(02-29-2012, 04:00 PM)Haleylvr4evr Wrote: I think they were all going easy on everyone since it was the 1st live show.

Quote:That song didn’t do anything for you. It was almost karaoke.”

Quote:He didn’t mince words. He said Chase Likens, a 20-year-old country singer from West Virginia, “is a good looking guy” but needed to “be fresh” to win. Of Heejun Han, the 22-year-old crooner from Queens beloved among fans for his odd-ball sense of humor, Mr. Iovine said he was confused by his popularity. “This isn’t American comedian,” he said. “This is American Idol.” (Mr. Likens did not make it, but Mr. Han did.)

Mr. Iovine cut other contestants down to size. Of Chelsea Sorrell’s mediocre performance of “Cowboy Casanova,” he said: “Carrie Underwood karaoke is not going to fly.’ He panned Reed Grimm’s strange rendition of “Moves Like Jagger,” calling it “Way too kitschy for me, too cabaret.”

He said Creighton Fraker from New York had an “interesting voice” but “the top end is screechy and annoys me.” None of those contestants survived the elimination on Thursday.

Mr. Iovine pointed out what none of the three judges were willing to say directly about Haley Johnsen’s dismal performance of a Eurythmics song on Wednesday: “She sang out of tune the entire song,” he said. He even cut down Aaron Marcellus, the Teaneck, N.J., voice teacher who has an impressive gospel style, saying he was “too Don Cheadle, a little cheesy for me.” The voters at home agreed, and Ms. Johnsen and Mr. Marcellus went home.

But the record producer, who had a hand in the careers of stars like Patti Smith, Bruce Springsteen, U2 and Eminem, was quick and forthright in his praise of some of the better talents in this year’s crop. He said Jessica Sanchez, the 16-year-old singing prodigy from San Diego, “has talent from A to Z” and called her “the one to beat.” He said Phillip Phillips, 21, a pawnshop employee from Leesburg, Ga., was a true original. “We desperately need originality on this show,” he said. “I would sign this guy on the spot.” He also said Joshua Ledet, the 19-year-old gospel singer from Lousiana, was “the real deal.

Mr. Iovine’s comments were a breath of fresh air on a show where the current three judges – Steven Tyler, Jennifer Lopez and Randy Jackson — bend over backward to be encouraging and often go easy on contestants even when their performances are embarrassing. This week, Mr. Tyler and Ms. Lopez resorted more than once to euphemisms like “that wasn’t the best choice of a song for you” or “it was a little pitchy” when singers were clearly out of tune.

That gentle approach makes for boring television. For a while during Thursday’s show, Twitter was flooded with people praising Mr. Iovine and openly calling for him to become a judge. “Jimmy Iovine’s evaluations on American Idol should be subtitled: What the judges would say if they weren’t afraid of looking like jerks,” tweeted Eric Deggans, a media critic for the Tampa Bay Times.

(03-02-2012, 08:06 AM)buzzenator Wrote: Quincy Herald-Whig 3/1

The next Haley Reinhart? by seighinger



"– I will admit that after replaying Elise’s “One And Only” by Adele it did not creep me out the way it originally did, but I’m sorry, I still don’t feel she deserved to be in the finals. I’m keeping an open mind with her. Maybe she will be this year’s Haley Reinhart, who I detested at first in 2011 but grew to love. That’s why veteran blog reader Kelly Wilson refers to me as a renaissance man."

http://addins.whig.com/blogs/idol/2012/03/the-next-haley-reinhart?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-next-haley-reinhart