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| | (3 recommendations so far) | Message 1 of 3 in Discussion |
| | From: drew b (Original Message) | Sent: 2/23/2006 11:53 PM |
KATHARINE, PARIS, AND THE SILLY GIRL SONGERS
MANDISA - Okay, I'll start by saying that this girl IS a good singer (good, not great), but her voice is extremely average. It's not pure, it's not resonant. It's kind of breathy-strong, and I couldn't pick it out of a crowd. Beyond that, she just clearly has NO IDEA who she is. She's trying to be all things to all people, and it doesn't work. Are you the saintly Christian girl or the slutty rocker? You've got to make up your mind, b*tch, because you don't get to be both. This wouldn't have been so bad if there hadn't been a couple of women who clearly know who they are and are comfortable in their own skin without having to force it. One of these women happens to be 12 years YOUNGER than Mandisa... And what was with the stupid costume (yes, it was a costume, as "outfit" would imply clothes that she would actually wear in her real life)? Aside from the fact that it didn't suit her, it was just flat out ugly and unflattering. I couldn't tell if she had strapped saddle bags onto her hips or if the fabric was just revealing her natural shape. Honey, the best tip for dressing is to hide your flaws and play up your strengths, NOT the other way around... And I didn't think the flat-ironed hair worked for her, either...
KELLIE - Unlike Mandisa, she has a really GOOD, special, distinctive voice -- she's just not as good at knowing what to do with it. I thought she sounded great at the beginning when she wasn't pushing, but when she went for the "power notes", it became strident and out of tune. For the first time, I really saw her (as opposed to the editors) milking the storyline aspect. I think that will turn people off more than on...
BECKY - She needed badly to relax. She was trying to hard to "perform" rather than to simply be herself, and she seemed to be fighting the tempo of the band the whole time (it DID seem like they were playing the song too slow - had they worked it out in advance?). She sounded pretty good on the verses, but on the chorus, it sounded awful. It didn't even sound like her voice, and I didn't get it. Then, I noticed that there was a backup singer with an ugly, pinched sound joining her on the chorus. I had to watch it a second time to notice, and it's most obvious the second time she does the chorus. Becky's voice is down low, but there is a higher-pitched voice covering over hers that sounds awful. This is just the opposite of what happened when Carrie did "ALONE" last year, and everybody credited her with notes that the background singer hit. Well, I hope people don't blame Becky for the notes the background singer butchered!!!
AYLA - She may just be the most boring singer this show has ever seen. Seriously, she might even beat out Lindsay from last year. Her voice is really good, but that's not enough for me. At the beginning of the song, she was changing up the melody too much for my taste, but later, it became a very solid cover of Christina's version. Still, I don't think that this girl has the slightest clue what the song is about. It's about a young woman's moment of insecurity, and Ayla comes off SO supremely secure and confident that it just made no sense. I get a real dyke-y vibe from her, too, and I wish that she were a lesbian -- at least that would give us SOMETHING distinctive to remember about her!
PARIS - This performance made nearly all of the others look amateurish. Here is a girl who was born to perform, completely comfortable in her own skin, having a great time doing what she loves to do. It was infectious. I even loved her whole 70's "Solid Gold" look with the hair, the culotte jumpsuit and the chunky necklace (although I can't imagine a 17-year-old knew enough to pick that out for herself). I didn't pay close attention to the vocals, because the performance spoke for itself (that's what being a singer is all about if you ask me). However, when I went back and re-watched, one thing I noticed is that Paris is comfortable thoroughout her range. She doesn't sacrifice the low notes in the verses so that she can hit the power notes later (nearly all of the others do this) or sing comfortably in the verses, but strain to hit the high notes. She made it ALL look easy. I loved it.
STEVIE - Sigh. Poor girl really crashed and burned here. I wonder why, as she is clearly capable of better. Still, I have to take issue with Randy. He's such a horse's ass! If he's the judge who's there to provide a real MUSICAL knowledge, why did he only talk about how "boring" he found her, rather than the fact that she missed most of the notes? I'm sure he THOUGHT he was being nice, but honesty is better, both for the performer and the audience. I think there are worse women, and I hope Stevie doesn't go week one, but on just vocals, she was the weakest.
