American Idol Season 9 - Meet the Ladies

American Idol - Final Post

Kris Allen Wins American Idol!
My first season of American Idol Speculation has officially come to an end. And what an end at that! After a season full of the judges and producers plugging Adam Lambert, Kris Allen comes out of nowhere to win the title! A good surprise ending to a good season. The show itself was pretty entertaining as well. Listen to this lineup: Keith Urban, Lionel Richie, KISS, Queen, Rod Stewart, Santana, Jason Mraz, Fergie, The Black Eyed Peas, Cyndi Lauper, David Cook, Queen Latifah. WOW! Talk about a few big names! All in all I think that the publicity that Adam was receiving had backfired on him a bit and his "edgy" style did not fit the tastes of mainstream America. I gained some respect for Adam Lambert last night as he was genuinely excited for Kris and really showed America what kind of a guy he is! No worries though, he will go places in life and be just fine! I am interested to see where Danny Gokey and Kris Allen go from here. I would be interested in both of their Cd's, if they have one. I guess we'll see! Until next year, I bid American Idol adieu!

American Idol 2009 - Finals Review

American Idol 2009 - Finals Review
Let me be the first to congratulate Adam Lambert as being the 2009 Season 8 American Idol. Or wait I can't be the first since Simon, Randy, and Kara have been his victory since early March. But anyways congrats Adam. Last nights performance finale was a downer for me. For the first 40 minutes I was totally digging it. Both performers put on a great show for their first two songs, and then we got to that piece of garbage that Kara came up with better known as No Boundaries. I thought that the music industry had learned its lesson when Miley Cyrus burst onto the scene with The Climb. Sure the song is meant to be inspirational, sure it should garner some positive PR for the show, but come on it was a flat out awful song! I realize that they did not compose this song over the past week, but when your song is completely out of the vocal range of one of the finalists and both of them struggle with it, something is wrong with the song. This coupled with Kara's worthless critiques should warrant her dismissal before next year. It was a good experiment but people like Paula better anyways.

As for the performances I think that Adam and Kris both rocked it in round one. Simon gave the edge to Kris, but in my opinion it was much closer than Simon let on. Adam's Mad World was one of the only songs I enjoyed that he did this season. Round two was hands down one by Adam. Kris played this round too safe for the finals show. It was good and I liked it but it was plain and boring. I'd rather not talk about the third round as it was a complete and utter disappointment. Both of the performances were painful and Kris forgot the words (this could have been the deciding factor). I'm still holding out hope for Kris, but I think that Idol will get their wishes and Adam Lambert will take this years crown. I have been surprised before though...

Please, if you are interested I encourage you to participate and share your thoughts. I would love to get some feedback and hear what each of you took from the day's topic. Just fill in the comment box at the end of each blog and let me know what you think! To read more posts and see my entire blog click the Touch 'Em All Productions header at the top of the page!

American Idol - Final Two

Kris Allen vs. Adam Lambert
Well, It's down to the final two. In the midst of the LOST season finale, I completely blanked and forgot that Idol was on! I've been doing my research throughout the week reading online, and think that I am sufficiently caught up with all that went down. Seacrest opened, some sweet kid from Rwanda sang, Jordin Sparks came back, Kris was safe, Katy Perry stunk up the stage, and Danny was ultimately sent home. Sounds about right doesn't it? Danny humbly said his goodbyes and sang his song on stage for the last time, then there were two...Kris and Adam. One of those seems like a bit of a surprise while the other should not surprise anybody who has been paying any attention to the season. It has began to sicken me how much the judges, the show, and the media world are promoting and pushing for Adam Lambert.

This may all stem from me not liking Adam one bit, but the way that this competition has been handled by those with influence is shameful. Without American Idol disclosing the actually results of voting, there is no way for us to tell if it is legit and completely fair. But the competition aspect of the show should be fair, and when you have people who get regular air time plugging you, it undoubtedly gives you an edge that the others do not receive. It started about mid-season when the Adam Lambert Fan Club had graduated from its infant stages and Adam became a full blown threat. The judges began openly referring to Adam as the front runner and as a true "American Idol." More recently this all culminated with Idol's producers placing Adam in the last performing slot on Tuesday night for three weeks running. Last weeks Entertainment Weekly Magazine featured Adam Lambert on the cover. This was the first time that the magazine had featured a single contestant, alone, on its cover before the competition had been decided. The article that accompanied his cover was all about how Adam Lambert is changing the face of American Idol. They are basically praising this kid who, for whatever reason was not able to get discovered on his own in San Diego. Last Wednesday Katy Perry hit the stage with Adam's name displayed on the back of her cape, clearly announcing her support of Mr. Lambert. All of this I can over look but Simon's "Daughtry Proofing" speech after Adam's performance on Tuesday is what pushed me over the edge.

If you remember back to American Idol's fifth season, Chris Daughtry was the front runner and by all accounts had the competition all wrapped up. This was common knowledge to the world and to Daughtry. A level of arrogance began to grow within Chris and America got lazy, not a good combination on this show. Chris's fans decided that Chris would be fine without their vote and left the voting up to all of his "other fans." Unfortunately his "other fans" did the same thing and Chris Daughtry was sent home packing, with a 4th place trophy and stuck in an unfortunate record deal with Idol's 19 Entertainment music group. This last Tuesday, Simon did his best to keep this from happening to another promising contestant and gave a preventative, and I think biased speech to the world, basically pleading for people to vote for Adam because he "deserves" it. Now, I agree that this speech needed to be made but the timing of it was what got me. Simon could have delivered this speech at the beginning of the show, earlier in the season, or three years ago after it originally happened. But the world is watching and I was not the only person that noticed this.



