Frankie Valli Still Going Strong At 79

Frankie Valli earlier in his career.

Frankie Valli was born Francesco Stephen Castelluccio on May 3, 1934 in Newark, New Jersey. The 79 year-old singer appeared on American Idol singing his classic hits Can’t Take My Eyes Off Of You and Grease in the Season 12 American Idol finale.

Frankie Valli shown with Curtis Finch, Burnell Taylor and Lazaro Arbos on the stage during the Season 12 finale for American Idol.

Valli was enticed to sing after seeing Frank Sinatra in concert at the Paramount Theater in New York City. He appeared with various groups, but his main claim to fame came during his time singing with the Four Seasons. The group had monster hits like Sherry, Walk Like A Man, Big Girls Don’t Cry, which all went to No.1 on the Billboard charts in 1962 and 1963. Another 1963 hit Candy Girl peaked at No.3. Dawn (Go Away) would also climb to No.3.

His first hit as a soloist was Can’t Take My Eyes Off Of You, which reached the No.1 spot on the Billboard charts. My Eyes Adored You went to No.1 in 1974, then he had his last No.1 solo song with Grease.

An interesting note of trivia is that the Four Seasons were named after a New Jersey bowling alley.

When Valli recorded solo albums he sang in his regular voice, not the falsetto he used with the Four Seasons. Valli sounded good whether singing in falsetto or regular voice.

The Four Seasons and Valli weren’t affected by the British invasion, as they didn’t alter their sound to fit in with the Beatles craze.

The late 70′s would see Valli battle otosclerosis, which causes loss of hearing. He would have to sing from memory during this time and but would regain his hearing in 1980.

He would record his first solo album in 27 years in 2007 and is still active today 62 years after he first became an active singer.

A crowning achievement for Valli and Four Seasons was their induction, into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990.

These are some 30 second clips of the Four Seasons and Frankie Valli hits:

http://www.allmusic.com/artist/frankie-valli-mn0000794449/songs

Four Seasons singing Working My Way Back To You

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6pI1BgbYIPk

Four Seasons singing a medley of Dawn, Rag Doll and Bye Bye Baby

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EmFFsBCHLB0

Ryan Seacrest who is usually shorter than most of the singers on American Idol had to be happy, to stand next to the diminutive Frankie Valli who is five foot five, so Seacrest towered over him at five foot eight.

It is great to know that 79 year-old Valli is still active, with no signs of retiring anytime soon.

American Idol: America Got It Right With Choice of Candice Glover

Candice Glover is the new American Idol of Season 12.

It has been evident since the Final 10 were chosen by judges, that Candice Glover was the best singer among those singers in the Final 10.

American Idol fans confirmed that she was the best, by choosing her as the new American Idol for Season 12. The only surprise would have been if Candice had not won. Kree Harrison finished second and Angie Miller was third in Season 12. I look for Kree and Angie to have successful careers, but Candice should have her first album released long before either of them, since her album should be in stores for months, before Kree and Angie release their albums.

The producers are smart to release the first album of Candice much sooner than usual. Most albums by the current American Idol are not released till November, so the summer release will let fans of Candice have her music, in their MP3 players and phones sooner rather than later, plus many albums should be sold on the American Idol tour this summer.

http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=frankie+valli+on+american+idol+finale&view=detail&mid=DE2CA8D5E78046F9CAD9DE2CA8D5E78046F9CAD9&first=0&FORM=NVPFVR.

There were many guest artists on the finale, but none of them came close to matching Frankie Valli and him singing with the five guys on I Can’t Take My Eyes Off of You and Grease. Valli commanded the stage like giants of entertainment do when they enter the spotlight. Valli turned 79 earlier this month and was born a year before Elvis Presley. Valli has been singing since 17, which was 62 years ago.

Aretha Franklin also sang but her singing didn’t have the impact of Valli, since she was singing from New York, but she sang some of her biggest hits, which were received well by the audience.

It was great to see Candice become the first girl  to win American Idol since Jordin Sparks won in Season 6.

Randy Jackson said his goodbyes to fans of American Idol last night. He is the only one of ten judges to remain with the show the first twelve seasons. Latest rumors say that the other three Idol judges could be leaving too, but it could be several months, before any changes to the judging panel will be announced. There are even some reports that the show could return to a three judge format.

It is too early for ratings results for the finale, but it is almost a foregone conclusion that the ratings will be the lowest for any finale in the 12 year history of the show.

The Voice Season 4 will be ending soon, then Season 5 of The Voice will return in the fall along with Season 3 of X-Factor, so three music competitions will end before American Idol returns in January.

 

 

 

 

American Idol: Candice Glover Should Be Next American Idol

http://www.bing.com/videos/watch/video/candice-glover-performs-i-who-have-nothing/17womoku7

It will be complete shock if Candice Glover isn’t crowned as the next American Idol. The above video escalated Candice to a whole new level of excellence. Kree Harrison is a great singer, that should have a long and successful career, but she is not the singer that Candice is.

Her rendition of I Who Have Nothing the Ben E. King classic showed that she is the best singer on American Idol this season. However, her chances of winning depend on how her voting base voted last night.

American Idol needs a win by Candice, since she is a powerhouse singer, that should sell millions of records and draw thousands to her concerts. Kree may sell a lot of albums, but she will never reach the star power of Candice, who delivers the big moments in her songs, that the Idol judges are looking for.

There are rumors that Keith Urban, Nicki Minaj and Mariah Carey will not return as judges, while Randy Jackson has already announced he won’t be returning for Season 13.

Simon Fuller: Creator of American Idol

Simon Fuller the creator of American Idol was criticized last night, for the songs he chose for Candace and Kree to sing last night. Randy Jackson disliked his song choices and Ryan Seacrest interjected, that he only said that since he would be leaving the show after tonight’s finale.

Randy was wrong to even mention song choices, since Candice and Kree only sang the songs and had no part in selecting them. Why criticize the man who created the American Idol juggernaut and paid Jackson millions of dollars since the first show?

We can expect many changes in American Idol in Season 13. Another year of lower ratings demands that changes be made.

There is way too much emphasis on the celebrity of the judges, when the focus should be entirely on the contestants. Paying Mariah Carey $18 million, Nicki Minaj $12 million and Keith Urban $5 million was not able to attract viewers in larger numbers and in fact this season had the lowest ratings in the history of the show.

There are already rumors that Jennifer Lopez may return as a judge in January, but can’t see the producers signing another high salary celebrity.

I wouldn’t mind seeing some of the previous winners join the judge panel, who wouldn’t have the clout to demand huge salaries, plus they would understand better, what the contestants are experiencing during the life of the show.

Former American Idol contestants currently have albums in the Billboard 200. The Voice may be attracting more viewers, but their winners are not selling albums and downloads like winners or also-rans from American Idol. That makes American Idol the king of the singing competitions, till the other shows start producing singers that sell albums in the millions.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/idolchatter/2013/05/15/american-idol-sales-finale-week/2164287/

American Idol: Angie Miller Goes Home, All Four Judges Reportedly To Be Fired For Season 13

Angie Miller went home on American Idol leaving Candice Glover and Kree Harrison to compete on the last performance show next Wednesday for the coveted title of American Idol.

 

It was an almost foregone conclusion for me at least, that Candice Glover and Angie Miller would be the last two standing on American Idol but the voters chose Kree Harrison to face Candice in the last performance show next Wednesday night.

There was no doubt that Kree is a good singer, but to me she was not a singer of the caliber of Angie Miller. I don’t think Kree can connect with an audience nearly as well, as Candice who clearly has to be the favorite next week, but even she is not a sure winner, unless her supporters take time to vote her the next American Idol next Thursday night.

All Four Judges Could Be Fired

The latest reports circulating in the media are saying that all four judges will be fired, before the start of Season 13 next January.

In fact, Randy Jackson announced he is leaving the show in a Thursday statement. It would have been no surprise if Nicki Minaj or Mariah Carey had been fired or both, since their feud was a distraction during Season 12. Nicki Minaj telling Mariah to “simmer down sir” was a prime example of their dislike for each other.

Mariah has fired Randy as her manager, so that may have been a cause of a reported dustup between the two.

However, doubt many observers thought that all four judges would be fired. I thought Keith Urban did a good enough job to be retained for another season.

Even executive producer Nigel Lythgoe is reportedly in line to be fired. Ryan Seacrest could be the only familiar face to return next season.

The days of the high priced divas may be over for American Idol, after paying Mariah $18 million and Nicki $12 million, for this season.

Worst of all the May sweeps ratings determine the prices that sponsors are  charged and with only 11.11 million tuning in last Wednesday night the show won’t have the money to pay the high salaries in Season 13. The 11.11 million viewers were the fewest viewers watching American Idol this season.

Season 6 ratings averaged around 30 million, so that is an indication of how far the ratings have tumbled since Jordin Sparks was the last woman, that was voted the winner of American Idol six years ago.

We should hear from American Idol management in the coming months, if these latest rumors are true. The show really has no choice, but to make changes in light of the extremely low ratings. There is almost no chance of the show being cancelled, since it is one of the top money-making shows on television.

So if you watch American Idol next week soak in the atmosphere, because it is almost a sure bet, that there will be major changes in Season 13.

http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/tv-movies/american-idol-producers-set-fire-judges-report-article-1.1339251

 

 

American Idol: Nobody Going Home

Angie Miller and Kree Harrison were Top 2 in American Idol results show in which nobody went home to get the show on schedule after judges didn’t use their save.

 

Kree Harrison had to be shocked to be in the Top 2 with Angie Miller, on the Thursday night results show on American Idol. The judges had roundly criticized her performances on Wednesday night, but evidently the judges couldn’t sway the voters into not voting for her.

It was a shock to see Candace Glover in the Bottom 2, since she had some of the best feedback from the judges on Wednesday night. Amber Holcomb also was in the Bottom 2, but that wasn’t too surprising since there was some criticism of her decision to sing MacArthur Park on Wednesday’s show.

Ryan Seacrest teased the audience by saying “And going home is no one” and then explaining the show was expecting the judges to use their save, but when they didn’t the show needed an extra week to finish on the original schedule.

According to my calculations there should be three more weeks, with the final three revealed next week, then the final two the following week and finale the third week. None of this is official so is only conjecture at this point.

Lee DeWyze, the Season 10 winner, who is probably the least recognizable winner among the 11 winners so far sang a song from his new album.

Angie Miller seems to be favorite to win American Idol.

The favorite to win Season 12 of American Idol seems to be Angie Miller, unless she falters in the remaining shows. She needs to follow the advice of the judges and Jimmy Iovine and sing while playing the piano, which seems to be the niche she needs to be in to become the next American Idol.

However, with the votes from yesterday and those cast next week anything can happen, so it is crucial for each of the remaining four contestants, to make good song choices and to perform them as flawlessly as possible.

American Idol has lost almost 5.5 million viewers since the premiere show in January. I think many fans have gone over to The Voice and don’t care to watch American Idol the next two nights. A Big Bang Theory rerun topped American Idol last week, which shows how far the ratings have tumbled this season.

Only 12.46 million viewers tuned in to the Wednesday performance show, but no results are available yet for last night’s show.

American Idol: Judges Praise Angie, Trash Kree

Candace Glover, Angie Miller, Kree Harrison and Amber Holcomb will find out who is going home next on American Idol on the results show tonight.

 

The judges may not have that much influence on American Idol voters, but if they do make a difference in the voting, then Angie Miller and Candace Glover should be in Top 2 and Kree Harrison and Amber Holcomb should be in the Bottom 2. However, we can only guess what the actual results will show, when Ryan Seacrest reveals the results tonight.

Kree Harrison got trashed, hammered and battered by the judges after she sang the Susan Tedeschi song Hurt So Bad. I was thinking how good of a job, that she had done with the song, but the judges hated her rendition of the song. It was plain to see that Kree was shocked at being attacked so mercilessly by the judges. I thought she did a creditable job on A Whiter Shade of Pale, but the judges were not impressed by that either.

Keith Urban seemed to think the one hit wonder songs should have been recorded in the last 10 years. The contestants are not mind readers and shouldn’t be expected to know what timeline the judges were wanting the songs from.

