Hello American Idol fanatics! Can you smell it? Smell that end of season excitement? I sure can! As enticing as it is to rip these contestants a new one or praise them week after week, I sure do look forward to taking a break from it too! But, alas, we have arrived at the top 3. And we still ask ourselves, HOW ON EARTH IS HALEY HERE?! I mean, come on, we had her pegged to leave us before the top 10! The only thing I can think of is she just got lucky. Because that personality of hers sure isn't winning her any fans. The voice, yeah it's good. But that mumbly, growly stuff she does still annoys the heck out of me! I know, we're not even into the recap yet, but what scares me is this. Now that she has made it this far, things are looking almost like a certainty that she could be in that finale. I'll get into my reasons why in the recap and after. And I may just change my mind along the way. Guess we'll all just have to read on and find out!
Before we get to the recap let me just throw one large complaint out to the American Idol team and/or FOX for making the top 3 show 2 hours! Ummm, total waste of time. I know I know, FOX had no programming to air from 9:30-10:00 but come on. Did we really need to see extended audition footage again of each contestant? Did we need Beyonce's crazy music video that resembled something out of a Lady Gaga wardrobe malfunction? Did we need to find out who won each round? Something usually reserved for Finale Week? The show has been done before and should have been done in an hour. But, we should get used to it. X-Factor will be following the same 1.5 Hour Performance, Hour result shows in the fall. (Same nights too, Weds and Thursday) That's just the new FOX model. But 2 hours?? That's pushing it Fox!
Okay, to the recap!
RECAP
Scotty McCreery
1.) Scotty's Choice: "Amazed" by Lonestar
2.) Jimmy's Choice: "Are You Gonna Kiss Me or Not?" by Thompson Square
3.) Judges' Choice: "She Believes in Me" by Kenny Rogers
There really isn't much left to say about Scotty. He does what he does out there. He is poised, he is polished, he is young. He has charm, he has a deep voice, he has personality and he showed it on all 3 songs. "Amazed" was typical Scotty. He did his thing and it was enjoyable. The Thompson Square was a nice choice by the judges. Although, I missed having the female lead harmonizing with him (even though she looks ridiculous with that skunk hairdo of hers)
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| umm pick a color and stick with it! |
I agree with the judges though, he was showing some real maturity in his expressions (facially and vocally) in the choruses. By the time he got to the Kenny Rogers tune, it was already set in stone that this kid will be in the finals. We have known for weeks. He has just been having the time of his life and we've been enjoying it right with him. Something would be wrong if he wasn't there at this point.
Lauren Alaina
1.) Lauren's Choice: "Wild One" by Faith Hill
2.) Jimmy's Choice: "If I Die Young?" by The Band Perry
3.) Judges' Choice: "I Hope You Dance" by Lee Ann Womack
Oh Lauren, I'm still a fan but I just don't know!! I really did think she did great tonight, but we all know she has been missing the big moment. She has always needed that moment to sell us on her stardom. I think she has star potential, but she's just too young to realize it. But, I'm not counting her out of the finale just yet. I was still inspired to vote for her a multitude of times. Anything to keep Haley at bay. Ugh. Anyway, song 1 was great. You could hear that great voice in there, it was just missing POWER! Sometimes she'd be drowned out by the band. My wife commented that she needs to work on her breathing. It's a good point and something most people take for granted in singers. That breathing stuff is important!
I really thought she was going to have her moment with Jimmy's choice. The Band Perry are up and comers in the Country world but have had a smash hit with "If I Die Young" ("You Lie" isn't too bad either if you're looking for some good downloads). When Lauren spoke about the song in the interview, I knew she got it. She knew how the song needed to be sung and it worked perfectly for her voice. She was singing it great. Maybe J-Lo was right and she just got caught up in the moment. But missing the key change really screwed her up from there on out. She was screeching some of the high notes. But gosh darn it if she wasn't so cute when she talked about missing the key change! In fact, she said "DARN IT!" That charm goes a long way folks and I hope it's in her corner when people vote tonight. I also hope people dance!! Song 3 was also very good for Lauren. Her voice is beautiful, and like I said, it's just missing an ounce of power behind it or something. Because I'm still hungry for a moment from her. But, is it too late? I just don't know. I have given up trying to figure out the voters besides highly favoring Scotty throughout the competition!
