Rhode Island looks like London. Except the sun's shining so I presume we won't be getting pictures of Britney frightened stiff by claps of thunder. There are many clean and fresh looking people around. Simon arrives on some kind of motorised bicycle - with four police outriders and, presumably a camera truck in front of him.
Britney is chatting to some guy on a couch who looks totally knackered. Not a good look.
The camera continues to pick out some pretty girls and a couple of not-so-pretty Greek guys called OG. Why do I think they're going to be rubbish? They remind me of Sparks - one with all the talk and one dumb one. Sure enough, the dumb one just goes Urr from time to time and Britney giggles delightfully which is one of the few reasons for including this extract here! Love that bit.
Dinah Jane Hansen looks like someone who is going to do well. One of 20 at home, apparently. She and her family could have made two InTENsity groups if Paul had been around. 15? Good grief. Nice personality and the crowd warm to her. Your dying for If I were a boy to get to the mid range part. That low, low start is damn difficult but she just manages it. But then, wow, she takes off. She'll be an interesting act to follow. LA Reid actually predicts that Dinah will be one of the finalists! That's quite something.
Now we get Simon and Britney playing with a tiara for some reason that's not that clear. LA Reid looks slightly confused and is probably quite glad that he wasn't asked to wear it. There's some nice chemistry between Simon and Britney which I hadn't expected. She's very relaxed and handling all the attention far more humbly than some I can think of.
I recognise Arin Ray's name. Ah, he was one of the leads in InTENsity (which I genuinely didn't know when writing earlier!) Demi thinks he's, er, 'cute' but not cute in an innocent way, judging by her reaction and loud 'Ooops!' when he tells them he's 16! Ha ha. He's had a good year from the income he must have earned from the Live Show performances last year and whatever shows they all do and looks and sounds the part. another who we'll be seeing more of.
Natalie Martin is Hollie Cavenagh from America Idol, surely? Nice girl, really happy to get a yes from Britney and it's funny to watch Simon anxious to get in with 'and it's a yes from Simon Cowell'! Looks like he's been overshadowed a bit and that was an interesting reaction. We didn't really see enough of the girl to write much more about her, I'm afraid. Her future really will depend on who she manages to get together with at Bootcamp.
Nick Perrelli has the big band sound. Great audition and really makes a big hit with everyone there. Quite unique so far too, which is always a good sign and Simon likes that style too - remember Ray Quinn who he took to runner-up (and that was to Leona Lewis!) a few years ago on X Factor UK?
Beatrice Miller looks tiny. 13. We get about thirteen seconds. What are we supposed to make of that? Oh well, that'll be some more helicopter parents at bootcamp. Nice enough girl but I'd suggest waiting a few years as she's already up against a whole pile of young kids we've seen perform as well so far. That category is going to be huge - we'll need an Unders group!
One4Five. Two guys with plenty of energy doing the rap stuff. Better than a lot we've seen. I hate the reversed colour eyes that one of the guys wears but that's a fashion thing. They sail though and Demi looks excited. Presumably they've over 18 so that's OK.
Just looking at Changyi Li you have doubts. Listening to her pronunciation confirms them! This is going to be one of those 'let's have a laugh' auditions. Hang on... 52!? Good Lord. Painful singing. That's enough. Bye. I said 'Bye' but no they let her go on and insist on showing us far more than some others who were reasonable. Some strange last notes do indeed go on, and on.
Austin Corini. Nice name. Sounds Greek again. A couple of teenies chat him up and get his signature. Hilarious, mainly because he didn't seem at all embarrassed. Staged, I reckon, but never mind. He really ahd better be good after that intro - or maybe it is some great wind-up. Let's see. Yes, not bad. Good song choice and definite teen appeal. Pretty average singing, though, reminiscent of the likes of Lloyd on American Idol. I'm beginning to think that Demi finds everyone cute. LA Reid hits the right note, as does Simon. The guy was clearly experienced at performing but needs to do better. He gets through. there would have been a riot had he not but not sure how much further he'll go unless they really are short of pretty male teens. They've sure got plenty girl teens so he's got 50% right.
We're back in Greensboro' where lots of talent emerged last week. Britney is up and dancing to Nick Youngerman's track. Great sounding audition and a popular youngster we'll see more of for sure.
