American Idol does Elvis...The Soul Train picks up speed to a Taylor Hicks and Elliott Yamin finale
Like I said yesterday, Elliott went into last night with his sights set on making it to the top 2. Chris Daughtry sleep walked through the entire night, making it seem like he's ready to go home.
Showing he's not ready to leave yet, Taylor Hicks raised the bar for himself once again. Katharine McPhee gave it a good effort, but was outclassed by Elliott and Taylor.
I'm adding letter grades to the performances this week, because merely ranking them, just doesn't get the point across.
Here's the order - best to worst:
Taylor Hicks - In The Ghetto. I've been waiting all season to hear Taylor sing like he did on this song last night. He made this song his own and he sounded great. Anyone who thinks he is only an "average" singer needs to have their ears examined. He nailed the high note, and even as a die-hard Taylor fan, I was completely blown away. A+
Elliott Yamin - Trouble. I was a little worried when I first heard Elliott was doing this song. Done wrong it could sound like a rip off of Bad To The Bone, but Elliott did it right. Elliott completely owned this song and proved that he is trouble to the rest of the contestants. For the second time last night I was blown away by a performance. A+
Elliott Yamin - If I Can Dream. I was really worried when Elliott said he was doing this song, because I had never heard it before, and I thought an unfamiliar song would turn off the audience. I was wrong. Elliott commanded the audience's attention with this one and he couldn't have sounded better. Like Paula, I thought this was Elliott's best performance, until I heard this second song. A
Taylor Hicks - Jailhouse Rock. To be honest I wouldn't have picked this song for Taylor. It doesn't have a lot of range and there's not much to it. Taylor sounded about the way I expected him to, which is that he sounded good. He didn't really do anything that surprised me, but he did manage to throw in a few interesting dynamics here and there. The performance is fun and energentic and was meant to be a crowd pleaser, which it was. Taylor is probably the only contestant that has to please different types of fans. There' s the ones that want to see him dance and have a good time, there's those who just want to hear him sing and then there's the ones that want some of everything. I fall into the last category, though if I could just hear Taylor sing I would be just as happy. Predictably Simon hated the dancing so he didn't comment on Taylor's singing. B+
Katharine McPhee - Hound Dog/All Shook Up. Katharine tried to have some fun with this one, and threw in a lot of dancing. The singing was ok, nothing special, but I did like that Katharine was making an effort to do something different, even if the dancing around seemed a litte self-conscious. Proving he is not biased just against Taylor, Simon hated the dancing. I've come to the conclusion that Simon likes boring singers. Does he ever go to concerts? Entertaining the audience is half the battle. C+
Katharine McPhee - I Can't Help Falling In Love. Why was this song so easy to predict? Because Katharine loves these types of ballads. She's trying too hard though, and she completely oversang this one. She hit bad notes all over the place and she completely missed on the last note; a horrible way to end the last performance of the night. She reminded me of Jessica Simpson the whole night. The self-consciousness when she's trying something out of her element and then the attempt at being emotive by oversinging. I don't mean the comparison in a good way, but then again a lot of people like (or at least they used to like) what Jessica Simpson does, so maybe it's not bad either. C-
Chris Daughtry - Suspicious Minds. Chris may have performed the most boring version of Suspicious Minds ever. This is a great song, and Chris almost completely ruined it. Where was the emotion? Where was the frustration and desperation to song is talking about? Did Chris even understand what he was singing about? It doesn't seem like it. Simon said this song worked, probably thinking Chris would come back with something better for his second performance, but it only got worse. Don't be surprised Simon reconsiders his reaction to this if Chris is in the bottom 2. D
Chris Daughtry - A Little Conversation. I thought this was a completely bizarre song choice and Chris didn't pull it off at all. He mumble his way through the first part of the song and then picked it up at the end. Too little too late, and he completely overdid it by screaming a couple notes out at the very end. D-
If all is fair in the world Chris and Katharine will be in the bottom 2 and Chris will go home.
Katharine, Taylor and especially Elliott have all made efforts to improve and grow over the course of the competition and Chris still sounds the same as he did when he sang Wanted Dead or Alive for his first performance. For that alone he should be packing his bags this week and not get a chance at making it to the finals.
