Well, I promised I wouldn't blow this one off...but a combination of my continued disappointment in this season and a stomach bug that I will spare you the details of will keep it very short.
Bottom line...Crystal was easily the better performer last night, she won every round, she clearly had the best three performances of the night.
And she's not going to win.
Don't get me wrong...I like Lee. I see the appeal. I definitely think he has a very commercial voice and style, and I will likely be downloading his album if he does what I think he will be doing.
But Crystal proved (again) last night that she is READY, right now, to be a star. All three of her performances were spot on...she was in great voice, picked better songs, and most importantly she seemed to have a sense of "the moment". She knew this was maybe the most important night of her life and she WENT FOR IT. She performed with a passion and a drive that we haven't seen from her, at least not in a while.
And she's not going to win.
Last night's rankings:
1) Crystal - Up to the Mountain
2) Crystal - Black Velvet
3) Crystal - Me and Bobby McGee
4) Lee - The Boxer
5) Lee - Everybody Hurts
6) Lee - Beautiful Day (this was really...not good at all)
Prediction: I've been saying it for three seasons now...no female will ever win this show again. Lee wins.
And that's OK...as has been proven in the past, you don't have to win this show in order to profit from it. Crystal will most definitely get a record deal out of this, and she'll have her chance.
Plus, she gets to say that she received the last ever Simon Cowell critique on American Idol. That's outstanding.
Sorry these recaps have been so lackluster the last half of this season...I wish I could have risen above the material, but this season was so bad it took all of my willpower just to make myself watch, much less recap. HUGE changes need to be made, or this show is on the way out.
Showing posts with label Idol 2010 recaps. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Idol 2010 recaps. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
If an American Idol episode airs...
...and I don't recap it...and nobody NOTICES or CARES that I didn't recap it...did it actually happen?
Sorry...real life intervened today and I wasn't able to put together my Idol recap from last night. Tell the truth...did any of you even notice?
Super short version: pretty much everything was boring until Lee sang "Hallelujah" and created one of the EXTREMELY rare moments that I will remember from this season. Yes, he was helped tremendously by the arrangement and production values (seriously....back up choir, angelic lighting, smoke machine, AND the split screen treatment? You think Simon knows who he wants to win this thing?). But I think that early in the season, he would have been swallowed whole by that arrangement, but he has truly improved every single week in my opinion, and was able to more than hold his own.
Another commentary on this season: Last night there were 47 million votes cast. Last year's vote count on Top 3 night? 88 MILLION. So apparently I'm not the only one losing interest.
The biggest problem has been the lack of breathtaking, memorable, showstopping numbers that make you say, "I am going to rewind and watch that again RIGHT NOW." Last season, we had at least one of those almost every week...this season, I think there have been, at MOST, six:
- Siobhan, "Think"
- Siobhan, "Paint it Black"
- Lee, "The Boxer"
- Crystal, "Me and Bobby McGee"
- Lee/Crystal, "Falling Slowly"
- Lee, "Hallelujah"
Am I missing any?
Anyway...one more to go. I promise not to blow off the finale.
Sorry...real life intervened today and I wasn't able to put together my Idol recap from last night. Tell the truth...did any of you even notice?
Super short version: pretty much everything was boring until Lee sang "Hallelujah" and created one of the EXTREMELY rare moments that I will remember from this season. Yes, he was helped tremendously by the arrangement and production values (seriously....back up choir, angelic lighting, smoke machine, AND the split screen treatment? You think Simon knows who he wants to win this thing?). But I think that early in the season, he would have been swallowed whole by that arrangement, but he has truly improved every single week in my opinion, and was able to more than hold his own.
Another commentary on this season: Last night there were 47 million votes cast. Last year's vote count on Top 3 night? 88 MILLION. So apparently I'm not the only one losing interest.
The biggest problem has been the lack of breathtaking, memorable, showstopping numbers that make you say, "I am going to rewind and watch that again RIGHT NOW." Last season, we had at least one of those almost every week...this season, I think there have been, at MOST, six:
- Siobhan, "Think"
- Siobhan, "Paint it Black"
- Lee, "The Boxer"
- Crystal, "Me and Bobby McGee"
- Lee/Crystal, "Falling Slowly"
- Lee, "Hallelujah"
Am I missing any?
Anyway...one more to go. I promise not to blow off the finale.
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Idol Thoughts - Top 4
Let's just get to it...I'm still wrapped up in last night's LOST, and most of these people bore me to tears. I really miss last season.
1) Lee Dewyze - "Kiss From a Rose": OK, first of all...I would punch Jamie Foxx right in the mouth if he got in my face like that. What a freaking tool.
As for the performance...meh. It started out REALLY bad. Falsetto is definitely not Lee's friend, and the pitch and breath control problems were back with a vengeance. It's like an every other week thing with him.
Once the song got "bigger" he sounded better...but overall, this was probably around a C or C-.
Oh, and Randy...since when is Lee a "rocker"? Has he done even one real "rock" song since he's been on the show? Yeah, Lee...way to rock out on some Simon and Garfunkel!
Randy is a moron.
2) Michael Lynch - "Will You be There?": Whatever. It was fine. It certainly didn't blow me away or anything. This is two weeks in a row where I felt like it should have been a lot better than it ended up being.
3) Crystal/Lee - "Falling Slowly": My feelings about this song should be pretty clear, if you were reading my recaps last season.
This was really, really good...definitely the best performance we've heard in several weeks on this show, if not all season. And yet, for most of the song, I was thinking about A) how much better Crystal is than Lee (this REALLY amplified that), and B) how much more I like Kris Allen than either of them.
Still, though, I really enjoyed it, and it was the first performance since Siobhan's "Paint it Black" that was good enough that I didn't immediately erase the show from my DVR because I want to go back and listen to it again.
4) Casey James - "Mrs. Robinson": Oh, he totally should have done the Lemonheads version of this song. Because, as I have been saying about him for weeks, doing stuff like this is NOT playing to his strengths. His voice just isn't good enough to do stripped down versions of songs. He could have rocked this out, and that's what he should have done if he wants to be in the top 3. I think he may be in trouble.
5) Crystal Bowersox - "I'm Alright": PERFECT song choice for her, I thought, especially since I HAVE been a little worried about her the past few weeks. I have felt like she has gotten too polished, and has lost a lot of what I loved about her in the first place. This was more like "early Crystal", which usually equals awesome. And this was really good...don't know that I would say it was AWESOME, but it was by far the best solo performance tonight.
6) Mike/Casey - "Tell Me Have You Ever Really Really Really Ever Really Really Ever Really Really Really Really Ever Really Ever Loved a Woman....REALLY? No, SERIOUSLY? REALLY?!?!?!?!?": Gah, I hate this song so much. REALLY. It sounds like it was written by somebody who has actually NOT ever really loved a woman.
Anyway...this was pretty good, actually. Casey, in particular, was really good...he was like the Richie Sambora of this duet (trust me...that's a good thing). Great guitar work, and I thought he really nailed the harmonies. Mike was his usual good-not-great self.
FINAL THOUGHTS:
It is so stupid that they have duets at this point in the show. Aren't we trying to decide who is going to be the next big pop star? How does singing in a duet show that at all? Oh, right...it doesn't. It's only happened since we decided that the judges are more important than the actual performances on this show, so rather than have everybody sing twice we stuck them together in duets to save time.
Kara looked GORGEOUS tonight.
Jamie Foxx is worthless as a mentor on this show...he's proven it two years in a row now. If he takes Simon's place next year I'm officially out.
Tonight's rankings:
1) Lee/Crystal duet
2) Crystal
3) Casey/Mike duet
4) Mike
5) Lee
6) Casey
Predicted eviction: Casey
1) Lee Dewyze - "Kiss From a Rose": OK, first of all...I would punch Jamie Foxx right in the mouth if he got in my face like that. What a freaking tool.
As for the performance...meh. It started out REALLY bad. Falsetto is definitely not Lee's friend, and the pitch and breath control problems were back with a vengeance. It's like an every other week thing with him.
Once the song got "bigger" he sounded better...but overall, this was probably around a C or C-.
Oh, and Randy...since when is Lee a "rocker"? Has he done even one real "rock" song since he's been on the show? Yeah, Lee...way to rock out on some Simon and Garfunkel!
Randy is a moron.
2) Michael Lynch - "Will You be There?": Whatever. It was fine. It certainly didn't blow me away or anything. This is two weeks in a row where I felt like it should have been a lot better than it ended up being.
3) Crystal/Lee - "Falling Slowly": My feelings about this song should be pretty clear, if you were reading my recaps last season.
This was really, really good...definitely the best performance we've heard in several weeks on this show, if not all season. And yet, for most of the song, I was thinking about A) how much better Crystal is than Lee (this REALLY amplified that), and B) how much more I like Kris Allen than either of them.
Still, though, I really enjoyed it, and it was the first performance since Siobhan's "Paint it Black" that was good enough that I didn't immediately erase the show from my DVR because I want to go back and listen to it again.
4) Casey James - "Mrs. Robinson": Oh, he totally should have done the Lemonheads version of this song. Because, as I have been saying about him for weeks, doing stuff like this is NOT playing to his strengths. His voice just isn't good enough to do stripped down versions of songs. He could have rocked this out, and that's what he should have done if he wants to be in the top 3. I think he may be in trouble.
5) Crystal Bowersox - "I'm Alright": PERFECT song choice for her, I thought, especially since I HAVE been a little worried about her the past few weeks. I have felt like she has gotten too polished, and has lost a lot of what I loved about her in the first place. This was more like "early Crystal", which usually equals awesome. And this was really good...don't know that I would say it was AWESOME, but it was by far the best solo performance tonight.
6) Mike/Casey - "Tell Me Have You Ever Really Really Really Ever Really Really Ever Really Really Really Really Ever Really Ever Loved a Woman....REALLY? No, SERIOUSLY? REALLY?!?!?!?!?": Gah, I hate this song so much. REALLY. It sounds like it was written by somebody who has actually NOT ever really loved a woman.
Anyway...this was pretty good, actually. Casey, in particular, was really good...he was like the Richie Sambora of this duet (trust me...that's a good thing). Great guitar work, and I thought he really nailed the harmonies. Mike was his usual good-not-great self.
FINAL THOUGHTS:
It is so stupid that they have duets at this point in the show. Aren't we trying to decide who is going to be the next big pop star? How does singing in a duet show that at all? Oh, right...it doesn't. It's only happened since we decided that the judges are more important than the actual performances on this show, so rather than have everybody sing twice we stuck them together in duets to save time.
Kara looked GORGEOUS tonight.
Jamie Foxx is worthless as a mentor on this show...he's proven it two years in a row now. If he takes Simon's place next year I'm officially out.
Tonight's rankings:
1) Lee/Crystal duet
2) Crystal
3) Casey/Mike duet
4) Mike
5) Lee
6) Casey
Predicted eviction: Casey
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Idol Thoughts - Top 5
OK, for lots of reasons (the biggest one being my rapidly dying interest in any of these pretenders to the throne), this is probably going to be a very short recap. I know I've said that for the last few weeks...part of the reason is that none of these contestants ever do anything different, exciting, or unexpected, so I often struggle to come up with new things to say about them. I miss last season.
The other thing that had me in a bad mood before the show even started...up until last year, the top 5 always featured two songs apiece, but because you have imbeciles running this show that has been cut to one song each so that we can accommodate the four judges rambling. On one hand, I don't know that I would particularly want to hear two songs from each of these folks, but on the other hand...don't try to sell me on the fact that this is a SINGING COMPETITION, DAWG and then drastically cut the amount of actual singing.
Once more, into the breach...
1) Aaron Kelly - "Fly Me to the Moon": Decent vocal, as usual. High School Talent Show level performance, as usual.
I'm not spending any more time on this guy. Sorry.
The band sounded good, though.
2) Casey James - "Blue Skies": Oof. After a great performance last week, it really all came crashing down on Casey this week.
Something that hurt him, and something I was going to mention in my "Final Thoughts" section, is that the candidates were really limited this week as far as how they could arrange the songs. From what I could tell, they were pretty much required to use the big band and basically do it in something similar to the original style. One of my favorite things about how American Idol has evolved over the last few years is the emphasis on musicality...re-arranging "genre-specific" songs into something that represents what you are as an artist. I don't think Casey, in particular, was given the opportunity to show us who he is as an artist this week.
Anyway...he looks really awkward without his guitar, like he's not sure what to do with himself (and he's probably not). His voice is nowhere NEAR suited for this type of music...the song completely overwhelmed him, and the out of control vibrato was back almost in full force.
Although...Kara kind of ticked me off acting like this was the first time she's heard that particular vocal problem of his, when it has NEVER been more apparent than it was on "Jealous Guy", which the judges universally praised. Whatever.
3) Crystal Bowersox - "Summer Wind": Nice back tattoo, first of all.
I really liked this....not as good as some of her earlier performances, but better than last week. As opposed to Casey, Crystal DID manage to show off some of her musicality...I really enjoyed the phrasing she used, and she did a great job of creating the mood with some nice changes in tempo and dynamics. Not sure how much of that was her, and how much of it was Harry's arrangement, but it worked.
Also, she caught herself about to talk back to Randy and stopped...good girl.
4) Michael Lynch - "The Way You Look Tonight": One of the greatest songs ever written, of course, and perfectly suited for Mike's vocal style. However, I did NOT feel the connection that Harry was trying to get him to make...just more of Mike's typical cheeseball stuff.
I just don't think this was as good as it should have been, and I'm not sure why...maybe I'm just biased because he gets on my nerves, I don't know. But I didn't like his phrasing at all, and even the tone wasn't nearly as good as I expected. It was OK, but nothing to get all excited about.
5) Lee Dewyze - "That's Life": Great arrangement, and I think it was Lee's most impressive vocal performance. I didn't hear the pitch problems that tend to plague him, and that's a little surprising considering the degree of difficulty on these type songs.
Even within the constraints of this week, he managed to make this sound current and relevant, more so than any of the others this week by FAR.
I will agree with Kara on this part...he needs to start acting like he can win this thing, because I think he probably could. Assuming, of course, that Aaron Kelly has not sold his soul in exchange for this year's crown, a possibility that I am becoming less and less dismissive of.
Final Thoughts:
- I usually love Rat Pack/Sinatra night, because I love the music and they are perfect for this show...they are songs written by and for great singers, so they are really easy to show off on if you have the talent.
That's a really big if.
- I thought Harry Connick, Jr. did a fantastic job tonight, both with the arrangements (which they made it sound like he was responsible for) and with his interaction with the contestants. I wouldn't mind seeing him take Simon's spot if this show survives this debacle of a season.
And the band sounded AWESOME on every one of these songs. Again, I'm predisposed to love this music (I think I own every single Harry Connick CD), so I was loving the band all night.
- Oh, and one more thing: Even though they only had HALF the number of songs that they have had in years past....they STILL went over by around two minutes. Imbeciles.
Tonight's rankings:
1) Lee
2) Crystal
(INSERT HUGE GAP HERE)
3) Michael
4) Aaron
5) Casey
Predicted eviction: Somehow I feel like Lee or Crystal might be in trouble....but I'm going to go with Casey.
The other thing that had me in a bad mood before the show even started...up until last year, the top 5 always featured two songs apiece, but because you have imbeciles running this show that has been cut to one song each so that we can accommodate the four judges rambling. On one hand, I don't know that I would particularly want to hear two songs from each of these folks, but on the other hand...don't try to sell me on the fact that this is a SINGING COMPETITION, DAWG and then drastically cut the amount of actual singing.
Once more, into the breach...
1) Aaron Kelly - "Fly Me to the Moon": Decent vocal, as usual. High School Talent Show level performance, as usual.
I'm not spending any more time on this guy. Sorry.
The band sounded good, though.
2) Casey James - "Blue Skies": Oof. After a great performance last week, it really all came crashing down on Casey this week.
Something that hurt him, and something I was going to mention in my "Final Thoughts" section, is that the candidates were really limited this week as far as how they could arrange the songs. From what I could tell, they were pretty much required to use the big band and basically do it in something similar to the original style. One of my favorite things about how American Idol has evolved over the last few years is the emphasis on musicality...re-arranging "genre-specific" songs into something that represents what you are as an artist. I don't think Casey, in particular, was given the opportunity to show us who he is as an artist this week.
Anyway...he looks really awkward without his guitar, like he's not sure what to do with himself (and he's probably not). His voice is nowhere NEAR suited for this type of music...the song completely overwhelmed him, and the out of control vibrato was back almost in full force.
Although...Kara kind of ticked me off acting like this was the first time she's heard that particular vocal problem of his, when it has NEVER been more apparent than it was on "Jealous Guy", which the judges universally praised. Whatever.
3) Crystal Bowersox - "Summer Wind": Nice back tattoo, first of all.
I really liked this....not as good as some of her earlier performances, but better than last week. As opposed to Casey, Crystal DID manage to show off some of her musicality...I really enjoyed the phrasing she used, and she did a great job of creating the mood with some nice changes in tempo and dynamics. Not sure how much of that was her, and how much of it was Harry's arrangement, but it worked.
Also, she caught herself about to talk back to Randy and stopped...good girl.
4) Michael Lynch - "The Way You Look Tonight": One of the greatest songs ever written, of course, and perfectly suited for Mike's vocal style. However, I did NOT feel the connection that Harry was trying to get him to make...just more of Mike's typical cheeseball stuff.
I just don't think this was as good as it should have been, and I'm not sure why...maybe I'm just biased because he gets on my nerves, I don't know. But I didn't like his phrasing at all, and even the tone wasn't nearly as good as I expected. It was OK, but nothing to get all excited about.
5) Lee Dewyze - "That's Life": Great arrangement, and I think it was Lee's most impressive vocal performance. I didn't hear the pitch problems that tend to plague him, and that's a little surprising considering the degree of difficulty on these type songs.
Even within the constraints of this week, he managed to make this sound current and relevant, more so than any of the others this week by FAR.
I will agree with Kara on this part...he needs to start acting like he can win this thing, because I think he probably could. Assuming, of course, that Aaron Kelly has not sold his soul in exchange for this year's crown, a possibility that I am becoming less and less dismissive of.
Final Thoughts:
- I usually love Rat Pack/Sinatra night, because I love the music and they are perfect for this show...they are songs written by and for great singers, so they are really easy to show off on if you have the talent.
