Simon Cowell may like her better than Season 4 champ Carrie Underwood, but not everybody’s a fan of current American Idol wannabe Kellie Pickler. In today’s Palm Beach Post, for example, writer Leslie Gray Streeter compares the blonde, North Carolina naif to Edward Norton’s murder suspect in Primal Fear. ”She’s laying on that ‘I ain’t never been nowhere and don’t know nothing but I’m as shiny as a shrimp in grits to be here and swim in your see-ment pond!’ thing a little thick. And I ain’t buying it,” Streeter writes (thanks to TV Tattle for the link).
I’m not entirely sure I’d disagree with Streeter. I mean, it can’t have escaped Pickles that Jessica Simpson was once a bargain-bin Britney — that is, until she got her own reality show and marveled that Chicken of the Sea was a brand of tuna. Indeed, the way Kellie has marveled at big-city food like calamari and ‘’sal-mon” has come off as more than a tad forced. But in her defense, I think Pickles was genuinely confused when Simon called her a ”naughty little minx” last night; that bewildered ”I’m a mink!” retort was priceless, and darn good TV. So while I don’t necessarily trust Kellie, she’s definitely making Idol’s fifth season more interesting to watch. Just as long as she doesn’t outlast the lovely and talented Mandisa!, that is…
What do you think of Kellie Pickler? Is she just a good ol’ Southern girl — or the devil in disguise?
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I don’t buy her I’m just so sweet act. I don’t really think she’s the devil either, just a dumb, irritating blonde. We already have a naive redneck running our country, we don’t need one for our idol too.
I ain’t buyin what she’s sellin either…someone on the other Idol board ya’ll are running posted a great website where you can find all the lies she’s spreading -
http://www.votefortheworst.com/pickler.html
I’m buying it and I’m loving it. I’ve met girls like her and, let’s be honest men, the whole thing is pretty charming.
Don’t buy it. Can’t stand her! She has got to go!! Go Mandesa!!!!!
I have a huge problem with her name. I don’t know why, but “Pickler” drives me batty. I think it sounds made up.
Same contestants, same songs, different year… YAWN
God. So anyone with a southern accent is a redneck these days? Yay! Although let me say, I value a good redneck (good, not to be confused with politician) and their honesty over the put on airs of big city folk looking to make a buck by stabbing the little guy in the back.
First, Kellie is a North Carolinian, living in a town very close to South Carolina. I’m not defending her talent (or lack thereof), since I think she’s the weakest female in the competition right now and her reign needs to end. But Kellie is in every way a cuter, younger, less judgemental version of my grandmother. My grandmother finds her cute and adorable and oh, by the way, what does “minx” mean? (Her exact words from last night, post-Idol.) We don’t have Calamari in restaurants unless you go to Charlotte, Greensboro or Raleigh. Salads really do consist mainly of iceburg lettuce. We also have foods that people in the rest of the country don’t. It’s called diversity! Wow! (Oh, and contrary to Kinnik’s food claims, most folks don’t cop to eating chitlins. Heck, I won’t go near the things. Ugh.)
I think she knows she has a good thing going, but honestly? My mother tried salmon for the first time the other day (that wasn’t mixed with cornmeal and eggs into a salmon pattie). At 52 years old and a very educated woman. And you don’t see Bucky enjoying California food any more than Kellie is. I know folks seem confused by rural NC, but it is possible to be *that* out of touch. And heck, it’s not even Appalachia!
Lay off Kellie! Looks like the rest of you are so jaded and cynical (except Aaron) that you refuse to believe it’s possible for her to be genuinely sweet and a tad naive. I love her personality, her looks, and definitely her voice.
Mandisa isn’t much more than a loud, shrieking gospel singer who shouts every song the same way. I find her irritating and, frankly, difficult to watch. So good luck, Kellie! I’m with you!
She’s a fraud.
Sadly, I totally buy it and love it! Usually I’m on the cynical end (whats wrong with me this year? I even like Will Makar!?!) though I’m totally not buying Katharine, she seems to play it up a bit too much for me (more than even Paris, who drives me nuts but at least she seems to bop her head in real life, kinda like those bobbleheads.)
I’m totally digging Pickler. And I’ve got a pretty good BS detector. I also think that Simon wouldn’t respond to her the way he does if she was faking.
But I gotta agree with the detractors on her voice. Her pipes are nowhere near Katherine McPhee’s or Mandisa! (my favorite of the XXers).
Why, oh why, is ignorance applauded and encouraged? I know people love rooting for the underdog but please remember that AI should primarily be a singing competition and she’s just a fourth-rate Kelly Clarkson/Carrie Underwood wannabe (and ain’t nevah gonna be!)
Usually I get annoyed by Idol Sob Stories and fan favorites,but Kellie seems a hundred percent genuine. I honestly don’t think she’s putting on an act and its endearing. She’s not my favorite and I don’t want her to win, but she is likable AND talented, so I wish her the best throughout the show.
Her act is probably forced, but I think all of the AI contenstants put on a “i’m so sweet, nice and innocent” act. Except for Brenna, and look what happened to her.