Showing he's not ready to leave yet, Taylor Hicks raised the bar for himself once again. Katharine McPhee gave it a good effort, but was outclassed by Elliott and Taylor.
I'm adding letter grades to the performances this week, because merely ranking them, just doesn't get the point across.
Here's the order - best to worst:
Taylor Hicks - In The Ghetto. I've been waiting all season to hear Taylor sing like he did on this song last night. He made this song his own and he sounded great. Anyone who thinks he is only an "average" singer needs to have their ears examined. He nailed the high note, and even as a die-hard Taylor fan, I was completely blown away. A+
Elliott Yamin - Trouble. I was a little worried when I first heard Elliott was doing this song. Done wrong it could sound like a rip off of Bad To The Bone, but Elliott did it right. Elliott completely owned this song and proved that he is trouble to the rest of the contestants. For the second time last night I was blown away by a performance. A+
Elliott Yamin - If I Can Dream. I was really worried when Elliott said he was doing this song, because I had never heard it before, and I thought an unfamiliar song would turn off the audience. I was wrong. Elliott commanded the audience's attention with this one and he couldn't have sounded better. Like Paula, I thought this was Elliott's best performance, until I heard this second song. A
Taylor Hicks - Jailhouse Rock. To be honest I wouldn't have picked this song for Taylor. It doesn't have a lot of range and there's not much to it. Taylor sounded about the way I expected him to, which is that he sounded good. He didn't really do anything that surprised me, but he did manage to throw in a few interesting dynamics here and there. The performance is fun and energentic and was meant to be a crowd pleaser, which it was. Taylor is probably the only contestant that has to please different types of fans. There' s the ones that want to see him dance and have a good time, there's those who just want to hear him sing and then there's the ones that want some of everything. I fall into the last category, though if I could just hear Taylor sing I would be just as happy. Predictably Simon hated the dancing so he didn't comment on Taylor's singing. B+
Katharine McPhee - Hound Dog/All Shook Up. Katharine tried to have some fun with this one, and threw in a lot of dancing. The singing was ok, nothing special, but I did like that Katharine was making an effort to do something different, even if the dancing around seemed a litte self-conscious. Proving he is not biased just against Taylor, Simon hated the dancing. I've come to the conclusion that Simon likes boring singers. Does he ever go to concerts? Entertaining the audience is half the battle. C+
Katharine McPhee - I Can't Help Falling In Love. Why was this song so easy to predict? Because Katharine loves these types of ballads. She's trying too hard though, and she completely oversang this one. She hit bad notes all over the place and she completely missed on the last note; a horrible way to end the last performance of the night. She reminded me of Jessica Simpson the whole night. The self-consciousness when she's trying something out of her element and then the attempt at being emotive by oversinging. I don't mean the comparison in a good way, but then again a lot of people like (or at least they used to like) what Jessica Simpson does, so maybe it's not bad either. C-
Chris Daughtry - Suspicious Minds. Chris may have performed the most boring version of Suspicious Minds ever. This is a great song, and Chris almost completely ruined it. Where was the emotion? Where was the frustration and desperation to song is talking about? Did Chris even understand what he was singing about? It doesn't seem like it. Simon said this song worked, probably thinking Chris would come back with something better for his second performance, but it only got worse. Don't be surprised Simon reconsiders his reaction to this if Chris is in the bottom 2. D
Chris Daughtry - A Little Conversation. I thought this was a completely bizarre song choice and Chris didn't pull it off at all. He mumble his way through the first part of the song and then picked it up at the end. Too little too late, and he completely overdid it by screaming a couple notes out at the very end. D-
If all is fair in the world Chris and Katharine will be in the bottom 2 and Chris will go home.
Katharine, Taylor and especially Elliott have all made efforts to improve and grow over the course of the competition and Chris still sounds the same as he did when he sang Wanted Dead or Alive for his first performance. For that alone he should be packing his bags this week and not get a chance at making it to the finals.
posted by Sherry L at 6:27 AM
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