I would like to start by saying that I don't have anything against Adam Lambert and realize that he is immensely talented. It's just that he has started to bore me with similar performances every week. That coupled with my desire for a fair competition is why I raise my concern. Many are speculating that Adam Lambert will be the unfortunate victim of a backlash that will be caused by the judges pleas and the shows speculated favoritism that has been shown towards Adam. Matt Giraud was recently quoted on the radio saying, "The judges have their favorites and they're going to make sure they do well. ... There were times I felt, like, invisible in the competition." Now Matt doesn't have much to talk about since he was clearly a favorite of the judges and the show as he was saved from elimination not once but twice this season. Other contestants are noticing this too however. When asked a question regarding this issue by a reporter Danny Gokey responded saying, "It doesn't make me mad or disappoint me. That's who he believes is going to make money. I didn't get into this thing for the money. I didn't get into it for the glamorous lifestyle. But I feel like my goal is so different and it didn't line up with what they see as a pop star. But it's OK. It can't be what I'm about. People can get annoyed by it." It will be interesting to see where people's loyalties will fall now that Simon has spoken and Danny is gone.


Brian Mansfield, of Idol Chatter USA Today's Idol blog, was on KFAN radio today with Paul Charchian and he made light of a poll that he had seen asking Danny Gokey fans where their allegiance will fall now that his journey has ended. Roughly 50% of Gokey followers said that their votes would now fall with Kris Allen. Another 45% were planning on jumping aboard the Adam Lambert bandwagon, while the remaining 5% claimed that they were going to wait for the performances on Tuesday to decide on their vote. One other interesting idea that the two discussed was the fact that Idol popularity in the South, particularly Southeast is much higher than of that in the North. Remember, Kris Allen is from Arkansas and is representing the heart of American Idol fans. With Idol's main focus being on surpassing the 100 million vote mark, there is one thing that I am sure of for the finals. No matter what way the vote goes next week, it will be close. After Kris' rendition of Heartless last week, my vote lies with him. But that is only 1, of a possible 100 million total votes! Good luck to both contestants and may the best man win!

American Idol Top Three Reaction

American Idol 5/12/2009 Reaction

This year's American Idol will undoubtedly be historic. Not only is the competition going to be extremely close but they will break the pattern of every other, male/female winners. After Allison got voted off last week we knew that the competition between the top three guys was going to be intense. And they sure did deliver tonight! The format this week was unique to this season but one that we have seen in the past before. Each contestant sings two songs. The first being chosen by one of the judges and the second being their own personal preference. There was no excuse for a bad song choice this week as the table had been set to fit the strengths of each of them.


Danny Gokey
The first song for Danny was Dance Little Sister by Terence Trent D'Arby which was picked for him by Paula Abdul. This was a great song for Danny! The judges main comments stemmed around how the song fit Danny's voice perfectly and I completely agree. Danny is at his best when his voice is straining a little bit. This strain is not the uncomfortable I can't quite reach that note strain, it is a very tasteful powerful strain that really highlights the cool undertone of raspiness within his voice. The performance was full of energy and really seemed to get the crowd going. Kara ripped Danny a little for his dance moves and it seemed that at one point before the sax solo he messed up one of the lines. Fortunately he picked it up and continued right into the next line. Most of the audience probably didn't even notice. Again I am no music expert but I gave Danny's performance a B+.

Danny's second song and personal choice was You Are So Beutiful by Joe Cocker. This was THE PERFECT SONG for Danny! His rendition of the song was a softer version. With a string quartet accompanying him on stage Danny made me put my lighter in the air while I was on my couch. This song really showed Danny's range. His rendition was filled with moments which allowed Danny to really show his stuff. Simon put it the best when he called Danny's last performance, "A vocal master-class!" I think he meant masterpiece but we all understood what he was trying to say, Silly Simon! I spent my ten minutes after the show calling 1-866-IDOLS-01 and 1-866-IDOLS-04 to support my choice for the competition, Danny Gokey. I would grade this performance by Danny a nice solid A+!


Kris Allen
The first song that Kris sang was the choice of Randy and Kara. They chose Apologize by OneRepublic. By no means was Kris' performance of this song bad, but compared to his past performances, it was about a half a step in the wrong direction. There is a rendition of this song that was done by Silverstein that would have been a much better fit for Kris at this stage in the game. There was one note that, Paula pointed out to the world, that Kris missed and missed bad. Unfortunately for him the crowd was silent and the camera was right in his grill when he tweaked the note. Kris put himself in a tough position with this song and needs a big performance for America to forget his stumbling through Apologize. Compared to the other songs tonight, I would give Kris a B- on this song.

Kris' second song caught me completely off guard. He chose to perform Heartless by Kanye West. This caught me off guard A.) because it is a rap song, B.) because it doesn't necessarily fit his voice, and C.) because he was performing it with an acoustic guitar. Yet Kris continues to be the dark horse in the competition and knocked this one out of the park. This was one of the freshest unique renditions that this show has seen since Blake Lewis beat boxed his way into the finals of the sixth season. I do have to say that the verses in his song were much stronger than the chorus but overall I think that Kris really made up some of the ground that he lost in the first round of the night. Kris gets an A+ for his song. This will be one of the songs that people will be talking around the water cooler about tomorrow!


