Son of Simon
04-27-2006, 09:21 AM
Hello Idol faithful,
How is the competition shaping up without America's favorite dumb blonde? Who is surging? Who is waning? Will it be enough to topple the frontrunners?
All of these questions answered...but NOT in this thread! Let's have a look:
Taylor: Taylor is the only person who can boast never being in the bottom three, and should be the target of votefortheworst.com. Despite his die-hard fanbase and stand-out identity, Taylor now finds himself in a competition where he is the least talented vocally. Three of his last four performances were a "gut check" with his fans- he bombed badly during Country, Queen, and Love Songs week, yet had a brilliant performance during America's songs week. Maybe it was the shifting of votes between the clear bottom contenders- Ace, Paris, and Kellie that kept him out of trouble, but if he had a wavering fanbase he would have at least hit the bottom three once, as Chris has. My personal opinion is that we've already seen the best Taylor has had to offer, and his latest performances have been pretty bad overall. That said- I feel that the combination of his cult-status fans and votefortheworst.com. will keep "Ray Charles in Jay Leno's body" afloat for some time. Verdict: Gaining votes, but for the wrong reasons.
Chris: I'm almost afraid to talk about my chosen frontrunner Chris. Any bad comments from me and "Fuel Reborn" will continue to get extra lighting, onstage instrumentals, extra help from the background singers, and possibly a hitman in the form of a disgruntled middle-aged housewife to come and run me over with her soccer-friendly minivan. That said- I struggle to not let those factors take away from the fact that Chris has been branching out, but only in the most minimal of ways. Are the producers in the Chris camp so afraid to let him branch out that they are doing things to "distract" us from him? Chris has got the goods, that's for sure, and while he's had some good performances lately, I always seem to take them with mixed reaction, due to my own percieved "favoritism" that is shown our Idol Alpha Male. I still believe he's going to win, but I doubt we'll see much more experimentation from him. Verdict: Still the frontrunner, yet fighting smoke, mirrors, and a little extra lighting to prove he can develop.
Katharine: Here's our challenge-seeker, although she's prone to biting off more than she can chew. With Pickler gone, Katharine stands to make a fortune in the voting from the "sex appeal" crowd and any little girl whose mother hasn't convinced her that Kat is arrogant. Katharine's gathering a decent fanbase, who staunchly ignored the lament of the judges this week and felt she gave a solid performance. She lacks the Pickler-Paris charms, and comes off on stage more like a Ferrari to Paris' Mini-Cooper. While the Cooper is cute and fun and identifiable, the Ferrari is sexy, stylish yet unattainable. America has comes to grips with the fact that Kat isn't your neighbor's sweet daughter that comes to picnics with rhubarb pies and sings, she's more like that girl you chased in high school and never worked up the nerve to ask out on a date. In the end- this will either propel her to the AI title, or kill her off in two weeks. Verdict: Gaining Pickler votes and turning men on all over the country, but remember that Basic Instinct 2 was a flop.
Paris: If you want to sum up the last 4 weeks for Paris it would be- consistency. This author's biggest gripes with Paris earlier in the competition were consistency and song choice, and while I still question most of her song choices, I take no issue with how consistently well she's handled all of the material she's performed. At this stage in the competition Paris stands alone- she's getting the job done on stage and has shown a tremendous amount of poise. Compare that with the offstage crying (which this author feels is way over the top) and I don't have a lot to complain about, and I definitely feel she's earned her place in the top 5. That said, it would appear that the shift in voting has swung against her favor- as post Pickler- Kat becomes our resident eye-candy. Combine this with Taylor and Chris' cult-worshippers and the surging Elliot, and this could spell disaster for Paris.Verdict: Despite consistently high quality performances, she's losing the battle for demographics.
Elliot: Elliot has kept my interest in the show. Sure the kid could use some serious work onstage. Sure he could stand to be more prominent in the "fluff" segments of the show. But the fact of the matter is- this kid is on fire. Lookoing back at the top 12 I would have said Elliot peaks at #10, and he's gone twice as far as I've expected. Plus his vocal ability is finally getting the attention it deserves- while other contestants have either idled or struggled in past weeks, Elliot has upped the ante. He has shown the most significant development of any contestant- he's turn the corner and run wild now. America is starting to read the headlines, and it reads, "This Amish-looking kid can sing, seriously!" Elliot is breaking out and making this a real competition. Give him half of Chris' charm and sex-appeal and this kid would win AI5 hands down. Sadly, it is not to be. Verdict: Cinderella story that strikes midnight soon, but should end in big, wonderful opportunities.
