AI Week Two - country music
Michael Sarver is clearly out of his league now. Tonight proved that this is the season for American Idol. THE season. The season the producers of this show have had wet dreams about for eight years. The season where everybody is killer and each cast member has their own niche. Except for Michael. He's pretty good and pretty likable when just being pretty anything won't cut it.
Lil Rounds can't say what I wished she would have said. I didn't want to do the "Black Girl Country Song." I didn't want to do anything associated with Whitney Houston. I respect her for singing a straight-up song straight up. And she didn't do it in the over-the-top, wish-I-was-Martina way that everyone else, including Carrie Underwood, has done it on this show in the past. The danger for her is that she is too precise and perfect. She's so good she may be boring to some.
Alexis Grace ran up against an immutable fact of musical life. There are only two versions of "Jolene" that matter. Dolly's original version, and Jack White's. That said, I do think it was her best performance to date. She didn't feel a need to over-sing the song. It is an angst-y enough song without a lot of theatricality.
I thought Allison did a very good version of her song. She has that kind of voice that can do a Patty Loveless song with some credibility. The down-side for her tonight is that she came early in the show and others were significantly better than her. She did really well, but at least three other contestants were on another plane.
I think Kris did really well. I understand Simon's point last week about keeping the really hot blond wife under wraps for a while. Kris is a really attractive young guy in that way that late teen girls really like. Knowing he's married, and to a hottie, could depress his vote totals. I liked that he did the song as a straight adult contemporary ballad that wasn't particularly country. It came off very, very nicely.
Anoop was awesome. That guy has a great voice. He took a classic piece of material and did it as a low-key, very heart-broken R & B ballad. His tone quality was very good in the chorus. I liked the slightly rough edge to his voice on the big notes. I'm happy that he kept the R & B melismatics to a minimum, just enough to give texture to the lines. Really excellent job.
Scott and Matt are kind of stealing each other's thunder a bit. They are competing to be "the piano guy." The difference of course is that Scott hits the over-40, suburban mom, loves Bruce Hornsby demo and Matt hits the college girl sensitive boyfriend seeker demo. Both do a great job. Both of them picked unexpected songs. Both play the hell out of the piano. I hope neither of them listens to Paula and stops playing when singing. Both of them sing so much stronger when behind the keys. Scott, especially.
I did find the songs from both to be really good while listening to them, but don't remember much about them other than that I liked them. Not a lot of "reach out and grab you moments" to stick in the memory. More of a general, happy, pleased memory.
Megan Corkrey did a very wise thing tonight. That is an old song and she did it in an old way. Very Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys western swing, with a modern sensibility. I like the retro/modern quality of her voice. She's like a pop version of Madeleine Peyroux in a hot blond with tattoos package. I really dug her tonight. She did the exact right song in the exact right way for who she is.
Danny Gokey is strong. I mean super strong. He has the right mixture of humility, talent, showmanship, and crowd-pleasing likability. I liked the outfit. With the white-frame glasses and the bright white stage lights, he played the role of church choir soloist to perfection. If you're gonna sing a song with Jesus in the title, you gotta do it the way he did it tonight. He reminded me that his day job is as a church music director. Sure there were some pitch problems in the verse, mostly because he didn't sustain his notes at the end of the lines enough. But when he got into the chorus, it was like being at the revival. Wow, this was nice job. Very strong.
And then, there's Adam.
Holy God, as my grandfather used to say.
Erica and I watched that ten times. We DVR these things for a reason. That reason is Adam Lambert. This season is two shows. There is the show called American Idol, upon which the aforementioned singers are competing. Then there is the Adam Lambert show, that exists within American Idol, but apart from it. American Idol is merely the means to transmit the Adam Lambert show to America. A vehicle for delivery, as it were.
Erica said she needed a cigarette after that. She doesn't smoke.
Across America, girls from 13 to 33 are masturbating under their comfy couch blankets to that. So are sexually-confused boys. And some not-so-sexually-confused boys. Could he eye-fuck the camera a bit more, perhaps? Or blow the microphone a bit more?
The outfit was perfect in it's crazy silver-lame Elvis meets Freddie Mercury and David Bowie way. The snakeskin boots were truly sick and his ass in those pants was delicious. I haven't even got to the singing yet.
Randy was close with the Nine Inch Nails reference. Dilana did a similar middle eastern take on this song on Rock Star Supernova a couple of years ago and I loved her version for almost the same reasons I loved Adam's.
People forget that Johnny Cash was a rock star. He did some rock star shit in his life. The whole "man in black" persona was super bad-ass rock star shit. Cash covered some odd stuff in his later years when Rick Rubin was producing him, as well. Depeche Mode and Nine Inch Nails, to be specific.
So, Adam doing Cash in this way is perfectly fitting.
Adam is light years better than these other folks. He knows exactly what he is doing at all times. Everything is professional, choreographed, and executed perfectly. His timing and range are sick. Tonight, he was like the bastard child of Shakira and Cash, if that child had Michael Crawford's power in Justin Hawkins' range. With a little Edward Cullen thrown in for the tweener girl set.
That two-octave slide into the extreme falsetto was unreal. Otherworldly, really. Even writing this, I'm sitting here just shaking my head. Utterly ridiculous.