Jaime. Heavily made-up girl. Shorn bloke. This is one odd couple living in some cuckoo romance story land. His name is Jaime or Jamie. They're a group. They're called Jaime. I can see them performing on a low cost cruise. Simon says exactly what I just wrote. Promise I wrote it first. Dreadful. In many respects. But we wish them well. They look very religious and will probably do lots of good work somewhere.
David Correy doesn't look like the kind of guy who wears make-up but he's got plenty on today which kinda conflicts with the rough image and a body covered with tattoos. A lip ring makes him appear to have an ugly spot. Great voice, though. Nice cover of the Bruno Mars track. Quite emotional judging and you warm to the guy. I can see him creating his own space in the Live Shows, even though he wasn't spectacular.
Tweed Simmons. Tweed? Oh, misread that it's Sophie Tweed-Simmons. She's the Kiss guy's daughter. She wants people to ignore all that but that's not so easy when the famous mum and dad are standing next to her with security guards in the line. Odd. She seems genuine enough though and I like the fact that her parents didn't know if that's true. Nice enough girl. Nice enough voice. But that's about it. She's unlikely to get past Bootcamp unless something exceptional happens.
The camera caught Tara Simon being less than impressed with Sophie and this is not the most likeable of contestants. Shots of girls' expressions in the audience make it pretty clear that if she did release an album they wouldn't, from what they've seen so far, be rushing out to buy them. This girl represents what many observers outside the States don't like about America. The brash, hard-nosed and quite rude attitude, the masculine competitivity and annoying habit of not thinking before she speaks as much as she might. The hat was a typical example of something that neither matched the outfit, a sort of Dorothy dress, and made her appear like some sort of campaign manager for a yacht club, which you could imagine mummy and daddy going to every Saturday for lunch after a round of golf. Golf, yes, that's the image I was looking for - I can just see her going on about how good she is at the game and determinedly discussing the best iron for Hole 7 and why the caddies aren't as good as they should be.
With all this sense of dislike bubbling up you don't really want her to be much good. LA lets her ramble on for far too long and Simon eventually gets a chance and almost his first words are to get her to get rid of the hat. Brilliant move, Simon. well done! Someone had to tell her. LA carries on again. The two girls look a bit uncomfortable and you can't help thinking that they don't like her very much either.
She does start singing after a while and the first few lines are way too low and it sounds like she's trting far too hard to control the pitch. Then she moves up the register and plays with the notes and is way up there in Mariah carey land. In that aspect she does shine and deserves the praise she gets from the judges. She does also seem genuinely delighted to get through but the constant pumping up that she verbally gives herself (and physically with press-ups and bizarre facial exercises that are not good tv) is annoying. I guess if we didn't see all that, or the back chatter, then this would have been simply a case of 'good singer with some talent gets through' and that would be that. Perhaps this is a reminder of how these shows are, indeed, very 'produced' and how editing can easily make someone popular and another not. Interesting. She deserves her place at Bootcamp but, as Simon said, she's a drama queen and I cannot imagine that in the intervening weeks she will have changed her attitude sufficiently to be able to get on with many others there. I predict some cringeworthy tv and arguments in a future edition and not a great deal more unless all the others they want to put through are nice and they need someone like this as a sort of 'she's good but no-one likes her' strapline. But let's move on...
Darryl Black comes across with all the right words. 'You still gotta go home and cut the grass'. The audience and judges will like that so let's hope he's good as he and his family make good tv. A unicycle and some leather shorts! Now why didn't Tara come out with something user-friendly like that. He doesn't look old enough to have five children. If he doesn't make it he would make a good presenter. Nice voice, too. This guy looks like a shoe-in for the Live Shows in my book from just the few lines at the start. It wobbles a bit and gets a little average but, with some marketing and mentoring - that's what two of the judges, at least, can do well - then he'll go far. Nice job.
The last contestant we meet in Part 1 this week is a young kid called Trevor Moran. I don't know what they feed kids in California (yes, we've lost the Cow Palace again and back in sunshine!) but there are a lot that are pretty confident at an age when I was playing with Corgi Toysand singing in St Albans Abbey choir and not really saying a greta deal to anyone very loudly.
He's lively and enjoys making videos and, probably staged, meets up with another youngster and the dance around to Call Me Maybe in the holding area, recording themselves and a large camera light on a laptop. Hey, why not? Bags of personaility and you're thinking that this'll be a fun audietion with some angelic voice getting all the audience cheering or oohing a lot. Watch the video. I won't give away where this episode ends other than to say that I swear the producers must have nicked some editors from soap operas here in the UK.
