I thought everyone put their best game on tonight.
Blake - I don’t think he has radio appeal – he’s a performer, so I think/hope he’s out. Next time he sings, close your eyes. I’d switch the station if I heard him on the air.
Jordin - I just love this kid. I wouldn’t be bummed if she won, but…
Melinda - She’s still my favorite. Maybe it’s the old Motown flavor. Maybe it’s the quality of her voice. Her song choices need some work, but I still think she’s the best.
I like Jordin the best. She puts more emotion into her songs, she’s prettier than Melinda. Melinda is too stilted and old-fashioned, although I did like Nutbush City Limits. But it’s an old song.
I’m not sure if I want Jordin to win, though. It seems the second- and third-place finishers get out and get heard on the radio much faster. I’m only saying this based on the fact that I’ve heard Chris Daughtry (who I loved and wanted to win) on the radio, and heard nothing by Taylor Whatshisname. I’ve seen - gah! I’m blanking on her name! - (the girl from last year) on talk shows and stuff, but I can’t stand her new song, and I don’t think I’ve heard it played on the radio. BTW, I bought Chris Daughtry’s CD. I might buy Jordin’s, depending on what style of music she settles on. Melinda is too boring for me, and Blake has appeal, but not for my personal taste.
Before last night Jordin was my favourite. Her first two songs were competent but not remarkable. But she didn’t pick those songs, so I was so eagerly waiting number three - her choice. My mantra throughout was, “I hope she does something as good as ‘I who have nothing’, I hope, I hope…”
Then she does “I who have nothing.” I was so disappointed! Don’t get me wrong - even on my way to work this morning that song is haunting me… the goosebumps are still there. But the first time she did it my jaw dropped and she became my favourite. Singing it again - isn’t that kinda like calling for a encore at a concert and the band repeats the very same song they just performed?
It’s my first season watching, so I don’t know if this is an established tradition - reaching back and reprising one’s best performance. Maybe it’s simply smart strategy… rely on the voting public’s memory-recency effect. I took it as a missed opportunity at least, or evidence of a one-trick-pony at worst.
So my money’s now on Melinda (although in my heart I’m still rooting for Jordin).
I had a cold, so I couldn’t keep up with the frantic song-post-song pace I usually enjoy… Oh well, I wouldn’t have had much to say tonight anyway. I thought all three contestants were entertaining. My highlights were:
Jordin doing “I Who Have Nothing”: Even more goosebumpy than the first time. Her take on the song is the epitome of catharsis. <thesaurus mode off> And Simon? This song was a hit in 1970, making it 37 years old, not 60. You were gushing over the British Invasion show, which featured numbers dating from 1964. Heck, you didn’t make a comment about Nutbush City Limits, which was first recorded a mere three years later in 1973. Speaking of which…
Melinda doing “Nutbush City Limits”: Great fire there! I felt this song really represented her personality by striking a balance between grounded humility and well-deserved pride.
Blake doing “This Love”: Before I listened to this number, I couldn’t stand Maroon 5. Now I can’t get this song out of my head. But it’s not the original version stuck there, it’s Blake’s. Kudos!
I think the winner will be a toss-up. Anyone could win, and IMHO everyone deserves to win. Sorry for the Pauler mood, but hey, that’s what cold medicine will do.
That expresses my own sentiments. I think that the one thing Melinda could have been doing to add more pizazz to her Tina Turner performances would be more star quality Diva-type clothes. It was especially noticeable last night when her officewear pants suit contrasted so sharply with the costumes of her backup singers. Put on a gown with sequins. Look the part.
That’s exactly what I came in here to say: If you’re going to showcase the background singers, at least look better than they do. I didn’t really notice Melinda’s outfit until the background singers came out looking really hot and there she was in her gray and white pantsuit looking very blah next to them.
I liked everyone last night but I liked Blake the best, followed by Melinda and then Jordin. Blake’s is the only CD I’d buy of the three, unless Melinda decides to go rock, in which case I’m totally there. I like Blake because he’s current and sings the type of music I actually like listening to. I don’t like to be wailed at, which is why I put Jordin last. That last song of hers was so overwrought I could hardly keep from rolling my eyes.
Geesh. How is that fair or relevant? It’s a singing competition, not a beauty contest. I’m sure, given a chance, that Melinda would also choose to look like a beauty queen. Unfortunately, folks don’t get a choice.
I also don’t get this - people are always whining about ‘old’ songs (not just you) - so what? The judges picked ‘old’ songs for them to sing because they’re classics and difficult; they challenge the singers. If you can pull off a Whitney or a Tina, you’ve got chops. Who’s the modern-day equivalent of those ladies? Nobody. There hasn’t been a young powerhouse for quite a while.
When Melinda sang Whitney’s song, I was really struck that no matter how good Melinda is, she’s still miles below what Whitney is (used to be?). I’m not in Whitney’s demographic, but she’s an amazing singer.
Yes, it’s a show tradition (do I recall correctly, it used to be a requirement that they pick a song they’d previously sung?). I think part of the strategy is that the show tends to pick up new viewers later in the season, as a lot of people don’t want to wade through all the crappy singers to get to the good ones, and also more people tune in as the show creates more buzz. So by going back to a song they blew the roof off with, they get a chance to (hopefully) amaze people who didn’t get to hear it the first time.
For me, sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. I don’t think it worked last season when Katharine McPhee did Somewhere Over the Rainbow almost back-to-back, but it’s been nearly 2 months since Jordin first performed I (Who Have Nothing) (the first time was March 20th), so the reprisal didn’t bother me. Not to mention that even just the one small change she made was enough to completely blow me away again.
I don’t care whether Jordin or Melinda win – they’re both awesome in different ways, but Blake winning would be a travesty.
I was gonna post exactly the same thing in almost exactly the same words! Except for the cups of tea part. And I was gonna drop Mariah because she’s been around over 15 years-- but still, the same exact thing.
I’ll watch it when I get home. Thanks Shanya
Part of the problem with doing more recent hits is that they will always be compared to the original, especially if the song is still getting a lot of airplay. It’s a damned if they do, damned if they don’t sort of thing.
One thing about last night’s show that was enjoyable: we heard 9 songs, almost no commercial breaks. I wish they did more of that the rest of the season.
The problem with the show is that the demographic of viewers skews old, but the record-buying public skews younger. They use the older songs to draw in the old fogey viewers like me, but often it is the younger ones who do the voting.
This year, they’re all OK. Blake can’t sing as well as the others but I can definitely see him becoming a big star, which I don’t see as much with the other two.
It was just a few weeks back that we got pretty deep into this, and you can search for it, but the short version is that it’s just not true. Boomers buy far more records (and pretty much everything else) than younger people do. I believe it was nearly five times more.
It’s not so much that the older people buy more, it’s that younger people are buying less. I ask the high school students I teach regularly if they still buy CDs, and they only buy them for relatives who don’t have MP3 players.
All the younger people download their music these days, and most of them know where to get it for free.
