I’ll take Zarya over Patrice any day. At least Zarya has a unique vision, and she comes across to me as authentic. Authentically crappy, maybe, but at least authentic.
Patrice, on the other hand, always twitches my ‘poser’ sense. I never believe that what she’s doing is from the heart. Everything she does seems calculated. And at this stage of the competition, a whole bunch of people have shown that they’ve just got way better chops than she does.
There are three rockers right now that we absolutely know will never front this band - Jill, Zarya, and Patrice. Of the three, I’d dump Patrice, simply because she’s the most boring and predictable. All three should be gone over the next three weeks, as long as one of them falls into the bottom three each week (and that seems likely).
Josh is probably the other guy who can’t possibly front this band, but that’s kinda too bad, because I think he’s a great talent, and I respect that he’s refusing to change his style for the band. His attitude is, “This is who I am. If that’s what you want, then let’s make some music. If not, I’ll be on my way, and no hard feelings.” I think he’s got a great solo career ahead of him, so long as he can get interesting songs to sing. Nonetheless, I expect him gone in the next four shows.
The rest of them have all stood out from the pack and one time or another, and I think any one of them could actually front Supernova. Based on pure stage presence, you have to go with Dilana as being the best of the bunch. However… If you watch the reality episodes, one thing that became clear this week is that Dilana cannot write songs. Her lyrics are simply godawful - easily the worst of the entire bunch, including Zarya. They were about as bad as what you’d expect a kid in grade 7 to write. So Dilana brings absolutely nothing to the table in that department. As far as I know, she also doesn’t play an instrument (at least, I haven’t seen her play one yet). And admitting she’d never heard the Who before? I don’t know… She’s gone down a couple of pegs for me in the last couple of weeks. And her voice is very one-note - I’m not sure if people will want to listen to that raspy voice for an entire concert or album.
Lukas, I don’t know. Part of the equation here is that he has to get along with the band. I suspect Gilby at least is fed up with obnoxious singers, and Lukas is about as obnoxious as they get. So that’s a strike against him. But he did a good job on the songwriting challenge, and his performance was certainly electric. He’s still hanging in there.
Ryan has been really impressive the last couple of weeks, but I get the feeling that he’s straining hard to be something that’s just not quite what he’s about. I think he’s more in the ‘sensitive yet angry singer/songwriter’ camp. Like Josh, he’ll have a good solo career, but I’m having a hard time seeing him front the band. Still, he’s full of surprises. He may pull this out yet.
Toby showed bad judgement by pulling that megaphone shtick. Not only did it suck all the energy out of what had been up to that point a kick-ass cover, but it just looked tired and gimmicky. I think he lost some points with the boys for that. I think he’s the weakest of the people who are still contenders, and a bad performance could send him home.
Magni is my pick for main competition to Dilana. Not only is he an awesome talent (that song he did last night absolutely killed), but he’s an established professional with six albums behind him and a big following in Iceland. And, he seems to be a very nice, very grounded person, which shouldn’t be underestimated. These guys will have to work together and travel together for at least a couple of years, and Magni would fit in with the band better than anyone else.
Then there’s Storm. She’s absolutely terrific. But if the band does pick a female lead, it’s hard to see how they pick Storm over Dilana. But she actually may be the most talented of the bunch - you just don’t get to see it on this show. She’s got real songwriting talent, great stage presence, and a great voice. If she can turn in another spellbinding performance, she could put herself in the running with Dilana.
The performances last night were awesome, for the most part. Magni did the best job, with Lukas, Storm, and Ryan also being excellent. Toby would have been except for the stupid megaphone. I have to admit I didn’t really like Dilana’s version of “Won’t Get Fooled Again” very much. And did anyone notice she jumped in early at one point and caught herself by yelling and then repeating the line at the right moment? The song had its moments, but overall I’d just give it a passing grade.