Idol Review - Blogging American Idol 2011 » idol news

double the pleasure, double the fun…

Laura — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 02:16:03 +0000

…and double the killings, of course. The recourse for the judges save means two people get ousted.

Full disclosure: I missed the first 15 minutes. I am guessing that I missed an obligatory recap and a duet between Lauren and Scotty. I also just caught the tail end of the Ford Music Video, which if history tells me anything, I didn’t miss much.

Ryan resumed the old hairstyle. I think he couldn’t handle the flack. I’m not going to lie–I complained to him on twitter. We als0 find out that James got a WWE engraved belt and Casey will keep beardy. Naima and Jacob duet singing Solid as a Rock. It was ok, but not great.

Tasia is back, and to succinctly sum up the performance, I will quote my friend Amy in our IM conversation:

“for the love of god- she sang about collard greens and cornbread.” I concur. I have no better words to sum that one up.

Haley, Thia, and Pia inging Katy Perry’s Teenage Dream – notice they gave Thia nothing to sing on that one.

Haley and Pia sounded pretty good, though! Results: Pia is safe. Haley is safe. And Thia unsurprisingly hits the stools.

Paul, Casey, Stefano, and James are singing Band on the Run. They sound the opposite of hot. Um, not hot. Casey is safe. James is safe. Paul and Stefano are up, and Stefano is safe, and Paul is bottom 3.

(GAH all my pool points went to Stefano! No! Dial Idol is no longer a god. )

Obligatory random singer performance – this week it is will.i.am and Jamie Foxx. Does will.i.am have a dressing room there? He has performed two of the last 3 weeks. Srsly?

And back to the results: Paul is safe, and the girls are getting whittled down slowly but surely. Thia and Naima are headed home.

OUT TONIGHT:

Neither one gets to sing a swan song tonight – too much group singing to have enough time. And overall the show was so unexciting in comparison to last week. Now we are going to expect Hulk Hogan every week.

Next week I am betting my bank account that a guy gets sent home. (Ok, I don’t have a great track record, so don’t quote me on that.)Stefano or Paul, probably. Things are starting to get tight in this competition! I don’t hate anyone left. As Randy would say, it’s a hot one! Season 10, the remix.

The dormant blog comes back to life

Laura — Thu, 20 Jan 2011 03:07:18 +0000

Hellooooooo idol fans! Per usual this blog hibernated during the off season, but we are back. During the off season, I contemplated a break up with the show. Our relationship got real rocky during season 9, but with the judging panel shakeup, I wanted to give it another whirl. Now, I know I can’t judge the judges just yet, because during the audition rounds, there isn’t a whole lot of judging going on, but…

but…

I LOVE the new juding panel. Love J. Lo, love Steven Tyler, and amazingly enough, I was even not minding the dawg tonight! As much as Simon was the face of idol, you could tell Simon was over this show during the last few seasons, and it is extremely refreshing to get a change of pace. The audition episode tonight was WAY less annoying than in previous seasons. I didn’t spot any obvious frontrunners tonight, but there was enough to pique my interest.

Idol renaissance, maybe? I guess we aren’t breaking up after all.

Giveaway Winner

Laura — Thu, 27 May 2010 03:14:05 +0000

Lee may have just won, but we have our own winner on Idol Review! Commenter #4…Darlene!!

Congrats, Darlene! You win the Pants On The Ground shirt! (I will be emailing you shortly.)

Oh, Finale…We Meet Again

Laura — Thu, 27 May 2010 02:56:25 +0000

Well, we find ourselves at the end of the season yet again. Another set of Idol graduates to saturate the music market. But this time around it will be Simon’s last hurrah, as well. Let’s get on with it.

The top 12 is up first singing Alice Cooper with…Alice Cooper. And a bunch of extras in school uniforms.

Kris Allen sings a rockin performance, and he has really turned into quite a performance and rockstar in the last year. I am proud of this kid.

Here is our first of an inevitably large amount Simon videos: Simon Uncut!

Our first of the “Idols with Idols” performance: Siobhan and Aaron singing the BeeGees’ How Deep Is Your Love along with…The Brothers Gibb! Fun Fact: Robin and Barry Gibb own houses two lots away from each other on Miami Beach. The house in between? Owned by J.Lo. I imagine she hears echos of How Deep Is Your Love harmonies as she falls asleep at night. Or at least I picture that as an SNL skit…

Our next “Idols with Idols” duet is Mike squared! Michael McDonald and Michael Lynche – and it was an awesome(!) rendition of Taking It To The Streets. I thoroughly enjoyed that one.

Dane Cook doing a tribute to Simon, with some of the all-time best Idol outcasts. Some guy stole the mic? and the quickly cut to commercial? Yeah, Idol, that will teach you to further exploit the already over-exploited. Oopsies!

After the abrupt commercial break, the girls sing some Xtina–Beautiful and Fighter, and then Ms. Xtina herself comes out (she forgot to wear clothes–oops!) to sing her new single – she is really amazing, I must give her that much! I didn’t like the hair or makeup, but the voice is a-rockin!

