I’m re-watching Season 7 on the Fox Reality Channel, and here are a few of my thoughts on tonight’s reprise of the Top 20:
- I still think Alexandrea Lushington was robbed. “If You Leave Me Now” wasn’t the flashiest song, but she did mange to make it her own. It’s too bad that girl didn’t stick around the competition longer. She had something special.
- It’s coming back to me now, Asia’h Epperson had a great first week, and then promptly began to falter. “All By Myself” ended the show, but it was a hot damn mess, and the judges didn’t really call her on it. The following week, she performed a Whitney Houston song, and that pretty much sealed her fate. It’s too bad, ’cause with the right songs, that girl could sing her face off.
- Let’s see…Kady Malloy was absolutely dreadful. Her “Magic Man” was woefully out of tune and just plain weird. Alaina Whitiker’s “Hopelessly Devoted to You” was just plain dull. It’s better to be terrible than to be boring, so it’s no wonder Alaina was eliminated rather than Kady.
- Carly Smithson did a decent job singing “Crazy on You”, but she sang it even better on tour over the summer. Brooke White gets Simon’s seal of approval after she sang “You’re so Vain.” I forgot how much he liked her performances at the beginning of the competition.
- Syesha Mercado got reamed for reigning it in for “Me and Mrs. Jones”. After that, she made sure to bust out the glory notes for every performance. I, for one, appreciated her restraint.
- Kristy Lee Cook’s “Your No Good” was a vast improvement from the previous week. I have to say she performed better than both Kady and Alaina.
- Amanda Overmyer. OMG. “Carry on My Wayward Son” was such an effing trainwreck. Everything about that performance was wrong. She should have been eliminated for that hairdo alone. This was the week VFTW chose her as their pick.
- Michael Johns picked the wrong song and then phoned it in. Horrible. “Go Your Own Way” was out of his vocal range for starters. Choosing a song just because you like it = not thinking strategically. This was a mistake Michael made over and over again, to his detriment.
- I liked Jason Castro’s “I Just Want to be Your Everything”. He should have kept it acoustic–bandzilla drowned him out in the middle–but I thought it was a clever choice. I laughed out loud when the judges told him not to play guitar the following week. As a challenge. As if he couldn’t pull it off. He performed “Hallelujah” the following week…
- I also laughed when Simon told David Cook that his video declaring himself a “wordnerd” was a mistake. Simon can be clueless sometimes. Paula said simply, “Girls like smart guys.” DING! I think Cook’s “wordnerd” video was the beginning of his turning point on the show. Also, David learned real quick not to argue with Simon.
- Listen to Robbie Carrico and Jason Yeager sing with your eyes closed. They both have fantastic voices. Now open them. EEP.  Robbie and Jason’s cheesy, contrived presentation is what did them in. And sheeit, Robbie was definitely wearing a wig. Oh, and girls generally like wordnerds better than gearheads. Make a mental note of that, Simon.
- Danny Noriega. Ish. LOLZ. That is all. Except, his performance of “Superstar” was better than the judges gave him credit for.
- Chikezie came out swinging with “I Believe to my Soul”. He really needed to stick to the upbeat stuff to stay in the game. David Hernandez impressed me less the second time around–I now think his “Papa Was a Rollingstone” was a bit overwrought.
- I haven’t changed my mind about David Archuleta’s version of “Imagine.” I’m still not feeling the ballady, run-infested arrangement. It’s not a song that stands up to having verses cut out. David’s vocal’s are solid, but I don’t think it’s the best Idol performance evah as Randy claimed. Your mileage may vary and all that good stuff.
- Even more crying tonight. Alexandrea running off the stage after she was eliminated to console a teary David Archuleta was really sweet and sad. Alaina Whitiker’s sobbing reminded me how young, inexperienced and in over their heads some of these kids are. Jason Yeager was eliminated, and he gave a rather bitter interview about it later. Robbie Carrico lost the battle of the Season 8 rockers to David Cook.
