Ellen Old Blue Eyes

Ellen's eyes damn blue lor..

After all the anticipation and the 'woot'-ing and 'yay'-ing and daily countdowns (I'm sure I'm not the only one who set a countdown alarm on my phone...she has crazy mad fans in the US), I thought the minute she walked on set I would laugh. But nope, the first thing I saw was how darn blue her eyes are. Even more so paired with that denim jacket. Now THAT is what I call blue man. Even The Husband's first comment was "Wah her eyes damn blue man!"

And after all that fuss about her and Simon feuding...they got along like best friends throughout the show. She'd make jokes, he'd smile or laugh. The closest to a catfight we saw was hardly even a meow - Ellen played step back step forth with the final four contestants of the day only to put all of them through and Simon remarked, 'You're a sadist'. Feud? Where gottt? PR Spin laaa, told you I could smell it.

Ellen to Simon :

"So this is it huh,.... I come on.... you leave."

It was pretty apparent in our first Hollywood week episode that the producers were clearly giving Ellen the judging lead (or at least it seemed that way in on the final edit). In my previous post, I carried quotes from various articles online speculating that producers were figuring out how to 'phase' Simon out. Imo, certainly looks like they are grooming Ellen to be head judge from Day 1.

I guess with Ellen as the anchor judge from here on in, Simon's exit won't seem to leave such a gaping hole on the panel. I'm so gonna miss Simon when he DOES leave. Say what you want, but I've always felt the guy is genuine and he calls it like he sees it (and 90% of the time I agree with him). Oh and I love how he totally supports those that he thinks have talent.

Back to Ellen's first day, I think she started the day on the right note when she came onstage and addressed the 'big question on everyone's minds' - "What does she know about music?" And her answer was perfect :

"What I do know is what its like to stand on stage and try to please an entire room full of people. Thats a hard thing to do."

Ok so how did Round 1 of Hollywood Week go?

Everyone gets a chance to sing either acapella or accompanied by an instrument. Many took to the opportunity to bring their guitars and keyboards. Lots of aspiring singer/songwriters here.

What I liked about this episode, especially remembering last season, was that it had plenty of surprise goodbyes. Last season, producers pretty much gave away who were going through to the Top 24, because every single story they highlighted (ie followed back to hometowns for backstories) made it through.

You'd assume the same this year, but nope. A large number of those with backstories didn't make it through. Bye bye to SkiiBoSki, country girl Vanessa Wolfe (the one who'd never been on a plane before), Cornelius the guy who split his pants doin' a split, Maegan Wright who's lil brother was a big supporter, the New Jersey sisters, Barney girl Erica and beatboxer Jay Stone who failed to impress - Ellen said something was wrong with his mic (wahlaueh epic fail lor).

Although many bit the dust, there were so many standouts too - totally blowin' me away were :

Andrew Garcia - wth blew me totally to the next town man!

His accoustic rendition of Straight Up was SLAMMIN!! He took that song and totally made it his own! Agree with Kara 100% - "RIDICULOUS!" (in a good way)

Paula Abdul must be kicking herself for ending her contract right? (While simultaneously snapping her fingers, screaming and clapping and rooting for him in her living room)

Janell Wheeler

Her accoustic version of American Boy was awesome!! I really like the tone of her voice!

Haeley Vaughn

I actually kinda enjoyed her version of 'Hallelujah'. She's very likeable, although it still confuses me cos I can't peg her to a genre eventhough she says country pop - seems weird.

Lilly Scott

Wow, this one was an OMG moment! Love her voice!! Totally took me by surprise cos her speakng voice is lower, and then she sings this Ella Fitzgerald classic in such a cool way. 'Everything about you is refreshing' - totally on da money Kara!

btw, the Sam guy that made it through with her, looks cool, pity we didn't get to see his audition :(

Mike "Big Mike" Lynche

He's really huge (as in, the-guitar-looked-seriously-like-a-ukelele-huge) personal trainer who missed the birth of his first child for this. I totally didn't even remember his first audition. He also surprised me. His take of 'Waitin' On The World To Change' was infectious! I loved it, loved his personality and his lil ukelele...oops I mean guitar :)

Casey James

Woot! He was kinda dull and not much of a personality at his original audition and probably got through cos he took off his shirt. But with the guitar added, he came out of his shell. Casey became a croonin' coyote! (<--- ok don't know where that came from)

Loved it, eventhough I'm not really a country fan. (Then again, I'm actually likin' Carrie Underwood and Kellie Pickler and oh gawd Taylor Swift too! how? might need to git me a cowboy hat soon)

Crystal Bowersox (no not Powersocks)

All dreadlocked and tattooed, she totally powered through 'You Make Me Feel Like A Natural Woman'. She looks too young to be a mom, I mean, she looked 16 (she's actually 24). She certainly got the crowd going and she's kinda got a hippiechick feel - reminds me a little of Rose Flack from last season. Rose was prettier, but Crystal has a much better voice and musicality.

And last but not least people...my favourite of the night was.....

Didi Benami

I love love LOVED it. I'm actually a Kara Dioguardi fan and I was so excited when she said she was singing 'Terrified' cos I have loved this song since I found Kara singing it on a video on Youtube early last year.

Imo, she did it better than Katharine McPhee (this is one of Katharine McPhee's singles from her new album 'Unbroken'). Didi made it very current. Kat McPhee's version sounds like it could be from the 90s or even 80s (no disrespect to her, I was actually rooting for her all throughout Season 5) Click here to listen to Katharine McPhee's version, but I suggest you watch Kara sing it below :) (one of my fave vids, the singing only starts at 1:49)

Kara btw looked awesome on Idol...and this is so random and unrelated but I have the same coloured scarf! Yay, me and Kara have something in common (except that maybe hers cost a few hundred bucks, mine was $10 from Cotton On, Anchorpoint).

Others that were pretty good were Katie Stevens (16 year old whose grandma has Alzheimer's), Tim Urban (floppy haired, and I just love his name) and Mary Powers, the rocker mama who brought along her 8 year old daughter to meet Simon and he said 'Are you sure this isn't my daughter' because she was such a cynic.

Maddy Curtis (the girl with Downs Syndrome brothers) didn't make it through. Apparently the judges felt she wasn't ready for this. But imo, I thought she deserved to go at least one more day.

46 made it thru to Group Day. Historically Group Day is Super Drama day. Its bound to yield lots of emo scenes because its a super stressed environment and you're forcing strangers to work together within 24 hours on a performance that will either make/break their Idol dreams. Drama with a capital 'D' comin' your way, tonight! EXCITINGGGGG!

See you on the flipside of tonight's episode folks!

What did you think of Ellen's first day as judge? Can she helm the panel once Simon's gone? Why didn't they groom Kara? Comment comment comment :)

xoxo, s.

ps. I liked the girl with the purple woolly hat and glasses but I have no idea what her name is. We didn't even see her audition.