Lee Dewyze started the night singing Fireflies. I’m completely unfamiliar with how the song is “supposed” to sound, but I thought Lee sounded good. I think the best thing about him is that he’s consistent with his sound. Even though the judges weren’t over the moon crazy about him, I have to say they would have a hard time arguing that he doesn’t know who he is as a performer.

I can’t decide whether I liked or hated Alex Lambert singing “Trouble”. Is it all wrong, or so wrong it’s right? No jumping up and down for Randy on this one. Ellen thought he was a mushy banana– take that for what it’s worth. I kind of don’t get what the judges love so much about him. I’m always borderline over whether I even like him.

I really like Tim Urban. And he definitely seemed a bit more relaxed tonight. And he definitely seems more confident when he plays the guitar. “Hallelujah” could have been a disaster. It wasn’t. It wasn’t the best I’ve ever heard. But it was okay. Ellen actually got up and ran over to give him a hug. All of the judges were okay with this performance.

What’s up with Andrew Garcia singing “girl” songs. Tonight it was “Genie in a Bottle”. Maybe singing a song by a woman just frees him up to pursue his own thing. Randy may have a point with the song sounding kind of limited. I’m kind of ready for them to shut up about “Straight Up”.

Casey James is kind of the opposite of Lee Dewyze. Whereas Lee delivers consistent performances, and you always kind of know what kind of song he’s going to sing, Casey sings a different genre every week it seems. So, what would an album of his sound like? Granted, he’s still plenty pretty. The judges were pretty underwhelmed by this performance.

Ouch. That’s all I can say about Aaron Kelly singing “I’m Already There”. Please, America, please put me out of my misery. The judges were all over the place with their feedback.

Todrick Hall decided to tackle Queen’s “Somebody to Love”. I was a little afraid for him tonight. I really still like Todrick. I’m not sure I’d still put him in my top three, overall. However, he was SO much better than so many others tonight. He certainly doesn’t deserve to go home. The judges thought the performance was a bit inconsistent but good.

Okay, the judges flipped out and cried over Big Mike singing “This Woman’s Work”… I, on the other hand, just truly didn’t like seeing a man sing this song. I can’t hear anyone other than Kate Bush singing this song. Whatever, judges. I reserve the right to disagree with your namby pamby crying selves.

Alright, that’s it for tonight. You may have noticed I didn’t review the girls top 8. That’s because my dvr didn’t record. Don’t you hate that? I’ll catch up on Fox later tonight.

No tags Hide

Tim Urban– safe
Todrick– on hold at first, finally told he was safe
Big Mike– safe
Casey– safe
John (I can never really remember who he is)– sent home

Lee– safe
Aaron– safe
Alex– safe

That brought it down to Andrew and Jermaine.

Andrew was safe!! Yea!! I like Jermaine, but I wasn’t crazy about his singing. I thought his attitude was GREAT, though.

Danny Gokey sang. Of course, now he’s a country singer. Who knew?

Lilly– safe
Paige– safe
Katie– safe

It came down to Didi and Michelle.

Didi– safe
Michelle– going home

Katelyn– safe
Crystal– safe
Siobahn– safe

Which meant Haeley and Lacey were up for elimination and that I wouldn’t really care which goes home. I really thought Lacey would probably go home. But, no…

Haeley went home. She seems like an incredibly sweet girl, but she was a little grating.

No tags Hide

Ummm…. I am having a hard time believing this, but FOX has confirmed that Ellen DeGeneres is replacing Paula Abdul as the new ‘American Idol’ Judge. I don’t know about my wife Jill, but after watching Ellen guest judge for “So you think you can dance” last season, I might not be watching American Idol anymore. It just makes more sense to have a judge that actually knows music then to have comic relief on the show.

But who I am to say… they’re the ones running the best rated show on tv. I just hope they find a way to use Ellen’s comic talent in a way that doesn’t take away from the music. I felt like “So you think you can dance” didn’t do that when she guest hosted it. Time will tell…

No tags Hide

The Season 8 American Idol Winner is…

Kris Allen!

Well, just as I predicted (I don’t usually get these right), Kris Allen won the 2009 edition of American Idol.

I think that a combination of Kris Allen fans and Adam Lambert haters put Kris over the top. I am not sure Kris could have won if it weren’t for the fact that there are about as many people who absolutely HATE Adam as there are who like him. That actually should mean really good things for Adam’s music career.

This was the first year that I can remember not caring who won. Every year prior to this year I had a clear cut favorite, but this year I thought both finalists were good singers and neither of them really moved me like some of the past contestants.

So what do you think? Should Kris Allen have won or was Adam Lambert ripped off?

No tags Hide

Who Do You Think Will Be The Season 8 American Idol Winner?

Will it be Adam Lambert or Kris Allen?

I am personally leaning towards Kris, but I think it’s going to be very close. It really depends on whether or not the Kris Allen fans and the Adam Lambert haters have bigger numbers than the Adam Lambert fans.

Both of them are very talented. So who do you think will be the 8th winner of American Idol?

No tags Hide

No big surprise that Adam and Kris made it to the final 2. I was kind of hoping Danny Gokey would beat out Adam, because it would have been fun to see the judges reactions. But I think that the right two people are in the finals.

Good luck to both of them… it should be a close final.

No tags Hide

Well tonight, like all other nights, the judges praised Adam Lambert for being the best American Idol contestant ever (I would personally vote for last year’s winner David Cook if I had a vote). Adam was really good and he has a great voice, but for me personally (as Randy would say) I liked Kris Allen best tonight.