Erica said she doesn't know whether she wants to do him or be him. And it is only Week Two.
Lil Rounds can't say what I wished she would have said. I didn't want to do the "Black Girl Country Song." I didn't want to do anything associated with Whitney Houston. I respect her for singing a straight-up song straight up. And she didn't do it in the over-the-top, wish-I-was-Martina way that everyone else, including Carrie Underwood, has done it on this show in the past. The danger for her is that she is too precise and perfect. She's so good she may be boring to some.
Alexis Grace ran up against an immutable fact of musical life. There are only two versions of "Jolene" that matter. Dolly's original version, and Jack White's. That said, I do think it was her best performance to date. She didn't feel a need to over-sing the song. It is an angst-y enough song without a lot of theatricality.
I thought Allison did a very good version of her song. She has that kind of voice that can do a Patty Loveless song with some credibility. The down-side for her tonight is that she came early in the show and others were significantly better than her. She did really well, but at least three other contestants were on another plane.
I think Kris did really well. I understand Simon's point last week about keeping the really hot blond wife under wraps for a while. Kris is a really attractive young guy in that way that late teen girls really like. Knowing he's married, and to a hottie, could depress his vote totals. I liked that he did the song as a straight adult contemporary ballad that wasn't particularly country. It came off very, very nicely.
Anoop was awesome. That guy has a great voice. He took a classic piece of material and did it as a low-key, very heart-broken R & B ballad. His tone quality was very good in the chorus. I liked the slightly rough edge to his voice on the big notes. I'm happy that he kept the R & B melismatics to a minimum, just enough to give texture to the lines. Really excellent job.
Scott and Matt are kind of stealing each other's thunder a bit. They are competing to be "the piano guy." The difference of course is that Scott hits the over-40, suburban mom, loves Bruce Hornsby demo and Matt hits the college girl sensitive boyfriend seeker demo. Both do a great job. Both of them picked unexpected songs. Both play the hell out of the piano. I hope neither of them listens to Paula and stops playing when singing. Both of them sing so much stronger when behind the keys. Scott, especially.
I did find the songs from both to be really good while listening to them, but don't remember much about them other than that I liked them. Not a lot of "reach out and grab you moments" to stick in the memory. More of a general, happy, pleased memory.
Megan Corkrey did a very wise thing tonight. That is an old song and she did it in an old way. Very Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys western swing, with a modern sensibility. I like the retro/modern quality of her voice. She's like a pop version of Madeleine Peyroux in a hot blond with tattoos package. I really dug her tonight. She did the exact right song in the exact right way for who she is.
Danny Gokey is strong. I mean super strong. He has the right mixture of humility, talent, showmanship, and crowd-pleasing likability. I liked the outfit. With the white-frame glasses and the bright white stage lights, he played the role of church choir soloist to perfection. If you're gonna sing a song with Jesus in the title, you gotta do it the way he did it tonight. He reminded me that his day job is as a church music director. Sure there were some pitch problems in the verse, mostly because he didn't sustain his notes at the end of the lines enough. But when he got into the chorus, it was like being at the revival. Wow, this was nice job. Very strong.
And then, there's Adam.
Holy God, as my grandfather used to say.
Erica and I watched that ten times. We DVR these things for a reason. That reason is Adam Lambert. This season is two shows. There is the show called American Idol, upon which the aforementioned singers are competing. Then there is the Adam Lambert show, that exists within American Idol, but apart from it. American Idol is merely the means to transmit the Adam Lambert show to America. A vehicle for delivery, as it were.
Erica said she needed a cigarette after that. She doesn't smoke.
Across America, girls from 13 to 33 are masturbating under their comfy couch blankets to that. So are sexually-confused boys. And some not-so-sexually-confused boys. Could he eye-fuck the camera a bit more, perhaps? Or blow the microphone a bit more?
The outfit was perfect in it's crazy silver-lame Elvis meets Freddie Mercury and David Bowie way. The snakeskin boots were truly sick and his ass in those pants was delicious. I haven't even got to the singing yet.
Randy was close with the Nine Inch Nails reference. Dilana did a similar middle eastern take on this song on Rock Star Supernova a couple of years ago and I loved her version for almost the same reasons I loved Adam's.
People forget that Johnny Cash was a rock star. He did some rock star shit in his life. The whole "man in black" persona was super bad-ass rock star shit. Cash covered some odd stuff in his later years when Rick Rubin was producing him, as well. Depeche Mode and Nine Inch Nails, to be specific.
So, Adam doing Cash in this way is perfectly fitting.
Adam is light years better than these other folks. He knows exactly what he is doing at all times. Everything is professional, choreographed, and executed perfectly. His timing and range are sick. Tonight, he was like the bastard child of Shakira and Cash, if that child had Michael Crawford's power in Justin Hawkins' range. With a little Edward Cullen thrown in for the tweener girl set.
That two-octave slide into the extreme falsetto was unreal. Otherworldly, really. Even writing this, I'm sitting here just shaking my head. Utterly ridiculous.
Erica said she doesn't know whether she wants to do him or be him. And it is only Week Two.