Rolling Teenpop 2007 Thread

OK, this didn't work first time, hopefully figured this out...

Julianne Shepherd, whose name I spelled correctly this time, just introduced me to [Removed Illegal Link] and her Lip Gloss. Amazing.

Are the girls silent because their lip gloss is chic, or because it's <i>cheap</i>? (Hence, jealousy, such an evil thing?) Also dig the part where she gets called out of class in the middle of eighth period and...I won't ruin the surprise. (This part is particularly excellent because you know that's the last class of the day!)

woops, that should be cheap. That will probably happen a lot. Also, apparently myspace is an illegal link. How bout Lil Mama here: --http://www.myspace.com/lilmamaonline--

(yeah, it's definitely cheap, because Lil Mama can UPGRADE U to some better lip gloss.)

Frank, we needed you on the ILX sandbox. You could have added to the Beyonce -jane dark thread, and the "Cars that Go Boom' and "Square Biz" thread....

Dave, you're probably right. I have no idea who did what; I just pulled those credits off BMI in response to Frank's question upthread, about who would be contributing the music to Duff/DioGuardi.

Frank, I'll get back to you as soon as I finish I Am Me.

Random dump of downtime links (never used this before so let's hope it works):

Dave Moore's latest article on Stylus is his finest one yet, as far as I'm concerned. I think there's something to the fact that many (most?) poptimists and presumably teen-poptimists are formerly indie. I am. In my case, I wasn't even a fan of teenpop when I was actually the target audience (excepting "Genie in a Bottle" and "I Want It That Way" and I was at the upper edge of the target demo at that time).

Kelly Clarkson's latest song is [Removed Illegal Link]. I like it a lot, though "Anymore" and "Maybe" are better. This one seems a bit more radio friendly though. Mixed fan reaction on those forums.

Anybody who hasn't been should check out the Stylus Singles Jukebox. At the least, me, Dave (in theory at least), and Frank contribute, maybe some other teenpoppers as well.

One of the best singer/actress combination in teen pop today (that is, somebody who is a good actress AND is a good singer AND makes good music in combination) is Sara Paxton (um, we talked about this last year, the only 3 who contend are Lohan, Aly, and Hilary, and I'd possibly rank Sara by these criteria ahead of any of those 3 for various reasons). At least in my opinion. See her work on Darcy's Wild Life for her acting, which is just as charming and funny as any other actress on TV that I can think of.

Her best song is [Removed Illegal Link] which I have been listening to non-stop for the last week or two.

Whoa, not allowed to link to YouTube now or what? What are the new linking policies?

Youtube doesn't seem to be allowed. Try http://p101.ezboard.com/Kelly-Clarkson/fkellyclarksonexpressfrm7 (Kelly at Daytona) and (I'm assuming you meant, anyway) "Take a Walk" here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7JnhbVS6iA

Yeah, I meant "Take a Walk", of course, though I like "Connected" too. (As of right now those are the only two Sara Paxton songs I've heard). Thanks for subbing in those links.

Anyone else think Jordan Sparks is the cutest thing ever?

"Then you'll see my greatest gift/Is fallin' down and takin' it" - which you're right is a really interesting line - alludes to stories that the album never figures out how to tell.

I disagree times ten. The album tells that story so many ways.

She wants things: to be somebody to love, to be somebody. To take a chance. To feel the sun. Happiness. Really vague things, intangible things, there's just this unfocused feeling of want. Yet she doesn't grant herself the power to get those things: her greatest gift is falling down and taking it, she gets beaten but she comes back for more, she can't save you both. She's waiting for you, and she knows it's wrong, but it's all she can do. Whatever. Sometimes revolution sits and waits. And she contradicts herself: she said goodbye, but she never meant goodbye. She's going to have happiness--but could you pull her back from the edge, just to make sure she survives long enough to find it? She can finally make this flight--but could you run and hide with her? She wants you to start again, she wants you to take a chance with her--but could you show her how, please? (And not just show her how: show her how to try, even.) You've proved that there is more to life, but still, she's unsure, she's praying you're right. She's sitting around, waiting for reprieve from someone whose promised land she doesn't even believe in. (Sonically, too, she contradicts herself: "Crying at the Disco" wants you to dance, everything is so percussive and everybody's chanting, while she's breaking down and screaming that nobody knows her name. You know, it's cool, don't be concerned that she totally just broke down on the dance floor--go ahead and be a part of that laughing, dancing crowd. She'll be fine.) And how many times does she beg you not to leave her alone? And not just alone, but alone, like, on the planet. She is that alone. Nobody sees when she's crying at the disco, nobody sees when she's way out of tune.

