Monday, September 28, 2009

American Idol Season 8: Fall from (or for) Grace

Note: This is an old post from my Multiply site last March 19, 2009.

It was just last season when I started watching American Idol (although technically, I watched parts of it in Carrie Underwood’s season as well) and since the outcome was superb, I really made it to a point to watch it this season. I missed out the very first episode where they featured bikini girl, Katrina Darrell, but unlike last season, I am able to follow American Idol from auditions to the finals this year. The auditions were obviously funny. However, there was no sign of favourites then. Maybe, Casey Carlson because she was pretty and she was sizzling hot in a bikini when it was shown on TMZ but seriously, none yet.

Hollywood Week was good. There was the ongoing drama of bikini girl’s group and the annoying fight of the group of this season’s most colorful gay. Aside from waiting to listen to Simon’s exaggerated comments, I was also focused on Kara’s in-your-face remarks. She can really be a bitch but that is what I like about her other than her being hot and sexy...

...OK, let’s stop at here for a moment. This is starting to be wordy and boring. Simon will call me self-indulgent for writing all these blah-blah for an introduction...

Let us get straight to the point. The auditions and Hollywood Week were more for entertaining purposes for me. If there were people who struck me, that would be Von Smith’s shout er, singing of Somewhere Over the Rainbow. The other auditions I can remember were those of Danny’s, Casey’s, Tatiana’s, Norman’s and Allison’s. There was only one artist who stood out (or had a lot of airtime) during the Hollywood Week and that would be Danny Gokey. Other than that, it was me wishing that Nathan, the gay, would get eliminated. Unfortunately, he was talented to reach the Top 36. Or, having a fun time watching Norman Gentle.

American Idol’s Semi-Finals. Top 36. Batch One. This was very interesting because of familiar faces like Danny Gokey, Casey Carlson, Michael Sarver, and Jackie Tohn. Unfortunately, I was not able to watch it. It was just Elimination Night that I got to watch. I can still remember how frustrated I was when I saw that there were just three stools for this remarkable group of twelve. Casey got booted out early on, thus adding to my disappointment. Then, it was the turn of a petite blonde girl with pink streaks. She appeared to just be normal. I did not wished her to enter because there might be other eye candies out there. But, she was chosen and she got the first stool! Damn! One less stool for a hot girl. The blonde girl started to sing Aretha Franklin’s I Never Loved A Man. I must admit this girl has got some confidence and moves. She also got some nice looks. She started hitting the high notes and in a matter of seconds she was exploding of musical goodness. “Forget about my regrets. She truly deserved it.” It was actually an understatement because I suddenly appreciated an Aretha Franklin song whereas I never even bothered to listen to any of it when I was riding a plane before. Ladies and gentlemen! Alexis Grace! The rest of the night went on. The drill guy went in. And as expected, Danny Gokey ended the show taking the last stool with his excellent rendition of Hero.

In a matter of an hour, I suddenly found a special talent in the competition. If there is no pretty girl who is talented, I will surely root for Alexis. Anyway, I always rooted for girls in American Idol. I liked Carrie Underwood when she won. I was rooting for Brooke White until she got eliminated last year making me root for the best talent – David Cook.

That’s just one batch anyway. There are other pretty singers in the competition. Kendall Beard looks a whole lot prettier. Megan Joy Corkrey is photogenic. I was able to watch the Second Batch and I must admit, Allison Iraheta blasted me when she sang Alone. She was my early pick to be part of the finals because I was familiar of her in the auditions so I was glad. Better than Alexis? Allison’s Alone was amazing but she was too raspy at the chorus parts. Something felt weird but still I picked her as my favorite. The night’s stunner was Adam Lambert. My friend mentioned to me that Adam was his pick because of his talent even if he is gay. Adam sang Satisfaction and it was great. Whoa! Moment in there. The scream in the end was awesome. This guy is for real in this competition.

Batch Two Winners? Adam Lambert, Allison Iraheta and Kris Allen (WTF?! It should have been Mishavonna Henson)

Batch Three. Kendall Beard time. I was not able to watch the performances but I downloaded it because I wanted to see Kendall for the last time. I think she did good on a Martina McBride rendition but I would still choose Alexis over her, music-wise. The third batch actually had a great performance overall but I was not sold on the winners. Pimp spot singer Lil Rounds was great but I did not see anything special from her. Anyway, I am not into R&B. Scott was just OK. I think he got a lot of sympathy votes but kudos to him for his courage to take up the big stage. Jorge fascinated the crowd but not me. I am not into his music as well. Actually, it is not about I am not into someone’s music – it is how they pull it off and impress me that matters to me. The main reason I chose the blonde girl to be my favourite was because she pulled off an excellent rendition of a song I will not dare listen to before.

