The week that should have been better than it was part two.
OK, so yesterday I was annoyed at the drivel we were being asked to consume this week so I might have been a little harsh on poor Anoop. What I didn’t mention, and I really should have, is that it was probably one of his best vocals. Which, as much as I find him one of the two least interesting contestants left, I really shouldn’t have missed/ignored. Anoop may not be my favourite contestant on the show but he deserved some praise for that. And while I’m fixing certain mistakes I made yesterday I should probably point out that Adam was a little off on the few of his lower notes. Wow, that was almost physically painful to write…..lets try it again….Adam missed a few of those notes….nope, I don’t feel any better!!! But that’s done now and I can go back to my delusions of objectivity.
Matt:
Well this was a mess, it was, but I think Matt is probably well aware of that and, although I have yet to see it, I hear that he upped his game on the results show so fair play to that.
The song started well, that piano solo at the beginning showing what we like about Matt, genuine talent. He sat at that piano and played those opening notes perfectly. Unfortunately when he started to sing it began to fall apart. Bryan Adams, for all his faults, has what a lot of people consider a very nice voice and in amongst the 20 odd albums of mediocre easy listening is the occasional great song…ok, so not for years but you can’t ignore those early songs. And, if you listen to his MTV Unplugged album (my mother is a fan) you can see that he is also fond of rearranging his songs. The acoustic ‘Summer of ’69’ is almost better than the original. So I have no doubt that this attempt to change the song to Matt’s own style would have gone down well, but, and it is so very rare you’ll see me write this, Randy had a good point. Oh and now I feel dirty for even having thought that!! But while this is not one of Bryan Adam’s great songs, he very cleverly threaded lines of dialogue throughout the lyrics so that the song sings what Johnny Depp’s Don Juan has already said, and the song itself is in perfect keeping with this strange but entertaining film. However, without the images around it is not that interesting a song.
Matt, was going great guns to begin with, but he hit one wrong note, and then another, and then it got to the chorus and it all fell apart. And unfortunately rather than being able to pick himself up and carrying on he lost his performance when he lost the notes. Those last few riffs really felt like he was panicking and reaching for any note he could find.
Why was Matt at the bottom of the votes? I think, as much as it has to do with plain and simple messing up, it was also to do with the fact that he hasn’t, as far as I can tell, imprinted himself on the audience as someone they want to vote for. Whenever I see a review of Matt, mine included, it mentions his talent, that he is perhaps the most musically talented up there. I know Kris has shown more instruments and all contestants mentioned that Scott knows far more about music than any of them, and for someone trained at a conservatory so he should, but for pure unadulterated your born with it talent for an instrument Matt has got everyone there beat. His control over the piano, the technique he manages to use whilst infusing it with the passion needed….that piano becomes, as it should with any good musician, an extension of his being when he plays. Matt walks the fine line between technique and emotion and he walks it well. And for all the good/not so good nature of his performances his piano playing has stayed at the same level. So yes, this is something people have noticed and have picked up on and comment on. However, not many people that I’ve read have been enthused by his personality. Not that he has a bad one, just that maybe he doesn’t really seem to have one.
I’ve mentioned before how Matt seems incapable of hiding his feelings and that everything he feels we see, but I wasn’t sure if it would go in his favour or against him. Turn out it’s becoming a problem. Matt has had a few bad weeks, every other week to be honest (he’s a little bit like Star Trek movies that way), and when he’s getting criticised we can see when he completely disagrees and when he thinks the judges are wrong. There’s not that filter between what he thinks and what, as an audience, we should see. I have no idea what Adam actually thought about Simon saying lots of people wouldn’t like that performance but what I did see and hear was the “I understand” that he spoke and the acceptance that he projected. (I have heard some snippets about the results show but having not seen it I can’t comment.) I like to think that he meant this, he seems like someone who likes honesty, but I don’t actually know, I only know what he projected. Scott managed to argue with the judges and come across as a nice guy. Allison sometimes disagrees but does it in “really? Are you sure?” type way which appears to work for the audience. Matt on the other hand either looks like you kicked his puppy or simply that the judges have no idea what they’re talking about. Most of America seems to take what the judges say as pretty good advice and therefore Matt’s expressions could be construed as dissing the people they’ve gotten to know over the past 8 years. Maybe as an indication that he’s thinks he’s better than the judges. This could easily not be true, could easily be a single moment of annoyance, but that moment is there for all to see.
