I agree with that. He does write a pretty boring song, but then sings it in an incredible way. That may well be why other people don’t sound as good as he does, because his own interpretation is superior.
Stevie is hard to sing. There are lines in his songs that don’t seem to fit with the rest of the song and can come off sounding flat or just wrong. Don’t You Worry 'Bout a Thing is one of those. The opening lines for that song did not work well for Mandisa, she pulled off the rest of it but she did not pull off the opening. I still think she was one of the better singers of the night though.
Personally, I think Ace, The Pickler, Kevin, Bucky and Melissa were the bottom group. Elliot was middlin’, then Mandisa, Lisa, Taylor, Paris and Chris.
I think the band or sound mixing sucked overall. A few of the singers were just plain drowned out in spots which didn’t help their overall sound. In some cases I wasn’t sure if they were running out of breath or getting drowned out.
If The Pickler cried when Stevie Wonder entered the room (I didn’t notice) it was sympathetic crying because so many other finalists were moved to tears. “Gosh, everyone else is crying. This must be special!”. Frankly, I don’t think much of people who claim to love music but only know a small pigeonhole of one musical genre (i.e. country). It’s like saying “I love art!” When the only “art” you’ve ever seen is Big-eyed puppies*. If she doesn’t know a legend like Stevie Wonder then (as someone else said) she probably has been living under a rock. And her twang came through so strongly in that song I think it made it pretty obvious she’s on the wrong show. I won’t be at all sad if she leaves tonight.
Ace or Kevin could go and I wouldn’t mind either. Kevin is a very sweet kid and you do want to squish him but he’s out of his league. If he could stick to songs that use that lower register of his it wouldn’t be so bad, but I don’t think he’s really trying. Ace is just a pretty face.
Melissa wasn’t as awful as Kevin or The Pickler in my opinion but she’s out of her league, too, and forgetting the lyrics several times - that’s bad.
Bucky looked like he was in a hair conditioner commercial. He was one of those that sounded drowned out for most of the song but I didn’t think he was that good. Not as bad as a couple others but not great.
*I have nothing against Big-Eyed Puppies, I had several posters of those puppies and kitties when I was 12.
Ace the Face was really bad. Like, worst of the night. I’m embarrassed that I thought this guy was a contender. My Dancing with the Stars paddle says** 5.**
Kewpie-Doll Parton wasn’t much better. Ugly. Also, those shoes do not go with that dress! The Pickler gets a 5.
The Man Yamin should have been in his element. Maybe that’s why he was so disappointing. Between meeting Stevie, getting used to the new stage, & trying to track the camera at the beginning of the song, he lost part of his coolness. Sadly, this week Croony Croonerstein might go home.** 7.**
Mandisa is America: oversized, loud, & a bit full of herself. She’ll get votes. The first time I heard this performance, I thought it was bad. Ace bad, which is surprising. Sounded better on a second listen, so let’s call it a 7.
Rocky Covington’s Brother pretty much growled his way through this like he does everything else. Cool rock voice, but I still feel like something’s missing underneath. 6.
No, no! McGhee! Don’t sandbag this week! We need to drop Ace or Kevin first! Saying, “It’s a roller coaster I’d like to get off,” then forgetting the lyrics, after talking about forgetting the lyrics! At least she was holding up her fingers for “6” at the end. I guess she doesn’t really want to go home.
(Oh, yeah, Melissa weirdly reminded me of Suzie McNeil this week. I’m not saying she sings like Suzie, just her manner when she was apologizing to “Mr. Wonder” for “butchering” his song. I think I’m crushing on her.)
Melissa covered the forgotten lyrics pretty well. I don’t know the song, so I didn’t realize until Randy mentioned it, but something did seem off at one point in the song. That might have been it. But for vocals, I think she still managed to pull out an 8.
Time out for a digression on Melissa’s also-ran vibe.
Some contestants got extra air time on previous eps, that helped them build a connection with the audience. Katharine, Kevin, I’m looking at you. This builds them up & hurts others by comparison.
