Tue, 15 May 2007 20:52:00
American Idol - The top 3 perform
Yay! It’s almost over! I will NEVER DO THIS AGAIN. I refuse to even watch this show next year. The effort that it takes is not worth the amount of traffic it brings, as much as I love each and every person who comes by. Fuck you, Simons Cowell and Fuller! Kiss my ass, Nigel Lithgoe! I am SO OUT OF HERE AFTER THE FINALE!
Anyway...moving on. Didja hear? Randy and Simon knew Jordin thee years ago, and Jordin won a Christian song thing sponsored by Coke. Also, she’s recorded an album and toured for the last three years. Guess who’s winning this thing? :) At least the final three are actually talented.
- Nine frigging songs. Three each. One judges pick, one producer pick, one of their own. Just kill me now. I could be watching House. Or jerking off. Or stabbing myself in the eye with a spoon. I do this for you, so that you don’t have to, click my blog ads to thank me!
- Jordin Sparks - Simon picks her song which is Wishing On A Star by Rose Royce. Doesn’t ring a bell at all.
Well, I don’t like the song at all, but she seems to be singing it well. I do wish she wasn’t wearing that maternity dress, and that she wouldn’t just stand there in front of a mic stand again. This seems like a song that calls for a little stepping and strutting around, maybe some pointing at the crowd every now and again. She did well though.
Randy: “That was a very good vocal, kinda like a little Beyonce.”
Paula: “Simon picked a good song for you.”
Simon: “You sang it brilliantly, I just wish we hadn’t done the wicked jazz arrangement.” I totally get what he’s saying despite Seacrest not understanding.1-866-IDOLS-01
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- Blake Lewis - Paula picked Blake’s song, which is Roxanne. Oh boy. This can go either way. He could fuck it up badly or make it brilliant. He’s either going to have to embrace the ska and modernize it or turn it into something else entirely. Thing is, no matter what he does someone will bitch. Faithful cover? They’ll accuse him of not trying. Too funky? They’ll accuse him of using tricks too often. I think I’d like to see him do a near-faithful vocal cover in a totally new musical style, i.e. lose the ska backing track and make it, I dunno, blues or something.
Oh well. Faithful cover. He’s not letting go. It’s nice, but the desperate longing is missing. If you’re going to do a faithful cover, you need to be much more...plaintive? I’m not feeling that desperation. I’m seeing a good, solid singing performance, but no connection to the actual song. He shouldn’t have done the knee slide at the end, it blew the ending “Roxanne” and if you are gonna do it, PRACTICE!
This song is about a man pleading with his love to not go out and sell her ass to other men. It doesn’t matter what she’s done in the past; he accepts it but please, dear God please, do not go out tonight. I don’t know what you will do tomorrow, but for tonight, please don’t break my heart and go out on the streets. Unfortunately as Donna just said, Blake’s version became “a fun party song.” That’s the trap a lot of people fall into with The Police. They hear the up-tempo ska underpinnings and think Oingo Boingo when it’s more like Morrisey, thematically speaking.
It was just a’ight for me, dog.
Randy: “Great great performance. Pretty good vocal...that was hot”
Paula: “You did me proud...it was good it was fresh...”
Simon: “I’m not gonna call that earth shattering...the problem with that song is you are always forced to do an impression of Sting.” Yep. And it wasn’t good as the original.1-866-IDOLS-02
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- Melinda Doolittle - Randy picked I Believe In You And Me by Cracky McFreebase (aka Whitney Houston). I get the feeling this is gonna be a showcase of skill but I’m’a be all “Eh. Whatevs.” Whitney does nothing for me. This an especially Disney-fied song…
Yep. An amazing example of control and skill erupting in a blast of power, but ultimately I just can’t connect to this sappy kind of say-nothing pablum. Girl can sang her big-jawed, massive upper-lipped face off though.
Randy: “I wanted to through a little difficulty at you...you blew it out da box...”
Paula: “You were fantastic...one of your best performances.” True, but again, not for me.
Simon: “Your best performance in the last four weeks...round 1 goes to Melinda.” Yes it does.1-866-IDOLS-03
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- Jordin Sparks - Producer’s choice for her is She Works Hard For The Money. Hmm. Not sure what someone is supposed to do with that to make it their own. I guess as long as she nails the notes and sings energetically it’s a win, right?
Stripper shoes on a radical pro-life church girl = no. Performance - flat. Dead. Not awful, but more like a top 24 performance, not a top 3. She did manage to raise the volume and key without screaming.
It wasn’t my favorite performance from you, dawg.
Randy: “That was hot too.” No. It was flat.
Paula: “I thought you were fantastic.”
Simon: “It was a very good performance.” Gee, what a surprise, everyone is pushing hard for Jordin! :)1-866-IDOLS-01
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- Blake Lewis - the producers picked This Love by Maroon 5. Contemporary, eh? Probably a good choice.
Is the original this...Jamiroquai-esque? Not that Blake’s version is bad in any way, I just don’t know. I know he has a tendency to Jamiroquai up a lot of stuff. Pretty good, I wasn’t blown away but I was happy with it. I have no idea how it compares to the original, but as it stands alone, it worked. I guess I’d call it a 7 out of 10?
Randy: “When you decide to put out an album, that’s the kind of record you should make.”
