<p>3togo, I think the question about how each group of 12 was chosen was a question as to how the 36 were divided into the three groups. I don’t know the answer but I agree that the first group was stacked heavily with strong male contestants.</p>
<p>yes,always…thanks for the clarification…</p>
<p>I watched some Tuesday and some Wednesday. They were all boring except for the Alexis girl, and even she wasn’t THAT great, except by comparison.</p>
<p>After seven seasons, and 80-some finalists, they have produced all of three people with legitimate, stand-alone, sustainable careers, only two of whom are actual winners. (I’m counting Clarkson, Underwood, and Jennifer Hudson.) They can yap all they want about how great the talent pool is. It isn’t.</p>
<p>Part of the problem is the way they are handled in the runup to the win and after they win. They are forced to put out the always terrible American Idol song and then they go on tour singing Neil Diamond songs. That is always my complaint with AI. These kids are forced to sing stuff that is not marketable today. Does it cost too much to get the rights to popular music? I don’t know any college aged kids who are really into music who watch American Idol. My D has no interest in hearing covers of Whitney Houston, Barbara Streisand and Stevie Wonder. I would enjoy a singer/songwriter contest more.</p>
<p>“After seven seasons, and 80-some finalists, they have produced all of three people with legitimate, stand-alone, sustainable careers, only two of whom are actual winners. (I’m counting Clarkson, Underwood, and Jennifer Hudson.) They can yap all they want about how great the talent pool is. It isn’t.”</p>
<p>But you need to remember that American Idol is not really all about talent. It is about the AI brand. There have been many talented people on the show that have gone on to do well besides the ones you mention. Several have gone to Broadway (as Simon use to suggest alot!). Chris Daughtry has been very successful as have Kelly Pickler and Bucky Covington on the country side.</p>
<p>We love American Idol in our house. Our oldest D is a singer and musical theatre performer so she always roots for the people like her that try for idol. I agree with someone that said earlier that AI needs to make sure these contestants learn to sing correctly and take care of their vocal health. </p>
<p>We have seen the show in person twice and hope we will get offered tickets to a taping again this season!</p>
<p>I wasn’t crazy about anyone tonight - very disappointing. The one young girl who looks like Kelly Clarkson was good, but she did too much screaming for me. It would seem that the contestants from the other nights would encourage their fans to vote for the worst.</p>
<p>I thought it was terrible! Out of the girls–I suppose the 16 year old red head should go through. For the guys–I guess the guy with the eyeliner should go through. I thought everyone picked bad songs to sing.</p>
<p>I though at least four or five were great. The best was Adam Lambert, number 12. I also liked the red head 16 year old. Although the judges did not like Kia Kalama, his voice was excellent. He sounded great singing What Becomes of a Broken Hearted.</p>
<p>I’m sure Lambert will go through. He is still way too musical theate(ry). His outfit was channeling Tom Jones tonight. I think if a stylist and a vocal coach get to him and he takes the advice, he’ll do better. I saw a clip of him doing a Cher song - he has to stay away from that stuff or he’ll be on the drag queen slippery slope.</p>
<p>I went on YouTube and did a search for “Adam Lambert”. Lambert is no amature. He has performed many times and he is very good. I am willing to bet he wins it all.</p>
<p>I disagree that Adam is ‘too musical theatre-y’. 
