Wednesday, May 14, 2008
A.I. TOP THREE
E.K.: Going through my mind right now is how when the Top 12 was announced I said that Syesha would be the first one eliminated. Congrats to her for making the final three, and congrats to the two Davids for their upcoming finals appearance.
Smooth: We started out with judge's choice songs, which were delivered to the contestants in the most contrived ways imaginable. David Archuleta did "And So It Goes", which is definitely a song that fits into his oeuvre. He kept his eyes closed through much of the song, and my eyes were closing too. The accompaniment is nearly inaudible. I like this song, and he sounds good, but it is so low-key that I think it's not really something you want to perform on Idol.
E.K.: I think the inaudible nature of the music was on purpose. David is a great singer, if not versatile, as we saw later in the show. And he did well with the minimalist backing. He (or whoever fixes the songs for their inexplicable 12-second-long arrangements) definitely chose the right lyrics to use. But the eyes closing was a weird thing, I will agree.
Smooth: Syesha Mercado was happy to be singing "If I Ain't Got You" by Alicia Keys. She was wearing a dress that would have looked at home on the Titanic. She hits all the notes, but her voice just doesn't have much character and she doesn't try to tweak anything. It wasn't bad, and it had more energy than D.A.'s song, but it wasn't anything special.
E.K. It was pretty much an Alicia impression, and I've never been an Alicia Keys fan, not that she's bad or anything but just 'cause it's music I don't normally have in my CD player, but I thought it was pretty good. The only thing is, she needed to do a showstopper to have any chance of making the Final Two, and this one wasn't it. She had two more shots at it...
Smooth: David Cook is tasked with Roberta Flack's "First Time Ever I Saw Your Face". Good choice by Simon, since David can't just do a copycat version (or at least, he sure shouldn't try). I could tell it would be more interesting than the first two songs. Indeed it was. It started off a little scary because it's very high in his range, but he pulled it off, and the song got better as he went. Randy calls it predictable (?!) because he's a moron.
E.K. I thought he did as best he could with the song choice, and I started throwing up because at this point in the show the judges really started to make it all about them and not the singers. It's really been horrible this year with the back-and-forth among the three of them, and really, it makes me want to puke in a baby's mouth.
Smooth: Next were the contestant's choice songs. D.A. did Chris Brown's "With You", a recent R&B - almost hip-hop - song. It was laughably bad. He absolutely cannot pull a song like this off. The vocal style doesn't match his voice and (since he is asexual)--
E.K. I'm going to have you pause here for a moment while I laugh. "He's asexual." Classic. I don't know why I find that hilarious but I do. Okay. Continue.
Smooth: --the lyrics seem nonsensical. His utter lack of street cred makes me chuckle every time he uses the term "boo" to refer to a woman. It's honestly pretty embarrassing, especially given the stage of the competition.
E.K. Yeah, I mean, he hit all the notes and everything but there was just something so odd about it. And Simon called it "dancing", when it really was just bouncing back and forth and, well, not dancing. Again, it's like a performance from a New Mickey Mouse Club episode.
Smooth: Syesha picked "Fever", which I find odd. This seems really played out, like a song someone might do in the audition rounds or something. She tried to sex it up, but although she looks pretty good, her movements come across as somewhat awkward and desperate. The vocal is OK, not her best, as she gets off tempo a bit at times. This song requires a bit more of a growl, and again her voice is just too vanilla.
E.K. I guess I found it much sexier than you did. I realize that the nature of a performance like that is pure cabaret, but it still gave me a bon--ahem, um, it still, ummm...I was very aroused.
Smooth: D.C. did a Switchfoot song ("Dare You to Move"). The vocal at the beginning isn't very good. It's a tad too low for him and he's mumbling. Oddly, like the last time he did a contemporary rock song it doesn't work as well as his versions of older stuff. It gets better towards the end when he can launch into his full rock voice. All in all the contestant's choice round reminds us why music producers are valuable.
E.K. Yeah, the last few times he's done a rock song he hasn't gotten much of a chance to launch into that rock singer voice he has. It's pretty ridiculous that they still can't do a full three- or four-minute performance, even with just three people left. The singers can't adequately let a song build to a climax. Can't they spend more time on the singing and less time with the judges bickering amongst themselves and all the iTunes reminders? Well, maybe they can't. No, wait, yes, they can.
