Allison Iraheta – The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien – VIDEO

she was amazing..so glad she is feeling better.

I can not believe she is 17..she seemed so natural on stage.

Conan was even blown by her performance calling her fantastic and saying wow a couple of times.

I thought it was really cool when she switched it up and did a verse in Spanish!

Otherwise, I’m the wrong one to ask. I used to sell stereos with Heart records and I hated that song from the day it was released. I always thought it was one of their few really bad songs.

Great performance. Conan had that “who knew?” look on his face when it was over. She looks great too. I really like her hair.

I thought it was really cool when she switched it up and did a verse in Spanish!

I did not notice that..when did she do that?

Hee-hee…..she is going to outsell them all.

I’m so happy for Allison. I think it’s good for the tour too. Reminds people that there are more people singing besides Kris and Adam. I love her hair too!

AHH this was amazing!!

I love allison and I’m so happy she got a chance to go on Conan. I hate that song though, with a passion.

Aaron Spears was really rocking it, wasn’t he.

Allison was so good! I can’t believe she is only 17 – she didn’t even seem nervous. Conan seemed to genuinely like her as well.

edit: deleted by request of the op

Honestly, I could see Conan inviting her back.

I couldnt make out what she was saying half the time, but she looks awesome doesnt she? Girl rocks it hard!

The girl has pipes! I have to say that I also hate that song, so I wish she would have chosen another song instead. She seemed a bit frenetic, but her vocals were awesome. It is hard to believe she is only 17.

I think Allison has improved a lot. Actually, even her farewell performance was above what she has been doing on the show. I guess the lack of being judged has let her cut loose.

she has great presence and totally rocked but i think she needs some work on her diction. i could hardly tell what she was singing half the time. maybe a mixture of the show’s sound and her braces, but ive noticed it before. it drives me crazy because i LOVE her voice but i feel like i cant focus on it because im trying to figure out what she is saying.

i think she has a bright future though. and she wont sound like that on an album or radio. conan seemed pretty impressed which is awesome!

Allison can sing , rock out and has a nice husky voice..The problem like on Ai can’t understand some of the words almost mumbles for me at least. Allison has a very nice future ahead of her and hopefully the label will let her grow..Personally would not buy her cd just not into her sound but thier are many who will…

I did not notice that..when did she do that?

She didn’t. It was a joke.

Move along people. Nothing to see here…

One of her problems is that she has braces on the bottom of her teeth, so her pronunciation is not as good…

but from reading on twitter and stuff, she is getting rave reviews

Nice job! Yeah her diction can be a problem…hopefully when she gets the braces off, that’ll help. And the arm movements seemed a little frantic for a small sound stage as opposed to the arenas they’ve been playing in. But she sounded great…as did the tour band.

Good for her! Nie to see her have the chance to get this type of exposure. I still hope that Kris is able to reschedule his appearance, though…

She was great!

I hope Kris gets a chance to be on Conan before the tour is over but looking at the schedule it’s not going to happen.

There are a couple of days that he will be in NY for an open date that he could get on Letterman but I don’t see that happening.

she has great presence and totally rocked but i think she needs some work on her diction

yeah, i think thats what bothers me (the only thing that bothers me) about her singing….she eats most of her words. i wonder if its an issue of nerves / excitement

I see Allison getting invited back to promote her album..Conan seemed to like her

she has great presence and totally rocked but i think she needs some work on her diction. i could hardly tell what she was singing half the time.

My thoughts exactly.

No wonder I couldn’t understand her very well….I didn’t realize she was singing a verse in Spanish!

I know I am in the minority here. I think she is a sweet girl, and I love the whole Kradison thing, but I have never been a fan of her voice. IMO, hoarse and raspy is sexy in a man, although I don’t particularly like Danny, but in a woman sounds odd to me–and not in a good way.

The phrase, “she’s only 17″ is constantly tagged onto the end of the sentence complimenting her voice, but that’s exactly why I DON’T like her… she’s only 17 but sounds like a woman in her 50′s who’s smoked most of her life. I think her dancing in the video looked kind of spastic.

I’m happy for her that she’s gotten good reviews and wish her the best. I’m hoping when I see her in concert, I’ll change my mind.

That was great! It’s nice that Allison got this opportunity to shine away from the tour (although I’m not happy about the circumstances). She did a great job, and so did the band.

Man I LOVE Allison!! Her voice is AMAZING, and she was really hyped in this performance, No?? LOL I thought her hand was gonna smack somebody!

But seriously, IMO, if they allow her to put out an album with songs similar to what she did on Idol, and Barracuda, I really believe that she will have the best CD out of this season (And this is coming from a die-hard Matt fan).
I will be one who runs out to get her CD as soon as it is released (and Matt’s of course) Cannot wait!!

Wouldn’t change a thing about her, not even her diction. She has something that most singers would kill for: a sound all her own. They’ll stick her into voice lessons which will teach her to support her tone, but I wouldn’t touch a thing otherwise. That’s why Jive wants her. She could really really be something special. I don’t see anything “Adam” about the way she did on Letterman. This is all her.

Wasn’t a HUGE fan of hers during the show, but after seeing her tonight, I think she’s the find of the season.

Wow! That girl is freaking hot. It seems like she has a double personally though. When she was rocking that song it feels almost like she is going to turn into Carrie and kill everybody. Amazing! And when she finished singing she turns into a sweet humble kid. What a kick-azz performance!

The phrase, ‘she’s only 17′ ³ is constantly tagged onto the end of the sentence complimenting her voice, but that’s exactly why I DON’T like her’ ¦ she’s only 17 but sounds like a woman in her 50′s who’s smoked most of her life. I think her dancing in the video looked kind of spastic.

I like that about her…I’m tired of these disney teen girls…give me something different.

When my family, who hates idol, says they will actually buy allison’s album, then she made an impression

I am also glad that allison is feeling better after going to the hospital a couple of days ago

SO happy to FINALLY see that she says the word Baracuda….since she doesn’t in concert

no…not sure why she omits it

wish she had used it every time the original song called for it

but I’ll take what I can get

it was very very powerful…I do think that Adam has given her more confidence in herself….she is one powerful powerful singer

I’m confident she will be around a very long time in the industry

can’t wait for the album

I think this was a better advert for the concert than the cool vocal stylings of Kris’ Heartless would have been. The band was terrific and Allison was really jiving up the joint….makes for a very upbeat moment and will, IMHO, help to demonstrate that the Idol concert is alive and wailing and will be a happening place.

Okay’ ¦I have to say this and then I’ll hide behind my computer screen to avoid the rocks and arrows that will undoubtedly be thrown’ ¦.

I think this was a better advert for the concert than the cool vocal stylings of Kris’ Heartless would have been. The band was terrific and Allison was really jiving up the joint’ ¦.makes for a very upbeat moment and will, IMHO, help to demonstrate that the Idol concert is alive and wailing and will be a happening place.

ditto

also – tonight show fact check FAIL. i must have been dreaming all those tour videos because the tour is kicking off tomorrow in LA! who knew!

I don’t care about diction…look at some of the rock stars today..I sometimes can not understand what they are saying, but I still love them

Oh, wow – Allison was on fire! And the band rocked it out too.
Maybe the media has it all wrong – maybe Allison’s the one destined for superstardom

Wow, she did a great job. I agree that this is a great promo for the tour, and AI itself, in fact. Too bad that she was up against Paul McCartney on Letterman, though. I bet I’m not the only one who watched Sir Paul instead of Allison…. I knew I could catch Allison here, though, and am glad that I did.

I think this was a better advert for the concert than the cool vocal stylings of Kris’ Heartless would have been. The band was terrific and Allison was really jiving up the joint’ ¦.makes for a very upbeat moment and will, IMHO, help to demonstrate that the Idol concert is alive and wailing and will be a happening place.

I agree..

Though, I would have loved to see how kris would have done on Conan with Heartless.

Love, love, love Allison!! Go get ‘em young lady … can’t wait for your first album and I really, really hope that you through in some Spanish songs! You’ll have some kick a$$ world tours!

Can not wait for her debut album

Tonight proved Jive is going to have to try really really hard to screw up Allison’s chances at superstardom. All they have to do is give her good material and some exposure once the cd is out. Let her do the rest. The girl is a superstar. Suck it, Cowell.

Wow, she was great! Conan seemed very “wowed,” lol. Love her.

I think this was a better advert for the concert than the cool vocal stylings of Kris’ Heartless would have been. The band was terrific and Allison was really jiving up the joint’ ¦.makes for a very upbeat moment and will, IMHO, help to demonstrate that the Idol concert is alive and wailing and will be a happening place.

Tess

^Yes! No offense to Kris, and others in his musical genre, but I think you’re right. Letting people know that they can expect some higher tempo rock numbers is great advertising for the tour.

Personally, I think she kicked ass! Ok, aside from the spastic hand motions anyway. I love her voice, and I will be in line to buy her album when it comes out. Sure her diction in a live performance is a little shaky, but they’ll work with her on that, and her studios are usually clean.

also – tonight show fact check FAIL. i must have been dreaming all those tour videos because the tour is kicking off tomorrow in LA! who knew!

Twinkle

LA as center of the universe, heh. Can’t WAIT to see the videos of WLL from the Staples center!

Why hasn’t Adam been on Conan? Or did I miss it?

Man, I’m so so, so happy for her! Hope she converts even more people and makes them move their behinds to the concerts! (and their wallets to her future CD). Allison, the original Susan Boyle – someone that at first seemed to be roadkill, but bedazzled us into submission!

I watched this on DVR and it was one of the best things I’ve ever seen. I’m still a little stunned.

I don’t mind the bad enunciation. I kind of like it. You know what she means, she doesn’t need perfect diction.

I think Conan will welcome her back the next time she has something to promote.

Too bad she’s not more “likable”, huh?

I didn’t understand much of what she sang, but she tore the sh^t up! Her voice is amazing, her presence is ridiculously appealing, I love the kid.

My condolences to Kris and his family!

So glad that if Kris couldnt make it, Allison was chosen to be given this opportunity instead of Adam who seems to get all the attention. Allison can sing anything and I knew she’d rock the house. Not familiar with the band/ or individual players but they were awesome. Wow!

She did that with strained cords and limited power and range? My God! She is a star. How bright shall she burn? Blindingly so.

Allison did a great job! What a voice!

I’m trying to remember if we have had a fairly young female rocker soloist on the scene for awhile. Most rocker chicks tend to get their starts with rock bands and then head out into solodom. I just can’t help but compare Allison and her real rock vibe with the wannabeism of someone like Miley…and there just isn’t any comparison.

I think with Jive backing her up with the Idol tour band and having her sing Barracuda that they are fully on board with her entering the market as a rocker chick and not pop light. I will be unpleasantly surprised if, come fall and her album debut, that Jive markets her as a pop princess.

Wonder if they can convince the Wilson sisters to write some music for her, or get someone like Joan Jett or Stevie Nicks to do some songwriting. I think she will make the rockers before her very proud…keeping the genre’ going.

am i the only one who doubts that this one performance (no matter how good) would really move anyone to spend $60 for a concert ticket? and is it crazy of me to think that they should have just had her perform Crybaby and release the single back on Itunes?

Wonder if they can convince the Wilson sisters to write some music for her, or get someone like Joan Jett or Stevie Nicks to do some songwriting. I think she will make the rockers before her very proud’ ¦keeping the genre’ going.

I saw a rumor somewhere (IDF?) that Lindsey Buckingham was possibly writing for her. Just a very loose rumor (random post, not even a twitter one!) and I don’t think it was confirmed, but still, while I think she does the old-skool rock thing quite well, I found it to be an odd rumor.

am i the only one who doubts that this one performance (no matter how good) would really move anyone to spend $60 for a concert ticket? and is it crazy of me to think that they should have just had her perform Crybaby and release the single back on Itunes?

No you are not. I think too much is being made of this one performance, especially in regards to what it means for the tour itself. I don’t think Kris performing would have done a damn thing for the tour nor would it have convinced people not to show up.

edit: disagree, but stay polite

and is it crazy of me to think that they should have just had her perform Crybaby and release the single back on Itunes?

