Wednesday, February 13, 2008

American Idol 2008 Top 24

Well, we're finally here folks! The ol' Top 24. I was just reviewing the 2007 Top 24 blog and man did I pick some stinkers! I did pretty well in 2006 though. Always tough when we aim for perfection here at the American Idol Addicts blog! So will 2008 be the year I get it right? Well, probably not! But we're gonna see how it goes!

I already gotta hand it to the Idol producing team for NOT allowing Josiah and Kyle go onto the next round. I thought for sure they were going to keep them in there and let the votefortheworst.com'ers do their thing! (wow...remember that site? It's all going to start next week! Don't forget dialidol.com too which lost some of its usefulness last season). Anyway no sense in delaying. Here are the top 24 contestants. My top 12 (6 Guys, 6 Girls) picks are marked in blue! I threw in a couple orange picks for wildcards with explanations next to them!

Girls
  1. Carly Smithson - She's awesome. She would've been a top 12'er in the other season she auditioned. The new tattoos she's sporting are not flattering. But the voice more than makes up for it. She's got top 12 written all over her.
  2. Amanda Overmeyer - Yeah, she has to prove she can mix things up. But I think America digs her. She's different that the norm, and I think Season 7 needs her in the top 12. She's in!
  3. Kristy Lee Cook - Can she sing just one song? What on earth did she sing on Hollywood Day 1? We may never know. But something tells me if she returns to her country roots for the next 3 weeks she'll be right at home. There's a lot of stiff competition among the girls though. And if she doesn't impress, she could be shown the door! Should be interesting!
  4. Brooke White - This is a tough one. I didn't like Brooke when she auditioned. And then she grew on me. But there's a lot of good talent here. I'd say she and Kristy Lee Cook might be fighting for the same spot.
  5. Alexandrea Lushington - Don't remember her. Didn't see much of her in Hollywood. She'll really have to impress.
  6. Ramiele Maluby - Paula impressed by BIG VOICE, TEENY BODY. I'm indifferent! Will need to see her sing a bit more before putting her in the almighty top 12!
  7. Syesha Mercado - The whole singing with no voice thing is probably going to help her win some people over. Because if she WAS hoarse that day, she sang pretty darn amazingly.
  8. Kady Malloy - Another one that I don't remember seeing much of. (Hey it was a long audition process!) And they definitely didn't spend much time on her tonight!
  9. Amy Davis - Yep...no clue
  10. Alaina Whitaker - 8-10 seem interchangeable to me. It's probably a good bet that one of them could upset one of the contestants that has gotten more attention so far. And perhaps they're vying for Kristy Lee Cook's spot or Brooke White's? Could happen! And if it does...I will tell you all that I accurately picked the top 12 anyway!
  11. Asia'h Epperson - America likes a good story. Follow that up with some good vocals, you're in. But she has to keep it going!
  12. Joanne Borgella - Joanne threw a wrench into my plan. I forgot all about her. She does have a very big voice to go with her plus-sized model self. And she's why I had to move Brooke White into Orange status. Although, with Syesha seeming like a shoe-in....maybe Asia'h and Joanne are fighting for a spot. Man this is tough stuff! I'm sticking with my 6 for now! (and 7th in Orange!)

