Like “I sang ‘Georgia on My Mind’ because I really love St. Louis”? 
She’s unique and she exudes confidence. That hair may not work on everyone but it works on her.
As for Vonzell’s hat and boots, she said her dad brought them for her and she’s just a country girl at heart. The thing is I could have sworn I heard them say she was from Ft. Myers, Florida. I’ve been to Ft. Myers and it’s not exactly a big farm community.
I probably won’t watch the results show. Lost is repeats tonight but I’d still rather watch that than the torture that is the results show.
Hey, that made a lot more sense in context!
Unfortunately, they don’t conflict.
Er, at least they haven’t been conflicting in the past couple of weeks. The results show is at nine.
I don’t watch it. Hate it. Hate hate hate.
pardon the hijack.
Fewer. It’s fewer men.
Simple rule: less of one, fewer of many. buy it, own it, use it, make it a part of your life. Thank you.
“Somewhere” is from West Side Story (Stephen Sondheim/Leonard Bernstein), but Streisand put it on her Broadway Album, 30 years after the fact.
“Try a Little Tenderness”: Otis Redding. I can believe Nadia never heard it before, but not based on her performance. She was all over that. Even though she looks like a human Q-tip.
“Respect” – trivia, was written by Otis Redding, but it is owned by Aretha Franklin.
What I notice from AI that you don’t notice when listening to better singers, is how many songs begin low and end high. And if a singer doesn’t have the range to cover both ends, they get off-key at the low/quiet beginning so they can belt the big finish. I’m lookin’ at you, Mikalaha.
I never wanted to be a fan of American Idol. I made it through 3 seasons thinking Clay was something you played with in kindergarten, Ruben was a sandwich and Fantasia was a Disney movie. I was so proud of myself. But now I’m hooked. Damn you, American Idol, for actually being somewhat entertaining!!!
Anyway, the proud recipient of my first vote was Nadia Turner. She had me tapping my foot and singing along with her. She’s pretty much the only competition for the guys, and by guys I mean Bo.
I might be the only one who prefers Otis’ respect to Aretha’s. That includes Otis, who said Aretha had “made it her own.”
Based on Jaade’s polls, Janay and Amanda will go, and Travis will go. Either Scott or Nikko will go instead of Constantine, who sorely deserves it. I like Nikko, but can sense he hasn’t really found a fan base for some reason, so I expect him to go and the judges to be shaking their heads in disbelief without saying who should go in his stead.
Nadia, Jessica and Carrie are probably safe. It’s hard to predict who will go when the weakest ones (Janay and Mikhala) have fan bases of unknown impact. Janay’s not doing well in the MSNBC poll, but as someone at another board pointed out, her fan base doesn’t vote at MSNBC, but they’re quite happy to send text votes for two hours. Usually it’s not that big of a deal – someone stays in a week or two longer than they should – but this week it is a big deal because the survivors make the final 12. Those are the people who can claim to be “American Idol finalists” and get included in the AI tours.
I liked Mikalah during the auditions. I was under the impression that she could sing. She’s gone too far with the advice to tone it down and has lost her energy as a result. “God Bless the Child” and “There’s a Place for Us” are both excellent choices in the right hands; in her hands, they were dismal. She’s too young to have a reliable sense of what works for her and what doesn’t.
I don’t remember Janay in the auditions. Did she seem good? Was she the one (well, one of the ones) with a mother who was perhaps a bit too involved?
Actually, only the top 10 get to tour (which saved concertgoers from suffering through that one chick nobody liked except Paula and Rose Bowl last summer).
Where is Janay finding this fan base? What do they like about her? Is it a pitiful wet dog appeal?
Based on last night, this is a no brainer. Janay and Mikhala should be out.
They’re girls against women. But with AI, you never know. They both are “sweet kids” and you never know what sympathy or voting bocks will do.
My favorites.
