American Idol 2023

[Imzadi]

I still feel like the judges don't hear the same things I hear. I felt like one of the girls tonight was all over the place with her notes and picked the absolute worst song for her voice and they loved her.

I think they sometimes purposely do. If they point out or bash a person who does badly, it could backfire. People may rally around that person and give them sympathy votes and they end up staying over someone better who deserved to stay.

Remember only ONE contestant is going to win AI. They need a second who is just as great for the finals for a real nail-biting competition. If they have about 3 more who are really good enough to be the Final 5, they will have a great season. Some of these others may end up with an even better career as Jennifer Hudson, Clay Aiken, Katherine McPhee, Chris Daughtry, and Adam Lambert have done, than tmany of the winners.

The other 45(?) contestants are basically FILLER. The judges have probably been told by the producers they need to keep certain contestants to get that particular demographic audience to tune in or keep watching.

As previously stated, Nutsa brings in the worldwide & Latin demographic. Cam, who sung Hallelujah represented Christian Rock. Other styles and demographics I can think of off hand are several hard rock singers, pop singers, soft rock singers, a few country singers. The 16-year old female is the teen pop/Taylor Swift type. They have a couple R&B Motown type singers. Someone can probably do gospel singing. A Broadway show singer.

Then there are contestants who have the background / hometown stories the show needs because there are hopeful viewers in the same situations: those from a small town with only one stop light in the whole town. The burger flipper, the Walmart cashier, the stay at home mom of three. Fire with her "stripper turned AI contestant" must have been a walking god-send if her story is real.

They also need some contestants that represent various cities and parts of the country as there are many viewers there.

For all these Fillers, it really doesn't matter when they go or if they are really that talented or special. They just have to be interesting enough during the show to hold the audience's attention or sympathy or provide some drama. The majority will never do anything with even having been on the show. This will be a highlight of their lives, in and of itself and that's IT.

 

[Imzadi]

BTW, my theory above is from watching 20+ seasons of Dancing With the Stars which has clearly delineated categories of "stars."

For those curious, the DWTS categories they try to have each season are:

The Sports star: Usually these are NFL football players. They usually do really well. All that footwork training, running though rubber tires laying on their sides, as well as learning to pivot and evade other players while running with the football really makes them great at learning many of the dances.

The Olympic athlete, that usually wins every season.

They've added a Disabled player category. If they happen have a prosthetic leg or two, and an arm, they are in. If they also have to be a Para-Olympian, all the better as that's two categories they fit. Last season, we had the deaf actor, Daniel Durant, from the Oscar winning Coda as one of the finalists.

The ABC/Disney star, who ALWAYS stays to the Final 6, at least, regardless of how good or mediocre they are because they are cross-advertising for their ABC/Disney show. One guy was so bad, you could tell he wanted to be booted off. Nope, not happening. He always looked so depressed when it was announced he was coming back the next week. But, ABC wanted their cross-advertising from him.

There is also one senior/elderly star.

One musician/singer, preferably an ex-boy band member.

One supermodel, who is usually as wooden as a board.

One of the Real Housewives or a reality TV star.

One politician who usually dances badly. They usually skew all the results as they end up staying around longer than they should, because one half of the country votes for them, whether they even watched the show or not.

One "ringer" who usually has dance training. They always say they don't know ballroom or partner dancing, as though that makes a difference, which it doesn't. They can dance. The show always casts at least one star who they know CAN dance, so the show isn't a complete failure if no one can dance. Yet, what that usually means is we know from the start who will most likely win.

Watching this for several seasons, you realize, as long as some person is gone before the Finals, it kind of doesn't matter what the order contestants leave in. Although, it isn't fair to the contestants that are good and dancing their hearts out, getting better each week and they end up going before worse stars - or stars who are made to stay for various reasons.

For me, this is why tuning in to AI for the first time in ages, is interesting. It's not as cut and dried who will win.

 

[Imzadi]

Sara Beth Liebe.

She said she missed her kids and I also think the extremely rude comment to her by Katy factored in,but not an emergency situation.

If someone thinks there is ANY chance they will dropout,they should not enter to start with-stick it out!

Do you really think she had what it takes to be a music star? She ran off stage like a skittish kitten. If she couldn't take a rude comment from Katy, what would happen to her the first time someone in an audience she's performing at shouts out something rude about her? Would she have stopped the performance and run away?

Here is what she said before running off, “I don’t even know what show business is. I’ve been a mom since I was 18. I’ve been married since I was 18… I don’t think I realized quite how hard it would be to be away from my kids.”

I think she was right. She didn't know what show business requires. What a competition of this caliber requires. She's having to sing across from someone and pull stuff out of herself that was never required of her before.

I have to wonder if that wasn't also the same for Kaya Stewart, the daughter of the Eurythmics musician. WHO in his stratosphere is going to say to his daughter that maybe she isn't a great singer? WHO is going to tell her that she will have to compete her guts out to become and stay a star? That it might not be easy?

