Hello,
Last night was the "American Idol" Top 7, the theme was Songs of the 21st Century.
7) Jacob Lusk (Up 1, again still the worst though) sang Luther Vandross' "Dance With My Father". First of all he's always being compared to Luther? Really? Why? Because they are the same color? I just don't see that comparison in anyway. A more apt comparison would be Ruben Studdard, but that would be demeaning to Studdard. With some of the greatest singers/performers of all-time being black, why hasn't that translated over to "AI"? I agree with my brother's idea that Lusk reminds me more of the Bubba Gump guy from "Forrest Gump". In rehearsal Lusk was crying, even he realizes how bad he is :) He gave a better performance than he usually does and this time he didn't have a choir come and save him. Again the judges praised, actually over praised, him. I did like Randy saying to him "if you're here next week...". I hope that was a hint to the American voting public. I hope so, it's time for him to go home! His hanging on reminds me of Sanjaya's ability to give crappy performances but keep on being voted back each week. Grade: C-
6) James Durbin (Down 3) sang Muse's "Uprising". I think I'm going to start an uprising if he's on for too many more weeks. I loved how Ryan asked him how he gets all his ideas, duh Ryan he steals them. He's trying to show he can be contemporary, maybe he should show he has talent first. Did he intentionally sing a wimpy version of this song? Compared to the original his version was weak. He's also one of the goofiest guys to ever appear on "AI". Who's voting for him and Lusk anyway? Jackson, proving his uselessness again as a judge, predicted that would be the best performance of the night. That in spite of Lusk only being the second person to sing. Steven Tyler said he had that T Rex groove, Durbin doesn't know who that is Steven. Grade: C.
This is how it should sound James:
I actually like this version better, it actually sounds like it's sung live. The video above doesn't sound live and is surprisingly passionless.
5) Lauren Alaina (Down 3)sang Sara Evans' "Born To Fly". Jimmy Iovine actually provided helpful advice, that she should just let herself go. However I still hope this is his last season, he's just not been very good this season. After receiving Iovine's good advice, Lauren didn't even listen to it? She didn't let herself go all out. Why not? If I had a voice that good I would take that voice out for a drive. She's been good and I still think she can win. However how much better of a contestant could she have been if she'd waited a few more years. Overall I was very disappointed by her uninspired performance, it should have been so much better. Lauren, listen to that advice from both Iovine and JLo next week. The dawg continues to be stupid saying to Lauren, "dude, you can do it". Although he did redeem himself a bit when he told Lauren she needed to challenge herself. Amen! Grade: C
4) Scotty McDreary (Up 2) sang John Anderson's "Swingin". Yes, I know they gave the credit to Leann Rimes so he could qualify for the theme. However that song is Anderson's all the way. I wouldn't mind seeing him going home tonight. It's good, in most things, to be consistent. With Scotty we know what he exactly is, he's a country singer. A consistently boring country singer. He desperately needs to expand his limited focus or he won't even have a David Archuleta like career. Would it hurt him to sing a song from another genre? JLo said she was "expecting more". How about something different? Grade: C
This is the real version of "Swingin'". Anderson is one of the more under appreciated country singers. Maybe I'll have to blog about him soon.
3) Haley Reinhart (Up 1) continues to impress on Adele's "Rolling In The Deep", that's one of the best songs of the year. That's just a great song. I love her voice, she has the same sort of rasp as Adele. She followed Durbin and she was superior to him in every way. I love especially how she's better than Durbin, but still has humility. Randy suggested that's the direction she should go in as a singer. By my count that's two insightful comments by Randy in one show! Jennifer pointed out how she "brought Haley" to the song. Grade: B-
2) Stefano Langone (Up 3) sang Ne-Yo's "Closer". I listened to Ne-Yo's version after the show, I think Langone sings this song much better. The roller coaster man was on the higher part of the roller coaster this week. Although when someone is this high on my list, it's usually a kiss of death. I hope he's able to stick around another week. Although this song was hurt by a terrible arrangement. His performance soared during the verse and chorus. However the performance started going downhill when he had to repeat the chorus over and over again. They are only allowed to sing90 seconds, why can't they sing two verses? If he'd been able to sing two verses he'd probably be #1 on my list. Jimmy Iovine was great in his advice urging him not to plead as he sang the song. And Stefano did follow his advice. The judges were practically worthless with their critiques. Grade: B+
1) Casey Abrams (Up 6) sang Maroon 5's "Harder To Breathe". Another performance that started out fantastic, but about the halfway point started declining. Through the first half of the performance I was thinking I might even buy this version. However common sense took over. I wouldn't want to break my string of not buying any songs from this season. I'll buy Pia Toscano's debut CD, that will probably be the only music I buy from this seasons singers. Again I definitely won't be buying tickets to the concert. Could you imagine how bloated and boring that will be? Especially with 11 singers on tour and most of those being horrid. With touring hurting so bad, can many of these shows will have solid sales. Seriously how bad is "AI" going to get before they kill it? Back to Casey, Jennifer actually gave an intelligent critique. Randy was a little worried before Casey sang the song. I understand that but Abrams was pretty good. Kissing JLo was sort of stupid. Although I agree with Steven Tyler, that's what most of the men in America would like to do. JLo is a gorgeous woman. Grade: B+
After another less than inspiring show, Pia I miss you still. Although Pia has been eliminated this season, she already is the winner of this season.
themusicaddict
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