Tyler obviously believed that Skylar would be a great winner because he loved her singing, energy and marketability. He felt the same way about Lauren Alaina last year. The judges are frequently stunned when the singers with astonishing talent are voted off prior to those who should be also-rans. This year they have stated that they didn't believe that certain singers had deserved to land in the bottom three on many occasions, and they saved Jessica Sanchez (to howls on this thread) because she didn't deserve to be eliminated. So your suggestion that the judge's belief that this is the best year for talent in history is somehow in conflict with my statements that America has poor musical taste isn't pertinent, or even relevant. Simon Cowell demonstrated the judges' mindset a few years back when a guy named Tim Urban kept stinking up the theater week after week, voted through because of his smile by teenaged girls. Cowell said, ""I don't think it makes any difference whatsoever what we say, you're going to smile, the audience is going to vote for you, nobody cares, and you'll be here next week. So well done."
Indications were that Colton and Phillips were splitting 50% of the vote as far back as the Bottom 8 week, and it continued until Colton's elimination. This was due to tween and teen girls (and their moms) voting for their heartthrobs. Colton was an extraordinary talent. Phillips wasn't. Yet they split the tween/teen girl vote. This isn't a musical competition. It's a popularity contest and with teen/tween girls (and their moms), contestants can fall in and out of favor weekly, based on something as musically insignificant as whether their favorite has a girlfriend or not.
Jimmy's comment that he needed a new flat-screen TV meant that he couldn't fathom the decisions of the viewers, because he and they weren't seeing the same performances (i.e. he didn't understand why they were voting the way they were).
Now you may have the musical taste of a teenaged girl. That's fine with me. And the fact that you are defending America's taste in popular music puts you squarely in line with that demographic, which is still the demographic targeted by the big record companies as the group most likely to buy records. But the fact that earlier this season America voted Jessica Sanchez off and kept Phillip Phillips on is enough to disgust any lover of good music and good singing.
If Sanchez or Ledet beat Phillips this year it will be a testament to the sheer overwhelming force of their greatness, not to the suddenly excellent musical taste of AI voters. Remember. AI voters chose Kris Allen over Danny Gokey, Lee DeWyze over Crystal Bowersox and Taylor Hicks over Katherine McPhee, Chris Daughtry, Kellie Pickler and Elliot Yamin.
America's collective musical taste is horrifyingly bad. AI knows it and puts through marginal singer/songwriters like DeWyze (already dropped by his label!) and Phillips to increase viewer participation among the tasteless.
“The judges and Jimmy are acting as A&R reps for the show. They’re interested in finding talent who can sell records. Iovine talks about this every week. The problem is not that the judges don’t recognize talent, because they do, and their standing ovations and comments reflect their personal taste as well as who they believe is marketable.”
Wow! Your first paragraph totally contradicts the other six paragraphs you wrote. Sorry dude but Gloria Allred would not be able make that convoluted twisted logic fly in a court room let alone the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals they would laugh you out of there. I mean the OJ Dream Team would run away from you and those guys would take anybody as a client. LOL
You can NOT use the judges and mentors statements and actions for your affirmation of what you believe and then turn around and completely dismiss the judges statements and actions praising and endorsements of the other contestants as totally meaningless. Maybe in your world but in ours the sky is blue and BS is always BS.
Hey I am pleased as are most of Americans that we are in the same demographic as Steven Tyler, Randy Jackson, Jennifer Lopez, and Jimmy Lovine. We agree with them on the talent in this show.
But by being very selective of the judge’s statements and using torturous logic of the judge’s actual meanings to try and up hold your aruguments just what demographic category does that put you in? Maybe the delusional demographic or would it be “The Ferlies” demographic for you. Come on dude you can admit it you ended with a bad Mohawk and all your fingers in splints from dialing trying to keep Sanjaya in the competition.