More than half the album is about wanting something and then handicapping herself till she can't even move--that way, she can't try, she can't fail. (Because she will fail. "Will You Be Around" isn't a what-if song: even if she wakes up and the world is warmer, the rain will come down, the pain will come out. There's only one question in that song: will you want her when she's not perfect?) She's weird and disturbing all over the place.

The thing about Platinum Weird is that it takes the whole album to tell the story, whereas you can listen to one song on Autobiography and get it right away. Dave and Kara are way less organized; every line counts on Autobiography, and every song is telling pretty much the same story. (Which is power dynamics, the push/pull of love, not self-discovery and acceptance. Platinum Weird is the one asking, "Can I do this?")

Anyone else think Jordan Sparks is the cutest thing ever?

Jordin Sparks and Leslie Hunt are my two favorites on AI so far. Jordin IS the cutest thing ever. Agree with the general consensus that the girls are way better than the boys.

Spring Awakening = Rent II? Obviously there are differences, but most of those differences argue for SA being even more embraced by the Teen culture (ie: It's about teens, not young 20-somethings), and from what I've heard, it fits the Panic! At the Disco/My Chemical Romance genre perfectly. I really want to hear the OST, but I haven't been able to - uh - find it yet. So I've had to content myself with the 30 second clips on amazon.com. Anyone else get to listen to this yet?

(IT combines two of my favorite topics: late 1800s-early 1900s [circa... 1930, and mostly critical Frankfurt] Germany and teenage angst [ie: emo!])

Random American Idol links, now that the show is increasing its teenpop cred more and more each day:

Mark Twang (who has the worst band name I've heard in a long, long time) is the band of AI contestant (my favorite) Leslie Hunt. She's got a really nice, restrained, and smoky voice. The songs sound like pretty standard jazz inflected indie rock to me (or, according to the website "a blend of Acoustic Ethno-Blues and Folk-Funk music, and their vibe as lively and soulful." I listened to "U Don't Know" and "4 Blond Bitches". I liked "U Don't Know". "4 Blond Bitches" has a reference to "American Pie" and is just generally not a very good song. There's also a cover of "Crazy" (the Patsy Cline song).

Sarah Burgess was eliminated during the Hollywood rounds (i.e. prior to fan voting). She had one of the most popular auditions too (well, at least I liked it). She's going for a music career now? Seems like a stretch. She was eliminated early enough that she can try out again in subsequent seasons. Anyways, she links for download a cover of Xtina's "Walk Away", which I've never heard the original of. She's got an OK but generic voice and it's generally boring.

Some of my favorite performances:

These are depressingly consensus picks, but if you've never seen the show, you owe it to yourself to watch these performances, at least in my opinion.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9PFjvvNBTFI : Kelly Clarkson - "Stuff Like That There". Big band stuff, which often turns me off, but man she is an absolute master performer. This always ranks high on lists of greatest AI performances ever, it's amazing how she works the crowd/audience here.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=QhKTYgDrAws : Carrie Underwood - "Alone". Also always makes lists of best performances ever, and easily Carrie's best performance of the year. The 80s rocker chick hair still cracks me up 2 years later.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dXyCzaPayig Jon Peter Lewis often makes list of worst American Idol contestants to go far, but I agree with Mike Saunders on this guy. He was consistenly able to take songs I hate and do amazing performances of them. Case in point is this version of "A Little Less Conversation". Dude's a natural entertainer and his phrasing is first rate.

OK that's all for tonight.

OK, I'm done with talking about American Idol for a while. Presumably there's some American Idol thread where I can resume conversation later. Unrelated is the full Jordan Pruitt album. I already knew 7 of the 12 tracks ("Outside Looking In", "Teenager", "We Are Family", "Jump to the Rhythm", "Over It", "Waiting For You", and "Miss Popularity").

"No Ordinary Girl" - title track. Extremely catchy. This is an upbeat song, for some reason I expected it to be a ballad. It's got horns in it! Lyrics saying "I ain't no ordinary girl" in the sense that she's not ready to rush into sex. Not what I was expecting. Very good though.

