Tag: Ryan Seacrest

Idol Wired >> Everyone’s In It to Win It

I never thought I would ever make the following statement this season, but I thought each of the remaining contestants actually did pretty good last night. Who knew that “Carole King Night” on American Idol would bring out the best in the contestants? I surely didn’t.

Let’s just go down the line and start with Jacob Lusk, who sang “Uh Oh Not My Baby” last night. Other than the last note getting kind of weird at the end, I thought this was the best Jacob has sounded all season. I don’t think singing first last night is going to do him any favors, in fact, it will probably send him packing tonight. And taking a nose-dive into Steve Urkel’s closet wasn’t help him out either. What in the world was that outfit? Definitely plaid gone wrong.

Following Jacob up was Lauren Alaina, who sang “Where You Lead,” which once upon a time served as the theme song to the show Gilmore Girls. What was it with the outfits last night? Lauren looked tragic. I thought her vocals were alright. I think this was a great song choice for Lauren, but I think she needs to let go and stop trying to please the judges. And if anyone else’s voice would have cracked trying to push for a high note, they would have been called out for it in a in a non-loving fashion…last season, anyways.

Continue reading Idol Wired >> Everyone’s In It to Win It

Idol Wired >> Stefano is LanGONE

I figured as soon as the first guy was eliminated from season 10 of American Idol that they would start falling like dominoes, and as it turns out, that’s the only prediction I’ve made this season that’s been on point.

Following Paul McDonald’s exit from Idol last week, Stefano Langone was
eliminated from the competition last night. I’m not too surprised that Stefano was eliminated this week, it’s just too bad that it had to happen the night after he had what I considered to be his best performance in weeks. It takes me back to when Carly Smithson had an amazing performance of “Jesus Christ Superstar” during season seven, then got knocked off the next night, except I definitely wasn’t as upset.

This may be a little surprising to most who read Idol Wired, but I would have preferred Stefano to stay one more week if it meant Jacob Lusk was going home. I cannot believe Jacob has made it as far as he has in the competition. And Jacob’s performance in comparison to Stefano’s was definitely the weaker of the two performances.

Alright, I have to say it; I was super disappointed to see Haley Reinhart in the bottom three. C’mon, America! Haley had the best performance the other night, she deserves your votes.

Also, did anyone else catch Stefano totally snubbing Scotty McCreery when giving out hugs last night? What in the world was that about?

Switching gears over to the return of David Cook to the Idol stage. David performed the first single, “The Last Goodbye” off his highly anticipated sophomore album, This Loud Morning.

I thought that once David shook off his initial nerves, his performance was excellent. It must be a trip to return to the show that made him “more than a name or a face in the crowd” to debut his new single. I love that he’s kicking off his album with something upbeat and lyrically catchy. I’m really hoping that you, yes you and everyone you know hopped on iTunes and downloaded his single. I am all in favor of supporting former Idol contestants, especially ones named David Cook.

If you didn’t get a chance to watch David’s performance of “The Last Goodbye,” or you just want to watch it again, check it out below!

What did you think of last night’s Idol results? Are you liking David Cook’s new single? Also, what do you think of the Idols singing Carole King songs next week?

Originally posted on Blogcritics.

Idol Wired >> Shock Elimination!

I’m sitting here in just absolute shock. Pia Toscano has just been eliminated from this season’s American Idol.

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!

Pia should have made it all the way to the final two this season. But instead she went out in ninth place. American Idol is now down to two women and all six men. C’mon now.

Pia was in the bottom three tonight with Stefano Langone and Jacob Lusk, who was my prediction to bite the dust this week.

Earlier today, I re-watched everyone’s performances and the last person I would have predicted in the bottom three was Pia. Granted, she needed some work in the stage presence department, but her vocal performances, including last night,  have been absolutely flawless this season.

I think a lot of people are going to blame Pia’s elimination on voter complacency, which to be honest, definitely must have something to do with tonight’s shocker. However, the judges need to accept that part of Pia’s elimination is on them.

During Wednesday night’s performance show, not one of them said anything overtly negative to the contestants about their performances. Part of the judge’s job is to let the audience know which contestants rock and which ones need to get it together. When everyone’s receiving praise, the voting public doesn’t know what to do.

