The Top 12 Perform
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
Wow. We're back to the two hour show. That's a lot of live-blogging, folks!! But I'll do my best to keep up. I suspect that one of my regular readers, who is right now in Europe, will be checking in to see how each of the contestants did. I'm glad to fill my useful purpose. ;-)
We are teased at the beginning about the fame and fortune achieved by Idol winners and runners-up. This is annoying - we see Kelly Clarkson, Daughtry, Jennifer Hudson, Carrie Underwood, and Fantasia Barrino - but NO TAYLOR!! AAAAGH. This "Pox on your Taylor House" thing is getting really annoying. Ryan's in the audience, behind the judges - they've moved to the big stage. The judges are front and center now, as opposed to off to the side. After the intro, there's hysterical screaming in the house. People freaking out everywhere. We are enjoined to admired the stage, and we all do. We are reminded we're there for that one superstar, and we see that not only has the venue gotten bigger, the band has gotten bigger, too!! They rock - they get their own little 10-second jam. We are told further to admire the hugeness of the audience. We do. Click to the full post to read more.
The Idol finalists are dragged out. I'll note that there was little applause for Sanjaya and Haley compared to the others. It appears Jordin is in the pimp spot tonight. Hm. And Brandon goes first - ugh. He better bring the house down. We meet the judges. Simon's in WHITE! Excellent. Ryan talks to Randy. Randy thinks the boys have to bring their game. Paula thinks there's great variety in the top 12, and she thinks the guys are ready to come into their own. Simon talks about the stage changing everyone in this new venue..
We are now to the Diana Ross pimp package. We hear about how wonderful she is and how wonderful her career has been. We hear about the wonderfulness of her solo career as a performer and an actress. We recite the laundry list of her achievements. She put the "D" in Diva, imo. She looks good as she meets the top12. Her hair is outstanding! Totally wacky! She tells the finalists she's not a critic, and reminds us that she's had a 40-year career. She is a parent deep in her heart, and she thinks that makes her a good mentor.
Brandon Rogers is up first, talking about Diana Ross. He talks about her different-breediness. Diana likes Brandon. She likes that he grew up on You Can't Hurry Love, which is presumably what Brandon will sing. Hm. She comments that she's amazed at the amount of work all the finalists have to do, and tells Brandon to go back to his "center". He does truly look awestruck.
Brandon starts center-stage, back to the audience. The beginning part of this song is kind of low, and that doesn't necessarily suit his voice. When he gets into the higher register, he's better. He's in the chorus, and I have to say - I'm not blown away and I want to be blown away. I keep waiting and waiting for Brandon to unleash his mad talent, only to wait a little more. I don't get it. OH NO - Brandon just totally flubbed on his words. It was only a teeny period of time, but it WAS obvious. Ugh. At least he picked back up and finished strong. Overall, I give the performance a C+.
Randy: This is the start of the future tonight. For him, Brandon came out like he's reverted back to a background singer. Only at the very end did he step forward.
Paula: It's not easy to do what you do, and nerves play into it. We don't need to tell you what you did wrong, and there are many things that you do right.
Simon: That was a complete letdown. It was a very predictable version, predictable arrangement, the dancing was terrible, and you came over as a background singer. No start quality. Absolutely not good enough. Sorry.
((Cringe)) Ryan's with him - Brandon felt it was going his way until he forgot the words. He tried to pick it back up. Ryan wants to know if the stage has an effect, and Brandon says it's amazing to be out here and he got caught up, enjoying it a little too much. He'll do better next time. 1-866-IDOLS01 or text 5701.
Commercial time!!
We're back sitting center stage with Melinda Doolittle. We can apparently ask the Idols questions this season. Go to the website to find out how. Melinda gets a question: What do you consider the hardest part of this contest? A: The high heels and these dresses. She likes her tennis shoes and her sweatpants. Oh this was good - Dave White's gonna have heart failure - Ryan asks if Simon has advice on the high heels. "You should know Ryan" says Simon. "Stay out of my closet" flings Ryan. "Come out" retorts Simon. Ha!!
