Idol Love Hurts

From AmericanIdol.com

Up until right now, I wasn't sure I even wanted to keep watching American Idol this season.

This isn't a Casey Abrams thing. Well, if I'm being honest, I should say it's not just a Casey Abrams thing. I didn't expect him to win and I figured he'd be lucky to make Top 5, so I'm not mad about his ouster. (Not too mad anyway.) But now that he's gone, I came to a realization. He was the most interesting thing about this year.

Without Casey, I'm left listening to five people that I don't care about at all. In fact, I actively dislike most of them.

Plus, there's the increasingly ridiculous themes. Now and Then? What does that even mean? It's like there's no point to them anymore.  If they'd let me pick the themes, I think I could do a better job.  In fact, I know I could.

But, clearly, no one listens to me.

Anyway, I was almost not going to watch - I'd even started watching The Voice to have something new - but then I thought, there's only 4 more weeks and I've lived through it to this point. I might as well finish it.

Besides, Sheryl Crowe....who doesn't love her? No, really.

James Durbin: Closer To The Edge, Thirty Seconds to Mars - Nothing will make me like this kid. I just don't get all the judges' praise.  That whole thing sounded like a total off key screamy mess to me.

Jacob Lusk:  No Air, Jordin Sparks and Chris Brown - Maybe my ears are off tonight, cause see above about off key screamy messes.  I'm just really over Jacob. He's continually letting his pompous show and it's not pretty.

OK, JLo, let's have a little chat. You can't tell them that they need to just sing the type of songs that they want to record, when you make them follow stupid theme weeks. Cause I don't think he's gonna find a Jordin Sparks song from the 60's for his next foray this evening.

Lauren Alaina: Flat on the Floor, Carrie Underwood - What's scary to me is that so far two of these kids have chosen songs from previous Idol winners, songs that wouldn't have existed without Idol in the first place. Like life imitating art. Or something. In any case, that was more like the Lauren from the beginning, but I still don't like her. Like my husband said, she's just what the world needs, another blond female country singer.

Scotty McCreery:  My husband and I were talking while they announced the song Scotty was singing so I missed it. I don't care enough to back up the DVR to find out. It's some country song. No surprise there. This one is a bit more upbeat than usual, but it's still a country thing.  The two tiny 12 yr old blond backup singers were a bit distracting.

Haley Reinhart: You and I, Lady Gaga - So this isn't the Eddie Rabbitt/Crystal Gayle song. No, it's not. And it's usually a bad idea to do a song that people don't know. But, actually, that wasn't bad, although she still has this weird accent sometimes that I don't get. I disagree with the judges though, cause I honestly thought she was the best so far tonight.

So we're halfway done....thankfully.

James Durbin: Without You, Harry Nilsson - This is a Badfinger song.  Harry Nilsson just covered it.  But none of these kids was alive for either one, so I guess it doesn't really matter. I was so busy proving that I was right about that, that I kinda missed his singing, but I think I hated it. Can I say right now that I'm sick and tired of this kid?? He's so weepy and whiny. If you want to be with your family, quit. Otherwise, shut up and stop trying to get my sympathy vote. I have no sympathy for you.

Jacob Lusk:  Love Hurts, Nazareth -  Now that was more like the Jacob we first came to know. But it's like too little too late, if you ask me.  Also, I'm sitting here and watching Jimmy Iovine and Sheryl Crowe tell Jacob to do exactly the opposite of what the judges have been saying. They're telling these kids to take risks and the judges are saying find your lane and stay in it. No wonder they love Scotty so much. He's never even put on his turn signal once this season.

Lauren Alaina: Unchained Melody, The Righteous Brothers - My husband said she looks like a Dairy Queen sundae or I Dream of Jeannie.  This song was OK for her, but she didn't really do anything with it or bring anything new to it. Except the little twang and I could have done without that.  Sorry, I'm just not ever going to like her.

Scotty McCreery: Always on my Mind, Elvis Presley - This was originally a Brenda Lee song and I'll bet more people think of it as belonging Willie Nelson than Elvis. But again, I'm nitpicking. Well, I have to have something to do while I'm trying to not listen to the singing. You know what? I didn't hate that. Maybe cause the Willie version came out the year I graduated from high school and since this version closely resembles that version, it makes me remember happy times. You know, when I was young and stupid.

Haley Reinhart: House of the Rising Sun, The Animals - Wow, I almost even liked that. I was especially pleased that she chose to not change the word "boy," cause I hate when they do that.

OK, Haley was clearly the best tonight, but the worst is a little harder to judge, since I pretty much hated the other four. Well, maybe I didn't hate Scotty as much as usual.

