World Idol

Anyone watch this show? It was fun to see the winners of other countries.

Absolutely loved the guy from Norway. Enjoyed the fellows from Australia and Belgium. Thought the Lebanese lady had a beautiful voice and honest delivery, regardless of the language barrier.

All the pretty boys left me cold: Germany, South Africa, Britain, Canada. I did, however, think that Will's (Britain) voice was unique and I would have liked to hear him sing more than one fairly monotone song. I only caught a glimpse of what I'm sure he's capable of.

The Polish girl was horrible. Kelly did a good job--it's just that I got this sense of "been there, done that". She's got a great voice, but I felt that she was on auto pilot.

Of course I watched this Here's my blow-by-blow:

Alexander/Germany -I couldn't believe that he sang 'Maniac'. He looks like Seth and Josh Meyers (comedian brothers who perform on Saturday Night Live and MadTV, respectively). In fact, his performance was like a comedy skit. I felt bad that he went first and just got crucified by the judges though.

Guy/Austalia - I agreed with whatever judge said they hated the arrangement of this song, but that his talent came through anyway. I think he will end up in the top 5, but would have had a better chance to win with a better song.

Ryan/Canada - he totally out-Clayed Clay in the 'nerd-with-a-big-voice' department: he's a bigger nerd and he's got a better voice. (guinevere now dodging tomatoes hurled by Clay fans - of which I am one BTW) I lurved him.

Jamai - I think his song (Elton John's "Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word") was a bad choice for Jamai. EJ has plenty of songs that are quite bland vocally (like, most of them from the last 15 years...), but Jamai chose a song that really showcases Elton John's vocal distinctiveness, and sang it with zero power. I kept hearing the real song in my head, and the comparison was not good for Jamai.

Heinz/South Africa "Don't Want to Miss a Thing". Right off the bat Heinz was missing notes right and left. Also, the song was slowed down considerably and felt really heavy. Josh in AI2 sold me on a country version of this song, but Heinz' boy band ballad rendition did nothing for me.

Alix/Poland - Hey, I didn't know Carmen was Polish!! All right, all right, Alix is no Goat Girl, but she was a mess. I was glad to hear her speak at the end, because I actually thought she didn't speak english and she was singing phonetically. I'm not making fun of her - I just couldn't think of any other reason for the bizarre disconnection between the words and her performance. Her facial expressions are frightening!!

Diana/"Pan Arab" - I love that she chose to sing in her own language. I agree that it diminished her chances to do well in this particular competition, but her voice was obviously lovely. I liked where they put her in the program as well, because, seeing clips of Alix's Polish Idol history (songs sung in Polish) made me wonder how all of the non-native-english speakers felt about having to sing in a different language for this show, if they hadn't in their original competition.

Kelly - Back to Aretha. Kelly wisely chose to skip the earsplitting (and off-key) high note she went for when she sang this in AI, but unfortunately kept the hat. I 100% agree with the Canadian judge (shouting some of the power notes) and especially the UK judge (stop with the danged trills already!!), but Kelly has amazing talent, coupled with great stage presence. Her performance is kind of beside the point - as Simon pointed out, she's already an international star, and I figured off the bat Kelly would win this no matter what happened...*

Peter/Belgium - Thank you for singing a song that I actually listen to! And vocally, he was right on. I felt bad for him that he had those idiotic stage effects to deal with - the first time the flames came up, he looked surprised, like he didn't know it was going to happen. I do believe that Simon was right when he said that performing on a show like World Idol would be Kurt Cobain's worst nightmare, but I disagree with his assessment that anyone who sings harder edged songs on his show is a fake (he gave the same treatment to the rocker dude from AI2 - and Peter has a much better voice).

Will/UK - Right away I thought "It sounds like he's channeling Jose Feliciano on helium". I spent much of the song trying to remember if this was one of the songs Feliciano actually covered, so I was glad that the SA judge mentioned it. Will has a unique voice and I like him, but I don't think enough people watching this show remember (or ever heard of) Jose Feliciano, so they'll think Will came up with the arrangement. He also got the lame pyrotechnics, although his were at least off to the side of the stage.

Kurt/Norway * (see above)... until I saw and heard Kurt. From the few clips we heard of him from Norway Idol, as soon as they announced he would be singing U2's "Beautiful Day", I knew it was perfect for his voice. WOW. He is fantastic, and, although I still think Kelly is 'supposed' to win this, I really hope Kurt pulls an upset. I called in for him like 50 times. I love him, gap teeth and all!!!

I liked the British hosts, liked having the judges from different countries (even the Polish judge!) and HATED having Kelly tell us what she thought of the other contestants. Did every country make their 'home player' do this? UGH. ps - what was up with seeing the responses from only 2 or 3 of the judges for each contestant, except Kelly, for whom we were shown ALL the judges comments - and Kelly's reaction? I mean, how many times do we have to see Kelly nod and say 'Thank you'?

guinevere

Obviously this was shown in time different times for the countries involved. So I'm guessing their were pre-taped bits for each country warning them that they couldn't vote for their own idol and having that countries idol do play-by-play's.

I also suspect that every judge got to comment, but that each network carrying the event edited things.

Can someone from another country who saw this on any other network but FOX confirm this?

Personally I thought it was a big snoozefest. No one really impressed me at all.

Kelly did a good job--it's just that I got this sense of "been there, done that". She's got a great voice, but I felt that she was on auto pilot.

