The girls are up this time around for 80's night, here we go:
Asia'h Epperson - "I Wanna Dance With Somebody"
A by the numbers remake of Whitney Houston's hit right down to the electronic drums. Asia'h does a fair job of it and some personality comes through but as Simon commented, it's second rate Whitney. She's very likeable and has a good voice with a willingness to switch up some of the vocal runs. But I liked her better the first week when she funked up "Piece Of My Heart" where she can work the groove more.
Kady Malloy - "Who Wants To Live Forever"
Opera girl took some feedback to heart from last week and picks some Queen for 80's week. Brownie points for unearthing one of my favorite Queen songs! With 90 seconds, the arrangement got a little chopped up and awkward but Malloy does a good job of crooning in the verses and belting in the chorus. I don't think it will be enough though and Malloy will probably go home on Thursday.
Amanda Overmeyer - "I Hate Myself For Loving You"
Finally, my fave has picked a song that fits her! For the first time, she makes the band work for her instead of vice versa . She looked a little unconfident and uncomfortable but it did not affect her vocal. Overmeyer belted it out like the hard drinkin' biker blues mama she is, a huge improvement from the past two weeks. And I thought for sure she would ballad out this week with Bonnie Tyler's "Total Eclipse Of The Heart". Song of the night for me.
Carly Smithson - "I Drove All Night"
More the Celine Dion version than the Cyndi Lauper version from the 80's, Smithson gives a very impressive vocal particularly midway through the song. Like Asia'h, falls just short of the original but is strong enough to make an impression. The first 30 seconds of the song was so boring I didn't know what song it was. And my main association with this song is the car commercial so I started feeling a craving to by a Pontiac or something. Still, in the end the vocal was impressive.
Kristi Lee Cook - "Faithfully"
A slight country influence creeps into Journey's classic power ballad. It's hard to be objective comparing her to my all time favorite singer Steve Perry, but in my opinion she didn't change the arrangement enough. Cook got lyrics wrong ("Wheels go round and round, on my mind" Ouch!) and was screechy on the high notes. Pretty mediocre, if it wasn't for the bad press hitting Maluby and Overmeyer then Cook would probably go. My wife wonders if it's too late to get the horse back.
Ramiele Maluby - "Against All Odds"
Apparently inspired by her recent troubles, something about this song usually makes it un-remakeable. It's not that Phil Collins is a powerful singer, but the song is often one that avoids translation to other singers in past Idol seasons. I like that Maluby gets that sad ballads are supposed to be dramatic, I enjoyed this one and felt it was the first good Idol version of this song. My only concern is that ballads may be all she can do after last week's disco inferno where her voice was fine but her lone dance move was bobbing her head.
Brooke White - "Love Is A Battlefield"
Really? Brooke White does Pat Benatar? Well, to be accurate she turned it into an acoustic song but does an effective job of it. I think Pat Benatar actually plays this acoustically sometimes also. I always feel and understand the verses with Brooke which is nice, somewhere Jewel is taking notes on how to make a comeback.
Syesha Mercado - "Saving All My Love For You"
The Whitney Houston songbook takes it's third hit this week and like everyone else does a straight ahead remake. Unlike Epperson or Chakeize, Mercado actually has a voice big enough to do this and delivers a very good performance. Even when she lost a little steam in the bridge, Mercado recovered to nail the ending. Her best performance to date for me.
To wrap up, Amanda Overmeyer finally figured out how to pick a song and Syesha Mercado successfully nails a Whitney Houston song. Paula Abdul continues to unravel to the point she's insulting the audience and chewing up camera time. Kady Malloy looks like a lock to go, the second to leave is up for grabs.
No comments:
Post a Comment