American Idol 4/24-4/25 -- and beyond??

WAY too many pages on the old thread; thought I'd start a new one for the "home stretch" so the thing won't end up being 48 pages long, which is kind of an issue for those of us with slow downloads....

So according to what I read in the newspaper TV supplement the other day, tonight the contestants will be "singing songs of hope and compassion." SAPPY MUSIC ALERT. (Thank God Haley's gone).

I have this really scary feeling that Chris is going to dig up "I Believe I Can Fly" in which case "I Believe I Am Going To Run Screaming Out Of The Room". He just strikes me as the type who would pick it.

In any event, Phil Stacey fans, if any, take it all in -- I have a feeling this is going to be his last night, unless he pulls another rabbit out of the hat like he did last week. (By which I mean a really good vocal; I think Sanjaya would have been gone in ANY case.....)

So, is Wed. the "Idol Gives Back" night w/ elimination or is there an extra night??

CzarinaAnya said:

So, is Wed. the "Idol Gives Back" night w/ elimination or is there an extra night??

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I was wondering the same thing, anyone know. All I know is Josh Groban is going to on!!! Have I told any of you that I love Joshie?

Dee

I thought it was going to be an extra "bonus" week myself, but according to the TV supplement in the paper, there will be an elimination on Wednesday night as usual, amidst all the "festivities". If this is true, I feel sorry for the bottom 2 or 3 because their wait is probably going to be even longer and more excruciating than usual before they find out who goes home.

Then again, the supplement could be wrong; that's the standard "plot summary line" from Wednesday AI episodes and maybe they just forgot to update it. I guess we'll find out tonight.

Ryan said it was during the elimination lemme check on the satelite guide...

ok it says Wednesday is Part 2 of 2 of Idol Gives back... so maybe the show is now 2 days long, who knows I'm so confused lol

but it's two hours tomorrow and it starts an hour earlier than normal!

Dee4707 said:

I was wondering the same thing, anyone know. All I know is Josh Groban is going to on!!! Have I told any of you that I love Joshie?

Dee

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EXACTLY, Josh is the only reason I'm watching *Swoon*

CzarinaAnya said:

EXACTLY, Josh is the only reason I'm watching *Swoon*

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CzarinaAnya, you have such good taste. Here is some info I found out about when Josh is supposed to be on American Idol. I'm going to watch both nights just incase they got the dates wrong.

African Children’s Choir to Hit American Idol Stage
The African Children’s Choir will make an appearance on the American Idol “Idol Gives Back” show, which will raise funds for charities in the U.S. and Africa.
by Gretta Curtis
Posted: Friday, April 20, 2007, 12:15


The African Children’s Choir will make an appearance on the American Idol - “Idol Gives Back” show, which will raise funds for charities in the U.S. and Africa.

The show, which airs live 25 April in the US, will feature the choir performing with Grammy-nominated American singer/songwriter, Josh Groban. The show is expected to be its largest viewing to date with nearly 60 million viewers.

On the scene for the last 22 years, the African Children’s Choir has been heard and seen across the world.

Their personal stories of triumph through adversity are evidenced through their music and they have performed even at: the UN General Assembly; One.org with George Clooney, Lindsay Lohan and Ellen DeGeneres; Live8 with Mariah Carey, Annie Lennox and Sting; and the 46664 Concert with Will Smith and Nelson Mandela among others.

For every vote cast via phone or text message on the show, “Idol” sponsors Coca-Cola, AT&T and others will donate money to charity.

Organisations such as UNICEF, the Global Fund, Save the Children, Nothing but Nets and Malaria No More will benefit from the donations.

Idol Gives Back” also is providing a link on its website to One: The Campaign to Make Poverty History.

U2’s Bono, co-founder of the One campaign, said “I wouldn’t underestimate the reach of [Idol] or the impact its audience can have.”

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Dee

I really hope it is Phil = I don't think his voice is that good = and he has no stage presence at all

I have to admit, as I implied when I started this thread, I was approaching tonight with a little bit of trepidation; I was expecting a lot of really sappy songs and the performance level to be rather uneven. But I gotta say, I think EVERYONE pulled it off tonight.

