I have no life + I’m procrastinating finishing a writing project (It’s exciting! You’ll all find out soon enough what it is.) That equals me watching 5 hours of American Idol Season 7 on FOX Reality tonight.
The entire week first week of the Top 24 semi-final round aired. Here are my thoughts and revisions:
- Robbie Carrico performed Three Dog Night’s “One” and it was better than I remembered it. At the time I slammed him for being a faux rocker, but really, his performance was pretty good.
- Also better than I originally thought–David Archuleta performing a soulful “Shop Around”. I don’t think I’ll be taking back my critiques of his big ballads, but we’ll see…
- David Cook’s hair was horrifying. I mean–truly. He hadn’t learned how to work the camera yet, but I still really love his performance of “Happy Together.” Many of you didn’t join me on that particular bandwagon. Not yet.
- Michael John’s hair, on the other hand, was pretty awesome, especially the 60’s mod do on Results night. The pimping he got from the judges was pretty mighty, despite the fact the performance was a bit sub-par compared to what he’s capable of.
- Luke Menard performed a consistently boring and off pitch “Everybody’s Talking” and was hands down the worst performance of the night. His good looks and screen-time helped advance him past fodder Colton Berry and Garrett Haley (poor Garrett was the perpetual deer in the headlights, his singout was worse than his performance, which is usually not the case.)
- Jason Castro was every bit as good as I originally thought. He breezed through “Daydream” like a breath of fresh air.
- Holy crap, the stank-eye Carly Smithson gave Simon when he critiqued her performance. He was sorta right–”Shadow of Your Smile” was a great vocal performance, but a bit old-fashioned.
- Alaina Whitiker totally pwned Kristy Lee Cook, and should have advanced to the Top 12 instead, if you ask me. I had forgotten all about KLC’s crazy eyes. Skeery!
- While I’m at it, either Alexandrea Lushington or Asiah Epperson should have advanced to the Top 12 instead of Ramiele Malubay. Asiah killed on “Piece of My Heart” and Alex’s “Spinning Wheel” was totally underrated by Simon. Ramiele’s “You Don’t Have to Say You Love Me” was her only decent performance of the entire competition.
- The right contestants went home that week. Joanne Borgella and Amy Davis (especially the horribly out of tune Amy) were both terrible.
- Brooke White sang “Happy Together” and was so incredibly…Brooke. It didn’t matter that she wasn’t the best singer. Her vocals and her style were refreshingly distinct.
- I called Syesha Mercado’s performance of “Tobacco Road” screechy at the time, but listening tonight, I think she kinda nailed it.
- Amanda Overmyer didn’t turn in a perfect performance (the scatting was a hot mess) but I did enjoy her raspy, steely performance of “Baby Please Don’t Go”.
- So much blubbering during the eliminations. If I’m remembering correctly, there’s lots of crying through the entire semis.
Did you watch? What did you think?
Yeah I think that both Jason and DA sang Crazy in Hollywood week. But what I read before was that they couldn’t get the song cleared, not that they didn’t want to. I could be wrong though.
Yes he did. He sang the Ray LaMontagne version.
Uh…Danger Mouse said “no.” I don’t think money would have changed his mind.
Here is Jason Castro’s take on the whole deal:
“Q: What songs didn’t get cleared in those early rounds?
A: In the auditions, for the first two auditions, I sang “Crazy” by Gnarls Barkley, but in the style of Ray LaMontagne, one of my favorite singer/songwriters ever. He just did a really cool version of that. That never cleared. Another song I love to do is “Santeria” by Sublime. I tried to do that in Hollywood week for my second day, and they said it cleared, but then they changed their mind. And then I tried again while we were out here — it never cleared. “
http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1587105/20080508/id_0.jhtml
I have read in several places that the producers all but begged Gnarls Barkley to permit them to use Crazy on the show, and one of the two guys who make up Gnarls Barkley absolutely refused. It rather sounds like there was no amount of money that would get that song on AI.
Now, given how licensing works in arenas, the song could be used as a cover in the tour. Then the arena pays the licensing fees through a mass license.
We know Adam from Season 8 loves “Crazy”, will be interesting to see if they finally get it cleared for him. It could be it clears seeing as how the song is a bit older now.
