well that's an hour of my life I'll never get back

[jlh]

So this is the thing. Back when I started watching this song in season 3, the singers were doing things I didn't care about, and I was like, "whatever" and watching it at a kind of distance, this mainstream music floating over me

Comments

[lillijulianne]

i love "hallelujah," i do, and it's kind of funny that for what, seven years i wished SOMEBODY would sing it, i remember PRAYING elliott would because it would have been perfect for him, and now they sing it all the time. same with "feeling good." i did not like the arrangement at all, but i did love lee's singing. i also thought his own choice was perfect for him and very intense. then too, regarding lee, i so love simon when he really likes and is pulling for a contestant, and i haven't seen him care this much since melinda, so that warmed my heart.

we are as one on casey. i dearly wanted siobhan or mike in that spot and would happily have taken didi, lilly, katelyn, even tim urban, who gave at least a couple more performances that interested me than casey ever did.

i was excited about crystal's pick and yeah, the edit was perplexing. it didn't build- she was in the bridge too soon, and for me the song is all about the "just to reach you" part, and only singing that once really sapped the power. but she sounded great. ellen's choice, however, was wonderful and i agree with everything you said.

the show has frustrated me this year, no argument. actually what's pissed me off the most began last year: the cutting down of the number of songs performed just when things are getting into the home stretch. top five and top four used to sing twice each and top three three times. what possible reason did they have to change that, to cut the raison d'etre of the show? more fucking commercials? i can think of only one halfway legitimate one: to let the finalists sing full songs instead of edits. which, of course, hasn't happened. i'd love to have heard crystal and lee sing their songs as written last night. ugh.

[jlh]

Simon really cared about Adam, I think. He certainly was very vocally disappointed when he didn't win, and pulled strings to get him "One" and consulted with him on the arrangement, etc.

Lee's performance of the song was fine, but I was so put off by the theatrics of it. Like, I loved the bagpipes because they were so weird and out of place, but the gospel-esque choir and the horns and the bullshit? No.

You make a great point about the Etheridge song; it really isn't about the bridge but about the build up to the chorus. Badly edited song, something the show hasn't done in a while.

Cutting down the singing to fit in another judge was a terrible move. In the end Kara has added little and cost a great deal. We wouldn't still have Casey at this point if not for Kara, I think. I'm annoyed that "cougars" are being blamed for this but whatever; I throw up my hands at that particular kind of analysis.

[lillijulianne]

ah, that icon and the memories it brings back and how the etheridge song fits them. fiction beats reality in so many, many ways :)

yes, simon definitely cared very much about adam. but i think that felt different to me because adam was so very much a front-runner from day one, and while he was gracious and never arrogant, he had confidence and swagger from day one as well. with melinda, as i recall, the buzz was around other contestants at the start- lakisha, sligh, even people like sundance, they used leslie hunt in that "is she the one?" commercial before the season even started. and of course while not as insecure as lee she was so humble and modest. so for me it felt very similar to see simon encouraging lee and building him up.

funny that i didn't put two and two together that they cut back the singing because of kara, but yeah, that's why they did it, isn't it. while i like her well enough, her addition hasn't served the show well. the cougar thing, yeah, she's been driving the casey train and can probably be blamed, that doesn't mean she represents every woman over 30, ugh.