Wednesday, April 9, 2008
HEY! AMERICAN IDOL RECAPS ARE BACK!
E.K.: I was thinking "It Was A Good Day" by Ice Cube. Y'know, with inspirational messages such as "I didn't even hafta use my A.K." and "Plus, nobody I know got killed in South Central L.A...today was a good day." But I agree, the second Beatles night was just overkill, and I think Michael absolutely nailed his Dolly Parton selection...and I think I'm going to embed it right here just because it's cool.
Smooth: We only had an hour (oh no!) so we quickly jumped into Michael Johns doing Aerosmith's "Dream On". He looked like an idiot in a collared short-sleeve shirt, vest, and a patterned cravat. He sounded pretty good for the most part, although the bulk of the song's not very challenging. He tried to do the screaming falsetto thing at the end and it didn't quite work; very few people would be able to pull that off, and he does OK with it. The performance is standard Johns fare. OMG, Sinbad is in the audience! He is so relevant! Randy and Simon correctly pointed out that he has done quite a few rock songs that don't adequately show off his voice. Michael doesn't seem to care. The audience was going batshit crazy for him, and the girls do seem to like him. Overall, I thought this was good but not spectacular. He's never really blown me away.
E.K.: I don't know, man, cravats, ascots, I think Michael can strangely pull that look off.
Smooth: Man crush!
E.K.: Silence your face. I thought the screaming at the end was totally unnecessary. That's Steven Tyler's take on the song. Doesn't mean Michael has to do it. That didn't work for me. But mostly it was great yet again. He just looks and sounds the part of a professional rock star and as far as I am concerned he is the one to beat. He's the only one who hasn't had a relatively bad week, if my recollections serve me well.
Smooth: Next up was Syesha Mercado, who did "I Believe", the Fantasia song. Immediately, I knew the judges wouldn't love it, and she hasn't learned from doing Whitney songs. I don't quite get it. She's got a very good voice, in fact better than I gave her credit for earlier in the competition, but if she keeps picking these songs the judges will harp on her incessantly. Plus, this song's not terribly memorable. She does go into the whistle register late in the song, which always impresses me when done well. Still a pretty blah performance, though.
E.K.: I hate the whistle register. It's obnoxious. Having said that, the rest of the performance was stellar, especially considering how unmemorable I thought Syesha has been this whole competition. Last week, her take on "I Will Always Love You" was great, too, and her stock has definitely risen. However, and I agree with you, she's always going to be compared to these other superior singers when she performs and it's not going to suit her well. She can handle a song by, say, Faith Hill or whoever, but these top-level singers are too tough to match, particularly when their versions are always going to be in your mind.
Smooth:Next was Jason Castro, who covered a cover of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow". I do like this version, although Jason's ukulele stylings aren't quite as authentic as those of the 700-pound Hawaiian guy he's emulating.
E.K.: I had to look up who it was that did that version. I never would have thought it was, seriously, a 700-pound Hawaiian dude! That's three-and-a-half of me, plus a pineapple or two.
Smooth: It's a very simple arrangement. The show brings in a string section to accompany him, which does nothing but add an unnecessary melodramatic element to the song. Jason makes all kinds of weird faces while he's singing. If I close my eyes I like it a lot better. It's a great song for his voice and his laid-back style. Nice performance.
E.K.: Even though he's doing a copycat version of it, I think this performance, along with "Hallelujah", is his best to date. I'm trying to arrange a potential Final Four in my head, and Jason keeps popping into it. I do agree that the inclusion of the orchestra was a misstep. Stripped bare, it's solid, but with the strings, you're right, it's a bit much.
Smooth: The dead eyes of Kristy Lee Cook scare me. She did a Martina McBride something or other.
E.K.: Yes, a song called "Anyway", which I had never heard. You know, Kristy is regaining the form that she had about her when she first auditioned. Solid, if not spectacular vocals, and fantastic looks. She's had a few off weeks but she's brought it back and suddenly this whole competition is doing tumbleturns. I no longer have any idea right off the bat who the bottom three might be. She's getting better, but it might not be enough.
Smooth: She sounds pretty good and she looks nice. She's still not too charismatic. What else is there to say? She'll probably have a career in country music. But she's not going to win American Idol. David is the next Cook to perform, doing an Our Lady Peace song, and it wasn't even "Clumsy" or "Superman's Dead". Guh? You know what show you're on, right, Dave? This started off terribly. His voice was so nasal and from the back of his throat and just plain awful I honestly was wondering if he was joking at first. He quickly launched into his normal voice but he kept kind of going back to what I assume is his bad OLP impression throughout. The song as arranged is repetitive and weird. Bad song choice, bad vocal, bad performance. Of course, Paula thought it was great. Simon, who is not insane, calls it his worst performance in weeks. I think David will be OK for now, but I don't think he's likable enough to have a few weeks like this in a row.
