American Idol 2012

At first glance, she looked like every blond woman I've ever seen and then they dolled her up and, to me, it was like "Well, look at that."

Tonight's episode was good. I gotta disagree with putting Deandre in over Jen Hirsch as I felt she NAILED her performance in the sing for your life portion of the show and, to me, he was equally as good as Erika was in that round.

That being said, I really don't have much of a problem with the top 13. I could do without a couple of them but no one I really wanted to get in got cut so that's always a good sign.

 

I think the Top 13 is pretty solid. I'd have picked Deandre over Colton for the original Top 10 and probably Adam over Colton or Reed for the wild-card, but who cares? It's not like any of them are going to win.

It's going to be Joshua or Jessica that wins the thing. Colton's really the only "tween boyfriend material" left, and I don't think he's got the chops to survive. Phillip's going to be exposed as well, as soon as he has to put down his guitar.

Shannon could probably win it going away two years from now, and she might have miscalculated by not waiting til she was 18 or 19 to audition. But I just don't see the tweens voting for the 6-foot pageant queen if she's not clearly the best.

I really like Erika, even though her dress tonight was horrific. So much power in her voice, and knows how to showcase it with the right song choices.

Skylar's interesting to me as well. She's a more confident and self-aware version of Lauren Elaina from last year, but I doubt she makes it that far.

I hope Deandre sings some Smokey Robinson before he gets voted off, but it doesn't seem like he has that much imagination based on his song choices thus far.

Jeremy and Jermaine both seem like really nice guys and they have great voices, but they're soon going to learn what Adam found out tonight — nobody likes to a see a fat man cry.

I'm glad Brielle's gone, just to get rid of her mom.

 

I actually voted on this thing for the first time, Johnsen's from out this way and I'd heard her sing a year or so back. She's really good. (Check the youTubes) But after seeing her AI performance on the web today, it was probably a fair decision.

 

Understatement.

 

Steak, Jessica's got no shot - here's why.
David Cook changed the game. You have to have an original sound to win and if you're not redoing songs all over the place, you have to have a voice that's so much different than everyone else.
Look at the seasons P.C. (Post Cook):
Season 8: Kris Allen - He was gonna finish behind Lambert and Gokey, then does a cover of Kanye and wins the thing in the semifinal. His ability to do something no one heard won him the contest. Good cover as well.
Season 9: Lee DeWyze, not to mention runner up Bowersox - both reworked songs instead of singing them the way they were written.
Season 10: McCreery - His voice was different than anything on Idol; a while kid with a baritone who sang country. I'm convinced Alaina got in solely because she's country. And remember Pia? Best technical singer by a mile. But every week she sang songs exactly the way the stars sang them and it got boring real, real quick.
Jessica's voice is good, but not great. I don't think any of the singers voices are "wow" good and they're gonna get cut.
In addition, the "tween" vote is a farce. The demographics of the show have changed as the show has aged. People who were 20 when the show started watch it now because they're 30 and have kids (me).
Heejun's gonna get the Asian vote and do very, very well. Elise is the most musically talented female, so she's going to do well. Phillips is unstoppable. Van Pelt was fantastic last night, but I don't think she's got the consistency to go far.
The only voice that is going to carry is Josh and last season we saw a gospel voice make a run before faltering late.
And as far as Bailey, here's my take: on first glace, she's better looking than Skylar (she's 18 so it's only moderately creepy); but Skylar talks about shooting stuff, has an accent and has a bad-ass attitude on stage - which makes me want to go out and watch as she drinks me under the table and calls me a pussy - so I'd take her over Bailey 10 tmes out of 10.

 

The "tween" vote thing is quite accurate. Fourteen-year-old girls are not driving the vote on this anymore.

 

Kang and Lisanti make book on the remaining 13. I strongly disagree with some of their takes.

http://www.grantland.com/blog/hollywood-prospectus/post/_/id/45186/handicapping-american-idols-top-13

EDIT: I hadn't realized that Jeremy Rosado had tried to cover Bareilles' "Gravity." "Gravity" is to Bareilles as "Possession" is to Sarah McLachlan -- her anthem, her identity. A high-voiced male trying to bring across that particular song was a major mistake.

 

Really? When I think of McLachlan, I think of Angels. Never heard of "Possession."

 

When I think Sarah McLachlan, I think of abused shelter animals trying to shame me into a donation.

 

Oh, no. "Possession" is about her stalker. As haunting a song as you'll ever hear.

 

I know it's timely, but making the girls sing Whitney Houston seems totally unfair. They might as well make the guys sing Pavarotti.

 

Well, at least one female couldn't pull it off.