Matthew!

Line of the night (IIRC)...

"And chillin at the end like a cool Al Roker."

I'm glad Matt moved on to the next round. He's got a real smooth voice, and I think a lot of potential. I hope he takes advantage of the extra time.

Hey! I wasn't just hearing things...America agreed - Matt moves on! Glad to see America one-upped the judges on this one...

MY favorite sings next week also.....Elizabeth.....She was awesome at the Try-Outs...Hopefully she continues to blow the judges away....

Bruce

Wow, that was kind of shocking. I thought that red haired chick did much better than Matt. Maybe they didn't like the junk in her trunk.

Am I the only one that is finding Matthew to be annoying? I was looking forward to him going home. And did you guys hear he actually played in the Rose Bowl? (It's little known bit of trivia)

Lisa got shafted bigtime -- she was the only one that actually sounded good last night! Although I think she knew she was out by the expression on her face the whole time. SHe looked pissed!

Hawaiian girl looked good and sounded eh. Her voice is really weak, but she was probably the second best one from last night.

Marissa sounded just ok and would have been my pick for third best of the night.

All the others were in a tie for last place in my book. I still can't believe Rose Bowl beat Lisa. Sad, sad pathetic group.

I only heard the clips of Lisa but she deserved to go along with Camille. Matthew was ok but he didn't have enough soul for that particular song. Listen to the version by Go West who re-recorded it. There's no comparison.

Camille was rushing it and didn't get into the song as she did last night. Glad she made it to the next round.

looking forward to more of Matt, I was hoping he would make it, plus I think he has a lot of personality

Did you see the look on the other contestants faces when Ryan announced that Matt advanced. Even they knew that Lisa was better than him. Hell even he knew that, you could tell from the way he answered Ryan's questions tonight. I don't see him winning this thing at all. But I do see the possibility of Lisa popping back up in the Wild Card show.

They should check Matt's ID again, he looks like he's about 40. Another percentage point and he would've finished first! I agree with most everyone else in this thread, Group #2 was the weakest I've seen.

I didn't really watch the first AI but I can't see how this group is better than any group in the history of AI. They were terrible.

Personality-wise, I just don't like Matt. From day one, I've just seen him as a Josh-redux...except for one thing...he does have a better voice than Josh did. But he's an arrogant bigot. And that is inexcusable...good voice or not. Won't be sorry to see him go when the time comes. That said...

Of last night's group, despite the judges comments about how uncomfortable he looked, he came across as most comfortable on the stage. He does not have the touch of blue-eyed soul he fancies himself having, but if he can find his niche, he might make it pretty far.

As for Lisa not making it any further, that is a shame since she was the second best...possibly even the best...vocalist from last night. I think her not being voted further is entirely an image issue, and I hope to see her picked up as a wild card.

Now...onto harsher criticism. Camille has a good tone, as the judges have said...but she needs to overcome her nerves. Its giving her voice a Carmen-like goat warble which is none too soothing. And I really can't see her overcoming it. Last night's in-house audience was rather small. Once they start doing this thing in the larger venue, with hundreds to thousands of audience members, she'll probably have a breakdown.

Now here's what I want to know. The week before, Seacrest was gloating on the number of votes America called/text-messaged in for group one. Tonight, no such gloating was present. In fact, its the first time I don;t remember him touting such a figure. So I'm wondering...just how low were the call volumes last night? I wouldn't be suprised if they didn't even crack the million mark.

May I ask why you think he is a bigot? Personally I didn't think he should have advanced and to me he comes off like a dumb ass jock, but I never thought he was a bigot.

Matt's song of "What I Would Not Do For Love" was not originally done by Go West but another soul singer from the late 70's who's name escapes me??

I still don't get the fuss about Camille her voice is extremely weak and nowhere near Kelly Clarkson's or Aiken's range

I think Lisa was the best on tuesday but let's be honest that gap in her pearly whites was very distracting??..That's all I could focus on when she was singing

"What You Won't Do For Love" was originally sung by Bobby Caldwell. And Matt just did not have enough "soul" to do that song justice, few do. He should have chosen a different song. But I guess those people that did vote on Tuesday night didn't seem to care.

Now that I've heard Camile, I'd vote no to her, her voice isn't up to snuff.

I think APN is talking about the first time we saw Matt. There were many Asian Americans at his audition, and they asked Matt why he should be the American idol, and he said, "I'm American." The implication was that the many Asians there were less American.

It bothered me at the time too, because there was no trace of irony or humor in the way he said it. He has bothered me ever since, because I've kept on replaying it in my head but I can't see a way that this isn't what he meant. I hope I'm wrong.

But like APN says, having said that, he was pretty okay the other night. For the same reason as APN, I hope he doesn't move on.

I don't recall the "I'm American" quote from Matt - but I could see that being Matt's deadpan humor meaning he fulfilled the most basic requirement of being an American Idol.

Were there really a lot of Asian Americans there or did they just show more on TV?

Anyway - I'm not feelin' it (dawg) about Camile. I thought she was just ok the first night & horrible last night. For whatever reason the judges were trying to "upsell" her to the voting audience. She looks so pained when she sings.

I'm not surprised Matt got through. It was on the strength of his previous auditions and personality that got him through. I imagine a lot of people were planning to vote for him before the show even aired.

I think it's a HUGE stretch to call him a bigot. As DVDsucker said, it was just a joke based on the title of the show.

I like Matt. I thought he had by far the best voice of this group. His confidence and swagger were welcome in my view. As far as his comments that many view as bigoted, I'd have to say it's warranted to be offended. Someone who wins this whole thing and represents the "A.I." franchise would need to be free of controversial baggage such as that. There may be millions more like Matt out there in the real world, but if he really feels that way about minority groups, then there's no place for him in the winner's circle. I wonder if those comments will be brought up at a later date in competition by any of the judges or audience Q&A???

He sang much better on Wednesday night than he did on Tuesday. Camile sang crappy on Wednesday.

I still can't get over that Jesus's brother got 70,000 more vote (much less 70,000 vote at all).

Matthew sang much better when he was relaxed after hearing the good news.

Why do people keep wanting to sing "Don't Know Why" by Norah Jones? Nice song, sure, but not something that's going to energize people to vote for you.

If anyone shouldn't have advanced it was Camile. She has a weak voice and bad stage presense. Matt and Lisa should have been the top two from this group.

I don't think Matt is a bigot. I believe he just meant that he was an "Idol" short of qualifying. He was halfway there being an "American".

After his brutal delivery the other night of the bloodying Simon joke, I would possibly buy into this explanation.

But first impressions are lasting impressions, and if the "I'm an American" quote was, in fact, meant as a joke, it really makes no difference. It didn't play that way and that's the impression that lasts. His arrogance doesn't help things.

It didn't play as a bigoted comment to me. Like I said, that's a huge stretch and a case of extreme over-sensitivity. Obviously, it didn't play as a bigoted remark to the voters either.