"My Reality" - Lyrics about all the many complicated choices and concerns of a teenager ("Should I drink, should I smoke/Should I lie so I can go/To the party down the road"). But she makes her own reality! Kinda generic lyrics and kind of a bland song. But not a bad song.

"Who Likes Who" is the most straightahead R&B song on the album. Lyrics about complicated teen relationships and gossip. I really don't like this song. It's not really right for her and doesn't really fit on the album. Melody in the chorus falls a bit flat.

"Later" - Whoa, is that a slightly reggae-ish beat I detect? Really odd instrumental backdrop on this one, with pizzicato guitar line and really bouncy backing. Yet another song about how she's not in it for the sex. If the guy's not in it for a deep relationship, she'll see him later. I like it a lot.

"When I Pretend" - Slow, piano based ballad. She's broken up with her boyfriend and is still really sad about it. But she can at least pretend that they are still together and happy. Emotionally affecting. The natural follow up to "Outside Looking In". Beautiful. Yet another favorite.

I'm liking this album, the hit rate is only around 50-60%, and none of the songs are bowl-you-over great, but it's got a few really good ones and stands about with Ashley Tisdale for best teenpop album of the year so far.

I got the Spring Awakening album. I'll post about it early next week. (For the record: I LOVE IT!)

Greg, I'd love to hear more chat about AI, and I can't imagine there'll be a better thread to discuss it. So far, I admit, I've been judging more on personality than singing (mostly because there hasn't been much of the latter before this week). One really underrated performance this week? Gina (?) doing "All By Myself." I thought it had tons of personality - and I liked it more than the original. It seemed more punk (whatever that means!).

OK, since you sucked me in

Girls Performance, Top to Bottom

1. Melinda Doolittle - "Since You've Been Gone"
2. Jordin Sparks - "Give Me One Reason"
3. Leslie Hunt - "Natural Woman"
4. Stephanie Edwards - "How Come You Don't Call Me?"
5. Gina Glocksen - "All By Myself"
6. Lakisha Jones - "And I'm Telling You I'm Not Going"
7. Haley Scarnato - "It's All Coming Back to Me Now"
8. Sabrina Sloan - "I've Never Loved a Man the Way I Loved You"
9. Amy Krebs - "I Can't Make You Love Me"
10. Nicole Tranquilo - Whatever
11. Alaina Alexander - "Brass In Pocket"
12. Antonella Barba - "I Don't Wanna Miss a Thing"

For the guys, I don't care as much. Blake was the best by far. Chris Sligh has a great personality and seems to be a good singer, but the song he picked hardly showed off his vocal talents. I like AJ's voice.

I received Jordan P's album in the mail yesterday. There's not a single track on it about which I can't find something positive to say. I would say the hit rate is nearer 90% than 50-60%.

In fact, I think Greg and I are getting very different things out of Ms Pruitt's music. In particular, I love "Who Likes Who". The song's about schoolyard gossip - interestingly, it's not portrayed as something destructive at all, rather as something like a drug (or at least a sugar rush) - Jordan and her friends needing a constant stream of fresh rumours to get them through the school day. (But these rumours not something to be taken too seriously. It doesn't even matter if they're true.) I think the song is of a kind with "Outside Looking In" and "Miss Popularity" in terms of subject matter, so in that sense it suits her (and the LP) just fine. It's also funny!

I agree about the beauty of "When I Pretend" though. Also, the chorus and coda of this song, like the verses in "Over It", have really, really bizarre (and complex) chord sequences - ones you'd more normally find in a Steely Dan track than a teenpop ballad. I should probably have a gi at trying to work out the progressions.

I received Jordan P's album in the mail yesterday. There's not a single track on it about which I can't find something positive to say. I would say the hit rate is nearer 90% than 50-60%.

Well, I define "hit rate" as songs that are like a 7/10-ish or higher, so maybe it's just a question of differing definitions. In any event, even when the music isn't the greatest, her performance and the lyrics are generally very, very strong throughout the entire album.

