Another week, another dated theme. At least we got a new mentor this week and Will.i.am was nowhere to be seen. :) The disturbing thing about that is that the mentor was Babyface and he now has gray hair. Geez, I am old! Also, what was up with Randy's sweater? It was like a throwback to Grease gone bad. Has he enrolled in Rydell High? There is no reason for people that make that much money to look so ridiculous on television. The judges must have attended school this week to learn their lines for critiquing each of the contestants as that is the only thing that makes who got positive comments and who got negative comments make sense. Not sure what the agenda was but it was grating on my nerves.
Jacob - "Not My Baby": It doesn't matter what I think of Jacob's singing because the judges are guaranteed to love it no matter what. Steven mentioned that the strutting part of his performance is what has been missing to this point. I thought the dancing was ridiculous and did not help the performance at all. He should never do it again. Ever. He should also be in the bottom two with Casey.
Lauren - "Where You Lead": I don't really care for the song but I thought that Lauren did a decent job with it and hit the notes. It was a playful performance but I don't know if it really showed us anything new from her. As an aside, I am not sure if the show or her mother is responsible for the Tammy Faye lashes but they need to go away immediately.
Casey and Haley - - "I Feel The Earth Move": Haley was great by herself but the duet with Casey just did not work for me this time. I thought Casey was horrid and brought the entire thing down with his out of tune grunting..
Scotty - "You've Got A Friend": I was expecting disaster this week since I couldn't find a song from Carole King with "country" in the title. I was thoroughly impressed though. He showed us more range than he has in the competition so far. He also reigned in the twitchy eyebrows until the very end of the song. :) This was not only his best performance of the season but the best of the night. He didn't get proper credit for it from the majority of the judges, of course, but then that wasn't part of the script written for them, I guess. Only Steven (gasp!) seemed to get how awesome this was. It doesn't really matter though because Scotty was once again the first contestant to be marked "safe" on Dial Idol about 15 minutes after the show went off so he should continue to be fine.
James - "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?": This should not have worked for James but it came close. The opening verse was very impressive. I, like Steven, wasn't overly fond of the "rock" start to the second verse but it grew on me and then he ruined it all by falling into his standard screeching and screaming to end the song. There is potential there but I don't think that TPTB at Idol can help direct him to it. They are ruining any talent that he does have by leading him down the wrong path. Not the best of the night.
Lauren and Scotty - "Up on the Roof": I thought that, individually, each of them did a great job with the song. The "duet" portions were sometimes off and the harmonies were just not getting there.
Casey - "Hidy Ho": This did nothing for me. It was a perfect song for Casey to growl over but I found it boring and couldn't wait for it to end. I also can't wait for him to go home. Please let it be this week unless Jacob goes this week and then he can get out next week.
Haley - "Beautiful": I thought Haley did another beautiful (no pun intended) job with her song this week. This is two very solid performances from her in a row. I know that it will do her no good as she will return to the bottom three regardless but I certainly hope that she makes it to, at least, the top 4.
Jacob and James - "I'm Into Something Good": Whoever came up with this pairing on this song is truly warped. The suits didn't do favors for either guy and this was one of the oddest things that I have ever seen on television. Both guys will get a pass from me though since this was not fair to either of them.
The Best: Scotty
The Worst: Casey and Jacob
Should Go Home: Casey
Will Go Home: Casey or Jacob
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Monday, April 25, 2011
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Season 10 - Top 7: Songs from the 21st century
In their quest to "mix it up" this week the producers brought back those who have been sent home so far from the Top 13 to take on "So What" from Pink. I wish that they had cut this and some of the other fluff so that the show would have only run an hour instead. It was only somewhat mind numbing before Paul joined in and helped them butcher it. TPTB obviously had a talk with the judges and possibly even wrote down some critiques for them to use this week. Unfortunately, they used up everything they had after the first performer and then went tongue bath all the way to the end of the show.