Adam Lambert
Adam's song fate was left up to Simon Cowell this week. I think that secretly, Simon has a slight biased towards Adam as he thinks that he is not shy about telling the world that Adam is the best performer in this competition. That aside, Simon called up his buddy Bono and picked One by U2 for Adam. I think that this was a good song choice for Adam but I think that he took it too lightly and kind of coasted through this song. When Adam sings softly like he did for the first verse of this song, I really kind of like his voice. But he just can't keep it in that range and he's so easily excitable that he gets pumped up and it's all down hill from there. You get the screams, the shrieks, and the thrusts which are simply not my cup of tea. I surely would not agree with Kara saying that the song was "unbelievable." Adam's performance here was good not great. I would give him a B+ with his first song.

Adam's second song was a long time coming. Since day one people have been comparing him to Steven Tyler of Aerosmith. He chose to sing Cryin' by Aerosmith and gave it another solid effort. This song fit Adam's voice perfectly but I didn't feel as if it was any better of a rendition than the original song was. In this competition you are supposed to do your best to adjust the song so that your version fits your voice better than the original version would have fit. I didn't get that vibe from Adam tonight. People will like this song because he finally tackled an Aerosmith song, but I have heard better performances from Adam. I give Adam another B+ for this song as it wasn't great and he didn't take any sort of risk with this song.

Predictions
Well, I think that the votes will be skewed a little bit from what they would have been and maybe should have been because of Simon's preventative "Daughtry syndrome" speech he gave America at the end of the show. If you remember it has been much assumed that the fifth season's favorite Chris Daughtry was voted off of the show because people "assumed" that he would be safe. Well Simon did his best to make sure that this does not happen to Adam in season 8. In the long run I don't think that it would have made much of a difference since there were two noticeable botches made tonight by Kris Allen. Even though he was the most consistent throughout the competition and even though his rendition of Heartless was ridiculously awesome, I think that next weeks finals will see Adam Lambert and Danny Gokey facing off in the finals. I mean...Adam continued his stretch of sounding the same every week tonight and because of his uniformity and Kris' creative genius we will see Danny and Kris hash it out for the championship. Still yet...Danny lacks the stage presence that both Adam and Kris possess. Because of this Adam and Kris will dance their way across the stage to next week's final...Moral of the story here, I don't really know what is going to happen on tomorrow's result show! This will honestly probably be one of the closest votes of all time. Because I am so torn I am going to go out on a limb and make a prediction that the final two will be Danny Gokey and Kris Allen. How's that for out of the box?

Please, if you are interested I encourage you to participate and share your thoughts. I would love to get some feedback and hear what each of you took from the day's topic. Just fill in the comment box at the end of each blog and let me know what you think! To read more posts and see my entire blog click the Touch 'Em All Productions header at the top of the page!

Idol Comings and Goings

From day one people have had high aspirations regarding Allison Iraheta. Don't get me wrong, I think that she is a great talent and a very good young singer, but I've never been blown away by her talent and am a little surprised that she has lasted this long. I think that Allison will make it to next week and into the top three with Danny Gokey and Adam Lambert. However I am not sure how "legit" this run has been. For a long while I have speculated how accurate the voting and particularily the bottom three have been on the show. There were times when someone who had a great performance found themselves with the chumps in the bottom three and it added an extra level of suspense to the results. I have a feeling that the producers are pulling some strings behind the scenes adding to the drama of the show and doing their darndest to bump up ratings a little bit. I have a sneaky suspicion that this is going on right now as the producers want Allison to make the top 3 so that there is at least one girl representative near the final show. Unfortunately we will never know whether or not this is true since American Idol NEVER releases the actual voting results which even adds to my suspicion! Something seems fishy!

Back on March the 14th I wrote a little about Adam Lambert as they were beginning to embark on the top 13 Hollywood competition (Click here to view this post). I had mentioned that I had stumbled across what could be considered "baggage" in Adam Lambert's closet. Well this baggage is starting to rise to the surface and the attack is being headed up by none other than Bill O'Reilly. Check out the video below and let me know what you think?

Ori adam
by krunkyou

Please, if you are interested I encourage you to participate and share your thoughts. I would love to get some feedback and hear what each of you took from the day's topic. Just fill in the comment box at the end of each blog and let me know what you think! To read more posts and see my entire blog click the Touch 'Em All Productions header at the top of the page!

American Idol Top 4 Show Reaction

American Idol 05/05/2009
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Last night's theme was "Rock Music" and American Idol brought legendary guitarist Slash in to mentor the contestants. This was actually a pretty cool theme this week with Slash and his band switching up the traditional way that the rehearsals go down. However this theme, like many others, really played to the strengths of two contestants and showed the weakness of the other two contestants. This was also the first week that the producers had to get a little creative with the timing of the show. With only four contestants left you don't have enough time in one hour to fit in two songs from each but one song does not fill the time slot either. So they pulled out the rock duets. With the way that the "straws" were drawn the pairings were very lop sided and very different performances. Anyways, on with the speculation!


Adam Lambert - Whole Lotta Love by Led Zeppelin
The theme this week fell right into the lap of Adam Lambert as his voice and persona was built for Rock music. I know a lot of people, including me were disappointed that Adam when for a Zeppelin song rather than something from Guns N' Roses. Adam is the only contestant we've seen come this far that could tackle a voice like that of Axl Rose. From a critical review standpoint Adam had a good week this week. He worked the stage, jammed with the guitarist, and screamed his little voice off. The judges enjoyed it and all of them reviewed him well concluding with Simon Cowell's nod of approval. From my personal point of view, Mr. Lambert is beginning to get on my nerves. When he reaches the stage you can tell that everything he is doing has been extremely thought out and super over produced. Adam is a showman and will do whatever he thinks best to get the crowd rowdy and excited. This tactic and his shrieking voice are both beginning to wear on me. Adam is very talented and will be a great competitor that could find himself in this years final but it's safe to say that he is not my cup of tea. As predicted the controversy surrounding Adam's private life is beginning to heat up a bit backed by the exposure that Bill O'Reilly has been giving the issue. More about this in a future post!


