AND I'LL TRY NOT TO SING OUT OF KEY: As far as I'm concerned, the night belonged to Casey Abrams and James Durbin. Casey's With a Little Help From My Friends sounded totally authentic -- which is not so easy when taking on Joe Cocker. And after I got over my realization that James's bandanna thing is less a stylistic move than an aural restraint mechanism, I was wowed by his Maybe I'm Amazed. He sounds like a less precious Adam Lambert -- which ain't a bad thing at all. These two guys are off to a strong, strong start.
This leaves me with some other questions and comments.
#1. Can Pia sing anything other than Big Ballads? Rewatching her group sing from Hollywood Week, I'm reminded that the answer should be yes. But only two weeks in, I'm already restless. She's safe, and should find herself easily in the top half this week, but please, can one of this vaunted flock of producers score a bit of tempo for Pia next time?
#2. Exactly how strong is the country voting bloc? I don't have a good sense as to whether Lauren Alaina and Scotty McCreery can phone it in until the top 5 or so, but I suspect that it doesn't matter whether I think Scotty is a one-trick pony or who Lauren decides to be as between Melissa Etheridge and Kellie Pickler. Neither one should be in any trouble anytime soon.
#3. Paul McDonald did not previously reveal this level of twitchiness. When Adam posited yesterday that Casey Abrams might be a less shticky Taylor Hicks, I thought that it was actually McDonald who might fall into that category. After watching him tonight, though, I find myself concerned that maybe he's a more shticky (or at least more twitchy) Hicks. Relistening to his performance without watching, though, it was still pretty bad. It improved about half way through, but there was just no comparison to his Blackbird or Maggie May.
#4. If there is one thing in this life as to which I am consistent, it is that I hate Stevie Wonder songs on AI. And thus Stefano Langone has no place in my life. (He even sang Stevie in Hollywood!)
#5. Jacob Lusk sings like an Eddie Murphy parody of Jacob Lusk. stab stab stab stab stab
#6. No one else really worth extended discussion. Thia got screwed by her producer, and she knew it. Yodeling has no place on Idol. Declaring that your idol is Miss Ross does not mean that you need to style yourself exactly like her. Good to know that Jennifer Lopez has adopted the Paul Abdul "you're so pretty" lead-in to kiss of death commentary on actual singing. And while I didn't care for Naima's performance, I appreciated the effort to dance and thought she seemed much more relaxed than she did last week.
One last thought: Did anyone else notice that the "My Idol" theme deterioriated over the course of the show, so that what started out as this is my idol turned into this is a person whose song I have decided I would like to sing now?
No one rose above a B tonight. I give Naima huge points for effort -- no, it didn't completely work, but no one's ever tried that kind of performance on the show before and I want to see more.
ReplyDeleteIf I wanted to see someone sing All By Myself and I'll Stand By You, I'd ask them to bring back Gina Glocksen. I warned Lucy when the song was announced: "the point of this song is to be really, really loud," and that's what it was.
Hated Jacob. When the choir came out, I was waiting for Blake Griffith to show up and dunk over a car. I'm glad he was so moved by Space Jam, which I now get to invoke for a second time this week.
I thought there was a level of mania missing from Casey, but he's safe, obvs. Paul too.
Should go home: Karen, Ashthon or Stefano.
Pia bores me to tears. I can't understand the judges pimping her, but I assume it is because she's the most stable chick, talent and keeping-her-cool wise. I still find Paul to be a dreamboat and refuse to be objective about his singing or palatability for America. Despite Karen and Thia's weak performances, I feel comfortable with Ashthon and Haley at the bottom of my Fantasy Idol ranking.
ReplyDeleteI really hope that J. Lo. learns how to give meaningful criticism. Right now it feels like Paula got split in two: Steven is the loose cannon and J. Lo. is the nice lady who comments on the outfits. Randy cannot be the only real judge. I love him, but he can't steer this ship alone.
Also Don Was (not (Not Was)) is freaky looking.
ReplyDeleteI generally agree with Kim but wanted to say that so many of these "musical" idols were really depressing, as it makes me fear for these kids' musical taste, but by contrast, while I appreciate that Paul's idol was Ryan Adams, I hated that performance so very, very much. Just thought it was absolutely awful. I mean, look: I don't like Jacob's oversigning, felt like many of the women were way too pageanty, etc., but to me, there really wasn't a thing about Paul's performance that worked. Well, the jacket was red and black, and I do like that color combination.
ReplyDeleteTop three: Casey, James, and maybe Naima for interest.
Bottom three: Paul, Karen, and Ashthon.
It's a sad day when Randy Jackson is the lone voice of reason on the judges panel. As much as I like the new judges, I wonder if we're getting to the part of the show where I'm really going to miss Simon.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed Casey and James tonight. Wouldn't mind seeing Karen, Ashthon or Jacob go home. (Please!) The earlier in the competition they leave, the less likely the judges will use the save, right?
How has J.Lo never heard of Ryan Adams? Sheesh.