Neither his look, nor his voice, at least tonight, resembled anything close to musical theatre. Clay Aiken was musical theatre-y, Katharine McPhee was musical theatre-y. Although Adam is a professional actor, and has performed in musical theatre for 15+ years, the style he’s portraying now has nothing to do with theatre. What IS a result of his theatre experience is his excellent performance skills and his very good vocal range. I’ve never understood why the judges often criticize a contestant by claiming they’re too theatre-y. Some of the best contestants ever on AI have had great success in theatre, either before the show or after the show or both:
Frenchie Davis, Clay Aiken, Jennifer Hudson, Katharine McPhee, Adam Tveit, Constantine Maroulis, Diana DeGarmo, Tamyra Gray, Josh Strickland, Lakisha Jones, Ruben. Others, who I was less enamored with, also have had success in theatre - Fantasia, Anthony Federov, Ace Young, Taylor Hicks. I think that a lot of people make the mistake of thinking that musical theatre performers cannot cross over into pop music. Many theatre actors are singer/songwriters first and foremost, and many spend much of their free time working on and performing their own music. This is very common.</p>
<p>razorsharp, I’m not sure who said that Adam was an amateur. He’s certainly not and being an amateur is not a requirement for being on AI.</p>
<p>I’ll just have to disagree about Adam - that performance of Satisfaction was all theater or cabaret to me - every movement, every glance, every gaze looked choreographed to within an inch of its life. He looked like he was playing a part rather than singing. It could have come right out of “Ten Commandments the Musical.” In fact, I think it was very similar to “Is Anybody Listening” down to the last money note.</p>
<p>Wanted to add that I’m not saying he’s not mad talented - has an incredible range and very disciplined voice. I would like to see him more raw - not as “arranged.”</p>
<p>cartera45, if you don’t like Adam Lambert, who are your top 4 or 5 out of the 24 so far?</p>
<p>It looks to me like the producers of American Idol put the best talent towards the back of the program.</p>
<p>I actually like what Lambert does - I like his campy, over the top stuff and his ballads that are just a touch too earnest. He’s a great showman. I’ve been a you tube fan of his for some time. He just doesn’t represent American Idol to me. In fact, I think he is much too multi talented to settle for American Idol. The shame to me is that he’s not successful doing what he does. Katherine McPhee, Constantine or Clay Aiken didn’t do it for me either. American Idol for me is more Daughtry, Kelly Clarkson and obviously the country star whose name I can’t even remember because I don’t listen to country music. </p>
<p>So far, this year, I can’t envision anyone so far being a commercial success with albums, touring, etc. However, they have a long way to go. I liked Bratty last week. I hope I like the third group more.</p>
<p>Carrie Underwood. I have trouble looking at Adam Lambert but he’s immensely talented. He’s about the only one who got me to look up from the computer and newspaper and actually watch, besides the 16 year old red headed rocker who was decent. The rest I thought were either weak or off key, or both, a few were pretty bad. If he’s too musical theater-y, that can be changed, as can his look. Great voice and he can sing a song. I hope the next group is better.</p>
<p>Dh messed up taping the show so I didn’t see all the performances, but hands-down the 16yo was the best. Though she went from way-quiet to screaming too quickly, she’s the one singer from last night I replayed and listened to again. </p>
<p>While Adam Lambert is talented vocally he comes across as gimmicky. Just because you “look” edgy doesn’t mean you are. I kept thinking I was seeing the young Elvis up there with the black leather and too-dark hair.</p>
<p>I found that Kris kid engaging and his singing improved as her went on. I like Kai, too, though his song didn’t showcase his voice.</p>
<p>This season, overall, has stunk, however.</p>
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<p>Cartera, I did, too. I think he’s been my favorite of all the singers who have performed so far. I’m hoping he’s a wildcard pick.</p>
<p>The 16 year old will need some coaching about being able to speak in front of a camera. I’m sure it’s daunting but I was put off by her awkwardness. I know, I know…she’s 16. That’s why she needs help.</p>
<p>I’ve been pretty disappointed this year by the first 2 groups in the top 36. It seems that by the time they are at that point in the competition, they should be doing better than the early audition rounds. </p>
<p>It amazes me how many from both groups 1 & 2 chose the wrong songs to showcase their particular talents. And H & I both felt that most of Group 2 had too many instances of singing off-key. H doesn’t watch the show much and commented to me that he would have expected the 36 left out of thousands auditioned would be much, much better. Guess I can’t convince him to watch the final 12 with me next week!</p>
<p>I have completely lost interest in the “results” shows. I’ve never liked them very much, but this year, I just check online before I go to bed rather than sit through it. This may be the last year I invest so much time in watching AI. (which is probably a good thing–I need to get a life!)</p>
<p>Chiming in to say that I thought Adam’s singing and performance were amazing. I also don’t get the whole “too music theater-y” thing. As alwaysamom says above, the people who come to AI out of musical theater are often the best of all. His performance was polished and his vocals were, in my opinion, the cream of the crop last night. He knows what he is doing and that paid off.</p>