when good songs are sung bad(ly)
Tonight, the Top 7 sing the songs of Mariah Carey. Ryan starts by recapping the shock of Michael Johns' departure, and uses it as a plug to remind people to call. Before it starts, I'm thinking about how every week they tell the girls not to try to belt out a Mariah or a Whitney song, because they'll suffer by comparison. My guess is this will be a harder week for the girls than the boys.
David Archuleta is up first, singing "When You Believe". He sounds surprised that she gave him good advice! I do like him, and he does have a very pretty voice. But now I start to get picky. I don't like his squint. Every week I want to get him tested for eyeglasses. Why does he squint so? Is that his way of emoting? The other thing I don't like is his diction. He sang "moun - tin" for "mountain". Nice job on the falsetto, and this is the first week he didn't go flat that I heard.
Carly sings "Without You", and Mariah likes it for her. How cute -- Carly describes Mariah as a ray of sunshine in the room :) Why is she wearing heavy black tights? Is it really cold in California this time of year? OHMYWORD! She's singing and all I can hear is tuliboo diboo douchoo! LOL This was a good key choice for her. It was good, but a little repetitive. Then again, so are these songs. Girlfriend has pipes.
Cut to commercial for "Made of Honor". Um ... wasn't that movie already made? It was called "My Best Friend's Wedding", and starred Julia Roberts. Of course, having just watched Can't Buy Me Love earlier this evening made it, and Patrick Dempsey's nose job a little more interesting ...
And now we have Syesha singing "Recapture". Let's see if this has any more emotion than last week. Starts out kind of tentatively (vocally) and angrily (facially). Some pitch problems, and as much as I like her, I don't think she's long for this competition. I do like her hair tonight, though. Boring. The song didn't go anywhere. Good sound, but *yawn*. I also wish she wasn't in that grown-up dress. We finally got cute Syesha hair, but now it's old lady clothes. Paula points out the wisdom of picking out an unfamiliar song so we can't compare it as much. Simon isn't sure that's such a good idea.
Whoa! It's definitely "diva dress" night. Brooke is up next, singing and accompanying herself. Is this song "There's a Hero"? She starts out with pitch problems. I'd say this is the hardest on her, because she can't karaoke it, and it's too hard to make a Mariah song sound right for Carole King. She definitely gets more comfortable as the song goes on, but it's a this is the hardest week for her. And the close-up of her mouth illuminates just how nervous she is. (very, in case you weren't watching) She needs to talk less and listen more to the judges. As usual, Simon's comments are right on, and he gets booed. He's right -- she should have tried to diva the song, if for no other reason than to show us she can do something else. We've already seen what she did tonight -- every other week.
KLC also picks an unknown song -- "Forever". She needs to work on her low notes. This sounds like a weak version of the beginning of "Where the Boys Are". What is up with those arm motions? She debuted them last week, and I already hate them. She consistently gets more confident after the first 30 seconds of the song every week. Paula needs her hearing checked. It was blah blah blah. I did NOT like it.
And then there's David Cook, singing "Always be my Baby", a surprising pick to Mariah. And she likes it (or at least she said she did). It's not blowing my skirt up, but it's also not putting me to sleep like the last three. It's really a creative arrangement. I don't in any way, shape or form recognize it as a Mariah song. Nicely done, DC. Tiny pitch problems in the beginning, and a very nice job. Syesha needs to take lessons from him in how to build a song. Simon's comments are RIGHT ON. He said it was "like coming out of karaoke hell". SO right.
Jason Castro with his performance-night-pulled-back-dreds-that-make-him-look-like-a-girl closes the show singing "I Don't Wanna Cry". I think this guy will have a modest career, but he's not AI material. I don't think so, anyway. That was nice, and again not recognizable as a Mariah song. But rather boring.
Final thoughts: Simon's right -- the men won the night. And also, in the recap, I finally figured out who David Archuleta is. He's a mini Steve Green.
Predictie McLeaverson fears for:
The girls. Some estrogen will be leaving the show tomorrow night. I just hope it's not Carly!
David Archuleta is up first, singing "When You Believe". He sounds surprised that she gave him good advice! I do like him, and he does have a very pretty voice. But now I start to get picky. I don't like his squint. Every week I want to get him tested for eyeglasses. Why does he squint so? Is that his way of emoting? The other thing I don't like is his diction. He sang "moun - tin" for "mountain". Nice job on the falsetto, and this is the first week he didn't go flat that I heard.
Carly sings "Without You", and Mariah likes it for her. How cute -- Carly describes Mariah as a ray of sunshine in the room :) Why is she wearing heavy black tights? Is it really cold in California this time of year? OHMYWORD! She's singing and all I can hear is tuliboo diboo douchoo! LOL This was a good key choice for her. It was good, but a little repetitive. Then again, so are these songs. Girlfriend has pipes.
Cut to commercial for "Made of Honor". Um ... wasn't that movie already made? It was called "My Best Friend's Wedding", and starred Julia Roberts. Of course, having just watched Can't Buy Me Love earlier this evening made it, and Patrick Dempsey's nose job a little more interesting ...
And now we have Syesha singing "Recapture". Let's see if this has any more emotion than last week. Starts out kind of tentatively (vocally) and angrily (facially). Some pitch problems, and as much as I like her, I don't think she's long for this competition. I do like her hair tonight, though. Boring. The song didn't go anywhere. Good sound, but *yawn*. I also wish she wasn't in that grown-up dress. We finally got cute Syesha hair, but now it's old lady clothes. Paula points out the wisdom of picking out an unfamiliar song so we can't compare it as much. Simon isn't sure that's such a good idea.
Whoa! It's definitely "diva dress" night. Brooke is up next, singing and accompanying herself. Is this song "There's a Hero"? She starts out with pitch problems. I'd say this is the hardest on her, because she can't karaoke it, and it's too hard to make a Mariah song sound right for Carole King. She definitely gets more comfortable as the song goes on, but it's a this is the hardest week for her. And the close-up of her mouth illuminates just how nervous she is. (very, in case you weren't watching) She needs to talk less and listen more to the judges. As usual, Simon's comments are right on, and he gets booed. He's right -- she should have tried to diva the song, if for no other reason than to show us she can do something else. We've already seen what she did tonight -- every other week.
KLC also picks an unknown song -- "Forever". She needs to work on her low notes. This sounds like a weak version of the beginning of "Where the Boys Are". What is up with those arm motions? She debuted them last week, and I already hate them. She consistently gets more confident after the first 30 seconds of the song every week. Paula needs her hearing checked. It was blah blah blah. I did NOT like it.
And then there's David Cook, singing "Always be my Baby", a surprising pick to Mariah. And she likes it (or at least she said she did). It's not blowing my skirt up, but it's also not putting me to sleep like the last three. It's really a creative arrangement. I don't in any way, shape or form recognize it as a Mariah song. Nicely done, DC. Tiny pitch problems in the beginning, and a very nice job. Syesha needs to take lessons from him in how to build a song. Simon's comments are RIGHT ON. He said it was "like coming out of karaoke hell". SO right.
Jason Castro with his performance-night-pulled-back-dreds-that-make-him-look-like-a-girl closes the show singing "I Don't Wanna Cry". I think this guy will have a modest career, but he's not AI material. I don't think so, anyway. That was nice, and again not recognizable as a Mariah song. But rather boring.
Final thoughts: Simon's right -- the men won the night. And also, in the recap, I finally figured out who David Archuleta is. He's a mini Steve Green.
Predictie McLeaverson fears for:
The girls. Some estrogen will be leaving the show tomorrow night. I just hope it's not Carly!