American Idol Season 6

Melinda Doolittle is one of my favorite American Idol contestants: she has a great voice, she sings extremelly well, she is lovable, she is shy with no big ego or attitude. She has been praised by all judges, including Simon, for the greatest talent and very low profile.

She performed great today and should definitively stay in the game. However I have some concerns about her image after tonights performance where she dedicated song to her two best friends. One of them happened to be her voice coach and the other her stylist.

Wow!!! I did not expect her to have such support asuming that she was somewhat lost in the real world. Or was she?

It appears that Melinda Doolittle is slowly but shurely building the image that should take her far in this competition. I am wondiring if this will backfire?

What do you think?

February 27th, 2007

Phil Stacey
I Ain’t Missing You At All – John Waite

I think that Phil has a really amazing voice, and he really impressed me tonight. He did even better than last week. He is definitely a top male in this competition. Paula said that his tone is wonderful. However, Simon found something wrong with it like usual. He warned him not to be ordinary but said he will definitely stay in the competition.

Jared Cotter
A Marvin Gaye song

Jared started out pretty well. He went into a falsetto part which I didn’t think was that good, but he had an overall good performance. It definitely wasn’t perfect, but he did much better than last week. His entertainment value was much better too. Simon said he did a good job, but it sounded a bit cabaret. He impressed me this week, both with his personality and his performance

A.J Tabaldo
You Know How I Feel- Michael Buble

I wasn’t too happy when I heard the beginning of this song. It’s a good song, but I just think it’s a hard song to get the audience excited. However, I felt that he had a lot of potential with the song, but unfortunately he did go off key a few times. His voice really did suit the song though, and I still think he has a very good voice. Simon even said it was good.

Sinjaya Malakar

As soon as he started singing, I thought Oh no. I feel like he didn’t take the judges comments from last week into consideration at all. He sang a song unfamiliar to anyone, and it was quite boring. It almost sounded very young and immature. This isn’t to say his voice isn’t good because it is, but he didn’t commit to the performance. I felt like he didn’t want to be up there. The judges really didn’t like it.

Chris Sligh
Trouble

I was so surprised to see that Chris has a wife. To me he still seems so much younger than he is. When Chris opens his mouth to start singing, I always feel surprised. He has such an interesting tone, and I really like it. I’ve never heard the song that he sang, but I still like him. I thought he did a very good job.

Nick Pedro
Fever - Peggy Lee

I thought as soon as he started he sounded really consistent. I actually do like his voice, and this song really let it shine through. I thought it would be boring, but the performance turned out to be quite good. He did 100 times better than last week. He started better than he finished and rushed a bit in parts, but it was still good. Although, Simon thought he lacked charisma which I thought was partly true.

Blake Lewis

Once again, I thought he chose a really appropriate song for his voice. I’d never heard the song, but I really loved his performance. What was even better is that he dedicated the performance to his parents which was very sweet, and would probably win him a lot of points with the woman voters. He even managed to throw in some beat boxing which was awesome. He completely reminds me of a Maroon 5 sound, and I thought he was amazing! However, Simon actually said he was very disappointed with him, but the other two loved it. My favorite by far.

Brandon Rogers
Time after time – Cyndi Lauper

The first note that came out of his moment was very shaky. I’m not sure if it’s because he was nervous or not. This is a really amazing song, and I think he had potential, but he didn’t quite do justice. It just didn’t really go anywhere exciting. The judges didn’t really like it.

Chris Richardson

I thought he had an interesting song choice. I had never heard the song before he sang it, but I thought it was a good choice. He has one of those voices that I think is complete record material. He sounded so awesome. Randy said it was even “hotter than the original.” Simon said it was the best tonight by a mile. He and Blake are my favorite. I hope that they both go very far in the competition.

Sundance Head
Mustang Sally – Wilson Pickett

His video clip was very endearing. His child was just born shortly ago, and he was saying how its really hard to miss his first year. I knew this song was going to be so much better for him than the other songs he’s been singing lately. He did 100% better than last week, and he finally proved to America that he can actually sing. Needless to say, the judges loved the improvement.

