Who should be voted of 4/06/04

American Idol: Season 3 Forum

Tell us who deserves to go home. This thread will open on Tuesday April 6, 2004 just before the show airs on the East Coast. Remember to keep all discussion of the show here so that those of us on the West Coast do not have the show ruined for us.

Thread and poll now open.

Johns gotta go... stay in Vegas, doing Dean Martin/Frank Sinatra/Wayne Newton!!!!

John is just showing what he can do. I agree that tonight was not his best performance but that should not affect what he did other nights. Also, think of this, he is only 16! Come on, how would you feel? It is VERY hard to be liked on that show and well.... just take it into consideration that he needs a singing teacher to work his voice out. In my opinion, I don't just think he is adorable, I think he is unique!

He is unique, I totally agree, and hes adorable because of his age.. but hes getting killed in this competition. his strength is not in POP... Hes got potential but just not quite there yet.

lol... i have opinions on all of them as well!!!

Camille, I dont like her.

John is probably my favorite

I just have to say
WHOOOOOOOHOOOOO ELTON! I love his music.

Whew, could these kids have been any worse tonight? (according to the judges)

I come to realize something tonight that I never thought about before. I watch and listen to this on a 61" TV with 5.1 Stereo Surround Sound. I have the volume up about half way. Why am I bringing this up. It's because a great majority of America is listening to this with that crappy speaker that is in their 19" to 27" Television.

Sometimes I think I am not hearing the same thing the judges are hearing although a lot of the time I do agree with them. It's very clear that they have seem to have picked who they believe should go through and gear their comments toward trying to steer the audience (country) to their way of thinking. I think that sometimes they forget that the voting will be who America wants to see as their American Idol.

Tonight they were pretty harsh on these kids save their few favorites. Randy telling many of them they sounded Pitchy. Get real, they get 1 week to work on a song that they maybe have never sang before get out and hit every note flawlessly. There are some professionals that can't do that after months or years practicing the song that they wrote. Let alone sing it a week after they've seen it.

Tonight one was told that when they went for the higher notes that they weren't quite reaching it. I didn't notice it.

Come on judges, this is LIVE, if you want lip synching to studio quality then get Janet Jackson. Oh and quit trying to steer America to YOUR favorites.

I'll step off my soap box now and will tell you my picks later.

ok guys - so who sang what song and what kind of reviews did they get?

In your opinion who were the top 3 and of course who were the bottom 3 performances tonight?

I am waiting for some East coasters to post. I want to see what they thought. I will post mine when they finish. So far JPL sang "Rocket Man", Fantasia sang "?", dang, I forgot. Not to impressive I guess. Jasmine sang "don't let the sun go down on me". John Stevens made the mistake of singing "crocodile rock". It was so bad. Poor kid.

I didn't think Johns Rocket Man was all that bad. In fact I think for him it was quite good. He did have one part where he seemed to loose it though but overall I thought he was quite entertaining. I thought Jennifer Hudson stole the show tonight.

Sorry I can't remember the songs. I think Jennifer's was a song from a Disney movie.

Camille well I don't see what America sees. Again I place her on the bottom.

was it Can You Feel The Love Tonight - from Lion King? I could imagine Jen doing a great job with that one....

You would put Camille below John S? Thats strange cos she showed signs last week of having come to terms with performing on stage ... mind you the missing ingredient was the sound, which i was hoping Camille would improve on this week.

It'll be interesting to find out the song choices because that normally makes a big difference.

Okay, so they promised us Big Band and delivered Elton John. There's a bit of a difference there, but having heard Elton live in concert and being completely enthralled, I am content with waiting yet again for Big Band week to roll around some other time. And of course, Elton is following Billy Joel's lead from last year and not making an in-studio appearance, but at least UNLIKE last year they didn't bring back Smokey Robinson to pretend to judge our remaining nine hopefuls.

Okay, so in the intro Elton says he would sign Fantasia immediately. She says meeting Elton John comes second to giving birth as her greatest life experience. Take that, Simon. Tonight she stands amid the audience and sings her take on "Something About The Way You Look Tonight." I think her Country week song was far superior. Maybe it's due to the crowd mingling that makes one not shine as much. She does give a solid performance and Randy raves that she's a young Aretha. Paula loves it, and Simon, of course, says it was the weakest of her performances to date.

