American Idol Season 6

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?

Seated L-R : Blake Lewis, Alaina Alexander, AJ Tabaldo, Haley Scarnato, Stephanie Edwards and Sabrina Sloan. 2nd row L-R: Gina Glocksen, Melinda Doolittle, Leslie Hunt, Lakisha Jones, Nick Pedro, Amy Krebs and Sundance Head. 3rd row L-R: Sanjaya Malakar, Brandon Rogers, Nicole Tranquillo, Antonella Barba, Chris Richardson and Chris Sligh. Top row - L-R: Rudy Cardenas, Phil Stacey, Paul Kim, Jared Cotter and Jordin Sparks.

February 7th. Show #7

This show included good singers, bad singers, terrible dressers, and excruciating dancers.

The first girl they showed wore black and white checkered pants, some sort of veil, a pink shawl of some sort, and one black and one white glove. Plus her singing was extremely weird.

One woman I really liked was Tami Gosnell. She had a very bold and defined voice. She was definitely very good, and I think she will go very far in the competition. Also with a unique and “smokey” voice, was Paul Kim. He reminded me of a celebrity, but I couldn’t quite pin point it. However, he was almost too boy band-ish, but was still amazing.

This time, the video montage was of the judge’s fans…or non-fans. There was a very cute one named Edward who loved Paula. He wasn’t a good singer, but was so happy that he got to meet Paula, he didn’t even care.

There were three girls that auditioned together, which I thought was a very bad idea. They worked together as roller skating waitresses. One of them accidentally referred to Paula as “motherly.” It was really funny, and lightened the mood. I felt bad for the one girl because two of them made it. But they all seemed happy so it was okay. Ebony Jointer, who’s modeling picture is shown here, is one of the three roller-girls that made to Hollywood.

Basically this show was just a look back at some of the greatest and worst moments of the season so far. At the end, they showed some clips for next week, which begins “Hollywood week.” In all, 172 people have made it through to Hollywood. Next week looks extremely tough, and I just hope that some of the people I liked will make it through.

 San Antonio, Texas

February 6th. Show #7

This is American Idol’s last stop on the tour for the year. The line to audition seemed much longer this show as it was the last chance for contestants to audition. Unfortunately for the judges, the first contestant didn’t have a voice which you would wish to hear early in the morning. He claimed that he had won a “mock” American Idol competition, but he basically yelled the entire time. It hurt my ears.

 Another contestant, Jasmine Holland, kept Simon laughing through out her whole audition. Her mother said that she had been in the gospel choir since she was 7, but she was just terrible. After the audition her mother pointed out that Simon should go back to “French or British or wherever he was from.” She actually called the countries by French and British. I thought that was hilarious.

 One girl who did make it through was sixteen year old Baylie Brown. She was interesting because she came from a very small town, but wasn’t a typical country girl. I didn’t think she was that amazing. She could have had better control, but she definitely had a voice. Although, I think her song choice, “Stronger” by Faith Hill, was not a very good one. Simon said that she was a complete pop star, but didn’t have a perfect voice right yet. Needless to say, they let it through.

 They did a video montage of people attempting to exit the audition room. There were two doors leading out of the audition room, and they were making fun of how many people chose the wrong one. Some of them even took running starts towards it. It was really funny.

 My favorite contestant of the show was Akron Watson. At first he sang Sam Cooke “A Change is Gunna come,” but Simon said that his personality was lacking. Paula challenged him to prove to Simon that he was wrong, so he sang again. I was so happy because it was like he was a completely different person. I’m looking forward to seeing him in Hollywood…he just seemed very sweet.

 One girl completely ruined the song “Black Velvet.” As Simon said it was “literally like some language I’ve never heard in my life.” Then he made her cry by asking her if it was serious. She literally was the worst singer I have ever heard. It was just so weird.

 Overall, there were a few good contestants who made it through to Hollywood from this show.