Another problem is that, for as many weeks as this competition has now been going on, and for all the emotions we’ve seen go through Matt, I still have no idea who he is. His support videos haven’t given us much of an idea who he is, I know as little about Matt now as I did at the beginning of the show.
This is a problem for Matt, as became apparent this week, because it means that when he messes up he doesn’t have the voters who will support him regardless. Kris, Adam, Allison (I think), Anoop, Lil (to an extent) and yes, Danny, all have people who will vote for them no matter what they sing or how they sing it because we feel like we have gotten to know them over the weeks. There has been a personality shown and whether you like it or not there will always be someone with the opposing opinion, and therefore those who will vote. So Danny can really be awful one week and will receive votes and by this point Adam could probably come out singing ‘It’s Raining Men’ next week wearing platforms, glitter and spandex miss most of the notes and still be safe. Matt has to provide consistently good performances. He hasn’t engaged the public on any level other than musical talent, and as been proved in the past, that is not enough to win this show.
I think the judges did the only sensible thing by saving him this week. If they hadn’t used the save this week they would have been forced to use it next week; I know that they say they might have never used it but that’s just not how this show works. And next week, disco week, well that could have led to saving someone after a truly disastrous performance and therefore a whole lot of nonsense and complaining. Yes, it could mean that someone truly great is out next week but that’s always been a possibility anyway. From here on out there is no save and the show is back to how it has always been. There will be the Chris Daughtries but at least there will be no Michael Johns’.
Danny:
OK, this is being kept short because this was a bad song, sung boringly, by a person who is beginning to piss me off a little.
However I want to state up front that I do not think that Danny deliberately ignored Tarantino’s advice. The whole “put your hands in your pockets” thing was a rehearsal technique; it was never intended to put into physical practice during the song. Sometimes during rehearsals you do things that you would never do on stage as a way to get to the deeper emotion of a scene or to get past the bad habits. I once had to take my sweatshirt off to rehearse a scene in a room where the temperature was almost freezing; it was so cold we could see each breath we took. But I was incapable of getting the total conviction that “I’m right and you’re all wrong” that my character believed in the scene and therefore, unknowingly, kept playing with the sleeves of my sweatshirt. So I was made to remove it. That doesn’t mean I wouldn’t be wearing it during the performance but I had to learn to act as if I wasn’t. QT was trying to get Danny to rely less on physical gestures and trust his voice and eyes to tell the truth of the song.
Unfortunately for Danny, and I don’t know why, but he was far more nervous than we have ever seen him. For all of Danny’s faults, and there are many, nerves have never been one. But this week he kept fiddling with the microphone, constantly moving it between his hands, possibly because his hands were both shaking badly. He kept starting to move and then deciding against it, he didn’t seem sure if he should be singing softly or really loudly, and let’s not pretend that Danny didn’t basically shout that last chorus at us. It was like having Von Smith back!!! But Danny just looked incredibly uncomfortable up there…more than that, he looked unhappy. I swear, there was one point when I thought he was going to actually start crying as he was singing. I have no idea what Simon meant when he said that the song obviously meant a lot to Danny but I would imagine whatever that reason is was the reason he wasn’t able to control that performance at all. It felt to me, that in an attempt to stop playing with the mike and to regain his balance he began the hand movements he’s used to, not necessarily the right choice but an understandable one.
I cannot even pretend that I have anything to say about this choice of song because not only is it a boring song it was a completely traditional rendition of it. There was nothing interesting here at all and therefore nothing really to write about it.
This was not a good performance. This was possibly Danny’s worst performance and with all the Danny hate that springing up I’m not sure he can afford too many of these. Yes he has a massive fan base but I do think that some of his supporters have possibly moved over onto Kris if for no other reason than Kris is at least attempting something new each week, Danny’s just offering us more of the same.
Speaking of which…
Kris:
I thought this song was ridiculously beautiful. I shall admit now that I love this song and as much as I love the recorded version every time I’ve seen it being sung live, and this includes Kris’ performance, it nearly brings me to tears. I think it’s very interesting that in the film ‘Once’, from which the song comes, the lead characters do not have names; they are simply ‘Guy’ and ‘Girl’. This emphasises the universal nature of the idea of love, and the ideas and emotions behind this song; no matter who you are or where you are nearly everyone falls for someone at some point in their life.