Then Rickey Gervais via sattellite bids Simon a farewell.

After the break, the boys sing a little Hall and Oates medley with…Hall and Oates! I liked it, and the boys were surprisingly syncronated in their dancing. That bodes well for the tour.

Crystal sings some Alanis with…Alanis! Nice duet, ladies! This was a very sophomore-year-of-high-school moment for me.

Miss Underwood is up next and is completely awesome as always. And then Kris gives Crystal and Lee their own Ford Fiestas.

Next up is Casey James singing along with Bret Michaels singing Every Rose Has Its Thorn. Holy Crap, Bret Michaels looks good considering all of his health issues lately–wow!

Another tribute to Simon with more Paula! After which, we have General Larry Platt singing/rapping his original Pants On The Ground! Yeah for the General! Then we randomly have him performing with William Hung…I mean they are both idol rejects, but they really don’t go together.

Aw, more Simon memories and then Paula! Paula in a pink dress! Doing a bad scripted comedy routine–she sounds a little drunk, but not as bad as season 5.

After Simon’s little tribute, with all the winners (minus David Cook) are there with a bunch of alumni (dressed in white) Archie! Kim Caldwell! Justin Guarini (he is EVERYWHERE!) Castro! Rocker! There was some wardrobe fail in that Jordin was the only winner wearing white, but it was super fun to see everyone–they are like old friends.

After the break, Holy Janet Jackson! She is wearing some sort of vampire getup, but she strips it off to do a pretty kick ass rendition of Nasty Boys. Love It!

Crystal and Lee sing some Joe Cocker with…Joe Cocker! Nice duet – I think Lee missed a line, but he can’t be blamed – This is a bunch of crap for him to do in one night!

I have to interject to say that there didn’t feel like a ton of commercial interruptions tonight.

And way after 10pm, the winner is…LEE DEWYZE!!!

Awww – he is so adorable! Good Job, Lee! I can’t believe they cut him off at the end, though. WTF?! Build in a few minutes for him to thank people (and hug his parents, or something.)

Well, thanks for a good season, all. It will be sad to have the show without Simon, but it will keep trucking along.

Also, thanks for coming along for the Idol Review ride, guys. It has been an inconsistent one at best, but thanks for sticking around.

laura, out.

(PS – The winner of the giveaway will be announced soon!)

Last Chance for a Giveaway!

Laura — Wed, 26 May 2010 23:22:40 +0000

Last chance to win a Pants On The Ground Shirt! The comments will close at 8pm eastern time, and the winner will be announced tonight after the finale is over. Leave a comment on THE POST BELOW to win! Good Luck!

We made it…almost…

Laura — Wed, 26 May 2010 01:45:19 +0000

Lee vs. Crystal. Crystal vs. Lee. We have gotten to the big stage, and both of these kids seem excited, and slightly overwhelmed with the crowd. There may be a bigger live audience, but there are still 30 million people watching at home – now THAT is a big audience.

Tonight they are each singing three songs: their favorite from the season, a pick from Simon Fuller, and the presumably nasty coronation song. Crystal won the coin toss, and chooses to recieve, so Lee kicks it off first.

01. Lee DeWyze		“The Boxer” by Simon and Garfunkel – Awww, Lee, what a great performance again! I loved it, and I thought the vocal was even better than the first time around.
02. Crystal Bowersox		“Me and Bobby McGee” by Janis Joplin – Her vocal was amazing tonight! I always thought that Lee had a better voice than her, but tonight her vocal was awesome! Also, I love her boots. Just sayin…
03. Lee DeWyze		“Everybody Hurts” by REM – This was a pretty good choice for him – The arrangement was a little funky, but I could tell he was into the song.
04. Crystal Bowersox	+1/2	“Black Velvet” – Meh, I didn’t love this – She looked terrified to walk down the stairs, I didn’t love the look, and her vocal was messy. The last note was great, and brought it back a bit, but the whole thing was messy, IMO.
05. Lee DeWyze	+1/2	“Beautiful Day” by U2 /Lee’s “original song” – Veeery interesting, Idol. I guess, if you can’t get the whole original song thing to be successful, you just cover another one, huh? Anyway, I liked the arrangement – and the vocal wasn’t too bad. But as a final song, it left a little bit more to be desired in terms of emotional connection.
06. Crystal Bowersox	+1/2	“Up to the Mountain” - I loved this performance, and have to agree with Kara, that she was completely emotionally invested in this song. And it was a great vocal, so in terms of vocals, she is 2 for 3.

This finale is the first one in a while where I really could see it going either way. Who will be the winner tomorrow? Any opinions?

Will Young (what has he been up to for the last eight years?) sings us out, where we get to see an image of Mr. Pants on the Ground in the season summary.

SPEAKING OF WHICH…

Enter the giveaway below!!! Get a Pants on the Ground Tshirt! Do it now! All the cool kids are doing it… Seriously.