It's That Time Again!

Oh, I'm so excited that it's American Idol Season again!! I love this show, even if the beginning feels a little like a trip to the carnival. I can't help but joke that I half expect a bearded lady to walk in and audition. That said, it's fun to discover new talent and get excited for some people.

So here's a small recap of the premiere episode: There's a new judge (I guess to help phase Simon out?), and she's pretty. Her name is Kara DioGuardi, and she seems like she's somewhere between Simon and Randy on harshness, but she's a woman so she's a little more humble. I'm not sure how much I like her, but she seems okay so far. I love Simon as always, and Randy just makes me laugh. Paula just irritates me, and let's be honest she always will.

Their starting city was Phoenix, AZ. (I think it was Phoenix. Well it was AZ at least). David and I felt that the supposed hopefuls with no talent were less convincing this year. Frauds, all of them.

Then there was this girl in a bikini. Yikes!! Disgusting. Simon and Randy put her through 100% because she was a pretty girl wearing less fabric on her body than a handkerchief. Paula is irritating enough, but I may never forgive her for putting through this woman (and I think she did it just to avoid conflict). Featuring the bikini lady and sending her through to Hollywood may hurt the show, to be honest. But there have been freakier hopefuls in the past. Fewer have been more offensive, though. She gave attitude to Kara, and she behaved like a strumpet (throwing herself at Ryan). She won't last. The reason? Demographic. Most of this shows viewers are families, women, and gay men. She's outta there soon, baby!

On Scott, the blind contestant: He was very nice, but I was less impressed than I expected to be. If I were a blind singer, I might be a little irritated that such moderate talent got by. A friend of mine from High School was blind and an amazing soprano. Flawless pitch. I don't know. Maybe Scott will turn out to be great too, but his audition underwhelmed me. I think, though, that singing in a choir for three years with a blind soprano kind of hardened me to the "wow, that's brave to sing in front of others" factor. It seemed to me that Amy showed a lot more bravery getting around by herself at school, being an excellent student, playing Cinderella's mother in the musical (which required climbing up a ladder and sitting on a large moving set piece at one point), performing dance moves in show choir, and just being herself (boy, was she sassy!). Singing and playing the piano was pretty easy for her. Just an opinion. But, yes, it's still terrific when blind artists share their incredible gifts. Maybe I'm just jealous because they've got better pitch than me. Aha!! A revelation!!

Yeah, the bikini girl - won't last past Hollywood week. Mark my words.