Watching American Idol live tonight, thought I'd try blogging impressions of the performances tonight between the lengthy commercial breaks.
Luke Maynard - "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go"
The night gets off to a truly hilarious start as the high pitched singer tackles the Wham, er, classic. Competent but weak vocal, very little energy and hardly any dancing, I felt like I was eating lunch during a theme park show. He needed to commit to the silly dancing that went with the video in performing this song to get it across. He knows how to sing but lacks Charasma.
David Archuleta - "Another Day In Paradise"
He was the undisputed leader from last week's "Imagine". Let's see how he does here. Archuleta starts off playing piano and does a pretty good job of playing and singing. The full band kicks in after the first verse, Archuleta seems a little self conscious this week like living up to "Imagine" may be on his mind. He wisely doesn't copy that performance. "Imagine", homelessness, this is a deep kid who's starting to come off a little preachy. But there's no denying the kid has remarkable talent.
Danny Noriega - "Tainted Love"
This dude reminds me of that America's Top Model show where they keep emphasizing "fierceness". The new wave classic gets a weird, clunky arrangement as if it was produced by Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis circa 1988. I actually thought it was Alexander O'Neal's "Fake" for a second (a great song in itself). With an arrangement like that, Noriega's vocal gets wooden and disappointing. Interesting in this may be the first presumably gay contestant to deliberately come across as sexual (hip thrusts abound), but his performances haven't held much weight.
David Hernandez - "It's All Coming Back To Me Now"
I really don't remember this song coming from the 80's. but OK. Assuming it did, Hernandez delivers a strong soaring vocal although he seemed strangely tentative in the verses at times. He doesn't always know how to work the stage which seems surprising considering his exotic dancer background. Maybe if the audience waved dollar bills in the air he would loosen up more. Cheap Shot! Bwa Ha Ha.
Michael Johns - "(Don't You) Forget About Me"
The Simple Minds soundtrack classic gets a straight remake here, it's OK but not, uh, memorable. Except Johns suddenly morphed into Jim Morrison at the end without warning. And why is his red jacket giving me "Thriller" flashbacks? Overall, a little karaoke for me. Hey, you mess with the bull you get the horns.
David Cook - "Hello"
Other than his echoing guitar sound, Cook absolutely kills on this. The song of the night for me, Cook took the Lionel Richie ballad and recasts it as a modern rock power ballad worthy of say 3 Doors Down. It's current, edgy and makes an artistic statement that this guy is no "fake" rocker. Other than a slightly overblown scream in the middle, a flawless rock vocal.
Jason Castro - "Hallelujah"
Somebody likes him some Jeff Buckley. A faithful rendition of Jeff Buckley's version down to the final note, it nonetheless continues Castro's momentum as a unique talent. The dreadlocked folkie is one of my favorites from this year's competition. A great performance.
Chakeizie - "All The (Woman) That I Need"
As Simon pointed out during the judging phase, despite the song's long history of being remade it is a signature Whitney Houston song. A tough one to have an opinion of at home because the screen went blank for 30 seconds cutting out the middle of the song. Of what I saw, I liked his vocal and how he dug into the soulfulness of his performance but didn't feel like the song connected with me well. Easy to appreciate but left me cold.
To close, Paula Abdul seemed off her meds tonight and gave unwieldly comments throughout. The middle section of the show with David Cook and Jason Castro back to back was the highpoint. I predict Luke Maynard and Chakeizie will be sent home on Thursday, though I felt Chakeizie gave a better performance than Danny Noriega. I think Noriega's personality and sassy attitude will get him by.
2 comments:
You like Noriega's personality? Ughhh. Agree Cook's performance was the best and Dreadlocks was pretty brave in his song choice.
Yeah, I'll probably download Cook's performance from ITunes because it was the first really memorable song from this year for me (I liked Archuleta's "Imagine" but would I buy it? No.) Cook really needs a band to make it though, he lacks the modicum of charisma that Chris Daughtry had.
As far as Noriega goes, he's entertaining during the judging phase because he doesn't put on a fake smile or get bitter like Chakeize because of criticism. He just brushes it off with a RuPaul sort of attitude. It's too bad he doesn't listen to the criticism because his performances are unfocused train wrecks like Madonna with A.D.D. or something. I do hope he gets voted off tonight, if we get to a 90's night I think we'll all end up suffering through a Right Said Fred cover.
Post a Comment