I didn’t like Hello either, that is until he let out that big “I LOVE YOUUUUUUU”
and I was like whoa! I like that!
(The only thing I don’t care for with DC is the scrunchy face he gets on big notes, but that’s a minor thing)
As bad as I felt for DC with the whole Simon exchange, it did punctuate his performance to the degree that we remembered him. Not that he wasn’t memorable before, but this just drew further attention and clearly it all worked out in the end.
For me, the amazing thing about this week was Jason Yeagers tongue as he struggled not to cry while Simon reamed him out- it looked for all the world as if it was an alien ready to spring forth.
Another thing that strikes me upon rewatch is how much energy everyone had during the early weeks- they really put those contestants through the wringer and by Final 5-4-3 etc. they were all just totally wiped out.
LOL, JudyOhio. Just shows how the mileage really does vary, as that’s where he lost me in that song. But I appreciate that he (and his singing) appeals to a lot of women.
edit: if you read the rules you should have followed them. posters who don’t follow the rules eventually get banned.
David fricking Archuleta has every right to mess with Lennon’s songs because his interpretation gives Lennon’s song a new life and power to transport the listener (and viewer) into another world. I think that Lennon could be smiling in some dreamland to see that his song is being resurrected by a teenager and still affects so many people. Maybe it’s a generation gap, I wasn’t alive when the whole Beatles thing happened and even though I like many of their songs, it’s usually the fresh interpretation that catches my interest.
That’s just Simon. He always does that, makes these pronouncements, and half the time he is obnoxious. He pits contestants against each other, and he can’t compliment one without insulting someone else. He acts as if we all hold our breath to see which performance he will annoint as “the best of the night” or “the best this season” or even “of any season.” He does it every year.
Funny but when they pimp one contestant, it backfires and creates some resentment. But with DA that didn’t seem to happen, as he truly did stand out from the start. DC for instance while he had a lot of experience, did not immediately click on tv and it took him a couple of weeks to find his stride.
But I always hate how Simon has to insult people in order to give anyone a compliment. He thinks that everyone else is as jaded as he is, so he can’t see that people actually have feelings. I laugh at him because most of the time he contradicts himself later, or ends up being dead wrong. Even when he’s right, it leaves a sting in its wake.
It’s one thing to give criticism, but Simon seeks to wound deeply. There’s something sadistic about him, I always thought. I’m glad Terri got away from him. She deserves better.
You know, that’s what I had thought too, but rewatching this whole season with my spider senses tuned into every side shot of DC (cuz I’m pathetic like that), I noticed that they seemed to be friends. I knew about the 4 Horsemen, but noticed this time through that the two “rockers” were often sitting together, chatting and messing around, hugging when he was eliminated. I dunno, this time through, I still think his “rock” mannerisms are cringeworthy while his comments came off terrible on TV, but filtering through all that, he seems like a chill guy, and I’m thinking the other contestants didn’t think him the poseur the audience and judges did.
Other thoughts (post-ho that I am!): re-read MJ’s post, and agree with ALL the comments, with the exception of Syesha, as mentioned earlier, and also, I loved Archie this week. Didn’t like all of the Archie runs during the season, but these were great. LOL and so true about watching Robbie and Jason Y with closed eyes. The boys had a good night, where even the bad ones were decent. Jason was great.
Brooke was the only girl I loved enough to remember this week. She soon became my favorite girl with Love is a Battlefield and Let it Be. I had thought her Happy Together was weird even though I enjoyed her backtalk. Later in the season, the backtalk got a little less endearing, but I still loved her. Sure KLC improved, but I didn’t she did well, especially compared to some others. The horse stance was gross, the silver shirt and hair were weird (but I’m not a guy), and I don’t think she did better than Alaina vocally–she just had a cooler song.
I adored Archie’s “Imagine” and I consider myself to be a pretty big Lennon fan. I thought he interpreted it beautifully. Blake Lewis and his two note range is the one IMO who had no business touching that song the year before.
Ones that stuck out to to me:
Kady - Completely terrible. I remember I liked her okay up to this point.
