To start off this week, I never realized how much some of you guys depend on my review. I got email complaints! I’m flattered that this review is well-liked, and I promise to make arrangements next time for me to continue my review, regardless of whether or not I’m home or not. A thank you to all my readers for being so loyal! I love writing and reviewing shows for you guys, so if you want to continue reading my views, perhaps on a different show after Idol is over, then let me know. Within the next two weeks, I’ll be placing a website address here for you guys to take a survey, and vote on what show, if any, that you guys would like me to review next, in the absence of Idol. Please participate!
Just to touch upon last’s week’s performances, I actually downloaded David Cook’s performance of “Always Be My Baby”. I never in a million years would have guessed that I would be downloading a Mariah Carey song, but I take comfort in the fact it sounds nothing like it. David’s version of the song is a haunting, eerily stalker-ish, emo rock ballad that could DEFINITELY appear on a movie soundtrack somewhere. To close, it was finally the other Cook’s time to go home. Kristy Lee turned out to be a very smart girl in her song choices, and I could see her doing very well on the country circuit. (hey, remember our resident Idol airhead, Kelly Pickler?)
Now, as far as this week’s theme goes, I think I could honestly say I haven’t seen all of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s plays. I could safely say I’ve seen at least half though, which I think familiarizes me enough with his style and passion. He truly cares about a song’s emotion and words, and wants the person singing the tune to reflect this. Of all the mentors I’ve seen on Idol, he is the only one who I truly thought had some real advice for the contestants. We’re down to six, so it’s coming down to the wire. I’m starting to make out two figures as the final two, and they both have the same first name.
Okay enough, I can actually hear some of saying to get on with it.
So let’s get to the performances:
1.SYESHA MERCADO – sung "One Rock and Roll Too Many" from Starlight Express – This had to be the first time I actually saw some personality from Syesha. It wasn’t a diva tune, it wasn’t over the top. It was actually good. She looked like she was having fun, and just like Simon said, it was also very sexy. I agree with the judges in the respect that you can tell very easily that this is Syesha’s element. Look back at all her past performances and then look at this one. The passion and personality she showed in this performance makes the other performances pale in comparison. But the problem I see, is that it might be too late. She found her “niche” so to speak, too late. I think that her performance was good enough to make her last another week, but I see her going home soon. She just connected to the audience too late, and now eyes are on other contestants. Safe this week, but going home within the next couple of weeks.
2.JASON CASTRO – sung "Memory" from Cats – I couldn’t agree with Simon more when he described Jason as being forced to sing this. Though Jason sung this well, I felt it was void of all emotion. I didn’t feel anything from him during his performance, and it kind of stood out for me. On top of that, Jason admitted never seeing any of the Webber plays. He didn’t even know the song he was going to sing was sung by a “cat”. Take all this into account, and I can completely figure out how Jason made the choices he did. Let me set it up for you; Jason finds out next week is the songs of Andrew Lloyd Webber; Jason looks at the list of songs and does not recognize any of them, except one, which he samples; he recognizes the tune, maybe because it’s one of the most famous ones, and decides, “hey, I kind of recognize that, I’ll do that one”. No connection whatsoever to the song, and though I don’t think this was one of Jason’s strongest performances, I think it was one of his weakest. This will definitely make him my first pick for my bottom three choices.
3.BROOKE WHITE - sung "You Must Love Me" from Evita - By now, if you’ve been reading this blog from the beginning, you know I’m a big fan of Brooke. But dear God, twice in the season she had a bad start, and restarted the song?! Yikes. Granted, it was the right thing to do, but it was a catylist to how the song went from there. I truly believe it when Simon said that the stopping and starting of the song completely threw her off, and it affected the first half of the song greatly. This was one of my all time favorite songs from Evita. (the movie – I regretably never seen the play, but would very much love to see it – especially with Patti Lupone- but I digress) In the movie, Madonna sung this song with such passion and sincerity you felt yourself choke up at the emotion from the way it was sung. Because of Brooke’s stop and start, the beginning of the song lacked any heartfelt emotion. It totally did not work, but thankfully towards the middle, Brooke took control of it again, and the emotion finally burst through. By the end of the song, the heartbreaking emotion of the song was there in full force, which made a fantastic ending. Unfortunately, the overall performance of the song was marred by that unemotional start. Add to the fact that Brooke was thisclose to being eliminated last week, and I think she needs to worry. I hate to do this, but Brooke is my second pick for my bottom three choices.
