American Idol '07

[Gary Whitta]

What the final two demonstrates is just how much more there is to this competition than just being a talented singer. Jordin has pipes no doubt but she sends me to sleep every time. I can't imagine anything more boring than the album or the music videos she will go on to produce. Blake at least offers something contemporary and semi-original in his Jamiroquai/Maroon 5 sound.

I dunno, though. Last year I prayed for Taylor to beat McPhee and I got my wish. I have the sinking feeling that this is the year American Idol gets its payback on me. The good news is that one way or another now Blake gets a career and we can all check out his album. Woot.

[Troy S Goodfellow]

Regardless of sales, she certainly doesn't seem to be even close to being as high-profile as Kelly Clarkson, Daughtry, or Carrie Underwood.

Part of that is probably because of whatever radio stations you listen to or TV channels you watch. I never hear Ruben Studdard either, because I don't listen to R&B stations. Apparently he's huge.

Re last night's result, once I heard Jordin was safe, I knew Blake would be OK. Three theories for Melinda's ouster:

1) She sounded older and therefore didn't build up an enthusiastic base of teenage voters. When the mass voting started, she couldn't grow at the rate of the others.

2) The old voter apathy problem. People thought she was safe and instead voted heavily for their second choice to get the best possible competition at the end.

3) (Way out there theory that implies organized conspiracy of loons.) Blake and Jordin voters voted for both their candidate and each other so that their favorite wouldn't have to face Melinda in the final round.

Troy

[SpoofyChop]

Part of that is probably because of whatever radio stations you listen to or TV channels you watch. I never hear Ruben Studdard either, because I don't listen to R&B stations. Apparently he's huge.

I don't listen to radio or watch much TV anymore. I'm really getting my info from the internet. News sites, reality TV sites, blogs, etc.

I find it hard to see how he can be "huge" with these kinds of record sales

* Soulful: 1,780,823
* I Need an Angel: 437,114
* The Return 220,359

This is a quick and hatchety copy and paste from Wikipedia that leaves out some detail but basically the guy cannot possibly be "huge" with declining sales like this.

[Troy S Goodfellow]

I don't listen to radio or watch much TV anymore. I'm really getting my info from the internet. News sites, reality TV sites, blogs, etc.

I find it hard to see how he can be "huge" with these kinds of record sales

* Soulful: 1,780,823
* I Need an Angel: 437,114
* The Return 220,359

This is a quick and hatchety copy and paste from Wikipedia that leaves out some detail but basically the guy cannot possibly be "huge" with declining sales like this.

Yeah, it seems he's in decline, but Daughtry has released one album. He could vanish, too.

Clay's sales have plummeted, after all, and he was bigger than any runner up.

Troy

[txa1265]

Part of that is probably because of whatever radio stations you listen to or TV channels you watch.

I basically don't listen to music with words. So this stuff is just family-time for me :)

[SpoofyChop]

Yeah, it seems he's in decline, but Daughtry has released one album. He could vanish, too.

Clay's sales have plummeted, after all, and he was bigger than any runner up.

Troy

Yeah..."huge" is highly time sensitive unfortunately for those in the entertainment business. Daughtry is huge right now and in a few years he could be a big nothing.

There are tens of thousands of "one hit wonders" in all areas of the entertainment industry.

[VegasRobb]

Part of that is probably because of whatever radio stations you listen to or TV channels you watch. I never hear Ruben Studdard either, because I don't listen to R&B stations. Apparently he's huge.

Re last night's result, once I heard Jordin was safe, I knew Blake would be OK. Three theories for Melinda's ouster:

1) She sounded older and therefore didn't build up an enthusiastic base of teenage voters. When the mass voting started, she couldn't grow at the rate of the others.

2) The old voter apathy problem. People thought she was safe and instead voted heavily for their second choice to get the best possible competition at the end.

3) (Way out there theory that implies organized conspiracy of loons.) Blake and Jordin voters voted for both their candidate and each other so that their favorite wouldn't have to face Melinda in the final round.

Troy

4) When it comes to looks and charisma she is a distant third to Blake and Jordin. The Melindas of the world beat the system when Fantasia and Taylor won.

http://entertainment.tv.yahoo.com/entnews/ap/20070517/117944742000.html

[Jerry Sizzler]

http://entertainment.tv.yahoo.com/entnews/ap/20070517/117944742000.html

Wait, wait, wait. That article says that Avril Lavigne is sexy, and then says that Kelly Clarkson isn't?

Eeeeeeeeeesh.

[LesJarvis]

I trust everyone enjoyed Jordin's coronation ceremony.

[txa1265]

Could they have tailored it to her anymore - instead of last year 'each one gets a song', they sing the same one, one that is made for Jordin to look good and Blake to look bad.

And the clips? Did they actually try to make sure they picked Blake's weakest points and Jordin's strongest?

Sheesh ... talk about ham-fisted ...

