Canadian Idol Fans Watching American Idol

[SleepinIn]

Should we remind SleepinIn that we are here?

LOL - yes I kind of forgot to post.

In my own defense I missed most of last week's Idol completely. BUT I did see half of the performance show and was impressed enough to actually purchase two songs. I bought Phillip's Volcano. I have not been a fan of his really - I mean he's good, but he wasn't showing me anything different. But this was just a spectacular performance. And I wasn't familiar with the song at all - so I don't know how that would have affected my judgement.. BUT it was awesome.

so yeah I really, really loved it.

And I bought Joshua's It's a Man's World. I'm not crazy about when he goes into the crazy runs, but it worked here and the whole performance was amazing.

I was sorry to see Hollie go, but I think it was probably her time.

Although I would like a girl to win Idol again some day... Jessica, while technically perfect, left me stone cold on her song. So yeah.. hoping for a guy to win unless she can pull something out of her hat this week.

I'm so excited about Kris's album, the acoustic, the produced, the remixed, I can't even tell you.

When I listen to Monster.. there's this little crackle at the start..and then the bells start !! It gets to me. So good..

Better With You, My Weakness (!) I really can't wait, lol (Rooftops!!)
I'm madly in love with Teach Me How Loves Goes, it's so retro and dreamy and will never be mistaken for HAC, TOP40 or whatever radio format...but it's sort of amazing.

I missed David's performance on Idol but I saw him talking to Shirley of The Hollywood Reporter about parting with RCA. I can't help but see it as a good thing for him in the long run - and his song is going gangbusters on itunes!

 

[ross 1]

I still haven't listened to David Cook's song. I did listen to a lot of his interview with Shirley - though for a couple of minutes, I was thrown by his saying his glasses are fake, because my friend Matt (a very cool dude, to me, though maybe not to everyone) is convinced people who wear fake nerd glasses are not to be trusted. lol

Anyhow...Yeah, I confess I'm more a fan of Cook's voice and presence than his current music. But I'll go have a listen right now.

Listening right now...well, I like it, actually - though I don't really like this genre a lot. But, yeah - just finished listening - I liked it. He sounded great, too.

I question why they cut away from the performer so much, on Idol. It's good to see the band, but always cutting away to show the size of the theatre, or something....why? Just show the singer to me, and his band, a bit - and that's it. It annoys me somewhat.

I did like that performance of Joshua's (2nd one, last week) - it just seemed more heartfelt than some of his others - I mean, he always seems 'heartfelt' but almost like, too much. Not really deep, more like it's just his style. In this case I thought he brought it.

The way I feel now is weird. I don't want Phillip to win, I don't think he's bad, he's actually good, but I don't want him to win. I don't want Jessica to win, either - she's a mere 16 so I can't really expect everyone who's 16 to give an emotionally honest, raw, or even a subtle performance. But I guess I do expect that. Basically I don't care for her voice, anyway. I don't like that she's a pageant-bot, either, but if I liked her I probably wouldn't care about that. And then, Joshua, I never especially loved, either. If only there was a way all three could lose. lol

Unfortunately in this heat, I think I would have to give it to Phillip, mainly because he seems like the most mature artist and comfortable, real performer, of the three. But I don't like to give it to Phillip.

I liked Hollie and I was hoping she'd continue her little streak of improvement enough to get to the finale. She was the only one left I was interested in.

 

[ross 1]

My Weakness (!)

One of the cowriters being none other than Isaac Hanson. js

 

[missaddicted]

One of the cowriters being none other than Isaac Hanson. js

Oooh, I didn't know that, that's awesome! The Hanson boys sure know how to write some catchy songs, that's for sure! ;-)

I'm with you ross. Phillip is my "favorite" of the three, but I don't think he should win. But I don't want Jessica or Joshua to win either. I barely even want to watch the show tomorrow, it's going to be so predictable.

 

[ross 1]

Okay so I know from a little birdie telling me, that you two frequent fliers here liked Phillip's coronation song. I was not so wild about it.

