Simon Cowell, the bloody awful teenage rebel: an American Idol 6 thread

There's supposed to be some sort of "shakeup" midway through the season...perhaps it has to do with the finale songs, which there might be some sort of competition to write. Anything to make them less crappy, I guess.

Not much other specific buzz about the season, except that X-Factor winner Leona Lewis will perform, and Beatles night! I've heard rumors of Paul McCartney being a guest judge/coach since season 2, but with or without him they'll be singing his tunes.

•The possible Beatles-themed week. For the first time, Idol has permission to use parts of the famed songbook of The Beatles, executive producer Ken Warwick says. "We've got the permission" from Sony, which owns the publishing rights, Warwick says. Certain songs are still off limits, but "they said, 'Tell us what songs you want and we will do our best.' "

A couple of Beatles songs have been performed on Idol, he says, but the show has never had access to enough for a themed week.

There are "enough songs certainly to get a decent show out of it, and maybe it will be the first show of the top 12" finalists, says Warwick.

Ideally, the week's mentor would be Paul McCartney or Beatles producer George Martin, Warwick says, but no such plans are in place yet.

•An online competition to write the first song for the next Idol. "It's in the very final stages of being put in place," says Martha Brass, executive vice president of 19 Entertainment, a producer of the show.

Cecile Frot-Coutaz, CEO of Idol producer FremantleMedia North America, says she thinks the contest will happen, but details still need to be worked out. Brass is more assertive: "There's no question about it happening."

The contest, the idea of Idol creator Simon Fuller, would call for a contestant to write and produce a song and then upload it to a website.

A group of experts, including Fuller, would choose a small number of the offerings, perhaps 100 at most, that fans could listen to and vote for online, Brass says.

During the season, Idol would like to hold a special in which former Idol singers would perform 10 or so of the fan favorites, with viewers then voting to pick songs for the two Idol finalists, she says.

•An April special. "When we get down to the final six (singers), we're going to have a big special, with lots of stars. It might be an extra day" during that week, Warwick says.

I would LOVE to know what that means.

Together, We Write Lyrics For An Album!

http://image.excite.co.jp/jp/music/jacket/4988/0370/m/4988037005495_m.jpg
vs.
http://www.sonymusicstore.com/coverimages/SME_0101_CK_069384.70Q_200x200_72dpi_RGB.jpg

Band : ILM
Album : Because Fire Led To Walking Fish Decals
Track 8 : Fantastic Vinegar
(m0stly clean , Binjominia , mark grout)

Verse 1:

I thought it was wine, but a taste told me different
A taste unexpected but a taste not malignant,
It reminded me of you, both sour and sinister,
and I thought of you as a fantastic vinegar.

Verse 2:

He poured out a little and I said "sir, fill it up"
and I swigged it right down and I brought it right up
all the memories I felt as they all stared right at me
so I said "Not the right one, but hey its good for me"

Chorus:

Exquisite vinegar, fantastic ham,
The pickles were simply divine,
I shouldn't have said all those things to your daughter,
I feel you should know that the other small matter,
Resulted in quite a large fine,

And had I known that pompous old twat was your boss,
I would have puked in a different direction,
And I sincerely regret that the rest of your guests,
were unimpressed by the sight,
of the majestic might,
of my quivering, throbbing erection,

The pastries were simply perfection,

Navy dude wasn't that great!

I am anticipating the dude who pitches a hissy while holding the hippie sticks.

"I think people will like you" = I find you attractive.

According to a YouTube vid I saw of waiting room footage, every Minneapolis contestant had to perform "Kiss" with their own song, so "Kiss" was on repeat over the PA for everyone while they were waiting. So it's quite possible that tie-girl had no intention of auditioning with Kiss and had to memorize the lyrics right before. Not that it makes her audition any less awe-inspiring.

Tomorrow: Seattle! Boasting such talent as AJ Gil (Tacoma, but whatever), Leah LaBelle and Matt Rogers. Be prepared for some jokes about the inclement weather...it rains here sometimes.

I went dyslexic for a second and thought that said Ali G, damn.
Rocker guy running all over trying to learn Dancing Queen was pretty funny.

