Idol Review - 03-10

[Sir_Galahad]

What I like about this season is that we can cut right to the chase with the Top 12 (or 13). What I find funny, sometimes, is that the judges are constantly picking on the contestants to "stay current" and they they pull out the songbook for songs that are 20 years old. What's up with that? While I have my favorites in this competition and I think we have a pretty clear picture of what the Final Four will be (already), anything is possible. I will let T do the blow by blow stuff. I don't know what the new format for elimination will be as I don't read up on all that stuff. But, if they do a bottom-three finishers routine of sorts, my picks for the B3 would be (strictly based on tonight's performances) Anoop, Kris and Matt.

[KillerTomato]

What I like about this season is that we can cut right to the chase with the Top 12 (or 13). What I find funny, sometimes, is that the judges are constantly picking on the contestants to "stay current" and they they pull out the songbook for songs that are 20 years old. What's up with that? While I have my favorites in this competition and I think we have a pretty clear picture of what the Final Four will be (already), anything is possible. I will let T do the blow by blow stuff. I don't know what the new format for elimination will be as I don't read up on all that stuff. But, if they do a bottom-three finishers routine of sorts, my picks for the B3 would be (strictly based on tonight's performances) Anoop, Kris and Matt.

What I find even MORE amusing is how they cheered Shrieky McShriekerson, and told him that when you do a Michael Jackson song, you have to be over-the-top and run with it.....then two singers later, they criticized Alexis for being over the top. Well, which is it?

I was truly expecting to HATE this week, once I found out it was MJ week. As Sirge said, he hasn't been current or relevent for 15 years, and I just don't care for about 90% of his output. But most of the songs weren't as awful as they could have been.

I am definitely NOT in the Adam-loving camp. He reminded me tonight of Axl Rose trying to attempt pop. While SOME of his performance was pitch-perfect and good, there were looooooong sections that were just awful.

Megan was...um.....just bad.

Matt was OK, but my views on falsetto are well known, so he loses a point for that.

Jasmine was dull.

I MUCH preferred Alexis to Adam. By leaps and bounds.

Michael was better than I expected him to be.

Anoop was pretty bad, too.

Scott was great. He really does do better when he's behind the piano. I liked his performance very much, ESPECIALLY because I wasn't familiar with the song.

The rest were just....OK, I guess. I can't even remember them, so they weren't good enough to remember (like Alexis or Scott) or bad enough to remember (like Adam or Jasmine or Megan).

[T_Bone0806]

Not a bad show tonight, actually. I didn't think anyone flat out sucked moosepoop for a change. I found one to be predictably good and one was unexpectedly rockin' my house!

I'll use a spoiler for the benefit of anyone who has TiVO'd and not yet watched.

Spoiler

CREAM OF THE CROP:

#1) My top prize has to go to Allison Iraheta ("Give in to Me"), for the huge surprise she laid on me tonight. I mean, to quote the great orator Keanu Reeves, "whoa!" That 16-year-old brought forth some bigtime gut-bucket vocalizing and attitude. Who'da thought the great rock hope for this season would come in the form of a barely-able-to-get-her-Learner's-Permit kid? The force is strong in this one. A

#2) Lil Rounds ("The Way You Make Me Feel"). Polished and Powerful. She knows what she's doing. A

2nd TIER:

#3) Danny Gokey ("P.Y.T. [Pretty Young Thing]). I like the grit in his voice, but he did miss the mark on a few notes here & there whilst bouncing around the stage. Still, a pretty solid performance. B+

#4) Scott McIntyre ("Keep the Faith"). In his element tonight, behind the keyboards that is. Falsetto run was a mite weak, but this is the best (and most confident) he's sounded on this show. B

#5) Adam Lambert ("Black or White"). I haven't succumbed to Lambertmania quite yet. Yeah, he's got a tremendous set of pipes, but some restraint would be nice at least ONCE in a while. He's fearless and takes a lot of risks, and it's great when he scores, but every time he shoots a hundred vocal arrows into the air, only about 65 of them are hitting the target. Oh, and Maroulis called..he wants his gooey eyes back. B

#6) Michael Sarver "You Are Not Alone". Kinda generic. Nothing really bad, just nothing really memorable. B-

#7) Kris Allen ("Remember the Time") see 6 above. Plus he sorta lost his way a bit during the middle section. B-

#8) Jasmine Murray ("I'll Be There"). Good news: This is the best I've heard her sound since her audition. Bad news: That's because she has been terrible since her audition. I WILL give her a pat on the back for doing it in the innocent style of the original rather than trying to emulate the overblown narcissistic vocal acrobatics of Mariah Carey on her cover of this tune. B-

THE MEDIOCRE AND THE SLIGHTLY CURDLED CREAM:

#9) Anoop Desai ("Beat It") This song was a bit too big for Anoop to try on for size. He started out ok, but ran out of gas two-thirds of the way through. Wasn't the affront to the musical sensibilities of humanity that the judges made it out to be, though. C+

#10) Alexis Grace ("Dirty Diana"). I think she wanted to play the Rocker Chick but that 16 year-old-upstart stole her thunder. Somewhat overwrought. Whereas Allison's piss & vinegar seemed natural, Alexis' came off as forced. I'll give her credit, though..it must've been a bit of a distraction to have to sing on National Television when someone has stolen your pants. C+

#11) Matt Giraud ("Human Nature"). Weak opening, very strong midsection, Horrendous falsetto to close it out.

There. I rushed through my critique like the judges did. You could smell the panic.."We've got another contestant and all those recaps to get to and there's only 6 minutes left till the show's end!!!! We'd better rush through this guy's critique. 'Yeah, it was good..next!!'"

