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by The Trades Staff Published: February 5, 2003
In this first group of eight contestants, fans will vote for two to advance to the fianl ten. Mary, Amanda, and Molly chit chat about who that might be. Mary writes: Kimberly did an okay job with "Come to my window." I disagree with Simon in that I don't think she say "brilliantly." I thought she faltered at the end, but I think she's a shoe-in for the final 10. She looks good and I'm sure all the young boys out there think she's "hot." Let's see if I'm right, but I would be surprised if she doesn't advance. Amanda writes: I think Kimberly was only okay as well. She seems to growl rather than sing a large part of the time, and I question her range. She is though, very pretty and her personality is evident in her look, and this will carry her through the round. I think she'll be sent by the fans into the next round, and I think she'll get pretty far into the top ten. Will she win it all? I don't think so. As much as looks matter, I think talent will come into play as it did last time, and those with more talent will overtake Kimberly as we wind down. Molly writes: I have to disagree with you guys. I thought that Kimberly gave a very strong performance. She was somewhat handicapped by singing a song that's well known for being down with full orchestration, but I thought her voice and energy carried it through. But I do agree that, while I think she'll make it through this round, that she's going to have a much harder time against some of the talent coming down the pike. Mary writes: Patrick, "Unbreak My Heart", did a good job. I actually LIKED his rendition of the song. I thought he sang as well as Kimberly. His outfit didn't bother me for some reason. I'm not sure why Simon and Randy got so many issues about his look. Amanda writes: I was actually listening to but not watching this performance, and I don't know that if I'd heard it on the radio, I would have been able to distinguish the gender of the performer. Patrick's voice is great and I thought he did well with the song. As I said, I didn't see him sing, but I heard him fight with Simon about his outfit and was struck by what an ass Simon was being. I think Simon pretty well cemented his elimination by pushing him as much as he did about his look. There were too many other strong performers in this round to see Patrick advance as a fan favorite, and unless Simon pulls an AJ on the audience, I don't think he'll make it to the next round. Molly writes: I didn't mind Patrick's performance, but was not overwhelmed by it. I don't like the song particularly, and Patrick didn't change my mind on that. I also didn't care for the outfit, but I'm willing to let a fashion faux pas go by based on talent. Patrick didn't do it for me. (And I thought it was absolutely wrong for his dad to come out there and get in on the discussion! Let's keep it with the performers themselves, please.) To Patrick's credit, though, I though the song used for the Coke plug that he wrote was catchy, and was one of the better Coca-mercials that American Idol trots out. Mary writes: I did not like J.D. at all. I thought his performance was pretty weak. I don't think we will be seeing him again unless he gets the R.J. treatment. Amanda writes: I thought JD was weak as well, but I thought this about him earlier. he's so terribly average. Unless he gets the girl vote, he's gone. Thank goodness. Molly writes: I'm bowing out. Maybe I'm getting a different broadcast from you guys? I liked JD. I liked the sort of show-tune cast of his voice. He wasn't always "on" the notes, but when he *was* on, I thought he sounded great. If he goes on, I won't be upset. Mary writes: Trenyce She did a very nice job tonight. I think she was definitely the best of the first four and she has great stage presence. I just really liked her singing. Amanda writes: I think she has a good chance at advancement. She does have a presence that many of the others lacked, and her singing was up-to-par. Unfortunately, I think that she may not voted forward by the fans by virtue of the Kimberly/Julia situation. Molly writes: I agree that she had great stage presence. I felt like she had a strange texture to her voice, though. Mary writes: Meosha did not care for her song. She was okay, but I would vote her out of the competition. Amanda writes: Again, I agree that she was nothing spectacular. A question is sort of begged about whether the possible talent pool for this show is nearing exhaustion. If these eight are 25% of the best of the 250,000 people who auditioned, we're in for some sorry singing in the final rounds. Molly writes: I love that song, but didn't feel that Meosha did a