Scotty - "Swingin'": He kind of cheated this week because this song is quite a bit older than the 21st century. I just knew that he was going to bust out the Josh Turner so he surprised me. I will agree that this was a very safe pick for Scotty that didn't demand too much. It wasn't bad but it didn't blow me away either.
James - "Uprising": This was a shriek fest. I get what he was trying to do and I will give him props for continually picking a song that hasn't been done on Idol before, however, I think this song hasn't been done before for a reason. For the past few weeks, James has really struggled with the lower notes. His combination of send-the-dogs-running-for-the-hills screeching and too low mumbling during the chorus was a drain on this one. It was the most theatrical of the night but it was definitely not the best. He should pay close attention to David Cook during the results show so that David can show him how it should be done.
Haley - "Rolling in the Deep": I was very scared for Haley when she said that she had picked this song as I was not sure that she could handle Adele but she proved me wrong. This was my favorite performance of the night and I hope that she will not make a visit to the bottom three this week because she is not deserving.
Jacob - "Dance with my Father": The judges have got to stop comparing Jacob to Luther. There is no comparison. Luther had a beautiful rich, clear voice that Jacob just can't seem to find. I am not saying that it is not in him somewhere. We have seen scant traces of it over the past month and half but it is so buried in the trembling vibrato and over the tops shrieks and vocalizations that I am not sure if it can be found. Shocker! This was too Lusky Stank for me.
Casey - "Harder to Breathe": I was ready for Casey to go home last week. Heck, I was ready to put him on my list of people to go home this week before he even started to perform. He changed my mind tonight. I would like to point out that he sings much better than Adam Levine live. We sat through that Maroon 5 disaster a few seasons ago and it's horrible refrains are still stuck in my brain. As an aside, the are letting Adam Levine judge on The Voice which is some sort of sadistic joke because, without hearing one of their contestants sing, I can promise you that all of them sing better than Adam. Casey's vocal was great but he still needs work on his stage presence. The evil marching back and forth across the stage were just not doing it for me.
Stefano - "Closer": They spent a lot of time telling us how good looking and super talented Stefano was during his taped package tonight. Oh, and he is a "ladies man" too. Whatever! I hope the ladies man goes home this week. Stefano is not nearly as good looking or as talented as he thinks that he is. I could not be more over him.
Lauren - "Born to Fly": Of all the songs, I am not sure why Lauren picked this one. I truly thought that this would be her week to shine and, with the right song, I think that she would have. She did not do a bad job with the vocals but it seemed very karaoke to me and she didn't even try to hit any of the hard notes. If Lauren wants to stick around to the end then she is going to need to step it up and start having solid performances week after week. For some reason the teenage girls are keeping her out of the bottom so she needs to take advantage of that now.
Should Go Home: I am begging for Stefano to go but I will not argue if they send home Jacob. As of right now, DialIdol is showing Stefano, Casey and Haley (NO!) in the danger zone. I will be hoping that Haley is saved.
Scotty - "Swingin'": He kind of cheated this week because this song is quite a bit older than the 21st century. I just knew that he was going to bust out the Josh Turner so he surprised me. I will agree that this was a very safe pick for Scotty that didn't demand too much. It wasn't bad but it didn't blow me away either.
James - "Uprising": This was a shriek fest. I get what he was trying to do and I will give him props for continually picking a song that hasn't been done on Idol before, however, I think this song hasn't been done before for a reason. For the past few weeks, James has really struggled with the lower notes. His combination of send-the-dogs-running-for-the-hills screeching and too low mumbling during the chorus was a drain on this one. It was the most theatrical of the night but it was definitely not the best. He should pay close attention to David Cook during the results show so that David can show him how it should be done.
Haley - "Rolling in the Deep": I was very scared for Haley when she said that she had picked this song as I was not sure that she could handle Adele but she proved me wrong. This was my favorite performance of the night and I hope that she will not make a visit to the bottom three this week because she is not deserving.