#12) Jorge Nunez ("Never Can Say Goodbye"). Never say never, Jorge. You never found the groove here and the proper pitch seemed ever-so-slightly out of reach throughout. C-

#13) Megan Joy Corkrey ("Rockin' Robin'). Disastrous song choice. She sounded like a contestant in the talent portion of the Junior Dairy Princess Pageant at the County Fair. Too Cutesy and Too Cornball. C- because she DID hit the notes properly.



My guess is that we see Megan go home for sure. Possibly Jasmine for the other as she does not seem to be very popular with the voters. This would leave us with an even bigger ratio of guys to gals, though. I don't like the sounds of this new wrinkle they're introducing tomorrow. Sounds ominous. If they monkey around with and/or disregard voters' choices, letting the judges have a say in who is eliminated, they may be signing their own death warrant.

[MarkBarrett]

Simon's speech at the end does make me think there will be some kind of sing off like they used on "Rock Star." I can remember INXS and Tommy & Co. huddling to have the final call on dismissal. I'll predict a bottom three of Jasmine, Megan and Matt. Those are all wildcards. The judges like them a little more than America does. Anoop nearly beat out Michael in the first semis week, so I think he is safe.

If the bottom three above are correct and they are singing to stay safe then Matt is a goner. No way the judges kick off two of the girls to only leave three females with weeks to go. I'd like to think Megan is history and she could be against Jasmine for one spot. Both of them need to leave soon. Again! If Kris hits the bottom then he is in trouble with the judges having power. My feeling is the judges disagreed with the voting giving him a spot in the finals.

Alexis has the -36 number, sang last, and was from the first week of the semis. It would be surprising not shocking to see her in trouble tomorrow.

[Ritterskoop]

If the judges only do a singoff for the first two weeks, to cast the top ten (tour group) the way they want, I am OK with that. But after that, they need to get out of the way.

13-15-year-old girls are the most powerful voting block on the show, so it's not surprising the guys get the most votes. I did finally understand what Simon meant about them introducing Kris' wife so early - he will get fewer of those teenage votes.

If Jorge had sung "She's Out of My Life" and sung it the same way he did "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me", he would have a been a top vote-getter this week. As it is, the Latin vote will keep him around a week or two but he needs to pick perfect songs from now on. His intro clip made me hope he would dance, but his song choice did not have room for that.

Megan's "dancing" is very distracting. I do not get her.

I don't mind Jasmine but she doesn't thrill me, either.

I love the red-headed rocker on stage but she needs to not speak any other time. Babblemouth, bad.

The Memphis dirty girl did not finish getting dressed, or something. Her song ended up boring.

Who is the last woman? There are five. Yikes. If I can't remember her, must not be much there.....

OK, the guys. I kind of liked Danny Gokey, and appreciated that they stayed away from his widower backstory this week. He showed a lot of energy and decent vocals. I am not ready to put him in the final two with Adam, though I will not be sorry if it works out that way, because

I GET ADAM.

Not so much this week as last week, but I like the way he performs, and is aware that he is performing. He was misting up when the judges started with him, and he is grateful for this opportunity. I know sometimes we get irritated because they let on people who already have some professional background, but they are not superstars, and the show was originally supposed to be the search for a superstar. So far they have found two: Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood. SUPERstars, I mean. Adam has that potential. There are plenty of artists/acts out there who are huge, and some of us don't like them, but we don't deny they have appeal and talent. We just don't pay for them ourselves. Like I appreciate the appeal and talent of, say, U2. But I have bought one song by them ever. They just don't rock my world most of the time. So I will not trash them to others, but I will not go out buying their stuff, either.

OK. Dunno where all that was lurking.

I miss Jamar and Ju'not, who would have added an element to the "cast" that we are missing. I need to start my movie soon or I will not finish it before bedtime, so I won't do a line-by-line.

Bottom line: I did not think anyone was dreadful tonight, and only Adam made me play it back a second time.

[Ritterskoop]

Yikes. The fifth female is Lil Rounds, who sang first tonight and did not keep my attention.

She'll be around a while.

[Sir_Galahad]

Alexis has the -36 number, sang last, and was from the first week of the semis. It would be surprising not shocking to see her in trouble tomorrow.

What's even funnier (and not good for Alexis) is that I heard that the number 1-866-IDOLS-13 will connect you to a telephone porn site (which is why they could not use that number). I wonder how many people dialed that instead of the 1-888-IDOLS-36 number.

[KillerTomato]

Skoop, my dislike for Shrieky McShriekerson has nothing to do with his limited success as a stage musical performer, nor with the pictures of him that have been circulating around the net recently, and everything to do with the fact that I simply don't like his style of singing. The guy who does the recaps for EW said it well, I think: "There were moments where I could hear a successor to Axl Rose on the bridge, but there were also momentswhere I could hear the sound of a subway car coming to an abrupt, screeching halt as it enters a crowded station." my own addition is that since it think Axl sounds a little like the same subway car, neither parts of that statement are really a compliment.

That said, I can appreciate his stage presence and ability to work an audience, but I just don't think he has the voice to back up that confidence.

I was reminded, though, of Allison's absolute scorcher of a performance last night. That chick has pipes. I'll blame my forgetting her last night when I posted on the fact that I was tired and after 2 hours of Michael Jackson songs I just wasn't feeling that good.

Final note: I am looking forward to the next few theme weeks...I figure that after Wacko Jacko, we'll have Gary Glitter week, R. Kelly week, and then Chris Brown week.

[dimmzy]

Megan was...um.....just bad.

She'll be around for another month or so.

She's a Mormon from Utah and a friend of David Archuleta. She has the votes.

[secondchance]

Megan makes me smile. I was sorry to see Jasmine go. I look forward to seeing how Adam progresses. Oh, he has some interesting photos making the rounds on the internet...