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Access Atlanta > American Idol Buzz > Archives > 2006 > April > 25
Tuesday, April 25, 2006
4/25: Pickler in a pickle but Paris could be going home
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Kellie Pickler may be Amercia’s darling but she sure won’t be the American Idol after her past two performances. I think she’s starting to wilt under the pressure.
The bottom three? Both Taylor and Kellie are both due for a fall for the first time. And Katharine will join them. Who will go home? Sorry, Kellie. (These are my immediate thoughts before I see dialidol.com’s numbers.)
I must be letting my hometown bias toward Paris get to me because she is clearly at the bottom on dialidol.com (which measures busy signals) though Kellie is within shooting distance of losing. Kat’s in fourth, just ahead of Elliott. Taylor is currently the Ronald Reagan of the group— he’s Teflon proof! (Mike S was right!) And Chris is deservedly at the top.
“If you can’t cut it in my studio, you’re gone. It’s not softball, it’s hardball,” said songwriter David Foster. Andrea Bocelli was a pushover but fun to listen to.
- Chris Daughtry (Bryan Adams “Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman”) — I hate this song with a deep passion. He’s going to have to do something extra to get me to like it. He’s almost making me like it. He is singing it with heart, with warmth, with style. It’s far better than Bryan Adam’s version. And that’s enough to give the top slot again to Chris. Randy: “Amazing!” Paula: “Love you!” Simon: “That was a very very good choice of song. And it was a great performance, very sexy song.” (He was the last one on and they had to rush the comments.)
Tie-2. Elliott Yamin (“A Song For You” by Donny Hathaway) His fans are apparently now called Yaminians. This was the first song he sang early on, he said. “I’m pumped!” he told Ryan. And he wants to give Donny some props. And one of the backup singers is Donny’s daughter. As David Foster said, it’s a very stylized song. Elliott is again in his element, very confident, very secure in this song. It’s very good but didn’t blow me out of the water. Randy: “Did not like the arrangement. It was overshadowing the vocals. But I love you. You were the bomb tonight.” Paula is crying. “You move me!” Simon giggles. “Seven weeks ago, I said in my opinion you are one of the best male vocalists we’ve ever had. In parts, that was a vocal master class. That was superb.”
Tie-2. Paris Bennett (“The Way You Were” by Barbra Streisand) — “She has volume like me,” Andrea said. She has that ’70s flip hair and opts for a signature Barbra tune. And she can handle it far better than Mikalah Gordon! It’s old fashioned but heartwarming. I enjoyed it! Randy: “I thought it was pretty good. I wasn’t blown away. I liked it. I wasn’ tover the top. You can sing anything.” Paula: “I felt you oversang it a little bit. But best female vocal tongiht. Simon: “Very good vocal. Bit old fashioned for my taste. I felt you were trying to impersonate an older artist.” Hey, Simon. Stop stealing my adjectives! :)
4 — Katharine McPhee (Whitney Houston’s “I Have Nothing”) — Kat’s taking on a major risk with Vonzell Solomon’s favorite song from last year when she finished third. But at least she has some operatic skills as she duets with Andrea Bocelli. And cleavage alert: she is finally wearing a decent dress! (A button pops at the bottom of her dress near the end but nothing shows.) Kat’s version is much mellower and vanilla than Vonzell’s. She torch sings it reasonably well with solid intensity. As good as Whitney? Or even Vonzell? Um… no. Randy: “I was a little bit worried this week. It was a good choice of a song. Keeping it real. It was too big for you… You’re talking about Whitney in the prime. That didn’t come close, I’m sorry.” Paula’s mike is off. “There were pitch problems. Last week, when you sang, you were in your zone, you didn’t push your vocals. When you sing in your natural voice. Yo udon’t have to oversing. Sometimes, you tend to follow up flat when you hit the power note… Your money is your intimate vocals.” Simon: “Very simple. By choosing that song, I am as good as Whitney Houston. You’re not. That was the problem. It was quite old fashioned and cabaret. You went backwards. You sing a Whitney song, you have to be as good. You are not.”