Jacob - "Dance with my Father": The judges have got to stop comparing Jacob to Luther. There is no comparison. Luther had a beautiful rich, clear voice that Jacob just can't seem to find. I am not saying that it is not in him somewhere. We have seen scant traces of it over the past month and half but it is so buried in the trembling vibrato and over the tops shrieks and vocalizations that I am not sure if it can be found. Shocker! This was too Lusky Stank for me.
Casey - "Harder to Breathe": I was ready for Casey to go home last week. Heck, I was ready to put him on my list of people to go home this week before he even started to perform. He changed my mind tonight. I would like to point out that he sings much better than Adam Levine live. We sat through that Maroon 5 disaster a few seasons ago and it's horrible refrains are still stuck in my brain. As an aside, the are letting Adam Levine judge on The Voice which is some sort of sadistic joke because, without hearing one of their contestants sing, I can promise you that all of them sing better than Adam. Casey's vocal was great but he still needs work on his stage presence. The evil marching back and forth across the stage were just not doing it for me.
Stefano - "Closer": They spent a lot of time telling us how good looking and super talented Stefano was during his taped package tonight. Oh, and he is a "ladies man" too. Whatever! I hope the ladies man goes home this week. Stefano is not nearly as good looking or as talented as he thinks that he is. I could not be more over him.
Lauren - "Born to Fly": Of all the songs, I am not sure why Lauren picked this one. I truly thought that this would be her week to shine and, with the right song, I think that she would have. She did not do a bad job with the vocals but it seemed very karaoke to me and she didn't even try to hit any of the hard notes. If Lauren wants to stick around to the end then she is going to need to step it up and start having solid performances week after week. For some reason the teenage girls are keeping her out of the bottom so she needs to take advantage of that now.
Should Go Home: I am begging for Stefano to go but I will not argue if they send home Jacob. As of right now, DialIdol is showing Stefano, Casey and Haley (NO!) in the danger zone. I will be hoping that Haley is saved.
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Season 10: Top 8 - Scary Movie(s)
Oh my God, Dawg! Frickin' Will.i.am, again? For me, for you, for me, the judges have continued their trend of not giving any constructive criticism at all. Not everyone is good every week but you wouldn't know that because we were six contestants in before anyone was criticized and she was not the worst performance to that point so it wasn't even fair. We were obviously hearing things on television that the studio audience did not. Was is me or were at least 5 of the contestants off from the music or overpowered by the backup singers? After 10 years, Idol should know better than to let that happen. If it was just one person then I would blame the contestant but it was obviously a mixing issue with the audio that was being recorded. Yo, yo, yo, this week was a complete let down for me. The "this show doesn't suck as much as it did last season" glow was produced right off of me and by the end of the night I was in a total funk and missing Simon. It is obvious that TPTB still need to tweak elements of the show. They need to start with a judge who isn't afraid of making America mad at them and add someone who was born since 1975 to pick the themes for next year. If it has been done before then it is not eligible for consideration. Period.
Paul - "Old Time Rock & Roll": Paul must have gotten a deal on his suit. He seemed to be having a rollicking good time but I thought the vocal was a little all over the place. To be fair, there are other artists out there that get by with a lot less talent and he is definitely better than that train wreck known as Iggy Pop. The thing that i dislike most about Paul which is the little bit of drunken uncle mixed with a whole lot of chicken foot was out in full force tonight. I was actually grateful when he grabbed the tambourine because then he stopped banging on his microphone and causing that thumping noise. Of course, the judges thought it was an awesome encore at Paul's concert. Whatever.
Lauren - "The Climb": Lauren's performance had promise. She should have sung the stripped down version that was shown in her taped package. She started off well but once the music and backup singers started it seemed off.. There were some bad notes but I decided that I am not going to blame her for the faults with tonight's performance. She is definitely a victim of the mad audio mixer and a lingering cold.
