Thursday, April 29, 2010

American Idol - Siobhan goes home :(

The bottom 3 was Casey, Michael and Siobhan and Siobhan went home :(

I don't agree with the result. I totally think America got this one wrong. I'm sad to see her go. The show has lost a bit of its spark with her loss and lord knows the show needs it this season. I totally look forward to seeing what Siobhan does in the future. Pretty much more than anyone on the show except for Lee. The girl is talented and has a very bright future ahead of her. Onward and upward Siobhan!

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

American Idol does Shania songs!

I was wrong. I admit it. They voted someone off last week during inspirational week?! I was very surprised and even more surprised to see it was Tim who finally got sent home. It had been long coming but it holds true to past Idol shows when someone who keeps slipping by even though they have sub-par performances finally gets sent home when they actually hit their stride and start doing better and the judges start praising them a bit. I think the judges employ a bit of reverse psychology on America when they want someone they feel is undeserving to go home. Interesting to watch really.

Well, this week was Shania week and while I thought they were going to do country songs, instead it was only Shania songs... which is not a bad thing at all. She was a decent mentor in the advice she gave the contestants.

Lee opened the show and he did a pretty good version of "Still the one". It took him a bit to get into the groove of the song and what he wanted to do with it though. The judges really liked it though. In fact, everyone was pretty darn good this week!

Michael was solid with his song. Casey stripped everything down to an acoustic performance and I think it was his best performance to date.

Crystal's performance again suffered from more of that coffe-house sameness. Even Simon had to make the coffee-house reference finally. Nice to see Simon not praising Crystal for once. Her comments back to the judges that sometimes smaller is better sounded to me as if she was being defiant to their advice/critique and trying to educate them? Really now Crystal? This was the first time that I saw her sounding close minded to trying to make her sound more accesible. I think she really needs to start thinking about that because she is really limiting her potential by only wanting to play/sound folksy but then again, maybe that's all she wants. Either way, it was a rather bland performance.

Aaron was in his element and soared to the heights he failed to reach last week. One of his best performances to date.

Siobhan closed out the show with "Any man of mine" and it started off a bit weak but ended strong.

All in all, everyone did well for what they do. This was a show where everyone's individual style shone through. Picking a bottom 3 from last night is difficult. I say the bottom 3 will be Michael, Crystal and Casey with Michael going home.

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

American Idol gets inspired!

So, I was 2 for 2 last week. Have been pretty good this season with picking who's in danger and who goes home but I'm not tooting my own horn (toot, toot!), it just has been rather obvious week to week who should go home, ahem... except for Tim. o_O

This week is inspirational song week with Alicia keys as the mentor. Alicia was ok as a mentor. We didn't really get to see or hear too much from her. What got more of Lambert last week. What's up with that?

Casey went first and did an ok version of Fleetwood Mac's "Don't stop". His voice didn't seem in sync with the music until the choruses. I was more impressed that he was actually playing with one of Lindsey Buckingham's actual guitars than with Casey's performance.

Lee went next and was very good in his performance of Simon & Garfunkel's "The Boxer". His best performance to date.

Tim did yet another emo/folk version of another song, this time the Goo Goo Dolls "Better Days" which is a favorite song of mine.

Aaron Kelly did R. Kelly?! While Aaron thought he could fly with his song choice, I don't think he got off the ground with it until the very end. Why didn't he do a Garth Brooks song? Garth has plenty of songs with inspirational messages. Same for Keith Urban. So many better options than what he picked.

Siobhan took on Mariah & Whitney's "When you believe" and I thought she did a really good job of hitting some crazy notes effortlessly. The judges didn't seem too impressed by her and Kara said that while she was technically very good that she didn't see who she is an artist. Isn't this a singing competition? So shouldn't a very good technical performance on a hard song be praised? The judges are giving too much conflicting advice this season. Simon didn't and won't like anything Siobhan does because he wants Crystal to win (he has stated she is his pick) and Siobhan is clearly a threat. So is Lee. I like that Siobhan didn't look upset by the critique and instead stood up for herself but she needs to work on getting her thoughts out faster and more clearly. She sounded a little too Paula-ish last night while explaining herself.

Michael did "Hero" and I think that was a real bad song choice for him vocally. It just didn't work. Simon sometimes seems to have no clue though. He said the song was about Spiderman?! DOH!!!

Crystal ended the show with a really solid performance. It just seems a bit too similar to everything else she does though and I'm rather skeptical of the tears. Alicia had told Aaron that if he got to the point of tears by the end of his song that he could bring it to another level but it was Crystal who had the last song on the show who did so. These contestants are competitors and being on last is an advantage as you are the last impression on the audience before the show ends, ending it with tears makes it a talking point and plays to the viewers sensitivities. She said she was overcome because her Dad was there for the first time but this is a girl who has stated she has performed around the world so I'm sure he's been to her shows before. Then when they showed the highlights with the phone numbers again, they replaced her ending in tears with a clip from rehearsal I would assume because she was not crying at song's end. I hate to be skeptical, I really do... especially when it comes to performances but it just seemed too out of character (she's been criticized for being too stoic and standoffish in the past, even Simon made a comment regarding this at the end of the song) and too coincidental with the Alicia Keys advice to Aaron Kelly earlier in the show. Anyway, it was a solid performance nonetheless.

