“I woke up yesterday morning and had the strangest feeling that I was going home,” Lacey Brown said to reporters during a Thursday (early Friday morning, Manila time) afternoon conference call, after the 24-year old was the first to be eliminated on this year’s round of 12 on American Idol.

Her prescience was par for the course for a lot of West Coast viewers of the results showed that aired locally here on Wednesday night. Followers of Ryan Seacrest’s Twitter page got the news early that she had been voted off, thanks to the logistics of filming a show live for the East coast, in a status update that read “…got tonight’s voted-off Idol Lacey Brown.” Perhaps as a direct result, that episode brought in the show’s lowest ratings in the key 18-49 age demographic, reports the Washington Post.

Should Lacey have been the first one to go? Not according to USA Today’s Idol Meter, which adopts a “pseudoscientific fast-track formula to gauge each singer’s momentum.” Despite after-results movement placing the ousted Brown at 0 (to contrast, Siobhan Magnus is at 75), the Meter has Tim Urban at -25. No doubt, that’s got to have Vote for the Worst in a good mood, considering how they’ve been furiously campaigning to have him to survive each week, so that he can torment audiences again with his faux-Jason Castro shtick.

But who is Lacey Brown? Brown, 24, currently works as a Christian venue director and values teacher to college-aged people.

She is perhaps best known as “the come-back girl” as she had previously tried out for American Idol but was cut in the Top 54 Hollywood round during last season’s show.

This season, she auditioned in Orlando, Florida, in front of Simon, Randy, Kara, and then-guest judge Kristin Chenowith, singing “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” from the movie “The Wizard of Oz.” She was not featured during the first two Hollywood round episodes, but was seen later on when contestants had to give their second solo, singing “What a Wonderful World.”

During the Top 24, she sang “Landslide” by Fleetwood Mac and was declared safe. Based on a suggestion by Kara during the previous week, Brown opted to sing “Kiss Me” by Sixpence None the Richer in the Top 20. While judges were not sufficiently impressed, Leigh Nash, the lead singer of the band that originally sang “Kiss Me” was. In an interview, Nash also commented that Brown’s Top 16 performance, a cover of Brandi Carlile’s “The Story”, gave her chills, saying, “If she made a whole record of original songs where she relayed the kind of mood that she did, I would totally buy that record.”

After advancing to the Final 12, USA Today ran a feature that said that Brown would win “if she somehow convinces viewers she’s more likable than Didi, more sympathetic than Crystal and cooler than Siobhan Magnus,” but noted that she would lose if “the vocal instability that marred her “Landslide” performance during the semifinals becomes a weekly issue.” Ultimately, the paper predicted that she would finish in the bottom third.

Given the task of singing a song by the Rolling Stones in the round of 12, Brown chose “Ruby Tuesday,” which the Idolator blog described as “soft, subtle” but “not amazing.” The A.V. Club’s T.V. Club wrote that “it was little sleepy and it sounded a bit out of her range.” Ellen commented that she was distracted by the timing of Brown’s standing and sitting on stage. Simon correctly pointed out that Brown performed like an actress, concentrating too much on where the camera was and not on the singing. During elimination night, Brown chose to reprise “The Story” in an effort to convince the judges to use the Judges’ Save on her. Unfortunately it didn’t work, and Brown became the first to be eliminated on the big stage.

The earlier weeks in the round of 12 are not usually a nail-biter. From past experience, there are always 2 or 3 whom the audience knows have no shot of going all the way. It’s really just a case of seeing who goes out first. Even the judges know this, as seen several times through out the elimination night. In particular, Kara’s flat-out “yikes, guys. It wasn’t good” comment directed at both Tim Urban and Andrew Garcia (who didn’t even get called to the Bottom 3) and Ellen’s excessive hemming and hawing before reluctantly blurting out “Yesssss?” seemingly against her better judgment, seemed to crystallize the fact that there is still some chaff that needs to be separated from the wheat.

Next week, the 11 remaining contestants will have to change gears from rocking out late at night to coming home before curfew and remembering to do homework as the theme shifts from The Rolling Stones to Teen Idols. This could be the chance for singers like Aaron Kelly, Tim Urban, Katie Stevens and Paige Miles to gain some ground and do something more in their comfort zone, while others like Crystal Bowersoz, Casey James, Siobhan Magnus and Michael Lynche will have to show their more playful side.

