Tuesday, March 31, 2009

AI- Top 9 Performance


Ryan…suit…lineup…This… Is… blah blah blah… voice over.. Randy in a vertical striped cardigan… Kara in a black sheath… Paula in a short, strapless, foofy, red Barbie dress and big plastic beads… Simon in a black sweater with the sleeves jacked up to the armpits…any song from I-Tunes top download lists… Ryan in one of his thousand other jobs… kids at the radio studio… don’t expect to recognize a single song…yep… American… Idol…

Anoop has a silly pretend mustache (the kind that fourteen year old boys try very hard to grow, and then color in with an eyebrow pencil when they realize that they can’t manage it). He’s wearing a black jacket with Michael Jacksonian trim over a red-striped knit shirt. He’s singing Usher and he sounds fine to me, given that I don’t know the song. But my husband, who is more familiar with radio music than I am, says it’s nothing more than karaoke, and not very good karaoke at that. The judges agree with The Hub.

Megan interviews in a Heidi blouse and declares an intention to sing Bob Marley, via Lauryn Hill, which I hope is an April Fool’s joke. No such luck. Megan has a teal bustier, Mardi Gras beads, jeans and 8’ long legs. Oh yeah, and her hair is a mess. I suppose she sounds as good as she can sound, but as always, I can’t get past her winky/grinny/swivel-y performance. Caw! Caw!

Danny is wearing a Danny Uniform, and he’s singing What Hurts the Most, by Rascal Flatts. It’s a lovely song and a good showcase for Danny’s huge voice. The Hub says it sounds exactly like the record, so I brace for the “K” word from the judges, but maybe they’re not familiar with Rascal Flatts either.

What the hell? Allison’s hair is indescribable, and her dress is nearly so, though I’ll try: strapless pink lace tiered ruffles with strange lines of intertwining white lace running the entire length of the center front, over leggings and white plastic platform shoes. The hair? Nope. I give up. Her outfit is so over the top it’s distracting. It looks like a costume except that costumes look better. But the girl is a performing savant. She’s so comfortable and natural onstage, and I love listening to her voice. She has become my Season 8 favorite. She’s not going to win (and I don’t want her to win- imagine her being forced to sing the perky Disney crap they would deem suitable for a 16 year old), but I’ll buy her album.

Scott is in a pompadour and black leather jacket. He’s at the piano, singing Just The Way You Are. I’m not so sure that he didn’t miff the lyrics early on, and I think this version is too slow. But there are some soaring moments, and the judges like it. Paula tells Scott that his voice makes her forget that his eyes don’t work.

Ryan says that the next two singers will do The Fray and Celine Dion, and for a moment I fantasize about Matt warbling that Titanic song. No such luck- he’s singing The Fray, and doing a pretty bad job of it, not that I know the song or anything. He’s standing at a keyboard and I don’t need my husband to tell me that he sounds rough.

Though I would rather have had her choose anyone else, if Lil was going to sing Celine, I would have liked her to sing that one Celine song that doesn’t sound like a Celine song, but she’s singing I Surrender. Lil has a pageboy wig and is wearing a slate blue chiffon formal with a complicated bodice construction. She sounds better than she has the last couple of weeks, but I wonder if she wouldn’t be better served by choosing something more contemporary. Or less likely to put us all to sleep. Honestly, it seems like Lil is coasting on her talent (which is considerable), when she should be blowing us away week after week. Her little one likes hearing criticism even less than Lil herself does.

Adam is still dressed like Kurt Russell playing Elvis. He’s singing Play that Funky Music, and you know what? For the second week in a row, I like him. But even when I don’t like him, his talent is more than evident. He takes chances every single week, and when it works, it really works. This really works.

Note to Kara: Studio 57 (the Heinz Studio) is 3 doors down from the disco place.

We’re finishing up the evening with Kris, singing Ain’t No Sunshine- him, a keyboard, a string quartet, and another one of those proto-staches. Wow, I like this a lot. So Kris isn’t just a pretty face. I think this is the best performance of the evening.

Bottom Two: Megan and Matt

Middle Three (in ascending order): Anoop, Scott, Lil

Top Four (mostly in ascending order, though I liked all of the performances, and the Top 3 pretty well tied): Danny, Allison, Adam, Kris

Tomorrow night- David Cook.

2 comments:

Barb said...

Love your comments about all the characters on this show. As I watched last night, I wondered if poor Allison looked in a mirror before she went on stage. Unless of course the idol mirror is like the cheap funhouse mirrors that make you skinny. I don't think I have ever seen a more unattractive dress. And I wonder if Adam watches himself the next day.I wonder if he realizes how awful that pancake makeup looks. But, wow! they can both sing.

coffee maker said...

Adam Lambert will sign with some kind of record company no matter what happens after this Idol season is over