Missy Schwartz and I ponder the lack of love for the Irish barmaid’s awesome "Here You Come Again," and discuss the downfall of Baby Scrunchface on this week’s I-I-I-I-Idolatry. Watch it for yourself, then share the love (or bring the hate) in the comments section below!
Why is everybody so hard on Idol's Carly Smithson?
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Comments (1-30) of 107 Add your comment
Hi Slezak. I hate American Idol, but I watch Idolatry every week. You are awesome. If they booted Randy or Paula out and made you a judge, I just might watch AI.
Here’s why I don’t like Carly…this is American Idol, a show that is (supposedly) a launch point for an unknown talent. Carly had a record deal. It didn’t work. For a reason. This isn’t “Washed Up Idol”.
Carly tries too hard, takes it all too seriously, and comes across as desperate and pathetic and that’s why I can’t stand her. She oversings, dresses poorly, and seems to think she needs to show off her tattoos weekly for some sort of ridiculous street cred. She needs to hire a stylist, chill out, and have fun while singing. Also, she needs to lighten up when talking w/ the judges and Ryan. She just seems very tense all the time compared to everyone else.
I think as much as Simon may not like Carly EW is heaping way to much affection her way.
While technically her voice is one of the best, her delivery is not. The whole time during “Here you come again” she had a smug smile as if to say “look how good of a singer I am”, it took away from the arrangement of the song and made me start disliking her. In fact about five seconds before her last big note she smiled so broadly she telegraphed that it would be a huge note….once again saying I am a great singer…are you ready?
She reminds me a lot of Mindy Doolittle from last season her aww shucks, who me? attitude wore thin after a bit.
Do you also hate Archuleta because he won Star Search, and Michael Johns, who had a deal with Madonna’s label a few years back?
She does nothing for me. Something about her renditions the past few weeks reminds me of Meatloaf, and she looks so vacant when she sings. I think she can totally turn herself around, though. The right ingredients are there, which I think is why Simon is so hard on her.
How can everyone keep faulting Carly for losing her record contract when it’s probably the label’s fault that no one knew anything about her? For everyone who keeps complaining about her album, who actually knew her song?
Ummm, she might have a great voice, but I’d never buy her album.
I’m on the Carly train. She’s my favorite to win. Maybe Simon is so hard on Carly is because she’s Irish. Come on – the Irish and the English don’t have the best history. Also, thank you Crystal for pointing that out about David A. He deserves some criticism!
The problem is the shows. Is AI a “singing” competition, is it a “star” competition, is it to fill arenas (best live performer) or sell downloads (best recording voice/style). These are NOT the same things. Carly is clearly the best voice – so was Melinda. But that is not an Idol. If it is for downloads / albums, another story. The only one I’d buy is Jason Castro – his upbeat hippieness is like the child Paul Simon and Edie Brickell should have had.
I am making a prequel to “Polyester”, in smell-o-rama. Carly will be the perfect Francine Fishpaw.
http://images.usatoday.com/life/_photos/2006/04/13/inside-polyester.jpg
Good idolatry, as usual, but Michael Johns was best of the night, not Carly. I’ve never voted for Carly because I’ve never been moved by her performance (although I thought she was strongest on Come Together). She’s got an amazing voice, but I don’t get that much from her performance. It’s like she’s very aware of her “performance” and not very aware of the song or what it means or living the substance of the song. And when she goes for a high note, she doesn’t look imploring or emphatic (about the substance of the song); she scrunches her face and bares her eye teeth to notify us that she’s reaching for a high one. It’s not engaging; it’s mechanical. I like her when they talk to her, btw. If she could get more into her video packages, it would humanize her and perhaps help her.
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51ET14QGRRL._AA280_.jpg
And you’re right about Here We Come Again being a completely unique presentation of that song. Clay Aiken’s version was way slower than Dolly’s, and Carly’s version was slightly slower than Clay Aiken’s. So, you know, okay–it’s “new.”
I think Simon might be concerned with the marketability of Carly – or whoever survives this. Look, other than Daughtry, Underwood, and Clarkson, who have they REALLY hung their hat on? I think its a little too early still, we’ve still got 2 or 3 contestants who need to be weeded out before we can figure out what’s up. (But, I don’t think Andrew Lloyd Webber week will help.) I’m not really looking forward to next week’s song list. How will David A. ever choose??
StaleCake–Agree with you on Jason. In fact, his downloads are the best of all of them, yet his performances are only okay. Travelin Thru is WAY better as a download, and he was good in the performance even though they had him mic’ed too lightly.
As for Andrew Lloyd Webber week, I think it will help Carly the most. She’s going to soar, soar, soar with that Phantom of the Opera song. A lot of his songs are about showing off a big, wide-range voice, and she’s got an impressive one.
I think I know why people aren’t into Carly. It’s her image. She looks like a rocker, but doesn’t act like one (rockers are never scared or tearful – see Amanda Overmyer). She sings like a pop star, but doesn’t dress like one (just try to imagine Xtina, or Brit , or Madonna performing in Carly’s outfit from Tuesday night. It would never happen). And she acts like a scared little girl, not America’s confident yet humble new discovery. Carly can’t act like she wants it too much. After all, even though her whole future is at stake, she needs to sing her heart out, then just smile sweetly and think of blue skies and butterflies. America doesn’t want to see the depths of her despair.
I will grant you that Carly needs a serious change in wardrobe. I am not sure who dresses her, but she is a very pretty girl and she wears horrendous outfits.