That's a really big if.
- I thought Harry Connick, Jr. did a fantastic job tonight, both with the arrangements (which they made it sound like he was responsible for) and with his interaction with the contestants. I wouldn't mind seeing him take Simon's spot if this show survives this debacle of a season.
And the band sounded AWESOME on every one of these songs. Again, I'm predisposed to love this music (I think I own every single Harry Connick CD), so I was loving the band all night.
- Oh, and one more thing: Even though they only had HALF the number of songs that they have had in years past....they STILL went over by around two minutes. Imbeciles.
Tonight's rankings:
1) Lee
2) Crystal
(INSERT HUGE GAP HERE)
3) Michael
4) Aaron
5) Casey
Predicted eviction: Somehow I feel like Lee or Crystal might be in trouble....but I'm going to go with Casey.
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Idol Thoughts - Top 6
Sorry this is so late...this group is so boring they give me a serious case of writer's block. Seriously, there is nobody on this show anymore that I am genuinely excited about seeing every week. I hate feeling like I "have" to watch a show, but that's the way I feel about this one this season...I'm only watching because I like blogging about it and because, well....I don't know, it's just what I do, ya know? If AI is on, I'm watching. So maybe I'm part of the problem.
Anyway, let's get to it...this should be pretty short and (maybe) sweet.
1) Lee DeWyze - "You're Still the One": Oh, yeah, that was the other problem this week...it's Shania week, and I REALLY don't like Shania's music. This song is probably the one exception, although it pretty much took over 1999 and was played so much I ended up hating it at the time.
Anyway....Lee. This was a good song choice for him, as it allowed him to be a little vulnerable. The pitch problems still persist, although I'm not sure how much of the wobbly melody was actually the arrangement. But yet again, I think this is something that you could hear on the radio right now...I'm starting to think Lee's album might be pretty good.
2) Michael Lynch - "It Only Hurts When I'm Breathing": I admit I'm stealing this line, but I don't remember who I'm stealing it from....this song is dedicated to all of the victims of Big Mike's bear hugs this season.
What is UP with the sudden Archuletta-level lip licking we have seen from him over the past two weeks? Has that been going on the whole time and I just didn't notice because of all the other nonsense he has going on during his performances?
This was another really good vocal performance....he missed the falsetto in the middle, but he hit it on the end, even though I thought that last falsetto was out of place and forced. This is a good performance from him...I just still don't like him very much.
3) Casey James - "Don't": So we're going to try again with the ballad, huh? Guess he doesn't read my blog...
Hey! I think he's actually been working on the vibrato with the vocal coaches....he doesn't sound NEARLY as goat-like this time as he did on "Jealous Guy". This was a very nice performance. Not mind-blowing, but....nice. And it probably is a needed change of pace for him, so a good week for Casey.
4) Crystal Bowersox - "No One Needs to Know": I didn't like the song choice...this seemed way too "cutesy" for her, and really the whole segment seemed a little forced.
And once again, the backup singers are OVERPOWERINGLY LOUD. I actually think it affected Crystal while she was singing, as she sort of cut her eyes over at her a couple of times. And it's not the backup singer's fault...it's the idiots who are producing this show.
This was a nice vocal performance, but I thought she looked a little uncomfortable for the first time. This was probably her worst performance so far, although it was still very good.
But Crystal, sweetie...do NOT start talking back to the judges when they dare to give you the slightest criticism, unless you are just ready to go home.
5) High School Student Aaron Kelly - "You've Got a Way": I'm sorry...I have no idea why he's still here. This was yet another boring, old fashioned, irrelevant performance. His voice is fine. But whatever the exact OPPOSITE of current is...that's what he is.
6) Siobhan Magnus - "Any Man of Mine": Whatever. It was OK. She's gotten more and more nasally in her lower register, and the overhead clap trying to get the audience involved just seemed awkward and out of character.
The scream at the end was pretty obvious pandering, but still impressive...and that last note had a ridiculous level of difficulty. I am interested in seeing what kind of album she puts out, and I will probably download it....but I'm no longer that invested in seeing her on this show. And since I was definitely one of her very biggest fans and supporters early on, I think that means she's in trouble. Maybe not this week, since she got to go last, but I think she's going home soon.
Final Thoughts:
This show wasn't bad...nobody was awful. But EVERYBODY was boring.
Two things that bugged me all night:
- No mention of Mutt Lange? REALLY? Didn't he co-write every single one of these songs? And by "co-write" I mean take her stupid lyrics and turn them into platinum hits?
- It's about this time every year that I REALLY get irritated with the other judges talking over Simon. He sits there patiently while they go on and on, and then as soon as he says something the others disagree with, they start shouting him down and won't let him finish. It's rude, selfish, unprofessional, and annoying.
OK, time for the weekly rankings:
1) Casey James
2) Lee Dewyze
3) Michael Lynch
4) Crystal Bowersox
5) Siobhan Magnus
6) High School Student Aaron Kelly
Prediction? Big Mike goes home. Just a hunch. High School Student Aaron Kelly obviously has magic powers, and will be bathing in a confetti shower on the Nokia Theater stage in about 5 weeks.
Anyway, let's get to it...this should be pretty short and (maybe) sweet.
1) Lee DeWyze - "You're Still the One": Oh, yeah, that was the other problem this week...it's Shania week, and I REALLY don't like Shania's music. This song is probably the one exception, although it pretty much took over 1999 and was played so much I ended up hating it at the time.
Anyway....Lee. This was a good song choice for him, as it allowed him to be a little vulnerable. The pitch problems still persist, although I'm not sure how much of the wobbly melody was actually the arrangement. But yet again, I think this is something that you could hear on the radio right now...I'm starting to think Lee's album might be pretty good.
2) Michael Lynch - "It Only Hurts When I'm Breathing": I admit I'm stealing this line, but I don't remember who I'm stealing it from....this song is dedicated to all of the victims of Big Mike's bear hugs this season.
What is UP with the sudden Archuletta-level lip licking we have seen from him over the past two weeks? Has that been going on the whole time and I just didn't notice because of all the other nonsense he has going on during his performances?
This was another really good vocal performance....he missed the falsetto in the middle, but he hit it on the end, even though I thought that last falsetto was out of place and forced. This is a good performance from him...I just still don't like him very much.
3) Casey James - "Don't": So we're going to try again with the ballad, huh? Guess he doesn't read my blog...
Hey! I think he's actually been working on the vibrato with the vocal coaches....he doesn't sound NEARLY as goat-like this time as he did on "Jealous Guy". This was a very nice performance. Not mind-blowing, but....nice. And it probably is a needed change of pace for him, so a good week for Casey.
4) Crystal Bowersox - "No One Needs to Know": I didn't like the song choice...this seemed way too "cutesy" for her, and really the whole segment seemed a little forced.
And once again, the backup singers are OVERPOWERINGLY LOUD. I actually think it affected Crystal while she was singing, as she sort of cut her eyes over at her a couple of times. And it's not the backup singer's fault...it's the idiots who are producing this show.
This was a nice vocal performance, but I thought she looked a little uncomfortable for the first time. This was probably her worst performance so far, although it was still very good.
But Crystal, sweetie...do NOT start talking back to the judges when they dare to give you the slightest criticism, unless you are just ready to go home.
5) High School Student Aaron Kelly - "You've Got a Way": I'm sorry...I have no idea why he's still here. This was yet another boring, old fashioned, irrelevant performance. His voice is fine. But whatever the exact OPPOSITE of current is...that's what he is.
6) Siobhan Magnus - "Any Man of Mine": Whatever. It was OK. She's gotten more and more nasally in her lower register, and the overhead clap trying to get the audience involved just seemed awkward and out of character.
The scream at the end was pretty obvious pandering, but still impressive...and that last note had a ridiculous level of difficulty. I am interested in seeing what kind of album she puts out, and I will probably download it....but I'm no longer that invested in seeing her on this show. And since I was definitely one of her very biggest fans and supporters early on, I think that means she's in trouble. Maybe not this week, since she got to go last, but I think she's going home soon.
Final Thoughts:
This show wasn't bad...nobody was awful. But EVERYBODY was boring.
Two things that bugged me all night:
- No mention of Mutt Lange? REALLY? Didn't he co-write every single one of these songs? And by "co-write" I mean take her stupid lyrics and turn them into platinum hits?
- It's about this time every year that I REALLY get irritated with the other judges talking over Simon. He sits there patiently while they go on and on, and then as soon as he says something the others disagree with, they start shouting him down and won't let him finish. It's rude, selfish, unprofessional, and annoying.
OK, time for the weekly rankings:
1) Casey James
2) Lee Dewyze
3) Michael Lynch
4) Crystal Bowersox
5) Siobhan Magnus
6) High School Student Aaron Kelly
Prediction? Big Mike goes home. Just a hunch. High School Student Aaron Kelly obviously has magic powers, and will be bathing in a confetti shower on the Nokia Theater stage in about 5 weeks.
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Idol Thoughts - Top 7
Interesting trivia...my 420th blog post was published yesterday, on 4/20. I will leave it to you to infer what that fact may mean about what factors influence my blog posts....
You ready to be INSPIRED? Because this week is Inspirational Song week! Also known as Gokey/Archuletta week....and I don't mean that as a good thing.
Let's get to it!
1) Casey James - "Don't Stop": First of all, this song was killed very dead for me back when Bill Clinton used it as his campaign theme....once I've seen Al Gore "dancing" to a song, it's impossible for me to every truly enjoy it again.
Was it just me, or did the arrangement on this song make it sound like he was singing the words to "Don't Stop" set to the tune of "Power of Love"? Was it one of those mash-up things the kids today are so crazy about?
Look, this is what Casey is, OK? The judges keep talking about him doing something "different", but I was not nearly as in love with his rendition of "Jealous Guy" a couple of weeks ago, as I thought it really showed his weakness as a vocalist. If they didn't want to hear Casey do these type of songs, they shouldn't have put him on the show. This is Casey doing what he does best, and it is what it is....like Ellen said, it's good not great.
2) Lee Dewyze - "The Boxer": Ooooh, great song choice! I love this song, and I was very interested to see how he arranged it.
I talk about how Lee sounds like people that I listen to right now...in this song he mostly reminded me of Andy Hull, the lead singer of Manchester Orchestra (one of my new favorite bands, by the way...check out "I've Got Friends" if you've never heard them). I think he is doing a MUCH better job of emotionally connecting, both with the song and with the audience, and that can be attributed to his ever-increasing confidence.
Yeah, the pitch problems kind of came back this week...but like I've said over and over, this is not a singing competition, it's a Pop Star competition, and I know I would buy this.
3) Tim Urban - "Better Days": Another nice vocal from him, but I'm not seeing any kind of "performance"....and he's shaking his head too much, which is causing his voice to fade in and out.
Sorry, I'm distracted....did Ryan say that Aaron was going to be singing R. Kelly?
4) Aaron Kelly - "I Believe I can Fly": YES!!! This is going to be so awful it might flip inside out into Sanjaya levels of AWESOME.
Yep....this was bad. Schmaltzy, karaoke crap, and the song was WAY too big for him...it swallowed him WHOLE. He is off pitch basically through the whole song (including the end, which all the judges seemed to like). And, to continue what I said when talking about Lee, it wouldn't matter if he sang it perfectly...this kind of performance no longer belongs on this show. Nothing current or relevant about it, and I'm getting really sick of the judges just giving him a pass every week. More on that when we talk about....
5) Siobhan Magnus - "When You Believe": Well, she looks fantastic...I even liked the butterflies. But this is yet another boring, old fashioned song choice and performance. And, yes, the girl can definitely sing...I still think she has the best pure vocal ability of anybody in this competition. But there is no longer any WOW factor with her.
But...compare this to the crap Aaron just pulled, and there's no contest. They both sang a boring, irrelevant, old fashoned song....but Siobhan's vocal blew Aaron's away and it wasn't even close. So why do the judges use Siobhan as a punching bag and say that Aaron "soared"?
Right. Because they are morons. I keep forgetting.
By the way, I'm still voting for Siobhan every single week, because I love her and want her to stick around...but she no longer has any chance of even being in the final unless she gets back to what put her on the map in the first place.
6) Michael Lynche - "Hero": Well, I got one pleasant surprise, at least...I thought he was doing the Mariah Carey song, and was preparing myself for two minutes of Danny Gokey flashbacks.
Vocally, this was pretty good, although definitely not his best performance. I know I'm going to sound like one of the judges, this is so contradictory to what I've said about him before...but I think he made a mistake using the guitar this week. Normally, I prefer him to hold the guitar because it cuts down on all of the cheesy over-the-top stuff he does when his arms are free. But this arrangement was so BIG, I actually thought his usual performance would have suited it better. As it was, I think his voice was overpowered by the band, the lights, the whole thing. And what was up with the exaggerated lick-lip at the end? That was...uncomfortable.
7) Crystal Bowersox - "People Get Ready": OK, I'll skip over the usual...yes, she sounds awesome again (although she did reach for a couple of notes that were out of her range and missed them), she really did look fantastic, and I loved the mic stand.
What I want to talk about is that I have actually seen many online commentators accusing her of "fake crying" in order to get sympathy votes. The only thing I can imagine is that these morons are just ardent supporters of one of the other performers and are looking for a reason to bash Crystal, because that is ridiculous.
She told us why she got emotional...the last line of the song is (approximately) "Don't need no ticket, you just thank the Lord you're here". As she's singing that, she's thinking about where she was before and where she is now, and then she looks out in the audience at her father, who is there for the first time, and gets overwhelmed by the moment.
That is AWESOME. That is REAL. And people ripping her for that just makes me mad at the Internet all over again. I hate that there is a large segment of our society who have decided that you are only "cool" if you are being negative...I blame blogs, message boards, and talk radio (which, by the way, are three of my favorite things). Unintelligent people have decided that you only sound smart if you are being critical. Cynicism is at an all time high, and I find that very sad.
And, by the way, do any of these people actually think Crystal needs sympathy votes? She's doing just fine with "awesomely and ridiculously talented" votes.
OK, rant over...
FINAL THOUGHTS:
Overall, another pretty boring night that I felt like was just something I wanted to hurry through so that I could watch LOST. It's not so much that these people are bad (other than Aaron)...it's that they're so darn boring. As much as I hated Danny Gokey (and, oh, how I hated him)...I wasn't BORED by him.
Take a look at this...these are the top 7 from each season that I have been diligently watching (the first three seasons I was kind of in and out on):
Season 4: Carrie Underwood, Bo Bice, Vonzell Solomon, Constantine Maroulis, Scott Savol, Anthony Fedorov, Anwar Robinson
Season 5: Taylor Hicks, Katharine McPhee, Chris Daughtry, Elliot Yamin, Paris Bennet, Kellie Pickler, Ace Young
Season 6 : Jordin Sparks, Blake Lewis, Melinda Doolittle, Lakisha Jones, Phil Stacey, Chris Richardson, Sanjaya Malakar
Season 7: David Cook, David Archuletta, Syesha Mercado, Jason Castro, Brook White, Carly Smithson, Kristy Lee Cook (and Michael Johns was number 8)
Season 8 : Kris Allen, Adam Lambert, Alison Iraheta, Danny Gokey, Matt Giraud, Anoop Desai, Lil Rounds
I mean, even if you say that Season 6 was the weakest, you still were going to be interested in what Blake was going to do, you got to hear Jordan/Melinda/Lakisha belt it out, and Sanjaya was going to be the very definition of a train wreck.
Oh, well...maybe with Simon leaving TPTB will take the opportunity to try and revamp some things. Or maybe the show will just disappear with a whimper, and next year you will all be reading my thoughts on X Factor.
This week's rankings:
1) Crystal
1A) Lee
3) ummm....I don't know. So I guess I'll just say Siobhan.
4) Casey
5) Tim
6) Michael
7) Aaron
Honestly, you could arrange 3-6 anyway you want...I thought there was no doubt that Crystal and Lee were the best and that Aaron was by far the worst. The rest were an unimpressive collection of "meh".
Who SHOULD go home: Aaron
Who WILL go home: Hmmm....I'm going to guess Siobhan, again. I still think the teenybopper and grandma votes are going to be enough to inflict Aaron on us for another week.
So much for this being the "Year of the Female", huh?
You ready to be INSPIRED? Because this week is Inspirational Song week! Also known as Gokey/Archuletta week....and I don't mean that as a good thing.
Let's get to it!
1) Casey James - "Don't Stop": First of all, this song was killed very dead for me back when Bill Clinton used it as his campaign theme....once I've seen Al Gore "dancing" to a song, it's impossible for me to every truly enjoy it again.
Was it just me, or did the arrangement on this song make it sound like he was singing the words to "Don't Stop" set to the tune of "Power of Love"? Was it one of those mash-up things the kids today are so crazy about?
Look, this is what Casey is, OK? The judges keep talking about him doing something "different", but I was not nearly as in love with his rendition of "Jealous Guy" a couple of weeks ago, as I thought it really showed his weakness as a vocalist. If they didn't want to hear Casey do these type of songs, they shouldn't have put him on the show. This is Casey doing what he does best, and it is what it is....like Ellen said, it's good not great.
2) Lee Dewyze - "The Boxer": Ooooh, great song choice! I love this song, and I was very interested to see how he arranged it.
I talk about how Lee sounds like people that I listen to right now...in this song he mostly reminded me of Andy Hull, the lead singer of Manchester Orchestra (one of my new favorite bands, by the way...check out "I've Got Friends" if you've never heard them). I think he is doing a MUCH better job of emotionally connecting, both with the song and with the audience, and that can be attributed to his ever-increasing confidence.
Yeah, the pitch problems kind of came back this week...but like I've said over and over, this is not a singing competition, it's a Pop Star competition, and I know I would buy this.
3) Tim Urban - "Better Days": Another nice vocal from him, but I'm not seeing any kind of "performance"....and he's shaking his head too much, which is causing his voice to fade in and out.
Sorry, I'm distracted....did Ryan say that Aaron was going to be singing R. Kelly?
4) Aaron Kelly - "I Believe I can Fly": YES!!! This is going to be so awful it might flip inside out into Sanjaya levels of AWESOME.
