Season 7 Redux – Top 20

I’m not sure I’m going to keep this up every night, especially if every thread degenerates into a fan war.

Please try to keep this thread focused on the Top 20. If you do refer to other points in the competition, please do it while making a point about the Top 20 performances.

Please don’t bring the conversation that’s going on in the Top 24 thread to this thread. You can keep going on with that conversation over there, but please keep them separate.

Please remember to follow the guidelines, and stay polite.

If a conversation becomes testy, I’m going to ask that you change the subject, like I did in the other thread, so keep that in mind.

This is a big ole Season 7 last gasp. Let’s have some fun…

Thanks.

ah . . . er . . . I liked Imagine. And I remember thinking at the time that Michael Johns didn’t have the range for the Fleetwood Mac song he did and that Jason Castro was better than the Judges thought. And that Hopelessly Devoted to You is a terrible song choice when there’s an entire decade of music to choose from. And that You’re So Vain just seemed like an easy “get” for Brooke. And that I really liked Imagine.

OMG… I remember the night Amanda did Carry on My Wayward Son…. yiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiikes! One of our local radio stations played the Kansas version the next day on the radio and said they hoped it would help them forget Amanada’s performance. It’s an AC station… Kansas isn’t exactly what they play regularly but the dj said he felt like he had to do it! lol

I actually thought Robbie had a pretty good voice but the wig??? Why?

Also, I totally agree with you about Alexandrea MJ…. the girl was robbed!

Totally unpopular opinion but You’re So Vain is my favorite performance of the season.

I watched Imagine like 1000x (exaggerated but closed) on youtube and still do . I ‘ve never got tired of it.

I liked Jason Castro tonight. I remember now why a lot of people liked him when I saw his interview before he sang. So adorable.

I have never liked Amanda and was so glad she didn’t make the top 10. I didnt want to have to sit through her during the tour.

I felt so bad for DC after this performance. I was glad during the results show that they showed him saying that he felt bad that he offended Simon and didn’t mean to.

DA was amazing just as I remembered.

Robbie is wearing a wig…OMG!!! I always liked him, how did I not notice this..LOL

I was convinced Amanda was trying to get kicked off the show with “Carry On My Wayward Son.” I think she was a bit panicked at the idea of making it to the Top 12 and having to do the dorky group sing alongs. *g*

I’m with MJ on “Imagine.” He messed with it too much and regardless of whether or not it “sounded” good, Gaspy doesn’t have the stripes yet to be messing with John fricking Lennon’s work.

I realize I’m a bit of an unapologetic Jason fan, but I always thought his “I Want to Be Your Everything” was better than the judges gave him credit for that second week. I do agree with you mj on he should have ditched the band.

I like Brooke’s “You’re So Vain”, but it was an obvious choice for her.

Rewatching the semi-finals also shows me why for the most part things ended up as they did. I like MJ well enough, but this is reminding me why I wasn’t quite so shocked at his supposed shock boot. During the semis he never really lived up to his hype.

I can’t really complain about any of the guys eliminated. I think for the most part the right guys went at the right time, maybe with some slight adjustments. I do wonder how this season would have gone down with some changes to the female line-up however.

Oh, Kady. I love Magic Man, but not a good song choice. Though I have to laugh at Simon having never heard the song before.

Just 3 thoughts for the Top 20:

This was the week David Cook appeared on my radar. I was really impressed by his performance skills and thought he rocked it!

Jason was better than the judges gave him credit for. In hindsight though, challenging him to sing without his guitar was one of the best things they could have done. Hallelujah! (…love the pre-performance clip too, haha).

Loved Brooke. This is probably my favorite performance from her after Let it Be.

Oh yes, my favorite pre performance clip from Jason. That might have been what sold me on him right there. Also agree that them telling him to lose the guitar certainly only worked in his favor. In a weird way I think Jason’s inexperience actually worked for him in the beginning of the competition, even if it did him in later.

Alaina–I actually liked her here. I’m not much a fan of the song and she too could have picked better, but it’s still a shame she left here. I would have preferred Kady to go.

This is the week I first noticed David Cook and then began following his performances closely. I became a fan and did not like one bit Simon’s comments.

Imagine was not even on my radar when I first saw the performance and I did not understand at all the OTT praise. Subsequent viewings have made me understand the brilliance of David Archuleta’s interpretation (via Eva Cassidy).

Niall, may I politely ask what or who is Gaspy and stripes? I really don’t follow what that comment means.

Loved Sy’s Me and Mrs Jones. I think she was brilliant.

Amanda just needed to go home. I often wonder why she even tried out for AI.

Even with my eyes closed, not a Jason Yeagar fan. Truly too cruise ship for me.

The demise of Kady Malloy, part two.
An eighteen year old recent high school grad who was always praised for her vocals. Until she got on the Idol stage and was forced to find her own singing style. Too little too late and the unfortunate result is the disaster known as Magic Man. And it gets worse.

Didn’t really matter. Syesha won me over with her last note on Me and Mr Jones. At least Paula was consistent.

Seems to me when you leave out the first two versions to a song like Imagine to suit your own beliefs, or those of your father, then you have corrupted the original vision of the writer. Better off to pick another song.

Simon can be clueless sometimes. Paula said simply, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Girls like smart guys.à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  DING! I think Cookà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“wordnerdà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  video was the beginning of his turning point on the show.

Right on the money.
That “wordnerd” package was the first time my interest was piqued by DC. I don’t think his Top 24 performance had any lasting impression on me, but that short intro sure did. ARN probably didn’t add much, but the seed was planted. Then a week later he had me, hook line and sinker, at “Hello” (cliche but true).

I think when Randy told DC “You’re our real rocker this year” minutes after slapping Robbie with “Rock is an attitude, it’s not something you should have to prove”… Yeah, they were done with Robbie and weren’t shy about letting him know it. I guess where Colton and Garrett were 1st degree fodder, Robbie, Luke and Jason Y were 2nd degree fodder? They all got face time in the audition rounds, but I don’t think they were ever meant to get into the finals.
Sheesh, the way Simon criticized Jason, I can see why he’d be bitter.

This was the first week where my then favorite Michael Johns really didn’t live up to to my expectations. That performance was painful to watch again, without the benefit of rose colored glasses I had the first time around. I think the judges were very very easy on him. Compare this to how they treated Jason Y… it pays to be an early favorite.

Forgot how much I loved Brooke at this point. She was and remained the only female contestant I remotely cared about. Too bad she sort of broke apart as the competition wore on, I think her “You’re So Vain” is probably my favorite song she did on the show.

Alexandrea – I still think she should have stayed longer. Alex and David hugging was so sweet. I’m surprised at how much David looks young on that night. LOL
Asia’h – I liked her first week, but second week is bad.
Alaina – bad, but I’m shocked Brit. girl was safe instead of her.
Carly – I agree, MJ. On the summer tour, she was amazing.
Kristy – way better than the first week.
Michanel – hmm..out of tune.
Robbie – not bad, however, I didn’t get him once I heard about car racing.
Jason Y- he works hard to be better than previous week, and I like his singing. However, I’m okay he’s eliminated.
David C – enjoying watching his stage presence. way better rocker.
Danny – I just like him as a person, but a singer. Song was kinda boring to me.
Chikezie and David H – surprise of the night. still love their performance. Especially Chikezie’s “know my name Chikezie” It is cool
David A – I’ve never tired of this performance. Still I think this is one of the best performances of the year. I felt something when I watched this in Feb. I still don’t know what it is.

This rewind thing is kinda cool to watch. Again, Fox is genius to catch ppl like me. lol…

My thoughts on the guys…can’t even care about the girls right now and maybe never, sorry.

Michael Johns – He was never called out by the judges for being horribly karaoke. Thank God America called him out for that.

Jason Castro – I liked it a bunch more than the judges did. I don’t think it holds a candle to his best but I liked it (I never didn’t like what Jason did).

