LIVE THREAD: American Idol Finals

http://www.freerepublic.com ^ | May 20, 2003

[fightinJAG]

Agreed---there is like this big Ruben machine out there pushing him.

He CAN sing, no doubt about it. But Clay has much more versatility and, eventually, he will get his performance legs and really knock 'em dead.

[fightinJAG]

I think this is why AI has caught so many people's attention: somehow we take pride in this little slice of the American dream, kids from nowhere working hard, taking hard knocks, coming out and doing it again, and, with a little luck, succeeding big-time.

I read that the producers originally conceived of the show as a sort of gong show featuring skinny adolescent girls who could not sing. But they found out that Americans actually took the singing and the competition seriously, and that Americans really do not impose the same restraints on "image" that record producers do.

[bonfire]

It's just plain old GREAT TV! 2003 will be the year remembered for raising the Television viewing bar. What, with AI and the LIVE War....wow, what a year!

[fightinJAG]

And I couldn't understand why the judges gushed over it (Ruben's first song). It was a big zero, I thought.

[fightinJAG]

I think it's called "This Is The Night," and it's his single that's for sale on amazon.com.

[bonfire]

Yes. I searched the internet and found the song. Download on IMESH under American Idol-Aiken.

[pbear8]

I didn't know that he wrote that, I thought it might be his first single.

I agree Ruben didn't do it for me tonight.

I kinda think that they had to use the choir since them were there already. But would a sane person arrange 'Bridge' that way. I think not.

Heard about Clay and Amazon, that's impressive. I liked the 'it's in God's Hands speech', I wonder what the network thought.

Oh, did you see Randy and Paula swaying with the crowd on Riben's song? Paula was holding Simon's hand and the look on his face was priceless.

[justshe]

I have a 'lucky' line from here in Oregon. I've voted for Clay 240 times.....and still have an hour to go. :-) I'm helping all those folks who couldn't get thru!

[pbear8]

You are right "Imagine" is not a song for a Christian to sing. No wonder it didn't come across.

[fightinJAG]

I was mistaken: Clay did not write the song,but it will be his first single.

[justshe]

I'll buy it. Loved it!

[bonfire]

I couldn't even get thru ONCE and tried for over an hour!

[JustPiper]

From Wash Times
May 20, 10:34 PM EDT

Viewers to Decide'American Idol' Winner

By LYNN ELBER
AP Television Writer


LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Will it be redheaded string bean Clay Aiken, possessed of a startlingly powerful voice? Or will Ruben Studdard, 350 pounds of stage presence and soulful style, become the vocalist of note?

Television viewers have already decided which of the 24-year-old Southern singers will claim the title of "American Idol." But the results won't be declared until Wednesday's two-hour season finale, beginning at 8 p.m. EDT on Fox.

On Tuesday's edition of "American Idol," the two performers gave the audience a final chance to listen, then weigh in.

"Head-to-head, the showdown tonight!" host Ryan Seacrest said at the top of the show.

Studdard crooned the Burt Bacharach song "A House is Not a Home," John Lennon's "Imagine" and Westlife's "Flying Without Wings."

Aiken belted out an original song called "This Is the Night," Paul McCartney's "Here, There and Everywhere" and Paul Simon's "Bridge Over Troubled Water."

"How will you decide?" Seacrest asked viewers, who had three hours after the show's sign-off to cast their votes.

Both Aiken and Studdard shrug off the question of who will win. Crowned or not, they have a serious shot at a career because of "American Idol," which has received 18 million to 20 million telephone votes in past weeks.

"There's stars out there who would die to have this much exposure," Aiken, of Raleigh, N.C., told The Associated Press in an interview last week, on the day US magazine came out with a cover featuring him, Studdard and third-place finisher Kimberly Locke. Another cover story in People and a lengthy Newsweek piece followed.

"Everybody in this competition is a winner," said Studdard, of Birmingham, Ala. "I don't think there's too much difference."

