Category Archives: American Idol

James Durbin leaves American Idol

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James Durbin was voted off American Idol tonight in what most people would say was a big upset.     Scotty McCreery, Lauren Alaina, and Haley Reinhart are the three remaining finalists.

This makes my American Idol Contestants prediction of a Durbin win … WRONG … but I’m OK with that because I’m now rooting for Lauren, who has the country charm that I hope takes her into the final.   Scotty’s the big surprise for me even though he’s a great singer – I just didn’t think his sort of “overaged kid” style would do so well but he’d obviously a big hit with the American Idol voting demographic – teen girls.

So we’re almost down to the final, and therefore…

THIS IS AMERICAN IDOL!

American Idol Contestants Part II

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Well, I was pretty close with my estimate of which American Idol Contestants would make it until tonight.    We’ve got Haley Reinhart, Lauren Alaina, James Durbin, and Scotty McCreery where I predicted the first three plus Casey would still be alive in the American Idol Competition.  Jacob Lusk was last weeks victim in the cruel and suspenseful “results” show where contestants are slowly made to squirm while they learn their individual fate as continuing in pursuit of becoming the next American Idol, an honor so great it often almost immediately confers a lifetime of superstardom on the winners – people like Carrie Underwood, Kelly Clarkson, and … umm… Taylor Hicks!   (What, who dat?)

My winner prediction is still the same.   I think James Durbin will take it unless he really falls apart in the last few weeks.    Scotty, Haley, and Lauren all had exceptional performances last week so it’s certainly possible we’ll see what I would call an upset and see somebody other than James win the whole show.

THIS … is AMERICAN IDOL!

American Idol – still predicting a James Durbin win

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In my last American Idol Contestants post I predicted James Durbin will win and I’m sticking to that story, especially after tonights brilliant performance of Carol King’s Tonight You’re Mine.     Although all the remaining folks are exceptional singers with great personalities, only James and Casey seem to bring exceptional musicianship as well.    James, however, seems to edge out Casey on a key important factor in American Idol Contestants – cuteness, especially to the many teenage girls who appear to be the most important voting demographic on the show.

In my humble American Idol fan opinion Ashley is the best singer left on the show, and I think she still has something of a shot at winning, but I think the smart money is on James Durbin to win American Idol.

Is American Idol Rigged?

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I am a big fan of the American experience and the American experiment [excluding the many mistakes we’ve made and continue to make of course]  and American Idol in particular, and I do not believe that Idol is rigged.    I have read (I think it was in Newsweek during the Ruben Studdard / Clay Aiken controversies) that producers do not treat all contestants equally however, so if by “rigged” one means to ask “is it unfair” I think the answer is almost certainly yes, but not unfair enough to make a huge difference in the results, which are overwhelmingly a function of millions of votes by people all over the country.

Especially with the recent early departure of favorite American Idol Contestant Pia Toscano, some have suggested as they always do that the voting is not representative but I think it’s brilliantly representative in the sense that the show manages to build popularity and a fan base for even those that get  eliminated, many of whom wind up with contracts from the American Idol producers.

Many Idols – even losers – go on to become huge stars like Daughtry, Clay Aiken, and Jennifer Hudson.   American Idol is the most fertile ground for stardom in decades – perhaps in the history of entertainment – and they aren’t going to mess that up by rigging the results.

American Idol Contestants

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After the sad and surprising departure of Pia Toscano last night on American Idol, it’s time to review all the contestants that are left.   I’m a big fan and something of a pop musical genius  (just kidding : ), so I thought I’d rank all the American Idol Contestants based on the following items:

Singing Ability, Personality, Looks, Star Power, Likelihood of winning.    Feel free to chime in with comments if you do or don’t agree.   1 is low, 10 is high.   For likelihood I’ve ranked them 1 through 7

THIS …. is AMERICAN IDOL!

Idol Contestant | Singing Ability       |  Personality      | Looks      |  Star Power      |  Likelihood of winning

Haley Reinhart                9                           8                 9                   7                             2

James Durbin                   8                           9                 8                   9                              1

Casey Abrams                  9                           8                 6                   7                              4

Jacob Lusk                        8                           7                 6                    7                             7

Stefano Langone             8                           8                  7                   7                              5

Paul McDonald                6                           8                  9                    7                             8

Lauren Alaina                  9                           8                  8                    7                             3

Scotty McCreery             7                          6                  7                    7                             6

 

Of course the fact that I was a big Pia Toscano fan might indicate I’m not very good at this game.   I don’t think my favorite has *ever* won American Idol since Kelly Clarkson who I had picked very early on correctly at the first winner.   I was also close with second place Clay Aiken, who narrowly lost to Ruben Studdard in what remains my favorite American Idol season of all time, though not the most talent filled season which is absolutely this year.    No bad singers made it past the round of 24 and everybody left, with the possible exception IMHO of Paul, has tons of raw singing talent.

P.S.  Wow, my post Pia Toscano Leaves American Idol already has over a thousand views and 10 comments in under 24 hours.    Clearly, American Idol is an amazing traffic magnet for a blog, and since I’m a big fan I think it’s time to start writing a lot more about the show and the contestants because

” THIS …. IS AMERICAN IDOL “

Pia Toscano Leaves American Idol !

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Pia Toscano was kicked off of American Idol tonight after the American viewing public displayed their musical ignorance yet again.   Now, I’m not saying that American Idol is art in high form, rather American Idol is art in …. popular form.   So I suppose it’s OK that Pia was a victim of what must have been her talent and good lucks, because she was one of the favorites for those of us who … know music… : )

OK, sure this is *partly* an SEO post hoping to see how JoeDuck can rank for searches for Pia Toscano and American Idol searches, but it’s also a reflection of my sadness at Pia’s departure from the show.    I’m a fan of the show and most of the family has been watching it for many years.   Pia’s departure is … a tragedy!

My working hypothesis is that there’s a bias in favor of the most appealing personalities and Pia did not come across as well as most of the others, so maybe that’s the reason Pia is no longer on American Idol.     Stay tuned for more reports…

Pia Toscano

Pia Toscano off of American Idol!