Alright, so things got a little hectic yesterday and I didn't get the boys performance thing posted, and before I knew it the girls were belting out the Whitney, and the Celine, and the Pat Benatar and it was too late. So now we have the most audacious Idol coverage ever attempted here... two nights condensed into one post! (insert gasps here) Don't anyone panic just yet. I'll skip commenting on the commercials, Ryan Seacrest's air-filling banter, and anything the judges said that made no sense. That leaves like... 20 minutes of show to review. We'll get through this.
It was 80's week on Idol (amazing how many predicted that theme after having 60's week followed by 70's week). The era of big hair, Ferris Bueller, and leg warmers. Don't you hate when people throw random bits of trivia at you to describe an era you know perfectly well? Just had to take a shot at it though. Sorry.
Anyway, on to the reviews. We'll go quick. Since I have to combine them anyway, I'll dispense with the "in order of appearance" format and break them into categories.
GOOD:
David Archuleta, who sang, "Another Day in Paradise," by Phil Collins. The Archuleta steamroller may not have been quite as dominant this week. But if this counts as an off week for him, the others should continue to be worried, as this was still one of the top performances of the night. The starting at the piano and then standing for a vocal focus half way through was effective performance-wise also.
David Cook, who sang "Hello," by Lionel Richie. Yeah, I thought this was crazy too. I was cringing as he began it. But dayum! He made it work with an almost grunge-like arrangement. He also helped himself with one of the best self-accompaniments on guitar during his performance. This was his best performance to date.
Jason Castro performed "Hallelujah," by Leonard Cohen. Jason seems to be becoming one of those performers you either love or hate, and I'm falling on the love side. He doesn't have nearly the vocal control or skill as some of the others. But he infuses everything with such personality and individuality it sounds fresher and newer than most of the others.
Amanda Overmyer sang "I Hate Myself for Loving You," by Joan Jett and the Blackhearts. I had all but written her off after a miserable performance last week. And when I heard she was singing Joan Jett, I was sure we were about to get a miserable knock-off of "I Love Rock & Roll." Instead she came out with her former confidence back, last week's goofy hair missing, and nailed a song that was a perfect choice for her. The judges loved it, the audience loved it, and I thought it was the best of the girls that night.
Carly Smithson sang "I Drove All Night," by... Roy Orbison? That's what Wikipedia says. But I think it counted because Cyndi Lauper (?!) covered it in the 80's. Though the judges called it a Celine song (covered in 2003). Anyway Carly once again sang this one just about to perfection. Which lead to an interesting comment by Simon afterward that, opposite of some of the others on the show, she's picking songs to
small for her voice. She's not getting to show off how good she really is. I quite agree with that comment. Still one of the night's best.
Brooke White sang "Love is a Battlefield," by Pat Benatar. And when I heard that I was confused. Someone had to do this song on 80's night, right? But why Brooke?! It didn't seem to suit her at all. Then they broke out this "Unplugged-like" all acoustic low-tempo arrangement, and suddenly it fit her quite well. I'm still trying to figure out if I liked the arrangement itself or not, but I very much liked the way Brooke sang it. How much so? I'm not even inserting a joke about how Brooke reminds me of someone destined to snap and go on a murderous rampage this week. That's how much.
MEH:
David Hernandez sang "It's All Coming Back to Me Now," by Pandora's Box (but again called out as a "Celine" song, because whatever the Holy Diva Trinity touches becomes theirs). I didn't know the song. I didn't much care for the song. David sang it with the skill we've become accustomed to from him. I can't recall a male successfully attempting to touch the Holy Diva Trinity before on this show, and big kudos to David for apparently pulling it off. But bland and forgettable David crept back into the stage performance also, so we had a great vocal and very boring presentation.
Michael Johns sang "Don't You (Forget About Me)," by Simple Minds. Perfect song choice. Perfect opportunity. So why was this so all over the place for him? There were some good moments. But there were at least as many warbly off key wanderings as well. It's not a challenging vocal. It's got far more to do with attitude - and it's the kind of attitude Michael has been showing since week one. This should have been one of the best of the night. And despite the judges reacting like it was as good as I expected - it totally wasn't. Not a bomb, but a serious letdown of reality compared to potential.
Chikezie sang "All the Woman That I Need," by.... well this one gets dicey. It's on 80's week, so we assume we're talking about the "All the Man That I Need" version by Whitney Houston. But this was clearly the Luther Vandross arrangement from the 90's. Meh... whatever. Chikezie sang it very well, but didn't Idol go through it's "Velvet Teddybear" phase with Ruben Studdard a few years back? This was almost exactly like the kind of performance Ruben mailed in week after week after week in Season 2. In other words, there wasn't really anything wrong with it. He sang it well. I just have this whole "we've already seen this act" feeling about it. Maybe unfair, but that's my call.