Yep....this was bad. Schmaltzy, karaoke crap, and the song was WAY too big for him...it swallowed him WHOLE. He is off pitch basically through the whole song (including the end, which all the judges seemed to like). And, to continue what I said when talking about Lee, it wouldn't matter if he sang it perfectly...this kind of performance no longer belongs on this show. Nothing current or relevant about it, and I'm getting really sick of the judges just giving him a pass every week. More on that when we talk about....
5) Siobhan Magnus - "When You Believe": Well, she looks fantastic...I even liked the butterflies. But this is yet another boring, old fashioned song choice and performance. And, yes, the girl can definitely sing...I still think she has the best pure vocal ability of anybody in this competition. But there is no longer any WOW factor with her.
But...compare this to the crap Aaron just pulled, and there's no contest. They both sang a boring, irrelevant, old fashoned song....but Siobhan's vocal blew Aaron's away and it wasn't even close. So why do the judges use Siobhan as a punching bag and say that Aaron "soared"?
Right. Because they are morons. I keep forgetting.
By the way, I'm still voting for Siobhan every single week, because I love her and want her to stick around...but she no longer has any chance of even being in the final unless she gets back to what put her on the map in the first place.
6) Michael Lynche - "Hero": Well, I got one pleasant surprise, at least...I thought he was doing the Mariah Carey song, and was preparing myself for two minutes of Danny Gokey flashbacks.
Vocally, this was pretty good, although definitely not his best performance. I know I'm going to sound like one of the judges, this is so contradictory to what I've said about him before...but I think he made a mistake using the guitar this week. Normally, I prefer him to hold the guitar because it cuts down on all of the cheesy over-the-top stuff he does when his arms are free. But this arrangement was so BIG, I actually thought his usual performance would have suited it better. As it was, I think his voice was overpowered by the band, the lights, the whole thing. And what was up with the exaggerated lick-lip at the end? That was...uncomfortable.
7) Crystal Bowersox - "People Get Ready": OK, I'll skip over the usual...yes, she sounds awesome again (although she did reach for a couple of notes that were out of her range and missed them), she really did look fantastic, and I loved the mic stand.
What I want to talk about is that I have actually seen many online commentators accusing her of "fake crying" in order to get sympathy votes. The only thing I can imagine is that these morons are just ardent supporters of one of the other performers and are looking for a reason to bash Crystal, because that is ridiculous.
She told us why she got emotional...the last line of the song is (approximately) "Don't need no ticket, you just thank the Lord you're here". As she's singing that, she's thinking about where she was before and where she is now, and then she looks out in the audience at her father, who is there for the first time, and gets overwhelmed by the moment.
That is AWESOME. That is REAL. And people ripping her for that just makes me mad at the Internet all over again. I hate that there is a large segment of our society who have decided that you are only "cool" if you are being negative...I blame blogs, message boards, and talk radio (which, by the way, are three of my favorite things). Unintelligent people have decided that you only sound smart if you are being critical. Cynicism is at an all time high, and I find that very sad.
And, by the way, do any of these people actually think Crystal needs sympathy votes? She's doing just fine with "awesomely and ridiculously talented" votes.
OK, rant over...
FINAL THOUGHTS:
Overall, another pretty boring night that I felt like was just something I wanted to hurry through so that I could watch LOST. It's not so much that these people are bad (other than Aaron)...it's that they're so darn boring. As much as I hated Danny Gokey (and, oh, how I hated him)...I wasn't BORED by him.
Take a look at this...these are the top 7 from each season that I have been diligently watching (the first three seasons I was kind of in and out on):
Season 4: Carrie Underwood, Bo Bice, Vonzell Solomon, Constantine Maroulis, Scott Savol, Anthony Fedorov, Anwar Robinson
Season 5: Taylor Hicks, Katharine McPhee, Chris Daughtry, Elliot Yamin, Paris Bennet, Kellie Pickler, Ace Young
Season 6 : Jordin Sparks, Blake Lewis, Melinda Doolittle, Lakisha Jones, Phil Stacey, Chris Richardson, Sanjaya Malakar
Season 7: David Cook, David Archuletta, Syesha Mercado, Jason Castro, Brook White, Carly Smithson, Kristy Lee Cook (and Michael Johns was number 8)
Season 8 : Kris Allen, Adam Lambert, Alison Iraheta, Danny Gokey, Matt Giraud, Anoop Desai, Lil Rounds
I mean, even if you say that Season 6 was the weakest, you still were going to be interested in what Blake was going to do, you got to hear Jordan/Melinda/Lakisha belt it out, and Sanjaya was going to be the very definition of a train wreck.
Oh, well...maybe with Simon leaving TPTB will take the opportunity to try and revamp some things. Or maybe the show will just disappear with a whimper, and next year you will all be reading my thoughts on X Factor.
This week's rankings:
1) Crystal
1A) Lee
3) ummm....I don't know. So I guess I'll just say Siobhan.
4) Casey
5) Tim
6) Michael
7) Aaron
Honestly, you could arrange 3-6 anyway you want...I thought there was no doubt that Crystal and Lee were the best and that Aaron was by far the worst. The rest were an unimpressive collection of "meh".
Who SHOULD go home: Aaron
Who WILL go home: Hmmm....I'm going to guess Siobhan, again. I still think the teenybopper and grandma votes are going to be enough to inflict Aaron on us for another week.
So much for this being the "Year of the Female", huh?
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Idol Thoughts - Top 9 (Act II)
OK...my apologies, but I am a bit under the weather today, so this recap is going to be pretty abbreviated.
Rather than go through the performances in order, I'm just going to rank them 1-9 and give some very brief thoughts, and then I'm going to go back to sitting on the couch, blowing my nose, catching up on DVR recordings, and feeling sorry for myself. (Yeah, I'm one of THOSE sick people).
1) Lee Dewyze - "A Little Less Conversation": Great song choice, great arrangement, nice guitar work. This was fun, current, relevant...I would buy it. Pretty amazing how much I have changed my opinion of this guy, but you ain't seen nothing yet...wait until you get to number 3.
2) Crystal Bowersox - "Saved": Nothing else I can say about her. Another great song choice, nice arrangement, her voice sounds awesome, blah, blah, blah....she is a star already.
3) Tim Urban - "I Can't Help Falling in Love With You": It does not matter that this was a nice arrangement. It does not matter that the vocal was only pretty good. It does not matter that he totally dissed Adam's advice to go into the falsetto at the end. It doesn't matter because this was a GENIUS song choice, sung well enough.
I am a really stubborn guy, and usually once I make up my mind about somebody it's really hard to get past that, whether it's good or bad (for the opposite, see my continued support of Megan last season). But this is two weeks in a row I have put Tim in my top 3.
Maybe it's just the cold medicine.
4) Casey James - "Lawdy Miss Clawdy": As much as everybody gushed over last week, THIS is what I like from him...fun bar-singer songs. I had no problem with this whatsoever.
5) Michael Lynche - "In the Ghetto": I usually like him better when he sits down with the guitar, because it cuts down on all the over-the-top histrionics that I hate about him. And this was a great vocal....but I also felt that it was very manipulative. Since I promised to keep this brief, I'm gonna leave it at that, I guess.
6) Siobhan Magnus - "Suspicious Minds": WAY too old-fashioned. Not a good arrangement. This was like Tim Urban's performance viewed in a mirror...this was a bad song choice sung really well.
When did Siobhan get so BORING?? I never thought that was a problem she was going to have, but that's been the issue for several weeks now.
7) Katie Stevens - "Baby, What do You Want Me to Do?": Nice leather pants. Still equates the "neck-snap" with "emoting". There were some pitch problems, but the worst part was that it did not feel the least bit authentic to me....felt like play-acting.
8) Aaron Kelly - "Blue Suede Shoes": Speaking of non-authentic. This was absolute KARAOKE. Awkward. In no way believable.
By the way...you don't think this is the right song for you? Then why are you singing it?
9) Andrew Garcia - "Hound Dog": TERRIBLE arrangement....NOT relevant, the exact OPPOSITE of current...just change for the sake of change. It's time for Andrew to go.
Two quick final thoughts:
- Ryan was really WEIRD tonight. And I'm not the only one who noticed.
- I thought Adam did a GREAT job as the mentor....say what you want about him, but he knows what it takes to make an impression on stage, and this stage in particular.
Who SHOULD go home: Aaron and Andrew.
Who WILL go home: Andrew and Siobhan.
I will be sad, for sure, if Siobhan goes home, but she has nobody to blame but herself if it happens.
Rather than go through the performances in order, I'm just going to rank them 1-9 and give some very brief thoughts, and then I'm going to go back to sitting on the couch, blowing my nose, catching up on DVR recordings, and feeling sorry for myself. (Yeah, I'm one of THOSE sick people).
1) Lee Dewyze - "A Little Less Conversation": Great song choice, great arrangement, nice guitar work. This was fun, current, relevant...I would buy it. Pretty amazing how much I have changed my opinion of this guy, but you ain't seen nothing yet...wait until you get to number 3.
2) Crystal Bowersox - "Saved": Nothing else I can say about her. Another great song choice, nice arrangement, her voice sounds awesome, blah, blah, blah....she is a star already.
3) Tim Urban - "I Can't Help Falling in Love With You": It does not matter that this was a nice arrangement. It does not matter that the vocal was only pretty good. It does not matter that he totally dissed Adam's advice to go into the falsetto at the end. It doesn't matter because this was a GENIUS song choice, sung well enough.
I am a really stubborn guy, and usually once I make up my mind about somebody it's really hard to get past that, whether it's good or bad (for the opposite, see my continued support of Megan last season). But this is two weeks in a row I have put Tim in my top 3.
Maybe it's just the cold medicine.
4) Casey James - "Lawdy Miss Clawdy": As much as everybody gushed over last week, THIS is what I like from him...fun bar-singer songs. I had no problem with this whatsoever.
5) Michael Lynche - "In the Ghetto": I usually like him better when he sits down with the guitar, because it cuts down on all the over-the-top histrionics that I hate about him. And this was a great vocal....but I also felt that it was very manipulative. Since I promised to keep this brief, I'm gonna leave it at that, I guess.
6) Siobhan Magnus - "Suspicious Minds": WAY too old-fashioned. Not a good arrangement. This was like Tim Urban's performance viewed in a mirror...this was a bad song choice sung really well.
When did Siobhan get so BORING?? I never thought that was a problem she was going to have, but that's been the issue for several weeks now.
7) Katie Stevens - "Baby, What do You Want Me to Do?": Nice leather pants. Still equates the "neck-snap" with "emoting". There were some pitch problems, but the worst part was that it did not feel the least bit authentic to me....felt like play-acting.
8) Aaron Kelly - "Blue Suede Shoes": Speaking of non-authentic. This was absolute KARAOKE. Awkward. In no way believable.
By the way...you don't think this is the right song for you? Then why are you singing it?
9) Andrew Garcia - "Hound Dog": TERRIBLE arrangement....NOT relevant, the exact OPPOSITE of current...just change for the sake of change. It's time for Andrew to go.
Two quick final thoughts:
- Ryan was really WEIRD tonight. And I'm not the only one who noticed.
- I thought Adam did a GREAT job as the mentor....say what you want about him, but he knows what it takes to make an impression on stage, and this stage in particular.
Who SHOULD go home: Aaron and Andrew.
Who WILL go home: Andrew and Siobhan.
I will be sad, for sure, if Siobhan goes home, but she has nobody to blame but herself if it happens.
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Idol Thoughts - Top 9
So, DiDi went home...that stinks. It's really her own fault in a lot of ways, as she just never really was able to find herself as an artist and REFUSED to do the things she was really good at. Oh, well.
Am I the only one who gets really depressed when the contestants come out at the top of the show? I mean, THIS is the Top 9? It just puts me in a bad mood for the rest of the show. Not helping that bad mood is....
1) Aaron Kelly - "Long and Winding Road": Wow. ANOTHER ballad. Sorry, his voice is not good enough to just stand there and sing. This...this was not good. Even the classic Aaron move of "hold-my-left-arm-up-and-let-it-limply-hang-there" seemed especially half hearted.
Katelyn Epperly. Lilly Scott. DiDi Benami. All gone. Aaron Kelly....still here.
Moving on.
2) Katie Stevens - "Let it Be": You know what ELSE puts me in a bad mood? The fact that maybe the biggest show in the history of television can't hire anybody who knows what they are doing behind the camera. During this week's show, it sounded like the director let his 6 year old grandson work the sound...the backup singers and band were overpowering the contestants all night, the judges mics had feedback issues...it's completely ridiculous and embarrassing. The show has been on the air now for NINE YEARS. How is it that we still don't know how to balance the sound?
Oh, and yes....the performance shows have been coming in much closer to on time than in seasons past. But now they can't get the RESULTS show in on time, which makes absolutely zero sense. It's FIVE MINUTES worth of relevant content in a ONE HOUR show....how can you possibly go over by eight minutes, like they did last week? I didn't get to see DiDi cry for the 987th time!
Anyway...what was I talking about? Oh, yeah...Katie Stevens. This was good, but boring, and why is everybody picking the slowest song possible? I understand that The Beatles have a pretty extensive catalogue of songs...maybe somebody could pick something that didn't put me in danger of falling asleep and missing LOST? (How freaking AWESOME was LOST, by the way?)
And, Simon...this is not country music. Shame on you for putting me in a situation where I am agreeing with Randy Freaking Jackson, of all people.
3) Andrew Garcia - "Can't Buy Me Love": Ugh. Who is going to actually pay money to see these people on tour? I would demand that they just bring Tim, Andrew, Aaron, Katie, Mike, Casey, and Lee out to wave to the crowd and then just let Crystal and Siobhan do a full set apiece.
Anyway...this would have been much better as another acoustic joint, but because contestants on this show stupidly think that they should be doing ANYTHING other than what they are good at, this is instead a corny, lounge singer rendition in which Andrew's voice was completely obliterated by the obnoxiously loud band (again...not his fault, but the idiots behind the camera). His voice is OK, but he is only good at one thing, and this is NOT it.
4) Michael Lynch - "Eleanor Rigby": WAIT. Michael Lynch's family used to travel around and sing using the name "The Lynch Mob"?!?! That is simultaneously the most inappropriate and awesome thing I have heard in a VERY long time.
Yeah, this was pretty much everything I DON'T like about Michael Lynch, wrapped around his typically great vocal. He is in full-on HAM mode tonight, and I hate it. I can't get past it.
His voice is great, and I actually was OK with the arrangement, although a lot of other hardcore Beatles fans may not be...I love that he kept the strings, and it did have a "build" to it, as Kara said. I just hate his performing style.
5) Crystal Bowersox - "Come Together": Wins the night simply by employing a freaking didgeridoo.
Not really...I mean, she probably does win the night, but this was definitely not my favorite Crystal performance. She actually messed up the words (not that anybody can tell, as this was one of John's "word salad" songs that I never liked), and this wasn't her strongest vocal.
And yet...I still just felt like I was watching an established star give a live performance. She is sooooooo much better than anybody else this season it's just not fair. Can we somehow go back in time and add her to last season's lineup? I would LOVE to see her get pushed by Adam, Allison, Kris, etc. and see what she would come up with every week. Because this is like watching the 1992 Dream Team in Barcelona...yeah, it's impressive, but how much more impressive would she be if there was somebody there to push her?
One difference between her and the Dream Team....she's not going to win. Just a hunch, based on years of watching this show.
One more difference between her and the Dream Team...the DIDGERIDOO!!
6) Tim Urban - "All My Lovin'": His best performance by FAR. Which probably means he will go home this week.
Simon is right about his attitude...he gets beat up every week, and I think he handles it well. He has still been around about 8 weeks longer than he should have been, however.
7) Casey James - "Jealous Guy": This performance is getting MUCH love, both by the judges and by some other commentary that I have seen...but I don't get it. I did like the arrangement, though I am not familiar with the song so I don't know if it is "his" arrangement or not.
But, like I have said before about Casey, his voice is not strong enough to carry a song as stripped down as this one was. When he is not straight belting, like he has done the last few weeks, he has a chipmunk voice. Or maybe a goat. Anyway, it's not pleasant to me.
This would have been great, if he had more vocal control...as it is, it's a very pretty song sung by someone with great hair and a weak voice.
8) Siobhan Magnus - "Across the Universe": This was risky, in a lot of ways. I think it was smart to back off the "screaming" songs, although as a side rant...she is not "screaming". This is the same thing people were saying about Adam last season. If she and Adam are "screaming", then at least it's a musical scream, unlike say.....Danny Gokey.
Anyway, it's always risky when you strip everything away except for you and your voice, and she definitely has the voice to pull it off. Except for a slight tendency to get a little nasally in her lowest register, this was a gorgeous vocal performance by the BEST voice in this competition. It's not even close, by the way. There is nobody else here that could even dream of pulling that off, and Siobhan mostly did.
9) Lee Dewyze - "Hey, Jude": Fairly typical Lee performance, with the nice commercial tone and the dropped phrasing and the occasionally wonky pitch problems, with the added component of....bagpipes! Well, that was random. I never once remember thinking, "That song is OK...but how much better would it be with BAGPIPES?" But I guess that's what separates me and Lee. That, and making Danny Gokey babies with Andrew Garcia (how much more did I love Crystal after THAT comment?).
Final Thoughts:
This is a classic example of managed expectations. If these exact same performances had occurred in the last couple of seasons, I would be screaming about it being the worst show of the season. But to get those nine performances out of this group? Hey, there was nothing EGREGIOUSLY awful, so I guess....that was a winner!!
Top 3:
1) Crystal
2) Siobhan
3) Ummmm....Tim? Yeah. Wow...I guess it's Tim! I know! I am also shocked!
Heck, why not just rank them all?
Middle 3:
4) Lee
5) Katie
6) Big Mike
Bottom 3:
7) Casey
8) Andrew
9) Aaron
Who SHOULD go home: The production staff responsible for the mess that is this show. And Aaron Kelly.
Who WILL go home: Tim Urban, once again following the pattern of many on this show who stuck around for WEEKS longer than they should have, only to be sent home after their best performance of the season (Sanjaya, Kristi Lee, etc).
Am I the only one who gets really depressed when the contestants come out at the top of the show? I mean, THIS is the Top 9? It just puts me in a bad mood for the rest of the show. Not helping that bad mood is....