He found the progressively terrible country singer/Navy guy attractive?

Was that juggling kid really faking it? His mother looked pretty horrified by it all.

I started guessing, when they were setting people up with minor bio moments, if they were going to be good, or terrible. I was usually wrong.

The judges can't possibly hear ALL 10,000 auditions, can they? They've gotta have a posse that filters a lot of folks out.

i missed it last night and forgot to set the vcr.

There are other panels of judges (presumably less charismatic and 'qualified') that listen to some other singers (who are, presumably, less charismatic).
Also, I believe that there are Idol people who screen auditionees. So, not everyone ends up auditioning (I think).

btw, finale performance spoilers.

Okay so basically the top 6 guys should form a vocal ensemble and stop trying to be soloists. Also, why didn't Chris R sing like that while he was still on the show???????

HI DERE OTM. That was shockingly good.

Also, why didn't Chris R sing like that while he was still on the show???????

I think this applies to every male contestant.

Blake and Doug E. Fresh doing "The Show" was the best thing to be on the stage this whole season.

In fairness, Phil did sing like that a lot; he just had no personality to go along with it. Brandon NEVER sounded that good, though! Wow.

Also if Blake had never, ever sung and just done insanely awesome beatbox shit with Doug E. Fresh the whole competition I would have been much more positive about him. (Also if he hadn't ridden 311's jock into the finals.)

Brandon was great! What happened to that during the show? And Haley's not the best singer, but she looks more comfortable/loose on stage then all the other girls.

Melinda just knocked it out of the park as well.

I'm not looking at any responses until the show is over in CA, and I wasn't home to see this yesterday BUT I'M GETTING EXCITED.

argh, i thought we would be spared from clive davis' spiel this year.

new, hip songs
new, hip songs
new, hip songs
new, hip songs

AND I LIKED BLAKE (/Doug E. Fresh) TONIGHT!!!! WHOOOHOOO!!! So much better than he's ever been. Like ever. It made all my hate go away.

"working class hero" is sure to get everyone in a good mood!

That surely helped raise awareness for Darfur!

Uh....

70 TRILLION VOTES

WAHOOOOOOOOOO!

Have any of the finales really been competitive? I think season 2 was, but every other finale seems to have been fairly lopsided.

season 5 seemed competitive, but that might've been just my disbelief that Taylor could win making me overlook his obvious popularity.

To me, seasons 2 and 4 were competitive and in seasons 1, 3, 5, and 6 it was obvious who would win going into it. I wonder if the relative margins of victory in said seasons would bear that out.

Actually I didn't watch seasons 1 or 2 this is just my impression of those seasons.

Jordin is definitely the best singer but damn if I wouldn't much rather pay to see Blake live.

I am going to miss you guys :( Only 8 months until American idol 7!

Here's a big fucking mistake: Haley singing one line, Lakisha singing the next.

SNAP

Doug E Fresh is a Scientologist! Oh my God!

Okay, I'm done.

Here's a big fucking mistake: Haley singing one line, Lakisha singing the next.

Poor Haley.

From teenpop thread:

"I saw it. Lots of random performances. Blake beatboxing/performing with Doug E. Fresh was really fun. Former Idols did a tribute to "Sgt. Pepper": Kelly performed "Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" and was amazing, Taylor Hicks did "A Day in the Life" and meh (Brie is better), Carrie did "She's Leaving Home" and I liked it, Ruben b/w the top 12 did "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" and as dabug intimates it was a weird arrangement. Then the entire top 12 did "With a Little Help From My Friends". Kelly's "Never Again" was great.

This is just going off my head: Gwen did her new single and *yawn*, Carrie did "I'll Stand By You" and she was great as ever, Sanjaya reprised "You Really Got Me"...other stuff too but I don't remember! Top 6 guys did a medley of Smokey Robinson that was great, top 6 girls did Gladys Knight.

Jordin won as expected; I'd be surprised if the final vote was even remotely competitive. I remember in season 1 Kelly destroyed Justin 58%-42%, and I bet this season's results looked a lot like that.

