Snakes, sharks, spiders, Clay Aiken’s fans. These are four things that strike fear into my heart. Not that there’s anything wrong with any of the three – they simply scare me because I fear that, if crossed, they could easily (and without regret) end my very life.

So, you’ll understand if I – right off the bat – say that I respect Clay Aiken and find him to be a very talented and likable young man. When he guest starred on America’s Next Top Model, it occurred to me that he could carry his own reality show.

And I’d watch.

So, don’t think I’m gunning for him, Claymates. And don’t hit me in the head when I’m not looking. The thing is, I’m like the biggest Adam Lambert fan on the face of the earth, and Clay’s recent comments (while thoughtful and well-articulated….) don’t make me all kinds of happy.

In a recent post on Clay’s blog – one you have to pay to even read (what’s up with that?) – he had the following to say about my dear, talented, beautiful Adam:

“The minute that Adam Lambert was singing ‘Ring of Fire’ … at that moment, (I) thought my ears would bleed. Contrived, awful, and slightly frightening! I wasn’t really a fan and found myself surprised whenever folks told me that they liked him.”

You. Don’t. Say.

Clay went on to say that he feels like Adam Lambert was pushed down viewer’s throats. Did he even see the shoveling job done with David Archuletta last year? Now, that was serious shoveling.

Speak, Clay:
“I think many voters got sick of being “told who to vote for”. I think many were turned off by the blatant favoritism shown towards one contestant. Therefore, on that last night, they used their votes against a contestant that they were tired of hearing about and for the contestant who had been written off. And, at the same time, I think they voted AGAINST an ‘American Idol’ that has, for four years now, been more about the slick productions and polished contestants than it has been about finding the raw talent that it did in its first three seasons.”

Okay. Okay. When it’s week one of the competition and one or two judges announce, “We’ll see you in the finale…” it’s unsettling. Honestly, I don’t like when they seem to clear the path for one contestant either. I didn’t like it when they did it with Carrie Underwood, David Archuletta, Fantasia, or Melinda. It’s a turn off for one thing – but for another, it simply isn’t fair.  But the reason I think it isn’t fair is different than you might suspect.

I don’t think it’s fair to their chosen performer. Only two that they’ve taken this approach with have actually gone on to win.

Think about it – it sets them up each and every week. They’re looked at under a magnifying glass and, thereby, held to a higher standard than the rest. It gives them added pressure in what’s already a pressure cooker.

But I understand where the judges are coming from. HELLO! They don’t want another tragedy like Taylor Hicks. They have a great deal of pride in their competition and want its winners to be deserving. Each winner represents the show, the brand, and to an extent them. Of course they want the best standing at the end.

As humans who are passionate about what they do, it’s probably hard not to get completely worked up. If I had a wish, however, it would be that they would not even mention “finale” until there are only a handful of contestants left. Imagine how it makes the rest feel.

Personally, I think two of the best were the last two standing. As much as I adore Adam, I think Kris Allen fought hard to win and deserves everything he gets. Not MORE than Adam, mind you, but as much. The guy is wonderfully talented – he plays instruments, sings his butt off, and seems like a very cool person. Adam seems to adore him and they have a great friendship going on. I heard Kris singing No Boundaries on the radio yesterday and he sounded incredible. It’s my favorite first song by a winner.

I can’t wait to hear it again. I also can’t wait to hear what Adam puts out. Do you know how fun it’ll be watching Adam Lambert bring “theatrical” back to music?! KISS, David Bowie, Queen, Cher, Madonna.. he’ll be keeping something very special alive, and he’s just the guy to do it.

The only thing that really bothers me about American Idol any more is some of the fan bases. They get unbelievably mean toward other contestants. This year alone found some scumbags lashing out at Danny Gokey because he’d recently lost his wife. The immature twits suggested he was going for the sympathy vote. That’s right, guys, it was the ultimate set up and his wife was a real trooper. Snap out of it!

If your favorite deserves to be there, let them prove it on the stage. If you think you need to harass other contestants or fan bases, apparently you don’t have much faith in them. You’d be better off picking a new contestant.

One local disc jokey even made a snarky comment about a time, later in the season, when Danny wasn’t wearing his wedding ring. I e-mailed the station to complain, but when you’re fighting against a lack of class, it’s a tough battle. The classless aren’t smart enough to realize just how uncool they are.

Anyway, Clay Aiken finished off with what I thought were just odd words. Odd – that’s all.

“I feel that Ruben and I were fairly matched. We both had our detractors and negatives, but I feel we were both very worthy of being on that stage in that moment, and either of us would have been worthy of winning. The show was different then, and folks made it in seasons 1-3 because they were “real” people who happened to sing/entertain well. But, somewhere along the way, ‘AI’ stopped being about real people.”