Haley Reinhart
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| Yep, I'm constipated again. Anyone got a cookie? num num num num!!! |
1.) Haley's Choice: "What Is and What Should Never Be" by Led Zeppelin
2.) Jimmy's Choice: "Rhiannon" by Fleetwood Mac
3.) Judges' Choice: "You Oughta Know" by Alanis Morissette
Ugh. Do I have to talk about her? In all seriousness, I really thought Haley WAS in it to win it tonight. And if it wasn't for the fact that I can't stand her, I might actually have been impressed with her efforts tonight. But, that attitude just kills any kind of buzz I might have been feeling. Yeah, that was kinda cool that she got to get her dad to play with the band on the bold Led Zeppelin choice. I also thought it was kind of an unfair "voting" advantage to appeal to Dads out there with daughters that they'd like to jam with on
stage. And Haley was actually doing a really good job on the track and then it happened. I don't care how much the judges downplay it, Haley falling flat on her face was HYSTERICAL! Almost as funny as Cam falling into the kiddie pool on Modern Family tonight! She asked for it with wearing those shoes and prancing around the judges like she owned the place! My wife and I were laughing for the remainder of the song all the way until Randy started critiquing and didn't mention one word of it!
Yeah yeah yeah, the show must go on. I've been there, I've played through mistakes before! But come on, falling down is FUNNY and it totally takes precedence over the performance at that point. It's all anyone can think about. Will it hurt her in the votes? Eh, probably not. In fact, it will probably encourage VOTEFORTHEWORSTers to vote for her more.
Love the Fleetwood Mac song. Great choice by Jimmy (who made great choices all around). But, it also didn't do her any favors in the 2nd half when there wasn't much to sing. Just watching her sway around with the wind machine was ridiculous. I felt like we were in the middle of an 80s video. Speaking of which, has anyone seen the LITERAL VIDEO of Total Eclipse of the Heart? If you're not peeing your pants by the end, then you must have used the facilities before watching! Yes, I exaggerate but it's still really funny!
And the Alanis pick by the judges? Eh. The first thing I thought of was that Crystal did it last year and I remember she had to change the lyrics to a part of the song in order not to offense the family audiences of American Idol. Haley used the same lyric but she also did a carbon copy of the Alanis rendition of the song. Nothing really that impressive. Yeah, she can do a raspy chorus. Wooo. So can a lot of people. Don't get me started on the verses. She rambled right through them and you could not make out anything she was trying to sing. This is something she does a lot. I guess she thinks its artistry and part of her schtick, but come on, enunciate! Don't strand words together and leave out consonants that start words! It's ridiculous! It's irritating! WHY ARE YOU STILL HERE!?!?!?!? Why are you probably going to be in the finale!?!? Ugh. I'm at a loss.
ELIMINATION PICK
And that brings us to here folks. Here's the big question. Can 2 country contestants make it to the finale? Or will the voters be split between them? Even if the fans love them both, then they're probably voting for both and someone loses out. I can't see Scotty losing out, can you? I'm not saying Lauren has done enough to earn herself the #2 slot in the finale (in comparison to past season), but I also think she has a great charm about her and a very nice voice. She's just very young but has potential to be really really good. But, Haley has 2 things going for her. Vote For the Worst AND Country Music haters. With James exiting, she appealed to the Rocker vote this week by pulling in a little Led Zeppelin into her playlist. I guess we can throw the Alanis song into that grouping too. Of course, the fact that I can't find much to say about Scotty probably means that I think he's TOO safe, but I'm not even going there. He's definitely in. So it's one of the girls.
So, without knowing how this is going to go down and just having hope for how I want it to go down, I'm going to go with some reverse psychology with my pick.
