Appreciated only an hour show last night to get the year rolling off - sometimes more is TOO cumbersome (though I believe tonight is 2 hours…)
Kind of liked the secret “intro” of the top 24! Provides a little peek into what type of voices we will be hearing more of this year.
Though I don’t usually like country, found myself liking Riley - the blonde guy who performed before with Keith via his attendance at a “Grammy Camp” - cool!
Also interested in Cameron Bedell (black guy with guitar who sang “You Are The Best Thing” and curious about the coffee shop guy. Maybe the 15 year old blond who sang Carrie Underwood’s “Blown Away” near the end of the show.
At first I was SOO embarrassed to watch the one college guy ask JLo to dance…but the three judges kind of made it a cute moment - (JLo seemed to be loving it - my D said, “well, he’s right about the age she likes her guys!” )
I was out and didn’t watch last night but I have to admit that I’m close to being over AI. I know that the show has always had silly bits of nonsensical features, e.g., letting clearly untalented individuals through three or four rounds of auditions in order to get them in front of the tv judges so that ridicule could be filmed, but I know of multiple longtime performers who were recruited this summer by AI producers to come and audition. All refused. Perhaps this has happened in previous seasons, who knows.
I take all these shows with a grain of salt. Pure entertainment. A friend’s dd is part of a band that tried out for America’s Got Talent, and they were totally turned off by the release you have to sign to be on the show. You would basically be giving up rights to any material you perform, so you’d never want to do anything original. They had to stick with covers in order to retain control over their original work.
^^^Good attitude. For a fortunate few, it’s great exposure to get a career started. For the millions who watch, just some relaxing entertainment on a weekday night.
While I do tire of the auditions, I do tend to enjoy the middle part of the season - sometimes get less interested at the end if a personal favorite is no longer in the mix.
I guess this is an appropriate place to note that Sam Woolf, my cousin and contestant last year, has an EP out. This is from an email by his Uncle Tod:
"Thanks for your support bringing my Nephew Sam Woolf’s debut album, “Pretend” to #23 on Jan. 1st and #37 on Jan. 2nd on the iTunes Pop album chart, a remarkable feat for an independent artist with a $2500 promotional budget for the Album (friends and family helped with promotion for free!). Almost all the other artists in the iTunes Top selling 100 pop albums of the day are major acts like, Beyonce, One Direction or Sam Smith. If you have not yet downloaded a track from iTunes, we’d be grateful for your support (99 cents for one track, or 4.99 for the EP on iTunes), these first few days of sales are critical for promotional reasons.
There is known to be a letdown after Idol for the artists not signed for record deals by Idol, when all the advertising, promotional, production and logistical support from Idol abruptly ends. Sam, with help from friends and family, is making it through this post Idol period quite well, as you can see below. Sam invested a large chunk of his earnings from Idol on this debut EP. It was produced by our 3rd cousin Grammy-winning producer Danny Blume. Sam’s Uncle (my brother) Guggenheim Fellowship-awardee Randy Woolf arranged the strings for one song, and two tracks feature backup singers from Bruce Springsteen’s band (and other seasoned musicians, see below).
Take 20 minutes with some good head phones or a good stereo, and listen to “Pretend” with songs Sam wrote from the age of 15 to this past summer when he had turned 18, I think you will enjoy it thoroughly."
Me again. The EP is quite good. Give it a listen.
Idol is winding down. One show a week. They didn’t offer record deals to anyone but the winner and they let that release sink.
Glad to have you here Lergmom and super happy to read that info about Sam - gonna have to look up that EP - love him!
Idol is probably winding down, but there is still something about the competition - especially when it becomes a competition, that draws me in. Less time is fine with me - I have enough trouble keeping up with a few shows at a time!!
Thought the auditions during the season premier from Nashville were somewhat lackluster. Isn’t Nashville supposed to be loaded with talent? Hope I’m not morphing into a “xiggi II”…
I agree the first two nights did not really blow me away. I wonder why some were accompanied by the pianist and some were a cappella? The girl who played the piano with Harry was pretty poised. I doubt I could have maintained my composure with him playing piano next to me.
I would surely think the a cappella ones choose that themselves.
I’ve peeked at the top 24 (which has already been determined) so it’s fun to see who auditions, how they sound then and who actually gets to that point. A couple favorites so far are in the top 24, some who seemed good aren’t and a couple who weren’t stellar appear to have made top 24!
Thought the auditions during the season premier from Nashville were somewhat lackluster. Isn't Nashville supposed to be loaded with talent? Hope I'm not morphing into a "xiggi II"......<<<
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Haha, I read the AI thread by accident and I find this gem. JShain, I am happy to read you are considering and fearing to turn into an objective observer who calls it as he hears it! Haha!
By the way, I have had favorites on TheVoice and AGT. Josh, Danielle, and that eccentric Nicholas. And perhaps you remember the talented guy who lost to that buffoon of a tenor named Neal E. Boyd.
I’m not sure I believe the top 24 list that is out there. The reason is that there is also a list of the kids who made it to Hollywood week and there is a girl at our high school that made it to Hollywood week and her name is not on the list.
There were some unique people tonight. I don’t understand why they liked the traveling guy so much. He was almost scary and comical at the same time. And he sang about a 3-note range. That was just weird.
One former Idol runner up is cashing million dollar paychecks touring around the world. While we get godawful lipsynching in Times Square on New Years Eve, the Brits got a live high definition New Years Eve concert from London as the band kicked off the European leg of their tour. Its a long way from his Bohemian Rhapsody Idol audition. Get out your loudest headphones. This is an awesome 60 minutes of rock n roll:
Thanks for the link, interesteddad–yup, totally awesome.
I think you’ll chuckle to hear that I had day surgery a few weeks ago, and as I entered the OR, I realized Queen was blasting. I wasn’t put off, I know every surgeon has his musical thing–till I realized I was listening to “Another One Bites the Dust”! I said that this wasn’t the ideal choice of lyric for someone about to get general anaesthesia, and the whole OR staff cracked up. I doubt Freddy ever foresaw this use of his music…
Adam fills in for Keith judging on the show that airs tonight.
I wasn’t too taken with any of the singers I saw last night - I missed the last 15 mins or so. That young 15 year old whose parents were deaf - AWKWARD for the judges - she was not good - why did the producers put her in front of the camera to have the judges have to say “no”? At the same time, I applaud the judges for the decision to stick with “no”.
