American Idol 6

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Anon
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Post by Anon »

I doubt the show is going to mess with the system, but I did recently learn that Melinda got around 33% of votes. So, it's obvious that Melinda - despite all the "shortcomings" we keep talking about (age, looks, "boring" on stage, etc.) - has just as many fans as the other two. But, when it came down to the wire, the other things like youth, looks, and being considered "contemporary" may have made the difference.

I still maintain powers that be screwed her somehow.

At any rate, I like the idea of an Electoral College (which was put in place to shore up the Popular Vote precisely because our Founding Fathers didn't trust the morons to have complete control over elected governments). In that case, an elite panel of guest judges (like how they have guest mentors) should weigh in on results night. Sort of like, have the public vote for their favorite and when we get down to a bottom two or three (especially when the votes are close - ala this week between Mindy Doo, Jordin, and Blake), have those few contestants sing their hearts out, and then let the elite panel vote for who advances and who should go home. At least, there would be a purpose to Wednesday results shows rather than show fillers.
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Post by anonymous1980 »

Akash wrote:It's time for AI to seriously reconsider it's voting. Were it a system of voting to eliminate someone each week, Jordin fans who liked Melinda more than Blake, and Blake fans who liked Melinda more than Jordin (and Melinda fans who liked Jordin/Blake more than the other) could have kept her in the Final 2. More elimination votes would have been cast between Blake and Jordin and we wouldn't have this sad result. Or perhaps AI also needs to consider a winner each week who is granted immunity from the voting. Let the judges pick one singer each week who they think "won" that round, and let that person be safe from the voting (until the Finale of course). They would have picked Melinda and we'd have a better Finale for it.
The problem with voting for someone to eliminate is that the eventual winner is not necessarily the most liked contestant but rather the least hated and therefore, having the least number of people who gives a crap about them. It won't dictate how many records he or she can sell.
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Post by OscarGuy »

Lovely idea, Akash, but the first of your two suggestions would fail miserably.

Instead of votefortheworst.com, we'd get voteforthebest.com and then the best singer would be voted out earlier in the competition when a large number of such votes would hurt more.

The second option would definitely add a nice element to that. I think that would stave off some of the more ludicrous eliminations as we've had plenty of outstanding performances get booted off.
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Post by Akash »

Damien wrote:If that's the case, how did she make it this far? Shouldn't she have gone down before Chris R or even Phil?


Exactly. The fact is, Melinda was NEVER in the bottom 3, and was frequently told she was "safe" first, leading us to believe that she received some of the higher number of votes. Conversely, BOTH Jordin and Blake have been in the bottom 3 (in Blake's case, more than once). So I really don't see Sonic, how a sudden emergence of young teenybopper voters could be the cause.

It might be even sadder than that. I've read many outraged posts on other message boards of Melinda fans saying they voted for Blake or Jordin trying to knock the other one out - assuming of course that Melinda was safe. Melinda's loss could very well be the sad result of many people thinking she was safe anyway, so they were busier trying to get the second person they liked in the Final 2.

It's time for AI to seriously reconsider it's voting. Were it a system of voting to eliminate someone each week, Jordin fans who liked Melinda more than Blake, and Blake fans who liked Melinda more than Jordin (and Melinda fans who liked Jordin/Blake more than the other) could have kept her in the Final 2. More elimination votes would have been cast between Blake and Jordin and we wouldn't have this sad result. Or perhaps AI also needs to consider a winner each week who is granted immunity from the voting. Let the judges pick one singer each week who they think "won" that round, and let that person be safe from the voting (until the Finale of course). They would have picked Melinda and we'd have a better Finale for it.
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Post by Anon »

Sonic Youth wrote:Ay, gevalt! Am I the only one not surprised by the outcome? It seemed pretty evident to me that Melinda was a goner. It doesn't matter how good a singer she is. For all Simon's talk about Jordin coming across as old-fashioned - could she PLEASE stop wearing sleeve-less dresses already?? - it's Melinda that came across as old-fashioned. I mean, she sang Nutbush City Limits, fur cryin' out loud. Nutbush City Limits! Just the song title itself set her up for a fall.

