Clearly American Idol has become simply a forum for pre-adolesecent fantasies

[joeybee12]

of 11 and 12-year-old girls, to be more specific.

I haven't seen it in years, but flipped back and forth on the season finale. My first reaction to the two finalists is that Philip was very cute...#2, the girl he was up against (see what a fan I am, I don't even know her name) can really sing, and #3, Philip can't. Last 3 seasons, same type of winner...guess the ratings for the finale nosedived from finals in the past. Not a surprise.

[ohheckyeah]

1. It's the curse of the

WGWG (white guy with guitar). When the majority of the voters are teeny bopper girls who vote based on things like "I want to have his baby" a female singer doesn't have a chance. It certainly isn't a singing contest.

The girl in the final two is Jessica Sanchez. She delivered some spine tingling performances including the performance on finale night singing And I Am Telling You with Jennifer Holliday. She is only 16 years old and in my opinion, the best talent AI has ever had.


In case you missed it, check this out:

[joeybee12]

2. I did see that segment...

What a voice and only 16...I think she has a much brighter future than the guy who won.

Idol wasn't always like this...but it certainly has devolved into this.

[TreasonousBastard]

4. I don't get it...

Sanchez does have a great voice, but what's the point of pairing her with a larger singer with a HUGE voice who dominates the whole thing?

When did duets stop being between equals?

[joeybee12]

8. I actually thought Sanchez held her own pretty good...

Although I don't see how they could consider that a good song for a duet.

[elana i am]

3. yep

i think the last season to truly be about talent was season 2 when ruben and clay were 1st & 2nd respectively.

and while carrie underwood and kelly clarkson have had great success, their voices and genres are an acquired taste. i recognize their moderate level of talent and great success, i'm just not a fan of either of them.

in my opinion, the true talents to come from that show are clay and ruben. they both have crazy good voices & and while it was practically indiscernible in the constraints of the show, clay has fabulous stage presence. the best concert i have ever seen in my life was the "Timeless" tour clay and ruben did in 2010. i'm completely serious. clay is not only an amazing singer he's hilarious in concert. even ruben's personality showed out on stage with clay. they did a skit where ruben was a preacher and he healed clay of his "lackofrythymitis".

one thing they have that other performers don't is the ability to sound spectacular live. the only other performers i've heard sing live and not sound pitchy are celine dion and josh groban.

[Goblinmonger]

5. There have been a lot of singers even more talented than clay and ruben.

But those people don't make it far.

Of course this contest is geared to the tweeners. They are they ones that vote. It's pretty simple. If you could convince grannies to text in a vote 1000 times each, then they would have more pull. That just ain't going to happen.

[joeybee12]

7. It's funny, but it really didn't seem to start that way...

I'm sure the majority of people watching are pre-teens, but there seemed to be more of a mix...the last few years, though, it's been pretty obvious who and only who watches and votes.

[Goblinmonger]

9. I don't know if they are the majority that watch

but they are the majority that vote. Which determines the winners. I watched about 20 minutes of this season, but saw the clip of Randy being all indignant and telling people they have to vote for the best and not just who they like the most and all I could think was he can't be so stupid to not realize that their whole method of voting and determining who gets kicked out makes it so that tweeners with cell phones, lots of free time to text, and texting skills. If they don't want that demographic to decide, then change the voting procedures and the way someone is kicked off.

[joeybee12]

10. Probably, when I used to watch I never voted...

Besides, Idol only has itself to blame...don't put through any of those guys that the tweeners will vote for...I clearly think the guy who won was a borderline for even making it in the top 24.

[joeybee12]

6. I think Season 1 was good, as was 2 with Clay and Reuben...

Downhill from there...Fantasia is good, but she does Whitney, and Whitney did Whitney better. As for Carrie Underwood, yes, it's a matter of taste...she has a pretty voice but a limited range...she's probably the most successful idol, but the least talented...gotta be the blonde hair. The rest of the winners are pretty much forgettable.

[hollysmom]

11. AI shmAI

My attitude is if I don't play (vote) than I don't really care who wins. I have voted a few times in the past, not recently. I tend to find no special something lately. Sometimes the voices are good, but not unique and sometimes they are unique but not good. Some are good with some songs, but not all. It used to be more fun when they had people sing out of their comfort zone, but lately they have allowed people to change the songs to fit their general persona and that tends to be boring.

I enjoyed it when it was set up for entertainment, but when it started taking itself and the judges too seriously, boring. Lately way too much judges. I wish they would wait a bit until the kids get older and know who they are - lately the show skewed towards older guys and younger girls as contestants, this puts the girls at a disadvantage. But, not my show, so they can do what ever they want and I can watch or not watch as I feel like it. Lately, with all the singing contests on now, I have gone to cable auction sellers and bin buyers for my entertainment instead of music.

[Still Blue in PDX]

12. Well, the name of the show is American Idol, after all, not America's Best Singer.

Sort of goes with the territory.

[democatman]

13. started out interesting but american idol got cancelled 2016 judges favored youth over older singers

over 10 years back, the american idol started out very interesting but american idol got cancelled after the last season in 2016, so that is 4 years since your post, and a lot of people could already see the writing on the wall and that american idol did not have all that long left.

they did pick too many glossy teenagers, that seemed to be the most important criteria to make through the rounds of the auditions on american idol, and older people hardly ever got a look in, seemed like the show was just for good looking young teenagers, and not so much about who could sing the best, older folks who auditioned to american idol, never seemed to get anywhere even if they were the best singers ever.

anyone else notice that how the american idol favored young singers, like a bias, they only had a targeted audience, i really did not see many old people get through the auditions rounds practically ever.