Wednesday, March 24, 2010

The Top 11 sing number one hits for everyone but them.



Last week we lost sweet innocent yet boring Lacey Brown tonight we get our remaining 11 tackling Billboard Number 1's. A theme that in past seasons never really has given us great performances with the exception of Carrie Underwood's still talked about performance of "Alone". I as one of the most obsessed Idol fans ever can still remember in season 2 when this theme was first introduced and we got Carmen Rasmusen "performance" of Blondie's "Call Me." Who would have ever thought that a Mormon virgin would be able to take on rocks original bad girl Debbie Harry. Well Carmen didn't and she looked horrible at the same. It' the kind of theme night that even certain contestants who do well cn pick strange song choices Clay Aiken chose out of all the #1 songs the classic "At this Moment" which originally was released in 1981 but hit #1 after it was featured in a scene in Family Ties. This week I spent a few hours looking over songs that went to number one. Some I was shocked and I think I was even more surprised that songs I had assumed were number one hits weren't on the billboard hop 100 which seems to be the big list. Songs can be number on many different charts but the hop 100 is the big chart. It's like Carrie Underwood has number 1 hits for every song she has ever put out but if you look at the chart the only time she ever had a number one hit song is "Inside Your Heaven."

I heard that tonight's theme was original going to be teen Idols and with Miley in the house I can understand (as my good friend Ricky who knows everything about #1 pointed that ms. Cyrus has never had a #1 song so I think that makes sense why she was supposed to be here tonight. They were going to have her coach though the "Teen Idol" theme and then have her sing and Demi Lovato and Joe Jonas were going to perform. I think so the producers could show the kids that if they were as pretty as the three of them they didn't need talent to make it in this world. Which is sad since most of our contestants don't even have talent to begin with.

I can't understand with all the songs that they could have done that would have fit them as singers they picked some of the worst songs ever. I went though the list it would have been hard but they could have found something better then most of the crappy they did tonight plus most of this has been done on Idol so many times why bother. Both Aaron Kelly & Paige Miles attempted to sing the two most overplayed Idol songs ever. Against All Odds has been done on Idol 7 different times and by no one who has one. The closest was Katharine McPhee and it was considered to be her worst performance. I Don't Want to Miss a Thing has been 7 times on Idol so those songs should never be done again. As for the rest really The Letter, Me and Bobby McGee, Crazy Little Thing Called Love these are the type of songs that are the smart songs to pick on different theme nights but on a night like this felt old!!! Tonight as I'm ripping them apart I'm going to try to come up with a few possible better solutions then the crap they gave us. I felt that tonight felt like having major surgery without any anesthesia.

Lee Dewyze – “The Letter” by the Boxtops – Normally I'd say Lee looks nervous being around Miley however this is how Lee always acts so its hard to tell. I was proud of him I have to say. I had said that the first song he gets where he moves around was going to kill him but I was wrong. He still looked like he was going to apologize after the performance was over but he did better then usual. He has a very likeable persona that makes girls want to hug him because he's every guy in those jackets always looking like's afraid of everything. I thought he handled the tricky rhythm of the song better then I thought. I thought he should have watched Michael Johns and Carly Smithson do this song on Idol last year and the year before because they did it so effortlessly. Interesting bit of trivia the original singer of this song Alex Chilton died this week. Hopefully people don't think he did hearing Lee sing this which would almost be untrue. I noticed that when I'm not watching the television I semi enjoy Lee's performance. He still miss's notes, mumbles the words, and owns all of Creeds music but I think he brings an unique sound missing on Idol. It's like the Aldi's version of Chris Daughtrey. He could have sung "How You Remind Me," "Arms Open Wide," "Smooth" or any others.

