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.

[Katie]

I'm watching them now as well.

Y'know, I'm really not seeing the whole "strong girl" thing the judges keep yakking about. Lilly Scott, the white haired girl who just performed, was okay, but definitely not Idol winner material, and the previous two girls just should have stopped singing halfway through. Paige (first girl) was much too low in the song's register, and Ashley was hitting some crazy-face notes out of nowhere. At least Lilly kind of had a song going on.

On the other hand however, I'm a fan of Crystal Bowersox. She's really great, in my opinion. She's just got that natural talent, and though she's not really the image of Idol, I really like her voice and song choices. Though I truly want to punch that Haeley Vaughn in the face; you are NOT country nor a good singer.

As for the guys, I feel like Andrew Garcia is a real contender this season. I lovelovelove his voice. Some other guys are quite good, too.

currently: Enh, Katelyn wasn't that bad, but she could use some more stage presence. And an actual hairstyle.

[Indigo Horrible]

Lily wasn't bad. I thought Katelyn was great. And Haeley... Jesus. She has potential, but you can definitely tell she's 16, what with the way she kept oversinging and notching the volume up as loud as it could go. She hasn't learned nuance and subtlety yet.

I hope the next half of the girl batch punches it up some.

EDIT: I swear, Lily was a half-step away from singing the brown note. I'm scared.

[General_Wolfy]

I used to watch American Idol in the first few seasons, but I really don't like the way it's been going so I stopped watching it a while back.

[Indigo Horrible]

I dunno, the semis so far aren't bad - they seem to be, right now, undoing some of the pointless changes from last season (back to a top 24, I'm hoping no top 13/judges' save this time)... I'm sticking with it.

Also, Didi, Michelle, and Siobhan are now joining Katelyn and Lily in making the night all better. Katelyn, Didi, and Siobhan in particular blew me away, with Michelle a close fourth.

EDIT: Toss Crystal in there. Her harmonica playing wasn't great, but I love her voice, and that song.

[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?

[Indigo Horrible]

Voting problems have plagued the series since season 1. I take them with a grain of salt now. Then again, I don't vote, personally. I figure that half the time, I was working during voting hours, so if I couldn't vote when I worked, I wouldn't vote when I was off... may as well be consistent, I figured.

Kara still comes off a bit snotty. I definitely agree that what she said was way out-of-line - I just hope she doesn't go overboard like she did last year with "I know your identity better than you do, now get back in your box".

Sausage fest night, now! Nice-looking bunch. So, Todrick... I appreciate changing up a song, scoring originality points... but he came off really cheesy and smarmy, and I hate when they soak a song in runs to try and distract the audience. Just sing the friggin song.

EDIT: I liked Aaron... very nervous, but he has the raw talent. He'll definitely get better as he becomes more confident, I think, but he also needs to grow into his voice and gain better control. If only he were 18.

Also, good lord. Jermaine reminded me of Adam... that's not a compliment, by the way. He sounded like he was screaming off-key. Ellen was right, Kara was right - he tried way too hard to show off what he could do and didn't connect emotionally. And Tim was maybe worse. His falsetto was awful. it was pitiful... he sounded like a dying mouse, and then he was shouting.