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Episode Recap: Top 12 Girls
I have to say right off the bat that I, like several of the girls who sang tonight, have the flu. The judges didn't have much sympathy for them, but let me just say — I can barely write about them, and they were actually up there singing their hearts out? That's pretty darn amazing. Some of the performances really were impressive, even if they generally didn't blow me away. As Randy put it, "Season 7 is turning out to be the year of the young ones." I couldn't agree more; three of my faves thus far (Alaina Whitaker, Alexandrea Lushington and David Archuleta) are all under the age of 18. Though I felt like smacking Ryan when he commented on the fact that Alaina was sweating after her performance — he used to do that all the time to Elliott Yamin. It's, like, one of his favorite man-handling comments. Is that really the most interesting thing he can talk about in those few seconds of banter? He is so very, very odd.
On to the performances:
Kristy Lee Cook, "Rescue Me" — I haven't heard her enough yet to know if that little breathy, affected thing she does at the end of nearly every phrase was a result of her illness or if it's something she generally does. "It was a little rough around the edges," said Randy, which I thought was generous. She was also doing some weird thing with her eyes, which I only noticed at the end when they ran through the numbers.
Joanne Borgella, "I Say a Little Prayer" — I really want to like Joanne, but this song just didn't work. The song seemed to overwhelm her at times. When it was over, she was trying to be positive about the judges' comments, but Simon had to go and crush it for her with a snide little comment.
Alaina Whitaker, "More Today Than Yesterday" — In general, it annoys me when two singers perform the same song in back-to-back days, but I have to say, Alaina's rendition put Chikezie's to shame. This was my one of my favorites of the night. I'm not positive (I, like Simon, sometimes have a hard time deciphering her), but I think Paula said that Alaina did a better job on the song's ending than Diana Ross did (!)
Amanda Overmyer, "Baby, Please Don't Go" — If her goal is to "solidify the presence of rock," well, she did that tonight. She may not be as enthusiastic a speaker as the other gals, but she's got it going on. Said Simon: "I genuinely think you're authentic. I hope you stay around for a while."
Amy Davis, "Where the Boys Are" — Ouch! That was painfully pitchy. And her parents' matching T-shirts featuring a cameo of Amy's face were kind of creepy. Paula came out with her first being-nice-when-there's-nothing-nice-to-say comment about this one: "The camera loves you." But Simon was more brutally honest, as usual: "It sounded like it went on for 10 minutes."
Brooke White, "Happy Together" — What, another repeated song? It was pretty good, but it didn't compare to last night's performance by David Cook, who managed to really rock out on it. Brooke did evoke one of Simon's best lines of the night, though: "There are times tonight I feel like I'm in some commercial for washing-up liquid in the 1960s."
Alexandrea Lushington, "Spinning Wheel" — Talk about putting a contemporary spin (heh) on a song! This was another fave. Though are my ears clogged, or did Paula say, "You wore the dope out of it"? Simon didn't "get it," but he did enjoy her attitude. I thought the whole thing was great.
Kady Malloy, "Groovy Kind of Love" — What a disappointment. To me, this was nearly as snooze-inducing as Jason Yeager's "Moon River" last night. "That was like Night of the Living Dead," and unfortunately, I'd have to agree.
Asia'h Epperson, "Piece of My Heart" — My issue with Asia'h up till now has been her lack of breath support, but tonight she didn't display any of that. Quite to the contrary; she managed to make a really hard song sound effortless. As Randy would say, now that was hot.
Ramiele Malubay, "You Don't Have to Say You Love Me" — It always speaks to me when someone performs a really beautiful song simply yet with style, and that's exactly what Ramiele did. I probably didn't like it as much as the judges did, but it was certainly good enough for her to move on.
Syesha Mercado, "Tobacco Road" — Why was she kneeling on the couch before going on? Just curious. Anyway, she totally confirmed that she can sing, but again, this song didn't particularly wow me. No matter, though; as Simon said, "You are probably one of the most talented girls in this competition."
