It's hard to figure out how much the kids have a say in their performance-night looks, and how much the behind-the-scenes people influence them. Carrie's appearance is far, far nicer when she looks as she did last night -- a contemporary young woman rather than a refugee from the Grand Ole Opera circa the mid-1960's.
Paula Abdul was on the Fox Good Day L.A. program this morning. She said that the judges all thought Carrie did a great job when they heard her live Wednesday, but that after reviewing the performances later on tape, they all regretted their comments. She said on review, Carrie was sharp in places and flat in others, and that her performance was not very good.
Frankly, I thought the judges praised Carrie too much the other night. Her rendition of MacArthur Park was terrible -- by far her worst performance of the competition. I can't figure it out. Last week she seemed to take a big step in the right direction. Now this week she's back to being -- like I said before -- a grown-up version of the tragic JonBenet Ramsey. Kind of a Miss America or Tammy Wynnette wannabe straight out of the 1960's.
Anyway, although just a few weeks ago, the judges all thought Carrie was a shoo-in to win it, now they are not so high on her. Paula gave me the impression they were prepared to be tougher on Carrie next week.
Paula also was sorry to see Anwar go. She said he was the most supportive person with the other candidates, and is a realy nice guy.
She talked about how she was injured in a plane crash years ago, when she was at the height of her career. Among the injuries she suffered were five compressed vertebrae in her neck, which left her in constant pain. She had multiple surgeries which did not help her. She said she has never been an addictive personality and denied that she has been "under the influence" on recent shows. (However, that's exactly how she looked this morning on Good Day L.A.) She said she has needed painkillers, but that they never really helped, so she stopped using them. She is now seeing a doctor who she says has helped her a great deal. She can dance and sing again, which she said after the crash that doctors told her she would never be able to do again.
I never knew Paula was in a plane crash. In fact, I never knew much about her at all until she became a judge on AI. I guess she's lucky to be alive after being in a plane crash, so if she does act a little, ummmm, "off," I'm inclined to be more understanding now.
LOL--good eye! And now that you mention it, she did look like JonBenet. Disturbing.
just a few weeks ago, the judges all thought Carrie was a shoo-in to win it, now they are not so high on her. Paula gave me the impression they were prepared to be tougher on Carrie next week.
This might be all part of the "no-one-is-safe" drama of AI, not that Carrie deserved praise for "McArthur Park"--she didn't. I don't know if that was her worst song, but it was very bad.
I never knew Paula was in a plane crash.
That's news to me, too.
Google turned up a 2003 MSNBC interview, where Paula talks about the crash and all the resulting pain. Paula Abdul's Second Act
From the interview:
Ann Curry: “What kind of pain were you in?”
Abdul: “It’s something that is so aggressive that it takes your breath away and makes your teeth start chattering because it’s so uncomfortable. They gave me pills that would put a 300 pound man out. And there were no answers. Sometimes medicine doesn’t work.”
For years she suffered, undergoing 10 spinal surgeries, having three metal plates put in her neck, and losing an inch in height. Her final surgery was scheduled just two months before she was to start an exciting new job. She began praying out loud.
Abdul: “Please let this work because I’m going to take the job called ‘American Idol.’ And I deserve to do this job. I have to do this job because there’s nobody else who can do it but me. And well it’s either going to work or it’s not.”
Today Paula says she feels reborn. She is completely pain free and is even dancing again. But she’s learned the hard way, a lesson about the value of not pushing so hard, that you forget to take care of yourself.
Abdul: “I’m not willing to go back and be unhealthy no matter what that means. I can’t.”
Now that I know this, I won't be laughing at her as much, but still, there's something very odd about her recent behavior. And apparently we're not the only ones that noticed.
I don't think the plane crash was an actual crash like we usually think about. I know it was an emergency landing, but I don't remember much else. I guess it must have been a really bad hard landing. But I could be wrong, and maybe it was worse.
Still plenty bad enough to hurt her though. With her history of bulemia, her bones were probably a bit fragile.
I wonder if the 10 neck surgeries messed up some nerves that control muscles in her neck that affects her speech. Maybe that's why she slurrs her words?
Wolfstar, you said you didn't know much about Paula. Some of this you might know, but just in case here's a little about her. (I was a Paula Abdul fan..go figure)
Anyway, she was the one who turned the Laker's cheerleaders into the sexy dancers that were such a big deal. She was only 19 when she was one of the cheerleaders and was the head choreographer.
She was a world class choreographer and was considered one of the absolute best in the world.
She's won a ton of awards, like a couple of Emmy Awards. a Grammy Award, People's Choice, MTV etc. She's got a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Her videos won lots of awards also, but her singing really was a bit weak. She could be very sweet or very racy in the videos. Some of it was almost scandalous.
Probably much sexier than some of the guys here imagine. I was shocked from time to time with how racy she could get.
She's done lots of movie choreography, as well as choreography for people like Janet Jackson, some acting, song writing, etc.
Here are a couple of links to her credits. She's done quite a bit.
http://us.imdb.com/name/nm0000716/
http://www.paulaabdul.com/pages/Discography
And if you haven't seen any of her videos, here's a link to those. To get an idea of her dancing talent, "The Way That You Love Me" is probably the best one. (There are two versions of that one. Go to the first one.)
http://www.paula-online.com/frames.htm
Anyway, that's probably more than you ever wanted to know about her, but I was bored!
I'll post some pictures for the guys to enjoy in a minute.
I didn't know she was in a plane crash, either. Depending on the type of accident it was, you can get some truly awful neck and back injuries, esp. compression injuries. Surviving them is not easy ... many people would survive the initial impact, but the secondary impacts can kill you.