Well, I’ve seen Stephen Sondheim coaching, and he came off as a douchebag (though undeniably a brilliant douchebag who you should listen to anyway).
Carly’s best peformance for me was “Come Together.” She was okay tonight, I guess.
I liked Carly’s performance.
Carly is so over-rated. She doesn’t hit the big notes, her voice is not that interesting, and she’s not that likeable. It’s like they keep pimping her just because she was their ringer.
Okay, seriously. I was actually having positive thoughts after Carly’s performance. Webber was right on with the song choice.
But then, the t-shirt thing? What the heck was that? Obnoxious.
Just so everyone knows, Andy has two B’s in his last name.
Hah, that was a simul-edit for me.
Cook is going to emo up “Music of the Night.”
OK, I liked that David C told ALW that 17 was too young for him.
David Cook, wtf is up with your song choice?
oops.
I’m giving Dave C a lot of props for doing the song straight. I don’t think he did that great, but he actually did something brave, stepped out of his box. Which means the judges will hate him.
Edit: I was wrong.
Wow, really cheesy beginning. He’s playing this too straight so far. He’s too out of his element to do that. He needs to go somewhere else with this fast. He sounds really amateurish.
I guess he doesn’t have any kind of innovative arrangement up his sleeve.
I thought that was embarrassing. His lamest performance ever, IMO.
That makes 4 bs in Webbbber.
Syesha pwned everyone tonight.
I give the kid a lot of credit for doing it straight and not playing it safe by doing the same tried-and-true emo/grunge thing he always does.
Hated his “Music of the Night.” He sounded just like Gerard Butler in the film version.
Most of the people messed up the lyrics to their songs tonight.
Why didn’t Archuleta do a song where he could show off his voice? He sounded like a Jason Castro impersonator.
And why didn’t Carly synch with the back-up singers on the chorus? Going out of synch made it too obvious that she was missing the high notes. Singing with the group might have hidden that.
Loved Syesha (who finally did something with her hair) and David C., except for that last note. I might vote this week.
Syesha is 02, isn’t she?
For others unable to watch it live, I’ll post the links as they come to YouTube:
Syesha- wow! (She’d be great as Shug Avery in Color Purple- “Push the button!”.)
Jason Castro- God have mercy on him.
Syesha sounded great but I was meh on the song itself. She did it well, it’s just not a song I know and it didn’t grab me to go out and get to know it.
Castro…at the end it was actually pretty nice, but he took a while to find it and it was kind of painful to watch. Also, I hate the faces that he makes when he sings. Both he and David A do this thing where they torque their chin off to one side and it’s jarring and ugly.
Oh god Brooke… not another do-over?? I didn’t feel one way or the other about her song. I don’t even remember what it was, except that it was from Evita.
What was with Carly’s dress with the big pattern that looked like a diagram of a uterus…right over her uterus…? That was hideous. I thought her song was very shouty. I also admit that I tend to have a bias against religion-based songs, so that didn’t help. But mainly it was the shoutiness of it, and her little squinty thing when she shouts. It would be one thing if you did it just once in a while, on a big note, but she does it all the damned time. Also, the shirt thing? Give me a break. That’s the lamest thing I’ve ever seen unless I find out later she also had a “Simon Hates Me” shirt prepared to trot out if it had gone the other way. And then it would only be maybe the third or fourth lamest thing I’ve ever seen.
David A. was boring–there’s a shock. I also have to repeat: I Hate Melisma. As a technique it makes songs suck. Mariah and Whitney need to be taken out back and shot for making it popular to do that. David is especially bad about it… let’s add a whole bunch of notes that weren’t written in, just for no reason at all! (It pisses me off when just about anybody does it. For me it’s the 1 in a million time when I think it actually works or improves the song.) Also, I really like that song and think he screwed with the melody in places he shouldn’t have. I also didn’t care for his phrasing. He makes odd pauses and word groupings that don’t flow. (At least it wasn’t anywhere near as horrid an abomination as his “Imagine” which I refuse to listen to ever again lest it taint my feelings toward a previously gorgeous song.) Does he have a cold? His voice sounded very flat to me. I’m completely lost as to where Randy and Paula are coming from… how was that great? I’m closer to Simon’s opinion.
David Cook sang one of my favorite songs. At first I was nervous about it… I don’t think it started very strong, and I think some of his phrasing was a little stilted as well. Once he got into it, though, I think he held his own. Not my favorite by him, though.