satyre

Hsamid, I agree up to a point. Middle America doesn't understand music that's black-inspired, even though most modern American music is. The only thing that would excuse this travesty, with most of the black singers in the bottom ten, is that the religious songs were a turn off to voters. I'm a non-religious Jew, but if this is a singing competition, you vote for the best singer... period. And clearly Quintavius, Odell, Nya, Jayna and Roman were all among the best singers. P.S. What a farce that Quintavius didn't make the top 14.

I guess you get extra points for being country, young, cute and/or white. What a surprise. A telling comment by Ryan that the votes got "spread around" between certain contestants. Can't have too many of them, can we? No matter how good they are, isn't it usually the case that they have to be better... unless they sing country or pop of course.

This show was blessed with some real talent this season. So of course they'd mostly all get voted off, because the voters prefer singers they can identify with to singers who can sing. Does anyone seriously believe that Colin is better than Zachariah, Warren, Tyson or Oliver?! Or that Megan is better than We, Nailyah or Lucy?! Really?! Well, now the best three, We, Nailyah and Zachariah are all gone. Only Iam is left. And once again, American Idol is a joke. And speaking of jokes, how about these judges? We saw how much better the show is without Katy and Lionel. Neither have anything to say, although I've never heard anyone who has so little to say and pontificates so much as Lionel. Katy is ridiculously unprofessional. None of these judges give critiques, they just say essentially the same thing to everyone. Everyone is a superstar, everyone is becoming themselves, bad notes don't matter and they adopt contestants rather than judge them. They completely ruined Haven, who started out a serious songwriter and was turned into a pop princess who couldn't, and shouldn't, hit the high notes they felt were necessary. Luke isn't Keith Urban, and he's clearly biased, but at least he has some credibility. How about a panel, say, of Alanis Morissette, Adam Lambert (if he had time) and Keith Urban? Even Miley Cyrus is better than these three. The good news is that it's a curse to win American Idol, so if by some ridiculous miracle Colin or Megan win, at least there's no harm done, great singers like We and Nailyah and a great performer like Zachariah will be free to display their talents.

Enough of this nonsense already. Haven is a good songwriter and has a pretty voice for soft ballads. She is NOT a great singer. She has been one of the two weakest singers in every single round. With tonight's song, she did well while the song was gentle and emotional, but when power was required it sounded like a cat being run over. The judges have ruined her, as so often happens on this show. They turned a serious singer-songwriter into a pop princess (like Katy Perry) because it's marketable, and she's lost everything that made her special. The viewers certainly haven't helped either, because they don't vote for talent, otherwise Nailyah, one of the two strongest singers in the competition next to We, would still be here. The Midwestern kids who dominate the voting pick who's cutest, whom they want to be, whom they want to date, whom they culturally identify with, who's good for their age. They don't understand singing, and it's always a shame. I'm sure Haven will go through once again, along with Colin, who is also in over his head. And more really good singers will fall. One only has to look at the list of milktoast singers, with few exceptions, who have won this thing and whom they beat out. Then again, it's usually the kiss of death TO be the winner. P.S. Just as predicted, Haven and Colin voted through, Oliver and Tyson not. Ridiculous.

We know by now that young, cute and/or country are like platinum tickets. There is no excuse for Haven, Megan, Marybeth and Colin, consistently the four weakest singers since the top 26, to have been voted through, while far, far better singers like Nailyah and Lucy in particular weren't. Gee, I wonder if there's some kind of pattern here? Kaeyra and Olivia also deserved it way more than the four above. The young kids of Middle America vote for whom they identify with, but the whole point is that they're not going to identify with great singers who perform great music because they themselves are not great singers who know great music. P.S. Nailyah should have been the second judge's pick. If not her, Kaeyra and Olivia are both better than Nutsa, who relies on drama rather than great singing.

If you're male, be young, be cute, try to be white and country. Dang, a cowboy hat is better than a platinum ticket! If not country, at least keep it bland and pop, jazz and soul ain't gonna cut it, they're so... so... unfamiliar. But if you're black, try not to be too black, and, whatever your color, try not to sound very gay, because the teeny bopper girls who do the voting seem to think that if they vote for you they're going to end up dating you. Now if you're female, it's a little easier... not to win, of course, that's harder... but to do well. It's still way better to be young, cute and country, but it's kind of okay to be black, it's more, um, acceptable. And remember: second best is always best. << sarcasm

