VIDEO: First Four American Idol Contestants Voted Off
Posted on Feb 26, 2010 @ 01:49AM - 4 comments
The tension was thick on Thursday night as the very first elimination round of American Idol Season 9 sent four contestants packing: Janelle Wheeler, Tyler Grady, Ashley Rodriguez and Joe Munoz.
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The elimination wasn’t a complete shock—except for maybe Ashley Rodriguez, who was billed as a frontrunner. But for Rodriguez and Wheeler, the judges felt they picked songs that were too big for them, and it looks like America agreed.
VIDEO: American Idol's Top 12 Men Make Shaky Debut
Posted on Feb 25, 2010 @ 06:00AM - 3 comments
The tough criticism continued Wednesday as the top 12 men took the American Idol stage, hoping to make a bigger impression than the women.
But the men seemed just as nervous making their live debut as the women did on Tuesday and like the women, there were only a couple of standout performances.
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Todrick Hall was first up with his take on the Kelly Clarkson hit Since U been Gone. The Arlington, TX, native got a mixed reaction, ranging from Ellen telling him he's a "great performer" to Simon telling him he "murdered the song" and that his performance was "verging on stupid".
16-year-old Aaron Kelly managed to keep his nerves despite his young age, remembering all the lyrics unlike his first appearance, and performing a passable version of Rascal Flatts' Here Comes Goodbye. Although he didn't win rave reviews Simon conceded that it was "quite a good performance" before adding that he "looks embarrassed to be here". Kara was kinder, telling Kelly that he is her "favorite kind of performer". Randy carried on the praise commenting that Kelly has a "huge voice"...not adding much to justify her multi million dollar salary Ellen said "ditto".
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Jermaine Sellers got mixed reviews for his performance of Oleta Adams' Get Here. Elen commented that she's a huge fan of his but felt that he was "all into the performance instead of feeling the song". Randy told him it was a weird choice whereas Simon was less diplomatic quipping that it sounded like "the kind of song someone in their 50s would request in a piano bar." And stingingly added that he believed Sellers had just blown his opportunity.
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Tim Urban got through to the top 24 by the skin of his teeth, securing a place only after Chris Golightly was disqualified. Urban made a bad choice with his pick of OneRepublics' Apologise. Simon told the wanabee congratulations on his comeback but based on his performance they made the right choice first time round. Ouch!
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20-year-old Joe Munoz performed a sweet version of Joe Mraz's You And I Both. Kara and Randy gave rave reviews but Simon, in typical Simon fashion, rolled his eyes as he commented, "In 10 seconds time, we're going to forget this." calling the performance, "Limp and forgettable" ... adding, "Rather like our host."
70s rocker Tyler Grady took on American Woman, starting off strong but finishing on a bum note. Simon slammed him, saying that people will remember this performance, but down side is, not necessarily for the right reasons. Simon said Tyler comes across like someone who went to "trying-to-be-a-rock-star school," and that it doesn't seem natural.
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23-year-old Lee DeWyze sang a pretty forgettable yet passable version of Snow Machine's Chasing Cars. Ellen commented that it was a good song choice, "except when you started kind of screaming it a bit." Simon praised DeWyze though, even go so far as to say, "It was the best performance...by a mile".
John Park perforeds an unusual song choice, singing God Save The Child. The judges were left unimpressed with Kara saying there was no connection and that the song was "loungey and sleepy". Ellen disagreed though, saying that she thought he sounded great.
26-year-old Michael Lynch chose to jazz up Maroon 5's This Love for his performance. Randy, Ellen and Kara praised him, but Simon dourly commented that his performance "was like the support act before the main act, you delivered so little."
Texan student Alex Lambert rocked a mullet and performed James Morrison's classic hit Wonderful World. Simon awarded him with the the "most uncomfortable performance of the night" whereas Kara just added that she felt he "needs a hug". Ellen threw in her support of Lambert's hairstyle choice though before cryptically comparing him to a "not quite ripe banana."