Olivia Newton John, lead actress of the movie “Grease,” was a special judge on today’s panel.

Hollywood Audition

January 31, 2007. Audition day #6

The first contestant set high goals for himself as he planned o be an athlete, singer, dancer, composer, author, actor, model, songwriter and rapper (and probably more I just didn’t have time to type.) Apparently he was capable of doing anything, which he proved by showing his embarrassing imitation of a panther. To top it off, he gave himself the nickname of ECCENTRIC, claiming that he had the fire of three men. He seemed quite proud of himself on the whole, even saying that he was the most exciting entertainer on earth. I found him quite humorous.

As Ryan Seacrest said, Hollywood was turning “Hollywierd,” complete with a girl riding a blown up horse, and a guy dressed up as a banana. There was also a girl who got down on her knees and cried to the judges to let her through. She was terrible, and made weird faces while she was singing. I thought it was over, but then it got worse when she came back into the room with her mom to beg some more. I felt like I should feel sorry for her, but she was just annoying.

I got excited when Brandon Rogers came on the TV. I was sure he would be good because he had been a backup singer for the last 4 years and even sang back up for Christina Aguilera. I don’t think he picked the best song possible, but he did an extremely good job. He was honest, and very likable, and every one of the judges loved him.

A 64 year old man came to audition with a petition holding 330 signatures of people who were against the age limit of American Idol. He began the petition with his wife, and continued it for his wife after she passed away. He said it would light her up to see him come home with more signatures, and that he did it all for her. It was a very emotional story. She had passed away from cancer just two days before the audition. Even though he wasn’t the best singer, it didn’t matter, because he sang the song “You Belong To Me” for his wife, and it was the most touching moment on American Idol this season. He was a very kind and warm spirited person

One contestant got all of the judges laughing with his high-pitched interpretation of Hilary Duff. The situation became funnier when Simon discovered he had trained with Paula and Randy’s “Learn to Sing like the Stars” video. Simon thought this was hilarious and chased after to find him.

The judges made it sound like there were many hopefuls coming from L.A, with Simon saying that the winner could quite possibly come from Hollywood.

American Idol audition in LA started very werd with a guy who tok time to take his shirt off, make weird sounds, meow, run around the floor….. but no singing.

When interupted by Simon to get to the point and … well .. start singing, the contestant just repeated his cat performance with absolutely no words or lyrcs.

No need to say that he got four quick NOs.

And then the audition continued with even more weird contstants and beging from
… Mariana to get another chance.

Nobody takes NO as answer in LA. We’ve heard every possible exuse and plead for another chance.

The judges arrived in Birmingham Alabama to a very friendly welcome. Once again, the first contestant was an unusual one, which I thought was really ironic because she was studying Biological sciences. You would think people like that would be smart enough to realize that they are tone deaf. Paula left the table because she couldn’t take her singing.

Tatiana McConnico, a 17 year old competitor, was extremely mature for her age. When she sang, she looked and sounded 10 years older than she is. Randy loved her and said she was a complete natural.

 One of my favorite tones yet was Bernard Williams who sang a Michael Jackson song called “Rock with You.” You don’t hear very many people sing Michael and do it well. Although I found it extremely odd when Paula said he had a nice tone but was off key. Simon loved him though, so I was confused as to what Paula was talking about.

 
A very interesting woman, Margaret, claimed that she was the age of 26, when she later admitted to being 50. She wore a huge yellow jacket, yellow pants, and was often compared in the show to the Big Bird from Sesame Street.

 They did a little interview with a girl who takes care of her paralyzed father. At first, the story seemed very sincere and innocent, but then it got really weird when she admitted that he shot himself in the neck because he found his wife cheating on him. AND then she adds more by saying that he also shot his wife and then himself. It was really puzzling. She ended up getting through to the next round with the suggestion to work on her voice.