Melinda's with La Diana. Melinda's an old-school Motown girl at heart,a nd she tells her what a big fan she is. Diana says she's heard good things about Melinda. Diana basically tells us that Melinda is believable - she gets goosebumps. Melinda gets a hug and she's on her way. She's singing Home from the Wiz. She starts on the ramp in front of the band. Melinda, I have to say, has yet to hit a bad note or deliver an unbelievable performance, and I mean that in the best way. This is no different. This is a very emotional song - if you don't convey the emotion, the song lacks. She's going through the verses to the power chorus, and she sounds great. She really comes out of her shell on that stage. She is truly a joy to watch. I give her whole performance an A.
Randy: Hard to hear him over the wild applause. It wasn't his favorite performance, but it was still really really strong. Hot. Boys 0 Girls 1.
Paula: CRYING. She's crying. She's excited for her. This is it for her (Melinda).
Simon: Melinda's crying now and Simon wants to know why. Melinda is flattered. Simon always hated the song, finds it boring, but Melinda made it fantastic. She reminds him of a young Gladys Knight.
Melinda goes to meet Ryan at the stools. Melinda is speechless. She doesn't remember being up there singing the song and can't say how she felt. Paula says she's feeling like she had an out of body experience. 1-866-IDOLS02 or text 5702.
Next up is Chris Sligh. He doesn't have a nervous bone in his body, and he remarks that he and Diana have the same hair. He's singing Endless Love. Interesting choice. Chris has changed the chords around to give it a modern feel. Diana wants him to "feel" the song to sell it.
He has definitely changed the arrangement - it's weird. I can't put my finger on it, but it's too fast for the song. I agree with La Diana - this arrangement loses the emotion. The arrangement puts me in mind of a U2 song - it's got that kind of beat. Chris sings it well, and it's not an easy song to sing, but something lacks from this performance as a result of how he approached it. I will say, though - it's different, and he tried something new. B.
Randy: The new top 12 Chris. The bad part was sounding like Coldplay. It was a bad thing to do to that song. That was a mess for him, even though he has a good voice.
Paula: That song is so recognizable and it's a beautiful love song, and you're trying ultra hard to be ultra hip and cool and you can let the melody play and listen to the lyrics and the song.
Simon: I think you murdered the arrangement - you turned a beautiful song into a complete and utter drone. It was unemotional, uninspiring, and I would keep your glasses on because I think it's you.
He's with Ryan, and he thought it was a good arrangement and he went with his gut, but he respects the judges and hopefully he'll have a better arrangement next week. or text to 1-866-IDOLS-03 or text to 5703.
We're back from commercial. We are LIVE. Ryan's in the audience. Gina Glocksen is starstruck. Gina says she's a legend. She's going to sing Love Child. Diana thinks she has incredible vocal ability. Diana reminds her to ensure she annunciates everything - the song is a story - don't leave anything out. Gina's going to take her advice and run with it.
Gina is dressed edgily. She stalks onstage during a longish intro. This is a good song choice for Gina, frankly. She sounds good while she sings it, and it's edgy enough to suit Gina's style. Gina is singing this well also - she's pronouncing all of her words. My only complaint has not to do with her singing but with the song. It spends a lot of time in a lower register which doesn't allow Gina to power through. I also would lay off some of the runs if I were Gina - it doesn't suit her as well as some other things she does. It also got a little weird at the end, with a few missed notes here and there, but nothing painfully glaring. Overall B.
Randy: It wasn't his favorite performance from her. It was pitchy in spots and he didn't feel excitement in spots from her. It was weird.
Paula: It's an exciting song, and Gina's much better than she did tonight.
Simon: It was ok. It was one of those performances you can't say much about - it wasn't terrible, it wasn't fantastic. It was the right song choice, but a little bit forgettable. A middle pack performance.
