7:58 PM: tonite's performance show is taped, not live. this obviously has something to do with the two-nite "Idol Gives Back" thingy we're doing this week, but i still don't understand what that has to do with anything.
here's another internet rumor thingy: i read yesterday that Ellen DeGeneres will be a "Guest Host" of tomorrow nite's festivities. i'm not providing a link because i don't have much faith in the source -- and you shouldn't either -- and, i haven't heard about this elsewhere. but there it is.
8:00 PM: more "IGB"...Fox and other corporate sponsors will donate lots of money to have Ryan say their names over and over again.
8:01 PM: tonite's guest mentor is...wait for it...BON-FUCKING-O! that's pretty cool.
8:02 PM: Ryan and Simon show us more footage from their trip to Africa. Simon can't believe how bad it is..."hell on earth"...
8:05 PM: Our theme tonite is...wait for it..."Songs That Inspire"...Oh, man -- this is gonna suck big time.
8:05 PM: First up tonite is Chris Richardson. Chris is performing Eric Clapton's "Change The World".
Chris' performance is a little "meh" for me. Weak in the middle, and overdone at the end.
Randy: "...tonite, for the first time in a long time, you were in it to win it...that was great dude..."
Paula: "...you were wonderful..."
Simon: "...the competition starts tonite...that reminded me of when we first saw you, we knew you had potential...sexiness in your voice...confident...that was very good..."
I disagree. Chris was a little weak, but he did put "more" effort in than he usually does.
8:12 PM: Ryan thanks "MySpace" for their support in this whole "IGB" thingy.
Do I have to tell you who owns MySpace???
8:13 PM: Ryan gives us some footage from poor and underprivileged faces and places here in the U.S.
8:15 PM: Next up is Melinda Doolittle. Melinda is performing Faith Hill's "There Will Come A Day".
Although this song closed out Faith's 1999 smash album Breathe, it became famous when Faith performed it on the "9/11 Telethon" held a couple of weeks after that tragedy. If I'm feeling frisky, i'll try to get that live version up here later on.
UPDATED: okay -- after re-listening to this awesome song again, i've decided to upload both Faith's 1999 studio take and her 2001 live version for your pleasure. enjoy!
Faith Hill - There Will Come A Day [mp3, via YSI]
Faith Hill - There Will Come A Day [mp3, via zSHARE]
Faith Hill - There Will Come A Day [Live] [mp3, via YSI]
Faith Hill - There Will Come A Day [Live] [mp3, via zSHARE]
[a 5-months-pregnant Faith Hill performs "There Will Come A Day" on the "9/11 Telethon" -- Ed.]
Melinda's gray-or-green dress is very flattering to her figure.
WOW! is there any doubt who's in the driver's seat of this competition now that the distraction of Sanjaya is gone???
Randy: "...every performance is great...you have arrived...MELINDA IS HERE!..."
Paula: "...it must be hard to to give one outstanding performance after another, and never hear any criticism...you are amazing...there's no one like you..."
Simon: "...what i loved about that performance, it wasn't a copycat performance...you made that sound like you recorded it...the second half of that performance, that was a vocal masterclass..."
8:23 PM: we're back from the break. Has anyone else noticed who we have not seen tonite???
Ya know, the "mentor"? YA KNOW, BONO???
8:24 PM: next up tonite is Blake Lewis. Blake is performing John Lennon's "Imagine".
Blake's performance underwhelms me. it was too maudlin, too funereal. for me, the genius of this song was always that it was not depressing. Blake looks and sounds too much like he's singing at a funeral or something.
Randy: "...that performance didn't do it for me...just keepin' it real, dawg..."
Paula: "...that was beautiful...sensitive...sincere..."
Simon: "...hard to sing one of the true classics, because there will always be a comparison...for me, the biggest problem was that it was too flat, didn't go anywhere...but very sincere..."
8:32 PM: back from the break, Ryan tells us that tomorrow on the iTunes Music Store we will be able to buy the Ford "video" and a new video from Carrie Underwood. all for "IGB", of course. oh, here's more footage.
8:34 PM: next up is LaKisha Jones. LaKisha is not afraid of big challenges -- she's performing "I Believe", which was the AI3 coronation song.
Melinda looks gorgeous in her black strapless dress, BTW.
i think the performance is very good. it's also, perhaps unfortunately, very KiKi. right down the middle of her comfort zone. she's excellent at what she does, but she never gives us any any "feeling" or sense of "fun". or any real reason to vote for her.
Randy: "...a few pitch problems...not your best vocal, but very good...it's hard to take on Fantasia..."
