@jdurbinAI10 THANK YOU EVERYONE!!!!! Tonights performance felt perfect to me! And I just listened to my iTunes track & it too sounded perfect! Good show!

How very modest!

Beyond hilarious, isn't it? Have you seen the tweet to Hulk Hogan?

It was good, but as cover versions go, this is as near 'perfect' as it gets:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSKnx6DqD0A

Looks like he and Hulk bonded somewhat, Hulk wants to pass on his mobile number to him

Thia said a similar thing, in her VT before her performance, she said that Jimmy seemed to love her studio track so she had to go out on stage and perform it just as well ( or WWTE).

I put it down to their exuberance at feeling like they had a good week and this being resonated by the fans/judges etc...

We've all heard the meaningless words and empty promises of celebrities to these contestants in the past.

Thia said she had to go out and perform her song just as well as her studio version, anything that any of them and any performer would hope to do. There is a big difference between that and gushing about your own performance on stage and in the studio.

I put it down to his taking the judges' overblown praise seriously and we've seen this week how much the judges mean what they say with the way they changed their tune in a second with Casey. I don't know whether it's because the comments often seem so far removed from what has been seen and heard or whether it's because the delivery of the lines seem so unconvincing but the judges' comments this year have seemed scripted from the start. After the reports of the save having been decided before the show this week, nothing would surrprise me.

Yeah if you like camp 80s falsetto. Otherwise James was much better...

Bear in mind that these are American's we are talking about. Culturally speaking they don't consider it a bad thing to be positive about their own abilities. It's only us Brits who seem to dislike anyone who has the temerity to believe that they are actually any good or capable of winning (or at least the temerity to voice that opinion)

In America they like people who are loud and proud whereas in Britain we prefer humility. It's not fair to criticise James for being a product of his culture, you know

Regards

Julian

Americans don't have a problem with confidence when they think that it is merited but they have as much of a problem as anyone else with misplaced confidence or with arrogance, and arrogance is what James' tweets and post-performance routines come across as. You only have to go on the AI site or any other American site or have a look at the replies to James' tweets from Americans who don't think the sun shines out of his backside to see that.

They're all Americans on that show, they're all products of the same culture, and many of them are confident or appear confident but I can't think of another, either this year or in the past, who has dispayed this guy's exaggerated opinion of himself in either words or actions.

Better? Not even in James' wildest dreams.

Sylvester's style is 70s soul and disco. It's James who is 80s.

Vocally and stylistically he is very much like the singers from 80s "hair bands" as they used to call them in the States and not at all like the metal he thinks he is. The problem is he doesn't have the power and depth in his upper register or the control in his lower register to pull off what he tries to do and would like to be able to do.

LMAO where is that person who was calling Lambert arrogant in comparison with this guy

What a shame. His reaction to seeing Hulk Hogan was quite sweet, almost like that of a little boy but he's increasingly giving the impression by what he says and does that he thinks he has this in the bag and even that he thinks he's already a star.

It's because of his asperger. My son has a friend with asperger, and his reactions are similar.

People with the problem have little social subtlety, they don't feel what they should or shouldn't do other than what they are unequivocally taught.

So in this case, James thinks that his studio recording is good, and there is nothing wrong with thinking that something you have done is good, so he will say it regardless of how it comes across.

He may also cheer loudly when he is announced safe, and they are all relieved when they are told, but of course he forgets that someone else is in trouble.

My son's friend is constantly bullied at school because of his behaviour, and unfortunately often he is the one who creates the situation, but it is a disability and something that people who are affected have little control over.

I think you're spot on Chi

I did consider his condition when I read the tweet and several others he has made and in judging his reactions but as you said yourself, it is down to what they're unequivocally taught.

My sister and brother in law are teachers of special needs children. The children they teach range from high functioning to severely affected by autism and Asperger's. Funnily enough, both of them feel that putting all of James' words or actions down to his condition is patronising and insulting and neither of them feel that a high functioning person with the condition, as James is, should be unable to temper their reactions in a situation where there is the time to think. That is to say that his reaction to Hulk Hogan was to be expected (BTW I agree with BLB that it was quite sweet) as has been his exhuberance and enthusiasm in the presence of a couple of the other guests, his reactions to being called safe and even some of his actions after a performance or the responses to judges' comments, and had he said what he wrote it would have been almost to be expected too, but the situation is different when it's the written word and it's not a spur of the moment reaction.

