Last night was American Idol’s Top 13 Performances! The group picked from the Michael Jackson Songbook—love him or hate him there is no denying the musical past and skills of the King of Pop!

Yesterday I did a post about my insights (a bit delayed) into the contestants before their Top 13 performance. And then last night, I had a blast tweeting with everyone about their performances on Twitter! As I watched the show, I copied my tweets into a new blog post and added any other first impressions I could think of!
Here are my semi-coherent insights and thoughts!
*I did post some videos on here, some to show you the wardrobing style and some because they were so fab! But they are from YouTube and may get deleted! For all performances, see American Idol.com

The Top 13

Lil Rounds
Song Choice: “The Way You Make me Feel”

HATED her version. It is one of my fave Jackson songs and I didn’t like the bluesy tone and didn’t think her voice was working with her at all on it. Just not the right song for me, for her. The judges loved her which made me think I was crazy but my girls on Twitter agreed with me!

But I thought she looked fab and LOVED her shirt despite all the haters. It actually was prettyfashion forward–not 80s prom dress or southern Bridesmaid from hell—like some tweeters commented! I think she’ll do fine this week though and think she will totally kill it next week

Scott MacIntyre
Song Choice: Keep the Faith
I agree with Randy & Simon–thought it was safe and a bit blah. Good, but blah! His piano skills were just sick but I wished the song had a little more power or emotion to tie me to him.

Danny Gokey
Song Choice: P.Y.T
To quote myself from twitter “I really wanted to like Danny Gokey tonight because I love him but huh. huh. That was weird. Great vocals though!”
I do love him and think his voice is just sick! but the actual song….yet I am still a bit perplexed. Just didn’t really feel that song.
I am however, LOVING his style! Those glasses were hot

Michael Sarver
Song Choice: You Are A Not Alone
I really liked it! I wouldn’t download it and listen to it every day or anything. But I thought he did a great job and was clearly loving it which made me love it!
Totally agree with Simon! Not the best vocalist but his passion and love came through and he sang the hell out of that!

Jasmine Murray
Song Choice: “I’ll be There”
*Sigh* Just didn’t feel it. Had potential but it just didn’t feel right. Felt a bit flat and without passion

Kris Allen
Song Choice: Remember the Times
So so so so sad! I Love him. I love the song. I love boys playing guitar (see My Love For David Cook  & Daughtry). However, I did not love anything about this performance. If it is possible to be karaoke while playing guitar, he did it.
I was also horribly creeped out by Paula Abdul declaring Kris “adorable sexy”–even though he is. (I have also been asked to mention that “adorable sexy” is not grammatically correct. It should be adorably sexy)
Oh, and I totally agree with Simon–even if he was kidding—that Kris shouldn’t have showcased the wife in a video so early! It’s like Daughtry! Totally crushing! Hot musicians are not supposed to be married damnit!

Allison Iraheta
Song Choice: “Give into me”
(just the song, not video of performance but it’s good!)

This girl is just ridiculous! She could skip Idol and just make an album already and head on tour! And she’s only 16! I can’t say enough great things about her without gushing like a total idiot! My only critique is that it did sound a lot like her other song “Alone” but hey, that’s not a bad thing since that was badass too! I am not going to throw down and say I want her to win —because I feel it is far worse to win and be forced to produce a crap record then to come in oh, say, third or fourth and put out a really freaking good one—but I want her in my Top 3!

Anoop Desai & Jorge Nunez
Ok, so I was in my kitchen making dinner while these two sang and only heard the performances, I didn’t actually see them. But I found them so lackluster and flat to my ears that I didn’t even bother watching it back on the DVR. Very boring and blah–and in Anoop’s case cheesy as hell—which I think is a shame because I really liked both contestants.

Megan Joy Corkrey
Song Choice: Rockin’ Robin
Quoting myself from Twitter again: “MAKE HER STOP! Rockin Robin? WTF was that? She took Rockin Robin and beat the poor thing to death! I can not figure out what was up with that song choice! Totally didn’t fit her personality”
And before I dig farther, Simon jumped in and vocalized exactly what I was thinking with the quote of the night:

“What a stupid song choice! Vocals weren’t very good. Dancing was verging on ridiculous….If this was the first time anybody had seen this person without all the hype and you were the great hope for american idol they would think we’d all gone completely mad.”

If I didn’t make myself clear in yesterday’s post, I DO NOT LIKE HER.

Adam Lambert
Me: “WOW. He rocked the hell outta “Black or White!” That was original and JUST SICK! He was da bomb dogg!” I totally agree that he could go and drop an album right now and be #1.
But…….
For some reason, I still don’t heart him. Me, the girl who worships Daughtry and Cook and is a secret rocker at heart. I think it’s the rock image styling that’s going on. It’s a little too cliche and over the top for me. I said it yesterday—not a a fan of the uber-black attire–and it was nice to see the blue tonight but still felt like 80’s rocker. I know it’s an image but it turns me off. I would totally love him if he found his own style and not a played out over-stereotyped cliche,

Matt Giraud
Song Choice: “Human Nature”
It started great. I was totally wowed because I just didn’t expect him to be good. I found myself holding my breath the whole time hoping that it wouldn’t go flat! And it  just got better and better. His falsetto was a total shock and impressive. His piano skills were hot!
It really sucks that he came after Adam because I really enjoyed his performance and I think the judges would have been wowed if he was earlier in the show.