“I don’t know you but I want you all the more for that”
Show me one person who can’t relate to that feeling!!!
I think Kris did the right thing by not playing his guitar this week. The guitar, along with the similarities in their voices, could have made this too similar to the original as Glen Hansard plays the guitar on the track while Markéta Irglová plays the piano. By simply singing it he distanced himself from purely copying it. This wasn’t the most original version of the song possible but I don’t think it’s a song you want to play with too much. I liked that there were some altered notes and that he did differ the rhythm a bit but too much change could have lost something. I do wish he’d sung the end where the song really builds but I understand why he kept it more low key than that. Once again it really showcased his vocals, something the judges still have yet to acknowledge, and for the first time I got so involved in the performance that I forgot how good looking Kris is.
Let me say that Randy helped me regain my equilibrium after the surprise of his observant comment earlier in the show by completely missing the point of this performance. I have no idea what he was listening to but it obviously was not what I was listening to. And secondly, this song is NOT that unknown. It won an Oscar, and deservedly so, it has been performed all over the place in support of the film and the musicians/actors. They have been all over television promoting the film, they have been at the festivals, the played Glastonbury last year, they have been all over the radio. This song is not as unknown as people seem to think. But more importantly than that, it shouldn’t matter if it is. This is not a karaoke competition, they should not be limited to songs that are so over played we all groan when they announce the name.
This song was a fantastic choice, the best choice of the night, and for the judges to put him down for it was ridiculous. One of these days they are going to have to give Kris some due for his voice because it is getting not only frustrating but also minimalising how much I trust their judgement. I know that his voice isn’t as showy as others but that doesn’t mean it’s any worse. He has complete control over it; he knows how to use what he has and doesn’t stretch for things he can’t get. He’s never going to have the range of Adam or the power of Allison but he doesn’t need that because his own range and power are not small….they’re just not quite as big or obvious. Kris hits a lot of notes, he just does it in an un-showy way. Kris has become the Kevin Bacon of this contest. By that I mean that for Mystic River both Sean Penn and Tim Robbins won awards because they had very showy roles, Kevin Bacon did what he always does which is provide a brilliant performance, only he doesn’t get the dues he deserves because they’re all very subtle and internal as opposed to Sean Penn’s shouting. Kris is Kevin Bacon. He is fantastic but in such a quiet way the judges can’t seem to see it. Luckily the audience appears to. Because for someone who came out of nowhere Kris has proved time and time again that he deserves to be here and to continue to be for a long time to come.
Lil:
I felt incredibly sorry for Lil this week. Simon had no intention of liking her song before she even sang it. He’d already told Allison she was the only hope for the women. Lil could have come out and done anything and Simon wouldn’t have liked it.
Now I’m not a Lil fan but she took their advice, she took a song and changed it up and tried to make it her own and they still didn’t like it, didn’t even give her credit for trying. They want to know where the Lil they saw 8 weeks ago has gone? She’s been worn down by their comments. There is so little left of Lil because no matter what she’s done she hasn’t been given any credit for it at all. There’s only so much criticism a person can take before they either snap like Lil did this week and talk back or simply try and make a point like Megan when during here goodbye song she stood directly in front of them and made them pay attention.
Yes perhaps Lil didn’t come off as well as she could have this week but I don’t blame her one bit for arguing back. Simon had just torn her to shreds and she finally admitted that she tried to make it gospel because that’s what she likes. She finally stopped trying to be someone else and she got shat on because of it.
Now I don’t know this song, I’m sure I’d recognise it but it’s not one I’m overly familiar with. But I didn’t think it was that bad. I didn’t think it was that good either but Simon has made up his mind that Lil has disappointed him personally and therefore must be gotten rid of. I don’t think she stands a chance in hell of making it through next week, unless she really pulls something completely original and wonderful out, but I think it’s gotten so far that even this can’t save her.
And that’s all I’m going to say about Lil because to me, like Anoop, she is simply not that interesting. She’s doing something that has been done many times before on AI and has been done better, there is nothing new about what Lil has brought to this season and I just can’t bring myself to care because of that.