JPL is up next and actually picks the perfect song for his voice- "Rocketman." He does really well with it until he gets off his chair and starts strutting around again. There is no manic dancing, but just his swagger across the stage is getting old. I do like John and his voice, but less and less every week. And the green jacket! Ghastly! He smiled for the first time during a couple close-ups, so that should bring in some votes. Most of the time though, his face gives the blank expression of a clueless twelve year-old. I dunno.... Randy loves the jacket. What!?! but really disses the performance saying he lacks a "winner's spirit." Paula wasn't thrilled, saying John is still finding his style, and Simon says that he too, likes the green jacket. Okay now I know he's reading my mind because that's exactly what I would say to piss me off. Ugh! Anyway, Simon says JPL was not great. Personally, I think it was one of JPL's better performances, but I wish he'd have stayed seated.

Here it comes! We knew SOMEBODY was bound to sing "Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me." Someone has every year, even on Canadian Idol, and Jasmine does the honors this time. But I don't know about honoring the song. It's okay I guess, but what I just realized about Jasmine is that all of her performances are strictly mechanical. I don't see Jasmine singing with any heart or feeling. Her voice is good and usually the notes are there, but she lacks conviction. She does look beautiful tonight, but near the end a lot of her notes are funky and her tone goes sour. Randy calls it pitchy. Paula says it was pitchy and lacked color- but she used about a million more words than I did two or three sentences ago. Simon says it was just not good enough.

I have another revelation about midway through a Hallmark Easter commercial featuring the Peanuts gang's Schroeder and Lucy. JPL is some live-action version of the piano-playing Schroeder. Even JPL's dancing is reminiscent of the Peanuts movements that I remember. If JPL went blonde, there you'd have it.

http://www.peanuts.com/comics/peanuts/meet_the_gang/images/meet_schroeder_big.gif

Speaking of colored hair, John Stevens is up next, and Elton says he's worried. John's picked a "novelty" song and Sir Elton says that will either really help you or really hurt you. John doesn't care though. He says watching Elton play the song on the piano is something he wouldn't trade anything for. Well John shocks me with the song choice- "Crocodile Rock." And believe it or not, he busts a move and actually dances. Maybe it's a shuffle, but dancing none the less. His singing is fine, nothing superstar, but very entertaining. His smiles even seem to be genuine during tonight's performance, versus last week's painful ones. Randy says it was very high school. Paula gives him props for breaking out and doing something different. Again she used a million other words to get her point across, but hey, we still love her. (Don't bring Leah up, though) Simon says it was horrendous and unfortunately something everyone will remember him for. Oh well, I was entertained, though I was expecting a nice solid ballad.

Camille is in tears once again during her meeting with Elton. She is all smiles come show time though. She sings "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" which would be fitting if she went home this week. It was probably the wrong song for her and she does okay, but nothing stellar. She doesn't seem to be singing with her soul like I felt she did during "One Last Cry", and really hasn't since. I'll bet she'd really be something to hear sitting at a piano by herself or in a recording studio. I just know she has it in her. Her hair is way off tonight. She has a twelve year-old's hairstyle matched to a casual joggering outfit. Hmmm.... Randy says it was just alright. Paula says it was shaky and Simon says it should be the end of the road for her this week. Once again, he's stealing my lines!

With a little known Elton song, "Take Me To The Pilot," George is about to MAKE it known via lots of downloaded mp3s. He rocks with it, gives it a real Gospel feel and shows a lot of soul. Finally somebody dares to bare it! George is awesome and I am now confident he will win this competition and Simon will gloat because he put him into the Wildcard round. I was hesitating to say that after Country week, but it's official now. Randy says he's even better every week. Paula claims he's a singing machine and Simon gets a couple words out, but the crowd is still cheering so much that he can't really say anything.

Okay, I held my tongue before, but now they're making us watch the exact same Old Navy commercial as before and guess what? Thirty-five minutes later, it still sucks! I have yet to step foot into an Old Navy store because of their heinous commercials. Ever since the old lady with the big glasses, I refuse to walk into one. They have got to STOP!


