I could almost hear the sigh of relief from the other judges when Simon finally gave Scott some honest feedback. If Simon hadn’t gone first, I don’t think Randy or the others would have dared criticize him as much as they did.
Megan’s probably my favorite contestant but man oh man was that rough. I still hope Michael will go home before her, though. Nothing interesting about him. As I said to my husband last night, he’s like the high school jock singing in the talent show to be funny.
Scott should also go home before her. Even though his comments are usually my favorite part of the show (talking about moving the piano closer as a response to Paula’s idiocy, apologizing for his pink pants, etc.), his voice isn’t good enough. His tonal quality is just so nerdy. Not that it’s bad to be a nerd, but it is bad to sing like one on American Idol.
I didn’t particularly love anyone’s performance last night. Adam was the best, but I still didn’t actually like him. Allison was really good, but I don’t care for scream-singing. Matt, Kris, and Anoop were good but not great. Lil was disappointing. Danny made me want to barf as usual. He’s the ultimate douchebag.
A lot of the contestants don’t understand how to sing into the microphone without breathing into it as well. Anoop, Michael, and Kris are especially bad at this. I wish someone would teach them how to do it.
Love Megan, but that was an awful performance. But her arm complimented her dress, so there’s that.
Adam appears without makeup for the first time, and sings a song about wearing makeup.
Allison may or may not have memorized the lyrics – it’s impossible to tell.
And the judges wasted so much time in their little food fights and sexual preference banter with Seacrest that they had to resort to speed-judging for the final 2. Which is not an entirely bad thing.
In a just universe, it’ll be Sarver going home tonight.
Speaking of, why can’t either if the women give a short, concise criticism? It’s not bad enough that they both blather on like morons for 2 minutes, they have to heckle Simon when he’s in the middle of his critique.
What exactly did Adam do to “interpret” “Tracks of My Tears?” To my mind, if all you do when you perform someone else’s song is strip down the arrangement a bit and sing in falsetto, you really aren’t doing much interpreting at all. He didn’t bring anything new to the song. He did however inject a lot breathlessness and phony throatiness that I can’t stand, which in all fairness seems to be what most Idol performers do when they try to get all emotional. Anyone with a good singing voice can sing an incredibly beautiful song like “Tracks of My Tears” and pull of a decent performance. And that is what Adam did. No more, no less.
Megan’s arm tattoo always looks to me like she’s lost circulation below her shoulder and she’s developed gangrene, especially in the shots from a distance. It’s all purpley-blue and muddy looking. Not a very attractive accoutrement to a pretty girl.
Megan at least is entertaining and takes risks; if only she could sing. As long as we’re in the stage of winnowing the chaff who can’t win, I’m happy to have her stay around a few more weeks while the one-notes, Michael and Scott, get weeded out.
Matt and Kris are both forgettable to me, and Anoop is slipping into this category.
Lil is the Carly of this season: Constantly praised to the sky, but never quite delivers.
Danny: Never understood the appeal. Sounds like Huey Lewis.
Allison: This year’s Daughtry for me – technically excellent, but unpleasant to listen to.
Adam: Great voice and knows his way around a song, but still feels a bit Blake-Lewis gimmicky to me.
And Simon is usually the only one with an intelligent thought in his head and the ability to articulate it. So the solution: add another judge. :smack: Because that’s what the audience really wants to see – more judge banter.
I’m convinced they added #4 for just one season to make everyone appreciate how much better the first 3 are.
I assumed the 4th judge was insurance for whenever Paula goes into rehab.
Yeah, and who the hell is this Smokey Robinson guy who gave him a standing ovation and yelled “Yes!” and “Right On!” and “Fantastic” they even showed a snippet of this nobody Robinson guy claiming that of all the versions of the song this was really original and great. Who the heck is this Robinson cat to judge the artistic merits of that performance?
+1 again
Good question. But whoever he is, we can’t interpret his enthusiasm very seriously; he liked everybody.
Can we assume the “who is Smoky Robinson” is a whoosh? or does somebody really not know?
I’m not sure about that. He was nice to everybody, but he did voice some diplomatic misgivings about some of them. Off the top of my head, he told Sarver not to sing “Aint Too Proud” like a sap, he charitably called Megan “different,” and he advised Gokey not to let his backup singers do his work for him.
Fiddle asked what Adam did to “interpret” “Tracks of My Tears.” Well one thing he did, which Smokey himself tought was unique, was that he kept a static dynamic intead of the usual crescendo. For another thing, his phrasing was very careful and thoughtful – personal without disrespecting the melody. He caressed the melody, shined it up, showed what a gem it really is.
It wasn’t a reinvention of the song like “Ring of Fire” was, but it was an unusually simple and plaintive presentation of the core melody.
Ah-hah! Hopefully no one else pointed it this out already and I just missed it, but I just figured out who Adam Lambert reminded me of:
Adam Lambert, meet k.d. lang.
Liked:
Adam – Very, very nice. Still schticky, but reined in as opposed to horrifically self-indulgent like last week. Schtick for the power of good?
Megan – Love love love. I should have hated everything about this, but I loved it. She’s so unique. Honestly, I don’t even know if I’m qualified to judge her performances because I enjoy her so much.
Danny – Man, I liked Adam and Danny this week; Hell, freeze, etc. This was on fire. I think the judges are totally misguiding him back towards the shitty schlock stuff.
Kris – Awesome. Kris is a formidabe dark horse. I was confused that he was even in the top 13 at first but he is definitely earning his spot, and then some.
Eh:
Allison – This seemed really low-energy to me. I still like her voice, but she needs to step it up a lot.
Michael – Not horrific, but definitely not good, pretty screechy, etc.
Anoop – Still nice voice, but really boring for me. Anoop is getting really dull really fast.
Matt – The least memorable contestant still with us, to my mind. I had him lumped together with Kris at first, but that guy broke out in a big way. Matt isn’t bad but he’s totally boring as far as I’m concerned.
Didn’t Like:
Lil – Woah now. This was just bad. It made me anxious in the same way Sarver’s Garth Brooks did. I could barely watch the whole performance.
Scott – I think I just don’t like Scott’s voice. He always sounds cheesy to me, no matter what. The judges were right on with their “hotel” comment. Scott would be going home tonight if it were up to me.
Jim and I were very disappointed in Lil last night - this should have been her week, and instead of what Simon calls “a moment” we got something almost unpleasant to watch. In discussing what she should have been singing, we came up with “Love Child” by Diana Ross and the Supremes for her - I think that actually would have been a moment. Lil is showing that her ultimate weakness is her inability to pick songs.
The last two weeks have brought me around to the Adam Lambert camp, too. I would like to see a Triple A final, too. And Danny, you smarmy asshole, when Smoky Frikikin’ Robinson gives you advice, YOU TAKE IT!
ETA: Kris Allen is a blank spot on the stage when he’s performing. No presence whatsoever.
Do you honestly believe Adam’s version “shined up” Smokey’s? Perhaps I misunderstand your use of the term “shined”, but to me it means making something better, improving it in some way. Smokey’s recording of this song is beyond improvement.
As for my use of the term “interpret”, I must admit that I was probably thinking of “reinterpret”, which suggests a somewhat radical departure from the original. I think we can agree that Adam did not reinterpret this song. He changed the phrasing, yes, avoided the crescendo, and did interpret it in his own way. Yet in the end, it was a standard Idol performance, laden down with the phony emoting and the cliched big-finish run at the end.
You’re all too young to remember him in his heyday, but Lambert reminds me of a young Rex Reed. I’d link to a photo but I don’t know how.