Tuesday, March 10, 2009

baker's dozen

Holy crap. It's been a crazy busy couple days!

I didn't get to watch the show last night, but I did catch all the performances (only) via youtube. So I missed all the hijinx between Seabreeze and the judges and the pre-song vids.

I only have a couple minutes to shoot this out, so it's going to be BRIEF.
Small favors...I know.


Nights like this are WHY I HATE IDOL.

After telling the contestants over and over to be themselves and stop trying to duplicate an established singer and DON'T take on a uber Pop Hit (as we shall Always compare you to the original, which is 1000x better than you)...they produce a King of Pop night.

Morons.

For the record, I'm much more a Jackson 5 fan than I ever was a King of Pop fan. So my disappointment is great that folks didn't go to that catalog a bit more.

Nobody sang Dancing Machine? This song is both awesome and very pliable to "updating.' I also think "The Love You Save" was a missed opportunity. Not to mention, I Want You Back...ah...no time for waxing about song choices missed!


LIL - Not a fan of the arrangement (sounded a bit cruise stage show.) But she's fun and having fun. File under Pretty Good, but not "knock[ing] me off my feet."

SCOTT - Speaking as someone who will likely go blind in her lifetime, I think he's the bee's knees. But speaking as a fan of this show, I'm utterly bored by Scott.

DANNY - Again, good, but still on my feet. For the record, I wear glasses. I could wear contacts (and have) but I prefer glasses, so part of me is all, "Yeah, my brotha! Work them specs! Make the camera guy have to figure out YOUR angle that doesn't throw glare! Woot!" And the other part is, "But why do you wear those frames that only, and I mean this in the most sincerest way, lesbians wear? Hey. Some of my best friends are glass-wearin' lesbians. Nothing wrong with it...but on Danny?

It's like when you go to the State Fair and there's a guy who draws those characture/cartoons? And they focus on one attribute to represent "you?" Danny's would be a giant pair of those glasses.

SARVER - I want to like Sarver. He's just too earnest. It annoys me. But he has a voice for the power ballad and sounds pretty good.

JASMINE - I think she made the best song choice to fit her sound...although, it's not like she changed anything up. It was a straight cover of Mariah's cover. She sounded the best she has so far. I just don't think she's got enough of a draw to keep her on the show yet.

KRIS - I think his voice was best suited to MJ's stuff. Still, I'm looking behind him for the rest of his boy band to back him up. He's the only heart throb up to bat, so he's safe as houses.

ALLISON - It's so hard to believe she's only 16. She sounded as if she did a cover of Heart doing a cover of a Michael Jackson song. Heart was one of the rockingest bands of all time. If Allison is bringing back that vibe, I am on board. Best of the night, methinks.

ANOOP - He sounded good, but messed up his lyrics a bit early on. He picked a song that depends a lot on those special noises that only MJ can get with in a song. Probably my least favorite of his performances. But, I think the fanbase for Anoop will save his ass. This time.

JORGE - I couldn't tell if it was his singing or the arrangement, but it just sounded so very "Easy Listening." I mean, for christ's sake, at least update the cheesy background vocals. I only heard his accent hit heavy on the word "door", so if his goal is to sing accent free, he is improving.

MEGAN - Smart enough to do a cover of a cover. That's a fun, jumping number that would fit her twisty dance of inpatience. But, it's more a novelty thing than a good performance. Will her cute quirkiness save her???

ADAM - There is something about Adam that makes me wish this was "Rocky Horror Picture Show Soundtrack Night" instead of "the songs of Michael Jackson." He could sing Sweet Transvestite or Science Fiction/Double Feature. Anoop could sing Dammit Janet. Megan could sing Touch-A, Touch-A, Touch Me. Lil could sing I Can Make You a Man (and R&B that shite up!) Honestly, it would be so much better than a Michael Jackson night.

Basically, Adam - as offputting as he is to me - kills it. Hair Band Style.

MATT - I should dig this cat...but I just don't. It's like it should work on paper, but it's all very much stuff I've seen before. Is it me, or did he sound like a bit like if Michael McDonald and Justin Timberlake had a baby. A really ugly baby that trilled like a goat on the long notes? It's not you, Matt. It's me.

ALEXIS - Dirty Diana. "Dirty" Alexis will be singing "Dirty" Diana. I'm not crazy, am I? This is all just more of trying to mold this cute girl into a rock slut, right? Still, while at first glance, "Dirty Diana" may look to be a poor song choice - it wasn't the monster hit that say of a "PYT" or a "Beat It"...but that's actually what makes it a pretty good choice. I'd wager that most of the audience isn't as familiar and won't compare her as much with the original.

The problem is, for much of the song, she's not singing, she's yelling. Completely oversinging and over-selling the song. Not sure if she blew out her voice in rehearsals, but it's only like 70% there. If that.


Overall, for the "first night" of the finalists, there were more hits than misses. Which makes it hard to figure what America might do.


I also hear, it might be a double elimination.

While I'm worried a bit about Anoop...I think Jasmine and Jorge will be in the bottom two.

Maybe. Don't quote me on that.

1 comment:

8thWall said...

Adam the Emo-Lizard is WAY WAY WAY WAAAAAAAY overrated. I don't know which is harder, looking at him or listening to him. Gokey had it won from the start & my moola is on him. Maybe Allison in 2nd place.