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'American Idol' Season 11 on FOX HD

48K views 968 replies 75 participants last post by  jandron 
#1 ·
#652 ·
Sorry to say the show has jumped the shark for my wife and I....loyal viewers from season 1 until "Queen" week this season.


I told my wife a couple weeks ago I wouldn't be watching next season and I figured she (being a more devoted fan of AI than me) would want to see this season through.


This weekend going through our DVR recorded list she said "delete all the AI's - I don't care who wins any more". I guess it was a good run, but for the reasons others have already stated (bad judging (except for Jim I.), bad song selections, etc) it's over.
 
#654 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by Jarod M /forum/post/0


Back then it was a lot more difficult for country singers on the show. As for Kellie Pickler, she was a VERY raw talent at the beginning of the show. Just watch the following 9 minute 51 second edit of all of her AI performances . Not that great in the first few songs. But she really took off beginning with "Walkin' After Midnight." And who would have thought that she could pull off "Bohemian Rhapsody?" I would certainly rather hear her sing it than hear another soulless effort from Jessica Sanchez. That being said, at the time Season 5 originally aired I didn't think Pickler was all that great either. That is because her competition was so good.

This lacking of soul, feeling, etc ... about Jessica is just something being subtly pushed by the judges and people who don't care for her type of melodic singing in tune, etc ... I guess it is subjective, but I am a very big country fan. Kellie Pickler is certainly not what she was when she first came on AI. I listened to every one of her performances that year. She just couldn't hold a tune. That is, her pitch was all over the map. She sounds good now though.


Anyway, I do understand that many people find that Jessica sings without emotion. I don't. Then again I am not a big blues or rock type. I don't particularly care for over the top runs along the Joshua or Adam Lambert or that rock guy they had singing from last year with his band. I simply dislike non-melodic music. Always have. It's kind of like people who liked the Beatles who didn't like the Rolling Stones (not to say they didn't have great songs). Of the remaining 4 only 3 can sing as far as I can tell. Haven't heard many original Phillip songs so I don't know if he is a good songwriter. All I know is he has very limited vocal capabilities and yet he will probably win. I guess that should be comforting to Bob Dylan type poets. No vocal ability required. Perhaps they can have Leonard Cohen give a master vocal class.


They don't have many songs to choose from but if I were Jessica I would pick the two hardest well known vocal pieces available and go for broke ( even if both are ballad like). The California Dreaming theme may make that hard to do.


I would like to see Joshua and the two girls as the top three and a Jessica vs Joshua finale, but I don't think it will happen.


I don't know what to make of Hollie as she now seems different than all her previous performances. She seems very capable though.


Philip
 
#655 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by skyehill /forum/post/0



Jessica's the most unremarkable "best singer in America" I've heard in a long time. Rachel was good for a 14 year old. I wouldnt compare her best performance to the best Idol/Voice performances. She's a cute kid, but she's not a great singer. Yet.

Rachel sang a totally inappropriate Etta James song (very well though) but was otherwise unappealing to me. Jessica is a truly talented singer at the level of Celine Dion in her teens. In fact I prefer Jessica to Celine, even though I really like Celine Dion.


Philip
 
#656 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by pmcd /forum/post/22000104


Rachel sang a totally inappropriate Etta James song (very well though) but was otherwise unappealing to me. Jessica is a truly talented singer at the level of Celine Dion in her teens. In fact I prefer Jessica to Celine, even though I really like Celine Dion.


Philip

And where do you rank Pia on that scale?


Jessica has performed some of the songs very poorly. Are you just ignoring those performances? The great singers are consistently good, even on songs that don't match their voice the best.
 
#657 ·
As a singer, Pia was a hot chick.


She was good and maybe even consistently good, but she wasn't outstanding apart from maybe a performance or two. That's what I remember about her, anyway. Unless you meant Pia Zadora.
 
#658 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by pmcd /forum/post/22000069


This lacking of soul, feeling, etc ... about Jessica is just something being subtly pushed by the judges and people who don't care for her type of melodic singing in tune, etc ... I guess it is subjective, but I am a very big country fan. Kellie Pickler is certainly not what she was when she first came on AI. I listened to every one of her performances that year. She just couldn't hold a tune. That is, her pitch was all over the map. She sounds good now though.


Anyway, I do understand that many people find that Jessica sings without emotion. I don't. Then again I am not a big blues or rock type. I don't particularly care for over the top runs along the Joshua or Adam Lambert or that rock guy they had singing from last year with his band. I simply dislike non-melodic music. Always have. It's kind of like people who liked the Beatles who didn't like the Rolling Stones (not to say they didn't have great songs). Of the remaining 4 only 3 can sing as far as I can tell. Haven't heard many original Phillip songs so I don't know if he is a good songwriter. All I know is he has very limited vocal capabilities and yet he will probably win. I guess that should be comforting to Bob Dylan type poets. No vocal ability required. Perhaps they can have Leonard Cohen give a master vocal class.


They don't have many songs to choose from but if I were Jessica I would pick the two hardest well known vocal pieces available and go for broke ( even if both are ballad like). The California Dreaming theme may make that hard to do.


