AI8 - Finals!

Wow - possibly the best final ever? Kris really struggled on the last song but other than that I think every performance was awesome!! Adam really rekindled my love tonight by avoiding the screeching, lol, and Kris was his adorable, musically talented self... I really think either one could win (normally I'd say Adam had a big edge, but I think Kris will garner votes from a lot of Danny's fans). Seems like the end of the season went really fast! I'm sad it's over but there's always the concert to look forward to (my tix came in the mail today, woo-hoo!), and SYTYCD starts Thursday; can't wait!!

AI8 - Top 4 (5/5/09)

LOVED Kris but know he's in major danger so threw him all my votes tonight. Danny obviously should go after that atrocity (though I do respect him for taking the risk) but I don't know, he's so obviously this year's Chosen One I can't really see him being Daughtry'd (though Daughtry was a better singer IMO). I don't like Led Zeppelin & thought the Foghat song was boring (lyrically) so really didn't enjoy Adam this week. Kris's was my fave performance followed by his duet w/Danny (what can I say, I love Styx & great harmonies!).

AI8 - Top 5 (4/28/09)

Tonight's theme is "Rat Pack," aka Standards or Big Band. And the mentor is... Jamie Foxx?! Cool... I think!

Kris "The Way You Look Tonight" - Still love him, just wish we got to know him better (so he could sneak past Danny into the finals). Good performance, nothing too surprising or 'wow'.

Allison "Someone to Watch Over Me" - Wish she were prettier (so she could sneak past Danny into the finals), but such an awesome voice and stage presence/maturity!

Matt "My Funny Valentine" - I give him props for taking the mentor's advice, but the vocal still didn't do anything for me. Paula & Simon loved it; Randy & Kara, notsomuch.

Danny "Come Rain or Come Shine" - Decent, but still overrated.

Adam "Feeling Good" - awesome!! From the stairway entrance to the a killer next-to-last note. Boy. can. SANG! ;) Best line of the night was Simon saying that "Randy criticizing you for being dramatic is like someone complaining that a cow moos."

My predicted B3: Matt, Danny, & Allison - with Matt leaving.

AI8 - Top 7 - Again! (4/21/09)

(just the basics for now - crazy busy week w/lots of interviews & big garage sale!)

No one left last week so we still have 7! But it will become 5 after tomorrow night. Our theme is Disco/70's. No mentor and no video intros, so hopefully they'll finish on time!

Lil "I'm Every Woman" - meh

Kris "She Works Hard for the Money" - my fave of the night!

Danny "September"

Allison "Hot Stuff"

Adam "If I Can't Have You"

Matt "Staying Alive" - ooh, the reverse lyrics Idol curse!

Anoop "Dim All the Lights"


I'd personally be happy if Lil & Danny went home. However... I predict the Bottom 3 will be Lil, Matt, and Anoop, with Matt and Lil going home.

AI8 - Top 7 Results (4/15/09)

Crazy week - I'll update this eventually!

Judges used the Save on Matt, so no one goes home this week but 2 will leave next week.

AI8 - Top 7 (4/14/09)

Tonight's theme is Music from the Movies, and the 'Mentor' is Quentin Tarantino! He's an avid Idol fan (was a guest judge in S3) and is described as being "passionate" about music. He met the contestants at a famous sound stage and gave most of them pretty strong advice/opinions, actually more than most singing mentors usually do. Not all of them took his advice, as usual!

Simon also apologized for the show's running over time last week and joked that it was all "the girls' fault." As a result, only 2 judges will critique each performance tonight. (Still didn't help enough, but was a nice try!)

Allison "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing" - another should-be-banned-from-Idol-due-to-overuse song. It was nice that she got a full orchestra, but I didn't think it was one of her better performances. The crowd loved it & judges were positive.

Anoop "Everything I Do I Do For You" - Great! I like the song to begin with, but I love Anoop best when he does ballads like this. Still threw him a few votes after the close call last week! Randy & Kara both liked it; Kara said that he does best choosing pop songs & then adding his "soul." She also said she felt a connection & liked the changes he made.

Adam "Born to be Wild" - Very good, typical Adam. ;-) It was nice how he played/sang to & with the band on one side & then the background singers on the other; also how he slowed & softened down the bridge. Crowd loved it! Paula said he's one of the bravest contestants they've ever had; Simon said it was vocally excellent but wasn't sure everyone would like how he changed up such a popular song, that it was too "Rocky Horror the Musical."

Matt "Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman" - I like the song, but Matt changed both the style and melody and I'm not sure it was an improvement over the original; he also had some weak vocal spots. The crowd seemed to like it. Randy said he tried to do too much w/it; Kara said he again wrongly chose a "rock" song instead of R&B even though he tried to alter it to fit his style.

Danny "Endless Love" - Really?! Sigh. It was bad enough when the judges/producers kept alluding to the dead wife, but now he's chosen songs 2 weeks in a row that overtly remind everyone of his sob story. Not cool & distracts from the decent vocals; with him, unfortunately, it's not just about the vocals. The judges liked but Simon was disappointed he didn't do anything special w/it (different from the original); he even mentioned David Cook's rearrangements of last season. But then he also said he acknowledged how emotionally difficult the song was to do & gave him credit for that. What?! It's not like he was forced to do the song, Simon! He could have easily *not* sung something that made everyone pity him for being a young widower. But then, Simon wants him in the finals, so he put a positive spin on it. Sigh.

Kris "Falling Slowly" - I don't know this one; it's from a movie called "Once"? Quentin did say that Kris took the theme the most to heart of any contestants in that he picked a movie that "meant something to him," instead of just choosing a song on its own merit. The performance didn't wow me in any way but it was good & enjoyable. Randy said it never really 'caught' him, but Kara said it was one of his best performances, despite choosing an obscure song.