I'm not even sure he deserves to win, since he had many lackluster performances this season, and hardly any 'Idol moments' - but nobody seems to have those any more.

Jessica was probably more consistent. Consistently uninteresting and boring, as well as consistently 'professional' and polished. It would kind of be a shame if she had to do all that choreography all season, as well as worry so much about her wardrobe and hair, and falling off her spike heels, just to lose to a guy with kidney stones who changes t shirts once in a while, never got within ten feet of a comb, and shows little ability to walk, much less move, onstage. I mean I don't know about these two, at all, as the final two from this season. But they're good. Hollie-Skylar or Skylar-Joshua or Maybe even Phillip-Elise would have been more exciting, though.

I'll check back tonight after Phillip wins. Er, I mean...after the big, exciting, surprise ending is shockingly revealed.

 

[suz]

I'm glad Phillip won....I did like Joshua as well. I expect to see more of both of them in the future. The top 12 are coming to Toronto in August. I was tempted to buy tickets but I'm afraid I won't fit it with a million little kids.

 

[ross 1]

suz, I've never been to the Idols concert in Toronto, though I have been to one, and I would not say there are a million little kids.

I mean it's people of all ages, though parents do take kids and there are some there. There are families. There are teens, a lot of people in their 20's and 30's, to their 70's. So I don't think there is any way you would not fit in. It's a cross section of all types of people.

 

[ross 1]

Okay, are you guys ready for post #13,028??

I've been meaning to post, here, again. Something now gives me a reason.

If you read my tweets from last night, you know I went to the Berklee City Music concert at Berklee College Of Music (Boston) last night - with special guest, Kris (freakin) Allen! Read about Berklee City Music here. It's a cool program.

I enjoyed the concert - one of my first thoughts was that a few of the singers were better than some people who make it to the Top 24 of Idol (speaking of the Top 24, they announced that Berklee and Idol alum Ashley Rodriguez was in the crowd, but I didn't see her).

The high school students did a lot of numbers in various styles that were grouped by genre. Jazz, hip-hop, big band, pop-rock, etc. - there were 'guest artists' featured in the groups - students or faculty at the college - and then Kris was the guest artist in the last segment, which was pop-rock.

It was fun to see some of the familiar faces that did the mini-tour with Kris last year, onstage, and other kids he's worked with. There was also a fun and emotional segment where the kids were awarded scholarships to the college. Of course they were thrilled. They were notified in advance, but there was a surprise element when some who thought they were getting partial scholarships were awarded full scholarships. It was amazing, and Kris took part in that, as well.

Kris did The Vision Of Love and Live Like We're Dying (which they had performed before) with a big group of kids. TVOL sounded amazing, and he really drove the song, which gave it a different feel I loved. It was sped up when he did it in Arkansas so I guess this isn't new, but hearing it live was new!! There's a video and I'll link to it, but, it doesn't really do justice at all to how it sounded live. Unfortunately. And I don't know why but I was much more able to appreciate what a great song it is and how great his voice sounds on it, live. LLWD actually sounded incredible as well.

Afterwards I met Andy Davis (Music Empowers) because I recognized him from the internet and I wanted to talk to him. He's a really nice guy and a lot of fun to talk to. As you guys probably know, Kris was also in town to play the Red Sox Picnic In The Park, a charity event I didn't go to because the tickets were 350 dollars. Yikes. And he also sang God Bless America at the game (and did it really beautifully - I saw it live - during the 7th inning stretch. Totally unexpected). Anyhow it began to rain during the event and I'm sure you guys know what happened next, how Kris (Cale, and Torres) took the show under the stands and did it there, first unmic'd and then later with one mic. Kind of went beyond the call of duty and the powers that be loved him for it.