Paula: “A good night for you.”
Simon: “I preferred that one to the first one...you sounded very comfortable...that was good.”1-866-IDOLS-02
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- Melinda Doolittle - she gets Nutbush City Limits from the producers. A little Tina Turner for ya? Heh. She’s so frigging gonna turn this out, watch. I predict she’ll kill this (the good kind of kill).
She’s laying the Tina on pretty thick, but it’s totally and completely working. She’s putting what can only be termed “the stank” on it. It’s pure attitude and funk. The band sucks balls, the backing track is stinking up the place, but who cares? She knocked it ouhtta the park vocally and “attitudinally.” Wait, spellcheck didn’t try to correct that. Attitudinally is a word? No shit. Learn something new every day.
Randy: “Another great solid performance.” It was better than that, dude.
Paula: “We love you, we love you and we love you.”
Simon: “Love that side of you..again another brilliant performance.”Seacrest: “Who takes that round?”
Simon: “I’m gonan call that a tie.” Between who and who? Jordin wasn’t equal to Blake or Melinda in this round.1-866-IDOLS-03
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- Jordin Sparks - Her pick for herself is I Who Have Nothing. She sang this during British Invasion Week and she did a great job the first time.
The first time she did this, this is what I said:
So far VERY dramatic and attention-grabbing. Hard to believe she’s a 17 year old kid. WOW! She just turned it out and blew LaKisha off the stage. WOW...not a bad note, power for days...that was out-frigging-standing.That...again. Good choice for her...leave ‘em with the big, dramatic, well-sung number. If the votes matter at all, this was excellent strategy.
Randy: “Way to close it out, very hot, nice control.”
Paula: “It sat well in your voice...you sounded really great.”
Simon: “There’s a part of me that hated the fact that a 17 year old was singing a 60 year old song.” Feh. I disagree with him there. She actually called him out on picking a 1970s track for her to sing. If his complaint is that he doesn’t want to hear her sound dated, why’d he pick an old song for her? Why not a song released sometime in her lifetime? Sometimes Simon contradicts himself, and I think this is one of those times. Wishing On A Star was a hit in 1978. I Who Have Nothing was on Shirley Bassey’s record in 1961 and a hit for Ben E. King in 1963. For a 17 year old, 1963 and 1978 may as well be in the 1700s...his commentary made no sense.1-866-IDOLS-01
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- Blake Lewis - When I Get You Alone by that fucking horrid Robin Thicke. Please God make it so he did some Blake-type shit to it. They played a fucking clip of Blake beatboxing for Mix-A-Lot doing Baby Got Back live. Sorry. That was A-List awesome. Call 1-800-Mix-A-lot, bitches.
Uhh...I don’t know what the fuck is happening here. I hear that disco A Fifth of Beethoven sampled and some kind of pop song happening, and I’m confused and I want to run and hide my ears. Blake totally lost me on this one. Sure, the song blows monkey balls in the first place. Shit man, he should have just beatboxed his own track and done Baby Got Back. It would have been much, much more awesomer. I fucking hated this song. Although he did it well, I suppose.
Randy: “It was a’ight...like that Maroon 5 vibe for you better.”
Paula: I missed what she said. Probably something about liking Blake as a person.
Simon: “I actually really liked that.” Whatever, Simon. He just praised Blake for taking risks, meanwhile he’s been attacking him week after week for...you guessed, taking risks! Fucking Simon.1-866-IDOLS-02
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- Melinda Doolittle - I’m A Woman. Hmm. It’s always come off, no matter who does it, as campy and hokey. Not sure this is the one to leave ‘em with. She work’s it, sure, but…
Did she just flub the lyrics? Well...she’s sangin. Sure. But it seems campy again. Cute that she stood in front of the background singers though. Payin’ attention, Simon? :)
Donna: “Jane Krakowski outsang her!”
Randy: “That was hot again...You can sing anything, the phone book whatever.”
Paula: “you’re in the spotlight.”
Simon: “Love the little striptease at the top.” “If I’m gonna award a place in the final to a person who has consistently delivered week after week, it’s you.” True. She’s the best singer by far. Can that carry her with the fans?1-866-IDOLS-03
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- Idol a popularity contest. They want to draw a younger crowd than previous years have drawn on the tour. Blake and Jordin can do that. I think Melinda will do well regardless of what happens to her on this show. I think they manipulate votes. I think they know Melinda will do well. Therefore, I predict Melinda leaving tomorrow night. Jordin and Blake fight it out next week and Jordin wins. Blake can sell records without Idol’s help. Jordin maybe can’t, since the field she fits into is so crowded.
The recap shows it: Melinda is far superior to the other two vocally. I think she just draws a slightly older, less rabid fanbase. Idol needs youth to make the big money and draw the fans.
Donna also thinks Melinda is out. *Maybe* Blake.
Posted by JimK at 08:52 PM on May 15, 2007
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Categories: Television, 24
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Technorati: TV Music American Idol Paula Abdul Randy Jackson Simon Cowell Blake Lewis Jordin Sparks Melinda Doolittle
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#1 Posted by Buzzion
on 05/16 at 12:25 AM -
You know at least melinda and that other guy were honest that they were professional singers and had done background work. What have we heard about jordin other than her being just a 17 year old girl.