Friday, February 15, 2008

American Idol Junkies

I've infected HeWhoKnows(the husband) with my own enthusiasm for musical talent shows. I was a great fan of several such programmes on British TV, when I arrived this side of the pond the beat went on, taking a previously oblivious HWK with it. If nothing else, Idol is a welcome break from that other manic contest going on currently in the USA !

Idol 2008 has been in full audition mode for a few weeks and has now reached the stage where numbers have finally been whittled down to 24, in preparation for viewer voting.

There are no birth dates available yet, so contestants' astrology is going to be sparse until later in the series. The positions of slower moving planets could have some bearing on the type of singer a TV audience might favour, over the 3 or four months to come. Pluto and Jupiter will be in Capricorn, with Saturn in Virgo, giving a somewhat Earthy feel for the duration of the contest. I'm wondering if viewers might prefer one of the older contestants this year, Capricorn favours maturity, Saturn in Virgo has a no-frills down to Earth feel too.

Jordin Sparks, last season's winner, was one of the youngest contestants in the 2007 shows. This year there are still some talented young teens around, but those in the late 20s age group might be aided by the more Earthy astrological atmosphere. During the 2007 contest we had Pluto and Jupiter in Sagittarius, with Saturn in Leo, both Fire signs. A different atmosphere prevails for 2008.

Uranus and Neptune in Pisces and Aquarius respectively, remain in mutual reception , as they were throughout last year's contest. This combination should aid creativity for those most sensitive to the influence, depending on individual natal charts.

These are names of stand-out singers we'll be watching for as the season progresses, culled from Michael Giltz's article HERE.

"Michael Johns (age 28) -- the raspy voiced dude who sang "Bohemian Rhapsody," which was another terrible idea (I thought) until he delivered a really confident rendition.

Syesha Mercado -- very cute contestant who struggled all week with a hoarse voice. She nailed Aretha's "Chain Of Fools" to say the least and also looks like a lock for the final 12.

David Archuleta -- the 16 year old Tiger Beat cover boy of the future (and by future I mean three months from now). Totally adorable in an aw shucks way. How can you not like someone who talks about "that tingly feeling" he gets when an audition goes well. All the judges want to adopt him and so will all of America. He sang "Heaven" by Bryan Adams, which I thought would be too old and slow for him but he sang it confidently."

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