I can understand A Whiter Shade of Pale being a one hit wonder, since it was the only hit of Procol Harum, but Cry Me A River recorded by Julie London 58 years ago in 1955 would not be considered a one hit wonder, since London recorded many more albums after its release. It has been covered many times over the years, including my favorite version by Diana Krall in her Look of Love album released in 2001.

Candace received mixed reviews from the judges, while Angie received more praise, than any of the other three contestants. It would be a tremendous shock if Angie is in the bottom two and it would show that the opinions of the judges were not affecting the voting results.

Jimmy Iovine did not like Amber singing MacArthur Park, which was written by Jimmy Webb. Iovine called the song corny, probably because of the lyrics saying “Someone left a cake out in the rain and I’ll never find that recipe again” which was corny. Interesting side note about the song: Webb wrote the song after breaking up with Linda Rondstadt, since they had met many times in MacArthur Park.

Kree and Amber clearly got the worst feedback from the judges, so it looks like Angie and Candace should be the top vote-getters.

Vote For the Worst website has Kree as the one to vote for this week, which might help her stay another week. There is speculation that Ryan Seacrest’s surprise tonight may be that nobody goes home, since the judges haven’t used their save.

So the surprise may be either that the judges use their save or that Ryan will announce nobody will go home. The bad thing about that scenario is that fans cast millions of votes for nothing, so it would make sense if the judges are allowed to use the save, rather than just announce nobody will go home.

I don’t think the judges should even have judged the two group songs. The group songs are only filler anyway and it gave the judges a third chance to trash Kree. I don’t know if Kree can recover from hearing how much the judges hated her singing to become the American Idol.

There is no sense in American Idol having a two-hour show for four contestants and next week it will again be two hours for three contestants, unless the judges use their save to keep all four contestants for another week.

Next week’s show could be the next to last show of Season 12, unless everybody stays another week tonight.

Rumors have been flying around the internet that Mariah Carey might be fired, before the completion of Season 12, to boost the ratings, but those rumors seem to have been unfounded.

For a more complete recap of last night’s show:

http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2013/04/25/american-idol-amber-holcomb-judges-argue/

 

 

American Idol: Janelle Goes Home: And Then There Were Four

Janelle Arthur received the fewest number of votes and was sent home on American Idol.

Janelle Arthur who expected to be sent home last night became the first girl to be eliminated on American Idol on Thursday night.

The judges could have saved her, but seem to be saving their save for one of the remaining four contestants. Had heard that they had to use their save by Top 5 week, but apparently they will have it at their disposal for one more week. I will be surprised if these judges will ever save anyone, as they can’t seem to agree on who is worth saving. The following article says the judges will not be allowed to use their save now:

http://www.rickey.org/american-idol-12-to-end-one-week-early-after-non-save-in-the-top-5/

Top 4 week will see Amber Holcomb, Candace Glover, Angie Miller and Kree Harrison try to extend their time on American Idol. It was surprising to see Kree in the Bottom 2, but in another way it was not surprising, since any of the four remaining contestants would make excellent American Idols.

From now on the competition should be even tougher for the contestants, since we are nearing the end of Season 12. If the save is not used Season 12 will end the second week in May. The judges will have their hands full, as they and the voters hold the fate, of the remaining contestants as the season nears its end.

Nicki Minaj and Jimmy Iovine did not see eye to eye on the merits of Amber Holcomb’s singing on Wednesday’s show.

Clay Aiken and Fantasia sang on the show last night and Paula Abdul made a surprise appearance. Paula may have not been the best judge ever, but would be an upgrade over either Nicki Minaj and Mariah Carey.

American Idol continues to trail The Voice in the television ratings. The Voice has seen a spike in their ratings during the Battle Rounds. The Voice may be an excellent show, but until one of their winners makes a real mark in the music world I can’t take it too seriously. I lose interest after the blind auditions on The Voice, then watch when they get down to the live shows after the Battle Rounds are over. Worst thing is that there is such a long gap from seeing The Voice contestants in the Battle Rounds, till all the finalists from the Battle Rounds appear individually in the remaining shows.

All four of the remaining contestants on American Idol should have recording careers, plus Janelle Arthur should make it big in the world of country music.

Lazaro Arbos has some less than flattering words about one of the remaining contestants, after he went home from the show:

“I’m not gonna say names and I don’t wanna sound rude,” Lazaro told ABC News Radio backstage at Live with Kelly & Michael earlier in the week. “But I think that one woman in particular is cra-a-a-a-z-y and she wants to win!”  Lazaro would not say if the contestant was Kree, Candice, Amber, Angie or Janelle, but he thinks that she — whoever she is — needs to chill out. Big time.  “She thinks that we’re in The Hunger Games and she’s fighting for her life,” dished Lazaro about the mystery contestant. “She needs to realize that it’s not about winning: it’s about what you do after the show.” – Vote for the Worst website

Janelle was chosen by Vote For The Worst website as their choice to vote for this week. It will be interesting to see how they choose as the worst remaining contestant, now that Janelle has been eliminated.

Facts on remaining contestants:

Candace Glover – Candace is 24 and from Beaufort, South Carolina. This was her third try at American Idol having competed in Season 9 and Season 11. She made it to Las Vegas week in Season 11 and performed in a group with Season 11 finalists DeAndre Brackensick and Jessica Sanchez.

Angie Miller – Angie is 19 and from Beverly, Massachusetts. She is partially deaf and has a You Tube page with 2.8 million views.

Amber Holcomb – Amber is 19 and from Houston, Texas. She was seen in Season 11 and was in a group with Season 11 finalists Shannon Magrane and Joshua Ledet.

Kree Harrison – Kree is 23 and came from Winfield, Texas, but currently lives in Nashville, Tennessee. Kree’s father died in an airplane crash when she was 12 and her mother died in a car accident, when Kree was 16.

The following poll asks which of the remaining four contestants will be the Season 12 American Idol:

 

 

 

 

American Idol: Candace Glover Current Favorite To Win American Idol

Angie Miller, Candace Glover, Janelle Arthur, Kree Harrison and Amber Holdomb comprise the Final 5 on American Idol Season 12.

The American Idol judges Keith Urban, Nicki Minaj, Randy Jackson and Mariah Carey have their work cut out for them since only the most talented singers are left in the competition.

It is looking like Candace Glover is the current favorite to win the title of the American Idol for Season 12. It will be interesting tonight to see how Candace fares in the voting results, that will be revealed tonight. The best singer on American Idol is not always the winner on the finale in May.

Janelle Arthur on the other hand is almost certain to be in the bottom two tonight, after receiving lukewarm critiques from the judges. I agree with Nicki Minaj that Janelle will make a mark in country music, even if she doesn’t win the competition.

It will be sad to see Janelle go home tonight, if she does receive the fewest votes. She is very likeable and seems to be able to handle any criticism from the judges well.

However, there are no guarantees in American Idol voting, as Pia Toscano can testify to when she was eliminated early in Season 12.

Pia Toscano eliminated early in Season 10 of American Idol.

So Ryan Seacrest might reveal some surprising results tonight, but in all likelihood Janelle will be bidding adieu to her fellow contestants tonight.

Kree Harrison probably will be among the top vote-getters tonight, with Angie Miller or Amber Holcomb joining Janelle in the bottom two.

The shocking event of the night was that Nicki Minaj and Mariah Carey actually talked to each other, for the first time that I know of during Season 12 live shows.

Unreality TV delves further into their altercation last night:

http://www.unrealitytv.co.uk/american-idol/american-idol-2013-nicki-minaj-tells-mariah-carey-to-simmer-down-over-kree-harrison/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Unreality+%28Unreality+TV%29

Personally, I thought all the contestants performed well, but the judges know music much better than me who missed notes or sang offkey, so my opinion and a dollar will get me on the city bus, but doesn’t really mean that much.

New York Daily News has posted a recap of last night’s show:

http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/channel-surfer/2013/04/american-idol-season-12-episode-28-recap-candice-glover-shines-on-night-when-

 

Latest Idol News

Pia Toscano mentioned earlier in this article will be seen in her first movie Grace Unplugged in October and should also release her debut album. New York Daily News has more info on the Season 10 American Idol contestant:

http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/channel-surfer/2013/04/american-idol-season-12-episode-28-recap-candice-glover-shines-on-night-when-

Fantasia will be seen on American Idol tonight singing Lose To Win and Clay Aiken is also slated to appear in the telecast.

Taylor Hicks is still appearing in concerts, but his albums are not selling well. His 2011 album Taylor Hicks has received great reviews with 248 Amazon reviews rating the album 5 stars, while only 5 gave the album 1 star. His problem is that it has not sold well and is currently 87,267th in sales and new and used copies of the album can be bought for one cent.

 

 

 

American Idol: Candace Glover In Bad Situation

Candace Glover received the most positive feedback on American Idol.

Candace Glover received enthusiastic praise for her singing on American Idol last night. Her rendition of Love Song was so good, that Randy Jackson said that it was the best performance of any singing competition ever. It is looking now like Candace is the one to beat. However, she didn’t even finish in the Top 3 last week. Instead Kree Harrison, Angie Miller and Lazaro Arbos finished in the Top 3.

The question now is whether her voting base will cast enough votes for her to be in the Top 3, when the voting results are announced by Ryan Seacrest tonight. American Idol is not always about who is best, but who has the strongest voting base.

A case in point is Lazaro Arbos, who is still around despite being the worst of the boy singers and worst of the remaining contestants. Lazaro was hammered unmercifully by the judges last night, but that may actually work in his favor. It may have caused him to garner sympathy votes, which may keep him on the show. Or maybe the criticism may cause some of his supporters, to abandon him and start voting for real singers. I like Lazaro but know good and well, that he is not going to be the next American Idol.

For the tenth best singer among the ten contestants, to be competing for a spot in the Final 5 tells me the voters are not particularly voting for the best singer.

However, even if Lazaro stays the girl who receives the least votes would almost certainly be saved by the judges.

Nicki Minaj continues being nice to a contestant one minute, then the next minute rip their singing the next minute. She seems to enjoy sticking it to a contestant, after luring the contestant into thinking she is going to say something positive about their performance. Janelle Arthur was the victim last night of her criticism saying her song was boring. I am not saying Nicki doesn’t have the right to criticize the contestants, but she should start her criticism from the start, instead of acting like she really cares about a contestant, then jump on them with both feet.

If the voters vote strictly on performance, then Candace, Kree Harrison and Amber Holcomb should be in the Top 3 tonight, with Janelle, Angie Miller and Lazaro at the bottom of the vote-getters. If Lazaro stays I look for Janelle to finish last and then be saved by the judges.

My personal pick as of today to be the next American Idol is Candace, with Kree Harrison likely to be the finalist with her on finale night, but Amber Holcomb is still in the running, if either of them falters.

One criticism for the show is that I see no need for the show to be two hours long, with only six singers left in the competition. The songs last about two minutes or less, so the 12 songs last night lasted only about 24 minutes. That left one hour and 36 minutes for judges to make their critiques, run umpteen commercials and fill the rest of the time with filler.

We are forced to watch the show on regular antenna, since the satellite network doesn’t carry the closest Fox station. We used to record the shows when we were on cable, which saved us watching about 40 minutes of commercials and turning the show into an hour and 20 minute show. The show will be two hours again next week, even though they may be down to five singers, unless Lazaro stays and a girl singer is saved, which would still leave six singers.

For a complete rundown on last night show from Hollywood.com:

http://www.hollywood.com/recaps/55007430/american-idol-recap-top-6-candice-glover-lazaro-arbos?page=all

American Idol: Will Lazaro Arbos Go Home Thursday?

Lazaro Arbos is only remaining male contestant in Season 12 of American Idol.

 

Lazaro Arbos may be going home on Thursday night, since he is only male contestant left in Season 12. However, that is not a foregone conclusion, with him finishing in the Top 3 last Thursday night. Those in the Top 3 were not announced in a particular order, so it is conceivable that Lazaro may have even been the top vote-getter.

Lazaro may be a sentimental favorite of the voters this season, since the judges have not had many kind words about his singing during the season. Their critiques of his singing may even be helping to garner sympathy votes for Lazaro.