That said, judges get your heads back in the game and do what you are overly paid to do, which is to critique these singers. Jennifer Lopez needs to find her inner “Jenny From the Block” and let the contestants know what’s what. Steven Tyler needs to altogether wake up and start making comments that are useful. Not every performance is “beautiful.” And Randy Jackson, I expect you to call it how you hear it. Don’t dial back your feedback; it is so needed.

Pia has been receiving high praise from the judges all season long, and maybe her fans thought they could ease up on the power voting.

Whatever the case may be, it’s was completely disheartening to see such a huge talent be sent home way before she should have been. It is unfortunate that the “Judges’ Save” had already been used this season, but that’s the nature of the game. I don’t think the judges ever thought that Pia would ever need to be saved. I guess they haven’t been watching the past couple seasons, where female contestants have been picked off before the men repeatedly.

So, the moral of this story? Judges, please do your jobs and judge the contestants. Fans, vote to keep the talent in the competition. Don’t ever think your contestant is safe.

My last thought for the night: It’s now Scotty McCreery’s competition to lose.

Alright Idol fans, let me hear your thoughts on tonight’s insane results.

Originally posted on Blogcritics.

New Music Tuesday: NKOTBSB – “Don’t Turn Out The Lights”

This morning NKOTB’s Joe McIntyre and BSB’s AJ McLean debuted the first joint NKOTBSB single, “Don’t Turn Out The Lights” on Ryan Seacrest’s morning radio show.

Listen to their interview with Ryan Secrest below!

And without further ado, take a listen to the first joint single from NKOTBSB, “Don’t Turn Out The Lights”!

I love it! (You’re absolutely shocked, I know!) But really, this could have been either really good or really bad. I raised an eyebrow at the groups recording music together, but this is really, really good. Seriously, this is one of the catchiest songs that the Backstreet Boys have released as a single in a loooooooooooooong time.

As a longtime fan of both groups, I can attest that it’s an absolute trip to hear a song with vocals from both Joe McIntyre and Brian Littrell on it. (I’m kinda dying on the inside right now! Haha!)

If you love this song,  then don’t forget to download your copy of “Don’t Turn Out The Lights” when it hits the iTunes store tomorrow!

What does everyone think of the NKOTBSB collaboration? Hang tough in the comments below!

Idol Wired >> Wait…What Just Happened?

I could be heard throughout American Idol’s Thursday night’s results show repeating the same question, “What just happened?”

I mean, seriously, where to start? Do I start with the “Judges’ Save?” Do I start with Hulk Hogan? Or do I start with Steven Tyler turning 120? (I kid, I kid!)

Let’s start with the “Judges’ Save,” because a little more than a week ago I made what has been I believe my only prediction about season 10 so far via Twitter. It was then shown on MTV.com’s “Idol Party Live!” hosted by the super awesome Jim Cantiello live after each results show. Check out who I thought the “Judges’ Save” was going to go to this season.

Of course, if you watched Thursday night, you know that my prediction was totally wrong. Supposedly Casey Abrams had the lowest total number of votes after Wednesday night’s performances. I can kind of believe it, because he didn’t have a great performance and he went first that night, which means that with 10 other performances, people could have just forgot about him. Also, there’s the possibility of voter complacency. However, the conspiracy theorist in me thinks that Idol really wanted to create some buzz. And what better way to create some buzz than to possibly eliminate a huge fan favorite?

Even I have to admit that when the judges told Casey he was saved was a great moment. Although, I thought for sure he was going to throw up, or have to take another trip to the hospital. Casey’s reaction was truly the icing on the cake for the night.

Other than that, I hope next week’s results show can be as entertaining and unexpected as last Thursday’s was. I loved seeing the contestants singing with Stevie Wonder. More than that, I loved Steven Tyler’s reaction to Stevie Wonder on stage. As much as I enjoyed Idol pulling out the stops to celebrate Steven’s birthday, I had to wonder if Randy was sitting there thinking, “I’ve been on this show for the entire time it’s been in existence, and never has anyone surprised me with Mariah Carey serenading me on my birthday!”

I have to say that seeing Hulk Hogan on Idol is hands down the craziest thing that I have seen on this show. I loved the video of the contestants talking about James Durbin’s love of pro-wrestling. His reaction to Hulk Hogan coming on stage to let him and Paul McDonald know they were safe and going on tour was pretty hilarious. Hogan “punching” Ryan Seacrest into the crowd was also funny. I don’t care to see a professional wrestler every week on Idol, but it was a cute moment this past week.