The appearance could not have gone better, whatever it does in the grand scheme of things. She should release Barracuda to Itunes.

I just think it is a great opportunity for Allison to get her name out there…

Still can’t get over her not using the Down, down, down down on my knees part .

But Allison rocked the pants off of everybody there! As always, she does an awesome performance. I bet Simon is kicking himself in the face right now for saying she has no personality. I think he’d also say the dancing was somewhat awkward (I’d half agree there, but hey, she has time to improve). But such a killer vocal. And at 17. I know people say that a lot, but damn, it’s still impressive. I also like the song >_>. And Allison may not be my type of musician but I am gonna see her in concerts. She’s amazing.

I hope Kris gets to go on in the near future. It’s better that he’s doing well and spending time with his family.

am i the only one who doubts that this one performance (no matter how good) would really move anyone to spend $60 for a concert ticket?

ITA.

Plus, Jive booked Kris for the gig and then Allison replaced him when he couldn’t make it. The appearance was about promoting Jive’s brand-new artists, not about promoting the tour.

I hope she works the pronunciation, but other than that everything’s just fine! I love to see her on stage and she sure brought it. You can tell the girl was happy!

Usually I find Allison a lot more exciting than Kris, that’s why she was my favorite last season and at this point I’m more interested in her future career and album than his. But, I don’t think Kris does that of a bad job out there and I don’t think this performance on Conan will make that many more people buy AI tickets.
It’s good for Allison, gets her name out, she gets to meet new people, maybe get on people’s good side, which always help to the future… and I’m glad she had the opportunity.

Barracuda on American Idol 2008:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yWAqVQQ0Doo

Usually I find Allison a lot more exciting than Kris, that’s why she was my favorite last season and at this point I’m more interested in her future career and album than his. But, I don’t think Kris does that of a bad job out there and I don’t think this performance on Conan will make that many more people buy AI tickets.
It’s good for Allison, gets her name out, she gets to meet new people, maybe get on people’s good side, which always help to the future’ ¦ and I’m glad she had the opportunity.

Plus, Jive booked Kris for the gig and then Allison replaced him when he couldn’t make it. The appearance was about promoting Jive’s brand-new artists, not about promoting the tour.

Yeah, I agree with both of these statements. This helps Alli get her name out there..meet people like Conan, who did seem impressed by her, she may get invited by for her album promotion

hwc Jul 16th, 2009 at 3:38 am

Barracuda on American Idol 2008:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yWAqVQQ0Doo

Thanks hwc. Damn, that was effing fantastic. Well you have it Tess, Fergie is a rocker chick in hiding. She matched Ann Wilson note for note! And I understood every word each one sang.

tweets from the band members who were with Allison:

aaronspears @Charmqn Conan loved it!! He was blown away…2 minutes ago from Twittelator in reply to Charmqn

kokoki @Charmqn she killed it… I was really proud of her (as well as the guys in my band)… yeeaaaaa!about 5 hours ago from TwitterFon in reply to Charmqn

holy shit. allison is turning out to be the best thing to come out of idol since kelly. this girl is incredible. and to think she wasn’t even on my radar until top 8!

no personality my ass, Simon

Allison’s voice really is incredible–you can feel it reverberating in you (she and Adam share that, it’s one of the things that makes their voices so remarkable). The circumstances of this are sad–hopefully Kris will be able to come on the show at some point, perhaps when his album comes out? I’m suppose they’ll all be on these shows for album promotion.

And while I love Ann Wilson’s voice, I don’t think you have to match her notes to have a beautiful version of the song–she’s a soprano, Allison is an alto–it’s just a matter of different voice types.

I do think that if her diction should improve–she was powerful on the show even when I couldn’t always understand exactly what she said, but clearer diction does help to convey the message of the song. I’m sure that will happen as she develops as a singer.

So excited to see her (and Adam and Kris) tomorrow!

am i the only one who doubts that this one performance (no matter how good) would really move anyone to spend $60 for a concert ticket? and is it crazy of me to think that they should have just had her perform Crybaby and release the single back on Itunes?

Is the tour suffering? I think there’s good enough attendance as it is.

I dont think this appearance was for anything other than promoting the Jive label artiste(Kris/Allison)

I do think that if her diction should improve’“she was powerful on the show even when I couldn’t always understand exactly what she said, but clearer diction does help to convey the message of the song. I’m sure that will happen as she develops as a singer.

Ahh no, it is a bad habit that if you have in the beginning is just about impossible to break. That is a major failure on the part of her singing teacher/coach. My teacher taped my singing and made me listen to it and coached me through each diction mistake until I got it. It improved my singing and my diction. The result is that people I speak with from other countries that English is not their first language say that my enunciation make it much easier to understand me.

Ahh no, it is a bad habit that if you have in the beginning is just about impossible to break. That is a major failure of her vocal coach.

It’s not impossible to break (as your own story seems to say)–it would take work, but Allison seems to be a hard worker, she’ll have access to the best vocal coaches, and if she and her managers feel like it’s something she should improve on, that will happen. To repeat the refrain, the girl is only 17, she still has time to develop. Adam’s an mind-blowing singer (really, the two of them have two of the most powerful, unusual voices I’ve ever heard–can’t wait for Slow Ride!) and he was clearly gifted from a really young age, but I doubt that he was quite as technically marvelous a singer as he is now when he was 17. So, time will tell.

I actually don’t think it’s imperative that her diction improve–love her either way–but it would be nice. Vocal clarity often equals greater emotional intensity, so it could only help.

I said almost impossible. I have assisted in coaching so I do have knowledge of how hard it is to do so. Reportedly she has had vocal coaches. Actually Adam was the youngest person to pass an audition and got a lead singing part on the Holland Cruise lines when he was 18. He was 19 when he past the audition and got a part in a European touring version of “Hair.”

adamland:

I know that Adam is unbelievably gifted–I think he’s one of the best singers/artists I’ve ever heard in my life, both technically and emotionally. I only started watching this season because I got hooked on him, so I’m not saying he’s not prodigiously, brilliantly talented–he absolutely is. But honestly, I’m sure that he wasn’t as technically perfect as he is now when he was 17. It just stands to reason, I think.

I was just saying that having some technical issues to work on as a singer when you’re 17 doesn’t mean that you won’t ever be able to correct them. Allison’s had vocal coaches–well, that’s probably one reason that she’s as technically excellent as she is. After Adam, she always seemed the best able to support and control her voice of anyone there. If she and her managers feel that she should improve her diction, I’m sure they’ll have vocal coaches work with her on that and she will improve. But even if she doesn’t, her diction doesn’t interfere with her power as a singer for me personally.

And yes, I don’t think this had much to do with selling tickets for the tour–it was promotion for Jive’s artists. I’m sure they’ll all be back on these shows when their albums are dropping.

Barracuda 2007 Rock Honors:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BqQkECIn738

deleted–off topic

I love Allison but I was clarifying a point of diction following a few posts on that point only. I VOTED for her along with Adam until he got in the bottom three so I am not involved in any fan war.

I did not mention her not hitting notes like Ann Wilson at any time in my post, I was referring to the diction like others did.

Yeah…..when I hear songs like that I see that I’m really not much into rock. I did like it a bit because I love Allison’s voice and tone, but I prefer hear her singing Crybaby than that…still great performance and I’m glad she got that chance (even if the circustances weren’t the best).

Tess Jul 16th, 2009 at 1:59 am

I think this was a better advert for the concert than the cool vocal stylings of Kris’ Heartless would have been. The band was terrific and Allison was really jiving up the joint’ ¦.makes for a very upbeat moment and will, IMHO, help to demonstrate that the Idol concert is alive and wailing and will be a happening place.

I agree it may pump up others to take a second look. I also agree she needs to enunciate better. I’m not huge on Allison but I do like her and I’m glad she’s not a Miley Cyrus or Britney clone. I think in a few years if they ever do that Janis biopic she would be perfect for it.

Allison owned that song! I remember that Fergie performances last year and I was blown away, but watching Allison (at only 17) perform this song with such maturity and such a connection is amazing. I loved Conan’s little shout at the end! Anyway I don’t think anyone would go to an idol tour unless they watched idol during the season. People who watched Idol already know Allison’s talent so I’m not sure this would change their mind. I do think this performance will make people wonder why this girl isn’t getting as much attention as Kris and Adam though.

Wooo! I loved that, haha. Nevermind that I wouldn’t have understood a single word if I didn’t already know the lyrics! She’s got so much potential, I’m scared that 19 and Jive are gonna screw this up and turn her into Miley-redux. Her vocals are a great combo of power-rock-bluesy-soul. Love it.

Uploaded a high def version of the performance on youtube – its currently being processed but will show up here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VfWnkrTRgfk

isisdagmar:

“And while I love Ann Wilson’s voice, I don’t think you have to match her notes to have a beautiful version of the song’“she’s a soprano, Allison is an alto’“it’s just a matter of different voice types.”

This is the point!

adamland:

“[...] Fergie is a rocker chick in hiding. She matched Ann Wilson note for note! And I understood every word each one sang.”

It is true but for me it was also not original. I prefer Allison’s unique voice and her rock swagger over Fergie’s “exactness” and cat moves.

Allison was simply amazing! Though I think she performed to promote herself and her talent, and not the tour.

‘[' ¦] Fergie is a rocker chick in hiding. She matched Ann Wilson note for note! And I understood every word each one sang.’ 

It is true but for me it was also not original. I prefer Allison’s unique voice and her rock swagger over Fergie’s ‘exactness’  and cat moves.

Mileage varying here..I prefer Fergie’s, even though I hate the song Baracuda in general.

Love Allison, always have. Rocker chicks are my thang. But…

I just can’t help but compare Allison and her real rock vibe with the wannabeism of someone like Miley’ ¦and there just isn’t any comparison.

Usually I TOTALLY AGREE. But, I reluctantly admit that here, with all that spastic hand flapping and the hair in the eyes, bouncing… Miley is the first thing I saw. And it killed an otherwise killer performance for me.

Again, I’m a fan, a big fan. Hers is the second S8 album I plan to buy. But, Allison, please. Don’t. Just say “no” to frenetic, Mileyesque movements. Thanks!

Good, good job Allison!! If….

*The appearance was about promoting Jive’s brand-new artists, not about promoting the tour.* …..

then Jive had a successful night!
All season, I had trouble understanding Allison’s words…but I realized why. For one whole year my daughter had braces on her lower teeth and I understood NOTHING she said…….she probably got away with murder during that year! LOL
I am really happy for Allison…she has come a long way in her confidence while performing! ( I have a feeling that Adam and Kris have had a hand in helping her along the way!) Pix

Allisosn was AWESOME on Conan last night. SUCH a pro! I was like wow little girl! watching her. She was as good as anyone I had seen as musical guest. She has an incredible future ahead of her. I would say even better than my boy Adam because she is younger. SHe has years to mature into her self as an artist.

The diction was an issue. The performance and voice were awesome. I want her album already!

Did she ever sing the word ‘Barracuda’ ? I have to go back and listen again..

Really diggin’ Jive records right now. i think they are the label on the move. I think they “get” Allison. Sad that Kris couldn’t be there but love that Allison filled in for him.

If it had been about promoting Idol and the tour Adam would have filled in but this was a Jive gig and Jive is looking out for their own – Ally and Kris!! YEAH!

I tried to post a link to an HD version of the performance, but it was cut for some reason. Do get an HD version. Once viewed and heard on a decent vid and sound system, some of the crits that you have will ease(crits such as the hand movements, moves, voice, etc….) You will have an altogether a different, and a reliable basis to judge the performance. The rendition and performance is no less than professional, compelling, and stellar.

The scary part is Alli constantly improves by leaps and bounds as we have witnessed since her “awkward” interview.

I love this kid. Her voice, her happiness in rocking out. Is there a teen in America having a better time this summer? Go Allison! I am definitely gonna have to have a bit of whatever she records. Here’s hoping they can find her at least one really great rock song!

I think part of her diction problem stems from her accent. She’s Hispanic and her accent isn’t that heavy if she speaks slowly, but if she’s speaking fast, it’s pretty heavy.