Ryan wants to know how she felt on the stage. She liked it - she felt at home. or text 1-866-IDOLS04 or text 5704.
And we're at another commercial.
1/3 down, 2/3 to go. Unfortunately Sanjaya is in that 2/3, and he's up next. ((sigh)) Such a nice kid - do I have to hear him sing? Sanjaya Malakar is with Diana Ross. Diana talks about how you just care about him. Note that she didn't lead with his great singing. Ain't No Mountain High Enough is his choice. She didn't feel he was on the beat, and so she gives him pointers. She wants him to have fun, to "get your soul in there".
They've curled hair Sanjaya's hair back up. It's girl-curly. OMG! He starts off kind of weak and soft and he's all over the place pitch wise. Honestly, folks - I wanted him to come back a different Sanjaya this week and simply blow my socks off and prove me wrong. He's not doing it. He's really not good on this performance. He's trying - you can tell - but this is what happens when you wind up with someone in the top 12 who shouldn't be there. He gets a little better as the song progresses, but not much. He spends most of it flirting with the key but never quite embracing it. Overall, it's an F. Sorry Sanjaya fans.
Randy: Randy's almost speechless. He doesn't know what to say. Dude, it wasn't very good. It really wasn't. Thank God for the background singers. It was almost unlistenable. What he looks forward to is the different hair every week.
Paula: She leads with the beauty of his soul and how sweet he is. She says he sang on pitch (!!!) and repeats Diana Ross' advice. He has to explode with his vocals.
Simon: "When you hear a wail in Beverly Hills, that is where Diana Ross is watching this show. She's going to freak when she hears this - the only similarity is the hairstyle". I don't know what that means. He asks how old he is and when he hears 17, he says Sanjaya is very brave.
Ryan wants to know what Sanjaya thinks when he gets feedback. He listens to the positive things but didn't know what Simon was talking about. Sanjaya feels like he should be here next week. Ugh. Poor deluded kid. 1-866-IDOLS05 or text 5705.
Oh man - commercial, and after, Haley. If I weren't blogging this, I could have just fast-forwarded right through both of them.
And we're back. Haley's seated with Ryan. She's got a whole Kat McPhee thing happening. She gets a viewer question: where's the craziest place you ever sang? A: here. Crazy. Intense. Bigger stage. Bigger band. People ARE speaking in the Red Room, but they're really nervous. She's with Diana and she's singing Missing You. Diana thinks she has a recording studio voice. Her voice is too much "inside", so Diana tries to bring her "out". Haley's goal is to enjoy the song and sing every word and truly mean it.
Haley Scarnato - she starts out a little imprecise. She's almost whispering through the beginning. It gets better as she gets into the verse. She hits the chorus and it's just not working for me. Too soft - too weepy, and she's making faces like she's passing a stone. Oops - she forgets her words in the arrangement. She recovers, though I can't say nicely at first. She gets into the power part of the song and it's better - better pitch-wise and volume-wise. But then she improvises and it's flat. Really really not nearly as good as others in the competition. D.
Randy: Randy wants to know if she knows what he's going to say, and Haley just nods. It was pitchy and he was surprised.
Paula: You look lovely tonight. But that's not what Haley wants to hear. Forgetting the words is never a great thing to do and the pitch was ai yi yi.
Simon: I didn't think it was that bad (Haley bursts into tears). To give her credit, she had real presence, she looked like a star, and her nerves got the better of her... If she can hold it together she may do better than he thought originally.
Ryan's with her, she's crying, and I have to say that I find her whole attitude really off-putting. Face making, whiney, ugh. She is definitely channeling McPhee, who I also didn't like. 1-866-IDOLS06 or text to 5706.
Commercial time.
We're back. Ryan's seated in the audience. The woman he's sitting next to agrees that it's emotional. Phil Stacey is up next and he genuinely kisses her ass. She likes the song Phil selected. We see Phil performing at the piano, and then he asks for her advice on how to gather himself before he performs, and she says to look at the audience.