It helps in this sort of thing for the voters to think of you like they know you; like you’re their friend. This is not about being good, so much as making people feel they know & like you. If you aren’t technically above everyone else, just giving us a sense of what makes you distinct can help, because people will remember you. Ace has the eyes, & his brother comes to the show; Kellie & Bucky have the hillbilly thing; Mandisa is heavy, which some of the couch potatos watching identify with, & she’s blatantly Christian; Kevin is a kid in over his head; Taylor is older-looking & a spaz; Paris is a kid & a spaz; we know Chris has kids & some kind of service industry day job. Katharine at least has the nickname, “McPheever,” now, which gives her a tag. The others? Not so much.
Elliott, um, is Jewish & croons? And Melissa & Lisa are a little generic. Lisa is gorgeous & technically amazing, which has gotten her this far, but I don’t think as many voters are getting as all weird & protective of her as of Taylor & Kevin.
And Melissa, so far, is still kind of a glyph. What do we know about her? She wears flip-flops, she likes cars–drives a stick–& she has a smoky voice. And now, apparently, she’s the one who choked on the first night of the finals. If she had Kevin or Ace’s following already, she could survive that. But I think this is the first thing some people will remember about her. So, if you tried to vote for her last night & the line was busy, it was probably me, trying (almost certainly futilely) to keep her numbers up so we can drop… I dunno, somebody who didn’t sing as well.
Lisa wasn’t amazing, but she was good. And she’s so cute. Also half my age. But she’s beautiful. Noticed Lisa’s mom in the audience; was she an actress or something? Weirdly familiar. Nah, I’m imagining it. 9.
Bob the Quizno’s Baby was surprisingly good–well, in tune anyway. “Good” is another thing. Is Kevin benefiting from diminished expectations? Well, yeah. 7.
Dr. Jonni McPheever was all right. I think a little indistinct in places. I think Katharine’s been gaining weight while Melissa is losing weight, but I couldn’t swear to it. I’m not complaining. She* is* playing up her voluptuousness. I think that’s a good call. Lisa is a beautiful girl, but McPhee is sexy. ** 8.**
Jay Leno Cocker did all right. I liked listening to him. He & Bucky have this rough ol’ rocker sound that I like. ** 8.**
Call me oldfashioned, but Isn’t Paris a Boy’s Name? Midget Fantasia sang really well. I think she hit all her notes, unlike some people. And I’m not a fan of the little punk. 10.
Chris Diesel surpassed Paris in one way. Emotional force. I guess I should give him a 10, too, but the fact that he just went for the Chili Peppers song bugs me. Way to be predictable! ** 9.**
Color me cynical, but Paris not missing a note is like Tiger Woods not topping a drive. So what. Hitting notes is not enough for Paris. She must squeeze the juice from them the way she did in her audition. She introducted the expectations. She must now produce the goods.
I would just like to add that Eliot totally dropped the ball on this one. He shoulda been the star of the evening; the dude can out-Stevie Stevie by a magnitude of at least 2. He chose a boring, obscure song, instead of a showpiece for what shoulda been his shining moment in this competition.
Instead, due to Simon’s ignorance of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, the night was shoplifted by Chris, who did nothing to deserve it. For me, again, it was Katherine’s night. Chris pissed me off with his stolen cover, moreso because it worked on the judges, and he’s gonna hafta do a *lot *to get me back in his corner.
And poor Mandisa. Not only did they try to get her to subject her poor feet to the force of her bulk against the razor wires of those shoes, they keep making her perch on those ice-cream-scoop stools. They’re gonna lose one of those things one of these nights, and Mandisa’s gonna set off the metal detectors on her way out of the theater. Just sayin.
Oh, yeah, I liked Bucky’s hair.
And Mandisa was so far off at the start of her song it was a shock.
I am almost convinced I’m watching and hearing an entirely different show from everyone else. While I agree with the majority that Ace & Kellie sucked, that’s about where I part ways with everyone else.
Elliott Yamin may not have shown the best stage presence last night, but he certainly has the past few weeks, so I chalk that up to “first night” jitters on that huge and intimidating stage and think it has little relevance on whether or not he’d ultimately make a great American Idol (Carrie Underwood was scared shitless in almost every episode of her season). As for his singing, his voice is pure gold. He never misses a note and does wonderful interpretations of whatever song he tackles. Even if you don’t like the songs, when you listen to them they sound beautiful.
