AI Finale Tonight - Gladys Knight, Neil Diamond, John Fogerty, Gloria Gaynor, SheilaE

[jobeterob]

Will Jessica win ‘American Idol’?

By Greg David


2012-05-23

Teen diva in the lead heading into finale spectacular


In the end, who wins this season of American Idol will be merely a footnote in an entertaining Season 11. At the conclusion of Tuesday’s penultimate episode, it appeared that petite teen Jessica Sanchez had the edge over folksy Phillip Phillips after each finalist performed three songs each.

In front of a packed house at L.A.’s Nokia Theatre, which seemed like it was pro-Phillip, the final two belted out a song chosen by Idol franchise creator Simon Fuller, a second song chosen by the singer themselves and the third song being their first single.

Jessica started off strong, belting out Whitney Houston’s “I Have Nothing,” and backed by a string orchestra. Jessica’s vocals can’t be denied, and she fits comfortably in the “diva” category that is so marketable. That was proven by her second tune, “The Prayer,” which began slow and raspy and built to a crescendo that had the audience on their feet. Judges Randy Jackson, Steven Tyler and J.Lo all deemed her the winner of the first two rounds, but were less than impressed with Jessica’s third performance, which was “Change Nothing.” Jessica showed her weakness in the pop song category, failing to be memorable when it came to something with a poppy beat. All three judges agreed she made the best of a bad song choice.

Which left the door open for Phillip.

His folksy singing style gave an interesting twist to “Stand By Me,” Simon Fuller’s pick, but wasn’t as successful with his own choice of Billy Joel’s “Movin’ Out.”

Phillip’s third tune, his first single, “Home,” was amazing. With a country feel and drum band backing him, Phillip left a lasting impression with the judges and voting audience by performing that song last.

“I loved the song, I loved you, I loved the marching band. Brilliant,” gushed Randy.

“I heard a little Paul Simon in there, and you are the man,” echoed Steven.

So, who will win? It’s close call, but Jessica would be the safe bet because she can be put into a category that suits her well. Phillip is a little harder to pin down. Is he folk? Country? Soft rock? And does being more flexible with respect to genres mean he’d be more successful as an artist?

We’ll find out Wednesday, when the Idol finale not only crowns the winner, but welcomes a plethora of guests to the stage. Gloria Gaynor, Thelma Houston, Gladys Knight, Nelly Furtado and Sheila E. will team to pay tribute to Donna Summer. Also on tap Wednesday: John Fogerty will duet with Phillip and Neil Diamond will perform a group number with the male Idol finalists.



The American Idol season finale airs Wednesday at 8 p.m. ET on CTV/Fox.

[carlo]

Don't forget Chaka!

[smark21]

Chaka Khan performed I’m Every Woman with this year femal e finalists. She showed off some impressive cameltoe as well. But she looked really good.

[jboy88]

If Jessica doesn't win, it will confirm my suspion that American Idol is fixed!

[smark21]

I think Phillip is likely to win….he appeals to the 3 core American Idol voting groups: the south, tweens, and sexually frustrated housewives and cubefraus. If Jessica wins, it will be because of huge voting from the Fillipino American community, which loves pageants and talent shows.

[glencro]

JENNIFER HOLLIDAY just laid it out...she sang "And I'm Telling You" with the Jessica girl...I jumped off my couch on the ending...Jennifer, you need to get out more...enjoyed ya

[carlo]

JENNIFER HOLLIDAY just laid it out...she sang "And I'm Telling You" with the Jessica girl...I jumped off my couch on the ending...Jennifer, you need to get out more...enjoyed ya

That performance was awesome!!

[smark21]

I thought that Jennifer Holiday/Jessica Sanchez performance was a dreadful piece of musical shit—each of them trying to out oversing, out scream and out grunt each other. No wonder that sort of singing and “music” is out of style.

[daviddesper]

Well I think I would be a little kinder than that in describing it, but I will admit they did go overboard. If Jennifer had had a stroke, it would not have been a huge surprise. I have no idea why anyone who tackles that song feels the need to over-sing it so completely.

At the top of the thread, there was a reference to an all-star tribute to Donna Summer? Did I sleep through that?

[smark21]

Unless it was performed in the first 10 minutes which I missed, there was no Donna Summer tribute from the singers mentioned in the article jobetrob posted. Then again, the writer of the article , Greg David, is probably not the swiftest person or sharpest reporter in the world as he thought Jessica Sanchez was in the lead when it was obvious from the first audition this season that Phillip Phillips was going to win the show.

[reese]

Well I think I would be a little kinder than that in describing it, but I will admit they did go overboard. If Jennifer had had a stroke, it would not have been a huge surprise. I have no idea why anyone who tackles that song feels the need to over-sing it so completely.

At the top of the thread, there was a reference to an all-star tribute to Donna Summer? Did I sleep through that?

Love Jennifer and Jessica, but I would agree that the performance was a bit over the top. Even more so than when Jennifer performed it with Jennifer Hudson at the BET Awards a few years back. But even as a solo, it seems that in recent years, Jennifer has been pushing the song to the extreme during performances, with the facial expressions, and what have you.