Listening to Robyn's "Blow My Mind" from 2002: Robyn is maybe the most assertively small-voiced, sweet-voiced, sharp-tongued singer in history. (E.g., going, "Good girls are pretty, like, all the time. I'm just pretty some of the time!" in "Who's That Girl?") What's kind of shocking in "Blow My Mind" is how submissive she says she's being: "Hey babe, ravage me, love me 'til it hurts." I hear the extremity of this submissiveness as being something like its opposite: Assertively, demandingly submissive. But would I hear it like this if I didn't know this was Robyn, hadn't heard stuff like [link "Konichiwa Bitches"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XC_GnG1wO38[/l]? "Blow My Mind" sounds sweet and gorgeous, and there's an extremity in this too: She starts off surrounded by bubbles, it sounds like, then immerses herself in sugar, while guys whisper and a nearby tree frog says "blow my mind" into a vocodor. I think she's pulling off a great have-her-cake-and-eat-it-too maneuver, doing this very femme-y feminine sexualized singing which she aims at us from what I imagine is a sharp, stinging left-wing of dancepop. But then, I'm not Swedish, so I don't really know if my social reading is close to right.

Oops. [Removed Illegal Link]

OK, I give up. Don't know what I'm doing wrong:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XC_GnG1wO38

Steve, they needed me more in Poptimists. (And truly, I have bad psychological blocks against doing the things I need to in order to write for money, so ilX being down is something of a reprieve.)

Need to run now before reading Dave's column or addressing the "indie" question; but no, I've never been "indie" (even though I've cavalierly called myself "the indie boy who hated indie"). Xgau's "semipopular" is a much more useful concept than "indie" is, actually, though not all indie is semipopular. There's an old Poptimists thread where I talk about this (which, livejournal being livejournal, I'm sure I'll never be able to find), but the crucial semipopular group was the Stooges, and what made them semipopular rather than indie, besides using the popular lexicon and being on a major, is that they reached out to the unknown audience. That's why ilX is semipopular while Pitchfork is only indie, even though Pitchfork is far more popular. (Don't know Pitchfork well, so maybe I'm way wrong, but I don't think so.)

Indie music fans, when at their best, are fans of the music. And that's what poptimists are too-- it's the actual music that interests them, not the packaging. So the crossover between the groups stems simply from liking music. I grew up on Sonic Youth, The Breeders and Pixies. But I also grew up on Madonna, Janet Jackson and Daft Punk. Then when I got in my 20s, out of nowhere, I got into hair metal and arena rock. I don't see any inconsistency; it's all excellent music.

The problem is the indie people who are fans of indie music for superficial reasons, or for reasons pertaining solely to the personality traits of the performer. These are the indie music fans who are reluctant to embrace a band because they're "corporate," or because the lead singer is a jerk. This is a hypocrisy I can't stand. After all, being indie is supposed to be a rejection of superficiality, right?

When reading reviews from poptimists, the music is always the thing. I've very rarely heard a serious discussion about pop music devolve into statements like "I'm sorry, I just can't get past how much i hate the singer as a person," but when discussing rock music, I hear it all the time.

I've very rarely heard a serious discussion about pop music devolve into statements like "I'm sorry, I just can't get past how much i hate the singer as a person,"

Heh, it's obvious you've never read poptimist discussions about Paris then.

paris was kind of the exception thoughm which was why i was kind of shocked that even poptimists were so blinded to paris's persona that they had that kneejerk hate.

Avril Lavigne - "Girlfriend" video: http://youtube.com/watch?v=e1Lg7OOgMzI

I was hoping this was from the video.

http://www.radosh.net/images/avril_lavigne_380_5-thumb.jpg

For anyone who needed a more illustrative guide to Lil' Mama's "Lip Gloss": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYjVnb3xdtY

For those, like me, having problems with links and 'no HTML' and such on nu-ILX, this from the FAQ may be worth noting:

What's this about "illegal link removed" when I try to post a link? There are a couple of bugs in that code right now. For the next few days, avoid using these punctuation marks in your links: < > ' " ` ! { } [ ]

-- Stet, Feb 23 2007.

JeffW

OK, after spending the entire weekend listening to the Jordan Pruitt album, I do concede that I've been underrating it. I think my problem is that after hearing "Outside Looking In" I wanted an entire album of that, and when I only got two comparable songs ("Waiting for You" and "When I Pretend") I was a bit disappointed. Another problem is that the second single "Teenager" seems to be a pretty bad choice to me. I, however, still don't like "Who Likes Who" (does have funny lyrics but music is still blah), but that and "My Reality" and "Over It" are the only three not-as-good songs on the album, which gives it a 75% hit rate. And, to be fair, all 3 of those are pretty good songs, so if you define "hit rate" by Poptimists style "any good at all", it'd have a 100% hit rate. I guess at least part of the reason that we disagree on "Who Likes Who" and "Over It" is that I have no ear for music theory at all. Once again, I am nearly tone deaf, and can't always hear when something is a standard chord progression or a truly original one. Neither sound like anything particularly original to me, but I'll take your word for it.

