Legion World Forums LEGION COMPANION The Anywhere Machine American Idol

Wow, this is hard. I guess I should start with who's not going home. Definitely,

Mandissa - She blew me away and she may very well be the next American Idol. I'll bet the producers of the Dream Girls movie could have cast her over Jennifer Hudson in the lead role.

Kellie Pickler - she's hot and sexy and the best actress of the bunch. No way this girl is the little country bumpkin she pretends to be. She's competed in beauty contests - Miss North Carolina (remind me to post some pictures of it that I found) is the one I know of. Don't get me wrong, I like this girl, but I don't believe the schtick.

Katherine - besides being the most beautiful girl here, she's got the most musical voice. She needs help in choosing the right material to showcase her talent, though. She's a performer and regardless of the outcome of this competition, she will have a successful career in music.

Lisa - AI's perfect little Hilary Duff. She's so perfect that I don't know why Disney hasn't signed her already. I see teen movies in her future.

The rest

Melissa - I want her to stay after tonight's performance. She's a rock chick and she does it well. I really liked her attitude tonight and loved her performance. I don't know if any of you caught INXS Rockstar last summer (it was an incredible show) but I see Melissa fitting in better there than in American Idol.

Ayla - I'm on the fence about her. If she makes it through, she really has to do something great next week.

Kinnick - ok, I'm in a minority here, but I like her. I've liked everything she's done. I have this suspicion that her looks are what people are objecting too. She's a little harsh looking, but she's a real sweetheart. I really want her to make the top six.

Paris - arguably the most talented of the bunch. Why do I have her at the bottom? Because she's refused to do what she's good at. She's refused to showcase that incredible jazz voice she exhibited in her audition. Paris is not cool. She's a weird little kid. BUT, if she were to take advantage of her weirdness and her incredible quirky talent ('cause jazz is quirky) she'd have this contest wrapped around her baby finger. Unfortunately, she's not done this. I think she might go this week. (And why did she wear jeans under that dress. She was doing a latin nightclub number. The dress fit, but the jeans just showed insecurity.)

So, who will go. I really don't want any of them to go, because I want to see what else they can do. But, I thinking it will be Ayla and Kinnick or maybe Melissa instead of one of them. Although, I wouldn't be sad to Paris go. (She'll have a career one day, no doubt. Maybe she has to grow some first.)

I've listened to mp3's of most if not all of the previous performances that I missed, and I got to see tonight's show...

There's no denying a performance like Mandisa's. She has superstar written all over her.

Kelly Pickler was next most interesting. She sings very well and is totally adorable in the candid moments.

Katherine was really good. I see her as the leading lady in so many roles, probably more Broadway or Disney roles. Can't you just see her as Belle in Beauty and the Beast?

Lisa sang her song really well and I have to disagree with the judges about her song choices. She sings songs that sound good coming out of her. There's nothing wrong with that.

Ayla's performance was kind of disjointed. It wasn't smooth and perfect. I mean, if you only have two minutes to show what you're made of, it's not a time to experiment. I love that song, but it didn't wow me. The girl is cute, though.

Melissa just seemed like any other girl lead singer of a band on the road, to me. Nothing wrong with her, but she doesn't have the "it" factor.

Kinnick is smokin' hot, but I'm afraid her skills don't match up with her ambitions.

Paris did not impress me at all. I realize that she's very talented, but her song choices should be showcases and they're not. Kelly and Fantasia *always* sang songs that showed what they were made of, on this show.

Mandisa totally rocked!

I loved Melissa, her voice reminds me of Jessica Sierra from last season. I think she deserves a slot in the Top 12 at least.

Katharine had a great voice and brought the stage to life.

I think Kellie was a lot of fun, and Lisa was good but a bit boring.

Paris and Ayla were both okay, but I didn't really like either THAT much.

And poor Kinnik just messed up towards the end.

I really didn't like any of them. None of them really captured my interest. Mandisa was the only one that I perked up a little bit, but other wise everything was pretty blah.