Allison Iraheta - Cry Baby by Janis Joplin
Much like Adam, Allison had to have been drooling over the theme this week as it was right in her wheel house. Allison made a very good choice in picking Janis Joplin but I think that now more than ever, her flaws are sticking out like a sore thumb. Each week the judges tell her that is was great, BUT she needs to spice it up a little bit or it was too sound-a-like. It's starting to look like these issues are more of a deal breaker than originally thought. It's been at least three weeks since they told her that she needs to show a little more personality and spice up the performance, yet each week she receives the same critique telling her to be herself. I think that was we see is what we get with Allison. She is a good young singing talent but she has no personality to work with, which would hurt her musical career and will ultimately hold her back in this competition. And despite what Allison seems to believe, arguing with the judges critiques is not the type of window into your personality that they were telling you to bring out. At the end of the day Allison should have some sort of future ahead of her, but she has some maturing to do. At 17 there no way that you have fully grown into the person that you are going to be and you have not fully developed your personality. These seem to be the two big things that are keeping her from being a star. I think that Allison will be in the bottom two this week but will be safe (more speculation about Allison's "safety" to come in future post).


Kris Allen - Come Together by The Beatles
It was kind of funny when Slash commented on how Kris got nervous when Slash handed him his guitar! Kris wasn't fooling anybody when he said that this genre was not necessarily his strong suit but I think he made a very good decision in picking a Beatles song. Out of all the possible songs that he could pick, The Beatles songs were in his range and very notable making them fun for the studio and TV audiences. I actually kind of liked Kris' performance last night. I know that this is nitpicking a little bit but I liked what Kris did with the verses a lot more than what he did with the chorus of the song. Playing the guitar worked well for Kris last night as I think he heeded the advice Slash gave him in suggesting to add a little flare to the guitar performance. Kris is a very talented contestant and it is going to hurt me a little bit to make this prediction but I think that Kris will find himself in the bottom 2 tonight and ultimately will be packing his bags and heading back to Arkansas this evening.


Danny Gokey - Dream On by Aerosmith
Out of all the contestants remaining in the competition, it was well known that Danny was going to struggle with last night's theme. Rock music and Danny Gokey have never been uttered in the same sentence and after last night, that will probably remain a true statement. Danny is my favorite remaining contestant but last night he attempted a dangerous song and sort of laid an egg. I agree with the judges as they said that Aerosmith was a good choice for Danny but this particular song caused him to strain to hit some notes that he had not attempted to this point in the competition. Seacrest announced to the world last night that Danny was the only one left in the competition who had not been voted into the bottom to this point. Well with only four contestants left unfortunately Danny's top-three-less streak will probably end tonight :) I liked the majority of Danny's song last night but when he attempted to hit those big high notes at the end it reminded me of my feeble attempts to sing along with Freddy Mercury. I think that Danny knows last night was sub par but he should be safely headed into this seasons top three next week.

Overall Predictions: after the 05/05/2009 performance show
Last week I was correct in sending Matt home but we received a bit of a shock with Adam Lambert gracing the likes of the bottom two. Sorry guys, that won't happen this week.

1. Adam Lambert
2. Danny Gokey (struggled last night but his fan base is HUGE)
   
3. Allison Iraheta
4. Kris Allen (I like him a lot but he doesn't have that "it" factor that is needed to win)
   

Please, if you are interested I encourage you to participate and share your thoughts. I would love to get some feedback and hear what each of you took from the day's topic. Just fill in the comment box at the end of each blog and let me know what you think! To read more posts and see my entire blog click the Touch 'Em All Productions header at the top of the page!

American Idol 2009 Top 5 Show Reaction

American Idol 4/28/2009
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After sending two people packing last week, Idol is back this week with the Rat Pack theme. This was an interesting night as this theme didn't really suit anybodies singing style more than the others. It made for a pretty fair match and overall was a fairly uneventful night.

Kris Allen - The Way You Look Tonight
I really enjoyed Kris' performance this week. I do have to say that his last note was a little shaky and unfortunately it's the last thing that everybody will remember. The judges got really technical with his performance using many big musical terms that I didn't quite understand. The one thing that I agree with the most came from Simon. He said that Kris was like a "a well trained Spaniard out on a walk." This was a little weird but made complete sense. We always know what we are going to get from Kris, but his downfall is that he never really blows us out of the water. I think Kris will be safe this week but needs to add the wow-factor if he wants to continue on in this competition.

Allison Iraheta - Someone to Watch Over Me
In her first performance as a 17 year old, Allison was one of the few that I was a little worried about with the Rat Pack theme this week. I think that she did OK but not great. I'm not exactly sure what it's called, I think maybe bravado, but the waviness in here voice when she holds a note really rubs me the wrong way. I am not a fan of that. But Allison does have a very powerful voice. The only "chick" as Seacrest put it, left in the competition should be a little worried tonight. At this point in the competition good singers are being sent home. Allison should be a little nervous tonight and will find herself in the bottom 3.