Alaina - Yawn. I’m not surprised she went after this honestly…she didn’t deserve it, but it was so forgettable
Alexandrea - I’m not surprised she went after this either…I don’t think her wardrobe helped her at all honestly…she looked so cute the first week too.
Brooke - LOVED this performance. It’s one of my favorites of the entire season.
Amanda - Scary
Carly - I forgot how creeped out I am by her angry singing face
DC - At this point I still wasn’t buying his whole rocker persona, but I remember laughing at him when he talked back to Simon just because he looked so shocked when Simon got mad at him.
Michael - Eek. One of his worst.
Jason - I thought this was nice. I think the judges just thought it was more of the same, which, true, but it was good same.
Jason Y - The performance was just weird. The singing wasn’t nearly as bad as the way he performed it.
David H - This performance has been pretty hyped, and I think it’s good, but not THAT good.
Archie - Mkay. This is what David has said about not singing the first verse in an interview with Life Story magazine: “It’s a song - the complete song - that I’ve performed quite a bit. I think it’s really good that it had the edit, actually, because no matter what you do, it’s controversial with that song. The reason I chose to go with the third verse is because it was the best one to do; it talked about things that would have the biggest impact on the world. I thought it represented what the song was about the best. John Lennon, since he wasn’t as religious as a lot of other people, in that first verse sang ‘Imagine there’s no heaven’ - he wasn’t saying don’t be religious. He was saying ‘Imagine if everyone’s together.’ And since so many people are hard on that, they forget what the song is about. Singing the third verse prevented that kind of controversy, and people thought that’s what the song was about: ‘No possessions; no need for greed or hunger; a brotherhood of men.’ I just thought that since I’m really concerned about people who suffer in poverty, it was a really cool verse. If I could have sung the whole song, people would understand, but because of the edit - and the fact that I could only do one verse or the other - it really helped a lot to introduce a song with really good intentions to everyone. I just didn’t think there was anything holding me back from sharing what I loved about the song what I really thought the song was about.”
So that’s his opinion on all of it…I could care less what verse he sang, I thought it was a beautiful performance, but not his best. I think his reprise of it in the finale was worlds better.
Oh, it definitely seemed like Robbie and David C got along just fine. But that doesn’t mean that Robbie didn’t look down on that stage and know that, not long after he’d been criticized as not seeming like an authentic rocker, here was a guy seeming very natural with the Les Paul and rock song.
Actually, one of the things that impressed me about Luke the next week was that, after getting reamed (rightfully, in my opinion) for his Wham song, he still was able to get completely into DC’s Hello and look thrilled for DC that it went so well, even though that would mean that one of only 6 spots was probably sewn up right there. It takes a certain something to be able to set aside your own concerns about advancement, and not everyone can do that.
I feel like during every episode Luke was on, he managed to prove himself a class act and a sweet man without even trying. I could list a handful of examples but I won’t bore you. :) And for some reason I will always remember the way he looked up and smiled at his wife during his sing-out. Sweet stuff. But that’s for tomorrow’s thread, isn’t it?
I remember really loving this week, compared to Top 24 I think it was fantastic.
I liked Archie’s Imagine, better than I like most covers of that song, but to me he was so much better with Shop Around that I still don’t feel the wowow thing about it. Actually, SA was my fav performance by him all season, and till this day, after many videos from the tour, TV appearences, radio concerts and so on, I still think that was the time he seemed more confortable on stage ever, to me he has not been that guy again.
Jason’s performance was good but forgetable, so I kinda get the judges comments, and he had been such a great surprise teh week before that something felt off.
Michael was his Karaoke self, I think this was when I gave up on him. Not that I had been a great fan to begin with. It was one of teh worst performances that week.
I think Jason Y has a great voice, but he was so old fashion and awkward to watch, I think taht hurt him.
