Lee was okay. Better than average, good enough to be a reasonably credible artist, I suppose. But he’s not great. The song was just okay.
Casey was very, very good. He sang that song exceptionally well. He was pitch perfect and delivered the performance.
Big Mike’s still leaving me cold. I can’t put my finger on it, but something about him just doesn’t click with me. I fast-forwarded about halfway through.
Crystal: Simon’s on crack. This was a great female alt-country performance - the kind of thing you’d hear from Iris Dement or Emmy Lou Harris or Patty Loveless. I thought it was delivered perfectly. And Crystal’s dead right - sometimes less is more. A song like this in Siobhan’s hands would be a howling disaster. This was my favorite performance of the night.
Aaron: Sorry, dude. FF’ed after about 15 seconds of that. Maybe it turned great. I couldn’t tell you.
Siobhan: I thought this was by far her worst performance. She was behind the beat in the rhythm, she ran out of breath at the end of phrases when she was walking around, she was flat much of the time, and her whole delivery sucked. Her scream at the end was totally inappropriate for the song. There’s nothing about that song that would make a human want to wail like a banshee at the end. I can’t believe the remarks she got from the judges. I think they just want to make sure she sticks around, because she’s probably helping to draw what little audience AI has left.
Best to worst:
Crystal
Casey
Lee
Siobhan
Big Mike (FF)
Aaron (FF)
I’ve only ever heard two Shania songs and hate them both, so there was no chance I was putting myself through the whole show. As usual, I tuned in to hear Siobhan, and though she was a lot better than she has been lately, I didn’t think she started out well. The early part of the song, where she was singing in a low voice, I could barely understand (except for something about “I can be late for a date, but my man better be on time”). retch
Lee is in last place, with Lee and Siobhan also in the bottom three, They have Aaron in first place. Granny and Tweener votes must be kicking in full gear after Aaron was in the bottom three last week.
I’d never noticed that until last night, but my wife tells me that it’s been bothering her all season. He’d absolutely kill if they ever had an Eddie Money week.
Thank you! I’ve always been all about Siobahn, but last night was absolutely excruciating. We’ve learned why she either stands still or moves very slowly while singing – she doesn’t have the control to stay anywhere near in tune while moving.
I figured the judges were going to tear her to shreds after that abomination, and I was floored when they loved it. So, I figured that maybe it was one of those “bad when heard on TV” deals, and that the truth would come out in here – come to find out you seem to be the only one who heard it too. I’m sticking to what I said to my wife last night, though – Simon is going to make a “that was bad when I watched it back” comment tonight.
The thing with Siobahn is that her voice is too controlled-- as in, she’s got to try so hard to maintain pitch that she can’t just rip it out unless it’s on those high notes, but those are controlled as well. It’s all technically good, but it’s very technical and stilted and not coming from a natural place. It feels learned, not talented. I hate her lower register voice. Can’t stand it at all. Nothing technically wrong, but it just sounds so tight. And I agree, you hear it, when she’s walking around because she’s not in her position of “control” where she can technically create the sounds correctly. She can sing well, but she’s not a talented singer.
I’ve never understood Lee’s appeal, and last night was no exception. It sounded whiny and shouty, and he’s just so uncomfortable on stage.
Casey finally showed some emotion in a song. I liked him for maybe the first time.
Mike is just so plastic. Competent singer, but basically an R&B blowup doll onstage.
Crystal’s worst performance of the season. Flat and labored.
Aaron alternates between good weeks and bad, and he was good this week. I don’t think he has a ton of range, and I don’t find him terribly interesting, but some people obviously do.
Siobhan hit it out of the park. Silly but rollicking song, and her performance caught that perfectly. She finally integrated “quiet beginning, big finish” into a ohesive whole. The only point where she was off-key was at the end of her scream, and I thought for sure Simon was going to nail her for that.
Interesting observation. I’ll have to check that out tonight.
I also think Lee’s head is rather big and his shoulders are narrow thus giving the appearance that his head is about to topple over. I’ve noticed since he made the top 12 or so, they’ve been cutting his hair shorter on the sides and leaving it thick and long on top. That type of cut helps lessen the “topple head syndrome.”
I like Shania much better when I just had to look at her sing. She has a really tinny voice, and when spoke with the Canadian accent, it kinda made me cringe.
Lee - nice start. He reminds me of Bruce Springsteen when he sings, in that he emotes through through his facial expressions. The Boss cringes and winces and squints all through his songs. If you can find a YouTube of Justin Timberlake singing “What Goes Around Comes Around” on Oprah, he sings out of one side of his mouth just like Lee did.
Big Mike - Liked it, didn’t love it. Had never heard the song before, but was intrigued by Shania’s tears. I wonder if it was written after her painful breakup from Mutt Lange. Aw…
Casey - I just love that Shania picked up on the fact that he lacks confidence. Interesting that a guy who looks like he does and has so much talent has doubts. Very endearing. And what’s up with Simon acting like the horny uncle again? That’s the second time he’s asked a performer to kiss the guest judge (the first was Miley Cyrus). Had he asked Casey to give her a hug, I’d have thought it was cute. “Kiss her on the lips” is icky given their age difference. Interesting that he never asked Siobhan to give Usher some tongue…
Crystal - Liked that she went the bluegrass route, but wish she would have had a different catalog to work with. Shania’s music is too vanilla for my taste, and even a little twang couldn’t breathe life into it.
Aaron - Boooooring. I fast-forwarded past it because he just doesn’t do a thing for me.
Siobhan - Hate the song and hate, hate, hated her rendition – it’s hard to show 'tude when you are concentrating on breath control so that you can belt out that one, long, labored note. I was really surprised that the judges loved it because I thought it was the worst of the night, by a mile. She was such a breath of fresh air and now she’s gone completely stale for me.
The judges seriously irritate me. Siobhan sounded like the same hot mess she sounds like every week and because she does her classic scream at the end, suddenly she’s back? That was a terrible performance.
Crystal actually does a fun, more upbeat song but essentially sounds the same and it’s one of her worst performances?
Honestly it’s the same for all of them with the exception of Casey. They sounded the same last night as they usually do on performance nights yet suddenly according to the judges they were outstanding? Boo I say… boo!
For me it only comes down to Casey and Crystal. I like Big Mike but don’t see him being around much longer.
I was a big Siobhan fan from Day One, but she’s really been disappointing; I expected interesting stuff from her, and it’s just more of the same every week.
Maybe we have a group of very niche entertainers this year, and that’s why it seems so blah - Casey should be doing Lite Crossover Country (Keith Urban style), Crystal should be doing Janis Joplin/Tracy Chapman Grrl with a Guitar folksy stuff, Big Mike should be doing an album of Luther Vandross covers, Lee should be doing Bryan Adams straight-ahead rock and roll, Aaron Kelly should be doing Boy Band Ballads, and Siobhan, well, I’m not sure what she should be doing, but it shouldn’t be taking advice from the judges - I think she’s completely lost now.
I’m watching cause i’m in need of really bad tv to distract me from really bad real life.
Oh - about the show; guest singers are country. Liked Sons of Sylvia a lot; Rascal Flatts = nasal singing; Lady Antebellum = sound just like they do on the radio.
The contestants? Crystal’s safe. Do we care that Mike, Casey, and Siobhan are the bottom 3?
Next week - Sinatra week (current!) Harry Connick mentor.
Ooh weirdness - Shakira playing a harmonica and singing w/Rascal Flatts. Ooh trainwreck
Hate to see Siobhan go while Mike and Aaron stay, gues that’s the way AI goes. On her sing-out I did see a couple of issues that I hadn’t noticed before. I was blinded by love.
