Quentin is no stranger to the Idol scene as he logged time during Season 2 back when they used to employ guest judges on performance night. During his intro, Quentin informed us that he is going to leverage his skills as a movie director to guide the Idols through their preparation for tonight's big performance show.
Before getting to the actual performances it should be noted that because of last week's timing snafu where most of us missed Adam's performance, this week the Idols will only receive critiques from two judges at a time meaning that not everyone will be the beneficiary (or butt) of Simon's comments. Should make for an interesting show...
And speaking of the show, here come the Idols...
- Up first is Allison who selected Aerosmith's "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing" from Armagedon. In recent weeks Allison's style choices have garnered more attention than her powerful vocals and as I look at her in an oversized black top and red and black pinstriped leggings, I have a feeling if time weren't an issue, she might receive more unflattering comments. As for the singing, I didn't feel it, but my opinion doesn't really count as far as the official Idol show goes. Paula was the first judge to weigh in and called her "authentic" and Simon said she was "the girls only hope left in the competition". He went on and wrapped her in compliments normally saved for front-running Adam Lambert, so I guess I don't know much...oh well, at least I have this blog...take that Mr. Cowell!
- Anoop Dogg hit the stage next and shared his version of "Everything I Do For You" from Robinhood: Prince of Thieves and recorded by Canada's own Bryan Adams. Quentin encouraged Anoop to dig deep when performing the song. As he has done before when performing his signature ballads, Anoop seemed a bit sleepy--at one point he paused so long, I thought they might need to set an alarm clock to get him going again. This time it was Randy and Kara's turn to offer their thoughts. Randy thought he did a really good job and Kara agreed. She thought it was "one of the best vocals of the night"...really, Kara?! Two performers in and Anoop has already landed the "best vocal of the night" comment?! I guess Kara subscribes to the "go early or go home" theory.
- Next up was Adam Lambert who selected "Born to Be Wild" by Steppenwolf and from the Easy Rider soundtrack. Before hitting the stage, Quentin gave Adam his seal of approval calling him a "rock star" and then Adam and his eyeliner exploded on stage and got the crowd all excited--I'm pretty sure it doesn't matter what Adam performs anymore, the crowd, the judges, and, most importantly, the voters love this guy and with good reason. If he doesn't win this silly little contest, the fix will most certainly be in. Paula called him "brave" and heaped piles of compliments on him. Before Simon told Adam how great the song was vocally, he encouraged him to learn to express himself a bit more--oh, humor from Mr. Salty-Dogg!...and then Simon took it all back by saying "it was a bit like watching the Rocky Horror Picture Show"--which wasn't a compliment. Simon went on to say the performance wasn't as good as last week's--you know, the one most of us missed, but we get it, Simon, keep him humble and continuing to strive for the elusive perfect performance.
- Piano man, Matt Giraud, picked the second Bryan Adams song of the night--"Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman" from Don Juan DiMarco. When it came time to perform, we were treated to Matt sitting comfortably at the Idol baby grand and accompanied by Ricky Minor and the Idol Orchestra--who set up shop on the stage for the evening. Matt had a bit of rough start to the song, he hit the bridge strong, but his growling vocals never really got the chance to soar. Unfortunately he didn't exactly sound like the Matt we have grown to love (and expect). Randy called the performance "interesting" saying Matt was all over the place with the melody. Kara sensed that Matt struggled with doing a rock song or an R&B tune and his vocals suffered. While Kara was sharing her thoughts, we were able to see Simon making funny faces and goofing with Paula--no doubt he is showing his displeasure with tonight's reduced judging role as well as his pretty much being annoyed by Kara and her meandering and pointless critiques. Either way, Matt may be in trouble come tomorrow night's elimination show.
- Channeling Lionel Richie, Danny Gokey chose "Endless Love" from the movie of the same name. Before his mentoring session with Mr. Tarantino, Danny said this was the one song that he connected with the most on the show this season--which says something because he has sung some pretty personal and emotional songs. Danny was joined on stage not only by the Idol Orchestra, but also a lovely harp player. He sounded a bit rough in the beginning, but as Randy likes to say, he worked it out. Paula thought he gave his usual strong performance. Simon also said he sounded good, but was disappointed that he did such a straight up version and thought it was a little "boring", but also said that he understood the emotional connection with the song and couldn't fault him for singing it the way he did. When all is said and done, I'm fairly certain Danny will garner enough votes to sing another week.
- Rising star, Kris, chose "Falling Slowly" from the movie Once--if you haven't heard of the song or the movie, you're in good company because neither have I. But that shouldn't matter because Kris sang it with such passion and emotion, I quite enjoyed it. There were even a few tears shed by one of his family members. Randy broke out the "pitchy" card--What?!, but Kara thought it was one of Kris' best performances which says something because he has had some killer performances these past few weeks.
- Closing out the show, Lil Rounds chose Bette Midler's "The Rose". Quentin encouraged her to commit to the entire song and promised she'd hit a home run if she did so. Lil tried to blend her R&B sound with some Gospel, but in the end it was a pretty pedestrian performance. Paula was fairly positive in her praise for Lil's performance, but Simon thought she missed the mark and wasn't "the singer we met 7 or 8 weeks ago". Lil tried to offer her thoughts, but then was cut off by my DVR for the second week in a row...but this week I thought ahead and set it up to record the next show on Fox, "Fringe", just in case things went long again. The only thing those of you who weren't fortunate enough to plan ahead like me missed was Lil trying to convince Simon (and herself) that she is an R&B singer and not doing such a good job of it, unfortunately.
And with that, the performance part of the show ended and now it is my turn to predict who is going to be in the bottom three once all of your votes are tabulated and who is going home tomorrow night.
Before doing that, let's talk about who is safe:- Adam - untouchable (and deservedly so)
- Danny - not the strongest performance tonight, but still a favorite to challenge Adam for Idol supremacy
- Allison - strong endorsement from Simon puts her in near-Adam territory
That leaves Kris, Anoop, Lil, and Matt to battle out for a place out of the B3 and next to the other three. And speaking of the B3, I believe we'll see:
- Lil - she's lost the judges and the voters aren't far behind
- Anoop - a strong performance, but not enough to keep him from joining Lil
- Matt - too many mis-steps over the past few weeks to save him from B3 territory
And if my prediction is accurate, that will leave Allison as the only girl left amongst the Final 6 Idol contestants...
Tune in tomorrow night to see how things unfold. Until then, I will continue watching TV so you don't have to...Peace!
Didn't it seem like Lil had had enough of Simon? With her comments/outburst aimed at him after his critique? It seems she's frustrated at his criticism and is at a loss as to what she can do to please him and the fans.
ReplyDeleteThe fact is, however, that she just doesn't have it. That performance was all over the place. It was off pitch and as if she were trying too hard.
It's funny (the un-ha, ha variety) that in Season 8 there are still Idol wannabes who think they know more than Simon. First there was Megan who claimed to not care what Simon thought about her song choice and now Lil Rounds is trying to give it back to him. If she watched the same show the rest of us did last night (and pretty much for the past several shows), she would understand that her growth was stunted about week 2 of the Finals. Simon's frustration is shared by all--Lil is a wonderful R&B singer, but unfortunately she is trying to be someone else. If she would take a page out of Allison or Adam's playbook and sing every song as Lil, she would win over the judges (they love that type of integrity) as well as the voters who love voting for someone they know will be themselves. That ship may have sailed on the Tennessee native--we'll find out later this evening.
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