Before we continue, let's acknowledge that the show has become such a cultural phenomenon that even Politicians are using this show as a metaphor in their political exchanges.
Consider :
Cheney to Democrats: "If they are competent to fight this war, then I ought to be singing on American Idol."
The Democrat response: "Simon Cowell is more loved than this administration and its failed Iraq policy. Cheney wouldn't last long on American Idol."
OK, let's forget politics for the meantime, back to the recap....
LET's SUMMARIZE: GOODNESS, GRACIOUS, I WANT MY ONE HOUR BACK NOW !! THE PERFORMANCES WERE MOSTLY FORGETTABLE.
I thought it made a lot of sense -- letting the Idols choose material from a century that will define their careers.
Not looking at the past, but close to the present. This theme is a gift the producers give. After two weeks of singing Stevie Wonder and 1950s songs, the show finally let the remaining 10 finalists pick any song from the 21st century ( something they should be familiar with). No more looking through the song catalog trying to figure out which song from the oldies station sounds less dated. Just turn on MTV or VH1, find something you like, get an arrangement down, and go for it. What could be easier than that ?
The problem is that this week the contestants weren't being compared to songs most viewers only hear at weddings and bar mitzvahs. It was a lot easier to judge the singers in comparison to what actually makes it to airplay, and the sad fact is that if these 10 were as good as the performers who made the songs famous, they probably wouldn't need "American Idol" to secure a record deal in the first place. But then, let's be honest... it's hard to judge "good" from "bad" in a venue like this one where you don't have original material to work from and don't have the benefit of "takes" in a sound studio.
Also take especial note folks --- THEY DON'T WRITE SONGS LIKE THEY USED TO. MOST OF THE 21st CENTURY SONGS WON'T EVEN BE REMEMBERED 10 YEARS FROM NOW ( AKA, there won't be any standards that people will want to remember if and when they do have say, American Idol 12 ). I AM WILLING TO BET YOU ON THAT. Where are the great writers today ? Where is the next Lennon-McCartney, the next Taupin-John, the next Bacharach-David ?
And oh SURPRISE, SURPRISE, The judges seemed to have an unusual fit of criticizetis tonight. Yes, the result is most contestants got criticism or lukewarm praise, and even Positive, Nurturing Paula was a little crankier than normal. Here's a surprise, Chris Daughtry, who could do no wrong in the first two months of the competition, actually got a bit of negative feedback. What ? No more pim-ping about how "original" ( note the quotes ) he is ?? Maybe the uproar from last week's "LIVE" rip-off got to the judges.
ON with the show....
Lisa Tucker, our dear sweet, teen cover girl.
Who does she decide to cover ? Well, she's trying to breakaway ( pun intended ) by DARING to make a comparison between her at 16 with the first American Idol when she was 20. That's right, Lisa decides to do Kelly Clarkson's "Because of You".
Well, what can I say ? It's becoming pretty predictable every week for Tucker ( AKA routinely boring).
She comes out, she sings a song pretty well, the judges criticize her, and she can't quite figure out why. They loved her at the auditions, they loved her in Hollywood, they loved her in the semifinals … and now, for whatever reason, they suddenly seem to grow cold on her. Sounds like a cheating boyfriend/girlfriend ? Well, now you know what poor Lisa must now feel.
Personally, I don't care what the judges say. It was one of the best vocal she's done since the finals began. ALAS and ALAK, she's trying to compare herself with an American Idol who went on to become a superstar and this performance shows that she's got ways to go.
The judges are lukewarm. Even Paula, trying her best to be nice, is lukewarm.
The judge's capriciousness should be a preview for the fickleness Tucker can expect from high-school boys when she gets voted off and becomes a normal student again. I'm afraid this might be her swan song.
But then again, she's going to be touring the country no matter what...
Every time I see Kellie Pickler, I don't anticipate what she's going to sing or perform but what silly things will be coming out of her mouth before or after the performance. THAT folks, is why I want her to stay some more...it's a simple, guilty pleasure on my part. Pardon my indulgence.
To the surprise of nobody, Pickler picks a country song, "Suds in the Bucket" by Sara Evans. Sara is like Martina Mcbride. You HAVE TO DO HER JUSTICE TO MAKE PEOPLE FORGET HER. Carrie Underwood RIVALED Martina's version of INDEPENDENCE DAY. Will Kellie do the same on Sara's song ?
Sadly, I have to say it was just alright. No WOW. Kellie was trying to chase the backup instrumentals and had a hard time getting her tempo straight and never seemed to get into the performance. It probably won't matter. The judges criticized it, Pickler said "I'm sorry!" and the whole audience goes sweet on her again. She is a minx isn't she? She's like your pretty girlfriend who messes up and then sweetly, with her smile and pouty lips, apologizes to you, running her fingers on your chest oh so tenderly and all is suddenly well with the world again. BUT HOW LONG ARE WE GOING TO PLAY THIS GAME BEFORE WE REALIZE THAT WE HAVE TO VOTE THE BEST SINGERS, NOT THE BEST A-- KISSERS.