There are different Hispanic accents depending on where you are from and one accent has what english speaking people would call a heavy lisp and a very heavy “rrrrrrrrrr” sound.

So I suspect it’s more her accent than her diction. It’s funny about accents, people tend to pick up the speaking accent of their surroundings, but sing in the accent they sang in when learning to sing.

The one bad note about last nights appearance (heh) is that it came so close to the end of the show that I thought they cut it. I suspect a lot of people turned off their tv’s and rolled over and went to sleep before she came on. I hate it when they do that. If the sit-down guests get long winded the musical guest is cut to whatever time is left.

Wow Allison….I haven’t been following you very closely. You are a little firecracker.

Is Conan a flipping giant, or is Ryan really that short? During AI Allison always looked about Ryan’s size, but she actually looked like a girl-sized person compared to Conan. (And if I were to see Conan and Ryan all by themselves with nothing to compare, I would have put Ryan as the taller one.)

The inability of Simon Cowell to see that this girl was a star in the making is just further proof of how irrelevant he has become on this show, IMO.

She rocked it! You could tell Conan was impressed and surprised. He said, “Wow,” twice.

FWIW, I didn’t have trouble understanding her, although I often find myself wondering if I have superpowers in this regard–I’m always reading complaints about actors or singers mumbling and wondering if I heard the same thing because I understood perfectly.

I’m sad that Kris couldn’t be there–for him and for me. But, I’m guessing he’s really proud of how his girl Alli did, and hopefully, we’ll see him there soon.

her accent isn’t that heavy if she speaks slowly, but if she’s speaking fast, it’s pretty heavy.

I have only noticed a moderately heavy influence twice! I notice virtually no accent when she speaks normally. I am strictly a 1st language English dude with conversational Spanish and Japanese picked up (and mostly dropped) along the way. With part of my family melded with 1st gen Latino, I thought that I would perceive any heavy influence. Do you hear the accent from the perspective of a 1st Spanish or 1st English, and which would perceive the easier(knee-jerk=English).

Note this: I THINK that Alli is 1st English! I say this because I am positive that she, or her mom said that she learned Spanish in order to sing (er sumpthin’) for her grandmother when she was 5(?as to age). Just something of interest, perhap, to eat at your brain.

looks like she is wearing her tour clothes. she did a good job i guess. don’t really like this song.

And what was Conan saying? That the tour kicks off in LA? That was odd since it kicked off July 5 in Portland. Guess he didn’t do his homework or misspoke in his anticipation of listening to Allison.

Great job, Allison. She was one of my favorites this season.

This is just what Alli needed! I can’t wait for her album. As long as they let Alli be Alli, which it appears they will, it will be fantastic!

I think I’m in the minority, but I didn’t like this performance. Her hands were all over the place like a bird flapping. I half expected her to throw in a “caw caw”. That coupled with the fact that you really can’t understand what she’s saying is very distracting. It really takes away from the overall performance. I think Allison is extremely talented, but she’s a very raw talent at this stage. Having said that, I’m sure she will have a brilliant future.

Allison wears invisible braces, which have to be impacting her diction. (the kind that are basically a molded, plastic casing over your teeth and cover some of the roof of your mouth). It’s challenging to even speak clearly with those types of braces. In the youtube video one of her performances on the Telemundo singing contest she won, her diction was much, much better. She was wearing braces then, too, but the traditional kind with the wire (and clear brackets). (I can’t seem to link the vid here. sorry.) She also may suffer from poor diction habits, but I’m thinking the braces are more the cause. I guess we’ll know when she gets them off.

Loved her on the show, but this was even better. She has a lot of power!

Re: her diction

I think it’s just a tough song to actually HEAR the words….listen to Ann or listen to any other major singer do this with a full band, and you’ll see that it’s hard to understand ANYone really..

unless you already KNOW the words

for example

Gretchen Wilson and Alice in Chains…………….

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BqQkECIn738&feature=related

btw……….THIS is how the word Baracuda is done justice in this song…….

hopefully Allison has gotten enough tweets requesting that she start putting it into her performances….cuz she could pull them off as well as Gretchen did!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Allison is/will be a force to be reckoned with!!

and is it crazy of me to think that they should have just had her perform Crybaby and release the single back on Itunes?

I think Cry Baby is by far her best performance, she should have done that song on the show. I don’t really like her “So What” or “Barracuda”, and I don’t think those songs really suit her, and I hope those songs aren’t any indication of the direction she will go in her future album. I think that she needs careful guidance in her post-idol career and a couple more years to mature to be the kind of artist she could be.

Dear lord she has to work on her diction!

If this was a promotion for Jive they didn’t say as much during the introduction. It was a promo for the American Idols tour! (miss information aside).

I don’t think Jive, who has nothing to do with the tour, would have set their new young singer up and not given her an individual shout out. This was handled by 19E. I think people are making an asumption that it was Jive because Allison filled in when Kris was unable to perform.

Also, neither Kris nor Allison have a “song” out under the Jive Label. I am pretty sure all of their Idol stuff is under the umbrella of 19 E. And why would a record label have an artist perform when they have nothing to sell. People’s memories are pretty short and they won’t remember Allison months from now when the record drops.

I am not an Allison fan by any means. I find her mediocre at best. She seems so awkward
to me and would never buy her records or fork out the money to see her perform live.

My bet is that when the tour is over and Adam is no longer there, she will fade.

Kris warned that she would, “rock Conan’s face off,” as he put it, and she certainly did!! I don’t know how the decision was made to bypass Adam and Danny and send her. I assume maybe it was for exposure since Kris gets his as the winner and Adam…well dear Adam exposes hinself!! The other Idol with the record deal is Allison, so this was a great way to put her out there and she was awesome!!!! I was one of the people hoping for the Addison finale and she proved why.

twinkle
Jul 16th, 2009 at 2:00 am
also – tonight show fact check FAIL. i must have been dreaming all those tour videos because the tour is kicking off tomorrow in LA! who knew!

____________________________________

I thought I was the only one that noticed that MAJOR FAIL!!! – It seems like someone didn’t do the research or check the information they were given…

I loved Allisons performance, but I didn’t like the song…I thought I knew the song since it was first recorded back when I had no choice but to listen to rock, but I didn’t recognize the words (and not because of Allison’s diction either), the song just didn’t ring any “old” bells – LOL…

I love Allison and think she is going to be a HUGE success, but I was slightly dissapointed by this performance. This Heart song just doesn’t really fit her as well to me as it sounds in theory. Maybe I’m just biased because Carly, one of my all time favorites, sings Heart probably the best. Allison’s “Alone” was good but I don’t know how much I’m feeling this yet though.

I love that Allison isn’t afraid to rock as hard as a guy. I think she’s badass. My only problem is her young age. I’m afraid when they have her sing more age-appropriate material, I won’t like it. *sigh* I wish she were a couple of years older.

Allison killed it!

As to why she was chosen over Adam and Danny. Well, based on Twitter messages, Adam spent yesterday in the recording studio so he was automatically out. And think Allison was the next natural choice because she’s the only other one that 19E has signed so far to a record deal.

I’m thrilled for her! This was an amazing opportunity and she clearly impressed Conan. She could very well get invited back to the show this fall!

Great performance, she looks beautifull too!
As someone said in this thread, she has what most artists would kill for: a distinct rock sound. That’s the one thing that she shares with Daughtry IMO.

As for the Fergie/Ann Wilson (old) comparisons, there’s no contest for me, I much prefer the sound of Allison than either of those. I wouldn’t say the same about Ann in her prime tough.

For those of you who can’t understand Allison here are the sing along lyrics…..Barracuda…Ann & Nancy Wilson w/ Heart 1977

So this ain’t the end -
I saw you again today
I had to turn my heart away
Smiled like the sun -
Kisses for real
And tales – it never fails!

You lying so low in the weeds
I bet you gonna ambush me
You’d have me down down down down on my knees
Now wouldn’t you, barracuda?

Back over time we were all
Trying for free
You met the porpoise and me
No right no wrong, selling a song-
A name, whisper game.

If the real thing don’t do the trick
You better make up something quick
You gonna burn burn burn burn it to the wick
Ooooooh, barracuda?

Sell me sell you the porpoise said
Dive down deep down to save my head
You…i think you got the blues too.

All that night and all the next
Swam without looking back
Made for the western pools – silly fools!

If the real thing don’t do the trick
No, you better make up something quick
You gonna burn burn burn burn it to the wick
Ooooooohhhh, barra barracuda.

Ohhhhhhhhhhhh.

She looks good and has great energy BUT she def has to work on her diction.
It’s going to be very hard to connect with her new songs if no one can understand what she’s singing. At least with the covers, people have some idea of what the songs are about.

I’m sure Jive can hook her up with coaches who can help her.

I was one of the ones watching Sir Paul on Letterman…completely forgot about Allison being on Conan! Sorry I missed it live – she was great!

10DogMom

Is Conan a flipping giant, or is Ryan really that short? During AI Allison always looked about Ryan’s size, but she actually looked like a girl-sized person compared to Conan. (And if I were to see Conan and Ryan all by themselves with nothing to compare, I would have put Ryan as the taller one.)

Yes, Conan is a very tall man, about 6’4″. Ryan’s a little dude, about 5’8″.

I was deep in slumber when this came on, so thanks for the vid! Allison rocked it! Love her!

I kinda think this was organized by 19, too. They didn’t mention she was signed to Jive at all, at least not in the vid MJ posted. I would think Jive would have written the script a little differently and mention her album coming in the fall.

She looks good and has great energy BUT she def has to work on her diction.
It’s going to be very hard to connect with her new songs if no one can understand what she’s singing

I don’t think it was ever a problem on her Idol recordings, so I think her album will be okay. But I agree this could be an issue when she’s on a promo tour for her single/album. On those performances, she needs to minimize the mushmouth.

Singing great. Voice: Distinct & Impressive. “AI is not just a kiddy karaoke joke” impact: High.

But Aaron Spears would be more recognizable today to people who had never seen AI before than Allison. People can’t recognize a face they don’t see. Her floppping hair and distractingly flapping hands were easy to see. Her face, hidden by both of those.

Some kind of original, interesting hair intervention needs to happen. So you can see her face. She’s an unknown. The auditioning for a Janis Joplin bio pic look is not going to help a new kid get established. She’s got a distinctive, cute face and wonderful smile. And if your DVR cut off early, as many did, you didn’t see that.

Her own unique look needs to be established. Not just generic rocker chick. Because you couldn’t see her face, it felt as much like she was fronting a good band as she was supposed to be a rising star. The cameras covered the band a lot. Because you could see them performing. Allison was all hair and hands.

I kinda think this was organized by 19, too. They didn’t mention she was signed to Jive at all, at least not in the vid MJ posted. I would think Jive would have written the script a little differently and mention her album coming in the fall.

Yeah, I am going with a 19E thing as well since there wasn’t a mention of Jive or albums, just AI. Allison was probably chosen because she has a record coming out (and Adam booked, Danny not having one… if we are going by Beauty Pageant placement fill-in reasons).

I never liked the song Barracuda. I always thought that was one of Heart’s worse songs…

Allison is extremely talented, but there’s something missing from her. I just can’t get into her. There’s a missing connection somewhere…

I hate to say it but I agree there is something missing from Allison. There’s a certain likeability factor or emotional connection with the music. Maybe the songs are way too “old” for her persona as she’s basically a goofy 17 year old.

I usually find Simon nails the marketing aspects of the contestants well. He was always very cool towards Allison and I think it’s because of the something missing factor. I hope Jive can make it work for her.

Singing great. Voice: Distinct & Impressive. ‘AI is not just a kiddy karaoke joke’  impact: High.

Agreed.

Allison was all hair and hands.

AGREED!

I think it was great for Alison to get this exposure. And she has a great voice.

I think Alison must have been really nervous — who won’t be? — and that may be why she was so manic and doing those “hand movements”. If I didn’t already know and love her, it would be off-putting.

The band is great, and I think Aaron Spears is amazing. But I think this speeded up, more manic, bandzilla version (vs. Heart) really overwhelmed Alison’s vocals a bit. And that is hard to do.

