two reasons lakisha is overpriced

pete fabrizio · #1 02-25-2007, 08:16 PM

1. "And I am telling you" is a kingmaker song. Jennifer Holliday nailed it in 1982 and won a Tony. Jennifer Hudson is heavily favored to win an Oscar in a few hours because of it. Mau Marcello sang it to win Phillipine Idol. 11-year old Bianca Ryan won America's Got Talent largely just because she was ABLE to sing it. Lakisha sings it and Simon wants to declare the season over. Now part of this is that you have to be a great singer/performer to pull the song off well, but part of it is that the song is disproportionately impressive for someone who has the right vocal tools to sing it well. I think the market may be influenced by this song's mesmerizing power, and Lakisha can't sing it every week.

2. Lakisha lost "Gimme the Mike Houston 2005." Here's a vid of her singing "Think" in that competition (and btw, I don't think it's really that impressive). Now I'm not saying it's dispositive, but if she can't blow through some local Houston competition, it's less likely that she's really this transcendent singer that some think she is after this one performance.

private joker · #2 02-25-2007, 08:24 PM

Good post, and I agree. She's not only overpriced, but overrated too. If she wins this year, it will be almost as disappointing as Taylor Hicks.

disjunction · #3 02-25-2007, 08:58 PM

Based on that video, she should have won whatever competition this was.

National is not >> local here, she probably has more of a chance nationally because you have pundits telling people what to think. Don Imus was playing Lakisha on his radio show and saying how great she was for no particular reason. Locally, it's more of a style competition. I saw a comment on the youtube clip that she lost to a country singer.

That being said, it hasn't really been established that America will actually vote for the best talent in the wrong demographic. I kind of think they will, but it hasn't been proven.

4Tay · #4 02-25-2007, 09:04 PM

I'm no big time producer or anything, but if I was, I'd have a hard time giving Lakisha a big record deal because I don't think she can sell a lot of records or be marketable enough. I can't picture her being atop the Billboard Hot100. I do think she will go far in this competition, but this competition isn't always about who has the best vocals.

pete fabrizio · #5 02-25-2007, 09:14 PM

I just noticed this vid of her singing "And I am telling you" in that competition here. It seems like she couldn't quite pull it off, especially at the end, so maybe she has improved in the last couple of years?

dippydoo · #6 02-25-2007, 10:16 PM

I'm having a hard time justifying buying Lakisha a short odds until she proves she can sing the pop-crap songs that the contest will dictate she sings over the next few weeks.

I have a feeling that she may be a one trick, or genre, pony.

Plus she already seems to be having issues with missing her daughter, and this is only going to get worse as the contest gone on and the length of time she is away from her daughter increases. It wouldn't surprise me if the separation starts to affect her desire to win, and just be in, the contest.

mynamewastaken · #7 02-26-2007, 01:47 AM

I think people are forgetting how impressive Mandisa was in the early weeks, and she faltered early. I still see absolutely no reason Lakisha doesn't pull the same move. It's all about looks and Lakisha is even more unattractive than Mandisa. The space between her front teeth kind of creeps me out, but this won't be the reason she's booted.

In the early rounds of the top 12, she will split some of the vote with Melinda, and Doolittle may even drop into the bottom 3 (2?) for a week just like Bo did. But once Lakisha is eliminated Doolittle will be (bearly) unstoppable.

At least that's how I see it playing out. The girl's pool is oversaturated but there are some boys who will become contenders regardless. There is absolutely no chance that the final 4 is all female. This means more talented girls will be booted to make room for these boys (Blake? Chris? Does Sundance still have a shot? I don't think so since he's VFTW's pick)

The one guy I'm backing right now is Brandon Rogers. 2nd pick is Sundance and 3rd Chris Sligh. A Brandon-Doolittle finale would be the best result possihle for me, but I guess that's wishful thinking.

curtains · #8 02-26-2007, 03:16 AM

[ QUOTE ]
I think people are forgetting how impressive Mandisa was in the early weeks, and she faltered early. I still see absolutely no reason Lakisha doesn't pull the same move. It's all about looks and Lakisha is even more unattractive than Mandisa. The space between her front teeth kind of creeps me out, but this won't be the reason she's booted.

In the early rounds of the top 12, she will split some of the vote with Melinda, and Doolittle may even drop into the bottom 3 (2?) for a week just like Bo did. But once Lakisha is eliminated Doolittle will be (bearly) unstoppable.

At least that's how I see it playing out. The girl's pool is oversaturated but there are some boys who will become contenders regardless. There is absolutely no chance that the final 4 is all female. This means more talented girls will be booted to make room for these boys (Blake? Chris? Does Sundance still have a shot? I don't think so since he's VFTW's pick)

The one guy I'm backing right now is Brandon Rogers. 2nd pick is Sundance and 3rd Chris Sligh. A Brandon-Doolittle finale would be the best result possihle for me, but I guess that's wishful thinking.

[/ QUOTE ]

Mandisa actually wasnt that impressive early on, and Lakisha is a ton more likable than her. (and IMO a better singer).

She completely dominated dialidol, something Mandisa almost never did.

ChunLisBF · #9 02-26-2007, 04:10 AM

you guys remember when they had the girls do a quick solo dance to introduce them as the final 12... Lakisha's dance was a bit much... licking her lips and trying to dance sexy. to be honest, i was kinda grossed out and that right there was the reason i didn't invest in her. live to regret... as i watched her price soar. even still, i'm still not sold on her winning.

Brocktoon · #10 02-26-2007, 07:58 AM

Yeah, lets not overlook her physical issues here. She is very unattractive. I don't even mean her obvious weight problems, she's ugly on top of that.

No one as unattractive as Lakisha has ever won AI. Ruben was heavy, but a) he's a guy and b) he wasn't actually hard to look at, Lakisha is.