American Idol 2012 Finale

Now that I’ve slept over it, here are my morning-after non-expert opinions and impressions on how the Jessica Sanchez and Phillip Phillips performed last night. First song for Jessica (whom I consider “the great imitator” as most Filipino singers are, and I mean that in a good way), was Whitney Houston’s “I Have Nothing”. A very good imitated performance with subtle changes as can be expected. Then Phillip Phillip’s song – “Stand By Me”. When I viewed this online from video posted by East Coast bloggers, I thought it was something that you could fall asleep to. Who needs a sleeping pill with that kind of rendition? Ahem, sorry Phillip fans. When I saw it on the West Coast, I thought it sounded better. Next for Jessica was “The Prayer”. It was a beautiful song and she sang it excellently, again as can be expected and I think on par with Celine Dion’s version. These kinds of songs fit her voice like a glove. Phillip’s version of “Moving Out” was well sung too and mostly in tune even though his facial expressions looked like he was in pain (or worse, constipated) while he was singing it. Regarding Jessica’s final song “Change Nothing”, I have to agree with the judges on this one. It wasn’t a good song choice (who chooses those songs, btw?). Started too low and got better sung as it went on. I would have preferred “Change Something”. I watched an East Coast video of Phillip singing “Home” and I liked it. By the middle, I posted on Facebook that it sounded very much like a Simon and Garfunkel song, and this was about 3 hours before I heard Steven Tyler’s comment on the show. I’m glad we’re on the same page on that, Steven J. So there you go folks, I think with the final song, Phillip had the better choice. Still, it was not enough for me to switch up my votes.

Which brings us to the racial discrimination claims by some quarters. Personally, I think not. Racial bias? Perhaps. But that’s just human nature. Of course if Jessica Sanchez comes out the winner, then you can throw out the window the two claims mentioned beforehand. For the sake of argument, if Jessica wins, it may be a case of fans rallying the vote after she was supposed to have been eliminated and saved by the judges. That was certainly the case for me, because I haven’t voted since Carrie Underwood won several years ago and only did again this year after the judge’s save.

This is a side note about imitated performances and I just want to add it here before I forget about it. I still miss Simon Cowell and imitated singing is not the type that go well with him. I think he would have given Jessica Sanchez a hard time with that if he was still one of the judges. Has anyone found any sound bites of his impressions on AI 2012? If so, please send me a link. Thanks.

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American Idol Finale: Jessica Sanchez vs. Phillip Phillips

Another delayed take on last week’s American Idol results.

Before the final three last week, I found this article from the Christian Science Monitor: http://www.csmonitor.com/The-Culture/TV/2012/0510/Jessica-Sanchez-Will-huge-YouTube-following-make-her-the-next-American-Idol-video?cmpid=addthis_facebook#.T6yBt5XcIgo.facebook. In short, it says the Jessica has the most Twitter followers and You Tube views among the contestants and questions whether those numbers also reflect her popularity among voters. My unqualified opinion is that those Twitter followers and You Tube views are mostly coming from the Philippines.

So here we are with the final two on American Idol: it's going to be the chicks for Philip Phillips against the Mexicans and Flips for Jessica Sanchez this week. Joshua the screamer is gone despite being the judges’ favorite, but I'm sure he is going to get a very nice recording contract. That just goes to show you though, that it's not the number of standing ovations one gets from the judges but the number of votes from the fans. As if you didn’t already know that, LOL. Word out there indicates that people from other countries have been able to vote but I have barely any knowledge of how they are able to do that and how many actually get through by phone or online.

Of course, there are the conspiracy theories out there claiming racial discrimination by some pundits and fans. Let me add to it – American Idol is trying to confuse voters from other countries who have managed to game the system so far by switching the finale to Tuesday this week! Let’s hope the regular voters got that update.

          I have a question by the way. How come Phillip Phillips doesn’t participate in the commercials? How can he get away with that? Isn’t that one of the terms and conditions for joining the contest? Please enlighten me.

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