Guys

  1. David Cook - I like him, America likes him. He's in. But he'll need to win over Simon to get some good critiques!
  2. David Archuletta - I don't like him, America likes him. He's in. There's one of these guys every year. Everyone is fooled into thinking he's really good. And sure...he's a really nice guy. And I was happy for him to get in. But I just don't think he's got the voice that will be the next American idol. Truthfully? No one in their right mind wants to buy an album from a 16 year old boy. So he's really in this show to give America a heart-warming story. And that's fine. Keep on singing your John Mayer David! I'll keep on rolling my eyes!
  3. Danny Noriega - How on earth could we have a top 12 without a Male Jessica Alba impersonator? There....I said it! Now try and look at him the same way! Unfortunately, not a lot of pictures are out there of the Danny man just yet. But when there are, you can be sure there will be a side by side comparison! I haven't been this sure of a match since the days of Mr. Tumnus and Elliott Yamin! And since Pia Easily isn't going to be in our top 12...we're gonna need Danny for some material!
  4. Jason Castro - Yep..nickname already decided: "DREADS" or any communist dictator alias. I just like the dreads...and for that, he gets Orange status!
  5. Luke Menard - Who????
  6. Michael Johns - No brainer, we figured that out yesterday! Did he develop some kind of British Accent? Is that why I thought he had been using a goofy voice before? Maybe it's just HIS voice???? oops!
  7. Robbie Carrico - The mysterious Ex-Boybander turned Rocker. I want him to move on so I can learn WHAT boyband he was in! But I think only have time for one rocker...and Robbie seems like a fraud in the "rocker" genre anyway. I think we'll be able to learn about his boyband past during one of these Semi-final episodes! We'll put him in orange anyway, just in case someone else slips up!
  8. Garrett Haley - Looks like some kind of Punk Bee Gee reject or something. Don't think we've seen much of him before!
  9. Chickezie Eze - Oh yeah, this guy is getting through just with the name. He didn't sing too bad either in the audition. Haven't seen much since. But, by default and by having a cool name, Chickezie will probably be joining the crew.
  10. Jason Yeager - Chuck Yeager's great great grandson? I dunno! but he definitely has like a streak of Blond/Grey in his spiked up Black hair. ooooh this guy is cool! Don't know enough about him yet. He'll have to wait on the sideline for a bit until he proves himself worthy!
  11. David Hernandez - I gave him my props yesterday. Turns out Simon is not thrilled with him. We'll just have to see about that! I'll put him in the top 12. But if Simon has seen more of this guy than we have...I'd tend to have to put some doubt in this pick. Maybe one of these random guys is waiting to steal this slot from him.
  12. Colton Berry - All I know is that he beat out Kyle Ensley who would've been an immediate hit with America and Votefortheworst.com all at one time.....and he would've made it to the top 6 because of it! So Colton is my hero!

In case you haven't been keeping up.

My top 12 Picks: Carly Smithson, Amanda Overmeyer, Kristy Lee Cook, Syesha Mercado, Asia'h Epperson, Joanne Borgella, David Cook, David Archuletta, Danny Noriega, Michael Johns, Chickezie Eze, David Hernandez

Wildcards: Brooke White, Jason Castro, Robbie Carrico

Of course, it is near impossible to ever get this 100% right. Knowing me, the top 12 will be filled with the people I didn't even give the time of day in this blog! Next week starts the real competition folks. Are you ready for it? Am I ready for it? (ugh...5 hours of Idol next week!) What are your thoughts on my top 12? Anything you'd do differently? I know a lot of our normal readers have been sleeping during the Auditions. Are you joining us now? Start putting in your 2 cents! Let's get the discussions moving! See you next week as we narrow down the top 24!

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hahaha! Hello? Michael Johns is from Australia, hence the accent!

I agree with most of your picks...especially Carly Smithson. I think her voice is incredibly strong. I hope she sings a Celine Dion song at some point because I'm sure she would do it justice.

I figured out what bothers me about David Archuletta's singing. He has a nice voice, but he inhales really loudly. It's distracting. Oh, and Kady Malloy is the girl who does vocal impersonations. She should be pretty entertaining.

boardreader said...

JOHNNYHey Mike....I didn't even know about your Idol blog 'til today. Very, very nice.

My rundown of Idol's 24 will probably not compliment your thoughts but of course, they'll only be an opinion, nothing more.

Carly Smithson has yet to grow on me. Maybe it's because I know she already signed a recording contract back in '99 and has already released an album. I just thought Idol was looking for new voices, voices that had not already been snatched up, professionals already under contract or who used to be under contract with another company ,etc. But I know Carly's not the only one in that boat so I reckon the fault would lie in the undisclosing of this by Idol's producers. Nevertheless, I still really don't care too much for her.

