The American Idol New York City auditions really left me speechless, which is not an easy thing to do. This isn’t necessarily because of all the amazing talent that was there, quite the opposite really. I am truly surprised by some of the questionable singers that were put through to Hollywood. Seriously, I am wondering if Paula Abdul shared some of her spiked Coca-Cola with the other judges.
BFFs (Best Friends Forever for the uncool) Amanda Coluccio and Antonella Barba came across as your typical Jersey girls. Now I’m not saying being a Jersey girl is a bad thing, but even before it was announced where they were from I knew. They tried a little duo and quite frankly they tanked it. When they each did their solo auditions they were better but I don’t see them making the next cut. Enjoy your trip to Hollywood ladies, its gonna be a short one!
I was also surprised that Porcelana Patino and Rachel Zevita got the nod from all four of the judges. Patino had some nice characteristics to her voice but in my opinion if you’re going to sing a Mary J. Blige song you better SING it. Perhaps a different song choice would change my opinion of her. Zevita, Zevita, Zevita. Quirky and unique, good words to describe her. I liked her personality but thought her voice was wretched. The only time it sounded nice was when she sang the little opera piece. I think the judges were really sipping on the “special” Coca-Cola before this performance.
Now the night wasn’t completely bad, 35 people made it through to Hollywood. The standouts included Kia Thornton, Jory Steinberg, Jenry Bejarano, Christopher Richardson, and Nicholas Pedro who also made it to Hollywood last year. Next week the cast and crew will be in Birmingham, I’m anxious to see what the South has in store.
A somewhat shy Melinda Doolittle, a 28 year-old hailing from Brentwood, TN, stepped onto the American Idol audition floor in Memphis jittery with nerves. She’s used to being on stage but not in the limelight. She has been performing backup vocals for years for many well-known gospel acts including the talented CeCe Winans. A quote from Melinda Doolittle’s MySpace page gives us a little insight into her personality, “I think you have to have an amazing sense of humor to be in this wonderful and ever changing music business or you’re in for a rude awakening.” Once she started in with Stevie Wonder’s “For Once in My Life” the judges were in her front pocket. Her voice was absolutely powerful unlike anything I’ve seen on Idols past. Some reviewers are going so far as to compare her to Jennifer Hudson. Now Hudson wasn’t an AI winner but she has won in much bigger ways.
When her performance was finished Simon Cowell said “…you are a brilliant singer,” but went on to show concern for her lack of confidence. Paula Abdul said “You’re really good, you gotta believe.” “Sensational, one of the best auditions ever vocally” chimed in Randy Jackson. With a “one million percent yes” vote from Cowell and two very quick yes votes from Abdul and Jackson, Doolittle was given her ticket to Hollywood. Doolittle definitely needs to get herself a boost of confidence; with the right amount of bravado and stage-presence I really think she is going to be unstoppable.
The show is over and now I can weigh in on the rest of the performances. I was so moved by Sundance Head’s performance that I just had to pause the show and do a write-up right then. He’s definitely my first pick for top twelve. Head wasn’t the only star to shine in Memphis as more than twenty contestants received their passes to Hollywood. In addition to Head, four others were spotlighted; Danielle McCulloch, Sean Michel, Melinda Doolittle, and new father Phil Stacy.
As is the case with every audition show there were some standouts on the opposite side of the spectrum – yup, those that can’t sing. Two of the many featured ‘no vote’ contestants stood out – 20 year-old Janita Burks from Memphis, TN and 21 year-old Robert Lee Holmes also of Memphis, TN. Janita was up first and well let’s just say we’re lucky the show didn’t end up with an R-rating from too much bounce. She was wearing a very low-cut number and wasn’t secured safely inside, if you know what I mean. She chose to sing “Disco Inferno” and snapped her fingers rather loudly throughout the entire song. I wanted to tape her fingers together, seriously. After the judges weighed in with criticism she wanted a second chance and couldn’t even get three words out without the judges cutting her off and sending her on her way without a ticket. Thankfully her ‘girls’ managed to stay in during the entire performance.