Stefano - "End of the Road": Stefano tells us that he is going to concentrate on his stage performance and make sure that he is entertaining America. He chooses a Boyz II Men song to try to do this. He obviously thinks that his voice is stronger than it actually is. He shouldn't think. In the 10 seasons of Idol, there has been one rule that foolish contestants have broken again and again. Do not prophesize your ouster from Idol by singing about going home or anything along those lines. This should be the end of the road for Stefano despite Steven's claims that it won't be. He doesn't have a snowball's chance in you know where of winning. Pia's fans are sure to be plotting their revenge against Stefano this week.
Scotty - "I Cross My Heart": I actually wish Scotty had stuck with "Everybody's Talkin'" instead of King George. I understand why he chose to change to George Strait but I think he would have done a better job on the Harry Nilsson song. All of the verses were good but the chorus was rough because his voice disappeared when the three backup vocalists joined in. They were overpowering him. Scotty should be able to recover with whatever lame theme is picked for next week.
Casey - "Nature Boy": The second guy to go against the advice of Jimmy. This was much more disastrous for Casey than for Scotty. Jimmy was right that the song was too small for the Idol stage. I think that Casey may have saved Stefano from heading home this week by offering himself up as a sacrifice. Randy thought that Casey brought a whole new vibe to the stage but I don't think that America is ready for a Jazz Idol. Casey, it made me want to cry too and Pia's fans may be out for your blood as well since the judges used her save on you.
Haley - "Call Me": I was not expecting a lot from Haley on this song and it lived up to my expectations. Awesome song but completely wrong for this kind of show. I do want to acknowledge that she was the first, and only, contestant slammed by the judges and it was complete b.s. since this was not the first poor performance up to this point in the show. Since 99% of the voters are girls, I am not sure that her extremely short outfit will help her any but I hope a guy goes home this week.
Jacob - "Bridge Over Troubled Water": Claymates around the world are rejoicing that Clay Aiken has retained his title for owning this song yet again. http://youtu.be/blEEIsGC3zA You could feel the Lusky Stank coming from the first note and it was carried throughout. How far Jacob has fallen...from daring people not to vote for him last week to begging for their votes this week.
James - "Heavy Metal": On what ended up being a sub par evening, this ended up being my favorite performance. I am not going to give the credit for that to James. He spent a little too much time screeching for me. I am going to give the credit to Zakk Wylde who killed it.
Should Go Home:
Stefano or Casey
Will Go Home:
Casey
Paul - "Old Time Rock & Roll": Paul must have gotten a deal on his suit. He seemed to be having a rollicking good time but I thought the vocal was a little all over the place. To be fair, there are other artists out there that get by with a lot less talent and he is definitely better than that train wreck known as Iggy Pop. The thing that i dislike most about Paul which is the little bit of drunken uncle mixed with a whole lot of chicken foot was out in full force tonight. I was actually grateful when he grabbed the tambourine because then he stopped banging on his microphone and causing that thumping noise. Of course, the judges thought it was an awesome encore at Paul's concert. Whatever.
Lauren - "The Climb": Lauren's performance had promise. She should have sung the stripped down version that was shown in her taped package. She started off well but once the music and backup singers started it seemed off.. There were some bad notes but I decided that I am not going to blame her for the faults with tonight's performance. She is definitely a victim of the mad audio mixer and a lingering cold.
Stefano - "End of the Road": Stefano tells us that he is going to concentrate on his stage performance and make sure that he is entertaining America. He chooses a Boyz II Men song to try to do this. He obviously thinks that his voice is stronger than it actually is. He shouldn't think. In the 10 seasons of Idol, there has been one rule that foolish contestants have broken again and again. Do not prophesize your ouster from Idol by singing about going home or anything along those lines. This should be the end of the road for Stefano despite Steven's claims that it won't be. He doesn't have a snowball's chance in you know where of winning. Pia's fans are sure to be plotting their revenge against Stefano this week.