The Donna Summer tribute never happened. The article might have been premature, as I read on another site Gladys was performing elsewhere.

[reese]

Unless it was performed in the first 10 minutes which I missed, there was no Donna Summer tribute from the singers mentioned in the article jobetrob posted. Then again, the writer of the article , Greg David, is probably not the swiftest person or sharpest reporter in the world as he thought Jessica Sanchez was in the lead when it was obvious from the first audition this season that Phillip Phillips was going to win the show.

From the beginning, I thought Phillip was going to win. Each week the praise that the judges heaped on that kid was [[IMO) undeserved. I don't think he's bad. But he is far from the vocalist that Jessica is. I do think he gave a really good performance last week with WE'VE GOT TONIGHT, but I found the rest of them rather average.

[smark21]

Here's a screen capture.

[smark21]

Found this at another board..perfectly sums up the future for Phillip Phillips and his fanbase:

- Frauen spends the next few weeks attacking haters, praising PP's cooter, etc.
- Tour starts, frauen with income - maybe about 40% of them - spend time on the road camping for tickets, fighting with teenage girls to get to the front row, and offering tour guards sexual favors in return for letting these frauen enter the trailer and sniff PP's soiled underpants.
- Frauen that can stalk PP post photos on forums, hailed as queen bees by the remaining 60% frauen who are secretly jealous
- Some frauen, desperate for attention, claim to be insiders, bragging that PP is writing songs with the biggest people on earth, the album will break records, and PP will be hailed by all as the Rock Peen of the Ages.
- Meanwhile, attack on haters, magazines, etc continue.
- Album on preorder. Frauen increases their shrill insistence that PP's peen will penetrate the Halls of the Rock Gods and splooge all over the face of Jesus, who will eagerly swallow and proclaim that PP is the One True God.
- Frauen organize multiple preorder campaigns.
- Album leaks. Frauen gasp that the songs are overproduced, autotuned, sound too much like the "garbage" on radio today. Blame everyone else for turning PP into a Dave Matthew clone.
- Spend time on Sucks, VFTW, etc attacking haters.
- Album drops. Blames continue to be dished to the album producers, etc. However, when the magazines and blogs pan the album, organize fan attacks to besiege the comment sections.
- Organize movements to systematically vote PP as winner in every poll, even those remotely connected to music.
- Organize mass purchases to be given away as "donations", "gifts for the homeless", and other crap. Lament the lack of war in the Middle-East because that eliminates one convenient dumping ground for excess albums.
- Competition among insane fans to post pics of them posing in a shrine to PP, composed of stacks after stacks of PP CDs and merchandises.
- Photos of fat and old women posing and hugging PP cardboard cutouts, ugly doilies that are supposed to be PP, hideous beany babies made to resemble PP [[but fail), etc. Oh, and birthday cakes made to resemble PP's face, because eating PP is so... MMMMMM....
- Some con person poses as a fan, claims to be disabled and needs $50,000 to attend a PP concert. Stupid fans eagerly donate, and then scream when the truth comes out.
- Bored of attacking haters, frauen turn on each other. One "official" board splinters into two, then three, with multiple "secret" boards devoted to attacking each other.
- PP gets no airplay. Frauen spam radio stations.
- Atrocious sales. Rumors of PP getting dropped. Frauen attacks the haters and blogs and magazines for being jellus.
- PP gets dropped. Frauen gnash their teeth, blame everyone and the dog, and continue fighting with haters as well as each other.
- New season of AI. New WGWG. PP who?
- Repeat and rinse.

[brother_love]

It was the Fox TV executives that pulled the plug on the tribute to Donna Summer; they felt that since the kids were not a part of it that it was just not that important. Now on the other hand Idol producers really wanted this number to be included in the show. Mind you that some of the ladies had to fly out to Los Angeles and even had a rehearsal for the show. I know for a fact that they were very disappointed when they all received the news on the morning of the show as they were getting ready to go to the theatre.

[carlo]

Where did you get this information from, Brother Love?

[jobeterob]

Very disappointing about the Donna Summer tribute; I'm surprised as well.

I missed the show but if there was a reason for me to watch, it would have been the tribute; but I guess I'm outside their demographic target audience too.

So, does this mean the young man won? Or is that still to come?

[reese]

Very disappointing about the Donna Summer tribute; I'm surprised as well.

I missed the show but if there was a reason for me to watch, it would have been the tribute; but I guess I'm outside their demographic target audience too.

So, does this mean the young man won? Or is that still to come?

He won last night, the last show of the season.

[brother_love]

Where did you get this information from, Brother Love?

Carlo, let me just say I would never post anything I did not know to be a fact.

[glencro]

Well I think I would be a little kinder than that in describing it, but I will admit they did go overboard. If Jennifer had had a stroke, it would not have been a huge surprise. I have no idea why anyone who tackles that song feels the need to over-sing it so completely.

At the top of the thread, there was a reference to an all-star tribute to Donna Summer? Did I sleep through that?

LOL @ having a stroke...She's been singing that song like that for 3 decades. I'm sure all of her organs are used to it by now

[glencro]

Carlo, let me just say I would never post anything I did not know to be a fact.