OT I know, but speaking of Adam, I hope he doesn’t hang around long. His tongue bothers me sometimes. It sort of lays out fat and flat when he hits his glory notes, ewww.
This conversation is confusing me on one ground. I thought that a contestant that made it through to Hollywood’s final performance round without having to do that intermediate acapella round only had four rounds:
Cattle Call/Producers
Judges in the audition city
Hollywood initial round
Hollywood final round
We know that DA did John Mayer for two rounds and did Bryan Adams’ Heaven for one round. So how are there two other songs that he did during the auditions? Is there a round that I’m missing?
Wow. This whole conversation about “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing” is venturing into dead horse territory.
And could we please remember to be polite to each other? I’m not liking the tone of some of these posts. Really, the contest is over now. There’s no point in becoming angry and defensive after all these months.
Yea, folkfan , there are a few rounds before you get to those.. they are just not talked about much.
Yeah. I just can’t imagine what Archie’s version of the song would sound like, It’s a matter of taste and opinion. IDWTMAT to me is a raw song, it needs that drive to be anything other than a sappy ballad (BTW - still one of my least favorite songs of all time, just to be clear, I don’t think it was a great “steal” that Idol gave it to Cook). And as I’ve said before - the whole point was originally to show how AI wronged Archie by “taking” the song away from him… and I ask again, how? Stand by Me was great for him. Why would his fans still feel cheated when that was the end result?
I heard both his singles. I’m very well aware that he isn’t singing the same type of songs he sang on AI, the problem is I don’t like teen pop.
It’s OK, Archie has a huge market that’s very lucrative, and a record company that excells with his kind of music. He doesn’t need 20 something rock fans like me to be big.
ETA: MJ, saw your post after writing mine. Moving on…
I’m going to repeat this:
Dead Horse. Beaten. To Death.
Let’s move on.
Just as a comparison, a song like The First Time Ever I saw Your Face would be more something DA should NOT sing, as he hasn’t first-time laid with anyone and felt the earth move, lol. Some songs can be up for debate as to whether too mature, but Flack’s song is blatant. Some are and some are more subtle.
The licensing for singing a song in front of an audience on tour is completely different than for performing it on television. It’s like Prince songs being performed on tour (they were) and Prince not allowing his songs to be performed on Idol, with a few exceptions.
There’s no manipulation at work, there.
Tomorrow’s (well, tonight’s) rerun should be great. The Top 8 guys really stepped it up. Hello, Hallelujah. Arguably, the best night of the season, in terms of average performance quality. At a minimum, it would have to be in the conversation, I would think.
Frankly, I hope singers will retire “Crazy”. Cleared for the show or not, it has been covered to death!
I have heard ALTNOY and Crush and watched both the videos and have heard Barriers. I really like these songs and think they fit DA. I really do think he has a wonderful voice. I agree with Jolene and Lisa, in that if I saw DA perform IDWTMAT, I wouldn’t believe it. That is JMO. Maybe DC has spoiled me to this song. Once DA is older most definitely. I just have a hard time thinking of DA and sex in the same sentence. Could be I am just too old, LOL
ETA: sorry MJ saw your posts after I had already posted this.
I agree, can’t wait to see DC singing Hello on my big screen again. And I must admit I loved Jason singing Hallelujah. I forgot how much I really liked some of his early performances.
IDWMAT is not necessarily a song about sex though. It’s the theme song to Armageddon, a movie about father-daughter love , more than anything. And iirc, in the music video for it, there are scenes of Liv Tyler, touching the screen where her father, Steve Tyler, is singing the song. A song is always open to different interpretations and if DC sings the song, it may sound like it is about sex but when DA sings it, it may sound about something else that may work too.
Heh, ok I’m done beating the dead horse. Sorry Mj.
Gnarls Barkley allowed eventual Australian Idol 5 winner Natalie Gauci to sing “Crazy” during the Oz Idol charity episode in the fall of 2007.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QeHft8d4GBw
Who knows why GB and AI7 couldn’t come to an agreement on using the song in a televised episode?