BRENNA - Goddamn, that was horrible! She is SOOOOO obnoxious, but she also doesn't seem to get herself at all. She thinks THAT was showing a softer side? I don't know if she has a softer side, but that sure as hell wasn't it! If she said that was her hostile, bad-singing side, I'd believe her... And then, she thinks that the posing and the kissing up to the audience is going to help her? Bitch, you're not America's sweetheart. You can't get away with kissing up the way that some of the others do. You need to appeal to them in your own way. And on top of that, she flat out can't sing. I kind of liked her before, but I hope she goes this week, if for no other reason, to save Stevie.
HEATHER - This was probably my very LEAST favorite performance of the night. She is so incredibly plastic and pageant-y, and everything she did was so calculated. First of all, she's not that pretty. She's maybe Cleveland pretty or Orlando pretty, but she sure as heck isn't beautiful on a national television scale. Therefore, she needs to depend on talent and personality, both of which are equally ordinary. All in all, she came off as soulless and boring and desperate. Oh, and Heather, the word is "every", NOT "Hevery". The word is "I", not "Hi". Now go away.
MELISSA - I have very little to say about this performance. When somebody this scary-looking yells at me for 90 seconds, I tend to run away...
LISA - Are these judges on crack?! I've rarely seen such a phony, forced, "cabaret" performance in my life! Vocally, it was fine, but Lisa was SO disconnected and SO robotic that she didn't even seem human. I think she has very little soul or emotional life, but the WORST thing she can do is to pick a song that is way too old for her and outside of her life experience. She needs to pick something that she can connect with IN ANY WAY, and then take it from there. I really, really, really, really, really hated this performance.
KINNIK - I didn't hate this performance, but I thought it was really, REALLY weird. Kinnik, based on her clothes, her hair, her style, and the song, felt like a fifty-something diva performing at the Kennedy Center Honors. Seriously, that could have been Sheryl Lee Ralph. It was so OLD and there was nothing free or fun or youthful about it. I hope she can do something different, because she's not untalented. However, based on this performance, she's not right for the competition.
KATHARINE - Now this was a remarkable performance. She took a very old-fashioned song and made it contemporary and fun. She TRULY made it her own and not by butchering the melody, but by really inhabiting and living in the performance. It was fresh, and fun, and extremely well-sung. More significantly, she brought humor to the performance which is something only a few of the former idol contestants (Fantasia and Constantine leap to mind) were able to do. This comfort and confidence makes the performance itself fun to watch entirely aside from the context of the competition.
My Rankings:
1. Katharine
2. Paris
3. Kellie
4. Mandisa
5. Becky
6. Ayla
7. Kinnik
8. Stevie
9. Melissa
10. Lisa
11. Brenna
12. Heather
Face it, Paris and Katharine were operating on an entirely different level from everybody else last night. They were confident enough in their talent that they could give themselves over to the performance, live in the moment and HAVE FUN. On the other hand, everybody else seemed to be focused on NOT SCREWING UP so that they could impress the judges and get the audience to vote for them. Theirs is the behavior of a reality-show contestant. What Katharine and Paris did shows that they are ARTISTS...
Novelty Acts and Horror Shows (and a few damn good performances)
Well, that was just plain wierd! If they're going for "different", they've certainly found it...
PATRICK - The good news is, I think he may be the ONLY idol contestant who didn't completely destroy a Melissa Etheridge song - none of the women who have tried (including Nikki and Nadia, both of whom I loved) have had big enough balls to pull it off. However, I can't say I particularly [i]liked[/i] Patrick's performance. Simon talked about his likeability, but I think just the opposite. To me, he looks like Fisher Stevens, and therefore carries the same oily, weaselly vibe with him. Combined with the lyrics of this song, I just felt a total stalker vibe, and I was creeped out by what he intends to DO once he/she comes to his window... Maybe with a song that showcases his vocals more, he can overcome...
DAVID - I really hate this phony, imitative kind of novelty act, but the job David did with it wasn't so bad. What I would like, though, would be to see him simply SING without trying to BE somebody else or to put on some style that he thinks is different. Just be himself on stage. Until he does that, it's really hard to evaluate whether he can sing or not. I think that the advice the judges gave him was the worst possible thing they could have said, and I'm afraid he'll now do Sinatra imitations till the audience votes him off... F*ck Randy, Paula and Simon.
BUCKY - I loved him and I loved this performance. The growling definitely got to be a bit much, and I wish he would have toned that down, as there is clearly a very nice voice there. Still, his AUTHENTICITY and his simplicity carried him nicely, and I just plain liked him.