E.K.: God, this was horrible from the get-go. I am familiar with the song but I don't think I have ever heard it on the radio so I don't know how the viewers and voters will react, but then again, maybe I do, since as I just said, it was a horrible performance and voters will know that no matter whether they are familiar with the song or not. And it really was a bad choice to begin with. It's not an inspirational song at all. "We are all innocent"? Actually, right there, that is wrong, we're not all innocent, and even so, how is that inspirational? Bad, bad week for David. The vote this week might cause him some angst. The voters might be thinking he's a poor-man's Michael Johns and find no need to keep him anymore. He can't afford a bad week when Michael's doing so well. And a quick word about the vote: Are we going to even have a cast-off tonight, what with the Idol Gives Back charity thing going? Last year during the results show of Idol Gives Back week they held over the votes for the following week and eliminated two contestants then. We're probably going to get cheated. I mean, err -- the producers are probably going to have a soft spot in their hearts this week and not feel right about sending anyone away. But we shall see.
Smooth: Carly Smithsonsang Queen's "The Show Must Go On"...lots of Queen this year, oddly, and I'm not just talking about Danny Noriega. Oh, snap!
E.K.: Oh no you di-ehnt.
Smooth: Anyway, Carly was in weird high-waisted pants again, but she looked good otherwise. Her voice sounds good, as usual, although she's all over the place a few times when doing vocal runs. The background singers are a bit loud at times. Simon calls it an "unusual" choice of song, which is true in that it doesn't fit in with some of the other performances tonight, but that's not necessarily her fault. The "theme" is so vague that there's no reason this couldn't be an inspirational song in her eyes. She did look angry, though. She's got to be one of the more disappointing contestants this year, because she has oodles of vocal talent but for whatever reason she just isn't an entertaining performer.
E.K.: I'm starting to tire of her yelly style of singing with that ever present mean look on her face. And the tattoo -- my god, girl, cover that thing up! It's not ugly -- well, yeah, a tat that big usually is -- but more than that, it's just distracting and it just doesn't fit. She's a beautiful girl but she's all covered with paintball splatter and anger, and as Simon noted a week or so ago, she needs to get someone new to dress her. Put her in jeans or something and have her do a happier song. Anyway, as for this week, she's still a good singer but I am thinking we've seen all there is to see. Will it be enough?
Smooth: The Anointed One, David Archuleta, is singing "Angels". He was playing the piano, but there was so much other stuff going on that you couldn't really hear it. The vocal was decent, although I still think he's overrated as a singer. The song's a bit low for him; he's breathy and didn't quite hit a few high notes he goes for. It got better at the end. The judges drooled all over him, but at least Simon points out the vocal wasn't perfect (which earned him a cascade of boos from the audience).
E.K.: As it always does. Simon's usually right and Paula's always batty, but they always applaud her and boo Simon. I thought this was a much better performance than the couple of recent off-weeks he's had, but like you I was wondering why the piano when we couldn't hear it? The "aww, he's so cute" thing is getting old, too. I can't think of what will get him voted off soon. Only teen girls and their moms vote, right? Finally, we had my girl, Brooke White. Siiiiigh.
Smooth: Dude. Stop that. She closed the show with Carole King's "You've Got a Friend", which should be right in her wheelhouse. It started off OK; once again, when Brooke does not have an instrument she kind of tries to overdo things both with her performance and with her voice. She sounds good, just a little bit hoarse and shaky like she always does. The arrangement is nice, with piano and strings coming in at the right times. It's a straightforward rendition and while it doesn't blow my socks off, it's still among the better performances of the night.
E.K.: Well, while she's still my favorite person left, she's not my favorite performer in terms of any wow factor. She sings very adequately but it's nothing to write home about. Simon summed it up best: "Was it original? No. Was it pleasant? Yes. Thank you." If I were a voter, I'd vote for her anyway because she's so lovable.
Smooth: Dude. Stop that. OK, so here's my predicted bottom three: Syesha, Michael, and Carly. And I'm guessing Carly will be voted out tonight.
E.K.: If there is a vote-off, that is. Kristy, Carly and David Cook will be in the bottom three, but that they will not vote anyone off, and that's my official guess. Tune in tonight folks! Brooke White!
