After a punishing round of auditions and an interesting contest in Las Vegas, American Idol Season 11, 2012, has finally started the live shows. That means that the audience at home gets to vote for their favorites, eliminating one singer each week until the American Idol emerges. Last night was a semi-final round with 13 men singing to remain in the competition. There are their face slices above (one doesn't belong). Tonight it's the women's turn. On Thursday the eight lowest-scoring men and the seven lowest-scoring women will be sent home all at once. Each judge will bring back one of the eliminated in a wild card pick., bringing the total number of finalists to 13. That's when the show really begins to heat up as favorites fall and over-the-top divas keep going.
It's good to review the rules, because every year American Idol tweaks them a bit. We haven't had wild card picks for several years, for example. Besides the rules, I noticed a significant change in the show's production vales. I attribute this to direct competition with The Voice, my new favorite show. This was particularly noticeable in the second round of group performances. The contestants were all styled up and voice-coached to the nines, resulting in slick and entertaining performances. And check out the new Idol stage.
As far as last night's semi-final performances, it's too early to get excited. Half of these performers will be gone by the end of the week.
USA Today rated the 13 men. Their favorites did not totally coincide with mine. I loved Aaron Marcellus and thought his performance classic rather than "old fashioned". The judges did give him a standing O after all. But I agreed that Joshua Ledet was incredible. My favorite is Phil Phillips, but I was disappointed in his performance. And why did the judges start talking about going home directly after Creighton Fraker's credible version of True Colors? Unfair!
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| Aaron Marcellus |
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| Creighton Fraker |
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| Phil Phillips |
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