And eh at Simon’s commento to Cook, could he be more wrong? I think it’s a way cooler for a rocker to say he is a word nerd than a car races fan. A rocker saying he loves cars and sports is not anything new, pretty banal. When David C said he liked words, many people noticed him, because it’s something not as common. The funny thing, is that the video Simon criticized is probably the most famous intro video of the season.
As for the performance, I think it was fantastic. First time ever on idol that it felt like watching a rock concert. David got many people calling him arrogant after that. The chorus parts were just Ok, but I think at the time he wanted more to give that concert vibe than to bring the vocals.
Btw, we could tell David wasn’t really familiar with the show. He seemed so shocked when he realized talking back is a bad thing.
Chikizie was amazing. That was when he became one of my favs.
As or the girls, I remembe really liking Syesha, and I still do like that performance.
To me Brooke was the best girl during the whole semi.finals and this week she really brought it.
I didn’t remember Carly’s performance at all, but I know during the tour cellcasts taht would be one of the big moments. I liked to re-watch that.
LOL — well, if you listen to Simon, it’s a good thing. But it isn’t really, because even if Simon says he likes it, he doesn’t respond well unless he’s in exactly the right mood. (Moody should be the man’s middle name.) Perhaps poor David just didn’t have SIMON figured out yet. I may not be a “Cook fan,” per se, but I do think Cook is very smart to have mastered the game so quickly
Although talking back to the judges is an unspoken “no-no”, Ryan rubbed a little salt in the wound with his “You look a little annoyed. Are you?” Then, Simon cried and said, “I already know the rules. You don’t have to tell me, Cookie!”
Regardless of how humorous it seemed, I still cringed when I watch it again last night.
Top 20, this is so much fun revisiting the show.
The guys:
1. Archie got me a little teary-eyed again. I loved “Imgaine”, it was just brilliant. I think I love it even more now since I know how everything has turned out for him. What a great kid.
2. Chikiezie was da bomb, one of his best performance of all season.
3. Hernandez was also good, I was hoping that he would start his stripping routine in the middle of his act, lol, j/k.
4. Cookie was definitely rocking out and we got the first glimpse of the “AC” on his guitar. I did think he was a tad bit cocky for talking back to Simon but it’s all good. Cookie is about to take over the show soon anyway.
5. Robbie the “fake rocker” was alright but nah….it was his time.
6. Castro was good not great yet. :)
7. Yeager wasn’t horrible, it was definitely the bad dancing and the tight pants, lol.
8. Papa Johns need to listen to the judges. It wasn’t good dawg.
9. Luke’s voice was just weird.
10. Danny, why did you try to be serious, it’s just not working for you dude.
The girls:
1. Carly- spectacular but the angry face was scary….
2. Brooke-predictable but good.
3. Syesha- not bad, I liked it.
4. KLC- much better but not great.
5. Alexandrea-robbed, not a great song choice but she deserved another shot.
6. Amanda-what was she thinking??? the outfit was hideous and the performance was scary….
7. Rami-trying too hard, she never found herself again.
8. Alaina-not terrible but not great.
9. Kady-just go home already.
10. Asiah- not good.
I’ve only bothered watching the boys so far. Michael — ouch! so commences the slide towards elimination…
Chikezie was great, I think he pushed himself into top 10 this week.
Also liked Danny and David H.
This was the first time I’ve seen DA’s Imagine on tv and it was quite pretty. I also knew to watch Simon’s reaction after the quote Trina dug up the other day about how Simon knew he had to save the season from being a total run of the table for Archie :D
Fun performance from DC (although the little guitar riff in the middle didn’t come through on my tv? I know it’s there from youtube.) Also gratifying to see Randy and Paula give him the “Rocker Authenticity” award for the night :) The exchange with Simon came off as a little snippy and uncomfortable though, I could almost see DC wishing the words back in his mouth when Simon reacted all pissy.
(And the kids learned it was best to just smile and nod from hence forth…)
I fell completely and totally in love with DC with this performance. He put so much of himself into it, I could just feel the emotion while he was singing.
I also realized just how very talented DA is. I loved his performance of Imagine originally, but I didn’t really get “it” until last night. He was simply amazing.