Elimination Pick: Lauren Alaina - It breaks my heart to even put her name here, but maybe it would be better to see her leave tomorrow than to see her get so close to the end only to have Scotty win it all. I really hope that my pick gives a little superstitious luck to her and boots that arrogant curly haired cookie monster from the show!
And that's all I got folks. Tomorrow night we'll be treated to the trio's hometown visits. I already know what is in store for Scotty as I watched a little bit of it on streaming video. Let's just say that my finale results show performance prediction came true a little earlier than expected. ("Baby lock dem doors!") But I'll discuss that in the comments after Thursday's results! Sorry that I was out of town and unable to comment much after the recap was up last week. Don't you worry, I'll be here for this week's discussion!
And don't forget, next week's performance show is back on TUESDAY and the Season Finale is on Wednesday. I'm guessing May Sweeps ends on Wednesday so they're moving it up a day. Anyway, hope you enjoyed my ramblings as always and I'll see you next week!
16 comments:
Is that you Randy Jackson? Haley hater much? But yes, I really hope Lauren goes home already. She's more lackluster than Thia and Pia.
I just gotta ask....what blog have you been reading where you thought I was a Haley supporter??? Lol And what show have you been watching where you could consider any judge a hater of any contestant this year? It's one big uncritical love fest on that judging panel.
I just hope dialidol.com is right this week!
Go Haley, go Haley, go Haley! Mostly because I am truly starting to DEPISE Lauren's presence on this show. Seeing her flashback confirmed it for me. Lauren's only "moment" on the show was her Aerosmith audition song. She had a totally different look, attitude, and sound at that first audition. Now, she is nothing but mediocre week after week, and I just do not understand how she is still there. Oh, and JLo, when did "the honesty of the moment" become code for "royally screwed up?" And if you want to talk about the professionalism of rehabilitating after a screw up, Lauren ain't got it. She never recovered for the rest of the song, singing through her "darn I screwed that up" smirk.
I LOVED Haley's Zep song. I hated the Alanis song. But love hate I'm fine with - it's way better than mediocre. I loved that Randy didn't say a word about her fall, I don't think any of them should. I didn't think it was funny, I thought it just was. But, I'm just not into that kind of humor - I rarely find America's Funniest Videos to be funny. My husband definitely snickered, and I'm not judging him (or Mike & his Mrs) for it.
I do like that Scotty has turned out to be a better singer than just Baby-Lock-Dem-Doors. It helps justify his imminent win. Which IS in the bag. But it doesn't change my opinion that this is the worst season ever.
My husband and I paused the show half way through and you tubed Adam's Tracks of my Tears. We just really needed a reminder of how the show was good once, and to see someone that was actually cognizant of phrasing and showed confidence in the sustention of his notes. Scotty should watch that performance every day this week and *cut it out* with all the poppy dips and affects on every danged note.
Nicole,
Ironically, I despised Lauren during that audition and now I just wonder WTH happened to that confidence? The reason I despised her, though, was because Nigel already was pimping her as the one to beat during the auditions so I was determined NOT to root for her. But her personality won me over lol I'm not saying she deserves to win or anything, not that I'd be upset if she did. But I flat out despise Haley, kind of like you feel about Lauren! I agree that Lauren didn't recover from her "mess up"...but I don't think Haley didn't do much better.
The Zep song was clearly the best of the night, unfortunately. I just wish more people would talk about her falling down! Everywhere I look people are just praising the performance. I mean come on! That stuff was funny!! lol Ahh...I don't watch AFV very often, but I love me some good slapstick/physical/unintentional comedy! MAYBE, just MAYBE there was a slight "well, I hope she's okay" but the laughing was more fun! :-)
Ahhh worst season ever? I don't think anything could ever top season 3 or 6 but we've already discussed this! That's just my opinion. But, I will say that Simon is sorely missed. The show will still be a success but only a shadow of the entertainment that it used to be. I'm definitely looking forward to X-Factor this fall with Simon and Paula reuninted. Even excited for Randy 2.0 and the British X-Factor lady. It will be interesting to see if Simon has a vested interest again since it's HIS show.