So that would make my bottom three Jacob, James and Lauren. I'd like to think Lauren is going home.

Will We Still Love Them Tomorrow?

I don't have to try to remember the kids names tonight on American Idol. Ryan just lined them all up (hopefully in singing order) and named them off for me. Thanks, Ry. Although, to be honest, I probably would have been able to name them myself since there are only six left and I've been watching them sing since January.

OK, now I'm confused, this week is Carole King and Babyface week? How does that work? And why?

So now, on to the singing.....

Jacob Lusk: Oh No, Not My Baby - I don't think I know this song and I've been alive for a long time. How does Jacob know this song? I said I was going to try to pay more attention to what else was happening on the show tonight, and not just listen. But then I took a look at Jacob's outfit. Now I remember why I don't pay attention. I found it all so distracting, the yellow shirt and the blue vest and the purple bow tie and the plaid jacket and what all, that I have no idea what he sounded like. I don't think I liked it.

Lauren Alaina: Where You Lead - Is anyone else getting the feeling that we're being had? I don't buy that all the sudden Lauren doesn't know she can sing. One of the things I've hated the most about her is her insufferable precociousness and ego. She's not unsure of herself, they're just trying to get us to like her better. Maybe they just want me to like her better. It's not happening.


This show is getting so completely staged, it's hard to figure out if anything that happens is actually real anymore. For instance, if they didn't want Jimmy Iovine to say that Alaina was a stronger singer than Miley Cyrus, they would have edited it out. They showed it, therefore, they wanted it in there. How stupid do they think we are??

We have a new category this evening: duets. Clearly, they have to use up this hour and half in some way.

Duet No. 1 - Casey Abrams and Haley Reinhart: I Feel The Earth Move - Moanin' was better. But this wasn't terrible. The harmonies were a little weak and the dancing was...well, it just was. I kinda get the feeling that Haley is getting better and Casey is getting worse.

Scotty McCreery: You've Got a Friend - He just proved last week on elimination night that he could sing without the country twang. But this week, he delivers lyrics like "don't you let'em." Sigh. I'm sure his fans will love that, but I still don't get country.

Did JLo just say "for me for you?" I'm sorry, but that's Randy's trademark. You'll have to pay him to use that.

James Durbin: Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow - Um. I kinda sorta think that James just had a moment there. Probably one of the only real moments we've had all of this season. For the very first time, ever, I liked James. If I was making the choices, I'd have had him dial back a little on some of the screams, but I  guess those are what make it his own, which is the whole point.

Duet No. 2 - Scotty McCreery and Lauren Alaina: Up On The Roof - Seriously, these two singing together? I never would have thought of that, but now that you pointed it out, they seem to go well together. Can they please sing a country song??  Maybe they could be in the Top 2. OK, that was just seriously dull. I think I actually fell asleep.

Casey Abrams: Hi De Ho - OK, Casey does not have the strongest vocals. I think we can all agree on that. But he seriously has something. He's a show man; he just makes it fun and interesting. He entertains. I might even pay to see him. Maybe.

Haley Reinhart: Beautiful - The arrangement of this song was a little weird for me. If I've heard it before, I didn't recognize it from that rendition. Haley was much stronger on the chorus than she was on the verses, and she was better on the duet song than this song, but even so this was still one of the best of the night.

Duet No. 3 - Jacob Lusk and James Durbin: I'm Into Something Good - Sadly for Jacob and James, they are the two left over and are now forced to sing together. That was almost cute. I guess they did take it to church.

My bottom three is Jacob, Alaina and Scotty. I doubt America agrees with me.  But they should.

Casey Abrams, A Little More Equal Than Other Men

Songs of the 21st century. American Idol's way of making me detest this season even more than I thought possible. I also heard that the mentor is Bruce Springsteen. Well, that makes a kind of sense that's NOT. Of course, when you stop to think about it, this whole season has made little to no sense, starting with the judges, who have made themselves completely irrelevant. Don't even get me started about Jimmy Iovine.

It actually makes me wonder, if they just left the stand in judges in place for the live show, would anyone even notice?

Um....someone please tell me, what's the point of forcing us to watch all these people that we already voted off the show singing? I mean, we've basically said we don't like them, right? Oh, Idol, why do you insist on wasting my time each and every week with all this silly randomness.  If you want us to see a performance we'd enjoy, why not get Aerosmith? Not only are they more relevant to the 21st century than Bruce Springsteen, they're also actual rock stars.

OK, on to the singing competition part of this singing competition.....