Phil singing I'm Gonna Make You Love Me. The beginning is a little weird - it's low - he's in tune, and he's interpreting the verse well. He transitions to the chorus and this is where he can really shine. He's not screaming it, and he does a lovely job with it. He's back to the verse, and it's low again. This is where it falls off, but he compensates by putting in an appropriate run. He's on his way to the second chorus, and I'm really enjoying this. This is the best I think I've seen from Phil. A-.
Randy: Randy wants to know what he though of it - Phil thought it was good. So far Phil gets the boys award for the night.
Paula: His vocals sounded really good, but the song needed to be a little more uptempo.
Simon: He thinks the tempo was right. It was ok - it was a very good choice of song for him. He has a tendency to shout through big notes, and he has to control that. It wasn't outstanding, it wasn't awful, and it was better than last week.
Ryan's with Phil. 1-866-IDOLS07 or text to 5707.
ANOTHER commercial. Holy Cow.
Coming back, Ryan's on the side of the stage. Lakisha Jones is up next and talks about Diana Ross as a superstar. God Bless The Child is Lakisha's choice - we learn Lakisha has never performed the song before the night before. Diana gives her fashion advice, and says that she should hold the microphone and not have it in a stand. Interesting.
Lakisha is resplendent in a long dress. I'm literally mesmerized by the beginning of this song. It's sultry in a way, and of course she's singing it perfectly. There's lots of room in the arrangement to highlight her spectacular voice. The only thing I'm waiting for his a super-power section and while we're almost to the end, we're not there yet. Lakisha kind of keeps this in her lower, non-power register. While it was very good, I feel she could have made it better. It makes me wonder if she's not dealing with some voice issues. A-.
Randy: Perfect song choice for her. Love the outfit. Unbelievable vocal - she didn't overdo it. That was sensational.
Paula: Beautiful performer, beautiful girl, and her heart comes through when she sings.
Simon: You've either got it or you haven't got it - you've got it. The quality difference between she and Melinda compared to the other singers - those two are in a different league. Outstanding.
Ryan's with her. I have to agree - she and Melinda are a breed apart. Melinda admits to being a little nervous, and taks about wanting to tone it down just a little bit. 1-866-IDOLS08 or text 5708.
Commercial time.
We're back on the stools with Blake Lewis. Blake looks very stylish - zip-vest, tie, button up, suit jacket and pants. I dig it - it's a good look. He's now with Diana. He used his computer to change the song to make it his own. We see him beat-boxing with Diana. You Keep Me Hanging On is his choice. Diana thinks he brought it from the 60s to today. He hopes she really likes it.
The arrangement is definitely distinctive. In a good way - I like the overall feel of the song. I like Blake's voice generally as well. My complaint is that he's a little sloppy - he pulls just sharp or just flat. The performance was good - not a lot to say about it - his on-stage style is great. The vocal could be cleaner and crisper for me, though, frankly. I will give him snaps for taking the song and interpreting it and arranging it in a way that worked. B-.
Randy: He's a huge Blake fan. There were good things about you. You don't have to "Blakeize" every song. You sing better than that - sometimes let the classics be the classic.
Paula: There's a difference between what Blake did and what Chris S. did. She thought it was good.
Simon: Didn't get that at all. He understands why he wanted to put his own take on it, but if he heard that version in isolation on the radio, you wouldn't like it. He didn't sound as good as he has sounded, either.
Blake is with Ryan. He doesn't regret changing the song. He gets what they said about the vocals. 1-866-IDOLS09 or text 5709.
Commercial - then the last three.
We're back. Ryan's with the judges. Simon put something in his pocket - don't know what. Stephanie Edwards will be singing Love Hangover. She's in love with Diana Ross. She's singing for her. Diana wants Stephanie to have a sexy quality - start out and build on it. Diana thinks she has star quality.
