AI Top 7 Performance

No voice over, no dramatic judge introduction. This. Is. Quentin. Tarantino. And. It. Is. Movie. Night.

Randy is in yet another golf sweater. Kara has very pretty hair and a strapless, gray flannel office dress. Paula has a rhinestone dog collar that is attached by a strap to a matching belt. Simon is fresh from falling in love with Susan Boyle (and if you haven’t seen the video, stop reading this and go watch it right now: http://www.youtube.com/user/BritainsSoTalented).

Ryan is determined not to go overtime (lots of grumbling about DVRs not catching Adam’s amazing performance last week), and as a result, the judges are limited to 2 evaluations per kid, alternating Randy/Kara, and Simon/Paula.

Steven Van Zandt is in the audience. And is that Katie Curic? Quentin Tarantino, an avowed AI Fan, is mentoring the kids this week.

Allison- I Don’t Want To Miss a Thing (Armageddon)- is dressed in what passes for mainstream in The Irahetaverse. She has on a red-belted, loose black tunic with odd pockets, over red striped pants, and stiletto booties. She starts out soft and a little tentative, but builds up a good head of steam on a difficult song. It’s not an awful performance by any means, but this is probably my least favorite performance of hers.


Anoop- Everything I Do, I Do For You (Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves)-is wearing an unholy combo of suit jacket and letterman’s sweater over a plaid shirt and striped tie. Quentin told him to throw himself into it, and by the end, he really did. There were no chills, but it was nice.

Adam-Born to Be Wild (Easy Rider)- has shorter hair and a black leather jacket and ill-fitting jeans with a saggy butt. I still don’t love Adam, but he’s miles ahead of the rest (even my little Red-Headed Rocker Savant), and I am totally okay with him winning the whole shebang. It’s an AI cliché, but he really does make every song his own. It’s obvious that the band is loving this arrangement, and though the kids always say that they’re having fun on stage, I really believe that Adam is.

Have I told you that I really, reallyreallyreallyreally hate this song? (Don Juan Demarco) Matt, in his maitre de best, is turning a song I dislike heartily into a song I dislike even heartily-er. Yikes, this is a mess, with ignoring Quentin’s advice to enunciate being the least of the problems.

Danny- Endless Love (Endless Love), isn’t wearing glasses at all tonight. He is, however, wearing a pale gray (or maybe blue) cotton jacket. It’s also ignoring The Tarantino’s advice, and it doesn’t have its hands in its pocketses. But it’s a nice song, and a pretty performance, and there is a bit of gravel in the voice that I like. I agree with Simon that Danny didn’t bring anything new to the table.

Kris-Falling Slowly (Once)- is in a light colored, lightweight jacket. I wonder if he isn’t starting too low. This song is pretty, but boring (much like Kris himself). Randy and Kara’s evaluations are wildly divergent (I’m with Randy on this one).

Wouldn’t it have been fun if Lil had sung Age of Aquarius? Or Don’t Nobody Bring Me No Bad News? Or even Hello Dolly? Anything but the same sort of generic song that she chooses every single week? No such luck. This time around it’s The Rose (The Rose), and Lil, in a nice wig and black outfit (has she lost weight?), does try to change it up a bit. But the changes are all predictable and wrong. She Mariah Carey’s the song beyond recognizability (embroidering each and every note to an irritating extreme). I thought a lot about Lil this week, finally coming to the conclusion that she’s an amazing singer with an amazing voice, but she’s not an artist. She brings absolutely nothing unique to any of her performances. I am only mildly surprised to hear Simon say almost exactly the same thing.

The Adam Performance (surprising, unusual, odd, riveting): Adam
The Danny Performance (competent, good but not quite special): Danny and Allison
The Anoop Performance (variable, sometimes very good, sometimes not so much, not going to win regardless): Anoop and Kris
The Matt Performance (predictably bad song choice, questionable arrangement): Matt, Lil

Bottom 3: Matt, Lil and Anoop/Kris/Allison (not because I think Allison belongs there, but because she sang first and it wasn’t a stellar performance, and I don’t think she has as solid a fan base as some of the others).

Side note: All BK commercials are weird and unsettling, but Sponge Mix-a-Lot may be the weirdest and most unsettling of them all (I get the square butts, but why are they measuring them?)