Even Locke felt no pain when she was voted off. "I'm just happy that we all got this far," said the Nashville, Tenn., native after the TV audience's decision. "It's a great jump-start for my career."

That's been proven by last year's "American Idol" and the original British series, "Pop Idol."

Kelly Clarkson, winner of the first "American Idol" competition last year, was signed by RCA Records and saw her album, "Thankful," debut at No. 1 last month.

Runner-up Justin Guarini is right by her side. He signed a record deal with RCA as well and is co-starring with Clarkson in an upcoming film. He even gets top billing, of a sort: The movie is titled "From Justin to Kelly."

Other first-season finalists working on albums include R.J. Helton (who just signed with Kirk Franklin's Gospocentric label), A.J. Gil and Tamyra Gray. Gray also launched her acting career with a role on the Fox drama "Boston Public." Even Frenchie Davis, booted because she once worked for an adult-oriented Web site, was cast in the Broadway production of "Rent."

"In England, the top five kids have had No. 1 records. The whole of the pop record industry there has been changed around by 'Pop Idol,'" said Ken Warwick of Freemantle Media, a co-producer of both the British and U.S. versions of the show.

Fox is diligent in keeping both first- and second-season finalists in front of the public, liberally scattering them throughout the current series. There also are group tours with contestants.

How long the whirlwind will last is anybody's guess.

Aiken said his personal goal was simply to make it to the top three. He speculates that neither he nor Studdard would have even made the initial cut in the contest's first season.

"Last year, the judges approached the whole competition differently, I think," Aiken said. "Simon (Cowell), especially, put people in because they had some talent and looked good. He was much bigger on image last year. (Now) he admittedly has allowed the public to decide what's more important, talent or image."

Wardrobe makeovers have made the two finalists look slicker, and Aiken has a new spiky haircut and contact lenses. But neither approaches Guarini's darling boy-band look.

For Aiken, that's something to savor.

"It's sweet justice that two people (Cowell) probably wouldn't have voted for last year are in the top two this year."

[Ima Lurker]

Me too. I got the "circuits are busy" garbage several times though. I tried until about 9:30 then again from ll:45 till midnight and never did get through.

[mystery-ak]

Chicago is rat central, politically speaking...Im in central Illinois and I know all about the rat machine in northern Illinois...

[alisasny]

As my husband said last night..." Rubens heart is only a little bit bigger than mine," when I mentioned how both Barry White and Luther Vandross are now both very sick.

Ruben needs to get a trainer and shed 150 lbs this year.

[Mr. Bird]

OK. I've digested the performances of last night. I thought Ruben was fine, but wholly unimpressive. I thought this was the show that they'd have to come out swinging, and he just didn't project any added enthusiasm over what he normally does. I think his third song, the one about flying without wings, was a sop. It must be either a regional or sub-genre favorite, because I've never heard it, and I've been exposed to a lot. I think that will hurt him in the voting.

As for Clay, when they announced he was singing an original, I braced for the worst. When he finished, it was pretty clear that the writer wrote it specifically for him, because he absolutely nailed it. "Here, There, and Everywhere" was a let down, as far as I'm concerned. He could have stepped on Ruben's throat with another home run there. Finally, "Bridge Over Troubled Water". I was certain he'd chosen the song. I was horrified when it started up tempo. That's like speeding up "Silent Night" on Christmas Eve. He did a great job with it, but I think a stripped down version would have sealed the deal for him.

Prediction: Aiken by TKO.

[cuz_it_aint_their_money]

I agree. Clay's first two were "OK" but nothing to write home about. He nailed the last song though. He knew it. The judges (even Simon!) knew it. The audience knew it, and even Ruben knew it.
Ruben on the other hand, stumbled and faltered. In other words, he choked, and all three judges knew it.
I think it will be Aiken with a slam-dunk.

Just my humble opinion.

[GraniteStateConservative]

Just because Clay probably couldn't get a date with a girl before this competition, it doesn't follow that he didn't want a date.