Luke Menard – I don’t much like pretty girl voices (even on girls) but I like them less on men. He has a pretty voice but leaves me cold…every time.

Robbie Carrico – I seriously doubt anybody would be surprised that he does drag racing. It doesn’t make me think he’s more rocker than he is. I don’t and will probably never know if it’s a wig, but why the hell doesn’t he brush his freaking hair? Again, why aren’t they mentioning the karaoke?

Danny Noriega – Was really weird for me. I totally think Danny is awesome and I hate (with a passion) that song…So yeah, weird. That is all.

David Hernandez – Loved it. I never thought I’d love anything he did but this was rather amazing. This would be his one and only performance I liked…and I liked it a whole bunch.

Jason Yeager – Was too freaking weird. He sang it well enough but his performance was a bit ott for me.

Chikezie – Loved everything about it. He was so off my radar before this (and after) but I really liked this…the singing the joy. This isn’t a genre that I care about, but he made me a believer with this song.

David Cook – I fell hopelessly in love with the man this week. I’m really shocked (still) that Simon took such exception to what David said when the week before he had no reaction when Luke Menard said essentially the same thing. I guess with him too, they could have called karaoke although I don’t remember them ever commenting that a rock cover was karaoke.

David Archuleta – I think this was beautiful and brillliant. I remember thinking (maybe hoping) that he could never live up to that performance…

So after that, I’m not one bit surprised at who left for the boys. Maybe I’ll do the girls tomorrow, but they don’t truthfully impress me enough to bother right now.

Alright, I’m an idiot and posted my comments in the wrong thread, so I’ve copied them from the AI7 Redux Thread:

Wow, these first few episodes really highlighted to me what a very good singer David Hernandez was during his short stay on AI7; I thought Papa Was A Rolling Stone was the best performance of the night, with DA & DC tied for second. Damn, Alaina’s outster was heartwrenching (even Ryan sounded choked up in a couple of spots), but she showed great character/fortitude as she pulled herself together for a very, very good singout (she sounded great and I think I only heard one very bad note). In regards to Alexandrea Lushington, Amanda and/or Kady should have been performing a singout instead of Alex, since they were both spectactularly awful (also pretty shitty of TPTB to focus on Archie’s emotional breakdown during Alex’s singout).

Noticed that some of Simon’s comments to a few of the Hamsters (i.e. contestants) were very disrespectful, often cruel, and contained absolutely no constructive critisism in regards to their performances/songs. . .Simon, don’t hate the Players, hate the Game!

Gosh, Archie was awesomely adorable during, and after, “Shop Around”; he also nailed this performance (he was actually dancing!! and his eyes positively glowed), and made him ‘the one to beat’ per Tweedle Dumb, Tweedle Dumber & Simon Sourpuss. Where (or more importantly, WHY?) did this happy-go-lucky young man disappear on us? Was it the pressure of the contest and/or the pressure from his Father? I am a TOTAL DC Ho (down to my analog heart), but I truly believe that if Archie had continued to perform with the joy and exuberance shown during “Shop Around” there wouldn’t have been a snowball’s chance in hell of anyone winning AI7 but Archie (okay, maybe only DC). Alas, disappear he did (until the finale), and in his place we got ArchuD2, whose performances: a) rarely displayed any joy and/or fun [ETA: except for With You]; b) were mostly ballads or songs arranged into ballads; c) lead to rumblings of: “Is this Archie’s dream or his Father’s?” “Is being the AI really what Archie wants or is it what his Father wants?” “Archie looks afraid during the judges comments/ramblings” “Archie’s not articulate (i.e., mature enough) and post AI interviews would be painfully uncomfortable” “Archie’s future album full of ballads is not marketable” etc., etc.

(Dang, Ramble Much? Why Yes, thanks for asking.)

As a DC and/or DA fan, can you imagine the suspense, the awesome blog commentaries, the nerve-wreaking pressure of DA & DC trying to out perform/out sing each other week after week and the awesome results thereof, if the real Archie (the unguarded Archie we’ve seen pre- and post-AI) had shown up for the entire season? I can dream…..

Crap that was alot of saying not much; well, I’m off to work in 3 hours so I better get to bed.

—————————————-
Peace Out & POKE SMOT :smoke_tb:

Gaspy doesnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t have the stripes yet to be messing with John fricking Lennonà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s work.

With all due respect, I’ve never really understood this type of argument. The song is out there, and plenty of people have covered it (some with greater success than others). I don’t understand the criteria for *earning* the right to sing this or that song. I understand that “Imagine” is an iconic song, but so are many, many of the songs that people attempt on AI. It’s what the show is about. If people always sang “safe” songs it would be boring. If people sang songs exactly as they were written, well, ditto. (And I’m not being defensive on DA’s behalf; I hear that argument thrown around from time to time with this song or that song – another example would be Jason singing Bob Marley – and I just don’t buy into it.)

And like it or not, the producers of AI seemed to think that the entire group of contestants had the “stripes” to tackle John Lennon, given that they handed them the Lennon/McCartney songbook for two weeks straight. (Not that it went that well for some folks, but I’m just sayin’.)

I thoroughly enjoyed yesterday’s thread. Thanks for keeping it on the straight and narrow, MJ.

I’m really enjoying watching this every night (fast forwarding of course).

I’m with most people in loving DC for being a word nerd and showing his intelligent, introspective side. Also to love language is a good thing for a songwriter. I thought Simon’s comment “your problem is you have no charisma” was cruel, as half of his comments are. It caught DC off guard and he tried to come back in humor but Simon was a real ass about it. I think after that week he understood how to ignore Simon and not let him get to him.

I liked everything Jason did and I fast forwarded through the judges so I don’t know what they said about it. It wasn’t stupendous but his charm worked every time, for me.

I love Danny Noriega but this was a so-so performance from him. Nothing to stand out about it. His “ish” comment was adorable. I so badly wanted him to make the top 10.

DA’s talent shone out every week, but I wasn’t wowed by Imagine. It was too smooth, too r&b-tinged, for me. The song works better sung with more fragility, like John sang it. Like Neil Young or Jack Johnson sang it. Or something.

Heh, searching on youtube, I found that Bill Clinton also sang the song! Well he had a little help. Wow, I love Bill, and this brings tears to my eyes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0F_6plYyTM

During the women’s singing, I enjoyed watching Cookie wearing his hat in the men’s section. LOL Yes I’m a goner.

I really liked Alexandrea and was sorry to see her go.

It caught DC off guard and he tried to come back in humor but Simon was a real ass about it.

OMG – I don’t think I was paying attention to that interchange the first time around! Poor DC. He looked like he was going to be sick when Simon started his childish little tirade. It was so uncomfortable to watch – especially in retrospect, when it’s obvious that Cook was trying to make a joke. That was one of Simon’s least attractive moments of the season, IMO.

Also, I hadn’t noticed that poor DA was still trying to pull it together when Alaina was voted off – although in all fairness that was sad enough to bring tears to my eyes, and she wasn’t a particular favorite of mine.

eta: I agree with MJ that Alexandrea should have stuck around longer. I really liked her voice.

Seems to me when you leave out the first two versions to a song like Imagine to suit your own beliefs, or those of your father, then you have corrupted the original vision of the writer. Better off to pick another song

I’m hesitating to respond to this only because I don’t want to send the thread spiraling off into a discussion of what should or should not be done with “Imagine,” but I did just want to make a couple of points.

1. David has sung the full version on more than one occasion, including at Ford Day.

2. I heard an interview during tour where David was asked pointblank if he avoided the “no heaven” part of the song and his answer was no. He said something to the effect of thinking that the lyrics to the third verse were most universal, and that they represented best what he loved about the whole song. He didn’t change the lyrics of the third verse as far as I know – he sang them as written. So I don’t know how he “corrupted” the song in this regard.

3. As we know, the contestants don’t have time to sing an entire song on the show, and it bugs me, because the songs do lose some of their meaning when they have to be cut and pasted. But it’s a necessary evil, and it’s not specific to this single performance. That’s just a part of AI.