When I started reading through this thread, it was a blast! It felt like the wonderful days of AI7’s summer tour when I discovered this blog and eagerly read recaps, searching for good news and reviews about my fav. And that’s why I came to love MJ and this site (and I do even more now that I’ve learned she’s a hardcore Penn State fan!!! WE ARE… :D). Over time, there has been a lot of love for all the Idols, and there were almost no harsh comments like I often found on other sites.
But after reading ALL the comments on this thread 
, I do feel the need to come out of lurkdom and add my half-a-cent.
A confession first though
I have never been an AI fan until this year. Gasp. I know that’s heresy, and if you stop reading now, I’ll understand! I really will. 
I have watched the show in prior years, but it was because I was a captive audience. You see, my darling hubby would come to whatever room I was working in and turn on the show because he wanted to share it with me. 
He was cute, so I let him. Down through the years to make it at least interesting, I would chose who I thought would win, but more for the sense of feeling smart than because I cared about the artist. I chose Kelly, then Clay, then JHud. Can you sense the trend? Once Jennifer was voted off, we both stopped watching because we just did not care for Fantasia’s voice. We didn’t watch again until the end of AI5, when I chose Taylor…because apparently the layoff made me smart again. We did watch the beginning of AI6 because Melinda was fabulous, but again, once we sensed that she wouldn’t win, we kind of lost interest. Then came AI7 and David A. and Imagine. My husband, finally smart himself, was watching downstairs when he yelled up to me, “Honey, come quick!” I did…and I was lost.
I am sharing all of this so you can see that I am a newbie at this whole AI subterfuge thing, so all the talk about TPTB, TCO, or stealth TCO is over my head. I actually thought the bias was quite apparent even before I saw Simon on the Ellen show the day of the finale saying that DC should win because, “when you get past the oh-my-goshes and the hecks, there’s not much there.†My heart broke for Archie that day because Simon’s comment was unnecessary and personal, and frankly, unprofessional.
Several of you have commented on Archie’s Shop Around and his joy during and after the performance and wondered what happened over the season. I have thought a lot about this a lot since the end of AI and have concluded that Simon probably had something to do with this. I want to give him the benefit of the doubt and not question his motives…entirely. I think it is possible that he did think DA was the most vocally talented singer; maybe he even thought so throughout the competition. However, as the season progressed, Archie seemed increasingly unable to communicate in any way but musically; I remember being very concerned for him myself. I also think it is possible that Simon was simply calling it like he saw it when he declared Archie the night’s winner in the final two competition. Heck, I agreed with him…even though I didn’t think DA would win. (Confession #2 -> I had discovered DialIdol and saw that Archie had long been the underdog to DC.)
However, when Simon began routinely criticizing Archie (before his Ellen appearance), I figured that he simply did not think DA was ready to wear the AI mantle. My very favorite song that Archie sang was And So It Goes. It was accapella, pitch-perfect, and heartfelt, yet Simon did not care for it. Granted, criticism comes with the territory and should be constructive, but it seemed to be an abrupt about face on Simon’s part, somewhat negating the constructive part. I believe David had a hard time dealing with Simon’s criticism because of this and also because Archie seems to be harder on himself than anyone else could be; I think he really struggled with self-doubt while he was locked up in the AI bubble.
But thankfully, the story did not end there. Thankfully, DC was the kind-hearted champion that he was and that he became one of DA’s biggest defenders. Thankfully, both Davids have experienced a wonderful beginning to their burgeoning music careers! And thankfully, they are once again in front of audiences, responding to them, and winning the hearts of the masses…being judged by the people who really matter.
That was a nice post susie, enjoyed reading it.
What a well thought out post susie. I think you may be onto something regarding DA. Although I don’t think Simon’s comments affected David much (he has stated in many interviews that sometimes he could hardly hear and process the judges comments because he was still on a performance high) I do think the whole idol process was overwhelming him to a degree. Not to mention he was always exhausted as he was the only finalist doing school full time while on the show.
Just one more reason why there should be an age limit. I actually have problems with a parent allowing their high school student to be a part of the show. Even with the success of Jordin and David, I’d never in a million years allow my high school aged child to be a part of American Idol…never (and thank God I only have one more in high school and she sings about as well as me so it would be a non-issue). I’ve always been aware that some have high school. I’ve always made sure that I didn’t care. That is the choice they make. I don’t give them extra credit for it. It’s not like their voice will go away if they wait a year or two. I actually think the maturity would help more than hinder them, so yeah, having to do homework while on Idol doesn’t impress me.
