'American Idol' Season 11 on FOX HD - Page 12

I find Steven Tyler unlikeable as a judge. He says the same thing EVERY TIME. Why is Jimmy unlikeable? Because he tells the truth? Oh god no, anything but that.

Joshua filled that last song with "Lusk-like" gymnastics.

As an aside, has anyone else mentioned that Jessica was on America's Got Talent at age 11?

http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=...ent&FORM=VDRE#

Yes, I've brought it up. She was the one name singer that people were already talking about before the first show of this season was even telecast. She obviously didn't need Idol's help to launch a professional music career.

seems like the judges pick out who should go home and dump on him/her while giving a pass.or praising everyone else to the heaven

Thank you, Heejun!

Maybe a Billy Joel expert can explain to me-why is "Vienna" more obscure than "Everybody Has a Dream" when both songs were on the same album, neither song was released as a single, and neither song was on a greatest hits compilation?

For me, Deandre, Hollie, Joshua and Heejun had the worst performances this week.

Colton was the best interpretation, with the girl who sang Vienna a close second.

Vienna was never a single, but it's definitely one of his biggest hits among fans and at his live shows. I hated Elise's version of it. Not many of the singers appeared to connect with the lyrics of any of the songs.

My two favorites are Hollie and Phillip. Phillip was the best of the night, but Hollie struggled with the verses. She was still better than most everyone else.

Heejun is Sanjaya, I guess. He's just a joke now. His performance reminded me of something out of the movie Good Morning Vietnam when Robin Williams would go into a bar and a little asian guy was singing English music with a big accent. Just awful.

Nah, nah, nah, nahna, nah, nah... Heejun.

Wow, I REALLY disagree with you. I thought Elise was one of the few who DID connect with the lyric, if fact I said something to that effect to my wife after she finished. I do agree that most of the others seem to have no concept of how to sing a lyric. I would put Hollie in that category. Phillip is Dave Matthews with bad posture. He's a one trick pony with limited vocal skills--it's a good trick, I'll grant you, but people will tire of it. Given where the music business is now, the singer with the best chance of success is...Colton.

And Skye...

It sounds like you are saying that "Vienna" is actually better known than "Everybody Has a Dream," which makes Iovine's harping on the obscurity of "Vienna" even more ridiculous considering he is not shown saying one contrary word to Jessica Sanchez about the obscurity of "Everybody Has a Dream."

Elise is the best singer on the show. Her performance of "Vienna" might not have met the standards of the Billy Joel version, but I think it worked. Unfortunately for Elise, she is on the wrong show. She should have tried out for X Factor or The Voice or even America's Got Talent instead. She is not American Idol material according to what we have seen that the voters like.

Hollie sucked all the soul out of the song. She is just doing karaoke out there.

Unlike Holllie, who failed miserably singing a very well known song, Jessica sang a song none of the voters would know. I suspect this was her intention, since she probably thought this would allow her to do her usual over-singing of a song without having to compare to the original. It didn't work for me. She doesn't connect with the song and she doesn't connect with the audience. Oh, and Diddy told her exactly what was wrong with her singing...criticism that she completely ignored.

The other singers aren't really worth commenting on. Typical American Idol fodder.

This Billy Joel edition of the show took us back to how the show used to be-a limited number of songs to choose from, and an unlikelihood that any of the contestants have already practiced one of the songs a hundred times before.

I agree with most of your assessment. I do think, however, that there's one singer in the bunch who has a shot at a career in the current pop music business, and that's Colton. He's got very commercial instincts, he's a better than average singer/player with the right look and sound. I'm not talking about success in the AI competition, that's a separate matter. I'm talking about a career in the business.

I have to say this was the best episode of Idol in a long time. When I heard it was Billy Joel week I moaned and thought of great, but they did an excellent job on the sounds and some of them really made it their own (i.e. Phillip), was really impressed.

I also moaned when I heard it was Diddy as a mentor and they were going to show Tommy dressing them. But you know what? It worked, Diddy did an excellent job and gave most great advice they used, and Tommy's make overs/clothes/hair changed really worked for most.

All in all I was really impressed. I want Colton, Phillip, and Jessica in the finals, they are they best for me.

Is it bothering anyone else that the entire show now appears to be almost entirely scripted? Any time Ryan asks Jlo or Steven a simple question, their eyes dart down to the desk in front of them looking for the right thing to say.

After listening to it again, I now think Elise's song was really good. The problem she has is demeanor. You gotta smile on Idol, even when they're putting you in the bottom 3.

As someone else said, Phillip better have more than just the Dave Matthews gimmick, because people are going to tire of it. And Hollie needs to stop doing ballad after ballad. Did she not see Pia go home last season?