Funny that you go as little back as season 8 to see what the show "ONCE" was. Yes, that was one of the greatest performances on Idol. But to see what it ONCE was, look up EVERY Kelly Clarkson performance, MOST of Carrie Underwood's performances. Hell, even Clay's performances and I couldn't stand him either. I even think season 5 had a great crop of talent, even if Taylor won lol David Cook in season 7 had amazing performances. But other than that there are a lot of crappy performances out there from 10 years of Idol. So, I'm not really sure what my point is!! Basically, by the end of every season as of late...I get this same feeling of "why did I waste my time with this show?!" The only times I felt rewarded for watching all season: Season 1, Season 4 and Season 7. I'll throw season 8 in there too because Adam lost but I know that pains you! :-)
Ahh - I miss the good ole days too!
Hey Mike! Weighing in a little late, but it looks like I'm agreeing with most of the internet community: Scotty was his usual self, Haley continued to bring it, and Lauren was solid but not spectacular.
I think Scotty's at his best when he sings in his low voice. For "She Believes in Me," it was flawless until he had to go higher for the chorus. Then it got a little awkward. I actually missed the beginning of the show, but I did hear most of "Amazed," and I didn't think it was one of his better moments. "Are You Going to Kiss Me or Not?" was where he really shined.
It seems that people didn't like Lauren's "Wild One" (including my sister), but I think it was my favorite of hers last night. She definitely sounded all over the place on "If I Die Young" (agree that The Band Perry is awesome, much better than that other Perry girl who has a singing career right now), and by "I Hope You Dance" I was half tuned-out, since it was more of the same ol', same ol'.
Haley? Well, I won't lie, the Led Zeppelin song was great. "Rhiannon" was OK, if a little boring, and "You Oughta Know" fit her vocals well. I'm thinking she's secured herself a spot in the finale against Scotty, where she'll probably lose, since Scotty's fan support is unreal.
Hi Ian!
Yeah, it's hard to argue with that general consensus of last night. The one factor that needs to be added in are people's feelings towards the individuals OUTSIDE of the performances. That's where things can be swayed and unpredictable.
I agree with your Scotty synopsis. Lauren - eh..not sure I really enjoyed Lauren's very breathy "Wild One" performance. I thought she sounded really good on "If I die Young" until the mishap.
Haley - I still say that even if she's going for it consistently and seems the most determined to win....her antics that I've complained about all season still annoy me now and I'm just floored that she's still in the competition. Cookie Monster Growling, removing consonants from words and stringing them together into "mumble singing", and that attitude!! The attitude may not even be intentional but it's very off putting. Reading lots of comments out there, I'm surprised to see how many Haley fans there suddenly are. I think she got ALL of James's fanbase and just ALL of the country haters. That was bound to happen, but WHY oh WHY did it have to be Haley? I genuinely feel like she's there by default because there was always someone else to kick off in previous weeks. But that didn't make her run THAT good! Some weeks, yes, she had some knock-out performances. But not ALL weeks. And it's not like it was a steady growth or anything either.
She just drives me crazy but my feeling after last night's episode is that she would be facing off against Scotty in the finale. I hope to be pleasantly surprised.
I know that I could have looked at a bunch of other performaces, but we needed SOMETHING to wash that taste out of our mouths, and Adam is both mine and my husband's all-time favorite contestant. Plus, I very specifically remembered Adam's last note in that song, and how he held it and cut it off cleanly - and I was explaining to my husband my annoyance at Scotty's dips and affects and complete inability to finish a note cleanly - so it was a perfect illustration.
I stand by worst season ever. Maybe not the WORST contestants, but really bad contestants + horrific judging = worst ever.
@Nicole - yeah I was just messing around. I knew what you meant!
But I thought they had a good crop of contestants this year. Or at least it started out that way. It definitely isn't the BEST season, I'll say that. The first half was a lot more entertaining than I thought it would be. But the LIVE portion was the part I was worried about and with good reason. I agree the LIVE judging is horrific. But the seasons where I thought the contestants were so awful I had no idea who would win....that's season 3 and 6 to me. And in 6, I thought Jordin Sparks was the only highlight in a bad year. And I think if she was put in another season, people may not have noticed her as much.