I love a lot of John Lennon’s songs, but (coming clean here) “Imagine” was never a song I cared for. I understand that to some people it’s sacred, never to be touched, never to be changed. I’m sure if I thought about it I could come up with a song that was like that for me. I personally thought DA’s rendition, like Eva Cassidy’s before him, was really lovely. I absolutely respect the opinion of those who disagree. (And of course the melodic interpretation of the song is a discussion entirely separate from this of lyrical interpretation.) I just wanted to get the facts straight: from all accounts, no verses were left out to reflect the personal beliefs of David or his father. They were left out due to time constraints.

And in the words of Forrest Gump, that’s all I have to say about that. lol.

Awwwwwwww, oceana, thanks so very much for sharing that youtube of Imagine with Clinton and the jewish and arabic kids. It was simply beautiful.
I found the lead singer (the girl) to have a rendition similar to Archuleta and found that interesting. She sort of sings like him (the runs).

I don’t get Simon’s exception to the wordnerd video. It was self-deprecating and charming. I noticed this time that Amanda had a similar type of video package, talking about being a bookworm, and Simon liked it, said she came off natural. I mean, what, female rockers can show a different/softer side, but guy rockers have to stick with macho stuff like tennis (LOL, sorry, is that “macho”?) and drag racing? Please– Simon was off the mark there. The backtalk made me cringe. I liked DC at that point enough to feel bad for him and not think him a total jerk, but didn’t care enough to vote or anything. I assumed he’d be voted off though, and thought: shame. Thank goodness that didn’t happen!

I thought Archie’s joy was still apparent this week– it was a serious song, and no cute long banter with Ryan but he was still pretty adorable after the song soaking in the cheers, etc. I think it was the combo of the one-to-beat tag Simon slapped on him and his buddy Alexandrea and fellow young one Alaina getting eliminated that made him lose a bit of the sparkle from here onwards.

Hm… I didn’t like Me and Mr. Jones. Her voice didn’t sound as good in the restrained parts as it did when she reigned it in later. I didn’t enjoy it when Syesha continued to belt/scream too much, but I did feel she improved a lot throughout the season, particularly on supporting her lower/softer notes later in the season.

MJ was just aite. Another weak performance by a really good singer. He *really* can’t dance and needs to be anchored to a mike stand. Or give him a guitar. Can’t believe I didn’t notice first time through how awkward he is when he sings.

I have no problem with DA leaving out the verse about no religion, no heaven. I think it probably was a conscious decision by his father or the producers or someone, so as not to alienate religious people. It makes sense to me. Why alienate people unnecessarily, especially when you want their vote? Of course he said it was for another reason, and maybe he didn’t even know why his father probably arranged it that way.

They always sing only portions of songs, so they get to choose which portions to leave out. I don’t think it’s fair to give DA a hard time about that choice. If he had sang that verse, there would have been another kind of controversy.

I think John’s point was that we can rise above religious differences and live together in peace, but some people don’t take it that way. Ideally the whole song would have been sung, but that’s not the way of AI.

My favorite line is, “You may say I’m a dreamer … but I’m not the only one.” People always accused me of being a dreamer when I was young, so I liked that line.

My favorite line is, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“You may say Ià ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢m a dreamer à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ ¦ but Ià ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢m not the only one.à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  People always accused me of being a dreamer when I was young, so I liked that line.

My favorite line too. My son has that quote hanging in his room for the same reason. :happy_tb:

Wow, I was taking down our Christmas tree and listening to the show…it is so different when you are watching. The one girl who turned my head around to see who was singing was Syesha. Her tone was beautiful. You can really hear the very bad notes when you are not visually engaged. Brooke is so charming but her vocals were off. Archie’s tone is very attention grabbing also.

Of course, we are comparing to studio versions from the original artists, not all of them were as good live.

Isn’t it amazing the little things that get a contestant eliminated. The Britteny stuff was sorta ‘wanna beish’ and detrimental IMO. In fact the ‘wannabe’ stuff really sticks out…from Robbies wig, to Jason’s odd hair stripe and dancing. Also, the clip of Asia’h as a cheerleader saying you have to have spunk followed by a very unspunky ballad..not good. Alexandrea’s hair do was odd and distracting while she performed. Alaina’s blue dress. It must be amazingly difficult to do a performance and still maintain being yourself…something the top 12 all have in common. (I really believe that is the real Amanda–lol)

In my opinion, I don’t believe Archuleta corrupted Imagine. Songs are just songs. Heck, people try there vocals out every night of the week at some karaoke place, and I’m sure they don’t always do the songs justice. I don’t really see any song too sacred to be sung. Lennon, Marley, Mariah, Celine, Whitney, or even ELVIS, lol…all fair game unless the artist specifically doesn’t allow his/her work to be interpreted. Afterall, you can’t be Lennon if you’re not and you can’t be Mariah if you’re not, etc. The only thing that can be done is to lend one’s own style to any particular song. They might make a hot mess of the song, but would have to disagree that that is corrupting it. The only thing Marley about Jason was his dreads, so be it, no big deal. Man, AI8 needs to bring it on dawg! I think we fans are getting restless, lol.

Gaspy doesnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t have the stripes yet to be messing with John fricking Lennonà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s work.

I’m another who doesn’t think that John’s work is sacred, and I think he would appreciate anyone’s attempts to sing it. Yoko even called DA didn’t she? She called someone to say she liked it.

Gaspy? I’m not even a DA fan, but … Didn’t DA have some physical problems with his throat, and have some surgery on it? Maybe that’s why he sounds that way?

Oceana, Gaspy is a nickname another website gave to DA. That site has offensive names for just about all of the AI contestants.

That was the week my Brooke White love became almost all the way there. LOL. She pwned me next week.

I thought Imagine was pretty, but I was a little mystified about the OTT praise. Still, he probably had the bast vocal of the night.

The trouble with Robbie was not that he couldn’t sing, but that he sang everything with the same pop phrasing. And he was always trying too damn hard. He was still trying to prove he was not a boybander anymore. Dude, let.it.go. Ugh.

DC totally confused me that week. I thought he was hot as hell while he was singing ARN, but he annoyed me during that fight with Simon. But I liked the wordnerd thing. But I thought Simon had a point abut charisma. I had to take a few days to process all that.

I was not at all moved by Alaina Whititaker this time, mainly because she was boring as hell to me. I still feel sorry for Garret Haley though, all these months later. And he only lasted one episode! LOL.

KLC was better than I remembered. But not better than…..

ALEXANDREA!!!!!! Man, she was robbed.

Not robbed? A’siah. She has a nice voice but no idea what to do with it, and way too much ego. I’m glad she didn’t make it.

Hernandez can sing. In retrospect though, he came across a little too desperate and a little too karaokee. His voice is built for the cheese, but he’s trying to sound cool. LOL.

Hot Aussie has some serious lounge singer tendencies. Man, it is glaringly obvious looking back. He’s closer to Constantine that I care to admit. He needs to stick with the bluesy soul on his album, it suits him best.

I though Syesha was really good this week, the judges screwed her. I think they just never really liked her.

Amanda. No words. I still love her though.

oceana, “Gaspy” is the clever little nickname that the VFTW folks have for DA. I agree that it’s cruel, but I guess that’s their schtick.

And yes, the loud breathing is a residual effect of his vocal cord paralysis. I remember him saying so once (and I’m a speech therapist and happen to know that it would be a likely consequence of the paralysis).

eta: JudyOhio, you beat me to it!

Hernandez did a good job with PWARS but I could never warm up to him. He always looked desperate and uptight. So tense, you could see it in his jerky motions and tight shoulders. And scary eyes. I was glad he didn’t make it to the tour.