Smooth: Finally we had the producer's choice songs. D.A. did a Dan Fogelberg song, which... totally. Generation Y has been screaming out for a 21st century Dan Fogelberg, and now they've got him. D.A. was wearing his (crazy) dad's shirt. It sounded good, with some nice harmony, although the backup singer should get some credit for that. Other than that it was the same boringly boring thing he always does, but people seem to like it, so I can see why it was chosen for him. Randy keeps saying he can "sing the phone book". Well, he sure can't sing Chris Brown, so that theory's out. Simon called it "gooey" which is disturbing but accurate.
E.K. Once again, he sang adequately but I agree. It's pretty much the same thing over and over. And the girls screamed with squealy glee yet again, pretty much confirming what we already knew, which was that Archuleta had no chance of not being in the final. Also, I'm a bit on the fence as to whether it's been long enough since Dan Fogelberg's death to start trashing the guy's song.
Smooth: Because the producers totally didn't want Syesha in the finals, they gave her an obscure song ("Hit Me Up" by Gia Farrell). It's energetic and she seems to enjoy herself. It doesn't sound all that great, though. Again, it's not a good fit for her voice. I think she did the best she could with it, but as Simon points out she needed a bigger moment to win votes, not just a fluffy dance number.
E.K. I thought it was pretty blah. You're right; there's no way you can connect with the audience in a Fantasia-"Summertime"- or Katharine-McPhee-"Rainbow" way if nobody knows the song. I must admit I didn't. I don't even know who Gia Farrell is. She sang it well, but there was nothing she could do to avoid being voted out.
Smooth: D.C. wrapped it up with - - "I Don't Wanna Miss a Thing". I hate this song so I knew I wouldn't like it. Anyway, he did about what you'd expect with it, with the rock glory notes and whatnot. I'm covering my ears to avoid this song's horribility, but I think he hits the requisite high notes. Whatever, is it over yet?
E.K. The arrangement, for starters, was ridiculous. Yet another example of how screwed the format is. The singers can't let anything build up to a big finish in ninety seconds. It's a good song for him to do, though, and I'm glad he didn't try a Steven-Tyler-style yelp. Cook should be the favorite going into the final, but with so many teen girls voting, Archuleta might take it.
Smooth: Syesha, you had a good run.
E.K. Congrats, Parvati. Oh, wait, wrong show.
Smooth: We started out with judge's choice songs, which were delivered to the contestants in the most contrived ways imaginable. David Archuleta did "And So It Goes", which is definitely a song that fits into his oeuvre. He kept his eyes closed through much of the song, and my eyes were closing too. The accompaniment is nearly inaudible. I like this song, and he sounds good, but it is so low-key that I think it's not really something you want to perform on Idol.
E.K.: I think the inaudible nature of the music was on purpose. David is a great singer, if not versatile, as we saw later in the show. And he did well with the minimalist backing. He (or whoever fixes the songs for their inexplicable 12-second-long arrangements) definitely chose the right lyrics to use. But the eyes closing was a weird thing, I will agree.
Smooth: Syesha Mercado was happy to be singing "If I Ain't Got You" by Alicia Keys. She was wearing a dress that would have looked at home on the Titanic. She hits all the notes, but her voice just doesn't have much character and she doesn't try to tweak anything. It wasn't bad, and it had more energy than D.A.'s song, but it wasn't anything special.
E.K. It was pretty much an Alicia impression, and I've never been an Alicia Keys fan, not that she's bad or anything but just 'cause it's music I don't normally have in my CD player, but I thought it was pretty good. The only thing is, she needed to do a showstopper to have any chance of making the Final Two, and this one wasn't it. She had two more shots at it...
Smooth: David Cook is tasked with Roberta Flack's "First Time Ever I Saw Your Face". Good choice by Simon, since David can't just do a copycat version (or at least, he sure shouldn't try). I could tell it would be more interesting than the first two songs. Indeed it was. It started off a little scary because it's very high in his range, but he pulled it off, and the song got better as he went. Randy calls it predictable (?!) because he's a moron.
E.K. I thought he did as best he could with the song choice, and I started throwing up because at this point in the show the judges really started to make it all about them and not the singers. It's really been horrible this year with the back-and-forth among the three of them, and really, it makes me want to puke in a baby's mouth.