So shoot me now, but I happen to love Blake’s version of Imagine and while I agree that Archie’s vocals were awesome, I didn’t care for all the runs. YMMV and all that.
In regards to noctem’s earlier post; I 100% agree with you. They should have kept up with the “Most talent ever!” instead of changing it to “He’s seventeen and with a voice like that! Best vocals evah!” I do love Archie but the major pimpage was TMTH.
This is the night that DC totally grabbed me. There was no turning back after that. I loved his whole performance and the exchange between him and Simon is what triggered all my hours of voting.
I can’t stand Blake Lewis but found his version of “Imagine” more appropriate and true to message than Gaspy’s melisma’d and r&b’d version.
In retrospect I wish we could have traded out Kristy Lee Cook for Alaina as the token country girl. I can’t see Alaina leading us into the misery that was “8 Days a Week.” On the guys side it became more and more clear to me that Michael Johns is mostly a cheesy karaoke type singer who isn’t terribly original. I just don’t think there were any other guys who were any better so he managed to slip through.
I think everyone’s reaction to DA’s imagine really surprised him, and as someone said above, the real “Shop Around” David left until after the finale. Don’t get me wrong, he was amazing many more times, but he wasn’t himself again until after the show was over.
David’s airy tone is one of the things that make his voice so unique and incredible. I love it.
Who is Gaspy’s melisma’d? I am confused as I do not remember anyone with that name? Is it someone from another season?
David Archuleta’s Imagine was so good, I was blown away. He said:
“since I’m really concerned about people who suffer in poverty, it was a really cool verse.”
David will be an inspiration for people for many years to come. Many young people visit David’s video version and comment about how they are inspired to be a better person because of this song.
John Lennon was a great writer and gave a great message to follow. David’s performance I think would have made him very proud.
I don’t get Fox reality channel, maybe it’s a blessing disguised as a curse, who knows. Anyway, Archie’s performance of Imagine was and is the only performance that I can remember from top 20. IMHO, the rest was just a wash.
So, watching the top 10 back, I can tell you now the exact moment that I fell for David Cook. I didn’t even really remember it until watching just now, but I had the exact same reaction this time around as I did the first time and it just all came right back.
At the very end of the “wordnerd” intro package, he goes “yeah, wordnerd. There ya go.” with this cute little laugh and smile, and my thoughts were “wow. Look at that twinkle in his eyes! And he’s actually cute under that awful hairdo!” And at that moment, I was gone. Then he comes out and completely pwns the stage with “All Right Now” and I was completely done in for. Like I think MJ said in her original review, watching his performance felt like watching concert footage… he was so comfortable and in his element. Which is something that I felt like we never really got from him again - because heaven forbid that he run the risk of Simon calling him smug or arrogant if he tried to have a little fun on stage or anything (/soapbox).
Anyway, I realized that I was really rooting for him after this performance, but it didn’t dawn on me just how much I liked him and wanted him to stay around until the song spoilers for 80’s week came out and I TOTALLY and COMPLETELY freaked out when I read that he was singing “Hello.” But more on that in the top 16 thread. :)
I can also plainly and clearly see exactly how and where I crossed over from primarily being an MJ fan to primarily being a DC fan. I liked MJ’s first week performance of “Light My Fire” well enough, but it wasn’t like an “OMG where did this guy come from?!” moment. And then after that, for two weeks in a row, he completely underwhelmed me with his performances, while DC was stealing my attention away. I still liked MJ, but he was no longer my primary favorite.
Danny really frustrated me at times on the show. I really liked him and could hear that killer voice down in there somewhere, but he never really let it loose. He picked 3 very iconic songs in his weeks on the live performance shows, but none of them were quite the “moment” song that he needed.
I really liked David Hernandez. Watching back, I agree that it was somewhat overwrought, but I still liked the performance. Castro was a lot better than the judges gave him credit for. And dear eyecandy Luke… *sigh* If only he could have sung better. I think I made clear my thoughts on David A’s “Imagine” in the other thread, so I won’t dredge that up again. :) Even if I didn’t care for his interpretation, on vocals alone, he was in my top 3 of the night. This week for me, the three Davids were far and away the best.