Danny N, on the other hand, should have been on the tour! sob sob

I never appreciated the cuteness that is Danny Noriega so I’m glad I’m rewatching. I didn’t much care for any of his performances, but he’s so entertaining. I think he would have improved tremendously with a little time and coaching. Actually he is made for an “Idol Tonight”- type gig. When he was on as a guest he was hilarious (as was Ramielle).

I would love to see Danny as a regular on the TV Guide Idol show. I think he’s funnier than Justin G.

I think Danny would be fabulous doing “man on the street” – type interviews, getting backstage comments from celebs, etc. In fact, perhaps he could replace cheesy Constantine on AI Extra instead?

Reminder:

Please leave the modding to me. Don’t tell other posters what to do, or I’ll be editing or deleting your post.

I’m not going to mod posters if they snark on the Idols. There are snarky nicknames for all the Idols out in the blogosphere. It’s a residual effect of being a celebrity.

If you have a question about this send me and email, please don’t respond to my post.

I forgot about Danny! I loved him. He should have made it further, he was very entertaining. I would have like to see him advance over Hernandez.

Oh wow, this is fun revisisting because I didnt find my way here until late in the game. I didn’t watch the girls either time… Yeah, I’m shallow that way.

He just did The Yeager! And got booted for it. Awww. Do you guys remember seeing a clip of PDSTM when Jason Yeager was in the audience, and Cook and MJ had everyone doing Jason’s ending that Simon hated? And someone dubbed it The Yeager. :laugh_tb: Good to know he must have kept a sense of humor about the whole thing.

Watching back, I’m even sadder that MJ was eliminated so early. He had a knack for picking some of my favorite artists/songs (this time it’s Fleetwood Mac) and getting reemed for it, and I just love the timbre of his voice. And, well, the eye candy. You can see the set up for his story arc, though, with Simon’s comments after this performance….they like him, but will continue to harp on his song selection, for which MJ will continue to be unapologetic. This will culminate with Dream On. Sniff.

LOVED Chikeze’s performance back in the day, still do now. Didn’t share the fuss over Archuleta’s Imagine then, still don’t. The lyrics omission bugs, but the oversinging bugs even more. I remember mentally comparing DA’s interpretation of Imagine to Jason’s interpretation of Hallelujah the following week and appreciating Jason’s approach more.

After Happy Together, Cook had me thinking if someone can manage to bring the sexy during a performance of a Turtles song while sporting Corky from Life Goes On hair, he must have some crazy charisma. And then Simon calls him on his charisma. Wild. Maybe he thought the juxtaposition of the dorky geek for vocab with the badass pic throwing rocker was too difficult to reconcile for us poor voting simpletons. It’s fun when Paula is less clueless than Simon…chicks DO dig smart guys. (Oh yeah, Alright Now was also sexy. And his hair? Morphing for the better.)

Robbie said in an interview that he was not wearing a wig, yeah he was asked about it…

Hey there is a David Hernandez in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.

This is the week Cookie became my fave. Simon really doesn’t know about women. But no charisma was probably his way of saying Cookie looked ugly (to him). Whateves.

Danny’s sort of like Kellie P, he has the kind of personality that comes across on tv. I loved his “snap” and “ish.” LOL

I watched last night, and Jason Yeager’s performance was actually pretty good. I still think that little dance move at the end was the cheesiest thing ever. Still, he came across as quite an average singer. I watched his pre-performance interview, where he played drums, guitar, and piano. Why the HECK didn’t he do that on the show. He may have lasted longer.

I think Cookà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“wordnerdà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  video was the beginning of his turning point on the show.

Yep. It stood out in stark contrast to Robbie-the-poser’s car-racing video, too. Where David’s video said, “I’m a brainy rocker,” Robbie’s said, “I wanna be a hardcore rocker, so I race cars.” Either you are or you aren’t. Extracurricular activities won’t make you something you’re not.

The thing that strikes me the most is just how quickly I forgot most of these people. Paula can go on and on about how this is “just the beginning,” but I’m sure they all know that if you go before top 12, virtually no one will remember you. Sad.

I said it in a thread a few days ago, but, narratively, this is where the season lost the focus that it had previously which had the potential to make it truly stellar. “Imagine” was the best performance of the season to date, but it was not so sublime that it warranted DA being designated as being in a class by himself as the judges did (and the media echoed ad nauseam). And it certainly didn’t warrant it in the second week of the competition.

The meme up until that point was the “most talented group ever”. That was the ad-line that got me intrigued originally. But, it was hastily abandoned for David-and-”nineteen other miserable contestants”.

Then after “Billie Jean”, “The David Archuleta Show” gave way to “The Davids are Goliaths” as the dominant storyline. But because AI opted to abandon its emphasis on the outstanding depth and talent of the collective field in order to exclusively hyper-pimp first one and then two Davids, quite a few extremely talented singers/ performers/ artists from the season will toil in virtual obscurity for the rest of their careers.

Seriously, based on his Top 24 and Top 20 performances, I can now understand why there was so much buzz around Archie. He is an amazingly talented singer. Those two performances were different and so good.

Loved Cook’s All Right Now. Thank goodness the hair was better, shaggy, but 100xs better than his Happy Together monstrosity haircut. Loved his performance as well.

Surprised how bad some of the guys were – Luke, Robbie and Jason Yaeger. Gak. But the girls were just horrible – Amanda, Cady, and I can’t even recall the other names. If this was the most talented 24 in the history of AI, then I’m glad I didn’t watch seasons 1-6. Because ouch – some of those people were just awful. Heh.

ETA: Totally agree Noctem with your comments. I think Simon was OTT with his comments. Ultimately it hurt Archie the most.

After Happy Together, Cook had me thinking if someone can manage to bring the sexy during a performance of a Turtles song while sporting Corky from Life Goes On hair, he must have some crazy charisma. And then Simon calls him on his charisma.

LMAO. I totally got Simon on that. You know what it was for me? My internal dialogue went something like this.

“Oh, he likes crossword puzzles, that’s cool. His hair is still weird. Dork. What’s his name again? I remember he can sing. All Right Now? I like that song. Wait. Who is this cocky bastard and why do I want to throw my panties at him? HOT. Oh, he stopped singing and now the hotness is gone. Hair still kinda bad. The arms are nice. I already forgot his name. Oh yeah, he’s one of the Davids. What’s with the backtalk? Cocky bastard. Boo. Damn, he really does have a nice build. He’s tall too. Wait, which David is he? Um, do I still want to throw my panties or not?”

So I get where Simon was coming from. If he had more in your face charisma, it wouldn’t have taken me that long to figure it out. LOL.

So I get where Simon was coming from. If he had more in your face charisma, it wouldnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t have taken me that long to figure it out. LOL.

So true.

Simon called him on that lack of charisma, and I defended him vehemently. But, the first few times I saw him, I pegged DC as “aloof,” almost like he was keeping himself separate from the whole Idol machine, and from any potential disappointment.

Up until finale night, I still don’t think he thought he would win this whole thing.

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Loved Danny’s personality on the show, but the top 12 guys were all so good I don’t know who I would’ve traded. At the time, maybe Chikezie or David H, but in retrospect, it’s clear those two had some of the best male vocals. Not the most unique, or the best song choices but they were really plain good. Of the two, Chikezie was the better performer. I think As’iah (keep getting confused where to put the unnecessary apostrophe!) was also really cute, but had 2 terrible nights. Danny and As’iah had some raw talent, but needed some more coaching and experience to do better on the show. Can say the same about Ramiele, but she somehow escaped their fate and snuck all the way to 9. Jason was really the only truly inexperienced one this season to make it far. The Davids really stood out in what was a really strong field of tremendous talent, where even the “pros” like MJ made some dumb choices.

ETA: “But, the first few times I saw him, I pegged DC as à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“aloof,à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  almost like he was keeping himself separate from the whole Idol machine, and from any potential disappointment.”

^^^I agree with this, Gwendolynn. I think DC’s since confirmed as much in interviews, where he said he had put up a wall until Hello, when he finally made himself more vulnerable and connected. I forget the exact quote/words, but I’m pretty sure he said that.

