BogoGog24

Yeah, sometimes the judges contradict themselves. Like "We need you to go out of your box", contestant does something new and different, "We don't know who you are as an artist anymore. You're spreading yourself too thin." "We want you to make the songs your own," contestant completely rearranges a song, "I missed the melody of that, you changed the meaning of the song." "We want you guys to move around the stage and not be so stiff," Malaya runs around like a maniac, "You lost the vocal because you were moving around so much." At least the judges this year have acknowledged that they contradict themselves a lot. All the contestants can really do is pick apart the pieces of advice that seem relevant to them and that they agree with. They are not obligated to take every piece of advice they are given. Between the judges telling them what to do, what Randy is telling them (or not telling them), and everyone else behind the scenes telling them what to do, sing, wear, etc., in the end, they have to do what feels right to them. Once again, joystick, I agree with you on Caleb (or any other contestants this may apply to)- if he actually started taking the show seriously like people want him to, people would just say he's being fake. Like when he made that comment about Alex's peanut allergy and people wanted him to apologize for it. So he apologized (whether it was his own idea or a producer's) and people said he sounded insincere. All of them are better off just doing, saying, singing, wearing what feels natural to them and not trying to please anybody. In the end, you just end up pleasing no one.

I'm with you Joystick- Yes, Caleb has a habit of putting his foot in his mouth and saying things that come off smarmy, even if he might not mean for them too. But goodness, if he wasn't here this season, it would be so. boring. Sam, bless him, he's a sweetheart and I love his voice, but he's not the most interesting person to watch on stage. Most of the others don't really interest me at all. I like the people I like first and foremost for their talent. Personality comes second. Caleb is smarmy and comes off like a jerk, but at least he's got the talent to be there and keep me entertained. He's the only person who excites me at all and makes me excited to watch the show every week. I watch Idol to be entertained and see if there's any new artists out there that I'd buy music from. Caleb is one of the few I could see myself buying an album from and maybe Alex if he did a whole album like Fairytales and Jess if the album was like Blue Eyed Lie. Even Jena's original song was pretty good. Sam will be good in a few years, I'd buy anything he records just because his voice is so beautiful.

Despite everything they said in this episode about all this supposed "proof" they have of people bringing in fake bugs and what not, I still don't believe a word of anything they say. I sincerely believe Amy needs to go in for psychological testing. Or maybe the two of them need anger management.

I have the feeling the '80s catalog was pretty limited this year. Maybe with the exception of Dexter's choice, all or most of the songs were predictable and done to death (Time After Time, Call Me, Faithfully, EBYT, Islands in the Stream, I Knew You Were Waiting, ILRNR….) Either the kids were not given a very wide range of songs to choose from, or they just aren't that familiar enough with '80s music. But the first one sounds a lot more likely since it's been such an issue in past seasons and even though none of them were actually born in the '80s, I'm sure many of them listen to '80s music. I'd expect much better choices from Caleb, Jessica, and Jena, for example.

This! The first thing I care about the most is "Do I like this artist's music?" Liking their personality is a nice bonus, but I don't necessarily have to like someone as a person to be interested in their music. I'm not a fan of how Miley Cyrus presents herself these days but I liked her newest album enough to buy it. That's why I don't give 2 flying fladoodles how "nice" CJ is… so what? The man can't sing in tune for two measly minutes, what do I care about his personality for? He could be the nicest man in the world but it's not gonna entice me to buy his album or tickets to his concert.

You know somebody I think from TWOP or something (must have been there 'cause I don't see anything here) criticized Jessica because she smiles while the judges critique her. Yet half the time the contestants are criticized if they are criticized for NOT smiling. They can never win, no matter what they say or do people have a problem with it. If they smile, they look like they aren't taking it seriously and if they don't smile they are accused of looking disinterested and like they don't care about what the judges have to say. I don't know what people expect them to do.

One of my favorite episodes is Lucy's Night in Town. I also like Lucy Gets Ricky on the Radio. When she's trying to kick the ball of paper with the answers on it out the door by shuffling her feet- hilarious. Also love The Million Dollar Idea, The Business Manager, The Diner, and The Girls Go Into Business. All the Hollywood and Europe episodes are great too.

