Whee!! NYC!!
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
I have a personal interest in the NYC auditions. A friend wrote me and told me that one of friends interviewed in NYC. Wearing a space suit. If nothing else, I want to see if the guy is any good. I would also imagine that there's a wellspring of talent in NYC if for no other reason than that the population is so huge.
OMFG. This first guy auditioned for So You Think You Can Dance - he was AWFUL and RUDE. What a moron. This audition was no different - NEXT.
Sarah Burgess - Hm. Great emotional backstory, set the judges up from the beginning. Plus she's beautiful. Plus she's young. Plus she sings well. AND she sang after crying - REALLY hard. Plus the crying thing - it's definitely genuine - and she's going to win a LOT of people with that. She's through to Hollywood. That makes me happy. :-) Oh - and I LOVE the "calling the father thing" right there on the TV broadcast. I'm also happy he wasn't a dick on the phone. Although that may have helped Sarah even more.
The teaser featuring Ashanti makes her intro more interesting. She's auditioned three times and been to Hollywood twice, yet we know she's got issues ahead of her. This should be interesting. OUt of the gate I don't like her voice. She has pitch and control, I just don't like it. At all. Too much vibrato, and quite shrill. Ack. She's fighting for it - she's begging. It's - pathetic. Will she change their minds? Will they put her through? Or will they CRUSH HER??!! Oops. Nope. Simon smacks her down, she sings more. Simon smacks her down again. She pulls her act together, leaves with the shreds of her dignity, delivers another speech, wrecks her dignity, begs again, is smacked down again, and she leaves. That sucked.
Ok. Tan bikini girls. Can you say "ratings"? They're both pretty girls. They're also brave, going on national TV with bathing suits. First up is Amanda, but they bring the other gal in, whose name I don't have. Their duet is a train wreck - sounds awful. Key changes etc. So it's Amanda solo - with Patsy Cline's Crazy. She sounds great voice wise, but it's very Broadway and she has some issues in the low spots. Paula's all for Amanda. Simon is totally neutral, but says yes. Carol puts her through tepidly, and Randy does it with qualifications.
So NOW her best friend has to do her audition. Antonella is her name - I actually prefer her voice right out of the gate. I like the tone and the way she sings much better. She has to work on stage presence though. I agree with Simon - she's much better than her friend. All judges are MUCH more convicted in their choice of Antonella. Simon has a Simon moment saying, "let me give you a piece of advice: when someone is down, kick them." referring to Antonella's comment that her friend was MUCH better than her audition.
Oooh... Another Harmonica Guy. He's more Blues Traveller than Taylor, though. Nothing bluesey about the harmonica clip they showed. He looks really nervous. REALLY nervous. He works at a bank. Taylor worked at a bank. Hm... Wow. He's really really really bad. BAD BAD. Excuse me. I have to mute my TV. Even with the sound muted I can tell he has no rhythm. Now he plays the harmonica - I'm not sure why. No singing, just the harmonica. But he's a good sport and it was interesting, so it's all good.
Now to the gratuitous clips of really bad people - OMG here's Space Suit guy!! Space Suit Guy is my friend's friend who auditioned!! OMFG - they didn't even show him singing, just the ridiculous space suit. NOT good.
Kia Thornton - immediately reminds me of Jennifer Hudson. Another with a bit too much vibrato for my taste, but she's really good and that's a really difficult song. She's confident without looking cabaret. I like Carol's feedback to not oversing. VERY important, to show dynamics and convey an ownership of the song. It makes a singer so much more credible imo.
DAY 2!!!
Question: Why does Carol Bayer Sager look like Elizabeth Taylor 20 years ago? Do they have the same surgeon or something?
WOW. I don't know if this first kid after the break can sing, but he's a great looking young man. Model material. His name is Andre. Oh wow - first few notes he sounds great. He has to watch being flat on the very top notes. He recovers really nicely, though, and finishes strong. And he's SIXTEEN!! I didn't realize that. This guy should go through - he's great. Hey - where's Simon? Oh - back to Andre - I do agree that he needs to watch the borderline arrogance. Also, not to be impolitic - but he reminds me of Corey and I DO think Paula was sweating when she looked at him. Just sayin'.