And someone better keep Andrew Garcia from doing a Britney Spears cover.

source- Philippine Online Chronicles

Here’s something I forgot about – the Judge’s Save. Up until the Top 5, a unanimous vote from the four judges will spare someone from elimination. Apparently it is once again in play this season, although I’m sure there are ton of people wishing it had been in play last week to save Alex Lambert. Just a little something to keep in mind every elimination night.

Let’s cut to the chase. First to be placed on the hot seat is Paige Miles, who if you remember, performed sick, but still turned in a decent number, hitting all the right notes, and generally being impressive. Her fanbase must be smaller than expected, as she’s in trouble tonight.

Lee DeWyze, Siobhan Magnus, and Aaron Kelly are all safe.

Andrew Garcia and Tim Urban both stand up and the ominous music is playing in the background. Both of these guys were in my bottom tier last night, but while Garcia’s performance was merely mundane, Urban’s was, okay, sure, uniquely conceptualized, but it wasn’t very good as a song or a performance, period. Garcia’s been living off a cover he did way, way back in Hollywood week, Urban’s been living off teenyboppers. The cover must still be somewhat fresh in people’s minds as Garcia is saved and it’s Urban who’s in jeopardy.

Didi Benami and Crystal Bowersox both pass through. Katie Stevens comes up, and we’re subjected to more judge bickering as the “big three,” or the music experts if you will, Randy, Kara and Simon, can’t agree on what she should be singing. Kara thinks pop/R&B, Simon wants country, Randy says pop/rock. Ellen points out how stupid this conversation is by chiming in that she thinks Katie ought to sing mariachi. In any event, Katie is safe so she’ll have another week to mull over more contradictory advice.

Michael Lynche is declared safe, and we’re down to Casey James and Lacey Brown. Brown quickly gets sent to the bottom three, deservedly I think, and one of Lacey Brown, Tim Urban and Paige Miles will be going home. I say this with certainty having finished the episode and because there’s no way the judges’ save would or should be used on one of those three. Ellen and Simon disagree with me though, Ellen somewhat straightforwardly and Simon with quite some certainty. To my utter annoyance, Ryan Seacrest tells Urban that he’s safe, and it’s between two girls.

In the end, it’s the “Ruby Tuesday” singing, ruby-headed Lacey Brown who’s going to have to bite the bullet and pack up, unless she can sing to save her life. She goes back to the early round, singing the Brandi Carlile song, “The Story” which was okay then, not so much now. It’s a waste of breath, in my opinion, as nothing this girl would have done would have been enough to use the save. The judges agree with me, and Simon drops the hammer, saying, “Unfortunately, no, we won’t be using it [the judges' save].”

Should Lacey Brown have been the one to go home? From the three, I would have preferred Tim Urban, but like him, Brown never should have gotten to the Round of 12. She never really wow-ed anyone, judges included and probably wouldn’t have survived next week. It’s nice that we’ll be able to get the chance to see Paige Miles at 100% (hopefully) before passing judgment on her though, as it seems only fair.

Brown graciously exits, saying that she “had a blast” and that’s it, we’re down to 11.

Source- Philippine Online Chronicles

onight it seemed, was all about the stage. Big stage, glitzy stage, lots of lights on the stage, judges walking to their seats from the stage, judges criticizing the contestants’ use of the stage, and so on, and so on, but somewhere in there was a singing competition and a good dose of Rolling Stones. Now while I could probably count the number of contestants who had Rolling Stones tracks on their iPod before this week on one hand, I think overall a lot of people gave a good account of themselves tonight.

Who’s on their way out? Who’s here to stay? We have the tiers headlined by Rolling Stones singles, so we too are in theme!

Tier 1 – Not Fade Away

12th – Crystal Bowersox – “You Can’t Always Get What You Want”
Bowersox came out with an interesting mix of country and soul, combining the acoustic guitar with a bit of a choir going on during the chorus. It is again, a well-polished, absolutely amazing performance. She is clearly in a different league from the rest of the Idolettes, and the entire judge’s row was just buzzing about this. Simon had to take a little jab at her by pointing out that she might have been beaten this week by another singer, which Bowersox simply shrugged off. Competition? What competition?