Britney is chatting to some guy on a couch who looks totally knackered. Not a good look.
The camera continues to pick out some pretty girls and a couple of not-so-pretty Greek guys called OG. Why do I think they're going to be rubbish? They remind me of Sparks - one with all the talk and one dumb one. Sure enough, the dumb one just goes Urr from time to time and Britney giggles delightfully which is one of the few reasons for including this extract here! Love that bit.
Dinah Jane Hansen looks like someone who is going to do well. One of 20 at home, apparently. She and her family could have made two InTENsity groups if Paul had been around. 15? Good grief. Nice personality and the crowd warm to her. Your dying for If I were a boy to get to the mid range part. That low, low start is damn difficult but she just manages it. But then, wow, she takes off. She'll be an interesting act to follow. LA Reid actually predicts that Dinah will be one of the finalists! That's quite something.
Now we get Simon and Britney playing with a tiara for some reason that's not that clear. LA Reid looks slightly confused and is probably quite glad that he wasn't asked to wear it. There's some nice chemistry between Simon and Britney which I hadn't expected. She's very relaxed and handling all the attention far more humbly than some I can think of.
I recognise Arin Ray's name. Ah, he was one of the leads in InTENsity (which I genuinely didn't know when writing earlier!) Demi thinks he's, er, 'cute' but not cute in an innocent way, judging by her reaction and loud 'Ooops!' when he tells them he's 16! Ha ha. He's had a good year from the income he must have earned from the Live Show performances last year and whatever shows they all do and looks and sounds the part. another who we'll be seeing more of.
Natalie Martin is Hollie Cavenagh from America Idol, surely? Nice girl, really happy to get a yes from Britney and it's funny to watch Simon anxious to get in with 'and it's a yes from Simon Cowell'! Looks like he's been overshadowed a bit and that was an interesting reaction. We didn't really see enough of the girl to write much more about her, I'm afraid. Her future really will depend on who she manages to get together with at Bootcamp.
Nick Perrelli has the big band sound. Great audition and really makes a big hit with everyone there. Quite unique so far too, which is always a good sign and Simon likes that style too - remember Ray Quinn who he took to runner-up (and that was to Leona Lewis!) a few years ago on X Factor UK?
Beatrice Miller looks tiny. 13. We get about thirteen seconds. What are we supposed to make of that? Oh well, that'll be some more helicopter parents at bootcamp. Nice enough girl but I'd suggest waiting a few years as she's already up against a whole pile of young kids we've seen perform as well so far. That category is going to be huge - we'll need an Unders group!
One4Five. Two guys with plenty of energy doing the rap stuff. Better than a lot we've seen. I hate the reversed colour eyes that one of the guys wears but that's a fashion thing. They sail though and Demi looks excited. Presumably they've over 18 so that's OK.
Just looking at Changyi Li you have doubts. Listening to her pronunciation confirms them! This is going to be one of those 'let's have a laugh' auditions. Hang on... 52!? Good Lord. Painful singing. That's enough. Bye. I said 'Bye' but no they let her go on and insist on showing us far more than some others who were reasonable. Some strange last notes do indeed go on, and on.
Austin Corini. Nice name. Sounds Greek again. A couple of teenies chat him up and get his signature. Hilarious, mainly because he didn't seem at all embarrassed. Staged, I reckon, but never mind. He really ahd better be good after that intro - or maybe it is some great wind-up. Let's see. Yes, not bad. Good song choice and definite teen appeal. Pretty average singing, though, reminiscent of the likes of Lloyd on American Idol. I'm beginning to think that Demi finds everyone cute. LA Reid hits the right note, as does Simon. The guy was clearly experienced at performing but needs to do better. He gets through. there would have been a riot had he not but not sure how much further he'll go unless they really are short of pretty male teens. They've sure got plenty girl teens so he's got 50% right.
We're back in Greensboro' where lots of talent emerged last week. Britney is up and dancing to Nick Youngerman's track. Great sounding audition and a popular youngster we'll see more of for sure.
Jaime. Heavily made-up girl. Shorn bloke. This is one odd couple living in some cuckoo romance story land. His name is Jaime or Jamie. They're a group. They're called Jaime. I can see them performing on a low cost cruise. Simon says exactly what I just wrote. Promise I wrote it first. Dreadful. In many respects. But we wish them well. They look very religious and will probably do lots of good work somewhere.