It is so hard to predict who will be voted out this week. They all improved a lot, but if I had to say, I think it would be A.J Tabaldo, and Sinjaya Malakar. Sinjaya wasn’t even close to being in the same class as everyone else. Another person I wouldn’t mind seeing leave is Brandon Rogers. Those were the bottom three tonight in my opinion.

 February 22nd, 2007

Ryan Seacrest mentioned some stars that would be on this season of American Idol. They are:

Diana Ross
Jon Bon Jovi
Jennifer Lopez
Gwen Stefani
Tony Benet
Martina McBride
Lulu and Peter Noone
Barry Gibb

For the first bit of the show, they just showed a recap of the previous two nights. Then the contestants sang a song medley together. I thought they chose a terrible song to do a group performance too. All of the singers sounded pretty decent, but the song was boring and it didn’t give them a chance to really shine. Some of the male-female harmonies sounded horrible. Usually I enjoy the group performance, but this was just border line embarrassing for the contestants.

Finally, they advanced to the elimination. This week, four people will leave in total, with two girls and two boys each. The first guy to be eliminated was Paul Kim. I was happy with this decision. There were quite a few guys that I thought deserved to go, and he was one of them. They let him sing for one last time on the stage. I felt a bit bad because I think that with the right song choice, he wouldn’t have gone first. He does have a good voice, but he just chose the complete wrong song to show America his talent.

The first girl to be voted off was Amy Krebs. I thought that was a fair decision because she didn’t give a memorable performance. I was fine with this decision too. I didn’t ever think she was going to make it very far.

In between the eliminations, Fanatsia Burrino, came out to perform. She was the American Idol winner of Season 3, but I haven’t really heard about her since she won. I didn’t even know she was still singing. She announced that she would be starring in the Broadway play “The Colour Purple.”

The final girl to go home was Nicole Tranquillo. I was very glad to see her go. She seems like a sweet girl, but I really didn’t like her singing voice. She sang again, just like the other eliminated singers. Everyone who has sang tonight has sounded terrible hence the reason they are going home.

The final male to be eliminated  was Rudy Cardenas. It was between him and Sinjaya, and they said that Sinjaya was in the top four male contestants. Rudy seemed very bitter that he was going home, especially when Simon insulted him for a final time. I was actually surprised that America chose him to go home, because to me, there were other guys that sang worse than him. He didn’t give his best performance on Tuesday, but it was certainly better than some of the others.

Lately the Internet was flooded with controversial pictures of American Idol’s hot contestant Antonella Barba, one of them even shown below.

Many blogs and web sites use shocking words as nude, bitchy, lusty, topless, naked, obscene and so on just to get atention. Some of them suggested for the New Jersey contestant to be voted off just because of pictures.

My advise is to leave the girl alone. Pictures were taken years before the American Idol competition. They were not fabricated, and they were not extreme. Antonella Barba is young, hot and alive. She lives the life and why not. Pictures do not reveal any private party, they are not topless or nude. At the same token there is nothing wrong in going topless. It is so common in many parts of the world, civilized too as Europe. Leave Antonella alone.

These pictures were not intended for the public and I should not post them here. The only reason for sharing one of them is to show my point: normal picture of young galls on the beach. They happen to enjoy sun tanning topless, so what.

Leave Antonella Barba alone: she has a great voice and sings well. Isn’t American Idol about singing competition. Being a little crazy at young age should not have any consequences on American Idol contestants competition outcome.

And a word of warning: it s so easy to get unwanted exposure on the Internet. Don’t get embarrassed in the public if you cannot handle it. Antonella Barba has no reason to be ashamed of, or embarrassed with her holiday enjoyment. Let her sing.