So anyhow the fan who took video of all this was there talking to Andy (she actually drove up from Rhode Island). I think she's been a strong supporter of M. E. And then Andy said he was going to have to find Kris, who I noticed was standing a foot away, so I got to meet and talk to him again. We kind of all walked out together and then spent a little more time in the lobby and in front of the theatre. I was just kind of tagging along. (Sean - "Big Daddy" was also there). I learned Torres isn't on twitter because (or so Kris says) he's like someone from the 70's, he's not into the modern stuff. The other fan was complaining about Torres not being on twitter and I said, "He's smart," and Kris said, "Yeah, he's smart." Because twitter is the devil, after all. Only he didn't add that. lol

If you want to ask me anything about him I'll tell you. He looked really good. He's way better looking in person (I guess that's typical, though I suppose some people might look worse !) Last time I met him he seemed kind of slight but now he seemed solid, though he's a smallish guy and he's slender. His infamous jean jacket looked awesome in person. lol He also seemed more sophisiticated, and he was just posing with people like he had done it a thousand times - which he has, I guess. His speaking voice is very cool. I told him TVOL sounded awesome and he did a great job and he said, "The kids did a great job." You know how when he's interviewed, he emphasizes a certain word and, at the same time, emphasizes it with his facial expression? (Show of hands. No? Yes?) That was the case here.

All in all it was a good time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95wtEcwoQBo&feature=player_embedded

Other than this I guess we could talk about how Phillip Phillips has his song plugged on the Olympics and the movies and wherever. Lucky Phillip.

 

[missaddicted]

Hey ross! Sorry I couldn't reply earlier! I'm glad you had a great time at the show!! Thanks for posting about it! It's really great of Kris to participate in shows like that, I'm sure the kids must have been really happy!

 

[ross 1]

Hay! missaddicted! Missed you!

You're welcome. Here's some much better video. Still doesn't sound half as good as it did, live, of course, but better than what I posted before. There wasn't much banter from Kris but he was funny.

These are just high school kids so I think they did a great job.

The Vision of Love - Kris Allen & Berklee City Music - 2012 - YouTube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5i9SF9-jCE&feature=plcp

 

[ross 1]

IT'S TIME FOR.....
AMERICAN IDOLSEASON 12 !!!!!!!!!!!!!

ccasion5:

Okay so I watched last night, found out it is very easy to tell where Nikki Minaj's hairline is glued onto her forehead if you watch in High Def. Also thought she was probably - along with Keith Urban - an effective judge. Unblinking, blank stare is weird, though.

Keith. I think this may be the first time I ever thought an AI judge was totally focused on communicating something to the contestants, and not focused on him- or herself in any way. Judging has always seemed so phony on AI.

So Keith is going to be the thoughtful judge, I suppose Nikki is going to be the "understanding, mothering" judge, which leaves Mariah and Randy. Randy is the judge who says stupid stuff and has no class, and Mariah is the judge who says stupid stuff and has no class. Okay.

Randy at least responded positively when a girl said she was a Berklee student, or grad (see above). Berklee is highly regarded, I thought other judges also approved. But did Mariah say something about how she didn't need any music school, she attended the school of hard knocks? Or, actually , the f*ing school of hard knocks? It just seemed, in that particular context, out of place. And stupid. I don't know about her.

Okay, I know people who are AI purists say it's not about the judges, but, when three of them are new, of course it is. For me right now it's a lot about them, and later on, it won't be.

Of the auditioners, I guess I remembered the voice of the girl who had the #1 hit in Israel the most. (Though when you have had a #1 hit in Israel, it annoys me that you're auditioning for AI. I guess the rules say that she can. As long as you don't "currently" have a record contract, right? So in theory if Justin Bieber suddenly went downhill and was dropped by his label, I guess he could audition for AI.)

The blonde girl from Staten Island...I don't know why she needed to play the guitar. That was so embarrassing. When you audition you don't need to play an instrument badly, you can just sing. P. S. I guess they're allowing instruments in auditions now.

Please give me your thoughts. Refresh my memory about who else was good.

 

[SleepinIn]

O.M.G. look at all your exclamation marks! Lol you would think you were excited.