If you're male, be young, be cute, try to be white and country. Dang, a cowboy hat is better than a platinum ticket! If not country, at least keep it bland and pop, jazz and soul ain't gonna cut it, they're so... so... unfamiliar. But if you're black, try not to be too black, and, whatever your color, try not to sound very gay, because the teeny bopper girls who do the voting seem to think that if they vote for you they're going to end up dating you. Now if you're female, it's a little easier... not to win, of course, that's harder... but to do well. It's still way better to be young, cute and country, but it's kind of okay to be black, it's more, um, acceptable. And remember: second best is always best. << sarcasm

If you're male, be young, be cute, try to be white and country. Dang, a cowboy hat is better than a platinum ticket! If not country, at least keep it bland and pop, jazz and soul ain't gonna cut it, they're so... so... unfamiliar. But if you're black, try not to be too black, and, whatever your color, try not to sound very gay, because the teeny bopper girls who do the voting seem to think that if they vote for you they're going to end up dating you. Now if you're female, it's a little easier... not to win, of course, that's harder... but to do well. It's still way better to be young, cute and country, but it's kind of okay to be black, it's more, um, acceptable. And remember: second best is always best. << sarcasm

Night 1: Nailyah, Lucy, Zachariah and Warren Night 2: We, Dawson, Olivia, Malik, Tyson I thought a lot of the performers were close and in the middle, really good but short of the above Bottom (the ones who should be voted off): Haven, PJae, maybe Elise Colin, Hannah, Marybeth and Megan Agree? Disagree? I think this was the most subjective season they've had.

If Huntergirl didn't use the echo she would have sounded even worse.

Oh, Lord. So Leah can sing, write, play guitar, play keyboard... and Hunter Girl can walk down the ramp and touch hands. It's unbelievable. Three of the four best singers (remember singing?), Christian, Jay and Nicolina, have already been kicked because they're not cute and not country. So now we have Leah Marlene up against the two weakest singers in the top 12, and she'll probably get booted after the first round because... see above. Does anybody with ears seriously think that Huntergirl's Springsteen performance was even in the same league as Leah's? What a farce. And the judges are just useless... the same babble about every contestant.

Good responses so far. Thanks. To Gustavo, it's worse on AGT. If you're a male country singer with a story you don't even need a voice. And to Frederick, yes, there's that other factor, too, but I've gotten in trouble for mentioning it.

Good responses so far. Thanks.

Okay, so America has been pretty good with its voting this season, at least so far. But there's a pattern that keeps repeating. I know some of you will take issue with this, but here goes: I know country music is probably the most popular genre nationwide. But it has to be noted that, with few exceptions, it isn't hard to be a country singer. While singers of other genres are singing their faces off or showing skillful creativity, if a country singer so much as hits one higher note or attempts one simple run or does anything either out of the ordinary or even traditionally ordinary, he or she gets shot to the moon. Yes, telling the story is an important part of singing (assuming the story is worth it), but one can open a book to get a story, singing is a demanding art. Over the years, too many country or countryish singers have been voted in over far superior vocalists/performers. And that brings us to Huntergirl. For the last three weeks she has been by far the weakest singer in the competition. And ever since Hollywood week she has been among the two or three weakest. She's done nothing memorable or challenging, she shows no particular charisma or creativity, and there's no vibrato or specialness to her voice. But she got a push from the very beginning with an undeserved platinum ticket, and she's heartland country, so the mindset that she's a top contender, at all competitive with great singers like Christian, Leah, Jay or Nicolina in particular, and even Fritz, is undoubtedly going to land her in the top two or three, as always happens. Does anyone really believe that Jay (in particular) will outlast her, or that he shouldn't? (Chase Beckham over Willie Spence? Trent Harmon over La'Porsha Renae? Really?) Should we be voting on whom we identify most with or on whom we are astonished by?

Tonight's episode was hard to watch. "Bean" did one of the best performances this year, singing and stylistically, and he got rejected because he "wasn't right" for American Idol. Katie said it later to another contestant: that he had to be more "mainstream," in other words a "pop star." They put through a girl who yelled, was off key and had no vibrato and a country singer who was all gravel and no skill just because he could "tell a story." I thought this was about singing, not storytime. And then Katie bashes someone who dared sing one of her songs, calling her "hollow" and "all frosting," presumably out of jealousy. I had stopped watching Idol because of these kinds of things, but began again because I was touched by the stories and because these judges, generally speaking, have heart, more so than previous judges. They just don't have range, or the ability to step outside their own personal and musical preferences. Who goes through and who doesn't ends up being a crap shoot based on their back stories and whim.