great job. She seemed too cute-sy, too contrived. Stick with dissecting frogs. In terms of talent pool -- I'm thinking that this is a particularly weak round. I hope. Mary writes: Bettis terrible terrible hair. I think his performance was okay, but his gestures and dancing while he sang was just terrible. I hope he does not advance. I agree with the judges, he did not do a great job. His voice was fair to middling. Amanda writes: I sort of think that one of the qualities that an American Idol should have is touchability. Like, I should want to hang out with the person, or know more about them, and all I want to know from Bettis is "why why why???" He's not mainstream enough to attract the voting audience, and my bet is we'll be bidding him Sayonara tomorow. Molly writes: Heh -- my first notes on him are "What's with his hair?!?" He got some bad advice somewhere along the way. I thought it was a poor choice of song for him, as well, in that even with an abbreviated version it sounded repetitive. I was disappointed, because I'd liked him in the bits that we'd seen last episode. But he didn't step up to the plate. Mary writes: Charles his gestures were not great. But he did a decent job with "Overjoyed." He won't advance, but he did not embarrass himself. I think in general he did a good job. Amanda writes: Simon has said repeatedly that the women of this contest are far better than the me, and I think that Charles is a great example of the distance we'll see in talent between genders. For the guys on this show, he was good, but compared to the women, he was only average. Molly writes: Charles surprised me. He had a very pleasant voice (although he seemed to have a problem with a key change near the end), and I thought he did a good job. Mary writes: Julia she did a good job, but I wasn't really blown away. I think Charles did better than Julia. Amanda writes: My bet for this round is that Julia and Kimnerly will advance because viewers want to see the catfight between them play out. This is sad, because Julia did have the presence that Trenyce did, and Patrick, I think, though slightly more unorthodox, has more talent. This show is a soap opera, in a way, and getting the drama started early will hook viewers who tune in for just that, as opposed to people who tune in for the talent, or lack thereof. Molly writes: Oh, I hope you're wrong on that! I thought Julia did a decent job, but I just can't warm up to her passive-aggressive personality. I'd like her gone. Soon. Mary writes: Overall, I found this set to be kind of weak. Or rather, just average and kind of mediocre. I know better voices are coming up in the next two weeks, but man, this was not a great beginning. There is no one who I said, "I just HAVE to call for this person." I was on the phone every week last time around. Amanda writes: I totally agree. I was almost bored as I watched some of the performers, and horrified as I watched Bettis and JD. I hope you're right, that we'll see better voices and better performances in the upcoming weeks, because I could live without a top ten made up of a talent pool that includes many of these people. Molly writes: I agree about this being a weak group. I wonder if there was deliberate stacking to A) build up as things go along, and/or B) make it more dramatic by having to choose between people of like talent level, instead of quickly deciding which two to vote for. I'll be sad if people more talented than this group are squeezed out later on by being in "too rich" a group. PREDICTIONS Molly: Guessing . . . Kimberly and Trenyce. If it were three, I'd guess Kimberly, Trenyce and JD. I'm not sure how voting for two will influence things. Are we more likely to get splits (guy/girl, rock/soul), or will there be less room to bring in someone with an alternative style? Amanda: As I said above, I'm thinking Julia and Kimberly will advance. but I'm not happy about it. This should be about talent and not about drama. Mary: Okay, I think Kimberly is a shoe-in to advance. I think Trenyce SHOULD advance, but it will probably be between Julia and Charles. When I called for Charles last night, his line was busy, so maybe he wowed the East Coast. If I had to bet $$, I would put 80% of it on Kimberly and 20% of it on Charles. I just get the feeling that some how, there will be an equal or almost equal number of men and women. American Idol roundtables at The Trades: 1st Quarterfinal | 2nd Quarterfinal | 3rd Quarterfinal | 4th Quarterfinal | Wild Card Quarterfinal | First Elimination | Second Elimination Round | Third Elimination Round | Fourth Elimination Round American Idol on the net: American Idol's Official site | Sirlinksalot.net |
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