4.DAVID ARCHULETA – sung "Think of Me" from The Phantom of the Opera– To start off, I would like to say how appropriate the nickname “Porkchop” is for little David. (my thanks to my friend Dawn for coming up with it). As for his performance, I think I need to agree with Simon, as opposed to Randy and Paula on this one. Though I think David will sail on through to next week, I think this wasn’t as great as the other two judges made it out to be. I feel it was one of Porkchop’s weaker performances, and almost as forgetable as that horrible “The Voice” song choice he did weeks ago. David sung it with passion, and I did find it quite entertaining watching him try to keep his eyes open during his performance. I still love David, but I’m starting to really not see him as a pop star. In fact, I’m not quite sure where I see him if he wins. If the rumors about his dad are true (that he’s a typical “show-dad”, making choices and adding unneeded pressure to his son), then I don’t see David doing well at all if he wins. Hopefully, the rumors are wrong. David is definitely safe this week.
5.CARLY SMITHSON – sung "Jesus Christ Superstar" from Jesus Christ Superstar – Finally, I can say Carly made a good song choice. Though can I really say she did though? Didn’t Andrew Lloyd Webber tell her to change it? Regardless, it was definitely the better song to choose of the two she had. I was somewhat unfamiliar with this particular tune, on account it being one of the plays I’ve had the unfortunate luck of never seeing. I went to iTunes and heard the sample tune from the soundtrack, to compare to Carly’s performance. Saying that, I didn’t think it was that bad. It wasn’t great though, and just I said in previous posts, I keep waiting for Carly to wow me, and it still hasn’t happened. I think this was one of her strongest performances, but it just didn’t leave me speechless (like David Cook last week). I think she got lost a little in the middle of the song, but she recovered by the end. Overall, a great performance, but I’m still waiting for the “wow”. I think the audience is still waiting too, so I think she may need to be my last pick for my bottom three choices.
6.DAVID COOK – sung "Music of the Night" from The Phantom of the Opera– God, Simon and I were both on the same wavelength last night, because we are agreeing on almost all the contestants. Except maybe this one. Simon said that he didn’t like this side of David, and he prefers the harder rocker David. Well, duh Simon. It was Broadway tunes for crying out loud, what did you expect? I think David made the best choice he could as far as songs go, and to be honest, I kind of agree with Paula (did I just really say that?) and Randy on this one. This performance, though forgetable, showed David’s versatility. He’s not a one trick pony (I’m looking at you, Amanda Overmyer), and he stuck with just his natural voice for this performance. It made it a truly great performance, and yes though not his strongest, (last week) or his most memorable, it most definitely made him safe this week. (by the way, I’m officially on the David Cook fan wagon now, and rooting for him all the way)
My Bottom Three Picks: Jason Castro, Carly Smithson and unfortunately, Brooke White.
My Pick to be Eliminated Tonight: I hate this, but I gotta be unbiased. Jason’s performance and his goofiness will get him by again. Carly and Brooke are in trouble, but I think Brooke’s stop and start has doomed her to go home.
So what do you guys think? Agree? Disagree? Let’s chat it up!
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9 comments:
"Lord Andrew", as David Cook called him, was by far the best. He was honest and freaking funny. Brooke was the worst of the night, followed by Castro. The Judges went easy on Brooke considering it's like the worst crime on Idol to forget the words. Everybody else did OK.