That's a look at our 5. Thanks for reading! :)
How is the competition shaping up without America's favorite dumb blonde? Who is surging? Who is waning? Will it be enough to topple the frontrunners?
All of these questions answered...but NOT in this thread! Let's have a look:
Taylor: Taylor is the only person who can boast never being in the bottom three, and should be the target of votefortheworst.com. Despite his die-hard fanbase and stand-out identity, Taylor now finds himself in a competition where he is the least talented vocally. Three of his last four performances were a "gut check" with his fans- he bombed badly during Country, Queen, and Love Songs week, yet had a brilliant performance during America's songs week. Maybe it was the shifting of votes between the clear bottom contenders- Ace, Paris, and Kellie that kept him out of trouble, but if he had a wavering fanbase he would have at least hit the bottom three once, as Chris has. My personal opinion is that we've already seen the best Taylor has had to offer, and his latest performances have been pretty bad overall. That said- I feel that the combination of his cult-status fans and votefortheworst.com. will keep "Ray Charles in Jay Leno's body" afloat for some time. Verdict: Gaining votes, but for the wrong reasons.
Chris: I'm almost afraid to talk about my chosen frontrunner Chris. Any bad comments from me and "Fuel Reborn" will continue to get extra lighting, onstage instrumentals, extra help from the background singers, and possibly a hitman in the form of a disgruntled middle-aged housewife to come and run me over with her soccer-friendly minivan. That said- I struggle to not let those factors take away from the fact that Chris has been branching out, but only in the most minimal of ways. Are the producers in the Chris camp so afraid to let him branch out that they are doing things to "distract" us from him? Chris has got the goods, that's for sure, and while he's had some good performances lately, I always seem to take them with mixed reaction, due to my own percieved "favoritism" that is shown our Idol Alpha Male. I still believe he's going to win, but I doubt we'll see much more experimentation from him. Verdict: Still the frontrunner, yet fighting smoke, mirrors, and a little extra lighting to prove he can develop.
Katharine: Here's our challenge-seeker, although she's prone to biting off more than she can chew. With Pickler gone, Katharine stands to make a fortune in the voting from the "sex appeal" crowd and any little girl whose mother hasn't convinced her that Kat is arrogant. Katharine's gathering a decent fanbase, who staunchly ignored the lament of the judges this week and felt she gave a solid performance. She lacks the Pickler-Paris charms, and comes off on stage more like a Ferrari to Paris' Mini-Cooper. While the Cooper is cute and fun and identifiable, the Ferrari is sexy, stylish yet unattainable. America has comes to grips with the fact that Kat isn't your neighbor's sweet daughter that comes to picnics with rhubarb pies and sings, she's more like that girl you chased in high school and never worked up the nerve to ask out on a date. In the end- this will either propel her to the AI title, or kill her off in two weeks. Verdict: Gaining Pickler votes and turning men on all over the country, but remember that Basic Instinct 2 was a flop.
Paris: If you want to sum up the last 4 weeks for Paris it would be- consistency. This author's biggest gripes with Paris earlier in the competition were consistency and song choice, and while I still question most of her song choices, I take no issue with how consistently well she's handled all of the material she's performed. At this stage in the competition Paris stands alone- she's getting the job done on stage and has shown a tremendous amount of poise. Compare that with the offstage crying (which this author feels is way over the top) and I don't have a lot to complain about, and I definitely feel she's earned her place in the top 5. That said, it would appear that the shift in voting has swung against her favor- as post Pickler- Kat becomes our resident eye-candy. Combine this with Taylor and Chris' cult-worshippers and the surging Elliot, and this could spell disaster for Paris.Verdict: Despite consistently high quality performances, she's losing the battle for demographics.
Elliot: Elliot has kept my interest in the show. Sure the kid could use some serious work onstage. Sure he could stand to be more prominent in the "fluff" segments of the show. But the fact of the matter is- this kid is on fire. Lookoing back at the top 12 I would have said Elliot peaks at #10, and he's gone twice as far as I've expected. Plus his vocal ability is finally getting the attention it deserves- while other contestants have either idled or struggled in past weeks, Elliot has upped the ante. He has shown the most significant development of any contestant- he's turn the corner and run wild now. America is starting to read the headlines, and it reads, "This Amish-looking kid can sing, seriously!" Elliot is breaking out and making this a real competition. Give him half of Chris' charm and sex-appeal and this kid would win AI5 hands down. Sadly, it is not to be. Verdict: Cinderella story that strikes midnight soon, but should end in big, wonderful opportunities.
That's a look at our 5. Thanks for reading! :)