The girl audtioning now is very Ethel Merman. I didn't like her, and I didn't catch her name. Oh wait - Makia - now she goes to a slow song. It's not helping her. She's really out of tune - it's almost like it's a different singer than the Ethel Merman version of Dancin' in the Streets. This slow song is painful. Please put her out of my misery. Please? Oh and it gets worse - she begs at the door, saying that "she has a lot of people wanting her to go" to Hollywood and she "can't let them down". I don't know - I'm not feeling it. Her second song was truly terrible. Truly. Like ear-bleedingly terrible.
Sarah Whatshername. Yawn. She'd be yawnier if I didn't think she was certifiable.
Woot. Simon's back. He'll be happy he showed up in time for this girl's boobs. I already don't like her - she reminds me of Kat McPhee, and I loathed her. So Jory sings a song I don't know. Her voice is good, but really doesn't match her bravado or her attitude. I suspect they'll put her through, and they should, but I don't like her much. Simon loves her - but she has boobs. So who knows if he really likes her. The rest of the judges put her through, making me look prescient. Oooh - bonus. She has a stage mom. I wonder if she's as ridiculous as Kat McPhee's stage dad?
Porcelana looks like a hooker. I'm glad she worked hard and got herself in shape - I can respect that - I've been there. But she shouldn't define herself by that. I kind of like her voice but it's limited range-wise. She reminds me of another sexpot also-ran from season... what... Three? Four? They put her through. I'm not super-impressed with her singing. But I'm super-impressed with her work ethic.
Christopher Henry - f'ing weird. Close your eyes and he sounds like a she. Weird. Did I say that? Simon sums it up: "The reality is you should be singing in a dress and stillettos." This time I agree. He sounds like a girl.
Rachel Zevita - as an opera singer I'm surprised by her voice. She's clearly trying to be edgy with the first song. The second one the opera comes though. The opera comes through in the opera song as well (go figure) - I dug her, actually. I believe her when she says she can be versatile. Absolutely believe it. And she's through to Hollywood.
Hey!! Space Suit Guy makes the "same song" montage!! He wasn't good at all!! Sorry DD.
Chris from Chesapeake VA - Song for You - Elliott spoiled me for this song. He is the bar that MUST be met if you sing this song. Chris isn't meeting the bar. Don't get me wrong - he seems to have promise, but too many runs and a weird-ass interpretation. He's got to get some measure of control over it, though. I really didn't like that version of the song. And he's through to the next rounde. I'm underwhelmed, but I do think he deserved to go to the Hollywood round.
Oooh. I remember that guy. I liked him, but he's a quitter. He had better have a good reason for trying again. Nicholas - he does Fly Me to the Moon - very breathy. Good pitch, good control, but very airy and breathy. He's better than Justin Guarini, but he should try to sing through that breath. He's be so much better. I hope he does well in Hollywood, though. The boys haven't been all that great so far through the auditions, so he may be one of the better boys. If any real talent comes along, though, I'm not sure how he'd measure up.
Ok... We're nearing the end. We're apparently going to wrap with a looney. She's clairvoyant. She reads palms. She sounds like a variety of women I'm sure she doesn't sound like. She does yoga. In public. She breaks guitar strings. But her hat's cool. And she's off. She doesn't say what song she's going to sing. It appears to be Lady marmalade. It's intensely weird. It kind of reminds me of those African mating dances you'd see on National Geographic specials, that built to a crescendo with some great purpose in mind. NOW she's on to Take It by Janice Joplin. At least she's not crying as she does the post-interview, but her shifty-eye thing is bizarre.
All RIGHT. We're at the end of this one. Bye bye NYC!! 36 people are going through from NYC. Is that the highest number yet? Oh FREAKIN' RIGHT ON - Birmingham ALABAMA next week!! Home to Bo, Reuben, and TAYLOR HICKS!! I would love a guest appearance.
Having said that, can we please please get through the audition rounds? I'm ready to move on to Hollywood week.
Labels: American Idol, Auditions
posted by RenaRF @ 8:01 PM,
