American Idol - Season 11 (1 Viewer)

[Hanson]

Idol is better than The Voice. The contestants on The Voice are mostly people already in the industry, and they're pretty bland personalities. The fact that they spend most of their time with the judges means you never really get to know them anyway. This is the same reason X Factor failed for me -- it was all about the judges and the contestants never really got to show their personalities. Idol isn't really all that great -- there were a few shows this season I had to soldier through. But I can't even watch The Voice because the contestants are not compelling at all.

 

[Jeffery_H]

Idol is better than The Voice. The contestants on The Voice are mostly people already in the industry, and they're pretty bland personalities.  The fact that they spend most of their time with the judges means you never really get to know them anyway.  This is the same reason X Factor failed for me -- it was all about the judges and the contestants never really got to show their personalities. Idol isn't really all that great -- there were a few shows this season I had to soldier through. But I can't even watch The Voice because the contestants are not compelling at all.

For me, I can't stand Voice because of the judges. I mean come on,Christina Aguilera as a judge? That is one DUMB girl that can't even remember the words to our Nation's Anthem for goodness sake. Her and the Maroon 5 guy I can't believe as serious judges. A lot of the contestants can actually sing and do so much better than what they can. So, how can you take what they say seriously when they are what is wrong with the music industry as a whole today?
While Idol has many problems and I have no great love for J-Lo, unlike some others, at least I think Steven and Randy are qualified to be legit judges based on their life history in the industry and what they have achieved.

 

[Jeffery_H]

I saw the results show last night where J-Lo performed yet again, as a self serving cheap promo to drum up some sales of her junk she passes off as "music". How much worse can you get, seriously? She was lip syncing the whole time and you could tell the song was over processed. Worse still, it sounded to me like her vocals in the song used a lot of "auto tune" crap that singers that have no real vocal talent always use.
Also, I have a SERIOUS issue with Idol letting her perform the way she does on this show. I think it is WAY over the top and too provocative to be on network TV, certainly at least a "family" show like Idol. For the kids in the live audience and watching on TV, this is a very poor example for them to see and be exposed to. Her music is for those a lot more mature, I would have no problem if this was a paid cable channel such as MTV, VH1, etc. but the time slot, the show's demographic for young kids, etc. just doesn't set well with me at all. Save all the raunchy lyrics and booting shaking for the proper venue.

 

[Mikah Cerucco]

Say what you will about their respective music chops, J.Lo is 10x the TV judge Steven Tyler is. She can articulate far better what goes right and what goes wrong with a performance. Steven mostly just says "beautiful". I'm amazed anyone thinks Steven is doing well on this show.

The Voice? X-Factor? American Idol? For me, X Factor > American Idol > The Voice. Nobody on The Voice did much for me this season. At least last year I liked watching Javier perform, though I was under no illusion that he'd suddenly become a breakout music star. As it turns out, it appears Dia Frampton had the better "post-Voice" career (so far). I think American Idol has given us a lot of good vocalists both this year and in the past. In that sense, it's better than even X Factor. Carrie Underwood is still the only one I listen to, but that's just me. AI has done a good job finding vocal talent.

There are several things that make me like X Factor most. The panel is made up of a balance between execs and artists. Each brings different things to the table. I have way more fun with X Factor. If I can see Melanie Amarro (vocalist in the AI tradition), Josh Krajcik ("The Pretender" was a top performance for me), Astro (hip hop rapper), and Chris Rene (hip-hop rapper/singer) who essentially progressed based on music he wrote, that's just stuff you don't get to see on AI. I saved more performances from X Factor than any of them.

Saved:
X Factor: Melanie Amaro - Listen, Josh Krajcik - The Pretender, Rachel Crow - I Want It That Way, too many more to list (including Astro & Chris Rene)
American Idol: Elise Testone & Phillip Phillips - Somebody That I Used To Know
The Voice: Chris Mann - Ave Maria, Chris Mann & Christina Aguilera - The Prayer

To me, magic happened on a weekly basis with the X factor. The show has problems, but it's the only one over the last 12 months that has really consistently given me performances that touched me. Luckily I can like what I like without worrying about what'll sell to the American public. I still haven't seen Melanie Amaro put out a CD yet and I have no idea how it'll do when she does, but that has nothing to do with my assessment that she's a great singer. She's Jessica and Hollie with a better voice and more life experience outside of performing in pageants since she was 3. You don't like "screaming" and prefer "rock"? Go listen to Josh Krajcik do The Pretender. About the only thing I can see that The X Factor was really missing was WGWG and it's seem the other shows have that covered.