The album still lacks a truly excellent standout track ("Outside Looking In" and "No Ordinary Girl" and "Waiting for You" are my favorites, but none are higher than like 8/10) ("Outside Looking In" was my #34 single of the year in 2006). But Jordan is a truly excellent singer, and not just that she has a beautiful voice (which she does), but also that she gives genuinely great performances. She knows how to sell the drama of the lyrics. So the question is how to rate an album that consists almost entirely of 7/10 and 8/10 tracks, as opposed to an album that has more great hits, but more mediocre track as well (like Lillix, for example, or Carrie Underwood or Nelly Furtado). I tend to be more charitable towards the consistently good albums, so the album rates an 8/10 and may well contend for my year end top 10, if it ends up being a fairly weak year. It's my favorite album of 2007 so far, in any event.

Heh, I used the word truly about 3 times too many in that last post. Thesaurus please.

From country thread, below. (But my opinions are still evolving, which is to say "Girlfriend" may have passed up "Candyman" on my list by now. By the way, has anybody pointed out that Avril's cadences are frequently swiped straight out from the Red Hot Chili Peppers in that song? From "Give It Away," I think. Which is not one hundredth as good as "Girlfriend" is.)

Little Rachel ...is considerably more engaging and less offensive than, um, Cherry Poppin Daddies ... Meanwhile, on a related topic, "Candyman" by Christina Aguilera...

...turns out to be the song that mentions cherries poppin'. Decided I like it about equally with "Girlfriend" by Avril Lavigne, and more than "Bird Flu" by M.I.A. But it's more Bette Midler doing "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy" than Dr. Buzzard doing "Cherchez La Femme," I think. Which is to say: Not all that far from Little Rachel after all. Best thing about Christina's song is the "sippin on a bottle of vodka double wine" chant done by the soldiers in the video at the beginning and in the middle; they've got more punch than she does (which is not to suggest she's punchless.) Avril's song meanwhile is hey hey you you get off of my cloud get into my car Mickey you're so fine you blow my mind hey Mickey, but not nearly as good as that implies, and not as good as most of the songs on Skye Sweetnam's debut album, either. (Not that this has anything to do with country, I guess.) M.I.A.'s song is...a confusing mess. I dunno, maybe I need to hear it more. As of now, I'd say it doesn't rank with her best stuff. I guess I'd prefer if had more of a tune to it.

xhuxk on Sunday, 25 February 2007 02:04 (Yesterday)
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(Though to the Christina song's credit, its sound does seem to open up beyond retro kitsch as the song progresses. So yeah, it's better than Avril's, I guess. Which is probably the most reigned in of the three. M.I.A.'s song hits me as art grandstanding, basically. Albeit art grandstanding bombarding you with beats, which counts for a lot, obviously. I do like it, just don't love it. Though I can imagine I might if it catches me by surprise in some public setting.) (And yeah, this all belongs on the teenpop thread. But I lost that thread's plot ages ago, and every time I try to catch up, it loses me again.)

xhuxk on Sunday, 25 February 2007 02:24 (Yesterday)

more:

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Can't contribute to the country musings herein, and should probably just stay off this altogether (and WILL stay out of it after this, promise), but I feel like saying something about the Aguilera/M.I.A./Avril records Chuck discusses above (in part because I'm trying to properly "review" them and am struggling). "Candyman" is the sort of song I feel I should hate on principal, but in fact, I do like it. It's the first thing I've even been able to listen to by her since "Genie in a Bottle," probably because it does remind me so much of Bette's version of "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy" (with funnier words), and I guess because, similarly, it sounds like a glam-by-assocation kind of song (though I guess you'd have to say glam-twice-removed-by-association) in that Midler made the Andrews Sisters seem like glam icons (Roxy Music's backup singers even dressed like them). It was like boogie woogie (as a sub-genre, I mean) very briefly became one of glam rock's many sideshow attractions, similar to how Cabaret made the Weimar Republic seem totally glam. (This would probably be a good place also to say something about Mika's "Grace Kelly" and the Killers's "Read My Mind," which fall into yet other wings of glitter rock--not to mention Fergie's wonderful "Glamorous"--but I digress). Like Chuck, I thought the M.I.A. was a complete mess at first, didn't hear any melody, etc., but now it's totally working for me. Chuck says, "Though I can imagine I might if it catches me by surprise in some public setting." This happened for me, sort of--the video actually provided that context in a way (not quite the same as hearing it outdoors amongst real people, granted), and it warmed me up to the song a lot. Not only is there almost no melody, there's also no chorus--it's a pretty outrageous song, all beats and artillery and bird sqwawks. I'm coming around to the Avril song, too, but don't have much to say about it--I think i just really like the delays on her voice in the chorus, and I imagine it'll be a pretty huge wedding anthem this year, and for me that's a very good thing.