BUT THIS SAYS IT ALL :
"The song wasn't exciting enough for your voice. I think maybe you're better than that." – Randy Jackson
Ace Young, my good old Boy Band lead singer. Will he do well this time ? Will he break out of his boy band mould ?
Ace chooses Train's "Drops of Jupiter" <--- GREAT CHOICE. Train is one of the better groups out there today who can write substantial lyrics. I admit that I hate this song with a passion of a thousand nuns who also hate this song. It was played to death for three years and that's the reason why I grew tired of it.
That said, I personally thought that the performance was acceptable. But then, is acceptable enough ? You're here to win aren't you ? There isn't really much to the 100 seconds they all sung tonight. It's really hard to do any song justice in that amount of time. My only problem with Ace is how literal he takes some of his performances. Just because the song says the word hair, it doesn't mean you have to touch your hair. For example, in the group song "TAKE IT EASY", he literally counts with his fingers when he sings : "4 who want to own me, 2 who want to stone me, 1 says she's a friend of mine.."
The only drama was when he revealed a scar on his chest ! WOO HOO, are we having a Baywatch moment here ?
Paula asked where he got it, which drew concerned comments from the other judges, but as it turns out it's just an old basketball injury — nothing that could get the controversial "Idol" judge mired in another Corey Clark moment for inappropriate dialogue with a hot contestant.
I'm getting worried for Ace. he visited the bottom 3 once. He could visit the bottom again this week. All depends on how Bucky does tonight.
It's not looking good when your fate lies in the hands of a bottom dweller and how he performs.
Taylor Hicks
Time to get serious for Taylor Hicks. At some point, people get tired of this dancing/performing thing and WILL REALIZE that this is at heart — STILL A VOCAL COMPETITION.
No one doubts that Taylor is a great performer. WE GET HIS POINT, but it’s time to settle down and do some serious singing that highlights your vocals ( the way Taylor did in the initial auditions (e.g., CHANGE IS GONNA COME ) ).
Simon of course is a sort of “put down the person” fellow who for the life of me can’t decide whether this is a performing show or a vocal show.
In the initial auditions in Vegas, he put’s Taylor down by saying : “It’s Not just about the voice and you proved that…”( whatever that means). He seems to concede then that Taylor has a voice but needs to show something more ( performing ?? ).
Then Taylor shows how entertaining he is by REALLY GETTING TO IT ( e.g. 3 weeks in a row — Takin’ It to the Street, Living For the City, Not Fade Away), and now Simon complains about drunk dancing.
So, Taylor has to get back to basics if he wants to win this — HIGHLIGHT YOUR VOCALS. After all, he did say initially that he WANTS HIS VOICE HEARD.
Give Hicks credit; he was one of the few finalists to try something new this week. I always knew that Taylor ( unlike Chris ), can be versatile. His years of performance experience prove it. He chooses "Trouble" by Ray LaMontagne, a song that forced him to stand and sing in a stationary position rather than showcasing his manic dancing.
The vocals were nice. It would have been awesome had he not been limited to just 2 minutes ( this is really a 4 minute song ). It must have taken a lot of effort to just stand there and sing, but I give him props. TAYLOR SHOWED THAT HE ISN'T JUST A PERFORMER TONIGHT. HE CAN SING AND THAT's WHAT IT's ALL ABOUT.
Simon likes his vocals and called it "excellent", and then let's out his British trap by complaining about his styling --- it's very Clay Aiken.
What's he trying to imply ? That Taylor's gay ? or is he saying that's what Clay would look like if he had gray hair. Luckily, Taylor has a good sense of humor and simply laughs it off.
Mandisa chooses a gospel hit song by Mary, Mary --- "WANNA PRAISE YOU"
Mandisa is clearly throwing a big and implied HELLO to all of his Christian contemporary listeners out there. You know, the folks who enjoy watching guys like Kirk Franklin or Yolanda Adams perform.
Well, she sang it very well. Look, I go to church myself and can truly appreciate this music ( heck, I'd probably be clapping and lifting my hands if I heard this live). But the image was definitely church choir rather than pop stardom. It won't cost her anything this week, but she probably doesn't want to make a habit of it. After all, this isn't a tent revival meeting.
Wow, note this telling praise :
"All I know is there's a new religion, and 40 million people are now going to the church of Mandisa." – Paula Abdul.