 There was a guy named Chris Sligh who looked a bit like Jack Osborne He was one of the funniest guys that has been on all of the seasons of American Idol. He cracked a couple jokes saying he most compared his body type to Christina Aguilera, and then made a comment on how most people who say they don’t really sound like anyone just suck. He doesn’t exactly look like an American Idol, but I think it is a good thing to have someone different…plus he had a very good voice. Paula was very excited throughout the whole thing, and stood up and clapped at the end, for which Simon gave her a roll of the eyes.

 The second half of the show was carried on without Paula as she had a family obligation. This part even had a mother and a daughter both with their hair to the floor. It was so crazy. I couldn’t help but think that they only put her through the very first audition so that everyone would see her hair on TV. She wasn’t too bad, but didn’t make it through to Hollywood.

 I thought I had heard all of the excuses possible until one girl blamed her bad audition, and terrible singing voice, on the floor. THE FLOOR!! So they let her sing on the carpet, and she sounded even worse. All in all, 20 contestants went through to Hollywood from Birmingham, Alabama.

This day’s audition was in New York City, which has yet to produce an American Idol. New York was definitely a big adventure. Carol Bayer Sager, a legendary song writer, was on the judging panel today. She has worked with singers such as Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder and Barbara Streisand.

Ian Benardo was the first contestant today. If you ever watched “So You Think You Can Dance,” he was one of the crazy contestants who called Nigel a “British piece of crap.” He has perhaps the biggest New York accent I’ve ever heard, and sang the song “Gloria.” I’m not really sure anyone could understand that it was actually the song Gloria. Simon did the wrong thing by insulting him, because some of us know from “So You Think You Can Dance,” that he doesn’t take criticism well. Security actually had to take him away, which then lead to more of his ranting outside of the audition room.

There were two best friends Antonella and Amanda. They were really quite ditsy and typical teenage girls, but using effective editing, their ditsy-ness was hilarious. They were both quite pretty, which I think Simon liked. When they sang as a duet, Simon and Randy criticized them, but as individuals they both made it through. In my opinion, Antonella was definitely better than Amanda.

A man, named Clifton Biddle thought it would be a good idea to stomp while he sang the song Tush by ZZ Tops. It looked ridiculous, especially when he started adding clapping to the stomping, and with no rhythm at all I might add. However, he was very good at playing the harmonica.

The final contestant of day one in New York was a woman who Simon spoke very highly of, although I really didn’t like her. It sounded like she was screaming the lyrics rather than singing them.
 
Simon didn’t make it to the beginning of day two in New York, which Ryan blamed on his “singing hang over.” However, it was stated later by a contestant that the judges had apparently been out the night before “drinking until 3 a.m.”

The first contestant (Jenry Bejarano) of day two will definitely be a heart throb though-out the competition. He was adopted at a young age, and seems like a really amazing guy. He sang “I’d give anything to fall in love,” and sang it very naturally. I predict that he will make it very far, considering girls usually vote for the good looking guys. I couldn’t believe it when they said he was only sixteen years old. You could tell that Paula had a little crush on him as she said he was “easy on the eyes.”

I think its safe to say that this show hosted some of the weirdest contestants, one of which was Sarah. She was by far the most insane person they have showed on this season of American Idol. I think there is definitely something really wrong with her, as she seemed to have a split personality. She kind of scared me because she’d yell at the judges and even told Randy to shut up. It was just so weird.

One man even sang “New York, New York,” but instead of saying New York, he pronounces it as New YORE. Speaking of mispronunciations, they did a segment of Randy, Simon and Paula saying people’s names wrong. It was especially funny when Simon called a girl Ping Pong. He can be very comical.

There was a contestant on last season who dropped out of the competition during the Hollywood week, but he was back for the season, and lucky for him, he made it through again.

A girl, Isadora, sang Moulin Rouge, but instead of singing it normally, she sang the whole song sounding like she was doing something very sexual. It was one of the weirdest interpretations of a song I’ve ever heard. It was just uncomfortable.