To varying degrees, anyway:

MY RANKINGS:

1. Blake -- an excellent choice for him, tho a dangerous one, and he DELIVERED. Beautiful! He has this vocal quality sometimes that I can only described as "restrained emotionalism" (many great singers have this, including my all time #1 fave, Emmylou Harris); it's that emotion that lurks just under the surface that really affects me. I have been saying since early on I would LOVE to see him sing Erasure's "Blue Savannah" (a song that just makes me BAWL MY HEAD OFF every time I hear it because the vocal by Andy Bell is so beautiful) and after tonight I REALLY want to hear him do it; he is the only vocalist I've ever heard who could do it as well as Mr. Bell.
Now, in regards to Simon's comment regarding "it not going anywhere" -- um, the ORIGINAL hardly built its way up to a full-on gospel chorus and a cannon going off in the studio, where in the hell did Simon EXPECT it to go??:scratch:

2. Jordin -- OK, it's official, I am TOTALLY going to buy her CD now. I rather suspected from early on that she was going to be the one who snuck up on us, just getting better and better every week, much like Kimberly Locke did in Season 2. She had a couple of rather scratchy high notes, but who cares??
Note to Randy: ENOUGH WITH THE 17 YEARS OLD ALREADY!! JUST STOP IT!!

3. Chris --This was really quite surprisingly very good. My only problem with it is he's got one of those voices that should NOT drag their vowels out too long -- sometimes the i-i-i-i, e-e-e-e, a-a--a-a-a, went on just a BIT too long and it was almost to the point of Yeep! Stop it! The last run was especially a bit of a YOW!!, but beyond that -- his 2nd best performance so far, behind his excellent "Don't Get Around Much Anymore". I liked this a lot more than this critique would indicate.

4. Melinda -- OK. I'll agree it was a "master class". And coupled with the arrangement, it was kind of a problem. Now, granted, Melinda is uncapable of hitting either a sour note or a wrong one, BUT -- she was really kind of all over the place; she certainly got a chance to show ALL her range, and most of the time all in one lyric. It was kind of like "auditory vertigo" for me. Just a bit OVERDONE, IMHO. But I mostly blame the arrangement.

5. Phil --Overall, this wasn't bad, tho rather pitchy. Tho not in his usual places. Usually he's great with the high soaring notes and the stuff in between is sketchy; tonight it was the other way around; some of those high notes were pretty dicy.

6. LaKisha -- First of all, I really have to question her decision to keep singing hits from previous AI winners, but it wouldn't be the first decision she's made that I call into question. It's really NOT a good idea. Getting beyond that -- Now. First off, I have to say that I am a HUGE Fantasia fan and was from Day One of Season 3. I was not, however, a huge fan of that particular song. But Fantasia's version is better. In part because it's much more suited for HER voice. But I'm not putting her last because of my adoration of Fantasia; I just really didn't find her vocal or performance to be that great. I mean, there wasn't anything especially WRONG with it, it just didn't do much for me. I have to wonder, tho, will she gain a few extra votes because Simon told the audience to shut up when they were booing his critique of her??

This morning I said I expected Phil to go home. But honestly, between tonight and her being in the bottom 2 LAST week, I wouldn't be surprised if LaKisha does. Shocking, but I think possible.

JonnyCoop, I hope you're wrong about Lakisha going home tonight. I haven't heard Fantasia's song before (or that I remember I did) so for me the way Lakisha did it was wonderful for me. My goosebumps got goosebumps. If Lakisha goes so be it.

I'm kind of hoping Uncle Fenster.........oops...I mean Phil goes home tonight.

As usual Melinda did a great job.

I am not really sold on Jordin. I don't see what is so special about her versus anyone else. Comments anyone???

Well in my humble opinion, Blake slaughtered another great song.

Dee

Dee4707 said:

JonnyCoop, I hope you're wrong about Lakisha going home tonight. I haven't heard Fantasia's song before (or that I remember I did) so for me the way Lakisha did it was wonderful for me. My goosebumps got goosebumps. If Lakisha goes so be it.

I'm kind of hoping Uncle Fenster.........oops...I mean Phil goes home tonight.

As usual Melinda did a great job.

I am not really sold on Jordin. I don't see what is so special about her versus anyone else. Comments anyone???

Well in my humble opinion, Blake slaughtered another great song.

Dee

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The song LaKisha did last night was the one that Fantasia sang during the Season 3 Finale, when they have them sing something especially written for the competition; that was hers. As I said, I'm not a fan of that song anyway; not my type of thing; "soaring ballads" or whatever you want to call them, only go so far with me.

re. Phil, it is weird how the "bald thing" works. IMO, Chris Daughtry last season was the sexiest man EVER on AI. (AI has a lot of "cute boys", but few "sexy MEN", ). Phil, by contrast, just looks creepy. I think part of it may be the "eye thing"; I think blue eyes and bald heads just look kinda creepy in general.