1) Aaron Kelly - "Long and Winding Road": Wow. ANOTHER ballad. Sorry, his voice is not good enough to just stand there and sing. This...this was not good. Even the classic Aaron move of "hold-my-left-arm-up-and-let-it-limply-hang-there" seemed especially half hearted.
Katelyn Epperly. Lilly Scott. DiDi Benami. All gone. Aaron Kelly....still here.
Moving on.
2) Katie Stevens - "Let it Be": You know what ELSE puts me in a bad mood? The fact that maybe the biggest show in the history of television can't hire anybody who knows what they are doing behind the camera. During this week's show, it sounded like the director let his 6 year old grandson work the sound...the backup singers and band were overpowering the contestants all night, the judges mics had feedback issues...it's completely ridiculous and embarrassing. The show has been on the air now for NINE YEARS. How is it that we still don't know how to balance the sound?
Oh, and yes....the performance shows have been coming in much closer to on time than in seasons past. But now they can't get the RESULTS show in on time, which makes absolutely zero sense. It's FIVE MINUTES worth of relevant content in a ONE HOUR show....how can you possibly go over by eight minutes, like they did last week? I didn't get to see DiDi cry for the 987th time!
Anyway...what was I talking about? Oh, yeah...Katie Stevens. This was good, but boring, and why is everybody picking the slowest song possible? I understand that The Beatles have a pretty extensive catalogue of songs...maybe somebody could pick something that didn't put me in danger of falling asleep and missing LOST? (How freaking AWESOME was LOST, by the way?)
And, Simon...this is not country music. Shame on you for putting me in a situation where I am agreeing with Randy Freaking Jackson, of all people.
3) Andrew Garcia - "Can't Buy Me Love": Ugh. Who is going to actually pay money to see these people on tour? I would demand that they just bring Tim, Andrew, Aaron, Katie, Mike, Casey, and Lee out to wave to the crowd and then just let Crystal and Siobhan do a full set apiece.
Anyway...this would have been much better as another acoustic joint, but because contestants on this show stupidly think that they should be doing ANYTHING other than what they are good at, this is instead a corny, lounge singer rendition in which Andrew's voice was completely obliterated by the obnoxiously loud band (again...not his fault, but the idiots behind the camera). His voice is OK, but he is only good at one thing, and this is NOT it.
4) Michael Lynch - "Eleanor Rigby": WAIT. Michael Lynch's family used to travel around and sing using the name "The Lynch Mob"?!?! That is simultaneously the most inappropriate and awesome thing I have heard in a VERY long time.
Yeah, this was pretty much everything I DON'T like about Michael Lynch, wrapped around his typically great vocal. He is in full-on HAM mode tonight, and I hate it. I can't get past it.
His voice is great, and I actually was OK with the arrangement, although a lot of other hardcore Beatles fans may not be...I love that he kept the strings, and it did have a "build" to it, as Kara said. I just hate his performing style.
5) Crystal Bowersox - "Come Together": Wins the night simply by employing a freaking didgeridoo.
Not really...I mean, she probably does win the night, but this was definitely not my favorite Crystal performance. She actually messed up the words (not that anybody can tell, as this was one of John's "word salad" songs that I never liked), and this wasn't her strongest vocal.
And yet...I still just felt like I was watching an established star give a live performance. She is sooooooo much better than anybody else this season it's just not fair. Can we somehow go back in time and add her to last season's lineup? I would LOVE to see her get pushed by Adam, Allison, Kris, etc. and see what she would come up with every week. Because this is like watching the 1992 Dream Team in Barcelona...yeah, it's impressive, but how much more impressive would she be if there was somebody there to push her?
One difference between her and the Dream Team....she's not going to win. Just a hunch, based on years of watching this show.
One more difference between her and the Dream Team...the DIDGERIDOO!!
6) Tim Urban - "All My Lovin'": His best performance by FAR. Which probably means he will go home this week.
Simon is right about his attitude...he gets beat up every week, and I think he handles it well. He has still been around about 8 weeks longer than he should have been, however.
7) Casey James - "Jealous Guy": This performance is getting MUCH love, both by the judges and by some other commentary that I have seen...but I don't get it. I did like the arrangement, though I am not familiar with the song so I don't know if it is "his" arrangement or not.
But, like I have said before about Casey, his voice is not strong enough to carry a song as stripped down as this one was. When he is not straight belting, like he has done the last few weeks, he has a chipmunk voice. Or maybe a goat. Anyway, it's not pleasant to me.
This would have been great, if he had more vocal control...as it is, it's a very pretty song sung by someone with great hair and a weak voice.
8) Siobhan Magnus - "Across the Universe": This was risky, in a lot of ways. I think it was smart to back off the "screaming" songs, although as a side rant...she is not "screaming". This is the same thing people were saying about Adam last season. If she and Adam are "screaming", then at least it's a musical scream, unlike say.....Danny Gokey.
Anyway, it's always risky when you strip everything away except for you and your voice, and she definitely has the voice to pull it off. Except for a slight tendency to get a little nasally in her lowest register, this was a gorgeous vocal performance by the BEST voice in this competition. It's not even close, by the way. There is nobody else here that could even dream of pulling that off, and Siobhan mostly did.
9) Lee Dewyze - "Hey, Jude": Fairly typical Lee performance, with the nice commercial tone and the dropped phrasing and the occasionally wonky pitch problems, with the added component of....bagpipes! Well, that was random. I never once remember thinking, "That song is OK...but how much better would it be with BAGPIPES?" But I guess that's what separates me and Lee. That, and making Danny Gokey babies with Andrew Garcia (how much more did I love Crystal after THAT comment?).
Final Thoughts:
This is a classic example of managed expectations. If these exact same performances had occurred in the last couple of seasons, I would be screaming about it being the worst show of the season. But to get those nine performances out of this group? Hey, there was nothing EGREGIOUSLY awful, so I guess....that was a winner!!
Top 3:
1) Crystal
2) Siobhan
3) Ummmm....Tim? Yeah. Wow...I guess it's Tim! I know! I am also shocked!
Heck, why not just rank them all?
Middle 3:
4) Lee
5) Katie
6) Big Mike
Bottom 3:
7) Casey
8) Andrew
9) Aaron
Who SHOULD go home: The production staff responsible for the mess that is this show. And Aaron Kelly.
Who WILL go home: Tim Urban, once again following the pattern of many on this show who stuck around for WEEKS longer than they should have, only to be sent home after their best performance of the season (Sanjaya, Kristi Lee, etc).
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Idol Thoughts - Top 10
I haven't said much about the latest contestants who have been voted off, because there hasn't been much to say...although both of them were probably more talented than some of the ones left, they were both inconsistent and neither had a chance at winning, so whatevs.
I will, however, once again stand by what I've said for a while now: I would be shocked if a female ever wins this show again. That belief is solely based on the voting habits of adults vs. the voting habits of teenage girls. Even this year, when all we heard was that it was a "girl's year", and everybody (including me) was saying that there are at least 6-7 of the top 12 ladies who are better than any of the guys....here we are in the Top 10, and there are six guys and four females left. Two of the guys (Aaron and Tim) are still here based completely on the fact that they have the teenybopper and old lady vote...there can be no other plausible explanation.
The only female that I believe has a shot is Crystal...but she is also in that place where we have seen others (Daughtry, Melinda, etc) go home from before. So we will see...
On with the show!
1) Siobhan Magnus - "Through the Fire": Taking on Chaka Khan is always a big risk...that's one of the biggest voices in history, to channel my inner Dawg (we all have one). But when I heard that Siobhan was doing this song, my thought was that if any of these contestants could handle it vocally, it would be my girl Siobhan.
Boy, was I wrong.
This...was...awful. Started out really nasally, and then she pushed way too hard, lost the pitch, and never really found it again. And even her trademark scream, when surrounded by so much awfulness, just comes off as desperate rather than triumphant.
That just made my heart hurt.
2) Casey James - "Hold On, I'm Comin'": He's right...this is right in his wheelhouse. This guy, to me, keeps getting better. He's always been great on the guitar, but I haven't been a big fan of his voice. But when he's able to do big, rollicking numbers like this one, his voice sounds much better. This would have been either a great opener or show-ender...wonder why they put him in the dreaded 2-hole?
If I were him, I would NOT do what Kara told him to do and switch back to acoustic...that's just going to expose the vocal shortcomings that he has really done a nice job of compensating for.
3) Michael Lynche - "Ready for Love" : Well, he still has a great voice...that's been established. And the guitar cut down on a lot of the cheesiness. I still just don't like the vibe I get from him while he's singing...I think he crosses the line from confidence to arrogance. And I don't really know why that irritates me, but it does.
When he's not singing he comes off as a lot more likable, so it's not that I think he's a bad guy...I guess I just don't really connect with him.
This was a typical performance from him, though...great vocal, if a little overdone with the runs and tricks.
4) DiDi Benami - "What Becomes of the Broken Hearted": Looks great, as usual. I just don't like this style for her...the old fashioned, torch song thing. Her vocal style causes her to be just "around" the pitch a little bit, and it's more noticeable on stuff like this. I mean, she sounded OK, except when she tried to go for the really big note at the end it just sounded out of place for her. It's just that, for some reason, I don't think she wants to be the thing she's really good at. That stinks, because when she's good, she's great.
What's not great is her whining to the judges about not being an R&B singer. Honey, please...that particular argument hasn't held water on this show for at least the last two seasons. If you are not an R&B singer, then pick an R&B song from the list and sing it in what your style is. Unfortunately for her, she has no idea what that is anymore.
And, Ryan, good grief...she DOESN'T WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT. He was obviously trying to get her to go to the "Dead Friend" place, and kudos to her for refusing to go down that road with him.
5) Tim Urban - "Sweet Love": Usher tells him to try and project that love at us...apparently in Tim's world, love equals abject terror, just like every other "emotion" he tries to display while singing.
This is so boring. Must....not....fast.....forward.....
Too late. Sorry, LOST is waiting for me at the end of this...I have no time for somebody that I will undoubtedly be seeing more than enough of on my television once he becomes the star of another Disney Channel show that my daughters will zone out in front of.
6) Andrew Garcia - "Forever": Dude, Andrew....what is going on with that hair? He has a serious bouffant going on now.
Well, he finally got back to doing what he does well...and it still wasn't all that great. For him, it was probably his best performance (including the good bust vastly overrated "Straight Up" in Hollywood), but it was a little boring, and certainly not challenging vocally.
Much like I said about Katie a couple of weeks ago...this is exactly what he should be doing, he's probably doing it to the best of his ability...and it's just not good enough.
7) Katie Stevens - "Chain of Fools": This was fine. She has a very good voice, and she sounded pretty good on this...I just always feel like I'm watching a High School talent show when I watch her. And she is not believable as the "temptress with attitude" that she was trying to pull off tonight.
She really has a beautiful smile, but we never see that when she's singing...she is very robotic and, as Simon put it, "cold". She will probably learn to overcome that as she gets more experience, but she's not there yet.
8) Lee Dewyze - "Treat Her Like a Lady": Loved this. Loved the arrangement, and this was probably his best vocal performance so far...it seems like he is really benefiting from the vocal coaches that he is getting to learn from, as he is just getting better and better pitch-wise.
Lee is becoming sort of like Kris Allen was for me at this point last season...I always said Kris may not be the best of the bunch, but his album is probably the one I'm most likely to buy. I'm starting to feel the same way about Lee, which is a HUGE turnaround since my first impression of him was that his face was in serious need of punching.
9) Crystal Bowersox - "Midnight Train to Georgia": She's just too good for this show, honestly. This was yet another great performance by the most "ready" performer I think they have ever had on this show. The beginning piano part was a little disconnected, as she was concentrating a little hard on getting the piano part right, but once she stood up she really connected with the song emotionally and just put on a great show, as always.
10) Aaron Kelly - "Ain't No Sunshine": No. Unh-UNH. This is one of my favorite songs of all time, but it is a song that requires some emotional grit and gravity, and you can't get that from a toddler.
Final Thoughts:
Decent show, but for me personally the whole show was performed under a cloud of Siobhan's shocking suckiness...it just threw me off the rest of the show, because I was too busy worrying about her.
I did like the backstage stuff they did last night, but it didn't help me to see Siobhan basically collapse in the corner once she got back to the green room.
The only consolation for me is that if she DOES end up with the least votes (which I think is about a 50-50 chance), I am almost positive that the judges will go ahead and use their save. The only thing that would keep them from doing that is the desire to save it for Crystal, but I don't think anybody thinks she will be in the bottom before the Top 5, and at that point they can't use it anymore anyway.
Top 3:
1) Lee
2) Crystal
3) Casey
Bottom 3 (Tonight ONLY):
10) Aaron
11) Tim
12) (::sob::) Siobhan
Who SHOULD go home: Tim (based on the season to date)
Who WILL go home: Probably Katie...if Siobhan is at the bottom, then I hope it's NOBODY.
I will, however, once again stand by what I've said for a while now: I would be shocked if a female ever wins this show again. That belief is solely based on the voting habits of adults vs. the voting habits of teenage girls. Even this year, when all we heard was that it was a "girl's year", and everybody (including me) was saying that there are at least 6-7 of the top 12 ladies who are better than any of the guys....here we are in the Top 10, and there are six guys and four females left. Two of the guys (Aaron and Tim) are still here based completely on the fact that they have the teenybopper and old lady vote...there can be no other plausible explanation.
The only female that I believe has a shot is Crystal...but she is also in that place where we have seen others (Daughtry, Melinda, etc) go home from before. So we will see...
On with the show!
1) Siobhan Magnus - "Through the Fire": Taking on Chaka Khan is always a big risk...that's one of the biggest voices in history, to channel my inner Dawg (we all have one). But when I heard that Siobhan was doing this song, my thought was that if any of these contestants could handle it vocally, it would be my girl Siobhan.
Boy, was I wrong.
This...was...awful. Started out really nasally, and then she pushed way too hard, lost the pitch, and never really found it again. And even her trademark scream, when surrounded by so much awfulness, just comes off as desperate rather than triumphant.
That just made my heart hurt.
2) Casey James - "Hold On, I'm Comin'": He's right...this is right in his wheelhouse. This guy, to me, keeps getting better. He's always been great on the guitar, but I haven't been a big fan of his voice. But when he's able to do big, rollicking numbers like this one, his voice sounds much better. This would have been either a great opener or show-ender...wonder why they put him in the dreaded 2-hole?
If I were him, I would NOT do what Kara told him to do and switch back to acoustic...that's just going to expose the vocal shortcomings that he has really done a nice job of compensating for.
3) Michael Lynche - "Ready for Love" : Well, he still has a great voice...that's been established. And the guitar cut down on a lot of the cheesiness. I still just don't like the vibe I get from him while he's singing...I think he crosses the line from confidence to arrogance. And I don't really know why that irritates me, but it does.
When he's not singing he comes off as a lot more likable, so it's not that I think he's a bad guy...I guess I just don't really connect with him.
This was a typical performance from him, though...great vocal, if a little overdone with the runs and tricks.
4) DiDi Benami - "What Becomes of the Broken Hearted": Looks great, as usual. I just don't like this style for her...the old fashioned, torch song thing. Her vocal style causes her to be just "around" the pitch a little bit, and it's more noticeable on stuff like this. I mean, she sounded OK, except when she tried to go for the really big note at the end it just sounded out of place for her. It's just that, for some reason, I don't think she wants to be the thing she's really good at. That stinks, because when she's good, she's great.
What's not great is her whining to the judges about not being an R&B singer. Honey, please...that particular argument hasn't held water on this show for at least the last two seasons. If you are not an R&B singer, then pick an R&B song from the list and sing it in what your style is. Unfortunately for her, she has no idea what that is anymore.
And, Ryan, good grief...she DOESN'T WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT. He was obviously trying to get her to go to the "Dead Friend" place, and kudos to her for refusing to go down that road with him.
5) Tim Urban - "Sweet Love": Usher tells him to try and project that love at us...apparently in Tim's world, love equals abject terror, just like every other "emotion" he tries to display while singing.
This is so boring. Must....not....fast.....forward.....
Too late. Sorry, LOST is waiting for me at the end of this...I have no time for somebody that I will undoubtedly be seeing more than enough of on my television once he becomes the star of another Disney Channel show that my daughters will zone out in front of.
6) Andrew Garcia - "Forever": Dude, Andrew....what is going on with that hair? He has a serious bouffant going on now.
Well, he finally got back to doing what he does well...and it still wasn't all that great. For him, it was probably his best performance (including the good bust vastly overrated "Straight Up" in Hollywood), but it was a little boring, and certainly not challenging vocally.
Much like I said about Katie a couple of weeks ago...this is exactly what he should be doing, he's probably doing it to the best of his ability...and it's just not good enough.
7) Katie Stevens - "Chain of Fools": This was fine. She has a very good voice, and she sounded pretty good on this...I just always feel like I'm watching a High School talent show when I watch her. And she is not believable as the "temptress with attitude" that she was trying to pull off tonight.
She really has a beautiful smile, but we never see that when she's singing...she is very robotic and, as Simon put it, "cold". She will probably learn to overcome that as she gets more experience, but she's not there yet.
8) Lee Dewyze - "Treat Her Like a Lady": Loved this. Loved the arrangement, and this was probably his best vocal performance so far...it seems like he is really benefiting from the vocal coaches that he is getting to learn from, as he is just getting better and better pitch-wise.
Lee is becoming sort of like Kris Allen was for me at this point last season...I always said Kris may not be the best of the bunch, but his album is probably the one I'm most likely to buy. I'm starting to feel the same way about Lee, which is a HUGE turnaround since my first impression of him was that his face was in serious need of punching.
9) Crystal Bowersox - "Midnight Train to Georgia": She's just too good for this show, honestly. This was yet another great performance by the most "ready" performer I think they have ever had on this show. The beginning piano part was a little disconnected, as she was concentrating a little hard on getting the piano part right, but once she stood up she really connected with the song emotionally and just put on a great show, as always.
10) Aaron Kelly - "Ain't No Sunshine": No. Unh-UNH. This is one of my favorite songs of all time, but it is a song that requires some emotional grit and gravity, and you can't get that from a toddler.
Final Thoughts:
Decent show, but for me personally the whole show was performed under a cloud of Siobhan's shocking suckiness...it just threw me off the rest of the show, because I was too busy worrying about her.
