American Idol 7 / Week 9
I still haven't watched the "Idol Gives Back" show. It's sitting on the TiVo, crying.
They show the top seven, and I'm like, "That's right, Kristy Lee Cook is still there." A couple of coworkers have commented that they hate Brooke White. It's always fascinating to see who hates who.
Our mentor tonight is Mariah Carey, so we get a horrifying package showing off the utter crap she produces. Oh, can you tell my opinion of Mariah Carey? I was hoping it would be Andrew Lloyd Webber week, but I guess I'll just have to wait for that. And suffer this week. I expect to know a couple of the songs, but not all of them.
David Archuleta: Is he sick? Or hitting late puberty? His voice sounds really low and weird in his interview package. He's singing "If You Believe" from The Prince of Egypt. He gets the backup singers right down on stage with him, and he's wearing what look like leather pants. He sounds exactly as we'd expect him to, and it's a decent but entirely unsurprising performance. Randy tells him he can sing anything, and calls him "da bomb". Paula babbles about making Mariah proud, and Simon knew that this would be David's song choice.
Let me make an aside here. I think that almost all of these kids are entirely too predictable at this point. We know just how they're going to sound, and what kind of arrangements they're going to do. It makes me yearn for surprises, like when Kelly Clarkson kicked the crap out of "Stuff Like That There" during big band week in season 1. I want to see and hear something I've never heard out of these guys, and I want to love it. But I don't think it's going to happen.
Carly Smithson: She's on the interview stools, mourning the loss of Michael Johns. She'll be singing "Without You", which for me is Harry Nilsson, not Mariah Carey. Will she load it with fake emotion, belt it, and appear angry? Let's see! She starts out too low, and then has to go up when she should go lower. It mucks with the melody, and not in a good way. She's had to make a lot of changes to make up for her limited range. But she's belting, and she seems angry. although she smiles at the end, as if to make up for her angry delivery. Randy likes that she challenged herself, but didn't care for the lower range stuff at the start. Paula admires that she used vocal restraint (what?) and Simon doesn't think she pulled it off.
Syesha Mercado: She's doing "Vanishing", a title I don't recognize but a melody I do. She's singing with the pianist on stage (as did Carly), but it isn't until now that I notice the pianist's little braided beard. What is he, Captain Jack Sparrow? Or a Pharoah? Hey, that rhymed. Her performance, like the others so far, is entirely predictable -- belting out strong notes, with an occasional dud in the bunch, sounding like she always does. Randy thinks she did a good job, it was a hard song, a couple of pitchy moments but good job. Paula calls her smart, for "picking a song that not very many people know". Really, Paula? If *I* know it, then it's not that obscure. I don't go around looking for Mariah Carey B-sides. Simon agrees that it was a tough choice, because not many people know about the song. What? I'm terribly confused. Do any of you NOT know this song?
Brooke White: She's on the interview stools. She missed her sister's wedding on Saturday, and they tried to get a cardboard cutout of her ... but didn't. Dull. She's performing "Hero", and let's all expect it to be soulful and sweet and so infused with emotion that she cries. She's playing the piano without any other backing instruments. It's soft and gentle, then she rips into the bridge pretty well, then it's back to being soft, and you can really see that she's shaking and quaking and barely keeping it together. As with everyone else, it's what we expected to see. But she did well with it. Randy likes it for the most part, although the bridge was weird for him. Paula thinks her brave. Simon compares it to ordering a hamburger and only getting the bun. This launches a huge argument about the location of the meat, and the presence or non-presence of condiments, and it makes me want to punch every single judge in the ass.
Kristy Lee Cook: She's doing "Forever", a song that Mariah admits is not well-known. Kristy's going to try to get emotionally connected to the song, or so she says. I predict an emotionless performance where the words hold no meaning, and she sings like a mannequin. I would predict being off-key, but she hasn't been as awful lately. Oh, and I'll go ahead and predict some inappropriate country twang. Ready, go. There's the soullessness. There's the twang! Oh, there are some sour notes! There's fake emotion -- honey, shaking your head doesn't mean emotion. Bo-ring. Randy didn't think it was amazing, there were pitchy notes ... but she stepped up toward the end. Paula babbles nonsense, the only comprehensible thing being that she was blown away. Simon calls it whiny at times, and thinks she did well with the Mariah cards she was dealt, but he wasn't dazzled by it.
David Cook: He surprised Mariah by picking "You'll Always Be My Baby". It appears he's making it more folk-rock-ish. I predict he'll throw it into another key, and make it sound like a grunge song from the 90s. Off he goes -- it doesn't sound like a Mariah Carey song, which is awesome. The grunge sound is there, but softer. The background singers kick in, and it sucks briefly. But when he sings it alone, it's quite good. Randy stands up for the first time this season. Paula thinks it could be "in a movie soundtrack right now". What an odd observation. Simon comes out of "karaoke hell" and finds David a breath of fresh air. David seems genuinely touched and delighted by the praise. He actually has tears in his eyes. Aww.
Jason Castro: Will he sing sweetly, and play the guitar? He's doing "I Don't Want to Cry". Do I know this one? Unsure. Oh noes, he's not playing the guitar! But he's sitting on his little stool. He's actually singing more powerfully than usual (although it's a wispy power at best) and doing quite well. Not quite as awesome as Cook, but a very good performance of what was probably a craptacular song. Randy didn't really love it, he felt like he was at a beach luau. Paula wants to be at that luau ... all night long. Simon agrees with Paula, although he apparently doesn't know what a luau is. He also believes the guys won the night.
Recaps. Archuleta was the usual helping of young earnestness. Carly belted and looked mad. Syesha was the closest to just copying Mariah. Brooke got all weepy again. Kristy sounded like she was singing "Unchained Melody" at a karaoke bar, and has no soul. David Cook rocked the pants off of his song. Jason was beautiful and harmless and made scores of 10-year-old girls squeal.
Tough choices again. I'm going to put Kristy in the bottom three, because it's my personal obsession. I'll add in Syesha for not changing up her song enough, and Carly because she seems to not be a huge audience favorite. I'll change from my usual KLC prediction for elimination, though ... I'm picking Carly this week, because she really seems to be giving off the stench of not wanting to be there anymore.
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the_missy) wrote,