These kids in season 10? yeah...I dunno. Maybe you're right. I think it's just the order some of them were eliminated that caused the season to be a little rougher than it could have been. Yeah, PIA wasn't a favorite and had her stage presence issues but if she stuck around longer it could have been more interesting. Casey stayed around too long even though he was an early favorite (poor use of the save). Jacob didn't pan out the way people probably anticipated. I thought he was REALLLLLY good early on, but he just got on my nerves quickly. But for the first few weeks of the top 13...I thought there were several people that were very talented. I was comparing them to the season 5 crop which I think is the season that collectively had the most talent.
We all have our opinions. But I still stand by 3 and 6 being the worst. This one? Not far behind I guess. Maybe one of these days I should try to rank the seasons, purely based on my personal entertainment as a viewer and/or blogger. I've done it with every other show I obsess about lol I know how it would start! Without thinking too hard about it here goes my opinion:
1, 4, 5, 7, 2, 10, 8, 9, 6, 3 (though depending who wins this season, 10 could move!)
Yeeeeaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!
Well, I'm a bit surprised, but I'm not complaining.
Hello Idol fanatics! Yes, yes. I'm sure there are lots of upset people out there today, but you won't see me complaining. The Reverse Psychology worked! There was a voice deep down inside telling me that the South would rise and not let Haley get to that finale, but you just never know. Yeah, and there have been rumors that Lauren and Scotty have been getting the most votes since the beginning of the show. And yes, Lauren was pimped by Nigel Lythgoe early on as a favorite and she has not really lived up to that billing. But, kids, I do not care. Haley just did not scream American Idol to me. I would rather have a kid with a lot of potential have a shot at the crown than someone who gives the impression off that she is better than everyone else. And folks, I don't care what you say, she isn't. The voice was good but she had lousy control over it. I'll continue to say that the growling and the running words together and dropping consonants was unflattering.
And you know what sealed the deal for me? How she'd rather sing in the crowd with her family and the contestants that already left than stand on stage with the remaining contestants who will be up for the season 10 crown. Everyone else who left the show was joined by the remaining contestants and were hugged goodbye. No, not Haley. "Give me my daddy!!!" I think she was P.O.d and didn't waste a second showing it. The minute her name wasn't read she was floored. "I CAN'T BELIEVE I LOST TO THESE 2!" Yeah Haley, don't even pretend to be a good sport about it!
I seriously am shocked at how many Haley fans there suddenly were this week who are crying over the outrage of 2 country contestants getting to the finale. It's like Haley picked up all the leftover fans from James, Casey and whoever else was anti-country.
Hey, I'm not going to sit here and pretend that Scotty and Lauren are the best contestants ever on the show. But they are likable and they ARE talented. And they ARE young. They have plenty of time to improve. The only person that seemed to be the full package at the time of the finale that has won American Idol, in my opinion, was Kelly Clarkson. She had the stage presence, the voice, the look. She had it all going. Yes, Carrie Underwood was awesome and I rooted for her every week. But she certainly lacked the poise and stage presence. Everyone called her a FEMBOT in season 4. So, I say with the best voice out of the competition (PIA), why not give the young'ins a chance?
You could tell with the "going home" packages they put together who had the biggest fan bases. Yes, it rained at Haley's but whatever. There were like 100 people in her hometown vs. the 1000s that showed up Scotty and Lauren's. (yes, I'm exaggerating) It wasn't until she performed in Chicago that 1000s showed up. That's just the south for ya. If you look back at the past 10 seasons of Idol we all know the southern contestants seem to win over the northern ones. Why? I don't know for sure but when they get behind a contestant, they just don't quit I guess!
