The Boys - Round 3
Tuesday, March 06, 2007
Tonight will be the last semi-final night for the boys. We'll lose two on Thursday, and that will secure the 6 boys going to the finals. I want tonight to be full-on mayhem from the boys - I want them to BRING IT. It is with that in mind that I will be evaluating their performances.
And thus the show begins, with Ryan reminding us that there are 8 left. "Only 6 will make it into the top 12. They take the stage, YOU take control. THIS is American Idol." Cue intro. Ryan's all trashy chic with the sportcoat/jeans things happening. We meet the remaining 8. Sligh's in the pimp spot tonight, and I'm glad to see Brandon going 6th (later). We meet the judges again and Paula is looking relatively normal compared to last week. We are reminded that it's an important week - not just because we'll be getting the final 12, but because they will announce "one of the most important events in Idol history". Hm... Stay with me through the click for more live recapping.
Tonight's theme: Share Something Revealing About Yourself. Is Idol going full nude, or what?
Blake Lewis is up first (bad for him, I think). He loves improv, comedy, character acting, and he thinks Halloween is the best time of the year. We then get to see him cut over to a rednecky affectation replete with funny teeth. The character is "Jimmy Walker Blue", and he's apparently a character Blake "does". It's cute - shows a funny side, even if you yourself don't find it particularly funny.
Blake's singing Trust Your Instinct. He starts out beat boxing, sings a bit (the singing is just ok for me right there), and then he kind of talk-raps. He moves to what is presumably the chorus and it gets much better from a singing perspective. The beat boxing is back, and I have to say - it's entertaining. It's not singing, and I have a problem with that, but he seems to keep it under control just giving a little here and there. He's comfortable on stage as well, and an interesting guy to look at. Overall, this is not a jaw-dropping vocal performance, but it's a good vocal performance and it's totally unique.
Randy: Randy loves that this is the first season that there's really current artist's on the stage. He loved it - it was hot.
Paula: She didn't know the song, but she was interested. She was totally in there. It was really cool.
Simon: He didn't understand a word he sung, but he stand out in the crowd. He's an individual, and he's making it current. He'll 100% be there next week.
Ryan's with Blake, and the band, we learn, is 311. That's Blake's favorite band of all time. 1-866-IDOLS01 or text 5701. I'd vote for him.
Wow - another break this quickly in only an hour show.
We return from the break in the Red Room, and Ryan's with Sundance, Sanjaya (whose hair is quite feminine), and Jared on the couch. Sundance blames Chris Richardson for his crying jag on last week's results show. Sanjaya says he was surprised to still be here after last week's results show, but he's gotten over that. He's ready to make it into the top 12.
Sanjaya Malakar reveals that he can actually hula. Yeah, the dance. We see him doing a hula, and it's pretty decent. It's not helping the "feminine boy" thing he has going, though.
Sanjaya's singing Waiting on the World to Change - I'll tell you straight up I sing this song. It's not easy for all that it sounds lazy when Mayer does it. Sanjaya's start is rough - there are a LOT of words to this smash hit song and it's difficult to work them all in in tune if you're not used to doing it. I don't think Sanjaya is, and I think it's going to really hurt him that this song is WAY current. His pitch is totally sloppy. He goes for some interpretation and it's just musically and vocally horrific. Listen - Sanjaya's a nice kid. There's no doubt about that. But that was horrible. It wasn't just bad karaoke - it was bad drunk karaoke.
Randy: He says it was a little bit better than last week, but essentially laments that he's lost what was special about him. It wasn't that great.
Paula: She struggles for words. She blathers about the older experienced guys around him, and tells him to get out of his comfort zone and keep trying.
Simon: The good news is it wasn't as ghastly as last week. Simon knocks his hula and his hair, and reminds us that it's a singing competition and that it wasn't a very good vocal. I agree.
Ryan's with Sanjaya. Let's hope going second AND sucking wind will put him out this week. Put him out of our misery, put him out of HIS misery for God's sake. 1-866-IDOLS02 or text 5702.
Sundance Head is actually thin in real life, and he wears a fat suit on TV so that people won't recognize him in real life.
He's presumably doing some current rock song. He's kind of sing screaming his way through this one and he's having definite pitch problems. He's building into the song and while he gets better, he still is having trouble in spots, frankly. The whole performance is a bit off for me, and really rough in particular spot. It's important that he ends this well and leave people with a good impression. He does better, but not great.
Randy: What he liked about it - he had problems and pitchy spots - but he put his southern rock thing on Pearl Jam. He liked it and appreciated the try.