Is that an answer?

[juicefree20]

Gentlemen,

I have to speak up for Brother Love here.

I've observed Brother Love for several years here & I have to say that whenever he make a definitive comment, it turns out to be nothing but the truth. I've learned that from several comments that he's made about groups such as The Fuzz & on several other occasions.

Having been in his position on more than a few occasions, though I know that people would like to know sources & the like, I also know that there you can't divulge inside info that's given in confidence. I've been down that road a few times myself, as well as on the other side & understand where everyone is coming from. From my own experiences I know that that doesn't tend to satisfy the natural curiosity to want to know something. But confidentiality has to be respected & do do otherwise is to court serious trouble for oneself & find oneself on the outside looking in. Whether it related to the illness of an artist, to why someone may disappear from a group, when people trust you enough to tell you sensitive things, you simply can't violate that trust.

Though I know that it may feel like a tease, knowing Brother Love's reputation here for several years, I have to believe that this is one of those occasions & having observed him here over several years, I strongly believe that if he could tell you how he knows this, he'd tell you.

But, I understand how you feel

[smark21]

Very disappointing about the Donna Summer tribute; I'm surprised as well.

I missed the show but if there was a reason for me to watch, it would have been the tribute; but I guess I'm outside their demographic target audience too.

So, does this mean the young man won? Or is that still to come?

jobetrob, you may not be the target demographic for American Idol, but in the past couple of years, younger viewers have abandon the show and now the show has one of the oldest viewing groups. And it showed in the finale guest performers. With the exception of Rhianna and a couple of semi successful Idol alums, the guests were all oldie performers like Chaka Khan, John Fogarty, Reba, Aerosmith, J-Lo, and Jennifer Holliday.

[jboy88]

JENNY FROM THE BLOCK is an oldies act now! Now i'm starting to feel old! Lol

[milven]

'American Idol' Finale: What Happened to the Donna Summer Tribute?
UPDATED: Gloria Gaynor, Gladys Knight, Thelma Houston and Sheila E. were due to honor the disco queen in song during Wednesday's finale. Some even rehearsed the number.
2:27 PM PDT 5/24/2012 by Shirley Halperin

Echoes/Redferns
Multiple news outlets, including this one, reported that the season 11 American Idol finale would feature a Donna Summer tribute, yet on Wednesday's show, there was no such homage to the queen of disco. What gives?

Insiders tell The Hollywood Reporter that the all-star salute, which included 70s icons Gloria Gaynor, Patti Labelle and Thelma Houston along with Sheila E., Jennifer Holliday and Nelly Furtado, was scheduled for the first half of the two-hour show, but was pulled last-minute by the network.

VIDEO: Justin Timberlake Pays Tribute to Robin Gibb, His 'Idol'

Some in the audience had seen a portion of the tribute taped at Los Angeles' Nokia Theater on Tuesday, when Kristin Chenoweth and Idol runner-up Jessica Sanchez duetted on "Enough is Enough," Summer's chart-topping single with Barbra Streisand. The performance was described by one observer as "weak" and possibly reason enough to pull the plug.

Some of the tribute participants were also heard rehearsing a medley on Tuesday night. In fact, according to a source, Idol had already paid for several of the artists' travel and accommodations. Still, another insider tells THR that at least one of the the women -- Furtado -- was never confirmed for the finale in the first place.

STORY: Donna Summer's Manager: What I Loved About the Queen of Disco

Disco did, however, get its due when the Idol boys [[minus winner Phillip Phillips) performed a Bee Gees medley late in the finale.

Representatives for the show and for executive producer Nigel Lythgoe have not responded to THR's request for comment.

The ratings for this year's American Idol finale were down 32% compared to season 10's last show.

UPDATE: Lythgoe tells THR that the reason the medley was cut was "purely and simply time [constraints]." [[No doubt the surprise Ace Young-Diana DeGarmo marriage proposal played a role in throwing the run-of-show off-schedule

[smark21]

I"m amused that viewership was down 32% compared to last year, but they raked in a record number of votes for the finale [[132 million). Talk about over the top, obsessive power voting from the fans!

[brother_love]

Gentlemen,

I have to speak up for Brother Love here.

I've observed Brother Love for several years here & I have to say that whenever he make a definitive comment, it turns out to be nothing but the truth. I've learned that from several comments that he's made about groups such as The Fuzz & on several other occasions.

Having been in his position on more than a few occasions, though I know that people would like to know sources & the like, I also know that there you can't divulge inside info that's given in confidence. I've been down that road a few times myself, as well as on the other side & understand where everyone is coming from. From my own experiences I know that that doesn't tend to satisfy the natural curiosity to want to know something. But confidentiality has to be respected & do do otherwise is to court serious trouble for oneself & find oneself on the outside looking in. Whether it related to the illness of an artist, to why someone may disappear from a group, when people trust you enough to tell you sensitive things, you simply can't violate that trust.

Though I know that it may feel like a tease, knowing Brother Love's reputation here for several years, I have to believe that this is one of those occasions & having observed him here over several years, I strongly believe that if he could tell you how he knows this, he'd tell you.

But, I understand how you feel

Thanks Juice...