Crystal: I don't know to what to attribute her emotional display at the end of "People Get Ready," but she had won the night before that. Pantheon, no, but damn good. As Dan notes, MamaSox is "the best pure singer and the gap is wider than it has ever been between the best and second best in any season since Fantasia's win."
Lee: Big gap between #1 and #2, in part because of the rather significant edits to the text, and it was good but not that good. Sincerity is important, but it does not by itself make you a winner.
Tim: Yeah, I said it. I know he doesn't have much of a range, but he stayed within it well and gave a solid performance, even it wasn't great singing. I'd like to think my touting him is separate from Theory #2 on improving performers rising above the always-solid as the competition progresses, but there's some conflict here.
Big Mike: Best rendition of a Spider-Man song in show history. He's got a higher ceiling than any other guy in the competition, I think.
Siobhan: Big gap again between #4 and this one. It had its moments, but she needs to be singing rock and roll, not this weak cartoon crap.
The Outlaw Casey James: One of my basic rules of Idol song selection is to be wary of songs written to be sung in harmony. There's just no great way to sing "Don't Stop" as a solo male, and he didn't.
Aaron: Automatic point deduction for selecting a song written by an artist who has a mural in his house showing him playing basketball against the Tasmanian Devil and who may have used that house in videotaping himself urinating on minors for his own sexual gratification. Beyond that, it's a shitty song that the house muppet warbled badly.
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
DEAR LEE DEWYZE, PLEASE DON'T FORGET ABOUT US. SIGNED, THE WHORES ON SEVENTH AVENUE: Inspirational, celebrational, muppetational? Idol was all of that tonight, and in order from most awesome to the least:
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Here's my thing with Siobhan: I just can't reconcile everything we see and know about her personality and who she is with the songs she chooses to sing. I have such a hard time believing that she's riding around in the car listening to Mariah and Whitney. I'm not saying she isn't, but that it's such a disconnect from how she presents herself that it's cognitive dissonance to the extreme. I think that's what Kara was trying to say to her tonight.
ReplyDeleteI'd argue the gap is even wider than in Fantasia's year. I always thought LaToya was almost as good as Fantasia, and you could tell Jennifer Hudson had a huge upside, even though she was inconsistent.
ReplyDeleteAs for this week, I'd rate it in this order
1. Crystal
2. Lee
3 (tie). Mike and Siobhan
5. Casey
6. Aaron
7. Tim
I'd put the two Davids singing Hero at the Season 7 finale above Mike's performance of the same song, Adam.
ReplyDeleteHere's my list:
1. Crystal. Awesome, emotional, outside of her comfort zone without the guitar and singing acapella.
[Massive gap]
2. Lee. His usual assortment of missed notes, and the cut of the song was strange. But it worked emotionally.
[smallish gap]
3. Mike. I don't really think that the song worked for his vocal tone, but an interesting choice, and yes, Spiderman is a hero, Simon.
[rather large gap]
4. [tie] Casey. Goat-boy vibrato was in full effect, and I swear, you could substitute video of more than half of his performances for each other and only vaguely realize that something was off.
4. [tie] Siobhan. I think that I've figured out that I just don't like her voice all that much and I find her singing to be too mannered. Also, I typically dislike her song choices. The high notes were fairly pretty, though.
[some gap, but not huge]
6. Tim. I actually thought that he was quite off with his singing. Still, his hair was quite lustrous.
[smallish, and yet still identifiable gap]
7. Aaron. Isn't it time for him to go home?
I hate inspirational song night.
I think that if a contestant sings a song from the Space Jam soundtrack they should be automatically eliminated. Executed even.
ReplyDeleteAlthouse sez she broke down at the end because her Dad was in the audience.
ReplyDeleteThe thing with Casey is that he's got a good voice and he's a good singer, but except when he challenges himself like "Jealous Guy," he sounds like the frontman for any average bar band in America. And when he picks schlock 'n' roll like "Don't Stop," it only aggravates the problem.
ReplyDeleteCrystal is clearly the best and most polished. But I agree with you, Adam, on the ceiling for Big Mike, and I'd add that I think Lee has a high ceiling, too. They just need someone who can work with them and bring out that natural talent. Ricky Minor ain't the guy.
Crystal really was incredible last night. Lee was pretty good - certainly better than the rest of the pack although not in the same class as Crystal. I just didn't enjoy/care enough about any of the others to comment on them (though I suffered through their performances), except...
ReplyDeleteI agree with Kara (!) in that I'm becoming frustrated with The Outlaw Casey James. I really do like his voice and, as he demonstrated with "Jealous Guy" a couple of weeks ago, he has a lot of potential. But as Simon said, lazy song choice last night. I think he really could have done something special with a different song. Maybe a quiet, intense version of "I'll Stand By You" or even an interpretation of "Lovely Day." Just... something. I voted for him because I still think he's better than Tim, Aaron, and Siobhan (whose performances are largely un-listenable for me), but I'm a little worried TOCJ might be heading home soon - even tonight.
I do think Chrystal's performance was Pantheon level, even with the breakdown. Remember the tear in the Prince Produced Nothing Compares 2 U. I think Lee's performance was pretty spectacular and I'm guessing that Paul Simon was happy this morning, but I agree with everyone who thinks there was a pretty big gaping hole between C and L. I cannot agree with putting Tim anywhere but the bottom just on principle. Should have been gone weeks ago tiers or no tiers. Must be really really appealing to some group of women and/or little girls to still be hanging around. Is there a vote for the worst movement this year. I have to say I was a little underwhelmed by Big Mike but he really does seem to be on to something and I agree he could have some staying power.
ReplyDelete