Wow. It makes me think he is more mature for working as hard as he did. I’ve read that he tried really hard to maintain his A average. I saw other contestants get very emotionally drained and nervous near the end but David held up better than they did even though they were older.
I know, right?
Sorry, but I doubt any of the idols, even DC, if offered a chance at a major recording contract at age 17, would’ve chosen being a full-time high school student over the chance to live out their dream. It’s his passion, why not take that chance? Besides, you never know how long AI is gonna be around for… if he waited two more years, a lot of things can happen… AI may be off the air, or AI may not be the #1 show it is now and not provide him the kind of jumpstart he needed. You never know. If the chance to follow your dream, presents itself now, age should not matter, unless you’re like a toddler and seriously cannot think for yourself, which clearly, DA can.
Oops, posted in wrong thread….Alright, all taken care of.
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Peace Out and POKE SMOT
Me either, no way. I do think the voting was manipulated the night Ruben beat Clay, possibly, but in season 7 I saw DA being praised throughout the show. DC on the other hand, had to work hard to win respect.
DA was great but I think expectations were set up that he would win, and then when he didn’t, fans were so shocked that they were sure it must be a lie. I can see how it would be hard to accept, after thinking all season that he was going to win.
I think that sales tell the story. DC’s cd is selling very strongly, suggesting that he did have widespread popularity after all.
After season 2, Clay sold more than Ruben and had successful tours that Ruben didn’t have, which suggested that he did have more support and probably should have won. I still think he really won that night, as his fans could not get through on the phone lines to vote that night. But it doesn’t matter now.
I don’t think DC’s win was manipulated. Seriously a part of me didn’t even want him to win, as I wasn’t sure it would be the best thing to happen to him, so I would have been fine either way.
That’s my story and I’m sticking to it. LOL
I think that when Simon and Randy proclaimed DA the winner, they genuinely thought that he had given a better performance that night and expected him to win. I strongly disagreed with them at the time, but I still think that they were giving their honest opinion. One thing I’ve noticed about Simon is that he hates to be wrong. I have a hard time believing that he pretended to favor DA so that people would vote for DC. It would ruin the “I’m always right†image that he tries to project and it would also go against what we’ve seen in prior seasons. The “wink†that everyone keeps talking about still just looks like an eye twitch to me.
I remember watching the finale and thinking that David C’s performances of the U2 song and TWIK were amazing . To me, TWIK was one of the best performances of the entire season by anyone…he was able to take a relatively bland song and make a profound connection with viewers without a single glory note. However, it was also a very anti-Idol moment, and in retrospect, it was probably the reason for the initial lukewarm comments from the judges and the reason for Simon’s backtracking the next day. At the time, however, I couldn’t understand why the judges proclaimed DA the winner that night. I thought it was their way of manipulating the casual viewers to vote for DA. It’s funny how we all see things so differently. I’m pretty sure that had DA won, that’s what a lot of the Cook fans would be saying on this thread. I’m glad that Cook won, but I think that the judges’ comments really tainted his win to a certain extent.
When I think about contestants that were treated unfairly, the one that comes to mind is Syesha, not Archie. One could also make a good argument for Jason and Carly. To me, Sy wins the award for the most underrated, unappreciated performer of the season. Syesha had the looks and the voice to be successfully marketed as an R&B performer. She also struck me as one of the most determined contestants that season. My guess is that TPTB and Simon (who was heavily invested in Leona) did not want another R&B performer to make it to the top 2, which would have guaranteed a recording contract. It’s possible that Simon’s dislike of Syesha rubbed off on viewers or it’s possible that viewers were just sick of Syesha’s propensity to sing Whitney songs. Sadly, when she did perform different songs like Yesterday and Hello Again, she still didn’t get the praise that she deserved. It must have been psychologically very rough for her….I wonder if American Idol and Simon are responsible for those strange self-help blogs that she writes all the time.