I did like the backstage stuff they did last night, but it didn't help me to see Siobhan basically collapse in the corner once she got back to the green room.
The only consolation for me is that if she DOES end up with the least votes (which I think is about a 50-50 chance), I am almost positive that the judges will go ahead and use their save. The only thing that would keep them from doing that is the desire to save it for Crystal, but I don't think anybody thinks she will be in the bottom before the Top 5, and at that point they can't use it anymore anyway.
Top 3:
1) Lee
2) Crystal
3) Casey
Bottom 3 (Tonight ONLY):
10) Aaron
11) Tim
12) (::sob::) Siobhan
Who SHOULD go home: Tim (based on the season to date)
Who WILL go home: Probably Katie...if Siobhan is at the bottom, then I hope it's NOBODY.
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Idol Thoughts - Top 11
Like I said in my earlier LOST post...my actual job is seriously infringing on my blogging time, so this may be a little more abbreviated than normal.
Wow, Miley Cyrus as a MENTOR? This should be....interesting.
Theme is Billboard #1 songs, which means that, once again, contestants have a HUGE selection of songs, including (I'm assuming) some more current stuff. So why only Katie Stevens decides to do a song from this decade is a real mystery to me.
1) Lee Dewyze - "The Letter": Man, he is still really nervous. It's getting better, but you can see him TRYING to make it better...he's still not comfortable up there. As for the actual performance, it's very typical Lee: great tone, slightly modified arrangement, pitch problems like WOAH, and a performance I will probably forget about in about 10 minutes.
Two things I noticed after he finished: One, the crowd freaking LOVES him. I don't know if that's a product of going first when the crowd is still amped up or what, but they were freaking out.
Second, Lee made a point of thanking the band as they went offstage...that was very cool. I do like the guy now, which is a big turnaround from when we first met him, but he is just cannon fodder at this point.
2) Paige Myles - "Against All Odds": HA!! Miley called you pitchy! Dang, that's gotta hurt.
The thing is, though...she's RIGHT. Oof, this was awful. This was like a really BAD pageant performance.
After that devastating criticism from the judges, though, I will bet she stays for at least another week due to sympathy votes. Plus, the guilt that we all feel for sending almost all the other minority contestants home in the first three weeks.
3) Tim Urban - "Crazy Little Thing Called Love": Wow. I only thought it couldn't get any worse. This was an awkward, desperate, Taylor-Hicks-level embarrassment.
Let's just move on.
4) Aaron Kelly - "I Don't Wanna Miss a Thing": Well, I'll say this for him...he knows his strengths. Stand there, look cute, sing an overly earnest love song, and stare at the camera with big puppy dog eyes. It doesn't hurt that this was by far his best vocal performance so far....which is weird, since he apparently has the Black Plague. He did absolutely nothing with the arrangement, and this was straight out of the American Idol Season 2 playbook, but it will obviously be enough for him to stick around.
5) Crystal Bowersox - "Me and Bobby McGhee": Oh, thank God. I need a palate cleanser.
This was, of course, awesome. One of the things I love most about Crystal (and Siobhan, when she's good...more on that in a minute) is her ability to arrange her songs in a way that they feel like a complete song, even though she only gets 90 seconds. This one had a definite beginning, middle, and end, and that's hard to do in such a short time.
Voice is great, stage presence is awesome, blah, blah, blah. And I loved the interaction with the judges and her and Ryan's little pow-wow on the magic carpet. Talent is great, but personality goes a long way. Just ask Jules Winnfield.
6) Michael Lynch - "When a Man Loves a Woman": I'm going to be a little biased here, because I think this is one of the greatest love songs ever written, but I really enjoyed this. He wasn't nearly as corny this week as he has been in the past, and whatever problem I have ever had with him have never had anything to do with his voice. Dude can SING. This was my very favorite performance of his so far.
And he didn't seem nearly as arrogant after this one either...I'm sure that is an isolated incident.
7) Andrew Garcia - "Heard it Through the Grapevine": Miley gives him the HORRIBLE advice to put down his guitar. He is completely lost without it, and it showed again in this performance. This is TERRIBLE.
Wait....did he throw in a MOONWALK? We'll have to check the tape, because if he did, then I am totally in.
8) Katie Stevens - "Big Girls Don't Cry": Thank goodness it wasn't the Four Seasons song of the same title...Simon probably would have burned her at the stake.
This was really weird...this was somehow both her best performance and her worst vocal simultaneously. She was flat the entire first half, and sharp the entire second half. But this was her smartest song choice so far, and she did seem to loosen up and enjoy herself. If she could have stayed on pitch I might have said this could be a game changer for her...as it is, it ended up being just OK.
9) Casey James - "Power of Love": Another song I am predisposed to love, seeing as how I have seen Back to the Future about 650 times, and wanted to go watch it again as soon as this song was over.
I loved the band in the balcony, I loved Ricky Minor jammin' it out on the front of the stage, the vocal was one of his best so far, and he did manage to move around the stage a little more. The only downside was that he did not change the arrangement at ALL, other than the fact that he eliminated the bridge, which I think was a mistake...it made the song way too repetitive. But on a night like this, this was definitely one of the better performances.
10) DiDi Benami - "You're No Good": Well, she LOOKS fantastic. And I still love her voice. But the judges were right on...this was not her. Now is not the time to be showing "different sides" to yourself as an artist. Now is the time to do what you do, and do it well (see Bowersox, Crystal...and even Kelly, Aaron this week). This was just a bad song choice, sung well...I hope it's good enough for her to stick around, because when she's on her game she is one of my favorites.
11) Siobhan Magnus - "Superstition": Fave part of the whole night :"I think it's wicked cool that Miley Cyrus says my voice has swagger." :-)
This was good...but it was probably my least favorite performance of hers so far. I felt like most of the song was just her killing time until she could get to the last 20 seconds...to compare her to someone that she gets compared to a lot already, it was something that Adam used to do sometimes last year, too, especially toward the end of the season. Again, it was still really good...but she runs the danger of becoming predictable, and that is definitely NOT a place she needs to end up.
Final thoughts:
Actually, Miley wasn't nearly the disaster I thought she might be. Other than the horrible advice she gave to Andrew, I agreed with a lot of the things she said. And the contestants seemed to enjoy her, so I guess it was a success. Further proof that I have no idea what I'm talking about most of the time.
I haven't said anything about this yet....but good grief, Kara needs to keep her hands off Simon. It's become a distraction, and it's sad because it's distracting from what I think has been a MUCH improved judges panel this season....even Randy only gets the automatic FF about half the time, and that's a huge difference from the last couple of seasons.
Top 3: Crystal, Siobhan, Casey (followed VERY closely by Big Mike and DiDi)
Bottom 3: Tim, Paige, and Andrew (UNLESS he did in fact moonwalk...if so, replace him with Katie).
Who SHOULD go home: Paige
Who WILL go home: Andrew
Wow, Miley Cyrus as a MENTOR? This should be....interesting.
Theme is Billboard #1 songs, which means that, once again, contestants have a HUGE selection of songs, including (I'm assuming) some more current stuff. So why only Katie Stevens decides to do a song from this decade is a real mystery to me.
1) Lee Dewyze - "The Letter": Man, he is still really nervous. It's getting better, but you can see him TRYING to make it better...he's still not comfortable up there. As for the actual performance, it's very typical Lee: great tone, slightly modified arrangement, pitch problems like WOAH, and a performance I will probably forget about in about 10 minutes.
Two things I noticed after he finished: One, the crowd freaking LOVES him. I don't know if that's a product of going first when the crowd is still amped up or what, but they were freaking out.
Second, Lee made a point of thanking the band as they went offstage...that was very cool. I do like the guy now, which is a big turnaround from when we first met him, but he is just cannon fodder at this point.
2) Paige Myles - "Against All Odds": HA!! Miley called you pitchy! Dang, that's gotta hurt.
The thing is, though...she's RIGHT. Oof, this was awful. This was like a really BAD pageant performance.
After that devastating criticism from the judges, though, I will bet she stays for at least another week due to sympathy votes. Plus, the guilt that we all feel for sending almost all the other minority contestants home in the first three weeks.
3) Tim Urban - "Crazy Little Thing Called Love": Wow. I only thought it couldn't get any worse. This was an awkward, desperate, Taylor-Hicks-level embarrassment.
Let's just move on.
4) Aaron Kelly - "I Don't Wanna Miss a Thing": Well, I'll say this for him...he knows his strengths. Stand there, look cute, sing an overly earnest love song, and stare at the camera with big puppy dog eyes. It doesn't hurt that this was by far his best vocal performance so far....which is weird, since he apparently has the Black Plague. He did absolutely nothing with the arrangement, and this was straight out of the American Idol Season 2 playbook, but it will obviously be enough for him to stick around.
5) Crystal Bowersox - "Me and Bobby McGhee": Oh, thank God. I need a palate cleanser.
This was, of course, awesome. One of the things I love most about Crystal (and Siobhan, when she's good...more on that in a minute) is her ability to arrange her songs in a way that they feel like a complete song, even though she only gets 90 seconds. This one had a definite beginning, middle, and end, and that's hard to do in such a short time.
Voice is great, stage presence is awesome, blah, blah, blah. And I loved the interaction with the judges and her and Ryan's little pow-wow on the magic carpet. Talent is great, but personality goes a long way. Just ask Jules Winnfield.
6) Michael Lynch - "When a Man Loves a Woman": I'm going to be a little biased here, because I think this is one of the greatest love songs ever written, but I really enjoyed this. He wasn't nearly as corny this week as he has been in the past, and whatever problem I have ever had with him have never had anything to do with his voice. Dude can SING. This was my very favorite performance of his so far.
And he didn't seem nearly as arrogant after this one either...I'm sure that is an isolated incident.
7) Andrew Garcia - "Heard it Through the Grapevine": Miley gives him the HORRIBLE advice to put down his guitar. He is completely lost without it, and it showed again in this performance. This is TERRIBLE.
Wait....did he throw in a MOONWALK? We'll have to check the tape, because if he did, then I am totally in.
8) Katie Stevens - "Big Girls Don't Cry": Thank goodness it wasn't the Four Seasons song of the same title...Simon probably would have burned her at the stake.
This was really weird...this was somehow both her best performance and her worst vocal simultaneously. She was flat the entire first half, and sharp the entire second half. But this was her smartest song choice so far, and she did seem to loosen up and enjoy herself. If she could have stayed on pitch I might have said this could be a game changer for her...as it is, it ended up being just OK.
9) Casey James - "Power of Love": Another song I am predisposed to love, seeing as how I have seen Back to the Future about 650 times, and wanted to go watch it again as soon as this song was over.
I loved the band in the balcony, I loved Ricky Minor jammin' it out on the front of the stage, the vocal was one of his best so far, and he did manage to move around the stage a little more. The only downside was that he did not change the arrangement at ALL, other than the fact that he eliminated the bridge, which I think was a mistake...it made the song way too repetitive. But on a night like this, this was definitely one of the better performances.
10) DiDi Benami - "You're No Good": Well, she LOOKS fantastic. And I still love her voice. But the judges were right on...this was not her. Now is not the time to be showing "different sides" to yourself as an artist. Now is the time to do what you do, and do it well (see Bowersox, Crystal...and even Kelly, Aaron this week). This was just a bad song choice, sung well...I hope it's good enough for her to stick around, because when she's on her game she is one of my favorites.
11) Siobhan Magnus - "Superstition": Fave part of the whole night :"I think it's wicked cool that Miley Cyrus says my voice has swagger." :-)
This was good...but it was probably my least favorite performance of hers so far. I felt like most of the song was just her killing time until she could get to the last 20 seconds...to compare her to someone that she gets compared to a lot already, it was something that Adam used to do sometimes last year, too, especially toward the end of the season. Again, it was still really good...but she runs the danger of becoming predictable, and that is definitely NOT a place she needs to end up.
Final thoughts:
Actually, Miley wasn't nearly the disaster I thought she might be. Other than the horrible advice she gave to Andrew, I agreed with a lot of the things she said. And the contestants seemed to enjoy her, so I guess it was a success. Further proof that I have no idea what I'm talking about most of the time.
I haven't said anything about this yet....but good grief, Kara needs to keep her hands off Simon. It's become a distraction, and it's sad because it's distracting from what I think has been a MUCH improved judges panel this season....even Randy only gets the automatic FF about half the time, and that's a huge difference from the last couple of seasons.
Top 3: Crystal, Siobhan, Casey (followed VERY closely by Big Mike and DiDi)
Bottom 3: Tim, Paige, and Andrew (UNLESS he did in fact moonwalk...if so, replace him with Katie).
Who SHOULD go home: Paige
Who WILL go home: Andrew
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Idol Thoughts - Top 12
First, my thoughts on last week's eliminations...the problem for me wasn't so much who went home, since I don't really think any of the eliminated had a legitimate chance at winning the whole thing. The problem is who it left us with. I have very little interest in hearing Paige, Katie, Tim, or Aaron ever again, and now I will be hearing at least one of them for the next four weeks. That does not make me happy.
Plus, if you read my earlier LOST post, you know I was pretty cranky already...so let's knock this baby out, short and probably-not-so-sweet...
1) Michael Lynch - "Miss You": This was a typical Big Mike performance...fun, if more than a bit corny at times. The voice is really good in some places, but he is losing the pitch on the ends of some of the phrases, probably due to all the bouncy-bouncy "dance" moves. I think this is obviously good enough to stick around, but there was absolutely nothing memorable about it. As usual, however, he is EXTREMELY proud of himself when he's done.
I disagree with Simon when he calls it "desperate", although I definitely agree that it was corny. "Desperate", to me, implies that he was doing something outside of what he would normally do in an attempt to gain more votes or cover up some shortcoming...I didn't see that. This is just what Big Mike is...a very large, above average cruise ship singer.
Quick aside here...that Ryan/Simon exchange was AWKWARD. Who peed in Ryan's Wheaties this morning?
2) Didi Benami - "Playin' With Fire": Love this girl's voice, and I loved the first half of this arrangement. Didn't love the second half as much, but I think that was because she spaced on some of the lyric and then over-compensated for a couple of lines by pushing the vocal before she got back on track. She still has a tendency to oversing some of the big notes, but I really liked this.
3) Casey James - "It's All Over Now": He's from Cool, Texas. Of course he is.
I thought this was probably his best performance of the competition. When he sings slower, ballad-y type stuff than you really start to notice how thin his voice is. On these type songs, the vocal just keeps on moving and the lack of strength isn't as noticeable. Plus, he's obviously very good on the guitar and handles himself well. This was a performance that I was not wanting to end, and you can't get a much better compliment than that.
The only thing really going against him as far as his performances is his lack of mobility. In order for him to really use the whole stage like they are wanting him to, he's going to have to unplug his guitar, and I just don't think he's comfortable with that. I am trying to remember if anybody on this show has ever used a headset mic so that they could move around the stage and still play their guitar...Bucky Covington, maybe?
4) Lacey Brown - "Ruby Tuesday": On the nights that DiDi does well, it is never going to be good for Lacey to go on after her, and this is one of those nights. She was really struggling with the pitch in the first chorus, the arrangement was really boring (and the song is boring anyway), and then I agree with Ellen that it didn't make sense for her to sit down once she got to the "big" part of the song.
I just don't know what to make of this girl...sometimes I really like her, but this was just not good.
5) Andrew Garcia - "Gimme Shelter": Well, at least he can't do a girl's song this week...
Like I said last week, I'm pretty much done with Andrew, and this didn't help. He was obviously uncomfortable without his guitar, throwing out a bunch of awkward arm movements before finally throwing in some stand work. His voice is just not strong enough for this song, I don't think...the vocal was OK, but there was not the "oomph" that I think this song needs. And forget any kind of emotional connection to the song...he might as well have been singing "Hit Me Baby, One More Time".
6) Katie Stevens - "Wild Horses": Oh, she's from Connecticut...that explains a lot, actually.
See, here's her problem: this is exactly what she needs to be doing...and yet it's not that good. Very old fashioned, very "Season 2 American Idol". And when she got to her "glory note" towards the end, she noticeably looked at the audience for the reaction...that was unfortunate. Her voice is powerful, but I don't think I really like the tone...it's a little flat at times.
Anyway, she's out of her league here...no way she should still be here over Katelyn or Lilly.
Speaking of people out of their league...
7) Tim Urban - "Under My Thumb": This was one of the worst arrangements we have ever heard on this show, and only partly because he tried to sing a Rolling Stones song as reggae. This is a song about a misogynist...I don't think "Bobby McFerrin/Jack Johnson" is really the place to go if you are going to rearrange this song.
I don't necessarily blame poor little clueless Tim for that...shouldn't one of the vocal coaches have maybe pointed that out to him?
Anyway, the vocal is fine, he still looks terrified, and the arrangement was simply horrible. Unfortunately, the tweenage girls who are texting their votes in probably have no idea what the song is about, either...they just know he looks cute, so they want him around.
8) Siobhan Magnus - "Paint it Black": Ahhhh....that's better. Awesome arrangement, amazing vocal, she looks fantastic....I watched this three times in a row before I moved on. Talk about creating a "Moment".
I don't think I've ever pulled for any contestant on this show as much as I am pulling for her.
9) Lee DeWyze - "Beast of Burden": Well, it's tough to follow that. He does fine...I still think he may have one of the most "radio ready" voices in the competition, and this was probably the fewest pitch problems he's had. But this was very safe and forgettable, to use two of Simon's buzzwords. Good enough to stick around, but he still has yet to put a performance out there that says he's a real contender to win it all.
10) Paige Myles - "Honky Tonk Women": She still bores me, and her voice is nowhere near what Simon says it is. I'll bet she does sound better live, though...it's a BIG voice, it's just too often flat or just off the pitch.
And...why sing this song, if you're going to feel the need to change every single pronoun?
11) Aaron Kelly - "Angie": Or, as he's known at my house..."Mr. Fast Forward".
Sorry...one David Archuletta in my life is plenty, thank you..
bleep-bloop
12) Crystal Bowersox - "Can't Always Get What You Want": I really struggle to come up with new ways to talk about how good she is every week, so I'll just say this...when I talk about "know who you are as an artist and go out every week and be THAT", this is what I mean. In fact, it wouldn't surprise me at all to find out that this exact arrangement of this exact song is already on her set list when she performs at the local bars and clubs.
