The ringer. This is what she will be known as, despite the fact of two things...
1) Idol contestants with proffessional experience don't necessarily do better (they usually do worse).
2) A lot of contestants have had similar levels of experience as she has. (Including everyone's favorite dumb blonde, Kellie Pickler)
There is no doubting that she is very good. But, there is just something about her that has not clicked as much as it should have. She should be a front runner, she actually may be a front runner but she just doesn't feel like it. She has Simon in her corner, which is a plus. She will definitely be a popular pick in the pool. Plus she slammed Sanjaya! This is a smart girl.
If there is a frontrunner, this is it. David would seem to have it all. He's young, he's likable, he can really, really sing and the judges have embraced him to a ridiculous degree. (The level of hyperbole on him is ridiculous in the judges' comments.) I'm curious if he can live up to the level they have put him at, but then again, he has had one of the more memorable moments in a Top 24 that's been almost devoid of them.
He will be a very popular pick in the pool. With us going to Top 5, if he's not in 85% or more of the picks I'll be shocked. Can a young male idol win the competition? It's never happened, but you have to think he has a shot. Great singer, needs a bit of personality, and not that of a 40 year old man. Will it happen?
One of the better singers in the competition, and a real suprise to me. If you remember, her intital audition had Simon arguing with Paula if she just picked her because she was short and cute. He voice belays her size, and she is one of the few singers of the women who seems like she will do well when we get into the inevitable Diva week (whether it be Motown, Celine Dion, etc.) You know it's coming, and you know she'll do well. She needs her own "You will love me" moment and if she gets that, she's capable of winning the whole thing. (I love the racial mix of the popular singers, Irish, Australian, Spanish (Hondurian actually for David A), Filipino (mixed). It's great.)
She's spent the better part of three weeks now making bad song choices. She needs to step it up, find a niche, and just sing. She may have the best female voice in the competition.
A bit of an enigma. He's somewhat bland, and doesn't seem like he tries that hard, but it doesn't come off as a negative. Very polished, but I think that's to be expected of someone his age. He's probably more consistent than anyone (you could argue one or two others) as he's always at least good if not better. I think he is in the same boat as Ramiele, one great performance and he'll go from the middle of the pack straight to the front. He's one of my three favorites (the others being David and Ramiele) and I hope we'll see a lot of him on the show. Needs to step it up.
If I had to pick a winner based only on audition's and nothing else, I would have picked her. Despite having such a gimmick backstory (Kick Boxing, Horse riding) she came across as totally genuine, she's one of the prettiest contestant's she's ever had, very likable, and just nailed her audtion, it was fantastic. Alas, one cannot live on past glories and since then she's been quite shaky. Can she regain the momentum she went into Hollywood week with? She is seemingly still pretty popular, and having a strong initial fanbase is really important. She's in kind of a catch 22, she probably needs to move toward country and that might make her seem kind of a Carrie (Underwood) wannabe, and kind of boring. We will see. (Note: She is the only idol who doesn't have any other contestants listed as her friends on the site. Interesting...) She is closer to the bottom than the top BUT she does have upside potential. She needs to really be good on the first week of the Top 12. Can she?
Br
ooke White
Hide the R Rated movies, it's Brooke White! As Simon would say, I'm struggling a bit here with Brooke. On the one had, we have a good looking, wholesome folk(?) singer who has been pretty consistent with her performances. On the other hand, we have a bland, boring girl whose insitence on being so wholesome makes her come across as fake at times, just dull at others. So, I'm not sure what is the real deal here. She is someone that, if they get momentum could win the competition. She is also someone who can have one of those bland, not terrible, not great weeks where they just disappear (Apathy is the worst thing that can happen to a contestant.) Very interesting.
Jason has an interesting backstory. He first was on tv as the love interest of Cheyenne on her MTV reality show. (It's as close you can be to being on tv but NOT being on tv, did anyone honestly watch that?) I also think as stylized as he is, he's genuine. What you are seeing is what he is. He's someone who just wants to play his guitar and sing, whether on Idol or elsewhere. I'm not sure he can win (they are already giving him grief over the guitar) but I didn't even think he'd be Top 12 and look where he is. He's an interesting contestant. He's also on an upward curve, which is a great thing. You need to be best later on, not right away. I think he occupies the niche that Brooke should occupy, just a good soulful folksy singer. One of the peopel who I think really has a chance to win.
