I hear most of the contestants singing flat, squawking horribly or out of tune.

Lesley hears good voices and marvellous singing.

Do my ears need testing?

Or is Lesley a sycophantic shameless flatterer who is incapable of saying what she really thinks?

Praising Tara constantly is really annoying, she was terrible last night

I think she has a terrific knack of telling them they were crap in a positive way. She always gives constructive criticism (gawd knows they need it) without tearing into them like R-H or Tricky.

She's the Paula Abdul (except Lesley's talented) of Fame Academy.

Your comments are extremely harsh ...

I think Lesley gives critiques based on their non-ability to sing

She praises, but also gives advice as to how they can improve their vocal performance.

If I were a student, hers is the comments I would be waiting for - she is never intentionally nasty for spite or mean for the sake of it, does not like everything but also gives good comments and good advice ....

Lesley knows what she is talking about ... more so than any of the other judges imo ...
Last edited by tomorrow : 09-03-2007 at 12:05

I thought Tara was great last night, really good emotive voice. I agree with leslie 100%.

Lesley gives constructive criticism.

She knows that they are mostly not singers, but picks out something specific to work on and gives credit for the things they do right.

So the overall performance can sound crap, yet they did something technically right within it - that's what she hears that we don't always!

It is a big ask for the contestants to improve much in the short time they have to rehearse each song & work with Carrie/David, but Lesley looks for the small improvements and praises, as any good teacher would.

Richard and Craig are both unfair judges, they make some blatantly untrue remarks for effect, not always - but that's their role.

Lesley talks more sense, shame more people don't listen to her. Linda sang much better last night and didn't deserve to go. Angelica was shocking. Again.

(Not sure that she was right about Tara though... )

People look for different things, accuracy is only one of them.As Carrie and David keep on saying the best technical singers are not the most emotional, interesting or even the ones who produce the outstanding quality in smaller doses.

Angelica produces some really nice stuff amidst the rubbish. Tara commands a stage and tells a story better than anyone who sings better. - shes a better actor than the actors. Mel is watchable even when she misses some notes.

I totally agree with you. I found Tara's performance very believable and she could have really been talking to Jolene.

I think Lesley makes untrue remarks just to be nice. The judges have all got their defined roles though, I think. Except this year we don't have a middle man but Craig and Richard trying to out-nasty each other.

Lesley has been spot on with Tara.

The others she tries to be as diplomatic as possible.

I don't rate Lesley as a good judge at all. Most of her comments seem misplaced and often tend to be overly nice and sychophantic.

I found myself agreeing a lot more with Richard and Craig tonight, despite them getting booed by the studio audience.

And telling Fred to not sing in a Scottish accent is just plain wrong. I don't understand where she's coming from there. She's mentioned that for two nights on the trot.
Singing in a Scottish accent has never been a problem for Scottish singers before.
Last edited by Alrightmate : 09-03-2007 at 20:50

I wish Lesley would bugger off back to Sound of Music and entertain the audiences that have paid to see her. She annoys the hell out of me.

me too google king her voice is so shrill ugh!

Exactly. Being a judge shouldn't be about telling everyone they're either fantastic or dreadful - Lesley is so good at striking the balance between the two by giving positive comments (there's always something good) combined with constructive criticism.

I think Lesley is about 90% spot on and 10% of the time she will produce an utterly ludicrous comment.

Its the 10% that gets remembered though and that's why she gets some stick on the boards.

Agreed. I normally think her comments are quite accurate but when she says Mel's performance was the funniest thing she's seen in her life, or that Sean is the most sensitive man she's ever seen on a stage, I just cringe...

Agree with that too Nice to hear constructive critism and a refreshing change from that old chestnut "you made it your own"

She's not usually my cup of tea but as a singer she knows more than that orange tool Craig. Having said that, full marks to him for saying he didn't know why Richard voted for Zoe last night. Apart from the apparently obvious I guess

She's a bit of a gusher, isn't she? I can't stand her myself.

I know, I think she's become a bit too attached to some of them and has lost her objectivity.

I can understand Lesley and Craig's comments and can see where they are coming from, the one I have always had a major problem with is Pervy Parks.

I know, he seems to make his mind up one way or the other at the start of the series and is then really reluctant to budge from that, as if he thinks it'll make him look stupid. Craig doesn't always know what he's talking about, but he's quite often the only one who's spotted someone's singing out of tune - interesting, seeing as he's supposed to be the non-musician.

He's been and is a choreographer for some of the top West End shows, so he's not totally clueless.
Last edited by dome : 11-03-2007 at 11:57

I know that, but as far as I know he has no background in music or singing. Therefore it just seems interesting that he sometimes seems to be the only one who can spot when someone's out of tune!

You have to know about music, beat, rhythm etc to do his job.

You don't need to be a singer or a musician to notice tuning problems, some have a natural talent for it.

I know that. I was pointing out that it was interesting!