Carly Smithson, "The Shadow of Your Smile" — Carly redeemed herself tonight to me. Simon was disappointed, but I thought it was darn good.
My prediction: If Amy Davis doesn't go home, it's a major injustice. The others I think are at risk of leaving are Joanne Borgella and Kady Malloy.
What do you think? The judges keep talking about the performers' previous auditions — when you guys are voting, do you take into account how the singers did in the past?
Check out all of Simon's best lines of the season in our Simon Says... the Most Quotable Things! blog.
For American Idol clips, visit our Online Video Guide.
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Feb 20, 2008 10:51 PM
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Has someone checked to make sure that Alaina Whitaker and Carrie Underwood Are Not Identical twins separated at birth. Not only is the physical resemblance uncanny, but the speaking voice, and mannerisms could not be closer if they were carbon copies.
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Feb 20, 2008 11:35 PM
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I hope the contestants have better luck with the flu than we have around here. We've been fighting it for a month.
Kristie Lee Cook – Her performance was kind of bland, not natural. I noticed the weird eye blaring at the end too.
Joanne Borgella – I love her voice and her confidence. I hope she gets to stay around another week to prove herself.
Alania Whitaker – She is one of my favorites. Very strong voice, she’s adorable.
Amanda Overmyer – She is very entertaining but I couldn’t understand a word. I like her personality, but don’t particularly care for her singing.
Amy Davis –I never cared much for that song. I wanted to like her, but she didn’t win me over.
Brooke White – She’s so appealing and cute. Her vocals weren’t spectacular, but I like her.
Alexandrea Lushington - The vocals weren’t great and they weren’t terrible. Her performance was good. I’m not sure I like the tone of her voice.
Kady Malloy – The weird finger snapping at the beginning was only outstayed by her groggy performance. I hope that was just the effect of too much flu medication. This was probably my least favorite of the night.
Asia’h Epperson - I totally enjoyed her. She has just enough attitude tempered with a true sweetness. One of my top picks so far.
Ramiel Maluby – She has one of the better voices, but picked a boring song.
Syesha Mercado – I think she is was one that out sung everybody else.
Carly Smithson – She has a good voice but her performance was really boring.
My top six pick for the girls:
Joanne Borgella
Alania Whitaker
Amanda Overmyer
Brooke White
Asia’h
Syesha
My choices to go home:
Girls:
Kady Malloy
Amy Davis
Boys:
Chikeze
Danny Noriega
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Feb 20, 2008 11:36 PM
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I live in some alternate universe, and I must find a way to accept that fact.
I never vote this early, but I thought Kady's "Groovy Kind of Love" was sultry and current. When Simon dissed her, I used up valuable minutes on my cell phone to vote for Kady.
I also liked Brooke, Ramiel, and Syesha. But whatever happened to names like Betty and Anne and Margie? These monikers alone could make it tough to vote...
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Feb 21, 2008 12:34 AM
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I don't know what's wrong with me this season of AI. Maybe bored with it this season, or I'm not feeling the contestants this year. I don't know.
But anyway I did like a few of the girls tonight. Like Joanna, Amanda, Brooke, Alexandrea, Asia'h, Asia'h, Ramiele, and Syesha. Actually I'm liking Ramiele more than some of the others, that song she sung tonight is still in my head. I had to agree with Simon about Amy Davis...her song did feel like an eternity.
As to who is going home.....it could be anybody.
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Feb 21, 2008 3:36 AM
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I, too, think the young ones on Idol this year are very good! I think a pleasant surprise, cause we never really saw him on any of the early shows, was Jason Castro. I will be interested to hear how he sounds on other types of songs. I think Danny Noriega acts like an over privileged spoiled brat. I HATE when the contestants argue with Simon. While rude much of the time, he is dead on accurate. I hope Danny Noriega and either Garret Haley or Luke Menard are voted off this week. Danny may have some talent...but OMG he is ANNOYING! As for the girls, thankfully, some of the ones that had a somewhat rough night had plenty of exposure on previous episodes. I think Amy Davis and Joanne Borgella are out tonight. One last comment: While I like Carly...if she has had a recording contract in the past...I think that should null and void her from the competition!