Paula: Midway through he put the Sundance on it and pulled it out.
Simon: Didn't like it as much as last week - lost some of your charm this week. Didn't like the song, thought it was indulgent, and didn't like it as much as last week.
Ryan and Sundance are chatting. Simon reiterates that he sounded like he shouted the whole song, and Randy interjects that Pearl Jam is kind of screamy. 1-866-IDOLS03 or text 5703.
With that, we're at a break.
And we're back. We meet Travis Tritt in the audience, and Ryan gets him to his feet. Ryan understands that Randy Jackson is producing his upcoming album, and Tritt shamelessly pimps it - The Storm. Randy interjects that it's HOT. Cross-marketing at its finest, I tell you.
Chris Richardson tells us that America would be surprised that he played football in college and that he was chunkier - his family would have called him big-boned - and today, he's 40lbs. lighter.
Chris is singing a song I can't identify just yet - I believe it's country. He's relaxing on a stool, kind of the sensitive Chris Richardson. There was a teeny pitch problem in the beginning, but he's doing ok vocally. My argument with him is that he tends to sing through his nose, producing a tone I don't find particularly appealing. This is a nice song, though, and even I recognize its melody, and I don't listen to country. He does a good job, given his voice, in trying to soften himself up with this song. The vocal was, overall, very good - but I worry that this particular song will get utterly lost in the shuffle.
Randy: Randy loves that he puts "the boys on blast". He liked it - he's switching it up. He's in it to win it.
Paula: She thinks the intonation in his voice lends itself to pop country, and he picked a good song and did a great job.
Simon: It was good - he's not jumping out of his chair. It was cutesy, but his voice was a bit nasally. He doesn't think they've heard what he can really do. It was a little timid and safe, but he sold it.
Ryan joins Chris, and busts on Simon. Simon glares. Chris did it for his grandmother. Chris lost weight by just eating right, which causes Simon to say Ryan should "stick to the singing". 1-866-IDOLS04 or text to 5704.
We're halfway through, which means we take a break.
We're back and it's Red Room time. Ryan's stalking around the Red Room this time. He lands on Jared Cotter, who is lounging by the rail. Jared does the fact thing, then Ryan gets the others to do the fact thing "for the ladies".
Jared Cotter played Division 2 college basketball. He was pretty good, but he knew he wasn't good enough to make the NBA, so he quit to be a singer.
He's singing an ALL TIME favorite song of mine, one I do in my band and one Elliott blew the doors off of last season, If You Really Love Me. The opening chorus was a little rough for me. He's on to the first verse and it gets much better because it's in a higher, better register for Jared. It's a TOUGH verse, too, and he handles it really well. We're back to the chorus and we're back to rough again. I think it's too low for Jared to control his pitch, and unfortunately, given the shortness of the arrangements, this is where he's going to have to end it. Overall, given the difficulty of the song, it was good. Good, not great.
Randy: Randy was worried, but he gave a solid performance.
Paula: He needs to work on "coloring up" the way he sings. She's referring to nuance - she doesn't want him to shout the entire song.
Simon: He knows what Paula's trying to say, because it wasn't very original. They've heard a lot of performances like this, but he's popular, and he's slightly disappointed overall because he's not hearing the "wow" factor.
Ryan's with Jared, and asks Paula if Jared belongs in the Top 12 - Paula says so far yes, and Randy says yes. They both think he has to do better, though, and I agree. 1-866-IDOLS05 or text 5705.
We will do a break, and one of either Brandon or Phil will sing a Leanne Rimes song (!!!)
And we're back!!! Three boys left!!! Phil and Brandon are about to hit the stage, presumably not at the same time. What do the guys do when the judges are so underwhelmed? Brandon says to leave it all out there. Ryan wants to know how Phil relaxes yet still puts it out there. Phil sucks up shamelessly, but then says that he thinks you have to take what they say with a grain of salt.
Brandon Rogers is a classical piano player! Wow. That's excellent. I mean - really. That's tough. He's rusty, but he loves it.
He's singing I Just Want to Celebrate, a GREAT funky song. Very old school. It's very upbeat and while his vocal is good out of the gate, I have to say that he's not moving around much for a song that's so funkily danceable. He reminds me in spots of Lenny Kravitz - I don't know why. This song is a fun song, one I love, and he sings it well, but he's not blowing my hair back. He's having more pitch problems than he should, frankly, and I'm disappointed. He should have been able to kill that song. However, it was, overall, a good performance. I just expected better.