Anybody looking forward to any of the Idols' CD's? Have v. low hopes for most of them, but am rather interested to hear what they are gonna do with Blake. Jordin COULD release a great album, but I somehow doubt it. "This Is Me Now" is bad, worse than "A Moment Like This" and "Inside Yr Heaven" but better than the seasons 2, 3, and 5 winners songs (in my opinion)."

See everybody in Season 7.

How about Melinda performing with BeBe and CeCe? Not really my type of music, but I still enjoyed them.

I thought Blake and Jordin's duet on "I Saw Her Standing There" was pretty cute - they had nice chemistry.

I also enjoyed Carrie's rendition of "She's Leaving Home". Could have been really cheesy, but somehow she pulled it off.

Kind of a weird selection of guests. So many old people: Smokey, Gladys, Tony, Bette (Yechh!). And a couple really dull performances from Gwen Steffani and Green Day. Plus Joe Perry for no apparent reason. I would have thought they'd find at least one truly exciting surprise guest.

On the other hand, seeing the former idols was fun.

I posted something about this on Teenpop, I think, but anyway, I found out that several of my friends spent over a week in a cabin with Jordin. One of them has her cell phone number. I plan on begging her for it Tuesday. And another one of my friends was at the same camp (Kanakuk, a Christian camp in Branson, MO), and she asked him to slow dance. JEALOUS.

I'm interviewing Jordin on Friday. Should I make it fun? Or should I ask serious Idol-related questions? I'm leaning towards fun. I'm definitely asking her to prom. :)

Fun, and I pray she will accept your date.

Thanks...me, too (obv). Anyone have any questions for her?

Last chance (I mean, I have enough, but if I have extra time...)

I almost suggested a semi-mean question about whether she likes "This Is My Now," and whether she feels its total failure to chart as high as other Idol debut singles reflects on her or the song, but I thought better of it. I would be interested to know some specifics of what her album is going to sound like, though.

Yep, I know she just worked with Stargate...

I hope they give her a better song than that lousy one Elliott Yamin got.

Sparks had only recorded one song for her album at the time of our interview, but it is a song she thinks will have a big impact on popular music.

“I love my song,” she says. “I keep listening to it and singing it to myself and then I have to remember that I kind of have to keep it a secret until it comes out.”

I somehow doubt she said that bolded part.

Two more hours....AFKLASFHLSDKFJLKSDFJSDKLFJfSDJF

I didn't think I'd get nervous, but...

I'm halfway between :/ and :)

All of a sudden, she had to leave, so I had to ask her the prom question quickly. Her response:

"Awwwww, 0h my gosh. Y’kn0w what? If I can, that w0uld be awesome. But I can’t make any pr0mises. Wait, where are y0u at?
C0lumbia, MO.
Where’s that?
It’s halfw4y between Kansas City and St. L0uis
0k, well if I can! I’m g0ing to keep this number."

hahaha she sounds nice

Yeah, she's the nicest person I've ever interviewed...really funny and cute. So, my first major crush = winner of American Idol

:(

You got the winner of American Idol to agree to go to prom with you if she can make it to your city! Why the hell are you frowny-facing????

What's the probability of her remembering? I mean, if she doesn't call within the next couple days, I can pretty much forget about it, right?

This would be like next spring's prom, right? My guess is it'll all depend on how busy/successful she is with her LP by then.

Yeah, I'm just wondering if she'll actually remember that some guy in Columbia, M0 asked her to prom ten months prior.

In the case that you don't like to read threads about 14-year-old girls (ooooh! sorry guys, jk x 1000), I thought I'd give a quick update.

The idols are performing tomorrow. I'm going to meet J0rdin at an hourlong press conference. I had Kinko's laminate the front cover/article, and I made her a mix CD. I plan on giving these to her at the press conference, along with contact info and a nice note. I'm also going to the concert and am writing a piece about my whole experience. I'll let ilx know how it goes, k?

I'll paypal you a hundo if you make it past second base.

So, as it turned out, I was the only punctual press guy. I sat around the press area for fifteen minutes. About ten minutes after I arrived, Melinda walked out, and right away, people started begging for photos...At the time, I was worried that I was in the wrong place, so I started to ask her if she knew where the Q&A was, but she was too busy walking away from the rabid fans.