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Feb 21, 2008 7:42 AM
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I long ago gave up trying to figure out what the judges are saying. Besides "dude" and "you nailed it baby, you pulled it out" and Paula's blathering nonsense only Simon's opinion comes close to making any sense. But he and I so often disagree, that I'm not sure what to think of my own opinion. Some of the singers that I think did a great job, he disses so badly, I want to cry; other times, he's foaming at the mouth for someone that leaves me cold. That said, if this is supposed to be the most talented group of contestants ever!!! than I may have to start watching L & O repeats.
For awhile last night, the blonde Barbie Dolls became so confusing to me, all I could think about were the Dallas Cheerleaders and I could not tell one from the other. When I think about some of the guys who made it to the top 12 while others went home, just blows my mind. Right now, I have almost zero interest in any of the contestants. I am sorry about their being sick though, and having to perform their hearts out under these conditions.
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Feb 21, 2008 7:47 AM
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Concerning Alexandrea, Paula said, "You wore a dope outfit." Meaning she liked her outfit. I'm too old to use the word "dope" to describe clothing, but I liked it too!
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Feb 21, 2008 7:55 AM
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I think Paula actually told Alexandrea, "You wore the dope outfit." Makes a little bit more sense, even if she did say "dope."
And I totally noticed the weird thing Kristy Lee Cook did with her eyes! It's one of the reasons I didn't vote for her!
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Feb 21, 2008 8:06 AM
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Almost all of the good singers from AI had had a record contract at some point. Kelly Clarkson, Chris Daughtry (with his old band,) and Taylor Hicks all had record deals with small labels. Many of the AI contestants this season had had record deals including Carly, KLC, and Michael. My issue with Carly is that she not only had a record deal, but with a major label who spent millions to promote her only to sell less than 400 albums. I also don't think she's all that good. Granted, last night she was one of the best...but that's not saying much. Remember last year after the 12 men sang people wondered if they could just have a Top 12 of girls and send all the guys home? That's how it went last night for the women. More brutal than beauty. If this was supposed to be the best Top 24 ever, the gals really fell down last night. I recall someone posting a while back that it was going to be a "girl's year." At this point, I don't see it. My brother had picked KLC to win it all based on her original audition. Wuh wuh wuh. So much for that. She was terrible and is at risk of not making the Top 6. I also thought some of the singers were better than the judges thought, but none of them were particularly memorable so it's hard to recall who I liked. I do recall that I thought Ramiel was good. Amanda was good as always. I thought Alaina wasn't that bad and that Alexandrea wasn't that good. I think the plus sized model didn't show why she made the cut over the other gal to become the final Top 12 gal, and she was bad enough to go home. I really don't know how this will go, but I'll guess Joanne and Amy, but it just as easily could be almost any 2 other gals who didn't do very well last night.
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Feb 21, 2008 8:08 AM
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I join LizzyBelle in the minority: I thought Kady's performance was sumptuous. She and Ramiele were my favorite performances by far. I wanted to like Carly more, but her performance, while powerful, completely negated the emotion of the song. Songs are supposed to convey certain emotions which Kady understood, and I don't think Carly did. It's also tedious and unfair for the judges to continue commenting on Kady's impersonation skills: for pity's sake, give it a rest.
Also, was anyone else irritated by Randy and Simon's apparent belief that "Where the Boys Are" was a Patsy Kline song? Randy mentioned Patsy when talking about the song, and Simon said that the song was only really good when it had that country twang. I think Connie Francis, who originally sang this and made it famous, might be amazed to learn that she picked up a "country twang" in New Jersey. Are we sure any of these people are really in the music business?
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Feb 21, 2008 8:47 AM
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Nina,
I'm sorry you have the flu, hope you feel better soon.