Final Thoughts:
Actually, this week was not nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be...two outstanding performances, several really good ones, and then a few that I fully expected to be awful and were instead only pretty bad, annoying, and/or clueless.
Top 4:
1) Siobhan
2) Crystal
3) Casey
4) DiDi
Bottom 4:
9) Lacey
10) Andrew
11) Tim
12) Aaron
Who SHOULD go home: Aaron
Who WILL go home: Andrew
Plus, if you read my earlier LOST post, you know I was pretty cranky already...so let's knock this baby out, short and probably-not-so-sweet...
1) Michael Lynch - "Miss You": This was a typical Big Mike performance...fun, if more than a bit corny at times. The voice is really good in some places, but he is losing the pitch on the ends of some of the phrases, probably due to all the bouncy-bouncy "dance" moves. I think this is obviously good enough to stick around, but there was absolutely nothing memorable about it. As usual, however, he is EXTREMELY proud of himself when he's done.
I disagree with Simon when he calls it "desperate", although I definitely agree that it was corny. "Desperate", to me, implies that he was doing something outside of what he would normally do in an attempt to gain more votes or cover up some shortcoming...I didn't see that. This is just what Big Mike is...a very large, above average cruise ship singer.
Quick aside here...that Ryan/Simon exchange was AWKWARD. Who peed in Ryan's Wheaties this morning?
2) Didi Benami - "Playin' With Fire": Love this girl's voice, and I loved the first half of this arrangement. Didn't love the second half as much, but I think that was because she spaced on some of the lyric and then over-compensated for a couple of lines by pushing the vocal before she got back on track. She still has a tendency to oversing some of the big notes, but I really liked this.
3) Casey James - "It's All Over Now": He's from Cool, Texas. Of course he is.
I thought this was probably his best performance of the competition. When he sings slower, ballad-y type stuff than you really start to notice how thin his voice is. On these type songs, the vocal just keeps on moving and the lack of strength isn't as noticeable. Plus, he's obviously very good on the guitar and handles himself well. This was a performance that I was not wanting to end, and you can't get a much better compliment than that.
The only thing really going against him as far as his performances is his lack of mobility. In order for him to really use the whole stage like they are wanting him to, he's going to have to unplug his guitar, and I just don't think he's comfortable with that. I am trying to remember if anybody on this show has ever used a headset mic so that they could move around the stage and still play their guitar...Bucky Covington, maybe?
4) Lacey Brown - "Ruby Tuesday": On the nights that DiDi does well, it is never going to be good for Lacey to go on after her, and this is one of those nights. She was really struggling with the pitch in the first chorus, the arrangement was really boring (and the song is boring anyway), and then I agree with Ellen that it didn't make sense for her to sit down once she got to the "big" part of the song.
I just don't know what to make of this girl...sometimes I really like her, but this was just not good.
5) Andrew Garcia - "Gimme Shelter": Well, at least he can't do a girl's song this week...
Like I said last week, I'm pretty much done with Andrew, and this didn't help. He was obviously uncomfortable without his guitar, throwing out a bunch of awkward arm movements before finally throwing in some stand work. His voice is just not strong enough for this song, I don't think...the vocal was OK, but there was not the "oomph" that I think this song needs. And forget any kind of emotional connection to the song...he might as well have been singing "Hit Me Baby, One More Time".
6) Katie Stevens - "Wild Horses": Oh, she's from Connecticut...that explains a lot, actually.
See, here's her problem: this is exactly what she needs to be doing...and yet it's not that good. Very old fashioned, very "Season 2 American Idol". And when she got to her "glory note" towards the end, she noticeably looked at the audience for the reaction...that was unfortunate. Her voice is powerful, but I don't think I really like the tone...it's a little flat at times.
Anyway, she's out of her league here...no way she should still be here over Katelyn or Lilly.
Speaking of people out of their league...
7) Tim Urban - "Under My Thumb": This was one of the worst arrangements we have ever heard on this show, and only partly because he tried to sing a Rolling Stones song as reggae. This is a song about a misogynist...I don't think "Bobby McFerrin/Jack Johnson" is really the place to go if you are going to rearrange this song.
I don't necessarily blame poor little clueless Tim for that...shouldn't one of the vocal coaches have maybe pointed that out to him?
Anyway, the vocal is fine, he still looks terrified, and the arrangement was simply horrible. Unfortunately, the tweenage girls who are texting their votes in probably have no idea what the song is about, either...they just know he looks cute, so they want him around.
8) Siobhan Magnus - "Paint it Black": Ahhhh....that's better. Awesome arrangement, amazing vocal, she looks fantastic....I watched this three times in a row before I moved on. Talk about creating a "Moment".
I don't think I've ever pulled for any contestant on this show as much as I am pulling for her.
9) Lee DeWyze - "Beast of Burden": Well, it's tough to follow that. He does fine...I still think he may have one of the most "radio ready" voices in the competition, and this was probably the fewest pitch problems he's had. But this was very safe and forgettable, to use two of Simon's buzzwords. Good enough to stick around, but he still has yet to put a performance out there that says he's a real contender to win it all.
10) Paige Myles - "Honky Tonk Women": She still bores me, and her voice is nowhere near what Simon says it is. I'll bet she does sound better live, though...it's a BIG voice, it's just too often flat or just off the pitch.
And...why sing this song, if you're going to feel the need to change every single pronoun?
11) Aaron Kelly - "Angie": Or, as he's known at my house..."Mr. Fast Forward".
Sorry...one David Archuletta in my life is plenty, thank you..
bleep-bloop
12) Crystal Bowersox - "Can't Always Get What You Want": I really struggle to come up with new ways to talk about how good she is every week, so I'll just say this...when I talk about "know who you are as an artist and go out every week and be THAT", this is what I mean. In fact, it wouldn't surprise me at all to find out that this exact arrangement of this exact song is already on her set list when she performs at the local bars and clubs.
Final Thoughts:
Actually, this week was not nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be...two outstanding performances, several really good ones, and then a few that I fully expected to be awful and were instead only pretty bad, annoying, and/or clueless.
Top 4:
1) Siobhan
2) Crystal
3) Casey
4) DiDi
Bottom 4:
9) Lacey
10) Andrew
11) Tim
12) Aaron
Who SHOULD go home: Aaron
Who WILL go home: Andrew
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Idol Thoughts - Top 8 Guys
Remember how I said yesterday's recap of the Top 8 Ladies was going to be shorter because they were all pretty good, so there wasn't much to say? This recap will be shorter for the exact opposite reason.
1) Lee Dewyze - "Fireflies": Another typical Lee performance...he has a nice tone to his voice, but he has consistent problems with staying on pitch. I think the reason that Simon doesn't really acknowledge those problems is because he knows that they can be fixed in the studio...after all, he has said he is a big Taylor Swift fan, so he knows it can be done.
I'm not familiar with the original song, so I can't comment on the arrangement, other than to say that I thought it was arranged in a way that fit his voice and style pretty well.
2) Alex Lambert - "Trouble": Just like Lee, he delivered the performance you would expect out of him...a great vocal, performed as if at gunpoint. I think he has some musical sense, since he writes some of his own stuff, but we still haven't seen him do anything "different" with an arrangement. That's the type of thing he will have to start doing if he has serious ambitions to win this.
Well, that, and he needs to stop looking like he's about to pee his pants the whole time he's on stage. If he DOES make it to the Top 12 next week, that arena is going to swallow him whole. If he's nervous now, what is going to happen when you multiply that crowd by 10 or so?
3) Tim Urban - "Hallelujah": Brilliant song choice. All he has to do with this song is not completely fall on his face, and it's going to be praised. The song is just that good.
And that's pretty much all he did with it...he didn't fall on his face. The vocal was fine, although I TOTALLY disagreed with Kara about his "emotional attachment" to the song...I didn't get any of that. Go listen to Jeff Buckley or Rufus Wainwright sing this song. THAT is an emotional connection.
Plus, it's only been two years since Jason Castro performed this song and created one of the greatest Idol moments I can remember....this version was nowhere close to that.
Man, Jason Castro...how much better was he than ANY of these guys? And he was at best the third best guy in the competition that year. This season is sucking the life out of me.
4) Andrew Garcia - "Genie in a Bottle": OK, sorry...it's time to close the book on Andrew Garcia. Talk about a one-trick pony. This was just weird, and as Simon called it, "DESPERATE".
5) Casey James - "You'll Think of Me": I'll give him this...he is one of the few contestants this year, especially on the guys side, who really knows what his strengths are as an artist. Just sit there, play your guitar, look pretty, and deliver a slightly above average vocal performance.
His voice is still very shaky, especially if he has to hold a note more than 2-3 counts...I don't know if that's lack of control or just nerves. But this was probably the best vocal performance we've seen out of him.
6) Aaron Kelly - "I'm Already There": Ugh. Now THIS was bad karaoke. Terrible stage presence...I'm not getting what Ellen is seeing there at all. He looks stiff and nervous, and just keeps doing that one move where he just throws his arm up in the air and lets it hang there, limply. The voice is strained and nasally, and he pushed WAY past the pitch at times.
Sorry, there was nothing good about this.
7) Todrick Hall - "Somebody to Love": Corny, showy, the very definition of indulgent. He does not have the range to sing Freddy Mercury, so after the falsetto at the beginning the rest of the song had to be done in a much lower register, and even that was flat at times.
Awful.
8) Mike Lynch - "This Woman's Work": This was very good...he really does have a good voice, and he had a lot of fun up there, for sure. But the judges overeffusive praise of this just killed it for me.
Like I said, it was very good...but come on, Kara. This reduced you to a sniveling mess that would shame even Paula? Maybe it was just the vibe in the actual studio, with Mike's wife being there for the first time. Plus, isn't this song just about being pregnant and having babies? So has Big Mike's baby become this season's version of Danny Gokey's Dead Wife?
I know this...in seasons past, this would have been middle of the pack at best. Big Mike is lucky...when compared to the steaming pile of crap that most of the competition threw out there tonight, this looked like gold in comparison.
Final Thoughts:
Tuesday night, Katie and Paige were a clear cut bottom two among the ladies...it wasn't even close. But....if I were putting together my own top 12, both of them would probably be in over half of the guys that are left.
In fact....here is my personal top 12 at this point in the competition:
1) Crystal
2) Siobhan
3) DiDi
4) Mike
5) Alex
6) Casey
7) Lilly
8) Lee
9) Katelyn
10) Lacey
11) Katey
12) Paige
Bottom 4:
13) Andrew
14) Tim
15) Todrick
16) Aaron
And yet...two of those bottom 4 will definitely be in the Top 12. Whatever.
OK, let's wrap this up:
Top 4 (tonight):
1) Mike
2) Casey
3) Alex
4) Lee
Who SHOULD go home: Aaron and Todrick.
Who WILL go home: Todrick and Lee. (just a gut feeling on this one...it's usually about this time that we see a "shocking" ouster)
1) Lee Dewyze - "Fireflies": Another typical Lee performance...he has a nice tone to his voice, but he has consistent problems with staying on pitch. I think the reason that Simon doesn't really acknowledge those problems is because he knows that they can be fixed in the studio...after all, he has said he is a big Taylor Swift fan, so he knows it can be done.
I'm not familiar with the original song, so I can't comment on the arrangement, other than to say that I thought it was arranged in a way that fit his voice and style pretty well.
2) Alex Lambert - "Trouble": Just like Lee, he delivered the performance you would expect out of him...a great vocal, performed as if at gunpoint. I think he has some musical sense, since he writes some of his own stuff, but we still haven't seen him do anything "different" with an arrangement. That's the type of thing he will have to start doing if he has serious ambitions to win this.
Well, that, and he needs to stop looking like he's about to pee his pants the whole time he's on stage. If he DOES make it to the Top 12 next week, that arena is going to swallow him whole. If he's nervous now, what is going to happen when you multiply that crowd by 10 or so?
3) Tim Urban - "Hallelujah": Brilliant song choice. All he has to do with this song is not completely fall on his face, and it's going to be praised. The song is just that good.
And that's pretty much all he did with it...he didn't fall on his face. The vocal was fine, although I TOTALLY disagreed with Kara about his "emotional attachment" to the song...I didn't get any of that. Go listen to Jeff Buckley or Rufus Wainwright sing this song. THAT is an emotional connection.
Plus, it's only been two years since Jason Castro performed this song and created one of the greatest Idol moments I can remember....this version was nowhere close to that.
Man, Jason Castro...how much better was he than ANY of these guys? And he was at best the third best guy in the competition that year. This season is sucking the life out of me.
4) Andrew Garcia - "Genie in a Bottle": OK, sorry...it's time to close the book on Andrew Garcia. Talk about a one-trick pony. This was just weird, and as Simon called it, "DESPERATE".
5) Casey James - "You'll Think of Me": I'll give him this...he is one of the few contestants this year, especially on the guys side, who really knows what his strengths are as an artist. Just sit there, play your guitar, look pretty, and deliver a slightly above average vocal performance.
His voice is still very shaky, especially if he has to hold a note more than 2-3 counts...I don't know if that's lack of control or just nerves. But this was probably the best vocal performance we've seen out of him.
6) Aaron Kelly - "I'm Already There": Ugh. Now THIS was bad karaoke. Terrible stage presence...I'm not getting what Ellen is seeing there at all. He looks stiff and nervous, and just keeps doing that one move where he just throws his arm up in the air and lets it hang there, limply. The voice is strained and nasally, and he pushed WAY past the pitch at times.
Sorry, there was nothing good about this.
7) Todrick Hall - "Somebody to Love": Corny, showy, the very definition of indulgent. He does not have the range to sing Freddy Mercury, so after the falsetto at the beginning the rest of the song had to be done in a much lower register, and even that was flat at times.
Awful.
8) Mike Lynch - "This Woman's Work": This was very good...he really does have a good voice, and he had a lot of fun up there, for sure. But the judges overeffusive praise of this just killed it for me.
Like I said, it was very good...but come on, Kara. This reduced you to a sniveling mess that would shame even Paula? Maybe it was just the vibe in the actual studio, with Mike's wife being there for the first time. Plus, isn't this song just about being pregnant and having babies? So has Big Mike's baby become this season's version of Danny Gokey's Dead Wife?
I know this...in seasons past, this would have been middle of the pack at best. Big Mike is lucky...when compared to the steaming pile of crap that most of the competition threw out there tonight, this looked like gold in comparison.
Final Thoughts:
Tuesday night, Katie and Paige were a clear cut bottom two among the ladies...it wasn't even close. But....if I were putting together my own top 12, both of them would probably be in over half of the guys that are left.
In fact....here is my personal top 12 at this point in the competition:
1) Crystal
2) Siobhan
3) DiDi
4) Mike
5) Alex
6) Casey
7) Lilly
8) Lee
9) Katelyn
10) Lacey
11) Katey
12) Paige
Bottom 4:
13) Andrew
14) Tim
15) Todrick
16) Aaron
And yet...two of those bottom 4 will definitely be in the Top 12. Whatever.
OK, let's wrap this up:
Top 4 (tonight):
1) Mike
2) Casey
3) Alex
4) Lee
Who SHOULD go home: Aaron and Todrick.
Who WILL go home: Todrick and Lee. (just a gut feeling on this one...it's usually about this time that we see a "shocking" ouster)
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Idol Thoughts - Top 8 Ladies
OK...this one is probably going to be shorter than normal (I know, you're all very upset about that) because 1) I forgot my notes, so I'm working from memory and I'm forgetful in my old age; 2) Most of the contestants fell into the "good and solid" category, which leaves little to say, and; 3) like most of you, I am deeply saddened by the news of Corey Haim's passing. RIP, Lucas. As Mackie tweeted, "Death...you took the wrong Corey".
1) Katie Stevens - "Breakaway": Oh, this poor girl. The judges have totally screwed her into the ground. This is NOT the type of song that fits her style, and she looks really uncomfortable up there. The verse was flat, the chorus wasn't much better...the whole thing was just awkward.
At least the judges basically admit that they have totally confused this poor child, and it appears that Kara and Simon read my blog since they say EXACTLY what I went off on a rant about last week...she just doesn't know who she is as an artist, and so she is trying to do whatever the judges tell her. Big mistake.
It's a shame, too, because she is really talented.
2) Siobhan Magnus - "House of the Rising Sun": Bold move to go a capella at the beginning, and she nails it...of course. I stand by my belief that this girl has the very best voice in the competition...crystal clear tone, ridiculous range, great phrasing. This whole thing was just mesmerizing. She is the real deal.
Plus, she just makes me ridiculously happy every time she is on the screen. I don't know that I have ever been pulling for a contestant on this show the way I am for her.
This quote from the TelevisionWithoutPity forum probably says it best: "Siobhan is a space alien taking part in this show because of some intergalactic mishap, just playing along until rescue comes. I mean that in a good way".
3) Lacey Brown - "Don't Remember the Song Title and I Don't Have My Notes" - This was her best performance so far this season...but having to go right after Siobhan didn't help her, in my opinion. This was arranged in such a way that it really showcased her voice, and her voice just isn't as good as Siobhan's. That being said, I really enjoyed this...I do like her voice, and you will find stuff like this all over my MP3 player. I hope she gets to stick around another week, but that would probably be as far as she goes.
4) Katelyn Epperly - "I Feel the Earth Move": Once again, Simon and I are basically on the same page here. She sang this well, but I had just told Mrs. Legend "This sounds very 'piano bar-esque'" when Simon told her he felt like it was something he would hear in a restaurant.
I thought it was a bad idea to stand at the piano-looking thingy, and she just looked totally uninterested the whole time. This was OK, but the vibe was just really weird.
5) DiDi Benami - "Rhiannon": FINALLY, she is back to doing what she is good at, and this was the best she has done since Hollywood week. She took just enough liberties with the melody to make it a little different, but she didn't go crazy. She just found a song she can sing well and did exactly that.
Imagine that.
6) Paige Miles - "Smile": ZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. Wow, this was not good. She took everything that is good about her (her personality and stage presence) and just subtracted it. Sorry, her voice is not good enough to get by with just standing there and singing.
This was depressing, boring, and it's really going to suck for her to sing "Smile, though your heart is breaking" when she goes home on Thursday.
7) Crystal Bowersox - "Give Me One Reason": LOVE this song, and it's perfect for her, of course...when I talk about "knowing who you are as an artist", THIS is what I mean. Perfect song choice, and I loved the way she gave it a little edge to it with the electric guitar.