Mandisa was horrid. Just ghastly. Most of the song was out of tune – the beginning she couldn’t find a single note and it was way too low for her range – and the rest of it she just SCREAMED at me. You’d have to tie me to a chair to get me to listen to an entire CD of her idea of singing.
Bucky doesn’t sing, he GRRRRRRRRROWLS songs, and as a result they all end up sounding exactly the freaking same. Awful. Not even close to American Idol material.
Melissa McGhee was utterly terrible. Her voice was shaky and out of tune throughout the entire first half of the song. It got better towards the middle, then warbled again after she messed up the lyrics. The only good note in the whole performance was the very last one.
Lisa Tucker is technically a good singer but something about her stage presence leaves me cold. She’s way too pageant/Star Searchy to me. But the biggest complaint I have about her is that she has absolutely no style of her own. There’s simply nothing interesting about her singing even though she hits all the right notes.
Keven Covais – sorry to repeat myself, but there’s no better description – he sounds like Alvin and the Chipmunks. And even though they could hit all the right notes, they were a joke group, not intended to be taken as serious singers/performers, so the fact that Alvin Covais hit all the notes is completely irrelevant to whether or not he’s actually a “good” singer. For crying out loud, the judges ought to be ashamed of themselves having put this kid through while passing up what certainly must have been far superior singers.
Katharine McPhee is simply a stunning singer and performer. She is so cool and collected and obviously thoroughly enjoying herself up there that she’s a joy to watch and listen to. She sings like an angel, knows the right way to belt out one of the higher notes without screaming it, and knows when and how to dial it back again, soothing you right back into the melody of a song. I could listen to her sing all day long.
Talyor Hicks, while not the most technically proficient singer, is really, really good at what he does and is a consumate entertainer. In my opinion, the top 3 should be him, Katharine and Elliott, and I’d have a hard time deciding who would deserve to win it more, but they’d all wear the title well.
Paris Bennett showed so much potential, but, again, I listened to a completely different performance last night from everyone else because I thought she was at best just OK. Her phrasing was off in a couple of places, she hit some clunker notes and some really whiney ones, and it was overall too low a key for her, too. She pulled it out, but not by much.
Chris Daughtry. Holy shit, the man swallowed a goat and everyone seems to like it. GAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!! I just know I’m going to be stuck listening to him quiver out songs week after week, and eventually be crowned the winner. He’s completely unoriginal and his voice has very limited range (much like Nadia Turner last season). For the life of me I do not understand the tongue bath he gets every single week from the judges who proclaim him to be the only “legitimate” person up there, which is utter nonsense. Hate. Just Hate.
Shayna,
Your review is dead on.
If this contest was judged by knowledgeable people on vocals, Katherine would win, hands down. She’s superb.
If all of the finalists released CDs today, I’d buy three: hers, Taylor’s, and Paris’s. I have a feeling only Katherine’s would make its way into regular rotation.
Yes, I have the McPheever!
Since when did Stevie’s hips get as big as Mandisa’s?
How can Ace be in the bottom three but not KEVIN??? KEVIN???
But Kevin is so cuuuuuuuute!!!
Of course, I had both of them in the bottom three.
Oh yea, I’m not surprised Ace is in the bottom three, I’m surprised Kevin ISN’T.
My picks in the prediction thread are all shot to hell.
Ace looks like he wants to cry. I bet all his fan-girls are mad at themselves for letting him down-- especially when he looks so beautifully crestfallen.
Well, I got two out of three.
How can Lisa and Bucky be in the bottom three? How come either one of them be?
LISA???
Lisa absolutely should not be in the bottom three.
Hm, which one? I hope it’s Ace, but I’m guessing it’s Melissa.
I never noticed how pretty she is until that montage. She still can’t sing.
Well, there’s a shock. Melissa looked relieved.
I’m not surprised to see Lisa in the bottom 3. She’s really not that charismatic. She doesn’t look like she’s having fun.
Ace left?
No, Melissa left. When I said she looked relieved, I meant she looked relieved to get off the roller coaster (her metaphor).