MANDISA ISN'T GOING ANYWHERE FOLKS. Expect to see her next week
Now comes my favorite rocker/screamer/yeller, Chris Daughtry.
Are we going to see smoke and light and strobes again ? I hope not. This is getting to be a special effects show week after week.
But what do you know... Ryan Seacrest gave Chris a two-minute interview to acknowledge that yes, the version of "Walk The Line" he sang last week was the "Live" version, and yes, that's one of his favorite bands. OK, now that we've gotten that out of the way, call off the Senate investigation and tell Pat Fitzerald to go home.
What does Chris choose to sing -- AHA a CREED SONG -- "WHAT IF" <--- WHY AM I NOT SURPRISED ?
Simon Cowell is now becoming a parody of himself. This man is a total, walking, talking self-contradiction.
Just one week after saluting Daughtry for never compromising, he then attacks the show's designated rocker after his performance for GET THIS ---- not compromising !!
Hey Simon, MAKE UP YOUR MIND ! Do you want him to compromise and sing Dean Martin or not ? You can't have it both ways you know.
But let me tell you why Simon is rooting for Chris to win....let's remind ourselves of a previous post ( by me of course )...Here is what Gray Charles says :
On an MSNBC interview, Simon Cowell said the following to Rita Cosby:
Rita: Who do you think will win? What’s your prediction on who’s gonna win? Who’s gonna take it all?
Simon: I have a horrible feeling the public is going to vote for Taylor, and I’d prefer Chris.
Why would Simon “prefer” Chris? Easy, Simon’s job is to market and sell the winner of AI to the public. Is Chris marketable? Absolutely and easily. Remember that first and foremost Simon would like to make money off the winner.
With Chris, you have a performer that is easily packaged into a box that makes sense. Go ahead and try it for yourself - write a one sentence summary of Chris.
Alt-Rock Edge in “nice guy” package - that’s mine.
Now compare Chris to another band thats popular today - once again, it’s all too easy.
Now try and do the same with Taylor - it’s much more difficult. If you’re in Simon’s shoes, how do you go about “selling” Taylor to the public? Name another musician that is big on the pop charts today that you could compare to Taylor. See the difficulty? This is the challenge that Simon doesn’t want to face.
Does Simon prefer Taylor’s music to Chris? I would argue that, for the purposes of this competition - it’s irrelevant. Simon prefers to make money - Chris can easily be a money making machine - Taylor, who knows? Young folks, the sort who spend their allowances as soon as it arrives are the most avid CD buyers and most dig Chris' type of music, not Taylor's BLUES and SOUL.
Here is the real music to Simon's ears and here is how it sounds --- KACHING, KACHING !!
Well, who do we have next ? The sultry looking -- Kate Mcphee.
If there's such a thing as a judge's pet, Kate is rapidly earning that honor among the women — for two weeks in a row, she's been the darling of the three stooges. She decides to sing "The Voice Within" by Christina Aguilera.
Lets' put it this way .... I'm not even going to deal with that outfit. I'll just say it was a reason to focus on her face, which is just gorgeous. Kate Holmes, Catherine Zeta Jones, you name them, she's in their league in terms of looks. All she needs to do is hit the gym often.
Now on to the meaty part ---- This song swallowed the best parts of her voice. I didn't like the belting. Her voice is best jazzy, smoky, soulful not this straight pop. Christina has other songs she could have picked that would have been more singing (which she can do) and less belting (which less so). That beginning was quite weak. The first part of the song was not good, was not pleasing to the ear, was somewhat off in delivery...but I thought she recovered a lot in the Chorus. Yes, the Chorus was much better than the Verse. This is actually the first time in a long time she sounded forced and strained in her performance.
All three judges like her version of , despite the fact that while the vocals were strong, the overall performance wasn't all that extraordinary. Maybe they've caught the McPheever, which is rapidly gaining on "Pick Pickler" for the show's most overused contestant catch phrase.
Luckily, Taylor isn't aping his idol, Ray... I don't hear the phrase "Gray Charles" that much anymore.
But I disagree with the judges, Kate did nothing to make me forget Christina.
DID I SPY the lovable GEORGE HUFF IN THE AUDIENCE ?? YES, INDEED, IT's HIM. BRING HIM BACK FOR A SONG PRODUCERS. NOW THAT LOU RAWLS IS GONE, HE's THE DESIGNATED HEIR !!
Folks, this theme night was made for a guy like Bucky CONVINGTON. THE 21st century saw the coming of the great GRUFF, GROWLING Southern Country rockers. Bucky has tons of singing material to choose from and I am in NO DOUBT that he'll choose one perfect for his gruff, redneck demeanor.