Paige Miles – “Against All Odds” by Phil Collins – I guess this season is about starting the number on the staircase. Paige sounds like she's gotten over the laryngitis because last week she sounded great and from the start she sounds like old Paige. Her voice sounded lifeless, off though out a lot and she finally hits a semi decent note and then the rest went from soft and pitchy to moderately belty and off. I almost feel like Paige is a bad audition plant because she is doing nothing in this competition. She had one semi-decent performance with "Walk Away" which really wasn't that good then and a decent one last week but Smile was like she forgot her meds and tonight was a joke. She makes me angry because she said song choice has been hard why couldn't she have picked Killing Me Softly, Touch Me in the Morning, The Way We Were if she wanted to go the older route as so many were doing or is she wanted recent there's Bleeding Love, My Life Would Suck, or No One. I think at this point she wants to get kicked off.

Tim Urban – “Crazy Little Thing Called Love” by Queen – Up next is everyone's favorite dollar star Zac Efron. For Billboard Number 1st Tim decides to sing a Queen song. This is the type of song you do if you get stuck with Big Band or Queen night but for #1!!!! I hate the shirt and the jacket but I'm glad someone had the good sense to put the jacket on anyway because the shirt was worse but it might work and hurt his Archille heals which are his muscles. It's bad when the guest mentor spends most of the time knocking him down and he still thanks her. Tin closes his eyes, walks awkwardly is able to touch hands with the audience and still able to maintain eye contact with the camera. His voice doesn't change at all during the song. He doesn't play around with it. He seemed so worried about working the stage he put NOTHING into his singing and it just went on and on. Tim gave on the singing and now he's just looking at the audience and trying to show some personality so he might have a career once he's eliminated which could be tomorrow. He could have done Hey There Delilah, or Umbrella which would have been better.

Aaron Kelly – “I don’t want to Miss a Thing” by Aerosmith – He looks like a cross between Joey McEntire and K.D. Lang. Aaron is so cute and adorable the show will keep him around till he get to the 7th or 8 spot and then have him eliminated. I thought it was funny that last week they weren't going to mention Paige being sick because it's usually a good sign to get them eliminated. This week they mentioned Aaron right away and he didn't get a single Ooh or Aw from the audience. Picking the other most overdone on Idol song. Aaron has some major problems though out the song. He did sound strained and had trouble sustain the drawn out note and then cracked in the middle. I don't think he would have sounded that great in the song even if he hadn't been sick. I think that this is a big song and would have required him to push his vocals during it. I honestly think that he dodged a bullet getting sick. If I could swap this song out with a better choice it would have been Amazed or On Bended Knee.

Crystal Bowersox – “Me and Bobby McGee” by Janis Joplin – Okay we ALL knew that Crystal would be doing a Janis song sooner or later on the show. I am so glad its done and we can move on, I'm also glad it wasn't Piece of my Heart. I do think it was funny that this seemed to be only Mentor practice that seemed like it was against Crystal. I love that Crystal came out dressed like a hippie for this number but I worry if that's going to turn off a section of fans? She starts the song with a soft tone that builds into almost a revival meeting. I love that Crystal brings out the gospel tones to a song and makes it her own. After watching this a second time I felt like I finally got the energy she brought to this performance. It felt like she lost herself in this song and delivered a great performance. I worry though if women will turn on her out of jealously and that could cost her. If there were another couple of songs I would have rather Crystal sing would be "One Week" "Single Ladies", "Poker Face," or Womanizer. Current songs that she could give an acoustic contemporary sound too.

Mike Lynche – “When a Man Loves a Woman” by Percy Sledge – Mike is ALL about the personality. Which is a GREAT thing that you remember him, you like to be in a room with him, you want him to pick you up which is funny because I always think that's rude when someone does it. The bad thing seems that personality is the best thing he has. I could easily see him as a commentator for some Sports show or E but his singing though fine pales compared to that. He felt over the top, giving us pretty much the same arrangement, and performance that he gave on the Maxwell song. He has a nice tone, and works as an R&B singer but as someone who would put out decent records but missing that big hit song. I don't know if there is a current song that would really work for him.

