This week on American Idol, we have songs from the Rat Pack era. For me, this is not a wildly exciting theme as I am unfamiliar with a lot of these standards. However, Idol is proving to be a great way to introduce these songs to new generations of fans; those who have no idea these songs exist. So all in all, it's a good thing Idol chooses to do a theme like this every couple of years. It seems they flip flop years between Broadway tunes. And there's no denying that Frank Sinatra is one of the very best from the Rat Pack era. His songs are legendary and will live on for all time. And taking all things into consideration, this week's song choices by the five remaining contestants were very smart and suited them all. On with the recaps!
Kris Allen - "The Way You Look Tonight" : Kris' evolution on Idol has been pretty amazing. He was barely featured in any of the early rounds, did a decent-enough job to get into the finals with his "Man in the Mirror" rendition, and has surged to the top of the pack in recent weeks. He's up first this week and receives major props from this week's mentor Jamie Foxx. I have become a fan of Kris and am absolutely loving his rendition of this song. He's on pitch and the first half of this song is very sensual, soft, and he's really connecting to it. Then the tempo picks up and it's still pleasantly good. He gives the song a more upbeat, jazzy feel. He closes the song with a very nice falsetto note (I didn't find it off-pitch). However, I was VERY upset how Simon chose to throw Kris under the bus this week. Honestly, what was his problem with Kris and this song?!
Allison Iraheta - "Someone to Watch Over Me" : Allison is this season's contestant that has gotten no respect. No respect from the American voting public and the judges (except for Kara). For her to land in the bottom three on three separate occasions in blasphemy especially in all of those weeks, she was one of the best of the night! Maybe this week, things will go her way. I am loving Allison's look this week; she actually isn't dressed like a rocker, but more like a typical 17-year old high school girl. And right from the start of this performance, I am feeling her deep connection to this song. I don't think I've felt such high emotion from her in a performance like this to date. It's very restrained, yet she adds a certain edginess to the song with her vocals. I can clearly understand her this week and it was so nice to see her step back from the rock genre and into something out of her element. Well done to Allison.
Matt Giraud - "My Funny Valentine" : Next we have the contestant who has defied fate on three separate occasions during the course of season eight. Honestly, I don't see Matt getting much further in this competition with four other superb contestants around him, but he's definitely made the most of his time on the Idol stage. And he certainly makes Michigan proud for bringing some much needed positive news to the state. I remember back in season six when Melinda Doolittle absolutely slayed this song - so Matt has some pretty big expectations to live up to. One thing is for sure, Matt has slowed down this song in his rendition - WAY down. I am thinking the song's range is way too low for Matt because he's failing to hit the right notes, especially in the beginning of this. He's a bit more restrained with the riffs, much like Jamie suggested, however he's not completely laying off them. I will say the ending was better than the beginning, but it just wasn't the best we've seen from Matt.
Danny Gokey - "Come Rain or Come Shine" : Danny has become the contestant people either love or hate. There's no denying he has a pretty large fanbase that keeps him in the competition week in and week out - in fact, he hasn't landed in the bottom three yet. However, he is one of the contestants to receive the most negative commentary from the fans and his popularity has definitely fallen since the early stages of the show. He's often described as being smarmy, show-boaty, and egotistical. Whatever you might think of him, he's still in this competition. And many, including Paula, are penciling him in to reach the finale. This week I found Danny to be much more tolerable than I've found him in previous weeks. In fact, this is probably the most relevant Danny has been to this competition in awhile. First off, Jamie Foxx's mentoring of Danny was hilarious - all up in Danny's face. I really enjoyed how the performance started with a more restrained Danny and keeping the song relatively simple. However, the final-third of the song was typical shouty-Danny. That took away from this being a great performance for me.
Adam Lambert - "Feeling Good" : Next up is Adam Lambert, who again performs in the pimp spot. How many times has he had the fortune to sing in this position? I know it's the most of any contestant this season. After all, it's a foregone conclusion that he'll win this thing. Why don't we crown him now and forget the final three weeks we have of Idol? Ah, but there's always hope of a shock elimination! Why don't I think it'll ever be Adam? I do generally like Adam but I think he tends to go a tad bit overboard with the theatrics of some of his performances, particularly those that are the uptempo, manic ones. And what a set-up we have for Adam to begin his performance; way up top on the stairs at the center of the stage; him gradually walking down, posing, and singing. I do enjoy the way this performance starts; certainly more restrained and he's not over-doing it. I was afraid this was going to be a train-wreck if he was going to glamrock-it-up. But overall, it was another spectacular vocal from Adam. And what the heck was with that second to last glory note? That was sick!!
Wow, the contestant recaps are getting longer and longer as we get down to the finale. I guess with less contestants, I write more! Anyways, here is this week's performance rankings, based on my opinion:
1.) Allison Iraheta
2.) Kris Allen - bottom two (actual bottom three - 4/29/09)
3.) Adam Lambert (actual bottom three - 4/29/09)
4.) Danny Gokey
5.) Matt Giraud - eliminated (actual eliminee - 4/29/09)
Matt Giraud gave the weakest performance out of the five, which is why I am thinking he'll get the boot this week. I genuinely believe Matt's time is up in this competition - even though he's defied fate a number of times. But you have to be at the top of your game at this stage of the competition and Matt most certainly wasn't compared to the other four. And despite my opinions of Kris having the second-best performance of the night, Simon certainly didn't feel that way. He was thrown under the bus this time around, which is why he'll land in this week's bottom two. And going first never helps a contestant, either. Allison could also be a threat to land in the bottom two (or three, if they do a bottom three this week), however, I have seen a lot of negative reaction to Simon's comments about Allison's performance. A lot of people have stepped up their voting in support of Allison so with that being said, she should escape any threat of elimination this week. And with the continued pimping of Danny and Adam, don't expect them to go anywhere this week.
With that being said, I was a little disappointed each of the five contestants only sang one song, unlike previous years when each contestant at this stage sang two songs. I guess adding that fourth judge really took away a lot of performance time and that's especially sad. I think the producers of Idol really need to re-examine the four-judge panel heading into next season. I don't believe it's working all that well, especially when it's taking away from the performance time of the contestants. Out of anyone, they need to get rid of Randy because I've found him to be the most irrelevant this season than ever before. Just get the three-judging panel back, at least keep Simon and Paula, and things will be much rosier heading into season nine.
I have lost my concentration to write anymore as some idiotic woman is screaming obscenities to a person on her cell phone outside my window, so I'm going to get on my merry way. Ugh, some people... Be sure to enjoy tonight's results show starting at 9 PM on the east coast on Fox. Peace!
No comments:
Post a Comment