But anyway peeps, that’s it for this week. Once again I really hope that next week is better but Disco Week is either going to be truly horrible, so horrible its great, or truly great. I don’t think there’s a possibility of mediocre because so many of these people stand an enormous chance of crashing and burning. With two people leaving next week it is a dangerous time to have a theme this unattainable for most of them. But oh well, I shall not wait with baited breath but I’ll be there anyway, I always am.
Matt:
Well this was a mess, it was, but I think Matt is probably well aware of that and, although I have yet to see it, I hear that he upped his game on the results show so fair play to that.
The song started well, that piano solo at the beginning showing what we like about Matt, genuine talent. He sat at that piano and played those opening notes perfectly. Unfortunately when he started to sing it began to fall apart. Bryan Adams, for all his faults, has what a lot of people consider a very nice voice and in amongst the 20 odd albums of mediocre easy listening is the occasional great song…ok, so not for years but you can’t ignore those early songs. And, if you listen to his MTV Unplugged album (my mother is a fan) you can see that he is also fond of rearranging his songs. The acoustic ‘Summer of ’69’ is almost better than the original. So I have no doubt that this attempt to change the song to Matt’s own style would have gone down well, but, and it is so very rare you’ll see me write this, Randy had a good point. Oh and now I feel dirty for even having thought that!! But while this is not one of Bryan Adam’s great songs, he very cleverly threaded lines of dialogue throughout the lyrics so that the song sings what Johnny Depp’s Don Juan has already said, and the song itself is in perfect keeping with this strange but entertaining film. However, without the images around it is not that interesting a song.
Matt, was going great guns to begin with, but he hit one wrong note, and then another, and then it got to the chorus and it all fell apart. And unfortunately rather than being able to pick himself up and carrying on he lost his performance when he lost the notes. Those last few riffs really felt like he was panicking and reaching for any note he could find.
Why was Matt at the bottom of the votes? I think, as much as it has to do with plain and simple messing up, it was also to do with the fact that he hasn’t, as far as I can tell, imprinted himself on the audience as someone they want to vote for. Whenever I see a review of Matt, mine included, it mentions his talent, that he is perhaps the most musically talented up there. I know Kris has shown more instruments and all contestants mentioned that Scott knows far more about music than any of them, and for someone trained at a conservatory so he should, but for pure unadulterated your born with it talent for an instrument Matt has got everyone there beat. His control over the piano, the technique he manages to use whilst infusing it with the passion needed….that piano becomes, as it should with any good musician, an extension of his being when he plays. Matt walks the fine line between technique and emotion and he walks it well. And for all the good/not so good nature of his performances his piano playing has stayed at the same level. So yes, this is something people have noticed and have picked up on and comment on. However, not many people that I’ve read have been enthused by his personality. Not that he has a bad one, just that maybe he doesn’t really seem to have one.
I’ve mentioned before how Matt seems incapable of hiding his feelings and that everything he feels we see, but I wasn’t sure if it would go in his favour or against him. Turn out it’s becoming a problem. Matt has had a few bad weeks, every other week to be honest (he’s a little bit like Star Trek movies that way), and when he’s getting criticised we can see when he completely disagrees and when he thinks the judges are wrong. There’s not that filter between what he thinks and what, as an audience, we should see. I have no idea what Adam actually thought about Simon saying lots of people wouldn’t like that performance but what I did see and hear was the “I understand” that he spoke and the acceptance that he projected. (I have heard some snippets about the results show but having not seen it I can’t comment.) I like to think that he meant this, he seems like someone who likes honesty, but I don’t actually know, I only know what he projected. Scott managed to argue with the judges and come across as a nice guy. Allison sometimes disagrees but does it in “really? Are you sure?” type way which appears to work for the audience. Matt on the other hand either looks like you kicked his puppy or simply that the judges have no idea what they’re talking about. Most of America seems to take what the judges say as pretty good advice and therefore Matt’s expressions could be construed as dissing the people they’ve gotten to know over the past 8 years. Maybe as an indication that he’s thinks he’s better than the judges. This could easily not be true, could easily be a single moment of annoyance, but that moment is there for all to see.
Another problem is that, for as many weeks as this competition has now been going on, and for all the emotions we’ve seen go through Matt, I still have no idea who he is. His support videos haven’t given us much of an idea who he is, I know as little about Matt now as I did at the beginning of the show.