Finally, I just replayed the Heart original and would really like to see Alison do an arrangement that was in this tempo — with the band pulled back so that her vocals were the main focus. Here’s Heart from 1977:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpkitLUbeEg

She was very good. Agree there is still something missing in the connection she creates, not real enough for me but I put that on her young age. All the future is hers

She was very good but her diction definitely needs to be improved – I am sure Jive will put her with people that can help her do that.

And I definitely agree that this was a Jive based promotion (I love Jive – my 2 faves from the season both signed to them :biggrin_wp: ) based on the originally scheduled performer being Kris and when he couldn’t do it, Alli filled in. I just hope Jive will be able to book a different slot for Kris in the near future.

I don’t think Allison has the it factor- her immaturity?, her style,? her interviews?- I don’t know, something about her bugs me. I don’t think she will be as successful as some people think.

Both Allison and the band were absolutely smokin’ hot for this performance! Wow! Fantastic all around. A big boost for her notoriety. She has the it factor oozing out of her.

AC: is it crazy of me to think that they should have just had her perform Crybaby and release the single back on Itunes?

I had been thinking that Barracuda would be the best choice for this appearance, so I’m glad that was the one she did. The Idol audience has already seen her do Cry Baby — probably twice — and if she had done So What, it would have sounded to many people like she was just doing karaoke because it’s such a recent song. Barracuda is old enough that a lot of people probably don’t know it (or know it well), but it doesn’t sound old.

And hey, it’s one of Heart’s very best songs. Way better than all that sappy power-ballad stuff they did in the 80s.

isisdagmar
I actually don’t think it’s imperative that her diction improve’“love her either way’“but it would be nice. Vocal clarity often equals greater emotional intensity, so it could only help.

Oh god, no more emotional intensity! If her performances get any more intense, I have a feeling that both she and I will spontaneously explode. :biggrin_wp: That kid connects to the music like maybe no one I’ve ever seen.

As for the comments about the hand flapping etc., you guys must be younger than I am! :smile_wp: Remembering the late 60s, it seems pretty normal to me — there was a lot of spazzing out back then. Looks like Miley? No! Looks like the classic rock singers.

sr4mjc: Did she ever sing the word ‘Barracuda’ ? I have to go back and listen again..

Yes, she did once. She hasn’t been saying it on the tour — no idea why.

However, regarding Barracuda’s lyrics in general, she has changed them a lot for the tour. If some of you who can’t understand what she’s saying know the words from the original Heart version, possibly part of your problem is that you’re expecting that she’s singing the lyrics as written, and she’s not.

Speaking of the original lyrics, which Tess posted, this part:
Smiled like the sun -
Kisses for real
And tales – it never fails!
isn’t how Ann Wilson sang it on the record — it was “kisses for everyone”.

On the diction thing, the “braces theory” and the “accent theory” don’t hold any water as far as I’m concerned, because she’s perfectly understandable when she’s speaking and in her AI studio recordings. And, for that matter, she’s generally understandable when she’s singing live too. So, I’m baffled as to why so many people have a problem with her diction, because I don’t see it as a problem at all.

madtex: Allison wears invisible braces, which have to be impacting her diction. (the kind that are basically a molded, plastic casing over your teeth and cover some of the roof of your mouth). [...] In the youtube video one of her performances on the Telemundo singing contest she won, her diction was much, much better. She was wearing braces then, too, but the traditional kind with the wire (and clear brackets).

She had traditional wire braces on her lower teeth all during AI, and as far as I know, she hasn’t had them taken off since the show ended (although she mentioned just before the tour that she was hoping to get them off before the tour started). There were a few moments during the season when they were clearly visible — the most noticeable being during her Time After Time duet with Cyndi Lauper in the finale.

auntieaimee: I love that Allison isn’t afraid to rock as hard as a guy. I think she’s badass. My only problem is her young age. I’m afraid when they have her sing more age-appropriate material, I won’t like it. *sigh* I wish she were a couple of years older.

Now that’s a refreshing reverse take on the silly “age-appropriate problem”! :smile_wp:

I have an enormous fondness for Allison. She’s like a little, rock n’ roll, energizer bunny.

She was very good but her diction definitely needs to be improved

But on the upside, no one can accuse Allison of lip-synching or autotuning. That’s her singing, warts and all.

jpfan:
“There’s a certain likeability factor or emotional connection with the music. Maybe the songs are way too ‘old’  for her persona as she’s basically a goofy 17 year old.”

What do you mean by: “I hope Jive can make it work for her.”?

BTW, I wonder what are possible themes to sing about for 17 year old rock singer that would be listened by 17plus(plus) fans?

For the time being “something missing factor” sounds mysterious to me. I don’t get it at all.

While I agree that Allison had issues connecting on AI, I don’t know if that is going to be the case in the real world. On AI its all about projecting a humble likeability. In the real world, there are plenty of successful entertainers that are not like that. To me its more important to be distinctive sounding and charismatic on record, and I think she does that. Think Daughtry, who seemed sour and one note on the show, but made fantastic singles. Plus she had plenty of personality in that performance. Nothing boring or forgettable about it. I think if Allison gets good songs, she has the ability to sell them on record and on stage.

Now I don’t think she’s the best interviewer in the world. So I do think her media people should work with her on that.

I think Allison looks and sounds fantastic. I think and hope that she will be a great success. I only bought an album from one other Idol but I will be checking her album out when it is released.

While I agree that Allison had issues connecting on AI, I don’t know if that is going to be the case in the real world.

Performing on Conan is being in the real world….

I had no problem connecting with Allison on the show or on Conan. Nothing is missing for me. Mileage and all that.

Performing on Conan is being in the real world’ ¦.

…and I didn’t see a problem with the performance, other than diction. She was a good performer and sold the song well IMO.

Went back and listened to all of the Heart renditions of Barracuda on YouTube. Don’t think the lyrics are clear as a bell and they sound pretty “rock” muddled to me. And, for those of you who don’t know the history of the song it doesn’t have anything to do with sex in anyway…even though people tend to interprete it this way. Actually I believe it was about a Media guy that insinuated the Wilson sisters were gay and this is their anger infested song as a retort to him. Hence BARRACUDA. Therefore nothing wrong with a 17 year old singing the lyrics.

Besides, if I wasn’t an Idol junkie I wouldn’t have a clue how old Allison is…since she appears and sounds much older, especially since she has so much control over her voice. And regards to her appearance….she isn’t a barbie doll out to impress the fans with her lovely face and figure…geesh she’s into rock. And rock by definition is frenetic…hence the term soft rock when it isn’t.

Allison did amazingly well for a “rocker” chick on AI. She went much further than any other rocker gal before her. And the presumed conservative AI voters haven’t been embracing of any girls attempting to do that style…see Carly, Gena, Amanda.

For me, a beer toast (champagne doesn’t seem rockerish) to Allison.

I thought the whole band was rocking out and having fun, that was Conan’s band right?

If this was a promotion for Jive they didn’t say as much during the introduction. It was a promo for the American Idols tour! (miss information aside).

The record label isn’t necessarily going to be name-checked in the introduction

Also, neither Kris nor Allison have a ‘song’  out under the Jive Label.

NoBo is listed at Billboard.com as a Jive release.

What’s more, I heard that Kris was scheduled to re-record “Heartless” over the weekend for radio. It’s not a stretch to assume that Kris was booked on Conan in order to promote “Heartless”. When he couldn’t make it, label mate Allison was called in to pinch hit.

Ann Wilson and Janis Joplin and Melissa Etheridge had voices like that when they were 17 too – we have some young Canadian female singers in the same vein, Amanda Marshall and Serena Ryder, very popular here.

I thought the whole band was rocking out and having fun, that was Conan’s band right?

Looked to me like it was the Idol tour band!

I think Jive set this up.Kris was suppose to promote his version of heartless that he recorded sometimes last week.Kris was on there to promote it.Since
Allison had nothing to promote and Kris did they just said it was for AI live tour.
If idol set this up Kris wouldnt even on conan.Adam would of.

ALLISON TOTALLY ROCKED IT!!!i cant wait to hear this song on tour.

I wasn’t sure Tess not being familar with the Idol tour or Conan’s band, I thought Conan said Allison Iraheta will be here playing with these guys later……I take it the Idol tour was not playing last night then? unless the Idol guys sat in with Conan’s band?

Tess: Besides, if I wasn’t an Idol junkie I wouldn’t have a clue how old Allison is

Exactly. The general audience might never know how young she is until quite a long time from now. Non-issue.

Looked to me like it was the Idol tour band!

Yes, it was. Aaron the drummer was tweeting about it yesterday — including expressing his excitement over trying out an awesome new crash/ride cymbal! :biggrin_wp:

If idol set this up Kris wouldnt even on conan.Adam would of.

That seems like an odd statement to make considering Kris was the winner of AI. Wouldn’t the winner be the one that would be sent to promote AI?

But I will definitely stand by my opinion that this was set up by Jive and I agree with what mj wrote in her comments.

edit: dial back the defensiveness. That’s why your first post was pulled. Everyone here is entitled to an opinion without lecturing from fingerwagging fans

Don’t like the girl at all.

About the question if this was Conan’s band, it is not – or else we would have seen “La Bamba” with his sax there! Not that Conan’s band cannot rock it out – Max Weinberg is Bruce Springsteens drummer

I think Allison is fantastic just the way she is. I can think of lots of examples of singers singing songs with lyrics that are hard to decipher, but it doesn’t matter, I still enjoy listening to it, even though the lyrics remain a mystery. If every word was pronounced clearly it would be weird for those types of songs. For example, anything from Bob Dylan!

^^^It was the Idol tour band. They are all in LA right now for tonight’s show at the Staples center.

Oh yay for this, I missed her performance cause I was watching Paul McCartney on Letterman. She did excellent!

I thought Allison did great! She was one of my few favorites from AI8. She had me from “Alone.” Ha!

Why is Kris re-recording Heartless? Whats wrong with the original recording? Are they going to add a new guitar or something? I’m taking Heartless is going to be his real first single rathe than NB, which makes complete sense to me.

It was the tour band and they gave a great performance, they were there to promote the tour too. Arron Spears is really something great to see, I always love to look at drummers in bands.

Don’t like the girl at all.

I guess after repeating that three times in less than 50 posts, it should be very clear for everyone by now .

Aw, I can’t help but smile watching Alli sing Crazy talent in that girl. And yes, they can teach her to tone down the flapping etc., I bet she was just really nervous considering it was a last-minute-notice gig on the freakin’ TONIGHT SHOW!

Allison: There is nothing to fix. Time will pass. The passage of time always brings change.

Diction? Enunciation? No one ever needed to understand 2/3 of the words to a great rockin’ song, and 2/3 of us never did. My band would often make up words to songs with, uh, elusive lyrics. Often, a song is written, voices added, and as an after thought lyrics are just invented to fit a great rock song. YUP. SO, you folks who are thinking that getting all the words down is critical – relax, and enjoy the music. That’s the whole point of it anyway. ROCK IT.

Take a peek at the lyrics to Barracuda. LOL. Would you rather sing ‘em or feel ‘em? Alli makes me feel ‘em. Thank you Alli. AND, if you must know, you can always google the lyrics. That’s something that I still do with albums that I’ve had and rocked to for 20 years!

The diction bothered me in the beginning but it doesn’t bother me that much now and I’m sure that she’ll learn to enunciate better. I just can’t get over how far she’s come since the beginning of the competition and how much her personality is starting to shine on stage. Personally, I think she’s going to be the one who resonates the most with young people this year. Another thing she has over a lot of the teens nowadays (like Demi Lovato), is that she has a powerful live voice and knows how to command a stage. Even though Kris was probably my overall favorite this year, I see myself buying Allison’s album over anyone else’s. The people at Jive are no fools.

I have thought all along that Allison doesn’t have diction issues. I think that she has an “affectation” issue. She’s mimicing some kind of sound in her lower register with her “rawk” voice that results in swallowing all the lyrics. I think she would be a much more effective singer if she stopped trying to do the “rawk voice”. Just sing the song in her natural voice.

This all may come from having been forced onto the talent show stage at age 10 and trying to sound “grown up” as a kid. Now that she is “grown up”, it’s an affectation that detracts from her peformances.