Scotty - "I Cross My Heart": I actually wish Scotty had stuck with "Everybody's Talkin'" instead of King George. I understand why he chose to change to George Strait but I think he would have done a better job on the Harry Nilsson song. All of the verses were good but the chorus was rough because his voice disappeared when the three backup vocalists joined in. They were overpowering him. Scotty should be able to recover with whatever lame theme is picked for next week.
Casey - "Nature Boy": The second guy to go against the advice of Jimmy. This was much more disastrous for Casey than for Scotty. Jimmy was right that the song was too small for the Idol stage. I think that Casey may have saved Stefano from heading home this week by offering himself up as a sacrifice. Randy thought that Casey brought a whole new vibe to the stage but I don't think that America is ready for a Jazz Idol. Casey, it made me want to cry too and Pia's fans may be out for your blood as well since the judges used her save on you.
Haley - "Call Me": I was not expecting a lot from Haley on this song and it lived up to my expectations. Awesome song but completely wrong for this kind of show. I do want to acknowledge that she was the first, and only, contestant slammed by the judges and it was complete b.s. since this was not the first poor performance up to this point in the show. Since 99% of the voters are girls, I am not sure that her extremely short outfit will help her any but I hope a guy goes home this week.
Jacob - "Bridge Over Troubled Water": Claymates around the world are rejoicing that Clay Aiken has retained his title for owning this song yet again. http://youtu.be/blEEIsGC3zA You could feel the Lusky Stank coming from the first note and it was carried throughout. How far Jacob has fallen...from daring people not to vote for him last week to begging for their votes this week.
James - "Heavy Metal": On what ended up being a sub par evening, this ended up being my favorite performance. I am not going to give the credit for that to James. He spent a little too much time screeching for me. I am going to give the credit to Zakk Wylde who killed it.
Should Go Home:
Stefano or Casey
Will Go Home:
Casey
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Season 10: Top 9 - R&R Hall of Fame
Another theme that we have seen before... :(. Ryan let us know that Gwyn Stefani would be helping the contestants with their style this week and Will.i.am would be mentoring. I am eternally glad that Gwen was only styling the contestants as she was horrible when she was a mentor during the Sanjaya season. And what is up with Will.i.am being on the show again? Does he own rights to this show or what? We need a break and he needs to go back to his full time job with the Black Eyed Peas.
Jacob - "Man in the Mirror": Jacob started off well but then he went all Lusky-Stank on me. I think that Jacob has a wonderful voice but I need him to reign it in for me to be able to enjoy it. He does have some interesting dance moves though...even Ryan called him out on them. :)
Haley - "Piece of My Heart": Everyone could guess that Haley would choose Janis and she did not surprise. I know that the judges love the growl but I am not a fan. I think she sings better without it and proved that during parts of this song when she forgot to growl. Unfortunately, the judges have convinced her that she should sing every song this way. It was not a bad performance, but I am just saying...
Casey - "Have You Ever Seen The Rain?": Okay, I admit it. I love the wild, wacky, stand up bass playing Casey. He has such a rich quality to his voice and seems to truly enjoy every minute that he is performing on stage.
Lauren - "Natural Woman": You could definitely see Gwyn's influence on Lauren's style and that is not a positive. I prefer her looking more like a country starlet than a rock and roll tramp. She did a decent job with the song but I thought it was kind of boring.
James - "While My Guitar Gently Weeps": James wanted to turn it down a notch this week. I absolutely loved it until he went to the primal scream to end the song. I don't know why he feels that he has to be an active participant in the Adam Lambert School of Screeching but I really wish that he would just be himself and cut that out. He has a better voice than Lambert and doesn't need to go to the screech to try to impress us. He just needs to sing. If not for the scream, he would have made my best list for the week.
Scotty - "That's All Right Mama": Scotty does Elvis and he does Elvis really well. Dude! He has got it down! I don't know that anything can stop him from winning this season. I can't image anything that will be able to trump him. I find myself wondering each week what in the world he will be able to sing for that theme and he always finds something that fits him perfectly. He is destined for stardom and the country music charts.