Hence, why I still maintain that Melinda Doolittle was set up to fail this week (yes, I think the show's people - and not Melinda - sabatoged her chances by choosing the most old-fashioned songs and outfits for her to sing and wear).

The producers are very happy with their fabricated "young" choices in Blake and Jordin. I say fabricated because, at 29, don't tell me Melinda couldn't have been presented in a younger fashion. I'M 34 and, trust me, I can and have fooled 21 year olds into thinking I'm their same age. Melinda was presented like an old fogey, when 29 is so not OLD!

Anyway, Sonic Youth, I think the real reason many of us are "gnashing our teeth" isn't so much that we're shocked at Melinda's vote-off, we were just shocked back into the reality that American Idol, for all their promotion of their "singing competition," never was and never will be. It's because Melinda lasted as long as the Top 3 why many people were lulled and deceived into thinking that, hmmmm, who knew? Maybe AI does have some quality to it and maybe this really is about discovering untapped amazing talent. Then, BAM!, they pulled the rug right out from under us. As if they said: "Gotcha! Silly Rabbit, tricks are for kids! You didn't really think we give a crap about interpretative song stylists and music artists, did you?"

At the end of the day, they used Melinda and worked her talent for as long as they could to give them the appearance of "legitimacy," only to dump her before she came too close to the brass ring.

Let's face it: Melinda Doolittle is the real deal. She's like an oil painting to the posters/replicas that Jordin and Blake represent. Oh, sure, they're all nice and glossy reprints of a Renoir, but when the real Renoir is staring you in the face and you think it's for sale, American Idol - the POSTER gallery that it is - just came back at you with: "Duh! Of course Renoir is not for sale! We just have it on loan from the Louvre ... we thought it'd be a cool gimmick to show you the real thing, you know, make you think we're really about art and stuff, but really. We're just here to sell you posters. Don't you think this Renoir poster will hang nicely on your wall?"

The "shock" that everyone's feeling right now is the realization that American Idol really is as fake, as superficial, as cheesy (actually, let me take "cheesy" back because there's nothing cheesy about exploiting real talent and breaking people's hearts anymore: how about, as sleazy), and as insidious as we all thought it was to begin with. They pretended to be about music when they really weren't.

I'm afraid the days of seeing Kelly (pre-superstar), Ruben, Clay, Kimberly, and Fantasia winners and runner-ups are over. Since Carrie's win from Season 4, this show will from now on always be about picking "marketability" and steering the public to vote accordingly. (And I blame you, Simon Cowell! Yes you, talking about Carrie Underwood like a product... you set up Melinda for this disaster, so stop your moping!)
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Post by Penelope »

So Melinda lost, but down the road she'll be fine. Whether Jordin wins or loses next week, she'll be fine too. (Blake I'm not so sure of.)


Actually, I'd say Blake has the greater chance for a sustained career than does Jordin: although the latter clearly has a greater vocal range, her talent is limited to craptacular power ballads (her attempts with Bon Jovi, the Bee Gees and Donna Summer prove that she flunks with up-tempo numbers), whereas the former has a limited vocal range, his talent, charisma and artistic sensibility lends itself well to any genre of music (he's obviously great fun with the up-tempo songs, while his relaxed, unadorned version of Imagine, I thought, was simply perfect). If anything, his innate musical sense could lead Blake to become a highly successful producer -- if it weren't for the fact that he so loves actually being up there on stage.
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Post by Damien »

Sonic Youth wrote:Melinda is more like the very talented aunt who sings old songs at the grown-up's parties. She needed to alter her approach, and she didn't.
If that's the case, how did she make it this far? Shouldn't she have gone down before Chris R or even Phil? (In a post-mortem interview, Melinda did say she realized she had the older vote, and was appreciative of it.)

I don't text message, but the other night I did vote on my good old dependable land line 10 times for Melinda, and 5 for Blake.

