Unbiased Reviews by Real People
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Unbiased Reviews by Real People
American Idol Season 6: PreviewMar 11, 2007 Write an essay on this topic.
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The Bottom Line Who has the best odds to win American Idol Season 6?
In January, I wrote an American Idol Season 6 Prediction post. That piece had silly predictions such as: - Jennifer Hudson will come back in mid-season and sing her Dreamgirls hit "And I'm Telling You I'm Not Going" and after Paula cries crocodile tears and Randy throws his fist in the air like Arsenio, Simon will claim that it was too Broadway for him. - There will be a sign in the audience that says, "$1000 reward for information on Vonzell's lost career". - Someone will sue Neil Sedaka after they take his coined term "ear delcious" literally. That man will be Mike Tyson. A note to young bloggers: Don't fall in love with your material. When you start reposting material, it's a sign of jumping the shark. I mean, at the end of American Idol Season 4, I quoted a New Edition song questioning "Is This The End" and wondered if I'd ever recap American Idol ever again. And then at the beginning of Season 5, when I got my mojo back, I simply said, "I'm back." This blog jumped the shark many a moons ago. (For those reading this on Epinions, this is the fifth year that I've been writing American Idol recaps. I write them on my web log, but I decided to also post them here this year as well.) This time, I'm writing a Season 6 preview before the whole she-bang (she bangs, she bangs like William Hung?) starts. This season is probably going to be the most interesting season yet. The reason? Well, for one, there's no leader of the pack. Everyone has holes in their game. It's not going to be like in Season 3, when Fantasia was pretty much given the title early on or in Season 4 when Simon told Carrie Underwood that she'd outsell all the Idol winners. There are two women who can just sing their jean stuffings off. Melinda Doolittle and Lakisha Jones are head and shoulders above the rest vocally. They also seemingly choose songs that fit their voices perfectly. And as much as Simon, Paula, and Randall like to say that it's a singing competition, there are a couple of other things involved in this contest. First off, it's a popularity contest based on how members do from week to week. People get saved like Sanjaya Malakar, the young 17 year old who smiles harder than anyone in Idol history and has been saved from elimination three times from what seems to be a very young fan base. (Both the Luchadors like him.) Secondly, some folks just can't take criticism. What separated Alaina Alexander from Haley Scarnato? Not much, except every time one of the judges mentioned something negative about her performance, she did her best Kanye West authentic, "how dare you?" face and seemed like she wanted to punch Simon in his pecs. The fans don't like that unless the criticism is really not justified. Lastly, it's about the look. If you look cute in your dress, or you look snappy in your blazer, jeans, and white kicks (someone needs to tell Justin Timberlake to outlaw that look by the way), people are going to fall in love with you. And those people will also call their way and text their way to your safety. Just make sure you accept their myspace friend requests. Because of all the parity in this top twelve, it's really hard to pick a winner. The two women I mentioned above who have the best voices could possibly just skate their way to the finals. But I don't think it's going to be that easy. For Melinda, she almost sounds too professional and could create a slight backlash just by being so loved by the judges. Lakisha has a more raw and uncut sound to her voice. But they also aren't the prototypical looking pop singers. It shouldn't mean anything in a singing competition, but as I stated above, it's much more than just that. Brandon Rogers has a similar professional quality to him, but he's very vanilla when it comes to personality and almost too cool for his own good. Chris Richardson who sounds like a Justin Timberlake knockoff, has the personality to go a long way and he sings songs that aren't 20 years old. I think that after 5 seasons, some songs have been performed so many times that you simply tune them out. Even though every time Richardson touches the mic, you hear JT, I'd be surprised if he didn't make it to the top 5. The youngest female, Jordin Sparks has a positivity to her that's contagious. She's very easy to root for and she has a big voice, but sometimes she can't control it. It's probably not her year to win the competition, but she's definitely going to get a record deal out of this. They all do anyway don't they? Chris Sleigh doesn't look like you'd expect an American Idol to, but he sure sounds like it. Much like Jordin, he's easy to root for, has a likability to him, and comes across as the underdog. And everyone loves the underdog. He's a good dark horse candidate to win this thing. Stephanie Edwards has shown that she can mimic some great singers. Two weeks ago when she performed Beyonce's Dangerously In Love I thought Beyonce was actually on stage before I looked up from what I was doing. And last week it kind of came back to bite her as she simply did a great karaoke impersonation of Chaka Khan. Does she have her own voice? If she can find it, she has a chance, but I think she's no higher than fourth best out of the females. Phil Stacey started off strongly, but he doesn't have much personality in his voice and after last week's "I can't believe I made it" face, I'm not so sure he even thinks he belongs. I'm not sure where he fits, but I wouldn't expect him to sing himself into the top 4. Gina Glocksen is the one singer on the female side that stands out based on her look and the type of music she performs. Melinda, Lakisha, Stephanie, and Jordin are all R&B heavy and Gina plays this year's Chris Daughtry as the singer who immediately is original because of song choice. If I were her, I'd stick with her sound, much like Daughtry did last year rather than try to sing something that would be a weakness rather than a strength, just because she thinks she needs show versatility. She'd be my second dark horse candidate. Of course, we have the two folks who are simply in over their heads. Haley was extremely lucky to get where she's at and she's probably the first girl voted off. And as for Sanjaya, what can you say? The only thing that would've taken heat off of him is if Antonella Barba found her way in the final 12. Now, the bullseye is on him. But he's still waitin' for the world to change. (By the way, there are two major differences in the Antonella situation and the Frenchie Davis situation. First, Frenchie was paid to pose for pictures on a website. Antonella simply had wannabe sexy pictures leaked to the Internet. Secondly, back in Season 2, American Idol was probably not in the driver's seat to take the chance at turning away advertisers who would be scared off being linked to the show if she was on it. Now? They call all the shots. Tell Rosie O'Donnell to find something else to bring attention to herself.) So who do I think is going to win? That would be none other than Blake Lewis. Like I said, it's really anyone's crown to take. But what I like about Blake is that he's creative enough to incorporate the beat boxing and has the voice to back it up. In the past, anytime someone has tried to incorporate any hip hop into the show, they were immediately ushered off the stage and told that it was a singing competition. But early on in the auditions when he and his group performed the Bee Gees' How Deep Is Your Love and he got the beat boxing over to the judges, he was home free to use it. The other thing that Lewis does is he sings songs that young people listen to. Eventually, he'll have to sing something that will be hard to be creative with, but I wouldn't put it past him. He'll most likely struggle at times, but he's an entertaining person and I would guess has a large fan base already. Starting Tuesday night (Wednesday morning at times), I'm going to start posting recaps of the show with a special guest. This Tuesday? I'll be watching it with the Luchadors. They are ready to go and if you think Simon is tough, just wait for the Luchadors.  |
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