As far as the arm flapping, the performance mannerisms seemed almost Charro-esque. I halfway expected her to throw in a few cootchie-coos.

unique28v Jul 16th, 2009 at 12:43 pm

Why is Kris re-recording Heartless? Whats wrong with the original recording? Are they going to add a new guitar or something? I’m taking Heartless is going to be his real first single rathe than NB, which makes complete sense to me.

Maybe Kanye will make a cameo, bwah, j/k

Speaking of diction, let’s look at this line of the Heart Version of Barracuda

“Now wouldn’t you, barracuda?”

because Ann does not say “wouldn’t you” all lady like and clear it sounds more like ” now wuncha Barracuda” – I don’t know why but I love that….

I have thought all along that Allison doesn’t have diction issues. I think that she has an ‘affectation’  issue. She’s mimicing some kind of sound in her lower register with her ‘rawk’  voice that results in swallowing all the lyrics. I think she would be a much more effective singer if she stopped trying to do the ‘rawk voice’ . Just sing the song in her natural voice.

That could be it. Because it does seem to disappear in recordings, so maybe its something she does when she’s putting on her “rawk” show.

The arm flapping didn’t bother me. Lots of people have little quirks when they perform. It almost seemed kind of normal. Heh.

I love Allison, but what’s with the spastic arms?

Keep in mind, that girl had to be as nervous as all get out – I have seen more experienced performers visibly show their nerves on this kind of show especially the first time so girl did good. I have also noticed that many bands find it hard with the more confined stage and these talk show performances are often not their best, sound issues aside.

Allison will learn to find her voice with experience – when you do covers many singers might be inclined to subconsciously mimick, with original material this should go away, on stage and in the studio

Spastic hand movements? Well, remember JOE COCKER!

I believe Joe Cocker is still performing and touring and still using his unique hand gestures.

Mariah uses those hand gestures as they almost seem to will the notes out of her, bwah or she’s conducting herself.

I have thought all along that Allison doesn’t have diction issues. I think that she has an ‘affectation’  issue. She’s mimicing some kind of sound in her lower register with her ‘rawk’  voice that results in swallowing all the lyrics. I think she would be a much more effective singer if she stopped trying to do the ‘rawk voice’ . Just sing the song in her natural voice.

I may misunderstand what you’re saying but Allison isn’t “mimicing” anything, that’s her natural singing voice. You can hear it also when she’s talking, she has that mature and husky tone to her voice.
Every other Idol alumni has praised that quality in her voice, do you think she fooled them all?

This all may come from having been forced onto the talent show stage at age 10 and trying to sound ‘grown up’  as a kid. Now that she is ‘grown up’ , it’s an affectation that detracts from her peformances.

IMHO Allison has never been forced to do anything, if you read all the interviews and articles about her and her family, she is the one who always wanted to be a singer and her family always encouraged her to pursue her dreams.
Like she said herself, she wanted to be on AI since she first saw Kelly Clarkson on the show when she was 8 years old.

To illustrate this better, I think she is like the little girl in “Little Miss Sunshine” who genuinely loves to be in beauty pageants but is not like the other girls forced by her family to do it.

If you have every seen a videotape of Christina Aquilera singing when she was 4 – she had that voice when she was 4 and it was not at all Star Searchy phoney, I would not have believed it if I hadn’t seen it.

I was also shocked to realize Christina was a white girl when she first caught my attention – I loved loved loved Genie in a Bottle and when I finally saw the video I was like whaaaaaaaaat?

I guess this is a mileage thing, because I love the foot stomping and hair flying. It seems spontaneous and unchoreographed, like she just has to MOVE when she does this song.

hwc said:

I thought it was really cool when she switched it up and did a verse in Spanish!

Spanish is my first language, and I have seen her “quinceanera” clips (where she sings in Spanish quite well), so I went looking for the “Spanish” verse. I listened to her performance while reading the original lyrics and she did not sing any portion of it in Spanish. I agree that it sometimes sounded like Spanish :smile_wp:.
I did note that the first “You gonna burn burn burn burn it to the wick” should have been “You’d have me down down down down on my knees”. She does that in concert too, so it’s probably by choice.
As much as I love Allison, I have to admit that her diction is really rough. Not Kurt Cobain-rough, but almost. It might be the braces. Also, Allison’s version is faster than Heart/Fergie’s AIS7 finale version. I am sure that makes it more difficult for Allison. Slowing it down may help. Or, maybe the marbles-in-the-mouth style is by choice.

I watched this last night w/ my brother….she ROCKED! I think her spastic movements look cool, like the music is taking over her….my brother said she reminded him of a drunk Captain Jack Sparrow, but since Johnny Depp is the epitome of cool for us, he meant it as a compliment Her singing was, as always, incredible!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4mHmBN8eTs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcWX70wL0z0

my brother said she reminded him of a drunk Captain Jack Sparrow, but since Johnny Depp is the epitome of cool for us, he meant it as a compliment

:lol_tb:

auntieaimee: I guess this is a mileage thing, because I love the foot stomping and hair flying. It seems spontaneous and unchoreographed, like she just has to MOVE when she does this song.

Yes, exactly. It’s great. Good old-fashioned rocking out.

I went back and watched it here (thanks mj) just to see if I could pick up on some of the things expressed in the comments. I saw the moments but I think that’s just who Allison is as a performer. As far as Allison using the word Barracuda, she used it once in the very beginning.

I don’t think performing any other song from the tour last night would have made the impact that this song did and imo I think she sold the song. I couldn’t be more proud of her!

I recognized the band members when I first watched it here on the east coast before going to bed. Those are the AI tour musicians. Yes mj, I do believe this appearance was setup by Jive as well.

primeminister: I love Allison, but what’s with the spastic arms?

Like ‘noop said: I’m just amazed at what comes out of her mouth. Whatever those arms need do, DO!

Q3 noted there was a heck of a pace on the song. Dunno who decided on it, but Alli seems game to take on any vocal challenge and run with it. I didn’t mind the arms as I felt they were adjunct to getting the song out. I thought she had some great moves to go with that pacing. When I got it on HD with good sound, it really seemed less frenetic, and a stunning performance. I would not permit her to redo it just to work on the arms.

Alli also is pumped and primed with adrenalin. I really cannot conceive how dam, deadly exiting her life is moment to moment. Her every breath awakens her to a new moment of her wildest dreams. She’s obviously at least a type-A to boot. She simply explodes into her awakening world, which is song and stage. Backstage personnel before the show said that she was literally pulsating with excitement in anticipation of performing. I can only imagine – not imagine, wildly speculate how thrilling yesterday was for her. Her personalized dressing room for her first appearance the TONIGHT show! My God! It’s amazing she could stay in her skin. Time, again, will change many things we see now.

She says whooo……way too much and her arms flailing is very annoying.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4mHmBN8eTs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcWX70wL0z0

Isn’t she cute hwc lol, what is your point exactly?
She has always loved to sing and perform in front of an audience, I think they all do, Adam has videos of him in High School, Matt too…

My bet is that when the tour is over and Adam is no longer there, she will fade.

Seriously, stop giving adam all the credit for allison performing..allison has been doing this since she was little..yes adam has helped her, but she has done most of the work…damn

Allison has what is in short supply in today’s pop/rock scene; female vocals with stage presence. Most the girls I see that can sing well, can’t work a stage. The ones with stage presence can’t sing well and rely on scream vocals. She’ll do well with the right material.

This all may come from having been forced onto the talent show stage at age 10 and trying to sound ‘grown up’  as a kid. Now that she is ‘grown up’ , it’s an affectation that detracts from her peformances.

I don’t know to many 10 year olds that have a well developed alto voice at that age….most young singers are sopranos that haven’t developed any timbre to their voice. Personally, after watching the videos, I don’t think that Allison is affectatious…watching that video and comparing it to ones of many Star Search contestants of the same age I see it as her style and the mindset of a 10 year old trying to follow all the rules set down by her vocal teacher.

Also her mannerisms when she sings are pretty much the same on all her videos. The free hand tends to wave a lot…but to me it is endearing not annoying.

I never have had the impression with Allison that her singing has been forced on her….I think that she just loves to sing and entertain, it is just part of her make up. No stage parents from what I can see, just supportive ones.

She says whooo’ ¦’ ¦way too much

Guess she could have changed the lyrics of the song to avoid the whooo, nah…bad idea.

Also her mannerisms when she sings are pretty much the same on all her videos. The free hand tends to wave a lot’ ¦but to me it is endearing not annoying.

This may very well be true, but for some reason, this is the first time my eyes were constantly drawn to them. So, for me (for you, for me) it really was very distracting.

Maybe she had excess nervous energy to expend, making her movements more pronounced, or maybe it was the smaller stage, or maybe it was a combination, or maybe it was the song, or maybe she added the frenzied movement believing it to be an improvement. I dunno. But whatever it was, it detracted from the performance for me, a lot.

I’m not holding it against her, btw. I still think she’s a fantastic bundle of talent with amazing vocal prowess. No worries there. (And I can’t change that I voted for her during Top 5, nearly costing my boy Adam his spot. lol) I just saw Miley in her and found it VERY DISTURBING!

Allison will learn to find her voice with experience – when you do covers many singers might be inclined to subconsciously mimick, with original material this should go away, on stage and in the studio

Y’know I think this is true. And I think this is a very precocious, but very young, singer who is still finding herself.

One can give Allison some constructive criticism she deserves without turning on her, or savaging her.

To me, it wasn’t her best, largely because she didn’t adjust for the venue. The mushy diction and flailing are better suited to a big arena like the ones the kids are playing on the tour. She was more modulated in her Idol TV shots, but doesn’t seem to have shifted gears on this one. Though no mistaking her bountiful talent — she’s got amazing energy and incredible raw talent. Now just needs to hone it.

Just for contrast, here’s Heart doing the original — and by the way, I think one thing separating great musicians from OK ones, is their eagerness to improve their skills:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpkitLUbeEg&feature=related

Arron Spears is really something great to see, I always love to look at drummers in bands.

I have to disagree. Spears is way to big for his kit. He has yet to keep a consistent tempo and looks very clumsy while he’s playing. I come from a family of drummers, and he is painful to listen to and watch.

Allison was kick awsome last night. I loved that Conan was so…”the AI tour kicks off..blah, blah..” to “WOW!”

selena said:

I am not an Allison fan by any means. I find her mediocre at best. She seems so awkward
to me and would never buy her records or fork out the money to see her perform live.

My bet is that when the tour is over and Adam is no longer there, she will fade.

Simon? Is that you?

unique28v
Jul 16th, 2009 at 12:43 pm
Why is Kris re-recording Heartless? Whats wrong with the original recording? Are they going to add a new guitar or something? I’m taking Heartless is going to be his real first single rathe than NB, which makes complete sense to me.

The studio recording from F3 week doesn’t have nearly the energy or dynamics of his live performances; there was too much orchestration and it takes away the impact of the lyrics IMO. So my guess is that a new recording will be similar to the tour performance version.

Wow! She rocks the heck out of that song.
Here is my response for each and every (negative) critique: that’s just how she rocks.

To d.b. just my opinion, all in the name of free expression. Allison just rubs me the wrong way-

To d.b. just my opinion, all in the name of free expression. Allison just rubs me the wrong way-

Hi simon!…haha kidding…

Yeah, that’s how allison rolls…You are not going to truly change what sh is about. Just like you can not change kris or adam…

Selena said:

To d.b. just my opinion, all in the name of free expression.

Of course.

selena posted:

“I am not an Allison fan by any means. I find her mediocre at best. She seems so awkward
to me and would never buy her records or fork out the money to see her perform live.”

“My bet is that when the tour is over and Adam is no longer there, she will fade.”

“I don’t think Allison has the it factor- her immaturity?, her style,? her interviews?- I don’t know, something about her bugs me. I don’t think she will be as successful as some people think.”

“Don’t like the girl at all.”

“She says whooo’ ¦’ ¦way too much and her arms flailing is very annoying.”