I guess this would be me signing off to spend the rest of the weekend wondering how Kris Allen, Adam Lambert, David Cook, David Archuletta, Jordin Sparks, Carrie Underwood, Bo Bice, Katharine Mcphee, Taylor Hicks, and Blake Lewis aren’t real. How could I not have noticed?

Oh, btw, I don’t pay to read Clay Aiken’s thoughts. Someone copy and pasted the information. It has actually shown up several places online.  The word is spreading fast – and I can just picture the Claymates (his extremely loyal and devoted fanbase cleverly calls themselves Claymates) getting on their war gear… determined looks on their faces ready to fight to for their guy!

Please don’t let me be in their line of fire… Please don’t let me be in their line of fire…. Please don’t let me be in their line of fire…Please don’t let me be in their line of fire…

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Clay Aiken on Adam Lambert, Kris Allen, and American Idol

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Last night’s American Idol was better than I’d hoped for. Disco night? I was a little worried. Below are my opinions, for what they’re worth!

Lil Rounds sang “I’m Every Woman,” and her vocals were perfect as always. I didn’t think it was her best performance but partly because I just don’t like the song. As in at all. I wanted desperately for Lil to sing a Donna Summers song.

I just don’t know why Lil can’t get a break from the judges. Why do they applaud everything Allison does and give Lil heck for everything? Allison’s not any better, whether they realize it or not.

Kris Allen sang the Donna Summers song I wanted to hear from Lil. Go figure! Problem was, the song was twisted and contorted in such a way I didn’t even recognize it. He sounded great – he always does, and the judges seem to flip for singers putting their own spin on a song.

It just makes me wonder, why bother having themed nights any more?

Danny Gokey sang “September” and I thought it was great. I loved the energy and fun – several things lacking from a lot of the performances.

Allison Iraheta sang “Hot Stuff,” and although she was a favorite early on, this was the third song in a row I didn’t like from Allison. She’s screaming the lyrics – and if Simon weren’t so busy getting his hate on for Lil, he’d call her on it.

Allison’s clothes are beginning to get extremely distracting, too. Someone needs to style this girl!

Adam Lambert sang “If I Can’t Have You” and did an absolutely beautiful job. It was my favorite performance of the night. Adam’s was, as always, spotless and perfect. His vocals are out of this world and if he puts together a band, they’ll top every chart and sell out every concert.

Matt Giraud ironically sang “Staying Alive,” after the judges saved him from elimination last week. I couldn’t love the sound of Matt’s voice any more than I do. He’s great, great, great. Musically, he’s as talented as anyone on the show ever. My only problem is a minor, maybe even silly, one: I wish he’d quit wearing things that look like they came out of Justin Timberlake’s closet. It’s a great style – but it’s someone else’s.

I’d love to watch a performance by Matt without trying to remember the exact video, photo shoot, or performance JT wore a similar outfit. Distracting, much.

But the performance? Killer.

Anoop Desai sang… uh… well, he sang. Honestly, I had to just go look on the American Idol website to see. I fogot. He sang “Dim All the Lights.” Riddle me this, Batman, why is this guy so hot and cold. One performance you’re left thinking, “Hm, Anoop’s pretty good.” But the very next one you think, “Remind me, why’s this cat still around?” And why does his attitude suggest that he thinks he’s the greatest thing this show has ever seen? He gets this smug look on his face when the judges say anything – man, you’re a contestant on their show, they didn’t just show up at your sold out concert or something.

Adam Lambert, who IS one of the best the show has ever seen oozes humility and sincerity. I’m not sure the boy could even do smug if he had to. So, why for crying out loud does Anoop?

More likely than not, we’ve seen the last of Anoop and his smugness. He won’t have time to run hot or cold anymore – and it’s a shame he ended on such a cold note.

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Last Night on American Idol

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Okay, so Megan acted a fool and, frankly, I’m glad she’s gone. The whole bird walk thing was blissfully stupid, but the way she acted when Ryan was about to read the news was disrespectful and petty.

Do you know what’s a cross between frustrating and sad – hovering somewhere around pathetic? The fact that A LOT of other idol hopefuls (more deserving, more talented, would have taken the competition more seriously, etc) lost the slot that went to her.

If I were them, I’d be miffed. Heck, I’m miffed and I’m not even them.

My favorite part of the video is toward the end, when the contestants “mock” one another, all in fun of course. The rest of them are a cool group who honestly seem thrilled and honored to be on the show.

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It seems like I like more contestants on American Idol this season than ever before. It oughta make each episode a little more nerve wrecking, especially the elimination shows.

In years past, there have only been, like, 4 or so I really like out of the top 12. This season, though, I honestly like every contestant. Sure, I have my favorites (Hint: They’re the ones pictured in the post!) but I don’t dislike any of them.  For me, it’ll come down to individual performances each week.  A few could jump right in here with my favorites.  I’m keeping my eyes and ears on Megan Joy and Kris Allen.  If they cause me to sit up and take considerable notice, I’ll add their lovely faces to this post!

