American Idol Options

[Indigo Horrible]

So... who's watching? I always start at the semifinals of each season now so everyone's on the same playing field with me. And I was happy with the past two winners (I love Kris Allen and David Cook), so I'm hoping we get another one in their wheelhouse this week.

Anyway... I'm watching the semifinals right now... good god. Ashley sounded like a whale giving birth, and Paige (I think her name was Paige?) sounded sick half the time... I hope the other girls are better than this.

[Mizukithepanda]

Well, to be honest, I don't really like watching this show, but my mother considers it our 'mother-daughter bonding time' so I suck it up and deal.

This is the third year in a row that I've had to do it.

But anyway, I do think it's a strong year for girls insomuch that they have strong vocal ability, but that's all. There are very few "unique" voices and the girls' technique is amateurish at best. Most of the girls that I saw tonight I could easily compare to someone else and say, "Oh, they sound a lot like so-and-so, just nowhere near as good." It makes me kinda sad, because these last two years there have been some really memorable women.

Fortunately, there were some people that saved them a little, I think. Lilly Scott, though not the best vocal of the night, was interesting if nothing else, and her rendition of that Beatles song was memorable - something which nine of the other contestants failed to accomplish. Siobhan Magnus was good too. I also thought that her choosing that song was a good idea - it showcased her pretty falsetto and gave her a chance to sing in that lower register. It wasn't the most stellar performance ever, but it was good. And of course, Crystal Bowersox was wonderful too. That song is one of my personal favorites (which usually doesn't bode well for contestants as I'm far more critical of songs that I like), and I felt she did it justice, though the performance was a little clumsy and the harmonica playing could've been handled a bit better. I like Crystal for the same reason the judges do - she's honest and hardworking. You can practically feel that in everything she's done and I think it made her performance just that much better.

Oh, speaking of the judges... I wanted to put Kara in a waffleing neck brace and slap duct-tape over her gosh darn mouth. Every time she said something, I got this tinny voice in my head that kept repeating: Shut up, you slag. Your opinion doesn't matter. Just shut UP. She annoys me far more than Paula ever did. Yeah, Paula talked about "the color of your voice" and "sparkling rainbows of awesome" and whatnot, but at least she seemed honest and unassuming. Kara actually coming out and saying that she thought the contestant was calling her a woof woof in her head was just disgusting. I don't care if the girl was - you shouldn't put someone on the spot like that. It's just not fair, because if they refute it they look desperate and if they say that she's right then they look like the woof woof. She shouldn't have done it.

Also, I think Ellen is okay as a judge - I like her better than Kara at least, but she tends to ramble and not get to her point across as quickly and as eloquently as she could. I also wish she'd give a little more criticism when she doesn't like something.

Simon was... annoying tonight. I thought he was going too lightly on the wrong contestants. Maybe he was just trying to be nice since it's the first night for the first few contestants and then gave it up after he saw that 90% of them were no better, but he definitely should've ripped into those first few girls more - they deserved it.

All in all, it was a fairly 'blah' night. I just hope the remaining weeks aren't this bad.

Oh, and I forgot to say... confirmation of my vote for Crystal Bowersox took two and a half hours to get back to me. Just what does that say?