9th – Lee DeWyze – “Beast of Burden”
Probably the best sounding male of the night, DeWyze came out extremely polished. He could be selling records right now. Randy Jackson compared him to Dave Matthews and Rob Thomas, but I think there’s a hint of Staind as well in there. Probably the best reinterpretation of the night. Simon is still looking for a moment from him though.

Tier 2 – Time is on My Side

1st – Michael Lynche – “Miss You”
Here’s someone who took on the challenge of the big stage a bit too eagerly, running, bounding and basically hitting every single square inch. There’s a clear Gospel/Motown spin to his song and he rocks out on the falsettos. It’s a great showcase for his big voice, but Simon calls him out on the cheese factor of his moves, though I think his personality is such that it’s really a part of him, and isn’t as annoying as it should be.

8th – Siobhan Magnus – “Paint it Black”
I was loving it all the way up to the end, when she went and did that note again. Bad enough when they cued it up on the VTR I thought to myself, “wow that sounds horrible on second listen,” but doing it again just seems annoying, self-indulgent, and it reeks of absolutely ridiculous, unneeded gimmickry from a person who is talented enough to not need it. Kara compared her to Adam Lambert, with Simon continuing the metaphor by saying that she will be divisive. If that’s the case then I belong in the camp that doesn’t like shrieking banshees, while the judges are all in the camp that does.

Tier 3 – (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction

2nd – Didi Benami – “Play with Fire”
She is like a lite-version of Siobhan Magnus, which is bad, but she doesn’t do the shriek, which is good.

3rd – Casey James – “It’s All Over Now”
Though he had his electric guitar with him, he seemed to be just strumming at random intervals while his other hand just dangled at his side. It was a very laidback country performance, but Simon in particular wish he had used the stage instead of just stand there, mounted to the ground.

6th – Katie Stevens – “Wild Horses”
The girl showed a lot of personality in her video again and she turned in an excellent performance. True, any half-way to savvy music fan will tell you that she basically did one of the many female covers of this song, but she sang it well which should be all that matters, which is what Randy said when he conceded that they had been giving her a lot of contradictory advice in the past few weeks.

10th – Paige Miles – “Honky Tonk Women”
Based on what happened, I presume Simon, Kara and Randy don’t Tweet, while Ellen does, because despite it being a trending topic, the other three seemed to have no idea that Miles had been suffering from a bout of laryngitis. You couldn’t tell though as she sold a very lively, soulful performance that the judges heaped extra praise on when they found out about her throat. I wanted her off last week, but she gave viewers tonight some good reasons to keep voting for her.

Tier 4 – Get Off of My Cloud

4th – Lacey Brown – “Ruby Tuesday”
Ruby because of her hair, and Tuesday because that’s when the show airs in the US? Probably not, but a pun as bad as that is deserving because her performance was equally terrible. Brown channels Dolly Parton, which shouldn’t be done except on Dolly Parton week. There’s a ton of off-key, off-pitch stuff though I have to concede that the arrangement with the string quartet was lovely. Her problem was that a lot of notes weren’t actually sung, but were more of forced out. Remarkably, none of the judges call her out on this, instead choosing to focus on the way she moves, which is, to quote Simon, “like an actress…you’re in danger of the doing the same thing week after week.” Mr. Cowell, I think I’d worry more about her being voted out for her vocals first.

5th – Andrew Garcia – “Gimme Shelter”
He’s gonna need shelter when he’s voted out, which might be sooner rather than later. In his first non-female cover in a long time, Garcia didn’t impress, but at the same time he didn’t dazzle either. More entertaining to watch was the weekly Kara- Simon spat which Kara lost again, decisively.

7th – Tim Urban – “Under My Thumb”
I know I’m a hater, but the judges are with me on this. Reggae doesn’t seem to be something the contestants can execute this season and as Ellen says, “I felt like I was at a resort drinking a pina colada…like Simon said you should wow us [sic] it just didn’t wow.” I have him in the fourth tier but lord knows he’ll survive again despite the pitch problems and the terrible swing-and-a-miss attempt he had, totally reinventing the song.

11th – Aaron Kelly – “Angie”
Shades of David Archuleta, with a little bit of Danny Gokey at this point from the young man, and while it was good, it definitely wasn’t great or memorable (though he gets points for using the stairs). Both Randy (”you were a little Justin Timberlake”) and Ellen (”you and Siobhan, those were the two performances that stand out tonight) must have been listening to something else, but I prefer Simon’s backhanded comment of “what you did cleverly was that you sang the song within the limits of your vocals tonight.” Let me tell you, those limits are pretty tiny.