As for the Third Batch, I think Von Smith and Kristen MacNamara stole the show. They were just not that pimped up well. Nice performances by Kendall Beard and Felicia Barton.

The Wild Card Night was the most disappointing show for me. Von pretty much eliminated himself. Ricky Braddy should have entered instead of Matt Giraud or Jasmine Murray. Megan was not impressive after all. Only Anoop deserved the spot and I even hated the guts of this guy.

American Idol Season 8 Finals. Thirteen Contestants. Thirteen Comments. Here we go.

Adam Lambert. He has the best pure talent in this competition. He is really on a league of his own. He is a bisexual? Yes, and so was Freddie Mercury. I just could not help but appreciate his talent of singing (and screaming). As long as he does not act annoyingly gay, that is fine with me. In my opinion, he is the only contestant up to the present time who has no subpar performance and all were either the top one or two of the night. Nice screaming in Black or White. He upped the ante in Ring of Fire by taking a very high risk. I always agree with Simon’s comments but not on this one. That performance was artistically brilliant. But pop-wise, it was kaput. I will understand you if you did not like it. For me, it was shades of Mars Volta in there.

Danny Gokey. The primary frontrunner of this competition. He will most probably win it as well because Adam is a love it-hate it guy. Danny, with his sad story, gets the sympathy of a lot. He is a likable person as well. He also got a lot of airtime. Anyway, he is talented to be featured. His vocals are great and soothing. It is just that I do not think he will sell a lot records. I will make a bold prediction: Adam Lambert’s records will outsell Danny Gokey’s records even if the latter goes to be the champ.

Jasmine Murray. (Eliminated) All I can say is that she already had too many chances. She was awful in the 2nd Batch. She was forgettable in the Wild Card Round. Her pitch was annoying in the Top 13. No wonder she got eliminated easily. But at least she did her best. I just hate it when she goes off pitch before hitting the high notes.

Megan Joy Corkrey. This year’s version of Kristy Lee Cook? Probably. But Kristy was prettier. I think Megan is unique. Her voice is so distinct that it makes people easily identify her. She has some pitch problems though. I thought she was great in the Second Batch but she was not notable (if it was, it was in a bad way) from then on. Her “Caw! Caw!” was horrible in Michael Jackson night. But there are some things I am sure of: she attracts a lot of males; she has found her niche; and she will stay longer than people are expecting her to.

Matt Giraud. Oh, the guy who slaughtered Viva La Vida. I was not impressed to this guy in his early performances. He redeemed himself in the finals though. He was second to the last and the last to perform so far (there is a bit of bias in the pimping there). I have to admit that his vocals are so clear. He has been excellent with the piano and I think his bluesy voice makes the girls fall for him. However, his music is not my cup of tea. It is nice music but I will never listen to it multiple times. Yes, NEVER.

Lil Rounds. The Mary J. Blige of the competition. She is the primary vote-getter for females this season and is a strong favourite to reach at least the Top Three. Awesome vocals? Yes. Consistent? Yes. Crowd Pleaser? Absolutely. Am I going to crave for her songs? No. Is she special? I still do not see it yet. Other than destroying Martina McBride’s Independence Day, I think she will be successful in this competition. Just like Matt though, her music is not my cup of tea.

Kris Allen. OK, I admit that I have said awful comments in this guy in the past. Yes, to jokingly tease girls who go nuts on his music. To be honest, he sings just OK. Not bad. Not good. He has stage presence that is why people think he is great. Try this: Listen to a Jason Mraz song then try listening to him without watching the video. He suddenly pales in comparison, right? I also experience that even while watching him on the TV. Kudos to him on his Country Week performance though. There were some off-pitch parts but it was generally fine.

