Chris Sligh along with Chris Lagerberg wrote Here Comes Goodbye which was the song choice of Aaron Kelly this past week on Idol; this song is most notably song by Rascal Flatts.In his blog entitled From My Mind To Your Eyeshe captures how Idol has been a double edged sword for him.It has provided both advantages and roadblocks for him in the industry.So at this current juncture in his career he is saying good-bye to Idol and moving forward as an artist.
Elliot Yamin wasn’t the only Idol Contestant to make headlines this weekend. Season 7 contestant Chikezie Eze was highlighted by TMZ in the following article:
Chikezie Eze was arrested after trying to buy men's cologne on a stolen credit card ... law enforcement sources tell TMZ.
We broke the story ... the former "American Idol" was busted at Neiman Marcus last night and booked on felony identity theft.
Chikezie told us earlier today he used a Neiman's credit card with his name on it to purchase two bottles of cologne, but we've now learned the store flagged the plastic as a "stolen credit card."
Chikezie is out on $50,000 bail ... the approximate price of two bottles of cologne at Neiman's.
UPDATE: A rep for Neiman Marcus tells TMZ, "We're cooperating with local authorities."
For those of you who aren’t currently aware of what has been going in Chile.On Saturday there was an 8.8 earthquake.Over 1.5 million people have been impacted by this natural disaster.Why post about Chile here on IdolPhenomena is because Season 5 Idol Contestant Elliot Yamin has been there throughout this devastating experience. Why was there he was participating in some type of music festival.For the past day his twitter account @elliottyamin has been on fire.All through the quake and the aftershock he was tweeting and many other news channels and blog sites have posted so just do a Google search or Yahoo search for the play by play.However within the last hour Elliot tweeted the following:
“Sweet!!..twitter on my phn is back up and working!. kinda like we're stuck on remote island w no way 2 get out...at least I'm alive & well!!”
It is certainly reassuring that our idol is currently alive and well. He doesn’t believe he will be moving from his current location at least until Wednesday this week.Throughout this natural disaster Elliot has acted as a correspondent to many different new shows, however tomorrow morning he will be on KissFM live with Ryan Seacrest so all of you Elliot fans out there check that broadcast out!
Already aware ¾ if tonight’s cuts before watching my DVR’d episode I was ready for another night of disappointment.So after over 24 Million votes they have the results and in the next hour we will see four Idol hopefuls sent home.
The night starts off with the infamous group performance. Tonight the Top 24 perform American Boy by Estelle.The girls start up with some amazing vocals and harmonies.Then the boys come in and provide a good contrast against the girls voices and then in unison all the guys say”...you’ll be my American boy.” I am think WTF. Did they really just say that talk about awkward all around performance.Up next is the part in the show where they cut the first girl of Season 9.So first Ryan announces whose safe Siobhan, Haeley, Michelle and Katelyn are all told to sit down and that they will all be back next week.We are then set up for that suspense killing moment when he finally tells us who is going through and who will be staying.Either Katie or Janell as a casualty at this point will leave me thoroughly disappointed.As we say goodbye to Janell tonight we say goodbye to one of my favorites since Day 1. L Sad face.
Next Alison Irahetea takes the stage with her new single Scars.I love the raspy tone of her voice.While watching the dress she wore because I felt that it clashed with the music, however the dress itself was very much “Alison Iraheta.”
Now for the second line of girls Paige is safe, Lacey is safe and Lilly is safe.It really makes me curious as to how many times her Idol friends voted for Lacey the other night.I’m sure that they were all happy to see that she would be moving on. Now Didi and Ashley which would another leave one of my favorites out of the competition again; I personally can’t believe we saw Ashley go home tonight what is America thinking.And on another note I Didi my grandma needs her afghan back if it is at all possible.She is very old and very cold- Notice the Home Alone 3 reference. Who doesn’t love Mrs. Hess?
Now for the first guy cut of the night duh duh duh…. Joe Munoz over Tim Urban.Apparently Tim thought he was leaving tonight because he definitely freaked out when they cut Joe. However this was just the first shocker for the guy’s results.
