Friday, March 7, 2008
WHAT, ANOTHER AMERICAN IDOL DISCUSSION?
E.K.: Once again, let's bring in E.K. Nation's Senior American Idol Correspondent "Smooth" to discuss what happened this week. We know now that Luke, Danny, Kady and Asia'h were voted out. The one surprise about Thursday's vote show is how sad Danny was to anticipate being voted out and then being voted out. I would have thought he'd have shrugged it off as though it were nothing; turns out he cared about being in the competition more than I thought he did. Where's your sassy now, Danny? Anyway, let's talk about the girls' night. First up was Asia'h Epperson.
Smooth: Oh boy, a Whitney song. Didn't she learn that those are basically off-limits on this show? It wasn't that great, since her voice just wasn't up to the task. It was OK but she was a bit hoarse or something. She also had a weird outfit on with really high waisted pants. Was that an 80's thing?
E.K.: I was wondering that myself.
Smooth: Whatever, hers was a pretty forgettable performance.
E.K.: I agree that doing Whitney is never a good idea unless you can do something amazing with it...and has any girl ever done that on American Idol? Not only was her vocal pitchy and nasal but I couldn't understand some of the lyrics the way she sang them. It just wasn't great, and she was in trouble from the get-go. However, I did not think she would be voted out.
Smooth: As for Kady Malloy: Wow, this was bad. It was very amateurish and a bad song choice. She was just totally off key, flat all over the place, and she missed the big notes, too. I think Kady's a pleasant gal but she was not good enough to be on this show. I can't believe she even made it this far after that performance. Randy and Paula are smoking crack for not ripping that crap. Even Simon didn't really call out the horribleness of the vocal, which is surprising.
E.K.: Yeah, this was bad from start to finish. Kady was one of my picks to be voted out this week, and you agreed. Your other predicted vote-off was who?
Smooth: Asia'h.
E.K.: Nice call. I never did make up my mind as to who the other girl would be who was voted out. But I knew Kady would be once this song started. Katharine McPhee, if I remember correctly, absolutely nailed this song two years ago, and there's no way any A.I. voter who remembered that performance could possibly vote for Kady this time around. However, Kady does indeed seem like a nice girl, and if your only fault is you can't sing a Queen song to perfection in front of millions of television viewers, then you've definitely got something going for you. Up next we had Amanda Overmyer.
Smooth: It was somewhat better than last week's total debacle but it's still not great. I'm still bothered by the tone of her voice, of course, but it does fit this song better, and she did a much better job of enunciating and staying on key. In fact, I actually had a bigger problem with the way she performed this one. For the majority of the performance, she displayed none of the attitude the song calls for. Instead, she mostly looked down and looked around nervously. Just no energy there. She also seemed incredibly nervous in the post-interview. It was like the opposite of last week's energetic performance and terrible vocal. What's up with that? For once I completely disagree with Simon, because amazingly, he really liked it.
E.K.: I thought the performance was sketchy too. She seemed very apprehensive this time around and clearly lacked the energy she had previously. It was almost like she was trying to remember the words to the song as she sang them. I too was surprised that Simon was so high on this performance, because it really wasn't that good. However, and I was amazed to find myself thinking this, she really looked cute this week. If "cute" is an appropriate word to describe a Harley-riding rocker chick. She toned down the hair mess a lot, and she just seemed very pleasant-looking.
Smooth: I loved Carly Smithson's accent in the pre-interview.
E.K.: You and me both. It was almost like she's been trying to sound American up until now but decided "To hell with it, I'm gonna go with the brogue full steam this week." I love it.
Smooth: She too had wacky pants on, and they've styled her to soften her look. She looked pretty good. They can't style the angry look off of her face, though; I am a little bit scared when she sings "I drove all night to make love to you", because I feel that if that were to occur I would wake up with many bruises in the morning. Anyway, she can really sing, and she clearly stands out among the females. In the last 15 seconds of the song she was able to hit several notes that genuinely surprise me. She's undoubtedly going to go really far in the competition.
E.K.: Carly's becoming really gorgeous. She did have this angry look while singing, like she usually does, but I would not only not be scared of her if she sang that song to me, I would break in and instruct her to take me anywhere she wanted, impending bruises or no. Again, her vocal seemed a bit yelly (if that's a word), and she might be trying a bit too hard to hit those high notes that the other girls can't hit, and that's just it. She doesn't need to do that. She's powerful enough without having to work that hard. Still, she looks better and better each week and she's not leaving the competition anytime soon.
