Are they under a commitment to always boot one person from the bottom 3? Last night they booted two, so it seems to me that the rule is probably, “Do whatever’s best for the show”.
I can fully imagine that if the 3 best rockers wound up in the bottom 3, they might pull something snarky like say, “clearly the internet boys are trying to screw with the show. So… How about this? We’re going to flip it around and boot everyone NOT in the bottom 3.”
Whatever it takes. An interesting tactical aspect of the show is that the bottom-3 gag is completely irrelevant to who the band picks, unless the bottom 3 included three people that were all equivalent top contenders.
The audience could put Dilana in the bottom 3 every week, and if that’s who Supernova wants they can just pass her through every time until the end, then pick her anyway.
One thing that has to be confusing the rockers at this point is the contradictory commandments they keep getting from the band. Just last week Josh was told to keep doing his own thing and bring what he thinks is best to the show, rather than trying to fit what the band wants. This week they booted him in part because he didn’t do what the band wanted. Last week Storm came out and did a sensitive ballad dressed to the 9’s, and Supernova whooped and hollered and told her she was perfect and that they would trade the old ‘over the top’ Rockin’ Storm for the classy Storm any day. So this week she comes out and does a variation on that, and they tell her she doesn’t rock hard enough.
I’m still baffled as to how Ryan made it into the bottom 3, especially after Supernova made it clear that they thought his performance of ‘Paint it Black’ was “the shit”, “dope”, “amazing” and good enough to make him a contender. How he landed in the bottom 3 instead of Patrice or Zarya is mystifying, other than that there’s an internet crowd that likes to screw with the show, and possibly that a large portion of the audience has no taste and thinks that Patrice and Zarya have more talent because they’re more like traditional pop stars or something.
I have a theory about the two encores last night…they wanted to give the encore to Magni, because his performance was the best. But they also wanted to see if Lukas could actually sing two nights in a row. Although I thought Tuesday night was Lukas’s best performance, I could hear the strain his voice was going through last night. His voice is not going to last him long enough to have a long career; he should be soloing now and saving his money if he doesn’t want to have to get a real job in a few years. And I hate watching him on stage; it’s like watching a drunken lout stagger down the road.
I wasn’t surprised to see them boot two last night—they were going to have to do it eventually to fit into the number of weeks the show runs. I think they were just waiting for the right two performers—who better than Jill, who I found boring, and Josh, who is a great singer but not right for this band.
Patrice has lost me completely…I don’t like Sheryl Crow and imitators are not wanted.
Ryan may be talented, but I could have killed him for Enjoy the Silence last night. And he doesn’t look comfortable in front of a band—he should solo too. Toby is okay, but not compelling and he completely lost me with the megaphone trick.
Storm is great but not for this band.
It’s going to come down to Dilana, Lukas and Magni. Dilana is a good singer and I enjoy watching her perform. I haven’t watched the reality shows and am disappointed to find that she has no song writing skills (I am more than willing to take Sam Stone’s word on this). Magni is a great singer, interesting to watch (now that he’s lost the ugly shades), and looks comfortable in front of a band. If Lukas wins I anticipate hating everything the band does.
Here’s a sample of her lyrics from the original song:
Pretty boys and nasty girls, let’s get together
There’s a house on a hill, just south of sunset
Bring your wine and your song, your lotion and your thong
It’s okay if you’re crazy
Let’s get rocking until the morning comes!
Said Newstead: “Her lyrics were kind of cornball.”
Tommy Lee: “What were her lyrics again? I can’t remember. And that’s not a good thing.”
The best original songs were by Lukas, Josh, Ryan, Storm, and Magni. Jill’s song was actually pretty good, but her singing was awful. She screamed most of the way through it.
It’ll be interesting to see how much emphasis Supernova puts on songwriting ability. For one thing, it’ll show whether or not they are interested in a long-term band, or whether they just see this as a great way to get some publicity to make some bucks on an album and tour before going off to do other things.
The best songwriters of the bunch are probably Ryan, Storm, and Lukas. Maybe Magni as well, but I haven’t heard enough of his original stuff. But Ryan and Storm have been writing and performing their own songs for a long time, and have developed a big following based on them. So they’ve got chops. I’ve heard Patrice is a good songwriter, but I’ve never heard any of her solo stuff. Based on what I heard on the show, Dilana is only good as a singer. She doesn’t play an instrument and can’t write music. So if I was looking for a long-term talent for a band, I think I’d eliminate her based on that. It’s great to be an electrifying live performer, but ultimately to get the crowds you have to write music that people want to hear.
That’s an interesting thought, and you could be right. And I agree that Lukas’s voice didn’t sound as strong on the second night. But I thought he deserved the encore because it was a brilliant performance. Then again, so was Magni’s, so maybe the Supernova guys just went, “Jeez, how can you exclude either one of those performances?”
It’s interesting - on the reality show, they showed him practicing to hit that high note, and it looked like it was work. So I don’t know that he’s that natural a singer - he has to really stretch to hit the notes. That’s not a good sign, because there are lots of days when your vocal cords just won’t cooperate. You have to be able to hit those notes effortlessly for them to be available for every concert.
I’m not sure that Josh is wrong for the band - I think that if the band was willing to move in the direction of his style, it might make them a lot better. If they just do the generic rock stuff I kind of expect from them, they’ll vanish as soon as the publicity wears off. They need to have a unique edge to them.
Have a listen to his Original Song #1. This one was written on the spot - the rockers were introduced to Supernova, then told to get up there and improvise after spending a couple of minutes thinking.
Here’s the song he wrote for the actual songwriting contest: Josh Logan Original Song #2. He had 24 hours to write it.
I’d listen to a band making music like this. In fact, I wonder if the problem they had with Josh is that he might have wound up up pulling the band in his own direction and taking over some creative control.
Based on those two links, he appears to have some chops. I like Josh, I just don’t think he fits with the existing band members. Though who really wants to fit in with T Lee?