American Juniors – Some Final Thoughts

American Juniors has come to a close with last night’s grand finale. So it’s time for me to share some closing thoughts, both about the series in general and last night.

Let’s get something out of the way right off the bat. Do I think the show picked the best five singers to be in the group? No, I don’t. I think Morgan and Chantel both deserved spots in the group. At whose expense? Well, I know my cohort Sting7 likes Chauncey, but to me he still sounds like he has a perpetual cold. Morgan was ten times better. However, I firmly believe that voters went for “cute” over “talented” in several cases, and Chauncey was one of them. Morgan is incredibly talented, but he doesn’t have the “cuteness factor” that Chauncey has. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not like Morgan is The Hunchback of Notre Dame or anything! It’s just that some kids have the super-cute factor and some don’t. Chauncey does. But he doesn’t have Morgan’s talent.

So who else would I have replaced? Well, I’m not convinced that the Thompson sisters both belong there. Again, they’re cute and their backstory is good, but on pure singing talent alone, I think Chantel outdoes them both.

Stepping away from talent for a moment – or maybe more towards it – there are two other group members who I think should not be with the group for long. Lucy and Danielle should do the time they are required to with the group according to whatever contract they have, and then go out on their own immediately. I would buy a Lucy album. I would buy a Danielle album. I don't know if I'll be buying the American Juniors album.

Before the finale, I told some people in e-mail that I had the feeling the group would be “Lucy Hale and the American Juniors” because she just stands out so much. Indeed, for one song, that’s exactly how Ryan Seacrest introduced them! (I think he’s been reading my e-mails on the sly.) She is a head taller, more mature-looking, and has a stronger voice than all of the others except Danielle. In many ways, Lucy looks like a mom dancing with her kids. She not only seems out of place, but she looks like she feels out of place sometimes, too. Producers would do well to make Lucy and Danielle the main lead singers.

Moving away from general comments to some specific thoughts about last night’s finale, I've suspected for a while that they have been doing some lip-syncing on at least some of the group numbers. Last night, I’ve confirmed it at least in my own mind. They were dancing around and the mics were moving close to and away from their mouths, yet the volume stayed exactly the same the whole time and none of them sounded remotely out of breath.

I don’t think Debbie Gibson was lip-synching, but she definitely powered out that number. However, climbing on the piano? Way hokey.

You know, Debbie's song was from 1989. That means it was out before most of these kids were BORN! God, I feel old. Anyway, Ryan said she has a new album coming out in November, but there’s nothing on Amazon for it yet.

It will be interesting to see what happens now for Juniors – both the band and the show. The Fox Fall schedule released in the Spring said that AJ would be on in the Fall and articles about the Fall season implied there would be an AJ2. However, during this show, they promoted the AI3 auditions – nothing about Juniors 2 – and ended with Ryan saying he would see us in January for AI3 – again, no mention whatsoever of another Juniors. So I’m guessing we won’t see one in the Fall after all. A several-month gap with no Ryan and no voting on Fox shows?! What are we doing to do with ourselves?

David Bloomberg is the Editor of Foxes On Idol, and can be reached at rno@pobox.com.

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