My feelings on this from last February remain about the same. I liked DA’s Imagine this week, and ultimately liked this version a lot more than the one that he did finale night. I liked Jason C’s song this week better than the judges did. Loved the first half of girls’ night; hated most of the second half. Loved Brooke’s You’re So Vain. And it was the first time that I really liked Carly. Chikezie should have stuck with these more upbeat songs. He did well when he was upbeat, and he was certainly better at uptempo stuff than a lot of the other contestants, but the slow stuff killed him.

The only exception is that I seem to have downgraded DC’s performance back then, likely due to the spat with Simon. Now, I really like his All Right Now, and it seems like it was a big hit in the studio. A couple of favorite things going on in the studio—pretty much everyone is on their feet; the background singers are really into it; and (the best) at some point you see that all of the guys in the balcony are rocking out to the song, except for Robbie, who is staring off into the distance with a look on his face that essentially says, “Well, , F**k.”

This led directly to Robbie’s ouster. DC looked natural playing guitar and singing ARN. Robbie looked like a poser singing his song. Which means that the fact that you could see DC in the background during Robbie’s singout was pretty ironic.

tinawina…….I totally followed you on that thinking pattern with DC, lol lol

It took awhile, but I eventually came to see all those little things about his personality and appearance as just too cute for words. He was/is a great singer, but it’s all those little things about his looks and personality that become endearing to me and made me want his success. DA’s dual personalities, the singing one vs. the nonsinging one, was almost hard to wrap my head around at first, but I grew to find that rather unique also, and his cuteness and shyness was adorable. Together, those two just had me wrapped around their little fingers, lol. And their respect for each other then and now is just so admirable (Come to think of it, I feel about the same regarding Jason. I just see The Davids as the two most talented guy singers of AI7)

I’m of the opinion that some of the best writing in any classification — songs, poetry, narrative, etc. — leaves interpretation to the audience. “Imagine” is a song largely about being open and loving in the world and to one another. David’s interpretation, on Idol’s stage on Top 20 night and elsewhere, before and after, meshes very closely with what I take from this favorite song.

He did say in interview that he edited the song for space. He sings the whole song (substituting evil for hell, likely because he is young, and sharing for the world instead of all the world, probably because that’s the way he feels it.) David ‘told it’ in a way that touched me and others deeply. I’ve seen people cry on hearing him sing it. And I also heard from a reliable source (who isn’t Dean, if you are wondering) that Yoko sent word that she loved David’s performance.

Hopefully, those of you who didn’t like the performance can understand that every singer/song isn’t meant to impress every person. Heck, I actually didn’t like Cook’s “Hello.” I know. Sacrilege. But truth.

I didn’t like Hello either, that is until he let out that big “I LOVE YOUUUUUUU”
and I was like whoa! I like that!

(The only thing I don’t care for with DC is the scrunchy face he gets on big notes, but that’s a minor thing)

Robbie, who is staring off into the distance with a look on his face that essentially says, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Well, , F**k.à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ 

:laugh_tb:

As bad as I felt for DC with the whole Simon exchange, it did punctuate his performance to the degree that we remembered him. Not that he wasn’t memorable before, but this just drew further attention and clearly it all worked out in the end.

For me, the amazing thing about this week was Jason Yeagers tongue as he struggled not to cry while Simon reamed him out- it looked for all the world as if it was an alien ready to spring forth.

Another thing that strikes me upon rewatch is how much energy everyone had during the early weeks- they really put those contestants through the wringer and by Final 5-4-3 etc. they were all just totally wiped out.

LOL, JudyOhio. Just shows how the mileage really does vary, as that’s where he lost me in that song. But I appreciate that he (and his singing) appeals to a lot of women.

edit: if you read the rules you should have followed them. posters who don’t follow the rules eventually get banned.

David fricking Archuleta has every right to mess with Lennon’s songs because his interpretation gives Lennon’s song a new life and power to transport the listener (and viewer) into another world. I think that Lennon could be smiling in some dreamland to see that his song is being resurrected by a teenager and still affects so many people. Maybe it’s a generation gap, I wasn’t alive when the whole Beatles thing happened and even though I like many of their songs, it’s usually the fresh interpretation that catches my interest.

David-and-à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ nineteen other miserable contestants”

That’s just Simon. He always does that, makes these pronouncements, and half the time he is obnoxious. He pits contestants against each other, and he can’t compliment one without insulting someone else. He acts as if we all hold our breath to see which performance he will annoint as “the best of the night” or “the best this season” or even “of any season.” He does it every year.

Funny but when they pimp one contestant, it backfires and creates some resentment. But with DA that didn’t seem to happen, as he truly did stand out from the start. DC for instance while he had a lot of experience, did not immediately click on tv and it took him a couple of weeks to find his stride.

But I always hate how Simon has to insult people in order to give anyone a compliment. He thinks that everyone else is as jaded as he is, so he can’t see that people actually have feelings. I laugh at him because most of the time he contradicts himself later, or ends up being dead wrong. Even when he’s right, it leaves a sting in its wake.

It’s one thing to give criticism, but Simon seeks to wound deeply. There’s something sadistic about him, I always thought. I’m glad Terri got away from him. She deserves better.

Robbie, who is staring off into the distance with a look on his face that essentially says, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Well, , F**k.à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ 

You know, that’s what I had thought too, but rewatching this whole season with my spider senses tuned into every side shot of DC (cuz I’m pathetic like that), I noticed that they seemed to be friends. I knew about the 4 Horsemen, but noticed this time through that the two “rockers” were often sitting together, chatting and messing around, hugging when he was eliminated. I dunno, this time through, I still think his “rock” mannerisms are cringeworthy while his comments came off terrible on TV, but filtering through all that, he seems like a chill guy, and I’m thinking the other contestants didn’t think him the poseur the audience and judges did.

Other thoughts (post-ho that I am!): re-read MJ’s post, and agree with ALL the comments, with the exception of Syesha, as mentioned earlier, and also, I loved Archie this week. Didn’t like all of the Archie runs during the season, but these were great. LOL and so true about watching Robbie and Jason Y with closed eyes. The boys had a good night, where even the bad ones were decent. Jason was great.

Brooke was the only girl I loved enough to remember this week. She soon became my favorite girl with Love is a Battlefield and Let it Be. I had thought her Happy Together was weird even though I enjoyed her backtalk. Later in the season, the backtalk got a little less endearing, but I still loved her. Sure KLC improved, but I didn’t she did well, especially compared to some others. The horse stance was gross, the silver shirt and hair were weird (but I’m not a guy), and I don’t think she did better than Alaina vocally–she just had a cooler song.

I adored Archie’s “Imagine” and I consider myself to be a pretty big Lennon fan. I thought he interpreted it beautifully. Blake Lewis and his two note range is the one IMO who had no business touching that song the year before.