I would like to see Joshua and the two girls as the top three and a Jessica vs Joshua finale, but I don't think it will happen.


I don't know what to make of Hollie as she now seems different than all her previous performances. She seems very capable though.


Philip

For what it's worth (and off the subject), I absolutely am a huge Leonard Cohen fan.
 
#659 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by Jarod M /forum/post/0


And where do you rank Pia on that scale?


Jessica has performed some of the songs very poorly. Are you just ignoring those performances? The great singers are consistently good, even on songs that don't match their voice the best.

Pia was excellent. I really liked her. Unfortunately she was voted off really early and couldn't be saved as they had already saved Casey who seemed to me to be a really talented person far above Phillip. For the life of me I couldn't understand that. I have to say I do prefer Jessica over Pia but it is a bit harder to compare as Pia is older.


Jessica has indeed performed song choices that I didn't like. Proud Mary, for example, is one of those despicable pieces that actually hides a person's ability to sing. Most of these few chord songs are things she should stay away from. Proud Mary was a low point. I have also noticed that she wasn't great in group pieces. No one is perfect but to me she is far better than anyone up there.


Great singers can have a bad night. Michael Buble on AI a few years ago, when he filled in for Tony Bennet , sounded drunk.


Everyone has different tastes. It is pop music and so there are elements that are hard to classify. The remaining 4 are very talented and 3 of them can actually sing well. I guess I just have to accept that AI is not a singing competition. As I have said, the real people who should go are the judges except for Jimmy.


Philip
 
#661 ·
Where is Tom Waits when you need him .. ??


And calling "Proud Mary" despicable is despicable in and of itself .. John Fogerty would wax anyone on this season, hands down .. and at his age ..
 
#662 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by CruelInventions /forum/post/22003382


As a singer, Pia was a hot chick.


She was good and maybe even consistently good, but she wasn't outstanding apart from maybe a performance or two. That's what I remember about her, anyway. Unless you meant Pia Zadora.

Pia can sing. Pia can't perform though, and that's why she left so soon. Week-in and week-out she showed up, nailed herself to one spot on the stage, and sang well. There's thousands of singers currently singing backup or in coffee houses that can do that.
 
#663 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by skyehill /forum/post/22004111


Pia can sing. Pia can't perform though, and that's why she left so soon. Week-in and week-out she showed up, nailed herself to one spot on the stage, and sang well. There's thousands of singers currently singing backup or in coffee houses that can do that.

Lack of charisma has killed more performers than anything else .. and made mediocre performers super-stars .. and it's not really about moving around and what not .. it's that secret ingredient you just can't fake ..
 
#664 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by mgkdragn /forum/post/22004159


Lack of charisma has killed more performers than anything else .. and made mediocre performers super-stars .. and it's not really about moving around and what not .. it's that secret ingredient you just can't fake ..

I thought Phillip had that until last week. Wonder what happened. Hope he gets his mojo back even tho I don't think he's as good a singer as the others. He was fun to watch.
 
#665 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by Candlecat /forum/post/22004513


I thought Phillip had that until last week. Wonder what happened. Hope he gets his mojo back even tho I don't think he's as good a singer as the others. He was fun to watch.

On a couple of occasions he didn't appear in the Ford advertisement. I'm assuming that when Jimmy keeps saying Phillip is sick, he means it. I'm willing to cut him some slack for last week, but I still think it's a crime that he was the worst by far but didnt make the bottom 2.
 
#666 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by Candlecat /forum/post/22004513


I thought Phillip had that until last week. Wonder what happened. Hope he gets his mojo back even tho I don't think he's as good a singer as the others. He was fun to watch.

His second song was darned good tonight. Everyone's first song sucked. Everyone but Hollie delivered on their second songs. The group number and duets were horrible, too.


I was one of Hollie's biggest fans, but I'll join the chorus saying it's time for her to come back to Texas.


Jessica almost--almost had some soul with her last song. She should've gotten a bit more inspiration from Joshua. His rendition of "Man's World" is how you put some stank on a song.


I would even purchase Philip's rendition of "Volcano." It was nice to get some train wrecks plus some good singing tonight.


An Idol episode I actually enjoyed? Wow!
 
#667 ·
OK, Skye, you gotta admit that Phillip was awesome on Volcano tonight. Perfect song for his voice. That girl singer and cellist with him were perfect as well. I thought it the best of the night.

Joshua nailed It's a Man's World although he just isn't my cup of tea. I thought he was fantastic on that one. Not so much on You Lift Me Up.

Hollie was good on her first song but sadly didn't connect on her second song. You could see it in her face that she knew it wasn't there and I felt so bad for her.

Jessica did pretty well til she over sang I'm Telling You. Yipes. Re: her first song - Call me old fashioned but a 16 year old singing a smoky bar song hits me as just wrong.

I think either Jessica or Hollie is going home.
 
#668 ·
I'll be buying Phillip's rendition of Volcano off iTunes when it gets put up. It was that good. Probably the best performance of the season.