WILL - Well, that was certainly an ambitious choice, and he pulled it off better than I would have expected. Even his moves impressed me. Where does a 16-year-old amateur get that kind of confidence and comfort on stage? Still, Simon was right that, when compared to the Jackson 5, Will's vocals come off ordinary. I think he'll be safe, but he's going to have to impress with his singing rather than his showmanship. Based on the portion of "Bridge Over Troubled Waters" that we heard, he has it in him...
SWAY - Ugh! Well, after I finished calming down my dogs who were howling up a storm and swept up all the glass that had shattered as a result of his high-pitched shrieking, I just managed to make it back in time to have my jaw drop when I heard that two of the judges thought it was GOOD! WTF?! Yes, it's difficult to do that song in Falsetto, but so what? It's also difficult to stand in front of a firing squad and catch bullets in your teeth, but that doesn't mean that it's a GOOD IDEA to do so! That doesn't mean I want to WATCH if you do choose to do so! That was one of the most unpleasant idol moments I can remember. PLEASE let him go home!!!!
CHRIS - This was a nearly perfect performance. Perfect song, perfect vocals... Why am I not MORE impressed? Is it that it was just clearly so easy for him and he could pull that off in his sleep? I don't know. I loved it, but I don't love HIM. At least not yet. I want him to take some risks now and show me what else he can do.
KEVIN - WTF, part deux. Randy and Paula LIKED this mess? Are they high? Aside from it being a terrible song for him that he sang out of tune with Rasmussonian vibrato, it was just plain uncomfortable to watch him standing there like one of those awkward nerds in a spelling bee waiting for the axe to fall. Face it, even if this kid is a singer (and I'm not convinced that he is), he is NOT a performer. Please, America, don't torture him by keeping him in the way you did to John Stevens.
GEDEON - Does anybody else think that Jesse Jackson might have another illegitimate love child that we don't know about? I freaking hate him, BUT that performance RAWKED! It was a bizarre novelty act, and I completely get what Simon is saying (although I would say midnight show at a downtown Las Vegas casino rather than opening act for the Chippendales), but it was REALLY well-sung. Beyond that, it's damned impressive that a 17-year-old could IMMEDIATELY be hired to perform in that kind of show. Unfortunately, that is not American Idol, and I don't think he'll ever get over the hurdle of his unlikeability. Still, I think he's a unique talent.
ELLIOT - Hmmm. It was definitely better than Ryan Starr's performance of the same song, but given that he has impressed both Simon and (more importantly) Blue, I wish that I could say more than that. It was definitely a'ight, but I wasn't particularly wowed or entertained. And DAMN he's hard on the eyes! At first I thought it was the teeth, but maybe it's the ears. Oh well. Put him in a studio and he'll be a great studio vocalist. I don't think he's a star.
BOBBY - I'm almost ashamed to say this, but I FREAKING LOVED HIM IN THIS PERFORMANCE. Yes, it's a total novelty act, but he was SOOOOO committed that he just caught me up. And he sang the song well and has a very interesting voice - shades of Louis Armstrong there. I have no idea what kind of a career he could have, but I probably had more fun watching him than anybody else on tonight's show. I found him delightful.
ACE - I said last week that I wished they had shown his portion of "Emotions" from the group audition in Hollywood. Well, now that I've seen it, I wish I hadn't. P.U.! Therefore, I wasn't prepared to like what he did tonight so much. It was a BRILLIANT song choice. It played up his strengths and hid his weaknesses. It's contemporary enough to keep him current but enough of a standard to give him some weight. I liked the way he changed up the beginning, but really, he mostly just sang the song straight and showed (or put on - I'm not sure which) his "sincerity". He's a finalist for sure, and I'm guessing top 5 or 6, depending on who steps up or falls apart. One other thing: Ace's brother is WAY better looking than Ace. Can he be our Amy's boyfriend this year?
TAYLOR - No question that he's good, but he still kind of creeps me out. Is it his very love of music that comes out in an odd way and makes him seem like a freak? I don't know. It's hard for me to evaluate him, because my rational reaction and my visceral reaction don't match. I WILL say that he has got to learn to enunciate, as I couldn't understand half of the words he was saying...
My Rankings:
1. Chris
2. Bobby
3. Ace
4. Bucky
5. Gedeon
6. Elliott
7. Taylor
8. Will
9. David
10. Patrick
11. Kevin
12. Sway (and I want to sue him for all the damage his "singing" caused) |
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| | | From: drew b | Sent: 2/24/2006 1:00 AM |
That's fine. I didn't notice where I was posting it, as I always just do "All Threads at Once"...
Thanks, fins! |
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