AMERICAN IDOL: Official Ledge Thread

[TrueFaith77]

American Idol – Season 8
Semi-Finals: Wild Card Round

Tonight’s “Wild Card” round ended the epic battle for what a friend of mine called “fairness” and “justice” on American Idol. The “Wild Card” round features semi-finalists not voted into Top 12 (surprise: Top 13 -- yawn) positions who are given a second chance to get placed in the finals by the judges. Getting rather metaphysical, Simon last night declared that the evening would be all about “redemption.” How right he was. . .


The Good

Tatiana Del Toro – “Saving All My Love For You” -- It will stand in Official Idol history as one of the great mistakes: Tatiana repeated her semi-final song choice of “Saving All My Love For You.” Like Sanjaya Malakar’s producer-imposed selection of “Something To Talk About” on Country night, the decision smacks of foul play. After giving another beautiful rendition of the song and easily ranking as the best VOCAL of the night (notably stronger in the beginning portion, and the big notes EVEN sweeter), the judges tore into her for repeating her previous song. She rationalized the decision in three parts: 1) she couldn’t get clearance for another song in one day; 2) she couldn’t get clearance for a song AS GOOD in one day; and 3) if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. The judges rationalized their decision to cut her, despite being the night’s (the season’s) best female vocalist, by instituting the “no repeat” rule. But I smell something is afoot. I see a contestant backed into a corner and trying to make the best of it: trusting that better talent will win out. Today, E!Online quoted a backstage source who made it clear that the show had no intention of moving Tatiana onto the next round (Google it). What a strange coincidence that she was either a) forced to settle on a previous song by being given a more limited song list choice or b) was allowed to follow her fancy in repeating a song: despite the impact that would have on the show and on iTunes sales (honestly, I wanted a new Tatiana song to play on my iPod). In other words, she was encouraged to fail. But did she really fail? Was she WRONG?

No.

Unlike the other contestants, Tatiana did not have to redeem herself. The judges had to redeem the show, after the show’s unfair presentation of her to the public made it impossible for her talent to be gauged by the voting process. She gave THEM another chance. They failed. The image of Tatiana bowed down before the American Idol logo, with the four judges (the outward representatives of producer prerogatives), was almost unbearable because it revealed Tatiana’s great flaw: that she believes that “talent” will win out in the end (on Idol). It represented our last image of Tatiana on the show: after so many. We’ve seen a person who in good (misguided) faith opened herself and her enthusiasm to the camera. Many of us saw a person whose drive, talent, and spark proved catching – like a pop melody you can’t shake. While many others were turned off by how much she seemed to weigh the fate of her hopes and dreams on that of her fate on Idol. During the live semi-final portions of the show, Idol viewers witnessed the phenomenon of a person now hyper-conscious of Idol producer manipulation and construction of her presentation on TV. Her attempt to regain ownership and control of her own image was probably not successful in the way it was intended, but it did something more: it revealed the kernel of truth of her humanity. That provided the context for appreciating her superb rendering of the Whitney song. . . on both televised appearances. Do not mistake her final genuflection as being directed to false Idols; it was her final challenge to the audience, to the judges, to the show: to join her in bowing down to Truth.

Cut to commercial. . .

Von Smith – “Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word” -- :robbed! Paula summed up the judge’s criticism by pointing out that Von seems overly concerned with technical precision – which he achieves – rather than emotional connection. Some people might feel that you can’t have the second without achieving the first. Von and Tatiana simply creamed the competition with their vocals. Via his vocal precision, Von’s slow build in the song proved emotionally resonant.


The Bad

Matt Giraud – “Who’s Loving You” – The first half of this performance was “Good”-worthy; full of soul, feeling, and he perfects the growl Alex Wagner Trugman attempted two night’s ago. The second half: disaster. Simon Cowell rightly id’d that turn as one from Justin Timberlake to Taylor Hicks. Not a compliment.

Megan Corkrey – “Black Horse and the Cherry Tree” – She’s probably as evil as Duffy.

Jesse Langseth – “Tell Me Something Good” – I just don’t respond to her. My brother said she reminds him of Janeane Garofalo and that sums up why she grosses me out (“too cool for school” the judges call it) despite the fact that she’s probably a better singer than any of the girls who made it through in the Wild Card. Simon rubs salt in the wound by saying she was “close” . . . but that’s before he announces there were actually FOUR spots to be filled. . . predictably.


The U-G-L-Y (You Ain’t Got Not Alibi)

Anoop Desai – “My Prerogative” – The judges say this is BETTER than his rendition of the song in Hollywood Week. In which case, I would like to know the justification for his placement in the Top 36, much less in the Top 13. Yes, the big notes are very nice, but the rest of the song is what Simon would sometimes call a “mess” – and he’d be right. But no, this song-repeater gets the wet-tongue-bath as the show attempts to ride the Slumdog Millionaire hype. My truest hope is that Anoop is taking notes and will give the world the definitive anthropological take-down of Idol hegemony – and how the show is ruining the culture. I will have to re-watch to see if Anoop shared my disgust at the condescension apparent in his role as the dupe in the Top 13 fake out.