If James is affected to the extent that even reactions that are not spur of the moment are controlled by his condition, you have to question whether being on this show is not likely to be detrimental and whether he is suited to cope with what may come after, good or bad.

Another way in which the condition at certain levels affects people, particularly as they mature into early adulthood, is to exaggerate the traits that are there in them naturally - shyness, loudness, humility, arrogance, etc.

So do I. I've already explained on this forum that if James appears arogant etc it's probably as a result of his condition, which my boyfriend and some of my friends also have. I have a similar condition, but it's more complex.

Some people on the site disagree with me, and think I'm doing Aspies a disservice, but I'm speaking from experience, although it ids hard to know how James's condition manifests itself as I don't know him.

Stefano has actually had similar criticism for being arrogant. I haven't seen any evidence of arrogance from him either, but he must be proud to be where he is after his accident too.

No one, as far as I know, has acted as though they think they're better than the others, it's more to do with how they are doing by their own standards. If one of the contestants, say, for example, Stefano, said "I did great this week, much better than Thia and she needs to go home/should have been sent home ahead of me" that would definitely not come across well. Didn't use James as my example as even a comment lik that from him, while it wouldn't be apropriate, could easily be a result of his condition.

I think being proud of oneself, when it isn't at the expense of another contestant, is fine!

xxxx

I haven't seen any arrogance from Stefano but I haven't seen any reason for him to be too proud of himself either. His performances haven't been helped by the ridiculous arrangements of two of his songs so far.

I don't know how he got through as a wildcard. I think the show wanted to prolong the James/Stefano bromance or just keep in another sob story.

Speaking of the accident, I see he hasn't learnt from his experience. Apparently the accident was caused by a drunk driver but it hasn't stopped him being pulled up for driving under the influence himself.

I think Stefano has a good voice, and I think even Paul should be proud of himself for getting this far, and I'm not a fan.

I actually wanted Stefano to get through as a wildcard - and prior to being a wildcard, in fact. I was also rooting for him when he was in the bottom 2. However, these are the early stages and eh will need to work hard to maintain his spot on the show.

I do think it's sweet that he and James get on so well, most of the contestants seem to though, and luckily we hear less of the sob stories when the live shows come along, unlike on the X Factor.

Didn't know that he'd been pulled up for drink drving, oh dear lol. I don't drink or drive, but if I did, I'd never do them at the same time.

Lol this is a James thread, I brought Stefano into it as a contrast and now it's in danger of turning into a Stefano thread, but hey, that's forums for you

xxxx

please continue to do Aspies a disservice by highlighting potential implications of such conditions. We may overcome ignorance and intolerance the more people who are involved in such disservice

Lol exactly, the worse they think of Aspies and similar peiople like me, the more we can prove them wrong lol!

xxxx

What a surprise that a certain Rhydian fan who has been so insulting, rude and offensive about another contestant (and then pretend they didn't even know who the contestant was) should support James

Try your unconvincing spiel on someone who was born yesterday.

Sylvester is bang on 1986.

James needs lessons, if he doesn't get them he'll ruin his voice. But I don't think it's true that he lacks power in the upper range, no shortage of power there, but he lacks control.

Lessons can teach you techniques for not straining your voice too much and ruining it as you say, but they can't give you what you haven't got and some things you are simply just born with or not.

I agree with GD, James' notes beyond his middle register are reed thin, often under or over the note and sometimes vering off mid-note. He lacks both power and control.

Is being an arrogant tosspot a medical condition?

Sylvester's career spanned from 1973 to 1986 (he died in December 1988), though he had little success after 1982 and his biggest hit, You Make Me Feel Mighty Real, was in 1978.

No, but Asperger's and Tourette's are, and James is diagnosed with both. Every Aspie and person with Tourette's is affected differently, but some, due to lack of self awareness, appear very self cented. I've got a lovely, bubbly friend with Asperger's who never lets anyone else get a word in edgeways - even me, and that's saying something - and struggles to take in what others are saying to her. She also talks about herself and things relating to, or which interest her, much more than most people would. She hasn't got a spiteful bone in her body though, and James seems to be similar in that respect

xxxx