The rocker for this season. With the success of Chris Daughtry, it was almost a given. He's been real up and down, had his smart ass moment with Simon (a staple of the male singers this year) He hadn't done a lot to distinguish himself so far until the final week, and he is a rocker in a competition where stylewise, we might have a lot of similar singers in the top 12 this year. A great performance can carry you a long way, and in my opinion, he had the best performance this year. I'm curious if it keeps up. Momentum can be a wonderful thing in this competition, for all the contestants I think David is the one with the most on the line during the Top 12. He can be a frontrunner, or forgotten.
This is the bluesy woman for the year who insists on being a rocker and gets more credit than she deserves because rockers in this competition get credit for being "real" and R&B singers do not. (Doubt me? How about Gina Glocksen. Probably by far one of the weaker singers last year, but people complained to death when she got panned and the Diva's did not, even though she had 1/10 of the voice.) Am I being harsh? Yes. Why? Because so far, she's basically chosen songs which had loud guitars, and little vocals. It's still somewhat of a singing competition, correct? I think so far she has gotten by because she is different, but I can't see that getting her any further. I think her ride stops very early in the Top 12.
I notice he is listed by just one name, like ICHIRO or CHER. Why is this? He is one of my least favorite contestant's, he's pretty much consistently rude to the judges (if he was this gorgeous girl instead of a guy the hatred would be HUGE from the fans), his performances have been so-so and he is really just skating by. I don't think he really has any shot to win. If not the weakest of the Top 12, definitely one of the weaker contestants. Sorry Chikezie. I just don't see him doing that well. Lasting to 7 or 8 would be surprising to me.
A lackluster first two weeks, one good week, and a suprise appearance in the Top 12. David is also our scandal ridden contestant for this year. (I'm not touching it though, but Simon did, if you tivo'd the show rewind to the VERY end of David's song and listen closely...) I don't think he's that good, or that interesting, and he's an almost definite out in the first few weeks. That's not a great endorsement, but I just don't see much there, he's just rounding out the Top 12. Surprisingly, some of the early pool entries see him as a contender. I think that's a real stretch.
Let's be honest, Syesha benefited from a great draw in the competition last week. She was one of the two dueling Whiney performances, BUT she was last, and Asia'h was first. It's a universal truth in Idol, if you are going to be ok, but not great, then go last. And absolutely do not go first. But this is ok for us the viewer, because Syesha is not bad at all. She's been real up and down, and her song choice has been suspect, but that describes 80% of our Top 12. She has the vocal gifts to really shine, it's just a matter if she can find out what Syesha is, and not just copy great performances like this week's Whitney attempt.
Very lackluster Top 24 in my opinion. My favorite performance were Ramiele "You don't have to say you Love Me", David Archuletta "Imagine", David Cook "Hello", and Jason Castro "Hallelujah". I don't think I remember much else. I remember Danny being vampy and fun, and people killing him for it. (Note: I don't want to hear people say Idol contestants are boring, because not being vanilla gets you pegged as awful and the next Sanjaya. It can't be both.) We had one very boring if very icky scandal. (Yuck for David Hernandez, sorry.) We also see what a hypocritical bunch the media and the fans are. Remember last year? 18 Year old pretty girl who though she could be a model and posted pictures. "So disguting, horrible, get her out now, I hate her". 21 year old guy strips naked for other guys. "Crickets......". Hmm...
The Top 12 have no real complaints from me. They contain everyone I thought has a chance, and a good mix of styles. No battling diva's this year, and I am totally fine with that. This is actually the most pop group of contestants ever, it really looks like a bunch you could pull an idol from. I think at least 6 people have a legitimate chance to win, and if I had to rank I would rank
1) David A
2) Carly
3) Jason
4) Ramiele
5-7) David, Michael, Brooke (in some order)
8) Kristy
I don't think David H, Chikezie or Amanda factor in at all, spoilers into the top 7 or 8 at best.
Next week is the Lennon and McCartney songbook. I wonder who will be the mentor? I haven't heard at all. I'm excited looking at all the picks coming in, a great variety of opinions. Let the competition begin.
JUAN
