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Idol Blogging
Tuesday, March 17th, 2009Pretty strong performances all around tonight. Here’s how I’d rank them:
Adam Lambert
I’m sure Johnny Cash die-hards were aghast. I thought the sitar, Reznor-ification of “Ring of Fire” was incredible. Shades of Jeff Buckley and Robert Plant. There’s someone else his falsetto reminds me of, and it’s driving me nuts that I can’t put my finger on it. The guy has amazing, amazing range, and in terms of artistry, is miles ahead of everyone else right now.
Allison Iraheta
Love that gruff voice. And she oozes confidence, especially for her age. Little worried that she won’t get the votes to match her skills. Ideally, she’ll bow out in the final three or four, so she can put out a better album.
Matt Giraud
I like this guy a lot. You can see the piano bar history in him. I just wish he’d stop singing songs made famous by women. Of all the great country songs that would have shown off his bluesy vibe, he goes with a schmaltzy Carrie Underwood song.
Danny Gokly
Probably the co-favorite with Lambert right now. Another one I wish would pick better songs. The guy really does have some soul, but he–again–needs to stop picking songs first recorded by women. And please, nothing more that you’d hear on an adult contemporary station.
Anoop Desai
I don’t know that he has the talent to last too much longer, but he did very well tonight.
Kris Allen
He did well, I’m just not a fan. Something about his stage presence irks me. He has John Mayer mannerisms. And I’m really not a John Mayer fan. He’ll probably do well, though. He seems to be the teen girl favorite right now.
Alexis Grace
She’s fallen pretty fast. “Jolene” is one of my favorite songs. She just didn’t sell it. The song drips with vulnerability. She’s still playing up her sexuality to get votes. That’s smart (and she can sing, too), but it just didn’t click with this particular song.
Lil Rounds
Not a great week for her, but for an R&B singer trying country, she passed. Will be interesting to see how the vote comes down tomorrow. She might be in trouble, and if so, could be an early candidate for the new “judges’ save” option.
Megan Joy
Just too quirky for me. Her song tonight was okay, but every time she sings, it feels like a gimmick.
Scott MacIntyre
The guy has a nice story, but I think he might be in trouble. He could have a fine career as the second coming of Bruce Hornsby. But right now, all of his songs sounds the same (come to think of it, so do Bruce Hornsby’s). I’ve actually been a little surprised the last couple weeks at how much I don’t like his voice. I thought he’d be one of my favorites coming out of Hollywood.
Michael Sarver
He’s a likable guy, and country-oriented contestants tend to last through the early rounds on this show. But I thought he and MacIntyre were the two worst of the night.
If I had to guess, I’d say Lil Rounds and Megan Joy get the boot tomorrow. And the judges may well give Rounds the pass.
Ok… so I don’t watch the show. But anyway, I went and tracked down your top pick’s perfomance on Youtube.
Bah! Lambert sucked!
He sang that like a girl. A girl on acid.
Emo crap at it’s worst.
i just read somewhere (forgetting at the moment, drudge?) that one of the crew members had accidentally divulged that the final four were already ‘chosen’.
His falsetto reminds me of the guy in The Darkness. That’s not a good thing.
Wow, I also don’t watch the show on a regular basis, and I also tracked down Adam Lambert’s performance on Youtube… easily the best performance I have ever seen on Idol. Was the whole rendition a little self-indulgent? Sure. But it was balls to the wall creative, really showcased his talent, and for once, an Idol singer has the voice to back it up. Just awesome.
I’m definitely not on the Lambert wagon.
Kinda like Clay Aiken did on the show, and then run straight to Broadway where he belongs.
Gokey is right at the tops for me, but I’ll admit I really like Megan’s voice and style. I think if she can find a couple 30’s blues genre songs she’ll do much better. I must admit she moves kinda funky, ungainly, like she has not grown into her feet yet.