Lil "The Rose" - 1st half was boring, but when she started the gospelizing it became very good! I think this is what she's been needing to show. However... Simon said it was too soft/mellow a song for her and that she's not the artist they thought she was early in the competition. (ouch! but then I think they overrated her early on...)

Hard to pick a bottom 3: I'll predict Allison, Matt, & Kris, with Matt going home.

AI8 - Top 8 Results (4/8/09)

Guess I should do last week's recap before this week's show comes on, huh? :)

34 Million votes - and only 30,000 separated the bottom 2 vote-getters!

Ryan talks about birth years and we cut to a video clip of Frankie Avalon singing "Venus" from the year Simon was born... then he comes out live on stage to finish the song! So Simon turns 50 this year.

Group song: "Can't Get You Out of My Head"

Ford video: "Circus," but the best part was the behind-the-scenes making-of footage we got. It was a magic show set in an old theater, and Adam and Allison both loved the costumes & make-up. Anoop? Notsomuch. ;-)

Ryan's chat w/contestants - asked Adam how it felt to get a S.O. from Simon & Adam said he knew how rarely that happened & he was very grateful. Ryan also said the mayor from Kalamazoo, MI - Matt's hometown - was in the audience. (As was Mario Lopez, for what that's worth.)

Results! Ryan had Adam, Kris, and Anoop stand. He then let the judges give feedback on Adam's performance since they didn't get to last night, which was nice in a way but also awkward for the other guys IMO. Adam is, of course, safe! As is Kris - but Anoop is in the Bottom 3.

Guest performance - Flo Rida, "Right Round." I've heard part of this remake & didn't know who it was; now I know. That's pretty much all there is to say about that. ;-)

More results:
Danny - safe. Matt - safe. Scott - B3.
Allison & Lil remain - Allison is safe, Lil is B3. Well, my prediction was right except for Anoop.

Ryan asked the judges if they'd consider using the save tonight, & Simon said they would consider it on at least one of them.

Guest performance: Kellie Pickler, "The Best Days of Your Life," which she cowrote w/bff Taylor Swift. Not one of Kellie's (or Taylor's) better songs, IMO.

1st safe is Lil. The least votes went to... Scott (yay, I'm right, and whew!). He sings and the judges deliberate. Simon says 2 want him to stay, 2 want him to go! And once again they can't decide. I think since they said at the beginning that it had to be unanimous, that should decide it & Scott goes. Simon doesn't use that reasoning, but he tells Scott it's a no, he's going home. Journey vid, hugs, etc.

AI8 - Top 8 (4/7/09)

Tonight's theme is songs from the year you were born - in essence, 80's tunes!! This makes me very happy, lol. In fact this is possibly my favorite show so far of the season!

Danny (1980) "Stand By Me" - Strange arrangement (not really like the one released that year by Mickey Gillie), just ok. Judges loved it though, of course.

Kris ('85) "All She Wants to Do is Dance" - I'm a huge Don Henley fan, but I don't think this was a good choice for Kris. That, combined w/the electric guitar & singing in the mosh pit w/the audience... Kara was glad he did something uptempo but disappointed in the delivery (too "jazz funk" and not "youthful" enough); Simon called it indulgent & boring/forgettable. He may be in trouble.

Lil (84) "What's Love Got to Do with It" - Hmm, pretty copycat, not much original. Judges agreed & said it wasn't "her". I'll be very surprised if she doesn't hit the B3.

Anoop (86 - he shares a bday w/David Cook!) "True Colors" - Love this! The song and his performance. Changed it up just enough, but not too much. Judges agreed, they all liked it. Kara said he controlled the song (as opposed to the song controlling him) and that he "interpreted a pop song with soul."

Scott (85) "The Search is Over" - Eeeee!!! Sorry, but I *love* this song!! Had to stop myself from singing along so I could listen to Scott, lol. No piano this week! He had an electric guitar, which didn't really go w/the song, at least since he was on stage all alone (it would've been better if he'd been with a band but it was weird solo). Didn't hit all the high notes but overall it was a good vocal, I think he's become more comfortable the past few weeks & his vocals have been stronger because of it. The judges picked on the missed notes and Simon said the song itself (not the performance) was horrible. Sorry, Simon, it's awesome! ;-)

Allison (92- the year I got married! Sigh, I feel old!) "I Can't Make You Love Me" - Ah, an Idol classic! No one will beat Contantine's version IMO, but Allison's was very, very good, especially for her age (you know, to get the right emotion for it). Paula said this was the perfect example of how you can use the original arrangement but still make it your own. Simon said he liked the song, but thinks she needs to show more personality.

Matt (85 - wow, these 3 guys were all born within about 5 wks of each other!) "Part-time Lover" - really? That was the best you could come up with?! Sigh. It was ok... the arrangement was very jazzy & he even did a little scatting at the end. But not a good song for showing vocal strength. Somehow the judges adored it, though we're short on time so we don't get much detail.

Adam (82) "Mad World"!!! *LOVE* this song. Adam rocked it!!!! Got the dramatic lighting treatment from the producers, though his performance started after 9 since the show ran long so people only using DVR's will have totally missed it. Since they were out of time Simon said he'd be the only one commenting, but he didn't feel words were necessary; and then gave him a standing ovation!! Simon *never* does that (like, 3 times during 7 years?) and I think Adam realized it was significant, he seemed very grateful. :-) Awesome!!!

My personal Bottom 3 would be Danny, Matt & Lil.
I predict the actual B3 will be Kris, Lil, and Scott, with Scott going home.