The first four conestants eliminated from American Idol season six, based on America’s vote, are

* Paul Kim
* Amy Krebs
* Rudy Cardenas
* Nicole Tranquillo

February 21st/2007

For tonight’s show, I was hoping that the girls would be a bit more entertaining than the guys last night. It wasn’t like last night was terrible, but it just wasn’t anything special. Just as the night before, they did another video montage of the top 12 girls.

Stephanie Edwards
From her video, you can see that she is a very sweet and modest girl, with a very big talent. I think she will do well with the viewers because she is relatable. She was definitely a good way to start off the show. Just from her performance, I could tell that the night was destined to be better than the guys. I really like her, and I’m excited to see what she does in the future. The judges loved her.

Amy Krebs
She was another girl I hadn’t really seen through-out the competition. She sang a ballad this show, which I thought was a bit risky. In my opinion, the only way you should sing a ballad on the first show is if you can more than pull it off. She wasn’t too bad. Her voice was decent, but again, the performance was a bit boring, and I think the song seemed big for her. I can’t see her getting a lot of votes with a performance like that.

Leslie Hunt
Natural Woman-Aretha Franklin
As soon as I found out she was singing this song, I thought it was a big mistake. Natural Woman is such a classic, and I don’t think it should be tackled by anyone less than perfect. I actually found the whole performance a bit weird. I think she tried to make it more entertaining, but it came off as wierd. Randy said that the song was a bit too big for her, which I completely agree with. She, like Amy Krebs, probably won’t get many votes because they were unforgettable. It was actually weird because Simon then stated my exact point…that she looked a bit uncomfortable on stage.

Sabrina Sloan
I had never seen her before actually, but seeing her original audition tape, she sounded very good. Her performance was sassy and entertaining, which I thought was really good. She is one of them that would grab the viewer’s attention, although she could show a bit more personality when she isn’t on stage. Overall, I was happily surprised with her performance. She has a lot of potential.

Antonella Barba
I Don’t Wanna Miss a thing- Aerosmith
She had originally auditioned with her best friend, and they both had made it all the way to Hollywood. Unfortunately her friend was cut, and she made it through. They have showed her a lot through-out the competition, and from what I have seen, she isn’t quite ready for this competition. She showed everyone that today when her performance was pretty rough. She is a very pretty girl, which I think will keep her in the competition for a bit longer, but her singing was just not good. The judges all agreed that it wasn’t up to par. Paula even had trouble finding something good to say about it.

Update: Antonella Barba’s hot pictures on the net should not affect voting outcome

Jordin Sparks
She is only 17 years old which I find hard to believe. I have been a big fan of hers for the past while. I think she is outstanding for her age, and will go very far in the competition. She is a contestant that you don’t really have to worry about, because she doesn’t goo off key; You can just sit and enjoy her performance. She did a good job tonight, and she picked a suitable song.

Nicole Tranquillo
I don’t know a lot about Nicole, but I wasn’t expecting too much out of her performance. As soon as she started, I thought the whole thing was weird. Her voice was very different, and I didn’t like it. It wasn’t a voice that is soothing, but it was instead the exact opposite. I don’t think she will go too far in the competition. This isn’t to say she doesn’t have a voice, but it just wasn’t my type I guess. Needless to say, the judges really didn’t like it.

Haley Scarnato
All Coming Back to Me- Celine Dion
Simon had previously called Haley cabaret which I thought was pretty accurate. She seems like a very kind and hardworking person. I wasn’t happy with her song choice at all. I thought it was a bit cheesy and predictable. Like some of the others, the song was too big for her. I just don’t see Celine Dion getting her a lot of votes.

Melinda Doolittle
Coming into this performance, I wasn’t completely sold on her. I find that she has a bit of a lisp, and I wasn’t impressed with her yet. However, her performance was above average. I loved her after seeing her performance. What makes her so appealing is her modesty. She loves to sing, and that’s what makes the show exciting. I predict that she will do very will in the competition. The judges loved her.