I definitely see the point about listening to Jason Y and Robbie without watching - I could not believe how campy and cheesy Jason Y’s “choreography” was to his song. It did not fit, at. all. And Robbie did seem to come across as a poser - as much as I wanted to like him because he’s a semi-local guy for me, I just couldn’t. Especially when the guy with the white Les Paul who didn’t have to try so hard was sitting right… over… there.
For the top 10 girls - I really only liked Carly and Brooke this week, and nothing changed on rewatch. And I was only begrudgingly starting to like Carly - I couldn’t stand her at the beginning of the season. Ramiele and Syesha were pretty good, but not as good as the first week. Kristy was better than the first week, but not amazing. Alaina and Alex were two of my faves who were both completely underrated, but they both made pretty bad song choices. Amanda and Kady were terrible. And Asia’h took a big step downward, but that was mostly because of the song. If she’d stayed away from big voiced diva belter songs and stuck to more nuanced, stylized songs, I think she would have gone farther. I wish she would have too, because I really liked her.
I agree. Blake Lewis’ version of Imagine was a sincere and respectful interpretation of a simple but powerful song. David’s version, I think, misfired on the meaning of Imagine by decorating it with vocal acrobatics. Two fine performances, two different interpretations. I prefer Blake’s.
Gaspy is a VFTW thing. Melisma is a musical term for those big runs that Idol contestants love to do. (Not the best definition for melisma, but….)
Rewatching the semis, I do think that America picked the right top 6 guys. Girls, I’d have dropped KLC for Asia’h, Alexandrea, or maybe even Alaina. However, each of those last three made some big song choice errors, so I can’t even feel overly bad about that.
Maybe all of the AI voters from last year’s semis should pat themselves on the back?
Damn watching the results show as they pick the top 12, did anyone else find it eerie that DC and Archie were 1st and 2nd respectively being called to the chairs? I totally forgot that.
It gets freakier than that. Here were the first five announced:
DC (finished #1)
DA (finished #2)
JC (finished #4, and the #3 guy)
BW (finished #5, and the #2 girl)
SM (finished #3, and the #1 girl)
There’s your top 5. Also, flip the two girls, and you have it in order based on gender.
Sometimes AI has a way of ‘paying back’ contestants. I was thinking about David H. and how his dancing at a strip club just happen to come out the week the Top 12 was selected. Some how, some way David was included in the Idol Christmas Tour. I was so happy for him (and the other three Idols).
My thinking, my peaceful thinking is that Danny brought in a whole lot more votes than Amanda did. However, as has been mentioned they weren’t directly competiting with one another. Amanda was the 6th girl chosen. If the new rules were applied last year, IMO Amanda wouldn’t have been in the Top 12.
I am not a big fan of Danny’s, but I don’t think we’ve heard the last of him.
What is:
Gaspy is a VFTW thing.
I still do not understand what this is?
Thanks for your help
Blake Lewis’ version of Imagine.
I went over to the tube and watched Blake version. No offense to you Blake fans, but I like David A. better. Then I am also not sure why we are comparing them. Blake not being AI7 and all.
David A. was my fav. of the night.
Vote for the Worst gives mean nicknames Idol finalists. That was its nickname for DA.
Just curious, what was DC’s VFTW nickname?
Awwww
Vote for the Worst
I looked this up from your post and was really sad because like a lot of people David had an illness that caused us to be able to hear him breath.
David is very brave to overcome this and that makes me respect him more.
ercheers, that’s exactly why I didn’t really want to link the two. I particularly don’t like that nickname because of that.
FridayB, I’m not sure what DC”s VFTW nickname was. I’m pretty sure that I’ve seen it, and somehow think that it may have had something to do with the combover? But I think that I shrugged it off, maybe because it didn’t bug me as much as the one given to DA. Which is kind of funny, I guess, given that I’m a DC fan.