I think this theme will be interesting. I obviously hope the contestants don't try to sabotage each other and pick completely ridiculous songs (like I'm Sexy and I Know It, Barbie Girl, Friday, or Gangnam Style) but I hope they also have some imagination and give each other more challenging songs. My personal picks if I could choose: Caleb- "Yellin' From the Rooftop" by Danielle Bradbery (In real life they probably wouldn't clear it because she's from The Voice) or "Spoonman" by Soundgarden Sam- "I See Fire" by Ed Sheeran (should have done it for Movie Night) Jena- "Ain't It Fun" by Paramore, "Eet" or "Laughing With" by Regina Spektor Jessica- "Gunpowder and Lead" by Miranda Lambert Dexter- "The Dash" by Scotty McCreery or "I'm Alive" by Willie Nelson Alex- "Say Something" by A Great Big World, "Clocks" by Coldplay, "Let Her Go" by Passenger Yeah pretty unimaginative choices lol Give CJ something with almost no melody

Haha I have to admit that made me laugh. Mostly because I'm imagining him lifting a bag of Doritos over his head.

He's so tall, she would have never been able to get down lol

Oh yeah I hate that every challenge goes into a tie… SO. PREDICTABLE. Standouts for me continue to be Joy, Rochelle, and Melanie from the women and Anton, Scott, and maybe Chris from the men. And those are probably our Top 6.

How did she come across as a "bitch" in Hollywood though? I don't care for Jess at all but one thing I was impressed by was how well she handled herself that week. She got handed so much undeserved crap, like that girl's mom treating her like a teenager and blaming her for her daughter's elimination. Jess handled it better than most people would have. She may come off cold in her performances but I think that's because she is so used to performing in bars that she hasn't figured out how to loosen up onstage yet. As a person though, she seems fine. Not as bubbly and happy as Majesty or CJ. But lukewarm. I don't get "bitch" from her at all.

Well Caleb may be smarmy, but one thing you can say for him is that at least he didn't put an underaged girl on his shoulders.

While Caleb's answer to Ryan on the show was not what I or other viewers wanted to hear from him, he did, in a post-show interview, talk about the meaning of the song. Even though he said he doesn't have a girlfriend right now, he did know the song is about a man on the road remaining faithful to his wife/girlfriend. Maybe the show was ready to wrap up after his performance and he would have liked to have more time to explain what the song means to him, but they just didn't have time. I also don't get why people think Alex doesn't know what EBYT is supposed to mean. He explained he looked at the lyrics countless times and I'm sure everyone knows the true meaning of the song. That's what made his rendition brilliant, was that he completely warped it and made it more sweet and innocent. Some people liked that and some didn't. I personally thought it was brilliant. He has a girlfriend right now, so naturally he probably wanted to change the song to fit his own life. I don't think he can relate to stalking somebody, but he could sure relate to loving someone.

Didn't Jimmy do the same thing though? He would make critiques about each performance and say whether he thought they were safe or not. Randy does the exact same, only he might know the results beforehand.

According to Wikipedia, Caleb has had the pimp spot exactly 2 times only. That's hardly "all the time." Every other time has either been around 6 or 7th or the second to last spot. I suppose some people would wish he would "play the game," on the other hand- at least he's not being fake about it. While sometimes he's a little too blunt, he always says exactly what he thinks. In a post show interview somebody asked him what the last movie was that he saw and he answered "Mr. Peabody. It sucked ass!" At least he's honest I guess. For me, that's a part of his appeal, is that he always says exactly what he's thinking, even if he's horribly blunt. It's kind of funny.

Well that's the thing- all these contestants are just kids, who say and do stupid things, just like literally every person watching did at that age. I don't think they deserve the criticism just because they are on national television. Instead of spending millions on salaries for JLo and Randy, they should have invested in a media trainer. They ALL need it and the contestants last year needed it as well. I think, with the exception of those aw-shucks guys like Scotty and Phillip, we will often find that all the young contestants come off so green and naive that sometimes the things they say can seem stupid or arrogant when that's probably not how they meant for it to come off. Like when Malaya made the comment about "being on the road to stardom" and Harry told her to forget about that part and just focus on improving her skills. I don't think the contestants can be entirely blamed when there should be someone behind the scenes giving the advice on what to say and what not to say. I'm sure it's difficult to be living in a small little town in the middle of nowhere your whole life and then suddenly when you are thrust on television, everyone analyzes every little thing you say and you have to be more careful about what you say and how you say it. They probably just don't realize. Who knows what he meant by "old ladies?" He could have been talking about his grandma for all we know. Maybe his grandmother and her friends love that song? Really, how I interpreted it, is that elderly women love those kinds of stories about a couple remaining in love with each other right? Like maybe he thought they would be so touched by the story because it's a classic theme that they would love. I didn't view it as any kind of "manipulating," just that maybe he thought old ladies (like 80+) would be moved by the story because it's romantic. Most songs nowadays are about sex and what not, whereas Faithfully is almost the exact opposite sentiment- a man staying faithful to his wife/girlfriend, and I think that's a theme older people would appreciate.