I’m a big fan of Allison for many reasons. The most important are her: pure joy while singing and raw rock swagger of her voice. You seem to be on the opposite side of the moon. I wonder what do you dislike the most? I can’t figure it out from the statements above.

wow she sounded amazing…loved her vocals…not one note out of tune…she’s really coming into her own…yes she could enunciate a little better but its rock n’ roll and this is not a message song its a song you jam to…her mannerisms are her own and she does them because she’s into the performance…sometimes when artists sing or perform they use their arms to try to emulate what they are trying to express or doing with their voice because they are imagining it in their minds…Adam does it too when he does his (awesome) rock wail he opens up his free hand and sort of moves it around…others ppl like Christina Aguilera play with the microphone and tap it with their fingers…Allison does not play with the mic but moves her arms around big deal..she is not on AI anymore so she is entitled to do what she wants. nuf said.

one more thing…in case some forget lol she’s only 17. She has a lot of energy to burn.

Look at how far allison has gotten..I never imagined that this was the same girl we met during Group 2.

She has a lot of energy to burn.

I’d pay big money for some of that energy!

Spastic hand movements? Well, remember JOE COCKER! :

Good point, and Christina Aguelera (sp)

While every performer is capable of improvement or development, especially when they’re as young as Allison is, she really is already astonishing in her talent. I started watching the show for Adam, but fell in love with Allison as well after a few weeks. YMMV, of course (no one will appeal to everyone–not everyone likes Adam or Kris, after all), but I think and hope that she will be very successful. I’ve never watched AI before, but it does seem like they discovered a few very special people this season. And it doesn’t seem like they have to market her solely to tweens or teens–I’m 20, I love rock music (good rock music, not the bland pseudo-rock Daughtry/Nickeblack type–YMMV on that too), and I would buy her album and go to her concert in a second.

She has to open for someone, right? Isn’t that what Jive normally does with its young artists? I kind of love the idea of her opening for Adam–you’d probably have to peel the audience members off the floor after hearing just their voices for an entire concert. But maybe Adam will be opening for someone, or maybe it wouldn’t be good to have two AI people together since they don’t want to be labeled by the show forever? Or–given that neither of them (nor Kris) seems like the normal AI contestant, maybe it wouldn’t matter?

selena: would never buy her records or fork out the money to see her perform live.

That’s okay — I’ll spend enough money on her concerts to make up for you, and probably for a lot of other people too! :smile_wp:

isisdagmar: And it doesn’t seem like they have to market her solely to tweens or teens’“I’m 20

50 here — you’re just a baby. :wink_wp:

She has to open for someone, right? Isn’t that what Jive normally does with its young artists?

I don’t think that’s necessarily true. I don’t follow Archie’s career, but I think he did a headlining small-venue tour (but is now opening for Demi Lovato).

And I sure hope she does a headlining small-venue tour. I want a full-length set from her, and preferably in a place that only holds a thousand or fewer.

Archie had a big fanbase coming off Idol and came close to winning. I doubt Allison could headline a tour on her own. I’m pretty sure she’ll start with radio concerts and eventually open for another artist if her single/album does well.

I am 22. If she stays to rock i will surely buy her stuff. Her voice is amazing. I love her. My favorite this season!! I really can’t wait for her album.

I think she garnered a lot more fans…I have been reading nothing but good things about her performance

Also her mannerisms when she sings are pretty much the same on all her videos. The free hand tends to wave a lot’ ¦but to me it is endearing not annoying.

This may very well be true, but for some reason, this is the first time my eyes were constantly drawn to them. So, for me (for you, for me) it really was very distracting.

Maybe she had excess nervous energy to expend, making her movements more pronounced, or maybe it was the smaller stage, or maybe it was a combination, or maybe it was the song, or maybe she added the frenzied movement believing it to be an improvement. I dunno. But whatever it was, it detracted from the performance for me, a lot.

I’m not holding it against her, btw. I still think she’s a fantastic bundle of talent with amazing vocal prowess. No worries there. (And I can’t change that I voted for her during Top 5, nearly costing my boy Adam his spot. lol) I just saw Miley in her and found it VERY DISTURBING!

@wereallinnocent ‘“ THIS ^^^

I remember the first time I saw Allison sing ‘“ it was “Alone” and I was blown away. Part of that was not just her amazing vocals, but her ability to use the mic like a seasoned pro. (Which when most are the reverse, it stands out in the early rounds.) I thought she exuded confidence. Last night’s performance, though I loved it and was a little torn between, “Is that spastic hand movement nerves? Or is she conveying energy? Or both?”

I did find it very distracting and a touch awkward ‘“ and also contrary to her usual finesse, which made me think nerves. It reminded me of a rookie actor who doesn’t know what to do with their hands and comes off as an affectation.

She’ll work it out (dawg). I’m not too worried. She was a firecracker on stage though ‘“ great job!

Love the voice. The diction thing doesn’t bother me even one little bit. But I agree with those who found the arm flapping and finger waving a distraction. She had tons of energy, true. But almost too much energy.

Easy problem to fix though. Glad to see whatever was ailing her was not too serious, since she seems fine here.

Her stage mannerism is similar to Gwen Stefani from No Doubt. Girl is just feeling the music.

Regarding the enunciation, I listened to the original by Heart and still can’t make out what the words are.

Heart Barracuda (1977)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpkitLUbeEg

Excellent performance! I’m looking forward to the release of her cd.

Voice sounded good. Performance a bit too theatrical for me. Nice job, Allison.

I never have been able to understand this girls unique “interpretation” of lyrics. I guess it makes good cover for potential lyric flubs. Allison definitely showed more energy there than she usually did on Idol. A Tonight Show appearance is definitely a nice “get” for her.

I’ve never been a fan of Conan though.

I guess if Heartless is going to be Kris’ first single it would now debut on August 7th when he performs along with Adam and David Cook on Good Morning America Live. I wonder if Adam will have a new single to sing also.

As far as Allison, I think she did fine considering this was an unscheduled appearence for her. Any exposure is good exposure.

Yea for Allison! :biggrin_wp:

Re the diction problems: I seriously cannot tell what half the musicians on the radio are saying. Just to name a random example that always bugged me: Fall Out Boy – I swear I was always making up stuff for their songs.

I almost want to say it’s an American thing I have a British friend/actor/singer who is VERY particular about diction and how bad Americans are with it.

As to why Allison was doing the gig if it wasn’t specifically a Jive deal (and I completely believe this was more to promote the tour than any records at this point) – I agree that Adam being already busy with recording is a good excuse. Otherwise, I think it would only be appropriate to have booked him instead in Kris’s absence. But I’m glad it worked out well for Allison to get a big gig like this!

And that’s interesting to hear that Heartless may be Kris’s official first single (is this official?) Wow – NoBo is really officially the worst idol song of all time, I guess.

Her stage mannerism is similar to Gwen Stefani from No Doubt. Girl is just feeling the music.

That’s true. The movements reminded me of Gwen Stefani, especially when Gwen had just started with no Doubt. The only difference is that I have a hard time watching Gwen Stefani when she is performing. She always seems like she is trying too hard. Allion, on the other hand n looks very natural dancing that way.

Gee I hope Kris doesn’t realease Heartless as his first song. Two versions of Heartless already exist and are getting decent radio play.

jill16
I know I am in the minority here. I think she is a sweet girl, and I love the whole Kradison thing, but I have never been a fan of her voice. IMO, hoarse and raspy is sexy in a man, although I don’t particularly like Danny, but in a woman sounds odd to me’“and not in a good way.

The phrase, ‘she’s only 17′ ³ is constantly tagged onto the end of the sentence complimenting her voice, but that’s exactly why I DON’T like her’ ¦ she’s only 17 but sounds like a woman in her 50′s who’s smoked most of her life. I think her dancing in the video looked kind of spastic

Jill16 – No you are not in the minority – I am thinking the same thing and I read on other threads where voice coaches made mention that she is pushing her vocals too strong and heavily too soon and this could cause some damage which could make her career very short-lived and I agree. Allison seems to want to keep going at the rock star thing and there is no letting up, she needs to mix it up with other genres otherwise the former will become very true. At the end of those 50+ concerts she might just have to rest her voice for a bit – imagine her voice now sounds like she is 50, usually when voices crack they get coarser with maturity – but she has to bring home the beef at an early age – this might be a problem I think. I honestly hope she calms down from the loud boistrous, stomping, weird hand movement performances to a more subtle cool rock chick.

I guess if Heartless is going to be Kris’ first single it would now debut on August 7th when he performs along with Adam and David Cook on Good Morning America Live. I wonder if Adam will have a new single to sing also.

Definitely possible. But, idk, that’s kind of a bit of a let down to me. I mean, he already performed that song ad nauseum during the post-finale media rounds.

I’m not sure if Adam would really have a new single by then, but it’s possible. Not sure how much they do to prep what singles make the album (e.g. – testing it out with focus groups, recording a ton of songs before picking the final ones for the album, etc.) I almost just expected Kris and Adam to perform songs from the tour (again, almost like another tour promotion) that they didn’t do in the earlier press rounds (like Starlight from Adam and maybe the Killers song from Kris).

Jill16 – No you are not in the minority – I am thinking the same thing and I read on other threads where voice coaches made mention that she is pushing her vocals too strong and heavily too soon and this could cause some damage which could make her career very short-lived and I agree.

Just had to add – I too have been worried for Allison for most of the season for this reason: her style of singing, the belting, is potentially very dangerous if she doesn’t learn proper technique to keep from straining and damaging her vocal chords. Hopefully Jive will hook her up with some good coaches – for a long career that is essential for her.

selena
Jul 16th, 2009 at 9:41 am
I am not an Allison fan by any means. I find her mediocre at best. She seems so awkward
to me and would never buy her records or fork out the money to see her perform live.

My bet is that when the tour is over and Adam is no longer there, she will fade.

Great minds think alike Selena – I think so too, actually she is hanging on Adam’s coat-tails for something – don’t know what – she seems like the type to become a pest and a nagger – ADD perhaps? I won’t buy her music either – I am not too excited about the husky raspy voice – that too will be ruined by the end of the 50 concerts – by the time she is through singing and stomping through CRY BABY, her voice gets hoarse – she pushes it too hard, I have read where other professional vocal coaches made that comment as well.

- but think about it – she needs to change up to a different genre in-between to rest vocal cords otherwise it will become damaged in some kind of a way, temporarily or permanently and for her sake I hope not.

edit: don’t question the motives of posters

I think Allison has the potential to do really well, but I am a little wary of what direction Jive will take her in. I can see her taking more of a Pink, rocker chick route, but if they try to Disney-fy her too much, it could be bad.

She is a difficult person to mold, in part because her age and style are kind of at odds with each other: she has the old soul and voice of someone who’s been at it for years (the Janis Joplin vibe) but obviously she’s just a teen, and her outward personality is very young.

I think Allison’s awesome, and she did great on this performance, especially with little preparation and it was probably a bit intimidating. the hand waving was a bit distracting but no biggie.

I don’t think she is straining her voice, it’s a powerful voice so she can sing powerfully, I also don’t think it sounds raspy, to me it’s rich and full, throaty more than raspy. Now Janis Joplin strained her voice, and I’ve heard others who sound like they are straining their voice, but Allison doesn’t make me feel that way.

edit: please don’t respond to posters I’m going to edit. IGNORE

I definitely don’t think she is hanging on anyone’s coattails. She’s been listening to music her whole life, short as it is so far, she’s watched every season of AI, her favorites were Kelly and David Cook, she said, I think she has had plenty of musical role models besides Adam. His fame is very new, it’s not as if he has real coattails yet, LOL, and to me Allison seems friendly and open to just about everyone around her. I got the feeling that Adam wanted to do that duet with her, and she wanted to do it with him, they seem to mutually respect each other’s talent and vibe. Riding his coattails, that cracks me up. I think Adam would laugh at that too.

Great minds think alike Selena – I think so too, actually she is hanging on Adam’s coat-tails for something – don’t know what – she seems like the type to become a pest and a nagger – ADD perhaps? I won’t buy her music either – I am not too excited about the husky raspy voice – that too will be ruined by the end of the 50 concerts – by the time she is through singing and stomping through CRY BABY, her voice gets hoarse – she pushes it too hard, I have read where other professional vocal coaches made that comment as well.