Janelle Arthur may even be going home next Thursday, if Lazaro isn’t sent home this week. She finished in Bottom 2 last week, so unless she steps it up next week she could be going home.

If a girl doesn’t win in Season 12, then something is very wrong with the voting procedure, since the girls are clearly much better singers than the boys this season.

If Lazaro is sent home, then it means a very talented singer will be going home the next week and every week after, till the new American Idol is announced.

Any of the remaining girls including Janelle, Amber Holcomb, Candace Glover, Angie Miller and Kree Harrison are worthy of being the next American Idol.

It will be interesting to see how American Idol fans vote in this poll, so we can see if Lazaro’s fan base can keep him on the show and send a better singer home.

 

American Idol – The Voice Ratings Battle

Season 4 of the Voice premiered with 13.64 million viewers and has increased to 13.93 million viewers on the last episode.

Meanwhile American Idol garnered more viewers, for their premiere of Season 12, with 17.93 million viewers, but last Thursday’s results show drew over 6 million less viewers, with 11.72 million watching the results show. The producers have to be concerned with the loss of that many viewers.

Evidently, viewers are tiring of the music competition genre. Television has a predilection to latch onto a hot trend and doesn’t let go of it till it fizzles out. Who Wants To Be A Millionaire was a prime example of overkill at its worst. The show did well till it was shown on more than one night a week, then withered away till where it wasn’t even shown during primetime.

Singing competitions are proliferating to the point, where summer is our only respite from the shows. However, with X-Factor and The Voice in the fall and then American Idol in January and The Voice in March we are having singing competition shows from September to May.

 

 

 

 

American Idol: Nicki Minaj Going Overboard……Again

Nicki Minaj tweeted that ousted contestant Devin Velez needed to be gracious after being voted off the show last week and that she wasn’t going to use the save on a boy contestant.

Nicki Minaj took to Tweeter lecturing Devin Velez that he should be gracious for being on the show. When Velez sang I Can’t Help Myself on Wednesday night, with Lazaro Arbos and Burnell Taylor Minaj compared their singing to that of Hollywood week. Even worse, she ordered the group off the stage, which to me was extremely mean. They had to feel bad enough, after being trashed by Minaj, without her ordering them off the stage.

Nicki Minaj tweeted to Devin Velez last week, after he tweeted that Minaj was not very professional in ordering the group of Velez, Lazaro Arbos and Burnell Taylor, off the stage after their rendition of I Can Help Myself. Velez did admit the performance was sub-par, but thought Minaj acted unprofessionally, when ordering them off the stage. Minaj tweeted back that Velez needed to be gracious for his shot on the show.

Nicki Minaj was angered by a tweet by Devin Velez, after he was voted off the show and tweeted back to him that he should have been gracious for even being on the show. She went on to say in her tweet, that she was not going to save a boy, since the girls are much better singers. Velez said he didn’t mind being criticized by Minaj after the group of Velez, Lazaro Arbos and Burnell Taylor performed I Can’t Help Myself, but thought she acted unprofessionally, by telling the group to get off the stage.

I don’t think that the group singing should have even be judged on Wednesday night. It was just more filler to justify having eight singers sing in a two-hour show. Fox could have easily cut the show to half and hour, since each song takes about a minute and a half and then the judges do their critiques for 3 or 4 minutes, so each song and judging of that song should last no longer than 6 minutes. That comes out to 48 minutes for 6 songs. That left an hour and 12 minutes for commercials and filler material. Can’t wait till they get down to 6 songs, so maybe they will cut the show down to an hour and a half.

The first poll question is if Nicki Minaj is helping or hurting American Idol ratings in Season 12:

The second poll question is which of the remaining 7 contestants will become the American Idol of Season 12?

I think Minaj has been a major factor in Season 12 of American Idol losing so many viewers. Last Thursday night’s results show was the lowest ratings of the season. I do agree that the save will not be used on a boy, when it could be used on a girl with real talent.

My personal picks for top three to win and not necessarily the one I want to win would be between Candace Glover, Angie Miller and Kree Harrison.

There are even rumors that Ryan Seacrest may not return for the next season, but if I remember right he is in second year of three-year contract paying him $15 million a year.

Will The Voice Find A Singer That Can Sell Albums?

Shakira, Adam Levine, Blake Shelton, Usher, judges and Carson Daly host of  Season 4 of The Voice on NBC.

The Voice has done well in the ratings, but still hasn’t come up with a winner that can sell records. Season 1 winner Javier Colon’s album Come Through For You peaked at No.134 on the Billboard 200 chart and has sold only 45,000 copies, as of late last December, more than a year after its initial release.

Season 2 winner Jermaine Paul has an album Finally that has no release date listed at Amazon.com, almost a year after he won The Voice in May of 2012.

Season 3 winner Cassidee Pope has released these singles which have sold a lot of downloads. She covered Cry a song recorded by Faith Hill and sold 81,000 copies in one week last December and debuted at No. 60 in its first week.

.Pope also recorded singles of Over You by Miranda Lambert which rose to No.25 on the Billboard Country chart and also recorded Keith Urban’s Stupid Boy which was at No.40, plus Michelle Branch’s Are You Happy Now, which was No.95. The real test for Pope will be when her first album is released later on down the road.

So the judges this season are intent on finding someone who will become a bona fide star, with name recognition something which has eluded the first three winners of The Voice.

Shakira and Usher the two one name judges seemed to have settled in well, in the first shows of Season 4.

Monday night’s show saw all four judges turn around their chairs for the Morgan Twins who sang Fallin’ and Judith Hill who sang What A Girl Wants.

Midas Whale a duo singing Folsom Prison Blues and Sarah Simmons singing One of Us sang well enough to have all four judges turn around for them on Tuesday night.

Cathia who sang “No Me Doy por Vencido” attracted the attention of Shakira, Usher and Blake Shelton and Cathia naturally chose Shakira as her mentor.

No judges turned around for six contestants on Monday night and for one of the six singers shown last night. It is heartbreaking to see a singer sing their heart out, only not to have one judge turn their chairs around. That is what gives the show credibility though, since everyone knows, that some of the singers are not ready for prime time yet.

I usually watch the Blind Auditions, then skip the Battle Rounds, since it seems to be a contest of who can sing the loudest and hit the highest notes. I then return for the individual competitions in the last weeks of the show.

The Voice may be very popular, but until they have a singer who breaks through and has national name recognition it will be known more as the show that features judges turning around in their chairs.

After all these singers are vying to win The Voice and hope to sell millions of albums, like some past winners of American Idol have done. Selling 45,000 albums in close to a year like Javier Colon is not going to help him or The Voice. That is far from the record sales of Carrie Underwood, who has sold 15 million albums, which included 7 million copies of her Some Hearts album.

For The Voice to be taken seriously as a star maker they have to come up with a star that can sell more than 45,000 albums, while an American Idol winner like Carrie Underwood has sold 15 million albums.

The Celebrity Net Worth website discloses that American Idol Season 4 winner Underwood has a  net worth of $45 million, while Season 1 American Idol winner Kelly Clarkson has a net worth of $14 million.

I will start taking The Voice more seriously, when they can produce stars of the magnitude of Underwood and Clarkson.

American Idol : Two Boys Down, Three To Go

This photo shows the Top 9 of American Idol, but Paul Jolley on the far right left the show on Thursday and became the second boy to go home.

 

It was no surprise that another boy was sent home on the results show of American Idol last Thursday. Paul Jolley became the second boy in a row, to be sent home in Season 12.

This is looking more and more like the years of the girls on American Idol. They are so much better than the boys, that if a boy wins I will be completely shocked.

I have honestly tried to like Nicki Minaj, but when she asked Paul Jolley if he was jolly, then said his song was terrible it just shows how insensitive she can be. Why say something nice about a contestant, then rip his singing in the next sentence? Nicki plays favorites and that has been clear this season. I don’t mind her criticizing the contestants, but she could do it with a little more respect.

There is no way that Amber Holcomb should have been in the bottom three, but my poll a couple of weeks ago sort of gave an indication she does not have a strong fan base.

The results of my poll from the March 13 blog shows the results, with 69 voters in the poll as of this minute:

Angie Miller – 34 votes, 49.28 percent

Candace Glover – 12 votes, 17.39 percent

Kree Harrison – 11 votes, 15.94 percent

Lazaro Arbos – 4 votes, 5.8 percent

Janelle Arthur – 4 votes, 5.8 percent

Amber Holcomb - 2 votes, 2.9 percent (Have no idea why Amber received only 2.9 percent for her 2 votes, while Curtis received 3 percent for his 2 votes.)

Curtis Finch – 2 votes, 3 percent ( Was eliminated last week)

Burnell Taylor, Devin Velez and Paul Jolley ( Was eliminated on Thursday) received no votes.)

The poll showed 5 girls in the first 6 positions.

Lazaro Arbos is being touted by Vote For the Worst website as their poster boy. They are seeking to make Lazaro into another Sanjaya Malakar, who lasted much longer than he should because of the support from the website.

Speaking of Lazaro, there was some confusion over when he learned the song, with him saying he learned it the night before the live show, while Jimmy Iovine claimed he had the song for many days.

Some of the contestants didn’t seem to be very knowledgeable about the Beatles, as some didn’t even know of the song they picked.

It was good to see Jessica Sanchez and Casey Adams again, as they sang for the audience. It looks like both of them could go far in music.

Casey Adams released an album last June, that is currently No.16 among albums on Amazon. Most of the songs are original, with the exception of a duet with Haley Reinhart of the Ray Charles classic Hit the Road Jack. Samples of the songs can be heard in these clips:

http://www.amazon.com/Casey-Abrams/dp/B007WCJQU4/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1364058797&sr=8-3&keywords=casey+adams

It is looking like Candace Glover, Angie Miller and Kree Harrison are the top three contestants this season. I think Amber Holcomb belongs up there with them, but her voting base needs to strengthen to become a factor in the voting.

I don’t think anyone was surprised to see the judges decide not to use their save on Paul Jolley. I doubt if they will use on any of the boys, since they may need it to save one of the girls.

OTHER AMERICAN IDOL NEWS

Katy and Kris Allen are expecting a baby boy later this year.

 

Kris Allen and his wife Katy were involved in a car accident in January, which left Kris unable to play the guitar due to a broken wrist. However, they now have some good news, with the announcement that they are expecting a baby boy later this year….The ratings for American Idol continued to dip, as the performance show on Wednesday only drew 12.94 million. The performance show from the previous week had attracted 13.44 million viewers. The 11.65 million viewers watching the Thursday results show was the lowest number of viewers for any show in Season 12….Grey’s Anatomy topped American Idol last Thursday night for the first time ever.

The Voice starts on Monday, which could cause further erosion for American Idol. Viewers may be burned out after watching The Voice for a couple of nights, then face two more nights of singing competition on American Idol. This will be a real test, that tells us what direction American Idol is going.

John Mayer has announced that Phillip Phillips winner of Season 11 will be opening for his next tour. Phillip Phillips seems to be one of the more successful American Idols….There has not been a girl voted the American Idol, since Jordin Sparks won in 2007….Aubrey Cleland won out over Charlie Askew as the 11th member of the American Idol tour this summer.

Nicki Minaj has angered the other judges during the auditions, when showing up late for the shows. I have always heard that Mariah Carey was a diva, but it appears Nicki is even more of a diva.

http://popcrush.com/nicki-minaj-said-to-be-the-biggest-diva-on-the-american-idol-set/

 

 

 

 

 

American Idol Poll: Who Will Win American Idol in Season 12?

Now that we finally know who the ten finalists are in Season 12 of American Idol this will be a good time to see who American Idol fans think will win Season 12.

American Idol: Top 10 For Season 12 Announced

Ryan Seacrest is pictured with the American Idol Season 12 Top 10 which includes left to right, Paul Jolley, Curtis Finch Jr., Angela Miller, Candace Glover, Burnell Taylor, Devin Velez, Janelle Arthur, Lazaro Arbos, Amber Holcomb and Kree Harrison.

American Idol started back in January and last night finally revealed their Top 10 for Season 12 of the show.  I wish that the voting would be based on the best singers, which may have allowed Breanna Steer (my personal favorite since she was from Louisiana and was very talented) and Aubrey Cleland to be in the Top 10. However, only five girls and five boys were allowed to join the Top 10.

