Saturday, March 31, 2012

THR Idol Hangover - Didi, Siobhan Magnus, Lee DeWyze

The Hollywood Reporter's Idol Hangover Episode 5 with
Didi Benami, Siobhan Magnus, Lee DeWyze:

Thursday, March 29, 2012

Season 11 Top 9 Elimination Reactions

Hollie Cavanagh. Bottom Three. Surprise.
Phillip Phillips. Safe.
Elise Testone. Safe.

I suspected that DialIdol was way off this week, and Hollie in the Bottom Three confirms it. Of course, the geek will say all contestants were yellow, meaning nobody beat the margin of error, and that's true, but it's usually better than that even when all yellow.

Nicki Minaj performs.

Colton Dixon. Safe.
Joshua Ledet. Safe.
Heejun Han. Bottom Three.

Scotty McCreery performs.

Jessica Sanchez. Safe. Now I know.
Deandre Brackensick. Safe. Lucky.
Skylar Laine. Bottom Three. Suprising.

I now believe that DialIdol simply switched the tags of Hollie and Jessica. They had Hollie #1 and Jessica #8, but it was reversed.

Skylar. Safe. Good.

Hollie. Safe. Good.

Heejun out.

Judges' Save: No. That's fine.

Heejun, the first East Asian guy to make the Top 10. His comedy was well appreciated by many. And he sings really good for a Korean.

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Season 11 Top 9 Performance Reactions

1. Jessica Sanchez
2. Deandre Brackensick
3. Phillip Phillips
4. Hollie Cavanagh
5. Skylar Laine
6. Joshua Ledet
7. Colton Dixon
8. Heejun Han
9. Elise Testone

Details:

Colton Dixon. So-so song. I guess Tebow would like it.

Skylar Laine. I like Skylar like this. Not going big, staying in her element.

Trio - Colton, Elise, Phillip: Time filler.

Heejun Han. Not bad at all.

Hollie Cavanagh. Camera work was awful, distracting. But she sang pretty well.

Deandre Brackensick. I wish he was a couple of years older, but his upside is crazy. Amazing instrument.

Jessica Sanchez. That was so exotic. OMG.

Trio - Dandre, Heejun, Joshua. Time filler.

Phillip Phillips. He's great, but same-o great. Nothing wrong with that.

Joshua Ledet. Horrible song choice.

Trio - Hollie, Skylar, Jessica. Time Filler.

Elise Testone. Worst version ever. Where's Adam?

Thursday, March 22, 2012

In Defense of Heejun Han

In defense of Heejun Han, let's not forget that it was Idol who gave him all that air time which introduced us to his deadpan comedy in the first place. He didn't twist their arms, they were the ones who unleashed him upon the world. They cannot now be angry that he's still the way he is, when he's been that way all along.

We all know he's not going to be a recording artist anyway, so why not let him use Idol to showcase his comedic talents for possible future roles in sitcoms and such. The music industry is not in great shape anyway, so what's the point in taking it so seriously.

Update: I am now of the opinion that Heejun was Not really in the Bottom Three. Idol just put him there to make him think America did not appreciate his antics, when in fact much of America did. I believe that Elise was in the bottom as usual, and Heejun actually got a lot of votes.

Season 11 Top 10 Elimination Reactions

Group Song.

Hollie Cavanagh. Safe. Lucky.
Skylar Laine. Safe. Fan base.
Elise Testone. Safe. Surprise.

Lana Del Rey performs. Jimmy Iovine's pet.

Joe Perry Happy Birthday to Steven.

Jessica Sanchez. Safe. Duh.
Joshua Ledet. Safe. Fan base.
DeAndre Brackensick. Bottom Three. Trouble.

Haley Reinhart performs.

Colton Dixon. Safe. Duh.
Erika Van Pelt. Bottom Three. Undeserved.
Phillip Phillips. Safe.
Heejun Han. Bottom Three.

DeAndre safe. Lucky.

Heejun safe.

Erika Van Pelt out. Another girl bites the dust.

Judges' Save: No.

I was impressed how Erika started off as a chest-belting monster, but out of nowhere a real singer emerged with deep rich tone. But she never developed a fan base.

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Season 11 Top 10 Performance Reactions

1. Jessica Sanchez
2. Colton Dixon
3. Erika Van Pelt
4. DeAndre Brackensick
5. Elise Testone
6. Heejun Han
7. Hollie Cavanagh
8. Phillip Phillips
9. Joshua Ledet
10. Skylar Laine

Details:

DeAndre Brackensick. Fine. What else can you do with Billy Joel?

