Any American Idol fans?

I've been saying for a number of weeks that the cadre of contestants on this season's American Idol competition is really good. A couple of individuals have been skating along, but the overall talent is really good and the skaters are slowly being weeded out. It's interesting that song choice seems to make a big difference with the judges and, apparently, with the viewing/voting audience.

At this point, I can't predict who the eventual winner will be. The judges had all but given up on Kristy, but she blew them away with her rendition of Lee Greenwood's 'Proud to be an American' last week; That song helped kick her performance up a couple of notches. I understand that Lee Greenwood called the show afterwards and voiced his approval of her performance.

Heh, Tom I don't know why but I wouldn't have picked you as an AI fan.    I'm on-again, off-again with the show.  The wife and I watched it pretty steady this season through Hollywood and the first couple "big stage" rounds.  I've missed the last two weeks but have been keeping up on who's still in competition.  I probably pick up on it again when 6 or so folks are left.

Who's your favorite performer of past seasons?  Although I'd say Carrie Underwood is the undisputed most-successful winner of all the shows so far, I find it quite interesting how many non-winners have ended up becoming quite popular also (in their respective genre's).

scottydl said:

Although I'd say Carrie Underwood is the undisputed most-successful winner of all the shows so far, I find it quite interesting how many non-winners have ended up becoming quite popular also (in their respective genre's).

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Maybe the most successful winner but some of the non-winners have been more successful (Jennifer Hudson with an Oscar and Daughtry come to mind).

This year, I like Jason but I'm sure he won't win. I really don't like David Archuletta but the judges love him. I really liked Amanda and she's gone so what do I know?

Wendy
Cocopah Casino, Yuma, AZ

Wendy,

You and I must have very different tastes in music and performers. I spotted David Archuleta from day 1, along with Ramiele Malubay.

Jason Castro has a very limited range and tries to coast by; IMO he's the next one to be eliminated and should have gone sooner.

Carly Smithson has an incredible voice and a wide range, but I think her tattoos are a turnoff for folks. (She looked kinda silly in the red blouse and tattoos all down her right arm.)

Amanda Overmyer was limited and dug her grave when she started saying "folks will pay to hear my s---".

Brooke White is probably the most all-round talented individual.

David Cook is a natural, but more of a pop/rock type.

Michael Johns is the dark horse.

Syesha Mercado is really good, and one I voted for at least once.

Kristy Lee Cook is not in the top 3, but I didn't write her off when the judges did. She definitely went up in my estimation with that Lee Greenwood song.

Too bad that Chikezie was voted off, but that was obviously due to his choice of song.

David Hernandez was a loser, in the same category as Jason.

Scott,

I love music and especially love to listen to good singers.

Who's your favorite performer of past seasons?

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I must admit that I haven't watched much of AI prior to this season. My son got me fascinated when that oriental guy who couldn't sing a note was on; Chicken Little is what they called him, but I don't recall his name. But I tuned out after a couple of weeks.

BTW here's the contestant lineup.

Tom

It must your heritage.  Music courses through the veins of all Welshmen.  I bet you sang in a male voice choir at sometime?  I did, for several years.  It was superb fun and great cameraderie.  We sang in a variety of venues and competitions in and around Wales, beating out our welsh counterparts in at least one tournament.  The missus and I both watch the show avidly and have done so for all the previous seasons.  I don't think we have missed more than a couple of weeks in 6? years.  We even plan our camping trips around campsites where we have cable and/or good TV reception during the A.I. season.

Don't write Jason off just yet, he has a tremendous fan base.  My young 14 year old female neighbor said all the girls at her school vote for him.  On one survey I read ,  13 - 17 year olds send in 60% of the vote and 73% of those are female.  David has the 'younger' (appealing to pre-teens) and 'older' (our age) voters.  I'm with you about the tt on Carly's arm.  She is a tremendous talent, but the tt is off-putting to me.  It's a small thing and shouldn't take away from her ability, but at the same time it wouldn't hurt to cover it up once in a while.  IMO David Cook is emerging as the one to beat, almost re-visiting Daughtry, except for his early (and shocking) elimination last season.  Christy's fan base - being the one and only country singer is also huge.  Country music is the single most popular music genre with a vast audience.  Millions of people in the U.S. - especially mid-west states listen to nothing else.  She gets their vote. I agree, she knocked it out of the park this past week.  Cowel's opinion and comments were right on the money.  Brooke is a phenominal talent appears to be a really genuinely nice person.  She is the only one of the group I would pay money to see in concert, but I don't see her winning.  IMO it will be down to Carly Vs Michael Johns or David Cook, but all of the final nine are good enough to have been in the final two of previous years. 