Tonight before the last cut Kris Allen took the stage and gave an amazing acoustic performance of Let It Be. I suggest everyone hit up iTunes and download it because the proceeds go to Haiti and then at a certain point proceeds will feed back into Idol Gives Back.Or you can text IDOL to 20222 to donate $10.00.
Now for the last and most surprising cut of the night….. Tyler Grady.Really American Tyler over Alex I don’t understand.Is the average American tone deaf and easily manipulated or just stupid?
I don’t know if I am excited for next week yet.However, I still am and always will be the IdolFan. :-)
Okay finally we’ve had a chance to see all Top 24 contestants perform.And I don’t know if you were as disappointed as I am but I expected so much more.The vocals overall are just there people are pitchy and constantly picking the wrong song.Since I wasn’t able to watch the show as it aired to the East Coast tonight I had to ignore all the tweeters that I normally chat with during the performances tonight so I could give my honest opinion about tonight.However, I feel like I would agree with many of them.
Tonight started off with 24 yr old Todrick Hall from Arlington, TX.His initial audition was amazing and then in Hollywood week he has a rocky group round.However, tonight he sang Kelly Clarkson’s Since You Been Gone.Ellen said the chorus was rough and that he wasn’t the best singer but a good performer.Randy followed that up with expressing how he didn’t even know what song he was singing.He then advised Todrick not to completely obliterate the songs he chooses.Kara assured him he was a strong singer and that he did not to change a song as much as he did.Simon felt he was a dancer trying to sing who murdered the original song and was on the verge of being stupid.In my opening Todrick’s performance was a bit catchy and original.I personally was just unsure how to feel about it.It just made see like I was going to be in for a long night.Yay for being creative here, right Ryan?
Up next was 16 yr old Aaron Kelly from Sonestown, PA.He belief that his most defining moment is when he forgot the word Hollywood Week while singing Angel.His experience on idol so far seems to be surreal and dream like.His rendition of Here Comes Goodbye by The Rascal Flatts was very good and this time he remembered all his lyrics.He definitely hit some great high notes. Overall Simon felt it was a good performance however Randy felt that it had pitchy moments and that he needs to believe in himself.Ellen expressed the same feelings and said she loved how humble he is.Aaron is definitely another young contestant with an amazing voice and great potential.
Jermaine Sellers was the third performer of the night.This church singer from Joliet, IL through the band under the bus during Hollywood Week for not playing the music the way they had planned.Most noted for his diva move surrounding that incident he definitely was one of the worst performances of the night. Ellen loved his look and expressed that he pushed the song too much.Randy again expressed the need to sing the Melody especially for an Oleta Adams song Get Here.Kara believed that Jermaine attempted to show everyone what he could do by showcasing his range.Is this the judge’s panel way of telling the contestant politely that they suck???This performance totally my ears cringe and think that someone somewhere was killing a cat.I was also under the impression that what he was singing was nowhere near the key of where the band was playing.
Up next was Tim Urban who replaced Chris GoLightly in the Top 24.First off I can’t believe that he didn’t tell his family that he going to Hollywood after being cut.So he sang and awkward rendition of One Republic’s Apologize.Throughout the whole performance I wasn’t sure if he was singing in tune.It appeared almost as if he were singing in a different key than the band was playing in.My prediction is that he won’t make it past this Thursday night.Simon starts off by saying that they were right to have made their decision to initially have cut him. –OUCH! Kara than says that it’s almost as if the music it ate him up that his vocal was buried under the instrumentation.This is quickly followed with another wrong song dude from Randy. And Ellen gets slightly critical and says that he wasn’t able to hit the high notes but on the plus side you are adorable.This is followed by Ryan proceeding to ask Tim why he chose this song and the answer is simply because it was fun to perform. That’s a whole good two or three minutes of my life I won’t ever get back I definitely did not have fun.
Up next was Joe Munoz.I have never been sure how to feel about this contestant simply because he has not had a lot of air time.However this 20 yr old student from Huntington Park, CA really surprised me.Compared to most of the performances before him this one was actually half way decent.Ellen is pleased with his performance and proceeds to say that he belongs there in the top 24.Kara, like myself agrees that Joe is the best singer so far that we’ve seen all night.Randy agrees and then Simon has to oh so bold to say that his song choice was okay that it was safe and forgettable.Will no one please him tonight?