It was an especially emotional moment, when Janelle Arthur was voted into the Top 10, in her third try at becoming the American Idol. She and Kree Harrison were not the only ones voted in that were from the same state, with Arthur living in Oliver Springs, Tennessee, which is located close to Knoxville and Harrison who hails from Nashville, Tennessee. Paul Jolley  lives in Palmersville, Tennessee.. So three of the Top 10 reside in Tennessee.

Curtis Finch Jr., from St. Louis, Missouri, Devin Velez from Chicago, Illinois and Angela Miller from Beverly Massachusetts were the only Top 10 finalists, who were born outside the south.

The others from the south include Candace Glover, St. Helena Island, Georgia, Amber Holcomb, Houston, Texas, Burnell Taylor, New Orleans, Louisiana and Lazaro Arbos of Naples, Florida.

The Clicker Today website says this about the 11th singer going on tour with American Idol:

(And if you’re furious about someone getting eliminated, you may get a second chance to see your favorite again: The male and female who finished sixth in the semifinal voting in their groups will take the stage once more next week. The winner of that match will get a bonus 11^th spot on the tour.)

Not sure if this means the 11th singer will sing only on the summer tour, since it doesn’t mention anything about the winner actually being a contestant.

There were a few surprises among the Top 10, but overall it seems to be a good group, especially the girls in the Top 10. It may be time to not split the Top 10 evenly among girls and boys, when the girls overwhelmingly had the best singers this year.

It was no surprise that Charlie Askew and Zoanette Johnson didn’t make the Top 10. Askew for some reason completely changed his look for the boys competition, which detracted from his singing. Askew seems to have serious emotional problems, which need to be addressed immediately. Zoanette may have made the Top 10 female singers, but she was not the singer the other girls were. She may have had an intriguing back story, but this is a singing competition and when Randy Jackson said her song was a mess it gave no reason, for voters to vote for her, with so many girls who sang much better on the show.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/03/08/showbiz/tv/american-idol-top-10-ew/index.html

American Idol: Judges Send Zoanette To Top 20 in Shocker

Bryant Tadeo was eliminated last week on American Idol after scathing critique by Nicki Minaj.

Nicki Minaj once again showed her mean side on American Idol last week, when she complimented Bryant Tadeo for his powerful closing of New York State of Mind, but then turned on him and said that was only good part of the song.  It is easy to see Ms. Minaj has no compassion for some contestants, when the night before she heaped lavish praise on Zoanette Johnson who was mediocre at best singing Circle of Life.

Ms. Minaj clearly plays favorites and has let the back stories of some singers sway her critiques of the contestants.  I thought Rachel Hale sang much better than Zoanette, but someone had to be sacrificed so Zoanette could advance. I can tell from the expression on the face of Minaj if she will praise or criticize a performance.

Just my opinion but I think Keith Urban is the best judge on the panel this season. He focuses on the singing and nothing else.

If Zoanette advances to the Final 10 there might be a backlash from American Idol fans. If the fans vote her into the Top 10 it will be a shock. However, she may show she can be a serious singer next week, so it isn’t fair to write her off yet, but just can’t see her selling millions of albums in the future.

The girls are much better than the boys this season, which makes me wonder if the judges should have been allowed to pick the best singers and not have to choose 10 boys and 10 girls.

These are the remaining 20 contestants according to the Wikipedia page for Season 12:

Contestant	Result
	Lazaro Arbos
	Janelle Arthur
	Charlie Askew
	Nick Boddington
	Aubrey Cleland
	Curtis Finch, Jr.
	Candice Glover
	Kree Harrison
	Amber Holcomb
	Zoanette Johnson
	Paul Jolley
	Adriana Latonio
	Elijah Liu
	Angela Miller
	Vincent Powell
	Cortez Shaw
	Breanna Steer
	Burnell Taylor
	Tenna Torres
	Devin Velez

American Idol Season 12 ratings continued to tumble on Thursday night, as the show attracted only 12.56 million viewers, which is the fewest for this season.  The Voice and Dancing With the Stars return later this month, but not sure if  they will going against each other head to head . It is similar to the situation of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire a few seasons back,when it was being shown so much that fans eventually tired of seeing it so often.  Season 11 had a season low 14.85 million viewers, which was surprisingly the night the Final 2 sang. You would think that would be one of the most-viewed shows of the season, but instead it was the least-viewed, probably because Phil Phillips and Jessica Sanchez were in final two, while Josh Ledet was clearly a better singer than either one of them, yet finished third so there may have been some viewer backlash in play that night.

Maybe once the Top 10 is chosen the ratings may move upward again, but with the proliferation of singing competition shows the bubble may have already burst.

The following poll may give us a better idea of how American Idol fans felt about Zoanette being advanced:

American Idol Popularity Waning: Almost 20 Million Less Viewers Than in 2007

American Idol judges Randy Jackson, Mariah Carey, Nicki Minaj and Keith Urban are shown with host Ryan Seacrest in the center. The show is staggering into Season 12 as viewers leave the show in droves.

The first American Idol show was telecast on June 11, 2002 with 9.85 viewers watching The 2003 premiere show attracted 26.50 million viewers almost tripling the viewers from 2002. The 2007 premiere show attracted a record 37.44 million viewers, but there has been a steady decline of viewers since then, bottoming out at 17.93 viewers to start Season 12 last January. The show has lost close to 20 million viewers in the last six seasons.

Surprisingly the season finale topped out in Season 2 in 2003 at 38.06 million viewers and last year’s finale only attracted 21.49 million viewers, which is the all-time low for a finale.

With The Voice being telecast twice a year and X-Factor being shown in the fall it appears singing competition shows have reached the saturation point.  With American Idol starting about a month after the last X-Factor show has been shown, fans are not getting much of a break.

The Voice and X-Factor winners don’t get near the publicity of the American Idol winners. Quick, name all three winners of The Voice and the two winners of X-Factor. Only the most devout fans of either show could give you those names, without stopping to think it over.

Melanie Amaro who won X-Factor in December of 2011 has yet to release her debut album, which will be released next month. Meanwhile Phil Phillips the Season 11 winner of American Idol has already sold 700,000 copies of his debut album Dark Side of the Moon which has received 361 five-star reviews, while receiving only 5 one star reviews. I have to admit that I didn’t think Phil Phillips would go far as an artist, but he could be on the cusp of a great career.

Phil Phillips has been opening shows for Matchbox 20.

Season 12

American Idol went from a three judge panel of Steven Tyler, Jennifer Lopez and Randy Jackson in Season 11 to a four person panel of Keith Urban, Nicki Minaj, Randy Jackson and Mariah Carey in Season 12. The show got off on the wrong foot, before the first show aired as Nicki Minaj threatened to knock out Mariah Carey at the Charlotte auditions. They tangled more along the way to the opening show, but in recent weeks they have both calmed down and don’t talk to each other. Minaj is said to have said that if she had a gun she would shoot Carey, but later denied ever saying that.

Placing two divas on the judging panel was a recipe for disaster and that was what it turned out to be. I am sure the producers have told them to cool it, because most viewers like me don’t like a lot of attention being placed on the judges. Nicki Minaj seemed to be harsher with contestants a few weeks ago but seems to have calmed down and show more compassion for the contestants.

Keith Urban has really surprised me with his knowledge of American music and has very well thought out critiques of the singers. Randy Jackson has apparently appointed himself as the villain among the panelists, as he seems to be more critical of the singers, than the other three judges. Mariah Carey is taking over the Paula Abdul role as the judge who seldom says anything critical of most singers.

Ellen DeGeneres was by far the worst judge in the history of American Idol. She seemed to be more intent on cracking jokes, than on making meaningful critiques of the singers. It was no surprise, that she was a one season and out judge. I think even she sensed she didn’t belong on American Idol as a judge. Know that has nothing to do with Season 12, but just felt compelled to mention her judging skills or lack of.

It is too early to have a favorite or even to mention any names of the Season 12 contestants, since there are many eliminations ahead before the Final 10 is announced.

Apparently the tradition of judges going to rooms with contestants and telling which rooms are going home and which ones are advancing has been dropped, but that could change before the Final 10 is chosen. I liked that the Hollywood group week contestants were sorted into groups by American Idol executives. It ridded the show of the drama of singers begging to join a group or being dismissed by a group. I will never forget the season when the young boy from Louisiana was dumped by one group and him having to find a new group.

I don’t know if the tradition of contestants taking the long walk to talk to judges and being told their fate by the judges will be repeated this season. I am hoping by the end of this week, that we will know who the Final 10 singers are. Right now I think that the girl singers are better and should have more singers in the Top 10, but the producers may want an even number of girls and boys in the Top 10.

TV By the Numbers shows that both Big Bang Theory and Person of Interest attracted more viewers than American Idol last Thursday. The show is no longer the juggernaut it used to be, but it still is one of the most-watched shows on television.

It will be interesting to find out who the Final 10 will be composed of and we should know by the end of Thursday night’s show.

Nicki Minaj: Harshest American Idol Judge Ever?

Nicki Minaj

I thought Simon Cowell was the harshest American Idol judge, but Nicki Minaj gave him a run for his money last night. She not only criticized the singing of the singers, but their attitude and demeanor as well. She seemed to enjoy trashing the singing of Matheus Fernandes and then added insult to injury by saying he was choosing songs about his height, so he could have a pity party. She could have handled this situation better, by telling him backstage not to dwell on his height.

Matheus Fernandez

Fernandes may be remembered by some viewers, when he competed in The Glee Project on the Oxygen channel in 2011. The 4′ 9″ Fernandes was the shortest of all the American Idol contestants in the 2012 season.

Mariah Carey, who I had considered as a diva of the first magnitude showed a lot more class than Minaj during the show last night. Keith Urban and Randy Jackson didn’t seem to get as much camera time, as Minaj since she obviously enjoyed having the spotlight on herself, rather than on the contestants, who should have been in the spotlight. It is almost like Minaj enjoys stabbing the contestants with a knife and then gives it a little twist for maximum shock effect.

I think it was important that American Idol brought back Randy Jackson for Season 12, to give the show some stability. Keith Urban has shown how well he knows American music, by knowing a song that one of the singers hadn’t heard of, with Urban being from Australia.

http://t.entertainment.msn.com/nicki-minaj-most-hateable-tv-personality-ever-1?toc=ent

American Idol Officials Choose Groups

With the judges picking which contestants were in each group it eliminated some of the drama. There was no drama of someone begging to join a group, or to be kicked out of a group and finding a new group. However, there was still the drama of not all the singers liking a song choice. One group in particular had a country singer, who was trying to learn a Maroon 5 song Moves Like Jagger. The song choice sealed his fate as he couldn’t remember the words and was clearly uncomfortable singing a song out of his comfort zone.

TV Ratings Down

American Idol premiered this year on January 16 and drew only 17.93 million viewers, which was the lowest since the show debuted in 2002 with 9.8 million viewers. This was the first season since 2002, that less than 20 million viewers watched a premiere show.

A season low 13.28 million viewers watched American Idol last night and this is during the Hollywood week.

The proliferation of singing competitions has dealt American Idol a blow, that they may never recover from. To make matters worse The Voice will be returning again, about three months after ending their fall version in December. That could put a further dent into American Idol ratings. X-Factor finished their season a month before the 2013 debut of American Idol.

It would not surprise me to see a viewer backlash against Nicki Minaj, if she continues to belittle the contestants in such a cruel way. The way she is behaving tells me she won’t be back for Season 13.

The Voice Vs. X-Factor

The Voice may have made a critical mistake, by competing head-on with X-Factor from 8PM ET till 9PM ET. X-Factor went on to finish their show uncontested during the 9PM till 10 PM time slot. It will be interesting what the ratings, which should be released later today will show, which show won the time slot.

It seems to me that singing competition fans would rather see Britney Spears and Demi Lovato making their debut as judges on the X-Factor, than watching The Voice for the third time in the week.

The blind auditions on The Voice to me are the highlight of the season. The tension as the singer sings and as family members watch is sometimes unbearable, as they wait for one of the judges to turn the chair around. It is sad to see a singer complete their song with no chairs turning around. The judges have not turned their chair around 14 times during the 35 songs sang over the three nights.