Scotty McCreery: Swingin', Leann Rimes - Oh, look Scotty singing a country song. That's the way to change it up, buddy. No one can get complacent about you now. I just can't say anything about this. I hate it, like I hate all country music and have now come to hate little Scotty.

On a positive note, for the first time this season, I remembered everyone's name without having to look them up.

James Durbin: Uprising, Muse - I had to rewind and listen to his package about five times to figure out what song he was singing. I just kept missing it cause I'm dog sitting for a friend and Missy wanted my attention for some reason. Maybe she doesn't like James either. So, he was energetic, but just because you can scream in a high pitch, that doesn't mean you're a good singer. James does not have good vocals and no amount of screaming will make it so.

Just for comparison, I watched some vids of Aerosmith singing Dream On, from the 70's through 2005. It was always awesome and the screams were interestingly on key.

Haley Reinhart: Rolling in the Deep, Adele - How come Casey didn't give his opinion of Haley, I wonder. As I could have predicted, I haven't recognized one song yet. (I've never even heard of Adele, but don't tell anyone.) That's not always an issue, if the songs are good and they do a good job with them. But to be honest, I'm not sure what I thought of that. It was a little boring.

Oh, sorry, according to JLo, everybody is supposed to know all these songs really well. I guess I'm nobody.

Jacob Lusk: Dance With My Father, Luther Vandross - Jacob kinda lucked out that Luther had a hit in this century, especially one that allowed him to call on the dear Lord. But since I'm being so honest tonight, I just wasn't feeling that. Plus, it didn't make Randy jump up and down, but I would have thought that was a good thing.

Uh....there was a problem with the track? This isn't live music? What am I missing here?

Casey Abrams: Harder to Breathe, Maroon 5 - Casey has flames tonight, so the Idol PTB clearly like him. But so do I. I do like him, too. Another plus, I recognized the song.  But Casey took it to a Casey place, which is exactly what should be happening to every song every week. I'm not saying he has the strongest vocals, cause he clearly doesn't, but he has something else. He makes the songs over into his own version, plus he's interesting and you just don't know what he's going to do next.

But someone please tell me, why does this show always go so completely off the rails whenever Casey sings? Even Ryan seems to have lost his mind.

Of course, suddenly it hits me as to why there's been so much bleeping out of inappropriate language this year. Steven Tyler. I don't know why that didn't occur to me sooner.

Stefano Langone: Closer, Ne-Yo - I  have heard this song before, so that makes three in a row that I actually knew. Sort of. The thing is, there were more background vocals than lead vocal. That's not really a good thing. And when he did sing, it sounded a little nasally to me. As usual, the judges are telling him how amazing he sounded. Why can't they see that when they tell everyone that they sound awesome, it makes no one awesome? Sigh.

Lauren Alaina: Born to Fly, Sara Evans - Once again, she hits all the notes and she's definitely adequate. But I don't get all the hype. Maybe she'll surprise me one week, but I'm not holding my breath.


Before giving my opinion, can I just say that I actually listed these kids in the order they sang. I did! I listed them and they sang in the order I had them listed. How does that even happen?

My B3 is everyone who isn't Casey. But that probably won't happen.

It's probably going to be Stefano, Jacob and Haley. Although I do worry about Casey.

Especially cause I think Vote for the Worst may have chosen Jacob now that Paul McDonald is out of the running. That could skew the vote this week in a bad way.

But seriously if I was picking, Lauren, James and Scotty would be in there, too.

Casey Abrams is on Twitter...And So Are Those Other People

I just started thinking about popularity and how it relates to Twitter. 


So last night, after American Idol, I went to look at the twitter pages of the top 8.  But what I found out is that the amount of followers an Idol has on Twitter has nothing to do with how many votes they get. 


Clearly.

Here's the list of the Top 8 in order of followers:

Scotty McCreery - @SMcCreeryAI10  86,346 Followers
Casey Abrams - @CAbramsAI10 79,792 Followers
Paul McDonald - @PMcDonaldAI10  71,846 Followers

Lauren Alaina - @LAlainaAI10 68,527 Followers

James Durbin - @JDurbinAI10 58,898 Followers

Stefano Langone - @SLangoneAI10 53,300 Followers

Haley Reinhart - @HReinhartAI10   43,222 Followers

Jacob Lusk - @JLuskAI10 32,981 Followers

I also checked my blog stats last night and found out that other than my posts about bats and rabies, the ones with Casey's name in the title got the most page views.  Hence the post title.

Hey....maybe my next blog title should be "Casey Abrams Doesn't Have Rabies."