Source- thepoc.net

Good news for everyone who wants to skip ahead to the good stuff! According to reliable sources, the top 12 guys and gals have been leaked. I’ve placed the list of names under the cut so that those who don’t want American Idol season 9 spoilers can skip ahead. Here they are, arranged in no particular order. Some of them have MySpace, Facebook accounts, or interviews; simply click on their names to view it.

Michelle Delamor
Age: 19
Hometown: Miami Beach, FL

Katie Stevens
Season 9 Hollywood interview
Age: 17
Hometown: Middlebury, Connecticut
Instruments: Piano/Guitar
Style: Pop/Acoustic

Tyler Grady
From the Boston auditions

John Park

Ashley (Makailah) Rodriguez
Age: 22
Home town: Boston, MA
Style: R&B/Gospel
Hometown: Boston, MA

Jermaine Sellers
Season 9 Hollywood interview
Age: 25
Hometown: Joliet, IL

Christopher “Chris” Golightly
Audition Song: “Stand by Me”

Andrew Garcia
Hometown: Moreno Valley, CA

Alexander “Alex” Lambert
Hometown: North Richland Hills, TX

Jose Munoz

Lee DeWyze
Hometown: Chicago, IL

Michael Lynche
May be disqualified for breaking confidentiality agreement. Apparently, his dad told the St. Pete’s Times that he’d be in the top 24. Rumor has it Michael may be replaced by top 50 contestant Antwan Michael. The story is over here.
Style: R&B

Lacey Brown
Age: 23
Hometown: Amarillo, TX

Lillian “Lilly” Scott
Hometown: Denver/Boulder, Colorado
Style: Bluesy Indie Acoustic Rock

Haeley Vaughn
Age: 16
Hometown: Fort Collins, CO

Casey James
Hometown: Dallas/Fort Worth

Aaron Kelly
Was part of ‘America’s Most Talented Kids’
Winner of American Idol Experience at DisneyWorld
Age: 16
Hometown: Sonestown, PA

Janell Wheeler
Won Orlando’s Got Talent
Hometown: Orlando, FL

Katelyn Epperly

Crystal Bowersox
Hometown: Chicago, IL

Siobhan Magnus
Audition City: Boston

Stephanie Crews

Vered Didi Benami
Hometown: Los Angeles, CA

Paige Miles

So there you have it! Who do you think will make it to the top 12?

I checked out the Boston round of American Idol auditions and I must say – I don’t actually miss Paula one bit. It’s weird because I thought her absence would be noticeable but I actually didn’t remember that she was gone until the show is almost over. Maybe I’ll start to feel it when the live show begins, but if I don’t notice her absence now I’ll probably end up forgetting about her completely once the auditions are over.

Victoria Beckham was the guest judge for the Boston auditions and her presence didn’t make much difference. She didn’t say anything very helpful, she was overshadowed by the others – typical Idol guest judge.

I liked a couple of contestants from this round. 18-yo Mike Davis sang a good rendition of Yesterday, which the judges liked. Simon thought he was confident without being obnoxious, and Kara likes that he’s emotional. Randy said no though, but Mike made it to Hollywood! Tyler Grady was among the more interesting yet talented contestants. He shattered both his wrists but it sure didn’t affect his singing – he sounds like a 70’s rock star. I also love his curly hair. Four yeses from the judges for him! Among the girls, think Ashey Rodriguez might make it far, though I’m personally not a fan. She’s the package deal – the look, the polished commercial sound, the wholesome personality. Ellen Degeneres even showcased her on her show today. I much preferred Leah Laurenti, whose overly religious parents never let her listen to music that wasn’t about God. You can tell that she’s very passionate about what she’s doing, and she has this gorgeous, jazzy voice. She got four yeses from the judges and is on her way to Hollywood!

Stay tuned for more Idol updates.

