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Friday, March 18, 2011
11:00 am
11 Comments
Last night on American Idol: a very surprising result — to me anyway. But first… we had to draw out the results as long as possible because there are commericals to squeeze in. Commericials for Coke. Commercials for Ford. Commercials for Lee Dewyze’s new album. But before that, Seacrest shilled the brand-new 10-year-anniversary American Idol album. You know who the real American Idol is? Capitalism.
Anyway — the Top 12′s group performance is a combination of “Born to Be Wild” and “Born This Way.” Both excellent songs but totally unrelated aside from that one word they have in common. The most memorable parts of the performance: Lusky’s mic is off, Naima’s vocals are way off, and Haley continues to showcase awkward an uncomfortable dance moves. Loosen up, girl! The Ford music video is set to “Val Kilmer,” a ditty about a once hot and studley super star who has become a thick, bloated hobo wandering the East Village.
Speaking of bloated… Lee Dewyze certainly hasn’t been missing any meals, huh? Still looking good, though, Lee. He sings a soft, sleepy song and sounds good but still looks pretty soft and sleepy. You’re a superstah, dude, get excited! Later, the Black Eyed Peas put on yet another bizarre performance that is synthesized to all hell. They dedicate “Just Can’t Get Enough” to Japan, but it also includes the line “love you long time.” I know that a Vietnamese woman originally said that in Full Metal Jacket, but it seems a little… inappropriate.
By the time all is said and done, there are three women on the chopping block: Naima, Haley and Karen. Naima is sent to safety. Then Haley is, too. Karen sings “Hero” to try to get the judges’ wildcard vote. As she sings her Spanglish version of the song, Randy and J-Lo have some serious debate. Steven draws naked ladies on his legal pad and then takes a nap. In the end, the judges decide not to use the wild card vote. Randy says it was not unanimous, and I’m guessing J-Lo got out-voted.
Well, America. I can’t say that I agree with your decision. I thought Karen was fantastic! Adorable, well-spoken and a great singer who could appeal to a lot of people. I thought singing in English and Spanish would give her an edge. Do you think that she got more votes because of it? Or lost votes because of that? The boys are really kicking butt this season, huh?
11 Comments
Karen could sing well but she was kind of boring and the outfit she wore on Wednesday was like something out of Star Trek, which might have made some people scratch their heads. Also, I don’t think AI has a significant Latin American demographic.
Based on this week’s performances alone it should have been Naima leaving, since she didn’t sing a single note in tune in her whole song, but she benefitted from being a little more exciting performer, though I love my NYC homegirl Karen. She is just adoreable and so is her mom. Haley has talent but needs to get her act together. In the meantime, she is benefitting from the well-known “Megan Joy Corkery Effect” whereby the hottest female contestant gets several bonus weeks beyond where her talent should take her. Bonus points for the outfit showcasing her legs, Haley Scarnato-style.
I think the bilingual singing helped her get into the top 12, but once there it wasn’t enough to differentiate her from Pia and she suffered by comparison. She seems sweet, though, and JLo seems interested in having Mark help her, so who knows.
Haley is the hottest contestant? I must admit — that never occurred to me… Maybe her schmeared lipstick has been distracting me!
Haley is the hottest…by default. Sigh.
I wasn’t surprised that Naima was in the bottom 3 but I was pleased she scraped by. I think she has more potential to be a full-package performer than many of the other contestants do, so hopefully she can start pulling the package together much better by next week.
I was sooo bored during most of the performances this week. I was anticipating something really great when Pia said she was going to do an upbeat version of Whitney, but then she wound up pulling off a more dated version than the original.
The problem for me is that most of these performers are like the singing version of the “competition kids” that the judges always complain about on SYTYCD. They’ve got the technique but they lack the creativity and the soul. Basically a lot of them come off sounding and looking like pageant performers (including Stefano).
I think Lauren topped the class this week and I predict her for the win. Pia obviously has a following due to her awesome vocals, but that’s not going to propel her to the end unless she can start showing some personality and creativity on stage. Haley could be a dark horse and surprise me because she definitely has the voice, but she also needs to find a stage presence (and a sound) of her own. I was a little suprised by Karen going home, because I thought she improved significantly over last week, but I agree with Vallegirl: she just couldn’t compete with Pia.
I too don’t get the “haley’s the hottest contestant” thing, but then I’m not a guy. Maybe you just have to have a thing for young blondes? Personally, I think Pia is way more attractive. Stefano is the best looking male but given his lack of soul he’s lost his appeal to me.
I thought Rachel Zevita (sp?) was the best looking, but she didn’t last long. The guys are doing fine with the votes right now, but I think the top girl vote getters won’t come close to bottom three until most of the guys have left.
“The problem for me is that most of these performers are like the singing version of the “competition kids” that the judges always complain about on SYTYCD. They’ve got the technique but they lack the creativity and the soul. Basically a lot of them come off sounding and looking like pageant performers (including Stefano).”
I don’t disagree with this, but I think the contestants on this show have so many more disadvantages to overcome than actual recording artists and performers, and those disadvantages just heighten any weaknesses the contestants have. I’ve often wondered how well most recording artists would do if they were willing to participate in this type of competition. Sing truncated versions of songs picked from a short list that lies outside of their comfort zone that they have to learn in a few days and perform on an a big empty stage with nothing to interact with while being viewed with a hyper-critical eye. I can think of a few artists who might do well under these conditions, but for most it would be a real challenge. The biggest advantage recording artists have is experience, and most could probably fake their way through a performance even if they didn’t sound great doing it.
@ohhyeah: I think you raise some good points. Whenever the judges (*coughrandycough*) get picky about pitchy patches in a performance, I often find it hypocritical when most of the big pop stars these days don’t even attempt to sing live and very few of them can sing on key when they do sing live. Not that I think it’s an excuse, but it’s not something I would get picky about if it doesn’t characterize the whole performance.
However, where I do think that most artists would excel would be in stage presence (of the non-pagent kind), which only a handful of these kids actually have. I am reminded, though, that Carrie Underwood used to bug me with her dead eyes during her performances when she was on idol but she seemed to have grown into quite the stage performer with experience. And I remember that Jennifer Hudson had to grow into her stage presence on the show as well. So there might be hope for some of this cohort yet.
Naima will have plenty of potential — once she learns how to sing in key, at any rate. I love her determination to get on pitch, however, as if she’s only just discovered that it’s the secret to singing.
That said, some of my favorite singers are famously ‘off-key’ but they’re singing a much different music, where that kind of thing works. I don’t think Naima’s up for that either. And she’s so gawky and gangly to look at, I can’t enjoy her performances.
So no doubt she goes home next. Unless the fat masses of AI voteresses make Haley pay for her lithe young thighs.
I don’t think the voters are voting against Haley’s thighs — I think it’s the lack of a personality that’s failing to win them over.