- The girl who sang the Simon "Footprints in the Sand" song, the cute girl who sang "Thousand Miles". Problem with these two is that this is all I can remember about them...they will have to find a way to stand out. We tend to see a lot of these "pretty girls with pretty voices" girls early on every year, and they all seem to blend together, which usually means they don't last long.
- The big welder guy with the family. Of course, I am a sucker for "Ain't No Sunshine," and if you have any kind of voice at all you can NAIL that song. Great "singer's song." This guy was no exception...nice soulful voice.
- Kumar. For those who don't get that reference, he was the Indian-looking guy (Indian like Ghandi, not Indian like Wahoo McDaniel) who Simon said looked like a geek. Well, yeah, he did, but also an amazing and very surprising voice, as well.
- The girl with the adorable grandmother who sang "Cry Baby" by Janis Joplin. First of all, it's refreshing to hear somebody sing a Janis Joplin song without doing a Janis impersonation. Second, that's a VERY difficult song to sing (Janis had more range than she gets credit for), and I thought she pulled it off.
- Elliot Yamin v2.0. The widower guy has a story that is going to be exploited like, whoa, if he gets to continue, and I like his voice, although...how do you mess up the words to "Heard it Through the Grapevine?" Not a big fan of the California Raisins?
- Lil Rounds. The exception to the "no-name" rule, for obvious reasons. This girl is my early favorite. Great voice, great personality, great story, nice look. That's the combination for a top 4 contestant. Not to mention a name that sounds like it came straight off of Death Row Records.
Other observations:
- OK, maybe Jason Castro wasn't really stoned all last season. Maybe it just runs in the family. Although, I admittedly couldn't hear much of what was being said/sung while he was on the screen due to our oldest daughter's constant screams of "OMG, he's SO HOTT!!!" What is it with teenage girls these days and these little wimpy emo boys? Anyway, pretty nice voice, and he may stick around awhile due to name recognition, but I don't think he has the chops to go too much further than Hollywood.
- I'm going to have nightmares about that one girl screaming "NNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOO" over and over again. I wish I could have seen the audition...apparently Simon must have murdered her firstborn or something while she was in there, to warrant that kind of reaction.
- It was really nice of Maggie Gyllenhal to stop by and cheer for that one guy. Pretty cool to get an established movie star to take time out of her schedule to come support an undiscovered singer, and dressed like a cheerleader to boot. Unfortunately for him, he's going to stay relatively undiscovered. His problem was that he took two beautifully written and soulful melodies (My Girl and Ain't Too Proud to Beg) and then tried to do a bunch of unnecessary extra stuff to them. Some songs just deserve to sung straight, you know?
- What they did to Michael Nicewonder last night is a prime example of what ticks me off about the early audition episodes. This guy has obvious mental deficiencies, he is singing original songs that he wrote about his mother and grandmother, he seems to be a genuinely sweet guy in that innocent way that it seems that only the mentally challenged can naturally be. What am I, as a viewer, supposed to do with the judges laughing at him, and then the close-up interview of him in tears afterwards? Is that supposed to be entertaining? Funny? There has been less of that crap this season, but every time they pull something like that it infuriates me. Like my brother said...why not just give the judges rocks to throw at them while we all point and laugh? "M-O-O-N, that spells Hollywood, that's where Tom Cullen is going, laws yes." (sorry...just got through reading The Stand).
All in all, I'm still enjoying the early auditions this season more than I usually do. But that little promo on the end of last night's show has me itching for Hollywood week already!
5 comments:
I disagree slightly about KC's auditions last night. I'm having the same problem you are with last night, and that is remembering any of them, other than Kumar. How about the fact that he was South-Asian made Simon automatically jump to the computer nerd conclusion? Stereotype much, you tea-sipping limey? And I wear that type of outfit all summer long...I guess I am a nerd.
I thought there were more standouts in Phoenix. The nerdy guy who Simon didn't get, the girl named after Stevie Nix, Bulimic Bikini Girl, Horror Movie boy, etc.
I thought they gave away a few too many trips to Hollywood last night. The guy who begged his way there, Widow-man's latin-asian (?) friend, and a few others I can't remember. I doubt we see more than 1 or 2 from KC that make it out of Hollywood week. That kid in the white fedora is going to be interesting to watch, he's got some PIPES.
Yes, I know you wear that outfit all the time. What's your point?
I know you're kidding about Bulimic Bikini Girl being a standout, unless you mean standout in, "I sure do wish for her death more than I do for any of these other contestants."
Kumar was awesome, and so was Lil Rounds. I'll take those two over anybody from the Phoenix auditions.
My point is, Simon commented on the nerdiness of his "look" which is also my look, and I was slightly personally offended.
I'll take white Fedora boy over Lil Rounds, but she'll probably make it. I like Kumar, and kid can sing, but Simon will not see a money making potential with him, and he will not make it out of Hollywood.
It has been my contention that the whole "let's set the polaroids out on the table and get each other's input and come to a consensus" garbage is just that: garbage. Simon has the final say on who gets to the voting rounds, and unless Kumar sings an Il Divo song better than Il Divo in Hollywood, he'll be one of the polaroids tossed off the table when all is said and done. That cute brunette last night whom they gushed over (Kara said "I see a package, here"), could just barely sing, but, she and Lil are probably the most likely to make it to voting from KC.
And yes, I meant Bulimic Bikini Ho was memorable simply for the fact that she's a catty (w)horrible human being. I honestly don't think there is anything that could be said to her to make her cry, because I think you need to have a soul to be able to cry. I sure do hope Simon gives his best effort to make this happen. I wanna see a "NNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO" in the fetal position type of reaction when she inevitably leaves.
And another thing (like Mary Lou used to say)...
Some of these parents aren't doing their kids any favors. Are they deaf? They know their little boy or girl cain't sang! I understand they want to supports their kids dreams, but at the cost of setting them up for humiliation?
Example: That guy who got to Hollywood, who's mom FLEW FROM FLORIDA to MIZZOU to support her boy...who CAN'T SING. Lady, you know you're boy can't sing. Every body has a talent, but very few people can SANG. Don't set your children up to be humiliated on television by telling them they have talent in an area where they have no talent.
That guy irritated me, anyway..."Please, I want this SO BAD. My family is outside...my mom flew in to be with me." Oh, yeah? You and about 10,000 other people. Next!
I hate it when people pull the "But I want this so bad" card. Why do you think all those other people have been waiting outside with you for 9 hours, genius? They just happened upon the audition site and thought that this would be a great place to spend an entire day?
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