Ones that stuck out to to me:
Kady – Completely terrible. I remember I liked her okay up to this point.
Alaina – Yawn. I’m not surprised she went after this honestly…she didn’t deserve it, but it was so forgettable
Alexandrea – I’m not surprised she went after this either…I don’t think her wardrobe helped her at all honestly…she looked so cute the first week too.
Brooke – LOVED this performance. It’s one of my favorites of the entire season.
Amanda – Scary
Carly – I forgot how creeped out I am by her angry singing face
DC – At this point I still wasn’t buying his whole rocker persona, but I remember laughing at him when he talked back to Simon just because he looked so shocked when Simon got mad at him.
Michael – Eek. One of his worst.
Jason – I thought this was nice. I think the judges just thought it was more of the same, which, true, but it was good same.
Jason Y – The performance was just weird. The singing wasn’t nearly as bad as the way he performed it.
David H – This performance has been pretty hyped, and I think it’s good, but not THAT good.
Archie – Mkay. This is what David has said about not singing the first verse in an interview with Life Story magazine: “It’s a song – the complete song – that I’ve performed quite a bit. I think it’s really good that it had the edit, actually, because no matter what you do, it’s controversial with that song. The reason I chose to go with the third verse is because it was the best one to do; it talked about things that would have the biggest impact on the world. I thought it represented what the song was about the best. John Lennon, since he wasn’t as religious as a lot of other people, in that first verse sang ‘Imagine there’s no heaven’ – he wasn’t saying don’t be religious. He was saying ‘Imagine if everyone’s together.’ And since so many people are hard on that, they forget what the song is about. Singing the third verse prevented that kind of controversy, and people thought that’s what the song was about: ‘No possessions; no need for greed or hunger; a brotherhood of men.’ I just thought that since I’m really concerned about people who suffer in poverty, it was a really cool verse. If I could have sung the whole song, people would understand, but because of the edit – and the fact that I could only do one verse or the other – it really helped a lot to introduce a song with really good intentions to everyone. I just didn’t think there was anything holding me back from sharing what I loved about the song what I really thought the song was about.”
So that’s his opinion on all of it…I could care less what verse he sang, I thought it was a beautiful performance, but not his best. I think his reprise of it in the finale was worlds better.

Oh, it definitely seemed like Robbie and David C got along just fine. But that doesn’t mean that Robbie didn’t look down on that stage and know that, not long after he’d been criticized as not seeming like an authentic rocker, here was a guy seeming very natural with the Les Paul and rock song.

Actually, one of the things that impressed me about Luke the next week was that, after getting reamed (rightfully, in my opinion) for his Wham song, he still was able to get completely into DC’s Hello and look thrilled for DC that it went so well, even though that would mean that one of only 6 spots was probably sewn up right there. It takes a certain something to be able to set aside your own concerns about advancement, and not everyone can do that.

Actually, one of the things that impressed me about Luke the next week was that, after getting reamed (rightfully, in my opinion) for his Wham song, he still was able to get completely into DCà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s Hello and look thrilled for DC that it went so well, even though that would mean that one of only 6 spots was probably sewn up right there. It takes a certain something to be able to set aside your own concerns about advancement, and not everyone can do that.

I feel like during every episode Luke was on, he managed to prove himself a class act and a sweet man without even trying. I could list a handful of examples but I won’t bore you. And for some reason I will always remember the way he looked up and smiled at his wife during his sing-out. Sweet stuff. But that’s for tomorrow’s thread, isn’t it?

I remember really loving this week, compared to Top 24 I think it was fantastic.

I liked Archie’s Imagine, better than I like most covers of that song, but to me he was so much better with Shop Around that I still don’t feel the wowow thing about it. Actually, SA was my fav performance by him all season, and till this day, after many videos from the tour, TV appearences, radio concerts and so on, I still think that was the time he seemed more confortable on stage ever, to me he has not been that guy again.

Jason’s performance was good but forgetable, so I kinda get the judges comments, and he had been such a great surprise teh week before that something felt off.

Michael was his Karaoke self, I think this was when I gave up on him. Not that I had been a great fan to begin with. It was one of teh worst performances that week.

I think Jason Y has a great voice, but he was so old fashion and awkward to watch, I think taht hurt him.

And eh at Simon’s commento to Cook, could he be more wrong? I think it’s a way cooler for a rocker to say he is a word nerd than a car races fan. A rocker saying he loves cars and sports is not anything new, pretty banal. When David C said he liked words, many people noticed him, because it’s something not as common. The funny thing, is that the video Simon criticized is probably the most famous intro video of the season.
As for the performance, I think it was fantastic. First time ever on idol that it felt like watching a rock concert. David got many people calling him arrogant after that. The chorus parts were just Ok, but I think at the time he wanted more to give that concert vibe than to bring the vocals.
Btw, we could tell David wasn’t really familiar with the show. He seemed so shocked when he realized talking back is a bad thing.

Chikizie was amazing. That was when he became one of my favs.

As or the girls, I remembe really liking Syesha, and I still do like that performance.
To me Brooke was the best girl during the whole semi.finals and this week she really brought it.
I didn’t remember Carly’s performance at all, but I know during the tour cellcasts taht would be one of the big moments. I liked to re-watch that.

He seemed so shocked when he realized talking back is a bad thing.

LOL — well, if you listen to Simon, it’s a good thing. But it isn’t really, because even if Simon says he likes it, he doesn’t respond well unless he’s in exactly the right mood. (Moody should be the man’s middle name.) Perhaps poor David just didn’t have SIMON figured out yet. I may not be a “Cook fan,” per se, but I do think Cook is very smart to have mastered the game so quickly

Although talking back to the judges is an unspoken “no-no”, Ryan rubbed a little salt in the wound with his “You look a little annoyed. Are you?” Then, Simon cried and said, “I already know the rules. You don’t have to tell me, Cookie!”

Regardless of how humorous it seemed, I still cringed when I watch it again last night.

Top 20, this is so much fun revisiting the show.

The guys:

1. Archie got me a little teary-eyed again. I loved “Imgaine”, it was just brilliant. I think I love it even more now since I know how everything has turned out for him. What a great kid.

2. Chikiezie was da bomb, one of his best performance of all season.

3. Hernandez was also good, I was hoping that he would start his stripping routine in the middle of his act, lol, j/k.

4. Cookie was definitely rocking out and we got the first glimpse of the “AC” on his guitar. I did think he was a tad bit cocky for talking back to Simon but it’s all good. Cookie is about to take over the show soon anyway.

5. Robbie the “fake rocker” was alright but nah….it was his time.

6. Castro was good not great yet.

7. Yeager wasn’t horrible, it was definitely the bad dancing and the tight pants, lol.

8. Papa Johns need to listen to the judges. It wasn’t good dawg.

9. Luke’s voice was just weird.

10. Danny, why did you try to be serious, it’s just not working for you dude.

The girls:

1. Carly- spectacular but the angry face was scary….

2. Brooke-predictable but good.

3. Syesha- not bad, I liked it.

4. KLC- much better but not great.

5. Alexandrea-robbed, not a great song choice but she deserved another shot.

6. Amanda-what was she thinking??? the outfit was hideous and the performance was scary….

7. Rami-trying too hard, she never found herself again.

8. Alaina-not terrible but not great.

9. Kady-just go home already.

10. Asiah- not good.

I’ve only bothered watching the boys so far. Michael — ouch! so commences the slide towards elimination…

Chikezie was great, I think he pushed himself into top 10 this week.

Also liked Danny and David H.

This was the first time I’ve seen DA’s Imagine on tv and it was quite pretty. I also knew to watch Simon’s reaction after the quote Trina dug up the other day about how Simon knew he had to save the season from being a total run of the table for Archie

Fun performance from DC (although the little guitar riff in the middle didn’t come through on my tv? I know it’s there from youtube.) Also gratifying to see Randy and Paula give him the “Rocker Authenticity” award for the night The exchange with Simon came off as a little snippy and uncomfortable though, I could almost see DC wishing the words back in his mouth when Simon reacted all pissy.

(And the kids learned it was best to just smile and nod from hence forth…)

I fell completely and totally in love with DC with this performance. He put so much of himself into it, I could just feel the emotion while he was singing.

I also realized just how very talented DA is. I loved his performance of Imagine originally, but I didn’t really get “it” until last night. He was simply amazing.

Blake Lewis and his two note range is the one IMO who had no business touching that song the year before.

So shoot me now, but I happen to love Blake’s version of Imagine and while I agree that Archie’s vocals were awesome, I didn’t care for all the runs. YMMV and all that.
In regards to noctem’s earlier post; I 100% agree with you. They should have kept up with the “Most talent ever!” instead of changing it to “He’s seventeen and with a voice like that! Best vocals evah!” I do love Archie but the major pimpage was TMTH.
This is the night that DC totally grabbed me. There was no turning back after that. I loved his whole performance and the exchange between him and Simon is what triggered all my hours of voting.