I haven't checked Vote Foe The Worst, but I assume their choice is Heejun.

It doesn't bother me because I don't waste one second watching their comments. It doesn't surprise me that Steven is reading off of notes since he did the same thing last year, but I didn't know that J-Lo was doing the same thing.

Glad you agree with me about Elise. Also glad you agree with me about Phillip. Hollie's problem is not that she sings ballads. Hollie's problem is that she doesn't do anything with a song. Her vocal skills are limited, she really is like a good karaoke act. Contrast her with Elise where you hear seasoning and subtlety in her voice. You get none of that with Hollie. Maybe she'll develop those with time, but not in time for this show.

Elise and Sanchez are easily the best singers in the competition.

Elise probably won't go very far because teen girls seem to hate her for some reason, but that does not diminish the fact that the girl can blow. She is the only person in this group where I can imagine myself buy her/his album.

Heejun had a very very good week. His range is almost identical to Billy Joel and the song suited him very well. He is not going anywhere.

Hollie really really needs more vocal coaching. After a couple of years training, she can be an outstanding singer, but she has no idea how to control her instrument.

Could they have found a more boring stylist? Was Tim Gunn not available? That was awful. At least Philip had the good sense to dismiss all advice. Hollie dressed like the Celine Knockoff that she's trying to be. Not flattering to her at all.

I think a lot of the kids had problems connecting with the songs this week. Even the kids who sang it well seemed to be on autopilot.

The Good

Elise Testone: The song/theme really suited her voice. I thought it was one of her best performances of the season.

Colton Dixon: For the most part he did a straight cover of the song.

Heejun Han: Finally the personality he shows everywhere else came on stage with him. He does not need to do this every week, but at least he brought life to the show.

Phillip Phillips: He may end up being a singer who only really has one note, but the song worked for him. It is funny he ignored everything the mentors asked him to do this week. I agreed with Diddy, he ended up hiding behind the guitar during the performance.

The Auto Pilots

Joshua Ledet, Jessica Sanchez, and Hollie Cavanagh all seemed to be going through the numbers. Hollie ended on a sour note. I found the addition of the "choir" for Joshua unnecessary.

The OK

Erika Van Pelt and DeAndre Brackensick were unremarkable which may be a bad sign for Erika.

The A.I. Cardinal Sin

If you can not sing and walk at the same time don't even try it. Skylar tried it, and it she was not up to the task this week. Elise, managed to save her subpar transition to the main stage.

Whenever I see him perform I'm always reminded of Joe Cocker.

Tim Gunn does not have a clothing empire to promote.

I am guessing Hilfiger is paying pretty penny to be on the show.

I chock this up to the ridiculous amounts of oversinging that almost all of these AI contestants do. Other than a couple of exceptions, Billy Joel is the antithesis of oversinging so the oversinging by the contestants was painfully obvious this week.

Billy had big hits with those songs because he was actually living the lyrics instead of trying to see how many grace notes he could fit into the word "wait" every time it came around in the lyrics to Vienna they way Elise did.

But it seems that tons of grace notes, unnecessary runs and wailing at the top of their lungs impresses the judges and a lot of voters, so it seems they feel they have to do it.

I thought the disconnection was due to Billie Joel not really being relevant in today's music scene.

That's a good point, but I really think it says more about the lack of diversity in today's music scene than anything else. Just listen to commercial radio for 15 minutes, if you can stand to. All the girls sound the same. All the guys sound the same. They're all singing a similar song. No, Billy Joel would never fit the format today.

I love that voters (non-voters) sent Heejun a message that he can be funny all he wants, but he needs to take the singing more seriously. He deserved to go home more than Erika (she didnt deserve to go), but Deandra Makesmesick should have gone. He's just awful.

Fast forward was created for Lana Del Ray. Blech. Didn't enjoy Haley's song either, but damn that body. Too much faux tanner though. Looked like a gorgeous oompa loompa.

Jimmy's comments pretty much spot-on again except saying that Hollie's style looked good. Booo.

Iovine says she is the next Stevie Nicks.

Did anyone else notice after the country chick sang Shameless Randy asked if she was basing her version off of the Brad Paisley version. Brad Paisley never sang it. Skylar was like "Actually I was thinking of the Garth Brooks version" Randy was like, "Oh yeah, he sang it too". Uh no, you were just dead wrong. Not sure how you get those 2 confused.

No offense, but when I was a kid Billy Joel wasn't exactly in step with pop music at the time either. Some of his songs tend to skew toward Broadway if you sing them straight through.

Well, my point was, back then you could be a little out of step and there still was room for you on the charts. I don't see that in today's corporate radio, which seems to have very narrow musical boundaries.