Erika Van Pelt. Not bad. I liked the restraint because she can easily overpower the song.

Joshua Ledet. As I feared, he can only sing loud. Mega church man.

Skylar Laine. Not a good song for her voice at all. I was hoping for some country charm, but I think she's trying to compete with the other litte girls and their big voices.

Elise Testone. Good song for her. Her roughing it up is distracting. I wonder if she can not do that all the time.

Phillip Phillips. Drabber than gray. Experiment gone wrong.

Hollie Cavanagh. I hope her outfit wasn't making her miss all those notes.

Heejun Han. Greatest on-stage joke in Idol history. I see where that statement could be misinterpreted.

Jessica Sanchez. Superior. How can she be only 16? Started really young.

Colton Dixon. A little too squeaky. Very bold, not bad.

Thursday, March 15, 2012

Season 11 Top 11 Elimination Reactions

Tommy Hilfiger coming soon.

Joshua Ledet. Safe. Duh.
Phillip Phillips. Safe. Duh.
Skylar Laine. Safe.
Elise Testone. Bottom Three. Again.

Demi Lovato performs.

Colton Dixon. Safe. Duh.
Jessica Sanchez. Safe.
Deandre Brackensick. Safe. Lucky.
Shannon Magrane. Bottom Three.

Daughtry performs.

Hollie Cavanagh. Safe. Duh.
Heejun Han. Safe.
Erika Van Pelt. Bottom Three.

All girls in the bottom three.

Elise safe.

Erika safe.

Shannon out. I predicted weeks ago that Shannon would make it. Wrong.

Judges' Save: No.

Heejun becomes the first Asian guy to ever make the tour (as far as I know). Jennifer is the fourth Filipina to make the tour. The only Asian girls to make it have been Filipina.

Update: Regarding Heejun being the first Asian guy to make the tour, technically Anoop Desai (an Indian) is also considered to be Asian. The term Oriental would be better, except that for some reason it is considered to be deragatory. Perhaps East Asian is what is now used.

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Season 11 Top 12 Performance Reactions

1. Phillip Phillips
2. Jessica Sanchez
3. Joshua Ledet
4. Colton Dixon
5. DeAndre Brackensick
6. Hollie Cavanagh
7. Erika Van Pelt
8. Skylar Laine
9. Heejun Han
10. Shannon Magrane
11. Elise Testone

Details:

Pillip Phillips, 1990. Kidney stones don't matter 'cause he's good no matter what.

Jessica Sanchez, 1995. She sounded like a big girl singing a little song. But the problem, really, was 1995.

Heejun Han, 1989. A little sloppy. Key change ill-advised. Holding the mic funny.

Elise Testone, 1983. Kind of brutal. I'll take Obama.

Deandre Brackensick, 1994. Glad they kicked out his original choice, which was on William Hung's debut album. But "Endless Love" is difficult to sing as a solo. Mixed up some words. But the dude's got a voice.

They should change it to the year you were born, or 10 years prior, or 10 years after, to expand the song choices.

Shannon Magrane, 1995. Needs Jessica.

Why are the judges still unaware of how limited the song choices really are? Especially Randy Jackson. What's up with him?

Colton Dixon, 1991. I keep thinking he's such a lightweight, but he keeps delivering.

Erika Van Pelt, 1985. Nice job, but not enough song going on.

Jermaine Jones, 1986. Disqualified for outstanding warrants. But he had a pretty good song going on.

Skylar Laine, 1994. Not bad, but she doesn't have the voice for big notes. She yells.

Joshua Ledet, 1992. I like his talent, but I don't like his style. I was thinking he might change it up and go smooth, but I don't think he's capable.

Hollie Cavanagh, 1994. It's all about little girl doing big long tones. She needs to find a way to make it more than that.

Friday, March 9, 2012

YouTube Idol Meter

American Idol now has its own YouTube channel, and the Views could actually be yet another Idol Meter:

http://www.youtube.com/user/americanidol

1. Jessica Sanchez - 293,941
2. Hollie Cavanagh - 23,978
3. Skylar Laine - 18,781
4. Heejun Han - 17,516
5. DeAndre Brackensick - 16,948
6. Phillip Phillips - 16,294
7. Colton Dixon - 10,129
8. Shannon Magrane - 9,465
9. Erika Van Pelt - 9,367
10. Joshua Ledet - 8,959
11. Elise Testone - 7,828
12. Jermaine Jones - 6,794
13. Jeremy Rosado - 3,444

Thursday, March 8, 2012

Season 11 Top 13 Elimination Reactions

"For one night only, the judges decide." Bottom guy vs Bottom girl.