After nearly ten years of Simon Cowell’s biting commentary as a judge of American Idol, he’s going to be leaving the show after 2010 to launch another one on the same network. Just today, Simon signed a contract with Fox executives to leave American Idol and launch X Factor, another talent show that hails from the United Kingdom. The UK show is pretty much his baby, and his new contract with Fox will bring the series to the United States. Simon believes that X Factor will help him find someone with unusual talent, especially since the show has a lot of key differences from American Idol. For one thing, X-Factor has no age limits – kids as young as 14 and as old as 100 are free to audition. X-Factor will be hitting the US airwaves on 2011. And according to rumors, Simon feels a little bitter about not being a part owner of American Idol, which he developed with his former friend Simon Fuller.

I’m not sure I can imagine American Idol with Simon Cowell gone. Well, I kind of can, but I imagine it to be a rather dull and boring show; Simon’s comments added a lot of life to every episode, and I don’t think Randy Jackson’s antics will be enough to keep it interesting. It looks like the new judges Ellen Degeneres and Kara DioGuardi have to make an effort to keep American Idol exciting, but not too much effort – I hate it when the judges blab away about nothing important.

Source

American Idol contestant Jason Castro was the third serious musical artist crush I’ve ever had (the other two were Daniel Johns of Silverchair and Brian Molko of Placebo, in high school and college respectively) and last Saturday, he broke the hearts of all his adoring female fans when he announced his marriage on Twitter.

On January 2, the 22-year old Jason Castro married his girlfriend Mandy Mayhall, whom he has known since high school. They became a couple in 2008 and he proposed to her on Halloween 2009. This is what she looks like!

This photo of Mandy Mayhall was posted on Twitpic by Jason Castro’s mom, who proudly introduced her as her new daughter.

Ah well, my heart breaks but I’m happy for the newlyweds and I hope they stay married and happy for a very long time.

Photo credit

Via MSN BC

Fox announced Wednesday that Ellen de Generes, talk show host and comedian, who admittedly has no formal music experience, just a passion for tunes, will join Simon Cowell, Randy Jackson and Kara DioGuardi for the ninth season. The announcement all but seals the departure of Paula Abdul, the original third judge who announced she was quitting amid a contract dispute in July.

I wonder if Ellen really has the talent to discern the quality of a singer. Or maybe she can also get training on the judging aspect.

By now, I’m sure you’re well aware of the fact that during season 9 of American Idol, there are several celebrity guest judges who will be sitting in the place that Paula Abdul left empty. Victoria Beckham and Katy Perry were the first, Shania Twain was in Chicago to guest judge the auditions, and Neil Patrick Harris will be judging the Dallas auditions. Let’s take a brief moment to look at the other rumored American Idol guest judges and speculate about how well they’ll do.

Avril Lavigne

She’ll be joining Katy Perry in the LA leg of the auditions and I’m not too sure about her being an American Idol guest judge. I suppose her being a relatively successful music artist gives her the right to guest judge, but I don’t think she’s as experienced as the other judges and guest judges due to her age.

Kristen Chenoweth

Yet another highly-acclaimed Broadway star joins the guest judges, this time in Orlando. Kristen Chenowith is most known for her role in Pushing Daisies, which got her an Emmy nomination, and is also an original cast member of the Broadway hit Wicked. Some people think that Paula’s replacement should have more experience in the recording industry rather than actual singing talent, but it will definitely be refreshing seeing Kristen in Paula’s chair for at least an episode.

Kelly Clarkson

Should a former American Idol winner be guest judging the next contestant? It might be interesting to hear Kelly Clarkson’s perspective on the competition as an alumnus and winner of the show, but I’m not sure if that gives her enough clout to decide who moves up and who leaves Hollywood.

Mary J. Blige

Mary J Blige was also at the Atlanta auditions, and I think she might make a pretty good judge because of her long, successful career as an R&B musician. She’s likely to add thoughtful comments and critiques to the panel. To be perfectly honest though, I’m not really a big fan and I wouldn’t be too excited if she got to stay on for good.

Joe Jonas

I’m pretty sure the middle Jonas brother was only added to the roster to appeal to the tween demographic. I’m highly doubtful he’ll be replacing Paula for good.

I’m not really a fan of Katherine McPhee but I am totally digging her blond locks in her latest album cover. Her sophomore album, Unbroken, will be released on Verve Records on October 6 and I’m guessing the tracks will sound pretty much like your standard pop tunes. The first single from the album, Had It All, was written by Kara DioGuardi and is available on iTunes now.