[EllaMinnow]

From Entertainment Weekly online:


Feat of Clay

Here's why Clay will win -- In the winner-take-all finale, Clay shines while Ruben falters for the first time. Jessica Shaw was there live, and she explains what happened.

Okay, that was so not the finale I was expecting. And not just because I thought Paul Anka was dead. (Little did we know he’s been hiding away penning Bar Mitzvah-style lyrics to classic songs!) Didn’t you sort of think Ruben would come in tonight and rock the house with his little velvet teddy bear moves and Grand Canyon-sized smile? And didn’t it seem like Clay would be all show-tuney and maybe forget a line or two along the way?

Well, as far as I could tell (that would be from row D, seat 3 in section 18, thank you very much. Yes, I officially have the best job on the planet), Clay owned the night. You heard it here first: Clay is the next American Idol.

Considering how steady and flawless Ruben has been all competition, it shocked the hell out of me that he choked on the last night. Lord only knows why he chose to sing ''House Is Not a Home,'' a song that in American ''Idol''-land now officially belongs to Tamyra Gray. His rendition was fine, but hardly a goosebump-inducing situation. Only Simon was willing to make the call that it wasn’t ''the best performance we’ve heard.''

From that point on, you could see Ruben’s nerves continuously dripping right down his face. Frankly, I was sort of worried he was going to slip and wipe out in a pool of his own sweat. Simon had never spoken badly of big Ru before that moment.

''Imagine'' was a little better, though Ruben’s face registered such serious pain, I thought Ryan was going to have to attempt CPR on live TV. Plus, it was sort of an easy song. (And Randy called ''Here, There, Everywhere'' -- with all those ridiculously high notes -- ''safe''? I think not!). What can I say about ''Flying Without Wings,'' big Ru’s big finale? He sounded great, the choir rocked, but Kimberley could have belted out that song just as well, if not better. Still, the judges seemed to love that performance. Randy gave the ol’ standing ovation. ''It’s the church of Ruben!'' Paula said, meaning to give a compliment. And Simon, who’s been Ruben’s No. 1 supporter all along gushed ''That was fantastic. You saved the best for last.''

I sort of wish Ruben and Clay had to sing the same songs, like Kelly and Justin had to last year. Even though it was abundantly clear that Kelly was the greater talent, you didn’t know just how superior she was until you heard her rendition of ''A Moment Like This'' next to his. What would Ruben have sounded like singing ''This Is the Night''? We’ll never know.

Even though the judges seemed to hate Clay’s original, I thought it was pretty damn genius. (I’m almost sure Paula may have agreed with me. ''You found a matrix of a song,'' she said. Was that some weird cross-Fox promotion? Will she ever make sense?) Clay could have used a little less David Copperfield backlighting, but his voice blew everyone in section 18 away. And we had some serious Ruben fans at the beginning.

When Ryan said Clay would be doing a Sir Paul song, I was sort of hoping it would be ''Blackbird'' or ''Hey Jude.'' ''Here, There, Everywhere'' was, as Simon said, ''very pretty,'' but the entire audience spent that song terrified that Clay’s voice would crack everytime he went falsetto.

But all five songs before Clay’s finale didn’t mean a thing. ''Bridge Over Troubled Water'' was by far the song of the season. ''I think that performance could win you the competition,'' Simon, who has clearly been championing Ruben, begrudgingly said. And you might hate Simon, but let’s face it, the guy is always right.

So what to do now? A full 24 hours until we find out. It all comes down to who’s going to inherit Kimberley’s fans. Fans of plus-sized performers will go Ruben, but all those who dug Kimmy’s major vocal range might hang with Clay. Some voters might feel sorry for Ruben’s subpar showing tonight and do the whole moral-support dial-up. And there’s got to be at least a few hundred people turned off by Clay’s odd wiggly finger move urging the audience to vote for contestant 2. For sure, it’s going to be close. I think we’re headed for a serious Red State/Blue State situation. They’ll split the South. Coasts may go Ruben, but heartland is all Clay. I’m hating Florida already.


www.ew.com/ew/article/com...ll,00.html