American Idol Update- Season Four

The madness continues! Cathy in Purple, Deb in Red, Tim in Blue

Week One: We take a season off, but we're back. Can you dig it?!

Boys:

I paid attention and understand the new format now.  There are 12 guys and 12 girls.  For three weeks they will get rid of 2 guys and 2 girls.  Then there will be 6 guys and 6 girls left making the "final 12."  Actually, I kinda like the format, except that it's hard for me to remember who everyone is 'cause there are so many.  Oh well.

Nice synopsis.  I like the format too.  While it is a little tricky to keep track of everyone now I like that by the time we get to the final 12 we’ll really know everyone.  And (in theory) we won’t have a finalist voted off just from one bad performance.

Well, I like the format in that in means an extra episode each week, but I sure hope that the 7th and 8th place of one gender is not far better than the fifth and sixth of the other- like I'd hate to see guys 7 and 8 go home if girls 5 and 6 stink. But it's a minor quibble.

BTW, I’m so glad we’re back on track with the weekly updates!  Such a shame that we didn’t do this for season 3 but I didn’t think it was the most exciting season anyway.  I mean, it came down to Fantasia and Diana DiGarmo – need I say more?

Nope!

My other general comment is about how majorly dorky it was on both episodes when the singers were dancing as they were being announced.  Really really dorky!

It was a good dorky though, like the skits are.  And by the way, it sucks that there are no skits yet!  That’s one of the best parts of AI!

It was awsom dorky, like some sisters-in-law I know. :) The skits don't start until the final 12, from what I remember.

Nikko Smith (Part-time lover) - Nothing special.  That's a great song but not one I'd chose for the competition.  I thought it sounded very karaoke!  Oh, Simon said background singer quality.  Very true!

He could probably sing any Stevie Wonder song, he’s got that tone of voice.  He’s a good singer but the performance was just good, didn’t draw me in.  Ultimately he’s forgettable and unless he changes his tune (literally) he’s out pretty quickly.

It was better than background singer, but ultimately not overly memorable. I can's actual see him winning, and he probably won't make the top six guys.

Scott Savol (???) - Bad song choice!  I like him but he could've done a lot better.  He needs to show more personality to make up for his jerkyness.  The thing is, that he has to work twice as hard because he's kind of a jerk and he DOES NOT look like the american idol, but he has a really nice voice.   I hope he shows it off next week.

Yeah, he totally doesn’t look like the American Idol.  I don’t see a lot of 13 year old girls with pictures of Scott Savol in their bedroom.  That said, I really liked him.  He has a really pretty voice and I thought the song was a good choice for him b/c it softened up his personality.  I really liked his performance.

He was good, has a strong voice. If he picks good songs, he good do well.

Anthony Fedderov (Hold on to the night) - Oh, miracle boy.  It was nice.  That's all there is to say.  Not great, not bad.  Certainly not something I'll remember five minutes from now.

Is there anything you remember 5 minutes from now?  See, I’m making fun of your short attention span, get it?  Anyway, he’s Clay-light (especially in hair color).  Like Clay he’s talented but very much not my style.  Kind of a boring song but it definitely shows his style.  He needs to take more risks.  The song was a piece of poop, and he's totally Clay-light. I'm going to start calling him Clay-Doh, as he, like Play-Doh, is imitation Clay. The little girls are going to love this kid, he may be around for a while (unfortunately)

Bo Bice (Drift away) - Excellent song choice!  We actually might have a rocker in the final 12 this year between him and Constantine.  He doesn't have the best quality voice in my opinion but he stuck with his type of music and it was great to watch.

Nice strong loud voice.  I didn’t like all the “taking a dump” poses though.  Scott Stapp and Eddie Vedder had a son, they named him Bo Bice.

I think Scott Stapp and Eddie Vedder had a son and named him Constantine. I like Bo more than Constantine, and I think he got off to a great start here. He does need to improve his stage stance (taking a dump, indeed), but other than that he could go relatively far.

Travis Tucker (My Cherie Amour) - Who told him it was ok to sing this song?  Seriously, he must have never watched the audition episodes of this show before, because if he ever did he'd know that by this time the judges and America are sick to death of this song.  He has a very pretty voice but he NEEDS to pick better songs for now on.