Anoop Desai. Man, people are starting to hate on me after I have lambasted their favourites in the past five paragraphs! Who cares? I am just giving out my opinions. If you hated me for trashing your favourite somewhere here, I hope you are not an Anoop fan. This guy is the contestant I would be celebrating if he got eliminated. I just don’t like his guts. It feels awkward seeing him singing My Prerogative in TV. I was boo-ing him most of the time when he murdered Beat It. It came to a point that I stopped boo-ing because it was not necessary at all as he did me a favor because his whole performance was so horrible. I know he will stay – overstay or not. He has talent though. It is just that I hate everything about him. It just does not fit. Anyway, he has a lot of fans to support him. He does not need my approval.

Allison Iraheta. Putting her here is necessary because I am trashing the contestants consecutively (at least I gave good points for each). Allison is either my second or third favourite in this competition. Her version of Alone was awesome. I just think that I may get tired of her rough vocals after some time. Nevertheless, she has overwhelming talent for a sixteen year old. Allison has never had a subpar performance yet. Everything seems to fit when she sings. Even the country song she performed this week was great. She actually made less raspy sounds there which was sufficient to me. She has a bright future ahead of her but I do not know if she is charismatic enough to have a solid fanbase to put her to the Top Five of this season. Whether Allison leaves or not, she has left an indelible mark in Idol history.

Jorge Nunez. (Eliminated) I really did not like him. He has talent and is better than some contestants but does not have the “it” factor. Waste of Idol slot.

Michael Sarver. He is a likable guy especially because he is on one of the world’s most dangerous job. This blue collar guy has built a fanbase that will support him so that he can overstay the competition. To be honest, he was just an OK contestant to me. Nothing special but nothing to hate as well. His performances are forgettable to me.

Scott Macintyre. Kudos to this blind guy for achieving this far. He fits the piano perfectly. He should not listen to Paula’s advice to stay away from the piano. I do not know if his hand actions would help him a lot if he is not playing the piano. He has a decent high voice but I find him bland and uninteresting. I think he is getting more love than he should be getting. Nevertheless, I hope Scott gets a record deal. I think he will.

Alexis Grace. (Eliminated) Ouch! I have to put the (Eliminated) here. So there goes my favorite. She was the latest to get the boot this week after one subpar performance on her rendition of Dolly Parton’s Jolene (which, ironically, was performed by my last year’s favorite). Sad but true, she left way, way before the time she should. I do not picture her the American Idol winner but I just wished she reached the Top Five. Part of why I was heavily rooting for her was because she is an underdog who has great potential. People deem her as a frontrunner after the pimp spot in Dirty Diana last week but I just do not think she has a solid fanbase that would go crazy should she get a bad night. Unfortunately, that happened tonight. After two solid performances, people forgot about these and set her aside after a mediocre one (which was not even the worst). Alas, we had the shocker of the season. The blonde girl who sang hot and dirty vocals could not even make the Top Ten. Although I was not that astonished in her past two performances (she oversang Dirty Diana and Jolene was off-pitch in some parts), I do not think she deserved to go. I just listened to the studio versions of both and I must admit that I was impressed. She simply exploded with a touch of rock in Dirty Diana and the verses were the best I heard so far. I found myself overplaying it because I was in deep LSS. The good thing in her songs is that I do not need to see her pretty image to make me appreciate it. This makes her elimination depressing. It was too early for us to listen to what she can do. I would like to see her perform in a guitar or sing another explosive song. I think she is versatile and has the package to be an upcoming artist. But what makes it sadder is that we are deprived of seeing a normal person shine to be a star (Hey, she failed two auditions before). That is what American Idol is for. But I am happy for rooting for her. She ended her stint in a classy way. “I wish I could have done better, but... things happen for a reason.” Thanks, Alexis for the awesome songs!

What Lies Ahead

I do not know if I would still watch American Idol as avidly as before due to the early elimination of my favorite. It is highly likely that I will still watch. It was not as if I did not expect her to be eliminated. She may not be the worst in the Top 11 but I had an idea of how fans are going to vote. I did not expect the judges to save her either even if Simon saw Kelly Clarkson in her (anyway, Simon is nice this season). It is too early in the competition and it would buzzkill their ratings because the suspense factor of the save will disappear should they saved her. But, she was by all means, valid for a save.

It is pretty hard for a guy like me to watch a show that has seven guys and just three girls. There might have been worse eliminations before but this one left the balance in an awful state. Maybe, Alexis’ elimination will be a wake up call for the voters to choose properly the next time. We shall see. After all, this is America’s #1 show. This is... American Idol!

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