Matt Giraud - My Funny Valentine
Of all genres that should be Matt's strong suit, the Rat Pack seems to be the perfect fit. In that case I will blame it on song choice. I was very unimpressed by Matt tonight. I feel like he could have picked a song that fit his style and his voice so perfectly and the song he sang was just mediocre to me. There were times where he was basically talking rather than singing. Had he arranged it to be a little more like a Justin Timberlake song with the soft subtle variations in range it could have been much stronger for him. With his previous falls and this weeks performance Matt should find himself in the bottom 3 tonight.

Danny Gokey - Come Rain or Come Shine
This theme tonight did not really fit Danny's voice the best, but in true Danny Gokey fashion, he made the best of it. I'm starting to realize that Danny's voice is more soulful than I had previously realized. He is a great talent and when he stretches for for those high powerful notes it's just amazing! All of his performances build up throughout the song and by the time he gets to the end he's giving it all he's got and the crow is going absolutely crazy! Danny did great again this week and should have no fear of going home this week.

Adam Lambert - Feeling Good
It's always interesting to see how Adam will twist a song to fit his style. Tonight like all of the others he twisted it and it seemed successful. When his high voice is singing these songs it's hard to see how it was ever a Rat Pack song, but his fans just eat the stuff up. Adam should be safe from elimination this week but if he wants to be the champ he is going to have to pick it up a little from his performance this week.


Overall Predictions: after the 04/28/2009 performance show
Last week I went 100% in the bottom three but with two people going home I only got one of the two correct.

1. Danny Gokey
2. Adam Lambert
   
3. Kris Allen
   
4. Allison Iraheta
5. Matt Giraud ('tis officially the end of the road for Matt this time.)
   

Please, if you are interested I encourage you to participate and share your thoughts. I would love to get some feedback and hear what each of you took from the day's topic. Just fill in the comment box at the end of each blog and let me know what you think! To read more posts and see my entire blog click the Touch 'Em All Productions header at the top of the page!

American Idol 2009 - Why Adam Lambert Will Not Win

Why Won't Adam Lambert Win American Idol?
This years American Idol seems as if it will break the pattern of an every other year guy/girl winner. For the first time ever, there should be two male winners in two consecutive years. To this point in the season most people are making predictions that the Final Two contestants will be Adam Lambert and Danny Gokey. A few people have Kris Allen or Allison Iraheta mixed in there, but most have the first two gentlemen rounding out the finals. At this point in the competition a lot of people think that Adam Lambert will be this years champion. No I'm not completely going to rule Adam out but I do have a strong opinion that Danny Gokey will be this years champion, and here's why I think this.

Let me start by laying out the entire list of contestants that are remaining in the competition. After their name I am going to categorize their fan base.

• Anoop Desai - Conservative R&B fans
• Danny Gokey - Conservative Contemporary/Gospel fans
• Kris Allen - Conservative Contemporary/Christian Contemporary fans
• Lil Rounds - R&B/Soul fans
• Adam Lambert - Liberal Screamo/Twilight movie fans
• Matt Giraud - Bluesy/Soul fans
• Allison Iraheta - Rock/Pop fans

Looking at this list above I am gonna break down the rest of the competition starting with tonight's results show. In doing this I am going to predict where the fans of the fallen will go to place their votes. Tonight I am predicting that Lil Rounds and Matt Giraud will get voted off the island. Looking at the fans of Lil Rounds I cannot see them voting for Adam Lambert but can see them voting for the soulful Danny Gokey. Same thing with Matt Giraud. He may have some fans that will go to vote for Adam, but more that will vote for Danny's sometimes bluesy sound.

Next week, Anoop Desai will probably get voted off. Like Lil and Matt, I can see most of Anoop's fans jumping on the more conservative Danny Gokey's bandwagon. Two weeks from now will be either Kris Allen or Allison Iraheta. Because I believe that the producers will do whatever it takes to have one girl in the final three we'll say Kris gets voted off. Kris and Danny are both worship leaders at their churches back home. I can see almost all of Kris's fans jumping over to ride the wave with Danny Gokey's gang. That leaves us with a top 3 of Allison Iraheta, Adam Lambert, and Danny Gokey. Allison will come in third place and maybe pull a 50/50 split between her fans voting for Adam and Danny.

Moral of the story Adam is too far "out there" for the mainstream audience to adopt and waste their time voting for. Danny is the clean cut nice guy that people can't help but love. We've seen his life's story play out on the screen and it tugs at our heart strings. I don't think that Adam's fan base will grow very much from where it stands today. When you look at the voting spread in this sort of way, it's hard to see how Danny won't pull this off in the end.

Please, if you are interested I encourage you to participate and share your thoughts. I would love to get some feedback and hear what each of you took from the day's topic. Just fill in the comment box at the end of each blog and let me know what you think! To read more posts and see my entire blog click the Touch 'Em All Productions header at the top of the page!

American Idol 2009 Top 7 Show Reaction - Take 2

American Idol 4/21/2009
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Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Disco Week! To be completely honest it was kind of a downer. Not one of the contestants really performed a "disco-ish" song. They all picked songs by disco artists that could have easily crossed over into the R&B or pop charts of the time. Anoop was the only one who dressed semi-disco. It was sort of a clean cut, skater, preppy look and it worked pretty well for him! Remember since the judges used their save last week on Matt Giraud, there are two people going home tonight. The pressure surely mounted for some, while others rose to the occasion.

