I think Chikezie is terrific. I first noticed a double standard back in Season 2 when Ruben Studdard sang every one of his songs exactly the way each was covered by artists who made the songs famous. They praised him week after week.
Clay Aiken couldn't buy a break from Simon, who finally praised one of his songs by saying, "I imagined you with a bag over your head and you were terrific." Others got the same old litany: Too much like the original, do something different. They've done that season after season...accepting some singers aping of originals and dissing others'.
The "judges" are ridiculous. Paula is beyond absurd. Simon is entertainment value. But...a bad word from Simon -- especially a prediction that the road has ended with one song -- generally sees the voting lemmings proving him right. Randy is often deaf when it comes to judging "some singers'" performances.
I truly don't understand folks who have to rely upon the judges' comments before they can truly know what they liked and didn't.
This is all very interesting to me, because I did not watch the series prior to last year, and I will never care about anything before, say, the "top 14." Thanks for the extra perspective.
I think Simon is entertaining, even when I disagree with him. And sure, roll your eyes at Paula, but I kind of think they need someone like her to balance out Simon's savagery. I'm glad that she can be counted on almost always to throw those poor singers a bone. The guy I can't figure out is Randy Jackson. "Yo, yo, check it out, dawg, check it out." He's become a parody of himself. He hears so much "pitchiness" in performers that, like you, I have become convinced there's something wrong with the man's eardrums.
On a slightly unrelated note, has everybody here seen the ubiquitous Youtube clip of that moppet Connie Talbot crooning "Over the Rainbow" on Britain's "Pop Idol" and reducing the judges to tears? She is the cutest thing EVER.
