American Idol

Well, I will agree that there are a lot of young artists out there that sell a lot of records who I personally don't think can sing, like Brit or the Simpsons, and don't even get me started on Duff and Lohan, it still bugs me that the good singers on this season of AI are being so overshadowed by all this hype for the dude with the hair who can't sing. I think it sucks for them. Period. If they were being overshadowed by some kid who was a singing phenom and musical genius I could live with it. I just think it sucks for others and I bet they wish to god they waited a year. Like I said before I have nothing against this kid personally but the sooner he goes the sooner the show can go back to being more about the good performances.

I think Carrie has an amazing voice and I LOVE her CD and have played it so much I am surprised it still works. THAT is what I love about AI. They have found some real talent and beautiful voices. Clay, Carrie, Kelly, Elliott, Chris and others. I would have liked it and the artists that come from it to have continued to gain respect. The Sanjaya thing is like taking huge steps backwards in terms of getting respect for the show and the artists who come from it. That I resent and regret. Just the way I feel.

I always thought Carrie had a lovely voice; I just didn't particularly like what she did with it and I didn't like her performances on AI at all (except for that Heart song; that was good). She always looked like a scared deer in the headlights. And SO robotic when she walked. I saw her on the Grammys and she has definitely improved - so good for her! But I'm still not a country fan and that's just that. Although I like the Dixie Chicks more than I used to (and two of them live here).

At the AI concerts I went to, I thought Bo and, yes, C, really out-performed her. I went up to her at the after-party I went to, (Frankie was there too), to say hi and congratulate her and introduce my daughter to her. She was fine; and she signed my daughter's C shirt, but I sensed no great warmth there. Of course she was very young.

I got to talk with Vonzell and Nadia - they're from Florida too so we chatted about that for awhile. I REALLY liked Nadia. VERY warm and bubbly. Vonzell was sweet. BTW - all my other friends were only interested in talking to C. I had the rest of the idols to myself practically. Unfortunately, Bo wasn't there. It was 2 days before he got sick.

Austin, I totally agree about the way Carrie performed on AI. She has come a long way. I am not a huge country fan, and I don't like the real country twangy stuff, but Carrie's CD is like country/pop. There are songs that could easily cross over. I loved Nadia and was so bummed when she left that season far too soon. Glad to hear she is a sweetie. She is so beautiful to boot. Too bad you didn't get to talk to Bo. Poor guy sure has had it rough since his AI days. Hey, did you know he sings the theme song to that new Will Farrell movie Blades of Glory? Maybe he will catch a break now.

Yes, I saw the video of it on youtube. Very tongue-in-cheek.

My son, LOVED Bo. We were in the front row for the San Antonio concert and he was just loving Bo's performance. Oh, and Carrie's in this pic too.

Holy crap Austin!! Your son is beautiful!! Really, truly, beautiful! I love him!!! Hug him for me please! God I love kids

Thank you F/C. He was GLOWING and practically tearing up being that close to Bo. It's too bad Bo didn't come to the after-party; he wasn't interested in seeing anyone else.

I did give him a hug. He's a little bigger now and he wears glasses, but still a cutie. Doesn't like the hugs as much (or admits to it) since he's almost 11 1/2.

I probably shouldn't post pix of my kids, but I think it should be okay here.

Your welcome! Yeah, we are tiny so I think it is safe. My youngest (16) wears glasses too. He got some really cool ones, but he wants Lasik NOT contacts. But, you have to be 18 for Lasik. We will make it an 18th B-day present!

Yep, your son is at the age where the hugs get harder and harder to come by. I just steal them!!

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it still bugs me that the good singers on this season of AI are being so overshadowed by all this hype for the dude with the hair who can't sing.

The thing that's so funny, though... it's the outrage that's doing it. If people would stop freaking out about the possibility of him winning (he hasn't got a prayer of catching Melinda) this would all die down and he'd get voted off in another two or three weeks. If he makes the final three, it will be because of the idiots who went on hunger strikes and stints on rooftops.

I think also, people (like me) are getting freaking tired of being told who we may and may not like. The last person they told me I wasn't supposed to like was Taylor Hicks, and they went to great lengths to turn his win into a joke - did not support him as the winner. The first person they told me I wasn't supposed to like was Clay Aiken. He led every vote the entire season and they shoved Ruben in our face like he was the only person with any talent at all.

If you do not let us love Clay, we may turn to Taylor. If you do not let us love Taylor... watch. out.

Gina would not have won. Chris Sligh would not have won. Everybody left has had enough television exposure to score a deal by now, and I fully expect that Melinda will win. If AI has to deal with Sanjaya for a few more weeks, they might think twice about putting through underaged and inexperienced cannon fodder to make their own favorites seem palatable by comparison.