Lil Rounds - I'm Every Woman by Chaka Khan
Lil had the unfortunate draw of kicking off disco week. She caught me a bit off guard and I personally thought that she did pretty well. The song fit her voice nicely and she performed it with a higher level of energy than we are used to seeing from her. However the judges must have seen things differently. None of the judges seemed to like Lil's performance and Simon absolutely tore her to shreds. He flat out told her that she was going home tonight and kept referring to her "poor performance" while critiquing the other acts throughout the night. It was kind of funny seeing Lil's mother get that look of rage as Simon was ripping on her daughter. I seriously thought that she may walk over there and smack him upside the head. Lil then proceeded to do something that really has bugged me more this year than any year before. She rattled off a bunch of excuses and claimed that she "had fun" and that's all that matters. It really irritates me when the contestants are riddled with excuses after their judges critique goes poorly. Sadly for Lil, I agree with Simon. It was too little too late and Lil will be sent home tonight.

Kris Allen - She Works Hard for the Money by Donna Summer
This was one of those songs in which the contestant was taking a huge risk by modifying it up and making it their own. Kris decided to bring back the guitar this week and it really highlighted how much he shines when he is performing and playing his guitar. He looks like he feels much more comfortable and overall puts on a better show. Kris did great this week and will be safe this week but he continues to be fairly forgettable and this could come back to hurt him when we get down to the later rounds. Kris should easily find his way to next week's top 5.

Danny Gokey - September by Earth, Wind, and Fire
It's starting to become a little ridiculous. Danny Gokey walks out onto that stage every week and doesn't even look like he's trying! Yet every week he continues to blow away the competition. Randy made a comment that it made him nervous when Danny picked this song because there weren't many spots for him to showcase his range. But somehow, someway Danny was able to show the world his incredible range and pitch even with this tough song. Danny is in cruise control and has no worries about being included in the top 5.

Allison Iraheta - Hot Stuff by Donna Summer
It continues to confuse me how Allison continues to get a large amount of votes? I'm going to open a vein here, but she's cocky, has a funny voice, no personality, and has the weirdest sense of style I've ever seen. I agree with people that she is the only hope that the girls have had the entire way, but that's not saying a whole lot. I didn't like her rendition of this song and haven't cared for her performances all season long. Allison should be safe this week, but next week she should start feeling nervous!

Adam Lambert - If I Can't Have You by Yvonne Elliman
Yuck, yuck, yuck! I don't hate Adam Lambert's performances every week, but this week was flat out awful. Adam rolled out clean cut and in a suit again, but then proceeded to do the stupid screeching thing the entire song! There is a clear distinction in Adam's vocal range. You have the comfortable notes that are easy for him to hit, the higher notes that he has to strain a little for, and then the super high notes that he doesn't have any business attempting so he screeches instead. It hurt my ears last night. Adam is a showman and the only reason he's still in this competition is because the judges cannot hear Adam's real voice because all the little girls in the front row are screaming too loudly. Adam will be safe again but mark my words HE WILL NOT WIN THIS COMPETITION, I'll explain more later.

Matt Giraud - Stayin' Alive by the Bee Gees
I honestly cannot remember this performance very well. Maybe I fell asleep, maybe it was just that forgettable? I'm really not sure. Either way, the judges ultimately wasted their save on Matt last week because he will be joining the rest of us who watch from home next week.

Anoop Desai - Dim All the Lights by Donna Summer
Well we know that the contestants know who Donna Summer is don't we? 3 of the 7 performed Donna Summer pieces. Anoop was rocking his new look tonight and the performance was above average. It was weird because I felt like this song only had about five or six words in the entire thing. I'm not sure if this was just Anoop's rendition or the original song. Either way it seemed really easy and I think that that may hurt Anoop. He should find himself on those uncomfortable stools again tonight and with 2 of the bottom 3 going home there may be more need to be nervous for the Desai camp.


Overall Predictions: after the 04/21/2009 performance show
Last week I went 100% but the judges laid their save down and screwed it all up! I'm stuck between picking Matt and Anoop as the second person to go home this week. I think it will be Matt and Lil, with Anoop soon to follow (next week).

1. Danny Gokey
2. Kris Allen
   
3. Adam Lambert
4. Allison Iraheta
   
5. Anoop Desai
6. Matt Giraud
   
7. Lil Rounds

Please, if you are interested I encourage you to participate and share your thoughts. I would love to get some feedback and hear what each of you took from the day's topic. Just click the comment button at the end of each blog and let me know what you think! To read more posts and see my entire blog click the Touch 'Em All Productions header up top!

American Idol 2009

On a night that I go three for three in my bottom three predictions and get my bottom Idol prediction right, the judges go ahead and use their "coveted" save. Glad we got that garbage over with. From the very beginning I thought that the whole idea of saving someone was stupid. Well by the hair on his chinny chin chin Matt Giraud lives to see another week of competition. I think Simon summarized the entire feeling at the end of the show when he said that there were two bad pieces of news he had to relay, "Next week two people go home, and next week is disco week!" Oh Simon!

American Idol 2009 Top 7 Show Reaction

American Idol 4/14/2009
Reaction

This week's song category was "Idol at the Movies." The contestants had the opportunity to sing a song that had been used in some sort of Hollywood film. The celebrity guest that they had on last night was Quentin Tarantino, which made absolutely no sense to me? Sure it was cool and he is a big name in the movie industry, but what sort of insight could he have given the singers? It would have been a better idea if they had pulled in either someone like Howard Shore (famous movie score composer, Lord of The Rings) or someone who had sang a memorable song in a movie (Whitney Houston, Mandy Moore, etc.). I was also a little disappointed that the songs that the contestants chose to sing were mainly songs that were played in the background of the movie. Nobody sang a song from a musical like Grease or Hairspray. That would have been cool. Sidenote, I went to the Twins game last night (great game!) and forgot to record the show so I had to hurry and find the videos on YouTube last night before they started pulling them down due to copyright infringements. I did find them however they were not of the high quality variety so keep that in mind when reading my critiques.