Bryan Keith was the only singer on Monday to see all four judges turn their chairs around as he sang It Will Rain. Adriana Louise Figueroa impressed all four judges, enough for them to turn their chairs around on Tuesday night during her rendition of Domino.

Nicole Nelson saw four chairs turn around on Wednesday night while singing Hallelujah.

It is easy to notice that Christina Aguilera is not interested in country singers, as she has passed on them.

The highlight for me after the first week’s shows was Gracia Harrison singing I Want To Be A Cowboy’s Sweetheart. The song is 78 years old, which could make it the oldest song sung this season, since it was written in 1934. Harrison’s yodeling really made the song standout. Christina Aguilera was the only judge to not turn their chair around. It was a foregone conclusion that she would choose Blake Shelton as her mentor.

For pure entertainment Casey Muesiggman owned the stage while singing Sweet Home Alabama, but I find it hard to believe he is only 22 years old, as he looks much older.

Terry McDermott from Scotland and now New Orleans was the first singer of the season, while singing Baba O’Riley and he chose Blake as his mentor. Treven Hunte who sang Listen to close out the Monday night show is a singer to watch. He is only 18, but he sings like a veteran singer.

One criticism of The Voice is that the singers we are seeing may not be seen again for several weeks during the battle rounds. I am not a battle rounds fan, since it seems like it turns out into a duel, to see who can reach the highest note.

It is possible for a singer disappear for seven or eight weeks before being seen during the battle rounds, especially since there will be 16 singers for each judge to mentor.

After the first three shows the judges have only 21 of the required pool of 64 singers, with 33 more slots to fill.

For a complete rundown of the first week of The Voice:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Voice_(U.S._season_3)

X-FACTOR SHOWCASES BRITNEY SPEARS

The main reason Britney Spears was signed to a $15 million contract was to garner higher ratings this season. The saddest part of the show was when Jillian Jensen, a victim of being bullied during middle school and high school sang with so much emotion, that the judges could feel her pain and voted to advance her.

Spears was visibly moved when Don Phillip, who had sung with Britney Spears on her debut album in 1999 in a duet, after he failed to advance in the competition and had a meltdown, before leaving the stage. It was a classic case of a grown man losing it in front of millions of television viewers.

There was no mention of Melanie Amaro the first X-Factor winner, which makes me wonder, if they are holding out any hopes of her being a successful singer. The first season ended last December and her debut album won’t be released till this December. American Idol winners have their first album released about 6 months after the last show. I don’t know if there have even been any Melanie Amaro sightings.

The following article gives a more complete rundown of the shows, including best and worst singers and a list of zingers used by the judges:

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/x-factor-recap-britney-spears-demi-lovato-369972

 

 

American Idol Nearing the End of Its Run?

Since Phillip Phillips became the current American Idol, the American Idol franchise is looking very shaky, as the music competition show can’t seem to get its act together.

The chemistry between judges Randy Jackson, Jennifer Lopez and Steven Tyler, over the last two seasons was excellent, but now with Lopez and Tyler leaving the show and Randy Jackson’s status questionable the show seems to be in disarray.

Mariah Carey is the only judge confirmed for Season 12 and will reportedly be earning $18 million. I am not sure she is a good fit for the show and she is certainly not worth $18 million. It seems strange after the ratings decline of Season 11, that they would pay that kind of money to a judge.

Carey is not only making a lot of money, but is trying to influence who else is on the panel. She was furious to know Nicki Minaj could be on the judging panel. Carey apparently thought she was to be to the only female judge on the panel and at the age of 42, she would be 13 years older than the 29 year-old Minaj. In addition Carey seems to have had the impression that she would be the only female judge like Jennifer Lopez was in Seasons 10 and 11.

Meanwhile Carey is calling for Lenny Kravitz to be one of the judges in Season 12. There are all kinds of rumors, about whether Randy Jackson will return as a judge or as a mentor, plus there is a long list of names being mentioned as possible judges.

Kanye West, Alanis Morrisette, Keith Urban, Enrique Iglesias, Brad Paisley, Adam Lambert, Carrie Underwood and even Charlie Sheen have been mentioned as possible judges.

Carrie Underwood and Brad Paisley are the only possible judges, that I would like to see get the judging gig, but that probably won’t happen since they are both country music stars.

The question is how much longer the American Idol producers will continue to let this media circus go on. I think they made a huge mistake in signing Mariah Carey, especially at $18 million and since she is trying to influence which other judges will join the panel.

There is no way Carey is worth the extra $6 million, over what Jennifer Lopez was earning as a judge, when she signed her $12 million contract. Carey may surprise me, but I don’t see her having the emotional connection with contestants, that Lopez exhibited in her two years as judge.

Fox and the American Idol producers need to make their decisions soon on the judges for Season 12. Rumors are floating around that there may even be a fourth judge in Season 12.

The days as a ratings juggernaut for American Idol may soon be over. There were some chinks in the armor in Season 11, when almost 8 million fewer viewers turned in to see the finale, than had tuned in for the Season 10 finale.

Season 10 had Scotty McCreery and Lauren Alaina in their finale, while Season 11 had Phillip Phillips and Jessica Sanchez, so that may explain the drop in the ratings.

I look for X-Factor to have a ratings spike in Season 2 with Britney Spears on the judging panel. Even though American Idol and X-Factor don’t compete directly against each other, there may be viewers who like X-Factor so much more, that they won’t bother watching American Idol next year.

It is time for American Idol to get their act together, assemble the rest of the judging panel and end the present chaos and show Mariah Carey, that she is not going to pick and choose who the judges will be on the panel.

Ryan Seacrest may not even be able to save American Idol, if something isn’t done soon to restore the luster of the American Idol franchise.

 

Big Brother 14 Twist (Spoiler Alert), American Idol Judges Dropping Like Flies

Big Brother 14 debuted for the 2012 season on Thursday night with a couple of new twists. The first twist was that four former contestants, including two winners would be coaches this season. The house guests will be competing for a $500,000 prize, given to the winner in the finale show this September.

Big Brother 2 and Big Brothers All-Stars winner Mike Boogie and Dan Gheesling of Big Brother 10 were the two returning winners, while Janelle Pierzina of Big Brother 6 and Big Brother All-Stars and Britney Haynes of Big Brother 12 will be the other two mentors, who will be competing for the $100,000 prize for best coach.

The other twist was that no house guests were given keys, because the coach of the losing team, in the head of household competition, on the inaugural show would have to choose one of his team for immediate eviction on opening night.

Personally, I hope this never happens again, since each contestant deserves one full week on the show, before being evicted, instead of being unceremoniously sent home on the first night.

This website is a great source of information worth saving to your favorites if you want to keep up to date, with what is going on in the house between the shows. Don’t go to this site if you want to wait for the shows to air, since it tells who was nominated since Thursday’s show and who won the veto, plus will tell the outcome of the veto ceremony next week.

http://www.mortystv.com/big_brother.shtml

Latest American Idol News

It is now official that Steven Tyler is not the only American Idol judge leaving the show. Tyler had announced earlier this week, that he was leaving American Idol to return to Aerosmith full-time. There have been rumors that Jennifer Lopez was resigning her job as a judge. Those rumors are no longer rumors, as Lopez told host Ryan Seacrest, that she was leaving the show to have more time, to allow herself to have more time to pursue other options in her entertainment career.

As if this wasn’t enough news about judges for one week, there is now word out, that Randy Jackson may be leaving the show as a judge, but may remain as a mentor for the contestants.

This would create openings for three judges. Mariah Carey has been mentioned as a possible judge, but there is no official word, as to whether she was actually offered the job. Adam Lambert has also been mentioned as a possible judge. With the auditions for Season 12 going on now, it is probably imperative that a new set of judges be chosen soon, so they can be filmed at the auditions, determining the fate of the contestants.

After a huge drop in ratings last season, American Idol may be having too much change, too soon for these changes to improve the ratings for Season 12. The proliferation of singing contests has reached the saturation point and I can foresee the ratings drop for the entire genre. The Voice and X-Factor return in September and The Voice being on twice in one year, could be a huge mistake since it hasn’t produced a name star yet.

With Britney Spears reportedly being a train wreck on X-Factor as a judge, this is what can be expected from X-Factor this September.

http://www.billboard.com/column/reality-check/new-x-factor-video-shows-britney-spears-1007557952.story#/column/reality-check/new-x-factor-video-shows-britney-spears-1007557952.story

 Big Brother 5 Winner Tasered By Cops

Big Brother  winners have a history of having run-ins with the law and Drew Daniel winner of Big Brother 5 is the latest winner, to experience a brush with the law. He reportedly injured a man, while in a domestic dispute. Now for the rest of the story, including the part where he is tasered by the cops.

http://bigbrotheraccess.com/big-brother-5s-drew-daniel-arrested-353325/

Josh Ledet Sounded Even Better Live (Now With Video of Concert)

Josh Ledet

It was just yesterday that I learned Josh Ledet would be appearing, in Heritage Square in Sulphur, Louisiana. We got there early about 1:20 PM, before the 2PM concert. We live only about a mile-and-a-half from Heritage Square, so it took about three minutes to arrive at the venue.

Jason Ledet, the brother of Josh was the host of the show and introduced all the acts and thanked the sponsors and workers, who did an amazing job, considering they only had two days to set up for the concert.

A lady sang Amazing Grace, then a couple of country singers sang a couple of songs each. The lady had a French sounding name so won’t attempt to guess at the spelling. She returned after the country singers sang and sang the Loretta Lynn classic You Ain’t Woman Enough To Take My Man.

Then a fourth singer sang six songs, while playing the acoustic guitar, with none of the songs being recognizable to me and the crowd seemed to be uneasy, since most of the crowd was in the extreme heat and wanted to see Josh. Then a surprise guest Chase Slaughter of X-Factor sang a song acapella.

After all acts left the stage, it was time for Josh to make his entrance and he rewarded his fans, with his stirring rendition, of When A Man Loves A Woman. Almost everyone was on their feet, from the first note of the first song, till he left the stage. Josh called out to some family and friends, that he recognized.  He also sang It’s A Man’s World, Ain’t Too Proud to Beg and I Wish a song that really rocked the house and sounded even better than this version on American Idol.

Josh also sang Ready For Love. If you have a chance to hear Josh Ledet take it, because you will never forget the experience. He commands the stage well and has as much stage presence, as anyone since Elvis Presley. You could feel the electricity in the air when the took the stage.

This video shows Josh singing at the concert at Heritage Square in Sulphur, Louisiana. The video starts off with still photos, but it switches to video, when Josh begins to sing. Somehow this writer was captured on this video shot, since if I had known I would have absconded from the scene. I am the prematurely gray man wearing a Calvary Baptist T-shirt, not having a clue I was being filmed. The best part of the video is when Josh sings I Wish, which was a hit for Stevie Wonder. The video doesn’t come close to the sound of actually being there:

He came out early because of the extreme heat. Free bottles of water were being handed out to the fans, to keep them hydrated. My wife drank three or four bottles of water by herself and was feeling sick, when the crowd closed in to see Josh.  We were just outside the covered part of the arena, so  there was no escaping the heat, unless leaving the seat, to stand under the trees.

We left after Josh finished the first half of the show and went to his motor home behind the stage. I was badly sunburned by then, so we decided to leave before my wife got sicker or I got more sunburned, than I already was.

The main thing is that we got to see and hear Josh Ledet in person. I will be shocked if he is not a bigger star, than the American Idol Phillip Phillips or runner-up Jessica Sanchez.

Best of all, the concert, food and water were free, with McDonalds furnishing free hamburgers.

Josh Ledet will be returning to Louisiana later this summer, when the American Idol tour stops in Lafayette, Louisiana and appears at the Cajundome. The seats won’t be cheap, but if you got the money you will definitely get your money’s worth.

Kris Allen: May Be Time To Pull Plug On American Idol

American Idol producers can’t be too happy with Kris Allen, after he said it may be time to pull the plug on American Idol. It is surprising that he would say that, considering that without American Idol he probably would be singing at grocery store grand openings. It wasn’t that long ago that Lee DeWyze sang at a bowling alley opening, which is not saying much for how the career of Allen and DeWyze is going.