Remember, Sanjaya was the twelfth man chosen from over 100,000 auditions - including 300 people who went to Hollywood - to be in this elite company where the audience could choose. Whose fault is this? All that has happened is that their meek, shy little cannon fodder turned out to be braver and more resourceful than they could possibly have imagined.

I was impressed with Sanjaya's character (if not his singing, so much) before he became a phenomenon. I did have one funny moment in the beauty parlor a few weeks ago. I was getting my hair cut and John Mayer's Waiting for the World to Change came on. I'd never heard the original; I listened to a few verses and said to myself "you know, Sanjaya sounded better on the mp3 of this than he does."

I think if he plays his cards right, this little stint of pony hawks and unexpected forays into rock might make him a very wealthy young man.

For me most anybody would sound better singing than John Mayer

I'm saying Uncle on Sanjaya. He's a cute kid, good luck to him.

Take heart, Firecracker. He's gone before April is over. I'm certain of it.

If not you owe me a drink

I'm betting with Abrahammy on Sanjaya being gone by the end of April.

Who knows... maybe by next week.

Abrahammy, I was going to quote your post but realized I agreed with 100% of it. You're right. None of the people kicked off would have won. None of the really good people are gone. I was upset about Gina because I liked her, but I wouldn't have purchased an album by her.

I also agree, like I said before, that it's the hype keeping him there. Good, bad or otherwise, everyone I talk to knows his name - even people who don't watch it.

I have nothing against Carrie's singing ability. I thought then and I still do, that she doesn't bring anything to the song. I think the songs she sings could be sung by any country singer with a pretty voice and people would buy the albums. I have a problem with her as a performer.

Yes, I too want the whole package: someone who can sing AND perform, but I personally think that if you've got a big personality, that's gonna be what sells. Live performances are where the money is. For instance, I saw No Doubt live. I had never been a big fan until I saw them perform.

I totally agree about the Clay/Ruben thing. Simon did his best to try to make you hate him week after week, while praising Ruben. It's like he had a favorite child. It's like Dudley and Harry Potter.

I also believe Melinda already has a career. The only season where the winner was actually THE WINNER was Kelly in the first. Every progressive season (especially LAST season) the runner-ups do better than the winner and aren't saddled with the title, and are thus more free to pursue what they want to do. I mean, look at Chris Daughtry. He's really calling his own shots.
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Carrie was the winner of her season. Season three didn't have any real winners until Jennifer got cast in Dreamgirls. I guess you could say Fantasia's platinum album was winning, but she fell like a rock after that.

What I'm afraid of is that when Melinda wins, the same thing will happen to her. She's all kinds of delightful, but I fear she is not very commercial.

Blake might be a better winner for the franchise, or Jordin.

Maximum irony potential: 5 - Sanjaya
4 - Jordin
3 - Blake
2 - Lakisha
1 - Melinda

Melinda and Lakisha both have lackluster sales. Blake releases a platinum beatbox album, Jordin becomes a big star with Disney and Sanjaya sells one copy of his album to every pre-teen girl in the entire nation.

Abrahammy, totally agree with your "5" list.

I just found these sales numbers for Carrie at The Clack House. I find them simply amazing and thought I would bring them over.

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On the sales front, for the week ending 1 April 2007:

17. Carrie Underwood, Some Hearts: 39,245 (5,155,202)

In its 72nd week of release, Some Hearts is #2 on the Billboard Country Albums chart.



On the digital sales front:

25. Carrie Underwood, "Before He Cheats": 35,846 (918,491)
...
50. Carrie Underwood, "Wasted": 19,820 (157,755)

In a few weeks, BHC should become Carrie's first million-download-selling single.

On Billboard Hot-100, BHC moves back up to #22, while "Wasted" moves up to #37.

Bolding mine. I think that is just incredible.

abrahammy wrote:

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What I'm afraid of is that when Melinda wins, the same thing will happen to her. She's all kinds of delightful, but I fear she is not very commercial.

Blake might be a better winner for the franchise, or Jordin.

I will be really surprized if Melinda wins. She is too sophisticated in her delivery to have the mass appeal to bring home the title IMO. When has the public chosen such a polished, sophisticated performer? I can't think of any of them that have won other than Kelly Clarkson that come even close. I think Jordon and Blake will draw lots of votes just based on the likeability/it factor when it all comes down to the top 3 and pull ahead of Melinda.

If this was a pure talent, singing competition, Melinda would be a clear favorite. But, it isn't.

As the American Idol contest begins to heat up, I thought I'd provide this handy manual of rules to remember when voting for American Idol contestants that I originally wrote up at GS.