Paula: "...we often tell contestants not to take on "the big songs"...i can't hear that song without thinking of Fantasia..."
Simon: "...i think i know what Paula is trying to say -- she liked Fantasia's version better...it was very good, but i still have some issues, such as the shouting..."
[audience starts to boo]
Simon-to-audience: "SHUT UP!"
8:44 PM: Next up is Phil Stacey. Phil gets the other Coke commerical fan question. Phil uses the question to remind the voting public that he has two cute babies.
Phis is performing Garth Brooks' "The Change".
Phil is not wearing a hat tonite.
Randy: "...you're back...another strong vocal...another great performance..."
Paula: "...you're best performance yet..."
Simon: "...i like you...i'm glad to see you've come back with confidence...i liked your vocal last week better, but this was very good...you could do well in this competition, because i think people like you..."
8:52 PM: back from the break, and Simon is at an LA-area food bank. we see a side of Simon we don't ever see, and it's nice.
8:54 PM: closing out tonite is Jordin Sparks. Jordin is performing "You'll Never Walk Alone" from the musical Carousel.
Randy: "...one of the best vocals by any contestant on this show, ever, EVER!...that was the best of the nite right there..."
Paula: "...i know i say this every week, but you are just so wonderful...that was just amazing..."
Simon: "...unlike Randy, i thought you were fantastic...that song is 60 years old, and you could have a hit with that now..."
honestly, dawg, i wasn't as "knocked out" by that as the judges were. i thought there were a couple of pitchy spots, and she was a little shouty toward the end. oh well -- what do I know.
*****
UPDATED AFTER THE SHOW: i have two things to say that i think are important because they go right to the heart of how the rest of this season is going to play out:
1) Jordin's performance was good, but it was not, as Randy said, "one of the best vocals by any contestant on this show, ever, EVER!"; and
2) LaKisha's performance was much better than the judges told her and us.
the three best singers in this competition are, alphabetically: Jordin, LaKisha, and Melinda. That has been true for about two months now. it's still true. one week, Melinda will be the best. the next, it might be Jordin. After that, it might be LaKisha. nothing has changed.
An operative for DHMBIB Idolator sent in this report from the taping earlier today [here along with Idolator's comments]:Lakisha - The judges "slammed" her. Simon thinks she shout-sings. The judges preferred Fantasia's version from Season 3. (two separate accounts say that the audience loved her and that she sounded great).
* * *
What is wrong with Lakisha? Two Idol winners' songs two weeks in a row? That is called "setting yourself up for a hard, hard fall, which is an even worse idea when you're about to spill out of your dress."
it's been clear to me for several weeks that the judges and/or the producers have been trying to figure out a way to eliminate LaKisha to pave the way for a Jordin-Melinda final.
Another way to view LaKisha's...INTERESTING choice to sing Carrie Underwood / Fantasia back-to-back [and we're not even gonna get into LaKisha's showstopping performance of Jennifer Hudson a coupla months ago] is that she KNOWS her remaining time on the show is short -- it's written all over her face -- and she's trying to compare herself NOT to this season's inferior talents [Blake, Chris, Phil] but to previous seasons' winners and stars.
We say -- LaKisha is not likely to win this competition, but she's likely to have a solid career as a pro.
Anyway, here's DHMBIB's rank of the Top 6 performances on Tuesday: 1) Melinda; 2-3) Jordin, LaKisha; 4) Phil; 5) Chris; 6) Blake.
Now, we don't think that will be the way America votes. We think the Bottom 3 will be: Blake, Chris, LaKisha. And we think LaKisha is probably in the deepest trouble this week. Sigh...
*****
Because of "IGB", and the need to goose the number of total votes, the voting will last much longer tonite than on a typical Tuesday. So, the DialIdol numbers will not be "final" until well into Wednesday morning. Check back then for another update.
*****
WaPo columnist E.J. Dionne Jr., who usually writes about more political things, is an AI fan and used his column today to write that "IGB" is more than just a telethon -- it is a deliberate attempt by the Brits behind the show to introduce some of the social consciousness for which they are better known into the massive young fan base of AI. It's an interesting read -- I highly recommend it.
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
This Week In Tonight In American Idol [24 April 2007]
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2 comments:
Great write-up, as always. Some quick comments:
-- The taping of tonight's show is most likely due to (1) rehearsal/blocking going on for tomorrow's Telethon; (2) pre-taping segments for tomorrow's Telethon; or (3) some combination of 1 & 2 + other administrivia needed for IGB.
