the kiss of death on AI.

Middle america seems to hate that.

Sundance and Sabrina Sloane are reportedly making an album together. "Revenge of the ROBBED!"

Together? Is this something they are doing on their own? Can't imagine a major label came up with that idea. Should be interesting to see how that turns out.

Abrahammy, I agree that sometimes when Simon says he doesn't like what they did, he doesn't give any sort of constructive criticism. :"That was dreadful" is not helpful. Paula may be strung out on drugs half the time, but at least when she's partially coherent she gives them singing tips! I know Simon is not a singer and doesn't have the vocabulary, but "that was cabaret" or "that was pageanty" at least gives us an idea of what he means by "dreadful". He sometimes goes for cutesy and snarky instead, and when they're turning to him at the end of singing their hearts out, and they know he's the harshest critic, I can't even imagine how they feel.

Whatever Sanjaya did to get through the weekly hell he was going through and all the people using his name as a punchline, hey, more power to him!

I have read at The Clack House and at ONTD, that Chris Sligh has been posting in his thread at TWOP and really pissing people off. I read one of his responses at ONTD. Plus there were all those nasty blogs. What is wrong with this guy? Does he have a career death wish I no longer feel bad that he didn't get higher in the competition and I couldn't care less what becomes of him.

Yeah. Showing that he's not a good sport is not a great way to get people on your side.

Like I said, I could see the boy thought he knew more than the people who were guiding his career and got way too cocky way too soon. If I remember correctly, I think he had a tantrum after he was kicked off.

It's one thing when you're a big star with a lot of talent and you act like that. It's another when you don't even make it to the top 5 of AI and act like that.

ETA: It wasn't him
http://frommymindtoyoureyes.blogspot.com/2007/06/private.html

Maybe/maybe not. After all the crap with his blog and fights with people on IDF and then all his deleting and saying that wasn't him - now this wasn't him. Most at The Clack House doubt his denial. I think he has a screw loose or something.

OK, you're right. Apparently he has a habit of shooting his big fat mouth off and then denying he ever said anything.

Never mind. I'm usually pretty skeptical when it comes to this stuff, but even the skeptics are saying it's him. I guess he went to Sanjaya's blog and said some nasty stuff and then went about erasing his entries like he did at TwoP. Guy's a dick.

Yes, it does appear he is a dick, which is a real shame because I loved his voice and I really enjoyed his sense of humor early on in the competition. I guess he really fooled us all at first. I never would have guessed he was like this, especially the ripping on Sanjaya. He knows he has to tour with him, (how uncomfortable will that be?), and that the kid has a lot of fans who are not going to like finding out that Chris ragged on him.

Those of us who fondly remember Penny Lane (she is a Clay fan at The Clack House and used to be at GS - mostly in the JD thread) she is also a Blake fan and went to see him at The Today Show. She and her friend have a looooong recap of their experience. I bring it here because we all loved Penny Lane so! Fun to see what she is up to.

http://expatiates.livejournal.com/303398.html

OMG! Please say hi to PL for me! That's so cool that she still keeps in contact. I thought she fell off the face of the earth!

If you could just bring over a small snippet and paste it here, I'd be forever and ever in your debt!

GE, I'm sorry, I cannot say HI as I am not a member at The Clack House. There is a 3 year waiting list to belong there. I can only read there. I don't know where else she posts. If you click on the link I put in the previous post you can read their whole re-cap. That was her post - to read her re-cap at the above link. She does not post at The Clack House as much as she used to. She is a Clay fan, Elliott fan and Blake fan so she is busy! In fact her "location" is "drowning in boyfriends"

Abrahammy is a member at The Clack House and maybe she could PM Penny with a message from you.