Ohmigod, totally!  They need to stop singing this song!  It reminds me of rat boy from season 1.  Kind of weak and watery, I think he can do much better.  Good thing he’s cute and has a good personality or he’d be out.

Ah, Rat Boy, my old friend. Yeah, this kid needs to pick good songs to keep going. This was very safe and bland.

Constantine (Kiss from a rose) - Awsom song choice.  In the past the odd balls (rockers, crooners, country singers) have done crappy due to song choice.  This season they're doing good at that.  Btw, really cool name for a "rocker dude."

 Lots of 13 year old girls will make sure he gets far.  He’s too “performy”, holding the mike stand etc.  And he didn’t sound that good to me.  One of my least favorites.  You probably like him more b/c you’re age is 7 years closer to 13 than mine.  BTW, he made dumb faces while standing next to Ryan Seacrest after his performance, we’ll see if he does that again next week.

Didn't like this. His performance missed the mark too much. There are two rockers- one who can sing, one who's cuter. I hope the 13 year old girls are smarter than we give them credit for.

Btw, did Paula break her arm or something?  Did you notice that she's wearing what looks like a very pretty cast. Her arm hurts from stroking all the contestant’s egos. I think it's a jackass fashion statement, like when Britney Spears wore a sweat sock on her arm. Boo.

David Brown (Never can say goodbye) - Awsom song choice.  Dumb movements on stage though.  I think he should've sang more like it was heart felt to a woman than to a show.  Ya know?

He did start a little low and slow but then he hit his stride.  I love his voice and performance.  He was my fave so far.  But, I liked him throughout the competition so far.

It was decent, but not great. I liked Bo better than this, but I like this guy in general.

Jarod Yates (???) - Boring song.  Nothing too special about the performance.  Thumbs down!  Yeah, what song was this?  It’s bad.  Very boring performance.  It didn’t showcase his voice at all, too quiet and low.  BTW, I heard Jared is off the diet.

Song was bad, performance was bad. I was surprised he made the final 12. They should have taken the skinny crooner instead.

Anwar Robinson (Moon river) - Is he serious?!?  Moon river? I refuse to comment any further.  Ok, I will.  He had a great voice, but he was still singing moon river.  Imagine how great it would've been with a better song.

I really liked his risk and it totally paid off.  Great job!  My new fave.  Check out the girl contestants in the stands, how come Carrie never claps?  That whore.

I agree with Deb- huge risk that paid off. Great voice, great performance. Way to take a risk!

Judd Harris (Travellin' band) - Not as bad as I thought it would be when the song started.  Still could've done a fun, fast song that showed off more talent.  Personally, I didn't like it much.

I really didn’t like this.  Corny and Great America-esque.  I’m surprised the judges like this one as much as they did.  It was like bad musical theatre to me.

VERY Great America. Fine for what it was, but I don't think this guy is very talented.

Joseph Murena (How am I supposed to live without you) - Ha ha, when the music started I thought it was gonna be "I believe the children are our future..."  Ok, my dirty little secret...I LOVE this song.  I can't help it.   I totally belt it out when it's on the radio.  Although, I think Joseph could've gotten more into it.  No umph.  Also, it really sounded like an immitation rather than him making the song his own.

Ohmigod, I totally thought he was doing Whitney too!  Too funny.  And I like your dirty little secret too.  Can’t say I’m surprised though J  I thought the performance was just OK, it was forgettable.  He won’t last long.

Ugh. This song blows, and the performance was weak. Not sure about this guy in the top 12 either- I think there were better singers in the final 44 that got eliminated.

Mario Vasquez (Do I do) - Great song choice.  I'm pretty sure this is Stevie Wonder, in which case, I think this is a really good song of his to choose.  Not overheard.

He’s charismatic and a good performer.  Personally, I don’t like this song (even though it is Stevie Wonder) but he does a great job with it.

Wow, the Stevie Wonder hat trick. This was very good. This kid has a lot of charisma, too- he will go far.

Ok, my fave three are:  Mario Vasquez, Constantine, Anwar Robinson

 My 3 faves are:  Anwar Robinson, Mario Vasquez, and David Brown

My top three are: Anwar Robinson, Mario Vasques and Bo Bice.

