Top 4 Perform!
Tuesday, May 08, 2007
I've been working hard all day, and have not had dinner. I MUST go get some food, eat it, and then blog. I won't be too late, but I'll be late. --36 minute interlude -- All right! I'm fed and I'm back and ready to blog.
36 million Americans are deciding their fate! Three girls and only one guy!! Only two weeks left until the Finale!! WHO WILL IT BE??! And with that, we begin. You'd think a cure for cancer or world peace was on the table from the introduction. I see Taylor's still safely back in the electronic intro. Check. Ryan takes the stage. He's unshaven again - it must be because of the pressure he references. Paula looks quite put together and Simon's wearing white. The word's on it's head. Tonight is Barry Gibb night, and the Idols will have TWO songs tonight. Digression: In seventh grade I was CERTAIN I'd lose my virginity to Barry Gibb. How embarrassing, and now the blogging world knows. Follow over the click for the rest of the live recap!
We do the honorific to the very Barry Gibb. He bought Johnny Cash's house in the hills of (I think) Tennessee - the house burned to the ground a week ago or so. Now the Idols are with the very Barry. He still has his hair, he blissfully hasn't altered his face, and I think he looks great. I dig the gray hair. He thinks the Idols sound great together. They'll be doing ONLY BeeGee's tunes. I would love to know who's doing How Can You Mend... blah blah.
Melinda Doolittleis up first. She chose Love You Inside Out. Barry was confused at first, because it was all done in falsetto originally. Even in rehearsal she sounds great, and the very Barry admits that it worked for him. Now here's Melinda. I love the top but I don't like the jeans so much. She sounds great. The song is totally identifiable and even though she brings something different to it, she is doing grat. She's definitely not singing it in falsetto. She gets to improvise in the second chorus, and I have to say - she's owning this. You could hear her recording this song today. A!
Randy: He thinks it will be an interesting night. It was a solid performance - it was good. He wasn't jumping up and down.
Paula: It's hard to critique her because she's always vocally so good. It's consistent.
Simon: He thinks he wants incredible, and it wasn't incredible. He thought it was more of a backing vocalist performance. (???) He thinks she's better than that.
Melinda's with Ryan. 1-866-IDOLS01 or 05 or text to 5701. We're at commercial.
And we're back! Ryan's futzing with the judges. Haley's in the audience (bleah). Randy pimps AT&T/Cingular. And we're off to Blake Lewis. He chose You Should Be Dancing. OMG - it sounds like he's going to sing it all in falsetto. The very Barry thinks his beat boxing suits the song, and he digs it. So here we are. The vocal starts rough right of the gate but he corrects and gets back on key. He's dancing around. He beat boxes. I can't distinguish his voice from that of the background singers in the falsetto parts of the course. The second verse is better - it's in key. He beat boxes through the horn parts and then does vocal scratching and it is pretty good - just not actual singing. He's back to the third chorus, and I still can't tell him from the background vocalists. Not great. B-.
Randy: Tonight the beat boxing didn't work for him. It made it corny for him.
Paula: She thought it started shaky - pitch was off - but the beat boxing shows true musicianship but it wasn't his best night.
Simon: He'll give Blake unique, but he thought it was absolutely terrible, that performance.
1-866-IDOLS02 or 06 or text to 5702. Gotta say - I don't know how you can compare Blake's performance to Melinda's before them. They're worlds apart.
We run right to Lakisha Jones. The very Barry tells us she chose Stayin' Alive. From her rehearsal, it sounds like she's slowing it down. He thinks it's difficult for a girl to do something a guy did in a high falsetto, but he likes what she does with it. We open and Lakisha struts out. I like the look better this week. Her vocal is strong out of the gate. She takes the first chorus in a lower middle register. I hear one tiny pitch issue but otherwise it's good. She's in the second verse. This is technically a difficult song to perform. She goes for a power note and then improvises and back to the well-known chorus. I keep waiting for her to totally break it loose but she doesn't. It was good, though. A-.
Randy: It was weird for him. These songs don't need to be changed, and it didn't work for him. She tried to do too much with it.
Paula: She felt taking the tempo down kind of brought the audience down.
Simon: No kiss from Simon tonight. He's sorry, but she's back to the shouting again. It was verging on scary in parts, so the second song has to be better.
1-866-IDOLS03 or 07 or text to 5703.