Allison Iraheta - I Don't Want to Miss a Thing (Aerosmith) from Armageddon
Along with many of the other contestants, Allison was showing her age with the song choice of I don't Want to Miss a Thing. This was the biggest movie song from the 90s and for good reason. Allison's rendition and performance of the song was just OK. I am starting to get bored with Allison. Yeah her voice is good, yeah she's got some stage presence, but she is not engaging at all and all of her performances sound the exact same each week. She's got enough of a following and is good enough to keep going on into next week but she needs to spice things up a bit if she truly wants to be part of the top 5.

Anoop Desai - (Everything I Do) I Do It For You (Brian Adams) from Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves
Just the fact that the song Anoop picked was from Robin Hood makes me want to vote for him! Based off of his performance he won't need my vote, but based on the way that Idol fans vote he probably will. For the second week in a row Anoop borught his A-game, this puts him right on schedule to completely suck it up next week. I hope, I hope, I hope that Anoop has realized that this is the type of song that he needs to sing if he truly wants to continue in this competition. Not that he deserves it but only because there are only 7 left, I think the Anoop will find himself in the bottom 3 this week.

Adam Lambert - Born To Be Wild (Steppenwolf) from Easy Rider
Adam was back to his punk rocker ways last night and it "sort of" worked for him. Singing Born To Be Wild he screamed, he high fived the fans, and pumped his fist with the bass beat. Adam is a showman, there's no denying that. As the competition gets tougher and the number of contestants dwindles, people begin comparing these amature singers now turned celebrity to music legends. Most recently I have stumbled upon a bunch of people comparing Adam to Freddie Mercury and Axl Rose. In my humble opinion I think it is a stretch to jump out and compare these singers to legends of music past. Adam is not ever going to compare to Freddie Mercury and does not have the swagger of one Axl Rose. He's fine this week and is well on his way to the top 5, but let's not get ridiculous.

Matt Giraud - Have You Ever Really Loved A Woman? (Brian Adams) from Don Juan DeMarco
Matt Giraud's performance was just OK this week. However, not like Allison, Matt cannot afford just an OK performance. With the grinder that he has put himself through by picking poor songs, he needs to come out and blow people away each and every week. I really like Matt's style and his voice but for some reason he has yet to develop much of a fan base. Unfortunately Matt will find himself in the bottom 3 this week and potentially could be sent packing.

Danny Gokey - Endless Love (Lionel Richie and Diana Ross) from Endless Love
If there is one thing that has remained constant throughout the entire season it is this. After every Danny Gokey performance one of the judges makes a comment that goes a little something like this, "I saw that you were singing this song and I was like, wow that's a big song, be careful." And every time they say this they follow it up by saying that he knocked it out of the park! At this point in the race anyone who doesn't have Danny Gokey in the final 2 is flat out beind obsurd! Danny's performance last night was great and he seems to be hitting his groove. People are frowning on Danny because they don't think that he will be a successful pop artist if he wins the competition, yet based off of the competition there is no way that he won't get a shot at it! I think that Danny could find his niche in contemporary Christian music and could even see him cracking the pop charts. Danny will be safe this week and should cruise into the Top 5.

Kris Allen - Falling Slowly (Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova) from Once
For the first time in as long as I can remember Kris struggled a little bit with this song. He was away from his guitar and it just seemed weird. This was disappointing for me because I felt like this could have been a GREAT song for Matt Giraud or Danny Gokey to perform. Kris has built up enough equity to be safe but for the first time in a while he may be sweating bullets regarding the bottom 3

Lil Rounds - The Rose Lover (Bette Midler) from The Rose
Lil brought it a little bit tonight. There were more glimpses of the potential that Lil Rounds holds tonight than there were in the last 4-5 weeks! As she sang the song all I could think about was Napolean Dynamite and the performance of the Happy Hands club. Back to the task at hand, Lil put a lot of soul into her rendition of this song and it worked out very nicely for her. Sadly the last few weeks may have already sealed Lil's fate. I think that she will surely find herself in the bottom 3 this week.


Overall Predictions: after the 04/14/2009 performance show
Last week I went 3 for 3 in my bottom 3 predictions but missed with Scott getting voted off.

1. Danny Gokey
2. Adam Lambert
3. Allison Iraheta
   
4. Kris Allen
   
5. Anoop Desai
6. Lil Rounds
   
7. Matt Giraud - his rollercoaster trip will end on a low note tonight. Matt's going home.
   

American Idol Top 8 Show Reaction

American Idol 4/07/2009
Reaction

This week's song's were a choice of any song from the year that the contestant was born. When I heard this I thought to myself, "OK, this is going to be awesome!" You've got every contestant aside from Allison falling in the 80s and 80s music rocks. Then the show started and overall again I was very disappointed with the song selection. There has to be something that the public does not know about the songs the artists can pick from. I am going to do a little research and throw out what song I think the artist should have sang based on their birth date.