David Correy doesn't look like the kind of guy who wears make-up but he's got plenty on today which kinda conflicts with the rough image and a body covered with tattoos. A lip ring makes him appear to have an ugly spot. Great voice, though. Nice cover of the Bruno Mars track. Quite emotional judging and you warm to the guy. I can see him creating his own space in the Live Shows, even though he wasn't spectacular.
Tweed Simmons. Tweed? Oh, misread that it's Sophie Tweed-Simmons. She's the Kiss guy's daughter. She wants people to ignore all that but that's not so easy when the famous mum and dad are standing next to her with security guards in the line. Odd. She seems genuine enough though and I like the fact that her parents didn't know if that's true. Nice enough girl. Nice enough voice. But that's about it. She's unlikely to get past Bootcamp unless something exceptional happens.
The camera caught Tara Simon being less than impressed with Sophie and this is not the most likeable of contestants. Shots of girls' expressions in the audience make it pretty clear that if she did release an album they wouldn't, from what they've seen so far, be rushing out to buy them. This girl represents what many observers outside the States don't like about America. The brash, hard-nosed and quite rude attitude, the masculine competitivity and annoying habit of not thinking before she speaks as much as she might. The hat was a typical example of something that neither matched the outfit, a sort of Dorothy dress, and made her appear like some sort of campaign manager for a yacht club, which you could imagine mummy and daddy going to every Saturday for lunch after a round of golf. Golf, yes, that's the image I was looking for - I can just see her going on about how good she is at the game and determinedly discussing the best iron for Hole 7 and why the caddies aren't as good as they should be.
With all this sense of dislike bubbling up you don't really want her to be much good. LA lets her ramble on for far too long and Simon eventually gets a chance and almost his first words are to get her to get rid of the hat. Brilliant move, Simon. well done! Someone had to tell her. LA carries on again. The two girls look a bit uncomfortable and you can't help thinking that they don't like her very much either.
She does start singing after a while and the first few lines are way too low and it sounds like she's trting far too hard to control the pitch. Then she moves up the register and plays with the notes and is way up there in Mariah carey land. In that aspect she does shine and deserves the praise she gets from the judges. She does also seem genuinely delighted to get through but the constant pumping up that she verbally gives herself (and physically with press-ups and bizarre facial exercises that are not good tv) is annoying. I guess if we didn't see all that, or the back chatter, then this would have been simply a case of 'good singer with some talent gets through' and that would be that. Perhaps this is a reminder of how these shows are, indeed, very 'produced' and how editing can easily make someone popular and another not. Interesting. She deserves her place at Bootcamp but, as Simon said, she's a drama queen and I cannot imagine that in the intervening weeks she will have changed her attitude sufficiently to be able to get on with many others there. I predict some cringeworthy tv and arguments in a future edition and not a great deal more unless all the others they want to put through are nice and they need someone like this as a sort of 'she's good but no-one likes her' strapline. But let's move on...
Darryl Black comes across with all the right words. 'You still gotta go home and cut the grass'. The audience and judges will like that so let's hope he's good as he and his family make good tv. A unicycle and some leather shorts! Now why didn't Tara come out with something user-friendly like that. He doesn't look old enough to have five children. If he doesn't make it he would make a good presenter. Nice voice, too. This guy looks like a shoe-in for the Live Shows in my book from just the few lines at the start. It wobbles a bit and gets a little average but, with some marketing and mentoring - that's what two of the judges, at least, can do well - then he'll go far. Nice job.
The last contestant we meet in Part 1 this week is a young kid called Trevor Moran. I don't know what they feed kids in California (yes, we've lost the Cow Palace again and back in sunshine!) but there are a lot that are pretty confident at an age when I was playing with Corgi Toysand singing in St Albans Abbey choir and not really saying a greta deal to anyone very loudly.
He's lively and enjoys making videos and, probably staged, meets up with another youngster and the dance around to Call Me Maybe in the holding area, recording themselves and a large camera light on a laptop. Hey, why not? Bags of personaility and you're thinking that this'll be a fun audietion with some angelic voice getting all the audience cheering or oohing a lot. Watch the video. I won't give away where this episode ends other than to say that I swear the producers must have nicked some editors from soap operas here in the UK.
No comments:
Post a Comment