So, this really shouldn't be a shock of who is left in the competition, fair or not. Now...will I vote for Lauren over Scotty in the finale? That I'm not sure. I definitely wanted her there over Haley and I voted to make that happen. But, unless she really floors me next week I don't know if I can do it. Yeah, my votes won't make much different among 95,000,000 votes (that was an insane number btw). Scotty seems like the deserving winner at this point. And he probably sealed the deal with his crying in the Home Video Montage. I lost it too! Of course, Lauren's was equally emotional with showing the tornado destruction. We'll just have to see what happens next week kids!
Other things I liked from the show:
- WORLDS COLLIDE!!! - OMG, anyone that knows me must have known I was totally geeking out when the contestants went to BAD ROBOT and met J.J. Abrams!! WHAAT!?!?! LOST, FRINGE, STAR TREK, SUPER 8 collided with American Idol? There's finally a tie between my Sci-Fi Blogging and Idol Blogging?! Oh that is awesome. Totally jealous that the top 4 got to see clips of Super 8 and then got Super 8 cameras to take home with them. They're coming back folks! Who needs iPhone video cameras when you have a trusty Super 8 by your side!?
- The home montages - Always a good time if you love or hate the contestants.
Things I fast forwarded through:
-IL DIVO Part 2 - The Opera Kids? Who are these guys? I just assumed it was the children of IL Divo! What were they? IL VIVO? Totally forget, totally don't care. But they were very talented from what I heard.
- Nicole Scherinblahblah - The former Pussycat Doll Lead, and future X-Factor Hostess put on a show for everyone. Listened to the first 10 seconds and knew we were going to miss the results LIVE if we didn't fast forward. So we did!
Can't remember anything else. So, I apologize to all of the people who will be protesting the finale. I welcome the ALL COUNTRY ALL THE TIME FINALE with OPEN ARMS and look forward to it. See you then if you dare!
A better gauge than Dial Idol of who's going to win: number of 12 year old girls crying at the mere sight of a particular contestant.
Oh, how I wish LOST was on so I could watch that instead. Obviously, though, I'm pulling for Scotty. I loved when he turned around and Josh Turner was in his face.
Yeah forgot to mention that. That was the clear indication of who is going to win. Screaming, Crying (as if the Beatles were here) tweens and teens.
Totally agree on LOST Nicole! I'm pondering writing up a "Year in Reflection" for the LOST blog to celebrate the 1 year anniversary of THE END. But I'm already having writer's block lol
Yeah, I mentioned earlier that I actually saw the streaming video of Josh Turner showing up at his concert last weekend. It was a good time. But, it did seem a little more STAGED than Idol made it out to be. He was going to start singing "Your Man" a few songs earlier but then was told to wait. lol
I still hope Josh Turner shows up at the finale!
Mike,
I couldn't miss reading your LOST blog and follow TV Addicts and am not big on commenting, but I couldn't resist putting my two cents in today. I have to say that I have totally agreed with your feelings about Haley. I thought her mad, "I can't believe it" expression at that moment last night summed up her character for me. She didn't deserve to be there. And, as an Elton John fan myself, her singing Bennie and the Jets made my skin crawl the first time, and it was worse last night! I'm not a country fan at all, but Lauren is talented and likable and her confidence will build. Scotty will probably win and that's okay. He's got the talent also. It will still be fun to watch next week! I love reading your thoughts (or ramblings) as always.
Hi Leslie!
That's awesome to hear that someone reads all of these blogs! :-) Totally cool that you don't comment often but it's nice to hear from you! Also great to hear that I'm not crazy or alone in despising Haley. I remember being okay with her initial Elton performance but this time it really bugged me...especially with her hanging out in the crowd instead of being up with Scotty and Lauren. Couldn't agree more on her expression when Lauren's name was announced. It was just ridiculous, and you could tell it was sincere. She was NOT happy for Lauren and/or Scotty. She was MAD. Ugh, I'm still annoyed at her and she's already eliminated lol
Anyway, I agree that the show will be enjoyable and I think they'll have a really decent finale like they do every year. I still think Josh Turner will sing with Scotty. Maybe they'll get Herbie Hancock to jam with Casey Abrams lol I duno, we'll see! Thanks for reading all of the blogs and for the compliments!
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