Speaking of paparazzi, it looks like they caught Diana washing up because she has wrapped a shower curtain around her chest and has her hair thrown up in a messy tangle. Yikes! I officially predict Diana is gong home this week on the basis of her song choice alone- "I'm Still Standing." How ironic would that be, and I know this country feeds off my ironic sense of humor. I do like Diana, but she is just alright tonight. Randy says basically that, and Paula says she's still one of the most powerful singers in the competition. I'm certain Paula is still impressed that she held one loooooooooong note two weeks ago. Yeah, let's move on. Simon just shrugs and says nothing.

Elton says he was shocked to see Latoya in the bottom last week, so we do know he's a fan of the show. Yeah, he's cool. That's why they call him Sir. Latoya comes out to prove America was mistaken last week, and gives a nice rendition of "Someone Saved My Life Tonight." Her short hair has returned and her head looks great. The rest, I don't know about. Wardrobe was obviously hungry when they picked out her sherbert clothes- orange for the top and lime for the her skirt. Randy thanks her for delivering a great song, Paula says its the best she's done, but Simon is on the money once again by saying it was good, but not as spectacular as the other Stooges would have people believe.

I don't know if Diana was the best during the Top12 show, but since then the best has always been saved for last. And Jennifer is up last tonight? Yeah, well, she picks the perfect song for her voice and nails it. She treats "Circle of Life" as a reverent hymn and belts it way out of the park. A wise old lion once said, "Remember who you are." Well when Mufasa spoke, Jennifer must have listened. Her attitude turned me off last week, but she proved tonight that she can sing with the best of them. Randy says it was the best of the night. Paula says it showed who she really was. Now she's stealing my material! And Simon said for the first time, Jennifer proved why she's in the competition.

Here's my guff. When the kids sing their style, their way, the judges rave. If they sing their style, their way too much, the judges tell them to do something different. Then they criticize them when the "different" doesn't work. I really hate that aspect about the show. These themes create that same type of "do something different" routine, yet when these people make albums, they're gonna sing their style, their way. And if we are supposed to become fans of these people, shouldn't we be hearing what their album might sound like, rather than all these random themes? Granted I do enjoy the themes, but they seem to work against what their final outcome would be.

Oh well. I don't have all the answers, not even many of them, but I do have great questions. Who's gonna be in the bottom? Well, I think there's enough people left to keep the votes split up, so I think we'll see another middle ranked person take the hit as people are still defending the weak contestants. I stand by my earlier call about Diana taking the plunge. But Camille was safe last week, so she's bound to be in the bottom as well. As for any other names, don't ask me. We're in for a bumpy ride every Wednesday night from here on in. Happy Trails!!!

thanks for that purplefish

i wish camile would get voted off and put me out of my misery. i mean, week after week, she just doesn't cut it.

Camille sang "yellow brick road" and she should hit the road for that horrendous performance. She made John singing "Crocodile Rock" seem like a good performance. I think Camille hit all of three notes on pitch. She sounded like a goat with her voice shaking the way it did. Very obvious that she needs to be going, but I doubt the Camille fans will let her.

Jennifer Hudson at long last picked the perfect song for her voice "Circle of Life". She stole the show and was the best of the night. Her face was relaxed when she sang, it was great.

My top three
1. Jennifer Hudson
2. John Peter Lewis
3. George Huff

Who should go home?
CAMILLE!
runners up -John Stevens and Diana Degarmo-even though she was sick.

JOHN - I'm sorry but two weeks in a row...he really sucks!

John lewis - ok

John stevens- Soooooooo Bad!

Although I'm from Hawaii... prediction is Camile is in Bottom 3. No votes from me

Yay Purplefish, thanks for that great recap. I had to work till 11:30 today and so I missed the show... and my mom forgot to record it! Lucky for me I knew I could depend on someone here writing a great review.

Its looks like its a close call between Camille and John S....
I'm wondering that since their performances may have been a bit suspect that their fans might pull out the stops to keep them in - in which case who else do you think may not do well?

I personally think that if Diana was aparently just ok then she could be in trouble and could be the one out the door this week.

Also to recap - i thought i recall someone saying that most of the performers performed poorly this week??? Did they sound just ordinary or did they trully perform badly?