Alaina Alexander
From the few times that I’ve seen Alaina sing, I wasn’t crazy about her voice. She has a good personality, and is very passionate about singing, but she isn’t ready for the competition. She definitely chose the wrong song, and started out poorly. From there, it just didn’t get any better, and it made me question why the judges put her there in the fist place. I think she would be a good person to eliminate this week. I don’t say this a lot, but it was almost excruciating.

Gina Glocksen
All By Myself- Celine Dion
I’m not sure if it is just me, but I don’t get a good vibe from Gina. She hasn’t really ever done anything to make me think that she is amazing. It seems to me like she fakes her sincerity. Her performance was decent, but I have a feeling that the viewers won’t take a great liking to her. It was an okay performance, as Simon said.

Lakisha Jones
She is by far one of my favorite female contestants. Her personality is so vivacious when she sings, that you can’t help but like her. She is another girl who is modest for such a big talent. The best thing is that it isn’t just her singing that is captivating, it’s her whole general aura that is exciting. If people don’t vote for her, they are insane. It’s safe to say that all three judges agreed she was in a completely different league than all of the other competitors.

My prediction for this week is that Leslie Hunt and Nicole Tranquillo will be eliminated this week. Now, this is based on what I think America will do. If it was solely based on talent, Antonella and Alaina should go.

February 20th/2007

The top 12 boys sang tonight. Two girls and boys will be cut every Thursday night, so tune in for the elimination show as well!

At first, they showed a video montage of the top 12 guy’s prelim auditions, just so that the viewers could get a closer look at the idol hopefuls.

Rudy Cardenas
Simon really didn’t like Rudy in his first audition, saying that he was too typical. Tonight, he is singing more of an upbeat song. I find that he doesn’t really pronounce his words, which was a big distraction for me. Aside from his slurring quality, he did have a decent voice. I didn’t notice him go off tune a lot. He hasn’t really been my favorite throughout the competition, and tonight didn’t change my perspective of him. The judges weren’t too impressed, with Randy saying that the performance was a bit too corny for him. Also, Simon said that he doesn’t have a unique voice, and that his performance was forgettable.

Brandon Rogers
Rock the Night Away- Michael Jackson
Brandon was a back-up singer for artists such as Christina Aguilera and Justin Timberlake. I didn’t really have too much to say about his performance. It wasn’t amazing, and it wasn’t bad…It was just okay. Randy made a good suggestion that he should stick more to the melody of the song, and eliminate some of his runs. Simon said that he believed he was better than that.

Sundance Head
He did amazing in his very first audition with the judges, but had a lot of trouble with the Hollywood auditions. I had a lot of hope for Sundance because of his first audition, but tonight I just don’t think he cut it. I think the whole American Idol process made him abandon the type of music he really loves, which Randy stated. The judges suggested that he go back to his “blues” roots.

Paul Kim
I thought that Paul’s song choice was really poor. It didn’t suit him at all, and I think it was in too low of a register for him. He went into a falsetto part, and was completely off key the whole time. I really liked him in his first audition, but I thought that this performance was just a wreck. I found it interesting to discover that he always wears bare feet when he sings. To me, that seems like a desperate (and weird) attempt to get attention.

Chris Robinson
Next up was Chris Robinson (aka the Justin Timberlake sound-alike). I think his amazing voice definitely shined through tonight. He changed the melody up a bit, but it actually worked so much better than you would expect. He got the audience standing up, and it was a very high energy performance. He received both praise and constructive criticism from the judges.

Nick Pedro
Nick has a much softer tone than the other male contestants. He had made it all the way to Hollywood last year, but voluntarily dropped out due to the extreme pressure. Personally, I don’t really like his tone, but I was hoping tonight that maybe he would impress me. He was the first guy tonight who chose to sing a ballad, and I think he did quite well. He wasn’t in tune for every note, but he was decent. However, I don’t think the audience will take much appreciation to it, because it was quite boring. Simon actually gave him some encouragement, saying that he believed he had a good voice.