She's too good for this show, honestly. And I loved the whole "sitting on the amp, just chillin'" vibe while the judges were giving their comments.
8) Lilly Scott - "I Fall to Pieces": I don't know. This was fine, but I am just bored by her now. It doesn't help her to go last, because we've already seen both Lacey and DiDi sing in something similar to this style already, and I thought both of them were better.
All she is really doing to change these songs up is sing in that different tone of hers (which I like) and just over-pronounce everything to the point of distraction.
If she had gone third or fourth tonight, I probably would have enjoyed it more...I just think she was overshadowed by several fairly similar singers tonight.
Final Thoughts:
Overall, a very good show, even if there were no "WOW" performances. I thought everybody except Paige and Katie were really good, if not great, and even Katie was OK...she was just singing in a style that does not fit her. I was tempted to vote for her just out of sheer sympathy, to see if she can maybe get it together and stop letting the judges twist her into knots. But then I didn't....sorry, she's just not ready for this yet.
Top 4:
1) Crystal
2) Siobhan
3) DiDi
4) Lacey
Who SHOULD go home: Katie and Paige.
Who WILL go home: Katie and Paige.
1) Katie Stevens - "Breakaway": Oh, this poor girl. The judges have totally screwed her into the ground. This is NOT the type of song that fits her style, and she looks really uncomfortable up there. The verse was flat, the chorus wasn't much better...the whole thing was just awkward.
At least the judges basically admit that they have totally confused this poor child, and it appears that Kara and Simon read my blog since they say EXACTLY what I went off on a rant about last week...she just doesn't know who she is as an artist, and so she is trying to do whatever the judges tell her. Big mistake.
It's a shame, too, because she is really talented.
2) Siobhan Magnus - "House of the Rising Sun": Bold move to go a capella at the beginning, and she nails it...of course. I stand by my belief that this girl has the very best voice in the competition...crystal clear tone, ridiculous range, great phrasing. This whole thing was just mesmerizing. She is the real deal.
Plus, she just makes me ridiculously happy every time she is on the screen. I don't know that I have ever been pulling for a contestant on this show the way I am for her.
This quote from the TelevisionWithoutPity forum probably says it best: "Siobhan is a space alien taking part in this show because of some intergalactic mishap, just playing along until rescue comes. I mean that in a good way".
3) Lacey Brown - "Don't Remember the Song Title and I Don't Have My Notes" - This was her best performance so far this season...but having to go right after Siobhan didn't help her, in my opinion. This was arranged in such a way that it really showcased her voice, and her voice just isn't as good as Siobhan's. That being said, I really enjoyed this...I do like her voice, and you will find stuff like this all over my MP3 player. I hope she gets to stick around another week, but that would probably be as far as she goes.
4) Katelyn Epperly - "I Feel the Earth Move": Once again, Simon and I are basically on the same page here. She sang this well, but I had just told Mrs. Legend "This sounds very 'piano bar-esque'" when Simon told her he felt like it was something he would hear in a restaurant.
I thought it was a bad idea to stand at the piano-looking thingy, and she just looked totally uninterested the whole time. This was OK, but the vibe was just really weird.
5) DiDi Benami - "Rhiannon": FINALLY, she is back to doing what she is good at, and this was the best she has done since Hollywood week. She took just enough liberties with the melody to make it a little different, but she didn't go crazy. She just found a song she can sing well and did exactly that.
Imagine that.
6) Paige Miles - "Smile": ZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. Wow, this was not good. She took everything that is good about her (her personality and stage presence) and just subtracted it. Sorry, her voice is not good enough to get by with just standing there and singing.
This was depressing, boring, and it's really going to suck for her to sing "Smile, though your heart is breaking" when she goes home on Thursday.
7) Crystal Bowersox - "Give Me One Reason": LOVE this song, and it's perfect for her, of course...when I talk about "knowing who you are as an artist", THIS is what I mean. Perfect song choice, and I loved the way she gave it a little edge to it with the electric guitar.
She's too good for this show, honestly. And I loved the whole "sitting on the amp, just chillin'" vibe while the judges were giving their comments.
8) Lilly Scott - "I Fall to Pieces": I don't know. This was fine, but I am just bored by her now. It doesn't help her to go last, because we've already seen both Lacey and DiDi sing in something similar to this style already, and I thought both of them were better.
All she is really doing to change these songs up is sing in that different tone of hers (which I like) and just over-pronounce everything to the point of distraction.
If she had gone third or fourth tonight, I probably would have enjoyed it more...I just think she was overshadowed by several fairly similar singers tonight.
Final Thoughts:
Overall, a very good show, even if there were no "WOW" performances. I thought everybody except Paige and Katie were really good, if not great, and even Katie was OK...she was just singing in a style that does not fit her. I was tempted to vote for her just out of sheer sympathy, to see if she can maybe get it together and stop letting the judges twist her into knots. But then I didn't....sorry, she's just not ready for this yet.
Top 4:
1) Crystal
2) Siobhan
3) DiDi
4) Lacey
Who SHOULD go home: Katie and Paige.
Who WILL go home: Katie and Paige.
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Idol Thoughts - Top 10 Ladies
Thoughts on last week's eliminations:
Well, you all know how I felt about Janell, but she totally blew it with song choice last week. You just don't take on Heart this early in the competition unless you have Carrie Underwood/Alison Iraheta level pipes, and that was not Janell's strength. Oh, well...
As for Ashley...whatever. She always bored me, so I wasn't too upset to see her go.
Although, the fact that probably the two hottest females went away in the first week says a lot about the demographics of this show, don't you think?
This week, the Interwebz were abuzz all day with news of Crystal's hospitalization due to some complications related to her diabetes...this was the first I had heard of her being diabetic, and it kind of makes me feel bad about the jokes about her teeth.
Kind of.
Anyway, I thought she played it perfectly tonight...she didn't beg for sympathy votes, she just said she was a "tough cookie" and moved on. Good for her...other contestants in the past would probably have had themselves wheeled out on stage in a wheelchair in order to garner as much sympathy as possible.
And, what do you know, she's the first one up!
1) Crystal Bowersox - "Long As I Can See the Light": One of my all time favorite songs from one of my all time favorite bands, and perfect for her voice and style. I wasn't a HUGE fan of the arrangement, but her tone was perfect, there was not the slightest evidence of nerves or sickness...it was pretty much awesome, and she's a pro. Not much else to say.
2) Haeley Vaughn - "The Climb": What a weird little child this girl is. It's like she's a cartoon. I'm not saying that's bad, she's just really...strange.
I did NOT like this song choice for her, even though I do like the song (I like the message). She always has pitch problems, but when she's being quirky, like last week, she can get away with it because you're not sure if it's intentional or not. When she just tries to sing the song straight, like this one, then those problems become a lot more noticeable, and the high parts on this one were just painful
Kara is right...she has a nice instrument, she just doesn't know how to use it yet. She would have been better served if the judges told her to come back next year, but it's too late for that now.
3) Lacey Brown - "Kiss Me": Oof, that opening was rough. It's usually not a good idea to sing an arrangement with virtually no band backing when you're as nervous as she obviously is. And you can tell that was at least a big part of the problem, because once the band kicks in she's fine.
This was a nice little performance, probably enough to keep her around for another week. Her biggest problem is that there are so many of these "quirky" females this year that you really have to do something to stand out, and I don't think she's capable. She may last this week, but not much longer.
4) Katie Stevens - "Put Your Records On": Continues a theme that we have seen this season with contestants listening to the judges too much. Look, Simon even admits later in the show that they have been wildly inconsistent in their critiques and advice this year. And if you think going "younger" means singing this song, then "younger" is obviously not your thing.
These people supposedly watch this show every year, and so few of them understand what this show is now. You have to know who you are as an artist, and go out every week and be that. Chris Daughtry started it, and all of the best ones who have come after him have continued it. The attitude should be, "Fine. You want me to sing Broadway? OK, but I'm singing it like I'm going to sing it on my album. Same thing I'll be doing on Country Night, Michael Jackson Night, Madonna Night, Teletubbies Night, Yanni Night, or whatever else crappy theme you stick us with." But so many of these people are trying to please the JUDGES...forgetting that these judges aren't actually judging anymore, they are critiquing. The JUDGES are the people at home watching, and those are the people you have to please. The only way to do that is find something you totally kick butt at and then keep doing it, no matter what the judges say. Show us what kind of album you want to make, and we'll decide if we want to buy it or not. Otherwise, you just come off as weak and fake, and the judges will keep bouncing you back and forth and beating the "you" out of "you" until you slowly shrivel up into nothingness and die like Lil Rounds and Brooke White.
OK, rant over...back to Katie. She really does have a great voice, but this song showed me that her range may be a little more limited than I thought. She cracked on one of the glory notes, and then threw in an overly pushed "run" to try and make up for it, the way most people (including myself sometimes) do. The ending was nice.
If she sticks around, and I think she will, she needs to just forget the judges and sing what SHE wants to sing.
5) DiDi Benami - "Lean on Me": You know what? I actually kind of liked this, even though I think it was a TERRIBLE choice of song for her. I dug the arrangement, and she sounded good, although it was at the very TOP of her range. I just wonder when she's going to get back to what got her here...because singing a tricked up version of a classic soul song ain't it.
Oh, and after the judges critique, I don't think she was crying because she was sad...I think she was crying because she was PISSED. And I do think the judges were overly harsh with her.
6) Michelle Delamor - "With Arms Wide Open": I'm sorry, but this person just bores me to tears when she performs. Talk about old-fashioned. I can't tell if she's trying to be the "diva" of this season, since we seem to be missing that particular dynamic this time, but her voice isn't big enough for that.
I said it last week, and I'll probably keep saying it as long as she is here...this is not what this show is anymore.
This song really goes nowhere, vocally...she ripped the mic off the stand and stomped around like it was about to get really awesome, but then...it....didn't. And then it was over.
Oh, and does anybody know if she has a daughter? Because, if not, changing the "he" in that song to "she" is just stupid, and it distracted me.
7) Lilly Scott - "A Change is Gonna Come": It's hard for me to explain why her weirdness bugs me and my girl Siobhan's doesn't, but I guess the best way to put it is that hers seems "forced". Like, "I'm going to be just as weird and socially awkward as I can be, and I DARE you to react to it negatively in any way, because then I'm just going to go off on you about how square and closed-minded you are, and I can't WAIT to do that." I really don't think she's very secure in herself, so she acts and dresses like this to convince everybody that SHE is not the one with the identity problem...YOU are. While, with Siobhan (and also Haeley) I think they are just naturally different than most other people, and they have accepted it without projecting it out all over everybody else.
Of course, I don't know any of these people, and I fully admit I could be totally off base. But, you know....my blog, so my opinion.
Oh, and to the Anonymous commenter from last week...I'm aware that she's not actually 37 years old, but thanks for correcting me. She's like 40, right? Excuse me for trying to be nice.
OK, on to the song...love the song, but I don't think it fits her voice at all. And I really do like her voice, but this is not the song for it, especially if you're just going to sing it straight and not really change it up all that much from the original. So, it's not that I didn't like this, but I think she is tons better when she picks the right song (like she did last week).
8) Katelyn Epperly - "The Scientist": Wow, she looks....stunning. Seriously. And this was gorgeous.
The judges talk about taking "risks" all the time, and usually both they and the contestants are equating that with doing some big arrangement with glory notes all over the place, and the lights going all crazy, etc, etc. And those are risky, sometimes. But this is REAL risk. No extras, no distractions...just strip everything down to your voice and your piano, and take the time to tell a story with the song. It really takes a lot of discipline to keep...that...rhythm and not speed up, and that tempo really fit the song, I thought.
Unfortunately, half of the judges are apparently four years old and can't pay attention to something unless it is bright and sparkly, so I guess they didn't get it.
9) Paige Miles - "Walk Away": I'll say this, if you want to show off your voice, it's always a good idea to pick a Kelly C song. And Paige can really sing, although I don't think she's as good as Simon does. There was just nothing about this that made her stand out in any way whatsoever, and the falsetto parts at end were just not in tune.
We really don't have the "Black Girl With The Big Voice" among the semifinalists this year, do we? How long has it been since we didn't?
10) Siobhan Magnus -"Think": I just love this girl...she's such a weird, geeky, awkward little miracle of a person. I am just fascinated by everything that comes out of her mouth, because it's like she's operating in a different dimension than the rest of us. I wonder what color her sky is?
Anyway, on top of everything else, she has the BEST voice out of any of them from a pure vocal standpoint. I actually love most of the female voices on the show this season, but this one is the most pure, and the most powerful. I would not have picked this song for her, but she made it work.
If she ever comes out and does some Paramore, I'll probably just pass right out.
Final thoughts:
Another really good show...this week's were much better than last week, I thought.
I am already done with Randy for the season...he is on automatic FF from here on out, so if he says something you think I would want to hear, feel free to let me know.
Top 4:
1) Katelyn
2) Siobhan (only moved down a slot because of song choice)
3) Crystal
4) DiDi
Who SHOULD go home: Haeley and Michelle.
Who WILL go home: Lacey and Paige.
Well, you all know how I felt about Janell, but she totally blew it with song choice last week. You just don't take on Heart this early in the competition unless you have Carrie Underwood/Alison Iraheta level pipes, and that was not Janell's strength. Oh, well...
As for Ashley...whatever. She always bored me, so I wasn't too upset to see her go.
Although, the fact that probably the two hottest females went away in the first week says a lot about the demographics of this show, don't you think?
This week, the Interwebz were abuzz all day with news of Crystal's hospitalization due to some complications related to her diabetes...this was the first I had heard of her being diabetic, and it kind of makes me feel bad about the jokes about her teeth.
Kind of.
Anyway, I thought she played it perfectly tonight...she didn't beg for sympathy votes, she just said she was a "tough cookie" and moved on. Good for her...other contestants in the past would probably have had themselves wheeled out on stage in a wheelchair in order to garner as much sympathy as possible.
And, what do you know, she's the first one up!
1) Crystal Bowersox - "Long As I Can See the Light": One of my all time favorite songs from one of my all time favorite bands, and perfect for her voice and style. I wasn't a HUGE fan of the arrangement, but her tone was perfect, there was not the slightest evidence of nerves or sickness...it was pretty much awesome, and she's a pro. Not much else to say.
2) Haeley Vaughn - "The Climb": What a weird little child this girl is. It's like she's a cartoon. I'm not saying that's bad, she's just really...strange.
I did NOT like this song choice for her, even though I do like the song (I like the message). She always has pitch problems, but when she's being quirky, like last week, she can get away with it because you're not sure if it's intentional or not. When she just tries to sing the song straight, like this one, then those problems become a lot more noticeable, and the high parts on this one were just painful
Kara is right...she has a nice instrument, she just doesn't know how to use it yet. She would have been better served if the judges told her to come back next year, but it's too late for that now.
3) Lacey Brown - "Kiss Me": Oof, that opening was rough. It's usually not a good idea to sing an arrangement with virtually no band backing when you're as nervous as she obviously is. And you can tell that was at least a big part of the problem, because once the band kicks in she's fine.
This was a nice little performance, probably enough to keep her around for another week. Her biggest problem is that there are so many of these "quirky" females this year that you really have to do something to stand out, and I don't think she's capable. She may last this week, but not much longer.
4) Katie Stevens - "Put Your Records On": Continues a theme that we have seen this season with contestants listening to the judges too much. Look, Simon even admits later in the show that they have been wildly inconsistent in their critiques and advice this year. And if you think going "younger" means singing this song, then "younger" is obviously not your thing.
These people supposedly watch this show every year, and so few of them understand what this show is now. You have to know who you are as an artist, and go out every week and be that. Chris Daughtry started it, and all of the best ones who have come after him have continued it. The attitude should be, "Fine. You want me to sing Broadway? OK, but I'm singing it like I'm going to sing it on my album. Same thing I'll be doing on Country Night, Michael Jackson Night, Madonna Night, Teletubbies Night, Yanni Night, or whatever else crappy theme you stick us with." But so many of these people are trying to please the JUDGES...forgetting that these judges aren't actually judging anymore, they are critiquing. The JUDGES are the people at home watching, and those are the people you have to please. The only way to do that is find something you totally kick butt at and then keep doing it, no matter what the judges say. Show us what kind of album you want to make, and we'll decide if we want to buy it or not. Otherwise, you just come off as weak and fake, and the judges will keep bouncing you back and forth and beating the "you" out of "you" until you slowly shrivel up into nothingness and die like Lil Rounds and Brooke White.
OK, rant over...back to Katie. She really does have a great voice, but this song showed me that her range may be a little more limited than I thought. She cracked on one of the glory notes, and then threw in an overly pushed "run" to try and make up for it, the way most people (including myself sometimes) do. The ending was nice.
If she sticks around, and I think she will, she needs to just forget the judges and sing what SHE wants to sing.
5) DiDi Benami - "Lean on Me": You know what? I actually kind of liked this, even though I think it was a TERRIBLE choice of song for her. I dug the arrangement, and she sounded good, although it was at the very TOP of her range. I just wonder when she's going to get back to what got her here...because singing a tricked up version of a classic soul song ain't it.
Oh, and after the judges critique, I don't think she was crying because she was sad...I think she was crying because she was PISSED. And I do think the judges were overly harsh with her.
6) Michelle Delamor - "With Arms Wide Open": I'm sorry, but this person just bores me to tears when she performs. Talk about old-fashioned. I can't tell if she's trying to be the "diva" of this season, since we seem to be missing that particular dynamic this time, but her voice isn't big enough for that.
I said it last week, and I'll probably keep saying it as long as she is here...this is not what this show is anymore.
This song really goes nowhere, vocally...she ripped the mic off the stand and stomped around like it was about to get really awesome, but then...it....didn't. And then it was over.
Oh, and does anybody know if she has a daughter? Because, if not, changing the "he" in that song to "she" is just stupid, and it distracted me.