That said, I like them all in different ways and feel no need to rank/choose. The Voice gave me Chris Mann, which I wouldn't have seen anywhere else. And Season 10 of AI is still my favorite because we had a James Durbin (rock/heavy metal), Jacob Lusk (gospel/R&B), Casey Abrams (Jazz), and probably more I'm forgetting. It actually started with the previous season, with people like Big Mike and Casey Abrams. Strictly speaking, these people don't have the best voices, but to trying to find the best voice is a lot like watching the weekend activities of the all-star game. Some people are the best at 3 point shooting. Some are the best at dunking. But you can't determine who pulls it all together just best on singular attributes. I don't know who has the best singers, but X Factor gives me more performances I enjoy.

EDITED: I also like that contestants get to choose their own songs on The Voice as oposed to the genre stuff of AI.

EDIT 2: I meant, choose their own songs on X Factor.

 

[BobV]

Not that it really matters, or that it means I know any more. But I'm a trained musician, started taking piano lessons at the age of 6 and still play to this day (42). I sing and have performed countless times... but I know my own talent level and know that I don't/didn't have the chops to make it.... But with that as my own basis, I find the talent overall on AI much better than the talent on The Voice. To me, it's not even close. There are so many cringe-worthy moments on The Voice when they off-key, off-note, sharp, flat, pitchy... whatever term you want to give it... it's embarrassing. Not everyone does, but there are precious few solid technical singers on The Voice compared to AI. All of the final ten contestants on AI were very solid. Phillip Phillips has some rough patches sometimes because he's trying for his "I'm gonna sing this song with one note" performance (awesome job on Volcano this week though, wish he stayed in that lane more).
Anyways, just my opinion .

 

[Aaron Silverman]

I miss The Next Great American Band. It was the best of them all. Fox killing it almost before it began was a crime against television.

 

[Aaron Silverman]

Can't say I know exactly what it is offhand, but I seem to recall it's around 35 or 36.  Which you could easily hit if Joshua wins this (costing you 9 pts)...

Sweet, I want my own "line." Why should Dheiner have all the fun? (Too bad Lucy couldn't quite crack the low score record a couple of seasons ago; then maybe *both* lines could be the Silverman Line! )

 

[Hanson]

I have to say, this year's crop of talent in and of itself was quite high compared to the last few seasons. What really kills the show is a) the judging and b) the recycled songs. If they could ditch the moldy oldies they repeat every year and get a judge who's willing to shoot straight, the show would be much better. Not a fan of the Jimmy mentoring segments either -- they take away too much contestant face time. In a perfect world, they would dump Randy and replace him with Jimmy Iovine and then make a song blacklist to keep the selections fresh. And dump the themes -- they feel like a corner cutting measure to offer up a limited selection of songs. They should be more aggressive in negotiating rights to current songs. I feel like they get a royalty discount when they perform Get Ready or I Wanna Dance With Somebody -- these and many others come up year after year. How many more contestants are going to get kicked off performing Feelin' Good?

Personally, I think the best way to combat WGWG syndrome is to get rid of the instruments. But barring that, they really need to change the voting system. "70 million votes" sounds impressive, but it's probably cast by a fraction of the actual viewership because most people don't think their votes count or conversely think that their 20 votes have any impact. The show would be less beholden to a small but rabid fanbase if they had a voting cap.

 

[Mikah Cerucco]

Originally Posted by Hanson /t/317806/american-idol-season-11/210#post_3925689
In a perfect world, they would dump Randy and replace him with Jimmy Iovine and then make a song blacklist to keep the selections fresh.

I'm amazed everytime I encounter any suggestion that Steven Tyler isn't the worst and most useless judge on AI ever with the exception of Ellen.

 

[Aaron Silverman]

My, how quickly we forget the anti-entertainment that was Kara Dioguardi.

 

[Josh Dial]

Originally Posted by Aaron Silverman /t/317806/american-idol-season-11/210#post_3925649
I miss The Next Great American Band. It was the best of them all. Fox killing it almost before it began was a crime against television.

Truth.

The Sing-Off is currently the best musical performance show on TV.

 

[Mikah Cerucco]

All I can say is there are some serious Aerosmith/Steven Tyler fans in the world because to me, he's even worse than Kara "You showed true artistry up there" DioGuardi as a TV judge. The guy can't even get a coherent sentence out. About the only thing useful that ever comes out of his mouth IMO is, "Beautiful." It might be different if there were a rock/heavy metal guy like when James Durbin was there. I actually felt better watching him then because there was was a guy trying to go where Steven's gone. His obvious rapport with Zakk Wilde was palpable. As a guy who doesn't follow hard rock/metal, it was fun for me. IMO, the best way to grow to appreciate something you don't normally expose yourself to is to experience it with people who live it. So I really liked the James Durbin/Steven Tyler aspect of things. But watching him comment on Whitney Houston covers is.. well, honestly... painful. He's still a better artist than anyone on the stage (or any of the fellow judges), but he's not a good "judge" this season.

