American Idol: Men 2/20/2007

The new season is off, and since I had so much fun covering it last year, I decided to cover the show again this year.

Unfortunately, unlike last year, there are no real standouts for me this year. But there are a few I have picked to make it to the final 12. Tonight it was the men’s turn singing. I will point out the highlights and skip over the rest since there we 12 singers and I am insanely busy right now with deadlines (hence my lack of blogging lately).

My impression of the men this year is too many skin heads. I mean, come on, Daughtry is the most successful of last year Idols so far. His new CD has sold 1.5 million to Taylor Hicks 640,000. And he has two hit songs so far to Taylor’s none. Which is a disappointment, I must say. (Hey, even Kellie Pickler has outsold McPhee so far.) None the less, the majority of the dudes this year all seem alike. And they all have that Britney Spears/Chris Daughtry look. What is this, a pool hall? I have never seen so many cueballs since a Dr. Evil convention.

Of these shiny pated chumps, I would say the two stand out singers for me is Chris Richardson, who everyone compares to Justin Timberlake and Phil Stacey who looks a little like a love child of Don Knotts and Telly Savalas. His sob story is that he missed the birth of hid first child to audition for Idol. I suspect he will make it to the final 12 due to his humbleness and good sining skills.

For me the standouts with hair this year are Chris Sligh, who looks nothing like a pop star but has the singing chops and the personality to make it on some level. Brandon Rogers, who is competing with Sanjaya Malakar for the Ace Young 2007 award. Both are extra cute so the girls will vote for them, both know how to mug the camera. Though Sanjaya seems to be very sincere about it. I suspect he will lose in a few rounds because he is too timid. But I’m dating myself when I say he reminds me of a young Leif Garrett. I can see him becoming a teen idol. We’ll see. His singing was not great, but neither was Kellie Pickler’s and she almost stole the show last year.

I think my favorite is Blake Lewis, the beat box singer from Seattle. Aside from his Anime hair style, he is not only an excellent singer, he shows a lot of versatility. I think he has a shot at the final three.

The rest were fair to middling. Jared Cotter was really good but kind of familiar. The one guy I was sort of rooting for, Sundance Head, seems to be flaming out. He may get another chance next week, but he really needs to bring it to survive. Though I suspect Vote for the Worst will champion him this year.

The balance of the men will probably be weeded out in the next few weeks unless one of them turns out to be a surprise. I am still hoping Sundance will bring it, since he showed so much promise in his audition. We’ll see.

I am looking forward to ladies’s night tomorrow. They have some real stand outs this year on the girl’s side. Probably because they had a bigger talent pool to choose from. Meet me back here tomorrow.

UPDATE: Dial Idol predicts Paul Kim and Nick Pedro to be voted off. Sundance is the most popular of the night! Followed by Sanjay. Interesting. 

1. I agree James, too many baldys. My fav too is Blake. I think Sundance totally blew it. I’d vote Rudy & Sundance off this week....but then I didn’t vote at all. My heart still belongs to Taylor.
   Thanx for the commentary............AI is how I found your blog, for which I will always be thankful !!!! 

   Posted by  on  02/21  at  04:11 AM

2. I think Sanjaya will be going home this week. 

   I thought Tommy should have stayed and Sundance should have gone home, when they were down to the final two spots.

   Blake is great, as is Phil Stacey.

   I like Chris Sligh’s sense of humor.  Was Simon joking around, or did Chris really make him uncomfortable?  I know about Simon’s connection to Il Divo, but is he somehow responsible for the TeleTubbies?

   Posted by  on  02/21  at  08:45 AM

3. Yeah, Bannod...I heard he had something to do with ‘em. Simon looked totally POed. He can dish it out, but doesn’t expect getting it back!

   I think the lil girls will keep Sanjay cause he’s so cute with that big smile. Phil’s head kinda creeped me out. When he was looking straight-on, those ears & that bald kinda reminded me of an elf or Gollum or some other Middle Earth dude! Still, he’s pretty good.

   Posted by  on  02/21  at  09:21 AM

4. Yep, I thing the teenaged girls will keep Sanjay on for a while. He is like Kevin from last year, only better looking. Some of the others I didn’t mention were pretty forgettable, but I think the Pedro guy might do well if he survives this week.

   I was annoyed when Simon said Free Ride is dated. It’s a classic song. Everyone was into it. I just think the guy who sang it was too corny.

   Posted by James Hudnall  on  02/21  at  10:21 AM

5. BTW: Did you notice how a lot of the people this year invoked Taylor’s name, including Chris Sligh? Many seem inspired by Taylor.

   Posted by  on  02/21  at  11:27 AM

6. Sundance has a good voice but he does not know how to sing… he was singing out all the consonants.  Wrong, wrong, wrong.  He needs some basic lessons, quick.

   Simon was PO’d at Ryan during the discussion with Chris, Ryan instigated that whole thing.  Or he was pretending to be PO’d. 

   Chris Sligh picked the wrong song, but I think he is probably the best voice.  His initial audition where he sang Kiss from a Rose was spot on, and on last week’s show I was doing something and had my back to the television but when I heard him I said who is that and had to turn around and look.  The only other one during the whole show last week that made me do that was Lakesha. 

   I also liked Blake, his performance reminded me a bit of Julian Lennon. 

   I predict Rudy will be voted off.

   Posted by Laurie  on  02/21  at  10:29 PM

7. Well, I was right. Votefortheworst.com has picked Sundance and Alexandra as the two they are championing. I think Sundance really screwed up last night, he should have sung a Meatloaf song. That suits his style more than the Moody Blues.

   I suspect he will stay, though.

   I can see Rudy getting voted off, even though I think he sang OK. He was just to hokey in his performance. Dial Idol predicts Nick and Paul. We’ll see.

   Posted by  on  02/21  at  10:43 PM
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