Ack. Bottom four: add Jacob.
ReplyDeleteYeah, Paul really Jolened it up out there. I wanted him to do well, because that is the coolest song choice I can remember seeing on Idol and I like his voice and also he's strangely hot. But that is a really sad song, even when you Bowdlerize it! He needed to either stand in one place or sing something like "Firecracker" where the cattle prod dance could work.
ReplyDeleteI thought Jacob was the trainwreck of the night, and I think Casey ultimately wins it all, much to the producers' chagrin. I don't think any of the women have a chance.
When you can sing as well (in general) as these kids and you still haven't made it, you find ways to get out there and sing. That means Karaoke contests. Trust, me I know some of these people. That means you find the songs/singers that allow you to show off the most. That means you end up gravitating to the Celines and the Whitneys and the And I am Telling Yous since those are Big Gun songs.
ReplyDeleteWhen your go-to show-off setlist is so stacked with out-of-date stuff simply because that's the only way you can win the Karaoke contest, you remain musically dated and only latch on to new stuff if it happens to fall right into that wheelhouse. When you find yourself on the most glorified Karaoke contest ever, the truth comest out and we see who is just the best show-off and who can really bring it.
Consequently, I found the only one really admired last night was Naima- and Casey, I'll admit- for NOT staying in that rut. They have originality and appeal that transcends the medium. Not one of the others, een Pia, has shown anyting more.
I don't know which is worse- Paul slandering Ryan Adams with his singing or the show alowing J. Lo to casually say she doesn't know who Ryan Adams is. I imagine Paul singing "to be young, to be sad..." but they probably wouldn't like two performers singing about gettin' high.
ReplyDeleteOtherwise, I see things the same as KCos.
As one of the few people here who hated Adam Lambert, I'm prepared to hate James Durbin, too. So I liked the fact that he didn't rely on his screechiness, and I hold out hope that that's a positive sign for the future. I like the raspiness in Paul's voice, but it's also awfully thin, and that's not a particularly good combination, and his twitchiness (while I believe is authentic and not a schtick) makes Taylor Hicks look like Fred Astaire.
ReplyDeleteAnd I really, really want to like Jacob -- I think the range in his voice is incredible, and his version of "God Bless The Child" was one of the five best performances I've ever seen on Idol. But he's got to learn how to control that voice. This performance was awful, hysterical, over-the-top, a complete mess. Come on, I thought the whole point of having producers working with these kids was to correct problems like that.
I thought after "Maybe I'm Amazed" that Lopez was going to say "I'm not familiar with this Paul McCartney, but I'm going to look him up."
ReplyDeleteWhen he first appeared, I said to Spacewoman, "who's the homeless muppet?"
ReplyDeleteI predict that Karen goes. She never found her notes or her rhythm. Scott was flat through the big anthemic chorus of The River, and it was just sloppy, though I'm sure he'll stay. Thia was boring. Jacob was a hot mess.
ReplyDeleteGood: Pia, James.
Interesting: Paul, Haley, Naima. Naima felt like an actual pop star up there. Even with the pitch and control problems, she gave a performance unlike anything else on Idol and it felt actually, legitimately current.
I missed the first half-hour, but what I liked the best about the show was Naima's performance. She may not have been all that great at the singing part, but she looked and acted the part of an actual relevant performer. Singing "Smile" while the band sucks all the sex appeal out of you or singing a Celine Dion cover of an Eric Carmen song while making swimming motions with your left arm is not pop music. Dancing and putting on a high-energy show while wearing striking clothing and singing a song that was popular in the last five years may be derivative, but it at least seems relevant.
ReplyDeleteThat was the big takeaway from the night. Naima did what we thought Blake Lewis was doing until it was exposed as a handful of tricks.
ReplyDeleteAlso: Pia and Thia (accidentally connecting the two rhyming names) have performed two finals performances while basically planted in one place on the stage. I think that Naima moved more than all of the other women combined, even with Lauren at least moving some.
ReplyDeleteIf you're going to do that, you have to go the full Pia and Thia Megia, the latter of whom is giving me a strong Disney's Jasmine Trias 2.0 vibe.
ReplyDeleteI want Paul to go home for singing the lamest re-write possible of one of my favorite songs. Also for sucking. At singing. And this is a singing contest.
ReplyDeleteHe changed "Screw all my friends/They're all full of shit" to "Lose all my friends/they're all fullayeah," and repeated that choice, when there's a second chorus he could have selected that had less to edit! Suckage.
ReplyDeleteI kept waiting for Simon to call Jacob's noise (not, not NOT singing) "screechy and self-indulgent."
ReplyDeleteBlake Griffin, as in lion/eagle, not Griffith, as in Andy.
ReplyDeleteBut point taken.
I believe it was Adam that pointed out that this isn't a singing contest. It's a vote getting contest. Some people vote on who's the best singer, while many other folks vote on a variety of other criteria (geographic origin, song choice, personality, looks, religiousness, etc.).
ReplyDelete