Smooth: In interviews, Kristy Lee Cook is starting to annoy me more and more. She did an okay job with the song, sort of adding a slight country twang to it which to me sounds of out of place. The vocal was average, with some problems in the lower register. It didn't help that she followed Carly. She still seems reluctant to fully embrace the country thing, which she needs to do if she wants to go far, and the judges are really trying to shove her into that box. Simon correctly noted that she's forgettable and would be fortunately to make the Top 10. She said "Top 10 is okay with me"; way to show that killer instinct, Kristy Lee!
E.K.: It was a bit odd indeed that she said that. She's not giving up, is she? Anyway, she still looks great but she's just not shining like I thought she might when I saw her first audition. I liked that she took the judges' suggestions to heart and made a country song out of "Faithfully" -- at least for a bit -- but she was still pitchy in country mode and still lacked the Wow notes that we need to hear before anointing someone a star. Now, Smooth: What say you about Ramiele Malubay?
Smooth: God, she sounded like she's six years old in the pre-interview, taking a breath after every third word. As in past weeks she sounded a lot better in the quieter portions of the song. It seems to me that she's just not meant to be a belter, but that's what she's trying to do. I understand why, because that type of singing usually gains praise from the judges. However, when she goes for the belting, it sounds shouty and pushes her off key. Randy called her "Ramalee" multiple times, Paula talked for an hour, and then Ryan babbled about some text-speak acronym onstage while Danny Noriega mugged for the camera. Way to annoy me even on girls' night, Danny!
E.K.: I actually liked it when the song picked up and she started belting out her vocals. She is a little powerhouse of a singer, and she just needs that one perfect song to prove that she belongs for the long haul. This one wasn't it, but she's getting close. She looked very sexy and she tackled the song well; "Against All Odds" is not an easy song to sing, but for the most part it sounded great. Now if we can just get her to stop crying every time someone gets voted out. It's nice that she's making friends and all, but I don't remember any A.I. winner ever doing that. At some point you've got to buck up, because only one person is going to avoid being voted out from here on.
Smooth: Next was Brooke White. And already I heard you sigh, E.K. Come on, man, get it together.
E.K.: Sorry sir, I just love her.
Smooth: Chill. Sheesh! I liked the "unplugged" version of "Love Is A Battlefield", although it kind of forced her to do a very static performance just sitting there. Unfortunately, it seemed like she tried to overcompensate by exaggerating her facial expressions. Also, the very sparse accompaniment means any minor flaw in her vocal is pretty obvious. Luckily, she does pretty well pitch-wise, but there's kind of a squeaky hoarseness to her voice that started to grate on me by the end. Still one of the better performances of the night, though. And the judges acted crazy some more.
E.K.: Yeah, especially Paula. She's annoying me with her stupid-ass tangents while the singer stands there on stage waiting for some criticism. Someone needs to reign her in. Paging Nigel Lythgoe? Anyway, I thought Paula was way off the mark by saying she wanted to hear the band kick in midway through the song. I agreed with Simon a billion percent: I loved the stripped down, bare guitar-and-singer version of this song. If she'd done a dance routine or something it would have come across as the cheesiest cheese that ever cheesed. Brooke's vocal didn't comprise a competition-winning performance, but she sang well and I really enjoyed it nonetheless. And that's not just 'cause I'm in love with her or anything.
Smooth: Whatever, dude. She's married. They keep showing her husband in the crowd. Doesn't that piss you off?
E.K.: Hang on, man. If she sees this blog she might be upset with your use of "piss" there. Let's keep the vocab clean.
Smooth: Sorry. Doesn't it hack you off that she's married?
E.K.: Yes, goddammit, you son of a bitch!
Smooth: Just checking. And you know, they usually try to end these shows really strong but I don't feel like that happened either night this week. As soon as I heard the song choice by Syesha Mercado, I could predict what Simon's reaction was going to be. This wasn't a great vocal by Syesha. There were some minor pitch problems in the beginning, a few weak high notes, and a lot of yelling. It wasn't awful, but with a really good vocal this song ("Saving All My Love For You") can be a showstopper, and it wasn't. We must have been out of time because the judges all give two-word commentaries.
E.K.: Wait, who are we talking about?
Smooth: Syesha Mercado.
E.K.: Who's that?
Smooth: She's in the Top 12 now on American Idol.
E.K.: Who?
Smooth: Syesha Mercado.
E.K.: Luke Menard?
Smooth: No, Syesha Mercado.
E.K.: Rings no bells.
