The Top Twelve & Why American Idol Still Works
3/10/07
by Diane Sprague
Every year at the beginning of the American Idol season, I ask myself why I am wasting my time watching this tacky show with this tedious display of bad singers, warped personalities, and redundant cruelty. At this point in the season, I have my answer. This is when it is fun. I love when we get this diverse group of eager singers and we allow ourselves the sweet indulgence of forming our own opinions on who we should support and who we should discard. The excitement the contestants exhibit is contagious and the anticipation of how each of them will do with the different genres that are offered keeps our interest. And then there is always the enjoyment of making fun of judges when they are idiots enough to disagree with us or brilliant enough to offers judgements similiar to our own. So in the spirit of the entertainment and magic that American Idol continues to offer, I will offer my own reactions to and opinions about the top twelve singers.
Gina Glocksen: Her voice doesn't sound quite right to me, almost a bit screechy, and I do wonder if something gets lost over the television with her singing. I do like her style, but I feel uncomfortable with the insecurity she reveals off stage. It takes some of the edge off the personality she shows when she sings. I do admire the way she has not given up with her efforts to do well in American Idol and I truly think she deserves to be in the top twelve.
Haley Scarnato: I actually like her old-fashioned style. Yeah, it won't get her too far in the contest, but it was nearly nowhere as horrible as Simon would like us to have it. Actually, to screw Simon I would like her to do well. Actually, to screw Simon, I would like to see a lot of annoying things happen to him and maybe someday they will. The universe will right itself a bit. But for now, I expect to not see Haley stick around too much longer but I admire her determination to stay true to her own way of singing.
Blake Lewis: He is cool. For an American Idol contestant, he is very original. I expect him to surprise us and do well with the different types of music styles that will come up each week. I likely would never buy records with the type of musical choices he might make, but I have been enjoying his performances immensely each week. They have been different and a whole lot of fun.
Brandon Rogers: I haven't felt any connection with him yet as a singer. He seems awfully nice and has a wonderful smile, but I haven't heard anything in his voice that grabs my attention. Maybe he needs that one special song, but so far, there has been nothing to attract my interest.
Jordan Sparks: She is very good. She has a nice strong voice and a great personality. I am not hearing anything unique though. She definitely could be out there with the other good pops singers today. The thing is I am rather bored with most of the other good pop singers today.
Lakisha Jones: The judges in their extraordinarily finite wisdom decided to do what they do every season and give away who they fully expect to be the winner. Unfortunately it takes a lot of the fun out of the sense of a real contest and the anticipation that comes with not knowing the results ahead of time gets destroyed. I wish I could be contrary and argue with their advanced proclamation, but she is really, really good. I look forward to her performances each week.
Chris Richardson: I don't like the tone of his voice and his singing style. He seems truly talented and he seems to be a very nice person, but I find my attention drifting away as he sings.
Chris Sligh: I did not expect him to be good. Initially I just wanted him to stick around because he is funny. I was hoping for hear some good cracks at Simon. The humor seems to have disappeared but his singing is becoming more and more impressive. I fully expect him to do very well in the upcoming weeks of the contest. I am interested to hear how he does with the different types of music each week brings. He is my favorite male vocalist so far. With a perfect song choice, I believe he has the potential to blow us all away.
Melinda Doolittle: She's definitely my favorite. I do wish they would stop the backup-singer-is-now-a-main-singer-and-isn't-that-an-absolutely-amazing-thing that they say about her. For goodness sakes, we get it already. The phenomena of going from backup to main is not that intriguing, so shut up and let her sing. I love her style and way she interprets her songs. That they find singers like her is what makes American Idol work.
Stephanie Edwards: I haven't especially liked her recent song choices, but she is definitely a contender. I liked her when she first sung with the top 24 and I expect to see another performance like that soon.
Phil Stacey: Nah, you cannot sing the small notes poorly and hit the big notes wonderfully and expect us to forget that you sang the small notes poorly when you just hit the big notes wonderfully. It doesn't work that way.
Sanjaya Malakar: I can see why he is still there. He is different, cute, and very likeable. I actually enjoyed his performances but with the awareness that his voice is weak compared to the other contestants and the judges were going to eat him alive for that. It seems like each year there is one contestant that maybe should not be around anymore, but a lot of us root for him anyways. Maybe we are hoping to be surprised. Maybe we like annoying the judges. Well, of course we like annoying the judges. I do wish him the best.
So there is my 5 cents which isn't even worth a nickle, but I offer it anyways because it's the time of the season to assert our opinions and express our hopes and expectations. It's fun now. Hopefully it will stay that way until the end.
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