[Joel]

The end clip montage was weird, too, because when Jordin sang her last song she cried at the end, but in the clip of the same ending, she didn't, meaning they have recorded multiple versions of the song. Scandalous!

[txa1265]

The end clip montage was weird, too, because when Jordin sang her last song she cried at the end, but in the clip of the same ending, she didn't, meaning they have recorded multiple versions of the song. Scandalous!


I was wondering about that - my son said something last night about how you could hear it in her voice ...

[LesJarvis]

The final performance on the clip reel is always from the dress rehearsal, because they don't have time to edit the live performance in.

[fuzzyslug]

The finale pretty much went as expected. I always hate the goofy, overly dramatic song they choose for the end. It's always tailored to a very particular singing style, leaving little room for folks like Blake or Bo. It really does a disservice to the show. Oh, and the song continues to be awful. This is my now. Please help the vomit.

The only thing that bugged me is all the singing competition talk. I didn't see a number for the best singer in the competition. She got sent home last week.

[Joel]

The final performance on the clip reel is always from the dress rehearsal, because they don't have time to edit the live performance in.

Clearly the time for American Editor is nigh.

[Angrycoder]

Could they have tailored it to her anymore - instead of last year 'each one gets a song', they sing the same one, one that is made for Jordin to look good and Blake to look bad.

And the clips? Did they actually try to make sure they picked Blake's weakest points and Jordin's strongest?

Sheesh ... talk about ham-fisted ...

My girlfriend also pointed out that during the final song, the camera spent the majority of the time on Jordan's face, while Blake mostly had far away full body shots - making him appear more distant and lacking any emotion.

[Talisker]

My wife will be very annoyed this evening, as she once again said "I'm not going to pick a favorite this year, since they always lose in the end." And then she swooned for Blake, who reminded her of her teenage swoons for Howard Jones back in the day. We have yet to watch last night's ep on Tivo, though.

That said, Dialidol is making a very definitive prediction.

[Patrick]

Could they have tailored it to her anymore - instead of last year 'each one gets a song', they sing the same one, one that is made for Jordin to look good and Blake to look bad.

And the clips? Did they actually try to make sure they picked Blake's weakest points and Jordin's strongest?

Sheesh ... talk about ham-fisted ...

The only thing I can say is. Everytime they prop one person up it backfires on them. They went out of the way to say Jordin won, Which causes her fans to maybe not vote Because she has it in the bag and Blake's fans to get pissed off and vote more. I still think she is going to win but it would have been worse if they hadn't made such a big deal about her kicking his ass.

[txa1265]

My girlfriend also pointed out that during the final song, the camera spent the majority of the time on Jordan's face, while Blake mostly had far away full body shots - making him appear more distant and lacking any emotion.

Well that is double edged - Jordin is not a physical performer. Close ups work for her performing style, whereas Blake is all over the place and puts on a more visual show.

[Patrick]

Oh! And what was the deal with Chris? My Soon to be wife (18days) made the comment "Damn! He wears more makeup than I do."

[txa1265]

Oh! And what was the deal with Chris? My Soon to be wife (18days) made the comment "Damn! He wears more makeup than I do."

May have looked good from the crowd, but my wife made the same remark and then it was impossible to notice anything else!

[JeffL]

Well crap.

Melinda was by far the best singer in the competition, week after week after week. But she's knocked out.

Blake is by far the best entertainer and overall talent - I was reading an article last week where he was directing the band in rehearsals on one of his songs, "OK I want the guitar to lay back until this bar, then come in with a crunchy sound, the drum needs to be heavy through here" etc. But he was set up to fail with that song. It would have been as if they set up a hip-hop song and asked Jordin to improvise a beat-box.

[Patrick]

I think when they picked that song they thought it would be Melinda vs Jordin.

[txa1265]

I think when they picked that song they thought it would be Melinda vs Jordin.

I just think that they want whomever wins to be the type of person to make awful trite hackneyed crap like that sound good. Blake earned some esteem in my eyes for being unable to hide the fact that he didn't like the song.

[VegasRobb]

Sounds like Jordin has the chops to cut a Country themed album. She was definitely reaching out to the Carrie Underwood fans last night.

[SpoofyChop]

This is my Now is my all time least favorite shitty Idol winner's song ever.

[Wholly Schmidt]

Who won?

[Angrycoder]

***SPOILER**************













Curly McSasquach

[txa1265]

Some thoughts (we missed the first hour because my older son had a band concert - elementary & middle school)
- Sanjaya still sucks
- That "winning" song REALLY sucks
- None of the winners are up to doing the Beatles.

Blake is a nice guy and that came through, and Jordin is still such a young kid and *that* showed - I hope she can avoid getting screwed up by the machine she is now entering the belly of.

[fuzzyslug]

Damn Idol running over screwed the DVR pooch. I fast forwarded Bette Milder for that?