I watched the guys last week and none of them were really that good.

I'm looking forward to tonight's show. I can't wait to see what Elliott and Chris sing. I hope Gedeon maintains.

I never do this, but my early prediction for top 4...
4. Pickler
3. Elliott
2. Mandisa
1. Chris

We'll see!

I'm amazed by those of you who don't like the guys. I think they're all massively talented-- and tonight's show was excellent, excellent, excellent! And this is coming from someone who has generally always preferred female singers!


GEDEON was amazing;

CHRIS could start his own band tomorrow and go triple platinum;

KEVIN is going to appeal to younger & older fans;

BUCKY was hot hot hot;

WILL was havin' a lot of fun;

TAYLOR is what singers aspire to be;

ELLIOTT I want to marry;

and ACE has won me over!

*Whew!* It's going to be VERY tough losing 2 of these guys tomorrow night!

Ace and Chris have their legions of chick fans to vote for them, and Taylor seems to be a lock, so I'm going to concentrate voting on Bucky and Elliott tonight because I'd be very upset to lose either of them!

Though my instincts tell me that Kevin and Will will go tomorrow (and I am NOT saying they deserve to), I can't help but fear for Bucky and Elliott because they don't have that whole typical "prettyboy" thing going on (though *I* think they're PLENTY pretty! YUM!)

Tomorrow night is going to be a nailbiter.

Lash, your review has me drooling (metaphorically) with anticipation. I can hardly wait to see the show tonight. Just a little over an hour to go.

Semi, I can honestly say (for me and my family) there wasn't a single performance less than very, very good, and most were excellent-to-amazing.

(Although Simon disagrees with me-- he was less than taken with Chris, Kevin, Bucky, Will, Elliott AND Ace tonight; his favorites were Gedeon and Taylor)

And to give the other jusges equal time:

Randy liked all but Will, while Paula agreed with me that ALL the guys were on FIRE tonight!

Huh...was this on tonight? Oh yeah, I did see it. I guess I must have been in a less charitable mood, but I thought *NONE* of them were that great tonight, not even my faves, Eliott and Chris. Song choice boys!! It's all about song choice!

Two Buckys--made my head wanna explode. Twin bro was cuter tho.

Kevin---glee club solo--and not a GOOD glee club.

Taylor--yep, still creepy. The big rabbit suit didn't help.

Wow! I agree with Lash. This was a wonderful night of performances.

The best--- Elliot. Finally a song that showed his range and his perfect pitch (I don't that for a fact, 'cause I don't have perfect pitch, but allow me literary license. ) Absolutely wonderful. Elliot has won me over.

Next, Bucky impressed me the most. I kept thinking Bob Seeger. I'd love Bucky to do some of the great Bob Seeger and the Silver Bullet Band tunes. I quickly went to my iTunes collection and selected the following for Bucky: Against the Wind; You'll Accompany Me; Old Time Rock and Roll; Against the Wind; Fire Lake; and especially, Night Moves. I think Bucky could win this thing with the right selection of songs.

Next, Chris Daughtry. If I may be shallow (and no-one has ever stopped me from being shallow), he was so hot with hair. I think this is Chris' contest to lose. Of the guys, he's the best. He's probably going to slug it out with Mandissa at the end. I liked (but didn't love) his song choice tonight. But I think he's incredible.

Gedeon- I love this guy. He's got the old motown and Philly sound down perfect. I remember buying "When a Man Loves a Woman" as a kid on '45. This was one of the very best slow dance songs when I was in high school. And Gedeon did it so well.

The rest:

Taylor - his electroshocktherapy dancin' is distracting. I'm starting to see him as a mall act. He can sing, but he needs to restrain himself a bit.

Kevin - He was like a little old man singing to the other retirees at the Shady Oaks Rest Home. He's not an American Idol. Time to retire him.

Will- Maybe good enough for senior prom. That's about it.