Blake Lewis
Blake Lewis, who I call the beat boxer of the competition, was next, and I was really interested to see him tonight because I’ve never really him sing. As soon as he started to sing, I knew I liked him. He has a voice unlike any of the other competitors, and I think he chose a song that suited his voice really well. However, just like most of the other contestants, I noticed him go off key once or twice. His tone reminds me of a Maroon 5 sound. Overall, I thought he did a very good job. Simon said it was the best performance of the night so far.

Sinjaya Malakar
He is seventeen year old who just finished high school. I think that Sinjaya still has a bit more maturing to do before he can be a professional singer. He does have a really nice voice to listen to, but once again, his performance was quite boring. The judges cut him down a lot. You can’t help but feel bad for him.

Chris Sligh
When I saw that his age was 28, I couldn’t even believe it. He looks so much younger than that, and also, I think he seems younger because of his personality. He is very witty, and has a great personality, which I think will get him a lot of votes. I think he chose a really good song for his voice, and did a solid job.

Jared Cotter
The viewers haven’t really had a chance to see Jared yet, so this is his one chance to wow the audience. As soon as he started singing, I was upset with his song choice. It is just so typical, and it lead to a boring performance. It would be really hard to make this song amazing. I don’t think he will get too many votes, and for the ones he does, it will be based more on looks than singing talent. He was ok.

A.J. Tabaldo
A.J. was another competitor we haven’t really seen too much of. He had auditioned the year before also, and had made it to the first round of Hollywood week. He seems like a very nice guy, but once again, I think it was another wrong song choice. However, I thought he managed to pull it off. As Randy said, vocally it was quite good, but it just wasn’t anything too special.

Phil Stacey
The last singer of the night is Phil Stacey. He is one of my favorite guy contestants, and I think he will go pretty far in the competition. I think he has really improved through-out the competition, and that’s important. I must admit, he started off a bit rough, but I thought that he had an overall good performance. He can defiantly sing, and his voice is one of those tones that is just really good to listen to.

This is a hard prediction, as none of them blew me way. Based on America’s votes though, I think that Sinjaya and A.J. will go, but it’s really too close to call.

Hollywood Week show #2, February 14th

The contestants are brought up one by one to talk to the judges individually. Previously, the judges have reviewed the tapes and have made their final decisions. I can’t imagine how nerve racking this would be for the contestants as it is a constant waiting process. They wait downstairs, wait in the elevator ride up, and wait for the judge’s comments.  I know I would just prefer for them to rip off the band aid.

The first contestant, Sanjaya, had made it through the previous round without his sister, as she had just been cut. He was overjoyed to discover that he had made it through to the top 24. Some people took rejection well, but others didn’t. One girl even argued with the judge’s decision, and believed they should have put her through because she was tall.

I have to say, Paula’s hairstyle was not working well today. It kind of looked like a wig.

It was good to see that two singers, Melinda Doolittle and Brandon Rogers, made it through because they had both previously been back-up singers. Another contestant, Gina, had made it all the way through to group competitions in Hollywood last year but had been cut. However, it was finally her turn to make it through.

One guy I was really rooting for was a guy who had missed his baby’s birth for his prelim audition. I really liked his voice, and noticed he sounded very good in the Hollywood week. Fortunately, he made it through

They showed some clips of events during Hollywood week that we didn’t know had happened. It turns out, it wasn’t all hard times for the guys, as they were taken to a special screening of the new Simpson’s movie, coming out on July 27th. They then got a special tour of the studio where the Simpson’s episodes are created.

One of my favorite contestants, based not on singing talent, but on personality is Chris Sligh. I remember him making me laugh in his prelim audition, and he did it again today. He is just a fun guy, with a decent voice, and for that reason, I couldn’t see them cutting him, and they didn’t.

One thing I found very interesting was when they put through Blake Lewis, the beat boxer of the competition. They had never given us a chance to hear his actual singing voice, so I figured he was only there because he was such a good beat boxer. However, it was surprising and exciting to see that apparently he does have a very good voice, and he made it through.