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Kara is obviously a huge fan of Casey James and holds nothing back in her praise. James let down his long blond hair and gave a pitchy version of Bryan Adams’ Heaven. Kara DioGuardi didn’t seem to mind the missed notes as she swayed back and forth during the song and told him giddily afterward, “Casey I don’t recognize you with your shirt on.”
James even managed to unnerve Ellen DeGeneres, who stammered out, “I could feel Kara undressing you with her eyes, I couldn’t focus. You’re going to get votes like crazy.”
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Even Simon seemed a little knocked off his block. “Casey one thing I do understand is that we were both cursed with good looks. But somehow you have to manage the talent thing as well. Obviously the cougar here loves you.”
Finally, 24-year-old Andrew Garcia went out on a limb, performing a stripped down and acoustic version of Fall Out Boy's We're Going Down. Kara said it was a "strange rendition" and Simon was just plain blunt, telling Garcia that he found his performance "disappointing and kind of boring".
Stay tuned Thursday for Season 9’s first elimination round and a performance from Season 8’s American Idol, Kris Allen.
VIDEO: American Idol's Top 24 Finally Revealed!
Posted on Feb 18, 2010 @ 02:09AM - Add a comment
The stage is now set for the top 24 of American Idol to begin performing live starting next week, and for you to begin casting your vote during season 9 of Fox’s hit reality TV show.
Wednesday night on Idol, the names of the remaining 17 semi-finalists were revealed, so we now know the names of the 24 singers who will compete for the American Idol crown.
VIDEO: The Highs And The Lows Of American Idol's Season 9 Boston Premiere
Posted on Jan 13, 2010 @ 07:48AM - Add a comment
The season 9 premiere of Fox's smash hit show American Idol went off with a bang on Tuesday.
The two hour show kicked off the auditions phase spotlighting all the best, and worst, Boston has to offer.
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There was the usual mix of talent, delusion and mediocre karaoke singers, with Simon Cowell, who announced Monday this will be his last season, as sharp tongued and acerbic as ever.
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Bringing some sweetness and sass to the judging panel was guest judge, Victoria Beckham, who brought to the table her wealth of musical knowledge garnered from her years with the platinum selling group the Spice Girls.
Joining Beckham and Cowell were the regular judging team of Randy Jackson and Kara DioGuardi along with host Ryan Seacrest.
The beginning of the show addressed the departure of Paula Abdul and the introduction of Ellen Degeneres but fans are going to have to wait till the Hollywood rounds episodes before they get to sample new judge Ellen.
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With a crowd of 9,000 lined up to audition it seems that the show isn't losing any of it's popularity. Bean Town brought the usual mixed bag of performers.
Kicking off was Janet McNamara who confessed to playing the American Idol game regularly and getting a "really really bad" score. Starting off bouncing up and down to psych herself up for her audition Janet just didn't have the talent to back up her obvious enthusiasm.
Bounding on stage Janet turned out a terrible, pitchy, totally off key performance, prompting Simon to ask, "Is this window open?" Not surprisingly Janet got a resounding no from all the judges.
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Next up, with the voice of an angel, was cute 16-year-old school girl Maddy Curtis who shared that she has four brothers with down syndrome, before going on to perform Halleluiah by Leonard Cohen. Maddy got a yes from all the judges and Simon told her "I really enjoyed you singing for us."
Next up wasn't quite so pleasant to the ears. 17-year-old Pat Ford murdered a rendition of Britney Spears' Womanizer. Pat thought he did "awesome" but the judges didn't agree. But it wasn't all bad news he did get a hug from Kara!
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It started looking out like it was girls' night as the next two to get through to Hollywood were a jazzy Jennifer Hirsch and a bluesy Jess Wolfe, both got rave reviews from the judges, with Jennifer being told she was a "tiger" by Kara.
Balancing it out a bit for the boys though was 28-year-old Amado DiRocco who introduced us to his huge Italian family before confessing to the judges that his wife pushed him into auditioning. DiRocco belted out Muddy Waters Hoochi Coochi Man. Garnering rave reviews, Victoria said he had a "huge voice" and "passion". Even Simon had nothing but good words before telling the larger than life Italian that he was going through to Hollywood.