The bottom two will be:  Jarod Yates, Judd Harris

My bottom 2 prediction is:  Nikko Smith and Jared Yates.  Off the subject I think it’s cool that if you have a common last name like Smith to have a more unusual first name like Nikko.  So, kudos to his parents.

My bottom 2 are: Jared Yates and Joseph Murena

Girls:

Vonzell Solomon (Heat wave) - I liked it.  Decent song choice.  Wow, Simon gave better comments than Randy and Paula.  How often does that happen?

First of all, kudos for all the guys for standing up right away when Vonzell started.  The night before it was too hard for Carrie even to muster a clap.

Now about Vonzell, it was very good but I didn’t love it.  Great start to the show though, it’s hard to be first.

She was pretty good, not great. Nice high energy start to the show, and I liked the guys standing up and clapping. I believe Clay-Doh was the first to stand, so props to the Miracle Baby for that...

Amanda Avila (How am I supposed to live without you) - The way they chopped the song up was awkward, but she sang it great!  Why didn't the judges like it?!?!  Jerks.

I didn’t like the squeakiness in her voice when she sang this but I like how she made it sound a little different.  Simon got naughty, he wants to come back as her microphone?  Do lines like that ever work?  It’s kind of icky when he gets naughty with the contestants, it’s like being hit on by the teacher.  Eeeewwww.  Wasn’t he into one of the girls from season one?  I can’t remember her name, she’s the one who had to go to the hospital and missed the show where she got eliminated.  What was her name?

Christina Christian- scarily, I didn't even need to look up her name..

 BTW, he was in a car crash the night before this show.  Maybe he was thinking about being someone else’s stick shift.

Again, crappy song, she did O.K. with it. She's very cute, which will get her a week or two later in the competition than she would otherwise. I think she looks like a young combination of Desperate Housewives Terri Hatcher and Eva Longorio (sp). BTW, I guess she dated Josh Groban for a while. It's amazing what you learn looking for AI pictures...

Jenay Castine (I wanna love you forever) - Interesting song choice.  She sang it like eh.  Crazy facial expressions too.  Her eyes got huge and she was scary looking.

Her name is spelled Janay, a different jackass spelling then the one you came up with, but nice try.  When the song first started I thought she was doing “Total Eclipse of the Heart”  Too funny!  Anyway, I thought she sounded terrible.  And I looooves me my black lady singers.  Was it nervousness?  It was just awful.  It was like teen Star Search.

I turned to Debbie and said "It sounds like a little kid imitating an adult singer"- and sure enough Simon mentioned how the song was too old for her. My least favorite of all 24 performances.

Carrie Underwood (Coulda been so beautiful) - I hate country but really like her.  I think she might be my fave this season.  Really, really good song choice.  People who don't like country will still like it.

I didn’t know the name of this song but not surprised you did (Miss Iowa State).  By far the best so far.  I hate this song but the fact that she can sing this p.o.s. (piece of shit) and I still thing she’s the best means a lot.  Great performance too.

First off, Cathy, Miss Cotton-Eyed Joe/Dixie Chicks, you don't hate country- this may not be your thing, but you do like some country. I don't like this type of country, and I think if she wants to sing it, she should be on Nashville Star or whatever it is that CMT calls their AI ripoff. No place for country in American Idol. But for what it was, she sang the crap out of it.

Funny thing, I was in the car today listening to the radio.  There’s a station at 92.7 and they say they “play anything”.  And I realized it’s just like American Idol b/c they play old songs and new songs and every once in a while they throw a country song in there.  It’s an awsom station, although unlike AI I don’t sit through the country songs.

Sarah Mather (Get ready) - She has potential but she didn't get into it as much as she could've. Lots of “taking a dump” poses.  Oh Sarah, America doesn’t want to see you take a dump.  Lifeless and boring.  Worst yet. Not the worst, but not very good. Bad song choice.

Melinda Lyra (Power of Love) - What song was she moving to?!?!?  This song was too low for her.  Very bad.  Ok, the judges loved her?  They suck!

 Weird arm movements.  Didn’t have a clean voice.  This song is a p.o.s.  Not very good.  How could Randy and Paula like this???  I agree with you, the judges were totally off on this one.

This was just awful.