So, then, some lady with a camera came up to the line. Soon after, the State Fair's PR lady showed up. She asked me if I could name the AI winner...Then she asked me about second place. Then third. I ended up giving her all the names and their (correct) places. I felt like a loser, esp. when I realized that I could also name the top 24. So, after that, they took me and one other girl back to a tent. There were already chairs set up, and the AI press lady quickly went over the rules. Basically, we were to conduct a series of ~7 minute one-on-one Q&A sessions with five different idols...no autographs.

I guess a few more press people showed up during the session, because it reached a point where all idols were talking with someone. Phil came up to me first...Prior to the Q&A, I knew that there were going to be five idols, but I only heard four names (Jordin, Melinda, Chris S. and Sanjaya). So, I was a bit flustered, and it didn't help that he was a bit boring. That Q&A went pretty well, despite me not being prepared. Then Melinda sat down next to me. Next to Jordin, she was probably the nicest. I told her about the Dap-Kings, since she hadn't heard of them. The rest of the interview went pretty well...She was pretty funny and laid back.

Then Chris Sligh sat down. Awkward interview. Then Jordin. I started out: "Hi, my name's Chris...We already--" "OH MY GOSH! You're Chris?!?! OH MY GOSH! It's so nice to meet you!" etc.

Then I ruined everything by asking a few straightforward questions (in retrospect, I should have just had fun and had a normal conversation with her). I gave her the article/front cover. She seemed really excited to have it. Sanjaya came over and peaked at the story. They started talking about it, but the AI PR lady came over and told Jordin to move on (though she said something about how it was sweet of me...she somehow knew who i was???). Then I interviewed Sanjaya. It was pretty interesting...It sounds like that Gwen Stefan1 rumor (the one I posted way upthread) is actually true. He left.

I waited for Jordin to finish. While waiting, the AI PR lady came over. We chatted. She was very nice, and she thanked me for being on time. Jordin's interview ended. I went up to her and gave her the cd. "I hope you like this...It's a bunch of my favorite pop songs." "AWWWW. That's so sweet. I know I'll find a new favorite band on here." Then we hugged, and I left with the rest of the press people.

I put all my contact info on the tracklisting. I hope she calls me back. I really, really do like her a lot. She's sweet, funny and genuine. I don't know if she really likes me. I'm afraid I was too stiff. I don't think I was very charismatic at all, which is a shame, as I'm generally much more lively and memorable.

Then I wandered around trying to spot Jordin again. I saw her once, but everyone was trying to get her attention, and I didn't want to be one of those people...

I ate an overpriced piece of pizza and met my brother and sister. We entered the stadium and quickly found our seats. I really enjoyed the concert (even though I was surrounded by huge, sweaty people). With the exception of Haley and Sanjaya, everyone sounded great. I was particularly impressed with Jordin, Gina, Melinda and Lakisha. Blake and Chris R. were much more enjoyable live, too. We left after the first encore (my siblings wanted to get out before traffic was bad). So, we got home around midnight.

But now the whole thing is over. I'm afraid she'll never contact me. And summer ends tomorrow. And the more I think about yesterday, the more depressed I get. All these idols are living their dreams. Meanwhile, I'm sitting at home, stuck in a terrible high school with a family that doesn't support my dreams. :( x 1000

pre-order now!

http://www.amazon.com/Chicken-Soup-American-Idol-Soul/dp/0757306454

Hey ILXors, I am now a starving grad student and am doing a project on the show that is the subject of this thread. The research involves doing a survey, and doing a survey involves getting people to take your survey, which is why I am posting here. So if you would like to help me not fail my research methods class, you could take my survey. Here is the link:

American Idol survey

Each and every one of you is a peach.

What is your age?

17 or under
18-21
22-24
25-27
28-30
31 and above

;_;

Random specificity makes you seem more academic!

done and done.

I became a little sad when I truthfully answered the question about how many times you vote for one contestant during an episode.

SUNDANCE HEAD

I couldn't figure out if my life would be happier without politics or not... :O

Also:

SUNDANCE HEAD

I seriously was thinking about reviving this thread today because I really wanted to remind the world: SUNDANCE HEAD.

lol sanjaya