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

[dreamerren]

Can I just cosign everything that you said here? Because you just summed up all my thoughts rather nicely.

Sad state of affairs for a show that I used to dearly love.

[jlh]

Yeah, people keep looking at it in terms of gender in particular but I don't think it's as simple as that. But I really loved Kris Allen so I'm not really on the representation bus that a lot of other people are.

[jlh]

haha, I KNOW. My pal evil_erato was saying on chat last night that the line must be drawn: k.d., Rufus, Leonard, and that's it. I liked Castro's version two years ago, but I have to agree with her. And to think, someone wrote a whole essay about Hallelujah covers like, two or three years ago!

But the answer is because Simon likes it, and the reason Simon is so successful is that he has extraordinarily uncannily middlebrow taste.

[tagore]

I think the answer is because Simon owns the publishing rights. I'm not completely sure, though.

[jlh]

How on earth could Simon have got hold of Leonard Cohen's publishing rights? That doesn't sound like him at all. I mean, Cohen's pretty highbrow for Simon. Sony might have them, but Sony has everything. I've heard Simon go on and on about that song, though, so I think he just likes it.

[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

[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

[sistermagpie]

My heart just dropped when I heard they were doing Hallelujah. I love the song, but everybody does it and I did not get why they were so excited about that version because it seemed like it was just mush.

The only song that really interested me was Baby I'm Amazed. I don't even know how many times I voted for Crystal.

[jlh]

I ended up voting 15 times for Crystal. I will likely go over my text limit next week voting for Crystal.