Nadia Turner (There's the power of love) - Pretty good.  I didn't like that song choice, but she has very good potential with better songs.  I can tell she'll go far.

I hope she loses that fro soon, it’s just a bit too much for me.  However, great confidence, very good performance, but I don’t love the singing.  Good, but not great.  She’s a rocker, who knew?  I do agree that she’ll go far.

I really like her, and I think Deb will to if she can get past the hair. A lot of confidence and style. In those ways, she reminds me of Tamyra. My favorite of the girls by far.

The dog pound stuff Randy’s doing is fun.  Go Randy.

Celena Rae (I will love again) - She started slow but it was good.  Not great, but not bad either. I couldn’t hear her at first.  What song is this?  Once she let it rip she was great, really pretty.  I think I liked her more than the judges did.

Song was a poor choice, performance was O.K., middle of the pack. She's a real cutie, though- that may help her get far.

Mikalah Gordon (Young hearts run free) - Ok, I like this song.  It was a good song choice.  That is the last positive thing I will EVER say about her!  I HATE THIS BZNATCH!!!!!  Honestly, I just can't comment anymore because it'll be too nasty and not constructive at all.

I love that there’s someone in this competition that you hate to such an irrational degree.  Oh awsom one, you’re the best.  Usually you hate the really pretty girls (Debra Messing, I’m looking in your direction) but in this case it sure isn’t her looks.  Nice collagen lips!  She’s like 16 and she’s all collagenated already?  Whateva!

Ugh, I don’t like her either.  She’s always with the commentary.  She’s corny, she talks too much, and she’s trying to be this Barbra Streisand meets The Nanny character.  I think Simon’s comments were spot on, and I think everyone I know is in the “I find her annoying” half of the population.  I will admit she has a great voice, although it is a little nasal.

I agree with everything Deb said, except for the "great voice" part- it's fair, but no way makes up for the VERy annoying personality. Say, did Fran Drescher ever make an album? No- and Mikalah Gordon is why.

Lindsey Cardinale (???) - Very pretty.  Slow but not TOO boring.  She should go for some older music, because of her voice.  Can't think of any examples though.

 Nice p.o.s. song.  Ugh.  Yawn!  Boooring performance.  Terrible foot shuffling thing while singing.  She needs to step it up or she’s out of there.  BTW, she reminds me of Julia Clamato from season 1 – or was that season 2?  They all blur together.

Slow, boring- the girls are NOT as good as the guys this year. I think they picked two many pretty ones.

Jessica Sierra (Take a look at me now) - Nice voice!  Very country, but good quality.  I liked it. Sounds like a country singer.  She didn’t belt it out.  It was just OK.  Cathy, it’s scaring me how often we basically agree. BTW, Cathy, the song is called Against All Odds. It was decent, she'll need to really step up to stick around.

Aloha Mischeaux (???) - Was that a Joss Stone song? I hate her, blech.  Good performance, but she didn't showcase her voice.  Oh, it's a Beyonce song.  Oops.

 The song is “Work It Out” and yes, it is a Beyonce song.  Now, being that I’m a huge Beyonce fan I loved her.  I like her voice the best, and she sang the perfect song for her for this point in the competition.  That said, she should never sing another Beyonce song again b/c she’ll be pigeonholed.  She’s not the best person in the competition but I’d be most likely to buy her album than anyone else’s (based only on what I’ve heard so far) so she’s my favorite.  Oh, but she does need to lose the flower, she’s in danger of becoming like Jasmine from last season.

She's good, but needs to bring it every week. She reminds me of Kim Coles from Living Single/Celebrity Fit Club. Not a look that will sell a ton of records, so her voice and song choice needs to be spot on each time out- like Jennifer Hudson last season. One slip and she's gone.

Ok, my fave three are:  Carrie Underwood, Nadia Turner, and Jessica Sierra

My favorite 3 are Aloha Mischeaux, Carrie Underwood, and Nadia Turner

My top three are Nadia Turner, Aloha Mischeaux and (should be on CMT) Carrie Underwood.

The bottom two will be:  Sarah Mather and Celena Rae

My prediction for the bottom 2 are Janay Castine and Melinda Lira

My prediction for the bottom 2 is also Janay Castine and Melinda Lira

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