Ace - Why do a Michael (chidl molester) Jackson song. It just sends the wrong message. Quite frankly, this creeped me out. I like Ace, but I don't think this is the year for a boy band member to win AI. He's got to start doing more substantial songs to stay in the competition.

Who should go - Kevin and Will without a doubt. Any other result would be a travesty.

I'm not reading anyone else's reviews before I give mine..

8. Have to agree with Randy and Simon about Will. Just average. Not very interesting. A classic song but done blandly.

7. Bucky. I've really tried to keep an open mind about him, but I just can't get into his style. Mabye if he did something totally amazing I could be converted, but so far...nah!

6. Kevin. He sounded perfectly fine, but I just feel like there are other spots that should/could be filled by others. He kind of makes me wish they were doing the mixed groupings again instead of the top six guys and top six girls thing.

5. Ace. It's always kinda sketchy doing that falsetto thing. I don't think he totally nails it. It should be more impressive.

4. Taylor. Superfun. This is the guy you see performing in a bar who you hope gets discovered and makes it to the big time.

3. Elliott. I want him to be my #2, but I have to admit that this song choice wasn't the best ever. I agree with Simon that something more soulful would have been better from him.

2. Gedeon. I LOVE that song. All he had to do, for me, was not totally blow it, and he did not. He did a fine job with it. He does have an odd personality, though, but whatever.

1. It was a weird time for Chris to go mellow, but he's not getting booted. He still provided a great show.

I'm glad we're through the semi finals now. I have to say that I disliked showing the other contestants in the background. Don't know why.

Paula looked pretty hot tonight! Her hair maybe?

Anyone surprised about the results? I thought there was a surprise in both the guys and gals but there was also the, "Yeah, I knew it" in both too. I think this is a pretty strong top 12. But any finish that doesn't pit Chris against Mandissa is bull.

Agreed, Scott; 2 "I knew that"s and 2 "WHOA!"s.

Bah! None of them have gotten my attenion!

I predicted 3 of the 4 to be going home. Was wrong about one girl! Sad to see her go too, when a couple of the girls who DID make Top 12 are kinda icky, in my opinion.

I was surprised Gedeon was voted off. Everything else seemed like the right choices.

Dean,

I was going to say the same thing... so "Ditto".

Gedeon & Ayla were both a surprise to me.

I was sure Gedeon was a lock despite his off-putting way of speaking. The boy can freakin' SING. When all that was left onstage was him, Bucky and Elliott, I thought, "Oh NO! Either Bucky or Elliott is going home." And when it was just Gedeon and Bucky left, I was positive Bucky wasa a goner.

And despite Ayla's poor performance Tuesday night, I figured her great performances the past 2 weeks would see her through.

But at the same time I was happy Melissa & Bucky made the cut.

What were the fraud-twins doing there? I could easily have done without seeing them again.

I didn't watch last night because I had very important things to do - I had to clean the house and go grocery shopping because STU is in town and coming for dinner tonight! I figured that beats American Idol results show any day.

As for the results, I'm not surprised. I liked both Kinnick and Ayla. I rather have seen Paris go, but I guess there was no way. I'm disappointed that Gedeon is gone because I really looked forward to his performances. Will should have gone, so that was no surprise. Kevin has no business being there though. I hope he leaves next week.

Now that we have Top 12-age, it's time for some ridiculously early predictions!

Kevin, Chris, Melissa, Kellie, Katharine, Bucky, Ace, Taylor, Paris, Lisa, Mandisa and Elliott.

First 2 to go will be Melissa and Bucky, maybe not in that order.

Coming in 10th will be a surprise exit, and I think it will be Paris.

9th, 8th and 7th will see the exits of (in random order) Kevin, Lisa and Elliott.

Despite AI's shameless pimping of them, Ace and Kellie will NOT make final 4 and will exit in 6th and 5th place.

Leaving our final 4 as: Katharine, Mandisa, Chris and Taylor.