sw00ds on Sunday, 25 February 2007 06:09 (Yesterday)
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It's the first thing I've even been able to listen to by her since "Genie in a Bottle,"

Me too! I liked "Ain't No Other Man" or whatever it was called last year "in theory" (i.e., the beats) (i.e., I totally understood why other people liked it), but really could've taken or leaven it myself. Didn't get "Beautiful" at all.

Avril's bleacher beats sound more glam to me than Christina's bugles though.

xhuxk on Sunday, 25 February 2007 09:35 (Yesterday)

Rolling RD 2-27-07: Hilary's on the charts sans sis with "With Love," Frank points out that it's getting weak airplay on KDIS but it'll probably start climbing a la "Too Little Too Late" now that it's in the Top 30. Drew Sealy (sic) off the voting charts. In the incubator is Myxx, whom I haven't listened to yet. Landslide for Jonas Bros. new song, "Kids in the Future" (nee "Kids in America": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWigR3eKgsI, haven't gotten a chance to compare the lyrics yet but they definitely didn't ADD any three-breasted women), but all is not as it seems: At one point DJ Aaron K. questioned a caller “So basically you just love the Jonas Brothers and you’re gonna pick it even if the song is bad?” She replied, “Duh!”

I spoke more about it on my blog, but my 3 favorite songs on the Spring Awakening soundtrack:

Don't Do Sadness/Blue Wind: Emo start - into dialogue - into really pretty duet. Though the emo section is inverted, it turns into something that includes a woman's input - which puts it way ahead of most emo I've heard, and makes it much more interesting.

Totally Fucked: Group song, very full of youth in tone and sound, but the lyrical content is abrasive and shocking (a bunch of junior high kids singing Totally Fucked), but their delivered well enough that it's believable. Closest thing to Hair, actually; where the content (How screwed up they are) feels very full of youth.

Whispering: Whichever girl sings this song, it's beautiful. I believe it happens when she's dying, and the song slowly becomes a whisper itself until it disappears. Broadway comparison = Fontene's Song from Les Miz, maybe. But in terms of teenpop, it seems far more appropriate to a young teenager's stream-of-consciousness than the kind of jaded death song found in other pieces of musical theater.

There's also Left Behind - which is a really pretty duet.

Well, I can't find a better thread to post it in, contrary to previous, so I'll just keep going here

Guys American Idol only marginally better than last week's screw the judges. I feel like Metal Mike, I disagreed with the judges tonight more than ever. I like AJ a lot, nice tone to his voice, though slight boringness. Chris Sligh is OK but he's had bad song choices two weeks in a row to me and I'm not sure what to think of him. I have a possibly irrational hatred for Chris Richardson who did a Jason Mraz song. Sickened by the overpraise there. Same with Sundance, who did "Mustang Sally", a song I don't like to begin with, and did nothing in particular with it. Don't see how it was substantively different than Rudy's "Free Ride". What's with Sanjaya? He still has the worst stage presence/least charisma ever. I still like Blake, his Jamiroquai was probably my favorite performance of the night.

Brandon WAS pretty boring (though underrated I think), but I was very troubled by Simon and Randy's comments to him. Which were along the lines of, unless you have an overpowering voice with lots of runs and gymanstics and melisma the performance is automatically not good. I have no problem with the powerful voiced divas and their male counterparts but the show's consistent inability, 6 season in now, to recognize great singing of any other variety is the major weak point to me, and causes more subtle and restrained singers to be consistently underrated. Also underrated are singers without huge voices who are great interpreters/performers.