My thoughts on the judges first.

I like Keith, I like him as a person and I figured I would probably like him as a judge. I know he had Kris out to tour with him and Kris had nothing but good things to say about him. PLUS like he's Keith Urban.

I'm not so fond of Mariah as a person. There are moments she comes off as sweet, but mainly she comes off as being a talented pain in the ***. Diva. Capital D. I'm still in wait and see mode on Mariah.

Randy is Randy. Dawg. What you see is what you get.

I actually really liked Nicki as a judge, crazy wardrobe aside. She came off as interested and articulate, and funny.

The feud might get on my last nerve...but who knows, Simon and Paula weren't all that friendly in the early days either.

I liked the girl with the # 1 hit too, and there was another girl I liked. Um, details like names escape me.

 

[Risus]

I watched about 5 minutes yesterday and 5 minutes again today. I don't know who that nikki is but she should crawl back into the hole she came from. This is one season I will NOT be watching because it seems the focus is on the judges and not on the performers.

 

[ross 1]

Sorry you won't be watching. But I think it might be too soon to know what the season will be like. I'm not interested in the show at this point. I usually wait for missaddicted to pick out who the more interesting singers are so I can follow their progress. I'm no good at picking them out.

Speaking of the judges, did anybody miss JLo or Steven Tyler? For me it was like they had never even been there. They just never impressed me. JLo talked a good game but I wasn't overly impressed with her. Steven Tyler was useless.

O.M.G. look at all your exclamation marks! Lol you would think you were excited.

I'm trying to talk myself into being excited. lol

BTW, looking over some posts just above, here, I see SleepinIn and missaddicted liked "Home" - P2's coronation single - and now it's sold about 26 million downloads, or something.

Okay, 3 and 1/2 million? Give or take a million. I still don't especially care for it.. But congrats you guys for your ability to recognize a good song when you heard it for the first time.

 

[missaddicted]

Still haven't watched any of this week's episode (and kind of scared to do so), but I just wanted to point out ross that the songs I think are good don't usually sell a bazillion units, and those who do sell a bazillion units, 3/4 of the times, they're awful, awful songs (like that new Timberlake single, so so bad). I never thought Home would sell the way it did, but I do still love it as much as when P2 sang it first last May. So, I'm glad that this good song did do very well. I mean, it's even playing on the top 40 station here, and the only Idols they usually play are Kelly (not even that often) and Adam.

 

[ross 1]

Funny they play Adam, there. They don't, here. What songs do they play? They play Kelly and sometimes Carrie Underwood on the HAC station here. And of course, Home. I mean, I will sometimes hear oldies by Idols (Cook) but nothing current. (In the grocery store, that's where I hear many of the idols.)

The Justin Timberlake single is so bad. How do they not know their music is bad? Stars, producers. idgi

On the pop station here they have a promo recorded by JT that tells us we are going to hear the song every hour on the hour. It's not even necessary for the song to gain popularity with the listeners. It's just added to the playlist and then played 24 times a day. It's like hypnotism. You-will-like-this-song-you-will-like-this-song...

Ha, I don't think the episodes this week were so bad. (Wait, I missed Thursday. Well, Wednesday was okay. I just think the audition episodes are tedious. I'm not interested in the Mariah vs Nikki stuff. If it's natural, then, okay, whatever. But don't overdo it.)

 

[missaddicted]

They've been playing Adam's Trespassing on the radio here pretty steadily since last summer/fall.

So, I watched both episodes back to back last night (yep, I'm crazy like that), and I have to say I couldn't stand Nicki's voice anymore after these four hours. And the "feud" between Nicki and Mariah was already old after the first 15 minutes. But Keith is pretty to look at, has the most adorable accent and is a thoughtful judge so far.

Not that many people stood out to me in these two episodes. I just read Slezak's recaps, while looking at the Top 40 spoiler list on MJ's to see who I should look out for. There were some people I barely remembered, even though I watched the episodes less than 24 hours ago.