Now, take a look at Porkchop. He looks like the love child of Mike, our teacher friend. (And he's the right age for it too!)
-Now, take a look at Porkchop. He looks like the love child of Mike, our teacher friend. (And he's the right age for it too!-
Eww. Now I won't be able to look at him the same way again. Thanks a lot tigue.
>:-(
Ok, here's my take. I disagree with your assessment of David Archuleta. I think he did a great job with the song especially since my only knowledge of the song is Sarah Brightman's overly diva'd voice singing "theen kofff meeeeee" so enunciated and operatic. I'm proud of David for adding his own style. I think he is shaping up to be a Christian Pop singer...like Michael W. Smith and that's not a huge genre, so it would be weird for American Idol to produce one of them. Unfortunately, I'm afraid that's his genre and I don't think it's because of his father. I grew up Mormon, so I understand...as long as he's famous among Mormons or even just Christians, he will feel successful no matter what. Mormons are raised to be a lot more autonomous than you may think (because you may think it's a brainwashing cult; thus the father rumors). I know David would never lie, and when Simon commented that his father chose his song that one time, he was so confused because he really did choose the song. It's his upbringing that makes him choose inspirational, not his father.
I agree with a lot of what else you said, and I definitely agree that Brooke and Jason will be in the bottom three. I don't know if it will be Carly. I have a feeling the third will be a surprise, but that person will definitely not go home.
Having said that, of the two of them, I really think that Jason will be the one sent home. He wasn't even cute last night. It was a REALLY BAD song choice especially because he had never heard it before. He should have consulted people, LOTS of people, in making his choice. Or, he should have had two like Carly did (she had two choices and if you listened, she went with the 2nd of HER choices at the suggestion of Lord Andrew, not HIS song choice). Anyway, Jason didn't do it for me at all, and I think he needs to go home because of it. At least Brooke worked it despite her glitch in the beginning and earned another week in the running even if ever so slightly.
I didn't think of the Christian rock genre, so I agree with you there. I can see David making it big there. If that's his niche, then he will do extremely well. It's not the first time it's happened. After all, Idol alumni such as winner Ruben Studdard and Mandisa have made it huge on the gospel genre.
Also, I don't think the father rumors are coming about because it has anything to do with that he is Morman. It doesn't matter what religion you are, if you are a "show dad" or "show mom", then you are putting undo pressure on your child. There are plenty of show parents that are just as bad, but not Morman. Again, I don't know how true these rumors are, but my point is, regardless, I hope they aren't. David has enough pressure without a show dad on top of everything.
Nick: Lord Andrew actually told Carly to change the other song, All I Ask of You, not the one she picked.
Carly and David Cook were great, David A was good but I'd still like to point out that the only two non-ballad songs this kid has sung have been disasters, one was the "Theme Park" performance from the year he was born and the other was the Beatles song in which he forgot the words. So how they can say that he can sing anything baffles me. He can sing ballads, which is pretty much all Rubin could sing and how did that work out for AI?
Syesha did well but I think it's all too late for her. Brooke or Castro is going home. I think Jason needs to lay of the pot a little and do some research next time. And the judges were way to easy on Brooke. Any other contestant they would have ripped apart for making that mistake. Instead Simon almost complimented her. I don't get it. At this point if you make that much of a mistake you need to go.
That's a good point, but I don't think his dad is even a "show dad." I guess the reason I said what I said is because I think he was rumored a "show dad" because of the comment Simon made about David's song choice several weeks ago. Then people blew it out of proportion and because of the religious background his father was stigmatized. It will be interesting to see what happens as 'porkchop' gets closer to the final three. I really think he has a good chance of making it there. And it would be kind of exciting to have the top two be males. That's never happened in the history of idol. However, especially after last week, the males are definitely MUCH better than the females in this competition.
Actually, there have been two male finalists once before, in Season Two. Ruben Studdard and Clay Aiken were the final two that season.
:-)
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