- Nadia
- Jessica
- Carrie ( A tie. They remind me of two sisters, one grade apart. One is outgoing, the other shy, both are good singers, and both are good-looking too)
- Amanda (weak voice, everything else, WHOA! )
- Vonzell
- Lindsey (the female Ryan, according to Simon)
I’d never heard any version besides the Celine Dion one (from her “Falling Into You” album), and Amanda pretty much nailed Celine’s rendition of it. I think the judges show themselves complete idiots when they don’t even know there are other renditions of songs, let alone don’t recognize them when they’re performed. Amanda was no more trying to “do” a Tina Turner song this week than Carrie was trying to do Joplin 2 weeks ago. Fer crying out loud, Deep Purple (!) did a version of “River Deep, Mountain High”! Would Simon have told them that they shouldn’t dare try to do “Tina’s” song unless they did it exactly like she did?
I completely agree that the girl has no range (and said as much as she was performing) – she can sing about 6 notes, total. However, Paula’s right that at least the girl recognizes her strengths and weaknesses and chooses the right songs for her. She could never, for instance, tackle “Somewhere,” so she doesn’t even try. And she takes what she’s got and makes pretty good use of it by performing the hell out of the songs. She isn’t even close to the best in this competition, but she does what she does well, so I have to give her kudos for that.
I only take exception with your contention that “Try A Little Tenderness” is “supposed to be bluesy.” While I agree that the most popularly known version(s) (to us) might be bluesy, a song is really only “supposed to be” what the original composer wrote it as, for the original performer who sang it, and in this case, the original Frank Sinatra version is so vastly different in style that it may as well be two completely different songs. It’s actually kindof fun to go listen to the various clips by some of the myriad artists who have recorded these songs to hear how differently they have been interpreted over the years. Personally, my favorite rendition is Andrew Strong’s, from “The Commitments,” which, while certainly bluesy, was also a bit growly. (Bit of trivia: Strong was all of 17 years old when he played that part and recorded that soundtrack! Take that Mikalah, Janay, et al.)
Bwah! She so sent out the Ho vibe last night. Yick. She can sing, but I simply do not like this girl at all.
I got caught up in The Amazing Race, then Judging Amy last night, so I forgot to vote (not that I think my dozen or so votes would’ve really mattered a hill of beans), but I pray Janay is gone tonight. After that, it’s between Jessica and Mikalah for who I’d like to see go (though a part of me really has grown to respect Mikalah for at least trying to lose the obnoxiousness factor and present herself a bit more reserved, even if it comes across “too old” for her).
Try a Little Tenderness was originally recorded by Bing Crosby, when Frank was still in high school.
My own favorite version is Nuke LaRoosh’s. “Women get wooly…” Ha ha. It don’t get any more classic than that.
Well, I’ll be damned. I had no idea that Otis Redding’s rendition of Try A Little Tenderness wasn’t original. (First recorded in 1933 by either Bing Crosby or Ruth Etting, according to this site.
I’ll give you the bluesy part, but she still sang that song with no passion or that she didn’t feel the song. It’s a great song and it just did nothing for me last night.
I love Otis’s version, of course, but it’s one of those standards that’s been around for freakin’ ever. Sam Cooke did a pretty nice “soul” version before Otis, BTW. (Of course, Sam Cooke wasn’t exactly soul in precisely the same way Jesus Christ wasn’t exactly Christian…)
Well I’ll be. Allmusic only goes back as far as Sinatra’s 1943 version, however, there is a listing for a 1996 recording called “Hits of '33” with Bing’s version. It’s almost unrecognizable as we’re used to hearing it now, making my original point still stand; that that song isn’t really “supposed” to sound bluesy at all, as it was originally written as a syrupy love ballad, intended to be “crooned.”
And I also agree with Grace that Nadia didn’t really “get” the song in this version, or deliver it as well as other performers who did do this rendition.
I agree with you Shayna, and while I didn’t see that one (only saw the last 2 or 3 singers so far, but have them taped up and ready to watch this evening), I can sense it is similar to Mikalah’s “God Bless the Child,” i.e., a “classic” song they just learned and don’t really get. To her credit, Fantasia seemed to know what “Summertime” was about (I remember it made her tear up, and I felt it was genuine).