I think Syesha did very well, coming in 3rd, but I do think the two Davids were the best of all the contestants.
Syesha would be awesome doing musical theater. She’s very theatrical and has a real knack for acting out characters. I would love to see her on stage doing her thing.
I wanted Jason to go farther, but there were really so many talented performers that season. Was the top 5 Jason, Brooke, Syesha, and the two Davids? If so, I thought they had it right.
Susie, I said I would avoid this thread and obviously I didn’t. (Saw all the pages and let curiosity win out.) I am so glad I read your post — I am in full agreement! I am thrilled for David and love the way he has conducted himself post-idol — to me, he has shown amazing maturity — and I’m also happy for his buddy, David Cook, because I believe that David Archuleta would WANT Cook to have the level of success that he does.
I’ve lost trust in Simon and AI, however, despite intentions that could possibly be more good-hearted than they seem (as you suggest.) The talk-show-circuit characterizations by Simon seemed really low. There’s a reason that boy is full of joy, and to me he is unusual in character. If anything, post season I’ve come to admire David more. Who hears some of the lowest criticisms of their person and simply says, “that’s too bad”? Amazing.
On the pageant child suggestion: well, heck. I really hate that. David has said that he would characterize his relationship with his father as pretty typical, and I have no reason to doubt him.
I see David as a sensitive soul who was likely affected by the many complicated things happening around him — and since I am a fan who has followed the story more closely than a non-fan, I will say that I would not be surprised if some of his reactions had as much to do with his fellow contestants than with himself. His response to Alex’andria’s departure said (to me) that he’d really connected with her, felt badly at her loss and would miss her. Yet the non-fans tried to sell that as a negative. I’ll never buy that someone hurting at the pain and departure of friend is bad. Never. For those of you who are watching the Fox Extra replay, there’s a point later in the show when David A. is already on the sofa and David Cook is told he is safe. Cook walks over to David, and the look on David’s face is one of sheer happiness. He was thrilled for his friend. I don’t get Fox Extra and I can’t watch but I’ll NEVER forget that expression.
Although the in-your-face negativity of fanwars has threatened my sanity at times, I’m glad that I invested so fully in the welfare of David Archuleta. His voice and person bring me enough happiness to outweigh the negatives.
I think that you are right. Every single results night he looked on the verge of throwing up, and I think it was the emotional burden of knowing that someone was going to be eliminated. I think nearly all of the contestants suffered on those nights, but they each showed it differently. Most of the girls cried. Cook even cried a couple of times. For DA it seemed to manifest itself in such a way that he appeared tongue-tied and clueless. He obviously didn’t like getting emotional in front of the cameras (remember how he hid behind Syesha during Brooke’s sing-out?). I think he was just trying to hold himself together. It was a shame because it fed into many of the misconceptions that non-fans had of him (inarticulate, emotionally stunted, etc.).
And Kathy H, I love this phrase: “that boy is full of joy.”
eta: I am not claiming that elimination nights were harder for him than for the other contestants, but I am saying that I think they were harder for him, personally, than many realized.
May — totally agree w/your last paragraph!
Overall — I think Knolling and trying to “catch” TPTB in manipulation is fun, but if I’m being very honest I don’t think they’re smart or organized enough to pull it off.
They have their hands full just getting the show out every week (to be fair they do a good job, just watching other reality/talent shows makes me appreciate how well done AI really is.)
Aw, MJ! You kinda liked Archie’s Shop Around this time…how cool :) I remember loving it. That performance showed his stage presence at its best I think. I have missed the re-broadcasts so far because I just moved last weekend and my new cable and internet just got installed today. I’m recording the rest of them though :)
OMG, seriously. Some of the elaborate theories that we come up with (and yes, I’m saying ‘we’ because I am just as guilty as anyone) just gives TPTB entirely too much credit. Seriously.
I do agree, Mary. In 1961, Stand By Me - Ben E. King ranked as the #4 song of the year. I know, because I bought the 45 rpm record. The first time I heard David A. sing it, I replayed his version 6 times. It was fantastic! In concert, he was so comfortable and confident with this song that it turned out to be my favorite of the night. It was perfect!
The comment I made about 75-80 posts ago. Peace.