- The Wise Children: Crystal Bowersox, for having the best control of phrasing on this show other than, maybe, Melinda Doolittle; Lee Dewyze, for returning to secret-sleeper status with a solid performance; The Outlaw Casey James, for staying in his box and doing it well; Big Mike Lynche, who took an India.Arie song I've never heard before, arranged it interestingly and sold it well; and Andrew Garcia, who delivered his before performance since That One on that wedding procession song. He's not going to win this thing, nor should he, but on its own that was nice.
- The Simple Children: Katie and Aaron seem totally competent, and neither of these children interest me at all.
- The Children Who Don't Know How To Improve: Tim Urban, who gets props for reviving Anita Baker's "Sweet Love" but had nothing interesting to do with it; Didi Benami, perhaps appropriately, delivered an unleavened performance. That pile of dough did not rise.
- The Wicked Child: Oh, Siobhan, you're awesome -- but that was legitimately the worst performance of the night. Sharp, shrieky, wrong. And she'd absolutely deserve Idol Immunity, but they didn't use it for Alexis Grace just one week sooner in the competition last year. Let's hope it doesn't come to that.
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
HOLD ON. I'M COMING: It's second seder night on American Idol, so let me grab an easy theme:
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The Husband suffered through much of the show with me. When Crystal finished singing, he said, "So she's winning this, right?"
ReplyDeleteOh, how I wish it could be true.
Paris! Whatever happened to her? She was awesome (especially during Queen Week!)
ReplyDeleteI haven't been fully tuned in this season, so I've missed some performances, but I do not understand one bit why anybody has found Siobhan engaging. As much as she screams and shrieks, usually on-key and tonight off-, she still seems to approach everything with the grace and feel of an overtrained pageant singer. She sang terribly tonight, but the worst part of her terrible singing was that she treated the music as craft, not art.
ReplyDeleteContrast that with Garcia's performance tonight and Bowersox's every night. They internalized their songs and gave honest performances. The reason why Garcia's was the best tonight and Bowersox's was just good (beyond her seeming discomfort with a little of the arrangement and separation anxiety from her guitar) was that Garcia's felt current(ish) and Bowersox's, like every one of her pieces, felt like a well-performed oldie.
Casey James sure is a creepy smiler.
Argh. Me.
ReplyDeleteAs I went to a seder last night, I actually got all of the references above. [Isn't the wicked child supposed to stay a slave without being saved, though?]
ReplyDeleteI largely tend to agree with your tiers. You have a clump of good performances---personal taste might have Crystal on top for me, although the others in that tier might have had more complete performances. I do think that was probably about as much as I will like Casey performing---he obviously likes and is comfortable with the more bluesy type of songs and was clearly having fun with the song, but I just don't get anything out of him.
I'd actually say that Aaron had another off night singing. Great chunks of that song were off-pitch. Ultimately, can you really say anything about him or Katie other than that they did not get eaten alive by the song.
I thought that Tim's session with Usher was quite telling. Set aside the "look, dude, I'm a heterosexual male" thing, and what you get is someone who found it rather surprising that someone would suggest that you envision singing a love song to someone that you love. It seriously is like he doesn't even get that those words found on the page with the music have meaning. And Didi cannot seem to get through a song these days without having some shrill moments.
Siobhan was awful. Just awful. Honestly, most of her performances have been weak in some part or other---Think was awful until she got to the scream, as an example---but this was weak throughout.
I was mostly happy with last night because there were a few performances (i.e. more than just Crystal's) that I would have re-watched had it not already been late. I quite liked Mike, Andrew, and Lee, and I was so happy when I heard the opening line from Crystal and knew what she had chosen. The rest were just fine to awful, but four good ones was more than I've come to expect this year.
ReplyDeleteAs an aside, and apologies if this has come up already, but does anyone else think of Calvin (of Calvin & Hobbes) when they see Aaron's new hairstyle? The past few weeks when he's come out all gelled up, it makes us think of what Calvin would do to his hair on school picture day.
The baby (I had a baby! last week! she's awesome) and I agreed that Siobhan was terrible. The baby cringed during her screechy notes at the end. I agree, though, that she would be an entirely deserving winner of Idol Immunity on the strength of her prior performances.
ReplyDeleteDidi is confusing to me. I really like her voice and her vibe but she picks weird songs. I loved her Rhiannon, but ever since then, she's been sliding downhill.
I love Crystal, but I feel like I can pick her future song choices. Both Hands, by Ani DiFranco, maybe?
Congratulations, Gretchen! That's great news.
ReplyDeleteI would love to have Crystal check out the covers that Sugarland has done. Not necessarily in order to do them (although, really, wouldn't Crystal singing Beyonce's Irreplaceable be fun?), but to check out how a duo led by a woman with a great, bluesy voice picks an interesting array of covers.
Also, if y'all haven't heard it, Indigo Girls do a nice cover of Midnight Train to Georgia, although they imported a guest vocalist to do the lead on the chorus.
Jenn, I just went back to listen to the IG cover of Midnight Train today! I really do love that album.
ReplyDeleteMazel tov, Gretchen! That's terrific!
ReplyDeleteGretchen, I keep wishing Crystal could do something by Ani as well, but I'm sure there's no way :-( Congrats on the baby!!
ReplyDeleteCongrats on the new baby, Gretchen!
ReplyDeleteCongratulations, Gretchen!
ReplyDelete