(Hope it's alright to excerpt)
Kenny Rogers was dismissive of Taylor’s talent and downright contemptuous of Elliott – the only soul singers left in the competition. Coincidence? I think not. His advice was tantamount to giving a sprinter cowboy boots to run a marathon.
Rogers actually told Elliott, “If the lyric’s important, don’t do a lot of licks. Sing it simply. I have a feeling that’s your comfort zone – that, as long as you’re doing those, you know people are impressed.”
Them’s fightin’ words.
So, Kenny, I guess that Billy Joel is just a piano show-off who should stick to Chopsticks. And jazz musicians – they only play those complex lines and chords because they suck at country music. Grrr.
I scrutinize every note Elliott has sung on American Idol. He has never oversung, not once. His vocal runs – or licks, as Kenny called them – are never gratuitous. In contrast, Katharine McPhee tends to pad the more intricate melodies with aimless vocal runs that fall apart when she tries to improvise, as heard on All Is Fair in Love.
Actually, I thought Botox Kenny had something of a point. Those runs are impressive to people who actually know something about music and vocal production. But Joe Public wants to hear the "big note" -- those impressive, long-lasting notes that make you sit up and say "whoa!" And there's a lot more Joe Publics out there than music connoisseurs.
If Elliott wants to stay in the competition long enough to make enough of a name to get a foothold in the biz, I think he needs to do a little pandering to the public taste. There is NOTHING WRONG with showing off what you can actually do! I was very pleased to see him going for the big notes at the end of Somebody to Love. He should do lots more of that. He's an extremely likeable guy, and if he manages to key in from the love from the audience and calm down, and then show off what he can really do, I think he could pop up (in the ratings) above Paris and McPhee, who both have a problem in seeming distant from their audience.