By the way, I loved how Blake unabashedly kissed his Dad on camera, and how emotional pop was. When I was growing up, I always kissed my father, and the other kids thought it was weird. And in the audience, Melinda's parents and grandparents had so much class and elegance! As for the Big Bruiser, her father was a pro football player, and for some reason that particular genus is disproportionately involved in taking away reproductive freedom. (The only explanation I can think of is most football players are, by definition, macho assholes, and, as such, the paternalistic nature of the anti-choice appeals to their nature.) So the old man is probably responsible for her horrible stance -- but then again, at 17 she should be rebelling against the rents, not marching in lockstep. Funny that the child of a racially-mixed marriage should be a social conservatives -- it wasn't very long ago when other social conservatives saw preventing marrriages like that of her parents as another holy crusade.
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Post by Sonic Youth »

cam wrote:Simply: Thirteen-year-olds are running the country. They did when Taylor Hicks was chosen as well. It didn't matter that she had all the attributes that Damien notes; talent doesn't
matter with boppers. All of you saying now, well--it was meant to be because she wasn't a screamer or whatever, ought to look at your earlier posts.
Can you imagine the if the results of much of what we hold dear would be decided by the hands of young Britneys with parents who don't monitor their phone time?
Maybe I'm misremembering, but didn't you say you used teach music classes for kids that age?
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Post by Sonic Youth »

Ay, gevalt! Am I the only one not surprised by the outcome? It seemed pretty evident to me that Melinda was a goner. It doesn't matter how good a singer she is. For all Simon's talk about Jordin coming across as old-fashioned - could she PLEASE stop wearing sleeve-less dresses already?? - it's Melinda that came across as old-fashioned. I mean, she sang Nutbush City Limits, fur cryin' out loud. Nutbush City Limits! Just the song title itself set her up for a fall. Sorry if this concept seems odious, but yes, the demographic for American Idol skews towards very young text messengers. And Jordin is young enough for viewers relate to. And Blake feels young, fresh and contemporary. Melinda is more like the very talented aunt who sings old songs at the grown-up's parties. She needed to alter her approach, and she didn't.

And why is everyone teeth-gnashing? It really doesn't matter at this point. This is AI's sixth season, and we know by now that winning the shebang is no guarantee for a successful career. Jennifer Hudson isn't an American Idol winner. People still think Clay Aiken won AI. Taylor Hicks pretty much fizzled, while fourth place Chris Daughtry is a big success, stultifyingly mediocre he may be. (But so is Bon Jovi.) So Melinda lost, but down the road she'll be fine. Whether Jordin wins or loses next week, she'll be fine too. (Blake I'm not so sure of.)
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Post by 99-1100896887 »

The Christians vs. The Lions( thumbs up or down) of this show has aways fascinated me, but I have no vote, and am not interested anymore.
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Post by OscarGuy »

Anon wrote:Vonzell and J-Hud weren't on the same season, were they? From what memory serves, Vonzell was up against Bo and Carrie. J-Hud was up against Fantasia and LaToya.
Right again...I guess the reason I picked Vonzel was because everyone else that season sucked...holy crap. I look back at the list and think it's the only truly atrocious season...though there were times I liked Bo, but still he wasn't that great...What a world away this season was from Season 4...I would almost say that everyone this season was better than anyone in Season 4.
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Post by dws1982 »

Eric wrote:
dws1982 wrote:
OscarGuy wrote:Season 4: Vonzell Solomon (Best Singer went out 3rd)

Wow. With the possible exception of Nikki McKibbin, I think she's easily the worst singer ever to make the top three.

Taylor Hicks made the top three.
Taylor could at least sing through a full measure without singing in about fifty different keys, something Vonzell could never claim. She had a likeable personality, and probably could be a fine singer with some vocal training, but on the show she was always just far enough off key to make the skin crawl.
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Post by Anon »

Vonzell and J-Hud weren't on the same season, were they? From what memory serves, Vonzell was up against Bo and Carrie. J-Hud was up against Fantasia and LaToya.
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Post by OscarGuy »

I'll take Vonzell back. She was the best of the three she competed with, but my personal fave of that season would be, no surprise, JHud.
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Post by Greg »

cam wrote:and we would all be rich vapitalizing on it
Is this a typo? Because if it's intentional, that's an intersting new word -- capitalizing on vapidity.
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