Smooth: Okay. Well, let's salute the Top 12 on American Idol, Season 7. Check out this lineup, dawg:
Amanda Overmyer
Brooke White
Carly Smithson
Chikezie (Eze)
David Archuleta
David Cook
David Hernandez
Jason Castro
Kristy Lee Cook
Michael Johns
Ramiele Malubay
Syesha Mercado
E.K. Will too many Cooks spoil American Idol? What about too many Davids? What about David Cook? We shall see! Tune in next week when we find out who will make the Top 11! Not so fast, Syesha!
Smooth: Oh boy, a Whitney song. Didn't she learn that those are basically off-limits on this show? It wasn't that great, since her voice just wasn't up to the task. It was OK but she was a bit hoarse or something. She also had a weird outfit on with really high waisted pants. Was that an 80's thing?
E.K.: I was wondering that myself.
Smooth: Whatever, hers was a pretty forgettable performance.
E.K.: I agree that doing Whitney is never a good idea unless you can do something amazing with it...and has any girl ever done that on American Idol? Not only was her vocal pitchy and nasal but I couldn't understand some of the lyrics the way she sang them. It just wasn't great, and she was in trouble from the get-go. However, I did not think she would be voted out.
Smooth: As for Kady Malloy: Wow, this was bad. It was very amateurish and a bad song choice. She was just totally off key, flat all over the place, and she missed the big notes, too. I think Kady's a pleasant gal but she was not good enough to be on this show. I can't believe she even made it this far after that performance. Randy and Paula are smoking crack for not ripping that crap. Even Simon didn't really call out the horribleness of the vocal, which is surprising.
E.K.: Yeah, this was bad from start to finish. Kady was one of my picks to be voted out this week, and you agreed. Your other predicted vote-off was who?
Smooth: Asia'h.
E.K.: Nice call. I never did make up my mind as to who the other girl would be who was voted out. But I knew Kady would be once this song started. Katharine McPhee, if I remember correctly, absolutely nailed this song two years ago, and there's no way any A.I. voter who remembered that performance could possibly vote for Kady this time around. However, Kady does indeed seem like a nice girl, and if your only fault is you can't sing a Queen song to perfection in front of millions of television viewers, then you've definitely got something going for you. Up next we had Amanda Overmyer.
Smooth: It was somewhat better than last week's total debacle but it's still not great. I'm still bothered by the tone of her voice, of course, but it does fit this song better, and she did a much better job of enunciating and staying on key. In fact, I actually had a bigger problem with the way she performed this one. For the majority of the performance, she displayed none of the attitude the song calls for. Instead, she mostly looked down and looked around nervously. Just no energy there. She also seemed incredibly nervous in the post-interview. It was like the opposite of last week's energetic performance and terrible vocal. What's up with that? For once I completely disagree with Simon, because amazingly, he really liked it.
E.K.: I thought the performance was sketchy too. She seemed very apprehensive this time around and clearly lacked the energy she had previously. It was almost like she was trying to remember the words to the song as she sang them. I too was surprised that Simon was so high on this performance, because it really wasn't that good. However, and I was amazed to find myself thinking this, she really looked cute this week. If "cute" is an appropriate word to describe a Harley-riding rocker chick. She toned down the hair mess a lot, and she just seemed very pleasant-looking.
Smooth: I loved Carly Smithson's accent in the pre-interview.
E.K.: You and me both. It was almost like she's been trying to sound American up until now but decided "To hell with it, I'm gonna go with the brogue full steam this week." I love it.
Smooth: She too had wacky pants on, and they've styled her to soften her look. She looked pretty good. They can't style the angry look off of her face, though; I am a little bit scared when she sings "I drove all night to make love to you", because I feel that if that were to occur I would wake up with many bruises in the morning. Anyway, she can really sing, and she clearly stands out among the females. In the last 15 seconds of the song she was able to hit several notes that genuinely surprise me. She's undoubtedly going to go really far in the competition.
E.K.: Carly's becoming really gorgeous. She did have this angry look while singing, like she usually does, but I would not only not be scared of her if she sang that song to me, I would break in and instruct her to take me anywhere she wanted, impending bruises or no. Again, her vocal seemed a bit yelly (if that's a word), and she might be trying a bit too hard to hit those high notes that the other girls can't hit, and that's just it. She doesn't need to do that. She's powerful enough without having to work that hard. Still, she looks better and better each week and she's not leaving the competition anytime soon.
Smooth: In interviews, Kristy Lee Cook is starting to annoy me more and more. She did an okay job with the song, sort of adding a slight country twang to it which to me sounds of out of place. The vocal was average, with some problems in the lower register. It didn't help that she followed Carly. She still seems reluctant to fully embrace the country thing, which she needs to do if she wants to go far, and the judges are really trying to shove her into that box. Simon correctly noted that she's forgettable and would be fortunately to make the Top 10. She said "Top 10 is okay with me"; way to show that killer instinct, Kristy Lee!