I'd be more tickled if Ace, Paris and Kellie went first, though!

OK, just quick reviews today because it's bed time but while things are still fresh in my head...

Paris: Not great. She's really disappointed me the last two weeks. She's a soul/jazz singer and a damn good one, but she's been doing songs that just don't suit her voice. If she can't recognise the difference then she needs to go and get some experience and then maybe come back when she has a clue.

Lisa: We love Lisa. She looked stunning and she has a hell of a voice. Between here and Paris a few weeks ago I'd have gone for Paris. That's no longer the case. I still quite think she's really shown what she can do, she's never absolutely blown me away, but she is very, very good.

Melissa: Meh. She's not bad but she is incredibly forgetable. I really don't understand why she didn't go instead of Ayla, but I can't see her lasting long unless she really pulls something out of the bag. She's not bad, she's just not great either.

Kinnick: Aww, I like Kinnick. I feel sorry for her. But, to be fair, she wasn't the greatest on any night and tonight wasn't as bad as Randy and Simon said but it wasn't great either.

Katherine: After Mandissa Katherine is easily my favourite out of the girls. She didn't wow me last week (bad song choice mainly I think) and while she isn't quite as good a singer as Mandissa she is just... I dunno, there's somethign incredibly natural about her on stage. She can belt a song but she looks like she's having fun, she plays to the audience, uses the camera brilliantly, moves easily and is just gorgeous without being your bog-standard pretty girl. She's got a figure (kinda Nigella Lawson-ish actually) and just comes across as fun and nice. Plus she really can sing. Oh, and even though she did have a few duff notes tonight she carried them off in such a way that you didn't notice. That's the sign of a good singer. Every singer singing live while make mistakes in their tuning but if it doesn't interrupt the flow of the song then you know they're good. Katherine has that. I do worry that one slip and she could be out the door but if there's any justice she'll be around for a good while yet.

Ayla: Oops. Wrong song. A brave choice but the wrong one. She wasn't as good as the last two weeks but she really wasn't bad a didn't deserve to go. A crying shame. She didn't look great tonight though, and I know what Simon meant about her youth not always showing on stage. I bet if nothing else though Ryan is happy she's gone so he doesn't have to stand next to her any more and show quite how short he is.

Manidssa: Goddess. Just stunning. Everyone else, boys and girls, are going to have to try and make it up to her standard. She was just amazing tonight. Best she's been, and she's not been bad yet. Also she looked good tonight as well which I couldn't say of the last two weeks. Last two weeks she looked like she'd trusted a stylist to dress her and they got it horribly wrong and this week she just dressed herself and looked good. She could do with losing a bit of weight just so she's slightly more in proportion (she is *very* hippy)but if she dresses well it doesn't matter. I'm just wary that even though image shouldn't matter and it clearly didn't for Ruben (or Clay in a different way) it's much easier to say image won't affect a boy's chances than to say it won't affect a girl's. Maybe I'm just being cynical but I suspect it's at least true to a degree. All that being said she rocked the house and could be decalred the winner right now in my eyes.

Pickler: I don't get her. I really don't. She's not bad and was better this week than the last two and she's cute and funny and sweet but... I just don't get her. Her personality is carrying her through and it can only take her so far. She's just... Jessica Simpson #2. An OK singer, cute, bubbly, funny in a bimbo-ish kind of way but will probably get wearing after a while. It's very hard to dislike her, but... she can go imho and I won't miss her.

Then the boys...

Gedeon: Ick. Hated it tonight. Also hated his gurning when he sings. I was surprised he went but not dissapointed. Didn't like him at all.

Chris: Hmmm. I was disappointed, but I think it was largely that the song was a bit boring. He is definately the best of the boys and the challenge to Mandissa at the moment, but after her powerhouse performance he needed to pull something staggering out of the bag and he didn't. He sang it well and he's still very shaggable but it just didn't live up to expectations. He was still better than most of the others but should have doen better. I'm still expecting great things from him though.