Welcome, all prospective AI voters. We, the AI PTB, have put this handy guide together so that you, the viewing public, can fully understand the great power and responsibility that we have bestowed upon you in our yearly quest to find The American Idol.

As was widely reported in the news, there were more votes cast in the finale of the delightful Ms. Katherine McPhee vs. Obnoxious Grey-Haired Goat That Will Not Be Named Chris Daughtry than were cast in the last presidential election; and rightly so, too, for the future of world entertainment forever is decided by you, the viewer. The identity of those wonderful AI champions who become Platinum selling artists, Grammy winners and Academy Award Winning - oops, scratch that - is determined ONLY BY YOU, the viewers. If you choose the wrong person, the terrorists will win, and then we have to resort to hypnosis in the form of Chris Daughtry's Kiss-off song in order to set all things in the proper balance.

There are three cardinal principles you must understand as you take on your responsibility as a viewer.

1. ONLY THE WINNER IS ALLOWED TO WIN. Unless the winner is an obnoxious grey-haired goat who must not be named, in which case "winner" is defined as "fourth place guy who won the judges' poll."

2. YOU CHOOSE THE WINNER. Unless the winner sets off an extreme homophobic reaction in Simon, in which case we reserve the right to throw out all powervoting that does not go our way and declare an Anamoly, as in Season Two.

3. THIS IS A SINGING COMPETITION. This is disregarded during the audition rounds, when we let 50-year-old women dressed like giant chickens squawk on for half an hour while giving no face time to fifteen of the people chosen to go to Hollywood that day. It's a television show. We have to be entertaining.

Principle One: Only the Winner is Allowed to Win

This is, after all, the entire premise of the show, that we are combing the country to find one true star. There can only be one winner. If there is more than one winner, people will not vote. This is why it is extremely important that YOU pick the RIGHT winner. If YOU do NOT pick the right winner, we may be forced to take matters into our own hands.

ONLY THE WINNER IS ALLOWED TO WIN

The reason why this is important is because The Winner IS American Idol to the viewing public, so if he or she is overshadowed by somebody who did less well on our show it might indicate:

1. That we were wrong about TCO, which means the judgement of TPTB is fallible, which is a conclusion we must not allow to happen;

2. That Becoming A Star is not absolutely guarenteed by winning American Idol, and that Being a Failure is not absolutely guarenteed by losing American Idol, which might make you all decide you do not need to vote, which is a conclusion we must not allow to happen.

We have tried on a couple of occasions to allow somebody who is not TCO to do well after the show; in the first instance, that obnoxious twerp Aiken ran off with all the post AI2 buzz and made us look really stupid; some people even realized we cooked the vote. This is why no losers from season three or four were allowed to succeed. Oh, except for that horrible ingrate, Hudson. We love you! Come back! Be on our show! Stop dissing us! Bitch. Fantasia WON. She should have played Effie. Well, Color Purple is almost as good, right?


And yes, last season we did allow Taylor Hicks a certain degree of success on the pop charts, even though Chris Daughtry won. That's our story and we are sticking to it.

ONLY THE WINNER IS ALLOWED TO WIN

All American Idol winners always have platinum albums and lots of promotion. Chris Daughtry was the winner of Season Five, and we treated him as such. If you don't remember this properly, just remember; we are always right. We are in the process of destroying all the videotape. Just remember; any film that shows indication of any winner other than Chris Daughtry, it is doubleplusungood and must be destroyed at once.

Sincerely, Big Brother, aka Simon Fuller

ONLY THE WINNER IS ALLOWED TO WIN has a corollary; the winner is the person we treat as the winner.

Chris Daughtry won. That odd grey-haired freak got some confetti thrown on him and we generously allowed him to make a flop album, but Mr. Daughtry is Your American Idol, and we will be reminding you weekly at every results show.

The second important principle to remember when voting for YOUR American Idol:

YOU CHOOSE THE WINNER.

This is the show's charm and its primary challenge. You get to choose your Idol. Unfortunately, as Paula Abdul reminded us this week, YOU do not know anything and you are not qualified to choose your own American Idol.

This is why we have brought in our crack team of well-trained industry experts to tell you how to vote. And make no mistake: that is why they are there.


This is your panel of experts:

Randy Jackson - this seasoned music biz veteran has worked with absolutely every person who ever made a hit album, and he is quite willing to talk about it to you. At length. For hours.

His sage perspective on what does and does not make a musical performance work is so perceptive and penetrating, he does not even have to articulate what he is thinking in coherent sentences to be understood. All he needs to say is "Yo, yo dawg, that was just a'ight fo me" and the properly trained audience member/voter will understand that he has said "Well, it was boring as hell but you didn't forget the words and Sanjaya is still in the competition, so I can't diss you too hard or you might go home instead of him."