That being said, she has an incredible voice, and should definitely be one of the last standing. I think Simon and the others are hard on her because they have higher expectations for her. That is the curse of beginning so good, it takes a lot to move up in people’s eyes.
And please folks, Brooke, is a freaky, bland, never seen an ‘R’ rated movie, squeaky clean bore. She is lost if she is not behind the piano and she needs to shut her damn trap. She talks too much.
And Jason Castro, come on. The guy can’t sing at all. Yeah the dreads are unique, and I guess the 15 year-olds find him attractive, but he should be singing with his giutar in some coffee house. He is so uncomfortable onstage sometimes, it is painful to watch. he is sorely overmatched.
I think the question is “Why is EW so in love with Carly Smithson?” Seriously, Slezak acts like she’s the second coming of Celine Dion, when it seems that most people (myself included) find her to be an overrated, oversinging bore.
Whoever says that Carly is smug is watching a different show. She said herself that she smiled through her performance cuz she’s heard that she needs to lighten up. And, maybe she had a record deal before but that was like 8 years ago when she was a teenager. Would you like to be forever judged by what you did/didn’t do when YOU were a teenager?
As you can see, I like Carly, she’s probably my favorite. I just feel bad that I’m not home Tuesday nights to vote.
I’m still thinking about this, so I’m back. With Carly, it’s not the tatoos, and she’s definitely not smug or she wouldn’t seem like a nice gal in interviews. And the outfits–I don’t think yellow is her color, but I also don’t think it’s that big a deal. A lot of them don’t look good this year.
She’s into sounding like a star, not the songs. She picked Total Eclipse of the Heart because it’s a big voice song, not because of its sentiment at all. By comparison, at the end of Michael Johns song, I turned to my husband and said “You know Honey, it’s all right, to be all wrong.” (I completely bought the goods.) And during Smokey Mountain Memories, I actually thought of my old folks back home. I went for the ride. I just didn’t believe at all that she was thinking of or singing to a guy, who may be bad for her, but who she falls for every time he’s around.
Carly is hands down the best singer in the competition. I don’t know why people don’t like her. I think she phenomenal.
And I just want to say, Missy Schwartz is so pretty! After reading her stuff for so long, it’s nice to have a face to put with the name.
I think Carly is really talented. She has been burned by the industry (her label went bankrupt) and so is nervous because she understands what is at stake. I think the judges, Simon in particular, are extra hard on Carly because they have higher expectations of her. Hopefully, she won’t crack under the pressure and will win this whole thing. She’s the only one who I think has the life experience and talent to make a good album.
To Lisa Fri, Apr 4, 2008 at 09:33 AM EST
Do you also hate Archuleta because he won Star Search, and Michael Johns, who had a deal with Madonna’s label a few years back?
Thanks for asking, and the answer to the Michael Johns part of the question is yes. Until Dolly night, I wasn’t overly impressed with anything he had done. I mean, sure, he’s hot and all, but if hot was all it took, well…Tyra Banks would be a platinum recording artist.
As far as Archuleta and Star Search, it’s not the same thing and you know it. But he’s not my fave either. I would compare it to some Disney channel show (i.e. Hannah Montanna) but even performers on the Disney channel are hardcore compared to David A.
I really love Carly–she has the absolute best voice in the competition and I don’t think anyone can deny the level of talent she has. Yes, she needs to dress more like a star but I’d rather have an Idol who can sing amazingly and needs a stylist than someone who is dressed to the nines with an inferior voice. Out of all the Idols this season, Carly is the only person who I would buy an album from afterwords. Maybe David Cook.
I don’t like the way that Carly looks when she sings. She’s always popping her eyes and gives off a vibe that she’s trying way too hard. She does have an amazing voice, but all the other stuff is definitely distracting. I think what EW needs to do is back off on their Carly loving. It’s getting tedious.
There’s this created mythology behind AI that says we’ve got some happy go lucky amateurs with talent. Let’s see which one is most likely to make it. As Simon frequently reminds us, it’s the “whole package” as well as the voice that decides the winner. So Carly had one strike against her, not being a real amateur. (Many of the contestants aren’t real “amateurs” either, but she’s hit w/the failing record deal.) Then there’s the happy go lucky thing–she looks scared or desperate. Jason C’s, “whoa, dudes, look where I am!” works much better on AI than a pro coming in to do her job.
Until this week, I never “got” Carly. But when she sang HYCA, I heard a clear voice and she sang it like she meant it. (Unlike BW’s Jolene.) Now, I get it. Maybe this isn’t the year of the “belters”. Maybe the audience is in the mood for something different.
Carly is a great singer but she never connects with the song or the audience and that’s important and it’s what is going to keep her from winning Idol just like Doolittle even though with her she actually grabbed you a couple of times unlike Carly. The people who get all tied up because she’s Irish or has had a recording contract need to stop watching Idol now. She has every right to be there like others before her who also won other competitions or had recording contracts that didn’t work out the first time. Simon messes with her because he expects more from her than what’s she’s giving which is performance style and connection with the songs. If you see anything else it’s your own projection.
Carly is the best singer on that stage. Are people deaf? Are Simon, Randy and Paula not hearing the same singer I am? THE WOMAN IS FLAWLESS! Sure she dress like crap but the hair and makeup improved so she’s growing. I just don’t get it. It’s supposed to be a singing contest not picking future stars for HS Musical spinoffs! C’mon people.