So shoot me now, but I happen to love Blakeà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s version of Imagine and while I agree that Archieà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s vocals were awesome, I didnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t care for all the runs. YMMV and all that.

I can’t stand Blake Lewis but found his version of “Imagine” more appropriate and true to message than Gaspy’s melisma’d and r&b’d version.

In retrospect I wish we could have traded out Kristy Lee Cook for Alaina as the token country girl. I can’t see Alaina leading us into the misery that was “8 Days a Week.” On the guys side it became more and more clear to me that Michael Johns is mostly a cheesy karaoke type singer who isn’t terribly original. I just don’t think there were any other guys who were any better so he managed to slip through.

I think everyone’s reaction to DA’s imagine really surprised him, and as someone said above, the real “Shop Around” David left until after the finale. Don’t get me wrong, he was amazing many more times, but he wasn’t himself again until after the show was over.

David’s airy tone is one of the things that make his voice so unique and incredible. I love it.

Who is Gaspyà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s melismaà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢d? I am confused as I do not remember anyone with that name? Is it someone from another season?

David Archuleta’s Imagine was so good, I was blown away. He said:

“since Ià ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢m really concerned about people who suffer in poverty, it was a really cool verse.”

David will be an inspiration for people for many years to come. Many young people visit David’s video version and comment about how they are inspired to be a better person because of this song.

John Lennon was a great writer and gave a great message to follow. David’s performance I think would have made him very proud.

I don’t get Fox reality channel, maybe it’s a blessing disguised as a curse, who knows. Anyway, Archie’s performance of Imagine was and is the only performance that I can remember from top 20. IMHO, the rest was just a wash.

So, watching the top 10 back, I can tell you now the exact moment that I fell for David Cook. I didn’t even really remember it until watching just now, but I had the exact same reaction this time around as I did the first time and it just all came right back.

At the very end of the “wordnerd” intro package, he goes “yeah, wordnerd. There ya go.” with this cute little laugh and smile, and my thoughts were “wow. Look at that twinkle in his eyes! And he’s actually cute under that awful hairdo!” And at that moment, I was gone. Then he comes out and completely pwns the stage with “All Right Now” and I was completely done in for. Like I think MJ said in her original review, watching his performance felt like watching concert footage… he was so comfortable and in his element. Which is something that I felt like we never really got from him again – because heaven forbid that he run the risk of Simon calling him smug or arrogant if he tried to have a little fun on stage or anything (/soapbox).

Anyway, I realized that I was really rooting for him after this performance, but it didn’t dawn on me just how much I liked him and wanted him to stay around until the song spoilers for 80′s week came out and I TOTALLY and COMPLETELY freaked out when I read that he was singing “Hello.” But more on that in the top 16 thread.

I can also plainly and clearly see exactly how and where I crossed over from primarily being an MJ fan to primarily being a DC fan. I liked MJ’s first week performance of “Light My Fire” well enough, but it wasn’t like an “OMG where did this guy come from?!” moment. And then after that, for two weeks in a row, he completely underwhelmed me with his performances, while DC was stealing my attention away. I still liked MJ, but he was no longer my primary favorite.

Danny really frustrated me at times on the show. I really liked him and could hear that killer voice down in there somewhere, but he never really let it loose. He picked 3 very iconic songs in his weeks on the live performance shows, but none of them were quite the “moment” song that he needed.

I really liked David Hernandez. Watching back, I agree that it was somewhat overwrought, but I still liked the performance. Castro was a lot better than the judges gave him credit for. And dear eyecandy Luke… *sigh* If only he could have sung better. I think I made clear my thoughts on David A’s “Imagine” in the other thread, so I won’t dredge that up again. Even if I didn’t care for his interpretation, on vocals alone, he was in my top 3 of the night. This week for me, the three Davids were far and away the best.

I definitely see the point about listening to Jason Y and Robbie without watching – I could not believe how campy and cheesy Jason Y’s “choreography” was to his song. It did not fit, at. all. And Robbie did seem to come across as a poser – as much as I wanted to like him because he’s a semi-local guy for me, I just couldn’t. Especially when the guy with the white Les Paul who didn’t have to try so hard was sitting right… over… there.

For the top 10 girls – I really only liked Carly and Brooke this week, and nothing changed on rewatch. And I was only begrudgingly starting to like Carly – I couldn’t stand her at the beginning of the season. Ramiele and Syesha were pretty good, but not as good as the first week. Kristy was better than the first week, but not amazing. Alaina and Alex were two of my faves who were both completely underrated, but they both made pretty bad song choices. Amanda and Kady were terrible. And Asia’h took a big step downward, but that was mostly because of the song. If she’d stayed away from big voiced diva belter songs and stuck to more nuanced, stylized songs, I think she would have gone farther. I wish she would have too, because I really liked her.

So shoot me now, but I happen to love Blakeà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s version of Imagine and while I agree that Archieà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s vocals were awesome, I didnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t care for all the runs. YMMV and all that.

I agree. Blake Lewis’ version of Imagine was a sincere and respectful interpretation of a simple but powerful song. David’s version, I think, misfired on the meaning of Imagine by decorating it with vocal acrobatics. Two fine performances, two different interpretations. I prefer Blake’s.

Gaspy is a VFTW thing. Melisma is a musical term for those big runs that Idol contestants love to do. (Not the best definition for melisma, but….)

Rewatching the semis, I do think that America picked the right top 6 guys. Girls, I’d have dropped KLC for Asia’h, Alexandrea, or maybe even Alaina. However, each of those last three made some big song choice errors, so I can’t even feel overly bad about that.

Maybe all of the AI voters from last year’s semis should pat themselves on the back?

Damn watching the results show as they pick the top 12, did anyone else find it eerie that DC and Archie were 1st and 2nd respectively being called to the chairs? I totally forgot that.

It gets freakier than that. Here were the first five announced:

DC (finished #1)
DA (finished #2)
JC (finished #4, and the #3 guy)
BW (finished #5, and the #2 girl)
SM (finished #3, and the #1 girl)

There’s your top 5. Also, flip the two girls, and you have it in order based on gender.

I think Danny would be fabulous doing à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“man on the streetà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  – type interviews, getting backstage comments from celebs, etc. In fact, perhaps he could replace cheesy Constantine on AI Extra instead?

Sometimes AI has a way of ‘paying back’ contestants. I was thinking about David H. and how his dancing at a strip club just happen to come out the week the Top 12 was selected. Some how, some way David was included in the Idol Christmas Tour. I was so happy for him (and the other three Idols).

My thinking, my peaceful thinking is that Danny brought in a whole lot more votes than Amanda did. However, as has been mentioned they weren’t directly competiting with one another. Amanda was the 6th girl chosen. If the new rules were applied last year, IMO Amanda wouldn’t have been in the Top 12.

I am not a big fan of Danny’s, but I don’t think we’ve heard the last of him.

What is:

Gaspy is a VFTW thing.

I still do not understand what this is?

Thanks for your help

Blake Lewisà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ version of Imagine.

I went over to the tube and watched Blake version. No offense to you Blake fans, but I like David A. better. Then I am also not sure why we are comparing them. Blake not being AI7 and all.

David A. was my fav. of the night.

Vote for the Worst gives mean nicknames Idol finalists. That was its nickname for DA.

Just curious, what was DC’s VFTW nickname?

Awwww

Vote for the Worst

I looked this up from your post and was really sad because like a lot of people David had an illness that caused us to be able to hear him breath.

David is very brave to overcome this and that makes me respect him more.

ercheers, that’s exactly why I didn’t really want to link the two. I particularly don’t like that nickname because of that.

FridayB, I’m not sure what DC”s VFTW nickname was. I’m pretty sure that I’ve seen it, and somehow think that it may have had something to do with the combover? But I think that I shrugged it off, maybe because it didn’t bug me as much as the one given to DA. Which is kind of funny, I guess, given that I’m a DC fan.