Adam Lambert’s performance sounded horrific to me. And it seemed from his intro that the interpretation of the song was lifted from a funky cover version that he sought out this week rather than created by him, so he gets less points for creativitiy too. Before he came on, I said “he is going to find a way to ‘make the song his own’ by screaming half of it, and the judges will act like he just invented music.” That’s his formula every week, and he typically gets praised. It drives me crazy.
And though Megan Joy is very pretty and has a nice voice, her sing-every-song-in-the-style-of-1940s-radio schtick is already tiresome. I’m ready for her to go.
Other than those two, I think it’s a pretty strong group this year and last night’s show was entertaining.
Agreed with Simon re Adam Lambert: [self-] indulgent rubbish.
I understand he’s got a style, but they don’t pick the theme for the week just for shits and giggles. I, for one, would like to see the guy sing something outside his comfort zone and demonstrate that he’s a musician and not just a sideshow/opening act. There are a multitude of country songs where he could have showcased his high voice (let’s face it, he’s no bass). Not all country music requires Johnny Cash’s deep voice.
I don’t like this practice of using any possible arrangement of a song that has, at one point or another, been recorded in the style of the week’s theme.
Kris Allen is already hugging puppies for his Teen Beat photo shoot. He’s safe unless he starts dissin’ Zack Efron.
Adam “Gay Elvis” Lambert finished better than he started. Kudos for taking a chance, but it was “good” at best. Making goo-goo eyes into the camera is a quick way of telling everyone “I am lame.”
Something about Megan Joy really caught my attention last night. In fact, it seems like two things really stood out.
Alexis Grace remains my favorite as she seems to have the most talent as an artist.
Danny McDeadwife has a really nice sounding voice…and his performance last night was utterly average. Did I mention his wife died?
Blind Guy: If he has 20/20, he’d not have made it this far.
Piano Bar Guy sounds like any of 100 piano bar guys…which puts him near the top for American Idol contestants.
Anoop Dog: I think that’s as good as Anoop can do and it was pretty darn good.
Oil Rig Sarver: Likable-guy-gets-by-on-average-performances-until-finally-booted-in-favor-of-anyone-with-talent. Did I mention he works on an oil rig?
Allison and Lil have the top 2 raw talent, but really need some coaching. Both did enough to stick around.
Can I mention that Lil Rounds is probably the most appropriately named person ever.
Hated the Lambert performance, and hate that it’s being compared to one of my all time faves, NIN. But it was different, and in Idol that usually pays off. Lambert’s out in front right now, with Gokey right behind him.
Bottom three: blind guy, roughneck, Rounds. Any of those could be going home. If it’s Rounds, they may save her, but I doubt it.
Idol gossip question: How, if at all, will the recently leaked pics of Lambert in drag, french-kissing dudes affect the competition?
Missed the show, but your description of Lambert’s performance sounded suspiciously like this from a couple years ago (which, as a Johnny Cash fan, I LOVED):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whtQZJ7R3EU
Lil Rounds and Alexis Grace should have traded songs, as those songs just highlighted their respective faults.
If there is ever an Emo version of Rent, then Lambert would be a perfect fit. He looks like Simon Le Bon, sounds like Steve Perry, but acts like the president of your high school drama club. Hmmm.
Anoop was the big surprise. Country boy was my biggest disappointment. How can a Texan sound so bad? I guess it could have been worse: he could have picked “Friends in Low PLaces”.
Danny has been my fave, but I like Elvis Costello a lot, and he’s a dead ringer for an early Costello.
My guess that Megan “I was born 100 years too late” Joy and Oil rig Texan are gone.
I would rather be Keira Knightley’s life long sex slave than be forced to watch a single episode of American Idol.
I agree with Matt (#3)…Adam Lambert sounds like the singer for the Darkness.
Hate Lambert every week. I loved Corkey and Alexis. Also loved Anoop and Matt this week. Appriciated Lil trying to do country straight and not R&B it up.
Michael goes home this week. Overall I thought it was a great week though.
Troy,
This makes no sense. Am I missing something?
So would I. That’s not saying much.
from the new york daily news…
Aside from Paula Abdul, the producers of “American Idol” have one more loudmouth to deal with on the set.