Jessica lacks soul, but fortunately for her Hollie was worse on the 2nd song. Hollie was infinitely better than her on the duet, but I doubt voters take the duets seriously. Joshua lost me completely on both songs. All he did was remind me of how great Juliet on The Voice sang Man's World.
 
#669 ·
Really good show. Didn't care for the duets and the first songs were alright, but Hollie was better there. The 2nd songs, except for Hollie, we're really good. Phillip gave a really good performance of Volcano. Jessica was just fantastic and, even though I can't stand 3 chord blues, Joshua was excellent. I was really impressed with Phillip although I still feel he has a very limited vocal ability. He was really good tonight. What a difference with last week. I hope Joshua, Jessica and Phillip make the final 3 but at this point things are hard to predict. I still feel that Jessica and, to a slightly lessor extent, Joshua are way above the other two but I have to admit they all did really well. Be interesting to see what happens.


Philip
 
#671 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by mgkdragn /forum/post/22004044


Where is Tom Waits when you need him .. ??


And calling "Proud Mary" despicable is despicable in and of itself .. John Fogerty would wax anyone on this season, hands down .. and at his age ..


Well there comes a time when trivial harmony finally gets to you. We aren't talking about George Benson, Lenny Breau and many others who dare to stray beyond 3-chord songs. "Proud Mary" had its time. Nice rhythm and feel to it. Musically uninteresting and something which hides rather than showcases a person's abilities. You couldn't pay me enough to listen to it, by any singer.


I get that pop music doesn't require musical virtuosity, but there are limits to how low it should be. Since pop music is very subjective you have to understand that some people don't care for the category of songs that Proud Mary falls into. Geez, if it had interesting lyrics that might redeem it but ...


Odd as there aren't too many songs that annoy me. That just happens to be one and my favourite singer on the show had to pick it....


philip
 
#672 ·
Yeah this is definitely my last season if they don't replace jlo. Steven Tyler has been getting on my nerves too. I feel AI is getting a bit cheesy with performances,mgroup singing and duets.


Last night sucked too. My wife did more skipping across the dvr then a rock skipping across water.


I bet Hollie gets sent home. Judges and producers have a funny way of skewingmth votes toward the end anyways. Remember in season 7 or 8 where that hot Irish chick was voted off? She clearly was the best singer and a major threat.. However, the hate train started on her too.
 
#673 ·
This is the first time I've said this all season, but I thought Phillip was great, especially on Volcano. And, Joshua blew me away with It's a Man's World. That was one of the best (or maybe THE best) performance ever on American Idol.


Sorry, Hollie, we'll miss you because I fear you'll be heading home tonight.
 
#674 ·
Last night:


Phillip - Good on the first song, great on the second song. Better than Joshua on the duet, which is surprising to me since he's terrible at high notes and all Adam Levine sings is high notes. They adjusted the song perfectly for his voice. Listening to Joshua on the iTunes pre-recorded version hurts my ears.


Hollie - She hung on longer than most people though she would, but it's time to go now. She bored me on Faithfully, and then bored me again on her second song. Judges praised her first boring performance and then nailed her on the other, as if there was a huge difference. She's the lamb they're constantly trying to sacrifice.


Joshua - Sang two songs I like and ruined them both with his need to add a litany of non-musical sounds. Just concentrate on singing the songs well. Jeez.


Jessica - first song was laughably unbelievable and fake. She's 16. Someone needs to be giving her better advice. She can't pull a mature song like that off. Her second song was like someone took Whitney and Jennifer Hudson, blended them up, and then strained all the soul out of what was left. She's like a little singing robot. By the numbers, no soul, a dash of Beyonce imitation here and there. Yawn.


Jessica got destroyed by Hollie on the duet, but neither were great.


Here's Juliet singing Man's World on The Voice a couple weeks ago. In my opinion, she completely blows Joshua out of the water.



 
#675 ·
It's nice to know I'm not the only one who finds Jessica fake. A singing robot is a great analogy. People wanted a replacement for someone who can take songs written by actual artists, then sing them (aka, whitney houston) , Jessica is that person. Down here we see tons of signs "vote for Jessica", it's sickening.


I've been rooting for Phillip all along... I hope he wins it. We will see tonight.
 
#676 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by Venomous /forum/post/22007328


It's nice to know I'm not the only one who finds Jessica fake. A singing robot is a great analogy. People wanted a replacement for someone who can take songs written by actual artists, then sing them (aka, whitney houston) , Jessica is that person. Down here we see tons of signs "vote for Jessica", it's sickening.


I've been rooting for Phillip all along... I hope he wins it. We will see tonight.

Whoa, Venomous, let's bring it down a notch here! I am not a Jessica fan either, but just because some people like her it is far from 'sickening'. What did she do, kick your puppy?



I think Jessica's biggest problem is that she is obviously a very good mimic, in addition to having a decent voice. She probably doesn't realize she does it, but everything she does is an impersonation of Beyonce/Whitney/Mariah/whomever. Jessica has been doing it so long I don't think she really knows who SHE is anymore. I think it would be an excellent exercise for her to sing some original tunes so that she can try and just be herself for a change. It would go a long way to making her a decent artist, because she does have a good voice.
 
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