When asked about his voice, Holmes went on to say “I sound just like Elvis. I can sing one rock-n-roll song, that’s Burning Love by Elvis Presley” and with that he showed us his version of Burning Love. We have yet another finger snapper. What is it with the loud snapping, it’s really quite distracting from the vocals. Granted it was nice to be distracted from the vocals in this case, but that is really beside the point. This show had quite a few loud, distracting finger-snappers. Folks, you want your voice to shine, not the snapping of your nerve-induced sweaty fingers.
Now I usually try to highlight the good performances of the night but I really couldn’t pass on these two snappy folks.
Its Tuesday night, what does that mean? State of the Union address? No, no, American Idol night! Tonight the cast and crew were in Memphis, home of the blues. There seemed to be an epidemic of misunderstandables (that may not be a word, but it is now) at the beginning - contestants rambling through their introductions and rambling even worse through their songs. Thankfully there was a shining light through all the muddled mumblings - Jason “Sundance” Head (aka Sundance Head).
Sundance Head is the son of Roy Head, a crooner from the 1960s most notably known for his song “Treat Her Right”. When Ryan Seacrest asked about his father, Sundance said “”Well if dad’s watching, I’m a much better singer than he is, he’s a dancing fool and I ain’t got no moves.” Well this isn’t a dancing competition so you’re in the clear Sundance.
Head enters the audition room and informs the judges that he will be singing a song called “Stormy Monday” by Bobby Blue Bland. This is an old-school blues singer, what better song to sing while auditioning in Memphis. From the second Head started singing all three judges perked up and you could tell that they were just feeling him; his voice captured them, immediately. Upon completion of his song Simon Cowell said “Wow!” He was nearly speechless there for a minute. Paula Abdul followed up with “Powerful voice, didn’t expect it” and Randy Jackson said “…you blew it out, man you sounded great dude, amazing.” At this point Simon found his voice and went on to say “I’m gonna be amazed if you don’t make the finals! I thought it was terrific, well done.” With that all three judges gave him a yes vote and Sundance Head is on his way to Hollywood.
After the door closed Simon Cowell turned to the other judges and said “He just blew Taylor out of the park” - referring to last season’s winner, Taylor Hicks. Ohhh, them some fighting words Cowell. Taylor has a huge fan following and I’m sure they are going to quickly weigh in on this. Now I was a Taylor fan but egads I cannot wait to hear more from Sundance. His voice struck me down in my soul, I need to hear more from him and I cannot wait until the Hollywood round.
Who can forget Jonathan Jayne and Kenneth Swale from Seattle? Simon Cowell said of Swale “Your dancing is terrible, the singing was horrendous, and you look like one of those creatures that live in the jungle with those massive eyes, what are they called? Bush baby,” and asked Jayne if he borrowed a pair of trousers from Randy Jackson. Since the show aired the Special Olympics have stepped up with a press release regarding the show as Jayne has been an active participant with the organization for years. “While polite isn’t a word one would normally associate with Cowell and company, a viewing of the episode in question shows that the judges were in fact gracious and very encouraging to Jayne during his rendition of ‘God Bless America’. At one point Abdul commented admiringly about Jayne’s spirit and advised him to ‘Always believe in yourself.’”
I think that the Special Olympics is being gracious with their response to the show. During Jayne’s performance the judges snickered and made faces, clearly not acting in a professional manner. Of course seasoned viewers of American Idol wouldn’t expect them to act professional and while they weren’t hard on Jayne they certainly weren’t gracious.
Both Swale and Jayne just wanted to make it to Hollywood. Guess what? They did! Both appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live. The appearance was highlighted by a picture of a ‘bush baby’ with Simon Cowell’s face glued to the picture. See the pair’s appearance on the show courtesy of You Tube.
Katharine McPhee’s self-titled debut album was leaked onto the web late Tuesday night. Within a few hours most of the sites removed the ripped songs but the early reviews from fans are that it is a fantastic album and Katharine McPhee should have won last season of American Idol. The tracks vary from upbeat modern hits to slow and soulful, Katharine’s specialty in my opinion. My personal favorite is “Dangerous”, its got a nice beat and talks to us ladies.
With regards to the hot album cover McPhee had to say this, “I actually didn’t pick the album cover. What I wanted was a bit more conservative. You pick your battles. Many people think it’s suggestive, but really when you look at it, there’s almost no skin, no crotch shot. I am completely covered, which makes it that much sexier.””
