Season 9 Preview: Top 50 Edition

What does WGWG stand for? I disremember.

That Ben guy looks a lot like David C imo…

He has David Cook’s hair stlye. Nice looking guy. The girl sounds really great also. I really like Ben voice.

WGWG stands for White Guy With Guitar. In case no one answer’s your question bahamamama.

Ben will probably win AI season 9. I can already see it. Ugh. Honestly, I would rather see a girl like Brittany win.

dude’s gotta keep his vibrato in check. yikes. don’t see alot of dynamism in the way he uses his voice either. don’t see him winning. too much like kris, so he’s probably fodder. but kris was also fodder, so now i’m just confused. ah, either way, i’m sure TPTB won’t let him near the finals.

like the girl, though.

it’s always hard to judge these people based on youtube clips. it can sometimes change drastically when they get on that stage.

Ben Honeycutt is pretty good. I like him. If he does well in the competition, Ill probably buy his album.

I don’t get the comparison to Kris though, Ben obviously has a rock edge while Kris is more bluesy, rnb-ish. The only similarity is that both play the guitar. Besides, Ben still has a long way to go to prove that he holds a candle to Kris as far as the AI competition goes.

I’m still not on the Ben train (well, in context; I think he’s very talented and I may well end up rooting for him in the end, but by comparison to some of the contestants before…). Vibrato is simply out of control, and his tone doesn’t remain all that pleasant at either end of his range (though it’s quite nice in the middle). He could do really well, though. But, unlike others, I haven’t seen anything at all that will convince me that he has a full-on shot at winning this competition; I’m inclined to think he may be more a mid-but-close-to-upper tier contestant a la Matt Giraud.

Will need to hear more of Brittany, but her voice is basically attractive, though there seemed to be some vocal problems in her room that may or may not manifest on the big stage.

Hmm, I like Ben – but I can’t imagine TBTB wouldn’t throw every roadblock they can at him to avoid another WGWG. Guess we’ll see!

Brittany is a pretty girl with a nice voice, I got nothin’ else at this point ;)

He has David Cook’s hair stlye.

Well, if there’s anything you might want to emulate about David Cook…. Heh!

They do have some similarities: a band that broke up which was their original path, playing baseball in high school, singing for his mom, etc.

The voice, however, is very different. Ben’s voice has less power and is higher. Doesn’t have that power and growly stuff David does and may not have the range. (These are all my technical singing terms.)

All the WBWG this season are likely going to get comparisons to both Kris and David C, which could end up really working against them. We know TPTB are not likely to want a 3rd straight WBWG to win to start with, and both David and Kris set the bar very high with their ability to rearrange/reinterpret songs.

Oh, man…I like Ben a lot, and I didn’t want to do that whole thing this season, haha. Kinda looks like Jamie Cullum. I’m way more interested in his arranging abilities, it’s never really about the voice being technically awesome for me, but he has great tone from what I’ve heard so far. Agreed on the vibrato…shades of Chris Daughtry with that problem, actually, haha.

As for the girl, she doesn’t sound too unique to me, but she’s good. She gets off key trying to do too much with the melody, but that’s a common affliction with singers like her.

Both the spoilers look to be cannon fodder. Ben auditioned in Atlanta and wasn’t shown, an indicator of potential cannon fodder status. He was getting significant buzz at some spoiler sites, they are cheering his Top 50 status. So much that for a non-shown audition contestant, he’d throw a wrench into TPTB Girl in S9 plans. I see a scenario of Ben being in a sing-off with another WGWG type. Ben loses, the winner is despised and makes a quick semi-final exit, and we have no more WGWG types.

Brittany is one of those contestant you wonder why they made Top 24 and the judge remarks after her semi-final performance seem to echo that question. Thank you Brittany and here is a DVD of your short Idol journey.

On another note, there are posters at IDF saying the Chair episode was shot Friday and any non-Top 24 will be heading home today. The Top 24 will be in LA to complete their photo shoot and interview packages. One of the posters has worked with Joe’s Place in years past.

Just because they weren’t shown doesn’t mean they are intended as fodder. A lot of people they DID show and made a big story about ended up getting cut in Hollywood. I really think AI this year is saving more talent for Hollywood. Not to mention, all he has to do is give one GOOD performance in the semi-finals and he can most likely survive the next week, and start building his fan base. After all, just ask Melissa McGhee and Kris Allen…

I love Ben. I love his vibe, and he seems like a really nice guy. If he does make the Top 24, then I think he will eventually be a fan favorite.

Rumored that Brittany was cut at the Top 48 episode and a girl just like her did make the top 24. I’d venture it was Michelle Delamor from the commercial who made the Top 24. Two girls look identical!

Ben i kinda like. he reminds me more of Daughtry than David or Kris.

Brittany, well, there really isnt anything distinctive about her.

Just because they weren’t shown doesn’t mean they are intended as fodder. A lot of people they DID show and made a big story about ended up getting cut in Hollywood. I really think AI this year is saving more talent for Hollywood. Not to mention, all he has to do is give one GOOD performance in the semi-finals and he can most likely survive the next week, and start building his fan base. After all, just ask Melissa McGhee and Kris Allen…

Ok, but why? The producers aren’t stupid. They know that the audition episodes act essentially as their strongest promotional weapon for anyone in the competition, and that it gives them a huge advantage coming on the show and coming off the show due to a basic snowball effect that is observable with any kind of promotion. They’ll deny that there’s a potency to the effect, but read behind any language of “Oh, you get to see them grow and act as A&R reps on your own couch” and you’ll see that they really do get this. Hollywood week works as a continuation of that process; it’s not designed or constructed in a way to effectively kick start that. (See: David Hernandez, Jesse Langseth, various others) If they really want these people to succeed, why would they handicap them that way? At the very least, it creates a substantial hurdle.

However, it’ll be interesting to see how the show starts to progress My impulse, actually, a lot of the editing is done more retrospectively than not, and thus the whole “Simon Cowell wants to move up Hollywood week because his schedule isn’t working with it” is really making them feel the pinch on these first few episodes as people they assumed might do well at the start aren’t doing so well. But I bet that, as the competition goes on, the rate of singers who make the Top 24 getting big promotional pieces is going to go up as they have a sense of who is there and who isn’t.

Quick (OT) question. Does anyone know why I can’t get into Joes Place Blog? Whenever I click the link MJ provides I get a message that the computer has made contact but the request has been denied.

Hey Guys, I here that Joes place confirmed Michelle delamore in the top 24 and VFTW confirmed Katy Stevens for the to 24 as well, and also joes place confirms that Brittany Starr has been cut from the top 50 level, go check these out.

Thanks gleekester. I’ve started a new post.

Yay, Ben Honeycutt! I’m pretty sure I spotted him sitting next to that BSC “guitar girl” Holly Harden in Atlanta when Ryan was interviewing her, and I was dying to know what happened to him because I never saw him get a “golden ticket.”

I think he looks like Kris and Cook’s love child, although he sounds nothing like either one of them. You can see him around 30 seconds in here.

ETA: And it looks like he made the Top 24. Woo-hoo! I like him. He seems like he’s easy-going but confident. And, yeah, he does look like Jamie Cullum, whoever said that up-thread.

ETA: And it looks like he made the Top 24. Woo-hoo! I like him. He seems like he’s easy-going but confident. And, yeah, he does look like Jamie Cullum, whoever said that up-thread.

Yey!!! Long live WBWG!!! Hahaha.