Smooth: Next were the contestant's choice songs. D.A. did Chris Brown's "With You", a recent R&B - almost hip-hop - song. It was laughably bad. He absolutely cannot pull a song like this off. The vocal style doesn't match his voice and (since he is asexual)--
E.K. I'm going to have you pause here for a moment while I laugh. "He's asexual." Classic. I don't know why I find that hilarious but I do. Okay. Continue.
Smooth: --the lyrics seem nonsensical. His utter lack of street cred makes me chuckle every time he uses the term "boo" to refer to a woman. It's honestly pretty embarrassing, especially given the stage of the competition.
E.K. Yeah, I mean, he hit all the notes and everything but there was just something so odd about it. And Simon called it "dancing", when it really was just bouncing back and forth and, well, not dancing. Again, it's like a performance from a New Mickey Mouse Club episode.
Smooth: Syesha picked "Fever", which I find odd. This seems really played out, like a song someone might do in the audition rounds or something. She tried to sex it up, but although she looks pretty good, her movements come across as somewhat awkward and desperate. The vocal is OK, not her best, as she gets off tempo a bit at times. This song requires a bit more of a growl, and again her voice is just too vanilla.
E.K. I guess I found it much sexier than you did. I realize that the nature of a performance like that is pure cabaret, but it still gave me a bon--ahem, um, it still, ummm...I was very aroused.
Smooth: D.C. did a Switchfoot song ("Dare You to Move"). The vocal at the beginning isn't very good. It's a tad too low for him and he's mumbling. Oddly, like the last time he did a contemporary rock song it doesn't work as well as his versions of older stuff. It gets better towards the end when he can launch into his full rock voice. All in all the contestant's choice round reminds us why music producers are valuable.
E.K. Yeah, the last few times he's done a rock song he hasn't gotten much of a chance to launch into that rock singer voice he has. It's pretty ridiculous that they still can't do a full three- or four-minute performance, even with just three people left. The singers can't adequately let a song build to a climax. Can't they spend more time on the singing and less time with the judges bickering amongst themselves and all the iTunes reminders? Well, maybe they can't. No, wait, yes, they can.
Smooth: Finally we had the producer's choice songs. D.A. did a Dan Fogelberg song, which... totally. Generation Y has been screaming out for a 21st century Dan Fogelberg, and now they've got him. D.A. was wearing his (crazy) dad's shirt. It sounded good, with some nice harmony, although the backup singer should get some credit for that. Other than that it was the same boringly boring thing he always does, but people seem to like it, so I can see why it was chosen for him. Randy keeps saying he can "sing the phone book". Well, he sure can't sing Chris Brown, so that theory's out. Simon called it "gooey" which is disturbing but accurate.
E.K. Once again, he sang adequately but I agree. It's pretty much the same thing over and over. And the girls screamed with squealy glee yet again, pretty much confirming what we already knew, which was that Archuleta had no chance of not being in the final. Also, I'm a bit on the fence as to whether it's been long enough since Dan Fogelberg's death to start trashing the guy's song.
Smooth: Because the producers totally didn't want Syesha in the finals, they gave her an obscure song ("Hit Me Up" by Gia Farrell). It's energetic and she seems to enjoy herself. It doesn't sound all that great, though. Again, it's not a good fit for her voice. I think she did the best she could with it, but as Simon points out she needed a bigger moment to win votes, not just a fluffy dance number.
E.K. I thought it was pretty blah. You're right; there's no way you can connect with the audience in a Fantasia-"Summertime"- or Katharine-McPhee-"Rainbow" way if nobody knows the song. I must admit I didn't. I don't even know who Gia Farrell is. She sang it well, but there was nothing she could do to avoid being voted out.
Smooth: D.C. wrapped it up with -
E.K. The arrangement, for starters, was ridiculous. Yet another example of how screwed the format is. The singers can't let anything build up to a big finish in ninety seconds. It's a good song for him to do, though, and I'm glad he didn't try a Steven-Tyler-style yelp. Cook should be the favorite going into the final, but with so many teen girls voting, Archuleta might take it.
Smooth: Syesha, you had a good run.
E.K. Congrats, Parvati. Oh, wait, wrong show.