This is a problem for Matt, as became apparent this week, because it means that when he messes up he doesn’t have the voters who will support him regardless. Kris, Adam, Allison (I think), Anoop, Lil (to an extent) and yes, Danny, all have people who will vote for them no matter what they sing or how they sing it because we feel like we have gotten to know them over the weeks. There has been a personality shown and whether you like it or not there will always be someone with the opposing opinion, and therefore those who will vote. So Danny can really be awful one week and will receive votes and by this point Adam could probably come out singing ‘It’s Raining Men’ next week wearing platforms, glitter and spandex miss most of the notes and still be safe. Matt has to provide consistently good performances. He hasn’t engaged the public on any level other than musical talent, and as been proved in the past, that is not enough to win this show.
I think the judges did the only sensible thing by saving him this week. If they hadn’t used the save this week they would have been forced to use it next week; I know that they say they might have never used it but that’s just not how this show works. And next week, disco week, well that could have led to saving someone after a truly disastrous performance and therefore a whole lot of nonsense and complaining. Yes, it could mean that someone truly great is out next week but that’s always been a possibility anyway. From here on out there is no save and the show is back to how it has always been. There will be the Chris Daughtries but at least there will be no Michael Johns’.
Danny:
OK, this is being kept short because this was a bad song, sung boringly, by a person who is beginning to piss me off a little.
However I want to state up front that I do not think that Danny deliberately ignored Tarantino’s advice. The whole “put your hands in your pockets” thing was a rehearsal technique; it was never intended to put into physical practice during the song. Sometimes during rehearsals you do things that you would never do on stage as a way to get to the deeper emotion of a scene or to get past the bad habits. I once had to take my sweatshirt off to rehearse a scene in a room where the temperature was almost freezing; it was so cold we could see each breath we took. But I was incapable of getting the total conviction that “I’m right and you’re all wrong” that my character believed in the scene and therefore, unknowingly, kept playing with the sleeves of my sweatshirt. So I was made to remove it. That doesn’t mean I wouldn’t be wearing it during the performance but I had to learn to act as if I wasn’t. QT was trying to get Danny to rely less on physical gestures and trust his voice and eyes to tell the truth of the song.
Unfortunately for Danny, and I don’t know why, but he was far more nervous than we have ever seen him. For all of Danny’s faults, and there are many, nerves have never been one. But this week he kept fiddling with the microphone, constantly moving it between his hands, possibly because his hands were both shaking badly. He kept starting to move and then deciding against it, he didn’t seem sure if he should be singing softly or really loudly, and let’s not pretend that Danny didn’t basically shout that last chorus at us. It was like having Von Smith back!!! But Danny just looked incredibly uncomfortable up there…more than that, he looked unhappy. I swear, there was one point when I thought he was going to actually start crying as he was singing. I have no idea what Simon meant when he said that the song obviously meant a lot to Danny but I would imagine whatever that reason is was the reason he wasn’t able to control that performance at all. It felt to me, that in an attempt to stop playing with the mike and to regain his balance he began the hand movements he’s used to, not necessarily the right choice but an understandable one.
I cannot even pretend that I have anything to say about this choice of song because not only is it a boring song it was a completely traditional rendition of it. There was nothing interesting here at all and therefore nothing really to write about it.
This was not a good performance. This was possibly Danny’s worst performance and with all the Danny hate that springing up I’m not sure he can afford too many of these. Yes he has a massive fan base but I do think that some of his supporters have possibly moved over onto Kris if for no other reason than Kris is at least attempting something new each week, Danny’s just offering us more of the same.
Speaking of which…
Kris:
I thought this song was ridiculously beautiful. I shall admit now that I love this song and as much as I love the recorded version every time I’ve seen it being sung live, and this includes Kris’ performance, it nearly brings me to tears. I think it’s very interesting that in the film ‘Once’, from which the song comes, the lead characters do not have names; they are simply ‘Guy’ and ‘Girl’. This emphasises the universal nature of the idea of love, and the ideas and emotions behind this song; no matter who you are or where you are nearly everyone falls for someone at some point in their life.
“I don’t know you but I want you all the more for that”
Show me one person who can’t relate to that feeling!!!