Moving on...it really, really irks me that so many people in the top 24 are pretty much unknown to us at this time. Certainly, Idol's producers knew who the top 24 were before this season aired. Therefore, they could have gave ample time for America to know all these singers. Instead of listening to the whinings of Josiah, for instance, they could have filled in all that time with, say, Luke Menard or someone else we don't know much about.

It is unconscionable that Idol is heavily tilted to benefit those that we have heard numerous times and is at the same time unfair to those we have not heard from. Shouldn't they be fair and equal to all 24? Granted, not all of them have interesting stories and whatnot but what may not be interesting to me may be interesting to somebody else. We need to know more of who these people are. I realize that it's mostly about ratings but still....

In the meantime, my two finalists so far are Michael Johns and Amanda Overmeyer. They are both fine unique singers that will go over well with Idol's viewers. As far as Archuletta goes, he will definitely make some noise. Yes, teenager girls do make a lot of calls and texting and Archuletta is the one they'll get behind. He may even last to the final three.

Overall, a very good season is in store. I look forward to knowing these amateurs/professionals more and as long as one doesn't turn out to be like Sanjaya, all will be well.

By the way, does anybody else think that Syesha Mercado was faking her hoarseness? And doesn't Ramiele Maluby really look like she could be Paula Abdul's kid? Just wondering...

Mike V. said...

Thanks Joy lol...i read that he was austrailian after I posted the blog. Oops!

Johnny, Welcome and thanks for the props! I agree...all of these previous contract things bug me too, but Idol is out to produce a successful TV show right? And after seeing what happened in season 6, I'm sure they're making exceptions left and right. Afterall, I believe I read that Michael Johns TOO had a prior contract with a record label. I guess we just have to accept the show for what it is. Recognizing Unknown talent. lol

I agree Syesha may have been faking it. But whatever works in "reality tv" right?

Carly, yeah...I don't know if I'm a fan or not either...but I do think she can sing. The tattoos are a major eyesore including her husband getting more presstime!

I agree with you on Amanda Overmeyer. I really hope she turns out to be a dynamic singer. But I keep having this feeling that we're going to get tired of her if she sings the same way all of the time. Tough to judge on just seeing 2 performances.

As for not giving some of the top 24 presstime...that's how it's always been. Idol likes to do it this way. Personally, I think so it pushes the odds for THEIR ideal "Top 12" to get through. But you never really know how they're messing with the votes that come in anyway! There's that QUOTE "Reality TV" word again! lol

But it really makes the people that didn't get a lot of airtime feel the need to try THAT much harder to win over America. If you recall in season 4...Bo Bice beat out some early favorites to win over America. He barely had any screentime. So by not hearing these guys maybe they've been withholding some big surprises! Doubtful...but you never know!

Thanks again for reading and commenting! (hey wait...did you come over from the LOST blog? Finally...a cross-over convert! lol)

boardreader said...

Mike, Yes I did come over from the Lost blog. I meant to mention that but just forgot. Besides, I was waiting to hear about your thoughts on my latest blog there but got....well....nothing! LOL

But I realize that you're probably a busy guy and it is YOUR sandbox that I'm playing in, so whatever you decide to do or not do is okay with me. However if you could respond before tonight's LOST.....LOL

On to Idol, I had no idea that Johns had a recording contract but I wouldn't be surprised. He is that good!....at least to me anyways. He seems refined and polished already and as of yet I've not heard any that can caompare with him on the men side. But then again, as you alluded to, we haven't really heard from them all yet have we? ;0

Now I'll agree Amanda, for right now, is probably a one-trick pony and will have to take Simon's advice and work a little style in somewhere. But put her and Chris Daughtry on the same stage and you get...that's right.......siblings! LOL
I just love the raspiness in her voice and the confidence she exudes should do her well here.

Thanks for responding to my comments both here and on the Lost blog. I know I can get a little wordy but if you can pass that....LOL

Happy Valentine's Day!