Danny Gokey - Stand by Me by Mickey Gilley
Danny was one of the exceptions to my comments above. I wasn't crazy about the arrangement that Danny performed but he is so good that he made it really enjoyable. Danny continues to top the competition each week and has yet to pick a song that is really bad for him. This is a huge key as certain contestants have been voted off due to their poor song choice. Danny will easily make it to the next level and has nothing to worry about this week. Again I am not disappointed with Danny's song choice here but if I were advising him I would have suggested that Danny sing Shining Star by The Manhattans.

Kris Allen - All She Wants to Do Is Dance by Don Henley
To date Kris has been the most consistent performer, however last night he made his first mistake of choosing a song that was out of his wheel house. It was a risk that he thought was necessary to take and it wasn't awful, but did not pay off. This song reminded me of a cover band's performance on ladies night at the club. One thing that I really like about Kris is that even when the judges rip into him he takes it for what it is. You won't hear him rattling off excuses about why he did what he did and when people are criticizing you that's tough to swallow. I would think that Kris has the potential of being in the bottom three this week, but judging off of the screams that Kris received after the performance and during the judging he will probably be safe. Chris was born in 1985 and I think that he would have been able to come up with a really cool version of either Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go or Can't Fight This Feeling.

Lil Rounds - What's Love Got to Do With It by Tina Turner
As of last night, I have officially given up hope on Lil Rounds. When she first came on to the scene in Memphis I had the highest of hopes for her in this competition. She has suffered from some poor song choices the last few weeks and seemingly made a good choice this week with Tina Turner, but it still wasn't happening. I've come to the conclusion that she just is not the singer I thought she was. I'm not sure if she is cracking under the pressure or what, but since the top 13 she has not wowed anybody. That last note that she hit to end the song last night seriously hurt my ears. I am predicting that we see Lil sitting on the stools of shame this week and she has a good chance of heading back to Memphis after tonight. Looking at the list of top songs from 1984, Lil picked the right song, just couldn't bring it.

Anoop Desai - True Colors by Cyndi Lauper
Anoop's inconsistency continued this week as he had an above average performance, however any performance compared to his Usher last week would be considered above average. This song was soft and smooth, perfect for Anoop's voice. The judges all applauded Anoop and Simon had a wonderful analogy calling Anoop a "singing yo yo, one week your up and the next week your down." Anoop seems like a good guy but I'm not sure that Anoop's following is strong enough to keep him out of the bottom 3. Anoop was born in 1986 and in looking at the list of top songs in 1986 I think Anoop did well picking this song. Most of the others are upbeat or power ballads, and as we've seen those are the types of songs that Anoop struggles with.

Scott MacIntyre - The Search is Over by Survivor
It was really fun to learn a little bit about Scott's childhood. It really gave you a glimpse into what it would be like to live with a musical genius. On stage, Scott was the one to whip of the guitar this week. Scott handled the verses of the song very well, but the as most power ballads roll the chorus got a little too intense for Scott's voice. As the judges stated when Scott attempted to hit some of the high notes it sounded like a poor attempt at Adam's screech. 90% of the song was really good, but towards the end it tailed off. When I listened to it for a second time I actually thought it was a lot better than I originally thought. Unfortunately, solely based on the level of his competition, Scott will find himself being awkwardly escorted across the stage by Seacrest to the bottom three. Scott's personality and overall likability will keep him around one more week though. I think that Scott could have put together an amazing piano rendition of Careless Whisper by Wham.

Allison Iraheta - I Can't Make You Love Me by Bonnie Raitt
This song choice really surprised me coming from a little spunky Allison, but she handled it very well. I think that the judges hit the nail on the head in their post performance critique of Allison. They all agreed that her personality was lacking. In my mind this lack of personality has come off on the stage as arrogance. This is something that I think Allison will be able to fix fairly easily but if she can't figure it out soon it could cost her a chance at the competition. The youngest person in the competition, Allison was born in 1992. I'm not sure how she would have handled it, but I think it would have been really cool to see Allison tackle Mariah Carey's I'll Be There.

Matt Giraud - Part-time Lover by Stevie Wonder
Oh man, how funny was it to see the video of Matt when he was in the angel play at church! Matt could also be called "the singing yo yo" because he had a great week this week. He brought the style back to the bluesy Giraud Squad style. Matt is in the middle of an identity crisis and thinks that it is more valuable for him to be multi faceted. But when you are so good at one genre, as Matt is with the bluesy jazz, you need to stick with it. Matt has found himself in the bottom three a couple times to date and if he would prefer to avoid that he NEEDS to stick within his genre and continue to impress. His performance did bring on Paula's stupid comment of the night, "Two words...Standing O!" Oh Paula. I liked Matt's song tonight but I feel like he could have been the one contestant that could have tackled Take On Me by A-Ha. That would have been very impressive.

Adam Lambert - Mad World by Tears for Fears
Adam tapped right into his fan base this week by picking this song, more famously known for being the theme song for Donnie Darko. My DVR cut out so I did not get to see Adam's performance but found it elsewhere online. I was not as impressed with Adam this week as I have been in weeks past. As he was singing the only thing that I could think of was that creepy old man from Family Guy, you know "Hey there muscly arms..." that guy! That's what he sounded like. Adam will inevitably be safer than safe this week but it was not his best performance to date. I'm not sure why Simon gave him the standing o that he did? I think that Adam could have done a cool rendition of Abracadabra by the Steve Miller Band.

Overall Predictions: after the 04/07/2009 performance show

1. Danny Gokey
2. Adam Lambert
3. Allison Iraheta
4. Kris Allen
5. Matt Giraud
6. Anoop Desai
7. Scott MacIntyre
   
8. Lil Rounds - should go home this week, she has officially worn out her welcome