5 — Taylor Hicks (James Ingram’s “Just Once”) - Great song pick that fits him perfectly. Foster liked him a lot and he’s a tough cookie. Taylor’s charisma carries him through. It’s a wee bit too much like the original and in fact, not as good. After the David/Andrea buildup, I’m disappointed. Randy: “That song was completely the wrong song for me for you. It was like weird karaoke.” Paula: “There are sensitive sides for you… it wasn’t my favorite songs but you look as handsome as heck.” Simon: “You looked uptight tonight… you hear that every night every day of the week in hotel lounges, a performance like that. It was the phrasing, the performance as a whole. It was not a winning performance.”
6 — Kellie Pickler (Righteous Brothers’ “Unchained Melody”) She’s single! “I’m lonely,” she said. Noting the song is from Ghost, she hopes to one day have a pottery partner. “I don’t have anyone to play pottery with,” she said, adorably. “What color hair does she have?” Foster asked Bocelli. “Blonde,” said the blind man. The song is one that Clay Aiken pulled off in season two. Can she? It starts sort of blah. She looks way too morose. She said during the rehearsal that she felt it was robotic. And it is. And dull. This could kill her. She could be gone tomorrow night after two bad weeks in a row. Even when she hits the high notes, she doesn’t show any emotion. And that rouge on her face doesn’t do her any favors. Randy: “There were pitch problems. The high note was in tune. It was very strange. Wasn’t the right song.” Paula: “I don’t see you raising the bar each week. I adore you. I think America has fallen in love. At this point, it’s about greatness. I didn’t feel that from you.” Simon: “That deserved tears. But for a different reason. It was like the neverending song. It was like it was not going to finish, so monotous and bland. There was no heart, no warmth from your vocal at all. You were like a robot.”
4/25: Paula-Ryan rift?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
This looks like much ado about nothing but AP felt a need to run it:
BC-People-Seacrest-Abdul,0355 ‘Idol’ host tells magazine of feud with Abdul AP Photo NYET140
NEW YORK (AP) — “American Idol” host Ryan Seacrest says he and judge Paula Abdul aren’t speaking to one another, but Abdul calls reports of a feud “ridiculous.”
Seacrest told People magazine last week that his relationship with Abdul was “awkward.”
“I don’t know what the deal is. It’s very awkward,” he was quoted as saying.
The 31-year-old Seacrest, who openly spars with “Idol” judge Simon Cowell, told the magazine:
“Simon and I go back and forth with each other, but it’s in a different way.”
Asked if he was speaking to Abdul, Seacrest answered, “No.”
Seacrest also said he hadn’t talked to Abdul about the apparent rift.
“You know, I walked past her dressing room the other day and there was a group of people gathered in front of the door, so I can’t even talk to her,” he said.
Abdul dismissed reports of off-camera animosity in a statement Tuesday to The Associated Press.
“Reports of a feud are ridiculous,” the 43-year-old former pop star said. “We are one funny dysfunctional family. There’s nothing but love.”
Any tension between the “Idol” host and judge might have come after their separate appearances on “The Tonight Show.”
In Seacrest’s March 30 guest spot, host Jay Leno joked about Abdul’s “loopy” behavior in an “Idol” episode, to which Seacrest replied: “Well, have you listened to her album?”
And when Leno playfully asked whether Abdul had been drinking alcohol, Seacrest said, “Hey look, I don’t look in their cups to see what’s sitting before them on that table. But at times I feel like we have reeled her in.”
During her April 10 appearance, Abdul shot down rumors that Seacrest was dating “Desperate Housewives” star Teri Hatcher.
“He only kisses the mirror,” Abdul said. “And honestly, do you think Teri Hatcher is that desperate of a housewife?” ———
4/25: Idol ratings
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Since we in the Idol blog world aren’t competitive types, I want to thank MJ for linking to mine today. His or her site is here. MJ has some solid Idol ratings numbers from this season vs. last season:
He (or she?) noted that the gap this year between performance and results shows is wider than last year. Not sure why that is. But overall, Idol ratings are up more than 10% any given week. It’s been an astounding season so far for Fox.
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