Ricky Braddy – “Superstition” – Totally karaoke, embarrassing dancing, completely indistinct vocals. A waste.

Jasmine Murray – “Reflection” – After her disastrous first-round semi-finals performance, this shows a contestant willing to play the game. She goes the Christina Auguilera ballad route. And every sound she emits is unpleasant and loud – but she’s playing the game, so the judges LOOOOVE her and she unsurprisingly makes it to the Top 13.

iTunes-worthy: I’ll buy the Tatiana to hear how she switched it up (I think she cut the verse Randy had dissed last time) – See, Idol, Tatiana is so amazing, I’ll buy two versions of the same song if she’s singing it! I’ll get the Von Smith, too.

[skcin]

^ Dude, you are so biased. You keep accusing people of unfairly bashing your darling Tati, yet you do the same to every other contestant. Even those who you begrudgingly admit did well go under the heading of "bad." You can't really truly believe that nobody else came close to being as good as you think she was - can you?

She f*cked up by picking the same BORING ass song as before. Bottom line. It was good, but not any better/different than her first performance. It was clear that SHE made that choice & wasn't pushed to do so by the producers or anyone else. If it didn't get her through the first time, why sing it again? Dumb move. She is a good singer (although I find her a bit generic), so she should have tried to show her versatility (considering she can sing anything, "world music" & all...)

LMAO when Paula asked when she "grew" her accent.

However, I agree that this Wild Card show was a bit ridiculous. I mean, most of us called it before seeing anyone perform. The judges obviously had their eye on the people that made it in from the get-go, and as long as they didn't totally f*ck it up, they were getting in no matter what. I do think that the people that got through truly put in very solid performances. It's not like they blew it & the judges picked them anyway. Whether or not their performances were better than those who didn't make it is pretty subjective.

Von is too showtune for this competition, IMO. I also felt he was off-key at the start of his song. I thought Jesse's song choice sucked, she didn't show much range. Ricky was forgettable.

And f*ck you Curtis, I like Anoop.

[ontheEdgeof17]

Originally Posted by skcin

And f*ck you Curtis, I like Anoop.

He'll make Top 5.

Here are my predictions now that the Top 13 has been named:

13/12 (double elimination, according to Paula): Michael/Jasmine
11: Jorge
10: Kris
9: Matt
8: Megan
7: Alexis
6: Allison
5: Anoop
4: Scott
3: Lil
2: Adam
1: Danny

[skcin]

^ I don't want to predict before I see performances, but I think Alexis & Allison may make it a bit farther than you think. Other than that, sounds about right.

[ontheEdgeof17]

Originally Posted by skcin

^ I don't want to predict before I see performances, but I think Alexis & Allison may make it a bit farther than you think. Other than that, sounds about right.

You think? I think Alexis is a little bland. Her whole get-up she has now is not her. I don't like how the judges told her to change her image and she came back with pink highlights? WTF? A 20 something mother with pink hair? Such a poser. She does have an interesting voice, though.

I see Allison losing hers. She doesn't have vocal control yet and she is going to practice and practice hitting higher notes and I think it will bite her in the butt.

oy. I'm too into this show. I need help.

[HejiraNYC]

Originally Posted by ontheEdgeof17

I see Allison losing hers. She doesn't have vocal control yet and she is going to practice and practice hitting higher notes and I think it will bite her in the butt.

I agree- it already sounds like there's a ganja farm growing in her alveolar sacs.

All it takes is one off-night to give her the boot. I think she lucked out with a good song choice (Heart's "Alone"), which gave her license to scream. But I don't think country 'n' western night will be so forgiving.

[TrueFaith77]

I hear it's Michael Jackson theme this week.

[skcin]

^ So Kanye will talk about what an influence MJ was on him?
Great.

They must have countless mentors/guests lined up this season to throw 2 pretty major stars in the same week.

Originally Posted by ontheEdgeof17

You think? I think Alexis is a little bland. Her whole get-up she has now is not her. I don't like how the judges told her to change her image and she came back with pink highlights? WTF? A 20 something mother with pink hair? Such a poser. She does have an interesting voice, though.

I see Allison losing hers. She doesn't have vocal control yet and she is going to practice and practice hitting higher notes and I think it will bite her in the butt.

oy. I'm too into this show. I need help.

I'm impressed by Alexis' voice, not her new look. We will see if she stays with the current image or not.