So who goes home? No one! It's "Idol Gives Back" week and no one ever goes home during that week. It would be the wrong message to send, now wouldn't it? Let's talk inspiration but kill a contestant's dream this week. Talk about mood killer. Should be a good "Idol Gives Back" show tonight.

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

American Idol does Elvis!

Interesting show last night. Idol alum Adam Lambert was the mentor. First Miley, now Adam, who's next Justin Bieber? LOL. All in all though, Adam did a good job giving advice and pushing the contestants to challenge themselves.

With it being a double elimination week, the pressure was on. It was Elvis week! While Elvis may seem like an easy choice of music to do - Elvis' versatility, talent and presence still somehow comes through on the songs. The songs speak and show Elvis' range and talent in a way that no written word can.

Crystal went first and I've just lost my connection to her. Her performances seem the same and I'm not seeing the growth or potential in what she brings as an artist. She is good, no doubt, but I just can't see her singing out of her niche into an area where she will sell lots of records or fully go mainstream.

Andrew went next and did "Hound Dog" and his voice sounded thin and I found the performance rather dull. I don't know if its the arrangements but a good singer can overcome that and he just hasn't been rising to the occassion. I've been complaining about the arrangements and that they should get a new house band or house band leader and I may just get my wish as I heard House band leader Ricky Minor will be headed over to the Tonight Show to take over for the departing Kevin Eubanks. Can't say I'll miss Minor but I will miss Kevin! Lol!

Tim did a good job singing "Can't help falling in love with you". I think the Emo/folksy vibe might just be his thing! :D

Lee did a very good job with his song and I think he was the best of the night. It was good to see him smiling. He has a good smile that can get him a lot of votes! Lee needs to work the smile! Lol!

Aaron tried to sound Elvis-y on his version of "Blue Suede Shoes" but the song cast too big a shadow on little Aaron.

Siobhan's version of "Suspicious minds" was good but she's been better.

Michael was very solid with his song performance.

Katie sounded good with her song vocals but her performing still leaves me flat and unmoved. That's not a good thing.

Casey's song was very good. I really think he will be an interesting country or blues rock artist. I'm very interested to see what direction he goes in as an artist.

2 going home tonight so I will say that the bottom 3 (will there be a bottom 3?) will be... on second thought I'll just say the two that I think will go home - Andrew and Katie with Aaron in trouble as well.

Monday, April 12, 2010

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Wednesday, April 7, 2010

American Idol - the save gets used!

A very interesting results show tonight! America sure is shaking things up this season! Lol!

Ryan promised that the results would be surprising and they were! Little Aaron, Big Mike and Andrew were the bottom 3!

I was surprised by Aaron and less so by Michael who has seemed to be a little too confident since the show started and more as the show has gone on. Andrew didn't surprise me. He's been coasting for too long.

Michael was the one in jeopardy and with his wife in tears in the audience, the judges decided to use the one save of the season. Michael gets a scare and a reprieve. Very interesting show! Double elimination next week!

American Idol does Lennon & McCartney

Top 9 went last night and did Lennon & McCartney songs. It promised to be an interesting show for sure. There was no mentor last night so the contestants were left on their own to work out these classics. I must say that I expected a few bad performances but I think everyone did a nice to very good job.

Aaron came out first and did a rather sleepy (as Randy put it) version of the "Long and winding road". I agree with Randy that the arrangement wasn't very good. I've been complaining about the band and their arrangements all season. Their lackluster arrangements and performances are hurting the contestants performances a lot IMO.

Katie picked "Let it be", an all-time classic and I was expecting it to be a trainwreck of sorts but not only did she sound great but I believe she had her moment last night with that performance. Everything about it was great. Kudos to Katie!

Andrew did "Can't buy me love" while playing guitar. Randy thought the arrangement (once again!! GR!!!!) overpowered what he was trying to do and Simon thought it came across as cheesy. I thought it was pretty darn good though. Andrew sang it nice and looked like he was having fun up there. Good to see.

Michael did a solid version of "Eleanor Rigby".

Crystal did "Come together" while a guy played along on a didgeroo? I found out her performance very coffeehouse-ish.

Tim did a decent version of "All my loving". Casey did a good version of Lennon's "Jealous Sky".

Siobhan turned the vocals down and did a very sweet sounding version of "Across the universe".

Lee ended the show with a rather pitchy but high energy version of "Hey Jude". I liked it.

REALLY hard to pick a bottom 3 which I wouldn't have thought. Knowing the category if you would've asked me before the show, I would've said the bottom 3 would be Tim, Katie and someone else but after hearing them its real hard to pick 3. I will say that Tim will be in the bottom 3 and I'll also pick Andrew and Aaron. Since I'm not even sure that will be the bottom 3, its hard to say who will go home but I will pick Tim (he's gotta go sometime doesn't he? LOL!).