Having said all that, it occurs to me... I really miss having a James Durbin on the show. His performance of "Heavy Metal" is one of the ones I saved from that season. He wasn't the best pure "vocalist," but I'm all about the total performance package.

 

[Hanson]

I wouldn't shed a tear if they got rid of Steven and JLo with Randy. I specifically pointed out replacing Randy because he's supposed to be the straight shooter judge, and he basically spouts nonsense.

Steven is kind of a lost cause, but every now and then he doesn't like something and he really goes for it. But usually, it seems like he's not even paying attention.

Kara was the WORST because regardless of content, she was irritating to listen to said annoying, factually incorrect things and would not stop babbling. Her critiques were interminable.

 

[Hanson]

I think the show traditionally peters out after top 4. The pressure is too high, taping the homecoming means the Idols have more songs to learn and less time to rehearse, and the songs choices are usually awful. Jimmy went 0 for 3 and only Steven's choice of Beggin' for Phillip worked out. Then the finals features songs you've already heard before and a shitty coronation song. So it looks like last week was the high point of the season.

I will admit, however, that I enjoy the homecoming segments. The Phillip one blew the other two out of the water.

 

[Patrick Sun]

It gets tough to listen to Joshua and that tone is his. That's why I didn't really rank him more than middle of the pack in the AI ranking contest.
Jessica is almost a singing robot, there's nothing really interesting about her, though she has a good vocal range, and can cover songs decently.
Philip is the most limited in vocal range, but has much more ability to convey emotional content without resorting to blasting through lyrics or shedding tears like Joshua is apt to do. I would not be surprised if he has connected more with the voting public and wins AI this season.

 

[Carl Miller]

The one credit I'll give Joshua is that he does a good James Brown cover. But who needs James Brown covers when you can listen to the real thing? Aside from that, I got nothing. We muted his songs last night as both my wife and I are sick of his blubbering. I was amused though that he did Imagine given his church background. Jessica does have good range, but sings with very little emotion in my opinion. Like Patrick said, she's robotic. As for Phillip...the less he does his Dave Matthews routine, the more I like him. Pretty crazy for the judges to blast him for his Matchbox 20 song being too sleepy and mellow, but then go nuts in praise of his Bob Seger song. The judging is a total sham. I think Phillip is going to win, and if he does, I really hope they don't try to turn him into Kris Allen.

 

[Jeffery_H]

I can't believe that Joshua did not make it to win it all! This makes the second time I have picked a Gospel singer to win on Idol, the last was Jacob Lusk. The other two, Jessica and Phillip I really could've cared less about. While each are good in their own right, I certainly don't feel they were better in any way than Joshua who is vocally far superior to each. Jessica can hold her own, but she just seems too much of a studio creation already and sort of stiff in what she can do. If they thought Hollie was that way, then I just don't see Jessica being that much better than her.
Also, I believe another reason Joshua didn't go far is because he is very open about his religion and Christian as a gospel singer. They showed his family, church, etc. and I think the secular-progressives vote more perhaps on this show. That combined with the fact Phillip is getting all the little girls and some older girls to vote for him just based on his looks much like Scotty did. No matter what though, I think Joshua will have the best career and record sells after Idol when all this is over, like others have in the past.
I'm done with Idol though, don't care who wins now.

 

[Patrick Sun]

It seems like for most of the season, Joshua was pegged on the far end of the VU meter in his performances, and he never was able to make a vulnerable connection with the audience in his performance, but he can belt, but that growly tone gets old and one-note-ish after a while, and without pulling back and letting the songs breathe and flow, he kept making himself more important than the songs. I would have appreciated a couple of performances without the patented Joshua vocal gymnastics.
Pretty much everyone knows Philip doesn't have a powerhouse voice, he is cut from more of an entertainer's cloth, using both his vocals and the instruments to produce performances sung with heart and vulnerability. Philip also has his go-to growl, but it's less harsh on the ears when he goes there, and he has his own type of musical sensibility that is now his own, and people are used to it. He's been able to develop and maintain his style while performing on AI, and on a show where 90% of the contestants are still trying to find their style, he simply embraces his own style, and does his own thing, regardless of the words of wisdom that have been tossed his way.

 

[Hanson]

I'm actually surprised Joshua made it this far. If it weren't for all the standing ovations and the judges trying to jedi mind trick the audience into thinking he was the best singer ever on Idol, he would have been out around top 6 or 7. In the end, a lot of voters got tired of all the histrionics. That stuff stopped impressing me months ago.

Just curious Patrick, is there any regional favoritism with your preference for Phillip?

 

[Patrick Sun]

Philip could be from Seattle, and I'd still prefer his vocal stylings over Joshua. So, no. Plus Joshua is from Louisiana, still considered the south, but not from GA. I doubt anyone cares that Jessica is from SoCal.
I think I also had Joshua going out in 6th place in the AI contest.