[Gary Whitta]

All I can say is, that Blake vs Doug E Fresh beatbox battle was THE SHIT.

See you all again in January!

[VegasRobb]

Except for the Golden Idol Awards, the finale was pretty good TV.

[Christien Murawski]

My wife comes running out to my office, frantic..."It cut off! The show cut off!"

"What?"

So I was about to post another rant about the idiocies of program timeshifting. Not that I care about American Idol (I've never watched it, and this is my first time in the thread), but I do care about the precious time it took me to track down the finale on YouTube tonight because our TiVo Season's Pass didn't catch the ending and I want peace to continue to reign in our household. That fucking timeshifting shit makes me want to get the rage virus and visit teevee executives (I'm looking at YOU, NBC!).

But, looking at the YouTube post...the show ran over between 6 and 7 minutes. On the Fox message boards people are saying 8 to 10 minutes.

8 to 10 minutes? Are you kidding me? Even 5 minutes over is asinine for a program like this that already has two hours of filler built into it. What is this, tv sports scheduling? That's no DVR/timeshifting screwup.

Seriously. Those of you in the know. Don't people have to lose their jobs over something like this? Or is it calculated?

I don't get it. Does television have a death wish?

Oh, for those of you that care or may be similarly in need:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6hIS3rCKR8

-Amanpour

[JeffL]

Man- that show sucked. There were SO many "can we please end this song" moments between the few cool ones. I wanted to kick the TV during Green Day's version of the Lennon song, it sounded like a stuck record and there was no emotional attachment to the African situation the way it was presented. I pulled for Taylor Hicks last year, but watching him last night reminded me of just how not a star he is. Clive Davis - my 15 year old daughter said "this is like in the academy awards when the accountant comes out and talks for 10 minutes about how the votes are put together."

One good fun part, though: Jordin and Rubin singing together. Rubin needs that gal to tour with him, she made him sound good! And I loved Lakisha and Melinda singing with Gladys Knight, my college age daughter commented "Look, they have them arranged from darkest complexion next to Gladys and then lighter and lighter out to the white girls on the end" LOL!

Jordin won, as expected, and although I was a huge Melinda fan, I'm more impressed with Jordin than I wanted to be. And Blake might actually have a nice career, potentially a superstar career if he hooks up with the right producers. He could easily do what Justin Timberlake does.

[SpoofyChop]

Carrie Underwood sings the beatles = bad

Taylor Hicks sings the beatles = my ears are bleeding

I'm glad it's over. Bleh.

[txa1265]

I wanted to kick the TV during Green Day's version of the Lennon song, it sounded like a stuck record and there was no emotional attachment to the African situation the way it was presented.
I agree - my kids (esp older son) are big Green Day fans, but they weren't rockin' to that one. The 10 seconds of *real* Lennon at the end were the best.
Green Day was clearly there for the cause, and not comfortable being on Idol.


I pulled for Taylor Hicks last year, but watching him last night reminded me of just how not a star he is.
A few weeks ago Yamin showed how much he had learned and grown in a year. Last night Taylor Hicks showed how much ... he hasn't.


Carrie Underwood sings the beatles = bad
Taylor Hicks sings the beatles = my ears are bleeding
You forgot Kelly Clarkson hopping up and down as if she is stomping on the good memories of Sgt Peper ...

[Gary Whitta]

For anyone who missed it, here once again is the greatest moment in the history of American Idol:

BLAKE LEWIS VS DOUG E FRESH - BEATBOXER'S DELIGHT

http://youtube.com/watch?v=BU107w2g0qc

[txa1265]

Thanks for that one - I had missed it ... definitely better than all of the crap I saw in the last hour!

[nixon66]

Dammnit, as I sit here at work I can hear "This is my now" a few cubes away on someones radio. That didn't take long, and it hasn't gotten any better.

[txa1265]

Dammnit, as I sit here at work I can hear "This is my now" a few cubes away on someones radio. That didn't take long, and it hasn't gotten any better.
That is definitely grounds to run over screaming, grab their radio and stomp up and down on it.

[Gary Whitta]

That song is everything that's wrong with American Idol. It really does indicate the kind of bland homogenized Disney Channel product they intend to come out of this show.

[JeffL]

That song is everything that's wrong with American Idol. It really does indicate the kind of bland homogenized Disney Channel product they intend to come out of this show.

And it's probably no coincidence that the song put a stake through Blake's chances. It would have been like giving Jordin, in the finals, the beat-box number that Blake did in the last show, as their last song of the show.

[Tyjenks]

Yeah, if he could have done that Doug E. Fresh number on the last night of competition, it woulda been more of a toss up, IMO.

Talk about musical acts that viewers are clueless about....I wonder how many folks had even heard of Doug E. Fresh much less knew who he was. Hey youngsters, popular rap music used to be relatively clean and fun and not about strippers. Hard to believe, huh?