Carrie Underwood has, by far, been the most successful and rightly deserves her success.  Cowell was correct with his predictions about her also, stating in her audition round, that she would be the most successful artist in A.I. history.  I'm pretty sure he  gets a percentage of her earnings for ten years (as with other contestants, not just the winners).  Not a bad IRA...

BT

BT,

I think you have the "top 3" AI finalists right, although it's tough to admit that Brooke won't be among them. Understand what you say about Jason; He's obviously got the teeny boppers swooning, but not because of his singing.

Singing is definitely in the veins of Taffs, and I'm sure the singing in chapel 3 times each Sunday helped. Some of the best singing I've heard, outside of a formal choir setting, was at my Dad's funeral. Several members of the local choir were among the large number of friends who turned up. Dad loved Welsh hymn singing, and I had chosen several Welsh hymns in addition to an English one for the non-Welsh speaking family members. The street was crowded when they sang the traditional hymn outside the house. The crematorium was packed to overflowing that day, and the congregation blew the roof off. Friends of mine who had been active in choirs told me they hadn't heard singing like that in a long time.

I recall one of my parents' first visits to California in 1981. We took them to Reno one weekend on a chartered bus trip with co-workers. Hwy 80 was shut down over Donner Pass due to snow and we were stuck on the bus for 9 hours. Dad came up with the idea of the two of us singing to help pass the time away. Folks still tell me they remember being entertained on the bus.

Buddy Tott said:

Cowell was correct with his predictions about her also, stating in her audition round, that she would be the most successful artist in A.I. history.  I'm pretty sure he  gets a percentage of her earnings for ten years (as with other contestants, not just the winners).

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Would that be Simon Cowell (the judge) that gets a percentage, or Simon Fuller (the creator of the show)?  I didn't realize until recently that they were two different people... I thought Cowell WAS Fuller.  Then this past year, I noticed all the previous contestants (Underwood, Daughtry) started thanking Simon Fuller in their music award acceptance speeches.  Fuller gets much less recognition than Cowell.  Simon Cowell certainly seems to have a controlling role in the show, but I'm wondering how much of that goes beyond being a TV judge.  I guess if he is involved in the recording process post-show, then there certainly would be royalties coming his way.

Some facts on Simon Cowell.

Scott, like you, I thought Cowell had brought the show to the U.S., until I started reading the on-screen credits recently.

Interesting comments/observations from Cowell on this season's competition here.

I finally remembered his name and found the video of William Hung's career-changing American Idol audition.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zcc8dTqflh8

My wife and I only started last season as regular wathers of the show.  We did kind of check out the finalists in years past, an some have soared into obscurity.  That big guy, can't think of his name, disappeared, the guy from last year?  Year before?  Haven't heard from him.

This year he final 10 all seem to have real performing experience.  Didn't Carly have a recording contract?  Same with Cook?  Archeletta won Star Search I heard.  I had thought backgrounds like that kept them out of the competition.  Guess not.

I suppose my favorite is Christy. 

David A is a strong singer, especially for his age, but I find him hard to believe as a star type.  Not that it isn't a bad thing.

Bill,

I'm not familiar with the rules. But IIRC David Cook sings/plays guitar professionally (semi-pro?)  in a group.

A future winner (?) This young lady made it to the final of the Britain's Got Talent competition (their equivalent of AI). Simon's comments at the end were interesting. She was beaten in the final by Paul Potts, the opera singer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QWNoiVrJDsE&feature=related

The DW watches the show, I dont much care for it.    But we do root for the home folks.  David Archuletta is one of those home folks.  LOL  The high school kids across the state are voting for him.  I did enjoy his birthday song last week and it saddened me that Simon did not care for it since it was not a major hit song from that time frame. 

No!

None here either. ;D ;D

So why bother to respond  ???

Some of us like music and appreciate good musicians/singers. Sorry if others aren't so culturally inclined, but we don't throw a wet blanket on the stuff that turns you on 

Frankly we do enjoy music from classical to country and a lot in between but we don't really like all that is on that show while there is some that is very good and some very good talent there is some that pretty bad.  But again personal choices, likes and dislikes. Not throwing any wet blankets just responding to the subject. ;D ;D ;D