Great minds think alike? hanging on Adam coat-tails? I’m sure Allison is the one forcing Adam to act like he loves her. Listen to Adam Idolatry interview, when asked about what she thought when they announced the duet thing: “I want Allison”.

Big belter rockers always look like they will strain when they are singing, Daughtry sometimes looks like his blood veins are going to explode due to the pressure.
Allison has had vocal lessons since she was very young, she has probably right now some of the best vocal coaches with her, I don’t worry too much about her voice.

edit: dial back the defensiveness

I’ve never noticed Allison’s diction, live or on the show, and I could never understand the words of the original song either, I still don’t know what the song’s about, but I like the sound of it. It’s a good song for a powerful voice. Just has a nice sound. Many songs I don’t know what they’re saying. So to me, it seems like nitpicking to focus on her diction, maybe that’s just because I don’t notice a problem there. Some songs I care about the lyrics but others I just like the music and the overall sound.

Because I know all too well the lyrics to the songs she sings, the diction thing really, really bugs. “Slow Ride,” for example, in which Allison repeatedly has to sing the words “slow ride” (duh) thus come out “ho rye.”
And then it’s “Take it heezy.”
Ugh.
Last night was no exception. And WTF with the finger twitches? Like she had sap on her fingers and couldn’t shake it off. I’ve not seen that movement from her, but I also have not YouTubed any of her tour performances.
I love Allison, am amazed at her voice, but the diction thing is hard to ignore.

Allison is riding on Adam Lambert’s coattail? She is equally friendly with Kris, Matt, Anoop, Lil, Megan, Scott, Sarver, and Danny. If she were a “coattailer” she would be avoiding all the others. She stands on her own right, from “Alone” onwards – how could she have ridden Adam’s coattails then? It was only in Rock Week that she paired with Adam. Adam is super great, but Allison is great too. She was so happy to just getting through Hollywood, everything else was just gravy for her.

Adam is my favorite and I wouldn’t be surprised if Allison has learned a lot from him, but there are no coattails involved–this isn’t a general election and IMO she’s extraordinarily talented in her own right. Adam would probably be the first to agree given how much he has raved about her.

But no one singer can be everyone’s cup of tea, and not everyone is going to like Allison, Adam, or Kris.

I will just stick too slash saying wow your only 17.I know 30 year olds that are not that good.Lets not forget adam said i look up to allison,i could of never did what she does at 17.That is their stories but i will stick with them.

Love Allison. Didn’t love this. Def needs a little work on the stage presence. I know others disagree, but I think she needs to push her vocals MORE. At least put more power in the right places in a song. Not really worried about her, though.

Funny, I didn’t see Adam or his coattails at the Tonight Show performance when she blew the roof off the joint. :wink_wp:

ravengirl: Because I know all too well the lyrics to the songs she sings, the diction thing really, really bugs. ‘Slow Ride,’  for example, in which Allison repeatedly has to sing the words ‘slow ride’  (duh) thus come out ‘ho rye.’ 
And then it’s ‘Take it heezy.’ 
Ugh.

That’s part of what makes her so great. Love those h’s! Her delivery is the result of stylistic choices. You hate it, a lot of us love it. So it goes.

edit: my blog isn’t a meet and greet. stick to the topic

Holy Crap! I watched her performance a couple of times last night and was blown away, but I just watched it again, and it was even better than I remembered it. Everything about it was fantastic — music, working the stage, movement…. What a rock star.

Re: Adam’s coattails (and what fabulous coattails they are). I find the notion that Allison is riding them ridiculous. I would like it explained. Was Adam the one who got Jive to sign her? Did he call Barry Weiss up and ask him to release a statement that they would have signed her no matter where she placed in the competition?

I read that all three guys wanted to duet with Allison (as she was the only female left). She chose Adam. Was he riding her coattails because she prevented him from singing with Gokey? No, that is ridiculous, too.

As for this performance, I watched at work and will rewatch with more attention. I wasn’t bothered by any aspect of it. As for her tendency to start words with an “h” sound, I don’t think it’s a stylistic choice. Lots of singers do that to support their sound from their diaphragm, rather than their throats. That’s a good thing. I think she could work on that and her diction, but there’s not a single Idol on this year’s stage that doesn’t have room for improvement.

Allison is amazing!!!! This girl was born to be a rock star. The most amazing part is that is comes to her so naturally.

Last night when I watched this the finger movements were a little much. I wondered if she was nervous. After I watched it again today, it didn’t bother me as much.

Her vibe is just so natural!

Regarding Allison riding Adam’s coattails: How I see it is that she does not have enough star
power to establish herself as a solo artist. The only time we see her is with the other contestants, and she has benefited from always having Adam around.

We all have seen how powerful Adam’s influence is from his clothes, to you tube artists(ie
Mad World- ). his friends website site increases etc.

Maybe give her a couple more years…but by then it may be too late.

Just my opinion.

Wow Collette, Heart from 1977, classic!

Wuncha, Barracuda………….

Selena: I love Adam insanely but what you are saying makes no sense. None of them are established solo artists yet, and as influential an artist and person as I think adam will hopefully be, Allison got signed because Jive wanted her. Adam is great, Allison has probably learned a lot from being around him, I think and hope he’ll be a star, but he’s not the only one with talent and he can’t magically get fellow artists signed. That was Allison’s doing.

I have great hopes for Allison’s future but I am not sure she’ll be headlining too soon, first she needs an album and a successful album and putting together a brand new stage show and back up band and having a stage show that gels takes time and I think you are better to be an opener if you can – get some experience under your belt without the pressure and if you get lucky and are paired with the right headliner you can pick up a lot of new fans.

selena: The only time we see her is with the other contestants, and she has benefited from always having Adam around.

Huh? I have no idea what this even means. She’s not with the other contestants when she performs, except for her duet. She’s done solo interviews, like the others. etc. etc.

Hi simon!’ ¦haha kidding’ ¦

Yeah, that’s how allison rolls’ ¦You are not going to truly change what sh is about. Just like you can not change kris or adam’ ¦

Maybe I’m crazy, but I always got the impression that Simon was actually extremely impresssed with Allison but had two worries that he tried to address in his backwards way.

One being that she didn’t exhibit enough full belief in her actual ability to take on the world — so he badgered her about it. Because he figures, rightly, I guess, that people who don’t fully believe in themselves aren’t going to make it.

And the other being that he was puzzled and bothered by her bottom three appearances — he loves great talent but he’s a businessman who will only back the great talent that he thinks will sell and that depends on audience love. I figured that he figured that she was hitting the bottom three because she wasn’t connecting with people enough, and he figured that might be a matter of how she was projecting herself, so he pushed her to project something more and different.

Maybe I’m just kidding myself, but I have a hard time believing that by the time she’d been on the show for six weeks or so that Simon didn’t recognize her talent.

I love Allison, but I was really disappointed that Kris wasn’t appearing and it wasn’t one of my favorite Allison songs. To me it didn’t show off her incredible voice so much as it showed off her rocker attitude. She rocked the song such as it was though and Conan seemed really impressed so that was a good thing.

I’ll try one last time. When she appeared on American idol- I was never blown away with her performances. I felt she was too one-dimensional.

I think she lacks star power. This is just my opinion. In interviews she seems immature to me. I know plenty of 17 year old who carry themselves with much more sophistication.

Regarding Adam, again I appreciate all his experience and it is not fair to compare the two-
however, I feel their connection on the show enhanced her actual talent. I’ve read hundreds of blog comments referring to the Kradison friendship.

Really, I just don’t think she’s all that great. She’s very good, but not a star in my eyes. I respect those who love her, but I don’t.

I have great hopes for Allison’s future but I am not sure she’ll be headlining too soon

I agree with you, she will probably open for somebody, even Daughtry didn’t get a solo tour, he opened for Bon Jovi first.

What I hope is that Jive chooses carefully the artist she tours with, no disrespect for Jordin or Archuleta but Disney artists would be my worst case scenario (just say no to Miley please!).

I’ll try one last time

Why? You’ve made it abundantly clear that you don’t like her for personal and subjective reasons.

What is puzzling is why you feel the need to spam a thread with your own negative views about a contestant that you don’t care for.

I normally like Allison a lot – she always looked great when she performed on AI, but on Conan she was way too quirky. Reminded me a little of Megan, crazy hands flapping like a bird. I kept waiting for her to go “Caw! Caw”! It was bad. I only watch the night talk shows sporadically, specifically watched Conan for Allison. Too bad he didn’t interview Allison, maybe Dana Carvey took too much time (Dana was hilarious!).

IMO Allison will do great if she has a good song and a good video to present in the fall. Also, the diction thing could be her invisible braces or even an accent she picked up from her parents. Aren’t they Guatemalan? Their accent would not be the same as what we are used to hearing here in So Cal. Most Hispanics in the “border states” are of Mexican, not Guatemalan, origin. Just a thought.

I have been having a lot of trouble with mjsbigblog, it must be my internet provider but it only affects mjs and the Daily Beast. Go figure! :wacko_tb:

I am seriously deranged when I cannot access mj!

Selena – Um no, she’s doing perfectly fine without Adam or other contestants. I mean sure, he helped her with Papa Was A Rolling Stone and I’m sure they bounced ideas off each other and yes, Slow Ride was brilliant (they’re bffs, they HAD to do a duet) but that doesn’t mean EVERY good thing that comes from her is because of Adam. She made it to top 4 on her own. No pimping, no sad backstory, no “cute boy” factor. She got there based on her talent, not because of Adam. She wasn’t on Conan because of Adam either.

Not everything she does is because of Adam. That sounds pretty ridiculous, don’t you think? That’s like saying she got signed because of Adam. Why must people always bring Adam into the picture when they talk about Allison? I bet she dyed her hair red because of Adam and I’m positive that when she gets her braces off, it’s going to be because of Adam. Please. Why not just give her her OWN thunder and credit that she well deserves?

And about her diction, who cares? I have trouble understanding other singers. Who ever understood a word Kurt Cobain said in his music? Same with Patrick Stump and so on.
And the hands, she’s just feeling the music, geez.

Her REAL fans love her for who she is, everything she does, and of course, her smokey, raspy, sexy, soulful, hot (I could go on forever, haha) voice.

I wonder if Jive partners up some of its artists for touring purposes – in the old days that is what Motown and the other record companies would do – send out their acts together like a revue – gee sort of like the American Idol tour bwah.

That was the coolest thing I learned from that excellent Johnny Cash biopic, Walk the Line – Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash and Buddy Holly all on the same bill, when they were all in their rockabilly phase, love rockabilly music.

selena: In interviews she seems immature to me. I know plenty of 17 year old who carry themselves with much more sophistication.

Have you watched her Idolatry interview? It revealed a very thoughtful, self-aware young woman. She’s definitely a goofball, but definitely sophisticated underneath that.

Valentin432: I agree with you, she will probably open for somebody, even Daughtry didn’t get a solo tour first, he opened for Bon Jovi first.

My understanding is that Daughtry’s first tour was a several-months-long headline tour of small clubs.

Not that I think Allison’s path will necessarily mirror his; but hey, a guy can dream! A lot of acts switch back and forth between headlining legs and opening-act legs, which I think makes a lot of sense.

Oh, just want to add, I really don’t think Allison’s diction interferes with her singing, I didn’t really notice until others brought it up. Its kinda cute, makes her more unique. Its all good, she will be great, the hand flapping can easily be toned down. And she better not ride Adam’s coat tails, haven’t you heard:

THEY ARE DETACHABLE!!!

she has the old soul and voice of someone who’s been at it for years (the Janis Joplin vibe)

Mary102 I get that by saying “vibe” it’s a different thing from saying Allison is like Janis herself, but since this comparison gets made all the time, I just want to add my 2 cents.

Allison’s voice for me (for her) is much better than Janis’s (blasphemy to some I suppose) but only in tone. I find the tone and the colors in her voice remarkable and really, *really* interesting. Where Allison doesn’t match up to Janis yet is in phrasing and the emotion she puts into a song (different from just pure, youthful energy) but man, she is *so* close to being able to bring that to the table too.