Last night, I personally thought Danny Gokey, Adam Lambert, Alexis Grace, Jasmine Murray, and Matt Giraurd had the best performances.   I thought Lil Rounds and Cris Allen sounded great, but I didn’t like them quite as well as the rest.

Alexis really took on a huge song, and I loved her performance.  Her voice is one of the most amazing voices I’ve ever heard – and, come on, I listen to music practically 24/7.  She’s fresh, unique, and I think she’ll be there at the end – IF people keep in mind that it’s a singing competitition!  You know how it goes, sometimes people tend to treat it as a popularity contest and just flood the studios with calls for their “guy” or “girl,”  irregardless of who had the better night.

Adam was born to be on stage, wasn’t he?!  The boy has the charisma and energy of the legendary Elvis Presley and I would pay good money for them to have another Elvis night so we could see what Adam would do with an Elvis song.    I expected him to have a great night with Michael Jackson’s music and he definitely did.

Someone that pleasantly surprised me was another favorite of mine, Danny Gokey.  I had no idea how he’d do with Michael Jackson night, and I was blown away.  His energy and level of fun were contagious and I smiled during the whole performance.  His voice is absolutely exceptional and he has one of the greatest personalities the show has seen since Bo Bice, Bucky Covington, and Kellie Pickler.

Lil Rounds has another one of the best voices in the competition, but something about the performance kept me from being overwhelmed.  She’s still a favorite, but there was something not quite as good as some of the others.  She looked stunning, no doubt, and sounded great – but, I don’t know.  Maybe I expect perfection from her.

Jasmine was adorable.  The judges were incredibly harsh with her, I thought.  I know it’s kind of different, hearing them live, but I just don’t understand what they thought was so wrong.

Someone I’ve been kind of on the fence with is Megan Joy.  I love her look, and her voice has a lot of potential.  While her stage presence isn’t quite as polished as some of the others, I actually like it.   It just shows that she is a complete newbie – an unprofessional, which is what this competition is all about.  I want to love her, but right now it’s just a strong like.  I totally hated her performance last night – the song choice was WAY wrong and the overall performance was just unfortunate.  Sadly there were probably a lot of people, like me who were on the fence with her – and she didn’t do anything to make us move in the right direction.    I’m almost 100 percent certain she’ll get another chance, though, and I’m also pretty certain she’ll do a much better job.

She does have one peculiar little swishy move that I would love for her to ditch.  After one performance, Ryan asked her why she did it and she kind of got an attitude – she was all like, “I don’t remember doing that.”   If she goes back and watches her performances she’ll see that she did do that again and again.  And again, and again…  If it’s a good trick, by all means, keep pulling it out of the bag – but if it’s annoying (it is), throw it out.

Speaking of out.  Back to Adam Lambert.  I am overjoyed that the fact that pictures proving him to be gay didn’t dampen his fans’ enthusiasm one bit.  It shouldn’t!  What matters is what the contestant does on the stage and, later, in the recording studio.  Adam’s meant to be a star and that’s that.

I also see a lot of star potential with Matt Giraurd and Allison Iraheta.  They have great, flawless voices and I love each one’s onstage  presence and style.

My only wish for Matt is that he’d do whatever he can to separate himself from the Justin Timberlake and Robin Thicke comparisons.  When judges and fans start making comparisons, they begin to just see an imitator of the original.  Matt has the talent (big time!) to be his own  guy, and put forth his own sense of style and presence.

He does resemble Justin, but I’d love to see him pull away from dressing and performing so similarly to him.

Little Miss Allison is a contestant I hope will be around for many weeks.  She’s a breath of fresh air and her voice is incredible.  It catches me off guard every single time.  Each time she opens her mouth, it’s like WHOA!  Where’d that husky voice come from?!  She has a lot of power behind her voice and I’m anxious to see how it  holds up.  She’s like a baby Kelly Clarkson, and we all know how successful she’s been. (On a side note, I am SO excited about Kelly Clarkson’s new cd!  She’s back in a big way and her critics had better get ready for a steady diet of crow.)

Like I said, I honestly like all 13 of these contestants and  find myself pulling for each one to do well.  It’ll be sad to see two of them go home tonight.  Personally, I have a feeling that we’ll have to say goodbye to one of these guys:  Jorge Nunez, Michael Sarver, or Kris Allen.  Anoop Desai (who I didn’t think was nearly as bad as the judges said) seems to have a pretty loyal fanbase, so he might escape this week.  I’m afraid that it’s just a matter of who’ll leave with Jorge Nunez.

I KNOW I’ll cry when he leaves.  What a sweet person!

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American Idol’s Diverse Contestants

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