My top 3 were

1. Jennifer
2. George
3. Jasmine

My bottom 3

1. Camille
2. John Stevens
3. Diana

I think Diana being sick last night hurt her. It's hard to stay in key and hit every note when you're sick. I don't how many people caught it when it was mentioned. It's like they didn't want it to influence the voting. I don't know if that's fair.

I didn't watch too much of tonight's show. I'm no longer truly interested in it. The best singers are gone, in my opinion. And there is no one left that I would spend a penny on their product.

Despite my feelings, I did keep switching back to AI, to hear a little of each singer.

I thought that Camille was horrible, and should be history this week. Last week Simon told her that she bought herself one more week... and then this week, he stated that this was it. Let's hope so.

Jasmine did a horrible job too. I was not impressed with her, at all. Yikes.

John... bleck! I can't say more about him.

JPL was a surprise to me, and sounded decent this week.

LaToya though was the only one who did even a decent job.

The rest... don't like 'em, don't care.

I voted for Camille because she still seems extremely nervous even though she is trying..

that's what bothers me about camile. i used to be a fan of hers. i thought "yeah, she's a little nervous. but she'll warm up to it and really stand out." but it seems that every week, she's nervous. i know she's trying but at this stage of the game, the competition is only going to get more fierce. i feel she's well beyond the point that "she's just nervous" should get her a reprieve.

just a couple of "armchair critic" comments

JPL is very cute, but his voice lacks strength, I wonder how far his looks will take him.. I do like his personality though, he takes criticism well, he seems very laid back and a rather nice fellow..

La Toya is too professional for me and lacks humility..

John Stevens I find very insincere, like he is trying to please the public but its not the way he really is.. how anyone finds him comparable to the old time singers like Perry Como or Frank Sinatra is beyond me IMHO of course

Dianna is in over her head . she is young and lacks life experience to sing Elton John songs especially.. the lyrics need someone who has lived, they might seem light at times, but the meaning behind them is anything but.

Jennifer has a good voice but lacks pizazz

George is my favorite, he is confident yet humble and has such an infectious smile, if he were a dog he would be wagging his tail, I just love him! and he can really sing too.

Camille is way too nervous like she is going to have a breakdown.. maybe she isn't but that's the way it seems.

Fantasia has a great voice, but she needs to receive criticism better..

Jasmine has a nice voice too, but not enough presence, I don't think she will go too far..

anyway, just my thoughts, its fun to be an armchair critic, and of course being Canadian I can't vote.. but I do wish people were only allowed one vote, it would make it much more fair.

selah: "Fantasia has a great voice, but she needs to receive criticism better.." i think this is where a lot of my distaste for fantasia comes from. she seems to just dismiss any criticism (particularly from simon).

That's a main reason that I don't like her... her attitude sucks!

I agree, her attitude is not "Idol", shes got a good voice but is too Miss Diva for me. Maybe that is just her personality... dunno... but it sure turns me off!!

I am so behind ... this week has been one heck of a month.

Purplefish PLEASE do a COMPLETE RECAP tonight ... it started at 7 and I just missed the first half ! Dang !

my rank of Tuesday's performances only. ( I know I'm weird. More later.

Jenn
Jasmine
George
JPL
Fantasia
John S
Latoya
Diana
Camile

Ok I promise i will! 2 more hours~!

First of all, i almost missed the show. Uggh! i thought its coming on at 8:30pm, good thing my husband reminded me

Alright, this is our long await show. Give us the "surprise" already!!! JPL is wearing an awesome TREAHUN SURETER jacket. It's so cool! That's gonna stay an inside joke with those of us who DID see the show. You gotta have your priorities, people! Camille gives a quick shout-out to her dad in Japan since today is his birthday. Shortly after, Ryan lets Gladys Knight plug the new AI finalists' SOUL HITS cd which will be in stores soon. We see a clip of Matt discussing last years American Idol greats and says he's happy to be one of them. He's gotta start getting used to past tense I think . They also point out Julia DeMato from last season and give details on her new single.

We get our big Elton John medley which consists of the girls singing "Benny & The Jets", the guys giving an awesome "Daniel" and a way toooo extended "Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting." They easily could have added another couple songs, but what we get is good anyway. One of the small groups while they are singing is Jasmine, JPL and Camille. It's so funny to see that JPL is easily the shortest one of the three.