Group song "Always." Very nice.

Jessica Sanchez. Safe. Duh.
Hollie Cavanagh. Safe. Duh.
Elise Testone. Bottom three girls.

Colton Dixon. Safe.
Heejun Han. Safe.
Jermaine Jones. Bottom three guys.

Lauren Alaina performs.

Erika Van Pelt. Bottom three girls.
Shannon Magrane. Bottom three girls.
Skylar Laine. Safe.

Phillip Phillips. Safe. Duh.
Jeremy Rosado. Bottom three guys.
Deandre Brackensick. Safe.
Joshua Ledet. Bottom three guys.

The judges picked Erika, Jeremy and Deandre last week. Only Deandre is safe this week, sending powerhouse Joshua Ledet to the bottom three.

Mary J. Blige performs.

Jermaine, Jeremy, Shannon, Elise up. Meaning Erika and Joshua are safe.

Jermaine Jones. Safe.
Shannon Magrane. Safe.

Elise Testone. Safe.
Jeremy Rosado. Eliminated.

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Season 11 Top 13 Performance Reactions

1. Jessica Sanchez
2. Phillip Phillips
3. DeAndre Brackensick
4. Colton Dixon
5. Hollie Cavanagh
6. Joshua Ledet
7. Erika Van Pelt
8. Elise Testone
9. Heejun Han
10. Shannon Magrane
11. Skylar Laine
12. Jermaine Jones
13. Jeremy Rosado

Details:

Joshua Ledet. How could he have trouble with Stevie Wonder? He didn't.

Elise Testone. Did a suprisingly good job after all the confusion.

Jermaine Jones. Who's going to knock him off his feet? Not bad for a giant. But it's hard to generate excitement with a voice that ponderous.

Erika Van Pelt. Well, her voice finally got out from her chest. And she sounded really good.

Colton Dixon. I can't believe he did that with his thin young rocker voice. But it really worked.

Shannon Magrane. That's way too much heavy lifting for one so young and lightweight. But a good try.

DeAndre Brackensick. Definitely the most Stevie-like. Moves really well too.

Skylar Laine. She needed Dolly as a mentor for the right way for a country girl to sing Whitney.

Heejun Han. That song requires tension on the long notes, which he cannot provide. So it was nice enough.

Hollie Cavanagh. Nice belting, but quite not enough sparkle.

Jeremy Rosado. Going for power was a big mistake. And he started way too high for him. Not good.

Jessica Sanchez. Finally, a girl who can actually sing Whitney.

Phillip Phillips. He's really smart. He knows that song is half instrumental, so he brought all kinds of musicians on stage with him, and you could actually hear them.

I'm surprised to not hear "Saving All My Love for You." Shannon should have chosen it.

Thursday, March 1, 2012

Season 11 Your Top 13 Reactions

Jeremy Rosado out. He was borderline.
Chase Likens out. Easy out.
Phillip Phillips IN. Easy in.

Brielle Von Hugel out. Yay.
Hallie Day out. Was borderline.
Hollie Cavanagh IN. Tiny blonde in.
Jessica Sanchez IN. Tiny asian in.

Joshua Ledet IN. Easy choice.
Heejun Han IN. Iovine needs to lighten up.
Adam Brock out. Yay.

Shannon Magrane IN. Tall girl in.
Skylar Laine IN. Not in for her voice.
Baylie Brown out. Oh well.
Chelsea Sorrell out. Was borderline.

Aaron Marcellus out. Easy out.
Creighton Fraker out. Good.
Reed Grimm out. Good.

Haley Johnsen out.
Erika Van Pelt out.
Elise Testone IN. Probably due to Iovine.
Jen Hirsh out. For now.

Deandre Brackensick out. Sad.
Colton Dixon IN. Okay.
Eben Franckewitz out. Too young.
Jermaine Jones IN. Fan fave.

Wildcard contestants sing:

Jen Hirsh. Much better than her Adele.
Jeremy Rosado. Nice job. Very nice.
Brielle Von Hugel? Terrible choice. Terrible Adele.
Deandre Brackensick. Disjointed. He's too young for his talent.
Erika Van Pelt. Voice still stuck in her chest.
Reed Grimm. Oh no. Maybe good for the tour.

Judges choices:

Randy: Erika Van Pelt?
Jennifer: Jeremy Rosado. Of course.
Steve: Deandre Brackensick. Good.

It's shocking that Jen Hirsh is not in there.

Even more shocking that Johnny Keyser was not given a chance.
AEvangelista - American Idol Blog