Thank you, Professor Chan! I do enjoy reading your articles and your fascinating observations!
I really do question why a lot of the contestants get into the Top 10. This country has so many talented and creative young people and it's just amazing that a lot of them do not make it onto the Idol stage. If Idol is in the business of making a lot of money, you would think they would want the best of the best!
A lot of the singers who do make it into the Top 10 may be mediocre at best and some may be really good, but a lot of them don't have stage presence. It is obvious that many of them are not comfortable on stage - couple that with so-so singing, and of course, people start raising their eyebrows.
I never understood how Jordin Sparks won over Melinda Doolittle. As far as pure vocal ability and stage presence, Melinda Doolittle is one of the best singers AI ever had to grace the stage. She was a consummate professional and reminded me of the very talented entertainers of yesteryear - when people actually would sing instead of scream.
Of course, Jordin is talented, young and pretty, and nothing against her at all, it's just that Doolittle truly had the pipes for performance. At the very least, Doolittle should have been runner-up instead of Bee-Bop Blake.
People today had rather have someone running around the stage dressed in garb suitable for Bozo the Clown and screaming like a dying cow in a hailstorm than actually listen to a trained voice dressed in elegant clothes (or at least a nice outfit) performing like a 20-year veteran.
Many times I sit on the couch with my husband and ask him while watching a performance, "How in this world did that person EVER get the ear of a producer at Capitol Records and why are they worth a million dollars"? They sound like fingernails on a chalk board.
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Final Four: Post Game Analysis
In true Idol suspense-killing fashion, as soon as Kris is told he's the first Final Three-er safe, the countdown to Allison's booting was a foregone conclusion.
Even bringing back Mr. "Shocking Idol Elimination" Chris Daughtry to tease an early booting for Adam went for naught as the presumed front-runner Lambert was sent into the Final 3 soon after Kris Allen (Who?) Really the only rationalization for Allison staying was that the "Producers don't want three guys in the Finals." Nope. Clearly they don't care.
Other than that it was a long uneventful show, so I'll power through in Random Thoughts Fashion:
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-- The Group Sing with Guest Accompaniment by Slash was a clunky but entertaining rendition of Alice Cooper's "School's Out." Adam did some lascivious pelvic thrusting and Allison got violent revenge for the Gokey Groping last weak by getting carried away and fondling his man-boob during the song. More Alice Cooper on Idol would be welcome.
-- The Car Commercial sucked, but I was amused by Gokey's purple t-shirt with suspenders style, looking like an unholy alliance of Leo Sayer and Mork From Ork.
-- Paula "performs" her new horrible song which featured more dancing than singing, even though all of the auto-tuning did the heavy vocal lifting for her. Speaking of heavy lifting, there was one nifty moment when Paula leaps off an 8 foot pillar into the waiting arms of her dancing dudes, who were paid hard cash to fondle her and pretend to enjoy it. You know Paula thought she could really fly.
-- No Doubt performs "Just A Girl". At least you know Gwen was singing live as she sounded horrible and out of breath. She was herky-jerky and showing off, even doing four push-ups to show she's sort of physically fit. I'm waiting to hear their new album. Will it hearken back to their "Tragic Kingdom" heyday, or sound more like Stefani's awful solo albums?
-- Kris is safe. I haven't been his biggest supporter, but Mr. Irrelevant survived to the Final 3 on cuteness and out-of-the-corner-of-his-mouth singing. I'm happy for him as he's been competing hard each week even though, "vocals, dawg, ain't your thing" what with this being a "singing contest" and all. The judges threw him under the bus last night, so it's fun whenever they're proven stupid, and Simon was WRONG (he declared that Allison was saved by her Foghat duet... which I still contend was mediocre.) Simon looking like a fool is always a good time.
--- Daughtry shows up to bore his with his repetitive and unpleasant song. Yeah, that sounds exactly like the type of crap he did on his last album. So 5 million people with no musical taste will buy this one too.
-- That video replay of Daughtry's "shocking elimination" never gets old. Watching him go from smugly confident to bug-eyed disbelief in 5 seconds is still hilarious. Daughtry tries to play it off like, "I got over it 20 seconds later." Yeah, right. You STILL sound bitter, dude.
-- As I mentioned last night I felt that Allison had mentally checked out on Idol. I liked several of her songs and she showed that she has strong musical talents and potential. Now that she's escaped the grubby claws of the Idol Music Producers she has a chance for a successful musical career. I'd like to wish her good luck.
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Questions, comments, Post-Game Analysis, and Idol Conspiracy Theorists, this is your moment to shine...
--Chan
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