Alexis Grace
Song Choice: Dirty Diana
“DAMN! Just like Adam she rocked the hell out of that song! I don’t even know that song but I was definitely feeling her.” What did Kara say? Alexis is “Naughty but I liked it!” Thought she looked fabulous and totally want the necklace! I think the judges came down hard on her. I think her attitude made that song totally work for her and I was very impressed! Stupid Adam ruined it for everyone else!

Like my opinions or just like talking about reality tv? Follow me on twitter at StilettoSportsJ for live updates and fun facts!
Most photos were from Rickey.Org—a FABULOUS reality blog! Check it out!

Idol Top 13 Recaps, Rants & Raves is a post from: Stiletto Sports

Guess this post will negate the Thankful Thursday post I’ll be doing later today….

I’ve decided I might not be cut out for networking sites like The Bleacher Report. I wrote a piece a few weeks ago about how intimidated the site makes me. It’s almost like a magazine or newspaper made for sports blogs. And it’s full of pro sports bloggers writing about sports that are way over my head. There is a whole editing system and different levels (I’ve moved up to being a scribe now!). And if the piece is good, it makes it to the “front page.” It can be a bit overwhelming to a new sports blogger.

The first weeks were rough but lately, I really feel like I’m making my own little niche in there and I’m quite happy in that little niche. I make it to the front page with almost every piece I put on there (except the ones I accidentally uploaded…oops!). I’ve gained a core group of fans and friends and life is good.

But then…. I got this and it made me question the whole thing all over again.

“Just a few grammatical hiccups, and also something that I find quite often whilst editing: an author not having faith in his or her abilities. When you say something to the effect of “here’s what I’m going to do,” or “Hope is a tricky one,” instead of just coming out firing with your assertions, it weakens the piece. You have a great message here. Take a cue from your inspiration, Pres. Obama, and use that strength without couching it. Let the punches roll, and your work will be that much stronger for it.”

That’s worse then when I was told the KU Rock, Chalk Jayhawk piece was “a bit Wikipedia!”

First of all, are you freaking serious?  Clearly this guy is not a Stiletto Sports follower because if I “let the punches roll” anymore than I do well, I’d be scared. In the last four months I’ve compared football to Legally Blonde, the Phillies to Snow White, created an official rulebook on how to pick teams without ever looking at a stat, and said my top sports moment of 2008 was Dancing with the Stars. Oh yeah, I really hold myself and my thoughts back, don’t I?

Now, don’t get me wrong because I love having an editing system over there to help fine tune my work. And the guy did change my headline for me to make it stand out–which I was having trouble with. And I like constructive and helpful critiques. But I don’t deal well with vague comments (i.e. the Wikipedia one. Guy didn’t explain his point or over suggestions) or personal “attacks.” I am pretty sensitive to stuff. I don’t have hard outer shell. I’m pretty much a pink bubble of goo. And I think before I give criticisms. I try to find a way to give them in a way that would be helpful and not hurtful.

The sucky part (besides those icky words) is that he actually really liked the piece and had nice things to say:

“You have a great voice and a great message, as I said, so don’t muffle it. Other than that little piece of advice, you’ve really created something nice here. Love it.”

But I was so taken aback and genuinely offended by the “not having faith” part that I barely read the rest. I think that was a pretty bold statement for someone to assume just because he edits a lot of blogs. Whoop di freaking doo.

I am so indescribably proud of myself right now that there are no words for it. In the last four months I’ve turned my life totally upside down and am starting all over. I’ve learned how to design my own website, run multiple websites, advertise, promote, network. None of which I knew a thing about four months ago. And I think I’ve been really successful so far. Maybe not monetarily successful…but successful in growing a great fan base and being discovered–and liked–by some pretty important people.

I have so much faith in my abilities and my talent as a writer and I found it beyond hurtful to hear someone question that. I spent the last eight years since college too scared to write because I didn’t think I was good enough. I finally gained the courage to rediscover my voice and my talent and put it out there for everyone. And then I hear something like that.

You know what, buddy, fuck you. Seriously.

Here’s what you should have said, ass.

“Just a few grammatical hiccups! You have a great voice and a great message! I’ve edited a lot of blogs and noticed that when you say something to the effect of “here’s what I’m going to do,” or “Hope is a tricky one,” instead of just coming out firing with your assertions, it can weaken the piece. Just say it without prefacing it and and your work will be that much stronger for it. You’ve really created something nice here. Love it.”

Ah well. At least it’s toughening me up. I didn’t even cry this time.  And I know if I want to make it in this writing world I need a tough skin. I write as I speak.

Thoughts? Do I really suck that bad?

Stiletto Sports Thursday Rant is a post from: Stiletto Sports