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The second most bizarre act of the night, after Womanizer Pat Ford, was Derek Hilton who warbled his way through Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word To Say. Derek said that he believed he sounded like a cross between The Eagles and Chris Brown. The judges didn't agree though, with Simon Cowell telling Derek that he was "awful".
Another awful performance was wacky Mere Doyle, who confessed to being obsessed with Japenese Animation, and said that she had been through "hundreds of auditions". Doyle screamed out a Janis Joplin song before being told by Cowell that she was "verging on terrible". Doyle didn't agree though, fighting with the judges till the bitter end before exiting in tears.
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Bringing back the talent and also a smile on Kara and Victoria's faces were 24-year-old Luke Shaffer and 26-year-old Benjamin Bright, who both got through to Hollywood.
Next up was 26-year-old Andrew Fenlon who got off to a bad start by arguing with Simon Cowell. He then went on to murder House Of The Rising Sun. When Kara asked him if he was "angry" she ended up angry herself! Simon went on to tell Andrew that he had "bad energy", and Victoria told him he didn't have the "goods to back [his attitude up]". Simon, ever contrary, went on to say he would of voted Andrew through and that he "grew on me". But, fortunately Simon was outvoted and we won't be seeing Andrew and his 'tude in Hollywood anytime soon.
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After another couple of terrible performances from the boys 21-year-old Ashley Rodriguez brought it home for Boston and the girls with an Alicia Keys cover. With Victoria and Kara saying Ashley was their "favorite" of the day and garnering rave reviews from Simon and Randy, another hopeful was sent through to Hollywood.
Then 21-year-old Tyler Grady, despite his two fractured wrists, really upped the ante in the talent stakes with his soulful rendition of Let's Get It On. The girls gushed over his style and performance and even Simon said it was a performance he "would remember".
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17 more hopefuls were ushered through to Hollywood before we were introduced to Day two and the first contestant of the day, 24-year-old waitress, pretty brunette, Lisa Olivero who went on to destroy a cover of Mariah Carey's Vision Of Love. Even usually nice Randy told her she was a pretty girl but "no good". Cowell said that it was the "craziest version of Mariah Carey I have ever heard".
Day two displayed some of Boston's wackiest before 18-year-old actor Mike Davis performed a beautiful version of The Beatles Yesterday, guaranteeing him a spot in Hollywood and praise from all all the judges apart from Randy, who said he didn't think Mike's voice was "all that".
However Randy did think that Katie Stevens was "all that" and more! The pretty 16-year-old, who wanted to appear for her grandma who is suffering from Alzheimer’s disease, sang At Last and got rave reviews from all the judges and a spot in the next round.
Next up was cute 28-year-old Joshua Blaylock who was slammed by Simon who told him he had a nice voice but was "forgettable". Simon then went on to concede that Joshua was very "likable" before telling him he was through to Hollywood.
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Hunky 27-year-old Justin Williams shared his inspiring cancer survival story with us before going on to wow the judges with his rendition of Feeling Good and gaining a place in Hollywood.
Defintely not wowing anyone was 18-year-old Norberto Geurro who murdered a Cascada cover.
But next up was 22-year-old Bosa Mora who brought the talent back, although Simon accused him of being "boring" and "very, very dull", prompting Victoria to get into an argument with Simon, accusing him of rolling his eyes. Victoria and Kara voted yes, Simon no and Randy yes, winning Mora a coveted place in Hollywood.
Finishing off the show with rave reviews all round was Leah Laurenzi who got a 100% yes.
Looks like it's going to be an exciting new season if Boston is anything to go by!
The American Idol auditions will continue through January and into February, with Chicago (January 19th), Orlando (January 20th), Dallas (January 26th) and finally Los Angeles (January 27th) and Denver (February 2nd).
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Following that there's a wrap up show of the auditions on Wednesday, February 3rd. Then it's into Hollywood week which will lead into the live shows, and then finally the American Idol fans will begin voting for their favorite singers of the season.
