Idol Worship: Top12 Men
My take on last night's American Idol show:
Toddrick Hall - "Since You've Been Gone" by Kelly Clarkson: Ummmm.....what the HELL was Todrick thinking? Turning a Kelly Clarkson song into a New Jack remix??? The only thing that was similar was the lyrics. The melody was completely different, and the vocals were rough in some spots, namely the chorus. It was a bad reinterpretation of a fun song.
Aaron Kelly - "Here Comes Goodbye" by Rascal Flatts: Aaron did a very good job on this song. The vocals were spot on for most of the song, but for a 16 year old, it would probably benefit him to sing some less serious songs, and go for the something a little more fun. He's very likable and comes off like a cross between a boy band singer and a country singer. Pop country is probably where he will excel. Solid job.
Jermaine Sellers - "Get Here" by Oleta Adams: Jermaine is a church singer, so of course I expected him to "take it to church". There were a lot of pointless vocal runs, and when he "took it to church", and hit his high notes, they sounded forced and shouted. I think that if he scaled back the dynamics a bit, and was a little more under control, he would be fine. Not great here...okay at best.
Tim Urban - "Apologize" by OneRepublic: Tim was a last-minute replacement in the Top 24...and it shows. Note to Tim: If you are not strong with doing falsettos, you probably shouldn't pick a song which has a falsetto as a chorus. His vocals were barely audible under the band. Plus, it was a yawner of a performance as well.
Joe Munoz - "You and I Both" by Jason Mraz: Joe didn't really get any face-time during the season, so it will be interesting to see why he made the Top 24. Know what? He actually did a pretty solid job on this song. He has a lot of vibrato everywhere, but that can be fixed. Probably nerves. He probably should have picked a more popular song to keep him around. It will be up to the voters to determine if he has any charisma to stay on the show.
Tyler Grady - "American Woman" by The Guess Who: Hey, it's the 70's show! The song starts out blues acoustic, then breaks into the Lenny Kravitz version. I'm not impressed with the vocals at all. There was nothing about them that had a wow factor. It was actually kind of shout-y. If his vocals matched his stage presence, he's be pretty good.
Lee DeWyze - "Chasing Cars" by Snow Patrol: This was a tepid song choice. He was fine when singing the subdued vocal, but when Lee broke out into a rock vocal, he went off key in a bunch of places. Why Simon is fighting hard for this guy is beyond me at this point. It was a middling performance at best.
John Park - "God Bless the Child" by Billie Holliday: Since I haven't really seen him much in the previous episodes, I wasn't aware that he was a baritone. This is a bad song choice for him, because he sounded a bit monotone and somber. It's obvious that he has decent singing ability from his vocal runs, but this was not a showcase song for his vocals.
Michael Lynche - “This Love” by Maroon Five: "Big Mike" was actually a favorite of mine before the Top 24 was picked. That being said, I was a bit let down by his performance. He was fun to watch on stage, but the vocals seemed to bore me a bit. There could be a bit more energy and attitude behind the vocals, rather than sounding like a person who is just breezing through the song. It was just okay.
Alex Lambert - “Wonderful World” by James Morrison: This was a very sound-alike performance by Alex. The only problem is that he has some bum lower-register notes in the beginning of the song. The awkwardness in front of the cameras doesn't help him out, either. A fair performance.
Casey James - “Heaven” by Bryan Adams: Finally, a performance where the performer was confident, and the song choice was spot-on. The vocals were a bit sharp here and there, but Casey worked the camera and performed the song very well, overall. He probably has had the best performance out of all of the contestants so far, including the girls.
Andrew Garcia - “Sugar We’re Going Down” by Fallout Boy: Andrew takes the emo song, and converts it into an acoustic pop song. Since I don't like the song or Fall Out Boy, I can't say that I dig the overall performance, but I do like the vocals on it. I'm hoping Andrew can cover some better songs in the future, because he will be around for awhile.
Toddrick Hall - "Since You've Been Gone" by Kelly Clarkson: Ummmm.....what the HELL was Todrick thinking? Turning a Kelly Clarkson song into a New Jack remix??? The only thing that was similar was the lyrics. The melody was completely different, and the vocals were rough in some spots, namely the chorus. It was a bad reinterpretation of a fun song.
Aaron Kelly - "Here Comes Goodbye" by Rascal Flatts: Aaron did a very good job on this song. The vocals were spot on for most of the song, but for a 16 year old, it would probably benefit him to sing some less serious songs, and go for the something a little more fun. He's very likable and comes off like a cross between a boy band singer and a country singer. Pop country is probably where he will excel. Solid job.
Jermaine Sellers - "Get Here" by Oleta Adams: Jermaine is a church singer, so of course I expected him to "take it to church". There were a lot of pointless vocal runs, and when he "took it to church", and hit his high notes, they sounded forced and shouted. I think that if he scaled back the dynamics a bit, and was a little more under control, he would be fine. Not great here...okay at best.
Tim Urban - "Apologize" by OneRepublic: Tim was a last-minute replacement in the Top 24...and it shows. Note to Tim: If you are not strong with doing falsettos, you probably shouldn't pick a song which has a falsetto as a chorus. His vocals were barely audible under the band. Plus, it was a yawner of a performance as well.
Joe Munoz - "You and I Both" by Jason Mraz: Joe didn't really get any face-time during the season, so it will be interesting to see why he made the Top 24. Know what? He actually did a pretty solid job on this song. He has a lot of vibrato everywhere, but that can be fixed. Probably nerves. He probably should have picked a more popular song to keep him around. It will be up to the voters to determine if he has any charisma to stay on the show.
Tyler Grady - "American Woman" by The Guess Who: Hey, it's the 70's show! The song starts out blues acoustic, then breaks into the Lenny Kravitz version. I'm not impressed with the vocals at all. There was nothing about them that had a wow factor. It was actually kind of shout-y. If his vocals matched his stage presence, he's be pretty good.
Lee DeWyze - "Chasing Cars" by Snow Patrol: This was a tepid song choice. He was fine when singing the subdued vocal, but when Lee broke out into a rock vocal, he went off key in a bunch of places. Why Simon is fighting hard for this guy is beyond me at this point. It was a middling performance at best.
John Park - "God Bless the Child" by Billie Holliday: Since I haven't really seen him much in the previous episodes, I wasn't aware that he was a baritone. This is a bad song choice for him, because he sounded a bit monotone and somber. It's obvious that he has decent singing ability from his vocal runs, but this was not a showcase song for his vocals.
Michael Lynche - “This Love” by Maroon Five: "Big Mike" was actually a favorite of mine before the Top 24 was picked. That being said, I was a bit let down by his performance. He was fun to watch on stage, but the vocals seemed to bore me a bit. There could be a bit more energy and attitude behind the vocals, rather than sounding like a person who is just breezing through the song. It was just okay.
Alex Lambert - “Wonderful World” by James Morrison: This was a very sound-alike performance by Alex. The only problem is that he has some bum lower-register notes in the beginning of the song. The awkwardness in front of the cameras doesn't help him out, either. A fair performance.
Casey James - “Heaven” by Bryan Adams: Finally, a performance where the performer was confident, and the song choice was spot-on. The vocals were a bit sharp here and there, but Casey worked the camera and performed the song very well, overall. He probably has had the best performance out of all of the contestants so far, including the girls.
Andrew Garcia - “Sugar We’re Going Down” by Fallout Boy: Andrew takes the emo song, and converts it into an acoustic pop song. Since I don't like the song or Fall Out Boy, I can't say that I dig the overall performance, but I do like the vocals on it. I'm hoping Andrew can cover some better songs in the future, because he will be around for awhile.