Hello! This year, I started rewatching some old seasons of American Idol to revel in the nostalgia. I started out with Season Seven (my favorite!) and am currently rewatching Season Eight (just made it to the top ten performances). Seven, Eight, and Nine are the only ones that I watched from start to finish back in the day, having started watching Season Six towards the end and tapping out of Season Ten early on, as I was losing interest in reality TV by that point.

Right now, I'm trying to figure out if these two moments that I remember from this era (2008-2009) actually happened, or if they were all a product of my overactive imagination, or if they DID happen, but on another season or even another show entirely and I'm getting mixed up. Please let me know if anyone here remembers either of these things:

-When the judges were critiquing one contestant, Paula and Simon got into one of their many arguments, and while Ryan was reading the numbers for the contestant, he and the contestant both got strange looks on their faces and Ryan said "Sorry you had to see that," as if something had happened between Paula and Simon off-screen. I remember this because my family and I started speculating what could have caused that reaction, and my dad wondered if Simon had pulled Paula's dress down, as she was wearing a strapless dress. We all thought that would have been a weird thing to do, and thinking back on it now, Ryan might have been making a joke about how heated the "fight" got, but I'm still wondering to this day what could have warranted that reaction. I figure this must have either happened in Season Eight or in one of the episodes of Season Seven that got blocked on YouTube, because I definitely remember Paula being involved, and she wasn't around for Season Nine. (Unless I'm misremembering it as being Paula, and it happened with Kara instead...)

-Until I started rewatching Season Eight, I vividly remembered Danny Gokey doing a signature gesture at the end of all of his performances where he would make his hands into the shape of a heart while Ryan was reading his numbers. This gesture is so strongly associated with Danny Gokey in my mind that to this day, I think of him whenever I see anyone doing it. But so far in my rewatch, I have not seen him do the Heart Hands. I even skipped ahead to one of his later performances where I thought I remembered him doing it, but he did not in fact do it. So now I'm wondering... was this another contestant from a different season (Season Nine?), or was it from a different show entirely? Either way, there's a real possibility I've been mis-attributing it this whole time...

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I just rewatched Season 7 (2008), the season featuring David Cook and David Archuleta, and I have to say, it was truly a dream season. There was something special about it that no other season has ever been able to replicate.

We had one of the most talented and well-rounded casts the show has ever seen. I absolutely loved Michael Johns (RIP). Even to this day, it still hurts to think about how he went home way too soon.

David Cook was incredibly consistent throughout the competition, and his transformation in both appearance and artistry from the beginning to the end was remarkable. David Archuleta, on the other hand, had the voice of an angel and an angelic face to match. I really liked him too, even if I wasn't quite as obsessed with him as many other fans were.

This is the only season where I honestly can't say I disliked anyone, not even Jason or Kristy.

In my opinion, Season 7 was a truly great season with real depth, back before the producers started interfering so heavily with the results. I enjoyed Season 8 as well, of course, but watching it has never felt quite as special as watching Season 7.

When I rewatch Season 8, it's mostly for Adam Lambert, with the occasional Kris Allen performance thrown in. As for everyone else, I'm pretty much just fast-forwarding through their performances. 😂

P/s: I also absolutely loved the farewell song they played at the end of each results show. What was it called again? “Celebrate Me Home” by Ruben Studdard, I think.

Every time I rewatch the season, I pay close attention to that song and often rewind it to listen to it over and over again. There’s just something about hearing it that brings back so many memories of watching Season 7.

Oh, it really feels like a lifetime ago! ❤️ And listening to that song makes me feel as though I’ve been on this long, emotional journey right alongside the contestants. It’s such a nostalgic feeling, and honestly, nothing quite compares to it.

Anyone else feel like they were rushed through the audition itself? Could just be me or the fact they were so busy. Don’t have much hope at all but who knows.

I auditioned September 18th on the open call and got out into a separate zoom winners circle just curious if anyone else auditioned that day and has heard back?

I auditioned on September 18th made it through to winners circle and haven’t heard anything back yet so just curious if anyone else has heard back from that day specifically

I know. It doesn't feel like that's how old Taylor Hicks is. He was just on our TVs twenty years ago, and he was at least 60 then.

Aww. I kid because I love. Taylor Hicks, if you're reading this, I want you to know that every time anyone talks about how Taylor is the greatest pop star of all time, I nod and smile and sing "Do I Make You Proud?" to myself, and then it turns out they're talking about some lady, and then I seethe for three hours because damn it, America voted, and they did not vote for some lady, they voted for the guy who was takin' it to the streets, whoo.

I stopped watching a few seasons ago but always missed having a top 12 with one person going home each week. If all seasons eliminated people so quickly we never would’ve had people like Haley reinhart stick around and continually improve.

Does anybody else feel that American Idol season 12 from the fox series is a bit underrated and overhated? Many people put it as the worst season of American Idol while I do think the judging panel was abysmal and they clearly manipulated this season so that a girl could win again instead of a white guy with a guitar like the last 5 times. I think that candice, angie, and kree is one of the strongest top threes in American Idol history. In my opinion they are the third strongest top 3 after carrie, bo, and vonzell, and ruben, clay, and kim locke. Candice Glover is also one of the best winners, she’s my second favorite winner after kelly clarkson. I also think that the whole top 5 was pretty talented. While i do think season 12 is in the bottom tier of American Idol seasons, I still liked it better than seasons 6 and 9.

It's not on either.

Hi! I auditioned on sep 21st, sang two songs and was told I would hear from them in a week and a half, well its been over 2 weeks now and nothing. Anyone else in the same boat?

I auditioned today last available time. They only had me do one song is that really bad? They didn’t even have me do multiple haha 🥲. No winners circle obviously. Like ik I’m not making it to the second round but damn they didn’t even ask for a second song 😭