Pia - "River Deep, Mountain High": Gwyn also had a strong influence on Pia's "look" this week. Pia picked a more up tempo song this week and the vocal was more lively but her performance was still kind of a ballad. She needs to learn how to move around on stage and not just move to her mark and hit the notes.
Stefano - "When A Man Loves A Woman": The two lines that were in falsetto were absolutely horrid and put him at the bottom of the scoreboard with Jacob for me. He did a better job of pronouncing his words than he usually does though he did drop the ends of many words but it was still just not very good to me. I don't know what happened to Stefano. I liked him early in the competition but now I am ready for him to get gone.
Paul - "Folsom Prison Blues": Paul does Johnny Cash? What?!? It was punk meets country and I dug it. I think this should be enough to keep him out of the bottom three this week. He is so much better when he sings in his full voice and drops the falsetto.
The Best
Scotty, of course. I also really enjoyed Paul and Casey.
The Worst
Stefano, Jacob and Pia
Should Go Home
Stefano
Will Go Home
Haley
Jacob - "Man in the Mirror": Jacob started off well but then he went all Lusky-Stank on me. I think that Jacob has a wonderful voice but I need him to reign it in for me to be able to enjoy it. He does have some interesting dance moves though...even Ryan called him out on them. :)
Haley - "Piece of My Heart": Everyone could guess that Haley would choose Janis and she did not surprise. I know that the judges love the growl but I am not a fan. I think she sings better without it and proved that during parts of this song when she forgot to growl. Unfortunately, the judges have convinced her that she should sing every song this way. It was not a bad performance, but I am just saying...
Casey - "Have You Ever Seen The Rain?": Okay, I admit it. I love the wild, wacky, stand up bass playing Casey. He has such a rich quality to his voice and seems to truly enjoy every minute that he is performing on stage.
Lauren - "Natural Woman": You could definitely see Gwyn's influence on Lauren's style and that is not a positive. I prefer her looking more like a country starlet than a rock and roll tramp. She did a decent job with the song but I thought it was kind of boring.
James - "While My Guitar Gently Weeps": James wanted to turn it down a notch this week. I absolutely loved it until he went to the primal scream to end the song. I don't know why he feels that he has to be an active participant in the Adam Lambert School of Screeching but I really wish that he would just be himself and cut that out. He has a better voice than Lambert and doesn't need to go to the screech to try to impress us. He just needs to sing. If not for the scream, he would have made my best list for the week.
Scotty - "That's All Right Mama": Scotty does Elvis and he does Elvis really well. Dude! He has got it down! I don't know that anything can stop him from winning this season. I can't image anything that will be able to trump him. I find myself wondering each week what in the world he will be able to sing for that theme and he always finds something that fits him perfectly. He is destined for stardom and the country music charts.
Pia - "River Deep, Mountain High": Gwyn also had a strong influence on Pia's "look" this week. Pia picked a more up tempo song this week and the vocal was more lively but her performance was still kind of a ballad. She needs to learn how to move around on stage and not just move to her mark and hit the notes.
Stefano - "When A Man Loves A Woman": The two lines that were in falsetto were absolutely horrid and put him at the bottom of the scoreboard with Jacob for me. He did a better job of pronouncing his words than he usually does though he did drop the ends of many words but it was still just not very good to me. I don't know what happened to Stefano. I liked him early in the competition but now I am ready for him to get gone.
Paul - "Folsom Prison Blues": Paul does Johnny Cash? What?!? It was punk meets country and I dug it. I think this should be enough to keep him out of the bottom three this week. He is so much better when he sings in his full voice and drops the falsetto.
The Best
Scotty, of course. I also really enjoyed Paul and Casey.
The Worst
Stefano, Jacob and Pia
Should Go Home
Stefano
Will Go Home
Haley
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