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She seemed really tentative to me... I really missed that awesome high note that went perfectly with the song... I don't remember it ever being off pitch...

her voice just seems soooooooo tired... she needs 1/2 a year vacation. Seriously.

I WAS SO LOOKING FORWARD TO THIS SHOW BUT I WAS DISAPPOINTED=I REALLY WASN'T THAT IMPRESSED. SURE THERE WERE GOOD AND NOT SO GOOD PERFORMANCES.
THE POLISH JUDGE WAS SO RUDE AND I'D LIKE TO KNOW WHAT WAS REALLY SAID BETWEEN HIM AND THE POLISH CONTESTANT WHO I DID NOT LIKE AT ALL. ALL IN ALL I'D GIVE IT A 6 1/2

CB

Skate Sandee said:

Can someone from another country who saw this on any other network but FOX confirm this?

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I read on another board that, not only did different countries get different judging comments, but the whole order of the program was different! Also, some countries got different comments from the same judge to the same person (the example used was that the comments shown from Simon to Polish Alex were different in the US and in Canada).

guinevere

I found a message board based in the U.K., which has a discussion about the show that includes people from many countries. Click on it below and scroll down to Pop Idol then to World Idol. You can read the posts; but if you want to reply, you have to register, which takes about 30 seconds. It's very interesting to read the opinions of those in other countries. I'm glad that the majority agree that Kurt from Norway and Guy from Australia were the best. The comments about Kelly range from "She's great" to "Yeah, yeah, we heard it already." As for actual performance, the bulk of posts put her behind Kurt and Guy. My choice is Kurt--just loved that guy! My second choice would be Guy.

http://forum.digitalspy.co.uk/board/

guinevere said:

Ryan/Canada - he totally out-Clayed Clay in the 'nerd-with-a-big-voice' department: he's a bigger nerd and he's got a better voice. (guinevere now dodging tomatoes hurled by Clay fans - of which I am one BTW) I lurved him.

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I hate to say this and I truly do not mean to offend, but when I heard this Elvis Costello wannabe, all I could think of was "Is this the best that Canada could come up with?" I just about gagged listening to how TIGHT and TENSE his voice is! It was painful to listen to... but that's just the voice teacher in me!

RealtorGal said:

I hate to say this and I truly do not mean to offend, but when I heard this Elvis Costello wannabe, all I could think of was "Is this the best that Canada could come up with?" I just about gagged listening to how TIGHT and TENSE his voice is! It was painful to listen to... but that's just the voice teacher in me!

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I agree that Ryan sounded tight last night. I find him better most other times although I would have preferred another guy, Billy, to be representing Canada.

I second everyone who thought Kelly and Kurt were the best. They stood head and shoulders above everyone else.

I thoroughly enjoyed all two hours of this show..........the best for me were the two emcees.......they were a crack up....42

I agree about the emcees - do ya think this was what they were going for the first season of AI with Seacrest and Dunkelman? The type of banter the UK guys had seemed vaguely familiar - but with them it seems effortless, while it just came off as corny stateside. AI was definitely much better last season with just Ryan Seacrest.

guinevere

My best friend forgot to tape it! SO I DON'T GET TO SEE THE WHOLE THING!!!! *sobs*

Kelly was so great

guinevere said:

The type of banter the UK guys had seemed vaguely familiar - but with them it seems effortless, while it just came off as corny stateside.

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Didn't you guys in the US and Canada have your own presenters? I thought you would have. The presenters for Pop Idol (UK show) and World Idol are Ant & Dec (Ant McPartlin and Declan Donnelly). They're a kind of double act, very popular. They started off as actors (when they were teenagers) in a programme called Byker Grove, which is set around a youth club in Newcastle (that's where their accents are from - people from Newcastle are known as Geordies). After that, they were singers, under the name of PJ & Duncan (their character names in BG), before reverting to their real names. They're now TV presenters/comics. They've won quite a lot of comedy awards, and "Best TV" type gongs. Just some useless information for ya, thought you might find it interesting. They also had a cameo in Love Actually (who WASN'T in it? lol)

If this guy, Kurt Nilson of Norway (father of 2, the guy a couple of judges--including Simon--called ugly), wins World Idol, then there IS justice in the world!

http://www.idolfan.org/pictures/122503worldidol/011.jpg



Now start downloading and LISTEN! My favorite is ONE DAY IN JUNE!

http://dirtydog.no/mp3/kurtnilsen/

KURT won!

YEA Kurt!!!

And Kudos to Peter for coming in 3rd

I bet Simon is having fits

guinevere

It was cool that Kurt won. I think that Kelly and Will were embarrassed to be there, and were there only because they were contractually obligated. I still think that Kelly is a better singer than Kurt but it's always nice to see the underdog win. The show isn't going to effect anyone that much since it was a one-time deal only. All it did was get me excited for AI3.

How could anyone have voted for that Heinz guy? It couldn't have been because of the voice. Him, Peter, Alex, Alexander, and Jamai would not have even made the top ten on American or Canadian Idol.

Mike79 - I disagree about Heinz. I think he probably would have made top 10 in the US, for the same reason he did so well in World Idol: his looks. There are lots and lots of teenyboppers (of all ages, heh) who would vote repeatedly for a good looking guy with a mediocre voice. I think Heinz would have made it to top 5, even.

I agree that Peter would never have made US Top 10 - but only because of his choice in musical style, not because he isn't talented enough. And that's a shame. (ps I absolutely lurve that Peter 'proved' himself pop-worthy in his own country by singing La Vida Loca. Now THAT's brave!)

guinevere