Thinking ahead to next Wednesday, with Casey being saved this week, what does that mean for the contestants? Well, all 11 contestants will be going on tour this summer, so there’s that. But, they still have to sing their butts off next week, because it is “Elton John Week” and two of them will be eliminated. My only advice for the contestants next week is more like a plea. Please don’t sing “Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me.” It’s been done over and over and over again.

So to recap, Casey was saved from elimination, the Top 11 will tour, and two contestants will go home next week. What did y’all think about the results and Thursday’s overall show?

Originally posted on BlogCritics.

Idol Wired >> Another Girl Bites The Dust

And so it goes, Karen Rodriguez was eliminated from American Idol this week. Not shocking in the least. And she did herself absolutely no favors by singing Mariah Carey’s “Hero” as her swansong, and then pleading to the judges for “The Save.” Ooh…girl. That save is reserved for Lauren Alaina, Pia Toscano, and possibly Casey Abrams.

In my eyes, Karen was booted for her hot mess of a performance from last week. I think sometimes when contestants have a bad performance, the audience’s opinion of them carries over into voting the following week. Not saying that it’s fact, just that it could be the case for Karen’s dismissal this week.

Let’s talk about the other two contestants that found themselves alongside Karen in the bottom three this week, Haley Reinhart and Naima Adedapo.

I figured that Haley would find her way back to the bottom three just based on the judges comments from the night before. The judges definitely can sway the vote, and if they are consistently giving a contestant a hard time, I think that translates to the audience as, “Vote for Lauren Alaina.” Ha ha, I’m kidding. But, I do think that their comments combined with her lackluster performance is why Haley found herself back in the bottom three this week.

I was legitimately disappointed when Ryan Seacrest announced that Naima was headed to the bottom three. I think the judges gave her too much of a hard time in their critiques. Her performance was nowhere near as bad as they made it out to be. She is one of the more polarizing contestants this season, and it would be a shame to see her before she reaches her full potential on the show. I think Naima is keeping the show fresh and bringing something new to the table. If she’s eliminated in the next few weeks, I feel like it could be a devastating blow to the season.

I wanted to touch on this week’s group song, which was a mash-up of Steppenwolf’s “Born to Be Wild” and Lady Gaga’s “Born This Way.” First off, good on Idol for a live group performance! Nigel Lythgoe tweeted last week that the group performance was live, which I’m still not sure I entirely buy, but it is what it is. I felt like this week’s mic issues were done purposely to show that the contestants were singing live. You got your point across, Nigel.
Continue reading Idol Wired >> Another Girl Bites The Dust

Catching Up With Tim Halperin, Part Two


In the first part of my chat with American Idol season 10 Top 24 contestant, Tim Halperin, we touched on the earlier rounds of his Idol journey, from his initial audition in front of the judges in L.A. to making it into the Top 24.

During the final part of my interview with Halperin, we talked about Top 24 from his song selection to the Wild Card round, what he took away from his American Idol experience, and what lies ahead for his music career.

How did you go about selecting your song for Top 24?

I had a list of about five or six songs that I thought would be really good. And the thing that I wanted to do for Top 24 was show off the fact that I wasn’t a one-trick pony; I wasn’t kind of pigeon-holed in one sound. Up until that point, I had really done slower kind of ballad type songs, which is definitely probably one of my strongest types of songs to sing, but there’s also this soulful part of my voice. I love doing soul/pop-rock kind of tunes.

I was looking at Gavin DeGraw, I was looking at John Mayer, and of course that Rob Thomas song. We rehearsed, and felt the Rob Thomas song was just a really good fit for my voice.

Rehearsals went well, I was able to fine-tune it, and I felt like even the on stage rehearsals were going really well. I thought the performance, to be honest with you, went really well. If you notice when you watch the crowd, they really loved it. I thought that it went really well, and the judges thought that it wasn’t my style. Maybe it wasn’t, and I can see where they’re coming from, just because all they’d really heard me perform were ballads. Maybe I should have stuck with that sound for my first round, before I ventured off into something else.

For me, I have no regrets with that song choice. The other thing that was kind of hard to deal with was when Ryan asked Steven what type of song I should have picked and he said John Mayer or Jason Mraz, when in fact, John Mayer co-wrote that song that I sang and played guitar on the track. So that was kind of frustrating to hear.