On a more cheerful note, Top 8 guys was as good as I remembered. And I again loved Love Is a Battlefield. I was a very happy camper tonight.

Well I decided to click on the Dailymotion link to watch the top 20. I haven’t read all of the comments here, just some. Wow, to all of the comments on the top 24! I read some of those too.

I’ve only watched the guys, don’t know if I’ll go back to the girls. However, a couple of comments on the girls. I don’t think I saw all, if any of the top 12 girls the first time around so in reading the comments on Alaina and how peeps thought she was voted out too soon, all I remembered was her boring song from top 20, (and well, I actually like this song), but knew there was a reason she didn’t make it after top 20, imo. I did watch her on the top 24 on dailymotion, however and agree she was really good that first night. Brooke was my favorite girl starting from the top 20.

Now for the guys: I have to point something out first. The guys were introduced and DC was right before DA. DA got a huge cheer from the audience when introduced. When they got up to the balcony DC was pointing at DA and shrugging at the huge cheer he was getting. My take? I think he was kinda saying, “Look they love you!” (In an encouraging way.) IDK. JMO.

Micheal Johns, karaoke at best. Don’t like some of his cheesy moves on stage. Simon wasn’t very nice to him at all. One of DC’s four horsemen(?) (Will comment more on this later.)

Jason Castro was def. one of my favs from the beginning. I thought this song was really good! Loved the adorable intro vid. I thought Simon was too hard on him, but he took it very well.

Luke, TOUGH SONG! I give his huge kudos for the attempt. Once again, Simon was extremely hard on him. (Another of the four horsemen.)

Robbie C., Rock n Roll poser! I’m sorry, but his smile to me is just ewwww! So Simon actually kinda gave him props…hmmmm. His voice is good, but just. didn’t connect. Maybe he would have ‘let go’ the following week if given the chance, but I don’t think so…

Danny, OMG, he is hilarious! I loved his intro tape. “Just some rebellious kids having fun!” (Could be misquoted-ish.) Not so great on the vocals on top 20.

David H. Def. his best IMO. Probably what got him to top 12. Great vocals and personality in this song.

Jason Y. One of the four horsemen. Poor guy. My heart truly went out to him because he had talked about showing his son how dreams can come true. (Earlier on.) He just couldn’t cut it. That last move was just the straw…
Simon tore him apart! Hmmmm.

Chikezie! Why didn’t I notice him sooner? Maybe not my cuppa, but he was awesome!!!! I now see why he was top 10 (and perhaps should have been #9?, 8? (KLC should have been gone sooner-though I really do feel for her. Aw well.)

David Cook, sorry but I have a lot to say here. I’m going to presumably put a lot of thoughts into DC’s head. 1) He knew Archie was loved by the audience and the judges. 2)Simon simply said they all need to do better from the week before. 3) He stood there and watched Simon tear apart his (horsemen) friends (somewhat deservedly so, but esp. for Luke and Jason to a humiliating point, plus MJ looked pretty crushed by his comments.) 4) He heard Simon give some props to the, to me, “poser” Rob C.
Having said all of that, he may have gone into this kinda wondering what Simon was going to say. I’ve watched this entire tape infinite number of times and almost didn’t watch it tonight. FOR THE FIRST TIME, I heard DC say he agreed with Simon about the tape not doing him any favors, right away. I don’t know how I missed this before. I think for him to come back and say something to Simon (even jokingly) was to ‘save face’ after immediately agreeing with him.
I REALLY, REALLY, REALLY liked, maybe even loved DC’s first performance on top 24. I was drawn to him immediately on stage, esp. after his weird first intro. My husband had missed his first performance so I was so excited for him to see DC that second night. THEN the whole Simon thing happened (and my artistically musical husband loves Simon), so this really put a damper on things for me. But, I’m pretty sure I still voted for him that night. I didn’t want him to leave yet. So now I’ve said my piece on this top 20 night and I have learned to trust my own instincts a little more.

Finally, DA, I was very touched by his performance that night. It was beautiful!

eta: edited for grammar

Well, it looks like I’m really late to the game here. Some have already re-watched top 12 and top 10?

After rewatching Season 7, I am wondering how AI will be able to equal such fine performances and personalities for the upcoming season? That is, unless, they are top heavy with highly experienced, possibly professional singers?

I doubt I will find someone I adored as much as Jason, or singers like David Cook, David A., or Brooke who brought so much pleasure to my viewing. Season 7 is a hard act to follow.

If you’re watching with the TV reruns, you’re up through Top 16 (Top 8 guys, Top 8 girls, and results). Some people may have gone forward now that they’ve discovered web-archived copies of the shows.

I have the show on VHS tapes. :clap_tb: I am appreciating comments made which is new as you are rewatching Season 7. I cannot view video on my computer, and I don’t have cable service which presents the show. I like reading MJ’s comments, too.

One thing I was wondering about is did all the contestants stand in line to audition, or were ‘special’ at the end of the day auditions set up for certain contestants that they knew would go far in the competition?

Just curious, what was DCà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s VFTW nickname?

They call him “Baldy”

Thanks, MJ. I tried to look it up myself on VFTW but the vitriol got to me after just a couple of minutes. I love the civilized discourse you have here. (Lurker that I am)

Ahh. I thought it had something to do with his hair.

There actually are pictures of DC standing in line with his brother at Omaha. I can’t speak to all of the others.

The “nickname” they kept all season had to do with the size of DC’s head and not his hair. Since I have someone very close to me with the same condition I did not find it in the least bit funny.

Thank you FolkFan! I wondered about Michael and Carly?

The à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“nicknameà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  they kept all season had to do with the size of DCà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s head and not his hair.

Yeah, that’s the one I see most often there – waterhead, because of a condition called Hydrocephalus.
Oh, how witty they think they are.

I’m sorry I answered the question. If anybody is curious about VFTW nicknames, you’ll have to go over there and find out for yourselves. Talk about other boards and blogs here is really off topic.

And I think what I’m going to do right now is ask that everyone keep their little in-jokes and nicknames from other boards at those boards. The questions that come afterward take the thread off-topic. And what may go down fine on one board may not be so cool on others.

I’ll be editing the guidelines accordingly.

Was somewhat busy yesterday so I didn’t get to play in this thread. Mostly I just want to say how badly they missed the mark on Alex. She’s incredible and fresh. The show could have used a little more of her. I also remain pissed at the way they screwed Syesha the entire season. As someone above said, they just didn’t like her. Too bad, she can really sing, but then it’s not a singing competition, really.

I loved Imagine then. I love it now.

I don’t like the VFTW nicknames. I love snark, and even gentle ribbing, but their names smack of malice to me. Well truthfully, I just can’t stomach them, period. I like David Cook that night. Didn’t like the ‘tude, but I liked him.

Danny Noriega was just too purty for that show. And fierce!

so “gaspy” was a take against DA? (what is VFTW anyway?)…a resulting condition because of his vocal paralysis? Im amazed about how fans would be so involved with their chosen idol and hit on a condition resulting from a physical infection..Im a stage 2 vocal paralysis patient..it has not been easy…I would not wish the same to my worst enemy…people please be nice.

RV65, the people who gave DA that nickname are most definitely NOT fans of his. It was never meant as a term of endearment.

Good luck to you with your recovery. I know it must be difficult and frustrating.

eta: Sorry, MJ – I saw your post above. I am definitely not trying to keep the discussion going but wanted to clarify. Feel free to remove this if you see fit.

I’m late to comment but just wanted to add my thoughts about Alex. Randy thought it was wrong that she went home so early. It was one of the few times where I thought he was spot on. I thought she brought something different to the r&b mix. She just seemed more current than Syesha, funkier than Asia’h and I think, of all the youngsters, didn’t know how to play the game. I wish they could bring back one of the eliminated top 24 of 2008 as the wildcard in 2009. She is definitely one who could benefit by a second chance.

Maybe if she stays in contact with DA, she might get a shot at singing with him. Based on Crush, I think they could do something real fun together.