Ah. Not only is Jordin Sparks in the pimp spot, but she gets a viewer question. Sheesh. Q: What have you learned about yourself? A: That she can handle a lot more than she thought she could. We learn her grades are good. She's singing To Love Somebody. Among my FAVORITE BeeGee's tune. The very Barry LOVED her. She starts out. Vocally she sounds good, but her expression doesn't match the song - this is mournful, not triumphant. That's a nit, but it's my nit and I'll pick it all I want. She gets just a shade pitchy in the lower parts but she's very good in the other parts. She's substantially less screamy until the very end - just one teeny shouty moment. Overall very good, but this is a gut-wrenching tune, and I didn't get that from her. A.
Randy: That was the best vocal so far in an overall rough night.
Paula: She thinks Jordin looks beautiful and it was the best vocal so far.
Simon: Best song choice, best performance so far.
It's time to re-annoint the annointed one, apparently. 1-866-IDOLS04 or 08 or text to 5704. I didn't like it better than Melinda's, though, but it was close. I just prefer the richness in Melinda's voice, I guess. Break time.
Melinda gets a viewer question. Q: What is the first tape or CD that she ever bought. A: It was a tape of Michael Jackson's Bad. Her second choice is my FAVORITE - How Can You Mend a Broken Heart. Barry's mad because she removed the word "lose" from the song!! I think it's funny, and he eventually agrees. She's changed to a dress. The first verse and chorus are solid. They sound good - no "Melinda Moment" yet, though. Her phrasing and interpretation is beautiful for a beautiful song, I will say. In the second chorus she starts with a Moment, but then it abruptly goes to a power closing. The only thing I will say I that it strays from the original substantially. I think it works, and it shows off her voice. Another solid performance - although the ending was a little show-bandy. A.
Randy: Much better. Great song, great vocal, great ending. Resident pro.
Paula: No doubt a beautiful vocal - reminds her of Stephanie Mills. She wants her to throw technique away and surprise her (then you get Jordin last week).
Simon: The second half of the song put her in the semi-finals.
1-866-IDOLS01 or 05, or text to 5701.
Blake's doing This Is Where I Came In and he loved it because he thought it was a great song. I don't know this song. He's beat boxing again, and he's making it contemporary. It wasn't a hit, but the very Barry thinks it has the ability to be one still. He vocal starts out good - in tune. It sounds reminiscent of Jamiroquai, only better than his performance of Virtual Insanity. It DOES sound contemporary to me, because I don't know the song. Vocally it's good, but poor Blake is nowhere near the ability of the remaining girls. He hits a few clunker notes past halfway, ut he goes to the chorus and recovers and he beat boxes a bit. Another bad note. Ugh. Overall just ok. B-.
Randy: Thought it was better, but not jumping up and down. He doesn't have to beat box on everything.
Paula: She thinks he's the contemporary rebel in the competition. She liked hearing him sing it. She said he was on key (!!!).
Simon: He thought the song was completely tuneless and he hasn't had a good night tonight. He can't say these have been good performances, and it was a weird choice of song.
1-866-IDOLS02 or 06 or text to 5702. Gotta say - I think his fan base will support him, but I don't think he picked UP votes tonight with either performance. The second song was way obscure, and I think that's risky.
And we're back. Is that JUDGE JUDY? Oh my God - it IS Judge Judy! How... odd. We meet Simon's mom but Judge Judy steals Simon's mom's intro. How... rude. We get the songwriting competition pimp. Lakisha is singing Run To Me for her second song. Another beautiful song. The very Barry references how she had to change the key in the song. She's n a dress and the girls are right there with her. She starts off fine - the verse is good. She goes to the chorus and it's good, but a little powerful for the intent of the song. She takes the lower harmony in the first chorus - strange. She's in the second verse, and she takes the key change right before the second chorus and she belts out a power note. She takes the whole chorus up and strong. It sounds good if it doesn't fit the song. Vocally I thought it was quite good, and I believed her. A.
Randy: Much better than the first - it was good.
Paula: She's still a champ.
Simon: Better than the first, still wasn't great - thinks she and Blake are vulnerable tonight.
1-866-IDOLS03 or 07 or text 5703.
Ok. We're with Jordin, closing the show. She's singing Woman In Love which Barbara Streisand sang. Her interpretation is different, and the very Barry thinks Jordin will be one of the greatest female recording artists ever. She starts out in an actual gown. The first verse is good - one kind of questionable note. It was good until she went right before the chorus which I thought was kind of borderline. In the chorus she hits the important notes, but I have to say, she drops off in pitch and precision in the non-power portions. And frankly, I think she's screaming the high notes. I really didn't enjoy that much - she struggled noticeably in parts. Just a B.