One of the hit show’s staffers is running around telling anyone who’ll listen that the team of producers and judges has already picked the final four contestants — despite the fact that 11 kids are still battling to be the latest pop star.
The female “AI” worker told a “group of people that the last four are going to be Danny Gokey, Lil Rounds, Adam Lambert and Alexis Grace,” said our insider. Asked if this was opinion or actual fact, the staffer vehemently retorted, “Those ARE the people,” saying it wasn’t mere speculation.
If it was just her prediction, she’d be spot-on with this week’s TV Guide, which also chose those exact four wanna-be crooners as its picks for stardom.
But the lass took it a step further, claiming that higher-ups at the hit Fox show were taking an issue with two of the top contenders.
“Adam Lambert and Lil Rounds are better singers and musicians than Gokey and Grace, but they’re too much like past winners and ‘A’ successes,” the woman said. “Adam’s too close in style and sound to Chris Daughtry, while Lil Rounds is a dead ringer for Fantasia. Even their background stories are similar!
“The producers really want it to be Danny or Alexis. They think they’re very commercially viable, have a good image and a great story.”
Gokey’s sorrowful story of the death of his wife, Sophia, during heart surgery a month before his audition is “a huge reason viewers are tuning in,” said the staffer. “Fox likes the attention that he’s getting, and they’ve taken to giving Danny much more airtime as a result.”
While Fox’s reps had no comment on the allegations, another TV insider told us, “It’d
be very hard to manipulate the entire final four. Sure, the judges get one vote to save someone, but that’s before the top five, so theoretically, it’s just delaying the inevitable.
“There’d have to be so many people lying for them to pull something like this off — so I doubt it’s true.”
Troy they say “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder”, and if you are saying that Keira Knightley is unattractive, then you must beholden yours eyes with your ass cheeks.
http://img.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2007/12_01/KeiraKnightley_801×1000.jpg
#9 Greg,
I don’t think Adam kissing dudes will hurt him. Anyone voting for him has probably figured out that he’s gay and kissing guys is kinda what you do when gay.
Megan and Anoop go home tonight. Just because I don’t know who is voting for them. Votes, not talent, win.
Boyd – An army of former “Claymates” would disagree with you.
MacK, thomasblair …..relax….OK. If you are a heterosexual male, which would you rather do, watch lame American Idol or be Keira Knightley’s sex slave? Is that concept really really that hard to understand.
And, by the way, this is an American Idol thread. How much erudition or sagacity do you expect? American Idol doesn’t make sense to me, either. If I wanted to watch people half ass sing OTHER people’s stuff, I’d go watch my local Karaoke bar.
And thanks for the link to the godess.
I too tracked down Lambert’s Ring of Fire. I love Cash’s original. That said, I was blown away. I can’t stop listening to Lambert. What a voice. I’ve never watched the show, but if performances like that are what it’s about, maybe I should start.
“Idol gossip question: How, if at all, will the recently leaked pics of Lambert in drag, french-kissing dudes affect the competition?”
Like my daughter said (and I agreed, wholeheartedly) “When I first saw him I thought, HOT!!! Then, when he went in to sing at the audition, I realized he was gay, then he opened his mouth to sing and I thought who cares if he’s gay, Dude can SING!”
If her and my reaction are any indication, the pics won’t hurt him at all.
Was it Radley who was wondering who he might sound like? I’m thinking Freddie Mercury. And I do like him and the way he did that song last night. In fact I’ve liked him from the beginning, his resemblence to young Elvis doesn’t hurt. I think he and Allison, who is also my favorite (it’s a tie, k?), will be the top two, but which one will take the “crown” I’m not yet ready to predict. It really won’t matter, most of the contestants this year will end up with recording contracts, regardless how long they remain with the show.
So much for the rumors about Alexis being “chosen”.
I’d like to hear Lambert sing something without the falsetto or the screeching just to see if he can belt one out.
Dilana’s was better
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whtQZJ7R3EU