E.K.: It was a bit odd indeed that she said that. She's not giving up, is she? Anyway, she still looks great but she's just not shining like I thought she might when I saw her first audition. I liked that she took the judges' suggestions to heart and made a country song out of "Faithfully" -- at least for a bit -- but she was still pitchy in country mode and still lacked the Wow notes that we need to hear before anointing someone a star. Now, Smooth: What say you about Ramiele Malubay?
Smooth: God, she sounded like she's six years old in the pre-interview, taking a breath after every third word. As in past weeks she sounded a lot better in the quieter portions of the song. It seems to me that she's just not meant to be a belter, but that's what she's trying to do. I understand why, because that type of singing usually gains praise from the judges. However, when she goes for the belting, it sounds shouty and pushes her off key. Randy called her "Ramalee" multiple times, Paula talked for an hour, and then Ryan babbled about some text-speak acronym onstage while Danny Noriega mugged for the camera. Way to annoy me even on girls' night, Danny!
E.K.: I actually liked it when the song picked up and she started belting out her vocals. She is a little powerhouse of a singer, and she just needs that one perfect song to prove that she belongs for the long haul. This one wasn't it, but she's getting close. She looked very sexy and she tackled the song well; "Against All Odds" is not an easy song to sing, but for the most part it sounded great. Now if we can just get her to stop crying every time someone gets voted out. It's nice that she's making friends and all, but I don't remember any A.I. winner ever doing that. At some point you've got to buck up, because only one person is going to avoid being voted out from here on.
Smooth: Next was Brooke White. And already I heard you sigh, E.K. Come on, man, get it together.
E.K.: Sorry sir, I just love her.
Smooth: Chill. Sheesh! I liked the "unplugged" version of "Love Is A Battlefield", although it kind of forced her to do a very static performance just sitting there. Unfortunately, it seemed like she tried to overcompensate by exaggerating her facial expressions. Also, the very sparse accompaniment means any minor flaw in her vocal is pretty obvious. Luckily, she does pretty well pitch-wise, but there's kind of a squeaky hoarseness to her voice that started to grate on me by the end. Still one of the better performances of the night, though. And the judges acted crazy some more.
E.K.: Yeah, especially Paula. She's annoying me with her stupid-ass tangents while the singer stands there on stage waiting for some criticism. Someone needs to reign her in. Paging Nigel Lythgoe? Anyway, I thought Paula was way off the mark by saying she wanted to hear the band kick in midway through the song. I agreed with Simon a billion percent: I loved the stripped down, bare guitar-and-singer version of this song. If she'd done a dance routine or something it would have come across as the cheesiest cheese that ever cheesed. Brooke's vocal didn't comprise a competition-winning performance, but she sang well and I really enjoyed it nonetheless. And that's not just 'cause I'm in love with her or anything.
Smooth: Whatever, dude. She's married. They keep showing her husband in the crowd. Doesn't that piss you off?
E.K.: Hang on, man. If she sees this blog she might be upset with your use of "piss" there. Let's keep the vocab clean.
Smooth: Sorry. Doesn't it hack you off that she's married?
E.K.: Yes, goddammit, you son of a bitch!
Smooth: Just checking. And you know, they usually try to end these shows really strong but I don't feel like that happened either night this week. As soon as I heard the song choice by Syesha Mercado, I could predict what Simon's reaction was going to be. This wasn't a great vocal by Syesha. There were some minor pitch problems in the beginning, a few weak high notes, and a lot of yelling. It wasn't awful, but with a really good vocal this song ("Saving All My Love For You") can be a showstopper, and it wasn't. We must have been out of time because the judges all give two-word commentaries.
E.K.: Wait, who are we talking about?
Smooth: Syesha Mercado.
E.K.: Who's that?
Smooth: She's in the Top 12 now on American Idol.
E.K.: Who?
Smooth: Syesha Mercado.
E.K.: Luke Menard?
Smooth: No, Syesha Mercado.
E.K.: Rings no bells.
Smooth: Okay. Well, let's salute the Top 12 on American Idol, Season 7. Check out this lineup, dawg:
Amanda Overmyer
Brooke White
Carly Smithson
Chikezie (Eze)
David Archuleta
David Cook
David Hernandez
Jason Castro
Kristy Lee Cook
Michael Johns
Ramiele Malubay
Syesha Mercado
E.K. Will too many Cooks spoil American Idol? What about too many Davids? What about David Cook? We shall see! Tune in next week when we find out who will make the Top 11! Not so fast, Syesha!
