JPF Home Page Forums General Messages General Message Forum American Idol Finals

My AI Picks:

(I just watched the AI shows from this week. Before I even saw the performances, I correctly chose who would go. Ashton didn't deserve to make the top 13. Once she performed, I didn't change my mind, though she was not the worst of the night by any stretch. I read some of the comments above and had to laugh. But that's what these posts are for right? A good laugh).

5 Best of the night: (This has nothing to do with where I think they will finish)

1. James Durbin: This guy put in a performance that shocked me because I thought Casey would walk all over everyone nearly every week. Play it back if you have it, it was an excellent performance filled with nuances and great vocal choices with a feeling that he was in the song, not just singing words on a page.

2. Casey Abrams: This guy is head and shoulders over the rest, which means he'll likely finish second right? Since that's what often happens with AI (certainly the last 2 years and many others). But seriously... he'll pull the bass out if anyone starts giving him serious competition sparingly, but it doesn't matter, he's a man among mostly little boys and girls, literally and figuratively.

3. Stefano Langone: He's the most commercial R&B male singer they've ever had in any season. Terrible song choice and his vocals were far from perfect, but after the top two, all the other singers had serious flaws, so I'll go with realistic commercial viability.

4. Scott McCreery: Not because he's great. But he was in key more than any that follow. But he has no charisma and he was singing words off a page, and was not in the song at all. Watch Garth do it then go back and see how much of a dead fish he was. But, with field this bad this week, ya gotta pick someone.

5. Naima Adedapo: I am not a believer in this girl at all. I haven't heard a good performance yet. The reggae breakdown was the only thing that saved her (as well as the favorable set up that Idol so predictably does by placing her last, giving her special lighting, giving her the same producer of the original hit (I mean, seriously, this girl doing Rhianna is a joke... she's not even in her universe). But because she had a good 20 seconds, she finished 5th.

In a year where I was actually impressed by the early rounds, this was a typical HORRIBLE first show with nearly everyone singing flat, with little charisma and not in any sort of real level good enough to win (though with some of the weak winners of past years, anything is possible). I think there are a few good singers in this batch, let's hope that Jimmy Iovine doesn't ruin them all with his endless ego and self promotion of his production team and himself. I mean seriously, what does it add seeing him in every segment? (Don Was is a great producer though as are some of the others, but there were some terrible musical backing choices through most of the songs).

The WORST of the night: (Again, nothing to do with my predictions of their eventual finishes)

1. Pia Toscano: I feel she will rebound and become perhaps the last girl standing, but let's be real, that performance was a nightmare of off key screaching. I was embarrassed for her and horrified at the same time.

2. Paul McDonald: Seriously? It took a world class terrible performance to beat him, but it was still close. Yuck. He obviously has lots of fans so perhaps he'll choose something he can sing other than hacking through Maggie May (which I felt was awful as well).

3. Ashton Jones: She didn't deserve to be in the finals and proved it here. It wasn't that she sang "most" off key (she didn't) but she had no energy and nothing but a faint whiff of faux charisma holding her up as she pretended to be Diana Ross like a little girl playing dress up. It sucked. She was totally forgettable.

4. Karen Rodriguez: Another horrible horrible horrible "artist" who makes my skin crawl for some reason every time I hear her. Like Ashton, her pretend Selena dress up is just sad. She's not Selena and no one else ever will be. How about having a personality of your own? Or ANY for that matter.

5. Haley Reinhart: Patsy Cline is SOOO happy from the grave that she didn't record this to avoid any possible connection to this sad excuse for a performance. LeeAnn Rhimes would be turning over in her grave if she were dead, and if forced to hear that dreck a few times it might kill her.

I didn't include Thia Megia in the bottom 5 only because she had the worst arrangement in AI history. No one could have made that disaster sound good, so I am giving her a complete pass on that one even though she was flat and sharp often, it was the arrangement that ruined that one.

This is the worst set of female singer performances ever in the first round of the finals. The few I didn't mention were nothing to remember either. I expect Lauren and Pia to improve greatly from week 1 (they can't do much other than improve) and Naima will be exposed for the insider set/up that she appears to be. (She's clearly been dragged along every round, featured to death, given hugely preferential treatment and brought back from the dead in the wild card when the second best female singer (the dark haired girl that had a rock edge to her) wasn't even allowed a shot to sing and PROVE how much she deserved to be in the finals). Jimmy and the Producers want her to get exposure and like other sham finalists, they'll use every trick they can to drag her along as far as they can. Even if she improves, she never deserved a spot to start with. Dozens of others were FAR more deserving. Cleaning toilets for a living does not qualify you or make you deserve a shot a more talented singer deserved.

My Pick to go was Ashton, and not because she deserved it. But AI is predicatable. The voters have a habit of kicking out more qualified African American singers and keeping other races in the early rounds, especially when they don't do much to make a fan (unlike Naima did with the Reggae Break). It's sad but a reality. I knew before the performances that they'd protect Naima in some way, so that left Ashton. Based on her weak performances all the way up to the faux "Wild Card" round which was merely an excuse to get their inside picks back in the running instead of letting fans choose. But let's face it, she was cannon fodder anyway and had zero chance of contending.

My Top 5 Based on the Entire Season So Far:

1. Casey Abrams. He's the Adam Lambert of this season, without the baggage that scared off the bigots. Head and shoulders superior to all others.

2. James Durbin. He didn't start in my top 5 and had some brutal Hollywood week performances, but his last two has lifted him up into reality. If he nails it again next week Casey may get nervous.

3. Jacob Lusk. I think he could "Fly" or die just as easily, but the guy can sing when he's on.

4. Pia Toscano. She'll need to fix her disastrous start quickly after the cannon fodder is gone or she won't have the fan base built to contend. But if she hits at least a double next week, people will forget "All By Myself" screeching and all.

4. Lauren Alaina. She's the young cute girl who will outlast the other remaining girls. But I think Pia has a bit more in the tank, though they're really tied in my mind in general and well above the other gals in the running.

Who SHOULD go next week? Paul McDonald. Who WILL go? Stay tuned!

Let the screaming outrage begin!

Brian