According to the edit we saw, she did sing for a while with Fire. So, they had a song planned that they rehearsed. Then she supposedly became ill and slept the rest of the time on the couch.

Maybe when she realized what was really required of her, that she not only has to have what it takes to support another singer, but she has to really compete against her and everyone else, she realized then she didn't have what it takes and she checked out by sleeping through the day.

She wasn't so sick that she couldn't stand in front of the judges the next day. This is what she said to them, “I have been trying to push myself and keep going. During this performance I got to work with Fire and it was such a great experience. She’s so talented, so incredible and we bonded so much, but I realized I wasn’t able to give 100 percent.”

If SHE had any grace, even already knowing she was pulling out of the competition, she could have sang with Fire, giving 60%, so Fire could, at least, do what she rehearsed. Then after the applause or puzzled looks were over, THEN Kaya could have said, she was sick and she knew she didn't do very well and was leaving. But, she wanted to do HER PART in helping her duet partner do a good job. OR she would have told Fire sooner, so Fire could have made alternate plans with someone else.

THAT'S GRACE, which is what Katy told Nutsa to have.

Instead, she was a coward who didn't bother to try and also ran. I guess her Eurythmics father never told her that sometimes one has to perform, if at all possible, even if one is somewhat sick, so as not to let the fans or other people down.

I'll never forget when Michael J. Fox finally announced he has
Parkinson's. He had hid it for so long, for years. He said when he first found out he had it, one of the FIRST things he thought of is that if he had to end his show, Spin City, he knew so many people would be out of work, the cast, the crew, the whole production team. (In NYC we don't get as many long running TV shows as they have in L.A., so many people could be out of work for quite a while until the next series decides to film in NYC.) So many people depended on him. He thought of others. That is a STAR.

Again, I haven't seen the show in quite some time, but I think we will probably see other contestants breaking under the pressure. Not having enough ambition, tenacity, discipline, etc.

 

[_19disnA]

All of the various reality TV shows where people vote for the winners is going to depend on the demographics of those who watch/vote. Some of the prior winners from America's Got Talent were little girls playing the ukulele or being ventriloquists. The ukulele is a novelty instrument that never seems to be in tune regardless of who plays it. I would imagine those watching who were around their age were the ones voting for them. Or the West Coast radio DJ who won Dancing with the Stars when it was obvious his dancing skills were limited. I assume his big following from the radio show voted for him regardless of his dancing abilities.

All of these are entertainment shows and at times are fun to watch. I never get that wrapped up in who wins (or doesn't) and then life goes on.

 

[nw6675]

 

[Imzadi]

Last night when I was watching the top 20, I actually thought, "Who is that person?" I swear I've never seen that person before, even though I know I watched everyone so far. Tonight, apparently America is agreeing with me for the most part. Either some contestants have been to unmemorable, or too generic, or just being too loud.

 

[Imzadi]

Hmm, I'm interested to know who you are talking about.

Can you put it in a Spoiler?

 

[nw6675]

Hmm, I'm interested to know who you are talking about.

Can you put it in a Spoiler?

 

[nw6675]

Did that work?

 

[Imzadi]

OMG! I just loved the person who sang Lionel Ritchie's Stuck On You and the spin that was put on that song! I was so afraid that person wasn't going to make it tonight as I didn't think their song from last night was very memorable. It didn't have enough changes throughout to be competitive. This person KILLED it tonight! I was teary-eyed watching that performance.

 

[Imzadi]

Did that work?

No.

You have to click on the 3 dots to the right of the Smiley icon. Then click on the button second to the right that has a slash through it.

Enter a spoiler title (which is redundant as it will later say it's a SPOILER.) Click continue.

Then TYPE BETWEEN the Spoiler codes - in between the middle brackets:
[ SPOILER] type in between here [ SPOILER]

 

[nw6675]

Spoiler: Spoiler

mariah

 

[Marrila]

I'm still watching so I'll be back in a bit to read the spoiler.

 

[Imzadi]

Spoiler: Spoiler

mariah

Replying:

Spoiler: Replying to Spoiler

Yeah, that one is a hard one.
She fits into a couple categories that already have some people who've been saved already.

 

[nw6675]

Yyyuuuuuuccckkkkk

 

[Imzadi]

Regarding the LAST person chosen by the judges:

 

[Marrila]

Regarding the LAST person chosen by the judges:

Agree. I just saw the end of the program, I couldn't believe the last pick. Not good.

 

[1420Elexismc]

I agree with a lot of the top 12….some…not so much

 

[lynxstch]

OMG! I just loved the person who sang Lionel Ritchie's Stuck On You and the spin that was put on that song! I was so afraid that person wasn't going to make it tonight as I didn't think their song from last night was very memorable. It didn't have enough changes throughout to be competitive. This person KILLED it tonight! I was teary-eyed watching that performance.

That person has been one of my favorites since the first audition. Brings me to tears almost every time.

 

[lynxstch]

Happy with some, not so happy with others, especially the last 2 picked by the judges.