To his credit Allen’s latest album Thank You Camellia has 12 reviewers giving it a 5 star rating out of 15 reviewers.

The following article and video from TMZ.com includes a poll at bottom, that is showing that 74 percent of the voters think American Idol should be canceled, which has to be troubling for American Idol producers and may signal more losses in viewership in Season 12. This is a fairly large sampling of over 51,000 voters, so this tells me there is still some backlash, after Phil Phillips became the fifth guy in a row to win American Idol.

kris-allen-american-idol-finale

After viewing the video, am not sure that Allen said what he reportedly said in the article, unless he made some remarks, not shown in the video. Anyway, the alarming poll results have to be a huge concern.

We can’ t help but wonder if X-Factor and The Voice are killing the American Idol reality star.

Will A Girl Ever Win American Idol Again?

Phillip Phillips became the fifth consecutive boy to win the title of American Idol last night in Hollywood defeating Jessica Sanchez.

It really was no surprise when Ryan Seacrest announced, that Phillip Phillips was the Season 10 American Idol. He became the fifth consecutive boy to win the coveted title. He joins David Cook, Season 7 winner, Kris Allen, Season 8 winner, Lee DeWyze, Season 9 winner and Scotty McCreery, Season 10 winner as American Idol winners, since Jordin Sparks won in Season 6.

Kelly Clarkson won Season 1, while Fantasia Barrino won Season 3, Carrie Underwood won Season 4 and Jordin Sparks was the Season 6 winner and are the only girls to win American Idol in 11 seasons.

The girls won three of the first four seasons, but the guys have won six of the last seven seasons. Jessica Sanchez was a much better singer, than Phillip Phillips, yet saw her American Idol dreams dashed last night.

American Idol needs to address the voting issue, to keep this trend of guys winning from continuing, whether they are best singer or not. The more votes cast, then the more chance of a guy winning. 

I have a feeling that the girls are voting early and often for the guys, especially when 132 million votes were cast on Wednesday night. It may be time to forget about announcing these huge vote totals and allow one vote per person. That change should give the girls a better chance of winning.

Taylor Hicks and Lee DeWyze are two guys that may have never been voted as American Idols, if the voters had been limited one vote. I know that American Idol doesn’t want the final vote for each singer released, but it would give us an idea of how the voting is slanted toward the guys.

Just my opinion but I think Josh Ledet and Jessica Sanchez should have been the two finalists last night, but Phillips voters kept Josh from having a chance to make the final two. 

Jessica was very fortunate that the judges hadn’t used their save on someone like Heejun Han, or she wouldn’t have been saved. It is difficult to believe that she received the fewest votes that week, since she was showing week after week, that she was the best female singer on the show.

American Idol lost almost six million viewers, compared to the 2011 final performances. The final performance show drew a record 31.78 million viewers in Season 5, but only 14.85 million voters tuned in on Wednesday night, a drop of almost 17 million viewers from the record.

The ratings for the finale last night have not been announced, but I look for it to be lowest total for a finale night.

The Voice and X-Factor have caused a huge dent in American Idol ratings. With The Voice and X-Factor returning in September, viewers may have tired of watching reality singing competitions even more, by the time American Idol returns next January. X-Factor is hoping to increase their ratings with the addition of Britney Spears and Demi Lovato, as judges to replace the departed Nicole Scherzinger and Paula Abdul.

American Idol producers will be making changes to the show, hoping to slow the declining ratings. American Idol isn’t the juggernaut it once was, but it is usually near the top in the ratings.

Now American Idol has to deal with Phil Phillips having surgery very soon, since he will need four to six weeks to recover from his surgery and ma y not even be available for rehearsals for the summer tour.

Poll Asks If Readers Will Watch American Idol Finale Next Week

Now that Josh Ledet has been sent home by American Idol fans who voted on Wednesday night, this poll question asks if readers still plan to watch the finale next week.

The last poll question asks readers if they hope Jessica Sanchez or Phil Phillips win next week.

American Idol Final 2 To Be Revealed Tonight

Josh Ledet seems to be the front-runner as the voting tonight will determine who the final two remaining contestants will be.

Josh Ledet almost looks like he is sure to be the next American Idol. However, there are no locks when it comes to American Idol voting. Ryan Seacrest will announce the voting tonight and I have a feeling the final two will be Joshua Ledet and Phil Phillips,but it wouldn’t surprise me to see Jessica Sanchez competing against Josh, to be the next American Idol next Tuesday night.

There is even a chance that Josh could be leaving the show tonight, if his fans don’t take the time to vote for him, thinking it is a done deal that he will be the next American Idol.

I was only able to see the last half hour of the show last night, after coming home from church. We don’t have a DVR so there was o way to record the whole show.

Anyway, we saw all three singers sing the songs, that Jimmy Iovine had picked for them during that half hour.

Josh Ledet did his usual great job of singing No More Drama and the judges continued to praise his singing and his performance.

Jessica Sanchez sang I’ll Be There as the song Jimmy had chosen for her. I thought she did a good job, but Randy Jackson said it was OK for him and the song didn’t have a “moment, moment” . For me that song doesn’t have a “moment, moment” in the first place, but that is only my opinion and nothing more.

Phil Phillips sang  We’ve Got Tonight, the first song of Phil’s that I really liked. I like the classic ballads, so may be why I liked it so much.

Josh still looks like he should be in the final two, but with American Idol you never know till the votes are announced. I have a feeling that Phil has a huge fan base that may keep him from going home tonight. It could even be a Jessica and Phil finale next week, if the fans of Josh didn’t take time to vote for him last night.

For a recap of the complete show:

 http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20596396,00.html?xid=rss-topheadlines

 

We will know who the next American Idol will be in six days. I can see Josh Ledet selling millions of albums, but not so well for Jessica and Phil, when it comes to record sales. Album sales for Phil should not go well, if he is the next American Idol nor for Jessica. I can’t see either of them selling enough albums to go gold or platinum.

Personally, I will be rooting for Josh as long as he is in the competition, since he lives so close to our house. In addition to that though, he is clearly the best singer on American Idol this season.

Who Will Go Home Next on American Idol?

Joshua Ledet seems to be the one to beat in American Idol this season after his performance last night. However, we know American Idol voters can shock us sometimes. If Joshua Ledet winds up in the bottom three tonight, then all bets are off as to who will win Season 11 of American Idol.

Skylar Laine and Jessica Sanchez seem to be gaining momentum after their performances last night. I look for Hollie Cavanagh or Phillip Phillips to be going home tonight, but it depends on how strong of a voter base that Skylar has after her Wednesday night’s performances.

I will continue to support Joshua Ledet, as long as he remains in the competition. My favorite singer after Ledet is Hollie Cavanagh, but she could be exiting the show tonight, despite singing very well last night.

American Idol has reached the point of the competition, where a very good singer will go home every night till finale night, so Hollie  may be a victim of the numbers game tonight. Personally, I think Hollie is a much better singer, than Phillip Phillips but feel like his fanbase is probably stronger than her fan base.

We didn’t get home from church till the show was half over, so this recap from the Los Angeles Times has more details of performance night:

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/showtracker/2012/05/american-idol-recap-top-5-60s-brits.html

American Idol: And Now There Are Six

Joshua Ledet singing Sam Cooke's A Change Is Gonna Come on American Idol.

Colton Dixon received the fewest votes on American Idol and was sent home on Thursday’s show. The apparent favorite to win now is Joshua Ledet, the 20-year-old singer from Westlake, Louisiana.

However, we all know to expected the unexpected on American Idol, after Jessica Sanchez was saved by the judges, after receiving the fewest votes a week ago.

Phillip Phillips, Skylar Laine and Jessica Sanchez and Joshua Ledet were safe on Thursday night, with Colton Dixon, Holllie Cavanagh and Elise Testone in the bottom three.

It will be interesting to see which one of the contestants that were safe last night will be in the bottom three last night. I think Phillip Phillips showed he is not just a one-dimensional singer, by singing In The Midnight Hour, which was released by Wilson Pickett 47 years ago in 1965.

Still the highlight of the night for me was when Joshua sang A Change is Gonna Come composed and recorded by Sam Cooke in 1963. Joshua poured so much emotion into the song, that the judges Randy Jackson, Jennifer Lopez and Steven Tyler couldn’t help but give Joshua a standing ovation.

The song has been sung on American Idol many times in the past, but never with the emotion and passion, that Joshua showed while he was singing it. The song is #12 in the Rolling Stone magazine’s 500th Greatest Songs of All-Time.

Elise Testone’s rendition of Let’s Get It On was sang well, but Elise is having problems with the judges, similar to the problems of Haley Reinhart experienced in Season 10. No matter how well she sings, it seems like the judges find fault with her singing, song selection or her emotional connection with the song.

Right now Joshua and Elise are the only contestants, to me that could interest me in buying their album. Before last week’s shocking vote, it looked like Jessica Sanchez was on her way to being the next American Idol. Now all bets are off as we have four girls and two boys remaining in the competition.

Just my opinion, but I think voters should be limited to one vote per voter, which would be fairer to all the contestants. The way it is now a texter that can text fast can vote many times for one contestant, while non-texters or slow texters are at a definite disadvantage.

Hollie is still my favorite should Joshua be voted off the show, but I wouldn’t mind Elise winning since I think she has the passion to be successful in the music industry. Skylar Laine poured every ounce of emotion and energy into her songs on Wednesday night and she seems to be coming on strong now.

This post includes the following poll asking readers who they think will be the next American Idol:

 

 

 

American Idol: TV Guide Poll: Jessica Sanchez Favored To Win American Idol

Jessica Sanchez will be the next American Idol according to the latest TV Guide poll which showed her garnering 36 percent of the vote.

The latest TV Guide poll shows Jessica Sanchez with 36 percent of the vote and Phillip Phillips second with 24 percent. Colton Dixon is third with 15 percent of the vote. The rest of the contestants have less than 10 percent of the vote. Elise Testone has 9 percent, Hollie Cavanagh 6 percent, Joshua Ledet 5 percent, Skylar Laine 4 percent and DeAndre Brackensick is last with only two percent of the votes in the poll.

I am surprised that Joshua Ledet only received 5 percent of the vote in the poll. It may be hurting for him to be from a small city in Louisiana, rather than living in a metropolitan city. I have to admit I am prejudiced in favor of Ledet, considering we live less than 10 miles from his house.  That 5 percent may be a harbinger telling us that Ledet may not even make the top five contestants.

Votefortheworst.com has chosen DeAndre Brackensick as the worst remaining singer and urges their readers to vote for DeAndre to keep him on the show till the end. The website bought a little time for Heejun Han as he remained on the show much longer than anyone imagined. As far as I am concerned DeAndre should have left the show before Heejun,  based on his performance on Wednesday night.

I think Heejun outsung him, but Heejun apparently didn’t have the teenybopper vote this year, so DeAndre didn’t even make the bottom three. I predict he will not only make the bottom three, but will be voted off next week, if the teenyboppers forget to vote for him next week.

It is a big deal for Ryan Seacrest to say we had 50 million voters register their vote last night, but it is an even bigger deal if good singers like Erika Van Pelt are sent home due to teenage girls voting over and over for an undeserving singer.

Seacrest who had elbow procedure done before the show continues to make a contestant feel like they are in bottom three, then tells them they are safe.

Scotty McCreery may be the first American Idol in years to sell a million albums, besides Carrie Underwood. I am positive that Lee DeWyze the previous winner didn’t come close to selling a million albums. DeWyze will be the answer to a trivia question someday that asks which American Idol singer had the least success. DeWyze’s Live It Up debut album only sold 146,000 copies. Taylor Hicks will give him a run for his money but DeWyze is in a class by himself. Quick, name one song either singer recorded. I rest my case.