We see a quick clip of the Nickelodeon Kid's choice awards, before Tamyra Gray from Season One makes a special guest appearance. She looks a lot like Beyonce tonight and sings a song she wrote called "Raindrops Will Fall." She really is fantastic. The best of the returning contestants if you ask me. She couldn't have been any better. Latoya's fashion consultant from last night must have also helped Tamyra out because she has the same tasty sherbert colors on. She gives a really geeky laugh though after her song is over and Ryan anctually uses the word "parlay." I look twice to make sure he's blonde. Yup.

Our Ford video this week sucks again. They are singing "Love Machine" and all dressed in seventies punk gear. They think that is joke enough and just make cars magically appear during the video. Um...the outfits are funny, but that's about it.

Okay!! Here's the big twist!! All nine have to walk down from the couch and form three groups. One is the highest vote-getters. One group is the bottom three, and the remaing three fill out the middle. That sure is a new method, but hardly a "twist."

Well here they are... Jasmine- A. Jennifer- C. Diana- A. Johhny- B. Latoya- C. JPL- B. Camille- A. Fantasia, go join the Jo(h)ns in B. and George, you're in C.

So we have three groups with no word of which is which.

A- Jasmine, Diana, Camille

B- Johnny, JPL, Fantasia

C- Jennifer, LaToya, George

But which is which? Well, Group C, go sit. Group A, stay standing because B is safe.

So- Bottom 3- Jasmine and Camille watch as Diana gets to go sit back down. Both Hawaiians are left clutching each other as one must head home, but first they each get to sing again. Camille is up first but she doesn't sing what she sang last night. She changes the words to tell the rest of the Top9 that she loves them. She sings she's going back to the islands of Maui, and she does better than she did last night. Jasmine gets her chance and sings worse than she did last night. But Jasmine is the safe one tonight. They share a long embrace, but Camille fiinally gets to thanks her fans and say her farewells. So long Camille and Goodbye Yellow Brick Road. We'll see you on the tour!!!

Thanks again for that recap purplefish

Thanks ... purplefish ... my TVGuide said it started at 7:30 so that's why I missed the first 30 minutes. I turned it on as Tamyra was finishing her number.

Oh well ... at least this week the right one said goodbye to the yellow brick road.

Camile's a pretty girl with a different kind of voice, but needs (lots of ) voice lessons.

Her immediate predecessor AMY is the one we're going to hear more from SOON.

I am really not surprised that Diana was in the Bottom 3 -- AGAIN -- people may think her voice is ok ... but they don't like HER and her wind-up-doll personality.

My apologies to the Latoya lovers ... but she's another clone.

I mean look at what's out there -- their AI competition in the music biz.

Who's better ... Diana or Kelly -- Latoya or Tamyra ? so I'm just saying ...

And Fantasia's attitude ticks me off. I want to see her in the Bottom 3 soon to excise some of that smugness.

This could happen. If JPL, John and Fantasia were indeed the middle vote-getter group .. all of their fan bases could be slipping.

I think Diana, Fantasia and Latoya should go ... but most of the world disagrees with me which is okay.

That would leave us with JPL, Jenn, John, George, and Jasmine. Say those names out loud and we'll have a nice alliterative Final 5.

Don't you think that Diana is making the same kinds of changes that Clay made last year. Changing her looks, her hair was different last night and I think she is attempting to dress the part. I think she is zeroing in on her style but it may be too late.

It looks to me like George, and Jennifer may have found there niche. They are in the contention for the top 4.

John already has his niche but needs to expand and did that this week.

JPL he is trying very hard to find it and may be close but may be too late.

Jasmine and Latoya I don't think need to change a thing. They are the ones to beat unless they make some real horrible song choices.

Fantasia has a following but as others drop off, their fans I don't think will go toward Fantasia. Fantasia's style isn't for everyone especially me. When she sings it grates on me but I'm sure others love it.


Next week Jasmine and Diana should be well again. Hopefully they didn't pass it to the others.

Let's not talk about Diana's chunky-ness, look at Ruben.

Good point Ron. Plus, Diana is a teen. She is bound to go through heavier stages. Also, look at how tall the other girls are. That is bound to make short Diana look bigger.

Yes Diana just makes bad decisions about what to wear.

john peter lewis

he is so ****