Stephanie looks great - a hip retro 70's dress. She stands behind the microphone. She sounds great at the beginning of this song. She pulls a teeny bit flat on one note, but correct this. The chorus is a bit rough for me - she sounds a little nervous for the first time I've heard. She's got the mic in her hand now and is on the stage. She does the verses very well, but the choruses are rough for me. Having said that, she's still one of the best so far tonight. B.
Randy: It's been an interesting night - he references Stephanie forgetting the words a bit (I didn't notice). He found it a weird choice, and was waiting for the uptempo part to start.
Paula: Wants to know why she left out the uptempo. Great singer, but not her best performance.
Simon: Strange arrangement - teased everyone with the good part and then failed to deliver. She was outsung but Lakisha and Melinda, and it wasn't her best performance. She chose the wrong song.
Ryan wants to know how much control she had over the arrangement, and she says that she has a lot, and left out the uptempo because it was a lot of music and improvisation and she wanted to sing the melody and the verse. 1-866-IDOLS10 or text 5710.
Next up is Chris Richardson. He's with Diana, and he's singing The Boss. Chris shares that he was starstruck by Diana Ross. Chris didn't know if she liked the song or not. He's relieved when she says she liked it very much. She enjoins him to work the audience during the song. He's got to move around to sell it.
Chris slides onto the stage, he's singing and moving around. I don't really know this song, so I can't say how this compares. He seems to be singing it well, though he is also sloppy in the lower register. My complaint with Chris is that he sings through his nose a LOT. I find that really off-putting. Chris is getting a little lost in the music on this one - I can't explain it - it's like parts of the song are swallowing him up. The guys sings in key. His runs are a little rough here and there. But there he is, singing through his nose again. He's going for high falsetto notes and sometimes it works and sometimes it does. This is probably his weakest performance for me. C.
Randy: It wasn't his favorite performance - sometimes you can sing the melody without all the runs. Half good and half bad for him.
Paula: Out of all the guys he nailed the blend of bringing the contemporary to it. He did a great job.
Simon: He thought the vocals were dreadful. What pulls him through is Chris' personality and charisma. Otherwise it would be terrible.
1-866-IDOLS11 or text 5711.
We finish the show with Jordin Sparks who will sing If We Belong Together. Diana thinks she's gorgeous. Jordin has to connect to the audience and sell the song - she has to project. It's very important. Jordin has star quality, though.
Jordin starts seated. She's singing softly. It's quite beautiful and nice actually. This is a tough song - it kind of goes all over the place and modulates and she's handling it very nicely. She's on her feet for the power chorus and she's definitely powerful. He pitch is wonderful, and she's managing not to be too screamy in the high notes. I thin she's doing a really good job on this song. She did a little bit of screamy action at the end before dropping to a sweet high falsetto. Overall an A.
Randy: He's very impressed with her. He felt Jordin made it a three girl race (I don't know that I'd go there).
Paula: You're beautiful and you can sing your heart out. She drew her breath away.
Simon: It was a little bit gooey, but he totally agreed that it was a very, very good vocal. ABsolutely she's put herself in with a shot of being in the finals of the competition.
Ryan talks about how it's fun to watch her grow on the show. She's smiling, and it's obviously genuine. She seems a like a sweet girl. 1-866-IDOLS12 or text 5712.
We get the show recap. Her are my final rankings, rearranged after seeing everyone go:
Melinda Doolittle (02)
Lakisha Jones (08)
Jordin Sparks (12)
Phil Stacey (07)
Gina Glocksen (04)
Blake Lewis (09)
Chris Sligh (03)
Brandon Rogers (01)
Stephanie Edwards (10)
Chris Richardson (11)
Haley Scarnato (06)
Sanjaya Malakar (05)
Tomorrow night one goes home. If there's justice, it will be Sanjaya. I fear Brandon could be at risk as well, though, because of his middle-of-the-pack performance and his starting first for the night. It would be ridiculous to have Brandon leave and Sanjaya stay. Come on America - get it right this week.
Labels: American Idol, Finals, Top 12
posted by RenaRF @ 7:20 PM,