Would send home: Chris R., Sanjaya
Will go home: Nick Pedro (who I kinda like, but is still boring), Jared (cannon fodder)

I really like Blake. (He's the beat-boxer, right?) He's probably my top-pick for male contestants right now. He seems to have the most personality and talent. It'll be interesting to see the girls tomorrow. I know Simon is in love with Lakisha, but I noticed, Greg, you rated her fairly low. I really love the song she delivered last week, but I think I'm with you. My favorite female contestant right now is Jordan Sparks. So I'm rooting for Sparks and Blake.

And I didn't mean Left Behind two posts ago. I meant Guilty Ones, which is the duet I really like the most on the soundtrack. (If all goes well, I'm getting students tickets to see the show on Thursday. Wish me luck!)

Checking 'em out on YouTube, is hard to get interested in any of the current AI contestants you mention (made it up to Amy Krebs on Greg's list, with Amy being a total hairball on a song whose original I love). All the women could be Joss Stone, for all I care, but I can quite easily imagine my having had a similar reaction to Kelly and Carrie if I'd been watching back on their run-through, and of course they've turned out extraordinarily well - prob'ly would have liked Carrie more, as she wasn't doing the big diva va-va-va-voom thing. Not that I'm against the va-va-va-voom, just that, like, someone belting out "Respect" in a talent show is just someone belting out "Respect" in a talent show. Would have been genuinely impressed if Kelly'd whispered it, found a way to bring an encapsulated, closed-off song back to life. Found Lakisha's the one intriguing performance, in that her raging gusts didn't lose the sense of the song; a disco-house-techno producer might be able to put her hurricane winds to interesting use. My favorite was probably Jordin - don't think she altogether found her way into the slow burn of "Turn My Ass Around" or whatever it's called ("Give Me One Reason"), but that's a style that moves me. Leslie Hunt's smoky throat was a snooze for me both onstage and on MySpace; can't really remember the others from last night when I was YouTubing; "All By Myself" is a good song, so I liked that. Melinda's the one with the three-year-old, right? Was interested in how "overcoming lack of confidence" is used as a selling point. Don't remember the actual sound, though, except that it wasn't soft. I'd just echo Greg on the subject of the narrowness of the apparent criteria for success. I'd wonder if Paula Abdul could have done well as a contestant if there'd been an Idol in '88. Voice too small and squeaky!

Look forward to your further reports.

Just spent half an hour searching and wondering why I couldn't find a link for the alleged FAQ, then found it linked in the middle of a thread. I presume there are technical problems with putting the link up on the board right now; fwiw I far preferred the old layout and old features, but apparently a lot of what I liked helped make the board vulnerable and also used up hunks of CPUs so will never come back.

This thread is so intimidating.

Well, the thread's length is the thread's length, but I think it's understood that few people will have read every post, that most people won't know, say, who Matthew Gerrard is (man who's co-produced and co-written much of the more boring Disney teenpop these days), etc., and I don't see the usual nastiness that you get on other threads along the lines of "don't you know how to use Search?" and so on. Also, I think people on this thread are remarkably articulate about why they like and dislike things, but those can lead to complexities because most people (emphatically including me) don't always know the sources of their likes and dislikes, and so the reasons they/I give often raise more questions, provoke further thought. (I find that ilX goes dull when people don't give reasons for their likes and dislikes, or don't realize that their reasons need further reasons.)

Briefly on AI, girls night:

I feel really anti-consensus this season and it's starting to bug me. I liked Gina Glocksen ("Alone"), though it was not as good as Carrie Underwood. Lakisha ("Midnight Train to Georgia") was meh yet again. I REALLY liked Leslie's performance ("Feeling Good") tonight though, I think she's got a great touch to her voice and very nice interpretation/performance skills. I'm still not sure how much of my Leslie love is due to her actual performance and how much is due to finding her attractive and liking her personality and the "something different" factor . I also like Alaina ("Not Ready to Make Nice") a lot, except that she can't seem to give a good performance. But I like her phrasing and I like the tone to her voice. I wish she could stay on pitch. I hate Sabrina ("All the Man I Need"), I think she has no control over her vocal runs. Haley ("The Queen of the Night") just such an odd performance. Jordin Sparks ("Reflection") very disappointing. For the guys, I like AJ ("Feeling Good") a lot and I HATE Chris Richardson ("Geek in the Pink"). Sanjaya ("Steppin Out With My Baby") was one of the weirdest performances I've ever seen. A Tony Bennett classic, with a mid 80's Michael Jackson fashion sense, and a performance style that basically amounts to whispering. Blake ("Virtual Insanity") good, though a bit of a step down from "Somewhere Only We Know". I liked the beatboxing/scatting/whatever it was. Phil ("Missing You") has a really good and pretty AM radio voice, but is somewhat boring. And I have yet to hear any real originality from him. I'm not feeling this season and it really bugs me that they've stacked the females with all similar singers. Dream scenario for me would be maybe a couple belters, a more restrained, jazzy type singer, a country girl, a rock girl, etc. It now seems likely all 5 of the big belters will make the finals which is just gonna be so boring.