Ryan asked him if he was singing the song about anyone in particular and he said "No I was just making the baby face." It made the audience think he had no personal connection to the song and that he was faking emotional connection.

I was disappointed with his answer when Ryan asked him if he was thinking about anyone while singing that, however in a post show interview he did explain more in-depth what the song means to him and showed he really does understand what the song is about. Maybe it was a time constraint thing, who knows. He was the last person to perform and they wanted to wrap up the show. Maybe he would have liked to explain for like 30 seconds what the song means to him but they didn't have the time. I just wish he could have been able to give a better answer at that moment, so maybe people would hate him less lol

I feel the same way. Since I'm not an old lady, I guess I don't get what's so offensive.

Well, that all could be subjective. Candice took forever to put out Music Speaks and most of it doesn't seem right for her. Scotty released Clear As Day in October 2011 and it fit him like a glove, went to #1 on Billboard. Maybe I should clarify and say the key is releasing good, quality music that is appropriate for the singer in a timely manner. The average timeline of releasing albums for the Idol winners is October/November. And many of them already have original songs, I could picture Jessica, Jena, or Alex especially releasing an album of mostly self-written material (if Interscope was behind it) Of course Interscope also needs to do their part and actually promote the artist.

I disagree with the thing about Caleb- I mean it's hard to catch it because it happens so quickly and you don't know who they're gonna call safe, but he ALWAYS has a look of shock on his face (and it seems genuine) You can Google some pretty funny stills of his "shock" faces Also, I don't think Sam was asking if anyone knew who Ricky Nelson was because he thought they could clue him in. I'm sure he had looked it up and then was just asking in general if any of them knew who he was. I'm 20 years old and I had never heard of him until people started comparing him to Sam on these boards. Most of the audience watching this show is old enough to know who he is and I think sometimes they forget that and forget that the contestants this year are skewed much younger than normal. You know my feeling about that is that it's not what was said, it's who said it. I bet if CJ had said it, people would have gone "Awww, he's thinking about all the grandmas out there!" But because it was Caleb, a guy who is seemingly not very popular, people have already made up their minds that they hate him so anything he says or does is annoying to them.

I'm sure they do undergo psychological testing, but people have pointed out that perhaps the ones who are deemed unfit to compete are the ones chosen. Would certainly explain a lot.

If anything, they left Caleb's questionable comment in there to get people to talk. And that's exactly what ended up happening. It got people talking about him, one of the most popular contestants this year. (Even if it was not in a positive light) At least they didn't force him to apologize this time. Yuck. I'd rather Caleb say something stupid than do another insincere apology. Either that, or TPTB didn't think anyone would get upset over the comment in the first place. I've seen comments from here, TWOP, and Caleb's Facebook page where a bunch of "old ladies" said they were not offended by it at all. Some people took it way too seriously just like the peanut comment. Guess Caleb just has that kind of humor that doesn't always go over well with some people. Idol hasn't had any major breakout stars on the same level as Kelly and Carrie, but Jordin Sparks did pretty well for awhile as has Adam Lambert, Scotty McCreery, and Phillip. Whoever wins could potentially sell a lot IF they don't delay their album until the following year like Candice. If they strike while the iron is hot and get material out there quickly, they might have a shot like Scotty and Phillip. With Caleb, it could be different, since his genre is not all that popular anymore, but Faithfully reached #2 on iTunes Rock, so clearly people dig him. He could always venture into a Rock of Ages type of thing. And if it ends up being Alex who wins, indie is very popular right now. I could see him opening for Jason Mraz since they are coffee buddies now. The key is putting something out quickly for the fans to purchase instead of making them wait a whole year.

Anyone else think that wedding was totally staged? The whole thing seemed fake to me, like the bride and groom are hired actors. Who honestly would get married in HK? Wow um. Pretty hard to screw up EGGS. I wonder if producers were tampering with the stoves. Didn't the previews show someone making something "so shockingly disgusting", yet we didn't see it? I feel like the "disgusting" thing they were referring to that showed people gagging was that shake they were forced to drink. Man this show is so bad when it comes to previews. I could see why Demarco was cut but I don't know if he should have gone home just yet- the eggs were not really his fault. I feel like Gabriel should have been cut instead but neither one of them is gonna win anyway, so it didn't really matter which one went first.