Nick Pedro, and A.J. Tabaldo had both previously made it through to Hollywood week, but never made it passed there. Luckily for them, it was their year and they both made it through. One guy I hadn’t ever seen before really blew me away. He was one of my favorite guys so far, and his name was Jared Cotter.

There is one contestant who completely reminds me of Justin Timberlake, and his name is Chris Richardson. It’s a good thing he made it through, because there can never be too many Justin Timberlakes.

Look out for your top 24:

Sanjay Malakar
Melinda Doolittle
Brandon Rogers
Gina Glocksen
Haley Scarnato
Philip Stacy
Chris Sligh
Blake Lewis
Rudy Cardenas
Paul Kim
Jordin Sparks
A.J. Tabaldo
Stephanie Edwards
Leslie Hunt
Nick Pedro
Alaina Alexander
Chris Richardson
Sabrina Sloan
Lakisha Jones
Nicole Tranquillo
Jared Cotter
Amy Krebs
Antonella Barba
Sundance Head

1st day of Hollywood Auditions, February 13th

The first day of Hollywood week is used for the girl’s auditions, with the boys following the next day. Ryan Seacrest explains to viewers that six girls will be taken back stage at a time. They will each perform for about 30 seconds, and based on that performance, they will be sent home, or sent through. The day began extremely rough as the first six singers were immediately sent home. This came with a warning from Simon saying that the girls had to be original and creative. This made the girls extra nervous, as they waited for their turn to sing.

Throughout this week, they always follow-up on some of the people they showed in the prelims. I was surprised to see that a lot of people I liked were cut in the first round of Hollywood week. The day ended on an annoying note as a contestant, Nicole Turner, was cut from the competition. Before she took the stage, she had been telling the camera about her debate on song choice. She wanted to sing a song she liked, but her mother and aunt wanted her to sing another one. To make this short, she chose the wrong song, and blamed the whole thing on her mother, causing her mother to then go on stage and beg the judges to let her daughter through. Needless to say, her plea did not work, and Nicole was sent home. 56 out of 114 girls were sent home just on the very first day.

On the second day Randy said that “The boys are starting way ahead of the girls.” There was one guy from the prelims who had parents that didn’t support him. However, after he made it through the first round, he cried because his mother was finally proud of him. I was happy to see him make it through the first day of Hollywood so that he could make another happy phone call to his mother. 34 guys made it through to the next round out of 54, a significantly smaller amount than the girls

Immediately after the guys finished, the group collaborations began. This year, the groups were given a lot of freedom, in that anyone could go with anyone. For the most part, genders stayed with their same genders, but occasionally there were some co-ed groups. For the remainder of the night, the contestants dedicated their time to making their group performances impeccable. Some groups didn’t get off to the best start and were up late into the night practicing for what seemed like a hopeless cause. Other groups were in bed at a reasonable hour, confident with tomorrow’s performance.

Once again, Simon makes the contestants more nervous by reminding them how important it is for them not to forget their words. I felt so bad when the boy, who made his parents proud, got cut, because he called his mom who then hung up on him. That is completely terrible. Some groups shined more than others such as a group of four guys who harmonized with a beat boxer.

The final stage of this show was the separation of contestants into rooms. The judges take some time to themselves, and using Polaroid’s of the contestants, decide who will be cut, and who won’t. From there, they separate the winners from the losers into separate rooms, and visit each room. In all, 40 people made it through to the next round, with another 16 being cut the next day.

The pretty Texan teenager, Robyn Troup, celebrated her 19th birthday singing with Justin Timberlake at 2007 Grammy awards night. In an interview before the announcement was made, Troup told The Houston Chronicle that she actually tried out for American Idol this year. Here’s the excerpt.”I actually did American Idol. I can’t really talk about it. You just have to watch this season.”

Here is the video of her singing performance at Grammy’s:

While great at Grammy’s, she did not pass the American Idol audition and did not make to final 24. It seems that American Idol is getting bigger than Grammy…

Is it possible?