I guess the two who registered the most are the last two auditions I saw. Kez Ban, the weirdo fire performer, and Lazaro, the cutie Cuban with the stutter problem. Kez Ban had an interesting voice and her original song was very good. Lazaro was probably not the greatest singer of the auditions, but how can you not root for him?

 

[ross 1]

Speaking of radio, apparently, Mix 104.1 here in Boston (CBS) was the station that first put Phillip's "Home" into heavy rotation. (Thanks.) Kris has been in the studio about 4 times since his album dropped but they didn't show much interest in his single. (He was there again last week, since he was playing here.) Adam did their Mix Lounge but they didn't show interest in his singles either. David Cook's single seemed to get more play from them, but only for a short time.

Did you see the news that Lee was signed to the Vanguard label (label of Matt Nathanson)? And Crystal was signed to a label as well.

What night did the people you mentioned audition? I don't remember the Cuban stutterer.

I didn't really notice Nikki's voice, I guess. But I got a new TV for Christmas and it's fairly big and hi def, so when they cut to a huge close up of her, and she fills my screen...yikes.

 

[missaddicted]

Good for Lee and Crystal! I might check out a future Lee record. He was not extraordinary on Idol and his post-Idol album wasn't good, but his pre-Idol album was promising, so he might still do something interesting.

The people I mentionned were on the Chicago auditions, on Thursday.

 

[ross 1]

Good for Lee and Crystal! I might check out a future Lee record. He was not extraordinary on Idol and his post-Idol album wasn't good, but his pre-Idol album was promising, so he might still do something interesting.

The people I mentioned were on the Chicago auditions, on Thursday.

Having missed Thursday I have no idea what people are talking about! Mentioned the new TV earlier. Unfortunately no recording device as yet, and I work Thursday nights until 9. help.

Was there a singer whose gender was hard to figure out? I have been reading a few things about that but don't get it.

Lee and Crystal...I was never a fan of either of them, but I actually disliked her personality at times, on the show, and I was just indifferent to his. Singing, it was reversed. Post-show, I did listen to some of his live performances (not hers, though). Thought he had some real skills. My problem (it may sound stupid) is I like his lower notes but his higher notes are not to my liking.

Lee did open for Matt Nathanson, a time or two. I wonder if that, in some remote way, led to his being signed by Matt's label?

I should mention that I went to see Kris. Second night of the Out Alive Tour.

Think about how he had the accident and broke his wrist on the 1st, was operated on a couple of days later. And just a few days after that, on the 8th, he was on tour, in a cast. Not only on tour but awesome. It's incredible.

He was several notches greater than I've ever seen him before. But I had never seen him do a headlining show before! It's different. It's his show and he's in control. He really has skills that extend beyond singing and being a musician, into creating a show or an experience. Using the stage, the time, understanding an audience. Performance skills. Where he got them I don't know. It's a gift.

Of course, I never saw him do a whole set without playing an instrument, before, either. I like when does but he doesn't need to! Just as good without. Great singing, but he knows how to entertain, also. He knows how to get the audience involved. You can't stand there indifferent. He involves your emotions. He's hilarious. Then he's moving. He's kind of like a camp counselor you think is awesome, who also happens to be an amazing artist. And the weird thing is, he does all this in the most laid back way, like you don't even really notice. Like, no big deal. But it is a big deal.

The music was just great, his taste in music (and I think the taste of the other guys, too) is the best. There was another guy in the band, this time - Andrew, piano, guitar, backing vocals. There was a different sound. The show was a blast! The opener, Jillette Johnson, was very good and also sang the Meiko duet with Kris. Her voice is great.

I was talking to someone after her set, about why Idol never seems to get any girl singers like her into the Top 10, or 12, or whatever. It shouldn't be impossible. If you haven't heard her you don't know what I mean. But maybe you know what I mean if you've ever thought the same thing, when you've gone to a show, and heard some singer. Maybe The Voice has this kind of singer, I don't know, I never saw it.