I think Kris did the right thing by not playing his guitar this week. The guitar, along with the similarities in their voices, could have made this too similar to the original as Glen Hansard plays the guitar on the track while Markéta Irglová plays the piano. By simply singing it he distanced himself from purely copying it. This wasn’t the most original version of the song possible but I don’t think it’s a song you want to play with too much. I liked that there were some altered notes and that he did differ the rhythm a bit but too much change could have lost something. I do wish he’d sung the end where the song really builds but I understand why he kept it more low key than that. Once again it really showcased his vocals, something the judges still have yet to acknowledge, and for the first time I got so involved in the performance that I forgot how good looking Kris is.
Let me say that Randy helped me regain my equilibrium after the surprise of his observant comment earlier in the show by completely missing the point of this performance. I have no idea what he was listening to but it obviously was not what I was listening to. And secondly, this song is NOT that unknown. It won an Oscar, and deservedly so, it has been performed all over the place in support of the film and the musicians/actors. They have been all over television promoting the film, they have been at the festivals, the played Glastonbury last year, they have been all over the radio. This song is not as unknown as people seem to think. But more importantly than that, it shouldn’t matter if it is. This is not a karaoke competition, they should not be limited to songs that are so over played we all groan when they announce the name.
This song was a fantastic choice, the best choice of the night, and for the judges to put him down for it was ridiculous. One of these days they are going to have to give Kris some due for his voice because it is getting not only frustrating but also minimalising how much I trust their judgement. I know that his voice isn’t as showy as others but that doesn’t mean it’s any worse. He has complete control over it; he knows how to use what he has and doesn’t stretch for things he can’t get. He’s never going to have the range of Adam or the power of Allison but he doesn’t need that because his own range and power are not small….they’re just not quite as big or obvious. Kris hits a lot of notes, he just does it in an un-showy way. Kris has become the Kevin Bacon of this contest. By that I mean that for Mystic River both Sean Penn and Tim Robbins won awards because they had very showy roles, Kevin Bacon did what he always does which is provide a brilliant performance, only he doesn’t get the dues he deserves because they’re all very subtle and internal as opposed to Sean Penn’s shouting. Kris is Kevin Bacon. He is fantastic but in such a quiet way the judges can’t seem to see it. Luckily the audience appears to. Because for someone who came out of nowhere Kris has proved time and time again that he deserves to be here and to continue to be for a long time to come.
Lil:
I felt incredibly sorry for Lil this week. Simon had no intention of liking her song before she even sang it. He’d already told Allison she was the only hope for the women. Lil could have come out and done anything and Simon wouldn’t have liked it.
Now I’m not a Lil fan but she took their advice, she took a song and changed it up and tried to make it her own and they still didn’t like it, didn’t even give her credit for trying. They want to know where the Lil they saw 8 weeks ago has gone? She’s been worn down by their comments. There is so little left of Lil because no matter what she’s done she hasn’t been given any credit for it at all. There’s only so much criticism a person can take before they either snap like Lil did this week and talk back or simply try and make a point like Megan when during here goodbye song she stood directly in front of them and made them pay attention.
Yes perhaps Lil didn’t come off as well as she could have this week but I don’t blame her one bit for arguing back. Simon had just torn her to shreds and she finally admitted that she tried to make it gospel because that’s what she likes. She finally stopped trying to be someone else and she got shat on because of it.
Now I don’t know this song, I’m sure I’d recognise it but it’s not one I’m overly familiar with. But I didn’t think it was that bad. I didn’t think it was that good either but Simon has made up his mind that Lil has disappointed him personally and therefore must be gotten rid of. I don’t think she stands a chance in hell of making it through next week, unless she really pulls something completely original and wonderful out, but I think it’s gotten so far that even this can’t save her.
And that’s all I’m going to say about Lil because to me, like Anoop, she is simply not that interesting. She’s doing something that has been done many times before on AI and has been done better, there is nothing new about what Lil has brought to this season and I just can’t bring myself to care because of that.
But anyway peeps, that’s it for this week. Once again I really hope that next week is better but Disco Week is either going to be truly horrible, so horrible its great, or truly great. I don’t think there’s a possibility of mediocre because so many of these people stand an enormous chance of crashing and burning. With two people leaving next week it is a dangerous time to have a theme this unattainable for most of them. But oh well, I shall not wait with baited breath but I’ll be there anyway, I always am.