On a more cheerful note, Top 8 guys was as good as I remembered. And I again loved Love Is a Battlefield. I was a very happy camper tonight.
Well I decided to click on the Dailymotion link to watch the top 20. I haven’t read all of the comments here, just some. Wow, to all of the comments on the top 24! I read some of those too.
I’ve only watched the guys, don’t know if I’ll go back to the girls. However, a couple of comments on the girls. I don’t think I saw all, if any of the top 12 girls the first time around so in reading the comments on Alaina and how peeps thought she was voted out too soon, all I remembered was her boring song from top 20, (and well, I actually like this song), but knew there was a reason she didn’t make it after top 20, imo. I did watch her on the top 24 on dailymotion, however and agree she was really good that first night. Brooke was my favorite girl starting from the top 20.
Now for the guys: I have to point something out first. The guys were introduced and DC was right before DA. DA got a huge cheer from the audience when introduced. When they got up to the balcony DC was pointing at DA and shrugging at the huge cheer he was getting. My take? I think he was kinda saying, “Look they love you!” (In an encouraging way.) IDK. JMO.
Micheal Johns, karaoke at best. Don’t like some of his cheesy moves on stage. Simon wasn’t very nice to him at all. One of DC’s four horsemen(?) (Will comment more on this later.)
Jason Castro was def. one of my favs from the beginning. I thought this song was really good! Loved the adorable intro vid. I thought Simon was too hard on him, but he took it very well.
Luke, TOUGH SONG! I give his huge kudos for the attempt. Once again, Simon was extremely hard on him. (Another of the four horsemen.)
Robbie C., Rock n Roll poser! I’m sorry, but his smile to me is just ewwww! So Simon actually kinda gave him props…hmmmm. His voice is good, but just. didn’t connect. Maybe he would have ‘let go’ the following week if given the chance, but I don’t think so…
Danny, OMG, he is hilarious! I loved his intro tape. “Just some rebellious kids having fun!” (Could be misquoted-ish.) Not so great on the vocals on top 20.
David H. Def. his best IMO. Probably what got him to top 12. Great vocals and personality in this song.
Jason Y. One of the four horsemen. Poor guy. My heart truly went out to him because he had talked about showing his son how dreams can come true. (Earlier on.) He just couldn’t cut it. That last move was just the straw…
Simon tore him apart! Hmmmm.
Chikezie! Why didn’t I notice him sooner? Maybe not my cuppa, but he was awesome!!!! I now see why he was top 10 (and perhaps should have been #9?, 8? (KLC should have been gone sooner-though I really do feel for her. Aw well.)
David Cook, sorry but I have a lot to say here. I’m going to presumably put a lot of thoughts into DC’s head. 1) He knew Archie was loved by the audience and the judges. 2)Simon simply said they all need to do better from the week before. 3) He stood there and watched Simon tear apart his (horsemen) friends (somewhat deservedly so, but esp. for Luke and Jason to a humiliating point, plus MJ looked pretty crushed by his comments.) 4) He heard Simon give some props to the, to me, “poser” Rob C.
Having said all of that, he may have gone into this kinda wondering what Simon was going to say. I’ve watched this entire tape infinite number of times and almost didn’t watch it tonight. FOR THE FIRST TIME, I heard DC say he agreed with Simon about the tape not doing him any favors, right away. I don’t know how I missed this before. I think for him to come back and say something to Simon (even jokingly) was to ’save face’ after immediately agreeing with him.
I REALLY, REALLY, REALLY liked, maybe even loved DC’s first performance on top 24. I was drawn to him immediately on stage, esp. after his weird first intro. My husband had missed his first performance so I was so excited for him to see DC that second night. THEN the whole Simon thing happened (and my artistically musical husband loves Simon), so this really put a damper on things for me. But, I’m pretty sure I still voted for him that night. I didn’t want him to leave yet. So now I’ve said my piece on this top 20 night and I have learned to trust my own instincts a little more.