Andrew Garcia – “Heard it Through the Grapevine” by Marvin Gaye – WHY? WHY? Grapevine needs to be taken to the Church. It's a Big Song all in vocal, rhythm, and music. I knew this would bomb when I heard he was going to do it. Andrew walks around as a military dictator with strange staff arm movements. I also don't understand removing any type of emotion out of this song and his strange staccato phrasing and pointing to his ear over and over again. He almost sings it like he's threatening the person about the news he heard though the grapevine. His voice sounded shouted, he walked around stomping the song with robotic tendencies that made it COLD! I truthfully don't even know what I could suggest for this guy that he could have done.

Katie Stevens – “Big Girls Don’t Cry” by Fergie – I want to HUG Katie for picking a semi current song. It's like she's the first and only person who paid attention to the lesson in being current. Sure she most of missed the classes on performing, song choices, pitch, likeability, and fashion but she got something. I thought this was Katie's best performance. She seemed alive, young, and looked Top 36 material. Her vocals are an entirely different performance. Katie's chest voice sounds way to low and I think are going to be her big weak sport in future songs. I think her as someone who probably would win 1st or 2nd at a local karaoke bar and maybe a state fair or Brandon but she's an assembly line. There's nothing special about her that screams I need to jump off my couch and buy her CD or even save her from falling off a bridge. I think "Unbreak My Heart," "Live to Tell, and "Time After Time", could have done really well for her.

Casey James – “Power of Love” by Huey Lewis and the News – You know it's a crudy show when this song sounds exciting. There used to be a time that if a contestant had done this song it would have been a kiss of death. This season it could be Top 2. Casey is really luckly that Idol loves the close-ups because otherwise I could think of 3000 things I'd rather do then watch him perform. You know the he's not going to do anything but keep his hand at the side of the guitar that I think he's bring out at the drop of hat. I think "Jessie's Girl" would have been a great fit or "I Love Rock n Roll".

Didi Benami – “You’re No Good” by Linda Ronstadt – Is it me or when did Didi turn into Brooke White? She never came across this scatterbrain before. I love the slow start of this song and I'm totally into the dark jazzy tone of Didi's voice. I can't believe how much she looks like Michelle Pieffer in the close-ups. I also love this cabaret style of the song and I think her voice sounds fantastic and is pushed in the right direction. It's an original performance that I think some with love and some will hate. I actually would like to see Didi on a stool in a peasant light a overhead light and just a simple guitar (not played by her) doing a jazzy/folk type of song. I think that his the market that she would really soar at. I think that possibly "I Honestly Love You," "Say You Say Me," or even "Faith."

Siobhan Magnus – “Superstition” by Stevie Wonder – In Siobhan's opening package I keep think she's one of those girls in the move about the nerdy girl who has a makeover and goes to the prom with the cute guy. Siobhan doing an interesting Bride of Frankenstein hair do. Is coming out and giving us a smiley, disconnected performance. Her voice doesn't have the strength for the beginning for we know what's going later. She starts powering on the vocals and at the end starts screaming at me. Usually when it's actually sung I love it and think she sounds amazing but tonight she stopped singing it and just went into full fledge screaming. It was like she didn;t even pretend she was going to sing it. I laugh when Randy said he never though she would sing Superstitious. I'm surprised he said that after all the times that he brought up the other Stevie song. I think she really could have had a moment singing Nothing Compares to U, Take a Bow, anyone of Mariah's songs

My favorites of the night were as always Mama Bowersox, and Didi. I'm not sure after tonight but if I'm going to guess a bottom three I would say Paige Miles because she hasn't shown up for the past month, Tim Urban because a pretty boy is only as good as the first few minutes then he's boring, and Andrew Garcia because when your best known for a 30 second Paula Abdul song that doesn't bode well for you in the future. I'm hoping that Paige get enough sympthy votes and they finally get rid of Andrew Garcia from my television but my actual guess is Tim Urban because everyone is saying he sucks as opposed to some saying that he's good. At this point I think they should send home 4 and bring back 4 others. I seriously still can't understand Paige Miles over Angela Martin, Tasha Leyton, and a few others????

1 comment:

Tracy Matlack said...

Bowersox will with this year's American Idol!

http://www.tracysworld.com