Last night on American Idol, the top 10 males chose songs from top billboard hits. After the first few performances, I began to wonder if the judges heard what I heard. I thought that it might also have been because I am one of the older fans of the show, that I was perhaps being too critical. However, when my 17 year old agreed with me, and not the judges, I knew I was right.
Michael Lynche sang James Brown's This is a Man's World. I liked the way he sounded and I thought he let go and showed us he has the vocals and the ability to perform a song worthy of the king of soul. Randy gave Michael a standing ovation, which I thought for this stage in the American Idol game was slightly premature. Kara went on to say she was "feelin' it". If you ask me, Kara is "feelin" a little too much this season altogether. This is not supposed to be 'Erotica Idol'. It is American Idol. Michael will definitely get the votes this week and I think he will have a strong fan base.
John Park chose to sing a John Mayer tune that I had never heard before. I thought it sounded boring and I did not think John's vocals were very good. Randy said that his rendition was not as good as the original. I say if this song were a major hit, I would hope that is so. Either Ellen was trying to be kind or she really liked his performance. If the latter is true, I will go back to what I originally said about Ellen commenting on the contestants performances, and that is that she should not be commenting on the contestants' performances. I do not think John Park fared any better this week than he did for me last week.
Casey James sang I Wanna Be or I Don't Wanna Be, I am not sure which, but I do not "wanna be" rude, but I did not like this performance at all. I thought the guitar was too loud, and my husband plays the electric guitar so it is not as if I am not used to it. I just thought it drowned out Casey's vocals and made it sound as though his voice trailed off at the end of the lines in the chorus. On the commercial, my son played the original song for me to hear, and Casey's rendition did not do it justice. I think I liked Casey better when he had less personality as Kara accused him of in his first audition. Surprisingly enough, Kara did not fall all over herself with her comments and thought that Casey took "two steps backward" last night. He made me taking a few more steps backwards, out the door, if he does not bring it in the weeks to come, if he stays in.
Alex Lambert sang Everybody Knows by John Legend. I hope everybody knows that American Idol contestants do not always sing slow, dull songs. However, if this is someone's first season of watching, he or she may get that impression. I enjoy many different genres of music, but all these slow songs are really starting to get on my nerves. Randy felt that he improved over his performance from the week before, and I say not by much. The judges sensed Alex felt more confident, and I thought so, too, although I did not think the improvement was as good as it should have been. His vocals were just okay for me.
Todrick Hall sung my favorite Tina Turner song, What's Love Got to Do With it, and I thought he ruined the song, from start to finish. It was too slow, and even though I did like him originally, I am beginning to think that I made a mistake. He appears to believe that he is better than he actually is, and I was beginning to think that this is going to be another season when I will completely disagree with the judges' comments.
The judges picked on Jermaine Sellers again this week, and again I disagreed with what they said. I will say that I would like Jermaine to do a little less talking, however. He did Marvin Gaye's What's Goin On.' I love Marvin Gaye and this song reminds me of the turbulent decade of the 1960's, and of the fight for civil rights. I thought Jermaine sung it well, and I thought the judges did not give him enough credit for taking on a song that only Marvin can do to perfection. The word, 'forced' came out of the mouths of the judges' for the first time, surprisingly enough last night, but I disagreed. I am glad Ellen announced that she did not know what to say, because the other judges said too much. Kara said something stupid about how Jermaine should have felt the song more, but then she said it was "too much". Make up your mind, please. They also mentioned the arrangement of the song. Did they think it was not slow enough to fit in with the previous performances?
Andrew Garcia performed James Morrison's “You Give Me Something.” The judges did not think he gave them anything. At this point in the show, I seriously thought something was wrong with my hearing. Randy said Andrew was pitchy, the other judges thought it was the wrong song for him. I thought Andrew was one of the best last night. At this point, I also wondered why they did not cut out all the other stuff they shoved into the two hours last night. Normally reserved for elimination shows, American Idol showed us what the judges said last week about Andrew's performance. It seemed to me that they were trying to sway the audience, which I think they usually wait to do later on in the competition. If the cut out the garbage they showed before Andrew's performance last night, they might have been able to do the show in an hour.
Aaron Kelly did not do as well for me this week as I thought he did last week. Of course, I am overly critical when someone does a Motown song, but Aaron's performance of My Girl was not as good as his performance was last week. Kara bordered on imitating the wacky Sally Field's acceptance speech for Norma Rae; the way she said, "I really liked it". I really did not. Why do contestants pick songs originally sung by a group, especially a Motown group?
Tim Urban did Come on Get Higher by Matt Nathanson. I accused the judges of being too harsh with their critique of Tim last week, and this week they did it again. What were they listening to anyway? One judge said Tim was 'all over the place', and Randy did not 'get it'. Ellen muttered about Tim not being original and thought he could sing a little. As I said before, it would be best for Ellen to stick to the comic relief. I think they are wrong about Tim. He has the teen idol look and his vocals are good. I wondered last week how Tim became the contestant the producer called back to the show after they disqualified one of the original 24. Last week Simon said he thought he made the right decision in not choosing Tim, but disagreed with his cohorts and actually liked Tim's performance. I think Tim will stay, first, because of Simon's reaction, and second, because if I were a teen, I would definitely root for him the way I rooted for David Cassidy as he sang back in the early '70's.
My son played me the song that Lee Dewyze performed last night, Lips of an Angel by Hinder. I thought Lee's performance was as good as the original. I like his sound and his image, and his vocals are unique. He still reminds me somewhat of Danny Gokey, but more natural. The judges said Lee sounded pitchy in spots, as they did last week. Ellen mentioned that he should dance around, but please do not do the funky chicken dance like Fantasia. That will not help. I think I agree with Kara for the first time, because she could only bring herself to say Lee's performance this week was a big improvement. Simon gave him high praise. Thank you, Simon!
The only knew four out of the ten Billboard hits the contestants chose to sing last night. I also only liked five contestants' performances out of ten. I think that John Park should have gone last week and I think the same about him this week. I think that Casey, who is trying to be this year's Bo Bice, is not pulling it off. I think he should go as well. I am willing to give Aaron Kelly and Alex Lambert more time, but if Todrick stays, he should tone down his overconfidence and just perform.
Tonight, the top ten girls will perform, and if I am lucky, they will sing songs that will hold my attention, instead of songs that were so slow, that it made the two hours seem like four hours of American Idol last night.
What did you think?
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