Update On Past American Idol Winners

If you are in the market for a $1.5 million house in the Los Angeles area, then David Cook has the house for you:

http://www.realtor.com/blogs/2012/03/27/american-idol-david-cook-selling-los-angeles-house-photos/

Carrie Underwood sent a necklace to Hollie Cavanagh before Hollie sang her song. My personal favorite after Joshua Ledet is Hollie but I have a feeling she won’t make it much further, considering she was in bottom three with nine singers in the competition last night before the voting.

http://tasteofcountry.com/carrie-underwood-american-idol-hollie-cavanagh-necklace/

How soon they forget….Just searched three pages of links after typing in Taylor Hicks in the search box and found nothing about Taylor Hicks the singer from American Idol. I did check on how the albums by Hicks have sold. His debut album Taylor Hicks went platinum selling 705,000 copies, but his next album The Distance has sold 52,000 copies since being released three years ago.

Kris Allen surprisingly did even worse than Hicks, selling 329,000 copies of his debut album Kris Allen in the last two-and-a-half years. Hicks reportedly is working on his third album.

Carrie Underwood sold 315,000 copies of her Some  Hearts debut album before it even charted and it has now sold 7.1 million copies making it platinum times 7 in sales. Her last two albums Carnival Ride and Play On have sold 3.2 million and 2.1 million respectively. She will release her fourth album Blown Away this May. She has sold over 12 million copies combined of her first three albums.

Fantasia Barrino, in comparison has sold less than 3 million copies combined of her three albums. Jordin Sparks sold barely over a million of her debut album Jordin Sparks, but has sold 177,000 copies of her July 2009 release Battlefield.

Sparks will be appearing in the movie Sparkle as a singer with Whitney Houston portraying her mother. The movie will be in theaters on August 17.

http://www.ontheredcarpet.com/Whitney-Houston-made-silly-faces-on-Sparkle-set–Jordin-Sparks-says-Video/8580885

American Idol Update: DeAndre and Heejun Still Hanging Around

Heejun Han, Erika Van Pelt and DeAndre Brackensick wound up in the bottom three after the voting last night on American Idol with Erika Van Pelt receiving the fewest number of votes and left the show after the judges decided she was not worthy of their one save.

Heejun Han and DeAndre Brackensick avoided being sent home last night on American Idol, but Erika Van Pelt was not so fortunate. The judges elected not to save Erika, saving their save for later in the season.

There is no reason Heejun and DeAndre should still be on the show, while Erika went home. Votefortheworst.com is taking credit for saving Heejun from going home. They pick the worst artist on American Idol, then tell fans to vote for him or her.

Joshua Ledet is my personal favorite among the Top 9 singers. My next favorite is Hollie Cavanagh, but will support Joshua as long as he is on the show. Jessica Sanchez is my third choice with Colton Dixon close behind at fourth and Phillip Phillips rounding out my Top 5 singers.

I look for Heejun, DeAndre, Skylar Laine and Elise Testone to be voted off the show in the coming weeks. Five of the nine remaining contestants are teenagers with Jessica 16, DeAndre 17, Hollie and Skyler both 18 and Joshua Ledet the oldest one of the group at 19.

Colton Dixon is next youngest at 20, while Phillip Phillips is 21, Heejun 22 and Elise is the oldest of the remaining contestants at the age of 28.

Next week the contestants sing songs of their idols, so should make for a good show, since the singers should be in their comfort zone next week.

Let’s hope there is not a Gregorian Chants week this season, because the contestants and viewers alike would be eternally grateful, if that never happens in Season 11.

On a more serious note, Haley Reinhart sang her first single Free on the show last night. The song doesn’t seem destined to be a million seller, but Haley sang it well and I wish her success with her first album, which is due later this spring. I personally like to hear her sing the old standards from the American songbook like Night and Day.

 

 

 

 

 

American Idol: Heejun Han May Be Going Home

Heejun Han should be in the bottom three tonight.

Heejun Han is almost certainly to be in the bottom three, after Randy Jackson said that he was in the most trouble after singing last night. The other two judges, Jennifer Lopez and Steven Tyler declined to give a name of a singer in trouble. I don’t know if this is a good idea, to ask the judges who is safe and who is in trouble. When a judge says someone is safe, the supporters of that singer may not bother to vote for them and we could have another Pia Toscano situation like in Season 10. The producers may instruct the judges to name names, of those singers in trouble instead,  of leaving it to America to decide like Jennifer Lopez stated. Ryan Seacrest was asking this question for a reason and it is to stir up drama, so when a judge refuses to name names there is no drama. Regardless, Heehun Han will be in the bottom three, if there is a bottom three tonight, in the aftermath of the Jermaine Jones dismissal from the show. American Idol producers have a few options, to avoid the show ending a week earlier than planned. The judges could use their save this week or later to keep the show on schedule. Or they could bring Jeremy Rosado back. It will be interesting to see how this plays out. Speaking only for myself my favorites are Joshua Ledet, who lives 10 miles from here in Westlake, Louisiana, Shannon Magrane, Hollie Cavanagh, Jessica Sanchez and Erika Van Pelt. It is time that Jimmy Iovine and the guest mentor let the singers pick their own songs. They may have the best interests of the singer at heart, but the singer’s fate can depend on the song choice, so why not let them make that choice. It is better than them thinking later after being voted off the show, that they should have went with their own song choice. One thing for certain is that Joshua Ledet was by far the best singer last night, when he sang the Percy Sledge classic When A Man Loves A Woman. It started a little slow for me, but he brought it home in the last half of the song, as the judges gave him a standing ovation. Ledet is not only a singer, but a natural entertainer and will be interesting to listen to and watch in Season 11. Just hope the judges didn’t give him the kiss of death, by saying he is safe, when in reality nobody is ever safe on American Idol till they win on finale night in May. For more details on last night’s show: http://theclicker.today.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/03/14/10692860-a-bad-night-on-american-idol-for-more-than-just-dqd-jermaine-jones

Should Battle Rounds Be Eliminated On The Voice?

 

 

The time has come for The Voice to eliminate the battle rounds and go straight to the live shows. The battle rounds focus too much on the drama between the two singers and the judges and  mentors helping the singers. Then after spending several minutes touting the upcoming battle, the song is over in about three minutes.

After all it is a singing competition, so that should be the main focus of having the singers sing. On Monday’s show there were about eight songs sang in the two-hour show which averages out to a song every 15 minutes.

This is just my opinion for what it’s worth, but I don’t think it is fair for a singer with a less powerful voice, being matched against a singer with a powerhouse of a voice. Too much emphasis is being placed on the battle aspect and not enough on the singing itself.

Some singers are completely out of their element to be placed in a situation in which they have to outsing another opponent. It becomes a case of who can sing the loudest or reach the highest note which is not what the competition should be about.

I am a huge fan of the blind auditions, but think the show should go straight into the live shows, with the battle rounds being eliminated. They could still show the mentors helping the singers in shorter segments, so that more songs could be sung. With commercials using up about half an hour in a two-hour show, there is only an hour-and-a-half of the actual show being shown.

The Voice has drawn much better ratings this season. However, they could be making a huge mistake, to have another season this fall. It could further erode the ratings for singing competition shows, if it is seen twice a year.

We all saw what happened to Who Wants To Be A Millionaire,  when it was being shown two or three times a week. The ratings dropped the more it was shown. The same thing is happening with the proliferation of singing competitions. American Idol was once king of the hill, but now their ratings are slipping and lower ratings probably mean less money coming in from their sponsors.

It will be interesting to see how The Voice fares in the ratings when Dancing With the Stars returns later this month, if the two shows go directly against each other.

The poll question asks if you think the battle rounds on The Voice should be eliminated:

 

 

American Idol Ratings Plunging

American Idol which drew over 20 million viewers in all but two shows in Season 10 in 39 shows, has only drawn over 20 million viewers once in  Season 11 and that was when the season opener drew 21 million. The first three shows in Season 10 drew roughly 74 million while the first three shows in Season 11 drew about 59 million, a loss of 15 million viewers and around 5 million less viewers per show.

It is apparent that X-Factor started the trend of losing viewers since X-Factor ran from September through December, then a month later American Idol starts their new season. Throw in The Voice debuting on Super Bowl night to an astounding 37 million viewers after their Super Bowl lead-in.

However, The Voice has drawn less viewers each week since their debut and have seen their viewership dwindle down to 14 million in this week’s show.  The main attraction to me for The Voice are the blind auditions. Now they are over I look for ratings to drop even more,

American Idol Season 11 ratings bottomed out during Week 13, when they drew 15.6 million viewers. 16.1 million viewers watched the Final 13 boys perform on Tuesday night, but the Wednesday night ratings for the Final 13 girls have not been posted as of this minute.

The Voice Season 1 drew only 34 million in their first three shows, but The Voice Season 2 drew 70 million, so the show is definitely drawing more viewers than in Season 1. The Voice needs a winner that will stand out and not someone like last year’s winner Javier Colon, who more or less disappeared for the most part since Season 1 ended.

American Idol producers have to be worried about the precipitous drop in the ratings. They will probably try some innovative ways of spiking  the ratings,  back to the 20 million mark. I look for American Idol to draw more viewers than The Voice, but I feel the American Idol phenomenon is showing signs of erosion in their viewer base.

It is still my favorite of the singing competition shows, but the genre has over saturated the television landscape and the glory days of American Idol may be over. We used to have American Idol alone being shown from January to May. Now we have singing competition shows starting in September and running through May, with only a gap of about three weeks, from X-Factor ending and American Idol beginning.

When Big Bang Theory and NCIS beat American Idol, it is time to rethink and seriously ponder, whether we need any more singing competitions.

It will be interesting to see if American Idol can go over the 20 million mark again this season. The Voice may be on a different night from American Idol, but their success has to weaken American Idol.

Meanwhile, Simon Cowell is fine-tuning X-Factor and thinking of hiring Britney Spears to be on the new judges, replacing Nicole Scherzinger and Paula Abdul. He is also considering having two hosts to replace Steve Jones, who was the most tense host I have seen of any TV show. Just his presence made me nervous and the producers need to hurry up the judges, if they are running over but by talking in their ear, not having the host remind them to speed them up like last season. Ryan Seacrest is a much smoother host who can handle any situation, unlike Jones who asked judges and contestants questions, they weren’t ready to answer at that moment, showcasing the lack of hosting skills by Jones.

It wouldn’t surprise me to see X-Factor, like the The Voice have better ratings in their second season. As of today in order of popularity it is American Idol, The Voice and X-Factor.

American Idol: Final 24 Chosen, One More Male Chosen Next Week

Holly Cavanagh who didn’t make it on American Idol 10 last season has been chosen as one of the Top 12 women in Season 11.

 

Holly Cavanagh who was disappointed after not making the Top 40, on Season 10 has made the Top 24 for Season 11.  She was not focused on much if at all this season, only to be a surprise pick among the Top 12 girls on American Idol.

 

However, there will be more cuts coming next week and it remains to be seen if she survives those cuts. The McKinney, Texas resident moved from Liverpool, England ten years ago to Texas. I am rooting for her to be in the final 12 for Season 11.

 

My personal favorite to win as of today is Hallie Day who I saw sing early in the competition, but have missed her latest appearances, but her first audition was so memorable that I hope she wins it all. I wouldn’t mind seeing Shannon Magrane become the American Idol, but both Day and Magrane still have to make the final 12, before they can win anything.

 

Hitfix.com has photos of the Top 12 women. This is the interesting part of the show when we can finally see the photos and names of the finalists. The show’s ratings should improve as American Idol begins the live shows.

 

The Top 10 women:

 

http://www.hitfix.com/galleries/meet-the-american-idol-season-11-top-25-the-top-12-women#12

 

It will be interesting to see if Heejun Han can make it past the cuts next week. Personally, I thought Richie Law’s rendition of Ring of Fire was better than the song Han song. However he could be the wild card brought back next week. I was shocked that Han made the Top 12, while Law was spurned by the judges. It would be ironic if Law were to re-instated then make the final 12 for the live shows, while Han goes home. I do give Han credit for advancing this far, despite being distraught with the behavior of Law, when they were in the same group.

 

The Top 12 men with possible 13th male chosen next week:

 

http://www.hitfix.com/galleries/meet-the-american-idol-season-11-top-24-the-top-13-men#1

 

The Hollywood Reporter’s American Idol Worship Page has a recap of last night’s show:

 

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/idol-worship/american-idol-season-11-top-24-revealed-294738

 

It will be interesting to see if American Idol can pull away in the ratings from The Voice, now that the live shows start next week. The main attraction of The Voice are the blind auditions. It seems like the show lost something once they got into the battle rounds, which was more like a shouting contest to me, seeing who could hit the highest notes seemed like the main focus in that round.