Taylor: He he he. Aww, Taylor. He was by far the best of the boys this week. Maybe not the strongest singer, but he has that same thing Katherine has. He clearly loves the music and performing and OK so he really, really, *really* can't dance but he doesn't give a toss and so it doesn't matter and that kind of makes it work. I can imagine going to a concert to see him and having an absolute blast. There are much better singers than him int he contest but he's easily one fot he best performers, and that's potentially just as important as their singing voice.

Bucky: Snoooooooooooooooore. Dull song, dull performance. Plus his teeth scare me. Oh, and why were they making such a big deal about his brother looking like him? THEY'RE IDENTICAL TWINS RYAN, YOU F*CKING MORON. IT'S NOT A SHOCK THAT THEY LOOK ALIKE. Sheesh. Ryan really does talk rubbish sometimes. And yet... I would still prefer to listen to Ryan talk bollocks than Bucky singing in his tedious incomprehensible way. Fbhfoe bugogh hiahwdiooooooooooooooooo.

Kevin: You know I shut my eyes and just listened to Kevin tonight and while he wasn't bad Simon got it exactly right when he said he's a bit juvenile. Not as badly as Simon said but I think give the boy a couple of years to get the experience and grow into his adult voice and he might well be pretty darn good. He'll still be a geek and look about four years old (even if he isn't still taller than Ryan. he he, Ryan is so short) but he might have a very good voice. At the moment though he's still too green. He's not bad but he is going to be lost when he comes up against the likes of Lisa, Mandissa and Katherine.

Will: You know what, I didn't actually hate Will this week. Randy and Simon were very harsh, and the song was very safe but it's the kind of song that Will does pretty well. it was cheesy, it wasn't anything terribly exciting but I thought he sang it OK and even though he is still mini-Donny Osmond he was OK. It was still right hat he went this week though.

Elliot: Didn't like it this week one teeny little bit. Hate the song and I really don't like falsetto singing. I also agreed completely with Simon (again) that he seemed a bit disconnected from the song this week. He is very good as a singer, a challenge to Chris even, but I still find him just a bit forgettable. I don't really know why because he doesn't deserve to be but I tend to forget he's there. Maybe with fewer boys around he'll stand out more but I do worry that he's going to get lost in the crowd.

Ace: Umm.... Please excuse me while I go and hurl. Why do people like Ace? I mean, really, why? Sure he's pretty and has ever so cute rosy-wosy cheeks and such a cheeky little grin and his cute curly hair and aww couldn't you eat him all up with his ginourmous shoulders that look like 80s shoulder pads without having muscly arms to go with them and his slightly bandy legged stance that looks like he's either been out riding his horse on the range all day or has been at home being ridden himself (or both), but... well. Listen to him. Really listen to him. He was off key in every single part of the song that wasn't falsetto tonight, and the stuff that was falsetto wasn't very good either. He's like Constantine only even more dull and not very good and pretending to be a rocker but in fact being bland pop in a bad boy wrapper that is ever so slightly too clean and polished. He's not the worst singer left (we'll look pointedly at Bucky for that one) but I want him to go more than any of others just because it is so offensive that people get so caught up in his looks that they don't notice the fact that he isn't actually all that talented. whereas Mandissa, who could drop Ace with one single note, could well end up with the exact opposite problem. If you want a rocker with a great voice and sex appeal who actually *is* a rocker with a great voice then sod Ace and run to Chris.

I don't like Ace very much.

Oh, and i pretty much agree exactly with the order that Lash is predicting. I wouldn't be surprised if we're proved totally wrong but I think that's the most likely order. Those four are certainly my own personal favourites though as well.

heh, quick reviews my arse. That took me best part of half an hour to type...

I hope Bucky stays around just to read Bevis' comments about him! Seriously, I did a LOL! Please Bevis, make a Bucky-speak dictionary!