Her album drops on January 30, 2007, the first single is “Over It” and her track list looks like this:
1. Love Story
2. Over It
3. Open Toes
4. Home
5. Not Ur Girl
6. Each Other
7. Dangerous
8. Ordinary World
9. Do What You Do
10. Better Off Alone
11. Neglected
12. Everywhere I Go
VH1 is streaming her entire album. Preview it and then preorder your copy now!
Perla Meneses’ performance in Minneapolis is still getting a lot of attention, but the reviews are hot and cold. The general consensus is her heavily-accented rendition of Blondie’s “Call Me” was average, at best. Michael Slezak of Entertainment Weekly went so far as to say “Worst of all, though, was Perla Meneses. Okay, her hips may not lie, but they also do not mask one of the weakest voices to make it to Hollywood in the last few seasons. Unless, of course, you dig cut-rate Shakira impersonations.” Now in Meneses’ defense I’d like to say that she purposely chose not to sing a Shakira song in hopes of avoiding the comparison. Unfortunately that idea went down the drain as soon as Randy Jackson asked her to perform a bit of her favorite Shakira song. Now the comparison is inevitable, both have long curly locks, hips that don’t lie and hail from Colombia.
Jon Peter Lewis (American Idol season 3 finalist) is standing in as a resident AI expert for Rolling Stone Magazine and giving his opinion on this year’s crop of hopefuls. Perla Meneses was on his good list. Not being one to hold back what he thought, Lewis said “She’s from Colombia and can sing ‘Hips Don’t Lie,’ so she’ll be known as ‘the Latin girl.’ She seems to have the right T and A; the survival story…and her voice isn’t bad. She sounds like Shakira, and Simon seemed to like her.” So my question is does Lewis mean that Simon likes her voice or her T and A? I’ll let you decide that one for yourself.
The staff at Idolwire.com would like to congratulate Jennifer Hudson on her Oscar Nomination for her role in “Dreamgirls”. The Oscar Nominations were just announced live on CNN. She is up against Adriana Barraza and Rinko Kikuchi (Babel), Cate Blanchett (Notes on A Scandal), and Abigail Breslin (Little Miss Sunshine). The 79th Annual Oscars will be awarded live on February 25, 2007 at 8pm ET on ABC. Good luck Jennifer Hudson, you’ve come a long way from American Idol. Girl, welcome to the BIG TIME!
For those living under a rock, Jennifer Hudson (season 3 finalist) had a breakout performance in the smash hit “Dreamgirls” and went on to win a Golden Globe award for Best Actress In A Supporting Role. Entertainment sites across the country are filled with anticipation over tomorrow morning’s Oscar nomination ceremony (5:30 am PT); will Jennifer Hudson receive a nomination? The consensus is yes. The step from American Idol to Golden Globe winner is huge but with Oscar looming on the horizon Hudson fans are ecstatic.
In addition to her Golden Globe win, Hudson was also nominated for a SAG (Screen Actors Guild) Award. The SAG Awards ceremony will be broadcast live on Sunday, January 28, 2007 on TNT and TBS. Idolwire would like to wish Hudson the best of luck with the Oscar nominations tomorrow as well as the SAG Awards on Sunday.
Nineteen year-old Sarah Krueger from Eau Claire, WI impressed more than just the judges in Minneapolis. With her soulful rendition of “Somewhere Over The Rainbow” she earned herself a trip to Hollywood. Simon Cowell said of Sarah “Very good Sarah, you’ve got a lot of control over your voice, you look great, very good” while Randy Jackson felt that Sarah was “very refreshing”. Krueger took a bit of a chance with the song choice as Katharine McPhee sang it several times during Season 5 and absolutely nailed it each time. Thankfully Sarah knew her range and did a fantastic job. Her high school choir director Paul Gilbertson wasn’t surprised by her performance, “I’ve told a lot of people, the only thing I’ve done for her is give her more places to sing,” he said. “She has a 100 percent natural voice.”
In other news Reality TV Magazine has done a little Internet sleuthing to try and predict which contestants make it to the semi-finals. By determining the registration date of certain contestant’s domains to the date of the cut in November they have predicted that Anna Kearns, Shyamali Malakar, and Sanjaya Malakar have made it into the semifinals. The three had their domains privately registered on November 18, a day after the rumored cuts were made. Read the entire story here.