Other main problem with AI (not just confined ot this season): almost no singers attempt to give their own interprations of the songs. Even the really good singers this year, like Melinda ("My Funny Valentine") just do pretty much copies of the originals. Jon Peter Lewis from season 3 tried to change up interpretations of songs somewhat, which I always appreciated. But I'd love to see someone do a ballad as a rave up or vice versa. This was a really weak slate of girls' and guys' performances. I'm considering giving up entirely, but I'll give em another shot.

Dream World Top 12: Leslie, Melinda, Jordin, Gina, Stephanie, LaKisha; Blake, AJ, Phil, Chris S, Brandon, Nick (if not fixed to 6 guys/6 girls I'd swap in Alaina for Nick).
Predicted Top 12: For the guys, Sundance, Sanjaya, Blake, and Chris S. seem like locks. Phil and Chris R are near locks as well at this point.
For the girls, Melinda and LaKisha are the only two I'm certain about. Stephanie and Jordin seem like good bets. I'm gonna guess Gina and Antonella for the last two slots. I hope that Leslie sneaks in.

Girlies top to bottom:
1. Melinda Dolittle - "My Funny Valentine"
2. Leslie Hunt - "Feeling Good"
3. Gina Glocksen - "Alone"
----Good/Bad Line (more accurately interesting/boring line)----
4. LaKisha Jones - "Midnight Train to Georgia"
5. Alaina Alexander - "Not Ready to Make Nice"
6. Jordin Sparks - "Reflection"
7. Haley Scarnato - "The Queen of the Night"
8. Stephanie Edwards - "Dangerously In Love" (the more I think about this the more I think the great fireworks at the end don't overcome the bad actual vocals)
9. Sabrina Sloan - "All The Man I Need"
10. Antonella Barba - "Because You Loved Me"

Heh, clearly I need to redefine "briefly". Brainwasher, if you jump in I think you'll find the thread a lot less intimidating than it seems on the surface.

Sligh needs to take this whole thing home. Just because he's the only personality (outside Sparks and Blake) that I have any interest in whatsoever. And though he's done some unconventional song choices, he's never done a performance that's made me cringe (a company that includes Gina, Lakisha, and once again - Sparks + Blake). Does it seem like a lot of Aretha songs this year?

AI: Gina is extremely likeable, but I don't think she has the ammunition to go all the way. Simon was right about her not hitting the note in week 1, and she had similar problems last night.

I really enjoy Sligh's voice, and he's my favorite at this point. Doolittle has potential, but I have a feeling that we're going to have week after week of her pleasant but limited style of lounge singing.

The Pruitt album is excellent. I'm gonna stick up for Who Likes Who; it's not one of the top 4 songs on the album, but it's very enjoyable, and lyrically I find it amusing. I also enjoy that the spoken word intro paints the singer as as much of a gossip as anyone she's singing about!

AI: Curse of Nina Simone last night. I'm disappointed there are no Country singers this season-- first time since season one? Sing Dixie Chicks, lose votes of surge lovers. There was a promising country singer in the auditions (forget her name) who was highlighted but somehow cut in Hollywood. I'm also not seeing the Great White Hope who usually (excepting season 3, and if you wanna be technical season 2) knocks off the heavily favored African American singer in the last few weeks of the competition. Still too fuzzy on names, and won't bother to learn them until there's a final 12, but is Powder GI Joe really much of a threat? Or Chris Sligh (I do know one name) with the over rehearsed, Bob Jones University punchlines? I like Beatbox but he was totally outdone at his own game by Justin Timber-fake this week. He should sing the New Radicals.