Randy: He thought it was a good choice. It gives him more of a rock edge, but he messed up a bit at the end. It was a solid performance.
Paula: She thought it was phenomenal, and proving why he belongs on the stage.
Simon: He doesn't think he's represented himself well at this stage. He should have taken some advice from the girls, because they've chosen memorable songs. He has a horrible feeling that he made a mistake choosing the song this week.
Brandon's with Ryan. Brandon understands what Simon just says, but he had fun. He's as confident as anyone can be on getting to the Top 12. He wants to make it more than anyone knows. He would do anything - almost anything. 1-866-IDOLS06 or text 5706. Honestly - I'll vote for him because I do still think he is one of the better boys, but I'll do it grudgingly with the knowledge that others have sucked way worse than him.
Phil Stacey hasn't always been bald. He had hair, very long hair, at one time in his life. He never liked himself with short hair, so he shaved it off.
He's wearing a hat this week. Phil's singing, presumably the Leanne Rimes song. It starts out a little bit shaky with one visibly bad note, but as goes to the chorus, it gets better. He reaches for a high note and falls just flat, but then does it again a few notes later and hits the note. Good for him. He's in a wacky super-high falsetto, and he makes the transition very well. This song, though, frankly, is too freakin' high for him. He's in a position where he has to switch between his gut voice and falsetto, and he's making choices where he should switch to falsetto to stick with gut and it's not good - it's screamy.
Randy: An interesting strong choice. He's got a big old voice - the high notes are great, but the low part of the register is weird. Wasn't his best performance, but it was all right.
Paula: Agrees. Lower notes are chancy. Odd choice of song for her - not his best performance.
Simon: Genuinely didn't get it. The hat, the big eyes - it was all weird for him. The whole thing appeared very odd, it was a strange choice of song. It's been a disappointing performance from the guys this week overall. Not good enough from Phil.
Ryan's with Phil. Wants to know why Phil's staring Simon down. He loves the song, and he's glad he got to sing it in front of everyone. It's obviously not the right song since all three agreed it was wrong. If he makes it, will he squint next week? Phil says he'll let that be a surprise. 1-866-IDOLS07 or text 5707.
One left, after the break.
We're back! We see Travis Tritt again, clapping. Thursday's guest will be Carrie Underwood. One left:
Chris Sligh had short hair for a long time, and a while ago he shaved his head then decided to grow his hair out to see what it looked like, and he has these lush curls.
He's singing... I don't know what he's singing. But he's out of the gate with his big voice, his big IN TUNE voice. His voice dominates the stage during the start of this song, frankly - it's a stark difference from ANY of the boys who have sung earlier tonight. I still don't know this song, but at this point, I don't think I care. I am generally really enjoying this performance - I don't know if it's because everyone else was so mediocre-to-downright-crappy, but his is definitely the best performance of the night.
Randy: He's not sure it was his favorite song choice, but he gets the vote for prize of the night.
Paula: It wasn't her favorite performance. He's got to keep rising above, and this was kind of middle of the road.
Simon: He thought the beginning of the song was very good, but he shouted in the middle. It's not a great hooky song, but he's done enough to definitely make it through to the finals, but it's not one of his stronger. But he has potential.
Ryan's with Chris now, and it's one of Chris' favorite songs and he thinks the sentiment is universal, and he sincerely apologizes that he didn't bring it this week. I believed him. I like him. 1-866-IDOLS08 or text to 5708. Chris begs his hug from Ryan, because Ryan hugged everyone else.
We get the recap. I'll give you my summary, after the rankings:
Chris Sligh
Blake Lewis
Chris Richardson
Brandon Rogers
Sundance Head
Jared Cotter
Phil Stacey
Sanjaya Malakar
Now. Having put the rankings out there, let me say this: Chris Sligh was head and shoulders better than ANY of the boys tonight. Ranks 2-7 are all the same for me - not great, not awful, each had problems either with pitch or weirdness or shoutiness. Sanjaya was just bad, and he's worlds away from the rest of the pack. It's pretty sad when I'm just lumping six of them together in the "it didn't suck - not bad, but not great" category.
Cindy, my friend, has said all along that the girls are better and I have to say - without exception she's right. More than one of the girls will totally blow me away tomorrow night. Not one of the boys blew me away tonight. Ugh. It will be difficult to pick who goes home from the boys this week, but I'll do it on Thursday.
See you tomorrow for the girls' recap!!
Labels: American Idol, Boys, Round 3, Semi-Finals
posted by RenaRF @ 8:02 PM,
