Rypro 525

I for one hope Ruben wins but more cheers from the audience were for Clay.

Patman

I'm in Clay's corner for this vote.

rkndkn

I really like both of them a lot. They have their strengths in totally different types of genres. It was REALLY difficult to vote against one last night, but I voted multiple times for Clay.

movieking

I think that Clay will win, but I think that Ruben should win.

Kal-El

Clay.

Goldberg74

Clay... hands down...

MrX

Clay

briank

Clay.

ChefWinduAZ

I think Clay will win but I think that Reuben should win. I think in the long run Reuben will have the more succesful career. Numerous times this morning when the morning shows were talking about American Idol, many people kept saying that clay belongs on Broadway in RENT. I have toa gree with that and it isn't meant as an insult. It is just that some people can sing but just not mainstream. Clay may be able to sing but as a record company exec. who do you market Clay to?

rfduncan

I think Clay ROCKED his last song - but I think Reuben is going to win.

I can't BELIEVE there's a 2 hour show to sit through before we find out!

Josh-da-man

Clay seems to have the most momentum.

I haven't voted once because I don't really care, but I've spoken with a couple of people who said they couldn't vote. Every time they called the number they got a busy signal. They both wanted to vote for Clay, btw.

TheAllPurposeNothing

I believe just the opposite. Ruben will win, but Clay should win.

Right out the box, Ruben is the best performer. But he doesn't have the vocal stamina. He's gonna be a bust as a concert performer, and he's going to be terribly difficult to work with in the studio. After 2 or three takes, his voice is going to start to strain and they'll have to call it a day.

While Clay is more Broadway-ish, it doesn't mean he can't have a successful recording career. He could do well with the easy listening crowd, doing anything from sappy ballads to big band vocal material, like Harry Connick. He tends to get better as he performs, too, which will make him easier tyo work with studiowise, and he should be able to do great on the concert circuit.

But Ruben will win. This thing will be decided by the cell phone, text message crowd, and in that respect, Ruben will have the biggest draw. Clay's following is almost entirely phoned in.

MrHappyToes

I think I'm going to pull for Clay to win this thing simply because Simon, Randy, Ryan, and everyone else connected with this show, have been on every talk show they could book themselves on in the last 2 weeks pimping Ruben as the best and the one who should win.

I think it was very unprofessional and more than a little unfair to Clay and Kim. It's bad enough that we have to watch all 3 judges constantly pushing Ruben down our throats on AI every week, but when they go campaigning for him all over the place, it just rubs me the wrong way.

Of course, none of this is Ruben's fault.

I just hope America teaches the judges and producers a lesson by not picking the one they've been forcing on us, and maybe they won't do the same idiotic thing next year.

But I don't plan on buying either of their records, so I won't lose any sleep if Ruben wins.

briank

I think Clay will win and SHOULD WIN.

I think Ruben might be more for the "American Idol" market and more "marketable" at first, but he has too many flaws.
TheAllPurposeNothing points out some good ones about recording and live performances.

Ruben has a good look, and had a short fun gimmick with the 2-0-5 and I really liked him in the beginning.
But he CAN NOT give a decent interview to save his life. He is a bore!
He can ONLY sing slow songs and one at a time. I like the Pavorotti reference in the other thread, he'll be too tired to sing 3 songs in a row.

Ruben does have a look, but that benefits you for live performances and interviews and personal appearances, and that's where his flaws kill him.

Clay gives a great interview and his personality shines through there and that gets a lot of people to like him.

When you strip everything down to voices and for the radio I think they are both on the same wave length. Slow easy listening songs.
With both those, neither is very "marketable" to the crowd that they were hoping to attract with "American Idol".

Yeah Clay would fit into a role like Mark in RENT (not sure he could pull it off, he needs a lot of work and needs to cut out the "twitching" and performer in him to do that).
But in the end I don't think Ruben really fits anywhere without really addressing his flaws that have been pointed out.

ChrisHicks

I agree. It stinks that they all worship Ruben and constantly tell America to vote for him. I guess we can't decide on our own who we prefer, huh?

Patman

Clay's good at creating these memorable stances when he finished up strong on a song. Ruben is less of a performer in this respect. If you cut together performance clips, Clay has so many strong ones that sort of define what it is to perform on stage in this competition. Sure, he's got no dance game, but as a singer, he's got plenty of game.

BTW, how will Fox pad 2 hours of AI tonight? This will be drawn out to the bitter end.

GuessWho

The cheers were equal, however Clay's sounded like more cuz it was all high-pitches screaming. Most of Rube's fans were bellowing a low-tone "Ruuuuuuuuu" that sounded a lot like boos (but they weren't).

That said; Ruben should. Clay will.

ChefWinduAZ

In my opinion the final two are the best example of what America represents. DIVERSITY! On one hand you have an overweight Black man and on the other a homosexual. Whoever wins, it will be a positive thing. They have both proved that anybody can become an American Idol.

But, let me state one thing, if Frenchie had still be on the show she would have kicked both their asses.

Spooky

Isn't it amazing how everyone assumes Clay is gay? Talk about stereotyping!

Anyway, Clay should win. He blew Ruben away last night on a performance level (although I agree with Simon that both contestants were 'playing it safe') and while I like both guys, Clay clearly has the better vocal chords.

However, I didn't get my chance to vote...I tried calling into Clay's number for a good hour before finally giving up. I've voted in previous weeks and always gotten through after a few tries, but no dice last night.

icondude

Wasn't anyone else appalled by Ruben's attire duing his first song last night? I'm referring to the black leather jacket with "squared" pattern on it.

Big Quasimodo

Opposite for me...

Jackskeleton

I'm just glad that the final two are a nerd and a heavy fella and not another spears wannabe.

ChefWinduAZ

Just like everyone assumed last season Jim Vavaros was gay....oops guess he was. According to an interview with Jim in Entertainment Weekly, he along with most of the males in last seasons final 10 had to hide the fact they were gay per orders of the procducers. Shouldn't be too shocking considering the producers are always trying to hide thing about the contestants until a reporter digs up the truth. Nikki with a child, Trenyce and the shoplifting, and then there was making Kelly Clarkson take out her nose ring and hide her tattoo because it wasn't what they thought the image of an American Idol should be.

TheAllPurposeNothing

Just wish once I had seen someone holding up this sign in the audience over the past week's contest:

ACTUALLY, I WASN'T SAYING "RUBEN!"

I REALLY WAS BOOING!!

Not that I really dislike Ruben. More times than not, he is responsible for the best performance of the night.

Just tired of hearing Ryan constantly correct that misconception.

BTW, they weren't really booing Michael Moore at the Oscars. They were just shouting "Ruben!"

Charlie Goose

Clay should & will win. Ruben is an excellent singer, but too one-dimensional. Every song he did, from "Imagine" to "Sweet Home Alabama" sounds like the same R&B. Also, as AllPurpose stated, Ruben isn't physically capable of performing an entire concert. After three songs last night, with long breaks, he looked like he was about to stroke out.
I like Clay's singing better, but goddammit every time he flutters those eyelashes, I want to staple them open.

Honk!