Finally, DA, I was very touched by his performance that night. It was beautiful!
eta: edited for grammar
Well, it looks like I’m really late to the game here. Some have already re-watched top 12 and top 10?
After rewatching Season 7, I am wondering how AI will be able to equal such fine performances and personalities for the upcoming season? That is, unless, they are top heavy with highly experienced, possibly professional singers?
I doubt I will find someone I adored as much as Jason, or singers like David Cook, David A., or Brooke who brought so much pleasure to my viewing. Season 7 is a hard act to follow.
If you’re watching with the TV reruns, you’re up through Top 16 (Top 8 guys, Top 8 girls, and results). Some people may have gone forward now that they’ve discovered web-archived copies of the shows.
I have the show on VHS tapes.
I am appreciating comments made which is new as you are rewatching Season 7. I cannot view video on my computer, and I don’t have cable service which presents the show. I like reading MJ’s comments, too.
One thing I was wondering about is did all the contestants stand in line to audition, or were ’special’ at the end of the day auditions set up for certain contestants that they knew would go far in the competition?
They call him “Baldy”
Thanks, MJ. I tried to look it up myself on VFTW but the vitriol got to me after just a couple of minutes. I love the civilized discourse you have here. :) (Lurker that I am)
Ahh. I thought it had something to do with his hair.
There actually are pictures of DC standing in line with his brother at Omaha. I can’t speak to all of the others.
The “nickname” they kept all season had to do with the size of DC’s head and not his hair. Since I have someone very close to me with the same condition I did not find it in the least bit funny.
Thank you FolkFan! I wondered about Michael and Carly?
Yeah, that’s the one I see most often there - waterhead, because of a condition called Hydrocephalus.
Oh, how witty they think they are.
I’m sorry I answered the question. If anybody is curious about VFTW nicknames, you’ll have to go over there and find out for yourselves. Talk about other boards and blogs here is really off topic.
And I think what I’m going to do right now is ask that everyone keep their little in-jokes and nicknames from other boards at those boards. The questions that come afterward take the thread off-topic. And what may go down fine on one board may not be so cool on others.
I’ll be editing the guidelines accordingly.
Was somewhat busy yesterday so I didn’t get to play in this thread. Mostly I just want to say how badly they missed the mark on Alex. She’s incredible and fresh. The show could have used a little more of her. I also remain pissed at the way they screwed Syesha the entire season. As someone above said, they just didn’t like her. Too bad, she can really sing, but then it’s not a singing competition, really.
I loved Imagine then. I love it now.
I don’t like the VFTW nicknames. I love snark, and even gentle ribbing, but their names smack of malice to me. Well truthfully, I just can’t stomach them, period. I like David Cook that night. Didn’t like the ‘tude, but I liked him.
Danny Noriega was just too purty for that show. And fierce!
so “gaspy” was a take against DA? (what is VFTW anyway?)…a resulting condition because of his vocal paralysis? Im amazed about how fans would be so involved with their chosen idol and hit on a condition resulting from a physical infection..Im a stage 2 vocal paralysis patient..it has not been easy…I would not wish the same to my worst enemy…people please be nice.
RV65, the people who gave DA that nickname are most definitely NOT fans of his. It was never meant as a term of endearment.
Good luck to you with your recovery. I know it must be difficult and frustrating.
eta: Sorry, MJ - I saw your post above. I am definitely not trying to keep the discussion going but wanted to clarify. Feel free to remove this if you see fit.
I’m late to comment but just wanted to add my thoughts about Alex. Randy thought it was wrong that she went home so early. It was one of the few times where I thought he was spot on. I thought she brought something different to the r&b mix. She just seemed more current than Syesha, funkier than Asia’h and I think, of all the youngsters, didn’t know how to play the game. I wish they could bring back one of the eliminated top 24 of 2008 as the wildcard in 2009. She is definitely one who could benefit by a second chance.
Maybe if she stays in contact with DA, she might get a shot at singing with him. Based on Crush, I think they could do something real fun together.