I felt like all the way through I had good performances. I feel really lucky to have done that.

You play piano, so I am wondering at what point did they tell you that you guys were not going to be using instruments for that first performance?

They told us well in advance, and you know it’s hard, but at the same time I don’t think I would have used the piano even if I was able to. In my mind looking back on it, if I was able to it probably would have been a good thing, because piano kind of set me apart. But, I wanted to show the fact that I wasn’t stuck behind my instrument. A lot of flack that contestants have gotten in the past that play instruments is that they can’t perform without it. I wanted to show that I was very comfortable on stage and very comfortable performing without [playing piano], which I feel like I was able to prove. I thought the performance was for sure really good. Yeah, we knew well in advance that we couldn’t use instruments.

Was it that you couldn’t use it for that one performance or was it a stipulation for the season?

It’s decided on a round by round basis. I’m not even sure what’s going on this time. It’s the same as it’s been in the past, certain rounds people are allowed to use instruments and certain rounds, and certain rounds they’re not.

My thought is just because last season, there were so many people using instruments, and the responses were that they were using them as a crutch. So, my thought is that they probably won’t let people use instruments as much this year.

I was just wondering about that, because we saw a few people that had used instruments in earlier rounds get eliminated last week. And I figured because the last three winners (David Cook, Kris Allen and Lee DeWyze) all fall under that blanket category of singer-songwriter is possibly why Idol seems to be looking for pop star, rather than the singer-songwriter type this season.

Yeah, that could be it. But at the same time, the people in the Top 13 are definitely all extremely talented. Is it hard being a singer-songwriter and not being able to use your instrument? Yeah, you know it is. At the same time, I feel like I got what I wanted out of it. Because I do play an instrument and I have experience, now it’s going to be really easy for me to make the transition back into putting out a record and doing shows again.
Continue reading Catching Up With Tim Halperin, Part Two

Idol Wired >> Five Changes I Hope to See During ‘American Idol’s’ Tenth Season

It was a long summer, fall and start of winter, but American Idol is back for their tenth season and I am ready! New judges, new contestants, and a new feature! Welcome to “Idol Wired”!

Alright, so my favorite reality show that drives me crazy on a weekly basis from this Wednesday through the end of May is back, and I came up with what changes that I would like to see this season as American Idol turns 10.

Keep the spotlight on the contestants

There have been shake-ups at the judges’ table since season eight, which have garnered much more attention than deserved. I think once the initial shock of the new faces at the judges’ table wears off this season, the show needs to adjust it’s attention back to it’s contestants.

I think one way to do this is to show more of the contestant’s personality in the pre-performance videos. Last season we learned that Lee DeWyze worked at a paint store. What we didn’t learn is that he’s fairly hilarious. Most fans learned this during the summer Idol tour meeting him before and after the shows.

I think over the past couple seasons, the audience really hasn’t been able to connect with the contestants, which is in part why last season wasn’t as successful as previous seasons.

Judges should be clear and concise with their post-performance critiques

I think the judge’s critiques on Idol should be like Twitter. You need to get out what you want to say about the contestant’s performance in 140 characters or less. I feel that the judges should be able to let the contestants know if they liked or disliked the performance with a reason backing their opinion in a reasonable amount of time. Plus, if the judges didn’t talk so much it could allow for slightly longer performances from the contestants.

No more lip-syncing during the group numbers

One of the things that bothered me during both seasons eight and nine of Idol was the very apparent lip-syncing during the group numbers. I know that a lot of the time they pre-tape the group performances before the live elimination, which means there really isn’t any excuse for not singing live. I don’t care if they have to auto-tune the crap out of the vocals, but singing live would be more legit than shooting a live music video.
Continue reading Idol Wired >> Five Changes I Hope to See During ‘American Idol’s’ Tenth Season

NKOTBSB Perform on ‘Dick Clark’s Rockin’ New Years’ Eve’

All I really can say about the NKOTBSB performance from last night is that it was such a great improvement from the hot mess performance from the AMAs.

The Backstreet Boys sounded so much better last night, although I think the definitely were out-performed by the New Kids. (This is something I never thought I would see myself say. But, it’s true.) I do have to add that the high note Brian Littrell hit during “I’ll Never Break Your Heart” was fantastic, and took  me straight back to high school.

Check out there performance from NYE below!

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