Fan Fare
Entertainment behind the scenes
Kind Cowell kills Carly in another “Idol” shocker
That’s it. The next time Simon Cowell actually likes a performance on “American Idol,” he should just keep it to himself. No one tunes in to see him say anything nice, anyway.
Carly Smithson’s elimination on Wednesday night’s show simply defied any rational explanation, even in the cruel and unforgiving world of reality TV. For the first time in weeks, the Irish diva on Tuesday night received uniform praise from all three judges for her passionate performance of “Superstar” from the musical “Jesus Christ Superstar.” Composer Andew Lloyd Webber was the show’s guest mentor.
The praise from Cowell was enough to make Smithson, who last week accused Cowell of being too hard on her, whip out a blue T-shirt that read “Simon Loves Me (This Week).”
But besides Smithson’s standout performance, rival contestants Brooke White and Jason Castro were both panned up and down both on the show and in the blogosphere, including right here on Fan Fare. One of them surely appeared headed for the axe on Wednesday.
During Wednesday’s episode, Cowell took a stab at explaining the results, saying White had shown herself to be human by stumbling over the beginning of her performance of “You Must Love Me,” from the film “Evita.”
And Castro, he said, was “charming” even though his rendition of “Memory,” from the musical “Cats,” was an agreed upon disaster. Admittedly, Castro saying “I didn’t know a cat was singing it” in his pre-taped interview before his performance is likely to go down as one of the highlights of this season.
Brooke White just couldn’t get it right as “Idol” heats up
She started. She stopped. She started again. And still, “American Idol” contestant Brooke White never seemed to get it together. In fact, does anyone even remember the rest of the performance?
White, the 24-year-old blonde songstress who has won viewers’ hearts with her bluesy voice and down-to-earth style, is almost sure to be among the show’s bottom three vote-getters this week after stumbling over the beginning of her performance of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “You Must Love Me.”
It was the second time this season White stopped singing and restarted a song from the beginning, this time because she forgot the words to the ballad originally performed by Madonna in the film “Evita.”
Surprisingly, White took the most heat from perennial contestant cheerleader Paula Abdul, who said bluntly:
“You must never start and stop.”
Jude Simon Cowell disagreed with Abdul, saying the move had been “brave.” But, he also warned White that “it completely threw you… you are going to be very disappointed when you watch this back.”
White’s face, with her lips pursed together and head cocked to the side, said it all following the performance. She has already been in the show’s bottom 3 twice this season, most recently last week. And with the show down to just six contestants now, there are few left who could break her fall. (Except for maybe Jason Castro after his grueling performance of “Memory” — Randy Jackson put it best when he called it a “train wreck”)
i can’t stand watching brooke and jason sing. ALWAYS THE SAME– BORING, ANNOYING, NAUSEA-INDCUING. they ruined the contest for me. that they were on the show for aslong as they did was one of the grossest injustices ever. i dont believe america needs another girl-next-door who acts cute with her cutesy vocals. so bad taste. jason is another pain in the arse with a dreadful voice and bad hairstyle. they should be booted from the beginning. I REALLY CAN’T STAND THEM!! BRING CARLY, MIKE AND KRISTY BACK!
“Idol’s” Mariah night: was it a burger bun or a luau?
It must have been conceived as some sort of cruel joke.
For seven seasons now, the judges of “American Idol” have repeatedly told contestants to steer clear of singing songs by Mariah Carey, ostensibly because the singing competition’s up-and-coming star wannabes could never hope to measure up to one of the great voices of pop music.
So, let’s just say it was a little strange to find Carey as the guest judge on Tuesday night’s show. Because you know what that means: the contestants were allowed to perform an old Mariah song, a new Mariah song, or any other Mariah song of their choosing.
As judge Simon Cowell predicted at the beginning of the show, the night indeed turned out to be lackluster one for the girls because of the unavoidable comparisons between them and the great Carey herself. That didn’t stop Cowell from delivering his usual barbs, however.
“It was a bit like ordering a hamburger and only getting the bun,” Cowell told Brooke White after her performance of “Hero.” “In other words the vital ingredient, the bit in the middle, was missing.”
Ouch.
The other girls — Syesha Mercado, Kristy Lee Cook, and Carly Smithson — emerged without being compared to fast food, but they didn’t get any overwhelming love from the judges.
every body that is in the top eight will have a good to top music career after the show ends. it has now become a popularity show not a talet show. i wish well to all the finalist. people stop being mean. we all wish we were thier