Comments | alycewilson: Trial by Fire

alycewilson

Trial by Fire

Feb 29, 2012 12:11

The Top 12 (actually, 13) guys for Season 11 performed live on "American Idol," vying for viewer votes. As the show opened, the brand-new stage was aglitter with video screens showing a gold skyline. Shiny.

( Did the Top 13 guys live up to the hype? )

american idol, television, music

Comments 11

talonvaki February 29 2012, 17:43:27 UTC

Not to be nitpicky, but...HeeJun and his mom were speaking Korean, not Chinese :-)

alycewilson February 29 2012, 18:15:23 UTC

Whoops! Sorry about that! I've fixed it. Thanks for catching it.

talonvaki March 1 2012, 20:02:28 UTC

No worries...my husband's Korean (in fact, his Korean name is "Hi-Joon" which is pronounced just like "HeeJun") and I could actually understand what HeeJun and his mom were saying!

teaberryblue February 29 2012, 18:31:58 UTC

I like Reed a lot more than Creighton, so I'm hoping for him to get the "quirky" spot. He just seems like a genuinely friendly guy, and I like his voice better than Creighton's.

I'm hoping for Joshua, Jermaine, Heejun, Jeremy, Phillip, and Colton-- I usually think Colton does a lot better than he did last night; he seemed to be trying too hard. I'm sort of expecting Heejun to get cut even though he's one of my favorites. But I think you're right about Deandre, unfortunately-- I thought his performance was pretty weak.

alycewilson February 29 2012, 18:44:53 UTC

Heejun will be one of the viewer votes; there's a lot of Heejun love in the fan community right now. Although many people admit that he has some growing to do vocally, he is pretty universally loved.

I, too, prefer Reed to Creighton. You'll note I compared him to a Muppet. I like the Muppets. :) He may be a little cheesy, but he's not pretentious like Creighton.

Colton has yet to prove himself to me. I guess that's because, in two seasons, I haven't seen anything from him that made me sit up and say "Wow." If he makes it through, I hope he'll get some good advice from the vocal coaches (because no one is getting anything from the judges).

talonvaki March 1 2012, 20:00:05 UTC

Have you seen the fanblog devoted to HeeJun? Freakin' HeeJun Fans

I syndicated it for LJ: heejunfans (the "Freakin" wouldn't fit)

blackdecember8 February 29 2012, 18:58:09 UTC

im hoping to see phillip, heejun, jermaine, colton and reed but i am expecting to see joshua, jeremy, chase and deandre thrown in there, too somewhere. guess we will see. i just wish the judges would stop gushing because i do believe sometimes what they say influences peoples votes.

alycewilson February 29 2012, 19:19:35 UTC

I didn't even know the girls liked Deandre so much until I heard them all shrieking, but I'm hoping he doesn't replace any of my favorites in the five voted through. With his pretty boy looks and his preference for singing falsetto, he reminds me of Ace Young.

Everyone is all over the judges. As I read from one of the commentators on FoxesOnIdol.com, it's their JOB to judge, and yet they refuse to do it. How does that work, exactly?

blackdecember8 February 29 2012, 21:50:32 UTC

im hoping he doesnt either but i have a feeling a lot of little girlies definitely voted for him.

i dont know! they need to really offer constructive criticism some of the time, especially to the performances that werent really THAT great. EVERYONE didnt have stellar performances last night or even deserve golden tickets.

lawchicky February 29 2012, 20:04:43 UTC

I couldn't wait to read your take on last night's episode. I felt like the judges were WAY over-the-top positive. On the one hand, I do like that they're not bashing contestants as we got used to seeing a few seasons ago with Simon (which had gotten old IMHO), but it seems like they went way too far in the other direction. I remember them being positive last season, but not this much.

I thought Deandre was awful. It was this squeaky off-tune performance which did nothing for me. I like Colton (his rendition of Coldplay in the Hollywood round was excellent) but was disappointed with his song selection.

Honestly, there are so many being cut that I'm very curious as to what the outcome from the voting will be.

alycewilson February 29 2012, 21:04:57 UTC

Like I said earlier this season, I think the judges have gotten into a "group think" or "hive mind" mentality. It's not just that they're afraid to be "mean" to the contestants; they're also reluctant to disagree with each other. They don't need to bash contestants; they just need to provide the sort of notes they were occasionally giving over the audition period, based on their musical knowledge. Otherwise, it's pointless and boring.

If I were rating last night's performances one to 13, I'd have Deandre at the very bottom, with Eben just above him. But Deandre's pretty, and that might be his ticket into the Top 13. We shall see.

You are one of many people who's rooting for Colton, which tells me that he's probably going through. Maybe he'll grow on me. :)