 

American Idol is still the best of the singing competitions in my book, but The Voice has seemed to catch on with the viewers, thanks to their Super Bowl Sunday debut.

 

 

 

Simon Cowell Wants Sing-Off With American Idol, The Voice and X-Factor Winners

Simon Cowell is so desperate to elevate X-Factor winner, up to the same playing field as American Idol and The Voice winners, that he is proposing a sing-off between the winners of the three shows.

For instance if was held between the winners last year, it would pit Scotty McCreery, Javier Colon and Melanie Amaro against each other with Cowell being the host.

American Idol producer Nygel Lythgoe has stated that the American Idol winner would have been a star, before the competition and is opposed to the idea.

To further complicate things for X-Factor, there are rumors circulating that The Voice will have another season this fall, which would give them two winners the same season, not to mention possibly competing directly against X-Factor, depending on the scheduling of the two shows.

X-Factor is in third place in ratings among the three shows, since even The Voice has bettered the X-Factor ratings so far in 2012. American Idol is showing signs of weaker ratings, but when they get into the live shows it will be the real test, since some fans don’t really follow the show until they know the 12 finalists.

The Voice doesn’t have the mass auditions, like American Idol and X-Factor, so they can have a second season this year, which would be Season 3 of the singing competition.

The way I look at it is that the singers have competed enough by the time they win one of the singing competitions and are ready to start their career, instead of appearing in yet another singing competition.

If The Voice does have a second season this calendar year, we could see even more erosion in the ratings. There is such a thing as overkill and The Voice and X-Factor could see falling ratings if they go head-to-head this fall.

http://www.vh1.com/news/articles/1679472/american-idol-voice-x-factor-simon-cowell.jhtml

American Idol: Too Much Drama, Not Enough Singing?

American Idol seemed to be more about the drama, than the singing on Thursday night’s show. There were many medical issues featured including Symone Black falling off the stage, contestants who were either not feeling well or those who were so sick they were throwing up into waste baskets.

Like most Hollywood weeks, there was a lot of drama before the group auditions were to be held the next day. We saw contestants desperately searching for a group to join. We had the usual drama we see year after year, of singers wanting to rehearse, while others in the group were more intent on going to sleep for the night.

We saw groups in which the contestants thought the self-appointed leader of the group, was taking them down to defeat, by either the song selection or being forced to sing in way that made them uncomfortable. The cowboy’s group will be an interesting audition to watch, since it  seems like there is no cohesion with the group.

There were the usual contestants having to audition before being allowed to join a group. Remember last season when Scotty McCreery wasn’t good enough for one group, but became the next American Idol anyway.

Some of the contestants were more worried about their own selfish desires than they were about the group. Fox knows the night before group auditions is filled with drama, so they milked it for all it is worth.

There was almost no singing in the show, except for the groups rehearsing in the hotel. Thursday night’s show was a waste to me, since most of the show was focused more on drama among the contestants, than showing us part of the group auditions.

Fox teased us at the end as a group started singing for the judges, but was cut short by Fox so we will have to tune in next week to find out how their audition went.

I can understand that Fox wanted to show some of the drama, that goes on between the contestants, but don’t think most viewers  wanted to see an hour of drama.

Now that we have seen the drama before the auditions, we should see  the groups actually singing in their auditions as the judges whittle down the contestants, to a more manageable number.

Tune in next week, the drama is over and the singing will be the focus again.

 

X-Factor: Steve Jones, Nicole Scherzinger and Paula Abdul Leaving the Show

Three of the five X-Factor cast from the 2011 season won’t be returning for the 2012 season, since Steve Jones, Paula Abdul and Nicole Scherzinger have been told by Fox that they won’t be part of the 2012 show leaving only Simon Cowell and L.A. Reed from last season.

 

 

Simon Cowell  may have made a huge mistake, when he predicted X-Factor would draw 20 million fans. He may have raised the expectations so high, that it doomed the first season of the show. The show never got past the 13 million mark and mostly drew, between 10 and 12 million viewers for most of the shows.

 

Now with the first season over, the host Steve Jones and a judge, Nicole Scherzinger  have been told they will not be returning and it has just been announced today that Paula Abdul has also received the same news.

 

Jones Departure No Surprise

 

It was not a huge surprise that Jones would be leaving, since he seemed out of his element on the show and seemed discombobulated and not tuned in to what was going on around him. The firing of Scherzinger was not entirely unexpected, since her lack of decisiveness sent Rachel Crow home. She couldn’t make a decision, forcing the judge’s panel to be in a deadlock. The show then had to use the America’s vote, which ended the dream of winning X-Factor for Crow, when it was disclosed Crow had garnered the fewest votes that week.

 

Personally, I thought Paula Abdul did an efficient job as a judge, but apparently the producers wanted a more goofy Paula. She was paid only a million dollars for her work as a judge. She had reportedly left American Idol when she found out that Ryan Seacrest was being paid millions more as a host than she was being paid as a judge.

 

Paula Given Groups To Mentor

 

When Paula was given the groups to mentor, it showed the producers didn’t want her team to win, which was evident in the voting. Groups are an afterthought in singing competitions, since viewers identify more readily with a solo artist.

 

Cowell is wanting to take the show in another direction. With him and L.A. Reid  the only returnees from the 2011 season, it will be interesting to see just what that other direction will entail.

 

My hope is that the group category will be eliminated from next year. How can a viewer identify with a group, especially when the show made groups out of solo singers? It takes time to form a group and make them a cohesive unit and the new groups weren’t allowed the luxury of having that time.

 

Cowell May Scale Back On Production Numbers

 

Cowell, who didn’t seem to go for the big production numbers, may try to scale back on the glamor and glitz and focus more on the singers and their performance. He will definitely need a host who is more comfortable onstage than Steve Jones. I am sure he would like to have Seacrest as his host, but Mr. Seacrest has so much on his plate already, doubt that will happen

 

It will be critical that the new judges  will connect with the audience and be prepared to make hard decisions, without falling apart like Scherzinger did last season.

 

Paula-Simon Pairing Didn’t Draw Viewers

 

The general consensus was that Simon and Paula being together would help the ratings. However, that didn’t seem to be the case with X-Factor drawing 7 or 8 million viewers per show less than American Idol.

 

It is not like X-Factor was a complete failure, since most shows would be tickled to have 12 million viewers tuning most weeks. More viewers mean more money from the sponsors and Cowell realizes that.

 

Cowell has eight months to fine tune X-Factor, assuming the next season will start in September again. So we have to wait till then. to see what direction Cowell is taking the show.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Big Bang Theory Tops American Idol In Early Ratings

Those that are saying there are too many singing competition shows, gained some more ammunition last night, when Big Bang Theory drew 15.5 million viewers to 15 million viewers for American Idol.

It was the second consecutive week that Big Bang Theory topped American Idol in the ratings. The Voice and X-Factor may have played in a part in the American Idol decline in ratings.

Too Many Singing Competition TV Shows?

Apparently music fans don’t like the idea of three singing competition shows, when considering that American Idol drew over 20 million fans in almost every show last year, but this year is floundering around the 15 million mark lately. Most shows would be happy to have 15 million tuning in, but for Idol it is a staggering blow to attract only 15 million fans.

Now the question is if the three judges really disagreed on the talents of some of the singers on the show last night, or was it a ploy to increase ratings in the future. Jennifer Lopez, Steven Tyler and Randy Jackson have got along well, for the most part since the three became the judging team in Season 10. Maybe it was a one-time thing, but it seems like the American Idol judges, may be trying to emulate the tension between Simon Cowell and the other judges on X-Factor.

Producers May Be Contemplating Changes

The producers are probably re-evaluating the show, now that the show is not No.1 in its time slot. American Idol has been a juggernaut in the ratings, but now Big Bang Theory has shown they can post even better ratings.

The Voice Returns on Super Bowl Sunday

The Voice will return on Super Bowl Sunday for another season. That could make things worse for American Idol having two singing competition shows on each week.

I don’t think anyone thought we would see a situation comedy beating the No.1 singing competition show, but Big Bang Theory has done just that.

Ratings May Jump During Hollywood Week

American Idol may regain the top spot when they get into Hollywood week, with all the drama that comes with Hollywood week. I still remember someone tell Scotty McCreery he wasn’t good enough for his group, then Scotty went on to become the American Idol, showing he was more than good enough for their group.

The ratings should be even better when the singers for the live show are chosen, then once they are chosen viewers may pick a favorite and watch till their favorite is voted off.

American Idol doesn’t seem to be that different from past years. It may just be the victim of overkill when it comes to singing competition shows and American Idol is paying the price by receiving lower ratings.

 

 

 

Have The Voice and X-Factor Killed Off The American Idol Star?

Erika Van Pelt a DJ and wedding singer was the best singer on the Thursday night American Idol show.

Hallie Day had one of the most impressive auditions on American Idol on Thursday night’s show and has a great chance of being in the Final 12 in Season 11. Hallie should go far in the competition, if she can get past Hollywood week which has been known to end singing careers, before they even get off the ground.

Fewer Viewers Than Last Year

American Idol drew less fans on Thursday night, than they drew in any audition or Hollywood show last year. 21.89 million was the lowest number of viewers, in the auditions before the final 24 show last year. 

Only 14 million viewers tuned into American Idol last night, which was less than any show last year. It could be that fans are experiencing singing competition burnout after a heavy dose of American Idol, The Voice and X-Factor. It will be interesting to see if The Voice makes a dent into the American Idol franchise, when it debuts on Feb. 5 on Super Bowl night.

The magic was still there for me in both American Idol shows telecast this week. However, The Voice and X-Factor fans may not be as likely to watch American Idol as in the past.

There is still little likelihood that Javier Colon and Melanie Amaro, who won The Voice and X-Factor respectively, will come close to having the name recognition of Scotty McCreery, who may have won only $250,000 but has sold over a million albums in three months.

It is not likely that The Voice and X-Factor have killed off the American Idol star, since American Idol drew over 20 million in almost every show in 2011, while X-Factor maxed out at 12.59 million on finale night. The American Idol finale drew 29.29 million when Scotty McCreery was voted the American Idol.

The American Idol franchise may be a little shaky, but I look for ratings to get better as fans choose their favorites and follow them as long as they survive the cuts during Hollywood week.

 

 

American Idol: Still King of the Singing Competition Hill

The return of American Idol last night signaled that the No. 1 singing competition show, by far outshines The Voice and X-Factor. The other shows have their moments, but neither show comes close to matching the drawing power of American Idol.

Shaun Kraisman was one of the most interesting contestants, as he did an excellent Ryan Seacrest impression, but didn’t advance to Hollywood despite singing very well in my book, but the judges didn’t agree.

My personal favorite was Shannon Magrane, the daughter of former major league pitcher and MLB Network analyst Joe Magrane. The judges coaxed Shannon into bringing her family to the audition room, so they learned, that she was going to Hollywood the minute the judges told her the good news.

The last singer at the Savannah, Georgia audition was Phillip Phillips, who impressed the judges so much that he was asked to sing a second song. Phillip will be a singer to watch when the Hollywood week round starts.

American Idol was a breath of fresh air after The Voice and it’s chairs that turned around, to reveal the singer that was singing, if  the judge liked the song, plus it reminded us how much we disliked the constant bickering of the X-Factor judges. The bickering between Simon Cowell, L.A. Reid, Nicole Scherzinger and Paula Abdul was a huge distraction, not to mention the annoying host Steve Jones, who seemed to annoy the judges, as much as the fans.

There is no doubt that American Idol is still the best singing competition. It may be difficult to follow-up the success of Season 10, when Scotty McCreery won the title of American Idol. Even more impressive was that Scotty sold a million copies of his debut album, only three months after being released. His sales far eclipsed those of Season 9 winner Lee DeWyze, whose record sales never did take off.

It is safe to say that Scotty is the most successful recording artist, after winning American Idol, since 2005 when Carrie Underwood won Season 4.

We won’t know until May who wins Season 11 of American Idol, but fans will have fun watching the shows, till the winner is revealed by Ryan Seacrest.