Randy: Not her best - pitchy all the way through.
Paula: Jordin is beautiful. It was not... (the best?)
Simon: He thought it was old-fashioned and very pageanty, although he loved the song.
1-866-IDOLS04 or 08 or text 5704. Honestly - while I didn't care for Blake's song that much, I think in the second round, Jordin was the worst. My biggest complaint about her all along is that she's totally inconsistent, and she proved it again tonight. First, quite wonderful - second, screamed and painful.
Here's where I rank them so far:
Round 1:
Melinda Doolittle
Jordin Sparks
Lakisha Jones
Blake Lewis
Round 2:
Melinda Doolittle
Lakisha Jones
Blake Lewis
Jordin Sparks
Leaving us with a final ranking of:
Melinda Doolittle
Lakisha Jones
Jordin Sparks
Blake Lewis
Honestly though - I don't know if the last song by Jordin hurt her more than my ranking reflected. Overall, for me, the night was just meh.
Labels: American Idol, Finals, Performance, Top 4
posted by RenaRF @ 6:57 PM,
2 Comments:
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At 2:13 PM,
SuperflyTNTdaShizzle said...
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You were still a virgin in 7th grade? Anyway, let's talk Idol!
I was really looking forward to tonight. As much as I don't particularly like Bon Jovi, I think the Bee Gees where some of the best songwriters around. If you get beyond the Saturday night Fever, disco era stuff, they wrote lots of great songs.
Let's get to the singers.
Melinda: Both songs tonight were better than anything anyone else did. I completely disagreed with the judges on the first one. I guess if you don't go over the top and try to oversing everything it's not an Idol performance. You can tell Melinda's big influences are old school and gospel. There's always a connection to the song and she sings with real conviction. I don't care what others think, she's MY American Idol.
Blake: I really thought this would be a good night for Blake, but I was disappointed. Not as bad as the judges said, but kind of hokey in parts and definitely not the strongest vocally. I figured him for the finals but he might be gone.
Lakisha: I actually liked the first one better than the second. I really don't think "Staying Alive" is a good choice for anyone to do solo, but I actually liked what she did with it, slowing it down slightly and giving it a soul feel. The second song was ok, but I think she sounded unsure of herself in parts.
Jordin: They're back to pimping. First of all I agree with Rena, "To Love Somebody" is one of my favorite Bee Gees songs, (originally written for Otis Redding, who died before he recorded it. I wish I could hear what he would have done with it, then again nobody sings it quite like Jeffrey J. Watson). I hated what Jordin did to it. It was an Idol performance, completely oversung with not an iota of emotional connect to the song. It is a song that really doesn't need all the extra stuff and suffers from it. Especially when she got shrieky in the high parts. I really would have liked to hear Melinda's take on it. Her second song was also completely oversung and shrieky.
Overall I was disappointed with the night. All those great songs to choose from, (I would have voted for anyone that sang "I Started A Joke"). I'd like to be able to sit some of these apiring "divas" from AI, break all their Mariah Carey & Celine Dione CDs and let them listen to some of my favorites. Singers like Dusty Springfield, Esther Phillips, Irma Thomas, Bettye Lavette and Eva Cassidy, that really connect with the song, sing it with real conviction, rather than trying to show off their range with all othse vocal histrionics. Ok, that was my short rant.
My order:
Melinda
Lakisha
I don't really care about the other two
Tonight? Tough call. Blake could go and maybe should, but he's the only guy left and might benefit from that. I haven't been impressed with Jordin in weeks but she'll be safe. I think Lakisha could be in big trouble. She doesn't deserve it tonight, but she's probably the one that was saved by Idol Gives Back week.
One more thing. Did anybody else notice how tiny Ryan looked next to Jordin. It looked like thay weren't really on the same stage, like someone juxtaposed images from two different shots. Not just the height. She could break him in half. -
At 2:26 PM,
RenaRF said...
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I don't know how much you follow Dial Idol and Zaba, but they both get MUCH more accurate as there are fewer and fewer contestants. Here's how they BOTH have the voting order:
Blake Lewis - most
Jordin Sparks
Melinda Doolittle
Lakisha Jones
The margin separating Lakisha and Melinda is too small for comfort. If these numbers are accurate, the world is on it's head - the bottom two should be Jordin and Blake.
Meh.