I don't know, Jordin, for me and others, just seems to have a "thing" that you either respond to or you don't. A good example of this same type of quality would be Oksana Bauil. Never got it, still don't, never will. But others just thought -- and many probably still do -- that she was just the most precious thing to come over the pike.

re. Blake, I realize this is "sacreligious", but I have always found that song to be highly overrated to begin with, so for me it was no big deal if he didn't sound like John Lennon. I think Chris has actually done more song slaughtering than any other present contestant (I wanted to go after his mouth with a roll of duct tape after his destruction of No Doubt's "Don't Speak"), but he did very well last night.

I missed Melinda and Blake (the only two I even care about) as my neice came over so all tv plans go out the window with Miss Rae in the house lol

but Phil did surprisingly well, still don't like Chris - and Lakisha did something that I never thought anyone could do - make me wish for Fantasia! ACK!

I agree she needs to drop this obsession with trying to outsing or whatever it is she's doing the past Idol winners... it backfires all the time... you'd think she'd have taken the hit since she was in the bottom three last week but apparently not... I would not be surprised if she was in the bottom 3 again tonight or even going home... she has gone down and gone down FAST...

Jonny- Blake sang "Imagine" correct? I like the soft quality of the music... but I agree it is an overrated song...

Phil still looks like an undertaker, but if he plays his cards right and continues down the country type he might make it further...

Tonichelle said:

I... she has gone down and gone down FAST...
.

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If anyone has gone down @100 miles an hour it's been Blake. The song is not overrated in my humble opinion........Blake is. I hope Blake goes tonight but if it's Lakisha so be it.

Dee

I can't comment on Blake, I didn't see him sing...

btw, Emily Hughes skated to Fantasia's Believe last season in a couple of exhibition type deals... it was on either ABC or ESPN (maybe she skated it at the beginning of this season... can't be sure right now lol)

Jonny...........totally agree with you about John Lennon's ballad. Never thought it was that much of a memorable song...........I'm sticking to my top two as Melinda and Jordine...........Phil's gotta go. He's got a nice voice, but there's something "creepy" about the way he looks and acts. Love Blake.....my bottom two will be Chris and Lakisha..........she's got a great voice, but for me, no personality worth remembering........42

Tonichelle said:

but Phil did surprisingly well, still don't like Chris - and Lakisha did something that I never thought anyone could do - make me wish for Fantasia! ACK!

I agree she needs to drop this obsession with trying to outsing or whatever it is she's doing the past Idol winners... it backfires all the time... you'd think she'd have taken the hit since she was in the bottom three last week but apparently not... I would not be surprised if she was in the bottom 3 again tonight or even going home... she has gone down and gone down FAST...

Jonny- Blake sang "Imagine" correct? I like the soft quality of the music... but I agree it is an overrated song...
.

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I remember you not being much of a Fantasia fan....

To be fair to LaKisha, if that would be the correct term given what I'm about to say, I can't think of ONE country song she could have sang and done any better. And though it says something that now previous Idol winners' songs are now in the current AI "selection catalogue", they should just stay away; opening yourself up to DIRECT comparison with previous winners is just asking for trouble, ESPECIALLY if one does not have the proper type of voice to sing the particular song. That being said, I think Gina would have done a great job with Kelly Clarkson's "Behind These Hazel Eyes". (Actually, I'd like to see Jordin tackle that one, too.). And sometimes it doesn't pay to tear the roof off the place too early -- had LaKisha not sang so fantastically in the early rounds, the expectations would be lower and those of us who think she's losing momentum would probably not be so disappointed....

Yes, Blake DID sing "Imagine". Who I also thought had a good version of it was Jordis, one of the contestants during that INXS member search on CBS a couple of years ago. She was terrific anyway, tho did lose steam toward the end -- whatever happened to her??

What a great show tonight. Almost had a heart attack though!!!!!!!!

Dee

was anyone else really confused with how they did that faux-elimination tonight... it was quite confusing to me...

I'm having a hard time with this selective charity thing... while I feel deeply for those in Africa and Katrina victims... why is it that NO CELEBRITY cares about the current foster care situation - or other issues that many American kids face. Why just THOSE kids, why not all kids? I felt it was really very selective and reflected the current trend in Hollywood

I'm not being heartless, I like what they did, but I just felt it was very limited and shouldn't have been. If you're going to help the kids of America, help them all. Bring attention to the problems THIS country faces... we spend a whole lot of time looking outward (which I'm not saying we shouldn't) but we rarely look inward... and look at all the hurt that this nation has...

Dee4707 said:

Almost had a heart attack though!!!!!!!!

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You, me and Jordan!

I look forward to my hour or two every week of mindless fun.......American Idol with it's singing, good or bad.........an escape from the real world, so to speak. Last night, for me, was a telethon, a money raiser..............not much of an escape. I donate to charities all the time. I didn't like the incorporating the two into one extraveganza............any one else feel the same? 42