-- The show was a lot better without Sanjaya. Every part of the show felt fresher. It really felt like the real competition finally started.
-- Unlike a lot of folks, I was actually looking forward to seeing what these Idol contestants would choose for their "songs of inspiration". Like a lot of folks, however, I'm majorly disappointed. Where was "Because You Loved Me"? "Bridge Over Troubled Water"? "Over The Rainbow"? "You Raise Me Up"? "God Bless The U.S.A."? "Jesus Take The Wheel"? (Oh, wait. LaKisha did a version of that last week, "Jesus, Hit The Seal".)
-- Speaking of LaKisha and hitting the seal (TWoP-speak for standing on stage in the bottom 3 on top of the AI logo, or "seal"), I think she's heading there again this week. "I Believe" wasn't as bad as the judges said it was, but it's a song that's very readily identifiable with Fantasia, and if you're gonna go there, you have to be a whole heck of a lot better than KiKi was. I think KiKi's run her course: She started off huge with "And I Am Telling You..." and has never been able to match that passion. She has one style--Diva Belt--and that's all she has. She's never shown any penchant for going outside that zone, and eventually, Idol-watchers get burned out on Diva Belting (see: Tamyra Gray, Trenyce, Jennifer Hudson, etc.) and they drop to the wayside starting usually around the top 6. If she somehow survives this week, where she sings in the lineup next week will be key...the #2 spot on Top 5 night has been eliminated for five straight years (that's the show's entire U.S. history), so if she survives this week and sings in the #2 spot next week, it's a sure sign TPTB want her out of there.
-- Chris wasn't nearly as good as the judges said he was, but he was better than he was last week. At this point, though, he and Blake are more or less interchangeable and eventually the voters will have to pick one of them and the other will get tossed aside. I thought going into tonight that because of his continued weak singing and his somewhat cocky attitude (especially with Simon on Country week), Chris would be the cast-off choice. Until...
-- ...Blake sucked the big one singing "Imagine". Unlike a lot of folks, I literally hate "Imagine" with the fire of a thousand suns, and if I never hear it again it will be too soon. That said, there are ways to sing it and not have it sound like a funeral dirge (Jennifer Hudson turned it into a gospel anthem in season 3, and Ruben/Clay/Kimberley did it on the AI2 tour in a gorgeous 3-part harmony that brought new life to the lyrics), and unfortunately Blake didn't choose one. This is the second straight week Blake's biffed a clear softball pitch that would give him the opportunity to create distance between himself and Chris, and at this stage of the competition, it only takes one really bad performance to knock a contestant out.
-- If you'd told me at the start of the final 12 that we'd still have an equal mix of guys/gals and one of them would be Phil Stacey, I'd have asked if you were on drugs (and maybe asked you to share). But for the second straight week, Phil elevated his game, admirably taking on a Garth Brooks song ("Change") and, though not belting it out of the park, at least getting a good, solid hit out of it. Wow.
-- Melinda...let's not even pretend there's any real competition for her. She's in her own league. I'd love it if she wins, but I honestly think she'd be better off if she doesn't because she'll be much freer to do what she wants with her career. (One of the tabloid rags--Star, I think--had a 2-page spread on Melinda's well-regarded reputation in community theatre in her hometown of Franklin, TN.)
-- Jordin wasn't the overwhelming showstopper the judges said she was, but she really is Melinda's only real competition at this point. Jordin's main problem is the same as KiKi's--she relies too heavily on Diva Belt to get her through. That said, Jordin does have subtlety in her voice and can do other song styles (not always well, but that's another story), and she's young. I think TPTB want their own Hannah Montana for the tweens, and if that's the case, look for Jordin to get pimped/propped up/etc. the rest of the way out.
From AI2 through AI4, Top 6 night was the last night where the bottom 3 were brought to center stage (afterward, it's bottom 2 until the Final 3). Last year, the contestants were divided into 3 groups of 2 (Chris/Kat, Taylor/Elliott, Paris/Kellie), from which they eliminated Kellie. So, based on that notion, here are my 3 groups:
The Good: Melinda, Jordin
The Not-Quite-As-Good: Phil, Chris
The Suck: Blake, LaKisha
Who Should Go: LaKisha
Who Will Go: Phil or Blake, because they're both expendible at this point
Of course, that's just my opinion; I could be wrong...
DialIdol's in, and the numbers are UG-LY.
In order, Jordin, Phil, KiKi(?!?), Blake, Mindy-Doo, and Chris. Yikes, yikes, yikes.
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