Asia'h Epperson sang "I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)," by Whitney Houston. In a week chock-full of singers daring the wrath of the judges by singing the Divas this was perhaps the most destined to fall short. Asia'h had attempted Celine once and got smacked around pretty good by the judges for the attempt. This time she got past Randy and Paula alright... but Simon unloaded a mostly accurate remark about how she came across like a "second rate Whitney." Which was true. In every respect of her performance she sounded "smaller" than the original. And she did nothing different with the arrangement so you couldn't help but notice.
Kristy Lee Cook sang "Faithfully," by Journey. Very difficult not to get Randy Jackson's approval when you go with Journey. But he hasn't been the harshest this year anyway. The interesting thing here was how Kristy obeyed the judge's command from last week (they put it so sternly it was hardly a request) and "countrified" the vocal on this. I never would have thought of this song in that way, but it really worked quite well. Kady had a little trouble vocally in a couple of spots, but nothing glaring. A little on the dull performance side. Quite an improvement for her over the past couple of weeks though.
Ramiele Malubay sang "Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now)," by Phil Collins. Of all the singers who took on the big Divas this week, Ramiele with one of the best voices in the competition went with Phil freakin' Collins?! That seemed a little underwhelming. She also started the thing totally sharp. She corrected it, but when you power into sharp notes like that it has a fingernails on the blackboard effect, and gives me trouble relaxing again in time to enjoy what comes next. She ended up giving a "nice but nothing special" performance. As the judges have remarked, her confidence has seemed lacking the past couple of weeks, and it would be nice to see it come back.
Syesha Mercado sang "Saving All My Love for You," by Marilyn McCoo (but
really by Whitney Houston, blessed be her name). Does Syesha have big enough vocals to attempt Whitney? Yes she does. Did she flub any of the notes? No she didn't. So why isn't she in my "good" category? Because this was a total copycat of the Whitney recording. She didn't do
anything original with it. I mean... she has the voice and the personality. When does she being them together and start to make a statement more daring than "Watch me do Whitney Houston"? It was good. But we've heard it just like this for years.
IN TROUBLE:
Luke Menard sang "Wake Me Up Before You Go Go," by Wham! Do you want some evidence that George Michael is more talented than you remember? Watch Luke try to sing this song. He couldn't match the energy, find many of the notes, or put the power in where it belonged. And for all his other difficulties, Luke is a pretty good singer. However I honestly don't think Luke was as good as some of the others already gone, and I don't see how this performance keeps him afloat.
Danny Noriega sang "Tainted Love," by Gloria Jones (but better remembered as an '80s hit by Soft Cell). Wow. Way to ruin one of my favorite songs from the 80's Danny. This was a bad song choice for him to begin with, but he should have at least been able to find the notes. As he has now screwed up the 60's, the 70's and the 80's in consecutive weeks I'm running out of any enthusiasm for keeping him around. He's become all affectation and sassy banter, and the singing is getting worse rather than better.
Kady Malloy sang "Who Wants to Live Forever," by Queen. Word to the Idol contestants... it's obvious they have made a lot of the Queen song catalog available to you this year. Don't pick them. Freddy Mercury was a truly original talent with a positively freaky vocal range. I know you like these songs, but sing something else. Thank you. Now back to Kady... ugh. She seemed almost asleep through much of the song and conveyed that same feeling to the audience. The vocal wasn't awful, but was hardly compelling. The things the judges keep saying about her lack of personality on stage is becoming truer every week, and she is clearly clueless what they're talking about.
This leaves an obvious problem, as I find only one girl named in my "In Trouble" category, and two are going to be kicked off tonight. Obviously I'm picking Luke, Danny, and Kady to go. But who else?
I would have to say Asia'h is the most likely to join them. I don't think it's necessarily fair, but of all the Whitney impersonators last night, she missed the mark the clearest.
As far as Michael Johns, I agree with your assessment, BUT that guy just OWNS the stage. Although he didn't do great with the Doors song, his presence does match Jim's. Once he starts picking better songs, he's the one to beat.
And since you refrained from the Judges "what the f??? " comments. Randy Jackson stating that Brooke did NOT bring anything new to the Pat Benatar song ? "HUUUUUUHHHHH ???? "
I think Countrified version of Journey may be in trouble. Same thing with Ramiele. She's not picking great songs.
FYI: My day was incomplete w/o your recap yesterday :)
Spot on about Jason Castro. He's who i'm backing for the season.
I agree that only the second female is in question, but I'm going with Ramiele for a basically weak, dull performance. But my dark horse Brooke could be in trouble, too.
That was the best Carly has sounded and looked. Brooke continues to surprise and impress. At the time though, I was kinda thinking what Paula said, that maybe the number should've ended with band kicking in and rocking the thing hard. As it was, the song stayed on the same level throughout.
Farewell to Luke and Kady definitely. Through this thing called the internets, and you probably know this, but I wasn't watching the show then, Katherine McPhee did that song Kady did. I looked it up on YouTube, and yowzer, that's how to do that song. That's the kind of personality Simon said he was missing from Kady.