“Barracuda” is an angry, sexy song, and that wasn’t on display here. This is where Allison’s age does enter into performance, I think. She’s amazing on “Cry Baby,” but she doesn’t quite get to the meat of every song. But you know, I think she will. She will.

Janis was only 27 when she died, and yeah she was an old soul — in part, I think, because her soul got old before its time. I don’t see that happening to Allison. I’m looking forward to enjoying her music for a long, long time. A terrific, energetic performance like this one is just the beginning. I’m sad for Kris that he couldn’t make this performance, but glad Allison got this chance.

(As for the “riding Adam’s coat tails” idea, my only response is a hearty laugh. : )

ruskimom: Spears is way to big for his kit. He has yet to keep a consistent tempo and looks very clumsy while he’s playing. I come from a family of drummers, and he is painful to listen to and watch.

Boy, I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m pretty amazed that AI has such excellent and creative drummers both for the TV show and for the tour. Teddy Campbell on the TV show is even better than Aaron Spears, but both of them add very interesting flourishes to their playing, much more than the typical drummer. I couldn’t care less what they look like while they’re playing, because their playing is so interesting. To me, they’re the two most interesting musicians in the AI stable — and I’m a bass player! :smile_wp:

What’s more, I heard that Kris was scheduled to re-record ‘Heartless’  over the weekend for radio. It’s not a stretch to assume that Kris was booked on Conan in order to promote ‘Heartless’ . When he couldn’t make it, label mate Allison was called in to pinch hit.

Really? That’s awesome! I heard Kayne’s (sp?) “Heartless” on the radio today and was longing for Kris’s version.

ETA: “”"Tess: Besides, if I wasn’t an Idol junkie I wouldn’t have a clue how old Allison is”"”

That’s funny, because I was just waiting for Conan to say, and you’re only how old? 17?

MollyAnnMay said:

As for the ‘riding Adam’s coat tails’  idea, my only response is a hearty laugh. :

Would you believe she’s actually riding Danny Gokey’s coattails?

Maybe I’m crazy, but I always got the impression that Simon was actually extremely impresssed with Allison but had two worries that he tried to address in his backwards way.

Lucy, ITA. Just wanted to add that I also think the judges/producers go into this and every season with a bit of a plan (ha ha no kidding ) And Lil was their pick for dynamite female artist. When she failed to make unique choices, and Allison started to shine, that’s when Simon started changing his tune (hence the “you’re the only hope left for the women” comment to her.)

Re Allison’s Conan performance: the voice was very good and strong. I was not a fan of the spastic movements though. A little too OTT (not quite Megan territory, but I liked the comparison).

Re Adam’s coattails – nah, I don’t really see it either. She is a great talent on her own, Adam and Kris both have tremendous respect for her ability, and she is so good without him around too (funny and full of personality with the other guys joking around, an excellent artist without sharing the stage with Adam, etc.)

MollyAnnMay: Allison’s voice for me (for her) is much better than Janis’s (blasphemy to some I suppose)

Not blasphemy to me. I absolutely cannot stand Janis’ voice. True confession: Until Allison sang Cry Baby, I actually didn’t know the song, because when it was popular four decades ago, I always turned off the radio as soon as I heard that pig-being-stuck-with-a-hot-poker squeal at the beginning of Janis’ version. I adore Allison’s version.

Mary102 said:

And Lil was their pick for dynamite female artist. When she failed to make unique choices, and Allison started to shine, that’s when Simon started changing his tune (hence the ‘you’re the only hope left for the women’  comment to her.)

The thing is that Simon’s highest praise for her came the night she did I Don’t Want To Miss a Thing, one of her, by most other accounts, weakest performances. Overall, Lil probably got more unqualified praise from Simon than Allison. He had the opportunity to praise her for an inventive and stellar re-working of Hot Stuff and IIRC was mostly negative (edit: he called it brilliant, but still knocked the arrangement). Then again on Rock night with a terrific version of Cry Baby he was unenthusiastic. And to top it all off he says to Adam that he may have saved Allison with their Slow Ride duet. As Slezak said, “She saved herself.” It all screamed to the audience, “This girl can’t win, a vote for Allison is a vote for nothing.” And it worked.

I understand that Simon’s tastes run to the blander side (especially with females, males are allowed to take chances) and that he is mostly giving his honest opinion. That’s why so many (pageant) girls that loved to sing Whitney, Celine, and Mariah songs did so well in the competition in previous years. Simon was unenthused with Allison, she made top four in spite of that.

d.b. cooper: Would you believe she’s actually riding Danny Gokey’s coattails?

Heh. Sorry, I’ve blocked that out. : )

JohnM: Not blasphemy to me.

Nor to me. But this was only my third post here, and though Idols may be fair game, I wasn’t sure about Icons!

I love some of Janis’s songs, but I’m not a die hard fan by any means. Still, for a female fan of female rockers, one has to admit the pickings are slim. Choice, in many cases, but still slim. That’s why I think Allison is such a find and why I find her so exciting, both what she is now and what she has the potential to become. This performance shows off all of that, super-high energy, flying hair and all.

I adore Allison’s version.

Oh lord yes, me too. Her second performance of “Cry Baby” on the show was the absolute definition of *killing* a song, IMO. It was epic and put me on the floor.

Also epic: If the rumor about Lindsey Buckingham writing for her is true? Hoo boy.

I’ll try one last time. When she appeared on American idol- I was never blown away with her performances. I felt she was too one-dimensional.
I think she lacks star power. This is just my opinion. In interviews she seems immature to me. I know plenty of 17 year old who carry themselves with much more sophistication.
Regarding Adam, again I appreciate all his experience and it is not fair to compare the two-
however, I feel their connection on the show enhanced her actual talent. I’ve read hundreds of blog comments referring to the Kradison friendship.
Really, I just don’t think she’s all that great. She’s very good, but not a star in my eyes. I respect those who love her, but I don’t.

It’s fine if not everyone thinks she’s great and they don’t see the star power, what I have a problem with is Adam being given credit for her talent and star power. Only to Adam fans is the “kradison” so relevant. I don’t go to Adam boards, so I don’t hear much about the kradison thing. I think some fans might be reading too many kradison threads and they start to see things through that prism.

Adam didn’t do her performances for her on the show, and isn’t doing them for her now on the tour. All the media and music industry people raving about Allison aren’t doing so because they are blinded by “the kradison”. Only to Adam fans does it seem that everything in the world has to do with Adam.

I saw her star power on the show from the start, though it was definitely hidden to a great extent by her shyness and nervousness, and some of those weird clothes and hairstyles. She isn’t sophisticated, no, and that’s part of her charm. Though she is sophisticated in some ways. She’s very “old soul” and savvy when it comes to some things, and in other ways she isn’t. She’s not about artifice, she’s open and real, which is endearing to many. Sophistication often takes away that real quality and replaces it with a phony veneer.

She may seem immature to some, but I think she seems like an old soul who is also a teenager and hasn’t been jaded by the world yet. But most of all, her talent is her own and was not “enhanced” by Adam, it’s not as if his very nearness makes others appear better than they are. Adam likes her *because of* her talent, he doesn’t take credit for it.

Only to Adam fans is the ‘kradison’  so relevant.

I think a lot of fans of Kris, Adam, and Allison can appreciate their friendship–”Kradison”–without having the bizarre idea that Adam is somehow responsible for Allison’s success (what, with his powers of mind-control that made Jive decide to sign her?).

The world doesn’t revolve around Adam to most of his fans–he has his way overzealous ones, just as Kris certainly does and probably all the others, but most fans seem much more reasonable.

I could certainly imagine that Allison has learned from Adam, given his skill and greater experience, but she’s extremely talented in her own right and her success is due to her.

isisdagmar, thanks for the reminder that not all Adam fans are overzealous. I agree that it is kind of bizarre to suggest that Adam is responsible for Allison’s success. I am sure Allison has learned from Adam, as she seems like a sponge, soaking up knowledge from everyone around her. I think she learns all the time, from a lot of people, one of them being Adam. At 17 one is usually very open to learning. I really appreciate Adam and Allison’s special friendship, and their mutual liking for each other, it’s just that the overzealousness sometimes goes too far.

I don’t know if this has been posted already, probably has, but anyway there’s a cute picture of Allison here and a cute (not altogether articulate, ha ha) interview.

http://www.sfbg.com/blogs/music/2009/07/american_idol_interview_series_1.html

The picture is adorable and suggests that this is how they will market her, with this kind of fresh, young look.

I guess I haven’t been this excited about a woman on the show since Kelly. They’re both so talented.

This is cute about the Cheesecake factory, I love that place actually:

SFBG: Have you had any time to do anything exciting in the Bay Area since you got here?
AI: I haven’t. I mean, I went to Cheesecake Factory at about 12:00 a.m., but that’s about it.

I understand that Simon’s tastes run to the blander side

Ain’t that the truth. Just look at his big discovery, Leona Lewis. No doubt she can sing, but exciting or edgy or interesting … she is not.

Allison was my favorite this season from the get-go. Such raw energy and talent. That being said, Kris grew on me, and so I was happy he won. Clearly, he is someone who has honed his art, but who was stuck out in the “hinterlands” and probably would’ve never been given any kind of a spotlight without Idol.

selena Jul 16th, 2009 at 9:59 pm

I’ll try one last time.

To do what?

You don’t think Allison is very good. That, we get. What else are you trying one last time to do?

*shrug*

oceana: The picture is adorable and suggests that this is how they will market her, with this kind of fresh, young look.

That picture is a promo shot from Idol that was taken many months ago — I think before the season even started, though I’m not sure. So, I don’t think it has anything to do with how Jive will market her.

I think a lot of fans of Kris, Adam, and Allison can appreciate their friendship’“’ Kradison’ ’“without having the bizarre idea that Adam is somehow responsible for Allison’s success (what, with his powers of mind-control that made Jive decide to sign her?).

The world doesn’t revolve around Adam to most of his fans’“he has his way overzealous ones, just as Kris certainly does and probably all the others, but most fans seem much more reasonable.

I could certainly imagine that Allison has learned from Adam, given his skill and greater experience, but she’s extremely talented in her own right and her success is due to her.

Completely agree. For me (as an “Adam fan”) the Kradison love comes from their friendship more than their musical relationship – the fact that Adam (probably much more so than Allison herself) has talked about Allison being his best friend on the show, his “little sister”, the hugs, the support, etc. Much less of it, imo, comes from Allison talking about Adam (e.g. “riding his coattails” behavior).

They have agreed that Adam (and I think Kris too), helped her with song choices, but, it sounds like the two of them did that for a few contestants, just in the spirit of being helpful.

Oh John, how embarrassing, I didn’t know the picture was an older one. First time I’d seen it. Well anyway, I like it, but you’re right, it gives no clue to what Jive has in mind for Allison.

Oh heck, it’s not embarrassing that you hadn’t seen the picture before. Probably more embarrassing for me that I’m a crazed-enough fan to remember how old it is! :wink_wp:

I’ll try one last time. When she appeared on American idol- I was never blown away with her performances. I felt she was too one-dimensional.

I think she lacks star power. This is just my opinion. In interviews she seems immature to me. I know plenty of 17 year old who carry themselves with much more sophistication.

Regarding Adam, again I appreciate all his experience and it is not fair to compare the two-
however, I feel their connection on the show enhanced her actual talent. I’ve read hundreds of blog comments referring to the Kradison friendship.

Really, I just don’t think she’s all that great. She’s very good, but not a star in my eyes. I respect those who love her, but I don’t.

I thought she did quite well singing the many different genres presented to her. Quite a contrast to be able to sing rat pack one week and rock on another. Not one dimensional in her abilities in the least.

It must be hard for you to admit you think she lacks star power. Not a lot a people can see star power or even star potential in someone they are seeing for the very first time. Don’t feel bad a lot of people don’t see her star power. Not everyone can have the eye or the abilities of industry moguls to spot star power.

I am amazed to think how a 9 year old child set a goal..took the steps to accomplish that goal by working hard, practicing hard, never giving up, never losing focus. All signs of a maturity beyond her years. All traits any mature person of any age can respect and aspire to.