American Idol - Music from the 21st Century
Maybe because they crammed 10 songs into one hour, or maybe because most of the contestants didn't seem to know what would make good song choices, but last nights show was certainly the worst of the season so far.
Coming off a lot of criticism from last week, Taylor Hicks is the only one who really seemed to concentrate on a vocal performance. Ironically, Taylor is the one I thought would have the most trouble with this theme and he did fine. The other contestants, aside from Bucky and Katharine, all seemed uncomfortable in their song choices and did over the top stage performances (kind of like what Taylor was criticized for last week).
I found it difficult to make my best to worst list this week, because I really only enjoyed Taylor -- but here's what I came up with:
1. Taylor Hicks - Did Trouble by Ray LaMontagne. With this performance Taylor reminded everybody that he is on American Idol because he can sing. His understated performance showed off his vocals and was the kind of performance that just forced the audience to listen. Randy Jackson was only lukewarm on the performance, but I think Randy is expecting Taylor to morph into Sam Cooke or Ray Charles before our eyes. Simon like the song and the perforamnce, which I think is what Taylor was going for.
2. Bucky Covington - Did Tim McGraw's Real Good Man. Ok, maybe vocally Bucky shouldn't be number 2 on this list, but I liked his understated performance. He made the right choice in going for a country song, after not being able to for a couple of weeks. He sounded pretty good, though Paula was right in saying he needed to work on enunciation. Simon has obviously lost interest in Bucky, but I think he has an audience.
3. Katharine McPhee - Did The Voice Within by Christina Aguilara. The judges really liked this performance, but I thought it was just ok. Katharine would be much lower on my list had the other contestants been better. I'm not really one for fashion, and I don't usually care what the contestants are wearing, but last night was one of many times for Katharine that I thought to myself "why did she choose that and who told her it looked good?" From a distance her outfit looked like some kind of weird leotard.
4. Elliott Yamin - Did Gavin McGraw's I Don't Wanna Be. This performance did not really work for me. I hear this song several times a day on my local AOR station, and though Elliott tried to do a different arrangement, it just doesn't do anything for me. I thought Elliott was trying to hard to make his stage presentation more "interesting" and to me it was just too much. Elliott has a good voice, so as usual I can't totally dislike his performance.
5. Paris Bennett - Did Work It Out by Beyonce. I have to agree with Simon in saying that paris seemed like a kid playing dress up (and actaully my husband said the exact same thing during Paris' performance). The song was ok, she can sing, but I didn't really like it.
6. Ace Young - Did Drops of Jupiter by Train. I really like this song, and a lot of people were saying it would have been good for Taylor, and while I don't think it's Taylor's style, I'm sure he could have done a better job than Ace. I thought this performance would be the worst of the night for me, and really these last 4 are about tied in my mind, but Ace was not good, but not terrible which lands him at number 6 here. His voice is just not suited for this song. He lacks the power and rawness needed to make this song sound good.
7. Lisa Tucker - Did Kelly Clarkson's Because Of You. I'm probably being too kind in putting Lisa up this high, because she didn't sing this song very good at all. She was clearly trying too hard to show off a powerful vocal, but she was off key a lot of the time. She was also trying too hard to get rid of her "kid" image, but it didn't come across well at all. If this is not her last night, than I don't know what's going on.
8. Mandisa - Did Shackle (Praise You) by Mary Mary. This was by far Mandisa's worst performance to date. She ends up lower on the list than Lisa, just because she should have been able to do much better. This song made it seem like she can only do good when she's belting something out.
9. Chris Daughtry - Did Creed's What If. The judges finally call Chris out on sounding too much the same every week. They thought he took his performance too far for the American Idol audience. I have been saying all along that Chris is making his audience too narrow, so I'm glad the judges finally realized it. I thought his vocal performance was poor on this song, it didn't really sound like singing, mostly just controlled yelling. He concentrated too much on rock star theatrics this week.
10. Kellie Pickler - Did Suds in a Bucket by Sara Evans. I agree with Simon wholeheartedly on this one. This song choice was just kind of silly. She has the country voice, but I don't think this song appealed to a very wide audience. I didn't like it at all.
I think Lisa will get voted off this week, but I'm really unsure on the rest of the bottom 3. I'll take a guess and say - Elliott and Mandisa. I don't know why I'm picking Mandisa, I know everyone (myself included) thinks she's good, but I don't know what her fanbase is. I'm betting Bucky has a bigger fanbase than her, so I'll say Mandisa in the bottom 3 this week as an out of left field choice.
Update - 2:03 PM Pacific Time
I've been reading that tonight's cast off is a "shocker." This comes from one of the show's producers - Nigel Lythgoe. Of course he says that wanting people to watch, but I guess the choice probably won't be obvious.
I'm thinking it probably won't be Lisa going home, or Bucky.
Shocking contenders:
I'm sticking with my original choice of Mandisa.
Chris would be a huge shocker, and I highly doubt it will be him.
Elliott or Ace - not really that shocking - I think at least one of them will be in the bottom 3.
Katharine - I don't think it will be her
Kellie - Maybe, it would be unexpected, but when I think about it, not that weird.
Paris - Could be her. It would only be shocking in that she hasn't been mentioned as hurting for votes, but I don't think she has that big of a fan base.
Taylor - no possible way, I guess it would truly be shocking. No worries here about him.