Next was Lee DeWyze who has been one of my favorites throughout the competition.This 23 yr old Chicago, IL native chose to sing Chasing Cars by Snow Patrol.This is definitely not something I would have chosen for his voice type by it was still good. I love the tone to his voice.Ellen seemed to think he chose a good song and agrees that he has a good tone to his voice.Like Ellen Randy also is a fan of Lee’s voice.Kara said that the songs range limited him to what he could do vocally even though he did attempt to make parts of the song his own they became unrecognizable.But would like to thank Simone for dubbing this the best performance of the night cause I could not agree more about how authentic Lee sounds vocally.So Ryan proceeds to ask Lee how he feels performing in front of millions of people and his answer is that he wants to have this same exact feeling the rest of his life.
John Park is up next singing God Bless the Child definitely wrong song to chose.I was just not impressed.This performance was given a whole lot of you haven’t the voice to sing this, old and all out of sort, and the classic wish you would have chosen another song.He tells the viewers that he chose this song because of his parents and money –awkward much???
Michael Lynche is up next performing This Love by Maroon 5.At one point in his performance it almost appeared as if he were eating the mic, I’m just sayin.Why must tonight’s contestants continue to deviate from the melody?All of these songs were made popular because of their melodies. Ellen starts off by saying that his performance was infectious and that it displayed his personality.But the general consensus is that his performance was safe and that his personality is overpowering his vocals. And oh yeah this just happens to be a singing competition and not a personality competition-LOL. My favorite judge’s comment of the night is when Simon compares his performance to the supporting performance for a main act.
I can’t believe there are three more performances to critique it feels like this episode is incredibly long and drawn out.So this next performer surprises me.Alex Lambert performs What a Wonderful World by Jim Morrison.He definitely has a decent voice. I’m not a fan of bobbing around on stage though.I definitely agree with Simon when he says that the performance made him feel uncomfortable because it would appear as if Alex himself was uncomfortable. Kara for some reason just wants to give out hugs here- definitely getting late-LOL.She then says he has a good tone to his voice and great potential.Randy then follows with his critique and expresses that Alex needs to do it with conviction.Ellen just loves how he is rock ‘n the mullet J.Ryan then asks Alex how many times has he performed in front of people and his answer is like three at a coffee shop and that performing on stage tonight was absolutely terrifying.Oh don’t worry Alex all you need to do is ripe ‘n up. – Can’t forget the BANANNA reference right Ellen?
Casey James does an absolutely flawless performance of Heaven which for some reason has Kara all flustered-LOL.Kara expressed how Casey is both eye and ear candy and how she doesn’t recognize him with his shirt on.This followed with Ellen stating that she could feel Kara undressing him with her eyes.Randy then proceeds with saying that he likes Casey but not the same way Kara does.Simon gives out his second positive critique of the night by saying Casey absolutely chose the right song.The performance was honest and sincere. Simon I couldn’t agree more.
The last performance of the night was the most anticipated in my mind.Andrew Garcia from Moreno Valley, CA took the stage tonight with his own acoustic rendition of fall out Boy’s Sugar We’re Going Down.I’m not quite sure how to feel about this performance.I kind of felt slightly let down because of all the hype surrounding Andrew as an artist. The arrangement itself was definitely unique.Simon expressed similar feelings by saying that he was disappointed and that this performance was not original enough.Kara too felt the acoustic version of the song was strange.And Randy and Ellen distinctly remember him from Hollywood because of his version of Straight Up.Which is definitely still fresh in a lot of his fans minds which is what’s going to keep him here in the competition.
Overall tonight’s performances were not as disappointing as the previous nights.And yet I still can’t wait to find out who leaves.My prediction for which males we are going to see leave tonight are Tim Urban and possibly Jermaine Sellers for yelling at us through the TV or John Park for his forgettable performance. I anticipate the results show.Who knows the results may be shocking.