7) Lilly Scott - "A Change is Gonna Come": It's hard for me to explain why her weirdness bugs me and my girl Siobhan's doesn't, but I guess the best way to put it is that hers seems "forced". Like, "I'm going to be just as weird and socially awkward as I can be, and I DARE you to react to it negatively in any way, because then I'm just going to go off on you about how square and closed-minded you are, and I can't WAIT to do that." I really don't think she's very secure in herself, so she acts and dresses like this to convince everybody that SHE is not the one with the identity problem...YOU are. While, with Siobhan (and also Haeley) I think they are just naturally different than most other people, and they have accepted it without projecting it out all over everybody else.
Of course, I don't know any of these people, and I fully admit I could be totally off base. But, you know....my blog, so my opinion.
Oh, and to the Anonymous commenter from last week...I'm aware that she's not actually 37 years old, but thanks for correcting me. She's like 40, right? Excuse me for trying to be nice.
OK, on to the song...love the song, but I don't think it fits her voice at all. And I really do like her voice, but this is not the song for it, especially if you're just going to sing it straight and not really change it up all that much from the original. So, it's not that I didn't like this, but I think she is tons better when she picks the right song (like she did last week).
8) Katelyn Epperly - "The Scientist": Wow, she looks....stunning. Seriously. And this was gorgeous.
The judges talk about taking "risks" all the time, and usually both they and the contestants are equating that with doing some big arrangement with glory notes all over the place, and the lights going all crazy, etc, etc. And those are risky, sometimes. But this is REAL risk. No extras, no distractions...just strip everything down to your voice and your piano, and take the time to tell a story with the song. It really takes a lot of discipline to keep...that...rhythm and not speed up, and that tempo really fit the song, I thought.
Unfortunately, half of the judges are apparently four years old and can't pay attention to something unless it is bright and sparkly, so I guess they didn't get it.
9) Paige Miles - "Walk Away": I'll say this, if you want to show off your voice, it's always a good idea to pick a Kelly C song. And Paige can really sing, although I don't think she's as good as Simon does. There was just nothing about this that made her stand out in any way whatsoever, and the falsetto parts at end were just not in tune.
We really don't have the "Black Girl With The Big Voice" among the semifinalists this year, do we? How long has it been since we didn't?
10) Siobhan Magnus -"Think": I just love this girl...she's such a weird, geeky, awkward little miracle of a person. I am just fascinated by everything that comes out of her mouth, because it's like she's operating in a different dimension than the rest of us. I wonder what color her sky is?
Anyway, on top of everything else, she has the BEST voice out of any of them from a pure vocal standpoint. I actually love most of the female voices on the show this season, but this one is the most pure, and the most powerful. I would not have picked this song for her, but she made it work.
If she ever comes out and does some Paramore, I'll probably just pass right out.
Final thoughts:
Another really good show...this week's were much better than last week, I thought.
I am already done with Randy for the season...he is on automatic FF from here on out, so if he says something you think I would want to hear, feel free to let me know.
Top 4:
1) Katelyn
2) Siobhan (only moved down a slot because of song choice)
3) Crystal
4) DiDi
Who SHOULD go home: Haeley and Michelle.
Who WILL go home: Lacey and Paige.
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Idol Thoughts - Top 10 Guys
Quick thoughts on last week's eliminations: I didn't really agree with either of them. I didn't care so much about Joe, because while he was certainly better vocally last week than most of the ones who are left, there was no way he was going to win the whole thing, so the fact that he went home 2-3 weeks too early isn't that egregious.
But I felt bad for Tyler...the judges TOTALLY threw him under the bus for doing the exact same thing that they have been praising every time they've seen him. I don't think he would have won, either, but he was one that I was really looking forward to watching this season.
Oh, well.
On with the show...with a little twist this week. I actually got Mrs. Stuff of Legend to chime in with a one-line critique on each performer, just for comparison's sake. She hasn't really watched much of this season, so for a lot of the guys it will be a first impression.
Yeah, I only gave her one line...if she wants more than that she can go start her own blog.
1) Mike Lynche - "This is a Man's World": Great pre-song package, with the most impressive part being when he curled Aaron Kelly about 6 times.
He really does sound good on this song...he has a very nice tone to his voice, and he took just enough liberties with the melody to change it up a little without sounding obnoxious (::coughjermainesellerscough::). But I didn't like this arrangement...WAY too slow.
Mrs. Legend: Good voice, but this didn't grab my attention...and, yes, the arrangement was too slow.
2) John Park - "Gravity": Another bad song choice for him, in my opinion. A very dull, boring performance, and then add some pitch problems in on top of that. Surprisingly, most of the problems were in that "lower end" that Shania loved so much. Plus, his performance just seemed..."forced".
Ellen says that he seemed to "feel it" more here than he did in the rehearsal. If that's the case, he must have rehearsed while comatose.
Mrs. Legend: Boring.
(As you can tell from my ridiculously long blog posts, I'm a little more verbose than she is. But she said in one word what it took me two paragraphs to say, so who is really the better writer?)
3) Casey James - "I Don't Wanna Be": Ugh, I'm tired of this song. He is a very good guitar player, but vocally he's just not that strong. There's not a lot of control there...a lot of vibrato and kind of nasally. He also looked sort of awkward tonight, which he didn't last week, so I'm not sure what's going on there. Vocally, he is at the "bar singer" level (which I actually said about two minutes before Simon did)...but he's a better guitar player.
Kara was gonna criticize him tonight, no matter what, I think...but I do kind of agree with her, so who knows?
Mrs. Legend: I feel bad for him because he's OK, but he picked a song that has been done so much better on this show, by both Bo Bice and Elliot Yamin. (Elliot was her favorite).
4) Alex Lambert - "Everybody Knows": Wow. That was only about 1000 times better than last week. The guitar definitely helped him, and I know exactly what he was talking about in the pre-song interview about trying to figure out where his hands go. When my school and church made the transition from mics with cords to cordless ones at about the same time, I had a really hard time trying to figure out what to do with that free hand...I had always just held on to the mic cord with it before.
Anyway...I would buy this, like, today. It was that good. Great tone, good song choice, and looked tons more comfortable on stage.
This was easily the biggest turnaround I've seen a singer make since Nick Martinelli.
Mrs. Legend: Wonder how good he'll be when he gets used to being on stage? I thought he should have gone home last week, but I'm really glad he stayed.
5) Todrick Hall - "What's Love Got to Do With It": OK, Todrick is falling into that trap that we see more and more people fall into, with the most noticeable example last season being Lil Rounds. He needs to stop trying to be clever and just be good. Stop trying to win American Idol and start finding things you are good at and do them.
I mean, this was decent...his voice is fine, and he didn't try to do as many unnecessary runs as he has in the past. But taking this song, or any song for that matter, and turning it into a slow jam is not playing to Todrick's strengths, which are his ability to move and his stage presence.
The judges are having a hard time explaining this to him...the problem is not THAT you are re-arranging songs. It's HOW you are arranging them. I rarely stick up for Randy, but I totally get what he is saying here...arranging songs is not what Todrick is good at, so let's see what he can do just singing a song straight.
Mrs. Legend: He's not good enough to sing Tina Turner.
6) Jermaine Sellers - "What's Going On": Let's skip past the over-dramatic, corny, old fashioned (was he actually SCATTING at one point?), useless performance and skip to the moment he became dead to me.
Seriously, you're going to ask the judges to just pick the song for you? That's the biggest cop-out I have ever heard on this show. He basically just admitted that he doesn't know how to do this show. That's part of it, Jermaine.....you are supposed to have some idea of who you are as an artist and what you are GOOD at. Do you still get Mommy to cut your steak up for you, too? Ugh...grow up. And stop wearing a frikkin' onesy....what are you, three years old?
And THEN....in response to Simon's remark that he may not be there next week, he throws out the, "No, I will be here...I KNOW GOD" crap. This is offensive on about 10 different levels to me as a Christian, but let's stick to the basic ones, for the sake of time:
1) What you are basically saying is, "God's going to take care of me on this show, but these other guys are godless heathens and are therefore on their own." I absolutely despise this "God favors me" theology, and there is nothing Biblical about it..
2) Does he think God votes on this show? Because I can almost guarantee you He doesn't, despite what the Adam Lambert haters from last season think.
3) Jesus is your HOMEBOY?
Anyway...this guy is the exact OPPOSITE of likable, and I desperately hope that Thursday is the last time I ever see him on my television screen.
Mrs. Legend: It was like Urkel trying to be Fantasia - but I did like the onesy idea. Turn the heat UP!
7) Andrew Garcia - "You Give Me Something": I was still throwing up in my mouth about Jermaine while Andrew was singing, so I may be missing something. But I thought this was extremely boring. I didn't like the arrangement at all, and I felt like he really missed his guitar. His voice still sounds good, but there was nothing memorable about this for me.
ME: What do you think of Andrew?
Mrs. Legend: I don't.
8) Aaron Kelly - "My Girl": Either he is still VERY nervous, or he just has a vibrato that is out of control...because he sounds like a goat. A very awkward, nasally goat.
Maybe it's just me...he has the same type voice as the Jonas Brothers, and it certainly seems to be working for them. But I am not a fan.
Mrs Legend: I thought he sounded good, in comparison to the others...he's a very pleasant little boy.
9) Tim Urban - "Come On, Get Higher": Look, he seems like a REALLY nice guy, and he has a pretty nice voice...but there is no way he should still be here. He is in no way ready for this type of stage.
Even though this was light years better than last week, and I agree with Kara that this is more his thing than the One Republic disaster he put us all through last week, he is just not a Superstar, in my opinion. Of course, I thought the exact same thing about Kris Allen last year.
Mrs. Legend: Undecided on this one, but he does have cute hair and nice arms. How many more are there?
Just one, Baby...welcome to my world.
10) Lee Dewyze - "Lips of an Angel": OK, I have now completely turned around on this guy, although I still hate the skull cap. I loved everything about this, even the slight awkwardness in the performance. The awkwardness actually kind of worked because of the passion in the delivery.
I thought it was by far the most CURRENT performance we have seen all season, and said right before Kara did that I could hear this on the radio right now.
Still some pitch problems, and I don't agree with what Simon said about him having the best voice out of all the guys, but vocally he was tons better than last week. And also, Simon is hearing him with the ear of a record producer...he has a great tone to his voice, and those slight pitch problems can be worked out pretty easily in the studio.
Mrs. Legend: He's cute when he's not wearing the skull cap...and that was really good.
Overall:
TONS better than last week, even if the improvement was only from "putrid" to "decent, but a bit boring".
I am still waiting for that one big "breakout" performance. As good as Lee and Alex were, it was around this point in the season that David Cook broke out "Hello", Bo Bice burst onto the scene with "Whipping Post", and Daughtry rocked "Hemorrhage". We just haven't seen anybody step up to that level yet.
Top 4:
1) Alex Lambert
2) Lee Dewyze
3) Michael Lynche
4) Casey James/Andrew Garcia (tie)
Who SHOULD go home: Tim Urban and Jermaine Sellers
Who WILL go home: Jermaine Sellers and John Park
But I felt bad for Tyler...the judges TOTALLY threw him under the bus for doing the exact same thing that they have been praising every time they've seen him. I don't think he would have won, either, but he was one that I was really looking forward to watching this season.
Oh, well.
On with the show...with a little twist this week. I actually got Mrs. Stuff of Legend to chime in with a one-line critique on each performer, just for comparison's sake. She hasn't really watched much of this season, so for a lot of the guys it will be a first impression.
Yeah, I only gave her one line...if she wants more than that she can go start her own blog.
1) Mike Lynche - "This is a Man's World": Great pre-song package, with the most impressive part being when he curled Aaron Kelly about 6 times.
He really does sound good on this song...he has a very nice tone to his voice, and he took just enough liberties with the melody to change it up a little without sounding obnoxious (::coughjermainesellerscough::). But I didn't like this arrangement...WAY too slow.
Mrs. Legend: Good voice, but this didn't grab my attention...and, yes, the arrangement was too slow.
2) John Park - "Gravity": Another bad song choice for him, in my opinion. A very dull, boring performance, and then add some pitch problems in on top of that. Surprisingly, most of the problems were in that "lower end" that Shania loved so much. Plus, his performance just seemed..."forced".
Ellen says that he seemed to "feel it" more here than he did in the rehearsal. If that's the case, he must have rehearsed while comatose.
Mrs. Legend: Boring.
(As you can tell from my ridiculously long blog posts, I'm a little more verbose than she is. But she said in one word what it took me two paragraphs to say, so who is really the better writer?)
3) Casey James - "I Don't Wanna Be": Ugh, I'm tired of this song. He is a very good guitar player, but vocally he's just not that strong. There's not a lot of control there...a lot of vibrato and kind of nasally. He also looked sort of awkward tonight, which he didn't last week, so I'm not sure what's going on there. Vocally, he is at the "bar singer" level (which I actually said about two minutes before Simon did)...but he's a better guitar player.
Kara was gonna criticize him tonight, no matter what, I think...but I do kind of agree with her, so who knows?
Mrs. Legend: I feel bad for him because he's OK, but he picked a song that has been done so much better on this show, by both Bo Bice and Elliot Yamin. (Elliot was her favorite).
4) Alex Lambert - "Everybody Knows": Wow. That was only about 1000 times better than last week. The guitar definitely helped him, and I know exactly what he was talking about in the pre-song interview about trying to figure out where his hands go. When my school and church made the transition from mics with cords to cordless ones at about the same time, I had a really hard time trying to figure out what to do with that free hand...I had always just held on to the mic cord with it before.
Anyway...I would buy this, like, today. It was that good. Great tone, good song choice, and looked tons more comfortable on stage.
This was easily the biggest turnaround I've seen a singer make since Nick Martinelli.
Mrs. Legend: Wonder how good he'll be when he gets used to being on stage? I thought he should have gone home last week, but I'm really glad he stayed.
5) Todrick Hall - "What's Love Got to Do With It": OK, Todrick is falling into that trap that we see more and more people fall into, with the most noticeable example last season being Lil Rounds. He needs to stop trying to be clever and just be good. Stop trying to win American Idol and start finding things you are good at and do them.
I mean, this was decent...his voice is fine, and he didn't try to do as many unnecessary runs as he has in the past. But taking this song, or any song for that matter, and turning it into a slow jam is not playing to Todrick's strengths, which are his ability to move and his stage presence.
The judges are having a hard time explaining this to him...the problem is not THAT you are re-arranging songs. It's HOW you are arranging them. I rarely stick up for Randy, but I totally get what he is saying here...arranging songs is not what Todrick is good at, so let's see what he can do just singing a song straight.
Mrs. Legend: He's not good enough to sing Tina Turner.
6) Jermaine Sellers - "What's Going On": Let's skip past the over-dramatic, corny, old fashioned (was he actually SCATTING at one point?), useless performance and skip to the moment he became dead to me.
Seriously, you're going to ask the judges to just pick the song for you? That's the biggest cop-out I have ever heard on this show. He basically just admitted that he doesn't know how to do this show. That's part of it, Jermaine.....you are supposed to have some idea of who you are as an artist and what you are GOOD at. Do you still get Mommy to cut your steak up for you, too? Ugh...grow up. And stop wearing a frikkin' onesy....what are you, three years old?
And THEN....in response to Simon's remark that he may not be there next week, he throws out the, "No, I will be here...I KNOW GOD" crap. This is offensive on about 10 different levels to me as a Christian, but let's stick to the basic ones, for the sake of time:
1) What you are basically saying is, "God's going to take care of me on this show, but these other guys are godless heathens and are therefore on their own." I absolutely despise this "God favors me" theology, and there is nothing Biblical about it..
2) Does he think God votes on this show? Because I can almost guarantee you He doesn't, despite what the Adam Lambert haters from last season think.
3) Jesus is your HOMEBOY?
Anyway...this guy is the exact OPPOSITE of likable, and I desperately hope that Thursday is the last time I ever see him on my television screen.
Mrs. Legend: It was like Urkel trying to be Fantasia - but I did like the onesy idea. Turn the heat UP!
7) Andrew Garcia - "You Give Me Something": I was still throwing up in my mouth about Jermaine while Andrew was singing, so I may be missing something. But I thought this was extremely boring. I didn't like the arrangement at all, and I felt like he really missed his guitar. His voice still sounds good, but there was nothing memorable about this for me.
ME: What do you think of Andrew?
Mrs. Legend: I don't.
8) Aaron Kelly - "My Girl": Either he is still VERY nervous, or he just has a vibrato that is out of control...because he sounds like a goat. A very awkward, nasally goat.
Maybe it's just me...he has the same type voice as the Jonas Brothers, and it certainly seems to be working for them. But I am not a fan.
Mrs Legend: I thought he sounded good, in comparison to the others...he's a very pleasant little boy.
9) Tim Urban - "Come On, Get Higher": Look, he seems like a REALLY nice guy, and he has a pretty nice voice...but there is no way he should still be here. He is in no way ready for this type of stage.
Even though this was light years better than last week, and I agree with Kara that this is more his thing than the One Republic disaster he put us all through last week, he is just not a Superstar, in my opinion. Of course, I thought the exact same thing about Kris Allen last year.
Mrs. Legend: Undecided on this one, but he does have cute hair and nice arms. How many more are there?
Just one, Baby...welcome to my world.
10) Lee Dewyze - "Lips of an Angel": OK, I have now completely turned around on this guy, although I still hate the skull cap. I loved everything about this, even the slight awkwardness in the performance. The awkwardness actually kind of worked because of the passion in the delivery.
I thought it was by far the most CURRENT performance we have seen all season, and said right before Kara did that I could hear this on the radio right now.
Still some pitch problems, and I don't agree with what Simon said about him having the best voice out of all the guys, but vocally he was tons better than last week. And also, Simon is hearing him with the ear of a record producer...he has a great tone to his voice, and those slight pitch problems can be worked out pretty easily in the studio.
Mrs. Legend: He's cute when he's not wearing the skull cap...and that was really good.
Overall:
TONS better than last week, even if the improvement was only from "putrid" to "decent, but a bit boring".
I am still waiting for that one big "breakout" performance. As good as Lee and Alex were, it was around this point in the season that David Cook broke out "Hello", Bo Bice burst onto the scene with "Whipping Post", and Daughtry rocked "Hemorrhage". We just haven't seen anybody step up to that level yet.
Top 4:
1) Alex Lambert
2) Lee Dewyze
3) Michael Lynche
4) Casey James/Andrew Garcia (tie)
Who SHOULD go home: Tim Urban and Jermaine Sellers
Who WILL go home: Jermaine Sellers and John Park
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