First to answer your question, no, I don't take into account how singers did in the past, I just base it on how well they did that night.
Maybe it was because many of them had the flu, but I was also let down by most of the performances last night. There really weren't many who stood out. A lot of them started out okay, and then would just suddenly go off key and ruin it...others started off badly and then got better...I think only five of them actually gave good, consistent performances for their entire songs last night and those five are the ones I voted for. Those five being:
Amanda Overmyer She's a rocker, and she really picked the right song for herself. I also loved her jeans. I don't know how long she will be able to stay around though, she will have to show some versatility to get through to the final 6.
Alexandrea Lushington I disagreed with Simon. She has great vocals and clearly gave one of the better performances.
Ramiele Malubay What a beautiful tone she has. For once I thought Paula was dead on. She told Ramiele, "You are a force to be reckoned with," She's right.
Syesha Mercado I voted for Syesha, though she lost her control at the very end of the song she sang. I had just written, "She knocked it out of the park!", when she suddenly went way off key. However, she was easily one of the better singers last night, and I really think she is a top 12 pick.
Carly Smithson I haven't been that sold on her, but last night I was very impressed with her performance. Her training was very evident in how well she could control her voice and musical expression.
Some of the worst performances were given by Kristy Lee Cook, Amy Davis Kady Malloy. The others were okay, but not great. Based just on their performances (flu aside) Kristy and Amy should go home.
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Feb 21, 2008 8:52 AM
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I should preface anything I write with the fact that I happen to be a singer, trained operatically with a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance. I am concerned about the girls who had to sing through sickness last night-you can do permanent damage to your vocal cords by putting pressure on them when they are swollen, so I hope no one did any major damage last night-in particular I am thinking of Carly. I noticed that she wasn't in the crowd of girls on Tuesday night and now I know why. I had that awful flu that has hit the nation two weeks ago and I can't imagine having to sing on top of it-I couldn't even get out of bed for 4 days. Kristy didn't seem as sick to me, and man, was her song BO-RING!
So, in general I was not impressed with anyone-my thought was--THESE are the people they put through? Really? wow. My predictions for a plane ticket back home are Amy Davis (although VFTW has picked her to vote for) and Joanne Borghella.
Nina-I hope you feel better!
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Feb 21, 2008 9:15 AM
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I said it after the boys performed, and I still think it's true- this particular theme night makes it very hard to judge some of the contestants. They will either sing a ballad that comes across as boring, or sing an uptempo song that comes across as cheesy. Of course, the really great singers find ways to get around that, but overall I think it's hard to judge a person's talent on nights like these.
Anyway with the exception of Amy (who I think has a great voice, but unfortunately probably won't get a chance to redeem herself), I actually enjoyed most of the performances. I agree with some of you that I thought Kady's performance was better than the judges gave her credit for. I do agree that it was nice to see her personality come out when she impersonated Britney Spears, but that can be a problem- does she have her own personality? I'd like her to stick around so I can judge next week. Amanda and Carly might have it rough throughout the competition. They have that "love 'em or hate 'em" thing going on. Personally, I love them both, but I can certainly see that a lot of people wouldn't. I was really impressed with Ramiele's voice, even though I thought she choose a boring song, and Kristy Lee really did some very wierd things with her eyes. I doubt she'll be in trouble though, even though she probably should be. I was also very impressed with Asia'h's performance- I thought it was fantastic.
My picks:
Girls- Amy and Joanne
Guys- Luke, Garrett or Jason and Chikezie
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Feb 21, 2008 9:37 AM
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Didn't see a wow factor among the ladies on Wednesday. Amanda does rock however....but Carly not so much. Brooke is darling....Kristy Lee not so much. I'm thinking the guys have it this year. Most people out here are truly looking for "undiscovered" talent....not some used to be's or once backed up someone on tour. That includes both guys and girls. Well, I guess it's hide and watch.
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Feb 21, 2008 9:55 AM
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