I don't know enough about singing to take a guess at Allison. My only hope is that the vocal coaching they receive will teach her some control. I'm a big fan of gravelly voices (in case you couldn't figure that out, lol.)

[ontheEdgeof17]

Originally Posted by skcin

I'm a big fan of gravelly voices (in case you couldn't figure that out, lol.)

ha!

Me, too girl. Me, too. Imperfection is perfection in my book.

I just wish they kept the format with 3 weeks of semi-finals. I think we would have a better feel of things. Who knows how bad/good these contestants really are?

....and is it me or is Scott not a good singer at all? Mediocre, at best. I don't see (no pun) the appeal.

[HejiraNYC]

I really hoped, in the most objective way possible, that Tatiana would be sent through. But I knew instantly that it was not meant to be. And this time I don't think it was necessarily the judges' faults- she has only herself to blame. For one thing, the sparkly dress that even Tina Turner would consider too garish. And, hulloh... cankles! And she really needed to do something, anything but that lame-ass song again, which, I might add, was not as good as the first time she sang it. But ultimately, despite her best of intentions, she unleashed the crazies last night; Girl was off her meds and in full-on manic mode. Like them or not, every single one of the other contestants conducted themselves professionally even though, in my opinion, it does not make very interesting television. But as much as I would have loved to see a full-on trainwreck make it through to the final 13, I really could not objectively see how the judges could have gotten away with it- the singing was bad, and her behavior was even worse. If she could have just reigned it in just a bit longer...

I think what is painfully apparent is that Simon has a h***-on for Megan Corkrey, which all of the bad singing and quirky outfits in the world could not deflate. She is very attractive- perhaps a bit of a deadringer for Carrie Underwood. But there is absolutely nothing there. Nothing. I wonder if he is so distracted by her assets that he cannot actually listen to how awful she is...

Jasmine Murray is the other one that has a strange, unjustifiable following among the judges. She is not a terrible singer. But she was horrendous last week and this week she was just a very low-rent version of Aguilera. Again, there is absolutely nothing there...

Anyway... I think AI really missed some plum opportunities to make the show interesting this season. It's going to be a dull season- wake me up after Dead Wife Danny wins.

[GoldDustOrphan]

Megan "Fang Face" Corkrey - ghastly singing, visible fangs that she should have shaved down, weird, awkward hip shaking and no chance in the music business unless she's a song-writer.

AnoopDesade - Revenge of the Nerds is not very vengeful. Did someone forget to tell him that every time he pinched at the shoulder of his sweater he looked like a D**che? And he's not a "brotha?"

13 is an unlucky number.

I hope this curses the show and props begins to fall on contestants, hydraulic lifts fails and contestants are only eliminated by death.

[skcin]

^ Seriously? Wow. I think that girl is stunning.

Originally Posted by HejiraNYC

I really hoped, in the most objective way possible, that Tatiana would be sent through. But I knew instantly that it was not meant to be. And this time I don't think it was necessarily the judges' faults- she has only herself to blame. For one thing, the sparkly dress that even Tina Turner would consider too garish. And, hulloh... cankles! And she really needed to do something, anything but that lame-ass song again, which, I might add, was not as good as the first time she sang it. But ultimately, despite her best of intentions, she unleashed the crazies last night; Girl was off her meds and in full-on manic mode. Like them or not, every single one of the other contestants conducted themselves professionally even though, in my opinion, it does not make very interesting television. But as much as I would have loved to see a full-on trainwreck make it through to the final 13, I really could not objectively see how the judges could have gotten away with it- the singing was bad, and her behavior was even worse. If she could have just reigned it in just a bit longer...

I think what is painfully apparent is that Simon has a h***-on for Megan Corkrey, which all of the bad singing and quirky outfits in the world could not deflate. She is very attractive- perhaps a bit of a deadringer for Carrie Underwood. But there is absolutely nothing there. Nothing. I wonder if he is so distracted by her assets that he cannot actually listen to how awful she is...

Jasmine Murray is the other one that has a strange, unjustifiable following among the judges. She is not a terrible singer. But she was horrendous last week and this week she was just a very low-rent version of Aguilera. Again, there is absolutely nothing there...

Anyway... I think AI really missed some plum opportunities to make the show interesting this season. It's going to be a dull season- wake me up after Dead Wife Danny wins.

ITA with your comments on Tatiana. If I thought she deserved it, I'd put aside my feelings about her look & her actions & everything else, but she didn't.

Yes, it is obvious that Simon loves Megan (he usually goes for brunettes, though, hmmmm.....) But I disagree about there being nothing special there - I definitely heard something original & cool & quirky in her voice. Fiona Apple-ish - I'm telling you.

Jasmine bores me. She can leave any time. yes, she did well, but I don't think SHE's anything special.

And you know damn well you're glutton for punishment like the rest of us & you'll watch it every week.