Much like my wife, I would never have pegged Kris as my favorite contestant come final 3 time, but right now he is definitely my favorite, followed by Adam Lambert and Danny Gokey. Early on my favorites were Danny and Allison. I still wish Allison were in it, because she was my favorite contestant watch.

So, who do you think is going home? I think it’s a close call because all of them are pretty evenly matched talent wise. If I had to bet on it I would say Danny is going home, but I wouldn’t be surprised by Kris or even Adam going home. We will know soon enough…

No tags Hide

I wasn’t surprised that Allison Iraheta went home this evening on American Idol, but I was disappointed. I like Allison best of the remaining contestants, however in reality all 4 of them are very close in talent.

So who will be the final 2? I am thinking it will be Danny and Adam, but it could easily be Kris and Danny or Kris and Adam. Time will tell…

No tags Hide

Adam Lambert, Allison Iraheta, Danny Gokey or Kris Allen?

Who do you think is going home tomorrow?

I like all four of them, but I didn’t agree with the judges tonight. I thought that Kris had the best performance of the night. That said, I expect Kris to be the one going home.

My personal favorite of the final 4 contestants is Allison. She is pretty amazing for a 17 year old.

So who do you think will go home?

No tags Hide

If you’ve got an American Idol opinion and think everyone’s entitled to it, and you’d like to share that opinion with this blog’s readers, please contact me at info@mantyweb.com. I am looking for a couple of extra writers to contribute their thoughts on a regular basis. So, if you want to dish, send me an email today.

No tags Hide

By a margin of 56%-44% (incidentally, the same percentage as on this website’s poll)…

DAVID COOK!!

I’ll try to write more on the finale tomorrow night, assuming I don’t have a baby tonight.

No tags Hide

Who should be the next American Idol?
David Cook: 56% (87)
David Archuleta: 44% (69)
Total Votes : 156

No tags Hide

Tonight was the culmination of months of eliminations. The Davids finally faced off against one another. Fox did some, um, interesting things production-wise. Like the whole night had a boxing theme– complete with boxing commentary. Why? I have no idea. I found it distracting more than entertaining. Then there was the clever camera work to disguise that David Archuleta still hasn’t gotten over squinting his way through songs in spite of Andrew Lloyd Weber’s best efforts to break him of the habit. They simply hardly showed him in close-up. As a matter of fact, many of the shots of him were of his back. I do have to admit it was a lot less annoying that way.

The coin flip last week went to David Archuleta, who chose to sing second (smart call). Both singers’ first songs were chosen by Clive Davis. David Cook was given “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For”, and David Archuleta was given “Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me”. I thought both did a decent job. David Cook added in a little flair, but you really don’t want to mess with the U2 classic too much. Clive Davis really did right by David Archuleta, choosing a song that already has a lot of the runs and drawn out notes that he likes. Because they were already written into the song, David didn’t feel the need to overdo the song.

The second songs were from the song writing competition. Unlike previous years when both singers have been saddled with singing the same song, no matter whether it suits them both or not, this year the Davids were allowed to choose their own songs from the top ten vote getters. David C. chose an upbeat number that I thought was a little “pop” for him but still at least entertaining. David A. chose a sappy ballad– exactly the kind of song that the producers would usually choose for the finalists to sing. Exactly the kind of song I really don’t enjoy. Simon thought it was more in keeping with the tone of the night. Really? Given the boxing them, wouldn’t that be “Eye of the Tiger”?

The final song of the evening was contestants’ choice. David C. chose to tackle a new song– Collective Soul’s “The World I Know”. It was good, more of a sensitive low-key performance from him. Simon thought he should have returned to “Hello” or “Billie Jean”, but he said he preferred to show progression by singing a new song, rather than something he’d sung before. David A. chose to sing my favorite song of the year (not really) “Imagine”. Frankly, I was talking on the phone during the performance, so I’m not absolutely sure whether it was better or worse, but I think it was about the same. Since I thought it was hideously oversung to begin with, his comments about giving it more sent shivers down my spine.

So, that was it. As expected, the judges favored David Archuleta. Randy said he was exactly what “American Idol” is about. And he’s right. American Idol is about turning out a very mainstream pop singer. David Archuleta will be perfect for that. I had to keep reminding myself, though, that I don’t want David Cook to win because it’s in his best interest to come in second. Still, part of me can’t help but wish…

What about you? Who was your favorite tonight?

No tags Hide

Who do you want to win the finale?
David Archuleta: 48% (69)
David Cook: 52% (74)
Total Votes : 143

No tags Hide

It was a pretty anti-climactic evening. No big surprises. There was the obligatory group performance with the expected bad choreography. The Ford commercial, performed to “Heaven”, wasn’t shocking.

Fantasia performed, and her red hair and wild dancing were about the most exciting part of the evening. We could sure have used some of her energy and animation this season.

There were home visits. David Archuleta visited Murray City, Utah and was overwhelmed by the response. Syesha returned home to Sarasota, Florida and was overwhelmed by the response. David Cook visited Kansas City and Blue Springs Missouri and was overwhelmd by the response. We did find out that David Cook originally didn’t even plan to audition– he just went to the auditions to support his younger brother.

Finally, the final two were revealed. Again, it was no surprise. The finale next week will be between the two Davids, as has been expected for weeks. It could be an interesting show. Or it could be another fairly predictable, somewhat boring week.

What do you think of the final two?

No tags Hide