Paula Abdul - once a huge Grammy-winning popstar herself, Ms. Abdul is a living testament to how success in the pop world is decided entirely and solely by the ability to deliver live powerhouse vocals. Because when you think of outstanding live vocal performances, Paula is right up there with...

Anyway. Paula is on our panel and she may be confusing to the uneducated voter, because she's nice to everybody. However, watch her carefully; if her first comment is to compliment the singer on what they are wearing, DON'T VOTE FOR THAT CONTESTANT.

Simon Cowell - Listen very carefully to every word Mr. Cowell says, and always do exactly as he tells you. Simon Cowell is God. Simon Cowell is Music. Simon Cowell is more important to the music industry than Bruce Springsteen, and it must be true because he said it on 60 Minutes. If we do not do as Simon Cowell says, people will be punished. Revenge will be had. Vendettas will be carried out for years. FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, OBEY COWELL!!!


Without the sage advice of these three gurus, you might do something stupid like vote Taylor Hicks to be your Idol, or allow Sanjaya Malakar to make the AI6 tour. And then, when such disasters happen, poor defenseless children cry on national television and brave women are forced to go on hunger strikes in protest. The fate of the world is in your hands.

But remember:


YOU CHOOSE THE WINNER.

We don't like to invoke "the clause". Just do as we say.

American Idol now faces a crisis of such national importance that it is becoming worthy of commentary by NBC News and the Washington Post. It is a true crisis, a mammoth injustice that must be rectified by the concentrated and dedicated effort of every right-minded person in the nation.

The third principle of American Idol voting: This is a singing competition. It is not a hair competition. It is not a being cute competition. It is not a compelling personal story competition. It is not a likeability competition. And it is not a humor competition. The single, sole, only criteria that YOU, the home viewer, must ethically use when choosing whom to vote for is - who is the best singer.

Note that I did not say "Who do you like the best?" You are stupid. Paula Abdul said so. You do not know who is best. Fortunately, that's why we have our crack panel of judges to tell you how to think.

For example, Fantasia Barrino is the best contestant in the history of American Idol. I know that some people think she sounds like a cat who is having its tail amputated, but they are wrong, because Simon said so, and he's always right about everybody, including that untalented loser, Clay Aiken who was not nearly as popular as Ruuuuuuuuuben Studdard.

It has come to our attention recently that certain people are not choosing the best singers. A tiny, belligerent handful are actively voting for the worst, and that, my friends, is treason. The authorities will be on hand to take Dave Terza into custody shortly for his crimes against humanity. More tragically, though, it has become clear that there are thousands, possibly millions of people voting for a soft-voiced freak show of a teenager simply because they find his eccentric struggles more endearing, more interesting, more fun, and more enjoyable then the masterful vocal stylings of such obvious virtuosos as Chris Richardson and Sundance Head.

My dear people, you must come to your senses. If you continue to support Sanjaya Malakar and do not speak truth to power about his shortcomings, the terrorists have won. Seriously, that's what the Washington Post really said.

Not a joke. Really.

In order to avoid the national disaster that would be Sanjaya Malakar dancing in confetti, every viewer in the country must take a mandatory remedial course in the basic principle This is a singing competition. In future chapters I will discuss:

1. What exactly constitutes good singing. (And why Carmen Rasmussen, who was supported by Simon, was a good singer and Clay Aiken was not.)
2. Why the first four weeks of American Idol is not about good singing.
3. Why the judges are not held to this criteria when choosing their top 24, or the people they highlight in Hollywood.
4. Why crackerjack live vocal prowess is the only criteria of any importance when determining if a singer is going to be a successful pop star. Testimonials are expected from Madonna, Bob Dylan, Diana Ross, John Mayer, Britney Spears, and the great grammy-winning expert, Paula Abdul.

OMG Abrahammy! That is priceless! And how appropo...

That sure took a lot of thought and time. I agree with a lot of it. Maybe most of it. But I still want to enjoy the show. I still want to find some good performers and music. I've been enjoying Elliott's CD so much this week. I know that no matter what may be wrong with TPTB and what they do, there is still hope of finding some diamonds in the rough. I think Jordin is one of the diamonds this year. Sanjaya is just a cubic zirconia.

Amazing You Tube of Blake Beatboxing. I mean really amazing! How does he do this??

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDmvQAMmzNc


Here is Kellie Pickler's new video for her single "I Wonder". It is really sweet and a little sad. Just like the song.

http://music.aol.com/video/i-wonder/kellie-pickler/1878671

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Sanjaya is just a cubic zirconia

Or a pet rock. The whole thing is more funny than anything. And yes, I agree that Jordin is blossoming beautifully. I actually prefer her to Melinda.