My new bottom 3:
Mandisa
Paris
Ace
Coming off a lot of criticism from last week, Taylor Hicks is the only one who really seemed to concentrate on a vocal performance. Ironically, Taylor is the one I thought would have the most trouble with this theme and he did fine. The other contestants, aside from Bucky and Katharine, all seemed uncomfortable in their song choices and did over the top stage performances (kind of like what Taylor was criticized for last week).
I found it difficult to make my best to worst list this week, because I really only enjoyed Taylor -- but here's what I came up with:
1. Taylor Hicks - Did Trouble by Ray LaMontagne. With this performance Taylor reminded everybody that he is on American Idol because he can sing. His understated performance showed off his vocals and was the kind of performance that just forced the audience to listen. Randy Jackson was only lukewarm on the performance, but I think Randy is expecting Taylor to morph into Sam Cooke or Ray Charles before our eyes. Simon like the song and the perforamnce, which I think is what Taylor was going for.
2. Bucky Covington - Did Tim McGraw's Real Good Man. Ok, maybe vocally Bucky shouldn't be number 2 on this list, but I liked his understated performance. He made the right choice in going for a country song, after not being able to for a couple of weeks. He sounded pretty good, though Paula was right in saying he needed to work on enunciation. Simon has obviously lost interest in Bucky, but I think he has an audience.
3. Katharine McPhee - Did The Voice Within by Christina Aguilara. The judges really liked this performance, but I thought it was just ok. Katharine would be much lower on my list had the other contestants been better. I'm not really one for fashion, and I don't usually care what the contestants are wearing, but last night was one of many times for Katharine that I thought to myself "why did she choose that and who told her it looked good?" From a distance her outfit looked like some kind of weird leotard.
4. Elliott Yamin - Did Gavin McGraw's I Don't Wanna Be. This performance did not really work for me. I hear this song several times a day on my local AOR station, and though Elliott tried to do a different arrangement, it just doesn't do anything for me. I thought Elliott was trying to hard to make his stage presentation more "interesting" and to me it was just too much. Elliott has a good voice, so as usual I can't totally dislike his performance.
5. Paris Bennett - Did Work It Out by Beyonce. I have to agree with Simon in saying that paris seemed like a kid playing dress up (and actaully my husband said the exact same thing during Paris' performance). The song was ok, she can sing, but I didn't really like it.
6. Ace Young - Did Drops of Jupiter by Train. I really like this song, and a lot of people were saying it would have been good for Taylor, and while I don't think it's Taylor's style, I'm sure he could have done a better job than Ace. I thought this performance would be the worst of the night for me, and really these last 4 are about tied in my mind, but Ace was not good, but not terrible which lands him at number 6 here. His voice is just not suited for this song. He lacks the power and rawness needed to make this song sound good.
7. Lisa Tucker - Did Kelly Clarkson's Because Of You. I'm probably being too kind in putting Lisa up this high, because she didn't sing this song very good at all. She was clearly trying too hard to show off a powerful vocal, but she was off key a lot of the time. She was also trying too hard to get rid of her "kid" image, but it didn't come across well at all. If this is not her last night, than I don't know what's going on.
8. Mandisa - Did Shackle (Praise You) by Mary Mary. This was by far Mandisa's worst performance to date. She ends up lower on the list than Lisa, just because she should have been able to do much better. This song made it seem like she can only do good when she's belting something out.
9. Chris Daughtry - Did Creed's What If. The judges finally call Chris out on sounding too much the same every week. They thought he took his performance too far for the American Idol audience. I have been saying all along that Chris is making his audience too narrow, so I'm glad the judges finally realized it. I thought his vocal performance was poor on this song, it didn't really sound like singing, mostly just controlled yelling. He concentrated too much on rock star theatrics this week.
10. Kellie Pickler - Did Suds in a Bucket by Sara Evans. I agree with Simon wholeheartedly on this one. This song choice was just kind of silly. She has the country voice, but I don't think this song appealed to a very wide audience. I didn't like it at all.
I think Lisa will get voted off this week, but I'm really unsure on the rest of the bottom 3. I'll take a guess and say - Elliott and Mandisa. I don't know why I'm picking Mandisa, I know everyone (myself included) thinks she's good, but I don't know what her fanbase is. I'm betting Bucky has a bigger fanbase than her, so I'll say Mandisa in the bottom 3 this week as an out of left field choice.
Update - 2:03 PM Pacific Time
I've been reading that tonight's cast off is a "shocker." This comes from one of the show's producers - Nigel Lythgoe. Of course he says that wanting people to watch, but I guess the choice probably won't be obvious.
I'm thinking it probably won't be Lisa going home, or Bucky.
Shocking contenders:
I'm sticking with my original choice of Mandisa.
Chris would be a huge shocker, and I highly doubt it will be him.
Elliott or Ace - not really that shocking - I think at least one of them will be in the bottom 3.
Katharine - I don't think it will be her
Kellie - Maybe, it would be unexpected, but when I think about it, not that weird.
Paris - Could be her. It would only be shocking in that she hasn't been mentioned as hurting for votes, but I don't think she has that big of a fan base.
Taylor - no possible way, I guess it would truly be shocking. No worries here about him.
My new bottom 3:
Mandisa
Paris
Ace
posted by Sherry L at 6:46 AM
1 Comments:
Bucky #2? He's in the toilet with Kellie.
Not that is matters, but here's my take on last night's performances:
- Paris
- Katherine
- Mandisa
- Elliot
- Chris
- Lisa
- Taylor
- Bucky
- Kellie
Want to see some really good musical entertainment? Watch "Nashville Star." Almost performance last night would have blown away anyone on "American Idol."
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