Covington definitely picked the right song, going with Tim McGraw's "Real Good Man." It allowed him to dress the part of a country singer, and maximize his vocal attributes. The problem was the same issue Covington faces every week; his enunciation is terrible and he's very hard to understand. The music seemed to drown him out. But then let's be honest --- DO YOU REALLY UNDERSTAND half of Tim Mcgraw when he sings ? Maybe the charm of these type of music is the deliberate slurring of the words and poor diction so that it FORCES you to listen to try to understand what the heck they're singing about. Who knows ?
I tried to close my eyes and think about whether I'd like this song if I heard him sing it on the radio. Sounded OK. But not good enough to get him out of the danger zone IMHO.
"Definitely the right kind of song for you. You're definitely at home in your country suit." says Randy Jackson ( agreeing with my estimation ).
Next, we come to the girl who is MOST RESPONSIBLE FOR SPLITTING THE VOTE AWAY FROM LISA.... Paris Bennett
Bennett chooses "Work It Out" by Beyoncé Knowles, because she said it gave her a chance to look and act like a 17-year-old ( NOT ).
It worked out as far as that went — she definitely looked and sounded a lot younger than she has in recent weeks. Of course, the problem is that by sounding younger, she allowed herself to be compared to Beyoncé, who is 10 years older and she still has a ways to go to reach that level of maturity.
But it was a good, enjoyable performance anyway, and Bennett is one of the few likely to get a legitimate record deal somewhere regardless of how she fares in this competition. She did her best mini-Beyonce performance. I enjoyed her performance, which is more than I can say about a lot of them tonight. It's more of a concert type song, more for lip synching and dancing than actually singing it for a contest.
"That was fearless. It was the bomb" says Randy Jackson ( this guy has a limited vocabulary I'll tell you that. Between YO YO, CHECK IT OUT MAN and DAWG, all he has is DA BOMB).
Hmmmm.... What is Mr Tumnus, my favorite Amish farmer going to do for us tonight ? I've always said that Elliott was meant for LISTENING, not looking at. Get him in a studio, give him great material to sing, and I will be ready to be a patronizer. His voice is smooth and soothing, especially when you have to listen to some music in a long drive.
Eliott chooses Gavin Degraw's "I DON'T WANT TO BE". Remember who did this last season ? YEP, none other than the great Bo Bice.
In case it hasn't become obvious by now, the judges would REALLY REALLY like America to keep Elliott around despite the fact that he looks nothing close to what Hollywood would cast as an American Idol, is struggling to reveal a compelling personality, and dances like an awkward seventh-grader at the Teen Club Spring Fling.
Elliott looked and sounded a lot like Eminem tonight. Wow. Didn't think boring-boy had it in him. I gotta give it up to him just for making this song halfway enjoyable. I don't think it was his personal best vocal, and I do think he forgot some lyrics at the beginning, but still it was better than most tonight. His personal best were still his first two performances --- IF YOU REALLY LOVE ME, and MOODY's MOOD FOR LOVE ( the later, probably one of the top vocals this season ).
Elliott did well, but the judges' praises were a little over the top IMHO.
"I loved the arrangement, and I loved that you made it your own. You are one funky white boy."says Paula Abdul ( question, had Elliott been black, would it have been appropriate for Paula to use "funky black" in the same sentence ? INQUIRING MINDS WANT TO KNOW. Should we ask Al Sharpton the question ?).
All the intangibles are stacking up in Elliott's favor; he sang last, he sang well, and the judges loved him. I think he has the same problem that George Huff had in season 3 - he doesn't quite realize yet just how good he really is. He has more pure, raw talent than anyone else there. All he needs is more seasoning.
OVERALL a CRAPTASTIC NIGHT WITH FORGETTABLE PERFORMANCES. Who woulda thought the first 6 years of the 21st century would produce such lean material to choose from ???
MY RANKING FROM TOP TO BOTTOM
Taylor
Paris
Elliott
Chris
Katharine
Mandisa
Ace
Kellie
Bucky
Lisa
WHO SHOULD GO : LISA
WHO WILL GO : Bucky
NS has consistently had better talent the last 4 years. However, as a "show" NS sux in comparison to AI. They have never found a real host for the show. Leann Rhimes was horrible last year, and I thought they couldn't get any worse and Wynonna comes along and proves me wrong.
The "judges" are no help. The continual use of "a@@" and "d@mn", etc, gets old, and Phil Vassar loves everyone that sings.
The sets are 2nd rate. And the elimination process is not near as entertaining as AI. While I've always loved the contestants on NS, and this year they do have some good talent, the actual show is boring. Without a DVR, where I can just listen to the contestants, I don't think I could watch it. JMO.
I totally agree. Hoity-toity, snobby, slimey, back-stabber, and froo-froo all also fit. ;-)
LOL! You're right. All those fit her to a T.