Well, she obviously was able to find the hair-color aisle at Wal-mart.
A minx is a flirtatious girl, and she certainly is that. Simon must be as dumb as Kellie’s pretending to be if he’s really buying into her act.
Well even if she is a little bit “dumb”, she’s not nearly as dumb as Michael Slezak for saying that Lisa should go home tonight in his Idol Recap. yeah because for a 16 year old she’s not amazing at all! Nor could she improve at all! and I’m SO SURE Melissa won’t be kicked out first if she makes the top 12! Geez.
i’m the most jaded of all reality-show fans, but i’ve been a pickler lover since her first teary-eyed appearance. i’m believing all of it. go kellie!
This child has been getting on my nerves for weeks now. I don’t buy her “backstory” (they all get dated after the auditions round); I don’t buy that she has impressive vocal chops (she does not, and we can put Lisa Tucker in with her); she’s a side show, and makes the exact same mistake the bland Carrie Underwood did last season, she’s robotic. Did anyone actually believe what she was singing last night? That she’s “the only one?” Nope. Why? Because she didn’t believe it, which is part of the problem with most Idol contestants.
Pickler is annoying. She’s overrated. And it ain’t because she has a southern accent, it’s because she’s on a gimmick. Send her home please America.
I like Kellie. She is cute and appealing, regardless of the dumbness.
I am already quite weary of all the Mandisa worship. She’s a nice singer. She oversang “Cry” horribly. “I’m Every Woman” was brilliant, I admit. But I just don’t see how she is the greatest thing ever, when Paris, Lisa and Katharine are all just as talented and have put in equally good performances.
If anyone had the other side, it’s Carrie Underwood. From the way Kellie talks, she sounds to me, mean everything that comes out of her mouth. I had to rewind my Tivo and watch “I’m a mink!” comment over again because it was really funny, and she didn’t mean anything by it. Yes, it was really good TV, and I got a rare laugh from watching American Idol.
This girl is so fake, I can’t even stand watching her. Why do they never judge her lacking vocals?
Though not my favorite, Kellie is interesting to me because when she performs, she knows how to work the stage with the look and moves of a seasoned artist. And because of that, when she talks, I can’t quite tell if she really is as “aw shucks” as she appears but, her comment last night about the “mink” seemed really genuine. So, I think it’s possible that she is sincere but, still knows how to work it.
As far as the Carrie Underwood comparisons go, Kellie may not be as vocally on par, but I have to say her personality (something Carrie often lacks) more than makes up for it. Some would say that vocal talent should trump everything, but an artist won’t be successful if they don’t have something more to back that up. And Lisa is a good example because she is a very talented singer, but, I have no sense of who she is as a person, or as a performer.
Having said all that, I still think Mandisa and Katherine are the ones to be beat because they have both the vocal talent and the personality to make it (even if Katherine needs help from a stylist).
I don’t think that’s it’s all one way or the other. I think Kellie is smarter than she wants to appear, but I don’t think she’s a manipulative fraud, either. How many women are taught from birth that guys like it when they don’t act too intelligent? And how many celebrities (Paris Hilton, Jessica Simpson, Britney Spears) are rewarded for being airheads? Kellie’s only behaving the way she’s been told to.
But I do think it’s ridiculous that Carrie Underwood gets trashed all the time because she has no stage presence. The woman’s only been performing for a few months now, and I’d much rather hear her sing motionless then watch Britney dance and torture yet another bad pop song.
‘WHUT IS A MINX?’ She’ll get by on her charm, not her vocals.
Go Mandisa, bring it!!
Kellie has gotten on my nerves from the moment she opened her mouth in the auditions. Unfortunately she’ll go fair because her bumpkin act appeals to the same masses who bought Jessica Simpson’s dumber than rocks act.
It’s good TV, and I buy it. I just don’t think she’s acting because she can’t be THAT good an actress. Whatever it is, I am enjoying her. I don’t see her lasting to say, the final 4 or anything, and I don’t think she should (based on talent), but for now, she cracks me up.
She sucks. I’m convinced that she is playing dumb. And she can’t sing!
GO MENDISA!
I’m from North Carolina and it makes me sick that this girl is representing us. Contrary to popular belief we eat salmon, spinach and calamari and we know the difference between a minx and a mink.
It amazing that while she’s getting her fake tan, teeth whitened and hair done that she has never ran across SALMON before.
The girls a joke.
Isn’t Idolatry Taboo?
she is too aint i cute awww schucks CA LA MA RI. Fake Fake Fake I agree with someones comment that no SAL MON but she sure knows the tanning bed, the teeth whitener and the colorist at her salon!!! And to whomever yelled a Michael because he said Lisa is going home on the recap…. whatever Michael I hope is right! She’s too rehearsed like shes just sailing thru these rounds. She can only do broadway, send her there already.
Did ya’ll c the crap they posted at votefortheworst.com bout her? It’s FAKE. i have proof 2. Kellie is genyuin and u r mean.